Epic Insanity: US is preparing to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities?

For those who believe that it’s Bolton who’s still  in charge of Trump’s Iranian policy, he seems to have handed it to his Secretary of Gunboat Diplomacy, Mike Pompeo, John Kiriakou’s Bolton’s Long Goodbye notwithstanding.  Pompeo’s apparently been all over the Sunday teevee talking heads programs urging global solidarity in his/their mission to take on punishing Iran.  Trump’s threats a month ago that if it came to war with Iran it would mean ‘the official end of Iran’…, arguably at the behest of his friends Nuclear Netenyahu and Crown Prince bin Salman of the Glowing Orb…may have even gotten tiresome for him.

‘U.N. officials: U.S. planning a ‘tactical assault’ in Iran; the military action under consideration would be an aerial bombardment of an Iranian facility linked to its nuclear program, the officials further claimed’, SHLOMO SHAMIR/MAARIV ONLINE, June 17, 2019, jpost.com

“Is the US going to attack Iran soon?
Diplomatic sources at the UN headquarters in New York revealed to Maariv that they are assessing the United States’ plans to carry out a tactical assault on Iran in response to the tanker attack in the Persian Gulf on Thursday.

According to the officials, since Friday, the White House has been holding incessant discussions involving senior military commanders, Pentagon representatives and advisers to President Donald Trump.

The military action under consideration would be an aerial bombardment of an Iranian facility linked to its nuclear program, the officials further claimed.
The bombing will be massive but will be limited to a specific target,” said a Western diplomat.The decision to carry out military action against Iran was discussed in the White House before the latest report that Iran might increase the level of uranium enrichment.
The officials also noted that the United States plans to reinforce its military presence in the Middle East, and in the coming days will also send additional soldiers to the area.

The sources added that President Trump himself was not enthusiastic about a military move against Iran, but lost his patience on the matter and would grant Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is pushing for action, what he wants.

Pompeo has repeatedly made statements against Iran in recent days. He claimed that there is no doubt that the recent explosions in tankers in the Gulf were carried out by Iran.”

‘More troops and photos: America’s message to Tehran;  The photos and the request for troops are a message to Tehran and the region that the US is serious about defending its interests and proving Tehran’s involvement, Seth J. Frantzman, June 18, 2019, jpost.com (and yes, a photo of the oil tanker with a jagged hole far above the water line)

“At least 1,000 US troops are on the way to the Middle East after a request from US Central Command, acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Monday. The US also released new photos showing Iranian involvement in the June 13 attack on two oil tankers.

The photos and the request for troops are a message to Tehran and the region that the US is serious about defending its interests and proving Tehran’s involvement. The photos of Iran’s involvement in removing an unexploded mine from a tanker clearly show an Iranian fast boat with ten men on board. This is alleged to be an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp boat sent on the afternoon of June 13 to remove the mine from one of the disabled ships.

Why would Iran remove a mine in broad daylight? It was apparently fearful that the ship would be towed to the UAE where a salvage crew and investigators would find the mine and easily link it to Iran. But the brazen Iranian removal also appears to show they felt. That even with US cameras rolling, they could do what they wanted in international waters and that there would be no repercussions. Iran has gambled on the US not wanting war.

Shanah[han?] says that the US does not seek conflict with Iran. That means that the US troop deployment is primarily defensive, for now, and that the message is for Iran. But. What is the nature of the message? Iran has announced it will surpass uranium stockpile guidelines set by the 2015 Iran Deal and Iran has threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz to oil shipments. It has also been working more closely with Russia, China and Turkey in several major summits in central Asia over the last week. Iran’s message is that it won’t be deterred.

The US now faces a significant challenge. It can keep showing photos, even close-ups of the IRGC men removing the mine or doing other activities. But Iran has wagered that this doesn’t matter. According to the US the Iranians even fired a missile at a US Reaper drone that was monitoring the June 13 attack. This also comes after two rocket attacks near US personnel in Iraq, one on May 19, one on June 17, and a mortar attack last Friday, and the May 12 sabotage of four oil tankers. In addition the Houthis in Yemen have dramatically increased their use of drones against Saudi Arabia. Iran is testing the US and its allies, seeing if there will be pushback.”

