Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
People see through the creeping (and creepy) tyranny of the Left's faceless and banal statism. Trump's gallows humor has the virtue of sounding genuine, a rarity amidst suffocating bureaucracy. Case in point: when's the last time you heard a Democrat laugh except in carefully staged comedy? They're afraid to speak their minds lest they end up having misspoke. Case in point: Biden had to apologize for calling an illegal murderer an "illegal". Case in point: Illegals in NY City live better than many in the city's poor neighborhoods. The average American sees something very shady going one here under the mask of wokeism.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
So, the masses being led astray again into political heresy. Twenty years ago, you could still point to the religious right, and more recently, fake news, disinformation, etc. But these people are not religious, not even in the Putin/Orban sense. Anyone who didn't see this coming decades ago had their head in the sand. While elites collectively jumped on the "Germany was hijacked" bandwagon to create distance from the past, a large segment of Germany simply went underground, where it festered without representation, with the occasional rupture. Now, with multi-culturalism taking heavy blows, and with the Left splintering into a thousand directions, this mass is simply filling a vacuum. The Left has only itself to blame. It owns all the major Kulturmachers: information, media, education, etc. It did not use its power wisely and this is but the bitter fruit. Ironically, the New Right is not anti-EU--just its "values". The article could have asked what this new force in Germany means for Ukraine.
Shamblesheep
US2h ago
In other words, while the US is bogged down in endless wars, the rest of the world is surging ahead capturing market share. As they say, an army marches on its portfolio. The old Marxists have found Portfolio to be the better part of Manifesto. Meanwhile, bankrupt Europe is paying the price for untapping from the Russian spigot, scraping the barrel to pay for its NATO insurance policy, while China floods their markets with cheap products made with cheap Russian gas.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Somehow Friedman keeps missing the trees for the forest: the Trump II/Netanyahu axis. Netanyahu has enough in him to make it to November, when, with a Trump win, global toxicity will become irrelevant under the wings of the world's hegemon, and the Hard Right gets to create One Israel. Israel cannot be cancelled, because the US cannot be cancelled, and the World Court will be hard pressed to implicate Israel, while giving its enabler, the US, a pass. This is the only course left open to Israelis who see a non-partitioned Holy Land essential to Jewish identity. Trump promises One Israel. How he deals with the toxic waste--well, in Trump fashion, he will keep improvising from the frying pan into the fire, endlessly cheating the hangman. And don't discount the Apocalyptic fatalism here: theocratic redemption comes when the world is at its most toxic, and zealots are often impatient of the End. And at this point, given the extent of global outrage, most Israelis think they've already reached the point of no return. So why not go for broke?
Shamblesheep
(forgot to switch to Schoffmensch as the Temple Protocols block Shamblesheep)
USPending Approval
The words "anti-Semitism" and "anti-Zionism" were already fading into oblivion before Gaza. Now they've have lost their cachet altogether. Just look zt what's happened to Germany, where the young generation has long chafed under the weight of inherited guilt which for which they are forced to atone. Global outrage over Gaza gives them a way out as Israel has now completely squandered the treasury of merit of Western Holocaust guilt.
Shoffmensch
(blocked--because it gets to the point. They'll shriek for a whole day in Manhattan if they let it through. But the Temple Jews know what I'm getting at here, and it exposes the Conspiracy of the Temple Protocols)
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"the third holiest site for Muslims and part of the compound sacred to Jewish people, who call it the Temple Mount"
It is sacred only because the Temple sat where the Dome of the Rock now is. Everyone knows what the elephant in the room is here, but it is too terrifying to mention. Netanyahu's hard Right has designs on the Temple Mount. It is the catalytic heartbeat of the Holy Land and the keystone to making the Holy Land whole. Yet it remains the third part of the religion of Islam. Those few acres are worth as much as the rest of the Land, the whole being infinitely greater than the sum of all its parts. The implications here would seem fairly obvious.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Poor Wehner, trying to atone for whispering Bush into the slaughter of Iraqis by going all-out as Leftwing Culture Warrior. The world is tired of Biden's endless wars, which under his tenure have shed rivers of human blood, and look to Trump to shut down the Left's newfound war-fetish.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Can anyone explain the incongruity of radical Islam's jihad against the decadent West while the Emirates are becoming Las Vegas in the Gulf? What protects the world's largest skyscrapers and 5 star resorts from Iran's suicidal proxies? Iran fears being reduced to further poverty by the commercial zone of the Abrahamic Accords, and yet the petro-sheiks do not appear to feel threatened by the fundamentalists in their midst, and can't wait for Israel to finish the job of making the Mideast safe for investment and development. The Houthis, for instance, wage war on the commercial lanes in defense of Gaza. They consider Emirate overtures to Israel as religious treason. Yet the gleaming cities of the sheiks don't seem threatened.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Food to keep them alive until US "munitions" put them out of their misery. Leave it to Biden to follow "the rules", for US prison protocol says you can't execute a prisoner on an empty stomach. But who pays for all this? Why not seize Israeli assets as with Russia? I'm sure Professor Tribe of Harvard is on the case. And after spending billions to build ports, Israel requires that they be removed so's not to make life easier for Palestinians. We're not told what deadline Biden is laboring under. But at least he must have got permission from Israel. Now that's leadership.
But can anyone tell me what "interests" the US has in trying to keep the body count from rising dramatically in Gaza? And why not ask "ally" Israel to join the humanitarian effort. After all, Israel is the US's closest ally. With allies like these, who needs friends?
Unless Biden is now trying to atone for greenlighting the atrocity, and is hoping not to be implicated with Israel at the World Court.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US5h ago
Still there's room for optimism: the world's superpower seems to have some assurance that Israel will not use Biden's steady stream of bombs to blow up US attempts to deliver a last meal to Israel's victims: US prison protocol says people should not be killed on an empty stomach. But what can the leader of the mightiest nation in the history of the world do with Trump poaching the Jewish vote? To help Gaza's starving women and children, Biden would have to face the wrath of his US donors. The Parliaments of China and Russia must be rolling on the floor laughing their heads off to see Biden supplicate helplessly like Henry IV barefoot in the sands of Gaza. Netanyahu has become Biden's greatest tormentor, and the latter seems to be in grips of political Stockholm Syndrome, because he keeps asking Congress for more $billions to multiply his torments. He would have the American people believe that attempts to deliver food to dying women and children by a US army convoy would be met by Israeli tanks at the Egyptian border. But Superpowers, too, are only as strong as their kingmakers.
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Lily
Portland1m ago
@Shoffmensch Biden is blind to the sufferings of the Gazans. A truly moral man would stand up to his donors but Biden is a coward.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
Image/confidence is 99 percent of what makes the politician. Biden's frailty is his greatest deficit. In the face of three major crises (Ukraine, Border, Gaza) the ship seems rudderless, and he projects the image of clinging to the helm rather than guiding it. And people see clueless Harris next to him. What could go wrong?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US6m ago
Putin is in no hurry because he knows his limits. He's not fool enough to think Russia can seize and administer Baltic states. Europe's greatest threat is its ambiguous eastern border, where Putin's Mafiosi can prey on Europe from the no-man's land that is the fragmented Balkans. He can keep Europe "jumpy" simply be stirring up proxy skirmishes along the Eastern Front. He knows where the tripwires of Article 5 are, and also that the West will not start a nuclear war over a skirmish.
But more to the point: Russia sold the war as a rollback of subversive "decadence", and has largely succeeded within Russia and segments of Europe. Moreover, as the writer implies, he weaponized the West's Culture War as a stealth column within NATO: Republican resistance and the rise of Far Right Europe. He sees the Right's infatuation with Orbanism, and its implications: a fatal disease spreading through the vitals. Superpowers are never defeated: they crumble and collapse.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US51m ago
Let me get this straight: If a US army convey shows up at the Gaza/Egypt border and asks to deliver food to starving women and children, is Biden telling the American people that his humanitarian gesture will be met by Israeli tanks? If push comes to shove, he could fist-bump Hamas and ask to use their tunnels--after making them bomb proof, and perhaps risk Israel's wrath by temporarily withholding bunker busters.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US20m ago
I take it Biden was able to get Israel not to bomb the US funded ports with bombs which Biden keeps delivering posthaste: no shortage there (as in Ukraine). You couldn't make this up: the world's superpower held hostage by its own proxy. On the one hand, he greenlights Gaza's destruction, and on the other, he keeps them barely alive to the bitter end, sort of like a last meal before the execution.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US26m ago
@Kevin
Too late. This was always about November. He lost his Civil Rights base at around 25000 dead. Those voters aren't coming back. So he's doubling down to keep the donors. The war will continue as long as Netanyahu rules. And the US can't remove him. But you're right, Israel is taking the US down with it.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US6h ago
" the bearish mood that Donald Trump feeds and then feeds off of"
Always Trump. But you can't blame Trump for Biden's sinking polls. I suggest Brooks preach a little closer to home. His man is in the Oval. He faces three ruinous crises of his own making: Border, Ukraine, Gaza. On all three he shows himself to be utterly hapless. And worse could be on the horizon: the even more hapless Harris. Voters see through the Trump scapegoating.
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Anglophile commented 6 hours ago
Anglophile
Border State6h ago
@Shoffmensch I'm still trying to igure out how Biden is responsible for events in Israel that began with a horrendous terrorist attack that worked just as planned--to provoke rage and war on the part of the Isaelis, led by Netanyahu--or the invasion of Ukraine by Putin. Is he President of Russia and Israel now, or am I missing something?
As for all three situations: who refused to pass a bill to help control the border? Who refuses to help Ukraine? The Congress. So, we have a President being blames for situations he did not create and for not responding when his hands are tied. The only time immigration was low under Trump was when he could declare a national emergency to completely close the borders because most of the world was shut down.
A president is subject to the ruling of courts, the funding of Congress, and the will of the people. I actually think that's good.
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Tracy
Arizona5h ago
@Shoffmensch His own making? Biden didn't have anything to do with any of those crises.
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brassrat commented 5 hours ago
B
brassrat
On The Road5h ago
@Shoffmensch I totally beg to differ. Please explain to me how Biden created any of the crises you claim he did. Did the president fund the tunnels crisscrossing under Gaza or the rockets Hamas was launching into Israel? Did the president fawn over Putin, taking Putin's claims over our own intelligence people?, the list goes on.
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Long Islander commented 3 hours ago
L
Long Islander
Long Island, NY3h ago
@Shoffmensch. No no no. Methinks you are watching too much Fox News. Biden didn’t start any of these wars and has been an integral part of getting a coalition of other countries to try to stop them. As a country we are sorely missing a moral compass, helped principally by a former president who is interested in nothing but himself.
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Spencer commented 11 minutes ago
S
Spencer
St. Louis11m ago
@brassrat And didn't Kushner tavel to the Midle East to establish a "peace plan"? What happened to that?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US15m ago
"A Subway Plan Aimed to Ease Fears"
Everyone relax. If that doesn't do it, the governor can always invoke NATO Article 5. The two new members added just in time for crises such as this. When I saw the pics, I briefly thought I was in Red Square. It's defund the police by other means: it gives people in uniform on the job training between wars. Cheap police. Why pay double?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US5m ago
"Trump's last year in office was a Leftwing nightmare"
Proof: A majority of non-elitist Americans can't wait for Nightmare II to begin. If Trump chastised the Left with whips before, this time he threatens them with scorpions. A classic case of overreach. The Left is in control of all the major institutions and didn't use their power wisely. This is but the backlash. Hopefully, they get try again to thwart the theocrats. The Calvinist are ready to give Calvin's Geneva another go. As with Marxism, the quickest way to run it off a cliff is to allow them to "try" it again.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
But the fact remains the Putin hurled NATO back, and is still advancing westward. Everyone knows he has carte blanche in Ukraine without fear of NATO intervention. He's playing nuclear chicken and Biden backed down from "whatever it takes", to "as long as we can", to looking for a way out without admitting abject failure. The additions to NATO are only as good as they are underwritten by American nukes, and no American President will start a nuclear war over a border skirmish in the Baltics. Putin with nukes is the equivalent of a suicide bomber. Everyone knows he would last less than a day in a conventional war and end up dead. But Europe has not advanced from its initial posturing of "defeating Putin". There is no Plan B for "undefeated" Putin. The humiliation of being made to admit failure is what gave rise to Macron maniacal outburst several days ago. Everyone knows what the red lines are by now: NATO stays out of Ukraine, and Putin has perfect freedom within Ukraine, but not beyond it. But this conforms to the stated goal of his "special operation". This means that the rules of engagement will remain the same even if Putin threatens Kyiv. He knows the West is not ready for all out nuclear war, and the West is not quite sure he's bluffing. No one is tempted to find out.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US53m ago
The US may have "hollowed out" the Russians. But the Ukraine Front is on the verge of collapse and the US does not have Plan B. It cannot intervene without nuclear war, leaving Putin to stir up trouble for the EU in the Balkans. Meanwhile, Europe is frightened out of its wits at the prospect of Trump II and the draconian measures he will impose on them. The EU has essentially become NATO (or Pentagon II) and has lost its freedom of self-determination. On the one hand, Scholz wants to keep paying NATO insurance, while young Macron wants the EU to become a superpower. Which would mean a financially crippling nuclear shield. In short, it is Europe that is being "hollowed out", and the Right is filling the vacuum. Putin's long range plan for Europe, after all, is to subverts its ideas and make them more Orbanistic.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US4h ago
“It is just a matter of getting Hamas to sign on,” he said.
Why not, "It's just a matter of getting Israel to sign on?"
1. Hamas leaders are dead the day they release the hostages without a permanent peace fire and Israeli withdrawal. Why would they "sign" their own death warrants?
2. The big pressure cooker here is Biden's need of a historic deal (two-state) to stem his sinking polls. He needs more than just a cease -fire now. He needs to offer young voters tangible proof that two-state is in the works. The Oval is at stake here, and without a permanent cease fire, his idealistic young voters will desert him. Hamas knows this.
3. Actually, then, it's just a matter of Biden putting his foot down, if he wants a second term. He gave Israel the green light and weapons to destroy Gaza. Which makes him the deal-breaker here: not Hamas nor Israel.
31 Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
'99 members voted against any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state"
Out of 120. What does this prove? That Israel does not accept the right of the State of Palestine to exist. US treatment of the Palestinian cause constitutes the biggest fraud in diplomatic history, and has never been more than a smokescreen for US funded Settler expansion.
Let's be frank here: Biden needs regime change in Israel to cut his losses going into November. Without a major deal (two-state) soon, his greenlighting and funding of the destruction of Gaza will rob him of any chance of a second term. And without a major deal, the crisis will become more and more malignant. Cameron is merely voicing the frustration of the rest of Europe, and its seething immigrant street. Hamas stands to do what Putin could not: drive a wedge between the EU and the US.
The ball is entirely in Biden's court, his hapless handwringing notwithstanding. The math here is brutal. He greenlighted the destruction of Gaza to keep his Jewish base from migrating to Trump. Now that the political inferno rages uncontrollable, he has no choice but to impose his will in the same abrupt manner. This will cost him votes. But aside from a major two-state deal, his chances of reelection are nil. He will lose his young voters, and Arab leaders will keep their distance. Meanwhile, Netanyahu gets what he's been angling for: Trump II. Trump will turbocharge Israeli control of One Israel.
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Sam
Wisconsin2h ago
@Shoffmensch
Never mind that the Arab Palestinians don't want an Israel of any size and have supported the terrorist organizations. Proof: large street demonstrations celebrating October 7.
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Frances commented 9 minutes ago
F
Frances
The Vineyard9m ago
@Sam
The lost popular solution among prevailing Palestinian thought leaders is the one-state secular and democratic solution, pursuant to international law.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1m ago
@Call me Al
Why would Egypt help its old enemy, while watching it dig a grave for itself in Gaza? Everyone know that this is Biden's to solve. He greenlighted it, he owns it, and he can shut down the war instantly. He knows he has to do so quickly or it will cast him reelection. Which means he's forced to put regime-changing pressure on Israel, which is where Gantz comes in. Both Israel and Biden are now in the crosshairs at the World Court, and the EU is beginning to distance itself. For Israel all options are equally bad: a higher body count, or withdrawal and immediate two-state negotiations.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
@Uncommitted
And after giving Israel cover and bombs to destroy Gaza, the headline says Biden is left to construct a pier to gain access, otherwise blocked by the very bombs he supplies. The US has become the laughingstock of the world. Israel threw Biden under the bus as soon as he mentioned "two-state", and is now leading him around by the nose.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Looks like Cultural Marxism is about to be "untried" (as in Portland) again. But to resort to what is effectively martial law to address the social wreckage is breathtaking.
Shamblesheep
(these are the Editors, and Gallio cared for none of these things. They had to build a special room deep within the Saferoom just for Shamblesheep--but here it finally is)
Shamblesheep
US19m ago
Elections have consequences: it's called democracy, which is rule-by-vote, which is by default, then, majority rule, which means the majority impose their will on all the rest, which leaves all the rest to seek patronage to advance their causes elsewhere: Caesar rose to power as an advocate of the underprivileged.
The Left had a good run. It controls media, tech-bro para-governments, education (Ivy League elites), and Culture. It is now taking heavy blows across the spectrum globally, because the masses find ifs statist hegemony to be insufferable.
I note that no one thinks Trump won by deceit or vote-rigging. Although, elitists sneer that he conquered by fake news and disinformation. But the Left controls the major knowledge outlets. If the majority of Americans who pine for Trump II can no longer discern between Leftwing truth and Rightwing error--well, then the trouble with people who vote for Trump rises to the level of a moral deficit, does it not? "Every American" has a vote. The majority who will put Trump in office see globalist Democrats as a greater danger to America than Orbanism. The Left abused its power, and Trump is but the bitter fruit. There are no innocents here.
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BBen
Dallas, TxJust now
@Shamblesheep Really Orbanism? The nationalization of private pension funds
All private pension funds were abolished and nationalized.
For Taxation: Orbanism Increased main VAT from 25% to 27% in 2012, while it decreased for certain products (meat, fish, chicken, eggs, internet, etc.) to 5% gradually from 2016-18;
Decreased all corporate profit taxes from 10-19% to 9% regardless of revenue (previously, there was a non-flat corporate profit tax);
Decreased payroll taxes paid on employee salaries by few percentages. Introduced new taxes on banks (transactions, withdrawals, etc).
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US26m ago
He calmly moves through crisis after crisis. Whereas Biden stands by helplessly while his crises mount by the hour: Border, Ukraine, Gaza. The ship is rudderless, with Republicans pushing it toward the shoals: they've got Biden pinned down on the Border and Ukraine, with Netanyahu helping out by undermining Biden in Gaza. Trump's Napoleonic quiet is due to the sheer mass of forces arrayed against his opponent, as in "never interrupt your enemy while he's making mistakes." The panic in Europe speaks volumes.
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Brad Blumenstock commented 5 minutes ago
B
Brad Blumenstock
St. Louis5m ago
@Shoffmensch Meanwhile, in reality, the Biden administration is trying to actually deal with all these issues, while Republicans undermine him and betray our national interests, all in service to their grifter king. Biden isn't the problem here, the GOP is. Democrats should give up on bipartisanship for the rest of this term and go on an all out offensive against The Republican politicians who are willing to destroy our country to install a man who doesn't believe in a single thing that makes this country great.
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Shamblesheep
USJust now
“In the worst case, I might even have to commute back and forth by car,” one officer said.
In other words, a German will be in Ukraine aiming missiles at Moscow. In the old days, this exposed willingness by Germany to secretly destroy Russia would provoke a preemptive attack on German cities. The leak could not have come at a more convenient time for Scholz, who's likely been told early on that Germany will be first in line if Russia is forced to respond with Nukes. The notion of Mutual Assured Destruction is ingrained in the German psyche, and old Habermas (its architect) has Scholz's ear. Putin knows that if he can terrify Scholz sufficiently, other NATO members will not commit either, giving him time wear Ukraine down. NATO sees a major Russian breakthrough coming without NATO troops to prevent it. But nothing happens without Germany fully on board. And Scholz senses that the next red line could be a tripwire. At play here is the classic doctrine of nuclear deterrence: that nuclear powers will launch if the state is threatened. Putin cannot be driven out of Ukraine and hope to remain alive. And he is the state.
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Shamblesheep
US3h ago
@EdnaTN
The alternative is nuclear war.
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Shamblesheep
(this went right through--the rest still blocked)
USJust now
@DTR
Brexit opened a huge chasm in the EU. Putin merely marched through it. Now, from the safety of their island, they're doing their best to cause divisions within the EU to weaken it further. Britain has become completely isolated, and survives by playing wingman to the US hegemon in return for an outsized voice in NATO. As soon as the war ends, the US will have no further need of it. Without the war, they're left with their problems at home.
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HC
London3h ago
@Shamblesheep you probably don’t have a very good understanding of European politics, but Brexit has made very little difference in reality. The UK still has the strongest armed forces in Europe and is the 2nd largest economy, as well as a lot of influence abroad. We of course came to America’s defence after 9/11 - the only time NATO has been invoked. There are some very large generalisations and sweeping statements on here.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
@The Real Colonel Bat Guano
More than two-thirds of the world trades with Russia now. Consequently, sanctions hurt the West more than Putin. And China is busy poaching market share. The US is fast paining itself into a corner.
Shoffmensch
(they had to run this to the top)
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
"Netanyahu of Israel responded, 'What would America do' after something like the Oct. 7 Hamas attack? 'Would you not be doing what Israel is doing?'"
But Israel exists only as a US proxy: Superpower aid, and Superpower veto at the UN. Israel, like Putin and Egypt, has the right to exists as a tyrannical government--on its own dime. Israel destroyed Gaza only because Biden gave it the green light to do so. An unequivocal "NO" from Biden would have saved the lives of 25000 innocent women and children. Whatever the morals are here, they are now on America's ledger, and will continue to roil global and domestic politics for years to come.
Netanyahu could just as easily have invoked US Indian Reservations and it's annexation of the South. Putin smirks about Hiroshima. Biden felt compelled to give MBS absolution in the interests of, well, "interests." Netanyahu is merely thumbing his nose at Biden's "world based order."
"Double standards?" Nations don't have standards, but (in Kissinger-speak) "only interests."
"Can anyone tell me," Obama asked, "what American interests are in Ukraine?" Can anyone tell me what Biden's "interests" are in Gaza, except for the obvious? His billionaire donors.
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Shoffmensch
(surprised this is still up. Wonder how many times it's been flagged)
Afdeestupple, US44m ago
"Justice?"
Most people will cringe at seeing the word "Justice" over the dead bodies of 25000 innocent women and children blown to pieces with US weapons of mass destruction. And the count keeps growing daily. But as long as Israel abides by "the rules of war", it deserves US cover at the UN where world despots are preening on the moral high ground.
Christian Just War Doctrine sees Hiroshima and Dresden well within the Catholic/Protestant framework of Christian behavior and "the rules of war." The current Church of England head sees them only as "diminishing humanity," which as far as I know does not rise to the level of sin.
With both Putin and Netanyahu leveling entire civilizations under "the rules of war", it serves as a reminder that Just War Theory arose out of necessity: the souls of ordinary people reading the New Testament blanched at the thought that followers of Jesus could do such things. But once Caesar was turned into a Christian, his chaplains had to Christianize his actions.
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2 REPLIES
SSeth
NY21m ago
@Shoffmensch Really strange to see so many Americans touting the numbers from the Hamas health ministry without any skepticism. Do you have any idea as how many of the dead in Gaza are actual Hamas combatants?
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Shoffmensch commented 19 minutes ago
S
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US19m ago
@Seth
Are you referring to the 25000 women and children? The one guilty by proximity, the other by what they might become?
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J
Q4m ago
@Seth
yes, we actually have a fairly good idea. As the Israel-run israeli army itself has realied on them as accurate in the past.
But of course, "sources without words"
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2h ago
Looks like Cultural Marxism being "untried" again. I'm told they're even willing to give policing another go to make downtown look less like a Putinesque warzone.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Not to worry. Biden is on it--with the Gazan airlift. The most powerful man in the world has been reduced to sneaking around Gaza trying not to offend his Israeli handlers. No doubt he was able to convince the Israelis not to use US donated Patriot missiles to shoot down US cargo planes. Meanwhile, he keeps vetoing UN Ceasefire Resolutions, and begs Congress for more billions to resupply Israel so it can continue the carnage. "The rules based order" is conspicuously missing in White House press briefings. It demonstrates the moral bankruptcy of the Left.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
@Pat
The Blue has become indistinguishable from the Gazan smoke behind it. The destruction of Gaza has become a moral death grip on the Democratic Party. Compared tp which, abortion is a fringe issue,
links take you to the article)
Shamblesheep
(this cuts close to the bone. Likely blocked or sent up the chain. A lot of dissent at the Times over its handling of Gaza, so they cannot simple throw contrary Comments aside)
USPending Approval
An insult to her audience who hear nothing more than the cries of their dead women and children in Gaza. Even after the food aid massacre, Democrats are busy trying to get more Israeli military aid through Congress, and keep doubling down vetoing a Ceasefire at the UN (this is the background noise in Witmer's hypocrisy here). Michigan continues to be a disaster for Democrats because of the real war against Palestinian women and children in Gaza. Witmer's cynical attempt to elevate the Culture War above the massacre reflects the Left's moral bankruptcy. The moral inferno will soon rage uncontrollably on University campuses. Biden cannot win in Michigan without the Muslim vote. He cannot win the Oval without the young vote.
Shamblesheep
US21m ago
"the United States has not and will not negotiate on behalf of Ukraine."
It would appear, then, that Speaker Johnston is conducting "negotiations by other means". Young Macron should look at the polls before strutting around like Napoleon. He's only got a few rusty nukes, and if the EU thought Trump "chastised them with whips before," this time he threatens them "with scorpions." The math here is as simple as it is classic: a conventional NATO attack would destroy Putin. So why would he not respond in kind with Nukes? He has zero hopes of surviving a NATO attack. The behavior of both Biden and Scholz signals that they have come to believe that Putin's game of nuclear chicken is real. But young Napoleon was but venting the sense of doom in NATO. They had come to see themselves as invincible, and Ukraine as just one more problem to be solved by bureaucracy. They disarmed to build a new world order, and are at the mercy of both Putin and the US. The one threatens them with troops, the other with crippling rearmament. Their only remaining option is the choice between two masters.
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Shamblesheep
(they sat on this for a whole day)
US59m ago
The Ultra/Settler/Evangelical axis aside, ask the average Israeli if they are willing to consider a partitioned Holy Land with Old Jerusalem and the best part of Judea/Samaria forever in the hands of Palestinians, most would say "No". Trump promises "whatever it takes" to create One Israel. Israel threw Biden under the bus as soon as he mentioned two-state, and is now playing him for a fool by offering just enough to keep him tethered until Trump II. Don't discount the Apocalyptic fatalism here, for it is just that which allows the theocrats to dismiss global cancelling. Israel can stare down the world as long as it has US cover, which is underwritten by End Time Evangelicals. Four years under Trump II is a long time for End Time Prophecy to ripen. At Bible Conferences during the 80's, Fundamentalist orthodoxy called for a "strong US military" to stand with Israel against the world at Armageddon. Israel/US "non-acceptance" then reads according to script. Evangelical support is still rock solid, and with Biden sinking in the polls, Netanyahu thinks he can strike gold if he can but muddle to November, after which the Holy Land will remain intact as God intended it. For Evangelicals, the Holy Land ceases to be such upon partition, the whole being greater than the sum of all its parts. Biden is powerless because he cannot cede the political high ground to Trump here. Evangelicals want what Netanyahu's Hard Right wants, and Trump will give it to them.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US26m ago
"Let not him that girdeth on his harness," goes the most famous taunt in military history, "boast himself as he that putteth it off." Only in this instance, the young Napoleon is all hat and no cattle. He doesn't have an army to put on. The sum of all the parts of EU armor wouldn't amount to a Red Square parade. And Putin marches on the back of his Nukes. Does young Macron think Trump will give him cover for his fool's errand? Biden will not commit troops because he thinks Putin's nuclear threat is credible. France is so impotent that Wagner drove it out of Africa. The young Napoleon was but venting his Post-Colonial oats, all bluff and bluster amidst the trappings of long vanished glory. He probably does not see himself marching against Moscow at the head of the cannon-fodder. Brave fellow.
Europe does not have a blueprint for rearming, because it lacks a Commander in Chief, and cannot create one without destroying its founding charter. This is the mental hurdle. The logistics are equally great: a modern army is worthless without Nukes and Europe is not about to commit to a multi-$trillion arms race. Without Nukes, it cannot stop Putin if he decides to advance further, no matter how much it spends on a conventional army. Which means it is at the mercy of the US--or Putin. Europe disarmed because conventional wisdom said nuclear powers would not attack one another with conventional weapons. Which is why Biden is left shadow boxing in a proxy war.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US5m ago
The math here is very simple. Who stands to lose the most if Johnston doesn't cave: Biden. A loss in Ukraine does not take votes away from Trump, but it adds to Biden's woes. By holding out for a draconian Border law, he throws fuel on Biden's already enraged Left. Biden cannot win under the weight of multiple crises, and Johnston was elected to make them worse. The US now marches under the raw power of the Executive. It's the only office that matters. Rome still had a full Senate under the Caesars.
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Shamblesheep
US1h ago
Looks like Trump II getting a head start. He should be barred on the basis of term limits, since he's effectively running a shadow government from the gallows. Never has a President run up against such insurmountables going into November: 1} the Border, 2) Ukraine, 3) Gaza, 4) the Culture War. The latter being the catalyst to subvert all the rest. The American Hard Right, as in Israel, are done with debate, and they do not fear Armageddon. Like Putin, they're playing chicken based on the law probability: that the side with more to lose will back down.
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Shamblesheep
US1m ago
While Biden globetrots stirring up wars, China poaches market share. Ukraine forgot that wars need "funding". With accountants like Xi's, who needs generals?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US44m ago
"more aid to Israel"?
That should help him in Michigan--which he must win. He's already lost the Jewish vote because of Trump's promise of "whatever it takes" support for Israel. Israel has thrown him under the bus, and Netanyahu is leading the leader of the free world around by the nose. He will torpedo the "cease-fire" because he needs the war to continue to stay in office--until November, when Trump will unleash him on the Palestinians.
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Shamblesheep
US26m ago
Looks like the Spring Offensive has begun. Macron threatens to send NATO troops to secure "the territorial sovereignty" of Ukraine, because "Putin must not win". Does that mean he doesn't get to keep his "winnings"? The war will end as soon as body bags start arriving in Paris.
Reply 8 Recommend
Shoffmensch
(No Recommend, but look at the second Reply. It was too much for even the Berliner. He needs to get out more, and stop listening to the cheerleading squad)
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
No celebration in Germany. It now loses its historical buffer zone with Russia. The Senate of Rome rejected some applicants to join the Empire for just that reason. Germany is now on the hook for all the Baltic haunts of the former Teutonic fiefdoms--with zero benefits in return. As the elephant in Brussels, it is now expected to set the pace of the remilitarization of Europe on the Superpower level, not the least of which will be a $trillion dollar nuclear umbrella. And for what? Germans do not see Putin's meddling in Ukraine as a march on Berlin. Which accounts for German dithering. They see Russia as low hanging fruit ripe for German picking, and can't wait to get back to business as usual. If not, China products will get even cheaper in Europe. While the US builds military coalitions, Xi wins wars with his accountants. The EU and NATO are Germany straitjackets, which are now buttoning up even tighter. The children, as it were, paying for the sins of the fathers.
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RRobert
Seattle1h ago
@Shoffmensch
This doesn't reflect my firsthand experience in Germany last year. To a person everybody I spoke to believed that the threat posed by Russia was significant, were making significant personal sacrifices to strengthen NATO and lessen their dependence on Russian petro. They were all strong supporters of NATO and Germany's role in NATO.
