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I do think there is some irony that the Iran war took down all the AWS datacenters in the middle east except the one (or 3 i guess) in Israel, which is still ch

by bawolff 7mo ago

I do think there is some irony that the Iran war took down all the AWS datacenters in the middle east except the one (or 3 i guess) in Israel, which is still chugging along. Like as a strategy its kind of weird. Iran plans to force Israel to stop by wrecking the economies of a bunch of countries that are basically frenemies of Israel? I suppose its meant to pressure USA, it just seems like a terrible strategy.

ceejayoz 7mo ago
It's not that they don't want to hit the ones in Israel, it's that they're better defended, and further away. Bahrain to Iran is ~140 miles. Dubai is ~100 miles. Israel is closer to ~600.
- bawolff 7mo ago
  No doubt. But it still seems like a bizarre strategy. They can't shoot the people they want so they just shoot these other randoms.
  - andrepd 7mo ago
    These other "randoms" are US allies which host bases and equipment used to attack them. In more practical terms, wrecking shit up in places like Dubai that made their name off air travel and attracting "expat" douchebags, is a very effective way to get them to pressure the US to stop the war. So is blowing up oil infra and stopping transit in Hormuz for allied nations.
  - ceejayoz 7mo ago
    AWS isn't an "other random", it's a core piece of American infrastructure, and Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Support_Activity_Bahrain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Support_Activity_Bahrain Same for Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, etc.; all host US bases. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-military-facilities-middle-east-2026-02-28/ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-military-facili...
  - lenkite 7mo ago
    These randoms not only host U.S. bases supplying logistics for the attacks on Iran, but were are launch pads for missiles https://www.wsj.com/world/iran-war-land-missile-strikes-22ca3be5 https://www.wsj.com/world/iran-war-land-missile-strikes-22ca... until Iran ensured the launch sites were destroyed "Videos verified by Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, indicate that at least some of the launches came from Bahrain, the tiny kingdom just 125 miles across the Gulf from Iran." The air bases are still being used as launch pads for drone strikes and chopper missions.
    - jasomill 7mo ago
      This, plus a history of conflicts between various Persian dynasties and their Arabian neighbors that predate the existence of the US by over 1,000 years.
  - megous 7mo ago
    NY Times doesn't even know what NATO is, while writing a full-page article about it, so yeah this kind of ignorance about where USA has it hands and guns is not surprising, from some random on the internet. ;)
  - FpUser 7mo ago
    >"They can't shoot the people they want so they just shoot these other randoms." Same as sanctions. There are many places where they can not tell governments what to do, so they suffocate general population
toyg 7mo ago
It's supposed to show to regional US allies that the American military cannot really protect them, pushing them to apply pressure to end the war in the short term, and to cool their relationship with the US and Israel in the long term. It has had some effect; the emirates are desperate to find a way out of this conflict, and various figures have publicly said "the system of alliances [with the US] has worked but needs to be modernized" - i.e. we can't allow Americans to do what they want anymore.
- geraneum 7mo ago
  Do Americans do what they want because they are “allowed” by gulf states?
  - greggoB 7mo ago
    It (normally) has an effect on the military calculus - e.g. if the US weren't allowed to have military bases in these countries, the possibility to take such action seems less plausible.
    - geraneum 7mo ago
      Correct, but that's not my point. My point is whether the Gulf States can realistically dictate what the US does. Perhaps they can affect US actions, but I doubt it's that cut and dried.
      - toyg 7mo ago
        Nobody can realistically maintain bases in a country without some sort of agreement with the local government (and a certain level of tolerance from the population at large) or an expensive full-on occupation. As far as I know, there is a single US base on a territory where the local government does not want it (Guantanamo, Cuba), literally on the doorstep - anywhere else would be prohibitive to maintain long-term hostile occupation. Everything else is maintained and operated in agreement with local authorities - which is why the US, at the moment, cannot use Spanish bases and Diego Garcia to wage war on Iran. Even Saudi bases have been blocked in the past (notably to invade Iraq). Without long-term bases, it becomes extremely difficult to project power with continuity. Can you still do the occasional special op, like killing Osama? Sure, but you can't do things like ensuring free navigation (and hence the flow of resources and goods) and signal intelligence gets so much harder.
AdrianB1 7mo ago
The data centers in Israel are protected by their AA systems that have more interceptors available than the Emirates. For weeks there are rumors about low stocks of interceptors in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, while Israel manufactures their own while also getting more from US, so their stocks were probably way higher and replenishment better. Also the Emirates are in range of short range cheapo drones and Iran build lot of these, while Israel is farther away.
Barrin92 7mo ago
it's a good strategy. There's no point in trying to stop Israel by harming them economically because they know perfectly well that like for them, this war is existential. The Gulf states are financial hubs and tourist destinations disguised as countries and so their wealth is a neuralgic point, the Gulf states and also by extension the US actually respond to having their economies wrecked.
mememememememo 7mo ago
Iron dome.
surgical_fire 7mo ago
> I do think there is some irony that the Iran war took down all the AWS datacenters in the middle east except the one (or 3 i guess) in Israel, which is still chugging along. ... For now. > Like as a strategy its kind of weird. Iran plans to force Israel to stop by wrecking the economies of a bunch of countries that are basically frenemies of Israel? I suppose its meant to pressure USA, it just seems like a terrible strategy. The gulf countries are enemies of Iran. In fact, they are a lot cozier to Israel.
XorNot 7mo ago
Or Israel just has a very dense and effective air defense network, and the weapons didn't make it through?
RobertoG 7mo ago
I think Israel is the dessert. First they need the Americans to back off. In the end game, they are going to need some leverage over Israel, that is stuck there with them. If they destroy everything now, they will not have anything to threaten them with.

