It is now confirmed: the US has killed Qassem Soleimani.— Ranj Alaaldin (@RanjAlaaldin) January 3, 2020
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Friday, 3 January 2020 01:27 (four years ago) link
who is that and what does that mean?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 3 January 2020 01:30 (four years ago) link
Head of Quds force of the IRGC, responsible for Iranian operations in Iraq vs ISIS and in Syria among other things. Hugely important figure
― bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 3 January 2020 01:47 (four years ago) link
Are we now at war?
― Alba, Friday, 3 January 2020 01:48 (four years ago) link
i don't know, but it doesn't help that the entire republican party has been pushing for this for 25 years
― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!š (Karl Malone), Friday, 3 January 2020 01:51 (four years ago) link
And half the Democrats.
Fingers crossed they show some spine in an election year.
― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Friday, 3 January 2020 01:57 (four years ago) link
The proxy war and economic war between Iran and US is pretty much at fever pitch rn but I cant see it blowing up into an actual straight up open war
― bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 3 January 2020 01:59 (four years ago) link
who is that
worth reading: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/the-shadow-commander (written in 2013 so he has continued his career since then)
and what does that mean?
it means iran will feel compelled to respond. whether that response compels a response and so on leading to an invasion or some other similarly dramatic event remains to be seen.
― Mordy, Friday, 3 January 2020 02:01 (four years ago) link
Qassem Soleimani and Iran's Unique Regional Strategy by Ali Soufan (@Ali_H_Soufan) https://t.co/cJSJEqcVY4 pic.twitter.com/MwoXQKQX78— CTC at West Point (@CTCWP) November 8, 2018
― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!š (Karl Malone), Friday, 3 January 2020 02:03 (four years ago) link
obv take all this shit with a grain of salt but
Iranian sources in Iran are warning that killing Gen. Qasem Sulaimani spells war."Official reaction will begin with a strike," one says.#Iraq— Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) January 3, 2020
which tom clancy spinoff would best serve as a basic primer here, thanks in advance
― BanĆ”nĆ” hĆireann (darraghmac), Friday, 3 January 2020 02:16 (four years ago) link
Jack Ryan S2, just replace Venezuela with Iran
― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Friday, 3 January 2020 02:24 (four years ago) link
tbbdfddbf
― ingredience (map), Friday, 3 January 2020 02:28 (four years ago) link
this isnāt great
― k3vin k., Friday, 3 January 2020 02:44 (four years ago) link
pic.twitter.com/VXeKiVzpTf— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2020
― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!š (Karl Malone), Friday, 3 January 2020 02:44 (four years ago) link
The defensive actions the U.S. has taken against #Iran & its proxies are consistent with clear warnings they have receivedThey chose to ignore these warnings because they believed @POTUS was constrained from acting by our domestic political divisionsThey badly miscalculated— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 3, 2020
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 3 January 2020 03:05 (four years ago) link
"defensive actions"... lol. I guess the GOP line is that our drones are defending the Baghdad Airport from its own generals?
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 3 January 2020 03:06 (four years ago) link
Welp
― brownie, Friday, 3 January 2020 03:06 (four years ago) link
what political leader on earth would think that POTUS is constrained by anything
― j., Friday, 3 January 2020 03:10 (four years ago) link
Oh great
― (ā¢ĢŖā) (carne asada), Friday, 3 January 2020 03:12 (four years ago) link
In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2011
― (ā¢ĢŖā) (carne asada), Friday, 3 January 2020 03:14 (four years ago) link
i didn't even think about that. why did obama do this? why today?
― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!š (Karl Malone), Friday, 3 January 2020 03:15 (four years ago) link
oh wait - in order to get elected for an illegal 3rd term!!
my dad was right
it's been nice knowing y'all
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 3 January 2020 03:29 (four years ago) link
Iran doesn't yet have nuclear weapons. Of course, they are not much more than an insurance policy against a repetition of the Iran-Iraq War, or against a bombing attack by the Israeli Air Force. I guess they could rig up a dirty bomb on short notice to spread radioactivity where it was detonated. But Iran is not an existential threat to the US or Europe.
― A is for (Aimless), Friday, 3 January 2020 04:27 (four years ago) link
thank you for clearing that up
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 3 January 2020 05:20 (four years ago) link
Thread displaying Eric Trump's deleted tweet & market manipulation:
1. A tweet from Eric Trump that was quickly deleted.Note the date and time. pic.twitter.com/GFEft4x5Da— Arianna (@_Arianna_D) January 3, 2020
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 3 January 2020 06:06 (four years ago) link
These dipshits...
