Why did Trump initiate the current war with Iran?

In the war with Iran, DNI Gabbard is conspicuous by her absence. As the Director of National Intelligence, she should be at the center of discussions!  Secretary of State Rubio indignantly insists that "Tulsi has done a fantastic job and is a respected member of the President’s national security team..." But although she was present in the Situation Room  

during the launch of “Operation Epic Fury,” she was not at Mar-a-Lago with the commander in chief.

The piece goes on to document Gabbard's opposition to a possible invasion of Iran to her absence and silence since the bombing of that country began. 

Press Secretary Leavitt answered questions during a press briefing. Note that at no point during that briefing did she mention DNI Gabbard specifically or anything our intelligence agencies more generally might have provided to the President so that Trump could have made an informed decision. Trump appears to have relied entirely on Envoy Witkoff, a real estate guy with no background in intelligence or military affairs or diplomacy.  

The blogger here spends the first several paragraphs of this piece detailing just how Witkoff and his partner Jared Kushner (Trump's son-in-law) reached the conclusion that Iran was close to deploying a nuclear bomb. 

Witkoff and Kushner did not bring technical experts from the U.S. to sit in on their talks in Geneva 

Of past regimes, Trump's leadership team most closely resembles that of Mussolini's government over Italy in the 30s and 40s. Unfortunately

After years in power, surrounded by toadies and yes-men, Mussolini began to believe his own rhetoric...

Which sadly, brings us to today. 

Day 1475 War in Ukraine

 A Bofors 40mm gun (developed in 1922) is highly useful against Shahed drones.

Envoy Witkoff believes we can take the Russians at their word. Witkoff has made a enormous amount of money by doing business with Russian oligarchs. Th Trump negotiators appear to have believed, erroneously, that an Iranian reactor was capable of producing a bomb. It wasn't. The Iranians wanted to continue using uranium that was 20% enriched in their reactor. It isn't clear that Witkoff and Kushner understood what he Iranians were doing or suggesting.

The Trump Administration (blogger calls them “Team Clown Shoes”) were warned by Ukrainians about Iranians possibly using drones in the Persian Gulf. Team Trump dismissed the idea. After an Iranian drone was seen above a US military base, the US then requested assistance. Oops!

Georgia's Prime Minister congratulates “Mojtaba Khamenei on his appointment as Iran’s Supreme Leader.”

Georgia's port of Kulevi removed from EU sanctions regime even though they appear to play a role in sanctions evasions. "Today, when they faced the actual possibility of sanctions, the Georgian Dream suddenly made a promise to no longer evade Russia sanctions”

“Hungary’s Transport Minister openly admits Hungary stole $80 million belonging to Ukraine and plans to use it as leverage to restore the Druzhba oil pipeline”

Europe is going to give Ukraine 35 Patriot missiles.

Germany opposed easing sanctions on Russian oil.

Trump mentions that they now have low-cost drone interceptors without mentioning WHAT COUNTRY they're from!

“The deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime, the UN has said”

More Ukrainian apartment buildings bombed.

Putin says Donetsk is being rebuilt. Short film shows before and after pictures. No, Donetsk is still in very bad shape.

“Almost the entire territory of Dnipropetrovsk region has already been liberated from the Russians.”

Internet in Moscow has been disabled.

Lots of Russian stuff blowing up.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/03/10/war-for-ukraine-day-1475-if-you-look-around-the-table-cant-tell-who-the-mark-is-youre-the-mark/

Day 1471 War in Ukraine

 Mother gets news that her son, who has been in Russian captivity for three years, is home!

Did the US dig old anti-aircraft systems out of storage to oppose Iran? Nah, not the way the US fights.

“Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East ...” In the video where Trump is asked about this, he shows that he REALLY doesn't want to talk about that.

Secretary of Defense Hegseth hilariously tells us that Trump has relationships with other world leaders so that he's fully aware of what's going on. I agree with the blogger. That sounds like a fictional representation rather than the real person.

