Trump (not America) threatens NATO again…

Ron in Regina

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Iran has bombed almost all their neighbours in the last few weeks. Seems like none of them care enough to strike back.
Or….or they (Iran’s neighbours) know that Iran isn’t as toothless as Trump keeps proclaiming?
President Donald Trump had said Iran couldn't "do a thing" about American aircraft operating over its territory, insisting its air defences had been significantly weakened.

His Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also said the US had achieved "air superiority" over Iran.

So, Friday's downing of a F-15 Eagle is a significant blow to Washington DC.

It suggests Iran is still able to defend its skies, even if at a limited capacity.

The stakes could rise further, though, depending on who the missing weapons systems officer is captured, or rescued, by.

The BBC understands President Trump's national security team spent much of Thursday in the West Wing briefing him on a search-and-rescue mission that also came under Iranian fire. US media report the crew were wounded but managed to escape Iranian airspace.
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If the missing American is found by Iranian forces, the implications could be profound. At the very least, it would be a political embarrassment for Washington.

The US airman could be paraded as a propaganda tool, which would bring back grim reminders of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when American diplomats were held for 444 days.
Iran has bombed almost all their neighbours in the last few weeks.
Why did they do it?
Much like (the Iranian sponsored) Hamas attacking Israel Oct 7th, 2023, you’d have to define a starting point as a qualifier for that answer.

Starting Feb 28th 2026? Oct 7th 2023? Jan 3rd 2020? Dec 19th 2019? Nov 4th 1979? Aug 19th 1953? Some other starting point?
 

petros

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President Donald Trump had said Iran couldn't "do a thing" about American aircraft operating over its territory, insisting its air defences had been significantly weakened.

His Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also said the US had achieved "air superiority" over Iran.

So, Friday's downing of a F-15 Eagle is a significant blow to Washington DC.

It suggests Iran is still able to defend its skies, even if at a limited capacity.

The stakes could rise further, though, depending on who the missing weapons systems officer is captured, or rescued, by.

The BBC understands President Trump's national security team spent much of Thursday in the West Wing briefing him on a search-and-rescue mission that also came under Iranian fire. US media report the crew were wounded but managed to escape Iranian airspace.
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If the missing American is found by Iranian forces, the implications could be profound. At the very least, it would be a political embarrassment for Washington.

The US airman could be paraded as a propaganda tool, which would bring back grim reminders of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when American diplomats were held for 444 days.


Much like (the Iranian sponsored) Hamas attacking Israel Oct 7th, 2023, you’d have to define a starting point as a qualifier for that answer.

Starting Feb 28th 2026? Oct 7th 2023? Jan 3rd 2020? Dec 19th 2019? Nov 4th 1979? Aug 19th 1953? Some other starting point?
A video from Indian news showed the pilot as captured.
 
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Ron in Regina

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A video from Indian news showed the pilot as captured.
Videos from India news are notoriously notorious with respect to reality or a lack there of.
DYK YouTube has built-in AI that can verify if bullshit or not?
Ok. The US has rescued the missing crew member of the US F-15 fighter jet which was shot down on Friday over southern Iran.

US President Donald Trump confirmed the rescue on social media on Sunday morning after the US military "pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations" in its history. The officer is "now SAFE and SOUND!" he added.

Two crew members were on board the jet, and both ejected from the plane. One of them had already been rescued by US forces.
India has been described as a "front line" in the battle of information warfare, where high internet usage, coupled with sometimes lower digital literacy and high levels of organized misinformation, allows such content to spread.

The US and Iran were in a race to locate the missing crew member after the jet was downed over southern Iran. The exact circumstances of the US rescue remain unclear, but one person familiar with the operation described it as a "huge" combat search and rescue mission in southern Iran.

The BBC understands there was an engagement between the US and Iranian forces during the rescue, and the pilot may have been injured during his initial ejection from the aircraft. The rescue of crew members of a downed jet is one of the most complex and time-sensitive operations - known as combat search and rescue (CSAR) - that the US military and its allies prepare for.

The air force units behind CSAR missions include some of the most highly trained and specialised members of the military.

In his social media post, Trump said the airman - a colonel - "was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour". Officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the crew member spent more than 24 hours on his own, hiding in the mountains with a handgun.

The president added the airman's location was monitored "24 hours a day" by senior US officials who were planning the rescue operation. A senior official also told CBS that the CIA played a crucial in the rescue mission by tracking the airman in a mountain crevice and passing his exact location to the Pentagon.
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The agency engaged in a deception campaign inside Iran, reports said. While the rescue attempt was taking place, the agency spread word the airman had already been found and was being extracted from Iran. Trump said the US military sent dozens of aircraft into Iran and claimed the operation was carried out without any Americans being killed or wounded.

Earlier, Iran had said it wanted to find the missing American alive and had offered a reward to citizens for help in finding them. The crew of a downed jet are highly trained for such situations. "Their number-one priority is to stay alive and to avoid capture," Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at think tank Defense Priorities, told the BBC.

"They're trained to - assuming that they're physically capable, and not so injured that they can't move - to try to get away from the ejection site as quickly as possible, and to conceal themselves so that they are safe." They're also trained on survival techniques so that they can go without food or water, or find resources from the local terrain, for as long as possible, Kavanagh said.
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The truth is probably somewhere in the middle between what both sides are claiming.
 
