Anyway – it’s the star of a red letter week I feel.
 
Sticking with Iran as it’s the Iran thread regardless of the attempted derailment – Marandi is now being cited as official media team apparently. 
Better pay more attention to him then.
 
He has destroyed Piss Moron, the dirtydiggers little pet, so often that I don’t bother with the pompous masochistic morons  ‘shows’. 
 

 
 

@SprinterPress
7h

Seyed Mohammad Marandi, member of the media group of the Iranian negotiating team: In the coming days, the likelihood of a renewed military conflict is very high. Any country that cooperates with Trump in the aim of blockading and besieging the Iranian people will be severely punished. The global economy is on the brink of collapse.

Aug 23, 2026 · 9:48 PM UTC

Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 24 2026 5:10 utc | 104

psychohistorian@106, karlof1@110:
 
For obvious reasons any Wang statement declaring: ‘China will continue to support Jordan in safeguarding its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity’, in the context of the developing geostrategic alignments in the War on Iran, is very substantive and anything but ‘boilerplate platitude’. A significant announcement indeed imho… 

Posted by: John Gilberts | Aug 24 2026 5:40 utc | 106

Victoria Nuland’s husband writes
 

Iran Unleashed
 
The dominant power in the Middle East from now on will not be the U.S. or Israel but Iran.
By Robert Kagan
 
August 23, 2026, 7 AM ET
 
 
For years, Iran confronted a balance of power in the Middle East that tilted against it. The region was dominated by a hostile American superpower, a nuclear-armed and militarily superior Israel, and significant local actors—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates—that were strategically and economically aligned with the United States.
 
Today finds Iran in entirely new circumstances.
 
continues ==> https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/08/iran-middle-east-power/688374/
 

Posted by: too scents | Aug 24 2026 6:07 utc | 108

That being the case, by no means are those Jews who practice and promote Jewish supremacism off the hook for that evil; they’re guilty. The ones who don’t practice and promote that, not so much. Although they certainly could do a hell of a lot more to point the finger of shame at their co-religionists who are supremacists.
Posted by: George the Zeroth | Aug 24 2026 0:48 utc | 87

 
good points – I certainly understand the tough Challenge of trying to reject the worst aspects of a genocidal cult while meanwhile trying to cling to the good parts.  Methinks its impossible. 
why not follow the example of so many before you, fully reject the death cult, and simply join the Brotherhood of Mankind ?  
 
 
 

Posted by: Amalek (né Exile) | Aug 24 2026 6:17 utc | 110

Re:Posted by: George the Zeroth | Aug 24 2026 5:15 utc | 106
and other posts  
 
Let’s take it step by step. 
 
You can’t be pro-USrael AND pro-Palestine.
 
Just as last century you couldn’t be pro-Nazi and a good German.
 
The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. Remember that? 
 
Amarite? Amalek?
 
WE are Amalek – all else is fascist zionist tyranny of the ages.
 
(HT ahenobarbus. The Spartacus of today!)
 
You ask for an example of HasbaRattery? Are you blind? Like Nelson? You guys …
 
Lol the old divide and rule card ?
That is ALL they got narrative control wise. Aside from the ‘nuclear option’ of censorship and lawfare. 
Do you think real nukes going off in West Asia will not touch Oz? Do you suppose your distance preserves you?
 
Nah – a long time before the radiation arrives, probably before the mushroom clouds dissipate, the karmic hypersonic over the horizon nuts  and berries will find the dirtiest diggers in your deepest caves. 
 
Make a choice George. 
 
Re: Posted by: Sebgo | Aug 23 2026 19:16 utc | 42
“Could we stop validating them by making them and their abominations the central focus of our lives, our activities, and our conversations?”
 
Again? Why turn the blind Nelsonian eye?
 
No – you either stand for Palestine
Or you stand for the ziofascist shapeshifter fake Semites and their illegal apartheid entity.
 
It IS that black and white.
 
Make a choice Segbo.
 
 
Stand with the Many
Or stand accused of supporting the killer Few
 
 
Posted by: Avtonom | Aug 23 2026 20:14 utc | 49
 
I 100% disagree Avtonom – death to the eschatological Zionism and it’s tyranny of fake skyfaerie nonsense (nonce-sense even more on that next). 
Make a choice kids. 
 
all together now 
 
Death to USrael  
R2S
P4P

Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 24 2026 6:26 utc | 112

The Jew lovers are terrified of their Cancel culture weapon being unleashed upon the Chosen Ones.
 
That’s why BDS and support for Palestine is banned in the countries most subservient to Jews. 
 
