TGIF: Bad for Business Class

Hello, and welcome back to the news. If you’re in the market for an evening out in NYC on March 10, Kat Rosenfield is talking about her new book, How to Survive in the Woods, with none other than Suzy Weiss. I have it on good authority, meaning Suzy is manifesting it, that this will be an unofficial Free Press singles mixer in addition to a book talk. Tickets are here!

And now, to the week that was:

→ Are you monitoring the situation?: Two U.S. E-3 Sentry radar aircraft en route to Saudi Arabia. Russian Il-76TD aircraft in Iran. A U.S. Air Force KC-46A Pegasus tanker, call sign ROMA11, attempting an Atlantic crossing alongside six F-22 Raptors from Langley Air Force Base, marking a third try after two earlier tanker-related aborts. Which is all to say: Are you monitoring the situation?

Do you have your laptop, external monitor, and phone open to see where the Pegasus tanker is today? As America looks to alarm Iran—and potentially strike it—we are inundated with real-time information. The Situation Room is now the Situation Planet, and any man with internet is a four-star general. What used to be really hard to do (real-time tracking military aircraft and tanks) is now insanely easy. And so there are many, many OPSEC (operations security) accounts sharing OSINT (open-source intelligence) that just let you watch war unfold, refold, and unfold again (never-ending hellscape). The average American dad can have more information about global military movements than Churchill had on any given day. It’s 2026, and we are all OPSEC experts. About once a week, an unnamed member of my household pulls up one of these accounts and announces that WAR WITH IRAN IS TONIGHT. (Yes, it’s my 3-year-old.) War with Iran is never tonight, and yet every night I wait.

Regardless of which tonight the war will start, I salute everyone who is monitoring the situation. And for those who aren’t, I recommend this OSINT account for beginners. Now get to your command stations! Do not abandon your post, cadet!

→ Quote of the week: Donald J. Trump at the inaugural Board of Peace gathering this week said: “President Peña of Paraguay is here. President. President, thank you very much. Young, handsome guy. It’s always nice to be young and handsome. Doesn’t mean we have to like you. I don’t like young, handsome men. ...