Khamenei, One of Most Evil People in History, is Dead
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 05:42
VIEWED: 15626
PAGE 69 of 73
Quote:This May Be Trump’s Biggest Error in the Iran War
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Trump’s War With Iran Is Hopeless
Oh yeah? How many times has Fred Kaplan told you that Trump can't levy tariffs?
Why do you keep listening to people who are wrong all the time and/or just lie to you all the time?
You're a fucking idiot. That's why.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
Success requires knowing what motivates your enemy.
By Nancy A. Youssef and Jonathan Lemire | July 31, 2026, 8 AM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/07/iran-war-trump-m
isunderstandings/688117/
For 2,500 years, military commanders have heeded the injunction of Sun Tzu, the great Chinese military strategist: Know your enemy. Yet the Trump administration’s greatest mistake in the Iran war may be its persistent failure to understand Tehran’s priorities and motivations—and how much punishment the regime is willing to absorb to prevail.
Iran’s decision Tuesday to launch ballistic missiles at U.S. troops in Jordan was a prime example. It befuddled Washington. U.S. officials had come to expect that their actions would drive the war, and Iran would react. But here was Tehran, escalating matters just after the United States had suspended its 13-day barrage of strikes against Iranian defenses and infrastructure. U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for military operations in the Middle East, described the move as a “surprise attack.”
Tehran characterized the missile strikes as self-defense against what the regime saw as the Trump administration’s broadening of the war. Around the same time as the Iranian attack, U.S. and Saudi forces launched joint strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Riyadh’s first publicly acknowledged military strikes of the conflict. Turki al-Maliki, a Saudi defense-ministry spokesperson, said in a statement that the militias had attacked the kingdom’s oil facilities and that Riyadh reserved the right to respond “at the appropriate time and place.”
This week’s events hardly represented the first time that the two sides had misread each other’s intentions. The convoluted and complicated war has swung almost weekly between peace overtures and fighting. Those misinterpretations appear set to continue, especially amid signs that others may be dragged into the fight. Egyptian officials earlier this week confirmed that a drone had set two gas vessels ablaze at Damietta, a port city on the Mediterranean near the Suez Canal. No group has claimed responsibility, but the attack raised fears that Iran has expanded its list of nations to target.
The memorandum of understanding that Washington and Tehran signed in the middle of last month quickly devolved into one of the war’s signature misunderstandings. The very first clause of the agreement promised to end the fighting, but the two sides had fundamentally different interpretations of their obligations.
The memorandum did not end the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz but rather, it papered over it. Washington believed it had secured 60 days of open, toll-free commercial navigation. Tehran read the agreement as preserving its authority to manage traffic through the waterway. As the dispute erupted, some Iranian officials believed that the U.S. had purposely drafted a vague agreement to trigger a violation that could be used as a predicate to resume strikes, a person familiar with their thinking told us. And the U.S. sought to use financial incentives, such as sanctions waivers and investment, to entice a government that was preoccupied with the assassination of its supreme leader. Was anyone really surprised that the pact fell apart? Certainly not President Trump, who professed that he “couldn’t care less” after each side had walked away.
Even before the war began, in late February, the two governments were talking past each other. The U.S. believed that
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
In Iran, the U.S. Appears Headed for a Strategic Defeat, Allies Fear
With none of President Trump’s aims accomplished and the Strait of Hormuz closed, U.S. allies see dysfunction and vulnerability from the war.
By Steven Erlanger | August 1, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/world/middleeast/us-iran-war-strate
gy.html
To America’s allies, President Trump’s war in Iran, now in its sixth month, seems headed for a strategic defeat.
They worry that the inability of the United States to turn military superiority into a sustainably changed Iran has displayed a vulnerability that Russia and China will welcome. In addition, Mr. Trump’s goals remain unmet, and the U.S. military is running short on key armaments that it needs for global reach.
For the moment, Iran is seemingly resolute under a more radical government, its nuclear and ballistic missile programs are degraded but not destroyed, and the Strait of Hormuz is effectively under its control. The war has left both the United States and Israel in weaker positions — and blaming each other for the mess.
Iranian missiles and drones not only restrict traffic through the strait and damage the economic infrastructure of allied energy production, but they also continue to threaten American bases across the Middle East and have killed or injured American service members.
