The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols (specifically Protocol I of 1977) form the basis of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which strictly prohibits harming the civilian population unduly. The core principle is that civilians and civilian objects must never be the object of attack. If Trump destroys the power structure that the Iranian people require in order to survive, would his efforts be considered a war crime? Based on reports as of March 2026, destroying Iran's power grid would be catastrophic, potentially affecting the functional capacity of hundreds of hospitals, with some estimates suggesting a total collapse of the "civilization life support system" (electrical grid, water, and sanitation) within a month. He's dumb enough to do it.
You are right of course. But I would like you to also vehemently condemn Putin who is doing exactly that to Ukraine 🇺🇦 for the last 4 years ! Iran is a terrorist state, Ukraine wanted only to be left alone in peace.
And to Lebanon. The evacuation of millions of Lebanese from one part of Lebanon to another due to Israeli bombing, given the years of sectarian violence that has effectively segregated the various communities there, is going to create even more tensions in that desperate country. And you're right that the cost of all this chaos will eventually end up on the US tab.
And while we are casting blame with others, how about Netanyahu who is intent on destroying every living thing that is a reminder of past history and take out all of the life-sustaining things necessary for a living population--hospitals, schools, access to food, water, media reporting by targeting reporters. First in Gaza, also allowing settlers in the West Bank to take care of Palestinians there, and now destroying all of Iran and Lebanon and who knows where else he will go before he is done. His excuse is he is taking out Hamas and Hezbollah but he has no idea where they are and so he just bombs it all. And trump admires him and does his bidding willingly committing our country to assist his lawlessness.
Yes, it is Putinesque, what Trump proposes for Iran…those of us who have energetically supported the Ukrainian resistance have called Putin out on his targeting of civilian infrastructure over and over and over again …but Putin is Trump’s hero, so plan to target civilian infrastructure should not be a surprise.
If Iran is a "terrorist state" because it supports "terrorists," then the U.S. is also a "terrorist state" because it too supports "terrorists." What's good for the goose . . .
BTW, the U.S. State Department and Pentagon were fond of calling the Vietnamese National Liberation Front "terrorists" from 1956-65 (and maybe thereafter). So please spare us the cant.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard and its proxies — Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis — exist explicitly to project Iranian power through organized violence against civilian populations. That is their primary function, not a byproduct of a broader political struggle. The United States, whatever its sins, operates within at least the framework of democratic accountability, international law, and — occasionally — self-correction. Iran's theocratic regime answers to none of those constraints.
As if our military shooting Venezuelan and Latin American fishermen out of the sea isn't terrorism. Whatever you have to tell yourself. I can tell from the way you stretch ingenuity to its limits that you are one of these "escalate to deescalate" Soctt Bessent types.
For myself, I hope that any military officer willing or eager to obey Trump's and Kegsbreath's illegal orders meets a can of Iranian whoop-ass.
BTW, Hamas won a free and fair election in Gaza against Fatah. Why do you oppose free and fair elections?
Harvey: Everyone should tread very carefully around the T word (terrorist). When trying to define it, which is not often, it is usually defined as the use of violence (against civilians) for political ends. Is the suppression of opposition a political end? Would the Revolutionary Guard be terrorist under that definition? The U.S. is absolutely and certainly a terrorist state, likely the worst in the world (neck and neck with Israel). I'm not aware that the Iranian state invades other countries swinging a snicker-sword for political aims. I wouldn't want to live there but it seems kind of peaceful when it isn't being invaded or bombed. To call it terroristic seems like the pot calling the kettle black. Craig Mokhiber on Ralph Naders's show gave a brilliant characterization of the depraved US and Israel, both nuclear powers, attacking Iran that has no nukes, has dismissed any intention of getting them, signed a treaty to prevent them and even has a religious proscription against them as anti-muslim, all the while they are screaming that Iran is a dangerous pre-nuke power. This is a joke - on all of us. Actually, the word "terrorist" is a meaningless political designation by powerful countries as they try to justify sanctions and attacks against defenceless peoples under some domestic law. Never trust the word to convey actual meaning.
Iran was declared a Terrorist state by states causing terror. The states that did not make Ukraine abide by the Minsk Accords because they wanted to use Ukraine in a Proxy war. Putin is definitely an aggressor, just like the US and Israel. Let's face it, we are part of the problem. What do we do with the Joint Chiefs and other Brass who followed an unlawful order to attack Iran? (Congress did not approve this war.) Off to the Hague with the whole lot of them?
Morris, I am afraid that we are one of those places that cannot bring itself to go after our own when it comes to war criminals - Objective outsiders will have to go to the Hague with charges. I think that we need to review "War Powers Act and tighten up the regs. when it comes to the unauthorized use of the military overseas.
Schmiegelow--I feel terrible about the mess Zelenskyy has been forced to deal with. No I didn't mention him because like so many other that left off I just didn't have the room to cite them all.
I meant Russia acts as a terrorist state in his invasion of Ukraine : trample international law, disregard the sovereignty of an independent state and commits everyday war crimes. Iran is also a terrorist state, acting mostly by proxy and wanting to annihilate Israel. But now thanks to POTUS 47, the US is also in that category… when will he and his Administration be accountable and be removed ?
Unfortunately he's the kind of guy who will always make a bad situation worse. Sir Keir Starmer and he were on the phone for a hour yesterday. I don't know what they talked about, but I bet he was trying to calm him down and dissuade him from carrying out his threats. From my own experience, it's not a good idea to make decisions when you are angry.
Very good Donald. He is incapable of making any kind of rational decision. This one is very frightening. His term is filled with irrational decisions. We have a totally incompetent man as our President and being supported by people pulling the strings!
The thought crossed my mind when reading Professor Reich's column that Donald Trump will probably not be around to see all the consequences of his insane "excursion" into Iran, but many of us will. He will have left a wounded beast that may not stop until it exacts revenge on America.
Donald, the world be better if he lost his breath during one of his daily tantrums AND you forgot he is unable to make decisions, what little brain functioning he has is devoted to his overinflated ego!!!!!! lol look forward to your posts---thanks
Trump cannot help but make decisions while he's stupid because his stupidity is ingrained and he's surrounded himself with sycophants and other idiots who either cannot or dare not correct him.
Starmer and NATO try to appease him but it doesn't and cannot work because to him it merely indicates weakness. The only way that ever succeeds with Trump is when there is the collective will to tell him to fuck off.
Starmer's a very dishonest fellow, that's how he got to be prime minister. He is in a mess at this point politically, but he's always braying about "the [nonexistent] special relationship" with the U.S. so he may make the mistake of going along with whatever Trump wants. Starmer's on his way out, but who knows who will succeed him or indeed what he will do to stay in power--he's notorious for doing one eighties.
I agree. He is certainly better than Truss or Johnson. The weirdo and the mini Trump. People refer to his allowing US planes to use our airbases, but this may well be a NATO agreement with a legal basis that can't be overruled. It doesn't imply agreement with what the US and Israel are doing.
And neither has the U.S., for what it did to Native Americans, Hispanics, blacks (slavery, Jim Crow, canceling recognition of Black accomplishments), the Japanese, and LGBTs.
But remember:
"U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
"We’re number one! We’re number one!
"We are the champignons! We are the champignons... -- OF THE WORLD!"
Technical Note\Historical Annotation: President Bill Clinton did issue a 'formal apology' to the family members of Japanese-American victims of Manzanar. I remember it because, in my mind, it is the only time the U.S. has ever apologized for any of its many crimes.
Contrast that with President George H.W. Bush who, after the U.S. Navy downed a civilian Iranian airliner killing some 250+ passengers and crew, imperiously declared, "I will never apologize for the U.S," a day that made me deeply ashamed to be an American.
Why is it that most of the former colonies of Britain chose to stay in the British Commonwealth and two nations that were never British colonies have also joined? Apparently, your statement of nasty leavings is just BS!
You do know that what now constitutes Israel and the Palestinian Territories was once controlled by the British after Sykes-Picot? You are aware, I trust, that India and Pakistan were once under control by the British.
Why don't you ask the people of Nigeria or of Ghana how they feel about British colonialism, you moron.
🙏 Amen, Donald. In the meantime, Venezuela is a member of ICC and they can prosecute. And why haven’t the AGs of IL, DE, VT, VA, RI, and CA issued warrants for the underlings? Upon receipt, DC metro police will arrest them and hold them in city jails for up to 30 days pending extradition. Misprision laws render them mandated reporters. I’d like to see this happen in time for Flag Day and our 250th birthday on July 4.
Yes totally agree but not sure that any Law will change it …. T.Rump doing that already in Cuba and the US has form - embargoed Japan oil prior to WW2 and Pearl Harbour.. Netanyahu most certainly did it to Gaza. None of them like for like comparisons but had the same net effect.
I just checked why Lavrov was commenting about leaving Russian personnel in place in Iran …. turns out Russia built and operates the big nuclear power plant in Iran and is building more.
So, it seems T.Rump does have people to consider when leading the US.
That aside, not sure I understood the self esteem comment ….
Fox News just now came on my YouTube channel and said the following, which I verified with Google AI (because I don't trust Fox News):
As of March 23, 2026, the coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is primarily led by the United States, with 21 other nations providing varying levels of diplomatic, logistical, and specialized military support. While a joint statement of alignment exists, actual naval deployments are currently dominated by U.S. assets, as many allies remain cautious due to the high-threat environment.
Seems like an escalation to me. Worrisome... why is there no mention of this becoming WW3 in the press? We all need to pray since nobody seems able or willing to stop trump from destroying this planet.
Even were coalition warships to be deployed with US ships to escort tankers through the Strait, which remains unlikely, they would have to persuade both the ship owners and the insurers to go along with this. 99 tankers have already passed through unmolested but they largely belong to the shadow fleet which is used to evade US sanctions.
