Ruth: “Military lives are not expendable”….RBGh. This short sentence from your post tonight brought me back 30 yrs ago when I was an officer in the medical corp of the US Army serving at the end of the Vietnam War. The army language switched calling the soldiers
‘troops’. Non of us serving at the time liked it. We believed it took the human being out of soldier and placed them into this expendable thing called a troop. We fought hard against it in the med/ nursing corps but no one listened to us. Some officers were warned with demotion if they didn’t shut up. I got out in 1985 rather then use the term.
That no pension is just wrong on so many levels. Also, don't you see Trump as providing aid and comfort to the enemy in this MOU? Isn't that the very definition of treason?
Democrats need legitimate comprehensive cyber forensic audits in places where there are serious questions of manipulation or spot audits. This means before and after tabulation digital audits to satisfy WE the People that there have been free and fair elections. No more simple ballot audits. They will not do.
Sounds like an excellent idea. We have been concerned that in Florida there is a case where an American born abroad to US Citizen Floridian military parents is being denied by a member of the Board of elections to register to vote. Right now Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Abroad have been told to report any irregularities to Vote from Abroad and to Overseas Votes, and Resistance Roundtable Frankfurt is gathering the cases.
Thanks for the heads-up on this. In decades past, this would have been horrifying (and maybe front-page news). Now it's anti-democratic business as usual.
Excellent analysis, Ruth. Trump is not a tribune of America's democratic republic but rather its Trojan Horse traitor. But more exigently and ominously, he is a clinical psychopath who will certainly deploy nuclear weapons if he feels backed into a corner, even one of his own making. (How else would he make good on his threat -- “You close the strait and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it back to your f****** country, we’ll take over the rest of the country” -- without the threat and/or actual use of nuclear weapons?).
There is no greater urgency and act of patriotism and self-preservation than to remove him from office pronto, by whatever nonviolent means necessary. Those who fail to do so, along with those who become its victims, will be lucky if they survive long enough to rue the day that psychotic malignant narcissist Trump was invested with power.
Point well-taken. However, Trump is such a mentally unstable psychopath that he could well deploy nuclear weapons by accident in a fit of rage or by an irrational, volcanic act of narcissistic hubristic solipsism. He is too mentally addled to be comfortably predictable.
Consider the possibility that Trump represents America's id. How else to explain the reported 30+% who still support him? (True, ignorance is a factor, but that goes with being an id.)
What are your thoughts on how and by whom he's going to be "remove[d] . . . from office pronto"? Personally I don't see much hope before the Democrats take back Congress and assume the majority in both houses on January 3, 2027, but hey, I'd love to be surprised.
I hope drumpf lives just long enough to witness the faux golden sheen he excretes being scraped off, along with the restoration of the Rose Garden... it would be fitting if he croaks at the Inauguration of his replacement...
“On 21 June 2026, I was on Tom Switzer’s podcast — “Switzerland” — with Trita Parsi. We focused almost exclusively on the negotiations between Iran and the US, which had begun earlier that day in a resort near Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.
It is fair to say those negotiations got off to an inauspicious start, raising doubts about whether the two sides would ever reach a deal.
Many people, of course, think that Israel and its powerful lobby in the US will ultimately derail the negotiations and hopefully the war will start up again, providing an opportunity for the US and Israel to finish the job they started.
Trita and I poured cold water on this perspective. We argued that the war is lost, there is no way of winning it, and going back to war would only make a bad situation worse. More specifically, the US absolutely needs to reach an agreement with Iran — no matter what Israel and the diehard Zionists in the West think — because the international economy is heading toward the precipice.
As President Trump said, there is a real danger of an “economic catastrophe,” and he does not want to be known as Herbert Hoover the Second.
In essence, the US has a profound incentive to make a deal with Iran that reflects the terms laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding.” ~John Mearsheimer (6/21/26)
Thanks so much for putting faces to those who lost their lives.
You and Timothy Snyder recently had a discussion on whether Trump is murdering the US or committing suicide. This MOU is a sign of both. On the one hand, he is aligning himself with Iran, the enemy, which should be clearly viewed as treasonous. He is aiding and providing comfort to the enemy. On the other hand, he is not aware of how bad a deal he is making nor is his clown car of representatives in JDVance, Kushner and Witkoff.
