Any hope to say something definitive about the US/Israel-Iran war – whether it is heading towards a peaceful resolution or sliding toward a renewal of fighting – is not possible at this moment. President Trump has made contradictory statements throughout Sunday, and has made claims about Iranian concessions to US demands that Iran promptly has denied.
A main difference between Trump and Iran includes a difference about what they are talking about. In a nutshell, Iran has consistently put forward a package of proposals that would deal with means to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz first, and to postpone to a second stage of negotiations complicated issues such as Iran’s nuclear program. The Trump people sometimes act as though this is OK, but at other times demand agreements on all points at issue before a permanent ceasefire is established.
Moreover, while Trump (falsely) asserts that Iran’s government is divided and incoherent, this afternoon’s news reports on a revolt of “war hawk” Republicans against any concessions short of an Iranian “surrender.” A similar problem concerns Iran’s demand that a “ceasefire” means an end to Israel’s invasion and bombardment of Lebanon. By refusing to comply with even a US demand that the war on Lebanon be stopped, Israel is in a position to keep the war going indefinitely, which is clearly its goal.
At the end of the day, the pressure from US allies threatened with economic chaos and an American people strongly opposed the war has painted Trump into a corner from which he cannot escape by simply restarting the war. Some of the essays linked below examine Trump’s dilemma and the possibility that he will decide to cut his losses and end the war on terms that can only be described as a defeat for his initial aspirations. But, alas, who can predict what this seriously disturbed autocrat will do?
COMMENTS ON “WAR OR PEACE WITH IRAN?”
Warmongers in Meltdown as Trump Heralds Iran Deal
By Trita Parsi, Substack [May 23, 2026]
---- If this arrangement is merely a Memorandum of Understanding, where do the principal vulnerabilities lie as negotiations enter a second phase? Moreover, can Trump successfully sell the deal at home? What steps can — and likely will — Israel take to sabotage the agreement? And if a final deal is secured, how profound would Israel’s strategic defeat be? Let me try to address these questions one by one. First of all, the full details remain unclear. But according to reporting by Amwaj.media —much of which I have independently corroborated — the agreement entails a comprehensive cessation of hostilities, including in Lebanon; the gradual release of Iran’s frozen assets; and an end to America’s “blockade of the blockade” in the Strait of Hormuz. Maritime traffic through the Strait would resume under joint Iranian and Omani oversight. Once these measures take effect, the parties would have an additional 30 days to negotiate a final agreement. That second-stage accord is expected to address both the nuclear issue and the long-term status of the Strait. Significant progress, however, already appears to have been made on the nuclear file, and, as I understand it, broad principles for its resolution have largely been agreed upon. … Judging by the public panic now emanating from Washington’s war hawks and pro-Israel circles, however, the next 30 days are likely to be politically brutal for Trump. FDD is already openly attacking him. AIPAC is amplifying lawmakers denouncing the agreement. An adviser to the former Crown Prince of Iran has accused Trump of “total surrender.” Many of the same allies who enthusiastically applauded Trump’s decision to initiate the war are now turning on him for choosing diplomacy over permanent escalation. … There should be little doubt, however, that if a final agreement is reached — and any lasting agreement will almost certainly require substantial, if not total, sanctions relief for Iran — it would constitute a devastating strategic defeat for Tel Aviv. [Read More]
With signs of a possible Iran deal within reach, pressure is mounting on Trump to return to war
By Mitchell Plitnick, Mondoweiss [May 23, 2026]