Thank you for this survey of military assets. At shat point does this tdansjtion from a rsvional conflict to a Wkfld War? Now ny fear is resurrectiing the draft.
This escalation is terrible. I'm also afraid of resurrecting the draft. All for Trump to try to force Iran to use the dollar instead of the yuan for oil sales. I wish it were only about an Epstein files distraction.
The Brix nations have already been moving toward replacing the US petrodollar. THAT is the big issue underlying much of the current warmongering mess: who controls the price and which currency will dominate. Trump's theft of Venezuelan oil was an effort in that direction. Without the influx of "petrodollars" in US coffers, the country is screwed....Well, they're screwed anyway, putin's influence, an insurmountable debt load, Bessent's bullshit, and a host of imbeciles steering the ship into a tsunami of fascism.
I don't know if Canada has "room" this time around - we already have housing shortages and, as a result of the USA's "extortion" tariffs, mounting unemployment, causing much concern. Lastly, trump has threatened an invasion to steal our resources and subjugate us as the 51st state. Anyways, ICE will be at the border. No longer a case of preventing people from coming in - they will prevent Americans from LEAVING.
Rather than trying to escape, perhaps draftees should flatly "refuse" to report, refuse to obey or carry out illegal orders in an illegal war, with illegal war crimes in concert with war criminals like Bibi And Putin. Sadly, USA citizens can't hide or run away from this awful govt/situation, they will have to take a stand on their own turf.
Trump--"We'll just keep bombing their little hearts out"--
Trump is a fool!! Iran has approximately 650,000 men in their military--where are they? George was overconfident prior to the battle of the Greasy Grass, his last words were --"Don't take any prisoners." Iran is "Biden" their time--We have only scratched the surface when looking at what the Iranians can bring to bear, militarily speaking. Iran has a population of roughly 93,000,000 souls. Most of which are developing an extreme hatred for us and the IDF. To this point they have been eerily silent, that will change. Remember every drop of water needed to sustain our troops will have to be shipped in if trump bombs Iran's desalination plants. Trump is great at sustaining self-inflicted wounds.
I concur with everything you have identified, yet wonder where is the famous or infamous assassination squad that Iran is famous for? They are either overrated or now not as active. Now would be a good time to bring them back.
I’ll do you one better: The Constitution calls for those that foment an Insurrection during wartime should be EXECUTED . . . or 10 years in prison I guess. Why not that?
„The core principle is that civilians and civilian objects must never be the object of attack.”
including using civilians as human shields, and deliberately nesting legitimate military targets within civilian infrastructure.
Before hitting Iran, the Donald should have Maduro’ed as many of the Hamas leaders as possible and dumped them on the steps of the ICC in The Hague saying „you deal with those guys”.
Yet/And, how absolutely signature this enterprise is for this administration. The one thing they all seem to have learned from history is Blitzkrieg technique: strike suddenly and inflict damage that's hard or impossible to reverse.
The concern that I believe Ginny K's question raises is American "boots on the ground" in Iran. So rather than Trump stopping his War in Iran, claiming victory and exiting Iran in the next few days as Robert's column posits, we will become further involved.
There is no rhyme or reason (i.e., strategic thinking) as to Trump's "decision-making" His decision-making is based on "feelings in his gut."
If those Marines try to force the SoH and land, it will be brutal. Like Russia vs. Ukraine brutal. They have far more missiles and drones than that force can carry.
There was a way to make the Iranian supply of uranium be under international inspection while both sides continue negotiations. Well we had that, Trump killed it. His brain is like a pinball machine on bad acid, bouncing off everything from his marble ballroom to Epstein to Cuba and Iran.. to MacDonalds and windmills. I’m sure it’s not lost on anyone now that we’re dealing with one of the most unwell, mentally and chemically imbalanced individuals on the planet and unless congress steps up fast there’s no telling where it’s going next.
Precisely, we had a diplomatic solution that was working with the multilateral 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
I sometimes go to the example of what would the U.S. do if another country invaded, loudly proclaiming that the U.S. has demonstrated that it is irresponsible in its nuclear capability and its leader is dangerous and must be removed and replaced. America would fight tooth and nail to the bitter end, wouldn't it?
The only winning move for Trump is to declare himself the winner and withdraw from this wasteful, unnecessary, outrageous war driven by his ego
That was recently confirmed by the Omani foreign minister, Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, who was mediating the negotiations prior to the joint US/Israeli attacks.
I cannot believe that this despicable, inept, mentally ill person is president and that 78 million Americans voted for him. This country will never recover from it.
* First there are the simply NAIVE. No excuse for them: if you want to live in an advanced liberal democracy, you have a duty to inform yourself. No room for uneducated white trash. These people should be sentenced to some extended compulsory education in how to be a modern citizen.
* Second, we have the LAZY, GREEDY, IMMORAL ones, who only care about making money and looking after number 1. No excuse for them either. They should be forced to make amends for their greed and selfishness by subjecting them to compulsory deductions from their earnings, leaving only just enough for them to scrape by in poverty. This type is slow to learn, even slower to reform themselves, so the deductions need to continue for at least a decade. Long enough for them to really feel it.
* And finally we have the really WICKED, EVIL ones. These do evil knowingly, on purpose. They are perverts who delight in others' misery. These must be put on trial, and given life sentences with hard labour.
In my part of the United States, the people who voted for him the most are Christians. They are so thankful God placed Trump in office to get rid of abortion and silly DEI. Trump has brought Christianity back to America, or that is what they believe. We are at the point where many mainstream Christians have placed their children into Christian-run day care and schools. The indoctrination continues.
They are not Christians. Proper traditional religion does not tolerate that kind of extremism. They are fundamentalists. So don't let them get away with their lying misuse of language. There is no such thing as a new religion. They are cults, not religions. So speak of "Christian" Nationalists, or self-styled "Christians", or wannabe "Christians". Show with these inverted commas that you challenge their false beliefs. Put them on the extremist fringe, which is where they belong. Then remember one sentence from genuine Christianity: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
I tend to think of them as PSYCHO-CHRISTIANS. They don't practice the values taught by Christ and have chosen phrases out of context from the Bible to justify their distortions and hatred.
Same. But there are more of us. And right now, I think we should be boycotting nonessential air travel until the masked men funded by our tax dollars are removed. In the US, money is the loudest and most persuasive voice. At least that’s been my experience.
ICE in airports? I won’t be. I’ll drive or stay home. Corporations should keep their employees on the ground doing business in all the technologically efficient ways available without travel. What an absolutely idiotic plan. Untrained hotheads, pardoned for crimes committed against the country working in airports. That’s the way to get people traveling to and around the United States. He is such an idiot.
I volunteer at my local Food Bank and there is 1 of the staff who is Latino and is planning on a trip to Cuba to visit family and friends. He is a full U.S. citizen but I worry about him being 'nabbed' by ICE and 'disappeared'. He's a very personable guy as is every Latino I've ever met ~ (worrisome sadness ~)
Professor Reich: and what about those 168 schoolgirls that the orange rapist's missiles murdered as they played in their playground? no one even mentions them anymore!
this is tragedy upon tragedy as the war in the middle east continues, thanks to the war efforts of that murderous war criminal netanyahu, who i sincerely hope will stand trial for his crimes against humanity and all that is good and decent in this world.
and when will sanctions be re-instated against russia/putin, who now seem to be finding new strength in their genocidal effort against ukraine?
gawds. these malignant narcissists are such a plague on this earth. if this planet survives (which is unlikely), we need to have all children learn empathy as a required course of study so we can reduce the number of greedy evil men who seek to kill us all.
Better still, ban all men from public office or CEO status unless they pass a ferociously difficult empathy test first. And then keep watch on them with an eagle eye. Make no mistake, it is men, not women, who are destroying this earth and our human civilisation with it.
Yes, Jim. The stupidity I refer to is the notion that "men" are the destroyers of all things good. In my not so humble opinion, this is not only stupid, it's simply untrue, and in perpetuating this untruth, we encourage the continuation of bad behaviour by both men and women. I don't excuse bad and/or destructive behaviour, I usually try to work with it (that's one of the graces of being older and occasionally wiser).
And Penelope, please don't tell me I must live in some rarified world and just don't know anything. I was sexually abused by my step-father at 14, so I am aware of just how badly people can behave. There are a million reasons things like this happen and we sure won't solve them with isolating men. I know a lifetime's worth of good men, and that's enough said.
Well, the truth is I've grown a little tired of ignorant remarks (not ignorant people, just ignorant remarks) so I mouthed off when I should have given a more calm and fulsome reply. All the best!
Yes, Jim. The stupidity I refer to is the notion that "men" are the destroyers of all things good. In my not so humble opinion, this is not only stupid, it's simply untrue, and in perpetuating this untruth, we encourage the continuation of bad behaviour by both men and women. I don't excuse bad and/or destructive behaviour, I usually try to work with it (that's one of the graces of being older and occasionally wiser).
And Penelope, please don't tell me I must live in some rarified world and just don't know anything. I was sexually abused by my step-father at 14, so I am aware of just how badly people can behave. There are a million reasons things like this happen and we sure won't solve them with isolating men. I know a lifetime's worth of good men, and that's enough said.
I do not recall telling you, you "live in some rarified world and just don't know anything". All I did was ask you for more detail on what "stupidity" you were referring to. That was a serious question, reflecting respect for your comment. I wanted to know more, so I asked you.
In response, however, I got a flood of stuff from you and others that did not relate to me or where I was coming from. It seems I pushed some buttons for you, in a hurtful way. Sorry if that happened. Not my intention.
So let me try to share with you.
