Za "Time" from New York
At the Sunok gas station near the exit from New York, where they fill up their tanks before continuing south on Interstate 95, drivers grumble about the new fuel prices. The company's digital display, with a red lightning bolt symbolizing speed, shows that the gallon is seventy cents more expensive. Although there are old debates in the line in front of "Dunkins" about whether a Boston donut with cream is better than one covered with chocolate, the citizens of America got the answer to what they don't talk about too much at this popular rest stop, which is named after the famous Vincent Lombardi. Yes, their country is at war.
Despite the fact that President Donald Trump calls the attack on Iran a "short trip" and his associates a "mission" or "strikes", there are not too many doubts about the nature of that conflict. It is not a war like the one in Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait or Iraq, but it is much more than sending troops to Haiti, bombing Libya or the recent actions in Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen or Venezuela.
In addition, for the first time since the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the bodies of soldiers were returned home in coffins. Their names will be found on city hero street billboards with their photo, rank and unit in which they served, somewhere in the cities of Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, Washington, Minnesota, Florida, Iowa or California, at the end of the line of those who have died since the First World War. America deeply respects those who have given their lives for their country.
MESSAGE WITHOUT MESSAGE
The word "war" is avoided not only because it sounds ominous, but also because, according to the Constitution, only Congress can make the decision to enter the US into a war, which has not happened since 1942. Since then, America has conducted dozens of military operations without a formal declaration of war, based on decisions by the president as commander-in-chief, from both parties. Trump is not the first to bypass Congress. That's what Bill Clinton did when he sent American troops to Haiti or Barack Obama who joined the attacks on Libya, but behind it were the decisions or resolutions of some other bodies, be it the United Nations or NATO. George Bush received the authorization of Congress and the support of the Security Council to participate in Desert Storm, and Clinton received the decision of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to launch an air military operation against FR Yugoslavia, while George Bush Jr. had behind him the resolutions of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the attack on Afghanistan and Iraq.
A "trip" to Iran has none of that. Despite the fact that America has been at enmity with the autocratic regime in Tehran for decades, the question of legitimacy is certainly one of the reasons why the majority of the US population is against that war. It's not just that the decision to bomb was made by a president who is supported by only 40 percent of citizens, but also because the explanations for the reasons for the attack sound extremely incoherent to many.
In the first address, Donald Trump said that the war opens up space for the Iranian people to change power, calling it a once-in-a-generation opportunity, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsett immediately said that the operation was not aimed at overthrowing the government in Tehran, but at destroying the country's nuclear and missile capabilities; at the same time, it was heard from the White House that it was a "preventive strike", that Iran would attack first, and that the country represents an "immediate threat to the USA and its allies", regardless of earlier claims that its nuclear program was destroyed during the attack in June; it was said that America would be ready to cooperate with the new people of the Iranian regime after the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but now the unconditional capitulation of that country is demanded; the war will "end soon", and maybe this is just "its beginning", but it will certainly last until the president "feels in his bones" that it is over.
Not only do Trump's political opponents from the ranks of the Democrats disagree with the war against Iran, for whom this action represents a "violation of the Constitution" for which the president "should be impeached", but also some prominent figures of the MAGA movement who shape conservative public opinion, be it Joe Rogan, Megan Kelly or Tucker Carlson, are also against the war. Rogan said in his podcast that the president's supporters feel that he has broken his main campaign promise to keep the US out of any conflicts: "You campaigned on the message of 'no more wars' and against stupid, pointless wars, and now we have one that we can't really explain clearly why we started it." Trump's former ally Marjorie Taylor Green wrote on X that it all "feels like the worst betrayal, coming from a man and an administration we all believed were different."
Opposing in their views, the progressive and conservative parts of America unexpectedly found a point of agreement that this is not the presidency many thought they were voting for, recalling Trump's campaign promises to keep the country out of war. "There are no wars. I haven't had any wars... I will not start wars. I will stop wars."
photo: ap...
VICTORY WON
In a war he said he would not start, the president claims victory has already been won, but NATO members are still being asked to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked and caused the biggest oil supply crisis in decades, forcing Washington to lift sanctions against Russia. When the allies say that it is not their war and that they do not know what the goal of the attack is, Donald Trump gets angry, justifying the name "Epic Rage" as an adequate name for this military action. By the way, Trump has long criticized not only NATO and the Europeans, but also the citizens of America - judges, political opponents, leaders of the Democrats, individual members of his party, journalists, universities and part of the citizens of his country. He is furious with everyone who opposes him.
