Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[Mr. Bumble]

We have taken control of your television set....
Apparently the US and Israel have hacked Iranian TV.
Even better than knocking it out.

[not guilty]

The New York Times reports that President Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. military intends to sustain its assault on Iran for “four to five weeks” if necessary, insisting that it “won’t be difficult” for Israel and the United States to maintain the intensity of the battle even as he warned of the possibility of more American casualties. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/us/politics/trump-iran-war-interview.html

Somehow I don't think that the duration of hostilities is up to Donald Trump. When, if at all, will he ask Congress to authorize continued use of America's armed forces, as he is required to do by law?

Among other things, "Mr. Trump said he had 'three very good choices' about who could lead Iran, although he declined to name them." Why, pray tell, does President Chickenhawk presume to surmise that that choice is up to him?

The United States supporting a puppet ruler in Iran is one reason that the people there revolted during the 1970s and supported rule by tyrannical clerics to begin with.

[Mr. Bumble]

Which president has been impeached for violating the War Powers Resolution?
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/chapter-33
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution

[Frank Drackman]

Trick Question,
"None" because Nixon resigned before the House could Impeach him.
Funny how even supposedly intelligent Journalists don't understand the term "Impeachment", once heard one comment that Nixon had been impeached and Clinton wasn't although it was totally the other way around.

[Martinned]

When, if at all, will he ask Congress to authorize continued use of America's armed forces, as he is required to do by law?

You're funny!

[Commenter_XY]

POTUS Trump informed Congress, pursuant to WPA. The 60-day clock has started. In my world, 60>35 (5 weeks).

What's the legal issue?

[Martinned]

Has he? Has he also explained why he has attacked Iran, given that (to quote the White House website) "Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated — and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News"?

https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/06/irans-nuclear-facilities-have-been-obliterated-and-suggestions-otherwise-are-fake-news/

[Commenter_XY]

Eurotrash, I note your country sits by like a poodle.

[ReaderY]

What enforcement mechanism exists for the War Powers Act?

This administration has made clear that absent enforcement, laws aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

[Kazinski]

The People of Tehran seem to be already moving on from giving Trump credit for taking out Khamenei and starting the liberation of Iran.

They seem to think Trump was no more than Netanyayu's lackey, as Tucker Carlson was claiming.

You can pretty clearly hear what they are chanting and it isn't for Trump. "Joon" means "darling" in Persian.

https://x.com/i/status/2028257286548791736

I am not quite sure what I expected, but it wasn't this. The question is, how will Trump react with the crowds adulation turning away from him?

[santamonica811]

Thanks for the link. (Assuming it's not a deep fake.) Who would have thought that, in the 2020s, Iranian people on the streets would have been cheering for an Israeli leader? Let alone one of the most warmongering Israeli leaders since the nation's founding. Weird times, indeed. (Of course, no one sane expects this adulation to last. But still . . . for a day or two . . . it's almost as unthinkable as hearing a mob of Russians shouting pro-Biden or pro-Obama chats within earshot of the Kremlin.)

[Kazinski]

I did ask Grok to verify it, it does appear to be legit

My first thought was 'that has to be fake', but evidently not.

Was 40 years of regime propaganda that ineffective?

[Martinned]

I did ask Grok to verify it, it does appear to be legit

Oh, that's alright then.

[Kazinski]

Well if you are aware of any counterfactuals then please do share.

I thought not.

This one seemed suspect too, crowd of Iranians doing the Trump YMCA dance, and while it is real its on Wilshire Blvd in LA, not in Iran.

https://x.com/i/status/2028271759137398947

[Martinned]

Oh, I'm sure that many people in Iran are pleased that their dictator is dead. But you asking Grok doesn't make me any more confident about that.

[Mr. Bumble]

Warmongering? You mean the nation that has been under attack by its Muslim neighbors since its founding?

[Martinned]

You mean the Islamic Republic?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War

[Mr. Bumble]

Not the same (a religious civil war to see which side would contral Islam). Which side got the most virgins?

