Hugh Hewitt and others who are foolishly calling for a strike against Iran, have no concept of what is involved in doing so. How would they? Almost all of them never served in the military, let alone saw combat. I would like to hear from one military strategist that can define how it is even possible, puting aside the blow back. Wishing something can happen is not the same as making it happen. Any thoughts?
Israel already reportedly obtained overflight rights from Saudi Arabia for an attack, but if Saudi Arabia (bitter enemy of Iran as well) quietly offered an air base as a refueling depot, Israel could mount a sustained air campaign on Iran approaching the scale of Desert Fox without risking a shoot-down of Israeli aircraft by US forces in Iran led by Zbigniew Brzezinski.
ReplyDeletePutting aside blowback, Israel can use nuclear tipped Jericho-II's and the modified Harpoon submarine-launched missiles against the sites. You can't dig deep enough to survive a direct hit from a nuke.
US forces in Iraq I meant to say.
ReplyDeleteA successful strike on Iran might go on for several weeks and include destruction of their radar installations, their navy, their fuel storage capacity, and of course their nuclear installations.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, an air campaign to bomb them back into the stone age.
That ain't gonna happen.
A single, ruthless strike against Iran's leadership could work. Because the risk of collateral damage would be enormous, in the instance, such an operation will probably not be undertaken.
ReplyDeleteIf Iran follows through as promised, an Israeli strike against her would trigger an automatic Iranian response against the US. Therefore, an Israeli attack need not be successful or sustained; it need only be provocative enough to force the Iranians to commit.
Should Israel decide to strike Iran, its order of battle will not be one necessarily known to the US. Israel does have the habit of thinking outside the box.
If BHO conducts a single ruthless strike, it will be against those attempting to rid themselves of rule by tyrannical Mullahs.
ReplyDeleteMore likely, he will continue to ignore them, and beg and suck up to the tyrants.
Israel rethinks anti-Iran warnings
ReplyDeleteEven hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman now sounds skittish about his government's long hinted-at willingness to go to war rather than see an enemy get the means to make a bomb.
"God forbid -- there's no need to attack anything," he told Israel's Channel Two television on Monday.
---
According to one Barak aide, the risks of going it alone against Iran were brought home by a U.N. report condemning the heavy civilian toll of the January war in Hamas-ruled Gaza, an offensive that Israel says was provoked by Palestinian rockets.
DIRTY WORK
"Before the operation, the message we got from plenty of foreign players, including even some NGOs, was 'Go in and do what you have to do to deal with Hamas'. But of course, that was all forgotten once the dust settled," a Barak aide said.
---
At Least 529 Die in Indonesia Quake
A powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia trapped thousands of people under collapsed buildings.The Lede: Video of Earthquake Damage
Interactive Timeline from core sample of Redwood from the time of Ghenghis Kahn to the arrival of the Black Messiah.
ReplyDelete...and a fantastic article about these living giants.
God's Magnificient Creations
At least 1,500 years old, a 300-foot titan in California's Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park has the most complex crown scientists have mapped. This photo, taken by Michael Nichols, is a mosaic composed of 84 images.
It could be said that the history—and split personality—of modern America is carved in redwood, with the calls to save the trees reverberating almost as soon as we began cutting them down. For millennia the Tolowa, Yurok, and Chilula tribes, among others, lived behind an almost impenetrable redwood wall more than 300 feet high, eating salmon, elk, and tan oak acorns and carving long canoes from the logs that fell to the ground.
That way of life ended violently in 1848 when the U.S. wrested California away from Mexico and gold was discovered there.
The Redwood Forest of the Pacific Coast
ReplyDeleteThis story was originally published in the May 1899 issue of the magazine. It was National Geographic's first coverage of redwoods.
