They are all bad.
Good.
[Afternoon update]
The assassination of Soleimani was Trump’s farewell letter to the Middle East.
They are all bad.
Good.
[Afternoon update]
The assassination of Soleimani was Trump’s farewell letter to the Middle East.
Comments are closed.
I agree with VDH except that second option is really an option at all. I suppose they could negotiate a deal with European countries, but any attempt to negotiate nuclear power with Trump will be “almost” a non-starter. I use almost, because Trump might play along initially with Iran on such a deal to mess with Democrats, but ultimately there is nothing in such a deal for Trump because there is nothing in it for the US.
Option One is the only acceptable option. Three and Four is just variations on the previous status quo, and I don’t think that is acceptable anymore.
In terms of options, I think a good question is what can Iran buy.
And I think Iran could buy a G-5 telecom network. And I googled it, and Iran already buying it:
Iran to establish 5G telecom network despite sanctions: minister
Society
May 28, 2019 – 12:52
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/436396/Iran-to-establish-5G-telecom-network-despite-sanctions-minister
So, buy more and connect Iranians to world. So, currently Iranians are restricted- and stop doing that.
Iran should do a China, but instead of 20th century industrial power type thing, it should be Information Age, acceleration type thing. Don’t follow China with it’s censored internet, go in complete opposite direction- be a Hong Kong in terms of openness.
US tech companies wants a lot more visas for Chinese and Indian tech workers, and Iran could/should “import” even more of them than US is capable of doing.
Were Iran’s missile strikes lucky blows or precise targeting?
I suspect the quick response was to show force and save face but that they will do something else later.
Apparently it was precise targeting. I have a retired US Army Lt Col friend who spent his 20+ years in air/missile defense and he assures me that the Iranians can hit any specific building (with a known location) they want in range of their missiles.
I have a retired US Army Lt Col friend who spent his 20+ years in air/missile defense and he assures me that the Iranians can hit any specific building (with a known location) they want in range of their missiles.
Out of 15 to 22 missiles, five hit buildings and four “failed”. I’m not buying the claim. But it is a lot more accurate than I’d thought Iranian ballistic missiles would be.
The ballistic missiles Iran has been launching into Saudi Arabia from Yemen have been surprisingly accurate too.
It is hard to get good information about this, or at least through my passive consumption of popular media. This changes things quite a bit and explains why Israel has been so active in taking out Iranian missile stockpiles.
Still wonder about where all the missiles hit and if we had any missile defense capabilities at these bases there were or weren’t used.
The lack of information probably indicates some statesmanship and because the media isn’t running leaks, it supports the notion that Trump did a good job.
Yet they can’t help themselves but shoot down an airliner in the process?
https://calgaryherald.com/news/canada/champagne-asks-iran-to-let-canadian-officials-in-to-investigate-plane-crash/
If Iran has lost the New York Times, it has lost the American people.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/video/iran-plane-missile.html