Iran shows world this is NOT just another regime change narrative
alleged images of Iranian missile attack on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, January 7-8 2020
The anticipated retaliatory strike by Iran against US forces took place last night at between 21:45 and 22:15 GMT (01:45 – 02:15 local time) in the form of a sustained missile attack on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq.
🔴 🇮🇷 JUST IN 🇮🇷 🔴
PRESS TV EXCLUSIVE
First #IRGC footage emerges showing #Iran missiles targeting #AinAlAssad airbase in #Iraq in response to General #Soleimani's assassination.#GeneralSoleimani #DecisiveResponse #SoleimaniAssassination pic.twitter.com/vpXA0HvLXG
— Press TV (@PressTV) January 7, 2020
Details are still scarce.
Most western sources are claiming zero casualties from the strikes
No casualties: US and Iraqi sources said there were no known casualties as a result of the strikes https://t.co/dDUFF3pnDv pic.twitter.com/bvsoffN84L
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 8, 2020
"Optically Quite Dramatic" But Officials Confirm No US Casualties From Iranian Missile Strike https://t.co/tbfa5gg6NO
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 8, 2020
Though others claim up to 80 US servicemen died and 200 were wounded.None of these claims have been verified.
Some sources believe the strikes were limited, ‘token’ in the same way the US response to the alleged Douma chemical attack in 2018, and possibly agreed in advance with the US. If there indeed zero casualties then this looks like a plausible scenario.
Early thoughts on #Iran revenge attack:
1. Small scale
2. Bases hardened, attack expected, no US deaths reported so far
3. No US even defensive strikes eg on missile launchers
4. A face saving device, perhaps even agreed by US, to allow some deescalation on both sides? Let’s see. https://t.co/PXI88MfmOY— Charles Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeC) January 8, 2020
Moon of Alabama claims the Swiss embassy in Tehran (which acts for the US) was “notified an hour before”.
Others, such as Colonel Cassad, quoted by the Saker, take a more apocalyptic view:
According to the site Colonel Cassad, “the IRGC has declared that as soon as the US strikes Iran, Iran will strike Israel”
12930 Views January 07, 2020 126 Comments
According to the site Colonel Cassad, “the IRGC has declared that as soon as the US strikes Iran, Iran will strike Israel”According to the site Colonel Cassad, “the IRGC has declared that as soon as the US strikes Iran, Iran will strike Israel”.
I rate Cassad as a B+ source: mostly reliable.
If this is correct, then we what we will have next is a total war.
This is the beginning of the end for the Empire.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javed Zarif, appeared to suggest they were prepared to see an end of hostilities
Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched.
We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 8, 2020
Donald Trump also seemed less than bellicose – at least initially – in this rather strange tweet from last night:
All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2020
A few hours after the missile strikes, at approximately 06:10 local time, a Boeing 737 Ukrainian Airlines passenger flight from Tehran to Kiev crashed soon after take off, killing all 176 people on board and producing inevitable speculation the two events were connected.
Emergency services are deployed to #Boeing737 crash site. No survivors were found after the Ukrainian passenger plane went down near #Tehran. The incident came hours after Iran launched an attack on US bases in Iraq but it is unclear if the incident is linked to the confrontation pic.twitter.com/ztQPINVxZL
— Ruptly (@Ruptly) January 8, 2020
The Ukrainian embassy in Tehran initially claimed the crash was due to a technical failure and ruled out foul play. However this has now been updated and a much vaguer statement made that simply promises a full investigation.
The crash site seems to show very small pieces of debris, with little recognisable beside the engines, and alleged video of the aircraft descending seems to show it was burning as it fell.
WATCH: Video shows Boeing 737 with 180 people on board on fire, crashing near Tehran pic.twitter.com/7cQMLF6bkY
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 8, 2020
Iran is apparently refusing to hand over the black boxes from the crashed plane. However claims the plane was hit by accident during Iran’s assault on the al-Asad airbase is disproved by the fact the tragedy happened at around 06:10 local time, or at least two hours after the missile attack was concluded.