— I was sexually abused by my biological father at age 9. My mother looked the other way. I experienced that as BETRAYAL BY BOTH OF THEM. No sexual discrimination here. But earlier, I had been subject to full-on bullying from my father since I was a tiny tot. All through that, my mother looked the other way. So, EQUAL SEXUAL CULPABILITY from BOTH mother and father.
— And here's the interesting thing: in the US, it seems the abuse comes mostly from the so-called "religious" right—fake claims about abortion and foetuses and when the soul actually descends to take possession of the body; similar concocted nonsense having no factual basis in the shared reality in which we actually live; I live in Australia (dual UK/Australian citizen), and we here are still very much influenced by heavy immigration from Europe post-WWII. This serves to counteract the relentless Trumpist American influence which pours into our country daily, flooding every aspect of our society with its filth.
— So my father was an atheist, not a "religious" nutter. He was an eminent scientist, receiving a Queen's honour for his work. But privately, at home, he was an abuser. He did not believe women were equal. He created days of excruciating familial nightmares for us at home when a woman was appointed to a senior research position at his workplace. My mother was not allowed to work—this in the 'seventies and 'eighties, at the height of the women's movement. And she acquiesced.
As a teenager, my mother had fancied herself as an up-and-coming starlet, for she was very good-looking. And then she made "a good catch", hooking and marrying my father. Her sister, by contrast, was the "ugly duckling". She was not valued by her patriarchal father, who spent his life mourning the loss of his son in WWII as a pilot flying over the Atlantic (one son = countless daughters in value). So mum's sister, my aunt and godmother, had to make her own way against these so-called "family values". She qualified and became a teacher, a professional woman working her whole life, supporting her daughter when her husband died early. She loved the arts, theatre, true cultural values. And she helped me directly at critical points in my own life when my father's bullying threatened to overwhelm me.
— So what is my point here? (Yes, in a proper conversation you are allowed to take your time getting to the point.)
— My point is that I was abused by both father and mother, equally, but in opposite ways. My father—active bullying. My mother—colluding acquiescence. But my maternal aunt came to my rescue. And, on the paternal side of the family, my uncle, who was a leading industrialist and Quaker, was the only one who took time to read my doctoral thesis. And he gave me work when visiting the UK as a young adult. He had a social conscience, writ large. He was not actually personally empathetic, but he did his absolute best, his whole life, in trying to improve society by the means that were available to him at that time. If you want to know what he did, just check out Quakers UK on Google (too long to detail here in full). So, my biological roots let me down, but my relations one-degree removed came to my rescue. Both sexes.
— And now permit me to share my working-life experience of men. Like my maternal aunt, through my own efforts I rose to positions of senior management, later consultancies, in tertiary educational administration here in Australia. Prior to that I had held an academic position too. We were the pioneers in distance education, right at the beginning when computers were still a gleam in Mac-male developers' eyes. To network or stand alone? That was the question.
The problem was, THE MEN TOOK OVER THE TRADITIONALLY FEMALE SPHERE OF NETWORKING AND RELATIONSHIPS, AND COMPLETELY STUFFED IT. BUGGERED IT.
So now the whole world is being destroyed and fragmented because Muckerberg was too ignorant and arrogant to do his own personal work on himself. Likewise Melon Usk, the tragedic South African genius child of severe parental abuse. THESE MEN ARE PSYCHOPATHS. This needs to be said out loud, publicly, for all to hear.
So Dorothy— I hear you, I grieve with you. I share many experiences with you, although always, from person to person, it is slightly different, since we are all unique individuals with our own unique life experience.
But please do not write me off. I am not about "isolating men". Quite the opposite. We have to draw men into our conversation. But on our terms, not theirs.
Penelope, what a life history. From your words, I know why I commented “you get it”, YOU DO and I see, with regard to my comment earlier of evolution, you’ve learned & made the best for yourself, but mainly what You taught and gave to others from those life lessons put in your path. Thank you for that.💙✌🏽
If you’re the Dorothy writing from Canada, and support Governor Cucking Farney 省長, I’m afraid you do “live in some rarified world and just don't know anything”, cf. all the rubbish about Net Zero, green energy, Islamophobia, etc., with the Governor’s Brookfield poised to cash in at Bidenesque levels of fraud.
Net Zero refers to Green IQs.
It is to weep. Recently Canada dropped below Alabama, which does have its funny side.
good thinking. let's add another adversarial partisan conflict (along with those of our existing political system, religious beliefs, etc.) into attempts to find some long term solutions.
If you are referring to teaching empathy as involving an "adversarial partisan conflict", I would have to take you to task on that. Two things:
— first, it is an unfortunate fact that men have far, far more difficulty in developing empathy than women; culture is conservative, and women are still socialised into relationship-maintaining from the earliest age; plus there is a difference between the sexes biologically too, so women do better for both nature and nurture reasons
— second, here's a truly great empathy teaching: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". That one's been going strong for a couple of thousand years. Trouble is, most men still prefer the Mars warrior culture that preceded it.
So feminism has now become a dirty word among men who can't cope?
I am a feminist. This means believing men and women are equal, then putting that belief into practice. It means standing up for women in a civilisation where the power stakes are stacked against them.
Anything beyond that basic belief is your projection. If you feel safer with women subjected to inferior status as subhuman obedient biological beings, then I feel sorry for you.
I recommend you check out the Canadian author Margaret Atwood. She wrote a novel, now a best-selling TV series worldwide, about women reduced to being handmaidens, and the type of society that produces..
If you reread my original comment, you will see that I was not advocating a war of the sexes, nor anything like it. I was advocating a specific measure directed at a minority of men who hold senior positions giving them massive power over the lives of many people under their control. The stats are that those men are disproportionately likely to display pathological personality characteristics resulting in serious abuse of others and all the misery that causes. HR and recruitment policy in leading businesses already recognises this fact. Unfortunately government is slower to respond, but that's the nature of bureaucracy. Politics is worse still.
Teaching empathy—or requiring it as an entrance skill to senior jobs—is one real, practical way of combatting this mental illness.
In response to my comment, I get a rain of accusations misrepresenting me and what I said. The responses have taken the discussion over the top into the realm of fantasy and hysteria. I even get condemned for asking one responder for more detail. (Oops! I thought that was what this space for commenters was about...) Not one single useful, positive, practical extension of the conversation into deeper levels ...
I say you are kidding yourself if you think denial, sarcasm and mockery are going to solve the problem of male abuse of power. Wholesale opt-out-of-it-all remarks are also a classic male way of avoiding the immense hurt of real engagement. Yes, they are a form of moral cowardice. Those who can truly empathise do not need to opt out.
guess my interest and focus is on fundamental problems that feel go way beyond a female/male issue. I react because I don't believe that blame contributes to solutions; it immediately puts you into a zero sum game.
Sorry that we ended up such different wavelengths. If you were to look at one of the posts that i have made in recent discussions, you would see that I suggested a different problem solving approach was necessary. From which I quote: "We should apply societal thermodynamics, system thinking, and AI. (along with every other analysis and synthesis tool we can). An empathetic world view and introspection are necessary to guide us."
And no one is talking about the 5000 marines and 3 ships coming from the west coast. 3 plane loads of coffins which Donnie met twice, once with a white cap which he never took off. Sociopath-in-chief is bored of it all and ready to concentrate on dolling up DC and Maralardo, this time with statues.
How many fallen soldiers come from oligarch families? None.
How many enlisted soldiers in our all-volunteer army are on Forbes’ list of billionaires? None.
Why hasn’t Barron enlisted? How can 47 expect his supporters to put their lives on the line if his own family doesn’t support his actions? Where’s his skin in the game?
Sorry, but those girls are far less important than the, what, 13 dead American soldiers. Yes, I feel for the soldiers and their families, but this is what you and your compatriots voted for folks. Get over it and get that general strike going until you overturn your fascist government. You've simply no time to waste any more.
On NBC Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked, “Do you think it’s appropriate for the president to celebrate the death of a Bronze Star, Purple Heart recipient who served in Vietnam? Bessent: Neither one of us can understand what has been done to the president and his family. Q - So you don’t think there’s anything wrong with a post saying, ‘Good. Robert Mueller’s dead’? Bessent: We should have empathy for what’s been done to the president and his family.”
This Republican Party has lost their moral compass!
Actually, let me back up on my comment…this entire administration is a CULT. Scott Bessent is a cult member and parroting the cult script as commanded.
Robert Mueller did not do a thing TO Trump or his family. He was called on to investigate Trump and his involvement with Russian influence, period.
Based on Schaking-Miff-up fabrications. Jeff Sessions should have strangled it at birth, and if Mueller had been other than a TDS RINO („straight shooter!!!!!!!????? Hahaha) he would have said „There’s nothing here.” and „moved on”.
Yes, he is. Bessent is one of many tools and fools Trump has in place throughout the government. He has covered all the bases with fools. They are there to do what Trump says. Trump sure knew what he needed to govern the underlings. We are not living in a democracy anymore, in my opinion.
The problem is that even if Trump does pull the plug, Netanyahu isn't likely to. And if Iran finds reasons to go after the desalination plants of its Sunni neighbors, you can bet it will be the ones that provide freshwater for American airbases.
Sorry Donald, the egg isn't going back in the shell. And as #HumptyTrumpty, you can expect a great fall into a nest of barbed wire where congressional oversight will rip your regime to pieces and take down the #Project2025BillionaireCabal with it.
Trump's got both fists elbow deep in the tar baby now. He's not going anywhere soon. It takes two to tango, but only one to keep the Straits of Hormuz closed. Trump and Isreal killed the father, wife, and child of the current head of Iran. Does anyone think this is some Monty Python comedy where the king steps in and enjoins everyone to stop arguing about "who killed who" and just get on with making money again? This fiasco is still in early chapters.
