Larry Wilkerson ...

 ... provides a good summary. 

There is really very little which could be added here, because neocons and their shills in Pentagon and CIA do not understand warfare and what real strategy--not some BS PowerPoint presentation--are. But then again, one cannot develop professional understanding of REAL war when the US military is forced to masturbate non-stop on the "accomplishments" of Israeli so called military. 

Sir, I salute you for your courage and being true to your military and civil duties and oaths. 

Summary.

As if this hasn't been clear before. 

1. For "journos"--"explosions in Tehran" don't mean "explosions IN Tehran". Most of the time those are the work of air defense and "explosions in the skies OVER Tehran";

2. Salvo model and issue of "leakers" describe perfectly any SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense). Israel has NO resources to conduct this against Iran;

3. Whatever "leakers" there were--they were very few and, sadly, managed to kill 4 Iranian servicemen;

4. Whatever Israel launched--most of it was intercepted. I don't know the percentage but it is very high. NATO is reeling from recognition of the effectiveness of the Iranian AD, as is Israel;

5. Deterrence worked, that much is clear--Israel never recovered from tour de force of Iranian strike capabilities on October 1st, and now Iran demonstrated that it can defend herself--this is not what NATO and Israel are used to when killing defenseless civilians;

6. US President Joe Biden has expressed hope that the IDF strikes mark the end of the escalation in the Middle East.“It looks like [Israel] didn’t hit anything other than military targets. My hope is this is the end,” he told reporters in Philadelphia. He added that he’d been briefed on the matter by the American intelligence community.

That's right, the only thing which is left for Israel and Washington is hope that Iran doesn't retaliate because it could be much worse than October 1st and Israel better hope that Putin is engaged and is calming things down with his Iranian counterparts. 

That was feeble from Israel, to put it mildly--militarily it is not in the same league. I wonder if Iranians want to get THAAD which will be provided to Israel, if they decide (hopefully not) to retaliate. 

And here is the post in comments from evidently hugely successful discussion yesterday between Nima, Larry and me.   

As a Sunni Muslim, Andrei is correct about what’s going on in the Sunni world. About half are doubling down in their hatred of all things Shia and getting more entrenched in secular nationalism, but half are seriously considering a united Muslim world under the leadership of Iran. We Sunnis are starting to think Allah has blessed Iran.

Many people still cannot grasp a gigantic mental shift in Ummah against the background of Iran not talking but coming out swinging. It is really metaphysical. It is so gigantic that I cannot find proper terms to describe it--the Arab street took a note... big time.

Larry's Summary.

 A good one: 

Some very consequential statements and movements today. The biggest — and most alarming — comes from Vladimir Putin. He minces no words — any attack inside Russia with Western precision missiles will be treated as an act of war and Russia will respond accordingly. ... This should be setting off alarm bells at the Pentagon and USEUCOM (US European Command) and NATO. But, I think that the military lightweights infesting these various commands have persuaded themselves that Moscow is just blowing hot air. This is the kind of miscalculation that can lead to reckless decisions on the part of NATO and Ukraine. While Putin is leaving no doubt about the position of Russia if such weapons are used, the reality on the ground in Ukraine is turning more dire for Ukraine with each passing day. Russia is announcing the capture of at least three settlements a day in the Donbass and is moving forward with determined lethality in the Kursk region. There is nothing that Ukraine can do, even with support from NATO, to alter the path to defeat.

I plan to talk about this warning in detail tomorrow. Then Larry delivers... classic Larry, LOL)))

Then there is the inability of the US to sustain a military erection in the Persian Gulf. After rushing two aircraft carrier task forces to the Middle East in anticipation of Iran launching a retaliatory strike on Israel, the United States has ordered the USS Roosevelt to leave West Asia (i.e., the Persian Gulf) and head east towards China. I am sure that US planners will be celebrating this deployment as proof that they frightened Iran into backing down from its promised retaliation. But, I suggest it is premature to pop champagne corks because Iran will strike at a time and place of its choosing.

This is a really good one. Sustainability, you know))) Read and watch at Larry's blog.

My Dear Friend...

 ... wrote a superb summary.

This scene comes near the beginning of the movie Gladiator (here but please read this article first). Hordes of German tribesmen pour out of the forest to fight against phalanxes of Roman legionaries, backed up by immense, flame-tossing battle engines.  Observing the setup, senior commander Quintus is perplexed. He can’t believe that the barbaric opponents foolishly wish to fight against mighty Rome. And he voices his opinion to the boss.

Byron references a masterpiece of Gladiator--one of my most beloved films of all time. It applies. Read the whole piece...