OK BOYS the April Fool’s Gags are over..this is funnier stuff.
Iranians pelt UK embassy » Kuwait Times Website — These sorts of supposed protests are staged by the government. If they are not staged then these students are idoits. If they are staged then the British should take military action against this corrupt regime.
The protesters chanted “Death to Britain” and “Death to America” as they hurled stones into the courtyard of the embassy. They also shouted “the British spies should be tried”. In speeches made before the students turned on the compound, they demanded the Iranian government expel the British ambassador and close down the embassy, calling it a “den of spies”. They also advised Tehran not to release Faye Turney, the lone female sailor held captive, or show any flexibility until the British apologised for violating Irans borders.
Did these jokers not notice what happened to their neighbors because the USA decided to stumble in and wreck the place? Is that what they are begging for in Iran?
Yelling “death to Britain” whilst living in England is unacceptable and should be sanctioned. They’re guests and should therefore act like some. If they’re so patriotic why leave the country in the first place?
Are they students? are they working?
Why did they come to England?
World recognised standard so once they’ve finished their course they can go home and enjoy their “freedoms”
2, come on you are not that stupid. Their is a large amount of our force in Iraq and Afgan, but the majority is still here in the U.S, if the shit hit the fan, and the US was forced to send troops into Iran, we could do it, it would not be a walk in the park by a long shot, and allot of people are not going to like having to spend most of their 4 year contracts overseas but it could be done.
Still, this is a British matter, and how Great Britain decides to handle it is up to them, where the US has to make a decision is, are we going to support an allie if they ask us to help in the attack?
Why invade?
Shoot down their air force, fuck the place up via the air. Let them re-build themselves.
Simple
@ warza: This is happening in IRAN – read more carefully.
@ Dvorak: “These sorts of supposed protests are staged by the government. If they are not staged then these students are idoits. If they are staged then the British should take military action against this corrupt regime.”
Right. Overreact much? There were only like 200 people at this so-called protest, which indicates that no matter how much the rest of the population is or is not ‘up in arms’ about this, they are showing a remarkable degree of restraint over all. In that light, this little street show was clearly designed to provoke a reaction IN THEIR OWN PEOPLE, more than Britain. And a pathetic attempt it is … unless of course the UK gets stupid, takes your advice, overreacts about it and successfuly turns the population feral.
Glad to see you’re only a tech commentator.
“Did these jokers not notice what happened to their neighbors because the USA decided to stumble in and wreck the place? Is that what they are begging for in Iran? ”
So now it’s not just Britain who should attack, but us too?? I’m sorry, but I must have missed that news story … You know, the one where OUR sailors got picked up. Oh, right – they DIDN’T. This is Britain’s problem – let them handle it.
Besides, what makes you think Iran wasn’t paying attention? Given our cock-up in Iraq bleeding us dry financially by the day, and our military machine grinding down from overuse, I’d say the Iranians have been pretty damn observant. The more militaristic among them have made a pretty good calculation that, if a something like this is possible to pull off with the minimum of consequences, now is the time; the UK is too small to pose much of a threat, the US is weaker than ever, and neither has a friend in the world.
Of course, that’s not a risk I’d be taking if I were in their shoes. The titular leaders of both are both terminally stupid – enough to do exactly what you propose JCD. Still, it would be the hight of irresponsibility to launch a military attack on Iran for this bit of kabuki theater. For all the faux protests and TV appearences, notice that the Iranians – the IRANIANS – don’t have these people in hoods & shackes, or spirited them away to secret prisons for God knows what treatment. We attack them for this, what kind of message is that sending to the rest of the world vis a vis what we’ve done? What these extremists in the Iranian govt are doing is not right, but lets use a little perspective here.
Bottom line: We attack Iran, while Iraq & Afghanistan are still a mess, and we wind up losing – not a debateable Vietnam-type loss, but the real thing. Death & destruction, sure, but the economic repercussions at home will be colossal as well – or haven’t you noticed your fuel bill going up 30% since this all started. And as for terrorism – let me tell you; there wouldn’t be a safe place for an Anglo to travel in this world for at least a generation.