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Gary
Brooklyn, NY50m ago
@Shoffmensch well Pax Americana is over. Europe as a whole is equivalent to the US in GDP. If it wants a defensive force and industry it should build what it has up and not rely on the US' umbrella.
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Bill D. commented 35 minutes ago
Bill D.
New Jersey35m ago
@Shoffmensch I'm sorry, but I can't make much sense of your comment. On one hand, you say that Germany has lost her buffer and on the other you claim that she is not concerned with Putin's designs? Germany loses her buffer? What does Hungary's overdue capitulation and Sweden's ascension to NATO have to do with that? Poland is Germany's "buffer" against Putin and it is armed to the teeth these days. Having Sweden and Finland in NATO takes some considerable burden of the defense of western Europe and the Baltics off of Germany.
While Germany is one of the four most powerful members of the EU and NATO, she is far from being a superpower. Her leadership has been, if anything, reluctant to seek the that mantle for her. IMO, Sweden, Finland and Poland would be capable of defending both the Baltic nations and each other with nominal support from NATO, of which Germany is just another member, if a large one.
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TTed
Chicago10m ago
Not sure what map you are looking at. Germany's buffer states with Russia do not include Hungary and have not changed with respect to Sweden. Sweden's further integration into NATO protects Germanys interests, not the other way around. And those Baltic buffer states are already in NATO and are doing fine as their economies grow due to trade with the West.
Germany clearly understands the menace that an expansionist Russia presents to them and the region. Germany is now the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States and is further stepping up its support this year.
No, the loser here is Russia, which I gather you understand hence the incomprehensible word salad of distraction. The sins of Putin and cooperative Russians will be paid for by the children and grandchildren of cowed Russian people who failed to stand up to his authoritarianism.
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A
ACE
La Jolla10m ago
@Robert As a German, I agree with Robert. Besides the AfD (think German MAGA nutters and vaccine deniers etc), no one wants to go back to business with Russia. And we deeply regret having gotten rid of the draft.
And if we can help protect the Baltic states, so be it. As you mentioned, our historical ties are going back a long way and we are all in NATO.
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Expat
London3m ago
@Shoffmensch Wow, it seems you don't remember Germany's historical "alliance" with Russia pre-WWII and how it turned out for everyone.
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Mark
Berlin, Germany3m ago
@Shoffmensch I don't know where you get this assessment from. I know nobody in Germany who thinks the way you describe it. Literally, nobody.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"The Allies did far worse to the Germans"
And let's not forget that Hitler did far worse to the Jews than Jews are now doing to the Palestinians.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
Trump already has most of the Jewish vote with his opposition to two-state and promise of blanket cover to allow Israel to cement complete control of One Israel. However, the Palestinian Cause is now the face of Anti-Colonialism resentment at the UN, the World Court, and US college campuses, and accusations of genocide are now added to the previous charge of apartheid. The Global South will use the charge to sully the US at the UN, and the campaign to tar and feather nations and corporation who do business with Israel will grow. An equal danger to Israel comes form within as Ultra/Settlers/Evangelicals will emphasize Israel's responsibility to fulfill the requirements of "the biblical deed", and implement strict observance of the Torah on Seculars. Some ideas have cachet because they've "never been tried". With Ultras/Settlers/Evangelicals in charge One Israel will be tried very quickly. A hair-raising prospect.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
So Church-State contradicts democracy here, but Temple-State in Israel does not? How can the NY Times advocate for two-state, where Arab-Israelis will forever remain "second class" citizens, their "Islamic God" subordinate to the "Jewish God" of the "Jewish State" sponsored by the US?
Until fairly recently, secularism was considered a neutral grid for pluralism. The Culture War marks the perception that secularism has morphed into militant and religious Secularism with a rabid statist agenda aimed at the "Christian God". With "neutrality" now cast aside in the Culture War, pluralism is a race to the top to seize the reins of power for the dominant religion: Orbanism. The Israeli Religious Right saw the rule of judges as a drift toward secular pluralism, and is now attempting to curb their attempts to thwart the designs of the theocrats. Putin sells his war as a defense of Russian Orthodox identity. Pluralism never caught on in Europe and was made possible in America due to the sheer abundance of the American Dream. As the pie has now shrunk, the dominant class is looking after its own interests. Idealism was the elixir of the Enlightenment, of men secure in their inherited status. With assets now being the only class distinction, a coarse Darwinism is in play, and tech-bros don't even pretend to possess "the better angels of their natures." It's every group for itself now, and Religion is merely the most potent banner to gain market share.
Shoffmensch
(they let this through! Probably because it's the Right's vanity project)
Afdeestupple, US23m ago
The world holds the US, and not Israel, accountable for the slaughter in Gaza: 1) blanket support to pulverize Gaza with US weapons, 2) default vetoes of a ceasefire. The moral damage to the US here is incalculable.
Netanyahu cannot be removed as long as his Hard Right holds, and, like him, they're with their backs to the wall: 1) he faces prosecution, and 2) they, the very real prospect of two-state which destroys their theocratic vision of One Israel.
The Hard Right knows that it matters little what the rest of the world thinks if Trump wins in November. He's made it clear that he will give Israel a blank check to cement their hold on the entire Holy Land. Netanyahu could even agree to a "path" for two-state, knowing that under Trump everything will be reversed. They need but make it to November.
Biden's "as soon as it's practical" is the "wink, wink" here. It's of a piece with the fictional "path" to statehood which is all that US diplomacy regards the Palestinians has amounted to for the last 70 years: the biggest fraud in diplomatic history and little more than a smokescreen for Settler expansion. But Gaza has upped the ante exponentially, because the Global South will now use it to moral wash nonstop at the UN against "the rules based order" of American hegemony. Hamas's biggest coup is putting Israel in the perpetual crosshairs of the International Court, and making the Palestinians Cause the face of Colonial reckoning on US campuses.
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Shoffmensch
(Blocked here. It's the Left's vanity project)
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Everyone knows by now that NATO is left to cheering from the sidelines as Russia gains momentum. All Putin need do is slug it out in historic Russian fashion, burning through one army after another as in Tolstoy. The fatal flaw here is the mental asymmetry of combat versus culture. The EU disarmed under the delusion that its cultural-economic peace charter would carry all before it, making war as obsolete as borders. Now they're jabbing at Putin piecemeal, still holding out hope that Europe's only external threat will collapse of exhaustion in Ukraine, leaving "EU values" to do its civilizing work in Russia. The EU is a statement that the horrors of the Wars can never be repeated again on European soil by Europeans. Which accounts for their willingness to fund Ukraine as a mercenary in order not to sully the EU's Peace Charter. It's butcher Putin versus motherly Merkel.
Then there is the nuclear chicken factor. Putin marched into Ukraine on the back of his Nukes, knowing that NATO would draw its own red lines. Which it has done at Ukraine's borders, leaving Putin free rein within. Putin has NATO on a nuclear leash while he runs Ukraine through his meatgrinder. No amount of funding will change that. Europe would have to go to real war, which it cannot do.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US58m ago
When he's done "flipping" here, he can give Gaza and Ukraine a toss. Too late on the Border, too quick on Gaza, and too long on Ukraine, sums it up perfectly. He only got Border religion when he saw his polls sink like a stone; he gave Israel an instant blank check to head off Trump's Apocalyptic riders, and now finds himself backpedaling helplessly in Michigan: and Ukraine turned into another forever war, with Republicans salivating at the thought of a catastrophic collapse of Biden's signature foreign policy gambit going into November. Any one of these could sink a Presidency. And he's checkmate on all three. If a Vacancy showed on the ballot, it would likely win.
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Joe Barnett commented 3 minutes ago
Joe Barnett
Sacramento3m ago
@Shoffmensch President Biden tried to help Israel, but they over played their violent response. Israel is like a drunk friend, we need to get them to give up their keys until they are sober.
The Southern border of the US, has been a mess for years, and everytime we got close to a better immigration policy, the Republicans scuttled it. Just like they are sabotaging the negotiated bill that they claimed they wanted.
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Shamblesheep
US8h ago
South Americans who flee conflict zones are not seen as unpatriotic for seeking lives elsewhere. Yet Ukrainians are expected to die to the last man in defense of the West's freedom. The average European shrugs and yawns. They have yet to tap their Peace Dividend to supply Ukraine with "all that it needs, as long as need be." And now the bloodfest must continue to gain the best possible leverage when it comes to bargaining over what's left of Ukraine. The only thing it's likely to get back is the "the" in front of it. Remarkably, Americans "understand" migrants who flee conflict zones for the US. Ukrainians even have the luxury to take up residence in Europe without applying for asylum. South Americans would think they won the lottery with such a privilege. Of course, they're not leaving behind the richest land in the world. It's harder to make a break for freedom when you still have much to lose. "The Thirty Year War," "the Hundred Year War"--they still have a ways to go. The fact is, every single Ukrainian could find shelter in Europe. Millions have. A life is a terrible thing to waste.
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WWukki
Berlin 4h ago
@Shamblesheep Ukraine already conscripts grandfathers because the army personnel shrinks too fast. In the Western European countries nobody is interested to fight against Russia for this poor house Ukraine, which never has been democratic and never will. It's worse than Russia, moore corrupt, poorer and moore dictatorial.
2 Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"Carve on this memorial the names of public figures actively denying the existence of climate change. Carve the names so deep and large, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren need not search the archives."
I suggest using the pulverizing of Gaza as an avatar, with GAZACAUST writ large over it to shame genocide deniers.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US11m ago
What am I missing here? If the US has more pressure points left in reserve, why not deploy them on behalf of the thousands of Ukrainians cut to pieces on the Front? Previous sanctions hurt the West more than Russia, because the Global South is glutting itself at Putin's trough (including NATO member Turkey). It's sheer bluff and bluster, and about as effectual as "name-calling". The fact is, Putin is playing nuclear chicken, and Biden is not about to call his bluff. The empty posturing signals helplessness. The miscalculation in this colossal strategic blunder is the mental asymmetric: Putin invaded on the back of his Nukes, which only dawned on the US as it was drawn into the conflict. The restraint of both Biden and Scholz is a clear indication that they were led to believe that Putin's threats are real.
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Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"85,000 more"
Biden then is forced to tramp to the Oval over the graves of Palestinian women and children. To save American Democracy, no less. As the bumper sticker says, Freedom Ain't Free. Not even in the Holy Land.
Israel could do here what Putin could not: drive a stake into the heart of NATO through the UN, where Europe now sides with China/Russia in moral condemnation of the US. Germany, especially, has long chafed under the moral straitjacket imposed on her by the US. Germans (and Hungary) feel as at home in China as they do in China's vassal: Russia. An alignment with China would solve all of Europe's economic/strategic problems, and China is out poaching. America's rapid-fire moral veto at the UN has all the earmarks of a circular firing squad with the Global South jeering from the gallery. "The rules based order" (the pretext regards Ukraine/Taiwan) has become conspicuously absent in Biden/Blinken-speak. And it's not just Michigan. If this continues, American campuses will erupt unlike anything seen since Vietnam.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Evangelicals are now Israel's only non-Jewish ally (note even Germany's defection). Netanyahu need but make it to November. Trump will provide cover for Israel to cement complete control of One Israel. Evangelicals oppose two-state for religions reasons, like Ultras and Settlers: the "Holy Land" ceases to be such upon partition. They also see the war against the Palestinians as biblically mandated to fulfill God's Promise to Abraham, which grants Jews "the biblical deed" to "all" the Land forever. There has not been one word of sympathy for Palestinian women and children from even woke "He Gets US" Evangelicals. In fact, their leading lights signed an open letter in support of the bloodshed as justified by the "Christian Doctrine of Just War." If Trump gets in, it matters little what the UN does, since Evangelical doctrine calls for the US to support Israel all the way to Armageddon, where America and Israel will draw swords together against the Gentile nations at the foot of Megiddo in the final World War.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
@A
You can't blame the worlds lone hegemon for controlling the narrative in its favor. Given the politics, the US is forced to give Israel blind support for religious reasons, since nothing so fires Christian America as Prophetic Israel, which they see as the last act of America's Manifest Destiny. Biden rushed to Israel's defense to keep Trump from making Apocalyptic hay here.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US8h ago
Except for one obscure gloss. widely disputed not to be in the hand of the master himself, my own reading of Clausewitz buttons up rather differently:
1) Putin has hurled NATO back, and remains in possession of Ukraine's industrial/agricultural crown jewels. Barring US troops, this is now a historic, irreversible, reality. \
2) By forcing the EU to transform from Welfare to Warfare state, he destroyed its "Cultural" Peace Charter, which he feared more than the militant Prussians. After all, he sold the war as a rollback of subversive "EU values" which have now become dead by default.
3) By igniting the Culture War, he drove a wedge between Republicans and NATO, leaving the EU in disarray, trying to squeeze into their old rusty armor. They'll have to join the nuclear arms race now under Trump II.
4) His military is stronger and more cohesive than before.
5) By credibly threatening NATO, he restored Russia to Superstate status in the minds of nationalist Russians, reflected in the diminished suicide rate by alcohol and despair. This accounts for their willingness to die in historic numbers at the hands of bungling generals: like a modern chapter out of Tolstoy Quintessentially Russian.
5) And more dangerously, he reinvigorated the European Right which threatens to hijack the EU. He fears their violence less than their subversive values.
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DDavid
Columbus, OH8h ago
@Shoffmensch And I would add, achieving one’s goals can be accomplished through a slow creep. Threats are often as good a tool as battlefield victories. They throw the opponent off-kilter, forcing a rethinking of strategy. As Steve Erlanger pointed out on yesterday’s The Daily, it takes years to ramp up military production, the results of which mean higher costs to the taxpayers and reduced consumer goods. Thus, there will be internal questioning and resistance to pursue military solutions.
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David
Virginia3h ago
@Shoffmensch You really think Putin ignited the Culture War in the US? It's been going on since before he was born. That Putin "hurled NATO back" by adding Finland and Sweden to its ranks? &c &c. Putin's only credible threat to NATO is nuclear bombs.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
@M. Casey
Superstates need breathing room and buffer zones as a mark of their status. Ukraine has always been Russia's backyard (my family lived farmed there 100 years), and having his enemies occupy it with nuclear weapons was a humiliation unworthy of a Superstate. Don't discount the swagger factor. It's what makes a superstate a superstate.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US39m ago
Then why not just isolate "China, India, Brazil" as well? After all what's moral is moral. Although Gaza has now become a moral Black Hole from which the US will never escape. "The rules based post-war order" has been chopped from the Biden-Blinken vocabulary since Biden green-lighted Gaza. Even Taiwan has dropped off the radar, with the US now forced to rapid-fire veto the Global South's moral initiatives to end the Occupation which the US is now on record as sanctioning. Europe is getting increasingly nervous, and could easily end up in China's orbit to keep Putin at bay. That could easily happen under Trump II.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
But the US denies Russia the "moral" right to occupy Ukraine, which it claims is necessary "for security reasons"? Israel is digging a moral grave for the US in Gaza, and the Chinese are already exploiting it to moral wash against the world's moral hegemon. Today, China accused the US of "giving the green light to slaughter" in Gaza. The US is become the laughingstock of the world with its selective moral preening.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2m ago
But I see nothing here about more sanctions to bring a convicted war criminal to heel. In order for Biden to discuss future treaties, Putin would first have to be arrested and do his time. For surely "the moral hegemon of the rules based order" cannot be seen in the company of such evil. Also, nothing is said about the impact of "asset seizure" at the International Court (Stephens/Professor Tribe). This new device will require a trillion dollar upgrade. Why not make Putin pay for it? Although the US is burning through its moral credits at a terrifying rate at the UN these days with its rapid-fire vetoes, leaving it with little left to stave off nuclear Armageddon.
What caught my eye is the notion that a nuclear explosion in the heavens would wipe out all the Musk debris. and "make the night free again." Most purists thought mankind was forever stuck with it.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US31m ago
@Barry
There is no way to be "hard" on a nuclear power without mutual self destruction. This is why Biden is left to stand by helplessly on the sidelines, because no one knows where the trigger of WW3 is, and Biden is not about to enter Ukraine to find out. Then again, Russia is just now emerging from the ruins of empire collapse, and still harbors the aftershock of suicidal tendencies. The mental asymmetrics are what is in play here. Putin is trying to goad Biden into a game of nuclear chicken, knowing he'll refuse. But the blackmail works, because few doubt that he could burn the world down.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US33m ago
@Rick Simmons
Sounds like the church bulletin of Religion, Utopia, and the Democratic Party. The International Court ordered Putin's arrest. Why hasn't Biden, as the custodian of the moral world order, put him in jail? What's the point of a Warrant, if Biden doesn't enforce it?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2h ago
Misses the point entirely. This has nothing to do with resources, and everything to do with politics:
1) Republicans see Ukraine as the latest Front of the Culture War, and the EU as the nesting ground of Western decadence and cultural subversion, incubated in the idle workshop of ungrateful vassal states. They see Putin as a chastening rod to address the problem at the root. They see the globalist Leftwing as a greater danger to America than Russia of China.
2) Is Douthat suggesting that the US will put boots on the ground in Taiwan, when the threat of nuclear war forces it to stand by helplessly as Putin advances? Or that Taiwan will somehow hold out if they get all the shells they need? Republicans will not start WW3 over an island.
3) The focal point of politics now is the raw power of the Executive. Hence, politics at every level is oriented to gaining the keys to the Oval, from where you can rearrange the world while Congress fiddles. A win in Ukraine would be a feather in Biden's cap. The weather vane of all things is thus November. November above everything. And Trump sees Ukraine as Europe's problem--to be exploited in America's interests.
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Auntie Mame commented 13 minutes ago
A
Auntie Mame
UWS13m ago
@Shoffmensch
Remember Nancy Reagan "Just say no!"? Trump is like Mikey -- and opposes anything the other side suggests. The man is a madman... and I have no idea why supposedly sane people go along with anything he says about world or national affairs except on immigration matters where many of us are dismayed by the huge influx of refugees apparently from everywhere streaming across the S. Border. (It's unbelievable that they can wade across the Rio Grande.). Supposedly Putin said he prefers Biden as president to the possibility of Trump.
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Shoffmensch
Shoffmensch
(they stewed over this for half a day. They sense mischief in it)
Afdeestupple, US26m ago
Something doesn't wash here? NY City provides housing, food, and health care for migrants. How could anyone be said to live in poverty with access to these?
Reply 28 Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US5m ago
@Watching This Country Implode
What matters is that "Marxism is being tried' in all its glory. It must be working because the Capitalists (Wall Street) are growing exponentially. The problem is likely a failure of communication. Mayor Adams is now handing out cash cards (to each according to his need) to cover anything that might have been missed by the nanny state. Those cards many have to be delivered door to door to get the program up and going.
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Shoffmensch
(this will not go through. Stephens and Harvard fraud Tribe do not recognize the UN when it comes to Israel--one day later here it is)
Afdeestupple, USJust now
"International Law"
But Putin, like Israel and the US, does not recognize the universal jurisdiction of the International Court, and I doubt either Stephens or Tribe recognize the legitimacy of the Palestinian Brief currently before it. And after three US vetoes on Israel's behalf (on moral grounds, no doubt), to now ask the Court to allow itself to be weaponized on behalf of a Russian citizen by the world's hegemon which sees itself above International Law--is laughable. Putin is already answering tit for tat by taking Americans hostage, daring the US to up the ante. Seize his digital assets and he could seize US ships in response, again daring Biden to up the ante. Biden is left with sanctions because he's not about to put Putin's threat of nuclear war to the test by putting US troops on the ground in Ukraine. Seizing assets is like seizing diplomats: the quickest path to real war.
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Shoffmensch
(they stewed over this one a while)
Afdeestupple, US6m ago
Does Friedman have an endgame in Ukraine? How many more tranches of billions does he intend to pour into the quagmire before one materializes? Meanwhile, the EU dawdles while holding out for Biden II to keep from tapping their Peace Dividend (the 70 year piggybank siphoned from the US Treasury). They have not stepped up to the plate--yet. But either they pay now, or they pay later as they transition to a Warfare state, for Trump II will tap their Peace Dividend to pay for the nuclear umbrella. At any rate, Putin already wrecked EUtopia by forcing it to relinquish what is fundamental to its existence: its Peace Charter. The cost of going it alone means they will have to join the nuclear arms race with Russia. We're talking $trillions here. But more to the point: Friedman's globalist angst is not shared by the average European who sees little more here than US strategic messiancs. Proof? Even the Eastern Bloc is not supplying the much needed cannon fodder for the Front. Nor are they encouraging their young men to rally to the standards of "freedom". Nothing keeps them, and Ukraine desperately needs them. They all seem to have gone Republican over there. Most of them see Putin as a necessary goad to keep bloated statists in check.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2h ago
I take it they still intend to kick Putin out of Crimea as well? I still do not see a single European (or Democrat) volunteering for the Front in defense of "freedom." Have they all become Republicans over there as well? "As long as it takes" then "as long as we can" (a minor gloss)--does anyone know what the new line is? The longer the war, the greater Putin's share. The withheld 60 billion would buy Putin time to annex more ground. Prepare for a sudden collapse, and Zelensky going into exile. The military is worn out, and the man in the street sees the Front as certain death. They had no end-game going in, and now the end looks increasingly like a circular firing squad. Ukraine refused to come to terms because they were led to believe that the US would enter the fray on moral grounds. But the morals here are lost to even the average European, otherwise they would rush to the Front.
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Y
Yoda
A Far Away Galaxy2h ago
@Shoffmensch
All true. But even if the Ukraine losses (and by extension the West), it would still show that a heavy price needs to be paid. If the West did nothing, it would have been a greater disaster (at least from the perspective of future deterrance).
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expat
Helsinki, Finland1h ago
@Shoffmensch
What are you talking about?
There are European volunteers on the ground fighting alongside Ukrainians!
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nontrivial commented 1 hour ago
N
nontrivial
left coast1h ago
@Shoffmensch Europe has recently pledged 60 billion, and France, Britain, and other countries have stepped up weapons aid. Actual real estate gains by Russia have been minor, tiny red dots on a map of Ukraine, recently in the Times.
According to this article, Russia lost 'thousands' in the campaign. So, the man on the Russian street also knows the front is certain death. The soldiers know they are cannon fodder, and they have cell phones to call back home.
Ukraine refused to come to terms because Russia never keeps their promises. This whole war is a broken Russian promise.
Ukraine has always had an aggressive endgame in sight.
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Mike C. commented 7 minutes ago
M
Mike C.
Florida7m ago
@Shoffmensch Some 20,000 internationals have fought with Ukraine, so far. You would have to be there, to see them.
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(everything blocked. With both the EU and the US Temple State on the block, Manhattan is having a nervous breakdown. This would send them over the edge--here it is after more than a day)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USFeb. 19
The EU's abrupt shift from Welfare to Warfare state is Putin's biggest trophy of the war. An EU nuclear umbrella is the elephant in the room, as Scholz still holds out for a Biden win in November. It's one thing to supply shells, another, cannon fodder, especially as much of it would be of migrant origin. Putin sold the war as a rollback of subversive "EU values,," which are an outgrowth of the EU's Peace Charter. All trampled in the mud now in the rush to rearm. The nuclear umbrella and an integrated army will cost Europe many $trillions, far in advance of the current 2 percent. But the biggest hurdle is the mental shift required for a war footing. Here is where the Right has been biding its time for 70 years. You can gauge the shift in the US Right's refusal to come to Europe's aid. Let Putin deal with the root of the problem, the thinking is, and DeSantis will need to root out less of it in Florida in his Culture War.
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G
garsar
franceFeb. 19
@Shoffmensc Poland spends 3.9% Germany spends less than 2% but its guilty history is there but it's changing.
1 Recommend
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Would French feel threatened if he wrote, say, for Christianity Today? Likely not, because it lacks mass. And he would remain undisturbed as a lone blogger, or even as a private person holding forth on a street corner. But the New York Times has critical (asymmetrical) mass and its politics are known to everyone. The president of Harvard was deposed because of the power of her position, and Republicans are now using the coercive (violent) power of the law to settle scores against Leftwing Universities. Governor Abbott is aggressively seeking armed confrontation with the Federal government. Orban overthrew Hungary by weaponizing the law against his enemies--a bloodless coup. What French describes here is the terror of the law (this is after all the shadow of the 2nd Amendment) in the absence of "good will". The Right spent the last 50 years stockpiling its arsenal for such a time as this. For twenty years I pointed this out in the Comments Section, and was hissed at as a barbarian. Swords are always king makers. Caesar's nephew got the point very quickly: "He heard their (legions') treasonous cries, he dreaded their calmer moments of reflection."
Shamblesheep
US3h ago
The writer dismantles abstract delusions with more abstractions. Biden and Friedman at least attempt the impossible: two-state. The first question to be asked is, 1) Do Palestinians accept the partition of Palestine, and 2) Do Israelis accept the partition of the Holy Land. These are religious categories, the latter considerably more than the first. The religious aspect, however, reaches parity with Islam's Third Mosque held hostage by Israel. Seculars on both sides could live with two-state, and the return of the Third Mosque would satisfy the religious conscience of greater Islam. But the Ultra/Settler/Evangelical axis is adamant that "the Holy Land" ceases to be such with partition. And this party is now Netanyahu's Hard Right government, with an eye on Trump II to gain four more years to attain their purpose of One Israel. Biden's two-state plan is dead on arrival under Netanyahu, who cannot be replaced as long as his coalition does not crack. Perhaps this is why the writer takes refuge in abstractions.
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(note the half-baked answer here. This is the ambiguous mush which serves as a cloak for Settler violence. Look how many liked it)
Alberto Abrizzi commented 6 hours agoA
Alberto Abrizzi
Bay Area6h ago
@Shamblesheep The mosque is administered by Jordanian control and has been open to Arabs under Israeli control of Jerusalem. You ignore, of course, that under Arab control Jewish sites and cemeteries were not accessible to Jews.
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Shamblesheep commented 5 hours agoS
Shamblesheep
US5h ago
@Alberto Abrizzi
So both Jordan and Israel "control" the Third Mosque? And Israeli troops in the Third Mosque do not desecrate it? Does Jordan have heavily armed troops in the Mosque to keep Israeli troops from desecrating it? Then how can they be said to have "control" of the Mosque?
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Shamblesheep
US22m ago
"Opposition in Exile"
The Dali Lama has had an illustrious career "in exile". And got to live, and live well. His fellow Tibetans not so much.
What happens to Russia if the current regime falls? "The (current) opposition" would do no better than Gorbachev. Under Putin, Russia bestrides the world on the Superpower level again, credibly threatening NATO. This registers with the masses. Richly adorned religion gushing at Putin's side registers with the masses. Triumphant parades in Red Square speak to a continuation of Holy Moscow's manifest destiny as the Third Rome. What do the masses see in the opposition? A repeat of the breakup of the USSR. Then there is the whiff of the Culture Revolution in the opposition, which gives Orban cachet. With the Culture War raging within Western societies, stability fetches a high premium. The fatigue of the last break-up will outlast the current generation. The world dodged a bullet with the last Nuke collapse. And nuclear powers cannot be overthrown. Which is why the opposition is "safely" in exile. They know their chances back home are less than Russian Roulette.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
$450 million means something only if Trump doesn't get the Oval, which, if global angst is any indication, he's destined to. Once there, the sum is less than half a day's work for Kushner's Act II of shaking down petro-sheiks by selling access to the Oval. Lobby/bribes are drafts on the Treasury. Which means taxpayers will cough up the fine. His only loss is a dent to his pride, for which he will compensate by taking revenge. Note how Texas is weaponizing the System to create chaos. A taste of things to come.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3m ago
The Left's real Ukraine Problem is the apathy of the average European, who sees Putin-angst as a necessary goad to shake up Europe's suffocating statism. Proof: Europeans are not rushing to the Front "in defense of freedom". Nothing keeps them, and Ukraine wants them. The pivot from Welfare to Warfare has only accelerated Europe's Rightward lurch, which threatens to give the EU a fundamental makeover. Its rapid rearmament is a shift from "values" to violence as the chief instrument of statecraft. Its Peace Charter (now meaningless), seen as a blueprint for world peace, would carry all before it, and make war (and borders) obsolete. But it's all about containing Putin within hard borders now, and globalists are compelled to fight tooth and nail for every inch of what remains of Ukraine in order to save, well, Globalism. Hence, the resistance of Republicans, and the apathy of European non-elites.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
@MarkC
"Cut and run"?
From whom? The largest country in the world doesn't have enough people to settle a tenth of its rich landmass. The average European looks at Putin's dwindling numbers and yawns. As Europe fills with migrants, they'll need room, and Russia has always been Europe's "go East young man." My family farmed eastern Ukraine for 100 years until the Bear became restless. His numbers have not improved.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1m ago
This must be the much vaunted "Spring Breakthrough" of last Spring. The cheerleading squad just got the direction and year wrong. You would think the average European would rush to the Front to hold the line of Europe's freedom. It doesn't even make the news. They fear Putin less than they loathe the hapless elites who rule over them. Putin's real trophy is the transformation of Europe from Welfare to Warfare, with the corresponding lurch to the Right. He does not fear the Orbanization of the EU.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
And the deaths of tens of thousands of brave Palestinian women and children by US bombs? The US assassinates its enemies with lethal missile strikes across sovereign borders. MBS removed a Saudi threat, was fist-bumped, and is now indispensable to Biden's attempt to backpedal on Gaza. Some "Global" rules based order. India assassinated a dissident just across the US border in Canada. All hushed up, because it didn't fit the jackboot of the US rules based order, and serves a higher end to US interests. That is, "the end justifies the means." Why should one man deserve more sympathy than the tens of thousand beardless boys marched to the front on both sides to engage in "politics by other means?" Fraud-rage!.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
How is this worse than killing women and children in Gaza with US bombs?
Shamblesheep
(that took long,--they let it through after they removed the article)
US48m ago
French left out the minor detail that the ad is the moral washing of "christian Billionaires", who boast of spending $1 billion on hipster Jesus. "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." As French says, Actions speak louder than words. In other words, Jesus tells Church-Hobby Lobby: You better downsize to almost nothing. Had French not missed the eye-beam here, he would have been less keen to engage in sanctimonious mote picking. " Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits," hip wokesters once told the Prophet Isaiah. Jesus would no doubt also have been among the revelers in Vegas on Super Bowl Sunday. Perhaps even among the cheerleaders, as Campolo suggests?
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
"Outside his office stood a chrome-colored Bentley; in his sitting room were at least 12 large sofas"
Looks like someone who can be bought--like the corrupt PA, which is all Iran needs to create its Hezbollahs. Netanyahu thought he could turn Hamas into accountants if he plied them with enough Qatari money. Instead they became another Iranian beachhead. Iran invests in Toyotas, not Bentleys. The petro-sheiks were able to put a lid on religion. It could follow them home from Gaza.
(they blocked Shamblesheep completely--but this went right through)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
The solution Friedman advocates is what Ultras/Settlers/Evangelicals fear more than Iran/Hamas: partition of the Holy Land with the crown jewels (Temple Mount/Judea-Samaria) becoming a foreign country. He continues to ignore the potency of this axis, because he knows that Religion is the root of the conflict. But Netanyahu's grip is assured as long as he has Ultra/Settler backing, and his Hard Right knows that it need but make it to Trump II to get full cover to possess all the Land within "the biblical deed." Old Jerusalem/West Bank constitute "the Holy Land" in the Evangelical imagination, and once they are ceded to a foreign country, modern Israel ceases to become "the Holy Land", and Evangelical support will wither and die. Conversely, MBS is already in the crosshairs for his Westernizing zeal, and the custodian of the Two Mosques cannot pray at the Third and then address the Knesset without demanding the end of Islam's day to day humiliation: desecration of its Third Mosque by foreign troops. Failing which, the Palestinian Cause will continue to destabilize Islamic countries, and the Islamic coalition needed to shepherd the fledgling state of Palestine would never materialize. For after Gaza, the political stakes have risen sharply. Which is why Britain's Cameron calls for (not "a path") recognition of a Palestinian state immediately, barring which, greater Islam will see Western diplomatic efforts as more of the same: a cloak for Settler expansion.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"no moral or strategic argument in which hunger and disease among Gaza’s civilians serve anyone’s interests"
After 28000 dead (mostly women and children), a few more dying of starvation for lack of the pennies for Palestinians in "the Israel aid" package will hardly move the morals here. The moral hypocrisy here is breathtaking: band-aids for Gaza, and another arsenal for Israel to finish the job. Denying Israel more death merchandize to use against Palestinians is the best US aid Palestinians could hope for.
