Daily Despot Update

GrateEggspectations

Iran: “You ride the horse you saddled!”

fishlessman

JohnInCarolina said:

fishlessman said:

JohnInCarolina said:

fishlessman said:

.no Adam’s apple. That should piss off the left

Stay classy, fish.

well at least the original has the adams apple. 

No, it does not.  You are such a friggin weirdo.

I’m sticking with the cross dressing rumor. Liberty is not a good looking woman

JohnInCarolina

fishlessman said:

JohnInCarolina said:

fishlessman said:

JohnInCarolina said:

fishlessman said:

.no Adam’s apple. That should piss off the left

Stay classy, fish.

well at least the original has the adams apple. 

No, it does not.  You are such a friggin weirdo.

I’m sticking with the cross dressing rumor. Liberty is not a good looking woman

You’re really doing a bang up job countering the weirdo label.

lousubcap

The AH-64 Apache helicopter downed by the Iranians cost somewhere around $35M-$40M. The Iranian drone that took it out $30T-$35T.   
And here we are struggling to reestablish a world order that was in place on 2/27/2026.  
Reminds me of the following:

Botch

lousubcap said:

The AH-64 Apache helicopter downed by the Iranians cost somewhere around $35M-$40M. The Iranian drone that took it out $30T-$35T.   

I found it interesting that the crew of the Apache were rescued by surface speedboat drones, which I wasn't aware of.  They zipped in, the crew climbed into them, and they were whisked off to a safer location where a Navy chopper hoisted them aboard and flew them back to safety.  
When I was still working I was on a couple DARPA teams, assigning funds to small contractors researching/ developing new war technologies, and the drones/anti-drone systems were fascinating to me.  Would love to know where we stand in that area, especially the ground-based laser weaponry using computer control to acquire/track/shoot down drones of any size in rapid succession.  

Gulfcoastguy

Actually they have a laser installed on at least one destroyer and have used it against drones. A 400 kW one named Helios.

Botch

Gulfcoastguy said:

Actually they have a laser installed on at least one destroyer and have used it against drones. A 400 kW one named Helios.

Yes; they also work well on Navy vessels, that can support the weight of their large power supplies.  Aircraft, not so much.  

Gulfcoastguy

As to the drones the US military has been in contact with Ukraine about their water drones. Information in exchange for spare parts for the various equipment that the US previously donated or sold to them most likely.

DoubleEgger

Gulfcoastguy said:

As to the drones the US military has been in contact with Ukraine about their water drones. Information in exchange for spare parts for the various equipment that the US previously donated or sold to them most likely.

So we don’t have “all of the cards”? 

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

And Freedom 250 is CHEETO's money grab.

Freedom 250 and America250 are two separate organizations planning events for the nation's 250th birthday. America250 is the official, nonpartisan nonprofit created by Congress. Freedom 250 is a White House-backed initiative created by executive order under the Trump administration to host major signature events. 

A breakdown of how these two distinct groups differ:

Origins and Leadership

• America250: An official nonpartisan commission established by Congress in 2016. Its leadership is appointed by Congress and includes an equal number of Republicans and Democrats. 
• Freedom 250: Created via executive order by President Donald Trump to mobilize federal agencies for the semiquincentennial and deliver the administration's presidential-level initiatives. 

Funding and Finances

• America250: Uses congressional appropriations, federal funds, and private donations to coordinate and promote nationwide educational and community events. 
• Freedom 250: Operates primarily as a public-private partnership and an outside fundraising arm heavily relying on donations and corporate dollars. 

Event Scope and Focus

• America250: Focuses on historical, educational, and community events across the country, coordinating with local museums, states, and schools to make the celebration accessible nationwide. Examples include "America's Block Party". 
• Freedom 250: Focuses on hosting 15 large-scale, "presidential-level" signature celebrations and entertainment spectacles, particularly in the nation's capital. Examples include the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, a White House UFC fight, a D.C. IndyCar race, and "Freedom Trucks" touring mobile museums.

DoubleEgger

JohnInCarolina said:

Just a reminder that the GOP thought Zelensky was disrespecting the White House by not wearing a suit. 

GrateEggspectations

DoubleEgger said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Just a reminder that the GOP thought Zelensky was disrespecting the White House by not wearing a suit. 

