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As the Worms Turn
Kunstler.com ^ | 13 Apr, 2026 | James Howard Kunstler

Posted on 04/20/2026 5:53:01 AM PDT by MtnClimber

They’re holed up in a bank demanding three large pizzas, a helicopter, and a personal phone call from Sydney Sweeney. . . ."— Greg Gutfeld on Iran’s negotiating position.

The Russians have a phrase for it: negotiation-incapable (ne peregovorosposobny). That is what the Iran delegation demonstrated during a long day of talks with the US team over the weekend in Islamabad. What part of “no nukes” didn’t they understand? All of it, apparently. The corollary question on the table — arguably more pressing for Iran — was: how much more punishment are you willing to suffer to sustain your dream of atomic bombs? You have no defenses left, no control of your air-space. Do you just want to sit in the dark for the next hundred years?

Such is the obduracy of the Shia death cult. They have no friends left in the world. Russia, you think? Not really. That relationship was pegged to geopolitical dynamics that are dead and gone. Russia is much better off normalizing relations with the USA so we can both be safe and secure in our spheres of influence. Europe is busy committing suicide. In this situation, China is little more than Iran’s very unhappy customer. Maybe Uncle Xi Pooh Bear can try talking some sense to whoever is left in-charge at the IRGC. . . give up your lunatic bomb dreams and just re-open the dingdang gas station! Pretty Please!

Anyway, why interfere with US operations in Hormuz? The USA is wresting control of the Persian Gulf from these maniacs who can’t be trusted to just stay open for business. Japan, the two Koreas, Indochina, India, also have to stand by with mounting frustration as these jihad-happy idiots starve Asia’s economies. A change in Iran’s attitude can’t happen soon enough and Mr. Trump is on the case. The blockade starts at 10a.m. today, Monday. Whatever’s left of Iran’s revenue stream goes out the window. Maybe they lob some rockets and drones at our ships. Maybe they hit something, maybe not. We’ll see where they launch from and that will be the end of X-number of remaining launch sites. Then there are the bridges, the power plants. FAFO mofos.

About those 1000 pounds of 60-percent enriched uranium (their precious bomb fixings). . . . You must imagine that it is either buried deeply under the rubble of Fordoz and Isfahan, or maybe distributed in many secret hidey-holes all over the place. . . or perhaps sitting booby-trapped somewhere. In short, there are many reasons to think that no special forces operation will be able to get at it. So, the only other conclusion is that Iran must be driven to a place where they will surrender the stuff willingly themselves. That could be a harsh place.

While you stay tuned to events there, plenty more developments break elsewhere in this raucous world. Viktor Orban was voted out in Hungary. How did that happen? Maybe genuine public sentiment (sixteen years of Viktor O enough?). Maybe a whole lot of Soros money involved, plus EU backstage ballot shenanigans. Mr. Orban conceded graciously in any case, patriot that he is. Expect a blizzard of narratives to follow. The truth will be hard to sort out. And it remains to be seen whether the new president, Peter Magyar, will throw open Hungary’s borders, hoist the pride flags, and give up importing Russian oil and natgas — all per the EU’s policy regime.

Here in the homieland, the fabulously loathsome Rep. Eric Swalwell, lover of Fang-Fang and accused multiple rapist of his office girls, shameless serial liar, and all-around uber jerk-off, has lost his shot at bringing additional ruin as governor to the forlorn state of California. Might even be ejected from his seat in Congress. Oh, happy day!

Rumored to be released this week by the House Intelligence Committee: the transcript of former Intel Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson’s testimony about events that led to Impeachment #1 of Donald Trump in 2019. The transcript has been locked away in a vault since October, 2019. Tulsi Gabbard rooted it out. The shadowy Atkinson played a crucial role in positioning “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella to spark off charges of the “Ukraine quid pro quo” phone call against the president. Ciaramella was then a CIA agent planted in the National Security Council. He may have been involved earlier in co-authoring the fake Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that kicked off the RussiaGate hoax in 2017. For Impeachment #1 Atkinson reportedly changed the whistleblower rules to allow Ciaramella to convey second-hand hearsay from sketchy NSC member Col. Alexander Vindman to Rep. Adam Schiff, then chairman of the House Intel Committee. The chain of actions suggests the impeachment was a CIA setup.

The CIA director at the time was Avril Haines. Ms. Haines ran the London CIA field office during the period when former MI6 agent Christopher Steele was concocting the notorious Steele Dossier at the center of RussiaGate. It has long been suspected that RussiaGate was a joint CIA / MI6 operation. Isn’t it about time that Avril Haines sat for a deposition in these various matters? It might be nice to know if our main Intel Agency was involved in serial schemes to overthrow the US government.*

*Correction:

Gina Haspel was in charge of the London desk of the CIA when the Steele Dossier was cooked up, not Avril Haines. (Apologies to Avril Haines. I mixed them up.) Ms. Haspel served as CIA Director from May, 2018 through January 2021. She presided over the concealment of the Hunter Biden laptop, the Impeachment #1 nonsense, and the Jan 6th US Capitol operation. Avril Haines was Deputy National Security Advisor (2015–2017) — serving as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor under Obama — and Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) (2021–2025) under President Biden. Ms. Haines apparently overlooked the Biden family’s bribery operations in Ukraine and China, or was not properly informed about these activities. You can switch out the name of Avril Haines for Gina Haspel in the last paragraph of today’s blog.


TOPICS: Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: 15dayceasefire; adamschiff; alexandervindman; avrilhaines; california; ccp; china; epicfury; ericswalwell; geopolitics; greggutfeld; hamas; hezbollah; india; indochina; iran; irgc; israel; jameshowardkunstler; japan; kunstler; michaelatkinson; operationepicfury; republicofkorea; shiadeathcult; steeledossier; straitofhormuz; sydneysweeney; tulsigabbard; waronterror; yemen
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To: T. Rustin Noone

The Iranian people are good, they deserve to have freedom of the hateful Muslim tyranny and torture.


21 posted on 04/20/2026 2:39:13 PM PDT by little jeremiah (SCARE: Social Chaos And Response Emergency)
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To: MtnClimber

It’s all coming to a crescendo.


22 posted on 04/20/2026 2:40:02 PM PDT by little jeremiah (SCARE: Social Chaos And Response Emergency)
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To: MtnClimber
And it remains to be seen whether the new president, Peter Magyar, will throw open Hungary’s borders, hoist the pride flags, and give up importing Russian oil and natgas — all per the EU’s policy regime.

That's a bit sloppy. By all accounts, none of them secret, Magyar is just a less corrupt version of Orban. He has no plans for any of that.

23 posted on 04/21/2026 10:26:34 AM PDT by Moltke (Reasoning with a liberal is like watering a rock in the hope to grow a building.)
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To: Drago

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/21/world/live-news/iran-war-us-trump-israel

Per the above, quoting the POTUS, Wednesday evening Eastern.


24 posted on 04/21/2026 10:33:39 AM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away! 🇺🇸 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿)
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To: Moltke

If the EU supports Magyar then I think it shows he is a more corrupt version of Orban. Regardless of what the leftist media reports.


25 posted on 04/21/2026 11:56:22 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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