Given most of this is old news, I would much prefer to hear Matt and Walter discuss this Monday afternoon (or Sunday for a special show). And since I have been following various good sources all day, even today's events are old news. It would have also been interesting to have heard what they had to say on Thursday (released Friday morning) given that this was coming bigger than shit. Given that, it is a useful timeline, but nothing unique. This news is available elsewhere for those interested (just like the overabundance of Epstein info). What we can't get elsewhere is ATW or Matt's writing, all of which included obvious "takes." Which is why he is/was a great writer.
Walt quit. Matt wanted the show to continue once a week. I saw Walt on X yesterday floating the idea of reviving ATW on CNN or CBS (with Bari Weiss leaving what I took as a favorable reply). Struck me as beyond weird. Walt won't do the show on Racket, but wants to as part of CNN or CBS? Yeah, that'll make it better, sure. With advertisers and management overhanging every sentence.
I am not sure that Racket News is actually just a personal venture of Matt's. Seems to be a cast of characters here, and Matt is not necessarily the head honcho.
I have asked for details several times, concerning the structure of Racket News, but there is always silence. Versus transparency. I am not certain what it is I am subscribing to here....is it a corporation with a board, is it a private Matt Taibbi rent-a-page from Substack? Or some other type of structure?
Maybe it is not so grassroots and quaint as we are led to believe.
It started out as a Matt Substack with very occasional guest pieces and he loves the protest videos from that guy that I never watch. I have been here from its start. I was fine getting a few articles when Matt did them. ATW came in and really sweetened the deal. I agree it is no longer Matt's site. And that is Matt's choice. I respect that even if I don't like it. I also thought he made a mountain out of a molehill over the Elon Musk stuff. So, for $5 a month, I am still fine reading just what Matt writes, but I sure miss the old Matt.
Thanks, Virg. I haven't been here as long as you, but quite some time nonetheless. I have contributed much, though it is voluntary....I receive no subscriber fees. A few of us are beginning to feel used by Matt and his Racket News.
There are times I think that Matt could just set a topic, and leave the commenters to do all the writing, because they generally contribute more of it anyway. Though Matt maintains the fame and glory.
My question is about the business model being used here. Am I contributing to a corporate structure, or an individual? Either way there is never any gratitude shown by Matt or the corporate board. Though I sense that if it is a corporation, they want to expand into something larger....and we are giving them our writing/thinking talent for free. Matt is limited; many other commenters here have to fill in for his gaps in knowledge.
Oddly enough, when Matt writes/thinks, he expects to be well paid for it. When the rest of us write/think -- often better than Matt in terms of offering well-informed material -- it isn't even worth a basic thank you from him, apparently.
This Substack model can be used to steamroll the commenters, I have noted.
The more comments here, the more popular the Substack, the more lucrative it is for whoever owns it. Ans yet the people who write more than half of most Substack offerings for Matt are never even acknowledged by him.
I suppose I have had a very different understanding of Substack than you are presenting. I have always thought that Substack was a place where you could freely publish your writing. Many people seem to do that without subscriptions. Many have a subscription basis as they seem to be writers who are trying to make a living at writing. Your view seems to frame it as a business model. I guess I never saw Racket or Matt as being any sort of "corporation" with a "corporate structure" or a "corporate board". I certainly have not viewed him or Racket as being any pathway to "fame and glory". I guess I see a much broader palate of possibility between the lone writer and a corporate structure complete with a board. I was also not aware that there would ever be any consideration for compensating a commenter, much less publicly expressing gratitude for their comments. It has seemed to me that if I (or anyone else), as a commenter, had that much to offer, they could simply start or use their own substack to offer it, no? Do your writing there and build your own reader base, no? Maybe I have been misunderstanding Substack altogether.
With all due respect CG, I think you are very naive about Substack.
Despite being an avowed skeptic, as your bio says, they got you! They advertised the romantic writer becoming recognized on their "brilliant" platform, when really -- Substack is just another lucrative software platform meant to make a lot of money twigging that unmet notion in would-be writers. They are a cagey bunch.
Just like EBay or PayPal or many other big platforms, Substack finds an unconscious human need, and then finds a way to fill this while they cash in.
There are well over 20,000 Substack page-renters now, the top percentage of this group being extremely well paid. While it lasts. And the Substack platform itself rakes in even more. You are welcome to do the digging yourself into the available information on this business and its model.
I am afraid that many Substack page-renters such as Matt are either hoping to break into the new right-wing media industry bigtime, or the corporation behind them is. Many of the more successful Subtack page-renters have incorporated; they are very far from being the romantic lone writers in the attic.
This is a business model. This is a money game. The narrative which sells it is that fairly tale about the noble writer. People do not like their fairy tales questioned, however. Which is why I get a lot of snarky responses when I investigate Substack and write honestly about it.
Several popular Substack hosts who sell the "freedom" product in their writing have actually banned me as a paying subscriber. Because they do not want the Substack platform questioned or exposed. Everyone else can be investigated by them supposedly, but not Substack. Too close to their income source.
Oddly enough....people come to the Racket News site for investigative journalism, but they are often against anyone turning investigative skills on Substack itself. Quite the contradiction there.
I'm afraid the Substack fairy tale does not work on me. I see behind the curtain.
Yeah, I agree. Matt grew up privileged and he has never had to worry about money, including when he was in Russia. The average person could never have done that. He also I think just doesn't know how to be appreciative of the plebes. I see it here and Twitter and used to see it on ATW. It is one reason Walter was so important to that conversation. I really think Matt believes he is above most of us. I have always just overlooked this stuff although have mentioned it in comments. I love his writing, or at least I did. It seems to have changed, but too early to tell.
As an aside, in the past, this has been the best comment section I have ever seen and I looked forward to reading comments, not just articles. There are fewer trolls here and some really smart people. I suspect that that is ending, too. I have tried to contact Matt before and have been ignored. I volunteered back when he was looking for researchers. Nothing. It is rude. This is the only way to get my thoughts possibly seen by him, but I am not going to start flooding comments because that would be boorish. Take care.
And yes, a lot of us are getting put out by Matt's continual ingratitude for our educating him on many topics, and for writing far more than half of the Substack pages that he makes a lucrative living out of.
While we are treated as the invisible nothings who are here to revel in Matt's supposed magnificence.
I have had it with Matt's poorly informed offerings and his swelled ego. I am still here only for the relationships with many other long-time subscribers. There are times, I just do a basic scan of Matt's articles because I do not expect much. Then I go to the real meat on the comment forum.
I seems to me that Matt is setting up Racket in order to challenge MSM giants like the NYT, WaPo, and the major networks, which most of us agree are obnoxious spewers of state and corporate propaganda. His vision is that of an old-school newsroom, with clattering typewriters, phones ringing, and coffee-stained desks . . . from an era before Operation Mockingbird -- only updated with PCs and cellphones. He believes that he can build an audience with a publication dedicated to finding the truth, whether we like it or not.
Matt's a journalist, not a manager, so he's begun to hire management types who he believes will keep the faith and find, hire, and train other investigative journalists who have time to follow up on stories Matt can't, due to the fact that he's only one person. The goal, it seems, is to build an online publication that will offer real investigations of important events, not regurgitation of what intelligence officials want us to believe.
Danno, you and I sometimes agree, and sometimes do not.
I think you are being naive here. I wrote posts here today to "Control Group" already, dispelling the fairy tale ideas about taking on the corporate giants as a knight in shining armor. Substack aims to become a corporate giant itself. And Matt wants a cut of the action. In fact, Racket News may well be incorporated all by itself. I truly doubt it is the noble lone writer sweating away in his lonely attic.
I have known professional writers all my life. That world is very familiar to me.
I think that Matt would have a hard time making a living if Substack had not come along and offered an easy entry to some sort of writing. Substack is like Paypal and Ebay -- a digital platform with a profit-making motive. They aim to be a corporate giant. Do the digging about Substack (I did).
The Substack hosts are simply Joe Public renting a Substack page on the platform. And trying to be influencers. Hoping they will pull in paying customers. And just because you can write does not necessarily mean you can think, or have reasonable things to write about.
Matt is flailing. Millions of us could see that. Maybe it is why Walter left.
So the new wanna-be successful corporations have moved in to establish a new dominant media. Substack is one of those, and Matt simply rents a Substack page.
Don't romanticize this, Danno. Last year there were over 20,000 Substack page renters. They come and they go. This is not the territory of Nobel Literature laureates. It is mostly just people playing to popularity by renting a page on a new digital platform. We should not be worshipping them like gods. I don't.
There are many good thinkers and good writers out here, A lot of them better than Matt. He simply decided to use the new Substack tool, Does not make him a god.
I wouldn't rule anything out, but I'm still of a mind it is "grassroots and quaint." But when you hire a bunch of people, they all bring their own egos, so who knows.
Why the lack of transparency here? Why can Matt never answer in a straightforward way what the set-up is, of Racket News?
Is it just Matt's rent-a-page from the Substack platform, and then he brought in Walter to do the gig with him....or is there a business structure behind all of this?
I know that there are now several freelancers (or are they freelance?) who add various pieces, and Emily K. introduced herself here, but what is behind all of this? Is Racket News solely owned by Matt or is it corporate entity with a board of directors? It matters.
I find it ironic that Matt bases his writing on digging out the story everywhere else, but his own Racket News story is kept tight as a drum and a closed shop, in terms of the details.
This is the dumbest thing that has ever been published in a Racket comments section. I'm still here. I hired, out of my pocket, an editor and two more full-time reporters, and that is hopefully just a start. They worked to get this article up fast and did a good job, the idea being that we'll be able to be more responsive to news as it happens if the site doesn't rely on one 56-year-old with three children. I don't know what kind of "transparency" you're talking about, since I've said repeatedly, Racket has no advertisers, donors, or hidden investors. The site is 100% reader-supported. It's bizarre that I'm suddenly getting these trolling questions about corporate ownership at the exact moment when I'm trying to sponsor young reporters. Smh
Here's a guy with an anonymous handle, “A" complaining about transparency… but doesnt even get the irony..hey, “A” who the f*ck are you? Who do you work for? @A.
Matt, you are a big target, and a substantial portion of the population could and should be institutionalized. And then you have the bots. No doubt you are the target of large-scale influence campaigns.
I would not blame you, and I damn sure would not stop reading, if you turned comments off.
Beyond the bots and pure trolls, the psychopaths will never be happy; with you, Racket News, or anything else.
I canceled my paid subscription. You certainly are entitled to doing whatever you want to do - but you have to convince me this new endeavor is worth my contribution. What I have seen so far hasn’t been impressive. The sub runs thru July 2026, so I always have a chance to renew.
That's a real nice way of talking about one of your very generous contributors here. You are low, Matt. Mother never teach you manners? What little Matty should say here is THANK YOU to all the contributors who write your damn comment section for zero pay.
Is this a tactic to make yourself look good....yet again? To bedazzle people here so as to hide your unsavoury bits?
Here's a secret -- I was not here to read your writing. I was here to read the far more interesting and informed writing in the comment sections.
Yes but there is confusion since the abrupt ending of ATW. Your listeners don’t understand. Many of us liked that format at don’t now understand who makes the decisions about the shows format. Please let us know. I go one am totally confused. Thanks
Sorry Matt that people are attacking you. I guess it is to be expected when you have a platform that speaks truth to power. Just ignore the attacks, if you can!
People are idiots, Matt. Sometimes it does boggle the mind just how idiotic they are. But civilization is plunging to new lows all the time, including obviously the comments section of what is a social medium
Matt, small business owners get why a 56 year old man does not want to work non-stop anymore with 3 kids. I hope you do your take on the Iran debacle. I frankly have lost all interest in Trump now. He is a complete fraud at this point. Regime change in Iran is an absurd idea for a war. MAGA was not about the Middle East. Just a sick joke.
So I will go elsewhere and describe my less than stellar experience with Racket News and its illustrious founder Matt Taibbi.
Substack is a bit of a con-artist platform, isn't it? They make you play groupie to the supposed Substack gods. And drain your subscriber fees and comments while you are in awe of the "great ones". Edward Bernays would have been proud,
Excellent way to generate revenue. Could not have designed it better myself, even with my knowledge of Evolutionary development.
Matt dear.....Get some respect for the people who have regularly written half or more of this Substack site for you. And covered your ass when you have been in danger of looking like you don't know what you are talking about. Which is not infrequent. We notice that you have a lot of knowledge gaps.
I think you are either mad or bad, Matt Taibbi. How dare you call me a troll when I have been one of your largest givers. You little, little man.
You milk your subscribers for the fees and for the writing of the comment forums that will bring you further fees. Though I bet you never even stopped to think that they contribute at least half the writing that makes Racket News.
Many people come for the comment forums more than they come for the articles. And the generous commenters here fill in your own knowledge gaps regularly. We have quite a few professionals amongst us, with greater formal education than you. We make you look good. The unpaid contributors here had made this site a magnet for new subscribers. Although you reap the benefits. Not us
You have never answered my simple question of who owns Racket News. Not whether you take advertisers, but who owns this business entity. Even NYT does better than that. They state ownership clearly upfront. For their paying customers. Something about consumer transparency.....
When I ask questions, I am supposedly a troll. When you ask questions, you are supposedly a great investigative reporter, digging out the truth. Notice that little trick of yours?
You are a very ungrateful man. It is all about YOU. Though a sizeable number of us have professional training or grad degrees, we are meant to tug our forelocks to Matt and to make you look good by giving you the information and resources that you lack yourself. And you -- ungrateful sod -- never even have the decency to say thank you.
I discovered another site where they actually thank their supporters regularly. Can you imagine that? After being on the Taibbi site for a long time, that seems like Heaven. They acknowledge the important information offered by contributors. On the Racket News site, such supporters just get a kick in the teeth. Though we have covered your backside when you are in danger of looking stupid because of what you do not know.
May God bless and KEEP Racket News and Matt Taibbi....far away from me. Now pardon me while I go off and shed a few tears over the time and effort I have wasted on this site for far too long.
Do you know how to thank people who have been too good to you? Doubt it. You are a taker. Not a giver. And I see that you lie when it suits.
Why would a person think Matt's Substack is a corporate entity with a board of directors? I'm not sure where Matt and Walt first met, but I recall Matt's initial mention of Walt was an interesting piece Walt had written. (I don't recall where the piece originally appeared.) Before long, ATW was announced. It seemed natural enough, as Matt had left Useful Idiots (with Katie Halper) not too long before.
I'm not sure why Matt would need to explain anything. Has he been asked this question and awkwardly avoided answering or something? I'm not being an apologist; I just haven't personally sensed anything odd going on.
I find it unusual that you have no interest in knowing what, exactly, you are subscribing to. I do. In fact, they have my data from a great many comments. I have also paid their subscriber fees for quite a long time now.
Isn't consumer transparency a big deal in the U.S.? If the NYT acted this way, wouldn't you smell an even bigger rat than many people already smell?
For a journalist specializing in shedding light on the goings-on of so many other folks, I find it very odd that Matt is so secretive about this Racket News venture.
And yes...this question has been asked frequently. But I have not seen it answered. Or even acknowledged, by Matt or by whoever represents Racket News.
