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But ... nobody should have faith in air defense for an area bigger than a few square kilometers. If anybody promises that, their only option is a separate air d

by spwa4 1y ago

But ... nobody should have faith in air defense for an area bigger than a few square kilometers. If anybody promises that, their only option is a separate air defense system for every few square kilometers. I don't know but I doubt that sort of thing is deployed anywhere outside of Ukraine or Washington. And in Ukraine only the places that are currently engaged in active warfare. Not even Brussels or Israel has that. In Israel, only specific borders and some city centers are protected (much like in Ukraine) but the grand total of protected areas is not going to be that much. Even Tel Aviv airport did not have active air defense systems, partly because that's much harder, though probably now a few of smart Israeli have been told to solve the hard problem. And if anybody has faith that even the best such systems would protect against a cruise or ballistic missile with a nuke on board, they don't.

coldtea 1y ago
>But ... nobody should have faith in air defense for an area bigger than a few square kilometers. If anybody promises that, their only option is a separate air defense system for every few square kilometers. It's not about their faith in air defense from the US. It's about their faith in the US defending them (not through air defense, through deterence, diplomacy, and so on), since it colluded with Israel to let it bomb their territory. That said, not sure how much is the faith of their leaders "shaken". They probably already knew at the top level.
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  If they didn’t learn from Ukraine (which was supposed to be protected by the US in return for giving up nuclear weapons), hopefully this lesson sticks. US security guarantees are of no value due to political whims.
- spwa4 1y ago
  Uh, Qatar has colluded with hamas, in fact they are colluding with hamas, who have killed US civilians and attacked the US army. So the Qatari government has done worse to the US ... so what? Are they claiming the moral high ground? Seriously? Oh right, they see themselves as superior, they are god, and the entire world needs to be punished in revenge for this "disrespect" to their "power". Yes, raising a stink about this is clearly necessary to protect some Al-Thani ego, but a stink is all they can have. Qatar is an ally of the US for one reason, and one reason only: to sell their oil. Both to have an export market and because they have absolutely zero hope of getting their oil dug up in the first place, and safely past Iranian waters without US military support. Oh and they have some somewhat conveniently located land the US uses for that deal. Frankly, neither Iran nor Russia or China can offer a deal 10% as sweet as the US offers them, plus you'd have to be totally insane to trust these them. So when it comes to Qatar's position, the cold analysis is simple: this does not matter, does not change anything.

by spwa4 1y ago

coldtea 1y ago

>But ... nobody should have faith in air defense for an area bigger than a few square kilometers. If anybody promises that, their only option is a separate air defense system for every few square kilometers. It's not about their faith in air defense from the US. It's about their faith in the US defending them (not through air defense, through deterence, diplomacy, and so on), since it colluded with Israel to let it bomb their territory. That said, not sure how much is the faith of their leaders "shaken". They probably already knew at the top level.

toomuchtodo 1y ago
If they didn’t learn from Ukraine (which was supposed to be protected by the US in return for giving up nuclear weapons), hopefully this lesson sticks. US security guarantees are of no value due to political whims.
spwa4 1y ago
Uh, Qatar has colluded with hamas, in fact they are colluding with hamas, who have killed US civilians and attacked the US army. So the Qatari government has done worse to the US ... so what? Are they claiming the moral high ground? Seriously? Oh right, they see themselves as superior, they are god, and the entire world needs to be punished in revenge for this "disrespect" to their "power". Yes, raising a stink about this is clearly necessary to protect some Al-Thani ego, but a stink is all they can have. Qatar is an ally of the US for one reason, and one reason only: to sell their oil. Both to have an export market and because they have absolutely zero hope of getting their oil dug up in the first place, and safely past Iranian waters without US military support. Oh and they have some somewhat conveniently located land the US uses for that deal. Frankly, neither Iran nor Russia or China can offer a deal 10% as sweet as the US offers them, plus you'd have to be totally insane to trust these them. So when it comes to Qatar's position, the cold analysis is simple: this does not matter, does not change anything.