AI
Friday, March 27, 2026 9:33:35 PM
Time to confront folly of Iran war and irrational US spending
"Donald Trump wants a 'silver bullet' in Iran but he's dealing with a 'very complex situation'
"Tehran’s ‘toll booth’: How Iran picks who to let through Strait of Hormuz
"When war looks like prophecy: How U.S. ‘end time’ narratives frame the war with Iran
"They Believe They Are Fulfilling Prophecy-The Rest of Us Will Pay the Price""""
Our fate increasingly depends on the state of mind of leaders who are playing a nuclear-scale game of chicken
Andrew Sheng
Published: 8:30pm, 27 Mar 2026
After eight decades of relative peace following the end of World War II, we now find ourselves in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine entering its fourth year and escalating violence between Israel, the US and Iran. After 12 days of fighting last June, the latter conflagration has erupted again in a widening war that has killed Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and closed the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices to near record highs.
In 1984, American historian Barbara Tuchman ..https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1610111/hong-kong-begins-its-own-march-folly?module=inline&pgtype=article .. – celebrated for her analysis of World War I in The Guns of August – wrote The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam on how leaders throughout history have pursued policies contrary to their own best interests, even though there are better alternatives. Governments make horrible mistakes when they are blinded by individual egos, excessive political manoeuvring, lack of moral direction and outcomes that become catastrophic for everyone.
After the US suffered defeat in Vietnam and spent years bogged down by ruinous invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, why would US President Donald Trump join the ranks of American leaders signing up for forever wars when one of his major promises while campaigning for president was to end wars rather than start them?
Trump might be able to blame his predecessors for the state of Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. But the current war in Iran – which has not received approval from the US Congress – will be known as either Trump’s triumph or Trump’s folly.
Tuchman argued that folly thrives where few key advisers or experts have the moral courage to speak truth to power, because many succumb to personal ambition or fear of being outcast in an institutionalised groupthink.
We are now sliding into a dangerous psychological phase of a looming nuclear World War III. If there is no acceptable off-ramp for either Israel or the US, someone could authorise the use of a small nuclear device or strike a nuclear facility that would change the whole dimension of the war. The devastation and post-nuclear costs are unthinkable, but we must confront such consequences.
Iranian and Axis Retaliatory Strikes in the Middle East
As of Mar 9 (9pm HK time)
Source: Institute for the Study of War
Barring how difficult it will be to negotiate a peace deal after Iran, Israel and many of their neighbours have suffered seriously damaged infrastructure, including to desalination plants, the only solution is the presence of a United Nations peacekeeping force that would almost certainly have to include Russia, China and possibly India and Europe. No single power can again guarantee the strategic security arrangement in the region.
In 1969, American futurist Buckminster Fuller .. https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3170016/war-ukraine-inconvenient-truth-about-why-peace-must-prevail?module=inline&pgtype=article .. wrote his Operation Manual for Spaceship Earth, offering guidance on how to preserve the planet for the future of humanity. This included warnings of nuclear annihilation and climate catastrophe. His 1981 book Critical Path was remarkably prescient on the trajectory of warfare; what he called David’s slingshot over Goliath’s club.
“All the missile-hurling arts of man and men’s warring or fighting to the death have followed this same fundamental evolutionary pattern of bigger, then smaller,” Fuller wrote. “Both sides then discovered that killing of the enemy’s people was not their objective. Killing the enemy’s ideology .. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3139347/mao-xi-how-chinas-communist-party-leaders-have-shaped-its?module=inline&pgtype=article .. is the objective.”
He continued, “the idea is to make a mess of the other’s economy and customs and thus to discredit the other’s political system .. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3157641/china-and-russia-decry-joe-bidens-plans-democracy?module=inline&pgtype=article .. in the eyes of the rest of the world and to destroy the enemy people’s confidence in their own system.”
VIDEO -- China faces rising costs across the board during 3rd week of Iran war
Buckminster understood four decades ago that, “this invisible world-around warring to destroy the enemy’s economy wherever it is operative, above all by demonstrating its homeland weaknesses and vulnerabilities to the rest of the world, and thus hoping to destroy the confidence of the enemy people in themselves, is far more devastating than could be a physical death ray, for it does everything with nothing.”
Have you noticed that fewer people are reading newspapers and watching mainstream TV channels, instead choosing to get their news from YouTube, TikTok and other social media? Some mainstream channels have lost the public’s trust because they are considered “fake news”. I prefer to watch webcasts of full speeches, interviews and debates to decide for myself who I can believe.
