The US Army at a North Carolina base has been practicing how to dig mass graves for their own dead, the first exercise of its kind in decades, and it comes as Trump stands at zero hour on a renewed strike against Iran. Peter walks through the Wall Street Journal’s investigation into the Gulf bases that were rendered uninhabitable during the 40-day war, the Pentagon strategy chief fired for saying the plan does not work, and why he thinks a man who cannot admit error is about to gamble on a ground operation that could put the world economy into depression. Charlie asks the question that keeps coming back: everyone knows how this ends, so why is it happening?From there the conversation turns to the propaganda system that makes it possible. Peter argues that Fox and the New York Times are on the same page about Western hegemony, that the political class really does believe it is fighting a Manichaean war against China, Russia and Iran, and that the 20 percent who still trust the media are the people who run everything. Europe is where that consensus is cracking: three weeks of riots in France, unrest in Germany and Italy, and in Poland, what Peter calls an attempted judicial coup by Donald Tusk against a president who refuses to hand the courts to Brussels.The last third goes to Ukraine. Peter explains what really happened in Oleshky, where Russian and Ukrainian ombudsmen cooperated on a civilian evacuation and Ukrainian nationalists screamed that it was a trap, and why most of the town had already left for Russia. Then the numbers that should end the argument: 36 percent of the dead in Gaza are children, 0.2 percent in Ukraine, and yet the TCC videos of fathers dragged from screaming children tell their own story about a war Ukraine cannot win.Timestamps:00:00 Calm before the storm: Trump at zero hour on Iran01:20 Pentagon strategy chief fired for saying the plan won’t work02:14 Marines rehearse digging mass graves for their own dead05:08 The Gulf bases were rendered uninhabitable: NYT, Reuters, WSJ07:22 Iran’s warning: a harder response with no geographical limits09:28 The mad emperor: why Trump cannot swallow defeat15:37 Israel’s grip on US policy and the gaslighting that enforces it17:48 Fox is crude, the Times is sophisticated, both defend hegemony22:42 The Kool-Aid: inside the political class’s Manichaean worldview28:30 France, Germany, Italy: Europe’s discontent in the streets30:00 Poland’s judicial coup: Tusk vs Nawrocki over who rules the courts39:03 Is the EU a failed project?40:36 Oleshky: who really shelled the civilians, and why the ceasefire worked52:30 Gaza vs Ukraine: 36 percent children vs 0.2 percent54:43 The conveyor belt of meat: forced mobilization and a war that can’t be won1:01:00 Is a strike the only way this ends? Israel wants a months-long campaignGo Deeper: https://ruinsreport.com/Substack: https://conversationsamongtheruins.substack.com/Support the Conversation:Join as a Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW9CSfmP6gEjqtOdGTD_JKw/joinBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/amongtheruinsFollow us:X: https://x.com/RuinsReportInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/conversationsamongtheruins/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amongtheruins