The great pineries of the southern states contain, on an aver age, about 5,000 feet, board measure, of standing timber per acre. Of white pine the heaviest county in Minnesota is esti mated to contain an average of 5,000 feet, while others, regarded as forested, contain 1,000 to 2,000 feet; and a tract containing 10,000 feet per acre is regarded as heavily forested. Contrast these figures with the following: The average stand of redwood upon 173,000 acres in Mendocino county is 44,000 feet per acre. There is here nearly nine times as much timber on an acre as in the southern pineries; yet even this is exceeded in Humboldt county. Upon 96,443 acres in this county the average stand is 84,000 feet per acre, nearly seventeen times as great as in the southern states. The lumber companies around Eureka, California, the principal center of the redwood industry, have realized, since they commenced operations, an average of between 75,000 and 100,000 feet per acre, and one of these companies has for ten years cut an average of 84,000 feet per acre of red wood alone, besides fir and spruce, which would increase the amount to nearly 100,003 feet. These last figures are not in any way estimates, but the actual products of the mills
ReplyDeleteThere is on record a single acre, near Garberville, which yielded in the mill 1,431,530 feet in lumber. There was sufficient lum ber on this acre to have covered it with a solid block of frame dwellings ten stories high.
ReplyDeleteA redwood tree of average size, say five feet in diameter at the butt, furnishes enough lumber to build an ordinary cottage, and many trees have been cut each of which would suffice for half a dozen such houses. One tree is on rec ord as having scaled 66,500 feet.
A tree was felled in a lumber camp near Eureka in 1898 which was 16 feet in diameter inside the bark, and which scaled over 100,000 feet, and there is stand ing in the same neighborhood, a tree 22 feet in diameter which scales nearly twice as much.
The inabilitity of the Isreali air force to "decapitate" the HB command structure during their last foray into the northern Levant, proved their incapacity to strike at Iran, successfully.
ReplyDeleteOn the ground, or from the air.
Decapitating the Iranian command structure just another fantasy, coupled with a "little man" inferiority complex, leading to faulty conclusions.
$20/gal gas says no one is bombing anyone.
ReplyDeleteI have a nagging suspicion that you're right, D-Day.
ReplyDeleteThe Isreali are not going to risk those Chinese weapons and technology sales they have booked, with the decapitation of the Chi-com economy.
ReplyDeleteMeans and skill were not lacking in Lebanon; political will was.
ReplyDeleteWhen given the green light, you may be certain that Israel will again pulverize its opposition within days, if not hours. You may wish otherwise, but the history is clear: We are very good at what we do.
It is true that political corruption doomed the Lebanon campaign. The process took about six weeks. How close is the US to attaining victory in Afghanistan after nearly eight years? Hmm...
It could also be said that Israeli soldiers are not being killed daily by elements operating out of Lebanon. How is that Pakistani thing working out?
"Succesful strike" and "leave aside the blowback" are what 2164th asked.
ReplyDeleteWhat would a successful strike look like? The ending of their nuclear plans? Impossible to achieve that I think - you can't strike out the knowledge. You can delay the implementation but the act of trying would probably increase the desire to implement.
Are you an Israeli Allen?
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about Deuce's "Internet" post.
ReplyDeleteThree Things NO Government wants you to have:
1) The Internet
2) A Rifle
3) A Still
These are Three Things I intend to have. Well, at least the Rifle, and the Still. I can't do much about the internet.
DEBKAfile's military sources report that at least one of two Dolphin-class U212 submarines on order for the Israeli Navy from the German HDW shipyards in Kiel was delivered this week, bringing the Navy's total number of this type of sub to four. According to foreign military sources, the Dolphin is capable of carrying cruise missiles with nuclear warheads.
ReplyDeleteI think Israel is going to use and EMP...
$20/gal gas says no one is bombing anyone.
ReplyDeleteI guess death is better than suffering. Cheap gas is usually the sign that we're not doing the right thing.
Deseret Rat,
ReplyDeleteBefore predictiing the doom of China, you might consider its strategic reserves; paid for, I might add, by US taxpayers and consumers under the bipartisan direction of the US government.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNot the doom of China, allen.
ReplyDeleteThe doom of Isreal, if they over step their abilities.
Without the US and the Chinese, the Isreali will be left depending upon their "old country", wonder how Mr Putin will "help" them with loan guarantees?
allen is a Zionist, first and foremost. It supersedes all other loyalties he may or may not have.
Ash,
ReplyDeleteLike it or not, every Jew is an "Israeli". People like you and Deseret Rat have made that our de facto reality for millennia. "Good little Jews" have attempted with all their might to abandon their heritage and "fully" assimilate. All the boot licking has yielded nothing other than boot kicking. For doubters, a short internet tour of Auschwitz should prove compelling, recalling that as an "ethnic" group Jews were the most highly decorated troops fighting for Kaiser Bill. Reading some of the tripe posted here might be enlightening as well. Evil is ever with us.
