Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 8. Donald Trump, China's (and Russia's) greatest ally edition.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom

Matthew, Chapter 24.

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

July 26, 2026

China v. Taiwan

The Houthis hit oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia yesterday.

News reports hold that the administration has put on hold an escalation of the war due to a shortage of air defense munitions.  Savvy analysts, including yours truly, have been warning about that occurring for months, and not it's here.

So, in keeping with that, a prediction.

This is also likely a moment that Putin and Xi have been waiting for as well.  Our weapons stockpile has been built up over years, and now we've wasted it on a war fought for Israel and Trump's vanity.  Both Putin and Xi know that the next President, assuming at Trump 2028 coup to be unsuccessful, and assuming that we don't have another President before 2028, is much less likely to be a complete patsy and geopolitical dimwit.  

For Russia, that means Russia needs to fight on in hopes it can win before the next administration comes on.  For Xi, that means the time to invade Taiwan is. . . now.

July 29, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

The U.S. Senate advanced Russian energy sanctions legislation Tuesday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Capitol. The vote was seen as a tribute to the bill’s author, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, on the day of his funeral, which was widely attended by politicos. 

Trump fell asleep during it as J. D. Vance seemed oblivious to the dozing octogenarian and Bessent looked nervous about it, but then he always looks nervous.

July 31, 2026

Israeli Hamas War

The Bored of Peas has supposedly worked out a peace plan in Gaza.  Sober analysts a 4th Grade level have severe doubts about it.

August 1, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Now Trump is backtracking and saying the US won't license Patriot missile production to Ukraine.

August 2, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine has run out of ballistic missile interceptors.  This comes at the same time that the US supply is seriously depleted due to Donald Trump's illegal moronic war against Iran.

King Donny should free up what remains of the US supply and give them to Ukraine, and start emergency production for the US.  As for Iran, we can solve that problem simply by pulling out.  Better yet, pulling out, putting every senior commander who agreed to fight in a clearly illegal war on trial, and impeaching Donald Trump.

Crisis in Ceuta

Not a war but requiring Spanish military deployment, a mass flood of immigrants crashed into the Spanish North African city of Ceuta.

About 50,000 North African immigrants stormed the city, leading to dramatic news footage and MAGA "see, it could happen here" claims.  Missed in the story is that 48,000 of them returned to Morocco within 48 hours.

A bigger question may be why Spain retains a city that you would figure should be part of Morocco, but it does.

Italy defensively suspended the EU's border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain.

August 10, 2026

Israel v. Hamas.

Israel had rejected the "Board of Peace" peace plan, refusing to enter into a peace deal with Hamas until it is definitely disarmed.

Another blow to King Donny.

August 17, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Both sides exchanged heavy missile and drone attacks yesterday.  A NATO jet on patrol shot down a drone that had strayed into Romania.  

August 18, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Robert Shaheiev, 49, formerly of the Ukrainian Navy who defected to Russia early in the war died in an explosion in Sevastopol.

Whether he was targeted or not, Ukrainian operatives have proven effective at hunting down figures in the Russian military that they find particularly responsible for various matters.  Shaheiev defected with a submarine.

Korean War

Donald Trump has signaled that the US is going to scale back it's participation in joint exercises with the South Korean Army.

What's going on here is terribly unclear.  The US has maintained troops in the ROK since the 1945 and the threat of North Korean invasion is very real.  

I should note that this isn't entirely unprecedented.  Jimmy Carter actually campaigned on the idea in 1976 and tried to implement a phased withdrawal, which was abandoned over conservative and military objections.  Since the 1980s, military support of South Korea has been very strong.

Trumps move comes at a time when the US is losing an illegal war with Iran and is having to pull naval assets out of the Pacific.  It also comes at a point at which the longtime Red Chinese goal of forcibly reunited Taiwan with the mainland is at its highest point. Combined with that, Trump's administration is packed with National Conservatives who have a sort of Neo Nineteenth Century view of where the U.S.'s foreign policy should be focused.