We hope this strike-back by Iran silences the fools everywhere believing either this proud nation would just take it and roll over, or that it was just another helpless ‘little country’ about to be regime-changed by the all-powerful empire.
We told you this wasn’t the case. And now Iran has proved it.
What happens next will be interesting.
We’ll post more as things update. Please feel welcome to add any useful information you find in the comments below.
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However claims the plane was hit by accident during
Class leading journalism…
Further to Jen and Richard’s excellent posts, let us look at a few facts.
The 737 was in the air for 2 to 3 minutes. This aircraft has a rate of climb of 1800 feet per minute, which means that it was between 3600 and 5400 feet altitude when it was hit, which is still very low.
The aircraft would have been easily identified as a civilian airliner, even at night it would have been lit up.
Whatever happened to the aircraft, happened just 8 miles from the aircraft, which means it would have been visible from the control tower.
Other international flights took off before and after (although they would have grounded flights after details of the crash) the 737 and would have taken the same flightpath initially on a WNW heading from Imam Khomeini airport.
If this was a SAM then why would Iran shoot down a civilian airliner at all, particularly one which had taken off from Iran’s main international airport?
As Jen pointed out earlier, nearly all of the passengers were from Iranian families, even though they had other passports. Iran still relies on tourism, so a deliberate act like this would be political suicide.
Now, let us get to the missile situation, and the so called “evidence” of a TOR missile nosecone found at the wreckage site, and why that would have been a billion to one chance.
SAM’s – Surface to Air Missiles have proximity fuses, which means they explode milliseconds before hitting the target, therefore the explosion is outside the target aircraft.
Therefore the nosecone would be miles away from the crash site.
The TOR missile is a mobile missile system, and in all my visits to Tehran (the last being a year ago), I have never seen mobile missile systems, and as someone who is interested in military equipment, I would have noticed them.
I could spend hours saying why this didn’t happen but it seems pointless, and the events over the past week have left me incredibly angry and depressed.
Doesn’t help..
.
Plus the plane banked over an Iranian base.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1215864063172972544.html
If only the Ukraine itself would have been as quickly honest about their hand in the MH17 plane downing.
Them super fast publishing tapes putting the blame on Russia fitted in the CIA setup to split Ukraine from Russia and destroy the vast industrial interwoveness that was. Those tapes were doctored and show a suspicious level of premonition.
Watching Trump [The godfather]and his Generals [made men] at the Press conference felt like I was watching ‘the scum of the earth’ It would be understandable if the Iranians have contracts out on all of them.
Western media is now headlining with this crap…
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/08/prince-harry-and-meghan-say-they-are-stepping-back-from-royal-family
Meanwhile…
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/01/09/Loud-explosions-heard-in-Baghdad-s-Green-Zone.html#
Yes, intriguing. At this present time – no retaliation from dumb and dumber (as far as we know) The crashed airliner – was that ‘linked?. That would benefit Iran- send out a coded warning for commercial flights plus muddy the waters. But would Iran deliberately do this? Who knows – innocent people used before by warring parties. It might be the reason in part to the muted response to Iran’s attack. But anyone’s guess in these unpredictable times
If the UKRAINIAN jet full of CANADIANS blowing up mid-air in Tehran is just a ‘coincidence’ then I’ll be very much surprised.
So it goes. Our verminous PM, Smoko Morrison has just joined with Trudeau in claiming that he has ‘intelligence’ that Iran shot down the jet. That cements it for me-a false-flag, prepared God knows how long before, as part of the drive to war.
Now, a few hours later, the ABC scum are already twisting and contorting the tragedy to paint the Iranians as either idiots and imbeciles, or outright monsters who shot the plane down on purpose. Oh, now it’s ‘rogue elements’ and the ‘guests’ implying, vigorously, that Iran may have targeted ‘proxies’ like Ukraine to take vengeance on the USA. According to one thug, Iran has a ‘track record’ of such behaviour. Christ, the MSM are Evil vermin.
The MSM are indeed evil vermin.
