Take it easy on the old man. It was Saturday night. He'd been in a late evening meeting with military brass who told him in no uncertain terms an invasion of Hormuz could be a massive goat fork for the USAF. Next he's on a joint call with Lindsey Graham and Miriam Adelson who tell him, Go for it. You can't give up now. You'll look weak. We're counting on you.

Of course, the old man is tired and confused so he climbs up to the residential area of the WH to see if Melania can offer some solace. But she's watching a Jack Reacher movie and licking her lips at a bare-chested Alan Ritchison, that left-wing sob.

So the unhappy old man turns to Truth Social and lashes out. Big deal. Take it easy on him. He's human.

1 hour ago, Alan Zweibel said:

You prefer opinions that are not based on evidence? So you just make up your mind on an issue based on what exactly? Feelings? Premonitions? Coin tosses?

His forte is insulting people he has never met, and knows nothing about. Don't give him oxygen.

Just now, Patong2021 said:

If Iran offers some sort of conciliatory gesture, it will be enough to get Trump to back off. I know that few people will agree with me, but I believe that trump genuinely wants to avoid escalation and would dearly like to give the Iranians an off ramp. However, if the Iranians go after the Gulf Arab assets, the GCC will be ruthless in their vengeance. They'll lay waste to much of Iran's industrial base and drive the regime out of the country and into Yemen. The Saudis have been waiting patiently to settle accounts with the Shiites of Iran. They will be joined by other Arab nations, especially Iraq which has long suffered because of the Iranian incitement of shiites in the country.

Let's be precise. It's not that he wants to avoid escalation. It's clear that he never expected to have to escalate in the first place and is looking for a way out. Let's see what he does if the Iranians start unleashing destruction on the oil and gas infrastructure of the Gulf States. You think they're going to be happy with the US if Iran does retaliate massively? As for the prediction that the Saudis and other will join in. Maybe. They got their assets kicked by the Houthis. Easier for them to leave the trouble and expense to Israel and the US.

Trump says US will ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants if Strait of Hormuz

And Iran says it will obliterate desalination plants, energy infrastructure, and all US infrastructure, both military and civilian/economic, in the Persian Gulf and Israel in retaliation. Every strike Iran makes is a RETALIATION strike for unprovoked strikes by the US & Israel. I hate to say this, but Iran is the victim of this aggression. Iran is going to retaliate and escalate. Afterward, it won't matter if the Straits are "open" or not - there won't be anything of value to ship out for months to come.

If you haven't bought oil stock - buy some on Monday while WTI is still sub-$100.

7 minutes ago, Autocan said:

So the unhappy old man turns to Truth Social and lashes out. Big deal. Take it easy on him. He's human.

I think he's been off his Lithium tablets considering the whip-lash peaks and valleys of his emotional makeup. The old man is unhinged and plans to take the world down with him.

4 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

If Iran offers some sort of conciliatory gesture, it will be enough to get Trump to back off. I know that few people will agree with me, but I believe that trump genuinely wants to avoid escalation and would dearly like to give the Iranians an off ramp. However, if the Iranians go after the Gulf Arab assets, the GCC will be ruthless in their vengeance. They'll lay waste to much of Iran's industrial base and drive the regime out of the country and into Yemen. The Saudis have been waiting patiently to settle accounts with the Shiites of Iran. They will be joined by other Arab nations, especially Iraq which has long suffered because of the Iranian incitement of shiites in the country.

Of course Trump wants to avoid escalation. If he puts boots on the ground, the mid-terms are cooked, and he could well be impeached by both sides of politics. Conviction would strip Trump of all political power.

The GCC have the weaponry. However, they don't have the manpower Iran does.

8 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

His forte is insulting people he has never met, and knows nothing about. Don't give him oxygen.

Like the "Pearl Harbor Surprise Attack" comment he made to Japan's Prime Minister when she visited the White House - Trump is a piece of work.

Just now, Lacessit said:

Of course Trump wants to avoid escalation. If he puts boots on the ground, the mid-terms are cooked, and he could well be impeached by both sides of politics. Conviction would strip Trump of all political power.

The GCC have the weaponry. However, they don't have the manpower Iran does.

Actually, to formulate it more accurately, Trump wants to avoid more escalation.

5 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

the GCC will be ruthless in their vengeance.

