It has been an interesting few days with the United States renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Persian Gulf while also doubling down on spying directed against Greenland in expectations that it will be acquired as a US territory sometime soon. Meanwhile, some of us who have been watching developments in what has been described as Donald Trump’s “peace initiative” trip to the Middle East, which might also have included a stop in Istanbul to sit in with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, are now examining the pluses and minuses as the travel has ended. In my mind, high grades should be awarded for two aspects of the trip.

Below we suggest three options for getting out of the Russia-Ukraine stalemate and in the process review briefly the relevant history. It’s time to up the ante. We write this exploration in the form of a hypothetical letter President Donald Trump might send to President Vladimir Putin.

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Dear Vladimir,
            Russia continues to resist entering into peace talks with Ukraine or even to consider a ceasefire and, instead, insists on continuing hostilities, aimed primarily at civilians. This was yet again evident from your absence at direct talks with President Zelensky (and me) in Istambul, Turkey, last Thursday (5/15/25), even though you yourself called for these face-to-face negotiations. This was also evident from your massive drone attack ahead of our today's (5/19/25) telephone call on ending the war.

Two years ago this month, the US State Department did the unthinkable. It has fired Devin Brooks, a security specialist who worked as an armed protection officer at the State Department. The reason? He grew a beard in compliance with his Islamic faith. His supervisors disregarded his Islamic beliefs and ordered him to shave. After he was left with no choice, he was forced to shave his beard. Subsequently, Brooks was fired. That is preposterous! Brooks then contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for help. CAIR sued the State Department on his behalf.

In the spring of 2025, central Illinois was swallowed by a wall of dust so dense it erased the horizon—and lives along with it. Vehicles collided in a deadly chain reaction on Interstate 55, as visibility vanished and the dust became a visible cry from the land, a desperate signal of the devastation being wrought upon it. This was not a natural disaster. It was the consequence of decades of extractive farming practices that leave the land bare, lifeless, and vulnerable. It was a warning that when we abuse the soil, we unravel the systems that protect our safety, our health, and our future.

The dust storm that caused the deadly multi-vehicle pileup on Interstate 55 in Illinois was not an anomaly—it is part of a disturbing trend.

Triggered by 35 to 45 mph winds lifting bare, degraded soil from recently tilled farmland, the storm reduced visibility to near zero and resulted in the deaths of at least eight people.

There was a time when Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to have all the cards.