Brett Wilkins Jun 16, 2025
Flight-tracking websites showed dozens of Air Force aerial refueling planes departing from military bases in the United States and heading to Europe on Sunday, fueling speculation of direct U.S. involvement in the widening Israeli-Iranian war.
Military-focused news sites reported that around 30 U.S. Air Force KC-135R and KC-46A tankers were identified by flight-tracking software in what The Times of Israelcalled an “unprecedented mass deployment” to Europe.
God I hate Republicans.
Trump is absolute garbage on every single scale and stat, but it’s the republican voters who got us here. Fuck every republican voter.
Let’s not pretend that the Democrats wouldn’t also side with Israel
It’s really Democrats and independents who got you there. Unconvinced ones, though. Republicans did what they do, just enough Democrats and independents stayed at home.
If they feel safe leaving their homes, you’ve failed.
Hate is not going to get you anywhere.
Yes some of them voted for him but a bunch of them didn’t.
Stop being defeatist… inform yourself… look at the numbers. Look at the evidence. Get active.
If you’ve wondered why everything looks like a coup since he got in, perhaps it is because it is one.
https://lemmy.world/post/31401705
https://electiontruthalliance.org/
Edit: the upvote/downvote ratio on a comment like this shows how rapidly Lemmy is turning into Reddit. Nobody cares about the data, if you remotely sound like defending the GOP down the chute you go.
It’s your loss America. I’ll sleep fine as long as we don’t have electronic voting systems here.
It’s not that we don’t agree with you, it’s that your kinda acting like a dick. Change your tone and you might get a better reception.
And leading with “hate is not going to get you anywhere” and following it with more blame instead of action.
Find your local mutual aid group. Volunteer. Protest. Get involved.
following it with more blame instead of action.
I don’t see blame anywhere?
[you’re] kinda acting like a dick
I really don’t see it. I see only advice trying to help them get a healthier point of view. 🤷♂️
Change your tone and you might get a better reception.
This has literally the same vibe.
Edit: didn’t realize the response was a different user.
I’m not trying to convince anyone of something. I’m just telling why
you’rethey are being downvoted, and it’s not because of the content ofyourtheir post. I’d post differently if I were trying to make a sincere point.I’m not the one who made the “dick” comment…
I’m not trying to convince anyone of something.
You’re saying they should change their tone. 🤷♂️ Meh. Whatever you say.
Apologies, I didn’t realize that you weren’t the person that I originally responded to.
I’m not trying to convince them. I don’t give a fuck if they change their tone. I was only telling them why the post wasn’t well received.
Right, fair enough I guess. I just can’t see where exactly the dickishness lies. I don’t see a “tone” anywhere.
Edit: the upvote/downvote ratio on a comment like this shows how rapidly Lemmy is turning into Reddit. Nobody cares about the data, if you remotely sound like defending the GOP down the chute you go.
Many people just aren’t serious enough to take actions that are material beneficial. We want leftist ideas, but no one wants to form a party or vote for one.
I’d just like to take this opportunity to say “fuck you” to all the service people flying these planes, planning the logistics, and otherwise operating at the behest of our sadistic federal government. Sure, the civilian leadership is ultimately at fault here, but y’all are humans with agency. I’m no longer carving out culpability from these goddamn people anymore. Fuck you terrorists. If we escalate yet another war, I’ll plan to spit on you when you arrive back broken and dead. Bring on the downvotes.
It’s been decades that our military has been nothing but an imperialist boot. There is no moral ground to stand on in signing up. Work fast food.
But fast food won’t guarantee housing or healthcare. Military recruitment preys on those with nowhere else to go.
“Housing.” As in a cot to sleep on? You can get the same at a homeless shelter or by landing yourself in jail.
“Healthcare.” Hm yes the military has a great reputation for taking care of the folks maimed in the line of duty after they’ve sent them into harm’s way. Don’t join the army for your health, y’all!
No like, base housing, or a housing allowance. As for healthcare I see your point and yes that’s a travesty. But my daughter was born in a hospital and I paid zero dollars for prenatal care and her birth. So. That’s what I meant.
Now we’re saying that it’s ethical to join the military because they’ll pay for you to have a baby. Is that really a serious argument?
None of this was meant as an argument to join up, just stating facts in relation to my experience, and how the logic could folllow for some in desperate situations. It sucks to feel like you have to join the military because the starting line is 100 paces ahead of you. All of it sucks my dude. My original point was that recruiters prey on desperation, remember? It’s just up there ⬆️⬆️
Always. Even the continental army was set up to facilitate and enable genocide.
