US Politics Mega-thread - Page 5534

On March 04 2026 04:13 dyhb wrote:
It's idiotic and bad faith to ask a question, type out the expectation of a dodge, and asking a second question ... only to re-propose the initial question a couple weeks later. I don't know why you're trolling and then backtracking to pretend a normal person would think you're genuine. He's literally a page before that typing several policy preferences that directly contradict Republican orthodoxy.

typing several policy preferences that directly contradict Republican orthodoxy.

On March 04 2026 06:03 Jankisa wrote:
Well, they did bomb Syria directly after the current regime overthrew Assad, so I don't see why I would believe that Israel wouldn't continue bombing anything that they deem of military use even if Artesh takes over.

They are, pretty sure, bombing them as we type here, which is fine, my issue is that if Syria thought us something is that Israel won't stop bombing just because a different Iranian is in charge now, even if they proclaim they have no beef with them.

So yeah, as I mentioned and others agreed, Artesh overthrowing IRGC and making some sort of a deal to make Trump go away is the best case scenario, even if it, once again, shows how incredibly fucking lucky Trump is, minimal casualties, less onerous people in charge and military superiority once again re-asserted.

Makes his unwillingness to put Putin in place even more depressing.

On March 04 2026 06:22 Ze'ev wrote:
Who in Syria did they bomb though? Theres multiple factions some of which are quite extreme, im not sure how much the comparison between the two would hold up. I also recall there being some violence against Druze populations after Assad fell but I dont recall the context of Israels bombing.

Agree with the bolded part.

On March 04 2026 06:24 KwarK wrote:

Who in Syria was bombing Israel?

On March 04 2026 06:33 Ze'ev wrote:
Where did I imply anyone in Syria was bombing Israel?

On March 04 2026 05:37 Jankisa wrote:
Considering the best possible scenario is that this goes down peacefully, IRGC puts down their arms and the army takes over and strikes the deal with Trump, I guess that's the current best case scenario since it means stopping the strikes.

But, given what we know about Israel and how it operates, I sincerely doubt Nethyanahu would stop and we might get a Syria scenario where Trump proclaims "mission accomplished" and Israel continues bombing the Army troops.

On March 04 2026 05:40 Ze'ev wrote:
No way dude; Israel is a brutal country, but the U.S/Israel arent bombing the Artesh on purpose, they wanted to divide the regime from the military+people and its seemingly succeeding. They wont bomb the Artesh because its crazy and totally counter productive. Israel is cruel but they arent unstable and dumb.

Still a very open question where this goes but I am emotionally moved at the possibility of a free iran + the tens of millions of people who were suffering under threat of terrorism finally being safe. In the best case scenario the whole middle east could enter a period of liberalism and peace.

On March 04 2026 06:37 KwarK wrote:

If nobody in Syria is bombing Israel then why does it matter who in Syria they’re bombing? Shouldn’t it be none of them?

Israel, on the other hand, knows whoever else is in power will still hate them, there just isn't a major faction in Iran who doesn't.

So whoever is in power doesn't really matter to them in the long term, a successful spill doesn't stop Iran from being what they perceive to be an existential threat (and I'm not saying their assessment is necessarily wrong). They will still want Iran unable to function as a country.

In the short term, spilling the IRGC means less resistance. In the long term not really much changes.

Some terrorists in the chaos is easier to deal with than an actual state with mass production of missiles, drones and maybe a credible nuclear program.

"Citizens of Iran, look at the sky tonight. For forty years, the Revolutionary Guard told you that those missiles were your pride. They told you that every rial taken from your table, every drop of water stolen from your farms, and every watt of electricity cut from your homes was a necessary sacrifice for these 'arrows of God.'

Today we see the truth. Those missiles did not bring you security; they brought you the fire that is currently falling on our cities. They did not bring you respect; they brought you isolation.

The Revolutionary Guard spent your dinner on Lebanese missiles and Yemeni drones. The Artesh will spend your resources on Iranian bread and the world’s respect. >
We are not a cult of martyrdom. We are the guardians of the soil. To those IRGC units still hiding in the shadows: do not fire another missile that steals bread from an Iranian child. Stand down, or the nation will treat you as the foreign invaders you have become."

