{"id":49986,"date":"2026-04-14T00:43:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=49986"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:43:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:43:21","slug":"is-the-war-in-iran-totally-pointless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=49986","title":{"rendered":"Is the war in Iran totally pointless?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>This week, editors\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/people\/peter-suderman\/\">Peter Suderman<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/people\/katherine-mangu-ward\/\">Katherine Mangu-Ward<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/people\/nick-gillespie\/\">Nick Gillespie<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/people\/matt-welch\/\">Matt Welch<\/a> discuss the collapse of ceasefire talks with Iran and President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to order a U.S. military blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. They examine Trump&#8217;s insistence that the conflict is a win for America, what the United States has actually gained, and the mounting costs of escalation. The panel also discusses why voices such as former national security adviser John Bolton still push for escalation and why their foreign policy arguments continue to fail.<\/p>\n<p>Next, the editors turn to Europe after Viktor Orb\u00e1n&#8217;s defeat in Hungary and what it says about the limits of nationalist populism, economic performance, and Vice President J.D. Vance&#8217;s endorsement of the longtime Hungarian leader. They also discuss Kamala Harris hinting at another presidential run and Eric Swalwell&#8217;s exit from California&#8217;s governor race amid sexual assault allegations. The editors then examine Anthropic&#8217;s decision not to release its powerful new Claude Mythos Preview model because of its hacking capabilities. Finally, a listener asks whether Bruce Springsteen&#8217;s &#8220;Born in the U.S.A.&#8221; can still be embraced as a patriotic song.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>0:00\u2014Has the U.S. won anything from the war with Iran?<\/p>\n<p>14:49\u2014Orb\u00e1n loses reelection<\/p>\n<p>27:41\u2014Democrats have a candidate quality issue<\/p>\n<p>33:45\u2014Listener question on patriotic content<\/p>\n<p>39:05\u2014Anthropic&#8217;s Claude Mythos<\/p>\n<p>50:04\u2014Weekly cultural recommendations<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Mentioned in the podcast:<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/04\/12\/trump-responds-to-iranian-blockade-of-strait-of-hormuz-by-blockading-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trump Responds to Iranian Blockade of Strait of Hormuz By Blockading It<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Matthew Petti<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/04\/08\/viktor-orban-and-his-american-apologists-all-deserve-to-lose\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Viktor Orb\u00e1n and His American Apologists All Deserve To Lose<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Matt Welch<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/volokh\/2026\/04\/07\/viktor-orbans-hungary-exemplifies-the-perils-of-nationalism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Viktor Orban&#8217;s Hungary Exemplifies the Perils of Nationalism<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Ilya Somin<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/02\/06\/american-presidents-shouldnt-endorse-foreign-political-candidates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Presidents Shouldn&#8217;t Endorse Foreign Political Candidates<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Matt Welch<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2025\/09\/18\/poland-climbs-hungary-slips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How Did Poland Get So Far Ahead of Hungary?<\/a><\/span>&#8221; by Eric Boehm<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2023\/02\/02\/national-conservatives-cant-find-a-good-excuse-for-viktor-orbans-inflation-disaster\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Conservatives Can&#8217;t Find a Good Excuse for Viktor Orb\u00e1n&#8217;s Inflation Disaster<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Ryan Bourne<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2021\/08\/11\/no-self-respecting-american-should-aspire-to-hungarian-style-nationalism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">No Self-Respecting American Should Aspire to Hungarian-Style Nationalism<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Matt Welch<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2021\/12\/30\/hungarian-nationalism-is-a-dead-end\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hungarian Nationalism Is a Dead End<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Matt Welch<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/04\/13\/see-ya-swalwell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">See Ya, Swalwell<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Christian Britschgi<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/04\/11\/democrats-and-republicans-both-want-to-regulate-ai-they-just-cant-agree-on-how\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Democrats and Republicans Both Want To Regulate AI. They Just Can&#8217;t Agree on How<\/a>,<\/span>&#8221; by Jack Nicastro<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/04\/08\/sam-altmans-not-so-new-deal-for-superintelligent-ai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sam Altman&#8217;s (Not So) New Deal for Superintelligent AI<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Jack Nicastro<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/03\/07\/the-joys-of-data-centers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Joys of Data Centers<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Christian Britschgi<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/04\/01\/artemis-ii-launches-a-new-era-of-lunar-exploration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Artemis II Launches a New Era of Lunar Exploration<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Natalie Dowzicky<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2021\/04\/11\/the-overly-examined-life-of-henry-david-thoreau\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Overly Examined Life of Henry David Thoreau<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Peter Bagge<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2017\/12\/24\/my-thoughts-are-murder-to-the\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8216;My Thoughts Are Murder to the State,&#8217;<\/a><\/span>&#8221; by Lester Hunt<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/podcast\/2022\/02\/16\/jacob-mchangama-how-hate-speech-laws-punish-minorities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jacob Mchangama: How Hate Speech Laws Punish Minorities<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Nick Gillespie<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span draggable=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/podcast\/2022\/04\/06\/jeff-kosseff-why-anonymous-speech-is-good-and-constitutional\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Kosseff: Why Anonymous Speech Is Good\u2014and Constitutional<\/a><\/span>,&#8221; by Nick Gillespie<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post-production-credits-list list-unstyled\">\n<li><strong>Producer:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/people\/paul-alexander\/\">Paul Alexander<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Video Editor:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/people\/ian-keyser\/\">Ian Keyser<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/podcast\/2026\/04\/13\/is-the-war-in-iran-totally-pointless\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, editors\u00a0Peter Suderman,\u00a0Katherine Mangu-Ward,\u00a0Nick Gillespie, and\u00a0Matt Welch discuss the collapse of ceasefire talks with Iran and President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to order a U.S. military&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}