Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Given the choice between a government that poses no threat to it but is illiberal and any possibility of a liberal government the US always opts to harm the illiberal government. This makes sense only if you define "liberal" as "aligned with the interests of Washington and/or American corporations". For god's sake, USA supported Saddam Hussein while he was gassing Kurdish civilians during the Iran-Iraq war. https:/…
"Supported" in the sense of "not letting being conquered completely by Iran." Who was carrying out its own mass executions of non-Muslims and implementing its own cultural revolution around that time. America definitely had some self-interest in protecting Iraq, but it's not like the alternative was clearly a better choice either.
How is it like to be a dev in Iran
211–220 of 462 posts
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I work for a US company that routinely has to deal with cyber attacks by Iranian professionals, probably government sponsored. It's hard to posit a moral high-ground here, when basically every state is actively seeking to undermine the others' cyber security, including the US. Stuxnet is one of the most formidable state-sponsored cyber security exploits, and that was targeted at Iran, it seems easy justification to…
Maybe I can consider this in more familiar terms, as if both sides have guns. Do they use them differently? I at least can't know for sure. What it boils down to for me is which side do you want to win? Being fair and impartial doesn't mean considering that both of the nations are the same and the outcome will be the same if either side wins, with only a different name and flag for the victor. If the US wins, a rough…
Your argument makes sense, but it starts with a very flawed assumption: that Iran wants to dominate the world. The reality accepted by everyone except the US and its few allies on this issue is that Iran is an extremely defensive country. The current regime, and the country in general, feels threatened in the region, being generally sorrounded by belligerent hostile countries, with the backing of the US (Saudi Arabia and Israel being the most powerful and the most belligerent).
So, if Iran wins, what will actually happen is that Iran will be left alone to function just like any other non-democratic state. Is the regime bad for its people? Yes. Is it better than being at war? Absolutely.
And regarding nuclear weapons, Iran has declared numerous times that it would gladly participate in an agreement, enforced by UN/IANA inspectors, to declare the entire region a nuclear-free area. Israel is blocking any such agreement. Iran has entered deals with the US and other western countries to renounce its nuclear weapons program in exchange for lifting the embargo and other kinds of help. The US has backed up from these deals twice now. The second time, they have not even claimed to have any evidence that Iran is not respecting the deal; and the other parties to the agreement, like the entire rest of 'the West' have in fact remained in the deal, as has Iran, despite the new US sanctions (deemed illegal by the UN).
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a lot more to tracking these groups than ip addresses. To impersonate any of the known groups you will need a lot of knowledge about the tools and infra that they use.
And if you have that knowledge it's impossible to imitate? Can't really tell if your comment is refuting or agreeing, attribution is hard.
Masquerading as a particular cyber-attack group requires not only knowing what techniques and tools they tend to use, but also how to do those things yourself, while imitating their style. It’s not impossible, but neither is it trivial: We’re not talking about simply first impressions here, but fooling a concerted, post-hoc investigation.
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
> just because they don't tow your line. Let's be specific what we are talking about here. We are talking about a country funding lots of militant groups that kill lots of people. So, let's rephrase your original statement to instead say "just because they continue to fund militant groups that kill lots of people". Rephrased that way, your original comment does not sounds so reasonable.
>We are talking about a country funding lots of militant groups that kill lots of people. No, that's Saudi Arabia, our partners in peace.
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
> just because they don't tow your line. Let's be specific what we are talking about here. We are talking about a country funding lots of militant groups that kill lots of people. So, let's rephrase your original statement to instead say "just because they continue to fund militant groups that kill lots of people". Rephrased that way, your original comment does not sounds so reasonable.
> funding lots of militant groups that kill lots of people You're talking about US, right?
Don’t know how this is in other countries but there seems to be a line with local mosques where they preach extremism and always get their funding from people within that country.
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I work for a US company that routinely has to deal with cyber attacks by Iranian professionals, probably government sponsored. It's hard to posit a moral high-ground here, when basically every state is actively seeking to undermine the others' cyber security, including the US. Stuxnet is one of the most formidable state-sponsored cyber security exploits, and that was targeted at Iran, it seems easy justification to…
Maybe I can consider this in more familiar terms, as if both sides have guns. Do they use them differently? I at least can't know for sure. What it boils down to for me is which side do you want to win? Being fair and impartial doesn't mean considering that both of the nations are the same and the outcome will be the same if either side wins, with only a different name and flag for the victor. If the US wins, a rough…
Obama made a deal with the Iranians to stop production of weapons grade nuclear material and to destroy related infrastructure.
This also had the side-effect of strengthening the most reasonable politics within Iran.
But no, I guess this new course undermined the career of too many apparatchiks so the Orange Man was persuaded to kick the table up in the air.
And we’re back to square one, with the loudest monkeys showing their teeth at each other...
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#217Throwaway account for obvious reasons. I'm one of those operations people who have been required by a legal department to block access from sanctioned countries - I've literally written the HTTP rules to deny access to folks like the original author. I think about how the infrastructure I write and operate creates situations like these, and while I know I'm partly to blame, it's worth highlighting that this is a by-p…
This is a good point. To add a slightly different perspective, I work for a US company that routinely has to deal with cyber attacks by Iranian professionals, probably government sponsored. I think most people don't realize how incredibly serious this is, and how basically there is already a global war being fought. And the nations with the most freedom have the most to lose. Certainly most of the people in Iran are…
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#218My heart breaks for these devs. I've been able to launch a successful development career specifically because I was born in the US (and my parents left Iran). If I was the same person in a different geographic area I'd be struggling under sanctions. Companies definitely need to push back on extra egregious legal teams who want to block services Iran, as it's mostly paranoia and not that the services actually fall und…
Isn't the point of sanctions to cause frustration by restrictions?
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
> just because they don't tow your line. Let's be specific what we are talking about here. We are talking about a country funding lots of militant groups that kill lots of people. So, let's rephrase your original statement to instead say "just because they continue to fund militant groups that kill lots of people". Rephrased that way, your original comment does not sounds so reasonable.
>> We are talking about a country funding lots of militant groups that kill lots of people I wish it was so one sided like we wish to paint it here. But starting a thread about this will only contribute to a never ending discussion thread. There is no moral high ground here. What we can do is to step away from this madness and try to make a general sense of it. All this warmongering is unneeded.
Whatever the mechanism the US has for picking it's allies, it's pretty clear that it's not simply based on some rigorous moral analysis of the different actors. As long as the Iranian regime insists on maintaining "Death to America" as their political slogan, it's understandable that the US will maintain some level of hostility. But to try and paint it as Iran being purely evil and Israel/SA being purely good (or vice versa) is disingenuous.
Re: How is it like to be a dev in Iran
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe I can consider this in more familiar terms, as if both sides have guns. Do they use them differently? I at least can't know for sure. What it boils down to for me is which side do you want to win? Being fair and impartial doesn't mean considering that both of the nations are the same and the outcome will be the same if either side wins, with only a different name and flag for the victor. If the US wins, a rough…
> What it boils down to for me is which side do you want to win? Being fair and impartial doesn't mean considering that both of the nations are the same and the outcome will be the same if either side wins, with only a different name and flag for the victor. Your argument makes sense, but it starts with a very flawed assumption: that Iran wants to dominate the world. The reality accepted by everyone except the US and…
Which weapons program? AFAIK current Iranian inspection mechanisms are the most stringent (anywhere ever).