13 US service people dead, Suckers in his eyes but people who serve in ours.1400 Iranians civilians dead A much worse situation diplomatically and economically. He's trashed everything. He's done it before with his businesses, which he screwed up and then called it success.
It's all very predictable. So why were a group of greedy billionaires and others allowed to put him there?
He's was good at sales BS and lying. He told great stories and managed to make it "sound" as if all his business failures and bankruptcies were caused by someone or something outside his control. The greedy apparently never really checked the truth of his stories and as long as he's been in office, they made money. They are still making money, largely with WE THE PEOPLE footing the bill, and that's all they care about.
The only one seemed to benefited from this is Russia Russia Russia...
Their oil prices have soared, somebody has to cover the market loss from Middle East and the sanctions lifted on Russian oil ... all while they are providing Iranians intelligence on American targets!!!
Is there anyone capable to hold this administration on TREASON charges ??
Dr. Reich, I hope you’re right. But this looks less like an exit strategy and more like an escalation trap.
You made the key point yourself: he never defined the objective. That means there is no clean way to claim it’s done. Now he’s threatening Iran’s power plants over Hormuz, and Iran is threatening wider retaliation in response. That is not an off-ramp. That is a man stepping deeper into the mess. 
He’s never cared about having a “clean way” out of any situation – just a concept of a concept! More insane babbling saying “it’s done” is good enough for him.
I'm not so sure that more insane babbling saying “it’s done” is good enough for him. I think there's also got to be some insane babbling along the lines of, "we won bigly, and I won't get any credit for it. But that's okay, I never do."
Tdump’s “reasoning” for going to war with Iran was possibly to achieve a number of personal objectives…all of which have failed.
His ratings: Support for the war was not endorsed by Congress or the American people. Massive backlash and failure.
Distraction from Epstein files: No moving on and Pam Bondi refusing to speak under oath. Failure.
Appease Israel: Americans only see Israel dictating US foreign policy. Not to mention the cost of all this.
On top of all this US Home Security is in turmoil. Airports in chaos as TSA workers not paid, untrained ICE “agents?” expected to pick the slack. Disastrous. Iran counter terrorist experts sacked by Kash Patel BEFORE going to war!
All in all, a self-serving war that has, and will, cripple world economies, increase domestic terrorist threat.
In this case, TACO means having wasted service personnel's lives and those of countless civilians on all sides. Great going, POTUS! (which I shorten to POS) I hope you and your buddies lose your shirts.
You are more optimistic than I am (Canadian here).
Bone-Spurs, the US Coward in Chief, has enabled Monster Netanyahu to expand his own War on Terror against Shia states in the Middle East, starting with Iran...as his Wahhabi and Sunni backers grin with glee.
It will not be over even if The Coward exits, declaring yet another victory - as with his games of golf.
Oh, I so hope you are right. I am so frightened as I watch this current administration recklessly spend our country’s resources, reputation, and children.
Bob, I see him declare victory, but how will he, and the US, get out?
It is hard for me to imagine. There are intimate relations between the Persian Gulf and the world economy. There is an intmate relation between the Trump billionaires and the client states in the Middle East. There is an intimate relation between world energy and the Gulf.
The production capabilities are severly damaged, so energy prices will remain high.
Overseeing this, Iran can keep doing what it does and built an alliance against Israël.
This war is by far the stupidest adventure in history. The Chinese will be hit, but they have the highest production of solar and wind energy. The Russians will be amused, because they can sell their oil in a shrinking market for inflated prices.
How to get out? The U.S. citizens will pay for rising gas prices and groceries.
And Trump will change the subject to Cuba. When the bread is expensive, American can have cake.
The silver lining might be that we see the logic of curbing energy consumption and using oil for it. The transition to sustainable energy might gain speed.
And the stupidity of this regime and its energy policy will penetrate the MAGA minds. I hope it comes so fast that global warming stops and a world war is prevented.
Bravo. On World Meteorological Day isn't it about time that as well as talking about the problems being caused by fossil fuel shortages due to the war in the Gulf region we also talk about the many harms and dangers caused by our addiction to the stuff?
In 2024, 90% of all new energy brought to the market was in the renewable sector. Solar power is current the cheapest form of electricity that has ever been available and none of those photons from our Sun are required to pass through the Strait of Hormuz (as the indefatigable Bill McKibben pointed out recently). The fossil fuel indutsry hate renewables because they can't own those energy sources and Trump backs them because they give him money and help keep him and other Republicans in power.
You only have to look at the insane weather the US is experiencing in the western states with heat records being smashed every day to understand the good sense of weaning economies off fossil fuels, irrespective of the current oil and gas crisis.
The effects of global warming are being felt all around the world and they will only get worse the longer the transition to renewables is delayed and no country has delayed the transition more determinedly than the United States. It's almost a relief that you don't turn up any more at climate conferences.
Lock him up--
The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols (specifically Protocol I of 1977) form the basis of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which strictly prohibits harming the civilian population unduly. The core principle is that civilians and civilian objects must never be the object of attack. If Trump destroys the power structure that the Iranian people require in order to survive, would his efforts be considered a war crime? Based on reports as of March 2026, destroying Iran's power grid would be catastrophic, potentially affecting the functional capacity of hundreds of hospitals, with some estimates suggesting a total collapse of the "civilization life support system" (electrical grid, water, and sanitation) within a month. He's dumb enough to do it.
You are right of course. But I would like you to also vehemently condemn Putin who is doing exactly that to Ukraine 🇺🇦 for the last 4 years ! Iran is a terrorist state, Ukraine wanted only to be left alone in peace.
Let’s not forget what Satanyahu is doing to Palestine with US tax dollars.
And to Lebanon. The evacuation of millions of Lebanese from one part of Lebanon to another due to Israeli bombing, given the years of sectarian violence that has effectively segregated the various communities there, is going to create even more tensions in that desperate country. And you're right that the cost of all this chaos will eventually end up on the US tab.
and let's not forget that israel has universal healthcare, again, courtesy of our dollars
"Universal" even for its Palestinian residents?
I think so. They got Muslim doctors in Israel too.
Not West Bank or Gaza. In Gaza the hospitals have been bombed. West Bank - emergency responders delayed by Israeli military.
???
💯 Infuriating!
He is also destroying his own supposed people. He is not a Jew. He , like our own ginormous cluster leader he is a hideous monster.
And while we are casting blame with others, how about Netanyahu who is intent on destroying every living thing that is a reminder of past history and take out all of the life-sustaining things necessary for a living population--hospitals, schools, access to food, water, media reporting by targeting reporters. First in Gaza, also allowing settlers in the West Bank to take care of Palestinians there, and now destroying all of Iran and Lebanon and who knows where else he will go before he is done. His excuse is he is taking out Hamas and Hezbollah but he has no idea where they are and so he just bombs it all. And trump admires him and does his bidding willingly committing our country to assist his lawlessness.
Yes, it is Putinesque, what Trump proposes for Iran…those of us who have energetically supported the Ukrainian resistance have called Putin out on his targeting of civilian infrastructure over and over and over again …but Putin is Trump’s hero, so plan to target civilian infrastructure should not be a surprise.
Iran is NOT a terrorist state. FFS
Charles--I didn't say that--it the concusses of the free world, and it's been that way for decades.
I thought I was replying to some yo-yo upthread named 'Schmiegelow Michele'. Maybe signals got crossed.
Could s/he have meant "Russia is a terrorist state. Ukraine just wants to be left alone"???
Charles--I got a reply from someone with that handle, schmiegelow, interesting history.
typos matter.
That is the comment where the statement appears.
Iran is not a terrorist state? They just support terrorists.
If Iran is a "terrorist state" because it supports "terrorists," then the U.S. is also a "terrorist state" because it too supports "terrorists." What's good for the goose . . .
BTW, the U.S. State Department and Pentagon were fond of calling the Vietnamese National Liberation Front "terrorists" from 1956-65 (and maybe thereafter). So please spare us the cant.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard and its proxies — Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis — exist explicitly to project Iranian power through organized violence against civilian populations. That is their primary function, not a byproduct of a broader political struggle. The United States, whatever its sins, operates within at least the framework of democratic accountability, international law, and — occasionally — self-correction. Iran's theocratic regime answers to none of those constraints.
As if our military shooting Venezuelan and Latin American fishermen out of the sea isn't terrorism. Whatever you have to tell yourself. I can tell from the way you stretch ingenuity to its limits that you are one of these "escalate to deescalate" Soctt Bessent types.
For myself, I hope that any military officer willing or eager to obey Trump's and Kegsbreath's illegal orders meets a can of Iranian whoop-ass.
BTW, Hamas won a free and fair election in Gaza against Fatah. Why do you oppose free and fair elections?
Harvey: Everyone should tread very carefully around the T word (terrorist). When trying to define it, which is not often, it is usually defined as the use of violence (against civilians) for political ends. Is the suppression of opposition a political end? Would the Revolutionary Guard be terrorist under that definition? The U.S. is absolutely and certainly a terrorist state, likely the worst in the world (neck and neck with Israel). I'm not aware that the Iranian state invades other countries swinging a snicker-sword for political aims. I wouldn't want to live there but it seems kind of peaceful when it isn't being invaded or bombed. To call it terroristic seems like the pot calling the kettle black. Craig Mokhiber on Ralph Naders's show gave a brilliant characterization of the depraved US and Israel, both nuclear powers, attacking Iran that has no nukes, has dismissed any intention of getting them, signed a treaty to prevent them and even has a religious proscription against them as anti-muslim, all the while they are screaming that Iran is a dangerous pre-nuke power. This is a joke - on all of us. Actually, the word "terrorist" is a meaningless political designation by powerful countries as they try to justify sanctions and attacks against defenceless peoples under some domestic law. Never trust the word to convey actual meaning.
