We are fucking screwed. This may be it.

nt

It’s been relatively stable and on the surface portrays itself as a safe and hospitable place for doing business (of course it’s basically built on slave labor).

But they can’t escape geography. I wouldn’t be surprised if their residents would want to cut a deal with Iran at some point to end this as quick as possible. At this point it’s clear that Iran just wants to make any country in the region friendly to US interests to experience hell.

It’s working with the stock market too. The oil disruptions are hitting Asian economies especially hard.

This was a war no one except for Israel wanted. I know some say the Saudis too, but I think this was mostly Israel.

And when we go begging to Israel for help after everyone else says screw you, Israel will say sorry suckers.

The balance of power in the ME is now changing. The US is part of that equation, but so too is the relationship that countries have with Israel. Israel does not have the manufacturing infrastructure, especially supply chain infrastructure, to continue staying armed to the teeth - it is simply too small population wise - and as the presence of the US fades, so too will the ability of Israel to defend itself.

Yes, the US empire is being dismantled in real time right now. Several BIG consequences:
* The ability to project power will diminish rapidly. Kick the US out of Ankhara, out of Ramstein, out of the UK, out of Finland and so forth eventually means the US has no ports to deploy from, no airfields, no staging grounds. It becomes impotent militarily, which has always been its greatest strength on the world stage.
* The dollar as oil reserve currency is being decided right now, though it's been happening for a while. Technologically, there's no longer any real reason for it, but it stayed in force because the US had the military to back that up. Without that, there is no need for other countries to buy US financial instruments - stocks, bonds, treasuries, etc., which has largely propped up the stock market. We're going to see an eighty-year-old trade unwind in the next couple of years, and this is going to make it harder for the US to project power internally as well.
* We're seeing warning signs that the credit market is overly strained at this point, especially with respect to commercial real estate (CRE). Too many buildings are sitting empty because they are no longer needed in an increasingly virtual market, and this is beginning to look a lot like the financial crisis of 2008, but in commercial leases rather than residential mortgages. Combine this with an overhot AI market, and what appears on the horizon is a major depression that will likely spread globally.
* The US is already at least seven proto-countries, maybe more: Southwest, Northwest, Southeast, West Central, the Northeast, Inland Lakes and the Midlands. As the ability of the US to provide services to these regional countries fades (and the threat from a Federal government grows), this is going to lead to a point where one or more of those countries (most notably those on the West Coast) will decide that DC has become a parasite to be protected from, not a benevolent host that provides security.
* We keep hoping that the US will "revert" back to something sane post-Trump, but we also have to acknowledge that MAGA is a parasite, and sometimes extracting that parasite can kill the host. He could keel over tomorrow, but he could also be around for another decade, becoming more and more entrenched. That's what parasites do.

. . . reporting in The Guardian:

And by reporting in The Hindu, Sri Lanka just rescued 30 of 180 from a sinking Iranian frigate near Sri Lanka:



If anything, this is more likely to get worse with the talk of deploying soldiers to the region for combat. From PBS NewsHour, the following is from Sen. Blumenthal after a briefing:



If Iran succeeds in keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed or maintaining a credible threat to the shipping there, I don't think that there will be anything left for Trump to do in the face of economic ruin but to commit forces there fully, and Congress will probably begrudgingly go along with him. This all could play out before the fall elections.

But, yes, you are correct that the credibility of the US as an ally (with all of the threats that the Trump Admin/Regime has issued to our allies) has been greatly diminished: Spain, Greenland, Denmark, etc.

None of this should ever have been started.

As someone online noted, the GOP (in the last 35 years or so) does three things consistently when controlling the US government--they cut taxes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations; they wreck some aspect of the economy; and they start a war in the Middle East.

This is not a coincidence, I'm thinking.

the waging of aggressive war by the U.S. in this century that has been able to return fire accurately and with effect. Great effect.

Then we'll be FORCED to use tactical nukes cause

Republicans, whether at Putin’s behest or not, will have to continue their seemingly unbroken efforts at weakening our country on the world stage for quite a while longer to accomplish that. This has to be one of the reasons for their relentless efforts to block voting rights back home. Interruptions, such as the Biden presidency, are serious hitches to their long-term plans.