Stupid and Fruitless Blustering by South Africa's Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool

The United States has ordered South Africa's ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, to leave the country by Tuesday. This decision stems from Rasool's statement characterizing the MAGA movement supporting President Donald Trump as a product of white supremacy. According to him, the MAGA movement emerged as a response to the multiculturalization of the U.S. population.

This blustering was of course stupid and fruitless. On the other hand, if you have given with a spoon, you cannot demand with a ladle. In other words, if a person is stupid, you cannot expect him to act reasonably. 

Of course, Rasool's behavior may have been related to his religion. Muslims around the world are known for blustering about anything and everything - and suffering severe consequences, as demonstrated by the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7th 2023 and the resulting destruction of the Gaza Strip.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, being more pragmatic, has announced that the ambassador will return to his home country and expressed his desire to repair relations with the United States. After all, the U.S. is South Africa's second-largest trading partner, and losing that relationship would mean hard times, especially for the country's poor Black majority.

It remains to be seen how relations between the countries will evolve. Will good relations and trade ties be restored, or will South Africa drift into a state similar to other Sub-Saharan African nations?

In this context, it is interesting to observe the population trends of the country's white minority over the years. In short, the population decreased from 5.2 million in 1995 to 4.5 million by 2022. However, the trend has not been linear, but includes some periods of growth, although the past decade has shown a decline again. This does not bode well for the country's future.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Resisting Putin’s Foolish Dreams
South Africa: life without a culture of maintenance
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?

An Iranian Student's Fantasy of Two Missiles and a U.S. Aircraft Carrier

Iranian Muslims are displaying a strong sense of bluster. One example of this is a message from a user named Aryan, who has 113,500 followers, stating that it is "impressive: Iran says it has monitored US warships including US aircraft carrier ‘USS Theodore Roosevelt’ in Strait of Hormuz few days ago... Iran said that the aircraft carrier could be sunk by 2 Abu Mahdi cruise missiles, & accompanying destroyers will only require 1 missile."

I don't know if this self-identified student is making this statement purely for propaganda purposes, or if they genuinely believe in Iran's ability to sink American aircraft carriers. If it’s the latter, it sadly speaks to the lack of realism that the Iranian educational, information, and propaganda systems have created.

Of course, it could be that the Iranian is inspired by Ukraine’s successful strikes against the Russian fleet, but they forget that there is a significant difference in the scientific and technical capabilities of the US and Putin's armies. Therefore, Iran has no real chance of sinking an American aircraft carrier with a missile attack. And this should also be well understood among the leaders of Tehran´s warfare troops.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:

The End of the Holy Soldier of the Arabs
Putin's understanding and the battle between the gods
Religious authority and the Iran strike on Israel