Ceasefire
When Joe decided to have a break glad he did not declare a cease fire, we must be always triggered not in a stressful way to keep our guns blazing. Maybe just this one article while Joe is gone
On the Iran Israel ceasefire,
Will that be a time for regrouping and preparing for another attack as most ceasefires historically?
If we look at Israel and Hamas Ceasefires and PH government and others, we can have an idea on how ceasefires work
That would entail how to follow through with the closure of the strait of Hormuz threat a threat which already made tankers zig and zag and u turn, which made vessel fear for naval mines and those already in Hormuz had signal jamming incidents and they froze for a while fearing collision.
Our Government was cool by having its economic team saying that we will just be slightly affected.
I don’t know f I should cheer them or say tell that to the marines, but with due respect to our statisticians and economic team, numbers do not lie, the question is how they matter.
But I also said many times in this forum that leadership is knowing how to make people calm without making them cynical and skeptical whether it works or not is also what a leader has to face.
Is that’s what’s happening? I hear Trump saying he will fix everything. He should have a job as a fixer instead of a president. That NATO mini summit with him ordering the members to spend 5 percent of GDP for defense spending. All I heard was sweet talk from NATO’s secretary general. I will give this hero’s treatment to TRUMP I will let history judge if he deserves to be the hero for the moment.
That’s it from me until Joe returns.
Comment away my friends.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
ceasefire, until next time . . .
yeah, we will be slightly affected (they wish!) already the prices of oil is going up and ofws coming home to roost on empty wallets. and we’ll have to spend more in bringing home more expats, giving them seed money for livelihood program.
closing the strait of hormuz will hurt iran more. iranians are most affected since their ships and those of their allies are the most users of the strait; israel not so. and if iran did close the strait, it will lose one of its best leverage. and will have less to threaten the world with.
Exactly,
But if intel or rumors are accurate. The Stans are providing oil to China and China, North Korea is arming Iran and the missing uranium is now in China. Good grief the rumors may just be conspiracy theories but what if true?
Paranoia does not mean no one is after you as they say.
Videos of the crown prince rallying Iranians may be for naught because the Supreme leader controls telecom and the internet, so they probably have not watched the video.
For me the laeders do not care for the welfare of their people in Iran.
This ceasefire might be used for sea mine laying so that they can make their bluff come to fruition.
we are trying to get oil from our own basin in our eez, our navy and coast guard providing the escort and security to ensure the safety of the exploratory oil drilling firm despite the maritime harassment and threats from china. I really hope this will come to fruition and oil will be found and we shall have oil kahit limited ang supply and will not last for decades.
https://mb.com.ph/2025/06/24/navy-to-secure-oil-exploration-drills-in-wps-vs-foreign-interference
We should start small. Kaya tayo ninjas cugon we always start with a bang! Tapos nun wala na.
this might be more than that damn cugon, when I was little, I used to hide in them cugon to catch maya birds for pets! and I got horribly stabbed, those damn cugon have leaves like sharp blades that can easily cut skin, and its rhizomes (roots) that shoot out from the ground are as pointed as spears, and can cut through tsinelas. since then, I have very healthy respect for cugon and burn them at the 1st chance I got! pull out their rhizomes off the ground too, and burn them as well. cugons are not only horrible noxious weeds but also invasive grass species.
the proverbial ningas cugon, I always have second take on them.
anyhow, this article I am posting below might not be ningas cugon. we need more industries.
https://politiko.com.ph/2025/06/27/u-s-lawmakers-eye-ammunition-hub-at-former-subic-naval-base/daily-feed/
you are so right, karlG. ninjas cugon, stealthy. they creep slow and crawl just as slow, sure as day. and if you are not looking at it, your attention somewhere else, the next time you look, the cugon has taken over the allotment! silent sentinels, but deadly.
Nice, i don’t have to edit the typo. Nijas cugon should be added to our cultural behavior. deskarte and ningas cugon = ninjas cugon.