Decades implies that it once (in USAs history) wasn’t so, which is false. The rest of it if very true tho.
I’m being generous. I mean the revolutionary and civil wars weren’t exactly imperialism. But you’re right there are older examples to be sure. Like what we did to Mexico.
How hard is it to just not kill others?
Apparently really fucking hard for some.
I was thinking the same about the national guard deployed to LA.
I was hoping to find at least one article that focuses more on that part, but until then: what you said.
We - everywhere - need to talk about soldiers as people, not “the military”.
I think there’s a huge difference between serving in a military controlled by a healthy democracy, and serving in a military controlled by an authoritarian regime.
Several weeks ago you could forgive someone for not realising that Trump is the latter, but not really any more.
weeks
I think you misspelled years
This is basic dictator playbook, problems in domestic politics, start a war and problems change to foreign policy.
Putin has done this multiple times now, and Trump is following up.
This is why I say Canada, Greenland, and Mexico are not safe. Added to the fact that all 3 countries have lots of resources the US needs.
Don’t forget panama
Wouldn’t this cause catastrophic domestic problems though. I think the US would tear itself apart trying to go to war with either of those three. Greenland perhaps less-so but still incredibly distasteful.
They won’t defend their own democracy. They won’t defend mine.
Putin has done this multiple times now, and Trump is following up.
The United Russia party has had a chokehold on Russian elections practically since the day the USSR was dismantled.
There’s a lot more to their socio-economic dominance than Russia just starting new wars. RU controls the national media, they have deep roots in petrochemicals and finance and real estate, they’re mobbed up, they have control of the military across the officer’s corps, and they’re embedded all through local government.
Putin could be the biggest peacenik hippie in Russia and that party wouldn’t budge from its perch.
He’s doing these wars because he’s fascist. Not because he’s doing 11D politics chess.
Starting a war isn’t really 11D thing, it is more like “me big army, me attack” vibe. Even the orange orangutan can figure that one out.
Russia has two exports, fossil energy and war. They know nothing else.
Putin and his party are one and the same.
Russia has two exports, fossil energy and war.
Russia is the only country left with a functioning space program. Also, one of the few remaining virgin steel manufacturers, in large part thanks to their domestic supply of iron and cheap energy. And, like Ukraine, it is a major regional breadbasket (one of the knock on effects of the war has been a one-two punch to cereal exports into Africa and the Middle East).
They don’t have the manpower that China and India enjoy, so they never properly built up their high end service and manufacturing base, even in the Soviet Era. But the “Russia’s just an oversized gas station” line doesn’t hold up to any kind of close inspection.
60% of their export is fossil energy, it is a banana republic
60% of their export is fossil energy
China, India, and Turkiye have been ravenous in their demand for petrochemicals. These sectors have been growing at a breakneck pace.
it is a banana republic
Which large US business conglomerate is extracting fruit produce from Russia through armed occupation at below market rates?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic
“In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resource.”
They are so dependable on fossil fuel export that they try to sway all other nations to use fossil fuels and generate crisis on it to tie other nations closer to it’s only source of power in global market. Russia has less GDP than Italy. They are not super power anymore, and every nation should try to get away from their fossil fuels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
it came to control vast territories and transportation networks in Central America, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and the West Indies. Although it competed with the Standard Fruit Company (later Dole Food Company) for dominance in the international banana trade, it maintained a virtual monopoly in certain regions, some of which came to be called banana republics – such as Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic#Etymology
In the early 20th century, the United Fruit Company, a multinational corporation, was instrumental in the creation of the banana republic phenomenon. Together with other American corporations, such as the Cuyamel Fruit Company, and leveraging the power of the U.S. government, the corporations created the political, economic, and social circumstances that led to a coup of the locally elected democratic government that established banana republics in Central American countries such as Honduras and Guatemala; No official apology has ever been done by any banana company or the U.S. with only the C.I.A. backed dictator of Guatemala apologizing in 2011
:-|
They are so dependable on fossil fuel export that they try to sway all other nations to use fossil fuels
Ah, Okay. I think I understand the problem here.
Everything you said is true of the GOP/American Right as well, and they do it the same way, through oligarchy, it’s just a matter of they having more time to ratchet it down where the US is just getting its official start, although it’s been working behind the scenes towards this for decades too
As if any USA president wouldn’t be doing the same thing.
