Archived material Access restricted Article
Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Sun 01/05/2020 View Sat 01/04/2020 View Fri 01/03/2020 View Thu 01/02/2020 View Wed 01/01/2020 View Tue 12/31/2019 View Mon 12/30/2019
1
2020-01-05 Home Front: WoT
Trump Tweet that has unhinged both the mullahs and the Dems and Europe
Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.
Posted by 3dc 2020-01-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ]  Top

#1 What does an unhinged mullah or liberal look like? Normal perhaps?
Posted by gorb 2020-01-05 01:43||   2020-01-05 01:43|| Front Page Top

#2 WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD

Why that is so Jacksonian of him. the problem is that the foreigners and their intel people read American MSM and thus have no understanding of the man. Notice the man does what he says he'll do.

BTW, this is not just a message for Tehran, but also Pyongyang. Are you paying attention?
Posted by Procopius2k 2020-01-05 02:54||   2020-01-05 02:54|| Front Page Top

#3 They don't understand Jacksonians anyway.
Posted by g(r)omgoru PB 2020-01-05 05:12||   2020-01-05 05:12|| Front Page Top

#4 I think he's the beginning of a new standard of President in fact. I look forward to the times when certain leaders of nation states shall be called 'Trumpian'.
Posted by Dron66046 2020-01-05 08:17||   2020-01-05 08:17|| Front Page Top

#5 The president said the 52 targets represented the 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for more than a year from late 1979, after they were seized at the US embassy in Tehran.

Gotta love the symbolism of that!
Be fascinating to see the target list. Obvious ones are power plants, refineries and some mil bases. The mention of cultural sites is unusual.

the problem is that the foreigners and their intel people read American MSM and thus have no understanding of the man.

Yeah, certainly a problem for the man on the street. I wonder if any foreign intel services are able to burn thru the static. Anyone talk to the FSB lately?
Posted by SteveS 2020-01-05 11:53||   2020-01-05 11:53|| Front Page Top

#6 52 Pick-Up
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 12:14||   2020-01-05 12:14|| Front Page Top

#7 "The mention of cultural sites is unusual"

and should have been left out.
Posted by European Conservative 2020-01-05 12:21||   2020-01-05 12:21|| Front Page Top

#8 Are factories that make "dual use" materiel Cherman "cultural sites?"
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-01-05 12:23||   2020-01-05 12:23|| Front Page Top

#9 The Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan buddhas
ISIS destroyed Palmyra.

I'd rather not see the U.S. joining that group.
Posted by European Conservative 2020-01-05 12:36||   2020-01-05 12:36|| Front Page Top

#10  Agree it was better it to say this but let's not clutch our pearls just yet.

Had Le Grand Orange Satan said Persian cultural sites, that clearly would have meant world heritage sites like Isfahan. That clearly was not the intent.

Trump is not a culture vulture. For him, a golf course and a gold-inlaid hotel suite bathroom count as a "cultural site."

Let's not get carried away here.
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 12:49||   2020-01-05 12:49|| Front Page Top

#11 ... & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, ..

The best threats are vague enough for the target to fill in the blanks for himself. Very much “Nice country ya got here — be a shame if anything happened to it.” Iran’s image of itself as a regional power goes back almost 2500 years — destroying he things that maintain that status, knocking them back to a mere country among others, would be important to their culture: nuclear bomb development, the big oil refinery, the Quds base, the IRGC base...
Posted by trailing wife 2020-01-05 13:30||   2020-01-05 13:30|| Front Page Top

#12 I'm glad he brought back let it be known assasinations
Posted by Chris 2020-01-05 13:36||   2020-01-05 13:36|| Front Page Top

#13 @tw
ammunition for enemy propaganda and therefore not helpful.
Posted by European Conservative 2020-01-05 14:24||   2020-01-05 14:24|| Front Page Top

#14 
"You want to do business with me ? I will do business with you." - Godfather III (1990)

How very... gangster. I like.
Posted by Dron66046 2020-01-05 14:36||   2020-01-05 14:36|| Front Page Top

#15 I'd rather not see the U.S. joining that group.

