Newsletter #491 — September 21, 2026

by Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess

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Highlighted Links

A few suggestions about links that we think are especially interesting.

• Superpower Conflict
  Weighing the ‘disastrous, cascading consequences’ if China takes Taiwan — Another terrifying reason why the single highest priority for anyone who cares about peace is stopping the ongoing slide toward a third world war.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Lie About Islam, Europe, and the Dangers We Face — In its latest edition, The Economist presented Islamism and the European far right as two symmetrical threats. They are not, writes Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  Trump Loses the Other Strait — The Houthi advance is bad news for the U.S., and even worse news for Saudi Arabia. It is also reason to believe that things could easily get much worse.
• Psychological Complexity
  Misunderstandings of Intellectual Humility — Intellectual humility isn't just about you, it's about the social groups that you are part of and identify with.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  The two-state solution is dead – and Israel won’t commit national suicide to please Britain — An explanation of why the two-state solution is, for the foreseeable future, dead: the Jewish state can't relinquish the West Bank’s strategic depth while Palestinians retain their ambition to destroy it from the river to the sea.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  Get the Middle East out of my politics! — As the US finds itself entangled in yet another Mid-East war and as conflicting views about the region become a major domestic political issue, this essay asks the obvious question: do we really need to be so involved?
• Superpower Conflict
  The New Chinese Way of Cyberwar — As we try to come to terms with the strategic ramifications of our inability to protect the sea lanes, an analysis from Foreign Affairs about a similar threats to the information pipelines upon which we also depend.
• Progressive Left / Socialism
  Meet the Factions Driving the Democratic Socialists of America — An eye-opening look at the many different factions and political views that exist within the broad framework of the Democratic Socialist movement in the US.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  Antisemitism as an organizing target for grievance coalitions — A thought-provoking Facebook post highlighting the ways in which the many groups that feel unjustly treated by society are coming together in opposition to Israel and the larger Jewish diaspora.
• US Politics
  The Fix Was Almost In — A detailed account of the complex legal maneuvering surrounding congressional redistricting efforts in Missouri (and a window into what "winning is everything" politics looks like).
• Developing a Unifying Vision
  This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World — A review and summary of an important new book that asks us to develop a more sophisticated way of thinking about evil.
• Authoritarianism
  Trump Has This Influential Theorist of Democracy Very Worried — An enlightening interview in which another expert on democracy, Adam Przeworski, explains what he sees as the long-term implications of the Trump Presidency.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  Richard Landes on Jihad and the Apocalyptic Mind — A medievalist on apocalyptic movements, shame–honour cultures, and why he believes the Western press has spent twenty-five years reporting jihad backwards.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  The Iran War is breaking the world order — An overview of the many ways in which the global security environment that we took for granted is collapsing (in ways that leave nothing but insecurity in its wake).
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  The real Hitler test is happening right now. — The lesson of the Holocaust was never simply to despise Nazis. It was to recognize the machinery of hatred before the destination becomes obvious.

Colleague Activities

Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.

• Saving Democracy
  Community is Our Best Bet Against Intimidation and Fear at the Ballot Box — 5,000 Community Events. 80,000 Elections. One Message: We Need Each Other Now More Than Ever.
• Social / Economic Complexity
  Sure We can. But Should We? — Ashok Panikkar reflects on the rather large gap between human ingenuity and human wisdom.
• Effective Problem-Solving
  Problem Solvers Caucus Introduces Four Bipartisan Bills to Address Gerrymandering Nationwide — The legislation is the result of months of work by the Caucus’ bipartisan Gerrymandering Working Group, led by Reps. Jeff Hurd (R-CO-03) and Ed Case (D-HI-01).
• Constructive Communication
  How to Engage with New Media: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Organizations — Organizations that cannot communicate effectively across the full ecosystem will lose the ability to reach the people they exist to serve and, over time, the policymaking audience they exist to convince.
• Peacebuilding
  Democracy Activism — A global survey being conducted by Syracuse University seeking information on activities being undertaken by organizations working to protect and promote democracy.
• Saving Democracy
  The Forum | Our future. One table. Everyone gets a seat. — The Forum is a citizen-owned operating system for 21st century democracy. It is a new way for people to be heard, find common ground, and turn shared priorities into legislative action.
• Saving Democracy
  Constitution Day: Why Citizen Skepticism Keeps Democracy Strong — NYU Law professor Melissa Murray explains how public vigilance keeps the Constitution alive.
• Immigration
  Welcome.US — A national initiative built to inspire, mobilize, and empower Americans and institutions nationwide to welcome and support those seeking refuge in the U.S.
• Civic Education
  Empowering Young People to Tackle the American Divide — These days in the U.S., conflict has become the norm. This Carter Center program is investing in diverse young people to bring positive and lasting change.
• Effective Problem-Solving
  One Team in the Room: Young Texan Finds Hope in Bipartisan Push to Lower Health Care Costs - Builders — At a Texas healthcare affordability hearing, lawmakers and Mark Cuban found rare common ground. One young Texan on why bipartisan reform feels within reach.
• Saving Democracy
  Ballot Security and Voter Access Are Not Opposites: What the USPS Ballot Rule Gets Right — As the United States marks its 250th year, election integrity should be an area for practical cooperation. Election security is not a partisan trophy. It is maintenance of a democratic system that every American relies on.
• Saving Democracy
  What America Can Do About Its Uncontested Elections — Seventy percent of America’s elections at all levels were uncontested in 2024, but they don’t have to be.
• Constructive Communication
  DG Mawn on Nurturing Community through Convening & Mediation – Civity — DG Mawn's interview with Civity on the role of community mediation centers' in strengthening American democracy.
• Networking
  Transforming Impact — A panel of eight great minds had a dialogue on the ways that impact measurement and evaluation are shifting.
• Bridge Building
  MPV Podcast | From the barbershop to the ballot box: Taking local action against polarization — Making Peace Visible — After nearly a decade of U.S. efforts to bridge political divides, what actually works? Urban Rural Action collaborators Lance Walker and Lisa Inks discuss the good and bad of bridging efforts.