Given that, Trump's decision could be the result of his listening to National Conservatives, or it could be because or logistical situation is much worse than admitted.

It could also be because South Korea refused to participate in the illegal war, like every other nation on earth did.  Trump has not taken that well.  Nobody seems to be pointing out that South Korea did participate in the Vietnam War, which Trump did not.  Trump himself, at any rate, referenced South Korea's lack of willingness to get into the losing war with Iran.

Because of Trump's other actions, however, there's widespread commentary about whether Trump is a Russian asset and this is influencing him on the world stage.  As radical as that sounds, there are reason to raise this question.  Certainly no other President has hurt US interest, and just the US in general, more than Trump, and he's a fanboy of Putin.

We've noted it elsewhere, but we've been worried about a Chinese strike on Taiwan in the near future.  The combination of the failed Iran War and Trump's other actions make that inevitable . The question is whether that will come this Fall, or next Spring.

Related threads:

King Donald's War, Part 10. "If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied." Donald Trump, the killer edition.

Last edition:

King Donald's War, Part 10. "If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied." Donald Trump, the killer edition.Labels: 119th Congress, 2020s, 2026, Death, Donald Trump, Houthi, Jordan, King Donald's War, Lies, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, The roles of men and women, United States and Israel v. Iran, War Warnings, Women, You heard it here first

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 151st Edition. Дональд Трамп. Нелегалы? Donald Trump, Moscow's man in the White House or just really stupid (probably really stupid)?

Is Donald Trump a Russian agent?

I don't think so, but it's no longer an irrational thing to ask.  Indeed, it has to be at least slightly pondered.

Yesterday Trump announced that the U.S. Army is scaling back on joint exercises with the South Korean Military.  More specifically:

I just think that this shows Trump to be really dumb, something I've been maintaining for awhile. 

But still, consider that North Korea is supplying troops and arms to Russia in Ukraine.  At least at one point, he apparently promised to stop the CIA from monitoring Kim Jong Un (my guess is that the CIA would continue to do it even if ordered to stop).  He's praised the North Korean despot repeatedly.

But then, he's done the same with Putin.  

And the fact of the matter is that he couldn't have done more to harm the US in the globe than he has, even if he was a paid agent.  He's wrecking the US economy, he's destroying our relationship with our allies (our real allies), he's threatened to seize territory belonging to our allies.  He's refused to give Ukraine the full amount of weapons it needs to defend itself, which aids Russia, and he's gotten us into a war which is depleting our supply of air defense munitions at an alarming rate and taxing the abilities of our Navy.

China will take advantage of this.

In order to successfully invade Taiwan, China needs relatively calm weather conditions, which only occur in that region in the spring and fall. Spring is gone, but fall is coming right up.  The war with Iraq that Trump illegally launched will still be going on in October and our supply of anti missile missiles will not have increased a bit by then.  It will likely have have grown worse.  The morale problem in the Navy (assuming its limited to the Navy, which is not a safe assumption) will be worse by October.  

Consider this.

Right now, the US can't be reliably counted on to contest a Chinese invasion of Taiwan at all.  Donald Trump could easily just say "oh, well, we're busy, and things and stuff" and let it happen. Frankly, I'd give less than 50% odds the US would actually attempt to counter a Chinese resumption of active hostilities against Taiwan, and unlike 1949, when the Republicans rallied to "Who lost China?"  the current GOP would just roll over like a wet dog if that occured.

But let's assume that the US attempts to do something.  We are still probably able to counter a Chinese seaborne effort, but we aren't going to be in very good shape to counter a missile offensive.  

Crossing the Taiwan Strait is a massive military undertaking.  Even right now China can probably not pull it off.  But it can try it, and if it does, the US can't endure a protracted aerial campaign.  Its not even showing the ability to do it with Iran, and that war will still be going on.

But let's take it one more step.  Can the US fight a sea and air war against China, an air war against Iran, and a ground invasion by North Korea of South Korea?

