hval: glad to see you join in, thanks to you and ORAC for the perspective.
Shy:
Countries should not have to worry about interventions from Uncle Sam. And if you could find it in your collective selfves to knock it off for a while, it might just stop the Irans of the world seeking nukes so they can keep you lot off their backs!
America found out, via neutrality, that when we more or less "do nothing," other countries still go to war. As we've been involved in global trade since the 1600s, that goes counter to our interest.
See the period 1900 -1939 for a nice reference.
Hence, I don't find your reasoning to hold up.
Also, per some of my previous posts, the Iranian desire for deterrent includes more than one LOCAL power that they have to be concerned with, not just Uncle Sam.
If the war-mongering 'see u next tuesdays' in the US start one, then there'll be one- whether the people of the US wish it or no.
If the US wanted to start one, one could be started in about ten minutes. What the politicos here
seem to be doing is trying to apply pressure short of war to achieve a political result.
I am not convinced it is necessary, see a few of my previous posts, but it's at least consistent with American policy across five administrations, in terms of its aim.
Might this pressure lead to a reaction that makes for a regional war? Yes. There is a risk that this will all go wrong.
But oddly enough, the Americans are not doing this totally alone.
All I'm saying is that if you do- you ass is going to get kicked. Again
Like it got kicked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Vietnam.
Selective memory you have there, and not even factual, so I am not going to bite on that bait.
CENTCOM are NEVER going to win in the ME.
I don't think you understand CENTCOM's role, but no matter, it is linked to a later point on the fit between tactical and strategic means and ends.
They always kill too many of the locals.
War is rather ugly, no matter how you try to pretty it up. I don't care who is waging it, people die. If you hold the American military to a zero defects standard, you are being foolish. I don't care if you don't like our justice system, at all. I am glad they were charged, and faced court martial. Due process is still one of our rules that we adhere to, whether lynch mob members from foreign countries are happy about it, or not.
On that note, I find your "I hate America theme" getting tiresome.
Thanks at least for being consistent.
The US has a flawed strategy in the ME.
All pivoted around a basically unsound money-based alliance with you know who, and a grasping need for oil.
Do you mean the Saudis?
No amount of good Tactical work ever makes up for **** Strategy.
True enough.
One of the challenges with our ME policy for the past 40 years, since about the time the King of Saudi Arabia led the oil embargo against the US in wake of the Arab/Israeli war of 1973, has been to figure out how much containment can be used, how much can't, and who you can work with, and deal with, in the area of shared interests.
Unlike Europe, and a few countries in Asia, we don't seem to have a lot of cultural amicability in the region. The impact this has on policy is to reduce it to economic and mechanistic realms of mutual interest.
No surprise that the results are inconsistent, at best.
You can't polish a turd.
EDIT:
World Blog - Danger zone then and now: Strait of Hormuz
Whoa, there's a blast from the past. Name that helicopter!