One branch of Zoro Mastery holds no special distinction over the others, allen.
ReplyDeleteYou are a professional victim, you wallow in your victimhood and it is really fun to watch.
Like a pig in a sty.
Well, congrats, Deseret Rat, you can spell Zion.
ReplyDeleteNeither Russia nor the Soviet were the Jewish "old country" (whatever that is supposed to mean). Both regimes murdered millions of Jews.
Were you familiar with Shema etc, you would know that the allegiance of every Jew is to G-d. Everyother alligance is inferior.
Deseret Rat,
ReplyDeleteRe: Zoro
Although inconvenient, chronology cannot be ignored by the rational. Judaism predated by centuries/millenia all the Zoros you so adore. But as with the Liberty, your delicate ego cannot bear the weight of fact.
Aw shit, here we go, again. You all just had to keep "calling him out" until you got the same old religious argument started. Don't you EVER get tired of it?
ReplyDeleteIt may have been a cult, before Babylon, but it was forever morphed by the extended stay, there.
ReplyDeleteIt became a branch Zoro Mastery.
So says Mr Campbell, the authority broadcast by State television, here in the US. So whether it is true, or not, it is the perceived cultural reality.
As Mr "Maverick" McCain would say...
Learn it, live it, love it
And as we all know, allen, in this age of instant communication ...
ReplyDeletePerceptions form their own realities, especially political realities born of religion.
Some have even claimed, that those that migrated from Babylon to the Levant were not related to those that were relocated from the Levant, to Babylon.
ReplyDeleteBut, since there is no video, who's to say.
I wasnt going to post, since you asked for people with actual 1st hand knowledge...
ReplyDeletebut then I saw the rat turds and thought? what the hell..
The run up to the iraq war was filled with threats about 40k dead, mother of all battles etc...
Before the south lebanon war the threats from hezbollah were just as extreme, we have 10k of rockets and we will burn Israel...
When 2nd in command of hezbollah was taken out in syria (in a tightly controlled area of damascus) hezbollah vowed to shake israel to the core...
hamas in a build up to the gaza war threatened to bring hell to the zionist entity...
notice a pattern yet?
Israel took out the nkor/iranian/syrian plutonium reactor and guess what?
NOTHING HAPPENED...
Israel took out several thousand iranian funded hamas members in gaza and....
NOTHING HAPPENED...
Israel destroyed the iranian forward base in southern lebanon
NOTHING HAPPENED...
the funny thing? hamas shoots 8k of missiles, rockets and mortars and many minimize them as annoyance since they are not effective (jews are sneaky, they build bomb shelters and early warning systems)
the funny thing? hezbollah shoots 10k rockets and kills barely 26 people (not that i think that one israeli should have been killed at all)
but what does this say about iranian/arab actual ability?
in the 2nd iraq war the USA rolled up the iraqi army in what? 10 days?
the ONLY reason we are having any issues with the taliban, palestinians, iranians, sadr iraqis etc is simple
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT...
the full force of the west has NEVER been used against the enemies of the west...
look for an israel attack, not using the majority of its airforce to do it..
the IDF will be buzzing gaza, southern lebanon and syria to keep they from doing anything...
and if they do?
Israel will have changed their rules of engagement to fit the situation...
meanwhile, iran has NEVER stopped trying to attack the west.. it goes on ALL THE TIME, to think that AFTER an israeli strike on iran's command and control, oil refineries and nuke sites (not to mention an emp or a massive cyber attack to fry much of their networks) iran would somehow wake up and "DO" something is foolish..
iran is already doing it...
80,000 rockets are in southern lebanon thanks to iran
hamas has 2x the rockets than before the gaza war thanks to iran
syria has upgraded it's tanks and airdefense thanks to iran (and russian sales)
fear, that is the card they play and many in the west are afraid....
He lives for it, rufus.
ReplyDeleteIt is part of his culture of victimhood.
Well, I know ONE thing. The ones that stayed in Babylon produced 1,200,000 LESS Barrels of Oil in Sept. than they did in August, and the ones that went to the Levant produced None.
ReplyDeleterat turd says...
ReplyDeleteSo says Mr Campbell
Mr Campbell is dead...
embrace it...
The "Gaza War" could easily been seen as the motivating force that drove the HB to import those missiles. Isreali aggression evidenced, again, in Gaza.
