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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   19578 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026

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Iran - US - Israel War Flareup

“Israel says it has launched attack on Iran, as explosions reported in Tehran”

“The US has begun Major Combat Operations in Iran” - Donald Trump (headline flashed up just now on my phone, no link yet)

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More to follow but thought I’d post quickly for any commenting.

Well, I was wrong about this.

Good rule of thumb for US military interventions: once all the toys are out of the toybox, they're going to get played with.

A message to people trying to negotiate with the US is that the longer you let the build-up continue, the more you're going to have to give up to call it off. The effort involved in assembling these many military assets in-theater makes its momentum hard to stop. The inertia is just too much.

This is a near historical universal- Rome didn't negotiate after their final siege assault was ready.

  • Rome didn't negotiate after their final siege assault was ready

Can you give some citations. My google fu failed me on that topic

Caesar described the principle of “murum aries attigit” in his commentary on the Gallic wars, which literally means the “The Ram Has Touched the Wall.” It referred to a Roman policy: surrender would be accepted before, but not after the battering ram touched an enemy’s city walls.

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