It’s always the same with 47 who ever pays him off in some manner gets a pass ( grifting) it could be money or just helping him bypass the latest scam and mismanagement gaslighting is what’s happening constantly
Thank you, Ruth - You're one of the great intelligent articulate quietly ferocious hearts in the great cloud of unknowing around us. I'm so grateful for the grace (perhaps a peculiar term to use) of your thoughts, and the terrible clarity, beauty and kindness of the weaving.
Where are the Saudis in all this? Once upon a time, like before the Coalition of the Ignorant took out Saddam Hussein, Iraq served as a buffer between Iran and Saudi Arabia, who've been contending for Middle East dominance for decades. Iran and Saudi are both far-right theocracies, but the former is Shi'a, the latter Sunni, and the latter has had several decades more to mellow (sort of): Ibn Sa'ud had consolidated his conquests by 1932, but the ayatollahs didn't kick the shah out till 1979.
Thank you for your lucid wishes on Father’s Day and the summer solstice! Following on the Obama Center celebration and Juneteenth, this is a very auspicious moment. Namaste!
The book title is United States of Oligarchy (ok, I'm an academic librarian!). Just ordered for my university library. Thank you for this important essay.
As you wrote: "...the use of real estate executives (Witkoff and Kushner) rather than seasoned diplomats and Middle East experts for sensitive negotiations with Iran..." also demonstrates the shocking hubris and egos of men who are no where near qualified to do the things asked of them, but accept these positions anyway. Humility, I believe, is a sign of intelligence and of understanding your skills and lack thereof. Unfortunately, Trump is very good at choosing people (mostly men) who have no ethics or values, and who only seek to enrich themselves.
thank you for making clear the relationship with Putin as a deciding factor in "ending" the war and maintaining the missiles. I haven't seen any others claiming that, but it seems so obvious.
Ruth: “Military lives are not expendable”….RBGh. This short sentence from your post tonight brought me back 30 yrs ago when I was an officer in the medical corp of the US Army serving at the end of the Vietnam War. The army language switched calling the soldiers
‘troops’. Non of us serving at the time liked it. We believed it took the human being out of soldier and placed them into this expendable thing called a troop. We fought hard against it in the med/ nursing corps but no one listened to us. Some officers were warned with demotion if they didn’t shut up. I got out in 1985 rather then use the term.
No pension
That no pension is just wrong on so many levels. Also, don't you see Trump as providing aid and comfort to the enemy in this MOU? Isn't that the very definition of treason?
Thank you for your service. I am so sorry for the way you were treated in our name! This is a black mark on our history.
Cheeto’s Cheating In Elections
Democrats need legitimate comprehensive cyber forensic audits in places where there are serious questions of manipulation or spot audits. This means before and after tabulation digital audits to satisfy WE the People that there have been free and fair elections. No more simple ballot audits. They will not do.
Sounds like an excellent idea. We have been concerned that in Florida there is a case where an American born abroad to US Citizen Floridian military parents is being denied by a member of the Board of elections to register to vote. Right now Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Abroad have been told to report any irregularities to Vote from Abroad and to Overseas Votes, and Resistance Roundtable Frankfurt is gathering the cases.
Thanks for the heads-up on this. In decades past, this would have been horrifying (and maybe front-page news). Now it's anti-democratic business as usual.
Excellent analysis, Ruth. Trump is not a tribune of America's democratic republic but rather its Trojan Horse traitor. But more exigently and ominously, he is a clinical psychopath who will certainly deploy nuclear weapons if he feels backed into a corner, even one of his own making. (How else would he make good on his threat -- “You close the strait and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it back to your f****** country, we’ll take over the rest of the country” -- without the threat and/or actual use of nuclear weapons?).
There is no greater urgency and act of patriotism and self-preservation than to remove him from office pronto, by whatever nonviolent means necessary. Those who fail to do so, along with those who become its victims, will be lucky if they survive long enough to rue the day that psychotic malignant narcissist Trump was invested with power.
Mostly true, but Putin has ordered Trump to stand down, resulting in this weak agreement, and negating the use of nukes.
Point well-taken. However, Trump is such a mentally unstable psychopath that he could well deploy nuclear weapons by accident in a fit of rage or by an irrational, volcanic act of narcissistic hubristic solipsism. He is too mentally addled to be comfortably predictable.
Also point well taken. You describe him perfectly. It’s like we’re living in a horror movie.