Let’s try to untangle a few of these claims.  First, Iran had started a 60-day clock announcement that if the EU and other interested parties couldn’t get sanctions lifted and allow Iran to sell oil again, create an alternative to the SWIFT banking system, then they’d consider enriching uranium to a higher level, and that it was Trump (by way of Bibi) who’d pulled the US out of the JCPOA, which agreement was designed to ease sanctions on Iran, never mind that the IAEA had continued to say that Iran was in full compliance.

And never mind that anyone with half a brain can tell that the ‘Iranian attack on the oil tankers’ is such an obvious false flag that it would be funny…if the repercussions weren’t about to be so serious.  The drone may have been what the owner of the tankers had noted crew members had reported: some sort of missile (some had reported ‘two’ from the air, not something exploding on the ocean’s surface.  Over to a few snippets from Peter Symonds:

‘US preparing “assault” against Iran’, Peter Symonds, 18 June 2019, wsws.org

“The US subsequently [post JCPOA] re-imposed and strengthened its crippling sanctions on Iran aimed at cutting off all oil exports and collapsing the Iranian economy. It also threatened to take punitive economic measures against companies breaching its unilateral sanctions. Washington’s actions amount to an economic blockade of Iran and an act of war.

With US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the lead, the Trump administration is exploiting attacks on two tankers in the Persian Gulf last Thursday as the pretext for threatening to strike Iran. On Sunday, Pompeo declared that the US was “considering a full range of options,” including “a military response.”

The US Central Command, which would oversee any attack on Iran, released a video which it claims shows a small boat of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) approaching and removing an unexploded limpet mine from one of the damaged tankers—the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous. It followed up yesterday with photos of the same alleged activity.”

“US officials have continued to blame Iran for the attacks despite a declaration from the tanker’s owner that the vessel was hit by a flying object according to its crew members. Both Japan and Germany have questioned Washington’s claims and called for further evidence, saying the video did not constitute sufficient proof. Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks.”

“Pompeo is due to travel today to US Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters in Florida. He will meet with two top military leaders—CENTCOM commander General Kenneth McKenzie and General Richard Clarke, head of the Special Operations Command—to “discuss regional security concerns and operations.”

“The US has also seized on Iranian statements on Monday warning that its low-level enrichment of uranium will exceed the limit set under the 2015 agreement within 10 days to further wind up tensions. Speaking to the media on Monday, US National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis branded Iran’s actions as “nuclear blackmail” and insisted it must be met with “increasing international pressure.”

“Marquis also reiterated Trump’s lie that the US pulled out because “the horrible nuclear deal left their capabilities intact.”

“Iran has only tentatively moved towards abrogating the agreement, even though it would be fully justified in doing so by Washington’s illegal actions. In early May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani set a 60-day deadline for the other signatories—Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China—to put tangible measures in place to enable Iran to export oil and transact with international banks. The deadline expires on July 7.

The European powers have sought to save the agreement, but so far have taken little action. An alternative payment system, INSTEX, which that would circumvent the existing US-dominated international financial and banking system, has been launched but is not yet operational. Even if it were up and running, it would initially only apply to trade in food and medicine. A fully operational system would bring the European powers into open conflict with the United States, which would undoubtedly retaliate.

The Trump administration’s warmongering in the Persian Gulf is opening up divisions in Europe. While German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has openly questioned US “evidence” of Iranian involvement in last week’s tanker attacks, Britain has quickly fallen into line. On Monday, Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the fascist Lega, signalled Rome’s support for Washington’s war drive against Iran.

The Trump administration is recklessly preparing for a war against Iran. Any US airstrike on Iran, even if limited to one attack, would rapidly escalate into an all-out war that would not only involve other US regional allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel, but also threaten to drag in other major powers to defend their vital interests.”

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

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ggersh's picture

it would signal the beginning of the end
the whole ME will go up in flames.

our fearless leader and those he choose
to enable himself are fucking bullies and
while they may be able to bully some me
thinks Iran won't go for it...

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@ggersh
Iran has competent missile capabilities and will retaliate. The US will once again use stand-off weapons to attack, certainly Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from ships offshore of Iran. Iran has the capability to sink those ships in retaliation, which is totally justifiable. That will result in US loss of life and military assets. The Administration and the assholes in Congress will be outraged, "how dare they retaliate?" The result will be an unplanned full-on war with Iran, for which the US is ill prepared and Iran is quite prepared.

