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Javea, Spain
Joined December 2008
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Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
THE MOST INCOMPETENT WAR IN HISTORY: SARAH PAINE ON TRUMP’S IRAN DISASTER
Dr. Sarah Paine, a leading historian of great-power conflict and strategy, delivers a blunt verdict on the Iran war. She calls it one of the most incompetent wars in human history. The decision ignored basic principles of assessment, put maximum costs on America itself, and left permanent damage to the country’s power and alliances. This is not hindsight—it is the predictable result of hubris meeting reality.
THE CORE VERDICT
➡️ “The Iran war is probably one of the most incompetent wars in human history.”
➡️ A competent war puts the costs on the enemy and minimizes them for yourself.
➡️ This one did the opposite.
THE COST CATASTROPHE
➡️ It trashed the US economy.
➡️ It blew the US alliance system.
➡️ Iran is hurting, but the collateral damage is taking down the world’s economy.
➡️ That transforms the United States from a partner into an annoyance—and for many, a primary adversary—because it is threatening their economies.
➡️ “That’s breathtakingly incompetent.”
THE STRATEGIC BLIND SPOT
➡️ Any serious assessment looks at the enemy’s strengths and your own weaknesses, plus everyone else who might intervene.
➡️ That was absent.
➡️ The first thing Iran would do is shut Hormuz. Narrow seas close in wartime. Ukraine already showed this with the Black Sea.
➡️ Shore artillery, mines, and other tools stop traffic. There is no mystery here.
➡️ The big naval base in Bahrain becomes unreachable. The fallback is Diego Garcia, 2,500 miles away in the middle of nowhere. “That would be a mess.”
THE HUBRIS THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE
➡️ The people making the calls are historically unqualified for the job. That makes them profoundly dangerous.
➡️ Type A hubris assumes all decisions that matter happen in the United States.
➡️ Type B hubris assumes being good at one thing makes you good at everything.
➡️ Half-court tennis: you only watch your own side and never study the other team.
➡️ The Iranians understand Americans far better than Americans understand them.
THE UNFEASIBLE OBJECTIVE
➡️ Trying to “solve” Iran with 90 million people was never realistic.
➡️ Nazi Germany had roughly 80 million and required an occupation force of about 1.5 million just to hold it after the war—before counting everyone else.
➡️ The goal was unattainable. Pursuing it guarantees overextension and a bad ending.
➡️ The lesson the world takes is simple: get a nuke. The war incentivized proliferation.
➡️ This was a pivotal error. The choices that existed before are gone and will not return. “We will never be the trusted partner ever again. It’s done.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Iran war did not merely fail. It maximized American costs, destroyed trust with allies, and handed every rival a clearer reason to treat the United States as a threat to their own prosperity. Competence would have contained the problem at affordable cost. Hubris chose the opposite.
This is what permanent strategic damage looks like.
#IranWar #SarahPaine #StrategicIncompetence #HormuzDisaster #USHubris #AllianceCollapse #CatastrophicMistake
HT: YouTube The Diary Of A CEO
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:
Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund
alzresearch.org/giving/
Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources
alzfdn.org/donate/
Photo Credit: Tommy Garcia
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
This seems like a great time to reshare my favourite Sir Patrick Stewart performance, ‘What has the ECHR ever done for us?’ It’s just perfect in every possible way … including the ending 😂😂😂 RIP.
🎥 The Guardian
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks...
HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless.
Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it
So where's the wall-to-wall coverage?
Tell me this isn't a rigged game.
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
This year the British establishment covered up this new Banksy.
Can we get it Retweeted 10,000 times to show that they can never cover up their complicity in war crimes??
Protect the right to protest! RT!
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
As Zelensky visits the White House and gets bullied again, remember this clip of Marco Rubio explaining the U.S. promised to defend Ukraine FOREVER if they gave up their nukes when the USSR fell.
That’s why Lil Marco hides. He hoped we wouldn’t find it. Don’t share it right now.
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
Why can’t you just be a Christian?
Rather than pretending you need to stand up for them?
“For I was a stranger, and ye took me in.”
— Matthew 25:35
Stop co‑opting a faith whose teachings bear zero resemblance to what you’re pushing
It’s shameful.
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
Since David Frost has NEVER been right about anything at any point when it comes to Brexit, this feels like a strong endorsement for our participation in Erasmus.
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
A racist, an antisemite, a Russian stooge, an election fraudster and a tax dodger walk into a bar. The barman says "Good evening Mr Farage".
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
Farage "had a whole load of ‘lyrics’ on this which are pretty awful. I can remember it verbatim: ‘Gas em all, gas em all, into the chambers they crawl. We’ll gas all the Paks, and we’ll gas all the Yids, and we’ll gas all the coons and all their fucking kids.’”
He says he had not intended to be hurtful or racist...
theguardian.com/politics/202…
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
Only Chris Mason could make the OBR's error in publishing the Budget report early .... Rachel Reeves fault.
The sooner this sinister little fucker is hoofed out of our BBC ... the better.
Bob Apollo Inflexion-Point retweeted
Michelle Mone can be expelled from the House of Lords by a simple majority vote in the Commons, and then in the House of Lords.
Like if she needs to go.
RT if she has to go.
