Welcome to The Now

 Larry Johnson and Danny Haiphong discuss the latest developments: Much of this hinges on whether President Trump starts talking about peace/truce in public (instead of begging for it in private, according to some people like Pepe Escobar). As long as this remains tit-for-tat with added escalation, the casualties will increase to the point that the US will not be able to minimize it, Israel will be called to get more involved, and more lethal weaponry will be recommended. Oh, and the global economy is still on the brink.

 Who really knows? Yes, attacks are being exchanged, but that was happening under the MOU. And while the odds of true peace actually occurring was a dream at best (see: Brian Berletic and the Policy Papers), there was some hope that maybe there would be a reprieve; that perhaps for the summer (or at least up until November) there'd be little but the occasional harsh comment and calls for Israel to restrain itself.  But alas, this was not to be:

 According to Larry Johnson, the US has until 7/11/26 before the reserves run out and the real pressure starts. That's the same date as Pakistani-orchestrated talks between the United States and Iran are supposed to resume.  Will the US actually act in good faith? Can Iran really trust the West? What is Pakistan (and China, for that matter) willing to risk to see this through? How does Lebanon and Palestine factor in? What about Israel?  Hopefully these questions will be addressed/answered in the next few weeks. 

 

 

First, Transition Protocol has new information about the venue change for the signing...and a warning to those who would try to sabotage the process:    Dialogue Works goes over the 14-Points illustrated in the now infamous MOU: Carl Zha has Warwick Powell on Silk & Steel to talk about the economic/financial impact: Finally, Due Dissidence on how Israel has reacted:

 Transition Protocol discusses the conversations and agreements that apparently happened behind the scenes that led up to this past weekend's big announcement: Before getting to the first question, let's address the second: Apparently everyone "knows" that Israel is the spoiler here. While the US is willing to exclude Israel from whatever deal they are making with Iran, it's clear that (1) Iran still consider the two linked, and (2) no one in their right mind expects the United States to stand by and allow Iran to attack Israel, regardless of what Israel does. I agree that Iran's biggest mistake here is lack of specifics: There should be hard dates, dollar amounts, boundaries and consequences for violations. Vagueness with a country (the US) who's government is practically full of lawyers looking for every loophole and angle and advantage is only asking for trouble.  As for China and Iran: It's valid to say that Iran was fighting for it's life thes...

 

 And that "surprise" has to do with the belief that America is militarily invincible: