WARNING: This story contains vulgar language.

What shitty way to discourage people from interacting with those legitimately in need

Says Iran 'posed no imminent threat' to America, blames 'pressure from Israel'

Joe Kent, the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, saying he "cannot in good conscience" back the Trump administration's war in Iran.

Her forgotten magnum opus

Window into Iran

Many Iranians whom CBC News interviewed feared speaking publicly. Often, when they agreed to interviews, they often requested that their name or image be withheld because they feared facing reprisal. Iran’s brutal clerical regime frequently imprisons and kills those seen to be expressing dissent.

Hundreds are crossing the border every day, including those who are returning to the country from abroad, and had to make the journey in by vehicle as the airspace over Iran has been closed.

Many of those who are leaving have dual citizenship or family or business opportunities abroad.
[...]
An Iranian American, who only wanted to be identified as Bridget, said she was scheduled to fly out of Tehran just as the U.S. strikes began. She was already on the plane when the pilot announced the flight would be grounded and everyone needed to get off. It took her two days to reach and cross the border. Once she got there, she said she joined a small crowd of Iranians waiting to leave.

“People were actually asking me, you know, ‘The United States not gonna win, is it?’” she said.

“And I really thought they were joking…. I mean, we just have to see what the losses are here.”

Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil moves through the passageway

{...]
"The scale of what is at stake cannot be overstated," said Hakan Kaya, senior portfolio manager at investment management firm Neuberger Berman. He said a partial slowdown lasting a week or two could be absorbed by oil companies.

But a full or near full closure lasting a month or more would push crude oil prices, trading around $70 US on Monday, "well into triple digits" and European natural gas prices "toward or above the crisis levels seen in 2022."
[...]
Key waterway for shipping

The Strait of Hormuz is a bending waterway, about 33 kilometres wide at its narrowest point. It connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. From there, ships can then travel to the rest of the world. [...] While Iran and Oman have their territorial waters in the strait, it's viewed as an international waterway all ships can ply.

The U.A.E., home to the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai, also sits near the waterway.

Long-established trade importance

The Strait of Hormuz through history has been important for trade, with ceramics, ivory, silk and textiles moving from China through the region.

In the modern era, it is the route for supertankers carrying oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the U.A.E. and Iran. The vast majority of it goes to markets in Asia, including Iran's only remaining oil customer, China.

While there are pipelines in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. that can avoid the passage, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says "most volumes that transit the strait have no alternative means of exiting the region."

Threats to the route have spiked global energy prices in the past, including during the Israel-Iran war in June last year.
[...]

When asked about whether the U.S. has a plan on how to fill the power vacuum left by the death of the nation's supreme leader, Rubio reiterated that their goal was to destroy Iran's short-range ballistic missile capability and eliminate the threat posed by its navy.

"We hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government," Rubio said. "We would love for that to be possible."

When asked directly if the U.S. will play any role in helping Iran with its government, Rubio shrugged and said, "we might."

I'm shocked

University of Ottawa Middle East expert Thomas Juneau cautioned that Khamenei's killing may not become the seismic event that some hope.

"We may wish for a secular democracy to replace it swiftly, but there are two hard realities to contend with: There is no alternative, democratic or otherwise, ready to take over; and the U.S. record at engineering regime change is very poor," Juneau wrote.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday morning, British Iranian journalist Rana Rahimpour said there has been no evidence of disloyalty to the regime from Iran's security services nor from its powerful Revolutionary Guard.

"We don't have any signs suggesting that the armed forces are ready to join the protesters. And as long as they have guns, it's going to be very difficult for people to bring down the regime single-handedly."

But the whole piece is worth reading.

tw: death, blood, gore, irony

a bit of context

I posted an ironically edited Charlie Kirk shot gif, with what I thought at the time was sufficient warning and blockage, in response to someone saying we could ai generate a gif of Hitler's suicide. I was making a comment on how such a thing couldn't compare. All things considered I didn't think my comment was in that poor taste, especially given I was actively editing to give even more warning and barriers. In the end it's not a big deal, I expect no less, but come on, give me more than "nope"

Edit:

I kind of regret making the post but the dialogue might make it worth it.

to be clear, I never thought they were powertripping and/or bastards, this was just the most appropriate community for something that at the time I felt could use more discussion.