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[STEMO]

Here are some pearls of wisdom from mastermind today:

This is the verbatim transcript of that moment: "...substantial person, wealthy person, whose parents live in Lebanon. I said:
'Really, how do you live in Lebanon? Your parents? Oh, yeah, they live there. And over the years, they've gotten used to the fact that it's being bombed.'
"But they explained to me that it's really a different section of Lebanon. It's the section where Hezbollah is, and they get used to it, I guess... I mean people live in Ukraine.
"You would think they wouldn't live in Ukraine, but they live in Ukraine. I don't know that I'd do that, but they live in Ukraine. They live in Lebanon."

[Doctor Gollum]

Did i hear right that Starmer offered two aircraft carriers to help police the Straight of Hormuz? I thought that one was broken down and months away from readiness.

And people say Donald is retarded.

Once the dust settles and the region is stabilised, there won't be a need for significant military presence in the region beyond the routine international patrols.

The region will NEVER be stabilised until there is World government with draconian measures ( god help us). I think Israel’s thinking is to neutralise Iran, Hizbolla, the hooties etc etc. Good luck with that

From 2008, posted in 2011, Gaddafi's full speech from the Arab league of Nations... https://youtu.be/fMLmA4lnxXo?si=_6dttw7BaQ8Rrwzj

Fundamentalist Islamism is founded on eradication of all Jews, starting with Israel. This is Iranian foreign policy either directly or via the well documented proxies.

An Iraqi perspective of the Iran/Israel situation:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV7rjDpOMR7/?igsh=MTl2YzBqNTd6NjR5ag==
Sitting at a table and discussing it will never achieve anything.

[LC0112G]

The lord be praised it will all be over soon!

It won't. The US are still deploying more assets to the region. 12 More F-35's on Monday, 6 EA-18's and 5 E-2D's today, and rumors of more F-16's and F-22's on their way. Also looks like a 3rd carrier might be on the way.

Trump is more likely to 'double down' than decide it's done.

[Doctor Gollum]

To the original premise of this thread...

If the UN haven't done anything and NATO is irrelevant, (and let's be honest, IF Ukraine is barely a NATO issue, the Middle East definitely isn't ), then we should be thanking Israel and the US for finally making a stand.

And if Lloyds won't insure ANY shipping in the region, the surely the burden of protecting the shipping falls to the countries under whose flags that shipping operates, (or the countries that protect those flags). Unfortunately we don't have any assets of use to protect Cyprus,.let alone UK registered merchant vessels.

Obviously this shortcoming highlights the very reasoning behind Trump's challenge to NATO members to pick up their share of contributions during his first term. But no one took him seriously. I would politely suggest that they are reconsidering that decision even if they won't publicly admit it.

[Doctor Gollum]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DVv1vs2jPdt/?img_index=4&igsh=MXg4emlhM3E4Y2hpaw==

So remind me, why are the media trying to drive the fear mongering?

[LC0112G]

To the original premise of this thread...

If the UN haven't done anything and NATO is irrelevant, (and let's be honest, IF Ukraine is barely a NATO issue, the Middle East definitely isn't ), then we should be thanking Israel and the US for finally making a stand.

Correct. NATO is a defensive organisation. It isn't setup to conduct offensive ops outside of Europe. However, countries that are part of NATO are allowed to conduct unilateral or multinational ops outside of the NATO area. So blaming NATO (or the EU) for inaction is simply wrong. The US should either have tried for a UN mandate (which they wouldn't have got) or arranged support from a coalition of partners before they kicked off. Getting in neck deep and then asking for international help never works. It was obvious from the start that Israel is calling the shots, and the US was persuaded into the conflict by Netanyahu.

And if Lloyds won't insure ANY shipping in the region, the surely the burden of protecting the shipping falls to the countries under whose flags that shipping operates, (or the countries that protect those flags). Unfortunately we don't have any assets of use to protect Cyprus,.let alone UK registered merchant vessels.

Cyprus is an independent country, and is not in NATO. We have no obligation to defend it, any more than Ukraine. Akrotiri is not Cyprus, and there are plenty of UK assets in place to defend Akrotiri (admittedly a bit late). The reason it was targeted is much more likely due to the operation of a certain US spy plane from there.

Obviously this shortcoming highlights the very reasoning behind Trump's challenge to NATO members to pick up their share of contributions during his first term. But no one took him seriously. I would politely suggest that they are reconsidering that decision even if they won't publicly admit it.

Countries are re-considering. The US is now seen as an unreliable partner by many, so whilst in the short term there may be no option but to buy US weapons, countries are actively trying to  'design out' reliance on the US. Long term that is going to be bad for the US.

[STEMO]

From my reading of the situation with regards to the decision to strike when they did, I believe Israel had intelligence that the Ayatollah and several of his group of leaders would be together at a certain time in a certain place, and the opportunity to 'cut off the head of the snake' might not present itself again.
The strike was successful, but the dominoes didn't fall as hoped.

[LC0112G]

From my reading of the situation with regards to the decision to strike when they did, I believe Israel had intelligence that the Ayatollah and several of his group of leaders would be together at a certain time in a certain place, and the opportunity to 'cut off the head of the snake' might not present itself again.
The strike was successful, but the dominoes didn't fall as hoped.

Yep, I'd agree that's what controlled the timing of the initial strikes. However, the US build up had been on going for the previous 2-3 weeks so IMV the US were already 'all-in' on the decision and preparing for a many week/month air war. It probably started a week or two too early for the US though, as not all the assets were in place.

[Sir Tigger KC]

War rarely goes to plan though....