Donald Trump said he would not send ground troops into Iran after Reuters reported that the administration was discussing doing so. The US is stepping up its air assault on the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran opens up a “safe” corridor for vetted ships. Japan has agreed to a minerals deal with the US. And why are America and France always arguing? This is Today from The Spectator’s US team.
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Why America and France are always arguing
John Keiger
“Not perfect,” was Donald Trump’s reply when asked about Emmanuel Macron’s support for the Iran operation. “But it’s France, we don’t expect perfect.” The French President had initially distanced his country from the bombing campaign for, in his view, noncompliance with international law. Then Iran struck allied Gulf states and Cyprus.
Macron immediately dispatched France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean (while Britain was, humiliatingly, unable even to scramble a frigate). “We are not taking part in the conflict that is under way,” Macron declared with characteristic grandiloquence from the deck of the carrier. “France is a balancing and peaceful power.” The French love nothing more than tweaking the great sister-republic’s tail.
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The outrageous cynicism of the Democrats on Iran
John R. MacArthur
What’s a sovereign people to do?
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Israel can’t assassinate its way to victory over Iran
Jonathan Spyer
The borders between conventional war and insurgency appear to be disappearing
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ISLAND TIME The Trump administration has discussed sending ground troops to Iran’s Kharg Island, a major hub for oil exports, Reuters reported. When asked if he was planning to send the soliders, President Trump told a reporter, “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you, but I’m not putting troops.”
UP IN THE AIR The US has sent A-10 attack planes and Apache helicopters to intensify the effort to open up the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran has created a “safe” shipping corridor for vetted ships, according to Lloyds List, with India, Pakistan, Iraq, Malaysia and China in talks to coordinate transit with Tehran.
GET COMEY Former FBI director James Comey has been subpoenaed over his role in an Intelligence Community Assessment regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. The subpoena is part of a broader “grand conspiracy” probe into former officials who investigated and prosecuted Trump.
SAVING ENERGY Israel will not strike Iranian energy facilities, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after coming under criticism from Trump. “President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we’re holding out,” Netanyahu said yesterday.
RISING SUN Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have agreed to cooperate in mining and processing critical minerals in an effort to challenge China’s dominance.
MARCH MADNESS The men’s NCAA basketball tournament started last night. The biggest upset was fifth-seed Wisconsin losing 82-83 to High Point University.
ROSE WITH THORNS The upcoming season of The Bachelorette has been pulled after footage of its star, Taylor Frankie Paul, attacking her previous partner was leaked to TMZ.
EXPORT STRENGTH The British iteration of Saturday Night Live debuts this weekend on Sky and Peacock. It will be hosted by Tina Fey and feature Wet Leg as a musical guest.
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Pace-saving exercise
You don’t need a bloated old sot like Cockburn to tell you this, but: runners are smug. If they’re not breezing past you on the sidewalk in their skin-tight Lycra, they’re posting their best efforts on social media, just to make you feel fat and languid. Cockburn does not run; he festers. But at least Cockburn has never given away the location of an aircraft carrier during a war.
The latest revelation from French newspaper Le Monde’s “Strava files” series is that a young naval officer logged his morning run last Friday – just over 7km in 35 minutes – on the running app Strava… from the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Because the officer was doing laps of the deck aboard the Charles de Gaulle, a French aircraft carrier, which as any user could see from the app, was located northwest of Cyprus. Zut alors!
May this be a lesson to you, mon ami: careless runs cost lives.
This is a preview of Cockburn’s Diary on Substack, out lunchtime. Sign up to get the rest…
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Another interview goes awry…
Lionel Shriver
Twenty minutes into what seemed a routine softball literary interview for Bloomberg TV in London last month, the conversation took a prickly turn. My interviewer had tripped across some remark in one of my podcast appearances that set her off. So much for talking about my new novel. For the following 20 minutes, leaning over the table and poking at the air between us, she proceeded to hector me about why I seemed to discuss Muslims in general terms rather than as individuals. I objected that she was being disingenuous. Journalists regularly address issues involving groups of people in general terms. (For an opinion piece, I’m to interview all 2 billion Muslims individually and cite each in turn?) She challenged me to explain my problems with Islamic immigration, then immediately cut me off; the list was too long.
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The Peaky Blinders film is surprisingly literate
Deborah Ross
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is the film that fans of the television show have long been waiting for, so I must watch what I say. The story follows a group of exceptionally violent Birmingham gangsters operating between the wars and if you see it at the cinema you’ll hear a message before the opening credits. It’s Cillian Murphy imploring audiences not to give away any spoilers and ruin it for everyone else “by order of the Peaky Blinders!” There will be no spoilers here today. I have no wish to get my face slashed. Although I’ve dipped in and out of Peaky Blinders down the years, I’ve never stuck with it and am not steeped in its lore – I can’t stomach all those beatings even if they are highly stylized and set to cool rock music; my fault! But while fans will certainly get more from it, the film won’t confuse those coming to it new. The plot is, in fact,
straightforward. Some might even say that it doesn’t add up to much more than a middling crime thriller. But that’s not what I would say, obviously. I’m just putting it out there. Don’t break my fingers.
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How Iran will hasten the end of MAGA
Freddy speaks to Christopher Caldwell
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