naman

The Economist magazine is disappointed that India did not celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Mughal conquest of India. Oh, those ungrateful natives who do not celebrate the gift of civilisation. Who knows, they may even refuse to celebrate the Battle of Plassey. Dangerous trend.....

Did Vance think he was going to solve decades of disputes with Iran in 1 day? He spent 5 days in Feb hanging out at the Winter Olympics. Iran got highest level negotiations with America ever and still controls the Strait of Hormuz, while Vance appears to be giving up. Diplomacy takes enormous planning, technical expertise, and persistent engagement, especially in war time. Our servicemembers in harm's way and Americans struggling with gas prices deserve serious negotiations, not the performance we just saw.

۱/پیش از مذاکرات تأکید کردم که ما حسن نیت و ارادهٔ لازم را داریم ولی به دلیل تجربیات دو جنگ قبلی، اعتمادی به طرف مقابل نداریم. همکاران من در هیئت ایرانی میناب۱۶۸ ابتکارات رو به جلویی مطرح کردند ولی طرف مقابل در نهایت نتوانست در این دور از مذاکرات اعتماد هیئت ایرانی را جلب کند.

The biggest myth being spread is that US is the prime beneficiary of this conflict. Strategically US has already lost control of Hormuz, a Petro Yuan toll both established; GCC clients states suffering weakening the Petro Dollar, European alliances breaking; South Korea, Japan & Taiwan critical nodes in US Tech supply chains also suffering ! The binaries dont explain second order & third order effects !

STATEMENT: General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately. The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement.

This could be the offramp the world needs. You can think of it as the best outcome for everyone, under the circumstances. (1) From MAGA’s perspective, if Trump declares victory here and moves on, the US won’t waste yet more blood and treasure in the Middle East. It won’t invade Iran. It also won’t take all the blame for the ongoing global supply chain crisis. It just pulls out and lets everyone work out the regional security equation for themselves. Trump can say he’s fulfilled both his campaign promises: stop Iran from getting a nuke, but also no endless Middle Eastern wars. (2) From Israel’s perspective, Iran has now been shown to be quite hostile to its neighbors, and its military has been substantially degraded. Stopping now is good. Otherwise there’s a danger of overreacting to Oct 7 as Americans overreacted to Sept 11. Israel can stand back and call it a win, because after a US pullout, Iran will have much less excuse for holding the Strait hostage. (3) From the Iranian diaspora’s perspective, it’s unfortunately clear that the current war isn’t going to result in liberalization. Further attacks would push Iran further into fundamentalism, making it even harder to eventually do a liberal reformation. (4) From the long-suffering Iranian people’s perspective, ending the war now would also save countless lives. Otherwise they’ll get hit by friendly fire and drafted by the regime to fight for fundamentalism. (5) Finally, from the world’s perspective, once the US declares victory and goes home, substantial diplomatic pressure will be applied to Iran to simply open the Strait of Hormuz and allow ships through. Iran’s leadership has shown, perhaps surprisingly, that they care about global public opinion…and they would be on the hook for the suffering of billions of people if the Strait remains blocked. TLDR: if Trump declares victory and leaves, Iran no longer has any excuse for blocking the Strait and holding the global economy hostage. Let the matter be worked out diplomatically with pressure from all the 100+ affected countries on Iran. America shouldn’t have to spend a single cent more, or send a single soldier more, to the Middle East.