Ks & Kg, you have something good going on here; may I suggest also – ningas cogon = ninjas cogon; kugon = cogon? Yes? I am suspecting talahib is Nature’s gift to PH agriculture. 🙂
uy, gotta be careful where you put talahib. children cannot be playing hide and seek in them unless they want to have scratches and be cut. talahib blades are as bad as cugon’s, sharp and enlongated like espada. if talahib escaped its confinement and allowed to go wild, it can be farmer’s nightmare. it is fast grower, edge out other crops and consumed nourishment from the soil that other crops are left spindly and fighting for survival. talahib also has habit of smothering other crops.
though many said talahib has medicinal value. and kalabaws like to eat them.
I love how authorities obfuscate about the missing sabungeros case. they still have not recovered any of their human remains. so far no one is filing a case vs perpetrators. the victims are asking for justice and yet none of them have filed affidavits or sworn statements to kick off the legal process. the poor whistleblower, totoy his name. he is not only whistle blower and witness, but also tasked onerously of filing a case. he is his own song and dance man with barely any help.
years ago, I think, I may have read somewhere that some of the families of victims have previously accepted settlement, sort of blood money, put the tragic incident behind them and moved on. methink this latest development has put them in quandary, they would have less leg to stand on if they go to court now.
ahem, this my comment immediately above should have been way way down below, addendum to my previous post of the missing sabungeros.
methink, there is a ghost in this here blog that plays tricks, misplaced comments and scramble them, haha.
“It’s the Portuguese” my wife would say, meaning poltergeist.
iran’s missing enriched uranium in china now? sending it to china is probly khomenie’s biggest mistake. iran will never get it back, china will indefinitely keep it albeit for safekeeping. why give back such precious commodity! china even steal the catch of our fishermen, tried to steal our territory too and at one time, tried to steal land from india. tried to move the boundary but met strong resistance from indian army. gun fires were exchanged. there were casualties at both sides. and china never gained a centimeter of indian soil.
the missing uranium, if not in china, it will be biggest shock if israelis managed to highjack the uranium. the russians are a bit too clumsy for the job.
those chinese airplanes allegedly seen leaving iran prior to the bombing, probly contained high ranking iranians and their families fleeing iran, complete with suitcases full of money and other important belonging, fearing for their lives and leaving iran to meet the wrath of the bombers.
As for PH.
Yes numbers do not lie,but people do.
Not all are so confident that we can just source oil from North and south America without paying a premium.
Better deal with Myanmar, Malaysai and Indonesia even if they are perceived to be pro China.
ahem, we are 3rd world country and we probly dont pay premium for imported oil. medyo may discount tayo, we being poor, less developed and mendicant. haha, it pays to be poor. but maybe we are in good company, china kasi despite it being 2nd world economic power, is still considered 3rd world country.
Good points again
Trump just wants to be the belle of the ball, the main character to his own reality show. He fell right into Netanyahu’s trap and finished the job for the Israeli right-wingers. Now one can both be a support of Israel and also insist on a diplomatic peace between people that have literally been fighting each other for thousands of years.
The Iran-Israel ceasefire is just another choreographed political theater that enthralls naive corporate journalists, to take attention away from a failed dictator-lite military parade and the protests against Trump’s previous political theater. The protests are still happening daily, but no one would be the wiser unless they pay attention to independent journalism. Just like the California wildfires, which actually happen every year due to unscrupulous real estate developers building into the fire-prone chaparral, the news just went away. “If it bleeds, it leads,” Randolph Heart once said during the last Yellow Journalism era of the 1890s to early 20th century. Coincidentally, the Spanish-American War in which one of the results was the Philippines becoming an American possession was driven by Yellow Journalism whipping less-informed people through sensational tabloids.
NATO Chief Mark Rutte seems to have figured out how to play Trump in a more positive way. Much of the 5% commitment from all NATO countries save for Spain would go into reinvigorating the European defense industry to create a bulwark in the East against Russia. Here’s the truth: Post-War American presidents have always strong-armed allies and adversaries alike; the only difference is in the past these discussions have been made behind the scenes with the deference of diplomacy. It matters not that they convinced Trump that this was Trump’s personal win as that is a small concession to make in order to retain the support of the US, which Trump is unfortunately the leader of as of this moment. The European NATO states and Canada, for all their domestic-oriented public statements cannot stand alone on defense; high-end defense technologies are a generation behind, and soon two generations behind. But if Europe can get its act together on the bread and butter defense articles like artillery shells, small arms, armored vehicles, missile and rocket systems, the free world is better off in the end. The US can still do the high-technology aspects. Trump won’t be around forever, and he made a public remark to as much at this week’s NATO summit.
