Open Thread - 07-31-26 - Land of Confusion
Truth is the first casualty of war. Considering propaganda, censorship, and control as factors that blind us from the truth, We The People are left guessing about the real reason/s for the war with Iran. Questions abound in the political corners of the internet, that crown jewel of hypertensive FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). We are bombarded daily by experts who tell us this or tell us that, but, the bottom line is, do any of them, or us, really know why?
One thing is for sure, confusion rules the land.
Please allow me to show you just how confusing it can be.
The Official Narrative
President Trump (March 2): “Our objectives are clear. First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities… and their capacity to produce brand new ones — pretty good ones they make. Second, we’re annihilating their navy… Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon… And finally, we’re ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund, and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”
Those Diabolical Iranians?
You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill 1 of yours, and in the end it will be you who tire of it. ~Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese correctly calculated that if North Vietnam could withstand a tactical beating on the battlefield, yet still keep fighting in South Vietnam that eventually the American people would turn against the war and the US would suffer a strategic defeat. Ho’s measure of 10 North Vietnamese regulars/Viet Cong to every dead US soldier was spot on and in the end, just as Ho predicted, the US withdrew leaving South Vietnamese forces to fend for themselves.
Trump stepped into a trap in the Persian Gulf and his ego keeps him stuck there. Iran doesn’t need to lay siege to Washington DC. The Iranians will create the conditions for the American people to do it for them. It's a war of attrition, much like the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, or the ongoing war in Ukraine. These wars of attrition wear down the opponents by the consumption of war materiel and causalities until the tipping points of an economic downturn, time and popular opinion turn the people against the war.
The US is getting a taste of its own proxy war medicine. The US and NATO have backed Ukraine in the proxy war against Russia and Russia and China reciprocate by backing Iran against the US and Israel. Don't they know that's how world wars are started?
The war in Iran was never popular in the US and the populace is turning against it ever more as our economy slides into recession, at the best, and depression at the worst.
Last Man Standing?
The war in Iran is a pretext for a last ditch effort to preserve the dollar as the world's currency and for the US to maintain its hegemony.
It's much like a game of Last Man Standing played on a Risk game board.
Are we gambling that we can bring the rest of the world to its knees by limiting the oil and fertilizers from the Mid East causing economic turmoil and potential global famine? Do our leaders believe that, yes, we will have a great downturn here in the US, but because of our oil and food production that we can outlast the other major players in world politics, namely China and Russia, with the belief that when it's all said and done, the petrol dollar and US hegemony will be preserved?
We have Iran destroying the oil fields in the Mid East. We have Ukraine attacking the oil infrastructure in Russia. Famines are projected for the future due to the lack of sufficient fertilizer getting out of the Mid East. And yet, the insanity is on going.
The world may be in ruins, but we'll be the last man standing, ruling over the ashes. So go the minds of the neocons in control of the White House.
Alternate Theories?
- Trump's been blackmailed by...take your pick.
- They're all working together on the behest of the globalists.
- It's all about The Second Coming.
- It's not about Iran, it's about China
- It's cover for an upcoming economic collapse.
- It's all about those cool benjamins, Jack.
- All of the above.
Is the World Running Out of Resources?
In my humble opinion, I think it's possible that both wars, Ukraine and Iran, are being fought over resources. Mainly, rare earths and oil. I know that the destruction of oil fields is contradictory to that statement, but, destroying the oil well heads in the Middle East keeps the oil in the ground.
MIC for the oil and oil for the MIC. Without it the Machine grinds to a halt.
Told ya it was confusing...
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
Help me out here.
Help me to see through this fog of war.
Did you find any of those examples truthful?
Did I miss any?
Got any of your own?
I told you what I think, now tell me what you think.
PS: Screw the war mongers.
Not sure which camp to go with
.
Seems it is between resource control and dollar hegemony,
although the two are intertwined. It also seems the US is losing
on both fronts concurrently. Makes one wonder if this is intentional?
Either way, we the people suffer the consequences.
Thanks for the OT.
