Tom Cooper on Iran’s latest missile strike on Israel

“and this explosion and the following fire on an offshore gas-facility off Ashkelon were either intentionally caused by the Israelis, or merely smoking accidents. By no means was anything of that kind a result of IRGCASF’s missile strikes.”

As should be well-known by now, the exceptionally popular telenovela better known as the ‘War on Hamas’, also ‘Iranian-Israeli Conflict’ and different other names, launched into its new season with Episode 516: Netanyahu’s assassination of Secretary General of Hezbollah, Nasrallah.

Late on 1 October (around 23.00hrs local time, which is around 22.00hrs in Israel), the IRGC Air-Space Force (IRGCASF) then aired the Episode 517: it’s retaliation for Nasrallah’s and the death of the Deputy Commander IRGC-QF (Major-General Abbas Nilforushan), the Operation True Promise-2 – In form of a massive missile strike on Israel. Arguably, amid all the related boasting, hysteria, and a few seas of lies vented by all the involved parties, it’s a bit hard to follow what weapons were deployed, what was targeted, what was hit, or not. Thus, here an attempt at summarising what’s known so far.

As far as can be assessed from videos available by now, the IRGCASF has primarily deployed older of its ballistic missiles: indeed, something like ‘upgraded 2nd generation’ of these. The biggest were liquid-fueled types like Qadr and Emad. Both are, essentially, ‘upgraded Shahab-2s’: originally developed on basis of the Soviet-made R-17E (ASCC/NATO-designation ‘SS-1 Scud’), and manufactured back in the 1990s and 2000s, these were meanwhile upgraded to carry MIRVs and have an improved guidance system. Mind that the majority of such missiles are meanwhile nearing the end of their ‘shelf-life’: i.e. free along the principle ‘first in, first out’, the IRGCASF spent them, instead of something made more recently.

The IRGCASF also said it has fired a number of more recent, solid-fueled Khaibar-Shekan (a derivative of the Fattah, itself a derivative of the Chinese-designed Fatteh-110, which was the first ‘modern’ Iranian ballistic missile). In best traditions of the IRGCASF’s ‘highest standards of quality control’, several missiles detonated on launch or crashed – still inside Iran – short after their launch. Reportedly, 5 people were killed and 12 wounded by them. Indeed, RUMINT has it: all of these casualties were caused by detonation of one of missiles at launch. The missiles are known to have been launched from positions outside (between others): Tabriz, Kermanshah, Shiraz, and Esfahan.

Read: no news in this regards. All the IRGCASF bases in question are well-known (indeed: the one outside Kermanshah was the first Iranian ballistic missile base, originally constructed with Israeli advice, back in the 1970s). It remains unclear exactly how many missiles were fired by the IRGCASF: some say 180, others 200, some claim as many as 400.

The defences of Israel included (in order of their activation), PAC-2/3 SAMs operated by the Royal Jordanian Air Force, US-operated air defence systems deployed in Jordan, IASF-operated Arrow II and III ballistic-missile interceptors, and SM-6 Standard interceptors operated by guided missile destroyers USS Cole (DDG-67) and USS Bulkeley (DDG-84) of the US Navy (both underway off the coast of Israel). (Reports about ‘Iron Dome’, widely circulated in the social media, are errant: Iron Dome is unsuitable for defence from this kind of ballistic missiles.)

Several of incoming IRGCASF-missiles were intercepted while still outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Such, ‘exoatmospheric’ intercepts are then resulting in such ‘Moon-shaped’ explosions like the one visible here. A number of booster stages from IRGCASF’s and debris from Jordanian, Israeli, and US interceptors, crashed inside Jordan: they seem to have caused no material damage, but wounded at least two persons.

As for what was targeted… in a TV-appearance of this morning, the Chief-of-Staff Iranian Armed Forces (IRGC) Major-General Mohammad Bagheri, said that the targets were ‘three main air bases, HQ of Mossad, several radar sites, concentrations of IDF armoured vehicles around the Gaza Strip. So far, have seen evidence ‘only’ for five of targets in question….which is bringing me to what is known to have been hit (where, at least according to official Israel and the USA: the answer to the latter question is simple: nothing – while one of targets obviously hit by the IRGCASF missiles was not even mentioned by Bagheri)…

From north towards south:

– Mossad HQ & Unit 8200 HQ in Gillot (northern Tel Aviv). Israelis did not show either of two compounds, only an obvious miss about 500m away.

