[Tennessee Star] Since the 9/11 attacks, the United States has been mired in "forever wars"—prolonged conflicts with no clear victory, draining trillions of dollars, thousands of lives, and economic vitality. A 2023 Pew poll shows 54% of Americans favor reducing overseas military commitments, with 83% prioritizing domestic needs—a clear call for change.
The U.S. can no longer afford years of military overreach. A pragmatic strategy emphasizing diplomacy, allied burden-sharing, and strategic restraint is essential to protect national interests without exhausting finite resources.
THE OVERWHELMING COST OF WAR
The post-9/11 wars have exacted a staggering toll. Brown University’s Costs of War Project estimates the U.S. has spent $8 trillion—38% of 2020’s GDP—on conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria, equating to $24,000 per citizen.
Future interest on this debt could add $2.2 trillion to the national debt by 2050, burdening future generations. Human losses are equally dire: 7,000 service members and 8,000 contractors killed, 55,000 injured, and 940,000 total deaths from direct violence, with 3.6 million more dying indirectly in war zones.
Beyond numbers, the mental health crisis is profound. Veterans and active-duty personnel from these conflicts have died by suicide at four times the rate of combat losses—over 28,000 since 2001, according to 2022 VA data — mainly driven by post-traumatic stress disorder and repeated deployments.
Adding to the exhausting cost of conflict, caring for these veterans will cost $2.2-$2.5 trillion by 2050. These financial and human costs prove the wars’ unsustainability; constrained resources and public concerns require the U.S. to reassess its global security approach.
RETHINKING OVERSEAS COMMITMENTS
The U.S. maintains 750 military facilities across 80 countries, per a 2021 International Institute of Strategic Studies, at an annual cost of $80 billion—$55 billion for bases alone. The Quincy Institute reports that 91% of post-9/11 operations relied on these bases. Yet, they’ve often fueled instability—think of the disorder stemming from Iraq’s insurgency or Afghanistan’s collapse—rather than the security they were supposed to provide. This sprawling footprint, born of Cold War logic, no longer aligns with today’s fiscal environment, demanding a leaner, more practical approach.
A PRAGMATIC PATH FORWARD
Some argue that overseas military bases help deter terrorism, but the evidence suggests otherwise. According to the Cato Institute (2023), the probability of dying in a U.S. terrorist attack is just 1 in 150 million.
Since 9/11, America has experienced nine terrorist attacks, resulting in a total of 44 deaths. In contrast, during the same period, the U.S. military suffered over 7,000 fatalities and 55,000 injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, raising questions about the purpose of military operations overseas.
The cost alone is staggering. According to a Cato Institute report, a conservative baseline for total overseas basing costs is $80 billion annually, with some estimates reaching $100-$150 billion. This reflects differing indirect expenses, like troop support, highlighting the obscurity of overseas spending.
A 2023 RAND study also found that 30% of bases lack strategic purpose. A 25% reduction, focusing on outdated Cold War sites and unproductive Middle East efforts, would save $15 billion annually.
However, completely withdrawing is unwise; bases in Japan and Germany still deter Russia and China and allow forces to posture when needed. Closing outdated posts in stable regions—like parts of Europe or Asia—frees billions for pressing domestic defense needs.
The use of hard power has become overextended, yielding little success and eventually weighing heavily on the American public. A more effective strategy entails carefully reducing America’s overseas presence, reallocating resources, and reprioritizing homeland defense.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Treasury Secretary has candidly admitted that the GDP numbers that dominated the previous administration's economic approach are not accurate.
Scott Bessent said the Trump administration is focused on what the American public are actually feeling about the money in their pockets than Joe Biden's team.
The former hedge fund boss argued that Biden made a 'mistake' by dismissing the hardships that consumers were actually feeling at grocery stores and gas stations.
When asked point-blank whether he believed that GDP numbers and nonfarm payrolls were accurate on the All-In podcast last week, Bessent replied: 'No. They're subject to big revisions over time.
