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Notes -
Iran - US - Israel War Flareup
“Israel says it has launched attack on Iran, as explosions reported in Tehran”
“The US has begun Major Combat Operations in Iran” - Donald Trump (headline flashed up just now on my phone, no link yet)
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More to follow but thought I’d post quickly for any commenting.
So it is finally habbening. The "axis of resistance" doing nothing as predicted by most astute observers. After Syria and Venezuela, Iran is on the chopping block now.
Turbo America is here as promised, the real American century is just beginning. Next step Cuba, and then Russia.
China will be the final boss.
Syria was not a US op. Local Islamists (backed by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but probably also the US, I think) defeated Assad (backed by Russia, which was otherwise occupied).
The jury is still out on Venezuela. Trump kidnapped Maduro, great. But he did not exactly bring freedom and democracy there. More like "it keeps shipping its oil to us, or else it gets bombed again".
Cuba is suffering badly from a lack of oil. But I am not sure that they will greet the Marines as liberators just because of that, sometimes foreigners have their own ideas on whom to blame for their hardships.
Your last two grand regime change operations were Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq gave rise to daesh, which was eventually defeated. Today they seem democratic but mostly vote along ethnic lines, not exactly a bedrock of democracy. Afghanistan was of course a disaster, with the Taliban taking power as the last plane was lifting off.
For Iran, I am not holding my breath until Trump sends infantry to occupy it. Even then, it will likely be a costly asymmetric war for a few decades.
A regime change in Russia seems hard. They inherited the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and the relevant population is somewhat in favor of Putin thanks to his propaganda. Good luck trying to invade them, too.
And a regime change imposed from outside in China is just as unlikely. They certainly have enough nukes to ruin your day, but probably threatening to tank the global market for rare earth elements would be enough to persuade any US president to not risk a head-on confrontation. Nor am I convinced that anyone else would back you if Trump decided to start WW3 by trying to invade China.
The US Oil embargo in 2011 was a major factor in Syria not being able to pay its military and secure armaments.
/images/17723060893272033.webp
Thanks, Obama?
In all seriousness, equating economic sanctions with hard power is more
That's what the DSA does, calling sanctions a "weapon of war" and demanding they be lifted from Iran and applied to Israel.
Not that I know what the rest of your point was going to be.
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