The End of American Hegemony

Sowing death and destruction is not the same as projecting power. The doomed war against Iran is an unmistakable sign of the decline of US Empire.

[Pascal’s Note: The following is an assessment by a trusted analyst writing under the pseudonym John Snow]

By John Snow

After only 48 hours of American-Israeli bombardments against Iran, the all-out retaliation of the Islamic Republic and its refusal to negotiate a ceasefire, as well as demonstrations of support for the regime, seemed to clearly show that the United States and Israel have lost their gamble. As the reciprocal bombings continue, the consequences will likely be cataclysmic for the two states that initiated the hostilities. Ultimately, Trump—who had promised an end to regime-change wars—not only will have betrayed his electorate, but paradoxically will very likely be the American president who accelerated the decline of U.S. influence over the rest of the world.

American-Israeli Hubris

Officially, the aim of the operation “Epic Fury” was to decapitate the Islamic Republic of Iran, thereby creating favorable conditions for regime change and forcing the country to abandon any nuclear program. Later, the objective of annihilating Iran’s missile fleet was added.

Supreme Leader Khamenei thus became one of the first victims of these targeted strikes against the regime’s political and military leadership.

Trump immediately openly called on Iranians to take their destiny into their own hands—clearly meaning to overthrow the regime.

But far from triggering a popular uprising against the mullahs, the assassination of Khamenei brought hundreds of thousands of Shiites into the streets—not only in Iran—for whom Khamenei was above all a spiritual leader. Once again, as in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq, American neoconservatives and their Israeli messianic counterparts deceived themselves about what they could expect from their violent actions, apparently due to cultural ignorance and arrogance.

In 2003, the American invasion did indeed topple the secular regime of Saddam Hussein. But it also handed the keys of the country to the Shiite majority while triggering a Sunni insurgency that lasted for years, culminating in the creation of the Islamic State eleven years later.

And in 2026, while Iran retaliates by bombing all Western bases in the Middle East as well as the energy infrastructures of Gulf countries allied with the United States, Iraqi Shiites are attacking American interests in their country. Khamenei reportedly refused to shelter in a secret bunker despite rising tensions and died in his residence. At nearly 87 years old, the Supreme Leader most likely preferred to depart as a martyr rather than end his life bedridden. And it shows profound ignorance of Shiite Islam to have underestimated this, since Shiism has built its identity around the cult of its martyrs since the death of Imam Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, at Karbala in what is today Iraq.

Glenn Diesen is also familiar with this. Trump and Netanyahu, therefore, strengthened Shiite and Iranian identity through this initial Pyrrhic victory. Iran—a country six times larger than Iraq, populated by 92 million people and with a multi-millennia-old history—cannot be defeated.

Already, American strategists in the Pentagon are worried that their campaign, planned for only a few days, could drag on until ammunition stocks are depleted—especially anti-air defense missiles, which are extremely expensive and whose reserves had already been heavily consumed by the war in Ukraine and the previous twelve-day war of June 2025. There is even talk of redeploying air-defense systems currently stationed in South Korea and Japan to replace equipment missing or destroyed in the Middle East.

America, which has deindustrialized for decades, is no longer capable of producing munitions commensurate with the needs of its aggressive hegemonic power. It takes a remarkable degree of hubris and blindness to have started a war against Iran under these conditions. This is one of the clear signs of the inevitable decline of the West, and first and foremost of the United States of America. In trying to halt or reverse this decline, Trump has only accelerated it.

Netanyahu’s Messianism

As for Netanyahu—the true instigator of this war, he has demanded for thirty years—his actions are partly motivated by a religiously inspired messianic belief against those he calls the “people of Amalek,” enemies of the chosen people.

One may recall a video from 1990 in which a young Netanyahu, newly elected to the Knesset, was blessed by the American grand rabbi known as the Rebbe, the leader of the powerful religious group Chabad-Lubavitch (to which Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner is close). The Rebbe asked the young Netanyahu, who listened reverently, to do what was necessary to bring about the coming of the Messiah. Later, the same rabbi reportedly prophesied that Netanyahu would be the last Prime Minister of Israel before handing power to the Messiah.

In Jewish as in Christian tradition, however, the return of the Messiah is associated with a final eschatological conflict—the war of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38–39)—in which nations allied under the influence of Satan, including Persia (one of the few explicitly mentioned), attack Jerusalem.

When one reads the text, one realizes that “God” himself provokes Gog to attack Jerusalem in order to intervene afterwards and demonstrate his power. The war ends with Gog’s total defeat and the final reign of God on Earth.

