I see it as status quo ante. Iran's capability to go nuclear hasn't been set back in a strategic sense. Getting the IAEA out is an improvement to the situation for Iran.

The real question is the one we're all watching: will the ceasefire hold?

I find it impossible to believe in much of anything WRT to the west asia clusterf.

I hope this finds you well

Posted by: ockham | Jun 27 2025 16:42 utc | 1

"After just twelve days of war Israel sued for peace. Iran agreed but may well rue that decision in future."

I think Iran will rue that decision, as well.

I've seen some commentary to the effect that Trump has engineered a major step toward multipolarity via the faux attack on Iran's nuke facilities and the faux response by Iran, and other forms of stand-down, let's renegotiate, let's make a deal talk.

I remain highly skeptical.

Iran: do not let your guard down. Not over yet.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Jun 27 2025 16:43 utc | 2

Background

Iran justly hates America for installing and supporting the puppet Shah regime. Iran justly hates Israel for being an American agent and for it's cruel criminality toward the Palestinians.

Israel is small and weak. Iran is large and strong. Therefore out of fear Israel categorizes Iran as an "existential threat". Even a lame, one-eyed cat is an existential threat to a mouse.

America is strong but dumb. Bullies can brook no defiance, so American hegemononists regard Iran as a constant thorn in their side.

So America and Israel share a dislike for Iran and Iran dislikes Israel and America.

With nukes, Israel and America are existential threats to Iran. In response, with nuclear enrichment Iran can be an existential threat to Israel even without nuclear weapons.

Nuclear enrichment is permitted under the NPT, and nuclear weapons are not. So in order to justify threats, attacks and economic warfare, it is necessary for the US and Israel to assert that Iran is making nuclear weapons. (Even though all authorities refute that.)

The Lead Up

Israel wants Iran to be weakened to reduce the its own fears. Israel wants Iran defanged so it can't support Israel's victims. Israel wants America to fight Iran for it.

Israel knows its weapons cannot do significant harm to Iran on a strategic level, including the nuclear enrichment sites. So Israel came up with a plan to overthrow the Iranian government. The plan involved fifth column elements in Iran to carry out a coup, and a strong destabilizing decapitation strike by Israel to enable it.

Israel can't fly it's planes safely over Iran to do decapitation strikes with Iran's AD working. So a key part of the plan is to shut down the AD using a radio-inserted software virus to be delivered by Israeli experts working on site with fifth column elements in Iran. It's a good plan, and they get to work putting it in place.

The Turning Point

In early June, Iran snared a treasure trove of Israeli intelligence. This included enough information to expose (and thus nullify) Israel's regime-change plan. At this point, Israel had to choose to either use-it or lose-it. Driven by its usual hate, hubris, solipsism, fanaticism, and adding a worsening domestic situation and Bibi's corruption problems, Israel chose to use-it even though it was premature.

So Israel's sleazy attack was rushed ahead of schedule and they had no time to recruit the (potentially resistant) Trump administration to greenlight it. (Note that the usual level of coordinated stridency had not been built up in the MSM before the attack. While the co-opted head of the IAEA had spewed a few lies on June 12, it had not yet been widely circulated and gravely imprimatured by the Sunday pundits.

Also, after the vile zionists did their paltry attack, the puppet leaders of rabid 'western' countries were weirdly silent, presumably because they hadn't gotten any scripting.

Also weirdly silent was Trump, except for a couple of tepid, canned remarks favoring Israel in a rather pro forma way. Further in support of Trump not approving is the timing. It really seemed to take some wind out of his big parade. It seemed like he only got the B-teams with the A-teams somewhere busy prepping for eventualities.

Furthermore, Israel coming around mooching for the necessary bombs only after the events got rolling smacks of unpreparedness as well. Even Bibi's hasty scurry to Greece even suggests he had some reservations about the move.

So Israel attacked. The plan worked well for a few hours, giving Israeli planes freedom to bomb over Iran. Three problems arose quickly, however: (1) the Iranian regime was far more resiliant than Israel hoped, (2) Iran restored its air defenses before Israel was able to complete their physical destruction, and (3) (what they should have already understood) Iran's offensive missile capabilities are devastatingly effective.

So suddenly Israel is caught, it's strategy in disarray, no means to bring the fight to Iran effectively, and being pasted by missiles. And Iran, having been attacked, has every justification to bash Israel and no incentive to stop.

Israel is fucked, so it runs whining to America to pull its ass out of the fire. Trump doesn't want a politically disadvantageous and economically destructive war with Iran, but the scumbag neocons and Israel Firsters still have influence, so he is compelled to do something.

The Trump Ploy

Israel knows, America knows, and Iran knows that Iran is not making nuclear weapons. But the assertion of nuclear weapons has become the fulcrum for US and Israeli hostility against Iran. So the solution that works for everybody is for everyone to pretend that a brilliant military maneuover removes the (imaginary) threat of nuclear weapons.

Every party gets something:

-Trump satisfies his zionist supporters by saving Israel, and he successfully avoids a ruinous conflict with Iran;
-Iran avoids a ruinous conflict with America, and is alleviated from the false accusations of nuclear weapons while retaining the enrichment program;
-Israel gets its ass saved from more destruction, and Bibi has a small window to claim is connivance was successful in ending the (never really there) Iranian nuclear weapons program.

The Final Tally

Israel lost trust with the Trump administration, billions of dollars of equipment and infrastructure, many lives, the nuclear stick to whack Iran with, much of its networks in Iran, and any remaining confidence in it's defenses. Israel gained virtually nothing.

The Trump administration lost the confidence of the 'isolationist' wing of MAGA, and some fraction of the perception of American's pre-eminence, and the nuclear stick to whack Iran with. It gained being less influenced by zionist elements who had to spend their favors and share the losses of Israel noted above.

Iran lost some important people, and billions of dollars of equipment and infrastructure. It gained an evident military victory over Israel, and freedom from the false accusations about a weapons program.

Posted by: Figleaf23 | Jun 27 2025 16:45 utc | 3

Thanks for the summary posting b

I think the only thing you missed noting was that Iran is now accepting/buying AD and jets from China/Russia so the arial superiority window may close quickly.

I agree with the questioning of Iran stopping before the genocide of Palestinians stops but we don't see the bigger picture that includes the totally kabuki Iran nuke sites/US-Qatar air base strikes.

The financial markets continue to not reflect geopolitical reality so the God Of Mammon cult has not given up.

The shit show continues until it doesn't......damn, I wish it would end!

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 27 2025 16:48 utc | 4

I’m sure the Iranians had a long discussion as to whether they should continue the war or accept peace.

For them to accept peace, makes me think they were hurting a lot and the idea of the USA and Israel’s combined attacks, with no real observed material support from other countries, made them decide to take a breather.

A breather to get their air defence back online, clear debris from rocket sites, get rid of Mossad operators, get their chain of command fully operational and provide adequate protection for generals.

And lastly, a reprieve for the defenceless citizens of the country.

Hopefully, Iran will learn from this experience and will become stronger now.

I’m not sure what else Israel can do apart from
The same attacks launched from aircraft. It most likely doesn’t have the Mossad factor to help.

And unless they start building underground facilities, they’re very vulnerable to attack.

Posted by: Justin | Jun 27 2025 16:51 utc | 5

The Zionists quickly agreed to a ceasefire because they had ran out of funds - never mind the US taxpayer will step in and fund the Zio-Nazi regime and when replenished it will attack Iran again - and this cycle will just keep on repeating itself.

https://nitter.poast.org/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1938306825864220686#m

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 27 2025 16:52 utc | 6

Israeli Defense Minister Katz has said "Rising Lion", the Israeli operation, was just a start and that Israel is going to implement a Lebanon scenario where Israel has "air superiority" and can bomb Iran at will.

Putting aside the bellicose nature of Israeli pronouncements, their intent is clear.

That is the program for the whole of West Asia and North Africa. A Gaza program for everyone.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 16:53 utc | 7

IMO, its the British pushing Netanyohu and the Piano Player in Ukraine.. if Russia and Iran destroyed British everything and ignored as much as possible Israel and Ukraine if lasting peace would not be the result?

Posted by: snake | Jun 27 2025 16:53 utc | 8

Posted by: Figleaf23 | Jun 27 2025 16:45 utc | 3

######

Do you actually believe any of that?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 16:54 utc | 9

Get the Bomb and Put Up a Sign

"Hitting me first is a guarantee that the same will be done to you multiple times"

Nothing else will work with these Psychopathic Mad Dogs

What they are doing RIGHT NOW can't make this fact more obvious.

The Psychopathic Mad Dogs will be back.

Listen and learn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeBtmeOmJx8

Posted by: Tom_12 | Jun 27 2025 17:00 utc | 10

But the brashness of insisting that Iran's nuclear program was 'obliterated' is coming back at haunt him.

I hope the explanation for that bizarre claim was to establish an official narrative eliminating the nuclear program as pretext in the next round. You can't attack something that has already been 'obliterated'.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 27 2025 17:02 utc | 11

after all, it looks like the Iranian AA forces were sabotaged by spys, intelligence work and of course a lot of traitors.
Before the Iran can go on with war, they had to clean up their own rows, eliminate all hidden mossad agents and, perhaps with some help, restore and repair the AA launching systems as quick as possible.
Only if the IDF Airforce is defacto grounded due a able Iranian AA, the war can be won by the Iranians. If Israel can further on manage to suppress the AA, the Iran is at risk.

Posted by: ableman | Jun 27 2025 17:02 utc | 12

thanks b...

yes, as john helmer says - time out, to get ready for another round.. this is all on the usa-israel and friends who think they can bomb without any consequences.. i hope iran doesn't make the mistake of thinking they can work with the usa-israel or the west in any regard, because they will be used and abused just like everyone else in this system of economic domination..

anyone want to speculate what would happen if khameini was assassinated?? what is the chain of command if that happens??