If the shit hits the fan, I want too see every single fucking MAGA voter at a US Army recruiting office signing up for 11 Bravo, Grunt Infantry.
Grunt infantry is redundant
Yeah, I should have placed parenthesis around infantry.
Eh, maybe cav scout or something in the 92 family (NOT 92R), we don’t want those asshats walking around with an M4/203 and frags.
Yes we do. Maybe they’ll blow themselves up.
Right. This could ultimately increase the median intelligence level…
Nah they’ll just cry on tiktok about how they “never expected this at all” so that people feel sorry for them. Even though they fucked everyone around them.
This would have to be the most unpopular war in US history and yet I think everyone Trump has surrounded himself with is telling him to do it.
This might sound insane but every single wartime president has gotten a huge boost to their approval ratings due to media networks circulating pure propaganda nonstop. Even NPR will start doing positive coverage.
The consent manufacturing machine will rev up like it always does. There’s already attempts to get us on board with a the fantasy of a regime change. As though that won’t lead to another ISIS or Libya.
But I really don’t think the average liberal boomer is going to fall in line behind Trump like they did Bush. And certainly not anyone younger. Dem leadership is probably already on board though.
I don’t know if he’s serious about regime change in iran. He seems to negotiate from a raft of threats and lies. Hopefully it’s all for show but if the war does go down my guess for approval ratings is over 60%. Not quite Bush I or ii numbers due to decline in news consumption.
I doubt anyone in power is deluded enough to think they can actually reinstate the Shah or something. They probably just want to bomb every piece if infrastructure in Iran and not worry about them for a few decades.
But regime change absolutely is the fantasy they are trying to sell liberals.
It also isn’t true. LBJs approval rating absolutely tanked because of the Vietnam war.
Johnson’s approval ratings had dropped from 70 percent in mid-1965 to below 40 percent by 1967
https://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/foreign-affairs
It was perceived that he was losing the war and lying to the public about the successes that they claimed to have achieved.
But winning wars, even unjust ones, always gets the president brownie points in the eyes of the public and corporations
the exception was covid, there was a huge downturn in recruitments, and they were getting worried. but military propaganda: top gun maverick helped boost numbers up. also the fact that they loosen some restrictions to join the military too. i was in a forum of people joining, during the obama years, and it was getting tougher to join. its mostly due to medical conditions that prevent people from joining.
It is clear that Israel want this war. And they clearly can’t do anything without the US and the UK at least. However, they commited insane genocidal attack in Gaza which might have been part of their plans to provoke a reaction that justify a war against Iran.
When that didn’t work and Trump made a deal with the Houthis in Yemen without their knowledge and was close to a deal with Iran they pulled the plug and basically put the US government under a situation where the have to join their war sooner or later eventhough it is not a good time for the US to do it.
lets imagine Trump administration just gone. Any other adminstration have a few options:
- play a defensive rule, which cannot last for long as Iran have the means to a long term missile attacks, and Israel being small and there is a few main cities that can be targeted. Along with cost which will run their budgets down.
- stop supporting Israel, which will make their allies nation to reach to China or Russia for guarantee protection and the US will lose its defense credibility.
- forcing a ceasefire, which is impossible and Israel keep violating all their ceasefires. As they would like to the war to happen they will force it through escalation.
Along with the fact that Israel own the Congress, the Senate, and the US administration based on how many officials visit Israel and publicly endorsed by AIPAC, there are literally no other option.
The question now is how to make sure it is a popular war, it seems like they were trying to do it by the 6 day mark but couldn’t. The US government has two part, Zionist and MAGA supremacist, and the MAGA supremacist don’t want to be controlled by Jewish people and it feel as this is what stopping the US from joining now.
Most likely, they came to the conclusion that they will have to stage a false flag attack on US bases or assets to make it easier for the public to accept this war. This has been publicly stated by AIPAC speakers through out the years before 9/11, where now it feels more like a false flag as Benjamin Netanyahu keep mentioning “New York will be next”.
Vietnam was pretty unpopular tbh.
But was it in the beginning? I’m not old enough to remember what it was like when it started but clearly there was a lot of propaganda. The unpopularity seemed to manifest over time, as there was no goal and people dying over something most americans didn’t care about.
Or at least that’s my impression.
It’s not even hard to look this up, or maybe I already have the context having loved the 90s history channel. Vietnam had majority support for the first few years. But it was one of the first conflicts that was widely televised. Americans had never so quickly seen how fucked up war was, so support dropped off quickly. Weapons were also becoming a lot more fucked up during this time as well, adding to the visual horror.
