[RD] Mass protests in Iran

[Sarin]

Iran is on a path to become Islamic North Korea, and people here are defending...doing nothing.

I suspect that the mental defect I mentioned previously is hard at work.

 

[Lexicus]

Iran is on a path to become Islamic North Korea, and people here are defending...doing nothing.

I suspect that the mental defect I mentioned previously is hard at work.

What would be the name for the "mental defect" that results in living through the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War and the Libya intervention and thinking the following:

 

[Sarin]

US is terrible at followups, because it never had cooperation of civilized opposition to the regime.

That's where Iran is different. It has somewhat credible, organized, secular opposition that could pick up the slack once US is done blowing things up. Sure, it's not certain, but the risk is better than doing nothing. Now that the military hasn't sided with people, external force is the only thing that can save the country from descending even deeper into the madness of islamic theocracy.

But of course, it would require Trump actually doing something good, and you can't stand that.

 

[caketastydelish]

What would be the name for the "mental defect" that results in living through the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War and the Libya intervention and thinking the following:

View attachment 754481

That's not equivalent... Iraqis and Afghan people were not demanding regime change nearly at the level Iranians are.

 

[Lexicus]

But of course, it would require Trump actually doing something good, and you can't stand that.

"Trump actually doing something good" LMAO

***note to the thread at large, please stop saying incredibly stupid things as I can only escalate with this meme so many times

 

[caketastydelish]

Those on the far left have run out of real arguments, so they are posting memes and "funny" pics just like those on the far right who typically do the same

 

[Sarin]

"Trump actually doing something good" LMAO

***note to the thread at large, please stop saying incredibly stupid things as I can only escalate with this meme so many times

That's not argument, just you showing off how much you fell for the tribalism of US politics. Go ahead and give yourself all the awards for it.

 

[Lexicus]

how much you fell for the tribalism of US politics.

No, I see things clearly. Ironically, it is you who have fallen for the tribalism of the white race.

That's not equivalent... Iraqis and Afghan people were not demanding regime change nearly at the level Iranians are.

You may be too young to remember a fellow named Ahmed Chalabi. Google him sometime, you might learn something.

 

[caketastydelish]

"the white race" nobody has mentioned race or racism in this thread

 

[Sarin]

No, I see things clearly. Ironically, it is you who have fallen for the tribalism of the white race.

Now we're back to baseless accusations. What, ran out of images?

If you don't see the strings that guide you, well, I pity you. You're being driven to hate, to become fodder for one side just like the MAGA mob is to the other. And it's all to make you too busy thinking you're under attack to reailze who's profiting from all that.

 

[Lexicus]

If you don't see the strings that guide you, well, I pity you. You're being driven to hate, to become fodder for one side just like the MAGA mob is to the other. And it's all to make you too busy thinking you're under attack to reailze who's profiting from all that.

Trump's goons just shot another person or people in Minneapolis, and you're here telling me it's all in my head? What the fudge is wrong with you?

 

[amadeus]

What would be the name for the "mental defect" that results in living through the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War and the Libya intervention and thinking the following:

I’m not getting into this “mental defect” thing because it’s just an irrelevant jab.

The issue with comparisons I find here are Afghanistan and Iraq, where we’re talking about an American invasion to remove an indigenous government. Libya is its own case and I concede that intervention there was at the very least extremely poorly executed. In Iran, however, we’re talking about Iranians themselves opposed to their own government. This doesn’t ultimately answer the question of how/if intervention and what kind would be beneficial, just that comparisons to the U.S.-led occupations I don’t think are applicable.

The closest comparisons I could think of offhand would have to be the interventions in Haiti and Somalia, both of which today are mostly forgotten and I think the failures of both were not just due to American (or UN) will problems, but the lack of clear objectives. But again, there are problems with making this comparison because the detachments necessary to intervene in a similar fashion at scale would be in the hundreds of thousands of men.

Edit: furthermore, the two above cases included peacekeeping which I don’t think Iran would need? We’re not talking about a completely failed state.

Any sort of American help to the Iranian dissidents would have to be different from the above cases.

 

[caketastydelish]

This is about Iran, not Minneapolis.

