℧ theory manifest

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45217727

When faced with domestic/personal political problems, an easy method to sideline & slowly solve them, is to start or escalate #war.

It shifts the public conversation, changes the legal & political environment /interests, eases expanded military action at home, & creates opportunities to reward & align with certain factions (oligarchs, corporations, #military leaders).

Here are my thoughts and analysis on the subject in the shape of a table.

What do you think?

Took me a while to make this :)

Please share if you think this makes sense!

*Focusing on recent / ongoing conflicts!

🖼️ #CC0 #PublicDomain madeindex.org as always, use as you like friends <3

For four and a half decades, Western politicians have hesitated to take effective action against this terrorist state, which murders its own people and destabilizes open societies. It was in our European and democratic interest that America and Israel have finally taken joint action to weaken the Iranian regime. Whether the goal is regime change, the removal of 400 kilograms of enriched uranium, simply reducing the hydra-like network of the mullah elite, accelerating an overthrow through popular revolt, or a combination of all these elements — I cannot judge. Some say a first important objective has already been achieved. Iran has been set back by years. We have gained at least one thing: time.

Now Europe needs to stand with the U.S. to make use of it.

This is a TRULY TERRIFYING way to see the world. The amount of unsourced hyperbolic claims casually asserted in this article is dizzying and headache inducing.

Here is a thought though maybe the Iran War isn't Europe's war because the Iran War was launched illegally by the US (without domestic approval of any kind, popular or structural) and Israel and has already involved a horrifying number of war crimes committed by the US and Israel while the reasons for launching the war given by the US and Israel fall apart into pieces the second they are examined closer and follow up questions are asked.

The idea that Europe MUST join the Iran War sooner or later or suffer the consequenes later is INCREDIBLY dangerous. Joining the Iran War will further destabilize international markets, accelerate World War 3, and make those European countries a target of angry people who have had their families murdered for no reason, like Israel and the US has just insisted on making themselves into, much to my rage as someone living in the US who is now materially more in danger than before this stupid illegal war.

Curtis Sliwa, a former candidate for mayor, joined “Inside City Hall” to talk about the recent backlash he received from some Republican leaders for appearing in a comedy skit with Mayor Zohran Mamdani over the weekend.

#NY1 #NYC #News #politics #curtissliwa #zohranmamdani

Indeed, Trump has expressed over and over again his belief, shared by his predecessors of both parties over the last two decades, that Iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and that this must be prevented at all costs. He has also expressed, as has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a desire to see the Iranian regime fall and the oppressed people of that tortured country given the opportunity to choose a better government, and thus better lives, for themselves. If he hasn’t laid that out point by point as part of a specific address to the American people, then that is more Trump’s governing style, as well as his demonstrating sensible caution about events he can’t control, than a lack of clarity on his part.

Can you believe someone wrote this with a straight face?

Where he differs from other presidents is his clear-eyed understanding that all of the negotiations and deals cut with the Iranians have been disastrous failures. Former President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement was, at best, an effort to kick the can down the road. What it did do was to enrich and empower a dangerous regime, enabling it to finance a campaign of international terrorism and a bid for regional hegemony. Even worse, it not only failed to shut down Tehran’s nuclear program but guaranteed that the mullahs could acquire a bomb once its weak restrictions expired at the end of the current decade

The amount of delusional thinking in this article is stunning. There is no evidence Iran was pursuing a nuclear bomb or not adhering to the Nuclear Deal reached with Obama.

Those facts may be disputed by partisans, but that doesn’t alter the truth that the efforts of Obama and his predecessor, Joe Biden, to appease Iran actually made the world less safe. Without Obama’s Iran deal and the advantages it gave the Islamist regime, including finances and encouragement of its terror proxies, the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terrorist assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, may not have occurred. And the world would not have gotten to this point.

This is a narrative that DEMANDS a large amount of sources, NONE are given.

Pressed further, he clarified he does not believe the term applies to Israel’s present.

Gavin Newsom is an idiot and his instincts are laughably bad.

