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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 7, 2025

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What is the argument for the need to make a choice? Does the US pay much attention to the war between Congo and Rwanda (despite clearly laying blame on one side)? Actually have you even heard of it?

The world makes us make a choice. At the outset, I dont think many people actually believe the theory that if we withdrew support for Israel Islamists would stop hating America and planning to attack America. Those who do genuinely believe that, I think are very wrong, childishly so IMO. So there is little benefit to ignoring the situation.

Plus, Europe isn't going to ignore it, they are going to keep funding the terrorists with UNRWA and other similar orgs. Iran isn't going to ignore it. It would be more plausible for us to ignore Ukraine v. Russia. Russia is at least a dwindling threat based on basically every metric. Islamism is right behind China in the global threat race. They have the bodies, they have a motivating ideology, they have a plan, even if it is chaotic and without a centralized leader.

No, not at all. Or only on the crudest level of analysis. There is no way to argue that Israeli policy is the only reasonable response, not even Israelis would say that. There are many possible options. Eg China has shown its take on the situation, in Xinjiang.

I don't see how this compares favorably to the Israeli response in Gaza. The Uyghurs live under martial law (controlled from Beijing) and the central government is enacting an ethnic replacement plan. They also are more geographically isolated from the rest of China compared to Gaza/West Bank and Israel, otherwise China's program would be even more aggressive. The Uyghurs have no outside patrons, and the reporting is several orders of magnitude less aggressive. Overall, not a model that Israel can follow.

The problem is that you consume too much neocon/Zionist propaganda from trash like Zenz. The reporting bias may actually run in the other direction. Xinjiang today is peaceful and Uighurs are beneficiaries of strong labor laws and affirmative action. Western tourists can visit it, Americans marry Uighur people, economy is booming, infrastructure is being built… Uighurs are still the majority and will likely remain the majority because there's a finite and dwindling supply of Han people in China. Whatever has happened there during the heavy enforcement and «reeducation» period, has ended with a state of affairs both parties can at least survive without bloodshed. This is not an endorsement of what has been done. This is a point of comparison.

Meanwhile Gaza is a smoldering ruin with casualties on par with Russia-Ukraine war, and Israel is negotiating for a thorough ethnic cleansing, while the fighting goes on.

No matter how you look at it, Israelis have been extraordinarily brutal and inefficient at that. It's like saying Russia has shown exemplary discipline in Chechnya, any nation would do the same in its position. No we haven't, it was a shitshow (and ended in humiliation of handing it over to Kadyrov).

Meanwhile Gaza is a smoldering ruin with casualties on par with Russia-Ukraine war,

I thought it's significantly worse than the Russia-Ukraine war?

If you mean civilians only, then yes. But according to the US and Israel messaging, Palestinians are ontologically incapable of being civilians, so it's a wash.

they have a plan

what is it?

Its been described many places. Essentially, it is to move to the West and live in densely Muslim communities. Then use it own Democratic processes and civil rights laws against us to demand local Sharia. Expand, seize Peter when available, etc. Eventually a full scale re-enactment of the 8th century, but this time with locally entrenched allies.

seize Peter when available

I'm not sure whether it's worse that they want to seize our Peter, or that Peter isn't even available at all times.

Hey man, sometimes we're tired alright