[Martinned]

That's an extremely deranged way to describe that war. You sound like you know less about Islam and the Middle East than Trump does.

[Martinned]

So yeah, tinpot dictators launch unprovoked attacks without even trying to justify them. First Putin, now Trump. They were already best buds last year, now let's see how they bond over their "minimum 3 days" "special military operation" will end up in a years-long quagmire. Trump has already extended his winning to a couple of weeks.

[Mr. Bumble]

You really need to lay off the acid.

[Martinned]

If you still support the President of Peace after all of this, it's you that's on drugs.

[Martinned]

Some useful, if not necessarily very surprising, international law analysis here:
https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-american-israeli-strikes-on-iran-are-again-manifestly-illegal/

And on the UK position, defending itself and its allies:
https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-legality-of-the-uk-interception-of-iranian-missiles-and-permitting-a-limited-us-use-of-british-bases/

[Mr. Bumble]

International law.
Hahahahaha.

[Martinned]

Yes, we know, you and your president don't believe in the rule of law. (Or in law generally.)

[Mr. Bumble]

Thank you for filling in until Qualika, Il Douche and David Notsoimportant (among others) wake up.

[OpinionsVary]

Wrote a bit about this yesterday.

The UK is pissed off that Iran shot at some of its bases and has also been shooting into other Gulf countries. France and Germany too. Add in the other gulf states also joining in after getting shot, it does seem Iran is its own worst enemy here.

[Brett Bellmore]

I've been wondering if the Iranian regime might not figure that they're doomed now, so might as well at least try settling some scores?

[Kazinski]

Ukrainian sources are claiming that Iran evoked a Russian-Ukrainian mutual defense treaty:
""The Moscow-Tehran axis is falling apart before our eyes." - Ukrainian expert Igor Semyvolos:

It has been confirmed that Iran did indeed seek assistance from Russia, invoking clauses on "mutual assistance in the event of a threat to sovereignty." Moscow, however, resorted to legalistic maneuvering: since the U.S. and Israeli strikes are framed as "targeted operations against terrorist infrastructure," rather than a full-scale invasion, the Kremlin interprets this as a case that does not fall under the collective defense provisions.

Iran reportedly asked to activate S-400 systems and Krasukha/Leer-3 electronic warfare systems at Russian bases in Syria (Khmeimim and Tartus) to blind Israeli aircraft. Instead, Russia not only refused but, according to some reports, even switched off transponders and active radar systems at its bases during the flight of Israeli missiles, in order to avoid accidental involvement and any pretext for entering the conflict.

The Kremlin’s refusal has been heard in Pyongyang, Beijing, and across the Global South. Russia has demonstrated that it is a "fair-weather ally." Iranian elites - particularly the pragmatic wing - are now openly saying that the strategic bet on Russia was a mistake that led to a national catastrophe."

I am not sure what Russia was supposed to do though, its stretched to the breaking point already with its conventional capability, WW3 seems like a big ask.

https://x.com/i/status/2028165995177599345

[Mr. Bumble]

"Russia not only refused but, according to some reports, even switched off transponders and active radar systems at its bases during the flight of Israeli missiles, in order to avoid accidental involvement and any pretext for entering the conflict."
More likely to avoid having them destroyed.

[OpinionsVary]

I think this is likely at least it is one of the reasons. Russian made anti-air systems have been running on a bluff for a while now, but the last few years show it really is a bluff. They simply can't stop modern western stealth systems, like the F-35. We saw this when Israel flew straight into Iran earlier this year. Russia knows their systems can't stop an attack, meaning they don't want them destroyed and also want to avoid adding any more evidence to how easily they can be penetrated.

[Martinned]

Russia quite obviously also failed to defend its ally Venezuela against US aggression...

http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/78304

http://government.ru/en/news/57118/

[Mr. Bumble]

Is this the same Russia that it importing North Koreans to fight in Ukraine?

[Martinned]

Yes. It's almost as if attacking a smaller country can have unintended consequences...

