Iranian General Sulemain and others reported killed in Baghdad airstrike

[Belize]

Where do you think most of the Oil the US gets comes from? Its Canada.

Also, I said to move to get away from the need for Oil importation or need.

I'd rather spend the money fighting over the sand in the Middle East for R&D for alternative means of energy than Oil.

The U.S. only gets 43% of its oil from Canada.

How do you think you're going to make up the difference? You can't just cut imports and say "Haha, we're using the money on R&D". That takes time, and the supply needs to be made up somehow in the meantime.

How much money can you allocate to R&D if the price of oil triples overnight?

[caervek]

Iraq is like 400k km2 with 40 million people, mostly flat desert. Iran is 1.7 million km2 with 80 million people, mostly rugged mountains, one of the most mountainous areas in the world. It's a huge hellhole for enemy combatants facing millions of fundamentalist insurgents in vast mountainous areas.

So it's Vietnam, but worse. A lot worse.

It's also ~100 miles from Russia.

People like to downplay the whole WW3 thing, but can anyone really see them being okay with the US conquering a country that close to their border?

[Puupi]

It's also ~100 miles from Russia.

People like to downplay the whole WW3 thing, but can anyone really see them being okay with the US conquering a country that close to their border?

True, and next to an inland sea with direct access to Russian heartland.

Anyhow, this one picture should clarify why invading Iran is a terrible idea:

[Draco-Onis]

I mean you don't know anything either so its pointless to assume he did it just for election purposes. Everyone is just assuming there wasnt a threat and trump did it just for poll numbers. At least trump didnt let another Benghazi happen

Actually now we know there was no imminent threat and if Iraqi's PM is correct we lured the guy on a diplomatic mission of peace just to assassinate him which is worse than Benghazi. I mean he just got impeached for using foreign policy to win 2020.

[Themius]

Trump is now threatening to sanction Iraq... and wants them to pay for an airbase...

[caervek]

Trump is now threatening to sanction Iraq... and wants them to pay for an airbase...

He's a human /facepalm machine lol

President Donald Trump threatened Sunday to slap sanctions on Iraq after its parliament passed a resolution calling for the government to expel foreign troops from the country.

Tensions in the Middle East spiraled last week after Trump called for a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, the U.S. president said: “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”

“We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build. Long before my time We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it.”

He added that “If there’s any hostility, that they do anything we think is inappropriate, we are going to put sanctions on Iraq, very big sanctions on Iraq.”

[Elegiac]

Trump is now threatening to sanction Iraq... and wants them to pay for an airbase...

Say it with me now...

Luring foreign officials into an assassination under the pretense of conducting peace talks is bad, m'kay. Even for war criminals.

Make sure to clap on every beat, too.

[Logwyn]

The U.S. only gets 43% of its oil from Canada.

How do you think you're going to make up the difference? You can't just cut imports and say "Haha, we're using the money on R&D". That takes time, and the supply needs to be made up somehow in the meantime.

How much money can you allocate to R&D if the price of oil triples overnight?

You just like bombing people so you can extract their resources don't you?

[Belize]

You just like bombing people so you can extract their resources don't you?

No I don't.

The last thing I want is to be bombing people pointlessly. The U.S. has been destabilizing the middle east for far too long.
I'm also a fucking realist. We're still dependent on oil, like it like it not, and it'll take at least a decade to move forward.

Maybe the GOP should stop burning every piece of international good will? And like, adopt diplomacy?

We didn't murder any Iranian generals under Obama, FYI.

Do you have any other baseless accusations?

[Thepersona]

Trump is now threatening to sanction Iraq... and wants them to pay for an airbase...

How to fuck up the already fragile situation in an epic way 101: This lecture is being held by Dotard Tang

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If getting oil from Canada/Venezuela is just as cheap or even cheaper than middle east oil, then why aren't we doing that right now?

Let's think critically here.

Well.. You are buying cheap oil from venezuela though. Not in a direct way.
And as a side note, Venezuelan oil is of terrible quality

[infinitemeridian]

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/...war-propaganda

[Thepersona]

I mean you don't know anything either so its pointless to assume he did it just for election purposes. Everyone is just assuming there wasnt a threat and trump did it just for poll numbers. At least trump didnt let another Benghazi happen

You still are bringing up FUCKING BENGHAZI?

