XPost: rec.aviation.military, soc.history.war.misc, alt.war.world-war-three   
   XPost: alt.economics, or.politics   
   From: wichitajayhawks@msn.com   
      
   a425couple wrote:   
   > Could it be this simple and completely done?   
   >   
   > from   
   > https://hotair.com/generalissimo/2025/06/26/so-what-did-we-lea   
   n-over-the-last-week-or-so-n3804177   
   >   
   >   
   > Boxing Khamenei   
   > Duane Patterson 12:40 PM | June 26, 2025   
   >   
   > Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP   
   > In 1993, Julian Sands and Sherilyn Fenn starred in a pretty awful   
   > avant-garde movie called Boxing Helena. As the movie progressed, the   
   > psychotic obsession an Atlanta surgeon had for his neighbor resulted in   
   > amputating both her legs, and then, her arms so that she would be   
   > completely under his control. It was a horrible movie, portraying a   
   > pretty horrible existence, before revealing it was all just a dream. But   
   > if you substitute Helena out and replace her with Ayatollah Ali   
   > Khamenei, that's pretty much the box in which he now finds himself.   
   >   
   > In short, the previous fortnight did more to reset the post-World War II   
   > order created by the United States than any other period of history in   
   > my lifetime. With the coordinated B-2 strikes, along with the mop-up   
   > work by our submarines and Nimitz carrier group forces, along with   
   > increased capability and resolve by Israel, now having emerged as the   
   > regional hegemony in the Middle East, lessons to be learned are   
   > available for allies and adversaries alike all over the world.   
   >   
   > Retired Israeli Brigadier General Amir Avivi appeared on Fox News   
   > Tuesday with Martha MacCallum. America is back.   
   >   
   > Iran pulled off the unthinkable in a week. The new axis of evil - China,   
   > Russia, and Iran, has disintegrated. Vladimir Putin not only pulled the   
   > Pastor Johnson card from Blazing Saddles, saying, "Son, you're on your   
   > own," he went further by calling up Donald Trump and offered help to   
   > handle Iran. Trump's response? Thanks, but no thanks.   
   >   
   > And after the strike on Iran's nuclear sites of Natanz, Fordow, and   
   > Isfahan Friday night, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, signaled he   
   > was going to retaliate by closing off the Straits of Hormuz, which also   
   > happens to be the choke point for about 80% of China's imported crude   
   > oil. Xi Jinping disabused Khamenei very quickly of that idea, and has   
   > indicated that they're willing to walk away from their previous alliance   
   > with the terror state. From the Times of Israel:   
   >   
   > Somewhere over the mountains of Azerbaijan, unmarked planes slipped into   
   > the sky, carrying Chinese engineers, techs, and advisors out of Iran. No   
   > manifest. No press. Just a silent exfiltration of over 1,600 personnel —   
   > the kind of move you don’t make unless you know what’s coming.   
   >   
   > Beijing called it a ‘routine precaution.’ That’s diplomatic code for:   
   > *we’re done here.* Most of the world missed it. But anyone watching the   
   > quiet war unfolding beneath the headlines saw it for what it was — a   
   > high-level disengagement from a burning front.   
   >   
   > Beijing may still be preaching restraint and calling for a “constructive   
   > role” in the Israel–Iran conflict. But behind the careful press releases   
   > and neutral tones, it’s not stepping in. It’s stepping out. Quietly.   
   > Strategically. Completely.   
   >   
   > So Iran managed to isolate itself from the rest of the world. Their   
   > proxies of choice - Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, have been degraded of   
   > both weapons and terrorists. Could they reload? Sure. But Iran would   
   > have to have the cash and resources with which to reload, and they no   
   > longer have either in much supply.   
   >   
   > Natasha Bertrand of CNN, formerly of NBC, was the talk of the Beltway   
   > Tuesday with a leaked Defense Intelligence Agency assessment of the   
   > Fordow strike, breathlessly reporting that the strike didn't slow the   
   > Iranian nuclear program significantly at all. The problem, of course, is   
   > within 24 hours, the people what actually would know, The Israelis and   
   > Americans, revealed that the destruction was pretty complete.   
   >   
   > Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from NATO:   
   >   
   > Secretary of State Marco Rubio from NATO:   
   >   
   > Donald Trump from NATO:   
   >   
   > Former CIA director David Petraeus on Fox News with Will Cain:   
   >   
   > The secretary-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael   
   > Grossi with Martha MacCallum on Fox News:   
   >   
   > Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran's nuclear program   
   > just went down the drain:   
   >   
   > Bertrand, and the Trump-hating Resistance Media, are so committed to   
   > wishcasting this narrative that Trump's actions didn't matter, they're   
   > beginning to resemble the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy   
   > Grail. You know who else is in agreement with the assessment about the   
   > current state of Iran's nuclear program being Tango Uniform? The Iranians.   
   >   
   > Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei on Wednesday confirmed   
   > the country’s nuclear facilities had been “badly damaged” in American   
   > strikes over the weekend, amid clashing evaluations on the extent of the   
   > success of operations against Tehran’s nuclear program.   
   >   
   > Speaking to Al Jazeera, Baghaei refused to go into detail but conceded   
   > the Sunday strikes by American B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had   
   > been significant.   
   >   
   > “Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure,”   
   he   
   > said.   
   >   
   > But don't take all these people's word for it. Take Natasha's word for   
   > it, because she saw the initial assessment that was branded "low   
   > confidence" regarding its own assessment, and that the damage could   
   > either be limited or severe. She just chose to not report the 'could be   
   > severe' part. That's just crackerjack reportage.   
   >   
   > Another sidebar narrative currently rippling through the media's   
   > bloodstream is that the Iranians allegedly trucked out usable enriched   
   > uranium, perhaps as much as 400 kilos of the stuff, before the strike on   
   > Fordow. The narrative then says because of the missing uranium that has   
   > been squirreled away, the Iranians are somewhere madly assembling a bomb   
   > and we're just hours or days away from the mother of all responses.   
   >   
   > First, Trump's not buying it.   
   >   
   > But let's play Devil's advocate and give the Trump-hating Resistance   
   > Media their premise that the uranium was moved. As Byron York on X   
   > noted, it doesn't pass the smell test.   
   >   
   > The one known truth that is not in dispute by anyone in the world is how   
   > thoroughly Israel has penetrated Iran with intelligence assets. Whether   
   > it was trucking in drones as part of the initial attack two weeks ago,   
   > or the ghosts of human intelligence that has shocked and awed in their   
   > ability to target nuclear scientists, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)