Who is this supposed to win over? Is he still gunning for the AIPAC money? What an utter spineless coward.

https://decisiondeskhq.substack.com/p/americans-dont-really-like-gavin-newsom

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/is-gavin-newsom-progressive

The communist dictatorship in Cuba has never been closer to collapse. Thankfully, the cadre of leftist American activists and influencers that descended on Havana this week will not be able to save it. While the island endured its second total electrical grid collapse in a matter of days, the regime welcomed a delegation of limousine socialists from the United States. They quickly pulled out their phones, merging grotesque voyeuristic slum tourism with propagandistic livestreams from their five-star, regime-owned hotel. As their diesel generators hummed, the rest of the country starved in the dark.

What kind of cynical rightwing loser who thinks the whole universe is a zero sum game is this article for?

There has for a long time been a growing chorus in Israel that, rightly or wrongly, blames the US for the inconclusiveness of the last several years and craves a more maximalist use of force as a solution to threats Israel faces. Should the US end the war with Iran without achieving objectives that the Israeli population views as proportionate to the level of hardship they faced, it could reinforce this narrative. This, in turn, could have serious consequences not only for Israel-US relations but for the region as a whole.

There is not just a regional cost to be paid for ending the war early. The initial phase of the US war against Iran put China in a precarious position in the Middle East. In recent years, China has been drawing ever closer to Iran, on whom it relies for a significant proportion of its energy needs. If the current regime in Iran were to fall or become severely weakened, China would lose an important partner.

Ending the war with the Iranian regime intact and uncowed, would continue to give China an increasingly valuable base from which to expand its influence in the region.

Does this sound normal to you?

To me it sounds like a threat, a condescending insult and an appeal to Sinophobia all wrapped up in a shitty opinion piece. Oh yeah also this article casually dehumanizes Iranian civilians by openly advocating for continuing a war Iranians did not start just so that China will suffer. I wonder if the same writer has advocated for bombing Iran because of an alleged interest in improving the lives of Iranians? I always appreciate it when bigots are consistent in their bigotry so I hope not.

This kind of thinking is extremist, it could end up rationalizing dropping anything up to and including a nuclear bomb on Iran....

After all, if a non-near peer like Iran could defy the US and survive the worst the US is willing to throw at it, surely China can.

Pay attention to that phrase in particular. That should send a shiver down your spine, what this directly implies is that unless the US and Israel COMPLETELY maximally destroy Iran, unless we kill everyone including the children than China will learn we are weak so we must have no mercy on Iran. This is some of the most dangerous rhetoric I have ever seen anyone post openly on the internet under their actual name as an apparently serious opinion piece. No I am not joking, Israel has nuclear weapons, Iran does not and thus this could happen far more easily than anyone wants to admit and that should scare us all.

There is no offramp for this kind of world view....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost

The war that the United States and Israel finally initiated against Iran is saving the West. It is an extraordinarily positive fact that for the first time in their history, the two allies are fighting a war together, combining their different and complementary capabilities. The entire world is a beneficiary of the Allied campaign, since there was no remaining alternative to war.

...

Right now, it is important above all else to continue the war. The foremost reason for this is that the military situation is uniquely favorable. Not only was the excruciatingly difficult decision to initiate the war taken, but the war’s first weeks have also been very successful.

A genuinely terrifying world view.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost

In one instance, Welker asked Bessent whether Trump would ever raise taxes to fund the war—a pertinent question as the Pentagon is reportedly seeking $200 billion from Congress to pay for the conflict.

“It’s a ridiculous question,” Bessent said. After an awkward pause, he said, “Why would we do that? We have plenty. We have a trillion dollars in this year’s budget for the military.”

What a fucking idiot

Israel’s northern border is not merely a line drawn on a map: It is the meeting point between two opposing worldviews. On one side stands a state seeking to live in peace and to guarantee the security of its citizens; on the other stands a military arm of the Iranian regime whose very purpose is to threaten that state’s existence.

...

In practice, Israel faces two options.

