Iran is stronger than Iraq was and, even though we easily crushed Saddam’s regime, we would not so easily crush the Iranian regime and if the occupation of Iraq was considered bad (and the chicken hawks probably don’t remember how much of a mess that all ended up being and how wrong they were about everything), trying to occupy Iran would be hellish. Trump is bluffing/puffing out his chest. There would almost be no real support for any kind of unilateral military action, let alone occupation. Ramping up aggressive military-oriented rhetoric in light of the suspension of the nuclear deal is also a bad idea if the goal is encouraging Iran to join the “no nukes” club. Of course, Trump hasn’t met a bad idea yet that he hasn’t wanted to go along with.
When Donnie Two Scoops’, Bolton’s and the rest of this warmongering administration’s children are scheduled for the frontlines, on the ground, then I MIGHT look at what these idiots have to say. The first shot fired and I will be protesting every where I can wearing my ribbons and military garb from the first Gulf conflict. I spent EVERY single deployment in that area and we have little except blood and spent treasure to show for it. Don’t let the chest beating has been silver back (and his side kick 'stache) get us into another senseless conflict!
I doubt Netanyahu has signed off on an all-out conflagration in his neighborhood. And since he has veto rights on what we do maybe Trump and Bolton should chill.
You can almost see the jets running into the Statue of Liberty and Trump Tower now. But this time they might be piloted by Merkel, Marcon, Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth. Our allies and Obama almost had Iran contained and then Putin crowned a barely functioning illiterate as our president.
I’m all for calling Trump, Putin and Bibi the new Axis of Evil.
Who, besides the Israelis (big big mistake; it could unite the Muslim world against us) would ally themselves with us? The only other logical candidate is the UK. And in today’s political climate, that absolutetly will not happen. It would likely only be us fighting. No coalition. Given Iran’s large army, the use of nuclear weapons by Trump and the US becomes a dangerously attractive scenario.
as I said,it doen’t work the way you or Trump reason it to work. I’ve spent near years out of the USA. Been to Iran a few times. I grew up outside the USA and say with complete certainty: It don’t work that way. Your argument is based on cultural similarity and there is none. It’s also based on human instinct and native traits. Which we share almost none with the Iranians.
A successful Iranian policy will address the fact that young Iranians want closer cultural ties to the West. They want out from under the Clerics suffocating thumbs. That’s why Obama did the deal he did. ( and why he did it with Cuba ) It opened Iran up to see a bit of the West. That is the best weapon America has. Big Macs will win. Laser guided bombs will not.
It’s not that meanings are lost in translation. There is no equivalent meaning in Farsi. Nor are their translatable cultural differences. Iranians don’t do threats from the West.
So says the National Security Adviser who is an ongoing party to the biggest capitulation since Munich.
Threatening or sanctioning Iran likely drives up oil prices. That hurts Trump’s base, but he’s got them ready for sacrifice, and they really won’t care.
Suffering for Trump’s caprious, selfish whimsy makes them feel patriotic tingles.
And it helps Russia, Big Oil , oil states, and Saudi Arabia. It’s really a no brainer for Trump
Unfortunately, Netanyahu probably thinks that we can drop a few bombs on some Iranian nuclear facilities (like with Iraq back in the 1980’s) and everything will be chill. :-/
I’m with you in the sense that these are three evil people. However, as state actors, they are pulling in different directions. Syria and Iran, both enemies of Israel, are both client states of Russia. This is where Trump’s ultimate dilemma is going to lie.
Trump’s problem is not whether to choose Russia over the US. That decision has already been made. Trump’s real problem is going to come when he has to choose between Russia and Israel.
" keep getting redirected from TPM stories to some bogus “be rewarded” site that references “Amazon user.”
I’ve had that, too. On Android, with Chrome. If that’s the case, this works.
Go to Settings >Apps>Chrome. Force Stop, the Disable. (You’re not going to disable Chrome)
You’ll get a warning about disabling Chrome. Tap Disable App. You’ll get another message asking if you want to replace Chrome with the factory original version. Answer Yes. Done.
I tried clearing cache, and even clearing all Chrome storage. Didn’t work. This did.
Edit to add:
Weird that this popup seemed to be associated only with TPM.
I am pretty sure the House of Saud would be more than happy if we went to war with Iran. They, like the Israelis, would be more than happy if we fought the Iranians to the last GI.
Yes, there is great value in the citizens of adversarial nations getting a peek inside the culture that elected Donald Trump their President. Their subsequent desire to emulate us should be something to behold.
What kind of rewards? Might be worth checking out.
Did you even read what I wrote? You said that an aggressive approach is the wrong approach, I agreed with that. Where I disagreed was your claim that that represents some cultural difference in how Americans and Iranians respond to high handed threats. I maintain that a negative resonse to such an approach is something that American and Iranian cultures actually would have in common and I’m not seeing anything in your argument for not taking such an approach in Iran that would indicate otherwise. Unless you are going to argue that another country making bombastic threats against the US would be a winning strategy for winning the hearts and minds of Texans and Connecticutians?
Oooo… all caps.
Another crisis solved.
Obama’s poll numbers took a dip to the mid- upper 40’s during the Deepwater Horizon oil gusher and the ACA health care website imbroglio. How quaint to be nostalgic for a time when a presidential crisis was an oil spill and a broken website not threatening war with Iran and North Korea.
You would think so, but I have been watching oil futures prices all morning expecting a big move and nothing. Same for the markets in general. Trump’s threats against China to “go to 500” and let the markets take a fall have had no effect. The markets are flat, that’s it. People have their fingers in their ears while shouting “la la la la!”
I know right? And both things weren’t really in his control and the ACA website thing didn’t actually harm/kill anybody. But the Republicans and media succeeded in making it the greatest governmental disaster since Katrina.