Well, the plus side is despite Trump’s administration having many Russia-curious officials, most are still quite anti-PRC. If the Europeans can do more in Europe and if the Middle East settles down, then the US can refocus back on the Asia Pacific which is where the real fight will be if there is another global war. All indications in Pentagon procurement point towards this, with systems to break the PRC’s A2AD bubbles, extend range of fighters and bombers, and a renewed focus on sea/land/air mobility. South Korea has a burgeoning defense industry enabled by US technology licenses. Japan has put a focus on long range fires and seaborne mobility with helicopter destroyers (aka aircraft carriers). I do hope that AUKUS will survive as to contain the PLAN expansion; the Australians just need to convince Trump his image will benefit somehow. There is murmuring that Vietnam will purchase the latest Block 70/72 F-16Vs in even larger numbers than the PAF will. Well that was in talks under Biden, but if the cost of regional defense is to give Trump a win, then that may be necessary.
about aukus, my aussie friends are saying aukus could well be in the backburner and that australia will not likely get its deposit back. they have already given billions in deposit for virginia class submarines and have nothing much show to show for it but jaded promises. oz’s prime minister albanese has been thwarted at each opportunity to speak with trump, and have been reportedly snubbed by the american big daddy twice already. and at the latest meeting in europe just this month, the hapless oz’s defense minister marples got pushed to the periphery, out of contention, less of import and out of sight.
apparently prime minister carney of canada as well as sir keith starmer, prime minister of england and few others were told before hand of the israel bombing of iran, the prime minister of oz was apparently not told, despite australia being one of the four eyes. the four eyes are supposed to share intel among themselves.
and dont joke, joey! I heard that trump is already considering a 3rd term in office!
Only Russia spends 6 percent to GDP defense spending.
Only North Korea can beat that, I imagine ( haven’t checked)
But others could ony do 3 percent even the US which is 3.5
Saved only by Reconciliation bills aka supplemental budgets.
Mali this was supposed to be a reply to Joey. Sorry kb
sorry, kb! you’re sorry! one day, karlG, I am going to assassinate you! but that day is not today. so eat and be merry.
yay, the cat is away on vacay, so kb mice will play!
My reply to you went to the wrong place but too long to delete and retype.
Again thanks for another Enlightenment on the forrest fires. My first reaction after feeling sad was why report it as if it happened the first time,I think this jibes with what you said.
ahem, your comment went awol! gone to heaven?
pst! dont say anything about calif fire to our joey. he is probly a firebug! see his short hair in the pic, it has been signed, or burned, by forest fire. the regrowth matched his eyebrows. smokey!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B3vo2rkgS/ MLQ3’s take:
My column today looks at how China’s assumptions on America have been overturned by the surprising outcome of Iran being bombed into accepting a ceasefire. (link in turn has links to sources) https://www.quezon.ph/2025/06/25/the-long-view-throwing-out-assumptions/
Columnists
The Long View
Throwing out assumptions
By: Manuel L. Quezon III – @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:06 AM June 25, 2025
Throwing out assumptions
Writing in the Asia Sentinel, Khanh Vu Duc observed that even as United States President Donald Trump abruptly left the G7 Summit in Canada, Chinese President Xi Jinping had posted a message on X: “History doesn’t just repeat itself, it accelerates.” Just the day before, he posted: “The world can move on without the United States.” In the words of Duc, “Together, these two statements—brief, deliberate, and strategically timed—capture a growing perception: the world is learning to operate without American leadership, not in hostility but in adaptation.”
Trump had already proven himself the outlier at the summit, the threefold agenda of which was global tax coordination (particularly the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-backed plan for a global minimum corporate tax rate), climate finance, and long-term military aid for Ukraine. With Trump out of the way, the remaining leaders went ahead.
