World At War: Persian Empire Strikes! Sons of David vow to “exact a price” for attack!

The matchup the world has long awaited has finally flamed into open conflict, sports fans!
The launch of some 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles by Iran against Israel made the proverbial "shot heard round the world" seem little more than a feeble firecracker.
This Big League blast by Team Persia was all but blunted by defensive measures deployed by Israel & it's allies, however, with 99% of enemy ordnance reportedly intercepted prior to reaching their targets. Some Israeli officials have already described prevailing circumstances as a "state of war" between the belligerents...
How will the Sons of David respond ?
The world wonders !

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/14/middle-east-crisis-visual-guide-to-irans-attack-on-israel

 

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Irish proverb: "The fool is easily enticed and provoked to anger, and soon spent by well laid plan. But many nights be watchful for how the patient man settles a score."

JFK (and others): "Don't get mad. Get even."

In terms of bad publicity or turnaround from victim to bloodbath oppressor, the Israel/Hamas war is arguably an example of getting mad. So was the twin towers slash US war in Afghanistan (as far as the final, inert results or rewinding to the original situation).

Hopefully there's a relationship between experience and le------.
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This I think is the response Netanyahu was hoping for when he decided to attack the Iranian consulate in Syria. That was an attack on sovereign Iranian soil, as it was a diplomatic building, so highly provocative.

Netanyahu's Israel has been haemorrhaging support over its quasi-genocidal policy towards the Gazan Palestinians (>30,000 dead, the whole country flattened and a strategy of deliberate starvation). What better way to force Western allies to line up behind Israel once more, in spite of their growing and well-justified humanitarian disgust, than to instigate an attack on Israel by Iran?

Iran, for its part, will have wanted to mount a show of strength and earn brownie points with all the supporters of Palestine in the Middle East. But they will also have been well aware of Israel's unrivalled capability to defend against attacks like this, so they probably feel it both preserves their amour propre and regional status and but without leading to all-out war.

 

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Sadly, I suspect that the current situation illustrates that we likely do nothing but fool ourselves by claiming - to paraphrase a corny little "post Cold War" ditty - that we "watched the world wake up from history".
I picture Team SoD pounding it out in Gaza until they think Hamas is kaput.

Indeed, one could conclude that a show of force aimed as much as the people of Iran as at Israel was the Iranian intent all along, given the Iranian statement I've read repeatedly in news reports:
Iran said that after tonight's attack, the "matter can be deemed concluded" unless there is more violence.

On the other hand, the word from Israel suggests worse is yet to come:
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Sunday that Israel has no choice but to respond to the unprecedented missile and drone attack launched by Iran over the weekend, a U.S. official and another source briefed on the call told Axios.
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/15/israel-iran-attack-missiles-retaliation

Presumably, what transpires depends on what steps the Sons of David take next.
In some stygian sub-basement of my mind I'm rooting for a try at ripping the heart out of the Iranian nuclear program via air and/or missile strikes at whatever facilities would need be targeted to do so.
"Practical Me" knows that a(nother) Middle East war would jack up gas prices, though, and that's never a pleasant thing to contemplate when you like to drive around as much as I do...

 

What, like steal other countries passports as cover for neo assassination squads, next they'll be bombing embassy's.

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Their get out of jail free card only goes so far.

 

Typical small-minded Yank, reducing the deaths of tens of thousands to domestic gas prices.

This is not a video game.

 

How is Brexit working out?

 

Just as badly as many of us told our small-minded compatriots.

I don't suggest all Yanks are small-minded. Some of my best friends......etc etc.........
But many are, and those that are seem to have a perennial obsession with gas prices.

 

Don't they have some of the cheapest gas in the world?

Is the coming nuclear threat from Iran uppermost on Israel's (and the Iranian regime's mind)

Or is it a likely attack on the Saudis'
(and others') oil production facilities that is concentrating minds?

 

Extended conflict in the Middle East also benefits Putin, draws attention away from Ukraine, exhausts Western military resources and aid further, and potentially weakens or makes Europe more vulnerable via whatever its oil and gas dependency is on the Middle East.

