If Iran had been such an international outlaw as to be attacking ships in the strait all this time I suspect the pro-Israel community would not have been shy about publicizing this fact.
If Wesley Bell is re-elected leadership seems to want him to be on the Foreign Affairs Committee where I have confidence that he will lower the level of stupid.
This illustrates one of the problems with the madman theory. In the past, Iran has refrained from shutting down the strait because of the likely world reaction. But under Trump, you can be America’s best friend (Canada) and still get 50% tariffs slapped on you for no reason. And the ability of the United States to put together a coalition of nations to confront Iran has been severely diminished.
On the other hand, we HAVE always been at war with Iran on a bipartisan basis since the 1950‘s, with a brief negotiated truce that was not broadly welcomed. The respected colleague from Florida was simply erasing the distinction between the enemy’s capabilities and their actions. Not that unusual in US war rhetoric.
All histories are equal. But some histories are more equal than others....
Good one.
Thanks.
DWD: One historical/literary reference invites another:
"I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Colossal wreckage in the lone and level sands = Trump's adventure in the Middle East, aided and abetted by the grifters, bigots, and fools of the GOP.
If Iran had been such an international outlaw as to be attacking ships in the strait all this time I suspect the pro-Israel community would not have been shy about publicizing this fact.
If Wesley Bell is re-elected leadership seems to want him to be on the Foreign Affairs Committee where I have confidence that he will lower the level of stupid.
Is it "lower the level of stupid" or "increase the level of stupid"? Either way, no doubt he will contribute his share of stupid.
Lower the level of stupid
This illustrates one of the problems with the madman theory. In the past, Iran has refrained from shutting down the strait because of the likely world reaction. But under Trump, you can be America’s best friend (Canada) and still get 50% tariffs slapped on you for no reason. And the ability of the United States to put together a coalition of nations to confront Iran has been severely diminished.
Sounds like Mast will be getting seen out in the door in the near future, hopefully by a landslide.
On the other hand, we HAVE always been at war with Iran on a bipartisan basis since the 1950‘s, with a brief negotiated truce that was not broadly welcomed. The respected colleague from Florida was simply erasing the distinction between the enemy’s capabilities and their actions. Not that unusual in US war rhetoric.