Critical State: Trump’s ‘Imperial’ Designs Prompt Competing Nationalisms

At Politico, Marion Solletty reports that French far‑right leader Jordan Bardella used a high‑profile Paris speech to warn that US President Donald Trump’s renewed interest in acquiring foreign territory — including past actions involving Venezuela and the administration’s rhetoric on Greenland — reflects what he calls “imperial ambitions” that threaten global stability.

Bardella, who sought to position himself as a statesman ahead of France’s 2027 presidential race, framed Trump’s territorial ideas as reckless, arguing that Europe needs stronger strategic autonomy to avoid being pulled into US geopolitical gambits.

Solletty notes that Bardella’s remarks also serve a domestic political purpose: distancing himself from Trump while maintaining nationalist credentials.

French officials, she explains, view Trump’s past overtures toward Greenland and Venezuela as unserious but potentially disruptive, especially amid broader concerns about US unpredictability in global affairs.

Regarding Greenland, a territory of Denmark which Trump has said the US intends to acquire — and some members of his administration have floated military options to do so — Bardella said it is “a direct challenge to the sovereignty of a European country.”

Bardella has ultimately used the episode to argue that France must prepare for a world shaped by great‑power competition, particularly between Russia and the US, rather than rely on American leadership.

If You Read One More Thing: Data Centers in Space

Sam Biddle writes for The Intercept that tech leaders, major cloud providers, and space‑industry investors are aggressively promoting the idea of building data centers in orbit, pitching the concept as a revolutionary fix for Earth’s energy demands and cooling limitations.

• Companies such as Blue Origin, SpaceX, and the startup Starcloud have framed space‑based computing as both inevitable and essential for sustaining AI growth, arguing that limitless solar power and the thermal environment of space would unlock unprecedented efficiency.

• Experts, however, told The Intercept that these claims ignore basic physics: GPUs would overheat in a vacuum, radiators would need to be extraordinarily large, and orbital debris posed catastrophic risks to any facility.

• “You’re going to have to spend incredible amounts of money to keep them from melting. And you could solve that problem much easier by not launching them into space,” Matthew Buckley, a theoretical physicist at Rutgers University, said.

• Critics view the push as hype‑driven, fueled by investor pressure and AI‑market speculation, and question why firms would spend vast sums when terrestrial data centers remain cheaper, more reliable, easier to repair, and far less vulnerable to existential failure modes.

Iran Prepares for War Amid Protests

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared that Iran is “prepared” for war with the United States while simultaneously signaling openness to diplomacy, Nick Mordowanec reports at Military.com.

• Araghchi’s remarks come amid nationwide protests in Iran, where rights groups estimate there have been at least 544 deaths and more than 10,700 arrests, figures Military.com could not independently verify.

• Iranian state media has also reported over 109 security personnel killed. Mordowanec noted that Araghchi has framed military readiness as a deterrent against US “miscalculation.”

• The Pentagon responded that it stood ready to follow presidential orders, while Trump said the US is considering “strong options.”

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly backed the protesters, and both governments maintained indirect communication channels.

Deep Dive: F-35 Program Faces Criticism in Pentagon Audit

A Pentagon Inspector General audit has delivered a sharp critique of the F‑35 Joint Strike Fighter program, concluding that persistent management failures, weak oversight, and unresolved sustainment problems continued to undermine the aircraft’s readiness and long‑term affordability despite years of corrective promises. The report portrays a program still struggling to translate massive investment into reliable operational capability.

The audit examines how the Department of Defense has managed key aspects of the F‑35 program, managed by Lockheed Martin, and found that longstanding deficiencies remained largely unresolved. Inspectors say the program office and senior defense officials have failed to adequately address chronic sustainment challenges, including aircraft availability, maintenance delays, and escalating costs.

Those shortcomings, the report warns, threaten the Pentagon’s ability to meet combat readiness goals while placing growing strain on service budgets.

Central to the audit’s criticism is the F‑35’s sustainment model, which inspectors describe as overly complex, poorly governed, and insufficiently transparent. The report found that the Department has continued to rely heavily on contractor‑controlled logistics systems without establishing effective mechanisms to validate cost data or performance claims. As a result, the Pentagon lacks a clear understanding of what it actually cost to keep the aircraft mission‑ready and has limited leverage to drive improvements.

Support Inkstick Today

Inspectors have also highlighted the F‑35’s persistently low mission‑capable rates as evidence of systemic failure.

The F-35 averaged a 50% readiness rate in fiscal year 2024. This means half of the Pentagon’s fleet was not ready to take to the skies. The audit said this “is 17% lower than the average minimum performance requirement.”