It's questionable.  And all those countries know that.

And Putin knows that if that occurs, U.S. aid to Ukraine is over.

The Second World War saw Nazi Germany allied to Imperial Japan and democratic Finland.  Wars make strange bedfellows.  All of these countries have relations with each other, and you can bet they're talking.

So, do I think the American President is some sort of odd agent in Russian employment?  Дональд Трамп.  Нелегалы?  No, I don't, but I do think he's stupid, and that stupidity is having disastrous consequences that are about to get much, much worse.  Much worse by October of this year, or perhaps the spring of next year.  Indeed, waiting it out would make strategic sense for China, while hitting in October would make political sense.

Creepy

Trump's relationship with Natalie Harp is approaching being creepy.

We can assume that Harp is an adoring sycophant, as to be employed by Trump, you have to be.  But still.  She apparently wrote him, stating:" You are all that matters to me." and "I don’t ever want to let you down."

Trump calls her “sweetie".

Okay, that doesn't mean that he's obtaining favors from her, but given Trump's track record, it's going to raise questions.  Trump is rumored to have had an affair with Playboy tart Karen McDougal some 20 years ago, when he was 60.  60 isn't young (trust me, I'm 63) but it isn't old either.  That's the same age he was when he reportedly had a one night stand with Stormy Daniels.  He'd been married in the American context to Melanija Knavs for two years at the time.  So if he quit cheating, we have to assume that at age 60 he was fornicating with women prostituting their image for pay (which he denies) twice and then suddenly reformed.  

Maybe.

Well, being a lech at age 60 isn't the same thing as being one at 80.  Harp is 35 and the 45 year age gap would be super creepy and just flat out too creepy for any woman of that age to engage in who wasn't um, a professional.  Besides, at this point it's fairly well established that Trump has an incomitance problem and stinks a lot of the time.

No, Harp is just another creepy fan of Trump's, seeing something in him that isn't there.

And, speaking of creepy.

Nancy Mace has been weird for a while, but she's rocketing to the bottom.

And even creepier.

A Trump speech from two days ago in front of policemen:

Every day I come to the White House, people are thanking me: ‘Thank you, sir. Thank you, thank you, sir,'

You know these young, beautiful girls. These young, beautiful girls. These young, beautiful girls in the White House. You know they come in. Now I'm not supposed to say beautiful, but what the hell?

These young, these gorgeous, beautiful girls — they want to be safe, and they come, 'Mr. President, may I speak to you? Thank you, sir. Thank you’ — I said, ‘Why are you thanking me?’

’Because a year and a half ago, I was afraid to leave. I was afraid to open the door of my apartment, and now I walk to the White House every morning, and I have absolutely no fear.’

Donald Trump.

That never happened, and it's really creepy.  Young beautiful adoring women are coming to Donald Trump and thanking him for making things safe. . . no, they are not.

Some predictions

Well, with all that cheery news, what can we say?

Just this. Things are about to get a lot worse.  As we progress into the fall the oncoming electoral disaster for the GOP is going to become more and more of a crisis for Trump, and he's going to start doing anything he can to steal the election if not outright suspend it.  A war we are losing will still be going on.  The economy is going to start tanking.  Trump's mental state will continue to visibly decline.  Republicans in Congress will continue to do nothing, if not outright support the subversion of democracy.

Related threads:

Donald Trump is a Russian Asset. Дональд Трамп — агент России.

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The Manchurian Candidate. It's like Donald Trump and MAGA really are the Reds.

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Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 7. La unión es la fuerza*

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom

Matthew, Chapter 24.

June 4, 2026

Bolivia 

Oh oh.

June 19, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

June 25, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine  has retaken the Kinburn Spit which has been occupied by Russia for the entire war.

June 26, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

A Russian Army officers has released a public broadcast warning Putin that troops are on the edge of rebellion.