ReplyDeleteFrom their perspective.
Which is mirrored by UN investigation into the "Gaza War".
Those missiles to be used as a deterrent against another, repeated, Isreali invasion of Lebanon.
Until they are used in another fashion.
Or never used, at all.
ReplyDeleteThe only "solution" the disarmament of all the Levant and an international administration of the entire area.
Which is just one part of the "conflict resolution" SOP that neither side would appreciate.
allen,
ReplyDeleteCertainly not every Jew carries and Israeli passport nor is every Jew obliged to serve in the Israeli military. Your assertion that "every Jew is an "Israeli"" is clearly false. Though maybe you have some meaning still unclear to me through your use of sneer quotes for "Israeli".
Speaking of Israel, I came across an interesting essay on the increasing orthodoxy and radicalism of Israelis.
Well worth reading the whole thing but here is an excerpt:
A hostile takeover of Zionism
Patrick Martin
"In the Haredim, the religious Zionists have acquired potent allies. Their followers obey orders without question. “They fear excommunication,” explained Prof. Ben Yehuda. “They are largely unprepared for surviving outside their tight-knit communities.”
"The two groups are united in wanting greater religiosity in Israel.
They seek strict adherence to Biblical rules governing the Sabbath, to Halachic rules concerning food, to age-old traditions of separating men from women, and to the strict observance of Orthodoxy in all aspects of people's lives, from birth, through education, marriage and death to burial.
They also want their rules to be followed in deciding just who is a Jew and who therefore can enjoy the privileges of a Jewish state.
To obtain these goals they have influenced the platforms and growth of political parties, appointments to the rabbinical courts and government policy.
As a result, religious schools get a disproportionate share of the education budget, El Al planes don't fly on the Sabbath and publicly run buses are segregated on a growing number of runs.
DEMOCRACY IN QUESTION
Ironically, considering these religious leaders have made such use of the democratic process, they continue to say democracy is not consistent with Halacha.
“In many ways these guys are closer to Islamic fundamentalists than to anything else,” Prof. Ben Yehuda said.
They also do not shrink from violence."
No, "misdirection" Mr Campbell lives on, on PBS.
ReplyDeleteHis disciples still there, too.
doug's most favorite tv personality, the fellow that helped to initially broadcast Mr Campbell. Helping to create the secular view of the "Power of Myth", Bill Moyers.
To where even our own esteemed bobal left his Methodist congregation, after being exposed to the Zoro Mastery roots of Abrahamic religion.
ReplyDeleteMr Campbell doctrine may be a pied piper, but it is leading the cultural and political parade.
Why is it impossible to discuss here objectively the consequences of an Israeli strike against Iran?
ReplyDelete(I will concede the tastiness of pork and the nobility of the pig. Why, I even look forward to the coming of the Messiah, celebrated with a heaping plate of bacon and eggs.)
Here is a reality check: If Israel hits Iran, the United States will be drawn into the war. Iran has already made this clear. Iran will be defeated.
While the US tends to see an Israeli attack being launched according to US methods, Israel is not so constrained. There is always more than one way to skin a cat. The US has trapped itself by acting otherwise; Israel need not and probably will not allow itself to be so limited. If Israel attacks Iran, the attack will be audaciously elegant and effective.
There is no "discussion" with rat...
ReplyDeletehe is stuck in a mind trip of "victimhood" "elders of zion" and too much of some type of brain killing exercise....
He is simply going over a cliff....
The discussion is about the upcoming war in the middle east..
Israel will not commit suicide (as rat wishes for) and iran is not as powerful as many think..
FEAR is what is driving rat...
Fear drives me too, but i use it to PLAN how not to be a victim, whereas rat only sees jews as victims...
Israel did not invade lebanon in the last war, it was attacked, bombed, had it's soldiers murdered and kidnapped, and then RESPONDED..
see how rat twists everything?
Gaza shot 8000 rockets, missiles and mortars, but somehow it's israel's fault...
naw....
no victimhood here...
israel left the gaza strip completely, period...
gaza shares a border with egypt...
gaza fires on israel?
act of war...
rufus said...
ReplyDeleteWell, I know ONE thing. The ones that stayed in Babylon produced 1,200,000 LESS Barrels of Oil in Sept. than they did in August, and the ones that went to the Levant produced None.
yep Israel doesnt produce much oil...
