🎙️The Ensemble: US official admits to mistakes made in Iran

Former US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer joins 'Global Power Shifts' with lessons from the 2009 Green Movement plus the Corgi-led canine escape story that was too good to be true

While this newsletter was written in the fashion capital of the world in Milan, the last month has been far more helmet focused than heels. That’s right, we have in fact entered the second month of the war with Iran. Milan may be best known for style, but it’s also home to where the Italian people resoundingly rejected fascism by publicly putting on display Mussolini’s hanging body during WWII. It’s a McDonalds now, Milan’s Mussolini McDonalds.

Back in Washington a few days before my trip, the Hitler ally had been brought up at a Council on Foreign Relations conversation with Dr Sebastian Gorka, President Trump’s counterterrorism adviser at the White House.

He said if the Iranian people knew how much the regime had spent on proxy militias they’d make like the Italians and take care of their leaders themselves. Given that’s what President Trump said he wanted when he launched this military campaign, I was confused why that number was still classified. He answered here (scroll to the very last question.)

“I believe the mullahs would be swinging from the lampposts in less than a day. The regime would be taken over by the Persians and all the minorities, who would be absolutely horrified that I can’t get electricity to keep my child’s, you know, milk cold, but you’re pumping literally billions of dollars into Sunni terrorist groups simply because in that part of the world the enemy of my enemy is my friend, yeah, it’s high time they knew that this isn’t America vice the Shia world. This is a(n) Islamo-fascist regime, who say they represent the Shia world, who have been funding Sunni jihadism basically since 1979.”

The Iran nuclear agreement is often criticized for not dealing with the regime’s extracurricular activities Gorka mentions. So we were pleased to have one of the US officials who negotiated the deal - Jon Finer - join Jim Stenman and I to unpack why they shook hands on something that didn’t address the missiles now raining in the region - and how it may have accidentally led to the majority of the population now rejecting the regime and calling for the end of the Islamic Republic by exposing the theocracy’s corruption . You can find the full episode here:

News with Suz took the show on the digital road last week joining fellow independent journalists on their podcasts and livestreams from Beyond The Pod with Chuck Todd

to Under the Desk News for a refreshing ‘hot geopolitical gossip’ session that was way more chill than talking Iran on TV and frankly felt like therapy, so thanks V! Also love that I could show up with a high pony in a t-shirt and a pink tutu because dopamine dressing, Helmet to Heels approved.

Fit Check, Fact Check: Homeward Bound, Or Not

Because the month wouldn’t be complete without a heartwarming animal story: January’s mascot was a nihilist penguin, February was a monkey and his plushie that melted even the coldest of hearts and March was for the dogs, especially a Corgi. As much as we wanted to be wrong, the viral online video we could not stop watching turned out to be too good to be true. H2H’s investigative journalism involved verifying whether a group of missing stolen dogs actually walked 17km back home to their village.

A video emerged showing a pack of seven dogs walking convoy-style down a road. It was headed by a small Corgi, nicknamed “Big Fatty” in some reports, who kept glancing back as if to check that the others were still following. An injured German Shepherd limps along, seemingly protected by the rest of the pack, adding a cinematic quality that has already sparked calls for a film adaptation.

I was initially worried the video was AI but no - outlets such as India Today reported that the dogs allegedly escaped after being stolen for the illegal meat trade in northeastern China, a claim that quickly helped the story go viral. According to The Guardian, however, on 21 March authorities from Jilin’s provincial culture and tourism bureau stated that the dogs had not escaped due to mistreatment but had instead roamed off on their own, reportedly drawn by a German Shepherd that was in heat and known to wander away for several days at a time.

Our friends over at Mo News have a great write-up of the whole tail (sorry).

Still, whether it’s a case of heroic leadership or just an unusually well-organised walkabout, the image of a determined corgi leading its convoy home has given many of us a small lift in an otherwise difficult week. And in the age of viral storytelling, sometimes the journey matters just as much as the destination.

Image: Gulf News

A Royal Gown and the Politics of Longevity

Princess Anne’s appearance at the Nigerian state banquet at Windsor Castle was, on its surface, a fashion moment. But the white lattice‑trimmed gown she wore, first debuted in 1969 when she was just 18, became something closer to a manifesto. Anne has long been the royal family’s most consistent advocate for sustainability, decades before the term became a PR staple. Her decision to rewear and subtly upcycle the dress over the years is more than nostalgia; it’s a rebuke to fast fashion’s disposability and a reminder that craftsmanship, care, and continuity still matter.

