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@moonbus saidFor a great summary of the incompetence and material losses associated with the rescuing of a USAF colonel in the Iranian countryside, take a look at this:
Plus the first loss of a U.S. military aircraft to enemy fire in 20 years--plus three more aircraft lost in the rescue. There is no way Trump can spin this as anything but a debacle for the world's premier fighting force.
And for what? Nothing but a two-week cease fire.
Nothing even approaching a verifiable nuclear arms treaty (which is what Obama negotiated and ...[text shortened]... s to the Red Sea/Suez Canal and the Persian Gulf, through which most of the world's shipping routes.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/7/2376778/-The-High-Cost-of-Miracles-Tactical-Failure-and-Political-Spin-in-the-DUDE-44-Rescue?utm_campaign=trending
The administration’s zero American lives lost talking point, frequently used by Secretary Hegseth, technically holds true regarding fatalities but serves to obscure the massive attrition of U.S. hardware. In the real world, hardware represents capability, and the loss of these assets weakens the very military posture Trump claims to champion. During the 50-hour operation, the U.S. military sustained its most significant single-event aircraft loss in decades. Confirmed reports and satellite imagery show the wreckage of an A-10 Thunderbolt II shot down by Iranian MANPADS and the intentional destruction of two MC-130J Commando II transport planes. These multi-million-dollar specialized aircraft were scuttled by U.S. forces after they became stuck in the mud of a makeshift agricultural landing strip, a detail Hegseth has consistently avoided in public briefings. As someone against the military industrial complex, I still say this is a massive tactical loss. And in war, “tactics” matter.
The comprehensive incompetence of the thugs and clowns infesting the White House these days has scarcely any historical precedent. A couple more weeks of this crap and the US will be half a trillion dollars in the hole with nothing to show for it except an unbowed and empowered Iran.
@Soothfast saidAnd of course, the USAF colonel was shot out of the sky after Mango Mussolini and Secretary KegBreath claimed total air superiority in Iran. Then boom: two US aircraft were shot down.
For a great summary of the incompetence and material losses associated with the rescuing of a USAF colonel in the Iranian countryside, take a look at this:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/7/2376778/-The-High-Cost-of-Miracles-Tactical-Failure-and-Political-Spin-in-the-DUDE-44-Rescue?utm_campaign=trending
[quote]The administration’s zero American lives lost talkin ...[text shortened]... rillion dollars in the hole with nothing to show for it except an unbowed and empowered Iran.
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@Soothfast saidOn the home front, however, this has been a massive success for Trump. I mean, has anybody even noticed that the Epstein files still have not been released? The deadline was Dec. last year. He fed Bondi to the lions and Epstein is bumped off the front page news. He'll blame anything that goes wrong in Iran on Hogsbreath, and Trump's off the hook, yet again.
I've already lost count of how many aircraft the US has lost in combat in this war being coordinated by a former Fox News talking head and a failed real estate mogul. Right now the list I have for just the past week is this:
1 F-15E Strike Eagle
1 A-10 Warthog
2 Lockheed MC-130 transport aircraft
"Wag The Dog" -- the president fcked a girl scout, so let's invade Albania.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120885/
except that this time, people really died.
@moonbus saidI think you're overreaching. Trump was looking for a way out of his insane threats and the Pakistani ceasefire proposal gave him one. I don't think that means he's going to outright capitulate as you seem to think.
Here's what Iran gets:
1. to assert military control over the Strait of Hormuz
2. to collect a 1-million-dollar toll for ships passing through the strait (passage was free before)
3. to rebuild its bridges and roads at the world's expense
4. to enrich uranium
5. install a regime which is even more domestically repressive than the previous one
6. a guarantee that neith ...[text shortened]... ades: he knocked the Epstein scandal right off the front page news and still not released the files.
An early guess: ultimately an agreement that looks a lot like the one made by Iran with President Obama.
@no1marauder saidJust as I thought .. these jokers around here are celebrating for nothing.
I think you're overreaching. Trump was looking for a way out of his insane threats and the Pakistani ceasefire proposal gave him one. I don't think that means he's going to outright capitulate as you seem to think.
An early guess: ultimately an agreement that looks a lot like the one made by Iran with President Obama.