With a lack of trustworthy information to make rational decisions, irrational moves are misinterpreted. These cause moves and countermoves that escalate in an attempt to shake the enemy’s will to fight. Iran’s use of asymmetric warfare shows that cheap, mass-produced drones and missiles can overwhelm expensive interceptors and radar equipment that cannot easily be replaced. An Iranian regime with no central command is whittling down opponents who keep looking for an expensive silver bullet to end the fight.
VIDEO -- Eyewitness footage of drone attacks on US embassy in Iraq
[Insert: US National Debt hit $37 trillion in August.
Then $38 trillion in October.
Now $39 trillion in March.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=177415480]
Meanwhile, the US is fighting another war that it increasingly cannot afford. The Pentagon has asked for an additional US$200 billion to fund the war in Iran. At the same time, the US federal government debt reached US$39 trillion last week, which economics professor Steve Hanke and former US comptroller general David Walker said amounted to insolvency. If off-balance-sheet liabilities such as unfunded pension liabilities are added to official off-balance-sheet liabilities, total federal obligations would exceed US$136.2 trillion, roughly five times US annual GDP.
[There is always a silver lining.
Truth Social just hit its all time low. $9.73 a share. Down from nearly $80 when it launched. That's an 87% wipeout for anyone stupid enough to hold this shit.
The annual report dropped and it's a fucking masterpiece. $3.7 million in revenue. For the entire year. That's not a tech company. That's a mid-range kebab shop in Penrith. (Penrith Kebabs do make a mean Kebab 🥙)
P - The loss? $712 million. Let me put that in perspective. For every dollar they earned, they lost $192. That's not a business model. That's a goddamn speedrun to insolvency with extra steps.
P - The net profit margin is negative 19,343%. That's not a typo. Negative nineteen thousand percent. I didn't even know that was mathematically possible until Devin fucking Nunes became a CEO.
P - And here's the best part. Most of the losses came from their crypto bets going tits up. Because when your social media platform can't make money, the obvious play is to gamble shareholder funds on bitcoin. Genius. Absolute galaxy brain shit.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=177395762]
There are no short-term wars, only long-term costs and suffering. The fate of the world depends on the state of mind of leaders who are playing a nuclear-scale game of chicken. The world marches to folly because there are no checks and balances back to rationality.
Andrew Sheng is a former central banker and financial regulator, currently distinguished fellow
at the Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong. He writes widely on Asian
https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3347982/time-confront-folly-iran-war-and-irrational-us-spending
"Donald Trump wants a 'silver bullet' in Iran but he's dealing with a 'very complex situation'
"Tehran’s ‘toll booth’: How Iran picks who to let through Strait of Hormuz
"When war looks like prophecy: How U.S. ‘end time’ narratives frame the war with Iran
"They Believe They Are Fulfilling Prophecy-The Rest of Us Will Pay the Price""""
Our fate increasingly depends on the state of mind of leaders who are playing a nuclear-scale game of chicken
Andrew Sheng
Published: 8:30pm, 27 Mar 2026
After eight decades of relative peace following the end of World War II, we now find ourselves in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine entering its fourth year and escalating violence between Israel, the US and Iran. After 12 days of fighting last June, the latter conflagration has erupted again in a widening war that has killed Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and closed the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices to near record highs.
In 1984, American historian Barbara Tuchman ..https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1610111/hong-kong-begins-its-own-march-folly?module=inline&pgtype=article .. – celebrated for her analysis of World War I in The Guns of August – wrote The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam on how leaders throughout history have pursued policies contrary to their own best interests, even though there are better alternatives. Governments make horrible mistakes when they are blinded by individual egos, excessive political manoeuvring, lack of moral direction and outcomes that become catastrophic for everyone.
After the US suffered defeat in Vietnam and spent years bogged down by ruinous invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, why would US President Donald Trump join the ranks of American leaders signing up for forever wars when one of his major promises while campaigning for president was to end wars rather than start them?
Trump might be able to blame his predecessors for the state of Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. But the current war in Iran – which has not received approval from the US Congress – will be known as either Trump’s triumph or Trump’s folly.
Tuchman argued that folly thrives where few key advisers or experts have the moral courage to speak truth to power, because many succumb to personal ambition or fear of being outcast in an institutionalised groupthink.
We are now sliding into a dangerous psychological phase of a looming nuclear World War III. If there is no acceptable off-ramp for either Israel or the US, someone could authorise the use of a small nuclear device or strike a nuclear facility that would change the whole dimension of the war. The devastation and post-nuclear costs are unthinkable, but we must confront such consequences.
