Iran Loses Its Indispensable Man

Re:Iran Loses Its Indispensable Man by RcouF1uZ4gsC on Friday January 03, 2020 @04:24PM (#21950547)

One of the things about the Middle East is that politics and diplomacy are intensely personal. It is less about the office and more about the person. Suleimani spent decades cultivating all sorts of relationships throughout the region and that will be sorely missed by Iran.

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Re:Iran Loses Its Indispensable Man by goldcd on Friday January 03, 2020 @05:00PM (#21950835)

Agreed - the obvious (and yet neglected) pertinent point is what type of relationships were these that he cultivated?

Were his associates doing "his will" because they feared him (glad he's dead) or because they agreed (wish to avenge this)?

Or if as multiple reports indicate he was actually the "2nd most important Iranian" - let's flip it and pretend he's the USA's "Mike Pence".

Now even the most ardent Trump Supporter I suspect doesn't give a toss about the wellbeing of "Mike Pence" - maybe there'd be a week of mourning in the lobby industry if he popped his clogs, but we'd get over it.

However if the Iranians had assassinated him (and posted pictures showing them doing it), I can see maybe a sizable proportion of both sides might consider a response to be appropriate.

So - "They've just assassinated our VP - what response do we think is commensurate?

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Re:Iran Loses Its Indispensable Man by taurath on Friday January 03, 2020 @05:07PM (#21950893)

Its quite reasonable to postulate that more americans and iraqis will die in the next year because of this action.

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