The Russian situation in Crimea is now dire.  On the narrow land bridge to the mainland only military traffic is now moving and its severely impeded.  Fuel has become so scarce that is no longer sold to civilians.  About half of Crimea is without power.   If Ukraine takes out the bridge to the mainland it will be disastrously isolated.

All this when Russian dead are about to reach the 1.5 million mark.

Ukraine, for its part, just launched an offensive.

July 5, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

In something that's fairly laughable, Donald Trump spoke to Vlad Putin and offered to help find a way to end the war.

Donny can't end the war he started and Russia is flat out losing the war against Ukraine.  This war is more and more likely to see Ukraine regain all of its lost territory and Putin has to be increasingly worried about a revolution at home.

July 9, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump appeared to agree to allow the Ukrainians to produce Patriot missiles in Ukraine.

His mind is such a pile of goo that it's difficult to know if this will occur or not.

July 12, 2026

Russia v. Poland

July 17, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired reformist defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov in a out right wierd move, given that Fedorov is the architect of the highly successful Ukrainian drone campaign against Russia.  Understandably, mass protests have broken out.

Ukraine is forming a new government right now as Fedorov's firing was part of that.  It was a bad move.

July 23, 2026

United States v. Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin

The US is considering military action against Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an Al Qaeda .

The situation in Mali is desperate, and complicated, as the country has turned to Russian mercenary groups to prop up its military government.  Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin has been waging a somewhat successful terrorist campaign in the country.

Footnotes:

"Unity is strength", the motto of Bolivia.

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 6. Two things greater than all things are edition.

The new cavalry.

 Cavalry is back, and its unmanned and remote.

Ukraine is shredding Russian supply lines. The US should pay attention

Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian logistics is a preview of what U.S. forces could encounter in future conflicts.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 6. Two things greater than all things are edition.

It's been a while since we hand an entry in this category as the rank stupidity of King Donny has put the entire Middle East at war while he simultaneously declares its not a war, it is a war, and that we've won and haven't won, while asking for help from Allies and declaring we need no help. 

That's what happens when the formerly most powerful nation in the world elects a demented narcissist octengenarian to office.

While the rest of the world watches the United States circle the drain, the following has been going on.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom

Matthew, Chapter 24.

When spring-time flushes the desert grass,

Our kafilas wind through the Khyber Pass.

Lean are the camels but fat the frails,

Light are the purses but heavy the bales,

As the snowbound trade of the North comes down

To the market-square of Peshawur town. 

In a turquoise twilight, crisp and chill,

A kafila camped at the foot of the hill.

Then blue smoke-haze of the cooking rose,

And tent-peg answered to hammer-nose;

And the picketed ponies, shag and wild,

Strained at their ropes as the feed was piled;

And the bubbling camels beside the load

Sprawled for a furlong adown the road;

And the Persian pussy-cats, brought for sale,

Spat at the dogs from the camel-bale;

And the tribesmen bellowed to hasten the food;

And the camp-fires twinkled by Fort Jumrood;

And there fled on the wings of the gathering dusk

A savour of camels and carpets and musk,

A murmur of voices, a reek of smoke,

To tell us the trade of the Khyber woke. 

2 

The lid of the flesh-pot chattered high,

The knives were whetted and—then came I

To Mahbub Ali the muleteer,

Patching his bridles and counting his gear,

Crammed with the gossip of half a year.

But Mahbub Ali the kindly said,

“Better is speech when the belly is fed.”

So we plunged the hand to the mid-wrist deep

In a cinnamon stew of the fat-tailed sheep,

And he who never hath tasted the food,

By Allah! he knoweth not bad from good.

We cleansed our beards of the mutton-grease,

We lay on the mats and were filled with peace,

And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south,

With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth. 

3 

Four things greater than all things are,—

Women and Horses and Power and War.

We spake of them all, but the last the most,

For I sought a word of a Russian post,

Of a shifty promise, an unsheathed sword

And a gray-coat guard on the Helmund ford.