Posted by: james | Jun 27 2025 17:08 utc | 13

Israel and its terrorist proxies have boots on the ground inside Iran for decades …

most important to weed the spies and 5th column out of a multi-ethnic Iranian society … the Salafist terror groups are at each and every border of the state. Baluchistan - Afghanistan - Kurdistan - oil rich Khuzestan (Ahwaz). Greatest threat IS-Khorasan led by MI6-Mossad-CIA … Trump played by the Deep State.

Indeed rearming w support of Russia and. China has the highest priority.

Supply of oil to China is still viable … time to complete gas pipelines into Asia.

Posted by: Oui | Jun 27 2025 17:09 utc | 14

I'm still digging into the claimed B-2 attack, but have uncovered one important point.

The Images of the two group of three craters at Fordow are actually only 2 impact points. The secondary craters are collapsed airshafts - each airshaft has/had three branches. The center crater in each group is the alleged impact point for 4, 5 or 6 bombs (the number isn't entirely clear: the first bomb was to clear the covering over the shafts, with the next 4 to strike the central shaft and the last as a "reserve/backup")

This information does lend some credence to the claimed strikes, explaining some of the anomalies. On a related note, I found numerous old (2013-2024) references to the B2 capacity being 2x GBU-57/Bs, despite the anomaly of their claimed 30,000 pound weight and the 40k pound capacity of the bomber.

ATTN: Tom Collins:
Still not sure why there is no recorded seismic data, but I'm unable to query the raw NSF SAGE data to see if it's actually in there, but has been filtered out. Even the Tomahawk strikes at Natanz and Isfahan should have seismic readings.

I haven't found any old footage of MOP craters, but recent (post-attack) released test footage does match the images we've seen.

Still many questions about the narrative, but I've changed my opinion from "complete bulllshit" to "it's plausible."

Please note, I am only referencing the legitimacy of the claims and "official story" of the B2 GBU-57 attack on Fordow here, except where specifically stated. Nothing in this post is about the political issues or any other events anywhere.

Posted by: The Owl | Jun 27 2025 17:14 utc | 15

Agree with Norwegian: “You can't attack something that has already been 'obliterated'.”

Notice that after initially downplaying the impacts at Fordo and other places, Iran is now saying there was indeed major damage. This gets them on Trump’s good side and takes away impetus for new attacks.

Generally I think both sides learned a lot but time is on Iran’s side. Also, the lesson learned here should be: strike when the iron is hot and you’re ready. Next time, if there’s going to be a next time, it should be Iran and HB attacking devastatingly first, not waiting to be hit. The Euros and Americans are going to blame you no matter what anyway, so strike first and strike hard!

Posted by: Caliman | Jun 27 2025 17:14 utc | 16

Trump, speaking in the WH press room, threatens to bomb Iran again.

Once again, America lost a conflict and has to pretend it won.

Maybe this will be the last time?

They usually starve homeless people and bomb hospitals. They don't usually tangle with a superpower.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 17:16 utc | 17

Re; Lebanon. 4'000 bombings in 212 days of "ceaefire". I Just posted something on that by Rania on the Palestinian thread, as the continual attacks on Lebanon have as an aim to extend Zionist territory as far as the Awali river (North of Sidon and Tyre, 60 km plus five to take in some mountains, 30% of Lebanon's territory). There is NO ceasefire, just the continuation of Weismann's plan from 1919. Includes attacks on Syria etc.

https://x.com/umyaznemo/status/1938183719933612107
****

Iran has to consolidate the mass of info they claimed they received just before the Zionist's aerial attack. Otherwise how to explain ALL the Mossad groups that have been demolished? Some, were locals denouncing them, but many were fairly big operations. Iran claims about 10'000 drones have been seized in Tehran area alone. As these Zio "assets" are being eliminated, I suspect that the next operation is "use them or lose them".

Posted by: Stonebird | Jun 27 2025 17:16 utc | 18

I wonder if this was part of Iran's intelligence haul from Israel. It would explain a lot...

"Middle East Spectator – MES
—❗️🇮🇷/🇺🇸/🇮🇱 BREAKING: Israel was planning to carry out a false flag operation in the United States on the pretext of 'Iranian sleeper cells', to drag the U.S. into an all-out war with Iran — but Iranian intelligence foiled the plot and informed the U.S. before it could happen – Tehran Times

@Middle_East_Spectator
68.5Kviewsedited
07:33"

Posted by: Mary | Jun 27 2025 17:17 utc | 19

Reflecting upon the events of the past month.

The Ukrainian spiderweb operation in Russia was a shock to both the Russian military establishment and the world at large, and demonstrated one of the new directions in warfare by combining modern drone technology with a network of in-country saboteurs and up-to-date satellite reconnaissance. While partially successful tactically (maybe a dozen strategic bombers damaged or destroyed), I think the main success was the shock value plus the audacity of attacking an aspect of Russia's nuclear deterrent. Overall likely about a 20% tactical success as the attack failed to damage some targeted bases and the destruction less than optimal where the base security was overcome. Local population managed to spontaneously disable some of the drone trucks. No effect on Russia's SMO operation in Ukraine, or perhaps a very minimal and temporary one.

Likely modeled on the ideas for the attack that the Israelis were in the process of preparing in Iran, I would guess that it was primarily a Ukrainian operation using their network of agents and resources within Russia, but likely conceived with western collaboration through British, American, and Israeli intelligence services. As for the timing, I tend to doubt that it was coordinated with or known to the Israelis who likely worried that the methods would be observed by the Iranians and possibly disrupt their planned operation.

The Israeli operation was much more complex and sophisticated, and like the pager operation, likely represented years of planning and preparation along with real-time information required to carry out the targeted assassinations, plus the attempt to disrupt communications and defense networks with cyber attacks. This was combined with the geopolitical deception of using the ongoing US-Iranian negotiations as cover and misdirection. I believe the US knew of the Israeli plans and gave a 'green light' based on Israeli assurances that US help was not required for success.

As it developed the plan failed to achieve its primary objectives which seemed to anticipate essentially an Iranian surrender within 48 hours, or shortly thereafter. Once the Iranians recovered their AD capability and began to launch successful rocket attacks against Israel the conflict quickly changed character and developed in a way that became very destructive for Israel. This required Israel to plead for the US to provide some kind of an off-ramp that would allow the Israelis to stop the rocket strikes and save face. This DJT provided after a week of collecting military resources to provide at least the appearance of a credible threat to the Iranians.

Now that this ploy has been run twice the world is on notice, and the method cannot be used again against major players - at least without serious modification. Same with the pager attack. Such plans take a long time to prepare and the target must remain quite ignorant of all essential details. Once deployed it is very difficult to repeat.

It is not clear to me that the Israelis can risk attacking Iran any time soon. AD has been degraded and ammo is in short supply, and will remain so for some time in the west. On the other hand the Iranians have access to partners that have abundant AD resources available and could help them reconstitute a credible defense rather quickly. Unknown how much practical assistance they will actually receive. The Iranians have an outstanding order for SU-35 jets from Russia and have been training pilots for several years. Not sure what, if any, arrangements they have with the Chinese. Russia may have some difficulty fulfilling the order given their ongoing SMO operation and the requirements for it.

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 27 2025 17:17 utc | 20

For Iran to continue without absolute certain outcomes weigh against stopping the war, even if for a short time, gives Iran the time to fashion a heavier response to future Israeli aggression, with or without Iranian Nuclear tools.
Also, dispensing with the IAEA spies, the Western snoops, strengthens Iran with the advantage of uncertainty.
Somehow there is more going on in the background with Russia and possibly China assisting in this current detente. The US didn't just slip B2s over Iran, 100% undetected, potentially carrying nuke payloads with Iran just sitting back and watching. And I don't buy the absolute stealth and unlimited trickery of the Isreal/US dirty tricks gang.
Even Trumps slathering of butt-kisses on the Polish emigrant tells a bigger tale of smoothing rough waters inside Israel. Be nice to the neck on the Hangman's noose.
And I hate to go on with the well-worn fact that whatever most Iranians feel about their Theocracy/Democracy, few would be happy to return the the days of a CIA-owned Shah and the SAVAK goons.

Posted by: kupkee | Jun 27 2025 17:18 utc | 21

@16,

Hence the need to spam those ballistic missiles day & night. Its the only weapon that Iran has at the moment. ADs & planes from either Russia or China cost a lot of money and time to prepare in a meaningful way.
But I do hope that China helps Iran now because the next attack will probably be sooner than later. Probably once Israel has stocked more ADs and bombs for their planes.
This ceasefire is only temporary.

Posted by: JamesBond | Jun 27 2025 17:18 utc | 22

Hence the need to spam those ballistic missiles day & night. Its the only weapon that Iran has at the moment.

Posted by: JamesBond | Jun 27 2025 17:18 utc | 22

########

Like those people who didn't know about Oreshnik until it was first deployed.

We have no idea what Iran has up its sleeves. It is a very advanced society.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 17:20 utc | 23

Meanwhile Trump and the Zionazi Democrat cheerleaders are rounding up Iranian Americans, including Christians. All of them are highly likely to be haters of the Iranian government. Sleeper cells? My arse. Those guys are all wearing yarmulkes.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/06/ice-arrests-church-leaders-christians-fleeing-persecution/

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 17:21 utc | 24

One thing that is unclear to me is where Israel's jets were operating from. As the Israeli bases were heavily bombed it is not likely they used their own bases.

I read Cypress however there would have been large amounts of video from Cypress of the jets flying in and out that I haven't seen.

Most likely they operated out of the US controlled bases in Iraq? Can this be known with certainty?

