I certainly don't want another war but Trump's methods involve rhetoric and limited strikes rather than boots on the ground. He always refuses to take military action of the table but compared to his predecessors has made limited use of it. Biggest deal was the strike on Iran and that probably prevented Israeli action that would have been a lot messier.
For him to set back their program with a bloodless strike .. and then allow (out loud!) Iran to make a bloodless symbolic strike back against a US military asset .. caused me to forgive much else. I doubt any politician could have pulled that off (and no actual politician thinks out loud).
Really insightful breakdown of how maximum pressure can backfire. The parallel between Guaidó's failed legitimacy and the broader lessons from Iraq/Libya is spot-on, especially how external backing can actualy undermine domestic credibility. I saw something similar play out with business turnarounds where outside consultants loose buy-in from internal teams. The risk of climbing that escalatory ladder without clear off-ramps seems like the core danger here.
I certainly don't want another war but Trump's methods involve rhetoric and limited strikes rather than boots on the ground. He always refuses to take military action of the table but compared to his predecessors has made limited use of it. Biggest deal was the strike on Iran and that probably prevented Israeli action that would have been a lot messier.
For him to set back their program with a bloodless strike .. and then allow (out loud!) Iran to make a bloodless symbolic strike back against a US military asset .. caused me to forgive much else. I doubt any politician could have pulled that off (and no actual politician thinks out loud).
Really insightful breakdown of how maximum pressure can backfire. The parallel between Guaidó's failed legitimacy and the broader lessons from Iraq/Libya is spot-on, especially how external backing can actualy undermine domestic credibility. I saw something similar play out with business turnarounds where outside consultants loose buy-in from internal teams. The risk of climbing that escalatory ladder without clear off-ramps seems like the core danger here.
We need Maduro to do more than cry Uncle .. we want to make him dance and sing "Don't Worry, Be Happy".
MBD leave NR and writing in this space now?