Where We Stand, Wednesday Midday

We begin with excerpts from Danny Davis and Doug Macgregor discussing what looks like imminent US escalation in its war on Iran. Mac speaks some big picture hard truths, followed up by an excerpt by Bernie Sanders:

Iran’s Khamenei: "We Will Never Surrender" /Col Doug Macgregor & Lt Col Daniel Davis

DD: Tulsi Gabbard was among [those who] were able to convince Trump of the cost and the dangers of trying to go to war with Iran. And then all of a sudden ... Netanyahu came in and said, "Our intelligence says that [Iran is building a nuke]." And so Trump just says, "Yeah, I don't care what Tulsi said." Just straight up said that. It seems like Trump just deferred to whatever Benjamin Netanyahu said, at the expense of even those on his own staff who were giving him the right information. What does that tell you and how worried should we be about that?

Mac: Tulsi Gabbard is not beholden to people that provided hundreds of millions of dollars for her campaign. I mean, let's be frank. President Trump would not be in the White House today if it were not for wealthy Jewish billionaires, allied with their friend Netanyahu, who put Trump into office. And Trump had to promise certain things if he were elected. One of which was that he was going to take on and destroy Iran. I'm sure that that was made very clear to him. Anybody who knows anything about Sheldon and Miriam Adelson knows that that in fact is what they want. They're not the Lone Rangers. All the top Jewish money oligarchs are all interested in the same thing, because they flourish financially in London and New York City if, in fact, Israel is successful and victorious. Because they're not interested simply in Israel's local hegemony in the Middle East. They want global financial hegemony. The United States is simply a tool in their toolbox to get them there.

Tulsi has none of that [leverage]. Tulsi is irrelevant. Tulsi is there because Tulsi supported Trump to get elected. ... I don't know how much longer she's going to be able to stay in the cabinet under these circumstances. But the truth really doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter because the military ... continues to tell President Trump that we can dominate Iran. We can dominate Iran from the air. We can dominate Iran from the sea. The Iranians will have no choice but to show up and sign the unconditional surrender. And I think President Trump likes the image of President Trump showing up somewhere like on the battleship Missouri and watching the Iranian mullahs crawl to him and sign this unconditional surrender. The problem is, it's a fantasy.

...

Bernie Sanders: Now we face a dangerous and escalating war in Iran which was begun in violation of international law by the extremist Netanyahu government. The main point that I want to make today is that it is absolutely imperative that the United States not be dragged into this war. Let me say a word about how this war began. On Thursday Netanyahu launched an illegal and unilateral surprise attack on Iran, bombing targets across the country and killing hundreds of people. Iran has responded with attacks of its own, which have killed dozens of people in Israel. Whatever you may think of the corrupt and authoritarian Iranian regime, Israel's attack clearly violated international law and the United Nations charter. While every country has the right to defend itself, they do not have the right to launch so-called preemptive wars of this kind.

Now, current commentary on where we are.

Levan Gudadze @GudadzeLevan

3h

Trump claims he spoke to Putin yesterday

Spetsnaℤ 007 @Alex_Oloyede2

1m

"President Putin did not talk to Trump yesterday" – the Kremlin

Trump also claimed to have made a variety of fantasy smart ass and arrogant statements to Putin.

Chas Freeman to Glenn Diesen, raising an issue that I raised some time ago—Trump’s mental condition. I was remarking to my wife yesterday evening, once again, that Trump appears to be a caricature of his former self—making stuff up (remember Zhou?), losing his cool (remember Zhou?), making crazy threats, dealing disrespectfulling with foreign leaders, making outlandish public statements like, “I’m running the world and enjoying it,” or, today, “I’m calling stupid Jay Powell every name in the book.” (Powell has issued an explanation of why he’s not “stupid”.) I don’t say Trump’s at the same level as Zhou—he’s not. But it’s still concerning:

I have to say that Mr Trump's behavior is not reassuring. He seems to be both a malicious narcissist, a malignant narcissist in many ways, but he also seems to be losing mental capacity. If you look at his speech and his answers to questions they resemble--I live in a Geezer Warehouse, you know. A lot of the people here have the same problems. Mr Trump is three years younger than I, but I can see him possibly suffering more and more from dementia. We just saw a president who had dementia, so this is not impossible. Mr Trump has not surrounded himself with people of obvious quality and qualifications for the jobs they've been assigned to, so the United States government is a pretty erratic factor in all this. I would hesitate to predict what we would do. I know where the pressure will come from. Mr Trump wouldn't be president if he hadn't accepted huge chunks of cash from committed Zionist bureaucrats. How loyal is he likely to be to them? He doesn't have a record of loyalty to much of anything, so maybe there's a bit of hope in that regard.