What is Racket News, exactly? Who owns it? Most other media sites list their ownership information quite clearly. For the customers who are paying for their product.
As I have said before, this Substack set-up encourages Substack hosts-as-gods, with admiring groupies below in the comment sections who are afraid to do anything that might upset their local god. Not a good look.
I can remember in the early years of Substack when I had to wade through 50 or more gushing comments (the type found in teenage fan magazines/sites) before I found someone sane and adult who was there to discuss the actual topic. It was nauseating, frankly. As if the whole point of Substack was to create supposed celebrities. And to pull in the lesser mortals who were cast as groupies (and who paid). Enough of that nonsense!
I think the first time Matt spoke with Walter was when he had him on as a guest for Useful Idiots. But I believe they had admired each other’s writing from afar.
Funny, everyone here was happy enough to have me over a very long period when I was writing much of the comment section here and filling it with the sort of valuable information and resources that Matt was incapable of offering.
You sound like one of the ugly WOKE-folk doing their Cancel Culture thing.
My expertise includes the Psychology of aberrant group behaviour. And I see it coming out of the woodwork here now. You are a good example. I agree with your bio that you are a lowlife.
Matt you don’t owe your readers anything about your business or how you run it.
It is literally none of their (our) business!
Most of us subscribe because we trust you’re motivated enough to use your time, money, and experience in bringing us insights that we wouldn’t likely be getting otherwise… for which I (for one) give you a heartfelt thank you!
The rest? I don’t know. I don’t care either, other than what they send you helps fund your efforts. I take it for granted that the Bell Curve of subscriber motivation has a troll percentage well left of center.
You must be joking. Or brainwashed, Or in love with Matt from afar. Thank God I have better taste. And I am not such a dupe.
Your sort is called a Useful Idiot. And it certainly is the business of a paying customer what business they are actually funding. Read the law. Or does law not matter to you?
We are not "working ourselves into a tizzy". If you believe that, then you could just as well say that journalists such as Matt "work themselves into a tizzy" with every article. Are we not meant to laud investigative work? Too funny!
You have a deficit of intellectual curiosity, my friend. I would lend you some of mine, but I fear it would never be returned. Get some of those little grey cells operating!
I left the Chris Rufo Substack when Chris had worked his readers into a froth over the upcoming 2024 election and the Trump potential there.....then posted nothing at all until almost a week after the Trump win. Pardon me? You are either serious about these issues or you aren't.
Seems his wife had given birth (not the first) a few days before the election, which was the excuse. Seeing as I was always out of hospital within 12 hours of a birth myself, when I hit the ground running, I did not buy it. Then he brought in a student who was all of 18 and in her first year of a journalism course, whose job seemed to be to head-pat the many PhDs and professional types in the audience and use red heart banners to reply to them. As if they were the children and she was the experienced adult. And as if the red heart banner was all they needed.
I agree that an adolescent view and lack of experience is simply going to antagonize serious readers here. I am already using my polite tone too frequently with Matt, when I want to say....."Do your homework!" I am amongst the group of commenters here getting tired of providing all the heavy-duty background, gratis. Not even a thank you. While Matt (or whoever owns Racket News) pulls in all the subscriber fees.
I'm an early subscriber. Not one of the first, but I've been around a while. Been a fan of Matt since I came across "The Great American Bubble Machine". These new writers are not on Matt's level. ATW is gone. The comment section is not what it used to be, but is still better than most places. I'm giving Racket another 6 months to stabilize. Like other long time subscribers, I mostly read Matt's articles and tune out the kids.
There are times I just scan Matt's articles now too. He has limited topics, given the many challenges in today's world. And unless he has an original take, by the time his articles are posted, it is old news.
He rarely adds to the comment forum conversations, so I often tune Matt out and pay attention to the more interesting and involved fellow commenters. Who have usually done their homework and offer better discussions and resources.
Matt acts as if none of it exists. Including us.
A number of us are far ahead of Matt, and tired of cooing over Substack. Which is not all that terrific. The novelty has worn off. It was not the knight in shining armor to replace MSM.
She is young and it shows. So are a couple of the other new hires, I looked them up, (LOL) one graduated in 2025 from college and has the school newspaper on his resume. Very narcissistic tone in her writing, although I have pretty much tuned out of anything except Matt's articles. This article I did read a lot of, I just already knew most of what was in it, including the timeline yesterday. One reason I loved Walter is because he brought both generation knowledge and real world working people knowledge to the table. Matt really suffers from his lack of experience with common folk. Young people today don't care about what we old folks have to say.
I get it, but given what Matt is doing, I suspect he (Matt) didn't want to have discussions where anything but straight news is reported. That is super boring, so I am not sure Walter had a choice. It is obvious he wants to keep doing this kind of thing, too. I think Matt wanted to run a big newsroom by this point in his career and there are no real "big newsrooms" now. So he is created one for himself with this idea of total objectivity. He fashions himself as Hunter S Thompson, but HST had takes on everything, LOL. Hell, I have no idea what is going on, but Matt stepping away from even editing responsibilities is not smart. IMO.
In fairness to Matt, who I deeply respect, foreign affairs are not his forte. Providing a timeline gives context for those who need it. Let others who understand the dynamics opine on current events.
I totally agree. I didn't subscribe to Matt's Substack for foreign affairs. I don't need to get this topic from Racket. That is all. There are plenty of good places to find honest foreign affairs news.
Matt already said he fully supports regime change in Iran, he said that with Walter last year. Matt Taibbi is a supporter of bombing the Iranians and killing all of their leadership and is quite happy to say so, he even thinks it’s cool. The only thing he opposed is nation building after. So as long as we aren’t stuck in the nation for twenty years after, he fully supports everything Trump has done so far, fervently.
He’s done giving takes. Matt doesn’t have a public opinion on anything now. But we can always just go off what he said about the topic last year. That was what he said.
If true that sounds like my position, too. The mullahs have been nothing but trouble for half a century. The Iranian people and the Iranian diaspora seem to agree.
Maybe you should stop listening to Western propaganda because unless all the videos were fakes, there were millions on the streets in Iran supporting their government.
There are lots of US citizens abroad who don't like the US government, and quite a few in the US too, and that's whether it's a Democrat or Republican in office. When should foreign countries be allowed to come and murder our leadership? And we you be OK being collateral damage as long as they put the right person in charge afterwards?
The Iranian mullahs are straight-up evil. There is no moral equivalence with the U.S. government, full stop. They murdered their own people by the thousands, kept people living in fear, backed every terrorist group in the region, amassed a gigantic stockpile of missiles, and were building a nuclear weapon. They were a threat to peace in the region and in the world and they needed to be taken out before they got any stronger. You're welcome.
Yes, today there are multiple, reliable sources stating what's happened and while Racket's summary is useful, what was unique here was a dynamic discussion between Matt, the guy with the nose for news, and Walter, who's perspective was always to look deeper into a subject. This dynamic helped me to understand events beyond just linear thinking.
"If you can't talk about it, you can't think about it," Rudyard Lynch. Conversation is how we explore issues and events. Christopher Lasch has a chapter on "The Art of Argument". "Take" should not be thought of as a pejorative unless it is from a doofus. Not having an observation or a take on something should be seen skeptically. Matt's observations/takes are based on years of reporting. Walter's observations/takes are based on his be able to ferret out the narrative. Those takes are what I paid for and the humor. This article? Not so much. I bought a year subscription. I don't think I will be doing that anymore on any of my subscriptions.
Yeah, it's always nice to hear Matt and Walter discuss this stuff, though it's nice to have accurate facts. I guess it just boils down to whether Iran (who lies) building nuclear facilities a mile underground is a threat to the US and action is America First. Or is it meddling. I don't like being so sure of anything either way. I'm reservedly ok with them destroying military capabilities but hope he is out of there in a week or so. And hope Iran can get some kind of government that doesn't massacre them for dissent. I think it's clear Trump plans to leave it to them to stabilize things. Hope it works out. Hard to imagine someone worse in there, but it's possible, I guess.
No knock on the authors, but this timeline is highly incomplete even within the compressed time period and for this reason of no historical or practical value whatsoever.
I applaud Emily, Caleb, and Greg for doing their best to build the "eat your vegetables" product Matt feels his readers deserve. However, I know how to eat my vegetables, thanks, as do many readers here, I'm certain. We can be sure that many/most of the key documents and decisions were not publicized and have yet to make it into the press.
I agree strongly that adding humor and insights with Matt and Walter ricocheting reactions off one another would have been far more interesting but we know complaining is why we can't have nice things, so...
Iranians revolutionaries taking Americans hostage in 1979 is the event Trump himself cited - a fact one might expect to find in any timeline of Trump's actions. And given that Trump is explicitly situating his presidency in the nineteenth century with the Donroe Doctrine, we need to look to that time for the "we asked nicely and you didn't listen" response we're seeing in Iran now.
Thomas Jefferson politely suggested that the Barbary state pirates stop taking US citizens hostage. The Barbary state rulers decided America was a long way away and could safely be ignored - which established the doctrine Trump is deploying to the shores of the straits of Hormuz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
In my view, Matt's handed his capable hires a nearly impossible task - inform and entertain in ways that very, very few can do. Best of luck to them all.
How to build a better timeline by a self-described expert.
Don't start with grandiose, clearly unrealistic claims - such as "But you should have all the facts."
Do begin with a clear statement about the limits of the timeline: incomplete, likely to be inaccurate and definitely in need of additional data.
Don't start any entry/paragraph by blabbing about events around a particular date.
Do begin each entry with an explicitly identified source, time-stamped, who, what etc. eg "Source blah-blah on ? reported that..."
If one is serious, suggest readers bookmark the timeline and promise additional details as new information comes to light. That kind of timeline would be both welcome and useful and is exactly what readers like me, who enjoy eating our vegetables, are keen to consume and return to for more.
Good points on the 1979 revolution (and the Barbary pirates!). These writers are too young for that and I don't think writers today do much research beyond when they were born. I was stationed in West Germany at the time, in a unit that went to Iran and Turkey each year to calibrate test equipment for the US bases in those countries. I was on the Turkey team and we all knew each other and sometimes swapped tours (we went to Italy and German bases, too. Those guys loved their trips to Iran and I loved my trips to Turkey. We weren't in Iran when the revolution happened, but we sure knew all about it. This was the time that the Baader Meinhof and Red Brigade terrorists were reeking havoc in Europe, there was a three way low intensity civil war in Turkey (that included Americans getting killed). No one talks about those things and almost no one even knows what they were. And historical knowledge is just getting exponentially worse in the Tik Tok and smartphone age.
Timelines are there for reference - not commentary. There are now many of them on Racket, and their appearance pre-dates the phase-out of ATW. They have never been a substitute for in-depth coverage. They are intended to be, and are in fact, handy references to how events are unfolding.
True, they are also written usually considerably after the events in question. Since the war started, nothing published anywhere this entire month and probably long after that is going to be accurate. You also don't need a journalist to do this type of thing (for that matter, you don't need journalists to do the new Sources thing that just started, both are researcher types of tasks. I find some of Racket's timelines useful and interesting, but not an event like this. We haven't gotten anything in-depth out of the new Racket on Iran and it is not what I want from Racket, in any case. We got some videos from Ford Fisher and I am not planning on watching them, I have seen what I needed to already on sites on Twitter and Discord I trust on wars (and trust me, I follow wars). And the Swamp Log has some notes, I scanned that, but had trouble getting through the editor-in-chief's childish introduction to it ("Brought to you by: the readers of Racket...?" WTF?). If I want a post in this style, plenty of places to get it. Maybe Matt can compete in the media world with this as a general news site.
I am still of the opinion that Matt (Walter is gone) does not know or understand the background context in these vast cultural events and phenomena. It is not just another fight, another war. There is a roadmap behind all of this, and has been for a very long time. There are powerful puppetmasters pulling the strings....and it isn't who you might think.
I have done much explaining here on past comment forums, Todd. You must be a newbie.
Matt calls them as he sees them on the ground, in front of his eyes. But he rarely knows the big background story behind these chess moves. I am not talking in terms of basic politics (which Matt does know), but in terms of WHO the Globalists are and HOW their invisible hand is pulling many strings at any given time. Especially over the past 60+ years.
The top Globalists are working the system that established itself in the City of London 2000 years ago, when it was begun as Londinium. It is where the mind-virus migrated when the Roman Empire fell. All those powerful and corrupt Roman and Venetian noble families needed a new power-base. So they, as parasites, found a new host. It became a network out of what is now the City of London, and is comprised of central bankers, corporate executives, dark Psychologists, the Rhodes Trust and its agents, and wealthy oligarchical families across Europe. Since the early 1900s it has been known as the Milner Roundtable. There are American branches as well.
There is reliable reading on this subject, but a person has to invest the effort. I suggest starting with viewing several of the podcasts on the Promethean Action website, and having a look at their resources (Toolkit).
I've come to the same basic conclusions as to the globalists' plan. However, I find your obsessive interest in page-renters entirely weird and self-disclosing. Don't you have a better conspiracy to suss out?
You sound like you are trying to cover something. And I have caught you out.
The concept of the Substack platform is interesting. It is a VERY lucrative deal for those who can work up the popularity so as to bring in the subscribers. The Substack articles may not even be good or accurate writing, but if it entertains for the time being, that is what many subscribers will be satisfied with.
Have you seen the numbers and dollars generated by Substack, for both the popular hosts as well as for the Substack platform? And you want to tell me this is not worthy of digging into?
Who gets to determine what can or cannot be investigated? How does a story become worthy in your eyes, and do I have to beg for your permission? Is there an institute somewhere that gives its blessing before anything can be investigated?
Besides which, you seem to have contempt for both intellectual persistence and for writing ability. You must be one of those who has fallen out of civilization and lives on the fringes.
Your comment here sounds like a poorly thought-out sneer. And sour grapes.
I find it very odd, Dave, that you should accuse me of "obsessive interest"
on a Substack site devoted to..... investigative journalism. And in the days of the Epstein files, which take obsessive interest to new heights -- by all the big media outfits.
Do you not see the joke here? That you pay for investigative journalism through Racket News, but when an intelligent reader investigates Substack....all of a sudden you do not value investigative writing any longer.
Away with you, Dave. Stop and think out your logic far more carefully before you take me on in a debate.
It is absurd to ignore suitcases of cash to iran, probably the most disgraceful act in American history since the democrat party rebellion of 1861 (until biden appeared).
We killed tens of thousands of Iranians including thousands of Iranian civilians using Saddam Hussein as our proxy. We also gave him the chemical precursors to the chemical weapons he used on civilians. That’s just one chapter of US abuses and crimes against Iranians.
Spare me your selective moral outrage and use it on some dumb goy that doesn’t know history.
It is delusional to think those pallets of hundred dollar bills which Obama attempted to secretly deliver to the Iranian government was not used to purchase guns.
Iran uses a network of proxies to harass and target U.S. interests, with the aim of making the Mid East untenable for American presence. This is necessary to fulfill their desire to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. In addition, Iran has indirectly guided and at times funded much of the unrest seen in the US in recent years, including the BLM riots, anti-semite protests (many violent and illegal), and anti ICE violence. It is not drivel to state they would not only welcome, but support the destruction of the US. A case in point is 9/11 when Iran guided and supported the direct attack, not on US leadership or military, but citizens.
