News:

And we're back!

Main Menu

What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

Started by FunkMonk, November 08, 2016, 11:02:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Barrister

Quote from: Solmyr on September 23, 2019, 03:22:03 AM
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/shock-and-awe-iran-style

The conclusion seems to be that SA will fall apart very quickly if it came to war, barring US support. MBS seems to be a tool and has no friends except Trump (who is only his friend because he pays cash).

You know all of what this author says is true, but it ignores all weakness on the Iranian side.  It too is an unpopular regime, with a sanction-weakened country.  It's forced to work through intermediaries, it's "allies" in Turkey and Russia are allies of convenience with little to no shared interests in the region.

Both sides here are playing a dangerous game.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Tonitrus

And we're in a tight spot as well.  Setting aside the Trump factor...SA is a despicable ally and there should be a very strong temptation to just blow them off...but it would also be a huge mistake to let Iran run roughshod over them, as that would leave an even more despicable terrorist/messianic state with total dominance over the region. 

The Minsky Moment

It's a mistake to speak of "Iran" as a unitary actor here.  The IRG is driving this bus; indeed, the main objective of the drone attack may well have been to box in and discredit the civilian regime internally. 

The IRG does not perceive sanctions as weakening them; there are a key source of their strength.  The fact that the US ditched the nuclear agreement and implemented punishing sanctions discredited Rouhani and his policies to the benefit of the IRG.   The IRG controls different levers of the domestic economy as well as those elements involved in sanctions evasion and thus can insulate themselves from the worst of the sanctions impact.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

alfred russel

I'm impressed that Trump may have criminally colluded with both Russia and Ukraine, who are obviously fighting each other at the moment.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

mongers

Quote from: alfred russel on September 23, 2019, 04:18:23 PM
I'm impressed that Trump may have criminally colluded with both Russia and Ukraine, who are obviously fighting each other at the moment.

Equal opportunity corruption.  :cool:
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

frunk

Quote from: alfred russel on September 23, 2019, 04:18:23 PM
I'm impressed that Trump may have criminally colluded with both Russia and Ukraine, who are obviously fighting each other at the moment.

I think he'd be perfectly happy to criminally collude with Saudi Arabia and Iran as well.  Only 1 for 2 so far.

jimmy olsen

Quote from: Barrister on September 23, 2019, 11:38:40 AM
Quote from: Solmyr on September 23, 2019, 03:22:03 AM
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/shock-and-awe-iran-style

The conclusion seems to be that SA will fall apart very quickly if it came to war, barring US support. MBS seems to be a tool and has no friends except Trump (who is only his friend because he pays cash).

You know all of what this author says is true, but it ignores all weakness on the Iranian side.  It too is an unpopular regime, with a sanction-weakened country.  It's forced to work through intermediaries, it's "allies" in Turkey and Russia are allies of convenience with little to no shared interests in the region.

Both sides here are playing a dangerous game.

The Iranians did really well in the Iraq-Iran war despite being vastly outgunned because they were unified by nationalism. It's the same situation with regards to the KSA vs Iran, and Iran isn't vastly outgunned anymore.
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

Solmyr

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/24/she-seems-very-happy-trump-appears-to-mock-greta-thunbergs-emotional-speech

QuoteDonald Trump appears to have taken a swipe at teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, tweeting a video of an emotional Thunberg with an apparently sarcastic comment that she seems to be "very happy" and looking forward to a bright future.

"She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" tweeted the US president late on Monday night.

Your president is trolling a teenage girl.

Razgovory

I was against impeachment before, mostly because I saw it as a useless gesture that would play into Trump's hands.  This thing with Ukraine though,  it's really, really bad news.  Something needs to be done about it or it will become the new normal.  The idea of a President soliciting a foreign nation to arrest the son of a political rival is scary.  If a deal can be worked out in the Senate to censure Trump and somehow prevent him from engaging in this behavior then that's good too.  While it does not appear to dawn on Trump that someone could use the same tactic against his own children, I imagine that some US senators can put 2 and 2 together.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

mongers

Quote from: Solmyr on September 24, 2019, 03:05:30 AM
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/24/she-seems-very-happy-trump-appears-to-mock-greta-thunbergs-emotional-speech

QuoteDonald Trump appears to have taken a swipe at teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, tweeting a video of an emotional Thunberg with an apparently sarcastic comment that she seems to be "very happy" and looking forward to a bright future.

"She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" tweeted the US president late on Monday night.

Your president is a trolling a teenage girl.

FYP
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

garbon

"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

frunk

Plus we've already established that his mental age can't be higher than 5.

DGuller

Speaking of that, I'm curious what Greta's expertise is to speak about the climate change.  Is there any special reasons she's making speeches to adults at UN, or has she just won the viral lottery a while back?

mongers

Quote from: DGuller on September 24, 2019, 08:24:01 AM
Speaking of that, I'm curious what Greta's expertise is to speak about the climate change.  Is there any special reasons she's making speeches to adults at UN, or has she just won the viral lottery a while back?

How many eminently qualified climate scientists are 16 years old?
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"