Trump will give Israel ‘blank check’ which may mean all-out war with Iran, says ex-CIA chief
Trump will give Israel ‘blank check’ which may mean all-out war with Iran, says ex-CIA chief
Leon Panetta says he also expects US president-elect to favor letting Russia retain control of areas of Ukraine
Summary
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta warned that Trump’s return to the White House could embolden Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, giving him a "blank check" in the Middle East and increasing the risk of war with Iran.
Panetta expressed concern that Trump would support Netanyahu's aggressive stance against Iran without restraint, potentially worsening regional instability.
Panetta also predicted Trump might allow Russia to retain parts of Ukraine if he returns to office, though he doubted Trump’s negotiation skills.
He criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy, suggesting Trump would be inclined to "capitulate" to authoritarian leaders, which may not sit well with some Republicans.
Congratulations, idealists. You definitely stopped the genocide by refusing to vote for Harris and urging others to do likewise. A+ job.
Oh he'll help end the genocide alright. You can't genocide a people that's already wiped off the planet.
I truly cannot grasp how uninformed one has to be to claim to be for Palestinians but think helping Trump's odds was strategically better. Such profound ignorance is on par with maga, themselves.
On another note I want absolutely nothing to do with Mehdi Hasan. I supported him for quite some time but he got tunnel vision to such a degree he ended up thinking completely irrationally and contributing to the problem. He's venturing into Jill Stein territory for me.
thats okay, you just need to look at harris and the dnc for your answers. apparently streams of articles, local representatives speaking up, members of the diplomatic core speaking out and they amazing decided that 'yes, genocide is the answer to our electoral struggles'
it is definitely baffling in a tight race tossing 25 electoral points in the trash could be construed as a 'good decision for palestinians.' but here we are and thats what they did.
Now the world is going to suffer because of their hubris. enjoy. maybe next time tell your candidate to get a backbone to do the right thing and you need to grasp human nature.
go check out democracynow gaza section. maybe you can get some perspective on exactly how kamala/biden and general media have been gaslighting you. Everytime a hamas leader was murdered and harris would say 'now we can achieve a ceasefire' she was gaslighting you. a ceasefire with the release of hostages had been agreed to by hamas for months since may. Every time she said she would work towards a ceasefire, she was gaslighting you.
the palestinians were fucked no matter who won.
But harris had the option to potentially win if she was willing to:
- throw biden under the bus policy wise.
- commit to upholding american laws w/ respect to isreal.
- commit to keeping kahn as head of FTC.
- commit and campaign on actually fighting corporations.
but noooo. its the voters fault for harris being absolutely dog shit both morally and policy wise.
"They" weren't persons holding "real" opinions, I'm afraid. Just as the russians calling for "russophobia" 2 months prior to the special genocidal operation
I totally understand that sentiment, being myself someone who voted for Harris as the better candidate, but I think the results show it wasn't abstaining anti-genocide voters who caused her shortfall. Millions of people who voted blue in 2020 didn't vote or in many cases actually voted red on Tuesday, way more than the few pro-Palestine abstainers likely amount to. And I doubt many ppl who care about Palestine would've switched and voted for Trump.
As much as I'd love a simple, singular group to blame for Tuesday's horrible result, it's way too early and multifaceted of an issue to do so imo. Depressingly, I think it's moreso just uninformed voters who thought that since inflation wasn't as bad from 2016-2019 that Trump would be better for consumer prices, and they didn't really think about it any harder than that.
You misunderstand. I'm blaming everyone who didn't vote for whatever reason. It was Israel for a large number of them and this story involves that, so I am pointing the finger at them in this case.
But I don't care why someone didn't vote. They chose to accept the possibility that they would be helping a fascist, genocidal dictator get into office by doing nothing to oppose him. Whatever reason they had was a bad one.
Fairly certain the economy was the number one issue for voters that switched parties. I have not seen the numbers on how the genocide affected voting outcomes, but the blame rests squarely on Kamala’s shoulders for running a shitty campaign.
Voters don’t owe the politicians anything.