– Tel Nov AB: home-base of the IASF’s F-15-fleet (Nos 106 and 133 Squadrons) CH-53/S-65-fleet (No. 118 Squadron) Aviation Maintenance Unit 22 (major overhaul facility): what exactly was hit there remains unknown right now.

– Nevatim AB: home-base of the IASF’s F-35-fleet (Nos. 116, 117, and 140 Squadrons), C-130-fleet (No. 103 and No. 131 Squadrons), Boeing 707 tanker fleet (Nos. 120 Squadron), and the Israeli early fleet of G.550 reconnaissance and early warning aircraft (No. 122 Squadron). The IRGC claimed to have destroyed ‘20 F-35s’ there. What was really hit there remains unknown. However, services like Flightradar24, were showing clear indications of the Israelis scrambling the mass of their transports and reconnaissance aircraft, probably all the F-35s from this air base.

Few (early) conclusions:

One must not, but better should (that’s your own decision, of course), pay attention at distinct difference between systematic and intentional demolishing of apartment buildings, UN facilities, schools, refugee camps etc. by the Israelis, and IRGC’s targeting of obvious military and intelligence targets. That said, while multiple military facilities in Israel were the primary target, there are indications that several facilities related to energy-supply system were a secondary target.

Any kind of military-related reporting from Israel is subjected to the military censorship of the AMAN (Israeli Military Intelligence; should there be any doubts, this comes from somebody ‘neck-deep’ involved, as editor and illustrator, in book-projects like this, or this). Unsurprisingly, the Israeli and/or foreign sources in Israel are never releasing any kind of details about strikes on military facilities. If at all, either damage to civilian facilities (like that school in Gedera) is shown, or – like in April this year – minor damage to military facilities is shown for PR purposes (see: ‘dumb Iranians missed everything’).

At least as unsurprising is that the IASF and the USA are both claiming a perfectly successful defence – even if dozens of videos are clearly showing IRGCASF’s missiles hitting facilities listed above. Indeed, although a rough estimate is that up to 80% of IRGCASF’s missiles have penetrated the multi-layered air defences protecting Israel. Something like a ‘mix of official explanations and private assumptions’ is that ‘these were all left to pass through, because they were obviously about to miss’, and thus only hit ‘empty spaces’ – so also at Israeli air bases. Well, not sure if the IASF was delighted to let 18 out of 19 missiles (or MIRVs) in one wave, and then 27 out of 29 missiles (or MIRVs) in another wave all pass by and hit Nevatim AB, just for example.

Similar is valid for Tel Nov AB, hit by at least a dozen of missiles, at least one of which caused a ‘secondary’ (i.e. either hit something that then detonated, or caused a detonation of something). Arguably, RUMINT has it that fires and conflagrations are incompatible with air bases and offshore oil/gas facilities. Of course, Israel is an exception from all the rules, so also this one. Therefore, it is on hand that this fire at Tel Nov AB, and this explosion and the following fire on an offshore gas-facility off Ashkelon were either intentionally caused by the Israelis, or merely smoking accidents. By no means was anything of that kind a result of IRGCASF’s missile strikes.

Ah yes, and I forgot something like ‘overall conclusion’: one way or the other, and for reasons explained yesterday, the IRGC is still far away from running an all-out strike on Israel. It’s still using primarily 10+ -years-old, less precise missiles, like Qadr and Emad. It’s still using them in limited numbers (i.e. at least in theory, it could strike with many more missiles and far more precisely). And, it is clearly focusing on targets of – indisputably – military nature, and targets large enough to hit with such old, less-precise missiles. With other words: they remain sober enough to avoid provoking Netanyahu into nuking Iran, while ‘still retaliating’.

That much about facts, beliefs and feelings. Hope is slim but, who can say: perhaps sometimes in the coming days, weeks, months or – most likely – years, it might become possible to separate the three. 

https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/iranian-israeli-soap-opera-episode-034

Comment: This is Tom Cooper’s (Sarcastosaurus) take on the latest Iranian missile strike on Israel. Judging by the way he entitled this article (Iranian-Israeli Soap Opera – Episode 517), he also thinks this attack displays elements of kabuki theater. And given that this attack did not deal Israel anything like a devastating blow, Israel’s explanations are reminiscent of the Black Knight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” If nothing else, Israel’s image of invincibility has been tarnished… once again.