Despite repeated commitments to improve readiness, the audit found that availability targets are routinely missed and that corrective actions are either delayed or inadequately implemented. Maintenance backlogs, spare‑parts shortages, and software reliability issues have continued to ground aircraft across the services, limiting training and operational flexibility.

The audit has also criticized the Department’s handling of the F‑35’s global supply chain, noting that the program’s sprawling network of domestic and international suppliers complicated oversight and accountability.

“F-35 squadrons are also cannibalizing parts to keep aircraft flying instead of being able to rely on receiving parts from Lockheed Martin’s supply chain,” the audit notes. “F-35 squadron officials indicated that they cannibalized parts from other aircraft because of part shortages or supply chain issues with Lockheed Martin.”

Inspectors say the Pentagon has not fully assessed the risks associated with this structure, including vulnerabilities tied to foreign sourcing and contractor performance. Those weaknesses, the report suggests, have left the program exposed to disruptions that could further degrade readiness.

Cost control is another major area of concern. The Inspector General found that sustainment costs have remained significantly higher than projected and that the Department lacks a credible plan to bring them down to affordable levels. The report says officials have relied on optimistic assumptions and incomplete data when forecasting long‑term costs, obscuring the true financial burden of the program. Inspectors warn that without more rigorous cost analysis and enforcement mechanisms, the F‑35 risks crowding out funding for other priorities.

The audit takes particular aim at the Pentagon’s oversight of contractor performance. Inspectors say the Department has not consistently enforced contractual requirements or used available tools to hold contractors accountable for missed targets. In several cases, the report found that performance shortfalls were documented but not followed by meaningful corrective action. This pattern, auditors argue, weakens incentives for improvement and perpetuates a cycle of underperformance.

While acknowledging incremental progress in some areas, the Inspector General concludes that the Department’s overall approach to managing the F‑35 remains reactive rather than strategic. The report says leadership attention tends to focus on near‑term fixes rather than structural reforms needed to stabilize the program. As a result, many of the same issues identified in earlier audits have continued to resurface.

The audit issues a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening oversight, improving cost transparency, and accelerating sustainment reforms. Inspectors urge the Department to establish clearer accountability for readiness outcomes, enhance data validation processes, and develop a realistic plan to reduce long‑term operating costs. They have also called for more aggressive use of contractual remedies to address persistent performance problems.

Defense Department management has concurred with some recommendations but has pushed back on others, arguing that ongoing initiatives would address many of the concerns raised. The Inspector General, however, cautions that similar assurances have been offered in the past without producing lasting results. Auditors say they will continue to monitor the program and assess whether promised reforms translate into measurable improvements.

The F‑35 program is still struggling to escape the consequences of its early design and acquisition decisions, according to the audit. Despite its central role in US and allied airpower, the aircraft remains burdened by sustainment challenges that inspectors say are neither fully understood nor effectively controlled. Without sustained leadership attention and structural change, the F‑35 risks remaining a costly and fragile cornerstone of US military aviation rather than the reliable, affordable platform it was originally intended to be.

Show us the Receipts

At Inkstick, Issam Adwan reports on Palestinians in Gaza entering 2026 without a sense of future, enduring winter storms, displacement, and ongoing Israeli attacks. Families in tents face flooding, cold, illness, and scarce medicine, while others in cramped apartments have struggled with rent, fuel shortages, and collapsing education systems. Interviewees describe New Year’s Eve as a night of fear rather than celebration. “This year arrived while filled with sadness,” Sabreen Abu Jriban said. Adwan shows how the ceasefire has failed to bring relief, leaving residents focused on survival and doubtful that reconstruction or peace would come.

In a piece originally published by TomDispatch Michael T. Klare writes that the February 2026 expiration of New START will mark the first time in 54 years that the United States and Russia will not be bound by any nuclear‑arms limits. Klare explains that both governments have already been modernizing their arsenals and will soon be legally free to deploy far more warheads, raising the risk of a new arms race that could involve China. Upgraded missiles, submarines, and bombers on both sides make first‑strike scenarios more plausible. Klare notes that some officials have urged voluntary limits, but political pressures make an uncontrolled buildup increasingly likely.

At The World, Jenna Gadbois reports on National Geographic explorer Paul Salopek, now 13 years into his 24,000‑mile Out of Eden Walk, and his observation of a global hardening of borders as he retraced ancient human migration routes. Salopek describes crossing frontiers as increasingly fraught compared to 2013, with heightened scrutiny and shifting geopolitical attitudes diminishing the privilege once attached to an American passport. Gadbois notes that Salopek links modern anti‑immigrant politics to a long historical pattern of walls — from the Holy Land to the Great Wall of China — questioning whether they protect or isolate societies. He argues that maintaining a “nomadic mindset” remains essential for human resilience.

Pitch Call