Opinion

• This Isn’t the Soccer America Imagined
  It was easy to imagine a bright future for soccer in America in 1994. The US had just hosted a wildly successful World Cup, its first, and a professional league was on the way to carry the momentum forward. America’s biggest sports, from football to hockey, had all consolidated around a dominant league and a national audience. Why not soccer, too?
• LA Is Becoming the New Home of West Coast Progressivism
  President Donald Trump is nothing if not consistent when it comes to election results he doesn’t like. And so it has been with California: When the Republican running for Los Angeles mayor failed to advance in last week’s primary, Trump doubled down on baseless conspiracy theories about mail-in ballots.
• The Iran War Is All About Psychology: Trump’s and Khamenei’s
  The psychology of leaders always matters in conflict. But rarely have matters of war and peace depended so much on the mental states of the adversaries as in the current conflict between the United States and Iran. And that is frightening.
• The ECB Is Jumping at Old Inflation Shadows
  Policymakers at the European Central Bank have just increased their benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point to 2.25%, the first change in policy in a year. While widely anticipated, the decision threatens to tip a faltering economy into recession — especially if the current bout of price increases proves unsustainable and the European energy market remains as well behaved as it has since the war in Iran began.
• The Pentagon Needs to Create the Green Berets of Tech
  Given the immense threat of cyberattacks to national security, it may surprise Americans that the US military has no dedicated force overseeing all operations to defend the nation, troops abroad and major corporations from cyberattacks. That may change soon.
• The US Needs Its Neighbors When Vehicles Cost $51,000
  The seemingly shallow rebranding of NAFTA as USMCA revealed, in retrospect, a deeper problem — one that now risks the industry at the heart of the trade deal: automobile manufacturing.
• What Exactly Has This Congress Achieved?
  After two years in charge of a unified federal government, what has the Republican Party accomplished? If current polling is any indication, not enough.
• SpaceX’s Critical Minerals Plan Runs Through China
  SpaceX’s ambition, to quote the ludicrously woo-woo language of its listing prospectus, is “to extend the light of consciousness to the stars.” To get to that ethereal end-state, however, it’s going to need to consume colossal quantities of hard physical stuff.
• It’s a Mistake for the US to Sanction China’s Biotech Giant
  The US should be doing all it can to preserve its lead in pharmaceutical innovation against a resurgent China. Instead, it’s punishing a company whose main business is helping American firms discover, test and commercialize their medical research.
• The World Cup Pits Mbappé and Nike Against Yamal and Adidas
  The Kardashianization of sportswear marketing, where individual star power outshines club or national loyalties, is on full display as industry giants Nike Inc. and Adidas AG battle for World Cup dominance. Some 45 seconds into Nike’s six-minute ad depicting a promotional football video shoot descending into chaos, one of the production staff utters: “Kim’s here.” And while Kim Kardashian appearing in the promo with soccer-mad son Saint has raised eyebrows, it really shouldn’t: Nike has a high-p
• Madison Square Garden Is Fouling Knicks Fans
  Nobody expected the New York Knicks’ first Finals home games in a generation to be cheap. But this championship run has pushed the limits of even New York excess. Before Monday’s game, a law firm and a private equity giant split a $1 million bid for a pair of courtside seats in a charity auction. Before Wednesday’s matchup, the “cheap” seats on resale sites hovered around $5,000.
• Wealthy, Aging Europe Isn’t Quite Finished Yet
  It’s hard to be an optimist these days — especially in wealthy, aging Europe, where pessimism prospers. A decade on from Brexit, the European Union remains admirably cohesive, especially after the departure of Hungary’s Viktor Orban. But its core powers are struggling.
• Who’s Afraid of ‘Japanese Neo-Militarism’? Nobody
  Do you live in fear of the specter of “Japanese neo-militarism”? Are you girding yourself for another campaign of advance across Asia? Perhaps you fret over the “gray rhino” of remilitarization in Tokyo, “charging towards peace and order in the Asia-Pacific”?
• An Anthropic-OpenAI Price War Would Be Brutal
  Things change fast in artificial intelligence. One minute corporate desk jockeys are competing to use AI coding and reasoning tools as much as possible, the next their bosses are complaining about budgets being pulverized and start rationing usage. Now OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman concedes that costs have become a “huge issue” for customers and he’s reportedly considering “drastically” cutting prices to rein in rival Anthropic PBC’s lead in the corporate market.
• The Knicks’ Name Traces Back to a 200-Year-Old Publicity Stunt
• Kevin Warsh Catches an Inflation Break at the Fed
  The White House gave Kevin Warsh an unofficial mandate when he was put in charge of the Federal Reserve: Find any excuse to lower interest rates. The problem for Warsh is twofold.
• The S&P 500’s SpaceX Snub Is a Public Service
  When Space Exploration Technologies Corp. goes public on Friday, its name will be everywhere — just not in the S&P 500 Index. The gatekeepers of the gauge announced last week that they will not make exceptions to their admission criteria for SpaceX. And rightly so.
• Ten Reasons Oil Is Still Below $100 a Barrel
  Regular readers will know that I’ve been more sanguine than many about the likely impact of what is undoubtedly a massive oil shock being delivered by the war in Iran. But the market has still managed to surprise me: More than 100 days into the war, oil is still below $100 a barrel.
• Sometimes, Bending the Rules Can Revive a Stock Market
  What constitutes a market portfolio? SpaceX’s public listing has ignited a debate over whether index providers should speed up the addition of newly listed large companies and how fast-tracking them would affect people’s 401(k)s and broader equity performance.