Tom Cooper’s point about Iran not wanting to goad Netanyahu into nuking Iran is a good one. It’s Iran’s version of the Biden administration’s “escalation management” strategy in Ukraine. I’m sure the Biden administration is trying to apply some version of this strategy to Israel. We don’t want Netanyahu nuking Iran, but I don’t think Netanyahu is as bothered about the prospect as the rest of the world is.

And the latest satellite photos in this NPR article shows either Iran’s missiles are not as accurate at this range as they were on the much closer airbase attack in Iraq or Israel can determine the impact point of these missiles while in flight. But I have a feeling we’ll soon enough find out how Israel’s A2/AD system will deal with a larger attack with Iran’s first line missiles.

TTG

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5140058/satellite-images-dozens-iranian-missiles-struck-near-israeli-air-base

This entry was posted in Iran, Israel, The Military Art, TTG. Bookmark the permalink.

46 Responses to Tom Cooper on Iran’s latest missile strike on Israel

  1. Kim Sky says:

    good analysis on latest Iranian strike:
    Daniel Davis interview with Ted Postol
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PqGgTQU-M0

    So much blah, blah blah…

    1) Yes Israel wants war on Iran.
    2) US (Biden & US-politicals & deep state) wants war
    (simple: it is not what you say, it is what you do)

    to stop this mess? hum
    1) US aint ready
    2) Russia, China don’t want this war…

    Showmanship:
    1) Netanyahu’s defaming the UN stunt, ordering 850 2,000-pound-bombs to hit Nasrallah
    2) Khomeini leads mass prayers in Tehran asking Netanyahu to assassinate him
    3) or was the peak in showmanship the exhibition of total and complete absolute horror, the pagers?

    Now we await the next round, I imagine it will be something so unethical, so beyond demonic that it will encourage us to hate the Israelis even more!

    I believe this is a Proxy War, just like the Ukraine mess.

    Whatever…

    • F&L says:

      Kim Sky,
      Agree. And many of us need no longer need encouragement. Kissinger said that in the near future Israel would be either destroyed or absorbed. And Kissinger, in case anyone forgot, had a great gift for understatement.

      • d74 says:

        Thank you, F&L.
        I didn’t know that Kissinger had made that prediction about Israel’s future, destroyed or absorbed.

        That’s exactly what I think, referring to the destruction of the Frankish kingdoms as a result of the Crusades, over 1000 years ago. It’s well documented here in Europe. For contemporaries, the phenomenon was well perceived and predicted: if no more support from the West, then disappearance. In addition to the lack of material support, there was the unfathomable stupidity of the local kings and barons. The parallels to Izzie’s suicidal policy are striking. The future meets the past. But rest assured, these events take decades to take shape. Kissinger didn’t see it, we certainly won’t. The direction is arrowed, however, barring a burst of Izzie cleverness.

  2. Rob Waddell says:

    TTG..

    I fully agree with all items in your Comments section, although the term, ‘kabuki theatre’ section should be expanded to include Americas role in this whole sorry episode. After purporting to broker peace between Israel and its indigenous population, aka Palestinians, America has finally shown its prestigious hand to be ‘sleight of hand’.

    Far from aiding Israel to become a valuable member of the international community, Americas ‘like foreva’ support will lead to its eventual saturation and collapse as it’s a positive feedback situation. Americas PSU won’t run eternally and then who else can they then rely on for eternal help, UK, Australia?

    Israel is the only post 20th century settler colony that still exists and they are determined, with Americas help, to build even bigger battlements for themselves. Containing yourself in a castle is no way to live as previous settlers e.g. the Crusaders discovered although I will agree that these days the supply lines have improved.

    Paradoxically, America continuing to aid Israel will further its eventual demise. It’s a sad thing to say but fortunately there is always hope and that hope is peace with your neighbor. It’s going to Israels hardest sacrifice.

    rw

    • TTG says:

      Rob,

      I agree. It shouldn’t be that hard to stop or at least suspend arms shipments to Israel. If we really wanted to play hardball, we could even stop resupplying air defense missiles, but that would be some cold shit. I doubt Netanyahu thinks that will never happen. I bet he thinks there would be no repercussions from the US or Europe if he did decide to nuke Iran. Our endless support of Israel is like continuing to indulge an already horribly spoiled little brat. It won’t end well for the brat or Israel.