Iran was declared a Terrorist state by states causing terror. The states that did not make Ukraine abide by the Minsk Accords because they wanted to use Ukraine in a Proxy war. Putin is definitely an aggressor, just like the US and Israel. Let's face it, we are part of the problem. What do we do with the Joint Chiefs and other Brass who followed an unlawful order to attack Iran? (Congress did not approve this war.) Off to the Hague with the whole lot of them?
Maybe a lot of Courts Marshalls
Morris, I am afraid that we are one of those places that cannot bring itself to go after our own when it comes to war criminals - Objective outsiders will have to go to the Hague with charges. I think that we need to review "War Powers Act and tighten up the regs. when it comes to the unauthorized use of the military overseas.
I replied to Donand too soon. Slava Ukraini!
Schmiegelow--I feel terrible about the mess Zelenskyy has been forced to deal with. No I didn't mention him because like so many other that left off I just didn't have the room to cite them all.
I meant Russia acts as a terrorist state in his invasion of Ukraine : trample international law, disregard the sovereignty of an independent state and commits everyday war crimes. Iran is also a terrorist state, acting mostly by proxy and wanting to annihilate Israel. But now thanks to POTUS 47, the US is also in that category… when will he and his Administration be accountable and be removed ?
Unfortunately he's the kind of guy who will always make a bad situation worse. Sir Keir Starmer and he were on the phone for a hour yesterday. I don't know what they talked about, but I bet he was trying to calm him down and dissuade him from carrying out his threats. From my own experience, it's not a good idea to make decisions when you are angry.
Colin--In Trump's case --he shouldn't make decisions while he is still breathing.
Very good Donald. He is incapable of making any kind of rational decision. This one is very frightening. His term is filled with irrational decisions. We have a totally incompetent man as our President and being supported by people pulling the strings!
trumpf's decisions seem sensitively responsive only to the Stock Market.
HA! Good one!
I agree. but until he is removed or dies we are stuck with his moronic decisions.
The thought crossed my mind when reading Professor Reich's column that Donald Trump will probably not be around to see all the consequences of his insane "excursion" into Iran, but many of us will. He will have left a wounded beast that may not stop until it exacts revenge on America.
Donald, the world be better if he lost his breath during one of his daily tantrums AND you forgot he is unable to make decisions, what little brain functioning he has is devoted to his overinflated ego!!!!!! lol look forward to your posts---thanks
Trump cannot help but make decisions while he's stupid because his stupidity is ingrained and he's surrounded himself with sycophants and other idiots who either cannot or dare not correct him.
Starmer and NATO try to appease him but it doesn't and cannot work because to him it merely indicates weakness. The only way that ever succeeds with Trump is when there is the collective will to tell him to fuck off.
Starmer's a very dishonest fellow, that's how he got to be prime minister. He is in a mess at this point politically, but he's always braying about "the [nonexistent] special relationship" with the U.S. so he may make the mistake of going along with whatever Trump wants. Starmer's on his way out, but who knows who will succeed him or indeed what he will do to stay in power--he's notorious for doing one eighties.
No evidence in this instance for what you say. Starmer opposes this unnecessary war. I suggest you check your facts more carefully.
I agree. He is certainly better than Truss or Johnson. The weirdo and the mini Trump. People refer to his allowing US planes to use our airbases, but this may well be a NATO agreement with a legal basis that can't be overruled. It doesn't imply agreement with what the US and Israel are doing.
Starmer is used to doing one eighties ??? He is not even a close second to Trump.
Thanks heavens we no longer have a Navy to speak of apart from the two white elephants.
The sun finally set on the British Empire. The UK has never formally apologized for all the shit it left behind in its former colonial possessions.
And neither has the U.S., for what it did to Native Americans, Hispanics, blacks (slavery, Jim Crow, canceling recognition of Black accomplishments), the Japanese, and LGBTs.
But remember:
"U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
"We’re number one! We’re number one!
"We are the champignons! We are the champignons... -- OF THE WORLD!"
"Woo-hoo!"
- Homer Simpson
Technical Note\Historical Annotation: President Bill Clinton did issue a 'formal apology' to the family members of Japanese-American victims of Manzanar. I remember it because, in my mind, it is the only time the U.S. has ever apologized for any of its many crimes.
Contrast that with President George H.W. Bush who, after the U.S. Navy downed a civilian Iranian airliner killing some 250+ passengers and crew, imperiously declared, "I will never apologize for the U.S," a day that made me deeply ashamed to be an American.
Why is it that most of the former colonies of Britain chose to stay in the British Commonwealth and two nations that were never British colonies have also joined? Apparently, your statement of nasty leavings is just BS!
You do know that what now constitutes Israel and the Palestinian Territories was once controlled by the British after Sykes-Picot? You are aware, I trust, that India and Pakistan were once under control by the British.
Why don't you ask the people of Nigeria or of Ghana how they feel about British colonialism, you moron.
You mean you are blaming us for Trump, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan? We left in 1776 I believe.
Not a good idea to make decisions when you are angry.
For examples, see George Steinbrenner in his days of owning the New York Yankees.
Also, see Philadelphia Flyers and their off season of 2011-12.
I'm afraid I don't get US sport. Premier League football and Cricket only I'm afraid
Colin: Who is "he"? Abjure pronouns that only you understand.
🙏 Amen, Donald. In the meantime, Venezuela is a member of ICC and they can prosecute. And why haven’t the AGs of IL, DE, VT, VA, RI, and CA issued warrants for the underlings? Upon receipt, DC metro police will arrest them and hold them in city jails for up to 30 days pending extradition. Misprision laws render them mandated reporters. I’d like to see this happen in time for Flag Day and our 250th birthday on July 4.
Yes totally agree but not sure that any Law will change it …. T.Rump doing that already in Cuba and the US has form - embargoed Japan oil prior to WW2 and Pearl Harbour.. Netanyahu most certainly did it to Gaza. None of them like for like comparisons but had the same net effect.
Sharon--A little self-esteem would go a long way.
I just checked why Lavrov was commenting about leaving Russian personnel in place in Iran …. turns out Russia built and operates the big nuclear power plant in Iran and is building more.
So, it seems T.Rump does have people to consider when leading the US.
That aside, not sure I understood the self esteem comment ….
Sharon--I was answering E-mails and I might have given an answer incorrectly, your right the esteem thing just doesn't fit.
Fox News just now came on my YouTube channel and said the following, which I verified with Google AI (because I don't trust Fox News):
As of March 23, 2026, the coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is primarily led by the United States, with 21 other nations providing varying levels of diplomatic, logistical, and specialized military support. While a joint statement of alignment exists, actual naval deployments are currently dominated by U.S. assets, as many allies remain cautious due to the high-threat environment.
Seems like an escalation to me. Worrisome... why is there no mention of this becoming WW3 in the press? We all need to pray since nobody seems able or willing to stop trump from destroying this planet.
Even were coalition warships to be deployed with US ships to escort tankers through the Strait, which remains unlikely, they would have to persuade both the ship owners and the insurers to go along with this. 99 tankers have already passed through unmolested but they largely belong to the shadow fleet which is used to evade US sanctions.
Thank you for this survey of military assets. At shat point does this tdansjtion from a rsvional conflict to a Wkfld War? Now ny fear is resurrectiing the draft.
This escalation is terrible. I'm also afraid of resurrecting the draft. All for Trump to try to force Iran to use the dollar instead of the yuan for oil sales. I wish it were only about an Epstein files distraction.
The Brix nations have already been moving toward replacing the US petrodollar. THAT is the big issue underlying much of the current warmongering mess: who controls the price and which currency will dominate. Trump's theft of Venezuelan oil was an effort in that direction. Without the influx of "petrodollars" in US coffers, the country is screwed....Well, they're screwed anyway, putin's influence, an insurmountable debt load, Bessent's bullshit, and a host of imbeciles steering the ship into a tsunami of fascism.
If there is a draft, a mass exodus to Canada is one the cards. Bigger than the one over Vietnam.
I don't know if Canada has "room" this time around - we already have housing shortages and, as a result of the USA's "extortion" tariffs, mounting unemployment, causing much concern. Lastly, trump has threatened an invasion to steal our resources and subjugate us as the 51st state. Anyways, ICE will be at the border. No longer a case of preventing people from coming in - they will prevent Americans from LEAVING.
Rather than trying to escape, perhaps draftees should flatly "refuse" to report, refuse to obey or carry out illegal orders in an illegal war, with illegal war crimes in concert with war criminals like Bibi And Putin. Sadly, USA citizens can't hide or run away from this awful govt/situation, they will have to take a stand on their own turf.
Interesting. I'll believe it when we see it. Sounds dangerous.
Trump--"We'll just keep bombing their little hearts out"--
Trump is a fool!! Iran has approximately 650,000 men in their military--where are they? George was overconfident prior to the battle of the Greasy Grass, his last words were --"Don't take any prisoners." Iran is "Biden" their time--We have only scratched the surface when looking at what the Iranians can bring to bear, militarily speaking. Iran has a population of roughly 93,000,000 souls. Most of which are developing an extreme hatred for us and the IDF. To this point they have been eerily silent, that will change. Remember every drop of water needed to sustain our troops will have to be shipped in if trump bombs Iran's desalination plants. Trump is great at sustaining self-inflicted wounds.
I concur with everything you have identified, yet wonder where is the famous or infamous assassination squad that Iran is famous for? They are either overrated or now not as active. Now would be a good time to bring them back.
Linda--If Iran is holding any thing back--I'm sure we'll see it.
Putin does it in Ukraine.
Susan--I agree
I’ll do you one better: The Constitution calls for those that foment an Insurrection during wartime should be EXECUTED . . . or 10 years in prison I guess. Why not that?
Daniel--Now you sound like my grandfather--He wanted to put all the air traffic controllers in front of a firing squad when they went on strike.
