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Western media just takes dictation.

If our comrades here learn nothing of media literacy other than this, they will still be doing OK. When we talk about the US government or bourgeoisie “controlling” the newsmedia, it’s not done by someone at the CIA calling up a newsroom producer and telling them to talk about how Iran is only 0.001 seconds away from having a nuke. It’s how an entire ecosystem of “experts” has been cultivated (just to pick one person as an example, look at Sam Vinograd) over the decades. These experts are the only people who are ever brought on, or the only people who are spoken to off-camera. These experts often have some sort of access or just air of authority that the media needs. So they just unquestioningly repeat what is said. If you question the narrative that’s being put out there, your connections get frozen and now when it comes time to get an inside scoop or have some former admiral on who looks like he knows what he’s talking about, there’s no one who will return your calls.

Just about that cost. Doing some searching from things written at that time, the upper limit seems to be in the $100~$200B range. It turned out to be $3000B and that's probably a low-ball estimate.

Harris might have even carried out strikes at the same time that Israel did, to show how they're "joint partners against Iranian authoritarianism and terror" or whatever word salad the finest in the Democratic Party can produce

And who knows if that would have had a different ultimate result but it would be unquestionably worse than Israel alone FAing and now FOing while Trump sits back and says "Two weeks, folks! Mr Khamenei, very bad guy, we want him to surrender! He doesn't want to, but he will! Fordow! Our beautiful bombers, people are saying they're the biggest and best bombers the world has ever seen, just yesterday a handsome general walked up to me and said it! Very powerful! But I'm a nice guy, I'll give them two weeks!"

The same dems that brag about or roll their eyes at the mention of countless dead on iraq? I'm shocked

The platform they approved (PDF) at the DNC last year attacked Trump from the right on Iran and insisted that Iran could develop nukes "in a matter of weeks." They criticized Trump for not bombing Iran:

In June 2019, when Iran shot down a U.S. surveillance aircraft operating in international airspace above the Straits of Hormuz, Trump responded by tweet and then abruptly called off any actual retaliation, causing confusion and concern among his own national security team.

I believe they mean C4I, not C41?

That’s it, I’m out. I’m no longer opining or speculating if China isn’t doing enough or if there’s some ways they are doing a lot but we just don’t know or. Nope, I’m just gonna Trust the Plan and assuming the My President ( ) is doing the right thing.

Mofcom says they are currently accelerating the examination process to approve export permits for rare earth materials. I believe that they are exporting for civilian use but not military, but I’m not sure how they can track the usage once they have reached the other end.

They made some deal on extending existing export licences and loosening controls for 6 months but china has put up a lot of bureaucratic hurdles in aquiring licences, making excuses for not sending stuff and demanding proof of use and sensitive information. The deal wasnt anything concrete and binding, just "we'll look into it and let you get some more". So that the hole in inventories isnt and wont be replenished and scarcity will continue. Hell china has slowed down in the digging up, buying and refining volumes already and those havent even picked up post "deal"

Don’t write China off yet. As I have been saying, if China threatens to stop the global economy, the conflict WILL end before Monday. There is nothing the US can do about it except to watch Wall Street stock market crash when it opens, should they refuse to a truce.

I don't really blame people for being upset at China not taking a more proactive role in assisting Iran in a way where we can see it obviously, but I do think there was a lot of doomerism with respect to China that happened far too quickly. Iran seems to have a handle on things, and wins if the war is drawn out, arguably even if the US gets involved, so China's involvement seems to be more in the background for now.

Obviously, the situation can change, but for now I don't see reason to write China off as entirely passive either.

Their "involvement" matters when the Iranians and the Palestinians stop dying. IMO some YT grifter using western MSM headlines which we know more than half the time are made to justify the infinitely expanding US MIC spending is not serious narrative at this point.

Yes Israel is running out of bombs and missiles. So anyway another bomb dropped in Gaza and Iran is still about to get nuked.