Yep the Dems are accountable for nothing, but peaple who refused to vote for genociders are accountable for Trump's action sure. Keep blindly following your party.
Okay my man look at the margins. The anti-genocide people could've all voted and it wouldn't have flipped a single state outside of Michigan. And the thing is: Harris lost before Michigan even finished counting. So yeah, you're barking up the wrong tree here.
The anti-genocide people could’ve all voted and it wouldn’t have flipped a single state outside of Michigan.
See, if you'd said the anti-genocide people who protest voted could've all voted for Harris, you might've had a point.
But turnout in this election for the Democratic candidate was significantly decreased, and an uncertain number of those were anti-genocide.
Abstaining gave Trump the presidency. Abstaining for what reason varies, but Gaza was clearly an issue for some to stay home.
The outcome of the election doesn’t change the fact that 18% of voters wasted their vote on a Russian plant.
In the end it didn’t matter but it does matter that they knew the election was close and their protest vote could’ve very well been the deciding factor. They decided to make the statement despite the risk of having someone much worse winning. Now, go plead your cause to Trump.
Please give me the numbers of these in every swing state along with how they were determined.
There is no way for you, or anyone, to know how many people abstained from voting over any one issue, 🤡
Michigan and Wisconsin, two states representing 25 pts. If you don't look at the fucking margins in a neck and neck race, yeah you fucking lose. Harris failed to make any changes to policy throughout the campaign despite being underwater the entire fucking time.
This loss is entirely on her and the DNC.
Waiiiiit, are you saying that not voting Kamala didn't magically stop the genocide in Gaza?????
That it only accelerates it, like I and other people have been saying for months????
WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING?!
I got banned from a community saying this as calmly as possible XD Idk i feel like theses tankies who were overwhelmingly hostile are either shills or hypocrits who just want to hurt the big bad capitalist, short and long term consequences be damned. (Tankies=/=Leftists just a reminder)
Well now that the election is lost, the Democrats could make true on their claim they would seriously end this, but had to wait until after the election...
I doubt they will, because every of their action has shown to be equally strong genocide supporters. But we should see the next days, as Israel still doesnt let anywhere close to 350 Trucks into Gaza, leave alone any into the north of Gaza. The ultimatum is running out.
Also as weapons deliverys to Israel have been and are illegal anyways under US law, now would be a great chance to get every Republican and Democrat who voted for them or approved them as part of the administration into jail and in front of a court.
Oh wait, they wont because breaking the law, which unsurprisingly helped the convicted felon win, was worth it, so genocide could be further supportet.
Yep, running two pro-genocide candidates did absolutely nothing to stop the genocide.
Trump voters: "Trump is the most peaceful president ever. We need to bring the defence spending to Ukraine home. America first".
Trump is elected and inevitably drags the US into yet another war in in the Middle East
Trump voters: Pikachu face
Nah. Just kidding about that last part. It was all just empty rhetoric to justify the grift and looting all the way down as the country burns to the ground in the background.
Trump is very isolationist. I'd be quite surprised if he committed to any conflict directly. Funding Israel to fight for him however...
I find it odd when someone says Trump is this or Trump is that as if he's consistent on anything. His absurd narcissism is the only consistent thing about him. You can bet your ass he would drag us into a war if it would stroke his ego in some way.
That is what makes him so uniquely dangerous. He has no ideology to speak of. His focus shifts back and forth so often that trying to predict exactly what he's going to do is impossible. You can say with certainty that he won't be motivated by any sort of desire for the public good but that's about as specific as you can get until he starts doing something.
Don't forget that if we pull funding from Ukraine, the proxy war with Russia will potentially morph into the most peaceful war between Russia and our allies.
Nothing yet happened but you're already crying like it did.
Believe it or not, he'll probably cut subsidies to Israel, get a peace deal in Ukraine (yeah, by giving his buddy Putin parts of the country), and he surely won't start any war with iran.
And all you'll be able to do is continue fuming on the internet while being factually wrong. And in the end it won't be a surprise to really anyone but you that your party will lose electrons over and over.
If they're losing so many electrons, they must be pretty positive by now.
