I've been seeing this headline for more than twenty years.
It's considered a positional stalemate, and that is politically advantageous for Russia. Both parties have been able to set up considerable defensive positions, making progress extremely costly. Both parties are still fighting for progress nonetheless, where Russia has the most trouble achieving it and Ukrainian forces are making small gains (field by field) on a consistent basis. But knowing that the frontlinie is many miles deep and there is intense trench warfare to make a few yards progress... There will be no swift or decisive victory on either side.
Putin has most of his followers convinced that he is fighting nato backed nazis. So even when Russian war tactics are brutally inefficient and the losses in personell and equipment are enormous, there is little internal political backlash. Internationally the conflict is seen as a regional dispute. Since Ukraine isn't a part of a large international alliance. Western sanctions on Russia aren't as impact full as they could have been.
It's looking likely that the war in Ukraine is going to last a very long time. With guerilla attacks on Russian territory becoming more likely and higher in frequency. Russia doesn't have the equipment left for large scale invasions, doesn't have the money to create meaningful reserves. And the kremlin needs defensive power in other places along its border.
European and western sentiment is that Putin will not stop until the old ussr borders are back under his control. And being securely and unquestionably positioned as world superpower.
Reminder that this doesn't absolve you from your personal responsibilities. You do need to be making choices that move the world towards a better future.
Besides that the number one reason for land loss, the loss of biodiversity, nitrate pollution, and methane production is still the bio-industy. Let alone the ethical implications of killing billions of animals a month.
You can do both. No, you're obliged to do both. Stop supporting bio-industy and fight for rights.
True, my dad calls food "spicy" and breaks out in a sweat when I put black pepper on.
Inaction. Like everywhere else, a lot of things go wrong but aren't acted upon for too long because of political impotence or incompetence. Which paves the way for populist sentiment. Netherlands now has a housing crisis, a nitrogen crisis, employment shortage and then there is global warming, inflation and war in Europe.
Things we knew were coming and the sole reason the government didn't do anything was because of the neoliberal idea that the market will solve all problems through the magic of capitalism. This has been true for the past 3 decennia now.
Our saving grace is the EU and many policies and money coming in has been touted as solutions offered by a lot of populist in the east of the EU. Giving them an air of legitimacy. But of course the EU is also the entity that has been spreading the neoliberal ideals and open markets, a single coin. So easy to paint the EU with negative side effects as a boogeyman. Just don't mention the positive and don't offer solutions.
The problem is that far-right populist never have solutions because they see most of the problems coming from within a corruption of culture. So they often ignore fundamental systemic solutions because they are themselves functioning because of the system they are in. Fixing things is directly undermining their right of existence. So a feedback loop is inherently present.
Once you're in it's extremely difficult to get out.
"Sell it to who Ben? Fucking aquaman?"
There was no real indication for the scope and intensity of the hamas attacks. Based on US and Israeli Intel. There were some kind of warning signs, but nothing pointing to this ferocity. I think fighters got far further than they could dream of, and the severity of the response is a direct reaction to the failure of the isreali army to see and stop the attack. It's difficult to believe that the kremlin had more and better information to know that an attack would lead to war on the scale we see today. And I'm willing to believe that Russia sees benefits in arming hamas through the lens of geopolitics, they aren't controlling the actions of hamas in any meaningful way, I certainly don't believe that.
Putin is just taking advantage and is absolutely never harmed by being seen as some kind of geopolitical mastermind. He isn't.
There is nothing wrong with protecting your sanity. Why would you want to be exposed to vile nonsense, you're not going to read breitbart forums in your spare time are you? Like... You're the only one looking out for you online. The platforms are just trying to turn your participation into profit.
This is dumb enlightened centrist bullshit. Leftist socialist never stopped being at war with the bourgeois. We've been telling the maga crowd ten million times that they are voting against their interests, but we can't work together because they are literally fascists and are incapable, literally incapable of doing anything in good faith. In practice what it boils down to is that fighting the bourgeois and fighting conservatives is the same thing. It's not as if fighting maga crowd is keeping the bourgeois out of shot. No, it's all the same, maga is fascism. Fighting maga is what class war looks like.
Just anecdotally from my own life, they become more like thinking back to a dream you had last night. There is a knowledge of, or a familiarity with the emotions, but a lack of definite certainty about the content. You know it's yours, you know what it meant, you know what you experienced, but without reality to guide you and only through memory. When you do experience the guidance of reality, through songs, words, sights, smells, then the clarity/intensity can also come back. And that doesn't fade or I wouldn't use that word, you can get so familiar to it that it isn't carrying the weight it once did. Loss feels like loss, shame like shame, love like love... It's not that it fades into nothing, or that the quality of it diminishes. It's more that you bought a summer coat but it's winter now, it's not needed anymore. Still beautiful, still wearable, still looking good on you, just that it isn't the right thing to wear right now.
This is already the defacto situation for palestine. It is already recognized by many countries. Treaties have been signed. We've been close to a two state solution in 2007 when PLO was in power. Hamas however is not about being at peace with the situation and aims at the dismantling of Israel. It wants an Islamic state from the east to the west. At multiple occasions has it sabotaged a two state solution through violence. Hamas is everything but stable, it is an Islamic extremist faction. The threat of hamas/isis has put religious extremist nationalist factions into power in Israel also fueled by people with a religious conviction. Just that the land of the palestinians belongs to the jews. They are not particularly interested in peaceful coexistence as seperate countries either.
I think most people have given up hope of a two state solution. It looks further away than ever.
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nicetomeetyouIMVEGAN
joined 1 year ago
It's a reference to an attitude that is prevalent in conspiracy fantasy circles. It's a deflection of ownership of ideas to lend them more credibility, it's not actually about researching anything. There is no discussion about research conclusions or facts. there is discussion, but it's the exact opposite of research, it looks like, what questions give the right answers and how to connect the conclusions to the data. What they mean by saying 'research' isn't what it actually means. Conspiracy fantasy wants you to stumble upon coincidences to lure you into their worldview.