BONUS/20: The U.S. is bombing Iran while simultaneously negotiating with Iran.
Analysts are calling it incoherent. It isn't.
Posts 1–4 of this thread explain it: this isn't security logic. You don't bomb someone you're negotiating with in good faith—unless the bomb IS the negotiation. Unless force is just the bid price when the target won't sell.
Iran won't be acquired. So the raider is restructuring by fire.
New map. Same logic.
4/20: The foundational premise: the world is a collection of undervalued, poorly-managed assets. The U.S., under decisive management, is positioned to act as activist acquirer. This isn't metaphor. It's the operative worldview.
3/20: Introducing: Extractive Hegemonism. Not isolationism. Not retrenchment. Something more aggressive—an attempt to monetize American structural power rather than spend it maintaining an international order.
DR;DL