Tag: iran-war

THE HARD WAY OR THE EASY WAY

As always, the contents of this blog are a compendium of multiple media reports supplemented by my personal opinion, where indicated.

As I write this blog the US is attempting to arrange round two of peace negotiations with Iran. Predictably, round one did not yield any meaningful results. As always, the Iranian negotiators were not negotiating in good faith. Obviously, they did not have the power and the authority to do so seriously. Since then, it has become apparent that the country is in turmoil. There is a power struggle between the politicians who seem willing to be realistic and reasonable and the military, which is not. There is no clearcut leader, so a meaningful, lasting deal cannot be consummated.

Despite all the fake news characterizing President Trump as a reckless, heartless, warmonger the empirical evidence clearly illustrates that he wants a peaceful resolution to this war. Iran has been thoroughly and completely defeated militarily. At the moment, it is “circling the drain” financially and economically. Its navy has been destroyed; its nuclear weaponry and nuclear “dust,” Trump’s term to describe Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile and residual nuclear material currently buried under tons of debris that could be retrieved and “enriched” to make nuclear bombs have been neutralized; its leadership has been virtually wiped out; its communications systems are “shot;” its economy is destroyed; and the US’s blockade of the Hormuz Strait is preventing any ships from entering or leaving its ports. In short, Iran is completely helpless. It is at our mercy. Trump could, as he has said, bomb it back to the stone age. For them, continuing the war would be futile and suicidal.

I believe further negotiations would be a “fool’s errand.” It would provide Iran with another opportunity to lie, delay and obfuscate and turn public opinion in its favor. It’s what they have always done and what they will continue to do. They are not in any position to negotiate terms. Their choices are to (1) surrender and accept our terms unconditionally (the easy way) or (2) continue to resist and be annihilated (the hard way). At this point most countries would accept reality and opt for the easy way in order to retain some semblance of viability.

However, Iran’s leadership is dominated by fanatical religious zealots who have espoused the destruction of Israel, the US, and any other “non-believers.” We have to understand that they have no desire to negotiate a lasting peace treaty. They would rather fight to the end and die as martyrs. They have been attacking Israel, the US and others and fomenting terrorism through their proxies for 47 years. They have tried to assassinate Trump at least twice. They have no empathy for anyone, even their own citizenry who have been suffering greatly. After all, they have already slaughtered tens of thousands of them merely for the “crime” of protesting. They will fight to the last man. I applaud Trump for continually attempting to forge a lasting peaceful solution, but the time to “lower the boom” once and for all is approaching rapidly. The current situation is untenable. It is hurting Americans economically and, by extension, the GOP’s prospects for the midterm elections. In my view, Iran is akin to a cancer that must be extirpated.

Conclusion

The latest Reuters/Ipsos Poll disclosed that Trump’s approval rating has declined to 36%, which is a new low. A majority of respondents were critical of both the state of the economy and his conduct of the war. There is substantial pressure on him to negotiate a settlement even though we have not yet achieved complete and total victory and even if it would allow Iran to rise again in the future.

His critics primarily include the following groups:

  1. The “never-Trumpers” who will always oppose any action or policy of his. In this case many of them have openly stated that they would rather the US lose this war than see Trump get credit for winning it,
  2. those who hate Israel and Jews,
  3. the politicians (mostly Dems) who crave power over doing what would benefit the country,
  4. the well-meaning persons who have been gaslighted by the fake news media, and
  5. the inattentive and/or ignorant persons who neither know nor care about the lessons of history and have no appreciation of the gravity of the current situation.

Luckily, Trump is impervious to criticism and polls. He has consistently pursued the course of action that he believes is right, not one that is politically expedient. It’s what he is doing now. It’s fine to give a negotiated lasting peace a chance, but not for too much longer. I hope that Trump retains the fortitude to persevere and finish the job. To use a sports analogy, we’re at the one-yard line. Punch it in!

by Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

A PEACE AGREEMENT WITH IRAN IS IMMINENT, OR IS IT?

As always, the contents of this blog constitute a compendium of multiple media reports supplemented by my personal opinion, where indicated.