Posted by: Spark | Jun 27 2025 17:25 utc | 25

AS DJT is currently insisting that Iran "cannot have an enrichment program" and will be attacked if it tries to reconstitute one, while the Iranians insist that they will enrich, as is their sovereign right, the only way I see for Iran to pursue this path is to secretly, and quickly, demonstrate a nuclear deterrent. One could argue that doing so will lead to a US attack immediately, but perhaps not... NK managed to thread this needle.

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 27 2025 17:26 utc | 26

Posted by: The Owl | Jun 27 2025 17:14 utc | 15

Thanks for following up. I was also continuing to think about the lack of seismic data, so I revisited the site you shared a couple of times and did comparisons around the world. One thing I noticed - and this could be me not using the settings correctly - is that it cuts off at, I wanna say, about 3 on the Richter Scale. Fordow is on a mountain. I'm personally not convinced that any such bombs were dropped, but even if they were, how much attenuation to the seismic impact at ground level would have happened due to the relative altitude and nature of the geology and facilities (the Iranians use a very advanced form of concrete that is adept at absorbing impacts)? Yeah, I still dunno. Either way, I have stopped following the political angle on the purported B2 strikes because it's impossible to find any informed commentary about it. Even the "liberal" and "left" sources want to debate whether Trump lied or whether Iran's capabilities were affected, and by how much if so. Not interested in that shit anymore. It's all kayfabe all the way down.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 17:27 utc | 27

What first round showed was that mobile ballistic missiles are worth having especially lots of them. Ground based air defense missiles don't work so well. Add on the recent spat between Pakistan and India, Western produced weapon systems are over-hyped.

Posted by: wowreally | Jun 27 2025 17:31 utc | 28

Putin says Iran "turned down" Russian AD. It is absolutely crystal clear to me that the Iranians see how useful Russian AD was in preventing Israeli airstrikes within Syria (that is to say they never did). Russian air defences offered to Iran without any doubt come with a kill switch.

If Vladimir the Little, Chabad that he is, has to decide between Israel and Iran, he will pick Israel - every. single. time. The ceasefire was to save Israel so they can rearm and attack Iran again as soon as they are ready.

The next time, mark my words, Israel will go directly to hitting Iran with nuclear weapons. Israel is a psychpathic nation and Netanyahoo is its perfect representation.

Posted by: Simpleton | Jun 27 2025 17:33 utc | 29

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 27 2025 17:26 utc | 26

Before DPRK developed (or was helped along with) ICBMs that can reach the US, they immediately had the capability to hit SK and Japan. Kind of like a Sword of Damocles hanging over very strategically and economically important US interests in the region. I'm sure that played into them not being immediately attacked once their nascent nuke program and testing were verified.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 17:34 utc | 30

Tulsi Gabbard's warning on the use of nuclear weapons was aimed squarely at Israel, who blackmailed the USA into entering their war by transmitting the message that if it didn't, it was more than willing to start a nuclear war with a first strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Posted by: Bugs | Jun 27 2025 17:36 utc | 31

snake (8).

The pathetic Brits don't even own their military aircraft - its leased out to them.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/06/dystopia-uk-genocidal-raf-squadron-targeted-by-palestine-action-is-owned-by-a-hedge-fund-and-leased-by-the-raf/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 27 2025 17:41 utc | 32

[email protected].......

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 27 2025 17:42 utc | 33

Many thanks to RoB for the Krainer video. It set me submitting a response to a comment on Canadian Dimension.

"After October 7, 2023 my sympathies are with the people of Israel (Muslim, Druze, Christian, Jewish, etc.), NOT WITH HAMAS (or any blog that supports them) !!!"

.......................

Israel. Originally inserted in Palestine in the early 20th Century against the wishes not only of the local Palestinian population but against the wishes of the long-settled Jewish minority there. As Getrude Bell didn't say, to invert Fouché, worse than a mistake. A crime.

What Gertrude Bell did say when she heard of the Balfour Declaration was "It's like a nightmare in which you foresee all the horrible things which are going to happen and can't stretch out your hand to prevent them." Gertrude Bell would these days be regarded as an imperialist through and through but she had an intimate knowledge of the region, some empathy with its inhabitants, and saw at once the project could only fail.

Kipling, these days regarded as the prophet of British Imperialism (though in "Recessional" he wrote the obituary of our Empire a scant two decades after it had been formally established) was also dead against the project. So also many in the the British Foreign Office. Just about anyone who knew the Middle East at that time knew it'd be a disaster.

So it was. Bell's "nightmare" ran on a century, through the Arab rebellion, through the Nakba, through the violent dispossession of Palestinians since and now through to what we in Europe, Merz and Starmer leading, are supporting diplomatically and with arms supplies and other assistance: the rerun of the Warsaw Ghetto currently underway in Gaza.

Naturally a country that exists in the midst of a sea of disapproval from the neighbours has to take measures to protect itself from those neighbours. The project set in motion a century ago takes a lot of maintenance. My own Middle East Guru, the late Colonel Lang, reckoned that as soon as Israel ceased to be of use to us in the West, and particularly to the USA, that maintenance would become too onerous and would cease.

The financial and reputational cost of supporting the overt ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank, the logical extension of that project, has now become too onerous. The Israelis need to abandon the Jabotinsky tack and get on with what my own Israeli friends want. Finding a way of living at peace with the neighbours and with the Palestinians.

Examination of the Iran/Israeli war, that war that was half theatre and half a serious setback for the Israelis and the West as a whole, can only be conducted against that background. A brilliant analysis of that war, and its implications, is set out by, of all people, a Croatian hedge fund manager. Though that's a trivial detail. More importantly, by a man of great humanity, close knowledge of the recent events, and deep insight. Alex Krainer:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koAV4PaepYA&ab_channel=DialogueWorks
..............................

Notes. - I checked the Krainer analysis against what notes I was able to make of the war, in particular against the various statements of President Trump. I believe Krainer's correct in insisting that we must not look at what politicians say, but at what they do. That proviso is particularly important in the case of President Trump. He does tend to say rather a lot.

- Krainer's account doesn't make sense unless we accept that the two sets of missile strikes towards the end of the current phase of the war were arranged theatre. That would have been obvious to anyone who remembered the American Shayrat missile strike and the Iranian missile strike after the killing of General Soleimani. For those to whom it's not obvious, Professor Postol goes into the US strike in detail.

- For many Canadians the assumption Krainer makes, that the Ukrainian war is a bust, might come as something of a surprise. But in reality, it was never a viable war for us in the West since February 24th 2022.

- "A scant two decades". Queen Victoria became Empress of India in 1876. I suppose it was felt that anyone who was anybody at that time had emperors and empresses so it was about time we did. One of Disraeli's less successful PR stunts.

Posted by: English Outsider | Jun 27 2025 17:45 utc | 34

From ZH

Update(1319ET): In comments to the press on Friday President Trump has reiterated his belief that Iran's nuclear program was 'obliterated' - despite skepticism voiced by leading Senators and Representatives, on both sides of the aisle.

Importantly, he's backing off his prior words suggesting he's ready to soften or even drop sanctions, as Iran essentially no longer has a program in his view, while saying he's ready to bomb Iran again if it needs to happen:

President Donald Trump said on Friday he would bomb Iran again "without a question" if intelligence were to find that Iran can enrich uranium to a level higher than what he is comfortable with.

"Without a question. Absolutely," he told reporters in the White House briefing room.

"They're exhausted. The last thing they are thinking about is nuclear [weapons]," Trump said of Iran.

Responding to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's claim that Iran won the war, Trump said, "You got beat to hell. Israel was beat up too, they were both beat up."

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 27 2025 17:45 utc | 35

America is Israel.

Trump is Bibi; his recent comments make that clear.

I have no doubt the bar has some interesting and novel perspectives but if everyone is operating within the delusion that America and Israel aren't partners, or that Trump hates Bibi...

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 17:45 utc | 36

R2R: Russia's Complex Relationship With Iran & Israel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSXZ28xlAxc

"Dimitri Lascaris with John Helmer."

Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jun 27 2025 17:47 utc | 37

No disrespect to anyone, but the DPRK comparisons are awkward because they are so narrowly constructed.

Iran has an ancient civilization.

Iran has multiple ethnicities.

Iran has multiple religions and languages.

Iran sits on top of massive natural resources

Iran is positioned at the gateway to energy trade.

Iran's region was subjected to multiple crusades. Iran's region has been under occupation and colonization since Sykes-Picot.

They are not the same. What worked for the DPRK may not work for Iran at all.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 17:52 utc | 38

They are not the same. What worked for the DPRK may not work for Iran at all.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 17:52 utc | 41

😮‍💨 😮‍💨 😮‍💨 😮‍💨

Way to go, you win today's Olympic Gold Medal for missing the point about how nuclear deterrence works in the eyes of the Yankees and their vassals.

Your self-righteous lecture merely achieves Bronze Medal status; you usually do much "better."

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 17:58 utc | 39

The Big Picture

War on Iran is part of US plan for global domination: Economist Michael Hudson explains

War on Iran is part of the US empire's plan to re-impose unipolar dominance on the global financial system, preserve dollar hegemony, and disrupt Eurasian integration, argues economist Michael Hudson.

Ben Norton
Jun 27, 2025

https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/war-iran-us-unipolarity-michael-hudson

Posted by: Don Firineach | Jun 27 2025 17:59 utc | 40

Did Iran snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, time will tell.
I think yes, they created a window of opotunity regards heavy damage to israels infastruture and moral. and just let it go. For no long term gain.

Leaveing Gaza out of this ceasefire, is beyond my understanding.
Thats a massive step backwould, even the Houthes have stoped now.
One can only imagine the sheer dipaire right now felt by the Palistineans.
The jews are worse than hitlers nazi's.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 27 2025 18:00 utc | 41

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 17:27 utc | 27

One thing I noticed - and this could be me not using the settings correctly - is that it cuts off at, I wanna say, about 3 on the Richter Scale. Fordow is on a mountain. I'm personally not convinced that any such bombs were dropped, but even if they were, how much attenuation to the seismic impact at ground level would have happened due to the relative altitude and nature of the geology and facilities (the Iranians use a very advanced form of concrete that is adept at absorbing impacts)? Yeah, I still dunno.

