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  • #76
    U.S. Designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization,' Trump Says

    Good. Time for the Pakistani military is coming, too.
    Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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    • #77
      Then Iran goes and designates CENTCOM as terrorists.
      https://www.apnews.com/f635668cc3d6478984ddcb39dd7c78c8

      All parties need to be careful of who they label as terrorists. They stand the risk of lowering the bar on the 'terrorist' designation and causing it to become meaningless.

      Comment


      • #78
        Originally posted by montgomery View Post
        Then Iran goes and designates CENTCOM as terrorists.
        https://www.apnews.com/f635668cc3d6478984ddcb39dd7c78c8

        All parties need to be careful of who they label as terrorists. They stand the risk of lowering the bar on the 'terrorist' designation and causing it to become meaningless.
        So? Doesn't do jack to US interests. The squeeze is on Iran, it will now lose much needed forex revenues. The world trades in USD, not rial. And that is not changing for the next 50 years. One islamic nuclear country has become an international migraine, another one? The world doesn't think so.
        Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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        • #79
          Originally posted by Oracle View Post
          So? Doesn't do jack to US interests. The squeeze is on Iran, it will now lose much needed forex revenues. The world trades in USD, not rial. And that is not changing for the next 50 years. One islamic nuclear country has become an international migraine, another one? The world doesn't think so.
          I agree that the squeeze is on Iran, at least in respect to actions of the US. The EU differs somewhat, albeit timidly for now. Iran claims that it doesn't want nuclear weapons and that's for religious reasons. That could be true, but it also could be true that it wants nuclear weapons as a deterrent to outside aggression. I don't think anyone is of the opinion that Iran would ever be interested in a first strike attack against the Jewish apartheid regime. It's no more likely than Venezuela ever becoming a nuclear power, as opposed to many small countries being client states that depend on big brother.

          The promotion of the notion that any of them wants and needs nuclear weapons is strictly in the value of demonizing. That's my opinion at least, fwiw?

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          • #80
            Donald Trump approves strikes on Iran, but then abruptly pulls back

            These mullahs want a one-way ticket to hell. Why shoot an American drone off the sky? Assuming the drone was flying over Iranian airspace, the Iranians could have been silent and solved it diplomatically, but they instead choose to target it. They know they can't win this fight, but the mullah mentality continues.
            Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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            • #81
              Originally posted by Oracle View Post
              the Iranians could have been silent and solved it diplomatically
              ... have you seen the administration the US has had in the last two-and-a-half years?

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              • #82
                i'm just curious where all the folks outraged by the Obama red-line stuff went.
                There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

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                • #83
                  Originally posted by kato View Post
                  ... have you seen the administration the US has had in the last two-and-a-half years?
                  The Iranians could have used their brain and talked with UK, France & Germany. Pretending to be strong in front of the home crowd means squat, if they are swatted like flies in an actual fight. The mullahs are doing a disservice to the Iranian people with their provocative acts.
                  Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                  • #84
                    Originally posted by Oracle View Post
                    The Iranians could have used their brain and talked with UK, France & Germany.
                    Germany never stopped talking with Iran.

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                    • #85
                      Originally posted by kato View Post
                      Germany never stopped talking with Iran.
                      I know that. What I meant was if US flew a drone over Iran, Iran should have bought this up in conversation with EU countries. The biggest takeaway from this is Trump doesn't want a war.
                      Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                      • #86
                        Originally posted by Oracle View Post
                        What I meant was if US flew a drone over Iran, Iran should have bought this up in conversation with EU countries.
                        That's news? I mean, they've been doing that for three decades. And Iran isn't exactly hiding it either.

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                        • #87
                          Originally posted by kato View Post
                          That's news? I mean, they've been doing that for three decades. And Iran isn't exactly hiding it either.
                          Shooting down a US drone is a provocative act.