Shooting down the school would qualify.
counter is still wacked--
YES...BUT WHO'S GOING TO DO IT?
Richard--It's only a thought.
What does it take to have someone fix the counter?
„The core principle is that civilians and civilian objects must never be the object of attack.”
including using civilians as human shields, and deliberately nesting legitimate military targets within civilian infrastructure.
Before hitting Iran, the Donald should have Maduro’ed as many of the Hamas leaders as possible and dumped them on the steps of the ICC in The Hague saying „you deal with those guys”.
The sooner the better.
Yet/And, how absolutely signature this enterprise is for this administration. The one thing they all seem to have learned from history is Blitzkrieg technique: strike suddenly and inflict damage that's hard or impossible to reverse.
And the world is impoverished. :(
What about the thousands of marines who are on their way to the region?
What about them?
The concern that I believe Ginny K's question raises is American "boots on the ground" in Iran. So rather than Trump stopping his War in Iran, claiming victory and exiting Iran in the next few days as Robert's column posits, we will become further involved.
There is no rhyme or reason (i.e., strategic thinking) as to Trump's "decision-making" His decision-making is based on "feelings in his gut."
Unless they are called back, yes, certainly. Another cost that still needn‘t be sunk.
Well ... Trump has a lot of gut to have feelings in!
If those Marines try to force the SoH and land, it will be brutal. Like Russia vs. Ukraine brutal. They have far more missiles and drones than that force can carry.
There was a way to make the Iranian supply of uranium be under international inspection while both sides continue negotiations. Well we had that, Trump killed it. His brain is like a pinball machine on bad acid, bouncing off everything from his marble ballroom to Epstein to Cuba and Iran.. to MacDonalds and windmills. I’m sure it’s not lost on anyone now that we’re dealing with one of the most unwell, mentally and chemically imbalanced individuals on the planet and unless congress steps up fast there’s no telling where it’s going next.
Precisely, we had a diplomatic solution that was working with the multilateral 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
I sometimes go to the example of what would the U.S. do if another country invaded, loudly proclaiming that the U.S. has demonstrated that it is irresponsible in its nuclear capability and its leader is dangerous and must be removed and replaced. America would fight tooth and nail to the bitter end, wouldn't it?
The only winning move for Trump is to declare himself the winner and withdraw from this wasteful, unnecessary, outrageous war driven by his ego
- Karen Cooper
That was recently confirmed by the Omani foreign minister, Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, who was mediating the negotiations prior to the joint US/Israeli attacks.
Congress is a bunch of cowards. They would rather see us go down and suffer than take Trump down. Congress sucks.
I cannot believe that this despicable, inept, mentally ill person is president and that 78 million Americans voted for him. This country will never recover from it.
Yes, it's all those Americans who voted him in that worry me.
Exactly, what kind of people are they, and there are millions of them.
Well, Richard,
* First there are the simply NAIVE. No excuse for them: if you want to live in an advanced liberal democracy, you have a duty to inform yourself. No room for uneducated white trash. These people should be sentenced to some extended compulsory education in how to be a modern citizen.
* Second, we have the LAZY, GREEDY, IMMORAL ones, who only care about making money and looking after number 1. No excuse for them either. They should be forced to make amends for their greed and selfishness by subjecting them to compulsory deductions from their earnings, leaving only just enough for them to scrape by in poverty. This type is slow to learn, even slower to reform themselves, so the deductions need to continue for at least a decade. Long enough for them to really feel it.
* And finally we have the really WICKED, EVIL ones. These do evil knowingly, on purpose. They are perverts who delight in others' misery. These must be put on trial, and given life sentences with hard labour.
Impossible to fix any of them, they are what they are. I say it again - as a whole, the human beast is too damned stupid to survive on this planet.
They evolved prematurely & some are still not grasping learning by lessons.
In my part of the United States, the people who voted for him the most are Christians. They are so thankful God placed Trump in office to get rid of abortion and silly DEI. Trump has brought Christianity back to America, or that is what they believe. We are at the point where many mainstream Christians have placed their children into Christian-run day care and schools. The indoctrination continues.
Linda—
They are not Christians. Proper traditional religion does not tolerate that kind of extremism. They are fundamentalists. So don't let them get away with their lying misuse of language. There is no such thing as a new religion. They are cults, not religions. So speak of "Christian" Nationalists, or self-styled "Christians", or wannabe "Christians". Show with these inverted commas that you challenge their false beliefs. Put them on the extremist fringe, which is where they belong. Then remember one sentence from genuine Christianity: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
Im not so sure it's mainstream Christians. They are more like the Talarico-type. At least the ones at my church are.
Yeah, I guess I was pretty vague. The ones I speak of belong to the Southern Baptist church and the Church of God. I was a member for 30 years.
I tend to think of them as PSYCHO-CHRISTIANS. They don't practice the values taught by Christ and have chosen phrases out of context from the Bible to justify their distortions and hatred.
Penelope, Think you’re spot on here! Very well laid out, good job, thank you!💙✌🏽👏
They're this kind of person.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pbLZP6TS-Uk
Penelope Lane i like how you think, you get it!💙✌🏽
Same. But there are more of us. And right now, I think we should be boycotting nonessential air travel until the masked men funded by our tax dollars are removed. In the US, money is the loudest and most persuasive voice. At least that’s been my experience.
ICE in airports? I won’t be. I’ll drive or stay home. Corporations should keep their employees on the ground doing business in all the technologically efficient ways available without travel. What an absolutely idiotic plan. Untrained hotheads, pardoned for crimes committed against the country working in airports. That’s the way to get people traveling to and around the United States. He is such an idiot.
Ice will be terrorizing the paid workers who keep the place clean, if they show up. Just people trying to make it in this world.
I volunteer at my local Food Bank and there is 1 of the staff who is Latino and is planning on a trip to Cuba to visit family and friends. He is a full U.S. citizen but I worry about him being 'nabbed' by ICE and 'disappeared'. He's a very personable guy as is every Latino I've ever met ~ (worrisome sadness ~)
💯 Agreed!
ISOequanimity— yes, the numbers are important. Should be decisive. But the majority has to wake up to its combined power for it to be effective.
💯 Agreed, Penelope. I hope it happens. My concern is dirty or weak elected Dems who enjoy their perks. I’ve read that both sides like sending their kids to posh private schools and living in gated communities. Meanwhile, half a million US households lack running water. Enough already. They work for us. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/27/water-almost-half-million-us-households-lack-indoor-plumbing
If oil hits $200/bbl, most won't be able to afford to fly anyway.
We’ve been through this before and can’t afford to make the same mistakes as the “Gentleman’s Agreement” compromise of 1877 that ushered in strange fruit and Jim Crow. https://nmaahc.si.edu/sites/default/files/images/dealing_with_jim_crow_6.pdf
Professor Reich: and what about those 168 schoolgirls that the orange rapist's missiles murdered as they played in their playground? no one even mentions them anymore!
this is tragedy upon tragedy as the war in the middle east continues, thanks to the war efforts of that murderous war criminal netanyahu, who i sincerely hope will stand trial for his crimes against humanity and all that is good and decent in this world.
and when will sanctions be re-instated against russia/putin, who now seem to be finding new strength in their genocidal effort against ukraine?
gawds. these malignant narcissists are such a plague on this earth. if this planet survives (which is unlikely), we need to have all children learn empathy as a required course of study so we can reduce the number of greedy evil men who seek to kill us all.
If this country cared about girls, the Epstein files would be released unredacted.
If it cared about crime, those predators would be in jail.
🎯
and WHERE ARE THE REST OF THE TRUMPSTEIN FILES WITH THE NAMES OF ALL OF THE MEN WHO SEXUALLY ABUSED CHILDREN MADE PUBLIC ?????????
This cover-up is beyond ridiculous at this point. Make the abusers names public now!
💯. I hope they depose Marla Maples and Ivanka.
According to Google AI, “Behavioral specialists have described the recurring, public, and sexualized comments by Donald Trump about his daughter as a "pattern" of "persistent boundary violations" rather than just isolated, poor humor.” https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/behavioral-expert-analyzes-trumps-ivanka-36780966
“Despite these comments and the public reaction to the 2016 clip, Ivanka Trump has publicly defended her father against accusations of sexism, while noting her father's "total respect for women". https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/trumps-lewd-talk-about-daughter-ivanka-in-front-of-white-house-staff-recalled-in-new-book/
Snopes confirmed that these photos are legit.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-photo-ivanka/.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-ivanka-lap-photo/.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ivanka-donald-trump-pic/.
Felon47 is so totally outside anything I can find acceptable to be called a human being.
Better still, ban all men from public office or CEO status unless they pass a ferociously difficult empathy test first. And then keep watch on them with an eagle eye. Make no mistake, it is men, not women, who are destroying this earth and our human civilisation with it.
Sounds good to me, Penelope.
Oh please! Does the stupidity never end?
dorothy, can you help me out here
Yes, Jim. The stupidity I refer to is the notion that "men" are the destroyers of all things good. In my not so humble opinion, this is not only stupid, it's simply untrue, and in perpetuating this untruth, we encourage the continuation of bad behaviour by both men and women. I don't excuse bad and/or destructive behaviour, I usually try to work with it (that's one of the graces of being older and occasionally wiser).
And Penelope, please don't tell me I must live in some rarified world and just don't know anything. I was sexually abused by my step-father at 14, so I am aware of just how badly people can behave. There are a million reasons things like this happen and we sure won't solve them with isolating men. I know a lifetime's worth of good men, and that's enough said.
thank you for a better articulated reply than mine
Well, the truth is I've grown a little tired of ignorant remarks (not ignorant people, just ignorant remarks) so I mouthed off when I should have given a more calm and fulsome reply. All the best!
happy to add more empathetic response as well
Which stupidity are you referring to?