Flight PS752 passenger list shows that the huge majority of passengers carrying Iranian, Canadian and EU passports were … Iranian.
These people were most likely visiting relatives in Iran over Christmas / New Year and were returning home. They were using UIA because the airline offers cheap flights between North America, Europe and western Asia with Kiev as a stop-over. Most of these people would have got off in Kiev and flown back to their home countries on other connecting flights.
Also as far as I know, the plane crashed not long after take-off. That, er, might suggest a problem with the plane itself. But the Boeing plane is not of the same model as the two Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes that crashed in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019.
Incidentally there is a new documentary “MH-17: In Search of Truth” doing the rounds of online alternative news media. The fellow who made the documentary, Vasily Prozorov, is a former SBU security officer. It makes an interesting claim about the involvement of Western intelligence agencies and the SBU in creating and carrying out an incident and distraction, and in controlling and shaping the narrative and the disinformation.
I’m now starting to wonder if there may be a link between the MH17 shoot-down and the Skripal poisoning incident in March 2018.
No visual sighting of missile tracks, I see, and the video of the explosion then crash does not appear to show any. Details, mere details-the presstitute vermin are in full vilification propaganda mode already.
Makes ya proud and humble at the same time to know that those marvellously concerned Royals are now rolling the sleeves up to muck out with the rest of us down in austerity land!
PS – I’ve found it’s now much more beneficial that I can’t access the content of the Grudiag. The headlines are all you need.
In the Dutch press, it’s the same. Lot’s of news (including Harry and Meghan), but no news about the explosions heard at the US embassy. Meanwhile we are supposed to believe that Iran de-escalates tensions. Perhaps that is so, but aren’t we allowed to ask what happened at the US embassy in Baghdad?
The spinners must currently be overloaded with work…
Everyone I meet drones on about this fucking royal crap. You wouldn’t believe the passions this pathetic little “real life” soap stirs up. I join in in a droll ironic way assuming that everyone will get the joke – and they’re taking it all seriously! For Christ’s Sake – WHY? It reminds me of an old sketch possibly from “Not The Nine O’clock News” when the town crier was getting no response to announcing serious news but went down a storm delivering the dirt on who was shagging who.
(“According to the site Colonel Cassad, “the IRGC has declared that as soon as the US strikes Iran, Iran will strike Israel”. I rate Cassad as a B+ source: mostly reliable.”)
I would think that this is the only practical/sane position for Iran to take, and that this will be the key to what happens next. Certainly U.S. airpower can do massive damage in Iran, but Iranian missiles can likewise do significant damage within Israel. So no, this won’t be like the U.S. military’s operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, or the U.S./jihadist operations in Libya and Syria. Iran has the capability to fight back both on Israeli soil, and against U.S. military positions and ships, which is of course the only thing that might keep this from further escalating.
I Bernard on MoA nails it.
He is best. In this world.
Not that my opinion matters, but I think Trump is on the naughty step after a thorough dressing down by the entire diplomatic mass of the entire world, (save the usual suspects, the rabid anti-Iranian mobsters, their names are known to all).His tweets were a lot less almighty than in the immediate aftermath of the murder/assassinat; it’s like he was eating humble pie, he now likes ‘obeying the law’. He has opened himself up to an assassination attempt, by a justifiably outraged muslim, or some patsy on behalf of the CIA/Mossad crew. His election chances have just flushed down the loo.He’s just started a war nobody can win. The MIC, Nutjahoo, Blot and Pumpass and even Spaffer might crave a war, but, quite evidently, the whole world and his wife just want get on with trade and earning a living. With a bit of luck, we’ll be seeing the back of the instigators of this disgusting episode. Insh Allah. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEDSRP3yNPo<
Latest info I have is that the Iranians will strike again tonight.
This probably won’t even be reported in the western media.
(see my posts below as to why this is happening).
This is so ridiculous:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jan/08/iran-trump-news-today-live-latest-updates-attack-us-base-iraq?page=with:block-5e1659858f087e8308e6b02c#block-5e1659858f087e8308e6b02c
Of course the Iranians are going to try to kill every American invader in the Middle East.