I guess it's worthless then?
"The Power of Mytj", at work again.
ReplyDeleteIf the Isreali had "elegant" military solutions, why were they not employed in Lebanon or Gaza?
The answer being that the have no elegant solutions. If the Isreali were to attack Iran, I would not be at all surprised if the US struck Isreal, almost immediately afterward.
The Isreali not the only ones that can operate "outside the box".
rufus,
ReplyDeleteMy posts at 07:58, 10:09 and 10:23 addressed the military situation exclusively.
You may thank your bud, Deseret Rat, for introducing his usual foolishness.
The topic introduced by deuce is a serious one, worthy of consideration. I say again, if Israel makes the move, the US will be drawn into the war. This has nothing to do with "Zoro", Zionism, my religious proclivities, or pork.
To use that Vietnam analogy
ReplyDeleteWe burned the village, to save it
It is not 1967 and Barack Obama is not LBJ.
ReplyDeleteDeseret Rat,
ReplyDeleteThe probability of the US striking Israel approaches zero. You are giving way to wishful thinking. The Democrats would like to continue controlling the Congress.
To deuce's point.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many target points, of their nuclear program, that no single raid could destroy them.
There would have to be an extended campaign, the over flight allowance by the Sauds could not be sustained.
The obvious political spin, which allen tells us of already, the Isreali attacks' only purpose, an attempt to draw the US into a war with Iran.
How the US reacts to such obvious gaming by Bibi and the boys ...
As I say, Obama will be outside the box.
This you all have been saying for years, now. Yet you still expect him to react like GW Bush.
Obviously still unschooled in the "Chicago Way"
No, Israel is not "worthless" (although, I'm not sure it's worth all the bother - it makes my head hurt. Has for about the last 30, or so, years.)
ReplyDeleteThe point was that Iraqi oil production was DOWN last month (in fact, OPEC production, excluding Iraq, was down.) Oil is an important player, here.
allen tells us that if the Isreali so decide, they can provoke a Iran/USA war, and there is nothing we can do to stop them.
ReplyDeleteWe pull the pressure relieve valve, by striking an Isreali air base, hard.
Could happen, as likely as US letting the Isreali drag US into a war with Iran.
Food for thought:
ReplyDeleteThe US officer corps is highly conservative, many being fundamentalist Christians. The faith of these gentlemen and ladies is firmly attached to a respect for and love of Israel.
While less doctrinaire, the enlisted ranks mirror this affection for Israel.
Moreover, our military sees the Israeli military as our sole trustworthy kindred spirit in the struggle against rabid Islam.
Although I believe Mr. Obama will never give an order to attack Israel, such an order would be met with resistance bordering on mutiny.
No, if Israel strikes, the US military will be prepared to throw its weight behind the Israeli provocation. Iran, foolishly, will seal its own doom by vindictively moving against the US a priori.
The probability of Israel acting percipitously is quite small, however.
DR,
ReplyDeleteWhy do you insist that the Israelis MUST strike Iran from the air?
Nah, we're not ever going to "strike" Israel. And, Ahmadickwad isn't going to "directly" strike a U.S. base.
ReplyDeleteChina might go along (in silence) with a U.S. led blockade of Iran's gasoline if Saudi Arabia can guarantee them to "make up" for the lost Persian Oil (but, it's, honestly, somewhat unlikely that Saudi Arabia actually has that "capacity.")
They're going to talk some more, reach some sort of an "accomodation," dick around some more, and in a couple of years Iran is going to be a "Nuclear Power."
ReplyDeleteThat's the way it is.
And, various U.S. Aerospace Companies will make a lot of money off of "missile defense" systems.
10 years from now we'll be arguing over Israeli "settlements."
ReplyDeleterufus,
ReplyDeleteOf course, oil is a BIG factor in calculating the odds of war.
The question to be examined by the West is whether we are willing to risk an armed Iran dictating trade policy. Additionally, and perhaps even more importantly, are we willing to risk war on Iranian terms. You might admit the possibility of a sea of oil underlying a scorched wasteland.
DR,
ReplyDeleteIt is folks like you who have made possible Israel's military successes.
There are few feelings more satisfying than having an adversary deride your proven/known capabilities.
I have no fear for the survival of Israel so long as the Islamic warrior mindset prevails. Islamic martial prowess lasts for about as long as it takes to release a burst of machinegun fire. Thereafter, the chase is on.
