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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe term "Iranian-backed" is becoming like the term "communist" was used in the 50's
Justification for all kinds of war crimes and attacks on people we don't like in the ME.
Do we ever call Mossad "US-backed Mossad" or say "US-backed IDF?"
Who do we back in Central America? Who do we back in South America?
Knowing how Netanyahu pressed for funding of Hamas, would it have been more correct to say "Israeli-backed Hamas?"
So much greed, hypocrisy getting so many innocent people killed and even more suffering. When will it all end
Who are our proxies around the world?
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Easterncedar
(6,378 posts)What we did to destroy Iran’s democracy has been devastating to the world. What if we hadn’t?
LeftInTX
(34,547 posts)
gab13by13
(32,483 posts)Communist backed was a ruse, a con job, it is no ruse that Russia and Iran are backing the Houthis in their pirating in the Red Sea.
Russia and Iran would like nothing more than Donald Trump to become the next president.
The attack on the Houthis was not carried out solely by the United States. Where is your attack on the U.K, the Netherlands and other countries who were also involved in keeping the Red Sea open? The price of oil and gasoline is sure to rise as a result of what is going on and Russia and Iran would love nothing better than to see 5-6 dollar a gallon gas prices by election time.
Make no mistake, what the Houthis are doing is meant to hurt Joe Biden. I say we should blow every Houthi pirate ship right out of the water, because they are real.
gab13by13
(32,483 posts)I listened to Malcolm Nance yesterday explain what is going on with the Russian/Iranian backed Houthis.
I repeat, the attack on the Houthis was done by several nations, it wasn't only done by the United States. We need to protect our people and interests in the region. We need to send a message to the Houthis if they fuck around in the Red Sea they are going to be blown out of the water.
dalton99a
(94,684 posts)French navy defends use of million-euro missiles to down Houthi drones
By Rudy Ruitenberg
Jan 11, 11:50 AM
...
The Languedoc frigate patrolling in the southern Red Sea in December shot down multiple drones using Aster 15 missiles, at a cost that defense analysts estimate at around €1 million ($1.1 million) per missile. The British Royal Navy’s HMS Diamond has also used the missiles to fend of drone attacks in the area. ...
The commander said not all drones used by the Houthi’s are cheap loitering munitions, and some variants used for target observation are “quite sophisticated.” Downing reconnaissance drones can head off a more lethal attack, Slaars said.
The Houthi rebels are using shipping-tracking data to identify potential targets, then fly observation drones to scout vessels before attacking them with drones and anti-ship missiles, according to Slaars. The drone and missile technology being used by the Houthis is from Iran, “there’s no secret there,” the vice admiral said.
...
dalton99a
(94,684 posts)Fuck them.
Bomb them where they live and where they keep their weapons.
sjr2323
(28 posts)Yeah
EX500rider
(12,633 posts)OMG, American evangelicals are targeting missiles at commercial ships? Where??
MarineCombatEngineer
(18,127 posts)wake me when they start interfering with commercial traffic via missiles, drones and such.
Hekate
(100,133 posts)
GuppyGal
(1,748 posts)sarisataka
(22,711 posts)
😁
Crunchy Frog
(28,287 posts)
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(100,133 posts)Maybe he was a test case for how quickly you could get a super-long DU thread going that 100% bashes the US.
Pretty quickly, actually — many of us are not very happy. It just doesn’t mean we all agree that Uncle Sam is The Great Satan.
Crunchy Frog
(28,287 posts)I don't know why they wouldn't try the same thing here, or anywhere else that there's an opening.
The war in Ukraine isn't going well for them, but the manipulation of public discourse in the west is going extremely well.
Hekate
(100,133 posts)They used to be easier to spot because of language details — it’s possible that the new generation of AI will smooth that out for them, but who knows.
Aside from that, I just wish that more people in our DU community would be wary of new or newish posters who jump right in with a Power Point list of every damn thing the US has ever gotten wrong since 1492. Well, that’s too obvious. Several months ago we had 2 or 3 posters who were able to garner up to 400 responses per OP by sticking to just one contentious topic at a time — when that wore out, they’d lay low like Brer Fox and come back with a different contentious topic. Then they laid low, and I haven’t seen them for awhile.
