History has an unsettling habit of reminding us that the greatest catastrophes rarely begin with catastrophic intentions. They begin with assumptions. One more threat. One more mobilization. One more strike that everyone believes will remain limited. World War I wasn't launched because Europe's leaders collectively decided to engulf the globe in war. It happened because each believed the next move was manageable, the next escalation controllable, and the other side would even

The Constitution says Congress declares war. That’s the theory, anyway. In practice, modern presidents tend to treat Congress less like a co-equal branch of government and more like the customer feedback department after military action is already underway. Missiles fly first. Hearings happen later. Statements are issued. Senators appear on cable news looking “deeply concerned.” Then the next crisis arrives and the cycle begins again. Presidents inherited expanded war powers.

For those of you who don’t geek out on history as much as I do — or who just weren’t around to remember most of these — I want to talk about something that keeps popping up in our national conversation: Regime change. It sounds abstract. Strategic. Clean. But the United States has a long history of attempting to remove, replace, undermine, or collapse foreign governments it viewed as hostile or destabilizing. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it failed. And sometimes it “worked”