Whew! Good thing the moral purity brigade shunned Kamala Harris.
I mean, Trump will definitly ensure that the suffering of Palestenian people ends quickly
Judging by the lack of consequences for the previously observed war crimes, my bet is they'll prolong the suffering to sate their revenge lust. See if anyone bothers to step in when they erect full blown torture camps.
But thank God we saved Palestine from the evil black lady right? /s
"We stood up for our PRINCIPLES!!!"
-- screamed over the sound of brown people being exterminated
Oh don’t worry, the Israelis will only murder the Palestinians that can’t get out of the West Bank and Gaza when Israel takes it over.
Iran can defend itself. Homeless children can't.
Thank your god Netanyahu that she played into his hands.
Good thing your party stuck to their guns and didn't compromise on committing genocide. Then you wouldn't be able to be smug about losing to a convicted rapist and felon.
I heard the "but there won't be any of these wars once Trump is back" argument several times.
I would usually revel in watching the walls come down around someone's stupid opinions, but in this case, we as a country have to suffer for it.
Really shows how stupid and gullible the American electorate is. War is a classic “Wag the Dog” tactic.
"But Trump will stop
me having to hear aboutall these wars."Fixed for you. I heard the same from my mom - that it was a REAL SHAME Biden wasn't trying to force Russia and Ukraine to peace.
What is fucked is that no matter what happens. They will insist that it was all the Democrat's fault and all the fault of communists and socialists. They will be believed both despite the absurdity of it all and because of the absurdity of it.
in reality it was the 20 million voters that abstained from voting this election.
They literally stood off to the side and allowed in the man who will facilitate the complete annihilation of Palestine, so in truth they really never gave a shit about Palestinians, it was all bullshit. With Harris you at least had someone reacted to criticism and you could work with but Trump doesn't give a single fuck about criticism or what people want
Yeah, because DNC didn't do a spectacularly bad job of fucking up the campaign.
This is awesome. You just absolutely nailed the exact cause. Now all we have to do is what? Eliminate the voters? That sounds like the Republican plan to me.
Or maybe your plan is to convince the voters to do otherwise? Don't you think the politicians have a tiny little bit of responsibility in that area?
Neoliberalism leads to fascism via a well understood pattern that's currently repeating all around the globe. If you want better voters, then you need better Democrats.
You aren't looking for solutions, you're looking for someone to blame. Quit bitching and start working towards something better, or you're as useless as the Democratic establishment.
Stop. Just stop. Quit blaming people and get ready for what's coming. Organize a defense. Your life depends more on what you do now, than who voted for what.
May the people in this sub who screeched Genocide Joe and threatened Kamala over her continued support for Israel get the policies they voted for.
But at least they got join MAGA to own the libs.
We told you it was a losing issue. You called us Russian bots and tankies and trumpists because that was easier than listening to something you didn't want to hear.
I voted for Harris. But that doesn't mean I'm blind to the suicidal boneheadedness of the pro-genocide centrist wing of the Democratic Party. We tried to warn you. You thought you knew better. In your overwhelming and unearned arrogance, you concluded that anyone that was willing to read the writing on the wall couldn't possibly be an actual person with agency.
Now go hug Dick Cheney. He's the only vote any of you cared about.
If the anti-genocide left were too insignificant to treat like humans, they're too insignificant to blame. Centrists ran the campaign they wanted. Their instincts were and remain shit.
I really hope we get the policies of Cornel West. That would be totally awesome. It's why I voted for dude.
Instead we're getting a continuation of Genocide Joe.
Yep, you are getting what you voted for…
Next time just vote Trump, save yourself the extra steps.
Take your bow single-issue voters and protest voters. We tried to warn you.
You did this.
Yeah but GeNoCIdE JoE, etc.
Nah the DNC did this by abandoning their principles and base in a failed attempt to appease conservatives and some foreign government.
Arguing that people should just support, fund, and arm human slaughter, and likening it to something basic like marijuana legalization or taxes, all so you can win a contest is fucking insane coming from the supposed left, but it really just shows how far to the right the party has gone.
