Welcome for the best, expect the worst, some drinks campaign, some die of first, no way of knowing which way it's going, oh for the best, expect the worst. Welcome to the Comment magazine Daily Podcast. Today is Monday, April 20th, 20th, 20th. I am John Podhord's, the editor of Commentary Magazine. With me, as always, executive editor, Abe. Greenwald, hi Abe. Hi, John. Senior editor, Seth, Mandel. Hi, Abe. Hi, John. Senior editor, Seth Mandel.

Hi, Seth.

Hi, John.

Social commentary columnist Christine Rosen.

Hi, Christine.

Hi, John.

And joining us today, Christine's colleague at the American Enterprise Institute,

director of its critical threats project, and a person seriously involved with the Institute

for the Study of War, which whose work you can read on the wars in Ukraine and Iran and other

hotspots around the world, Understandingwar.org. Fred Kagan, hi Fred. Thanks for coming back on the show.

Hi, John. It's great to see you.

So, Fred, I don't know what we're going to talk about because it's not like there isn't anything

going on, but you and your friends at the Critical Threats Project and Institute for the

Study of War have identified over the course of the weekend, it appears, a pretty significant shift in how we need to

understand the Iranian regime's approach to whatever it is that is going on this week, and that

there seems to have been a power struggle, and that the power struggle, which is between bad guys and bad guys.

I don't wanna say that it's between good guys

who wanna negotiate with us and bad guys who are just mean.

There's no good actors here,

but that it appears that we have some perspective now

on what is going on in this incredibly confusing morass of who's closing what,

where and why, and who's firing on who and why and where.

...