Sir, this is a serious forum, not the Onion. Saudi Arabia couldn't defeat little Yemen in ten years of fighting with US help.

The GCC monarchs have sold off their camels, moved into huge palaces on the back of oil wealth and outsourced their security to the US. The only vengeance those wretched Bedouins will reek will be on their Bangladeshi servants and Ukrainian concubines.

28 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

The problem is, of course, that it won't just be Iran that will suffer. Already Qatar says the 17% of its gas production is out of commission for the next 3 to 5 years.

They will get over it. Pin Pricks for them. They still have a country and a military. Guess they now realize what sort of brutal vicious terrorist scumbags the Iranians were and how good it is to have Israel on their side.

6 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

Actually, to formulate it more accurately, Trump wants to avoid more escalation.

If he puts boots on the ground, it kills the "no more forever wars" spin. If he bombs power plants, he's a war criminal. So where next?

3 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Guess they now realize what sort of brutal vicious terrorist scumbags the Iranians were and how good it is to have Israel on their side.

Come on, man, the Iranians are the good guys. They've knocked off US bases one after another and now their missiles, the big ones, are doing serious damage to evil little Israel.

Just now, Autocan said:

Come on, man, the Iranians are the good guys. They've knocked off US bases one after another and now their missiles, the big ones, are doing serious damage to evil little Israel.

Yeah, Tel Aviv is a smoking hole. Our carriers were sunk, planes shot down and the Iranians are about to impose Sharia law on the world.

Boom, oh look another missile factory flattened.

10 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

They will get over it. Pin Pricks for them. They still have a country and a military. Guess they now realize what sort of brutal vicious terrorist scumbags the Iranians were and how good it is to have Israel on their side.

It's getting over it was confined to the Gulf States, you'd have made a good point.

1 minute ago, Alan Zweibel said:

It's getting over it was confined to the Gulf States, you'd have made a good point.

That makes less sense than usual, which is in the negative category anyway.

3 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Iranians are about to impose Sharia law on the world.

Iranians are Shia Islam, not the Sunni extremists. But you're too ignorant to understand that, so you hold on to this propaganda like its reality.

No reason to bother debating this. Let's wait and see how it turns out. My bets are that you'll be wallowing in a hole of cognitive dissonance.

6 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Yeah, Tel Aviv is a smoking hole.

Ah, that would be a gift for which one would be eternally grateful to Iran. Let us hope.

1 minute ago, Yagoda said:

That makes less sense than usual, which is in the negative category anyway.

I forgot that you need things spelled out for you. Occasionally that's effective. Here it goes. The effects of the damage inflicted on the gulf states energy infrastructure won't be confined to them alone. Not only do they export 20% of the world's oil, but a big percentage of such products as jet fuel and fertilizer. So the shortage will raise prices sharply throughout the world including the USA. It's true that thanks to the lefties, American gasoline consumption is about half of what it used to be.

Politically speaking, it's a commodity that Americans pay close attention to. So not good for the Republicans.

3 minutes ago, connda said:

Iranians are Shia Islam, not the Sunni extremists. But you're too ignorant to understand that, so you hold on to this propaganda like its reality.

No reason to bother debating this. Let's wait and see how it turns out. My bets are that you'll be wallowing in a hole of cognitive dissonance.

Because Shia can't be extremists?

6 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

I forgot that you need things spelled out for you. Occasionally that's effective. Here it goes. The effects of the damage inflicted on the gulf states energy infrastructure won't be confined to them alone. Not only do they export 20% of the world's oil, but a big percentage of such products as jet fuel and fertilizer. So the shortage will raise prices sharply throughout the world including the USA. It's true that thanks to the lefties, American gasoline consumption is about half of what it used to be.

Politically speaking, it's a commodity that Americans pay close attention to. So not good for the Republicans.

Wow. Well at least as a confirmed America hater you can take solace in a new fantasy.

Listen, I have friends who are dyed in the wool Dallas Cowboys fans, I understand how losing affects folks. Always that ring out of reach for you lot...Trump not elected, Trump thrown in jail, Trump impeached, America collapsing from tariffs, Netanyahu jailed, Israel destroyed, Iran winning, that first round pick leading us to the Super Bowl......

14 minutes ago, Autocan said:

Ah, that would be a gift for which one would be eternally grateful to Iran. Let us hope.

