There’s some irony that the walls behind Trump as he “explained” from the Oval Office that the United States didn’t need any other country’s help are covered in the resplendent gold-ish doodads reminiscent of King Louis XIV. Of course, this came after our former NATO and other allies begged off sending ships to help Trump open the Strait of Hormuz. Not their war. Not their monkey.
Trump could have consulted with our former allies before starting the war, but that’s not the way Trump operates. Indeed, he didn’t bother to consult our own military, which would have told him that there was little doubt that Iran would bomb its neighboring countries and close the Strait to shipping other than that of its allies, of which it approved, thus giving Russia and China a huge win by continuing to provide oil while its enemies were deprived of fuel. Trump then doubled down by waiving sanctions on Russia so it could sell its oil to India, giving its starved economy lifeblood so it could continue its war against Ukraine.
Trump would have known that Iran would mine the Strait, even though the United States decommissioned its minesweepers last February without having a viable substitute available.
Trump assumed that if he took out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the regime would collapse and he would have another Delcy Rodriguez serving as his puppet. Had Trump not fired everyone with expertise on Iran, he would have known that Iran wasn’t Venezuela and wouldn’t go quietly into the night.
Trump would have known that Iran would send inexpensive drones to bomb neighboring nations and shipping that would be intercepted by very expensive missiles, creating asynchronous cost. When Ukrainian President Zelensky provided aid to the United States with drones, Trump lashed out at him for not caving to Putin, while blowing kisses at Putin, for whom he rolled out the red carpet and who has shown no interest in ending his invasion of Ukraine.
Initially, Trump begged the former allies, with whom he never consulted, against whom he imposed unlawful tariffs, and mocked and denigrated continually over the past year of having “ripped off” America.
There’s quite a bit of distance between “will be” and “hopefully,” as Trump learned.
Despite his claim that other countries were coming, some were “very enthusiastic” about it, much like his claim that an unnamed Democratic president told Trump he wished he had attacked Iran like Trump did, it turned out to be untrue.
The refusal of NATO and other allies to serve as Trump’s minions reflects a critical shift in America’s standing in the world. Our former allies have come to the painful realization that the United States can’t be trusted, won’t be their ally, but their superior, doing as it pleases without their agreement or approval, and thereafter expecting them to do as they’re told.
Despite the existence of the treaty establishing the North American Treaty Organization, Trump has demonstrated that America only honors its international duties when it chooses to do so, and can threaten to walk away when it doesn’t. Even when Trump leaves office, the lessons of how fragile the reliance on the United States as a partner, not a boss, in the international community are clear. If Trump can upend America’s relationships with the rest of the world, and if America elected someone like Trump, twice, can’t it happen again? Can there be any assurance that when needed in the future, America won’t be there for our former allies?
Is Trump right, that American doesn’t need to be part of NATO, have allies both in trade and war, because it is the most powerful nation on earth? If it turns out that the United States is incapable of resolving the situation without disgracing itself by claiming victory without prevailing over Iran, will any other nation care to have us as an ally?
*Yesterday, Casa de SJ had neither power nor internet access, and so was unable to post the usual Tuesday Talk. Accordingly, today’s post will is proffered with the usual Tuesday Talk rules.
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Damn…
That was about as concise as a fishing indictment without bait.
And a red hook rarely goes cogent barbless.
Your guild cracks me up.
You in particular.
Play your hand esteemed one.
“We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capabilities…”, obliterated the rest and reduced the remainder by 600, 800, and in some cases 1500%.!
Tangential, but the State Department’s oil and gas experts were DOGE’d last July.
A future president can take the gold doodads off the law, but no future ally can be sure that America will be there for it, treaty be damned. This not only puts us at the whim of this and all future presidents, but it destroys the good faith built since WWII that has enabled us and our allies to thrive in a mostly peaceful world. And when you can’t be sure of whether the US is a friend or foe, you can never put your faith in the US again. No president can undo this reality.
Is the US still a superpower? I certainly don’t believe so!
The fact is that the US military, NATO and the militaries of “allied” nations do not exist to win wars but to create dividends for shareholders of armaments businesses. Western Empire armaments and munitions cost too much and underperform because their production has been outsourced to private industry whose only concern is return on capital and have captured the Pentagon and senior officers in associated militaries. China, Iran and Russia have not made this mistake and the US will be unpleasantly surprised when or more likely if it initiates war against them. American armaments have inferior effectiveness to cost ratios and this affects the current IsraeUS wars against Gaza, Iran, Lebanon and The West Bank.
