By Nirmal P. Acharya
As is known to all, Mr. Trump, the President of the United States, has earned the nickname “King of Knowledge” for claiming that no one in the world knows more than him. In fact, Mr. Trump is not only the “King of Knowledge”, but also the “King of Wins”.
At present, the mainstream world opinion holds that the United States and Israel have either “lost” or “at least not won” in this conflict with Iran.
However, Mr. Trump didn’t care what others thought. He firmly insisted that he “won”. On May 2nd, the White House of the United States posted a “crazy” video on the social media platform X. The content was that US President Trump repeatedly said “won” for one hour.
Even an ordinary person like me can clearly see that the political, economic and strategic costs that the United States and Israel have incurred are completely disproportionate to the limited gains they have achieved against Iran.
The cost is high, and it may even be a loss.
The United States: Losing blood first, then losing points: Long-term losses could exceed 250 billion US dollars; nearly 60% of the public believe that “we have gone too far”; more than 42 countries now have an “anti-US trend”, NATO allies openly refuse to cooperate; this has instead strengthened the position of the hardliners in Iran and did not lead to the expected democratization.
Israel: “Iron Dome” pierced: Attacked by 534 missiles; in the asymmetric consumption model, the high-end interceptor ammunition quota was exhausted in just one week; its international image was damaged, and the “invincible” myth was shattered.
“Winner”: Iran
“Survival equals victory.” The fact that the regime has remained standing is the greatest political achievement. At the same time, the “cost asymmetry” strategy was employed, using $20,000 per unit drones to consume the opponent’s millions or even tens of millions of dollars worth of anti-aircraft missiles, causing the opponent to suffer “severe strategic overextending”.
This battle has confirmed the old saying that “military means alone cannot resolve complex geopolitical conflicts”. All parties view the ceasefire more as a “half-time break”. The core conflicts between the US and Iran remain unresolved, and the geopolitical game will continue for a long time.
Mr. Trump could keep repeating “We’ve won” for an entire hour. All we can do is bow down to him and call him the “King of Wins”. There’s no other option.
Fortunately, Nepal is at least geographically distant from Mr. Trump. When his repeated declarations of “winning” reach Nepal, perhaps the volume will be reduced, so the mental shock suffered by Nepal will not be so great.
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