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Feb 18, 2026 - World

America is on the brink of a full-scale war with Iran — but no one is willing to say exactly why, including the occupant of the Oval Office.But there are clues.The U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is en route from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East. It should arrive there within days. The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and three guided-missile destroyers are already there.As the world’s largest armada assembles near Iran, a second round of talks between the U.S. and Iran has just concluded, apparently without getting anywhere. Meanwhile, Tehran is conducting military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial choke point for the world’s oil.Americans have never had exceedingly long attention spans, but the last year of Trump “flooding the zone” has further shortened them. To refresh memories:In late June, Trump claimed that U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites had been “a spectacular military success” and that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.” He told reporters that “Iran’s not going to have a nuclear weapon. I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now.”Nearly six months later, in early January, when Iranians took to the streets, Trump warned that if Iran threatened protesters’ lives, the U.S. would “come to their rescue.” He said: “We are locked and loaded, and ready to go.”As the reported death toll in the protests soared into the hundreds, Trump urged the protesters to take over Iranian institutions and log the names of their “killers and abusers.” “HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he posted in all caps. “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!.”Yet despite reports that as many as 3,428 Iranians had been killed and that more executions were imminent, no help was on its way. Many Iranians said they felt betrayed and confused by Trump’s failure to act.By the fourth week of January, Trump once again talked about Iran, saying, “We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case.”In case of what? By then the death toll in Iran was said to be more than 5,000 (some reports had it many times higher), but Trump no longer even mentioned Iran’s brutal crackdown.On Jan. 28, with U.S. ships assembling in the Middle East, Trump said of the armada, “like with Venezuela, it is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”What exactly was this “mission?” And why did Trump compare it to the mission in Venezuela? It was a clue.Last week, Trump warned that the U.S. would attack Iran unless it made a “deal” and has “NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS.”But the Trump regime’s apparent objectives have shifted once again.Yesterday — after a second round of talks between Iran and the United States concluded in Geneva without any breakthrough, and Iran insisted that the talks be strictly limited to its nuclear program — U.S. officials said they’re pushing to curb all of Iran’s ballistic missiles and its support of militias across the region.In an interview with Fox News, JD Vance said the Iranians aren’t acknowledging some “red lines” that Trump has set, but Vance didn’t say what those red lines were.***I wouldn’t be as worried if we had a thoughtful person in the Oval Office, a competent secretary of defense, and a secretary of state who seemed to be in charge.But we don’t have any of them.The United States is being represented in the talks by “Special Envoy” Steve Witkoff (whose son is the chief executive of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company, nearly half of which was purchased last year for $500 million by an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates). And by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner (who’s been making private deals with the Saudis and who raised several billion dollars before Trump’s second term from overseas investors including sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates).No one from the State Department. Nobody from the National Security Council. No one who knows much of anything about Iran.So what’s the real goal?On Friday, in a little-noticed remark, Trump said “the best thing that could happen” in Iran would be regime change, noting “there are people” who could take over from Iran’s Islamic ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Bingo.Trump promised his MAGA base that he wouldn’t be involved in seeking regime changes abroad. But that was before he abducted Venezuela’s Nicholás Maduro and replaced him with Maduro’s vice president.Yet regime change in Iran would be far, far more difficult to pull off than regime change in Venezuela. The Middle East has demonstrated that it can swallow up America, even with the largest fighting force in the world. Anyone remember Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and … Iran?Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Pope Leo XIV rejected President Donald Trump's invitation to join his Board of Peace with a serious response, according to reports Wednesday. The Vatican issued a statement and declined the White House's January request, making it clear that the leader of the Roman Catholic Church does not want to be involved with Trump's Gaza project, The New Republic reported.The Vatican’s secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that the Pope expressed several concerns and "will not participate," The Independent reported.“For us, there are ... some critical issues that should be resolved,” Parolin told reporters. “One concern is that, at the international level, it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”The Pope has been critical of the president and his administration. He was among several world leaders invited to participate on the board and "supervise the ceasefire in Gaza and coordinate the strip’s reconstruction following the conflict between Hamas and Israel," according to The Independent. Trump has also said that the board would look to address global clashes, but some have viewed his move as an attempt to add an "alternative multilateral forum to the UN," which Trump has long complained about. The Pope has disagreed with Trump's move. In September, he made a subtle comment calling out the president, saying “someone who says ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”And in November, the Pope, who is also the first American-born Vatican leader, went into further detail in his criticism. “I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice,” the Pope said.“But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least—and there’s been some violence unfortunately—I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,” he said. “I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.”As of now, only 19 countries have joined Trump's board, including Argentina, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Both Israel and Russia — countries that are both accused of war crimes — have been offered invitations but only Israel has decided to join the board so far."The Vatican and the pope’s rejection will hurt the board’s credibility, but that isn’t likely to change Trump’s mind," according to The New Republic.

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Without AI you will be a ‘weaker and poorer nation’, says former UK chancellor two months into job at US firmThe former chancellor George Osborne has said countries that do not embrace the kind of powerful AI systems made by his new employer, OpenAI, risk “Fomo” and could be left weaker and poorer.Osborne, who is two months into a job as head of the $500bn San Francisco AI company’s “for countries” programme, told leaders gathered for the AI Impact summit in Delhi: “Don’t be left behind.” He said that without AI rollouts they could end up with a workforce “less willing to stay put” because they might want to seek AI-enabled fortunes elsewhere. Continue reading...

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Argentina's President Javier Milei set off Wednesday for his 14th trip to the United States to take part in the inaugural session of U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative. He is also expected to attend Trump's regional summit in Miami on March 7 with Latin American leaders aligned with the White House's political agenda.

Feb 18, 2026 - World

The U.N. Security Council is holding a high-level meeting Wednesday on the Gaza ceasefire deal and Israel's efforts to expand control in the West Bank before world leaders head to Washington to discuss the future of the Palestinian territories at the first gathering of President Donald Trump's Board of Peace.