Saturday, March 14, 2026
Trump wages war on Iran his own way: commander-in-chaos
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/14/trump-iran-war-chaos
“Mr President,” said a reporter. “You’ve said the war is ‘very complete’ but your defence secretary says, ‘This is just the beginning’. So which is it?” Donald Trump’s eyes darted left and right then down. “Well, I think you could say both,” he parried.
The confusing answer at a press conference in Doral, Florida this week did not befit a wartime leader armed with stirring rhetoric and a lucid plan. But it was entirely on brand for the 47th US president. The tumultuous style that Trump brings to election campaigns, dealing with Congress and global trade relations has now been imported to the theatre of war.
For as the conflict with Iran enters its third week, impacting nearly every corner of the Middle East and causing economic tremors around the world, Trump has emerged as America’s commander-in-chaos.
Jonathan Alter, a presidential historian who has written books about Franklin Roosevelt, Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, said: “He’s a chaos agent and that’s what he specialises in. He doesn’t think any further ahead than the next news cycle and so you get an on-again off-again zigzag foreign policy.”
Alter added: “He lies as easily as he breathes so to believe anything out of his mouth like, ‘we demand unconditional surrender’ – well, two days later, he won’t be demanding it anymore and he’ll pretend he never said it. His words are at some level meaningless except, because they’re backed by so much weaponry, they take on enormous importance.”
War aimed at preventing Iranian nukes may actually lead to them, ex-IDF expert warns
Danny Citrinowicz, IDF’s former top Iran researcher, fears regime will try and break out toward a bomb in response to killing of its supreme leader, whose policy was to keep Tehran at threshold
Trump Knew the Risk of Iran Blocking the Strait of Hormuz. He Still Went to War.
The president told his White House team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait, the world’s most vital shipping lane
Before the U.S. went to war, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told President Trump that an American attack could prompt Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Caine said in several briefings that U.S. officials had long believed Iran would deploy mines, drones and missiles to close the world’s most vital shipping lane, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.
Mesorah of Moshe - Questioning the Accuracy
Shemos (38:02) Now Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, had made all that GOD had commanded Moses;
The obvious question is why t5he verse didn't say all that G-d said to Moshe Rashi explains that Betzalel q1uestioned the accuracy of what Moshe said in G-d's name
Shemos (38:22) AND BEZALEEL THE SON OF URI etc. MADE ALL THAT THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES — It is not stated here: אשר צֻוָּה (Bezaleel made all that he had been commanded), but “[Bezaleel made] all that the Lord commanded Moses” — even regarding such things which his teacher (Moses) did not tell him, his own opinion was in agreement with what had been told to Moses on Sinai (Jerusalem Talmud Peah 1:1; Bereishit Rabbah 1:14). [For Moses bade Bezaleel to make the vessels first and the Tabernacle afterwards but Bezaleel said to him: “Surely, it is the way of the world (the usual way) first to build a house and then to place the household utensils in it!” He (Moses) replied to him: “So, indeed, did I hear from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He”. Moses further said to him: (בצלאל), you must have been sitting in the shadow of God (בצל אל), for certainly did thus God command me!” And consequently Bezaleel made the Tabernacle first and afterwards he made the vessels
Mishkan and Sin of Golden Calf
Rav Yakov asks why VeYakel occirs immediately after the sin of the Golden Calf. He notes that the Giving of the Torah at Sinai involved complete unity while the Golden Calf was the opposite. In fact each tribe made their own Calf. Therefore Moshe first had to restore that lost unity
Friday, March 13, 2026
Everything is controlled by G-d except Cold and heat
Avoda Zara (3b) All occurrences that befall man are in the hands of Heaven except for colds and obstacles, from which one is able to protect himself, as it is stated: “Colds and snares are on the path of the crooked; he who guards his soul shall keep far from them”. This indicates that cold and, conversely, heat, are forms of harm from which one must protect himself, which teaches that being exposed to excessive heat can cause death.
Bava Basra (144b) All occurrences that befall man are in the hand of Heaven except for colds and obstacles, from which one is able to protect himself, as it is stated: “Colds and snares are on the path of the crooked; he who guards his soul shall keep far from them”.
Bava Metzia (107b) All occurrences that befall man are at the hands of Heaven, except for excess cold and heat, as it is stated: “Cold and heat are on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul shall keep far from them”. This indicates that cold and heat are forms of harm caused by man, from which one can protect himself.
Kesubos (30a) All matters are at the hand of Heaven except for cold and heat, as it is stated: “Cold and heat are on the path of the crooked, he who guards his soul shall keep far from them”? This indicates that cold and heat are forms of harm caused by man, from which one can protect himself.
Mission accomplished? The 2003 boast that haunts today's Iran conflict
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e9yy84we8o
Three weeks on from the statue coming down, America's President, George W Bush, stood aboard a US aircraft carrier, anchored off the Californian coast, behind a banner saying "Mission Accomplished". Except it was anything but.
Iraq and Iran are very different countries but can lessons be learnt? So far there is little sign of a coherent plan for what the US wants to bring about or what kind of future it envisages for the country. This time, the improvisation seems to be a deliberate strategy as it leaves President Trump with different options for what he can declare as victory before moving on, creating his own "Mission Accomplished" moment.
But this time round in the US, there has been no attempt to publicly resolve the sometimes contradictory desires to take action. In fact, US President Donald Trump has himself seemed to veer between them depending on which day he is talking and who to.
Nor has there been any attempt to sell the war to the American public – a process which unfolded over months with Iraq. And nor has there been any attempt to seek international legitimacy through the UN. Back in 2003, there was endless discussion of which states might back action.
Iraq is now in a much better state than it was in the immediate aftermath and many are glad to see Saddam Hussein gone. But democracy did not spread through the Middle East in the aftermath as some had claimed it would. Instead, one of the biggest winners of the invasion would be Iran whose main adversary was removed, allowing it to extend its influence into Iraq and beyond in the years after the war. And it would increase the terrorist threat within the UK and the broader West. Wars do not always have the outcomes people expect or want.
Pushing back against Trump’s insults, Herzog decries ‘blatant attack’ on Israel’s sovereignty
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-march-13-2026/
After US President Donald Trump on Wednesday calls him “weak and pathetic” in his handling of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pardon request, President Isaac Herzog says that Israel’s “dignity, independence and sovereignty” are not for sale.
Netanyahu was asked about the insults during a press conference last night, and said that “US presidents are entitled to say what’s in their hearts,” while blasting the trial as a political witch hunt.
The prime minister should have pushed back on Trump, Herzog indicates.
Trump Religious Liberty Commission Advisor Resigns In Protest
Sameerah Munshi, an advisor on the White House Religious Liberty Commission, has resigned in protest over the war in Iran and the removal of Carrie Prejean Boller from the board.
Munshi confirmed her resignation in a post on X where she said she was resigning in protest of “The official removal of Carrie Prejean Boller for her deeply held beliefs about Palestine and the federal government’s illegal war against Iran, undertaken without clear constitutional or congressional authorization.”
Sameerah Munshi, in a post on X: “I want to be very clear: I am not resigning out of fear or intimidation from anyone affiliated with the Commission, the government, or any interest group. I am resigning because I have seen firsthand the injustice perpetrated by members of this commission, and I am unwilling to be associated with it any longer.”