In the absence of allies other than Israel, which had never happened before, new American forces were sent to the Middle East. Three warships with 2500 marines are on their way to join the 50.000-strong army. In that part of the world, the aircraft carriers "Abraham Lincoln" and "Gerald R. Ford", which have more firepower than most countries, have been there for a long time. They are followed by numerous destroyers armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles and anti-aircraft defense systems. Dozens of F-35, F-22 and F/A-18 fighter jets are already participating in the operation, while there are aircraft in the Indian Ocean that can support B-2 strikes. Stealth bombers from the USA. Several thousand attacks have been carried out over the past three weeks. The war with Iran cost 11,3 billion dollars in just the first six days, which is, for example, the state budget of Cyprus or Malta. The 13 lost lives and more than 200 wounded have a much higher price. Money in this country comes and goes, human losses are permanent.
Attempts to create an international coalition against Iran on the fly show how the whole action is planned. It has long been clear to the intelligence services that the Iranian regime will not collapse if its leaders are killed, and military circles are well aware that the Iranians have been preparing for the scenario of closing Hormuz for decades. A general recently explained to Trump that any fast boat can approach a ship in that strait and launch an attack, so the US does not have a clear strategy at the moment to solve that problem. The macho language of how Iran's strategic strongholds can be attacked "just for fun" does not change the impression that the country is still influencing the course of the war.
WARS IN BOOKS
Pragmatic and focused on the beauties and concerns of everyday life, American citizens do not delve too deeply into complex, historical explanations of the nature of the conflicts in which their country is involved. Very often they have no relation to it; it is obvious that such decisions are made regardless of the mood of public opinion, which remains somewhere on the sidelines until it reaches a point where it all hits them directly.
Contrary to the narcissistic beliefs of some Serbian citizens about American hostility, a huge number of US citizens have never even heard of that distant Balkan country or know where it is. Not because people here are undereducated, which is a huge Balkan prejudice, but because it is out of their sphere of interest. They don't even care what's going on in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, which are US territories, they check the news before they go on vacation to the Caribbean and that's it. They are as interested in conflicts around the world as the citizens of Serbia are in the Sudanese war or the unrest in Myanmar.
When flipping through the school books, it can be seen that this is nothing new. Quite simply, it is usually said that the US entered the war in Korea and Vietnam to stop the spread of communism, and participation in the Gulf War was explained by the expulsion of the Iraqi army from Kuwait.
That scholar of ancient Stagira, in his complex explanation of the nature of causation, without which, in his opinion, it is impossible to understand any thing, would call it the immediate movers of events. The final cause, or the reason for which something is done, remains opaque to ordinary citizens. When that's the case, they just have to mind their own business.
THE DAY AFTER
Regardless of the fact that the Iranian regime is hated in America, and that country is perceived as a true enemy, the war is primarily talked about by politicians and the media. Busy with everyday life, people don't talk about it too much. If you ask, you'll hear what they think about it, but they'd rather talk about how they had a successful day at work, the Oscars, or where they're going on spring break. It is usually spoken of in superlatives, when someone says okay or maintenance, it means things have gone wrong.
Such a mood has prevailed since the first morning after CNN reported that Iran was bombarded and the president posted a video message on his private social network. Truth social. The streets of Soho were full, there was a line in front of the restaurant "Jack's wife Freda". This trendy place is widely known for its poached eggs served with roasted tomatoes and halloumi cheese in a gremolata sauce, the "Malva cake" is truly excellent, a must-try for anyone traveling to lower Manhattan. Boston donuts can't even come close. All this clearly shows how distant the war is from the lives of ordinary people, which will remain unchanged until it begins to directly affect them. And that point is not so far away.
DONUTS FOR THE ROAD
There is no doubt that the Iranian regime is one of the worst in the world and that a nation whose statehood stretches back to the mythical days of Herodotus deserves to live in a democracy, but the question is how to reach that goal. Iran's military capabilities have been decimated, the country decapitated, the nuclear and missile programs destroyed, the navy buried, so maybe it's time to officially declare victory, before things take an even less planned path. All past experiences clearly show that the overthrow of autocratic regimes in the Middle East does not mean the arrival of democracy, but rather opens up space for greater chaos and new waves of refugees.
At some point, most Americans will start to care. The rise in energy prices will affect many families even when they don't visit the pumps, because the prices have a devastating effect on the financial markets, and when there is no investment, the entire economy slows down. What this means for them, the citizens already know very well as they move south along with the donuts from Dunkins, leaving behind the first signs of what is rolling over the horizon.
