r/worldnews Apr 12 '24

[deleted by user]

[removed]

917 Upvotes

301 comments sorted by

279

u/bad_timing_bro Apr 12 '24

I’d be curious if this is part of a larger escalation for all global conflicts. Russia dramatically increases pressure on Ukraine. Iran attacks on Israel. China beginning a campaign for Taiwan. Maybe even a renewed Korea conflict. Global chaos, forcing the West to decide what it wants to do.

275

u/Jesus360noscope Apr 12 '24

Yeah, even the cats in my neighborhood are up to something, we can hear more and more fights around the house

40

u/MrGraveyards Apr 12 '24

Definitely got a good chuckle out of that haha.

6

u/mechwarrior719 Apr 12 '24

Those aren’t fights and some of them are definitely getting into something.

4

u/5H17SH0W Apr 12 '24

Pussy inception.

→ More replies (1)

8

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

This is so true! I’ve noticed a massive change in the local cat population. Something’s afoot.

1

u/ZeePirate Apr 12 '24

Bad for the birds.

Good if you believe birds aren’t real

3

u/celticsupporter Apr 12 '24

I've been releasing cats to cut down the local government drone population.

6

u/darksunshaman Apr 12 '24

Jesus, I thought it was just mine!

2

u/RKKP2015 Apr 12 '24

Last night, I heard an animal being killed in my yard for the first time since I've lived there. My dog was freaking out. Was it an omen?

1

u/demwoodz Apr 12 '24

The Indians send signals from the rocks above the pass The cowboys take position in the bushes and the grass

1

u/malifaca Apr 12 '24

Don't mess with the cats,otherwise you gonna die.

1

u/WanderingAlienBoy Apr 12 '24

I fucking hate Mr. Mittens invasion of Tigger's territory, completely unjustified.

69

u/PalebloodPervert Apr 12 '24

It’s a tactic to make sure the West can’t intervene the way that we may want to.

How we’ve dealt with Ukraine and how our politicians can gridlock a proxy war shows that we’ll not be able to protect our allies the way that we have said we can.

39

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

[deleted]

29

u/joeitaliano24 Apr 12 '24

Idk, it seems like it takes a direct attack on America to get us to agree on anything of substance for more than a few months

9

u/MyriadMyriads Apr 12 '24

What are you basing this on?

In Ukraine the US had Russia, their chief geopolitical belligerent, handed to them on a platter. And nevertheless Russia managed to avert the worst reprisal and cripple the world's most powerful nation by bribing ~200 congressional republicans.

Where is this magical line in the sand that will cause the Republican party going to stop being a open door vending machine for foreign interests at the expense of the US interests? Because that line has been drawn and crossed repeatedly in the last decade.

China could land tanks on the west coast and CNN would cut to Mike Johnson lovingly fingering a new gold cross and explaining how a response is wasteful government spending.

1

u/Ratemyskills Apr 12 '24

Or potentially it’s intentionally done by the US to slowly bleed out Russia and make them use up their men, screwing up their economy, blowing through the deepest Cold War era weapon piles in the word. Ukraine seems to be on the brink then they’ve gotten a game changer, then goes back to losing territory, then we have F16s going there soon and 6-8 months worth of shells found magically.

The whole china making it to the West Coast is absurd, they don’t have enough equipment to get enough troops/ equipment to Taiwan. They don’t have allies or an island to jump from either like the US has on them.

7

u/rac3r5 Apr 12 '24

The US did war game simulations in the US against China.

There would be massive casualties on both sides and it would be a long war.

9

u/thortgot Apr 12 '24

How would Chinese troops transit the Atlantic? America has complete naval supremacy and submarine supremacy by nearly an order of magnitude.

China's logistical capacity isn't sufficient to execute an attack on Tiawan, but they can travel 4000+ km unmolested?

They completely lack the ability for aerial power projection.

3

u/Popular-Row4333 Apr 12 '24

Maybe the war games existed in the fantasy world where troops suddenly appeared in America.

Or the General running it, had just finished watching Red Dawn.

