It's always the lies that get you in the end

When China describes the US as a superpower with a limp, you know things aren't going well.

I hope you will allow me a brief break from our series examining the anatomy of a hostile takeover. We’ll pick that up again tomorrow. I just wanted to make a slight ‘excursion’, as Trump would say, to return to the Iran War, following an important piece by Aric Toler, with contributions from Devon Lum, Christoph Koettl, Natalie Reneau, and Aaron Byrd, in The New York Times.

The thing about war is, it’s not a one-way street as Pete Hegseth would have you believe. You can see that a series of satellite images below, which were released by Iran, show damage from strikes at U.S. bases across the region, some of which killed American military personnel.

🎥 TikTok - vm.tiktok.com/ZNRsDdUJ6/

The question is: do you believe the Iranian account or the ‘nothing to see here’ US piffle? It turns out the Iranian account is correct, and the American response was to instruct satellite companies to remove the incriminating images to hide the truth. Just as Hegseth can’t bring himself to admit that they killed over a hundred elementary school girls on day one of this war of choice in an erroneous triple tap, he wants to hide the extensive damage caused by precision attacks by Iran on U.S. assets.

We know that time and again, Trump has lied about Iran begging him to do a deal. As a result, billions have been made from market manipulation and insider trading. Even now, he’s claiming Iran wants a deal as fire is being exchanged in the Strait of Hormuz, exchanges that he yesterday described as ‘love taps’. He is being forced not to escalate for fear of having to face Congress to authorise a continuation of the war. Instead, it’s become a war that’s not a war.

In critical times of conflict, it’s not a good look when enemy accounts of events are proven to be accurate while your own president and Secretary of Defence are found to be repeatedly lying. The cost of this conflict has been laughably estimated to be $25 billion, when credible inside U.S. sources claim that over 50% of critical US missile stocks have been depleted. Frankly, you can’t believe a word Hegseth or Trump say, not that you could before the war either.

The obvious question is, can you imagine what damage Iran could have done, given the extensive ACTUAL damage the U.S. has tried to hide? The narrative is that Iran is days away from economic catastrophe, yet the CIA have reported that Iran could survive the U.S. blockade for up to three months. Yet another report Trump wants swept under the carpet. I think you can get your answer to how long Iran can survive from the fact that they are keeping Trump waiting like an anxious teenager waiting for an answer on a prom date, for their response to his new plan. They are absolutely in no rush and are simply playing games with him.

The whole U.S. narrative, just like the administration’s economic and foreign policy agenda, is built on a lie from inside a fantasy world that Trump expects us to join him in, while it falls apart at the seams.

It has been said time and again by military and foreign policy experts that this war of choice was a mistake. There has been no regime change or popular uprising. If anything, the new Iranian leadership is harder-line than it was before. There was no imminent nuclear threat; it was just another in a litany of lies to justify what was an attempt to extort Iran and seize its oil, as had happened in Venezuela. In his blinkered quest for glory and self-enrichment, Trump assumed Iran was just another ‘shit hole country’ incapable of resisting the might of the U.S. military. BIG mistake.

He understood nothing of the Iranian decentralised command-and-control ‘mosaic strategy’. In his own words, he did not think they would close the Strait of Hormuz or attack Gulf states. What drugs was he taking at the time? He simply expected Iran to capitulate, so Kushner and Witkoff could hand them his Qatari bank details to send him his cut of their oil sales. As things stand, he is out of options; the global South is creaking as its economies experience unnecessary distress as a result of Trump’s reckless incompetence; gas prices are at $4.53; and had he told the truth rather than kept lying to the markets, oil prices would likely be at $200 a barrel.

The Strait of Hormuz is closed, and the enriched uranium has not been removed. Iranian drone and missile stocks remain at over 50%, with some estimates now putting them at 70%, yet Trump is claiming victory, suggesting Iran has no cards. He’s living in La La Land, having wasted billions and sacrificed American lives, while inflicting irreparable damage to Gulf state alliances. The UAE has now left OPEC, while China now describes the US as 'a superpower with a limp’

In just another arrogant, stupid act, Trump has now raised questions about U.S. military power when faced with an asymmetric kinetic response. Questions have also arisen about US readiness regarding minesweepers and logistics capabilities, as US sailors were observed rationing food. To be clear, nobody is doubting the ability of the U.S. military, which performed exactly as expected. The problem is, they’re lions being led by donkeys.

There was no exit strategy at the outset because he thought victory was assured. As ever, he overplayed his hand and now has no graceful exit from a situation in which he will be lucky to get a deal as good as the Obama JCPOA. What seems certain is that Trump’s stupidity has handed Iran far more power than it had the day before this failed war started.

It’s very clear he wants to move on so he can bully another minnow like Cuba in an attempt to save face. The problem is, it’s not up to him; it’s now up to Iran what happens next. Every day this drags on, Republicans up for election in November are watching their chances of victory evaporate. This is why we are seeing this redistricting arms race expand as they attempt to fix the results before a vote is cast.

I really do think that an adult in the room should make a formal request to the UN to arrange for International election monitors. I was discussing it with a former Member of the UK Parliament yesterday, as she is now on the list of monitors, and she agreed that the current US administration is exactly the type of regime she has monitored in the past in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)

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