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Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

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Re: Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

#311
post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What did she do? She allegedly promoted Chinese propaganda and communicated with the CCP Wang "secretly served the interests of the Chinese government." Doing it covertly is the core of the problem for an elected. > If Israel was treated to the same standard, two-third of Congress would be tried for treason Eileen Wang wasn't charged with treason. Our electeds are allowed to have foreign sympathies because voters a…

> Doing it covertly is the core of the problem for an elected. Oh I'm sorry, are all these politicians registered under FARA as registered foreign agents for Israel? > And for what it's worth, Israel has become toxic in the Democratic party It's become toxic in the Democratic voter base, not the Democratic Party establishment. The establishment still actively runs spoiler candidates against anti-Israel candidates (eg…

> are all these politicians registered under FARA as registered foreign agents for Israel?

It would be ridiculous to require them to be for simply advocating for a sympathetic position. Doing so would mean the President unilaterally gets to decide all foreign policy, since if a member of Congress takes a position, they're a foreign agent.

> It's become toxic in the Democratic voter base, not the Democratic Party establishment

It's still unclear the degree to which the voters who view it as toxic are politically organized and valuable. The establishment will always lag the ground truth; it would be premature to take a defeatist bent already. All that said, it’s still a foreign policy issue. A small minority will care deeply about it; most people just don’t care relative to pocketbook issues.

Re: Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

#314
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue wasn't a lack of planning by the military it was a lack of commitment on the goals by the administration. If it was just a desert storm style campaign (hit them very hard over a month then leave without finishing off Saddam) then they should have left already when Iran offered to open the strait, and it could have been sold as a success. If they want Iran to truely bend the knee over nukes then they have to…

> when Iran offered to open the strait When did Iran offer this? (One problem with a decapitation strike is you no longer have a single party to negotiate with.) > If they want Iran to truely bend the knee over nukes then they have to commit harder militarily than they are now It's genuinely unclear if America has the military power to project into Iran to the degree a ground invasion would require. (Like, short of c…

Iran opened the strait as a gesture after the Lebanon ceasefire was announced. Trump then immediately announced "blockade stays" in some truth social rant, so they reclosed it within a day.

Re: Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

#315

These threads are always fun. The mental gymnastics of the Israeli "splainers" will never fail to amaze me. Israelsplainers perhaps. I want to say that it's just Netanyahu who needs to go away but it's actually much, much more than just him. The tide is shifting methinks and rightly so (and finally).

> Israelsplainers perhaps

The Israeli wumao: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasbara

  Hasbara has no direct English translation, but roughly means "explaining". It is a communicative strategy that "seeks to explain actions, whether or not they are justified".

  [...]

  In its 2025 budget, Israel planned to spend $150 million on hasbara, a 20-fold increase.

  In the 2026 budget, NIS 2.35 billion (about $730 million) has been allocated to hasbara.

Re: Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel obviously influenced American politicians through many avenues, not the least of which is the Epstein blackmail ring.

Right. That"s why Epstein wired millions of dollars to Russia, had a Russian bodyguard, gave away his estate to some Belorussian woman, and so on. Obviously, Mossad at work here!

Epstein was irate that he suffered consequences others didn't (I'm not saying he didn't do more than others). He was thoroughly red-pilling and making comments more about how he believed what he did should be okay.

And being so irate about such things, it's not unreasonable to think "Fuck my handlers (whoever they are, if they exist, Mossad or otherwise), they didn't protect me, so screw it".

Occam's razor and such, but it's also entirely possible that he could have been being blackmailed by the Russians while "working for" Israel - or for that matter, vice versa.

Re: Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

#317

I don't think I've ever seen in all of my wide understanding of history, such a tiny state successfully make an empire its vassal. Truly an astounding feat. It would be highly entertaining if it didn't bode poorly for humanity.

Really it comes down to religion, and Israel being the bastion of anti-islam in the Middle East. Doesn't hurt that they are also liberal democracy and have advanced economy as well.

Re: Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

#318

The Snowden disclosures revealed that the US was regularly spying on Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, the EU, and the UN. Also of course the CIA was spying on Congress. One can only imagine that many of these countries were also spying on us in various capacities, albeit with fewer resources. Israel is a bigger concern because they're extremely good at it, but I'm sure it's nothing n…

Yes, espionage is not an act of war and is a regular occurrence, even between allied nations. You can see this clearly during WW2 now that much of the information has been declassified. Great Britain ran an extensive intelligence operation in New York prior to US entry into the war.

Re: Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t agree with the assessment, but in terms of a great power being very interested in the interests of a small country, consider Serbia and Russia before WWI.

I agree vassal is the wrong term... but we are currently committing global economic suicide on behalf of Israel's interests. I'm not sure what word is appropriate. Perhaps we need a new one. I'll look at Serbia, thank you.

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Re: Pentagon raised threat of Israeli spying on U.S. to highest level, sources say

#320
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

more like weaker iran than ever, now that the central command are gone, no leader at the top and no high level generals, the power at the hand of mid level thugs of the IRGC.

The argument is interesting, because it happens to repeat administration's assertions. It also is interesting, because the argument itself attempts make peace with the idea that wiping out central command & leadership did not put US in a more favorable position in general. I guess I will just point out that 'weaker than ever' is doing a lot of work here without being specific on what strength means here. I don't want…

it's actually weaker than before, and these who left are the kind that power hungry with no class or protocols of the leadership(that died), bunch of power hungry, blood thirsty mid level leaders who understand that they cannot allow the regime to change, at all cost, they even forced the son of the previous leader to take the reign (which in reality just a public face). they are actually more brutal and the chances of change from within through the people of iran is even smaller than before by multiple orders of magnitude.

now, why the regime didn't collapse? 2 things, 1. mesh network so they don't need to have a central command 2. they know they will be executed if they lose the grip on power.

it's actually weaker but more brutal now than ever, against their own people and against the outsider threats. like a cornered rats with no escape so they decided a fight to death.

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