The documents show the fallout for the US in Bahrain, Indonesia and Azerbaijan as it struggles to catch up with pro-Iran messaging.

The Iran war is risking America’s global security ties and damaging its reputation, especially among the world’s Muslims, according to a set of State Department cables obtained by POLITICO.

The cables, dated Wednesday, described the fallout of the war for America’s standing in three countries in different parts of the world: Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Indonesia.

U.S. diplomats at embassies in the countries’ capitals painted damning portraits of an America under siege in multiple media spheres by pro-Iranian actors that are exceptionally agile in the digital space.

  • ɔiƚoxɘup
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    3 days ago

    IMO, this is what the goal was. Instability and loss of power. This was a coup, and many if not most of its goals were met.

      • ɔiƚoxɘup
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        16 hours ago

        The rich.

        ETA

        I’m sorry, I totally didn’t supply enough context. I meant all of the shit that America is doing right now.

        The United States has been taken over in a bloodless coup and the rich are benefiting.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          16 hours ago

          Are they though? Stocks are up at the moment, and Trump tends to chicken out of policies that hurt the stock market numbers. But, in the long term a lot of this chaos will probably hurt rich people. For example, the best students are now choosing not to study at schools in the US because of the ICE crackdowns, when they graduate they’re much less likely to work for an American company. And then there’s the long-term economic damage due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. That will probably result in years of higher prices and inflation that will hurt businesses.

          Rich people tend to mostly like stability. It allows them to make long-term investments knowing that the rules won’t change before those investments pay off. Trump’s administration is anything but stable. Backing off of terrible policies when the markets react isn’t as good as not risking those stupid policies in the first place.

          Yes, they’re getting some temporary wins, because Trump has gutted parts of the government that oversee or enforce rules. But, if I were a rich person I’d be very worried about the long-term damage he’s doing.

      • auraithx@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 days ago

        Plenty of people are benefiting. In one ear you have the Christofascists who simply want to punish women and turn the US into a religious state, in the other you have the VCs who want to weaken America so they can establish autonomous zones outside the US purview.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          3 days ago

          The VCs and Christofascists are currently on the same side, but have almost no interests in common. The VCs in particular care about the rule of law because it’s hard to invest in something that won’t start making money for years if you don’t know that the laws will be stable through those years. The VCs might like that Trump is removing some burdensome regulations. But, for example, the tariff chaos would have been horrible for them because from one day to the next who knows what the tariffs will be.

          Then there’s immigration. A lot of the MAGA nazis want the US to be a purely white place with white, christian, men dominate. That means severely restricting immigration. Meanwhile the VCs want to be able to bring in all the cheap foreign labour they can, which means they want H1B visas to be easy to get. Those are directly opposing sides. If one side wins, the other one loses.

          It’s hardly a coup when the backers all want different things, and they’re not getting what they want anyhow because Dear Leader is obsessed with settling personal grudges and doing whatever his dementia-addled brain thinks of on the spot.

          • auraithx@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            22 hours ago

            I don’t mean the regular small-fry VCs who care about the day-to-day. I mean the Network State types who are playing the long-game.

            https://www.vcinfodocs.com/day-one-of-venture-capital-takeover

            DCVC has commented on how higher tariffs under the VC-supported Trump regime have boosted American venture capital, stating: “Increased tariffs benefit many of our portfolio companies, most directly by encouraging foreign direct investment in their U.S.-based factories (a phenomenon we saw during the first Trump administration), and by increasing demand for domestically sourced materials, products, and energy.” Tariffs pave the way for DCVC and other venture capitalists to continue their expansion into manufacturing, biotech, space, weaponry and other cartel priorities.

            https://www.dcvc.com/reports/deep-tech-opportunities-report-2025/