Manipulating public discourse for fun and profit. All of us, and I include myself, have our triggers, and some days I am less alert than others.
NorseSaxonCelt
(75 posts)Prices started to rise before Christmas. The UK gets oil from Iran... The blockades on the Red Sea is going risk the global economy.
I actually think that the Houthi rebels are expendable, they have been set up in a fight that will get them killed. Yemen was bombed and starved by Saudi Arabia, now they are useful martyrs..
Now the propaganda is the violent West is murdering the poor people from Yemen, Joe Biden is evil and the TikTok generation are threatening to vote third party..
This all plays into the hands of Putin, China and Iran..in a year when there are many General Elections across the world.
WarGamer
(18,732 posts)Remember the big assassination of the General?
TheKentuckian
(26,314 posts)and entropy and deadlock in our government.
Chump is a mighty aid in letting us destroy ourselves.
NorseSaxonCelt
(75 posts)He still has debts in Russia and China...
captain queeg
(11,780 posts)I approve. I just wish we weren’t so tied in to the Middle East. Between oil and the Suez Canal it’s just too important not to have a big interest there.
gab13by13
(32,483 posts)Israeli affiliated shipping on the Red Sea, but they progressed to attacking other nation's ships. The attacks on the Houthis by the UK, USA, Netherlands was on radar sites and missile sites that were used to attack Red Sea shipping.
Russia and Iran are backing the Houthis to do this to raise the price of oil and gas. The Houthis weren't just attacking Israeli ships. Oil tankers have re-routed around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid being attacked. Look for oil prices to jump, at least in the short term.
captain queeg
(11,780 posts)It’s pretty much a suicide mission depending on what they attack. They navy probably appreciates the opportunity for target practice
NorseSaxonCelt
(75 posts)Saudi Arabia already bombed Yemen and starved them..The Houthi Rebels are Iranian backed and Saudis Arabia hates Iran...as they are Shia. Whoever has encouraged the Houthis to get involved intended them to get killed.
Just as Hamas are letting Gaza get destroyed...so they can scream "genocide" at The West.
NorseSaxonCelt
(75 posts)If the Suez Canal is blockaded...The West is already hit with rising fuel prices. People are cold this winter already. The double blow of war in Ukraine and Middle East, means the prices of everything has gone up...
LeftInTX
(34,547 posts)Beastly Boy
(13,283 posts)Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq, Al-Shabab in Somalia, Iran has been supporting Islamist terrorism with impunity for too long.
tritsofme
(19,922 posts)
redqueen
(115,186 posts)The MIC is thrilled with the results.
leftstreet
(41,056 posts)Response to sjr2323 (Original post)
Post removed
OilemFirchen
(7,288 posts)
Response to OilemFirchen (Reply #20)
MarineCombatEngineer This message was self-deleted by its author.
MarineCombatEngineer
(18,127 posts)I don't know if I even remember how to shift the transmission in my truck.
OilemFirchen
(7,288 posts)This whole thread... I don't think I can even spell turck rtuck curtk.
Oh fukc it.
MarineCombatEngineer
(18,127 posts)Thanks for your concern.
Response to Post removed (Reply #15)
MarineCombatEngineer This message was self-deleted by its author.
NickB79
(20,387 posts)Because that's exactly what you implied with your post.
Not all military action by the US and the EU are automatically wrong, immoral or bad. Sometimes bad people just need a little killing.
Xolodno
(7,360 posts)However, we've been at war since 2001, the Bush years and they had a golden opportunity to install a lot of policy makers in the bureaucracy during that time (and its extremely difficult to fire them after they land their job). Just because there is a Democratic President doesn't mean they won't try to shape policy by omitting issues, increasing importance on others, etc. It's one of the reasons why governing is hard, you have staff that you hope that can filter things, but they aren't perfect and things will slip by.
