• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    14 hours ago

    As horrible a person as Putin is, at least he had a plan and it might well have worked. He knew that he needed to use ground troops. He sent them directly at Kiev and almost managed to capture it. This was after he’d already captured the Donbas region and Crimea without much effort. His plan was evil, but it wasn’t absurd.

    My guess is that the Trump admin was informed by Israel that they were going to be bombing stuff in Iran and Trump and Hegseth said “We gotta get some of that glory for ourselves!” and launched strikes without any kind of plan, or analysis, or even a well defined goal.

  • Donkter
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    20 hours ago

    Please don’t sane(ish)-wash Trump’s Iran plan. He had the same predictions as Putin that the whole thing would be over by the end of the first week. He just zigged and zagged so hard even the criticisms pretend like it was always supposed to go on longer.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    19 hours ago

    EVERY war ever started was going to be over in a few days, with an overwhelming victory, and the people welcoming the victors as liberators.

  • F/15/[email protected]@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    I genuinely do not believe trump knew or cared how long Iran might hold out. Someone near him said “you get money if you attack…” and trump didn’t even wait to hear who. In my headcanon, that’s why Venezuela was taken.

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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    1 day ago

    “Bro we’re totally winning bro, trust me bro, we just need another 1 trillion USD in missiles bro, trust me bro, this time the regime will totally fall bro, we’ll even send troops to ensure that bro, plz bro just 1 trillion USD”

    • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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      22 hours ago

      We are using super expensive patriot interceptors and the like to hit cheap drones, and or missiles that cost many times less. To our leaders, milking the federal government for money is a major factor in their decisions, often the guiding one. Although in this case epstein’s blackmail is that guiding factor.

        • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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          20 hours ago

          That is cool, I know we were developing lasers as well for missile defense, but haven’t seen anything about them being used much. It’s supposed to be way cheaper, if you ignore depreciation and equipment cost, it’s like a dollar or whatever an interception, as opposed to a million dollars or whatever those patriot interceptions cost.

          I wonder if they aren’t ready or primetime yet, or if the other missile interceptor contractors have the deciders paid off enough to keep using their gear.

          This is a Nikola Tesla idea.

          • greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo
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            19 hours ago

            Its supposed to be like 5c/shot.

            I think the reason we’re not seeing these being pushed harder is robotised flack turrets work pretty good at taking out cheap drones.

  • RememberTheApollo_
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    22 hours ago

    Idiots. Trump couldn’t even learn from Russia’s quagmire. Iran manufacturing drones and missile capacity, Ukraine using drones to attack targets inside Russia, and he didn’t think for a second about US and other infrastructure or bases outside of Iran being targeted. As far as US personnel being killed…that’s a sacrifice he’s willing to make.

  • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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    22 hours ago

    The President may or may not have thought they would fall, it’s beside the point, as his masters in Israel ordered the holders of the blackmail to tell him it was time. Operation Epstein’s Fury had to start, and Israel has been killing anyone the administration has been negotiating with to prevent a peace deal.

    Israel will make sure hardliners are in control when the war ends, so they can justify reaching across the border regularly to strike targets for domestic political reasons, that include their population being the thralls of the Israeli versions of Fox News. They are like 80% fucked in the head over there.

    • 8oow3291d@feddit.dk
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      21 hours ago

      Israel will make sure hardliners are in control when the war ends, so they can justify reaching across the border regularly to strike targets for domestic political reasons,

      Israel has been hit by rockets by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah regularly. Israel doesn’t want a hard line government in Iran that continues supporting Hezbollah, it is quite simple. No need to invent some tin foil hat justification for Israel.

  • oatscoop@midwest.social
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    1 day ago

    Win? Why would a despot care about “winning”? So long as they don’t lose a protracted war is a boon.

    It’s a means of acquiring even more personal wealth and power. It’s an excuse to oppress their internal enemies, a distraction from their crimes, and a rallying point for their allies.

  • Sibbo@sopuli.xyz
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    1 day ago

    Trumps estimate was more realistic.

    Wow. Did I just say something positive about Trump?

    • Nikelui
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      21 hours ago

      It’s only been 4-5 days on Venus since the start of the special military operation. Still within the working parameters.

