To be charitable, it is prima facie weird that that this seems to be the one thing we do know for sure. Literally every other detail here seems to be trapped in a black box or uncertainty, except for this. First the US blew up all the nuclear last year, then it turns they were days away. They were out of missiles a week ago, and then they werent at all. We were so sure about "the appetite for rebellion" among the people, until we weren't.
I guess you just have to reflect on how nice it is that the one thing we know for sure aligns with an ongoing justification for all the bad stuff that needs to happen! It's funny how it works like that, but we have to take their word for it.
I remember seeing those maps pointing to the WMDs in Iraq on NYT. I remember when it was unspeakable to be critical of the narrative. All you can do, I guess, is hope that they wouldn't do that again, believe that this time its different.
What Trump said is not what independent experts said.
Iran likely was weeks away from a nuclear bomb - they had all the parts, materials and know-how. They just needed the final steps of enrichment, and hand assembly a bomb. They had been in this position of a long time without taking the final steps, but at any time they only needed a few weeks to the first working bomb if they wanted to take those steps. (if they wanted to do mass production that would take longer)
> he vast majority of people trust the Iranian government
Right... Nobody sane would trust an authoritarian regime which suppresses any type of free speech and and even banned the internet regardless of everything else.
Mistrusting Israel is understandable but that seems tangential.
I don't think I have the skillset and personality that would me allow to rise to the top of the hierarchy in a brutal totalitarian regime built on religious fanaticism. So no I would not do that.
> armed insurrectionists
Unfortunately not even remotely armed enough to make a difference...
> War changes rules of a country.
Oh so the Iranian regime was not murdering its own peacefully protesting citizens (regardless of the existence of these "armed insurrectionists") for many years now?
>I don't think I have the skillset and personality that would me allow to rise to the top of the hierarchy in a brutal totalitarian regime built on religious fanaticism.
This is about whether you would shut down the internet or not, not whether you would rise to the top of the hierarchy on a brutal totalitarian regime built on religious fanaticism... like Israel. You know, a country with strict limits on media, including shutting down media outlets it deems critical of the state.
Yes, you would shut down the internet in a war. Yes, specifically you. Just like how you would just down media companies and plane flights in wartime, since you, yes you specifically, do not believe in Democracy.
>Oh so the Iranian regime was not murdering its own peacefully protesting citizens (regardless of the existence of these "armed insurrectionists") for many years now?
So then for how many years do you think Mossad armed the insurrectionists that you are trying to call "peaceful protesters"?
"Brutal apartheid state"? Well perhaps... certainly not a totalitarian regime, though.
> many years do you think Mossad armed the insurrectionists
Sadly and unfortunately either not long enough and/or didn't provide them with enough weapons. But yeah I agree with your sentiment that Mossad should have done a much better job if they were serious about overthrowing the regime.
Great. Glad you agree that it was Mossad that was responsible for all the civilian deaths during the violent Iranian insurrection, and not the Iranian government.
I think we can all agree that the Iranian government are the good guys and the Israeli regime are the bad guys. That's not in dispute. What IS in dispute is how we work together on removing the Israeli government. I think we should support the Iranian government, since they are already well on their in the process of removing the Israeli regime from power and replacing them with the good Hamas government.
> It’s a comparison with Israel rather than a stand alone statement
Yes, I understood that and still it makes no sense to me, I mean extremely untrustworthy and very untrustworthy seems about the same since you can't trust anything either source says.
Israel at least have a free(ish) media and is less likely to hang someone leaking information from a construction crane.
This completely insane and sounds like Iranian propaganda. You can hate Israel but spreading propaganda is really terrible. You find it hard to believe that the regime that hangs women from a crane in the square for not wearing the hijab would not do this? There are videos of IRGC shooting into crowds and apartments but your view is just “Israel Bad”. Be seious. You can be against the war and still live in reality with everyone else.
That is not an argument, it is just weaseling. What did I make up? The great governor of California is a democrat and part of the Getty fortune. Perhaps you will believe them?
There is absolutely no way to know if it's true or not