First of all, to my Hokie friends, suck it. I know that will boomerang on me one day but I can enjoy it today.

Last night's PBS newshour with an Iran expert and Admiral Mike Mullen. I think I linked it right, and it does make you sit through an annoying ad, but I thought it was a balanced segment.

Elsewhere I thought David Brooks summarized it pretty well. Short term, no doubt this guy is responsible for the deaths of countless Americans and people generally, no doubt that he would continue in that role (whether you believe in imminent threat claims or not), and we should feel justice was done. Medium term, it is somewhere between deeply concerning and terrifying, because Iran has no choice but to respond, and long term, they (Iran, their proxies) are almost certainly weakened for the loss of Soleimani, because his is not a plug and play position, and he was something of a unicorn. Talented tactician, apolitical in terms of Iranian politics, uniquely charismatic for his role, etc.

General theme of all their segments IMO - nobody on any side wants war to come from this, Iran maybe least of all, but that doesn't mean we won't tit for tat our way into one. I think it's likelier we won't, but no guarantees.

And nobody thinks the Trump admin has a coherent foreign policy in that part of the world.