Beware the Ides of March - Trump Thread #156

[Spandauer]

Do you think The Friend of Epstein is au fait with Roman history?

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5488504-name-a-better-trio-than-onion-garlic-ginger-trump-thread-155

Currently trending on X

Another more recent example would be Israels attempt to remove Hamas from the Gaza Strip. This is NOT an argument in favour of Hamas. Its likely the world would be better if they didn't exist any more. But the Gaza Strip is tiny and flat and Israel dropped more explosives during the first few months than were dropped on London and Dresden during the entirety of WW2. They have one of the most high tech armies in the world... Hamas are still there and apparently still control large areas of the Strip.
Unlike Gaza, Iran is a very large very mountainous country whose leadership have spent a lóng time preparing deep underground bunkers (not just tunnels in sand).
Inot that I like the regime. I just don't think "bombing" is a good way to effect regime change. It's like trying to help someone in an abusive relationship by dynamiting their house.

The middle East effectively developed guerilla warfare. They trained in Lybia the IRA and the RAF (red army faction - * Germany)

He will obviously inherit the spurs.

And talking of football, happy to watch MotD tonight.

Talking a bit more about football, Iran and World Cup, their team might withdraw and there is security.

Talking of security- I’ve not seen it mentioned particularly, but surely some Iranian supporters, including Hamas, Hezbollah etc, are going to escalate with what they do best and more terror attacks should be expected?

NYT: “.. the president capped an extraordinary day of U.S. aggression abroad by attending a glitzy fund-raising dinner at his club ..

Looks like the shooting in Texas today was an Islamist terrorist attack in response to what’s happening in Iran. And so it begins 😭

I always wonder why the American police always seem to shoot to kill rather than to incapacitate and capture. Is it that they are unable to hit someone in the leg or the arm, but have to aim for larger targets? Or is it that they don't actually want answers to the questions they might be able to ask a gunman on a killing spree who survived? Are they afraid that a suicide vest might be involved? What? There has to be a reason....

Has that been confirmed? I have only seen potential terror link

The UK police shoot a lot less but I think they are trained to shoot to kill/hit the chest or head not to incapacitate. The way it was explained to me is there is no safe way to shoot someone. Legs have major arteries in them that can get hit by a bullet or sliced by a broken bone if the bullet hits the bone. Like arms they are harder to hit than the body and unlikely to slow someone down if they are an immediate threat to life. And if someone isn't an immediate threat to life why are you shooting them...

I am not a police officer and got this second hand from someone who is. So it might be wrong and if anyone knows better feel free to correct me. But it's what I was told.

What do you think will happen {mention:Talkinpeace}@Talkinpeace? No axe to grind here; just a baffled Brit who hopes USA politics will become less insane in the future.

We are not immune: Brexit will continue to be the stinking albatross around our necks until we get back to something like membership of the EEA.

.

@TheABC you and I have been politically homeless since 2016
I vote in New York but it feels performative not democratic

It appears the UK has just given the US permission to use our RAF bases ?

Only for very specific defensive purposes.

So as a PP said: the king is dead, long live the king!
Does this mean another 'operation' is needed?
"Operation Oops, Once More With Feeling"

Thread:
🧵 Following the death of Khamenei, high-ranking cleric Alireza Arafi has been appointed to Iran’s 3-member interim leadership council. A polyglot and tech-focused hardliner, Arafi represents ideological continuity and a "steady hand" for the regime.

Arafi is a longtime protégé of Khamenei.

Arafi has decades of experience spreading the regime's ideology globally.

Some reports describe him as having a "tribal, almost medieval antagonism" toward Sunnis, Christians, and atheists.

He is a proponent of using AI to spread ideological messages and modernize religious governance.

Unlike other hardliners (like Khamenei's son Mojtaba), Arafi does not have deep, direct ties to the IRGC or the security establishment.

In short: He is essentially Khamenei 2.0 with a tech upgrade. He offers the same hardline policies but with a more globalist approach to enforcing them.
bsky.app/profile/onestpress.onestnetwork.com/post/3mfzmgbngkk2s

@Igotjellythat's good to know - thank you x

Trump has released a new video statement on Iran through Truth Social.

On casualties:

“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends.

“That is the way it is.”

i’m finding these videos so incredibly strange. Not like Trump to avoid crowing in front of the media.

Joint decision with France and Germany

Wow - the bigly problem I see with this for Trump possibly (hopefully) is that Congress didn’t agree it, and the US Republican voters thought they were voting for less wars, casualties, costs of war.

I see a lot more wrong with it overall of course and I’d be celebrating if Trump caused his own downfall, or if he just fell through any cause tbh.

Joint statement from E3 (France, Germany, UK)

https://bsky.app/profile/jnetty.bsky.social/post/3mfzosn5g4c27

Thank you. It seems to me that in the USA a target doesn't have to be an immediate threat to life to be shot dead by the police, and that since they are shooting as a first resort rather than a last one in any case, they might as well try not to kill everyone on autopilot. That way they would have someone to question sometimes, even if much of the time their targets died anyway of blood-loss or whatever.

As for "if someone isn't an immediate threat to life why are you shooting them", well, there is always "she was driving a car near me" or "he was a colour I don't like".

I mentioned suicide vests because that was a reason I was given once for always shooting the torso and "not trying to be clever" – by someone in the UK who was trained by the police to use a gun. He found it deeply embarrassing and wrong if anyone was killed for (for instance) carrying a chair-leg in a carrier bag, because that ought not to be a capital offence.

I knew an armed police officer - U.K. - they told me when shooting at a running target, from behind, then it’s not just to kill (and protect the public), but also to instantly paralyse as part of that, so no chance (hopefully) of involuntary movement at death causing danger to the public. This was in relation to a specific event but I imagine it is the same intent from any angle.

I agree it is so much more common for police to use guns in the US that it seems wrong if it is to kill always, but they will have the same defensive view (to protect the public and themselves) and principles of action that arise from that I should think.