Politics

[Altitude sickness]

For people not understanding why the U.S. Navy isn’t escorting or declaring the straits safe. It may be the destruction of Iranian industrial weapons production capabilities is not complete. Once the industrial warfare is complete and weapons can no longer be produced and deployed.
Then all concentration of equipment and weapons can be moved over to a defensive posture in the Hormuz. It would be malpractice to split forces to escort services while the enemy still retains its weapons production in tact.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

Out of proportion? There is no proportion in war if conducted correctly.

Maybe I am seeing a connection to this where there is none, but this is what came to my mind Scott.

 

[HuntingGold]

That is exactly what I thought of when I read Scott's post.

 

[Scott CWO]

For people not understanding why the U.S. Navy isn’t escorting or declaring the straits safe. It may be the destruction of Iranian industrial weapons production capabilities is not complete. Once the industrial warfare is complete and weapons can no longer be produced and deployed.
Then all concentration of equipment and weapons can be moved over to a defensive posture in the Hormuz. It would be malpractice to split forces to escort services while the enemy still retains its weapons production in tact.

You’re making too much sense for SOME of our Scandinavian friends, I’m afraid. I say this as someone of Norwegian and Danish descent with family there that I have visited. They don’t all think this way.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Therefore keeping them in conflict is good for business!

Yes, but the US national debt has paid for a lot of the cost.

Key details regarding the funding of Israel's defense:

• U.S. Military Aid: The U.S. is the largest contributor, with over $150 billion in cumulative aid, supporting Israel’s "qualitative military edge".
• Emergency Funding: Beyond annual aid, the U.S. has provided billions in emergency assistance, particularly during conflicts, with reports of over $21 billion in U.S. aid since October 2023.

 

[Brent in Az]

You’re making too much sense for SOME of our Scandinavian friends, I’m afraid. I say this as someone of Norwegian and Danish descent with family there that I have visited. They don’t all think this way.

I too, am of Norwegian and Danish descent. Our Viking ancestors are rolling over in the grave.

 

[Red Leg]

Should anyone be interested in following daily detailed updates on the situation in the Middle East that are devoid of political spin, I can highly recommend the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) which is chaired by Jack Keane. Some of you may recall I have highly recommended their thorough analysis with regard to Ukraine as well.

Iran Update Special Report, March 14, 2026

Israeli and US officials told Axios that Israel is planning to “significantly expand” its ground campaign in Lebanon.

understandingwar.org

 

[Pondoro]

Scott CWO...I suggest you get off your high horse..

Let us see how this play out for the global economy..

350 tankers, 280 bulk carriers and 370 other ships presently stranded in or near the gulf..

 

[Altitude sickness]

Great analysis and reporting. It’s nice to see Hezbollah is finally getting some heat inside Lebanon.

 

[Aaron N]

I too, am of Norwegian and Danish descent. Our Viking ancestors are rolling over in the grave.

Vikings were pretty woke for their time

Viking society was not matriarchal
; it was an overwhelmingly patriarchal society, but for its time, it was remarkably progressive, granting women significant autonomy, property rights, and legal agency. While men dominated politics and fighting, women ran the household, could own land, initiate divorce, and manage estates while men were away raiding.

 

[Aaron N]

I’ve been debating this post for a while now because I’m sure I will be roasted, but here it goes.

Without using the phrase “gods chosen people” tell me why the west should care so deeply about Israel?

-They were a group of people who had spread across the world and hadn’t had their own nation since 580ish BCE. And I mean a nation where they had full autonomy. If we are so concerned about displaced people’s, we aren’t handing the native Americans the keys tot he continent.

-“We worship the same god” Well so does Islam

-There’s the holocaust guilt, but there have been countless genocides before, and since the war without care

-It’s not like the Jews have ever been overly popular people in western society

-I understand the strategic importance of having an ally in the Middle East, but wouldn’t Ukraine be equally an important ally right now as its ground zero in keeping Russia in check?

-The UN HAD to understand the never ending shit storm that creating Israel would bring on the region, no?

And no, I don’t hate Israel, I just don’t care about it, and I don’t understand why I’m supposed to. And I don’t understand why we have to handle them with white gloves, and even the most insignificant slight is anti-Semitic.

Not trying to start a firestorm, just looking for a rational explanation.

@steve white maybe instead of a thumbs down, you could provide some information to this as to answer my question, and educate me

 

[Red Leg]

Yes, but the US national debt has paid for a lot of the cost.

Key details regarding the funding of Israel's defense:

• U.S. Military Aid: The U.S. is the largest contributor, with over $150 billion in cumulative aid, supporting Israel’s "qualitative military edge".
• Emergency Funding: Beyond annual aid, the U.S. has provided billions in emergency assistance, particularly during conflicts, with reports of over $21 billion in U.S. aid since October 2023.

It is a complex relationship. Israel's defense budget will be around 45 billion USD this year. The US provides 3.8 billion of that annually through a 10-year memorandum of understanding initiated in 2019. As you note, there has been additional emergency funding though the totals I have seen through 2025 have been around 14 billion. Regardless, they will no doubt go up significantly as a result of the current combined campaign against Iran.

