baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
You know England, Tea - overstatement and understatement for effect is what we do. No offence, but I certainly wouldn't be posting on Dissensus if the world was about to end.

Otoh, I feel like the world has fundamentally shifted, and I'm loath to pretend that anyone can predict the future with certainty any longer. Would Trump do something crazy later in 2020 to ensure his re-election, if it looked as though he was going to lose? I don't know, and I don't think anyone else does...

I think anyone in 2010 predicting the actual world order in 2020 would have been dismissed as hysterical or similar. Trump (yes, we mean Donald Trump) and Boris Johnson as president and PM...? Let alone anything else. The 2010s were an attack on the notion of competency in anything other than PR
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
Fuck, we're all going to die. After reading that news late last night I was thinking about what it must have been like for those around at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis or the early 80s nuclear stand-off/crisis (I was around, but only a kid). Hard to imagine how that feels, and I really, really don't want to find out first hand.
I always remember my Mum telling me about that. They were watching telly and the programme was interrupted for a news flash and they all looked at each other like "Oh fuck, this is it" - as we know now the news was that Khruschev had turned the ships around and the crisis was averted, but for a few terrible seconds they thought it was nuclear war.
 

Leo

Well-known member
from axios:

Before Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles last night at U.S. forces in Iraq, President Trump drew the brightest red line of his presidency when he tweeted a warning Saturday to Iran about hitting "American assets."

A Pentagon statement on the strikes said: "It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Assad and Irbil." An initial search found zero American casualties, U.S. officials said.

Why it matters: Experts see that aftermath as a best-case scenario for de-escalation.

It could provide an off-ramp for Trump to declare victory and say the Iranians couldn't touch the U.S.

Iranians could claim they defended their honor.

Then everyone could walk away, and de-escalate.

Trump, who'll address the nation this morning, tweeted: "All is well!" "Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!"
"We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far!"

A hopeful signal from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who tweeted: "Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense ... We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression."

Between the lines: "Concluded" is the key word.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I always remember my Mum telling me about that. They were watching telly and the programme was interrupted for a news flash and they all looked at each other like "Oh fuck, this is it" - as we know now the news was that Khruschev had turned the ships around and the crisis was averted, but for a few terrible seconds they thought it was nuclear war.

My mum briefly mentioned it once too, I think. In my bleary, half-awake state last night, I did for a millisecond think I read the headline as Iran had attacked America (or maybe there was just a picture of missiles and my dream mind filled in the gap)
 

Leo

Well-known member
A few people on Twitter last night were saying Iran was threatening to destroy Dubai if America retaliates, but it sounds a bit farfetched to me.

that's like being pissed at your boss, so you go home and kick your dog.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
A few people on Twitter last night were saying Iran was threatening to destroy Dubai if America retaliates, but it sounds a bit farfetched to me.

I can't help but feel this would lead to a small but discernible increase in the average pleasantness of the world.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
Protesters in Iraq shown here preparing for big demonstrations tomorrow against all foreign interference, American and Iranian.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
Anyone been following this business with the Ukrainian plane?

Iran have a history of retaliating like this and Khamenei literally said after the official retaliation, that military operations wouldn't suffice in ending the US presence in the region. It's not like they have big issues with killing their own people either.
 

Leo

Well-known member
Iran have a history of retaliating like this and Khamenei literally said after the official retaliation, that military operations wouldn't suffice in ending the US presence in the region. It's not like they have big issues with killing their own people either.

I assumed it was shot down by accident.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Ukraine frequently seems to be the fulcrum around which the world turns these days.

Without necessarily wanting to be, I'm sure.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
Crazy protests in Iran though. Off the hook. All aimed at the theocracy. And in a place where protesting actually has consequences - 1500 hundred dead this year alone in anti govt protests.

(unlike here - where stupid deluded narcissistics can walk around on protests with photos of Soleimani - saw this this week some idiot on a protest in San Fran).
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
This is pretty crazy - apparently and I didn't know this, the regime forces people to walk over the flags of the US and Israel by painting them in prominent places like here outside a Behesthi University in Tehran - people here are walking around rather than over the flags and chanting "our enemy is Iran" not America: https://gellerreport.com/2020/01/wa...-chant-our-enemy-is-in-iran-not-america.html/

All this stuff was last night/yesterday. Am wondering to what degree there will be systematic violence directed against the protesters this week. Chances of solidarity with these people from the anti-war Left? Zero.
 
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