A Georgian researcher has written about Iran's influence on Georgia. “Calls to prosecute researchers over exposing Iran ties continues.”

Hungary is taking Ukrainian POWs hostage and cash and vehicles from Ukrainian banks. They display Ukrainian bank notes as though they were suspicious. All Ukrainian personnel were eventually returned.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister calls Hungarian actions that of a criminal gang.

Putin to try and rig Hungary's election so that Orban wins reelection.

EU is preparing financial package, Ukraine says it needs 2k missiles for air defense systems per year. EU will allocate 60 billion Euros per year for missile, drones and 155mm artillery shells.

Russia is building up forces on Lithuanian border. They could be ready to attack in six years.

US relieves India by permitting them to buy Russian oil. Somehow have the feeling that that was their FIRST idea, rather than a decision they reached after looking at all the alternatives.

EU is insisting that Ukraine unblock the Druzhba pipeline, a pipeline that finances Russia's war against Ukraine.

Lots of Russian stuff blowing up.

Damage to Odesa and Kharkiv and the Dnister Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Russia kidnaps 19 Ukrainians. Ukraine demands their return.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/03/06/war-for-ukraine-day-1471-russia-russia-russia/

Day 1462 War in Ukraine

 “The company’s main activity is the production of chemical products used by the Russian military-industrial complex.”

One of Putin' s objectives in his war on Ukraine was to prevent their acquiring long-range weapons. Ukrainian home-produced Flamingo cruise missiles just hit a target 1k km from their front line.

OTD in 1921, the Soviet Union signed a peace treaty with Georgia and violated it in less than a year. European NATO members agree that Putin can veto having them in Ukraine to ensure peace. There's about a 100% chance he'll do so.

Joint Ukrainian-British defense plant began operating in Britain.

“Trump has no idea what Putin really wants.” It's not like Trump has any excuse as Putin's goals have been clear since the full-scale war started four years ago. According to the blogger, Trump “has no idea what the actual causes of the war are.”

Ukraine was prioritizing hitting oil refineries. Now that that's more or less under control, they're hitting industrial targets. Back during World War II, the US and Britain could simply unload tons of bombs on a target and rest assured it was destroyed. Flamingos have a much smaller warhead, so they need to be very precise in what they hit.

Denys “Redis” Prokopenko makes the rank of Brigadier General (usually, generals and admirals are at least 50 year old).

“Epicenter mall is on fire in Zaporizhzhia after russian attack “

More Russian anti-aircraft systems blown up.

One out of every 25 Russian men is a casualty of the war in Ukraine, either wounded enough to be out of the fight or dead.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/02/25/war-for-ukraine-day-1462-year-5/

Trump's hyperbole problem

 

I came across this post on Xitter:

My response to the author's explanation:

Someone responded to me:

I presume that what the fellow is saying is true, so I looked around and grabbed some quotes:

As of early afternoon, "Mikey" has no response to what I pointed out. So why do people believe that Trump was going to deliver "instant" results? I think Trump has a hyperbole problem. He describes people as "The greatest ever" or "The most horrible loser ever," he never just tells us about a modest person who's in the middle. I very strongly suspect Trump never said anything on the campaign trail about his economic policies needing several moths or over a year to start working. I think if Trump has said something to the effect of "These policies will take a while" Mikey would have quoted him. I'm sure that someone in the Trump campaign did indeed say this, but clearly, the impression that Trump's economic policies would work instantaneously, like flicking on a light switch, was an impression that, intentionally or not, Trump enabled.   

Day 1451 War in Ukraine

 

A Russian Pantsir air defense system costs $15 to $20 million. Ukraine has now destroyed half of the 42 systems that Russia has.

Zelenskyy makes a lengthy speech observing the 4^th anniversary of the start of the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. He sounds pretty bitter. I don't blame him a bit. Ukraine has made tremendous sacrifices to keep the rest of Europe from having to fight Russia themselves.

Big turnout for Georgian protesters on Day 444 of their protest.

