Good Saturday morning beloved sentients. WordPress really pulled a number on my post about “Driving the Malahat” yesterday. I published it and just went in to make a few editorial changes and half of it suddenly disappeared. LOL I post all kinds of inflammatory stuff about Trump and his wars but “Driving the Malahat” needs to be censored???? Maybe it was that allegation of mine about the bad drivers being autistic due to childhood vaccines that did it. Don’t know what pisses off CSIS these days.
Anyhoooooo I will have to return it to DRAFT and then rewrite all my comments before republishing. That’s for later. First, I want to post a very informative article by one of the few [you can count them on the fingers of both hands] persons of wisdom and logic in the US these days. Judge Andrew Napolitano has always impressed me with his courageous voicing of principles of justice and democracy in the US–two concepts under dire threat at the moment.
I found this interview with him in PressTV which is the State broadcaster of Iran. Please read it and I will have more comments to follow
Trumps war on Iran a catastrophe with zero gains, made Tehran very strong’: Ex-US jurist
By Alireza Kamandi
Trump’s military aggression against Iran has been nothing short of a catastrophe – yielding zero strategic gains while inflaming domestic inflation, alienating European allies, and elevating Iran to the ranks of “very, very strong countries,” says an analyst.
Judge Andrew Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, a syndicated columnist and a political commentator, made these remarks in an interview with the Press TV website.
He said the US-Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran has yielded no tangible benefits for the United States and President Donald Trump has failed to achieve his declared objectives of seizing or degrading Iran’s nuclear materials and ballistic missile capabilities.
“Instead, Trump has suffered a significant loss of international credibility and domestic standing. Price inflation for fuel and food has surged across America, while European allies – including Germany, France, Spain, and the UK – have refused to participate in what they view as a conflict driven by Israeli interests rather than American national security,” he said.
The Strait of Hormuz, once a reliably operating, near-perfection global shipping lane, he said, has transformed into a “contested battle zone driving up global oil prices,” adding that the war from the American perspective has been a “disaster.”
“The refusal of key European allies – particularly Germany, France, Spain, and the UK—to join the so-called ‘liberation operation’ at the Strait of Hormuz underscores a fundamental recognition: this is not their war. These nations have identified the conflict as stemming from Israeli strategic choices and President Trump’s subservience to Israeli demands,” Napolitano said.
The noted commentator hastened to add that Europeans gain nothing from that and Trump has been “politically degraded by this lack of allied support.”
He said despite “widespread recognition” that Trump’s unprovoked war against Iran “warrants impeachment on legal and constitutional grounds,” the current Republican-controlled Congress remains “unwilling to act.”
“Lawmakers, though privately believing impeachment is justified, are reportedly afraid of the president. However, the political landscape is expected to shift dramatically by January 2027, when Democrats are projected to control Congress. At that point, there will be sufficient political will and courage to pursue impeachment proceedings”, the former jurist told the Press TV website.
A significant outcome of the war, he remarked, is Iran’s “emergence as a formidable military power” that has frustrated both the US and Israel, calling it an “unprecedented achievement in modern history.”
Iran, he noted, has entered the league of “very, very strong countries,” having succeeded through “courage, will, and ability” in halting the advances of two of the world’s most powerful militaries.
Iran’s newly announced maritime transit mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz represents a powerful strategic asset, Napolitano said, emphasizing that the US is now “powerless to prevent Iranian control over this critical waterway.”
“If Iran proceeds to impose tolls on shipping traffic, it will become fabulously wealthy very soon, further cementing its status among the world’s most powerful nations,” he told the Press TV website, adding that this leverage could function as a “de facto snapback mechanism, enabling Tehran to retaliate against any future sanctions attempts.”
********
Greencrow continues: That term “snap back mechanism” was new to me so I looked it up on Wikipedia. It was coined to describe the mechanism by which sanctions against iran could be reimposed by the West under the JCPOA if Iran broke the agreement [which it never did].
Iran is now using the term sarcastically to describe how it will increase tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz if their countries again bring harm or threats of harm onto Iran…now that it controls the Strait. Just another example of the sharp wit of the Iranians.
I hasten to add that this “snap back mechanism” is what the war has devolved down to now. It is what it is all about…all the marbles. If Iran maintains control over the Strait of Hormuz then it can not only become fabulously rich–but it can impoverish whatever country that is dependent on passage of its energy needs through the Strait.
A wise leader would have thought this eventuality through before attacking Iran, killing its leader and 168 little schoolgirls sitting at their desks. A wise leader would have said to the badgering narcissistic psychopath Netanyaho “Blow off, nincompoop…I don’t want to give Iran the power to “snap back” at our freedom to traverse the Strait of Hormuz without tolls or limitations on our abilities.
But Nooooooooo. Not able to think beyond one checker move…never mind chess.
Here is what the Iranian spokesman said this morning when asked about the delay to the latest “deadline” set by the US for their response to “negotiations”.
Just the first of many “snap-backs” from Iran. Get used to it.
And stay tuned.
Greencrow as the crow flies 