Thread · HN Continuity

Probably nowhere on the radar really. Even today the US has oil shipments at around near pre-war levels and the discrepancy between the pre and current war levels are mostly just Iran not being able to ship oil. The blockade worked.

Now there is still a lot of danger. Iran’s strategy to attack regional countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and others is by funding violent militias and terrorist groups and it has the potential to actually create revolutions in some of those countries or just destabilize them enough so that Iran can colonize them as it is attempting to do now. One of the primary lessons that has been learned here is the failure and inability of the global community to enforce peace or protect innocent people and instead simply expects the United States to do it.

Alongside drones and other technologies, the advent of social media and excellent propaganda by Iran/Hamas and friends were seeing many of the policy choices and cultural characteristics of western nations come under attack from decentralized forces which can inflict asymmetric harm.

You only need one viral post from Hamas to convince a bunch of people to support a group that is opposed to western liberal values (anti-LGBT, anti religious liberty, etc.), only so many drones or missiles to block shipping, or just one maniac to try and take down an airliner (suicide bombers).

Future historians may look at this time period as one in which these technologies proved to be existential challenges for incumbent powers.