Have you considered that Iran’s Central Bank is not private (yet), unlike those in most of the world? Have you further considered that this is (was) a connecting factor between Iran and the rest of the countries on Donald Rumsfeld’s “7 countries in 5 years” list, as reported by General Wesley Clarke in 2002?
Well come on Michael. Even if you put aside the pedophile stuff, the whole Epstein email record file shows a very elite class of people who get special treatment, live of their special access to the seats of wealth and power. But that’s why I went and asked you to explain to me and others what the Epstein Files do demonstrate about the nature of power, and how it’s mediated throughout western culture and society?
Signed up for your sub stack because I thought your arguments were compelling and that you had made a case that a lot of it was a bunch of hoo-hah. So what I was saying is put aside that spin. What was Epstein really about? That’s what I want to hear from you.
Yes it does. Read the recent Reuter’s article “Exclusive: Trump approved Iran operation after Netanyahu argued joint killing of Khamenei, sources say.”
I am not sure what MT is even trying to argue at this point. The israeli government is proud and open about the fact that they are now fully belligerent. The outsized role that people assign to Israel in this war is coming from listening to prime minister Netanyahu. I guess it’s wrong to analyze the words of a country’s prime minister? It’s not just the quote about it being his 40 year dream, Netanyahu has said so much at this point to say it was his idea… I haven’t heard anyone arguing that Trump didn’t think this war was a good idea… There is nothing MT has said that is devastating to the idea that Trump was influenced to do this… The idea that it fits into Trump’s recent belligerent doctrine is not a contradiction to this reality.
The biggest objection that people like MT have to the idea that Israel had an outsized influence on this war isn’t even related to the war… Michelle Goldberg from the NYT thinks that people only have this view because it validates their antisemitic conspiracies… MT has been chirping out similar ideas in his recent birdsong, such as in his recent snark piece on tucker…
What MT never mentions in these recent argumentative exercises is the real reason why people actually think Israel has had an outsized influence. It’s pretty simple. Israel just spent a little under 2 years bombing people out of their homes, concentrating them into camps where they were starved and then bombed again… Despite all of this, Israel still doesn’t feel like they’ve won against Hamas. In part, it’s true. They still don’t even know if they have killed all the Hamas operatives from October 7th, who came from the shadows wearing mask and slipped back in. There is no reason to doubt it was serious for Israel that Iran stopped funding proxies, which was one of Iran’s stated red lines in the sham negotiations before the February 28th Ramadan Ambush. While the US did fight the Houthis after attacks on shipping in 2024, it was only to protect the ability to arm Israel and support the Israeli prerogative. I am sure Mike already has warmed up for the mental gymnastics to explain why the US also needed to go to war to stop the arming of Iranian proxies, which mainly exist to provide security in weak states that the United States had leverage over. Operation Epic Fury has jeopardized this leverage. Trump’s belligerent foreign policy being an essential piece does not destroy this war’s relation to October 7th and the genocidal offensive that followed in Gaza…
Whether or not people like Mike will agree with this view, they should at least accept the idea that Israel has an outsized influence as a serious argument with reasonable evidence, rather then a piece of construction of a hateful narrative…Mike literally calls this view an “extrapolation” in his interview posted yesterday… To say something like that at this point in time is incredibly discrediting and shows a complete lack of understanding of what happened in Gaza. Though there wasn’t much credit in the first place. Afterall, this is the guy who said he would vote for Jack Ciaterelli because he ate pasta with Nonna on sundays lol
Is the Iran War really a puzzle? Asking "why now" is an interesting question. Asking "why" is a distraction because overthrow or invasion have long been been the preferred US military options to "solve" the Iranian problem. An example of this "mainstream" US policy from as early as 2009 is the Brookings monograph "Which Path to Persia?" https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_iran_strategy.pdf which lays out the mechanics for an invasion.
To unblock the Strait of Hormuz Iran demands the US military leave the Persian Gulf.