'I thought one of the big mistakes of the Biden administration was that they went with the numbers and not what the American people were feeling.'
The Treasury Secretary said the economic concerns of the public were dismissed as merely a 'vibe-cession' and that Biden told them, 'you don't know how good you've got it.'
Instead, Bessent said the Trump administration was going to 'have respect for how [the public] feel and then we need to go back and look at what is causing this anxiety.'
In the 2024 election, Americans' highest-rated concern impacting their vote was the U.S. economy and their own personal financial hardships. Gas prices were at an all-time high and grocery bills increased by hundreds of dollars per month.
Since entering office, Trump has touted his team's efforts to bring down the cost of gas and eggs, which surged to never-before-seen prices.
But Americans still don't feel like they are in a better off financial situation and the country is spiraling towards a recession with the markets plummeting in recent weeks in the midst of a tariff war sparked between Trump and multiple U.S. trade partners.
Bessent said in his podcast interview that he's making sure the administration is listening to Americans, and not just what they see on paper.
'I was on Meet the Press yesterday,' he recalled, 'and there was something that said – 'Well, the American people don't believe Donald Trump's doing enough on the economy.' And I told the host, I said, 'You know, the one thing I'm not going to answer is that they don't know what they're talking about.'
'I have to have respect for how they feel, and then we need to go back and look at what is causing this anxiety,' Bessent said, and vowed: 'So that's what that's what we're going to do.'
Podcast co-host Palihapitiya praised Trump's team for having a 'better beat on the fact that this data is not as reliable as other administrations would say they were in order to do whatever it is they wanted to do anyway.'
Bessent agreed with the interviewer, saying that the Trump White House would not use data to justify their actions and instead listen to Americans when they express anxiety or financial hurt.
GDP and non-farm payroll are often two indicators used to assess how the economy is doing. The latter references the change in number of paid workers in all businesses and industries besides farming.
In February, the total U.S. nonfarm payroll rose by 151,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It represents a slight increase from January where they nonfarm payroll rose by 143,000, but is a 1.24 percent improvement from last year's stats.
Additionally, the unemployment rate improved only 0.3 percent with 4.1 percent Americans without a job.
Meanwhile, the GDP figure represents the total monetary value of all goods and services provided within a country's borders over a specific period of time – usually a year.
This is the most commonly-used indicator of a country's economic health.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, the U.s. GDP increased by 2.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
'The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending and government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in investment,' the government analysis notes. 'Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.'
An increase in GDP is generally an indication of a thriving and growing economy.
But Bessent notes how Americans claim they aren't feeling that positive impact hit their pocket books.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has tried to adjust to this and is providing a model with a rolling-update on the GDP that it claims will reflect the real-time changes month-to-month instead of yearly or by quarter.
'Our GDPNow forecasting model provides a 'nowcast' of the official estimate prior to its release by estimating GDP growth using a methodology similar to the one used by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis,' the website notes.
Ever since this feature has been introduced, the GDP has tanked.
But many are skeptical of the so-called 'nowcast' and economists say it is not an accurate representations of the true GDP.
Americans are increasingly spooked as markets and investments continue to tank amid Trump's trade war with multiple partners in Europe as well as Canada and China.
This month, Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico and said it was a response to the countries' refusal to act more aggressively on stopping the fentanyl crisis.
He also claimed that the North American countries take advantage of the U.S. while providing little benefit in return.
Canada has threatened and imposed retaliatory tariffs and the Chinese embassy says it is prepared for a trade war – or war of any kind – with the U.S.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
03/24/2025 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#2
Any Government figures that tell us how great we are doing, when we the taxpayers are feeling the actual real world pain, should be suspect. Those officials called out, removed and barred from future government office positions.
[News With Views] We lost every war in the last eighty years, none of them for the national security of America or with a Constitutionally-required Declaration of War.
A majority of Congress is complicit, corrupt, well-bribed and swimming in the blood of millions of dead innocents and 105,000 of our military. No group in history is more contemptible than a majority of the blood-sucking Congress that have no ethics, morals, honor or redeeming qualities whatsoever.
How can the people tolerate a Congress responsible for unconstitutional wars, death of millions (including your sons and daughters), while impoverishing the people to do so?
It is a damn shame that during the last eighty years, young people served in the military based on false propaganda. Many were killed or disabled for life. I say it is criminal because the wars were unconstitutional without a Declaration of War, and had nothing to do with the security of the United States. The media and establishment propaganda lied and our military died for profit and bribes.
Veterans must be honored for serving to protect the United States, even if it was based on propaganda. People of military age are mostly interested in the opposite sex and accept media and government-sponsored educational and establishment propaganda as fact, and so do their parents. This reality is difficult to accept if you have been maimed for life or lost a child in an unconstitutional no-win war for profit of the Parasitic Super-Rich Ruling Class (PSRRC).
We need the military on United States soil to protect us from Mexican cartels, freeloaders, and criminals crossing our borders and to deport those already here. The military must also protect us from internal Communist and terrorist attacks.
I repeat what is obvious: the United States can’t be invaded,
…huh? What would you call all those illegals thw Biden-Harris administration shipped in, if not an invasion? Perverts, violent criminals, narco gangs, Communist Chinese sspecial forces soldiers, IRGC soldiers, jihadis — and even some legitimate refugees and economic migrants flowed in by the millions, and immediately set about soaking up benefits and causing trouble…
and it can only be defeated in a nuclear war or by Communists and insurgents already here. Enemies just don’t have the ability to get here in quantity to fight a war (oceans). We have no genuine right or benefit to fight wars overseas unless attacked.
So legitimate wars against Communist China, Iran, Hezbollah-linked Latin American narco gangs and Hezbollah, Al Qaeda-linked Latin American narco-gangs and Al Qaeda…
Bring the troops home where we have 20 million illegal invaders that could be a Democrat/Communist force to overthrow our Republic!
Our military can be used at the border, but they aren’t allowed to fight within the national borders, right?
These foreign wars for profit could not have been fought without funding by the income tax and fiat dollars printed by the unconstitutional and private Federal Reserve Bank. We have unconstitutional fiat money because they couldn’t print gold. All of this was made possible by the Great Coup of 1913 ( see my recent articles).
Note: The PSRRC learned from the Civil War that while tariffs and excise taxes funded the government quite well in peacetime, additional fiat money (Greenbacks) were required to fund a war. The income tax provides that funding.
Of course the Military Industrial Complex portion of the Parasitic Super-Rich Ruling Class (PSRRC) ordered and profited from the wars and paid bribes to Congress. The PSRRC consists of the wealthy owners of stock who control and direct corporations to pay minions in the establishment to do their bidding.
Remember that the federal establishment is not a government, so I don’t refer to it as such. It has unlawfully usurped many state functions, but it is still not a government.
President Trump, please obey the Constitution and bring all of our troops home from 150 countries, terminate all foreign aid and care for the veterans as promised. We have no business in NATO; let Europe defend itself. We have no right to project military force unless we are attacked or to combat piracy. In simple terms, our troops should never be in combat in another country since any effective attack on us must be nuclear. Most of what the government tells us about Israel and Ukraine is a damn lie.
What lies has the Trump government pronounced about Israel? For that matter, what lies has the Trump government pronounced about Ukraine? (They can’t be held responsible for the whoppers emitted by the Biden-Harris administration, which lied as it breathed.)
Sorry, that’s the truth.
As is my wont, I have only covered important points of the subject to increase readership and understanding. Please pass this article on to officials and others who could benefit.
#1
"The PSRRC learned from the Civil War that while tariffs and excise taxes funded the government quite well in peacetime, additional fiat money (Greenbacks) were required to fund a war. The income tax provides that funding."
Not to mention the Federal government was no where near the Leviathan monstrosity it is today, and there weren't any social programs to fund. What are the unfunded liabilities of the US gum'ment today, a few hundred trillion or so? I forget, but it's up there.
As for taxes, you can thank Thomas "Woodrow" Wilson and his trusty sidekicks for the introduction of a federal income tax and the Federal Reserve Act, both in/around 1913. That enabled a lot of brave Doughboys to find their final resting places in France. (Yes, France...sickening.)
Note well. Jefferson waged war against the Barbary Pirates without a declaration of war. The entire frontier campaigns against the indigenous population was waged without declaration of war. The Philippine operations against those indigenous peoples was done without a declaration of war. The Vera Cruz and Pershing Expeditions in Mexico were done without a declaration of war.
The big difference is that those operated from a concept we inherited from Parliament. The purse strings were controlled by Congress. It could cut off funds if it sought to. It would do that in the 1970 by cutting funding to aid/assist Vietnam after our withdraw.
In 1948, that which would become the Swamp decided to become the World's Policeman, re-initiating the peacetime draft. With it came the costs both in its impact upon the finances of the state and the liberties of the people, as the Swamp turned inward to keep control and power at any cost.
[Federalist] A New York Times report on Thursday is either fake or people at the FBI or CIA ran to the paper to undermine their boss, though there’s no real reason both can’t be true.
Under the headline, "Intelligence Assessment Said to Contradict Trump on Venezuelan Gang," the Times cited unnamed "officials" claiming that the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, members of which the White House says are illegally in the U.S., is not in cahoots with the origin nation’s government. It’s an assertion in direct contradiction to the administration, which has justified the expedited removal of many illegal aliens by claiming that the Venezuelan government works with the gang to destabilize America.
The report went on to say intelligence agencies "concluded that the gang, Tren de Aragua, was not directed by Venezuela’s government or committing crimes in the United States on its orders," though it acknowledged that the conclusion was made with only "moderate confidence," rather than high confidence. It also said that the FBI dissented with the opinion, claiming that the gang does in fact have "a connection" to the Venezuelan government.
If it’s true, then once again, the intelligence community is using media leaks to thwart Trump’s agenda. The president is right now in a legal dispute with a D.C. district judge as to whether the administration is illegally applying the Alien Enemies Act, which gives Trump the authority to remove illegal aliens from a "hostile nation" without a formal court hearing. That any intelligence personnel are aligning themselves with "the resistance" again is something CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI head Kash Patel are going to need to address immediately.
This is from the same playbook used in Trump’s first term. To cripple his presidency, the intelligence community, the FBI in particular, steadily plied all-too-willing reporters at the Washington Post, CNN, and the Times with information that was either wrong, out of context, or, at minimum, in dispute. It worked to stunning effect, keeping the jittery public on edge every single day of those four years, weakening support for effectively everything Trump did. That shouldn’t happen again.
The president’s authority on all things immigration shouldn’t be something that requires a defense — even the far-left 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appreciates extreme "executive discretion" on the issue — especially from this president’s own intelligence agencies.
The Democrats used to be like him, but then they “evolved”.
[IsraelTimes] "I refuse to turn my back on Israel," the senator from Pennsylvania said, adding that many of his fellow Democrats "have lost their way, but I will continue to be that voice in my party."
Over the last several years and particularly since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has felt isolated diplomatically. Perhaps most painful for the Jewish state has been waning support among American Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... , once stalwart defenders of Israel.
A near-lone voice from the left flank of the party has been Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. A towering giant easily recognized by his hooded sweatshirt attire, Fetterman has stood up for Israel time and again when other members of his party refused to do so.
When it comes to Israel, Fetterman is about as hawkish as it gets, willing to support it in its war efforts against Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and its network of terror proxies, including Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... and Hezbollah.
The senator is on his second trip to Israel in the past year, touring the country, including on a Blackhawk helicopter, meeting families of Israeli hostages as well as those who lost loved ones in the war, and taking in Israeli culture, including what he calls "some of the best food in the world."
