Finian Cunningham
Christmas is coming early, with Trump promising good news of peace soon, not just in Ukraine but also with Iran.
So, Christmas is coming early, with Trump promising good news of peace soon, not just in Ukraine but also with Iran. Ho, Ho, Ho, pull the other one.
"You'll be seeing a lot of things over the next week," said the U.S. president, citing a "big beautiful agreement" in Ukraine and with Iran.
Trump, by now, we should realize, is completely delusional. Nothing he utters can be taken remotely seriously. If there is any logic to be gleaned, it is more likely to be a desperate attempt to create the illusion of good news and rig the financial markets one more time for his clique of speculators.
Yes, there were talks in Abu Dhabi this week between Russian and Ukrainian delegates, supposedly to explore a peace settlement to the largest land war in Europe since WWII. The meeting was described in Western media reports as "brokered by the U.S." Don't you just love how a proxy war that was instigated by Washington and its NATO vassals is now supposedly being mediated by the same instigators for a peace deal?
In any case, there is no sign that these talks will yield anything substantive because the Ukrainian regime is being coddled by European leaders who have no intention of letting diplomacy succeed. And this US president likes selling weapons to Ukraine subsidized by European taxpayers.
As for Trump's braggadocio regarding Iran. Here, we can say for sure that he is certified cuckoo.
He told C-SPAN on Monday, "We won Iran," and he claimed that the Iranian leadership "wants a deal". During the same rant, Trump also reiterated that "we're locked and loaded" and ready to "knock it [Iran] out fast... if reasons change." Hardly the spirit of a peacemaker.
The White House is claiming that talks are underway with Iran, and that Qatar is acting as a mediator.
This is while multiple oil tankers are on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, and no shipping is permitted to pass out of the Persian Gulf without Iranian approval, as has been the case since Trump launched his illegal war nine months ago. Even U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted this week - laughably - that Washington has failed to gain control over the critical oil shipping route. Rubio pleaded with Western states to help salvage the impasse on his way to the G7 summit in Paris.
Major General Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's top national security chief, dismissed Trump's claims about "control" and peace talks as "pure lies."
Rezaei said Trump is flailing like a "desperate gambler" who is "manufacturing fake news" in a bid to lower crippling oil prices that are wrecking the U.S. economy.
Iran has consistently repeated that there will be no talks with the United States until Iran's conditions are met. Those conditions include: ending all war fronts against Iran, Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen; lifting historic sanctions off Iran; releasing Iran's frozen assets; and for Washington to accept a new security reality for the region involving withdrawal of its military.
Tehran has warned that if the U.S. chooses to resume hostilities, the next phase of war will be without geographic limits, implying that Iran's targets would include American bases in Europe and elsewhere. Unlike Trump, Iran appears not to be bluffing.
Iran unveiled a new "missile city" this week, safely protected under its vast mountain ranges. In the Iranian arsenal are ballistic missiles like the Khorramshahr that can hit targets 4,000 kilometers away. It doesn't seem a coincidence that the Pentagon reportedly began removing aircraft from bases in England.
American geopolitical analyst Mike Adams contends that Trump is cynically talking up peace talks with Iran as a cover for a "surprise kinetic attack."
He points out Trump's track record of boasting about diplomatic outreach with Iranian officials only to turn around and launch the murderous aggression on February 28, in which Iran's religious leader, Seyed Ali Khamenei, was assassinated by a US-Israeli air strike.
Adams notes that a third aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is en route from Singapore to the Persian Gulf region. It joins the USS Washington and USS George HW Bush strike groups already present.
"Why would a third carrier group be going to the Persian Gulf if Trump planned to end the war ? Until the U.S. Navy leaves the region, this war is not over."
Adams adds: "Trump has completely lost his mind, so anything is possible."
Trump's egoism and narcissism cannot accept the reality that his reckless war against Iran has cost his Republican Party a humiliating defeat in the mid-term elections and turned him into a lame-duck loser. American citizens voted en masse against war amid an economic disaster unleashed by that criminal war.
That's why Trump, the gambler-in-chief, is likely to double down and bet the house on trying to salvage something that resembles a "good news win," not based on reality, but based on gratifying his ego.
But in betting the house and escalating war on Iran, the repercussions for the global economy will make the turmoil so far look like a picnic. Iran has warned that if it is attacked, it will effectively sink the global economy by shutting down the Persian Gulf as an energy and fertilizer source for decades to come. And who could blame Iran for such retaliation as it faces repeated psychopathic threats of "wiping out a nation"?
It says something about the state of U.S. politics and Trump as an individual when a president is boasting about making peace while hovering his hand over a global detonation.