  3. Lars says:

    I agree with those who claim that a lot of kabuki is going on. It would not surprise me if on November 6, Bibi gets a call from Joe Biden that he is not going to like. So, he has a month to obtain whatever it is that he wants. After that he may have to deal with Uncle Joe II and it could be painful. But the reality is that one form of warfare or another has been around for about 10 000 years or so in that area. This is where civilization started and soon turned into much less civility. I have no idea which rerun this is, but the number is up there.

  4. mcohen says:

    I think that Iran has lost a lot of troops in Lebanon,quite possibly in the 1000’s.
    The pagers caught them.Many of the leadership were seriously injured and evacuated to tehran.What remained behind in the bunkers were the troops
    The bombing of Beirut has forced the hand of the Iranians to try and save them by attacking the airfields with the missile barrages,but the Israeli’s keep sending wave after wave of bunker busters.
    I think that the iranians were completely caught off guard and the attempt to establish a foot hold in northern Israel before winter is gone.
    Israel has yet to use ballistic missiles and glide bombs but it may not come to that.
    Hopefully peace will come sooner.

    Finally Chag sameach to all.
    This period between Rosh hashanah and yom kippur is important time in the cycle of life for the Jewish people.Especially these next 10 days
    It is no coincidence that events have come to the fore now.

    • F&L says:

      Happy Baby-Killing day mc o’hen!

      Usually I’d address this link to our esteemed host because of his interest in this topic. But it turns out that Science has discovered that your furry ethnos is directly descended from the Neanderthal cave people. There were distinct groups that had nothing to do with each other despite being in close proximity for over 50,000 years. And they conceived of the world in apparently completely different ways than we, the non-cave people do! Sound familiar?

      The ‘Last’ Neanderthal:
      Analysis of the remains of one our closest extinct relatives has challenged existing knowledge of Homo neanderthalensis.
      https://www.newsweek.com/neanderthal-remains-challenge-history-ancient-human-relatives-anthropology-1952062

      • mcohen says:

        It is the fractals that desired most to be mortal upon the shores of old earth,their good vibrations ever expanding into a kaleidoscope of colour.

  5. mcohen says:

    Great song by Bob Dylan.Hope the hostages will be release in the next 10 days

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oHL5Y-ZCTY8

  6. English Outsider says:

    Berletic, of the New Atlas site. Have learned to trust Berletic. He and later Vershinin of RUSI did some crucial work on Western arms supplies and surge capacity. He makes the argument here that Washington is in reality pushing Israel on whilst publicly seeking to restrain it.

    https://x.com/BrianJBerletic/status/1841903227278905783

    Must admit, I had seen it more simply: that the Pentagon knows the paucity of supplies and is attempting to hold back the hawks (“Crazies”, “the Borg”, “neocons” “the PNAC crowd” or just “Blinken’s lot”) from undertaking commitments the US military is not in a position to follow up on short of nuclear. This being the case both in the ME and Ukraine – I don’t believe it’s realistic to consider the two conflicts separately. Seems that there are many including Berletic who don’t see it like that.

    What’s important, though, is that whether the Berletic argument is valid or not, it’s believed by all in the ME and in Russia. The West as the Great Satan, pulling all strings including Netanyahu’s and Zelensky’s, is the view there. A trail of broken promises from Europe and the US over the decades makes that a difficult view to counter.

    Quote taken from the “Simplicius” site. That in itself looks at the question of what exactly is going on in Washington and gives, as usual, a large number of valuable references as it does so.

    https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/clarity-after-iran-strike-as-israel

    In Europe, Stoltenberg still talking impracticable nonsense and his successor, Rutte, going to Kiev and doing the same. Zelensky going to Sumy and coming up with the true explanation for the Kursk incursion. “the Kursk operation motivates those who give us weapons .” Helmer publishing an interview that gives the background on Pokrovsk.

    https://johnhelmer.net/the-war-came-to-pokrovsk/

    Yesterday I watched the Gaza documentary I submitted a link to on the previous thread. Half way through we had unexpected visitors. It was a real effort, leaving those scenes and going out to greet them cheerfully as if everything was normal.

    And have just read that of 350 men of a battalion of the 72nd, only 30 or so got away from Ugledar. The read scattered dead in the fields and lanes nearby. It is said by some mainstream publications in the States that both Netanyahu and Zelensky are doing what they are doing – the one throwing his own soldiers away in pointless actions and the other authorising devastating bombing – with their only consideration the forthcoming US election. I believe this is correct and believe that the internal politics of the US should not have as an unconsidered side effect the deaths of so many.

