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Gr33nD

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New Badge
Gr33nD
earned a new badge:

Star Commenter - Mar 2024

Earned for making 5+ comments in a month (rationales not included).
New Prediction
Gr33nD
made their 1st forecast (view all):
This forecast expired on Jun 4, 2024 03:10AM
Probability
Answer
Forecast Window
2%
Yes
Mar 4, 2024 to Mar 4, 2025
98%
No
Mar 4, 2024 to Mar 4, 2025
Why do you think you're right?

Iran is playing a long game and a war in the near future does not suite their longer term objectives and is something they will very likely seek to avoid for now.

As they are highly unlikely to start a war the best chance of them becoming involved in one is if it is declared on them. While Iran does have many enemies there are only three that could remotely be conceived as taking that path in the near future: Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia.

Israel already has a full plate dealing with Iran's proxies and simply doesn't have the resources for a direct confrontation with a country that well equipped, at least not in the near future. The US has a president that's made it a point to avoid getting pulled deeper into the region and even if Trump is elected who may have a slightly higher appetite he has made isolationism part of his brand and wouldn't have enough time to put together an attack plan in the few months he would have before this question is resolved. Lastly Saudi Arabia is chiefly concerned with domestic and economic development at the moment and also lacks the military resources to confidently start a war with Iran.

While it is theoretically possible some combination of those countries or all three could form a military alliance against Iran the current climate in the region makes that extremely unlikely as well.

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Why might you be wrong?

The middle east is a powder keg and past events have shown that even seemingly insignificant things relatively speaking can spark great turmoil(Arab Spring). As such I can't really point to any one thing as a possible spoiler but the nature of the region makes it impossible to be reasonably certain where things will stand in a year.

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New Prediction

Putin has an iron grip on the Russian government and has installed cronies at the highest level of government who are all submissive to him and likely fear him given his penchant for assassinating people he sees as a problem. Even the head of Wagner who had an army behind him backed down from his coup attempt shortly after initiating it and his failure and subsequent assassination(not proven but likely) sent a clear message to other influential individuals in Putin's orbit. While the war may eventually result in his ouster it's highly unlikely to happen in the next few months.

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New Prediction
Why do you think you're right?

Iran has previously been shown to be a relatively soft target for cyberattacks as many have been successfully carried out against them in the past and there are several geopolitical adversaries that were already incentivized to regularly carry out such attacks even before Iran started escalating regional tensions.

The most prominent of those adversaries is Israel which is acutely aware of Iran's role in the 10/7 terrorist attack. Given the current situation in the middle east it would be impossible for Israel to launch any kind of physical retaliatory strikes making cyberattacks and direct sabotage their only current options for retaliation and are two options Israel has become very adept at. Israel likely also already had various plans in place for cyberattacks against Iran they intended for the future that could be sped up and implemented sooner.

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Why might you be wrong?

If Iran were to be hit with a cyberattack the most likely culprit would be Israel as they currently have the greatest motivation to do so. Israel however has their hands full fighting a war and when that's done they will have their hands full managing the fallout on their doorstep. This means their intelligence services already have allot on their plate and will have for the foreseeable future as well which could limit their offensive capacity.

They could also fear Iran urging their proxies to create more instability as retaliation which would stretch the Israeli army thinner than it already is.

They may also prefer a more brazen attack such as direct sabotage or assassination of one or more key individuals over a cyberattack.

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New Prediction
Why do you think you're right?

Iran has little to no reason to back out of the deal any time soon as it has been completely one-sided in their favor. They constantly flout their own obligations while benefiting from the other signatories fulfilling theirs. Even if sanctions were reimposed, having the deal in place is a form of protection for them from the other signatories taking a deeper role in the region as the deal was a means for those countries to not have to get more involved there, something none want to do and something Iran wants even less.

There is also the current chaos in the middle east which was fomented by Iran but seems to have reached a level they are comfortable with as there have been signals that they are urging restraint to a number of their proxies specifically to avoid escalating things further. Dropping out of the deal would be a bombshell decision that would create even more uncertainty in the region and raise the chaos level beyond what Iran sees as advantageous.

