Retired Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani

“The long two-thousand-year record of Chinese history clearly shows that China is fundamentally unlike America as it is reluctant to use the military option first. It is also fundamentally different from America in another regard. It does not believe that it has a “universal” mission to promote Chinese civilization and encourage everyone else in humanity to emulate it.”
Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy

The worst case of imposter syndrome in history

"In order to have a negotiated end, the Iranian side is going to require President Trump to give up some big things upfront, before Iran does anything, and I can’t see the president doing that. He would have to acknowledge that we had lost, by submitting to Iranian demands for giving things like lifting sanctions and releasing frozen funds BEFORE Iran does anything. I just can’t see him agreeing to that. But what he can do, is just claim that we have inflicted so much harm on Iran, that it will “take decades to recover,” and therefore we just walk away. Claiming we succeeded when we didn’t, and just walking away won’t change the reality, but it will open the SOH to traffic, and yes, that will mean Iran will be in control of the SOH and be charging a fee indefinitely. But the SOH will be open, and oil and gas, and all the derivatives will start to flow again – and most of all, we will avoid the catastrophic outcome of the exchange of devastating attacks on oil and gas infrastructure on all sides. President Trump needs to take care of this last this opportunity, because it may be the last chance to avoid disaster."

Daniel Davis an hour ago

Journalist: "What have you done with the $13 billion you've taken from Venezuela?" 

Trump: "I think we've taken even more than that, we've paid for the war many times over, and that will happen with Iran also."

Today Alastair Crooke says 'America has effectively lost the war with Iran' and quotes three Israelis

'Former IDF Ombudsman Maj. Gen. Yitzak Brik predicts (Ma’ariv, 26 July) that the crisis engulfing the Israeli intercept inventory “is only the prelude to the catastrophe that is looming over us”.

'"In the coming wars with Iran, the threat will increase tenfold to the point of a complete loss of the ability to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles. These missiles are expected to hit us: in population centers, strategic targets, production and economic infrastructure, science and technology institutes, educational institutions, hospitals and vital industries, and completely crush us”.'