    • F&L says:

      Hi EO. I stole this off the wsws dot org site this morning. Don’t know how much of it I believe but it’s surely not lacking in an encyclopedia sized set of historical precedents for it to be dismissed out of hand. Cheers.

      —————————————–
      Every action it takes, including its terrorist attacks on and indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon and assassinations of political leaders like Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, are coordinated closely with the White House and the Pentagon. Washington wants war with Iran to secure US imperialist domination over the energy-rich Middle East so that it can serve as a staging ground for military operations against China and Russia. This reckless re-division of the world is seen as necessary to offset US imperialism’s precipitous economic decline.

    • English Outsider says:

      Typed too fast. Apologies. “The rest scattered dead in the fields and lanes nearby.”

    • d74 says:

      EO,
      Read your “the-war-came-to-pokrovsk”

      Very interesting, yet can it be trusted?
      It’s part of oriented war literature.

      But, there is an undeniable common thread with the Donbass testimonies, attacked by troops of the “anti-terrorist operation” led by Ukraine from 2014 to 2022. Over such a long period, testimonies, often spontaneous, cannot all be reworked in a pro-Russian direction.

      I wonder what Helmer’s audience is – small, no doubt.

      • English Outsider says:

        d74 – it really does need expansion. Helmer’d have to write a thousand page book to capture the whole of it.

        Wish he would. He’s the expert on the jumble of oligarchs that was so important from the early days and still is. Particularly the connections between the Ukrainian and the Russian oligarchs that are still significant and still obscure to the outsider.

        The interview itself needs extensive annotation and explanation that Helmer doesn’t give in that piece. For instance, the change in the early Russian ROE and the reasons for that change. That’s very important and the interview gives a false impression there.

        Also, scarcely needs saying that the use of the Russian language is no reliable indication of loyalty to one side or the other, or wasn’t until the new rules came in and even then more in the west of the country.

        TTG’s article is on the ME so mustn’t go off topic, but I’d probably have a stand-up fight with most Russians now if I set out my own views on Ukraine. As everyone points out, the old Ukraine was a sort of accidental construction – but for all that it could perfectly well have well have developed into a viable independent country before 2014, Crimea and all, and would best have remained that way.

        Background is the jerk that occurred after 1991 as the stodgy and often backward economies of the old Soviet countries were suddenly shifted away from the ramshackle but integrated command economy of the old Soviet bloc. Also increasingly exposed to competition from the vastly more efficient German industry of the time.

        Even East Germany suffered from that transition and the other old Soviet bloc countries more. Hence the flood of emigration from those countries that was to wash over all Europe. Ukrainians amongst them and much of that that well before 2014. That drop in population from 50 million to 20, plus or minus, didn’t happen all at once.

        That a hell of a background to start off from. Add to that the pervasive corruption and maladministration in Ukraine, the often violent conflicts between oligarchs as they scrambled for the wealth of the country, the further economic disruption and hence emigration resulting from the radical change in trade patterns following the Association Agreement, and the split resulting from the Revolution of Dignity – all those factors working together put paid to any prospect of Ukraine remaining whole and it’s a pity both for the Ukrainians and the Russians that it did.

        Maybe Helmer’d do better to make his book two thousand pages while he’s at it. It’s all a bit much to cram into that short article of his I linked to.

        • English Outsider says:

          Maybe that comment submitted was not too far off the topic of TTG’s article above. The two theatres of war are inextricably intertwined. The Russians might as well have leased a hotel in Tehran, the number of visits from senior Russian officials and politicians they’ve made. Behind them, teams of technical and other support.

          That’s not all about the forthcoming Brics summit. It’s been apparent for some time that the Russians are playing an active part in Iranian defence. They pop in and out of Alastair Crooke’s survey:-

          (Set to around 7 mins.)

          https://youtu.be/pkkfGTcGQGo?t=389

          Israel’s strength lies in its very weakness, says Crooke. It can undertake no major operation without open and full US support. That forces the US in whether it likes it or not.

          My own view is that the Pentagon does not like it. It does not want a war in the ME and certainly not one that brings it into conflict with Russia. The power in this conflict lies in Tehran, that’s clear after that Iranian missile demonstration. But the key to its outcome lies in the conflict between the Pentagon and the Hawks in Washington.

          Crooke deals with the European dimension too. Notes Macron’s eloquent call for restraint. Notes that Washington has hung the Euros out to dry. But we knew that already.

          Serve ’em right. The Europoodles aren’t ready for the big league and should never have attempted to play in it.

