Dan Perry offers readers a roundup of Ask Questions Later analysis and coverage of the past ‘month of madness.’

So impactful has been this month that we’ve decided to offer a quick curation of the highlights on Ask Questions Later – if nothing else, as a special service to the many new members who have joined just this past week.

During that very week, world leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly, where Turkey’s Erdogan compared Netanyahu to Hitler, and the Israeli PM responded in kind, insulting his hosts by calling the UN a “farce,” a “joke,” and an antisemitic “flat-Earth society.” A little gauche, but not implausible.

And it appears that even as he spoke at the UN, Netanyahu ordered the airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Moreover, as this is being published Israel was also attacking the Houthis in Yemen, another Iran proxy which with stupendous brazenness have been impeding much of global maritime trade, costing Egypt $6 billion so far in lost Suez Canal revenues.

The Western media and some politicians tend to bemoan and “fear” any seeming “escalation.” But millions of people throughout the Arab world are in fact rather happy to see the madness being punished, even if it has to be Israel and its very problematic Netanyahu.

The focus is on the Middle East, which has the potential to affect the upcoming US presidential election. But there is a big world out there beyond this tortured region, and we try not to ignore its many fascinations. In recent weeks we have examined, inter alia, the ongoing Ukraine war and the presidential race itself. Special appearances included Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran’s late shah, former Romanian prime minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, US defense expert Robert Hamilton, and Larry Luxner, a prominent … license plate collector (yes, this is a thing).

We have removed the paywalls in most of the below — but of course, to access everything unimpeded, and to enjoy commenting and voting rights and full access at all times, please consider a paid subscription. To state the obvious, that is the only way independent journalism and analysis will thrive.

The world is better off without Hassan Nasrallah

Assassinations are never the most legitimate tool in a kit – but the world has stopped agonizing over them with figures like Osama bin Laden of Al Qaida or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State. Nasrallah was in the same area code. This may be an opportunity to stop normalizing the abnormal – the hijacking of a supposedly sovereign state like Lebanon by an Iranian-proxy militia mafia happy to get civilians on its own side killed for the PR value of it.

Shah’s son says regime change possible, offers vision of Iran as West’s ally

In an exclusive interview, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah of Iran, sketches out a tantalizing vision of Iran at peace with the West and in partnership with the region including Israel. He says 80% of Iranians hate the Islamic Republic and want theocracy gone, and proposes himself as transition leader of a secular democratic Iran. Is the regime too ruthless to be overthrown? Don’t be so sure. Seemingly invulnerable despotisms crumble at first slowly – and then with lightning speed.

Also:

• Time to get serious about the crimes of Iran: With Dr. (Col.) Robert Hamilton the Foreign Policy Research Institute, an examination of the ways in which the world might be able to bring Iran to heel.
• Why Lebanon is different from the Palestinian issue: The fight by Iran and Hezbollah is not for justice or self-determination, but an orchestrated campaign of aggression
• The Iranians are now trying to destabilize Jordan as well. The fall of the Hashemite Kingdom would be a nightmare scenario for the West.
• Meanwhile, Israel has for a year been blocking the international media from entering Gaza independently. Time for this to stop.

And some reminders that there is more to the world than the Middle East:

• It’s the personality, stupid! Kamala Harris is doing reasonably well, but to have better chances of winning she’ll need to summon up, learn or fake true charisma. Or even learn the power of oratory.
• Time to weigh an endgame in Ukraine: If Trump wins this will become an urgency. Former Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu weighs in on the possible scenarios for an endgame in Ukraine.
• The curious case of fake diversity: The casting of a black “Mischka” in “A Gentleman in Moscow” raises a delicate question: Does some modern casting cross into absurdity?
• License plates trace history of world in chaos: Larry Luxner, a leading connoisseur of this strange collecting hobby, brings us the story of how Azerbaijan destroyed the world’s foremost plate memorial – and more true tales too bizarre to be believed.