Foreign Policy

NDVirginia19

NDVirginia19

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I think from a pure grand strategy policy in the Middle East, it would be hard to find a single actor in the Middle East that is "clean" from a human rights perspective (and you could similarly say the very same about the US' own human rights abuses over the past century - we aren't "clean" either). However, our entanglement with Saudi Arabia made a lot of sense in the scheme of convenience in the middle of the Cold War with OPEC's oil embargos (and Saudi Arabia as their de facto leader) significantly harming the US Economy. As the US became more involved in internal Middle Eastern Affairs in the 90s, the previously negotiated access and security of Saudi Oil interests was a military asset in staging for the 1st Gulf War. As we've become more energy independent from the Middle East (while we still have interests in the impact to the global oil market from ME production), our relationship with Saudi Arabia has considerably more to do with countering Iran. Solemani was essentially a modern middle eastern cross between Otto Von Bismark and Che Guevara, and the IRGC funded and advised groups directly countered US interests in the Middle East (Israeli sovereignty, Saudi Arabia, our counter-ISIS efforts) and directly harmed US Servicemembers in the region.

And while Saudi Arabia's human rights record is not great (even recently), there have been meaningful changes that I think can greatly be attributed to further diplomatic and economic entanglement with the US.
 
NDVirginia19

NDVirginia19

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I also think it is a completely rational posture that the Iranian leadership has in their stance against the US.... I mean the initial leadership had seen the CIA previously topple their country's regime and install a puppet when we disagreed with them. If I were them I *would* want to have a nuclear weapons program and *would* align with US Geopolitical foes. I think that there was an olive branch with the JCPOA that could have been an avenue for rapproachment similar to our Saudi relationship, but the Iranian government is also motivated regionally (elimination of Israel, countering Saudia Arabia for regional hegemony) to a degree that is non compatible with our interests, and I think the Obama administration was too naive of that fact.
 
BuaConstrictor

BuaConstrictor

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Sea Turtle said:
The problem with Iran is their leadership. The Persian people, who are Shia, are great people who are very moderate.
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Hardliners have won more elections than they have lost in recent Iranian elections, however the most recent presidential election saw a moderate win, and that is good news...but old habits die hard and nearly half the country still voted for the more hardline candidate and Khamenei is still the Supreme Leader..and he's a POS.

Will be worth watching moving forward.
 
Blazers46

Blazers46

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ColoradoIrish said:
If this was any other administration, would that opinion be swayed one way or the other.

I'll admit I'm definitely biased against them and fully believe they use signal to avoid FOIA. I also fully believe they use it quite regularly
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If FOIA avoidance is your only gripe you would hate to take a peak on the other side of that wall. That’s why this is a nothing burger for me.
 
NorthDakota

NorthDakota

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Blazers46 said:
If FOIA avoidance is your only gripe you would hate to take a peak on the other side of that wall. That’s why this is a nothing burger for me.
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FOIA is a very big nuisance. I don't think it's a nothing burger, but it's not the end of the world
 
Blazers46

Blazers46

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NorthDakota said:
FOIA is a very big nuisance. I don't think it's a nothing burger, but it's not the end of the world
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I think it is a nothing burger if that is your only gripe. There is a reason it takes so long for a FOIA response and if you get all the info or even the correct unedited/redacted info you are looking for, someone dropped the ball.
 
C

ColoradoIrish

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Blazers46 said:
You expect people to lose their jobs? What’s the end game of any rage over this?
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I have zero expectation that anyone will lose their job. I think there's a lot to be concerned about regarding the situation. One is the usage of signal. Another concern is of their initial response and seemingly blatant lying about the whole situation. I don't like the repeated attacks on the journalist and publication, especially after the initial article was proven correct. I'm also concerned with how they seemingly just the journalist on the group chat. I don't expect any answers to any of my concerns and I don't expect anyone will lose their jobs. I think a few of them definitely deserve to.

Like I said previously I totally distrust this administration and to me this just solidifies my stance more
 
dublinirish

dublinirish

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this is literally the same playbook Putin used in the early days of the Ukraine invasion "we have to protect the weak from tyranny"
 
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