Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

Post by bevr1337 » Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 9:45 PM UTC

krapp wrote: post #107

bevr1337 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's good reason to believe lots of western apps have back doors A common sentiment in this thread. My gut and practical experience both tell me this is true on some level, but how do folks distinguish tinfoil hat conspiracy from legitimate speculation?

>but how do folks distinguish tinfoil hat conspiracy from legitimate speculation? Plausibility and evidence, for which there's plenty in this case. Although it seems less likely to me that Western apps have backdoors and more likely that Western law enforcement and intelligence have free access to the data, but it's probably both.

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 9:46 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #12

ty6853 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iraq and Gaza was an absolute joke compared to what it would take to topple the Iranian militants, militias, and government. Much of the terrain is similar to Afghanistan. Tribal islamic alliances are resilient against loss of central governance. There is a massive porous mountainous border to 2+ countries that conceivably will look the other way for certain islamic militants. I know everyone wants to gobble down the…

> Iraq and Gaza was an absolute joke compared to what it would take to topple the Iranian militants, militias, and government It wouldn't be a cake walk. But America could topple the government in Tehran about as easily as it did in Baghdad or, frankly, Kabul. The problem in Iraq and Afghanistan wasn't a failure to decapitate the opposing state. It was in filling the vacuum that left.

Post by jfengel » Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 9:53 PM UTC

Centigonal wrote: post #58

gspencley wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why are we toppling all these foreign governments I don't want to speak to the other foreign governments, and I think there is a LOT of room for healthy criticism of how the USA handles its foreign policy, past & present. But to answer the question directly with respects to Iran, specifically: the leadership has been repeatedly chanting "Death To America" for its 45 year history and have been actively trying to dev…

> the leadership has been repeatedly chanting "Death To America" for its 45 year history This is a good read: https://www.mypersiancorner.com/death-to-america-explained-o... The phrase is ugly, but it's how you say "fuck the US government" in a very melodramatic and poetic language where the most common way of calling your friend's baby cute translates to "let me martyr myself for this child."

Post by reillyse » Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 9:57 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #102

Aloisius wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What puppet did the US install?

They’re being dramatic. We installed the Shah [EDIT: as an autocrat] with the ‘53 coup [1]. That was our original sin. But the Islamic Republic wasn’t an American creation. Neither was Saddam’s Iraq or the Mujahideen or Al Qaeda. We variously facilitated, opposed and ignored these elements, mostly the last. Ignoring the Soviet history in the region, together with the fact that Iranians aren’t automatons, but human be…

Post by mandevil » Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 10:01 PM UTC

nine_k wrote: post #109

mandevil wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afghanistan was in the middle of a semi-active civil war when the US joined the fray, and by providing large scale air support to Northern Alliance troops on the ground, the situation changed abruptly. Iraq involved multiple US divisions of troops, which took months to get into position to launch a large scale ground invasion. Libya was in the middle of a very active civil war when the US started Operation Odyssey Da…

The thing is that the population of Iran is not being bombed, except a few high-ranking military personnel. It's the nuclear facilities, air defense sites, and some electrical power facilities that have been bombed. A number of meetings / manifestations of expatriate Iranians happened around the world, supporting the Israeli actions. The current regime earned no love from most of the population, it seems; massive ant…