But plastic fixtures spray painted gold are appropriately formal. 

JohnInCarolina

DoubleEgger

MAGA swore off Bud Light and now it’s advertised on the White House lawn. 

JohnInCarolina

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

CHEETO stikes again:

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool turns green after surface painted

June 14, 2026Updated June 16, 2026, 12:51 p.m. ET

https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/nation/2026/06/14/lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-green-photos/90552113007/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

lousubcap

Trump is turning his attention back to Ukraine — and Kyiv’s allies are worried

Kyiv’s allies want the United States to join their strategy of maximal pressure on Russia. It’s not clear if Trump is on board.

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-ukraine-peace-talks-g7-european-allies/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

loco_engr

lousubcap

Presidential Prevarication-CHEETO does not understand the trick sack he has brought upon the world- Donald Trump arrived in France yesterday for this morning’s G7 summit and promptly confirmed America’s capitulation to Iran. Instead of merely repeating the outlines of what looks to be a terrible peace deal, however, Trump made a series of statements so bizarre, even by his usual standards, that they raise the question of whether the president still understands the words that come out of his own mouth. The president began with a classic Trumpian move, daring his listeners to forget today what they knew yesterday. Just this winter, Trump had promised the Iranian people that the tyrants who ruled them would be gone. But now? “I never cared about regime change,” he told reporters, waving away his failure to achieve a primary strategic goal by denying that it had ever been a goal at all. Things got a little weirder, however, when he described the Iranians who have stepped in to replace the regime leaders killed in U.S. strikes: “We’re dealing with people that I think are very rational people. And they were nice to deal with.” “They were strong people, smart people,” he added. And then he dropped this remarkable claim: “They’re not radicalized, and they’re, you know, looking to help their country.” This definitely not-radicalized group that Trump seems to like includes the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei (whose father, wife, and son were killed by U.S. strikes), and the still-standing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, all of whom have shown no compunction about lashing out in any direction during Trump’s “cease-fire,” the make-believe pause in the war during which no one actually ceased firing. Trump’s description of the current regime in Tehran as a bunch of swell guys was brewed in a heavy-duty vat of wishful thinking. It’s an extreme version of Trump’s tendency, when he’s been outplayed by powerful enemies, to describe his opponents as basically reasonable people. (He has done the same over the years with dictators and autocrats in North Korea, Russia, and China, among other countries.) This is his way of assuring the public that he did not get taken to the cleaners—because, of course, his affable partners would never do that. Trump fared no better talking about the Iranian nuclear program. Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium exists largely because Trump unilaterally called off U.S. participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 agreement that was meant to prevent Iran from enriching uranium beyond minimal levels for civilian uses. After the U.S. and Israeli attacks last year, and yet more pounding during Operation Epic Fury, that uranium remains underground, either hidden in storage or buried beneath tons of rubble; some of it can likely be recovered and enriched for military uses. Trump has said, repeatedly, that Iran must hand it over. Until today. “I call it the nuclear dust, their enriched material, right?” Trump said. (Why he calls it this remains a mystery.) Does America still insist on its removal from Iran? Well, maybe. “The whole mountain has collapsed on top. We have cameras on it,” Trump said. “You could make the case ‘Why are you even bothering?’ ’cause it’s not really valuable. It’s, you know, it’s probably half a million dollars’ worth. It’s not very valuable stuff, but I think psychologically we wanna get it.” The United States and Israel ostensibly went to war with Iran last summer over the prospect of the Tehran regime developing a bomb, and that same threat has supposedly been at the center of America’s largest military operation in decades—but now the highly enriched uranium isn’t very valuable? The president wants it for “psychological” reasons? (This is reminiscent of his comment that America should seize Greenland because it was “psychologically” important to him.) Does the commander in chief understand what he’s saying? More important, will Iran keep tons of highly enriched uranium under this new deal or not? “The biggest thing,” Trump said today, is that “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.” That’s fine, except that it didn’t have one before, either, and now it has an even greater incentive to get one. But nuclear issues are very complex and technical, so let’s move on to Trump’s comments about something less complicated: Middle Eastern politics. Once again, the president seemed unable to comprehend either the situation or his own words. No one outside of the Trump administration has yet seen the final memorandum of understanding that Trump and the Iranians have signed, least of all, according to some reports, the Israelis. If the outlines of the deal are in line with the administration’s own talking points, it’s bound to cause serious agita in Jerusalem: The terms reportedly require a cessation of Israeli hostilities with Hezbollah in Lebanon, a tricky condition considering that Israel was not a party to the negotiations. This is probably why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced yesterday that Israel would maintain its presence in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria for “as long as necessary.” Trump, in other words, is trying to deal away Israel’s right to defend itself, treating it less as a sovereign country and more as a kind of 51st U.S. state run by an annoying governor who needs to get with the program. But what if Iran’s proxy Hezbollah attacks Israel? According to the president, the Israelis need to calm down, and he minimized Hezbollah as “a little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head.” Besides, Trump has an answer for the problem of Hezbollah: Outsource its elimination to the Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump said that he suggested to Israel to “let Syria take care of Hezbollah, ’cause to be honest with you, I think they do a better job of doing it.” It’s true that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the organization now in power in Syria, has plenty of experience fighting against Hezbollah. But Syria, a regime still trying to get its legs under it, is not going to march next door and pacify Lebanon—especially not with Israel occupying parts of Syria. Trump has never shown very much concern about the conduct of Israeli military operations anywhere (including the war in Gaza, which he viewedprimarily as a public-relations problem). But now that he needs to rein in Jerusalem at Tehran’s behest, he has taken the position that the Israelis are causing too much damage in Lebanon. And in a stunning reminder that alliances for Trump are only expedients, he pivoted to praising al-Sharaa and criticizing Israel, saying that if Israel “can’t do the job without killing everyone else, he’ll do the job.” This kind of flip-flop illustrates Trump’s view of global politics: States are just a bunch of playing cards that he can rearrange at will, which makes watching him talk about foreign policy this way like watching someone cheating at solitaire. Even now, after many years as president, he is constantly frustrated to find out how little leverage he has when other nations refuse to abandon their own interests and do as he commands. Trump’s comments about the Middle East may not make any sense, but one thing that has emerged in 4K clarity is that the only world leader who got pantsed worse than Trump in all of this was Netanyahu. No one should pity Israel’s prime minister: He brought this situation upon himselfand his nation. Netanyahu, along with the Iran-war hawks in the United States, somehow thought that he could be smart or flattering or persuasive enough to avoid the inevitable burn that comes from trusting Donald Trump. Netanyahu refused to see that Trump, when it comes to self-interest, is as predictable as a sunrise: When something he’s involved with goes bad, he walks away and lets others suffer the chaos he’s created. In the past, Trump has tried to conjure new circumstances by speaking them aloud and attempting to wish them into existence. His tired garble in France, however, is something different. It suggests that Trump, more than ever, is unable to fathom what’s happening in the world around him and has been reduced to turning all of his previous statements upside down: A regime that was once the epitome of evil is now a reasonable partner; nuclear material that once represented an existential threat to America might now sit in Iran forever; Syria and Iran and Israel and Lebanon will now do things that they would never do, just because he wants them to. None of this makes any sense, except as desperate rationalizations from a man who cannot face facts and admit defeat. Trump has always had a tenuous relationship with the truth, but evidence is mounting that on the most important questions of war and peace, the president of the United States seems to be losing his grip on reality itself."