Yes, Jim. The stupidity I refer to is the notion that "men" are the destroyers of all things good. In my not so humble opinion, this is not only stupid, it's simply untrue, and in perpetuating this untruth, we encourage the continuation of bad behaviour by both men and women. I don't excuse bad and/or destructive behaviour, I usually try to work with it (that's one of the graces of being older and occasionally wiser).
And Penelope, please don't tell me I must live in some rarified world and just don't know anything. I was sexually abused by my step-father at 14, so I am aware of just how badly people can behave. There are a million reasons things like this happen and we sure won't solve them with isolating men. I know a lifetime's worth of good men, and that's enough said.
Dorothy—
I do not recall telling you, you "live in some rarified world and just don't know anything". All I did was ask you for more detail on what "stupidity" you were referring to. That was a serious question, reflecting respect for your comment. I wanted to know more, so I asked you.
In response, however, I got a flood of stuff from you and others that did not relate to me or where I was coming from. It seems I pushed some buttons for you, in a hurtful way. Sorry if that happened. Not my intention.
So let me try to share with you.
— I was sexually abused by my biological father at age 9. My mother looked the other way. I experienced that as BETRAYAL BY BOTH OF THEM. No sexual discrimination here. But earlier, I had been subject to full-on bullying from my father since I was a tiny tot. All through that, my mother looked the other way. So, EQUAL SEXUAL CULPABILITY from BOTH mother and father.
— And here's the interesting thing: in the US, it seems the abuse comes mostly from the so-called "religious" right—fake claims about abortion and foetuses and when the soul actually descends to take possession of the body; similar concocted nonsense having no factual basis in the shared reality in which we actually live; I live in Australia (dual UK/Australian citizen), and we here are still very much influenced by heavy immigration from Europe post-WWII. This serves to counteract the relentless Trumpist American influence which pours into our country daily, flooding every aspect of our society with its filth.
— So my father was an atheist, not a "religious" nutter. He was an eminent scientist, receiving a Queen's honour for his work. But privately, at home, he was an abuser. He did not believe women were equal. He created days of excruciating familial nightmares for us at home when a woman was appointed to a senior research position at his workplace. My mother was not allowed to work—this in the 'seventies and 'eighties, at the height of the women's movement. And she acquiesced.
As a teenager, my mother had fancied herself as an up-and-coming starlet, for she was very good-looking. And then she made "a good catch", hooking and marrying my father. Her sister, by contrast, was the "ugly duckling". She was not valued by her patriarchal father, who spent his life mourning the loss of his son in WWII as a pilot flying over the Atlantic (one son = countless daughters in value). So mum's sister, my aunt and godmother, had to make her own way against these so-called "family values". She qualified and became a teacher, a professional woman working her whole life, supporting her daughter when her husband died early. She loved the arts, theatre, true cultural values. And she helped me directly at critical points in my own life when my father's bullying threatened to overwhelm me.
— So what is my point here? (Yes, in a proper conversation you are allowed to take your time getting to the point.)
— My point is that I was abused by both father and mother, equally, but in opposite ways. My father—active bullying. My mother—colluding acquiescence. But my maternal aunt came to my rescue. And, on the paternal side of the family, my uncle, who was a leading industrialist and Quaker, was the only one who took time to read my doctoral thesis. And he gave me work when visiting the UK as a young adult. He had a social conscience, writ large. He was not actually personally empathetic, but he did his absolute best, his whole life, in trying to improve society by the means that were available to him at that time. If you want to know what he did, just check out Quakers UK on Google (too long to detail here in full). So, my biological roots let me down, but my relations one-degree removed came to my rescue. Both sexes.
— And now permit me to share my working-life experience of men. Like my maternal aunt, through my own efforts I rose to positions of senior management, later consultancies, in tertiary educational administration here in Australia. Prior to that I had held an academic position too. We were the pioneers in distance education, right at the beginning when computers were still a gleam in Mac-male developers' eyes. To network or stand alone? That was the question.
The problem was, THE MEN TOOK OVER THE TRADITIONALLY FEMALE SPHERE OF NETWORKING AND RELATIONSHIPS, AND COMPLETELY STUFFED IT. BUGGERED IT.
So now the whole world is being destroyed and fragmented because Muckerberg was too ignorant and arrogant to do his own personal work on himself. Likewise Melon Usk, the tragedic South African genius child of severe parental abuse. THESE MEN ARE PSYCHOPATHS. This needs to be said out loud, publicly, for all to hear.
So Dorothy— I hear you, I grieve with you. I share many experiences with you, although always, from person to person, it is slightly different, since we are all unique individuals with our own unique life experience.
But please do not write me off. I am not about "isolating men". Quite the opposite. We have to draw men into our conversation. But on our terms, not theirs.
Thanks for engaging with me.
Penelope, what a life history. From your words, I know why I commented “you get it”, YOU DO and I see, with regard to my comment earlier of evolution, you’ve learned & made the best for yourself, but mainly what You taught and gave to others from those life lessons put in your path. Thank you for that.💙✌🏽
If you’re the Dorothy writing from Canada, and support Governor Cucking Farney 省長, I’m afraid you do “live in some rarified world and just don't know anything”, cf. all the rubbish about Net Zero, green energy, Islamophobia, etc., with the Governor’s Brookfield poised to cash in at Bidenesque levels of fraud.
Net Zero refers to Green IQs.
It is to weep. Recently Canada dropped below Alabama, which does have its funny side.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/03/22/will-canada-unshackle-itself-in-time-the-global-energy-and-minerals-window-of-opportunity/
https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/heinrichs-drill-baby-drill-vs-net-zero-is-canada-becoming-americas-poor-cousin/72096
does it matter?
Jim—
Of course it matters which stupidity is in question. You can't run an education system on woolly generalisations.
“You can't run an education system on woolly generalisations, such as feminism, DEI, “white supremacy”, green energy, etc.”
Fixed it for you.
BRAVO!! 👏 Well said ! I knew you get it! 💙✌🏽
good thinking. let's add another adversarial partisan conflict (along with those of our existing political system, religious beliefs, etc.) into attempts to find some long term solutions.
Jim—
If you are referring to teaching empathy as involving an "adversarial partisan conflict", I would have to take you to task on that. Two things:
— first, it is an unfortunate fact that men have far, far more difficulty in developing empathy than women; culture is conservative, and women are still socialised into relationship-maintaining from the earliest age; plus there is a difference between the sexes biologically too, so women do better for both nature and nurture reasons
— second, here's a truly great empathy teaching: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". That one's been going strong for a couple of thousand years. Trouble is, most men still prefer the Mars warrior culture that preceded it.
If women were to ditch feminism altogether a lot of those problems would take care of themselves.
Unbelievable. Which century do you live in?
So feminism has now become a dirty word among men who can't cope?
I am a feminist. This means believing men and women are equal, then putting that belief into practice. It means standing up for women in a civilisation where the power stakes are stacked against them.
Anything beyond that basic belief is your projection. If you feel safer with women subjected to inferior status as subhuman obedient biological beings, then I feel sorry for you.
I recommend you check out the Canadian author Margaret Atwood. She wrote a novel, now a best-selling TV series worldwide, about women reduced to being handmaidens, and the type of society that produces..
gotcha. men and woman are different species and rather than collaborate to solve common problems we should just act like congress.
Jim—
If you reread my original comment, you will see that I was not advocating a war of the sexes, nor anything like it. I was advocating a specific measure directed at a minority of men who hold senior positions giving them massive power over the lives of many people under their control. The stats are that those men are disproportionately likely to display pathological personality characteristics resulting in serious abuse of others and all the misery that causes. HR and recruitment policy in leading businesses already recognises this fact. Unfortunately government is slower to respond, but that's the nature of bureaucracy. Politics is worse still.
Teaching empathy—or requiring it as an entrance skill to senior jobs—is one real, practical way of combatting this mental illness.
In response to my comment, I get a rain of accusations misrepresenting me and what I said. The responses have taken the discussion over the top into the realm of fantasy and hysteria. I even get condemned for asking one responder for more detail. (Oops! I thought that was what this space for commenters was about...) Not one single useful, positive, practical extension of the conversation into deeper levels ...
I say you are kidding yourself if you think denial, sarcasm and mockery are going to solve the problem of male abuse of power. Wholesale opt-out-of-it-all remarks are also a classic male way of avoiding the immense hurt of real engagement. Yes, they are a form of moral cowardice. Those who can truly empathise do not need to opt out.
guess my interest and focus is on fundamental problems that feel go way beyond a female/male issue. I react because I don't believe that blame contributes to solutions; it immediately puts you into a zero sum game.
Sorry that we ended up such different wavelengths. If you were to look at one of the posts that i have made in recent discussions, you would see that I suggested a different problem solving approach was necessary. From which I quote: "We should apply societal thermodynamics, system thinking, and AI. (along with every other analysis and synthesis tool we can). An empathetic world view and introspection are necessary to guide us."
Have all children learn empathy as a required course of study, for starters. Add civics, media literacy, and critical thinking.
IMHO, it’s not what children are learning in US schools. I spent my career as a public school guidance counselor for grades 6-9 in schools that incentivized six pillars of character (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship). The schools weren’t perfect but they tried extremely hard to provide a safe environment for all students. But then some go home and play GTA, where players can buy women/girls, use them, and sell them. And there are add-ons for rape. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grand-theft-auto-v-and-the-culture-of-violence-against-women_b_6288528. https://theconversation.com/virtual-rape-in-grand-theft-auto-5-learning-the-limits-of-the-game-30520. https://medium.com/@messagegurvi/exploring-the-psychological-and-sociological-impacts-of-the-gta-series-c0ff7c08e0e3.
I agree. The larger question is, "How do you cure a sick society?"
