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IllustriousBody t1_j19qoc5 wrote

Anyone else get cognitive dissonance from the idea of a Middle Eastern country supplying weapons to Russia rather than the other way round?

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KO4Champ t1_j19w64z wrote

Probably just reselling the same weapons Russia sent to them over the years.

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SeaRaiderII t1_j19qz15 wrote

Russia is doing this because they are saving their good stuff for NATO.

/s

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IllustriousBody t1_j19rk4l wrote

It's not the why, it's the what. I remember covering the 1973 war in current affairs while it was going on so my brain has always been "Russia supplies Middle East," this is back-assward.

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420Jewish69 t1_j1a0l0e wrote

It only surprises you because you (And pretty much the entire western world) missed Israel's countless warnings about Iran in the last decade.

The world has ignored us and dismissed our concerns, and now it affects Europe.

Much worse will come if Iran has weapons of mass destruction and is no longer afraid from foreign interventions. They must be stopped.

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Felinomancy t1_j1b4iim wrote

Yeah I'm confused too; when did Iran, under so many sanctions and never being a global power, ever managed to have weapons tech that surpassed Russia's?

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NamelessForce t1_j1bkz1s wrote

You partially answered your own question; sanctions. Due to sanctions Iran was unable to procure much of its needed tech abroad, and thus developed a large domestic defense industry.

The other answer is their geopolitical situation. They are a highly aggressive regime, engaging in rivalries with multiple powers throughout the region, including Iraqi proxy forces against America, Hezbollah against Israel, and the Houthis against Saudi Arabia. Consequently, they are not exactly surrounded by friendly nations, so they can't just sit on their hands, they need to maintain and upgrade their capabilities to stay afloat in this shitty mess they created.

So that explains why,as for how, well regardless of their geopolitical situation and ass-backwards government, they are still a large country, with a large and highly educated citizenry to pull from from to develop such capabilities. To put it into perspective, their population is ~86 million, more than half of Russia, about twice that of Ukraine, and more than either France or the UK. Combine that with a territory larger than either France or the UK, some of the world's largest petrochemical reserves, plus plenty of available field-testing via the (mis)adventures of its proxies, and you have many of the makings of a military competent regional power with an indigenous defense industry to match.

Now, you may ask why Russia, which fits many of the same criteria (belligerence,size, sanctions, petrochemical wealth) didn't advance at the quite the same speed? The answer is in two parts, first off they did, just not in large numbers, their new hyper-sonic missiles (khinzal), new tanks (Armata), and new suicide drones (lancet) actually are combat effective, but it does not matter because they don't exist in large enough quantities to affect the war. It doesn't matter if you engineered the new Armata tank if you are still using t-60s. This ties in to the second part, why didnt they build enough? I think its because of one fundamental difference, Iran sees itself in an existential conflict, its very existance, or rather that of its regime, is under threat, to them military progress in effective numbers is a must. As for Russia, barring the tumultuous 90s, Russia sees itself as a great power, if not super-power, one of the storied, established ones, far more akin to France than Iran. Thus, lacking the same existential dread, and buoyed by history and arrogance, they allowed themselves to pursue military advancement more as a vanity project, or to threaten the west, nothing more. It simply wasn't necessary. Until fighting a Westernized Ukrainian army showed them otherwise.

>never being a global power

P.S. , just to clarify, Iran was one of the worlds original empires, under the Achemenids, Parthians, Sassanids, etc.

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CutiePopIceberg t1_j19q80e wrote

Even i know this ... so ... maybe world leaders can skip the faux shock and do something about it by supporting the iranian protesters.

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Mellevalaconcha t1_j19rrw6 wrote

Legit question, how? I'm all up for it, but their situation is different from Ukraine, they're fighting against their government, how can we help them? Aside from spreading the word.

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Caeldeth t1_j19sk35 wrote

FUND THE REBELLION!!! SNEAK IN WEAPONS TO REBEL FIGHTERS!! INVADE IRAN!!!

Joking… unless you want to start a world war… there is nothing you can do

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Mellevalaconcha t1_j19sylt wrote

I am aware, trying to give them stuff rn is out of the question, unless they properly form an armed insurrection, nothing can be done I guess.

Just hope they keep on fighting, but it's not looking good

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CutiePopIceberg t1_j19z75n wrote

Id be shocked if the cia isnt getting in on this. But i agree with yiu and some other commenters: anything overt would be unwise at this time. Also, weve seen again and again that arming 'the enemy of my enemy hoping they become friends' doesnt work (taliban). Any us involvement would have to be surgical and plausibly deniable (like us drones taking out specific targets - this does mean there will be collaterAL damage and that has to be considered too)

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Mellevalaconcha t1_j1a1bg9 wrote

Yeah, the USA will definitely get involved, but the Rebels need to secure a fighting force and make it clear that they're fighting for a secular government and that they won't just be the other side of the coin, Iran has never been a true democracy, this is their chance.

