Doug's Darkworld

Current events have once again forced me to drop my planned blog, on the mysterious origins of pizza. Yes, the USA has uncovered a dastardly Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador followed by some terrorist attacks. Some have called this an act of war, and the sabre rattling coming from Obama and Washington is as scary as it has ever been. What’s going on here?

Sigh. As usual, even with what information has already been made public, this is a terrorist plot largely concocted by the government. In short they found some whack job who was muttering about kidnapping the Saudi Ambassador. An informant pretended to be an Iranian agent and convinced this hapless soul to not only kill the Saudi ambassador. but to set of explosives as well. How does Iran figure into all of this? Because the government says so, that’s why. Yes, the government of Iran decided to use an unstable American used car dealer from Texas to carry out a plot that was almost sure to fail, risked all-out war with the USA, for no conceivable benefit for Iran!

In other words, this “plot” is basically a joke. Except of course there’s nothing funny about the USA threatening war. Is the USA going to attack Iran? I doubt it. There’s nothing to be gained by attacking Iran, and there are all sorts of ways it could cause us terrible problems, I’ve blogged about this before. I think this more of the same ol same ol. Distraction from our domestic concerns, and more of the continuous  justification (IE propaganda) for endless American military spending/waging wars.

I can’t think of anything in the equation that would change, and make this war scare more serious than the dozen others that have preceded it. Well, other than the heightened instability in the region I suppose. Syria and Yemen are pretty much in a state of insurrection at the very least, with casualties clearly in the realm of war. The Libyan civil war drags on, Qaddafi loyalists striking in Tripoli today. Illustrating something that so many Americans don’t grasp. Just because Washington says that the Taliban, Saddam, and Qaddafi were the bad guys, doesn’t magically mean they don’t have supporters, often fanatical supporters. And another war would also put that much more financial strain on the US right now, something even Washington surely doesn’t want. And the US military does have its limits. Everything has its limits, another lesson many in the USA are not willing to face. And even if one argues how high those limits are, it’s still not wise to push them.

In addition, and it bears repeating amid the drums of war, Iran is no threat to the USA. They are a modest regional power on the other side of the planet, with a small outdated military and zero ability to attack the USA. Pictured above is a squadron of Iran’s front line fighters. They are F-7s, a Chinese made copy of the Russian Mig-21. The Mig-21 was designed and first flew in the nineteen fifties. These and a few dozen similar aircraft are all Iran has to control the airspace over Iran. A single modern American carrier group could take them out without breaking a sweat. Iran’s entire air force.

My crystal ball is cloudier than ever these days though. There’s no doubt that the Middle East is possibly as volatile as it’s ever been since World War Two. So any war scare is not a good thing. And this may be cover for something else. Even as cover for dictatorships crushing democracy movements it’s an ugly thing. I hope it’s nothing worse.

Coming soon, pizza, overpopulation, and domestic terrorism.

(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit, yadda yadda yadda. And while the above planes couldn’t challenge US control of the skies over Iran, they do make very effective one shot short range interceptors, as North Vietnam demonstrated some decades ago. Iran does have the ability to defend itself, another reason I suspect a shooting war is unlikely.)