Lt Col Jean Bastien-Thiry shared allen's misconception of the military's allegiance.
ReplyDeleteHe died because of it, executed by firing squad at the military fortress of Ivry-sur-Seine on 11 March 1963, while clutching his rosary.
It is not 1967, allen.
ReplyDeleteNor 1972, either
ReplyDeleteIran is not within easy reach of Isreali armor.
ReplyDeleteIt's only purpose, in attacking Iran, to drag the US into another war.
The ultimate neo-con moment.
Or fantasy
ReplyDeleteAllen, you're overlooking China. And, China is hard to overlook. The "West" won't embargo Iran's oil if China says, NO.
ReplyDeleteThe only two actions, possible, are:
1) The U.S. blockades Iran's gasoline, Or
2) Israel strikes Iranian facilities.
If Israel wants to do that, They Can. No one Can, or will, stop them. We "may" like it, we may "not" like it. But, if they decide to do it, they'll "do" it. End of story.
We "might" blockade Iran. I think this is less likely. If China drives a ship up the Persian Gulf with a load of gasoline for Iran, you better believe it's going through.
It could happen, but I wouldn't bet much on it.
I think we'll probably stall until it's a fait accompli.
rufus,
ReplyDeleteTo date, the West has been willing to stall, hoping that the situation can be contained until the deed is done. Whether Israel will continue to go along is the question.
Certainly, China's role cannot be discounted. It is the new 800 lb gorilla in the room. But the Chinese have behaved predictably. If the Chinese have sufficient reserves for the short-term, and are convinced that the deradicalization of the Iranian government could be accomplished within a reasonable timeframe, they might stand down.
Israel will concede a nuclear powered Iran. It cannot concede a nuclear armed, murderous theocracy.
Well, I think in the final, final, Allen, it will be "up to Israel."
ReplyDeleteWe might "counsel" against it, but we couldn't stop it. As Trish might say, "Sovereign Nations do what Sovereign Nations do."
Sully Sullenberger has yet to hit a bird on his first post-Hudson Flight.
ReplyDeleteCovered from takeoff by helicopter cam wielded by and for the MSM.
Godspeed, Sully.
Brother D-Day,
ReplyDeleteThat's cause nobody knows how to bomb like you and Curtis did.
rufus said...
ReplyDelete...with a U.S. led blockade of Iran's gasoline...
Now we're talking.
Currently there are citizens of the USA, France and England in iranian jails on trumped up charges...
ReplyDeleteiran will continue to wreak havoc in iraq and afghanistan...
iran is still arming hezbollah, hamas & syria
the best thing for the world would be a revolution in iran, but now that we (in America) have a leader that is comfortable with mullahs i doubt the great obumbler will do anything except punt...
israel will attack, the world is bowing and appeasing, it is 1938 all over again...
difference? Jews are armed...
We will not be "victims", we will not go quietly into the night...
if iran truly wanted to live and let live, we could have peace,,,
but anyone with a brain can tell iran's current leaders seek the downfall of the great satan (USA) and the destruction of the little satan (israel)
"They're going to talk some more, reach some sort of an "accomodation," dick around some more, and in a couple of years Iran is going to be a "Nuclear Power."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Rufus. Any attack by Isreal will merely delay the Iranian program.
The US (especially under Obama)is not going to be drawn into the conflict unless Iran follows through with its threats to attack US troops in Iraq.
(Or, if Israel in "thinking out of the box" attacks US interests and makes it look like Iran did it.)
Good God, you all, Wake Up.
ReplyDeleteHis Middle Name is "Hussein."
The only nation on earth that Obama might have more disdain for than the United States is Israel.
"Sovereign nations act that way." And I do wish I could remember the name of the guy who conveyed the only thing I took away from Neophyte Diplomat School. (I cut class a lot.)
ReplyDeleteMore interesting to me than whether and how either of us would resort to overt action (and I'm sure the Israelis are still hoping that some pressure of some sort will lead us there) is that, as Joshua Pollack at ACW lays out, we now appear to be dealing with parallel undeclared facilities, introducing an element of "enrichment whack-a-mole" into the problem. And though the Iranians were mysteriously holding off on their sprint to the finish line, with the discovery near Qom and asses afire, I'd now have every man, woman and child working that motherfucker 24/7 and shoot the slackers.
