Right, in a 'free' and 'Democratic' country a war that 7 out of 10 of its citizens are against is 'necessary'!
Forget about Congressional approval, does anyone care about international law anymore? The UN charter clearly states that member nations can't attack each other unless attacked first or if they have permission from the security council. Just because a government is ruthlessly authoritarian doesn't mean you can bomb the country to pieces.
This war is not about defending Democracy. It's about installing a puppet regime of the US and Israel. One Dictatorship will be replaced by another.
The Security Council is irrelevant at this point. Russia has a veto and just invaded its neighbor for the most imperialistic of reasons. And Congress is just hopeless as welll.
If the Security Council is irrelevant, which from how the US is acting it clearly is, humanity is practically doomed in the long run. If you want to know what happens when law and order break down, look at the second world war. The failure of the league of nations led to WW2. The failure of the UN will likely lead to another one, except this time we might not live to tell the tale.
The UN needs some reforms. We've known this for decades. We don't need to choose between a Security Council that has problems and doom. As for how the US government is acting, the people of the US are also acting. We have dealt with things like this in the past and we will do it again. It will take a while, so dear world please try to go around us as best you can. Take care of yourselves. With any luck we will be back after having eaten a large quantiry of humble pie. That will be a benefit for all of us.
Many argue that Iran is the epitome of evil, and they may be right. But bombing Iran to reduce/eliminate the risks of this evil regime without having a plan to (1) successfully manage the fallout, (2) successfully end the war, (3) successfully change the trajectory of the Middle East in your favor, and (4) successfully boost US deterrence instead of the opposite just reveals the incompetence, idiocy, and arrogance of the Trump administration. Since there's no plan to accomplish all those objectives, it's clear Trump figured Iran would capitulate immediately, an obvious miscalculation from the worst president in US history. The world should have expected that kind of failure based on Trump's COVID failures. But Trump is such a malignant narcissist that he believes everything he does will be successful because he chooses to do it. Now, America faces an increased risk of terrorism and $100 oil, among other wonderful outcomes.
Dealing with the Iran problem for all the reasons Garry cites makes sense. But how you deal with it is the key question. The JCPOA had a specific purpose and was moderately successful. It could have gone further. It could have served as a foundation for deeper, longer agreements with Iran. This war didn't have a specific purpose. Is it even moderately successful so far? It could get worse. America needs to pivot quickly, find an off ramp, and rethink how to accomplish its goals.
Ought implies can. Your post implicitly assumes that there exists a feasible military strategy that would lead to the toppling of the Iranian regime. It is not at all clear that that is the case. Air power alone basically never does it, there is no insurgent army on the ground to which we might give air support, and a US led ground invasion of Iran would make the current war look like a super popular cakewalk.
Containment was working-- not perfectly, but well enough-- under the 2015 JCPOA. Trump tore that up at the urging of hawks. In retrospect that looks even dumber than it looked at the time. The proper task for Democrats is to find a way back to something resembling the JCPOA, not to nurture fantasies of glorious liberation that are not within our power.
Failing to mention that THE ONLY ONE who benefits from the Trump debacle in Iran is Putin, and who is probably at the bottom of it, is baffling to me! What happened to Gary Kasparov?!
The ideal outcome for Iran is also the most difficult - a Persian Spring that mirrors the Czech Velvet Revolution or Portuguese Carnation Revolution. Sadly, the Ayatollah clergy & IRGC aren't easily removed, even if the biggest bombs available rained down on them.
PS: who here is familiar with Mohamed Mossadegh and the 1953 coup that ousted him?
Both America & Iran are currently led by rogue state actors. And from numerous military experts, the most likely outcomes are a Vietnam-grade quagmire; or if the Ayatollah theocracy is crushed, it turns into post-Saddam Iraq on steroids and armed sectarian groups jostle for power.
One of these experts, Malcolm Nance, described it as such:
"Trump has no idea what he’s doing. Because he has contempt for the people who know what they’re doing & the history of what came before him.
If Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires then Iran is the funeral home of empires. It dresses you up and lays you into the coffin neatly. Then closes the lid.
Trump cannot understand why Iran hasn’t surrendered … “Lookit all them bombs,” he shouts “They should all love Trump!”"
Everyone has a responsibility to do something to better our future. May I guide you to “a third way” path? Please, join me at EthicalGovtNow.org. Only $12 annually (3.3 cents a day). Our Republic is in a much more complicated place than most of us think. We need a longer view of solutions to our inherited societal and political complexities and need to look for them with priorities. CLICK to delve into: EthicalGovtNow.org; aggregate by joining today or, what we are experiencing, our grandchildren are very likely to inherit.
