Mitchell Plitnick
@mjplitnick.bsky.social
Prez, ReThinking Foreign Policy. Writer, researcher, analyst, speaker. Co-author of Except for Palestine President of ReThinking Foreign Policy Subscribe to my Substack at https://mitchellplitnick.substack.com/
A serial liar hates being called on his lies. Trump's latest unhinged rant is an example. Regardless of the truth of Trump's recent claim that the parameters of a deal were in place (likely a lie), his call here for "total surrender" tells the reality of prospects for ending this madness he started.
Threatening us with a good time while he flirts with Fox News, the less Democrats ever hear from James Carville - who has built an entire career on getting one thing right 35 years ago - the more likely Republicans can be defeated.
At what point does everyone stop bullshitting ourselves and others and just admit that there is no such thing as a negotiated agreement that Israel will accept? www.haaretz.com/gaza/2026-08...
An El-Sayed victory would be a huge advantage in the race for control of the Senate. But more than that, it would upend how politics work in the Democratic Party. Stevens Vs. El-Sayed Race Has Implications Far Beyond Michigan open.substack.com/pub/mitchell...
Stevens Vs. El-Sayed Race Has Implications Far Beyond Michigan
An El-Sayed victory would be a huge advantage in the race for control of the Senate. But more than that, it would upend how politics work in the Democratic Party.
open.substack.com
In the latest Globalists, Josh White and I examine the Burnham government’s early moves and consider what opportunities—and limitations—the new government presents. Burnham's Big Test: Keep the Pressure on Labour Watch: youtu.be/_r3meE9R_AM?... Listen: thebattleground.substack.com/p/burnhams-b...
Burnham's Big Test: Keep the Pressure on Labour
YouTube video by The Battleground
youtu.be
Benjamin Netanyahu gushed about his White House meeting with Donald Trump this week, but the meeting was most notable for what went unsaid about Iran. mondoweiss.net/2026/07/neta...
Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump was not nearly as successful as he claims
Benjamin Netanyahu gushed about his White House meeting with Donald Trump this week, but the meeting was most notable for what went unsaid about Iran.
mondoweiss.net
In this wide-ranging interview, I speak with Prof. Shaul Magid about his observations of an anti-Mamdani rally in New York, questions of Jewish identity in the wake of Gaza, and questions of Jewish identity Zionism, Antisemitism, Identity, & Gaza Interview with Shaul Magid youtu.be/ftLtgdZcufY?...
Zionism, Antisemitism, Identity, and Gaza Interview with Shaul Magid
YouTube video by Cutting Through: News and Analysis
youtu.be
A bipartisan bill attempts to sanction the Polisario Front, the internationally recognized representatives of the Sahrawi of Western Sahara. This piece explains what's going on and why. Bipartisan Bill Aims To Sanction Polisario Front of Western Sahara rethinkingforeignpolicy.org/2026/07/30/b...
Bipartisan Bill Aims To Sanction Polisario Front of Western Sahara
A bipartisan group of congresspeople are set to introduce a bill in The House of Representatives that would designate the Polisario Front a “terrorist organization.” The ramifications of this are a…
rethinkingforeignpolicy.org
A bipartisan bill attempts to sanction the Polisario Front, the internationally recognized representatives of the Sahrawi of Western Sahara. This piece explains what's going on and why. Bipartisan Bill Aims To Sanction Polisario Front of Western Sahara rethinkingforeignpolicy.org/2026/07/30/b...
Bipartisan Bill Aims To Sanction Polisario Front of Western Sahara
A bipartisan group of congresspeople are set to introduce a bill in The House of Representatives that would designate the Polisario Front a “terrorist organization.” The ramifications of this are a…
rethinkingforeignpolicy.org
There's a term for this: Forever War. Sen. Rick Scott: Without regime change, U.S. will need to periodically strike Iranian nuclear program jewishinsider.com/2026/07/rick...
Sen. Rick Scott: Without regime change, U.S. will need to periodically strike Iranian nuclear program
‘If there's not a regime change, then maybe we don't have to do this every day, but we're going to have to do this every so often,’ Scott said at the Hudson Institute
jewishinsider.com
Former JTA DC bureau chief Ron Kampeas put out what I think was the best argument I've seen against the idea that genocide was committed in #Gaza. So it needed to be rebutted, as I do in this piece. The War Over Genocide: Israelis, Americans and Gaza thebattleground.eu/2026/07/30/t...
The War Over Genocide
Israelis, Americans and Gaza
thebattleground.eu
How much clearer can it be that the Israeli system is the very definition of apartheid? Two different sets of laws based entirely on ethnicity and EXPLICITLY disconnected from citizenship, the usual bullshit counter-argument. It is simply undeniable.
Below is the path Netanyahu's plane took to get to DC today. Apparently, Greece, Italy, and France can't be bothered with little details like international law as they allowed a fugitive wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity to casually fly over their airspace.
As Pro-Israel groups try to attack Mamdani with false charges of antisemitism, they are intentionally terrorizing American Jews and fomenting antisemitism in other ways. And they know it. Pro-Israel Forces Launch All-Out, Dishonest Attack on Zohran Mamdani open.substack.com/pub/mitchell...
Pro-Israel Forces Launch All-Out, Dishonest Attack on Zohran Mamdani
As Pro-Israel groups try to attack Mamdani with false charges of antisemitism, they are intentionally terrorizing American Jews and fomenting antisemitism in other ways. And they know it.
open.substack.com
On this week’s Globalists, Josh White and I discuss what Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dismissal of military head Mykhailo Fedorov means for the conflict, the political stakes, and why a negotiated peace remains as distant as ever despite Donald Trump’s promises thebattleground.substack.com/p/the-russia...