US domination of the Gulf depends on 10 major bases hosting about thirty thousand solders normally resupplied by ship, but now resupplied by emergency airlift because they are bottled up inside the Gulf.
These US bases are protected by Patriot and THAAD defensive munitions which along with other necessary supplies are rapidly running out. The bases will have to be evacuated if not reinforced by sea by mid April.
Trump has no more than three weeks before he has to either escalate to a full ground invasion or evacuate the basses. Use your own intuition whether Donald trump is emotionally or psychologically capable of ordering an evacuation which would amount to a capitulation.
Another provocation like the March 18th attack on the Iranian South Pars gas processing facility which triggered the tit-for-tat attack on the Ras Laffan LNG hub in Qatar runs the risk of igniting strategic infrastructure destruction across the entire region that could escalate into an existential Sunni-Shia war. With the conversion of a US-Israeli versus Iran war into a wider Sunni-Shia war the US might find an exit ramp in the resulting chaos.
Lt. Col. L. Fletcher Prouty says about this in his book, JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy. Col. Prouty, as the book jacket notes, served as the chief of special operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Kennedy years. A retired colonel of the U.S. Air Force, he ran the global system designed to provide military support for the clandestine activities of the CIA from 1955 to 1964. Prouty writes on page xxv of the Preface:
"Furthermore, the series of so-called wars since 1945 were never fought to achieve victory. They were waged for dollars, with the generals in a supernumerary role...The few bona fide U.S. Armed Forces generals who were in Vietnam were limited to managing supporting activities of combat operations in Indochina. There was always an ambassador, and frequently a CIA agent--under the cover of a general--or both in superior positions. Such is the nature of these new, "make money" wars."
Great discussion. Marandi adopting the 'Epstein regime' is simply a reflection of the vox pop made in the USA. I remember in 2012 when there was a pedo panic in the UK around the dead Jimmy Savile, leading UK 'satanic conspiracy' protaganists in 'official' positions being earnestly interviewed by Press TV! Thus consolidating the 'Satanic west' Iran propaganda. The west eats itself up! I'm sure this irony in the Epstein phantasmagoria is not lost on many in the Iran 'regime'. As for Trump motive for attack? Who knows, but I think it's partly some vague strategy to destroy the emergent Russia/China dominant BRICS which threatens the US $ hegemony. Iran being a BRICS member with a soft underbelly (the regime was never quite on board with Russian/China support, even though offered, and accepted to some degree). But if Iran succombed to the US will then Trump's job half done. It's a bit the same re Ukraine and Russia. Trump keeps talking about a 'deal' but Russia knows this is just Minsk 3 and a waiting game. And so it goes on.... Culturally seems US/Europe destroying themselves tho - if not on the battlefield.
BTW Jimmy Savile, a papal knight, was more innocent than Epstein, lived frugally, and raised millions for unsung charities. He was enigmatic and a joker, to hide his seriousness, subject of 'rumours' in life and an orchestrated media 'expose' in death exciting the compo lawyers and various 'victim imposters' , shafting the BBC and establishment etc. In retrooverdrive the police launched witchhunts including against a massive childmurdering phantom pedo ring against a dead PM, politicians and trop brass military. Eventually it collapsed and the main accuser was prosecuted, him Carl Beech, a middle class therapy victim fantasist, who also had pedo fantasies. Nice one. The police and all the rest of the gullibles got away scot free. Just one 'v bad man'. Yeah, really, really bad - duped the nation... Course revived re Epstein around Andrew etc.
(~27m mark)That's hard to believe that Iran didn't expect the war..of course, they were prepared. I also didn't expect the war, but I thought that the US would unleash waves of propaganda in the US homeland and among the US's Middle East partners and then perhaps months or even years down the line finally unleash an actual war with Middle Eastern and ,perhaps, NATO partners.
Have you considered that Iran’s Central Bank is not private (yet), unlike those in most of the world? Have you further considered that this is (was) a connecting factor between Iran and the rest of the countries on Donald Rumsfeld’s “7 countries in 5 years” list, as reported by General Wesley Clarke in 2002?
