

Unraveling the Iran Deal (or How to Put Iran's Nuclear Program Into Overdrive)
#181
Posted 13 June 2019 - 02:21 PM
"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices" Voltaire
#182
Posted 13 June 2019 - 04:37 PM
LFC, on 07 June 2019 - 01:38 PM, said:
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Elephant repellent FTW!
— Nate Silver
"Robots aren't the problem. Capitalism is." -- Last words of Stephen Hawking.
These days, "libertarian" is just a euphemism for a Nazi who's afraid to commit.
"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." -- Heather Heyer
"I'd rather have my child, but by golly, if I gotta give her up, we're gonna make it count." -- Her mother
"Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events." -- some RINO
#183
Posted 14 June 2019 - 06:56 AM
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The U.S. Navy rushed to assist the stricken vessels in the Gulf of Oman, off the coast of Iran, including one that was set ablaze Thursday by an explosion.
The ships’ operators offered no immediate explanation on who or what caused the damage against the Norwegian-owned MT Front Altair and the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous. Each was loaded with petroleum products, and the Front Altair burned for hours, sending up a column of thick, black smoke.
There's a photo at this link that supposedly shows the damage and a mine. Notice that the damage they show (and the damage earlier) is always conveniently well above the water line so the ships don't risk sinking. Also notice that nobody has died. If these are Iranian terrorist attacks meant to inflict serious damage then they suck at it.
"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."
"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer
""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer
#184
Posted 14 June 2019 - 06:57 AM
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"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."
"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer
""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer
#185
Posted 14 June 2019 - 10:50 AM
LFC, on 14 June 2019 - 06:57 AM, said:
Hmmm and how does this play with Abe's visit to Iran on Wednesday this week?
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The formulation seemed like a step down from the grander vision Mr. Abe described during meetings late last month with Mr. Trump in Tokyo, where the prime minister called for “close collaboration” between the United States and Japan to prevent tensions with Iran from turning into armed conflict.
#186
Posted 14 June 2019 - 10:57 AM
golden_valley, on 14 June 2019 - 10:50 AM, said:

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."
"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer
""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer
#187
Posted 14 June 2019 - 03:20 PM
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Despite the confident pronouncements of “Benghazi Mike” Pompeo at his brief news conference, the fact is that US intelligence hasn’t had time or access to come to a firm conclusion about the author of the mine attack.
Pompeo’s people put out grainy video of some sort of small ship coming alongside one of the tankers and then leaving peacefully. Since this doesn’t look very much like an attack, they are alleging that the Iranians were taking away an unexploded mine. That doesn’t make any sense at all, and the video again needs to be carefully analyzed.
Pompeo alleged that only the Iranians had the expertise to deploy these mines.
We heard this crock for 8.5 years in Iraq– all shaped charges had to be Iran-backed, even those of al-Qaeda, because Iraqis didn’t have the expertise. Shaped charges are a simple WWII technology and the US invaded Iraq out of fears it was so sophisticated that it could construct an atomic bomb. But Iraqi Sunnis couldn’t make a shaped charge. Sure. Had to be Iran, helping those hyper-Sunni al-Qaeda. Very likely story.
In Iraq War days I was told that the Rumsfeld Department of Defense put out so much such arrant nonsense as anonymous news articles planted in the Iraqi press that some Defense Intelligence Agency analysts used to read my blog, confident that I would suss our the psyops horse manure and give an accurate picture. The Bush administration produced so much fake news about Iraq that Bush analysts were in danger of being fooled by it and recommending policy on the basis of it!!
So about the allegation that no other forces could have deployed mines in the Gulf area.
Just last December, 86 mines were swept in the Red Sea, the planting of which was attributed to the Houthi rebels of Yemen. The Straits of Hormuz might seem far away. But once they’re already on the sea in a small ship, all they’d have to do pack some mines and ply the waters off southern Yemen and Oman over to the Straits of Hormuz, and they could have easily committed this act.
"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."
"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer
""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer
#188
Posted 14 June 2019 - 04:18 PM
#189
Posted 14 June 2019 - 04:39 PM
JackD, on 14 June 2019 - 04:18 PM, said:
They claimed it was a Revolutionary Guard boat. That's about as direct as blaming gets. Unless, of course, they decided that didn't play well and have since "altered their assessment." Here's another report on what they claimed.
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The blurry black and white footage, taken from the air, shows a small military boat alongside the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, and someone standing up on the prow of the boat to remove an object from the tanker’s hull. The boat then pulls away from the tanker.
US officials were quoted as saying the boat was an Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boat approaching the tanker after it was attacked on Thursday, and the object removed was an unexploded limpet mine. It was unclear whether it was being alleged the Iranian sailors were detaching the mine in order to remove evidence.
"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."
"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer
""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer
#190
Posted 17 June 2019 - 08:46 AM
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Uh, what? Years ago I worked with a guy that was EOD when he was in the military. From the various stories he told, one simply doesn't walk up and casually handle unexploded ordnance, let alone do so from standing on the prow of a ship, no matter how calm the waters might be.
Perhaps they were willing to risk setting off the device in broad daylight, immediately after several other explosions rocked shipping in that area, including that very ship. That seems completely ham-fisted and incompetent. Basically in complete contradiction to the claim that this was a sophisticated and highly technical operation. I'd categorize these actions in the same level-of-idiocy-bucket as 'Trump is a very stable genius'.
How can I be expected to distinguish BS from reality when so much of my reality is utter BS?!
"There seems to be a lot of people dying of ignorance while living in the information age." my sister-in-law.
#191
Posted 17 June 2019 - 11:37 AM
— Nate Silver
"Robots aren't the problem. Capitalism is." -- Last words of Stephen Hawking.
These days, "libertarian" is just a euphemism for a Nazi who's afraid to commit.
"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." -- Heather Heyer
"I'd rather have my child, but by golly, if I gotta give her up, we're gonna make it count." -- Her mother
"Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events." -- some RINO
#192
Posted 17 June 2019 - 12:20 PM
HockeyDon, on 17 June 2019 - 08:46 AM, said:
Perhaps they were willing to risk setting off the device in broad daylight, immediately after several other explosions rocked shipping in that area, including that very ship. That seems completely ham-fisted and incompetent. Basically in complete contradiction to the claim that this was a sophisticated and highly technical operation. I'd categorize these actions in the same level-of-idiocy-bucket as 'Trump is a very stable genius'.
A "deepfake" video?
#193
Posted 17 June 2019 - 02:31 PM
I'm reluctant to claim that I'm way smarter, more clever, and more devious than anyone in the governments on either side of this incident. On the other hand, knowing nothing of how operations like this get carried out and using only my imagination I can think of several ways this could have been handled that wouldn't seem so completely incompetent and bungled at every turn.
My understanding so far is thus:
1. Put limpet mines on some oil tankers.
2. Make sure it's above water level so it's super visual.
3. Make sure it's more of an inconvenience than an actual threat.
4. Do it against a ship from Japan, while they're on an official visit.
5. Ignore all the publicity sure to surround these and other attacks.
6. Sail up in broad daylight to remove an unexploded mine.
How can I be expected to distinguish BS from reality when so much of my reality is utter BS?!
"There seems to be a lot of people dying of ignorance while living in the information age." my sister-in-law.
#194
Posted 17 June 2019 - 07:53 PM
Oh, shit!
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