There is a meaningful "however" associated with this seemingly generous largess on the part of the US government. Virtually all of those funds are spent in the form of US Foreign Military Financing (FMF) sales. In other words, that funding goes purely for the purchase of US materiel, training, and support. It actually represents an investment by the US in its own defense industry. The F-35 is an excellent example, where Israel, is one of the major purchasers of the fighter. Both FMF and Israeli funding have gone into the development and fielding of the aircraft (along with several NATO partners) reducing the final costs for all users to include the US. Major Defense corporations like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman have participated in the development of Israeli domestically produced air defense systems such as Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Arrow, which is being exploited in the current US Golden Dome effort, reducing cost and schedule while increasing the shareholder value of those corporations.

Additionally, that relationship has allowed the US to bed down, significant warfighting materiel in the region shortening our response times in dealing with regional threats. Obviously, there are a host of other benefits to the US through that relationship.

As a result, I think the more correct way to look at US support for Israel is as an investment in our own national interests - both financially and militarily. And if it is the national debt that worries you, even were there no economic return on 3.8 billion, that represents just 0.056% of the US annual budget. I think were someone looking seriously for deficit spending reductions, there is meaningful waste to be found elsewhere.

 

[mdwest]

If it was 70.000 jews and 1200 arabs you would have screamed bloody murder..

Agreed.. Hamas sacrificed their own..but Israel answered out of proportion..

That quite honestly might be the dumbest thing I’ve seen typed in a very long time.

If someone walks up and kicks you in the balls unprovoked, do you think the right response is to just kick them in the balls in return?

Or do you beat the shit out of them to the point they don’t have the ability to ever kick you or anyone else in the balls again.

Kick me in the balls unprovoked, one of us is leaving the fight in an ambulance… it really is that simple..

Personally I don’t think Israel responded hard enough… were I in charge I wouldn’t stop pounding global terror groups until they ceased to exist, period, no exceptions…

 

[jeanes]

Kick me in the balls unprovoked, one of us is leaving the fight in an ambulance… it really is that simple..

Personally I don’t think Israel responded hard enough… were I in charge I wouldn’t stop pounding global terror groups until they ceased to exist, period, no exceptions…

"They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue"- Jimmy Malone

 

[1dirthawker]

Agreed.. Hamas sacrificed their own..but Israel answered out of proportion..

just curious. how should israel have handled it? how would you have attacked hamas that hid in schools, hospitals, underground and behind civilians? at what point would the israeli response have been enough (in "proportion") to keep hamas from re-constituting and then shoot more rockets into civilian targets in israel?

i await a informed response from somebody that clearly understands the situation on the ground in gaza better than i and apparently the IDF.

 

[RobBrown505]

Since when have school children become so political and why are we taking them so seriously? I can only believe it is through parental osmosis. When I was a kid they would have laughed in my face if I complained about by bus drivers hat. Good on this man for standing on his convictions.

Bus driver quits his job after being told to take off his MAGA hat

Dave Bonhoff walked away from his route after being told he could not wear his 'Make America Great Again' hat while transporting students.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Jeff505]

I’ve been debating this post for a while now because I’m sure I will be roasted, but here it goes.

Without using the phrase “gods chosen people” tell me why the west should care so deeply about Israel?

-They were a group of people who had spread across the world and hadn’t had their own nation since 580ish BCE. And I mean a nation where they had full autonomy. If we are so concerned about displaced people’s, we aren’t handing the native Americans the keys tot he continent.

-“We worship the same god” Well so does Islam

-There’s the holocaust guilt, but there have been countless genocides before, and since the war without care

-It’s not like the Jews have ever been overly popular people in western society

-I understand the strategic importance of having an ally in the Middle East, but wouldn’t Ukraine be equally an important ally right now as its ground zero in keeping Russia in check?

-The UN HAD to understand the never ending shit storm that creating Israel would bring on the region, no?

And no, I don’t hate Israel, I just don’t care about it, and I don’t understand why I’m supposed to. And I don’t understand why we have to handle them with white gloves, and even the most insignificant slight is anti-Semitic.

Not trying to start a firestorm, just looking for a rational explanation.

BCE did you mean “before Christ “.

 

[Woodcarver]

BCE did you mean “before Christ “.

BCE is just another attempt to control the narrative by the woke left, and push the world towards secularism. I will continue to use BC & AD.

 

[fourfive8]

Unless I missed it, but seems like the Pope was crickets when the IRCG was killing thousands of civilian Iranian protestors yet has suddenly become vocal calling the Israeli and US strikes on Iran’s military capability and the elimination of its top leadership, “atrocious violence”. I don’t recall him calling for a “ceasefire” when Iran was gunning down thousands of its own citizens. I don’t recall him saying much of anything. Or the MSM selectively broadcasts what it wants to about what the Pope says depending on how it fits its socialist/left/Dem political agenda. What’s up with all that?

 

[fourfive8]

BCE is just another attempt to control the narrative by the woke left, and push the world towards secularism. I will continue to use BC & AD.

Yes! I’m glad I’m not the only one noticing that subtly hidden in the language. Transparent and feeble attempt to sound “scholarly”.