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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024

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Looks performative for now.

I’ve seen reports Iran gave the US flight paths for prior attacks to make sure everything was shot down.

The funny thing to me is there is some Air Force pilot somewhere whose highlight of his career is shooting down missiles the enemy gave him intel on just begging for someone to fuck up and give him a real mission like engaging some Iranian pilots and bombing a nuclear base.

Iran did not give its biggest enemy detailed intelligence on its attack on its other biggest enemy, so as to eliminate the effectiveness of its attack, which was in response to having one of its top generals obliterated in what was legally a diplomatic safe zone.

Y’all motherfuckers are delusional if you think Iran is LARPing the desire to harm Israel.

It’s also hilarious when intelligence successes lead to conspiracy theories that the Iranians just told the US in advance exactly what they were doing.

The Iranians are not insane warmongers. They are at least semi-rational actors interested in achieving their aims, alongside self-preservation.

But, they really do want to get rid of the state of Israel. They have spent a lot of blood and treasure over decades towards that goal. It’s not an act.

I'd like to think that if I was a fighter pilot I would be able to look on the bright side and appreciate it, even if I never got to engage enemy fighters or whatever. But maybe it's the equivalent of "if you'd be satisfied with a million dollars you don't have what it takes to make it".