I agree with the goals of the administration here, but I don't see even a semi-viable path to obtain those goals without putting boots on the ground. You can't just pulverize everybody and expect democracy from the rubble.
Everybody's gloating like the battle's already over and now the Iranian people can take over, but that's what they said after the Saddam statues came down, too.
Though Trump, in his first term, gave 2 speeches to international audiences (at least one at the UN) where he laid out that the US will act in its self interest, and that he would understand the same from others. It seems to me he always sticks to this. Isolation (NO WAR) is not, and never has been, the same as self-interest. Trump can go to war but he makes it overwhelming and short. So far I'm fine with that.
For the American People, there is no self-interest in any of the endless Middle Eastern / Asian / African wars we have waged. Zilch. Plenty of self-interest for the ruling elites and the military-indistrial complex, however.
Not zilch and the People is what? There is support for Trump's actions especially in his support for Israel. It's Trump's interest too, but abandoning Israel would be a grave mistake and Trump and MAGA would pay dearly electorally if he did that. I say this not seeing how a politically stable Iran is attained, but I do not see American troops on the ground at any rate. And one can worry about what comes next but Iran was a purely malign source of violence and destruction in its Mullah-governed state. They sowed destruction and intimidation and fear far and wide, and sought to expand a radical and vicious Islam. They have been the great institutionalized source of radical Islamicism - and look how that's been working out for the idiot Euros, and how it has constrained Arab states from finding ways to abide Israel. And we do have an interest in the normal flows of commerce and oil especially through the Suez, esp if we want a Europe that can afford to protect itself from Russia for instance. (And maybe without Iran they will find a little more ability to deal with their domestic radical Islam, fools that they were to allow it to happen). It's better if China has to actually pay going market rates for oil (though Russia is also selling itself short with its oil to get help from China). Why has China been happy to support Iran?
Although Trump may not notice it or understand it, he is doing the globalist’s business for them, like most of our presidents since Wilson. Wars are not just about money for the banksters, although they fund them, they are manifestations of many things; population control, mass migration, upheaval and chaos, positioning nation state economies, all to realize the final goal their game of Risk was meant to achieve – total power and control of the world.
The ancient family lines, many with papal lines, have stayed intact and expect to get their empires back. It is called the Great Reset. Sad to say that the Zionists are part of it, not the real Jewish people with lines back to Judeans, where the word Jew originated.
Although the US did not sign onto the League of Nations, its bankers made sure it did when establishing the UN to further the globalist’s cause. The UN was designed early in WWII but not made public for years. The UN’s first formal in-the-open war was a request to Truman to use military action in Korea and it told Eisenhower when to pull troops out. We live in our own reality, designed specifically to obscure the real reality. Every ‘reason’ we were taught about history events is a forgery.
Tell that to all of the wonderful civilizations that have disappeared over millennia by embracing what you espouse, from Mayans to Tibet. It’s unfortunate, but humans are flawed and the world is a messy place. When free, democratic regimes succeed, the world progresses. When totalitarian regimes prevail, civilization suffers and millions die. You pick. There is no “third way.”
We had boots on the ground for 20 years Afghanistan and it didn’t make one bit of difference. It’s up to the people of Iran. They are the only ones that can make change.
They never wanted to build Afghanistan into a functional country. If they succeeded then the gravy train would be over, and the MIC would have to find a new grift. I was all for the Afghanistan pullout, but in hindsight maybe it was better to leave that sandbox intact. We're risking WWIII with the Ukraine and now Iran war.
And it is not like the US has been good at regime change. So for us to engage in selecting new leaders will likley add to many years of unstability - not something we want.
We’ve already had 47 years of instability. Proxy wars throughout the Middle East, assassinations of dissidents in Europe, the U.S. and South America, the murder and torture of maybe 100,000 Iranians. Is that the stability you crave?
You make a good point but I am not sure this is our fight. Does our reliance on oil, particularly from SA require us to fight their battles. Seems Israel and SA said you need to do this for us.
Nah, that’s ancient history. Less than 10% of all Gulf exports go to the U.S., and we could easily replace that small and declining amount. Now China (40% of Gulf exports) is another story.
The issue of whether it’s “our fight” or not is interesting. Think of nearly any global conflict. I can make a case why intervention both is and is not in our interests.
It won't be easy and nothing is guaranteed, but it's a great start. The Iranian people who might have accepted more of the same before are angry now, give them some training and I think they'll do the rest. Chaos is a danger, and there's no ready made replacement government ready to step in.
Well if that's going to happen first we have to....eliminate everybody who's currently running the country, right? They aren't just going to hand over the government to an American puppet.
It's real life, not a TV comic. Iranians have the will, numbers and motivation to take back their country. They'll probably need help via training on how to flush out and hunt IRGC rather than getting massacred again, and also with continuing basic government functions.
There's no need for them to have a "Democracy", which would probably be a disaster itself. They may want, say, a Constitutional Republic or a Parliamentary Monarchy (meaning the monarch doesn't have day-to-day governing powers). Making it into one giant mob with Iran's ethnic factions fighting each other wouldn't be pretty. No, it's not our job to pick a system for them. That was the means Dubbya used to hand Iraq to the Iran-aligned Shia.
It's far from hopeless, in fact the prospects are good. Hopeless would be to do another round of Lose and Spend Theater like the GWB and Obama's 3 terms did.
Weird as hell. In retrospect the Trump "revolution" tightened the border (temporarily) and rebuffed "comprehensive immigration reform" (temporarily). Other than that and his silly behavior, he might as well have been Mitt Romney. Except Romney wouldn't have run the meme coin scam.
How does the "choice" mechanism work, and how do the Iranians form a government on the fly? Do the guys who shout the loudest get to be in charge now? Presumably there are no structures in place at this point, other than the structures they would want to see eliminated.
Iran has elections. Their elections are real in the sense that people vote and outcomes can vary, but the system has long constrained genuine competition through candidate vetting and unelected power centers (being polite here.) Still, Iran/Persia is a civilization with roughly 25+ centuries of cultural continuity, and that deep national identity could help the country “snap back” toward a stable, non-revolutionary state after a political rupture. Whether Iran can rejoin the community of free nations depends less on its ancient roots than on a credible, Iranian-led transition: security and basic services, rule of law, protections against reprisals, and genuinely open elections. If those pieces fall into place, Iran has the human capital and historical cohesion to become a normal, prosperous nation-state again.
Good example of what could happen.15 years ago, O admin, with the help of Zuck's FB, started a revolution in Egypt. When Mubarak resigned he turned power over to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and then through elections the Muslim Brotherhood took power with Egyptians electing Islamist Mohamed Morsi 2012. He attempted to pass an Islamic-leaning constitution. A year later Morsi was deposed by the minister of defense, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Sisi went on to become Egypt's president after an election in 2014. I believe he is still pres.
They don’t have to choose the “right” leaders. But they are likely to choose leaders who do not call for global jihad, the elimination of Israel and Death to America. I call that a huge improvement, and a chance for the entire region to move forward.
Parliamentary Monarchy is a bad idea. The son of the former Shah is a bad idea. The Shah himself was a Globalist puppet installed to do the Globalist will. He was better than the Ayatollah, but he was not on the side of the Iranian people.
True enough. The Ayatollah is gone, which is a major step in the right direction. Presumably this will put a dent in the Globalist puppetmaster power as well.
That is indeed the lesson here. Also, our word is only worth as much as the mood of 10,000 people in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania who can’t find Michigan on a map and think all MENA nations are led by The Sheik from the WWF.
Those 10,000 people for whom you have such contempt have also been betrayed by our oligarchic political class. The "deplorables" want no part of this neocon foreign policy and, as a result, the mid-terms will be a wipe-out for the GOP. Not that Trump cares about Congress. He is a dictator. But the Dems are, of course, no better.
I can't bring myself to vote for either party. The idea that the U.S. is a beacon of democracy and is therefore justified in spreading its "values" far and wide, by force if necessary, is an increasingly threadbare rationale for our blatantly Business-First foreign policy.
We are a fascist state, similar to the Third Reich minus the Holocaust. No wonder, by the way, that many U.S. tycoons supported Hitler until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. It was guys like the ones "who can't find Michigan on a map" who died for their country. in WWII. Them and 21 million "ignorant" Russians.
I agree that rich people suck, but citizens in a democracy have an obligation to learn about and participate in their government. As flawed as they are — thank you Republicans! — we still have elections. Those 10,000 people for whom I do have quite sincere contempt failed in their duty as citizens.
I think the CIA has given up on nation building for now. There's no more public support after the Iraq and Afghanistan failures. This new diplomacy reminds me a lot of old school mafia tactics: "That's a nice country you've got there. Would be a shame if it caught on fire. Why don't you install a central bank and let us protect you?"
I watched an interview in the UK press with an American Atlantic Council hack who, like most of the duds sidelined by Trump, could barely contain his hatred of Trump and his supporters - which I take as a good sign. Trump likely sees little downside to acting now - for reasons that are being broadly discussed elsewhere.
Now, this will sound odd, the best illustration of what may be taking place I can think of is the final concert of the Rolling Stones tour of South America - in Cuba. https://www.netflix.com/title/80148239
In every other country in South America, Stones fans young and old showed up ready and eager to rock. Each nation had a long, vibrant rock and roll culture with clubs in even the smallest cities, plus radio stations. So, the parties started outside the stadium long before the concerts in all countries but one began.
Stones fans in Cuba looked scared as they made their way to the stadium, filled with disbelief that their cultural cage doors had actually swung open, desperately fearful that the entire concert was some kind of set-up to bring out cultural subversives. Shocking to see, really; although the film's editors may have played a strong part in creating that effect.
Moderates living in authoritarian states have good reason to be fearful -as we're learning here in the west. Under Trump, we enjoy far more freedom than most in Europe do, but the enemies of free thinking want us back in our cells, isolated and fearful and are working tirelessly to do so. Never forget that fact.
We undoubedtly live with far more freedom than our European friends, but is that due to the Trump admin's ideological support for free speech, or because the state's censorship organs were used against his first administration? I feel like free speech is just another convenient issue to be exploited between warring factions of the uniparty.
Trump's abilities to curtail the giant hydra provide us with breathing space, but the organs established and funded up to the present aren't going anywhere.
I’m certainly not a military expert, IMO this has little or minor attachments to Iran and more to do with suffocating Chinese energy transfers.
IMO, The WEF and UN climate change agenda (along with open borders) was always a play to castrate western civilization’s military and homeland infrastructures.
George Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. are dead too, but we still try to live up to their examples and principles.
And who is "we" who don't subscribe to that?
The number of Trump voters who are willingly watching a decade-long perspective change overnight and are totally fine with it are no better than the Obama/Hillary/Biden voters who are willing to excuse the excesses of Democrats.
True, but virtually any outcome is likely to be a big improvement. I expect elements of the Iranian military to turn against the regime in the next few days.
I watch American citizens protest against their government every single weekend. They claim that getting rid of Trump would be a blessing and they would dance in the streets if he were killed. In fact, if you watched strictly mainstream media, you might even think those people are a majority in America.
Yeah, me too. Nearly all are professional paid agitators. Code Pink, BLM, Democratic Socialists of America, Antifa. I’ve met people who tell me they are paid to attend these events and shout slogans. They are white noise.
Trump, despite his flaws, is not beholden to donors, and he loves his country. Progressives are incensed because he is challenging their vote manipulation and the embezzlement of hundreds of billions of dollars (not my figure, the CBO). He is setting back a socialist takeover of the U.S. by years if not decades.
"Nearly all are professional paid agitators. Code Pink, BLM, Democratic Socialists of America, Antifa. I’ve met people who tell me they are paid to attend these events and shout slogans. They are white noise."
My point is that the literal color revolution playbook calls for putting these types of people in foreign countries, then using their "reactions" as the "proof" that the populace is behind whatever the CIA wants.
We saw people toppling that giant Saddam statue in Iraq, but turns out that was just the US Army.
Matt Taibbi also supported this strike by the way. He said unequivocally last year he fully supports regime change and thinks bombing Iran is cool. The only thing he opposed was the nation building after. He’s a complete war hawk on Iran.
Okay Trump as proven once again. Don't F with me. I will kill you if you do. But what do they think is going to happen in Iran now? Iran will just decide to stand down and sue for peace? Of will they become enraged and strike out with even more desperation and kill thousands with a lucky strike on something.. Or maybe they hit one of the Aircraft carries with a hypersonic missile causing tremendous damage or loss of life. There is one thing we have learned since the Iraq and Afghanistan mistakes is that the Folks in the government do not have a plan for day 2. Especially if we take some real losses.
I am not convinced this is in our interest. Iranian leaders are not good, but join the club of bad leaders around the globe. Change was happening in Iran, but of course not at the pace the US sought. I am sure Trump will bask for many weeks on his so called victory. But history has taught us over and over again that bombs are not a long term solution. Unfortunately it will take several months to realize this. And for this no agreement with Israel for the Palestinians. And of course we are not bombing Israel as they continue their campaign to take all the Palestinian land. The Middle East should be wary of their plans.
So you're wrong already. Khomeini is dead as is much if the leadership, military targets were effectively hit and the Palestinians blew it due to their years if intransigence. We Israelis are no longer willing to take any risks with them after Oct 7. It's not like they haven't said they'll try to kill us all again, they have. There are big changes here in the ME to a large extent due to the support of President Trump.
The Iranians have been trying to get rid of the government for many years. Gazans attacked US on Oct 7, not the other way around. And that was after 18 years of them firing rockets into Israel. You may support fundamental Islamists but most sane people do not
The territory you refer to is disputed but even though we offered it to the Pallys several times they said no. Why was that? And we don't murder innocent civilians. That's what the Arabs do.
You Israelis are going to have your nation destroyed with ballistic missiles and it’s not even remotely close to justice for the crimes your people and nation have committed against innocent civilians.
No, Trump has sid repeatedly that it is up to the Iranian people to take over and decide what they want. Maybe get some real information before opining.
Sources I have read indicate that there are IC (and likely special ops) assets in Iran coordinating with Iranians now to assist in establishing a new government. It will certainly not be easy. It is heartening to see the many celebrations in Iran (and of Iranian exiles) worldwide. Particularly great to see some courageous Iranian women ditching the horrid hijabs and dancing, especially recalling the young woman who protested in January by burning a pic of Khamenei with her cigarette.
I was quite young, but aware of the 1979 hostage crisis.
Also interesting is the solidarity among our other ME allies against Iran. Supposedly MBS was one of the strongest advocates for the strikes, calling Pres. Trump repeatedly to encourage him to attack.
Never underestimate what courage and planning can achieve. Israel clearly has a wide spy network in Iran; God willing the Iranian people can meld into a sustainable, non radical government.
This is a coda, imho, to a terrible period of settling for decline and feckless diplomacy.
It's a broad term, isn't it. Difference between encouraging a NON RADICAL TERRORIST regime and having thousands of our soldiers billeted there for many years.
There are a lot of things I don’t “like”, but sometimes assessing reality requires one to do those things to achieved a better outcome.
