Maybe back channels can get messages thru to change this. But with US diplomatic capability & credibility utterly destroyed, hard to see that happening effectively.
06.03.2026 22:08
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Maybe back channels can get messages thru to change this. But with US diplomatic capability & credibility utterly destroyed, hard to see that happening effectively.
This is supposed to be an off-ramp to let *rump declare victory whenever. But as for the Iranian regime, it cannot rule out "unconditional surrender" & thus will act accordingly.
Hard to overstate how bad this administration is at this. But I guess when the main job of the entire executive branch is to make one person happy and/or clean up his mess when he blurts out something crazy, there's not much time to think about strategy or coercive diplomacy.
Definitive summary from @profsaunders.bsky.social of the infuriating and tragic destruction of America’s global role & powers by the Trump Admin, and its impact on the world in this terribly fraught time. 👇
Raising the costs that Iran is willing to incur and cutting off your only hope to be able to claim some sort of victory short of occupying the country … genius!
🧵Cans of Worms possibly opened by Trump's war of choice in Iran, a running list:
(not exhaustive, with the caveat that I am not an expert on the region so these are questions from a US foreign policy perspective, please add others) 1/?
This should end well.
May I humbly suggest we dial back the hyper-fixation on how long the administration says war will last. No one ever knows because war is unpredictable & adversary gets a vote. Where the administration should be hammered is on the incoherent explanation of why they started the war in the first place.
Keep hearing commentators/Hegseth saying a version of "this is not Iraq, we are not doing nation-building, it's a decapitation, the people will handle it."
That's what Iraq 2003 was supposed to be! Nation-building, de-Baathification, disbanding of Iraqi army, it all came *after* things went wrong.
Quick reactions after learning that no, nobody could stop him. 1/ goodauthority.org/news/trump-m... 1/
So he's definitely going to bomb Iran. (Not even really kidding)
This. Constraint and accountability for using military force start closest to home. Advisers and members of the president’s party. Doesn’t have to be a vote, doesn’t have to be public. But there’s no constraining without it. War is an Insiders’ Game.
NATO allies setting up a trip wire to deter the US from invading Greenland.
www.newsweek.com/greenland-ge...
The past week has shown us something scary — the concrete and specific outlines of a durable authoritarian state in America.
Here's what this state would look like, and the precise policy levers Trump is pulling to get there from here.
www.vox.com/politics/462...
This emergency food aid, enough to feed about 1.5 million children for a week, will be incinerated tomorrow rather than distributed in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Another in a long list of Trump's crimes against humanity.
Still my biggest question aside from Iranian retaliation. What is the diplomatic plan?
Trump is once against arsonist and fireman. If he hadn't pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal (which our own State Dept. certified Iran was in compliance with), we wouldn't be here.
🧵 To make this more concrete: don't assume Trump himself knows what he is going to do next in in the Israel-Iran conflict. He definitely doesn't want to get the US involved in a major war in the Middle East (that much he's been clear on). But he loves to bomb and look tough. 1/
"The American regime today arrested a member of the legislative opposition, after declaring it would 'liberate' that senator's province from opposition control using the armed forces"
Literally describing themselves as occupying a blue state like hostile territory with the military and federal forces.
“The actions have obliterated decades of experience in national security and criminal matters at the F.B.I. and raised questions about whether the agents taking over such critical posts have the institutional knowledge to pursue cornerstones of its work.
Image”
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/01/u...
*one
This may end up being onw of the biggest self-owns ever www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/w...
Secretary of Transportation says you should be scared of public transportation. Four million people will ignore him, justifiably, and ride the NY subway tomorrow. 🤡
Is clownsmanship a word? If not, can we make it one?
This is blatantly authoritarian. No specific and credible allegations are laid against Krebs, beyond the fact he undermined the President's false claims about a stolen election. Nevertheless, Trump will direct the federal government to make his life hell.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/u...
Rock band REM releasing a remix of its first single, “Radio Free Europe,” to raise money for RFE/RL after the Trump administration froze its funding. www.instagram.com/reel/DJJluTO...