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 3 January 2020 06:09 (four years ago) link
In case you want to know who the US just killed: The Shadow Commander https://t.co/lE3RPOeSUs— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) January 3, 2020
― ... (Eazy), Friday, 3 January 2020 07:06 (four years ago) link
Cool cool, guess which country the US and Iran will use as a battlefield yet again to fight each other? Iraq will be fucked, again.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 3 January 2020 08:46 (four years ago) link
One of Iraqās top commanders was killed with Suleimani and the US has apparently arrested two major Iraqi militia leaders - the Iraqi government has framed it as āan attack on Iraq as a state, a government and a peopleā.
― ShariVari, Friday, 3 January 2020 09:05 (four years ago) link
Yeah, the militia leader killed is Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, whose group are Iran-backed.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 3 January 2020 09:33 (four years ago) link
Democratic members of Congress stripped these from the NDAA because they wanted to give Trump the power to start a war without their having to vote for it. This is their plan working. https://t.co/vRy1MD6RZD— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) January 3, 2020
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 3 January 2020 11:56 (four years ago) link
This was good, BBC Two need to re-TX it ASAP to get it on iPlayer:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003871
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 3 January 2020 12:09 (four years ago) link
I think itās pretty clear based on the timing that this was meant to get the news media off the steady trickle of incriminating Ukraine information and on to some red meat for the base to get excited about. Or maybe itās an olive branch to Bolton to keep him quiet.
― epistantophus, Friday, 3 January 2020 13:02 (four years ago) link
9. Iranians are more disillusioned with the regime than ever. But Soleimaniās death plays into the regimeās hands - a timely distraction to be used to rally & unite Iranians against the US— Ramita Navai (@ramitanavai) January 3, 2020
10. What next? Who knows. But Tehran will - at some point - retaliate. The regime canāt afford a war - it is not financially or militarily equipped. It can easily step up its proxy wars in Iraq, Syria, targeting the US & hit back in Israel.— Ramita Navai (@ramitanavai) January 3, 2020
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 3 January 2020 13:12 (four years ago) link
Geraldo: Don't for a minute start cheering this on, what we have done, what we have unleashed --Kilmeade: I will cheer it on. I am elated. Geraldo: Then you, like Lindsey Graham, have never met a war you didn't like.Kilmeade: That is not true, don't even say that. pic.twitter.com/1VZ3tZJPRb— Lis Power (@LisPower1) January 3, 2020
― (ā¢ĢŖā) (carne asada), Friday, 3 January 2020 14:19 (four years ago) link
did Geraldo support the war in 2003?
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 3 January 2020 14:23 (four years ago) link
If he did, we must face the terrifying possibility that Geraldo has learned something
― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!š (Karl Malone), Friday, 3 January 2020 14:44 (four years ago) link
Geraldo is human garbage but he is occasionally on the right side
― frogbs, Friday, 3 January 2020 14:52 (four years ago) link
Itās been one day since Melania told the press her New Years resolution was āpeace on the world.ā— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) January 3, 2020
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 3 January 2020 15:02 (four years ago) link
wut a hypocrite
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 3 January 2020 15:03 (four years ago) link
she was misquoted, she said "piss on the world"
― the public eating of beans (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 3 January 2020 15:05 (four years ago) link
#prepositionalmalfunction
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 3 January 2020 15:06 (four years ago) link
Makes a change from pissing on the President.
― Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Friday, 3 January 2020 15:12 (four years ago) link
this assassination is extremely ominous
― treeship., Friday, 3 January 2020 15:15 (four years ago) link
cool
BREAKING: Iranian Security Council announces that 'criminals should expect harsh revenge at right time and place'. https://t.co/eOGMK3kTw2— Conflict News (@Conflicts) January 3, 2020
― frogbs, Friday, 3 January 2020 15:25 (four years ago) link
good morning!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 3 January 2020 15:30 (four years ago) link
drone strike trump imo
― ||||||||, Friday, 3 January 2020 15:35 (four years ago) link
It just struck me - really hit me hard - how unimaginable life would be without this board and this community.
― Lactose Shaolin Wanker (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 3 January 2020 15:35 (four years ago) link
It's obvious they're deliberately avoiding casualties, though I'm not sure that's a sign of strength that would scare the US military. It seems to me it's more a sign that these attacks are intended mostly for domestic (Iranian) consumption.
― o. nate, Sunday, 12 January 2020 03:12 (four years ago) link
Despite some training issues in air defense, Iran has been playing this really well.
lol
― š (crĆ¼t), Sunday, 12 January 2020 03:13 (four years ago) link
Yeah that comment was pretty wtf !
― AlXTC from Paris, Sunday, 12 January 2020 04:19 (four years ago) link
xp: No, the attacks are very much responses to Iran's security situation.