I am willing to wait and see. Of course the hardened terrorist types will scheme and try to gain/regain power. However, 40 of the worst taken out today is what I”d call a good start.
That's the only way it could even POSSIBLY "work" the way we want it to -- supposedly we're just gonna trot out the son of the Shah and hope Iranians forgot who he was.
Uh, when they chose to kill Americans throughout the Middle East. When they sent assassins to kill Iranian dissidents in the U.S. and the rest of the world. When they torture and kill girls for refusing to wear the hijab.
If they were smart, and they are, they would have sleeper cells everywhere. Avoid hard targets(aircraft carriers) and hit soft targets: electric grids, energy supply, water sources, stadiums, malls. It is very easy to upset the Western world with some relatively mild death and destruction.
It seems most of Iran’s leadership has been killed. The exiled prince has a 100 day plan that includes elections etc. Iran without this insane islamist rule could be a crown jewel of the Middle East. Every country around them is building massive sky scrapers and moving into the 21st century. If things go right and that’s a big if right now imagine peace in the ME plus no major terror sponsor around the globe. The world will be a much more peaceful place. Travel to Iran will be incredible for its economy as Iran has biblical historical importance. I’m also old enough to say We owed them this for taking our hostages in 1979. Payback is a bitch.
Maybe it’s best to start with the age old question, “qui bono” in trying to divine motives and objectives? We don’t need convoluted conspiracy theories to see that a chaotic and weakened Iran benefits not only Israel but also the Arab Gulf States. In addition to the obvious Trumpian FAFO motive, Trump has made it abundantly clear that he (we) are determined to build some kind of collaboration among the oil-rich Gulf States and Israel to stabilize the region. Iran and its proxies are a major roadblock and a nuclear-armed Iran with ballistic missiles is unacceptable to US, Israeli, and Arab states. The Iranians know this and it’s a major reason why they attacked their neighbors. This attack (bombing Iran) is of a piece with the post-Gaza War efforts and the recent National Security finding…BTW, thanks to the Racket crew for publishing the timeline on the run up to the Iran attack! It’s true, as several subscribers noted, that the information was findable elsewhere, but compiling, organizing and preserving it is useful: that was Matt’s original idea to counter the MSM penchant for memory holing flawed narratives after years of BS.
Kind of ironic that the Regime animated by a belief that war would summon the 12th Imam which in turn would herald the end of the world was cracked by a 12-day war. Even more that a regime dedicated to eternal war against the Infidel is falling right at Biblical holiday which commemorates an evil ruler of Persia being killed and replaced by a benevolent one.
The Persian (Iranian) captivity under the Ayatollahs lasted 47 years. The Babylonian Captivity which sent the Israelites to Persia lasted 47 years. And of course the essential leader key to making this happen is the 47th President.
I'm the furthest thing from a Bible-thumper but I get a sense of awe from this event. I suspect this is a greater chapter in history than we understand in this moment.
It gets better. Iran established a democratic constitution in 1906, which US & UK effectively ended 47 years later. And the Iranian civilian jetliner we shot down had about 47X6 passengers on board. And 47 girls killed by our bombing a school yesterday. And 47 is Prime, as in Amazon Prime which is one of the transnational corporations celebrating the destruction of any country not part of the Western Oligarchic Blob.
I think we should hold off on "We bombed their school!" It's possible, as the school was somehow placed right at a military target (missile launchers). I saw one report that it was an IRGC missile that misfired and detonated upon landing. It might be weeks or months until we know the truth.
There are probably doorbell cameras, random people who saw it live and Iranians on the ground can gather up fragments of the missile. It's a missile, not magic, and it's not going to be a mystery forever if the locals don't want it to be.
Interesting perspective. Iran was, of course, Zoroastrian until the jihadists rode out from Medina with “convert or die.” Egypt, Syria and Iraq were Christian. Since the 8th century, Islamic countries have mostly been a failure except in areas like torture and death.
Imagine if the will and resources devoted to all these military interventions was directed at stopping the waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Or making our elections verifiably accurate. Or passing a balanced budget amendment. Or making our healthcare system no longer a bottomless pit of money while we have one of the lowest life expectancies in the developed world. We could name such policies “Make America Great Again” or “America First”. But none of these things have happened, nor will they occur by 2028.
It’s like a centuries long Groundhog Day, where we ask politicians to fix the problems in our country, but instead get overseas wars one after another. Are we going to have the return of freedom fries?
For more ‘recent’ start date, I’d point to 10/7/23. The aftermath was Israel literally neutralizing both Hezbollah & Hamas. These were Iran’s insurance policies. Notice how both haven’t lobbed one rocket or missile since start of this new round of fighting.
That’s because Israel & USA wouldn’t have initiated any direct attack on Iran unless the proxies were neutered first.
Note that there is no attack against the Artesh, and only the Revolutionary Guard and its leadership. Whenever the bombs stop, the ‘hope’ is that the less ideological branch of the Iranian military will keep order for whatever might be the next regime.
Now that the die is cast, the US/Israel need to delete the ‘next man up’ for a few rounds. Such as taking out whoever is named the next Supreme Leader. The Islamic State needs to be decimated, and that’s going to likely require Seals & Special Forces.
The other thinking is that Trump is a deal-maker. So, he may not take this to the ‘end’ it now requires, if you really want to squash Tehran’s nuke ambitions for the next 100 years. He may cut a deal w/ the new Ayatollah. This would be a mistake
I did not vote for this. And I’m no fan of forever wars. But here we are.
Trump has never made an actual deal in his worthless life and is too ignorant and vicious to start now. This is a disaster and will destroy the United States. You’re a damned fool if you think there is any possible other result.
No, I’m a 3x Trump voter. He campaigned on keeping us out of wars. I realize that’s not always possible. I’m not a big fan of war (I’m a veteran and have seen the damage done)
I'm not a fan of war either but the bombs are falling on me and my friends and neighbors lost loved ones on Oct 7 after 18 years of rockets out of Gaza. We Israelis have lost sympathy for people who just want to kill us.
I’d rather Israel have handled this on its own. I’m in the US and bombs not falling on me. It’s Israel’s fight. USA is involved because of the oil, who controls it and who gets it. This is a check against China move. As was Venezuela. As is Nigeria. Israel has been destabilizing Arab countries for the past 25 years. Any country that supported a 2-state solution got the Israeli stink eye. I understand why the Israeli ‘Clean Break’ strategy from past. Because appeasement from 1948 to 1990’s wasn’t working. It’s just that Israel change in strategy brought the USA along with it, and I resent the spilling of our blood and treasure.
Islam has been taking US hostages since the 1790s. The US Marines were formed specifically to end enslavement of US commercial sailors by the Caliphate.
We do all the time. 1948, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006....and really how many Americans have to die at the hand of the ayatollah before you're ready to do something about it.
I think the West's mistake was in putting Israel in the Middle East to give us a proxy in our never-ending quest to control Middle East oil. This was a devil's bargain for the Jews, to say the least. I always thought Nevada would have been more sensible for the U.S. and far safer for the Jews. Nevada is underpopulated and its climate is similar to Israel's. Plus, this way the entire U.S. would have benefited enormously from the intellectual richness of Jewish culture. The Jews' financial prowess would also have been a good fit in a state that has its own rules in that area. I realize "being good with money" is a trait developed by being treated as outcasts. But the Jews cast themselves out in a way, too. Anyway, that same tribalist tendency might have clashed with the melting-pot fantasies of Americans back in the last century. I guess we're done with the nonsense now. Diversity, baby! Would love to know your thoughts!
We are indigenous to the land of Israel - Judea Jew get it? The Muslims are only indigenous to Saudi Arabia they have colonized ALL the other places you find them.
Actually Alison, Ishmael was also born of our father Abraham and his slave, Hagar. The descendants of Abraham became both Jews, and then much later, Muslim. But same root.
Iran started a war with us 47 years ago and has never stopped.
Their animating cry is Death To America, Death to Israel. The beards think in thousand year chunks not the next election cycle, they have a better Manhattan Project than our original Manhattan project and they have ICBM technology sharing with North Korea.
Why it took 47 years for the US to do anything effective about this is not at all obvious. As it turns out, President 47 is the key.
“Now that the die is cast, the US/Israel need to delete the ‘next man up’ for a few rounds. Such as taking out whoever is named the next Supreme Leader. The Islamic State needs to be decimated, and that’s going to likely require Seals & Special Forces.”
And it has to be made abundantly clear to the supporters of the terror regime that, when that regime falls, and Iranians breathe the sweet air of freedom, there will be a reckoning for their crimes and it will be swift and painful. The only way they can save themselves is to surrender and repent their crimes.
Unfortunately, I am reaching the same conclusion. What a shame. For me the biggest question here is whether, in the grand judgment of history to come, this attack will be viewed as a pre-emptive attack of the type which could have prevented WWII had Germany and Italy's dictatorships activities been nipped in the bud or alternatively a huge mistake. I am hoping for the former, and not the latter. This will depend entirely on whether Israel, the U.S., and the various Middle Eastern nations finally decide to put down their proverbial boxing gloves and form a peaceful trading block based upon which the Middle Eastern peoples can truly benefit from the great riches located withing their respective boundaries. I pray for this, but I am afraid history to date reflect it may be a forlorn hope.
3/1/2026 Iran closes the Straight of Hormuz, over 20 US military bases hit. New leadership already in place in Iran. Iran declares jihad. The entire Muslim world is on call. Pakistanis storm the US consulate, 12 kill shot dead by Americans. Thousands gathered in Kargil, India, to mourn the death of Iranian leadership. A 40 day period of mourning, then what?
Americans, prepare to die for the sadist entity 'Israel'.
Following the death of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran has raised the red flag of revenge above the Jamkaran Mosque in the city of Qom.
Vows to hit US and Israel with 'force they've never experienced before' as more bombs hit Tehran
Iran's largest Consulate is in Mexico. It operates worldwide. No need to ask why. Hezbollah has been active in Venezuela for years. Much property along the US southern border is own by foreign shell companies. We had open borders for four years. Is this not enough to send shivers down a spine?
Given most of this is old news, I would much prefer to hear Matt and Walter discuss this Monday afternoon (or Sunday for a special show). And since I have been following various good sources all day, even today's events are old news. It would have also been interesting to have heard what they had to say on Thursday (released Friday morning) given that this was coming bigger than shit. Given that, it is a useful timeline, but nothing unique. This news is available elsewhere for those interested (just like the overabundance of Epstein info). What we can't get elsewhere is ATW or Matt's writing, all of which included obvious "takes." Which is why he is/was a great writer.
I feel the same, am selective about whose take on events I'm interested in giving my time to reading.
Walt quit. Matt wanted the show to continue once a week. I saw Walt on X yesterday floating the idea of reviving ATW on CNN or CBS (with Bari Weiss leaving what I took as a favorable reply). Struck me as beyond weird. Walt won't do the show on Racket, but wants to as part of CNN or CBS? Yeah, that'll make it better, sure. With advertisers and management overhanging every sentence.
I am not sure that Racket News is actually just a personal venture of Matt's. Seems to be a cast of characters here, and Matt is not necessarily the head honcho.
I have asked for details several times, concerning the structure of Racket News, but there is always silence. Versus transparency. I am not certain what it is I am subscribing to here....is it a corporation with a board, is it a private Matt Taibbi rent-a-page from Substack? Or some other type of structure?
Maybe it is not so grassroots and quaint as we are led to believe.
It started out as a Matt Substack with very occasional guest pieces and he loves the protest videos from that guy that I never watch. I have been here from its start. I was fine getting a few articles when Matt did them. ATW came in and really sweetened the deal. I agree it is no longer Matt's site. And that is Matt's choice. I respect that even if I don't like it. I also thought he made a mountain out of a molehill over the Elon Musk stuff. So, for $5 a month, I am still fine reading just what Matt writes, but I sure miss the old Matt.
Thanks, Virg. I haven't been here as long as you, but quite some time nonetheless. I have contributed much, though it is voluntary....I receive no subscriber fees. A few of us are beginning to feel used by Matt and his Racket News.
There are times I think that Matt could just set a topic, and leave the commenters to do all the writing, because they generally contribute more of it anyway. Though Matt maintains the fame and glory.
My question is about the business model being used here. Am I contributing to a corporate structure, or an individual? Either way there is never any gratitude shown by Matt or the corporate board. Though I sense that if it is a corporation, they want to expand into something larger....and we are giving them our writing/thinking talent for free. Matt is limited; many other commenters here have to fill in for his gaps in knowledge.
Oddly enough, when Matt writes/thinks, he expects to be well paid for it. When the rest of us write/think -- often better than Matt in terms of offering well-informed material -- it isn't even worth a basic thank you from him, apparently.
This Substack model can be used to steamroll the commenters, I have noted.
The more comments here, the more popular the Substack, the more lucrative it is for whoever owns it. Ans yet the people who write more than half of most Substack offerings for Matt are never even acknowledged by him.
I suppose I have had a very different understanding of Substack than you are presenting. I have always thought that Substack was a place where you could freely publish your writing. Many people seem to do that without subscriptions. Many have a subscription basis as they seem to be writers who are trying to make a living at writing. Your view seems to frame it as a business model. I guess I never saw Racket or Matt as being any sort of "corporation" with a "corporate structure" or a "corporate board". I certainly have not viewed him or Racket as being any pathway to "fame and glory". I guess I see a much broader palate of possibility between the lone writer and a corporate structure complete with a board. I was also not aware that there would ever be any consideration for compensating a commenter, much less publicly expressing gratitude for their comments. It has seemed to me that if I (or anyone else), as a commenter, had that much to offer, they could simply start or use their own substack to offer it, no? Do your writing there and build your own reader base, no? Maybe I have been misunderstanding Substack altogether.
With all due respect CG, I think you are very naive about Substack.
Despite being an avowed skeptic, as your bio says, they got you! They advertised the romantic writer becoming recognized on their "brilliant" platform, when really -- Substack is just another lucrative software platform meant to make a lot of money twigging that unmet notion in would-be writers. They are a cagey bunch.
Just like EBay or PayPal or many other big platforms, Substack finds an unconscious human need, and then finds a way to fill this while they cash in.
There are well over 20,000 Substack page-renters now, the top percentage of this group being extremely well paid. While it lasts. And the Substack platform itself rakes in even more. You are welcome to do the digging yourself into the available information on this business and its model.
I am afraid that many Substack page-renters such as Matt are either hoping to break into the new right-wing media industry bigtime, or the corporation behind them is. Many of the more successful Subtack page-renters have incorporated; they are very far from being the romantic lone writers in the attic.
This is a business model. This is a money game. The narrative which sells it is that fairly tale about the noble writer. People do not like their fairy tales questioned, however. Which is why I get a lot of snarky responses when I investigate Substack and write honestly about it.
Several popular Substack hosts who sell the "freedom" product in their writing have actually banned me as a paying subscriber. Because they do not want the Substack platform questioned or exposed. Everyone else can be investigated by them supposedly, but not Substack. Too close to their income source.
Oddly enough....people come to the Racket News site for investigative journalism, but they are often against anyone turning investigative skills on Substack itself. Quite the contradiction there.