---- The U.S.-Israeli war of choice on Iran continues to be enormously unpopular in the United States. The latest polling shows a consistent majority of around 60% of Americans opposing the war. Yet U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten to resume bombing Iran, and many people believe he is going to go through with it, even though there are, once again, reports that there may be real potential for a viable deal. Why would Trump then consider going back to full-scale war, knowing what it is costing him politically? … The pressures to return to war are mounting quickly. Israel is engaged in an all-out push to reenlist the U.S. in fighting, Iran is indicating its window for making a deal might be closing, and countries around the world are showing an increased urgency to open the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s sudden interest in cutting a deal with Iran may indicate he is trying to avoid returning to all-out war before these pressures become overwhelming. [Read More]
Iran Is Prepared for a Return to War and Wary of US Talks
By Arron Reza Merat, Jacobin Magazine [May 2026]
---- Neither the US nor its allies are ready to deal with the consequences of an escalation of their war with Iran. Yet Donald Trump has painted himself into a corner, and it’s unclear whether he has a face-saving way out. Iran is bracing itself for a second round of US and Israeli hostilities following a swirl of bellicose social media posts from Donald Trump. On May 17, the president posted an AI image of himself with his hand on a large red button and made another post warning Iran that “the clock is ticking,” before claiming on May 18 to have called off a planned attack due to lobbying by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait. These Gulf nations had, Trump said, requested “two or three days, a short period of time” for negotiations taking place via Pakistan between Washington and Tehran to bear fruit. While nothing Trump says can now be taken at face value, the wild rhetorical maneuvering implies either an imminent breakthrough in the negotiations now taking place through Pakistan or, more likely, a deadlock. [Read More]
NEWS NOTES
Appearing this week on Democracy Now!.. AI expert Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI, updates us on the dangers of AI and the fierce combat between AI mega-corporations for dominance of their industry., as well as opposition from grassroots groups, which have successfully stalled $100 billion worth of AI projects. Hao also introduces to a new project called The AI Resist List, which she recently launched with a group of fellow journalists, researchers and technologists. It’s a collaborative project to track and reshape how artificial intelligence is deployed around the world. Interesting & user-friendly, imo.
New York’s Israel Day Parade will happen next Sunday. Ha’aretz [Israel] writer Gideon Lvey asks “Why New York’s walk of shame still salutes Israel in 2026?” “How can you continue parading as if nothing happened,” he asks, “as if Israel has not committed crimes, as if it hasn’t turned into a pariah state across the world and only in New York you march, waving its flag? Are you not ashamed?” Read more from Ha’aretz.
Kevin Gosztola has been one of our most creative independent journalists. Perhaps taking a breather, one of his projects now is movies. His current offering highlights a new package from the Criterion Channel about “corporate thrillers.” What do these films say about the “free market,” he asks, noting that “the curated collection of 11 films from the United States spans a quarter century, from the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s to the 2008 financial crisis that sparked a recession and massive bailouts for “too big to fail” banks.” “Within each of these thrillers,” he says,” the seeds of Trumpism, which first took hold of the U.S. government in 2016, can be found. Check it out.
This week’s recommended reading focuses on the new book by acclaimed artist Molly Crabapple. It’s a history of the Jewish Bund, the socialist movement of working-class Jews formed in 1897, the same year as the Zionist project. The book’s title, Where We Live is Our Country, highlights the difference between the Bund and the Zionists, with the Bund seeking to build of world of dignity and equality where they lived (what would soon be restored as Poland), rather than fleeing as settler-colonists to Palestine. Much of the story follows Crabapple’s great-grandfather Sam Rothbort, an early member of the Bund and an artist of working-class life in both Europe and the Lower East Side, where many Bundists ended up. The book is a love letter to these stalwarts for socialism and combatants against fascists and the Nazi occupation during World War II. What heroes they were! And how tragic the destruction of the Bund and its people. I loved the book and recommend it.
