Posted on 04/17/2026 11:31:06 AM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
If you read the New York Times or watch the foreign policy establishment’s “best and brightest,” you will be told, with imperious certainty, that America is losing the war in Iran and was stupid to begin it. The conspiratorial wing on both the right and left add that it is all the Jews’ fault, although they usually remember to mutter they mean “Israel” instead of all Jews, a gossamer cloak over what they really mean.
If, on the other hand, you watch Fox News or read blogs by conservatives or military analysts, you will be told with equal certainty that America and its ally, Israel, are actually winning – and winning decisively.
So, who is right?
The answer, of course, is Carl von Clausewitz. What that old Prussian says goes to the heart of the issue.
Writing two centuries ago, in the bitter aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, Clausewitz made the essential point that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.”
What does that aphorism mean for today’s Middle Eastern wars, fought with technology and spycraft beyond Clausewitz’s wildest imagining? It means we have to look beyond all the modern tools – the planes, drones, precision bombs, satellites, and AI technology – to assess the war-fighting in terms of the combatants’ political goals. What do they want? What does “victory” mean for each of them? Are they achieving those goals or failing? The answers depend, obviously, on the battlefield assessment – but they go well beyond it.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.com ...
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The conspiratorial wing on both the right and left add that it is all the Jews’ fault …No; those are also left wingers.
Clausewitz? Okay.
But be sure to toss in some Alfred Thayer Mahan.
My main complaint is that he didn’t have more to say about the Clausewitzian observation that the goal of war must be to break the will of the enemy. Damage done to the enemies’ military and infrastructure is a means to this end, not the end in itself. But other than that I think the article is spot on.
For 47 years the foreign policy intelligentsia have been telling us there was little we could do to topple the regime in Iran, and in a month the former real estate mogul turned president has it on the verge of surrendering.
These foreign policy experts are a bunch of grifters writing their position papers and having their articles published in globalist funded magazines Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. They’ve made tons of money publishing their books and making speeches plus appearing on the cable networks. Trump has made all of these people look pathetic.
“verge of surrendering” is at this point a belief and faith in Trump, not a fact. I’m extremely skeptical. The safer bet is another round of failure along the lines of Vietnam or Afghanistan due to the failure to understand and apply Clausewitz.
Per lame stream media, not us.
.
USA is winning unless it gives away the victory.
Which appears to be quite possible, alas.
Holding breathe here that our “negotiators” or “Snake Department” don’t allow the evil Iranian regime or Hezballah or Hamas to continue. We’ve got them nailed, finally...unless we give them opportunity to continue or reassemble, redeploy, and re-attack yet again.
Eliminate them and the victory is ours. Fail to eliminate them now and they’ll attack again. and again. and again, probably with nukes. Learn from history.
More people are watching the LEGO ridicules of Trump on the internet. They are watching left, center or right “news”.
Of course, those LEGO are written and produced by IRAN.
Does that mean we didn’t even ask for a elections or a change in government?
The weapons manufacturers.
The people heavily invested in weapons manufacturers stocks.
The politicians who get bribes from weapons manufacturers.
The regular ol' people... the 'peasants' on BOTH (all) sides, they are the ones who are losing.
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