Even worse, the temporary oil buffers that have been being drawn down during the war are due to be exhausted in several weeks. Well within a 60 day ceasefire extension. Trump says he's in no hurry to make a deal.

Again: It’s not normal to deplete half of the ammo of the world’s greatest military power and obtain no results at all and make the situation even worse. I’m hearing that Netanyahu will probably be re-elected in October, but his policies are equally irrational. Have you heard that the Christians of Jerusalem are being spat on (they say it’s a Jewish tradition) and just like most people in Lebanon, they are trying to find ways to create a life in foreign countries for their children?
 
Everything here points to bad leadership. None of this is making any sense at all.

(June 4, 2026 at 9:54 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: Again: It’s not normal to deplete half of the ammo of the world’s greatest military power and obtain no results at all and make the situation even worse. I’m hearing that Netanyahu will probably be re-elected in October, but his policies are equally irrational. Have you heard that the Christians of Jerusalem are being spat on (they say it’s a Jewish tradition) and just like most people in Lebanon, they are trying to find ways to create a life in foreign countries for their children?
 
Everything here points to bad leadership. None of this is making any sense at all.

Jerusalem Jews spitting on Christian is a relatively rare phenomenon. It is only done by a small number of extremist and ultra-Orthodox Jews. The Israeli government considers is to be a hate crime and arrests the practitioners.

You think Trump and Bibi are bad leaders? I congratulate you on your keen grasp of the bleedin’ obvious.

Boru

I am deeply saddened by what is happening in Lebanon. Yesterday I saw images of this mountainous, green lands in which Israel is destroying villages, historical sites and spraying phosphorus on agricultural Lands so that a million and a half Lebanese people won’t be able to return there (to their own lands).
Their actions with exploding beepers on the Hezbollah leadership was very creative. But again: Was all of this (including the incursion into Gaza) to mobilize all the IDF reserves and remain in a state of constant warfare on five fronts?

(June 7, 2026 at 12:14 pm)Leonardo17 Wrote: I am deeply saddened by what is happening in Lebanon. Yesterday I saw images of this mountainous, green lands in which Israel is destroying villages, historical sites and spraying phosphorus on agricultural Lands so that a million and a half Lebanese people won’t be able to return there (to their own lands).

 

Palestine had its own culture and very important non-material cultural heritage too.   

 

+ Israel did already strike the Hezbollah with everything it had. The only solution now is some other form of military presence that will disarm the Hezbollah and Hamas and be willing to negotiate with Israel. So why is Israel doing just the opposite?

 

Their actions with exploding beepers on the Hezbollah leadership was very creative. But again: Was all of this (including the incursion into Gaza) to mobilize all the IDF reserves and remain in a state of constant warfare on five fronts?

Since the late 1940s, every Israeli leader has embraced the concept of the ‘forever war’. Even Menachem Begin, who was the best of a bad lot.

Boru

The Mad King says as soon as we're done destroying Iran we'll make a quick stop in Cuba on our way back.

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Boru

We don’t really know what’s happening there. But in Iraq they gradually weakened the regime for decades with many bombing campaigns. Than they conquered the country in a week. Than they faced city guerrillas. Most US casualties resulted from these guerilla warfare phase.
 
I think this is still the only way to end whatever it is that is happening with Iran. But with Donald Trump we just don’t know. Why is it that we never know anything with this guy? Is it just a pure form of advanced narcissism or is there another unseen factor in this equation?

(Yesterday at 11:32 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: We don’t really know what’s happening there. But in Iraq they gradually weakened the regime for decades with many bombing campaigns. Than they conquered the country in a week. Than they faced city guerrillas. Most US casualties resulted from these guerilla warfare phase.
 
I think this is still the only way to end whatever it is that is happening with Iran. But with Donald Trump we just don’t know. Why is it that we never know anything with this guy? Is it just a pure form of advanced narcissism or is there another unseen factor in this equation?

The ‘unseen factor’ isn’t all that unseen. It’s called ‘distraction’. Trump launched the war to take his acolytes’ minds off the Epstein Fiasco for a couple of weeks. Now, he’s got his bollocks in a wringer with no easy way to get them out.

Boru

(Yesterday at 11:32 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: We don’t really know what’s happening there. But in Iraq they gradually weakened the regime for decades with many bombing campaigns. Than they conquered the country in a week. Than they faced city guerrillas. Most US casualties resulted from these guerilla warfare phase.
 
I think this is still the only way to end whatever it is that is happening with Iran. But with Donald Trump we just don’t know. Why is it that we never know anything with this guy? Is it just a pure form of advanced narcissism or is there another unseen factor in this equation?

Trump is, as usual, erratic and irresolute. But there is a goal behind the whole thing. It's not simply a distraction or a folly. Some people -- the people Trump works for -- are making a huge amount of money off this. 

The US is now the world's largest exporter of oil. This has been the goal for a while -- to establish and maintain this. Blowing up the Nordstream pipeline, the war in Ukraine, Venezuela, Greenland, shutting the Strait of Hormuz -- all of these things guarantee that a lot of other countries have to buy US oil and have to pay a high price for it. 

And the piracy that Trump brags about is part of it too. If another country wants to sell oil, the US is free  to steal that oil. 

This hurts US consumers. It's pretty much killing the German economy. But they have never been important to the powerful people, from Dick Cheney to Trump, who work for the oil companies. Trump is successful in giving them what they asked for. 

https://richardmedhurst.substack.com/p/h...ed-robbery