Shedding light on energy in Europe - 2024 edition: "In 2022, the EU produced around 37% of its own energy, while 63% was imported."

The US will not be one of the reliable, offsetting sources in the future as far as LNG goes: Biden administration suspended new permits for natural gas terminals

The Climate Scientist Fossil-Fuel Companies Can’t Stand: Robert Howarth is getting under the skin of the oil-and-gas industry. The gray-haired climate scientist says he doesn’t care. Howarth, a methane researcher at Cornell University, said in a recent study that exports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. were so bad for the climate that ending the use of LNG should be a global priority. The research influenced President Biden’s decision in January to pause new approvals of LNG exports.​

On the other hand, the argument is made that Iran doesn't want to do that with oil:

"Disruption to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz 'would be a very different matter,' he said, calling this the 'key risk to watch.' However, this hit to oil exports would hurt Iran badly, Schmieding continued, meaning that Tehran is unlikely to want to escalate to such a level." (Oil is the key risk to watch as Middle East tensions rise) ​

But depending on what Israel does, Iran's reticence to depart from its slow, incremental program to dominate the ME might eventually be out of their hands, forcing them to the extreme measures of a precursor conflict to WWIII.
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Neither. As I said in an earlier post this is all about dragging in Iran to force Israel's allies to reconfirm their support, as that support has been draining away due to their ethnic cleaning and genocide in Gaza.

 

Would you agree that the defeat of Germany and Japan in WW2 was a genocide as well? How about the campaign against ISIS? Because the collateral destruction was far greater in those cases, and Israel is actually setting a new humanitarian record in modern warfare for minimizing civilian casualties in proportion to the number of terrorists killed (1.5:1 or lower).

As far as support is concerned, Israelis would rather survive than satisfy your sentiments thousands of miles away, they honestly don't give a shit whether people like you support them while accusing them of genocide for defending themselves. Israel also knows that acting against Iran will hurt global support more than help it, because the rest of the world doesn't understand what motivates Iranian terrorists, and this is why Israel has refrained from a tit-for-tat escalation.

 

Well the Iranian attack was in response to the attack on the embassy in (Syria?) where they killed a high ranking member of the Quds force.

You think that was done just to provoke an attack on Israel that would attract the support of its leaking allies such as UK ,France (+even Arab states) etc?

Not because Iran is orchestrating attacks on Israel from its proxies in the region?

He wasn't a high enough value target in himself -just being used as a ploy to get Israel's military allies back on board?

 

Back on the weekend: Protestors in Toronto cheering announcement of Iran's drone/missile attack.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1779246864379826299

Notice that it is Israel that is portrayed as the terrorist -- not just because of Gaza, but all of the strikes/bombings they have carried out over the years and decades on Lebanon and neighboring countries. The gist is apparently that any response of Israel to assaults by "freedom-fighter" organizations and to take out terrorist locations, is groundless. Since Israel is, from their perspective, an invasive example of Western colonization and oppression which should not be there to begin with.

There are occasionally examples of Uyghurs (and even ex-pat Han Chinese) protesting the Uyghur genocide that Wikipedia has recently politically renamed "Persecution of Uyghurs in China". But this seems to have received less media attention over time (and outrage on campuses) compared to when the Israeli Jews dastardly Israeli government is up to something.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59595952
https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvmk5z/chinese-protesters-uyghurs-solidarity-urumqi-fire

Perhaps similar with respect to hotspots that Genocide Watch keeps an eye on, in the past and in the future. Those concerns (when they arise) are addressed by governments, news agencies, and experts -- but again, the vitriol may appear anemic in public squares, educational grounds, and social communication contexts when contrasted to the contingent opportunities emerging for new antisemitism condemning Israel.

So activists or "we" or the "world" should get our/its digs in whenever a favorable window appears that potentially offers justification for such reproach. (Not that there will really be a shortage of them.)
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Sarcasm alert.
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I have to wonder, if Israel had retaliated for this attack, whether the global condemnation would have been even greater than it has been for what Iran tried to do, never mind no one else providing any form of logistical or military assistance.

 

No kidding, people don't seem to understand what Iran has been doing in Syria both to threaten the lives of Israelis as well as the local anti-Assad population.

