A man walks amidst the rubble in the wake of an Israeli airstrike on the Beirut neighbourhood of Bachoura on 18 March 2026 -- Megaphone, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad As the United States farcically walks away from the negotiations with Iran in Pakistan, it was always a matter of concern whether Israel would abide by any such agreement. This was particularly the case with Lebanon and with the Palestinian territories, where Israel seemed absolutely hell ben

Today’s war rhetoric is often dismissed as “childish,” likened to video games and online bravado. But the issue is not immaturity—it is adaptation. As political communication adopts the language of spectacle, war is increasingly encountered as sensation before meaning—altering the sequence through which violence is felt before it is judged. Francisco Goya, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Martina Moneke A word keeps appearing across political commentary and media criti