The US Has Entered a New Phase of Political Violence | What America Can Learn from Iran’s Failure | The Future of American Cybersecurity | Harvard Should Prepare to Move Abroad, and more

in from the Right  (Liam Stack, New York Times)
Even before Zohran Mamdani claimed victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, he had become a target of racist attacks from the far right. Those attacks have only intensified in the wake of his commanding performance on Tuesday, with Republican elected officials and right-wing media figures accusing him of promoting Islamic law, supporting terrorism and posing a threat to the safety of New Yorkers, especially Jews.

Jewish Caucus Calls for Pentagon Accountability Over Kingsley Wilson’s Antisemitic Remarks  (Mathilda Heller, Jerusalem Post)
Members of the US Congressional Jewish Caucus wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to highlight the “deeply troubling and offensive statements” of Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson. The Jerusalem Post has previously written about Wilson, who has a history of antisemitic statements, including the promotion of the antisemitic “Great Replacement” theory, praising far-right political movements using slogans tied to neo-Nazi groups, and repeating conspiracy theories frequented in neo-Nazi circles about Leo Frank, a Jewish man who was lynched by an antisemitic mob in Georgia in 1915.

Europol Report Focusing on IT and Terrorism (Moonshot)
IT as tool for terrorists is a focus in Europol’s report on terrorism and trends in the European Union. “The use of generative-AI to create and disseminate propaganda and hate speech has reached unprecedented levels, especially in the right-wing scene. Radical individuals are able to generate propaganda items at a fast pace, allowing them to evade content moderation.”

Central Asian Fighters and Global Jihad  (Andrew C. Kuchins, National Interest)
Why is Central Asia a hotspot for the financing and recruitment for extremist movements?

Terrorism Means Something Different Now  (Colin P. Clarke and Christopher P. Costa, Foreign Policy)
The firewall between violent nonstate actors and conventional warfare has become highly permeable.

Police Allege That Jair Bolsonaro Sanctioned a Spy Ring  (Economist)
The right-wing former president is already on trial for allegedly plotting a coup.

The Minnesota Shootings and the Dangerous Trend of Impersonating Law Enforcement  (Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker)
A new political era has arrived, in which the expectation and the fear of political violence are endemic.

THE LONG VIEW

What America Can Learn from Iran’s Failure  (By Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic)
The Iranian regime’s predicament shows what happens when conspiracies, rather than reality, shape decision making.
The adherence by Iran’s military and intelligence leaders to regime-sanctioned fantasies made grasping Israel’s actual abilities impossible for them. Iran’s