Anyone who starts a war has a firm idea of the war he believes he is starting. Adolph the Aryan thought he would start a nice little war, six months or so in which Germany would conquer all of the weakling nations of Europe. This is not what actually happened!!
However D J Trump’s mad Pentecostal end time believing supporters may have reason to be pleased. The IsraeUS war may be that of their desired end times and may finish off that problematic species “homo bardus bellicosus et conspiratus” (stupid, prone to conspiracies and warlike) wrongly named “homo sapiens” (for intelligent??).
Iran because of Khomeini’s stupid fatwa did not develop the bomb when with Israel as a nuclear armed enemy it needed it more than most nations. Even if Trump does not go nuclear Israel’s leaders as insane as the born-again Jeebus* worshipers may do so.
Unfortunately lot of less harmful species will go along with us. If I survive the end for a short time I will particularly miss birds, cats, dingoes (Australian wolves), dogs and wolves the descendants of the ancestors of our best friends who only like us because they don’t realize what monsters we are.
* NB Jeebus is the neoliberal replacement worshiped by the doubly born in place of the apocryphal Jesus of Nazareth whose silly ideas match that most extreme evil of wokeness “the concept of human rights”.
Carlyle Moulton.
“Iran because of Khomeini’s stupid fatwa did not develop the bomb…”
If you believe that I have some beachfront property in Yuma, Arizona I can sell you cheap.
They were actively working on it. Count on it.
At this point, I’m really worried about Iran using a dirty bomb. They don’t even need their nuclear material, they can use the material out of medical devices, pack it in the warheads and send it on the way.
Are they crazy enough to do it? As a last resort, I can see them doing it. “If we’re going down, let’s take everyone with us.”
You, a history lover from what I can gather, let his WW2 nonsense slide without rebuke?
Germany didn’t declare war on everyone all at once. Their leader made the mistake of declaring war on the USSR and then bizarrely the USA. You know the two countries that would become the superpowers in the post-war world.
There’s an order to it, unlike poor Carlyle’s mind. Massive mistakes were made but it wasn’t at all that Germany would conquer the weaklings. It bit off more than it could ever chew. Not that I blame you for not engaging with all the crazy.
Great point on the dirty bomb. There are nuances to nuclear warfare that are horrifying.
I’ve built walls
A fortress, steep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship
Friendship causes pain
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain
Yet, I get the feeling that Dear Leader is not interested in books and poetry.
I strongly suspect that Trump was told … sorta … but just did not choose to believe what he was told because he believes, as do many of his sycophants, that they “make their own reality.”
As far as NATO … George Washington was right. The US *should* have avoided any sort of entangling alliances and, instead, have become the world’s biggest Switzerland.
PS: I note that the US is supposedly basing strike units in Romania.
Hoping, perhaps, for an Iranian strike on a NATO country?
The Navy appears to believe they have a viable alternative to the decommissioned minesweepers [Although i don’t understand how Iran lets friendly ships pass through minefields.]]:
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2026/03/12/the-us-navy-decommissioned-middle-east-minesweepers-last-year-heres-what-they-did/
“The [littoral combat ship] MCM mission package is a sophisticated suite of manned and unmanned systems designed to locate, identify, and neutralize sea mines, at a safer distance from minefields than the Avenger-class MCMs,” a Navy official told Military Times on the condition of anonymity.
The USS Canberra was the first LCS with the MCM package to arrive in the Middle East on May 22. The USS Santa Barbara and USS Tulsa, two other littoral combat ships with the MCM package, were also stationed in the U.S. Fifth Fleet as of Sept. 25, 2025, with a yet-to-be-named fourth LCS on its way, according to USNI News.
[Ed. Note: The article neglects to mention a few problems with the new class of unmanned mine sweepers:
If they don’t work, they don’t help.]
I served on sweeps in late 70’s early 80’s.
Mine countermeasures was always on the backburner for the Navy. Still is.
You don’t even have to lay real mines out; any piece of the right sized junk will do until it is verified as a mine or not by drone or diver. I served with a guy who was involved in clearing Haiphong harbor and he stated that a lot of junk was thrown in the harbor during the mine laying ops.
Mines can also hang around for a long time. I remember being on a exercise where we swept a dummy that had been originally laid during WWII. Forty plus years, undetected in a military op zone.
One officer I worked with stated: “…the only way you will find a bottom laying mine in an area with a high sedimentation rate, a long-time arm delay, and a high ship count setting is when it goes off.”
On the opposite side, modern mine tech was absolutely fiendish even back then. Probably more so now.