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throwawaydave5668 t1_j1a9x7m wrote

I cannot possibly know this with certainty, but I would be willing to bet that the CIA is not just sitting this one out.

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Brilliant-Debate-140 t1_j19qsv0 wrote

But why haha? Cheap gas? They haven't a fking clue why! It's an invasion.

Sums Iranian govenment up aswell tbh

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unemployed_hero t1_j1a1f3z wrote

New alliances are building. Drifting the world into two parts. One side the western world led by Europe's big nations and US. Other side, China, Russia and surrounding countrires.

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Imfrom2030 t1_j1a4p1m wrote

I think Putin and Xi would like to believe that isolating themselves from the rest of the world is "Leading the world away from the west" as much as you do.

If your alliance is China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea while the other "side" is United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, and dozens of their closest friends there is no split.

It's not Leading anything. It's self-mutilation for propaghanda talking points. Self isolation is isolating, nothing else.

Especially when Russia and Iran are bleeding out 8 months into this mythical "separation" while China faces a gauntlet of potentially unsolvable economic and social problems in 2023.

It's like Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, and 2 minor league players quit baseball and you claimed that a new league must be forming.

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Contain_the_Pain t1_j1ah5ol wrote

I’m sure China would prefer other allies in their power bloc, especially after Russia’s dismal military performance and economic disruption, but they’re stuck settling for whoever is available.

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omega3111 OP t1_j1acnol wrote

> China, Russia and surrounding countrires.

Like South Korea and Japan?

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KingHershberg t1_j1bafpa wrote

South Korea doesn't border China or Russia

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omega3111 OP t1_j1eji4k wrote

> surrounding

That doesn't mean bordering. The point is that he made a wrong statement and I corrected him.

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drosse1meyer t1_j1b5ulk wrote

OK Israel, so do your thing lol...

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xoomax t1_j1cm2cv wrote

But don't say we are are or you'll try our patience!

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Clockreddit2020 t1_j1cn415 wrote

They will say anything to scare the population

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1fastrex t1_j1agayh wrote

Well you boys know what to do, checks in the mail, thanks, U.S

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idekhalfthetime t1_j1ahke9 wrote

So do something , they want American parents and children to pay the price , FOH

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rosiyaidynakher t1_j1avxyx wrote

And yet Israel won’t lift a finger for Ukraine

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Mechaman520 t1_j1aztik wrote

They've been very active in the humanitarian aid.

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HiHoJufro t1_j1b1ang wrote

Hospital, humanitarian aid, defensive equipment, condemning Russia, accepting refugees, offering Intel, bombing an Iranian drone production facility?

That last one may not be producing Russia-bound drones (I don't recall the details/if that is known).

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anna_pescova t1_j1a4gao wrote

Israel can't have it both ways... either Israel sticks out it's neck for Ukraine or it lives with the consequences of Russia building closer ties with Iran and Syria.

Iran has vowed to annihilate Israel and, whatever its chances of ultimate success, it has taken concrete steps to do so—including positioning its constellation of “Resistance Axis” proxy militias on three of Israel’s borders, upgrading their arsenals with increasingly accurate and longer-range missiles, and pursuing its capability to reinforce these militias with a nuclear umbrella.

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Aylex99 t1_j1aju44 wrote

Israel need to be very careful in this conflict. It's actions will have big reprecaussions in how jews are viewed in Russia and Ukraine after the war, being too pro Russia will make Russians feel like jews have betrayed them (which isn't great historically). Israel fights all of Russia's enemies and dislikes Russia, but a lot of Israelis are from former Soviet Republics and many jews still live in Russia, so it needs to have a somewhat diplomatic relationship with it.

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frosthowler t1_j1akods wrote

Israelis from Russia hate Russia. Israel is worried about Jews in Russia being persecuted.

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Aylex99 t1_j1at6w0 wrote

Yeah I was not saying they like Russia, but just having a large russian population means they need to be civil, otherwise problems arise (citizenship, asset forfeiture, not being able to visit relatives, etc.). I see how the sentence could have been misread, but yeah, either way they can't go full out anti russia.

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anna_pescova t1_j1cnn6h wrote

>Israel fights all of Russia's enemies

...I don't think so.

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[deleted] t1_j19sdpw wrote

[deleted]

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3dio t1_j19trxv wrote

A passive entity? Give me a break

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HiHoJufro t1_j1b0vwc wrote

In their defense, they did say not a passive entity.

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Kronoswarp t1_j1a16lk wrote

Why do you suspect diplomacy with all those nations would collapse. Turkey is a NATO nation and has been bettering its relationships with Israel. It's also time for the West to swap Pakistan relations in favor of India. Appeasing Iran doesn't seem to have any long-term benefits since they still keep inching towards nukes.

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Contain_the_Pain t1_j1ahno7 wrote

Pakistan and the Gulf States would publicly express their outrage and covertly support Israel.

They may dislike Israel, but Iran is a threat to them, whereas Israel is not.

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