And sometimes, your own staff betrays you. Often they get appointed by both R and D as they have built quite a Resume, but their political ideology may trump their bosses, but don't care if they get the boot as they will have the job the next go around.
I'm sure some of these bureaucrats get some nice "legal" perks as well. Years ago I read an article about "stay behinds", people who were hired under a previous administration and literally tell the higher ups of the previous of what is going on.
And the MIC no doubt had a say on hirings under Bush, C'mon Cheney was VP coming out of an MIC company.
As for killing....I'm a pacifist.
NickB79
(20,387 posts)There are Iranian-armed militants with anti-ship cruise missiles trying to sink commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea. These cargo ships are vital to maintaining global trade and a global economy. It's not a stretch to assert that, if a few ships were sunk, especially oil tankers, it would throw the global economy into a recession. And the Houthis show no sign of negotiating a ceasefire, short of their statement allying themselves with Hamas, an organization who's sole purpose is to exterminate the Jews.
Even a pacifist should be able to see the stark reality of this situation. There are some situations where turning the other cheek gets you shot in the face.
I have confidence that President Biden, with his decades of political experience, knows full well what the situation entails, and I support his actions.
Xolodno
(7,360 posts)But you aren't convincing me.
TheKentuckian
(26,314 posts)and have to actually deal with what they defend or are deposited to exist among those they champion and have to deal with it.
In either event, the time to learn anything but a bunch of more of the same nonsense will most likely be very short and awful or excruciatingly long and miserable.
The clown show cavalcade is contradictory to the point of outright insanity or truly evil.
Atheist promoters of radical theocracy.
Pacifist promoters of wanton agression.
Anti-colonial promoters of genocide against indigenous people.
Peacenik promoters of terrorism against civilians.
Feminists rape handwaivers and cheerleaders.
Anti racist antisemitism flamethtowers, n***** shouters, and beaters of elderly black women.
Pro education no nothings.
Pro transparency propaganda promoters.
Democratic party Republican and Chump enablers.
It is beyond ridiculous and transparently a bunch of nonsensical lies by a slew of recycled Nazis, rehashed Soviets, and spit shined radical theocrats in shoddy disguises, masks slipping and slips showing the whole way.
Xolodno
(7,360 posts)And how I got here.
The current wars are a result of a long chain of wars, by people who think its an acceptable solution and scoff or despise the peaceful solution that doesn't give them "everything they want" (and of course the psychopaths who profit off of it). Despite never even been in the military. And it will only bring more. In 15-20 years, were going to see more as a direct result of the current wars.
As memories are short and will only focus on the most recent events, people will rally for the next one and ignore how it got here in the first place and what could have been learned to break the cycle. They'll just accept the narrative and assume whoever the leader is, is basically a deity, while saying they don't subscribe to that. But give some criticisms, then be burnt at the stake. But hey, I'm used to it.
JFK's deal to quietly remove the nukes from Turkey and Italy was basically appeasement in exchange for removal of the nukes in Cuba. But no one wants to recognize that because it worked. Both JFK and Krushiv had been in war and knew the terrible cost and thus were willing to strike a deal. But mention working a deal, and the appeasement word comes up and your treated like you just killed a puppy.
And the attitude of "killing some of the bad guys" is arrogant and cavalier. Because on their end, we are the bad guys. I was in Egypt recently and our tour van went by the Egyptian version of West Point, it had murals of El Sisi on the walls, no surprise. But two caught my eye, him shaking hands with President Xi and another with Putin, not a single western leader. Draw your own conclusions.
Wars create dead, widows, orphans and destruction which manufacture hate and animosity to create more. Seen it first hand. As for me, I don't subscribe to the religion called patriotism and I'm not going to give my life over a patch of dirt. But many think that's acceptable, makes me wonder if we deserve to survive as a species.
pwb
(12,716 posts)ooooo
betsuni
(29,142 posts)LiberaBlueDem
(1,167 posts)Dead on,
Xolodno
(7,360 posts)
Elessar Zappa
(16,385 posts)Hamas is Iranian-backed, the Houthis are Iranian-backed, these are facts.