Those hundreds of thousands using the Samsonite Option are not innocent or against genocide. They wouldn’t have gone in the first place to a clearly stolen land.
 
They are looking for greener pastures to practice their evil religion.
 
Watch out people, the monsters are assimilating amongst you. 
 
Arby’s is like that doctor that not interested in why you are sick. Just want to discuss what the sickness is doing to you,  the more gruesome the better. 
 
Well arby, some of us believe understanding root causes can be be effective in eliminating the source altogether. 
 
Since you want the quick fix, my suggestion is take a couple of hardened the fuckup pills and call me in the morning. 

Posted by: Suresh | Aug 24 2026 6:37 utc | 114

Scott Bessent’s Sunday FT Op-Ed in full
 

Scott Bessent: an economic D-Day is coming for Iran
 
Countries that calculate appeasement of the regime to be a safer choice should reconsider
 
Scott Bessent
 
The writer is the US secretary of the Treasury
 
In 1943, the Allied powers convened the Tehran Conference to plot the course of an uncharted act.
 
As Roosevelt and Churchill weighed a campaign that would culminate in the Normandy landings, they asked themselves what could be done “to bring the greatest pressure to bear on the enemy”.
 
History has returned that question to Tehran. And the moment has arrived to answer it with the full weight of American resolve.
 
President Donald Trump and the overwhelming might of our military have significantly dismantled Iran’s military capabilities and weakened its nuclear programme. Now we are entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary.
 
For 47 years, the Islamic republic of Iran has been a malignant force in the world. Within Iran, a corrupt regime has consigned what would be one of the world’s strongest economies to ruin and its enterprising people to repression.
 
Beyond its borders, the Iranian regime maintains a network of proxies that perpetuate its terror. The US has paid an especially grievous price but we are scarcely alone in facing this scourge. Too often, though, we find ourselves alone in our resolve to thwart it.
 
President Trump has decimated Iran’s economy to a point where the rial has never been weaker and inflation has rarely been higher. The regime’s final refuge now lies in the self-deception of fearful nations that still believe accommodating aggression can secure a durable peace.
 
Iran’s enablers purchase and transport its petroleum. They facilitate the flow of its finances through exchange houses and free trade zones. They welcome Iran’s flights and maintain registries on its behalf. They turn a blind eye to seaborne fuel transfers and the illicit use of their banks, all while concealing the extent of their complicity.
 
In short, these countries calculate appeasement of the regime to be the safer course. But they would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it.
 
In the 17th century, French philosopher Blaise Pascal gave enduring expression to the dilemma beneath this temptation. He understood that uncertainty does not absolve men or nations of divine judgment. In fact, it demands a more exacting appraisal of risk and imposes a higher price for error.
 
Pascal’s eponymous wager now applies to Iran’s lifelines. Nations that, in courting reprieve from Tehran, continue to replenish the very regime from which they seek protection — and now exceed the limits of America’s tolerance.
 
President Trump is doing what his predecessors refused by ending a threat they resigned themselves to managing. For decades, the political class accepted an endless cycle of provocation instead of advancing American interests. Not another generation should be condemned to the menace of fanatics who devote themselves to “death to America” and fulfilling the regime’s nuclear ambitions. And total financial isolation can obviate the need for American force while enlarging the sphere of freedom for our allies.
 
Those who sever Iran’s remaining financial and commercial connectivity will reinvigorate their own. They will deepen their access to global capital, reinforce confidence in their markets and attain the standing they seek in the world economy.
 
The alternative for those who tether themselves to Tehran is the foreclosure of any path to lasting prosperity. Illicit finance will flourish, as it so often does, where confidence has collapsed. And any nation that serves as a financial artery of a withering regime should expect to share in its isolation. To become a sanctuary for terror is to become, in the eyes of the United States, a global pariah.
 
The Islamic republic has subsisted by dressing extortion as security guarantees. It has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable. Under President Trump, that era is over. And those who fear the danger of defying Tehran ought not to discount the cost of testing Washington.
 
The president has created the conditions to leverage every agency, every authority and action many assumed we would never summon. Any remaining tie to Tehran will hasten the economic ostracism of countries and entities, whether that tie be purposefully constructed or wilfully ignored. And if, as the regime’s grasp on power crumbles alongside its economy, Iran resorts to military action against US forces or its Gulf neighbours, make no mistake: President Trump will respond swiftly and decisively.
 