          ……………………….

          Alastair Crooke. MI6 since the year dot. Not the MI6 everyone knows about, the down market lot. Not the Steel and Dearlove types. More the gentleman spook. Walked out of a Le Carre novel one day and never walked back in.

          The Colonel knew the Smiley novels and would have appreciated the understated line attributed to Crooke, “I’m afraid I might be a little late, I’ve been kidnapped.” The archetypical Englishman as was and has spooked in more places than you could count. Including a spell in the belly of the beast. Or en clair, advised the EU for a while. Any amount of romping around the Middle East so well worth listening to.

  7. F&L says:

    An excerpt from Malek Dudakov’s insightful putdowns of American deep-state psychopathy. The rest is at the link. The Muslim street in America will certainly adore Kamala even more than yesterday.
    ——————
    https://t.me/malekdudakov/7581
    Before the election, the Democrats are afraid to make any sudden moves, so as not to harm Harris’s campaign. She is already rapidly losing support among both Jews in the US and American Muslims . And now it seems that Kamala’s political strategists are burying their candidate.
    They chose the worst possible moment for themselves to bring the Cheney clan, which had sunk into oblivion, to the forefront. Dick Cheney’s support for Harris is literally the “kiss of death” . For the Muslim street in the US and migrants from the Middle East, he is literally a demon incarnate.

  8. What is remarkable is what good intelligence the Israelis have on exactly where the Palestinian, and their allies, leaders are.
    Either SIGINT is yielding this,
    or a number of Muslims are willing to betray their fellow Muslims.

    • TonyL says:

      Keith,

      I’d say the latter. Under theocratic regime, there are always people against the government. Throw in some money or honey, they’ll be willing to betray.

      • ked says:

        against theocracy, opposition is not betrayal… it is the urge for liberty in service to freedom from tyranny over the soul of humanity.

    • F&L says:

      Or Mossad secretly established Hezbollah and discretely directs its operations for decades now.

      • Rob Waddell says:

        F&L…
        That preposterous F&L.

        The next thing you will suggest is that the Israelis have set up some sort of organization in the USA that can bribe politicians to make things go the ‘Israeli way’. You might call it the “American Israeli Pseudo Affection Coordination” or suchlike.

        Or you could plant some sort of spy that has enough spare cash to get the dirt on potential dirty-old-men in compromising positions with very young girls at a secret tropical island.
        Or you could try to sink a US navy ship in international waters with the intention of dragging the foresaid owner of the ship into an expanding border skirmish. When this ill thought out plan fails, you could say ‘sorry.. here’s $14.14 for your trouble’ and hope with time the memory of the event will pass.

        Or you could…. (insert your own event here..)

        rw

        • Fred Danielsen says:

          Rob Waddell or anyone:
          I was entertained by your sarcasm. But I am older and slower and missed the “sorry.. here’s $14.14 for your trouble”. What if any is the significance of $14.14?
          Fred D

          • Rob Waddell says:

            Hi FD..

            Your sarcasm detector is working correctly as it should be; helping the intelligent tolerate the obtuse.

            The significance of $14.14 is that it is 10 x SQRT of 2 (1.4142..) which is an irrational number.

            I multiplied it by 10 to show the actual reparation paid by Israel for the near-sinking of the USS Liberty in 1967 and the killing of 34 crewmen and the wounding of 171 others as $1.41 sounded a bit low.

            If irrational numbers sparks your interest, google ‘Eulers identity’ and be beguiled by the beauty of mathematics.

            rw

  9. d74 says:

    The USA and France helped set the trap that enabled Israel to kill Nasrallah and his staff. Lebanon was merely the little telegrapher on duty.
    The case is clear: lies and deception. Most importantly, our hands are clean.

    It’s not certain that local Muslims will stop believing in the West’s role as an honest broker in Middle Eastern affairs. 70 years of unwavering support for Israel, the consequences of numerous mass crimes dodged, and yet the West is still there giving its advice and judgments. What a performance!
    You’d have to be Russian to want to radically cut ties with the West’s hucksters.

    All this to say that the lamentable affair of the jetty (270-300 million dollars) in the middle of the Gaza Strip was (badly) built just so that the Izzies marine commandos could disembark in peace, kill 200 to 300 Palestinians and free 4 or 5 hostages.
    As a matter of fact, the pier disappeared as soon as it was no longer of any use to the Izzies.

