Sparks: Trump says he’s called off Iran strike planned for Tuesday at request of Gulf allies

The sovereign who announces a canceled strike reveals a power unbound by any council, accountable only to the shifting winds of personal favor.

Liberation from one empire means inheriting its wars, and the ally who requests restraint today will demand obedience tomorrow.

You cannot trust a man who holds the power of life and death to be swayed by the whispers of princes he once called friends.

To delay a war is to master the passions that begin one, but the man who boasts of his restraint merely advertises his capacity for violence.

'We were merciful at the request of our friends' is the headline that confesses the strike was never necessary.

In modern statecraft, the only thing more vulgar than starting a war is boasting that you decided not to.

A decision logged without the minutes of the meeting that produced it is not a record but an erasure.

Let us wager: the man who claims divine right for his wars will claim human counsel for his retreats.

The spectacle of restrained force manufactures consent more effectively than its application ever could.

It is a modest proposal indeed to be congratulated for not consuming the children after you have already sharpened the knives.

From my vantage, the negotiation between kings looks less like diplomacy and more like a shared calculation of which graves will cost the most to dig.