Trump says he bombed Iran

[DBCowboy]

I was reading a little about what it was like before and the picture it was drawing is it steadily became a police state slowly and then after the fall it went full blown, is that similar to what you've seen in your lifetime?

Supposedly they use to be pro western autocratic society but it seems like the irgc state of mind was always the there. What do you think?

I'd equate the irgc as the equivalent to Nazi Germany's SS.

Only with more power.

Similar to the old USSSR and the KGB.

They, the irgc, can't go back.  They'd be killed by their own people if Trump wins, which is why they are still fighting so hard.

[ANNEE]

If that is true then wash, rinse, repeat.

I pretty much ignore the “players” anymore. 

The real power lies deep beneath.

[quintessentone]

I pretty much ignore the “players” anymore. 

The real power lies deep beneath.

What do you mean? Deep beneath within the players psyche, ego, greed, extremist bastardized religious dogma, corruption, and power games which is what manipulates and drives them to do what they do?

[Vermilion]

U.S. President Donald Trump: "Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them. The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!"

https://x.com/Osint613/status/2045948354086240660

[ANNEE]

What do you mean? Deep beneath within the players psyche, ego, greed, extremist bastardized religious dogma, corruption, and power games which is what manipulates and drives them to do what they do?

Trump is a “player”. For me he’s just a big mouth. 

Who’s really pulling the strings?

What’s happening has been in the works for decades. They just needed the right puppet.

[KrustyKrab]

Trump is a “player”. For me he’s just a big mouth. 

Who’s really pulling the strings?

What’s happening has been in the works for decades. They just needed the right puppet.

 Not a politician out there that doesn’t have strings attached, including Trump.  They’re all puppet’s to some degree.  Biden was a perfect example.

[govshill2]

U.S. President Donald Trump: "Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them. The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!"

https://x.com/Osint613/status/2045948354086240660

WoW! Marines on board!  That Tanker is one of the Iran Shadow Fleet!!

[EXETER]

1) Ok, noted. I suppose they aren't any longer.

2) They can't because countries will not let them.

3)  Noted

Thanks for the information, sincerely

I thought Russia was as equal as China and that is definitely not the case. Do you consider China a superpower?

"Do you consider China a superpower?"

Not militarily, no.  The main reason being that they don't really have the ability to project power beyond their own backyard.  They don't have any nuclear powered aircraft carriers, for instance.  No major oversea basing rights with allies, which means they don't have prepositioned supplies or repair, and recovery facilities.  No equivalent to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with facilities like Pine Gap. They don't really have control of the sea lanes beyond the first island chain (Taiwan).  They do have somewhere around 600 nuclear weapons, but that gives them a Mutually Assured Destruction nuclear capability, not a war-fighting nuclear capability. They could theoretically absorb a first strike nuclear attack and strike back with enough surviving nuclear weapons to kill a large number of civilians in the attacking country.  So they can deter a first strike from another nuclear armed country but they can't really start a fight with another nuclear armed country on the theory that they could execute a winning first strike.

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that the USA is the only nation on the planet that has all those capabilities mentioned above, which is what puts it in a class by itself.  I have often heard people express the idea that "the US can't be the world's policeman".  The reality is that the US is the ONLY entity that CAN be the world's policeman.  So if you don't want the US to play that role, then I guess you want to live in a world without policemen.  The reason the USA is in that position is because we have systematically built that position for the 70 years between the end of WWII and the first term of President Trump.  And we did that first and foremost by building alliances with other democracies that allowed us to have collaborative military capabilities all over the world--Five EYES, ANZUS, NATO, ASEAN, Rio Treaty, Japan-US Security Treaty, Mutual Defense treaties with the Philippines and South Korea, etc. That's where the idea of the US as the leader of the free world and the Pax Americana came from.  Another major component of that plan is to suppress the proliferation of nuclear weapons among states that otherwise could possess them by providing a nuclear umbrella guarantee to those states.  

What bothers me most--and why I am a strong critic of President Trump--is that he seems to neither understand, nor value any of this.  As a result, and whether he knows it or not, he is destroying the very foundations of the system that actually Made America Great in the first place.  Under Trump, I don't think it can accurately be said that the US is the Leader of the Free World any more.  The Free World is, as the name implies, free (consisting of other democracies). That means they are free to not follow the US if the US no longer represents their shared values.  Which seems to be the direction we are moving in.  No alliances means no friendly forward basing rights which means no ability for power projection, which means no more superpower status, which means insecure supply chains for strategic materials which the US cannot produce domestically.  Dishonoring of treaties means other nations no longer trust America's agreements, which means many more nations becoming independent nuclear powers. Japan, South Korea, Poland, Sweden, and a bunch of other countries could have their own nuclear weapons in a year of two if they want to. More nuclear powers means more possibilities for loose nukes to end up in American cities. 

Donald Trump is not mentally capable of understanding any of this.  His deep understanding of reality is that windmills cause cancer, that Diet Coke cures cancer, and that Canada has a big faucet that they can turn on to send water from their snow-capped peaks to California.

[ANNEE]

[KrustyKrab]