This time he came on a mission organized by Relief Resources, an organization dedicated to matching up those in need of mental health care with the best available professional for their personal situation.
Fetterman, who was hosted with his wife, Gisele, on Wednesday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, sat down on Thursday with a small group of hand-picked journalists in Jerusalem to discuss Israel’s war, his steadfast support for the Jewish state and the U.S.-Israel relationship.
SUPPORT FOR MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAN
Fetterman was unequivocal when asked about taking military action to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities. "I don’t think you can really effectively negotiate with that regime," he said, suggesting that using military force is the only option.
Pressed further, Fetterman said, "Oh yeah. Blow it up! Blow it up! I think we should waste what’s left of their nuclear facilities."
When asked directly whether he would support the United States joining Israel in such an operation, he confirmed he would back "partnering with Israel in that way... [with] whatever tools from the U.S., I would fully support that. Yeah, so however you describe that partnership, I fully support it," Fetterman told JNS.
"I support that, and I think there is really a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do that after it’s been demonstrated that Iran lacks the capabilities to really project their threats," he added.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S HARSH STANCE ON ISRAEL
Throughout the interview, Fetterman expressed deep disappointment in members of his own party who have distanced themselves from Israel.
"My party has, some of them, chosen to back away from supporting Israel," he said. "I’ve always refused to pander to other factions."
He criticized Democrats who attempt to equivocate on the issue, urging them to "stand with civilization, stand with democracy."
Fetterman went on to suggest that "my party was punished" during the recent elections for failing to be "unapologetically supportive of Israel." He pointed to Michigan, a state with a strong Moslem community and a progressive, Paleostinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib ...the very first ever Paleostinian-American ever sworn into Congress in 2019. She is a member of The Squad and consistently votes against the U.S. national interest. She's a Dem, naturally, from a safe district you wouldn't want to live in (Michigan's 12th congressional district). She wants the country to be kinda like Gaza only without any Jews for neighbors... as one of the swing states that voted for Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... "How ironic... Does Representative Tlaib just sit there while she [holds a] paddle and yelling during [Netanyahu’s] joint address, when you helped elect Trump. Do you really actually process this?"
CONDEMNATION OF PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP AND ’PAY FOR SLAY’
When asked by JNS whether the Paleostinian Authority should be classified as a terrorist organization for continuing its "Pay for Slay" policy—paying Death Eaters who attack Israeli civilians—Fetterman’s response was unfiltered.
"That’s disgusting," he told JNS. "I’ve read interviews where one of them, they’re like, ’Hey, that’s controversial to stop paying people that kill innocent civilians.’ What’s wrong with you?"
He added that in the recent negotiations with Hamas to see the release of hostages taken on Oct. 7, "Israel is forced to release prisoners that killed innocent civilians and they are cheered like heroes. I hope Israel never forgets or forgives. I hope they finish them out later."
He also pointed to Paleostinian society’s glorification of violence. "Look at the optics—when they release hostages, they cheer it like a Steeler game. And cheering even a casket of a child that they beat to death. That’s perverse."
STANCE ON HOSTAGES AND ISRAEL’S MILITARY CAMPAIGN
Fetterman was adamant about prioritizing the return of hostages taken on Oct. 7, criticizing members of his party who have focused on advocating for Paleostinian activists instead.
"There are human beings still in tunnels right now as we speak," he said. "And now Israel was forced back to start the kinds of war back in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... . Well, it’s because... Hamas doesn’t want peace. They don’t want peace because they all understand that what they have left is keeping those poor people in tunnels. And that’s outrageous."
When asked by JNS whether he believes there is a moderate liberal force among Paleostinians that could rule Gaza, Fetterman suggested that the Paleostinian people should reject their present leadership amid an integrated regional approach to peace.
With regard to the future of Gaza, he said, "It’s entirely appropriate to hold a lot of those other countries in the region... hold them accountable too."
"Israel should not be forced to fight [alone] and they deserve the kinds of allyship from a lot of these nations where they should all agree, we all need peace. And so for me, what I would like for Gaza is a place where Paleostinians reject the kinds of leadership that they’ve had for I think 17 or 18 years. And they have to turn their backs on and remove [the Hamas] charter that the front and center is destroying Israel as their organizing principle."
Regarding those trying to spin the story to one of Israeli aggression against an innocent population, Fetterman was adamant. "So that’s part of the lie and part of the distortion in American media," he said.
"They have been there for over 500 days. And yet, we have people in my party preoccupied with an activist at Columbia University? That individual gets his meals, a bed, a lawyer, and due process. The hostages have none of that. None."
Fetterman is one of few Democrats to speak out powerfully against the pro-Hamas protests on university campuses and in support of President Trump’s initiative to withhold federal funding as a result.
"For me, Columbia University was kind of ground zero of that monoculture run amuck and allowed antisemitism to take over," he stated. "And now it’s incredibly politically dangerous as a Democrat to support what President Trump did to punish Columbia with about $400 million, and to withhold those things."
He added that to "allow the mob rule is not free speech, creating tent cities to create that kinds of chaos and terrorize Jewish students." Fetterman said that he "met with Jewish students across the country and they’ve reached out and it’s like, they don’t deserve to live like that."
RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL’S PREMIER
Fetterman maintains a strong relationship with Netanyahu. "I was very supportive of the prime minister. Some people might think he’s the wrong leader, whatever. Hey, if you have a choice and our ally, a Democratic-elected leader, well, I’m definitely going to stand on that side."
He was critical of fellow Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer ...Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras and microphones. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower, which is 49.29771 years. Senate minority leader as of 2017... , who refused to acknowledge Netanyahu during a joint congressional address. "That’s pathetic," he told JNS. "Basic courtesy is just saying hello, even if you don’t agree politically. But to refuse to shake his hand—it’s just sad."
In their meeting, the prime minister gifted Fetterman a silver beeper, a symbolic nod to Israeli forces’ efforts in eliminating terrorist leaders. Fetterman embraced the gesture. "Oh, I love it. Thank you!" he said.
ADDRESSING ANTISEMITISM AND PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
Fetterman acknowledged that within the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, support for Israel has waned. He linked this shift to the increasing presence of antisemitism in left-wing political movements.
"More and more, being anti-Israel is becoming part of progressive politics," he told JNS. "That’s pathetic."
He was also blunt about the contradictions within certain activist groups. "You have ’Queers for Paleostine,’" he noted. "Well, don’t find out how that would go for you in Gaza."
While many Israelis consider Fetterman a hero for standing up for Israel, the senator said he didn’t want any such distinction. "I push back that or the word ’courage’ being a senator, that’s not courageous for me. I’m just doing a job and it’s like, these are my values," he said.
"I’ve met people where they’ve lost their husbands, two women, they both have eight children. To me, I describe that as courage. Raising eight children after your husband was lost defending Israel. Or children that are able to play on the same sacred space [a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams] that [12] children were murdered from a rocket. So to me, that’s courage."
STRENGTHENING U.S.-ISRAEL TIES
Fetterman called for strengthened U.S. support for Israel, rejecting any notion that his party should distance itself from the Jewish state.
"I refuse to turn my back on Israel," he told JNS, adding that many of his fellow democrats "have lost their way, but I will continue to be that voice in my party."
He said his visit to Israel further solidified his beliefs, describing the nation as a beacon of democracy in a hostile region. "People need to see what they’ve created here," he said. "They don’t deserve to have to constantly defend that way of life. And that’s why we must remain one of Israel’s strongest allies."
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] After more than two weeks of fruitless negotiations for further hostage releases, Israel’s patience ran out. On Tuesday, the Israeli military bombarded Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... leaders and positions in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , and ground forces soon reentered the Hamas-ruled enclave.
