Posted on 01/28/2024 10:02:58 PM PST by RandFan
Interesting screen name.
I decided the other day that Trump is the Roadrunner!
He keeps dropping anvils on Deep State Wylie Coyotes.
It is not simple to explain.
Fact.
I like Rand Paul and like Ron Paul. Their world view is simple. They are fiscally conservative, I respect that.
But there are a few nation in the world that the USA owes support for.
With this format of discussion, I’m going to have to put a little thought about your suggestion.
Doncha know? We have a foreign policy “expert” wandering the White House grounds. What are you worried about? /sarc
That’s exactly what is happening IMO, we are getting sucked into a major war over taking out Iran.
I have heard no one articulate why our troops are still Iraq, Inside Syria and now on the border between Syria and Jordan, they are there to get the American public riled up demanding we respond and escalate a potential war with Iran when inevitably some of them get killed, same with our ships in the Red Sea, eventually one of those drones or anti-ship missiles will get thru and do some real damage to a US Navy Ship and kill a few sailors, it’s all designed to draw us into a war.
Obama, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, the State Dept. - all were trying to foment “color revolutions” for socialism “lite” leading up to Benghazi and thereafter.
Syria, Ukraine, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, the list probably goes on . . . in the path of the enormous egos.
Is my current best guess.
Yes, that rogue’s gallery is a major problem, however, it’s not just that group, how many warmongering Republicans this morning are demanding the USA strike back at Iran, with Lindsey Graham at the top of the list, while none of them ever explain why we are there in the first place.
A bunch of goat herders are firing rockets and missiles at UF and Commercial ships in the Red Sea in a major disruption of world shipping, what are we waiting for, why do we have a Navy to begin with, could we stop them from disrupting shipping I would hope we could but why haven’t we, instead we are doing nothing but offering up a token response.
No one asks, why did Biden remove the Houthis as a designated terrorist organization, why did Biden give Iran billions in new money, etc.
It’s an election issue and Biden is itching to be a wartime POTUS, meanwhile we are deliberately setting up our troops as targets knowing they will be killed and then have a reason to attack another country.
There are a lot of Iranians who are pro-USA. They are aware, that they, not us, must rescue their country.
- - -
USS Cole was sent to Yemen because Al Gore / Oxy Pete were trading oil blocks in southeast Asia, for oil blocks in Yemen.
There is either something like that - a statement designed to awe - or a bribe.
IMHO
“The “why” is mainly to keep ISIS tamped down.”
Unfortunately this is “mainly” why and has been for decades.
https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/2023/02/22/top-100-defense-contractors-2022/
Emphasis mine.
Because... that last is not true today at all. Yes, we, the Kurds, the Russians, to a small extent Assad, etc., gave ISIS a pretty good thumping. But they are NOT gone, have recovered somewhat and changed some tactics, and in fact control or are a very significant actor in substantial territories in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, with smaller ops in some African countries.
Here's a report from last year (which, ironically enough, leaves out Yemen.)
https://apnews.com/article/islamic-state-fighters-syria-iraq-875d5ee8a0978f3b28aeec210b33cd5f
And in a very recent news item:
https://balkaninsight.com/2024/01/29/turkey-detains-47-alleged-isis-members-after-heinous-church-attack/
This "Tower 22" base of ours that got hit is in a particularly good location to disrupt certain ISIS supply logistics / lines.
Further research by anyone interested is highly recommended.
Uh-oh. You left off a few.....
-make sure they share our values
-for the children
-to support democracy and the rule of law
-to keep Putin from invading
-and finally, to be sure they follow "the rules-based order"
There you go. It's fixed!
We don't "owe" support for any nation.
I suppose you can make a case for France, which helped us during the Revolution. But we fully repaid France in World War One. We even sent them humanitarian aid during the Franco-Prussian War.
I can't think of any other foreign nation that we "owe" support for.
I hope we make it to next time.
When I read this story yesterday, I asked myself the same question...
WTH are we doing in the middle east?
What items of national security are at risk there?
Iran is no threat? You are totally delusional. Or have been deluded. Just by leveraging the Houthis alone, the Iranians can major F U the Western and friends part of the global economy, if not kicked in the gonads good and hard to be dissuaded.* Do you understand “ton-miles” and shipping capacity? No, I didn’t think so. Bah!
*The entire history with the mullahs says such a kick works without precipitating an all out war. But it only works for a while, and then it’s rinse and repeat.
