There was no news, was there? No announcement at all. Donald Trump was simply trying to convince American voters with PR - and it’s stuff he’s said before.
The main points of the speech were familiar: Iran are the bad guys and need to be stopped; the US will hit them hard in the next two to three weeks; yes, the war is making fuel more expensive but not because of anything he’s done - it’s because of what the Iranians have done, namely shutting the Strait of Hormuz.
He also argued the war hasn’t taken that long compared to past conflicts like World War II, which the US was involved in for three years, eight months and 25 days.
Trump said he never wanted regime change in Iran - but, by the way, there has been regime change because radical leaders have been killed and the new leaders aren’t as radical. And if they don’t strike a deal, he might hit their energy plants and “send them back to the Stone Age”.
None of this is new. He’s said all of this - or most of it - before. So why did he call the speech for 2pm our time? Because he's worried.
American voters are not on board with what he’s done. So he’s trying to go over the top of the media narrative that he’s losing and that the war is dragging on.
He’s trying to sell the message that this is actually short and sharp, that it will end soon. And he’s also trying to sell the idea that when he pulls out without changing the regime, he won’t have lost.
Even though, if he does pull out without changing the regime, he will have lost - because all he will have done is set Iran back in its wrongdoing, not prevent that wrongdoing from recurring.
But there is no end to this war. There is no opening of the Strait. And as of the speech, there is no news.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show. This article was sourced from Newstalk ZB.
13 comments:
This is pretty shallow, unresearched commentary from the MSM.
Now, surely we don't need to keep repeating ad infinitum why this war was started. Briefly: to de-fang a fanatical regime whose intent was to build up a significant nuclear capable arsenal and destroy the US, Israel and as we can now see, anybody who opposes them.
This is an asymmetrical war and Iran is using its proxies to prolong the battle.
Ground troops should be a last resort, not because "Trump will lose votes," but because the terrain is immense and the conditions unpredictable.
A slow, careful approach is required and wars don't end in days or weeks.
Listen to Admiral Bradley Cooper who is running the operation. A very calm, measured person.
Why do the MSM keep chasing "Anti-Trump" talking points? Why not do some serious research.
Thousands of weapons have now been found stored underground in Iran. I guess this wasn't for fun.
An article on the badly depleted British and European military would be appropriate at this point also.
We had parliamentarians, until recently, wearing headscarves of the hamas. Where are they now? Green by name and green by nature! Why don't they come out and tell us what is happening?
Janine are you parroting Trump talking points? When the media reports facts, you don’t get to go claiming “MSM boogeyman”. It is shallow and feckless. We must hold power to account.
Well, perhaps it was time to stir the markets a bit more, they were kind of leveling on the assumption that the Iran operation is nearing its end?
Oil, Ukraine expertise in ocean drone warfare against ships , Iran neighbouring nations concerns about the Strait of Hormuz are world topics , obviously irrelevant to HDPA
Anon 1;29. Actually, I barely watch Trump. Be aware, the MSM all spout the same narrative. It appears to come from only one source. So, hundreds of voices with one opinion and no facts.
Very few want to counter the MSM narrative in New Zealand. So, I will try. You can fact check my points by visiting Tousi TV,(informative and light) or most reputable military websites.( more serious.)
I would hardly call our MSM "investigative journalists". Therefore, they should hold no interest for anyone with a reasonable IQ.
My facts are stated above and I now have no interest in personal insults which seem to be the standard left wing response to a discussion. I have noticed more and more intelligent conservative commentators are braving the "slings and arrows".
The above piece is merely the MSM general opinion. Worthless.
Now Janine, you may have no interest in personal insults which, you claim, seems to be the standard left-wing response to a discussion. When it comes to personnel insults Donald Trump, who you obviously support, has set the gold standard of all time.
@janine you’re better off watching trump direct from the horses mouth than believing anything put forward by any media.
He’s not as good a speaker as regan but he’s f’ing brilliant! If you listen to the man you’d vote for him.
Once I started listening to him I went from orange mad bad to “this guy is the last hope for western democracy as we know it and his bless him”
MSM really has a lot to answer for with regards to their huge role in the downfall of the west.
Democracy might not be the best form of government but it’s a hell of a lot better than all those other types!
News is not narrative. News is news. If you can’t see the difference between the two then your media intake must look like 24/7 Fox. At least we have Easter to celebrate with our fellow Christians. Can we agree with that, folks?
Count me out, Anon 604.
Not that I don't observe the Feast of Eostre. She was a Celtic goddess, the Celtic equivalent of the continental Ostara, goddess of dawn and spring. There was a feast to her at the start of spring every year in pagan times.
Of course, that's in March......... maybe once the southern Hemisphere was discovered she splits her time between the two.
Eostre had a pet rabbit she had found in a bad way and nursed back to health. He shows his appreciation by passing semiprecious stones rather than the usual stools every spring feast.
Now now you know where the Easter bunny and Easter 'eggs' come from.
In some European cultures, Easter tends to be tied to the Jewish passover (e.g. in my mothertongue Dutch, Easter is 'pasen'). It celebrates their tribal god 'passing over' Jewish homes during a plague while the firstborn kids of the Egyptians were infected and died. Charming. I'll stick to Eostre, thanks.
I think that chap was talking about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a scared time no matter what your left-wing university indoctrination says.
Ewan, you miss the point...ask yourself, why is trump there? President of the USA? Because the majority were sick of the lying, woke far left lunatics as the other option! Im not really a trump fan either, but he was better than the alternative. So you support the left whackos do you Ewan....I'm with janines rational views on this one...trump is just giving back to the left what they dish out. Oddly enough the left don't like it.
Of course that's what he was doing, Anon 843. (Mind you, that's YOUR Lord you're talking about, not mine.) But as with Xmas, we see European pagan influences at work - and in the case of Easter, Jewish ones as well. Hence my tongue-in-cheek foray into the story of Eostre and her precious-stone-laying pet rabbit. There shouldn't be anything to get hot under the collar about there.
I did my first degree 1973-5 when universities hadn't totally succumbed to marxofascism yet, and managed to stay well clear of it for my other 4 degrees. Indeed it was touch and go for my doctoral thesis (1995) as I refused to adopt a marxofascist platform, and I certainly wouldn't get away with it today. I am not one of the indoctrinated. On the contrary, I have been right-of-centre since my late teens and have actively resisted political correctness and its fellow travellers. Implying that I am a product of left-wing varsity indoctrination is offensive to me.
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