The Russian Front
Ukrainian Turmoil Threatens War Gains
thebattleground.substack.com
The White House announced an agreement to supply nuclear material to Saudi Arabia, and then probably killed it by linking it to normalization with Israel. But even if the deal fails, it will significantly impact Gulf politics. mondoweiss.net/2026/07/the-...
The farce of Trump’s nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia
The White House announced an agreement to supply nuclear material to Saudi Arabia, and then killed its own deal by linking it to normalization with Israel under Israeli pressure. But even if the deal ...
mondoweiss.net
Finally, Neera Tanden speaks about a subject with which she has more experience than just about anyone: losing to Republicans.
Donald Trump has agreed to supply Saudi Arabia with nuclear technology while also agreeing to remove most of the standard safeguards that ensure that such tech can't be used to create a nuclear weapon. Even for Trump, this is reckless, short-sighted, and stupid. youtu.be/LzrsUEC9yGM?...
Saudi Nuclear Deal is Strategically Suicidal
YouTube video by Cutting Through: News and Analysis
youtu.be
As the American war on Iran heats up once again, the threat to the global economy is greater than ever, and there seems to be no way out. In this video I map out what I believe to be an achievable road to end this war. How Do We Get Out of This? An Iran War Proposal youtu.be/Zp_XZ6rlCLc?...
How Do We Get Out of This? An Iran War Proposal
YouTube video by Cutting Through: News and Analysis
youtu.be
The most conservative estimates say that nearly 3500 Iranians have been killed, including many women and women and children. That includes over 110 schoolgirls at the start of the war. So, please fuck all the way off with this kind of obscene, bullying talk, Donnie.
In a Le Monde op-ed, Oman's Badr al-Busaidi argues the West's decades-long policy of "containing" Iran was always misguided, and that the true threat comes from Tel Aviv. Al-Busaidi pushes for a new security order built around regional states. mondoweiss.net/2026/07/oman...
Oman’s Foreign Minister to the West: You’ve been containing the wrong country
In a Le Monde op-ed, Oman’s Badr al-Busaidi argues the West’s decades-long policy of “containing” Iran was always misguided, and that the true threat comes from Tel Aviv. Al-Busaidi pushes for a new s...
mondoweiss.net
Make no mistake. The settlers are not the exception. They are the authority in Israel. At least 4 IDF checkpoints breached by settler activists marching to Gaza border; security forces do little to stop them www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
Settler activists breach at least 4 IDF checkpoints in march to Gaza border; security forces do little to stop them
* * *
timesofisrael.com
As the U.S. war on Iran heats up once again, the threat to the global economy is greater than ever, and there seems to be no way out. I map out an achievable, albeit difficult, road to end this war. How Do We Get Out of This? An Iran War Proposal open.substack.com/pub/mitchell...
How Do We Get Out of This? An Iran War Proposal
As the U.S. war on Iran heats up once again, the threat to the global economy is greater than ever, and there seems to be no way out. I map out an achievable, albeit difficult, road to end this war.
open.substack.com
As the American war on Iran heats up once again, the threat to the global economy is greater than ever, and there seems to be no way out. In this video I map out what I believe to be an achievable road to end this war. How Do We Get Out of This? An Iran War Proposal youtu.be/Zp_XZ6rlCLc?...
How Do We Get Out of This? An Iran War Proposal
YouTube video by Cutting Through: News and Analysis
youtu.be
I had been looking forward to seeing #TheOdyssey But now that I know it was filmed, partly, in Western Sahara, I'll be joining the boycott. Nolan knew what he was doing, he had alternatives, and just decided to contribute materially to this brutal occupation. www.commondreams.org/news/christo...
Calls Grow to Boycott 'The Odyssey,' Filmed in Moroccan-Occupied Western Sahara | Common Dreams
One critic noted that Sahrawis "are beaten, arbitrarily arrested, and have their equipment confiscated for trying to make their own films of life under occupation."
commondreams.org
When Ro Khanna was asked some difficult questions by Jeremy Scahill it shed light on aspects of double standards applied to #Israel and #Palestinians that are too often left unasked. Israeli and Palestinian Violence: American Double Standards thebattleground.eu/2026/07/17/i...
Israeli and Palestinian Violence
American Double Standards
thebattleground.eu
This is great news. It means that AIPAC, like #Israel, is increasingly confined to its proper place, on the extreme right wing of American politics. More and more of the #Democratic party is now free of its influence. For many Dems, their money is poison anyway. jewishinsider.com/2026/07/aipa...
AIPAC ends fundraising for endorsees who voted to cut off Israel aid
The pro-Israel advocacy group now allows its supporters to donate to 178 Republicans and 72 Democrats running for Congress
jewishinsider.com
If you want to find out how your representative voted on this amendment, and contact them to either praise or admonish them, here is the roll call clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026243
Roll Call 243 Roll Call 243, Bill Number: H. R. 8595, 119th Congress, 2nd Session
VOTE QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Amendment, AMENDMENT AUTHOR: Massie of Kentucky Part A Amendment No. 8, VOTE TYPE: Recorded Vote, STATUS: Failed
clerk.house.gov
Mitchell Plitnick@mjplitnick.bsky.social · 3w agoThe House defeated Massie's amendment to strip $3.3 billion of aid to Israel. But more than half of Democrats either voted for the amendment (48%) or voted present/not voting. That is a MASSIVE shift in the politics of aid to Israel, one that would have been unfathomable just a few years ago.
Please, do continue to tell me all about this "only democracy in the Middle East." www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Sources: Netanyahu gov't seeks to limit expats from flying into Israel to vote
Transportation Ministry officials, concerned that tens of thousands of Israelis could return to the country to vote for parties that do not support PM Netanyahu, are considering to curb non-scheduled ...
haaretz.com