The first is to continue managing periodic rounds of conflict with a terrorist organization that strengthens itself between wars, while attempting to extend the time between each confrontation. This option effectively preserves and legitimizes the reality of recent years, one that enabled Hezbollah to recover, expand, and grow stronger.

The second option is to change the geographic and military reality by pushing Hezbollah beyond the Litani River and eliminating the villages in the zone between it and Israel’s northern border, thereby significantly reducing the threat of a ground invasion into the Galilee.

These are not the only two options and it is terrifying that people think this way. This is an inherently extremist, exterminist world view make no mistake.

Does this sound like a healthy way to see other human beings? To attempt to understand resisting forces of "evil" that appear to be lovecraftian in their indecipherability? The bluntness of this world view is a selfulfilling nightmare.

The immediate fear is that if France Unbowed makes history here — the party has never come close to controlling such a big metropolis — it will heap taxes on local icons like Airbus to pay for a generous manifesto that includes water subsidies, free public transport for residents under 26 years old, and free school meals and educational supplies.

AHHHHH THOSE THINGS ARE TERRIFYING, BE AFRAID

Therefore, I declare myself a Zionist, because I defend the existence of the State of Israel, despite not being Jewish (I am a Catholic Christian) nor a citizen of Israel (I am Spanish). It is astonishing to see that Israel is the only democratic country whose existence is systematically questioned by many people, turning its very defense —Zionism— into an object of demonization. There are around fifty countries in the world with a Muslim majority. Some of them have Islam as their official doctrine and even impose Islamic law on the entire population. In the West, there are no political movements questioning the existence of these countries or calling for their destruction, as there are in relation to the only Jewish state in the world, which is Israel.

The issue this article totally ignores is that it casually conflates being anti-semitic with being anti-Israel or anti-Zionist.

To be against Israel or against the political ideology of Zionism is categorically not the same thing as being anti-semitic, even if you disagree with my politics you simply CANNOT argue otherwise as I am simply pointing out that to be bigoted towards jewish people is a seperate concept from having a political ideology about a country. What makes you anti-semitic is when you believe someone is lesser for being jewish, which again is a religion not a country.

It is extremely dangerous to conflate the politics of a country with the politics of a religion and it always ends badly for everyone involved when people do so.

The defeat of Israel's enemies has never meant the disappearance of any country: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen have fought against Israel in the past, and their defeat did not lead to their disappearance. The defeat of Israel would mean its disappearance as a country and a new extermination of Jews.

In particular this conclusion is not supported by any evidence, it is simply asserted.

No, “it’s not 2003.” It’s a generation later, and the problem of the worst weapons in the hands of the worst state actors persists. Iraq under Saddam Hussein was one. It is no longer. Donald Trump has made it clear he is determined to make sure the Islamic Republic follows the Baath regime into the dustbin of history. It’s likely that one person in America who is rooting him on, based on his own complex and rueful experience, is George W. Bush.

"I hope that this military operation will be both brief and successful," Collins said, speaking to reporters in Hartland, Maine, outside Bangor.

Collins said the military action is justified, claiming Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world and is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

“There is widespread agreement that we can never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and they have thousands of ballistic missiles that would provide a shield for the development of a nuclear weapon," Collins said. "Our troops have been unbelievably successful and skillful in destroying those ballistic missiles. I think that's an important goal, as is debilitating Iran's navy, so that it can no longer block the Strait of Hormuz, through which so much commercial travel ships and oil travels.”

For years excitable figures have warned that any attack on Iran would start World War III. The fact that the regime in Iran has spent decades trying to develop a nuclear weapon was always a problem for these people. After all, if a terrorist regime is developing a nuclear weapon and says it is going to use that weapon, what exactly is the world meant to do? Sit back and let it happen?

That’s what much of the world seemed happy to do. Or rather, they hoped that someone would take the problem off the world’s hands for them.

And so it fell to the governments of Israel and the United States of America to step up. To do what the German chancellor recently called the world’s “dirty work” for the rest of the planet.

Israel + Texas = Unicorns? More like the two most batshit crazy rightwing extremist cultures I know of....