I'm afraid the Substack fairy tale does not work on me. I see behind the curtain.
Yeah, I agree. Matt grew up privileged and he has never had to worry about money, including when he was in Russia. The average person could never have done that. He also I think just doesn't know how to be appreciative of the plebes. I see it here and Twitter and used to see it on ATW. It is one reason Walter was so important to that conversation. I really think Matt believes he is above most of us. I have always just overlooked this stuff although have mentioned it in comments. I love his writing, or at least I did. It seems to have changed, but too early to tell.
As an aside, in the past, this has been the best comment section I have ever seen and I looked forward to reading comments, not just articles. There are fewer trolls here and some really smart people. I suspect that that is ending, too. I have tried to contact Matt before and have been ignored. I volunteered back when he was looking for researchers. Nothing. It is rude. This is the only way to get my thoughts possibly seen by him, but I am not going to start flooding comments because that would be boorish. Take care.
Thanks, Virg. You have your head on straight.
And yes, a lot of us are getting put out by Matt's continual ingratitude for our educating him on many topics, and for writing far more than half of the Substack pages that he makes a lucrative living out of.
While we are treated as the invisible nothings who are here to revel in Matt's supposed magnificence.
I have had it with Matt's poorly informed offerings and his swelled ego. I am still here only for the relationships with many other long-time subscribers. There are times, I just do a basic scan of Matt's articles because I do not expect much. Then I go to the real meat on the comment forum.
I seems to me that Matt is setting up Racket in order to challenge MSM giants like the NYT, WaPo, and the major networks, which most of us agree are obnoxious spewers of state and corporate propaganda. His vision is that of an old-school newsroom, with clattering typewriters, phones ringing, and coffee-stained desks . . . from an era before Operation Mockingbird -- only updated with PCs and cellphones. He believes that he can build an audience with a publication dedicated to finding the truth, whether we like it or not.
Matt's a journalist, not a manager, so he's begun to hire management types who he believes will keep the faith and find, hire, and train other investigative journalists who have time to follow up on stories Matt can't, due to the fact that he's only one person. The goal, it seems, is to build an online publication that will offer real investigations of important events, not regurgitation of what intelligence officials want us to believe.
I sincerely hope the venture is a success.
Danno, you and I sometimes agree, and sometimes do not.
I think you are being naive here. I wrote posts here today to "Control Group" already, dispelling the fairy tale ideas about taking on the corporate giants as a knight in shining armor. Substack aims to become a corporate giant itself. And Matt wants a cut of the action. In fact, Racket News may well be incorporated all by itself. I truly doubt it is the noble lone writer sweating away in his lonely attic.
I have known professional writers all my life. That world is very familiar to me.
I think that Matt would have a hard time making a living if Substack had not come along and offered an easy entry to some sort of writing. Substack is like Paypal and Ebay -- a digital platform with a profit-making motive. They aim to be a corporate giant. Do the digging about Substack (I did).
The Substack hosts are simply Joe Public renting a Substack page on the platform. And trying to be influencers. Hoping they will pull in paying customers. And just because you can write does not necessarily mean you can think, or have reasonable things to write about.
Matt is flailing. Millions of us could see that. Maybe it is why Walter left.
So the new wanna-be successful corporations have moved in to establish a new dominant media. Substack is one of those, and Matt simply rents a Substack page.
Don't romanticize this, Danno. Last year there were over 20,000 Substack page renters. They come and they go. This is not the territory of Nobel Literature laureates. It is mostly just people playing to popularity by renting a page on a new digital platform. We should not be worshipping them like gods. I don't.
There are many good thinkers and good writers out here, A lot of them better than Matt. He simply decided to use the new Substack tool, Does not make him a god.
I wouldn't rule anything out, but I'm still of a mind it is "grassroots and quaint." But when you hire a bunch of people, they all bring their own egos, so who knows.
Why the lack of transparency here? Why can Matt never answer in a straightforward way what the set-up is, of Racket News?
Is it just Matt's rent-a-page from the Substack platform, and then he brought in Walter to do the gig with him....or is there a business structure behind all of this?
I know that there are now several freelancers (or are they freelance?) who add various pieces, and Emily K. introduced herself here, but what is behind all of this? Is Racket News solely owned by Matt or is it corporate entity with a board of directors? It matters.
I find it ironic that Matt bases his writing on digging out the story everywhere else, but his own Racket News story is kept tight as a drum and a closed shop, in terms of the details.
This is the dumbest thing that has ever been published in a Racket comments section. I'm still here. I hired, out of my pocket, an editor and two more full-time reporters, and that is hopefully just a start. They worked to get this article up fast and did a good job, the idea being that we'll be able to be more responsive to news as it happens if the site doesn't rely on one 56-year-old with three children. I don't know what kind of "transparency" you're talking about, since I've said repeatedly, Racket has no advertisers, donors, or hidden investors. The site is 100% reader-supported. It's bizarre that I'm suddenly getting these trolling questions about corporate ownership at the exact moment when I'm trying to sponsor young reporters. Smh
2nd dumbest, they responded with an ever more dumberer comment.
Here's a guy with an anonymous handle, “A" complaining about transparency… but doesnt even get the irony..hey, “A” who the f*ck are you? Who do you work for? @A.
Matt, you are a big target, and a substantial portion of the population could and should be institutionalized. And then you have the bots. No doubt you are the target of large-scale influence campaigns.
I would not blame you, and I damn sure would not stop reading, if you turned comments off.
Beyond the bots and pure trolls, the psychopaths will never be happy; with you, Racket News, or anything else.
I canceled my paid subscription. You certainly are entitled to doing whatever you want to do - but you have to convince me this new endeavor is worth my contribution. What I have seen so far hasn’t been impressive. The sub runs thru July 2026, so I always have a chance to renew.
Give em hell, Matt. Keep putting out the straight dope. Appreciate the newsroom features.
lol Matt why bother responding? You're too kind!! From Puerto Rico with love, Nathan
That's a real nice way of talking about one of your very generous contributors here. You are low, Matt. Mother never teach you manners? What little Matty should say here is THANK YOU to all the contributors who write your damn comment section for zero pay.
Is this a tactic to make yourself look good....yet again? To bedazzle people here so as to hide your unsavoury bits?
Here's a secret -- I was not here to read your writing. I was here to read the far more interesting and informed writing in the comment sections.
Yes but there is confusion since the abrupt ending of ATW. Your listeners don’t understand. Many of us liked that format at don’t now understand who makes the decisions about the shows format. Please let us know. I go one am totally confused. Thanks
Sorry Matt that people are attacking you. I guess it is to be expected when you have a platform that speaks truth to power. Just ignore the attacks, if you can!
People are idiots, Matt. Sometimes it does boggle the mind just how idiotic they are. But civilization is plunging to new lows all the time, including obviously the comments section of what is a social medium
Matt, I know who you are. I know what you’ve done and I support you 100%.
Matt, small business owners get why a 56 year old man does not want to work non-stop anymore with 3 kids. I hope you do your take on the Iran debacle. I frankly have lost all interest in Trump now. He is a complete fraud at this point. Regime change in Iran is an absurd idea for a war. MAGA was not about the Middle East. Just a sick joke.
So I will go elsewhere and describe my less than stellar experience with Racket News and its illustrious founder Matt Taibbi.
Substack is a bit of a con-artist platform, isn't it? They make you play groupie to the supposed Substack gods. And drain your subscriber fees and comments while you are in awe of the "great ones". Edward Bernays would have been proud,
Excellent way to generate revenue. Could not have designed it better myself, even with my knowledge of Evolutionary development.
The Substack Cult.....
Matt dear.....Get some respect for the people who have regularly written half or more of this Substack site for you. And covered your ass when you have been in danger of looking like you don't know what you are talking about. Which is not infrequent. We notice that you have a lot of knowledge gaps.
I think you are either mad or bad, Matt Taibbi. How dare you call me a troll when I have been one of your largest givers. You little, little man.
You milk your subscribers for the fees and for the writing of the comment forums that will bring you further fees. Though I bet you never even stopped to think that they contribute at least half the writing that makes Racket News.
Many people come for the comment forums more than they come for the articles. And the generous commenters here fill in your own knowledge gaps regularly. We have quite a few professionals amongst us, with greater formal education than you. We make you look good. The unpaid contributors here had made this site a magnet for new subscribers. Although you reap the benefits. Not us
You have never answered my simple question of who owns Racket News. Not whether you take advertisers, but who owns this business entity. Even NYT does better than that. They state ownership clearly upfront. For their paying customers. Something about consumer transparency.....
When I ask questions, I am supposedly a troll. When you ask questions, you are supposedly a great investigative reporter, digging out the truth. Notice that little trick of yours?
You are a very ungrateful man. It is all about YOU. Though a sizeable number of us have professional training or grad degrees, we are meant to tug our forelocks to Matt and to make you look good by giving you the information and resources that you lack yourself. And you -- ungrateful sod -- never even have the decency to say thank you.
I discovered another site where they actually thank their supporters regularly. Can you imagine that? After being on the Taibbi site for a long time, that seems like Heaven. They acknowledge the important information offered by contributors. On the Racket News site, such supporters just get a kick in the teeth. Though we have covered your backside when you are in danger of looking stupid because of what you do not know.
May God bless and KEEP Racket News and Matt Taibbi....far away from me. Now pardon me while I go off and shed a few tears over the time and effort I have wasted on this site for far too long.
Do you know how to thank people who have been too good to you? Doubt it. You are a taker. Not a giver. And I see that you lie when it suits.
Why would a person think Matt's Substack is a corporate entity with a board of directors? I'm not sure where Matt and Walt first met, but I recall Matt's initial mention of Walt was an interesting piece Walt had written. (I don't recall where the piece originally appeared.) Before long, ATW was announced. It seemed natural enough, as Matt had left Useful Idiots (with Katie Halper) not too long before.
I'm not sure why Matt would need to explain anything. Has he been asked this question and awkwardly avoided answering or something? I'm not being an apologist; I just haven't personally sensed anything odd going on.
I find it unusual that you have no interest in knowing what, exactly, you are subscribing to. I do. In fact, they have my data from a great many comments. I have also paid their subscriber fees for quite a long time now.
Isn't consumer transparency a big deal in the U.S.? If the NYT acted this way, wouldn't you smell an even bigger rat than many people already smell?
For a journalist specializing in shedding light on the goings-on of so many other folks, I find it very odd that Matt is so secretive about this Racket News venture.
And yes...this question has been asked frequently. But I have not seen it answered. Or even acknowledged, by Matt or by whoever represents Racket News.
What is Racket News, exactly? Who owns it? Most other media sites list their ownership information quite clearly. For the customers who are paying for their product.
As I have said before, this Substack set-up encourages Substack hosts-as-gods, with admiring groupies below in the comment sections who are afraid to do anything that might upset their local god. Not a good look.
I can remember in the early years of Substack when I had to wade through 50 or more gushing comments (the type found in teenage fan magazines/sites) before I found someone sane and adult who was there to discuss the actual topic. It was nauseating, frankly. As if the whole point of Substack was to create supposed celebrities. And to pull in the lesser mortals who were cast as groupies (and who paid). Enough of that nonsense!
I think its a bot. Ask it to find recipes for you.
I think the first time Matt spoke with Walter was when he had him on as a guest for Useful Idiots. But I believe they had admired each other’s writing from afar.
Just say you hate independent journalists already. Leave Substack, you do not belong here with us.
Funny, everyone here was happy enough to have me over a very long period when I was writing much of the comment section here and filling it with the sort of valuable information and resources that Matt was incapable of offering.
You sound like one of the ugly WOKE-folk doing their Cancel Culture thing.
My expertise includes the Psychology of aberrant group behaviour. And I see it coming out of the woodwork here now. You are a good example. I agree with your bio that you are a lowlife.
Matt you don’t owe your readers anything about your business or how you run it.
It is literally none of their (our) business!
Most of us subscribe because we trust you’re motivated enough to use your time, money, and experience in bringing us insights that we wouldn’t likely be getting otherwise… for which I (for one) give you a heartfelt thank you!
The rest? I don’t know. I don’t care either, other than what they send you helps fund your efforts. I take it for granted that the Bell Curve of subscriber motivation has a troll percentage well left of center.
Please continue!!
You must be joking. Or brainwashed, Or in love with Matt from afar. Thank God I have better taste. And I am not such a dupe.
Your sort is called a Useful Idiot. And it certainly is the business of a paying customer what business they are actually funding. Read the law. Or does law not matter to you?
“A” only uses the initial of their first name, but I think their last name is “Whole”
Are you an investor? What exactly are you looking for, why does this bother you so much? Why should Matt or anyone else care what you have to say?
Since you take that tone, why should anyone care what you have to say, Brian? Including me.
I don't owe you.
Did you read his most recent pieces on the recent structural change? He literally talked about all of this lol
It is crystal clear. Matt is in charge. He signs errybody’s paychecks. How is it possible to work oneself into a tizzy over this?
How do you know this?
We are not "working ourselves into a tizzy". If you believe that, then you could just as well say that journalists such as Matt "work themselves into a tizzy" with every article. Are we not meant to laud investigative work? Too funny!
You have a deficit of intellectual curiosity, my friend. I would lend you some of mine, but I fear it would never be returned. Get some of those little grey cells operating!
The above is a tizzy.
I left the Chris Rufo Substack when Chris had worked his readers into a froth over the upcoming 2024 election and the Trump potential there.....then posted nothing at all until almost a week after the Trump win. Pardon me? You are either serious about these issues or you aren't.
Seems his wife had given birth (not the first) a few days before the election, which was the excuse. Seeing as I was always out of hospital within 12 hours of a birth myself, when I hit the ground running, I did not buy it. Then he brought in a student who was all of 18 and in her first year of a journalism course, whose job seemed to be to head-pat the many PhDs and professional types in the audience and use red heart banners to reply to them. As if they were the children and she was the experienced adult. And as if the red heart banner was all they needed.
I agree that an adolescent view and lack of experience is simply going to antagonize serious readers here. I am already using my polite tone too frequently with Matt, when I want to say....."Do your homework!" I am amongst the group of commenters here getting tired of providing all the heavy-duty background, gratis. Not even a thank you. While Matt (or whoever owns Racket News) pulls in all the subscriber fees.
I'm an early subscriber. Not one of the first, but I've been around a while. Been a fan of Matt since I came across "The Great American Bubble Machine". These new writers are not on Matt's level. ATW is gone. The comment section is not what it used to be, but is still better than most places. I'm giving Racket another 6 months to stabilize. Like other long time subscribers, I mostly read Matt's articles and tune out the kids.
There are times I just scan Matt's articles now too. He has limited topics, given the many challenges in today's world. And unless he has an original take, by the time his articles are posted, it is old news.
He rarely adds to the comment forum conversations, so I often tune Matt out and pay attention to the more interesting and involved fellow commenters. Who have usually done their homework and offer better discussions and resources.
Matt acts as if none of it exists. Including us.
A number of us are far ahead of Matt, and tired of cooing over Substack. Which is not all that terrific. The novelty has worn off. It was not the knight in shining armor to replace MSM.
