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[Windom Earle]

Ian Carroll's stream from last night. Very relevant to the current happening:

 

[Svalr93]

Does this seem unseemly from The White House to anyone else? I know it's a war, but I presume those ships are crewed by men, whose deaths are being soundtracked by AC/DC and interspersed with sports footage like it's a fun game.

If it was a close up of a soldier having their face blown off by a sniper scored by "Oops I did it again" and interspersed with footage of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleading Squad would that feel ok?*

There's obviously an abstraction when you talk about a warship being destroyed that means you don't put forward the human cost and think about the servicemen aboard. It would surely feel different if you could see their faces, but there'll still be families out there who will be able to see footage of their child being killed from a distance.

I think years of war movies has perhaps conditioned my brain into thinking about the human cost on more than one side of a conflict. Again, I get that these are countries at war, but I still think the tone of the whole thing feels jarring.


*I await this line being quoted and replied to with an image of the Burnt Peanut saying "Hell Yeah!" That exact thing, and that picking up lots of lols.

Like every single thing this administration does is either unseemly and/or lying and obfuscating.
I wonder how many of the same people who cheer this on are also the same people who get very concerned all of the sudden when they see footage of Russian soldiers being blown up by drones.
Worth remembering too that Iran has mandatory military service from the age of 18, so we're not just talking about super radical Ayatollah worshipers here.
When they get blown up it's also young men who are forced to serve regardless of their feelings on the government.

Remember this is coming from the self-proclaimed '' great respecter of life '' in chief, the guy who cares '' more than anyone else '' about human life and suffering according to himself.

Trump says Iran is done.

And people still concern troll about Biden's mental health.
Wtf is that tweet, seriously?

Edit: Also he contradicts himself in the same tweet.
He says they've surrendered, and then he goes on to say '' until they surrender ''.

 

[rorepmE]

Ok so you agree with me, good to know. Foreign intelligence fucked up Iran.

I accept your surrender, tankie.

 

[calico]

Good luck asking for an unconditional surrender (after less than a week of bombing) from a country that fought a ten year war with hundreds of thousands of people killed and didn't give up.

A somewhat different scenario though when it's the leadership class -the class capable of negotiating the terms a war ends on- being killed fairly effortlessly over and over again vs the grunt class being killed en masse, which the leadership class doesn't care about.

I don't expect this will end in unconditional surrender (and realistically neither does President Trump; he always asks for the stars expecting to end up settling for the moon), but I think the leadership class being in such extreme peril provides a a strong incentive for them to find a way out of this situation sooner rather than later

 

[Svalr93]

According to some people here Iran is leaderless so then who is supposed to surrender?
People shouldn't underestimate religious zeal, I don't think there's a lack of people wanting to become martyrs.


Even if someone steps forward to negotiate a surrender you'd have to get the whole country in on it including the most radical groups, otherwise how are you going to keep the peace and stability?
The answer to that is boots on the ground but no one wants to tackle or acknowledge that.
This isn't like Nazi Germany that had one command structure where this one general can just take over and decide and everyone follows even if it's the next supreme leader doing it that supreme leader would actually have to have their respect and trust too which is hard to believe they'd get if they started floating around surrender.
You'd basically start a civil war at best.

 

[demigod]

What is this, hide and seek? Are you not allowed to be tagged because you hid in a safe zone?

 

[Humdinger]

Every war is popular for 30 days. We'll see how this one fares. I'm not impressed by the rationale or the apparent lack of a defined objective. We know the history of involvement in these types of conflicts. Easy to start a war, and it's "mission accomplished" early on. But it can take years to extricate yourself, with trillions of dollars down the drain, not to mention thousands of lives.

 

[near]

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[calico]

What is this, hide and seek? Are you not allowed to be tagged because you hid in a safe zone?

Neutral ports are supposed to be off limits for attacks. Doesn't necessarily make it so ofc.

Realistically I doubt the US will break this custom. They'll just keep an eye on the ships and sink them if they leave port.

 

[BlackTron]

What is this, hide and seek? Are you not allowed to be tagged because you hid in a safe zone?

Don't drop bombs on a neutral dock because one bad guy is there

 

[Ozriel]

Ukraine has developed cheap interceptors for Shaheds with very high success rates. They've long since built the capability to detect Shaheds approaching from a long distance. They've been open about sharing this tech and knowledge with NATO members.

It's mind boggling and amazing that the U.S. went to war with an adversary armed with tens of thousands of these drones without taking them up on the offer and deploying this tech to protect assets.

Crucial, expensive radar destroyed and soldiers killed because of these drones. Not to mention the sheer waste in using expensive patriots to tackle them.

 

[Warspite]

A day late and a dollar short from Starmer as usual.

What is the point in this we have airbases in the region, are airbases so exposed?

 

[Ishma3L]

Don't drop bombs on a neutral dock because one bad guy is there

You don't war much, do you?

 

[jason10mm]

True, but after 1945 we kinda abandoned "might makes right" because last time we tried it two world wars happened.

Oh, it's still there. It's just the might is the USA.

