Dexter Filkins, your latest article was called on the warpath.

Do you think the U.S. is on the warpath?

Maybe.

Maybe.

What, you know, Trotsky said, you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.

And that's always true.

Dexter Filkins is a writer at The New Yorker.

He reports on foreign policy, national security.

He's the kind of guy who can quote Trotsky, and it just feels right.

I think it's fair to say there are three places where the United States kind of taking a stick out.

Yeah, how many simmering conflicts do we have right now?

Well, they're just, you know, they're simmering. So, so there's no, no shots are being fired,

but North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela. And kind of all those are just kind of right out front. Two of

them are genuinely problematic, North Korea and Venezuela. You know, Venezuela is imploding, and North Korea, nobody knows what to do. Iran, I'm a little puzzled by the belligerents, but basically three places. They've kind of taken the stick out.

Yeah, where would you focus us? Because, I mean, I feel like the news this week is about Iran. But it seems like every week there's a new, we're turning up the heat on some new pot.

Yes.

I mean, I think it, you know, it depends on what happens in those places, too.

It turns out a lot is happening in those places.

The Department of Defense is claiming to have intelligence that shows Iran is preparing to attack American forces.

And the White House has started reviewing plans to send more than 100,000 troops to the Middle East, just in case.

They're looking for ways to hurt the regime.

I mean, they said it to me themselves.

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