On What Really Matters, Walter Russell Mead discusses Anthropic’s standoff with the Pentagon, whether munitions being used in Iran are really drawing down United States stockpiles in other theaters, the Central Intelligence Agency’s attempt to arm a Kurdish rebellion, the cards the ayatollahs still have left to play, and Trump’s war with the Tuckerverse.
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155 shell bodies sit on a pallet at General Dynamics ready to be shipped on August 20, 2025, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)