The Middle East Minuet of Death

On this day:

180
Marcus Aurelius dies leaving Commodus the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.
624
Led by Muhammad, the Muslims of Medina defeat the Quraysh of Mecca in the Battle of Badr.
1776
American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
1780
American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday “as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence”
2008
Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer resigns after a scandal involving a high-end prostitute. Lieutenant Governor David Paterson becomes New York State governor.

***

Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.--Lincoln

***

The Pens-Colorado game last night was terrific. Colorado is really big and fast.

***

There is some talk that Russia's Shahed drone with its self-guidance system can be jammed--or even taken over and pirated to be redirected against its original user--and Russia is turning to control them better by using Starlink.

***

Fernando Tatis Jr., Ketel Marte, Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Junior Caminero, and Manny Machado. That's part of the batting lineup of the Dominican World team.

***

Is there some sort of gene coupling in politicians, like fair skin and red hair? Do they all act with just a little bit of Spitzerism? And how do they know, like Stalwell, that the electorate will rarely hold them responsible for their bad judgment? Or compulsion?

***

The Middle East Minuet of Death

Is the "conventional weapons shield" of Iran's nuclear production that so demanded American interference a new concept? A new moniker, a new buzzphrase to capture the Press's imagination? Or is a shift afoot? Was the mother-of-all-bombing-raids inadequate? Or is there a true policy shift? Or, as it looks, did the Israelis unearth new information that made them decide to attack Iran, and did the U.S. tag along to give the appearance of calling the tune?

Certainly, the resulting Iranian response must have been a surprise to most. The international spiteful suicide bomber was felt to be the sole default setting of Israel; to have Iran unmask itself as willing to destroy as much of the world as it could in defeat was unexpected.

And why, while brandishing their indiscriminate, destructive threats, do they want to appear so thoughtful and precise?

The Other 51%

On this day:
597 BC
Babylonians captured Jerusalem, replaced Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king.
37
Caligula became Roman Emperor after the death of his great uncle, Tiberius.
1244
Over 200 Cathars are burned after the Fall of Montségur
1521
Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines.

1621

Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, “Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset.”

1861
Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who has been evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
1865
American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough began as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.
1912
Lawrence Oates, an ill member of Robert Falcon Scott’s South Pole expedition, left the tent to die, saying: “I am just going outside and may be some time.”
1935
Adolf Hitler ordered Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
1945
Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers. 5,000 are killed.
1945
World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ended, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persisted.
1968
Vietnam War: In the My Lai massacre, between 350 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.
1988
Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5000 people and injuring about 10000 people.
1995
Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment is officially ratified in 1865.

***

"The point to remember is that what the government gives, it must first take away."--John S. Coleman, address to the Detroit Chamber of Commerce

***

After Columbus, the English came late to settle America with their successful colony at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. But traders and explorers sailed the coast. In 1524, the Florentine seaman and explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano mapped the entire eastern seaboard of North America and provided the first map of the region later known as New England.
The Mayflower landed off the coast of modern-day Massachusetts in November 1620. They were supposed to have landed in Virginia and were unprepared for the harsh New England winter, and with so many of them sick, building the settlement progressed slowly.
Samoset was the Abenaki Native American who first approached the English settlers of Plymouth Colony in friendship, introducing them to natives Squanto and Massasoit,   who would help save and sustain the colony.

***

Is capitalism failing most Americans? Median hourly wages (for men and women), annual earnings (for men and women), and family and household incomes are at all-time highs.

***

Cuba looks to be waking up. The Americans never forgave them for the Missile Crisis. Israel is devastating Lebanon with cluster bombs. Russia is getting resistance in the southeast.

Of 16,000 strikes in Iran, 9,000 have been Israeli.

***

The Other 51%

From the swamps to the savannah to the modern world, competition has driven advances, with its failures. The creation of a sense of place and its defense, first as individuals, then gangs, then clans, then larger. The common thread has been war, on some scale.

Reading about this Darwinism applied genetically, one usually thinks of males either in combat or in combat's more subtle forms of integrity, place, and achievement.

