It’s not just the $6B waiting to be dispersed to Iran, it’s also about $40B in oil revenues they have netted since FJB dropped sanctions against them…
$6,000,000,000.00 can buy a whole lot of hell on earth…
HA!!! Money for humanitarian reasons…Who do they think they’re talking to—KJP??
It is fair to compare the two as there is a lot of history and hate between Russia and Ukraine. My feelings are the US and NATO did a lot to back Russia into a corner where Putin (Wrongfully) thought he had no choice but to invade as a means to ensure there would never be NATO tanks sitting on the Russia/Ukraine border. Enough said on that
What is happening in Israel is totally different, Israel has bent over backward to make peace with Palestine, You call Gaza an open-air prison, well that is all the Palestinians doing, their actions are why Gaza is a sort of prison. Think of it this way, What if the Lenape Tribe of Native Americans decided they wanted their homeland back where New York City sits now, and started lobbing rockets at the city from across the Hudson River. They say history says they have an ancient right to this land and everyone there must leave. That is exactly what ham-ass is demanding, all Israelites must leave, no negotiations.
Where is there a path to peace, you tell me, I sure do not see one
Palestine must join the many other now-extinct civilizations, that is their choice
Killing and kidnapping people in any country is wrong, no matter how you sugar coat the different scenarios, it is wrong.
That is a cowardly act, and you are taking a more cowardly stance.
We hear in the UK (but only now that there is larger-scale conflict between Hamas and Israel) is that Biden’s administration sent Iran a massive amount of money a few weeks ago. Some in the media are calling this appeasement - which we have a bad perception of historically of course.
Most of the west considers that if Hamas is not destroyed they will do the same thing again. And if they’re only damaged they’ll be doing it here next.
But it’s very hard to think of Biden sending troops or bombers into anyone else’s territory anywhere in the world. OK, a US carrier group is now deployed into the eastern Mediterranean but still…
My response
Paying off Iran, how many times have we seen this in the past
The US behaves like a bully, they only take on weaker nations that they can easily defeat, while larger foes they will fight by proxy, paying another country to do their dirty work, this would explain why we ( the US) have caused so much turmoil in the middle east but have left Iran alone. Maybe that is about to change, we will see.
One big issue here is we have maybe the weakest President in our country’s history, is he really in control or just a figurehead,
Bad things happen with weak Presidents in office
According to what you said, it is not a justified act in Israel, but you are trying to justify it in Ukraine. lol, Enjoy your afternoon, Dennis
Good points Dennis. I like strong US Presidents, this strengthens the spread and maintenance of the ideal of democracy. It impels other democracies to get involved and do what they can behind the US flag (sometimes behind US troops, well behind them, but hey ho). It’s no coincidence surely that Hamas has pulled off Israel’s 9/11 during Biden’s term of office.
Western foreign policy in the Middle East has been unconcerned with the welfare of the peoples of the region. But the military power of a string of nations in the Middle East which posed serious threats to their neighbours and to regional stability has been seriously degraded and at minimal cost in western lives. That’s some kind of success.
This is why I seldom respond to you, you make everything personal and have no respect for the opinion of others.
And for the record, I have never in any way justified Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Also for the record, I opposed the US invasion of Iraq, and the 20 year occupation of Afghanistan
I know I am going to regretted going down this rabbit whole, but I am laughing too hard right now that I just have to know what cowardly stance does your primitive brain think I took.
And yes I am being personal here, just like you do with every post
God forgive me
And how does one take a cowardly stance on a thread where there are no consequences for anything we post here?
But launching personal attacks against people that you know you will never meet in person, now that is cowardly
Western foreign policy has been responsible for all the mayhem we see in the middle east, First they created colonies then when they left they installed none democratic strong men to keep control of nations with artificially created borders that did not take into account the history of the land and people. It is like mixing ants from different ant hills and expecting them not to kill each other.
This is a mess that I see no answers too
Dennis, It doesn’t matter, enjoy the rest of your day
well we have to see how Iran was able to make that $6 billion, The back and fourth blame game continues in American politics
In the wake of the Hamas attack against Israel, some Republicans said that the Biden administration helped play a role in the violence by unfreezing $6 billion of Iranian oil money in exchange for the release of five American hostages.
The accusation, which has been dismissed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the White House National Security Council (NSC), said the Biden administration’s decision to free up $6 billion in frozen money so it can be moved from countries such as South Korea allowed Iran, a supporter of the Islamist militant group, to help Hamas orchestrate the attack.
