When the Spin Is the Win

These days, truth is much like a B2 stealth bomber. It is hard to detect it, though it hovers right over our heads.

- CP SURENDRAN

The US bombing of the nuclear reactors in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan was allegedly on behalf of Israel. How did a war between Israel and Iran spin around to consolidate the narrative that the US has returned as the global supercop and that Donald Trump is the only world leader worth talking about?

Satellite imagery showed six gaping wounds at Fordo, a blackened sprawl at Isfahan, and an 18-foot hole at Natanz. Trump repeatedly asserted that Iran's nuclear program was "completely obliterated," a claim the Israel Atomic Energy Commission backed. Yet, making defiant noises from his bunker, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proclaimed a "severe slap" to America and a "victory" over the "Zionist regime." There were photographs of Iranians dancing on the streets in celebration, having chosen to believe in their victory. As a great author said, patriotism is the opium of the people.

Closer home, one thought of Operation Sindoor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said it was an unqualified success. Pakistan's General Asim Munir, in return, claimed his army had shot down Indian planes. We chose officially not to believe him. Yet, the latest on this front is an admission of downed planes by an Indian defense attaché, a naval officer, at a seminar in Jakarta on June 10. But we still don't know how many planes India might have lost, or how many died or were wounded during the operation.