Goddamnit: if a wider war breaks out use this thread for context

[dead0man]

If the beards all died they could quickly be brought to the good guy's side.  Sure, they'll have issues with the Fundies in the hills, but they will be able to deal with them better than the Afghans did (very low bar).

Or they can chose to stay allies with Hezbollah, the PRC, Putin and the Pakistanis.

[dead0man]

If the beards all died they could quickly be brought to the good guy's side.  Sure, they'll have issues with the Fundies in the hills, but they will be able to deal with them better than the Afghans did (very low bar).

Or they can chose to stay allies with Hezbollah, the PRC, Putin and the Pakistanis.

Sadly there are enough elite people with mustaches and clean shaven faces just as bad.

are they though?

The current Iranian government has greatly achieved their objectives in maintaining their heads through maintaining those links, and they keep getting blocked from forming relationships with anyone else. A reminder that Iran was going to recognize Israel until the Axis of Evil speech and the fact that the US wouldn’t end sanctions.

"we won't do the right thing because the leader of the people we regularly say we hate said we hated them"

[dead0man]

So a lot of engineers for the aerospace and nuclear industry have been assassinated by Mossad lately, way more than usual. Normally the flexing is spaced out by a few months per kilo but they are really going at it.

It is clear the Israeli government, in needing to survive, wants to instigate war. Iran’s policy has been not to do first strikes because it knows it isn’t ready and wants to engage in defensive offense and seep through the cracks, like it did in Lebanon and Iraq. Still, while the chances of a second Israeli offensive into Lebanon is definite to secure the gas fields and finally create a new buffer zone to prevent missile strikes,

Ah heck who am I kidding, war is going to happen and I expect it will occur before the Biden administration leaves as the Israelis don’t trust the Republicans anymore.

you are predicting war with Iran?  That's been a very popular prediction over the years, many progressives (and other haters of the west) just knew Dubya was going to declare war and do so to stay in office.  Fewer, but still some, predicted Obama would, many more predicted Trump would.  Maybe eventually you'll be right. 

[dead0man]

assuming they don't turn their hate (more) towards the west/Israel, peace between Sunni and Shia would be awesome for the world.

[dead0man]

thanks to Hezbollah intervention, Lebanon has not caved in the negotiations, but there’s been a request for an extension

Israel is trying to make a deal, the Hezzies are threatening violence if they don't get their way, meanwhile, the Lebanese, stuck in the middle, are suffering



the more things change, the more they stay the same!

[dead0man]

I really wish people wouldn't defend those in power in Lebanese Islam.

They are not the ones being persecuted in Lebanon or the rest of the Arab-Islamic world.

(hint: it is atheists, people who want to leave Islam and not be murdered for it, Muslim women who don't want to be second class citizens or be killed if they anger a male relative, trade unionists, LGBTIQ+ people)

Lebanon legalized gay relations under this government lol.

You done hand wringing?

you say that is if they are good on LGTB right and that it's the end of the discussion.  I know you hate to cite things (for obvious reasons), let me do it for you.

LGBT Rights in Lebanon

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) persons living in Lebanon may face difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT residents, though they are considerably more free than in other parts of the Arab world.

and that's one of the lowest bars to hurdle in the entire world, but hey, congrats!

Various courts have ruled that Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code, which prohibits having sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature", should not be used to arrest LGBT people.

hey that's great, the state can't hassle gay people even though they contradict the laws of nature.  What a country!

Nonetheless, the law is still being used to harass and persecute LGBT people through occasional police arrests.

what?  Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo



it's telling that you picked LGBT out of Paul's list too, you knew the others were an even harder fight.

[dead0man]

No, the others are quite easy. It isn’t Hezbollah who invaded the country back in the 80s and have many progressive activists detained without trial in its prisons, that was Israel and the conservative Maronite government, of whom the SLA the Israelis still back. It isn’t Hezbollah who threatens Lebanese sovereignty and forces the country to give up vital resources it needs to keep the lights on.

Israel ultimately feeds into Hezbollah’s popularity and is responsible for the negative weight of the group. It’s brutalizing of the country scarred and birthed the movement by blood and fire in the 80s in the first place. That’s blowback

well thank Og the terrorists Hezbollah are there or else Lebanon would be a real mess!

Also, not sure how any of that addressed Paul's points, but ok.  I guess Israel could be causing Muslim men to be mean to Muslim women in Lebanon, seems more likely to come from another...ahem...."source" (pbuh).

[dead0man]

What’s with this notion that Hezbollah is anything other than a malevolent sectarian presence in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq?

Didn’t realize that the IRGC Qods Force was the legitimate political representative of the Lebanese people.

of course.  It's those dirty Jews Israelis that are the real force for evil in the Middle East.  Iran just wants to get along with everyone, but every time they come to the west, hat in hand, we just push 'em in the dirt and laugh. Blowing up buses full of Jews in Bulgaria or South America is their only recourse.  They don't want to have to do it, but what other option do we give them?

[dead0man]

I've been hearing about a war with Iran for so long it's crazy.  I guess, eventually, one of you will be right.

here is a Joe thread from 2005-Israel could be ready for war with Iran by March

Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran

Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington

ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.

The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.

Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.

The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was “losing patience” with Iran.

<snip>

TEHRAN MINISTER MET MILITANTS BEFORE NEW OFFENSIVE

Iran’s foreign minister met leading figures from three Islamic militant groups to co-ordinate a united front against Israel days before a recent escalation of attacks against Israeli targets shattered fragile ceasefires with Lebanon and the Palestinians, writes Hugh Macleod in Damascus.

The minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, held talks with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah in Damascus on November 15.

Among those who attended the meeting were Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, and a deputy leader of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for last Monday’s suicide bombing of a shopping mall in Netanya that killed five Israeli citizens.

Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command, was also present. “We all confirmed that what is going on in occupied Palestine is organically connected to what is going on in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Lebanon,” said Jibril.

Seven days after the talks, Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets and mortars at Israeli targets, sparking the fiercest fighting between the two sides since Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon five years ago.