Follow the buck is a useful rule of thumb...
Well come on Michael. Even if you put aside the pedophile stuff, the whole Epstein email record file shows a very elite class of people who get special treatment, live of their special access to the seats of wealth and power. But that’s why I went and asked you to explain to me and others what the Epstein Files do demonstrate about the nature of power, and how it’s mediated throughout western culture and society?
"Even if you put aside the pedophile stuff" -- let me stop you right there.
Signed up for your sub stack because I thought your arguments were compelling and that you had made a case that a lot of it was a bunch of hoo-hah. So what I was saying is put aside that spin. What was Epstein really about? That’s what I want to hear from you.
Can you let your guest speak?
Was there a guest? Filibuster!
Does the Netanyahu statement that (roughly?) he finally got the war he been trying to cause for 40 years have any informative value?
Yes it does. Read the recent Reuter’s article “Exclusive: Trump approved Iran operation after Netanyahu argued joint killing of Khamenei, sources say.”
I am not sure what MT is even trying to argue at this point. The israeli government is proud and open about the fact that they are now fully belligerent. The outsized role that people assign to Israel in this war is coming from listening to prime minister Netanyahu. I guess it’s wrong to analyze the words of a country’s prime minister? It’s not just the quote about it being his 40 year dream, Netanyahu has said so much at this point to say it was his idea… I haven’t heard anyone arguing that Trump didn’t think this war was a good idea… There is nothing MT has said that is devastating to the idea that Trump was influenced to do this… The idea that it fits into Trump’s recent belligerent doctrine is not a contradiction to this reality.
The biggest objection that people like MT have to the idea that Israel had an outsized influence on this war isn’t even related to the war… Michelle Goldberg from the NYT thinks that people only have this view because it validates their antisemitic conspiracies… MT has been chirping out similar ideas in his recent birdsong, such as in his recent snark piece on tucker…
What MT never mentions in these recent argumentative exercises is the real reason why people actually think Israel has had an outsized influence. It’s pretty simple. Israel just spent a little under 2 years bombing people out of their homes, concentrating them into camps where they were starved and then bombed again… Despite all of this, Israel still doesn’t feel like they’ve won against Hamas. In part, it’s true. They still don’t even know if they have killed all the Hamas operatives from October 7th, who came from the shadows wearing mask and slipped back in. There is no reason to doubt it was serious for Israel that Iran stopped funding proxies, which was one of Iran’s stated red lines in the sham negotiations before the February 28th Ramadan Ambush. While the US did fight the Houthis after attacks on shipping in 2024, it was only to protect the ability to arm Israel and support the Israeli prerogative. I am sure Mike already has warmed up for the mental gymnastics to explain why the US also needed to go to war to stop the arming of Iranian proxies, which mainly exist to provide security in weak states that the United States had leverage over. Operation Epic Fury has jeopardized this leverage. Trump’s belligerent foreign policy being an essential piece does not destroy this war’s relation to October 7th and the genocidal offensive that followed in Gaza…
Whether or not people like Mike will agree with this view, they should at least accept the idea that Israel has an outsized influence as a serious argument with reasonable evidence, rather then a piece of construction of a hateful narrative…Mike literally calls this view an “extrapolation” in his interview posted yesterday… To say something like that at this point in time is incredibly discrediting and shows a complete lack of understanding of what happened in Gaza. Though there wasn’t much credit in the first place. Afterall, this is the guy who said he would vote for Jack Ciaterelli because he ate pasta with Nonna on sundays lol
Is the Iran War really a puzzle? Asking "why now" is an interesting question. Asking "why" is a distraction because overthrow or invasion have long been been the preferred US military options to "solve" the Iranian problem. An example of this "mainstream" US policy from as early as 2009 is the Brookings monograph "Which Path to Persia?" https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_iran_strategy.pdf which lays out the mechanics for an invasion.
To unblock the Strait of Hormuz Iran demands the US military leave the Persian Gulf.
