'Postwar Ukraine is going to be an intensely hostile neighbor'

'Are Americans ready to give up on Ukraine?'

Robert Kagan at The Washington Post

Ukrainians are "being urged to abandon the romantic path of hopeless resistance and pursue the heroic path of realism," says Robert Kagan. But "if they do, what is to stop Russia from taking the rest of Ukraine whenever it is ready?" Ukrainians "won't soon forget the death, destruction, murder and torture suffered at Russia's hands during the war." There will be "potent strains of revanchism as Ukrainians mourn their lost territory and yearn for its eventual return."

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'The little-known factor driving up housing costs: Dirty money'

James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana at Politico

The "number of  housing units in the nation has grown faster than the number of households," so housing is "not just a supply problem," say James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana. It's the "people with money — especially those with a lot of money — who drive up prices for everyone else." There are people "buying luxury real estate who have a lot of money. Dirty money. And that money is distorting the market for ordinary homebuyers."

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'Harris and Trump are tied in the polls — so I conducted my own less traditional research'

Arwa Mahdawi at The Guardian

Polling is an "inexact science at the best of times, and "more importantly, pretty much all the results of recent Trump-Harris polls have been within the margin of error," says Arwa Mahdawi. People can "scrutinize the numbers ad infinitum, but when it comes down to it, the truth is that nobody knows what is going to happen in November other than it's (probably) going to be very close." Polling is "basically astrology for political nerds at this point."

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'"Megalopolis" is a spectacular failure'

Spencer Neale at The American Conservative

The "greatest sin an artist can commit is to allow time to pass them by unnoticed," but that is "exactly what has happened to the legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola," says Spencer Neale. His film "Megalopolis" is "evidence of just how far Coppola has fallen." The film "spirals from one green screen scene to the next as stilted dialogue and unsure acting awkwardly pace the blockbuster." Coppola "simply can't get out of the way of his best-laid plans."

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