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PaperclipPerfector  17d ago (text post)   26523 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024

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Israeli missiles hit site in Iran, ABC News reports

Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran, ABC News reported late on Thursday, citing a U.S. official, days after Iran launched a drone strike on Israel in response to an attack at the Iranian embassy in Syria. Iran's Fars news agency said an explosion were heard at an airport in the Iranian city of Isafahan but the cause was not immediately known. Several Iranian nuclear sites are located in Isfahan province, including Natanz, centerpiece of Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

Iran’s military response will be ‘immediate and at a maximum level’ if Israel attacks, foreign minister says

Iran’s response if Israel takes any further military action against it would be “immediate and at a maximum level,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN Thursday, as fears rise of an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

Hours after Amir-Abdollahian’s comments, an explosion was heard close to the airport in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, Iran’s semi-official FARS news agency reported early Friday, citing local sources.

Questions:

If you predicted a nothingburger - how are your predictions holding up? Is there still an offramp here where we can avoid further escalation, or could this evolve into a full on ground war? It's not clear to me if Israel's military could be stretched enough to handle a conventional war on multiple fronts.

Also, what does this indicate for the future of the US-Israel relationship? The US administration made it pretty clear to Israel that they didn't want them to retaliate against Iran (the going theory seemed to be that it would be bad for oil prices in an election year). Presumably Israel is feeling some real existential pressure right now if they're willing to openly defy the will of the US, one of their only consistent allies on the Palestine issue.

a few hours ago: US approves Rafah op. in exchange for no Israeli counter-strikes on Iran

so maybe israel isn't going to go through with that. or they just really don't give a shit about what the US wants

Biden: Don't invade Rafah

Israel: Bombs Iranian embassy

Biden: Okay you can invade Rafah but don't bomb Iran

Israel: Bombs Iran.

Biden: (next week, probably) Here's $10 billion to help you bomb Iran

I'm starting to think the anti-Israel protestors have a point.

Or Israel no longer trusts the US (or at least Biden). The democrats right now are very split on Israel. The young part of their party is very anti Israel (literally pro Hamas). Similarly the Muslim part of the problem is relevant for being electorally located in Michigan.

On the other side, Jews make up much of the financial and intellectual power of their party. And those Jews are by and large zionists. Yet they are electorally irrelevant.

Biden has been trying to please both masters.

White House: look, we can't openly support you on this Iran thing but... do it anyway people have short attention spans

White House: also don't get butthurt if we have to criticize you later

?

I'll bet this is literally true. The President on the same day denouncing their actions and shipping more weapons. That happened recently according to a report I heard on the radio.

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