I don’t personally know, but as far as I could tell, people in the USA were largely ok with the Vietnam war, until they started to draft people to send to Vietnam who never wanted to be in a military.
I don’t know, I’m neither american nor old enough. However, since it was a different time and, as you so brilliantly told, the propaganda machine was at its summum. So there is no way to know how really unpopular things were. However, looking at the civil rights movement and the hippie era that was happening et the same time, we could conclude that it could have been more unpopular.
Don’t forget that the majority of trump voters are in favor of a war, particularly against a country they have seen as an enemy for a very long time - not forgetting the fact that it is also a muslim country, of which they are very biaised against.
You could say that there are no fundamental differences between the iranian government and the one they are willing to implement on US soil, except the fact that they are both centered around two different religions, however similar might their doctrines be.
To Trump voters, however, those words don’t have any weight as, again, iranians are seen as an enemy of the so-called freedom. That makes this war quite popular by essence.
$$$
Without war, American capitalist hegemony cannot sustain itself. It’s so sickening…
I think Trump is attempting to scare Iran into accepting his nuclear deal. The only problem with this tactic is that Iran might not believe him as they know how deeply unpopular the war would be.
I think Trump is attempting to scare Iran into accepting his nuclear deal.
Israel wouldn’t tolerate any deal though. They want no deal and permanent sanctions on Iran. Besides, we are well past talking about any nuclear deal.
So what’s the game plan, they’re going to bomb Iran into submission? That strategy has never worked in the history of warfare. They’d need boots on the ground and direct US involvement. And even then, this didn’t work in Afghanistan, nor Iraq.
Are the bombs working? No. Are we going to keep bombing them? Yes.
– President Biden on Operation Prosperity
This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t
– The Onion, 2003
Only idiots are excited about wars.
US is about to go to war the day before I go down to the states to get an MRI, lovely.
edit: So idiots are excited about wars, but I’m also an idiot for not being excited about wars? Fair enough then, I can’t win.
USian here who is also getting an MRI tomorrow. Fun coincidence and I wish you well on your alien abduction simulator!
The fortunate thing for you and me, and the unfortunate thing for humanity as a whole, is that daily life in the US is generally pleasant and undisturbed by brutal overseas military actions.
That’s a general theme of this place though. The country is massive and geographically isolated/protected while the military is spread all over the world doing shit all the time.
Just got back home from getting my MRI. IT band syndrome in both of my knees, no tears or degeneration. I feel much better after hearing that!
My knees are both still kind of sore but at least I know why now lol
I’ll start physio and maybe get some better shoes and then hopefully I’ll be as good as new.
Wasn’t Trump the peaceful dove?
No US president is a peace dove. Between supporting proxie wars to police actions to declared war, they all end up getting people killed by bombs.
Everyone knew he wasn’t going to be able to curtail democratic elections without the excuse of a war. This is on schedule.
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I mean, Trump just illegally deployed the national guard and the marines in California. He needed the state’s permission (which he didn’t get) to deploy the guard and deploying the marines is on a whole other level of illegal.
We’ve got an election in NYC right now, with a pro-Palestine Muslim threatening to upset Trump’s close friend Andrew Cuomo. Weird that nobody is claiming this election is being threatened by Trump, given that NYC has an enormous stock of Trump/Kushner accumulated capital.
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What happens when the federal and state government disagree?
looks at US history book at 1860
👀
Unfortunately the republican run states will bend over whenever Trump tells them to.
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I mean the republican lawmakers, not the citizens.
I always thought Trump could curtail democratic elections without the excuse of war … by relying on a convenient terrorist attack instead.
Nah, a war in the middle east is normal. Nobody would accept a normal situation as justification to cancel elections.
No.
We had a lot of “I’m willing to make deals with anyone” rhetoric from the Trump campaign that low-info voters took to mean he was anti-war.
But the underlying Pentagon leadership hasn’t significantly changed between Biden and Trump (or Bush and Trump, for that matter). Its all the same neoconservative think tanks writing variations on Project For A New American Century for the modern government.
The idea that you were going to elect an anti-war president went out the window during the primaries. Vanishingly few federal office holders have shown opposition to attacking Iran. Less than what we had in 2003 against Iraq.
Everyone from Richie Torres to Mike Lee seem on board with a brand new Holocaust in the Middle East.