Then Mahbub Ali lowered his eyes

In the fashion of one who is weaving lies.

Quoth he: “Of the Russians who can say?

“When the night is gathering all is gray.

“But we look that the gloom of the night shall die

“In the morning flush of a blood-red sky.

“Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise

“To warn a King of his enemies?

“We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,

“But no man knoweth the mind of the King.

“That unsought counsel is cursed of God

“Attesteth the story of Wali Dad. 

4 

“His sire was leaky of tongue and pen,

“His dam was a clucking Khuttuck hen;

“And the colt bred close to the vice of each,

“For he carried the curse of an unstanched speech.

“Therewith madness—so that he sought

“The favour of kings at the Kabul court;

“And travelled, in hope of honour, far

“To the line where the gray-coat squadrons are.

“There have I journeyed too—but I

“Saw naught, said naught, and—did not die!

“He hearked to rumour, and snatched at a breath

“Of ‘this one knoweth’ and ‘that one saith’,—

“Legends that ran from mouth to mouth

“Of a gray-coat coming, and sack of the South.

“These have I also heard—they pass

“With each new spring and the winter grass. 

5 

“Hot-foot southward, forgotten of God,

“Back to the city ran Wali Dad,

“Even to Kabul—in full durbar

“The King held talk with his Chief in War.

“Into the press of the crowd he broke,

“And what he had heard of the coming spoke.

“Then Gholam Hyder, the Red Chief, smiled,

“As a mother might on a babbling child;

“But those who would laugh restrained their breath,

“When the face of the King showed dark as death.

“Evil it is in full durbar

“To cry to a ruler of gathering war!

“Slowly he led to a peach-tree small,

“That grew by a cleft of the city wall.

“And he said to the boy: ‘They shall praise thy zeal

“So long as the red spurt follows the steel.

“And the Russ is upon us even now?

“Great is thy prudence—await them, thou.

“Watch from the tree. Thou art young and strong,

“Surely thy vigil is not for long.

“The Russ is upon us, thy clamour ran?

“Surely an hour shall bring their van.

“Shout aloud that my men may hear.’ 

6 

“Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise

“To warn a King of his enemies?

“A guard was set that he might not flee—

“A score of bayonets ringed the tree.

“The peach-bloom fell in showers of snow,

“When he shook at his death as he looked below.

“By the power of God, who alone is great,

“Till the seventh day he fought with his fate.

“Then madness took him, and men declare

“He mowed in the branches as ape and bear,

“And last as a sloth, ere his body failed,

“And he hung as a bat in the forks, and wailed,

“And sleep the cord of his hands untied,

“And he fell, and was caught on the points and died. 

7 

“Heart of my heart, is it meet or wise

“To warn a King of his enemies?

“We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,

“But no man knoweth the mind of the King.

“Of the gray-coat coming who can say?

“When the night is gathering all is gray.

“Two things greater than all things are,

“The first is Love, and the second War.

“And since we know not how War may prove,

“Heart of my heart, let us talk of Love!”

 Rudyard Kipling, Ballad of the King's jest

March 23, 2026.

Pakistan v. Afghanistan

Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fighting a border war.  

March 28, 2026

Mexican Drug Wars

Self defense militias are forming in the cartel ridden portion of Mexico, armed with military style semi automatic rifles, AKs and ARs, smuggled in from the US.

This actually provides a good example of the utility of something like the 2nd Amendment.  Mexican civilians are having to illegally arm themselves, which in the US they would not have to.

Russo Ukrainian War

If we had to be fighting a war, we should have been fighting this one.  But then, Donald Trump loves Vlad Putin.

Ukraine Is Starting To Wage Systems Warfare

The US Might Consider Paying Attention

April 6, 2026

Sudanese civil war

April 21, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Russia is losing more men per month in Ukraine than it can recruit.

This war has seemingly been forgotten in the US, but then the US is now an aggressor nation as well.

April 30, 2026

A second U.S. Ambassador has resigned over the embarrassing American conduct towards the embattled country.

