Politics

[Tundra Tiger]

When Kindle came out the first time and sold out within hours, I was one of the lucky ones that snagged one.
At that time my employees and I were doing a startup of a water treatment plant at a municipality. I was giddy and as happy as a pig in mud.

The superintendent was puzzled why I was so excited. I explained that I was tired of carrying 10 pounds of books on each trip I took overseas. I asked him how many books he had read the past year. His answer was that he had "started" one, but never really finished as he had a wife etc. at home. I changed the subject.

I was a big time fan of actual books for so long - still am. But my first trip to Africa started me down the Kindle road for the same reason.

I frankly can't imagine a day going by without reading...

 

[Scott CWO]

The performance of Israel's Iron Dome last night was nothing short of staggering. This changes a lot. For me it confirms my assessment/prediction that defensive counter measures, especially lazer, will render missile warfare largely redundant. Basically Iran has just had a huge reality chech, since they have put so much emphasis upon their missiles. I bet Kim and Putin are taking note too.

And Reagan was heavily criticized by the left for pushing the development of missile interceptors, which the left branded as an impossible “Star Wars” fantasy.

 

[Scott CWO]

Plus, I'm a former Am History major who happens to know what the First Amendment covers.

I have all the respect in the world for plumbers and other trade folks. Hard work that we definitely need. I also appreciate history and enjoyed my classes throughout school and college in American and World History. I’m currently in Rome accompanying my parents on my mother’s dream trip to Italy to see things such as the Colosseum before she is too old to travel. No hunting on this trip, which is making me a bit edgy! Lol. I’m thinking we have more in common than not.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Iran did launch approximately 300 drones and cruise missiles. Egypt, Jordan and the U.S. helped knock many of them down before getting to the Iron Dome.

The two day warning from Iran and then now saying it’s concluded. Along with their warning that the US should not be involved with further retaliation. Shows they are most concerned with the US getting involved.

It’s time to pound Iran and degrade their emerging nuclear capabilities. Once they get unconventional weapons. The military options available now, go away.

Ali Khamenei has got to go. By any means necessary. His belief system is that there has to be a cataclysmic world ending event for Iranians to go to there after Life.

Obama and Biden own this. They tried to appease Iran by freeing up billions in frozen assets. Signing an agreement to allow Iran to have Nukes.

sending pallets of cash. Loosening of sanctions. Iran is selling all the oil they have available to China. We should cripple all oil production and underground nuke facilities. Water and electric generation.

 

[Altitude sickness]

The preceding 10 years before Oct 7th. Israel has been receiving attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah proxies sent by Iran. Iran has been emboldened by Obama and Biden.

As the saying goes.

“When someone says they are going to kill you. Don’t let them “.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Also, I’m sure B.B. is holding his cards close to the vest and will not inform the Biden administration before Israel’s next retaliation.

The Biden administration still has Iranian sympathizers imbedded. Even after one was removed.

Biden is more concerned with getting re-elected and the Palestinian voters in Dearborn Mi. Than Israel’s security.

Biden is saying what he has to say, supporting Israel in public and stabbing them in the back
communicating with Iran behind the scenes.

So he can appease Rashida Talib and gain back the necessary Dearborn voters

Has Iran Compromised the Biden Administration?

Last month news broke that several Iranian operatives, reportedly members of that nation’s Iranian Expert’s Initiative (IEI), were working in high-level positions across the Biden administration. These individuals communicated directly with Iranian Foreign Ministry officials asking for advice...

www.hudson.org

 

[Altitude sickness]

Iranian mole Ariane Tabatabai still works in the administration

 

[bowjijohn]

Initially I thought @Red Leg ’s early analysis to be (as usual) spot on

However

170 drones
30 cruise missiles
120 ballistic missiles

Does not - a symbolic gesture’ make

Red leg once again was spot on with his revised brief

Iran hopes for a draw (the Arab way)

However I fear that Israel has identified, and is exploiting, the cracks and fissures in Iran’s position and the US’s fear of impending global war

They (Israel) have every intention of exterminating Hamas - they can’t leave them intact

The US and the west is dithering in that regard

It is in Israel’s interests to exploit Iran’s weakness and prevent western support from melting in the heat of potential international conflict

Israel is not known for backing down

I believe they will respond as, I think that they think, that their advantage lies with escalation

Just my Sunday afternoon blatherings on a rare dry day

 

[fourfive8]

Initially I thought @Red Leg ’s early analysis to be (as usual) spot on

However

170 drones
30 cruise missiles
120 ballistic missiles

Does not - a symbolic gesture’ make

Red leg once again was spot on with his revised brief

Iran hopes for a draw (the Arab way)

However I fear that Israel has identified, and is exploiting, the cracks and fissures in Iran’s position and the US’s fear of impending global war

They (Israel) have every intention of exterminating Hamas - they can’t leave them intact

The US and the west is dithering in that regard

It is in Israel’s interests to exploit Iran’s weakness and prevent western support from melting in the heat of potential international conflict