And Stephens sees no reason not to keep the blood flowing In Ukraine as long as Ukrainians only ask for bombs and not cannot fodder. No morals here for the US, which only donates the tools for industrial scale human slaughter. . "War," says Tolstoy, "is how the rich murder the poor."
Shamblesheep
USFeb. 13
I suppose cockfighting, dog fighting, bear baiting are legal there as well. Those are at least competitive. This is to sports what a slot machine is to investing. Human cruelty at its worst. The bull is already bleeding before confronting the matador, and if he wins the match, he and his mother die a gruesome death. Like mass shooters, these people should not be named.
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Shamblesheep
USFeb. 13
@no name2023
Rubbish. If it "could go either way" the bull would get to live if he kills the matador in self defense, He always dies.
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Shamblesheep
US26m ago
There has been a noticeable absence of "Nordic Welfare Model" chatter since the Ukraine war. It was always run from the US Treasury. Putin destroyed the European Left by forcing them to turn from Welfare to Warfare states. This mental shift is fertile ground for the jackboot Right, the most obvious sign being the absence of Pride marches and Rainbow flags in Europe. Putin, after all, sold the invasion as a Culture War against subversive "EU values". The mental shift in Europe is his largest trophy,
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
If this is "the last stand for freedom", then why aren't European leaders encouraging their able bodied cannon fodder to rush to the Front? Because the average European sees little more in Ukraine than another US strategic boondoggle. Ukraine has enough able bodied young men left to replenish its ranks. But they share the non-enthusiasm of their complacent European allies, whose leaders are only too willing to spare them as long as Ukraine only asks for more billions and bombs to sustain the industrial scale human kill-pit. The European Border Control is not on the lookout to save freezing Ukrainian refugees. They would be sent back to the kill-pit--if they get through Ukraine's fortified (wait for it) westerns border, heavily fortified to keep (again wait for it) Ukrainian beardless boys fleeing the kill pit of freedom. The war was never winnable without NATO intervention, and now Ukrainian young men are sacrificed by the tens of thousands to camouflage another colossal NATO failure. Ukraine is the only country where Democrats are not advocating for open borders--to allow Ukraine boys to flee to safety. For them, another US $120 billion means almost certain death. If Ukraine cannon fodder turned themselves in at the US southern border, instead of being bused north, they would be sent "back to where they came from" to maximize the return of the $120 billion.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
"Forgive me, father, for I am sinning... 1) I had to give Israel the green light to slaughter your relatives to keep donors and voters from migrating to Trump whose apocalyptic base was making all the usual noises, 2) I was forced to bypass Congress to rush more bombs to the Occupiers because they were running out, 3) I did not call for a cease-fire because of Trump, and 4) while I'm at it, I might as well tell you to expect the body count to double and triple, etc., etc., because Trump is waiting for me to go soft on the terrorists, so let me express "regrets" in advance, again because Trump...."
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
“It’s our country, all of it — Gaza too.”
With Trump, they will get it. There will be no two-state on his watch. Evangelicals dictate Holy Land policy, which requires full possession of the biblical Holy Land. Because the Holy Land ceases to be such if divided. Under Trump, Israel will get the green light to do what needs to be done to create One Israel, with the US keeping Arab countries from interfering.
Why? Because at this point a negotiated solution is unthinkable. Muslim countries will be required to demand two-state front and center, which strikes at the heart of Israeli and Jewish identity: the partition of what cannot be divided. No observant Jew could agree to forever give up Old Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, the Temple Mount. These were not in focus as long as negotiations stopped short of two-state. Now negotiations will require not "a path" to two-state, but two-state now. Definite, forever borders. For most Jews, this constitutes a flagrant act of apostasy: selling their biblical birthright, for a mess of political pottage.
Israel/Evangelicals thus see Jewish control of all the Holy Land as the only option to prevent two-state. The death toll will double/triple/quadruple.
What choice does Israel have? Politicians who want to stop now for moral reasons would also agree to two-state for moral reasons. In other words, an UN-brokered partition.
Which is why it's full steam ahead to Trump II--and 5 more years to create One Israel.
Shamblesheep
(they sat on this for a long time)
US31m ago
He who plays the piper picks the tune. The Israelis are playing Biden for a fool. It was a lovefest until he began asking for something in return to appease his angry Left. Now he's under the bus. By insisting on two-state, he's become a danger to Israel, for no observant Jew could agree to the partition of the Holy Land without committing apostacy. The Jewish Right fears two-state more than the Iran/militia axis. The people around Trump know this, and if he gets in office, Israel will have carte blanche to take possession of all the Holy Land under the US nuclear umbrella. The end result is that Biden alienated his Civil Rights base, and forced the Jewish vote toward Trump to preserve "the biblical deed" of One Israel.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3h ago
Seems like a "smarter way to increase deaths" with a weapon that costs $4.1 million a shot. But "creative" is best reserved for the vast fields of the colorful graves that the war generates so perfectly. "I only created the bomb" (did he see "promise" in any of it?) Oppenheimer protested, "I didn't use the bomb" (he didn't know the risks?). When Kalashnikov worried about dying as the creator of the AK, the Metropolitan said, "You did it for Holy Russia, my son." A job is a job, no doubt. Most people would shudder to mix the lethal death-penalty cocktail administered to murderers. But this is gleaming tech-bro stuff, which generates swarms of woke billionaires. And soon the whole business will be done by AI. Now that will be "creative", although as the article reminds us, again "carrying both Promise and Risk."
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US5m ago
"It could get worse"
What a vote getter! Still, there may be room for optimism. In the words of Elisa P. Doolittle, "Cheer up captain, if it can't get worse, it's a sure sign it'll get better." Small comfort in Gaza. Hamas has legitimacy because Palestinians have been at the end of their rope for decades, and they endure their current destruction with fortitude because of their previous misery living in an open air prison, with their only hope the US's carrot of "the horizon of a credible path toward a Palestinian State (200 years down the road, heh, heh): the biggest fraud in diplomatic history. Political delicacy requires the writer to be understandably diplomatic. But let's cut to the chase: the Civil Rights paradigm squarely sees the carnage in Gaza as the exact George Floyd parallel. It "can't get worse from here."
1 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US2h ago
Venezuela is "where Socialism is being tried fully." Are they perhaps telling Biden to "keep trying it" at home regardless of cratering polls and Republicans crowing about the Second Coronation of Trump? Or are they, too, perhaps already hedging against Trump II? They better be careful. Annexation is back as statecraft: Russia/Israel, etc. As a writer reminded us yesterday, "None of us is going back (heh) where we came from." Cheap land if you can get it.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2h ago
"What happens"?
Tens of thousands of Ukraine/Russian eighteen year old's get a stay of execution. At this stage the only thing Ukraine can expect to get back is the "the" attached to its name. ""War," wrote Tolstoy, "is how the rich murder the poor." The average European sees nothing here but US strategic interests, which is why you don't see any of them volunteer for the Front. The Right sees the war as another Front of the Culture War, which is why Fox is rooting for Putin. What has already happened is the fundamental makeover of the EU from a Welfare to a Warfare State, with the abandoning of its "EU values" peace charter. The Nordic model will go the way of the Peace Dividend. And the rising Right could well hijack the EU and hammer it into a Superstate, with Orbanites at the helm.
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Julie commented 25 minutes ago
JJulie
New Bedford, MA25m ago
@Shoffmensch
Ukrainian 18 year-olds haven't been conscripted, though they can volunteer. The average age of Ukrainian soldiers at the front is over 40. The age of conscription was 27 years and is now 25, I believe. Russians do conscript 18-30 years of age.
I know that your point is that soldiers on both sides would have a chance to live. I disagree. The outcome without additional aid from the US and Europe, I believe, would be very lopsided with Ukrainian soldiers slaughtered and Ukrainian people subjugated.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
In other words, Trump is to blame for the crisis, because he (Biden) refuses to do what Trump will do once he gets in office: deal with the crisis with or without Congress. He's asking for Republicans to essentially order him to "shut down the Border?" But note how quickly he uses the raw power of the Executive to advance a radical Leftwing agenda: Climate, student loans, gender, etc. He embraced border religion only when forced to by his sinking polls, and will cast it off the day after the Election. He cannot now spin a crisis of his own making with "Republicans make me do it". If Trump is able to set the American agenda while out of office, what does that say about the President's own ineptitude while in it?
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
No one questions Israel's right to use its own monopoly of violence to advance its interests, nor the Palestinian's right to do the opposite. Putin is now imposing his will on Ukraine, and China will soon on Taiwan. Russia and China are stand-alone monopolies of violence. When they're done, the US will have no choice but to "fist-bump" them back to legitimacy. But Israel is not a sovereign nation, but a US proxy conquering the Palestinians under the US monopoly of violence. It gets to act as a Super Power without being one. As such it is Israel-under-US-protection-and-funding that allows Israel to practice "Might is Right" statecraft. As such, Americans are left o answer for the morals of Gaza and the West Bank. In the not so distant past, George Floyd would have ended up in the Potter's Field, and Lee and Jackson would still stand proud on their pedestals. Those days are over. Global outrage over George Floyd was both real and genuine. Palestinians are the new George Floyd, and the US is in the dock with Israel at the World Court for underwriting the destruction of Gaza and Settler violence in the West Bank. All bogus? It is the global mood, and if the global mood cancels you, you're finished. This is what confronts Israel (and the US) now.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US37m ago
Israel has more to fear from BLM/Civil Rights than Hamas. The purpose of the Hamas atrocity was to provoke an Israeli response that would sully it at the International Court. By making Gaza the face of Civil Rights, the social activist Left gets to channel global outrage in its Brief against Israel. George Floyd toppled the statues of Lee and Jackson overnight. Europe is squarely on the side of the International Court in what Israel fears most: the partition of the Holy Land. The legacy globalist Left has no choice but to join the chorus if it hopes to remain within the ranks of the most powerful moral force of the day: Civil Rights. Israel is now entangled in the World Court, and , in the absence of a provisional Palestinian structure, the UN/Red Cross has become the default caretaker government of Palestinians. For the Israeli Hard Right, a pervasive UN presence in the Holy Land marks the end of the Zionist vision of Greater Israel: that is the Holy Land intact within its Biblical parameters. For no observant Jew could agree to partition the Holy Land without committing apostacy, anymore than Muslims could hand over the Dome of the Rock. But the partition of the Holy Land is now upfront and center on the global stage. Such is the power of Civil Rights.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US21m ago
Globalist pie-in-the-sky of American messianics to herald in the world of perpetual peace. But Friedman is right that Republicans are more concerned with the chaos in American streets than the anarchy in the Straits of Hormuz: today's Culture War at home rather than the next World War. What outcome does Friedman see in Ukraine with more bombs, except more mass killing? Putin cannot be dislodged from his gains. Moreover, nothing keeps individual Europeans from joining the Ukrainian Front. Why don't they? Because they don't feel threatened, and don't mind the pressure Putin puts on their elites back home. In Republican minds, Biden's three crisis (Ukraine/Border/Israel) intersect the Culture War. They see Putin/Orban as holding the line against decadent "EU statist values", and Open Borders as part of the same globalist agenda. Here they get to kill two birds with one stone by using them to get Trump into the Oval. The Israeli crisis is to the same purpose in a proactive sense. By forcing a stand alone Israeli bill on the Democrats, they get to fan the inferno now raging within the Democratic Party brought on by Gaza, and fire their own Apocalyptic base.
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2-11-24
Shamblesheep
USFeb. 6
"twist"
He can make political purses out of sows' ears. The trappings of the Oval are pure silk. Are we to suppose that Democrats who end up with eight figure perks at Google after leaving office, do so by "utilizing" their former office? Or are they selling it (and the country) for personal gain? Lobbying is but criminal bribery in legal dress. Trump at least does it openly, without bothering to dress his sleight of hand in moral cant. Perhaps this is his appeal. Gallows humor, after all, hits the mark, because it is so unflinchingly, well, from the gallows, and thus undeniably authentic.
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cuyahogacat commented 4 hours ago
C
cuyahogacat
northfield, ohio4h ago
@Shamblesheep Unfortunately true. Bonnie & Clyde and Al Capone led the way.
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Shamblesheep
US9m ago
The time for compromise is while you have a strong hand. Biden no longer does. His new found border religion savors of a foxhole conversion brought on by sinking polls. More border chaos can only help Trump, and Republicans see Ukraine as the other side of the same coin: open borders and advancing "EU values" amount to the same thing in the Right's Culture War against globalism. Of course they're gaming the system. In the race to the bottom all that will ultimately matter is the raw power of the Executive. Once in office, Trump will not need Congress to fix the border. A worsening crisis helps him get there. And it doesn't stop there. By advancing a stand-alone Israeli bill (no conditions/no aid for Palestinians), Republicans get to inflict maximum pain on Democrats by forcing them to either vote against Israel or further enrage their angry Left by voting for it.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2m ago
"we"?
Tell her she has a "football sized wound" because Biden gave Israel the go-ahead to destroy Gaza in order to keep his billionaire donors from migrating to Trump. In other words, she's a sacrificial lamb (along with her playmates) on the altar of power politics. Biden needs votes in order to remain in office to preserve "the global rules based moral order". She "took one" for the Cause. Tell her that.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
2028?
That gives her five years to come up with an agenda, other than, "but what's the alternative"? That is if Trump doesn't go for Trump III. Her performance is so underwhelming and lackluster, she could not possible qualify even as an also-ran. Then there is the fallout of Gaza, which happened on her watch, and her disastrous handling of the Border Portfolio.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US11h ago
The border crisis is an election year bonanza: 1) without a deal, Biden is forced to adopt Trump tactics and alienate his Left. If he does nothing, voters will continue to blame him; 2) it allows Republicans to pull the plug on Biden's key foreign policy venture, while forcing the EU to pivot abruptly from Welfare state to Warfare in anticipation of Trump II. The Putin/Orban axis, in this view, is but another front of the same Culture War against Democrats at home; 3) the border crisis and Ukraine weaken Biden's hand in dealing with his greatest crisis: Gaza. At some point, the cumulative weight of three major crisis will become overwhelming. Republicans gain most by doing nothing--while trying to keep a straight face. The end game here is to save America from Democrats, even if it means running the nation off a cliff.
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François commented 3 hours ago
F
François
Switzerland3h ago
@Shoffmensch Trump tactics did zilch to limit illegal immigration.
Also if your agenda is to run the nation off a cliff, welp, you don't even need to reelect Trump; just keep that House of Representatives red and you'll be on track anyway.
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R
Randy
FL2h ago
@François - For a guy from Switzerland (?) you really have no idea of the actual numbers. According to the US Border Patrol, in FY 2019, 851,000 persons crossed the Southern border. In FY 2023 it jumped to 2.4 million.
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Shamblesheep
USJust now
A fatal wound. The case will not survive the noise around it. Remember, Trump's troubles began when he sought, like King David, to "cover his sin". Republicans will spoon this as the pot calling the kettle black, and the politics will generate so many briefs against the Prosecutor that the case will collapse under its own weight. The day when the Office commanded respect (regardless of the character of the holder) is rendered obsolete in the age of the Un/Influencer. "Caesar's wife above suspicion" with a vengeance. The scales of justice cannot compete with the watercooler, the parsed details of criminality with the tawdry tales of concupiscence.
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Shoffmensch
(blocked--)
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
A powder keg waiting to explode. Which means Hamas will resurface (or metastasize) on the West Bank as the de facto moral face of Palestinian suffering, while the corrupt PA will soon need IDF protection for its betrayal of the Palestinian cause. All Biden/Blinken plans are dead on arrival for that very reason: Hamas is the only credible authority to keep Israel from swallowing up all of the Holy Land. The vacuum created by its removal would require the UN to become the governorate of all 5 million Palestinians still existing amidst the scraps left them by Israel, with the International Court as the provisional government. Hamas knew it could never take on the IDF. But it needed only to get Israel entangled in the International Court to win. Legacy Evangelicals are now Israel's only non-Jewish ally, and the younger generation are split evenly between White Nationalist and Cultural Woke. No country can survive global cancelling. This is what will happen to Israel.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US6m ago
The Trump/Evangelical axis is the elephant in the room here. Netanyahu knows he need but make it to November. Evangelicals are Israel's only remaining non-Jewish ally, and two-state constitutes a death-blow to their End Time prophecy, which demands full Jewish possession of all the Holy Land before the Second Coming. That's the reason why the Israeli military gifted Jerry Falwell a jet to help him spread whatever "else" he was preaching. Two-state is dead on arrival as long as Evangelicals retain their power. And, like the Ultras and Settlers, they're impatient to take Prophecy to the next stage. Behind Netanyahu's hard Right, is the even harder Right of legacy Evangelicals. Their grip is weakening, but they have enough for a final push.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJan. 31
I see nothing here about the two main protagonists: Hamas and the Settlers. Hamas is still fully intact and the Settlers are still expanding. Netanyahu cannot be removed while his hardline coalition holds. Hamas cannot be sidelined as long as it's the only credible check on the Settlers, and Settlers have blanket cover from Evangelicals to keep reclaiming all the Holy Land. To fully destroy Hamas will require double or triple the current body count, after which no Arab country would dare volunteer to act as the new sheriff to keep Israel safe. Iran is already playing the religious card against the rapidly Westernizing petro-sheiks. and MBS would be required to demand far more than the Ultra/Settler/Evangelicals could accept. As for clipping Iran's wings: the US retreated from Afghanistan because it ran out of targets, and Afghanistan is but the backyard of an illusive ideological front which the US not faces head-on. There are no targets here, because a guerilla's greatest asset is his village. The US would have to do to Tehran what Israel is doing to Gaza: level it. And end up still shadowboxing an ideology. Modi solved his religious war with brute force, by building a temple atop a mosque. Which is what Settlers dream off, and which explains the existence of Hamas. Hence, both Settlers and Hamas would have to be at the negotiating table. They're evenly matched.
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2 REPLIES
Paul wright commented 10 hours ago
PPaul wright
Wellesley ma10h ago
@Shoffmensch You lost me at "the Settlers".
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BBill F.
Louisville1h ago
@Shoffmensch Hamas and the settlers are not protagonists, they are proxy's for Iran and Israel's right-wing. Both will have to be brought to heel, but they are not the main characters.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
By the time they get here, they're more battle-hardened and savvy than most Americans. Their pluck reinvigorates the can-do attitude that fades with luxury. The northern prairies are empty with no lack of water. Today, the Apostle Paul could open his window to make converts without the dangers of foreign travels: "thrice", he says, "I suffered shipwreck." If I read my End Time Charts right, Church America will not long need its bounty anyhow, so why not "make friends and converts with their unrighteous Mammon"? Evangelicals tell themselves that Church America is the last date on God's calendar. If not, their children will likely become migrants themselves fleeing persecution. Besides that, the Great Commission commands Christians to be borderless as migrants and sojourners. And most ironic: the only growing churches in Europe are African. Imagine that: the Good News coming to rich Europe through poor Africa.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Most Settlers are transplanted Americans with dual American citizenship. The International Court sees the Occupation as a crime against humanity. Evangelicals have raised billions to accelerate the End Time Return, and are actively involved in helping Settlers expel Palestinians. "There's terrorists everywhere," one of the Montana cowboys aiding Prophecy on the West Bank was quoted recently. That sums up US policy in a nutshell. This is US sponsored terrorism.
Shoffmensch
(they blocked this for a day and a half)
Afdeestupple, US8m ago
@Glenn
Not if you accept the Israeli government's "biblical deed" doctrine, which states "that no part of the Holy Land is off-limits to Jews." The UN recognizes the right of a "Jewish state" to exist. But, for Jews, there can be no Jewish state that excludes Old Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Abrahamic heartlands, Judea and Samaria. Consequently, there is no place within the Holy Land to create a Palestinian State, and the failure of the UN to force Islamic countries to accept their co-religionists leaves them as permanent refugees. That's the logic here.
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Shamblesheep
US11m ago
From henceforth let no man say, "We don't know if Socialism works, because it's never been tried." Take a long bow, Democrats, you earned it. You tried it at the Superpower level. "In such and such a year," it will be said, "under such and such an administration, Marxism, in all its glory, was on display."
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
All the world sees is destruction and 26,000 dead, most of them women and children. As the body count grows, so will global wrath against Israel. This is what poses the greatest danger to Israel's existence: 1) the taint of genocide at the International Court, 2) the growing anger within the social justice/US Civil Rights Left, and 3) Europe's alienated immigrant masses.
"Palestinians should be citizens of the countries in which they live."
But in which country do the 5 million Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank live? Or are we talking population transfer here? Stephens was a great fan (with Professor Tribe) of the World Court going alter Putin's assets to fund Ukraine. The World Court sees Israel's Occupation of Gaza and the West Bank as a crime against humanity. The ICC is toothless, but its censures cause even despots to tremble. A genocide ruling would cancel Israel globally. Hamas would like nothing more than to double the body count to make its case.
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Shamblesheep
US3h ago
@northlander
"on us"?
So after Putin conquers Europe, he'll take shipping and add America to his portfolio? He doesn't have enough people to develop a tenth of his land now, and he wants more? The cause of the war was NATO Colonialism eastward. Kissinger warned them. And now they have another humiliating retreat on their hands which they seek to hide by prolonging the carnage.
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Shamblesheep
US4h ago
The war was never more than the delusion that 1) it would topple Putin, and that 2) the West would be forced to intervene on moral grounds. Putin has never been stronger, and the threat of nuclear annihilations keeps NATO out. Putin is in no hurry to end the war: 1) He has much to hope from the Trump/Orban axis, 2) neither the EU nor NATO will admit Ukraine without a settlement with Russia, 3) he has Europe on a destabilizing tether as long as it consumes most of the EU's political oxygen, and 4) most dangerous for Ukraine is the EU's changing political landscape Rightward. The war was never winnable, and now the West cannot end it. More billions will only bring more destruction and senseless loss of life.
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Carlito Brigante commented 3 hours ago
C
Carlito Brigante
Cleveland, Ohio3h ago
@Shamblesheep Correct. Well done.
Reply 8 Recommended
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
So voters in NY City and other Leftwing cities will be more welcome if the same number of migrants arrive "legally" on Abbott buses? In other words, solve problems by renaming them? As in, "we're not retreating, we're just attacking in another direction." The Twittering of the Left's crooking-the-books "fake-policies" are not so easily dismissed as fake news and misinformation with upfront chicanery like this. How dumb does the NY Times think Americans are?
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
Iran knows that the US is not about to be drawn into a war it still doesn't understand, as in Afghanistan where it blew the tops of mountains to defeat an ideology underwritten by the Martyr's Complex (rather than the military ethos). The entire region is a page out of Arabian Nights, held together by despots and religion. They do (Western) warcraft great dishonor, because they violate all "the rules of war". Sheridan against Native Americans is the exact parallel, with extermination as the only hoped for outcome. As far as the Taliban is concerned, the war didn't end because it never began. The US is shadow-boxing with an ideology. It's what now lies before it in the sands of Syria. How many fighters has Hamas lost by now? Yet every funeral is turned into a martyr's celebration. These are not soldiers, hence there are no military targets to hit here. A guerilla's strongest asset is his village.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1m ago
This marks a dramatic turn of history: the repudiation of the Welfare ("values") paradigm of statecraft back to the old reset: violence as politics by other means. Like titans Athens and Sparta, exhausted Colonials will now attempt a rescue by clinging to one another as modern day Vandals (Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthis) accelerate the retreat of their Protector. The much vaunted "Nordic Welfare Model" was underwritten by the Pax Americana Peace Dividend. Putin destroyed it, and with it "EU values", which he feared more than US military might, and which he could not allow to progress beyond Ukraine, lest they incarnate as Rainbow flags in Red Square, which will soon highlight the spoils of a reinvigorated Russia. Athens and Sparta did not survive Alexander. But the greatest danger lies within: the Right stands to hijack the EU project itself. That widening smirk on Orban's face seems destined to wax even wider.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US14m ago
@Michael McBrearty
And in so doing NATO sowed the seeds of its own destruction. Kissinger warned them not to crowd the weakened bear in their post Cold War hubris to end the Russian Problem once and for all. Some problems are best left in the historic fog of ambiguity. "The" Ukraine as a buffer between major powers was the best history could hope for. My ancestors farmed East Ukraine for 100 years, and got out when they saw the storm clouds on the horizon. The richest farm land on earth is not worth one drop oh human blood. I'm glad not to be there still in the fatalist meatgrinder.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US27m ago
Divorce culture is so rampant and pervasive among Evangelicals (divorce rates are consistently highest in the Bible Belt) that they have had to resort to blanket immunity and absolution for breaches of the the 7th Commandment. Add to this the cavalier mantras of "once saved always saved" and "love the sinner/hate the sin", and little remains of the traditional stigma once attached to such behavior. The unsaid notion is that you cannot go after the big fish without exposing the swamp which created them. Evangelical preachers stopped preaching the Bible's marriage texts long ago, because those are first and foremost the divorce texts of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (which underwrite Rome's absolute prohibition of divorce). Evangelicals cannot preach against divorce without emptying their churches, and with their marriage doctrine utterly destroyed, they are left to blame "the Culture" of the Left for the erosion of "Family Values" destroying Evangelical marriages.
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cornbear commented 2 minutes ago
C
cornbear
St. Paul, MN2m ago
@Shoffmensch Consider also the Right's treatment of long-married Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton or Barack Obama as compared to divorced presidents Ronald Reagan or Donald Trump.
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Bill Camarda commented 2 minutes ago
B
Bill Camarda
Ramsey, NJ2m ago
@Shoffmensch We already saw that by 1980, when they endorsed the first divorcee to become President, Ronald Reagan, and rejected the President who taught Christian bible study on Sundays, Jimmy Carter. It's been 44 years of relentless hypocrisy and selective, self-serving theology ever since.
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Afdeestupple, US1h ago
Doesn't the US have enough carnage on its hands without shopping for more? "Sufficient unto the day are the wars thereof." Or is this meant to drown out the shrieking from Gaza? Would Hong Kong be better as destroyed Ukraine? Because it is what lies in store for Taiwan, if it becomes the next objects lesson of "the rules based order." Gazans can't wait for it to arrive. As for the Generals, they have a vested interest in the promotions of war, and their counsel should be treated accordingly.
7 Recommend
Shamblesheep
(here we go again--this makes their hair stand on end so they block it)
USPending Approval
Any deal will require that Israel forever renounce political (not divine) claims to the Temple Mount and the biblical West Bank heartlands, Judea and Samaria. This kills the religious raison d'état (the religious zeal of Ultra/Settler/Evangelicals) that underwrites Israel's existence. Saudi Arabia, as custodian of the Two Mosques, will be forced to demand absolute Islamic sovereignty of the Third. Iran's equivalent of the CIA is named after it (Quds), and MBS is already in the religious crosshairs for turning the lands of Mecca into the fleshpots of Las Vegas. He has little wiggly room here lest he strengthen the hand of his rising foe.
Shamblesheep
US3h ago
"made no attempt to rule on the merits of the case, a process that will take months — if not years — to complete"
We're constantly told that the majority of the 25000+ dead are innocent women and children. And the Court needs "years" to come to a conclusion as to whether the slaughter of innocent women and children amounts to a war crime? Or are these victims guilty by association/proximity? Do I detect the ghosts of Hiroshima and Dresden in the courtroom?
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H
HS
Atlanta1h ago
@Shamblesheep
Remember these numbers come from Hamas,who have no legitimacy as a honest organization. Secondly, they do not account for Hamas fighters who have been killed in their count. Israel estimates between 8-9000 Hamas have been killed. Although the loss of life is tragic, caution is advised. Also, the fighting would end if Hamas releases the hostages, which include Americans, a fact people seem to forget.
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Shamblesheep commented 9 minutes ago
SShamblesheep
US9m ago
@HS
Are you saying that the thousands of innocent women and children who have been slaughtered have only themselves to blame? As for the exaggerated (or reduced) numbers, where have we hard that before?
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Shamblesheep
US25m ago
What happens to her now. She's essentially homeless, politically. She's probably gone too far to get back in his good graces, otherwise, she might have got a cabinet post. Which means she's sidelines for the next five years, because his wrath is bottomless. That accounts for the swelling coronation mob--you're either all in, or history. No wonder Europe, seeing all this from afar, is having heart attacks.
1 Recommend
USPending Approval
What happens to her now. She's essentially homeless, politically. She's probably gone too far to get back in his good graces, otherwise, she might have got a cabinet post. Which means she's sidelines for the next five years, because his wrath is bottomless. That accounts for the swelling coronation mob--you're either all in, or history. No wonder Europe, seeing all this from afar, is having heart attacks.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2m ago
So on the one hand, Republicans withhold Ukraine funds, and on the other, Democrats fill Putin's war chest by giving him American market share. Climate, Putin gloats, a gift that keeps on giving. He slyly offered to help Germany transition to Green with Russian gas, and now he gets to milk US climate Angst to bankrupt Europe further with high gas prices. Here, as with China, economics is the new weapon of mass destruction. Climate policy is a globalist luxury which China will exploit to become one.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Looks like Trump stole a pre-Oval year to get a head start of what lies in store. If he can do this from the docket, Republicans should have no trouble imposing their Orbanesque vision on America. I see that talk of Trump running from jail has entirely disappeared. And that with 90 some felony charges against him, adding a new genre to "hallows humor". The thing is so bizarre that new language has to be invented daily to make sense of it. A field day for news papers. Hang on to your NY Times stock, which has become a non-stop Trumpomercial. But how can you not cover the hottest story in the world?
Shamblesheep
US1h ago
"Cutthroat"?
Is he running to be leader of a Sunday School or Commander in Chief with the annihilation button under his thumb. Even the most fervent wokester has to swear to uphold US First Strike Nuclear Doctrine. We're talking about wiping out entire civilizations, not upon being attacked, but to preempt an attack. That mental threshold has to be crossed by the candidate. After which, the rest is trivial.
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Bernard commented 27 minutes ago
B
Bernard
Virginia27m ago
@Shamblesheep so do we want a person motivated by personal vengeance and with no conscience with his/her finger on the button?
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Well, Biden/Blinken are globetrotting the world to find a new Colonial Sheriff for Gaza. Would that not be an opportunity closer to home, instead of drawing unemployment from their Colonial paymaster? In the words of a descendant of Kenya: "Can anyone tell me what interests Kenya has in Haiti." Aside from serving their Colonial paymaster, that is.
Shamblesheep
US33m ago
But note that Trump just denied Biden on two fronts by strong-arming RINO Republicans to torpedo Ukraine and the Border Crisis. No other candidate could have done this. What fires his base is the raw power of the Executive to steamroll their vision once they gain the Oval. Compared to which the rest of the field are little more than more statist RINOS.
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Carolyn commented 3 minutes ago
C
Carolyn
California3m ago
@Shamblesheep , no one except MAGA is going to believe the Dems are responsible for the lack of border reform. If the Dems have a PR good enough to manage a class president election, they will sell that the Rep were the refuseniks.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
But look on the bright side: The World Court just ruled that the extermination of Gazans is not genocide. All the more reason not to panic.
Shamblesheep
US10m ago
Old fashioned gossip before the web turned the tawdry details of elites into disinformation/fake news/conspiracies. Musk is merely a modern day Prometheus.
