The art of the deal, when practiced for 2,500 years, does lead to the palace of wisdom. I had hardly set foot in Tehran when a diplomat broke the news: “Trump? We’re not worried. He’s a bazaari (merchant trader)” – implying a political compromise will eventually be reached.Asia Times
The other art of the deal, Tehran-style
Pepe Escobar
Except that Trump isn't in charge.
ReplyDeleteWe could kill ALL of those mfers in ONE DAY...
ReplyDeleteNot without either using WMD or massive boots on the ground, and both of those are off the table.
ReplyDeleteUS asks for reinforcements after Taliban resurgence
The Guardian
tUK may double troops in Afghanistan after Donald Trump request
Can't even deal with Afghanistan. Iraq is a mess. The US is marginalized in Syria. Libya is a fiasco.
Iran? Really?
Tactical nukes Tom...
ReplyDeleteHe may be a rug merchant but he is is rug merchant who can exterminate all of those “animals” in ONE day...
Or if he puts the lights out for six months via conventional maybe close to same thing...
ReplyDeleteHe is not a “nation builder” he is a “nation destroyer”...
ReplyDeleteYou guys are all biased anti-war you can’t understand him..
ReplyDeleteWhoever uses nukes first is finished. The US has demonized use of WMD. If it were to use them first, the reaction of the ROW would be swift and decisive. Forget about it.
ReplyDeleteWhere tactical nukes might be used first is either in case of a conventional NATO attack on Russia that is deemed existential, which Putin has already said will result in a nuclear response, or the use of tactical nukes to take out US carrier groups, which the US has claimed is the only way to take down a carrier group.
Imo he is capable of “pushing the button”...
ReplyDeleteTrump is friends with Russia and China ...
ReplyDeleteTrump is friends with Russia and China ...
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase Lord Palmerston, countries don't have friends, they have interests.
Trump is a dealmaker, not anyone's friend. So are Putin and Xi and other national leaders.
DJT is an acquisitor, Putin a warrior, and Xi a member of the intelligentsia.
The last acquisitor as United States president was probably harry Truman...
ReplyDeletePoutine is not a warrior he is fetal alcohol syndrome...Damaged goods
ReplyDeleteStudies have shown that even a modest (+/- 50 weapons) nuclear exchange would have catastrophic effects on the climate and food chain. But no doubt Franko will be perfectly safe inside that hermetically sealed reinforced concrete bunker on his shoulders.
ReplyDelete"deal maker" is a misnomer for Trump. The only "deals" he makes are to get out of the scams that he gets caught in. This is probably one of the things that makes him so unpalatable in DC, where the definition of loyalty is staying bought.
Never try reasoning with a moron.
ReplyDeleteIt's an exercise in futility, you will end up looking as stupid as the moron.
Matt's genocidal racism ("exterminate all of those animals...using tactical nukes" and goes giddy at the idea of a "nation destroyer") is just more evidence that solidifies his out and proud self-identification as being "to the right of fascism".
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, in his characteristically incoherent and garbled use of English, Matt makes the ludicrous claim: "You guys are all biased anti-war you can’t understand him.." That this assertion makes no sense is obvious to anyone: we understand Trump all too well. Trump wants to start a war with a country that has done no harm to any other for centuries. Iran shut down its CIVILIAN nuclear programme, which it has a LEGAL right to, in the false hope that that will assuage the nutters in Washington. The real issue is that Washington will not take "Yes" for an answer and is claiming that Iran has a nuclear WEAPONS programme! This claim is substantiated with nothing more than cartoons paraded by Netanyahu. Meanwhile the world's leading nuclear energy and nuclear weapons experts prove, not claim, that Iran has no such programme and has lived up to its side of the deal. Being the genocidal racist and anti-rational (and anti-empirical) "to the right of fascism" maniac that he is, Matt is seemingly unaware that being anti-war is considered the universal default position. The burden of proof is on those who want war, not those who don't, but this would be too much for Matt's simple-minded (and "to the right of fascism") mind to handle. For Matt, empiricism consists of moronic, disingenuous cartoons and the demonstrably ludicrous claims of a serial bankrupt who makes wild idiotic claims like the US has "zero GDP", not detailed empirical analysis by the world's leading nuclear experts.
All but Matt will be interested in what Robert Kelley, former weapons inspector and until quite recently head of the IAEA, has to say. Matt farcically pontificates about empirically grounded analysis while refusing to accept verifiable scientific results that anyone with the slightest knowledge of these subject areas accepts. What Matt is good at is impromptu genocidal racism, albeit in a language that looks something like English. When called out as such, Matt cowardly claims that he himself doesn't believe these things but is merely explaining the racism of others and how they see the world. We'll see if he tries to pull this gutless defence again, with or without some irrelevancies from Acts of the Apostles or Epistles to the Galatians. If Matt is so inept that he continually leaves others with the exact opposite impression of the one he intends, he should consider taking a little more time in he phrases his pseudo-sentences or simply forego saying anything at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q6Ytwa1-rE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TEj8oeLe1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO2-ls2yEp0
There two kinds of war, wars of defense and wars of conquest.
ReplyDeleteEmpires typically launch wars of conquest.
Wars of conquest are not always hot wars. They can be economic wars, or wars of subversion from within.
Wars of conquest can also be disguised as wars of defense, e.g., through false flags and lies.
Wars of defense are considered just wars.
Wars of conquest (aggression) are considered to be unjust wars.
"There two kinds of wars: wars of defense and wars of conquest." ~ Tom Hickey
ReplyDeleteYes, and the Empire claims that all its wars of conquest are strictly "defensive."
Israel slaughters unarmed civilians while chanting, "We have a right to defend ourselves!"
That Israeli mantra is the Israeli version of "Allah hu akbar!"
You guys have your very own Bolton in Matt Franko.
ReplyDelete