In Reply to: Re: The MOU hasn't been signed yet. posted by russsmith on June 14, 2026 at 22:28:16
You can't outsmart a middle eastern in a negotiation. The moment you enter the store they know how much money you have and how much you're willing to part for how many rugs before they offer you the first tea to sip.
Trump really fancier himself the master negotiator. He just got schooled. The moment he started this war, Iran knew America's exact pain points and how much pressure they needed to apply. Both the US and Israel kept thinking that their performative acts of retaliation after ether earlier attacks were a sign of weakness. They weren't really. They were just being the smarter party who did not want to start something they didn't know how to finish.
Western chutzpah, though, is something else. Having been a colonial power once or being an aspiring one currently creates all kinds of delusional thinking.