Zionism is a social disease
Isn't it funny...
that in this latest escalation Israel isn't taking any incoming. What's up with that? Makes one believe that they're all in on it together, no?
On the other hand, it sure seems like the war is aimed at ruining what's left of the US economy with the intents of ushering in a digital currency. That would explain why Trump is reluctant to end this travesty.
It really is confusing, by design.
Orwell had it exactly right.
To wit:
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I gotta give it to him...
even though he was a Brit, he sure had the US pegged, with the almost continuous warfare since its inception. Although Great Britain isn't any better.
He sure had fertile grounds to choose from.
Let's hope his prescience doesn't extend to the ending of 1984, although we appear to be headed that way.
The Trumpies are running this propaganda
"showing" statistics for war in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan and arguing: see? Trump's wars have a lot fewer American deaths than the wars of those other Presidents. I'll display it here if I see it on Facebook.
Primary problems with the propaganda:
1) Trump is trying to do a lot less because his notions of "victory" are even more detached from reality than, for instance, LBJ, who clearly had no idea what he was doing sending 500,000 US troops to Vietnam. "They're there to kill the enemy." "Who's the enemy?" "Uh..." So it's even more delusional than that.
2) Trump is losing his wars far more quickly than the others. This is so because Trump has fewer options than, say, Dubya, who was able to send troops to Iraq, whereas if Trump sent troops to Iran they would all be slaughtered.
3) The propaganda does not give Trump ownership of the war in Ukraine, nor do Ukrainian proxy deaths (there are a LOT) count as "American" deaths (they should).
"The US empire’s downfall comes at a time of late stage capitalism when more than 99 percent of the public are effectively disenfranchised while factions of reactionary billionaires vie for control." -- Conor Gallagher
Good analysis Cass...
if Trump was stupid enough to send in boots on the ground we'd easily see Iraq and Afghanistan's death statistics eclipsed on probably day one. It would take a bit longer with US deaths in Vietnam at over 58,000 and Korea over 36,000, but those wars took years to accumulate that many deaths.
But, with this administration's tendencies towards the biggliest, most beautifulist everything, doesn't mean that Sword of Damocles hanging above our heads isn't on a very thin frayed horsehair.
Who knows what the actual body count is so far in this excursion into hell. But, there's plenty of time left for this administration to take a stab at their spot in the Guinness Book of Records. One warhead of the hugely variety would put them right up there, multiples would secure the title.
If der Orangefurzenwolkeführer
really puts his considerable ego into it, he can lose all his wars all at once. He'd probably even say something akin to "Hold my beer and watch this" while doing so. And that would establish a war-losing speed record that would certainly not be broken. At least, of course, until the cockroaches evolve to the point of establishing systems of city and county government, and start breeding and promoting their own crop of greedy bloated malignant narcissist sociopathic misleaders to repeat the cycle.
Of course, he is helped tremendously in this oughta-be-daunting task by having summarily dismissed all of the military leaders who might have shown any inkling of crossing him. I had some hope for the Joint Chiefs to stage an intervention, a while back, but it is now clear that they are simply not up to the task.
Time to immanentize the eschaton, bay-bee!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Good morning Johnny, thanks for the OT and inspiration.
Not fully awake here yet, but one thing occurred to me immediately, well, maybe two things, or ,,, (throws comfy pillow)
First, things are seldom fully monocausal. Human decisions and actions, even more so. This brings up the threat of "all of the above, to some extent"
Dos, "War is the continuation of politics by other means" (Von Clausewitz). But, this presumes at least half-assed rational actors. Were any involved? Do we even have any at the higher levels of politics?
Drei, As per numero dos, can we seriously try to fathom wtf it's all about without leaping up some quasi-conspiracy theory ladder of "there must be rational actors somewhere in the mix and if we identify them, then we will figure this all out.
IV - consider the possibility that just as "torture is the real purpose of torture", war is always the first and foremost purpose and reason for war. (Especially in a fascist country run by oligarchs who are predominantly psychopaths)
Cinco - I'll get back to you when I've had a second coffee
be well and have a good one
Edit, fixed typos and gibberish
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 --
Guten mañana...
mi multi-linguistic ami. Just had my morning cup of green tea, still waiting for the smallish amount of caffeine to kick in.