News and Opinion

From around the web, more insight into the nature of our conflict problems, limits of business-as-usual thinking, and things people are doing to try to make things better. (Formerly, Beyond Intractability in Context.)

• Education
  College Is Coming Apart — Successive, overlapping crises reveal that American higher education makes no sense. It is also a window into the complexities of today's large institutions.
• US Politics
  Trump Has Untethered Himself From Reality — A window into just how far we've strayed from an era in which the President carefully considers available evidence and competing arguments then makes a decision based on what is best for the country as a whole.
• Trust / Trust Earning
  Eric Schurenberg: Building Trust Among Newsrooms & Audiences – Civity — In this podcast, Civity talks with Eric Schurenberg, Executive Director of the Alliance for Trust in Media. 
• US Politics
  What Is a Socialist, Anyway? A Raw Dialogue on Political Labels — An experimental dialogue untangling the"scare words," Social Democracy, and the DSA in modern politics.
• Developing a Unifying Vision
  Ethics on the Far Side of Freedom — What an AI mob taught me about raising a good kid.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  I’ve finished the book. What a shambles I’ve come back to. — From military analyst Andrew Fox, reflections on how sanctions threaten to put Israel on the road to isolation, the ways in which the Houthis are exposing Trump’s strategic failure, and NAZA’s allegations about how the IDF fights.
• Constructive Communication
  The Table Is Waiting. Someone Has to Set It. - Paths to Understanding — Terry Kyllo reflects on what thirty-five years of ministry taught him about how people actually engage. Someone has to go first,he says. Someone has to make belonging possible.
• Constructive Communication
  A Diagnosis for Social Conflict That Gets Lost Along the Way — A new book suggests that arguing isn’t about winning but seems preoccupied with it anyway.
• Immigration
  Douglas Murray: Who’s Afraid of the ‘Far Right’? — An other-side-of-the-story argument worth considering: German leaders enabled the rise of a populist party through their failures. Now those leaders cling to power by branding their challengers as extreme.
• Psychological Complexity
  Narratives and Reality Featuring Wilfred Reilly — From FAIR, discussion of disparities between perception and reality, why these narrative gaps persist, the crisis of expertise, censorship, the true costs of ignoring reality, and more.
• Corruption
  Why Scandals Don’t Bring Down Politicians Anymore — Reflections on the fact that political scandals, which used to have far-reaching repercussions, now barely alter the political landscape.
• Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Related Wars
  The Iran war has disrupted oil markets. The fallout goes beyond that. — For those who still need to be convinced we're in trouble, a reminder that the Iran war is disrupting far more than global oil markets.

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About the MBI Newsletters

Two or three times a week, Guy and Heidi Burgess, the BI Directors, share some of our thoughts on political hyper-polarization and related topics. We also share essays from our colleagues and other contributors, and every week or so, we devote one newsletter to annotated links to outside readings that we found particularly useful relating to U.S. hyper-polarization, threats to peace (and actual violence) in other countries, and related topics of interest. Each Newsletter is posted on BI, and sent out by email through Substack to subscribers. You can sign up to receive your copy here and find the latest newsletter here or on our BI Newsletter page, which also provides access to all the past newsletters, going back to 2017.

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