Iranian SU-25's fire on US drone in international airspace

[Coito ergo sum]

The silly little jokes about how the drone wasn't injured and all that are, well, just plain stupid. This kind of incident, if true, is a serious violation of international law.

Well, goodness me, the UN should damn well do something about such wanton violations! I can tell you, I'm seething with righteous indignation! Down with this sort of thing, as Father Ted would say!

No need to seethe, or be indignant, righteously or otherwise. It is what it is.

No seething indignation, just sarcasm at the idea that destroying an unmanned offensive weapon contitutes a serious violation of international law. Especially when it appears the same offensive weapons have previously crossed into Iranian air space. Presumably violating international law.

What do you think would happen if a unmanned offensive weapon flew anywhere near US airspace?

I think the silly little joke in the article made the point very well.

Like the Russian nuclear attack submarines trolling the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the US?

Other than the drone that the Iranians previously shot down, which US craft flew illegally into other countries? Was it the drones in Pakistan? Was it the drones in Yemen? Some others?

[ronmcd]

The silly little jokes about how the drone wasn't injured and all that are, well, just plain stupid. This kind of incident, if true, is a serious violation of international law.

Well, goodness me, the UN should damn well do something about such wanton violations! I can tell you, I'm seething with righteous indignation! Down with this sort of thing, as Father Ted would say!

No need to seethe, or be indignant, righteously or otherwise. It is what it is.

No seething indignation, just sarcasm at the idea that destroying an unmanned offensive weapon contitutes a serious violation of international law. Especially when it appears the same offensive weapons have previously crossed into Iranian air space. Presumably violating international law.

What do you think would happen if a unmanned offensive weapon flew anywhere near US airspace?

I think the silly little joke in the article made the point very well.

Like the Russian nuclear attack submarines trolling the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the US?

Other than the drone that the Iranians previously shot down, which US craft flew illegally into other countries? Was it the drones in Pakistan? Was it the drones in Yemen? Some others?

I've no idea which other US craft flew illegally into other countries. Would my point about the hypocrisy and hysteria over the destruction of an unmanned drone be enhanced by the number of times US Russia or others have also broken international law? I suspect so, actually, but it was hardly the point.

The US would absolutely destroy any armed unmanned rocket or drone that came anywhere near their airspace. International law appears to be ... pliable, depending on circumstance.

[ronmcd]

It's lucky international law is respected by everyone except Iran, it really is.

No one in Israel is admitting that its pilots carried out a long-range raid against a munitions factory in Sudan, said to be supplying weapons to the Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

But no one is denying it either. Amos Gilad, a senior defence ministry official, ducked a direct question, praising the capabilities of Israel's air force and calling Sudan "a dangerous terrorist state".

[Ian]

I'll tell you all exactly what would happen if an Iranian surveillance drone were detected in the Atlantic Ocean near US airspace: countersurveillance.

No, it would not be shot down. The Air Force or Navy would be doing its own collection on what the drone was doing. The mistake in thinking the US would fire on the thing in international airspace is tantamount to putting the US on the same level as Iran in terms of how it acts. Believe it or not, the US is very grown up about these things. Military surveillance is something done out of prudence; so long as it is done in international airspace or in orbit, there is no law being violated.

Personal anecdote: once when I was on the bridge of my ship in the middle of a NATO exercise, a German reconnaissance aircraft flew directly overhead (low enough to spook us on the bridge) and dropped several sonobuoys directly in front of us. This was unscheduled, not part of the exercise. The purpose of those buoys is to collect acoustic intelligence, to provide their submarines with details on what my class of ship sounds like and how it functions. Believe me, no complaints were lodged. This is the sort of routine thing that happens in the military intelligence world.

[ronmcd]

I'll tell you all exactly what would happen if an Iranian surveillance drone were detected in the Atlantic Ocean near US airspace: countersurveillance.

OK, I defer to your experience. Although I suspect the situation might be quite different. To be comparable, US would need to be in Iran's place geographically, be insular & fearful of attack by a large and militarily superior international power and a smaller neighbour supported by said power. Under those circumstances a "surveillance drone" might not seem so benign.

[Ian]

Geopolitically, Iran has every reason to be nervous, sure. But the US has had 33 years to launch a serious attack and it hasn't done so.

[ronmcd]

Geopolitically, Iran has every reason to be nervous, sure. But the US has had 33 years to launch a serious attack and it hasn't done so.

Sure, I'm not suggesting US wants to attack Iran, I've no doubt they don't. But Israel does, which is surely significant. And the shadow of an illegal war in Iraq looms large over Iran I would think. If I were an Iranian leader, paranoid or not, I would be fearful of a similar situation happening again. And I would think any nuclear ambitions they have are more to do with that than any intention to use nukes.

[rasetsu]

I'm hearing that annoying droning again. Somebody make it stop.

[Jason]

You mean some republican is rapidly fapping his war drum again like a retarded trained monkey?