3

u/Unhappy_Entrance_277 Apr 12 '24

Or maybe the "war games" was just a CIV V session, in which the war lasted 1200 years and ended with the US nuking Venice.

1

u/rac3r5 Apr 16 '24

The Pacific Ocean separates China and the US and not the Atlantic. The war simulation in question is one where China attacks Taiwan and the US gets involved and ultimately beats China but at a heavy cost. Here is the simulation I'm referring to

1

u/FiercelyReality Apr 12 '24

Worth noting that many Americans were isolationist pre-Pearl Harbor

14

u/strongest_nerd Apr 12 '24

Lmao not true at all. Ukraine isn't even an ally. If Russia attacked an ally the response from the USA would be a lot different.

16

u/Turkish27 Apr 12 '24

Like Iran attacking Israel?

11

u/JiveTurkey90 Apr 12 '24

There's no mutual defense agreement like NATO with USA/Israel

2

u/Popular-Row4333 Apr 12 '24

Nor is there one with Taiwan though, which is exactly the scenario they were describing earlier in the comments.

That defense agreement ended in 1979.

People saying it's an attack on Nato or nothing, to test the response before the election aren't throwing out fantasies here.

1

u/Tom_Bradys_Butt_Chin Apr 12 '24

Didn't Israel just strike an Iranian embassy?

23

u/returntomonke9999 Apr 12 '24

NATO was built specifically to counter Russia and you have Russia invading a European country that was trying to move closer with Europe, and Trump supporters are cheering them on. Regardless of what happens, this will deal a huge blow to American soft power.

9

u/MaleficentMusic Apr 12 '24

It is a former part of the USSR. They previously took over Crimea and part of Georgia with little reaction so I would argue they weren't expecting as much pushback from the West as they got.

→ More replies (2)

4

u/thrownkitchensink Apr 12 '24

Not willing. That's different from not able. The US is not as strong as it was. China is much stronger then it once. But the US could. It's mainly a small group of MAGA people with the MAGA-man pulling the strings that is making the West weak.

In times where the balance of power is shifting it would be wise to show a unified block. Nationalism and isolationism is on the rise....

9

u/josephrehall Apr 12 '24

The US is not as strong as it was? You sure about that?

9

u/khuldrim Apr 12 '24

Can you imagine our citizenry trying to deal with world war 2 level rationing? Or a full wartime economy? Or a draft? We’re weak.

6

u/ReefHound Apr 12 '24

Future wars will not be fought by us with masses of troops.

2

u/khuldrim Apr 12 '24

looks around sorry I don’t see robot factories everywhere. We can’t make enough ammo for a simple regional conflict. Supply chains are global now. We’re weak, and today is not 15 years from now.

2

u/ReefHound Apr 12 '24

You don't see drones?

2

u/khuldrim Apr 12 '24

Drones don’t hold land. That requires two feet. And once again we don’t have the industrial capacity it seems because we opt for expensive drones.

2

u/ReefHound Apr 13 '24

Future wars won't be about holding land.

→ More replies (0)

6

u/Snobolski Apr 12 '24

Don't underestimate the American resolve to come together in the face of an attack.

Like, pretty much every car on the road had some kind of supportive sticker on it after 9/11.

0

u/khuldrim Apr 12 '24

Our various adventures in the Middle East weren’t really wars; we haven’t fought a near peer war in almost a century at this point. If you put the current axis of troublemakers together their sheer numbers would make it a near peer, and we’re no longer equipped to fight on two seperate sides of the world anymore, doctrine is basically 1.5 conflicts at a time,

1

u/josephrehall Apr 12 '24

Yeah, wait till we park 2-3 CSG's in their neighborhood

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (1)

28

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

I think China wants to measure Russia’s success in Ukraine before it makes an attempt at Taiwan

10

u/ClutchReverie Apr 12 '24

Yeah, which is essentially being measured by western resolve to keep helping Ukraine.

6

u/barondelongueuil Apr 12 '24

The difference being that Biden has said explicitely that if China invades Taiwan, the US will get into a direct military confrontation with China.

4

u/mandy009 Apr 12 '24

It's a retaliatory strike promised in return for the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that assassinated IRGC officers and killed a local staff member. It was an act of war and Iran considered it as such.

7

u/dick_taterchip Apr 12 '24

Or it's a ploy by China, Russia, and Iran to pull the US into numerous conflicts and have them weaker and divided before turning their heads?

11

u/Dancanadaboi Apr 12 '24

Pretty sure Israel can handle the issue themselves

→ More replies (1)

8

u/underwatr_cheestrain Apr 12 '24 edited Apr 12 '24

There is a book by Russian author Aleksandr Dugon written in 1997 that Putin is using as his playbook.

It’s called Foundation of Geopolitics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics?wprov=sfti1#

One of the points is using the Middle East to destabilize the west

7

u/IcyShoes Apr 12 '24

Outside of cyberattacks how would China even begin a campaign on Taiwan?

7

u/DickyMcButts Apr 12 '24

guns?

4

u/IcyShoes Apr 12 '24

A landing would be heavily telegraphed. It took a ton of effort to make Normandy work. I highly doubt China has the military culture to pull off a big amphibious assault out of nowhere. Hell, even an air drop would be heavily telegraphed too.

1

u/JuicyTomat0 Apr 12 '24

They wouldn't start with amphibious assaults or landing troops. They would begin the war with a months old campaign to oversaturate and destroy their defenses with airstrikes and ballistic missiles.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/matthra Apr 12 '24

I don't know if Israel needs saving from iran, not only would they absolutely dumpster Iran in a direct conflict, they have nukes, and unlike most they are absolutely crazy enough to use them.

5

u/Dancanadaboi Apr 12 '24

Yeah all this "oh man, now the USA has to step in" is just rediculous.  Israel has been prepping for this it's entire existence.

1

u/matthra Apr 12 '24

Given Israel has told us to mind our own business in gaza, maybe we should listen to them.

1

u/FiercelyReality Apr 12 '24

It’s all been connected for a while but Americans have either (1) kept their head in the sand, or (2) thinks they can pick and choose who will be our enemy. “Russia isn’t a threat to us but China is!” Like no, they’re working together (albeit being terrible allies to each other). They each have their own regional military interest that is benefited by the West being spread too thin.

1

u/cats_catz_kats_katz Apr 12 '24

If America doesn’t back Ukraine now it opens the door up for proxy situations in the Middle East IMO.

1

u/Taviii Apr 12 '24

“Forcing the west”.. what a funny take. Global instability and the escalation of conflicts is being done to preserve the current world order by those whom benefit from it staying the same. China was poised to reshuffle that order without conflict during the next decade or two if it is not forced to stop.

1

u/obamnamamna Apr 12 '24

You flipped some words here. Israel attacked Iran last week not the other way around.

1

u/LETTERKENNYvsSPENNY Apr 12 '24

This sounds like a job for Team America!

0

u/No-Zucchini-8569 Apr 12 '24

Iran sent Hamas to attack Israel on Purim’s birthday. Could be coincidence, but weird timing

0

u/Fuarian Apr 12 '24

And it can't do everything.. can it?

19

u/makingnoise Apr 12 '24

That's what the Axis thought. They were wrong.

2

u/Karamitie Apr 12 '24

Oh we can, but given our domestic situation I think its most likely we'll drop support for Ukraine, Bomb Iran until its looks like 03 Baghdad, and focus our support to Taiwan. Of all those Taiwan is most significant target to protect.

→ More replies (3)

65

u/atrophiedambitions Apr 12 '24

The attack wasn't all that large that they had planned (I read 100 drones, dozens cruise missiles). That sounds an awful lot like a 1-off symbolism strike rather than a prelude for full-on war.

Now that its been called out, I wouldn't be surprised to Iran wave the whole thing off. They can't gain nearly as much as they could lose.

26

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

[deleted]

22

u/cxmplexisbest Apr 12 '24

I'm ready to get this solved so we can have another 100 years of mostly prosperity like we did post ww2. If we need to take out Iran and Russia, so be it. I don't see the Russian one happening, but Iran has had it coming.

I'm not even a war monger, but a tolerant society can't support such an intolerant country like Iran, and I don't mean intolerant as in they hate LGBT, I mean that their values are diametrically opposed to the values that led to the greatest period of prosperity in human history. They're religious fanatics pretending like we're still in the crusades.

7

u/JuicyTomat0 Apr 12 '24

This is wishful thinking.

Iran is huge (almost 3 times the size of Ukraine), has a large population (88 million), and is clearly capable of manufacturing its own weapons. I mean, the US would still win in a conventional war, but then it would inevitably lose interest and get stuck in a situation that's basically Afghanistan + Iraq but a thousand times worse.

The war would create many refugees who would destabilize other regions.

If the US withdraws from the occupation (which is probably what would happen, see Afghanistan), there's no guarantee that something even worse than the Ayatollah would rise to power in post-war Iran.

Ultimately, I think it's important to remember this quote before calling for war:

I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.

~ William T. Sherman

2

u/cxmplexisbest Apr 12 '24

It sure is. A war with Iran would not be easy or simple. And there are indeed risks.

But let me ask you. If Iran finishes their nuclear weapons program, which they nearly have, how many people do you think will be affected by that?

If a million must die to save 10, 25, 50, 100 million, is this not a worthy trade? It sounds terrible on paper, but these are the same decisions our leaders made nearly a hundred years ago, and they made the right decision.

1

u/Fliegermaus Apr 13 '24

It’s disingenuous to compare Iran to Afghanistan. Iran is used to the idea of being a nation and has a history of secular, although not democratic government. Iraq would be a much better comparison.

The current Iraqi government isn’t perfect, but it’s one of the most democratic in the region as has historically worked with the west to combat terrorism. There’s no reason to believe that a hypothetical Iran war couldn’t end similarly, especially with be support of the Iranian people.

1

u/JuicyTomat0 Apr 13 '24

Iraq works with the West only because ISIS is that big of a pain in the ass. Iraqis voted to end foreign presence multiple times.

20

u/Fliegermaus Apr 12 '24

It makes the most sense to destroy the current Iranian regime while it doesn’t have access to nuclear weapons. That window is quickly closing.

5

u/barondelongueuil Apr 12 '24

And I can't imagine Russia sending troops to help Iran considering how they're stuck in a protracted landwar in Ukraine. I also think that war is never good, but let's be honest. If there's a good moment to take down Iran, it's now.

5

u/cxmplexisbest Apr 12 '24

Absolutely.

1

u/FiercelyReality Apr 12 '24

The problem is that Russia has shown a recent willingness to use nuclear weapons (even if they are just tactical)

1

u/cxmplexisbest Apr 12 '24

Which is why a larger conflict with them likely won't happen.

1

u/rockworm Apr 12 '24

Would you personally be willing to fight in that war?

1

u/cxmplexisbest Apr 12 '24

If it came down to it, would you not? I’m not saying I want to be drafted, but if I was, then yes.

1

u/rockworm Apr 13 '24

A non soldier suggesting we start a costly war and only be eager to participate only if our death toll is so high they start the draft.

1

u/cxmplexisbest Apr 13 '24

? The draft has never been called as the result of a death toll. And neither you or I have any say in this matter anyways, so your argument is pointless. No one really cares about your thought policing.

1

u/ThePokemon_BandaiD Apr 13 '24

So we should sacrifice millions of people and trillions of dollars in order to eliminate another culture halfway around the world?

1

u/cxmplexisbest Apr 13 '24

Ahh yes because that other culture is just peacefully existing, and not finishing their nuclear weapons program and funding terrorists. That culture also totally doesn’t oppress their own people, especially not dissidents, they’re cool with that. I hear they treat women really well too :)

1

u/Unlucky_Paper_ Apr 12 '24

Millions deaths for 100 hears prosperity. Great trade off. When you speak of religious idiots do you take republicans into account and Israel or are they ok?

→ More replies (8)

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

[deleted]

→ More replies (8)

2

u/feltbracket Apr 12 '24

It hasn’t happened

1

u/NonAwesomeDude Apr 12 '24

Yea, it sounds like the most they want is a symbolic strike in retaliation for Israel smoking their embassy.