I wish I knew, Ian.
look for examples from the past, perhaps the Marshall plan
Thank you for sharing this!! This information about GTA shocks me!
The news gets worse. It’s the most popular game franchise in the western world. https://newzoo.com/resources/blog/grand-theft-auto-popular-game-franchise-western-world
all good suggestions. I would add service of some form to make it real
And no one is talking about the 5000 marines and 3 ships coming from the west coast. 3 plane loads of coffins which Donnie met twice, once with a white cap which he never took off. Sociopath-in-chief is bored of it all and ready to concentrate on dolling up DC and Maralardo, this time with statues.
How many fallen soldiers come from oligarch families? None.
How many enlisted soldiers in our all-volunteer army are on Forbes’ list of billionaires? None.
Why hasn’t Barron enlisted? How can 47 expect his supporters to put their lives on the line if his own family doesn’t support his actions? Where’s his skin in the game?
Well, the idiocracy repubs in Congress still support him so he expects all the magats to fall in line and kiss his ass.
Sorry, but those girls are far less important than the, what, 13 dead American soldiers. Yes, I feel for the soldiers and their families, but this is what you and your compatriots voted for folks. Get over it and get that general strike going until you overturn your fascist government. You've simply no time to waste any more.
good observations; maybe an over simplified conclusion.
On NBC Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked, “Do you think it’s appropriate for the president to celebrate the death of a Bronze Star, Purple Heart recipient who served in Vietnam? Bessent: Neither one of us can understand what has been done to the president and his family. Q - So you don’t think there’s anything wrong with a post saying, ‘Good. Robert Mueller’s dead’? Bessent: We should have empathy for what’s been done to the president and his family.”
This Republican Party has lost their moral compass!
Actually, let me back up on my comment…this entire administration is a CULT. Scott Bessent is a cult member and parroting the cult script as commanded.
Robert Mueller did not do a thing TO Trump or his family. He was called on to investigate Trump and his involvement with Russian influence, period.
Based on Schaking-Miff-up fabrications. Jeff Sessions should have strangled it at birth, and if Mueller had been other than a TDS RINO („straight shooter!!!!!!!????? Hahaha) he would have said „There’s nothing here.” and „moved on”.
OMG…Scott Bessent is such a tool and a fool!!! He will say anything and apparently doesn’t care what an idiot he looks like.
Yes, he is. Bessent is one of many tools and fools Trump has in place throughout the government. He has covered all the bases with fools. They are there to do what Trump says. Trump sure knew what he needed to govern the underlings. We are not living in a democracy anymore, in my opinion.
Qualifications for a position in Felon47's administration:
- Being able to lie effectively
- willing to lie whenever needed
- having no great attachment to truth or reality
- happy to designate as real whatever fabrication Felon47 has said is real
- have little to no experience or expertise for filling the position you're given.
Trump is evil incarnate and Bessent is a slavish minion.
It never had one.
They are a cult following the BEAST
Bessent is an ass! He serves his leader well.
🤮🤬🤯
Keith, and his mind! His replies sounded programmed! Which IS scary to think that may be an example of a government employees mindset!
And his mind, his replies sounded programmed, which IS scary.
And…their minds! His replies sounded programmed! That IS scary!
🤢
Stand firm there, Scott.
The problem is that even if Trump does pull the plug, Netanyahu isn't likely to. And if Iran finds reasons to go after the desalination plants of its Sunni neighbors, you can bet it will be the ones that provide freshwater for American airbases.
Sorry Donald, the egg isn't going back in the shell. And as #HumptyTrumpty, you can expect a great fall into a nest of barbed wire where congressional oversight will rip your regime to pieces and take down the #Project2025BillionaireCabal with it.
Trump's got both fists elbow deep in the tar baby now. He's not going anywhere soon. It takes two to tango, but only one to keep the Straits of Hormuz closed. Trump and Isreal killed the father, wife, and child of the current head of Iran. Does anyone think this is some Monty Python comedy where the king steps in and enjoins everyone to stop arguing about "who killed who" and just get on with making money again? This fiasco is still in early chapters.
The enemy always gets a vote. This won't be over until Iran says it's over. They're winning the economic war big time.
13 US service people dead, Suckers in his eyes but people who serve in ours.1400 Iranians civilians dead A much worse situation diplomatically and economically. He's trashed everything. He's done it before with his businesses, which he screwed up and then called it success.
It's all very predictable. So why were a group of greedy billionaires and others allowed to put him there?
From where I'm sitting, money talks louder than any words.
He's was good at sales BS and lying. He told great stories and managed to make it "sound" as if all his business failures and bankruptcies were caused by someone or something outside his control. The greedy apparently never really checked the truth of his stories and as long as he's been in office, they made money. They are still making money, largely with WE THE PEOPLE footing the bill, and that's all they care about.
The only one seemed to benefited from this is Russia Russia Russia...
Their oil prices have soared, somebody has to cover the market loss from Middle East and the sanctions lifted on Russian oil ... all while they are providing Iranians intelligence on American targets!!!
Is there anyone capable to hold this administration on TREASON charges ??
Perhaps Putin planned the whole thing and his man followed instructions.
Russia - and the US tech oligarchs. Although if Iran strikes their facilities across the Gulf, the techbros will be crying 'no fair'...
I second that emotion.
Dr. Reich, I hope you’re right. But this looks less like an exit strategy and more like an escalation trap.
You made the key point yourself: he never defined the objective. That means there is no clean way to claim it’s done. Now he’s threatening Iran’s power plants over Hormuz, and Iran is threatening wider retaliation in response. That is not an off-ramp. That is a man stepping deeper into the mess. 
I hope I’m wrong, and you’re right. www.xplisset.com
He’s never cared about having a “clean way” out of any situation – just a concept of a concept! More insane babbling saying “it’s done” is good enough for him.
I'm not so sure that more insane babbling saying “it’s done” is good enough for him. I think there's also got to be some insane babbling along the lines of, "we won bigly, and I won't get any credit for it. But that's okay, I never do."
Tdump’s “reasoning” for going to war with Iran was possibly to achieve a number of personal objectives…all of which have failed.
His ratings: Support for the war was not endorsed by Congress or the American people. Massive backlash and failure.
Distraction from Epstein files: No moving on and Pam Bondi refusing to speak under oath. Failure.
Appease Israel: Americans only see Israel dictating US foreign policy. Not to mention the cost of all this.
On top of all this US Home Security is in turmoil. Airports in chaos as TSA workers not paid, untrained ICE “agents?” expected to pick the slack. Disastrous. Iran counter terrorist experts sacked by Kash Patel BEFORE going to war!
All in all, a self-serving war that has, and will, cripple world economies, increase domestic terrorist threat.
Armed ICE agents at the nation's airports... what could possibly go wrong!?!
In this case, TACO means having wasted service personnel's lives and those of countless civilians on all sides. Great going, POTUS! (which I shorten to POS) I hope you and your buddies lose your shirts.
Spot on, Dean!
You are more optimistic than I am (Canadian here).
Bone-Spurs, the US Coward in Chief, has enabled Monster Netanyahu to expand his own War on Terror against Shia states in the Middle East, starting with Iran...as his Wahhabi and Sunni backers grin with glee.
It will not be over even if The Coward exits, declaring yet another victory - as with his games of golf.
Oh, I so hope you are right. I am so frightened as I watch this current administration recklessly spend our country’s resources, reputation, and children.
I agree, Virginia.
Bob, I see him declare victory, but how will he, and the US, get out?
It is hard for me to imagine. There are intimate relations between the Persian Gulf and the world economy. There is an intmate relation between the Trump billionaires and the client states in the Middle East. There is an intimate relation between world energy and the Gulf.
The production capabilities are severly damaged, so energy prices will remain high.
Overseeing this, Iran can keep doing what it does and built an alliance against Israël.
This war is by far the stupidest adventure in history. The Chinese will be hit, but they have the highest production of solar and wind energy. The Russians will be amused, because they can sell their oil in a shrinking market for inflated prices.
How to get out? The U.S. citizens will pay for rising gas prices and groceries.
And Trump will change the subject to Cuba. When the bread is expensive, American can have cake.
Yes, the stupidest war and it revealed how stupid the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are to have pushed for it.
The world now sees the vulnerability of oil and gas production and will turn to local and sustainable energy sources.
The silver lining might be that we see the logic of curbing energy consumption and using oil for it. The transition to sustainable energy might gain speed.
And the stupidity of this regime and its energy policy will penetrate the MAGA minds. I hope it comes so fast that global warming stops and a world war is prevented.
Bravo. On World Meteorological Day isn't it about time that as well as talking about the problems being caused by fossil fuel shortages due to the war in the Gulf region we also talk about the many harms and dangers caused by our addiction to the stuff?
In 2024, 90% of all new energy brought to the market was in the renewable sector. Solar power is current the cheapest form of electricity that has ever been available and none of those photons from our Sun are required to pass through the Strait of Hormuz (as the indefatigable Bill McKibben pointed out recently). The fossil fuel indutsry hate renewables because they can't own those energy sources and Trump backs them because they give him money and help keep him and other Republicans in power.
You only have to look at the insane weather the US is experiencing in the western states with heat records being smashed every day to understand the good sense of weaning economies off fossil fuels, irrespective of the current oil and gas crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/22/climate-crisis-march-extreme-weather
The effects of global warming are being felt all around the world and they will only get worse the longer the transition to renewables is delayed and no country has delayed the transition more determinedly than the United States. It's almost a relief that you don't turn up any more at climate conferences.
„The fossil fuel industry hate renewables because they can't own those energy sources”
You can own the solar panels and establish a quasi-monopoly on them. What’s the DIFFERENCE between that and the „fossil fuel industry”’s behaviour?
I sure hope you are right. 👍