And this, Duc argues, is the point Xi Jinping was making: “As America steps back, China positions itself not merely as an alternative, but as the inevitable heir to global centrality. While Washington debates, Beijing narrates. With just a few words, Xi reframed the G7’s drama into a broader historical arc: the end of US dominance as a fait accompli.”
But the nation that dominated the headlines was America. There was the “will he” or “won’t he” speculation that finally gave way to the announcement that American bombs had been dropped on Iran’s most secure nuclear facilities. As Bill Bishop in his well-regarded newsletter Sinocism pointed out, “The Xi administration was relegated to a powerless observer in this conflict, probably angered the Iranian leadership with its lack of assistance, and now will find whatever angle it can to criticize the US. But I think they will be relieved the Iranian response to the US bombing was performative, the Straits of Hormuz remain open, and the risk of a wider war may be abating.”
The Australian defense analyst Hugh White recently published an extended essay arguing that even as people ask whether America will concede Asia to China, the fact is that it already has: to be precise, as Arnaud Bertrand helpfully paraphrases it, “withdrawal occurs when a great power loses the ability to impose its will in a region.” It works like this: “The test is simple: can America still compel regional actors—China specifically—to do things they don’t want to do or deter them from things they do want to do? When the answer becomes “no”—when China can safely ignore or defy American preferences—withdrawal has occurred regardless of how many bases remain.”
Bertrand, paraphrasing White, adds compulsion requires three things working together: “overwhelming economic leverage, decisive military superiority, and credible willingness to escalate to nuclear war if necessary.” Absent one, it won’t work.
But what happened in Iran—with the added news of both Israel and Iran accepting a ceasefire brokered, it seems, by Washington—challenges the assumptions outlined above.
The Israeli analyst Haviv Rettig Gur argues the American bombing of Iran is a demonstration of what he calls the “Trump Doctrine,” which, according to him means “Trump’s brand of isolationism shows the United States can still secure the world, protect the world, and police the world, without having to secure, protect, and police it; and the basic idea is the ally does the heavy lifting, and the United States comes in to deliver the coup de grace.”
This addresses both the assertions of American military decline and the perennial question that haunts all American allies (as Hugh White put it, “Can we depend on our allies?”) as Rettig Gur says, “To my Taiwanese friends and South Korean friends, and Japanese friends, and European friends, you face enemies and you face an America that doesn’t want to fight for you: it will fight for you if you can fight for yourself; that’s the point, and I want to tell you that it has always been thus.”
Returning to Duc, he asked, “Xi offered one version of the future: a world where power migrates from the careless to the prepared. Trump, perhaps unintentionally, reinforced that narrative. But Carney, the G7+, and the broader community of democratic nations offered another path: a recalibrated, post-American leadership model rooted in shared purpose and mutual respect. The world is moving. The only question that remains is: Who has the vision, credibility, and courage to shape where it goes?”
the case of the missing sabungeros alleged to have been dumped in taal lake was also subject of investigative documentary due for release in 2024 but was not shown to the public due to some very serious safety concerns. methink there are some vital clues in the docu as to the identity of the female celeb, the alpha, who most probly opposed the public showing and have the plait accompli to pull strings. not alice guo, I supposed, haha.
finding the mortal remains of the missing sabungeros and then identifying them will be super mammoth task. ID would have to be done via dna testing. after three years in watery grave of taal lake, only their skeletons remained. dead men tell no tales, but their dna can be made to talk, to be matched with the dna of the families the sabungeros left behind.
https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2024/08/06/2375662/security-concerns-force-cancellation-lost-sabungeros-world-premiere-cinemalaya
Ack, Charlie is mayhap playing victim of extortion and blackmail. I will hold judgement until the case moves.
To KB and the rest,
I know you were just joking and nothing personal but I will still ask our commenters to refrain from making assassination jokes.
Thank You.
my apologies! no more assassination jokes, promise.