Cost-benefit. Unless the interdiction is complete (How can it be if any Iranians or sympathizers are left standing?), costs will include increased animosity to those who have been dropping the bombs. Survivors will use the tools they have. Terrorism from small sized groups, destabilizing foreign militias enhanced, dangerous technologies spread, a dirty bomb from the obliterated enrichment sites or a functioning reactor, assassination of enemy leaders with poisons, guns, or drones, etc. Ending today without plans to mitigate costs would definitely be unwise. A containment plan needs to be thought through and implemented. It's not like US troops could march in and be seen as deliverers of freedom. There needs to be serious PR work and an offer to rebuild. Also an unwinding of the proxy networks Iran had been supporting. Strengthening Russia is probably not the wisest plan towards this goal. Mitigation however faces the America First obstacle, a huge obstacle against making America Great Again. The world, at least the world as we want it, needs a plan.
If the Democrats are to lead, they must be able to take command of the military. That means we need to replace the Commander In Chief. That is a difficult process that we have attempted twice before with this President. The process cannot begin until next year.
Your piece reads as a call for decisive action, but it misses the uncomfortable reality: the very Democratic forces you appeal to are structurally incapable of delivering what you demand. Sanctions, diplomatic pressure, support for NGOs—these are not zero, but they are negligible, effectively 0.1 out of 10 when it comes to real regime change.
You argue for dismantling the Islamic Republic, yet you ignore a simple fact: the actors you hope will do it have historically shown almost no willingness to follow through. That is the hard truth your idealistic framework cannot accommodate.
Here’s the central contradiction you seem unable to see: the only leader in recent American politics who has actually pursued the kind of decisive, forceful action you claim to want is Donald Trump. He removes layer after layer of regimes and actors aligned with Russia, acting in ways consistent with the strategic goals you endorse. Yet you criticize him for style and procedure, refusing to acknowledge that in substance, he implements the very approach you demand.
This is the core tension of your argument: you reject the form while admiring the effect—blind to the fact that reality produces results in ways your ideals do not control. Your call to Democrats to “take leadership” is a wishful abstraction; it is Trump, despite your disapproval of his persona, who actually executes the kind of policy you claim to desire.
Your analysis may be morally passionate, but it fails strategically. It is not a plan; it is frustration at the dissonance between your ideals and the reality of the actors who could achieve them. Until you recognize that the policies you praise in theory are being enacted by those you disdain in practice, your prescriptions remain purely aspirational.
Russia under Putin has sown at least as much terror around the world as the Iranian regime. And as you say with respect to Iran, plenty of Western leaders have had time to act since Putin rose to power. None have. But would it be acceptable to kill thousands of Russian civilians, displace millions and destroy their culture -- which is still in high school compared to Persian culture -- in a half-baked bid to "liberate" them? And if Russia in retaliation then started bombing other nations -- like, oh, I don't know, Azerbaijan -- would that simply be the cost of "liberating" Russia? Just curious if your realpolitik analysis would include even a soupcon of heart if it were your people dying under the bombs.
Nazi Republicans of the CNPP(Christian Nationalist Ped Party) have their party affiliations these days because they aren’t what one would call “conservatives” but a very wealthy group of people who want to preserve power over the American electorate
If a billionaire sees higher gas and grocery prices he simply gives more money to his kid’s nanny or people around him who take care of his daily needs If his chef faces more expenses at the store no big deal With oodles of cash why should he or his family be concerned?
But for a president of a country who should feel some responsibility to those who voted him into office and looks out for the welfare of his people Even if he’s a billionaire, it becomes a problem if he turns on the people he should be helping and says, “get over the high costs, no big deal” Today former slumlord Cheeto reportedly told Speaker Mike Johnson that “no one gives a shit about housing.” Such callousness and disregard for the poorest of his people is cruel and shows no respect for the people he promised when elected “no more wars” and “lower prices on day 1” all to stay out of jail
And yet this is where the American people find themselves with the Orange Cheeto WE the People deserve an end to lies and disrespect WE deserve better than this and WE’ll let him know in November
Right, in a 'free' and 'Democratic' country a war that 7 out of 10 of its citizens are against is 'necessary'!
Forget about Congressional approval, does anyone care about international law anymore? The UN charter clearly states that member nations can't attack each other unless attacked first or if they have permission from the security council. Just because a government is ruthlessly authoritarian doesn't mean you can bomb the country to pieces.
This war is not about defending Democracy. It's about installing a puppet regime of the US and Israel. One Dictatorship will be replaced by another.