What the feck are the Americans doing there in the first place?
I feel like I’ve been on an immense emotional rollercoaster the last 2 days – tho obviously Nowhere near the emotions felt by many millions of innocent people in Iraq and Iran.
I agree with The Saker that this was Round One. I just cannot see frothing psychopaths like Pompeo and Esper taking a hefty punch on the nose, and then just turning the other cheek.
These creatures are completely obssesed with control of the entire Planet.
It was obvious a long time ago that Iran wasn’t another Grenada or Panama or even Iraq.
And I’ve also seen the unverified reports of 80 United States personnel dead and about 200 wounded. There were posts on Vanessa Beeley’s Facebook page along with reports on Southfront and Press TV.
We await for Round 2 then…
CIA will continue to push regime change in Iran as that has been mandated since the 50s.
Intel will continue angling for more false flag events until enough successive approximations inch NATO towards the expected WW3 that the CIA is fomenting due to American balkanization throughout the world since the 08 GFC.
Republicans have no vision outside of more war. They are not onboard with any G7 for Climate Change, and QE-4 is backdoor Climate Change stimulus for the Green Finance Climate Science Revolution that is supposed to supplant the Communist Revolution that America is just about to encounter.
Democrats & Green Party have $23 trillion USD stacked on Mark Carney’s desk in his office at the United Nations Bank. Only Climate Science adherents will get the UN dollars. Going forward into 2020 clarifies tactics & stance for the Republican Party in that they are only betting on forever war & fossil fuel dependent NATO operations to assert control of finance and avert the Communist Green Finance Revolution that all the other G-7 nations are already onboard with at the United Nations.
Forensic accounting of war will indicate that the Republican Party is using war & kinetic war for generation of financial returns that accrue to Republican policy for geopolitics.
MOU
AAAGGHH…. Have tried to reply to you several times, and my comment won’t post. Bloody phone….
I fully agree with you about the Neocons wanting to take down Iran at all costs, and you would have to be very naive to think they won’t stage a false flag attack to blame Iran for.
Can you imagine Pompeo and Esper ignoring what happened yesterday?
Check out Cory Morningstar and her excellent blog Wrong Kind Of Green.
Billions to be made from War for all the billionaire parasites.
Okay – will try again…
I’ll give Morningstar a looksi, thanks. And I have the same problems posting here sometimes so it’s not just you, Gezzah. If the prompt in the top right hand corner does not appear don’t try to write a post as it will not go through. When you connect to the website to post make sure the prompt cursor thingy moves back & forward in the right top hand corner of the window.
I’ve written reams of stuff here only to have it stymied when I go to post it and can’t because the website is not fully loaded when the right hand top corner prompt does not load.
P.S. CANADA is sending more equipment & manpower to Oz. Canadians want the fire out too, eh.
Cheers, MOU
I am surprised that there might be a problem.
Since this is all digital information then it would be no problem to run off half a dozen copies and send them to the interested parties.
The most likely explanation is that the aircraft ran into a drone as with all the drone footage there appears that there were a number flying at the same time.
There again that might not explain the loss of communication.
I’m sorry-Iran ‘ refuses to hand over the black boxes’???!! To whom? To Bibi Nuttyyahoo, perhaps? Iran leads the investigation, so they decipher the ‘black boxes’. The case of MH17 where the black box information has simply disappeared, tells you what you could expect if the West ever got their hands on these.
It’s standard MO that the western powers take out civilian airliners.
It’s called Murder Inc. and people in the West vote these psychopaths into power.
You might be a loser in the USA or UK, but you’re still ‘Number One-and don’t you forget it!’ a Ubumensch compared to the gooks, slopes, Chinks, Nips, wet-backs, rag-heads and other untermenschen.
Never mind 9/11 where any blackbox data was most likely fabricated like the planes themselves.
