Saturday, April 24, 2010

Camelot!

Iran is militarily weak. This doesn't stop them from aggressively using terrorism to advance their goals. That is relatively inexpensive. But if it came to a military showdown, they'd get their butts kicked. Their arsenal is very old US stuff, Chinese second-rate junk, and occasional bits of newer equipment that manages to get in.

But the Iraniana like to pretend they are stronger. so they periodically thump their chests, yell really loud, and fling poo. It scares the foreigners and reassures the locals that the leaders have a clue about protecting them.

Getting nukes will obviously increase Iran's defensive capabilities by making their conventional backwardness less relevant--and make countries more likely to sell Iran conventional weapons. And nukes will be a shield to ramp up terrorism.

So it is with some amusement that Iran was caught showing off:

Iran held its “Army Day” parade in Tehran Sunday to show off troops camouflaged for snow and jungle and a fly over of five F-4 Phantoms.

They showed off other weapons, including a self-propelled S-300 anti-aircraft missile system. Well, not quite:

But a better, close-up picture shows what appears to be a non-traditional transporter, erector, launchers carrying several tubes of welded together oil drums to simulate S-300 canisters.

Remember, when you see stories of scary locally designed super weapons or exercises with scary names, that Iran just isn't capable of backing up their talk.  It's just a model.



Iran wants us to believe we have no military option to deal with them. It just isn't true.

Iran gets away with their aggressive behavior because nobody is willing to do anything about them. Is it any wonder that the mullahs think that God is on their side?