|
Now that we have a new thread, in order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a complete and thorough read before posting! NOTE: When providing a source, please provide a very brief summary on what it's about and what purpose it adds to the discussion. The supporting statement should clearly explain why the subject is relevant and needs to be discussed. Please follow this rule especially for tweets.
Your supporting statement should always come BEFORE you provide the source.If you have any questions, comments, concern, or feedback regarding the USPMT, then please use this thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/website-feedback/510156-us-politics-thread |
Jesus. We are under the boot of these dictators and never looked weaker. They came the capitol of our country, beat the shit out of our citizens and we drop the charges. Congress is a joke.
|
Washington values global power and influence a lot more than their own citizens. That much should be obvious by your military policy.
|
Looks like we're going to Iran. Ugh.
|
On March 23 2018 23:15 Doodsmack wrote:How many Trump towers are in Turkey again? Show nested quote +The U.S. has dropped criminal charges against nearly all of the Turkish security officers accused of viciously beating American demonstrators last year in Washington, D.C., as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sat in a car nearby.
Most of the charges were dropped last month, a day before now-outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met in Turkey with Erdogan, who was furious about the arrest warrants that had been issued against his men, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The attack in May outraged the American public and politicians after the foreign security guards beat up protesters in the nation’s capital. Members of Erdogan’s security entourage, many in suits and some spotted wearing Turkish security badges, can be seen on a Voice of America video rushing into the peaceful demonstration and punching and kicking protesters in the head. Demonstrators were protesting Erdogan’s human rights violations soon after he met with President Donald Trump in the White House.
www.yahoo.com Those thugs were innocent, they were forced to kick that woman and old man on the ground in the face, clear self defense
for those who forgot + Show Spoiler +
|
For anyone wondering what Rosenstein's press conference announcement was about, and probably why Mohdoo is expressing some Iran fears.
The Trump administration alleged Friday that Iranian government-linked hackers broke into the accounts of roughly 8,000 professors at hundreds of US and foreign universities, as well as private companies and government entities, to steal massive amounts of data and intellectual property. The indictment unveiled by the Department of Justice on Friday directly links the individuals charged with the hacks to the Iranian government, saying the perpetrators were working for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other government clients. Along with the charges, the Treasury Department designated the nine Iranians and the company they worked for, the Mabna Institute, for sanctions. ... According to the charges, which include conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, wire fraud, unauthorized access of a computer and aggravated identity theft and could carry a maximum sentence of upwards of four decades in prison, the nine alleged hackers carried out a sophisticated worldwide campaign since at least 2013 to pull off their cyberheist of more than 30 terabytes of academic data and other sensitive information. The indictment alleges the Mabna Institute targeted more than 100,000 professors worldwide and succeeded in compromising 8,000 of them, spread across 144 US-based universities and 176 foreign universities. In their crosshairs were various types of intellectual property, including academic journals, dissertations and electronic books. ... (Other details but they're more icing than the actual cake) + Show Spoiler +The hackers also allegedly broke into the accounts of employees of US government and non-governmental entities, including the Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the states of Hawaii and Indiana, Indiana's Department of Education, the United Nations, and the United Nations Children's Fund. Once inside, the hackers allegedly stole the entire email inbox. Other victims included employees of 36 US-based companies and 11 companies outside the US in a wide range of industries, including academic publishers, media and entertainment entities, a law firm, tech companies, and consulting and marketing firms.
The tactic for the private-sector and governmental hacks was much less sophisticated, according to the indictment. The hackers allegedly used "password spraying": They collected email addresses they could find on the internet and then simply tried common passwords on those accounts, stealing email inboxes if they managed to get in. It is unlikely that any of the individuals named in the indictment will ever see the inside of a US jail or courtroom. It is also unlikely that foreign governments without extradition treaties with the US would give up their citizens to stand trial, and once the indictment is unsealed, the individuals named in it are unlikely to travel to countries that could extradite them to the US.