Caliman73
(11,767 posts)Typically we back right wing governments and movements. They are typically more friendly to the kind of Capitalism we want to deal with in those countries. Right wing governments will typically allow our corporations to exploit cheap labor in their countries.
malaise
(296,866 posts)Western imperialism is live and well
Lancero
(3,280 posts)Caliman73
(11,767 posts)We are backing Ukraine primarily because they are going up against Russia and because we were asked to do so by our other European allies who rely on Ukraine for grain and some fuel.
Zelenskyy has shown himself to be a leader but we do not know what his bent would be because he has basically been a "war President". We know there is a pretty strong right wing movement in Ukraine.
I would much rather work with Ukraine than have to deal with an emboldened Putin.
HOWEVER, that has nothing to do with my response. If you go back and read it, and look at the history of South and Central America, like the WHOLE history of the region, you will see that my statement is completely accurate.
The United States has backed right wing government after right wing government in the region. From Porfirio Diaz in Mexico to working against populist movements in Central America on behalf of the United Fruit Company, to the Contras and other right wing movements in El Salvador, to the coup against Allende in Chile, to the Military Junta in Brazil, etc...
LeftInTX
(34,547 posts)Houthis are a group attacking ships in the Red Sea. Iran is supplying them with arms because Iran is too chicken to start a war in the Red Sea.
Even the UN Security Council has condemned these attacks.
Caliman73
(11,767 posts)Iran has been anti-US since the Islamic Revolution. You need to remember some history. In the 1950's a socialist leader was voted into power in Iran. He began to oppose foreign control of the country's resources and for that British Petroleum asked the UK and US to help. Mossadegh was deposed and The Shah was installed. This began brutal repressions of the people of Iran from the 1950s until 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to lead the revolution.
No doubt the Houthis are in the wrong here, attacking ships in the Red Sea. The US and UK are justified in defending the right to navigate safely.
The OP was about the use of "Iranian-backed" as a new scare word. Similarly as "Chinese Communist" and "Reds" have been used historically. Like when Marjorie Greene says "corporate communism" or "socialist" without knowing what any of those words mean, but knowing that uninformed people will react emotionally.
The war in Yemen is a sectarian war and a Proxy war. Shia and Sunni groups have been in a Civil War since the 2010's. The Sunni government is backed by Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, who are Shia, are backed by Iran.
malaise
(296,866 posts)Rec
TheKentuckian
(26,314 posts)is a shit look.
LeftInTX
(34,547 posts)Iran is into martyrdom. In the US, when and American dies, we grieve. In Iran, when an Iranian is killed in battle they celebrate. Women want their husbands to be killed in battle. Mothers want their sons killed. They're brainwashed and won't stop. And every Friday at the mosques in Iran it's "Death to America"
https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000003518176/mr-big-mouth.html
GuppyGal
(1,748 posts)
AZSkiffyGeek
(12,744 posts)GuppyGal
(1,748 posts)
ripcord
(5,553 posts)Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, that would influence people's opinions.
Swede
(39,720 posts)No tip necessary
Gore1FL
(22,962 posts)They are committing piracy and terrorism into the Red Sea shipping lanes and must be stopped from doing so.
I am not sure how naming their backers is a particularly sore point or why not acknowledging who backs them has any particular benefit.
There are many regimes around the world that derive much of their power by directing the anger and frustration of their citizenry against the US and our allies.
emulatorloo
(46,155 posts)
W_HAMILTON
(10,372 posts)Much of the "red scare" you talk about was OTHER people making accusations -- often without any evidence whatsoever -- of being communist or communist-sympathizers. This is not the case here.
Furthermore, whether the Houthis are Iranian-backed or not means little -- what matters is their terroristic actions that are disrupting trade in the region, which is why a coalition of countries supported the recent strikes in retaliation for what they have done and to deter them from similar attacks in the future. Being backed by Iran is why they are able to launch such attacks, but even if you take Iran out of the equation, what they are doing is not going to be tolerated by the international community. So, it's a moot point.