The challenge with social media censoring disinformation is that we've seen them use that power to squelch inconvenient truths (Covid origins, Hunter laptop...). The work of Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger also showed the U.S. government quite capable of basically blackmailing companies to comply ("nice section 230 you have there, it would be a shame if something happened to it"). IMO the best defense against disinformation is a skeptical person who is evaluating multiple sources of info.
I would never advocate underestimating a potential rival but it doesn't sound like the Iranian strike was very successful. Did they send their best long range weaponry or did they just use some older inventory of less capable weapons to put on a show of retaliation?
Love the pickles, very thoughtful response to questions and as somebody who spent 40 days working in Iran in the early 2000's just before 9/11, your comment or reminder that most Iranians are just a bunch of regular folks is particularly valuable. There is certainly oppression there and their government sucks, but the vast majority of the folks living there just want to get on with their lives, spend time with their families and get by the best they can, just like everybody else. Our cover story was that we were Canadians, but most Iranians quickly sussed out who we actually were, and were quick to say, "Oh, I have a cousin in Chicago". or, pointing longingly at an alcove in a hotel "That's where the bar used to be..." We made many friends there and we all thought we would be coming back except 9/11 happened...
What portion of total inventory of longe range drones and missiles were expended by Iran on Isreal? I mean there’s a pro Russia guy who claims this was 1%, but my guess is closer to 10%. Any credible info on this?
The building that Israel attacked in Syria was not "a consular building", but a military command post, controlling all Iranian-affiliated military activity in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
The guys the Israelis killed were not "Iranian soldiers" but 7 Iranian officers including General Mohammed Reza Zahedi and General Mohammed Hadi Haji Rahimi as well as Hezbollah officer Hussein Youssef.
Reza Zahedi was the Iranian commander of all Iran-affiliated forces in MENA, including Assad and Hezbollah. He turned Hezbollah into the force that (arguably) defeated Israel in 2006 and is a strategic threat to Israel now. He was the commander of the Quds force in 2007-2015 (during the Syrian civil war). He is responsible for the 100 - 200 attacks on American forces in MENA since October 2023, including the attack on Tower 22 which killed Rivers, Sanders and Moffett.
Unfortunately, can’t upload a picture here, but I managed to create a decent picture with DALL-E by tricking it a bit: first, I asked for a flying rocket looking like an early von Braun design, which he did, and then asked to add an alternative history twist, an Iranian scientist from the golden age of Islam watching the rocket. Done! 😎 Can get something acceptable after few tries
Hey Ryan, I would be happy for you to run an analysis on whether I spread disinformation. I am just a normal substack user and it would be a good learning tool for me and maybe others if you wanted to do a video on it. I'm sure there would be other volunteers as well. We don't want to spread disinformation and we would like to know if we do, and be better prepared not to do so, I'm sure.
Iran does have some of the most advance cucumber and pickle technology on earth. We must close the pickle gap!
The challenge with social media censoring disinformation is that we've seen them use that power to squelch inconvenient truths (Covid origins, Hunter laptop...). The work of Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger also showed the U.S. government quite capable of basically blackmailing companies to comply ("nice section 230 you have there, it would be a shame if something happened to it"). IMO the best defense against disinformation is a skeptical person who is evaluating multiple sources of info.
I would never advocate underestimating a potential rival but it doesn't sound like the Iranian strike was very successful. Did they send their best long range weaponry or did they just use some older inventory of less capable weapons to put on a show of retaliation?
Love the pickles, very thoughtful response to questions and as somebody who spent 40 days working in Iran in the early 2000's just before 9/11, your comment or reminder that most Iranians are just a bunch of regular folks is particularly valuable. There is certainly oppression there and their government sucks, but the vast majority of the folks living there just want to get on with their lives, spend time with their families and get by the best they can, just like everybody else. Our cover story was that we were Canadians, but most Iranians quickly sussed out who we actually were, and were quick to say, "Oh, I have a cousin in Chicago". or, pointing longingly at an alcove in a hotel "That's where the bar used to be..." We made many friends there and we all thought we would be coming back except 9/11 happened...
What portion of total inventory of longe range drones and missiles were expended by Iran on Isreal? I mean there’s a pro Russia guy who claims this was 1%, but my guess is closer to 10%. Any credible info on this?
The building that Israel attacked in Syria was not "a consular building", but a military command post, controlling all Iranian-affiliated military activity in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
The guys the Israelis killed were not "Iranian soldiers" but 7 Iranian officers including General Mohammed Reza Zahedi and General Mohammed Hadi Haji Rahimi as well as Hezbollah officer Hussein Youssef.
Reza Zahedi was the Iranian commander of all Iran-affiliated forces in MENA, including Assad and Hezbollah. He turned Hezbollah into the force that (arguably) defeated Israel in 2006 and is a strategic threat to Israel now. He was the commander of the Quds force in 2007-2015 (during the Syrian civil war). He is responsible for the 100 - 200 attacks on American forces in MENA since October 2023, including the attack on Tower 22 which killed Rivers, Sanders and Moffett.
Unfortunately, can’t upload a picture here, but I managed to create a decent picture with DALL-E by tricking it a bit: first, I asked for a flying rocket looking like an early von Braun design, which he did, and then asked to add an alternative history twist, an Iranian scientist from the golden age of Islam watching the rocket. Done! 😎 Can get something acceptable after few tries
Hey Ryan, I would be happy for you to run an analysis on whether I spread disinformation. I am just a normal substack user and it would be a good learning tool for me and maybe others if you wanted to do a video on it. I'm sure there would be other volunteers as well. We don't want to spread disinformation and we would like to know if we do, and be better prepared not to do so, I'm sure.