It’s boiling now. Western ‘intelligence’, who NEVER tell lies, are being quoted, even by our pathological liar PM, Smoko Morrison. Pictures of a ‘missile warhead’ taken by brave ‘Iranian activists’ are pasted all over the pathologically mendacious Guardian sewer. The Ukraine will use ‘investigators’ from the MH 17 farce. And Iranian officials are reported to be prepared to ‘turn over the black boxes’ to their enemies??!!
Iran is apparently refusing to hand over the black boxes from the crashed plane.
should be
Under ICAO rules, Iran has no obliation to pass on the black boxes from the crashed plane to the maker. All it need do is pass them on to any laboratory of its chosing that has ICAO certification.
It is possible and might even be probable that the Iranian missiles were targeted to land near the air base on not on it.
This was totally different to the US and NATO missile attack after Douma. This was designed to create a massive display of force but was blunted by some 80% of the missiles being destroyed. I am sure with more Russian anti missile systems being deployed they will not try it again as maybe then no missiles would find their targets.
When will the day come when America will realise that in asymmetric war they are fighting a Hydra. Knock one head off and two more emerge?
“It is possible and might even be probable that the Iranian missiles were targeted to land near the air base on not on it.”
I don’t agree with that assessment.
I think the Americans were hit very hard last night (remember, people in the West live in a fog of total propaganda). Hence Trump’s very subdued and short speech today.
And the attack last night is just the start of it:
https://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13981018000411
Not according to the reccon and after action report. As one can see the damage was very severe. They took out the storage facility where the drones were stored and destroyed the runway. Also according to reports these were these least accurate missiles.
Whoops! Meant to say “Also according to reports these were their least accurate missiles.” and provide the link:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/irans-missile-launch-against-two-us-bases-in-iraq-calls-trumps-bluff.html#more
Apparently, more Iranian strikes are going to happen overnight.
We will have to see how it pans out.
What most sane people want is peace on Earth.
They’ve already given their measured response. Now it’s up to their allies in the region aka “Axis of Resistance” who probably already made plans to forcibly remove the invaders from their region if they don’t leave willingly.
The ‘recon’ was commercial sattelite images. They show a precision strike on the airbase and a bracketing of the consulate at Erbil. This should give the US military planners pause for thought — we are so used to the idea that the Iranians are a bunch of incoherent towelheads playing with obsolete SCUDs that the realization that not only have they got serious precision guided munitions but also the ability to target them at places we thought secure must be quite sobering.
What we should have been asking today but nobody’s dared to yet is “Where were our defenses?”. The Israelis fequently launch air strikes and missiles at Syrian targets and they’re routinely rebuffed. We’re supposed to have these Patriots but I have a feeling that they’re not worth a damn (which might go a long way to explaining why the Turks are so interested in the Russian S-400 system).
Trump vows to use the coward’s weapon of sanctions, imposed by the Judeofascist and Zionist controlled US Treasury, to murder Iranians and make the survivors’ lives wretched-very Talmudic. So Iran must strike back at the US economy, and apart from destroying Saudi oil installations and closing the Strait of Hormuz, perhaps some cyber-attack on the Federal Reserve, that kosher cabal of private economic interests, might be effective.
Strange rhetoric from Trump and his toady Johnson alleging that Soleimani “had American and British blood on his hands”, went unchallenged by MSM and given he’s been working alongside Americans in their (America’s) belated actions against their former proxies ISIS, I can only conclude “the blood” is that of western jihadists.
…..Or maybe our governments haven’t been reporting special forces casualties fighting illegally in Syria and Iraq?
Special Forces would still be listed as casualties. More then likely the dead and wounded were ship dipped mercs operating in the region i.e. “former” US, British, French and Israeli Military.
The blood of millions of Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians etc on the paws of the Western thugs is, of course, irrelevant. But we knew that BoJo was a vicious, Islamophobic, racist already, didn’t we.
I’m sure BoJo will pontificate and bloviate on Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” before retiring to 10 Downing in a drunken stupor like his role model the proto-neocon and racist neoliberal hero Winnie the Pooh.
Judging by the body language of Trump & Co, when Trump gave his short speech today, I would guess that the Americans took a big hit last night (and Iranian reports are near the mark). Who knows?
