How Netanyahu's demented hubris could shatter the region
Despite an uneasy ceasefire in the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, there's no telling what will come next, particularly from a volatile US administration led by Donald Trump that has elevated self-contradiction, confusion and policy U-turns to an art of geostrategic chaos.
Much will depend on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's next moves and Iran's reactions; less will hinge on the US itself.
Since his re-election, President Trump has taken a back seat to Netanyahu. He has been largely reacting, often appearing unpleasantly surprised, to the latter's strategic moves and cynical manipulations - just as Russian President Vladimir Putin has for a long time been playing the US president.
His recent bombing of Iran only aggravated the West's "Israel problem", by surrendering and sacrificing Washington's own national interests and professed values to an untrustworthy and purely self-interested Israeli "ally".
Trump, who has portrayed himself as an anti-war president, proclaimed in 2019 that great nations do not start forever wars. He is uninterested in exporting liberalism or democracy abroad.
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