However, the frozen $6 billion had originated in a decision made by Donald Trump during his time in the White House.
In 2018, Trump granted eight countries, including South Korea, a waiver that allowed them to continue purchasing oil from Iran even after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Gulf nation after Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal as he took a much tougher line against Tehran than predecessor Barack Obama.
Speaking to “CNN This Morning” on Monday, Miller emphasized that the assets existed “because the previous administration, the Trump administration, allowed this money to be paid to Iran,”
Clearly, both entities dislike each other based on prior and current comments
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi responds to former US president Donald Trump, who appeared to mock Israel for failing to anticipate the weekend Hamas onslaught and for not going on the offensive against Hezbollah amid several deadly clashes along its northern border.
Trump also launched personal attacks against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he accused of “letting him down,” and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, whom he called a “jerk.”
Karhi told Israel’s Channel 13 that it is “shameful that a man like that, a former US president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens.”
“We don’t have to bother with him and the nonsense he spouts,” Karhi says. Asked if Trump’s comments make it clear that he can’t be relied on, Karhi replies, “Obviously.”
Trump’s comments stood in sharp contrast to the full-throated support given to Israel by serving US President Joe Biden and his officials, who have expressed steadfast backing of the country as it reels from the brutal massacres committed by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza border communities over the weekend.
At the risk of sounding callous I am totally unconcerned with the much criticised “failure” of the West to install democracy in the Middle East. The reason is because the people of the Middle East are 99% Moslem and their religious culture does not value or foster belief in democracy. The ideal state for a Moslem culture is one which exists only to support that religion, and to help suppress or expel all others. There is no democracy in Islam. The Moslem people of the Middle East will reject democracy, even when it is in their own individual best interests.
What I am pleased about is that Gaddafi cannot use Libyan forces to invade any neighbouring countries because he is dead and the Libyan army does not exist, Saddam cannot either because he is dead also and the Iraqi army is history: Syria is split into multiple factions and territories and cannot realistically threaten Israel or Turkey nor expand its borders and Russia has lost interest, while Iran is hemmed in by hostile states, impoverished and deprived of serious nuclear capability. And if the west is responsible for all this, I’m not sorry.
tommor, I think you make excellent points, Israel is like an Iceberg trying to survive inside an active volcano, I don’t see anyway for this to work outside of creating a 20 mile neutral zone around Israel to keep the sup humans away.
As far as the chaos in the rest of the middle east that sure does seem to be the goal of US foreign policy, weak unstable countries not capable of causing any trouble beyond their borders. It is not the democratization of the region
One final note; how nice would a Iraq/Saddam somewhat under our control to wage war with Iran, I think that could had been workable, but that ship has sailed
World War III could be happening before our eyes
One more note; criticizing Israel’s intelligence for not seeing this attack coming is fair, and I have seen it coming from many news outlets, and not just the former President
Yup, just the cowardly response I had expected, when called out your response is always to just move on
I would add more, but that would make me like you,
Dennis, you didn’t call me out on anything; I decided to de-escalate, but I did call you out on your hypocrisy when it came to Ukraine and I stand by everything I said.
I don’t want you to take my de-escalation as a weakness. Have a good night, Dennis.
It’s almost impossible to imagine that Israel would not see the Saturday attacks being prepared by Hamas. I know the Israeli military has been badly shaken by Netanyahu’s self-serving counter-constitutional policies but surely enough of them were at their posts to pick this up?
In fact I have to suspect that intelligence was indeed picked up but that it was discounted by senior officers and analysts. There should be hell to pay for this if it is the case…
An Egyptian intelligence official told the Associated Press news agency this week that Cairo had repeatedly warned the Israelis “something big” was being planned from Gaza. "We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big.
Head of US foreign affairs committee says warning was given, but it is unclear ‘at what level’, supporting claims reported from Egyptian sources
Interesting. Maybe my suspicions were right. An operation this large and novel in an organisation like Hama would be impossible to keep 100% secret.
The role of Egypt with regards Gaza is interesting. Israel gets all the flak for closing their border with Gaza while people forget that Egypt has a border with Gaza too. And the Egyptians have closed their border with Gaza becaus of Hamas. Egypt does not proscribe Hamas as a terrorist organisation but it treats Hamas incursions into Sinai and attacks elsewhere as terrorism.
The fact that Israel didn’t take this intel seriously is very surprising.