I was seeing events down to .5 or .3, and one dataset for "non-quake" events like mudslides - but that map seemed to rely on hand-entered data, and had no events from the past couple years.

I suspect that the map is generated from the data with automated filters such that it filters out events below a certain threshold (whether .5 or 3 or whatever the strength, depending on the map) or depth (since most quakes are Km deep, events near the surface would be filtered out.)

There is a query tool for the raw data, as I mentioned, but I don't have the capability to dig into it right now.

Either way, I have stopped following the political angle on the purported B2 strikes because it's impossible to find any informed commentary about it. Even the "liberal" and "left" sources want to debate whether Trump lied or whether Iran's capabilities were affected, and by how much if so. Not interested in that shit anymore. It's all kayfabe all the way down.

I understand. But it nags at me. I know the government lies to us constantly and the media is simply their mouthpiece, but how they lie can be informative (e.g. the DNA data from 9/11, missing obituaries from the Pulse nightclub, photographs/video from Boston Marathon).

Sometimes our questions really do cause them to react in one way or another, and that tells us something too. (There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that they monitor sites like this one, and probably actually operate others like ATS, GLP and 4chan.)

It's possible they tried to hide details in this case with those laughable, low quality images they initially released, but they felt forced to release more information.

Posted by: The Owl | Jun 27 2025 18:02 utc | 42

I agree Iran will rue the day it agreed to a ceasefire - as soon as the Zio-Nazi regime is replenished and rearmed, and more pro-Israeli saboteurs and spies infiltrate Iran, they will attack again - the Zionists cannot afford to have such a capable enemy in the region in Iran.

Would the Zionist launch nukes as a last resort - I think they would - they don't seem in the slightest bit fazed at committing genocide in Gaza - so nuking Iran wouldn't really bother them - also they don't give a toss about what the UN says, with regards to the utter persecution and slaughter of the Palestinian people - unknown points are would Trump allow them to nuke Iran? and if they did nuke Iran would the US, then vote against Israel at the UN - also would the world including European nations (not all) then turn against Israel for nuking Iran - and would another nuclear power then give nukes Iran, to do the same to Israel - so many possibilities.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 27 2025 18:03 utc | 43

the pessimist @ 26

NK managed to thread this needle

.

NK is right next door to SK, they could lob nukes into Seoul with trebuchets. If Iran bordered Israel they might have threaded the needle too, or have been nuked long ago. It's worth comparing the two, DPRK got the warheads first then progressively worked on the missiles, the easy delivery against ROK put them and USA in check for the long range missile development that followed. Iran did the opposite, developed a sophisticated conventional long range missile system first, but that can also carry nuke warheads.

This is why I think they already have nukes, or at least have the warheads built just needing the fissionable material to be installed. Anyway, Israel and the USA massively attacking them unprovoked just allowed Iran to domestically rationalized the negation of the fatwa against nukes, and internationally justify the abandonment of the NNPT, and banning the IAEA. Nice to watch the own goal by Trump and Netanyahu.

BTW I googled fatwa and got this:

A fatwa is a non-binding legal opinion or ruling on a point of Islamic law, issued by a qualified Islamic scholar (mufti). It's a response to a question posed by an individual, a judge, or a government, offering guidance on how Islamic law applies to a specific situation.

So, if the decree against nukes by Iran's religious leadership is actually a fatwa (I have no idea) seems to me that if the conditions change, the fatwa can change, IOW it's not written in stone by Allah's flaming hand.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 27 2025 18:08 utc | 44

Posted by: The Owl | Jun 27 2025 18:02 utc | 45

Whenever you have a chance - no rush at all on my side, I have stuff to do - could you share whatever you can in terms of the site and its settings? I also cannot devote any time to it right now either, but I would swear that it would not let be set the levels below 3, maybe 2 - definitely not down to decimal/tenths, at least on the seismic data page. Anyway I'll keep an eye out for your comments over the next week or two and thanks again.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 18:09 utc | 45

certainly not the outcome I expected if Iran accepted censitive, It can only be because it needed it. Likewise for Israel.

which is unfortunate for Iran. They had the moral high ground, an opportunity to truly punish and end Israeli aggression but they couldn't.

Israel will surely do it again.

Posted by: UWDude | Jun 27 2025 18:13 utc | 46

Israel has no allies – it uses whomever and whatever nation is can to further ITS goals.

““Israel is not an ally” of Britain, former UK ambassador Sir Richard Dalton has told Declassified in a wide-ranging interview.

He also warns that Britain’s Israel lobby is getting “stronger” and exerts “a very powerful force in our society” including over politicians and political parties.

In a discussion on the current conflicts in the Middle East, Dalton, who served as Britain’s top official in Tehran from 2003-06, said that the United States and Israel together constituted “a greater threat to the stability of the region than Iran”.

He added that prime minister Keir Starmer’s backing of Israeli and American air strikes on Iran this month does “a disservice to Britain, and a disservice to the cause of preserving international law as guidance for nations in their interactions with each other”.

Dalton told Declassified that the contention that Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear arms is “false” and that “no such threat existed”.”

https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-not-an-ally-says-former-british-ambassador/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 27 2025 18:13 utc | 47

Real or not "Israeli" nukes should be completely ignored, otherwise one has let oneself be blackmailed.

Like so many other things the "maybe-nukes" is not really an interesting topic, in my view.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 27 2025 18:14 utc | 48

censitive?

wtf autocorrect.

ceasefire. censitive isn't even a fucking word. but I see autocorrect thinks it is.

Posted by: UWDude | Jun 27 2025 18:15 utc | 49

Hmmm, isn't this truce the sort that the Septics tried to get in US-occupied Ukraine?

Posted by: Squeeth | Jun 27 2025 18:17 utc | 50

If China says to the Philippines, you are no longer allowed to send supplies to that old boat you beached on the disputed island, then the Chinese Navy and US Navy will be eyeball to eyeball. No missile interceptors will be given to CENTCOM from PACOM. Would that help Iran a lot?

Posted by: september | Jun 27 2025 18:20 utc | 51

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 27 2025 18:08 utc | 47

#######

For millions, it may as well be.

We have the Quran. Where something specific is not covered, Muslims rely on scholars to interpret how the Quran applies.

Fatwas are not issued casually or often. There will be people who will die to follow one, it's not like a statement by a Western politician. It has intellectual and spiritual weight.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 18:22 utc | 52

Posted by: Squeeth | Jun 27 2025 18:17 utc | 53

########

It is not a ceasefire. It is a "cessation of hostilities". It could end in a heartbeat. One attacks the other, and then there is a retaliation; it could be back to war in minutes.

And yes, NATO was trying to get something similar from the Russians.

I feel that Russia told Iran to take this respite to reorganize and plan. The damage done to Israel was substantial. The only thing the Iranians didn't do was crush the electrical grid. They no longer have a working container port. They can no longer process oil into diesel.

If hostilities continue, Iran can destroy Israel in 1 hour. No DPRK-style nukes (and the attendant escalation) required.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 18:31 utc | 53

I can't help thinking that Iran missed a golden opportunity to defuse the dispute with Wasrael.

Imo, when the Jewed-up Yankees announced that they'd Obliterated Iran's Peaceful Nuclear Program, Iran could have thrown a hissy fit and agreed that "the program is now totally ruined, you assholes!"

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 27 2025 18:33 utc | 54

A bombs as deterrence!

Trump blows up a few patches, allegedly with high failure rate, low mission reliability multi billion each B-2, then claim 0 (ZERO) meter accuracy for 12 MOP’s right down vent shafts….

A few dozen 100% accurate sequencing vectors.

What bought the ceasefire: IAF was loading A bombs..

Israel got nothing positive and had not lost enough, outside of the chance for a surface burst on Tehran

Posted by: paddy | Jun 27 2025 18:33 utc | 55

So apparently Netanyahu is the most celebrated 'cunning' world leader, e.g. pager explosions, to spiderweb, full on terrorism. Since they are too weak militarily against a bigger adversary.

What other cunning ideas might they be hatching? Expect the unexpected.

The next 'terrorism' in the planning stages, if not already to be deployed, would be using AGI to manipulate the masses in Iran (+Russia?), which provides the perfect context, or even the US (for support). Such an idea, of a deceptive set of realistic videos of the leaders, unleashed to an entire country, to distract your enemy.

There was already hacks into their news broadcasting networks to start an uprising, obviously not enough. So they have to go further. Even if it takes a few hours/days for it to be restored, small window of opportunity is all that is required to give Israel an upper hand for a decapitating strike. For all intents and purposes it never works as planned, but all you need to do is ferment 'chaos'.

Since Israel resorts to full-on terrorism and even acknowledges it to the international community with no repercussions. Many clues and evidence has been provided thus far.

Expect even worse things to come in the age of ML.

Posted by: RoB | Jun 27 2025 18:39 utc | 56

In response to my dear friend Tom,

There is no need for a deterrent. Russia's nuclear triad was attacked by NATO. Nukes aren't a deterrent when you're dealing with psychopaths. They do not care if billions die. They don't care that people are being genocided in real time and broadcast to the world.

The only way for Iran to avoid conflict is to make its opponents weak (as they have done) and to have heavyweight allies.

Threats of moral censure no longer work. Humanity, for better or worse, has "evolved" past those simple social levers.

Even reciprocal pain is less of a deterrent when the Western leadership will likely survive any nuclear holocaust, and still have steak for dinner. They don't care about muppet citizens in their "nation".