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Ron in Regina

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Article Five of the NATO charter says an attack against (but does that mean “by”?) any NATO member will be treated like an attack on the whole alliance, but some experts say NATO allies are unclear on whether this is a NATO war.
Donald Trump’s war in Iran and tirades against Nato allies are accelerating moves to develop a plan B for European security in case the US is no longer willing to help defend allies against a Russian attack. Europe must prepare for sudden vulnerability gaps if the fickle US president decides to pull out key military enablers before Europeans can develop their own alternatives.

European countries have already taken over financial and political responsibility for supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression, as Trump has increasingly sided with Moscow in trying to force Kyiv to hand over swathes of territory to Russia. After four years of war in Europe, most leaders have come to recognise Ukraine as a military and technological asset for European defence rather than a burden or a risk factor.
The president has had a famously on-again-off-again relationship with the alliance, and he has at various points made comments that provoked questions about his willingness to adhere ⁠to NATO's Article 5, which states an attack against one member state is an attack on all.
Several recent developments have highlighted how European countries are rethinking their security for a potentially post-American future. They can no longer be sure of US military backing if, for example, Putin were to stage a limited incursion into a Baltic state, perhaps sending covert forces to seize a Russian-speaking border town, and threaten massive, possibly nuclear retaliation if Nato responded. Such scenarios send shudders down the spines of European defence planners spooked by Trump’s unreliability.
Everything is going according to plan. Oil prices are up. Insiders have made hundreds of millions. The world has been shown how dangerous it is to depend on third world thugocracies for their energy needs. Trump got his picture in the news.
In recent weeks, Germany has stepped beyond the horrors of its 20th-century history and issued its first military strategy since the second world war, setting the goal of becoming the strongest conventional army in Europe by 2039. France has opened talks with seven non-nuclear nations on extending its nuclear deterrent to cover European partners. That followed a UK-France declaration last year deepening cooperation between Europe’s two nuclear powers.

Although they are stepping up defence spending, European governments cannot in the short term replicate key capabilities provided by the US such as satellite intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, air and missile defence and aerial logistics. Nor do they have the command and control systems or logistics to mount a major military mobilisation without US engagement through Nato.
 

pgs

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Donald Trump’s war in Iran and tirades against Nato allies are accelerating moves to develop a plan B for European security in case the US is no longer willing to help defend allies against a Russian attack. Europe must prepare for sudden vulnerability gaps if the fickle US president decides to pull out key military enablers before Europeans can develop their own alternatives.

European countries have already taken over financial and political responsibility for supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression, as Trump has increasingly sided with Moscow in trying to force Kyiv to hand over swathes of territory to Russia. After four years of war in Europe, most leaders have come to recognise Ukraine as a military and technological asset for European defence rather than a burden or a risk factor.

Several recent developments have highlighted how European countries are rethinking their security for a potentially post-American future. They can no longer be sure of US military backing if, for example, Putin were to stage a limited incursion into a Baltic state, perhaps sending covert forces to seize a Russian-speaking border town, and threaten massive, possibly nuclear retaliation if Nato responded. Such scenarios send shudders down the spines of European defence planners spooked by Trump’s unreliability.

In recent weeks, Germany has stepped beyond the horrors of its 20th-century history and issued its first military strategy since the second world war, setting the goal of becoming the strongest conventional army in Europe by 2039. France has opened talks with seven non-nuclear nations on extending its nuclear deterrent to cover European partners. That followed a UK-France declaration last year deepening cooperation between Europe’s two nuclear powers.

Although they are stepping up defence spending, European governments cannot in the short term replicate key capabilities provided by the US such as satellite intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, air and missile defence and aerial logistics. Nor do they have the command and control systems or logistics to mount a major military mobilisation without US engagement through Nato.
Good . NATO is useless. .
 

Retired_Can_Soldier

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How many times has Russia invaded Europe ? Disregard WW2 .

Chechyna, Crimea, Czechloslovakia, Poland, you can Google the rest. Here's some more because I know when faced with facts, you need to look for another spot for your goal posts and won't have time. Finland, Hungary, after WWIII. My stepfather was in Prague when the Russians massacred his friends in 1968.
 
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pgs

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Chechyna, Crimea, Czechloslovakia, Poland, you can Google the rest. Here's some more because I know when faced with facts, you need to look for another spot for your goal posts and won't have time. Finland, Hungary, after WWIII. My stepfather was in Prague when the Russians massacred his friends in 1968.
Yes they fought the invading Germans back to Berlin . Who started that ? 1968 Soviet block countries come on . When did the French wake up with Russian soldiers on the outskirts of Paris ? Can’t say the same in Moscow about the French .
 

Ron in Regina

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Was that a battle of conquest ? Blame Napoleon for that one not Putin .
Don’t blame Putin for something that happened more than two hundred years ago? I’ll concur with your assessment of the situation.
Putin is innocent of being involved in the Battle of Paris.
When did the French wake up with Russian soldiers on the outskirts of Paris ?
March 31, 1814.
Asked & answered.
How many times has Russia invaded Europe ? Disregard WW2 .
 

pgs

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Don’t blame Putin for something that happened more than two hundred years ago? I’ll concur with your assessment of the situation.
Putin is innocent of being involved in the Battle of Paris.


Asked & answered.

So like I said , Russia has not attacked Europe with the goal of expansion . I never suggested that their armies didn’t ever fight . Yes they chased Hitler and Napoleons armies but other than WW2 didn’t retain property .