I think that Trump is walking a fine line on any re-election possibilities. His bellicosity has turned-off many Americans. Outright war that he has not sold to America will completely eliminate his chances, if not get him summarily impeached. I can't believe that he doesn't see this. Is he that commited to Israel and his beloved Saudi Arabia? Is he that easily swayed by the most evil characters in his administration? By getting him to commit violence with a few unjustified acts is he now "signed up"? I don't see him ever using caution or admitting culpability. This is a setup for a major disaster. What is going on here?

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Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

@The Wizard And it helped him win enough electoral college votes. I go back to a study that showed that counties with more military deaths supported Trump over his anti-interventionist rhetoric. That will all be blown away.

A NEW STUDY suggests that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won more votes from communities with high military casualties than from similar communities which suffered fewer casualties.

Recall that Trump campaigned as a somewhat antiwar candidate who would break with bipartisan pro-war consensus (a promise he has not lived up to, and which didn’t exactly match his past record). His Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, ran a campaign more or less embracing the war status quo — with the emphasis occasionally, as with the case of Syria, on more.

STUDY FINDS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIGH MILITARY CASUALTIES AND VOTES FOR TRUMP OVER CLINTON

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Big Al's picture

@MrWebster doing exactly what he and his admin are doing right now, going after Iran. I wrote about it numerous times trying to warn people he wasn't antiwar. Seems when people get the idea their candidate is antiwar there's no swaying them. Until the war. Even then it's all about the deep state or Clinton or Bolton, not the one in charge.

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ggersh's picture

@The Wizard is the almighty dollar, although he might think
he has another act or two.

D's impeach him for this, nah.

As for your last question, the nuts are
in charge.

I think that Trump is walking a fine line on any re-election possibilities. His bellicosity has turned-off many Americans. Outright war that he has not sold to America will completely eliminate his chances, if not get him summarily impeached. I can't believe that he doesn't see this. Is he that commited to Israel and his beloved Saudi Arabia? Is he that easily swayed by the most evil characters in his administration? By getting him to commit violence with a few unjustified acts is he now "signed up"? I don't see him ever using caution or admitting culpability. This is a setup for a major disaster. What is going on here?

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@ggersh Just when Bush invaded Iraq, I read a small press release that over the next several years Iran would train up to 35,000 suicide bombers. My impression is that Iran will engage in asymmetrical warfare or what some people called 4th generation war.

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ggersh's picture

@MrWebster should this proceed on it's course.
While Bibi the nutter(tRumps soul brother)
thinks he has the most to gain, Israel
actually has the most to lose.

Did I mention that they're all fuckin nutz?

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

wendy davis's picture

@MrWebster

able to kick up about that history was in 2007 at the 'middle east forum', but i'm not sure i trust the report, and dunno who Ali Alfoneh is. but it reads like hasbara to me, just skimming it, looking at the right sidebar.

it may be akin to the constant (and apparent mis-translation) of former irainan prez Ahmadinejad wanting to 'wipe israel off the map'.

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wendy davis's picture

@wendy davis

here he is. glancing at the titles of his pieces, meh. 'Ali Alfoneh is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies'.

pretty self promoting on twitter.

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wendy davis's picture

@ggersh

and you have to suspect that even centcom, trump, pompeo, bolton, bibi, bin salman, and the allied global nations...know that it's all based on false flags and utter lies, even past ones, but they want iran gone, so no rational thought matters. john mcCrnkypants must be cheering from his grave.

how many minutes before midnight is the nuclear clock now?

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ggersh's picture

@wendy davis crossing to the right of 12.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

wendy davis's picture

@ggersh

move past 12 once there is nuclear conflagration? and i agree w/ woods dweller, bombing nuclear facilities even w/ light water reactors would unleash hell. likely they'd use israel bunker busters as india has. are they just tipped with sorta spent uranium? oh, well, it's all so unimaginable, really.

but which is the sole nation EVER to have dropped nuclear bombs on a nation?

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Was listening to NPR and all their reports on Iran were just repeating in their own way State department press releases. Adam Johnson has a few tweets that show the utter lying stenography of the major media and bringing out pro-war hacks from the days of the Iraq invasion.

https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonnyc

Adam also points out the typical democrat response. Basically support war against Iran, but blame Trump for doing it all wrong. Of course, the gopers did this with Obama.