 

[DeepEnigma]

He doesn't know himself, because he's a dumb former Fox News host

You sound like The Karen's on The View. Lies by omission to try and discredit the person.

The man is a highly decorated veteran and educated.

---

Pete Hegseth
is a decorated U.S. Army National Guard veteran who served as an infantry officer in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, earning two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge. He retired as a Major before becoming a conservative media host and was later sworn in as the 29th Secretary of Defense on January 25, 2025.
U.S. Department of War (.gov) +4
Military Service and Awards

• Service: Commissioned in 2003, he served in the Army National Guard with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.
• Decorations: His awards include two Bronze Star Medals, two Army Commendation Medals, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), and the Expert Infantryman Badge (EIB).
• Rank: He attained the rank of Major.
  U.S. Department of War (.gov) +3

Post-Military Career and Nomination

• Media and Advocacy: Before his appointment, he was a Fox News host and served as the executive director of Vets for Freedom.
• Education: He holds degrees from Princeton University and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
• Secretary of Defense: Sworn in on Jan. 25, 2025, he was chosen to lead the Department of Defense with a focus on reforming the military and addressing bureaucracy.
  U.S. Department of War (.gov) +5

---

 

[YCoCg]

You know, with all this winning, maybe Trump can go after Vietnam to even the score.

 

[DeepEnigma]

You know, with all this winning, maybe Trump can go after Vietnam to even the score.

Should liberate California next, really. Then NYC in the grand finale.

 

[BlackTron]

Oh, it's still there. It's just the might is the USA.

Right, the one with might gets to decide what is right. That is why we were lucky USA helped win WW2. After that event, any country who was into the whole freedom thing could trust the US (because we used our might to enforce rules). When that same mighty country decides to threaten annexing territory, suddenly all those countries want more might of their own, even Germany has a basis to acquire a nuclear weapon. First, in a defensive posture, then let it steep for a while with a few admin changes, and multiply it by all of Europe.

I don't think we should be satisfied that our allies remain allies because we can bully them into compliance, have common enemies or a piece of paper. The ideal reason is because they want to and trust us for their own well-being. The wind is blowing in the wrong direction.

While I agree with "liberating" Iran, it also has the effect of showing we aren't shy about war after sabre-rattling and threatening our allies.

Yes, if the goal was getting Europe to re-arm itself, fantastic job. The question is, was that a good idea and what have we paid for it? We're a hot trigger in a low-trust environment. "Oh it's fine we're mightier whatever who cares" seems to be the vibe I'm getting.

Should liberate California next, really. Then NYC in the grand finale.

Sending the military to American cities is not something to joke about. If you're not joking, that's messed up man.

You don't war much, do you?

Starcraft school of war?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Sending the military to American cities is not something to joke about. If you're not joking, that's messed up man.

 

[BlackTron]

 

[jason10mm]

Worth remembering too that Iran has mandatory military service from the age of 18, so we're not just talking about super radical Ayatollah worshipers here.
When they get blown up it's also young men who are forced to serve regardless of their feelings on the government.

If this is true, and the bulk of their armed forces are conscripts from the "mostly moderate totally normal just want peace" populace, then those guys just need to stand down. There is a window here where Iran can wrest itself from religious oppression BEFORE waves of foreign soldiers are on their soil and stop all of this with a negotiated peace settlement. Presumably all these non-radicals surely know who the zealots are and could just turn their weapons on them. If you are correct and the vast majority of the population just want peace without the jihad elements, then they need to step up before it's too late.

 

[Madonis]

Trump says Iran is done.

It's nice to want things, but willpower alone isn't going to make something true.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It's nice to want things, but willpower alone isn't going to make something true.

Got that out of my fortune cookie last night.

 

[MisterFalcon]

You sound like The Karen's on The View. Lies by omission to try and discredit the person.

The man is a highly decorated veteran and educated.

---

---

Pete Hegseth Bronze Star for Valor

www.documentcloud.org

This is an award for exemplary paper pushing in the, as we now completely useless training of the Afghan security forces who folded instantly when the Taliban returned.
His other Bronze Star is similarly for high level clerking in Iraq "contributed immeasurably to the success of building a free and democratic nation for the citizens of Iraq", the country that got half taken over by ISIS in a few weeks. His whole career is one of safe cushy desk jobs which reward mediocrity, never firing a weapon in anger.

Which explainst the furious efforts to be seen as a Tough Guy.

 

[Rentahamster]

 

[Rentahamster]

The military industrial complex doesn't care about casualties or combat effectiveness. It cares about squeezing as much money out of the American taxpayer through corrupt politicians as much as possible before anyone notices.

 

[Rentahamster]

According to some people here Iran is leaderless so then who is supposed to surrender?
People shouldn't underestimate religious zeal, I don't think there's a lack of people wanting to become martyrs.


Even if someone steps forward to negotiate a surrender you'd have to get the whole country in on it including the most radical groups, otherwise how are you going to keep the peace and stability?

If this goes on long enough, the people who didn't hate us in the beginning are going to end up hating us anyway because we blew up their cities and killed someone they personally knew in their circle of friends and family.