Is Iran Trump's Kobayashi Maru Scenario?

Posted by freedomforall 4 days ago to Politics
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Excerpt:
"Yesterday's Global Daily by Ben Picton, 'The Wrath of Kharg', couldn't help but get me thinking about the infamous Kobayashi Maru scenario in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. For those unfamiliar, back when Star Trek was a popular franchise based on serious ideas, not an unpopular one based on frivolous ones, Starfleet Academy tested its budding starship captains by making them try to rescue the simulated crew of a disabled freighter stranded in dangerous territory. Abandoning them was a failure; yet every attempt to retrieve them would be met by an ever-increasing number of attackers. Crucially, this no-win scenario was a key test of officer candidates’ characters, not their tactics or strategy.

The question today is if President Trump is himself caught in a Kobayashi Maru scenario given:

If he retreats from Iran, it's a geopolitical defeat the equivalent of the 1956 Suez Crisis; and he may not even be able to retreat if Iran refuses to stop the war regionally.

If he continues to attack, energy markets will panic further. The Israeli press says the country is preparing to fight for another month vs Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, not the three weeks alluded to yesterday; and Iran is now targeting upstream oil and gas fields (such as Shah in the UAE), not just refineries and export terminals, threatening energy supply, not flow.
...
Treasury Secretary Bessent says the US is fine with some Iranian, Chinese, and Indian vessels having successfully made it through Hormuz. Why wouldn't they be? If Iran starts letting everyone but the US and Israel through --neither of whom use it-- then the blockade is effectively over. Yet that argues for Iran not to do so to any great extent."


All Comments

  • Posted by JakeOrilley 4 hours, 59 minutes ago in reply to this comment.
    FFA, thanks for the link. A very good read, and it had much information that I had not seen. With this, there is a much better understanding as to what all is happening in the background.
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  • Posted by mccannon01 22 hours, 57 minutes ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes, they did. Will they again? I have no idea.

    On a side bar, I notice Afghanistan and Pakistan are flirting with a shooting war. Let 'em have at it, IMO.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 23 hours, 20 minutes ago in reply to this comment.
    There is NO QUESTION Iran would not give up nukes in the negotiations, and that is why the negotiations ended.

    I am all over Iran's regime going away. It will stabilize the whole middle east!
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  • Posted by mccannon01 23 hours, 40 minutes ago in reply to this comment.
    IMHO, as long as Islam's dark hand of slavery and death has a grip on that region it won't matter whose face is at the helm. A more secular regime that can put Islam into a cage is the only one that can prosper and get along with its neighbors. Historically it appears Islam always has to be killing/enslaving something, so an alternative is to find a way to break the region into Islamic tribes/factions that kill each other and therefore leave the rest of us alone. Yeah, that sounds awfully cold, but after 1400 years of this crap it may be the only thing to do.
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  • Posted by CaptainKirk 1 day ago
    First, I have to defend my name...
    "I didn't cheat.. I changed the conditions of the test...
    I ... Don't Believe ... In the No-Win Scenario!"
    (ST TOS, The Wrath of Khan). One of my FAVORITE LINES.
    This is me in uniform: https://app.screencast.com/bfsx7mBqZ9...

    Anyways, this is certainly a TEST for Trump.
    And SHAME on anyone who says "The Mullahs had a Fatwa on using Nukes".
    Because that can be lifted in 1 second, just before they launch them. It's meaningless.
    AND if it was TRULY to be disrespectful... Then WHY did the keep trying to build them?
    (So, wasting time and energy on a weapon you CANNOT use by DECREE is okay... Well,
    only if you know the DECREE can be changed once you get there!)

    To the "No Wars" Crowd. Sorry! I didn't want this. I fear we are covering for Israel.
    But I will give President Trump the ROOM he needs.
    He was WRONG about the Vaccines. He should have never locked down.
    But UNLIKE some JUDGES... He put people in place and is giving them pretty free reign.
    MAHA is crushing it. Even as the EXPOSE the vaccine for the fraud that it was.
    Allowing that on his watch is WHAT I TRULY EXPECT.

    Perfect... No.
    A "Captain Kirk" type leader... Close... Really Close, actually... (Tempered by REAL LIFE Situations)
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  • Posted by CaptainKirk 1 day ago in reply to this comment.
    I am not usually a fan of USA Regime Change.
    But mostly because we do it wrong. We PICK the winner, who is forced to have 2 leaders (if not 3). They payoff the people around, and what starts with CORRUPTION usually ends that way.

    But I feel Trump knows this. And if we take the "3rd Option" Trump is using... (We will keep killing the Ayatollah's until the people pick better leaders)... THEN this COULD work. Someone will have to rise up to that power position.

    THAT form (not the CIA led version) I will accept.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 1 day ago
    We must force a regime change. I personally don't care what it takes, but we ought to be able to make that happen, and achieve unrestricted access.
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  • Posted by mccannon01 1 day, 21 hours ago in reply to this comment.
    Great article! This author is underscoring the notion Trump REALLY is playing world chess on America's behalf while the EU and others are still trying to figure out checkers! Maybe it is time to cut free of NATO (and the UN). Thank you for posting, FFA!!

    Edit add: I'm seeing more and more articles and soundbites alluding to China's dependence on ME oil and other foreign energy so maybe this is also a signal that if China is thinking of turning Taiwan into a latter day Pearl Harbor they better be aware they will need to get it done quick before they run out of juice and the whole thing becomes a Midway.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 1 day, 22 hours ago in reply to this comment.
    They tried to trick him. For years they hid the truth that iran was building up munitions, working on Nuclear bombs with their help but he 'fingered' it out, (think, picking your nose), and put their cowardness on display in front of the whole world.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 1 day, 23 hours ago in reply to this comment.
    Agreed, Trump will re-work the situation for a successful resolution, he's already used the scenario to pigeon hole Brittan and the rest of Europe. No matter what they do, now, they come out smelling like shit . . . .
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  • Posted by mccannon01 3 days, 23 hours ago in reply to this comment.
    I was thinking the same thing! Trump will just rewrite the code - or get someone on board that can!
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 3 days, 23 hours ago
    Captain Kirk was accused of cheating the Kobayashi Maru test, but what he did was re-write the test so that it could have a solution. Part of what makes Trump unique as a leader is his refusal to accept the situation as it is. He changes the situation so that he can win it.
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