Politics

[Brent in Az]

Iran will probably be more determined then ever to take out Israel with a nuke at some point

 

[LivingTheDream]

This is pretty ugly. Apparently, the police have obtained the shooter's manifesto which included a list of targeted state politicians, so the motive should be public fairly soon. Both spouses were also shot. Looks like it could break one of two ways - this was a rightwing zealot hunting democrats, or a left wing zealot hunting democrats who may not have sup[ported providing state funded healthcare for illegals.

Minnesota lawmaker, spouse, shot dead in 'politically motivated assassination': Gov. Walz

Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) Speaker Emerita Melissa Hoffman and her spouse were shot dead by a suspect impersonating police officers. DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and are suspected to survive.

www.foxnews.com

Its really a terrible deal, he was dressed as a police officer and even had a police car. Somehow he was able to escape when confronted at the 2nd house. The press conference said be on the lookout for any cop acting suspicious, and don't answer the door for a single police officer any real police will be in pairs. Really sad.

 

[Betterinthebush]

Walz says people are being asked not to attend any “political rallies” (staged riots represented as rallies) until the suspect in the shootings is caught.

So, they’re serious about apprehending these murderers. Don’t like the guy, but I support his plea for the “rally goers” to not go so that police can focus on real police work. The palates of bricks will still be there after the murdering animals are identified and arrested.

"Out of an abundance of caution, my Department of Public Safety is recommending that people do not attend any political rallies today in Minnesota until the suspect is apprehended," he writes, external.

There had been plans for various protests and rallies including "No Kings" demonstrations against President Donald Trump. They coincide with a planned military parade in Washington DC to mark the 250th anniversary of the US Army.

 

[Brent in Az]

The no kings protests are a dog whistle for ANTIFA, and the vermin will no doubt be imbedded in the crowds.

 

[spike.t]

School killings leave stunned Austria and France searching for answers

Parents and governments are left reeling and at a loss how to protect schools from random, deadly violence.

www.bbc.com

 

[Tanks]

Getting the UAE on board is the biggest win (roughly 50% of food exports), but the second biggest win is the EU and the countries in its sphere of influence. Germany, The Netherlands, Austria are all in the EU, Turkey is an EU candidate presently, Switzerland has trade links.

First, Turkey will never join EU. EU countries, especially Greece, do no want it and Erdogan doesn’t either. He suggested it in order to win votes when his power base was not solid. Now, he has jailed all his potential opponents and consolidated power, so no need for even pretense.

Second, where do you think those countries should sell their goods? Russia was a huge market as well and they lost that market to sanctions. I don’t see them going along with it.

 

[spike.t]

Israeli planes will fly over Tehran, Netanyahu says, as Iran warns 'more severe' strikes coming

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country will strike "every site and every target of the ayatollah regime" in Iran.

www.bbc.com

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I would like to know how successful the Israeli strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities actually have been. I have no doubt that the deaths of key scientists and the destruction of above ground facilities will cause delays in their nuclear program. But the Fordow Nuclear Enrichment Facility near the city of Qom apparently has not been damaged. It is inside a mountain and its construction is analogous to Cheyenne Mountain. It would be vulnerable to an atomic deep penetrator, but the Israelis have no conventional munition that can penetrate 100 meters of mountain and reinforced concrete.

The US has developed a conventional weapon that would do it. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP - not the MOAB) weighs 30,000 lbs and was designed for just this mission. Unfortunately, Israel has nothing that can deliver such a bomb. Were this a US strike, it would be deployed by B2 bombers.

https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub/reports/FY2012/af/2012mop.pdf?ver=2019-08-22-111755-737

If I’m reading this correctly, the thought of using a well placed 6.5 CM round might not be effective.

I seem to recall during one of the gulf wars, the US developed an interesting bunker buster in relatively short order. A barrel off of a battleship was used, filled with explosives and bolted on some fins and guidance.

 

[Ray B]

we've also seen how Russian and Chinese junk fails on the battlefield.

