Originally Posted by
PukinDog
There's only one way to find out, but it'll have to be a fancy drone carrier battle group in order to keep it Air War-related.
You don't necessarily need a carrier to launch and recover drones/UAVs.
(As but one example, see the USN's MQ8 Fire Scout).
Originally Posted by
Asturias56
"A large share of the blame for what is now happening in the Middle East as a whole results from political decisions made by poorly educated European politicians over a century ago,"
I think they were pretty well educated TBH - but they were trying to make sense out of the collapse of the Turkish Empire - and, of course, to push their own national agendas. I don't think anyone wanted a large, dominating leadership in the area to replace the Turks. And the individual local groups - Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Arabs, etc etc all wanted a piece of the cake for themselves. This was the time when Europe was also split into fragments of the Austro-Hungarian and Turkish Empires - with the Balkans mess still a headache even now.
The issue in both areas is that over several millennia different ethnic and religious groups are intermingled on the ground - and if they can't get on with each other (Ulster anyone?) then mayhem ensues.
"
golf clap"
Originally Posted by
sfm818
Can we trust IDF spokespersons who control the narrative to be a reliable source of information.
The official line is they must contain an ongoing problem whereby Israel is attacked with impunity, and therefore respond by attacking targets in densely populated urban areas. With impunity. What gives these people their sense of entitlement. Is it a Prime Minister who repeatedly quotes Old Testament wrath, or foreign visitors from CENTCOM Commander to EU President, who support Israel's right to defend itself. If the scale of air operations over Gaza meets the definition of a defensive war there needs to be a recalibration of the formula by which US Congress allocate more than USD 3 billion each year to help the IDF maintain a 'Qualitative Military Edge'. Has the United States allowed any part of the War Reserves Stockpile Ammunition stored in Israel to be used on targets in Gaza? Nixon had the sense to avoid being drawn into a regional conflict. So too did Reagan. This time may prove more difficult. Before additional assets were sent into the area US Army personnel were already stationed in Israel. Their duties. Early warning and missile defence.
Interesting points (I added the spoiler to avoid visual clutter) but I'll remind you that Reagan got mixed up in Lebanon, which was a direct result of the Israeli operations against Palestinian refugees in Southern Lebanon, and the suicide truck bomb killed over 200 US Marines, and another one killed over 50 French troops.
I got to float around the Eastern Med for a while (as our ship awaited calls for naval gunfire support) during that period. A friend of mine (USMC, Phrog pilot) had an RPG go through his aircraft without exploding.
Reagan didn't quite avoid getting involved.