Renewed fighting caused consternation for many. The remaining hostages’ friends and family fear for the safety of their loved ones. Israelis of all stripes want their countrymen free from the horrors described by some of the recently released captives. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political opponents accuse him of restarting the war to wriggle his way out of the most recent scandal to rock Israeli politics.
Focusing too narrowly on Gaza and Hamas, however, obscures the greater forces at play in the region. Jerusalem is acting like it is gearing up for the final confrontation with Iran, and it is taking Tehran’s pieces off the table in conjunction with the Trump administration.
Focusing too narrowly on Gaza and Hamas, however, obscures the greater forces at play in the region. Jerusalem is acting like it is gearing up for the final confrontation with Iran, and it is taking Tehran’s pieces off the table in conjunction with the Trump administration.
Last week, a letter from President Trump reportedly reached Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> . The message: Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has two months to come to terms with Washington. As National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said this weekend, "Iran has been offered a way out of this." It can either hand over its missile, uranium enrichment, and weaponization programs "in a way that is verifiable, or they can face a whole series of other consequences."
So far, Iran is sticking with its usual tactic—defiance. After Trump announced the letter, Khamenei retorted, "They constantly say, ’We won’t allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.’ If we had wanted to build nuclear weapons, the U.S. wouldn’t have been able to stop us." Starting in December, Iran massively sped up its uranium enrichment program, and according to the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency, by February, it had a stockpile of nearly weapons-grade uranium that could yield six bombs.
Iran can now get weapons-grade uranium at any time, and it is researching how to speed up the rest of its nuclear program. Toward the end of last year, the intelligence community assessed that the Iranians are working on shortcuts to shrink the time for making a bomb from about a year to only a few months.
The mullahs have crept right up to the edge of nuclear capability before, and previously they have traded parts of their program for diplomatic concessions, such as Obama’s misbegotten 2015 deal. Tehran has retained its enrichment program and its cadres of nuclear scientists so it can create new pawns to sacrifice as needed while moving toward its greater goals.
But over the past year, it has lost a lot of other pieces. Hezbollah, which had functioned as Iran’s strategic reserve in the region, is a shell of itself after Israel annihilated its leadership last fall. Syria used to be one of the Lebanese terrorist group’s primary supply routes, but the new regime in Damascus is clashing with it. Hezbollah rocketed Israel the day after Hamas began the war, but it is issuing only condemnations, not even threats, as the fighting resumes.
The Trump administration is pummeling another of Iran’s proxies, Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s. The Houthis began attacking international shipping in the Red Sea in November 2023, and the Biden administration responded with only pinprick attacks. But last weekend, Trump began a much more damaging bombing campaign. The Houthis have been notoriously hard to dislodge, but if the U.S. military can pin them down and restrict their access to advanced weapons, they will be much weaker.
Hamas is one of the last Iran-backed groups that can seriously threaten Israel, and Netanyahu is hitting it again. This is controversial in Israel. Most of his countrymen seem to want to enact stage two of the ceasefire plan, which would trade all of the remaining hostages for a permanent end to fighting, and then finish off Hamas.
This is highly unrealistic. Hamas's leaders are not very interested "martyring" themselves—in their view, that’s what Gaza’s children are for—and the remaining hostages are their best human shields. Returning the captives would remove the greatest obstacle to Israel finishing off the terrorists. They are not going to do that unless they believe that the only other choice is annihilation. That is the choice Bibi is offering them.
Bibi and Trump both prefer to intimidate with threats rather than risk war, which Carl von Clausewitz called "the province of chance." But they are shrewd judges of power, and with Iran’s empire so weakened, Iran’s most advanced air defenses destroyed in an earlier Israeli air raid, and hard-earned Israeli expertise in tunnel fighting against Iran’s proxies, this is the best chance in decades to take out Iran's bomb.
If Hamas and Iran are wise, they’ll take the deal.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
