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Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

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Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#671

Post by no_shadowban_6 »

misja111 wrote: post #537
asa400 wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Worst outcome is the US attacks Cuba, Cuba allies with Iran, it turns out that Cuba has been stocking up on Iranian drones, and Cuba becomes a forward base for drone and missile attacks on the southern US. If this happens and Cuba decides to launch drones/missiles against the US homeland, it's not an exaggeration to say that Cuba is flattened and invaded that same afternoon. After 9/11, there's no world in which an…

> If this happens and Cuba decides to launch drones/missiles against the US homeland, it's not an exaggeration to say that Cuba is flattened and invaded that same afternoon. Yes that would be a typical US solution. Let's liberate the Cuban people! By flattening them.

The secret to understanding it all is that "liberate" really means "lynch"

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#672

Post by Cthulhu_ »

account42 wrote: post #631
integricho wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is so rich hearing that America can attack anybody, but godforbid an attack on the "homeland" is an unforgivable act that will invoke nukes immediately.

That's the whole point of having nukes - so others won't attack you.

Except that it's a bit more complicated than that. Russia has nukes and is under attack from Ukraine, and while in the past they sabre-rattled that they would use tactical nukes if there was ever any incursion, they haven't done so because they know that would cause the whole world to retaliate.

Then there's nuclear defenses - if a country would have an effective anti-ICBM system (like Star Wars or whatever), it would make a nuclear counterstrike ineffective and end Mutually Assured Destruction. On paper anyway, in practice there are no perfect anti-ICBM systems, and they're effectively cluster bombs so in theory after the initial launch they can break up into half a dozen "dumb" nukes. Good luck hitting those.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#673

Post by gmerc »

Animats wrote: post #426

A big mistake here was simply underestimating the scale of Iran. Iran has 90,000,000 people. More than 2x Ukraine. More than 2x Germany. More than 2x Iraq. More than any country in Europe. About 2/3 of Russia. Expecting to win a war on the cheap was a fantasy. Especially since Iran has been fighting Israel for years. On the naval front, Ukraine sunk the Moskva with a few truck-mounted missiles. That finally made it u…

Can we just appreciate that if we’re at a place where anyone “makes mistakes appreciating scale” in the space age, we have much bigger problems

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#674

Post by no_shadowban_6 »

unethical_ban wrote: post #559
integricho wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is so rich hearing that America can attack anybody, but godforbid an attack on the "homeland" is an unforgivable act that will invoke nukes immediately.

No one said nukes, that a giant leap even from the most crazy non nuclear attack. No one said the US is acting smartly, either, but it should not be surprising that the US would react harshly to a neighbor sending rockets.

[flagged]

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#675

Post by adrian_b »

martin-t wrote: post #479
ajewhere wrote: post #457

Your military and whoever directs them are criminals, and are guilty of horrible crimes. And those who back them are accomplices.

This is true for most militaries, of course, some more than others - see the Hague Invasion Act[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members'_Prot...

While that US law only says that USA should use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court", in reality USA has always used any means necessary for protecting their military personnel from suffering consequences from breaking the local laws not only in the cases of crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of ICC, but also for any common crimes, e.g. by smuggling out of the respective foreign country military personnel guilty of killing people while driving drunk, in order to escape trial and sentence.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#676

Post by Cthulhu_ »

lawgimenez wrote: post #634
asa400 wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Worst outcome is the US attacks Cuba, Cuba allies with Iran, it turns out that Cuba has been stocking up on Iranian drones, and Cuba becomes a forward base for drone and missile attacks on the southern US. If this happens and Cuba decides to launch drones/missiles against the US homeland, it's not an exaggeration to say that Cuba is flattened and invaded that same afternoon. After 9/11, there's no world in which an…

USA “flattened” and invaded Afghanistan but decades after Taliban is just back again. I don’t know, maybe it’s time for USA to just stop getting involved in wars.

For any country, really; wars cannot be won anymore unless you exterminate its inhabitants completely. At best you can force a regime change, but as Afghanistan showed, that's fragile and tenuous at best if it's not fully backed by the population.

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#677

Post by bKHjNaz23wJ »

woeirua wrote: post #419

This gives drones way too much credit. The USN knew that Iran could block the strait of Hormuz back in the 80s. Anti-ship missiles were already effective and plentiful enough to do it then and they’ve only gotten more lethal since. The long term solution here is to build pipelines that eliminate the need to sail up the strait. Why this wasn’t done already is beyond me.

[dead]

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#678

Post by [deleted] »

randunel wrote: post #547
misja111 wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If this happens and Cuba decides to launch drones/missiles against the US homeland, it's not an exaggeration to say that Cuba is flattened and invaded that same afternoon. Yes that would be a typical US solution. Let's liberate the Cuban people! By flattening them.

Americans sure love their war crimes! Indiscriminately killing civilians is how they've gotten past, present and future terrorist attacks. I can't imagine the parents of the children they keep on killing (or maiming, or otherwise) standing by and watching. People wouldn't necessarily need to wait for their country's army to do something when they've got nothing significant left to lose.

[deleted]

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#679

Post by no_shadowban_6 »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #269
protocolture wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>in a nation of some of the brighest minds on the planet Found the assumption that caused the issue.

We do have very bright minds. It's a shame they don't get voted into policy.

they're not on HackerNews

Re: Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz

#680

Post by matheusmoreira »

numeric83 wrote: post #670
matheusmoreira wrote: post #662

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how nukes work. When it comes to nuclear weapons, the world is divided into haves and have-nots. Anyone lacking effective nuclear response can be steamrolled by those who do with total impunity. The USA has been attacked before but it has never been invaded and forced to fight a war on its own soil against foreign enemies. It's possible that they unconsciously believe war is something they bring to others, nev…

The War of 1812 says "hello"

It was fought on US soil but did they really get invaded in that war? They declared war on Great Britain. They even invaded Canada themselves. It just doesn't seem to match the conflicts the USA brings upon other nations.
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