Too late. See - Monte Cassino, not to exclude many old historic German cities. Been there, seen it, done it.
Posted by Procopius2k 2020-01-05 16:13||   2020-01-05 16:13|| Front Page Top

#16 Monte Cassino was not targeted for being a cultural site.
Posted by European Conservative 2020-01-05 16:38||   2020-01-05 16:38|| Front Page Top

#17 Dresden? That's what some Germans claimed.
Posted by Bobby 2020-01-05 16:52||   2020-01-05 16:52|| Front Page Top

#18 The mention of cultural sites is unusual.

Are nuke sites now cultural? I can see the concern with the word choice, but, given the Muzzi history I hope they're not too attached to them.

The Japenese were attached to sites in Hiroshima and Nagasaki too.
Posted by AlanC 2020-01-05 17:18||   2020-01-05 17:18|| Front Page Top

#19 ammunition for enemy propaganda and therefore not helpful.

From a fact-based perspective, you are correct, sir. But we are dealing in the realm of Persuasion here.

Trump could have said our response to Iranian aggression will be considered, immediate, and proportional (Tit For Tat). That is a very diplomatic response. And everyone would have yawned. Instead, he played Think Past The Sale with a big dose of gangster thrown in.

Fifty two targets is a very specific number, not only for the symbolism, but it implies that he is beyond deciding what to do and already has the targets picked out. Now instead of wondering "will he/won't he?", people are talking about exactly what places he is going to whack. The man is good at this.
Posted by SteveS 2020-01-05 18:05||   2020-01-05 18:05|| Front Page Top

#20 I would think "52" also calls to mind the image of a card deck, with faces of (targeted) individuals on it.

Then again, the Ace of Spades has already been eliminated, so maybe 51 would have been more suggestive

Subliminable, y'might say
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 18:10||   2020-01-05 18:10|| Front Page Top

#21 Nixon tried to act the "madman" in 1969 and again in 1973, but he wasn't erratic at all, and no one was convinced.

Trump is believed by everyone to be erratic and borderline mad, but is in fact exceptionally cunning and a great judge of others' character and weakness.

Add to this a mastery of the medium of our era - Twitter - and you have the elements of a strategy that will keep the Iranians on the back foot.

In such a situation the only prudent course of action - ie the only one that results in their continued survival and hold on power and loot - for the Iranians will be to de-escalate.
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 18:18||   2020-01-05 18:18|| Front Page Top

#22 Fearless prediction: there won't be any sort of devastating, or even seriously damaging, response by the Iranians.

They will continue to make noise and do trivial, stupid things - maybe they'll hack the Paducah, Kentucky marriage database next, or scrawl some more graffiti on a US Embassy wall with an unflattering caricature of OrangeMan.
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 18:22||   2020-01-05 18:22|| Front Page Top

#23 Sorry, one more extremely revealing aspect of DJT's behavior here: Note how RESTRAINED his tweets were this time around.

After the strike, all he did was tweet... the US flag. Wordless, and yet it spoke volumes: "Don't even THINK about f---ing with the USA." No more words. It's not personal, there's nothing to talk about.
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 18:25||   2020-01-05 18:25|| Front Page Top

#24 I still consider the inclusion of cultural sites self defeating.

1) Nothing unites people more than threats like these.
2) Iran's leaders will realize it's a bluff but of course not call it. It works for them.
3) Public opinion matters. When even Boris Johnson calls for restraint...
Posted by European Conservative 2020-01-05 18:59||   2020-01-05 18:59|| Front Page Top

#25 Two of the world's major groups of malefactors - mullahs and dems - thrown off balance with one shot. Sun Tzu and Machiavelli both smile and bow...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-01-05 19:03||   2020-01-05 19:03|| Front Page Top

#26 #24 - I concur
Posted by Frank G 2020-01-05 19:19||   2020-01-05 19:19|| Front Page Top

#27 I WOULD, however say: We are no longer in the nation-building game. YOU CAUSE us to break it? Your problem. Let the populace figure that shit out, but I would hit the Ayatollah's/Mullah;s/IRGC assets take the first pounding, while draining their accounts electronically. Hilarity ensues
Posted by Frank G 2020-01-05 19:23||   2020-01-05 19:23|| Front Page Top

#28 No objection. Target the mullahs. They have something to lose.
Posted by European Conservative 2020-01-05 19:44||   2020-01-05 19:44|| Front Page Top

#29 #23 point taken. That was a mistake.
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 19:45||   2020-01-05 19:45|| Front Page Top

#30  I still consider the inclusion of cultural sites self defeating.