Israel is not known for backing down

I believe they will respond as, I think that they think, that their advantage lies with escalation

Just my Sunday afternoon blatherings on a rare dry day

Some of that magic “crystal ball” is no more than analyzing a series of plays on a chess board after the plays have been made

 

[bowjijohn]

Yes

But we have to analyse the previous moves in order to better predict the next

Not that I know anything

 

[fourfive8]

All evidence points to Brandon along with a bunch of deep state holdovers as nothing more than BHO 3.0. There is nothing smart or wise strategically or tactically about shooting down a bunch of $1k drones with $1m missiles…. And that could be a gross under-estimate of the asymmetry. This has been going on since the Houthis started firing cheap drones from the backs of pick ups willy nilly at ships. Predictably, all our enemies were learning something in the process (and are continuing to do so by the way!) and were able to sneak a shadowing drone right into one of our outposts. Purposefully stupid foreign policy and battlefield tactics all in plain sight. Of course the MSM are dumb as a box of rocks and continue to run cover for this admin.

 

[Red Leg]

Initially I thought @Red Leg ’s early analysis to be (as usual) spot on

However

170 drones
30 cruise missiles
120 ballistic missiles

Does not - a symbolic gesture’ make

Red leg once again was spot on with his revised brief

Iran hopes for a draw (the Arab way)

However I fear that Israel has identified, and is exploiting, the cracks and fissures in Iran’s position and the US’s fear of impending global war

They (Israel) have every intention of exterminating Hamas - they can’t leave them intact

The US and the west is dithering in that regard

It is in Israel’s interests to exploit Iran’s weakness and prevent western support from melting in the heat of potential international conflict

Israel is not known for backing down

I believe they will respond as, I think that they think, that their advantage lies with escalation

Just my Sunday afternoon blatherings on a rare dry day

Because Iran employed all three means in a simultaneous attack, this was indeed an attempt to actually cause damage, and was not merely a demonstration for a domestic or regional audience.

Considering the distance and operational airspace available to IDF and US fighter aircraft, It is unsurprising few of the air breathers made it anywhere near their intended targets. I have yet to see the actual identity of the Ballistic missiles cited by the IDF spokespeople. Assuming they were indeed long range systems launched from Iran, Israel demonstrated an extremely impressive defense capability by apparently intercepting all of them. These could not have been engaged by aircraft. Iron Dome is not really effective against true ballistic missiles unlike the overgrown unguided bottle rockets fired by Hamas. The Iranian ballistic missiles would have been engaged by Israel's Arrow 3 air defense system which roughly analogous to the US Patriot.

I suspect Jordanian cooperation was key. By opening its airspace to the IDF, it allowed Israeli fighters to take down a lot of the clutter early, clearing the screens to kill the high value missiles as they arrived. Very impressive.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Israel has the excuse and should capitalize on it. Of all the actions, conflicts and wars we have dicked around with in the last 50 years. This is the one that needs to happen sooner rather than later.

They are similar to Iraq. No where near as strong as they want everyone to believe. Until they get a couple unconventional weapons.

Iraq turned into another quagmire because we removed our boot from their throat in Baghdad. Thinking the military gave up. They switched to guerrilla mode. A pleb at West Point knew what they were doing. But we were so soft we let them re group.

Khamenei Is a religious zealot. Not a political being. We need to help Israel set them back 20-30 years. Water, Sewer, electricity all destroyed.

They don’t have Arab nations that will back them. Weaken them and let Pakistan finish them.

Of course we would never act that decisively.

We wouldn’t want to offend anybody. we would rather dither around the edges and prolong the agony and invite everyone to keep hitting us.

Our doctrine should be. No more being the police of the world. Withdraw all military from 7 decade old wars countries. Remove bans on those countries defense capabilities.

BUT!! If you punch us in the face or one of our Allies. after we agree to stop sticking our nose in everywhere. Well, then Thor’s hammer is coming down.

Our enemies still live with ancient mindsets. So let’s fight like Attila the Hun. We lay waste to one enemy as an example. After that No one gets out of line for a very long time. If a terrorist hits our country, his country of origin pays his toll.

And that folks is why you should never elect me as Commander in Chief

My doctrine would be “You called down the thunder, well you got it”

 

[Red Leg]

My problem with this notion of attacking Iran is how we would propose to end it. We are not going to put boots on the ground in nation with a population of 80 million. That means we can not dictate a peace from Tehran. To remind, we weren't particularly effective at dictating one from Baghdad. That means the maximum we would be able to accomplish would be punitive strikes against Iranian military and civilian infrastructure. Air power has yet to win a war.

I think we should also assume such action would activate every Iranian proxy and asset anywhere in the West. I do not believe anyone truly knows what that asymmetric retaliation would entail.

I am curious to see what Israel is actually capable of in the way of a response. I am ground a combat soldier not an airman, but I do know the IDF has no air refueling assets. The F-16i, the IDF's primary fighter bomber, has a pretty large combat radius, but when fully loaded with external fuel, it isn't carrying much in the way of weapon stores. The F15i has comparable range and limitations to their F16 inventory. Israel's new F35 aircraft only have around a 600 mile combat radius (Tehran is a thousand miles from Israel). I do not know if they have taken delivery of external tanks from Elbit, but they would also limit weapon load.