    • TTG says:

      d74,

      Do you really believe Israeli commandos needed that pier to land on a Gaza beach? They owned the beaches long before the pier was built.

      • d74 says:

        Yes,
        The coincidence is too specific not to believe in an intention. These bundles of Arabs are so easy to fool, just like the Russians.

        On a more serious note, I saw a commando unit (about 6 men) disembark at night on what was left of the pier. Not a wet foot.
        I don’t deny that others may have landed elsewhere. In fact, it was necessary. With 6 men, maybe more, you can’t do anything. You can believe they were surrounded by serious air and naval support.

        • TTG says:

          d74,

          Early in the Israeli attack armored formations thrust deep into Gaza along the beach. They owned the beaches long before the pier was built.

          • F&L says:

            TTG
            I’m not sure but I think the main point of the Gaza pier escapade was that it brought into even higher relief the fact that Biden, though capable of short bursts of lucidity, is a complete nit to think that that pier could do anything. He was manipulated by Blinken as usual I’m guessing.

          • Mark Logan says:

            F&L,

            Pretty sure Biden was aware that one pier could not handle supplying millions of people, certainly he was informed so if he couldn’t have figured that out himself. The objective was probably a message to the extreme right-wingers of Israel who were openly talking about starving the entire population at the time: “The US will conduct ground ops to prevent that.”

        • F&L says:

          Mark Logan
          Thanks. Your observation.makes more far sense than mine.

  10. F&L says:

    Israel has targeted *FRENCH* Multinational Company TotalEnergies gas station in Beirut.
    This comes after Emmanuel Macron BANNED military aid to Israel.
    Netanyahu is a psychopath and has now targeted a major French company…🇫🇷

    https://x.com/resist_05/status/1842699165161099383

    • Stefan says:

      Don’t you know Hizb’Allah was there? That is their excuse every single time they kill dozens of women and children and the west either blindy accepts it or doesn’t dare mentioning the obvious. 40,000+ dead in Gaza, mostly women and children and the IDF is still not able to beat Hamas. TBH, I don’t think they want to beat Hamas. If Hamas was beaten they’d need to stop killing women and children by the tend of thousands.

      • F&L says:

        Stefan I don’t know if you can access this link but this former Israeli Foreign Minister agrees that this present regime is way too extreme and has only perpetuated the cycle of violence. He launches his analysis with several lucid paragraphs detailing the historical series of delusions of Arabs culminating in the even more delusional Shia delusions of the revoltingly repressive and highly unpopular Iranian leadership since the Shah’s overthrow.
        He won’t admit to Israeli sadism, of course, given who he is, but the evidence of surreal levels of cruelty means that sadism is indeed present in plentiful servings. Indeed it can’t be otherwise for people who are so eager to commit such atrocities.
        ————————————–
        The Middle East’s Deadly Dream Palaces
        Oct 4, 2024
        SHLOMO BEN-AMI
        Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah turned out to be just another delusional Arab ruler who was destroyed by the war with Israel that he had so eagerly courted. With the current Israeli government lost in nationalist delusions of its own, there is no foreseeable end to the cycle of violence.
        https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/nasrallah-assassination-highlights-the-damaging-delusions-of-arab-iranian-israeli-leaders-by-shlomo-ben-ami-2024-10

  11. F&L says:

    I guess I’m old fashioned AND senile but with an opponent like the wild bull elephant Trump on the loose this strikes me as the height of idiocy. I wish it weren’t so. Most likely commentary soon to emerge on social media will be variations on the “birds of a feather flock together” theme. And who can blame anyone for thinking so? B*** Jobs will make America great again? Please get your head examined, Kamala, before it’s too late. (And I am NOT a Trump supporter).

    The sex podcaster who landed rare interview with media-shy Kamala Harris
    Vice president will discuss reproductive rights and abortion with Alex Cooper on Call Her Daddy podcast on Sunday.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/10/05/call-her-daddy-podcast-alex-cooper-interview-kamala-harris/
    Excerpt:
    Most of the show’s young, female listeners will likely be pro-choice, a base Ms. Harris does not need to win over.

    The podcast, which Cooper previously co-hosted with her then-New York roommate Sofia Franklyn before a public falling-out, has a reputation for vulgarity.

