The age of media war

The US military counted over 100 drones and 30 cruise missiles launched at Israel.

The Israelis claimed an attack of (over) 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles— with a 99% interception rate, acknowledging most of the drones having been shot down by British and American fighters before reaching Israeli borders.

Did the Americans undercount?

Did the Israelis exaggerate the scale of the attack?

In the age of Media Wars, it is hard to say— but almost everyone is going with the IDF’s account—certainly the Mainstream Media – but also the Blogosphere

And it seems the Iranians!

Sources informed Press TV that the Israeli regime and its supporters failed to intercept any of the hypersonic missiles fired by Iran. Press TV) Iran

Notice Press TV says "sources" which could be anybody—including your mother-in-law or my cat, Ichi.

However, here’s the nitty-gritty….

The chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, said on Sunday that Iran hit a large intelligence base in the occupied lands and Israel’s Nevatim Airbase, from where an F-35 jet took off to target Iran’s diplomatic premises in Damascus.

He added that the strikes “reached its goals” as the regime’s so-called Iron Dome system failed to deal with the Iranian missiles and drones properly.

General Baqeri does not mention ballistic missiles or hypersonic missiles (here, at least) —just "missiles and drones".

And the IDF did not talk about hypersonics either. Especially this one.

Question, questions

Are the Iranians just leveraging Israeli and American propaganda to exaggerate their military capability?

Are the Israelis lying— as they usually do? Inflating the scale of the threat they face?

Is the Western media, just accepting Israeli pronouncements as true— as they usually do.

Obviously, it's in Iranian interests in this case to go with the flow.

I personally doubt they used hypersonic missiles – although they may have added ballistic missiles to the mix after launching cruise missiles and drones for the Americans and Brits to deal with.

If they did use such advanced weaponry, it would've been a small number – both as a test and as a demonstration!

Nobody really knows at this point.

But…the media around the world of course prefer dramatic scenarios. It’s tabloid journalism again.

The Israelis want to project vulnerability and need for support.

For Iran, their now presumed advanced military capability is a deterrent.

No matter, I do think Iranians hit their targets with whatever they used – but I don't think they could have caused a lot of damage. They would need a much larger barrage for that. In that case, hypersonic missiles would be useful— because in addition to substantial explosive power one must consider kinetic energy. The Zircon, for example, has 242 times the kinetic energy of a Tomahawk.

The Iranian strike demonstrated once again that Israeli air defenses are not 99%. After all, their vaunted Iron Dome had trouble with Hamas’ homemade rockets – and certainly with the rockets and drones used later by Hezbollah and the Axis of Resistance!

Let us keep in mind that at the same time as the Iranians launched drones and missiles at Israel, Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Iraq Axis of Resistance fired drones— and maybe missiles too— at Israeli targets, and the Houthis but put their drones on course for Israeli ports. It was a coordinated operation—which is, course is left out of most news accounts.

The world – and the Israeli public of course-- thinks poor little Israel is facing bigger stuff —hypersonic weapons— against which it has little defense.

The Israelis may launch a counterattack – but they don't have hypersonic weapons— which they would need for a really effective attack —and the Iranians have very effective multilayer integrated air defense systems.

The US is reportedly discouraging the Israelis counterattacking since the Iranian attack has made clear what could happen to US forces in Syria should Israel overstep.

Photos Lie…

This un-retouched picture was taken in a recording studio a few weeks ago. I still work as a voiceover artist although I will be 78 this year. Once upon a time, I also worked as a photojournalist, so I know how to use light and shadow to soften wrinkles and other things that give away age, even with a Selfie. Photos lie.

PR is all about manipulating perception.

This is the Real Me!

Coffee Time

If you liked today’s article or just want to show support and get the next Special Article for Coffee Buyers which discusses Biden’s and Deep State policies through the lens of his State of the Union address, you can click here to buy me a coffee! Or on the photo above. The Real Me.