The New York Times Strikes Again
JUN 20, 2026
I love getting The New York Times daily summary of the news. It makes for great hilarity.
Here’s today’s example:
Top News
Lebanon Emerges as Weak Link in U.S.-Iran Deal to End War
*****
It’s not Lebanon that’s the weak link here—it’s Israel.
Israel is the attacker. The aggressor. The country that wants to scupper the MOU between the USA and Iran. Everyone knows this—except the NYT, apparently.
I like too how the NYT describes it as the “American-Israeli war on Iran.” At the very least, it should be Israeli-American war of aggression against Iran.
And when was Lebanon a “secondary front” to the USA? America has no desire to seize land and water in southern Lebanon. That goal is entirely Israel’s, as is its fight against Hezbollah, which is responding to Israeli aggression.
The Iran War has been a huge loser (to put it in Trumpian terms) for the U.S., and only Israel seeks to prolong it. Again, who’s the weak link in the U.S.-Iran deal to end the war?
I’ve been playing with Trumpian language to describe the Iran War and its outcome. As Trump might say, it’s been a defeat for America the likes of which we’ve never seen before. No other defeat comes close.
I think Trump finally understands that. The question is, will “weak link” Israel let him withdraw or will the war become even more catastrophic?
Bracing Views 
I have been reading Ilan Pappe’s “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” in which all the awful details of the 1948 operations are described along with the specific people and places involved. At that time there was a desire to take part of Lebanon, up to the Litani River, and some of the fanatics (more fanatic than the norm) even consider Iraq as fair game.
The lesson of Israel is that you never should give power to a bully or the bully will act as if the power you give is his on his own to do with as he pleases. This has been the situation with the US and Israel since 1967 after which it became clear that, as Netanyahu once said to a settler family, “the Americans are easily managed”
The boldness of Netanyahu now shows how right he was, but as with all who have power without taking consequences for the abuse of it, the appetite becomes insatiable. Netanyahu must continue to make war to survive. He is locked into it and the way we see so many in America backing up Israel should have us all in the streets.
America has been subverted by Israel, a phenomenal accomplishment for a country with 1/40th the population of the US but explicable because money can buy anything in American politics. The list of Zionist-American super-rich is a long one. They along with the rest of the 1% have had their way and it is this grip that must be broken.
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