The way the Brits and French carved up the region was done to deliberately create nations with inner conflicts, easily exploitable.

That was true of US and western foreign policy more generally in the past. The idea being that if the Middle East is divided they wouldn’t be a threat to Europe and the rest of the world.

Things are somewhat different now. The US wants to have its cake and eat it too. The current Biden administration realize if the Middle East is destabilized for too long someone like ISIS will takeover and be a problem for everyone. That’s why they are trying to get Israel and Saudi Arabia to agree to a defense pact. The US is fine with a united Middle East, because from an economic perspective, these foreign wars are bad for business. The US wants what amounts to a second NATO to keep things running smoothly.

My point is that a united Middle East is a useful arrangement for the region and world regardless if the US or any other foreign power has a stake in it. In fact, better if it doesn’t. An independent Middle East can interface with the rest of the world militarily and economically as a block. This will ensure mutual defense as well as economic protections for workers for the people living in the region. Without any pressure to take part in exploitive, debt saddling, deals like China’s Belt and Road initiative or expansionist wars like Russia’s war in Ukraine.

If the Middle East unites around ideas like self-determination for member countries, then they will be no more of a threatening superpower than Europe is now. And they will be able to stop the ambitions of hostile nations like Russia and Israel.

killing and/or ostracizing everyone on it who isn’t a Jew Israeli

Palestinians live in Israel and the Israel government does not care about Palestinian citizens of Israel. They claim to care about Jewish Israelis and Jews more broadly. A fascist makes a hierarchy not for the people at the top the hierarchy, but for the fascists. My only point was that Jews are at the top of the Zionist hierarchy, not that the Zionists in control of Israel care about Jews, because they do not.

Of course Israel and Russia, for that matter, do not really care about Jews or Russians respectively or people at all for that matter. Israel’s fascist government targets Palestinians, Lebanese, and Syrians because they are the other. A scope goat to misdirect class resentment from the owner class to minorities and foreigners.

Israel does not care about the safety of Jewish people. Their constant deflection about how their military actions are in the name of protecting Jewish people, and the intentional conflation of anti-zionism and antisemitism, has only increased genuine antisemitism at the expense of Jewish people worldwide

No kidding and well said. I, as a Jew, am less safe now than before Israel’s genocide. The point is the genocide is being carried out in the name of Israeli Jews and Jews more broadly, which sucks. To be clear, I am anti-zionist and anti-fascist, but not antisemtic. Anti-zionism and anti-fascism should always go hand in hand because zionism is a form of fascism.

Also, as long as I’m dancing around using the word, I don’t particularly like the term diaspora Jew. I am not living in diaspora. I live in the US where I am full citizen. I have rights and freedoms here that are not preconditioned on whether or not I am Jewish. edit: typo

These dictatorships, and Israel with this current cabinet is effectively a fascist dictatorship, want to expand their sphere of influence and territory. They are willing to disregard the rules based order and risk WWIII even if that isn’t the goal.

The Middle East seems to be in this three way power struggle now between Turkey, Saudi Arabia backed by the US, and Iran backed by Russia. Iran is part of this axis with China, North Korea, and Russia. Turkey is in NATO and wants to be a EU member, but is an enemy of the Kurds a US ally.

The US wants Israel and Saudi Arabia to join in a defense pact so our two allies will help us maintain peace in the region. Saudi Arabia wants to be the leaders of a new caliphate in the Middle East that unites the countries and Muslims living there. Defense pacts with the US and Israel would help them do that. But the Middle East is united in their support of Palestine which means Israel needs to make concessions on Palestine or Saudi Arabia will never be seen as a legitimate leader of the Middle East.

So Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians is not only destabilizing the region and making Israel a pariah, it’s also knee capping Saudi Arabia’s ambitions. Saudi Arabia needs US support but they can’t be seen as an ally to a genocidal Israel.

At the same time Israel has undermined Iran’s proxy network which allowed Syrian rebels to win the civil war. Iran and Russia are now on the back foot in the region.

Rather than swoop in and be a uniter, Turkey is wasting time fighting the Kurds in Syria.

Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey all want to be the leaders of a future caliphate, but thanks to Israel none of them are in a position to get it. This is a terrible situation for the people living in the Middle East and in the long run can only lead to Israel getting more land, influence, and resources in the region.

At this point a country without strong foreign ties that emphasizes the idea of self-determination for countries in the Middle East is more likely to unite the Middle East than Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Turkey. If Syria could recover from the war quickly enough, they could be in an excellent position to do this, given the HTS leader’s talking points. HTS and the Kurds need to double down on an alliance and kick out ISIS and Turkey asap.

Peace in the Middle East is what is good for everyone in the long run, even if some people argue it could theoretically hurt US interests in the short run. A united Europe has benefited that region and the world tremendously. A new Middle Eastern super power might scare some policy people, but it would be an important counter balance to Russia, China, India, and Israel. Those four countries especially would happily carve up the Middle East into bits if they can as the US becomes isolationist under Trump. edit: typo

It depends how far Israel goes with this. Syria isn’t in a position to to pick fights or hold grudges. But Syrian rebel groups aren’t going to let Israel conquer them or leave them so debilitated someone else can conquer them. If Israel keeps it’s attacks to abandoned regime military equipment and the land grabs to the Golan Heights then Syrian rebel groups are probably going to let it slide for the foreseeable future.

Responding to Jolani, the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said: “We aren’t intervening in what is happening in Syria. We have no intention of administering Syria.”

It’s also important to remember that when Israel says they don’t want to administer other people or countries they mean they don’t want to rule other people, they want the land and resources. That’s why they are killing everyone in the Gaza strip and refusing to leave despite saying they don’t want to administer Palestinians. Forming a greater Israel means taking as much land as they can get away with and killing and/or ostracizing everyone on it who isn’t a Jew. edit: typo

They are all Abrahamic Religions. But that hasn’t stopped nearly a thousand years of conflict since the First Crusade.

They’re the same god in the sense that those religions claim they are the same god. But they are different in the sense that they are part of different religions that have long lasting disagreements. Abraham =/= Jesus =/= Muhammad. So they are different gods in the sense of what people kill each other over.

Hopefully this kind of attitude will lead to peace between these groups in the future. However, I think we shouldn’t uncritically take what religion tells us at face value. Of course it’s all made up, but the reasons it was made up are important.

Jews decided there was only one real god so they could invalidate other religions. Christians decided that god had a son so they could both benefit from the religion Jews started while also invalidating those same Jews. Muslims decided that a guy got an update from god so they could invalidate Christians and Jews while still benefiting from those religions and the idea of a single god. It’s about using religion as a source of legitimacy for power.

Monotheism, or least pretending to be monotheist, has benefited religions, so no group wants to give that up. And it was probably seen as way to convert people from older religions. Again, hopefully ‘they are all the same god’ will be used to unite people in the future, but it’s important to understand ‘they are all the same god’ was about leveraging existing beliefs for power. edit: word choice

The main allegations in the report are:

• The unprecedented scale and magnitude of the military offensive, which has caused death and destruction at a speed and level unmatched in any other 21st-century conflict;
• Intent to destroy, after considering and discounting arguments such as Israeli recklessness and callous disregard for civilian life in the pursuit of Hamas;
• Killing and causing serious bodily or mental harm in repeated direct attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, or deliberately indiscriminate attacks; and
• Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, such as destroying medical infrastructure, the obstruction of aid, and repeated use of arbitrary and sweeping “evacuation orders” for 90% of the population to unsuitable areas.

One is much more useful to the Capitalist and so it will ultimately prevail. The capitalist will devote all resources to crushing the leftist populism up to and including directly funding fascism.

Unless. We have to spread these ideas to as many people as possible. We can’t afford to call it early.

I think you are correct. To spec made me think spec was being used as a verb. But it’s definitely to specification as in used as intended. My bad. edit: typo

spec

Sorry, what do you mean by spec? Spec ops was the closest I could find.

That seal is going in the stew. 👩 👊🦭

Do people not enjoy ripping the paper off of plastic water bottles? This looks like the same kind of fun to me.