During Suleimani’s funeral the red flag was raised over the Mosque in the holy city of Qom, where Moqtada al-Sadr studied before his return to Iraq. The red flag has only been raised once before in Iranian history (in the 7th century). It signifies all-out war.
https://twitter.com/afshinrattansi/status/1213539339587723270
One other thing I like (bar any casualties) is the directness of this attack. It was almost like listening to the West launching a retaliatory attack against some ‘rogue’ nation. It had a legitimacy in PR terms. I almost detect a little bit of sympathy and admiration in the media towards Iran. I was thinking last night, is this is miscalculation? But then I thought the Iranian intellect and mind probably has thought this through long ago.
Let’s hope it doesn’t kick off tonight with dumb and dumber.
The US has had Iran in its crosshairs for a long time.
To recap, America invents a ludicrous pretext, invades a Middle Eastern country, kills everyone, steals that country’s resources then in Trump-speak accuses anyone who resists of being a ‘bad man’.
In the main communities in the west are not sufficiently revolted by the likes of Blair, Bush, Obama or Trump to hold any of them to account, presumably because muslim communities are being incinerated rather than white Europeans or Americans (except when the US deep state orchestrates the murder of their own citizens as a false pretext to garner UN backing for another invasion)
Given these dangerous antecedents, made a thousand times worse by extreme levels of public gullability, I find it very difficult to believe the US is not committed to ‘full spectrum dominance’ in Iran, especially given the highly provocative nature of the operation they have just conducted, an action so brazen it seems they no longer even care about international opinion (not that many states are prepared to challenge the brand of state terrorism integral to US foreign affairs).
I hope I am dead wrong but it feels like its going down, and its going down now.
The US has Everything in its crosshairs All The Time.
Actually the US Government does care if they can carry out their ops under the cover of “American Exceptionalism” and “Innocence”. Under the guise of bring “freedom and democracy” to the world. This what gains their support from the gullible American public and the rest of the so called “Free world”. Problem is nobody’s buying it anymore including the American public with the exception of some Exceptional as in Retarded Morons and Hopelessly Deluded Neocons and Neoliberals.
The CIA is fomenting war for their betters in the MIC that want full time work with overtime hours, and they want some excitement too. These are employees that have not murdered anyone since Iraq and they are hungry for yet more killing, mayhem, chaos, and all round apocalyptic living.
Everyone in the Military Industrial Complex joins so that they can blow shit up, and get paid to plan to blow shit up. They are Classically Conditioned to blow shit up with increasing frequency given that populations seem to like seeing WW3 trend on twitter.
Like football games the marketers of world wars know how to pump their audience up in anticipation of the BIG half time show, and the commercial advertising.
Establishing a narrative of official policy seems to depend on how many likes the MSM gets in contradistinction to how well the DOW reacts. If the DOW tanks & social media responds negatively the MSM downplays the trial balloon made-for-tv false flag event invented by the narrative manufacturing industry.
Americans are heading into recession, and elections. When incumbent presidents enter second term elections in a recessionary macroeconomic cyclical downturn the prospect of false flag MIC activity is highly probable.
Americans have no time left on the hegemon clock given geopolitical headwinds, USA $23 trillion-debt-to-GDP, and no macroeconomic growth from tariffs & trade wars due to the ‘Art of the deal’ which is not really a deal at all.
Trump is unhinged & Americans have decoupled from reality.
Uncle Sam is drunk on the souls of civilization, and wants another drink too. Someone has to stop Uncle Sam’s mass psychosis as it impinges upon geopolitics.
MOU
And this hailable fascinate of TurkStream oil factility credited by Putin & Erdogan after the conversation, we’d know it he’s son was taking a oil industry to extreme rumble in this mid-Spring. Lack of modus observandi for this month makes har wild to Bolton.
https://www.sott.net/article/427023-Putin-and-Erdogan-celebrate-launch-of-TurkStream-gas-pipeline-as-example-of-international-cooperation-amid-ME-uproar
Strange summary for a staged event.