Still, federal prosecutors hope that by exposing the hacking operations, they can deter the behavior and make clear their ability to trace it back to its source. https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/23/politics/iranian-hackers-indicted-universities-government/index.html
I have to wonder how vulnerable the U.S. computer infrastructure is to be hacked this often and at these magnitudes by state-linked entities.
|
For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior?
|
On March 24 2018 00:09 PhoenixVoid wrote:For anyone wondering what Rosenstein's press conference announcement was about, and probably why Mohdoo is expressing some Iran fears. Show nested quote +The Trump administration alleged Friday that Iranian government-linked hackers broke into the accounts of roughly 8,000 professors at hundreds of US and foreign universities, as well as private companies and government entities, to steal massive amounts of data and intellectual property. The indictment unveiled by the Department of Justice on Friday directly links the individuals charged with the hacks to the Iranian government, saying the perpetrators were working for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other government clients. Along with the charges, the Treasury Department designated the nine Iranians and the company they worked for, the Mabna Institute, for sanctions. ... According to the charges, which include conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, wire fraud, unauthorized access of a computer and aggravated identity theft and could carry a maximum sentence of upwards of four decades in prison, the nine alleged hackers carried out a sophisticated worldwide campaign since at least 2013 to pull off their cyberheist of more than 30 terabytes of academic data and other sensitive information. The indictment alleges the Mabna Institute targeted more than 100,000 professors worldwide and succeeded in compromising 8,000 of them, spread across 144 US-based universities and 176 foreign universities. In their crosshairs were various types of intellectual property, including academic journals, dissertations and electronic books. ... (Other details but they're more icing than the actual cake) + Show Spoiler +The hackers also allegedly broke into the accounts of employees of US government and non-governmental entities, including the Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the states of Hawaii and Indiana, Indiana's Department of Education, the United Nations, and the United Nations Children's Fund. Once inside, the hackers allegedly stole the entire email inbox. Other victims included employees of 36 US-based companies and 11 companies outside the US in a wide range of industries, including academic publishers, media and entertainment entities, a law firm, tech companies, and consulting and marketing firms.
The tactic for the private-sector and governmental hacks was much less sophisticated, according to the indictment. The hackers allegedly used "password spraying": They collected email addresses they could find on the internet and then simply tried common passwords on those accounts, stealing email inboxes if they managed to get in. It is unlikely that any of the individuals named in the indictment will ever see the inside of a US jail or courtroom. It is also unlikely that foreign governments without extradition treaties with the US would give up their citizens to stand trial, and once the indictment is unsealed, the individuals named in it are unlikely to travel to countries that could extradite them to the US.
Still, federal prosecutors hope that by exposing the hacking operations, they can deter the behavior and make clear their ability to trace it back to its source. https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/23/politics/iranian-hackers-indicted-universities-government/index.html I have to wonder how vulnerable the U.S. computer infrastructure is to be hacked this often and at these magnitudes by state-linked entities.
We never upgrade anything in this country once it is built, so it's shit
|
On March 24 2018 00:10 Tachion wrote: For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior? We are still in Afghanistan. From a military standpoint that country is a joke, but we cannot seem to get the job done there. The US lacks the political will to spend the money and effort required to win any war. We would need to raise taxes and get a lot more troops. And we lack the congressional leadership to not completely fuck it up. We completely fucked up Iraq. There is no way we don’t fuck up Iran or NK. We are not simply not prepared.
|
I think it takes a certain type of historical ignorance to believe anything other then disaster would come from invading Iran.
Whether or not America would win is obvious, but unless they go in specifically to glass the place (which seems unlikely) then it will end up in yet another drain of money, lives and stability. All in the name of what?