The evolution of males from hunter/defender to farmer, then corporate--trying to establish himself and his future with periodic forays into combat--might be understandable as a sliding analog development, as physical Darwinism becomes more social. These thoughts and images always seem to be one-sided, male-dominated generalizations. But what about women? It always seems as if the contributor of 50% of the genetic future is just along for the combative ride. 

Does the female bring the same edgy competition to the selective process and the future? What is her competitive advantage on the savannah, and how is it recognized, encouraged, and advanced? 

And when she arrives in the modern world of glass and towers, will the same male rewards of success, power, and influence that he brought from the savannah reward her? Does her law degree tickle some atavistic site in her analog slide into modernity?

Or has she always taken independent, unsupported steps into each new future? Has she always been a wide-eyed captive in every new world?

     

Sunday/Blind

On this day:
44 BC
Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.
1545
First meeting of the Council of Trent.
1781
American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Courthouse – Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400.
1783
In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup d'état never takes place.
1917
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar.
1933
Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss keeps members of the National Council from convening, starting the Austrofascist dictatorship 

1952

In Cilaos, Réunion, 1870 mm (73 inches) of rain falls in a 24 hour period, setting a new world record (March 15 through March 16).
1985
The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).

***

"Gentlemen, you must pardon me. I have grown gray in your service and now find myself growing blind." This is Washington, putting on his glasses and reading his response to the "Newburgh Conspiracy" raised in his officer corps against the American civil government.

***

The great problem in assessing recent years is not that Trump is a resurgence of the common man. Nor is his assumption of power greater than the government's assumption during the Biden Regency. Biden was non compos but someone--or many someones--thought they were competent to run the government without public approval or oversight, too. One is a governing blusterer, the other a governing, blustering shadow.

***

Researchers discover ketogenic diet prevents seizures by altering gut bacteria, stabilizing brain activity in epilepsy patients.

***

The nighttime habit that wrecks memory? Checking your phone and sleep fragmentation. Even brief awakenings and light exposure can impair the brain’s overnight memory consolidation.

***

This year, there will be over 9 billion--BILLION--trips from China.

***

This is not a war. And the border is closed.

Are these people any different, ever?

***

Sunday/Blind

Today was known as Lumen Christi, "The Light of Christ." It was accompanied by a ceremony of light-bearing and exchange.

Today's gospel is rich with metaphor, symbolism, and a hint of revolution, all delivered in a peculiar vaudevillian tone. It mixes light and dark, the physical and the immaterial, the visible and the invisible. In it, Christ encounters and heals a blind man on the Sabbath. First, He dismisses the old idea that the man's infirmities are due to his or his parents' sin. Then, the man presents himself to the priests, who are divided—some are amazed, others indignant that the healing was done on the Sabbath. Finally, Christ flips the lesson, suggesting that sin is a kind of blindness of the soul that hampers the spirit. Throughout, there is the revolutionary idea of human freedom and responsibility, and the danger of rigid social constructs—this was two thousand years ago.
The debate is funny, almost a parody of bureaucracy and decision-making. and eventually, the blind man's provenance is established by Christ's detractors.

And there's another provocative thing: After the blind man is cured, Christ seeks him out.



Going Blind by Rainer Maria Rilke

She sat just like the others at the table.
But on second glance, she seemed to hold her cup
a little differently as she picked it up.
She smiled once. It was almost painful.

And when they finished and it was time to stand
and slowly, as chance selected them, they left
and moved through many rooms (they talked and laughed),
I saw her. She was moving far behind

the others, absorbed, like someone who will soon
have to sing before a large assembly;
upon her eyes, which were radiant with joy,
light played as on the surface of a pool.

She followed slowly, taking a long time,
as though there were some obstacle in the way;
and yet: as though, once it was overcome,
she would be beyond all walking, and would fly.


On His Blindness by John Milton

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."

SatStats

On this day:

44 BC
Casca, Cicero, and Cassius decided, in the night before the Assassination of Julius Caesar, that Mark Antony should stay alive.
1757
Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War.
1780
American Revolutionary War: Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana.
1942
Orvan Hess and John Bumstead became the first in the world to successfully treat a patient, Anne Miller, using penicillin.
1964
A jury in Dallas, Texas, finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy

***

Voltaire referred to Byng’s execution in his satirical novel Candide: “In this country, it is wise to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.”

