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Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

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Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#471
post #246
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They cost under $500/launcher: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/one-for-history-books... $300/launcher here: https://www.un.org/depts/los/nippon/unnff_programme_home/fel... A decade ago it wasn't terrorist groups funding them.

Seems cheap to you and me but that is about the full annual income of someone from somalia. It isn't realistic for an individual to purchase one without external support.

> full annual income of someone from somalia.

Not if they seize a cargo ship it isn't. Criminals can afford the tools to commit crimes by using those tools to commit crimes.

Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#472
post #228

Let’s be frank. Iran could have built at least crude gun type fission bombs since they reached industrial scale for enrichment. And this being very dismissing of Iranian scientific and technological capabilities. Given modern computer consumer hardware, I don’t see why they couldn’t even have built implosion lens based fission devices without testing. DPRK would probably provide them with all the data they needed for…

Exactly. Which, when you think about it, shows that the 'Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb' argument for this war is not exactly the true motivation (not to say that the US and Israel really don't want them to have a bomb). This war is about trashing Iran. Adding it to the string of other failed states in the area. It would be more honest for Trump and Netanyahu to say that the motivation for this war is to ensure that…

Yes, the war is about Israel extreme far right removing an obstacle for their crazy expansionist ideas and about keeping America hegemonic power in the region.

Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#473
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are quite incapable of dealing with a mass attack by Iranian small boats with bombs.

They are not, they updated their tactics to account for that so they destroyed a lot of Iranian small boats with bombs trying to attack the vessels. If they were incapable of countering that we would have seen American casualties in these skirmishes but only Iranians died.

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Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#474
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats weak about doing the smart thing?

American destroyers and aircraft carriers have been chased away from the Strait multiple times now. Hilariously the USS George HW Bush had to go the long way around Africa rather than risk transiting the Bab El Mandeb after the Houthis defeated the US Navy last year.

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Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#475
post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But it's not what Iran thinks and it's not what the US is actually doing. I think you need to provide some evidence for your claim. The US had a deal with Iran. A madman ripped up that deal, started a war with a decapitation strike, and is now attempting to negotiate a deal we already had before we spent billions of dollars killing school kids. The “People” you dismiss includes scholars, strategists, experts on int…

Trump promised he would end the deal and he ended the deal. Why is that "madman ripped up that deal"? https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-kept-his... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_withdrawal_from_... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/world/middleeast/trump-ir... https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/trump-... Many including Trump have long said the deal was a terrible de…

"I'm gonna stab myself in the face!" - stabs self in face

Sure, clearly not a madman if he tells you he's going to do it first. o_O

Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No government have accepted Iranian tolls so far, that is just not going to fly ever. If every country controlling a strait started taking out such tolls that would cause much worse issues than we are seeing currently, nobody will have that.

No government has accepted Iranian tolls so far, but some shippers sure have; ships have been passing through the strait. Those shipments go on to countries with governments. I don't think you can actually know that there wasn't government support for any of those payments so far. And cryptocurrency should be even better for deniability. In reality it would be a really good idea for certain governments that rely heav…

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Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Iran has been funding terrorists for decades Americans not understanding that half of the world says the same thing about them is the funniest shit ever... Propaganda is one hell of a drug

Americans understand. We're allowed to fund terrorists, Iran isnt. Its not even a bad take if your goal is just domestic happiness. Iran funds terrorists that are opposed to American interests, it's the opposed to american interests part that is unacceptable.

We are the terrorists mate

Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#478
post #69

There's no insurance scheme the IRGC can concoct that protects against the US navy hitting your rudder with a 20mm gun.

Exactly. The US just announces that they will take any vessel that pays for transit. So, what happens then? Any vessel that goes through and the IRGC doesn't shoot them, the US seizes. So, no one pays since they can't pay for successful transit. The fun game is that all the vessels just go at once. Any that the IRGC doesn't shoot the US takes. Any that it does shoot sink. So, no transit. Unless IRGC doesn't shoot at…

This is some wacky races shit that boils down to:

1. US fucks up by engaging Iran, Iran closes strait.

2. US fucks up the negotiations and fails to reopen the strait.

3. US decides to try and rescue its initial war goals, through a mutual blockade with Iran, starts sinking the very vessels it demands Iran gives passage to.

Does Mutley get a medal?

Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> USA can win this war with barely any casualties What do you mean by "win"? What strategic goals can the US achieve in this war? We're at a point where merely achieving status quo ante bellum--i.e., Iran doesn't charge for passage through the Strait of Hormuz--seems to require giving concessions elsewhere. In many ways, this looks like the American version of Pearl Harbor--a stunning tactical victory that is simulta…

> We're at a point where merely achieving status quo ante bellum--i.e., Iran doesn't charge for passage through the Strait of Hormuz--seems to require giving concessions elsewhere. No, there is no reality where the world will let Iran take tolls here, no matter what happens that part wont happen. The world depends too much on straits being open and toll free, if you let that slide once it will be done by others and t…

Which as they say, will require concessions elsewhere to achieve.

Re: Iran starts Bitcoin-backed ship insurance for Hormuz strait

#480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know enough about the current state of naval warfare but I've assumed this is related to the asymmetry that's emerged around protecting capital warships, especially in the scenario of a very narrow strait and a long enemy-controlled coastline. They can shoot relatively low-cost, short-range guided missiles from anywhere along the coast. Even if a warship stops the vast majority of them, only one has to get th…

The bigger issue is the tankers. The US Navy isn't going to be happy patrolling the strait sure, but even if they did they wouldn't be able to protect the tankers enough for it to make sense for tankers to take the risk. The last time this happened the US opened the strait by accidentally shooting down an Iranian passenger plane after sinking a large chunk of Iranian navy. The Iranians assumed the US shoot the passen…

US downing of Iran passenger plane was as much an accident as the triple tap they did of the girls school in Iran recently or the use of nuclear bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in the past when Japan was already surrendering ie it was a terror tactic. I think americans have the false belief that US is some of kind of benevolent force acting for the good of the world and promoting freedom and democracy. Where as it is an empire that only looks at what is good for itself.
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