Consider the possibility that Trump represents America's id. How else to explain the reported 30+% who still support him? (True, ignorance is a factor, but that goes with being an id.)
What are your thoughts on how and by whom he's going to be "remove[d] . . . from office pronto"? Personally I don't see much hope before the Democrats take back Congress and assume the majority in both houses on January 3, 2027, but hey, I'd love to be surprised.
I hope drumpf lives just long enough to witness the faux golden sheen he excretes being scraped off, along with the restoration of the Rose Garden... it would be fitting if he croaks at the Inauguration of his replacement...
“Will the Deal Hold?” Tom Switzer’s ‘Switzerland with John Mearsheimer & Trita Parsi (6/21/26)
https://www.youtube.com/live/okSltilmp-o?si=laXfYlKggJ7LVxDM
“On 21 June 2026, I was on Tom Switzer’s podcast — “Switzerland” — with Trita Parsi. We focused almost exclusively on the negotiations between Iran and the US, which had begun earlier that day in a resort near Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.
It is fair to say those negotiations got off to an inauspicious start, raising doubts about whether the two sides would ever reach a deal.
Many people, of course, think that Israel and its powerful lobby in the US will ultimately derail the negotiations and hopefully the war will start up again, providing an opportunity for the US and Israel to finish the job they started.
Trita and I poured cold water on this perspective. We argued that the war is lost, there is no way of winning it, and going back to war would only make a bad situation worse. More specifically, the US absolutely needs to reach an agreement with Iran — no matter what Israel and the diehard Zionists in the West think — because the international economy is heading toward the precipice.
As President Trump said, there is a real danger of an “economic catastrophe,” and he does not want to be known as Herbert Hoover the Second.
In essence, the US has a profound incentive to make a deal with Iran that reflects the terms laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding.” ~John Mearsheimer (6/21/26)
Thanks so much for putting faces to those who lost their lives.
You and Timothy Snyder recently had a discussion on whether Trump is murdering the US or committing suicide. This MOU is a sign of both. On the one hand, he is aligning himself with Iran, the enemy, which should be clearly viewed as treasonous. He is aiding and providing comfort to the enemy. On the other hand, he is not aware of how bad a deal he is making nor is his clown car of representatives in JDVance, Kushner and Witkoff.
It’s always the same with 47 who ever pays him off in some manner gets a pass ( grifting) it could be money or just helping him bypass the latest scam and mismanagement gaslighting is what’s happening constantly
Thank you, Ruth - You're one of the great intelligent articulate quietly ferocious hearts in the great cloud of unknowing around us. I'm so grateful for the grace (perhaps a peculiar term to use) of your thoughts, and the terrible clarity, beauty and kindness of the weaving.
💯👍
Where are the Saudis in all this? Once upon a time, like before the Coalition of the Ignorant took out Saddam Hussein, Iraq served as a buffer between Iran and Saudi Arabia, who've been contending for Middle East dominance for decades. Iran and Saudi are both far-right theocracies, but the former is Shi'a, the latter Sunni, and the latter has had several decades more to mellow (sort of): Ibn Sa'ud had consolidated his conquests by 1932, but the ayatollahs didn't kick the shah out till 1979.
Chilling. Thank you Ruth💔🇺🇸
Thank you for your lucid wishes on Father’s Day and the summer solstice! Following on the Obama Center celebration and Juneteenth, this is a very auspicious moment. Namaste!
The book title is United States of Oligarchy (ok, I'm an academic librarian!). Just ordered for my university library. Thank you for this important essay.
As you wrote: "...the use of real estate executives (Witkoff and Kushner) rather than seasoned diplomats and Middle East experts for sensitive negotiations with Iran..." also demonstrates the shocking hubris and egos of men who are no where near qualified to do the things asked of them, but accept these positions anyway. Humility, I believe, is a sign of intelligence and of understanding your skills and lack thereof. Unfortunately, Trump is very good at choosing people (mostly men) who have no ethics or values, and who only seek to enrich themselves.
In the of 47 ‘s days I believe that he will steal everything he can and lie and cheat his best friends even to his last breath
Somehow I cannot abide "Trump" and "calculation' used in the same sentence.
thank you for making clear the relationship with Putin as a deciding factor in "ending" the war and maintaining the missiles. I haven't seen any others claiming that, but it seems so obvious.
This makes so much sense even though it's still so hard to believe it has come to this.