I seriously hope Iran doesn't get invaded.
|
On March 24 2018 00:16 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2018 00:10 Tachion wrote: For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior? We are still in Afghanistan. From a military standpoint that country is a joke, but we cannot seem to get the job done there. The US lacks the political will to spend the money and effort required to win any war. We would need to raise taxes and get a lot more troops. And we lack the congressional leadership to not completely fuck it up. We completely fucked up Iraq. There is no way we don’t fuck up Iran or NK. We are not simply not prepared.
That's the luxury of Bolton. He changes the win condition. Simply destroying a country and buying a friendly dictator with a secret stash of cash for resources he exploits from his nation is chalked up as a win instead of systematically destroying any semblance of righteousness the US may have hidden away.
I think it's important to stress how self-centered Bolton's FP is. He makes Trump look like a globalist champion of the UN when it comes to looking at FP through a remarkably ignorant and US-centric lens. He thinks everything can be solved with US military forces and that the entire world should essentially thank us for their existence. _____________________________________________________________________________________
Are Iran and Russia allies or foes (with each other)?
|
On March 24 2018 00:23 GreenHorizons wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2018 00:16 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:10 Tachion wrote: For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior? We are still in Afghanistan. From a military standpoint that country is a joke, but we cannot seem to get the job done there. The US lacks the political will to spend the money and effort required to win any war. We would need to raise taxes and get a lot more troops. And we lack the congressional leadership to not completely fuck it up. We completely fucked up Iraq. There is no way we don’t fuck up Iran or NK. We are not simply not prepared. That's the luxury of Bolton. He changes the win condition. Simply destroying a country and buying a friendly dictator with a secret stash of cash for resources he exploits from his nation is chalked up as a win instead of systematically destroying any semblance of righteousness the US may have hidden away. I think it's important to stress how self-centered Bolton's FP is. He makes Trump look like a globalist champion of the UN when it comes to looking at FP through a remarkably ignorant and US-centric lens. He thinks everything can be solved with US military forces and that the entire world should essentially thank us for their existence. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Are Iran and Russia allies or foes (with each other)? In a lot of ways yes. Russia would get involved with any invasion in Iran in some way.
On Bolton, he is one of the people that convinced congress and Bush that the US could hold Iraq with just over 250K troops. We used 350K to occupy Japan, a country we nuked twice, surrender unconditionally and laid down arms. And it’s a god damn island. Iraq did none of those things and was bordered by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both nations that have a number of citizens that would love to kill Americans. Just think about the basis logistics of what I just described and you will get a pretty good grasp on how stupid John Bolton is on these issues.
|
On March 24 2018 00:34 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2018 00:23 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:16 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:10 Tachion wrote: For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior? We are still in Afghanistan. From a military standpoint that country is a joke, but we cannot seem to get the job done there. The US lacks the political will to spend the money and effort required to win any war. We would need to raise taxes and get a lot more troops. And we lack the congressional leadership to not completely fuck it up. We completely fucked up Iraq. There is no way we don’t fuck up Iran or NK. We are not simply not prepared. That's the luxury of Bolton. He changes the win condition. Simply destroying a country and buying a friendly dictator with a secret stash of cash for resources he exploits from his nation is chalked up as a win instead of systematically destroying any semblance of righteousness the US may have hidden away. I think it's important to stress how self-centered Bolton's FP is. He makes Trump look like a globalist champion of the UN when it comes to looking at FP through a remarkably ignorant and US-centric lens. He thinks everything can be solved with US military forces and that the entire world should essentially thank us for their existence. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Are Iran and Russia allies or foes (with each other)? In a lot of ways yes. Russia would get involved with any invasion in Iran in some way. On Bolton, he is one of the people that convinced congress and Bush that the US could hold Iraq with just over 250K troops. We used 350K to occupy Japan, a country we nuked twice, surrender unconditionally and laid down arms. And it’s a god damn island. Iraq did none of those things and was bordered by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both nations that have a number of citizens that would love to kill Americans. Just think about the basis logistics of what I just described and you will get a pretty good grasp on how stupid John Bolton is on these issues.