Iran's whole deterrence against foreign aggression relies upon the belief by other parties that when facing existential threats, Iran can shut down 20% of the world's oil supply. The Fujairah attacks demonstrated that even ports on the Gulf of Oman (south of Hormuz) wouldn't operate if Iran (and perhaps local allies) chose. The RQ-4A shootdown demonstrated that air defenses were alert and capable of defending territorial waters. The drone attack on Abqaiq demonstrated that Iran could do pinpoint attacks, had local aid within Aramco and Eastern Saudi Arabia, and Saudi air defense of critical infrastructure was pitiful.
War Nerd describes Saudi Arabia as being resilient as a moon colony, and in Eastern/central Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, where there's no water, it really is; the desalination plants are particularly vulnerable. The US might bring in Patriot batteries to pretend to defend a few point targets, but US forces have relied on air superiority for air defense for 80 years, I have doubts we're good at ground based anti-air/missile defense. Consider the Saudis have defended the airport at Riyadh (also an airbase) against dumb Scud type ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi from Yemen for years, using the same Patriot system. They've had hits against the launch vehicles (which also arc in the the same ballistic trajectory), but never the warhead.
The Al Assad airbase attack demonstrated to anyone watching closely that at least some Iranian ballistic missiles had terminal guidance (perhaps using Russian, Chinese, or even US GPS system). This last bit of news should be a huge wakeup call. Iran in the Iraq-Iran war, and Israel during its confrontations with Hezbollah or Hamas, have both been spared many lives because the ballistic missiles they faced were as dumb as WWII V-2s. Playing darts with a board 50 m away. At longer distances, they might hit within a km of their aimpoint, but most impact relatively harmlessly on empty hillsides. At Al Assad, Iranian ballistic missiles appeared to be hitting aimpoints within 10 m. This could have been a simple as a tailfin kit for warheads (this is how the US retrofits its bombs designed in 1946 into smart weapons).
For Iranian true believers, and for millions outside Iran who viewed Soleimani as a heroic figure in the struggle against Salafi extremism, I'm sure that a more "eye for eye" death would have been more satisfying. That may still come as blowback unfolds over the next several decades.
― Now We Know (Sanpaku), Sunday, 12 January 2020 04:25 (four years ago) link
It really isn't WTF. Imagine you're a 20-something junior officer in an air-defence unit armed with the short-medium range Tor system, tasked with defending the two military facilities a few km NNW of Parand, Iran (one being a missile research facility). Perhaps your CO has gone to bed, leaving you on the night shift. You've received a message to be vigilant for US bombers, following the assassination of a national hero, and a symbolic retaliatory strike. Unfortunately, the two military facilities you're tasked with guarding lie directly under the flight path from Khomeni Intl airport to destinations NW. Also unfortunately, your training emphasized autonomous action, as centers for air-defense coordination were expected to be among the first targets. Scheduled traffic flying over your location went barely noticed earlier in the evening, but here comes a new blip (PS752 took off an hour late). Its tracking directly towards the facilities you guard. Because the Tor is a short range system, and aircraft launching guided bombs rise into a climb before releasing and turning away, you have maybe 2 minutes to determine that this radar blip is not a threat. You have no means of directly contacting the plane. Assuming that there's a hotline to Tehran regional ATC, you could call them to deconflict, but what if you don't have a hotline, have never called ATC, or Tehran ATC doesn't answer in time, or Tehran ATC can't confirm that this incoming plane is a civil flight in time. Sweat is beating on your brow.
This sort of shit happens all the time in wartime. Returning WWII bombers were commonly fired upon by jumpy flak batteries when they flew unexpected paths etc. The speed of modern aircraft radically shortens decision times, guided air defense missiles makes mistakes far more lethal. It takes a lot of coordination and experience to prevent friendly or collateral fire incidents.
― Now We Know (Sanpaku), Sunday, 12 January 2020 04:56 (four years ago) link
Well, whatever the technical reasons I donāt think one can say they managed all this Ā«Ā really wellĀ Ā» after such a disaster...
― AlXTC from Paris, Sunday, 12 January 2020 06:21 (four years ago) link
Imagine you're a 20-something junior officer in an air-defence unit armed with the short-medium range Tor system, tasked with defending the two military facilities a few km NNW of Parand, Iran
mmmm, what am I wearing
― Suggest Banshee (Hadrian VIII), Sunday, 12 January 2020 15:09 (four years ago) link
― k3vin k., Sunday, 12 January 2020 15:21 (four years ago) link
lol x2
― Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Sunday, 12 January 2020 15:24 (four years ago) link
<3
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 12 January 2020 16:27 (four years ago) link
It takes a lot of coordination and experience to prevent friendly or collateral fire incidents.
The Iranian authorities should simply have closed Iranian air space to commercial flights for 24 hours after their missile strike at Iraq, to assess the US response. This is, ofc, hindsight.
― A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 12 January 2020 19:14 (four years ago) link
@Sanpaku what's a good source for this kind of information?