What exactly does this event ‘show?’.
No one signed for the article so I guess it is an editorial collective?
Staged? A potential that this may have been a carefully calibrated response aimed at showing force without escalation does not = a ‘staged’ event. Let’s be clear, this is far from over & the potential for things to erupt into fullscale war is still very real.
What intrigues me a bit is the focus on this in last nights news but this news item today has been pushed back in importance. The media behaviour is always a good steer – either this was a way of ‘ de-escalating’ or the media (or powers directing them) have suddenly realised the risks of global war and are retreating. Iran really is a different proposition which takes nothing away from my huge admiration of Syria and them having to accept the battering to prevail. The Iranians in my view are also highly educated and calculating but they simply won’t take any shit. If you have the resources as they do to stand up to a bully, it is often the only thing that works. We’ve all come across bullies in our lives so understand this. Let’s pray this does not escalate further as there is still this danger depending on whether Trump today has been speaking to idiots in his administration rather than others like Tucker Carlson
When I say staged I do not mean no damage was sustained or that real missiles were not bought and fired at the target. But if true, the 1 hour warning meant the evacuation of the base and perhaps of significant intel and equipment to minimise loss.
So it is a symbolic act – perhaps so as to be ‘seen’, or as I said, ‘staged’ to pass as a face-saving retaliation. Will the streets of the USA fill with mourners for the US base? Of course not. Nor would its serve Iran to hurt the PEOPLE of the United States of America – who are also suffering under a military industrial tech nightmare – whether they recognise that or not.
So if it was carefully calibrated – might it not also have been carefully orchestrated, behind the scenes? I am sure many high level discussions occurred. How much of the world that SEEMS so, is staged, set up, predetermined or falsely fitted to reported narratives that ‘insiders’ negotiate or enact – perhaps under ‘an offer they cant refuse’ as the lesser of all evils?
To declare open war on the USA is folly. But the ‘West’ is self-destructing by it own acts – many of which are also destructive to others. This is ongoing and actual – and not a potential that might occur triggering emotional conflicts that of course cannot be resolved for something that might happen.
There appear to be not a few in US/Israeli politics who actively seek to provoke open war between US/nato and Iran. But is that really so – or is it a terrorising brinkmanship? Are the dogs actually kept on a lead? If war breaks out, is it effectively preset to happen, by one means or another as a result of setting up the environment of support – or the denying of any block to its agenda – such as the threat of peace.
In order for war to break out and escalate – which it may – all the environmental supports for it have to be in place. Bankers can use war to bankrupt and bring down empires. They can also withdraw oxygen from the flames. (UK Suez).
Reading the body language of the statesmen of past archives of times of the imminence of war, I see very grave demeanours.
Today we have a circus of crisis actors. Perhaps because they have had their minds neutered and simply know not what they do. Perhaps they see ghastly consequences as happening to the others – those they have sold out so as to save themselves.
And so they believe they have insider connections – as like to the rich and powerful who, like Obama, buy multimillion dollar condos down by the waterfront where the ocean is about to RISE UP and drown them! Excepting of course they believe no such thing – nor the insurance companies.
All the world is a stage for fools – but who writes the script?
Private self interest as power struggle?
We’ve all learned that script well and enact it over and over and over again.
Saving face is equated with salvation from humiliation.
Such is the investment and currency of identity in saving the appearances.
The other script is willingness to align in truth.
Persecution then deepens self-honesty rather than shuts its down for revenge.
I didn’t say we are all going to survive!
But I put the focus in the true currency of being with what is rather than invoking our fears.
I didn’t say that this is easy. I do believe we are worth it.
Allegedly 200 killed in the attacks, reported by Iranian media, but who really knows if it’s war propaganda or near the truth ?
