Frida Ghitis

They’ve been following all the rules. The cruelty is the point

Iran’s Protests Have Raised the Profile of a Surprising Figure The Iranian regime’s ruthless response to recent protests was predictable. More surprising was the rise of the exiled crown prince’s popular appeal.

The Iranian regime’s ruthless response to recent protests was predictable.

More surprising was the rise of the exiled crown prince’s popular appeal, @fridaghitis.bsky.social writes.

“The collapsing prospects for Saudi ties with Israel are directly linked to the growing rivalry and worsening tensions between the USE and Saudi Arabia.
As it happens, the UAE stands at the center of the ME architecture assembled by the Abraham Accords. It maintains thriving relations with Israel.”

Saudi Arabia Drifting Away from U.S and Israel Amid a regional realignment, the Saudis are losing interest in the Abraham Accords

Saudi Arabia is tirning away from Trump’s Abraham Accords and from the prospect of relations with Israel open.substack.com/pub/fridains...

Opinion | Moderna’s chilling announcement is a symptom of a deeper sickness China is on track to become the world’s pharmaceutical leader if the U.S. keeps blowing its edge.

Moderna says it plans no new late-stage vaccine trials because of policy uncertainty, a chilling consequence of the Trump administration’s anti-vaccine turn. US will fall behind China in vaccine innovation

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

INSIGHT by Frida Ghitis | Substack Uncommon Perspective on World Affairs. Click to read INSIGHT by Frida Ghitis, a Substack publication.

I recommend and subscribe to Frida Ghitis' "Insight"
fridainsight.substack.com
World affairs journalist. CNN/CNNE on-air contributor, Former CNN producer/correspondent. Sr columnist World Politics Review, contributing columnist Washington Post.
Worked in 70+ countries.
@fridaghitis.bsky.social

I’d say salacious is not the right word. Some of the accusations against Trump are truly horrifying. Sickening. Some of the worst I’ve heard against anyone.

How Trump Appears in the Epstein Files

The New York Times found more than 5,300 files with references to Mr. Trump and related terms. They include salacious and unverified claims, as well as documents that had already been made public.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/u...

Shocking to hear Latino names in this context

Trump Discovers the Limits of his Power On Minneapolis and Greenland, determined pushback and predictable consequences forced his hand.

Minneapolis is defeating Trump

open.substack.com/pub/fridains...

This is hilarious!! 🤣 🤣

Miss Nuremberg, 2026

This is inexcusable for 100 different reasons. Infuriating.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey:

"Minneapolis will continue to cooperate with state and federal law enforcement on real criminal investigations — but we will not participate in unconstitutional arrests of our neighbors or enforce federal immigration law.”

From Alex Pretti’s family:
"the sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting."

But will there be a trial?

WOW on Pretti's denial of medical treatment

"I informed the ICE agents that I am a physician, and I asked to
assess the victim.

At first, the ICE agents wouldn't let me through. ... But none of the ICE agents who were near the victim were performing CPR, ... None of the agents were helping him."

“The Minnesota man who was killed by federal agents on Saturday has been identified as Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse working in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis VA, serving veterans.
“Victim identified as VA nurse Alex Pretti: “He wanted to help people””
The Guardian

Rejecting Decades of Science, Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Other Shots Should Be Optional

Absolutely insanity. Bordering on criminal. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/h...

On Greenland and Minneapolis, Trump's Harsh Tactics, Bizarre Motives The two crises have much in common

There is only one conceivable explanation for Trump’s campaign for Greenland and his tactics in Minneapolis. It has nothing to do with national security.

open.substack.com/pub/fridains...

Source: 5-year-old boy taken by ICE in Minneapolis area being held with father at Texas facility | CNN A 5-year-old who was taken by federal agents from the driveway of his Minneapolis home Tuesday after returning from preschool is being detained with his father at an Immigration and Customs Enforcemen...

ICE keeps claiming that they're going after "the worst of the worst." Meet Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, detained by in the driveway in front of his house in the Minneapolis area, taken out of the car back from pre-school.
Liam and his father are in ICE detention.
www.cnn.com/2026/01/22/u...

Trump’s former lawyer says Trump is “demented” and “no one outside the boundaries of the United States thinks he’s sane”

On Greenland and Minneapolis, Trump's Harsh Tactics, Bizarre Motives The two crises have much in common

There is only one conceivable explanation for Trump’s campaign for Greenland and his tactics in Minneapolis. It has nothing to do with national security.

open.substack.com/pub/fridains...

New YouGov/The Economist poll
Trump
Approve: 37%
Disapprove: 57%

It's not supposed to work that way: Under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises" and to "regulate Commerce with foreign Nations".

It's called drunk with power.

You can’t make this up. Trump wrote to Norway’s PM saying essentially that he’s going to take Greenland because they didn’t give him the Nobel Peace Prize. (Quite the humanitarian!)

America has coped with worse things than Donald Trump Lessons from history for the next three years

A different take on now:
"..a stubborn belief in the unique awfulness of now flatters the present and trivializes the achievements of those who overcame worse odds. Americans have felt such strains before. The past offers grounds neither for despair nor complacency"
www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

A scandalously unethical study whose objective is to look for problems with vaccines that we already know are highly effective.
Children in Guinea-Bissau in Africa will die because of RFK's crackpot anti-vaccine crusade. Shameful.

Shocking. Not just CDC but the Danish researchers doing this. I'm seeking views from some experts