The Many Faces of US Politics...

[DaleCooper]

Alan Dershowitz proposed to the Trump administration that they should blockade the Strait of Hormuz to counter Iran's blockade.

He wrote a column on April 9th titled, "If Iran Closes Hormuz to Some Ships, U.S. Should to All," which got "a lot of support" from within the administration, he says.

"I can't mention who, but some pretty high-ranking people in the administration have seen this article and have agreed with it."

Trump announced plans to blockade the Strait three days later.

Note Richard Haas, a  relative of Epstein, proposed the same in a recent blog

[seafoid]

40 Democratic Senators voted last night to disapprove the sale of arms and bulldozers to Israel.

Of course our two NY Senators voted with the Republicans to oppose the resolution, as did that gobshite Fetterman.

Still... it's a start. Wouldn't have had too many going on the record and supporting Bernie on this a few years ago.

40 to.59..GOP  voted for Israel. 57% of Republicans aged 18-49 hate Israel but not reflected in vote

[Rossfan]

Those 57% aren't owned by AIPAC!

[Look-Up!]

J D Vance used to call Trump an idiot and compared him to Hitler. Unfortunately if you wave a dollar in front of most yanks they'll be whatever you ask them to be. Not sure what weight polls hold for the future.

[johnnycool]

Those 57% aren't owned by AIPAC!

Not yet.

[seafoid]

The media and Israel

https://x.com/Louis_Allday/status/1712809144737218714

Prof Marandi on Sky  Framing
https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/1934149568318644301

https://x.com/FurkanGozukara/status/2045277599820095631Prof. Mohammad Marandi directly confronts Western journalists for covering up Israel's slaughter in Lebanon. He confirms they are acting as foot soldiers for Netanyahu by falsely labeling civilian areas as military

 BBC framing
https://x.com/SaulStaniforth/status/2025138170472300674

[seafoid]

The US is in a hole. If it extends the war it triggers inflation. It has no political or military solution for Iran. The only rational option is to back off.

[seafoid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/18/iran-war-latest-news-trump-ceasefire-strait-of-hormuz-open/

Iranian gun boats attacked at least two cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran reimposed restrictions on the waterway in response to the continued US blockade of its ports.

Troops on two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vessels opened fire on the ships 20 nautical miles north-east of Oman, without warning sailors,

Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since before the war, claimed that Iranian forces had already exposed the "weakness and humiliation" of the US and Israel to the world.

Speaking on board Air Force One on Friday night, he warned that he would "start dropping bombs again" if a permanent peace deal were not signed by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah also appeared to be fracturing after the IDF launched attacks following alleged breaches by "terrorists".


Iran is determined to exercise supervision and control over transit through the Strait of Hormuz until the definitive end of the war and realisation of lasting peace in the region."

Iran's Supreme National Security Council has insisted that it will control the Strait of Hormuz "until the war is definitively ended and lasting peace is achieved".
The Islamic Republic's state media reported that the country would take payment for costs related to the security, safety, and environmental protection for the maritime passage.
It added that the continued US blockade was a ceasefire violation that prevented the "conditional and limited opening" of the strait.

Donald Trump has lashed out at the Spanish government, which has been critical of his war on Iran.
The US president said Spain was doing "badly" financially, adding that its economy was "absolutely horrendous".

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/18/why-obamas-iran-nuclear-deal-looms-large-over-trumps-negoti/
Donald Trump described the nuclear agreement Barack Obama signed with Iran in 2015 as "horrible", "one-sided" and the "worst in history".

But the US president is now proposing a weaker deal as he seeks an exit from the Iran war, according to the former British foreign secretary who helped secure Mr Obama's pact.

Unless [Trump] can dramatically turn the tables in the next couple of weeks ... he has massively weakened the US's credibility," said Lord Hammond, the Conservative foreign secretary from 2014-16 who was later chancellor.

He warned that Mr Trump risked looking "very, very stupid" if he failed to translate the US's military superiority into a tangible victory.

According to the Axios news website, American negotiators are proposing the release of $20bn (£15bn) in frozen Iranian assets in return for a temporary suspension of uranium enrichment.

Mr Trump denied the reports on Friday night, saying he was seeking an "unlimited" end to Iranian enrichment and would not release any frozen assets.
The president threatened to relaunch the war if Tehran did not agree to his terms.

If you go into a negotiation saying 'I've got a big stick, and I'm going to use it', then it better work, because otherwise you look very, very stupid," Lord Hammond said.
"Go back to Trump's mocking comment that Russia is not really a great power, because if it was, it would have walked through Ukraine in six days. Apply that same logic to Iran.
"Iran is a middle-sized power that has been under sanctions for the best part of 40 years, and the world's most powerful military have been literally unable to suppress it, to stop it – not to destroy it, but even to stop it – from humiliating its own master."
Analysts echoed Lord Hammond's concern about the shape of a peace deal.
"I think a lot of this is ringing alarm bells in terms of what had already been addressed in the JCPOA," said Darya Dolzvika, a senior research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank.
"It seems the Trump administration is figuring out that you're not going to get a permanent solution. It's just unfortunate that it's taken us years of diplomacy and an all-out war for them to essentially end up debating over the same things that we were debating in 2015."

The JCPOA was a good deal," Lord Hammond said. "It effectively ensured that Iran could not make a nuclear weapon.
"What it didn't do was stop Iran producing or developing ballistic missiles, and it didn't stop Iran supporting Hamas and Hezbollah.
"That is the reason that various people opposed it, and Trump eventually tore it up."
Announcing the US withdrawal on May 8, 2018, Mr Trump accused the JCPOA negotiators of lifting "crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for very weak limits on the regime's nuclear activity, and no limits at all on its other malign behaviour".

According to the New York Times and Axios, the US is now proposing a 20-year embargo on uranium enrichment. Tehran has offered a three to five-year limit in response.
It was unclear whether the three-page memorandum currently being developed would discuss Tehran's support for regional proxies or its ballistic missile arsenal, Axios reported.

My experience is that the Iranians are anything but chaotic. They're very methodical in the way they do things," Lord Hammond said. Mr Trump is "more chaotic and seat of the pants", he added.

[Armagh18]

Whoever is doing the lego videoes of Trump needs a payrise!

[DaleCooper]

Its difficult to understate just how much damage is being done to American Empire, prestige and standing in the world.

That was sort of my hope for Rabbi Trumps presidency and it is exceeding expectation though it puts everyone on edge.

[Wildweasel74]

Them Lego videos are mustard!

[johnnycool]

Them Lego videos are mustard!

Iran have worked out how to play the propaganda war in a way the average American can understand.

Says it all when lego animation is how they chose to do it.

[seafoid]

The Iranians understand American society. The Americans do not understand Iran. That is why Iranian PR video is good and US PR videos are shit.

[DaleCooper]

Americans do not understand their own society and who rules it.

Average American says they are "free"

lol

[seafoid]

Charlie Kirk and Israel

https://arabamericannews.com/2025/09/25/charlie-kirks-defiance-conservative-firebrand-challenged-israel-narrative-and-donor/