Oh I know how stupid he is, that's kinda the point. He still thinks he's right about Iraq. His goals are ignorant and he'll just move them to fit the outcome.
As to Iran and Russia, shouldn't Iran be off the list of potential conflicts if they are allied with his puppet masters?
|
On March 24 2018 00:40 GreenHorizons wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2018 00:34 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:23 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:16 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:10 Tachion wrote: For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior? We are still in Afghanistan. From a military standpoint that country is a joke, but we cannot seem to get the job done there. The US lacks the political will to spend the money and effort required to win any war. We would need to raise taxes and get a lot more troops. And we lack the congressional leadership to not completely fuck it up. We completely fucked up Iraq. There is no way we don’t fuck up Iran or NK. We are not simply not prepared. That's the luxury of Bolton. He changes the win condition. Simply destroying a country and buying a friendly dictator with a secret stash of cash for resources he exploits from his nation is chalked up as a win instead of systematically destroying any semblance of righteousness the US may have hidden away. I think it's important to stress how self-centered Bolton's FP is. He makes Trump look like a globalist champion of the UN when it comes to looking at FP through a remarkably ignorant and US-centric lens. He thinks everything can be solved with US military forces and that the entire world should essentially thank us for their existence. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Are Iran and Russia allies or foes (with each other)? In a lot of ways yes. Russia would get involved with any invasion in Iran in some way. On Bolton, he is one of the people that convinced congress and Bush that the US could hold Iraq with just over 250K troops. We used 350K to occupy Japan, a country we nuked twice, surrender unconditionally and laid down arms. And it’s a god damn island. Iraq did none of those things and was bordered by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both nations that have a number of citizens that would love to kill Americans. Just think about the basis logistics of what I just described and you will get a pretty good grasp on how stupid John Bolton is on these issues. Oh I know how stupid he is, that's kinda the point. He still thinks he's right about Iraq. His goals are ignorant and he'll just move them to fit the outcome. As to Iran and Russia, shouldn't Iran be off the list of potential conflicts if they are allied with his puppet masters? I don’t think so. I think Putin would love the US to get bogged down in another conflict in the Middle East. Or anyplace really. Wait until we are deep in there and stoke the instability so we can’t leave. A war weary America is an America that has no political will to support NATO. Or that is how I believe Putin views it.
|
Is any other country backing up these claims?
And I hope the irony of hacking allegations isn't lost on people.
|
Obtaining academic journals hardly seems like significant enough of a crime to warrant some sort of military action given that uh a lot of the world peddles in unauthorized use of academic journals (there are entire websites devoted to it). Or you'd think so at least, but Aaron Swartz would suggest otherwise.
Not that it's not a serious offense, just the way it is framed seems a bit at odds with the severity.
|
Not that I think it does matter, but Putin isn't allied with Iran's Shah the way he is Assad in Syria. He owns Assad, completely at this point. Russia's alliance with Iran has always been tenuous and is entirely built on anti-Americanism. I'm not sure us screwing things up there would actually hurt Putin any. But I think with Trump, or with Putin, all wars are possible. Not connecting them here, just comparing them: Putin knows the value of wagging the dog more than just about any leader at the current moment, and I'm sure Trump would love to as well.
Iran is the most likely target for a variety of reasons. NK is just a no-go because nukes. Syria is already a wasteland, and we could end up killing more Russians than Muslims.
And I'll say that, actually, any joint venture between Russia and the US would not only be morally abominable, servile, and cowardly to the extreme on our part, it would also end in disaster really quick. Russian soldiers, even more than ours, are not trained to get along with Americans. We recently killed 200+ Russians in Syria just for being in the "wrong place". Trump et all saying we can use "Russia's help" in military affairs, as if it'd be like fighting with the UK or German allies, is just a talking-point. It is as far removed from reality as anything he's ever said.