Reply 5 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US3m ago
In the 80's when Evangelicals tried to clean up television, the Left sneered, "You're got a button, just turn it off." "Make sure your servant hears you approaching," was King Solomon's unflattering counsel, "lest you hear him cursing you." In other words, he most likely is. It may have occurred to the sanctimonious Left, with its exaggerated opinion of itself, that "disinformation/fake news/conspiracies" are little more than the gossip/heresy/superstitions of days gone by. Sharp wagging tongues did more to curb ancient vice than the Puritan beadle. The Twitterhood is no more than the salacious gossip about elites gone global. If, as the Google guys say, you "do no evil", the wagging tongues of the Twitterhood cannot touch you.
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
“The world is watching.”
Strange that the world would have time to watch the clinical death of a murderer when innocent Palestinian women and children are blown to pieces by American bombs daily.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Enter the global Culture/Religious War. Friedman glibly leapfrogs over the raging animus which feeds both conflicts: The West-Rightwing/Orban axis against EU decadence, and the Evangelical/Ultra/Settler axis to prevent partition of the Holy Land. Republicans see EU globalists as a greater threat to Western identify than Putin, and the carve-up of the Holy Land as a repudiation of End Time Prophecy. Hamas/Iran have done Evangelicals an immense favor by blowing up a two state solution, thus saving Prophecy. They're willing to turn the Mideast into an inferno to advance the march on the Temple Mount, but will torpedo any attempt to include carved-up Israel in a Gulf EU. Trump II will quash all two-state talk. Putin hurled NATO back by threatening it with nuclear annihilation if it enters the hot war, and his gains of the crown jewels of Ukraine cannot be reversed without more arrivals at Dover for which there is zero American appetite. Republicans do not want Putin to lose, and paradoxically, they need Hamas/Iran to keep the Holy Land intact for Messianic purposes.
Shamblesheep
US44m ago
The argument doesn't wash. The logic of nuclear deterrence is based on the notion of Mutually Assured Destruction. So if China wants global destruction, why not get it over with by launching nukes? The $3 trillion spend on the Bush wars would go a long way to avoiding WW3 simply by transplanting the company at all costs. But China's greatest fear is its restive population, and Taiwan added to Hong Kong would do wonders for democracy. And if the "world's most important company" is what guides murderous missiles to their grisly end, the sooner it ceases to exist the better. Although, as we see in Gaza, Biden's shells are to the purpose all the more without this "black magic".
1 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US44m ago
@allen roberts
Republicans are fighting the Culture War (against the EU) in Ukraine, and a religious war to keep the Holy Land intact for Messianic purposes. Very clear and well defined objectives here, suited for voter consumption. They see even less sense in juggling the world's politics, than playing messianics with the weather.
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Shamblesheep
USJust now
A failed Empire trying to hide its impotence (and poverty) by playing warmonger abroad. While their health system founders, they send billions in death merchandise to Ukraine, because, they say, Putin will keep marching westward. Imagine the Russian petro-dollars Putin would have to fork over to make Britain Great Again. Britain is becoming a failed country, and they're trying to drag others down with them. Their exit from the EU did more to encourage Putin than German addiction to his gas.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2h ago
They're got Biden where they want him: twisting in the wind. A Putin win does not take votes from Trump, and another failed war impacts Biden severely. Likewise, border chaos lands squarely on the President, hence there cannot be too much of it--till November. Trump II allows them to write their own ticket in every conceivable direction. A foretaste of things to come: four years of zero-sum. And plum posts for those who help him get there.
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Carolyn commented 29 minutes ago
C
Carolyn
California29m ago
@Shoffmensch, it’s the Republicans that are twisting. And our European Allies.
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Shamblesheep
US24m ago
@Nomind
Why not--if that's what it takes to get to the Oval? Everyone understands that this is what's going on here. This is an election coup at public expense. After November, they get to write any ticket they want. Why settle for peanuts now? Simply brilliant. They need but play dumb and keep a straight face while they run the country off a cliff to get to the Oval.
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Shamblesheep
USJust now
Russia is waging war with petro-dollars. China uses dirty energy to out-compete the West and grab its market shares. Xi's sharp accountants allow him to spare his army divisions as economics has become war by other means. Meanwhile European industry is imploding, and the Right is rising as a result. Putin is in Ukraine because Germany accepted his offer of cheap gas to transition to Green and found itself blackmailed. With Trump all this is out the door. If there's a market for dirty energy, he intends to grab it to keep it out of the hands of American enemies. If it's a race to the bottom, he intends to stay on top all the way down. Statecraft is, after all, the ultimate game of chicken. The US Green transition is on hold due to high energy cost (Putin), and the prohibitive cost of wresting market Green market share from China. There are no "good green jobs" if you can get the same product for next to nothing from China. Economics. It's the new weapon of mass destruction.
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Shamblesheep
US28m ago
@Londoner
Those empty seats struck me as odd. The airline was hedging its bets at the expense of its customers. Think how quickly the plane would have emptied if a sign read, SEATS VACANT BECAUSE OF FAULTY DOOR PLUG. From here on, wiser heads will keep their seatbelts on. I suggest tying a strong rope around your ankle as well.
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Shamblesheep
US3m ago
I just bought more bus shares. Good old terra cotta for me even if we (as a Boeing recently did) "lose a wheel." I'm also looking to offer debris insurance to people under Boeing flight lines. But look at the silver lining: the longer these sky monsters stay grounded the less carbon and noise. A huge noise tax would do wonders for the environment. A total ban would not make many people unhappy.
Reply 6 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US17m ago
They go there "to look for dates." Those are not the kinds of places one goes looking for a bride, because as we read "they don't want people to know what they were up to." That is the respectable people back home, who don't think they "were just looking for a date." There are places in Nevada for that. Of course, the rates might be cheaper in Columbia.
Reply 51 Recommend
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
@Grackle
Toyotas drove the US out of Afghanistan, and now I see them full of Houthis. Why Japan's shipping premiums have not gone up. Still, the US can't list Toyotas as weapons of mass destruction since they are also used for civilian purposes. Although the army could insist that ally Japan implant them with hidden tracking devices.
Shamblesheep
USJust now
Putin's weapon of choice to destabilize Europe. Wagner stages coups and EU values forbid negotiating with unsavory leaders, leaving them at the mercy of Putin's mercenaries. Just as he weaponized Climate Angst to seize Ukraine, so he now overwhelms the EU's open border system to influence elections. He can afford to play the long game because he's not limited to four year terms. His intent is to change EU focus from values to the old statecraft standard of violence and vigilance: Ukraine forced Europe from welfare to warfare, and migration is forcing it to close its borders. He had much to fear from approaching "EU values" which the Right is now dismantling. Old fashioned war he knows how to deal with.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2m ago
Why would Republicans solve Biden's biggest liability: the border crisis? In holding out for the maximum, they get to crow about Biden's failure both in Ukraine and at home. A Putin win does not hurt Trump, and more pressure in Leftwing cities will pay dividends at the ballot box. Biden's increasing nervousness over Ukraine and the border allow Republicans to set the agenda by leaving him to twist in the wind. "The border crisis," Trump keeps whispering in Johnson's ear, "needs to get more bigly." After November, Johnson gets his choice of cabinet posts.
Shamblesheep
US3h ago
The chaplain, unconsciously expressing his own insecurity, was hoping the prisoner would find a break-through to God at the last moment. It's what he would have hoped for had he been on the gurney. This is the most (non) God/prayer/Scripture deathbed profession I have ever read. You could construct a portrait of God from the constant (and conscious) negation here. Remarkable that the prisoner's unbelief was able to withstand the halting doubts of his comforter. I doubt he will long continue in his role.
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Sancho commented 26 minutes ago
Sancho
Los Angeles26m ago
In particular, the official elevation of things like Wiccanism and Atheism to "religious" levels, shows that many who begin as fervent anti-believers, eventually convert their fever into a faith.
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Shamblesheep
(why are they blocking this? The thoughts expressed are too terrifying)
USPending Approval
Which amounts to a stunning Hamas victory--and the end of Netanyahu. Moderates will now cave to global pressure to accept the partition of the Holy Land. That, for Settlers/Evangelicals/Kissinger, amounts to the destruction of Israel, as Hamas will now use a failed state (with UN representation) to cut Israel to pieces. The process will be delayed if Netanyahu can hold out till November, at which point Trump's Apocalyptic horse will ride to the rescue. Biden's hard-Right turn on Gaza was, after all, an attempt to keep Trump from using Hamas to fire up his impatient zealots, who have been saddled up and ready to ride for decades to activate Prophecy. Extreme US isolation is on the horizon, as Europe will feel duty bound to side with the UN and World Court (the vengeful Global South) against the Colonial/Evangelical/Settler axis.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US9h ago
Nothing Biden could offer would be good enough. Republicans know he's desperate on both Ukraine and the border. A Putin victory is a Biden defeat going into 2024. And they see little worth preserving in the EU, which they blame for hatching the Culture War. More migrant pressure on Leftwing cities is bound to create enormous voter discontent at Biden's policies. Hence, Trump is best served by increasing the flood of immigrants all the way up to the election. This is pure Trump. He wants Johnson to cry up border control, while sabotaging every effort to that effect, The Oval is all that matters. Once there, they will use the power of the Executive to rearrange the furniture as they please. Thus on the one hand, Putin has the EU at its wits end (ready to receive their marching orders from Trump), while a worsening border crisis gives voters the impression that the ship is rudderless. All Republicans need do is keep a straight face while driving the nation off a cliff--right into the Oval.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"At a Black church in Atlanta on Sunday, she suggested..."
She seems to regard the 7th Commandment as a trifling "suggestion" as well. One is not accustomed to hearing adultery defended or winked at from the pulpit, but after the Pope's "blessing" to all the rest, everything now seems par for the course. Ironic, that Trump's troubles, which began from covering up his adulteries, now stand to be dismissed by the adultery of his pursuer, "the problems of the bedroom" (to use an ancient phrase) intruding on the Bench, which is why "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion". Still, history is a great reminder that politics is the cheapest way to keep a mistress at public expense, or, in this case, a master.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US22m ago
A timely and graphic description of nanny Statism and tyrannical Socialism--in short, the Democratic Party, or more to the point, the case for Trump to cleanse the Augean Stables. 99 percent of these minions are Democrats, whose sole purpose in life is to multiply five-star non-work to enlarge their fiefdoms. Good non-work, if you can get it.
2 Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US6m ago
According to the Evangelical Letter in support of the Gaza operation, Israel is well within the bounds of Christian War Doctrine. Collateral damage is simply the reality of modern war: both Russia and Ukraine bomb cities to weaken morale. Hiroshima and Dresden were not strategic, but "terror-inducing" (Churchill) targets. Whatever the merits of arguments at the World Court, Israel is not in the dock alone. Biden could have stopped the invasion. He could end the carnage in an instant. He continues to supply the weapons of mass destruction. Israel is a US proxy. It would cease to exist without US sponsorship. The world knows this. Biden and Evangelicals own the morals here fully. World despots gleefully watch the global moral hegemon dig its moral grave in Gaza. Gaza will do to America what George Floyd did to the statues of Lee and Jackson. The turmoil at US universities and European streets are a foretaste of the reckoning to come.
76 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US5h ago
Et tu, Men (way) North of Richmond? Were there "good men on both sides here" also? No one asked the Confederates when their idols Lee and Jackson were cast down and smelted. Let Native Americans of the region decide.
2 Recommend
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
This writer is the answer to Biden's immigration crisis. Huge billboards should warn advancing migrants of the dangers of entering a democracy "lacking the essentials" of democracy. Canada? Canada doesn't even have a Constitution. They fly by the seat of their pants using "the legal standard (Friedman) of reasonableness", which is, of course, nothing more than the latest wokery. But with Statists in control, who needs concrete laws? Because a Progressive's will-o-the-wisp code changes with the wind/mood/latest hypocrisy--or vice. I suppose the writer lumps the US Constitution in with Fake News, propaganda, disinformation, etc.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
Does the NY Times know anyone who has access to Republicans to remind them of their duty? Because the polls would indicate that they're intent on not acting "responsibly": they're voting for Trump to save America from Democrats. Success at the ballot box is, after all, collective responsibility, or (in Kissinger-speak) "self-interest" palmed as high-minded responsibility.
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Shamblesheep
(this was up for 10 minutes. It's too terrifying for the world to see and had to be removed. It's what lies in store for Israel. George Floyd toppled Lee and Jackson overnight. This is the buzzsaw that Israel has run into head on: the original Civil Rights, the most potent political force in the world. The billionaires attacked Harvard's black president because of Israel. Harvard needed her more than she needed Harvard--to cover its colonial past. Israel has infinitely more to fear from George Floyd than from Hamas. And Hamas made a suicidal attack knowing it would unleash George Floyd in Gaza. This is what you will now see on US campuses and in Europe's Arab street).
US4m ago
The Right in Israel dreads nothing more than a Palestinian State. Even Kissinger thought it would be too dangerous for Israel. Is "Two-Statism" then by definition not anti-Semitic? Israel, now in the the docket for genocide at the World Court, has a severe reckoning coming for its brutal treatment of occupied Palestinians. It was caught off-guard by Hamas because it read too much into its blanket immunity under the US umbrella at the UN. With the US increasingly isolated at the UN, the loss of that immunity will be catastrophic. Billionaires using their billions to shut down attempts by the activist Left to draw a line from George Floyd to Gaza are but kicking the can down the road. They read the mood correctly: ultimately, Israel's fate will be decided on US campuses and the alienated ghettos of Europe. The Colonial West is fated for a moral head-on collision with the rising South at the UN. Israel will be front and center.
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Shamblesheep
US4m ago
On the other hand, allowing Republicans to defund Ukraine allows Biden to wash his hands of the whole debacle, which would not cost him any votes. Everyone knows the war is lost, and more aid is but cover to wind it down surreptitiously, rather than expose the shock of another colossal NATO defeat. But "the civil war" among Democrats will not go away, because Biden's activist Left is now enraged because of Gaza, and going hard Right on the border will be a great force multiplier exposing the unresolvable contradictions now coming of age in the Left's mushrooming identity politics.
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Shamblesheep
US5m ago
@MScott
Besides, how many "mistresses" are on Government payrolls. Still, it's "the other woman's" connection with the high stakes of Presidential politics that the wronged wife will leverage to maximize her divorce settlement. There is even a side hustle here in the million$ Democrats will be willing to pay to make this go away. This is the highest profile divorce case in the history of the world. Anthony Wiener's private life derailed Hillary. This could be the final nail in the Democratic coffin. What you have here is no more than old-fashioned adultery--and this in an age when the Pope just "blessed" all the rest.
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Shamblesheep
USJust now
"Ms. Willis was served on Monday with a subpoena in Mr. Wade’s ongoing divorce case from his wife, Joycelyn Wade"
Caesar's wife must be above suspicion, because nothing must distract from the upright image which the plebs demand of their leaders. Republicans will now make hay with all the tawdry details of the prosecutor's private life which will become daily Twitter feed. Some of the mud will stick, and the Swampmaster wins by drawing his opponents into the mire. This is a tabloid goldmine, and no one throws mud like Trump. He won the first time with raw gallows humor. If he can harness the watercooler again, he will coast into the Oval. Watch Fox News ply the "homewrecker" angle.
Shamblesheep
US10m ago
@Bobby B
Misses the point: you cheat the hangman by overcrowding the gallows.
Shamblesheep
US10m ago
@Trent
It's not the "legal", but the tawdry gossip of the divorce details that Trump will use to create oxygen.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
All this right in the EU's (a peace mechanism) backyard. Are there any NATO plans for the RUSSIAN "breakthrough", aside of having the ICC issue more arrest warrants? The EU is now little more than NATO (Pentagon II), having mortgaged their remaining freedoms to huddle under the US umbrella. They are so broke that they haven't even begun to convert welfare to warfare. You would think European men would rush to the Ukrainian standards to protect "freedom". They could care less. They follow the war even less than Americans. They see the war as a globalist boondoggle. But with Biden bogged down in Gaza to appease his donors, "as long as we can" has arrived, and what remains of Ukraine's manhood is at the mercy of Putin's meatgrinder. And now China/Russia are giving Iran cover to bleed the US further in the Mideast. Because Iran doesn't attack Chinese ships in the Red Sea. Iran is using this cover to blitzkrieg its Bomb. The fruit of Biden/Blinken globalist messianics--cheerleading served up as foreign policy. Get ready for the mother of all fist-bumps, as Europe, especially Berlin, trembles before an reinvigorated angry bear. Can Biden negotiate with the war criminal before pardoning him? 2024 will be a bonanza for the indispensable Orban.
Shamblesheep
USJust now
The "transfer" language harks back to the catastrophe that created the nation of Israel in the first place. Israel will not survive being dragged before the World Court to be charged of war crimes. Superpowers like China, India, and the US can commit war crimes simply because there is no such a thing. Rex (the monopoly of violence, that is) Lex: the king cannot break the law because the king is the law. Israel does not have a monopoly on violence like China. It wars in Gaza only under US cover, as the whole world knows. Which means the US is implicated in the same Brief now before the Court. With the US becoming increasingly isolated at the UN, and authoritarian despots mocking its pretentious self-appointed role as the moral hegemon of "the rules based order", Israel's moral quagmire in Gaza will greatly accelerate the US's diminishing global influence. Correspondingly, increased and prolonged Palestinian misery at the hands of the Israelis will unleash forces in Western societies and Universities that will change politics beyond recognition. History is moving at warp speed in the age of Colonial reckoning. The once impregnable statues of Lee and Jackson were toppled overnight in the era of George Floyd. Biden/Blinken made a a catastrophic strategic blunder in their blanket support of Israel, and despots of the world await them at the World Court to take their fist bumps. Like MBS smirked at Biden: "You made some mistakes" (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc).
8 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US1h ago
Applying the "legal standard of reasonableness," the Court will punt the matter to the voting booth. "Reasonableness" is, well---what the situation requires. It used to be frowned at as "situation ethics". In this case, the Court will let voters decide if Trump gets to be the most powerful man the world has ever seen. The thought paralyzes most of the world, because that likelihood increases by the day. Once in power, all his legal troubles will dissipate. and he will use his four years to make certain they do not return. The world sees a train-wreck on the horizon, and not a few are beginning to hedge their bets. The Trump Court will not rule against Trump. Again, he beat herculean odds. Voters could well imagine him as a colossus standing athwart an imploding world. Creeping Orbanism will be the result.
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2 REPLIES
Rob Montague commented 42 minutes ago
R
Rob Montague
Overland Park, Kansas42m ago
@Shamblesheep
I pray you are wrong. But after the abominations of Bush v. Gore and Dobbs your prediction may be correct.
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Thismuststopnow commented 42 minutes ago
T
Thismuststopnow
Oh42m ago
@Shamblesheep. So when I break the law should I demand an election so voters can decide if I should be held accountable? It’s in the constitution. We don’t have people vote every time someone goes against the constitution.
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Shamblesheep
US13m ago
@JL
Nothing will be "tested" or "applied". I can guarantee with a 1000 percent certainty that the Trump Court will not shoot itself in the foot. Why stack the Court if it doesn't deliver? Now if the Left still ruled the Court things would be different. As the Russian said, "Remember, Andre, the only battle that matters is the last." In an era where Judges rule, some are Left (as in Israel) and some are Right.
Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2m ago
Standard Israeli policy is that the IDF marches lockstep with extremist Settlers in displacing Palestinians in the West Bank. Settler violence is thus underwritten by US $billions every year. The carnage in Gaza is the moral grave of the two-state solution, leaving only the zero-sum game of "ethnic cleansing". US "complicity" is the yawning moral grave on the horizon awaiting it in the seething global wrath at the UN and ICC. The clash on university campuses is but a foretaste of what's in store for both Israel and its US underwriter as "anti-colonial" reckoning gathers steam. In any other context, what is going on in the West Bank (and Gaza "cleansing" rhetoric) would be labeled "terrorism". But because the violent Settlers have the full backing of the Israeli government, and the Israeli government the full backing of the US, and the US government (as the world's moral hegemon) gets to write the moral dictionary..... Might is Right, and the weak are trampled by Fate, "ever again".
Reply 8 Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US6m ago
And if voters vote-in a insurrectionist, are then not also the majority of US denizens insurrectionists? In more uncivilized days, this used to be called "Revolution", where plebs rallied behind a "tyrant" to throw all the oppressive elites out. Add to that a Court which has not yet staged a coup with "the legal standard of reasonableness" (Friedman), and you have the very untidy business of "Democracy", the greatest dread of deep-statist elites. In Germany, the government is trying to outlaw the fastest growing opposition party (AfD). Laws are like swords-they always come full circle: Schoffmensch Law says, "Any law you write today, will be used against you within two decades." Translation: the more laws, the greater the danger to the Republic. What the writer decries is but the loss of Good Will. Laws multiply in its absence, until "the rule of law" becomes meaningless.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
@Curtis
When Al-Qaeda/Isis/Taliban warred like this, they were called terrorists. Historically, guerillas are executed like spies if captured, because they transgress the rules of war by shielding among civilians like Hamas, and resorting to off-the-books tactics like Hamas. Putin felt free to poison his enemies in European cities. What if he encourages the Balkan mafias to carry the war to Berlin, London, and Paris?
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
But "the guerilla" is little more than "the terrorist's" ugly cousin. This war is funded almost entirely by Biden/Blinken. How then have they not now become state sponsors of terrorism? Early in the war, the bombing of cities (when done by Russia) was a war crime. Now with Gaza flattened, "the rules of war", and "international Law" are out the door. What if Putin uses the Balkan mafias to carry guerilla tactics into the heart of Europe--with nuclear suitcases?
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US13m ago
Does anyone know if this would be a war crime if the Ukrainians had used nuclear bombs, or simply flattened it like Gaza? Here we have 20, in Gaza 20,000. According to Augustine's Christian War Doctrine, you could annihilate every single Russian and not commit a war crime, as long as, according to the Saint, you follow the strict rules of war laid down in the teachings of Jesus. But Biden is now OK with supplying bombs to flatten Russian cities? But why would killing women and children be more morally objectionable than killing beardless boys marched to their deaths at the point of a gun? Well bred gentlemen would, of course, beg to differ. Again, do soldiers get medals for making war on women and children? The current Archbishop of Canterbury tutted that the Dresden inferno "diminished humanity", which, as everyone knows, is neither sin nor crime. Dresden, they say, was a military target, as was Hiroshima. Apparently, the Russians are now also hiding military assets among women and children, leaving Ukraine no choice. Or is this where they dig tunnels into Ukraine? Again, going back to the 20. Would it rise to a war crime if a nuke was used to kill 20 million?
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Shamblesheep
US17m ago
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2).
I thought it appropriate to restate the Standard of "Good News" when there is almost none to be found. Gospel as everyone knows means "Good News".
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Shamblesheep
US2h ago
Cheap food. After three years of non-stop all you can eat sweets, they won't need apartments. Don't any of these people have homes....relatives or communities--or lives? How can you just plop down in Istanbul? This is human existence--barely. And they traded their lives to become boxed up on a listing barge? I hope this not the NY Times getting a head start on the New Year of annus horribilis. What were you thinking, people!!
Reply12 Recommend
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Biden/Blinken didn't need an exit strategy in Ukraine because they (and Friedman) were convinced they could topple Putin, because, well--"EU values" are unstoppable. So much for End of History messianics.
Israel lashed out blindly in desperation, having been caught sleeping at the switch of the most sophisticated and bulletproof security system in the world. Very few people, except Israelis, were surprised by the Hamas attack on revelers within earshot of their "open air prison". How could this happen? Israel had come to believe its own myths: that a Western artifact would be transplanted in a sea of cutthroat despotism and achieve normality. Most people would not live next to Gaza without the equivalent of the the 38th parallel DMZ between them (the talk is now of a vast empty buffer zone). Occupying Sparta survived only by eking out an existence in miserable barracks. The world's superpower survived Iraq by huddling in Green Zones, and gave the Taliban their second nuclear-power scalp when it called it quits. And Israel is now surrounded by "land-carriers"? Friedman "worries" about Israel? His hair should stand on end.
Shamblesheep
US6h ago
Take heart. Remember how long it took to get Putin cancelled and brought to trial. The International Court no doubt has arrest warrants forthcoming, we still have a long ways to go on sanctions, and there's always the option of getting Saudi Arabia to join NATO, etc., etc.
What is this--the third failed war on Biden's tenure? The US was able to escape the Taliban by removing across the Ocean, before it dug its grave in Afghanistan. It could have won the war--by exploding a few dozen nuclear bombs. So too, Israel can win by digging its grave in Gaza. World Wars, opined Einstein, will still be fought in the Stone Age, and those who get there quickest will likely win. Israel can only win by reducing to the Stone Age--like Hamas. The Spartans, the Athenians said, are so eager to die in battle, because their lives are so miserable. From Gaza, everything looks up, while Israelis are impatient to resume Utopia. This is the fatal equation missing in the Israeli psyche. It can contain Hamas only by resorting to a barracks existence. But the Utopia is gone forever. Kissinger rejected a two state solution for lack of a credible counterpart. The Israel army is shadow boxing with an invisible foe. It dropped its guard because it had come to believe its own myths. And now it's swinging blindly at an illusive foe who might just as well live in another dimension. The Taliban was willing to die to the last man. When that sunk in, the US ran.
14 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US3h ago
There goes Ukraine. This is all Republicans need to go nuclear on Biden. They get to write their own ticket now, although, they gain the most by flooding the US with migrants (before '24) while crying up "border control". Trump is quiet--too quiet. He should be making all sorts of noises with regards to Hamas as well. He doesn't have too. Trumpoleon knows not to interrupt his enemies while they're making mistakes. Instead he gets to make subtle overtures to both the Muslim and Mexican vote, while Biden is forced go hard Right on both. It's one thing after another, like the messengers of Job, from bad to worse. Mexico's President ran as a Leftwinger, and here he is helping Trump, who threatens to invade his domains. And no one will have done more to get Trump reelected than Iran/Hamas. Who needs friends, with enemies like that?
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meloop commented 17 minutes ago
M
meloop
NYC17m ago
@Shamblesheep
Si it's "Who lost South and Central America"? eh?
I wonder how many readers recall when the issue was who lost China-or who was responsible for the Boat People?
When you make a superior product and , run your operation better than others do, of course people will recognize the facts and come "a runnin"! Only a foolish and shortsighted minority would leave the US for any other nation on the planet. Even Canada-our twin -has similar problems with well to do Chinese who are deciding life in Canada is infinitely superior to China.
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Shamblesheep
US9m ago
Translation: Let us begin working on the "How Taiwan can declare victory while returning to One China" script. The war reinvigorated Holy Moscow's church-militarism cult, and with his current gains Putin gets to take his bows in Red Square before a grateful nation, and likely take his place in the "Great" pantheon. The war was a colossal strategic foreign policy blunder: the EU broke and in search of a new "warfare" charter, Orbanism strengthened, NATO hurled back, and Ukraine bereft of its choice industrial/agricultural heartlands and coastal riches. These are gains of imperial dimensions, reflected in Putin's poll numbers at home. There will be no historic marches in Kyiv celebrating Ukraine's victory over Russia. Germany, especially, knows it now stands cheek and jowl with an angry bear, and doesn't know how to proceed now that NATO expansion is checkmated.
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Shamblesheep
US 2m ago
"The world" sees the attack by Hamas the way most people now view the Sepoy Rebellion against occupying England. The Brits called for vengeance from the pulpits against those terrorists. What terrifies Israelis even more than the attacks is the sense that the Utopian nature of Israel is now fully exposed, and that the myth of pluralist institutions will now be swapped for a barracks existence and isolation, like Sparta. What remained of the Left is now gone with the lurch to the Right--where Ultras and Settlers await them. A two state solution is now inconceivable after the horrors of Gaza, as the price demanded by greater Islam will be too high. But the greatest danger to Israel comes from the Social Justice Left on University campuses both in the US and Europe, and the corresponding pressure to allow the Palestinians to seek redress both at the UN and the ICC.
3 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US7m ago
@jrk
You left out the divorced/remarried who can't even get the "blessing" and are barred from Communion because the Catechism says they "live in a state of public and permanent adultery". Their lifestyle is now considered below that of LGBTQ+. Stranger still. In Evangelicalism you see the exact opposite. They have an open door on divorce/remarriage adultery, while waging war on LGBTQ+.
16 Recommend
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
Anyone else notice that the NY Times never shows run-over or wasting Ukrainian dead, but only dehumanized Russian cannon-fodder? The spin here shows NATO's desperation and lack of options before the world-shattering consequences of fast approaching November 2024. The war allows Putin to seep enormous pressure into the EU, just as Hamas detonated a powder keg within the Democratic party. Biden has another failed war on his hands on both counts, and Republicans need but prolong the quagmires to make political hay.
Shamblesheep
US55m ago
I was waiting for Dowd to address the biggest howler: Rome still doesn't allow "blessing" of the divorced/remarried (monogamous) Catholic couples who are refused communion because the Catechism says they "live in a state of public and permanent adultery." Because I have never heard of a single instance of "adultery" among LGBTQ+. Yet tens of thousands of Catholics are still punished for this old fashioned relic which has become meaningless through dilution, while the Pope has turned a deaf ear to their cry for relief.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US4h ago
Presumably these assets are in US dollars. Presumably the rising Global South will offer its currency as the new haven for criminal money laundering.
Consequences? You issue arrest warrants for people who cannot retaliate. Mueller has warrants out for half the Russian Army--the only consequence being a huge draft on the US Treasury. Why not plunder China to reimburse the Uighurs? Mexico to refill Mayor Adams depleted Social purse? And who will pay for Gaza when the Palestinian Brief is tried at the ICC? And what distinguishes money assets from global assets on the high seas? Biden's quickest path to WW3 yet. He/Blinken painted themselves into a corner with their globalist messianics, and being starved for funds at home, seek plunder abroad. Biden already cannot protect American citizens where Russians have influence, and now "unrighteous Mammon" will need to be transacted under the barrel of a gun. Fiat is only as good as the good faith behind it. It takes centuries to build, minutes to destroy. Mammon is the coin of global discourse, which is being depleted rapidly. War will be the consequence of Biden's global messianics. "Can anyone tell me," cried President Obama, "what American interests are in Ukraine"?
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Junius Septimus commented 4 hours ago
J
Junius Septimus
New York4h ago
@Shoffmensch Russia violated every international rule, and you’re busy pointing the finger at the US? Give me a break.
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J
Ja Z
WA4h ago
@Shoffmensch
gloom and doomer
rapid fire whataboutism
Russia DESERVES to pay up
Reply5 RecommendShare
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N
Ned
Toronto, Canada3h ago
@Junius Septimus
It will have a boomerang effect as it often happens with US foreign policy.
2003 Iraq war was totally illegal as it was not authorised by the UN Security Council. It was preceded by the biggest anti war protests in history. Three million people protested in Rome, 1.5 million in Madrid as well as in London and almost everywhere else.
Reply5 Recommend
Shamblesheep
US46m ago
Another day, another Leftwing Trump ad highlighting the obvious: the Left doesn't have a viable candidate. And now "reasonable" non-elect judges came to the rescue using "the legal standard (Friedman) of reasonableness" to keep voters from the worser angels of their natures. How does the NY Times not understand that "Views" rule in the age of the Influencer? Fickle plebs revel in gallows humor, and here they have it with a vengeance. They see him as one of their own trashing entrenched elites, as opposed to Biden/Blinken messianics draining the Treasury with faraway globalist quagmires. But the main problem here? "The legal standard of reasonableness" is outvoted at the Supreme Court. When judges rule, you make sure they're your own judges. And here the Trumpian planets line up perfectly, How can the NY Times not bewail that obvious angle?
Reply2 Recommend
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
Does anyone know why Rome doesn't allow priests to bless divorced/remarried couples because the Catechism says they "are in a public and perpetual state of adultery"? And these people are legally married and consenting adults? So why are they charged with adultery, and denied the blessing?
