Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 0
Too bad some Progressive Liberals didn't get their way and there maybe would've been no dome.
Also proud that AOC had to literally cry, when she sold out her "no" vote to a "present".
Change is coming.
Not today.
But it is coming.
Human history will rejoice.
No. of Recommendations: 10
WiltonKnight: Too bad some Progressive Liberals didn't get their way and there maybe would've been no dome.
Nope, not so much the dome. The U.S. military shot down dozens of missiles and drones at the direction of president Biden; credit where credit's due. And as WatchingTheHerd pointed out earlier, lots were defective.
'Course Trump would have downed them just by thinking about it.
No. of Recommendations: 4
'Course Trump would have downed them just by thinking about it. - CO
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Not so. The drones would not have been launched in the first place if Trump was President.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Not so. The drones would not have been launched in the first place if Trump was President.
Why not?
No. of Recommendations: 12
Not so. The drones would not have been launched in the first place if Trump was President. You mean like the rocket attack that killed a US citizen launched from Iran into Iraq in December 2019?
Or January 2020 when Iran launched a series of attacks on two Iraqi bases where US servicemen were stationed?
Or when, just days later, Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner killing 176 people?
There’s more, of course, but one of Trump’s “best people”, who actually served in a capacity to know has some thoughts:
Former President Donald Trump told supporters Saturday that Iran’s attack on
Israel over the weekend “would not have happened if we were in office.” His former
national security adviser says it was a ridiculous statement.
“I just think Trump is delusional on this point,” John Bolton said during an interview
on Sunday. “It’s a point that nobody can refute or confirm one way or the other.
He doesn’t have any idea what to do in the Middle East in this situation.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/14/bolton-tr...Do you guys pay attention EVER?
No. of Recommendations: 1
Do you guys pay attention EVER?
They could never sustain their blind MAGA love of Trump if they paid any attention to reality at all.
No. of Recommendations: 4
>>Not so. The drones would not have been launched in the first place if Trump was President.<<
Why not? - albaby
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I realize this is a matter of opinion, but first of all, Trump would not have provided the Iranians with ready access to billions of dollars, when the Iranian economy was on life support. Under Trump, Iran lacked the funds to sponsor the massive terrorism by third parties that we see today.
Then there is the Iranian disruption of international shipping via the Houthi's. Long before now, Trump would have dealt a significant blow directly to Iran with a warning of more to come if the Houthis didn't stop immediately. And I think Trump has reputation of not backing down and being unpredictable that would have given the Iranians pause at that point.
Trump might have been able to leverage the nascent Abraham Accord nations into some sort of effective coalition. Who know what was possible? Right now, under Biden, we know his first instinct is de-escalation, proportionate response, and appeasement. Meanwhile, the pot boils, forever I guess, as we wait to react, proportionately of course, to the next attack.
No. of Recommendations: 13
I realize this is a matter of opinion, but first of all, Trump would not have provided the Iranians with ready access to billions of dollars, when the Iranian economy was on life support. Under Trump, Iran lacked the funds to sponsor the massive terrorism by third parties that we see today.
Then there is the Iranian disruption of international shipping via the Houthi's. Long before now, Trump would have dealt a significant blow directly to Iran with a warning of more to come if the Houthis didn't stop immediately. And I think Trump has reputation of not backing down and being unpredictable that would have given the Iranians pause at that point.
But this attack wasn't about the United States. It was a response to the Israeli attack on the consulate in Syria - which they took advantage of for reasons unrelated to the United States as well.
The U.S. is an important country, but not everything in the world is about us, or directly affected by the choices or policies of the U.S. President, or even at all influenced by us. Other countries have their own interests, their own conflicts, and their own domestic politics.
No. of Recommendations: 2
But this attack wasn't about the United States. It was a response to the Israeli attack on the consulate in Syria - which they took advantage of for reasons unrelated to the United States as well. - albaby
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?? You asked why the drone attack would not have happened. So I did.
Now you pose a specific scenario, given that the attack on Israel did occur, the USA has no dog in that fight, it wasn't an attack on the USA. To which I say, the Iranian proxy attack using expendable Houthi's was a general attack on the West and International shipping so in that sense we did have a responsibility apart from any direct attacks on the homeland.
Biden never did make the Iranians pay a price so the slow boil continues. If Trump were to say take out IRGC HQ for example, saying Karg Island is next if your proxy crap continues. I think the Iranians would have taken him seriously, harassment of shipping would be greatly diminished, and the direct attack on Israel would not have happened.
The Iranians know they would lose spectacularly in a direct war with the USA, the Iranians have hardly any missile defense and a tiny air force so they would be crushed quickly. That fact could be exploited with the right leadership. Instead the Iranians have calculated that anything they do will be dealt with in the most tepid way possible.
