One thing after another
Money to go around?
In a war with far deeper durability than anticipated half a year ago, the Middle East looks pretty bleak today. Iran issued a series of demands before they will allow predictable, safe transit of the Strait of Hormuz, items bound to result in a further delay since the White House is unlikely to agree to paying Iran demand compensation alone. The world desperately wants the conflict to end but nothing about the six conditions interlinking states in the region will satisfy everyone.
Israeli Prime Minister rejected the U.S.-led agreement to disarm the Hamas as the White House announced last week. Indeed, Netanyahu then rebuked the President for taking actions on relevant issues for Israelis without satisfactory consultation—and implied approval—by one set of crucial U.S. allies.
It was, in short, a predictable but unsettling weekend as the world hoped that this wearying region would recede into the background, allowing petroleum to flow. Rather than resolution, the differences between Jerusalem, Tehran, and Washington at a minimum were painfully on display.
Indications are that Washington was preparing to move on to new ambitions, particularly regime change in Cuba as reports surfaced of establishment of a CIA task force island nation’s future. We would prefer that the Cuban Commies just depart the scene but that strikes me as unlikely for a leadership that has been under unrelenting pressure for nearly 68 years but stranger things have happened. I also wonder if those up north watching this moment are overly optimistic about how the post-Communists, whomever they are, will be received by the 10.8 million who suffered through depravation by governance and sanctions while trapped on the island over these generations.
While geostrategic issues swirl, one has to become uneasy about the stress on the U.S. forces asked to engage militarily in so many parts of the world. Thirty-five years ago the question was whether the post-Desert Storm armed forces could handle two simultaneous major conflicts. Not mentioned in our current state of affairs is the reality that the military foe most worry about, the PRC, is more intimidating to most in the armed forces than Iran was or Cuba is yet numbers are numbers: a global power only has the forces and capacity it has available at any particular moment. Secretary Hegseth is adamant about assuring the military’s fitness levels but General Caine, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has to address advising the POTUS on where to send people to meet our national objectives, a different task indeed.
As we worry about these concerns, natural disasters plague so much of the world. China had the capacity this weekend to relocate a million citizens from the southeast as increasingly powerful typhoons threatened two of the biggest cities on the globe, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Europe is still melting under heat while British Columbia is burning yet again. No matter what politicians might hope, the smoke will overwhelm the Pacific Northwest and northern tier of this country at a minimum.
Mother Nature weighed in yet one further time when the west of Colombia, a distance from the Canadian namesake, suffered a massive earthquake this morning, three days after a political novice assumed the presidential stash. The country suffers temblors and volcanic eruptions relatively frequently but newly installed regimes rarely have the instinctive understanding of relief efforts to assure smooth response.
In short, conflict still involves multiple states jockeying for long-term goals in the Middle East but millions of people struggle with basic survival at the same time under constantly challenging natural conditions. Some actions are under our control while others appear the realm of forces we will never entirely subjugate yet everyone involved in on this planet together.
Every single bit of it requires someone to provide funds for security of any type but the increasing needs continue to far outstrip the resources offered. Where will this end?
I welcome your thoughts on this column or any other about Actions Creating Consequences. I especially look forward to your thoughts on what we can do to ameliorate conditions, for one community or a entire hemisphere. These problems are not the purview of single leaders, regardless of their roles.
Thank you for reading the column today or any other time. I welcome those of you invest in the work through subscriptions to the newsletter. Following as many sources as I try to consult is an expensive proposition but one I believe worthy of the time and investment.
For those of you wondering, I graduated Friday from the behemoth post-surgery cast to a lighter one so my recovery is definitely progressing.
I have to remind myself I can’t do everything I would like as my arm still aches as it heals but I genuinely am thankful we’re in this stage. You won’t be surprised, as regular readers, that I chose hot pink as the color of my straps for this more removable cast as I do believe in intensity for life!
As August marches forward, be well and be safe. FIN
British Columbia Wildfire Service, “BC Wildfire Map”, https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map, 10 August 2026, retrieved at https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map
William B. Davis, Bea Malsky, and Erin McCann, “Tracking Heat Across Europe”, NewYorkTimes.com, 10 August 2026, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/weather/europe-heat-tracker.html
Luisa Fernanda Gutiérrez Henao, “Colombia busca vida entre los escombros tras terremoto: Presidente confirma 111 muertos y 87 herridos”, ElTiempo.com, 10 August 2026, retrieved at https://www.eltiempo.com
Yu-chen Li, “Typhoon Dolphin: more than a million people evacuated in China as record rainfall dumped on Shanghai”, TheGuardian.com, 10 August 2026, retrieved at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/10/typhoon-dolphin-china-shanghai-flooding-evacuations
Adam Ragson and Aaron Boxerman, “Netanyahu walks ‘Political Tightrope’ on Trump’s Gaza Disarmament Deal”, NewYorkTimes.com, 10 August 2026, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/world/middleeast/netanyahu-trump-israel-swgaza-disarmament.html
SWJ Staff, “CIA’s New Cuba Task Force”, SmallWarsJournal.com, 9 August 2026, retrieved at https://smallwarsjournal.com/2026/08/09/cias-new-cuba-task-force/
Alexander Ward, “Trump Thought Reopening Strait of Hormuz Imminent. Iran Had Other Plans”, WSJ.com, 9 August 2026, retrieved at https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-strait-of-hormuz-opening-iran-negotiations-b6a43ad6?mod=middle-east_news_article_pos4