I do know that in terms of actual threats to Americans, Iran isn’t that high on the list and that if they do pose some sort of threat, however low, it’s not because they just hate us, it’s more to do with 70 years of intervening in their country (and not on behalf of the Iranian people, many of whom do feel oppressed under the current regime, though that tends to skew towards the middle and upper middle class rather than the working classes).
But given our actions in the region since the start of the Cold War, I seriously doubt the answer is to save innocent lives. We certainly didn’t care when we started knocking over governments post-9/11. Even prior to that, our actual support of lives rather than dictatorships has been pretty minimal - our intervention in the Suez crisis and the peace treaties brokered by Carter and Clinton are rare exceptions to our lack of support for the dignity and rights of the average Arab/Persian (and you can make the argument that our interests were still predominant there).
Because it was politically advantageous for Prince Bonesaw, Trumplethinskin, and Bibi…
Ok, so based on your response it really sounds like you’re assuming that the U.S. conducted this assassination? I suppose that’s possible but I really doubt it. The U.S. does tend to use drone strikes and guided missiles for that sort of thing, damn the consequences. I was assuming that the perpetrators of this assassination were from a smaller country that perhaps has more delicate geopolitical calculations to make regarding the actions they take in that area.
Not necessarily, but the government had some role in this. It entirely aligns with our current view of the region (especially under Trump) and it fits with recent activities (such as the secret meeting with MBS, Netanyahu, and Pompeo).
Maybe, maybe not. But again the possible actors who carried this out (Israel, the Saudis) don’t particular care about the lives of Iranians, either.
But small countries likely do care about consequences that affect them directly. The U.S. is so friggin big and powerful that the military hawks can often act with near impunity, at least in terms of economic sanctions, boycotts, etc because doing business with the U.S. is very, very important to most of our trading partners, so doing some kind of boycott against the U.S. usually hurts them more than us. Not necessarily so with a smaller country that just made a travel and trade deal with the UAE that they presumably don’t want to lose.
Israel hardly even tries to deny they did it, but while they may not care about Iranian lives they do care about the international reaction. If the idea is to derail any negotiations between Biden and Iran the goal is to make Iran look like the bad guys if they retaliate, and it’s easier to do that if you don’t start by killing lots of innocent bystanders.
If the countries in question are either Israel or the Saudis, the most likely countries in this case, neither particularly seem to care that much about those consequences, precisely because they have the US backing their actions. The Israelis are basically just taking over land in the west bank with impunity and the Saudis have driven Yemen to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world right now.
Really? Doesn’t seem like they give a shit when it comes to the Palestinians, because they have basically just decided that apartheid rule is just fine.
I don’t buy that they care about reactions about the Iranians either.
They do care, that’s why they drive out the Palestinians in slow motion, keeping it on a scale where the rest of the world find it convenient to look the other way. From a military standpoint they could easily have cleared the West Bank back in 1967. They did perform an almost coplete ethnic cleansing of the Golan Heights, though.
Yemen and Palestine also don’t have a nuclear program that could result in bombs. It’ll be very hard to prevent Iran from building some if they really decide that’s their only option.
Yeah, I mean, he was just killed without a trial, but why feel bad about that? After all it was the good guys killing the bad guy, right? SMH.
I guess it’s “odd” because this propaganda is so blatantly false that people outside the US have a hard time believing a significant number of people fall for that. But then we remember that Copeland is worth $760x10^6, and it all makes sense again
I think it’s also worth noting that even while western reporters were told that Netanyahu’s visit to Riyadh was about “Iran, Iran, Iran,” they still interpreted its timing through the lens of the US election cycle early last week.
While it may be true that Bibi and Bin Salman both want to strategize to get/keep the incoming U.S. administration onboard with containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, I think it is much more likely that this was an emergency meeting to make diplomatic assurances at the highest level by conveying in person what was about to happen. Possibly an ask of bin Salman to help contain the anti-Israeli outcry to inevitably follow and having Pompeo in tow to reinforce this.
As to who was there, it is reported:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyaho
Mussad Chief Yossi Cohen
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Meeting took place Sunday 11/22. Assassination took place Friday 11/27.
Certainly timing it before January means they won’t be accused of ignoring Biden who is at minimum a wildcard and at max, could have opposed this approach unlike Trump, who outwardly loves extrajudicial actions and the people who take them.
See, I really don’t think this was a US operation, and quite possibly not even US approved.
If the US would have done it, it would have been a flying drone strike that would have killed a lot more people. Like when the USA murdered Qassem Soleimani on his way to peace talks with our ally and puppet government. (shakes head- Trump should have been impeached for that. You don’t kill people who are negotiating for peace. If you do, who is going to trust you to try to negotiate for peace? It’s as stupid as pulling out of a treaty that your country has agreed to because you don’t like the terms. Or negotiating a peace treaty between two sides without bothering to inform one of the sides.)
If Israel could have had the USA do it, it would have been better for them, politically. He’s gone, without any damage done to their new treaties. Much cleaner for them. And it isn’t like Trump doesn’t love murdering people.
I’m not even sure it was Israel, or any nation state. A RC Nissan with a remote control bomb and a RC machine gun is, frighteningly, not requiring of assets of a nation-state to obtain. That sounds quite obtainable to even a relatively small organization. I mean, the truck, perhaps $1000 in electronics… not exactly rocket science here.
And that’s the thing… this sounds a lot more like an Non Government Organization (NGO) doing the operation on a budget; a RC Nissan Truck just seems a bit home rigged and not how a government would do it. It just feels more like a terrorist organization, to be honest. Doing the op is bad enough; imagine the fallout if Israel had a combat team captured on Iranian soil.
Of course, Israel could do it this way for the deniability. But it doesn’t really make sense either.
Or maybe it’s just you who have forgotten how it worked in the old days. Israel has been more blatant about what they do under Nethanyahu, but the policy of replacing palestinians have been in place since the state was created.
“1. The inhabitants of Lydda must be expelled quickly without attention to age…”
Yitzhak Rabin, 1948
If you stick to areas conquered 1967 the trend has been a straight line:
Yeah, I’m aware, but thanks for the condescension.
Because it’s a bullshit policy to have one state who is clearly attempting to dominate the region for the ill of non-Salafists, are actual state sponsors of terrorism to terrorism, and gets support while another is not doing that, yet the people in their country literally can’t get drugs they need due to western sanctions. Because it’s a shitty, anti-humanist policy, that’s why I’m so fucking hostile to it.
This. They can bully anyone they want because the US is standing behind their respective shoulders symbolically. Neither Israel or Saudi Arabia face the repercussions they otherwise would for countries of their size due to US support. And it’s not passive support, either.