All is well
https://www.facebook.com/share/1CnWqSu8bP/ OT, MLQ3:
My column today looks at why we’re a gangster’s paradise but also why even well-intentioned crime fighters simply lack the means to get a grip on increasingly-sophisticated rackets.
https://www.quezon.ph/2025/07/02/the-long-view-crimes-beyond-comprehension/
Columnists
The Long View
Crimes beyond comprehension
By: Manuel L. Quezon III – @inquirerdotnetPhilippine Daily Inquirer / 05:30 AM July 02, 2025
Four recent stories deserve not only our attention but an effort to understand how they might tie together. The first is a Washington Post story by Rebecca Tan and Pei-Lin Wu published on June 24: “Chinese association accused of mixing crime and patriotism as it serves Beijing,” which argues, “Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s bid to expand China’s influence has made increasing use of Chinese people living and working abroad … includes selectively exploiting ties to criminals that proclaim loyalty to the CCP … letting them thrive as long as their illicit activities remain offshore and do not threaten domestic stability.”
The article zeroes in on Wan Kuok Koi (considered to be among Asia’s most powerful crime bosses), chair of the World Hongmen History and Culture Association, “which describes itself as an ethnic Chinese fraternal organization devoted to promoting Chinese culture abroad” but which US officials claim is a front for the 14K triad, which “routinely supported Beijing’s political objectives in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and Africa.” The article briefly mentions allegations of espionage on behalf of China in the Philippines.
The second appeared in the Asia Sentinel, “US Busts Philippine ‘Pig-Butchering’ Op,” with about 430 suspected victims in Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Iowa, and California. “Pig-butchering” is “translated from Chinese shāzhūpán, which refers to a scam in which the victim is “fattened up prior to slaughter,” and encouraged to make increasing financial contributions over a long period in fake investment schemes, usually in cryptocurrencies.” This was an update to an April story detailing how “transnational organized crime in Southeast Asia, driven by artificial intelligence, stablecoins, and blockchain networks, is evolving faster than at any previous point in history and expanding across the globe. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines were particular target sites picked by scammers to base their operations.”
The third was by Bernadette Soriano in ExplainedPH, “Dead Water: The hidden graveyard beneath Taal,” which has the most recent update on the seemingly slow-burning but never-ending story of e-sabong and the trail of human misery and death surrounding that pandemic-era scheme.
A related story in Politiko.com, “From cockpits to courtrooms: DOJ probes extent of e-sabong’s reach,” eerily reads like similar moments when the government, left no choice but to recognize how things have gotten out of hand, has to race to try to contain a situation seemingly on the verge of getting totally out of control (this happened after the Ampatuan massacre; and, more recently, when the present administration had to purge the top brass of the Philippine National Police in the wake of their possible complicity in or potentially unprofessional loyalty to the previous administration and its so-called “war on drugs”).
What US officials accuse the 14K triad of engaging in—drug trafficking, illegal gambling, racketeering, human trafficking, and a range of other criminal activities—happens to be the catalog of crimes that Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) have been suspected of or proven to engage in; though what remains is confusion over whether the Chinese government has a hand in it or not.
The pressure applied on our government in the past by the Chinese government (which the Duterte administration resisted, and which the Marcos administration has proven to be more cooperative), I’ve repeatedly argued, tells us the Pogos didn’t enjoy Beijing’s blessings; but it makes sense if particular gangsters or groups made themselves useful to the authorities in exchange for leniency. But to blur the distinctions between overseas crime and the Chinese government’s pursuit of its aims is, frankly, lazy, and usually, racist. It also reduces the potential for mutually advantageous cooperation between Chinese and Filipino authorities.
Article continues after this advertisement
What these articles tell us, however, is something racketeers of all kinds have known for a generation or so now: we have the secret sauce for gangsterism: a national government whose writ is feeble on the local level; national bureaucracies with far too many staff susceptible to bribery and collusion where it counts: our borders, in our police, in the administration of justice, and where rich and poor alike are agnostic when it comes to the sources of their income.
The Achilles’ heel of our institutions is in terms of transnational crime. Racketeers are using 21st-century technologies in a country where our institutions are stuck somewhere between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries in their technological know-how and management of data (not much better for the private sector, arguably, as the infamous “Lazarus heist” engineered by a North Korean hacker demonstrated).
