I was introduced to Borges’ work in college, and he’s been one of my favorite writers ever since. I’ve got a draft of a post I wrote long ago about his politics, but never published. Maybe I should dust it off and have it see the light of day.

Though it didn’t quite work out that way….

(Maybe all they needed was a tenacious, patriotic, hard-headed visionary…with a chainsaw…)

Gringo:

Good point! Works for me.

Borges was some kind of miracle in my book. His New Directions “Labyrinths” anthology made me get serious of about writing.

For those unacquainted with Borges try one of the most famous prose poems, short short stories, metafictions in all of literature:

https://faculty.uca.edu/rnovy/Borges–Borges&I.htm

Gringo: Sometimes I wonder how Borges emerged from Argentina. Any thoughts?

For example, where did his anglophile tendencies come from? There is a not unsubstantial British influence on Argentina, though it is less than it was a century ago. English Argentines (Anglo-Argentines) came to Argentina in the 19th century with capital to invest. English built the railways. Consider Argentine soccer clubs: River Plate, Boca Juniors, and Newells Old Boys. Welsh immigrated to Patagonia in the 1870s. I met a Welsh-Argentine in northern Argentina, a thousand miles from Patagonia. Our Argentine partner was a Miguel Macadam, whom I called Miguel Macana.

But the biggest factor in the Anglophile tendencies of Jorge Luis Borges was that he had an English grandmother.

As a child, Borges spent many years in Europe, where his father searched for a medical solution for his failing eyesight. This was in an era when many Argentines had money to blow on living abroad.

The first statement is true. Iran gets replacements a few ways. It gets missile and drone tech from Russia by their common inland sea. Iran can salvage damaged but reparable missiles.

Plus, they’ve adopted the mobile launch missile delivery system using heavy trucks like Russia and the Soviets did and China still does, of course, to evade destruction. Hence, the surprise at having more.

Although

I also thought all their air defense and radars had been taken out. Yet, the target list for the last few days has been exactly that.

Wikipedia has detail and origins and consequences of Iran’s “mosquito navy.” Small and speedy watercraft that can easily be hidden:

“In the 21st century, the term “Mosquito Fleet” has been applied to the small, fast attack craft of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC-N).[4][5] These vessels—often speedboats capable of exceeding 100 knots (115 mph)—are used in asymmetric warfare ‘swarm’ tactics to harass, board, or attack oil tankers and other commercial shipping, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.[6]

“Unlike Iran’s conventional navy—whose larger warships were largely destroyed in the 2026 Iran war—the IRGC-N’s fast boats are easily hidden in coastal caves and among civilian traffic, making them a persistent ‘disruptive force.’[4] The strategy originated in the 1981 – 1988 ‘Tanker war’ of the Iran–Iraq War when Iran increasingly turned to asymmetric methods after losing larger vessels in direct confrontations with the U.S. Navy.”

Lastly, “Trump said “no tolls”, yet now he imposes a 20% fee on ships transiting the Strait. Huh???”

Think Trump “bargaining chip” that may seriously smite Iranian Revolutionary sensibilities, biting just as the reality of inflation crisis and economic failure beckons.

It’s simple, really. Iran has been at war with the US ever since the Mullah’s installed their Islamic Revolutionary Republic 47 years ago. (President Carter, thanks for doing nothing to stop it.) Israel is the “Little Satan” to them; the US is impediment and affront to Allah’s will, and therefore is the “Great Satan” to them.

Ergo, the US State Department has long held that 80% of world terrorism stems from Iran, or those funded by Iran.

We tolerated the Saddam led Iraqi War against Iran in the 1980s. And since their “Revolution”, virtually every conflict the US has entered somehow is tied up with Iran.

Finally, Israel and the many Persian Gulf states, who are the wealthiest nations in that region, have grown sick and tired of Iran’s constant terror-fight games. They want a peaceable region for economic development. Hence, their Abraham Accords to provide it.

And the US is tired of playing policeman in the region because of Iran. Thus, ending it likely means a change in government there.
But this will take time. If Iran can be cordoned off and isolated, that could be the best alternative to overthrowing the government.

We are at war with Iran because their government wants to kill us! Trump chose to defend us and the region by attacking the threat.

Sometimes I wonder how Borges emerged from Argentina. Any thoughts?

Years ago we invited a family from Kenya to our home for Thanksgiving and they had never tasted cranberry sauce. The husband thought it was delicious and asked for it regularly for the next few weeks.

Years ago I invited a friend from Argentina for Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. He wouldn’t even try my mother’s cranberry relish (w oranges…delicious). Nor would he try the oysters. “I don’t eat seafood.” I related this to his English teacher in Argentina, who was a native of New Hampshire: “Well, he’s from an underdeveloped country.”

Decades later I mentioned him to my sister. “Isn’t he the one who wouldn’t eat mom’s cranberry relish?”