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Why might you be wrong?

If another signatory were to issue snapback sanctions and Iran believes they are close to nuclear weaponization they may see no need to have to put up with the few obligations they have under the deal that they actually comply with as becoming a nuclear power would be plenty of deterrence to keep western countries from increasing their presences in the region and the deal would no longer be protecting them from sanctions anyway which were their two main incentives for agreeing to it in the first place.

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Why do you think you're right?

Given the list of countries that are signatories there are really only a few that would realistically have a chance of taking that action: France, Germany, the UK and the EU. The other signatories are Iran and allies of Iran so there is no chance any of them take that step.

As far as the ones that could theoretically do it all are countries that were big proponents of the deal originally and have shown over time since the deal was implemented that they care deeply about making the deal work regardless of how committed Iran is and have repeatedly ignored or downplayed Iranian breaches. Not only that but given the current instability in the middle east it's highly unlikely any want to make a move that could inflame tensions further.

Lastly Iran is aware that they were recently caught in violation and will certainly take steps to prevent further scrutiny either by taking more steps to obscure their operations or by slowing their development in the short term.

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Why might you be wrong?
Iran's Houthi proxy has been disrupting global shipping and maritime travel which has impacted most if not all of the signatories that aren't Iranian allies and in one recent case even an ally Russian ship was hit. While that technically is unrelated to the JCPOA it could serve as motivation for any of the affected countries to use the deal as a cudgel to pressure Iran to reign in their proxies using the fact that Iran has already violated the deal though I find that unlikely given the larger geopolitical implications of taking that step.
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New Prediction
Why do you think you're right?

Microsoft has been happily operating in China for years and likely has little interest in winding down their investments there barring a major event. While it's true some companies have been scaling back their Chinese operations or pulling out of the country entirely Microsoft has shown little to no inclination to do that so far.

They also have a clear interest in maintaining the lab as it gives them access to Chinese AI research and expertise they likely wouldn't have access to otherwise which in and of itself would make keeping the lab open worth it not to mention closing the lab would create friction with the Chinese government and could lead to knock-on consequences for their broader business in the country.

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Why might you be wrong?

An unforeseen geopolitical event involving China could ratchet up tensions between the country and the US forcing US companies to pull out en masse including Microsoft.

It's also possible that legislation regulating AI could gain momentum and given that China is viewed as a US competitor in that field Microsoft may have no choice but to start planning for a shut down if such legislation includes restrictions on foreign research collaborations.

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New Badge
Gr33nD
earned a new badge:

Star Commenter - Feb 2024

Earned for making 5+ comments in a month (rationales not included).
New Prediction
Gr33nD
made their 1st forecast (view all):
This forecast expired on Mar 14, 2024 06:20AM
Probability
Answer
Forecast Window
1%
Yes
Feb 14, 2024 to Aug 14, 2024
Why do you think you're right?

There are several reasons China would not attack Taiwan in that timeframe. First they have seen what's happened with Russia and Ukraine and are likely much more warry of an invasion than they would have been before seeing what can happen in a similar situation.

Second they understand that the US currently has a national security interest in protecting Taiwan due to their outsized importance for chip manufacturing however they also know that the US and other countries are actively investing in their own chip manufacturing specifically to reduce reliance on Taiwan so it makes strategic sense for China to wait for Taiwan to become less important to the rest of the world.

Lastly they are currently dealing with the worst economic conditions the country has seen in decades and the communist party has tied part of its legitimacy to what had been a consistently booming economy so the communist party is likely much more concerned with addressing that than starting a war under less than ideal conditions.

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Why might you be wrong?

Xi could decide that he can distract the Chinese people from the country's faltering economy with a Taiwan invasion/blockade but he's been playing the long game with Taiwan for quite awhile and that seems highly unlikely given that it would be a short term impulsive move.

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Questions Forecasted

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