It just shows what others have said, private media companies are simply extensions of the corporate, security and war state. It is really like when a company hires a PR firm to manage its press releases. Somebody pointed out that CNN treats everything Trump says with doubt and suspicion except when it regards Iran, where everything is believed uncritically.

It seems to me that reports that Trump/Pompeo will heavily bomb one site in Iran are credible.

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wendy davis's picture

@MrWebster

days ago that 'anonymous insiders tell us that Iran shot down our drone spy plane', etc.

but your twitter dude gives the sainted ilhan omar a free pass, lol. but i did grab this one, thanks;

i gotta go get some rest as i have a hegg-ache big as...a boeing bomber; be back soon, and it's great y'all are talking to one another.

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ggersh's picture

@MrWebster how would that workout?

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

ggersh's picture

@MrWebster @MrWebster how would that workout?

EDIT:sorry doubleclick

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

wendy davis's picture

@MrWebster

of the psyop to which i'd been referring; this is solid gold:

(anthony freda's 'disinformation room'

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WoodsDweller's picture

False flag on shipping.
Iran vows to step up uranium enrichment.
Conventional attack on some Iranian military target, possibly related to their nuclear program. This will inevitably spill radiation, BTW.
Iran retaliates with a strike against a convenient military target, for example the Abraham Lincoln.
Oil prices spike. Options traders make billions. Nobody quite knows where the money goes.
Response with tactical nuclear weapons, the "second strike" that Tom Cotton keeps talking about.
Full on conventional (probably) response by Iran. The US Command is astonished that they didn't surrender. They had a Plan B, but never expected to need it, and it wasn't adequate. Oops!
Further nuclear strikes. Iranian oil fields wrecked.
Russia and/or China supply Iran with tactical nukes with which to respond. American forces in the region decimated.
Israel launches their nukes. Iran responds.
Don't worry, El Trumpo is the steady hand in control of "the launch codes".

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

'orchestrated escalation' calculations, save for iran just started the enrichment clock 60 days ago in hopes...well, yanno. but that's not who Our Betters heard it, did they? yeah, i just saw big mouth cotton on twitter; yech.

RT has it that Trump told time magazine that he's not desiring war on iran, and another piece that acting sec def stranahan withdrew from consideration, apparently during his background check there were found some reports of fights w/ his wife. so now, it's 'boeing out, raytheon in!'

trouble is, most military members don't even face much threat these days, war has become so mechanized. ground invasions seem to be obsolete.

yeah

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Alligator Ed's picture

but your essay throws me. The first half of your post seems to echo the party line that "Iran done it" but the second half is more reflective of reality. Perhaps a snark warning for th first part would have been in order. At any rate the US has already retaliated any causing explosions on 6 Iranian boats. This I believe will be the "in kind" punishment. For now, the score is even (if you wish to call it that). So did the Iranians remove a mine from the Norwegian tanker. Previous to false flag committed on two Japanese tankers while Prime Minister Abe is visiting Iran is so stupid that only Bolt-on Bo;t-off or Pompous Mike would think people would fall for it. But there were some non-Japanese tankers set aflame in the Gulf earlier. Whose fingerprints are on these?

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

advised of the jerusalem post's reporting. sorry you couldn't figure it out./s after all this was the first repost of the maariv online. news. thus, one might be tempted to wonder whether their report of (anonymous) 'Diplomatic sources at the UN headquarters in New York revealed to Maariv that they are assessing the United States’ plans to carry out a tactical assault on Iran in response to the tanker attack in the Persian Gulf on Thursday' might be a psyop, but if it's even close to that, we should ask not only why, but what more can they bleed from iran, or is it all just to convince the global world that it's practically a fait accomplis by now?

who save iran's allies will gie a good goddam? i did dig out iranian FM javad zarif's twit account, but he hasn't weighed in on this yet. just earlier accusations:

p.s. i'll try to remember to show you later how to downsize huuuuge graphics.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@wendy davis Last point first: I know how to downsize pictures--I often choose not to do so--yes, it's an extravagant use of electrons but I don't care.

