• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Drone crash unmasks U.S. spying effort in Iran

Frolicking Dinosaurs

Frolicking Dinosaurs

200M yrs of experience
DP Veteran
Joined
Aug 8, 2008
Messages
2,166
Reaction score
1,692
Location
Southeastern USA
Gender
Female
Political Leaning
Other
The crash of a CIA drone in Iran has brought into the open what U.S. intelligence agencies would prefer kept secret: intense spying efforts in a country where the United States has no official presence.

Iran on Thursday aired with great flourish footage of the captured drone, which appeared largely intact. Pentagon and CIA spokesmen would not comment on whether it was the missing U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aircraft.

A person familiar with the situation confirmed that the drone that crashed was on a surveillance mission over Iran. It is believed to have crashed because of a malfunction and not from being shot down or computer-hacked by the Iranians, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity....................

U.S. surveillance of Iran through various means has been going on for years, U.S. officials and others with direct knowledge of the situation say.

A private U.S. defense expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that when he visited the command center at a U.S. military base in the Gulf region in 2008, it was clear that the installation was receiving multiple feeds of electronic surveillance information from inside Iran. Some of the information appeared to be transmitted from high-altitude aircraft and some from electronic sensors which the United States had somehow installed on the ground in Iran, the expert said.

The United States has no official presence in Iran so it is difficult to determine exactly what is going on inside its borders. One recent incident has yet to be fully unraveled.
Click to expand...
Drone crash unmasks U.S. spying effort in Iran | Reuters
 
Well yeah. We'd be stupid if we weren't spying on them.
 
Of coarse we are spying on them the threat of their increased number of nukes is most likely a contributing factor.
 
Temporal said:
The U.S., Israel, and Iran are all playing a dangerous game.
Click to expand...


Is that new? and its not anymore dangerous than us making china the next greatest threat to the entire world...actually it pales in comparison...
 
lpast said:
Is that new? and its not anymore dangerous than us making china the next greatest threat to the entire world...actually it pales in comparison...
Click to expand...

Propping up China economically pales in comparison to creating a stand off between one country that has nukes and is prepared to use them, and another that may be developing them. It also pales in comparison to causing a disruption to the oil sector which fuels all our still-fragile economies.

Mark my words, Iran and Israel will be the lynch pin to the chaos of the coming years.
 
Temporal said:
Propping up China economically pales in comparison to creating a stand off between one country that has nukes and is prepared to use them, and another that may be developing them. It also pales in comparison to causing a disruption to the oil sector which fuels all our still-fragile economies.


Mark my words, Iran and Israel will be the lynch pin to the chaos of the coming years.
Click to expand...



I was not referring to economics temporal...china is building the biggest military in the world as we speak...it has nuclear capability for decades and we dont know exactly how many. Russia and china have not been friends..russia is afraid of china...and they have snuggling closer and closer...if russia and china form a coalition against US down the road..were in deep doodoo...you will hope and pray for it to be iran and israel...

Aside from that I dont see israel having any other choices and we better stick with them...
 
Last edited:
lpast said:
I was not referring to economics temporal...china is building the biggest military in the world as we speak...it has nuclear capability for decades and we dont know exactly how many. Russia and china have not been friends..russia is afraid of china...and they have snuggling closer and closer...if russia and china form a coalition against US down the road..were in deep doodoo...you will hope and pray for it to be iran and israel...

Aside from that I dont see israel having any other choices and we better stick with them...
Click to expand...

China's army is full of underequipped, ill-trained, and undersupplied 2 million soldiers. In a war with the US, most of these soldiers will be useless, unable to attack as they are impossible to transport overseas in any meaningful invasion. Both China's navy and air force, but its air force in particular is very underequipped and outdated. The US and China is separated by a large ocean, which provides huge problems for logistics. If a war does happen, then it will mostly be between aerial and some naval units.
Russia's military too, is inept, which was demonstrated in the Georgian war. Its navy is crumbling, and although its air force is still formidable, it is no match for USAF and the US navy. If a war happens between Russia and the US, then like China, will mostly be limited to air and navy, which will be devastating though. There is also a low chance of the US landing troops at Kamchatka, and an even lower chance of Russian troops landing at Alaska.

All in all, a war is highly unlikely to happen, and even if one happens (excluding nuclear, biological, or chemical wars), it is unlikely to cause damages as much as the ones featured in films
 
lpast said:
I was not referring to economics temporal...china is building the biggest military in the world as we speak...it has nuclear capability for decades and we dont know exactly how many. Russia and china have not been friends..russia is afraid of china...and they have snuggling closer and closer...if russia and china form a coalition against US down the road..were in deep doodoo...you will hope and pray for it to be iran and israel...
Click to expand...

We are China's economic right hand. They are not going to attack us lest they risk destruction of their own source of capital.

lpast said:
Aside from that I dont see israel having any other choices and we better stick with them...
Click to expand...

This sentiment will be the death of us all.
 
Proud South Korean said:
China's army is full of under-equipped, ill-trained, and under-supplied 2 million soldiers. In a war with the US, most of these soldiers will be useless, unable to attack as they are impossible to transport overseas in any meaningful invasion. Both China's navy and air force, but its air force in particular is very under-equipped and outdated. The US and China is separated by a large ocean, which provides huge problems for logistics. If a war does happen, then it will mostly be between aerial and some naval units.
Click to expand...
“Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2011.”
Every year the report, which is submitted to Congress, creates grist for China watchers who look for rising tensions between the United States and China. This year was a particularly rocky one between the countries, so interest has intensified.

Over all, the report described what is generally known:

China’s People’s Liberation Army — with some 1.25 million ground troops, the largest in the world — is on track to achieve its goal of building a modern, regionally focused force by 2020. The Chinese military remains focused on Taiwan, which it claims as part of its sovereign territory, and it has deployed as many as 1,200 short-range missiles aimed in its direction. Moreover, it is developing antiship ballistic missiles, potentially capable of attacking American aircraft carriers.

It is also developing its own aircraft carriers, and is already in sea trials with a refitted Soviet-era carrier from Ukraine — a development the report anticipated, but which occurred after it was printed. Finally, China is developing a new-generation stealth jet fighter, the J-20, which it boldly tested in Beijing in January during a visit by Robert M. Gates, then the defense secretary.
Click to expand...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/world/25military.html
 
Proud South Korean said:
China's army is full of underequipped, ill-trained, and undersupplied 2 million soldiers. In a war with the US, most of these soldiers will be useless, unable to attack as they are impossible to transport overseas in any meaningful invasion. Both China's navy and air force, but its air force in particular is very underequipped and outdated. The US and China is separated by a large ocean, which provides huge problems for logistics. If a war does happen, then it will mostly be between aerial and some naval units.
Russia's military too, is inept, which was demonstrated in the Georgian war. Its navy is crumbling, and although its air force is still formidable, it is no match for USAF and the US navy. If a war happens between Russia and the US, then like China, will mostly be limited to air and navy, which will be devastating though. There is also a low chance of the US landing troops at Kamchatka, and an even lower chance of Russian troops landing at Alaska.

All in all, a war is highly unlikely to happen, and even if one happens (excluding nuclear, biological, or chemical wars), it is unlikely to cause damages as much as the ones featured in films
Click to expand...

WAS!!!!! it improves dramatically everyday...they are pouring billions into their military and they are building aircraftcarriers as we speak...I was referencing tomorrow with china...15 to 20 yrs and that expert predictions not mine...
 
anybody see an aircraft which appeared to have crashed?
the one i saw was intact
 
Frolicking Dinosaurs said:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/world/25military.html
Click to expand...

The article is hyperbole.
I can find a dozen holes in it, but I'll point out only the most important ones:
1) Never heard of Chinese propaganda?
2) It mentions a regionally focused force. Never knew US was anywhere near China
3) 1200 short-range missiles isn't much when you consider the tens of thousands in the DMZ. There are also interceptor missiles to shoot down missiles (kind of ironic)
4) The hyped carrier killer is worthless and will be ineffective. Just ask RoccoR or Oozlefinch
5) The aircraft carrier they're building is very outdated, and won't be completed in at least 5 years. The US, in contrast, has 11, all very modern and powerful
6) The J-20 doesn't compare to the F-22 or even the F-19 or the MiGs.

Just another article building on hype and hyperbole
 
justabubba said:
anybody see an aircraft which appeared to have crashed?
the one i saw was intact
Click to expand...

Take a closer look at the right wing root. It looks like it had been hastily taped together and the gaps filled in with Bondo. A Stealth aircraft relies upon smoothly contoured surfaces to prevent radar returns. You can be certain an undamaged stealth plane won't have the crud on the wing.

And why isn't the landing gear shown? Why cover it? That's a strange looking display. If the plane crashed the first thing to get mangled is the landing gear. So I find it telling that the landing gear isn't shown in the Iranian display.

Really. Who do they think they're kidding?
 
lpast said:
WAS!!!!! it improves dramatically everyday...they are pouring billions into their military and they are building aircraftcarriers as we speak...I was referencing tomorrow with china...15 to 20 yrs and that expert predictions not mine...
Click to expand...

Just one aircraft carrier, one small, outdated, aircraft carrier that will probably completed with a full crew in at least a decade.
Who is that expert anyways?
The US spends more on its defense budget than the next 20 or so highest defense-spending nations combined.
Calm down and stop listening to idiots prattling on talking points.
 
justabubba said:
anybody see an aircraft which appeared to have crashed?
the one i saw was intact
Click to expand...

Know what..now that you said that...your right, the one I saw was intact tooo...it didnt register then that it didnt look like a crashed plane at all....good observation
 
Proud South Korean said:
Just one aircraft carrier, one small, outdated, aircraft carrier that will probably completed with a full crew in at least a decade.
Who is that expert anyways?
The US spends more on its defense budget than the next 20 or so highest defense-spending nations combined.
Calm down and stop listening to idiots prattling on talking points.
Click to expand...

How do you know its just one ? ...Ill tell you this, its hard for me to believe that we know what china spends on defense. I find it hard to believe what your saying...when the country has had nuclear capability for decades...and we dont know how many warheads they have...I do know they have missles that can hit the US...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom