Hyperreality

joined 2 years ago
[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I admire your confidence.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 37 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Nitpick, but a storage tank isn't the best target.

IRC it's the distillation tower. Those can take months to get running again, especially now that Russia is under sanctions and can't easily source some specialised parts.

A storage tank is relatively easy to manufacture and replace.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I've provided further sources here:

https://kbin.social/m/world@lemmy.world/t/809321/-/comment/4963666

And another user has provided sources here:

https://lemmy.ca/comment/6965014

Please note that Biden not liking Netenyahu or his government, is different to Biden being supportive of the current war cabinet or Israel itself.

There are legitimate reasons to be critical of the US stance on that.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Have you ever considered that you don't know that much, which is why you think what the democrats are doing is easy to understand and simple, and seem to think Israel, Netenyahu and his government are all the same thing?

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 children)

Here's an article from before the Hamas attacks:

The White House has finally invited Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the US after months of snubbing the Israeli prime minister over his government’s creeping annexation of the West Bank and deepening oppression of the Palestinians.

And another one:

President Biden bluntly warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he “cannot continue down this road” ... he touched off the kind of response usually expressed by America’s adversaries rather than its allies. ... “Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends,” Mr. Netanyahu said on Wednesday, accusing the U.S. president of meddling in another country’s politics — which is exactly what Mr. Biden was intending to do. It was a remarkably public outbreak of the kind of disagreement that usually takes place in private. But there were other factors at work that had been brewing for many years.

And here's another relevant article:

Biden understands that Netanyahu’s position is a precarious one. His governing coalition received just 48.4 percent of the vote, and took power only because of a quirk of the Israeli electoral system. The coalition relies on an alliance of unpopular far-right parties to stay afloat, whom Netanyahu must appease to remain in office. Biden has exploited this weakness and repeatedly poked at it. Rather than directly confronting Netanyahu, he has called out his extremist partners and in this way heightened the contradictions within Netanyahu’s coalition, undermining its stability and gradually eroding its support in the polls. In July, Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that Netanyahu’s government has “the most extremist members of cabinets that I’ve seen” in Israel ... This was Biden’s approach in action: criticizing Israel during wartime in front of a pro-Israel crowd, and doing so in a way that nonetheless denied Netanyahu any opening. As long as it’s Biden versus Ben-Gvir, rather than Biden versus Bibi, the president holds the upper hand. ... Biden has brought the same strategy to bear on the issue of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has accelerated under the cover of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Netanyahu’s coalition is unable to clamp down on these extremists and their terrorism because it is beholden to these extremists. But most Israelis have no desire to mortgage the security of Israel and its indispensable relationship to the United States in favor of some far-flung hilltop settlers in West Bank regions that few Israelis could locate on a map. Knowing this, Biden has begun unrolling a series of unilateral measures intended to raise the price of settler violence and pit Netanyahu and his allies against the Israeli public.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/biden-netanyahu-geopolitics-israel-hamas-war/676357/

Proper nasty politics, keep your enemies closer, and backstabbing basically.

People think Biden's this old incompetent coot, but there's a reason he's been around for decades. He's a piece of work, for better or for worse, and knows how the game is played.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (14 children)

Obviously plenty of people on social media have been shitting on Biden for a while now, perhaps understandably.

But this is why he has to play a delicate and balanced role. He obviously hates Netenyahu and dislikes Israel's government, but he can't push too hard, because it would only help Netenyahu cling on to power a while longer. For example:

After cautious criticism by Biden, Netanyahu rallies Israel’s right wing ... The spat was cheered by Netanyahu’s supporters, who dismiss any calls from Biden or other leaders to pull back from the military assault on Gaza until Hamas has been wiped out as a fighting force.

So although he initially publicly backed Israel 100%, the reason he's now being relatively muted in his criticism of their government, is almost certainly because he wants Netenyahu gone or wants Netenyahu to be forced to create a new coalition with more moderate parties. You know, get rid of those smug thunder cunts Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.

Meanwhile, the US is clearly pushing the two state solution hard behind the scenes. Don't think it's an accident that little America's David Cameron said the UK might recognise Palestine and apparently the US is considering it too, all while doing an intensive tour of the middle-east and negotiating with Israel's neighbours for normalisation.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

This isn't an open war.

It's a limited amount of retaliatory and proportional strikes, meant to dissuade further attacks on US forces and international shipping. They've also chosen not to attack Iran, exactly because they want to avoid escalation. They also warned Iran ahead of time, so they could move out anyone important.

If the US hadn't responded, it would only have made things worse. You can't just ignore groups murdering your soldiers. That'll only invite more of this crap. Terrorists shooting at civilian container ships is also not good for anyone.

The same thing happened with Iran and Pakistan recently. Iran struck Pakistan. Pakistan struck back. They both came to the conclusion they didn't want a war, and made a statement to that effect.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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

Per capita the US spends up to four times as much as comparable developed countries on healthcare, countries which often have something approaching universal healthcare which is affordable for almost everyone.

In other words, the US could spends less on healthcare, more on defense, and still have universal and better healthcare.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Is it?

If you're unable to understand orders and have no combat experience, you're likely to be a burden and waste of equipment. They don't have the time to train people or teach them Ukrainian.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

They're not unless you can speak Ukrainian and/or have military experience.

view more: ‹ prev next ›