Wars of Choice

The Commentary Magazine Podcast

Commentary Magazine

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2026

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's Friday, and we still don't understand exactly what is going on with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, so instead we discuss unfair comparisons between this conflict and Putin's war in Ukraine, the historical context of so-called "wars of choice," the strange absences from the jacket of Rachel Goldberg-Polin's book, and the Pulitzer prize awarded to photographs from a since-retracted New York Times story. Plus, Seth recommends Ulrich Boschwitz's The Passenger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the best.
0:07.0	Expect the worst.
0:10.0	Some drinks can make, some die of birds.
0:14.0	The way of knowing which way it's going.
0:18.0	Hope for the best, expect the worst. Welcome to the commentary magazine Daily Podcast.
0:25.5	Today is Friday, May 8th, 2026.
0:28.5	I'm John Podhorst, the editor of Commentary Magazine.
0:31.0	With me, as always, executive editor, Abe Greenwald.
0:33.2	Hi, Abe.
0:34.2	Hi, Joan.
0:35.5	Senior editor Seth Manbell.
0:37.0	Hi, Seth. Hi, John. Senior editor Seth Mandel. Hi, Seth.
0:38.2	Hi, John.
0:39.0	And social commentary columnist Christine Rosen.
0:41.9	Hi, Christine.
0:43.2	Hi, John.
0:46.4	We don't understand what is now going on around the straight of form moves in and around Iran with Trump and Iran.
0:57.0	The idea that Trump was peddling yesterday that the ceasefire is still holding while we were
1:02.1	firing on Iranian ships, or maybe Iranian ships were firing on us, or we intercepted fire from
1:08.3	Iranian ships, seems to redefine the word ceasefire to mean a war,
1:16.4	but my head is exploding. There's news this morning that the Iranians have seized a tanker
1:23.9	on their own, but then reports followed that that said that the tanker that they seized
	...

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