@Soothfast saidIt appeared months before the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal hit the press, quite prescient at the time. Sound track by Mark Knopfler, all-star cast.
Never saw that movie. Maybe I should give it a gander.
@no1marauder saidIt's early stages, of course, but even thinking about handing the Strait of Hormuz over to the military control of a belligerent party is already a huge concession, roughly equivalent to conceding the Gulf of Aden to Somali pirates. Iran can hold scores of countries hostage by threatening to close the strait any time they want to.
I think you're overreaching. Trump was looking for a way out of his insane threats and the Pakistani ceasefire proposal gave him one. I don't think that means he's going to outright capitulate as you seem to think.
An early guess: ultimately an agreement that looks a lot like the one made by Iran with President Obama.
Just goes to show a) that Iran has a lot more leverage than Trump's team gave them credit for, and b) that military might alone does not always decide issues.
quote:
The Law of the Sea Treaty guarantees passage to peaceful ships
Iran’s 10-point proposal for ending the war includes a provision allowing it and Oman to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations they were directly involved in. The official said Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction.
But the Law of the Sea Treaty’s Article 17 guarantees a right of “innocent passage” for ships that do not threaten the coastal states. So allowing Iran and Oman to start charging for passage through the strait would set a dangerous precedent, experts said.
Freedom of navigation in the world’s seas has been a fundamental right for hundreds of years, founded on “the idea that the sea doesn’t belong to anyone,” said Philippe Delebecque, a professor and maritime law expert at Paris’ Sorbonne University.
“Freedom of navigation has always been recognized, including specifically in straits,” he said. The concern is if the Strait of Hormuz could be closed, then why not the Strait of Gibraltar between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, or the Strait of Malacca off Indonesia?
He called that scenario “the end of an international society.”
end quote
source:
https://apnews.com/article/strait-of-hormuz-iran-tolls-oil-3ef5dcd907122922db714d318c35317e
If Trump concedes control over this strait as part of his New World Order, it stinks.
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@no1marauder saidThere's no way that the trump administrations group of podcasters and real estate developers pretending to be diplomats can pull that off.
I think you're overreaching. Trump was looking for a way out of his insane threats and the Pakistani ceasefire proposal gave him one. I don't think that means he's going to outright capitulate as you seem to think.
An early guess: ultimately an agreement that looks a lot like the one made by Iran with President Obama.
Iran currently has a much stronger negotiating position.
@moonbus saidIndeed, is it any wonder why the Trump regime has been making noises this past year about taking over the Panama Canal? I predict that if it is wrested from Panama, it will be renamed the Trump Canal, will fall into disrepair, and after a few months of grifting the toll revenue it will be quietly dumped back in Panama's lap to "fix."
It's early stages, of course, but even thinking about handing the Strait of Hormuz over to the military control of a belligerent party is already a huge concession, roughly equivalent to conceding the Gulf of Aden to Somali pirates. Iran can hold scores of countries hostage by threatening to close the strait any time they want to.
@wildgrass saidIran also has China and Russia on its side.
Iran currently has a much stronger negotiating position.
There's every reason to believe that Russia is supplying Iran with satellite, telemetry and radar data to help it target US and Gulf state assets. And yet Trump—ever still Putin's most useful idiot (and Netanyahu's also)—continues to throw Ukraine under the bus and cozy up with the Kremlin. Meanwhile Vance is in Hungary trying to help out Orban, who's practically Putin's only friend in Europe. The Trump administration is a den of treason weasels and criminals.
@wildgrass saidTrump's 'diplomatic' team are all amateurs--they think other countries are not really countries, but just squatters not paying rent to the Trumps.
There's no way that the trump administrations group of podcasters and real estate developers pretending to be diplomats can pull that off.
Iran currently has a much stronger negotiating position.
@wildgrass saidGetting hammered by the US military is really unpleasant. Sure, if there's no way but abject surrender a nation might be willing to endure it but that's not an optimal result.
There's no way that the trump administrations group of podcasters and real estate developers pretending to be diplomats can pull that off.
Iran currently has a much stronger negotiating position.
If they were willing to accept JCPOA's terms in 2015, I'm not sure they wouldn't now.