March 24, 2026- In the late Nineteenth Century, Joel Chandler Harris compiled a host of stories told by enslaved Blacks in the rural South, featuring anthropomorphized animals ( a fox, a rabbit and a bear). One of these stories involves the devising of a doll made of tar and turpentine by Br’er (“brother”) Fox, to trap Br’er Rabbit. When the rabbit perceives self insulted by the real-life looking doll, he attacks it and gets stuck. (I acknowledge that some see the likeness of the Tar Baby to a Black person, but that is not my intent here. Bear with me.)

The present class of international oligarchs is extremely thin-skinned, almost to a one. There are laws on the books, in many countries ruled by an oligarchy, that prohibit criticism of the leader. Some even prescribe the death penalty for such criticism. These oligarchs are akin to Br’er Rabbit, in the above-mentioned story. The Tar Baby is almost always an attractive ruse, set forth by an opposing force (the Br’er Fox of the situation.)

Here we are, in the early part of 2026. and the Tar Baby of the Iranian Revolutionary government has been used by one set of oligarchs to draw in another. Here is Vladimir Putin, as Br’er Fox, drawing in not one, but two Br’er Rabbits-Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu- by standing on the sidelines and daring them to take action against the Iranians. This is not the first time that a trickster has gotten the goat of a hubris-laden elitist.

Will either of them call his bluff and ask to be “thrown into the briar patch”(Br’er Rabbit’s counter gambit, in the series)? The briar patch would be combat with nuclear weapons, so let’s hope not.