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 ⬆️⬆️
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”.
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.
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.
Search “Altlantic Trident 25”
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.
Well, so much for peace talks.
When you are 0/2 why go for 3…
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.
Yeah, it seems fairly impossible he’ll get fully into the war, and even lending a few bunker busters would be surprising when that’s risking a blowback on American forces.
I would guess that Trump is expecting Khamenei to cave, because that’s what he’d do. Most likely, he won’t, Trump will be confused, and this will drag on and on until a regional nuclear exchange is on the table.
Who is exchanging nukes in that? Israel and who else?
Reciprocal nukes like Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
Iran or Iran’s splinter states. They have several bombs worth of uranium that’s almost ready.
I doubt the US would get involved, and nobody else is going to for sure.
That’s the same talking point we’ve heard for decades but even US intelligence reports have said the opposite, even earlier this year. I’m sure they could create dirty bombs but that only requires nuclear power plant waste.
No, we’ve heard they have some kinda enriched stuff, some centrifuges and could maybe someday have a bomb for decades. It’s a bit less theoretical now, they’ve been gradually enriching more and more since the US broke off the agreement:
In February 2023, the IAEA reported having found uranium in Iran enriched to 84%. The Iranian government has claimed that this is an “unintended fluctuation” in the enrichment levels, though the Iranians have been openly enriching uranium to 60% purity, a breach of the 2015 nuclear deal. In 2024, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed interest in reopening discussions with the United States on the nuclear deal.
They have a significant amount, too, and if I were them I would be hiding it carefully in non-obvious places where it can’t be buried by an airstrike.
Hasn’t Iran been talking about ramping up nuclear weapons production since like the end of last year? I don’t think they’re actually a nuclear capable nation but I could see them posturing like they are
Posturing is what Iran does. They’ve done that at least since the early 90s. But US intelligence services have repeatedly come to the conclusion that Iran is not ramping up production, at least based on the briefs even from a few months ago earlier this year.
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What do you mean? Israel is doing Russia a solid for some reason?
Also, nothing has been redirected yet. It takes a while for stuff to move through the military supply chain and into the hands of Ukrainian forces, or Israeli ones, and even then you’d need the US to pass different funding legislation.
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
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
So NOW they want to have bases in Europe?
US is going to be bankrupt by the time he is done his second term.
I mean, that’s just on brand for him. If anything, he has shown a talent for bankrupcy.
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.