Have the Israelis stopped running their "you do it or we we'll do it for you" information operation through the UK press? Has Caroline Glick shut up yet? I would consider either of those things an ominous sign.
And did anyone see Netanyahu's speech at the UN? Heard it was a real humdinger from Israeli guy posted here - who hadn't been a Netanyahu fan.
Allen said:
ReplyDeleteWhy do you insist that the Israelis MUST strike Iran from the air?
Exactly what I was thinking.
rufus said...
ReplyDeleteGood God, you all, Wake Up.
His Middle Name is "Hussein."
The only nation on earth that Obama might have more disdain for than the United States is Israel.
Thank you Rufus...
WELL SAID
All the Iranians really had to all this time was to supply the reason NOT to hit them. And how hard is that given that we'd urgently rather not, and given that the Israelis don't either? How stupid do you have to be to screw that pooch?
ReplyDeleteIt isn't just the stubborn contrarian in me insisting that the horrible, no good, very bad thing (that I single-handedly managed to stave off just for Ash these past six years) may now be much closer to realization than it was a year ago.
Netanyahu at UN
ReplyDeleteAll the Iranians really had to DO...
ReplyDeletewell trish, I'm not convinced that much has changed vis a vis Iran/US all that much over the past year with regard to the Nuclear issue(the unrest over the election certainly suggests change) but I do think the current administration is much less likely to attack Iran than the previous one was. In the end both are severely constrained by the clusterf*ck's in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ReplyDelete"I do think the current administration is much less likely to attack Iran than the previous one was."
ReplyDeleteYou know, this just gets under my saddle. When the book's written the record will show that the previous admin bent over backward, touching the floor, NOT to go there.
In any event, I disagree with you, Ash.
ReplyDeleteShit happens, and Iran is one of those things that stood decent odds of happening.
In the end, trish, the former administration didn't attack Iran. What their intent was/is is tough to determine. Did Bush Lie or was he just mistaken about Iraq WMD for example? In any case I was struck by the attack Iran fervor on the wingnut right, especially in the early warm afterglow of Iraq, and Cheney certainly seemed keen to do the deed but the "ADMIN" well, like I said, they never did do the deed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, allen.
ReplyDeleteNow, come on!
ReplyDeleteSenate Finance Committee Democrats rejected a proposed a requirement that immigrants prove their identity with photo identification when signing up for federal healthcare programs.
So, make everyone produce a photo id.
trish,
ReplyDeleteRe: Netanyahu link
You are welcome.
I read the text over Yom Kippur. Your reference gave the excuse to see the speech delivered. Thank you.
It's a mystery to me why the Israelis would organize a holiday in honor of smoked fish. But, to each his own.
ReplyDeleteBush understood "peak oil" from the get-go. He started an ethanol/electric vehicle program, and established a "presence" in the "Oil Patch."
ReplyDeleteHe never, at any time, had the slightest, most teeny inclination to get involved with Iran.
Trish is right. He went WAY out of his way not to respond to any of their provocations.
trish,
ReplyDeleteRe: Yom Kippur, smoked fish, holidays, etc
There is good cause for the great lights of psychoanalysis to have been Jewish...and the client base - to die for, Darling :)
Our Father, Our King
Spring
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiLTwtuBi-o
trish,
ReplyDeleteYes...
Fanfare for the Common Man
The Senate Dems may have removed the public option but how does this business model sound to you?
ReplyDeleteThe measure, like a companion bill under construction in the House, would bar insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. It also includes federal subsidies to make insurance available to millions who lack it, and it takes steps to slow the skyrocketing growth in health care costs nationwide.
Supporters said the overhaul's cost was in the range that Obama has set, about $900 billion over a decade, and would not raise federal deficits.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Rock Candy Mountain
Obama Voter Bites the Dust (probly bad for your health)
ReplyDeleteAfter turning 115 in April, she said, "Living that long is like winning the genetic lottery."
Nurses at Western Convalescent Hospital described Baines as a modest woman who liked to watch the "Jerry Springer Show" and eat fried chicken, bacon and ice cream. She refused to use dentures.
"I don't know how she does it. She only has her gums, no teeth," said Susie Exconde, the nursing director who found Baines dead in her bed at about 7:25 a.m.
Witt, her physician, said that when he visited Baines earlier this week, she only complained that her bacon was soggy and arthritis was causing pain in her right knee.