According to Wikipedia, Judaism interprets this as follows:

“According to the Malbim, the war mentioned in chapter 38 of the Book of Ezekiel will be preceded by a confrontation between the world of Edom—meaning Rome and by extension the West—and that of Ishmael, meaning the Islamic world. These two entities will confront each other and seek to harm the Jewish people; then, in the final phase of the conflict, seventy nations will come to wage war against Jerusalem and the Messiah and attempt to destroy the Jewish people.”

Apparently, this is what Netanyahu—or those who support him—believes. (there are various videos showing Israeli soldiers singing “I believe in the return of the Messiah” before going into combat operations in Gaza).

When one is convinced of fulfilling a biblical destiny, a prophecy, one can believe oneself invincible. One attempts the most reckless actions. Until now, this strategy has worked rather well against the Palestinians, Hezbollah, and the Syrians. So why not take on the biggest opponent?

Today Iran is physically striking Jerusalem after having been provoked into doing so by those who believe themselves to be the armed hand of God. It feels exactly like the prophecy. All that remains is to wait for the Messiah.

American Christian Messianism coming out in the open

And American Christian evangelicals, including those in the military, also believe in this myth, which is also found in another form in the Book of Revelation. They are convinced that Trump is fulfilling God’s plan. And in their prophetic delusions, some even predict that Russia, Turkey, and others will attack Israel before being annihilated. When one reads this, one can understand that the argument of the Iranian nuclear program is just a pretext to attack, like the alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction of Iraq were in 2003.

Yet reasonable experts like Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer, Douglas Macgregor, Scott Ritter, and Larry Johnson, who do not believe that killing children in Gaza or Tehran could be in accordance with the will of any God worthy of the name, have been warning for months about the enormous risks of a war against Iran. Even the neoconservative John Bolton called the attack risky.

While Netanyahu may have the “excuse” of extreme religious zeal, one would be tempted to believe Trump has no reason to be swayed by this argument. Until one sees this video of Paula White-Cain, looking possessed, asking repeatedly for “strikes” against “enemies”, calling “angels” for help in this endeavor. And she happens to be “Senior Advisor to the White House Faith Office” since 2025. It only got worse when the following videos and photos appeared, Paula White claiming “to say no to President Trump would be saying no to God”, and then this scene of the two dozen pastors in the White House praying around their leader as if he was their Guru. And then, this other video shows her talking in some unknown tongue, and then screaming. Reason seems to no longer play a role here. Trump’s sanity can now be seriously questioned. But not only his.

Eternal warmonger Lindsey Graham now openly admits that this is a “religious war.”

And Trump’s Secretary of War Pete Hegesth, who promised “Death and destruction” upon Iran until they let the USA choose their leader, was seen fantasizing about building the Third Temple in Jerusalem, as mentioned by Pascal.

But who really runs the United States? Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad – whom some say died in a bombing while others claim he survived – explained that it doesn’t matter who officially runs the United States because it is a shadow government - which could also be called the deep state or financial oligarchy - that sets the objectives.

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The “Epstein Coalition”

Some, such as Representative Thomas Massie—one of the last true American heroes—suggest that the war against Iran is merely an attempt to divert global public opinion from the Epstein affair.

Indeed, reading many comments on social networks, one sees the American-Israeli coalition being renamed the “Epstein Coalition” or the “Epstein Empire.” The operation itself has even been renamed “Epstein Fury.”

If one adds Western Europeans to this coalition, the same label could still apply, since the entire West appears entangled in this sordid affair with international ramifications—particularly the United Kingdom and France. The three Western permanent members of the UN Security Council are among those most directly implicated in the Epstein affair.

Public opinion—at least a growing portion of it—is discovering with astonishment the extent of the moral rot of Western elites. The absence of judicial consequences or adequate political reactions only confirms that the entire system of governance must be reconsidered. It is a system that failed to protect the most vulnerable while protecting the most powerful, a system that tolerated—and still tolerates—the intolerable. A handful of resignations will not suffice.

For years, the West’s moral authority had been steadily eroding. With the Epstein affair, it has literally collapsed. No one in the world can respect the Western elites who govern us anymore.

Furthermore, the Trump administration’s modus operandi demonstrates a complete lack of morality. For the second time in eight months, the Trump administration attacked Iran in the midst of negotiations. This comes after it kidnapped the president of a sovereign nation, Venezuela, on the basis of false pretenses.

In the United States, many prominent figures who once supported Trump are furious and denounce Israel’s complete control over American politics. According to Jeffrey Sachs, this has been going on for 20 years, since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. That said, some trace this influence back to the assassination of President Kennedy, who opposed Israel acquiring nuclear weapons. The name of James Angleton, head of counterintelligence at the CIA in the 1960s, only surfaced in the latest revelations about US government archives in 2025. He was very close to Israel and appears to have played a dubious role in this affair, which was long and skillfully concealed.