But, I doubt Trump will invade any country, because I doubt he can. He might do "strategic bombing", which in Iran would be courting disaster and war anyways, of a different sort. But a full invasion would require a lead-up similar to Iraq. Bush, at the time of his lead-up to war, had a ridiculously positive approval-rating, and the only thing in the news was 9/11. Not to mention our soldier-supply is significantly weaker now to an extent even Trump will not be able to ignore. Unless we institute a draft. Good luck selling that.
|
On March 24 2018 00:45 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2018 00:40 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:34 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:23 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:16 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:10 Tachion wrote: For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior? We are still in Afghanistan. From a military standpoint that country is a joke, but we cannot seem to get the job done there. The US lacks the political will to spend the money and effort required to win any war. We would need to raise taxes and get a lot more troops. And we lack the congressional leadership to not completely fuck it up. We completely fucked up Iraq. There is no way we don’t fuck up Iran or NK. We are not simply not prepared. That's the luxury of Bolton. He changes the win condition. Simply destroying a country and buying a friendly dictator with a secret stash of cash for resources he exploits from his nation is chalked up as a win instead of systematically destroying any semblance of righteousness the US may have hidden away. I think it's important to stress how self-centered Bolton's FP is. He makes Trump look like a globalist champion of the UN when it comes to looking at FP through a remarkably ignorant and US-centric lens. He thinks everything can be solved with US military forces and that the entire world should essentially thank us for their existence. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Are Iran and Russia allies or foes (with each other)? In a lot of ways yes. Russia would get involved with any invasion in Iran in some way. On Bolton, he is one of the people that convinced congress and Bush that the US could hold Iraq with just over 250K troops. We used 350K to occupy Japan, a country we nuked twice, surrender unconditionally and laid down arms. And it’s a god damn island. Iraq did none of those things and was bordered by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both nations that have a number of citizens that would love to kill Americans. Just think about the basis logistics of what I just described and you will get a pretty good grasp on how stupid John Bolton is on these issues. Oh I know how stupid he is, that's kinda the point. He still thinks he's right about Iraq. His goals are ignorant and he'll just move them to fit the outcome. As to Iran and Russia, shouldn't Iran be off the list of potential conflicts if they are allied with his puppet masters? I don’t think so. I think Putin would love the US to get bogged down in another conflict in the Middle East. Or anyplace really. Wait until we are deep in there and stoke the instability so we can’t leave. A war weary America is an America that has no political will to support NATO. Or that is how I believe Putin views it.
So you think it is Putin's desire for us to be engaged in conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Iran in the future?
|
Iran's Shah???? The relationship between Iran and Russia is tottaly different than Syria-Russia. Iran is much more populus and richer than Syria, therefore more independent. I think if US invaded Iran Russia would supply them with weapons and intelligence. Same way US did in Afganistan to Russia.
|
On March 24 2018 01:12 GreenHorizons wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2018 00:45 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:40 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:34 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:23 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:16 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:10 Tachion wrote: For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior? We are still in Afghanistan. From a military standpoint that country is a joke, but we cannot seem to get the job done there. The US lacks the political will to spend the money and effort required to win any war. We would need to raise taxes and get a lot more troops. And we lack the congressional leadership to not completely fuck it up. We completely fucked up Iraq. There is no way we don’t fuck up Iran or NK. We are not simply not prepared. That's the luxury of Bolton. He changes the win condition. Simply destroying a country and buying a friendly dictator with a secret stash of cash for resources he exploits from his nation is chalked up as a win instead of systematically destroying any semblance of righteousness the US may have hidden away. I think it's important to stress how self-centered Bolton's FP is. He makes Trump look like a globalist champion of the UN when it comes to looking at FP through a remarkably ignorant and US-centric lens. He thinks everything can be solved with US military forces and that the entire world should essentially thank us for their existence. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Are Iran and Russia allies or foes (with each other)? In a lot of ways yes. Russia would get involved with any invasion in Iran in some way. On Bolton, he is one of the people that convinced congress and Bush that the US could hold Iraq with just over 250K troops. We used 350K to occupy Japan, a country we nuked twice, surrender unconditionally and laid down arms. And it’s a god damn island. Iraq did none of those things and was bordered by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both nations that have a number of citizens that would love to kill Americans. Just think about the basis logistics of what I just described and you will get a pretty good grasp on how stupid John Bolton is on these issues. Oh I know how stupid he is, that's kinda the point. He still thinks he's right about Iraq. His goals are ignorant and he'll just move them to fit the outcome. As to Iran and Russia, shouldn't Iran be off the list of potential conflicts if they are allied with his puppet masters? I don’t think so. I think Putin would love the US to get bogged down in another conflict in the Middle East. Or anyplace really. Wait until we are deep in there and stoke the instability so we can’t leave. A war weary America is an America that has no political will to support NATO. Or that is how I believe Putin views it. So you think it is Putin's desire for us to be engaged in conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Iran in the future? None of those places are Ukraine, so sure. He just wants to keep us from opposing him directly the next time he decides a peace keeping mission into some old Soviet Bloc nation is necessary.
