In the category of dark humor, today's joke goes to Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, who referred to the Iranian government as a "mad regime." The fact that the ayatollahs' theocratic regime is a bloody dictatorship doesn't make Trump the epitome of stability, to put it mildly. If the goal is to disqualify the enemy by labeling them with a pathology, there are plenty of options, because the current US administration is the epitome of incoherence, arrogance, harassment, lies, illegality, and a parallel reality.
Similarly, in the Josep Maria of the Year category, the prize again goes to Hegseth, who, to justify the US-Israeli coalition's attack on Iran, argued that President Trump has real guts. From the politician who scolded his generals for being too fat and who said that "Department of Defense" sounded too defensive, one could only expect an analysis reminiscent of those heard in Spain's compulsory military service, delivered by sub-lieutenants of questionable subtlety.
Our new reality is a new war of uncertain duration and unpredictable contagion, with the potential to affect everything from our security to our economy, and even our future plans for daily life, including the World Cup. We have reached a point of armed conflict where the concept regional war It's starting to be reassuring, because of the "if it doesn't happen here" attitude. But Trump has too many personal and political incentives to keep proving that he's the only one who's got the guts.
