AP

[AP @AnandPuru]

@dilanesper Puerto Rico is one of the best parts of America.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@bigseb31213 The admin explicitly said regime change wasn't a goal, and Trump was looking for his Delcy, so the entire Iran government had immunity *during a hot war.* At no point did the Iranian people see that the regime was dead or at risk.

A horrible strategic blunder.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@JacobL1994_ @planefag The US refused to touch any of the 1,000+ top people in the Government of Iran. And vetoed Israel from doing it, despite Israel having targeting intel. The play was to hitthe whole damn gov in Week 1, during a total power blackout, with Kurdish boots...

https://t.co/SoH6JD68Dv

[AP @AnandPuru]

@bonchieredstate It's true, but it didn't have to be this way. The regime is big, and the US didn't even try.

Iran has:

290 Parliamentarians (~200 Principalists). 0 killed.

19 Ministries. IDF killed 2 (Intelligence + Defence), USA killed 0.

48 Expediency Council. IDF killed ~3, USA killed 0.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@JacobL1994_ The IRGC will continue to drive Iran's society into the ground.

Iran's water crisis will continue to worsen and Day Zero may hit Tehran in the near future.

"Gas leaks" will continue.

Khameini's funeral will be a crucial moment, let's see what happens.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@DastDn Donald John Trump is the Hidden Imam.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@Osint613 The war was *really* biting Qatar and Pakistan, two of the most influential voices and "mediators."

They weren't neutral outsiders. They were actual parties to the war (Qatar getting bombed, and Pakistan obligated via Saudi security agreement) and their economies were at risk.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@bonchieredstate It's true, but it didn't have to be this way. The regime is big, and the US didn't even try.

Iran has:

290 Parliamentarians (~200 Principalists). 0 killed.

19 Ministries. IDF killed 2 (Intelligence + Defence), USA killed 0.

48 Expediency Council. IDF killed ~3, USA killed 0.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@colorblindk1d @DerekPederson3 It's a phenomenon not limited to comfortable liberal democracies. And strangely, casualty tolerance *decreases* with nationalistic fervor. Like these days Pakistani nationalists and Hindutva nationalists lose their minds at a few casualties. So even the hawks are more sensitive.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@SizeableStoic @MaxNordau Nukes come in a huge variety. Some destroy whole cities. Some have a very small yield.

There are nuclear *artillery shells*! Fired by Howitzers.

Easy to imagine tactical uses. Say Egypt sends its 4,500 tanks racing across open desert...

https://t.co/tjmA3JQSCL

[AP @AnandPuru]

@EffectKuleshov Drummer in an IDF band sounds badass. American military drummers are excellent. I'd guess the IDF drummers (such as this dad) are super talented.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@JacobL1994_ Decades ago I read Tom Friedman's 'From Beirut to Jerusalem.' He made a big deal about the 1982 "Hama massacre," using it as a reference point (he called it the "Hama rules") and exemplar of senseless brutality.

But the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood was also so extreme.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@JacobALinker Reminder that *every* Muslim country, including Afghanistan and Pakistan (not just the Arabs), voted against UNGA 194.

194 didn't confer rights or obligations. And it had a caveat of applying to people willing to live at peace with their neighbors.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@lynd_ron @NaomiBinyanAtid You honestly think there weren't weapons in Gaza? That weapons are fake and staged?

My dude Gaza was openly a fortified military base with weapons *everywhere.* How did 500 IDF troops get killed in Gaza?

PIJ military parade in 2022
https://t.co/F4VEaRPMlE

[AP @AnandPuru]

@shmr50 Classic lose-lose framing:

If Israel had cut off funding, it would be a siege occupation genocide oppression (insert libel here). If they allow funding and resources in, it's "propping terrorists up."

https://t.co/lpC3WMenAo

[AP @AnandPuru]

@RanMah10 @zoadian @NoodleszXX @ProfDBernstein @EllenHelvN @skjask Gazans voted for Hamas. They had some agency for empowering Hamas - Gaza wasnt something to be "given" by the Israelis to Hamas. Gazans chose Hamas. Iff Israel cut off funding, it would be a Siege/occupation. If they allow funding and resources in, it's "propping terrorists up."

[AP @AnandPuru]

@JacobL1994_ And Nazi U-boats were still scoring big Ws up until the literal last hours of the war before surrender in May 1945.

Now, people demand perfect solutions. It's not entirely unreasonable, because in Israel's precarious position, they sort of do need to be near-perfect to survive

[AP @AnandPuru]

@JacobL1994_ There'a rarely a clean and perfect "solution" in war. German U-boats in WW2 presented a huge tactical and asymmetrical problem, and the "solution" was a complex array: sea escorts, underwater tech, close air support, caravan style clustering of ships, codebreaking and HUNTING.

[AP @AnandPuru]

@HenMazzig There is no Epstein Class.

It's a bogeyman scapegoat.

Rich people have always benefited in escaping criminal punishments.

And men have always been sleazeballs seeking prostitution, doing sexual abuses, etc.

(And not not *all* rich people, or all men, etc).

[AP @AnandPuru]

@lahat44 @hahussain 1919 Palestine Arab Congress: "We consider Palestine nothing but part of Arab Syria and it has never been separated from it at any stage."

1921 Palestine Anti-Zionism Society: "PALESTINE IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF SYRIA - "THE SOUTHERN THIRD OF SYRIA"

https://t.co/lHrgBSsyIf

[AP @AnandPuru]

@DanLinnaeus @TedRall The "State of Palestine", not having a Legislature, doesn't really make laws. So they instead selectively enforce old law, including Jordanian and even Ottoman law. They enforce a 1960 Jordanian law prohibiting land sales to Jews.

https://t.co/Rd50AeA5Mo

[AP @AnandPuru]

@PrairieCatboy Their letter on the firings claims

1. there is no "evidence to substantiate allegations against individual UNRWA staff"
2. UNRWA has no "intelligence capabilities"
3. Israel as the "Occupying Power" had the responsibility to protect UNRWA's "neutrality"

And no mention of Hamas.