We're All Doomed!™ (the Conquest, War, Famine, and Death Thread)

[Per]

https://x.com/HarrisonHSmith/status/203 ... 53069?s=20

So the cotton candy combover is actually a squid?

Which ties into the antisemitic trope of Judaism being an octopus with its tentacles reaching everywhere.
So the squid is Netanyahu.

[Topper]

CBC has someone doing air guitar and drums aside Rush so the hearing impaired can enjoy. It makes Geddy Lee's vocal tolerable.

https://x.com/amuse/status/2038599095263138117?s=20

[Meds]

Guy here at work has such a bad case of TDS that he made the argument that Iran has one of the best records of treatment of POW’s in an effort to throw shade at the US. Their humanitarian treatment of prisoners predates that of western societies.

Every article and report I shows him documenting the opposite was dismissed as western propaganda.

I’m stating to wonder if he’s ukcanuck.

[Per]

Guy here at work has such a bad case of TDS that he made the argument that Iran has one of the best records of treatment of POW’s in an effort to throw shade at the US. Their humanitarian treatment of prisoners predates that of western societies.

Every article and report I shows him documenting the opposite was dismissed as western propaganda.

I’m stating to wonder if he’s ukcanuck.

Yeahno, their humanitarian record is abominable.

We have two Swedes of Persian descent locked up on death row on trumped up charges of espionage for Israel.
Or had. One of them got executed the other day.

Sweden does not believe there is any truth to the accusations and has tried every diplomatic means to have them released, but Iran does not recognize double citizenship and does not allow people to end their Iranian citizenship, so they just dismiss the Swedish complaints out of hand as they maintain that these are Iranians and not Swedes.

I think one is a scientist and the other a doctor. Both got arrested while visiting relatives in Iran. Hint - don’t do that!
Not sure which one they just offed. Both have been in jail for years, so I guess the Swedish complaints, backed by the EU as well, may have had some effect. Probably kept them alive to be used as bargaining chips at some point. But I guess the war may have led to the Iranians suddenly actually carrying out the execution of one of them. Despite us not participating in the war. But yeah, they claim he was an Israeli spy, so there’s that.

[UWSaint]

Congratulations to the very brave men who pulled off the rescues of the downed airmen over the weekend. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2k1dgz142o

I have my concerns about this war: (1) presumption is always against use of force and case for force is weak; (2) no clear articulation for what it intends to achieve (and so no way to evaluate what it might take to get there and what’s the time horizon and probability of success); (3) cost (lives, money). But I have no concerns about the bravery and skill of the men and women who fight this war; I am deeply impressed. And I have little to no concern about the competence of those Americans who are responsible for tactics, where military or intelligence. I am deeply impressed.

I have wondered at times whether this demonstration of American military superiority is part of the point — it is tons of ordinance on the Iranians, but it is proof of concept to China, Russia, and Europe. Not to threaten, but to deter. I don’t say this to argue that alone is justification; but to say that even actions that are difficult to justify will include positive outcomes in given frames even if the sum of all parts involved in the tradeoff is in the red.

[Topper]

UW, This was Nikki last week, the day after Trump rambling evening briefing to the Nation, I had sent this to Donny last week.

Interesting her take on Iranian vs US perception of victory.

https://x.com/NikkiHaleyHQ/status/20390 ... 44366?s=20

[Cornuck]

And I have little to no concern about the competence of those Americans who are responsible for tactics, where military or intelligence. I am deeply impressed.

150 schoolgirls' families might disagree with you.

I honestly have zero faith in the people running the show. There is no plan, no true negotiations, no endgame, and just a continual threat of targeting civilian targets.

I hope we're in for another taco Tuesday and the bombs won't rain down on the Iranian people tonight.

[UWSaint]

And I have little to no concern about the competence of those Americans who are responsible for tactics, where military or intelligence. I am deeply impressed.

150 schoolgirls' families might disagree with you.

I honestly have zero faith in the people running the show. There is no plan, no true negotiations, no endgame, and just a continual threat of targeting civilian targets.

I hope we're in for another taco Tuesday and the bombs won't rain down on the Iranian people tonight.

Tactics support strategy which supports goals. I’ve already already noted my concern about goals (and lack of them), but the ability to pull of missions with minimal lives lost on the us side has been astounding.

As for 150 schoolchildren, I am not a child and therefore I recognize that innocents are killed in every war even when it is run by the most competent of people who have no intent to kill civilians, and that is part of the reason war sucks.

[UWSaint]

UW, This was Nikki last week, the day after Trump rambling evening briefing to the Nation, I had sent this to Donny last week.

Interesting her take on Iranian vs US perception of victory.

https://x.com/NikkiHaleyHQ/status/20390 ... 44366?s=20

I think these two views of the war are closer to each other than they sound. If Iran wanted pure survival alone, then it would have never developed the things that Haley says are the US's checklist for victory. And the things that motivate that interest is more than the regime staying in power, though that's a huge part of it because whether by external war or civil revolt, many of those who have been running Iran aren't long for the world in the absence of having power. And yet they were willing to cross lines in the sand again and again because they are and I think remain motivated by more. And that motivation is an ever presence in the middle east; the locus changes, but the sentiment does not.