As I have written in previous blogs militarily, it was a complete mismatch, comparable to an NFL team taking on a high school team. In a matter of weeks, we have defeated Iran militarily completely and decisively. We have bombed them relentlessly (including destroying its nuclear capability, its nuclear enrichment sites, its factories, its communication systems, and its economy, among other targets), killed the Ayatollah and the top two or three tiers of Iran’s leadership, destroyed its Navy, taken out virtually all of its missiles, rockets and other weaponry, opened up the Hormuz Strait, blockaded the Strait to choke off any ships trying to enter or leave Iranian ports, and cut off its primary means of revenue – oil. Like I said, a total and decisive military victory. Kudos to President Trump, Secretary of War Hegseth, and the entire military hierarchy from the Joint Chiefs down to the enlisted men and women.

It was well-known that Iran was close to attaining nuclear capability. Its negotiators even bragged about it at one of the sessions. Everyone knew that the rest of the world could not allow that to happen. Something had to be done and soon.

Iran’s military was no match for the US. All that was required was a US president with the b**ls to do what needed to be done. Unlike predecessors Obama and Biden, President Trump was that man. He understood that history tells us appeasement never works in the long run. The other side views it as weakness and always seeks to take advantage. Aggressors will always keep pressing until they meet resistance. He was wise to Iran’s negotiating tactics and would not be deceived.

However, I believe all that was the easy part. Now comes the hard part, to forge an agreement that will last, that Iran will honor, and that future US presidents will have the fortitude to enforce if it doesn’t. In summary, we won the war; now we have to win the peace. More about this later.

As I have said multiple times anyone who has been paying attention to the news and is analyzing it objectively, rationally and coherently was cognizant that (1) Iran was close to developing nuclear capability, (2) was lying about it, (3) would likely use it once it had it, (4) could never be allowed to possess it, and (5) it was incumbent on the US to prevent it by force, if necessary.

And yet, the Dems and their allies in the media fought Trump at every turn. This was incredulous under the circumstances, but not surprising. As I have blogged many times, they have consistently opposed and denigrated every Trump policy and action. They have persisted even though it consistently placed them on the wrong side of various “80-20” issues. But this was different. We’re used to TDS. Normally, we laugh it off, but this situation presented an existential threat not only to the US, but potentially to the entire world as a whole. This situation had the potential to impact not only us, but also future generations. Obviously, they didn’t care. Obviously, they wanted Trump to fail even if it damaged our national security.

For example:

  1. At first, they insisted the war was illegal. The Constitution states that only Congress can declare war. True, but there have been a plethora of precedents in which the president has commenced hostilities going all the way back to Thomas Jefferson and the wars against the Barbary Pirates beginning in 1801.
  2. At the beginning Trump was labeled a “warmonger,” a “fascist,” and a “violator of human rights.” Later, when he agreed to a cease fire he was labeled “soft.”
  3. As I said, many of his critics were openly rooting for Iran just so Trump would fail and give them a political issue in advance of the 2026 midterm elections. For instance, NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a hardline progressive and avowed Trump-hater actually admitted that “although he doesn’t like [the] Iranian regime,” he is rooting for it because he “doesn’t want to see Trump or Bibi Netanyahu getting credit for what would be a historic win for global peace.”
  4. Reportage of the war was radically different depending upon which media outlet was reporting the news.

Conclusion

As I write this it appears that Iran is agreeing to all of the US’s peace terms. That’s great, but as I said above, given its history of lies and obfuscations a word of caution is needed. Negotiations are still ongoing. We cannot assume anything. We don’t even know for sure that we are negotiating with the persons who actually have the authority to make a deal. Iran could be stalling while it rebuilds and re-arms.

Moreover, even after a deal has been signed there will no assurances that Iran will abide by it. It will require continuous monitoring, probably indefinitely. Iran fears and respects Trump, but it is playing the “long game.” It knows Trump will be gone shortly. Its hope is that eventually we will elect another president who will be weak, lax or inattentive and will re-engage in appeasement. I hope not, but I fear it will happen.

by Tags: , , , Leave a comment

NO KINGS

As always, the contents of this blog are a compendium of various media reports supplemented by my personal opinion where indicated.

I was nonplussed by the most recent “No Kings” demonstrations. This was the third iteration, and the organizers are predicting (threatening) additional rallies prospectively. According to the Guardian, on March 28 over eight million people attended some 3,300 “No Kings” rallies in the U.S. and around the world, making it likely the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. I am continually amazed, appalled and even frightened by the dearth of some Americans’ knowledge of even the basics of current events, history and just general awareness of world events, and how easily they are continually manipulated by the radical left and the mainstream media, whose primary goals are to denigrate America and its system of government and divide the country. The organizers are radically left, highly organized, and well-funded. Many, if not most, of them are located offshore in communist/socialist countries.