The world should understand that our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone. Pascal considered salvation to be a choice. As a great wave of American resolve comes ashore, are Iran’s enablers willing to wager their future against it?
 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a press conference at 2 ‌p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) to reveal even more severe measures on a country that has endured near-continuous economic sanctions since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
 

Posted by: too scents | Aug 24 2026 7:05 utc | 116

Re: Posted by: Nor am I | Aug 24 2026 0:09 utc | 76
 
Yes and again I say that western ‘modern’ philosophy is a product of the shapeshifters – all of it, except that which they cannot keep control of – science.
 
It escaped their grasp as orthodoxy escaped from their  control of Christianity via the Vatican.
 
As later their Marxist Leninism escaped into Stalinism and Maoism.
 
Now finally their religion of Economics and Money, their actual superpower and weapon (magic money wand) is ripped out of their hand and snapped!)
 
They know and that’s why the money printer is being maxed out there is no point in controlling it.they surely have another cunning plan in the offing. Always do. 
 
This is their Rome and Atlanta burning time again.
 
The Empire is melting like the wicked witch.
 
Just follow the dots … no pills needed to escape the living matrix that is the here and now of Anglo European western imperialism – our collective waste.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 24 2026 7:46 utc | 118

They are guilty as charged. It’s real animals not just Amalek they cruelly kill. 
 
Don’t watch- it’s just here for reference and evidence against the guilt of the entity and it’s despicable alien invaders. 
 
The little old ladies of Britain are going to be horrified by this as well. The ziobastards shall be exodused. They better not come here, the lists of crimes are long. They will be prosecuted with such evidence. Privately if the ziofascist state service refuses. As they will. 
 

 
 

@MintPressNews
Aug 22

🚨Israeli Settlers Stole & Tied A Donkey Up To Vehicle, Forcing It To Run Until Exhaustion Then they dragged the donkey to death. This occurred in the hills of southern Al-Khalil. Not only are they stealing, shooting & poising livestock, they are torturing Palestinian owned animals.

 

Aug 22, 2026 · 8:14 PM UTC

Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 24 2026 9:00 utc | 120

This is their Rome and Atlanta burning time again. The Empire is melting like the wicked witch. Just follow the dots … no pills needed to escape the living matrix that is the here and now of Anglo European western imperialism – our collective waste.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 24 2026 7:46 utc | 118
 
I have seen the list of countries and states that they were expelled from (sometimes more than once) over the last millenium. Camouflage of the ‘shape shifters’.
 
Someone said they always overplay their hand and that’s their downfall… their hubris, hypocrisy, projection and lack of empathy, does seem to serve them badly.
 
Every time? Perhaps so, who knows?

Posted by: Nor am I | Aug 24 2026 9:37 utc | 122

First there was Strange Bedfellow | Aug 24 2026 2:39 utc | 95 fantasising about a three some with the two Naomis and then I read DunGroanin | Aug 24 2026 4:53 utc | 101  God damn! Women by dawn breaking ..
How am I going to think clearly ..
Anyway here’s a good video from Uncle Andrei covering many topics
http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2026/08/faith-russia.html#disqus_thread
 

Posted by: tucenz | Aug 24 2026 11:03 utc | 124

So we have Bessant talking about ‘divine judgement’.  Born again Christians will eat that up while ignoring that it comes from an openly gay man pushing for ever more war.  How ironic.

Posted by: Eighthman | Aug 24 2026 11:07 utc | 126

Reminder:
Bessent is a femme flamimg flamer who is “married” to another man and they have two adopted children, Cole and Caroline.  Bessent formerly was George Soros’ right-hand man.  Lolol, Mr MAGA Trump appointed him and Trump’s cult can’t see anything unusual about that, even though they spent the four Biden years laughing about Pete “Buttplug” as Secretary of Transportation.  

Posted by: fromage chapeau | Aug 24 2026 11:53 utc | 128

Posted by: Giyane | Aug 24 2026 8:43 utc | 119
 

If the subject of religion  bores you, it certainly doesn’t bore me.

 
It is not the subject of religion that is “boring”, but rather the drivel spouted by prolific ignoramuses on the matter.
 
You ought to educate yourself a bit more before presuming to lecture others, especially regarding other religions, but also concerning the very faith you claim to promote yet actually defame.
Your brief post is a glaring example of your ignorance.
 
Monotheism existed prior to Moses, if only through his forebears such as Noah, Abraham, and Jacob/Israel; it is the Quran that states this, not I.
History also records instances of monotheism elsewhere.
 
Moses was not “Jewish,” simply because Judaism did not yet exist. He was a Hebrew, as stated in the holy books of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism alike.
 
