Best products from r/SyrianRebels

> Iran was spending a few billion a year in Iraq and Syria before sanctions were lifted and there has not been a massive uptick in spending since they were lifted.

Precise figures I've heard from 1st-hand sources in Syria cited something like 1,5 billion - a month. Something like 500 million in cash; rest in various goods bought abroad, including in Egypt, and then in crude.

And that every single month since November 2011.

I'm leaving it to you to calculate how much does that make.

> Airplanes fall from the sky not because Iran cant afford to maintain them. Its not because they cant afford new planes. It is because Iran is not allowed to buy modern fighters due to embargos.

Please, be so kind and don't try to teach the teacher. You're dealing here with one of characters researching and publishing stuff like IRIAF 2010. Whether you believe it or not, but we are not all the time chatting about good old times, camouflage colours and camera settings.

> ...but to their surprise, Iranian engineers have managed to keep them in the sky for decades. Occasionally there is a hiccup here or there, but most analysts are totally amazed that Iran has managed to keep their fleet going this long.

Sure. And I was one of those making all the 'experts' in the West aware of such facts (for example in this fashion) - and that at the times most of people reading this were still doing nasty stuff into their diapers. Just like now I'm making you aware of what is the actual condition of your country now.

BTW, that was once, some 30 years ago. The 'engineers' in question were trained in the USA, facilities they used and spares they could get were all brand new, and the regime was in such dire straits that it depended upon a military it mistrusted for its own survival. Thus, at least some money was allocated for maintenance.

However, nowadays, the situation is such that no money is allocated for anything at all - except one of IRGC's thugs can stuff his pockets full from that. That's why aircraft are crashing - or not flying at all (except during parades over Tehran).

That's why all the new radars and SAMs and whatever else are claimed to be 'made in IRI', but were actually made in China. To Iranian specifications, yes, and often to designs of Iranian experts. But, in China, not in Iran. Because Iran can't even manage the production of such stuff at home: there's too much corruption for that.

Even in such simple industries like making UAVs, nothing is possible without smuggling and Chinese avionics: even when somebody attempted to make engines for them in some old works, constructed by the Japanese back in the 1970s, the entire project was botched up.

With other words: Iran is back to the times when IRGC's arseholes were pocketing from squandering the defence budget for buying all sorts of equpiment abroad, and the selling it on the civilian market - to their own advantage. Such practices were widespread between IRGC's thugs in late 1987 and early 1988. Between others, that helped Iran lose the last year of its war against Iraq - and then in such a clear and obvious fashion.

> There is a reason Israel is worried by Iranian engineers more than they are by anything else in the region.

Both are foremost experts in PR. No surprise if one side starts buying other side's nonsense.

BTW, I'm perfectly aware of the fact there are smart researchers, and smart and skilled students in Iran. Would never deny this. After all, the Technical University of Tehran has some 35,000 students - alone. And, I know there are lots of papers written by Iranian academics in, say, military-related fields (just like in so many others).

Problem is: nearly all of the ones who are really good end up in the US, or Germany or wherever else in the West. Precisely because there are exactly zero opportunities in Iran to actually produce anything, let alone becoming a 'leading nation'.

Second, I am well aware that Iranian academics, especially in engineering and tech fields, publish a whole lot on just about every subject. That's what the J-Post finds amazing. Many others too. But why? Because the journos in question simply have no clue what are they talking about. Foremost not that publishing stuff in Iran is no measure of innovation, and even less so measure of development.

Namely, most of the 'scientific publications' in question are just junk. Published expressly for the purposes of advancing somebody's career, often even to improve their chances of finding better future in the West. In this regards, Iran is on the best way to follow in China's footsteps - through having a lots of fake scientific journals that are doing nothing else.

The rest are little else but copies of already existing Western papers. Iran never signed any kind of international copyright laws and/or regulations, and it's regime is such a pariah - nobody there must care about copyrights, and can publish as 'his/her own' whatever he/she likes.

Finally, regardless of its 'quality', over 95% of what they publish is pure theory. Reason: they lack the money even for testing facilities, not to talk about testing itself. Even the air force lacks something like 50% of testing facilities even such small air forces like those of Croatia and/or Romania have.

Overall, sorry: whether because I do not work for J-Post, or because I happen to know too much about them, or any other reason that might come to your mind: but, I'm not the last amazed, not even fascinated, by 'Iranian engineers'.

Free ebook if anyone is interested about Sunni Islam in Syria: https://smile.amazon.com/Syrias-Sunni-Islam-under-al-Asad-ebook/dp/B0173I8YJ0/

There’s this on Kindle, also on Kindle Unlimited : “Syria’s Sunni Islam under Hafiz al-Asad” by Annabelle Boettcher. Pretty dry, academic suff though, I’ve only read a third of it so far.