On to the latest revelations regarding Iranian missile capabilities:

dana @dana916

1h

 IRGC issues a statement

12th wave of Operation True Promise 3 began with launch of heavy, long-range, two-stage Sejjil missiles.

Type: Two-stage solid-propellant.

Speed: Re-entry speed around Mach 12 to 14 (about 4,300 km/h).

Range: 2,000–2,500 km, capable of hitting Israel and parts of Eastern Europe.

aquila

Theti Mapping @ThetiMapping

47m

It turns out Iran used Sejjil, a two-stage solid propellant. The missile combines the benefits of quick preparations before launching afforded to solid-propellant missiles with the liquid-fueled Shahab guidance systems. It has a warhead weight of of 500-700kg and a range of 2,000-2,500km. There are unverified rumors of Sejjil-2/3 variants with farther ranges. Tasnim claims Iran fired 3 such missiles towards Israel.

Lord Bebo @MyLordBebo

26m

Israeli Army Radio, citing a security source: “The latest missile fired by Iran towards Ghosh Dan was exceptional and larger than usual in terms of weight and amount of explosives it carried.”

FYI: Iran has still not used any of its MIRV capable missiles:

Aᴍɪʀ @AmirIGM

This looks a lot like those Russian ICBM tests... but from Iran.

Patricia Marins @pati_marins64

16h

Still Alive, Iran Launches New Missile Barrage Showing Scarcity of Defense Missiles in Some Areas

Iran launched a violent attack on Israeli cities last night, revealing that various areas of [Israel] are no longer covered by anti-aircraft batteries, confirming the lack of defensive missiles I pointed out in a previous publication.

Tel Aviv was the most affected region by the Iranian missiles, where anti-aircraft batteries operated at full capacity, but were unable to stop the Iranian hypersonic missiles that crossed the skies.

At one point, two David's Sling launchers fired 15 missiles in a failed attempt to intercept an Iranian hypersonic missile, which may have been a FATTAH-1.

Contrary to previous claims, Iran still has various active silos and realizes it will be attacked by the US regardless, showing a very different stance from yesterday, when it was still trying to prevent American involvement.

Fuel

Two days ago, Germany denied refueling Israeli planes in mid-air. Suspicions arose after the German A400M tanker moved to Jordan a few days ago.

This fact should be a jaw dropper with regard to US complicity in genocide, as well as what it says about Israel’s lack of capacity to wage war on its own.

The same move cannot be denied by the US, as during the Gaza attacks, Israel had to request American help for mid-air refueling of their planes.

This fact raises the question: If during the Gaza attack Israel lacked the capability, how can it have this logistics for a much larger attack now? It can't. NATO personnel are probably involved.

Further revelations of the corruption of our country:

Shadow of Ezra @ShadowofEzra

13m

Ted Cruz just ended his political career after telling Tucker Carlson that AIPAC is not a foreign lobby, but an American one.

He openly admitted that from the very beginning, his entire political mission has been to defend Israel.

Cruz also claimed that AIPAC doesn’t lobby on behalf of the Israeli government and said he has no idea if its members are even in contact with Israeli officials.

Ted Cruz: I came into Congress 13 years ago with the stated intention of being the leading defender of Israel in the United States Senate.

Tucker: Really?

Ted Cruz: I've worked every day to do that.

Did he tell that to Texas voters?

Is Israel's favorite US general helping to push us into war?

DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics

4m

 BREAKING — CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla has reportedly presented Iran strike options directly to Donald Trump in a private meeting, per The Jerusalem Post.

Kurilla, who commands all U.S. forces in the Middle East, is said to support U.S. participation in Israeli strikes and has become a key figure shaping White House strategy on Iran.

According to The Washington Post:

“Trump listens carefully to Kurilla and respects his opinion.”

If Trump authorizes action, Kurilla will lead the operation.

Trump listened carefully to Kurilla in authorizing his war on Yemen, and we see how that turned out. Is Trump just a slow learner, or what? This raises Freeman’s concerns. Throughout his career Trump has exhibited a concerning deference to people in uniform.

Philip Pilkington @philippilk

The US is very close to a genuine fiscal-and/or-dollar crisis right now. If it happens they will need a bailout of the US Treasury market from China. If they’re at war with Iran, China will likely let them sink.

10:56 AM · Jun 18, 2025