The Security Council is irrelevant at this point. Russia has a veto and just invaded its neighbor for the most imperialistic of reasons. And Congress is just hopeless as welll.
If the Security Council is irrelevant, which from how the US is acting it clearly is, humanity is practically doomed in the long run. If you want to know what happens when law and order break down, look at the second world war. The failure of the league of nations led to WW2. The failure of the UN will likely lead to another one, except this time we might not live to tell the tale.
You’re confusing symptom for cause.
The UN needs some reforms. We've known this for decades. We don't need to choose between a Security Council that has problems and doom. As for how the US government is acting, the people of the US are also acting. We have dealt with things like this in the past and we will do it again. It will take a while, so dear world please try to go around us as best you can. Take care of yourselves. With any luck we will be back after having eaten a large quantiry of humble pie. That will be a benefit for all of us.
The dictatorship that seems to be looming is the one that’s occurring in the USA.
Trump ignores the constitution, international law, the Supreme Court because he sees himself already in the role of strongman/dictator.
Absolutely.
What you wrote about Iran is correct. But most of those descriptions also applies to Saudi Arabia. Should US do regime change in Saudi Arabia?
Many argue that Iran is the epitome of evil, and they may be right. But bombing Iran to reduce/eliminate the risks of this evil regime without having a plan to (1) successfully manage the fallout, (2) successfully end the war, (3) successfully change the trajectory of the Middle East in your favor, and (4) successfully boost US deterrence instead of the opposite just reveals the incompetence, idiocy, and arrogance of the Trump administration. Since there's no plan to accomplish all those objectives, it's clear Trump figured Iran would capitulate immediately, an obvious miscalculation from the worst president in US history. The world should have expected that kind of failure based on Trump's COVID failures. But Trump is such a malignant narcissist that he believes everything he does will be successful because he chooses to do it. Now, America faces an increased risk of terrorism and $100 oil, among other wonderful outcomes.
Dealing with the Iran problem for all the reasons Garry cites makes sense. But how you deal with it is the key question. The JCPOA had a specific purpose and was moderately successful. It could have gone further. It could have served as a foundation for deeper, longer agreements with Iran. This war didn't have a specific purpose. Is it even moderately successful so far? It could get worse. America needs to pivot quickly, find an off ramp, and rethink how to accomplish its goals.
Ought implies can. Your post implicitly assumes that there exists a feasible military strategy that would lead to the toppling of the Iranian regime. It is not at all clear that that is the case. Air power alone basically never does it, there is no insurgent army on the ground to which we might give air support, and a US led ground invasion of Iran would make the current war look like a super popular cakewalk.
Containment was working-- not perfectly, but well enough-- under the 2015 JCPOA. Trump tore that up at the urging of hawks. In retrospect that looks even dumber than it looked at the time. The proper task for Democrats is to find a way back to something resembling the JCPOA, not to nurture fantasies of glorious liberation that are not within our power.
As a theocracy, Iran was dying…poisoned by its own abuse of women and crippled by their lack of basic freedoms and by the cruelty of their leaders.
Time was not on Iran’s side…
Until Trump came along.
Failing to mention that THE ONLY ONE who benefits from the Trump debacle in Iran is Putin, and who is probably at the bottom of it, is baffling to me! What happened to Gary Kasparov?!
He’s hoping that the Iranian regime will fall. But there’s zero sign of that.
Just as Putin benefited from the Hamas attack & ensuing Israeli war on Gaza.
Gary Kasporov for Congress!
He’s not an American.
The ideal outcome for Iran is also the most difficult - a Persian Spring that mirrors the Czech Velvet Revolution or Portuguese Carnation Revolution. Sadly, the Ayatollah clergy & IRGC aren't easily removed, even if the biggest bombs available rained down on them.
PS: who here is familiar with Mohamed Mossadegh and the 1953 coup that ousted him?
Both America & Iran are currently led by rogue state actors. And from numerous military experts, the most likely outcomes are a Vietnam-grade quagmire; or if the Ayatollah theocracy is crushed, it turns into post-Saddam Iraq on steroids and armed sectarian groups jostle for power.
One of these experts, Malcolm Nance, described it as such:
"Trump has no idea what he’s doing. Because he has contempt for the people who know what they’re doing & the history of what came before him.
If Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires then Iran is the funeral home of empires. It dresses you up and lays you into the coffin neatly. Then closes the lid.