Now since I don't read the Jerusalem Post, I was unprepared for the onslaught of bullshit the first part of your essay delivered. I like my bullshit delivered in plain brown packages. So, thank you very much. It would not be snarky on my part to request that you please indicate your snarkiness with the usual symbol accepted by our community: s/

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

see if we can untangle some of these claims...', no? how in blazes would i indicate i wasn't buying their rubbish, srsly? i should give the title and publication of the piece followed by: /s? sorry, i don't follow, gator.

now i still wonder about the original MAARIV ONLINE story w/ the (unnamed) UN officials and diplomat in it.

your right to not resize graphics, i reckon, but on big al's thread someone had put up a huge one that *may* have been referring to mackinder's eurasian heartland (geopolitics) theory, but it was so large it was fuzzy. i srsly backed out and never commented, not that i really knew what i might have contributed, lol. plus the fact that JtC had mentioned that this place uses a hella lotta bandwidth, and images burn a lot of it.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@wendy davis But of course, then I, unlike yourself do not read 42 different magazines daily. So, in this age of fake news and fake politicians and fake policies, how am I, a poor being of limited cranial capacity, to know when you are being snarky. That would imply foreknowledge of which you are writing. And, thank you, wd, for warning me on behalf of JtC that I am recklessly burning bandwidth with my outsized pictures. I do this so that viewers, who get eyestrain from reading dense prose, can relax their tired eyeballs and enjoy a nice picture, If a big picture is worth a thousand words, are smaller pictures giving one a more condensed view?

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

but it's not that i read at so many sites...ordinarily, save for seeing what anti-palestinian hasbara is afoot, and more recently what jerusalem post, and less incendiary: haaretz has had to say about about the Trump/kushner/netenyahu/adelson I/P 'deal of the century' peace? plan.

but this time, i'd been pinging off '‘US preparing “assault” against Iran’, Peter Symonds, 18 June 2019, wsws.org for the first jpost, and then dug out the second one by myownself (fancy that cleverness, lol). there were others, of course.

and lol to: 'If a big picture is worth a thousand words, are smaller pictures giving one a more condensed view?'

g' night, wally gator.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@wendy davis Dear wd, I definitely respect your thoroughness in researching your eloquent theses. Some times I actually agree with you. Actually I agree with you more times than not.

I am also fond enough with "Nuclear Netanyahoo" that I very well may plagiarize it--and, like so often happens, state I got the idea from an anonymous source.

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

calling me your anonymous source, gator, but on one condition: that you pay me $1.99 for it, as i'm a poor widow with three blind chirren. (you may pay the cashier on your way out the door, please.)

but speaking of Nuclear Netanyau, this creepy-do-peepy uber paranoia: ‘Israel Bracing for 'Provocation' from Iran Amid US Tensions, Newspaper Claims’, june 19, sputniknews.com

“According to the unnamed officials, Iran has been "disappointed" over its apparent inability to pressure the US into rethinking its tough sanctions regime, and as a result "might opt for a provocation along the Israeli border."

This, according to the officials' logic, would further exacerbate the sense of a crisis in the Middle East and force Washington to 'reexamine its steps' against the Islamic Republic.
Haaretz's sources did not clarify what specific hostile steps Iran might take, although the newspaper suggested scenarios include a conflict involving Shia militias operating in southern Syria, "or perhaps an operation by Hezbollah or others in southern Lebanon."

Israel has ramped up its security efforts amid the tensions in the region. The country's security cabinet met twice this week, with the Israel Defence Forces holding two large-scale preplanned drills in the country's north. The Israeli Air Force held its own exercises simulating a multi-front conflict, reportedly including scenarios in which enemy forces are armed with S-300 and S-400 air defence systems.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was aware of reports of "our neighbours from the north, south and east threatening to destroy us," and warned that Israel has immense "destructive power" which would-be enemies shouldn't test"

and this is awesome x 3:

US Navy Claims to Have Found Mine Fragments, Magnet Pointing to Iran in Oil Tankers Attack’, sputniknews.com today

"The United States Navy has shown limpet mine shards as well as a magnet extracted from one of the oil tankers allegedly attacked last week, claiming that they bore striking resemblance to Iranian mines.

According to Cmdr. Sean Kido of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet speaking to reporters at a NAVCENT facility in Fujairah, the UAE, the damage inflicted to the Kokuka Courageous tanker was "not consistent with an external flying object hitting the ship" which contradicted a previous eyewitness testimony earlier revealed by the ship's owner.

The official added that fingerprints and a hand print have been recovered as a result of the probe conducted by the US Navy."

the prints likely resemble iranian ones, too. and there you have it: iron clad innuendo brought to you by the unbiased US navy investigators.

kewl that you agree with most of what i write; i usually do as well. ; )

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Alligator Ed's picture

@wendy davis Interesting news how smart we Americans are in knowing an Iranian handprint when they see one--you know, the six fingered ones. Yes, and there's nothing like Iranian metal shards> Nothing like this anywhere in the world. You can tlell it's Iranian because the metal is rainbow colored, just the way it comes from the weapons factories of those sneaky mullahs.

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

most of the time...i agree with what i write. is that the telling signature of palm and finger prints of iranians? six fingers? and rainbow metal shards? yeah, the palm print would show the bumps from the first metacarpal/phalangeal joints; must have been six, then.

dang, those navy sleuths are good! let's give them a Large Clap!

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We are clearly a threat to the region and are planning an illegal war of aggression.

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They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore

wendy davis's picture

@Johnny Q

sanctions are of course war by other means, but if the US is waging 'lo intensity war' is 40 nations now (including nato and africom), clearly amerika is the largest aggressor on the planet. of course the claim is always that the 'US exports democracy' as w/ bill clinton's wars in somalia and yugoslavia: Returning to the scene of the crime, Ex-US President Clinton visits Kosovo to celebrate 20th anniversary of NATO bombardment of Serbia, Jordan Shilton, 15 June 2019, wsws.org

"Clinton was joined for the ceremony by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former NATO supreme Commander General Wesley Clark, all of whom played a leading role in initiating the war of aggression against Serbia under the guise of standing up for “human rights.”

reading what wsws had reported in 1999 after the massive bombing blew my mind:

"At least 1,500 civilians have been killed. In the course of nearly 35,000 sorties, the US air force—abetted by its European accomplices—shattered a vast portion of the industrial and social infrastructure of Yugoslavia. NATO estimates that 57 percent of the country's petroleum reserves have been damaged or destroyed. Nearly all the major highways, railways and bridges have been extensively bombed. The electrical transformers, central power plants and water filtration systems upon which modern urban centers depend are functioning at only a fraction of their pre-bombardment capacity. Several hundred thousand workers have lost their livelihoods because of the destruction of their factories and workplaces. Several major hospitals have suffered extensive bomb-related damages. Schools attended by a total of 100,000 children have been damaged or destroyed."

i've long thought of putting up an open-thread sort of post about it, as i'd always bought into 'barbarian war criminal milosevic' in my ignorance. that's one good thing about being online; one can check out counter-arguments. and of course milocevic was posthumously exonerated of war crimes after he died in the prison at the hague.

anway, may the gods save the citizens of the planet from the US of A.

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WoodsDweller's picture

I'm not wondering "why?", I'm wondering "why now?".
I'm sure Clinton was on board for an attack on Iran. Trump seems to be in favor. But the polling shows Trump losing the election (still a long way off, of course). I'm sure that some of the Dem candidates are also on board, but maybe the Pentagon doesn't want to take the chance of someone winning who won't play along.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

now i can't really speak to that, but i will offer that mr. webster's adam johnson had retweeted this fwiw (2017?; okay...)

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@WoodsDweller If the economy heads south, there's always war. How can we talk about (economics, health care, education, jobs) when there's a war on! Ask not what your country can do for you! Everybody don your American flag pins (made in China).

I like the idea of Bread and Circuses, we ought to try it sometime. Instead we get Austerity and Body Bags.

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@WoodsDweller
Where? In NYC?

What was I doing watching CNN, you ask? I was in a nursing home visiting. CNN was on in the common room polluting the residents' minds in their twilight years.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Then what is ATTACHING a mine? A peace move?
Someone (Trump/Pompeo) has their semantics backwards.

EDIT: and any numbskull knows you plant a mine UNDER the waterline, not above the waterline. Doesn't make a good photo that way though.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

wendy davis's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

topsy-turvey past-orwellian news world. but of course attaching a limpet mine is just a ride on The Peace Train.

and that will serve as tonight's closing song. thank you all for a fine thread, and good night to all.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr2W_WiL7lo]

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Big Al's picture

of the geopolitical power game. China and Russia can't afford to let Iran be taken down but that doesn't mean they couldn't throw Iran under the bus as well. As he states at the end, no one knows how this is going to shake out. I'm sure not even Trump who during his latest bullshit speech which included the issue of 9/11, he showed how fucking stupid he really is. I'll have to go back and find it but what he said told me the dude is not all that bright. So you know, that's our Commander in Chief.

