When Talking Becomes an Obsession
Opinion: The following article is commentary and its views are solely those of the author. This article was first published the 9th of June via The Angry Demagogue.
The United States is falling into the Middle Eastern trap that Israel fell into thirty years ago. This trap fits nicely with the post cold-war progressive Western way of diplomacy in that its goal is “talking”. Perpetual talking rather than deal making is the key to understanding the Middle Eastern way of things and Israel has become a practitioner in the “way” that led directly to October 7. The idea of perpetual talking is to reach a situation where you can defeat your opponent without making concessions. In the Middle East, they suck you in to a point where just “talking” becomes an obsession. The United States is heading into the same where results are less important than the act of discussion itself.
Falling into the Middle Eastern Trap – When Talking Becomes an Obsession 9th of June 2026
This obsession, this being sucked into something against your best interests reminds me of a wonderful episode of Cheers, the sitcom that takes place in a Boston bar – a bar in which pints of beer plus inane discussions over anything that leads to nowhere is its reason for being. The episode that I am thinking of has Boston Celtics great Kevin McHale as a guest and the two main instigators of irrelevant and purposeless conversation, Norm and Cliff, (not so) innocently ask McHale how may bolts are in the famous parquet floor at the Boston Garden.
The waitress Carla, Boston working class par excellence, begs the basketball star to ignore them, knowing he will become obsessed and sucked into something that clearly will lead to a disaster for him and her beloved Celtics. Sure enough, the episode ends with McHale driving towards the basket with what ought to be the winning shot only to get distracted by trying to figure out how many bolts are in the floor of the Boston Garden.
That is exactly what is happening now in in the Middle East where President Trump is the basketball star being distracted by Iran and their attempt to suck him into endless discussions that are meant to lead to nothing productive. We don’t know if McHale ever figured out the number of bolts, but besides going back to Cheers with the answer, it is a useless endeavor that can only lead to defeat. So too, with the Trump Administration and the sacred talks with Iran where the end game might be something he can bring back to a press conference in DC or a rally in Pennsylvania but will be worth as much as knowing the number of bolts in the Boston Garden floor.
Israel fell into this trap with the Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat and when talks ended, the only goal was to start them up again. Just return to talking. The result didn’t matter. This trap picked up again after October 7 when the goal seemed to be to always be talking with Hamas via Qatar or Egypt even if everyone knew it would lead to nowhere. Ironically, it was President Trump who realized this and was able to do his dealmaking magic to free the hostages – but only after the IDF put Hamas in an untenable situation and Qatar wanted a “great deal” with the Trump administration. Talks never led anywhere.
So here we are, the Trump Administration is hell bent on continuing discussions for the sake of discussions no matter how many times Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Israel, or even the U.S military get shot at by Iran. When the goal is talking – when the obsession becomes talking – you have fallen into the Middle Eastern trap much as Keven McHale fell into the trap of inane bar talk for the sake of inane bar talk.
While the American President is a deal maker par-excellence, the Middle Eastern leaders, this time Iran’s, are the experts at making you think that talking is always the best outcome – because it is, for them. Eventually, their experience tells them, you will make a mistake. The Administration has allowed Iran to attack allies at will in the Gulf and in Israel, as Iran gains concession after concession due to the trap that is “talks at all costs”. The first concession was linking Lebanon to the talks and the next, done just yesterday was in putting Iran and Israel on the same level.
This is the mistake one would expect from the Obama-Biden crowd where they always believed that talks were the purpose – they didn’t have to fall into any trap as they were there already. However, the Trump Administration understood the fallacy of forever talks which is what makes it so painful to see them fall into the same Middle-Eastern and Western, progressive trap. Obsession to make a deal is good because results oriented; but an obsession that is just to “get back to talking” will lead only to results that you never wanted in the first place.
Disclaimer: the views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of the author, and not necessarily the opinions reflected by angrymetatraders.com or its associated parties.
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