Trump cannot understand why Iran hasn’t surrendered … “Lookit all them bombs,” he shouts “They should all love Trump!”"
https://xcancel.com/MalcolmNance/status/2030572269898998102?s=20
Everyone has a responsibility to do something to better our future. May I guide you to “a third way” path? Please, join me at EthicalGovtNow.org. Only $12 annually (3.3 cents a day). Our Republic is in a much more complicated place than most of us think. We need a longer view of solutions to our inherited societal and political complexities and need to look for them with priorities. CLICK to delve into: EthicalGovtNow.org; aggregate by joining today or, what we are experiencing, our grandchildren are very likely to inherit.
Cost-benefit. Unless the interdiction is complete (How can it be if any Iranians or sympathizers are left standing?), costs will include increased animosity to those who have been dropping the bombs. Survivors will use the tools they have. Terrorism from small sized groups, destabilizing foreign militias enhanced, dangerous technologies spread, a dirty bomb from the obliterated enrichment sites or a functioning reactor, assassination of enemy leaders with poisons, guns, or drones, etc. Ending today without plans to mitigate costs would definitely be unwise. A containment plan needs to be thought through and implemented. It's not like US troops could march in and be seen as deliverers of freedom. There needs to be serious PR work and an offer to rebuild. Also an unwinding of the proxy networks Iran had been supporting. Strengthening Russia is probably not the wisest plan towards this goal. Mitigation however faces the America First obstacle, a huge obstacle against making America Great Again. The world, at least the world as we want it, needs a plan.
If the Democrats are to lead, they must be able to take command of the military. That means we need to replace the Commander In Chief. That is a difficult process that we have attempted twice before with this President. The process cannot begin until next year.
Much will happen between now and a year from now.
My main question would be: What is Trump‘s next move in an asymmetric war?
Garry,
Your piece reads as a call for decisive action, but it misses the uncomfortable reality: the very Democratic forces you appeal to are structurally incapable of delivering what you demand. Sanctions, diplomatic pressure, support for NGOs—these are not zero, but they are negligible, effectively 0.1 out of 10 when it comes to real regime change.
You argue for dismantling the Islamic Republic, yet you ignore a simple fact: the actors you hope will do it have historically shown almost no willingness to follow through. That is the hard truth your idealistic framework cannot accommodate.
Here’s the central contradiction you seem unable to see: the only leader in recent American politics who has actually pursued the kind of decisive, forceful action you claim to want is Donald Trump. He removes layer after layer of regimes and actors aligned with Russia, acting in ways consistent with the strategic goals you endorse. Yet you criticize him for style and procedure, refusing to acknowledge that in substance, he implements the very approach you demand.
This is the core tension of your argument: you reject the form while admiring the effect—blind to the fact that reality produces results in ways your ideals do not control. Your call to Democrats to “take leadership” is a wishful abstraction; it is Trump, despite your disapproval of his persona, who actually executes the kind of policy you claim to desire.
Your analysis may be morally passionate, but it fails strategically. It is not a plan; it is frustration at the dissonance between your ideals and the reality of the actors who could achieve them. Until you recognize that the policies you praise in theory are being enacted by those you disdain in practice, your prescriptions remain purely aspirational.
Russia under Putin has sown at least as much terror around the world as the Iranian regime. And as you say with respect to Iran, plenty of Western leaders have had time to act since Putin rose to power. None have. But would it be acceptable to kill thousands of Russian civilians, displace millions and destroy their culture -- which is still in high school compared to Persian culture -- in a half-baked bid to "liberate" them? And if Russia in retaliation then started bombing other nations -- like, oh, I don't know, Azerbaijan -- would that simply be the cost of "liberating" Russia? Just curious if your realpolitik analysis would include even a soupcon of heart if it were your people dying under the bombs.
Billionaire Cheeto: Let Them Eat Cake
Nazi Republicans of the CNPP(Christian Nationalist Ped Party) have their party affiliations these days because they aren’t what one would call “conservatives” but a very wealthy group of people who want to preserve power over the American electorate
If a billionaire sees higher gas and grocery prices he simply gives more money to his kid’s nanny or people around him who take care of his daily needs If his chef faces more expenses at the store no big deal With oodles of cash why should he or his family be concerned?
But for a president of a country who should feel some responsibility to those who voted him into office and looks out for the welfare of his people Even if he’s a billionaire, it becomes a problem if he turns on the people he should be helping and says, “get over the high costs, no big deal” Today former slumlord Cheeto reportedly told Speaker Mike Johnson that “no one gives a shit about housing.” Such callousness and disregard for the poorest of his people is cruel and shows no respect for the people he promised when elected “no more wars” and “lower prices on day 1” all to stay out of jail
And yet this is where the American people find themselves with the Orange Cheeto WE the People deserve an end to lies and disrespect WE deserve better than this and WE’ll let him know in November