Russia’s proxy war on the West

Russia engages in the gas and oil trade on the free market. It did not blow up the Nordstream pipeline to Europe, the US neocons under Biden did. Regarding nukes, Russia was a signatory to the JCPOA, which Trump tore up. Neither it nor Iran started this war, Trump did. He went against advice that Iran would defend itself by closing the Strait, a scenario known for decades. A most extraordinary article titled “Checkmate in Iran” was published on 5/9/26 in The Atlantic by Robert Kagan, the cofounder of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). He wrote that the U.S. has suffered, “a total defeat in a conflict, a setback so decisive that the strategic loss could be neither repaired nor ignored.” Remember the influence of PNAC had a profound effect on the neocon foreign policy of “benevolent global hegemony.” It created the memo leaked by General Wesley Clark about how the U.S. planned to overthrow the governments of seven countries in five years. Iran is the last country on the list and was in the process of getting checked off, when it knocked the pen out of Trump’s hand. The best analysis I found of Kagan’s article and the current situation is Dean Blundell’s Substack: https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/trump-has-officially-lost-the-war. The gravity of the situation can’t be overstated. Iran is using the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD). If the US attacks again, Iran will respond by causing a global depression. It will attack OPEC production facilities including the ones on the Red Sea, so that oil and gas production will cease in the region. Besides energy, it will cause a global food shortage because fertilizer is derived from petroleum. Industries dependent on Sulphur, helium, and urea may shut down. Iran is telling the rest of the world we will all go down if no one stops the war. But Trump seems ready to accept those consequences. It’s time for Trump to take the off-ramp and declare victory and end the war.