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 18:39 utc | 57

"Israel" will break the cessation of hostilities first. It's a guarantee. They will most likely start with further targeted assassinations just to throw the Iranians off-guard and provoke a salvo of missiles to "justify" (mainly to their own shellshocked population - those who remain) a new round of nightly air raid sirens and attacks on Iranian civilians.

The narrative is 180 degrees from the truth here in the west. Last night I had on NPR in the car on my way to the store (it was that, Tejano, Hip Hop or shitty canned country) and they had a panel of guests on a call in show "In the Middle with...." (forget the host's name) including General Breedlove from the USAF. It was insufferable, but I kept it on because why not. The USAF is infested with pro-Zionist evangelical Xtian rightwing bullshit from top to bottom. I've been to USAF contracting events including at Fort Collins, CO where the academy is. They're psuedo-Christian psychos steeped in Scofield Bible end-times Zio worshipping bullshit. Anyway, point is that "Iran is evil. Muslims want to destroy Israel. Iran must not have nukes. blah blah blah" - so the will is still and will always be here to attack them again, and to support "Israel" in doing so.

I hope Iran is ready. The Jews cannot be trusted or ignored.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 18:40 utc | 58

Times of Israel: "Katz told the news outlets that Israel maintained aerial superiority over Iran and was poised to strike again." WTF does that even mean? Air superiority in terms of manned fighter aircraft, for what that is worth? Simplicius pointed out that there is little evidence for Israeli jets going deep into Iranian airspace, that most of their attacks were done with a large attack drone, and that Iran had shot down a number of them in round 1.

So, if Israel wants to embark on round 2, it would likely start with another attempted decapitation strike, even less likely to succeed than the first one, as Iran is more prepared. And the Zionists have to know that Iran will resume missile bombing the snot out of Israeli cities, command nodes, energy infrastructure at a level that exceeds that first round. It won't take much before the people in Tel Aviv, etc begin to totally freak out and turn against their leaders. Any government with a whiff of common sense would see that the upside is small and improbable, while the downside is large and likely. But then, we're talking about the Nuttinyahoo regime here.

"The Iranians have an outstanding order for SU-35 jets from Russia and have been training pilots for several years. Not sure what, if any, arrangements they have with the Chinese. Russia may have some difficulty fulfilling the order given their ongoing SMO operation and the requirements for it.

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 27 2025 17:17 utc | 20"

This morning on Ruslan Below's channel he put up a screenshot of an article talking about this. Apparently the SU35's may be slow in coming as Russia wants to build up its own defenses, but Iran may purchase China's gen 4+ fighter that performed well in the India-Pakistan dustup, shooting down several Rafael fighters. I'd guess that a number of them are available for quick purchase, as it's an export version.

Posted by: Mike R | Jun 27 2025 18:42 utc | 59

On a plus.
These latest hostility by US against Iran, has shown americas hand of cards.
The delemar Iran has is.. how to stop an armarder of US bombers, fuiling tankers and acompning fighter jets, blanket bombing Irans citys.
That was the messeage. I hope Iran has the answer.
It will be harder next time than the last.

Never let a bully get back on his feet.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 27 2025 18:44 utc | 60

Posted by: RoB | Jun 27 2025 18:39 utc | 59

On the pager attacks, it's another way that "Israel" and the US have totally destroyed even the pretense of security, security theater and whatever was left of "international law" or norms.

Because it's important, and because the relevant parts are buried under Cory Doctorow's usual excessive blathering [in which he buries his frequent good points]:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/06/shoenabombers/#paging-dick-cheney

Excerpt:

On September 17, the Israeli military assassinated 12 people in Lebanon and wounded 2,800 more by blowing up their pagers and two-way radios whose batteries had been gimmicked with pouches of PETN, a powerful explosive. This is a devastating attack, because we carry a ton of battery-equipped gadgets around with us, and most of them are networked and filled with programmable electronics, so they can be detonated based on a variety of circumstances – physical location, a specific time, or a remote signal.

What's more, PETN-gimmicked batteries are super easy to make and effectively impossible to detect. In a breakdown published a few days after the attack, legendary hardware hacker Andrew "bunnie" Huang described the hellmouth that had just been opened:

https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2024/turning-everyday-gadgets-into-bombs-is-a-bad-idea/

The battery in your phone, your laptop, your tablet, and your power-bank is a "lithium pouch battery." These are manufactured all over the world, and you don't need a large or sophisticated factory to make one. It would be effectively impossible to control the manufacture of these batteries. You can make batteries in "R&D quantities" for about $50,000. Alibaba will sell you a full, turnkey "pouch cell assembly line" for about $10,000. More reputable vendors want as little as $15,000.

A pouch cell is composed of layers of "cathode and anode foils between a polymer separator that is folded many times." After a machine does all this folding, the battery is laminated into a pouch made of aluminum foil, which is then cleaned up, labeled, and flushed into the global supply chain.

To make a battery bomb, you mix PETN "with binders to create a screen-printed sheet" that's folded and inserted into the battery, in such a way as to produce a shaped charge that "concentrat[es] the shock wave in an area, effectively turning the case around the device into a small fragmentation grenade."

Doing so will reduce the capacity of the battery by about 10% or less, which is within the normal variations we see in batteries. If you're worried about getting caught by someone who's measuring battery capacity, you can add an extra explosive sheet to the battery's interior, increasing the thickness of a 10-sheet battery by 10%, which is within the tolerance for normal swelling.

Once the explosive is laminated inside its (carefully cleaned) aluminum pouch, there's no way to detect the chemical signature of the PETN. The pouch seals that all in. The PETN and other components of the battery are too similar to one another to be detected with X-ray fluorescence, and the multi-layer construction of a battery also foils attempts to peer inside it with Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy.

According to bunnie, there are no ways to detect a battery bomb through visual inspection, surface analysis or X-rays. You can't spot it by measuring capacity or impedance with electromechanical impedance spectroscopy. You could spot it with a high-end CT scan – a half-million dollar machine that takes about 30 minutes for each scan. You might be able to spot it with ultrasound.

Lithium batteries have "protection circuit modules" – a small circuit board with a chip that helps with the orderly functioning of the battery. To use one of these to detonate a PETN-equipped battery, you'd only have to make a small, board-level rewiring, which could deliver a charge via a "third wire" – the NTC temperature sensor that's standard in batteries.

Bunnie gets into a lot more detail in his post. It's frankly terrifying, because it's hard to read this without concluding that, indeed, any battery in any gadget could actually be a powerful, undetectable bomb. What's more, supply chain security sucks and bunnie runs down several ways you could get these batteries into your target's gadget. These range from the nefarious to the brute simple: "buy a bunch of items from Amazon, swap out the batteries, restore the packaging and seals, and return the goods to the warehouse."

Bunnie's point is that, having shown the world that battery bombs are possible, the Israelis have opened the hellmouth. They were the first ones to do this, but they won't be the last. We need to figure out something before "the front line of every conflict [is brought] into your pocket, purse or home."

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 18:44 utc | 61

Posted by: Spark | Jun 27 2025 17:25 utc | 25
One thing that is unclear to me is where Israel's jets were operating from. As the Israeli bases were heavily bombed it is not likely they used their own bases.

I read Cypress however there would have been large amounts of video from Cypress of the jets flying in and out that I haven't seen.

Most likely they operated out of the US controlled bases in Iraq? Can this be known with certainty?

I saw videos of Israeli drop fuel tanks from F15s washing up on the Iranian shores of the Caspian Sea. Speculated attacks were launched from Azerbaijan or flight over Turkey and Azerbaijan for raids on Tehran.

Posted by: joedontsurf | Jun 27 2025 18:46 utc | 62

This might take some of you back.
The lyrics are still apt today, perhaps more so.
The Eve Of Destruction sung by Barry Mcguire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZVu0alU0I

Posted by: simon crow | Jun 27 2025 18:52 utc | 63

@English Outsider #34:

'What Gertrude Bell did say when she heard of the Balfour Declaration was "It's like a nightmare in which you foresee all the horrible things which are going to happen and can't stretch out your hand to prevent them."'

Where did she say this?

@ Tom_Q_Collins #24:

This is a recruiting drive for those they can turn.

Posted by: Slocum River | Jun 27 2025 18:53 utc | 64

Latest from Caitlin:

Within the storytelling of western politics and punditry there exists a fictional type of mental illness which only affects people the US empire doesn’t like.

If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, its crazy lunatic government will flip out and nuke us all.

Watch out for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, those guys are a bunch of maniacal antisemites who want to attack Israelis just because they’re Jewish.

Oh no, Putin is invading Ukraine completely unprovoked because he’s a madman who hates freedom and won’t stop until he’s conquered all of Europe.

China is building up its military because the megalomaniacal Xi Jinping wants to take over the world; all those US military bases surrounding China are just a defensive measure to contain Beijing’s insanity.

Assad just went nuts one day and started slaughtering his own people out of nowhere.

Gaddafi is a sexual sadist who’s giving Viagra to his troops to help them commit mass rapes in Libya.

Saddam Hussein is so crazy and evil he’s trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction to give Americans another 9/11.

The North Koreans used to be far too insane to be allowed to have nuclear weapons because they’d nuke San Francisco immediately, but after they obtained nuclear weapons they were miraculously cured of this rare psychological disorder.

The stories of the western empire ask us to believe that everyone who finds themselves in the imperial crosshairs is an irrational actor whose loony behavior can only be attributed to some uncontrollable defect within their own minds, or who will soon snap and do something nutty if they are not contained by force.

One antagonist who never appears in these fairy tales of the western empire is the western empire itself. . .

https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-fictional-mental-illness-that

Posted by: Mike R | Jun 27 2025 19:00 utc | 65

This is a recruiting drive for those they can turn.

