The Perils of a Power Vacuum in Iran
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/power-vacuum-in-iran-heightens-nuclear-threat-by-stephen-holmes-2026-03
The US sees regimes it can strike and concludes that striking them resolves the dangers they pose. But eliminating a visible adversary does not neutralize the underlying threat; it merely transforms that threat into something elusive, decentralized, unaccountable, and impossible to negotiate with or monitor.
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/power-vacuum-in-iran-heightens-nuclear-threat-by-stephen-holmes-2026-03
The US sees regimes it can strike and concludes that striking them resolves the dangers they pose. But eliminating a visible adversary does not neutralize the underlying threat; it merely transforms that threat into something elusive, decentralized, unaccountable, and impossible to negotiate with or monitor.