I think it's still all part of his insider trading scam. The DOJ has announced it is investigating Mojtaba Khamenei money laundering through Chase and Citigroup.
As soon as all the trading and wealth is generated by the grifters, he'll announce something about how they're not in compliance, or whatever, and the markets will react to that.
Non-starter...Iran has already taken the position that a resumption of bombing will lead to even stronger retaliation, and a greater stress on global economies. Only Israel would support a restart, to bail out Bibi...folks, the shooting is OVER, full stop.
indeed it fits, but there is one thing: Odysseus didn't CREATE Scylla and Charybdis. He just encountered them. Here trump conjured up his own myth-worthy downfall.
Trump did ignore two pre-existing realities that he did not create.
One was the strategic value of the strait of Hormuz and the consequences if Iran did close it, plus the likelihood that Iran would if they got under real pressure. This was well known but Trump didn’t believe iran would close SOH.
The second was the value and vulnerability of our regional allies, that they were in range of Iranian attack on them and on US forces they hosted, raising the threat that such hosting rights and the alliances themselves could be vulnerable.
A third may have been the internal situation in iran including the ways the regime and armed forces had hardened themselves against decapitation.
All of-this was knowable and known before Trump attacked. Failing to secure congressional or public buy-in allowed him to go ahead on the illusion in his head instead of reality. Ultimately he does this because he is convinced he knows more about any subject than actual experts. The investigation will also go into whether this trait caused him to select weak and Inexpert advisors ( Gbbard, hegseth, caine)and dilute centers of expertise—in this case the Joint Staff and intell who were designed to give the president the best description of reality money can buy (see also our health science agencies— used to be world leaders, now run by science deniers)
all very true. But the S&C Jay was talking about were his choices AFTER he did all that ignoring. His stupidity created the need to make those choices. None of it would have been an issue had he just ignored Iran, or actually had real diplomats try to re-negotiate the JCPOA under a trumpian name.
perhaps the same could be said of Odysseus's encounter with the monsters he met during his ten year "effort" to get home to his wife after leaving Troy. that story is so full of cool feminist insights, coding, and easter eggs that some believe it was written by a woman. hahaha!
Wonderful analysis. I would disagree with you on one thing, though, and that is that the reason for dismantling the Obama deal was because it gave Iran economic relief. That may have been part of it, but IMO the main reason for tearing up that agreement is because it was something good Obama did, and trump can't bear for a black man to do anything good, or anything better than he does.
Very good point. I would not be surprised if that was the case, given that trump has long been Putin's puppet. Clearly we can't trust trump in any way.
I love this "Odyssey" article. I have to say through all of this that I can never agree that Iran is "a threat to humanity". I have heard precious few people say that Israel IS, and I believe they ARE a threat to humanity. I'm getting very tired of this prejudicial judgement system and I do not buy into it.
The idiot didn't have chose anything. The Obama accords were successfully in place and his bigoted agenda, didn't have to cancel them. #47 has been blindly trying one stupidity after another to achieve high prices, political loss, and defamation of American values in a world that no longer fears the big stick mentality, because understanding is the rule of the day.
Trump has been totally humiliated before the whole world. Remember what the humiliation of Biden’s decisive victory produced? These are the moments when he is most dangerous.
Is there a greek myth analogous to the length of time an ayatollah will hold a grudge? Cuz I don't think even $300 billion is going to atone for Trump and Israel killing Mojtaba Khamenei's family. That's just not how the Ayatollahs roll.
“Trump and his party have given up power, security, wealth, sovereignty, credibility and legacy.” Let’s rephrase that for the entire country on the world stage: “The U.S. has given up first-world power, a stable post-WWII world order security, wealth (war direct and indirect costs and higher prices), sovereignty (countries will think twice before leasing us military base space), credibility and (not on Jay’s list) any worthy respect.
hmmm, while i see what you mean, given that we voters supposedly voted for him, i don't think that even the most devoted MAGA voter asked for what happened in Iran.