lousubcap

Read the 14-Point Draft Memorandum Between the US and Iran

By Jonathan Tirone, Daniel Flatley, and Josh Wingrove

June 16, 2026 at 6:09 PM EDT

Updated on June 17, 2026 at 5:41 AM EDT

Takeaways by Bloomberg 

• The US and Iran are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding, paving the way for talks aimed at ending their war and putting new limits on Iran’s nuclear program.
• The memorandum outlines a 60-day period for negotiations, during which the US will lift its naval blockade and Iran will resume the movement of merchant ships.
• The agreement includes provisions for the US to end sanctions against Iran, provide financing for Iran's economic development, and establish a mechanism to oversee the implementation of the final agreement.

The US and Iran are expected to formally sign a memorandum of understanding on June 19 in Switzerland, paving the way for 60 days of talks aimed at ending their war for good and putting strict new limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

Below is the text of the 14-point draft memorandum, as seen by Bloomberg News.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency cited an unnamed official on Wednesday as saying parts of the text published by Bloomberg are inaccurate. The report did not specify what was different. Bloomberg previously reported that there could be differences in the wording between the English and Persian versions of the MOU.

1. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States, together with their allies in the current war, declare upon the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, and undertake that from now on they will not launch any hostile action against each other, and will refrain from the threat or use of force against each other. The final agreement will confirm the provisions of this Article and the remaining Articles.
2. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.
3. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States undertake to negotiate and reach a final agreement within a maximum period of 60 days, extendable by mutual consent.
4. Immediately upon the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, the United States Lift the naval blockade and prevent any interference or obstruction against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and restore traffic within a maximum of 30 days to its full capacity; the traffic of ships shall be proportional to the pre-war volume of traffic on the part of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States also undertakes to withdraw its forces from the surrounding areas within 30 days after the final agreement.
5. Upon signing this Memorandum of Understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately take steps to ensure that the movement of merchant ships from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of ​​Oman and vice versa is resumed within 30 days to the pre-war volume, taking into account the need for the removal of technical obstacles and the neutralization of mines by Iran.
6. The United States undertakes, together with its regional partners, to create a comprehensive plan agreed upon by both parties for the rehabilitation and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran, While ensuring financing of at least $300 billion. The implementation mechanism of this plan, as part of the final agreement, will be formulated within 60 days.
7. The United States commits to ending, on a schedule to be agreed upon as part of the final agreement, all types of sanctions currently facing the Islamic Republic of Iran, including resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and all unilateral U.S. sanctions, both primary and secondary.
8. The Islamic Republic of Iran reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States have agreed that the fate of enriched material and the fate of all other mutually agreed nuclear-related issues, including Iran’s nuclear needs, will be adequately addressed in a final agreement; the final agreement will confirm the provisions of this Article.
9. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States agree that, pending a final agreement, they will maintain the status quo: Iran will maintain the status quo on its nuclear program, and the United States will not impose new sanctions on Iran or strengthen its forces in the region.
10. The United States undertakes that immediately after the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, and until the date of the lifting of sanctions, the United States Treasury Department will issue waivers for exports of Iranian crude oil, petrochemical products and their derivatives, and all related services, including banking, insurance, transportation, and the like.
11. The United States undertakes that, in light of the progress of negotiations towards a final agreement, frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be released and made fully available. These funds, whether held in the master account or transferred, will be used for any final beneficiary payment determined by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and will be fully available for use. The United States undertakes to issue all necessary permits and licenses on this basis.
12. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States agree that an implementation mechanism will be established to oversee the successful implementation of and future commitment to the Final Agreement.
13. Following the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, and upon receipt of assurances regarding the commencement of implementation of Articles 4, 5, 10, and 11 of this Memorandum of Understanding, and the continued implementation of these steps, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States will enter into negotiations for a Final Agreement solely with respect to the remaining Articles.
14. The final agreement will be approved through a binding resolution of the UN Security Council.

(Updates with report from Tasnim.)

dbCooper

Pentagon boasts of using AI to write reports mandated by Congress
"It’s unclear what processes the Pentagon has in place to review the accuracy of its AI-generated reports to Congress. But such reports are a crucial element of congressional oversight intended to hold the US military accountable for how it uses taxpayer dollars—and so any AI-induced errors or mischaracterizations could undermine the accountability mechanism of such reports. This also comes at a time when the Pentagon has requested an unprecedented $1.5 trillion budget for the 2027 fiscal year."
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/06/pentagon-boasts-of-using-ai-to-write-reports-mandated-by-congress/

fishlessman

dbCooper said:

Pentagon boasts of using AI to write reports mandated by Congress
"It’s unclear what processes the Pentagon has in place to review the accuracy of its AI-generated reports to Congress. But such reports are a crucial element of congressional oversight intended to hold the US military accountable for how it uses taxpayer dollars—and so any AI-induced errors or mischaracterizations could undermine the accountability mechanism of such reports. This also comes at a time when the Pentagon has requested an unprecedented $1.5 trillion budget for the 2027 fiscal year."
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/06/pentagon-boasts-of-using-ai-to-write-reports-mandated-by-congress/

dont worry, its all vetted by congressional oversight AI

lousubcap

The Atlantic Daily

Trump Does Not Understand the War He Lost

The president’s comments at the G7 summit revealed that he doesn’t understand the war he started—or the words that come out of his own mouth.

