Anything that suspends active hostilities is good. But your analysis is spot on, this is a surrender in a war that is: 1) a war of choice: not plainly forced by immediate necessity; 2) illegal or legally rotten: at minimum deeply vulnerable under both international and constitutional war-powers analysis; 3) strategically foolish: it did almost nothing to solve the nuclear problem; 4) diplomatically humiliating: the U.S. appears to trade real leverage for Iranian promises and procedural fog; 5) morally obscene: the dead do not come back because someone later signs an MOU in clean rooms.
When this war started, honestly I thought Iran would win. But by 'win' I meant that the regime would remain, the Strait would reopen, and things would slowly return to much like they were before. But Iran really has won. If they had militarily defeated the US, they would not have gotten a better deal.
For Cheeto the most despicable word in the English language is "loser". For a malignant narcissist there can be no defeat. Pure and simple the psychopath always wins. If it weren't for the economic pressures coming from his billionaire cronies in the oil industry and more broadly the energy sector, Cheeto would have manufactured reasons to carry out this war out interminably.
But alas, Nature always catches up with psychopaths eventually. The governing laws of human behavior are inextricably tied to forces beyond human control and Cheeto is as good as a cooked turkey for Thanksgiving.
Nonetheless the Cheets will find some way to creatively make it so he doesn't appear to be the loser that he is. For every self respecting malignant narcissist there has to be a way out of this conundrum. Blame as WE the People have seen is the most common highway but in some spin there will the obvious lies that all his objectives have been met so in stretching truth to meaningless meanderings is a good way for Fox or Stephen Smith and Bill Maher to give him an off ramp.
But this sad hunk of human protoplasm is still just a demented psychopathic loser.
So, that’s the Art of the Deal.
As you mentioned and I have written in other notes, it’s the $300 Billion grift that worries me the most.
I see that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will be more than happy to distribute and facilitate the money for the interest of the Trump family.
The GCC has to know this? Right?
The world’s greatest negotiator has done it again!
The worst defeat in US military history, bar none.
Anything that suspends active hostilities is good. But your analysis is spot on, this is a surrender in a war that is: 1) a war of choice: not plainly forced by immediate necessity; 2) illegal or legally rotten: at minimum deeply vulnerable under both international and constitutional war-powers analysis; 3) strategically foolish: it did almost nothing to solve the nuclear problem; 4) diplomatically humiliating: the U.S. appears to trade real leverage for Iranian promises and procedural fog; 5) morally obscene: the dead do not come back because someone later signs an MOU in clean rooms.
When this war started, honestly I thought Iran would win. But by 'win' I meant that the regime would remain, the Strait would reopen, and things would slowly return to much like they were before. But Iran really has won. If they had militarily defeated the US, they would not have gotten a better deal.
Spot on Garry. Great analysis as always. Abrazo from Buenos Aires.
Cheeto Is A Loser
For Cheeto the most despicable word in the English language is "loser". For a malignant narcissist there can be no defeat. Pure and simple the psychopath always wins. If it weren't for the economic pressures coming from his billionaire cronies in the oil industry and more broadly the energy sector, Cheeto would have manufactured reasons to carry out this war out interminably.
But alas, Nature always catches up with psychopaths eventually. The governing laws of human behavior are inextricably tied to forces beyond human control and Cheeto is as good as a cooked turkey for Thanksgiving.
Nonetheless the Cheets will find some way to creatively make it so he doesn't appear to be the loser that he is. For every self respecting malignant narcissist there has to be a way out of this conundrum. Blame as WE the People have seen is the most common highway but in some spin there will the obvious lies that all his objectives have been met so in stretching truth to meaningless meanderings is a good way for Fox or Stephen Smith and Bill Maher to give him an off ramp.
But this sad hunk of human protoplasm is still just a demented psychopathic loser.
Gary your name is in the Theil's manifesto