Donald Trump, whose declared that the US has won the war its losing against Iran, declared that Ukraine lost the war its winning against Russia.

Trump repeatedly shows himself to be one of Putin's best friends.

Ukraine destroyed a Russian oil facility in a major long range drone attack and followed it up with a second drone attack yesterday on a different facility.

May 2, 2026

Mali insurgency

Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali carried out "intense air campaigns" in Malian territory against Al Qaeda backed militants.

May 3, 2026

Syrian Civil War

And the US is now out.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Not a war item, but it could help lead to one, the US is withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany and threatening to withdrawal more as Trump is upset that everyone has fallen behind him in the war on Iran.

NATO and Germany aren't reacting to these developments the way Demented King Donny thinks they should.  Rather, Europe is arming and the US is no longer a superpower.  Germany in particular is taking a view towards its military that it has not since 1945.  Donald may not wake up to this, if he ever does, until later this month when he visits China which may principally choose to treat him as a spoiled little kid. . . or not.  My prediction there is that he'll come back from China with whatever "deal" the Chinese choose to dictate.

What is occurring in Europe is exactly what National Conservatives wand, however.  They see the US, and Europe, as walled fortresses with their own interest.  They don't have much interest in helping to defend Europe against anyone, and some are pretty sympathetic with Russia.  Those people don't worry about defending democratic ideals, as they don't share them.

May 4, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine hit a Baltic petroleum loading facility in a drone strike yesterday.

May 29, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine has been pounding Russia with drone attacks.  This war is getting little attention in the US right now, with our unhinged alleged president threatening everyone and the GOP consisting of a bunch of sissies, but Ukraine appears to be flat out winning.

Russia hit an apartment complex in Romania yesterday with drones in an apparent accident.

June 1, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Full transcript: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," May 31, 2026

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 5. Trump's forever war. King Donald's War, Part 1.

Labels: Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, King Donald's War, The Second Trump Administration, United States and Israel v. Iran, War, Wars and rumors of wars

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 2. Quand les riches font la guerre, ce sont les pauvres qui meurent Edition.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Matthew, Chapter 24.

Quand les riches font la guerre, ce sont les pauvres qui meurent.

Jean Paul Sartre

February 8, 2026.

Russo Ukrainian War

The administration of Demented Don the pretend President, who is going to end the Russo Ukrainian War within 24 hours of his being nominated for President in 2023, and who has ended eight wars but hasn't since he was elected to serve an office he's not constitutionally qualified to hold, has given the warring parties until June to wrap the war up.

By June there's a good chance he'll be in a nursing home pointing out to the nurses where the ballroom will be built.

February 15, 2026

February 28, 2026

United States and Israel v. Iran

Americans are waking up this morning to find that Donald Trump and Bibi Netanyahu have launched an undeclared, and hence form the U.S. prospective, an illegal war against Iran.  Missile strikes have already hit all over Iran which have been, so far as we can tell, ineffectual, and Iran has already hit back, hitting Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.  

Trump made a late night statement in which he sounded like an inarticulate grade schooler.  The supposed basis of launching the war was that Iran posed a grave threat to the U.S.  Wearing a trucker's cap, the appearance of being a toddler was fully effectuated.

The text of his message was:

A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries.

Among the regime's very first acts was to back a violent takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days. In 1983, Iran's proxies carried out the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel.

In 2000, they knew and were probably involved with the attack on the USS Coal. Many died. Iranian forces killed and maimed hundreds of American service members in Iraq. The regime's proxies have continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in the Middle East in recent years, as well as US naval and commercial vessels in international shipping lanes.

It's been mass terror. And we're not going to put up with it any longer. From Lebanon to Yemen and Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained and funded terrorist militias that have soaked the earth with blood and guts.

And it was Iran's proxy Hamas that launched the monstrous October 7 attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1,000 innocent people, including 46 Americans, while taking 12 of our citizens hostage. It was brutal. Something like the world has never seen before.

