Israel and Iran

Plenty of angles to look at. Maybe better foreign relations policy at BidenCorp would have resulted in partners that both understood that optics of dumping world leading war machines into the current conflict while smoke still hasn't cleared and the importance of not immediately pivoting towards China at a time when the entire world is picking sides over "who we should believe" in the middle east.

There are very few "allied partners" on the planet that I'd trust with some of the worlds most advanced air assets - the Saudis aren't one of them. Most of these nations refuse to step forward unless we bribe them with shit we probably shouldn't trust them with in the first place.

I'm of the mind that whatever the Chinese might sell them - is probably built on stolen tech anyway and not really an existential threat to us beyond the billions of dollars it will make for the defense industry executives. We should be selling appetite suppressants with all of the unchecked chaos - not running a sale on next generation Twinkies.

Our "real" allies certainly understand the global landscape and if their first instinct is to pivot towards China because we suspended the sale of big ticket military items while we are trying to get a grip on the two theater abortion we are getting dragged into - then maybe they don't deserve our tech in the first place.
 
Blizzard said:
Like Yemen/Houthi can mount any type of serious offensive with all their domestic issues. Just another Iranian puppet. Israel needs to cut out the middleman and put the smackdown on Iran (not that they will, be that's the root cause).
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I agree, and they really are JV. That said, as far as I know this is the first state declaring war on Israel, taking it beyond state-backed actors and pockets of pissy Muslim militants. Not concerned about Yemen, but about others following in their footsteps.
 
Devildoc said:
I agree, and they really are JV. That said, as far as I know this is the first state declaring war on Israel, taking it beyond state-backed actors and pockets of pissy Muslim militants. Not concerned about Yemen, but about others following in their footsteps.
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Especially since Yemen wouldn't do this without Iran's approval. I think they are testing the waters to see how other countries will react.
 
AWP said:
I support the F-35 deal with the UAE. After BidenCorp pulled the deal (which included a ton of weapons and other things), the UAE and Saudi turned away from the US and moved towards China.
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Hard disagree.

I don't trust the UAE to not compromise the F-35. Chinese planes are still an unknown factor. UAE buying from China gives us an opportunity for exploitation.
 
AWP said:
If you don't want to or can't answer in public I understand, but why the reluctance to have video capture and now an outright ban? Are the participants leery of having their views known? If WP is afraid of the discussion becoming public then why have the discussion?
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Unclear. I was not involved in the initial planning, which I guess explains why I missed the memo on "internal audience only."

Not recording is pretty standard practice; about half of the panels/events I was involved in over the years were recorded, the others weren't. In the past, I've restricted outside viewership in events I've OIC'd if the subject was sensitive and I thought that cadets would self-censor during the discussion period if there were outside observers. Also, sometimes panelists request Chatham House rules as part of their participation. I'm not sure if either, both, or neither were at play here, and I'm not going to worry about it. I would have preferred unlimited distribution, because I anticipate the panelists are going to have some really interesting things to say, and I'd like as many people as possible to hear it. But it's not my call..
 
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