On 30 June 2026, I was on “Judging Freedom” talking with the Judge about the West’s foolish policy of helping Ukraine to “accelerate” its drone and missile attacks on the Russian homeland. And this includes President Trump, who appears to think Ukraine is doing the right thing and that he should applaud and support Kyiv. The West is also talking about taking further steps to damage the Russian economy. Unsurprisingly, Putin and other Russian leaders are very angry and Putin, who is being criticized for not waging the war vigorously enough, has now thrown down the gauntlet. Hard to see how this story has a happy ending.
The Judge and I also talked about the Iran war. I emphasized that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by Tehran and Washington on 17 June 2026 was a clear victory for Iran. President Trump was forced to sign this surrender document because the balance of coercive leverage clearly favors Iran and there is little the US can do to shift that balance in its favor. If you want evidence, look at the tit-for tat exchanges that took place this past weekend (26-28 June 2026) between Iran and the US. Iran won. The issue at play was whether Iran completely controls the movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz. The US obviously said no. At the end of this brief exchange, the US conceded defeat — Iran controls the Strait.
Read Full Article: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2026/07/no_author/the-balance-of-coercive-leverage/
