US kills Iran's General Soleimani

Caporegime
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It was a huge relief when Michael Pregent (US advisor) speculated that the attack may have been a token retaliation, deliberately avoiding the US sections of the bases, and again when it was confirmed that nothing had hit anything American by accident.

FYI Yadda - despite this being highlighted as false previously:

They destroyed a US helicopter and damaged an MQ1C?

But you're right, it was a token retaliation, politically to be seen to be doing.

Thats a stretch... sure they gave advance warning etc.. but they still hit stuff - more reliant on the US getting their heads down and the attack being somewhat limited and expected.

Some more info for you - see this CNN article from today:

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/11/middleeast/iran-strike-al-asad-air-base-exclusive-intl/index.html

CNN said:
United States troops at the Al-Asad air base in Iraq were aware that an Iranian attack was imminent, allowing them to take shelter two-and-a-half-hours before missiles struck on Wednesday, CNN has been told during an exclusive tour of the devastated site.

Most troops were either flown out of the base or sheltering in bunkers by 11:00 p.m. local time Tuesday -- shortly before the first of four volleys of missiles began at just after 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, officers said during the first tour by journalists of the air base.

[...]

The attack lasted around two hours, only targeting the US areas of the air base, which comprise around a quarter of the Iraqi base.
Officers called it a "miracle" that there were no casualties at the blasted site, with missiles landing just a few meters from bunkers, and some essential personnel remaining outside throughout.

tzVimg3.png

So much for not targeting the US portions of the base - it was as pointed out previously more just that it was a limited attack and the US got their heads down... I'd assumed they'd at least not targeted accommodation given the limited nature of the attack but even that doesn't appear to be the case.
 
Soldato
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bit of a long time to hold a grudge"

As an aside, In all seriousness, If you travel to Iran and introduce yourself as "Alexander" You will get funny looks and even a degree of hostility to go with it.

"Long time to hold a grudge"! Decades are nothing. Grudges are still live and well (And bitter) in the ME millennia after the event.

This is one of the things that western governments have consistently failed to comprehend the significance of....
 
Man of Honour
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Having lived here in the ME for over 2 years now, I've found that trying to apply "Western" logic, thinking, experience etc to try and understand why something in the ME has happened is a false ideal. The people here don't think like us in most respects, they won't act like us in a given situation and their thought processes which lead them to act are far different to how a Western person would do the same thing. So seeing quite a few Western people on here discussing how ME people react without 1st hand knowledge is interesting. I mean I've been here 2 years and I still don't understand most "reasons" behind simple decisions done differently to how I expect.

Agreed on that - probably something I'm guilty of as well - but having an Egyptian brother in law and some general experience of the area I can appreciate it to some extent.
 
Soldato
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On the Amiga500
Hello Trump supporter,

No he's not mystic.
Far from it, I'm just looking at the situation pragmatically.

Why does everything have to be so red and blue these days, have we slipped into the US political mindset so much now?...
Offer a view that doesn't criticise Trump? TRUMP SUPPORTER!
Don't want Corbyn in power? BABY KILLING TORY SUPPORTER!
Criticise Iran for shooting down a civilian plane? YOU LOVE ISRAEL AND HATE MUSLIMS!

Why not try answering my poignant question instead? I despair.
 
Caporegime
Joined
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58,899
Why not try answering my poignant question instead? I despair.

It’s the age of the numpty, politics has gotten rather polarised and the numpties can’t deal with nuance - everything is just binary... say anything about something Trump related that doesn’t include a specific disclaimer that you think Trump is a numpty and you can be accused of supporting him. No room for Trump is a numpty but this might actually pay off for him etc...

Make sure you have the right opinion on Brexit too, people get very jaded over that one.
 
Soldato
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Location
Stoke/Norfolk
Why does everything have to be so red and blue these days, have we slipped into the US political mindset so much now?...

I agree. I mean if you think back to when you were a child then most things were black and white, and it's only when people get older and become more mature that most of them realise that the world is actually a multi-faceted "many shades of grey" one instead - That "maturity" phase where you leave that child-like naivety behind seems like it's less popular in current times it looks like to me, and thats effecting both both sides.

Thats not to call the people themselves "childish", but just to point out that this one single facet of how some approach maturity seems to have changed and is now more widespread now compared to how it happened to the majority of my generation, leaving respectful discourse very hard to find.
 
Caporegime
Joined
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They arrest the British ambassador, but let him go 3 hours later. It gets more and more comical.

It's pretty ridiculous, they generally hate the British diplomatic presence, unlike the US we still maintain and embassy over there and the Iranians are very much irritated by the diplomatic property the UK has in Tehran - we've got a compound with like 50 acres of gardens etc... where diplomats are housed - all a gift from a former Iranian monarch back in the days of the empire.

Whilst regime change will never happen, can you imagine trump if it did. He’s already insufferable!

He'd take all the credit for sure, ego would grow enormously.
 
Soldato
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The property Iran has next to Kensington Gardens is probably worth far more than the one we have in Iran. In Tehran we have a small Oasis in the middle of a dump.
 
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Caporegime
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18 Mar 2008
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Not sure the IRGC completely have the backing of the Iranian public right now. So probably won't go anywhere.

Lol, they never did. They just have to tread more carefully, though i'm not actually sure how big this protest is, the authorities appear to be cautious.
 
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Caporegime
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Some news outlets are suggesting a branch of the IRGC militia are amassing outside the British embassy in Tehran demanding it be closed.

Lol basically any time they have unrest it’s apparently the fault of the British stirring things up.... nothing to do with the regime being a complete **** stain and provoking plenty of unrest/protests organically regardless of any efforts by the West/NGOs or whoever they want to get paranoid about.
 
Soldato
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21,781
they/iran gave their version (bbc reporting twitter exchanges), the ambassadors an idiot, if having seen previous forays he attended this ..vigil seems somewhat faux indignation by the UK.

Nonetheless I still see trump as partially responsible for the tragedy, with his inflammatory comments on destroying the 'cultural treasures' ...
mistakes will occur, and they should have the intelligence to figure that into their/usa strategy,
Trump has this same kind of child like behaviour with North Korea ... first president to start a nuclear war .... too ?
 
Caporegime
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7 Nov 2004
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Location
Buckinghamshire
Far from it, I'm just looking at the situation pragmatically.

Why does everything have to be so red and blue these days, have we slipped into the US political mindset so much now?...
Offer a view that doesn't criticise Trump? TRUMP SUPPORTER!
Don't want Corbyn in power? BABY KILLING TORY SUPPORTER!
Criticise Iran for shooting down a civilian plane? YOU LOVE ISRAEL AND HATE MUSLIMS!

Why not try answering my poignant question instead? I despair.

Nah, really couldn't be bothered in all honesty.

It’s the age of the numpty, politics has gotten rather polarised and the numpties can’t deal with nuance - everything is just binary... say anything about something Trump related that doesn’t include a specific disclaimer that you think Trump is a numpty and you can be accused of supporting him. No room for Trump is a numpty but this might actually pay off for him etc...

Make sure you have the right opinion on Brexit too, people get very jaded over that one.

:D Someone's triggered, wow.

Like I said, couldn't care less, pretty every leader or politician is an absolute numpty. As in day to day life, no one is going to like everything about them.
 
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