― Never changed username before (cardamon), Sunday, 12 January 2020 23:05 (four years ago) link
do you have āwar nerdā in an unfilled square on your bingo card or something
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 12 January 2020 23:18 (four years ago) link
Only a glaring lack of knowledge about contemporary surface to air missile systems
― Never changed username before (cardamon), Sunday, 12 January 2020 23:45 (four years ago) link
cardamon: with respect to the shootdown site, in satellite imagery there's two fenced military sites directly underneath the PS752's intended flight path, just 7 km NW of the impact location determined from the cell-phone video. On the @bellingcat twitter thread this was identified as a missile research facility but I don't have independent knowledge. Munitions bunkers are visible in the northern of the two fenced areas.
As for the life of a SAM operator, I'd direct you to SAM Simulator, developed by a Hungarian. It doesn't include SA-15/Tor, but presumably the experience is comparable. Public data for the Tor missile system is available at a Wiki page. It's very short range point defense as vehicle mounted SAMs go, only 12 km.
As for a timeline of Iranian actions, you could do worse than this Al Jaz English timeline. Probably more reliable than Al Jaz Arabic, where calls for all Shia to be massacred have gone out from on air commentators.
― Now We Know (Sanpaku), Monday, 13 January 2020 00:18 (four years ago) link
Awesome, thanks
― Never changed username before (cardamon), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 21:20 (four years ago) link
Does anyone have a take on what's the future of this Shia crescent idea - are the Iranian government still trying to create a land link with Hizbollah? Were they in fact doing so as per the BBC doc on Soleimani?
― Never changed username before (cardamon), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 21:22 (four years ago) link
The US government certainly fears this. Some US spec ops that remain in Syria are astride Hwy 2 through Syria's Eastern desert, presumably to interdict this land route from Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. The area is uninhabited (as in 200 mi to the next gas station uninhabited), has no oil, no surface water, there's literally nothing else of strategic interest in the area. Iran certainly has good practical cause to want this land connection, to facilitate logistics and trade with Syria and Lebanon.
Last night I listened to a podcast with Armin Navabi in which he said even secularist Iranians are fond of the idea of such a Shia crescent, as it would match the contours of the Sasanian Empire. According to Navabi, Iranian secularists have a romantic affection with pre-Muslim Persia, collecting Zoroastrian, Ancient Persian, Parthian, and Sasanian artifacts (all empires that encompassed a current Shia crescent). Also Trump's tweet about bombing 52 cultural sites was the absolute worst thing he's said or done with respect to these natural opponents of the mullahs.
― Now We Know (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 21:58 (four years ago) link
so maybe it wasn't a strike carefully calibrated not to hurt any americans
BREAKING: Eleven US Troops Were Injured in Jan. 8 Iran Missile Strike https://t.co/ffcpz4AuUh via @defenseone— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) January 17, 2020
― Mordy, Friday, 17 January 2020 06:25 (four years ago) link
Loud blasts followed by sirens were heard in the Iraqi capital. The Iraqi military told Reuters that two rockets had fallen inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions, causing a fire but no casualties. At least one fell 100 meters from the US embassy.
― calzino, Monday, 20 January 2020 21:48 (four years ago) link
Whodunit
― Never changed username before (cardamon), Monday, 20 January 2020 22:27 (four years ago) link
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/01/22/Basij-militia-commander-killed-in-Iran.html
― Mordy, Wednesday, 22 January 2020 19:05 (four years ago) link
Power moves in a power vacuum I reckon?
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 22 January 2020 20:40 (four years ago) link
the arab minority in south-western iran is a bit restive, there's been attacks on military etc. last few years. there was a massacre of troops in maybe 2018 for instance.
― bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 22 January 2020 20:56 (four years ago) link
it's such a closed society if you took the regime's word for it there are no problems their grip is total etc
― Mordy, Wednesday, 22 January 2020 21:03 (four years ago) link
'Sanctions' is a polite way of describing a brutal form of collective punishment that intentionally decimate entire societies. https://t.co/qKMzHCXzi0— Louis Allday (@Louis_Allday) January 15, 2020
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 23 January 2020 10:28 (four years ago) link
The Defense Department said Friday that 34 American service members have traumatic brain injuries from Iranian airstrikes on Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, contradicting President Trumpās dismissal of injuries among American troops this week.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, 24 January 2020 23:23 (four years ago) link
Well, they were only injured in the brain, which he assumes to be a nonessential body part
― Okay, you're an ambulance (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 25 January 2020 05:48 (four years ago) link
brains are what bored people came up with to explain instinct
― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!š (Karl Malone), Saturday, 25 January 2020 05:50 (four years ago) link
The brain is the most important organ - according to the brain
― Okay, you're an ambulance (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 25 January 2020 05:55 (four years ago) link
Brain and brain, what is brain?
― Darth Bambi (Sanpaku), Saturday, 25 January 2020 19:06 (four years ago) link