Israel, Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East
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Trump giving official statement tomorrow morning.
Plenty of time for him to hear Fox hosts weigh in on what he should do before he commits to anything then
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What I find interesting... the Pentagon has been tracking and targeting Soleimani since 2013 (at least!). They were patient, but there were numerous stories throughout the two Obama terms that with their “rules of engagement” they’d have the target in their sights and then have to go through rounds of compliance that took up to 48 hours before a go-ahead to pull the trigger. Trump listened to the Pentagon and tore those rules up, told ‘em if you’ve got him you take him. Now if revenge really is a dish best served cold, you have to wonder about Iran’s “retaliation.” It looks like a publicity stunt. They don’t want war. They’re petrified, especially if Trump tips his hand that the gloves are off a week after they mocked him and said he “can’t do anything.” But they have to keep their people, who have been getting very restless the past two years openly defying the mullahs, staying firmly under their control.
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@Stockcar86 said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
Trump giving official statement tomorrow morning.
Plenty of time for him to hear Fox hosts weigh in on what he should do before he commits to anything then
If you actually watched Fox News the past two nights you’d quickly realize there’s far more balanced views pro-and con-, which you cannot say of any other mainstream American cable tv news network. Hannity follows Carlson, and you could not get two more diametrically opposed viewpoints about American intentions.
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If I had to make a wager...
(Engel is NBC’s longtime war correspondent (Tool of The Man).)
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I would like to believe the current conspiracy theory being floated. This is like Kennedy & Kruschev going back-door during the missile crisis and striking a secret deal. Trump and the Mullahs have made a deal. Expensive fireworks show to impress the locals, promise of zero American deaths, and Trump announces in a month that he’s pulling out of Iraq, same way Jack promised the Rusk to pull his missiles from Turkey. Win-win-win.
I also like the delicious Nixonian detail, that Trump has so thoroughly convinced the Mullahs that he really is sooooo completely bonkers crazy they actually believe he’d turn Tehran into a glass parking lot, and after the shock of Soleimani they’re ready to deal.
Coud be b.s. but is at least a hopeful conspiracy theory!!!
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@Salacious-Crumb Do you know if Trump has historically put forward on an opinion on Iran? His old opinions on China and NK seemed to stick.
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Coincidence?
A Boeing 737 plane carrying 180 passengers and crew crashed shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran early Wednesday local time, Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA reporte
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@Rembrandt He’s said for years that ground war in Iran would be a meat-grinder and a loser, much worse and bloodier than Iraq (true!!), so I don’t believe he wants a war.
At the same time, he’s got Saudi, Israeli and home-brewed Neocon Wormtongues in his ear. And they’re all beating war drums, and maybe they’re trying to convince him he can wage a drone war (?)
I hope & pray Trump doesn’t want war, but the Embassy attack and the Ayatollah tweet were enough for him to want to at least send a strong message lest they be emboldened.
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What?! Report of a Ukranian Boeing 737 crashing After takeoff in Tehran tonight... and reports of multiple earthquakes throughout Iran...
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@Salacious-Crumb said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
they’ll target Dubai.
Abu Dhabi? Still UAE but Al-Dhafra is the US military base there. If they go after Dubai it is civilians.
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@Snowy said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
@Salacious-Crumb said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
they’ll target Dubai.
Abu Dhabi? Still UAE but Al-Dhafra is the US military base there. If they go after Dubai it is civilians.
The collective intelligence of the Fern knows no bounds
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@Salacious-Crumb said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
What?! Report of a Ukranian Boeing 737 crashing After takeoff in Tehran tonight...
Hmmm. 170 dead it seems. A Ukranian airline (after that hooha), American built plane, in Iran, the day they bomb US bases.
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@Snowy said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
@Salacious-Crumb said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
What?! Report of a Ukranian Boeing 737 crashing After takeoff in Tehran tonight...
Hmmm. 170 dead it seems. A Ukranian airline (after that hooha), American built plane, in Iran, the day they bomb US bases.
Certainly would be an odd coincidence. Would be interesting to see who was on that plane.
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I think Iran now knows:
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Trump can track Iranian generals (and one assumes Iranian leaders) and kill them - and is quite prepared to do so.
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Though he wants a deal, he is very different to Obama in that he's quite prepared to use a big stick to get that deal.
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He's proved to be pretty measured in his actions, but hard to predict.
Bit of a nightmare opponent for Tehran in many ways.
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@Salacious-Crumb said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
What?! Report of a Ukranian Boeing 737 crashing After takeoff in Tehran tonight... and reports of multiple earthquakes throughout Iran...
Speculation it was shot down by Iranian forces thinking it was a US attack.
If true, it's a huge own-goal.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
@Salacious-Crumb said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
What?! Report of a Ukranian Boeing 737 crashing After takeoff in Tehran tonight... and reports of multiple earthquakes throughout Iran...
Speculation it was shot down by Iranian forces thinking it was a US attack.
If true, it's a huge own-goal.
They mis identified one of the biggest selling commercial airliners ever, at low level, after taking off from their own airport. I have some doubts...
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@Snowy said in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the ... Middle East:
They mis identified one of the biggest selling commercial airliners ever, at low level, after taking off from their own airport. I have some doubts...
Hope you're right, but people working themselves up into a frenzy are capable of mis-identifying anything.
What's interesting is the Ukrainians have now withdrawn their statement it was engine failure and have refused to rule out a missile strike - and Tehran has seized and refused to release the black box flight recorders
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So it's fair to say Trump has handled this pretty well? Looks like he managed to take out a key person without escalating to war.
My knowledge of this stuff is extremely limited so it's been interesting reading others thoughts on this.