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Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

theintercept.com

41–50 of 287 posts

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#41

Israel is fighting for its existence. Iran leadership routinely makes threats to destroy America and Israel. This often get ignored or dismissed. But like waving a gun in a cops face. Well bad things happen. One nuke will piss America off. One nuke and Israel will just be gone, completely. Iran is probably capable of this, or close. From Israel standpoint the logical step is to bomb Iran military into the Stone Age.…

>One nuke and Israel will just be gone, completely. Iran is probably capable of this, or close. It's not clear that they could actually deliver a nuclear weapon, of course. And certainly not all the way to America.

It doesn't have to be on a warhead but smuggled somehow. It would certainly be traced back to them so I don't think they will ever target America directly.

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#42

Israel is fighting for its existence. Iran leadership routinely makes threats to destroy America and Israel. This often get ignored or dismissed. But like waving a gun in a cops face. Well bad things happen. One nuke will piss America off. One nuke and Israel will just be gone, completely. Iran is probably capable of this, or close. From Israel standpoint the logical step is to bomb Iran military into the Stone Age.…

There's no indication that Iran is any less deterrable than every other nuclear power.

We didn't start WWIII when Kruschev banged his shoe at the UN like a maniac, it would also be a bad idea to do it over Iran's posturing.

The US killed their national hero last year and we got a measured, proportionate response rather than lighting Iraq on fire.

Trying to pre-emptively "bomb Iran into the stone age" would not only be barbaric, it would result in a hail of scuds hitting Tel Aviv. You don't want that.

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#43
post #3

Sorry for the pedestrian comment, but, watching the cyberwars happening is surreal. Nuclear material production being attacked by Stuxnet, this current event, others I'm sure, is amazing. The cyberwars of disinformation as well - completely surreal to see this all play out. Sorry I don't have more to add. It's hard to describe how it feels to see the future arrive like this. Pandemic. Rocket milestones, Mars plans. N…

Just the other day i was watching a video of protestors taking down a drone with hundreds of laser pointers. People are literally having laser battles in the streets with police robots. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=drone+lasers+protestors&t=fpas&iar...

Why does this work?

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#44
post #38

So who takes responsibility when one of these attacks results in a meltdown? And why does Iran not have the right to build their own atomic bomb when the US, Russia or China have them and are building new ones? We ALL should be reducing nuclear weapons including the US. But sadly the US has not been taking a leadership role recently Edit: Nice to see that my global nuclear disarmament comment is getting downvoted. /s

Iran is a theocracy that has stated multiple times a desire to "Wipe X off the face of the earth", where X is another country / race / religion.

Is Israel that much different? It seems like if you're committed to empowering all BIPOC you would not restrict their access to the weaponry needed to defend their homelands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#45

> it appears the facility’s main power distribution equipment was taken out with explosives How do the Israelis keep managing to get explosives into Natanz? They blew up a hall last July. I would have thought everyone entering the premises goes through a body scanner like an airport to make sure you're not carrying bombs, spy cameras, etc.

People that don't have a clue are kept in positions of authority. The Keystone Cops did a reenactment of Iranian security 100 years ago.

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#46
post #6

This makes you wonder if we might see a resurgence in old school control systems without processors, and def no networks. The Manhattan project was able uranium purified to get a bomb working without PLCs and networks. All else being equal it's more expensive, but not compared to being unable to keep your network safe from attack. You need to reconfigure the line? Send eight techs down one by one to set new parameter…

https://collapseos.org/ (i'm not affiliated with this project in any way)

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#47
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Manhattan project was able uranium purified to get a bomb working without PLCs and networks. By enlisting thousands of young women to watch the knobs and dial buttons. https://outrider.org/nuclear-weapons/articles/women-who-buil... They didn't even know they were building the bomb. They just had to enter the room, dial knobs back-and-forth for 8-hours/day, and then go home. Today, that sort of stuff SHOULD be a…

The youth unemployment rate in Iran is ~25%, overall rate is 10%. They issue their own fiat currency, and their GDP per capita is comparable to Thailand and Botswana. So yes, they can probably afford to have a bunch of people tweak knobs in a factory all day.

Wow, you don't say, a country which issues its own fiat currency?

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#48
post #6

This makes you wonder if we might see a resurgence in old school control systems without processors, and def no networks. The Manhattan project was able uranium purified to get a bomb working without PLCs and networks. All else being equal it's more expensive, but not compared to being unable to keep your network safe from attack. You need to reconfigure the line? Send eight techs down one by one to set new parameter…

This sounds like how the Galactica survived in the 2003 BSG reboot. All of the critical systems (fire control, navigation, life support, etc.) were standalone & not networked. The baddies took out all of the new ships & defense networks with a computer virus, and the old Galactica couldn’t be hacked that way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(fictiona...

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#49

Israel is fighting for its existence. Iran leadership routinely makes threats to destroy America and Israel. This often get ignored or dismissed. But like waving a gun in a cops face. Well bad things happen. One nuke will piss America off. One nuke and Israel will just be gone, completely. Iran is probably capable of this, or close. From Israel standpoint the logical step is to bomb Iran military into the Stone Age.…

>Life is hard when much of the world wants you dead. Well why is that?

Re: Israel may have destroyed Iranian centrifuges simply by cutting power

#50
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran is a theocracy that has stated multiple times a desire to "Wipe X off the face of the earth", where X is another country / race / religion.

Is Israel that much different? It seems like if you're committed to empowering all BIPOC you would not restrict their access to the weaponry needed to defend their homelands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option

Israel is not governed by religious law, and has full rights for women, minorities, and LGBTQ. Its basis for most policy is a blend of social democracy and neoliberalism. Its military is purely defensive. I cannot say any of those things about Iran in good faith.

Also, the what-about-ism is not a great defense of anything geopolitical btw.

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