On March 04 2026 06:59 Ze'ev wrote:
Do I have to hold your hand? You tell me; why would a Jihadi in control of a state with a large set of weapons and a navy be relevant to Israels conduct? And does the Artesh -- a broadly secular, national military, in a cosmopolitan and broadly secular society -- pose the same risks as a terrorist organization thats conducted holy war? If the risks arent the same, is there reason to believe Israel wouldn't treat the two situations as the same?

im sorry but this is just on the face of it absurd and historically illiterate not to mention unbelievable -- theres no difference between an islamic terrorist state whos religious mission is the destruction of Israel and any other Government that might come out of it? Theres a 1:1 relationship between an islamic terrorist states intense hatred of Israel and its conduct and any other plausible realistic alternative Government? I dont think you have even the vaguest understanding of Iranian society, and quite frankly "all these brown people will attack israel regardless" is as reductive and shallow as it is racist. Israel would much prefer a stable and friendly Iran -- which is very possible (and was historically the case) -- as it would make them billions of dollars and massively lower their security costs.

On March 04 2026 06:01 KwarK wrote:
I hope that there’s a successful Iranian coup because it seems like the best possible outcome to Trump’s war.

Well, because it happened all very quickly, we thought, and I thought maybe more so than most, I could ask Marco, but I thought we were going to have a situation where we were going to be attacked. They were getting ready to attack Israel. They were getting ready to attack others. You're seeing that right now. And a lot of those missiles that are hitting in those are stationary. Those were aimed there for a long period of time at these other countries. So I think I was right about that. We attacked first, and if we didn't, it could have been, you know, look, we're really decimating them. They're being decimated. And if we didn't, if we didn't, and by the way, we have massive amounts of ammunition. We have the high end a lot of it was given away stupidly by Biden, very stupidly for free. And I'm all for Ukraine, but they gave away a lot. As you know, when I give away ammunition, everybody pays for it. The European Union is paying for it, they can do what they want with it, but they are giving it, let's say, to Ukraine, and it's okay, but we gave away a lot of high end but we have plenty. But we have unlimited middle and upper ammunition, which is really what we're using in this war. And we have an, really an unlimited supply. We also have a lot of the very high end stored in different countries throughout the world. Wit this, we're literally storing it there, which is actually something I insisted on in my first term. I rebuilt the military. In my first term, the military is great. A lot of, not unbelievable, amount of ammunition, or munitions, as they say, were given away to you know, the Wall Street Journal incorrectly covered the story when they said that it was given away to the Middle East, not to the Middle East was given away to Ukraine. Very little was given to the Middle East. Middle East would buy a lot. And some of the nations, because they're rich, they have a lot, but it was given away to Ukraine, and it just should have been done. Look, it's a war that should have never happened. If I were president, that war would never happened. But we have a tremendous amount of munitions, ammunition at the upper level, middle and upper level, all of which is really powerful stuff. How worried are you that the rising prices for gas and oil damaging the American economy, and also sure this is, of course, damaging our economies. This is true for the oil prices, and this is true for the gas prices as well. So that's the reason why we all hope that this war will come to an end as soon as possible. And we are hoping that the Israeli and the American army are doing the right things to bring this to an end and to have really a new government in place who was coming back to peace and freedom? Yeah something had to be done. And it's been 47 years. They've been killing people all over the world for a long time. They were the kings and fathers of the roadside bomb, Soleimani. We killed him last time. If we didn't, I think it might be a different story today. They would have been much stronger and smarter than they are, but they did the roadside bombs. 95% of the people lost their legs arms, had their face wiped out, just wiped out. I've seen some young people that it's so sad to watch, and that was all. Almost all. 95% comes from Iran, and with Soleimani Solomon, he loved his favorite weapon. He loved the roadside bomb. And when you see people walking around with no legs and no arms and a face that's been blown to hell, these people what they have to go and the way they have to live, this is, this is Iran. When you look at the barracks, the famous barracks, when you look at the hostages, when you look at a lot of hostages, when you look at all of the problems, they were really a purveyor of terror all over the world for many, many years. And it's something that had to be done something. And I believe that if we didn't because I see where Congress, you know, if I didn't do this, guys like Schumer, who are losers, the Democrats, they're losers. That's why they're not here. Guys like Schumer would say, well, you should have done this. In other words, if I did it, it's no good. If I didn't do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this. But most people feel, I tell you what, I have never had more compliments than something they did. People felt it's something that had to be done.