War on Iran

TheVat said:
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They are too Islamic to show Trump's scrotum, I suppose. :cool:
 
TheVat said:
Between Iranian and American forces there is a vas deferens. Iran seems to be handling these testes of their strength well.
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You didn't know that "vas" translates as "vessel" ,did you?

Just a coincidence?

I have a little Latin vocabulary remaining but I had to guess that.
 
geordief said:
You didn't know that "vas" translates as "vessel" ,did you?
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I did. Vague memory (is it even real?) of a short course in college called scientific Greek and Latin. Helped some with the nearly impenetrable thicket of jargon.
 
Be kind to all, if you want to beat Trump to the title of World Peace maker.
Ukraine accuses Israel of receiving shipments of grain 'stolen' by Russia.
A diplomatic row has broken out over allegations that Israel is receiving shipments of grain from Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "another vessel" carrying grain "stolen by Russia" had arrived at a port in Israel and was preparing to unload.
He said Israeli authorities "cannot be unaware" of what cargo was inside vessels arriving at their country's ports, and warned that their failure to prevent the grain shipments was undermining bilateral relations.
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BBC

And will Putin be offering Ukrainian grain to Iran too?
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hails Moscow and Tehran's "strategic relationship" as he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks on the Iran war
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia is ready to offer "goodwill or mediation services" in future negotiations between Iran and the US
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BBC
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
A right pair of sons of something.
 
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With high fuel prices due to the war driving Spirit Airlines out of business and raising fuel, fertilizer and shipping prices, republicans need scapegoats to dodge any responsibility for their actions. So far the candidates are:

Republican Rep. Buddy Carter just claims it's democrats with no evidence: "President Trump promised he’d make us safer and more prosperous. . . . Remember—high gas prices are the work of the Democrats."

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise claims that Trump has actually reduced gas prices. "People will remember, you go back two years ago, we were paying almost $6 a gallon for gasoline. Right now, it’s in the 3s.”

Rep. Tim Burchett picks capitalism. “It has to do with the greed of the oil companies . . . They're just gouging us."

Rep. Rich McCormick blames Biden. "If we had the pipeline that we didn’t complete thanks to the Biden administration for so long, we’d be in a much better position.” Perhaps he thought the pipeline goes from South Dakota to Iran?
 
Here we go again... Trump's administration says that ships are traversing the Strait, and Iran says that is not true. Trump's administration says that 2 US-flagged ships have successfully transited the Strait. Iran says that is not true, and as yet there is no independent verification - although there may well be reasons for that, such as the ships turning off any tracking signal etc.
Aaaaand, perhaps in response, Iran have fired, and struck, a fuel depot in the UAE (Fujairah), with fires still evident. And then there's South Korea saying one of their ships may have been hit.

So, is this the end of the ceasefire?
 
Sarkus said:
Here we go again... Trump's administration says that ships are traversing the Strait, and Iran says that is not true. Trump's administration says that 2 US-flagged ships have successfully transited the Strait. Iran says that is not true, and as yet there is no independent verification - although there may well be reasons for that, such as the ships turning off any tracking signal etc.
Aaaaand, perhaps in response, Iran have fired, and struck, a fuel depot in the UAE (Fujairah), with fires still evident. And then there's South Korea saying one of their ships may have been hit.

So, is this the end of the ceasefire?
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Not really, I suspect. What will probably happen is the transit attempts will cease, while further back channel discussion takes place. I get the feeling Trump cannot resist a bit of willy-waving, in reaction to which the Iranians feel the need to wave theirs. Fujairah is a bunkering port for ships waiting to transit the Strait, which may be why they chose to hit it.

I shall be a bit surprised if the US tries to force transits on a bigger scale in response, as shipowners won’t want to risk it.
 
It would appear that the US Navy is going to protect US flagged vessels.
Does this mean everybody else is on their own?
 
parmalee said:
Yet another reason Hegseth, et al (basically, ALL of the Trump administration), ought to be put down.