Posted by: Slocum River | Jun 27 2025 18:53 utc | 67

I dunno - 70 year old Christian women who haven't been to Iran since the Revolution? Not exactly high value assets for the regime change intelligence game.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 19:03 utc | 66

Posted by: RoB | Jun 27 2025 18:39 utc | 59

Just to add a small (not new) concept snippet,

The same way many studios, content creators are providing 'G....E' with enormous amount of data models to train the 'machine' whether its infringing on copyright laws, acknowledgement, danger to humanity is not relevant.

All this data is fully exposed and public to be taken advantage, abused of by any 'terrorist' country or organization.

It's a bonanza... I'd go as far as to calculate that perhaps ML may even kill social media.

Posted by: RoB | Jun 27 2025 19:05 utc | 67

@English Outsider | Jun 27 2025 17:45 utc

EO: I also watched the Alex Krainer vid, and I think:

a. Alex has also internalized the Trump "watch what he does, not what he says" theme, and
b. He's not taken his own advice quite far enough

The geo-politics of Empire haven't run their course yet. Yes, the Empire (west-Asia front, e.g. Israel) got punched hard, but these people are extremely tough and very determined, and have centuries of deception, cunning and deep malignancy to draw upon. Rulers of empires are ruthless.

At least Alex Krainer acknowledged that:

a. Trump was all on-board the Iran attack - crowed about it in early days - until it went sour.
b. Trump blustered about all-out attack on Iran for several days until it was obvious that Israel was getting its clock cleaned, and _then_ he ordered the flotilla of bombers into place
c. That's when the Empire sued for peace, using the fake-attack and fake-counter-attack ruse

But this isn't "OK, now we're in multipolar world, let's make a deal" territory, as Alex Krainer asserts. No, indeed.

This is re-group, start spinning up the tools for the next major strategy ... on both sides.

As I said earlier, and I'll repeat here: the game now is "how fast and well can you adapt to what just happened". Others have made a good list of what Iran needs to do, and Iran has a much better list of its own. No doubt that's well underway.

And Israel has its own list, and so does the legion Israel-firster that populate the USG, and the U.S. society at large. They won't be hurting for resources.

Recall EO, your point about the degree of influence Israel has in the U.K. Well, I'd bet its way worse in the U.S., and the U.S. has a very big checkbook.

====
OK. Let's assume I'm wrong about all the foregoing: what would be the "tell"?

Here's what to look for:

a. How much new munitions are being funneled into Israel from the West
b. How many of the flotilla of warplanes in-theater have been withdrawn
c. How much money does U.S. Congress allocate to Israel for replenishment / repair
d. How does Israel treat Netanyahu?
e. Do the gulf states begin shutting down / removing the U.S. bases?
f. What happens in Iraq? Whose gear gets positioned there?
g. When do the ships that left Bahrain's US Navy base return? (when is the coast clear?)
h. What do the Yemenis do?
i. Does the Gaza extermination continue? If it does, that signals that Israel - leaders and citizens alike, are absolutely committed to continued war. In my opinion, this is most telling of the tells.

The olive branches that Trump offered Iran are trivial:

Trump: "You can now ship oil to China". Iran: We've been shipping oil to China for a while now, as you already know"

Trump: "Gee, ya got a lot of oil and a lotta smart people. You're positioned to do very well!" Iran: "OK, Mr. Trump, you are just now discovering that? What was your attitude about us 15 days ago, before the surprise attack by Israel ... which happened _while we were negotiating with you_"

This interregnum is not credible. It's the break between rounds, and as soon as Israel thinks it can start again, it will.

People are letting their own goodwill and high character interfere with their accurate assessment of Israel / Western Empire Operations.

I note the new piece by BK Brahmakumar; it's another "OH, Trump the wizard has brilliantly opened a new chapter for humankind. We're saved!".

I love BK. He's terrific. He's hopeful, and as a diplomat, he's trained to reinforce (reward) behaviors that lead in the direction he wants to go.

But India has a lot of experience with Empire operations. Do you remember what they were like, BK? I'm sure you do. Are you sure you want to trust these people with your future again?

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Jun 27 2025 19:15 utc | 68

TQC #64: it’s a whole new world isn’t it? Explosive pagers (and frankly any device with LI battery), drones released locally by spies and thus unstoppable by anti air, etc. … coming soon, mini drones controlled by AI locally launched and unstoppable assassinations (one of them gets through and blows up the targets head).

Do the PTB realize that all these tools and more are game changers in terms of allowing the small and weak to punch way way above their weight and that NO ONE including themselves will be safe at all anywhere? That what happened to that United Health CEO can and will happen to them repeatedly? Do they realize the implications of Israel opening the gates of hell?

Posted by: Caliman | Jun 27 2025 19:18 utc | 69

Posted by: Figleaf23 | Jun 27 2025 16:45 utc | 3

Excellent summary. Thank you Figleaf

Posted by: Samu | Jun 27 2025 19:19 utc | 70

"I agree with the questioning of Iran stopping before the genocide of Palestinians stops but we don't see"Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 27 2025 16:48 utc | 4

You agreeing with something b never stated.

Posted by: Laurence | Jun 27 2025 19:24 utc | 71

Posted by: Figleaf23 | Jun 27 2025 16:45 utc | 3

Thank you for the nice summary. It's close to how I see the Iran war at the moment. Because nobody else replied to you, let me do it:

Therefore out of fear Israel categorizes Iran as an "existential threat".

This makes it sound as if "Israel" had its own emotions. I believe most here agree that Iran wouldn't attack Israel first, so the "existential threat" is just propaganda. But it still makes sense:

1. It fits with US strategy. ("Seven countries in five years" -- only Iran missing!)
2. No other reasonable targets to sell to domestic (Israeli) population.
3. It builds on Ahmadinejad's intentionally misinterpreted statements about Israel. (This is propaganda for consumption inside the West and Israel).

America is strong but dumb.

Looks like it but I believe much of the recent history is explained by US weakness. In absolute terms, the country is strong and can project a lot of military force with its >800 bases. But in relative terms, it's losing badly against the East.

So I don't think that "dumb" explains the behavior of the USA. As I've written here before, the Israel-Iran war was unique (among Western wars) in that Israel people (=zionists) matter for USA politics, unlike properly brown people or Ukrainians or, I guess, EUropeans. In this position, exactly as you've explained, the USA / Team Trump way out was not dumb but effective.

The Final Tally

Iran lost some important people, and billions of dollars of equipment and infrastructure. It gained an evident military victory over Israel, and freedom from the false accusations about a weapons program.

All true. I think Iran got more: recognition for perservering through a tough and unexpected attack which will make support from Eastern allies more likely and reliable.

Iran's leaving NPT could become more relevant than seems now: over time, all Western / global institutions such as IAEA are going to be seen as trustless / treacherous by the East. There is a need to remake those institutions, and I hope that the 12 days war speeds up the process.

Posted by: Konami | Jun 27 2025 19:26 utc | 72

The narrative is 180 degrees from the truth here in the west.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 27 2025 18:40 utc | 61

we here in germany not only have to suffer trough non-stop propaganda, but now they are also openly showing "documentaries" about mossad, and how they do their "glorious" terrorist activities.
i was tempted to file a terrorism complaint, but then i remembered that germany is in on that spiel, and that our family is leaving anyways, so who cares.

Posted by: Justpassinby | Jun 27 2025 19:28 utc | 73

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 27 2025 18:03 utc | 46

Yes, the critical issue involves whether or not Israel is or was going to go nuclear in a war with Iran. The answer is, yes, they would and may still do so. Israel is both actually insane and also wants to be seen as insane. They are about as pure Nazis as that term implies--the difference with the 30s version is that nearly all Israelis believe that they have a right and duty to kill anyone they don't like. Their actions in Gaza show the West's total disregard of all the alleged lessons we, in the West, should have learned from the Nazi period in Europe. We can say the West is totally morally bankrupt going as it was back in the age of the Crusades.

I think Trump genuinely does not want a nuclear war initiated by the Israelis and genuinely does not want war in general. Whereas, the other parts of the Western Empire all want war because it gives them the opportunity to impose severe authoritarian rule over their (now) subjects. Yes, they want to "weaken" Russia/China/Iran but not enough to not be a credible "threat" in the Orwellian manner--in fact, that is our future as planned by much of the Western oligarchs but, thankfully, not as many of US based oligarchs--there is, I believe, a change in the US oligarchy still dominated by the neoconservatives but not as much as it was just a few years ago.

Iran failed to take the threats on them seriously and fails to understand that there is absolutely no way out of a long-term war with Israel. The quicker they acquire a nuclear deterrence the better for all of us.

Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Jun 27 2025 19:31 utc | 74

6 months ago, bribed Syrian generals shut down any SAA response to the movement of a motley crew of jihadists out of Idlib.
While the rest of the world watched in horror, the motley crew moved unopposed into Damascus. Assad fled and the al Qaeda/ISIS leader proclaimed himself president of Syria.
In response, the US removed the $10 million bounty on his head. Mission Accomplished.

It seems clear to me that Israel thought they could do the same thing in Iran. Generals bribed, top leaders assassinated, Khamenei targeted, sleeper cells activated, AD shut down, Shock and Awe commenced.

But it turns out that Iran is more like Russia than Syria. Remember that the plan in Ukraine was also for regime change, in Russia, but it didn't work out for them. But they haven't stopped, notice.

And then, for the first time, Iran struck back! And they destroyed so many important Israeli targets that the regime had to impose strict censorship to keep the photos from getting out. Plus, they had to put a ban on Israelis leaving the country.

But Israel kept attacking civilian targets in Iran, and the chances were high that at some point they would blow their wad with a nuclear bomb. Iran didn't want to continue the carnage.

To stop the whole thing, the US put on a show, bombing targets in Iran and declaring Mission Accomplished.

Only neocons, the Deep State (using the Defense Dept leak and the mockingbird media), and of course, TDS sufferers see any point in insisting the Iran's nuclear program has not been destroyed.