For someone who claims to single out Jews, you display astonishing ignorance regarding the distinction between Judaism, which emerged after the Hebrew people’s exiles and is rooted in the rabbis and the Talmud, and the religion codified by Moses, which is far older and based on the Torah.
 
“Paganism” is a modern concept fabricated by Christianized Europe; it is largely inapplicable to Africa.
Most indigenous African religions are not polytheistic. They advocate turning to intermediaries—such as ancestors—to address the “Supreme Force” .
If the topic interests you enough to discuss it on MoA, then educate yourself.
 
In short, under the guise of defending and propagating Islam, you portray it as sectarian, intolerant, and exceptionalist.
 
What you say about others, simply because they do not share your faith, is the sort of thing an extremist rabbi might say, were one to change just a few words.
 
This isn’t about “religion” ; it’s hatred and incitement to division and pseudo-religious war.
You are actually boring, because you aren’t even convincing enough to be dangerous.
 
Oh, and one more thing: no, Jews are not “pork eaters,” as you once wrote.
If you had taken the time to inform yourself, you would know that “kosher” corresponds almost exactly to “halal.”
 
Have a good day.
And don’t expect further reply.

Posted by: Sebgo | Aug 24 2026 12:35 utc | 130

If the subject of religion  bores you, it certainly doesn’t bore me.
Posted by: Giyane | Aug 24 2026 8:43 utc | 119

 
(Sigh) But the subject of this thread is the war against Iran, not religion.
 
OK a lot of you want to vent some aggression. But restraining oneself from too much vitriol is part of being a civilised human. Please let the religion issue rest and try to concentrate on temporal issues such as the war against Iran.

Posted by: Avtonom | Aug 24 2026 12:59 utc | 132

Posted by: Amalek (né Exile) | Aug 24 2026 6:22 utc | 111
Nothing funnier than this American pig adorning himself with the sufferings of others.
 
Exile is Gaza! Ahenobarbus is Spartacus. Banging away on the innernet. 
 
If you want to play Hamas and not just run your mouth, there are plenty of IDF-trained cops and ICE terrorists around you. Look! They are bulldozing a refugee camp down the street from you. Instead of stealing the suffering of Gazans and Iranians from them, on the internet, and adorning yourself with the corpses of children made in the US, you could join their struggle.
 
But that’s not going to happen. 
 
Look at me! I am Amalek!

Posted by: Duck n cover | Aug 24 2026 13:22 utc | 134

@ too scents | Aug 24 2026 7:05 utc | 116 with the Bessent vomit projection….thx
 
The amount of projection is off the charts
 
I expect that Iran is taking special pleasure in neutering Trump’s financial butt boy…….How do the GCC countries feel when told by Bessent to borrow money against their holdings instead of trying to cash them in before they are worthless?
 
The shit show continues until it doesn’t and we are in the finance/God Of Mammon phase now and I am pleased except for the ongoing ignorance about our public/private finance watershed conflict

Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 24 2026 14:42 utc | 136

@ Laradise | Aug 24 2026 16:03 utc | 137
 
She appeared at the university near me several years ago. After a nice tea with the (Republican) university president she flowed into stage in an outfit that would’ve cost most of my monthly earnings, and proceeded to deliver a lecture crammed with platitudes that could’ve come out of any self-help book. Nothing about social justice, let alone revolutionary action. 

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 24 2026 16:16 utc | 138

Otto Penn | Aug 23 2026 19:01 utc | 39
*** Amalekites, according to Jewish scripture were shapeshifters, who could appear as animals.***
 
Probably came in handy if a Jewish rabbi  / gauleiter was (for example) caught buggering a piglet, since instead of getting public disapproval they could claim warrior status for having raped an Amalekite woman in disguise.

Posted by: Cynic | Aug 24 2026 23:05 utc | 140

George the Zeroth | Aug 23 2026 21:55 utc | 60
*** … the whole “Bronze Age cult” thing is getting quite tiresome too ***
 
Yes, but it is impossible not to cite it since the likes of Netanyahu and the Armagedonists/Dispensationalists persist in inflicting wars and destabilisations all over the world in accordance with the medievally-enhanced ravings of that particular bronze-age cult. 
And frequently refer to exactly that as some sort of justification for bad stuff they are doing now.

