QOTD -- Tallying Iran War's Cost To Our International Standing

 

"... Demonstrating Iran’s newfound confidence, 'Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired missiles at two commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday,' the Wall Street Journal reported. It is just the latest sign that the shift in power in the region ohas become more profound as the war played out. Kari Heerman of the Brookings Institution explained: 'Iran did not only assert control over the strait, it also experimented a little bit with politically conditioned access, offering discounts to its friends and higher rates to its enemies.' Heerman noted in analyzing how 'freedom of navigation' has lost any meaning. '[T]hat’s a major departure from not only the status quo ante, it also presents major challenges for international maritime law.'

"We hear each week that the talks are at risk of 'collapsing' or that the 'fragile truce' is at risk. Bunk. Iran, with Oman’s aid, is systematically asserting long-term control of the Strait. Trump has zero interest in returning to full-scale hostilities; the economic sanctions that have constrained Iran are already being unwound; and the entire topic is a political loser for Trump. As oil prices gradually drift downward, Trump is less inclined to restart major military operations. The war is over, as both sides know. The memorandum talks are merely the means of tallying the cost to U.S.’s international standing.

"Given all this, much of the Iran coverage has taken on an air of unreality. The Trump regime pretends to be engaged in grown-up statecraft; legacy media coverage regurgitates the Trump team’s assertions that Iran is desperate for a deal. The headlines take at face value the threat that the U.S. would resume a full-scale fight; but no one engaged in the talks believes that is remotely possible..."  -- Jennifer Rubin, in "The Contrarian" Substack, on the word games being played by the Malignant Fascist's regime in its quest to minimize the catastrophe of the Iran war, and the media's craven complicity with the ludicrous charade.