You must have been on a different battlefield- I recall Chinese made AK-47s working in conditions that reduced our US made M16s to jam-o-matics.

 

[skydiver386]

You must have been on a different battlefield- I recall Chinese made AK-47s working in conditions that reduced our US made M16s to jam-o-matics.

More a reference to larger crew served weapons, armored vehicles, aircraft, etc.

Several countries have purchased Chinese tanks and aircraft, and found them to be total junk.

 

[Alistair]

First, Turkey will never join EU. EU countries, especially Greece, do no want it and Erdogan doesn’t either. He suggested it in order to win votes when his power base was not solid. Now, he has jailed all his potential opponents and consolidated power, so no need for even pretense.

Second, where do you think those countries should sell their goods? Russia was a huge market as well and they lost that market to sanctions. I don’t see them going along with it.

I'm of the opinion that Turkey might join the EU... eventually.

They've been trying to join for at least 30 years, they've been a candidate nation since 1999. They were going to join in 2016, but got vetoed on concerns around their democracy and human rights issues.

I don't think they'll get in whilst Erdogan is in power, and I highly doubt they'll get in during the 2020's, but long term, I think they might, assuming the EU stays relevant long enough and they start drifting back towards the democratic system they had prior to 2014. Lots of 'ifs' there of course, but not outside the realms of possibility. As for Greece, who knows if that's a hill they'll continue to be willing to die on.

To your second point, it's a question. For the UAE especially, not only do they not have any other obvious trading partners, I suspect (based purely on religious grounds) that most of their populace is at best ambivalent towards this conflict, if not leaning very mildly towards making Israel go away. That said, I don't think they have any particular love for Iran either...

For them to play ball, they'll need some serious incentives. For the UAE, I could see negotiations with the US revolving around more influence in local politics, more solid support of their aspirations, preferential rates for military contracts in the future, maybe even a commitment form the US government to 'lose interest' in boosting domestic oil production for a period of time.

They might go for it, they might not, but levers do exist that might be persuasive enough to the government to go for an embargo, even at the cost of their balance of trade, and some impacted businesses 'in country'. 50/50 shot there I reckon, based on similar efforts with other 'middle east and middle east adjacent' nations during the Gulf War(s).

For the EU nations, I think the US still has just enough influence over the EU and NATO that a strong argument could be made to those governments to cooperate. It's not like many of the US's foreign policies in the Middle East are popular or beneficial to Europe, but the US has historically still gotten its way an awful lot... The question there is if Trump has managed to damage that relationship enough in the last few months that the calculus has changed. My gut feeling is still no, but it's concerning that it's such a question.

 

[Ray B]

The Minnesota shooter appears to be from Option B- a Walz appointee who was upset with some democrats who voted against providing medical aid to illegal aliens.

 

[Brent in Az]

The alleged suspect in the Minnesota lawmaker assassination, is a former Tim Walz appointee.
Dozens of Minnesota democrat lawmakers were on his target list.
That shoots down the leftist flying monkey's narrative of an unhinged MAGA assassin

 

[Brent in Az]

Hate and extremism have a safe harbor within the democrat party.
Hypocrisy at it's finest.

 

[Wheels]

I don’t follow this account but it shows up periodically on my time line. If true, Iran was much weaker than most would have assumed.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1933930146551267676

 

[Brent in Az]

I don’t follow this account but it shows up periodically on my time line. If true, Iran was much weaker than most would have assumed.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1933930146551267676

Sounds like a Target of opportunity for the IDF

 

[Betterinthebush]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1933932567977218444

 

[Betterinthebush]

Fear laden rhetorical speech from two weeks ago:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1933945851044368776

 

[Ray B]

What is the name for people such as Walz, Biden, Waters, Shifferbrains and Swallowell who practice Projection? Are they projectors, projectionists, projects?

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I would have trouble saluting draft dodger Trump if I was a uniformed serviceman marching in his birthday parade. What an arrogant prick. Put thousands of government workers with families on unemployment while squandering millions on a stupid parade purely to inflate his ego.