Posted by: Cynic | Aug 24 2026 23:42 utc | 142

If anyone thinks I’ve mischaracterized the God of Mammon concept, please let me know.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Aug 25 2026 0:29 utc | 144

George the Zeroth | Aug 25 2026 0:05 utc | 143
*** As I understand it, “Mammon” basically translates to greed (correct me if you think I’m wrong here). And the trope attempts to use human greed as the basis of all evil in the world, at least in psychohistorian’s view.***
 
Reasonable to have “greed” as a negative ingredient, so long as greed for things like ‘power’ are included. 
 Soros comes to mind as a mixture of the money and the power side — not because he’s necessarily worse than other, more low-profile speculators but because he is famous for it …. extremely rich, far more than anyone could ever spend, yet always seeking more. And totally indifferent to the suffering caused to millions of people in the process.  Gates is another horrible example, as were the Rockefellers.
 
But it is the system of the neoliberal economic cult (could anyone seriously argue that their economics of perpetual debt + interest makes sense?) that has become an extremely bigoted ideology to the point of it being a sort of religion.  Like how overt “religion” got deliberately rammed into US politics after WW2 with “socialism” as its enemy demon. But it took a couple of decades for the results to really show.
 
And now neoliberalism seems to be the one and only economic model permitted by the ongoing US regime (so-called elections meaning different figurehead, but same reality) and its vassals to operate to any significant extent anywhere outside the USA.
China with its mixed-market model is, for now, too big to alter …. but subjugation and asset-stripping there is a longer term cult objective.
Alternatives such as existed in Libya and potentially in Yugoslavia were destroyed  — allegedly because “freedom!” (to be impoverished /murdered / raped / sold as a slave?). The USSR was betrayed and destroyed, instead of improved.
 
Insatiably voracious corporate sharks devouring smaller sharks and non-sharks forever (to hell with the product, just feel the administrative profit margin) …. a continuous race to the bottom, with the shittiest standards of everything that can possibly be got away with, plus environmental degradation — and thus ever more enrichment of the fatcats and Oligarchs.
But that is “good”, because that is the sacred doctrine of neoliberalism. Which must be promoted!
No wonder the Yellow Vests in France had so little sympathy from Establishment mass-media.
 
And the upwardly extractive system now pretty much runs on automatic, with all the various antics of the banks, financiers and speculators — none of them serving the interests the public. 
It is ironic that the notorious medieval “usurers” could actually lose as well as gain, while a far more usurious modern system complete with its corporate human rights and limited liability leaves them far behind and is even deemed by its bought Establishment politicians and ‘experts’ as  being “too big to fail”.
 
Sorry for rambling on so much …..  basically, I see the present day neoliberal economics (and its ancestors) as not only money/greed/wealth, but a rather sick sort of religion imposed on societies and encompassing these attributes as well as having a “crusade” imperative home and abroad, since perpetual debt forces there to be perpetual and ever more peculiarly defined “growth” (including wars) to shore up its own self-serving and thoroughly corrupt system.
“Religion” in its insistence upon being the only ideology that’s allowed, with all else (other than superficial window-dressing to fool the electorate) being regarded as heresy.

Posted by: Cynic | Aug 25 2026 1:48 utc | 146

Posted by: Cynic | Aug 25 2026 1:48 utc | 146
===============================
 
Thanks, actually appreciate your rambling there.
 
I concur with just about all of what you wrote. Neoliberalism is indeed a millstone around our necks.
 
But I still don’t think applying the “God of Mammon cult” label to this is really useful. Maybe it gives us a peg on which to hang the problematic ideology and economic structure, but it doesn’t really help in trying to combat or reform it, if that’s our purpose.
 
In other words, I don’t see anything in the description that “God of Mammon” gives us that in any way leads towards a prescription for action in dismantling it.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Aug 25 2026 2:14 utc | 148

God Of Mammon is OT here and I have responded in latest Open Thread

Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 25 2026 4:01 utc | 150

Every thread at MoA now, no matter the stated topic, always wuickly becomes “blame jews and only jews”.  Shapeshifters, khazars, Bronze-age tribes, anything to take the focus off of empire actions.  
Posted by: Adolfo | Aug 24 2026 0:37 utc | 83
I am often tired of this focus as well, but in its defense it is obvious that the Empire is run by its corporations, the bankers run the corporations, and the bankers are run by an elite who are mostly (or claim to be) Jewish and certainly supports Zionism and the genocide.
Since this elite is just about untouchable, an opposition focus on the corps and politicians supporting them and Zionism might be more effective, most particularly those profiting from the killing.

Posted by: Snowleopard | Aug 25 2026 14:34 utc | 152

continuing post 153 above
Anwaj.media, Aug. 23.

Posted by: Lavieja | Aug 26 2026 9:32 utc | 154