the jcpoa put iran's nuclear program in the deep freeze, at basically no cost to the u.s. and its allies.

the u.s. decision to pull out of the deal spun up iran's nuclear program to the point where the u.s. is considering military force to stop it

just insane
and (sigh) if we're going to talk about what military force would look like, it's perhaps more complex than you think.

tomahawks can get the job done vs. surface targets, stuff that isn't buried or overly hardened. but you also need to take iran's counterattack off the table
"best-case" scenario here is a massive wave of standoff missiles that superficially destroy elements of iran's nuclear program while also crippling its (for instance) ballistic missile forces

but if you want to kill the most crucial elements of the nuke program, you need bombers
that's because you'll most likely need big, deep-penetrating [snicker] weapons, which are only carried by the b-2, afaik.

and if you're sending bombers downtown, even stealth bombers, you'll want some sead: suppression of enemy air defenses
and *that* means more planes in the air, and... well, my point here is that if you're really trying to destroy iran's nuclear program, in a semi-permanent way, it quickly becomes a large and complex operation, not just a bunch of tomahawks
of course, there is one weird trick to destroying your enemy's deeply buried facilities and counterattack capabilities without putting any personnel at risk over the target area

any guesses what it is? a hint: the u.s. hasn't tried it since 1945

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More from @mgerrydoyle

8 Nov
now that the election is functionally over, I have a few observations.

first of all, this was not a close contest. biden has a huge lead in the popular vote (4-plus million) that is only going to increase. electorally, the trajectory is roughly the same as trump's 2016 win
that's not a squeaker. a squeaker is 2000, which was decided by lawyers and a few boxes of hard-to-interpret ballots in florida

like... child, come close and let me tell you about the election day that lasted two months
"closeness," in 2020, was just an illusion, thanks to the enormous number of mail-in ballots and slow counting in key states.

so it seems weird to cast this as a narrow victory for the dems. especially by dems! and they still have a real shot at a senate majority, thx to georgia
Read 10 tweets
3 Nov
oh, hello. I didn't see you standing there. it's been quite a year, hasn't it? what with all the hundreds of thousands of covid deaths, minor wars, and political mayhem. and it's u.s. election day. which means: you need a drink.
today we're bringing out the big guns. the elephant guns. the 16-inch naval guns. bourbon and champagne.

let's... BEGIN
the classic champagne cocktail is a sugar cube soaked with bitters, dropped into a champagne flute, which is then filled with champagne. that's not what we're making. but the basic ingredients are similar: champagne and sugar, in this case simple syrup

plus bourbon
Read 11 tweets
10 Jul
have I mentioned I take requests? I do. and they are all the more urgent when someone has a bottle of something different (pastis) they need to make disappear quickly (a week or two). to that effect: let's make a greta garbo
in most circumstances you'd drink pastis chilled, straight up. it is, more or less, a somewhat more civilized cousin of our good friend absinthe. but can can also make cocktails with it--important if you have to drink a bottle in like two weeks
there are many different ways to make a greta garbo, which if we're honest is not a common drink by any stretch of the imagination. the central elements are rum and pastis.
Read 26 tweets
28 May
I feel like this week keeps getting darker and darker. so we need an appropriately grim drink. this one is another alleged hangover cure, but we're really doing it today because of its name: the corpse reviver
it was invented during prohibition as a way to help people feel better after drinking (illegally) all night. once again, this seems less like a strategy to cure a hangover and more like a strategy to get drunk again
I mean, it's right there in the name. if you're feeling like you've died, this will help. but like all zombie potions, the magic will run out at some point.

the punchline is that there is a whole *bunch* of corpse reviver recipes... no. 2, no. 3 and so on. an endless dark cycle
Read 18 tweets
9 Apr
when you want strong crisis-related restrictions that you might not notice until you try to push against them, there's one place in the world that can deliver that kind of thing better than anywhere else: singapore.

and so today we will make a singapore sling
warning: this one is going to require some stuff you might not have in your bar. there's a lot in it, all originally designed to--somewhat creepily--disguise the taste of the alcohol so, uh, ladies can drink it.
here's the full list:
-1.5 oz gin
-.5 oz cherry brandy
-.25 oz benedictine
-.25 oz cointreau
-4 oz pineapple juice
-.5 oz lime juice
-.25 oz grenadine
-a dash of bitters
Read 13 tweets
8 Apr
this one's for new york, which, and I can't believe I'm saying this, is inextricably tied to this cocktail because of a fictional gossip columnist. it has a reputation for being girly, but in the apocalypse we need to be confident no matter who we are. so here's the cosmopolitan
this was one of the first drinks I was taught in bartending school because of how generally popular it is. and there's no reason it shouldn't be! continuing my theme of "everything is derivative," imagine a tart margarita but with vodka instead tequila, and adding cranberry juice
you'll be serving it in a martini glass, which should be familiar by now. put a few cubes of ice in one and pour in some water to let it chill

while it cools down, and speaking of cranberry juice, let me tell you about the first time I met my future father in law
Read 11 tweets

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