In case anyone's interested in the historical track record of these "meat wave" attacks, I have a recent paper on that topic (with Yuri Zhukov)
Spoiler alert: forcing your soldiers to fight isn't a war-winning move
My latest article is out. It argues that sea control has been reimagined in recent years, driven by a dramatic change in the value that states place upon the seas. This in turn is impacting navies across the globe.
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www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
What else would a blockade stop? That’s what they’re for.
Yeah now that it’s a blockade and a war. I’m just saying even if those weren’t true, it’s legal to stop a sanctioned ship anyway.
How did he go from 0 to 60 MPH poaster’s madness in like a week? It’s amazing.
Yes but that’s not illegal so they don’t get stopped.
This is Iran. They sponsor terror all over the globe. Arms shipments are how they do it.
Because Iranian vessels are frequently seized with illegal cargo. Here’s just one from February 2024 for example. www.wilsoncenter.org/article/hout...
No? Why would an Iranian vessel illegally running weapons stop?
Even if there was no blockade, that ship has been sanctioned since 2023. Iranian vessels get stopped frequently because they’re often doing illegal things (like running guns to terrorist groups).
That was the original shipboard function but from the very start there was also an amphibious mission.
Yep, Marines have been doing this mission since Christ was a corporal.
Because they know you’re just going to wear a twenty year old hoodie anyway.
You should not try to run any blockades then.
I'm not sure but that's the standard way for all navies to stop a vessel that won't stop.
Even a MEU doing this mission is routine. It's so routine it just never made the news before, so a lot of people are finding out about the ocean from a source that's not a Disney Pirates movie for the first time in their lives.
This specific war is illegal and immoral, but "seizing enemy commerce" is actually a pretty standard part of how wars have worked since approximately forever, and is well-covered by international law.
The question is who is left in the country that can make the IRGC care about economics?
One thing that's missing from our discourse on the Iran negotiations is that the current economic situation within Iran is incredibly dire. There's possibly worse economic damage than compared to the Iran Iraq War and their economy started in terrible shape.
Write drunk, edit sober.
It’s from Hemingway, but what he really means is write without inhibitions, edit with inhibitions.
I’ve had the same editor since 1967. Many times he has said to me over the years or asked me, Why would you use a semicolon instead of a colon? And many times over the years I have said to him things like: I will never speak to you again. Forever. Goodbye. That is it. Thank you very much. And I leave. Then I read the piece and I think of his suggestions. I send him a telegram that says, OK, so you’re right. So what? Don’t ever mention this to me again. If you do, I will never speak to you again
Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited
Probably.
If capitalism survives this period where it’s run by crazy, coked-up college dropouts, the “late stage capitalism” folks better fold up shop. You can’t take an L like that and keep going as a franchise.