With Mr. Trump’s aims shifting, Washington is losing credibility both militarily and diplomatically, analysts said. Its conduct in the war underscores the impression that the United States is an unpredictable instrument of global disorder, they said.
The war may evolve, but so far the result has been “a strategic loss and an embarrassment,” said Robin Niblett, a former director of Chatham House, a think tank in London. “For U.S. allies and those who rely on the U.S. for security, this is confirmation that you can’t trust the United States.”
Even if the Islamic Republic collapses, he added, “people won’t forget that their security and their future were dragged into question by an unpredictable and wavering U.S. foreign policy.”
European allies remember Mr. Trump’s vow to seize Greenland from a NATO ally and his threats to leave the alliance unless other allies met his spending goals. Middle Eastern allies see their own security undermined by this war, even if they are too committed to Washington to abandon partnerships with the United States. But they are already hedging, looking for repaired ties with Iran and better relations with Europe, China and Russia, said Ali Vaez, the Iran project director for the International Crisis Group.
Many countries disliked the global order as it was, Mr. Niblett said, but there was one. “Now America has confirmed itself as a force of disorder and everyone is drawing lessons from it, and trying to be less dependent,” he said. “No one wants to be subject to a whipsaw foreign policy that doesn’t know its limits, and that is a strategic defeat.”
Mr. Vaez cited other recent developments as evidence that the United States has lost credibility as a guarantor of allies’ security, including Mr. Trump’s abrupt change of demands last week after announcing a landmark nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia.
“The Saudis do a nuclear deal with Trump that he walks back in 24 hours,” Mr. Vaez said. “This is the crisis of credibility of the U.S. Neither its military prowess nor its diplomatic promises can be trusted.”
Mr. Trump has argued that it is vital to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon and that it will eventually cede to superior force. Eventually, he said on Friday, he expects Iran to realize it can’t take any more punishment and will negotiate on U.S. terms.
“We’ll be hitting them. We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Mr. Trump said. “At some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”
But he’s losing whatever faith he had in the Iranians, complaining they “always want to talk” but break their word after negotiations. “They’ll get weaker,” he said, “and then they peter out.”
World War II left the United States st
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
If you decide to fight a war of choice, it’s very hard to win. If you’re fighting a war of existence, then your capacity is limitless. In that sense - slightly unlikely bedfellows - you see Ukraine doing something similar to Iran: Absorb enormous amounts of pressure and keep going.
Iran has been fighting three cold wars simultaneously - one with “the great Satan,” as Iranians like to call it, the US; one with “little Satan,” Israel; and one with Saudi Arabia. It’s done so for 47 years, with about 3% of the US defense budget.
That’s the major takeaway: that the United States has not been able to deliver a knockout blow to a small-to-middling-size country like Iran. The capability of Iran to keep going was mispriced by Washington, as Ukraine's capability was mispriced by Moscow.
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-peter-frankopan-weekend-interv
iew/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Despite Nixon losing the Vietnam War, there were many Texans in the construction industry who profited mightily from that war by building military bases in Vietnam. They remember the war as a great victory for themselves. Despite Trump already losing the Iran War, there will be many Texans in the fossil fuel industry who will remember this loss as a victory for themselves:
Big Oil Is Reaping Rewards From the Chaos in Energy Markets
ExxonMobil’s earnings doubled, Chevron posted its highest quarterly earnings on record as energy prices soared during the Strait of Hormuz’s prolonged closure
By Collin Eaton Updated July 31, 2026 10:29 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/exxonmobil-xom-chevron-cvx-2q-
earnings-report-2026-stock-77ca6092
The largest U.S. oil companies reported a blockbuster quarter after the Iran war caused a dislocation in global markets that sent energy prices soaring.
At ExxonMobil, profits more than doubled from a year earlier to their highest level since 2022, while Chevron reported its highest quarterly earnings on record.
Exxon said high oil-and-gas production and its nearly two dozen refineries from Texas to Singapore pushed earnings to $14.5 billion.
The total was its highest since the peak of an energy crisis kicked off by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chevron reported earnings of $12.1 billion that rose nearly fivefold from the same period last year, driven by record oil-and-gas production and refining throughput.
