America - The Official Thread

[Keef]

I just realized that America is like the world's O-line and Russia, China, Iran are some pretty scary looking linebackers. All the rest are those annoying scrappy DBs who even celelbrate drops like they had anything to do with it.

And just like Ohio State football, I can't wait til we stop playing conservative.

 

[Danoff]

I just realized that America is like the world's O-line and Russia, China, Iran are some pretty scary looking linebackers. All the rest are those annoying scrappy DBs who even celelbrate drops like they had anything to do with it.

And just like Ohio State football, I can't wait til we stop playing conservative.

Iran and honestly Russia are not scary. And we trade with China.

As much as I like the football analogy, this isn't a game. We can all win.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I just realized that America is like the world's O-line and Russia, China, Iran are some pretty scary looking linebackers. All the rest are those annoying scrappy DBs who even celelbrate drops like they had anything to do with it.

And just like Ohio State football, I can't wait til we stop playing conservative.

Iran and Russia have been shown to be pretty weak recently. I doubt Iran could launch another attack on just Israel right now because they have basically no air defenses to fend off a counterattack, and they wouldn't be able to replace the missiles they use so they would have no deterrence either - I'd argue they are the weakest and most vulnerable they've been since the end of the Iran-Iraq war. The only option they have right now is to wind down the escalation and rebuild quietly while Hezbollah withers. Russia's performance in Ukraine has been spectacularly underwhelming - they've lost ungodly amounts of troops and equipment and they are resorting to outsourcing to basically their only do-or-die "friend" they've got left. Not to mention that Israel's strikes on Iran have shown how useless Russian-built air defense systems are. Maybe the S400 would have performed better, but realistically I doubt it. I think that the past few years have shown that Russian weapons systems are not on par with American/NATO systems AND they don't have the industrial capacity to fight a war and produce surplus for export, and that is probably concerning the Russian industrial military complex quite a bit.

China is universally untested from a military perspective. They appear to have US-rivaling tech, but absolutely zero experience - and they 100% need us (as in the USA) to keep buying their **** right now because I think their economy is teetering.

 

[Blitz24]

Iran and Russia have been shown to be pretty weak recently. I doubt Iran could launch another attack on just Israel right now because they have basically no air defenses to fend off a counterattack, and they wouldn't be able to replace the missiles they use so they would have no deterrence either - I'd argue they are the weakest and most vulnerable they've been since the end of the Iran-Iraq war. The only option they have right now is to wind down the escalation and rebuild quietly while Hezbollah withers. Russia's performance in Ukraine has been spectacularly underwhelming - they've lost ungodly amounts of troops and equipment and they are resorting to outsourcing to basically their only do-or-die "friend" they've got left. Not to mention that Israel's strikes on Iran have shown how useless Russian-built air defense systems are. Maybe the S400 would have performed better, but realistically I doubt it. I think that the past few years have shown that Russian weapons systems are not on par with American/NATO systems AND they don't have the industrial capacity to fight a war and produce surplus for export, and that is probably concerning the Russian industrial military complex quite a bit.

China is universally untested from a military perspective. They appear to have US-rivaling tech, but absolutely zero experience - and they 100% need us (as in the USA) to keep buying their **** right now because I think their economy is teetering.

Does Iran have an air force? I know they have a navy and the IRGC but I am not certain they have anything aerial other than missiles (and maybe a nuclear warhead soon).

 

[Exorcet]

Does Iran have an air force? I know they have a navy and the IRGC but I am not certain they have anything aerial other than missiles (and maybe a nuclear warhead soon).

They are the last remaining operator of the F-14. They also fly a handful of MiG's, F-4's, F-5's, and F-1's. Possibly some Foxbats taken from the Gulf War. It's a terribly outdated force often fighting for spare parts. They have been in talks with Russian about purchasing Su-35's though.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

They are the last remaining operator of the F-14. They also fly a handful of MiG's, F-4's, F-5's, and F-1's. Possibly some Foxbats taken from the Gulf War. It's a terribly outdated force often fighting for spare parts. They have been in talks with Russian about purchasing Su-35's though.

Yeah...it's so outdated that it's effectively not an air force at all. The only way Iran could provide a challenge to Israel is in a defensive ground war, but that is extraordinarily unlikely to happen because of the several countries in between them and because it's in neither country's interest to even attempt an invasion. The only logical, feasible adversarial move right now for Iran is to race to build a nuclear weapon, which would be a plausible deterrence that the ballistic missiles themselves are failing to provide. Or they could just stop being assholes, but it doesn't seem like that's how the Ayatollah rolls.