***

"The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money," Trump said Thursday on his social media site.
It was only last month, in his State of the Union address, that Trump had bragged about gas prices at $2.30 a gallon, a figure that has since soared more than 50% to a national average of $3.60 a gallon, according to AAA.

It's wonderful to be in a country where both contradictory options are the greatest ever seen.

***

Modern economic growth in its global form has done more for workers and the environment than any army of government inspectors, regulators, customs officers, or IRS accountants. We Americans are rich not because of unions or anti-trust or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but because, on the whole, we have let capitalism work.--mccloskey

***



SatStats

Only 1% of Americans identify as vegans, according to Gallup, while the same poll showed that 3% consider themselves vegetarian. Vegetarian restaurants have had a hard time of it.

*

   Environment:

Contrary to the EPA 2009 predictions, there has been a decline in smog levels from 1980 to 2024.

There has been no trend in hurricane numbers or intensities since 1973. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds no change in global flooding.

There has been no trend in the EPA heat wave index since 1895, except for the 1930s.

Several studies show a decline in net mortality from heat and cold.

U.S. wildfires have declined sharply since 1926, and global wildfire acreage declined 24% between 1998 and 2015.

Global droughts have declined about 0.5% per decade since 1950.

Global per capita food production has increased 40% since 1980.

And the latest peer-reviewed research reports no acceleration globally in sea-level rise.

*

   Immigtation

15% of the population of Ireland entered the US between 1851 and 1860

9% of the population of Norway entered the US in the 1880s

6% of the population of Italy entered the US from about 1900-1910

*

Re: California's proposed 5% wealth tax: “Over 100,000 simulations with varying discount rates, wealth tax revenues, and lost income tax revenues associated with departures, we find that 71% of scenarios in which the Act is instituted yields a negative [net present value], signaling the Act would generate a net cost to the state of California,” the researchers wrote in a Thursday Substack post. The “average across these draws,” they say, “is –$24.7 billion.”

*

Iran is the size of Europe

*
 Argentines have more than $250 billion in dollars stashed at home, along with offshore accounts and safe-deposit boxes—some six times the reserves of the central bank.

But two years into Milei’s government, Argentines are easing their grip on their precious dollars.

Dollars held in the country’s banks by private-sector investors hit a record at the end of last year of nearly $37 billion, up 160% since Milei took office in December 2023, according to central-bank data.

*

People born in 1990 have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer compared with people born in 1950

*

Germany’s population is projected to shrink by nearly 5 per cent within 25 years — a significantly steeper decline than previously forecast, according to an Ifo study.

*

In ten-generation world calibrations, Muslims become the largest tradition.

*

In 2025, roughly 60,000 new swimming pools were built in the U.S. That's down about 40% from 2022 and approximately half the peak seen during the Covid-era boom.

Lies and Policy

On this day:

624
Battle of Badr: a key battle between Muhammad’s army, the new followers of Islam, and the Quraish of Mecca. The Muslims won this battle, known as the turning point of Islam, which took place in the Hejaz region of western Arabia.
1781
William Herschel discovers Uranus.
1865
American Civil War: The Confederate States of America agree to the use of African American troops.
1881
Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him. (Gregorian date: it was March 1 in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia.)
1921
Mongolia, under Baron Roman Ungern von Sternberg, declares its independence from China.
1938
Anschluss of Austria to the Third Reich.
1954
Battle of Điện Biên Phủ: Viet Minh forces attack the French.
1964
American Kitty Genovese is murdered, reportedly in view of neighbors who did nothing to help her, prompting research into the bystander effect.
1969
Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.

***

“Europe can no longer be a custodian for the old-world order” and needs a “more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy”--Ursula von der Leyen

***

Not developing our own shale gas reserves has a huge opportunity cost.
It got a lot huger this week--Ridley

***

The Bank of England has confirmed Sir Winston Churchill will be scrapped from banknotes and replaced with images of wildlife.

***

Is trade across the borders of Ohio and Pennsylvania economically distinct from trade between Ohio and Alaska? France?