But the underlying Pentagon leadership hasn’t significantly changed between Biden and Trump (or Bush and Trump, for that matter). Its all the same neoconservative think tanks writing variations on Project For A New American Century for the modern government.
That isn’t congress or the president. Pentagon leadership doesn’t declare war. Congress has the power to declare war which hasn’t happened for some time and since then the president has basically done so, although arguable that it’s been a “formal” declaration of war.
This is what people voted for, up and down the ballot. US voters put Trump at the top and yes men in the house and senate.
Vote better next time, I guess.
Congress has the power to declare war
That they fully abdicated with the 2001 AUMF, which they keep renewing specifically so they don’t have to ever make these decisions.
This is what people voted for
The people vote for candidates, not policies. And they candidates they vote for routinely talk out of both sides of their mouths. NDAAs regularly pass with overwhelming bipartisan support, even as a super-majority of Congresscritters campaign against this or that component of them.
Vote better next time, I guess.
I was told to VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO because there is a Cheeto In The White House. If both major parties field pro-war candidates, what’s the move?
But the underlying Pentagon leadership hasn’t significantly changed between Biden and Trump (or Bush and Trump, for that matter).
That’s not strictly true. Trump purged a lot of leadership that was loyal to the Constitution rather than personally to him.
But your overall point about the war-hawkishness remains valid.
Search “Altlantic Trident 25”
Yeah we’re gonna use like 1 tanker for that, 2 on a busy day. The 28 others are going somewhere else
The silver lining is that this will accelerate the decline of the US Empire which in turn will weaken Israel. Although this will be too late for the millions who have been or are still to be killed because of these psychopathic regimes.
The silver lining is that this will accelerate the decline of the US Empire
But not without a tremendous loss of life.
Israel is a project, literary run by people not their in the first place, so even if US Empire collapse they will move their money to the next dominant power.
I don’t think China gives a shit about Zionism. There’s no natural pool of evangelical Christians to brainwash.
China is self-sufficient and has advanced military tech that is at least equivalent to what the US has. Israel has nothing to offer it besides localised spying or murdering people.
Russia is a possibility but it has always found common cause with the Arab nations and Iran so wouldnt be as reliable. It’s also not as powerful.
The US is the only sugar daddy for this parasitic colony.
I’m bringing peace to the Middle East! The peace president! 🫲🍊🫱
Don’t ya know, he ended the war in Ukraine on day 1!
USA bringing peace usually involves a lot of military airplanes so I don’t see your point
worry not. remember this is TACO Don… he’ll chicken out again
He also said if he was president there’d be no more wars, so this obviously totally super duperly cannot happen.
It’s not a war, it’s a special military operation.
Only for a day
He openly calls service members suckers and losers. I dont know that he much cares whats done with them.
This comment will age poorly if he don’t.
that’s not even in the list of things I’d consider giving a fuck about
It’ll just change to TOCO, Trump Occasionally Chickens Out
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When you are 0/2 why go for 3…
Trump is after Iran’s eggs, I guess. He promised the people of the US lower egg prices, he will get them from Iran.
How can people in the US be okay with this? Their quality of life has only decreased since Bush 2 started his wars of terror. A propagandized population driven to hate others and rally behind the president.
As unlikely as it may be, I hope the US loses quickly and decisively against Iran. Not in 20 years from now like in Afghanistan, but soon. I don’t know what cards Iran has, what leverage they may have, but I hope they have something that enables them to inflict pain.
Iran is defending, that’s why the americans cannnot win this war. They don’t have enough bombs to kill every iranian from the sky.
Can’t win a ground war. And they know it. Hence the 30 air tankers. Gonna be another shock and awe air campaign. Except half of the middle east or more will be taking part.
Guess its time for the US to lose another war. We haven’t won one since the Soviets won WWII for us.
I’m reading this book called Heartland that actually really deep dives into why so many Americans are ok with this, the fact of the matter is huge parts of the US have been living in abject poverty since basically always and it’s part of their culture to not need much, wanting things is looked down on as weakness, it’s a cultural part of long term poverty for huge swaths of the US, that living a hard life is the only way to live, there’s obviously many layers to this but it’s not a thing you can just think your way out of (because not getting educated is also part of this culture) since culture and identity are so deeply intertwined and you see that culture being actively promoted and spread via “trad culture” which is very much popular, especially with young men, trad is just code for poor
The people of the US have never seen a brutal invasion of the middle east they didn’t support.