I must admit that your list of very astute possibilities are very compelling, but leave me even more dazed and confused. Is that even possible that I could be even more dazed and confused than usual? Otc would tell you, no that isn't possible.
I agree with all your points, especially the First, Dos, Drei, and IV, except for the very last entry:
Is it possible to dissect this administration without the use of gibberish?
Edit to add: On second thought that gibberish thing can be extended to the last administration as well, with a strong third place from the Shrub gang too.
Ah, hell, they all speak with forked tongues, does that count as gibberish?
Edit to add, part II: You're also right about numero Cinco, I too, need a second cup of tea. Sheesh.
I find myself pining
for another drip of Thorazine. Or maybe Haldol. I like its bouquet better... (;-)
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Tranquilize me Daddy...
Eight to the bar.
It seems obvious to me...
Trump was told by his Zionists handlers to attack Iran...it'll be easy and quick just like Venezuela. Being a uneducated egotistical barbarian, he thought he could take on Iran/Persia, a Civilizational state/culture. There might be Epstein blackmail involved, but my bet is they played to Don's ego. Now he's trapped himself. In his small mind, he can't look weak or be a loser. Sorry Don, you're both.
I think it is important to understand some of the most ardent Zionists are (so called) Christians...think Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, Mike Johnson, Tom Cotton...and on and on. It isn't a Jewish thing, many Jews like Max Blumenthal, Aaron Mate, etc. oppose the Zionist goals.
As for Ukraine, I think it is all about keeping the grift going. Hey, we're making lots of personal money.
We're headed into the vortex. Accelerating the war while running out of weapons. All as the world spirals toward depression.
Wish I had a more positive spin.
Been out all AM mowing, weed eating, and picking up limbs. It was 67F this AM with 50F dew points. Felt great. Still just lo 70's.
Thanks for another thought provoking OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
If you want to know...
what lingers in the recesses of my mind, I think it's ultimately all aimed at We The People, and it isn't going to pretty.
The fiat money grift is coming to an end and this is all meant to save the perpetrators asses. Their design is for digital currencies.
The grifters want what's left of the oil for themselves. The MIC wont work with green energy, nor does air travel and sea travel. Peak oil has most likely already occurred and there is no viable alternative that can offer a safe alternative other than oil.
We The People get green energy, but for that to work though, there will have to be much less people on the planet. There's not enough resources for every person to have an electric car, power for their house, etc, on top of the data center/surveillance system being set up while the people snooze. Green energy wont work absent a reduction in population, IMHO.
But, as I've said before, I don't think humankind will go for the grifter's plans once awakened from the slumber. I don't think the plan will work.
I think they underestimate the human spirit. Once the majority understand that everything will be taken from then, we'll see a Great Awakening.
Some folks may consider this as woo woo, but to me anyway, it makes as much sense as any of the alternative scenarios.
A quote from Trump in a Fox News interview
Trump on Iran:"It's going well. All you can do is keep winning, then eventually something will happen. But we're hitting them hard, knocking them out for a loop, and we just keep winning. Eventually they'll have no choice but to go home..."
Folks, we are not the only ones who are confused.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
As if he hasn['t yet proven to the world
.
his penchant for delusion is only second fiddle
to the utter bat shit crazy mental processes which
bleed out of his twitter scribblings. Sheesh.
Zionism is a social disease
Sometimes...
I think the broken syntax and illogical thinking is a psyop, meant to trigger the susceptible. If not, then we are definitely in the Idiocracy era of history.
LABOR
is what I think our powers-that-be are waging war over. The 2 extremes of resource nationalization could be seen as Norway and Saudi Arabia. Both have nationalized their natural resources.
Norway has a democracy, and wealth from the private and public use of their resources goes first to the people of Norway, to the workforce, in the form of health care, education and a high standard of living. Hence, they have the highest standard of living in the world for the workforce, as well as having a sovereign wealth fund.
