$100 oil change incoming?

For the second time in as many months, neocon godfather Robert Kagan has penned an urgent denunciation of Trump’s ill-fated Iran war.

This latest written for the Atlantic is particularly damning as Kagan makes the argument that the unprecedented loss to Iran is the US’s worst military defeat, essentially, in history—eclipsing that of Vietnam for several key reasons he outlines.

Read Simplicius …

Even one of the leading neocons and chief architects of the war in Ukraine doesn’t believe the US military can defeat Iran.

Read Vox Popoli …

From Imperium Press: Folkishness is not another word for identitarianism.

On the one hand it is far more precise than identitarianism, because it commits us to the interests of the in-group, without committing us to “a homeland for all.” On the other hand it is far broader, because it is not just about loving our own, but also about taking ancestry seriously in all ways, including our ancestral imperatives, whether moral or biological.

Since this paradigm has begun to be articulated in recent years, it has brought many people home because they rightly recognize it as the cure for modernity. It is what all right-wing paradigms have been building toward. But it has also angered many people. It has angered people on the left who think modernity is great and want more of it. It has also angered some people on the right, though, who have advanced solutions that at best are partial, and that at worst deepen the problem of modernity because they laid the foundations for modernity.

It is important to understand folkishness because it is everything your enemies fear. We urge everyone who wants to understand folkishness to watch this video. We at Imperium didn’t make it—someone else did, and they have understood it completely. We called attention to this video a month ago, but it is so good that it’s worth posting again for those who missed it.

From Grok:

In plain terms: The market looks “healthy” on the surface (indices near highs), but underneath it’s fractured. This isn’t immediately catastrophic—markets can climb a “wall of worry”—but it raises the odds of choppiness or a sharper reset if the narrow leadership breaks. Watch oil prices, upcoming CPI data, and whether breadth improves in the coming sessions. Long-term investors might see value in some of these discounted names, but the setup warrants caution on overall exposure.

The War of the Epstein Alliance can be safely regarded as lost now, as the Israelis are already trying to wash their hands of responsibility for the USA attacking Iran and defending Israel despite the war being observably against the interests of the American people.

The last oil tankers have already delivered their loads. The economic bite of the failed war is only beginning to be felt, and the blame game hasn’t even truly begun yet. The political fallout from it will not be insignificant, as the massive turnover in UK politics very likely demonstrates.

UPDATE: Local National Guard HIMARS artillery unit deployed to ME for a year is home now – they literally fired off everything they could find, painted so many fire mission marks on their launchers that they’re no longer camouflage, and have now sent 90% of their people home. The 10% that remain are working on getting the broken-down launchers out of the desert and onto ships back to the US. This gives me confidence that the war is over by default, and we are out of ammunition.

Vox Popoli …

Iran can outlast the USA. Airpower never accomplishes one-tenth of what its advocates say it will, because airpower never does even one-tenth the damage that the after-action assessors think it did. Desert Storm was the salient ultimate proof of this, as Col. Douglas Macgregor admitted that an Iraqi tank battalion that was bombed for 30 days in the desert was discovered after the war to have survived with 85 percent of its vehicles still operational.

In case you haven’t noticed, despite their relative lack of air forces, both Hezbollah and the Ukrainian armed forces are still in the fight after years of war.

Vox Popoli …

… and from Moon of Alabama …

War On Iran: – Saudis Blame Israel – Neocon Grandee Concedes Defeat

It’s hard to think of a time when the United States suffered a total defeat in a conflict, a setback so decisive that the strategic loss could be neither repaired nor ignored.
…
Defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be “open,” as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran’s allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished. Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. That is going to set off a chain reaction around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure.

This seems like it could be the answer we’ve been looking for.

Let them complain all they like. If you vote for open borders, then you get all the immigrants. No more sending them off to small towns in Iowa or Idaho. If you vote for data centers, then you get one built in your town. If you vote for windmills, they get built near your house. If you vote to release the crazies from the asylums, you get the homeless shelters in your neighborhoods. If you vote for the early release of violent offenders, then they are released in your town.

The principle is not even remotely unfair. To the contrary, it’s the most fair and democratic outcome possible. We know that pro-military voters have no problem with military bases in their areas; Congressmen even compete with each other to get military bases built in their districts. It’s long past time to call out the moronic Left on their actions and force them to live with the consequences of their wicked idiocy.

Continue reading Vox Popoli …

Do you know it, the call from ancient times?

Some among us know it.

For some people carry within them a memory that doesn’t come from this life. A longing that isn’t easily explained. Neither with logic nor with reason.

It’s as if they had once lived, thousands of years ago, in a time when humans didn’t yet fly through the skies with machines, but felt the breath of the earth with bare feet.

The world was different back then. No noise, no electric whirring in the air. Only the wind in the trees, the crackling of wood in the fire, and the distant cry of wolves in the night.

People lived in the cycle of the seasons, not to the beat of clocks.
Spring brought hope, and with it the tender green, the first buds, and young life. The children ran barefoot across the damp meadows, laughing while their mothers sowed seeds and blessed the soil with songs.

In summer, the fruits ripened, and the village was filled with the scent of herbs, laughter, and stories around the fire. In autumn, harvests were held, thanks were given, and celebrations were made.
And whenever winter came, life fell silent. People huddled together.
And they knew that warmth came not only from the fire, but from the heart.

In those days, every day was a connection to the earth, to the sun, to the rain, to the animals, to other people. They hunted not out of greed, but to live. They asked the spirit of the animal for forgiveness and thanked it for its gift. There was no mine or yours, only ours.
Woman and man stood side by side, not on top of each other. Children were not a burden, but the greatest gift. And over all watched the Great Mother, the earth herself, nurturing, protecting, and comforting.

Anyone who walks the streets today, lives between screens, and hears words that lack depth, can feel an emptiness that isn’t easily identifiable. A pulling in the chest. A silence, even when everything is so loud. I think it’s the longing for that time.

You feel like a stranger in this time. Not because there’s something wrong with you. But because you remember. Of a time you can’t grasp with your mind, but only with your soul. Of friendship that didn’t wait for messages, but for the shared silence while gathering wood. Of love that wasn’t based on profile pictures, but on glances, on shared actions, and on sharing life. Of a family that wasn’t created by blood alone, but by heart and responsibility.

I know what I’m saying now is such a painful thought, because your heart hasn’t forgotten.

But maybe, just maybe, you weren’t born too late, but are here right now to remind not only yourself, but others, that we are still part of a whole. Not separate. That we are nature. Not above it. That we may return home again, perhaps not to a distant time, but to a near feeling.

©Surturs Lohe