[Martinned]

Another lesson Trump is quickly learning that his friend Putin already learned:

-nervously watching rapidly depleting stock of interceptors all over the region-

"How could we have known Iran might have a lot of Shaheds!?"

almost as if they've been manufacturing drones and sending them in bulk for a large scale total war over the past 4 years or something

Just no way to have predicted these are things a determined adversary may be able to mass produce.

Why oh why hasn't there been a conflict we could have learned from!?!

Gee, the logic of using a limited quantity of multimillion $ intercept missiles against cheap drones that can be massed produced makes so much sense now.

[Martinned]

Speaking of rank incompetence, apparently no one in the US Regime thought that it was their job to figure out what might happen in/to Iran after they were finished dropping bombs on it.

LINDSEY GRAHAM: Our goal is to make sure Iran cannot become again the largest state sponsor of terrorism.

WELKER: Does the the president have a plan to guarantee that happens?

GRAHAM: No. It's not his job.

(This also seems confused about what "goal" means...)

[BrotherMovesOn]

Thanks for the link Jeremiah.

"... Qualika, Il Douche and David Notsoimportant (among others) wake up." Tee-hee! tee-hee!
Aren't you in your seventies?
Even Larry Fine had some dignity.

[ReaderY]

Kash Patel has detailed an FBI team to chauffer and serve his girlfriend, one of this administration’s numerous acts of corruption large and small. It’s pretty petty compared with Noem and others buying jets outfitted as flying luxury penthouses with taxpayer money, or foreign coumtries’ purchases of Trump cryptocurrency in exchange for favors.

Can the FBI agents who accepted the assignment amd others who assisted in this administration’s many acts of corruption also be prosecuted when honest government is resstored?

Should members of Congress be announcing that government officials and others who assist in these acts can expect consequences?

[Martinned]

I wonder if that's the same Kash Patel as this Kash Patel: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/patel-fbi-director-government-jet/

Anyway, none of these people will be prosecuted. If/when honest governmetn is restored, it will want to sweep everything under the rug as quickly as possible, because telling 40%-50% of voters that they supported an evil regime is bad politics. (See also: Nixon pardon.)

[Martinned]

Speaking of people who won't be prosecuted:

As US and Israeli bombs fell on Iran this weekend, bettors on Polymarket — where $529 million was traded on contracts tied to the timing of the strikes — were cashing in. Almost immediately, blockchain sleuths began hunting for unusual patterns in recent bets.

Six accounts on Polymarket made around $1 million in profit by betting on the US to strike Iran by Feb. 28, according to analytics firm Bubblemaps SA. The accounts were all freshly created in February and had only ever placed bets on when US strikes might occur. Some of their shares were purchased, in some cases at roughly a dime apiece, hours before the first explosions were reported in Tehran.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-28/polymarket-iran-bets-hit-529-million-as-new-wallets-draw-notice

[ReaderY]

The things Trump accused Democrats of doing when he was campaigning have been highly reliable predictors of what he himself will do.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-obama-iran-war-tweets-b2929535.html

[Commenter_XY]

Good luck with the Inquisition. You'll do the dead Cardinals proud. 😉

[BrotherMovesOn]

"... it will want to sweep everything under the rug as quickly as possible, because telling 40%-50% of voters that they supported an evil regime is bad politics."
It may be swept under the rug, or not, but it won't be for that reason. And 40-50 percent is ... pushing it, in the first instance.

[Martinned]

That's how many people voted for Trump at least once.

Telling people they were complicit in evil makes them feel bad, and that's not what you want when you've just kicked out the bad guys, and are trying to restore a semblance of order.

(Unless of course the US suffers a major defeat, akin to Germany after World War II, but I don't see how that can happen. And even in 1950s Germany the government and the allies allowed the people to believe that they hadn't been the bad guys. Very few Nazis were actually prosecuted, compared to the full total number of people who committed crimes.)

[ReaderY]

The things Trump accused Democrats of doing when he was campaigning have consistently been highly reliable predictors of what he himself will do.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-obama-iran-war-tweets-b2929535.html