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
So why does the Catholic Church still view adultery as sin?
Shamblesheep
US4h ago
But consider this: Priests cannot "bless" couples in "irregular" (divorce-remarriage) unions which the Vatical Catechism calls "a situation of public and permanent adultery". Wonder if the Pope considers adultery as sin. Or if the word has outlived its usefulness. In Germany thousands of Catholic couples do not take communion because of this.
Reply4 Recommend
Shamblesheep
USDec. 16
"Can anyone tell me," in Obama-speak, "what US interests are in Israel"? Israel has a problem and it calls the US State Department to put all its assets on disposal to fix it. The smoke in Gaza is already wafting into the Oval office to the delight of moral-washing despots around the world. And when Gaza is thoroughly pulverized, the US will be forced to own the morals of rebuilding it. Israel is a US vanity project, off-limits to ordinary Americans. Even Evangelicals are forced to park their missionary mandates when entering the country. And thousands of Americans are in Gaza as IDF soldiers, while tens of thousands of American Palestinians count their relatives among the 18,000 dead. Israel is digging its moral grave in Gaza, and the despots of the world will be keen to drag America into it.
11 Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US5h ago
I was waiting for the geography that would constitute a Palestinian state. The US can declare what it wants. The Palestinians would have to agree. And therein lies the problem. Palestinians demand East Jerusalem as their Capital, full sovereignty of the Temple Mount, and Israeli denunciation of any future political claims to the biblical heartlands. Anything less leaves Hamas/Iran as their only credible advocate.
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Clyde Cortright commented 4 hours ago
CClyde Cortright
Weymouth Ma4h ago
@Shoffmensch the Palestinians have never agreed to anything—even the first state they were offered in 1948, which gave them most of present day Israel AND the West Bank.
Other Arab states have tired of the Palestinians dysfunction and are ready to recognize Israel and move on. We should support a Palestinian state of the same size as the 1967 border, and let the Palestinians figure out their own government. If that government attacks Israel, then treat them like any other aggressor nation.
Reply1 Recommend
Shamblesheep
USDec. 15
In sum: Socialism has been "tired" once again. Portland, San Francisco, and other wealthy Leftwing redoubts are the broken crockery of delusional statism. The exodus is merely the rats leaving a sinking ship. Not surprising is the revolt of feminists who charted the course of identity politics only to come full circle with the contradictions of the Patriarchy in women's sports. It's no more than the boring correction of Nature: drive it out and it will come back with a pitchfork. The apostasy is a global phenomenon. Note the rightwing lurch of the EU forced to trade in welfare for warfare. The writer forget to add the excommunication of the Jewish Left from the Social Justice activist Left, the biggest casualty of the Hamas attack. Hence, the restrained smugness on the Fox-Right lately. Never, they tut, interrupt your enemies while they're making mistakes. Climate, the Left's most recent screed, is rendered meaningless by the global drilling frenzy. Global Angst is that Trump II will be a force-multiplier of Apocalyptic dimensions to current woes.
5 Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
The average voter holds the ancient sentiment that "great wealth always bespeaks great crimes". Most see Wall Street as a casino run by grifters and sharpers. In short, a cesspool of white-collar crime from one end to the other--loop-holed, lobbied, lawyered. You'll find vermin under every pebble here. They all game the system to plunder the US Treasury--just like Biden's son, who had the misfortune of getting caught in the political cross-hairs. Voters always go to the polls with nose clamps. This is water off a ducks back for Trump. Once in office, he'll write his own ticket by cutting deal$ with petrostates. His ability to cheat the hangman only proves his bona fides as Weltmeister of the global swamp. The wokemeisters who ran the EU like a Sunday School make sharks like Putin drool. Hence. Trump's poll numbers.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Then why is drilling, exploration, and use at all time high? Is there an Enforcer--and that in case war breaks out, and some violate "the rules of war" by ditching their battery powered tanks for gas-guzzlers. What frauds!
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
It's good that there are "International Rules of War". As King David smirked at wavering Joab whom he ordered to send the husband of his pregnant mistress on a suicide mission: "Relax, the rules don't apply here." The ancient version of "War is Hell". Hiroshima and Dresden, Just War Theorists tut, "saved millions of lives". In fact, Nuclear First Strike Doctrine (where you annihilate entire civilizations in preemptive self defense) falls well within Augustine's Christian War Theory. "Stand your ground" with a vengeance. "The Smartest Way Yet to Increase Deaths." Still, a timely reminder not to rush to judgment as the world is forced to witness the horrors of Gaza. Remember, Hiroshima and Dresden were within "the rules of war." Hell too, as they say, "Keeps a Sabbath." War is its Sabbath. It's not as if there are no rules "down there" as some fear.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"policies meant to curtail the ability of people in their states to live as they please"
I was waiting for the writer to expound on Portland, the Left's posterchild of "to live as they please". Which is, of course, why those who merely wish "to stay alive" dare not venture into areas where "they live as they please." Portland is now lurching back to 're-criminalizing" drug use. Socialism has been tried--again. Next stop? NY City where the mayor is looking for ways to "untry" Socialism to stave of bankruptcy.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"the application of the laws of conflict and impunity for actors that violate international humanitarian law"
"International law" applies to losers only. Because there is no such thing as a war crime. Proof? Hiroshima and Dresden fall well within Augustine's Christian War Doctrine, and Gaza is not even close to that--yet. When Putin did (when they thought they had him in a box) what Israel now does, he was charged with a war crime. Now the people who charged him tremble lest he set foot on their shores. The World's Outernational (outlaw if you will), the US, sneers at the ICC, even as it cheers it on when it finds it "useful". Israel can no more commit war crimes in Gaza, then the US--anywhere. "The king," they used to say, "cannot break the law, because he is the law." Rex Lex. Palestinians have no rights, by the simply fact that they do not have an Outernational sponsor (like Global South with its own Court) to checkmate the US. But then global war is where such suits will be tried. Palestinians have no rights, because they lack sufficient might. Israel has all the rights, because Biden has given them the full US monopoly of violence. Without Biden, those 18,000 deaths would be reduced to a handful. But surely, neither the writers, nor the NY Times, would dare suggest that the ICC follow the trail of might right into the Oval Office, when (in the words of the Psalmist) "inquisition is made for blood".
(hard to believe they read this before they approved it. They probably think I'm serious--not a word of it is. Look at the first Reply and the Likes--they all think I'm serious)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2h ago
A much needed reminder that the Geneva Convention which enshrines Augustine's Christian War Theory is as relevant today as ever. As Lincoln said, "Both sides preyed on the same gods." The forensic experts have been sifting the rubble in Ukraine for evidence of un-Christian killing since the beginning. But I have not heard of one instance in Gaza that breaches the Geneva Convention. Still the Rev's sermon is timely, a reminder that though (as the god of war, Sherman said) "war is Hell", a Christian nation has a moral duty to take the high road even while descending down into that infernal night. But the Rev is mistaken to call Hiroshima a sin, in that Evangelical orthodoxy sees it well within the purview of what the Bible allows (as with Dresden). The rubble in Gaza may not be a pretty sight, but that does not mean that God disapproves, as Evangelicals are quick to point out. Even nuclear weapons on Gaza, according to the Geneva Convention, would not be morally wrong. Because Evangelicals affirm the divine right of the US's Nuclear First Strike doctrine. Hiroshima was (alas) a tragedy, they say. But gods-sanctioned nonetheless. Otherwise, no man of the gods would exchange "the cloth" for the uniform. In fact, Germany's preachers saw the armband as an upgrade in style. They were as "useful" as the generals to the Reich.
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SStephen
USA1h ago
We are a secular Nation as our constitution clearly states. I noticed because you referred to this nation as a Christian Nation. perhaps you are not aware of your own bias? just one Christian's opinion to another.
Reply 8 Recommended
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
What frauds, and imbeciles! Anyone can destroy every part of any gun in five minutes with a cheap hand grinder for less than a dollar. Its shows how utterly stupid and dumbed down the average American has become, incapable of tying their own shoelaces without a Government program, which always end up spawning ten more to manage the wreckage of the first. And why not deposit the whole charade into the President's Emergency Gun Running Program so he doesn't need to plunder the Treasury to fund his quagmires. After all, no one is checking serial numbers in Gaza. My own program, Shoffmensch's Piece-Remaker, solves all that: my proprietary method simple removes the offending serial number and replaces it with a new one alongside the Noah's-Dove-Olive-Brach logo. Good as new. For, remember, guns or gun parts to not kill people. People kill people. And the only way to defeat the bad guys is provide the good guys with an endless supply of shells. This would be a "smarter way to decrease gun deaths at home" and a smarter way to increase gun deaths abroad. On the other hand, now that the nefarious deed is exposed the Industrial Military Complex will shut down this breach of their monopoly.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Certainly, "The Smartest Way to Increase Deaths in Gaza". The Left seems to have abandoned its objections to the death penalty (of children no less) "by shell". Because deaths in Gaza are undoubtedly vital to US security and interests. Now you know why the US called for the continuation of violence at the UN. Some "rules based order". Wonder what the people who make this ammunition think when they see the fruit of their labors in the countless children wrapped in shrouds? But as Oppenheimer said, "I only made the bomb. I didn't use the bomb. Truman used the bomb." And now there will be more. Many more. "100 millions" worth more. So vital to American security and interests that Biden invoked emergency measures. Because who knows what they might have grown up to become?
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Another scalp for Hamas: Ukraine abandoned, Biden forced to skip Climate conference, an all-out war among Democrats, and Biden alienated from his Civil Rights base which put him in the Oval. Ironic that these feminist icons should be deposed by the Hamas Patriarchy. And Trump has gone dark. "Never," he likely mutters, "interrupt your enemies while they're making mistakes." China, Modi, Putin, Trump--all using the horrors of Gaza to moral-wash, while Biden is forced into contortions by two quagmires which he cannot end, for which he bears full responsibility by sponsoring them. The Right now has a beachhead within the Left's strongest redoubt, and that clicking noise coming from offices is professors hitting the delete button ahead of the coming Purge. Think Grand Inquisitor Tuberville.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Bishop Kramer, his written recant rejected, now quickly sought divine absolution for recanting by thrusting the offending hand that wrote it into the fire. "A woman convinced against against her will, is a woman unconvinced still." She'll keep her job, because, ideologically disgraced, she is now all the more useful to her tormentors. And an example for others to abandon wokeness posthaste in favor of the new orthodoxy forced on the West by Hamas. The trophies mount by the day. Only last week, Hamas forced Biden to vacate his role as leader of Climate policy needed to rescue the planet. It appears that it was only Plan B after all, because Plan A (Gaza) beckoned. The leader of the free world has little time for anything else while the Hamas inferno guts the Western world. When you see the world's premier wokesters groveling at the feet of Evangelical Fundamentalists in the presence of their Leftwing brethren, you know you are witnessing an abrupt historic turn. The Left still doesn't know what hit them, while the Right is only awakening to what Hamas handed them. They have long sought occasion to drive a stake into the heart of US Media/ Education. Hamas breached the wall, and the Right is pouring in. And this, when Trump was already going from strength to strength. Biden squandered vast political capital by going hard -Right on immigration to save his other boondoggle: Ukraine. And now he's lost his activist Civil Rights Left which put him in the Oval.
(took whole day for this to get approved)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US40m ago
Do Kurds have a right to their own state? The Uighurs, the Tibetans, the Sikhs? Or Native Americans? Might is right. Might will create any state to the degree that you (or your sponsor) have it. Ask any Evangelical if Palestinians have the right to their own state in the land which God gave to the descendants of Jacob. Strictly verboten. Hamas has given Republicans a gift that will keep on giving for decades. The disconnect here is that these scholars resorted to dull legalisms when it comes to Israel, whereas before (BLM), they held forth with soaring woke platitudes. Wokeness is entirely oriented toward the oppressed classes, and could never be applied to uber-privileged Israel. The fact that these wokesters had to submit to the lash of fire-breathing rightwingers in the company of fellow Democrat Travelers speaks volumes. The Inquisition will not end there. They have given the Right the tools to carry the Terror into the bowels of the Left's strongest redoubt: the Department of Education. And the ground is awash with paper trails here. They have been taking names for decades. The biggest casualty of the Hamas attack is the all-out war within the Left which the -Right is now using to make hay with. The new orthodoxy has already made wokeness toxic. Note how the Squad has been utterly abandoned and shunned.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Perhaps that accounts for the 15000+ dead. All Hamas sympathizers no doubt. Certainly "A Smarter Way to Increase Gun Deaths." We can't wait for Israel to add AI to its "Real-Time Battlefield Intelligence". Or is this already the new APP. Should be a blockbuster on Wall Street. Now to put it into the hands of the Settlers to turn the West Bank into what is already a "cheesecake" open-air prison. You would think "real-time intelligence" would allow Israel not to "target" women and children. But the global audience sees nothing here but "real-time" destruction and desolation. And the NY Times would have us consider this as the latest advance of civilization? Wonder how many people cringed when they saw the headline?
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
"For what"?
So Biden can get reelected. He had to give Israel carte blanche to keep his donor base from migrating to Trump (which they will do anyway). Yesterday's McCarthyist gauntlet in Congress is another example of the same cancer: to criticize the murder of Palestinians by Settlers or the slaughter of thousands of innocent women and children is now pawned as rabid Anti-Semitism and will get you cancelled. But where is the pressure coming from? Rich Jewish billionaires and the Rightwing playing to Evangelicals.
Everyone knows that the Israeli Ambassador's "Biblical deed" to the Holy Land assumes the biblical borders which by default deny the right of a Palestinian state within those borders. Few Jews or Evangelicals recognize the right of a Palestinian state to exist within the Biblical heartlands. But this is not a call for the elimination of Palestinians, because what doesn't exist cannot be eliminated. The common man knows what's at play here: American institutions are being held hostage by a very influential donor base. The belated mea culpas of these Presidents reek of forced confessions. The backlash will be fierce.
Shoffmensch
(the Jewish Left is now excommunicated and homeless. It makes their hair stand on end, which is why they don't let this through. Four months from now they'll turn this into a headline).
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
War is always Hard Right, and Israel will remain on a war footing for years to come. The relaxed Utopia of the rule of "reasonable" judges is gone forever, as Israel either retreats behind vast buffer zones, or attempts full annexation and expulsion. The first will shrivel Israel into a hermit kingdom, while the latter will expose it to the collective wrath of the UN (goaded by the Global South) and International Court. Jewish Leftwing elites, now denied Civil Rights credentialing, have become homeless by siding with the Gazan war. Rafts of careers stand to become shipwrecked if the American Jewish Left is made to continue cheerleading Israel's demolition of Gaza. Anyone to the Left of Netanyahu will be susceptible to their demands for a face-saving solution: that is, a negotiated settlement in accord with International Law. But the American Jewish Left does not have a counterpart in Israel. Why? Because Realpolitik is where the Left and Utopias go to die. They're stuck with Netanyahu, because Plan B does not exist for Israel. And Netanyahu is Plan A. No one even comes close. Israelis know that. Where the American Jewish Left, now of no fixed abode, go from here is anyone's guess. But their excommunication from Civil Rights redoubts is one of the major casualties of the Hamas attack.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
But let's see if we cannot pluck a silver lining from that dark browed cloud. In less civilized days that elbow to the kidneys would have been a knife. To misquote Kissinger: Politicians don't have friends, only "interests". There are shark-infester waters, and to misquote again--"politics is war by other means". "I cannot dig, and to beg I'm ashamed," mused an ousted sharper in the Bible, "so I best grease the exits while I can." And unless the Speaker actually has morals, he will find that "the habitations of unrighteous Mammon" far exceed his office salary. This was likely his last honest job. Look at Al Gore, almost a billionaire.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US7h ago
1)Here's the disconnect: Gaza was/is comparable to an open-air prison next to a gilded Utopia. Israel is entangled with someone with nothing left to lose and whom it can no more destroy than the US the Taliban. The US could cut and run before it was too late. Israel does not have that option. Shoffmensch's maxim says "you can choose your neighborhood, but not your neighbors". Alienated neighbors will either give you civil war or revolution. Hamas is no more alien to Gaza than the Taliban to Afghanistan, or the Reich to Germany. The US managed Germany by turning it into an unarmed Reservation. It got away with it as the world's hegemon, and could dismiss global opinion. Israel is not, and cannot. Which means that 2) Hamas made a bet that it could unite global opinion against Israel and tarnish it as the next South Africa. The longer it can keep Israel leveling Gaza, the more it can expect Western politics to assert pressure on Israel to cut its losses and settle for what it has hitherto feared the most: a two state solution. That's probably like putting a wall between the US and the Taliban. The US had a (good) life to live aside from the war. The Taliban did not. The US escaped the Taliban by withdrawing to safety across the ocean. Otherwise, it would most certainly have dug its grave there, because religion cannot stop. This is a religious war. Israel has the wolf by the ears, and cannot continue to hold him nor safely let him go.
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Shoffmensch
(Bill Gates will read this)
Afdeestupple, US8h ago
Sons of farmers squeezed into cities because the rich buy up all the farmland were surprised to learn that Gates is the biggest farmland owner in America. Most people didn't even know he farmed. Wonder how much of farmer Bill's income comes from water guzzling ethanol subsidies which are turning America into a desert by depleting its water?
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JJohn
OR3h ago
@Shoffmensch
The kids were leaving the farms in droves before Bill started hoarding land, largely because of technology and industrialization. Once he and Elon capture the planter and combine business even those people will be out of work.
Reply2 Recommended
Brett
Colorado2h ago
I could not agree more with the idea of taking personal responsibility. So why don't you, as the single largest farmland owner in the US, convert those nearly 300,000 acres of farmland to carbon sequestering regenerative agriculture?
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Suzanne Wheat commented 2 minutes ago
SSuzanne Wheat
NC2m ago
@Brett Or restore trees and prairies.
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Shoffmensch commented 2 minutes ago
SShoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2m ago
@Brett
And forgo $"Bill"ions in desertifying ethanol subsidies? He needs the income to support his Climate Shtick.
Reply 9 Recommend
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US8m ago
So why does oil money from petro-states like Norway, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia make their citizens among the richest in the world, while the world's greatest petro-state (the US) succumbs to opioid-deplorables? Answer: the US spends its oil dividend fighting the wars of other petro-states, allowing them the fruits of a peace dividend. That next $114 billion in the death merchandize pipeline is money borrowed by selling bonds to these very same petros. War is the planets largest carbon footprint. And no one has stirred up more than Biden. Both Ukraine and Gaza will keep prices high for decades, and despots like Putin and Iran in power. Big Oil and Forever Wars are two sides of the same coin--at least until Musk comes up with an electric tank.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US56m ago
Prussians have never feared Russians, and most Germans would like nothing better than to go back to picking Russia's low hanging fruit. The EU, created to solve the German Problem once and for all, is now disintegration for lack of a vision, and, because Germany does not see Russia as an enemy, it has the option of once again becoming Europe's hegemon. In other words, what's the point of rearming when Russia is easily subverted by German tech and expertise? That model is still alive in Germany, and its proponents can't get wait to get back to dancing with the bear.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2h ago
Imagine what these "dangerous" objects do at the other end: Gaza would provide ample evidence, as 80% of the weapons used there come from the US. As the Bible says, the sword poses its greatest danger to the one "taking it up". And as David reassured Joab who fretted about sending the husband of his mistress on a suicide mission: "the soldier's bargain as a death merchant gives us ample cover. There are no murders in war. Life is less than cheap here."
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
(the frauds don't allow this through because they know it strikes at the heart of Temple-Jewry. Jews cannot give up the Jebusite threshing floor without giving up on the Jewish state)
1) "religious passions"--The article leaves out the most contentious element of the conflict: Islam's third most holy shrine occupied by Israeli soldiers. Israel never put full Islamic sovereignty of the Temple Mount on the negotiating table. Until it does, any two state proposal is dead on arrival. This is s religious war, and here is the root of it. It is also what animates "the extremists" on both sides. How then can you possible hope to sideline them? Hamas was able to blow up the Abrahamic Accords because it sought to sidelines religion with commercial statecraft.
2) "a demilitarized state" --There is no such thing. A demilitarized state is a state under occupation, as by definition a state is the sum total of the monopoly of violence. The PA now serves as under-sheriff, which it why it has no legitimacy. No Arab state will enter the fray here and get caught in the cross-hairs of Iran. But because global pressure will force Israel to end the Occupation, it is left to ponder existing alongside a militarized Palestine. Either that or One-Statism.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
So the US has leverage in the Holy Land after all. Biden/Blinken claimed they were helpless to keep Israel from destroying Gaza, even while shoveling $billions its way. And now they're already dictating how they want the conqueror to control its victims. In the US these arrangements are called Reservations, although over there, they resemble little more than open prison camps. The problem is, the US now owns Gaza with all its horrors, and the moral aftermath will be catastrophic in the court of global opinion. Biden sowed to the wind with his hasty approval, and now the US is left with the whirlwind.
Shoffmensch
(They must have the Mossad vetting today)
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
“between the Sea and the Jordan [River] there will only be Israeli sovereignty,”
So why is the phrase a call to genocide when used by Palestinians, but not when used by "the Israeli government"? It would be interesting to read what Sanders thinks about the Israeli ambassador's outburst at the UN. "This," he cried, waving his Torah, "is my Biblical deed to the Holy Land." How do you do pluralist statecraft with literalist theocrats who cannot engage in democratic horse trading without violating their conscience? Any Evangelical could show chapter and verse where the parameters of Netanyahu's boast are clearly stated. Christians have a New Testament "break" to spiritualize the severity of the Law of Moses. Jews do not. "Go," the command is, " and possess the Land." And unconditional Evangelical support for Israel depends on Jews once again taking up the Abrahamic mandates in order to fulfill the demands of Protestant End Time doctrine. Like Ultras and Settlers, Evangelicals abhor a two state solution because it contravenes Scripture. They renounce it as apostasy and disobedience to God. So how does Sanders propose to deal with the theocratic roots at the very heart of the conflict? For both Netanyahu and his ambassador engage in unapologetic Temple/State talk. Such language is inconceivable in the halls of Congress. Yet here it is in its rawest form. Until the theocratic mandates on both sides are addressed, all is but diplomatic shadow-boxing.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
'when not a word is uttered about the Hamas atrocities that triggered this war"
Because the reflexive thinking of the global Zeitgeist is too riveted on the before and after: 1) what triggered the atrocity, and 2) the awful 10 to 1 asymmetry of the carnage that followed. This is a regional conflict for which the US provides both material and moral cover. In that respect, Hamas is the equivalent of the IRA, the "terrorists" who did their fundraising in New England at the height of "the troubles". Barabbas, in the New Testament, was both a Jewish patriot and a condemned murderer of Romans. His war ended only with the total destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Friedman does well to draw attention to "Greater Zion" which, for Ultras/Settlers/ Evangelicals, is the equivalent of "from the river to the sea". Why? Because this axis insists that the parameters of modern Israel are those clearly stated in Exodus, and constitute what the Israeli government itself calls (at the UN no less) Israel's "Biblical deed" to all the lands of Abraham.
Hamas knows it cannot win with its Stone Age methods. But it has forced the Palestinian plight on global power politics, allowing the Global South to "moral wash" against US involvement in Gaza, and creating enormous pressure in the West's Arab Street. The real Front here is not Gaza, but global opinion in the aftermath, when Israel (and the US) will be compelled to bargain as an equal, and not set terms as a conqueror.
Shoffmensch
(they approved this, then removed it. They sat on it for 10 hours before letting it through, but the shrieking must have been deafening)
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"The right intellectual framework for effective diversity work is pluralism"
I suggest Brooks start preaching a little closer to home: Jews are attacked in pluralist America for their rigid non-pluralism in Israel. Muslim students see Jewish students rushing back to rejoin the battle groups killing their families and relatives. "Can't we all get along" rings murderously hollow here. Israel is in Gaza because Biden gave it unqualified cover to be there. In so doing he has brought irreparable moral damage upon America, and the contradictions of Israel's theocratic statecraft into America's pluralist body. Jews are pluralists In America, while demanding a theocratic exception for Israel. This is the fraud of American Mid East diplomacy sold to the world as defending democracy. The turmoil on campuses is merely the chickens come home to roost.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
"entirely lawful"
Hiroshima was "entirely lawful". Both sides of the Civil War, Lincoln said, prayed to the same gods. Since Augustine invented Just War Theory, his followers have not "unjustified" a single one of their endless slaughters. The Holy Crusades were even "preached" as redemptive. The Chief Prosecutor of the ICC claims to have jurisdiction over Gaza. We'll have to await the forensics to see.... So far, everything must be "entirely legal", otherwise Biden/Blinken would have raised an eyebrow or two--the rest of the world tuned out the first week, too horrified to look. But as long as Israel goes by the book and continues to follow the rules of war, it has the legal right to shed blood "as long as it takes", in Biden speak. America's ablest divines have gone completely quiet, so everything must be "entirely legal".
Since the history of the world there has not been a single war crime, because in war, the only crime is losing. "Had we lost," General LeMay smirked, "we would have hanged as war criminals." And that, rest assured, after a lengthy trial. That too is a rule of war, because no one wants to be called a savage. Which only proves that there is honor among human butchers as well as among thieves.
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S
(the frauds see this as too dangerous for the masses--finally here it is--it was that shrieking you thought was an ill wind )
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3m ago
Here's the great clarifier: Can even the most secular/liberal Jews renounce the Israeli ambassador's "Biblical deed" legitimacy to the land Palestinians call their ancestral home? The shocking revelation here is "No". They understand that it is the fanatical zeal of Ultras and Settlers which animates the soul of Israel in its existential depth. While the Seculars are content to party on the beaches, Ultras and Settlers represent the theocratic instincts that have underwritten Israel's existence since its founding. They are the frontline of Israel's historic destiny, and the Wall Street billionaires who fund their expansionist zeal know that an Ultra who pines day and night for the rebuilt Temple is more potent than a fleet of Apache helicopters. The fraud here is that American policy sells its support for Israel as supporting democracy, when it actually promotes what it repudiates at home: the Church-State ideal which Putin/Orban sell as a cure-all to save Western civilization. Israel is a theocratic Temple-State, which is also why it continues to hold Islam's third most holy site hostage. It sits on Temple grounds, and without the Temple. the Torah remains an abstract document. Israel cannot end Islam's historic humiliation of having their shrine held hostage without, like Esau of old, "despising their birthright".
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Whatever the morals are here, Biden owns then fully, and (if the global mood is a sign of things to come) the anti-Americanism that will follow. The carnage will create a Gazan Memorial. A two state settlement is now guaranteed, and in that respect Hamas exceeded beyond all expectation. The terms will he harsh for Israel, and, unless the carnage is a ripening of the Prophetic calendar as Ultras/Settlers/Evangelicals hope, could cause Israel to unravel completely. If God does not intervene, the Ultras will be forced to renounce their "Biblical deed" to the Temple Mount, and the Settlers, the Biblical heartlands, which in the Torah amounts to rebellion against God and apostasy.
Hitherto American Middle Eastern policy amounts to the biggest fraud in diplomatic history, for it was little more than a cover for Israel's theocratic expansion palmed as defending democracy. The Setters relished the smokescreen and took the bit in their teeth. Hamas struck before it was too late: the inmates of an open air prison with little left to lose. Only Jews were surprised by the attack. Because they had come to believe their own mythologies.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1m ago
Israel is digging its grave in Gaza. It is now in the grips of three crises: 1) The Theocratic/Secular Culture War that exposes a long festering identity crisis within which Hamas exploited; 2) the destruction of Gaza which Israel will now be forced to garrison indefinitely. The last thing Israel needs now is a public relations nightmare. Here it created one in biblical proportions; 3) the gloom of existential Angst that Israel is headed for a global moral reckoning in the near future to answer for Gaza. Rationalized old Just War Theories mean little in the age of George Floyd, and nothing is more debilitating than historic moral guilt. Gazan guilt will simultaneously weaken Israel and dissipate a major pillar of Israel's existence: German guilt. The EU has long felt itself hamstrung by Germany's past. This gives them cover to end their moral charade.
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Shoffmensch
(Friedman shadow boxing again. Doubt he'll let this through. The German angle makes their hair stand on end--well, well, here it is at last--Kissinger probably gets up late)
Afdeestupple, US16m ago
"exposed as unserious"
Friedman sees what's on the horizon the morning after: a moral deficit that US cover at the UN will not be able to overcome. Then there is the German/EU angle. Germany has Israel's back only because of the weight of its own guilt. That guilt diminishes to the degree that Israel's increases, and the EU has long chafed at being hamstrung by Germany's past (they want out). And make no mistake, Israel is creating a global "treasury of moral credit" for Palestinians in Gaza, which they will use to force Israel to the bargaining table as equals. This is the morning after.
But Friedman's plan, like Lauder's, is mere shadow boxing for its lack of specifics. This is a religious conflict, and any attempt to pretend otherwise is unserious. Chiefly here is the historic Islamic humiliation of having their third most holy site held hostage by Israel. The Israeli ambassador's "Biblical deed to the Holy Land" is the other side of the same coin. Any peace plan will need greater Islam to sign on. They will not as long as the Mosque is held hostage. This issue has to be confronted from the get go. Otherwise, it will remain the linchpin to detonate the whole.
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Quousquetandem commented 8 hours ago
QQuousquetandem
Dc8h ago
@Shoffmensch It’s not primarily religious, and it leads nowhere to think of it in that way. If anything it’s more territorial, which provides some leverage.
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Jane Grey commented 7 hours ago
J
Jane Grey
San Antonio, NM7h ago
@Shoffmensch Certainly not religious anymore than the way certain minorities in other are treated. It's a blanket dehumanization of a group that Israel has treated abominable since 1948 and has to continue to dehumanize to justify its past treatment of them. Rather the way African Americans have been treated in the US. Just much more overtly murderously.
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Shoffmensch
(this went through instantly--so it is the German angle in the one above that stopped it)
Afdeestupple, USJust now
@Tel Avivian
"religious-ideological reasons"
Which is also why they cannot allow Islamic sovereignty over the mosque on the Temple site. Seculars, themselves, understand the power of the "Biblical deed", and know that they have nothing with which to replace it. Two items cannot share the same space, but the Mosque atop the Wall is the closest thing to it. Indivisible. You cannot overcome the physics here.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
The world already blames the US for giving Israel moral cover to invade Gaza, and the resulting moral damage to the US will accelerate its decline rapidly. For China/Putin/Iran and the world's despots are "moral washing" against America's increasing moral deficit here. Germany is the only Western winner here, as the horror of Gaza diminishes its own historic slate, and younger Germans have long chafed at their parents' pretended penance.
