Open Thread - 06-27-25 - Can You Tell Me, Please, Who Won?
The song, Wooden Ships, was written in 1968 by David Crosby and Stephen Stills of Crosby Stills and Nash fame, and Paul Kantner of the band Jefferson Airplane. My personal favorite of the two songs that were recorded was the Airplane version from 1969 on the album Volunteers.
The song was about a group of nuclear war survivors adrift on a wooden ship after both sides of the conflict were annihilated. After survivors of both sides meet one another, one ask of the other, "Can you tell me, please, who won?"
Three days after a cease fire agreement in what is being called The 12-Day War between Israel and Iran, I am asking that same question.
Attribution: Wikimedia Commons
Both sides are claiming victory.
Both sides are also claiming they acted in self defense.
I find this incredibly disingenuous that Israel would claim its naked aggression as "self defense" after their sneak attack was aided and abetted by the United States, which included an initial subterfuge head fake and later by joining in on the bombing of Iran with so called bunker busting bombs.
Clearly, Iran acted in self defense in launching barrage after barrage of missiles into Israel.
Both sides sustained massive damage in the attacks. Images have been circulated of the rubble and confusion from Iran, while a black out of images of damage was imposed by Israel, supposedly because of security concerns in the fog of war.
In a modern world of AI fakes and Photoshop wizardry, can we really be sure about any of it?
I do find it curious though, that Israel, who in past conflicts would barrel ahead on its own course and listen to no one in regards to their aggression, would suddenly agree to a cease fire, especially after their claims of having Iran on the ropes. If that claim was true why would they quit? The claim that they only wanted Iran's nuclear bomb capability destroyed is turned on its head with the later claim by the US that regime change was the goal.
So which is it?
The bizarre actions by the US president is another clue as to who the true victors in this conflict are. It's been said that Israel was handed their butt in this war and asked for the cease fire because they were about to run out of air defense ammunition and without it stood to be annihilated. Who knows? I don't. But it helps to make a little sense of it all, if that is the case. And if this is the case why would Iran stop and give Israel the opportunity to resupply their air defenses?
Anyway, I doubt this is all over. But, again, who really knows in this world of endless rabbit holes.
Which brings to mind another Jefferson Airplane song, White Rabbit, a song about hallucinatory non realities. An apt song for living in today's illusory interpretation of truth.
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
are we not entertained?
Noise and entertainment
.
seem to go hand in hand these days
one of the tricks is being able to distinguish
betwixt the two
thanks for the OD's
BTW, always suspected the other side won.
Zionism is a social disease
Since the advent...
of disco music in the 70s, I consider most entertainment as noise. That's when politics took a turn for the worse as well, IMHO.
Me too.
Good morning Johnny. It is Fry Day, so I made pancakes
for breakfast. Shortly thereafter, UPS dropped off a 110# box containing a picnic table for our patio, should be all weather, so way cool. We unboxed it in the driveway and carried the pieces to its final destination and I shall soon begin to assemble it.
Speaking of building or assembling things, it is IWW Day. Yay hooray. I'm gonna just throw an IWW song collection into the pot without previewing it and beat feet toward el patio.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Don't forget...
to RTFM, and make sure you're in the English section that typically starts on page 1,059, right after all the safety warnings.
Thanks for the Wobblies reminder and the tunage. Workers of the world unite! Except for picnic table construction, with that you're on your own. Good luck!
The MIC won!
Always, always...
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
And We the People lose...
always, always.
Another Paul song of escape
(though I'm sure Marty wrote the love lyrics)
"Soon be in another country, yeah." It can be a theme song for the forthcoming exodus, as Trump makes America small again.
Of course, the crown jewel of Paul songs of escape is this one:
And this one, also written with David Crosby:
The plot for all this was cadged from Robert A. Heinlein's Methuselah's Children. Today one imagines that the Great Dream of Outer Space will end with the pollution of near-Earth orbit.
"The proletariat needs to become like a family" -- Zoya
I've always been a big fan...
of the Airplane and the Starship. I spent many a night listening while watching the swirling hallucinogenic paisley patterns on the ceiling. I still have all of their albums, but my favorite, Blows Against the Empire, I'm sure doesn't have many grooves left on it. The addition of Jerry Garcia made it double plus good.
Maybe trump was selected for MASSA since the US is a little too big for its britches lately. He is the bankruptcy king after all.
Thanks for the tunes, Cass.
Outstanding analysis.
.
Following your thoughts has led me back to Iran's massive holdings of fossil fuels. And controlling Iran's strategic reserves is the only reason for regime change there, from the US point of view. The US is projecting that China will be reliant on Iran's oil, so if the US controls that oil, it will control China. So it presumes.
If you scroll down through THIS LIST of News Stories — just looking at the titles — you can catch a tiny glimpse of the only global geopolitics that matter to the Rest of the World. The World sees the West as merely bashing itself to death. Except for its natural resources, the West is a marginalized economic zone. Its economic activity no longer has a meaningful impact on the New World that is taking form.
This is why the narrative of the West makes no sense and why it falls apart when it is closely examined. It is no longer part of the world of Tomorrow. The existence of a US-centric or Euro-centric Civilization is shattered and fragmented — this out-of-date perception is engaged in deleting itself. All failing Empires fall apart this way. It is a very long slide down into some kind of half-remembered history of a former reality. Only a lingering hallucination persists.
Another addition...
to the list, and another possible reason for the attack:
Historic Moment: Part of New Silk Road From China to Iran is Complete
Funny we don't hear about that in the mainstream media.