                          I posted an article about Israeli spies uncovering a new hidden nuke facility enriching uranium/plutonium some year(s) back, and those spies got away with a lot of classified data and paper documents. Iran was fooling countries that gave it the nuke deal. Why does Iran want nukes? If Iran develops nukes, then KSA would also want nukes. Isn't Pakistan, the only islamic country with nukes not pain enough. Iran having nukes sets off a chain reaction in the middle east. It's better to fight an Iran without nukes, now, then get into the mess later when other parties also develop nukes. Iran's attitude towards Israel also doesn't help. This is karma in my view, it was always coming for them.
                          Last edited by Oracle; 22 Jun 19,, 04:11.
                          Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                          • #88
                            Deep within Iran's elite paramilitary force is a shadowy group the US has had its sights on for years

                            For many Americans, it can be tough to understand exactly how Iran's military apparatus stacks up against our own.

                            Both nations manage their defense efforts in fundamentally different ways due to necessity, cultural differences, and internal politics. The US Military does not operate within America's borders except under very specific circumstances, it receives its funding through Congress, and perhaps most importantly, there's no question as to where its loyalties lie.

                            The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, however, function in a very different way, with its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) overlapping many of the roles occupied by the nation's formal Army and garnering the vast majority of the nation's defense budget. The IRGC also operates a number of legitimate Iranian businesses, securing alternate funding sources while compounding power and influence over the nation's economy and government. When Iranian citizens take to the streets to protest, it's the IRGC that suppresses their efforts with brutal precision.

                            In April of this year, the United States chose to designate the IRGC as a terror group, but deep within the organization's structure, a small sect of the IRGC has already carried that distinction for over a decade: the IRGC's secretive foreign intervention arm, the Quds Force.

                            The Quds Force are tasked with clandestine operations outside of Iran

                            Because Iran isn't capable of fielding a large and modern military that can stand toe to toe with giants like the US, the IRGC's Quds Force has adopted a unique approach to projecting the nation's power beyond Iran's borders.

                            The Quds Force operates entirely within the shadows, supporting foreign terror groups and militias, conducting attacks and assassinations, gathering intelligence, and doing anything else Iran needs to keep hidden behind a veil of plausible deniability.

                            Some Quds Force operatives could be compared to CIA handlers tasked with developing local intelligence assets. Others are more like American Green Berets, tasked with training and equipping foreign military forces. These troops are also known to engage in unconventional warfare operations themselves, often in the form of terror attacks, assassinations, and kidnappings.

                            Iran's long-standing beef with Israel permeates throughout the nation's military apparatus, but none so directly as the Quds Force, also commonly referred to in Iran as Al-Quds. In Arabic, Al-Quds actually means Jerusalem, or literally translated, "The Holy One." They didn't adopt this name as a respectful nod to the ancient city under Israeli control, but rather as a lasting reminder of their long-standing goal to recapture Jerusalem for the Arabic People.

                            Iran also celebrates Quds Day, though not as a direct affirmation of support for the military unit. Quds Day, which has now spread throughout like-minded groups of the Middle East and even as far off as London, is a day dedicated to parades, fiery speeches, and other demonstrations meant to denounce Israel and Zionism. This year, Iran's Quds Day celebrations also included burning American flags and effigies of President Donald Trump.

                            Asymmetric warfare is, in a nutshell, a war between opponents with vastly different levels of resources or capabilities. Iran lacks the technological, diplomatic, and financial strengths the United States leans on to both deter and win armed conflicts, and as a result, they've opted not to fight on those terms.

                            In the modern era, this asymmetric approach has earned the Quds Force close friends in the form of terror organizations with similar extremist goals. Some, like Hezbollah, were even founded through Quds Force interventions.

                            Even the Taliban, a group the Quds Force once fought side by side with American force against, has become an ally, bolstering Iran's defenses along Afghanistan's Western Border.