Iran at the center of the Eurasian riddle
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51782.htm

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travelerxxx's picture

@Big Al

If Trump writes even one paragraph of his speeches, then he's a different man than the one we know penning those Twitter rants. I seriously doubt that his speeches are his own ideas and words. I assume his speech-writers have learned to stroke his ego as do the others in his circle. He does well at political rallies, with his backers screaming hosannas toward the podium, but that consists of him mostly repeating learned scripts.

Not to say he isn't stupid. However, he can still be effective even when stupid. Great mafia dons were possibly stupid for being in the mafia, but they could still be quite effective.

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Big Al's picture

@travelerxxx I can see where others in his admin like Rex Tillerson concluded he's a moron. Let's not forget his failings in the business world after a silver spoon start. He's a showman, a conman, but he's not all that bright. I'm not saying that from a superior standpoint at all, just as an observance of his inconsistencies and shallowness. The only reason it's a somewhat controversial assessment is because he is the President. If not, no one would blink an eye.

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travelerxxx's picture

@Big Al

Who am I to suggest Tillerson didn't know a moron when he encountered one. No doubt he was close to correct. But, you're right — Trump is a con who learned reality-TV show business. Someday they'll get hold of his tax info and reveal what a cheap swindler he really was. I say was because he'll be dead and gone by then.

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wendy davis's picture

@Big Al

wide-ranging to read and grasp (even before my toast), but nah, India is indeed new US client. but this took a while to sink in, and causes me to wonder if it's actually so:

"There’s no question that in southwest Asia, Russia and Iran have interests that clash. What matters most for Moscow is to prevent jihadis from migrating to the Caucasus and Central Asia to plot attacks against the Russian Federation; to keep their navy and air force bases in Syria; and to keep oil and gas trading in full flow.

Tehran, for its part, cannot possibly support the sort of informal agreement Moscow established with Tel Aviv in Syria – where alleged Hezbollah and IRGC targets are bombed by Israel, but never Russian assets."

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wendy davis's picture

b at MoA speculating on stranahan withdrawing his name from sec def consideration:

Trump already had difficulties to find a new Secretary of Defense. Shanahan was not his first choice. To now find a new candidate will be difficult.
It is unlikely that the U.S. would launch a war without a Secretary of Defense in place.
Bolton and Pompeo obviously want a war on Iran and they try their best to instigate it. They need a new SecDef in place as soon as possible.

Pompeo served five years as an officer in the U.S. army. He has extensive political experience. Would he want to become Secretary of Defense?
That would leave the Secretary of State position open for John Bolton to move in. The confirmation would be a bit difficult but the Senate is in Republican hands and might go with it.

One of Bolton's cronies could then take over the National Security Advisor position.
From the war-hawks' point of view it would be the ideal configuration to launch a big one.

he'd also featured this delightful Tweet:

from an op-ed at wsws.org, a few squibs:

The feverish character of the US drive to war was expressed Tuesday in a highly unusual trip by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida for a meeting with the chief of CENTCOM, which oversees US military operations throughout the Middle East, and the commander of US Special Operations troops. CENTCOM’s Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie reportedly requested the deployment of another 20,000 US troops to the Iran battle zone but was overruled by the Joint Chiefs of Staff who feared that it could provoke a war. Like McKenzie, Army Lt. Gen. Richard Clarke, the head of Special Operations Command, was recently placed in charge by the Trump administration.

After the meeting, Pompeo insisted that Trump “does not want war,” but then went on to spell out an aggressive policy that leads inexorably to just that.

The threat of war was underscored by a pair of statements from China and Russia pointing to the growing danger posed by the US escalation. Beijing warned that Washington’s “practice of extreme pressure” threatened to open a “Pandora’s Box” in the Middle East. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, meanwhile, told reporters in Moscow that the “unending and sustained US attempts to crank up political, psychological, economic and, yes, military pressure on Iran … cannot be assessed as anything but a conscious course to provoke war.”

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