In a world obsessed with the new, Anne’s gown is a quiet argument for the value of what endures.

Image: AOL

“Ma’am you’ll find the eggs in Aisle XY”

Across the Atlantic, another kind of preservation is at stake: the right to build a family. Costco’s newly announced partnership with Sesame and IVI RMA marks one of the most significant attempts yet to democratize fertility care in the United States. The collaboration gives Costco members immediate access to fertility care coordination, diagnostic workups, and streamlined referrals to reproductive specialists all embedded within a standard membership.

But the headline‑grabbing shift is financial. Costco will now offer exclusive pricing on fertility medications, with savings of up to 80% on some of the most expensive drugs used in treatment cycles. Follistim, for example, an injectable hormone that can cost over $1,200 per cartridge, becomes dramatically more affordable under the new pricing structure. For many patients, medication costs are the single largest out‑of‑pocket barrier to IVF; reducing them by thousands of dollars per cycle is a structural intervention.

The partnership also includes coordinated care through Sesame clinicians, who guide patients through medical terminology, emotional stressors, and the labyrinthine logistics of fertility treatment. If specialty care is needed, IVI RMA provides access to high‑acuity services like IVF and IUI at additional discounted rates.

This move lands in a political moment where reproductive access is being reshaped from the top down. President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order expanding access to IVF, positioned as a pro‑family initiative, signaled a federal push to increase birth rates even as the CDC reported a continued decline in the general fertility rate. With IVF cycles costing anywhere from $12,000 to $25,000, and often requiring multiple rounds, Costco’s entry into the space is less a retail curiosity and more a response to a national demographic and economic challenge.

If Princess Anne’s gown represents the preservation of heritage, Costco’s fertility initiative represents the preservation of possibility; a widening of the doorway for families who have long found it closed.

Image: USA Today News

The Trial of Attention

Something more addictive than Costco’s free samples is apparently Instagram and Facebook. A US jury has this week found Meta liable for contributing to a young woman’s social media addiction, in what is being described as a landmark case for the industry. Alongside Google’s YouTube, Meta was judged negligent in the design of its platforms, with jurors concluding the companies knew their products could be harmful and failed to adequately warn users.

The case centres on a now 20-year-old woman who began using platforms like Instagram and YouTube as a child, and argued that features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and algorithmic recommendations helped drive compulsive use and worsened her mental health. The jury agreed, awarding millions in damages and assigning the majority of responsibility to Meta.

Crucially, this wasn’t just about one user. The lawsuit is a “bellwether” case, one of thousands that could follow the same legal path, potentially reshaping how social media companies design their products or, at the very least, how they defend them. Comparisons to Big Tobacco litigation have already begun to surface, with lawyers arguing that addictive design choices were not accidental, but engineered.

Meta, for its part, has pushed back, arguing that teen mental health is “profoundly complex” and cannot be attributed to a single platform, and signalling it will appeal.

What makes the moment particularly striking is the timing. Even as platforms experiment with in-app “wellbeing” tools and educational prompts about screen time, courts are beginning to interrogate the systems underneath, less interested in whether users understand their habits, and more in how those habits were built in the first place.

If Meta’s new messaging is about helping users manage their attention, this ruling suggests a shift in where responsibility might ultimately lie: not with the individual trying to log off, but with the architecture that makes it so difficult. So hey, if you’re still reading you’ve succeeded, congratulations!

Picasso in a Bunker: Art at the Edge of War

Finally, we come to Tehran via Bloomberg, where Pablo Picasso’s The Painter and His Model, a seven‑foot surrealist masterpiece bought during Iran’s 1970s oil‑boom art spree, sits in a subterranean vault as the city braces under the threat of war. The painting, rarely seen and almost never allowed to travel, has become a symbol of cultural endurance under political siege. Art historian Jeremy Melius calls it “one of the supreme achievements” of Picasso’s career, a work whose breakthroughs made Guernica possible.

That a painting born from the anxieties of the early 20th century now hides from the anxieties of the 21st is a reminder that cultural treasures are never just objects, they’re mirrors. And right now, that mirror reflects fear, fragility, and the stubborn will to protect beauty even in the darkest conditions.

Image: New York Post