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Joseph Dougherty's avatar

The constant references to "Iran's nuclear weapons program" are grossly overstated. Iran does have a nuclear program, but US intelligence has consistently said Iran was not trying to build a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu and the American right wing warhawks have been claiming for 20 years that Iran was (days, weeks, months, it varies) away from having a nuclear weapon for 20 years, and yet...Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.

The evidence? Wild claims in the media that US intelligence does not back up, and 20 years worth of "evidence" from "Israeli Intelligence" that is either comically wrong or just made up.

Oh, and it is "suspicious" that Iran has hardened research and and enrichment sites—in the face of 20 years worth of threats of a bombing attack which would have created a fallout nightmare from any non "hardened" site.

Iran's program has been (up till last week) regularly inspected by the IAEA. Iran signed the JCPOA and was in full compliance, and is still almost entirely within its terms after trump withdrew the US out of spite at Obama.

The latest scare quote I see pretty much everywhere (including in Dean's articles) is that Iran has enriched uranium to 60%, "just under the 90%" needed for weapons. In what world is 60% "just under" 90%? Enrichment (as in many purification or concentration operations) is more difficult at higher levels. That 30% represents a *lot* of effort, effort Iran has not made and showed no signs of making.

Israel and the US have been sabotaging Iran's legal nuclear program for years. Israel admits to assassinating Iranian scientists. trump publicly assassinated an Iranian general. If these things were done to the US or Israel they'd be considered acts of war.

Since the founding of the Iranian theocratic regime they have started no wars (they were attacked by Iraq with US and Israeli support). How many wars has the US started in that period? How many "wars" has Israel started, attacking other countries (Lebanon, Syria) and making "war" against areas it occupies? Who exactly comes across as the belligerent, warmongering state?

Oh, but Iran supports Hamas! Turns out, so did Netanyahu, and that support has paid Netanyahu back handsomely, presenting an opportunity to depopulate and annex Gaza, and the West Bank just incidentally.

We constantly hear that we "can't have a theocracy with nuclear weapons," but that description fits both the US and Israel to an uncomfortable degree. Israel is an ethnoreligious apartheid state, and the US a budding "christian" white supremacist autocracy.

Iran has been singularly desultory in pursuing "Death to the Great Satan, Death to the Little Satan," making no real efforts at either since its foundation. Iran is a sponsor of "terrorism," though it is difficult to claim that the groups Iran supports are any worse, or very different, from the groups the US and Israel support. Looked at with some objectivity, Iran has been about as shitty as most nations, and arguably far less so than both the US and Israel—look at the relative body counts.

As to nuclear weapons? It should now be clear to Iran that their best chance of avoiding further attacks by Israel and the US is to have them. Iranians are not stupid; they see that Kim in North Korea is just fine, his territory unbombed, and that the other "nuclear threat," Saddam in Iraq, is...dead, his country still in ruins.

Iran has, in my opinion, wanted to maintain a credible threat that it *could* break out if it wanted to do so while pursuing a quite ordinary domestic nuclear program in all other respects. The regime thought it would be diplomatically useful, and apparently underestimated Netanyahu's appetite for war and trump's stupidity.

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elliott oberman's avatar

Damning Report Exposes Stephen Miller’s Shady Ties to Palantir

Palantir has been snapping up massive government contracts to increase surveillance capabilities.

Trump Fails Basic Question About NATO Responsibilities

Donald Trump continues not to understand his own job.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada had launched a new defense partnership with the European Commission and European Council, limiting its ability to procure weapons and other materials from the United States.

President Trumpty said on the White House front lawn; The TWO Countries' IRAN and ISRAEL have been fighting with each other for so long they don't know what the FUCK they are doing anymore!!!

Wonder what the legal framework is for assessing the lawfulness of the U.S. bombing Iran? Wondering what is going on in myriad immigration matters, from the Abrego Garcia bail decision, Khallil’s release, and Trump’s use of the National Guard in LA? And what may happen as a result of the truly bombshell whistleblower complaint by a former DOJ career employee (who had argued many controversial cases FOR the Trump administration and been promoted by the Trump Administration)? By now you all know that is the complaint in which Emil Bove (a top DOJ official, nominated to be on the 3d Circuit court of appeals) is reported to have said DOJ may have to tell the courts to “f..” themselves.

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Iran Casts Cease-Fire as Proof That Its Military Has Prevailed

Officials in Iran were claiming victory, saying that its armed forces had imposed a truce on Israel. But defeat seemed a more accurate reading of recent events.

“Defeat of the Zionist enemy,” ran the chyron on Iran’s state TV network on Tuesday morning as it broadcast news that Israel and Iran had agreed to a cease-fire. State news agencies published a fanfare-laden statement by the Iranian national security council saying that Tehran and the “dazzling power” of its military were “imposing a cease-fire” on Israel by striking a U.S. air base in Qatar and other targets. By evening, state TV was broadcasting images of a victory rally in Tehran.

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PUTIN Has Lost Something Worse Than a War - PUTIN IS A LOSER LIKE TRUMP

Mr. PUTIN'S bet has not paid off. As the war drags on and on, the Kremlin has taken a two-pronged approach to the West. Domestically, the Kremlin has demonized it, encouraging Russians to rally around Mr. Putin in a civilizational battle. Abroad, Russia has sought to divide the West, peeling away the doubters and the dissenters from the pro-Ukraine coalition. In this project, Donald Trump’s election in November was supposed to be a turning point. The West would tear itself apart, leaving Ukraine to Russia.

AT THE NATO summit this week, there will be heated debates about all that the alliance has not accomplished since the start of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainians are still suffering. Russia is still taking territory. China, Iran and North Korea are still abetting the Russian war effort. The Russian economy is still muddling through; there is no visible antiwar movement in Russia. But Russia has also been effectively stopped in Ukraine, and Europe can live without Russia, as can the United States. The West can afford to lose Russia, nice as it would be to have a peaceful Russia alongside it.

RUSSIA'S LOSS OF THE WEST, by contrast, is a grievous setback that could take generations to undo. It is Mr. Putin’s choice and Russia’s tragedy.

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