I guess I need to clarify: I am not encouraging anyone to do this, I am simply saying that, imho, that would be the optimal outcome for the entirety of lifeforms on this planet.
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Yeah... It's be a real shame if they were all own in the hole checking out the super-secret bunker under the Epstein Ballroom and about a hundred thousand tons of cement got dumped in there by mistake.

Hegseth seems to me like a character from the movie Idiocracy.
 
So Trump said the US would be "guiding" ships otherwise currently stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, implementing "Project Freedom". They said they would be deploying "guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members" to support the operation. It began with, they claimed, 2 US-flagged merchant vessels. No identity of the vessels were given, of course.
That was announced on Sunday.

Yesterday he paused the operation. Just a few days into "helping" vessels, the US stopped doing so. Why might that be? Was it not achieving anything? Naturally the Iranians pushed the cessation as a victory for themselves, framing it as another US retreat, with the US president trying hard "to cover up the failure". Also I note in some reporting that the intent of "Project Freedom" was subtly changed from assisting and guiding ships through the Strait to "redirecting", which could be achieved, I guess, through a call to the ship's captain and saying "oh, you should probably move over there". A subtle change, and may only be due to how the reporters have worded it rather than any official language.

And just before the accouncement of the pausing of "Project Freedom", Rubio has come out and said that "Operation Epic Fury" is over. Yep, the military operation against Iran has been ended. And Rubio says that "We achieved the objectives of that operation."

So, the war is over? And what, exactly, has the US achieved?
It has defeated an antiquated navy and airforce that were no particular threat to anyone.
It has replaced an octagenarian regime leader with a possibly more extreme one, who now likely also bears a direct grudge against the US.
It has not off-shored any of the nuclear material that Iran might have.
It had already "obliterated" the nuclear site last year, or so the US claimed at the time.
But it has raised the price of oil from c.$75 to $115, enriching Iran and Russia, while pissing most everyone else off.
It has damaged the world economy.
It has shown everyone that Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran might enrich themselves further through a levy to pass the Strait.
Oh, and it now gives Trump the chance to say "I prefer peace. I want to do it the peaceful way. We can achieve a bigly peace deal. Another war I've ended. Peace prize, please."

So... yeah. I think most would struggle to see what the US/Trump has actually achieved with this war, at least not good things.
Anyone care to offer something positive that it has achieved that it couldn't have done so through dialogue/negotiation, or was not already part of the former JCPOA that Iran signed with Obama?
 
Operation Epic Fury had to end, because it has become an illegal war in the absence of approval by Congress (which hasn't given it). The 60 day window in which the executive can prosecute a war without approval has passed.

Project Freedom is obviously a completely different thing, unrelated to Operation Epic Fury, don't you know. If Project Freedom turns into an armed conflict, it will be a new armed conflict, and no doubt the US administration will claim that the 60 day window in which it can conduct a war without Congressional approval is a new 60 day window, because it's a whole new war.
 
James R said:
Operation Epic Fury had to end, because it has become an illegal war in the absence of approval by Congress (which hasn't given it). The 60 day window in which the executive can prosecute a war without approval has passed.

Project Freedom is obviously a completely different thing, unrelated to Operation Epic Fury, don't you know. If Project Freedom turns into an armed conflict, it will be a new armed conflict, and no doubt the US administration will claim that the 60 day window in which it can conduct a war without Congressional approval is a new 60 day window, because it's a whole new war.
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Tell this to Trump. He seems to have a lot of difficulty with keeping his messaging straight and consistent.
 
Sarkus said:
Anyone care to offer something positive that it has achieved that it couldn't have done so through dialogue/negotiation, or was not already part of the former JCPOA that Iran signed with Obama?
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Pissed off some GOP and Ind voters who tend to vote their pocketbook and/or the MAGA stand on isolationism. There's a possibility the Iran goat rodeo will give us a Democratic majority in the House. (If this latest fevered round of gerrymanders don't work)
 
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