 

[Keef]

Iran and Russia have been shown to be pretty weak recently. I doubt Iran could launch another attack on just Israel right now because they have basically no air defenses to fend off a counterattack, and they wouldn't be able to replace the missiles they use so they would have no deterrence either - I'd argue they are the weakest and most vulnerable they've been since the end of the Iran-Iraq war. The only option they have right now is to wind down the escalation and rebuild quietly while Hezbollah withers. Russia's performance in Ukraine has been spectacularly underwhelming - they've lost ungodly amounts of troops and equipment and they are resorting to outsourcing to basically their only do-or-die "friend" they've got left. Not to mention that Israel's strikes on Iran have shown how useless Russian-built air defense systems are. Maybe the S400 would have performed better, but realistically I doubt it. I think that the past few years have shown that Russian weapons systems are not on par with American/NATO systems AND they don't have the industrial capacity to fight a war and produce surplus for export, and that is probably concerning the Russian industrial military complex quite a bit.

China is universally untested from a military perspective. They appear to have US-rivaling tech, but absolutely zero experience - and they 100% need us (as in the USA) to keep buying their **** right now because I think their economy is teetering.

They are the last remaining operator of the F-14. They also fly a handful of MiG's, F-4's, F-5's, and F-1's. Possibly some Foxbats taken from the Gulf War. It's a terribly outdated force often fighting for spare parts. They have been in talks with Russian about purchasing Su-35's though.

Yeah...it's so outdated that it's effectively not an air force at all. The only way Iran could provide a challenge to Israel is in a defensive ground war, but that is extraordinarily unlikely to happen because of the several countries in between them and because it's in neither country's interest to even attempt an invasion. The only logical, feasible adversarial move right now for Iran is to race to build a nuclear weapon, which would be a plausible deterrence that the ballistic missiles themselves are failing to provide. Or they could just stop being assholes, but it doesn't seem like that's how the Ayatollah rolls.

Grim Reapers did a fun video about the Iranian air force recently. In summary, it's very realistic that the US alone could take out their entire air force in one battle without a single casualty. If the planes were launched from carriers and had the aid of naval AA systems it would be even easier.



Iran's own military isn't scary. It's their willingness to use geurilla proxies to spread out and waste our resources. They're doing it very effectively right now and in very expensive ways that have gone as far as causing enough unrest within America that it could sway this election to a horrible result. There's a 50/50 chance of that happening right now. In a roundabout way, if Trump wins, Iran wins, and he has already proven this with his previous Iran policies.

Iran and honestly Russia are not scary. And we trade with China.

As much as I like the football analogy, this isn't a game. We can all win.

Russia is scary for the same reasons Iran is scary. They're willing to ignore all established rules and fight in ways that the West isn't even legally allowed to. China is the same, they're going to bend and twist the rules beyond recognition and ignore any rational negotiation. Everything is escalating in every direction. The Ukraine war has taught us that the American military is instantaneously outdated and in some ways completely irrelevant. If we don't adapt and innovate very quickly, within a decade we're going to find ourselves lobbing a few hundred Tomahawks trying to take down tens of thousands of grenade-armed quadcopter drones. Nobody will have more of them than China, they're the ones who make all the damn things.

China isn't interested in all of us winning, they're interested in China winning. The proof is in the fact that generating incredible new wealth by being America's factory for decades wasn't good enough so they've become beligerent. China is hell-bent on imposing its will upon the UN and changing international law to Chinese law.

 

[CTznOfTime]

What surprises me is not that Trump is popular among the masses. There is SOME sense in the logic that stupid people would rather be ruled by someone stupid than by someone intelligent.

No, what surprises me is that the Republican Party has let him hijack them and completely destroy them, to the point that all their intellectuals have been bullied away and they are now practically endorsing Hitler.

Clearly for the past 10 years, the right RNC GOP mAgA Republicans have been enjoying the fact that trump is triggering those on the left.

The people on the right seems to love trump more and more as he keeps triggering the left...

Simply the people on the right side is not realizing they are being destroyed slowly and surely with each time the left is being triggered.

No wonder I now under why we have not yet reached bottom, and each time we think trump has reach bottom, the next month around, he pushes the envelope even more...

... For over 120 months back to back !?!

Crazy.