This was extremely well constructed, well thought through and an excellent read. Sadly, like the Greek story, it’s a huge tragedy. None of us needed a $50B+ war against Iran that achieved none of the objectives. Nothing done at all would have been a better result than this. As someone often says “sad”.
tRump needs to be expelled from the Presidency at high velocity! One estimate I saw on Hopium was that this debacle will cost US taxpayers over $1 trillion and i don’t believe that includes interest on this unplanned and unbudgeted fiasco. We must reform the Constitution! No one individual should have enough power to spend this much money on a whim. Not to mention the war crimes involved in bombing civilian targets. We need a dramatically altered Executive Branch.
We DO need a dramatically altered executive branch. An attorney friend of mine who is a scholar of U.S. history has devised a plan. You can read not only his proposal, but an overview of how we got here. UnitedWeAmend.org
Americans notoriously have short attention spans, but trump's contradictions on EVERYTHING regarding his 'excursion'/war are so blatant even MAGAt believers must be scratching their heads...but that' probably just wishful thinking. Thank you for a brilliant expose' of tRump's most craven disaster...at least to date.
Strange how none of the many articles about the complete surrender of Donnycon to Iran discusses Netanyahu’s role in this and Israel’s standing now in relation to the war. Netanyahu never thought the leopard would eat his face!
Wonder how the many MAGAts in western NC who are still waiting for money to rebuild after Helene in 2024 feel about their money going to IRAN to rebuild what the US destroyed for nothing.
Scylla and Charybdis analogy appropriately applied and excellently executed.
Tip o’ the hat!
Has Trump already deviated from the MOU by threatening to bomb Iran if they deviate from it? Asking for a friend.
I think it's still all part of his insider trading scam. The DOJ has announced it is investigating Mojtaba Khamenei money laundering through Chase and Citigroup.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/us-doj-probes-iran-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khameneis-links-to-wall-street-banks-report/articleshow/131834656.cms
As soon as all the trading and wealth is generated by the grifters, he'll announce something about how they're not in compliance, or whatever, and the markets will react to that.
Non-starter...Iran has already taken the position that a resumption of bombing will lead to even stronger retaliation, and a greater stress on global economies. Only Israel would support a restart, to bail out Bibi...folks, the shooting is OVER, full stop.
indeed it fits, but there is one thing: Odysseus didn't CREATE Scylla and Charybdis. He just encountered them. Here trump conjured up his own myth-worthy downfall.
Trump did ignore two pre-existing realities that he did not create.
One was the strategic value of the strait of Hormuz and the consequences if Iran did close it, plus the likelihood that Iran would if they got under real pressure. This was well known but Trump didn’t believe iran would close SOH.
The second was the value and vulnerability of our regional allies, that they were in range of Iranian attack on them and on US forces they hosted, raising the threat that such hosting rights and the alliances themselves could be vulnerable.
A third may have been the internal situation in iran including the ways the regime and armed forces had hardened themselves against decapitation.
All of-this was knowable and known before Trump attacked. Failing to secure congressional or public buy-in allowed him to go ahead on the illusion in his head instead of reality. Ultimately he does this because he is convinced he knows more about any subject than actual experts. The investigation will also go into whether this trait caused him to select weak and Inexpert advisors ( Gbbard, hegseth, caine)and dilute centers of expertise—in this case the Joint Staff and intell who were designed to give the president the best description of reality money can buy (see also our health science agencies— used to be world leaders, now run by science deniers)
all very true. But the S&C Jay was talking about were his choices AFTER he did all that ignoring. His stupidity created the need to make those choices. None of it would have been an issue had he just ignored Iran, or actually had real diplomats try to re-negotiate the JCPOA under a trumpian name.
good point.
perhaps the same could be said of Odysseus's encounter with the monsters he met during his ten year "effort" to get home to his wife after leaving Troy. that story is so full of cool feminist insights, coding, and easter eggs that some believe it was written by a woman. hahaha!
This is a keeper Jay. I can't wait for your new Homeric musical to hit the Disney Concert Hall!!!