Secretary of State Rubio makes a racist speech, attributing Western success to factors that are uniquely Western, never mind that others are quite capable of matching our feats. Uuh...whut? “To appease a climate cult, we have imposed energy policies on ourselves that are impoverishing our people, even as our competitors exploit oil and coal and natural gas and anything else” Here Rubio just goes completely off of a cliff and into sheer delusion. Is Trump demanding “seriousness and reciprocity“ of is he just making crazy demands? Rubio doesn't like mass migration but doesn't seem to have any idea why it occurs. It's difficult to battle against something when you have no idea why it's happening. Yeah, defending colonialism as Rubio does is just...no.

“Rubio said the US still doesn't know if Russia is serious about ending the war in Ukraine.” That's completely insane. If you have no idea why the other guy does as he does, you have no hope of resolving the conflict.

European troops don't understand how drones have decisively affected the battlefield. Ukrainians fully comprehend that.

Lots of Russian stuff destroyed.

Russians compensating for lack of Starlink communications with balloons carrying communications equipment to 20km up.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/02/14/war-for-ukraine-day-1451-president-zelenskyy-in-munich/

Day 1450 War in Ukraine

 “Ukrainian skiers honored fallen athletes after their race at the 2026 Olympics.”

“Trump: 'Zelenskyy is gonna have to get moving. Russia wants to make a deal.'” Sounds like Trump's been chatting with Putin again!

Kate from Kharkiv: “You [Trump] aren’t getting anywhere because you’re pressuring the victim instead of the aggressor—Russia.”

“Rubio skipped a meeting with European leaders on Ukraine” Without Rubio, the meeting was pointless.

Germany's view of diplomatic relations with Georgia.

Many countries pledge money for Ukraine to defend itself.

German Chancellor Merz says the war will end when Russia is exhausted militarily or economically.

NATO General Secretary Rutte doesn't understand what the US is doing.

The leader of the Hungarian opposition claims he was brought into a “honey trap,” where an adult (whew!) woman slept with him in a room that was surveilled. Parliamentary elections will be held in April. Magyar's party is in the lead.

Zelenskyy tours a Ukrainian-German drone factory.

Massive drone attack on Odesa. Apartment buildings and car dealership burned.

Ukraine rescues a prisoner who was behind enemy lines.

Lots and lots of Russian stuff destroyed!

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/02/13/war-for-ukraine-day-1450-looks-like-trump-had-another-phone-call-with-putin/

Day 1442 war in Ukraine

The blogger doesn't give Elon Musk an explicit “Attaboy,” but makes it clear that Musk's action in denying the use of the Starlink internet system to Russia has really messed up Russia's military effectiveness to Ukraine's advantage.

The medium-range ballistic Oreshnik missile had its launch site destroyed by Flamingo missiles.

Good news! Another POW exchange!

Georgia protesters had their bank accounts frozen because of unpaid fines that they were never notified of.

Commenter Georgian Marika Mikiashvili is a guest on a podcast.

Estonia takes the courageous step of emptying out its supply of generators in order to help Ukraine. They then ordered replacements from their industries.

China is financially supplying Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Very interesting Trump gives Victor Orban an enthusiastic endorsement for reelection. Fellow dictators and wannabe dictators sticking together? Also, Trump refers to new American battleships. These exist only in his fantasies.

Russian propagandist Solovyev is very upset that Starlink is no longer to be used by Russians.

Marat from Kazakhstan offers free hot meals to Ukrainians. Hey, I'd take them too! A hot meal is a hot meal!

Cold weather dance party in Odesa!

Railway cars meant to provide warmth and shelter to Ukrainian civilians hit.

Russia hurting badly from sanctions. Whole economy may collapse in a few months. Russian banks have 10 trillion rubles in loans that might not get repaid.

Russian propaganda stations in Moscow have to be evacuated due to a fire.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/02/05/war-for-ukraine-day-1442-cry-havoc-release-the-flamingo-of-war/