 

Well ,fill us in.Don't just say we don't understand.

 

They brought in tens of thousands (at one point over 100,000) of Iraqi, Afghan and other foreign Shiite militants who remain in Syria living in depopulated areas and homes that formerly belonged to Sunni families who were forced to flee from them, to operate against any further signs of Syrian rebel activity. While performing that task, on the side they've also been establishing military positions near the western borders for the usage of Shiite militants against Israeli civilians, and periodically Israel has had to deal with rocket and missile fire from these locations. Iran also uses Syria's civilian airports and civilian flights to smuggle advanced military equipment both to the militias it operates in Syria and to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Iranian officers who were assassinated near their embassy were there to plan further operations against Israeli civilians as part of their ongoing campaign to conduct proxy attacks from Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.

 

We can still belatedly find out. But it's pretty clear that after a long delay and additional Western sanctions being proposed against Iran, that anything more than a pipsqueak response from Israel will be condemned as escalating the situation. An attack on nuclear facilities would make such global "outrage" moot, if that triggers a widespread war. Iran is perceived as taking the "high road" of its payback being finished, barring retaliation.

And of course, the "peacetime" staple of criticism and focus on West Bank and EJ encroachment is gradually returning -- after the Gaza turmoil diverted attention.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...ld-strike-iran-nuclear-facilities-2024-04-15/

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he was "leading a diplomatic attack", writing to 32 countries to ask them to place sanctions on Iran's missile programme and follow Washington in proscribing its dominant military force, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a terrorist group.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...r-facilities-after-missile-attack/ar-BB1lNE31

Ex-Mossad chief [...] confirmed that potential targets for an Israeli strike could include nuclear facilities, stating: "Including everything."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...srael-war-updates-news-iran-gaza/73352506007/

"It's clear the Israelis are making a decision to act," Cameron said in Jerusalem. "We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible."

After meeting with Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he appreciates their support and advice, but said Israel alone will decide how to protect itself and how to respond to the Iranian attack.

"I want to make it clear − we will make our own decisions, and the State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself," said a statement released by the prime minister's office.

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Israeli military participated in deadly settler attacks in West Bank: Human Rights Watch
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...srael-war-updates-news-iran-gaza/73352506007/

In investigating attacks that pushed all residents out of five West Bank communities in October and November 2023, Human Rights Watch found that armed Israeli settlers, with "the active participation of army units," detained, assaulted and tortured residents. Evidence showed settlers have chased Palestinians out of their homes at gunpoint and prevented them from taking their belongings, the report says.

[...] “Settlers and soldiers have displaced entire Palestinian communities, destroying every home, with the apparent backing of higher Israeli authorities,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “While the attention of the world is focused on Gaza, abuses in the West Bank, fueled by decades of impunity and complacency among Israel’s allies, are soaring.”

Israel has sped up settlement-building in East Jerusalem since Gaza war began
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...c?cvid=1d68dedb301a4d5c90212011c617204c&ei=51

Israel’s government has accelerated the construction of settlements across East Jerusalem, with more than 20 projects totalling thousands of housing units having been approved or advanced since the start of the war in Gaza six months ago, planning documents show.

Ministries and offices within the Israeli government are behind all the largest and most contentious of the projects, sometimes in association with rightwing nationalist groups with a history of trying to evict Palestinians from their homes in parts of the city.

The rapid approval or construction of settlements that are illegal under international law is likely to further damage Israel’s relationship with the Biden administration.

[...] “The fast-tracking of these plans has been unparalleled in the last six months,” said Sari Kronish, from the Israeli human rights organisation Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights...

The new settlements will offer homes for Israel’s majority Jewish population in parts of Jerusalem that were unilaterally annexed by Israel in 1980, and are likely to be an obstacle to any attempt to create a viable Palestinian state with the east of the city as its capital.​

 

With the Sons of David, you never know.
These are the guys that flew into Iraq to blow their brand spankin' new nuclear reactor off the face of the Earth back in the day.

Plus no spiff-a-riffic Tik Tok/X feeds of stuff getting blown to smithereens a la the Ukraine Front... ...at least not that I've bothered to look for.

I should probably start using this myself...