...they really have not been paying attention. Also that the Israelis have moles in place everywhere and they have the means to communicate with Israeli intelligence in near real time. I think it is not unlikely many in the power structure in Iran would not mind if Khameini and his generation of leaders were killed and would be fine reconstituting an equally bad but new just as extreme government in its place.

The war, therefore, if we judge it by the standards of previous wars, is merely an imposture. It is like the battles between certain ruminant animals whose horns are set at such an angle that they are incapable of hurting one another. But though it is unreal it is not meaningless. It eats up the surplus of consumable goods, and it helps to preserve the special mental atmosphere that a hierarchical society needs. War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist. The peculiar pressure that it exerted on human beings between the Neolithic Age and the early twentieth century has disappeared and been replaced by something quite different. The effect would be much the same if the three super-states, instead of fighting one another, should agree to live in perpetual peace, each inviolate within its own boundaries. For in that case each would still be a self-contained universe, freed for ever from the sobering influence of external danger. A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This -- although the vast majority of Party members understand it only in a shallower sense -- is the inner meaning of the Party slogan: War is Peace.

-- Orwell, 1984

That one rings a loud bell!

Last edited Sat Feb 28, 2026, 03:35 PM - Edit history (1)

The attack would have come as no surprise to the Iranian regime. Hell, just yesterday the U.S. ambassador to Israel was warning his staff to evacuate immediately.

On edit: Well, it looks as though I was mistaken about this. We seem to have reports of his death from multiple, reliable sources.