By Tom Nichols

Trump’s comments about the Middle East may not make any sense, but one thing that has emerged in 4K clarity is that the only world leader who got pantsed worse than Trump in all of this was Netanyahu. No one should pity Israel’s prime minister: He brought this situation upon himself and his nation. Netanyahu, along with the Iran-war hawks in the United States, somehow thought that he could be smart or flattering or persuasive enough to avoid the inevitable burn that comes from trusting Donald Trump. Netanyahu refused to see that Trump, when it comes to self-interest, is as predictable as a sunrise: When something he’s involved with goes bad, he walks away and lets others suffer the chaos he’s created.

In the past, Trump has tried to conjure new circumstances by speaking them aloud and attempting to wish them into existence. His tired garble in France, however, is something different. It suggests that Trump, more than ever, is unable to fathom what’s happening in the world around him and has been reduced to turning all of his previous statements upside down: A regime that was once the epitome of evil is now a reasonable partner; nuclear material that once represented an existential threat to America might now sit in Iran forever; Syria and Iran and Israel and Lebanon will now do things that they would never do, just because he wants them to.

None of this makes any sense, except as desperate rationalizations from a man who cannot face facts and admit defeat. Trump has always had a tenuous relationship with the truth, but evidence is mounting that on the most important questions of war and peace, the president of the United States seems to be losing his grip on reality itself."

lousubcap

More recommended reading from The Atlantic:

Why July 4 Turned Into a Trump Rally

The president has never accepted that the head of state and the leader of the Republican Party are separate roles.

By Jonathan Chait

The president of the United States announced last month that, in place of performances by Martina McBride, Young MC, the surviving members of the Commodores, one member of Poison, and other sought-after musicians  who had dropped out after being recruited on apparently false pretenses, he would personally provide the entertainment for a 250th-anniversary celebration of American independence.

“On Wednesday, June 24th, at 7 P.M., in magnificent Washington, D.C., now totally beautified, and one of the Safest Cities anywhere in the World, and in celebration of our Country’s 250 Year History, we will be bringing you, LIVE, the Greatest Rally, EVER!” Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It will be special at every level—A Rally to end all Rallies!”

This week, he announced another rally, to take place July 4. “We are going to host the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a ‘TRIBUTE TO AMERICA.’” The Rally to end all Rallies will apparently end them for a mere week and a half.

The shambolic decision to turn the quarter-millennium anniversary of the Declaration of Independence into yet another rally is, perhaps, an inevitable outgrowth of Trump’s megalomania, which renders him unable to keep separate the functions of party leader and head of state. In merging the two, he has trashed the latter.

Head of state and leader of the governing party are two different roles that, in many countries, are held by different people. In the United Kingdom, the head of state is a monarch. In Israel, it is a president. Both positions differ from the more political role of the prime minister.

The United States gives both roles to the president. Traditionally, presidents have responded to this burden by tailoring the part to the occasion. They would act as a party leader when, say, giving a routine press conference, but as head of state when, for example, meeting foreign leaders or addressing the country during a national disaster or a war. In some cases, the division is marked by rules or norms, which Trump characteristically disregards. There is a law, called the Hatch Act, that limits the use of the presidency for political activities (say, holding a political convention at the White House), which the Trump administration systematically violated during his 2020 reelection campaign.

The wall Trump began dismantling in his first term has been obliterated in the second. Presidents are not supposed to give partisan speeches to active-duty military, but Trump instructed soldiers in February that “you have to vote for us.” Trump has treated the federal government as an extension of his party, which in turn is an extension of himself. He has draped government buildings with his likeness, and he celebrated his birthday with free admission to national parks and an Army parade. The putative excuse for the Army parade, that it was for the branch’s 250th birthday, is rendered dubious in the extreme by the absence of any similar observance for the same birthday of the Navy or Marines.
Trump has commissioned a Trump Gold Card for wealthy immigrants, Trump Accounts for children, TrumpRx for prescription drugs, and a “Trump class” battleship. He renamed the U.S. Institute for Peace and the Kennedy Center after himself, and when a judge ordered him to remove his name from the latter, Trump installed a tarp to cover John F. Kennedy’s, too.

