"War, huh, good God, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" - Trump Thread #157

[Spandauer]

It ain't nothing but a heart-breaker
(War) Friend only to The Undertaker
(Edwin Starr 1970, written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong)

Unless, of course, your name ends in Trump, when it ain't nothing but an opportunity to grift, deflect and destroy.

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5496818-beware-the-ides-of-march-trump-thread-156

This article might provide an answer to a pp's question upthread, on planning for the current war.

Iran’s ability to imperil world oil supplies has long been its most potent geopolitical card....

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have spent decades building a specialised force with just one objective: to attack shipping in the strait and keep it closed.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/c89cfff98733fd61

Without even pausing to draw a deep breath I can think of fourteen other countries worse-hit within the past century. I'm sure there are more, historically. Is he including natural disasters, or does Trump only count ones where the damage has been inflicted by evil men like him?

Then there is the current on-going invasion of Ukraine. How many civilians have been killed by the invaders? I don't have a total on that, but it has to be way higher than any number in Iran at the moment.

Trump is saying they have won. Sending the navy to escort ships will show the lie.

Sending a navy ship that is subsequently sunk could bring down his house of cards in a way the seven dead servicemen he dishonoured in that pathetic hat didn't.

Johnsons rise to power was a result of the Tory party already being dead - only no one told it. Had Cameron had the cojones and faced down his lunatic fringe Johnson would have remained an amusing irrelevance.

Make it stop

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/ufc-fighters-train-fbi-agents-1236528510/
UFC Fighters Will Train FBI Agents in New Initiative
A number of UFC fighters will travel to the FBI's academy in Quantico, Virginia this week to train agents, ahead of planned event at the White House this summer.

Yes. I reckon the seabed on that straight will be loaded with all sorts of remote-controlled mines and the such. And decoy mines too.

Grandpa is awake

Trump: "The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"

He says that like a threat.

I think it is a threat.

Or the threat of mines.

During "the troubles" the IRA were achieving a 90% efficiency on their campaign. Meaning they only needed on live bomb to be able to make 10 coded warning calls that would shut down a location.

Growing up in London in the 70s it was quite common to have to walk parts of a tube journey.

And here we go, right on time (Sky):

"The UK is considering possible options to help defend shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks, the defence secretary has said.
John Healey also signalled that British forces needed to be ready in coordination with allies to evacuate UK nationals from the Middle East if the US and Israeli war with Iran worsens. "

I think we have a couple of sweepers over there. But I recall one was damaged in a collision last year? But give then a few weeks and they (or it) should be almost ready to leave port to embark on it's many months of sea bed inspection.

And yeah, now Healey has said something at all that means Trump will just blame the UK.

Yeah, what happened to defensive rather than offensive. Admit, that was never gonna happen.

I agree. And the UK is saying this while the still don't have a ship in the East Med. By the time the brits get to Cyprus there will be no spare sea for them to sail in.

To be fair, though, Trump isn't untouchable and the GOP doesn't have to be irrelevant. They've decided to cede their constitutional powers at the altar of the ochre god. They could take them back with a snap of the fingers at any time.

*Not that it would get us out of this mess.

Maybe the secret ingredient in patriot missiles is GOP spines. That would explain the shortage of both.

We assume we are privy to accurate and complete information in this matter so easily.

I'm listening to Tim Mak, who's an incredible journalist, talking about the situation in Iran and one of the points he's making is that the genesis of a lot of the recent unrest in Iran is that they're experiencing a terrible drought, so food and water shortages and things are very expensive. And now the smoke and oil from the bombing is causing black rain, which is damaging farms and the food supply further.

What a terrible mess this is going to be. And what a shame that these stupid little boys who think they're playing real life video games seem to have no idea of what they're causing.

The pictures of the rain is horrific. It’s got to amount to a war crime.

Such is the free press.

I hope that this war will be the one thing that sees Trump off. Let the midterms show this. MAGAts are none too happy.

He has rained hell on Iran, the footage I have watched it honestly looks like hell on earth. And for what? To replace one Ayatollah with another younger more radical one, who has lost his wife, children, father, mother from US bombs. He will be vengeful. And all fat Trump has done is to totally de-stabilise the world.

I hope that this war will be the one thing that sees Trump off. Let the midterms show this. MAGAts are none too happy.

I think they've been very busy coming up with ways to nullify that particular outcome.

The US happily bombed Cambodia because they could.

Bread and circuses, just as it always was. Will be man Vs animal next on the White House lawn with bear baiting or some gladiatorial combat. Where is Maximus when you need him?

Re the Strait of Hormuz, Rory Stewart was saying Iran doesn’t need to mine it - it’s so shallow in places (comparatively speaking) that all they need to do is strategically sink a few big ships (old wrecks if necessary) and the shipping containers won’t be able to navigate it for years.

And let's not forget Agent Orange in Vietnam.