Frederick Deknatel

The Senate votes 53-47 to not exist

They’re replaying all the hits in Trump’s not-a-war with Iran.

Good plan, there’s no way that the US would ever betray Kurds who fought on their behalf, or that Turkey would be upset by and seek to frustrate any US-backed Kurdish forces, or that an invasion from Iraq would trigger Iranian nationalist opposition. None of those things have ever happened.

It’s the birth pangs of a new Middle East!

U.S. Submarine Torpedoed Iranian Warship Off Sri Lanka as Conflict Widens

Trump’s “not a war” with Iran is such a targeted, clear mission with a limited theater, based on imminent threats to the United States, that an Iranian warship had to be torpedoed near Sri Lanka. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/w...

"The Gulf War in the 1990s lasted five days on the ground. I can’t tell you if the use of force in Iraq today would last five days, or five weeks or five months. But it certainly isn’t going to last any longer than that."

-Donald Rumsfeld, November 2002 www.reuters.com/world/middle...

At CBS News, where staffers are apparently barred from reading history books, the hostilities between Iran and the US don’t begin until 1979.

If Donald Rumsfeld had been a talk show host:

US and Emirati officials seem quick to downplay the significance of this drone strike, which apparently hit the parking lot of the consulate. But at any other time, an Iranian drone hitting a US embassy compound in Dubai, Riyadh or another Gulf city would be major news. www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

An Iranian drone hit the US consulate in Dubai, or what authorities in Dubai called a “drone-related incident.” aje.news/xgc2gx

The reality of an actual diplomatic process, with extended talks in Geneva or Vienna or Muscat and god forbid a five-page memo from the Iranians, was so daunting to the Trump administration (probably because they have fired or let go every seasoned diplomat) that they started a regional war instead.

Trump started a unilateral war of aggression, set off a regional war, and now he has no idea how to contain the predictable consequences his administration obviously didn't plan for.

Trump's trying to find the guy who did this.

Second Strike Hits Saudi Embassy The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, came under attack twice on Tuesday, causing part of the roof to collapse, according to people familiar with the matter. After the second strike, the chancery ...

“The US Embassy in Riyadh came under attack twice Tuesday, causing part of the roof to collapse. After the second strike, the chancery remained contaminated with smoke. Staff continue to shelter in place.”

Gulf states are caught in middle of the US-Israel war on Iran. There is a way out From Abu Dhabi to Riyadh, regional states must take steps to shape their own destinies, rather than being pawns in the Israeli-US agenda

@andreaskrieg.bsky.social on the Gulf's nightmare: "It is built on connectivity: trade lanes, capital flows, data systems and energy logistics. Interrupt any of that, and you do not just dent growth; you puncture the very business model the Gulf states have successfully built in recent decades."

Pro-Israel pundits have always wanted to depict the Gulf states as ready to take Israel's side and fight Iran. The UAE, even during peak Abraham Accords enthusiasm, has never wanted a war with Iran. This is likely true even now. It is too vulnerable.

Netanyahu has been pushing Trump to strike Iran, but the decision to go to war is 100% Trump’s. He wanted this conflict, buoyed by the Maduro operation and limited fall out from Midnight Hammer. But growing perception that Netanyahu duped Trump into war, even if mistaken, is a huge risk for Israel.

Despite Its Weakness, Hezbollah Plunges Lebanon Back Into War

“What Hezbollah did is practically a suicide mission,” said Maha Yahya, director of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “It’s launching rockets knowing full well that it is starting a war that it cannot fight against an enemy it cannot hurt.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/w...

The “warrior ethos” is launching new forever wars free from the woke obsessions over depleted weapons stockpiles.

While Trump’s underlings insist this isn’t a war, or that the US has always been at war with Iran, or that this war won’t be endless — Trump is posting about fighting wars “forever.”

Iran executes Khamenei’s plan to spread regional war Strikes on energy facilities and targets across Middle East form strategy devised to sow chaos in retaliation for US and Israeli attack

The regional war Sinwar wanted—and Khamenei planned for—triggered now by Trump.

“This will continue, and there will be further escalation,” a regime insider said. “What did they expect? If the head of the Islamic republic is targeted, do they think nothing will happen?” www.ft.com/content/02eb...

Iran executes Khamenei’s plan to spread regional war Strikes on energy facilities and targets across Middle East form strategy devised to sow chaos in retaliation for US and Israeli attack

The regional war Sinwar wanted—and Khamenei planned for—triggered now by Trump.

“This will continue, and there will be further escalation,” a regime insider said. “What did they expect? If the head of the Islamic republic is targeted, do they think nothing will happen?” www.ft.com/content/02eb...

Reuters: "Two new blasts heard in Riyadh's diplomatic quarter, two sources say."

More drone strikes, it appears, on Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter after Saudi authorities confirmed a strike on the U.S. embassy there. www.reuters.com/world/iran-l...

The latest desperate spin to sell this war is that the "imminent threat" to the United States was "because the U.S. knew ​that Israel planned to attack Iran and expected Iran to retaliate by attacking U.S. forces." www.reuters.com/world/iran-l...

(Donald Trump in fact is going to allow this country to get into a multiyear conflict with no end in sight.)

"We're going to see a change of tactics. We're going to have a much more judicious use of those incredibly high-demand interceptors that are running low, and using them only against the highest-value targets, the ballistic missiles," said Becca Wasser, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a former staffer of the 2022 U.S. national defense strategy commission. "That shift means accepting risk and essentially allowing some of these drones to get through, which is going to have a devastating effect on the relative calm and stability that these Gulf states have touted for years, as they've been trying to attract investment, tourism and expats."

As Gulf states burn through missile defense systems, more Iranian drones will get through and hit soft targets in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain—in a matter of days.

It will have “a devastating effect on the relative calm and stability these Gulf states have touted for years.” www.wsj.com/world/gulf-s...

From two drones according to the Saudi MOD. It doesn’t sound like major damage but highlights how vulnerable US assets and interests are at the moment.

Exactly. Bush and co were promising a “cakewalk” just like Trump and Hegseth are now crowing about in Iran.

Trump has no idea what he has unleashed.

Reuters: A fire broke out at the U.S. embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh after an explosion was heard, two sources have told Reuters. www.reuters.com/world/iran-l...