My colleague Michael Scherer reported on the administration’s decision to supersede America250, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to celebrating this year’s Independence Day, with a partisan analogue, Freedom 250. This process accomplished in a more formal and bureaucratized fashion the same objective Trump has carried out informally by treating the presidency as a vehicle for personal glorification and profit. The problem Freedom 250 set out to solve was that Congress had planned a patriotic celebration (one that would cast the president in a head-of-state role) when he preferred an event that would highlight MAGA values (Trump as party leader).

His goal in all of these maneuvers has been to convert a public asset—in this case, the prestige of the presidency—into a private holding. By doing so, however, he has devalued the currency. That is why Freedom 250 was reduced to booking acts one level above the bar-mitzvah tier—many entertainers would be flattered to perform at a ceremony honoring the nation, but far fewer would accept a gig at one designed explicitly to glorify Trump. Vanilla Ice, one of the last remaining musical acts willing to appear at the rally, explained, “You play for your fans. And I’ll go play for Putin, and I’ll play in Iran if you want. It don’t matter.” For the talent to compare the president to, respectively, a notorious dictator and a regime that he has sought to topple with military force was probably not the message Trump had in mind when he planned the event.

Trump’s predecessors were hardly saints. They understood that performing nonpartisan roles conferred on them a dignity and measure of good feeling that had political side benefits. During his first term, Joe Biden visited Kentucky after a tornado and told the people he met that he was there to support them regardless of whether they voted for him. He surely believed that idealistic message, but he also understood it made him appear presidential. Occasionally being above politics is good politics.

If Trump were smarter, he would understand that husbanding the political capital of the office of the presidency pays off eventually. But this calculation would require him to think long term, rather than to greedily snatch whatever reward presents itself to him in the moment. Sadly, Trump’s inability to forgo immediate fulfillment is as pronounced an aspect of his personality as his megalomania. Well, nobody’s perfect.

About the Author

Jonathan Chait

Jonathan Chait is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

lousubcap

Since it is Friday Eve:  (Piling on here.)
From Freed Zakaria:

Over the longer haul, analysts see a new Middle East order emerging after this war—one in which Iran is stronger, the US is weaker and alignments are reconfigured.
 

The “erratic and unpredictable” manner in which Washington waged this war has made US allies in the Middle East less comfortable relying on American power and protection, Ian Bremmer and Firas Maksad argue in a Foreign Affairs essay. As for postwar shifts in regional politics, they see Middle East countries dividing into two blocs: “On one side is the Abrahamic coalition, anchored by Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which is aligned closely with the United States and sometimes includes Greece and India on military, economic, and energy issues. … On the other side is an Islamic coalition, which is anchored by Sunni heavyweights such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and increasingly Egypt.” (That's not all because of the Iran war—rivalries and affinities predated it—but Bremmer and Maksad argue the conflict has accelerated the realignment.)
 

That shakeup could change regional diplomacy, but fading US power—and especially diminished US reliability—is a through-line in expert analysis of the war’s effects. In another Foreign Affairs essay, Dana Stroul observes: “In a bitter paradox, the Iran war revealed opportunities for U.S. Central Command to work much more effectively with regional militaries.” The war involved unprecedented US coordination with Israel and close cooperation with Gulf Arab allies facing Iranian reprisal attacks. “But the trust deficit that has opened between the United States and its Gulf partners will make it far harder to take advantage of those opportunities,” Stroul writes. US allies in the Gulf “are losing faith that Washington is committed to ensuring their security, and both the American public and U.S. political leaders have lost what appetite they had for the costly, sustained work of countering Iran’s threats. The Middle East after Epic Fury is not safer, more stable, or more prosperous.”"

GrateEggspectations

High time to drain the swamp. 

Botch

  
The paint is peeling off.  After six days.  In sheets.  

JohnInCarolina

Botch said:

  
The paint is peeling off.  After six days.  In sheets.  

Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth.  Sooner or later, that debt is paid.