MAYOR MAMDANI
Mamdani Toughens New York’s Response to ICE, as Arrests Rise by 71%
By Emma Goldberg, New York Times [May 22, 2026]
---- Mayor Zohran Mamdani has directed his agencies to do more to actively protect New York City’s immigrant populations, following a City Hall audit of how city officials have been responding to President Trump’s aggressive deportation tactics. The audit, released on Friday, was aimed at measuring how agencies have been following the city’s so-called sanctuary laws, which prohibit cooperation between city personnel and federal immigration officials. The report revealed a dramatic increase of immigration enforcement actions in New York City under the second Trump administration. There were 5,567 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 10, 2026, a 71 percent increase from the same number of days under the Biden administration. Over half of these arrests were made at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, where asylum hearings, citizenship applications and mandated ICE check-ins are held, according to the report. … In December, the city Department of Investigation published a report finding that a New York police officer had assisted ICE, sharing information about people wanted by federal immigration authorities. In September, D.O.I. published another report finding similar collusion with ICE at the Department of Correction. [Read More]
CFOW NUTS & BOLTS
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Weather permitting we meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) The Northwest Yonkers Neighbors for Black Lives Matter holds a Monday afternoon vigil at 5:30 pm at the corner of Warburton Ave and Odell. The CFOW newsletter can be read on Substack, and is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook group. Another Facebook group focuses on the climate crisis. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. If you would like to support our work by making a CONTRIBUTION, please make out your check to “Frank Brodhead,” write “CFOW” on the memo line, and send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks.
REWARDS!
In putting together today’s newsletter, I was distracted by the songs of Randy Newman, and so, stalwart readers, I share some with you. The simple song “Sail Away” nails slavery to America. “Louisiana 1927” captures the tragedy of the South’s “poor whites.” “Kingfish” captures the “share the wealth” rhetoric addressed to these poor whites by Gov. Huey Long, whose popularity was cut short by an assassin. Many more Randy Newman songs on-line, enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW WEEKLY READER
FEATURED ARTICLES & ESSAYS
The Civil Rights Era Is Collapsing Before Our Eyes
By Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times [May 22, 2026]
---- Voting and civil rights experts warn that America now sits at a familiar precipice. The Voting Rights Act helped transform the South: In 1965, the region had not a single Black representative in the U.S. Congress; today, it has 31. Now, Black representation may once again disappear in the South, where more than half of Black Americans live. This could lead to the largest decimation of Black political power since the fall of Reconstruction. And just like then, what is at stake is no less than American democracy itself. … Black Americans would spend nearly a century after Reconstruction’s demise fighting and dying to restore the rights they had lost, especially the right that secures all others: voting. Most Americans know the culmination of this effort as the civil rights movement, which led to the passage of the landmark civil rights legislation of 1964, 1965 and 1968. But many scholars also describe this period as the start of the Second Reconstruction. If that’s the case, we may be witnessing the Second Redemption. Today’s Supreme Court has thrown open the door for this, using the same logic as before — that efforts to ensure Black political representation illegally discriminate against white Americans. [Read More]
Utah’s fragile desert could feel like the Sahara if America’s biggest data center gets built
By Leia Larsen, Grist [May 23, 2026]
---- Plans for a celebrity-backed “hyperscale” data center in rural Utah, so massive that it would consume more than double the state’s current electricity use, have generated an intense public and political backlash in a state where the motto is “industry” and a Republican supermajority tends to be deferential to development. The project, brought by “Shark Tank” TV personality Kevin O’Leary, would span 40,000 acres, demand 9 gigawatts of power once completed, and raise the state’s carbon emissions by 64 percent, according to estimates. While its water needs remain unknown, the sprawling data center would neighbor the northernmost tip of the shrinking Great Salt Lake, which will likely hit a record-low elevation this year following an unprecedented dry winter. The controversy in Utah is a stark illustration of a wider trend. Across the United States, data centers are drawing bipartisan backlash as communities clash with tech giants and developers over strained water supplies and spiking energy costs. … [Climate scientist] Davies thinks dumping that much heat into Hansel Valley will raise local temperatures by 5 degrees F during the day and up to 28 degrees at night. “That’s the difference between Utah’s semi-arid climate and the Sahara Desert,” said Ben Abbott, an ecology professor at Brigham Young University who has reviewed Davies’ estimates. “This would absolutely change the landscape.” [Read More].
ALSO OF INTEREST - “Building an AI Data Center in Pine Island, Minnesota,” by Thomas John Weber, Paris Review [May 21, 2026] [Link]; and “The Fight Against Data Centers,” by Vincent Emanuele, Znet [May 21, 2026] [Link].
