Showing posts with label Hezbollah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hezbollah. Show all posts

Monday, August 3, 2026

The Persian reckoning

A richly detailed fantasy illustration inspired by Persian court art. At the centre stands an elegant queen wearing an emerald-green embroidered robe over an ivory gown adorned with elaborate gold filigree, gemstones, and layered jewellery. She holds a curved ceremonial sword while a defeated, richly dressed captive kneels at her feet, connected to her by delicate golden chains. Beyond the ornate palace arch, a dramatic naval battle rages at sunset, with burning warships and smoke rising across a narrow strait. Intricate tilework, patterned carpets, fruit, and gilded vessels complete the opulent royal setting.
image generated via ChatGPT

View from aboard — ‘America has suffered a strategic defeat against Iran’. {Jake Wallis Simons, The Telegraph 3 August}

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/1ed6179039fa6012

How grand for Donald Trump to have committed one of the most egregious foreign policy blunders in American history, and as with everything else he will not be held accountable by the American people or any other entity in this dying, gaslit empire of cowards, fools, and malevolent brutes. FTA: 

The final nail in the coffin of America’s hopes came on Sunday, when Trump called off “the biggest attack since World War Two” (yeah, right!) amid talks that could hand Tehran at least partial control of the Strait of Hormuz.

He also expressed his hopes that the latest “deal” – how many deals have there supposedly been now? – would lead to “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”.

How exactly? This is a foe that has always been bent on apocalypse and the downfall of the West. It is hardly going to roll over and let Trump tickle its tummy, especially when it has its jaws clamped around his groin.

Full details are yet to emerge, but it is likely that we will see a new entry-exit system for the strait that could hand some control of the waterway to the worst regime on Earth.

So the principle of mare liberum, or freedom of the seas, a core tenet of international law, commences its slow death on Trump’s watch.

What option had the president left himself? Inexorably, the White House is coming face-to-face with the consequence of taking military action without a proper plan.

What y’all voted for, #Murica. Even if none are forthcoming, reasonable and moral people must continue to demand answers from all of those — from Republicans, to the grifters in the realms of media and entertainment, to the churches, and especially to those in our personal lives and everywhere in between — who have enabled this putrid state of affairs. Quite simply, it is the greatest mass lapse in judgement that any of us alive today shall ever witness first-hand. Things can — and typically do — always get worse. Yet when this nightmare finally ends, I fear there may be very little left either to rebuild or to destroy. Good going, folks.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Friday, June 19, 2026

Self-inflicted wounds, and death by a thousand cuts: the #MAGA endgame

A dramatic dystopian illustration of a devastated landscape at sunset beneath a turbulent orange sky. Centre distance, an enormous mushroom cloud riseth in the shape of a clenched fist—destruction, anger, catastrophic consequence. Foreground, a tattered American flag lieth abandoned in the dust beside a weathered red cap bearing “MAGA.” The barren terrain is strewn with debris. Left, a lone oil pumpjack amid industrial wreckage; a convoy of military vehicles stretcheth across the wasteland. Right, a futuristic skyline of gleaming skyscrapers remaineth intact across water—technological progress against devastation. Apocalyptic symbolism, political imagery, and cinematic lighting evoke nationalism, fossil-fuel dependence, militarisation, extremism, decline, and the perceived consequences of ideological failure.
generated via ChatGPT

Friday, 19 June 2026 (Happy Juneteenth), and nobody seems to know what the hell is going on. Is Trump’s ‘deal’ with Iran — or capitulation to Iran — to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz on or off? Israel and Hezbollah have signed another truce, maybe, possibly?

This is one sick, tragic joke, and these Middle Easterners are going to be killing each other for the rest of time in spite of any efforts to stop it.

Here we have this US president and his entire cult following bellowing about putting ‘America First’, but this sure as hell is not it. Isolationists are going to get a major boost out of this, because what the hell is America doing in the Middle East at this point? Israel is going rogue, the Islamists shall never be tamed, and the Saudis and the oil barons will continue buying up everyone and everything.

At this moment, and speaking as one who is hardly an isolationist and believes we must engage with the world, I am thinking that it is bloody useless, and that the former United States ought to retreat from any and all efforts in the Middle East, begin moving away from fossil fuels in earnest, and get serious about fixing its own house.

None of that is happening at this moment, but ‘y’all’ keep pretending this hath always been about putting America ‘first’, when it hath always been about harming all the people and groups in society whom ‘y’all’ do not like. The #MAGA rank-and-file may not be happy about the intervention in Iran, but they shall continue to suffer any indignity so long as they continue to hate the immigrants, and gays/lesbians/trannies, anyone with a brain, so forth.

— Arthur Newhook, 19 June 2026.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Hope across the ruins?

A symbolic fantasy scene of two allegorical women standing on opposite sides of a deep chasm amid a devastated city. The woman on the left weareth flowing garments in Iran’s colours—green and red billowing; the woman on the right is draped in white and blue robes bearing the Star of David. Both extend a hand toward one another across the divide, fingertips nearly touching but not quite meeting. Above, storm clouds part to reveal golden sunlight streaming through the centre, illuminating the gap. Below, shattered ruins stretch toward a distant coastline. White doves with olive branches stand among broken stonework—peace and reconciliation. Conflict, separation, hope, diplomacy, and the possibility of understanding despite profound division.
generated via ChatGPT

The Islamic Republic demands Israel withdraw from Lebanon for a tentative peace deal to take effect. {AP 16 June}

https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-war-israel-lebanon-oil-june-16-2026-d79458506c46e3f4a78aef0f9d8b9250

The signing ceremony for this ‘peace deal’ is scheduled for Friday in Switzerland. At this hour, I do not believe it is going to happen, as Netanyahu is adamant that the Israelis are not going to withdraw from Lebanon, to say nothing of the schism that hath developed between him and Trump (and, therefore, between America and Israel).

I shall not be surprised if this war is still ongoing a year from now. Or two.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.