The CIA and MI5 must be really disperate.
A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
121–130 of 177 posts
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have little doubt the US armed Kurds to add to Iran's woes, however > Trump openly admiited it [2]. isn't a credible source, as the linked article admits: Iran analyst Neil Quilliam of the United Kingdom’s Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera that it’s hard to assign much weight to Trump’s statements because of the claims and counterclaims often coming from him and his administration. The current POTUS contrad…
So in court there's the concept of hearsay, which generally makes certain statements inadmissble as evidence. The classic example is me testifying "Alice said Bob told her he did it". One of the exceptions to hearsay is called the admission against interest. That means that if you say something that hurts your case or hurts you in some other way (eg implicating you in a crime) then you will generally be allowed to te…
Sure. Understood.
Makes sense for any normal person.
Trump is still a 100% unreliable witness to almost anything, more so in recent years as he's cognitively wobbling all over the clock.
Again, I'm not opposed to your thesis here, just pointing out Trump's words count for nothing; he's a frequent traveller on the path of "admissions against interest" - arming rebels, shooting people in Times Square, war crimes on the open seas, staring directly into the sun .. he's down for all of that and it seemingly slides right off.
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Cuz i'm not a credulous rube, and I know a terrorist state when I see one. I'll believe iran is capable of the kind of terror that israel has perpetrated on video every for my entire life when I see the evidence
If that makes me an antisemite fine. The word seems to just mean "person who criticizes an obviously terrorist state" anyway. Nothing hezbollah has ever done can justify invasion; if it did, the entire world would have used the same justification to bomb telaviv eighty years ago and every decade since
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Per the article, it's seemingly not? >Last year, the Iranian government passed legislation that made using, buying or selling Starlink devices punishable by up to two years in prison. The jail term for distributing or importing more than 10 devices can be up to 10 years.
Yeah but then Hesam died [1] ... yesterday in jail before having a trial. He was 40, wasn't an activist and had two daughters. EDIT: To provide more context: Let's say that "John" is arrested for having had "illegal internet access" (not even owning a starlink). Even if he has a trial, the prosecutor can, and will, argue that he could have used his a secure channel to collaborate with the Mossad and CIA. If they find…
“So, what do you use your Internet access for? What could be worth risking life in prison - or worse - for? Not to mention the exorbitant pricing!?”
“I correct people on Hacker News.”
“Worth it.”
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder why BYD is banned in the US. Are we afraid they'll be used to transport people to gatherings?
I'm not from US, but China is certainly subsidize a lot of its manufacturers to capture global markets while not giving access to it's local market to western companies. US is able to produce cars on its soil and there is no reason to give up this industry to foreign country. It's pretty sane policy.
PRC gave/gives way more managed market access to US/west than vice versa, they just historically limit to JVs where foreign partners capped at 50/50% ownership. Almost every western product that's not export controlled, PRC buys, i.e. there's way more western cars / tech in PRC market via JV tax than vice versa. Versus western approach to PRC competitive goods is functionally structural exclusion. EU on open to JVs even if they're incapable of providing same we do all the work you collect cheques value add that PRC offered, but they have audacity to ask for tier1 PRC crown jewel tech while PRC took tier2 legacy western tech, and EU wants 51% lol while not being able to allocate land, build factories, mobilize 10000s workforce on a dime like PRC. Hence PRC not biting.
The difference is PRC has confidence they can indigenize tech/processes and compete, so giving western companies broader access to even strategic sectors long term worthwhile, especially sectors they're behind in. West either doesn't have that confidence or understands they'll get stomped even in PRC parity/fair JV arrangement and better to lock in with protectionism that now surpass PRC protectionism, or have retarded JV asks.
Which is a pretty sane policy until PRC moves past parity and extend gap despite mountains of ineffective western subsidies.
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both are terrible options, why should I root for one of them? Look what Israel is doing in Gaza, are they gonna be good for Iran now?
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The 90% figure is widely considered to be bullshit. Actual civilian-to-combatant ratios are around 1:1 in war, a la 50%. Granted, it's higher for urban warfare.
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I can't think of a single example where foreign inteference [sic] (or war) has had the citizenry welcome foreign powers as liberators or otherwise increased freedoms or conditions in a country for those citizens. That's one of the lines people spew as if it is a tautology without actually thinking about its accuracy. Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, need more examples? Iranians right now also tend to disagree w…
I should've said post-1945. That was imprecise. My bad. Economic sanctions are largely a post-1945 tool. Sure there are examples like stopping oil exports to Imperial Japan but sanctions as an economic regime where a large part of the world isolates you economically didn't really happen until the Cold War as the US remade the economic order post-1945. Since then we have a 100% failure rate for economic sanctions of e…
One detail about the USSR joining against Japan, they sent mechanized divisions that had survived the eastern front in europe to Manchuria against the most prestigious units of the Japanese army which had mostly been suppressing farmers. The Russians swept across the entire region in weeks. So that's going to turn some heads in high command.
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
The government of Lebanon is cooperating with Israel - it's only the southerners/Hezbollah in conflict, at least for now. The people of Gaza are cut off for the most part. The strict censorship inside Israel is what you should compare to - not as strict as a total access ban, but if you say the wrong things or take pictures of the wrong stuff you're going to prison.
> but if you say the wrong things or take pictures of the wrong stuff you're going to prison. That’s true in most counties. And for good reason. Israel is tiny, and has a population of 10.1 million. And a fair amount of military firepower. You probably shouldn’t be taking photos of, say, Iron Dome equipment locations.
The ARMA 3 devs actually almost went to prison for photographing military installations.
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just because the US sucks doesn't mean the Shia Theocratic thugs ruling Iran don't ALSO suck.
Excuse the pedantry but it's probably more accurate to describe Iran as a military dicatorship more than a theocracy. Yes, there's a Supreme Leader but the day-to-day government is really run by the IRGC. Not that one is necessarily better than the other, mind you. It's a bit like describing the UK as a monarchy (yes the British monarch is more of a figurehead than the Ayatollah is). But look at all our self-proclaim…
> I can't think of a single example where foreign inteference (or war) has had the citizenry welcome foreign powers as liberators or otherwise increased freedoms or conditions in a country for those citizens.
Panama
Re: A network smuggling Starlink tech into Iran to beat internet blackout
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Should internet and outside access be cut for people of Gaza and Lebanon too? Aren’t they targeted by Israel as well?
My point is that the people of Iran aren’t the target of the disruption. Remember when Ukraine used the Russian cellular internet to operate drones that destroyed numerous Russian heavy bomber aircraft? That’s what the US/Israel would logically be expected to do if there were wide open internet access in Iran. This is obvious game theory playing out militarily, people only see political suppression but warfare is a t…
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