A history of our fecklessness since the end of WW II.
The problem with Trump is that, despite his talk about “getting tired of winning,” he, like the pseudo-pacifist Democrats (I say “pseudo,” because they aren’t really anti-war–they’re just on the other side) doesn’t want to win wars, but to “end” them. I get that he doesn’t like wars, but sometimes they are necessary, and the only way, ultimately, to end them is to win decisively, in a way that the combatants either no longer exist, or are no longer willing to continue to combat. It remains to be seen whether that’s the case in Iran, but I fear that they are just biding their time.
What’s it like to be feckful, I wonder?
Democrats will never know.
To be full of feck?
They’re just a bunch of feckers.
” I get that he doesn’t like wars, but sometimes they are necessary, and the only way, ultimately, to end them is to win decisively, in a way that the combatants either no longer exist, or are no longer willing to continue to combat”
Yes, but the US has a more-or-less unbroken record of NOT doing that for several decades, so Trump wanting to avoid more of those is perfectly normal.
“If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting”
Curtis LeMay
Read the link. It’s a mix of correct and not. Some of the not is shallow thinking. Deguello is played by one side, but both can hear the message.
Iranian leadership should have been just as high on the target list as the nuclear sites. It is possible to have regime change without tanks in the enemy capital. The new leadership might not be exactly what we would like but they would know what had happened to their immediate predecessors and govern accordingly.
Mr. Trump has never been about seeking unconditional surrender. He even wrote this Art of the Deal book about this.
The we wanted unconditional surrender, we could have voted for Nikki Haley, but we didn’t, so here we are, but I guess some of us never quite got around to making our own peace with Mr. Trump.
I just saw that Harvard would “cut a deal” with the Administration but they just can’t bring themselves to it because they want to keep their anti-Trump Resistance streed cred.
Harvard will come to a deal. I guess the next step is for Mr. Trump to order a B-2 strike to slide some of those ground penetrators under Harvard Yard?
I’d hate to see that. Even though the Out-Of-Town News deserves it for what they’ve become these days.
But no, please don’t. The Red Line is slow enough as is…
Nikki lacks creativity and would make the same mistakes as the past because she can’t imagine doing something different.
“Harvard will come to a deal. I guess the next step is for Mr. Trump to order a B-2 strike to slide some of those ground penetrators under Harvard Yard?”
Or maybe to commit troops to nation building in Harvard?
But which nation? Given the fact that Harvard was founded well prior to 1789. I’d humbly recommend instead Sioux Nation Tribal Police… Turn it back over to their forbears. Or better yet contact the owners of Mohegan Sun in CT for a buyout & restoration/casino.
Speaking of unconditional surrender. It appears NYC is on track to get their democracy good and hard…
For whatever form rank choice voting represents democracy.
The USA does not support Total War against Russia. A small number of Ukrainiacs do. The USA also doesn’t support Total War against all of Israel’s foes. The two wars are great examples between old/new. Ukraine is old business, a legacy quagmire. Israel vs the world presents Trump with the chance to showcase his methods.
When we acted against the Houthi, Hegseth said something like, “We don’t care about your civil war. The bombing will continue until you stop shooting at our ships.” Then they stopped shooting at our ships. In Iran, the message was, “We don’t care about your Islamic revolution. We will not allow you to have nuclear weapons. Negotiate or have them destroyed.” Iran chose destruction but it ends there unless they choose to work toward nuclear weapons again.
In both cases, there were limited use of force with defined objectives that were communicated with clarity and the actions centered on those countries interactions with the USA and not with Israel.
Where it gets murky is with our larger involvement, where we aide both Israel and Ukraine. In these cases, the warring parties have their own objectives and agency and we can only provide some help. Demand is infinite, everything else isn’t and the two wars are quite different, which is why we are engaged with them differently.
I see where this is coming from. In Ukraine, Trump wants an end and doesn’t appear concerned about borders. Reality has a say in that one. With Israel/Gaza/Lebanon/Syria/Iraq/Yemen/Iran war, he wants an end but also supports Israel doing what they feel they must and victory in whatever form looks more likely than the shitshow in Ukraine and the risks to us are not only smaller but aiding Israel reduces our risks.
What people don’t realize, because their view of Trump doesn’t allow for the possibility, is that Trump wants to present himself as the “elder statesman” solving problems. Through this role, he plays good cop bad cop with him as the way out for these warring nations. There is the public facing Trump and the private facing Trump. Both work toward the same goal but the messages to the audiences are different.
Trump will say he wants a war to end but then bomb nuclear facilities. There is more going on than a surface level reading of partial statements broadcast through the media.
There is an old saying: “Don’t shoot the arrows, shoot the archer.” By destroying the enrichment facilities and other weapons labs, Trump has taken away some of the arrows, but the archer is allowed to go on shooting.
If you’re going to kill them, then kill them.
Everything the author at the link mentions as a successful military campaign are now considered war crimes. Within the realm of taboo acts there are many things that could be done that aren’t necessarily “that bad”.
Can we get to “War of the Assassins?”
Islam is always playing the Long Game. The West plays for next quarters profit. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the US and UK.
Just saying.
To win utterly, you have to make the enemy believe he is contemptible, pathetic, at your mercy because he never really was able, indeed never deserved, to win. Break him like boot camp, so that, as the winner and thus admirable, you get to redefine him into the form you prescribe.
We might never get through to Muslims in that fashion, even if we tried. There’s only one other way to eliminate a threat, and that’s to eradicate it.
I voted for Trump because I got tired of the US being the world’s policeman followed by “nation building” after “this year’s war”. So far Trump has delivered on no permanent state of war, even though he has made a number of military incursions, they are performed and they end. MAGA.
“Trump sought and received five deferments, including allegedly lying about a medical condition to avoid the draft during the height of the war in 1968.”
I just hope “old bone spur”s poor injured feet hold him through this war sure didn’t during vietnam
“despite being a perfect candidate for military service, Trump dodged the draft by making up a fake injury according to multiple sources.
These sources include Trump’s advisors and the family of the doctor who provided Trump with the false diagnosis. Here is what they have said:
Trump’s former lawyer testified under oath to Congress that when he asked for medical records of the injury, Trump provided none, revealed there was no foot surgery, and instructed his former lawyer to avoid answering questions from the press about it. His former lawyer noted that Trump told him, “You think I’m stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam.”
A former senior official from the Trump administration recently disclosed that Trump said that Vietnam War veterans did not know how to exploit the system to get out of serving.
The family of the doctor, who provided Trump with a letter to obtain the medical deferment, stated that their father, a podiatrist, often told them that he issued the letter as a favor to Trump’s father. At that time, Trump’s father was the landlord of the podiatrist’s office building.
Trump has repeatedly failed to provide proof of his medical condition (bone spurs) that disqualified him from serving in the military. He also struggles to recall the most basic facts about the alleged foot injury like which foot was affected. He has changed his story saying now it was both feet. “