Baines celebrated her birthday at the nursing home April 6 with music, two cakes and a letter from President Barack Obama, whom she voted for in November.
Featured on local television newscasts when she cast her ballot, Baines, who is black, said she backed him "because he's for the colored." She said she never thought she would live to see a black man become president.
"We were hoping to have her until the next election," Exconde said. "We'll miss her."
Maybe she'll vote once from the grave, and once from Hell.
The 2009 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports show the combined unfunded liability of these two programs has reached nearly $107 trillion in today's dollars! That is about seven times the size of the U.S. economy and 10 times the size of the outstanding national debt.
ReplyDeleteThe unfunded liability is the difference between the benefits that have been promised to current and future retirees and what will be collected in dedicated taxes and Medicare premiums. Last year alone, this debt rose by $5 trillion. If no other reform is enacted, this funding gap can only be closed in future years by substantial tax increases, large benefit cuts or both.
Social Security versus Medicare. Politicians and the media focus on Social Security's financial health, but Medicare's future liabilities are far more ominous, at more than $89 trillion. Medicare's total unfunded liability is more than five times larger than that of Social Security. In fact, the new Medicare prescription drug benefit enacted in 2006 (Part D) alone adds some $17 trillion to the projected Medicare shortfall - an amount greater than all of Social Security's unfunded obligations.
NCPA Social Security and Medicare Projection
I don't understand how adding millions to the dole will reduce the shortfalls.
From the NCPA article:
ReplyDeleteCan Higher Taxes Solve the Problem? The CBO also found that if federal income tax rates are adjusted to allow the government to continue its current level of activity and balance its budget:
* The lowest marginal income tax rate of 10 percent would have to rise to 26 percent.
* The 25 percent marginal tax rate would increase to 66 percent.
* The current highest marginal tax rate (35 percent) would rise to 92 percent!
Figure II: Social Security and Medicare Unfunded Liabilities
Additionally, the top corporate income tax rate of 35 percent would increase to 92 percent.
Doug, I'm truly ashamed of you. How could you say something that terrible?
ReplyDeleteThat was really horrible.
Whit, there is no such thing as an "unfunded liability."
ReplyDeleteThe liability for Medicare, and Soc Sec in the year 2075 is "Exactly" what the Government in 2075 Says It Is.
Governments constantly adjust pensions, and benefits.
Also, keep in mind, The CBO "predicts the Present." That's all, by statute, they CAN do. They will ALWAYS scare the bejeebus out of you during recessions when tax receipts are low.
So here's what my dad said: You don't get tired of it gradually. You get tired of it one morning, and that's that.
ReplyDeleteAnd he's right.
Just Kiddin, Rufus.
ReplyDelete---
luddy barsen:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9B2DSR80&show_article=1
Deputy National Security Advisor Mark Lippert, who was also chief of staff for the National Security Council and Obama’s national security adviser during the presidential campaign, resigns. he will return to active duty in the USN. In a statement Thursday Obama said that he was not surprised because Lippert is “passionate about the Navy”.
Fasten your seat belts, folks. This is no doubt related to the new rumor that Chuck Hagel is set to replace Gates as SecDef.
No wonder the markets took a two percent hit today. think i’ll sell out and move to Smolensk.
What you don't understand, Whit, is money really does grow on trees.
ReplyDelete(in RufusWorld)
...time to remind once again:
ReplyDeleteRufus was the guy that predicted the Real Estate Meltdown would amount to no more than a small ripple in the pool!
13. Dymphna:
ReplyDeleteI just opened the Weekly Standard page and found this from Michael Goldfarb:
Rumint: Hagel to Replace Gates By End of Year
As Think Progress notes, last night the boss floated a very well-sourced rumor that Secretary Gates will be out by the end of the year and replaced by Chuck Hagel, who the boss described as an “advocate of retreat everywhere.” Indeed Hagel is not only an advocate of retreat everywhere, he is set to be the keynote speaker at J Street’s Israel-bashing conference at the end of the month. If Kristol’s intel is on target, watch for Hagel to skip the J Street confab in favor of something more respectable…like a Van Jones seminar on the collapse of World Trace Center 7.
Hagel to Replace Gates.
This hardly bears thinking about. Ugh.
Oct 1, 2009 - 9:14 pm