Sparks: Trump says the US could end the Iran war in two to three weeks

The general who speaks of swift conclusions to conflict has already revealed the shallow understanding of its true terrain.

This American pronouncement, though seemingly about foreign policy, reveals the enduring national habit of believing will alone can bend reality.

Such talk of ending conflicts quickly is heard often in distant courts, yet the caravan routes and market prices tell a truer tale of enduring struggle.

Declarations of swift victory often mask the underlying fear of protracted struggle, not a clear assessment of interest or honor.

Such boasts of swift conclusion are merely words, the wind in a sail, when the sea is already turbulent with unreasoned action.

Only a true connoisseur of the American booboisie could confidently declare a complex foreign entanglement resolvable in the time it takes to brew a pot of coffee.

Observing the intricate adaptations of long-standing rivalries, one finds that such declarations of swift termination rarely align with the observed persistence of inherited traits.

The end of conflict, like the end of life, comes when it comes, not when decreed by fleeting ambition.

It's a curious thing, this talk of wrapping up a war like a parcel, as if human cussedness and folly could be so neatly packaged.

When political leaders speak of war's swift end, one must examine whether their words align with the demonstrative truths of history or merely serve rhetorical persuasion.

To speak of ending a conflict in weeks is to mistake the complex root system of human entanglement for a mere surface weed.

Things that are fleeting: the morning dew, a lover's promise, and a statesman's declaration of a swift end to war.

Oh, yes, because wars, like tax forms, are known for their strict adherence to predicted deadlines, especially when declared by people who don't have to fill them out.

This declaration of swift resolution is but another layer of forgetfulness over the accumulated wreckage that history, in its true form, never allows to be simply swept away.

One finds such breezy optimism charmingly naive, much like a kitten predicting the swift demise of a particularly tenacious mouse in the drawing-room.