Nobody is invading Iran via ground, particularly not Israel, they don't have enough soldiers for that, n especially because they don't border with each other.
So you are okay with apartheid? I have zero interest in financing or sending US troops to support Israeli expansion - or any other nation expanding.
I don’t even think Usa wants to do that at all, that would be Vietnam 2.0 draft n everything, n most Americans are anti-war nowadays, so that wouldn't sit well with the American public. I understand Benjamin wants to take care of the Iranian threat n the only way he can achieve that is with the Usa being fully involved but that might backfire in his face n he could lose the support of the American people. Nobody here wants to deal with that crap or the middle east in general, especially after 20 years were wasted there.
For me it’s not about favor. It’s about standards that have to be met for benefits to be had. Israelis owe their lives to the US after yesterday. What will we get out of that… their corrupt autocratic president will probably go on FoxNews and gaslight us and crap on 60% of our population and work his butt off to get Trump elected. The issue with the Israel relationship is about that lack of respect we get in return and not only that but actions that are taken that soil our reputation and put our troops at risk. I have little interest in US troops in the Middle East ever again too but alternatively I’d like to see a multi national alliance like NATO that does have the ability to respond in defensive measures only. That alliance could not under any circumstance take offensive action. We also would need Arab states in that coalition that are not just Israel and Jordan. That might be unpopular on the left but I am concerned about Russia having dominance over the Middle East if the US and the West just completely abandoned the entire region and left it to chaos. Long term Iran has to be the country that moves past its fundamentalist ideology driven leadership and allows a democratic society to thrive. I know a few folks from Iran and I do believe most that live in Tehran live a life more similar to those here in the states than you’d think. If Iran could change and become a representation of most of the people I know who are Iranian than I’d feel much better about never having another American soldier ever have to step foot in the Middle East. Naive I know but it’s still the best outcome in the future… distant future I know.
That is part of the equation for sure. The United States has gone out of it's way for Israel in the past, and that hasn't always been returned. It shouldn't be expected as countries need to look out for their own interests - but that means the USA should as well. The wide level of support from US politicians on both political sides is largely a result of Israel being very successful lobbying and putting sympathetic people in positions of power in the USA. In the past there was no competing opposition side - now that isn't the case with many voters that are Arab or anti- Israeli policy. Taking aid, providing an a "friend" in the region is - all of that is one thing, when it goes beyond that - then we have problems, especially when a lot of the strategic advantages in the region are destroyed with the actions and reputation of Israel in the region. At the end of the day a lot of this hinges on Iran - and I understand the idea of having a "counter" to Iran - but there already was one, Iraq and and we undid that. We need to stay out of a lot of this. Well - yes, Russian and China influence is the big concern and somewhat justifiable. I also agree that Iran is the key in that part of the Middle East. It arguably could have been Iraq - but we abandoned that and failed to align Iraq and Israel and Jordan and Kuwait like we could have. Now the key is the "fall" of Iran, but that isn't something we can cause and we don't know what the outcome of that would be anyway.
These people need to eat pork like Asia and Latin America And allow women to dress anyway they want @Salvy @rocketsjudoka
@AroundTheWorld @basso The Middle East use to be very European and Latin in their culture before the Islamists took over with their dumb religious rules
Let’s not act like these two conflicts Ukraine and Middle East are not beneficial to the USA military. They have been testing out tech in both conflicts. The amount of data they have gotten from these conflicts will help in the long run. Especially in Ukraine with Russia using hypersonic weapons and other Russian tech. Valuable info.
From what I can tell, low-cost drones have been some of the most successful weapons for Ukraine...some of them built by European startups.
Russia involved in a direct conflict, US able to fund money directly into the proxy war without kick starting WW3. Israel hitting Iran's proxies potentially Iran itself. No boots on the ground. As far as I'm concerned this is fantastic for American interests. Taking off the geopolitical lens. The loss of life everywhere is a tragedy.
While US forces have been kept for the most part directly out of the conflicts (US forces have exchanged fire with the Houthis and shot down missiles heading to Israel) I don’t think this is good for the long term. I think in the Middle East there is a real danger of the US being dragged into direct conflict. There are still a lot of US forces stationed in the region and carrier groups have been moved in and out a lot recently.