US domination of the Gulf depends on 10 major bases hosting about thirty thousand solders normally resupplied by ship, but now resupplied by emergency airlift because they are bottled up inside the Gulf.
These US bases are protected by Patriot and THAAD defensive munitions which along with other necessary supplies are rapidly running out. The bases will have to be evacuated if not reinforced by sea by mid April.
Trump has no more than three weeks before he has to either escalate to a full ground invasion or evacuate the basses. Use your own intuition whether Donald trump is emotionally or psychologically capable of ordering an evacuation which would amount to a capitulation.
Another provocation like the March 18th attack on the Iranian South Pars gas processing facility which triggered the tit-for-tat attack on the Ras Laffan LNG hub in Qatar runs the risk of igniting strategic infrastructure destruction across the entire region that could escalate into an existential Sunni-Shia war. With the conversion of a US-Israeli versus Iran war into a wider Sunni-Shia war the US might find an exit ramp in the resulting chaos.
War is a racket, even this one.
Lt. Col. L. Fletcher Prouty says about this in his book, JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy. Col. Prouty, as the book jacket notes, served as the chief of special operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Kennedy years. A retired colonel of the U.S. Air Force, he ran the global system designed to provide military support for the clandestine activities of the CIA from 1955 to 1964. Prouty writes on page xxv of the Preface:
"Furthermore, the series of so-called wars since 1945 were never fought to achieve victory. They were waged for dollars, with the generals in a supernumerary role...The few bona fide U.S. Armed Forces generals who were in Vietnam were limited to managing supporting activities of combat operations in Indochina. There was always an ambassador, and frequently a CIA agent--under the cover of a general--or both in superior positions. Such is the nature of these new, "make money" wars."
Michael you are cynical except when posting pure war propaganda.
Maybe the NGOs know how many squirrels were killed by the US War on Iran!
Excellent podcast. Thanks both!
Great discussion. Marandi adopting the 'Epstein regime' is simply a reflection of the vox pop made in the USA. I remember in 2012 when there was a pedo panic in the UK around the dead Jimmy Savile, leading UK 'satanic conspiracy' protaganists in 'official' positions being earnestly interviewed by Press TV! Thus consolidating the 'Satanic west' Iran propaganda. The west eats itself up! I'm sure this irony in the Epstein phantasmagoria is not lost on many in the Iran 'regime'. As for Trump motive for attack? Who knows, but I think it's partly some vague strategy to destroy the emergent Russia/China dominant BRICS which threatens the US $ hegemony. Iran being a BRICS member with a soft underbelly (the regime was never quite on board with Russian/China support, even though offered, and accepted to some degree). But if Iran succombed to the US will then Trump's job half done. It's a bit the same re Ukraine and Russia. Trump keeps talking about a 'deal' but Russia knows this is just Minsk 3 and a waiting game. And so it goes on.... Culturally seems US/Europe destroying themselves tho - if not on the battlefield.
BTW Jimmy Savile, a papal knight, was more innocent than Epstein, lived frugally, and raised millions for unsung charities. He was enigmatic and a joker, to hide his seriousness, subject of 'rumours' in life and an orchestrated media 'expose' in death exciting the compo lawyers and various 'victim imposters' , shafting the BBC and establishment etc. In retrooverdrive the police launched witchhunts including against a massive childmurdering phantom pedo ring against a dead PM, politicians and trop brass military. Eventually it collapsed and the main accuser was prosecuted, him Carl Beech, a middle class therapy victim fantasist, who also had pedo fantasies. Nice one. The police and all the rest of the gullibles got away scot free. Just one 'v bad man'. Yeah, really, really bad - duped the nation... Course revived re Epstein around Andrew etc.
(~27m mark)That's hard to believe that Iran didn't expect the war..of course, they were prepared. I also didn't expect the war, but I thought that the US would unleash waves of propaganda in the US homeland and among the US's Middle East partners and then perhaps months or even years down the line finally unleash an actual war with Middle Eastern and ,perhaps, NATO partners.
Excellent dish on the latest soaps