She is young and it shows. So are a couple of the other new hires, I looked them up, (LOL) one graduated in 2025 from college and has the school newspaper on his resume. Very narcissistic tone in her writing, although I have pretty much tuned out of anything except Matt's articles. This article I did read a lot of, I just already knew most of what was in it, including the timeline yesterday. One reason I loved Walter is because he brought both generation knowledge and real world working people knowledge to the table. Matt really suffers from his lack of experience with common folk. Young people today don't care about what we old folks have to say.
I get it, but given what Matt is doing, I suspect he (Matt) didn't want to have discussions where anything but straight news is reported. That is super boring, so I am not sure Walter had a choice. It is obvious he wants to keep doing this kind of thing, too. I think Matt wanted to run a big newsroom by this point in his career and there are no real "big newsrooms" now. So he is created one for himself with this idea of total objectivity. He fashions himself as Hunter S Thompson, but HST had takes on everything, LOL. Hell, I have no idea what is going on, but Matt stepping away from even editing responsibilities is not smart. IMO.
In fairness to Matt, who I deeply respect, foreign affairs are not his forte. Providing a timeline gives context for those who need it. Let others who understand the dynamics opine on current events.
I totally agree. I didn't subscribe to Matt's Substack for foreign affairs. I don't need to get this topic from Racket. That is all. There are plenty of good places to find honest foreign affairs news.
Opinions are now straight news . Nobody cares , this sucks .
And anything Walter would do there would be severely time-constrained.
From what I gather, Walt quit over more than a change in schedule.
I wonder whether Walt had some of the same issues with Matt and this operation that I do. Wouldn't be surprised.
Walt?
Matt already said he fully supports regime change in Iran, he said that with Walter last year. Matt Taibbi is a supporter of bombing the Iranians and killing all of their leadership and is quite happy to say so, he even thinks it’s cool. The only thing he opposed is nation building after. So as long as we aren’t stuck in the nation for twenty years after, he fully supports everything Trump has done so far, fervently.
He’s done giving takes. Matt doesn’t have a public opinion on anything now. But we can always just go off what he said about the topic last year. That was what he said.
If true that sounds like my position, too. The mullahs have been nothing but trouble for half a century. The Iranian people and the Iranian diaspora seem to agree.
Maybe you should stop listening to Western propaganda because unless all the videos were fakes, there were millions on the streets in Iran supporting their government.
There are lots of US citizens abroad who don't like the US government, and quite a few in the US too, and that's whether it's a Democrat or Republican in office. When should foreign countries be allowed to come and murder our leadership? And we you be OK being collateral damage as long as they put the right person in charge afterwards?
The Iranian mullahs are straight-up evil. There is no moral equivalence with the U.S. government, full stop. They murdered their own people by the thousands, kept people living in fear, backed every terrorist group in the region, amassed a gigantic stockpile of missiles, and were building a nuclear weapon. They were a threat to peace in the region and in the world and they needed to be taken out before they got any stronger. You're welcome.
Typos. Are you OK being...
Cry me a river, bitch.
You seem upset.
All of history is “old news”. This was an excellent compilation.
Yes, today there are multiple, reliable sources stating what's happened and while Racket's summary is useful, what was unique here was a dynamic discussion between Matt, the guy with the nose for news, and Walter, who's perspective was always to look deeper into a subject. This dynamic helped me to understand events beyond just linear thinking.
I feel the same. If this is what we get, I’ll unsubscribe.
I agree. Still sad this won't happen.
"If you can't talk about it, you can't think about it," Rudyard Lynch. Conversation is how we explore issues and events. Christopher Lasch has a chapter on "The Art of Argument". "Take" should not be thought of as a pejorative unless it is from a doofus. Not having an observation or a take on something should be seen skeptically. Matt's observations/takes are based on years of reporting. Walter's observations/takes are based on his be able to ferret out the narrative. Those takes are what I paid for and the humor. This article? Not so much. I bought a year subscription. I don't think I will be doing that anymore on any of my subscriptions.
Yeah, it's always nice to hear Matt and Walter discuss this stuff, though it's nice to have accurate facts. I guess it just boils down to whether Iran (who lies) building nuclear facilities a mile underground is a threat to the US and action is America First. Or is it meddling. I don't like being so sure of anything either way. I'm reservedly ok with them destroying military capabilities but hope he is out of there in a week or so. And hope Iran can get some kind of government that doesn't massacre them for dissent. I think it's clear Trump plans to leave it to them to stabilize things. Hope it works out. Hard to imagine someone worse in there, but it's possible, I guess.
No knock on the authors, but this timeline is highly incomplete even within the compressed time period and for this reason of no historical or practical value whatsoever.
I applaud Emily, Caleb, and Greg for doing their best to build the "eat your vegetables" product Matt feels his readers deserve. However, I know how to eat my vegetables, thanks, as do many readers here, I'm certain. We can be sure that many/most of the key documents and decisions were not publicized and have yet to make it into the press.
I agree strongly that adding humor and insights with Matt and Walter ricocheting reactions off one another would have been far more interesting but we know complaining is why we can't have nice things, so...
Iranians revolutionaries taking Americans hostage in 1979 is the event Trump himself cited - a fact one might expect to find in any timeline of Trump's actions. And given that Trump is explicitly situating his presidency in the nineteenth century with the Donroe Doctrine, we need to look to that time for the "we asked nicely and you didn't listen" response we're seeing in Iran now.
Thomas Jefferson politely suggested that the Barbary state pirates stop taking US citizens hostage. The Barbary state rulers decided America was a long way away and could safely be ignored - which established the doctrine Trump is deploying to the shores of the straits of Hormuz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
In my view, Matt's handed his capable hires a nearly impossible task - inform and entertain in ways that very, very few can do. Best of luck to them all.
How to build a better timeline by a self-described expert.
Don't start with grandiose, clearly unrealistic claims - such as "But you should have all the facts."
Do begin with a clear statement about the limits of the timeline: incomplete, likely to be inaccurate and definitely in need of additional data.
Don't start any entry/paragraph by blabbing about events around a particular date.
Do begin each entry with an explicitly identified source, time-stamped, who, what etc. eg "Source blah-blah on ? reported that..."
If one is serious, suggest readers bookmark the timeline and promise additional details as new information comes to light. That kind of timeline would be both welcome and useful and is exactly what readers like me, who enjoy eating our vegetables, are keen to consume and return to for more.
Sincerely hope this helps.
Good points on the 1979 revolution (and the Barbary pirates!). These writers are too young for that and I don't think writers today do much research beyond when they were born. I was stationed in West Germany at the time, in a unit that went to Iran and Turkey each year to calibrate test equipment for the US bases in those countries. I was on the Turkey team and we all knew each other and sometimes swapped tours (we went to Italy and German bases, too. Those guys loved their trips to Iran and I loved my trips to Turkey. We weren't in Iran when the revolution happened, but we sure knew all about it. This was the time that the Baader Meinhof and Red Brigade terrorists were reeking havoc in Europe, there was a three way low intensity civil war in Turkey (that included Americans getting killed). No one talks about those things and almost no one even knows what they were. And historical knowledge is just getting exponentially worse in the Tik Tok and smartphone age.
Well said.
I badly miss ATW. I am, however, reading Steve Berman's writing with interest. I hope he remains with Racket.
I know -- perfect or not, I find myself looking forward to the Monday chat & then a bit disconsolate when I recognize the 4 p.m. convo is over!
Amen.
Timelines are there for reference - not commentary. There are now many of them on Racket, and their appearance pre-dates the phase-out of ATW. They have never been a substitute for in-depth coverage. They are intended to be, and are in fact, handy references to how events are unfolding.
True, they are also written usually considerably after the events in question. Since the war started, nothing published anywhere this entire month and probably long after that is going to be accurate. You also don't need a journalist to do this type of thing (for that matter, you don't need journalists to do the new Sources thing that just started, both are researcher types of tasks. I find some of Racket's timelines useful and interesting, but not an event like this. We haven't gotten anything in-depth out of the new Racket on Iran and it is not what I want from Racket, in any case. We got some videos from Ford Fisher and I am not planning on watching them, I have seen what I needed to already on sites on Twitter and Discord I trust on wars (and trust me, I follow wars). And the Swamp Log has some notes, I scanned that, but had trouble getting through the editor-in-chief's childish introduction to it ("Brought to you by: the readers of Racket...?" WTF?). If I want a post in this style, plenty of places to get it. Maybe Matt can compete in the media world with this as a general news site.
It’s crazy how everyone feels the same way, just flip the cards back and everybody will be happy .
I am still of the opinion that Matt (Walter is gone) does not know or understand the background context in these vast cultural events and phenomena. It is not just another fight, another war. There is a roadmap behind all of this, and has been for a very long time. There are powerful puppetmasters pulling the strings....and it isn't who you might think.
Please expound / explain.
I have done much explaining here on past comment forums, Todd. You must be a newbie.
Matt calls them as he sees them on the ground, in front of his eyes. But he rarely knows the big background story behind these chess moves. I am not talking in terms of basic politics (which Matt does know), but in terms of WHO the Globalists are and HOW their invisible hand is pulling many strings at any given time. Especially over the past 60+ years.
The top Globalists are working the system that established itself in the City of London 2000 years ago, when it was begun as Londinium. It is where the mind-virus migrated when the Roman Empire fell. All those powerful and corrupt Roman and Venetian noble families needed a new power-base. So they, as parasites, found a new host. It became a network out of what is now the City of London, and is comprised of central bankers, corporate executives, dark Psychologists, the Rhodes Trust and its agents, and wealthy oligarchical families across Europe. Since the early 1900s it has been known as the Milner Roundtable. There are American branches as well.
There is reliable reading on this subject, but a person has to invest the effort. I suggest starting with viewing several of the podcasts on the Promethean Action website, and having a look at their resources (Toolkit).
I've come to the same basic conclusions as to the globalists' plan. However, I find your obsessive interest in page-renters entirely weird and self-disclosing. Don't you have a better conspiracy to suss out?
You sound like you are trying to cover something. And I have caught you out.
The concept of the Substack platform is interesting. It is a VERY lucrative deal for those who can work up the popularity so as to bring in the subscribers. The Substack articles may not even be good or accurate writing, but if it entertains for the time being, that is what many subscribers will be satisfied with.
Have you seen the numbers and dollars generated by Substack, for both the popular hosts as well as for the Substack platform? And you want to tell me this is not worthy of digging into?
Who gets to determine what can or cannot be investigated? How does a story become worthy in your eyes, and do I have to beg for your permission? Is there an institute somewhere that gives its blessing before anything can be investigated?
Besides which, you seem to have contempt for both intellectual persistence and for writing ability. You must be one of those who has fallen out of civilization and lives on the fringes.
Your comment here sounds like a poorly thought-out sneer. And sour grapes.
I find it very odd, Dave, that you should accuse me of "obsessive interest"
on a Substack site devoted to..... investigative journalism. And in the days of the Epstein files, which take obsessive interest to new heights -- by all the big media outfits.
Do you not see the joke here? That you pay for investigative journalism through Racket News, but when an intelligent reader investigates Substack....all of a sudden you do not value investigative writing any longer.
Away with you, Dave. Stop and think out your logic far more carefully before you take me on in a debate.
Just followed them. Thanks.
It is absurd to ignore suitcases of cash to iran, probably the most disgraceful act in American history since the democrat party rebellion of 1861 (until biden appeared).
Giving them their own money
In cash. In secret. Why?
And Kerry the globetrotter a drummer seeking business investments for Iran. From Europeans too, squishes about their own self-interests to begin with.
To kill and mame Americans through proxies?
We killed tens of thousands of Iranians including thousands of Iranian civilians using Saddam Hussein as our proxy. We also gave him the chemical precursors to the chemical weapons he used on civilians. That’s just one chapter of US abuses and crimes against Iranians.
Spare me your selective moral outrage and use it on some dumb goy that doesn’t know history.
Would you hand the man who stated repeatedly that he wanted to kill you a gun?
Nobody gave Iran “a gun.” Relying on ridiculous analogies because you can’t address reality, instead pretending we gave them a nuclear weapon.
Absolutely delusional.
It is delusional to think those pallets of hundred dollar bills which Obama attempted to secretly deliver to the Iranian government was not used to purchase guns.
drivel.
Iran uses a network of proxies to harass and target U.S. interests, with the aim of making the Mid East untenable for American presence. This is necessary to fulfill their desire to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. In addition, Iran has indirectly guided and at times funded much of the unrest seen in the US in recent years, including the BLM riots, anti-semite protests (many violent and illegal), and anti ICE violence. It is not drivel to state they would not only welcome, but support the destruction of the US. A case in point is 9/11 when Iran guided and supported the direct attack, not on US leadership or military, but citizens.
You forgot Iran contra. Reagan smuggling weapons to Iran through Israel.
I agree with the goals of the administration here, but I don't see even a semi-viable path to obtain those goals without putting boots on the ground. You can't just pulverize everybody and expect democracy from the rubble.
Everybody's gloating like the battle's already over and now the Iranian people can take over, but that's what they said after the Saddam statues came down, too.
A year ago, the (stated) goal of the administration was NO WAR and MAGA.
That’s what I voted for. Guess I got fooled again.
Though Trump, in his first term, gave 2 speeches to international audiences (at least one at the UN) where he laid out that the US will act in its self interest, and that he would understand the same from others. It seems to me he always sticks to this. Isolation (NO WAR) is not, and never has been, the same as self-interest. Trump can go to war but he makes it overwhelming and short. So far I'm fine with that.
For the American People, there is no self-interest in any of the endless Middle Eastern / Asian / African wars we have waged. Zilch. Plenty of self-interest for the ruling elites and the military-indistrial complex, however.
Not zilch and the People is what? There is support for Trump's actions especially in his support for Israel. It's Trump's interest too, but abandoning Israel would be a grave mistake and Trump and MAGA would pay dearly electorally if he did that. I say this not seeing how a politically stable Iran is attained, but I do not see American troops on the ground at any rate. And one can worry about what comes next but Iran was a purely malign source of violence and destruction in its Mullah-governed state. They sowed destruction and intimidation and fear far and wide, and sought to expand a radical and vicious Islam. They have been the great institutionalized source of radical Islamicism - and look how that's been working out for the idiot Euros, and how it has constrained Arab states from finding ways to abide Israel. And we do have an interest in the normal flows of commerce and oil especially through the Suez, esp if we want a Europe that can afford to protect itself from Russia for instance. (And maybe without Iran they will find a little more ability to deal with their domestic radical Islam, fools that they were to allow it to happen). It's better if China has to actually pay going market rates for oil (though Russia is also selling itself short with its oil to get help from China). Why has China been happy to support Iran?
Although Trump may not notice it or understand it, he is doing the globalist’s business for them, like most of our presidents since Wilson. Wars are not just about money for the banksters, although they fund them, they are manifestations of many things; population control, mass migration, upheaval and chaos, positioning nation state economies, all to realize the final goal their game of Risk was meant to achieve – total power and control of the world.
The ancient family lines, many with papal lines, have stayed intact and expect to get their empires back. It is called the Great Reset. Sad to say that the Zionists are part of it, not the real Jewish people with lines back to Judeans, where the word Jew originated.
Although the US did not sign onto the League of Nations, its bankers made sure it did when establishing the UN to further the globalist’s cause. The UN was designed early in WWII but not made public for years. The UN’s first formal in-the-open war was a request to Truman to use military action in Korea and it told Eisenhower when to pull troops out. We live in our own reality, designed specifically to obscure the real reality. Every ‘reason’ we were taught about history events is a forgery.
Tell that to all of the wonderful civilizations that have disappeared over millennia by embracing what you espouse, from Mayans to Tibet. It’s unfortunate, but humans are flawed and the world is a messy place. When free, democratic regimes succeed, the world progresses. When totalitarian regimes prevail, civilization suffers and millions die. You pick. There is no “third way.”
We had boots on the ground for 20 years Afghanistan and it didn’t make one bit of difference. It’s up to the people of Iran. They are the only ones that can make change.
Not our circus, not our monkeys.
They never wanted to build Afghanistan into a functional country. If they succeeded then the gravy train would be over, and the MIC would have to find a new grift. I was all for the Afghanistan pullout, but in hindsight maybe it was better to leave that sandbox intact. We're risking WWIII with the Ukraine and now Iran war.
The only boots on the ground would be Israelis.
And it is not like the US has been good at regime change. So for us to engage in selecting new leaders will likley add to many years of unstability - not something we want.
We don't even have a good record IN IRAN!
We’ve already had 47 years of instability. Proxy wars throughout the Middle East, assassinations of dissidents in Europe, the U.S. and South America, the murder and torture of maybe 100,000 Iranians. Is that the stability you crave?
Because the shah was so awesome? Bullshit
Far from awesome, but orders of magnitude better than the theocracy.
You make a good point but I am not sure this is our fight. Does our reliance on oil, particularly from SA require us to fight their battles. Seems Israel and SA said you need to do this for us.
Nah, that’s ancient history. Less than 10% of all Gulf exports go to the U.S., and we could easily replace that small and declining amount. Now China (40% of Gulf exports) is another story.
The issue of whether it’s “our fight” or not is interesting. Think of nearly any global conflict. I can make a case why intervention both is and is not in our interests.
It won't be easy and nothing is guaranteed, but it's a great start. The Iranian people who might have accepted more of the same before are angry now, give them some training and I think they'll do the rest. Chaos is a danger, and there's no ready made replacement government ready to step in.
Well if that's going to happen first we have to....eliminate everybody who's currently running the country, right? They aren't just going to hand over the government to an American puppet.
The whole thing reminds me of a South Park skit
1) Bomb Iran
2) ???????
3) Stable Democracy
It's real life, not a TV comic. Iranians have the will, numbers and motivation to take back their country. They'll probably need help via training on how to flush out and hunt IRGC rather than getting massacred again, and also with continuing basic government functions.
There's no need for them to have a "Democracy", which would probably be a disaster itself. They may want, say, a Constitutional Republic or a Parliamentary Monarchy (meaning the monarch doesn't have day-to-day governing powers). Making it into one giant mob with Iran's ethnic factions fighting each other wouldn't be pretty. No, it's not our job to pick a system for them. That was the means Dubbya used to hand Iraq to the Iran-aligned Shia.
It's far from hopeless, in fact the prospects are good. Hopeless would be to do another round of Lose and Spend Theater like the GWB and Obama's 3 terms did.
Any concerns with Trump abandoning 10+ years of demeaning the neocons, only to deliver them their wet dream?
Weird as hell. In retrospect the Trump "revolution" tightened the border (temporarily) and rebuffed "comprehensive immigration reform" (temporarily). Other than that and his silly behavior, he might as well have been Mitt Romney. Except Romney wouldn't have run the meme coin scam.
Irrelevant comment.
Are there any beliefs you share with Trump that you would be upset if he betrayed?
Yeah, it's real life -- so how do we expect the people, armed with their limp dicks, to overthrow the government?
And once they do, how do we know they'll chose the "right" leaders?
These are basic questions that nobody can seem to answer.
I have asked the same.
How does the "choice" mechanism work, and how do the Iranians form a government on the fly? Do the guys who shout the loudest get to be in charge now? Presumably there are no structures in place at this point, other than the structures they would want to see eliminated.
Iran has elections. Their elections are real in the sense that people vote and outcomes can vary, but the system has long constrained genuine competition through candidate vetting and unelected power centers (being polite here.) Still, Iran/Persia is a civilization with roughly 25+ centuries of cultural continuity, and that deep national identity could help the country “snap back” toward a stable, non-revolutionary state after a political rupture. Whether Iran can rejoin the community of free nations depends less on its ancient roots than on a credible, Iranian-led transition: security and basic services, rule of law, protections against reprisals, and genuinely open elections. If those pieces fall into place, Iran has the human capital and historical cohesion to become a normal, prosperous nation-state again.
Good example of what could happen.15 years ago, O admin, with the help of Zuck's FB, started a revolution in Egypt. When Mubarak resigned he turned power over to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and then through elections the Muslim Brotherhood took power with Egyptians electing Islamist Mohamed Morsi 2012. He attempted to pass an Islamic-leaning constitution. A year later Morsi was deposed by the minister of defense, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Sisi went on to become Egypt's president after an election in 2014. I believe he is still pres.
They don’t have to choose the “right” leaders. But they are likely to choose leaders who do not call for global jihad, the elimination of Israel and Death to America. I call that a huge improvement, and a chance for the entire region to move forward.
What if they take the "unlikely" path and choose leaders who DO call for global jihad?
We just going to allow that to stand? Of course not.
That's why I said they have to choose the leaders we want them to have, or else.
Parliamentary Monarchy is a bad idea. The son of the former Shah is a bad idea. The Shah himself was a Globalist puppet installed to do the Globalist will. He was better than the Ayatollah, but he was not on the side of the Iranian people.
I agree, A. Reza Jr. should resign his royal title if he wants to be taken seriously.
That royal title is all he has. He says he has spent his entire life as some kind of "exiled activist", but I doubt that amounts to much.
He is not the man for this. His father was a Globalist puppet, and the son has few credentials or experience of value.
The Iranians need to get this right. Much depends on it.
Life is full of bad ideas, and most of us will try every one we can think of. Yeah, a repeat of the 1970s Iran would not be great.
Insuring it all goes splendidly from here on is not something we can do. Ending its time as the world's Death To America actor is something we can do.
True enough. The Ayatollah is gone, which is a major step in the right direction. Presumably this will put a dent in the Globalist puppetmaster power as well.
And us bombing an elementary school for girls will really make them love us.
After Laos, Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria etc - everyone should hate us and everyone should be getting nukes.
That is indeed the lesson here. Also, our word is only worth as much as the mood of 10,000 people in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania who can’t find Michigan on a map and think all MENA nations are led by The Sheik from the WWF.
Those 10,000 people for whom you have such contempt have also been betrayed by our oligarchic political class. The "deplorables" want no part of this neocon foreign policy and, as a result, the mid-terms will be a wipe-out for the GOP. Not that Trump cares about Congress. He is a dictator. But the Dems are, of course, no better.
I can't bring myself to vote for either party. The idea that the U.S. is a beacon of democracy and is therefore justified in spreading its "values" far and wide, by force if necessary, is an increasingly threadbare rationale for our blatantly Business-First foreign policy.
We are a fascist state, similar to the Third Reich minus the Holocaust. No wonder, by the way, that many U.S. tycoons supported Hitler until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. It was guys like the ones "who can't find Michigan on a map" who died for their country. in WWII. Them and 21 million "ignorant" Russians.
Rich people suck.
I agree that rich people suck, but citizens in a democracy have an obligation to learn about and participate in their government. As flawed as they are — thank you Republicans! — we still have elections. Those 10,000 people for whom I do have quite sincere contempt failed in their duty as citizens.
Stupid wokester believes “news reports from Iranian news agency.
Stupid Trumper believes the senile liar.
Which definitely won’t produce any more terrorists.
Oh, definitely not! What’s the line? “They’ll welcome us as liberators?”
Well, yes, Iranians all over the world are doing that right now. You who know nothing of Iran, do you dare to say they are all misguided?
They’re not celebrating in the only place that matters, Iran itself.
You assume that’s true, like the “starving Gazans”. I don’t make that assumption.
That was actually the IRGC who was responsible for that. But don’t let the facts get in the way of your narrative.
*Username still checks out.
I thought the core principles of MAGA was to focus on America and stop being the world’s policeman?
I think that was the real goal... chaos, unfortunately.
I think the CIA has given up on nation building for now. There's no more public support after the Iraq and Afghanistan failures. This new diplomacy reminds me a lot of old school mafia tactics: "That's a nice country you've got there. Would be a shame if it caught on fire. Why don't you install a central bank and let us protect you?"
I think the CIA moved to nation building America.
You got me there.
I watched an interview in the UK press with an American Atlantic Council hack who, like most of the duds sidelined by Trump, could barely contain his hatred of Trump and his supporters - which I take as a good sign. Trump likely sees little downside to acting now - for reasons that are being broadly discussed elsewhere.
Now, this will sound odd, the best illustration of what may be taking place I can think of is the final concert of the Rolling Stones tour of South America - in Cuba. https://www.netflix.com/title/80148239
In every other country in South America, Stones fans young and old showed up ready and eager to rock. Each nation had a long, vibrant rock and roll culture with clubs in even the smallest cities, plus radio stations. So, the parties started outside the stadium long before the concerts in all countries but one began.
Stones fans in Cuba looked scared as they made their way to the stadium, filled with disbelief that their cultural cage doors had actually swung open, desperately fearful that the entire concert was some kind of set-up to bring out cultural subversives. Shocking to see, really; although the film's editors may have played a strong part in creating that effect.
Moderates living in authoritarian states have good reason to be fearful -as we're learning here in the west. Under Trump, we enjoy far more freedom than most in Europe do, but the enemies of free thinking want us back in our cells, isolated and fearful and are working tirelessly to do so. Never forget that fact.
We undoubedtly live with far more freedom than our European friends, but is that due to the Trump admin's ideological support for free speech, or because the state's censorship organs were used against his first administration? I feel like free speech is just another convenient issue to be exploited between warring factions of the uniparty.
Trump's abilities to curtail the giant hydra provide us with breathing space, but the organs established and funded up to the present aren't going anywhere.
I’m certainly not a military expert, IMO this has little or minor attachments to Iran and more to do with suffocating Chinese energy transfers.
IMO, The WEF and UN climate change agenda (along with open borders) was always a play to castrate western civilization’s military and homeland infrastructures.
What about the Shah? Wouldn’t he be an option, even if it’s in the interim?
He’s not technically a “Shah”. He may do as an interim leader, but he has to ditch the Pahlavi royalty nonsense.
Israel will do it. Wait.
Boots on the ground? Democracy from the rubble? You left out nation building.
Hope they take out all the WMD also.
Remember Colin Powell saying something about “you break it, you bought it”?
Colin is dead and we don't subscribe to that now
George Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. are dead too, but we still try to live up to their examples and principles.
And who is "we" who don't subscribe to that?
The number of Trump voters who are willingly watching a decade-long perspective change overnight and are totally fine with it are no better than the Obama/Hillary/Biden voters who are willing to excuse the excesses of Democrats.
You are like a broken clock - correct twice a day. But now is not one of those times.
Just keep repeating that mantra, make your excuses for Trump when he totally betrays his voters, if it makes you feel better.
If Trump announced open borders tomorrow, you’d find a way to justify that too.
Actually you are more like a malfunctioning digital clock - never right but continually flashing “ERROR”.
You are like a broken clock: right twice a day.
True, but virtually any outcome is likely to be a big improvement. I expect elements of the Iranian military to turn against the regime in the next few days.
Why would you expect that?
Would you expect that here if China bombed DC?
SC, there’s a big difference between how Americans perceive their government and how Iranians do.
I watch American citizens protest against their government every single weekend. They claim that getting rid of Trump would be a blessing and they would dance in the streets if he were killed. In fact, if you watched strictly mainstream media, you might even think those people are a majority in America.
Yeah, me too. Nearly all are professional paid agitators. Code Pink, BLM, Democratic Socialists of America, Antifa. I’ve met people who tell me they are paid to attend these events and shout slogans. They are white noise.
Trump, despite his flaws, is not beholden to donors, and he loves his country. Progressives are incensed because he is challenging their vote manipulation and the embezzlement of hundreds of billions of dollars (not my figure, the CBO). He is setting back a socialist takeover of the U.S. by years if not decades.
"Nearly all are professional paid agitators. Code Pink, BLM, Democratic Socialists of America, Antifa. I’ve met people who tell me they are paid to attend these events and shout slogans. They are white noise."
My point is that the literal color revolution playbook calls for putting these types of people in foreign countries, then using their "reactions" as the "proof" that the populace is behind whatever the CIA wants.
We saw people toppling that giant Saddam statue in Iraq, but turns out that was just the US Army.
I said in June there goals cannot be accomplished without boots on the ground, and boots on the ground would be a disaster.
Matt Taibbi also supported this strike by the way. He said unequivocally last year he fully supports regime change and thinks bombing Iran is cool. The only thing he opposed was the nation building after. He’s a complete war hawk on Iran.
No, this kind of factual timeline reporting is very valuable. Good work.
100%
Okay Trump as proven once again. Don't F with me. I will kill you if you do. But what do they think is going to happen in Iran now? Iran will just decide to stand down and sue for peace? Of will they become enraged and strike out with even more desperation and kill thousands with a lucky strike on something.. Or maybe they hit one of the Aircraft carries with a hypersonic missile causing tremendous damage or loss of life. There is one thing we have learned since the Iraq and Afghanistan mistakes is that the Folks in the government do not have a plan for day 2. Especially if we take some real losses.
I am not convinced this is in our interest. Iranian leaders are not good, but join the club of bad leaders around the globe. Change was happening in Iran, but of course not at the pace the US sought. I am sure Trump will bask for many weeks on his so called victory. But history has taught us over and over again that bombs are not a long term solution. Unfortunately it will take several months to realize this. And for this no agreement with Israel for the Palestinians. And of course we are not bombing Israel as they continue their campaign to take all the Palestinian land. The Middle East should be wary of their plans.
So you're wrong already. Khomeini is dead as is much if the leadership, military targets were effectively hit and the Palestinians blew it due to their years if intransigence. We Israelis are no longer willing to take any risks with them after Oct 7. It's not like they haven't said they'll try to kill us all again, they have. There are big changes here in the ME to a large extent due to the support of President Trump.
So your plan is to kill all of THEM first, just like in Gaza?
The Iranians have been trying to get rid of the government for many years. Gazans attacked US on Oct 7, not the other way around. And that was after 18 years of them firing rockets into Israel. You may support fundamental Islamists but most sane people do not
How many Israelis died in the rocket attacks? How many Gazans has the IDF killed?
That’s a question of military competence, not right or wrong.
So the solution is to kill as many of THEM as you can, especially children.
You are deluded
Who occupied who for decades and tortured and murdered innocent civilians including children?
The territory you refer to is disputed but even though we offered it to the Pallys several times they said no. Why was that? And we don't murder innocent civilians. That's what the Arabs do.
Gazans attacked the US in October 7?? How did I miss that?
For. Fuck’s. Sakes.
Suicidal empathy.
You Israelis are going to have your nation destroyed with ballistic missiles and it’s not even remotely close to justice for the crimes your people and nation have committed against innocent civilians.
Moronic,uninformed comment.
Dream on.
No need to dream, I’m watching it happen. Mass casualty event in Beit Shemesh just now!
Yesterday Iran hit the largest Israeli desalination plant.
And as for the rest of the day and beyond? Targets abound.
Fuck around and find out.
We'll be fine but I appreciate your concern.
Khameini. Khomeini died a long time ago. You should know this if you’re going to comment on it.
I think you mean "Khamenei", not "Khameini", if you're referring to the guy killed yesterday.
Good catch.
No, Trump has sid repeatedly that it is up to the Iranian people to take over and decide what they want. Maybe get some real information before opining.
Apparently the Iranian people are just supposed to "rise up" and "take control" of their country.
I think the people currently running the country will have a slight problem with that -- so then what?
Sources I have read indicate that there are IC (and likely special ops) assets in Iran coordinating with Iranians now to assist in establishing a new government. It will certainly not be easy. It is heartening to see the many celebrations in Iran (and of Iranian exiles) worldwide. Particularly great to see some courageous Iranian women ditching the horrid hijabs and dancing, especially recalling the young woman who protested in January by burning a pic of Khamenei with her cigarette.
I was quite young, but aware of the 1979 hostage crisis.
Also interesting is the solidarity among our other ME allies against Iran. Supposedly MBS was one of the strongest advocates for the strikes, calling Pres. Trump repeatedly to encourage him to attack.
Never underestimate what courage and planning can achieve. Israel clearly has a wide spy network in Iran; God willing the Iranian people can meld into a sustainable, non radical government.
This is a coda, imho, to a terrible period of settling for decline and feckless diplomacy.
We call that nation-building, the very thing that everybody in the administration says isn't going to happen in Iran.
Nation building by Iranians sounds pretty good, and we can assist. Nation building by Paul Bremer with assistance from Halliburton, not so much.
So if we don't have boots on the ground, how do we achieve the outcome we want?
"Bomb the shit out of them and hope for the best" is possibly a WORSE strategy than nation building.
yes exactly my thought. Did someone not think through that some Colonel no one knows might see this has a opportunity to make a name for himself.
And there's little doubt Iran had detailed plans for this exact scenario. People are already tapped to fill empty spots in the government.
It's a broad term, isn't it. Difference between encouraging a NON RADICAL TERRORIST regime and having thousands of our soldiers billeted there for many years.
There are a lot of things I don’t “like”, but sometimes assessing reality requires one to do those things to achieved a better outcome.
But those guys were already in the terrorist organizations....we expect them to just give up their terrorism and hand over the keys?
This does not seem likely, knowing the history of the region.
I am willing to wait and see. Of course the hardened terrorist types will scheme and try to gain/regain power. However, 40 of the worst taken out today is what I”d call a good start.
one would think the Americans have a few suggestions
That's the only way it could even POSSIBLY "work" the way we want it to -- supposedly we're just gonna trot out the son of the Shah and hope Iranians forgot who he was.
seems to be the plan the sins of the father etc
See my comment above. The armed forces will split.
Isn't Iran a sovereign country? Who elected the US/Israel to be the deciders of who will rule that country?
Uh, when they chose to kill Americans throughout the Middle East. When they sent assassins to kill Iranian dissidents in the U.S. and the rest of the world. When they torture and kill girls for refusing to wear the hijab.
Who decided that we can dictate to other countries what weapons they can have?
If they were smart, and they are, they would have sleeper cells everywhere. Avoid hard targets(aircraft carriers) and hit soft targets: electric grids, energy supply, water sources, stadiums, malls. It is very easy to upset the Western world with some relatively mild death and destruction.
Quite possible. Bring it on. We already had one deranged Senegalese Muslim shoot up a bar in Austin.
It seems most of Iran’s leadership has been killed. The exiled prince has a 100 day plan that includes elections etc. Iran without this insane islamist rule could be a crown jewel of the Middle East. Every country around them is building massive sky scrapers and moving into the 21st century. If things go right and that’s a big if right now imagine peace in the ME plus no major terror sponsor around the globe. The world will be a much more peaceful place. Travel to Iran will be incredible for its economy as Iran has biblical historical importance. I’m also old enough to say We owed them this for taking our hostages in 1979. Payback is a bitch.
I am a romantic idealist by nature but even I don’t have such a rosy view for the future.
Well said, James.
Never get involved in a land war in Asia.
When death is on the line!!🤣🤣🤣
Inconceivable!
You mean provoke, right?
True. Should be no need.
Maybe it’s best to start with the age old question, “qui bono” in trying to divine motives and objectives? We don’t need convoluted conspiracy theories to see that a chaotic and weakened Iran benefits not only Israel but also the Arab Gulf States. In addition to the obvious Trumpian FAFO motive, Trump has made it abundantly clear that he (we) are determined to build some kind of collaboration among the oil-rich Gulf States and Israel to stabilize the region. Iran and its proxies are a major roadblock and a nuclear-armed Iran with ballistic missiles is unacceptable to US, Israeli, and Arab states. The Iranians know this and it’s a major reason why they attacked their neighbors. This attack (bombing Iran) is of a piece with the post-Gaza War efforts and the recent National Security finding…BTW, thanks to the Racket crew for publishing the timeline on the run up to the Iran attack! It’s true, as several subscribers noted, that the information was findable elsewhere, but compiling, organizing and preserving it is useful: that was Matt’s original idea to counter the MSM penchant for memory holing flawed narratives after years of BS.
Iraq benefits. Syria benefits. Lebanon benefits. The Gulf Arabs benefit as you say. Israel of course benefits. Mostly,the Iranian people benefit.
Kind of ironic that the Regime animated by a belief that war would summon the 12th Imam which in turn would herald the end of the world was cracked by a 12-day war. Even more that a regime dedicated to eternal war against the Infidel is falling right at Biblical holiday which commemorates an evil ruler of Persia being killed and replaced by a benevolent one.
The Persian (Iranian) captivity under the Ayatollahs lasted 47 years. The Babylonian Captivity which sent the Israelites to Persia lasted 47 years. And of course the essential leader key to making this happen is the 47th President.
I'm the furthest thing from a Bible-thumper but I get a sense of awe from this event. I suspect this is a greater chapter in history than we understand in this moment.
It gets better. Iran established a democratic constitution in 1906, which US & UK effectively ended 47 years later. And the Iranian civilian jetliner we shot down had about 47X6 passengers on board. And 47 girls killed by our bombing a school yesterday. And 47 is Prime, as in Amazon Prime which is one of the transnational corporations celebrating the destruction of any country not part of the Western Oligarchic Blob.
Well .... you have a way with data.
I think we should hold off on "We bombed their school!" It's possible, as the school was somehow placed right at a military target (missile launchers). I saw one report that it was an IRGC missile that misfired and detonated upon landing. It might be weeks or months until we know the truth.
We may never know the truth.
There are probably doorbell cameras, random people who saw it live and Iranians on the ground can gather up fragments of the missile. It's a missile, not magic, and it's not going to be a mystery forever if the locals don't want it to be.
And none other than Kevin Bacon is starring in a new show on Amazon Prime. I think he's in on this. I gotta go make a new tinfoil hat.
Interesting perspective. Iran was, of course, Zoroastrian until the jihadists rode out from Medina with “convert or die.” Egypt, Syria and Iraq were Christian. Since the 8th century, Islamic countries have mostly been a failure except in areas like torture and death.
Imagine if the will and resources devoted to all these military interventions was directed at stopping the waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Or making our elections verifiably accurate. Or passing a balanced budget amendment. Or making our healthcare system no longer a bottomless pit of money while we have one of the lowest life expectancies in the developed world. We could name such policies “Make America Great Again” or “America First”. But none of these things have happened, nor will they occur by 2028.
It’s like a centuries long Groundhog Day, where we ask politicians to fix the problems in our country, but instead get overseas wars one after another. Are we going to have the return of freedom fries?
I don't see this as a new war, but the beginning of the end of a very old one.
🛎️🔨
Great timeline, thanks for this!
For more ‘recent’ start date, I’d point to 10/7/23. The aftermath was Israel literally neutralizing both Hezbollah & Hamas. These were Iran’s insurance policies. Notice how both haven’t lobbed one rocket or missile since start of this new round of fighting.
That’s because Israel & USA wouldn’t have initiated any direct attack on Iran unless the proxies were neutered first.
Note that there is no attack against the Artesh, and only the Revolutionary Guard and its leadership. Whenever the bombs stop, the ‘hope’ is that the less ideological branch of the Iranian military will keep order for whatever might be the next regime.
Now that the die is cast, the US/Israel need to delete the ‘next man up’ for a few rounds. Such as taking out whoever is named the next Supreme Leader. The Islamic State needs to be decimated, and that’s going to likely require Seals & Special Forces.
The other thinking is that Trump is a deal-maker. So, he may not take this to the ‘end’ it now requires, if you really want to squash Tehran’s nuke ambitions for the next 100 years. He may cut a deal w/ the new Ayatollah. This would be a mistake
I did not vote for this. And I’m no fan of forever wars. But here we are.
Trump has never made an actual deal in his worthless life and is too ignorant and vicious to start now. This is a disaster and will destroy the United States. You’re a damned fool if you think there is any possible other result.
Go ahead and explain to us how “this will destroy the United States”. Be sure to use vetted sources.
You see when you make angry, emotional unfounded comments and you’re asked to back it up, it’s crickets from all you wokesters.
She must've been fresh from an ICE "protest" when she posted.
TDS doesn’t add much to an otherwise interesting conversation.
Sounds like you are thoughtful and open minded on this🤣🤣🤣
The report is 40 members of leadership dead, including Khamenei’s family, fwiw.
You voted for Harris?
No, I’m a 3x Trump voter. He campaigned on keeping us out of wars. I realize that’s not always possible. I’m not a big fan of war (I’m a veteran and have seen the damage done)
I'm not a fan of war either but the bombs are falling on me and my friends and neighbors lost loved ones on Oct 7 after 18 years of rockets out of Gaza. We Israelis have lost sympathy for people who just want to kill us.
I’d rather Israel have handled this on its own. I’m in the US and bombs not falling on me. It’s Israel’s fight. USA is involved because of the oil, who controls it and who gets it. This is a check against China move. As was Venezuela. As is Nigeria. Israel has been destabilizing Arab countries for the past 25 years. Any country that supported a 2-state solution got the Israeli stink eye. I understand why the Israeli ‘Clean Break’ strategy from past. Because appeasement from 1948 to 1990’s wasn’t working. It’s just that Israel change in strategy brought the USA along with it, and I resent the spilling of our blood and treasure.
What fantasy world do you live in? The Arabs are constantly attacking us and have also killed many Americans. You need to learn some history.
This SNL cold opening this evening is pretty funny.
https://youtu.be/cInVSNM4bsU?si=0fUHD0alM6pacPpX
Been reading The Free Press lately?
Islam has been taking US hostages since the 1790s. The US Marines were formed specifically to end enslavement of US commercial sailors by the Caliphate.
Holy shit dude. The Cranberries release a great song in 1994 called Zombie. Are you perhaps who Dolores was singing about?
Then why can’t Israel fight its own wars?
We do all the time. 1948, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006....and really how many Americans have to die at the hand of the ayatollah before you're ready to do something about it.
Then why can’t you handle this one on your own?
I think the West's mistake was in putting Israel in the Middle East to give us a proxy in our never-ending quest to control Middle East oil. This was a devil's bargain for the Jews, to say the least. I always thought Nevada would have been more sensible for the U.S. and far safer for the Jews. Nevada is underpopulated and its climate is similar to Israel's. Plus, this way the entire U.S. would have benefited enormously from the intellectual richness of Jewish culture. The Jews' financial prowess would also have been a good fit in a state that has its own rules in that area. I realize "being good with money" is a trait developed by being treated as outcasts. But the Jews cast themselves out in a way, too. Anyway, that same tribalist tendency might have clashed with the melting-pot fantasies of Americans back in the last century. I guess we're done with the nonsense now. Diversity, baby! Would love to know your thoughts!
We are indigenous to the land of Israel - Judea Jew get it? The Muslims are only indigenous to Saudi Arabia they have colonized ALL the other places you find them.
Actually Alison, Ishmael was also born of our father Abraham and his slave, Hagar. The descendants of Abraham became both Jews, and then much later, Muslim. But same root.
Unfortunately, it was totally possible to keep us out of this war of choice.
Iran started a war with us 47 years ago and has never stopped.
Their animating cry is Death To America, Death to Israel. The beards think in thousand year chunks not the next election cycle, they have a better Manhattan Project than our original Manhattan project and they have ICBM technology sharing with North Korea.
Why it took 47 years for the US to do anything effective about this is not at all obvious. As it turns out, President 47 is the key.
Did you even read my post?
Here you go, again:
“Now that the die is cast, the US/Israel need to delete the ‘next man up’ for a few rounds. Such as taking out whoever is named the next Supreme Leader. The Islamic State needs to be decimated, and that’s going to likely require Seals & Special Forces.”
No, the Iranian people will decide what they want.
It was very possible to not bomb Iran.
Who could possibly vote for Harris, the living embodiment of the Peter Principle?
And it has to be made abundantly clear to the supporters of the terror regime that, when that regime falls, and Iranians breathe the sweet air of freedom, there will be a reckoning for their crimes and it will be swift and painful. The only way they can save themselves is to surrender and repent their crimes.
The timeline should go back to 1979, otherwise it lacks context.
See the following for context:
https://instapundit.substack.com/p/cutting-off-the-head-of-the-snake?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1l37t3
Unfortunately, I am reaching the same conclusion. What a shame. For me the biggest question here is whether, in the grand judgment of history to come, this attack will be viewed as a pre-emptive attack of the type which could have prevented WWII had Germany and Italy's dictatorships activities been nipped in the bud or alternatively a huge mistake. I am hoping for the former, and not the latter. This will depend entirely on whether Israel, the U.S., and the various Middle Eastern nations finally decide to put down their proverbial boxing gloves and form a peaceful trading block based upon which the Middle Eastern peoples can truly benefit from the great riches located withing their respective boundaries. I pray for this, but I am afraid history to date reflect it may be a forlorn hope.
3/1/2026 Iran closes the Straight of Hormuz, over 20 US military bases hit. New leadership already in place in Iran. Iran declares jihad. The entire Muslim world is on call. Pakistanis storm the US consulate, 12 kill shot dead by Americans. Thousands gathered in Kargil, India, to mourn the death of Iranian leadership. A 40 day period of mourning, then what?
Americans, prepare to die for the sadist entity 'Israel'.
Following the death of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran has raised the red flag of revenge above the Jamkaran Mosque in the city of Qom.
Vows to hit US and Israel with 'force they've never experienced before' as more bombs hit Tehran
Iran's largest Consulate is in Mexico. It operates worldwide. No need to ask why. Hezbollah has been active in Venezuela for years. Much property along the US southern border is own by foreign shell companies. We had open borders for four years. Is this not enough to send shivers down a spine?
Wow. I’m scared.