67 Comments
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Eduard Ree Christian's avatar

Political science at its finest. Loved the article, hate the reason it’s needed. I feel it in my bones.

Mike A's avatar

Excellent reporting Jay and team. This is exactly why I decided to become a paid subscriber. Keep up the great work!

StraightTalk's avatar

It is convenient for liberals and progressives to label who they don't like as "right wing extremist"

Basically they themselves are illiberal and regressive extremists

Mr Kuo could have saved some thousand words by calling a spade a spade: That USA is the rapacious evil and pillaging successor to the rapacious evil and pillaging English empire and it invokes God's will do the most UnGodly things funded by the original God's chosen people and the Peaceful people

Carol Taylor Boyd's avatar

I was in high school between 1964-1968. One of my teachers assigned us a weekly current events report. The easiest topic to report on was the Vietnam War. The country was told that Vietnam was critical to stopping the spread of Communism to the rest of Indochina. It was called The Domino Effect. We were also told that the Chinese weren't helping the North Vietnamese fight.

We would learn decades later that reports on the North Vietnamese casualties were greatly exaggerated and our war dead was underreported. But even at 16 or 17, I began to doubt the government reports on the war. It didn't make sense that a country the size of Vietnam could lose so many soldiers and still continue to fight. Or else, the Chinese were sending soldiers to Vietnam to fight.

Our government lied to us then. It almost goes without saying that the orange blight is lying to us now about the war in Iran.

Operation Epic Epstein Coverup!

Warren Kearney's avatar

Jay:

1. Superb summary. Worthy of Heather Cox Richardson! (We should create a HCR Award for history reviewing). (And a Kuo award for legal/political analysis. And a Vance award for legal analysis. Complete with Blue Carpet fashionistas.)

2. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu

The Digital History site is shutting down. Its archives are valuable. I will be asking all the Substack authors if there is a way to preserve it for easy access.

Way to go with this excellent summary!!

Susan Linehan's avatar

What would happen if the US simply stopped the bombing AND stopped supplying any weapons or other financial support to Israel? And told Israel: if YOU stop the fighting in both Iran and Lebanon, we WILL supply you with support for your purely defensive infrastructure.

Michael G's avatar

That use to be the policy, except everyone had a different definition of defense infrastructure. The U.S. was shipping Israel 2000 pound bombs to drop on Gaza under the “it’s only a defensive weapon” policy. Those bombs make huge craters where once buildings stood. I’ve been on a military base bombing range 1-1/2 miles away when one of those gets dropped from a Marine Corps jet; the ground feels like you’re standing on wiggly jello.

Susan Linehan's avatar

ah yes, there has to be a definition of defense. I would say that their shield tech would be pretty much it, though I’m not military-savvy. What it doesn’t include is bombs.

We really need to acknowledge that words can be interpreted in many ways and start being VERY specific about what critical words in statutes mean,

Debra M.'s avatar

Incredibly insightful and informing - thank you Jay

Woody Halsey's avatar

Very impressive analysis, clear and persuasive . Thanks.

pts's avatar

Excellent discussion -- thank you, Jay. I strongly recommend this complementary piece, by a writer who identifies himself only as Johan. The essay analyzes the war as a complexity cascade and looks at what courses of action are available, which are more probable, and what the various pressures or interests are that drive the action. https://substack.com/home/post/p-190288840

It's long; it's complex. Read it anyway. And read the lengthy and thoughtful comments following it. The post is ten or 11 days old by now, so given today's frenetic blink-of-an-eye news cycle it could conceivably be considered dated. Judge for yourself how well what Johan is saying dovetails with what Jay is saying in today's post. Also judge for yourself whether events of the last ten days generally do bear out Johan's analysis and suggest where the rolling catastrophe could go from here.

Mark Hudson's avatar

As I have said before, the walls are closing in on the orange one.

TJ's avatar
Mar 20Edited

Thank you Jay. Next up will be the invasion of Cuba to forget about Iran, Epstein and all that is going on in our nations cesspool.

It’s heartbreaking to hear this —

Danish soldiers flown to Greenland in January were prepared to blow up key airport runways over fears that US President Donald Trump could invade the Arctic island, Denmark's public broadcaster DR says.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33ln4mp1p2o

We, this nation we are a pariah and am so angry, as to what we have become and lost because too many demanded so much less .. am sickened and determined even more to see that thing is impeached, removed and tried in some way for all his crimes and punished accordingly. No Gerald Ford immunity to heal this nation, punishment instead to heal..

Andrea Wolper's avatar

Thank you for this very illuminating and thought-provoking column.

Barb Marto's avatar

A very sobering essay. Though many of us following what’s happening with Israel/US/Iran, we also understand the very real possibility of post-retaliation when this war ends in whatever form. What I find so abhorrent is the fact that both the Americans and Israelites are being held hostage by their own governments’ actions and are seemingly powerless to stop it. They are already paying the price by prejudice actions in other countries.

Sun's avatar

Banger memes. How atrocious.

Sun's avatar

But what is so hard about admitting that you were wrong? I do it a lot. It’s not difficult.

Charles Bastille's avatar

Me too. I'm wrong a lot. I have no choice!