Episode V: The Persian Empire Strikes Back

[jstell]

They are the root cause of much of the horror in the world over the last 47 years.

And if they don't want full credit, I'm sure we're big enough to take the rest.

[jstell]

Is it "Board of Peace"
or
"Bored of Peace"

This was another prophetic "joke" from the Onion"
https://theonion.com/bush-our-long-national-nightmare-of-peace-and-prosperi-1819565882/

[SuperHoneyBadger]

Anyone really believe that this will only take a 4 or 5 weeks?

It's day 406 of Trump's 24hr special operation to end all wars, so, that's an indicator.

[jstell]

And the actual combat action was messy as hell, lots of collateral damage that didn't have to happen.

Some members of my immediate family had the opportunity to make a side trip to Panama en route to/from Peru (fly-thru both ways, I forget if they stopped on the way back - probably), in March of '90.  They were given a tour of the presidential palace.  There were reading glasses and an open book flipped face down next to a cup of coffee starting to grow a mold carpet, and other signs of a quick and unexpected interruption and exit.  Nothing had been disturbed since the family left - making it a kind of errie time capsule like a modern Pompeii.  The locals told them thru their guide that the landing beaches had become a mass burial site of the collateral damage being bulldozed into the sand.  Like entire coastal fishing communities, just vanished.
So, all in all a pretty clean operation. 

[Here's Johnny!]

I had 2x drones fly over my head to bomb the RAF base.

Might be a good time for a vacation...maybe Australia???  

[jstell]

Might be a good time for a vacation...maybe Australia???  

Good luck getting a flight - everything routes thru Dubai.

[Here's Johnny!]

Good luck getting a flight - everything routes thru Dubai.

Yeah that is a major problem!!!

[mowens]

My wife says they've beefed up security at her school in Cleveland (orthodox Jewish day school; no we aren't Jewish) because of this. They have evacuation plans for non-Jewish teachers. I'm not sure why; I would think they would want everyone moved to a safe place.

[jstell]

I'm not sure why

MAGA?

[mowens]

MAGA?

I've worked this in my brain a dozen different ways and I can't see a connection between MAGA and evacuation plans for non-Jewish teachers at an orthodox Jewish school.

[SuperHoneyBadger]

They have evacuation plans for non-Jewish teachers.

No gentiles allowed in the escape tunnels

[jstell]

a slightly outdated piece of wishful thinking:
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5363701-assassinating-a-foreign-leader-is-illegal-will-trump-try-anyway/

There would be tremendous risks in taking out Khamenei. Going after a man who is seen to be both holy as well as a political leader would make the regime more popular internally. It would transform Khamenei into a martyr. And the U.S. going after a foreign leader, however despicable he may be, is a red line that we don't cross.

Or is it?

In our shining example to the world, we have undone yet another global precedent on the whim of the orange turd, and a little brown-nosed manipulation by Aparthied Isreal and some hawks formerly on Fox News (Ha!?!) now in the Dept of War and other Cabinet positions.
Problem is, the world pays attention, and of course takes it that if US can do it, they must condone it.
So, when [insert rival/hostile nation/fanatic here] decides to use this great idea in a way not to our liking...
Oh I can't wait for the hypocrisy to flood the news cycle and likely this forum.
As recently as George I (HW) there was specific restraint with regard to Saddam, knowing that an attempt on him would be bad precedent as well as significantly destabilizing to the region.  It only took his son (George II) to prove he that theory correct.

[mowens]

You really think we haven't done that before? Hell, we may have killed our own president.

[CNCAppsJames]

Just wondering...
...

The timing is suspect. Basically take control of Venezuela's oil reserves, thinking that will soften the blow for when Iran mines the shit out the Strait of Hormuz.

I see two angles; taking Venezuela, shuts off a significant oil supply to China, and wreaking havoc in the Strait of Hormuz squeezes the hell out of Russia ATM. 

While airstrikes aren't necessarily capable of regime change on their own, if they knock out enough leadership principals, it allows for a takeover of the government by the citizenry. The Ayatollahs have been at the forefront of funding terrorism all over the globe at a much higher and more violent clip than our very own CIA... and that's sayin' something. 

ANYTHING that puts those rabid dog Ayatollahs down, I'm for. I remember when they took our hostages and EVERY POTUS since including Reagan didn't have the balls to elicit some payback... except Trump.

Is it a distraction? Probably. That said, I voted for payback. 

[neurosis]