You did this.
That should put paid to the myth that Trump is 'the antidote to all the wars'.
I always thought that the argument 'no wars were started during his presidency' was bullshit.
He spent all 4 years totaling around 3 trillion in Afghanistan, to accomplish nothing.
Trump started plenty of wars https://youtu.be/QQYFVEka3fA
I posted the same video. It's actually kinda incredible what happened.
At some point some people were even saying Harris is worse than the same. For your sanity, I only hope you don't have family in the Middle East.
Rashida Tlaib's district is a prime example of this, she kept her seat by a wide margin while Dems lost the state. They decided to ignore their voter base and suffered the consequences.
It's pretty normal for people not to vote for someone genociding their family. It's her fault, not the voters. The same way Democrats threw away the votes of the left and Palestinians because they didn't care if they were being genocided is the same logic the right uses to vote for Trump for the economy despite all the damage he'll do to women and other minorities. You're all equally selfish and you don't have the moral high ground when you're supporting a genocide and quieting any dissent on it. People tried to say this could lose her the election, but nothing can be the politicians fault, of course, just the voters.
Anyway, turns out it wasn't the genocide anyway. She lost Michigan because of it probably but it didn't matter anywhere else, and she lost the election before it was even added. You can add up all the third party votes and it didn't amount to shit. It was the economy. It always is. People in fucking rural Pennsylvania haven't been reading hexbear posts or whatever. They just didn't buy what she was selling.
Or course, if it was the genocide, that just proves what the left was saying all along: she's got to do better on this issue or she can lose the election, and she'd rather lose than not do a genocide. Turned out she probably would've lost either way but still, hopefully the next Democrat candidate will do better, or we can supplant the party with a new one that can run an actual campaign. You can keep doing the bullying thing, but it didn't work this election, or in 2016, and it won't work next election either. Stop trying to convince the voters to care about what you want them to care about, and telling them not to care about what you don't care about, and time to meet them where they are.
crazy to think that trump might do exactly what he said he was going to do. how could we, the voters, have predicted this?
I never imagined the face-eating leopards would eat my face!
--moron lefties
Don't worry there were no wars under Trump last time and there won't be this time it's that simple 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
I genuinely don't know whether you're being sarcastic or not.
Yes, despite the smiley-spam.
Trump’s voters are so unhinged that it has become almost impossible to distinguish sarcasm from their real thoughts. Poe’s law n shit
i take comfort in knowing that most of the time it’s going to be sarcasm, since (in my experience) there are very few trump supporters on lemmy. and the few trump supporters that i’ve seen don’t tend to last.
It was sarcasm, hoped the smileys were enough but we live in a crazy world
Fucking DUH, god damn.
We didn't get the Bell Riots but maybe we'll get a WWIII.
Still have my fingers crossed for Irish Reunification this year.
lol within a year or 2024?
I havent heard a peep a... oh its a star trek thing gotcha
Maybe Trek was just a few years off on the Bell Riots
I would hedge my bets for now. Alternative scenario: The Saudis throw another party for Trump, make some business deals in exchange for reigning in Israel. The House of Al Saud of course doesn't care about Palestinians but their people do and a party and some business is a low price to pay to be celebrated by your subjects.
When it comes to Russia, Trump may realise that Putin way overplayed his hand, but that's balanced by animosity towards Zelensky. OTOH, I mean, business deals. Don't underestimate Ukraine when it comes to being smooth operators. They can sell NASA/SpaceX rocket engines made from Russian war reparations titanium.
Thing is: Trump is highly neurotic and thus, while not necessarily predictable, highly manipulatable if you know what you're doing. Only have to blow the right smoke up his ass.
Just have to be the last one to blow any smoke up there.
Since we're doing copium, my hope for Ukraine is that the industrial-millitary complex wants to keep sending weapons there, so it will find a way.
I would hedge my bets for now. Alternative scenario: The Saudis throw another party for Trump, make some business deals in exchange for reigning in Israel. The House of Al Saud of course doesn't care about Palestinians but their people do and a party and some business is a low price to pay to be celebrated by your subjects.
