As the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric goes to both sides of conflicts. She’s worried that our warring world is spiraling out of control.

A foreign minister places Iceland on the right side of history

Gavin Newsom calls comments ‘deranged and dangerous’ after president tells Nebraska rally: ‘They can take out a city’

As A.I. capabilities accelerate, the technologist is shocked by the “complete lack of engagement” with the question of how to manage its risks.

YouTube video by The New Yorker

First week in the Westfjords, yet feeling out of place...

Letting A.I. patrol its own frontier is like asking Jesse James to patrol the Wild West.

Don’t wait for a mass-extinction event before holding AI developers accountable.

After voting against talks to join the European Union, Iceland is reacting forcefully to a slight against its sovereignty.

Whatever the AI future is, we’re in it right now.

Gloria Steinem on what older people can teach America

A podcast and a few reflections on Point Reyes

Point Reyes National Seashore sits on a foggy peninsula about an hour north of San Francisco. It is a place of trails, wildlife, and dramatic coastal scenery. What many visitors don't expect to find

So Where Am I? Some Basics

The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public.

arrival in Iceland, July 2020

My first year in Iceland -- how did it happen at all?

YouTube video by The Ezra Klein Show

J. D. Vance contends that the scandal would be “a 12-hour news story” today. He’s probably correct, but the lesson isn’t what he claims.

He seems to hope to slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat.

A virulent form of misogyny has become the single most important force holding together the American right.

Washington can’t reverse or control the consequences of losing this war.

Viktor Orbán offered a model for antidemocratic rule, one admired by Donald Trump and other world leaders. What does his stunning loss after 16 years in power mean?

Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

If Viktor Orbán can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too.

Long-serving prime minister beaten by opposition after early results showed clear lead

Israeli military announces ‘largest coordinated strike’ against Hezbollah since war began on 2 March

If such an order comes to pass, the military can and must refuse.

What makes the nation suffer helps the regime thrive.

Escalation is already shattering Washington’s illusion of control.

Or, writing about not writing

Washington’s conduct in the Iran war is accelerating global chaos and deepening America’s dangerous isolation.

The AI boom wasn’t built for the polycrisis.

Allied leaders know that any positive gesture they make will count for nothing.

The reasons other U.S. presidents avoided war with Iran are becoming all too evident.

The mere act of bombing Iran will not by itself create a stable regime.

A few paths to success, many to failure

Boy and his father back in Minneapolis after being detained by ICE and held in immigration facility for more than a week

In the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact: The culture war is an actual war.