Jeeze. Either get a clue Dvorak, or post stories on this situation with no comment. You sound ridiculous.
No regime change…yeah, I know…we’ve heard that b4. But this time, let’s just punish them. Bad. No ground troops either. I don’t care about their hearts and minds, these people only understand strength.
I don’t get it. What do they hope to gain – maybe to pressure the U.K. into pressing the Bushies to stop turning down the first opportunity the U.S. has had in, I think somebody said 27 years, to talk to Iran directly? That’s too ham-handed for such an indirect goal. The demonstration just doesn’t make sense.
Ah. Unless it’s part of stoking up the populace In case the U.S. invades. That makes a political sort of sense. Since the Bushies have refused to hold peaceable talks with Iran, maybe they now consider an invasion unavoidable. If so, I hope they’re wrong.
I’m with Sag. I’ll even finally buy a yellow ribbon for my SUV in support of both poor soldiers left over from the other U.S. invasions. Maybe they won’t have to go. The Blackwater contract mercenaries the U.S. public is paying for – Janes, no bastion of wimpy liberalism, has described them as “Bush’s secret army” http://tinyurl.com/2gdgc – may get the assignment instead. Bush has reason not to trust his own generals to enthusiastically support yet another all-hat-no-cattle chicken hawk military adventure.
That guy with the rock looks like he pinched one hell of a loaf !
5 – Odyssey67 – Really good, thought-provoking comments (hostile tone aside). If you’re right, this is Iran picking its battles more wisely than either the U.K. or the U.S. has managed of late. My guess about Iran’s getting the populace ready, or maybe asserting that it already is ready for war, still makes sense, though.
Aside from the nerf-brains who offer the predictable “bomb ’em back to the Stone Age” claptrap – do folks realize that the Iranian prez and his crowd have about as much support as do Bush and his acolytes, here.
As both continue their political decline, futility, frustration hold sway over their dimbulb antics. Don’t be surprised by it. Just try to keep the meatheads in the White House and Pentagon from jacking up support for these religious freaks.
Cripes, Bush got re-elected by playing the same “don’t change horses in the middle of the shit-stream” song. Do you think Iranians are any more sophisticated than the crew who voted to re-elect in Floriduh or Ohio?
This is the Iranian version of April fools. Tomorrow they’ll tell the embassy it was all a joke.
Sounds the alarm is right..just bomb from afar.
Their leaders are trying to bring about the return of the 12th imam, so they are trying to provoke a war.
somewhere deep in the bowls of the England, the British military has handed a OP plan over to the British PM for a i”if diplomacy fails” situation. I’m pretty sure this will involve the British SAS, American Delta Force, and possibly the Israelis Mossad.
of course this is when not if Diplomacy fails.
I thought staying away from torture and going beyond what the Geneva Conventions say, as the Brits are doing would provide portections for our troops. Why is Iran violating the Geneva Conventions in their treatment of the British, who were in uniform when captured?
We must understand that the consequences of invading Iran would be rather severe. For one thing, Russia and Venezuella would cut off our oil, and Iran would likely have some success cutting off the spigot from the middle east. Then China would promptly dump their interest in our debt, bankrupting the nation. Imagine the consequences if suddenly we had a tenth the amount of oil and diesel to run our nation, combined with a broad governmental shut down? We would have masses of starving people in the streets within two months.
Think strategically. A nation without food, energy or capital isn’t much of a nation anymore. I suppose the fools in the audience would say “nuke em all,” but that would not only mean our collapse, but also the death of nearly everyone on both sides. Not a realistic plan, I say. Unfortunately, that fool and his minions has let our balls hang so low that they are now caught in this vice; the last thing we need to do is to ask them to start turning the lever.
We must understand that the consequences of invading Iran would be rather severe. For one thing, Russia and Venezuella would cut off our oil, and Iran would likely have some success cutting off the spigot from the middle east. Then China would promptly dump their interest in our debt, bankrupting the nation. Imagine the consequences if suddenly we had a tenth the amount of oil and diesel to run our nation, combined with a broad governmental shut down? We would have masses of starving people in the streets within two months.