Saudi Arabia has a dictatorship, and wealth from the use of their resources goes to a royal elite. The people have no human rights, labor can be transported in shipping containers, wherein workers may suffocate, and the wealth is used to in part to buy weapons with which to maintain power over the workforce.
The problem with Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Russia and China is that they are countries in which resources, at least in part, have been used to raise the standard of living of the workforce, when compared to Saudi Arabia. That trend, I believe, is what our powers are trying to destroy. The case of Syria is most blatant. We have replaced the Assad regime with Salafist beheaders, a death squad sponsored and armed by the Saudis and by ourselves.
Exxon and Halliburton have been in Russia for decades, Standard Oil companies had been in Russia and the Soviet Union since the 1920s along with other western engineering companies, and after the Special Military Operation and the Mother of All Sanctions in 2022, they were forced to sell their vast projects there. Last year they were reinstated. THAT, I believe, is the trend our stupid powers are apoplectic about. It's not the Russian workforce insisting on being paid for their work. They know how to grind that into the dust. It's Exxon and Halliburton agreeing to pay the Russian workforce a living wage, based on Putin and his people talking them into it. BECAUSE IT'S REASONABLE.
Biden said it after he met with Putin in 2021. As he came out of the meeting, he was asked by a reporter what he thought of Putin, and Biden said, HE'S REASONABLE AND HE'S PRACTICAL AND HE'S ACTING IN THE INTERESTS OF HIS PEOPLE AND OF HIS COUNTRY.
This is what our powers can't stand. They oppress labor in order to control wealth. With that wealth they control the narrative. If they lose control of the narrative, they will be brought to justice for their crimes against humanity, and they can't allow it.
Excellent Linda...
and an angle that I have not been exposed to. The push for robotics and AI fit neatly into that thesis as well. And this breaks away from the idea that "they're all in on it together".
What a world, and to think this new paradigm is just getting started.
I'm always open to new ideas and you've just given me some fat to chew on.
Thank you, my dear.
I have to run off to my infusion, but consider this
The current madness is all god's plan. DJT is the current archetype or avatar, take your choice, of Shiva, manifesting the inexorable force of entropy. The discordians are almost right, except that it is Kali, nor Eris who is kicking down the door.
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 --
Is DJT is the current archetype or avatar...
of Shiva, or the multi-armed Krishna, who stated:
Either way, the end is the same.
I believe it could be either, the Bhagavad Gita trinity is
Shiva - The Destroyer; Brahma The Creator; and Vishnu The Preserver but Kala is a legit competitive translation for the part where Shiva pulls that stunt, or so I am told. (My Sanskrit is very limited
)
in either case, take a ride on the great mandala
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 --
It is a cage match
And all the groups mentioned and a few more are scheming and fighting to be on the winning side. Most of humanity is running around underfoot trying not to get stepped on while staying fed, sheltered and supporting their communities.
Col Wilkerson is heading into a series of major medical procedures this week. Who knows when or if he will be back on the talk circuit. The hosts are having a hard time keeping on their narrative. He has said previously before Powell pulled his from his teaching career at the Naval War College to become his assistant his plan was to spend the rest of his life teaching.
Col. Larry Wilkerson: Iran Strikes U.S.-Escorted Tankers in Hormuz; 2 Hit, 4 Forced to Retreat (1.17 min)
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
A cage match...
is a perfect illustration of the global situation, as is a thunderdome.
And this is just truth:
Good luck to Colonel Wilkerson.
Thanks for stopping in soe.
He is my favorite
analyst. May he get through his medical procedure with success.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
And today in AI slop,
we have this jewel :
https://open.substack.com/pub/emilysbass/p/the-us-state-department-redra...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
"PS: Screw the war mongers."
"PS: Screw the war mongers."
------------------------
That includes the ones who wage war by any means, including economic. It's a genetic defect in too many members of Homo Sapiens. Sure wish the yahoos would leave the rest of us alone. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Yeah, us peace loving folks
.
seem to be in the minoriy.
Underdogs just work harder.
Zionism is a social disease