With respect to the “No Kings” movement even the name is an absurd moniker that has no basis in reality. Trump is not a king, has not been acting as a king, and has no desire to be a king. He is not aiming to be president for life. After the 2028 presidential election he will leave the presidency just like all previous presidents have.

Most of the demonstrators don’t have the foggiest idea of the issues against which they are railing and don’t particularly care. All they know is that it is a protest against President Trump. What for, they don’t know or care. Some Dem politicians have even stated they are rooting against America just to hurt Trump. In my opinion, many of those who are protesting the war against Iran couldn’t even find it on the map much less have an understanding of the underlying and immediate issues.

Based on what I have bene able to glean from various news reports the major reasons for the protests are as follows:

  1. The Iran War
  2. High gas prices
  3. Inflation
  4. ICE overreach

I maintain that they are ignorant of the context of these issues. I have discussed each of these in recent blogs, but I will endeavor to provide a brief review at this time.

  1. The War – The overriding purpose of this war is to ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear capability. No sane person wants that. We know Iran was merely weeks from achieving that goal. How? During the ongoing peace negotiations, they bragged as much to our representatives. We are highly confident that once they developed nuclear weapons, they would have no hesitation to use them. Their most likely targets would be Israel and the US, but they would have constituted a truly existential threat to the entire world. So, we are engaged in a limited war in the present to avoid a larger war in the future. If you think I am exaggerating the danger, review the history of the 1930s and the ill-conceived, ill-advised, and unsuccessful appeasement of Hitler. The people that are complaining that the war is “unnecessary,” “it’s not our fight,” and “we weren’t attacked” are woefully ignorant of the historical facts. In reality nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is we have been at war with Iran since 1979 when the radical lunatic mullahs took control of the country. Iran has established an unknown number of terrorist cells in the US.  Through its various proxies it has coordinated a plethora of attacks against both Israel and the US. It has planned and attempted the assassinations of various US officials including President Trump. So, this limited war is definitely necessary to prevent a significantly larger war later. Remember that old expression, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Rather than being vilified for his actions Trump should be applauded for having the courage to do what he is doing.
  2. High gas prices– It is true that the price of oil has skyrocketed since the advent of the aforementioned war, and that is a financial burden on virtually all Americans. However, this is a necessary short-term situation that will be resolved as soon as the war is over, which should be in a matter of weeks.  As I write this, according to Trading Economics and Bloomberg.com West Texas Crude oil is selling at approximately $104 per barrel, which is way too high, but, for perspective, in March 2022 during the Biden Administration the price was even higher, $130 per barrel. Furthermore, today’s price is due directly to Iran’s closing the Hormuz Strait whereas the price in 2022 was self-inflicted due to the Biden Administration’s ill-advised prolific spending.
  3. Inflation – The current inflation of 3% is too high, but to be fair, Trump did not cause the problem. He inherited it. He was in the process of addressing that issue before the war threw everything out of kilter. The price of energy affects the entire economy. After the war when the price of oil is under control the rate of inflation should decline to more acceptable levels.
  4. ICE Overreach – Briefly, the “left” has been complaining that ICE has been too aggressive in hunting down and deporting illegals. While there have been a few isolated incidents of violence these have occurred in sanctuary locales where the local law enforcement has exacerbated the situation by hindering, rather than helping the process. The larger point is that the illegals broke federal law just by entering the country. In addition, many of them were the dregs of society in their home countries and have continued to commit violent crimes in the US against US citizens. The perception is that the Dems favor the rights of illegals over those of American citizens.

Conclusion

Due to the foregoing, Trump’s current approval rating this month is the lowest it has been since his reelection. The fallout from the current problems is threatening to undue all of his prior accomplishments. With the midterm elections looming both he and the country need a quick and decisive end to the war. If the Dems were to take control of even one of the two houses of Congress nothing of substance will be accomplished going forward. His programs will be thwarted, and he may even be impeached again.

We are literally fighting this war for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Do we want to leave them a planet that is perpetually under the risk of nuclear war or one that is safe? That was a rhetorical question. I know the answer. Do you?

by Tags: , , , , Leave a comment