Yes, Russia oppressing LGBTQ+ people is bad.

No.

What? Did you write this article? I can’t tell if you’re kidding and agreeing with me or seriously mad and being sarcastic.

Putin’s not going to stop with Ukraine. His expressed ideology is to conquer Europe. It’s effectively manifest destiny for Russia, but all of Europe instead of the western US.

Kraut does a good job of covering this in his video, but it is kind of long. The point is, you don’t have to take it from me.

I don’t see why he would stop with Europe either. There are plenty of Middle Eastern countries that are close by that he can conquer too. Not to mention if Trump is reelected, the US is likely to pull out of NATO and become Russia’s biggest ally.

https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2023/10/24/trump-reportedly-open-to-pulling-u-s--out-of-nato

It’s incredibly important for Russia to be defeated in Ukraine. The Ukrainians are going to be treated like second class citizens under Russia, or simply killed. And Russia is going to run out of non-NATO members to invade and all of us are going to be fighting this war next.

If you need evidence that Russia doesn’t treat minorities well, take a look at this article.

Russia is well known for sending minorities to the meat grinder first.

My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.

The only people engaging in magical thinking are the people who use the phrase as a defense mechanism in their articles. How long the Russo-Ukrainian war lasts is irrelevant as Russia will never stop until it runs out of countries to conquer or collapses. We are better off if Russia collapses into its constituent entities.

but the Biden administration is firmly behind Israel…

Reporting would suggest this is not the case.

Biden administration staff sign open letter demanding cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war

I don’t feel safer because I’ve seen the slide towards fascism way before Trump and I know it will continue towards fascism because this slide includes the support and enabling of Democrats. There is no getting off this train by just electing Biden or the next assless Democrat who will just watch as fascists consolidate power.

Our decent into fascism started with Regan. Although it can be argued Republicans were trying even earlier with Nixon, they just screwed it up.

Democrats are controlled by neoliberals. But they are the most progress option we have and their party includes most of the progressive politicians that we have. Older politicians are finally aging out. Given enough time Democrats could be become a true progressive party and an effective deterrent against fascism. In the mean time, they are the only alternative.

I want the Democratic party to be more progressive, but I know voting for them is only way to stop a fascist takeover from happening.

It’s really telling to me you still consider this a democracy that is against genocide. The President is literally funding and arming a genocide that is happening right now. And when the choice is between a President who supports genocide or a President who supports worse genocide, how is that not already a dictatorship? How is that a functioning democracy? That is why it is even a question.

Biden supports Israel’s right to defend itself, not genocide. Netanyahu and his government chose to commit war crimes, not Biden. Biden has of course gotten this issue wrong. He should be demanding a ceasefire, among other things. Hopefully given enough pressure Biden will change his stance.

What’s been weird about this argument is the commitment to equivocating two individuals who could not be more different. Biden is a neoliberal. Trump is a fascist. Everyone can spot the difference. No one can be fooled by such a thinly veiled deception unless they choose to be. Why are you letting yourself be fooled? The people who want our country to descend into fascism don’t have our best interests at heart. Why go so willingly to our deaths at the hands of the Republicans? The Palestinians won’t be better off with America as a fascist dictatorship. The only way to help the Palestinians, ourselves, or anyone else is with a democracy. Do you just want to guilt trip me or do you think it will somehow get better if we lose our democracy? edit: typo

But you haven’t stopped fascism by voting for Biden, you’ve supported it.

By electing Biden we stopped the fascist takeover in America by another four years. By not voting for Biden, you helped Trump, a fascist.

Sure.

Yep. The truth is Russia lies.

Your vote didn’t stop fascism.

The fascists need to control all three branches of government to complete their take over. We are currently denying them the executive branch. By controlling the Senate as well, we retain the means to appoint judges at all levels of the federal government, not just the Supreme Court. Undoing the damage done by Trump, getting a liberal majority on the Supreme Court and fixing the flaws in our democracy that enabled the fascists in the first place could easily take decades. And during that time we are always going to be one election away from the fascists taking over all three branches of the federal government. We’re going to be voting fascists out of office and preventing fascists from taking office for a while. I believe as long as people continue to tell each other about the danger these fascists present to us all then we will continue to beat them in elections.