.
No. of Recommendations: 2
I doubt it. The US was directly attacked twice, as detailed in other posts. Trump did nothing.
Right now, the US isn't being attacked, so a non-response is appropriate. And we've bombed the Houthis a few times already (I forget exactly how many), along with the British (I think). Which isn't really deterring the Houthis. I also don't buy that Iran can't do anything about the Houthis, but that is their claim. So caution needs to be exercised to prevent a wider regional conflagration.
We also don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Rather than threaten Iran (or China, or whomever) publicly, I would first approach in private so they would not have to publicly back down from a public threat. That can be a lot more difficult to do than "look...justify it however you like publicly, and we'll go along with it, as long as these actions stop now". It's not just pride, but also culture. In Asia (especially China and Japan), "face" is very important. You get further if you allow them to save face while doing what you want. If you deliver speeches about it, they either have to defy you to save face, or lose face. They will go to great lengths not to lose face. I'm not sure about Iran's culture, but it wouldn't surprise me if the situation is similar.
No. of Recommendations: 0
Not so. The drones would not have been launched in the first place if Trump was President.
Why not?
****
Another reason to vote Biden.
No. of Recommendations: 0
Conservatives.....defending Israel.
And look what the Left does to you in return.....and look what Israel's acolytes in American politics - ie the Bill Kristol crowd do to you in return.
Message to the world: Go full Pro CHOICE. Israel did immediately after the Roe ruling and they are in the Right's good graces.
We won't withhold aid any longer.
We'll even give a King James Bible to every woman who has to have the procedure done.
No. of Recommendations: 2
as a (pleasantly surprised) fan of biden's achievements, joe&co has been absolutely played by bibi and has hard-right faction.
(below even the low bar of obama's foreign policy indifferences)
the absolute disaster would be the u.s. dragged into greater military conflict on israel's behalf.
maybe israel's strategic assassinations would have blown over had they conducted this pro-actively in 2022, but not now that the world sees the u.s. as a complicit partner in funding military aid to conduct civilian genocide.
in a comedic interview with IDF on PBS, the rep stated he believed +50% of the casualities were Hamas, because no one could prove otherwise. simple math on child casualties easily contradicts this, but it is what the GOP (and biden by his actions) are buying.
am still not sure why the u.s. is actively participating to defend israel's aggression...did i miss the part where bibi joined NATO?
or maybe the u.s. is happy to honor country-to-country pledges with israel in a 1-sided manner.
sending crisis aid to Gaza, military aid to bibi, and military expenditure on israel's behalf, is trump-like in its cognitive dissonance.
No. of Recommendations: 5
Isolationism cannot exist the age of nuclear weaponry. There is no place that is safe from a nuclear war. It must be prevented.
I'm an equal opportunity anti-religionist, but as a citizen of a secular nation I'd side with the only Jewish nation over belligerent Islamic nations. It may not be easy, but sacrificing Jewish populations to anti-Jewish populations has to stop.
No. of Recommendations: 2
this is simplistic and badly flawed sequencing, my hope is biden does much better soon.
First : Hamas terrorist attack...they have no nukes, but biden sends military aid to a wealthy state to conduct war on one of the poorest. The kibbutz attack is on a mass scale, for which Israel seems completely unaccountable despite their supreme surveillance state, and u.s. money and intel.
Second : Israel anti-terrorist response planned. ok, par.
Third : turns out Israel has no 'plan', just mass scale warfare which becomes civilian genocide. send people to fake safezones and cut basic goods. now there are ~20X relative to Israeli civilians killed, probably aiming for 100X in Gaza.
Sure, i understand there is not much sympathy for 20k dead children and women in Gaza, but among those also killed :
-American and european citizens
-Aid workers
-Israeli Hostages
-IDF's own soldiers
in every instance, there were excuses on 'Hamas' being in the area for the strikes. GMAFB, its the actual GAZA strategy!
this is where it gets critical and biden needs to apply some bayesian priors regarding BiBi's ploys, and stop all military aid. because this is where all further israeli aggression (and u.s. complicity) is seen in the context of genocide.
Fouth : NOW we get to the non-gaza escalation by israel, and with a nuclear power. if BiBi can drag america into this, its a career saving move.
so far, Biden and GOP want to keep the military money coming. and join whatever escalation occurs.
out of all the things for Biden to agree on with MAGA, this is most repulsive to settle on.
(ok, maybe appeasing putin would be worse, but ukraine has a much lower civilian casualty rate than Gaza, despite the russia war being ~3 yrs longer)
