cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47584733
Trita Parsi May 18, 2026
We should first recognize that restarting the war amounts to an admission that Trump’s previous escalatory gambit — the blockade of the blockade — has failed. That, in turn, was itself an admission that the war had failed. Which was an admission that the threats of war in January had failed. As I have argued before on my Substack, this relentless search for an escalatory silver bullet capable of bringing Iran to its knees is not unique to Trump; it has become a defining pathology of American Iran policy for decades.
Although negotiators have made meaningful progress on several fronts, talks have thus far failed to produce an agreement, largely because of irreconcilable differences over Tehran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile. And as Washington has come to realize that the blockade is backfiring, a new and dangerous dynamic has emerged: both sides now believe another round of fighting will strengthen their hand in the negotiations that follow.
MSM pretty much wont report on the actual fallout of doge cuts, trumps attack, or at least downplay it to death. since they are all owned by trump supporters. older people still consume MSMs in large amounts, and it gets distilled by right wing pundits on youtube, or social media, they never hear the actual bad that comes from trump, its all framed as a "non-issue, temporary issue or a positive thing.
One thing they have noticed and will keep noticing is the inflation and fuel prices.