Author: Cozmin Gușă
Today should have been “The Day After” if we were to take Donald Trump’s word and rely on his statement regarding the destruction of Tehran, which was supposed to happen by yesterday. A Donald Trump who was followed by Bibi Netanyahu and his threat of a nuclear bomb attack on Iran. But Trump held a much weaker stance just yesterday and announced to the world that he would decide whether the US would attack Iran only in two weeks. The American news channel MSNBC listed 10 similar actions by Trump over the past 100 days, instances when he also spoke of a “two-week” timeframe for decisions and then conveniently pretended to forget about those issues. And yesterday too, a visibly shaken Bibi Netanyahu said he would continue his action against Iran without the US and Trump. Clear and suggestive, but reassuring for now — at least for us.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security advisor, following yesterday’s statements by the US president, explained that we are in what he calls the TACO case — “Trump Always Chickens Out.” Meaning, Trump always abandons his strategy out of fear; in short, Trump is a cowardly leader. Bolton also described the real relationship between Trump and Bibi Netanyahu: a superficial one, with the American not actually wanting to give Bibi the public spotlight, instead wanting to grab the applause for himself. In a way, my friends, we’re dealing with two leaders competing to see who can pee higher. I’d say these two are really two irresponsible Manneken Pis statues — you know, the little boy statue in the center of Brussels, who pees unconsciously into the basin from which people drink water.
Today marks nine days since Israel’s attack on Iran, an attack that took place under the pretense of ongoing US–Iran “negotiations.” We understood afterward that in fact, Trump was pulling off a cheap trick to lull the Iranians who genuinely thought they were negotiating into a false sense of security. A significant detail: the Iranian negotiators were fitted with tracking devices by the Americans during the talks, which allowed the Israelis to locate and assassinate them in the initial strikes. And the fool Trump — because I can’t call him anything else — even bragged about it, saying that the Iranians didn’t die of COVID.
How did the Putin–Xi duo build their strategy in these past nine days? Through an asymmetric model, precisely so it wouldn’t be detected by the Americans. I didn’t say by chance that they did it exactly according to the principles of Chess and Go, the two mental sports at which the Russians and Chinese, respectively, excel. First, they appeared hesitant. Putin merely condemned Israel’s attacks, and Xi stayed silent, mandating only China’s ambassador to the UN to speak. Behind the scenes, however, as Putin declared last Wednesday, Russia proposed to Iran a mutual defense pact — which Iran declined. Putin explained to a group of foreign diplomats that he was and is ready to help Iran defend itself by providing air defense systems. But according to Putin, Iran continues to refuse and has not requested additional assistance.
On China’s end, it was revealed that massive cargo planes were sent to Iran over the last two weeks to resupply Tehran. Surely, those planes weren’t carrying rice or moutai. Clearly, we’re talking about weapons and ammunition for Iran. At the same time, two large Chinese warships — the PLA-815A and 855 Electronic Surveillance — were dispatched to the Persian Gulf to intimidate and monitor Israeli war flights. Former CIA officer Larry Johnson explains that these Chinese vessels can track aircraft and missiles, guide missiles, and carry out electromagnetic interference and intelligence analysis. So we now have the certainty that Israel’s active war operations are an open book for China — and that these operations can quite easily be thwarted.
Returning to the Chess and Go-style tactic of the Russia–China duo, five days ago, Putin offered to become the peace mediator between Israel and Iran, and his offer is currently the most credible — considering his relationship with Iranian leaders and his close ties with Bibi Netanyahu. In the face of Putin’s proposal, the Collective West went silent. And Trump, knowing Putin could actually bring peace, abruptly left the G7 meeting in Canada, having been informed that this Russian move was a decisive chess play — publicly exposing the incompetence, irresponsibility, and warmongering of the White House.
But Trump wasn’t given a chance to recover, as the very next day Xi Jinping issued a historic public statement, personally signed in his name as China’s president, in which he told the world that the American Empire is declining toward dissolution but that the world will manage just fine without America. Xi continued in the following days with a series of diplomatic positions that further cornered the US.
And so we arrive at Thursday, when the two leaders, Putin and Xi, had a phone call after which they firmly condemned Israel’s actions against Iran, stating also that these violate the UN Charter and international law. Although this didn’t make waves in Romania or the Western press, the Putin–Xi duo declared that the current crisis — including Iran’s nuclear program and the recent attacks — must be resolved exclusively through political and diplomatic means. Xi Jinping called on major powers, of course including the US, to intensify diplomatic pressure to defuse the crisis, seek an immediate ceasefire, and ensure civilian evacuation. Both leaders agreed to mediation efforts, with Putin offering Russia as a mediator, a proposal Xi Jinping approved as a way to defuse the crisis and, naturally, to confirm their determination and unity in the face of Trump and Netanyahu’s actions. The Russian and Chinese leaders concluded by agreeing to stay in close contact in the coming days, especially as the situation develops.
Finally, yesterday, at a public debate, Putin delivered a geopolitics lesson aimed at American analysts, saying the following: “A new world order is emerging naturally. It is like the sunrise. There is no escaping it. We are formalizing it and perhaps paving the way for this process so that it is more balanced and serves the interests of the overwhelming majority of countries.” Putin further stated that “he hopes very much that all countries will become aware of this and will eventually understand that finding a solution is better than the method of pressure and the essentially neocolonial world order humanity has lived under for many, many centuries, if not millennia.” Clear, firm, and relevant — even for the clueless novices around Trump. But Putin also directed his message to Western countries, offering cooperation — if they wish to save themselves via the right path. He said: “Western countries are losing their position in the world economy, but the Russian Federation is ready to negotiate with them if they want.”
Well, surprise — just yesterday afternoon, the European Union’s diplomatic service signaled that there are indications suggesting Israel violated human rights obligations under its association agreement with the EU, in the context of its actions in Gaza and the West Bank. The EU’s message is clearly anti-Israel — it’s not a huge deal in itself, but it was enough for Trump to suddenly, late last night, talk about a ceasefire he’d like to mediate between Israel and Iran. But who still believes Trump and the USA now?
As for Israel, the same Larry Johnson notes that yesterday Israel broke out in crocodile tears, claiming that cowardly Iranians bombed a Jewish hospital named Soroka — but independent on-site observers report that there were no casualties, meaning Israel is only playing the victim. To counter that, Larry Johnson cites UN reports according to which the World Health Organization shows that, over the last 20 months of Israel–Iran war which of course appeared amid the Gaza atrocities, nearly 700 attacks have taken place on Palestinian medical facilities. That means an average of one hospital attack every 16 hours. As a result, over 94% of all hospitals in Gaza are now damaged or destroyed, according to UN statements — not to mention the horrors of recent days, in which Netanyahu’s forces killed Palestinians who had been lured into a trap under the pretense of being given food. Gruesome!
This is the real picture of today’s confrontation, on what should have been “the day after” the apocalypse announced five days ago by the irresponsible Trump–Netanyahu duo. A duo, as I said, in the style of Manneken Pis — a pair who wanted to pee in an arch over our heads but were undermined by an exceptional asymmetric geopolitical strategy from Putin and Xi — a hopeful sign that, even in today’s chaotic and bleak geopolitical reality, superior intelligence still prevails. Back in mid-October 2023, right after Netanyahu’s inhumane offensive against the Palestinians began, I predicted that this strategy would be a boomerang, one that could lead to the extinction of Israel as a state. I stand by that forecast.