That is because you are a reasonable, civilized person. You've probably never seized an embassy, held hostages or committed mass murder. Me, neither. But this message isn't aimed at you and me. It's a marketing campaign to convince the mullahs that Trump is a crazy sonofabitch who feels no restraint about pulling the trigger.

1) Nothing unites people more than threats like these.
They hate us already. Nothing will change that. Let them hate, as long as they fear (side note: about half of Iran seems fed up with the Islamic Revolution and wants the old Iran back. And before the Usual Suspects freak out, I'm not even hinting at nation-building.)

2) Iran's leaders will realize it's a bluff but of course not call it. It works for them.
Is it a bluff? We just drone-zapped one of their main guys at Baghdad International. Nobody believed that would happen, least of all Soleimani the zappee. Remember when Trump was dining with the Chinese PM and nipped out for a bit during the desert course to smoke that Syrian base over some chem weapons?

3) Public opinion matters. When even Boris Johnson calls for restraint...
Civilized people should be outraged. But the calls for restraint give the mullahs some room to back off and not look like wussies. It's not a bad thing.

That old Chinese guy said the highest level of skill is to win *before* you fight. If that means some harsh words and a little world outrage, it works for me.
Posted by SteveS 2020-01-05 20:16||   2020-01-05 20:16|| Front Page Top

#31 True blind hatred is totally irrational. Trying to out think thoughtlessness surely makes Buddha smile.
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-01-05 20:24||   2020-01-05 20:24|| Front Page Top

#32 When someone can point to a single leftist who has ever been distraught about desecration of Christian cultural sites, call me. I'm over at the bar doing shots with Diogenes.
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-01-05 20:30||   2020-01-05 20:30|| Front Page Top

#33 Remember when Trump was dining with the Chinese PM and nipped out for a bit during the desert course to smoke that Syrian base over some chem weapons?

Yes, indeed. Operation Dessert Storm
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 20:59||   2020-01-05 20:59|| Front Page Top

#34  Boris Johnson calls for restraint...
... calls for restraint give the mullahs some room to back off and not look like wussies. It's not a bad thing.

Good (blonde) Mop,
Bad (blonde) Mop
Posted by Lex 2020-01-05 21:01||   2020-01-05 21:01|| Front Page Top

#35 The Taliban, ISIS, etc. have been blowing up other cultural sites for years with rarely a mention. Who cares if they get theirs blown up? At least it might give them pause next time.
Posted by gorb 2020-01-05 21:12||   2020-01-05 21:12|| Front Page Top

#36 Yes, indeed. Operation Dessert Storm

Heh. In my defense, the Syrian base *was* in the desert.

Our specialty today is Aircraft Revetment Alamo-ed
Posted by SteveS 2020-01-05 21:34||   2020-01-05 21:34|| Front Page Top

#37 Cut to the chase: make Mecca Macaque unvisitable for 29000 years and then sat "Let's talk..."
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-01-05 21:36||   2020-01-05 21:36|| Front Page Top

#38 Then say
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-01-05 21:37||   2020-01-05 21:37|| Front Page Top

#39  Our specialty today is Aircraft Revetment Alamo-ed

Steven S! You take your clever self upstairs to your room right this minute!!
Posted by trailing wife 2020-01-05 21:47||   2020-01-05 21:47|| Front Page Top

22:50 Silentbrick
22:02 Varmint Splat1454
21:48 M. Murcek
21:47 trailing wife
21:41 M. Murcek
21:37 M. Murcek
21:36 M. Murcek
21:34 SteveS
21:25 Alaska Paul
21:22 M. Murcek
21:22 gorb
21:20 Alaska Paul
21:14 M. Murcek
21:12 gorb
21:11 trailing wife
21:06 M. Murcek
21:05 gorb
21:05 Lex
21:03 M. Murcek
21:03 Lex
21:01 Lex
20:59 Lex
20:58 M. Murcek
20:58 gorb









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com