Israel's lashing out will prove a fatal miscalculation in that a weakened US will no longer be able to prevent a reckoning where Israel will be forced to put everything on the table, and not as before, dictate terms as a conqueror. Chief here will be Israel's "Biblical deed" to the Holy Land. The theocratic mandates of West Bank expansion are what's behind Ultra/Settler attempts to replace "reasonableness" with the Law of Moses. This implicit theocratic underwriting of Israel's charter from the beginning will now come back with a vengeance.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US23m ago
@Voter
But the article clearly says: this is but an extension of the Pentagon, which is not paid for by private donations. Men are always first civilians, before they become tax funded cannon fodder.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US24m ago
Wonder if the people who work there think they're making peace or freedom merchandize? Of course, a job is a job. Like Oppenheimer said, "I did the science, the Government used the science." Executions in wartime are carried out by the rank and file as "a matter of duty". Blameless. To disobey was to get shot, the Germans added. Since Augustine invented Just War Theory, Western divines have not found one unjust war on their side. Remarkable. Perhaps to lighten counsel, the NY Times could have consulted more divines to unravel the hard knots of divinity that surface here.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US51m ago
"A smarter way to reduce gun deaths in America" then would require shutting down the ammo dump pouring death merchandize into Mainstreet by the Industrial Military Complex. And yet Biden has drawn down its "healthy supply" (I take it that was gallows humor by the General) to such an extent that it has to be rationed to Ukraine/Israel. On a different note: is this a health concern that needs to be regulated by the medical profession--perhaps even have the Surgeon General take oversight of the Pentagon? For the evidence leads right into the Pentagon here: I'm surprised Big Tobacco trial lawyers haven't found a way to shake down the Government.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2m ago
He's popular because he gave Israel the green light and moral cover at the UN to crush the Palestinians. Without US cover, Israel would face the collective wrath of regional powers and historic Western resentment at the ICC. You know something's fishy when the German Spiegel sees little more than 2024 in Biden's carte blanche response to the destruction of Gaza. He could not allow his donors to migrate to Trump, assured that his lower class social justice base that put him in the Oval will remain. But the donor base that shut down University debate knows that Israel's real trouble will be in the aftermath, when global anger will demand a permanent solution. Here they will need the genuine article. Only an extra-ordinary response and commitment from the US will prevent Israel being compelled to terms of a two-state solution that everyone knows will strike at the very heart of Judaism: forever relinquishing the "Biblical deed" which gives Israel the legal right to all the Holy Land. Trump can be counted on to order a march on Armageddon, if that's what it takes. And his Evangelical brigades have been impatient for Ultras/Settlers to rebuild the Temple for decades. This is the age of historic reckoning, and Israel will now be forced to come to terms, and not as before, dictate terms as a conqueror. You see this already in the all-out war between the social justice Left and the elitist Culture War Left.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1m ago
Israel's situation will not change no matter the internal political re-arrangement:
1) Its existence is due entirely to US sponsorship, and it will go the way of Ukraine the minute the world's diminishing hegemon is forced to consider its own (in Kissinger-speak) global "interests".
2) Like the US, identity politics (self-interest) is tearing the fabric that held it together. As a Western transplant, it is subject to the ravages of the Culture War that shows no sign of abating.
3) A state delayed is a state denied. A solution cannot be "decades" away. The world will now demand the only plausible remedy: a two state solution. That will require what even secular and Reform Jews know strikes at the heart of Jewish existence: forever relinquishing political control of "Biblical deeded" (the Israeli ambassador) holy sites and land. For greater Islam will never support a solution that does not grant the Palestinians full sovereignty of the Mosque atop the Wall, which will require giving up most of East Jerusalem. Settler/Ultra/Evangelical dogma sees this as rebellion against God. But Israel is unthinkable without this axis.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
@Cap’n Dan Mathews
Oil sheiks better throw their full commercial weight behind a two-state solution. Money is what crowded the Wahabis out of SA. And SA cannot allow Iran to gain control of Islam's third most holy site. Strategically, it is more important than Mecca and Medina.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US4m ago
"Palestinians longing for a decent state of their own in Gaza or the West Bank"
Without the acceptance of greater Islam on the substance of "decent", the religious roots of the conflict will continue to fuel endless violence. And what's with the "Gaza OR the West Bank"? Without a genuine corridor, there will continue to be two Palestines. What Hamas has done is to force Israel into a position of moral weakness in upcoming two-state bargaining: for global clamor for a permanent solution will force Israel to now barter as an equal, and not as before, dictate terms as a conqueror. I can think of one hitherto fore nonnegotiable that makes even secular and Reform Jews' hair stand on end: East Jerusalem and full Islamic sovereignty of the Mosque atop the Wailing Wall. But even beyond that, the very notion of a real Palestinian state with its own security (military) complex is anathema to Ultras, Settlers, (and Evangelicals) as disobedience to the Torah and contrary to End Time Prophecy. Two-state, therefore, will require this axis to be sidelined, which, because it is what keeps Netanyahu in power, would require other factions to vacate their special interests to promote a broader agenda. It would require a revived Left in Israel. But the Left, like Utopias, only thrives where it is never in danger of being tried.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Here's the reality:
1) This is the age of highly charged anti-Colonialism, supercharged by the very Jewish Left (to promote its cultural agenda), now excommunicated by the social justice Left. This guilt-ridden Wokegeist attached to the legitimate Civil Rights Cause is in its beginning stages. What they see in Gaza exceeds anything Hollywood could manufacture. Here the global outrage is as spontaneous and genuine as in the aftermath of George Floyd.
2) Gaza is universally called an "open-air" prison. The Settlers on the West Bank are out of control under the gaze of the IDF, expanding Israel's footprint to the point of no return. Thus on the one hand, Gazan existence has become a life sentence, and on the other, the West Bank, an Israeli land grab under US sponsorship.
3) The Hamas raid proved that Israel cannot win the peace it needs to escape a "barracks" lifestyle, and Israel's response now guarantees what Palestinians covet most: Israel in the cross-hairs of the International Court with the rising Global South "moral washing" US complicity for all its worth.
4) You don't have to condone Hamas's methods to "understand" its motives. "War," the old divines would say in their rare moments of candor, "is but mass murder on a grand scale." Hamas does not fight by Christian methods laid out in the Geneva Convention, to be sure. And they are not religiously bound to the old standard: Augustine's Just War Theory. Desperation is the key word.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
What cheek! Biden/Blinken profess helplessness while Gaza is being turned into a death camp, and now see fit to pontificate how Israel is to apply the jackboot on Palestinian Reservations in the aftermath. Remarkable. In Ukraine, only Ukraine gets to decide the terms of its US funded boondoggle. But here the US wants strict controls on how to conduct the new Palestinian Occupation, Which makes the US, the Occupier. It's a good thing the US has the International Court in its pocket. Brave fellows. They seem to have shot their bolt with the Putin warrant. What frauds!
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Here's the hypocrisy: Republicans are hiding the fact that "from the River to the Sea" is classic Evangelical orthodoxy, which sees the Return to, and the (full) Re-Conquest of, the Holy Land as the two sides of the same coin. In this scheme, modern Palestinians are the ancient Canaanites--to be dealt with accordingly. These is no room for them in the Prophecy of the Second Coming except as before (those who get to live) as "hewers of wood and fetchers of water".
from 11-23-23
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
"From the River to the Sea" is a stock phrase in Evangelicalism reflected in any map of the Bible which merely reflect the parameters of ancient Israel, tribe by tribe, in the book of Exodus. No literalist Evangelical could accept a two-state solution without contradicting the Bible. Which is also why no Jew who adheres to the Torah could accept a two-state reality. In the Torah, to negotiate with non-Jews over the rights of the Land is apostasy. Hence, no one embraces "from the River to the Sea" more emphatically than Evangelicals and Jews. It is, in fact, the underlying reason behind the recent Settler haste to increase the Jewish footprint on the West Bank to the point of no return. Secular and Reform Jews could embrace the notion of sharing the Abrahamic heartlands, but even they refuse to go on record declaring their willingness to divide the Old City and the Temple Mount, knowing full well that without those few acres, the notion of a Jewish state would become meaningless and evaporate. But a two-state solution will go nowhere until the religious mandates are confronted directly. Namely, 1) is greater Islam ready to go on record recognizing a Jewish state next to a Palestinian one, and 2) is Israel ready to give Islam full sovereignty of is its third most holy site, the Mosque atop the Wailing Wall.
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2 REPLIES
Nicole commented 42 minutes ago
NNicole
Massachusetts41m ago
@Shoffmensch Which is all maybe why we have to work within modern day, more secular policy options to stop the killing and try to pursue peace. Surely there is some provision in the Bible and the Torah for that. And if not, then maybe it is time to move on, as I think you are suggesting, from these ancient creeds toward something more humane?
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ss
nj24m ago
@Shoffmensch The connotative meaning of from the river to the sea is understood in the Middle East and here in the US to mean the elimination of the state of Israel. Any attempt to spin this meaning otherwise is disingenuous.
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Shoffmensch
(this caused so much hissing, they had to remove it after two hours. They sat on it for several hours before approving it in the first place. There's a wrong word or thought in there somewhere. They have a whole team who do nothing but examine Comments. But the Left flies by the emotional seat of their pants, and take their bearing from the latest mood, or vice, of the mob. This is what you will be subject to under the rule of "reasonable judges".
Afdeestupple, US19m ago
Two hot wars and now the Culture War caught in between, with half the Left siding with Trump's fire-breathing Apocalyptic Evangelical base, and the anti-Colonial Left demanding George Floyd Critical Theory as the template of resolution. And Biden has no choice but to tack hard right to keep Trump from seizing the political high ground. And now Israel talks about re-Occupying Gaza? This makes Evangelicals swoon, because Eschatology sees the Return and Re-Conquest as the two sides of the same coin. But how does Critical Theory account for an Israeli flag in "open-prison" Gaza? The Right can't believe what has been handed them here: an all-out war within the Left, between the powerful elitist Left, and the equally powerful anti-Colonial Left. A clash of Titans that caught the political world completely off guard.
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Shoffmensch
(here it is again under a different article. Let's see how long it takes the Mossad to make it disappear)
Afdeestupple, USJust now
But the "anger" that poses the greatest danger to Israel is not in developing countries, but in the social justice Left that attaches Gaza to George Floyd. The war that will be the most consequential in years to come is the civil war that has broken out among the Left, with half the Left siding with Trump's fire-breathing Apocalyptic Evangelical base, and the anti-Colonial Left demanding George Floyd Critical Theory as the template of resolution. Biden had no choice but to tack hard right to keep Trump from seizing the political high ground. But now Team Biden is forced to spin Israeli talk about re-Occupying Gaza? This makes Evangelicals swoon, because Eschatology sees the Return and Re-Conquest as the two sides of the same coin. But how does Critical Theory account for an Israeli flag in "open-air prison" Gaza? The Right can't believe what has been handed them here: an all-out war within the Left, between the powerful elitist Left, and the equally powerful anti-Colonial Left. A clash of Titans that caught the political world completely off guard.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US4m ago
@Chuck 1) One-State would be named Palestine after the first vote. Which leaves the 2) Two-State. But 999999% of the conflict is religious. And while it may be possible to divide the Abrahamic heartlands and even East Jerusalem, these is no way for two major religions to share the same holy place. The Third Temple, according to the hardest knots of Evangelical/Ultra divinity, must be rebuilt on the very same spot where Titus burned the Second Temple to the ground. Islam's third most holy mosque occupies that very spot. Religion does not come by halves for the zealous--or monotheists. And neither side will agree to put the choicest part of the Holy Land in the hands of a neutral body. In short, turning it into a museum piece. Currently, the Mosque sits atop the Wailing Wall. Even the most abstract physics run aground here.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US4h ago
"It simply won’t stop at Ukraine" No American feels threatened by Russia, or Hamas. Which is why both wars have minimal support either in the US or Europe. Most people understand that the world is very grim at any time in some place on earth, and are glad to remain ignorant of things they cannot change. They look at Ukraine and see the handwriting on the wall. Few doubt its grim prospects. Ukrainians will have to make the most of what is left them. Like king Hezekiah replied when told of the fate that awaited his sons: "At least I'll have peace in my time." We farmed that blood soaked area for 100 years, but got out when the Czar demanded full Russification. My great grandmother described the soil as unlike any other in the world. We knew people killed for less, and got out while we could. For no one doubted that Russia could impose its will in its own backyard. Incidentally, as children we were always told we came from Russia.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
@David
Rest assured, team Biden is not in Gaza out of conviction. You know something's fishy when the German Spiegel sees little more than 2024 here. But what can Biden do? If he backtracks by a hair, the Apocalyptics will fire their hordes to rush to the End Time standards. Fox News already sounds like the ear-splitting roar of approaching Armageddon. And it can only get worse from here. Biden's back is to the wall, and he has no option but to double down. It's like watching a train wreak, with the Right lashing their furious End Time steeds like modern day Jehus.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
@John
The Gazan war has now become the face of the Culture War, which is rapidly spiraling into a free-for-all brawl. All the monsters kept quaking in the woke mud are now hatching and turning on one another.
Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
What a fraudulent spectacle: the most powerful man in the world made to grovel before leaders of a client state whose war he's funding, and then made to hurry back to America to demand $14 billion more. I have not heard: did anyone say "thank you"? For what, you say? His donors are getting what they paid for. And that, as we read yesterday, while decamping to Fox News. Because, the Jewish Left went from wokeness to moral clarity overnight. So why waste money on Biden when you can get the real deal in Trump. Because you can't out-Trump Trump in Jerusalem. Donors know that. And also that his Evangelical base demands full access to the Temple Mount to begin building the Third Temple. Nothing will be off limits if he gets in.
(they'll have to run these over to the Rev Al Sharpton to get approved)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Biden went hard right on immigration (finish Trump's Wall). From there he had to pivot even harder to the right (contra Palestinians) to stave off Trump's Apocalyptic firebrands. Social Justice voters see his Ukraine nightmare as a white on white boondoggle, and his LGBT Cultural War as white elitists hijacking Civil Rights. When will this end? Like the messengers of Job, every day tidings go from bad to worse.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Does this writer read the NY Times which blares in its first headline: "Black Voters Drift To Trump"? They hated what came out of the Bush White House when Wehner darkened counsel there. But nothing like a turncoat Bushmonger trying to atone for Iraq by pandering to the Left.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US8m ago
"which civil law should reflect those evangelical moral beliefs"
Why would 'civil law" need to reflect any "belief". Civil law is what keeps the political gods ("beliefs") from engaging in the tit for tat of religious wars. When the Israeli ambassador to the UN hoists his Bible and declares it his deed to the Holy Land, he's engaging in theocratic and not "civil" statecraft. Johnson, as a staunch Evangelical, likewise believes that a Palestinians state alongside an Israeli one, is a contradiction of Scripture, and cannot be embraced by a Christian nation. America, as the new Latter Day Zion and the last date on God's calendar, has the same biblical charter. A Christian nation cannot harbor the polytheism implied in pluralism without drawing the wrath of God against false gods. At best civil statecraft is left with a fluid notion of time-bound "morals". "Interests" (in Kissinger speak), as Machiavelli would call them.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US26m ago
Leftwing Statism is the problem here. Statism is the religion of the Left, and seems invincible when joined to woke orthodoxy. The System delivered far beyond critical mass proportions in this instance, with 100 counts against Trump. 100 years from now historians will still find Trump's triumph incomprehensible, as if he were ordained to prevail against impossible odds. By any metric, Trump would never set foot in the Oval again, no matter the Democratic candidate. All they had to do is wear out the days until November 2024. The human mind is as unsuited to process miracles as nightmares. And here it is confronted with both.
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(they had to run this across the street to Kissinger. Kristof is responding to Comments today. Let's see how brave he is)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1m ago
"'This is the deed to our land,' Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations told fellow envoys in 2019, holding up a Bible and referring to the West Bank as well as Israel."
The Divine Mandates and Religious Imperatives. Even the most socially conscious American Jewish intellectuals have not dared step into this minefield to challenge the insurmountable obstacles of the theoretic assumptions at the very heart of a Jewish state posing as a pluralist democracy. But how is the ambassador's appeal to God any different than the rhetoric of the theocrats in Tehran? The Torah specifically gives the Land "from the River to the Sea" to Abraham, making the expulsion and subjugation on non-Jews mandatory. Nether Biden nor Blinken would dare challenge these theocratic mandates held by the Israeli government, fully aware of the ticking Evangelical apocalyptic firestorm awaiting them on the eve of 2024. But why doesn't the New York Times challenge the constant flow of theoretic language coming from Israeli officials? Everyone knows that religion does not come in halves, and a two state solution is dead in the water as long as religion's zero sum game is off the table. This is the hypocrisy here: theocracy allowed to pose as a pluralist secular democracy. I challenge Kristof to answer the question: If "God gave the Land to Israel", how could any Jew agree to share it with non-Jews without violating the Torah?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US2m ago
Obviously Biden/Blinken are not "outraged" by what the world "thinks" it sees in Gaza, because Blinken is asking for more "aid" to increase what the world "thinks" it sees in Gaza. Fake news, misinformation, conspiracy theories at work, no doubt. I have never heard of a moral "pause" on the fields of slaughter, but it may be in the footnotes of Augustine's Doctrine of Just War Theory, and the Geneva Convention which humanized war by making it compatible with the values of Christian societies.
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(article by Israeli President Herzog. Off the Reservation Comments go up the chain of command, so I imagine he read it)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
What is the problem here? The state of Israel is the sum total of non-organic factors: Western guilt, Jewish history, Evangelical End Times dogma, and US Leftist financial/political support, all held together by historic and ongoing trauma. Moreover, it is essentially a suburb of NY City, and its citizens are essentially Americans as a result. But when Jews decamp America for Israel, they leave their pluralism behind, while demanding the fruits and leisure granted by pluralistic institutions. But this is possible only under the heavy protective hand of the US hegemon at the UN. Here is where the danger lies for the US. The Global South needs above all moral-washing at the UN to accelerate its rise. The US owns Gazan morals fully by now, and will suffer irreparable moral damage on the global stage as a result.
(this went through because it doesn't relate to Israel)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USNov. 2
Mercenaries paid for by the US Treasury. Or did he go to kill Russians in defense of Democracy?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
This is the Israeli covert strategy to gain full possession of "the Land" with implicit US support. How so? Because the State of Israel is by now fully dependent on unqualified Evangelical support, which is the funnel through which Israel gets its $billions. Evangelical Last Times doctrine demands full and unqualified Jewish control of the Hold Land in anticipation of the Second Coming. The only quibble about the slogan "From the River to the Sea" is whether "the River" is the Jordan or the Euphrates. No literalist Evangelicals could with good conscience sign off on a Palestinian state alongside a Jewish one. For Evangelicals demand an activist policy to hasten the Day. A Palestinian state would unravel 150 years of revivalist dogma and trigger an identity crisis that would empty churches. Which is why Evangelicals have zero sympathy for Palestinians in the Holy Land. For even Christian Arabs have legitimacy only as "hewers of wood and fetchers of water", and that only after "having their heads shorn and their nails pared".
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Nothing like the big picture. 1938 all over again: "the war to end all wars", "perpetual peace," and "the expansion of democracy", all there in Biden's (now) two front war against the enemies of freedom. And Putin and Hamas correspond to the Reich and Imperial Japan with global designs. And the Grand Conspiracy has its enablers in treasonous Republicans starving the glut of Biden's forever wars which multiply faster than the flies around the head of Beelzebub. A clever distraction from the Livestream of Gaza. For Iran is not slaughtering Palestinian women and children by the ten thousand. Israel with cover from the US is. No one but conspiracists believe that Hamas is a global threat, any more than that Putin has designs on Berlin. What Friedman omits is Israel's responsibility for its current crisis: its violent expansionist policy on the West Bank . And why would Russia allow NATO to set up shop in Ukraine, when it can sent NATO hurling back (which it has done and is doing)? The Saudi-Israel Plan was laughably simplistic in that it was anathema to both greater Islam and Judaism. Why? Because it does not address the Abrahamic protocols: the theocratic imperatives and religious mandates which animate Iran/Hamas/Ultras/Settlers/Evangelicals. When (even) liberal Jews say "Next year in Jerusalem", they mean East Jerusalem . Evangelical $billions will dry up the day Israel renounces political claims on the Temple Mount and the biblical heartlands.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US12m ago
Republicans can't miss here. Biden had to go hard right to appease his donor base and fend of the Trumpian charge that he was wokesoft on Hamas. Now they're creating chaos by exploiting the fault line of the Left: the superficial marriage of lower class social justice activist types and elite upper-class mythopian End of History hyper-capitalists. The latter have now been utterly excommunicated, and it's anyone's guess where they will land. Hint: the Left does not exist in Israel. It makes Republicans swoon. And no one loses votes for bashing Palestinians. The latter are often reproached for the phrase "from the River to the Sea." But this is the Eschatological corollary of the prophetic imperative of the Return of the Jews alongside the divine mandate of reconquest of all the lands of Abraham "from the River to the Sea". Ask any card carrying Evangelical if Israel has the divine right to subjugate all non-Jewish elements to make prophecy come out right. Thus Evangelicals use the phrase out of godly obedience, but when Palestinians use it it's a call to genocide? No matter. Republicans can make hay in any direction here.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Israel can survive this, but only by reducing to a military camp and barracks existence like Sparta. Gone forever is the delusion that an occupying State can afford the luxury of pluralist institutions. That delusion was underwritten by 1) the EU's inability to override German guilt (the Far Right is now making common cause with the Arab Street), 2) the cultural/economic heft of Leftist Jewish elites (now excommunicated by the woke Left), 3) Evangelical dogma (fading like the SBC), and 4) absolute immunity under the world's unchallengeable hegemon (tyrants and despots are now using US hypocrisy in comparative moral washing). Which means that globalist "cancel culture" will force Israel to the negotiating table to bargain from a position of immeasurable moral weakness. It is this moral deficit that poses the greatest danger to Israel as a state: for 1) it provides cover for Germany to end its superficial penitence, and 2) the US cannot assume more moral guilt after the global outrage over George Floyd. In short, Israel is on its own after Gaza.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
The earthquake here is this: the social justice Left has excommunicated the Jewish Left. And as everyone knows, the social justice Left does not exist in Israel. Why? Because the modern Left is anchored in Civil Rights, Anti-Colonialism, diversity, etc. You cannot advocate as one body for two opposing victims. So where does the Jewish Left go from here? And how seriously will their absence weaken the social justice Left?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1m ago
But what happens after Gaza? 1) Anti-Colonialist clamor to settle the Palestinian issue once and for all by forcing Israel to the negotiating table to atone for Gaza. The template here will be George Floyd and Critical Theory, and the innumerable historic slights of anti-Colonial reckoning. 2) Evangelicalism, Israel's strongest prop in helping avoid what it dreads most (a co-existing Palestinian state) is but a shadow of its former self. Self-help "Praise" hipsterism of the Ashbury revival type has replaced the literalist "Sign of the End Times" revivalism that moved Israel to gift Rev Falwell with a jet to spread whatever he was preaching. The "Time was at hand", and the Church needed to get Israel ready to meet her Messiah. Pulpits rang with "A strong military against godless Communism" and "Stand with Israel", the two sides of the same coin. That Evangelicalism has gone the way of the rapidly sinking Southern Baptist Convention. The literalist have become a tiny minority, with the rest dispersed into social justice wokism and Orbanite nationalism. 3) Europe is on board only as payback for Putin-protection. Its halting and superficial support reflects the reality of the (Arab) street, where the Gazan war has the same level of support as Ukraine, which the majority see as Europe's entanglement in US foreign policy. Germany, especially, is changing rapidly, eager to throw off the guilt complex which is the EU equivalent of the US veto at the UN.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US7h ago
Thus far, all attempts at a solution have been mere shadow boxing. The real issues were never on the table, because either side, at various points, assumed they had the upper hand and could dictate impossible terms. But time and reality have clarified the points in contention: 1) The Right of Return is as likely as the US population decamping to where they came from to atone for its treatment of Native Americans. 2) The Theocratic Mandates and Religious Imperatives will have to give way to Westernized secular statecraft. This means that the zero-sum winner-take-all game of religious orthodoxy will have to be sidelined. Greater Islam will need to sign on the dotted line recognizing the legitimacy of Israel as a parallel state co-existing alongside the Palestinian state. But this is possible only if it is given religious cover to do so, namely the demands of conscience of global Islam: full Islamic sovereignty of the Temple Mount. For no Muslim will ever accept the humiliation of having its third most holy site subject to desecration by foreign troops. Moreover, a treaty will require precise and permanent political language renouncing "divine rights" to the Land. 3) The right of Palestinians to exist in the Holy Land. Hamas's denial of Israeli statehood has its counterpart in Evangelical Eschatology which demands the full subjugation of all non-Jewish elements as a condition of the Second Coming. A Palestinian state would be a betrayal of this dogma.
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1 REPLY
S
Syme
Oceania4h ago
@Shoffmensch Exactly. Thomas Jefferson nailed it when he talked about a WALL of separation between church and state. Not a line. Not a fence. Not a high tech barrier. Religious orthodoxy does not compromise. And no decent political system can function without compromise. Btw all faiths have access to Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty. I fear that could change if the religious right in Israel has its way.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US14m ago
The US is a Superpower. Israel is not. Israel is acting like a Superpower only because Biden has given it carte blanche backing. The US will suffer irreparable moral damage as a result. This is not Israel waging war, but Israel under US might and moral cover. Biden is sowing to the wind here. The US (and its cowering EU allies) will reap the whirlwind.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3m ago
"conflict/timeout"
So this is but a prelude for the next one. But time is not on Israel's side: 1) Regional states are becoming more powerful. 2) Israel's one non-Jewish ally, Evangelicals, have spit into three camps: a) old-line biblical literalists who need Israel to round out their Eschatology, b) Orbanite nationalists for whom religion is mere power politics, and c) woke Ashbury revivalists who side emphatically with Palestinians. 3) Germany's stranglehold on EU moral policy is quickly dissipating as the new generation and influx of immigrants chafe at bearing the burden of Germany's past. 4) Israel has become the face of anti-Colonial reckoning and social justice among the Critical Theory Left. The power of "cancel culture" will weigh heavy on Israel in the aftermath of Gaza, as the clamor for a permanent two state solution gathers steam. But now Israel, with a severe moral deficit incurred in Gaza will find itself bargaining from a position of weakness, and not as before, as a conqueror, offering terms to the vanquished. Those terms will demand the tabling of elements deemed essential to gain the support of larger Islam. Notably, redress of the humiliation of having it's third most holy side held hostage and subject to desecration by foreign troops. But after the dust settles, Israel will have but two choices: assume a forever "barracks" lifestyle like Sparta, or take its chances on co-existence next to a militarized Palestinian state.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US7m ago
@JoeG Exactly. And this is what will happen when the dust settles. Israel will be forced to table elements that it was previously privileged to withhold: namely the Theocratic dimensions of a future settlement. In short, what would larger Islam need to throw its weight behind a solution that would sidelines the religious zealots? I can think of two: 1) Muslim sovereignty of the Temple Mount, and 2) political renunciation (on both sides) of future claims on geographical settlements.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US11m ago
Even with Hamas completely destroyed, Palestinian plight will be worse than before, and there is the moral nerve that shocked the world out of its dogmatic "evil not seen is evil safely ignored" slumbers when it was forced to witness George Floyd. Hamas is converting Palestinian suffering into moral coin to be used in the reckon that will follow when the dust settles. The seething Left, presently sidelined, will make it increasingly difficult for a Democrat to allow Israel to hide under the US veto at the UN. And German guilt will not long suffice to keep Europeans from caving to the resentment in their streets.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US23m ago
As Kristof shows, the war in Gaza is the the direct result of Israel's cynical process of subverting a two state solution by creating chaos in Gaza in order to deflect attention from its territorial designs in the West bank. But note how even Kristof succumbs to the skewed politics here. He wants a multinational Arab force in Gaza, blind to the obvious that if a multinational force will do to protect Israel from Hamas, then why would a multinational force not work in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to protect Palestinians from Settler landgrabs and violence? Instead he takes up the very one-hand clapping that assures a repeat of another war after this one. Obviously, Israel wants any kind of force that keeps Gazans on the Reservation, because Israel has no designs on Gaza. Here it would welcome all the UN troops it can get. But it demands carte blanche in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. So obviously, Kristof thinks Israel's pursuit of "the divine mandates" of Greater Israel are legitimate. Because, as the Settlers say, "God gave the land to the Jews" and that settles it. When "the divine and theocratic mandates" are on the table, a two state solution will be possible. Not before.
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(the billionaires are shutting down debate everywhere. I suspect that's why these two last posts are held up. No need to dream up conspiracies about who controls what people get to hear and read. The US even told Al Jazeera to toe the line. Or the release my posts when they close Comments so no one can reply)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US9h ago
"an international security presence will be needed in Gaza"
If UN peacekeeper will do for Gaza, then why not also for Jerusalem and the West Bank to nurture a two-state solution? In other words, why would the UN allow itself to be used to further Israeli interests in Gaza, while leaving the Palestinians to waste away in their now worsened open air prison, and, increasingly, diminished in the West Bank? If Israel needs to annex the West Bank for security reasons as it claims, then UN peacekeepers in the West Bank would fulfill that requirement. But Israel wants to have its cake and eat it too. Until now, it was able to so on two counts: 1) a carte blanche US veto at the UN, and 2) the EU's inability to override Germany's war guilt. With the West in retreat, those days are numbered.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
The real war, as Ross knows, is being waged in the court of global opinion, and there Israel is already running a severe moral deficit which guarantees a global reckoning for two-state partition on the horizon. The two-state idea was allowed to lapse as the Palestinian plight gave way to Saudi/Emirate commercial ambitions, and the Rightwing government's delusion that it had it within its means to "go for broke" in order to forever render the two-state solution impossible. Ross must be made to shoulder the blame for allowing this conceit to ferment on his watch. Not that he ever offered a viable solution, because he did no more than shadow-box on the periphery for decades, creating a smoke-screen behind which the current government advanced its designs. No one doubts that Israel can do what Ross proposes: eradicate Hamas, and even Hezbollah. But it could not survive the global "cancelling" that would starve it into non-existence, because Biden has largely depleted whatever moral capital the US was left with after George Floyd, the aftermath of which has become the global moral template of the Gaza war. At the negotiating table Israel will now have to deal with the following: 1) Absolute Muslim Temple Mount sovereignty, 2) East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, 3) political renunciation of future claims on Abrahamic heartlands, and 4) a genuine corridor to join Gaza and the West bank. These four points have never been on the table, because Israel placed them off limits. After the horror of Gaza, everything will be on the table.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US53m ago
"a government that can rule Gaza" And once Gaza is turned into a "Reservation", what "government" does Brooks propose for the West Bank, where the landgrab rhetoric of the current government left the impression that the Palestinian cause is doomed? What brought the Palestinian cause back to the global table? Hamas. Who galvanized global sympathy for the people of Gaza? Hamas. Hamas understands the global guilt complex in the aftermath of George Floyd, and Brooks sees the foment in the Western Zeitgeist within that framework. And while Brooks pays lip service to two-state partition, he cleverly leaves unsaid what that would require: 1) Palestinian Temple Mount sovereignty, 2) Jewish renunciation of all claims to the Abrahamic heartlands, 3) East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, and 4) a genuine corridor to connect Gaza with the West Bank. Any two-state gesture that does not address these concerns up front with precise and permanent language is mere posturing.
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john
Sioux City4m ago
@Shoffmensch Brooks remains tellingly silent about what he wants to happen in the west bank. His silence speaks volumes.
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Afdeestupple, US8m ago
That would account for the nearly 7000 dead then. But not to worry, Biden says he has enough shells on hand to keep both Palestinian and Russian mothers waiting for the knock on the door for the foreseeable future. Or as one of his generals crowed, "we have a healthy supply". In the old days of man on man war, you counted scalps by the number of bullets used, but with the "shoot from the bushes" tactics comes an exponential cost per death. I wonder if Kristof's formula of "A Smarter Way to Increase Shell Deaths" would improve the bottom line, and that with Republican stinginess toward curbing Biden's gun running diplomacy. Still the reduced tally reveals what may be of some comfort to Palestinians: that he has not yet reached for his arsenal of cluster bombs with which he detonated "EU values" forever.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USOct. 26
The "divine mandates" of Hamas/Settler/Ultras/Evangelicals would need to be sidelined in order for Friedman's commercial/diplomatic statecraft to take hold. But Ultras/Settlers/Evangelicals are in Israel not to do "statecraft like other nations" but to bring the one perfect State of God to fruition. Moses and Joshua were expressly forbidden to depend on "war chariots" because "the battle is the Lord's". Moreover, this axis could never in good conscience agree to forever (on paper at least) relinquish all claims to the Temple Mount and the Biblical heartlands which God ordained for Israel. But a two state treaty would demand just such precise and permanent language. On the other hand, because the Mosque on the Mount is an integral part of Islam, greater Islam would need guarantees that the Temple Mount would be under full sovereign Muslim custodianship like Mecca and Media, and not subject to desecration by foreign troops. Given that, greater Islam, under pressure from developing Islamic states in need of tranquility, could throw its weight and money behind a compromise that would be substantial enough to sideline theocratic Iran and its militant proxies. But there are no means of sidelining the Ultras/Settlers/ Evangelicals. The demographic dominance of the first two, and the political clout of the latter, renders the plan dead on arrival. For this trio, Palestinians are the ancient Canaanites, the enemies of God, to be treated accordingly.