Both companies raked in cash as the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz waterway between Iran and Oman cut off a big chunk of the world’s fuel supplies.
U.S. oil prices climbed as high as $112.95 a barrel in the quarter, and gasoline prices surged to the highest levels in four years.
“While we didn’t anticipate the current situation, we were prepared for it. In our markets, disruption is inevitable,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a conference call Friday with analysts. “Despite the temporary loss of approximately 10% of our upstream production, we delivered exceptional financial results.”
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:This May Be Trump’s Biggest Error in the Iran War
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Trump’s War With Iran Is Hopeless
Oh yeah? How many times has Fred Kaplan told you that Trump can't levy tariffs?
Why do you keep listening to people who are wrong all the time and/or just lie to you all the time?
You're a fucking idiot. That's why.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
Answer the question or don't quote me, Shit Golem.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Just for people who don't know who 6ixStringJack is, he is a Trumptard, a follower of Trump. Trump hates everybody, except for those who worship him. 6ix hates everybody who is opposed to worshipping Trump. If you don't express any opinion about Trump or his incompetence at making War, 6ix won't automatically hate you. But if you do have a negative opinion of the Donald, 6ix will outdo Trump with his hatred of you.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Answer the question or don't quote me, Shit Golem.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Just for people who don't know who 6ixStringJack is, he is a Trumptard, a follower of Trump. Trump hates everybody, except for those who worship him. 6ix hates everybody who is opposed to worshipping Trump. If you don't express any opinion about Trump or his incompetence at making War, 6ix won't automatically hate you. But if you do have a negative opinion of the Donald, 6ix will outdo Trump with his hatred of you.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Answer the question or don't quote me, Shit Golem.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
SECOND, don't assume SIX hates you, bc you're not hate- worthy. Despises might be a better word.
And it's not just SIX that despises you, and it's not about Trump. You're just despicable is all.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Amen.
I didn't realize he posted it here to, so now I'm going to post my reply here too as well...
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
From the thread I just made this morning in the Cinema board with the obvious rename in the new title, after Second posted the same paragraph full of shit there too...
[SPOILER WARNING because Second is a Shit Golem] Holy F*#K! It's been so long now that I forgot what a good opening weekend looked like...
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=36&tid=67718
None of that is even remotely true. Very much like everything that comes out of Shit Golem's mouth.
Anybody who doesn't know who Second is and what he is all about will figure it out pretty quick if they stick around a while. He is pure garbage without any opinions you couldn't get just from reading the NYT.
Like the creepiest of creeps, he regularly reads everything that the members who have interests outside of politics share about their lives, and saves them on his computer, where he will then try to use anything that somebody says against them in a completely different context, like a fucking loser stalker creep would. At one point, a member was talking about their health issues and he brought that up in a different thread in an argument and laughed at her.
I mean, he constantly does this to me, but I don't care about little online bitches who don't know how to behave themselves and I can handle my business. That being said, I've been sober now for 5 months shy of a decade, and he'll still throw my alcoholism in my face.
He finally stopped plagiarizing other people's writing and trying to pass it off as his own after I dedicated an entire thread to catching him in the act constantly doing this. How did I figure that out? Pretty easy when his posts go from 5th grade English to some extra flowery bullshit that Liberal dipshits like to put in their writing.
He sends death threats to everyone, which are all extensively archived because he also likes going back through his own post history regularly and deleting things that have become inconvenient for him.
His alternate handle Reaverfan who once told me explicitly how I should wrap my lips around the barrel of a gun and take myself out got banned years ago, yet somehow Haken allows this evil little troll to keep posting here after all the horrible shit he's said to everyone.
If you don't know who Second is, consider yourself lucky. And until he finally gets the ban here that he so richly deserves, I don't imagine anybody new is going to join this website for any reason.
If you'd like to know more...
Second is a Serial Plagiarist that just got caught red handed
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=65471
HAKEN: THIS NEEDS TO STOP. IMMEDIATELY. I'M NOT ASKING ANYMORE.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=2&tid=67251
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117023461141824050
The U.S.A. is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II. Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to. This would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat. Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL. The Country of Israel joins me in this commitment. Get to work, everybody, and get it DONE. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME