ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
No bio...
User ID: 2935
It sounds familiar but even apart from that the level of supposed sanctity that we're supposed to treat doctors' testimonies with is kind of dumb. The idea that being a doctor automatically confers on someone the kind of supreme ethical status that means they would never lie, be biased, or really hate Jews, has the sort of intuitive logic that I probably accepted as a child but shouldn't be convincing to any adult who tries to think critically.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
And Al Gore too.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
Is Ukraine a US state? Do they pay taxes? Can we conscript their sons to go die for the protection of our nation?
They don't pay taxes, but the view of the people running the US is that there's a substantial benefit for the US in defending the rules-based international system*, that in the long term is probably worth substantially more in dollar terms than the cost of funding Ukraine. Maybe they're wrong but it's still largely an economic calculation, not a decision based on abstract philosophical principles for their own sakes.
*Rules that the US sets and gets to break, before anyone comes with examples of the US being hypocrites on this front.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
I mean, the US provides aid to Israel because they feel they gain some geostrategic example from it. Maybe they're wrong about that but I don't think there's a moral dimension to it.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
But that may follow from my general skepticism on putting faith in "moral arc of history" memes: literal blood-and-soil nationalism even gets praise from self-declared progressives, as long as who, whom? fits. It's funny to me that the West is expected to allow any-and-all immigration of largely-unverified refugees seeking asylum and giving jus soli citizenship and votes to their descendants, but the residents of the (withdrawing) British mandate for Palestine in 1948 and their descendants are eternally allowed to "resist the occupation" in means that would make even the American far right nauseous. But again: who, whom?.
The basic model these people have of the world is that "the West", as colonisers/imperialists, have forfeited for all time the right to any ethnic criteria for who lives in their countries, while "Indigenous peoples" (basically everyone else) have always lived peacefully and harmoniously in the same spot and so have a fundamentally legitimate claim of ownership of their land.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
One thing to consider is that the US military just isn't very high-performance at these kinds of logistical tasks. Remember the pier in Gaza? Cost hundreds of millions, took ages to put up, got unmoored several times and then scrapped after dispersing a fairly modest amount of aid.
I could be misremembering, but wasn't the genesis of that plan Biden randomly announcing it in a press event? For all we know setting up an aid pier like that might be inherently almost impossible and not something the military would ever have planned themselved. Maybe the behaviour of the sea or form of the beach at that exact point makes things particularly difficult etc.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
Is the Ukraine video really that bad? She looks a bit stiff and uncomfortable but that's not particularly unusual when you've got a camera in your face. Her answers are vague but that's the modal politician response to most questions on contentious topics.
Looking back on his public performances it's clear that he absolutely wasn't dumb even if that was him at his best. The extent to which "Bush is a moron" took off as a meme is actually quite remarkable in retrospect.
The most surprising thing to me is that apparantly Iran didn't clear their airspace before launching their missiles, significantly raising the chances of a horrific accident.
This makes me suspect the attack was a rash decision, rather than something carefully thought through.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
Just wanted to express my appreciation of this post.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
That's pretty uncertain, many Muslims don't vote at all and the rest aren't, as a group, that focused on Israel/Palestine (despite the efforts and a drop in share a majority of them still voted for Labour in 2024 UK elections AFAIK).
Labour MPs in Muslim-heavy constituencies are probably very vocally pro-Hamas, though. I know it's more typical to vote for the party rather than the MP, but maybe it's different when it comes to Muslims in the UK?
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
The best way I've heard it explained is that it's not asking a guy (or anyone) out if there's plausible deniability. Batting your eyes and giving hints doesn't meet this threshold.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
Can only imagine how angry Biden must be with Netanyahu after this
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
I think that's to help with evacuation. I think there's a long way to go before there's a chance US troops will actually be deployed for combat.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
I would assume US pressure against a ground invasion is also a significant factor in Israel's decision making here.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
For "The Palestinians" to have a chance of anything they need to have agency.
I'd be more sympathetic to this if not for just how transcendentally ecstatic the Palestinians seemed about the Oct 7th attack. I know Palestinians are used by Iran and the UN (only slightly exaggerating) in their mission to eliminate Israel but even without these influences the widespread resistance to any form of peaceful co-existence with Israel seems entirely organic.
Of course the prospects for peace would be very different if the UN used the resources it pours into Gaza to deradicalise the population rather than funding Hamas. But that's not going to happen for the foreseeable future.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
1mo ago
Because they're still paying taxes to the US? No taxation without representation etc.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
2mo ago
Russian fisheries practices have generally leaned towards conservation and effective management of existing stocks
Interesting. Perhaps this is bigoted of me but my general impression of Russian institutions would have led me to assume they'd take a far more recklessly extractive approach. Glad to hear that's not the case.
It's interesting seeing the split in perspective. About half of comments are saying things like "Hezbollah is destroying the country by dragging it into a conflict it clearly can't win" while the other half are along the lines of "This just shows how much we need Hezbollah, to protect us from the evil Zionist entity that would otherwise invade and us and try to take all our land".
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
2mo ago
Huh, Shark Bay is apparantly bigger than Israel. I'd unironically be in favour of this if Australia made the offer.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
2mo ago
and since I'm given to understand the U.S. generally sucks at the types of infiltrations that sabotaging all of Hezbollah's pagers would have required
Does it? I know nothing about this area, but I'd have assumed the US would have the resources to become top performers in any field related to national security.
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
2mo ago
True. At the very least though, the Romans weren't following the current trend of ME nations impoverishing themselves for the sake of killing Jews not within their own borders.
I wouldn't go that far, but I stand by my position that those who decide to try to persecute Jews don't tend to have great things to show for it.
(Although post WWII, you could argue they have been historical winners, which is arguably more relevant for deciding whether going to war against them is a great idea).
ToZanarkand
Some day the dream will end
2mo ago
Ah I misread 200 as referring to people affected. My bad.
Surely you could say the same about any pregnancy where one or both parents have a serious hereditary condition?
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