Iraqi Parliament votes to expel US Troop Presence
Well, that'll be an exit strategy that I didn't predict, and seems quite scary really.
Iraqi Parliament votes to expel US Troop Presence
Well, that'll be an exit strategy that I didn't predict, and seems quite scary really.
My immediate thought upon seeing this new thread pop up: do we have to? lol XP
Scary for whom precisely? After all, it's not legally binding, and it's unlikely the US would heed it even if it were. Moreover, the US withdrawal from Syria was bad for the Kurds (and good for Iran, Russia, and Turkey), but there seems to have been no significant cost to the US besides a small dent in its "credibility" on the world stage (as if the US didn't already have a long history of treating the Kurds as disposable allies).Quoting Ezee E (view post)
For me, the major takeaway of the last few days has been that US foreign policy toward Iraq has long ceased to be based on any rational cost-benefit analysis, if it ever was. There isn't enough oil on the planet to justify an unending military presence in the country, yet all these supposedly rational US senators from both major parties keep blathering about the "blood and treasure" the US has sunk into Iraq over the last seventeen years, as if the country were a tech startup that's always just about to start turning a profit. In other words, the US government's desire to prevent Iran from gaining access to Iraq's oil reserve seems to far outstrip any real benefit the US would derive from those same oil reserves if they were able to pacify the country.
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
Not shocking at all considering who's currently in office. Trump talks about foreign countries and leaders like he's talking about some rival college fraternity.Quoting baby doll (view post)
It's not just Trump that's irrational. Contrary to what I keep hearing on cable news about this being the potential start of a "new war," it's actually a continuation of the old war against ISIS, which started under Obama. In that war, the US and Iran were unofficially on the same side since they both had, or believed they had, an interest in destroying the Islamic State, and now that they have, they've started fighting with each other over who gets to control Iraq's oil reserves. If Hillary Clinton had won the election, she probably wouldn't have assassinated Soleimani, but she would've found some other way of retaliating against Iran for the attack on the US embassy (which was a retaliation against an earlier airstrike on Iran's proxies which was a retaliation for their attack on US soldiers).Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
If Hillary had won, Soleimani would've committed suicide.
This whole mess started in 1953 when the US and UK overthrew Iran's elected government.
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