by bawolff 7mo ago

ceejayoz 7mo ago

It's not that they don't want to hit the ones in Israel, it's that they're better defended, and further away. Bahrain to Iran is ~140 miles. Dubai is ~100 miles. Israel is closer to ~600.

bawolff 7mo ago
No doubt. But it still seems like a bizarre strategy. They can't shoot the people they want so they just shoot these other randoms.
- andrepd 7mo ago
  These other "randoms" are US allies which host bases and equipment used to attack them. In more practical terms, wrecking shit up in places like Dubai that made their name off air travel and attracting "expat" douchebags, is a very effective way to get them to pressure the US to stop the war. So is blowing up oil infra and stopping transit in Hormuz for allied nations.
- ceejayoz 7mo ago
  AWS isn't an "other random", it's a core piece of American infrastructure, and Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Support_Activity_Bahrain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Support_Activity_Bahrain Same for Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, etc.; all host US bases. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-military-facilities-middle-east-2026-02-28/ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-military-facili...
- lenkite 7mo ago
  These randoms not only host U.S. bases supplying logistics for the attacks on Iran, but were are launch pads for missiles https://www.wsj.com/world/iran-war-land-missile-strikes-22ca3be5 https://www.wsj.com/world/iran-war-land-missile-strikes-22ca... until Iran ensured the launch sites were destroyed "Videos verified by Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, indicate that at least some of the launches came from Bahrain, the tiny kingdom just 125 miles across the Gulf from Iran." The air bases are still being used as launch pads for drone strikes and chopper missions.
  - jasomill 7mo ago
    This, plus a history of conflicts between various Persian dynasties and their Arabian neighbors that predate the existence of the US by over 1,000 years.
- megous 7mo ago
  NY Times doesn't even know what NATO is, while writing a full-page article about it, so yeah this kind of ignorance about where USA has it hands and guns is not surprising, from some random on the internet. ;)
- FpUser 7mo ago
  >"They can't shoot the people they want so they just shoot these other randoms." Same as sanctions. There are many places where they can not tell governments what to do, so they suffocate general population

toyg 7mo ago

It's supposed to show to regional US allies that the American military cannot really protect them, pushing them to apply pressure to end the war in the short term, and to cool their relationship with the US and Israel in the long term. It has had some effect; the emirates are desperate to find a way out of this conflict, and various figures have publicly said "the system of alliances [with the US] has worked but needs to be modernized" - i.e. we can't allow Americans to do what they want anymore.

geraneum 7mo ago
Do Americans do what they want because they are “allowed” by gulf states?
- greggoB 7mo ago
  It (normally) has an effect on the military calculus - e.g. if the US weren't allowed to have military bases in these countries, the possibility to take such action seems less plausible.
  - geraneum 7mo ago
    Correct, but that's not my point. My point is whether the Gulf States can realistically dictate what the US does. Perhaps they can affect US actions, but I doubt it's that cut and dried.
    - toyg 7mo ago
      Nobody can realistically maintain bases in a country without some sort of agreement with the local government (and a certain level of tolerance from the population at large) or an expensive full-on occupation. As far as I know, there is a single US base on a territory where the local government does not want it (Guantanamo, Cuba), literally on the doorstep - anywhere else would be prohibitive to maintain long-term hostile occupation. Everything else is maintained and operated in agreement with local authorities - which is why the US, at the moment, cannot use Spanish bases and Diego Garcia to wage war on Iran. Even Saudi bases have been blocked in the past (notably to invade Iraq). Without long-term bases, it becomes extremely difficult to project power with continuity. Can you still do the occasional special op, like killing Osama? Sure, but you can't do things like ensuring free navigation (and hence the flow of resources and goods) and signal intelligence gets so much harder.

AdrianB1 7mo ago

The data centers in Israel are protected by their AA systems that have more interceptors available than the Emirates. For weeks there are rumors about low stocks of interceptors in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, while Israel manufactures their own while also getting more from US, so their stocks were probably way higher and replenishment better. Also the Emirates are in range of short range cheapo drones and Iran build lot of these, while Israel is farther away.

Barrin92 7mo ago

it's a good strategy. There's no point in trying to stop Israel by harming them economically because they know perfectly well that like for them, this war is existential. The Gulf states are financial hubs and tourist destinations disguised as countries and so their wealth is a neuralgic point, the Gulf states and also by extension the US actually respond to having their economies wrecked.

mememememememo 7mo ago

Iron dome.

surgical_fire 7mo ago

> I do think there is some irony that the Iran war took down all the AWS datacenters in the middle east except the one (or 3 i guess) in Israel, which is still chugging along. ... For now. > Like as a strategy its kind of weird. Iran plans to force Israel to stop by wrecking the economies of a bunch of countries that are basically frenemies of Israel? I suppose its meant to pressure USA, it just seems like a terrible strategy. The gulf countries are enemies of Iran. In fact, they are a lot cozier to Israel.

XorNot 7mo ago

Or Israel just has a very dense and effective air defense network, and the weapons didn't make it through?

RobertoG 7mo ago

I think Israel is the dessert. First they need the Americans to back off. In the end game, they are going to need some leverage over Israel, that is stuck there with them. If they destroy everything now, they will not have anything to threaten them with.