    • wieson@feddit.org
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      1 day ago

      5 weeks estimate for Russia vs Ukraine maybe. If Ukraine’s first response had been worse.

      But think about this: Iran has a pop of 90 mil, the population centres are on the other side of the country, there’s only mountains and deserts to trek through and it’s two oceans away from USA.

      Ukraine is all flat, directly next to Russia and Kyiv could have been reached by the tanks in a day’s drive.

  • Bloomcole
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    1 day ago

    Except Putin never said that.
    And Trump’s timeframe was a few days.
    He quickly changed it to weeks when reality kicked in. Then again, he says a lot so who cares

  • notsure@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    we chose these people. it doesn’t matter that you did not vote, you chose this. apathy kills, and apparently it kills us.

    • pedz@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Hey, beyond apathy, as an outsider, I want to point out the fact that voter registration seems extra complicated in the US, and designed to prevent people from voting. Coupled with voter roll purges, and other measures, it requires extra determination to vote. When I learned how it’s done in the US, I was horrified. Some people have to go through a lot just to vote.

      Where I live we’re all automatically registered. It’s the election bureau that makes all the work from what the government already knows about us. We get a card in the mail every election telling us we’re registered. That’s it. We can also register directly at the polls super easily. AFAIK voter fraud is nonexistent.

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        Funnily enough, it wasn’t complicated at all for me to register to vote in the state of North Carolina. I’ll never forget it.

        I turned 18, I went down to the DMV to get my motorcycle permit along with updating my teen provisional license for an adult license. I passed the simple little tests, the DMV worker asked me height, weight, eye color, hair color, address. At the time, NC licenses could have one of several state themed backgrounds; the silhouette of the state, the state seal, the Hatteras lighthouse, the Wright flyer, I picked the plane. Want to be an organ donor? Sure. And the next thing she said to me is seared into my brain:

        “Okay, we’ll just register you for Selective Service…Would you like to register to vote?”

        So here’s what you do to register to vote in the state of North Carolina. When a woman in a weird half-cop uniform working at the DMV asks you if you wanna, you say “Y-Yeah.” and “Which party?” Say “Uhh. Independent?”

        I’ve voted in every election, maybe not every primary but every election, since that day.

        • pedz@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          “Which party?” Say “Uhh. Independent?”

          Why is there a party affiliation at registering?

          • korazail@lemmy.myserv.one
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            22 hours ago

            Primaries.

            In many (most? all?) states, you only get to vote in the primary for your registered party, while independent gets a selection. This is likely intended to avoid a spoiler vote, where a democrat might vote in the republican party for the most abhorrent choice – though I think this is the kind of thing that can backfire and get us a Trump presidency.

            • pedz@lemmy.ca
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              20 hours ago

              It’s so weird to give that information to a government. Here if people want to vote for internal party elections, they become party members. You register directly with the party and it is entirely independent from the general elections.

              Parties have their own elections, members of that party vote for their leader. Then we have general elections where everyone can chose between those parties.

              The government has statistics about the number of members for each party, but not who. Knowing what voter is a member of what party would probably break some privacy laws. A vote is supposed to be anonymous.

    • Tinidril@midwest.social
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      1 day ago

      WE sure didn’t choose Kamala to run against these people. Maybe the Democratic party ought to be democratic. Anyways, I see no evidence that Kamala would have held Israel back. Biden sure as hell didn’t.

    • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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      22 hours ago

      Jesus christ stop projecting your party’s failure onto us. You don’t even know whom we voted for, and it turns out the ones that didn’t vote were right all along, so how about you focus on getting a winning candidate and platform and not blaming others for your own failure.

    • notsure@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      to the downvoter, why do you fear the truth…the only reason to downvote herei is to hide things…

      • mogoh@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        I downvoted because I am not a US citizen, yet you said “we” as if this sub-lemmy is only for US citizens. I don’t like the language and the US-centric thinking it implies. Thus the downvoting.

        • notabot@piefed.social
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          1 day ago

          I’m not a USian either, so I get your point, but wherever you are, look to your leaders and decide if they’re really the sort you want. The OP’s point stands in a more general sense than just those two stains on humanity