***

The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has issued a sharp rebuke to the US government over its decision to temporarily lift sanctions on the sale of Russian oil in the wake of sharply rising energy prices, saying the decision was wrong.

***


Lies and Policy

Chris Coyne recently reviewed The Kissinger Tapes: Inside His Secretly Recorded Phone Conversations. One snippet:

"Since Kissinger did not intend his transcripts to be public, the collection is a window both into him as a person and into the operations of the U.S. national security state. Four themes stand out.

The first is the sheer prevalence of systematic deception. For Kissinger, lies weren’t a strategic tool limited to selective uses in international statecraft. They appear to have been part of his personal makeup. Wells notes that he was “a habitual and easy liar.” Throughout the transcripts, he deceives his foreign counterparts, his colleagues, and the media."

The border is secure, the President is sharp as a tack, 1619, Anna Anderson is Princess Anastasia, “Russians Hungry But not Starving,” there would be no war if the Sudeten lands were turned over to Germany, the Chernobyl evacuation was precautionary and temporary,“ Saddam Hussein possessed biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction,” American boys will not be asked to fight an Asian war...

We poor Americans are inundated by the free speech avalanche of self-serving mendacity

Lies are Procrustes' solution to stubborn truths. As with Kissinger, they have become part of our marrow.

Trade

On this day:

1994
The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
2009
Financier Bernard Madoff plead guilty in New York to scamming $18 billion, the largest in Wall Street history.
2011
A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan’s earthquake.

***


"If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see how bad it is with representation."--The Old Farmer's Almanac

***

Shumer says the Voter ID is actually an ICE conspiracy!

***

Whole Foods in New York has a 'holding pen' for wealthy shoplifters, according to a funny article in NR. 'For some, a little thieving is their way to “protest” corporate America. For others, it’s an expression of the economic anxiety that accompanies living in “an unaffordable city.” DeLigter deemed it “a form of collective nihilism.”'...'The biggest revelation here is that Whole Foods’ security guards seem to evince “glee” while doing their jobs. Who wouldn’t? The opportunity to impose consequences on people who appear to have avoided them deep into adulthood isn’t an opportunity that comes around every day.'

***

Trump says the Iran "excursion" will keep us out of war.

***

David Bossie was exposed for allegedly raking in $18.5 million for an unauthorized group called the Presidential Coalition, which reportedly fooled senior citizens into thinking they were helping Trump-aligned candidates.
A large chunk of the funds went to buy books he co-authored with Lewandowski, though the former campaign manager was not directly implicated.

***

The Brits are getting rid of non-royals on their banknotes in favor of animals.
The monarch has appeared on Bank of England notes since 1960, and will continue to do so in the future. Images of historical characters, starting with William Shakespeare, were first seen on the reverse side a decade later.
The current crop on circulating notes, in ascending order of note value, are Sir Winston Churchill, Jane Austen, JMW Turner and Alan Turing.
The Bank found itself mired in controversy owing to the absence of any women, apart from Queen Elizabeth II on notes in 2013. There has never been a historical figure who is black or from an ethnic minority background on the Bank's notes.

***

Trade

Trade is equal exchange. Both parties give up something they do not want as badly as what they receive. Trade is an agreement that makes both parties happy, not a "negotiation" where on party is at a disadvantage. Trade is a tie petween wqual partners.

Trade is not just about exchanging value; it's about building relationships and trust. Trust is earned and developed over time through agreed-upon rules and market access. Therefore, it goes beyond simple transactions, creating an environment of civil order—benign, dependable relationships. It's a social atmosphere of well-intended order—a symphony of quality and cooperation.

What can upset the order? First, government intervention. The violinist is the vice-president's niece and should have a larger role. How about a drum solo? The rules change; the discussion distorts. Patronage and favors intrude. And imagine the bribery! The trust and stable trading field developed and nurtured over the years will slowly dissolve.

And what if the trade is twisted to exploit some national preconception, some state advantage? So trade was just a bargaining chip? That would overturn the table of careful trade-building and fairness.

Tariffs.