He’s been a friend and suporter of Netanyahu for over 40 years, almost half a century; he has continued funding, arming, and militarily as well as politically defending Israel while they commit genocide, but somehow none of that doesn’t make him a fascist supporter yet? Oh, but I didn’t know he was forced to be friendly with fascists. He has little recourse but to deal with fascist genociders, what a shame. Yet he has full power to not recognize or deal with states like Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and so on. Weird how that works. It’s almost as if he wants to be on friendly terms with the far Right in Israel for some reason, but I guess I just don’t understand the high levels of geopolitics

Right, the US has been supporting Israel for over 70 years. By your logic, everyone in America is a fascist. Rather than acknowledging the complexity of the Israel-Palestine conflict, you want it to be simple. Israel is bad so America is bad. Biden is American therefore he is bad. The fact that Jews were the victims of the holocaust and Biden wants to foster a country where they can live in peace is simply not a possible motivation as far as you’re concerned. He must want to enable the far right extremists to commit genocide. I could go into detail about I how I think the state of Israel centered in the ‘Holy Land’ was a terrible mechanism to achieve lasting peace for anyone. Problem is we inherited a globe carved up by indifferent Europeans who had no idea what they were doing when they drew the maps. We can try to fix these problems or we can enjoy a position of moral superiority that comes with taking sides. I’m choosing the former.

Yeah, those Palestinian children are much safer in the ground surrounded by their families. You have supported fascism, not everyone is safer because of it. Fascists are safer, though, there’s that at least.

More Palestinian children would be dead if the fascists were in power under Trump. You ignoring that isn’t making me look like a fascist.

edit: typos

You’re delusional if you are not even willing to admit to yourself you voted for a fascist enabler because you wanted to feel safer.

I mean, I do feel safer. You should too. I voted for Biden to stop the fascist take over. I didn’t fully realize how much of a danger it was until Jan 6th. But it’s become crystal clear to me since.

That’s a functional democracy worth defending at the cost of supporting genocide to you?

A democracy that is against genocide is better than a fascist dictatorship that actively pursues genocide at home and abroad. How is that even a question?

I’m not even going to address your either blatant lie or severe historical amnesia about Democratic evangelism, despite the fact you are still proving my point by arguing that choosing Biden to Trump was the morally superior choice and that not voting for Biden ipso facto makes you a Trump supporter (which is morally inferior).

Morality sucks. It often leads people to the wrong conclusions. It’s not about moral superiority. It’s about stopping fascism and millions of deaths.

Is this the same Ukraine where he sends arms and money without demanding that said arms and money do not go towards Nazi regiments such as Azov? Supporting one fascist group which trains US-born fascists against another fascist group has prevented fascism from spreading?

The Azov Brigade has been denazified. The founders of the militia are now in their own political party which thankfully has won zero seats last I checked. Russian propaganda isn’t credible information.

Are you sure that’s all he could do? So he’s powerless to protect us from Christofascists in power? We just have to wait it out?

I have read the constitution. Appointing Supreme Court justices is in fact all he can do in regards to the Supreme Court. The Republicans waited 50 years to take our freedoms away. Now we may very well have to spend 50 years voting to get them back. This is why elections matter.

Here is a transcript. You’ll want article two, section two, paragraph two.

Is Biden’s “unwavering support” for Israel’s Right-wing and genocidal fascist Netanuayu not fascist-enabling? What then is the difference between being “wrong” by funding and arming Israel and continuing to defend them politically, and being a “fascist enabler”?

Biden doesn’t support the fascist right wing of Israel. It’s hard for any world leader to single out the political parties of another country. World leaders have little recourse but to interface with other world leaders. We are reaching a point where we are going to have to start denouncing countries for putting fascists in power. This of course goes against decades of foreign policy of sticking with your allies no matter what. But we are going to have to because fascist dictatorships are incentivized to betray democracies.

Yeah, the difference is you feel safer.

Right. Because I am. And so is everyone else.