Checkmate in Iran
Washington can’t reverse or control the consequences of losing this war.
QuoteDefeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be "open," as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran's allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished.
The consequences of letting a bully of an adult child run the show. America thought the orange cookie thief would give them a cookie. That he would share. But the power obsessed do not share. So it goes, when putting a sucker on the hook is very easy when you exploit GREED. Power obsessed people know about greed. Exploiting greed means you only have to make promises like 'make America great again.' Having an actual plan to do so is totally unnecessary since America's greed prevents any consideration of consequences.
So Trump thinks:
And since talking shit and having no plan works so well, why not start a war without a plan too. The suckers will believe anything I tell them. They have so far. They always do.
QuoteIran experts have noted, the regime in Tehran currently stands to emerge from the crisis much stronger than it was before the war, having not only retained its potential nuclear capacity but also gained control of an even more effective weapon: the ability to hold the global energy market hostage. When the Iranians talk of "reopening" the strait, they still mean to keep the strait under their control. Iran will be able not only to demand tolls for passage, but to limit transit to those nations with which it has good relations. If a nation behaves in a way that Iran's rulers don't like, they will be able to exact punishment merely by slowing, or even threatening to slow, the flow of that nation's cargo ships in and out of the strait.
To benefit himself Trump has locked America into ineluctable decline. To some, that defines a traitor.