 

Iran Musing

On this day:

241 BC
First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands – The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet, bringing the First Punic War to an end.
1629
Charles I of England dissolves the Parliament, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule.
1762
French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.
1804
Louisiana Purchase: In St. Louis, Missouri, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.
1814
Napoleon I of France is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
1831
The French Foreign Legion is established by King Louis-Philippe to support his war in Algeria.
1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican-American War.
1876
Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call by saying “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.”
1891
Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1906
The Courrières mine disaster, Europe’s worst ever, kills 1099 miners in Northern France.
1922
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.
1945
The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting firestorm kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.
1952
Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba and appoints himself as the “provisional president”.
1959
Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, 300,000 Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama’s palace to prevent his removal
1980
Madeira School headmistress Jean Harris shoots and kills Scarsdale diet doctor Herman Tarnower
2006
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.

***“

"It does not sound crazy to a Silicon Valley executive that maybe they could be in charge instead of you,” AI alignment researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky warned politicians. “If they actually could control superintelligence, they’d discard you like used toilet paper.”
Great. Politicians as an abused group.

***

On 13–14 October 1761, one of the Calas sons, Marc-Antoine, was found dead on the ground floor of the family's home. Rumors had it that Jean Calas had killed his son because he intended to convert to Catholicism. When interrogated, the family initially claimed that Marc-Antoine had been killed by a murderer. Then they declared that they had found Marc-Antoine dead, hanged. Because suicide was considered a heinous crime against oneself, and the dead bodies of suicides were defiled, they had arranged for their son's suicide to look like a murder. The law thought the boy had been killed because of anti-Catholic fanaticism.trial/torture description is quite grim.
French philosopher Voltaire, after initial suspicions of anti-Catholic fanaticism were dispelled by his investigations, began a campaign to get Calas's sentence overturned, claiming that Marc-Antoine had committed suicide because of gambling debts and not being able to finish his university studies due to his denomination.

Voltaire's efforts were successful, and King Louis XV received the family and had the sentence annulled in 1764.

***

Two famous brothers who worked as real estate brokers have been convicted of drugging and raping dozens of women over the course of decades.
Tal Alexander, 39, and Oren Alexander, 38, rose to prominence from their sales of luxury real-estate properties in New York and Miami. Along with a third brother Alon, 38, a jury found all three guilty of sex trafficking by a jury in New York.

***

Is European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen overreaching?

The diplomats who spoke to POLITICO argued that von der Leyen’s flurry of tweets and conversations with Gulf leaders did not formally represent EU foreign policy positions. Critics also voiced skepticism about what von der Leyen, who has no military means at her disposal and has no mandate to shape EU-wide foreign policy positions, could be offering Gulf states under missile and drone attack from Iran.

“What exactly is she promising when she says we will support them?” asked Loiseau. “Who is ‘we’? For now, the support is the Charles de Gaulle [French aircraft carrier], Rafale jets in Abu Dhabi, and defense agreements with some countries.”

“What we’re seeing is role-play with nothing behind it,” said Loiseau, who belongs to French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party. (Politico)

Ambition fills any vacuum.

***

Iran Musing

What was the impact of the B-2 bombing? Wasn't it supposed to make another attack unnecessary? What was the revelation that made this attack a next and necessary step? Have you ever heard of the "conventional-weapons-shield-of-nuclear-weapons thesis" the Americans used to justify it?

An unsubstantiated theory, i.e., out of whole cloth: Israel, for some reason (and their intel is very good), had decided to attack Iran again, and the Americans thought the appearance and power of the two together created a better public relations picture and gave them the appearance of control. America followed them in. (Warning: Made up.)

Iran had their own strange war moment. When it was clear they were getting clobbered, Iran began to attack everybody, old friends and foes alike.

There is a theory, the Sampson Theory, stating that Israel has no minor fight. Every struggle threatens their very existence. Any vulnerability was a step toward their eventual destruction. Every fight was a fight to the death. There would never be a compromise; there would never be a standing-eight count. They would never sue for peace.

And if it was clear that events had gone against them, that the tide was running in their enemy's favor, they, like Sampson, would pull the whole building down around their ears. They would put their 53 or so nukes in the air against every living target they could reach and turn the Middle East--and its oil--into a lifeless, useless husk of a place.

Perhaps that is what Iran planned too.