(Video) “They’re Trying to Silence Us”: Students, Faculty on Censoring Pro-Palestine Voices at Graduations
From Democracy Now! [May 21, 2026]
---- As colleges hold graduation ceremonies across the country, many schools are attempting to silence pro-Palestine speech at the commemorations, including canceling speakers and eliminating live speeches by students altogether. There will be no live student speakers at the City University of New York’s School of Law or at New York University’s school-specific ceremonies after former students gave speeches that included expressing support for Palestine and criticism of Israel. Rutgers University canceled biotech CEO Rami Elghandour’s commencement speech at its School of Engineering’s convocation, citing complaints about his social media posts on Israel and Palestine. And the University of Michigan’s president issued a public apology after professor Derek Peterson praised pro-Palestine students during his commencement address. “Our students are being told that your families, your Palestinian families, are expected to suffer and die, and you should be OK with it,” says Noura Erakat, a Palestinian human rights attorney and professor at Rutgers University. Erakat adds that Rutgers professors have been asked not to teach about the conditions in Gaza. “We are asked to betray the empirical record, including the one on genocide and apartheid, and we refuse to do that.” “This will be the third graduation and commencement ceremony in a row where we do not have a student speaker, we do not have a faculty speaker and we do not have a live-stream commencement,” says Shivani Desai, a member of CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine. “They took all of that away from us, and they took that away specifically because of Palestine repression.” [See the Program]
‘How Do You Curate a genocide?’
By Oren Ziv, +972 Magazine [May 21, 2026]
---- Marred by protests over Israel’s inclusion, the Venice Biennale is hosting an exhibit with 100 works of Palestinian embroidery based on harrowing images from Gaza. Curator Faisal Saleh discusses how it came to life. … As protests disrupted the Biennale’s turbulent opening days, thousands of visitors — including many tourists who had not come to Venice for the festival itself — passed through the centrally located free exhibition each day. Moving through the gallery, viewers recognized the haunting images on which the embroidered works are based. Up close, the intricate stitching draws the eye, but as the viewer steps back, a full image is revealed. Each embroidered panel recreates an image from Israel’s genocide in Gaza and was handmade by Palestinian women living in refugee camps across the West Bank, Lebanon, and Jordan. Together, the panels form what organizers call “the Gaza genocide tapestry.” In an interview at the exhibition, Saleh spoke with +972 Magazine about the process of conceptualizing and executing the project within one of the world’s most politically charged artistic spaces. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. [Read More]
THE WAR ON PALESTINE
Gaza Enters ‘Most Dangerous’ Famine Phase as Aid Shortfalls Deepen Economic Collapse
From Palestine Chronicle [May 21, 2026]
---- The Government Media Office in Gaza warned that Israeli restrictions continue using food, medicine and humanitarian assistance as pressure tools against more than two million Palestinians living under increasingly severe conditions. According to the office, aid deliveries since the ceasefire agreement have fallen significantly below required levels. Officials said more than 131,000 aid trucks were expected to enter Gaza following the ceasefire, but only around 48,600 reportedly arrived, representing approximately 37 percent of planned deliveries. The situation reportedly deteriorated further during May. Between May 1 and May 18, officials said approximately 10,800 trucks were expected, while only 2,719 entered Gaza, reducing implementation levels to roughly one quarter of expected deliveries. [Read More]
ALSO OF INTEREST - “Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Continues: Hospitals, Water, Bread Lacking,” by Juan Cole, Informed Comment [May 22, 2026] [Link]; and “How a New Israeli Policy Cuts Off Humanitarian Aid in Gaza,” by Clayton Dalton, The New Yorker [May 15, 2026] [Link].
