Go Persians, go!

[Tonitrus]

I mean, I think we'd pretty easily replicate the total air superiority we had earlier in the year.  But a SOF-raid with helos would be much different than bombers and stealth fighters.

[Jacob]

Interesting, Sheilbh. Thanks for sharing that. Do you have a link to the source?

[Jacob]

I found the source: https://critiqueanddigest.substack.com/p/the-saudi-pivot?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share

It's pretty interesting reading. I find his analysis of the nature of the post-liberal world order pretty compelling too.

[Sheilbh]

Sorry - I was going to link - got distracted. Glad you enjoyed - I agree on the post-liberal stuff.

And no idea if he's right on the Middle East but it does feel like Saudi is shifting and the analysis of the US being gone, changing energy politics and the collapse of an ordering rivalry strikes me as plausible.

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/28/trump-threat-us-iran-war-armada-nuclear-programme

Trump said: "Hopefully Iran will quickly 'Come to the Table' and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!

Basically at this stage the US armed forces are the Trump family's extortion crew.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Trump is turning the US into what the hard and firm left thought the US was all along.  It's almost like he looked at their bullshit and decided, "Hey, that's a good idea".

[Syt]

Full message:

[crazy canuck]

Who are you thinking of as the hard and firm left?

I think people saw what was happening in the US over the last four or five decades and validly critiqued what was occurring. A reminder that Trump is not the cause, he is the result.

[Valmy]

Trump is turning the US into what the hard and firm left thought the US was all along.  It's almost like he looked at their bullshit and decided, "Hey, that's a good idea".

Like he is turning the US into what Soviet Propaganda and its useful idiots always depicted it as? Is that what you are getting at?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Like he is turning the US into what Soviet Propaganda and its useful idiots always depicted it as? Is that what you are getting at?

Yes, basically.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Who are you thinking of as the hard and firm left?

I think people saw what was happening in the US over the last four or five decades and validly critiqued what was occurring. A reminder that Trump is not the cause, he is the result.

As Valmy suggested, I am thinking of the hyperbolic caricature that Soviet, Russian, and Chinese propaganda built of the US, and those who subscribe to those caricatures as truth.  Elements like the UK Greens being discussed off and on in the UK megathread.

I'm certainly not under the delusion that this is something new or unique to Trump.  I don't know if I have said it here before, but I see Trump taking to their final form a bunch of trends and institutions I have never liked, some of which go all the way back to the New Deal.  That's a much broader subject than just Trump's approach to the rest of the world.

My initial reaction was based on the less-valid "criticisms" leveled by certain elements of the left that the US basically does nothing internationally unless the purpose is self-enrichment or subjugation.  That we have always been, essentially, a 19th Century colonial/imperial power that does not have friends or allies, only vassals that must pay us tribute in some fashion.  I think Trump is actually taking this attitude, and I do think this is new from him.  The closest we've been to this point before was the Banana Wars period from the Spanish American War until the mid-30s.  Even then it wasn't as widespread as it is now.

Honestly, on the specific subject of Iran, if we could remove the current regime and replace it with a semi-liberal democracy, without significant suffering and bloodshed, I'd be all for that.  However, that's not possible, nor is it what Trump wants to do.  I think he actually does want to subjugate Iran in some way, as he is trying to do with Venezuela.  I think that is a major change from past US interventions, even Dubya going into Iraq.

[The Brain]

Iran has been majorly destroyed already?

[Tamas]

As a side note I guess we just have to accept that this fucker will generate one international crisis per week.

[Jacob]

As a side note I guess we just have to accept that this fucker will generate one international crisis per week.

It's pretty wild.

I mean, personally it's almost a relief that Trump might start a massive clusterfuck in Iran because that lowers the likelihood that he'll start one in Greenland or Canada.

Which is unfair to the Iranians and anyone else who'd suffer from the massive clusterfuck. I hope they don't.

[mongers]

As a side note I guess we just have to accept that this fucker will generate one international crisis per week.

It's pretty wild.

I mean, personally it's almost a relief that Trump might start a massive clusterfuck in Iran because that lowers the likelihood that he'll start one in Greenland or Canada.

Which is unfair to the Iranians and anyone else who'd suffer from the massive clusterfuck. I hope they don't.

Or an Iran 'operation' becomes a cluster-fuck and he decides to try something with Greenland or Canada to move that attention over to a new. shiny. awesome demonstration of raw Power.