Iran is now going along with it. They are smarter than TDS sufferers. Let me spell it out (as Norwegian already did), if Iran's nuclear program is the figleaf used to attack it, those who want to cripple further attacks will nod along politely and say "Yes, you identify as a nuclear bomb destroyer. I totally agree with you. What pronouns do you prefer?"

I agree with Brian Berletic and Alex Krainer that Israel is a proxy for the US and their aims. The US hit peak oil in the 70s, about the same time they set up the petrodollar system, which allows them to enjoy what Michael Hudson calls super imperialism, the control of the world through the world's most needed commodity. Every country with industry and ICE transportation needs oil, and the US having control of the petrodollar allows them to force compliance and extract other resources and exploit labor all over the world.
Ignore the propaganda telling you that the US is self-sufficient in oil. It is not. Those are the same media telling you that Russia is losing, and Iran wants a bomb to bomb New York. They are lying.

The US will not stop. They never stop. If Israel loses ability or enthusiasm for going up against Iran again, they will find another proxy.

And do not forget China. The US openly and loudly proclaims that China is their main enemy, and will be knee-capped, no matter what it takes.

Overthrowing the Iranian government and putting in another puppet will be a great blow to China's Belt and Road Initiative, which recently opened a railway line from China to Iran.

This isn't over, but whether or not Israel is up for another round is debatable. Personally, I don't think it is. I think the US will come up with another way to destroy Iran, and I have no doubt that the think tanks are already working on it.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Jun 27 2025 19:42 utc | 75

There is some glaring stupidity in this world, even amongst the most highly educated ones. What people almost universally fail to understand ad infinitum is that all these US designed/operated apps and computers are the very eyes and ears of the US empire. The few exceptions in regards to this strategic fail are Russia to a certain extend, North Korea and most certainly China. If you don't have strategic information security, every single exploitable weaknesses lays bare to your opponent that literally wants to destroy you. The USIS attacks of the "12 day war" were mostly done using large drones that took off from occupied Palestine, stand off missiles and micro drones launched by local Mossad/CIA assets. They knew exactly where to strike at what time and how because Iran's information space isn't even a Swiss cheese, it's one big hole.

Iran failed to learn, even after the decapitation of Hezbollah.

The following Reddit thread demonstrates the problem:

https://www.reddit.com/r/iran/comments/1fuujkz/app_for_navigation_reviews/

App for navigation & reviews

Salaam I want to know what app does everyone for navigation and to pinpoint specific locations and read reviews on restaurants similar to Google maps/Apple maps?

I want to add locations onto Google maps but even when I write in farsi it doesn't come up, which makes me wonder if there's a different app the locals use that's similar to Google maps.

If anyone could help it would be really appreciated:)

md328ci 9mo ago
Most people in Iran use Google Maps

arinnamur 9mo ago
Try Waze, I always use it and it does support Farsi, it doesn’t have the review writing and reading ability however

The son of one of the assassinated IRGC generals (Amir Ali Hajizadeh) posted on his Instagram that his father had died. As always my first thought was: 'On Instagram? Is this absurd news message fake because an IRGC general letting the people close to him on Zuckerberg's Instagram?? Instagram is operable in Iran??'

Waze, specifically designed to track any person, is Israeli. Google is a CIA contractor just like Amazon, Meta, ... .

It's beyond doubt that USIS will have another try, ASAP, in destroying the current Iranian leadership + defense capabilities. Let's hope Iran can more adequately respond this time but also is willing to achieve at least a base level of information security. Shutting down GPS is but a tiny drop.

Posted by: xor | Jun 27 2025 19:50 utc | 76

"Iran has ended all cooperation with the IAEA. The eyes and ears of western intelligence on the ground in Iran are no longer there"

the best thing that Iran has done post 12-day war.

https://x.com/ejmalrai/status/1938682522944127454
Elijah J. Magnier 🇪🇺 @ejmalrai

Israel and the US are angry because Iran blinded them by closing the door of access to @rafaelmgrossi, their eyes and ears and access to Iran's nuclear sites.

Posted by: michaelj72 | Jun 27 2025 19:52 utc | 77

but we don't see the bigger picture that includes the totally kabuki Iran nuke sites/US-Qatar air base

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 27 2025 16:48 utc | 4

Kabuki or not, Iran's attack on the US/Qatar air base cost US big money and drained interceptor stocks.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/symbolic-iran-missile-attack-on-us-base-required-largest-patriot-missile-engagement-to-repel/

Posted by: Sticker | Jun 27 2025 19:54 utc | 78

They Have Not Only Been After Iran's Oil, But Entire
Middle East For Quite Some Time - Not Giving Up!

In 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu wrote a book called 'Fighting
Terrorism' where he listed 7 countries that needed 'Regime
Change' to 'Secure Israel'. Those countries were Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.

In 2001, This is a memo that describes how we’re going to
take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and - Finishing
off, Iran.” Gen W. Clark

Iran Only Country Left - Zionist Israel Controls Middle East Oil.
Going For The 'Black' Gold (Oil) - Because There's No
Gold In Fort Knox - N0 Audits.!

Israel Is An Aircraft Carrier/Beach Head in the Middle
East For NATO - Robert F. Kennedy Jr

Post-Bush/Cheney Patriot Act (2001) + Post-Obama/Biden
NDAA (2011) = UniParty Warmonger$$$

Posted by: JohnF | Jun 27 2025 19:59 utc | 79

78 - This is a personal anecdote reporting what one individual thought.
A friend of mine from Turkey reacted to Syria's collapse by saying that Iran was next and he did not expect them to withstand the attack that was coming. He is an intelligent, somewhat cynical man (sometimes we play chess when he drops by). He detests Erdoğan and supports the official parliamentary opposition in Turkey, the CHP. I have not encountered him during and after the Iran-Israel-US fighting so I don't know if that has changed his viewpoint any.

Posted by: Waldorf | Jun 27 2025 20:04 utc | 80

Brilliant article, b! I've read it 3 times!
Today, the US gave a more indepth account of the bombing of Fordrow. They went into explicit detail about how and where the bunker busters bombs were dropped and into what: ventilation shafts. They said they dropped more than one into each and that Iran has capped those vents with a cement cap, which the US destroyed, THEY said.
I think it's very smart of Iran to get the IAEA SPIES out of the country. This will have been a BIG mistake for Trump and Israhell because now they will only be able to GUESS where Iran's uranium and centrifuges are.

God, I can't stand that entity and the US morons. Orange Jesus will regret this tho. I hope you write more about this,b!

Posted by: Kay | Jun 27 2025 20:06 utc | 81

"Katz: “The main point is that the policy of the State of Israel and the government of Israel is to implement enforcement actions against Iran.”

Enforcement?
The idea of the rogue and criminal state of Israel "enforcing" anything at all is ludicrous. Has Katz taken over from those who oversee the NPT?

I think the ROW and even some in "the world--non "rest" chapter" are hoping that Iran will end up enforcing a few things in Israel.

However, having listened last night to Brian Berletic's explanations of the cautious road Iran is currently treading and the reasons it needs to do so, I can see that, as discouraging as it is to contemplate this, it might be futile and even counterproductive for Iran to take actions to lift the siege of Gaza at this point. Although I still hope to see a few bombs or drones breach the Gaza Wall . . .

Meanwhile, here again, from the previous thread, is the information that Mary provided to explain how a couple of charities can get food to Gazans:

"The contacts outside of Palestine are family members who were in the US & Europe before 10/7. So they have direct contacts inside Gaza. The fundraisers I have focussed on have established teams of friends & family inside Gaza.

Obviously I can't prove any is not a fraud, but these larger ones seem well organized, & one was recently interviewed on PBS.

From what I can glean, the blockade is not complete. Even UNRWA is still operating at some level. There also are farms outside of the cities that still produce. Even abandoned farms can have perennials, plus annuals & biennials that self-sow. (Something I know for a fact from direct experience in my garden). I have read descriptions of team members scouring the countryside for food.

I expect that Hamas tunnels do not end at the Gaza border, in which case they would have contacts outside of Gaza. Hamas also supposedly had a couple years of food stores, fuel & water wells in their tunnels. They knew what was coming & their civil side was responsible for aid distribution.

So food is scarce, but still available for a price. The people they are feeding have lost everything, so have no money to purchase any that is still available.

Here is one fund raiser description:

"You may wonder why these individuals can accomplish something that few have managed to do in the heart of starvation in Gaza. That would be a fair question.
First, Bait Lahia has some farms where veggies and wild greens are now in season.
We made sure they had the money to purchase these hard-to-find items.
Additionally, they are located in the heart of the market, so they can easily spot any of these veggies and cooking essentials arriving at the market.
They have also visited farms close to the Green Line to find veggies and have been lucky a few times. Once, they purchased overgrown zucchinis that should have been picked weeks ago.
Mom and my sisters lovingly wake up early to peel and prep the food for the day's meals."

Here are the links:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Hot-meals-in-gaza-daily

https://www.gofundme.com/f/wefeedgaza

Posted by: Jane | Jun 27 2025 20:07 utc | 82

Iran all along said they would give Israel a ‘slap’ for their illegal attack. They did, and an expensive and sobering one it was.

I dont think Israel will try any more of this for the time being, and now that Grossi’s spy job, supplying the names and addresses of Iranian scientists has been abruptly halted that avenue will be closed too.

Posted by: Bill B | Jun 27 2025 20:08 utc | 83

One after the other, buying time, making empty statements, fake condemnations, covering for genocide and full out war.

Posted by: Tom | Jun 27 2025 20:09 utc | 84

A lot of MOA posters yelled NUCLEAR WEAPONS before and during the war. I don't put a lot of effort into sorting out who says what in this forum but many of those are still around. Not happy that the nukes didn't fly, oh no. They're yelling here and today: NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

Posted by: Konami | Jun 27 2025 20:30 utc | 85

I suppose that hitting the ventilation shaft is bulshitting.

