losthighway wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 8:14 am https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026 ... f-khamenei

You cannot accomplish regime change through air strikes alone.

The prospect of an equal or nastier dictatorship seems pretty real in this mess. The antidote would pull Trump into a prolonged, risky, Iraq-like situation that he is probably reluctant to try.

jfv wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 8:14 am If, as Fascist Fanta says, we're counting on the Iranian people to take over their government, we're delusional. That sounds like a horrible civil war to me.

Yeah, they just don't have a capable, armed, uprising type of group. Unlike Syria or other regional countries the government has entirely suppressed the people out of any kind of rival faction, militia etc. All they have is an exiled crown prince sending them messages of hope.

the problem for this hypothetical next dictator is now he knows America will assassinate him without a thought.
Who wants that job? I’d rather just enjoy my life.

^ Will we, though?

That whole region is full of countries ruled by people with absolute power, more or less. All's this hypothetical dictator has to be is less of a dick, and amenable to the existence of Israel.

When I was in UAE a week or so ago, I talked to my colleague about governments. He seemed pretty cool with the monarchy that rules them. Shit seems pretty okay there, aside from a few things (don't be gay there, and don't have drugs). Having money helps, of course.

I digress. Trump has and will continue to fuck this up.

jfv wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 2:18 pm ^ Will we, though?

That whole region is full of countries ruled by people with absolute power, more or less. All's this hypothetical dictator has to be is less of a dick, and amenable to the existence of Israel.

When I was in UAE a week or so ago, I talked to my colleague about governments. He seemed pretty cool with the monarchy that rules them. Shit seems pretty okay there, aside from a few things (don't be gay there, and don't have drugs). Having money helps, of course.

I digress. Trump has and will continue to fuck this up.

I don’t know if we will or won’t continue to fuck with the next dictator.
The point is we threaten to. That’s all they need to know. It’s a different world. Ask your colleague the same question today and get a different answer.

Yeah yeah, might makes right, Molotov-Ribbentrop, you eat your own boiled shoes and try to suck your own dick. Get fucked.

UAE doesn't offer any clear path to citizenship, even for people born and raised there to foreign parents. You can be native to Dubai and live there for decades only to be deported to the country of your parents, even if you've never visited said country. The right to stay is tied in with residency, which is tied into active employment. It's a cute way to prop up indentured servitude to benefit some of the biggest nouveau riche morons this century. Fuck the Gulf states.

I need to stop thinking about this for a while.

gotdamn wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 2:40 pm Yeah yeah, might makes right, Molotov-Ribbentrop, you eat your own boiled shoes and try to suck your own dick. Get fucked

That’s the point. The Iranian people have no weapons. They were living under Might for decades until yesterday. You could give G. Maxwell, bill gates, bill clinton, trump & prince Andrew the death penalty and that’s still less justice for rape victims than we got yesterday!

UAE doesn't offer any clear path to citizenship, even for people born and raised there to foreign parents. You can be native to Dubai and live there for decades only to be deported to the country of your parents, even if you've never visited said country. The right to stay is tied in with residency, which is tied into active employment. It's a cute way to prop up indentured servitude to benefit some of the biggest nouveau riche morons this century. Fuck the Gulf states.

I hope to visit someday but you’re right to be critical.

jfv wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 3:15 pm I need to stop thinking about this for a while.

no need to respond to every thing. i don't use the verb ghost. you're free to come & go as you please.

People really show their ass when they start talking about politics outside of their own country. Should it fall, there is no way that the regime in Iran is replaced by anything but something that is much, much worse. Just look at every other country that the US has toppled.

Whatever happens, it is likely to continue to escalate. Read up on the US military’s study of Iran’s defensive capabilities - the reason this hasn’t happened at this level before is because Iran does not need nuclear weapons to make a mess of the region and global oil markets. But Trump thinks he can throw around flash bangs in a country for a week or two and then jet. Not going to happen here.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 9:58 pm People really show their ass when they start talking about politics outside of their own country.

yeah i wonder why nobody inside iran have weighed in on twitter, on cable news, here, anywhere....

Should it fall, there is no way that the regime in Iran is replaced by anything but something that is much, much worse. Just look at every other country that the US has toppled.

Whatever happens, it is likely to continue to escalate. Read up on the US military’s study of Iran’s defensive capabilities - the reason this hasn’t happened at this level before is because Iran does not need nuclear weapons to make a mess of the region and global oil markets. But Trump thinks he can throw around flash bangs in a country for a week or two and then jet. Not going to happen here.

what does this mean? you are scared of iran's weapons capabilites? sure, there is definitely a cost to freedom. oil prices about to go up guys.

I can’t engage with somebody that comes here to get picked on, sorry.