But it seems that Trump’s binary, naive, and narcissistic personality makes him particularly susceptible to flattery, and therefore to manipulation. Besides the influential Israeli-American widow Miriam Adelson, who made the enormous $100 million donation to Trump’s campaign on the condition that he support Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly boasts of personally controlling Trump, according to Tucker Carlson. The same Netanyahu was filmed in 2001 explaining that the US was “easy to manipulate.”

But above all, it is the colossal financial power of the Zionist lobby in the United States, via AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), that controls Congress. In 2022, 365 candidates for the US Congress (out of 470 seats to be filled) received funding from this organization, and 98% of them were elected, including the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties in both houses.

Marco Rubio’s Admission

Then came a dramatic twist. Trump’s Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, Marco Rubio, let the cat out of the bag. He declared unambiguously that the United States decided on preventive strikes against Iran because it knew Israel would attack Tehran anyway—and that Iranian retaliation, unlike during the twelve-day war, would also strike American interests. In short, Netanyahu forced the Trump administration’s hand, placing it in a situation where it felt compelled to act despite the risks. The loss of face for Trump is immense. Even though Rubio later attempted to walk back his remarks amid the growing scandal, no serious observer is fooled. The Pentagon itself further deepened the unease by admitting that its assessment had been that Iran was not preparing an imminent attack against the United States.

Rafael Grossi, the Head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also stated that, in spite of some concerns, they could not say that Iran was weeks or months from acquiring a nuclear weapon, a claim Netanyahu has consistently put forward for the last 30 years.

Even though an army of influencers is trying to justify the attack on Iran in the media and on social networks, both in Europe and the United States—demonstrating that this kind of action is always accompanied by a massive propaganda campaign and bots, to which many useful idiots latch onto—Trump’s aura has taken a serious hit. And his posturing on Truthsocial to try to mask the American strategic failure can only convince the most fanatical. There is now talk of sending US troops on the ground into Iran, in a kind of desperate escalation, which worries even the most fervent supporters of regime-change wars. It is worth remembering that it was the failure of a helicopter operation to free the American hostages held captive in their embassy in Tehran that largely sealed Jimmy Carter’s electoral defeat in 1980.

What Future for the United States?

With Trump having betrayed his base and a geopolitical catastrophe looming unless a miracle occurs, the mid-term elections in November look grim for Republicans. Among others, conservative influencer Nick Fuentes announced that he will never again vote for Trump, Vance, or Rubio.

According to CNN, 59% of Americans oppose the attack on Iran, including 23% of Republicans, despite Fox News’ unconditional support for the war. Apparently, false polls are published on X alleging 98% of support for the war from MAGA voters, not confirmed when you check the source, like Fox News.

The only factor that might prevent Democrats from benefiting from the implosion of Trumpism is their near absence from the debate since their humiliating defeat in 2024.

When one remembers that the best candidate the party of the Clintons and Obamas could present was Kamala Harris—whose main quality seemed to be her tendency to laugh foolishly at every opportunity—one measures the enormous void within the party. Moreover, the “woke” ideology that had become the Democrats’ alpha and omega was massively rejected at the ballot box.

American politics thus resembles a field of ruins. And it is difficult to see what could emerge from it. If Democrats were to win by default, Trump’s impeachment might once again be considered—and this time it might succeed if the Iranian war truly ends in disaster for the United States and Israel. But there is another problem: Vice President JD Vance also supported this suicidal operation against Iran. He has therefore discredited himself as well.

Saving the United States will require many figures like Thomas Massie—the man whose revelations finally began to expose the Epstein affair—whom Trump himself has repeatedly insulted and threatened politically. Someone more stable and determined than Trump would have to retrieve the MAGA movement from the gutter and transform it into something reasonable. In a normal world, figures such as Thomas Massie would deserve the highest office. But is that possible in an America still largely dominated by financial power?

Nevertheless, the strategic American-Israeli defeat now looming should mark the end of the United States’ military domination of the world, as Colonel Macgregor predicts in an interview approaching 3 million views. Your humble servant had chosen the title of this article before hearing those wise words. From evil, some good might emerge.

As for Israel, if Netanyahu truly proves to be its last Prime Minister, that may not bode well for the state’s very existence. And if Trump is the armed hand of God, it may well be against his own will—part of a complex three-cushion billiard game that could produce the exact opposite of what those who launched this war intended.

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