Wonderful analysis. I would disagree with you on one thing, though, and that is that the reason for dismantling the Obama deal was because it gave Iran economic relief. That may have been part of it, but IMO the main reason for tearing up that agreement is because it was something good Obama did, and trump can't bear for a black man to do anything good, or anything better than he does.
I suspect that Putin had say-so in what 47 was doing. The sanctions on Russian oil got lifted which will help them finance the attacks on Ukraine.
Very good point. I would not be surprised if that was the case, given that trump has long been Putin's puppet. Clearly we can't trust trump in any way.
Absolutely.
definitely true.
Whoever agreed to have the signature take place in Versailles is not his friend.
Right?
I did rather like the irony of it.
I had to look up the Treaty of Versailles to see if my vague memory was even close. Surprisingly it was
i KNOW, right? hahaha.
coughmacroncough
I love this "Odyssey" article. I have to say through all of this that I can never agree that Iran is "a threat to humanity". I have heard precious few people say that Israel IS, and I believe they ARE a threat to humanity. I'm getting very tired of this prejudicial judgement system and I do not buy into it.
Very great article, Jay.
The idiot didn't have chose anything. The Obama accords were successfully in place and his bigoted agenda, didn't have to cancel them. #47 has been blindly trying one stupidity after another to achieve high prices, political loss, and defamation of American values in a world that no longer fears the big stick mentality, because understanding is the rule of the day.
Trump has been totally humiliated before the whole world. Remember what the humiliation of Biden’s decisive victory produced? These are the moments when he is most dangerous.
Is there a greek myth analogous to the length of time an ayatollah will hold a grudge? Cuz I don't think even $300 billion is going to atone for Trump and Israel killing Mojtaba Khamenei's family. That's just not how the Ayatollahs roll.
hmmm, i think Zeus is a very good candidate for such a story.
“Trump and his party have given up power, security, wealth, sovereignty, credibility and legacy.” Let’s rephrase that for the entire country on the world stage: “The U.S. has given up first-world power, a stable post-WWII world order security, wealth (war direct and indirect costs and higher prices), sovereignty (countries will think twice before leasing us military base space), credibility and (not on Jay’s list) any worthy respect.
hmmm, while i see what you mean, given that we voters supposedly voted for him, i don't think that even the most devoted MAGA voter asked for what happened in Iran.
that's all on T#$% et al.
This was extremely well constructed, well thought through and an excellent read. Sadly, like the Greek story, it’s a huge tragedy. None of us needed a $50B+ war against Iran that achieved none of the objectives. Nothing done at all would have been a better result than this. As someone often says “sad”.
tRump needs to be expelled from the Presidency at high velocity! One estimate I saw on Hopium was that this debacle will cost US taxpayers over $1 trillion and i don’t believe that includes interest on this unplanned and unbudgeted fiasco. We must reform the Constitution! No one individual should have enough power to spend this much money on a whim. Not to mention the war crimes involved in bombing civilian targets. We need a dramatically altered Executive Branch.
We DO need a dramatically altered executive branch. An attorney friend of mine who is a scholar of U.S. history has devised a plan. You can read not only his proposal, but an overview of how we got here. UnitedWeAmend.org
Americans notoriously have short attention spans, but trump's contradictions on EVERYTHING regarding his 'excursion'/war are so blatant even MAGAt believers must be scratching their heads...but that' probably just wishful thinking. Thank you for a brilliant expose' of tRump's most craven disaster...at least to date.
Just another example of the “ worlds greatest negotiator “ I’m laughing my ass off —the jerk is incapable of negotiating the simplest deal -
Can’t stop laughing at the clown -
Perhaps Trump should have gotten the ghost writer of 'the Art of the Deal' to write something to whitewash Trump's role in the war.
So well written. A+
Strange how none of the many articles about the complete surrender of Donnycon to Iran discusses Netanyahu’s role in this and Israel’s standing now in relation to the war. Netanyahu never thought the leopard would eat his face!
Wonder how the many MAGAts in western NC who are still waiting for money to rebuild after Helene in 2024 feel about their money going to IRAN to rebuild what the US destroyed for nothing.
☝️☝️☝️☝️👏👏
An amazing piece!