Iran is the world's number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested. It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I'll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon.

That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime's nuclear program at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons. And we sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried. They wanted to do it, they didn't want to do it again. They wanted to do it, they didn't want to do it, they didn't know what was happening. They just wanted to practice evil.

But Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades. They rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions. And we can't take it any more. Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach the American homeland.

Just imagine how emboldened this regime would be if they ever had and actually were armed with nuclear weapons as a means to deliver their message.

For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests. We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated. We are going to annihilate their navy. We are going to ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces and no longer use their IEDs, or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called, to so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans.

And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. It's a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon. This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration.

And there is no military on Earth even close to its power. Strength or sophistication. My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to US personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement likely, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now, we're doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission.

We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm's way. And we trust that with his help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail.

We have the greatest in the world. And they will prevail.

To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity. Or, in the alternative, face certain death. So lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.

Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.

For many years you have asked for America's help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want. So let's see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach.

This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.

May God bless the brave men and women of America's armed forces. May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all. Thank you.

Promising the Iranians freedom (while working at home to take it from Americans), is a pretty big promise that can only be effectuated by actually invading the country.  If he's hoping to spark a domestic revolution, he's delusional.  

Some other commentators:

Task & Fury:

US launches ‘major combat operations’ against Iran

American and Israeli warplanes bombed Tehran Saturday as Trump promised to “obliterate” Iran’s missile program in Operation Epic Fury.

Phillips O'Brien:

The USA And Israel Have Started Bombing Iran: A Primer

What Do We Know, What Should We Be Asking?, For What Should We Be Watching

Cont:

Apparently Israel attempted to directly take out the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the President of Iran, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, crossing a line that warring states do not cross.  Targeting the actual head of a foreign country is extremely rare, although the US did, unsuccessfully, with Khadafi.  

This is a profoundly bad move.

The thought probably was that if the regime was decapitated, it'd spark a revolution  Maybe it would have, but it failed and now Iran will have every incentive to target Netanyahu and Trump.  I suspect that Netanyahu would be extremely difficult for Iran to target but Trump, while difficult, would be less so.  US leaders have nearly been hit before in a political targeting, that being Truman, and perhaps arguably both Kennedys.  

The Allies didn't target Hitler during World War Two.  The Nazis didn't target any Allied leader.  The Allies didn't target the Japanese leadership.  The US and RVN never attempted to kill the heads of North Vietnam.  This was a really bad move.

March 1, 2026

United States and Israel v. Iran

Raisi was in fact killed in a raid that clearly was calculated to decapitate the Iranian regime and which hit other key Iranian figures.  Cheering could be heard in Tehran when the news broke.

The war is continuing on, however.  And the big question is now what.  The U.S. and Israel have committed both countries, and more particularly the US, to a war of regime change, something Republicans were supposedly against in the post Bush era.  The Iranian regime is a bad one, to be sure, but in order to topple it, now, its going to require boots on the ground.

Rest assured, none of those boots will be filled by Trumps.

So here we have an interesting set of existential issues. Trump has committed the country to a war illegally, and completely contrary to what the MAGAs claim they stand for.  The Iranian regime is, and let's be clear, still is, a terrible one and has been since the 1970s, but no prior Western nation sought to topple it by armed force. And the US and Israel have killed the head of state, which opens up retaliatory moves of the exact same character.

Given Trump's mental state, moreover, it's really unlikely that any of this was his idea. So whose was it?

Mad King Donny, as an aside, was posting stupid tweets.

Wars end, when the party that was attacked decides they are over.  The Iranian regime has little incentive to end this one.

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 1. The Return of the Neo Con Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, Civil Unrest, Donald Trump, Greenland, Harriet Hageman, Iran, law, Monroe Doctrine, Neo Conservatives, Nicolás Maduro, Petroleum, The Second Trump Administration, Venezuela, War, Wars and rumors of wars