The Numbers Behind the ‘Sacred Work’ of Cleansing West Bank Palestinians for Future Jewish Villas
By Amira Hass, Ha’aretz [Israel] [May 20, 2026]
---- Since January 2023, entire families have packed up their belongings and left the areas where they grew up, places in which they invested their labor and their hopes. Some 2,000 people, including 900 children, have been forced to leave in just the past four and a half months. 45 communities have been dismantled entirely, including nine so far this year … 5,375 – that’s the number of attacks Jewish Israeli civilians committed in the West Bank between the start of 2023 and just over a week ago. These are attacks that ended in dead and wounded Palestinians and/or thefts of sheep and damage to animals, plants, property and livelihood. They don’t include the times when these ambassadors of hatred and supremacy merely engaged in intimidation and provocation, without killing, stealing, torching homes, cutting down trees or trampling over fields. [Read More]
The Biggest Israel-Palestine Story You Haven’t Heard About
By Jason Diamond Nathaniel, Substack [May 24, 2026]
---- There’s a vote with massive implications for both the West Bank and Gaza coming up in Israel that has received virtually no mainstream coverage in the U.S. In part, that’s because the bill in question is framed as narrow legislation about archaeology. More broadly, it reflects a sustained failure of the press to tell the story of Israel’s annexation drive over the past three years. But this is what annexation actually looks like in practice—and understanding it is essential to understanding the central Israeli project of land theft and ethnic cleansing. … Today, inside the Knesset, archaeology is emerging as a key front in the settlers’ coup. To understand why, it’s helpful to have some background on the central role that the discipline has long played in the Zionist project, as a tool of both soft and hard power. [Read More]
THE FLOTILLA TO GAZA
Global Sumud Flotilla Volunteers Recount Abuse on ‘Torture Boat’
Press release from the Flotilla, May 22, 2026
---- Participants from the Global Sumud Flotilla, now in Istanbul, have begun providing harrowing testimony about widespread abuse, assault and torture: rubber bullets fired at close range, tasers to the face and upper body, stun grenades thrown into groups of detainees, stress positions held for hours under permanent bright light, hijabs (Muslim religious headcovers) forcibly removed, as well as various forms of sexual violence including: humiliating strip searches, sexual taunting, groping and pulling of genitals, and multiple accounts of rape. Some of the most horrifying accounts centre on a single vessel that participants call the “torture boat. ” This specific Israeli naval vessel with a makeshift prison constructed of barbed wire and metal shipping containers became the primary site of intense violence following the interception; this reflects a small fraction of the patterns of systemic violence and sexual abuse against the Palestinian people at the hands of the israeli regime for decades. [Learn More]
THE WAR ON CUBA
(Video) Is an Invasion of Cuba Next? The U.S. Move to Indict Raúl Castro & CIA’s Widening Role
From Democracy Now! [May 20, 2026]
---- In the latest escalation of the decades-long U.S. pressure campaign against Cuba’s communist government, the Trump administration is expected to unseal an indictment against Raúl Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba, later today. The charges stem from the 1996 shootdown of four pilots with Brothers to the Rescue, the U.S.-based anti-Castro organization formed by Cuban exiles and dissidents. Peter Kornbluh, a Cuba specialist at the National Security Archive, says that the indictment will send “a clear warning” to Cuban leaders and provide justification for a possible future attempt to capture or assassinate Castro. “Military options are on the table and coming soon,” says Kornbluh. “It is absolutely clear that the U.S. military is preparing contingency operations in case Trump’s impatience runs out because Cuba has not met his imperial demands fast enough.” [See the Program]
ALSO OF INTEREST - “The Indictment of Raúl Castro: A New Low in U.S. Cuba Policy,” by Medea Benjamin, Code Pink [May 22, 2026] [Link]; and “Rubio Says Chance of a ‘Peaceful Agreement’ With Cuba Is ‘Not High’”, by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com [May 21, 2026] [Link].
THE CLIMATE CRISIS
A Powerful El Niño Is Forming. If History Is a Guide, It Could Hit Hard.
