Trump or Obama, I can see how that would be a difficult call.

One of the boats supposedly had some sort of "mechanical" issue and drifted into Iranian waters according to the TV news here the other day.

Your meaning here is obscure. Obama has not suggesting banning visitors or changing immigration law according to the religion of the applicant. Trump has.

Saudi Arabia is an 'ally', supposedly.

I am wondering whether Israel would prefer Trump to Obama?

With friends like that....

My point exactly. Israel are more or less a liability in that region as well.

Jordan is still onside though, I think.

There are allies other than in the Middle East that have sizable Muslim populations.

I know. Allies in the Middle East had just been mentioned, that's all.

Apparently you just reflexively attack everything I post, no matter how self-evidently correct the posting. The Truman was in international waters as reported by the Main Stream Media: U.S. Carrier Harry S. Truman Has Close Call With Iranian Rockets - NBC News Was the Truman within 1500 meters of Iranian waters? Who knows, not relevant anyway as long as it was in international waters; and the Iranians didn't make that claim anyway, only Giantaxe suggests it.

As for the treatment of the sailors, it is objectively in Iran's vital national interest to try to nudge the American election in the direction of a regime that would continue the present course of appeasement and withdrawal from the Middle East - leaving them the hegemons in the region. That's why I said they missed a golden propaganda opportunity.

They appear to be like the Palestinians who never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Constantly provoking the US, in the middle of its election process is not a particularly wise course and it is surprising that Khamenei hasn't reined in the hotheads in the IRG. He must believe Clinton's election is a foregone conclusion. He might be wrong.

And the US made no claim that the rocket entered international airspace. So wtf is your point?

In the eyes of Republicans, Iran provokes the US merely by existing.

Let's face it, the US has a track record of aggression against Iran that dates back at least until the CIA's involvement in the coup of '53 and includes the shooting down of an unarmed civilian airliner with a major loss of life. The idea that they should "play nice" because it's an election season is absurd. They handled the boat incident just right:- arrested the miscreants and then released them promptly. Only in the eyes of those who want to be "provoked" is that provoking.

So Bill O'Reilly is planning to move to Ireland is Bernie if elected because he doesn't like the thought of universal healthcare and paying higher taxes.

Bill O’Reilly promises to ‘flee’ to Ireland if Bernie Sanders becomes president

Do you think we should tell him, or let him figure it out for himself?

That's pretty much the problem with the right wing threatening to flee the US over any political issue - all the nice places are far more liberal and socialist.

Also, saw the end of an interesting programme that analysed the genetics of various people. They found that Bill O'Reilly was directly related to the same ancestor as Bill Maher. Both of them were shocked and amused by it.

Anyway, what makes him think he can live there? Does he have Irish ancestry or something?

Even the crazies who currently run Israel probably want a sensible, stable person as POTUS.