Iranian and Axis Retaliatory Strikes in the Middle East
As of Mar 9 (9pm HK time)
Source: Institute for the Study of War
Barring how difficult it will be to negotiate a peace deal after Iran, Israel and many of their neighbours have suffered seriously damaged infrastructure, including to desalination plants, the only solution is the presence of a United Nations peacekeeping force that would almost certainly have to include Russia, China and possibly India and Europe. No single power can again guarantee the strategic security arrangement in the region.
In 1969, American futurist Buckminster Fuller .. https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3170016/war-ukraine-inconvenient-truth-about-why-peace-must-prevail?module=inline&pgtype=article .. wrote his Operation Manual for Spaceship Earth, offering guidance on how to preserve the planet for the future of humanity. This included warnings of nuclear annihilation and climate catastrophe. His 1981 book Critical Path was remarkably prescient on the trajectory of warfare; what he called David’s slingshot over Goliath’s club.
“All the missile-hurling arts of man and men’s warring or fighting to the death have followed this same fundamental evolutionary pattern of bigger, then smaller,” Fuller wrote. “Both sides then discovered that killing of the enemy’s people was not their objective. Killing the enemy’s ideology .. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3139347/mao-xi-how-chinas-communist-party-leaders-have-shaped-its?module=inline&pgtype=article .. is the objective.”
He continued, “the idea is to make a mess of the other’s economy and customs and thus to discredit the other’s political system .. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3157641/china-and-russia-decry-joe-bidens-plans-democracy?module=inline&pgtype=article .. in the eyes of the rest of the world and to destroy the enemy people’s confidence in their own system.”
VIDEO -- China faces rising costs across the board during 3rd week of Iran war
Buckminster understood four decades ago that, “this invisible world-around warring to destroy the enemy’s economy wherever it is operative, above all by demonstrating its homeland weaknesses and vulnerabilities to the rest of the world, and thus hoping to destroy the confidence of the enemy people in themselves, is far more devastating than could be a physical death ray, for it does everything with nothing.”
Have you noticed that fewer people are reading newspapers and watching mainstream TV channels, instead choosing to get their news from YouTube, TikTok and other social media? Some mainstream channels have lost the public’s trust because they are considered “fake news”. I prefer to watch webcasts of full speeches, interviews and debates to decide for myself who I can believe.
With a lack of trustworthy information to make rational decisions, irrational moves are misinterpreted. These cause moves and countermoves that escalate in an attempt to shake the enemy’s will to fight. Iran’s use of asymmetric warfare shows that cheap, mass-produced drones and missiles can overwhelm expensive interceptors and radar equipment that cannot easily be replaced. An Iranian regime with no central command is whittling down opponents who keep looking for an expensive silver bullet to end the fight.
VIDEO -- Eyewitness footage of drone attacks on US embassy in Iraq
[Insert: US National Debt hit $37 trillion in August.
Then $38 trillion in October.
Now $39 trillion in March.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=177415480]
Meanwhile, the US is fighting another war that it increasingly cannot afford. The Pentagon has asked for an additional US$200 billion to fund the war in Iran. At the same time, the US federal government debt reached US$39 trillion last week, which economics professor Steve Hanke and former US comptroller general David Walker said amounted to insolvency. If off-balance-sheet liabilities such as unfunded pension liabilities are added to official off-balance-sheet liabilities, total federal obligations would exceed US$136.2 trillion, roughly five times US annual GDP.
[There is always a silver lining.
Truth Social just hit its all time low. $9.73 a share. Down from nearly $80 when it launched. That's an 87% wipeout for anyone stupid enough to hold this shit.
The annual report dropped and it's a fucking masterpiece. $3.7 million in revenue. For the entire year. That's not a tech company. That's a mid-range kebab shop in Penrith. (Penrith Kebabs do make a mean Kebab 🥙)
P - The loss? $712 million. Let me put that in perspective. For every dollar they earned, they lost $192. That's not a business model. That's a goddamn speedrun to insolvency with extra steps.
P - The net profit margin is negative 19,343%. That's not a typo. Negative nineteen thousand percent. I didn't even know that was mathematically possible until Devin fucking Nunes became a CEO.
P - And here's the best part. Most of the losses came from their crypto bets going tits up. Because when your social media platform can't make money, the obvious play is to gamble shareholder funds on bitcoin. Genius. Absolute galaxy brain shit.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=177395762]
There are no short-term wars, only long-term costs and suffering. The fate of the world depends on the state of mind of leaders who are playing a nuclear-scale game of chicken. The world marches to folly because there are no checks and balances back to rationality.
Andrew Sheng is a former central banker and financial regulator, currently distinguished fellow
at the Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong. He writes widely on Asian
https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3347982/time-confront-folly-iran-war-and-irrational-us-spending
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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