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MKR
Philadelphia4h ago
@Shoffmensch Most Palestinian Jews (Israelis) don't believe in "divine mandates" and don't care about the West Bank. They support the "occupation" in the belief, amply supported by Palestinian Arab rhetoric and conduct, that ending the "occupation" would result in an anarchic "Palestine" dedicated to war against Israel and nothing else. Additionally, talk about Palestinian statehood is nonsense until and unless the prospective citizens of this state organize a government-- an organization with a theoretical and practical monopoly on violence (an "effective, non-corrupt Palestinian Authority," as Friedman puts it). They did not do it in 1948, in 1967 or after Oslo. Nothing stopped them except themselves.
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Joanne
Boston4h ago
@Shoffmensch - An interesting analysis. But the ultra-Orthodox and the settlers don't constitute a majority of the population of Israel, contrary to what you state.
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Wayne commented 25 minutes ago
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Wayne
Rhode Island25m ago
@Shoffmensch Israel grants supervision over the Temple Mount where Muslims only have free access. They did this from the onset after Israel gained physical control of Jerusalem.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US21m ago
But hasn't the writer heard? He was no sooner elected but the House passed a rousing bipartisan writ: war without limits against the Palestinians. As the Bible says, "For before they were enemies...." It's the one cause in all the Universe that unites them. Especially with 2024 on the horizon. "We'll talk about a two-state solution after the war" says Biden. In the US, that's code for "Reservation". Those Apache helicopters are awful persuaders.
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Afdeestupple, US1h ago
Democrats sowed to the wind and reaped the whirlwind when they and eight rogue Republicans outed what now looks like a moderate in comparison. What were they thinking? But they had to play power politics, even if it meant disruption the nation's business. A few Democrats is all it would have taken to return the Speaker to his post. Now they have a credentialed Trumpian on their hands. You reap what you sow. What were they thinking?
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Cassandra commented 8 minutes ago
CCassandra
SLC8m ago
@Shoffmensch most likely they were thinking that it’s high time the GOP be outed for what it is. McCarthy was not moderate and was always going to get booted. Johnson won’t be able to govern. Sometimes the only way voters understand things is to see it with their own eyes. The Dems made a strategic choice for the long run and it’s likely a good one. But sure, it will be a lot of GOP dysfunction in the short run. Those Biden distract reps aren’t going to be voting for hard right policies. Unfortunately, we are looking at Congressional gridlock but that was guaranteed the minute the GOP won the house by such a tiny majority.
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MMJ
Texas8m ago
@Shoffmensch I agree, they are so bad at this it's almost as if they want Trump to win and democracy to end. They underestimate and misjudge consistently, even when the evidence is front and center. The next debacle is Biden's continued candidacy. Welcome to the Weimar Republic
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US6h ago
Why? Because this is the religious hotspot of the Universe, and religion cannot serve two masters. If Palestinians held the monopoly of violence, they would impose a pluralistic state and simply outvote Jews. Jews would have the status of Jews in Iran. Which means that Israelis fear nothing more than a pluralistic democracy. Israel would cease to exist overnight. Which leaves the two-state idea. Again, at issue here is the most coveted real estate in the world: The Temple Mount, East Jerusalem, and the biblical heartlands of the West Bank. These are the credentials of authenticity, barring which either side could just as well remove to other parts of the world. This is the problem of the Middle Ages solved by the Enlightenment's neutral platform of secularism (small s) on which all parties were forced to compete. The religious hegemon found the arrangement impossible and retreated to the walls of the Vatican. Protestants found a way out of the dilemma by appropriating the Anabaptist's biblical doctrine that the Church and the State are two separate kingdoms, with the former unencumbered by geography. In essence, the City of God is "the Jerusalem from above". Without a state, Palestinians essentially don't exist, like Kurds, and Uighurs. And they cannot remove without abandoning their religion of which the mosque atop the Wailing Wall amounts to a third (as Islam's third most holy site).
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USOct. 24
But the world is forming its impressions from what they see livestreamed daily. Global sympathy is entirely with the women and children of Gaza at this point, and there is nothing superficial about its support. It's as spontaneous as the global reaction to George Floyd, which is the moral template here. The aftermath of the war will leave Israel with a total moral deficit, and the US dangerously exposed as a Machiavellian moralist for aiding and abetting the carnage. And because the EU had no choice but to sing along with the US choir as payback for Putin-protection, it is now left with a seething street anger that it doesn't know what to do with. But the greatest danger to Israel will come from "cancel culture" at the UN and World Court. Israel could not survive as a pariah, and atonement for Gaza will likely require an imposed two-state solution that will strike at the heart of Israel's divine destiny, without which it would cease to exist.
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Reuben
AustraliaOct. 24
@Shoffmensch I hope there will be a two-state solution imposed upon both Israel and the Palestinians. Neither side seems to want it, and it is a very challenging path, but possibly the only one that can lead to peace. The U.S. should bear the financial responsibility for its success by providing funding equivalent to what it previously offered Israel and allies. Additionally, economic sanctions on Israel's adversaries, like Iran and Syria, could be lifted under specific conditions, such as rigorous nuclear non-proliferation commitments and U.N. monitoring for peace treaty adherence across the Middle East. While this proposal could pave the way for peace, the U.S.'s veto power at the U.N. remains a formidable obstacle. Sadly, this may mean continued conflict in the Middle East for years to come. To break this stalemate, the international community could consider applying diplomatic pressure, sanctions, and negotiations to force the U.S., Israel, and Palestine to agree to a U.N. peace treaty. Engaging with other key players in the region, like Iran and Syria, could help build a broader consensus for lasting peace. In addition, grassroots movements and global public opinion can play a crucial role in pushing for a resolution that benefits all parties involved. While the path to peace is undoubtedly challenging, it remains essential to continue pursuing every possible avenue for a peaceful resolution in the Middle East.
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Joel
OklahomaOct. 24
@Reuben Nuclear proliferation as a threat is not going to improve relationships in the Middle East and increases the risk of a nuclear exchange. It is not in anyones interest.
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Publicus
SeattleOct. 24
@Reuben I agree that a two state solution must be imposed. But the boundaries? Palestine needs a port, an airport, agricultural land, and water for all; including Gaza. I think it's time to rethink the borders? Maybe give Palestine all of what is now Southern Israel. Maybe an interim arrangement where Palestine is a federated province of Jordan. Whatever; external forces are going to have to guarantee Palestine's air space and territory; and back that guarantee with forces present. Of course, everyone should stop providing Israel with arms. Better to guarantee their territory and airspace too. It's long past time to give credence to the negotiating positions of these to poorly led nations.
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Eva
CAOct. 25
@Publicus "Give Palestine what is now southern Israel" on what basis? You may be too young to remember that the original UN partition gave the whole West Bank to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt. After a few years both countries decided that they do not want to deal with the Palestinians and gave up those territories. What do you think why they did that? How many times has it happened in history that a country voluntarily gave up territory that was theirs? BTW, both Gaza and the West Bank have plenty of fertile lands.
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Heedless commented 6 hours ago
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Heedless
Chicago6h ago
@Publicus If the Arab nations had the ability to provide any of the things you describe, then there wouldn't be in Israel because their armies would have wiped it from the map. Their corruption and incompetence is what allows a nation of 10 million to be the dominant military power even when surrounded by 371 million people who hate them, but it also means that the gulf states are in no position to provide any sort of security guarantees.
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Michael
Amsterdam4h ago
@Shoffmensch Don't let the woke Gen Z revolutionaries fool you my friend. Polling since the war indicates that a vast majority of American sympathize with Israel, in fact reversing a two-decade long trend of distancing from it. I guess watching Hamas gloat on social media about butchering babies and burning families alive didn't do wonders for the Palestinian cause. Furthermore, mainstream America is rightly mostly disgusted by what seems to be a celebration of these so called "martyrs" on the streets of the US. Europe has always been more critical of Israel, and there is a much larger population of Muslims, but nonetheless it seems that in most European countries there are large sections of society that are appalled by the brutality of Hamas, and even more so by what seems like an attempt to legitimize such atrocities. Many Europeans (mostly right wing, but not only) see the growing Muslim population as a threat to the social fabric. Seeing hundreds of thousands marching down the streets with Hamas will definitely not calm these fears down. Hamas may have caused severe damage to the Palestinian cause. In a way it exposes what Israel has been saying all along - that you can't make peace with these people.
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Wayne
Rhode Island4h ago
@Reuben If the Arabs and Jews can't work it out the UN can't impose it nor pressure the US You can see how few countries came out against the slaughter. The UN has earned so little trust with Israel that their role will not be significant. The calls today should all be release the hostages and Hamas surrendering. Though unlikely because they are enabled by as ll the antisemitism, a unified rejection of the slaughter is an announcement that could assure peace and be a substantial move toward an agreement with the Saudis which can lead to a Palestinian state which Hamas clearly does not want.
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Reuben
Australia4h ago
@Publicus I am surprised this comment window is still open. To reply to your question: "But the boundaries?" I will simply copy and paste a part of what I have written in a previous comment: The Trump administration's "Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People." This ground-breaking peace plan introduced a map outlining borders for a future State of Palestine, a notable first in U.S. peace proposals. Presented by then-President Donald Trump alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January 2020, this proposal was crafted by a team led by Jared Kushner, who was raised in a Modern Orthodox Jewish family. It offers a comprehensive framework with economic and political components as a starting point to negotiate a blueprint for peace. In a status quo that perpetuates conflict, this plan stands as a beacon of hope for meaningful dialogue. Embracing change is the only way to break the cycle of perpetual strife. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_peace_plan The map is below which answers your question about the boundaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_peace_plan#/media/File:Trump_Peace_Plan_(cropped).jpg Those who are left-wing inclined and very much anti-Trump and anti-Republicans should not be put off by it being developed by them. Jared Kushner was a life-long supporter of the Democrats, prior to becoming involved in developing this Peace Plan under the leadership of Trump. We need to be non-partisan.
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Really
US4h ago
@Reuben List the reasons why the US people should pay for this.
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Walter
West Columbia, SC4h ago
@Reuben "Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war but on the love of peace. It will not be the abstaining from an act, but the coming of a state of mind.” (Julien Benda)
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Alex Forest commented 4 hours ago
A
Alex Forest
USA4h ago
@Eva The UNGA resolution 181 that partitioned Palestine did not give the West Bank to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt. It called for the establishment of independent Jewish and Arab states with a special status for Jerusalem.
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Maria
Melbourne4h ago
@Publicus Jordan would never agree to this. That's the rub with the Palestinian situation - it's not only Israel but every other Arab state that does not want to take responsibility for them. And handing over a huge chunk of Israel would put Israel in danger unless Hamas et al give up their goal of the utter destruction of Israel.
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Eva
CA4h ago
@Reuben "Imposed" by whom? And on what basis?? Peace is the goal, but you need two willing parties to make peace. No one in his right mind would believe that peace with a terrorist organization, like Hamas is, possible. Certainly, no one has ever considered making peace with ISIS, a similarly brutal and similarly murderous terrorist organization.
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Girish Kotwal commented 2 hours ago
G
Girish Kotwal
Louisville, KY2h ago
@Shoffmensch Afdeestupple, US Appropriate response to the who done it hospital explosion in Gaza. Who really cares who fired a rocket, there us humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that is making Israel's supporters angry. No wonder Israel has lost moral high ground and with that the global support. UN secretary general is right to demand a CEASEFIRE. Israel has had plenty of time to crush Hamas leadership with surgical operation for the atrocities of Hamas on Israel's soil. Time to give PEACE a chance.
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Eva
CA1h ago
@Shoffmensch "Global sympathy is entirely with the women and children of Gaza at this point" has no factual basis as far as I can see. Only people who have made up their minds without any consideration of facts, or people who fall for Hamas propaganda, would fall into this category.
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Abe
Detroit27m ago
@Reuben. Israel made sure there could be no two state solution. A short jaunt thru the West Bank makes this clear. Without a strong Israeli commitment and actions, two state solution is dead.
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JJoan
formerly NYC27m ago
@Shoffmensch "the EU had no choice but to sing along with the US choir as payback for Putin-protection" The EU is not the poodle of the US. This is a misconception. And "Putin protection" comes through NATO.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
@Phillip Promet
Religion is what you're getting at. It is what drove the US out of Afghanistan. If you train your eye on the Temple Mount you will miss nothing that comes to pass. A temporary settlement would be possible by empowering the more worldly PA to keep the radicals in check, get Settlers out of the biblical heartlands, and create some sort of neutral zone on the Temple Mount. That would satisfy the moderate religious instincts of both larger Islam and Judaism. The zealous on both side would bide their time.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US5h ago
The question is not "Who Will Govern Gaza", but "What Now Happens to Israel"? Whatever sympathy occupying Israel had before the war has now completely dissipated, and Israel's reckoning at the UN/World Court is now guarantied. US continuing cover will cost it catastrophic moral damage at at time when it has little to spare in the aftermath of world condemnation following George Floyd. Moreover, Israel's one remaining non-Jewish friend, old-line Evangelicals, are going the way of "moderate" Republicans. The young "Ashbury revival" (self-help) types are only loosely attached to a literal interpretation of the Bible, which gave rise to Evangelical fervor that sees the Return of the Jews as the last chapter of Eschatology. This Mega-church element within Evangelicalism is social-justice and woke oriented, and is quick to distance itself from their elders' doctrinal view that Palestinians stand in the way of God's plan for Latter Day Israel and are to be dealt with accordingly. Then there is refugee flooded Europe, and the rise of the Right, a potent mix that has long chafed to be done with Germany's debilitating "guilt complex" which casts a pall over EU policy. The war is already erupting in Europe's street, and as Europe is made to once again face its Colonial past as a consequence of Israel's war against Gaza, fingers will point toward Israel. In the aftermath, the best that Israel can hope for is a two-state solution imposed on it by the rest of the world.
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She
Miami,FL4h ago
@Shoffmensch Agree that this is "the best" of all possible worlds to see happen, but as Voltaire noted long ago, the worst will happen and we will justify it as being the best, for that time. ("Oh, if we only knew then what we know now, we wouldn't have allowed it," many said wringing their hands after the Iraq debacle) We know now. We will do it anyway, using that excuse for political cover later.
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Adnan
NY2h ago
@Shoffmensch I say a one fully democratic state solution is the best way forward; two state means, there will always be skirmishes. However a one state with full democratic values and right of return of all displaced indigenous peoples from the pre-1948 era will work well. All of these Palestinians would prefer to live in a European style democracy rather than tyrannical so called "Islamic" states surrounding them. These people will be loyal; remember loyalty is bought with justice.
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Misophist commented 51 minutes ago
M
Misophist
Abroad51m ago
@Shoffmensch No, it is not. The din in the streets from pro-Palestinian factions mainly at home in the left is deafening, no doubt. But it is also pretty obvious, that splits the left in two. For anybody with able to read or listen, there can be no reasonable doubt, that Israel had very little wiggle room left. Start by look at the basic freedoms, a citizen may have in Israel, or in Gaza: - You are Palestinian or Arab Muslim? You are part of the LGBTQI-community? Both possible in Israel. You may even be elected member in the Knesset. Even now, in the most right wing authoritarian government Israel has seen. - But a Jew or LGBTQI-Person in some sort of Palestinian parliament? Unthinkable! If known, he wouldn't last an hour in the streets of Gaza! - Warning civilians with 'roof knockers', SMS or calls about an imminent air strike? Only by the IDF, unthinkable for Hamas and its competitors. - Enduring atrocities originating from a stretch of land, that was traded in a deal called 'land for peace' for close to 20 yrs by now? Only with the IDF. If the IDF had just one character like the Brit 'Bomber Harris' in its ranks, Gaza would have been torched like Dresden/Germany in 2/14/1942 by 2014 latest. It speaks a *lot* for Israel, that this hasn't happened yet.
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Jackie commented 15 minutes ago
JJackie
Naperville15m ago
@Shoffmensch Or a worse outcome. Israel will destroy Gaza and continue the oppression of the Palestinian people. 5 or 10 or 20 years from now, the descendants of those in killed Gaza will attack Israel again and the cycle will repeat. No peace and safety for either Israelis or Palestinians. Both Hamas leaders and Netanyahu need to be replaced by realists who are willing to move forward with peace. It has gotten harder with each attack, with each theft of land in the West Bank, and every bomb dropped by either side.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US36m ago
To assuage the wrath of the developing world and the Western Left, the US and its European allies will now be forced to impose a settlement on Israel which will include the following: 1) Full Palestinian sovereignty of the Temple Mount, 2) East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, 3) forever relinquishing all Jewish claims to the Biblical heartlands of Judea and Samaria, 4) a genuine corridor to join the West Bank and Gaza, and 5) submission to a multi-national task force to keep the peace. Barring that, Israel will have won the war, but will also become the most isolated nation on earth with old-line Evangelicals (younger Ashbury revival Evangelicals side with Palestine) as their only non-Jewish friends. Such is the moral deficit already incurred by the carnage in Gaza.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
Biden has been Big Oil's best friend, because he somehow manages to stir up wars that drive up oil prices. And the Left's stake in his forever wars puts Climate on the back burner, because Green doesn't work in the real world of tanks, missiles and jets needed to fund the Left's newfound love of war. And the trial lawyers are not trying to shake down the government for failing to do environmental impact studies when plundering the US Treasury to fund its gun running.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US4m ago
What am I missing here? Oil is what keeps petro rogues like MBS and Putin going. But the US is the world's largest petro state. Moreover, it's the world's biggest gun runner, supplying the oil wars it stirs up. Then why is it running a 2 $trillion deficit?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3m ago
Note the silence from war-weary Europe. Why? They know China/Putin/Iran need but give the US a moral black eye to send NATO hurling back. Gaza has already created extreme moral tension in the West. If Hamas can turn the upcoming invasion into a George Floyd moment , the Arab street will explode in Wester capitals. And a regional conflict will create Putin's weapon of choice: refugees pouring into Europe.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"34,000 of the bombs since 2018 in what an Air Force general described in 2021 as a healthy inventory. That means Ukraine and Israel are not expected to have to compete for the bombs."
I take it the Industrial Murder Complex had the foresight to store a commensurate "healthy inventory" of body bags? I always said, the Industrial Murder Complex should be under the jurisdiction of the Surgeon General. But at least Palestinian and Russian mothers reading the Times have advanced warning of the knock on the door, because, as the general says, there's enough bombs for everyone. And bombs like everything else have a dated shelf life, which means they have to be used up quickly to keep grave-diggers employed and prosthetics in short supply. A pity that those bombs can't be trained to avoid US aid trucks, so that at least Hell doesn't get to claim a double American deduction.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
A tragic and indisputable account--but given the current crisis, one hand clapping. One wrong is not grounds to commit another. Israel's contribution to Palestinian oppression and suffering is a moral meltdown which no amount of history can sanitize. Israel has entered a moral and political cul-de-sac in which its present response is a catastrophic force multiplier. In short, when you find yourself in a hole stop digging. Israel's high tech defense was overrun by stone age cunning, forever shattering the delusion that occupying Sparta will ever again allow itself the leisure of a pluralist democracy without reverting to a "barracks" military state. The bludgeoning response is an admission that Israel's statecraft has failed. The moral deficit from the response will do irreparable damage at a time when its protector, the US, has little to spare as it tries to form a coalition against its competing hegemon, China.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USOct. 21
Interesting conundrum. The morals here are straightforward. Israel is raining death on Gaza under the US umbrella: moral cover under the US Veto at the UN and immunity from the World Court which the US finds very useful to serve its interests while exempting itself from its jurisdiction. Again, its ships and missiles are keeping Israeli enemies at bay while Israel pulverizes Gaza. What makes Kristoff squirm is that this war, like the bloodletting in Ukraine, is entirely owned by the Left. The EU, as the incarnation of the Left, was meant to replace violence with "values" as the chief instrument of statecraft. "Don't," to paraphrase General LeMay "speak of 1500 dead children and values in the same sentence." Biden's Left and Universities are seething at the hypocrisy here, especially, since the Left sees Gaza within the framework of George Floyd and Critical Theory. Add now 1500 children within the Faustian horse trading of 2024. Biden was forced to go hard right to preempt Trump from beating the drums of the Apocalypse to fire his Evangelical base. And the billionaires who threatened Universities demanded unqualified US support, regardless the moral cost to US standing in the world. Palestinians, on the other hand, are throwaways. And worse for Evangelicals, for they stand in the way of the Second Coming. If the road to 2024 is on the bodies of Palestinian children, no one will lose votes as a result. The reckoning will come later.
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coleman mcdonough commented 4 hours ago
C
coleman mcdonough
Massachusetts4h ago
@Shoffmensch Apparently the Palestinians are throwaways, not just by the Israelis. Hamas uses them as shields and moneymakers, the other Arab states don't want them obviously, neither the governments nor the populace, so what would you have the Israelis do, here in the real brutal world.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USOct. 20
"We Americans can advise, but Israel is going to do what it is going to do"
And exactly what "advise" goes along with the $37 billion death merchandize Biden wants for Israel? Palestinian mothers will thank him for all the cluster bombs he does not send, and the EU will squirm less while they cling to the remaining "EU values" left them after the unending NATO nightmare that is Ukraine. I take it the "advise" referred to here is of the "wink" "wink" Samuel Colt kind implied in the $37 billion that leaves little to the imagination. Those F35 birds with Hellfire missiles under their murderous wings are hardly Noah's doves bearing olive branches.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US12m ago
"advise"?
As they used to say in the old days, "He who supplies warships, the UN veto and untold $billions in death merchandise must then step aside and give grandfatherly counsel on the best use of Hellfire missiles against the very victims for which he doles out band-aids." He only supplies the Hellfire missiles, he doesn't fire the Hellfire missiles. Because Hellfire missiles don't kill people. People kill people, and the only way to stop a bad guy with a rocket is to block out his sun with Hellfire missile so, as Spartan gallows humor would have it, "they get to fight in the shade." But what can Biden do? Duty (2024) requires a forest of Hellfire missiles, and he is left to grovel on the sidelines.
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hoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US6h ago
"Israel has few options"
But Biden has made the US complicit in those "options" with $billions in new "death merchandize", and protective cover both at the UN and at sea to facilitate those "options". All while engaging in moral sleight of hand with a few band-aids to dress the very carnage caused by his Hellfire missiles. Biden and his "advisers" have had marathon sessions prior to the invasion. Biden could spare Gaza but for his donor base back home. Which means that the politics of 2024 leave him with "few options" to spare Palestinian women and children. What Israel does is Israel's business. But when you have a front row seat in the war council with the US Treasury at your disposal you own the consequences of Israel's "options".
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BenT
Chicago4h ago
@Shoffmensch The US policy appropriately coincides with the Israeli war aim to eliminate Hamas. If possible, both the Israelis and US would like this done without undue loss of non-belligerent life. But Hamas' invasion started this war, and war is not pretty.
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Al M
Norfolk Va2h ago
@Shoffmensch The State Department is in rebellion against Biden's actions and attempts to restrict speech. 53% of democratic voters appose his escalation as well. Both he and Netanyahu are finished politically. Meanwhile the blood flows and nothing is accomplished.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US29m ago
Few people did not shudder at the Hamas violence in the desert. But few non-Jewish people were surprised by it (if you understand the difference between descriptive and prescriptive discourse, you'll understand the dissonance here). For all they hear in media is that Gaza is a powder keg waiting to explode. They see the rave on the very rim of the keg as the spark that created the inferno. Israel was caught napping because Jews had come to believe their own myopia: that a tribal State utopia can assume the leisure of a pluralist democracy without the constant "barracks" vigilance of occupying Sparta. Jews had no option but to believe this myth, because the alternative doesn't exist. The rest of the world saw the clouds on the horizon.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US20m ago
Aid? Any (Band)aids for the Palestinians who will be blown to bits by the $32 billions worth of "death merchandise" (shells, tanks, Hellfire missiles) that has the Industrial Murder Complex (and their lobbyists) giddy with joy? But it's what his donor base (the same billionaires who threaten University free speech) demand. And what does he get in return? No so much as an escape valve at the southern for people fleeing the very inferno he is now enflaming with $32 billions more in "death merchandize". Is the Left still against the sanitized death penalty for murders here at home? Or are these women and children also terrorists? Biden doesn't say.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3h ago
Another $100 billion in "merchandize of death". And none for the victims of "the merchandize of death": the Palestinians? When people outside the Industrial Murder Complex gorge themselves at the human abattoir, the media calls them seedy "gun runners". Here you see them in the front row pew plopping wads of Benjamins in the offering plate Sunday morning. I say nothing of the decent citizens who assemble "the merchandize". Just another job. They just make the tanks, they don't use the tanks. And the only way to stop a bad guy in a tank is to arm the good guys with tanks--and jets, and Hellfire missiles. And the Left used to be against the death penalty as a relic of a barbaric age.
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News Runner commented 2 hours ago
News Runner
U.S.2h ago
@Shoffmensch I wish I could understand what you mean and also why the "left" is the culprit.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US7h ago
"What," asked Obama, "are US interests in Ukraine"? Now Biden finds himself in a forever proxy quagmire there. Israel's war against Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank are not US proxy actions. But Israel is a US proxy. US+proxy/Israel+Gaza/West Bank. Remove Israel and the equation US+proxy+Gaza/West Bank is still true. The moral low ground is that the US is an actor in Gaza and the West Bank. When the US uses its veto to shield Israel from the the UN and International Court it does not do so as an innocent bystander. Israel would not and could not bomb Gaza without the US' protective shield. Whatever the morals (or non) are here, Biden owns them fully.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US34m ago
The hypocrisy here. He's asking for countless $billions to create the very violence on one end for which he seeks a way of escape on the other. One word from Biden is all it would take to stop Israel's attack on Gaza. He's supplying the very bombs for which he's supplying Band-Aids at the receiving end. "Never," says General LeMay, "use morality and war in the same sentence." He's playing to his donor base here, and America will pay the price for generations to come.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
"He won a limited agreement from Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza" And he's asking Congress for $100 billion more in "death merchandise" for Ukraine/Israel. Is he asking Congress for any crumbs for Palestinians who manage to escape "the merchandise of death"? And on the back of that the most powerful man in the world is made to grovel for a "limited agreement" to ease the suffering of the very bombs he supplies? His approach here will breed anti-Americanism the likes of which the world has not seen before, especially in European Capitals. But Israel's cause is just, no doubt, according to the hardest knots of divinity in Augustine's Just War Theory.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US10h ago
@Oracle at Delphi
"good photo-op for Biden with US donors"
Would these be the same billionaires who shut down debate by threatening Universities? And he's asking Congress for how many billions for Israel? For what? To kill more Palestinians? This insanity will make the Arab Street explode.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Bombs for Israel, Band-Aids for Gaza. Hopefully not cluster bombs. One word from Biden and there would no invasion. Because Israel exists only as a tribal-ethnic auxiliary of pluralist America. But Biden is in Israel to soothe his donor base, and Palestinians will. as a result, just have to grin and bear it--again. The same donor base that keeps his extreme Left flank from exploding, for even the extreme Left only goes to Washington by minding the P's and Q's of the billionaires who shut down debate at Ivey League schools recently. The greatest casualty of the war will the the utter destruction of the US Jewish Left. It will now join what used to be the Left in Israel, for Israel is where the Jewish Left goes to die. The war will not undo Netanyahu, but rather confirm his conviction that when push comes to shove, Jews of all stripes have no choice but to jump on the latest Israeli bandwagon, for there is only one Jerusalem, and a Jew without Jerusalem is like a Catholic without the Pope. Israel will not become more like Tel Aviv, but more like the Ultra/Settlers. And now Israel will have no choice but to become a military camp like Sparta. Sparta, unlike Israel, was never under the illusion that it could be both Occupier, and enjoy the fruits of Athenian democracy, This was the fatal miscalculation that invited the Hamas attack. Israel had come to believe that it could govern as a tribal ethnic state with institutions forged in pluralism. No more.
(The Wailing Walligrarchs are not letting anything through. They shut down debate at Harvard and major Universities. Biden is in Israel because he fears losing his donors. But he's about ready to lose his extreme Left who know they're being held hostage to what they call "the Benjamins" ($20 bills)--finally, after a whole day.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"outraged"? He's talking about another $100 billion for "death merchandize." Does he think Gaza is a military camp with military targets? They don't even wear uniforms, which, according to the Geneva Convention allows them to be hanged as spies after capture. It's the liberal equivalent of "thoughts and prayers." Biden should read General Sherman. Sherman divined the true nature of the landscape and was never surprised or outraged.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3h ago
"War," said Tolstoy, "is how the rich murder the poor." Crime pays, and pays well. You're only a seedy gun-runner if your gig is outside the Industrial Murder Complex. Many a "military contractor" holds down a front row pew Sunday morning in DC.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
Biden is asking for another $100 billion for Israel/Ukraine. But remember tanks and cluster bombs do not kill people--people kill people. And the only way to stop a bad soldier in a tank is with a good soldier in a tank. Few Americans would admit to working in a factory that mixed death penalty cocktails. Yet countless thousands of Americans (and Germans) draw high wages making "death merchandize". Truman kept telling the pilot who dropped the Bomb, "I gave the order, and your were only obeying orders." "I was only a scientist," said Oppenheimer. It was not for him to say how the Government used his work. US arms manufacturers know that most of their bombs dropped in Gaza will create civilian casualties. In the US legal system such an awareness would make billionaires of trial lawyers.
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Stephens is former editor of the Jerusalem Post)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
"the international community" The massacre in the desert is already being overshadowed by the livestreamed panic of people fleeing for their lives. This is Hamas "evidence gathering" for the objective of their attack: to get "the international community" to force the International Court to advance the Palestinians' longstanding Brief against Israel. For the sentiments of the Court's signatories are well known: they universally condemn the Occupation as a crime against humanity. But the Court has never allowed the Brief to proceed for the obvious reason: fear of its one and only Enforcer, the US, who will find if increasingly difficult to use its veto to shield Israel from its enemies at the UN. Europe. especially, is vulnerable here, both because the International Court is a product of EU values, and the danger of pro-Palestinian sympathy in the street. Moreover, for the Brief to proceed, Hamas needs to split the Jewish Left from the BLM/Critical Theory/Social Justice Left. This has already happened beyond expectation in Timers Square and major Universities. The reluctant and muted Wokewurst response from Europe and Universities is telling. The dissembling reaction of the Squad beyond belief. Because everyone knows how they would react away from the ballot box.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US28m ago
The "Realpolitik humane war" views expressed here would have been abhorrent within Leftwing circles as recent as ten year ago, because they had been rendered obsolete by EU "kingdom of god" (small cap) values which seasoned Travelers proffered as a blueprint for universal perpetual peace. Ukraine was a wakeup call, and the EU is forced to embrace cluster bombs condemned in its charter. "Never," said General LeMay, "use war and morality in the same sentence." The EU template was only possible under the umbrella of the world's hegemon. With the rise of the Global South, all bets are off. The proliferation of small wars will eventually merge into large ones. What lies on the horizon: "wars and rumors of war." In case you missed it, the repudiation of that bleak vision was the intent of End of History--and the EU. And there is no competing vision.
