Some wars are known by a number, not a name, because people hoped for their swift end. Such as the Thirty Years' War and the Hundred Years' War. The war we are in has now exceeded a hundred days, and it is no longer appropriate to call it by the common number.
Donald Trump had announced some time ago that the war would end within two weeks, threatening decisive strikes if it did not; it did not. Vladimir Putin had declared that the war in Ukraine would be decided within five weeks, and now five years have passed, and nothing has been decided.
“The Spectator” has started calling it a “forever war” to avoid the embarrassment of specifying a number. Supporters of the former Syrian President once found a rhyme appealing in depicting novelty, raising the slogan: "Assad, your shabiha forever." Yet, this "forever" showed no manners, no permanence, but was cut short on a moonless night.
President Trump's problem is that he does not come from a military background or historical experience. The former teaches its practitioners the language of precision: distance in meters, not wishes. And by the strength of the enemy, not your own.
As for historical experience, one of its constants is that Iranians are among the world's fondest of bargaining and haggling. Our colleague Jihad El-Zein recounts that he wanted a rug in Tehran for which the seller asked $7,000. He returned to the seller every day for seven days. On the seventh day, the seller carried the rug to his hotel and left it for him for $1,500.
It would have been better for the American President to pay attention to the number of Iranian negotiators accompanying Minister Araghchi. And how he initially appeared with calm, open language, then turned into a spokesperson for the hardliners.
One of the most significant innovations of Iranian politics is the talk of reformists and conservatives, or rather, Republicans and Democrats. But the final decision always belongs to neither of these. Now, there is talk of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returning – for a third time – through elections, of course, with freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and forever.
