Tea at Trianon: Trump’s Epic Fury Strategy Is Working Even If Critics Cannot Yet See It

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, March 16, 2026

Trump’s Epic Fury Strategy Is Working Even If Critics Cannot Yet See It

From Amuse on X:

Public debate about military action often suffers from a simple problem. Many observers evaluate the present through the lens of the past. The United States fought long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those wars produced exhaustion among American voters and deep skepticism toward any new military engagement. This skepticism is understandable. It is also sometimes misleading. When people assume that every use of American military power will automatically lead to a generation long occupation, they may fail to see when a different strategy is unfolding.
That is the background against which Operation Epic Fury must be understood. A joint US and Israeli campaign has conducted one of the most effective air offensives in modern history. In roughly ten days more than 5,000 major targets inside Iran have been struck. Entire layers of Iran’s military leadership have been eliminated. The infrastructure that sustains the regime’s ability to threaten its neighbors is being dismantled piece by piece. Analysts across the defense community describe the speed and scale of the campaign as unprecedented.
The operation has been driven by unusually deep coordination between two highly capable militaries. American and Israeli forces are not merely cooperating in the loose sense typical of coalition warfare. Their command structures have been integrated to a remarkable degree. A US three star general and full staff operate inside Israeli headquarters, while an Israeli general and staff work inside US Central Command. Intelligence flows continuously between the two commands. Targeting information is shared in real time. Decisions that once required slow diplomatic coordination now occur within a unified operational framework.
The results speak for themselves. Iranian missile launchers, drone factories, underground weapons depots, transportation networks that move missile units, and command and control facilities have been systematically targeted. Hardened underground facilities have been penetrated. Launch infrastructure has been destroyed. Communications networks that coordinate attacks across the region have been degraded or eliminated. According to current assessments, more than 90% of Iran’s ability to conduct large retaliatory missile attacks has already been destroyed.
To understand what that means, consider the opening phase of the conflict. Iranian planners attempted to launch massive missile salvos designed to overwhelm defensive systems. Early waves involved 25 to 50 missiles fired in coordinated strikes aimed at Israel, US bases, and allied facilities. Such attacks depend on volume. If enough missiles arrive simultaneously, some will inevitably slip through.
That strategy has collapsed. Today Iran is often able to launch only two to five missiles at a time. Occasionally a volley of 10 to 12 missiles occurs, but even those are well within the capacity of layered US and Israeli missile defenses to defeat. The offensive capacity of the Iranian regime has not merely been reduced. It has been structurally crippled. (Read more.)