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/01/08/2177488/source-at-least-80-americans-killed-in-irgc-attack-on-us-base-in-iraq
New weapons used, apparently:
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/01/08/2178117/exclusive-us-base-in-iraq-hit-by-iranian-fragmentation-missiles
It’s possible since the bases may have been operated by civilian contractors i.e. mercs working for CIA and possibly as in likely Mossad in which case they wouldn’t be counted as military casualties as in KIA, MIA or WIA. From what I understand the Pentagon was informed about the drone strike against Soleimani afterward which seems likely since killing someone under diplomatic protection is a violation of their rules of engagement and military law. Meaning that the Iranians took out a bunch of spooks thus making the world a better place 🙂
Whilst I am not disputing that the allegedly assassinated General Soleimani was a highly respected leader of Iran, this is a photo of him quite clearly working with American forces
“How Soleimani Spread Iran’s Influence Across The Middle East ”
https://www.rferl.org/a/how-soleimani-spread-iran-s-influence-across-the-middle-east/30358752.html
The important thing is the objective, to bring the Middle East to peace, even from an American point of view. These wars paid for by ordinary Americans, are impoverishing (and killing) ordinary Americans, and are not doing anyone any good, except enriching already very rich people invested in the arms industry.
His alleged Assassination, is having the effect of uniting much of The Middle East. Iraqi’s and Iranians, rather than being at war against each other, are very loudly telling the Americans and The British to go home, and leave them in peace to sort their own problems out.
Hopefully it will happen, and we can reach a state of peace.
The Alternative doesn’t bare thinking about.
Tony
Hi Tony,
And here is why the US soldiers will NOT be brought home, but just deployed elsewhere to continue the killing spree on behalf of their masters.
>>
Every day across the country military recruiters stand in front of high school students and tell them how military service is a great opportunity to build a career. Tell them how the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force are a sure ticket to a strong start in life and how through serving their country they also are taking care of themselves.
MaggieWhat they don’t tell them is that they might find themselves sleeping on the streets of the very country they fought to defend when they come home.
The face of homelessness in America is changing- military veterans have always been at increased risk of homelessness, but in the wake of Iraq and Afghanistan more young veterans are finding themselves without a home in the aftermath of their military service. Through the end of September, 2012 26,531 of them were living on the streets, at risk of losing their homes, staying in temporary housing or receiving federal vouchers to pay rent, the Department of Veterans Affairs reports. That’s up from 10,500 in 2010. The VA says the numbers could be higher because they include only the homeless the department is aware of.
The issue only threatens to get worse as the military continues to downsize- over 300,000 men and women are likely to leave the military each of the next four years. President Obama vowed in 2009 to end veteran homelessness by 2015, and while the overall number of homeless veterans has declined slightly, it’s nowhere on pace to meet the President’s goal. Using an annual one-night count, the tally has fallen from 76,329 in 2010 to 62,619 in 2012, but the imminent flood of new veterans returning home in the wake of military downsizing doesn’t bode well .<<
Do not forget the 22 -or more- suicides of veterans every day in the USA since 2003.
As now 96 year old (Only the good die young)Henry Kissinger observed, ‘Military men are just dumb, stupid, animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy’.
Sad most of them are lured into the military with the promise of college and civilian job opportunities after their service which they’re all perfunctorily “thanked” for before flung into a society where most of the good jobs they’ve been promised have been shipped overseas.
Also many veterans will tell me that what it really is is what they call the “economic draft” meaning that many join the military to escape poverty back at home especially on the Rez where the situation is dire thanks to the Government’s failure to abide by their treaty obligations as they continue to steal Indian Land such as the case with the XL Pipeline.
This probably why American Indians sign up at a higher percentage per capita than any other group. Not as a recent PBS special tried to suggest due to some “warrior spirit” or whatever.
However this applies to other oppressed social economic groups as well such as blacks,hispanics and what are colorfully known by the elitists as “white ” or “trailer” trash.
Ironically many hispanics who signed up with the promise of citizenship after serving have been deported.
So there are other reasons why many sign up other than a false sense of “patriotism” or “warrior spirit” or whatever. In fact many who do don’t want to be sent to imperial combat zones fighting endless wars for “Manifest Destiny” but to get an education and learn useful skills. Skills that can be put to good use such as in the case of Silver Star recipient Timothy McViegh.