Consider this: only Sen. Ronald dela Rosa consistently campaigned on a law-and-order platform. Yet, you have to ask how he’d handle an investigation to tie all these threads together, and you have to wonder if the secretary of Justice can do any better.
I already said I don’t know how many years ago that the Philippines was at risk of becoming what Cuba was for the US mob during the Batista era.
I also hate being right when it comes to terrible stuff.
Fulgencio Batista also came to power both times off of a stated policy of law and order, support for the working class, and as the one man who will fix everything if given power; power that he took through military coups with the tacit approval of the Cuban people. Interestingly the Cuban democratic socialists and communists were initially very supportive for Batista, viciously attacking liberal democratic opponents as “fascists.”
Cuba is one of the most White Latin American countries, with somewhere around 65% White population, and nearly an additional third being mestizo. So the situation in the Philippines likely has little to do with the degree of Whiteness or mestizo population; rather the weak institutions may be a combination of decentralized nature of both the native culture and the culture of Spain. Even now Spain is a rather decentralized country with weak government institutions that depends on the will of the prime minister of Spain (Presidente del Gobierno), and formerly, the monarch. In times of strong government such as during the expansion of the Spanish Empire following the unification of the Iberian Peninsula, the rule of personal strength moved stuff along. During periods of weak personal rule, Spanish government quickly collapsed.
Successor countries of the Spanish imperial possessions all have similar issues that the Philippines has. Decentralized government. Weak institutions. Nearly non-existent civil society. A society based upon familial and personal relationships, with strong firewalls to outsiders, even neighbors. Even the former crown jewel Viceroyalty of Nueva España, Mexico, is plagued with problems that are finally starting to get better. In my travels I’ve found Costa Rica and Panama, two Latin American countries with close ties to the US have the “best” governments.
ugh! philippines can never be cuba. we dont have the cigars! and we are not stuck in the 60s with those vintage cars for we have habit of cutting and chopping vehicles like what we did to the post war military jeeps the americans left behind. we made them jeeps into world famous icons, so lovingly decorated then made beasts of burdens.
there is no shame in being poor, underprivileged and catholic. we just dont have a cigar chomping demigod castro, or his cross eyed brother, running amok! and we cannot just swim across the channel to ask asylum in estados unidos. unlike fat lipped roque who is seeking asylum to any country crazy enough to have him, his bank accounts allow him to live life on the run abetted mayhap by our embassies, remnants of duterte’s regime, unworried about the currency rate, he must have millions of euros stashed. allegedly his multiple passports under fake names allow him ease of travel and to slip from country to country.
lest in philippines, we dont have the stasi, the triad, or the kgb. and unlike cuba, we were 1st to remove a government without firing a bullet.
is philippines gangsters paradise? in the movies, yes! we have actors who can best portrayed crime lords, often winning accolades and international awards, and our crime shows are syndicated now and earning heaps!
gangsters paradise, we are so overrated. we dont even have yakuzas! we are nothing compared to italian mafia. but in the movies we certainly are, faster on the trigger, if looks could kill.
and still, as of today, no human remain has been pulled out of taal lake. on the other hand, they had better find a skeleton soonest, or our reputation as gangsters paradise could be in jeopardy! and we will be laughing stock.
The US mob especially those in Las Vegas in the 1950s did pretty much what they wanted in Cuba then.
Not too different in a way from the gangs from a big country also just across the sea from the Philippines with their pogos that are not sticks as Filipinos I have always joked are at most capable of disorganized crime.
The American Mafia and American Mob have historically been close allies. I once dated a childhood friend, a Sicilian girl, back in my teens whose mother had connections to the Sicilian Mafia in St. Louis who controlled the casinos, portions of law enforcement and local government. During a tumultuous time in our young lives, her father, who turned out to be her stepfather, assassinated two Mafia associates who were having an affair with the mother, and in turn was killed by the St. Louis police after a wild car chase rather than being captured for prosecution. The police detective who handled the case was also a Mafia associate. I recall tagging along with the mother to visit one of the local bosses, who paid off the mother in cash to maintain her silence, and spent a lot of time with the boss’ daughter who was like an auntie to me for a time. Such a sweet auntie-like woman, who also ran dilapidated apartments that acted as a front for a prostitution operation. These events happened in the late 1990s, not so far removed from the present.