Think strategically. A nation without food, energy or capital isn’t much of a nation anymore. I suppose the fools in the audience would say “nuke em all,” but that would not only mean our collapse, but also the death of nearly everyone on both sides. Not a realistic plan, I say. Unfortunately, that fool and his minions has let our testicles hang so low that they are now caught in this vice; the last thing we need to do is to ask them to start turning the lever.
It’s time to end the rule of the ’emams’ i.e. Iranians. I’d vote to go with Syria and that crowd. Is that what Nancy P. is doing in Syria? Letting them know that we would like them to prevail in the region? We got rid of the Bagdad dude too soon. That’s the Suni’s right? Heck they are supposed to be divinely inspired right? A relative of Mohammad, right?
Sounds good to me. Bye bye Iran.
I think the USA has screwed with Iran long enough. Read some history on Iran to find about all the nice things we have done to the Iran.
Those that are calling for the bombing of Iran are the very same type of people shouting death to Britain and America. Two wrongs does make a right.
If China dumps American bonds, so what? It would be their loss and our gain if they walked away from OUR DEBT to them.
If the flow of Iranian oil stops, it would hurt China, the rest of Asia, and Africa much more then North America. Europe gets some Iranian oil but more from Russia. Russia needs Euros (and Dollars) more then anything so Russia shutting her supply down won’t happen. Plus Russia is a little nervous about Iranian nuclear weapons.
If Britain pulls all non-essential Embassy staff will be the time to start worrying. The day that happens will be the day oil hits $100 + / barrel.
unfortunately, that f*ckwit in the White House has made us more vulnerable than ever to Iranian pressure. 10k Iranian suicide bombers is not what our troops in Iraq (or Afghanistan) need at the moment.
and the only thing that would make the current Iranian regime wildly popular at home would be an American and British attack.
everyone who wants to attack Iran, close your eyes, chant “we will be welcomed as liberators” and click your heels together and maybe it will happen this time.
And who would pick up the tab then, Mr. Fusion? Let us not forget that China has taken a lot of burden from us is in the form of debt guarantees, that is, promises to buy our debt in the near future; next week, for instance. Without those promises being filled, we can either hyperinflate the dollar (warm up your wheelbarrows!) or we can collapse. Actually, the first one is only a slight delay paid for with the price of the blood shed in the inevitable bank riots. Dropping their interest in our debt is not the same thing as no longer being indebted to them; we could simply invalidate those dollars they hold in deposit, and declare the debt invalid, but then China could argue that we defaulted on our debts, and that would certainly destroy our collective credit rating, eh?
By the way, it’s not so much the flow of oil from Iran that would hurt us(though that would inflate the world price), but the stop from Venezuela and Russia. Well, and Saudi Arabia too, though that would be due to mines, not a strategic choice.
These war drums are a harbinger of our doom, if we heed them. The key to victory is choosing one’s battles carefully, and we would be wise to learn from our recent mistakes in that regard.
unfortunately, that f*ckwit in the White House has made us more vulnerable than ever to Iranian pressure. 10k Iranian suicide bombers is not what our troops in Iraq (or Afghanistan) need at the moment.
and the only thing that would make the current Iranian regime wildly popular at home would be an American and British attack.
everyone who wants to attack Iran, close your eyes, chant “we will be welcomed as liberators” and click your heels together and maybe it will happen this time.
but, all this being said, I am sure it is somehow the Democrats’ fault. Or Rosie O’Donnell. the real powers behind American foreign policy.
#21, Li,
Good points. The fact is we could probably do with a little belt tightening. Our debt to China is for goods made in China and sold in America. If every household had to make do with one less piece of Chinese plastic then that is a price our nation should be ready to pay. Besides, it might make some of these manufacturers start producing in America again instead of outsourcing.
