{"id":5099,"date":"2023-10-24T23:24:07","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T04:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=5099"},"modified":"2023-11-02T10:04:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T15:04:47","slug":"5099","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2023\/10\/24\/5099\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran is attacking the U.S.\u00a0 \u201cIranian-Backed Militias Mount New Wave of Attacks as U.S. Supports Israel,\u201d<\/a> WSJ, 10-24-23.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFor more than six months, these Iranian-backed militia groups refrained from launching drones or rockets against American troops in Iraq and Syria, as part of what appeared to be an undeclared truce between Tehran and Washington. That came to an abrupt end when U.S. officials said that Iran-backed groups launched 10 drone and rocket attacks against bases that U.S. troops use in Iraq and another three on a U.S. base in southeast Syria. The attacks were carried out between Oct. 17 and Oct. 24. In one of the attacks at al-Asad air base in Iraq last week, U.S. troops shot a militia group\u2019s drone out of the sky, where it fell atop of an American drone and destroyed it, U.S. military officials said. In Yemen, the Iranian-backed Houthis also fired five Iranian-provided cruise missiles and launched about 30 drones toward Israel in an attack that was larger than initially described by the Pentagon, U.S. officials said. Last week, the USS Carney guided missile cruiser, which was operating in the northern Red Sea, shot down four of the cruise missiles while a fifth cruise missile was intercepted by Saudi Arabia as it protected its airspace, according to people familiar with the episode. Those cruise missiles have a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (about 1,240 miles), the Pentagon said Tuesday, which would enable them to reach targets in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is this thinking, equating the absolute massacre of people by terror groups\/states (Hamas, Iran) with the legitimate right to exist and flourish (Israel) that frustrate so many of us.\u00a0 Secretary-General Antonio Guterres needs to come to grips that there are normal countries and there are countries that are taking the world in a bad direction.\u00a0 Countries are not equal.\u00a0 Votes in the General Assembly may have equal weight individually, but taking the morality out of the United Nations leads to distorted results.\u00a0 And less human progress.\u00a0 And more war.\u00a0 \u201cUN chief says Hamas massacre ‘didn’t happen in a vacuum’,\u201d<\/a> I24 News, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran\u2019s ayatollahs play the Middle East\u2019s most dangerous game,\u201d<\/a> Economist, Mint, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Hamas\u2019s massacre, clarity on the Iran-China-Russia threat is vital,\u201d<\/a> Washington Post, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran Update, October 24, 2023,\u201d<\/a> Critical Threats, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Iran Desperate To Finish This Pipeline,\u201d<\/a> OilPrice.com, 10-24-23.\u00a0 “Iran has long been desperate to create a permanent \u2018land bridge\u2019 from Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea by which it could exponentially increase the scale and scope of weapons delivery into southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights area of Syria. These would have a huge force multiplier effect for Iran\u2019s own Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria – and for its proxy Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine \u2013 to use in attacks on Israel. This cornerstone policy of Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution was always geared towards provoking a broader conflict in the Middle East that would draw in the U.S. and its allies into an unwinnable war of the sort seen recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aim of this on Iran\u2019s part was to unite the world\u2019s Islamic countries against what it believes to be an existential battle against the broadly Judeo-Christian democratic alliance of the West, with the U.S. at its centre.”<\/p>\n

So, I saw this story.\u00a0 There is a split of opinion on the reason of a black flag.\u00a0 While it is difficult to be in the mind of those controlling the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, I\u2019m willing to accept the AP reporter\/investigator\u2019s position that it is a flag of mourning after the Gaza hospital missile explosion, and is not a black flag of Muslim war.\u00a0 What I\u2019m not willing, though, to accept is if the AP won\u2019t go further and investigate whether it was an Israel or PIJ missile.\u00a0 If AP won\u2019t investigate the veracity of the underlying issue, we should ask why AP won\u2019t check those important facts.\u00a0 See \u201cA black flag over Iran\u2019s Imam Reza shrine isn\u2019t a war cry. It represents mourning for Gaza victims,\u201d<\/a> by Philip Marcelo, AP, 10-24-23.\u00a0\u00a0And I\u2019ve included below the text of the email I sent Mr. Marcelo on 10-24-23.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see if he or AP responds.\u00a0 \u201cMr. Marcelo: Thank you for the AP coverage regarding the black flag at the Imam Reza shrine.\u00a0 As a professor of international relations, I value giving information to my students that is as accurate as possible. Will you or another investigator\/reporter be able to look at the related and underlying question of whether Israel fired the missile that hit at the hospital in Gaza? Thank you, Neal Coates, ACU Department of Political Science & Criminal Justice<\/p>\n

A great article, making the point that when the cat is gone the mice will play.\u00a0 We should all ask, why is it that bad things happen when the U.S. is not around and Russia and China are in town?\u00a0 See \u201cIran makes two moves, US carriers shift, and today China rules the Gulf,\u201d<\/a> Telegraph, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this war stops Israeli-Saudi normalization, then Iran wins,\u201d<\/a> The Hill, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

Since there is not a claim of self-defense by Iran, this threat of violence is a violation of the UN Charter.\u00a0 I wonder if any countries will point this out?\u00a0 \u201cIRGC official: Iran will \u2018strike Haifa\u2019 if Israel invades Gaza Strip,\u201d<\/a> MEMO, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran\u2019s Raisi blames \u2018lack of unity\u2019 among Muslim countries for Israeli war on Hamas,”<\/a> Times of Israel, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Axis of Resistance Has Been Gathering Strength,\u201d<\/a> Atlantic, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpinion\u00a0 After Hamas\u2019s massacre, clarity on the Iran-China-Russia threat is vital,\u201d<\/a> WPost, 10-24-23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran is attacking the U.S.\u00a0 \u201cIranian-Backed Militias Mount New Wave of Attacks as U.S. Supports Israel,\u201d WSJ, 10-24-23.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFor more than six months, these Iranian-backed militia groups refrained from launching drones or rockets against American troops in Iraq and Syria, as part of what appeared to be an undeclared truce between Tehran and Washington. That came … <\/p>\n

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