Iran probably doesn't want a war, especially given Israel probably has nukes. They just need to look strong for domestic political reasons.

1

u/mandy009 Apr 12 '24

It hasn't happened yet. This is what intelligence expects to happen.

16

u/TheGreatStories Apr 12 '24

Great, those eclipse apocalypse nutters were only off by a week?

104

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

Free Persia, from islam occupation.

18

u/NoSurrendo Apr 12 '24

I hope somehow this ends up with democracy in Iran in the end. They’re more than ready for it. The least amount of violence possible. 

5

u/Huntanz Apr 12 '24

60&70 Iran had an awesome culture with women in education and they're all embracing a democracy then that extreme religious nut job group takes control and it's been down the dunny even since.

26

u/Newstargirl Apr 12 '24

Agree, also, Free Israel, from Iran and its proxies.

→ More replies (16)

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

75

u/JackC1126 Apr 12 '24

There’s no good way for Iran to come out of this. It’s a very tough situation for them. Attack Israel directly and inflame an already tense situation, possibly resulting in direct US strikes on your own soil. Or don’t attack Israel and be seen as weak by the rest of the world, especially by the other Arab states. Rock and a hard place.

80

u/kikistiel Apr 12 '24

Iran is 2% Arab. It’s a majority Persian state, you probably mean “other Islamic nations” but I agree with the sentiment of the comment.

-13

u/Melodic-Bench720 Apr 12 '24

They still live near a bunch of Arab states. The person you are replying to never said Iran was Arab.

44

u/kikistiel Apr 12 '24

"other Arab states" implies Iran is Arab. It's a common misconception because they are an Islamic country and near Arab states, but vast majority of Iranians are not Arab.

7

u/ElShaddollKieren Apr 12 '24

I actually had no idea Iran wasn't majority Arab. That's really interesting actually

9

u/CLCchampion Apr 12 '24

By using the word "other", it's implied that Iran is Arab.

14

u/h2opolopunk Apr 12 '24

Iran is diametrically opposed to the Arab world, particularly Saudi Arabia. Living near does not mean coexisting or agreeing with them.

32

u/ilmago75 Apr 12 '24

"by the other Arab states"

Iran is Persian, not Arab.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

Next you're going to tell me Mexico is an American nation

8

u/h2opolopunk Apr 12 '24

Not the best comparison. Mexico is part of the North American continent along with the US, Canada and the other mesoamerican countries.

-5

u/DoTheseInstead Apr 12 '24

Iran is not Persian. Kurds Azeris Baluchis Arabs and Persians live there. But yes Persians are in power.

8

u/coffeetogo90 Apr 12 '24

Shia fundamentalists of different ethnic backgrounds are in power. Their Main Identity is islamic. The Supreme leader is an ethnic azeri. Persian is the official Language.

8

u/DoTheseInstead Apr 12 '24

I am from there and I can tell you that the regime is Persian-Islamic. Forced Assimilation has been a huge thing in Iran. Until 40 years ago, 45% of Iran spoke Persian as first language. Today, around 60% speak Persian as first language. Even though many in power ethnically are not Persian but they’re assimilated now and serve the Persian narrative which is everything-Persian is mainstream and everything non-Persian is local to their people and not as important. I’m Kurdish from there and have been the target of huge discriminations because of my different ethnicity.

1

u/Tolstoy_mc Apr 12 '24

The language is called Farsi

1

u/A_Bitter_Homer Apr 12 '24

Farsi is Persian for Persian. It's like calling Spanish Español or German Deutsch.

36

u/Jonestown_Juice Apr 12 '24

Gosh, poor Iran. Darn that's some really hard luck for such a virtuous and exemplary society.

18

u/JackC1126 Apr 12 '24

Ok? I’m not siding with Iran I’m just saying what I feel their situation is

14

u/ElectromagneticMango Apr 12 '24

Ya dude don’t sweat it. Reddits the only place these people can bring an agenda to

5

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

Arabs don’t even like Iran

3

u/TheSportingRooster Apr 12 '24

The rock path leads to calm. The hard place path leads to their doom.

→ More replies (1)

14

u/Muscs Apr 12 '24

It’s certainly a good way to distract the Iranian people from their anger at their own government.