As I say, it will be curious to see what Israel is capable of accomplishing if they attempt a retaliatory strike.

 

[rookhawk]

Because Iran employed all three means in a simultaneous attack, this was indeed an attempt to actually cause damage, and was not merely a demonstration for a domestic or regional audience.

Considering the distance and operational airspace available to IDF and US fighter aircraft, It is unsurprising few of the air breathers made it anywhere near their intended targets. I have yet to see the actual identity of the Ballistic missiles cited by the IDF spokespeople. Assuming they were indeed long range systems launched from Iran, Israel demonstrated an extremely impressive defense capability by apparently intercepting all of them. These could not have been engaged by aircraft. Iron Dome is not really effective against true ballistic missiles unlike the overgrown unguided bottle rockets fired by Hamas. The Iranian ballistic missiles would have been engaged by Israel's Arrow 3 air defense system which roughly analogous to the US Patriot.

I suspect Jordanian cooperation was key. By opening its airspace to the IDF, it allowed Israeli fighters to take down a lot of the clutter early, clearing the screens to kill the high value missiles as they arrived. Very impressive.

Why doesn’t the west immediately conduct a tit-for-tat symmetric response, rather than taking turns as if playing checkers?

You‘d think that such humiliation would cause regime change? ”We shot 500 rockets at the west, they knocked them all down, they shot 500 back, most of them hit….we shouldn’t do this again”.

 

[Altitude sickness]

I think it should be a Yemen, Lebanon Hezbollah and Iran strike. all from the air and naval forces. No boots on the ground

just pummel them for a month and set them back a few decades

eradicate their water and electricity infrastructures and all possibility of shipping oil to China.

Let them spend the hundreds of billions that Obama and Biden sent them on their infrastructure instead of their proxies.

 

[Red Leg]

Why doesn’t the west immediately conduct a tit-for-tat symmetric response, rather than taking turns as if playing checkers?

You‘d think that such humiliation would cause regime change? ”We shot 500 rockets at the west, they knocked them all down, they shot 500 back, most of them hit….we shouldn’t do this again”.

And then what? Suppose Iran doesn't quit. Its population hunkers down rather than revolt. Suppose their response is to activate every cell available to them to attack the West asymmetrically. Bombs, chemicals, anthrax - you name it.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

“Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.”​

― Herbert Hoover

I agree with @Red Leg on this. The Iranian government needs to be exterminated. The trouble is that is nearly impossible to do without also killing thousands, maybe tens of thousands of the innocent ayatollah-hating population. If we are not fully committed to destroy a country at any cost, like fire bombing Tokyo and other Japanese cities, then stay out of it. Didn't we recently pull out of a 20-year war in Afghanistan?

If the west declares or causes a war with Shia Muslin Iran, will the Suni Muslin countries join the infidel western combatants, stay neutral, or assist their fellow Muslin people? The trouble with free thinking peoples of western democracies is that we do not, cannot comprehend how people in the near-dictatorship middle eastern countries think. Add to that the complexities of devout Muslin peoples and who knows what will happen!

 

[Scott CWO]

My problem with this notion of attacking Iran is how we would propose to end it. We are not going to put boots on the ground in nation with a population of 80 million. That means we can not dictate a peace from Tehran. To remind, we weren't particularly effective at dictating one from Baghdad. That means the maximum we would be able to accomplish would be punitive strikes against Iranian military and civilian infrastructure. Air power has yet to win a war.

I think we should also assume such action would activate every Iranian proxy and asset anywhere in the West. I do not believe anyone truly knows what that asymmetric retaliation would entail.

I am curious to see what Israel is actually capable of in the way of a response. I am ground a combat soldier not an airman, but I do know the IDF has no air refueling assets. The F-16i, the IDF's primary fighter bomber, has a pretty large combat radius, but when fully loaded with external fuel, it isn't carrying much in the way of weapon stores. The F15i has comparable range and limitations to their F16 inventory. Israel's new F35 aircraft only have around a 600 mile combat radius (Tehran is a thousand miles from Israel). I do not know if they have taken delivery of external tanks from Elbit, but they would also limit weapon load.

As I say, it will be curious to see what Israel is capable of accomplishing if they attempt a retaliatory strike.

Do you or your contacts have any idea about how loyal the 80 million population is to the Supreme Leader? Of course I have heard about the protests in Iran but I have no idea how widespread the sentiments are in Iran. Obviously a ridiculously small and anecdotal sample but I have heard from US hunters that hunted Iran not too long ago that the people were very friendly and, dare I say, pro-US. I wonder about the broader population?

 

[shootist~]

The IDF reported last nights defense cost Isreal around a billion dollars.

A smoking Iranian refinery / production facility or two would be a solid deterrence of future Iranian attacks, IMO. Hit their revenue producing assets and make the regime loose support.