 

[Sarin]

Trump's goons just shot another person or people in Minneapolis, and you're here telling me it's all in my head? What the fudge is wrong with you?

Again, imagining things? I never wrote it's all in your head. It's real, but you don't see the why and who's all complicit.

 

[Zardnaar]

College campus protestors/leftists that were constantly speaking up for Palestine and even blocking traffic, taking over campus buildings etc are certainly silent for Iranians, so you might be right that Americans don't care about Iranians. Still, I am sad that Trump is chickening out and backing down.

Iran Russia, India and Pakistan were stirring the pot online in regards to Palestine.

No one really likes Iran outside tankies favorite dictatorships.

 

[Arwon]

College campus protestors/leftists that were constantly speaking up for Palestine and even blocking traffic, taking over campus buildings etc are certainly silent for Iranians, so you might be right that Americans don't care about Iranians. Still, I am sad that Trump is chickening out and backing down.

If the Israeli government were already sanctioned and isolated and diplomatic pariahs like Iran by our governments, there would be much less protesting against Israel currently. There's multipartisan support for the that the regime is bad, in our case the ambassador is expelled, there are sanctions, etc.

A significant goal there is to actually get our governments to treat Israel like Iran, using the same kinds of diplomatic and economic tools, rather than arming them and providing them diplomatic and political cover.

 

[Arwon]

Iran doesn't even have embassies to protest in front of in the US do they?

There were protest in front of the shuttered Iranian Embassy in Ottawa tho
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/iran-embassy-protest-arrest-9.7044235

There's an Iranian embassy here, I've been to a protest vigil there. Their ambassador has already been expelled over funding common criminals to commit anti-Semitic arson and vandalism though.

 

[Arwon]

Why? Why in spite of all past evidence do you insist this would be anything other than a disaster?

A lot is the "something must be done, this is something, this must be done" fallacy.

But also it's a very American hubris/delusion about the strength of that country's arms meaning a strong ability to actually change other countries positively through the application of huge military force against them.

That American hubris sometimes seems to merge with diasporas over there into this kind of pro war sentiment. I've zero doubt that notable elements of the American Iranian diaspora, influenced by American ideology and Trump, are pro-bombing.

Even more generally in the rest of the world, it's an insanely diverse diaspora since the post-revolutionary regime there is so narrow. So there's going to be every conceivable opinion there somewhere, though I'm sure there's less of the American regime change through bombardment ideology in other countries. No doubt the main sentiment is just fear for family members and hoping the protest movement finishes the job without a war making things worse.

 

[Klaus Hergersheimer]

Such action may be imminent:

US military action in Iran may begin within 24 hours | The Jerusalem Post

An unnamed Israeli official also said it appeared Trump had decided to intervene, though the scope and timing remained unclear.

www.jpost.com

I would only slightly revise my prediction that any US strike on Iran now would be against some target already drawn up months back and would be largely symbolic at this point. Whether it would serve to weaken the government, or, help the protestors, this actually may be two entirely separate questions. (Though, say, blowing up the Quds Force for good would make me a happy camper. Whether it helps Iranians in the end, I don' know.)

IMO there has to be a bona fide resistance group to Tehran to support who can make a dent, and I don't know of any...maybe regionally the Kurds (?).

 

[caketastydelish]

A lot is the "something must be done, this is something, this must be done" fallacy.

But also it's a very American hubris/delusion about the strength of that country's arms meaning a strong ability to actually change other countries positively through the application of huge military force against them.

That American hubris sometimes seems to merge with diasporas over there into this kind of pro war sentiment. I've zero doubt that notable elements of the American Iranian diaspora, influenced by American ideology and Trump, are pro-bombing.

Even more generally in the rest of the world, it's an insanely diverse diaspora since the post-revolutionary regime there is so narrow. So there's going to be every conceivable opinion there somewhere, though I'm sure there's less of the American regime change through bombardment ideology in other countries. No doubt the main sentiment is just fear for family members and hoping the protest movement finishes the job without a war making things worse.

I voted for Kamala harris in 2024 and Biden in 2020 and don't consider myself in the MAGA crowd. Trump is not my preferred president, but he is the one in office.