Blech.. this honestly seems more likely to me now, plus it can be used as propaganda to "prove" that he did something about genocide, to keep people voting red...
I believe Putin's power over Trump will prevent anyone doing anything extreme about Iran. Russia has always had an interest in controlling Iran and certainly would not approve the US taking it out.
I think that Netanyahu has more power than Putin at this point.
I would bet my left nut that Bibi has ALL the Kompromat on Trump that Pootin has, along with a metric shit ton of his own.
No no guys, Harris was the one that supports the Palestinian genocide, not Trump!
Fucking idiot tankies.
He criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy, suggesting Trump would be inclined to “capitulate” to authoritarian leaders, which may not sit well with some Republicans.
Don't they even know who they picked to represent them?
Guess were all in on genocides rather than pretending were not enabling it and hoping it sorts itself out, sorry.
I can't convince ~74,000,000 morons to change their mind. ¯\(ツ)/¯
"ex official said: this might happen and that might mean" how is this relevant news?
I mean… there can’t be an ongoing genocide if they are all dead taps temple
(God I hate this planet now…)
And these fuckin morons will still say there was no wars under Trump
It does feel about on-brand for this timeline that Trump of all leaders might get the credit for fixing* the Middle East problem.
- where the problem is the existence of the conflict, and the solution of a glassy wasteland littered with charred skeletons will successfully not have regional conflicts for a thousand years.
Iran did try and assassinate him, I wouldn't be surprised if he holds a grudge for that.
This is exactly what I was saying months ago. And it's absolutely going to happen now. The entire region is going to plunge into chaotic war, and Putin couldn't be happier.
For everyone not aware, given everything else that's going on—yes, that's world war
So the same thing as Biden?
The war with Iran is already on the doorstep of happening under Bidens unconditional aid.
Such a shame Kamala did not get elected. Who also promised unconditional aid and advocated for starting a war with Iran.
Posts like this would have a lot more impact if the Democrats were different.
Do agree, these people seems to ignore the news or at least now aware of what is happening.
If Biden didn't want a war with Iran they would have stopped the genocide in Gaza, pushed for an actual deal, remember the one that Hamas agreed to and then Israel backtracked. He could have stopped the bombing of the Iranian embassy in Syria, or the attack on Lebanon.
Iran telling the whole world about there drone attack and then Israel goes to attack Iran again, followed directly with USA and UK telling Iran to stop it aggression??
Iran have population of 90 million people, Israel has 7 maybe, pretending Iran cannot take Israel is just stupid.
No Kamala would‘ve saved us! /s
Here's the other side that was "just as bad."
How would that be different than the current plan under Biden?
As a brown American?
Go fuck yourself.
You hold random people online more accountable than the politicians you support. Peak bootlicking behavior.
America first
Libs still have zero self-awareness. Promoting genocide for months in the most condescending and futile manner... Then continuing to blame everyone else after they inevitably lose yet again.
Seriously Trump is a garbage person who would be easy to beat with Bernie, Michelle, etc. But the libs gotta impose their terrible politics on everyone. Gotta shove their genocide down our throats.
Which is totally nothing like the blank check they currently are getting.
Israel will lose that war.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
I don't think you understand the capabilities difference - Israel has the nuclear option if they are threatened existentially. But lets take that off the table a moment.
Iran's capabilities are their missiles, manufacturing capabilities. Their Refineries, and strategic energy reserves are in known locations and are the lynch pin of Iran's economy. And finally, the Nuclear R&D facilities are in known places. All of those are the targets - and Israel absolutely has the capacity to take it out- just not the strong justification.
If Iran continues striking Israel, Israel is going to feel the pressure to decapitate Iran as a threat to them.
The fall out of this is more interesting:
-
China loses access to Iranian Oil for the short to mid term - it will take time to restore capabilities.
-
Russia loses access to Iranian missiles - without production capabilities, and depleted stocks, Iran will not be able to sell missiles to Russia let alone drones.
-
Iran's economy will be in shambles - that could very well open the door to coup or revolt.