And I too am wary of a war with Iran. The only winners will be the same crowd that have gained from the Iraq cesspool. A war tax is needed NOW. Only that will have some influence on the chicken hawk crowd.
#22, doug
Also very good points. But need you insult all the f*ckwits by comparing them to that ****ing ***hole?
No one has yet explained what the British navy was doing in Iranian waters.
A war tax would be great if it turns into WW3..
If you wanna give up on diplomacy.. sure, just keep bombing the nuclear research facilities..
#25.. Fishing
@ TJGeezer: “Odyssey67 – Really good, thought-provoking comments (hostile tone aside). If you’re right, this is Iran picking its battles more wisely than either the U.K. or the U.S. has managed of late. My guess about Iran’s getting the populace ready, or maybe asserting that it already is ready for war, still makes sense, though.”
I agree with you. That’s what I meant when I said this ‘riot’ outside the Brit embassy – indeed, the whole situation – is more for domestic consumption than anything. The recent sanctions have not gone over welll at all with the average Iranian, and they are blaming their inept leadership for most of it happening. That cadre of simpletons only has one card to play in any situation requiring that they try to rally the country – war. Sound familiar?
As for my tone, you bet I’m hostile. Two of our aircraft carriers are in the Persian Gulf right now, and all the attending vessels that typically accompany them. Those two boats alone can hold up to 6000 men & women … each. And they are sitting ducks. I don’t like revealing too much of myself on these blogs, but I will tell you that I served in the 80s on those types of vessels, and they are NOT designed to survive in that environment, against a foe with any sort of offensive sea-going capability. It’s too narrow a sea, with little-to-no time to react to missle or torpedo attacks (to which they are most vulnerable).
The Iranians know this – so they also know that for them to be their at all means that a sudden ‘first strike’ must be planned by our Navy. Knocking out as many missle launchers and so forth as possible would be the only way to maximaize the survival of those ships. And since the Iranians know this, they must also know they can’t allow that first strike – i.e. THEY have to strike first.
Do you see now how this becomes like dancing on a knife edge? For either side to survive a war with the other, they each have to precipitate that war. The only question is which side will guess correctly regarding when is the best time to ‘go’? Those CVNs might as well have the names “USS Coffin I&II” painted on their sterns if the Iranians guess correctly. That’s 2x the deaths on 9/11 possible for each ship.
So when idiots like Dvorak, SoundstheAlarm, Joe, bill, and whoever else start popping off about how we should just ‘take ’em out’, it makes me want to kick their little candy asses. Fighting Keyboard Jockeys like them, calling for war – air, land, sea, whatever – just so they can feel good about their own lost manhood, would be no less responsible for the lives of those sailors than if they had killed them directly. 9/11 can’t be an excuse any longer for blind, blood-lust. We know already where that leads.
But I hold Dvorak most responsible of all. An otherwise intelligent man, calling for this sort of action, when the consequences are so dire across the board … and for … what? More web hits? Is this blog of his really worth encouraging the deaths of God knows how many? Besides our own service men & women, we know from experience in Iraq that the numbers of innocent Iranians – women & children too – will be far greater.
Yet this very well could be the effect of his words, unless cooler heads prevail. He, and anyone thinking like him right now, ought to be ashamed. The current can’t take us where we don’t want to go, unless enough of us stop rowing.
Ahem.. well well well.. It would be nice if the blogosphere had any effect on the real world (as most people know it) but as yet.. it doesn’t
But i do envy your ability to write out that diatribe #28
Students, eh? Nice educational pastime. Didn’t we go through this about 40 years ago right here? Viet Nam ring a bell? Kent State?
Don’t we get most of our oil from Canada?
OK, nuke the whole desert, turn it into glass and suck the oil out with a big Halliburton straw. Students, right. (/sarcasm)
Drawing on #28s comments, I reckon that we should make a rule we cannot go invade/attack any country without first having a referendum for all the people in the armed forces asking them if they think its worth dying (and killing) for. After all, its their ass on the line….. its easy enough to say ‘bomb then all’ if you aren’ t the one that is risking a crash landing the middle of a hostile region!