U.S. And International Politics

[John Corbett]

  This "human shields" stuff is pure propaganda. We almost never see footage of what is going on inside Iran, and then all the sudden, we see film footage of alleged "human shields". None of the news services post the source of this film footage, they just run it. It's propaganda and the News Media spreads it across the USA. This includes FOX News. The foreign influence/$$ inside the USA runs extremely deep.

If innocent people are used as human shields and become casualties, that's on the regime that placed them there, not on the attackers. That's war. During WWII, we killed lots of German and Japanese civilians in striking military targets. That's unavoidable, even with the precision guided missiles we have today. It's called collateral damage. It might seem cold hearted, but it is how war is waged. You can't allow the enemy to shield their military targets using their own people. The Israelis are forced to attack Hezbollah missile launchers which have been placed in civilian neighborhoods. We did apparently strike a school and that is being investigated, but early indications are that was the result of bad intelligence. We had absolutely no reason to deliberately target a school. Mistakes like that are sadly also inevitable during war, as much as we try to avoid them. Sometimes we even kill our own troops in friendly fire incidents. Fortunately, we so far haven't had to put boots on the ground other than the rescue missions so friendly fire accidents have not been an issue other than one of our jets being mistaken for an Iranian drone by one of our Arab allies. Fortunately, that one did not result in casualties.

[Benjamin Cole]

Layman's view from me:

The US and Israel should mine the ports and harbors of Kharg Island, and use drones to surveil and protect. 

Everyone says oil-tanker captains will never run a mine blockade, or even the mere threat of mines.

90% of Iranian oil leaves through Kharg Island.

Seems like a low-risk, high-leverage op to mine Kharg Island.

Keep up pressure on missile-launchers, drones, and all new production, wipe out any factory even related to missile-drone production.

I sure hope Trump doesn't do a TACO. He let Hamas off the hook. Trump has been better on the IRGC than any previous president, but...he also likes to do a deal.

[Royell Storing]

Layman's view from me:

The US and Israel should mine the ports and harbors of Kharg Island, and use drones to surveil and protect. 

Everyone says oil-tanker captains will never run a mine blockade, or even the mere threat of mines.

90% of Iranian oil leaves through Kharg Island.

Seems like a low-risk, high-leverage op to mine Kharg Island.

Keep up pressure on missile-launchers, drones, and all new production, wipe out any factory even related to missile-drone production.

I sure hope Trump doesn't do a TACO. He let Hamas off the hook. Trump has been better on the IRGC than any previous president, but...he also likes to do a deal.

  I believe at this point Trump is squeezing the countries that did not help the USA when called on. They badly need the oil tankers flowing through. We will pay more for gas here in the USA, but will not suffer any serious shortages due to Trump's "Drill Baby Drill" philosophy +Venezuela. Trump has ALL the leverage now on both "friends" and foe.  Trump now has the USA in the catbird seat. This includes Trump setting NATO straight.

[Benjamin Cole]

RS--

From your lips to G-d's ears.

Trump is the first President to deal with the IRGC in a language they understand.

But Trump can be mercurial, impetuous, vainglorious.

I wish he had let the hammer drop on Hamas, once and for all.

Now, all the more incumbent upon him to wipe out the IRGC.

There will never be peace in the Middle Eastr as long as the IRGC exists, or they are totally defanged (and even that would require "annual" visits to wipe out new facilities).

[John Corbett]

Layman's view from me:

The US and Israel should mine the ports and harbors of Kharg Island, and use drones to surveil and protect.

Everyone says oil-tanker captains will never run a mine blockade, or even the mere threat of mines.

90% of Iranian oil leaves through Kharg Island.

Seems like a low-risk, high-leverage op to mine Kharg Island.

Keep up pressure on missile-launchers, drones, and all new production, wipe out any factory even related to missile-drone production.

I sure hope Trump doesn't do a TACO. He let Hamas off the hook. Trump has been better on the IRGC than any previous president, but...he also likes to do a deal.

{/quote]

Actually, that's not the worst idea you have come up with. Might even be your best. Might be a better alternative from blowing the place up or putting boots on the ground which would likely result in significant casualties.

Those claiming TACO don't have a leg to stand on. TACO stands for Trump ALWAYS chickens out. Did Trump chicken out last summer when he threatened to blow up the uranium enrichment facilities if Iran didn't abandon their nuclear weapons program. More recently, did Trump chicken out when he threatened Iran with devastating attacks if they didn't start negotiating in good faith? Trump is a deal maker, i.e. negotiator. He sometimes makes threats to get concessions from the other side. If he gets those concessions, or even makes progress toward concessions and calls off the threats, that is not chickening out. That is part of the art of the deal.

[John Corbett]

RS--

From your lips to G-d's ears.

Trump is the first President to deal with the IRGC in a language they understand.

But Trump can be mercurial, impetuous, vainglorious.

I wish he had let the hammer drop on Hamas, once and for all.

Now, all the more incumbent upon him to wipe out the IRGC.

There will never be peace in the Middle Eastr as long as the IRGC exists, or they are totally defanged (and even that would require "annual" visits to wipe out new facilities).

I agree but it will take time. If we try to force the issue, we will lose a lot of lives. I think we can cause a collapse of the current regime through a slow squeeze. In the end, the Iranians people will have to do that the way the Libyans got rid of Gadhafi. We might need to arm them but we have to do that ins a way that the weapons would not fall into the regime's hands. The regime is supported by the leadership of the IRGC. Regime change will occur when leadership turns against the regime or the rank and file of the IRGC turn against the leadership. I'm not sure which is more likely.

[John Corbett]

TACO MY ASS!!!

Trump is not chickening out in Iran. This morning he is dropping the hammer. He is blockading the Strait of Hormuz. If Iran isn't going to let everyone through, then nobody gets through. Iran will lose their principle source of income. I thought he might just shut of Kharg Island but that would still allow Iran to extort ransom money in exchange for allowing selected ships through. It also shuts off their biggest customer, China, from buying 50% of Iran's oil which is 90% of what China imports.

If the Iranians didn't know it before, they know it now. They are dealing with one tough SOB. The best thing is he's our tough SOB. The Iranians will capitulate or be destroyed, both militarily and economically. Let them eat all that sand they have.