You don't bury an installation under a mountain and let it vulnerable with vertical ventilation shaft.

This seems from the plot of the death star destruction in star wars.

Another stinking point is the alleged declaration of a light brighter than the sun for a weapon that is supposed to detonate a relatively small charge 80 meters deep in the ground from a small hole while flying 30000+ feet.

For Isreal and Iran position it all depends on what is actually present in the west inventories to replenish the usrael AD. It appears that they used quite a lot of interceptors, Israel arrows, thaad and possibly aegis.

Posted by: Mario | Jun 27 2025 20:33 utc | 86

"A scant two decades". Queen Victoria became Empress of India in 1876. I suppose it was felt that anyone who was anybody at that time had emperors and empresses so it was about time we did. One of Disraeli's less successful PR stunts.

Posted by: English Outsider | Jun 27 2025 17:45 utc | 34
===============

Someone had to take over and end the disastrous "reign" of the EIC, which was costing England a bundle. Since India already had plenty of kings and princes, it probably was logical to make Victoria the empress of all.

Posted by: Jane | Jun 27 2025 20:33 utc | 87

Thanks Justin @ 5 and ableman @ 12

I agree with the need to get AD back up and clean house. I also note that Iran has demanded explanation from Azerbaijan re Israeli aerial attack routes.

I, like many others had hoped Iran dealt the knockout blow. However, it was apparent that its ability to launch missiles from the Western and Central parts of Iran were subjected to retaliatory fire and getting riskier.

Unless Iran is determined to attack foreign airbases hosting Israeli planes wherever they were, Iran will not be able to clip the Entity's wings. I wonder if the attack on the US base in Qatar was that message.

That false flag planned attack in US is probably MEK/Israeli/Deep State actors.

Lastly, I wonder if there is a link with Iran specifically targeting Biological Centres to the Biological warfare laboratories in Ukraine and the assassination of Russian Lt General Igor Kirilov.

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/major-israeli-research-institute-loses-around-45-labs-to-iranian-missile-strike/4021733.article

Posted by: Suresh | Jun 27 2025 20:39 utc | 88

It'll be like Hezbollah. Iran will be struck as targets present themselves to Israel. Iran lost the war although it wasn't one sided. That needs to be recognized by the anti western fan boys here. No adaptation will be successful if one willfully ignores what happened. Certainly Iran will try to rebuild but it's long hard road to building successful defense systems. Its missle reserves couldn't be used to full effect and it was hideously vulnerable to Israeli attacks which will continue with assinations, sabotage and occasional long range strikes.

If you were a nerdy physicist in Iran would you volunteer for the nuclear program? It's like asking the big bang characters to work on the line of combat. Iran could've held on inflicting some damage but their power, civilian support systems everything would've been hit. We all know israel recognizes no limits on its actions. If you were in charge would you fight on when your children were dying of cholera?

For what? PR points for the occasional strike in tel Aviv?

Iran is weak, decades of economic strangulation have had their effects. Their only hope is to actually build the bomb and demonstrate it on their hypersonic missles. Getting there though will force them out of the mountains and Isreal will strike when that happens.sabotaging the industrial facilities necessary, assassinating valuable personnel and attacking the exits from the mountains can do this.

And whatever other devilry israel can devise we can't imagine yet. Nobody helped Iran because nobody wants to be next. Russia had a massive military and cultural resilience and almost died and the issue isnt over yet.Weaker nations have next to no hope.

Until you realize this you will continue to be surprised by what happens.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Jun 27 2025 20:40 utc | 89

Posted by: Konami | Jun 27 2025 20:30 utc | 89

########

My friend Arch was one, but that's just who he is. To him, annihilation is a suitable punishment for many crimes. As time goes on, I am tempted to agree.

Nukes are not necessary when there are thousands of other options, not least of which are leveraging time and geography.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 20:45 utc | 90

Bell was a remarkable individual deserving of great respect---then and now.

And she was respected, because she was the only Westerner in pretty much the whole ME who spoke Arabic, who had actually traversed Arabia on a camel and met with the various sheiks and tribal leaders (who respected her), ditto knowing all the players jockeying for position in the lead-up to and after WWI; who genuinely wanted to help the Arabs free themselves of the Ottoman yoke and realize their national ambitions; was appalled at the duplicity of the British; grasped the significance of the discovery of oil in Mesopotamia; and more.
Bell was physically quite fearless.
An excellent bio is Janet Wallach's "Desert Queen" (forget Nicole Kidman). Readers might be surprised at Bell's solo mountaineering in the Alps and the Rocky Mountains.
It has lots of photos of Bell's life in England, then in Arabia, then in Syria, also in Egypt, where Lawrence and others sought her input and advice.
I think I might just reread it.

Posted by: Jane | Jun 27 2025 20:49 utc | 91

Posted by: Suresh | Jun 27 2025 20:39 utc | 92

#######

Pakistan's armaments are mostly Chinese. Apparently, Iran is looking at their AD complexes.

This one in particular
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HQ-16

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 27 2025 20:49 utc | 92

b, I think you've got it all wrong. Israel is the US' attack dog,the objective is China, Iran is the obstacle to this, so this was just round one and yes, Iran will probably regret not finishing off the job they started, Iran could have deindustrialised Israel but for a number of reasons, chose not to, partially moral/ethical and perhaps concerns about what the US/EU would have done in response.

Posted by: Barofsky | Jun 27 2025 20:51 utc | 93

Middle East Spectator – MES
—❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇷 U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman in a statement to Congress:

'We did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of the largest underground nuclear facilities in Isfahan because the site is so deep that the munitions may not have been effective.'

Posted by: Mario | Jun 27 2025 20:55 utc | 94

@Figleaf23 | Jun 27 2025 16:45 utc | 3

“So a key part of the plan is to shut down the AD using a radio-inserted software virus to be delivered by Israeli experts working on site with fifth column elements in Iran.”

Were could one read about this “radio inserted software virus”? Sounds very wild on a technical level.

A friend of mines lost somebody in a Israeli strike on Teheran. She had a nervous breakdown over it.
She can not go home for lets say “legal” reasons.
She wont be able to go to the funeral and internet connection is really bumpy still. Probably will stay like this for a wile.

We are almost on the other side of the world but felt the impact of strikes.

This thing is not over.

Posted by: El.Lissitzky | Jun 27 2025 20:59 utc | 95

It's beyond doubt that USIS will have another try, ASAP, in destroying the current Iranian leadership + defense capabilities. Let's hope Iran can more adequately respond this time but also is willing to achieve at least a base level of information security. Shutting down GPS is but a tiny drop.

Posted by: xor | Jun 27 2025 19:50 utc | 79

Thanks for bringing up this subject. Iran has banned Whatsapp but clearly this is not enough. I think China's Firewall was a subject Hua Bin touched on his Substack articles as an example of Western tech being used for malignant purposes.

Boris Rigozhin (Colonel Cassad fame) on his Live Journal account brought up the Iranian ban as an example, (this known CIA app was still available in Russia) and question the authorities' lack of proper countermeasures.

Most of Iranian leadership were very elderly and well past the compulsory retirement age. My understanding is these positions in most parts are a figurehead type position. The real work is done by younger up and coming figures whose remain in the background.

Hopefully this now becomes SOP in Iran.

Posted by: Suresh | Jun 27 2025 21:05 utc | 96

If Iran rearms with non-domestic weapons, they would be wise to skip Russian systems and go strictly with Chinese ones. Two reasons: First is that China has the production capacity to actually deliver what they promise and Russia does not. Second and most importantly, Russian systems are proven worthless against anything, even just drones, piloted by Americans/Israelis (same thing). Since Iran is confronted by the US and the zionists, why waste time and money on Russian systems that mysteriously but consistently fail to do anything against those specific opponents?

No, Iran should shitcan Russian systems and partner with the Chinese instead. They need systems they can actually use against American and zionist aircraft and drones.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 27 2025 21:08 utc | 97

Sunny Runny Burger @ 51

Like so many other things the "maybe-nukes" is not really an interesting topic, in my view.

Discussions of using nukes are stupid, discussions of protecting yourself from nukes are geo-strategic and are interesting, not to mention fascinating that humanity has got itself at this impasse. I should say morbidly fascinating, there seems to be a real Dr. Strangelove strange love among militaries and politicians with their nukes, maybe LoveDonbass is right and Iran doesn't want to share in this autoerotic asphyxiation pleasure. Israel is already up on the wobbly chair, noose around the neck, wanking frantically.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 27 2025 21:12 utc | 98

Iran failed to take the threats on them seriously and fails to understand that there is absolutely no way out of a long-term war with Israel. The quicker they acquire a nuclear deterrence the better for all of us.

Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Jun 27 2025 19:31 utc | 77

The quicker you et al learn that there can never be nuclear deterrence for Iran against Israel `the better for all of us.'

Posted by: Laurence | Jun 27 2025 21:12 utc | 99

The Iran's nuclear program is an excuse. Everyone knows that Iran has an atomic weapon because if not, Israel and the U.S. would be obliterated Persia.

All of them know that tactical weapons, beyond 1 kt, will be use in pinpoint targets all over the ME, in the next 6 months to a year.

Now, it's the time. We are living in a World of increased conflict.

All the collective agents are struggling.

Some of they, gonna crush.

The Pax Americana is conscious that its time is over. The elites try to minimize the effects of the inertial moment.

There's a focus in China, because if the Muricans are unable to stop China, they are done. As always, when a collective agent, a country, surpass the US, with a fair trade, the bully disrupt.

That's why, in this World of Freedom, hates America.

Posted by: Esophagus | Jun 27 2025 21:14 utc | 100