View from the Darkling Plain

The death of peace, of NATO, of Israel as a Jewish state

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
—Matthew Arnold, from Dover Beach

An unharmed JD Vance leaves Pakistan on Air Force Two after peace talks collapsed

The news moves fast as we watch. Peace talks have fallen apart; JD Vance’s positions hardened after phone calls with Trump and Netanyahu; none of the delegates were murdered on their way home; Trump will now blockade the Strait of Hormuz himself and rethreatens to devastate Iran from top to toe; so, you know, more of the same. (There’s a good summary from DropSite of post-talk events.)

I’d like to present some context-providing links as we head into next week. One offers the view from outside the U.S. The other, a view from inside the White House, the bunkered mansion that Trump sometimes inhabits.

Lawrence Wilkerson: Ceasefire, NATO & the Risk of U.S. Civil War

Wilkerson is one of my favorites. He’s thoughtful and quite well connected. Here he discusses, with podcaster Glenn Diesen, the prospects facing the U.S. and the world.

Among the gems in this piece, Wilkerson discusses:

• The end of NATO and the eighty-year Post-War era (start)

• The end of Israel as a Jewish state (interspersed)

• Official disinterest in the Charlie Kirk assassination and the potential connection with Israel (33:39)

• Consequences of Hegseth “preacher-packing” the military (50:00)

• Thoughts on the next election and a multi-sided U.S. civil war (52:40)

At 6:57, Wilkerson mentions how General Van Riper, in a 2002 Pentagon war game, exposed American vulnerability to the kinds of attacks the Iranians are using today. We wrote about that war game here:

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How Hubris Created an 'Invincible' Military

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Michael Wolff: Trump’s Subordinates Are Scrambling

Consider this Michael Wolff discussion from his “Inside Trump’s Head” podcast. As he tells it, everyone of consequence is looking to get out, since staying in is a certain path to career destruction. Lots of inside baseball in this discussion.

One interesting exchange starts at 11:54 (from the YouTube transcript, lightly edited):

Cole: And so where does this leave Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, JD Vance, who I saw in the excerpt from Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman’s book, which is coming out, called Regime Change, that JD Vance, whether or not he spoke to them or not—

Wolff: Let’s get to that in a second, because I have some some clear views on that and I think it actually helps. It’s kind of a road map, not the way the author’s intended, but nevertheless a road map to what’s going on.

But this person who I was speaking to yesterday described it as, let’s see, he said, “Everybody’s plotting.” This is this is what this person says. Marco Rubio is plotting. Hegseth is plotting. Jared Kushner is plotting. And JD Vance is plotting — but JD Vance doesn’t really know how to plot.

So that was the thing. And I think you saw the New York Times did a big [story on the] lead up to war. Now the context of these kinds of pieces is pure Bob Woodward. [...]

And so Maggie Haberman and her acolyte, Jonathan Swan, got a lot of people to talk to them, apparently, which is an indication, one indication of people plotting, of—

Cole: Of them planning how they’re going to exit this … how they’re planning their futures. When you say plotting, do you mean they’re plotting their own futures and they’re plotting others down...?

Wolff: Yes.

Cole: ...and they’re plotting because they know they’re in a mess and they have to figure out their own way out of it without being blamed?

Wolff: That’s quite the definition of plot. You got it. And so everybody is in this mix and you can tell a good part of this story is coming from JD Vance and the Vance point of view is clearly, you know, “Not me. I was not the one who did this. I was just, at best, trying to be loyal, while I told them again and again and again, this was a bad idea.”

Cole: Well, then I think they have JD Vance saying “I’m against this. I don’t think it’s a good idea, but if you want it, Mr. President, I will support you.”

So he’s trying to look loyal, supporting the president, but also advising against.

Wolff: Right. I don’t know how he came out looking loyal, because it’s going to be clear that he was a source one on this [article]. The only one not trying to retreat is Pete Hegseth [who is] too dumb to know that he has to retreat.

Dover Beach

At 29:40 in the Wilkerson video, he mentions the prophetic end of Matthew Arnold’s great poem, “Dover Beach.” That ending is quoted above. You can read the whole piece here. It’s magnificent.

Music

I’ve recently discovered the Substack of Susie Bright, one of my favorite literary writers and editors. A recent piece featured a number of “fixin’ to die” songs from people like Randy Newman and Tom Lehrer, among many others.

Missing was one of my favorite early Dylan classics, “It’s Alright, Ma.” The lyrics are masterful. Enjoy this live performance.

‘Darkness at the break of noon’ indeed. I think we’re on track for what I wrote here and here.