Wow, what an excellent, well articulated, chilling,
and 100% spot on piece! — Molly
The witness list for the Islamabad peace negotiations tells you everything you need to know about the current state of American imperial decline. The US is bringing to the table, puppy dog proxies like the Saudis and the Qataris whereas the Iranians are bringing superpowers like China and Russia to witness the imperialist bullshit that Trump's team will no doubt be spouting.
The UAE, a former American pillar in the Gulf, can't even get a seat because Tehran raised an eyebrow and Washington lacked the leverage to object. Is this the unravelling of an empire or just an opportunity for the Trump team to do misdirection whilst another surprise attack is being cooked up in the background for Iran? When you see grifters like Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, a couple of shameless Israeli assets, lurking around it’s an indication that an attack is being planned.
The head of Iran’s delegation, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, is not a conventional civilian politician. He was part of the generation shaped by the 1979 revolution, joined the IRGC during the Iran–Iraq War, and spent eight years on the front lines. By 21, he was commanding the Nasr Division.
There’s a real irony here. The U.S. once had the option of dealing with someone like Javad Zarif, father of two American citizens, someone who spent the entire war years in New York, shaped by Western academia, proudly identifying himself with the Constructivist school of international relations. He would have spoken the same intellectual language Washington understands. A diplomat who tried hard to win America’s trust.
Donald Trump’s short-termism, lack of any coherent strategy, and his instinct to treat global politics like real estate, forced Iran to wake up from the delusion of its pro-western faction. So now Trump faces a different Iran. Figures like Ghalibaf are not there to build trust or to seek approval. They are there to assert Iran’s rights.
In this context of the Islamabad peace negotiations what does being a witness really mean? Surely all that would matter is whether any of the third-party witness nations are willing to militarily enforce punishment for violations of the jointly agreed deal? We already know neither Russia nor China are likely to risk WW3 over Iran because they've respectively avoided escalation over US interference in their own territories in Ukraine and Taiwan. But that is precisely why the American position is so bewildering. The US is the party trying to enforce a "punishment regime" despite their military defeat and alleged willingness to capitulate on Iranian expectations on terms. They are the ones who need enforcers.
Donald Trump has spent his political life insisting he would restore American dominance and prevent the rise of a multipolar world. He ridicules allies whilst demanding fealty, he threatens enemies with obliteration whilst capitulating to their demands. Every action he has taken against Iran has only accelerated the very global reordering that he so clearly fears. By tearing up the nuclear deal in his first term, he shattered Western credibility and drove Tehran straight into the arms of Beijing and Moscow. By forcing maximum pressure sanctions, he inadvertently pushed the creation of an alternative financial architecture that will now allow all targeted nations to bypass the dollar entirely. By invading sovereign countries he has shown the world that the US is a rogue state, and by losing to Iran he has normalised the idea that American military might can be openly defied by a middle ranking power if only they have sufficient will and a few low-tech drones.
In the multipolar reality Trump and his predecessors have created, there are no real allies to be found. There are no heavy-duty enforcers waiting in the wings to help strongarm targeted Nations. The American threat of punishment no longer carries the weight it did because the punished have somewhere else to go. That is the whole point. Russia and China don't need to fight WW3 for Iran. They simply need to keep trading with Iran, keep buying its oil in yuan or roubles, and keep offering a diplomatic umbrella at places like the UN. That passive resistance should be enough to neuter American power entirely.
Trump can't see this because his worldview is stuck in 1987. He thinks a big stick is all that matters. He fails to grasp that when you threaten everyone with that stick simultaneously while also alienating your own allies, the rest of the world quietly agrees to stop using your currency and to stop treating your threats as credible. He is so desperate to avoid a world where America is just another country among many, that he has bombed, sanctioned, and insulted his way into making that world a certainty.
Trump has shat the bed so badly with his Iran War that he’s trying to get his wife to pivot the conversation back to Epstein for a little relief. It's a symptom of an even deeper rot. When the strategic situation becomes unmanageable and the contradictions of imperial overreach become undeniable, the Trump operation won't reassess policy. They just change the channel. They lean into distraction, grievance, and sordid gossip because the material reality of a failed war in Iran is too humiliating to confront. You can't bomb your way back to the unipolar moment. You can't tweet your way out of a new world (that you've created) where nobody wants to use the dollar anymore.
Trump is so screwed that all he can do is hope someone talks about something else. Meanwhile, the rest of the planet is quietly, methodically, and irreversibly building a world where the upcoming US hissy-fit in Islamabad is viewed not as a display of US power but as the last supper of a fading hegemon. There is no greater sight than watching the architects of empire torching their own house while insisting they are renovating it.
No comments:
Post a Comment