[Paranoid Android]

Trump to reporters on AF1 contradicts Pompeo on Iran:

“They’re allowed to kill our people? They’re allowed to torture and maim our people, they’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people? And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way”

https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status...852381697?s=19

Trump doubles down on war crimes. Hey why not add a fee more charges to his long list.

[Skroe]

it said right there in the headline that it missed the embassy and hit a nearby building.

Then not an attack from Iran.

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What's more likely that this is a well thought out first step towards deterrence or a stunt by Donald Trump to distract from impeachment and boost his poll numbers by baiting someone in the name of peace and killing them?

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Again you are both doubling down and putting your faith in Donald Trump the guy who doesn't think 5 seconds ahead and can't plan to save his life.

I am certainly not putting my faith in Individual-1. Dunno why you think I am. I am putting my faith in the US military and defense establishment.

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It's also ~100 miles from Russia.

People like to downplay the whole WW3 thing, but can anyone really see them being okay with the US conquering a country that close to their border?

Russia wouldn’t do shit. But good thing we’re not going to be doing anything remotely close to that anyway.

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If getting oil from Canada/Venezuela is just as cheap or even cheaper than middle east oil, then why aren't we doing that right now?

Let's think critically here.

We’ve gotten more oil from Mexico and Canada and Venezuela than the Middle East for decades now.

War for oil doesn’t even make sense.

[starlord]

Then not an attack from Iran.

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I am certainly not putting my faith in Individual-1. Dunno why you think I am. I am putting my faith in the US military and defense establishment.

iranian backed militia already made threats against the embassy. where is the determent?

and you put your faith in the same establishment that got us mixed up in the middle east in the first place.

[infinitemeridian]

They literally trashed the front lawn of the embassy - our response is overblown and ridiculous.

[Skroe]

iranian backed militia already made threats against the embassy. where is the determent?

and you put your faith in the same establishment that got us mixed up in the middle east in the first place.

I mean Carpenter and I have explained the whole deterrence angle like 10 times today so you can just refer to those for my position in it. If you don’t accept it that is a “you thing”.

But I’d killing Soleimani wasn’t enough then perhaps we should escalate further before they respond.

They key here is the US must seize escalation dominance. The pearl clutching crowd I get is wary of that being a thing the US does, but ceding it to Iran, which seems to be the local majority default opinion, (and heavens to Betsy if it is any other way!), is madness.

They US should exert some Escalate-to-descalate strategy here.

[caervek]

They literally trashed the front lawn of the embassy - our response is overblown and ridiculous.

Some petrol bombs were thrown too, they also broke down the gate to a courtyard in an attempt to get inside and pelted the building with stones.

Having said that, you're totally correct that the response was insanely overblown. To put it in perspective the demonstration at the embassy was on par with the last one in 2019, and it doesn't even rank in the top 5 incidents at embassy's in the past couple of years (hell the Iranian embassy in Iraq has seen worse lol).

[Paranoid Android]

Outstanding tweet by Rick Wilson.

In my darkest imagination, I just envisioned a Trump call to Bolton. "Keep quiet and I'll give you a war with Iran..."

Lurid? Crazy? Remember, Trump's great gift as a con man is that he seeing into the deepest needs of his marks...

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/st...939151880?s=19

Oh btw...

Another good day. Iran rips the mask off the idea it ever fully complied with the nuclear deal, or that it made a strategic decision to forswear nuclear weapons. Now, it's on to the real job: effectively preventing the ayatollahs from getting such a capability.

https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton/st...135712258?s=19

Bolton would forgive Trump for murdering his mother if Trump invades Iran.

[Skroe]

They literally trashed the front lawn of the embassy - our response is overblown and ridiculous.

Sacking any part of the embassy is reason enough to kill Soleimani over. It’s the one unbreakable rule in international relations. Folks here don’t take it as serious an offense as it actually is. They are wrong for that. They will rationalize why they are not, but it’s fraudulent. It must never happen.