Obama: "I'm ready to negotiate with you, Iran." Iran: "Fuck you."

[Lamplighter]

Their subscription to Norton Anti-virus and Anti-spyware ran out.

[piercehawkeye45]

Lets see if Hezbollah becomes active again soon...

[Undertoad]

Yes, they are rumbling. A few rockets were fired at northern Israel last week for the first time in years.

And they have had a few explosions happen in Lebanon, one of which they blamed on Israel detonating a spy device, and one of which they blamed on a leftover Israeli bomb. Neither explanation is all that credible. The first happened near a Hizb arms depot. Here's guessing they were really "work accidents" of the type that happen often in Gaza, where inexperienced bomb handlers routinely blow themselves up. These things happen when there is hasty gearing up for activity...

The previous week they hinted they would take over Beirut if Assad falls in Syria.

[glatt]

And they have been systematically dismantling our spy ring in their midst. Hezbollah has been too successful lately.

[Sundae]

The British Embassy in Tehran was attacked by a rent-a-crowd this Tuesday following notice of EU sanctions. Result, all staff sent home. And William Hague (Foreign Minister) gave the Iranians 48 hours to leave their London Embassy .

Not sure this helps anyone, but I suppose we get to say "They started it!" because at least we didn't storm their Embassy. This time

I'm a little more concerned about the American sanctions proposed. Controlling much?
"Experts" here suggest refusing to allow foreign companies to trade with the Iranian Central bank might lead to further disruption in the markets and higher oil prices. Which would benefit Iran, at least short term.

What with this and killing Pakistani soldiers by mistake, it's not a golden time for American diplomacy at present.

[Griff]

It might end up being good for Iranian banks to be isolated from the next monetary bubble...

[piercehawkeye45]

This won't help relations right now....

The Iranian government says it shot down an unmanned U.S. plane that violated the country's airspace. The result could be a further chilling of Iran's relationship with the West.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/globa...liation/45708/

[Undertoad]

US response: "What drone?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45541622.../#.Ttwo-WMr2nA

A U.S. official said Sunday that Washington had no indication that a drone that had crashed in Iran had actually been shot down.

In Tehran, state television quoted a military source as saying that Iran's military had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran.

"There is absolutely no indication up to this point that Iranians shot down this drone," the official told NBC News.

The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said the drone the Iranians claim to have shot down may be an unarmed surveillance drone that was lost last week while flying over western Afghanistan. A surveillance drone flying over western Afghanistan had gone out of control late last week and may be the one Iran said it had shot down over its own airspace, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Sunday.

"The UAV to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week. The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status," an ISAF statement said.

[classicman]

Sure it was. Like a lost puppy.

Color me skeptical.

[piercehawkeye45]

US response: "OK, it's a drone. But have fun trying to learn anything from it."

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/...st_of_kandahar

The Iranian media reported today, and U.S. officials are now confirming, that a U.S. stealth spy drone was shot down over Iran. The Iranians claim the drone sustained only minor damage.

...

So if it turns out to be true that the RQ-170 has fallen into Iranian hands, how big an intelligence coup is that for them?

I shouldn't think so. Under the skin, this is a fairly simple airplane. I doubt if there's anything radical in terms of reconnaissance equipment on board. There aren't that many examples of a huge intelligence haul of that kind coming from one particular aircraft.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

US response: "OK, it's a drone. But have fun trying to learn anything from it."

Are you kidding me?!?!? The god damm Chinese or Russians are writing them a check for 1 billion US dollars for it right now. The Iranians can't make heads or tails of it but there are a few others out there that would sell your sister to get at it.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

US response: "OK, it's a drone. But have fun trying to learn anything from it."

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/...st_of_kandahar

Maybe Iran does not have that much to learn from the drone.
They may already know a great deal....

Tonight on CNN, the Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaee,
was being interviewed and answering questions about the drone.
The TV showed an Iranian solder standing in front of what appeared
to be an undamaged "flying wing" kind of aircraft with very smooth contours.

When asked directly "Did Iran shoot down the drown" his reply was quite startling.
He said "Well, they did not directly shoot it down. They brought it down"
He refrained from saying how they brought it down, stating simply "They have their ways."

I think this may well be major revelation for the US.
For example, if Iran can electronically gain control of the US stealth drones
and bring them to ground without extensive damage,
it would be a remarkable achievement by Iran and setback for the US.
.

[classicman]

A major concern for the U.S. government is that the Iranians might be able salvage highly sensitive technology, such as cameras or sensors, from the RQ-170, or even stealth features, and try to copy it for their own systems.

and yet from Wiki ...

The design lacks several elements common to stealth engineering, namely notched landing gear doors and sharp leading edges. It has a curved wing planform, and the exhaust is not shielded by the wing. Aviation Week postulates that these elements suggest the designers have avoided 'highly sensitive technologies' due to the near certainty of eventual operational loss inherent with a single engine design and a desire to avoid the risk of compromising leading edge technology.

hmm

[BigV]

Stealth can mean a lot of things.

Have you ever seen one of those unmarked state patrol cars? It screams "COP" but it's not black and white (or blue and white or whatever your local coloration may be). That's stealth. Low profile light bar? Stealth technology. It doesn't mean invisible or flying ninjas or HP's cloak, necessarily. It may be that all sides are telling the "truth". I am curious if it was downed by hostile action or not.

[piercehawkeye45]

That was the news at the time Merc. Information of this story was released in intervals...