- Joined
- Oct 22, 2002
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- 48,241
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- Frozen in Michigan
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- Old Fart
- Basic Beliefs
- Don't be a dick.
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10 day ceasefire.
There are still opportunities. Many of them do involve violence and they all involve risk. Conscientious objectors avoided combat, for example.My point is quite the opposite. "Serbia" did not shoot Archduke Ferdinand. One frightened, angry teenager did. Austrians did not declare war in response. Their government did. And well over 200 million people died over the next thirty years as a result. Not really Princip's fault. But we designed a social system that guaranteed millions of deaths in retribution for such an act. Of our response to notorious events is uncompromising war, it quickly ceases to matter what Iranians want or what Americans want or what Russians want or what Vietnamese people want or what anyone at all wants. Most people in most countries just want to live in peace, do their jobs, raise their families. Once the shelling starts, that opportunity is denied them.Of course the world is comprised of unique individuals. But it takes a great deal of naïveté or willful blindness to believe that it requires every individual comprising a group to agree on everything it even most things for that group to share a common goal, mindset, group or national identity.There is no "the Iranians", any more than there is "the Americans". Every nation and every government on Earth is filled with every kind of person imaginable.I know we in the west are accustomed to believing that Iranians are nothing but a bunch of religious ideologues stuck in the 14th century, too backward to understand much or care about anything beyond their religious beliefs. As weird as it is to write this, in this situation, Iran is the rational one. They don’t want to destroy the world. Trump will have no problem destroying the world. If he has an excuse.That isn't the goal. The goal is to try and goad them into firing on one of our shipsWhat is confusing is why that would induce Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.Iran is only blockading enemy ships, their allies are allowed through "for a small fee". We are essentially threatening to copy what they are doing, and cut off access to the Strait altogether. Presumably unless "for a small fee". The difference being that they aren't our waters, so when we do it, it's piracy.The USA will blockade the Strait of Hormuz in order to force Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Does anyone else find that confusing?
Unfortunately, a few fingers on a few triggers can cause an awful lot of trouble for all of us.
Do I believe that most Iranians want war with..,anyone, much less the US? No. Nor do I believe that most Americans want to have a war with Iran or Cuba or whoever else dementor in chief decides must be obliterated.
But will Hezbollah honor it?Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10 day ceasefire.
Will Israel?But will Hezbollah honor it?Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10 day ceasefire.
And when exactly is this regime change going to happen? What actions are yet to be undertaken by the American military to implement this change?
Getting rid of regime that relies on Islamic terrorism as main source of international clout would be in their long-term interest too. .