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Rational Security

The “Doodle Ordinance” Edition

Rational Security

The Lawfare Institute

Foreignpolicy, Nationalsecurity, News, Government, Politics, Middleeast

4.82K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2025

⏱️ 78 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, Scott sat down with his Lawfare colleagues Natalie Orpett, Tyler McBrien, and Daniel Byman to talk through the week’s big national security news, including:

  • “Borderline Behavior.” A major flare-up over the disputed region of Kashmir took place this past week, leading to a major exchange of hostilities between the nuclear powers of India and Pakistan before they agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire—one that is mostly holding, despite alleged violations on both sides. How durable a resolution does this seem likely to be? And what additional steps need to be taken to preserve peace?
  • “Parting Ways.” President Trump announced a major change to U.S. policies in the Red Sea this week, in the form of a ceasefire with the Yemeni armed group and de facto government Ansar Allah (also known as the Houthis), in which they would cease attacks on U.S. shipping. But the credibility of this commitment is in doubt, as are the implications of U.S. actions for shipping through the Red Sea more broadly. What should we make of this major policy shift? 
  • “First Class Problems.” President Trump announced this week that he would be accepting the gift of a luxury jet from the government of Qatar for use as Air Force One during his presidency, which would then be transferred to his foundation shortly before he leaves office in 2029. How big a problem is this? And how can he accept this gift, given that the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits “accept[ing]...any present…of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State”?

In Object Lessons, Tyler delighted in the Financial Times’s trolling of its own “Lunch with the FT,” in which Sam Altman’s kitchen and gross misuse of olive oil becomes a bizarre metaphor for OpenAI. Natalie delighted in some hometown, Pope-town pride (and some Lou Malnati's pizza). Scott delighted in discovering both Dolcezza and their affogato with decaf espresso, a dessert for those who crave flavor and excitement but who also like sleep. And Dan, in utterly failing his wife, delighted in reaping the benefits of her Mother’s Day gift: a little contraption that sits somewhere between wellness hack and medieval torture rack.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

How would you spend 200 million pounds?

0:04.3

I'm Sorrell and I'm back for season two of the insanely lavish,

0:08.0

rich beyond my wildest dreams podcast,

0:10.0

where hilarious guests get their hands on an imaginary 200 million pound jackpot

0:14.4

on Euro millions from the National Lottery.

0:16.7

I would buy tickets to go and see Backstreet Boys in the sphere.

0:19.1

I'd buy the sphere. What are we talking about?

0:21.1

The bougier, the better.

0:22.9

Turns into a lunatic with all this money.

0:26.2

I'm trying to buy Europe.

0:27.8

So get ready for confetti cannons, champagne, giant checks,

0:31.3

and some of the most outrageous ways a person could possibly spend a 200 million pound fortune.

0:37.8

Jakuzy karaoke?

0:39.3

Jakuzy.

0:40.3

Karaokezzi.

0:41.3

You can get that Euro millions feeling every Friday by searching for Rich Beyond My Wildest

0:47.3

Dreams on all podcasting apps, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

0:55.3

Dan, I could be wrong. I think I saw you at a park this week, and I was juggling babies and

1:01.2

barbecue, but there was a man trying to hide a semblance of yours, says celebrity status underneath

1:06.7

a hat and sunglasses walking two dogs. Could that have been you? Is a Georgetown t-shirt,

1:11.3

which was a bit of a giveaway. It kind of broke the disguise. Well, I live in Chevy Chase,

1:16.1

and there's actually a statutory requirement that you have to have a doodle if you live in the area.

...

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