Israel are going to start WWIII

Who let thousands of Jihadi fighters out of jail at the start of the Syrian civil war.

Bashar Al Assad, the man who they wanted to kill, strategically it was a master stroke by him and is probably the reason he survives.

War makes strange bedfellows and sides use each others for strategic reasons.

People speak of colonial mindsets, Assad is the biggest colonial throwback in the middle east outside of the Hashemite king to the South.

The Arab Socialist party. Socialism in the middle east is a product of rich kids going to western universities in the 50s and 60s.

One of the sparks that set off the revolution against him was his attempt to criminalise honour killings a couple of years before it. The reaction from most of the country was so strident that he had to back down, in a part of the world where backing down is an invite to further attack it was a weakness he never recovered from. Yet he was right to try to ban it.

Countries can lob rockets at each other but prior to Oct 7th and Iran's goons in Gaza attacking there was peace*, prior to the 8th there was peace in the north.

It's kill or be killed there and as the Jews say , the Arabs can lose again and again but Israel will only lose once.

* People don't have to like it before that or can say but what about Thutmoses IV campaign there.

Self defense is all well and good but in the region that sailed a long time ago. In all it's neighbours imperialism is at the very core of their culture, religion, society and identity, in a way no European can understand. The continuity of that mindset is thousands of years old. Maybe if Italy was still the Roman empire till the modern era it would.

There certainly was not peace in Gaza prior to oct 7th.

But Iran has the same right of self defense as Israel claim against Hamas and Hezbollah.

If Israel didn't attack Iranian soil, Iran wouldn't have lobbed 200 missiles to them.

Israel make Russia look like a reasonable bunch.

The size of the Bombs Israel does be dropping on comminities in Gaza or Lebanon are monster bombs that destroy multiple buildings not to mention killing dozens if not hundreds of men , women & Children.

Israel the Big BULLY with its BILLION DOLLAR Arms killing the locals who are hungry from Israel blockades.

to riff off a Kissinger quote , Iran wins if it doesnt lose. From Iran's perspective they will have China speaking in their ear looking for restraint , the last thing China wants is any major disruption to world trade. It seems the obvious course would be for Iran to stay measured in their actions

Them radioactive isotopes will politely stop on our border sure 👍

They were not measured the last day in their actions, the scale of the attack was very significant.

The response will reflect that. It will reflect the reality of now, not what's fair, s'not fair, who hit who first.

It will be purely driven by reality.

Iran has been hitting off Israel for 45 years now, they are going to get decked. Finally.

It helped kill a lot of Jihadis. It helped diminish Assad.

If your enemies are fighting each other with fists. Give them knives .

The whole support thing is blown out of proportion though, Israel couldn't match the money and resources given by private donors in the gulf, nevermind states.

No real civilians killed I think is measured and they did give some warning? 2 hours I heard , it seems like a measured tit for tat. Israel will retaliate so the ball is in their court

Israeli exports to Europe and China, India, Turkey and mid east are several times that of US

These war can be stopped by us in Europe but we making to much money (guess who is largest destination in eu)

It didn’t stop it but has nearly destroyed their economy and cost them 600,000 lives three years into their three day war

Which apparently is ok for Putin but is a ticking time bomb that might yet bring down his regime

Why won't it happen, Iran has stopped all ships going to Kharg, that's a big deal for them, they consider it a target.

Joe Biden, whether down to his mental impairment or other said that oil infrastructure was being targeted

I would consider targeting the oil infrastructure much more aggressive than demolishing the power plants.

They are going to war with each other, if Iran decides to respond to the coming attack, they will keep going till the threat is stopped if that happens.

That was interesting. I think he is wrong though, The EU tends to follow America's lead. If the EU did take action against Israel, the Americans wouldn't react kindly to it. America is the one that ultimately has the power to bring Israel to heel if it was so minded to do so.

Well you consider that the plan was a three day war and now they're relying on mopeds and gold buggies to get troops to the front I'd say sanctions do work. It took years of sanctions before Apartheid fell.

I don't know about Europe, but this is Ireland, and we have a fairly intimate understanding of imperialism.

In fact-a, it's one of the main reasons that we support the Palestinians. We have been somewhere close to where they are again and again, plantations, genocides, manufactured famines, we've seen it all.

Nazi Germany was an extremely unusual entity in its cult like following of and devotion to 'the leader' and every member of the military being required to swear an oath of allegiance to him.

Most wars and conflicts are resolved in other ways - what happened to Nazi Germany in 1943-45 is never a good reference point for anything (i.e. a country being practically razed to the ground and millions left dead before it can be declared defeated).

And if Iran blows up Israel's infrastructure with an onslaught of missiles - power plants, oil depots, air bases - then maybe it is Israel that will end up suffering more. Maybe it is Nethanyahoo and his mates who end up hanging from trees.

You see, this can work both ways, and Israel's vaunted air superiority is no longer what it was as bombs can be so easily delivered without manned aircraft.

Well the first part of that is simply wrong - there are any number of regimes based on "cult-like devotion to a leader" that are at least as extreme as Nazi Germany's. The Kims in North Korea, China especially under Mao, but to some extent also with Xi Jin Ping, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Spain's Franco, Mussolini - where to stop? The God-Emperor of Japan? I'd say "cult like following" is more the norm in the most evil regimes than the exception.

As for the second part, what exactly would have been a more successful approach please? (And don't forget to take Chamberlain's efforts into account.)

Your claim was the EU could stop the war.

You have busted your own claim.

It could throw a serious spanner in the war machine, potentially stopping it, without begging the US to return to their world policing position

You claim sanctions didn’t stop Russia but the fact that they are stuck three years into their three days war just show that they do work, and more sanctions and handing over 300bn of assets europe is sitting on can end it faster

given the damage all the illegal migration did to Europe Im not to harsh on any of the secular hard men from that region that kept their religious nuts down. How has Libya fared since the US actions last decade, a functioning country to open slave markets…winning!

No my claim is the EU cutting off Russia didn't stop the war. That's an actual fact.

I see you have now gone from the EU can definitely stop the war to a spanner in the works something something.

It will, in time. We basically have to wait for Russia to either run out of money, run into serious internal problems, or just collapse like it did in 1917 and 1991. The civilised world just have to keep up the sanctions and keep sending arms, defensive gear and aid to Ukraine until then. And hopefully without the stupid restrictions that have been put on Western arms up to this point.

Then the civilised world will need to look at Russia's other allies, like Iran.

Doing what's 'right' for their people is not the same as self defense. We've seen countless times before, countries doing what's best for them, generally end up committing genocide.

Israel have directly escalated this current conflict by attacking the Iranian embassy in Syria. So when the **** hits the fan, I hope all those championing Israel remember that. More than likely they will just ignore it like they ignore everything Israel have done pre Oct 7.

I really hope you are having a laugh here. I hope you're not including Israel in the '' civilised world''.