Comments on: Open thread 6/5/2026

By: Philip Sells

Philip Sells — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 04:56:23 +0000

One funny thing is that there is no umlaut in the word ‘Umlaut’, neither in singular nor in plural, it seems. (I really wanted the plural to be ‘Umläute’ for this exercise, but it isn’t.)

Marisa, I agree, this business of changing the official name of Turkey to ‘Türkiye’ is disgusting. I can pronounce it fine, I just have no desire to do so. Turks do not get special privileges to colonize our language. I could have accepted ‘Turkia’, but not this. Why Trump and Rubio haven’t immediately switched it back I cannot comprehend. Talk about an easy win….

By: huxley

huxley — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 05:02:43 +0000

Schrodinger’s Cat

Ahem. That would be Schrödinger’s Cat.

–The Umlaut Police

By: R2L

R2L — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 02:55:35 +0000

Niketas Choniates on June 5, 2026 at 12:12 pm:
“But for one dating system we have to be careful never to say what event the calendar dates from…”
For some reason your comment made me think of Schrodinger’s Cat: The event is only there, or not there, if/when you want to go looking for it.

By: miguel cervantes

miguel cervantes — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 23:40:14 +0000

that seems possible, but refusing basing rights doesn’t solve this problem, does it, in fact it encourages the iranians like the recent attacks on ali al salem and the international airport

again these are some of the known unknowns that most of the press are uninterested in, they would rather focus on marco rubio’s shoe size,

as you may have picked up i’m not terribly sanguine on Marshal Munir, he’s probably not as bad as Zia, but as useful as Musharaff

By: Telemachus

Telemachus — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 22:07:14 +0000

Niketas Choniates: Thanks for the Scott Johnson reference. I was a once a regular reader and commenter at PLB, and still take a look at their blog each day, but they largely lost me after their much better stable of writers departed (or were driven off, likely by Scott Johnson). It would be much improved blog if he would depart.

By: sdferr

sdferr — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 21:40:43 +0000

Miguel, just saw an Israeli analyst on TV7 Israel News who claims the drone attack on Barakah Nuclear reactor plant in UAE on May 17 was the trigger, due to (his claim) that power station supplies nearly all the desalination plants in the Gulf:
https://nypost.com/2026/05/17/world-news/drone-strikes-uae-nuclear-plant-as-trump-warns-iran-that-clock-is-ticking-to-make-deal/

I don’t have verification, so take the datum with a grain of salt. Still, something clearly seems to have caused the volte-face, could be this, could be something else similar to it.

By: sdferr

sdferr — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 20:09:41 +0000

Well, I’m not endorsing the ISW, but merely the statement Keane (who I find generally trustworthy, albeit happily gung-ho for shootin’ war) made about the Saudi opt out. You’re free to dismiss as you please though. So, don’t push Kristol et al off on me, thanks.

By: miguel cervantes

miguel cervantes — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 20:01:49 +0000

yeah that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but many of the Saudi games rarely do, some chapters of their earlier history, have a certain game of thrones flavor to them

the irgc has struck several major targets like Ras Tanura and Jubail, and King Saud Airbase, but surprisingly they have held their powder dry,

they have a complex relation with the sharif clan which currently runs pakistan, well more like general Munir and the boys of aabpara have them as a front, they alternate with the zardaris (bhutto’s inlaws) to cut imran khan out of the picture,

in the early part of the engagement, the taliban emirate tangled with pakistan with some of those weapons they acquired from us, no doubt, but that was shut down fast

of course blue oyster cult, came to my attention with the heavy metal film and then about a decade later, with the opening to the stand, where it introed the fracas,

before the common era, seems to have been a 19th century coinage, not a new fangled one, but it does seem to obfuscate what is the delineation point, the reign of Augustus,

By: Marisa

Marisa — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 19:55:07 +0000

At some point we were all supposed to say/write Inuit instead of Eskimo, and Sami instead of Lapland.

Here are some countries’ own names for themselves that have no resemblance to the English versions: Magyarorzsag, Suomi, and my favorite, Shqipëria, which means “land of the eagles.”

By: Niketas Choniates

Niketas Choniates — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 19:49:42 +0000

@sdferr:Gen. Keane’s account in this podcast

The “Institute for the Study of War”, founded way back in 2007 to stump for the Iraq War surge? I saw that today, no thanks, and it’s telling that’s where Scott Johnson wants us to get our opinions, Bill Kristol and Kimberly Kagan and the gang, never-Trumpers and Iraq War retreads and a bunch of kids right out of college.

I don’t like when legacy media misuses “experts” and I don’t like it when new media or bloggers do either.