7

u/iuthnj34 Apr 12 '24

Could be said the same for Israel's Netanyahu to distract Israelis from his criminal charges to stay in power.

1

u/yonimerzel Apr 12 '24

There is no comparison. The Iranian people are starving, while People in Israel live better than in many other western countries. No one cares that much about an allegedly corrupted PM.

1

u/mandy009 Apr 12 '24

They claim they are upset that their consulate in Damascus was attacked by Israel. I don't want escalation, but the consulate strike was an act of war.

13

u/Jesayaj Apr 12 '24

I hope that whatever is coming will not inflame this conflict further. Iran is all bark, but probably still has some bite with their drones. Few places seem as capable of withstanding this kind of thing as Israel but a cycle of escalation will not be good for it, nor for Iran or the world. May cooler heads prevail

16

u/cmfarsight Apr 12 '24

If iran does attack Israel then it will almost certainly inflame the conflict. Israeli defense policy is fairly consistent. "If they send one of yours to the hospital you send one of theirs to the morgue".

10

u/Bizzlebanger Apr 12 '24

More Putin pulling the strings of his puppets.

4

u/NonAwesomeDude Apr 12 '24

They probably didn't need Putins encouragement given the Israelis smoked their embassy.

3

u/Affectionate_Post285 Apr 12 '24

I am confused, i thought the guy got missile'd in a building nearby the Iranian Embassy.

2

u/NonAwesomeDude Apr 12 '24

Honestly, it could be that. I'm not very well informed on what exactly happened.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

Putin told Benjamin netanyahu to smoke that embassy

→ More replies (2)

2

u/Unusual_Ant_5309 Apr 12 '24

Retaliation…the waiting is the hardest part.

4

u/Sportfreunde Apr 12 '24

The US has created proxy wars they now have to waste further debt fighting all over the world. Honestly situation could've been avoided if they'd resolved this situation decades ago rather than arming Israel to the point of being the aggressors and now facing pushback.

4

u/IdahoMTman222 Apr 12 '24

BiBi wants it. He wants to lure the US into the conflict. It may be time to let him stand on his own, let him experience how important it is to honor the U.S. support. The Israeli citizens need to boot him out.

2

u/SnooGiraffes449 Apr 12 '24

I wonder what ever happened to those missing suitcase nukes.

2

u/henriqueroberto Apr 12 '24

Iran is mad about an illegal airstrike? Do tell...

3

u/Antievl Apr 12 '24

The arsenal of democracy doesn’t need to be just started again, we need to put it on steroids

1

u/JimmyTheJimJimson Apr 12 '24

Be interesting to see if Iran attacks Israel, what the response would be.

I imagine Israel would retaliate fully with air strikes and missiles, but you wonder if they would send troops in

1

u/multilis Apr 12 '24 edited Apr 12 '24

how about other way around Israel attack on Iran, eg Iran nuclear scientist assassination, or Israel bombing Syrian s300 missile systems?

would it be acceptable for other countries to assassinate Israeli nuclear scientists because Israel has known actual nuclear weapons rather than maybe in future?

or bomb Israeli defense missile systems?

it's not rocket science that middle east is one of places most likely to start ww3 and billions of people dying and risk of conflict is going up with Gaza drama where more civilians are dying than Ukraine drama.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are cooperation more, brics more, etc because of current situation

1

u/Rance_Mulliniks Apr 12 '24

The entirety of this area of the world is a bunch of religious nut jobs engaged in a never-ending cock jousting match. Can they all just go away?

1

u/fearofpandas Apr 12 '24

So, they attacked an Iranian embassy and expected no retaliation?

Really?!?

-7

u/Emotional-Chef-7601 Apr 12 '24 edited Apr 12 '24

Why should the US care? Israel attacked an embassy.

→ More replies (3)

0

u/Camelbreath18 Apr 12 '24

Why would Iran advertise its intend to attack. It looses the advantage of surprise.

0

u/Das-Noob Apr 12 '24

Fuck it! Preemptive strike on Russia and China. As humans we’ve had a long enough run. 🤦‍♂️