Thanks, P.
It's hard to believe that anything as ambitious
.....and profoundly important as the New Silk Road exists in this world. And that it is coming to fruition in our lifetime. It will change the world and empower humanity in unimaginable ways. The countries that it touches so far have experienced strong GDP growth and are undergoing social transformation. Advanced education is becoming a national goal. The Belt and Road is one of those remarkable human visions, like the pyramids or the great cathedrals that fascinate the human imagination. They all suggest a higher power that comes through the enhanced connections between individual human beings forming a collective whole mind — one of the forbidden secrets forcefully withheld from public knowledge and awareness. (Such as the anti-communist insanity and anti-socialist rhetoric that keeps humanity enslaved by the elite.) All of these achievements involve incredible feats of engineering and mathematics. The Masonry and many secret societies grew out of such projects, and the finished projects, themselves, became evolutionary triggers. But we cannot yet see this. That's why the Belt snd Road is so feared and loathed in the West. It establishes connections between individuals to cast a harsh light on the manufactured wars and false gods that undermine and waste the collective powers of humanity.
Who knew?
low cost estimate for each missile- 4 million.
But I just did.
Tweet implies that these people might be NK defectors, but nothing about the six Americans has been disclosed. They are obviously trying to provoke a North Korean response and at the same time discredit the newly elected democratic administration which has basically reinstated prohibitions on provocative actions against North Korea. Thanks ally.
I don't think this is over by any means. The strategy against Iran in particular goes way back...
Thanks for the OT JtC!
語必忠信 行必正直
It seems like...
Trump is getting bad feedback from his advisors or his ego doesn't allow himself to listen to them at all. Either way it's not a good look. His mouth gets ahead of his mind too easily.
Thanks for the tweets or Xs or whatever they're called now, my friend.
Hola JtC. I started checking in
on your weekly diary cos of the tech updates you're doing on the site. Now, I just check in cos I love the tunes. I've got a vinyl collection that a dear college housemate pointed out would be worth a small $$fortune. He lives near me, was a very successful lawyer (now retired), and commented on it again a few years ago. I never cared. I collected the music cos I liked it, and could have cared less about the monetary value. Still don't. I have to say the popular musack now is just that: Rap/Hip-Hop and pop musack. Stay safe.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
I too...
have a large album collection. The vinyl itself is in good condition even though they were well used, I always took good care of them, they were the most important thing in my life back in the day. Now, the condition of the album covers, that's a different story. I loved reading them while listening, not to mention they made great rolling trays.
Analog vinyl has made a big comeback, but like you, I don't care about that. My son who grew up hearing all of that music will inherit them some day.
There is some really good music now-a-days but you really have to hunt for it.
You stay safe as well there in gator land. Hurricane season is almost upon us. I live in East Texas where we have both as well.
Trump's actions are like a yoyo constantly going up and down.
One of these days the string is going to break!
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-expects-iran-inspections-bombs-dro...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-terminating-trade-discussions-can...
It's not just his actions...
his mind is a yoyo as well.
Humphrey, snoopydawg hasn't posted here since the 20th, a week ago. That's not like her. I know you and her have X accounts, can you access her account to see if she's posted anything there since the 20th?
I don't mind if she's taking some time off or has moved on, I don't begrudge anyone for that, but I'm getting a bit concerned for her.
i was thinking the same thing. Her lack of presence here is
quite noticeable. Unfortunately I do not know what her twitter handle is so I have no way of contacting her.
OTC has previously had contact with snoopy so maybe she reach out to her.
I thought that she might have gone camping but even then she attempts to stay in touch.
Thanks...
I have her email but she uses a filter that's almost impossible to get by. Maybe you're right about a camping trip. Let's hope so.
I think it was maybe 6 months ago
that her email account rejected my emails, both my personal and business email accounts. We communicated through the pms.
I know she and Sam bug out ahead of the July 4th fireworks, but typical a couple of days before.
I have her snail mail address and may send her a letter, just to see if everything is ok.
Her x hashtag is snoopydawg, iirc. I do not use my x account for professional reasons. FB and X are those places where lawyers get swarmed for free legal advice.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I did a search on twitter for 'shoopydawg" but I couldn't find
anyone that resembled her. I even tried "samdawg" but got the same results.
Gesticular Warfare
The as of now memory-hole residing precursor to "The 12 Day War" was called a "Tit for Tat" almost a year ago as missiles flew and lots of shit got blowed up while many folks in font of keyboards got real nervous for a bit. And this insane life we lead carried on.
We need a new term to describe military action as a "response" like from a school kid who claims he got hit first. On the playground, such conflicts rarely escalate to hypersonic missile launches.
But you cannot expect sovereign states to laugh off getting bombed. So a reasonable amount of mayhem should be okay, when the alternative is open-ended escalation.
The only thing lacking is a label for war as gesture -- "Gesticular Warfare!"
Absurd? Maybe. But it beats the heck out of Armageddon.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
I like it...
"Gesticular Warfare" or maybe Performative Warfare, or in Trump's case, Geriatric Testicular Warfare.
Maybe the "Tit for Tat" was a probe to gauge the reaction, both regionally and internationally. Let's hope the next iteration isn't an escalation like the last one was.
The world's gone crazy, man.
The insanity engineers have yet to figure out
.
how to deal with the present state of affairs.
The result of current think tank operations are
in the oven, awaiting the critical cooking temperature.
Baked in madness?
Zionism is a social disease