                            America's Special Operations Command (USASOC) maintains a total force of about 33,000 troops, but it's nearly impossible to tell how those numbers stack up against the Quds Force. Because of the secretive way in which subset of the IRGC operates, estimates have ranged from the low thousands to as many as 50,000 total troops, but to a certain extent, either number would be misleading.

                            Because a primary role of the Quds Force is to establish friendly militias and fighting forces inside the borders of other nations, the Quds Force total number doesn't actually reflect the group's force projection capabilities.

                            With operations ranging from Syria to Venezuela, Iran's influence over loosely affiliated fighting organizations the world over makes the danger presented by the Quds Force more difficult to quantify than conventional, or even many unconventional, military units.

                            Declassified defense documents have linked the Quds Force to a rash of IED attacks in Iraq that claimed the lives of hundreds of US service members during combat operations in recent years.

                            These attacks utilized an explosively formed projectile, or EFP, designed specifically to be effective against armored vehicles like American troops utilize in combat zones. Iran's special operations troops have also been involved in a number of insurgent attacks against US and coalition forces in Iraq since 2003.

                            The Quds Force was implicated in the bombings of the US Embassy, annex, and Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and 1984, along with a long list of other terror attacks.

                            It's important to note, however, that the Quds Force tends to advise and support rather than directly participate in these operations, granting Iran the deniability they need to avoid open war with the United States.
                            Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                            • #89
                              The US has been privately telling Tehran that it will attack if Iran makes this one wrong move

                              As the US military builds up its forces in the Middle East, America's top diplomat has been privately warning the Iranians that the death of even a single US service member at the hands of Iran or one of its proxies would trigger a military response, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing US officials.

                              In May, the US detected signs of possible Iranian aggression targeting US forces and interests in the Middle East. The US responded by deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command area of responsibility.

                              White House national security adviser John Bolton issued a statement on May 5 saying that the military assets deployed to the region were meant "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."

                              Two days later, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unscheduled trip to Baghdad, where he delivered the warning that one American fatality would be enough to trigger a counterattack, The Post reported. Pompeo, a former US Army officer, has been a major player, together with Bolton, in shaping the US "maximum pressure" strategy directed at Iran.

                              More US military assets have since been moved into the region, and more are on the way in the wake of suspected limpet mine attacks on tankers that the US blames on Iran. US military leaders revealed on Tuesday that the US does not plan to carry out a unilateral military response to the tanker attacks.

                              Gen. Paul Selva, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said any military action taken in response to the tanker attacks would "require an international consensus," something the US military has been trying to secure through the release of evidence it says points to Iran's culpability.

                              "If the Iranians come after US citizens, US assets or [the] US military, we reserve the right to respond with a military action, and they need to know that," the country's second-highest-ranking general told reporters. "The Iranians believe that we won't respond, and that's why we've been very clear in our message."

                              Iran is "lashing out against the international community," but the Iranians "haven't touched an American asset in any overt attack that we can link directly to them," he added.

                              "What happens if Americans are killed? That changes the whole thing," a senior Trump administration official told The Washington Post. "It changes everything."

                              Pompeo, who appears to be taking the lead on the standoff with Iran amid a reshuffling of senior leadership at the Pentagon, visited US Central Command on Tuesday, the same day acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan withdrew his name from the nomination for defense secretary and said he would be stepping down.

                              "We are there to deter aggression. President Trump does not want war," Pompeo said. "We will continue to communicate that message while doing the things that are necessary to protect American interests in the region."
                              Iranian hackers wage cyber campaign amid tensions with US

                              Mullahs have no idea what's coming. Don't think the Americans have forgotten the hostage crisis of 1979.

                              Trump says will be Iran's 'best friend' if it renounces nuclear arms
                              Last edited by Oracle; 23 Jun 19,, 01:32.
                              Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                              • #90
                                Originally posted by Oracle View Post
                                Mullahs have no idea what's coming. Don't think the Americans have forgotten the hostage crisis of 1979.
                                Not so easy



                                Re-posting this again as my previous post got deleted for some reason...

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