Then there’s the issue of nukes. If Iran gets them, Saudi has promised to get them. They have the money and at present are friendly with the Paks. Just where do you think a 4-way (at a minimum!!) nuke race in the ME leads to? You think “containment” of such a conflict is even possible? OMG...
Might I point out also that North Korea, a TRULY poor country, already can probably hit us. I’d guess that if they launch 3 of their best at Los Angeles, one might get through. And of course we hit them with 40. Small comfort, eh? But luckily, Kimmy is a gangster / blackmailer, not a religious nut.**
**Of note. For no real reason, yesterday evening I picked up and opened to a random page a copy of the Quran I have laying around. (A version promoted by some of our friendlier local Muslims, no less.) 1st thing I read was (paraphrasal) “good Muslims destroy the infidels”.
For God’s sake, do you understand the “good Muslims” (per the Quran’s dictates) have been at this for 1400 years and while they may make tactical retreats (see above) they are not in the least deterred from their beliefs?
Assuming we don’t wish to become as evil as the “good Muslims”, there are no good choices in this. Just bad and really bad. And ... hope the more reformed Muslims like el-Sisi in Egypt eventually gain control of their people / religion.
Isolationist drivel
Makes one wonder who controls our military and why they are in those countries. At Whos bidding? Who benefits? The US ? If so, how ?
The Kurds took most of the casualties fighting ISIS, alongside us.
However, this is not really an issue of owing anyone. It’s an issue of not letting radical Islam get a head of steam and REALLY screwing things up.
An example?
Now, you might not like global commerce / interconnectedness (a slightly different thing than “globalism), but, it has evolved because it is the most efficient system of wealth and product creation and distribution that humans have come up with on a large scale, so far. Its efficiency in fact allows the huge wastes of the welfare state, vastly excess bureaucracy, most lawyers, runs off the rails like the green agenda, etc., without most of us living like North Koreans or worse. It is a very powerful, very complex, and very highly tuned “engine”. This system is sort of like a modern liquid fuel rocket engine, except practically EVERYTHING is interconnected as well as “everything has to work within a small margin of error”. This system has taken the Western world and its friends like Japan and S. Korea to incredible heights of human wellbeing. (Physical wellbeing, anyway.)
BUT, much like that rocket engine, while some minor problems can be corrected / dealt with, and some areas have notable redundancies, exceptionally complex control systems, etc., in many ways our system is incredibly vulnerable and fragile. This is what leads to things like a horde of impoverished (mostly) Houthis with an arms supplier (Iran) being in a position to cause a major economic disaster. And I’m not kidding. We are looking at major shipping routes not just going up in shipping cost and delays, but with very large deficiencies in shipping capacity. Many routes that go through the Red Sea double, triple, or even quadruple the voyage times to go around. And (while a bit of an over-simplification), unless you have a bunch of extra ships on hand, voyage times are inversely proportional to delivery quantities. This reads “shortages”. If the product is essential or even more so a bedrock of an economy, say, LNG to Europe, already in a supply / price bind (somewhat reduced recently), this puts enormous pressure on prices across the board in an already inflationary environment.
In that particular case, LNG, the US likely benefits directly from exports but suffers some inflation. The bigger problem is, though, that interconnectedness. Major upheaval in Europe WILL affect us badly. And LNG is just the 1st example. Many other countries (start with Japan?) are in the mix, too.
That’s what is at stake.
Should other countries contribute more to security? Well, probably so, but then they get a bigger voice. Hmmm...
How much more well armed is REALLY dicey. History tells us a Europe well armed enough for its countries to defend themselves is possibly the most dangerous place on the planet. Not today, of course. But in a generation, should the US step back and the Euros make up the difference (probably includes several more with substantial nuclear capability)? History has a way of pretty much having its way if given the chance. A muscular Japan in, say, 30 years, and feeling threatened? Will it remember its lessons?
Humans are pretty poor about that.
See my posts #75 and #78 on this thread.
I think CENTCOM made a strategic mistake from a strategic misunderstanding. They thought the base in Jordan was “safe” even while the mission of that base was in support of U.S. units in both Syria and Iraq - both of whom have come under increasing embrace with the Mullahs in Tehran and Russia. Sooner or later that base in Jordan was going to be target.
Notice too that Jordan is not offering to respond to an attack on its territory.
The kings of Jordan have always had to walk a fine line to hang onto the power bequeathed them by the British. If not “faithful” enough to “the Palestinians” their own population will remove them.
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