By Chico Harlan, New York Times [May 21, 2026]
----El Niño is the name given to powerful shifts in Pacific Ocean winds and water temperatures that can drastically transform global weather patterns. Over the centuries these natural patterns have sparked epic droughts and heat waves, and have intensified epidemics. … Right now, the world is entering a new El Niño phase. Researchers are warning it could be one of the strongest on record and are invoking this history as an admonition that natural forces, when they reach their highest magnitude, can lead to profound volatility and hardship. Of course, the current El Niño is in the early stages of formation and might not live up to the hype. But if the forecasts prove accurate, it would be a whopper and its consequences would play out across a world that has grown far more resilient but also has new vulnerabilities. … El Niño events typically peak in strength late in a calendar year, and then cause warmer global temperatures on land in the months that follow. As a result, many scientists predict that 2027 will be the warmest year on record. Every El Niño is distinct. But in general, it makes for wetter conditions in some parts of the Americas while suppressing the Atlantic hurricane season. The phenomenon raises the risk of dryness in South and Southeast Asia, Australia, and southern Africa. [Read More]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Don’t fall for it: Congress must reject the $1.5 trillion war budget
By David Vine, Responsible Statecraft [May 20, 2026]
---- Rather than focusing on addressing Americans’ economic insecurity, Trump has shown repeatedly that he wants to focus the wealth and attention of the federal government on war and collaborating with Israel to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, despite the fact that Iran has not sought to build a bomb since 2003, according to the U.S. intelligence community. In April, the president said at a private event that it’s “not possible” for the federal government to fund Medicare, Medicaid, and child care, saying states should “take care” of those costs. “We’re fighting wars,” he said. Trump has indicated his intention to continue fighting wars with his proposal to fund the largest military budget in U.S. history $1,500,000,000,000 ($1.5 trillion). This would send two-thirds of next year’s federal discretionary budget to what he calls the “Department of War” (which is actually more honest than the official name, the Department of Defense). $1.5 trillion would be around a 50% increase over this year’s military budget and on par in real terms with the largest military budgets during World War II. [Read More]
ALSO OF INTEREST - “Poll finds nearly three-quarters of Democratic voters oppose aid to Israel,” from Al Jazeera [May 21, 2026] [Link]; and “US employers spend more than $1.5bn a year to fight labor unions, report finds,” by Michael Sainato, The Guardian [UK] [May 22, 2026] [Link].
OUR HISTORY
Israel is the enduring legacy of Western anti-Semitism
By Tony Karon, Substack [May 13, 2026]
---- There are many, many reasons to read, reread, and study her exquisite and vital history of the Bund — I’ll probably keep circling back on them, because there really is so much to digest in this book. I’ve never read such a vivid and vivifying history of the revolutionary struggles in the old Tsarist empire — having read so many deadening histories of the debates in the Petrograd Soviet etc. etc. ad nauseum, I’m utterly in awe of her craft, her ability (hewn in part from many years of her own activism to the organizational drudgery of which she clearly brings an artist’s life-affirming imagination) to channel so much of what it felt like to be there. Her pen breathes an emotional complexity rare in the writing of history into the characters in these great historical dramas from the Russian Revolutions, both (well, all three), to Warsaw Ghetto fighters choosing to die on their feet fighting back, like Gaza’s youth (a connection she draws repeatedly, as did the legendary Bundist Warsaw Ghetto fighter Marek Edelman many years later). [Read More]
An Interview with Susan Sontag, 1995
With Edward Hirsch, Paris Review [Winter 1995] [h/t JG]
---- Sontag was interviewed in her Manhattan apartment on three blisteringly hot days in July of 1994. She had been traveling back and forth to Sarajevo, and it was gracious of her to set aside time for the interview. Sontag is a prodigious talker—candid, informal, learned, ardent—and each day at a wooden kitchen table held forth for seven- and eight-hour stretches. The kitchen is a mixed-use room, but the fax machine and the photocopier were silent; the telephone seldom rang. The conversation ranged over a vast array of subjects—later the texts would be scoured and revised—but always returned to the pleasures and distinctions of literature. Sontag is interested in all things concerning writing—from the mechanism of the process to the high nature of the calling. She has many missions, but foremost among them is the vocation of the writer. Read More]
