Shadi Hamid

Today is the day! Thrilled to share this with everyone. THE CASE FOR AMERICAN POWER is officially out from @simonschuster. This book is the culmination of my own writing and thinking over 15 years. Please consider getting a copy! If you're skeptical of the premise, read on 🧵

To be clear: they’re not protesting against the sexual torture of Palestinians by Israeli authorities. They’re protesting against the NYT for reporting it.

If you want to learn more about @matthewkaemingk and @shadihamid's new book coming this fall, listen to this podcast episode from @commentmag!

The "spiritual, but not religious" crowd takes it on the chin in this episode. @commentmag @shadihamid comment.org/podcasts/why-d…

"Our constitutional republic, our legal framework, is in tatters because of our militarism. That's one of my biggest concerns here." In a friendly debate with @shadihamid (who opposes the Iran war) I talked about some troubling consequences of U.S. militarism. @GlennLoury

This is a hard article to read, but I hope you'll do so. I've spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured -- they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews -- but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they're equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here's a gift link to the article: nytimes.com/2026/05/11/opi…

Great launch for my new novel COLOSSUS last night! Big thanks to @shadihamid for hosting and everyone else for coming out.

My short review of @shadihamid’s new book, “The Case for American Power,” included.

I’ve just returned from a week in Syria and there is a lot to say about the state of the country but for the first time in my life in any Arab nation, I didn’t see a single public image of the president: no portraits in shop windows, no posters, no statues, nothing.

This is the government the Republican Party insists we must have no daylight with.

Spirit Airlines was a real lifeline for working-class people. This is a very good column in @NYMag about that reality. nymag.com/intelligencer/…

National Security Action, the group co-founded by Jake Sullivan, is dusting itself off and gearing up for 2028. But a lot of Dems just wish the Biden bros would just go away. As one Democrat told me, “They’re all canceled and they don’t realize it.” puck.news/the-return-of-…

"At one point, according to several people present, @brhodes, who was not part of the Biden administration and has been scathing in his criticism of it, put the Gaza question directly to Sullivan. He suggested that Sullivan needed to reckon with the stain of that policy."

We got him to read "Mere Christianity" @shadihamid @commentmag comment.org/podcasts/a-mus…

Interesting piece by @mattduss taking on the conventional view that the Abraham Accords were a major step toward piece. Instead, he argues, they fueled conflict, including the current Iran war and the marginalization of Palestinians.

If you want to hang with me on May 11 and celebrate the launch of COLOSSUS - and meet the great @shadihamid - get your ticket to my event today. We're near capacity! eventbrite.com/e/ross-barkan-…

If you're in NYC, join me & @RossBarkan next Monday at 630pm! Near capacity — a few tickets left.

In "The Case for American Power," the Washington Post's Shadi Hamid argues that "An America-dominated world has been safer and less violent - all by a large margin." Hamid argues that since power is a fact, it's essential that the U.S. aggressively fill the role of global power. I tend to disagree, that no matter the good intentions of an excessively funded government (ours), the mistakes are painful. With us, they're just magnified once again thanks to all the money at the federal government's disposal. So while disagreeing with Hamid, his book is excellent. Full of great insights that make you think, great quotes, lots of interesting historical analysis. For instance, Hamid plainly swings left, but he's far more critical of Barack Obama's foreign policies than Donald Trump's. It's a very good read that I'll reference a lot. realclearmarkets.com/articles/2026/…

I have a lot of respect for Ben Rhodes and hope they follow his lead, but any foreign policy org that includes Jake Sullivan or others from the Biden administration that had any modicum of decision making authority around Israel & Gaza has no place in the next Dem administration.