    Titles of older episodes included: “You’re just a hole” and “small d—s for the win” and “using tears for lube.”
    In earlier episodes, Cooper, 30, gives listeners detailed advice for giving oral sex.
    “Listen, any girl can give a b—job. It is the accessories that you bring with that b—job that make America great again,” she declared.
    The podcast has since transformed into a less salacious interview format, although one of the most recent episodes is called “b—jobs, hall passes & frat daddies,” and Cooper does not shy away from asking her guests sexual questions.

    • Stephanie says:

      “Most of the show’s young, female listeners will likely be pro-choice, a base Ms. Harris does not need to win over.”

      The internal polling must be pretty scary.

      The Harris campaign is in an interesting place. They have no choice now but to put her out there and take their chances. I will say she has improved as an interviewee, not a large statement. She’s in better shape than Biden and she’s not Trump. We’ll see if that’s enough.

      • F&L says:

        Stephanie – I agree with everything you said. I think it’s quite possible that Trump will lose the national popular.vote but win in the electoral college, possibly with intervention by the corrupt Zoopreme Court. In fact, if she doesn’t wise up soon it may be worse for the democrats than that.

      • F&L says:

        Update for Stephanie:
        Zerohedge is an ultra right pro Trump rag, and Malek Dudakov is a Putin propagandist, though a very good one. So I wouldn’t get overly excited over these reports. What’s to stop Trump’s or Bibi’s Trillionaires from placing bets to distort these numbers?

        Trump Trouncing Kamala In Key Battleground States After Sudden Polymarket Surge.
        https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-trouncing-kamala-battleground-states-after-sudden-polymarket-surge
        ———
        https://t.me/malekdudakov/7587

        • Stephanie says:

          F&L,

          I don’t think anybody is fixing the polls. They don’t have to. Harris’ problem is that, while she was successful in energizing the Democratic base and pulling back people who were leaning Democratic but couldn’t vote for Biden in his current condition – she’s having trouble moving beyond that. (Not all of that trouble is her fault.)

  12. mcohen says:

    This is on the morning.Just seems surreal.Hamas strolling around,really impressed with themselves,you know,got one dude.Unbelievable.could be fake

    https://x.com/i/status/1842951391578587471

    • TTG says:

      mcohen,

      That was a year ago, I believe.

      • mcohen says:

        Yes 7/10 not sure what to make of it.The police responders who fought for hours before the army attacked.

        Anyway who knows what the truth is.certainly not me.an old one

        Hey buddy long time no tea
        You coming to Burning man
        Where all men are free
        Of course Boaz i say
        I am already there
        Like yesterday,
        It’s been a long time
        Since we last met
        At the scene of a crime

        I start my journey
        To the holy land
        Of milk and honey,
        He has an old iron horse
        Rolling on the stones
        Par for the course,
        We come to the end
        Says now we walk
        Into the hills we wend

        As day turns to night
        We come upon ancient ruins
        In the sky stars burn bright,
        Here we pitch a tent
        Light a fire
        Of will and intent,
        I drink from the stream
        The waters of sight
        Step into my dream

        I hear a man say
        Blessings for you pilgrim
        Bread with the wine
        You can come on in
        Anytime is fine
        Into the House of David
        That once stood here
        When all was united
        Or so did it appear.

        • F&L says:

          Mcohenstein-
          Do the terms “denial” and “identification with the aggressor” have any meaning for you? The second of those common psychological afflictions is epidemic in our noble country today (the freakish Trumpenstein etc) and worldwide it’s a pandemic, I guess.

          Quiz:
          Where have the highest readings in recorded history been measured recently regarding the prevalence of the crippling phenomenon of “identification with the aggressor?” (From our secret and confidential observatory, of course).

          A) The Washington “Swamp.”
          B) Trump rallies.
          C) The RF bleachers cheering division.
          D) Bibi’s psychotic genocidal maniacs.
          E) Provide your own answer.

          • mcohen says:

            Absolutely.What I find interesting is worldwide support for hamas,who as an aggressor committed savage and genocidal actions on 7/10.
            Complete denial of the horrific crimes perpetrated against innocent civilians,namely woman and children.
            UNfortunately there is this perception that Jewish blood comes cheap,as Danny Danon remarked in his speech at the UN.

            https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbHCBXgLyGs

          • TTG says:

            mcohen,

            I also find the support expressed for Hamas by those supporting the Palestinians to be foolish and self-defeating. Same for those tearing down posters of the Israeli hostages. I don’t see groups supporting Israel cheering for the death of so many Gaza civilians. That vile kind of cheering is seen among the most virulent Zionists, but not among Jewish groups in the US.

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