So you advocate the destruction of the entire civilian population of Tel Aviv. Got it. Another one outed LOL. Its so easy

4 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Wow. Well at least as a confirmed America hater you can take solace in a new fantasy.

Listen, I have friends who are dyed in the wool Dallas Cowboys fans, I understand how losing affects folks. Always that ring out of reach for you lot...Trump not elected, Trump thrown in jail, Trump impeached, America collapsing from tariffs, Netanyahu jailed, Israel destroyed, Iran winning, that first round pick leading us to the Super Bowl......

As usual, when you've got nothing, you resort to personal comments.

An amusing thread. This "war" was never about the Iranians having a potential nuclear capability. It is just a rinse and repeat version of every war that ever was - a reason to feed the Military Industrial complex, The Financial Industrial Complex, and The Corporate Industrial Complex.

Does nobody realise that we have been ruled by Fascism since at least Bretton-Woods, and that big business decides when we go to war, not puppet governments. Regular destruction of huge swathes of productive assets are periodically necessary to keep the money tree growing - usually when debt is HUGE and productivity is low. It pleases the Military, the Banks, and the Corporates.

Dollars to donuts they are already bidding on the huge contracts to rebuild Ukraine and the Middle-East - the more they can blow up in the meantime, all the better.

22 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Nice. Kill all the Jews right? How the ones outside Israel?

No, not all, for crying out aloud. Just the ones in Israel, the Zionists at any rate.

Those outside? Certainly not. Lovely people many of them, outraged by the evil apartheid regime of their co-religionists in Israel and doing all within their power to right the wrongs, if only by speaking out.

21 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Wow. Well at least as a confirmed America hater you can take solace in a new fantasy.

Listen, I have friends who are dyed in the wool Dallas Cowboys fans, I understand how losing affects folks. Always that ring out of reach for you lot...Trump not elected, Trump thrown in jail, Trump impeached, America collapsing from tariffs, Netanyahu jailed, Israel destroyed, Iran winning, that first round pick leading us to the Super Bowl......

How's your fantasy that Kharg was going to be taken during the last week going?

March 14

"With Iran essentially defenseless and disarmed, I predict we will take Kharg Island within a week."

Another MEU has just left San Diego because an assault was never planned for in the first place and the one that is a week or so away from the Gulf is nowhere near big enough........I question that the two of them together are enough.

If the assault had been planned those forces would be there now, ready to go in and "win" within Trumps nonsensical 4 week timescale.

What is happening now is "Mission Creep".

Mission creep is synonymous with bad outcomes for those drawn into its web.

Mission creep has set in because Iran didn't fold as expected.....and it's not going to.

"No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces. Only the layman believes that in the course of a campaign he sees the consistent implementation of an original thought that has been considered in advance in every detail and retained to the end."

Helmuth von Moltke, 1871

1 minute ago, Autocan said:

No, not all, for crying out aloud. Just the ones in Israel, the Zionists at any rate.

Those outside? Certainly not. Lovely people many of them, outraged by the evil apartheid regime of their co-religionists in Israel and doing all within their power to right the wrongs, if only by speaking out.

What about the ones who support them.

By Zionist you mean the murder of Israeli babies in cribs. Got it. I wonder who you were before or who your alter ego is. In any event, thanks for outing

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Perhaps Trump has the same intention with Iran as Israel did with Gaza, just obliterate all the infrastructure and reduce the country to rubble.

Good work Don, it is a great way to make friends and influence people.

Who cares what you think ?

3 minutes ago, Enoon said:

"No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces. Only the layman believes that in the course of a campaign he sees the consistent implementation of an original thought that has been considered in advance in every detail and retained to the end."

Helmuth von Moltke, 1871

Exactly. This is why Kharg isnt taken yet. But Iran is defeated, its ideology and virulence need to be completely eradicated, mopping up so to speak.

Europe must be happy we saved their asses again LOL

5 minutes ago, PhilipHabib said:

Who cares what you think ?

Surely not Trump, who just bailed Europe out again.

7 minutes ago, PhilipHabib said:

Who cares what you think ?

Well you certainly don't have to care what I think, it means less than zero to me. If you don't want to read what I post please by all means put me on your ignore list. And if you don't want to read opinions that are in opposition to yours I suggest you don't even use the forum.

Then again you could always learn how to establish self esteem, and grow some thicker skin.