-
Iran would unload as many missiles as it possibly could - which could be devastating. But that would come down to just how many interceptor missiles Israel would have available, along with other air defence options.
If you want a "Why would trump support this" - there you have it. It reaffirms US obligation to support it's allies, It puts economic pressure on china, and denies Russia access to weapons - which should help push them to the negotiating table.
In reality, I would more expect Iran to back off. Then again - With Israel obliterating Iran proxies, Iran may feel the pressure to complete a nuclear deterrent and Israel may end up wanting to decapitate Iran as a threat BEFORE they gain that capability... what a bloody mess.
I dont dissagree. But for the rest of yall here, the point stands.
Foreign policy is nuanced, multi layered, and gives no shits about your morality. Any of you that boil down the issue to palistine vs israel or race or religion, have no idea whats going on. Two state solutions are just to placate you while wholesale slaughter happens.
This is about power and maintaining it. Always has been. And american, or western dominance in the region as a way to maintain what little peace exists, and not let our adversaries seize that control, is the end sum game.
Im not saying its right. But superpowers and governments do not care about your moral hangups. A hundred thousand dead "someone else" vs a major strategic location means nothing. Appalling, sure, but there is a brutal logic to it.
Trump wont go against Putin lol
-
HOW?!?!
You do realize, the only way to get from Iran to Israel, is via air.
The Iranian air force has checks notes some old mig-21s, 25s, F-4s and F-14s that don't fly.
The Israeli Air Force has checks notes F-15s (undefeated in air combat) and F-35s (ditto).
It wouldn't be a fight, it would be one of those scenes in movies where the guy is tied up and beaten for information, till the guy punching just gets tired of swinging and takes a quick break.
Somehow the same people who thought they could make the argument of "neither party will stop what is happening in Gaza, so vote based on other issues" don't think israel already had a blank check. Now these same people are gloating as if the people of Gaza deserve to be genocided because the democrats didn't win. It's sick and it's illustrative of what's wrong with the "democratic" party.
I loathe the comments saying some version of "I hope everyone who didn't vote for Harris gets what they deserve". Dem bullying and refusal to stop 100% support of war crimes (including domestic protest suppression/condemnation) alienated a crucial part of their base, but apparently it's still not their fault. Now there's bitter folks here taking a sick satisfaction telling people they're going to suffer and consoling themselves by viciously insulting everyone who didn't fall in line.
Apparently when the horrors happen it's not because Harris ran a shit campaign courting conservatives, didn't listen, and promised more of the same (or even a slide right) as Biden, a president with an approval rating in the 30-40% range. It's not because she refused to promise an immediate stop to support of war crimes as per America's own laws. It's the fault of everyone who refused to vote against their conscience because a "lesser evil" platform didn't convince them to support a party of unrepentant war criminals.
Downvote me all you want and tell me how idiotic I am. I told people urgently to vote Harris right up until the election, but I also always spoke out against bullying on Lemmy and it's only gotten worse post-election. The people in this thread talking about how others are going to get what they deserve are abusive people and I don't want to be associated with them anyways. Their disapproval is something I'm proud of.
Oh my goodness, those free Palestine protests are really going to step up in the U.S. !
Just kidding, they’re done, mission accomplished. They were never about Gaza, just about disenfranchising Democrats as part of social engineering to ensure a Trump win.
Let me ask you this, dear concerned protesters: Who was the protest leadership? I don’t mean the local organizer. Who was directing the protests at the national level? I sure as shit don’t know.
Common decency and morality, maybe?
Fee Palestine protests aren't new.
“Common decency and morality” just got a vindictive, hateful pos elected. The Gaza protest emphasis on Biden or Harris but never, NEVER on the Republican lead Congress that votes on foreign aid is rather telling.
Continuing the legacy of Genocide Joe...
This is how dems and republicans work together to push state ever deeper into fascism.
So no real change from Biden or Harris then?
Yes, apart from the blank check part and Trump telling Netanyahu to "finish the job" on national TV, no real change at all.
Oh, and also the impending genocides of brown and queer people, but I was told before the election that those weren't important and/or wouldn't happen.