|
On March 24 2018 01:21 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2018 01:12 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:45 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:40 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:34 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:23 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 24 2018 00:16 Plansix wrote:On March 24 2018 00:10 Tachion wrote: For all the recent fears in the thread with Bolton and Iran, I'm curious how bad a war with them would be.
I know jack about current military prowess, only that Iran and Iraq used to be relatively close in strength judging by the Iran-Iraq war stalemate. Then desert storm and the Iraq war both had relatively minor casualties of coalition forces. Iran has had quite a bit of time to build up since 1990, so how much worse would it be than the Iraq operations decades prior? We are still in Afghanistan. From a military standpoint that country is a joke, but we cannot seem to get the job done there. The US lacks the political will to spend the money and effort required to win any war. We would need to raise taxes and get a lot more troops. And we lack the congressional leadership to not completely fuck it up. We completely fucked up Iraq. There is no way we don’t fuck up Iran or NK. We are not simply not prepared. That's the luxury of Bolton. He changes the win condition. Simply destroying a country and buying a friendly dictator with a secret stash of cash for resources he exploits from his nation is chalked up as a win instead of systematically destroying any semblance of righteousness the US may have hidden away. I think it's important to stress how self-centered Bolton's FP is. He makes Trump look like a globalist champion of the UN when it comes to looking at FP through a remarkably ignorant and US-centric lens. He thinks everything can be solved with US military forces and that the entire world should essentially thank us for their existence. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Are Iran and Russia allies or foes (with each other)? In a lot of ways yes. Russia would get involved with any invasion in Iran in some way. On Bolton, he is one of the people that convinced congress and Bush that the US could hold Iraq with just over 250K troops. We used 350K to occupy Japan, a country we nuked twice, surrender unconditionally and laid down arms. And it’s a god damn island. Iraq did none of those things and was bordered by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both nations that have a number of citizens that would love to kill Americans. Just think about the basis logistics of what I just described and you will get a pretty good grasp on how stupid John Bolton is on these issues. Oh I know how stupid he is, that's kinda the point. He still thinks he's right about Iraq. His goals are ignorant and he'll just move them to fit the outcome. As to Iran and Russia, shouldn't Iran be off the list of potential conflicts if they are allied with his puppet masters? I don’t think so. I think Putin would love the US to get bogged down in another conflict in the Middle East. Or anyplace really. Wait until we are deep in there and stoke the instability so we can’t leave. A war weary America is an America that has no political will to support NATO. Or that is how I believe Putin views it. So you think it is Putin's desire for us to be engaged in conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Iran in the future? None of those places are Ukraine, so sure. He just wants to keep us from opposing him directly the next time he decides a peace keeping mission into some old Soviet Bloc nation is necessary.
So then you are against US imposed regime change in Syria, supplying Saudi Arabia with weapons to use in Yemen, and military action against Iran proper?
|
|
|
|