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Strange Trip

JL;DR SUMMARY The article "Strange Trip" by Lee Smith explores the geopolitical complexities surrounding President Donald Trump's stance on Iran amidst tensions with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

TrumpU.S. Foreign PolicyIranSuez CanalChinaNuclear WeaponsGeopoliticsXi JinpingEconomic SanctionsStrait Of Hormuz

Places mentioned

Beijing, China
"The American president Xi is meeting in Beijing is dug in."
Egypt
"It was the Americans who guaranteed Nassers victory by stepping in to push the Brits out of Egypt, and there is no one playing that role with Hormuz."
Iran
"But Trump says all that matters is stopping Iran from getting the bomb."
China
"The biggest question in the Suez-Hormuz analogy relates to China, writes Ferguson."
Israel
"Having joined forces with Israel to overthrow a hostile Middle Eastern regime, writes Ferguson, Trump has had to suspend hostilities, leaving Iran as much in control of the Strait of Hormuz as Egypt was in control of the Suez Canal at the end of 1956."
United Kingdom
"The real historical analogy to the Iran war, according to historian Niall Ferguson, is the disastrous military action that cost Great Britain its empire, the 1956 invasion of the Suez Canal."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 82381
Cairo Source ID 10
Retrieved 2026-05-16 05:30:59 UTC
Curated 2026-05-16 08:30:52 UTC