I blogged about an aspect of imperialism and colonialism that has largely gone un-scrutinised.
It has relevance in the context of Iran issue here. I am betting no one here has ever realised it.
Sharing in the link below for any one interested.
One passage from my blog on “Arab Imperialism Never Left, But Persians Are Rewakening”:
“They say God works in mysterious ways. Perhaps all it takes was 25 minutes for Trump to drop those bombs in Iran to trigger off events leading to a regime change. Imagine what a resurgence of majority Persian rule in Iran can mean. A long cherished peace between the Israelis and Iranians, unimaginable for decades, but almost certain as the ancient Jewish and Persian consciousness reconcile. During the time of the Shah, Iran had not officially recognised the newly formed state of Israel, but there was informal relation and extensive cooperation. A Persian-ruled Iranian Republic will see the geopolitics of the Middle East change completely. A Persian counter-balance to the increasingly active Turkey, the loss of support to the troublesome Islamist terrorist groups and Houthis, and the cessation of the Sunni-Shia divide, can only make the whole Middle East region celebrate.”
https://chem-post.blogspot.com/2025/07/Arab-Imperialism-Never-Ended-But-The-Persians-Are-Reawakening.html
Hi Chem
I do not mind if Trump eventually gets the Nobel peace prize for one.
Now as to the crown Prince going back to Iran the moment that peace finally happens within our lifetime what a site to watch if ever that happens.
I’m not an apologist for the Pahlavis. They too have a lot to answer for their past excesses.
Just putting in a word for the majority Persians who have been suppressed by Islamist zealots who used the minority Arab Iranians to violently suppress majority Persian Iranians for decades. Persians have seen their currency depreciate from 1USD = 70 IRR in 1979 to 1USD = 90,000 IRR today. That happens to an oil exporting country that focuses not on GDP but the annihilation of Israel.
Watched a YouTube on UK’s BP’s history with Iran, now I have an understanding of their hate for UK.
Chemp,
I ask chathpt to analyze your comment and article.
Thank you for sharing your blog post. Your perspective on Arab imperialism as an enduring but underexamined force — especially in contrast to the more commonly scrutinized Western or Persian imperialisms — is quite provocative and worth exploring. Here’s some feedback and contextual analysis based on your excerpt and framing: 🔍 Key Ideas You’ve Touched On:
🌍 Broader Relevance
Your piece resonates with current debates around:
🧭 Some Thought-Provoking Additions You Might Explore:
⚖️ Final Thought
Your blog touches a nerve that is politically sensitive, historically rich, and intellectually engaging. The mainstream narrative often reduces the Middle East to Sunni vs. Shia or Arab vs. Israeli, but you’ve added a layer: Arab imperialism vs. Persian resurgence, which is far less discussed — and that’s precisely where it becomes valuable.
Let me know if you’d like to polish this into a tighter op-ed, add references, or even pitch it to a wider audience.
Is that good or bad?
What you did is what exactly I have in mind. One writes something that’s out of the realm of staus quo to get a reader interested, to ponder, to look into it. It shows you are alive and receptive. Doesn’t mean you agree or not, But you pause to wonder. That’s good.
Sorry if I may ask you here as Gatekeeper.
I wrote a piece for Philippines called “Intellectualising the political landscape of Philippines”.
It’s something TSOH is dense with but my approach is entirely different and I feel helps in understanding from a different angle.
Would you like to review and see if appropriate?
If so, let met have your email. Can contact me via my sessenger.
Another informative article Chempo, thank you Sir.
I enjoyed the article and discussion, Karl. I think kasambahay is our Humorist in Chief, a humorist being a jokester with intellectual refinement and subtle readings between lines. I did not read chempo’s blog but did enjoy your AI assisted parsing of the arguments. He evidently has a new e-mail which allows commentary past the block. I don’t mind as long as the discussion is forthright. Articles published at TSOH have to be original works so reposting of his blogs would not qualify for publication.
all points seconded.
Sent you Chempo’s article via messenger, Joe.
I don’t use messenger. Maybe try e-mail.
I will, thanks