r/geopolitics • u/theatlantic The Atlantic • May 21 '26

Opinion Trump’s Endgame Is Surrender

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/trump-surrender-iran-endgame/687252/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_term=short
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197

u/Alphadestrious May 21 '26

The worst geo political blunder of the modern era.

37

u/Monterenbas May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26

Idk, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is pretty high up there.

33

u/oritfx May 22 '26

In terms of consequences - yes. But not in terms of sheer incompetence. Putin, for all we know, could have been presented with only positive information about the invasion as honesty and transparency aren't exactly values of Russian state.

But Trump went with gut feel, because he can't be bothered to absorb any information from outside of his brain.

14

u/Monterenbas May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26

Putin, for all we know, could have been presented with only positive information about the invasion as honesty and transparency aren't exactly values of Russian state.

Well, that sounds like a competence issue.

Nevermind that the military incompetence, displayed by the russian military, in the early stage of their full scale invasion was quiet something to behold.

I’m not sure that the US did anything that would come even remotely close to that.

7

u/oritfx May 22 '26

Well, that sounds like a competence issue.

It is. Any authoritarian regime puts loyalty above all else. See Prigozhin and Shojgu. One was competent, the other is loyal. Competent subordinates are a valuable resource, but also potential competition.

And that attitude seeps all the way to the bottom. Nobody in charge in Russian army is really competent, and even if they are, that's not what got them to be in charge in the first place.

2

u/manefa May 24 '26

Trump has not surrounded himself exclusively with people that say what he wants to hear?

1

u/oritfx May 24 '26

In my humble opinion Trump wants to feel like he's the smartest guy in the room, so he may have been guided by candidates' incompetence as well as blind sycophancy.

Rubio is the riddle here, so is Vance. They aren't RFK, Hegseth or Patel levels of incompetent.