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(they sat on this 8 hours--one comment sees coded language in it)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USOct. 14
The US is funding, not Ukrainian strategy, but its hopeless delusion that somehow the West will be forced to enter the fray on moral grounds. Ukraine cannot accept the reality that it has lost the crown jewels of its country: the industrial/fertile heartland and Black Sea access. Barring a miracle, Ukraine will have to accept a truncated country. And this will happen sooner than later, as Time and politics are fast outrunning the war. Hamas now did Putin a favor by forcing Europe to deal with its domestic problems. The economic hardship brought on by tethering to US foreign policy regards China has already created extreme political tension in Europe. Bringing the Middle East conflict into the street makes the unending Ukraine problem seem small by comparison, pitting anti-Semitic watchdogs against BLM and Critical Theory. The EU will increasingly have larger fish to fry, especially if Iran can expand the conflict to force millions more to seek refuge in Europe. Meanwhile, Gaza adds another hopeless prong to Biden's overtaxed foreign policy meanderings, and he finds himself in the thick of two hot wars with little public support. That, and both wars are carbon heavy nightmares which could drive inflation to $200 a barrel. It's as if the world is holding its breath waiting for the next shoe to drop. "Hiobsbotschaften" the Germans call it: the messengers of Job going from bad to worse.
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Fredegunde commented October 14
FFredegunde
PittsburghOct. 14
@Shoffmensch The number of people who await a dictatorship in this country never ceases to amaze--and that is what you are proposing, however prettily you try to disguise it as realpolitik. Yes, yes, it's all about survival, and if that survival comes at the cost of freedom and democracy, well, what's one to do? Right?
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
The political earthquake Friedman describes here is the mental shift from the Secular-Zionist-Utopian vision to the Armageddonist Ultra-Settler-Evangelical one. The former is the gradual Hegelian ever-brighter synthesis that undergirds the Left, while the latter sees nothing but "wars and rumors of war" as "men wax worse and worse" leading up to an abrupt Divine and final intervention. But if Hamas torpedoed the Saudi pact, Israel's iron fist means that it has already lurched dramatically to the Right, for the monopoly of violence is the DNA of Rightward statecraft. If the Israeli Left was dead before the crisis, what is it now? Moreover, Hamas livestreamed the attacks to split the Jewish Left from the Black Lives Matter Left in the West. Because consistency would demand that the Goliath vs. Gaza struggle be seen within the context of wokeness and Critical Theory. And with the rise of the Global South as the US retreats, the US will find it much harder to use its veto to shield Israel from UN dictates and the International Court. Which means that victory in Gaza will shift global attention to the "legal" can of worms in the West Bank where Israel cannot win. The impact of the war will impact most severely against Israel in the court of world opinion: European Capitals, Harvard, Times Square, Stanford. Israel could not survive the status of a global pariah. This is what Iran/Hamas are counting on.
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(this went through instantly)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
Religion is a zero-sum game, and the Temple Mount is "one of a kind" real-estate. It was the main sticking point in Arafat's refusal, because never at any time did Israel put it on the table. Israel offered the Old City, and custodianship, but not sovereignty, over Islam's third most holy site. No Muslim would have agreed to that, and most are willing to accept the current arrangement only as temporary awaiting further development. A deal would have left Islam minus essentially a third of its religion. The Palestinians have a powerful ally on their side: the International Court, because most nations do not recognize West Bank Occupation as legitimate, and the Temple Mount is within the occupied zone. Conversely, no Jew devoted to the Torah could ever agree to relinquish control of the Temple Mount. But any deal would need to be "permanent". and the religious conscience does not allow for "provisional" slight of hand. The Temple Mount cannot be divided, shared, nor relinquished without forsaking religion, and two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, although the Mosque atop the Wall seems to defy the physics here. If Brooks can solve this equation there will be peace. There will be none as long as the Mount is in dispute. Any peace plan will have to begin here, because it remains the elephant in the room.
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Mmbsq
EU13m ago
@Shoffmensch So we have to endure endless human suffering because of some fetish over a building? How absurd!
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John B. commented 13 minutes ago
J
John B.
NY13m ago
@Shoffmensch Frankly l'm sick of hearing about how Muslims cherish their "third holiest site" to the extent that an "infidel" getting close to it kicks off deadly rioting. All of Jerusalem is holy to billions of Christians, but we're content to visit a few churches there to pray. The religious extremism of all too many Muslims is a big factor in the endless violence.
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TTeddi
Oregon3m ago
@Shoffmensch After this attack, there will not be peace any time soon regardless. This is why religion has no place in politics. All of these lives and suffering for a piece of real estate. It would be one thing if they didn't have full access, but that isn't enough. Too bad the building wasn't destroyed centuries ago, and then maybe we wouldn't be here now.
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(Let's see how good Kristoff's nerves are today. This will make them howl)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
Israel could take on the entire Gulf neighborhood and win. But it cannot win the peace, because it is essentially a religious-ethnic auxiliary state of the US, which imposes its pluralistic values and codes as the price of protection. Israel cannot win the peace as long as 20 percent of its citizens hold the status of "forced conversion". Israeli-Arabs are reluctant citizens, and their religion is suspect at best by other Arabs. It goes without saying that most Israelis see them as a fifth column, waiting the right occasion. As a sovereign nation, Israel could use its monopoly of violence on two fronts: 1) Expelling the non-Jewish element from all lands it sees as the land of Israel, and 2) creating a buffer zone (think Soviet missiles in Cuba) like other nations so that it would not be forever subject to civil war (which is what the conflict is). Like the Kaiser's lawyers assured him when asked about the legitimacy of Blitzkrieging through Belgium to seize Paris: "we'll pay reparations afterwards." But under the "rules based global order", the US cannot invade Mexico to wipe out the cartels without committing war crimes. And this is the danger which now presents itself on the eve of Israel's invasion of Gaza. Though both the US and Israel put themselves above the International Court, they covet its approval, and understand the cost of violating the court of public opinion in Times Square and at Harvard where the Court's legitimacy is sacrosanct.
("International Law" is the code of the globalist Utopia. What is it? "Reasonableness". And what is that? It's what Stalin used to decide who lived and not. It's what these frauds would like to impose on a society ruled by themselves--but here it is, 10 hours later).
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US39m ago
Speaking of "Axis" brings to mind the war crimes of the Reich. Does anyone know if what Hamas did amounts to war crimes? If so, I have not heard one mention of arrest warrants from the International Court at the Hague. Ukraine is full of Western forensic experts searching the rubble for potential war crimes. No doubt multiple teams have been dispatched here as well. I heard one mention by a politician of potential violations of "International Law" so far. Professor Tribe of Harvard wants to lay hands on Putin's war chest on war crimes grounds. His arguments here are, no doubt, forthcoming.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US10h ago
Israel's non-existent options demonstrate the calculation of Hamas: any IDF response will immediately shift focus from Hamas to the plight of Palestinians. The incursion into Israel was livestreamed to produce the predictable response from the Left, where consistency puts the crisis within the framework of Black Lives Matter, and anti-Semitic sentiment is never far from the surface. At the root of the crisis is the fact that Israel's fault lines can no longer be covered by the retreating world hegemon: the US. For Israel, within the context of Westernosociety, is the exact parallel of the military camp that was Sparta: at odds with her neighbors and at war with the occupied Helots. Israel is simply the next in line in an era of historic "reckonings", the rare leisure of societies finetuning their orthodoxies. At issue here? Israel is a superficial creation of three factors: 1) a WWII artifact, 2) Western guilt, and 3) Evangelical dogma (the fourth, Saudi oil fields, is now almost non-existent). The problem is that imposing "pluralist" democracy on Israel would destroy it. But to make peace would require giving up the "biblical heartland" which created "the Return" in the first place. Religion is a zero-sum game when geography is in play. And the Temple Mount can neither be divided, shared, nor relinquished.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US4m ago
Friedman is right that Iran/Hamas is trying to pull the IDF into a live-streamed horror trap. The Strip is already overcrowded without belching tanks on the curbs. Rooting out Hamas will leave Gaze in rubble, and ignite the Islamic world. The sympathy and tension in Times Square and Harvard show that the world does not accept a cut and dry interpretation of the facts here. The fact that Friedman felt compelled to delve into the roots and causes of the latest carnage demonstrates this. Any further action by the IDF will only add to Hamas' credibility in the Islamic world and damage Israel further on the International stage (think anti-Semitism). But Friedman's Secular-PA-Saudi compromise is dead on arrival. Because the PA and MBS have as little religious credibility as Israel's Seculars among the devout. The fact is that this is entirely a religious conflict: the Mosque on top of the Wailing Wall. Mainstream Islam is quite willing to accept the status quo as long as its third most holy site remains in the hands of its worshippers. They will never accept a final arrangement where the status quo becomes permanent (Israeli police onsite). Likewise, Settlers and Ultras will not accept a permanent settlement in which they are forever barred from the Mount. Those few acres are the bone of contention, and religion will not allow them to be divided, shared, or relinquished.
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(Here's the childish mentality of the Manhattan smart-set. Woke prattle--
Norah Astorgah
USAOct. 7
If Iran is behind this attack, did Putin also help? How convenient that this would divert assistance from Ukraine. Our government must be steadfast in our support of Ukraine.
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This is the top Recommend of Friedman's column. She says absolutely nothing)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
@Norah Astorgah Putin and Trump II are the collateral winners here. But the immediate threat came from a Saudi-Israeli axis within Biden's term. A protracted war in Israel will fire Trump's Armageddonist base and force the Jewish vote Rightward (there is no Left in Israel). In the aftermath, while Trump will be hard on Iran, MBS cannot be seen as close to Israel while Hamas is fighting on behalf of Islam's third holiest site (this kills the Biden plan). Putin is well aware that the conflict will create trouble in European cities already suffering from war fatigue.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3h ago
@Lgbarron No one doubts that Israel could end its inhouse threat once and for all. If could even fend off its enemies with its nukes. But the US would become its only market, and the International Court would be forced to issue arrest warrants. Seculars would decamp rather than become global pariahs, leaving the axis of Ultras/Settlers/Evangelicals to outwait their fate on the mountaintop. But, you are correct: this thing is ripening into something new.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USOct. 7
@Mike A dreadful point. 20 years ago this would have caused oil to spike instantly. Now the effect will be more gradual as tension increases in the Gulf. Putin refills his war chest, while Europe diverts its peace dividend to buy energy instead of ammo for Ukraine. Inflation increases, the street becomes more restless, and politicians have no choice but to pivot with the times. The nightmare of the incumbent.
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Mike
Republic Of Texas3m ago
@Shoffmensch
Iran has a history of targeting tankers in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf Oman. The spike will come from the reluctance to send tankers into the area and paying higher insurance premiums for those that enter a potential war zone.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US3h ago
Obviously, Iran fears a Saudi-Israeli axis more than the return of Trump, which is why it jumped the gun to derail Biden's deal. About the only real winner here is Trump II, who would unequivocally lead Evangelicals to Armageddon on the side of Israel if need be. The crisis could not have come at a more inopportune time for Biden, who will have to fend off his increasingly restless Left flank, which sees the Palestinian plight within the framework of Black Lives Matter. Moreover, with the Evangelical Right as Israel's last remaining (non-Jewish ) friend, Biden could find himself compelled (as with the Wall) to fight for the Jewish vote by embracing the rhetoric of the Right. In that respect, Hamas unwittingly did Bibi a favor by saving him the task of springing a pre-election crisis to help Trump. Putin benefits in that Republicans now have an excuse to divert unlimited resources to a war which they see as a divine mandate. No one doubts their sincerity of "whatever, and as long as it takes" to confirm their creed.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USOct. 7
None of this matters so long as the Temple Mount lies in contention. No Ultra/Settler/Muslim can relinquish their claim on the Mount without renouncing their religion. Hamas has more credibility on the Arab street than SA/Egypt/PA, and the latter can ill afford the implication that they sold out the Palestinian cause of regaining the third most holy site in Islam in pursuit of mundane interests. As peacekeepers, they would become co-occupiers. And if in Gaza (which Israel does not want to occupy), then why not in the West Bank (which Israel does--the biblical heartlands, for Settlers and Ultras, are almost as sacred as the Mount? These will put pressure on Netanyahu to end the war once and for all, which he cannot do without annexing the West Bank and expelling all Palestinians. Hence, a ceasefire will have to suffice once again. Because the Temple Mount can neither be divided, shared, nor given up. That's the only equation that matters here. Solve it and the conflict ends instantly.
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D
Diana
Texas10h ago
@Shoffmensch Netenyahu has a problem with ultra right orthodox branches of Judaism who no longer take the long historical directive of avoiding the Temple Mount due to fear of trespassing on the Holy of Holies. There are small orthodox branches who insist on visiting the TM and praying there. That wasnt an issue 20 years ago because 99% of Israelis had no desire to visit the mount.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USPending Approval
@RLG
Remember worldly MBS is custodian of two Muslim holy sites. Theocratic Hamas is on a quest to cleanse the third. MBS is walking on eggshells here.
(NY Times alarm over influx of immigrants)
Susan
New York1h ago
I find it cynical and despicable that you continue to blame Abbott and DeSantis for exposing the NIMBY mentality of Democrats.
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Shoffmensch commented 1 hour ago
SShoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US1h ago
@Susan Or Biden blaming Republicans for forcing him to finish Trump's Wall against his will while stating that "it wouldn't work". No wonder voters are confused.
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(they're blocking this one. The one above went through instantly--2 hours later it went)
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US13m ago
"As despicable as this ploy was, it worked" That's like saying "crime pays" or "violence works". And there's the problem in a nutshell. The Left could make hay with immigration as long as it remained a Red State problem. Now that it threatens Democratic redoubts and makes Democrats sound like Republicans (Biden's Finish the Wall), it stands to become kingmaker going into 2024. Democrats' Open Borders doctrine during the Trump years is now up in smoke along with "Let's give Socialism a chance" which is now going the way of Europe's Welfare State previously underwritten by the Peace Dividend. Republicans have no intention of solving the problem as long as "the ploy works". Because, as the anti-immigrant party, they could remove all restraints at the border and blame the Democrats. Moreover, they know that Democrat bout face will create a crisis with its extreme Left. And now with Democrats sounding like Republicans on the most pressing crisis in modern times, voters are left to wonder, "why not settle for the genuine article". Immigration is now the Democrats' problem. As such, for the firebrands in Congress, there cannot not be enough of it. There is no such a thing as "a despicable ploy" in power politics.
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Edward Blau
Wisconsin2h ago
MAGA xenophobia, stoked by Trump has paralyzed the Republican establishment and now has even frightened Old Joe. The proposals in this editorial are rational and absolutely necessary but will not be enacted until Blue cities are overwhelmed with immigrants.
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Shoffmensch commented 8 minutes ago
S
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US8m ago
@Edward Blau "until Blue cities are overwhelmed with immigrants"
At which point, MAGA thinks, they will vote Red. Knavish business.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US7h ago
"Quickly, David Brooks, the good news." Lots of nuts and bolts here, and you can build a contraption out of salvage to be sure, but one does not brave the tumultuous sea in a creaking bark. "For want of a nail the shoe was lost..." Lacking? Oxygen. Brookings ends with a hopeful gasp. That will not do for the restless plebs in an increasingly perilous world. Oxygen (good and bad) is the nectar of the mob, and Trump has it. He's out there, getting clicks, and that suffices in the age of the Influencer where all "views" are equal.
Got through in seconds by pulling the wool over their eyes. The last month, no matter what I wrote, it had to be vetted at the very top. Today my wool tactic goes through instantly.
Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USOct. 5
But 210 moderate Republicans were brave enough to try to save the Speaker from the machinations of 206 Democrats and their 8 Republican accomplices. 7 brave Democrat willing to put politics and self-interest aside is all that it would have taken to calm the nation's troubled waters. Instead, we were left with pure power politics in its rawest form.
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Y
Yorick
KronburgOct. 5
@Shoffmensch There were no machinations coming from the Democrats. This entire debacle is entirely the responsibility of the Republican party – the majority party.
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Michael
Los Angeles, CAOct. 5
@Shoffmensch nothing “pure” about these power politics, the entire body has been tainted by the deal the former speaker made with the devil. If McCarthy hadn’t set himself up in January for this debacle, I might see your point. You cannot dismiss the key factor in the vote on Tuesday: Democrats are not the ones in power. There was nothing to be gained by keeping him there, the same games would be played as the November deadline approaches, and being that he only gave HIS WORD that Ukraine and a full year’s appropriation deal would be made, there was far from any sure bet with him. We are talking about Kevin McCarthy, remember? Dems have the same odds with Scalise and Jordan, and at least there’s an opening for someone more willing to consider bipartisanship. Let’s see what the next guy/gal does, couldn’t be any worse.
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J
Jenny C
VirginiaOct. 6
@Shoffmensch Why didn't Kevin McCarthy try to work out a deal with Hakeem Jeffries? This is not about bravery. It is about what politics is always about: dealmaking and compromise. The Republicans have allowed the MAGA wing of their party too much power, then they wanted the Democrats to save them all the while trashing Dems on TV and reneging on the debt ceiling deal they made with President Biden. Michelle Goldberg is right. "Moderate" Republicans: put your politics and self-interest aside, build a working coalition with Democrats and help calm the nation's troubled waters.
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Leonard
Chicago4h ago
@Shoffmensch, he didn't want their votes.
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Bret
MI4h ago
@Shoffmensch I think the Dems are finally tired of being spit on by the GOP. McCarthy reneged on a deal with Biden back in May. McCarthy could have put some money for Ukraine in the budget. Who can blame the Dems for finally saying enough is enough? I certainly don't. I'm hoping that there is some wheeling and dealing going on between the Dems and some of the more moderate GOP to nominate someone. The best way to accomplish that is quietly with the rest of the GOP and the media ignorant of the plan until it's sprung.
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Brad Blumenstock commented 4 hours ago
B
Brad Blumenstock
St. Louis4h ago
@Shoffmensch Respectfully, you've gotten it exactly backwards. 210 cowardly Republicans were unwilling to tell the extremists (and their hero, our disgraced former President) where to head in. Those 210 Republicans could have cut a deal with (actual) moderates in the Democratic Party to address some of the real problems facing this country. They chose instead to put their heads in the sand. Pathetic.
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Apple Jam commented 4 hours ago
A
Apple Jam
OR4h ago
@Shoffmensch it is asinine to blame the democrats for not saving a man who CANNOT be trusted!! How do the democrats get blamed for everything that this dysfunctional Republican controlled house does?! Blame the nihilists who want to burn government to the ground. Hint: it’s the Republicans.
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J
JR
Seattle1h ago
@Shoffmensch Where was Pelosi? Oh yeah, getting to a funeral 4 days early.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US13m ago
@Edward Hale The problem though is that the war is political poison. No Democrat is trying to make political hay with it, and Republicans are increasingly using opposition to it to fire their base. In normal circumstances, antiwar Republicans could be renounced as traitors. Instead, they openly flaunt their opposition as the moral highroad, while Democrats have been remained largely silent.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US20m ago
No matter how you spin this, the fact is that the average American has no enthusiasm for the war, to which they see no end, no possible outcome which will change the reality on the ground, and no return for their countless $billions. Most understand the "fight to the last man" mentality of those who cannot bear the thought of giving up after seeing their country reduced to ruins. The fact remains that Putin cannot be made to relinquish his gains without US troops on the ground. Moreover, to secure a truncated Ukraine will require a heavy US presence to safeguard investment for rebuilding. Republicans will balk. But without such guarantees on their investment, the EU will not open its coffers to rebuild Ukraine. Which means that Ukraine has little hope of joining the EU/NATO. Because the EU will not commit without the NATO umbrella. But Ukraine is forced to slug it out because there is no plausible path to end the nightmare, which has already taken a heavy toll on Europe. And time is outrunning the politics.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US6h ago
Several days ago 208 Democrats were forced against their will to join 8 Republicans to bring the Government to a standstill. Now the President claims that Republicans are forcing him to "Finish Trump's Wall" against his will, because, he needs to spend appropriated money, needlessly, he says, "because the Wall doesn't work". So what happens if he does not spend the money on Trump's wall? Because Republicans are not trying to impeach him for breaking the law in not doing so? But now, he tells us, he has not choice but to finish Trump's wall because he is forced to spend the money to finish the boondoggle.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, USJust now
@Minnoka You cannot have globalism without free trade. To save union jobs would require monstrous tariffs, which means throwing up walls, which means end of dialogue--and the predictable consequences. Walmart would be a casualty. China is doing to corporations what Amazon did to Mom&Pops and Industrial Farms do to the old homestead. And there is no Global Trust Buster. China is simply the tip of the pyramid of the mother of all Ponzi scams to buy up the globe. The worker is not not innocent here because at the end his high paying union work day, he schlepps off to fill his SUV with cheap Walmart gadgets.
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Shoffmensch
Afdeestupple, US35m ago
"plus a paid day off each workweek"
Nice "non-work" if you can get it. The next stage will be to unionize non-workers with Universal Guaranteed Incomes. After all, if robots do all the work, we'll still need our chickens in every pot. Perhaps the "39 technicians who maintain the robots" could be inmates persuaded to fill these posts while the rest of us try to find ways to spend our paychecks. Although US cars will now cost $350,000 instead of $35,000 for a state of the art Chinese. I was especially intrigued by the "plus" which did not seem to give the writer pause.
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Complete ban at the NY Times. Must have been the "Pride marches in Red Square" that sent them through the roof. Friedman went back in and removed my Comment on his Utopian Religion. These people live in their own little world, and when confronted with the facts, they hitch up their skirts and jump on a chair shrieking. I'll see if I can get back in through the cracks. My computer runs on a Hotspot, which changes locations constantly, making it harder to identify.
(this is what happens if you study history, literature, languages (the humanities) at Universities. Your essays will come back marked up with red ink, and you'll soon wonder if you're not from Mars. They sense I'm cutting close to the bone here, and they're getting too many flags from their readers who panic when they read off script. The Left are like Evangelicals. Once you get them away from their canned arguments and narrow minded focus they feel threatened and resort to clichés: conspiracies, fake news, misinformation, heresies, etc. The screeching is such they went back and removed my comments from days ago)
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
So he's not calling for Socialism to "be untried" then, but wants to impose his creed on other (non-Socialist) cities. But much of NY City is vacant asset parking (read money laundering by kleptocrats and despots). And the mayor has the right of Eminent Domain. Let him give the boot to these absent landlords. But his chief instrument is the Democrats' tour de force: higher taxes, and if need be, still higher. Because, I have heard nothing about higher taxes from the mayor. But to "suspend" (read "untry") one's religion when it begins to bite the pocketbook savors too much of the fair-weather worship of unrighteous Mammon. But let the business be tried to the end, even if you have to occupy (or house) Wall Street.
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
When's the last time anyone heard anything original from Europe? What little freedom they had under Cold War US occupation, they have now mortgaged by calling in the mercenary US to fend off Putin. The war and high energy cost them both the Peace Dividend and their industrial economies. They have lost the right of initiative and freedom of action as their chief mandate now is to fill the cracks of NATO, much like the dispensable auxiliaries which clung to Roman legions. Caldwell could have sharpened his bully theme by pointing to the anomaly that the High Sheriff of the "rules based order" is an Outernational enforcing International Law and serving as unofficial bailiff of that other fraud, the International Court. If the US seizes foreign assets it does so by Might, not by Right, in that it exempts itself from the moral dictates of the International Court which it uses to serve its own ends. Other nations may well continue to put their commerce at the mercy of US's good intentions, but moral slight of hand, like the dilution of currency, awaits a reckoning. NATO's war on Germany, for instance, will resurrect the "German problem".
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
So 8 Republicans are "extremists" for joining 208 Democrats in ousting the Speaker? Or were the 208 also "at the mercy" of the 8? It must be the new woke math.
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
Let me see if I understand the math here. 208 Democrats put politics and self-interest ahead of the "public's business" by voting to bring down the Speaker, while 210 Republicans voted to preserve "the public business". Not one Democrat put politics and self-interest aside to uphold "the public's business". And the NY Times blames the 8 politicians who helped 208 Democrats bring "the public's business" into disarray? Or am I spinning "fake" math here?
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
"Extremists"????!! "Few"????!! These are Trumpites, and the polls show them in numbers sufficient to put Trump ahead of Biden. Which means, they are a majority. If this were not so, RINOS would not have caved to their threats. Conversely, let the Squad try to pull this stunt and see how far they get. The Trump radicals "did" because they "could". The Squad "would" if it "could". That's the math, and that's the grammar. In power politics you do what you have to do: so Bismarck and Machiavelli. Trump II would rule by decree if he could. But the propaganda does not (yet) exist to make this even remotely possible. He too, to quote the Centurion, is "a man under authority". He is cunning enough to know that his handlers have their own agenda. But NY Times anger is little more than elitist impatience with the untidiness of the democratic process. "Elections," as the Rightwing say in Israel, "have consequences." And you cannot switch ballot boxes in the middle of the race. Rest assured, the radicals who will shut down the Government have their eye on the ballot box. They're know they're throwing red meat at the howling mob. And the mob (as in Israel) demand the spoils of the contest (or more bluntly, the Culture War). Read your Machiavelli with Clausewitz in hand and all will become perfectly clear.
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
In other words, "give peace a chance" is about to go the way of the Nordic Welfare Model now that Putin is siphoning off the Peace Dividend and Europe decided that industrial scale trench Warfare is the better part of "EU values" until the world becomes safe enough to try Socialism once again. It's noteworthy that the writer does not mention the crisis in NY City as part of the "extreme fringe" element that has Democrats crying for a lifeline. I assume Target shares will jump dramatically upon news that Sanctuary Cities stand to become safe again for gainful trade. It's ironic that Democrats, having unleashed hundreds of $billions to restore "a rules based" Globalist Order in foreign countries, are now essentially calling for a "special operation" to make their cities safe enough so that Socialism can be tried anew. In other words, if you want to practice Socialism, vote Republican.
(This was up for a day in Friedman's column. They now removed it)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US40m ago
So the four horse of the looming Apocalypse are motived by self-interest. Which leaves Biden, Supreme Court judges, and Senate members who hang on, well--as we read of Bibi--because they have made themselves indispensable (most Democrats want Biden gone after his term, because they think his frailty puts the world in danger). That was not the plan. So now Democrats have to settle for Plan B (Biden), if I may use that for Friedman's despair of aborted history. Let me guess at his now defunct Plan A: the linear upward lift of Hegel that was to birth Kant's Perpetual Peace in End of History. Which "was" the utopian delusion that "EU values" will carry all before it and make war obsolete. Then Putin reached up and snapped Hegel's line and brought the world crashing down to where it left off after the suicidal carnage that forced Europe to imagine the EU in the first place. So we're back to the Greek wheel of inescapable and tragic history. War is back as the chief instrument of statecraft. This is Friedman's despair. The New Age did not come, but the End looks terrifyingly near.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
This is after all the era of "special operations": India, Azerbaijan, Bibi--with China biding its time. Obama had no problem lobbing missiles at Pakistan when American interests were on the line, but the Left is too woke to allow such barbarism this close to civilization. But the State is never more than the sum total of its monopoly of violence. Woke Harris will have to swear to be ready to annihilate entire civilizations in accordance with American First Strike doctrine. So what's the problem here? Mexico is turning into a Cartel, and the cartels are menacing the US. And as the US has no designs on Mexica, the affair would easily pass muster as a "special operation", which, according to Putin, gives it UN legitimacy.
(Krugman bold enough to say what I said yesterday--that Republicans want Putin to win)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
'Whatever Republican hard-liners may say, they want Putin to win." Given the stakes here--"freedom and democracy on the line"--isn't this treason? But let's cut to the chase. Why do Republicans want to see NATO suffer a catastrophic humiliation? Because they see NATO as being hijacked to advance "EU values", the root and cause of the Culture War, the civil war within the West. They see Democrats and the EU as greater enemies of moral freedom than Putin. They see Putin as standing up for family, tradition, and morality, and the war as little more than the EU's attempt to bring Pride marches to Red Square. Moreover, they know that the ordinary person had to jump on the elitist cancelling wagon at a time of heightened woke hysteria. The backlash of this hypocrisy is what Republicans will now use to make political hay against Biden. The resulting anti-American backlash following this ruinous boondoggle will make it the most catastrophic foreign policy blunder in modern times. The Republicans are simply ahead of the curve here.
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G
Grabski
Morris County, NJ2h ago
@shreir Actually, we are against an Empire which has us locked into forever wars. It was red states which provided the cannon fodder No longer Pretty simple to understand
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Audrey commented 7 minutes ago
A
Audrey
Toledo, OH7m ago
@shreir Actually, the Republicans are NOT ahead of any trend here. They are simply aping the position of right-wing European populist movements. About 7 years ago, I met the head of an international NGO, who had done extensive work in Eastern Europe. I told him that I was concerned at the level of anti-Semitism I had encountered among recent Polish emigres in the US, and asked him if that reflected popular belief in Poland. His response was: “Here is the joke going around Poland today. There are only three things wrong with Poland – Jews, Freemasons and Brussels!” Today’s MAGA-citizens effectively use that same old saw in referring to America, but they change the names of the religion, the fraternal organization and the international association to those which THEY despise. So they are followers, not leaders here.
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(they made sure to get the anxious types into the safe room before they could release this. You know they know the jig's up when they let this through)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US4h ago
This is the true sentiment of the Street, which is why Republicans brazenly pulled the plug on the war. It was never more than a globalist pile-on to cancel Putin in a time of heightened Woke hysteria. The hypocritical mask is now coming off and NATO is about to suffer a catastrophic humiliation. Most Germans agree with Kissinger that the war is the result of Bush-Con arrogance and NATO aggression to encircle Russia. Europe will now witness anti-Americanism the like of which it has never seen. EU economies are in ruins--needlessly, they think. For Germans have never feared Russians, and Russians have never harbored grudges for all the wrongs suffered from Germany. In the end, they say, "Russians always beat Prussians." Moreover, modern Russia welcomes German economic Drang Nach Osten". Instead, having being forced into both the EU and NATO, Germany is now being punished by giving up the abundant resources which Russia puts at its disposal. In the end, this is a NATO war against Germany to keep it from getting too close to Russia. Germans sense this, and when the sentiment ruptures into the open, the political toll will once again open the Pandora's Box of the "German problem".
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L
Lemur
Somewhere2h ago
@shreir - "In the end, this is a NATO war against Germany to keep it from getting too close to Russia." Bingo. More opportunities for US energy companies to make money off the Europeans by shutting out Russia.
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(the "pending" means "this is too far off the Reservation"--but there 14 hours later--it just went through--again, that high pitch shrieking is not the wind. They let it through just as they removed the article so few people would see it)
shreir
Shamblesheep, USOct. 2
The Left needs to get its head out of the sand. The fact that Republicans just voted to defund Ukraine is proof that they do no want Ukraine to win the war. Imagine that: the US is fighting a proxy war that could easily turn in WW3, and Republicans are doing their best to help Putin win the war. In earlier days they would have been arrested for treason. That was before the Culture War, which is a civil war within the West. Republicans see Democrats a greater danger to moral freedom than Putin. Note the word "moral". They see the exact opposite in "EU values" which is what the war is all about. Republicans shudder at the thought of Pride flags in Red Square. Any conservative Republican will state that outright. If that's propaganda, Putin is a fool to waste his money. Evangelicals were here long before he was.
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Friendly Friend commented 6 hours ago
F
Friendly Friend
Oceania6h ago
@shreir War dissenters should be arrested for treason? Seriously?! Is this what the Democratic Party has come to? [Personally, I came for the universal healthcare and reproductive freedom, but all I got was neoMcCarthyism and global thermonuclear war.]
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Henry commented 43 minutes ago
H
Henry
Oklahoma43m ago
@shreir maybe we shouldn't involve ourself in a conflict that has nothing to do with us
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Shamblesheep
USPending Approval
Cohen getting the cheerleading squad ready to sing the inevitable requiem. The war was never more than the romantic delusion that the US would be forced to intervene on moral grounds. But Republicans do not share the EU notion of "freedom". They have long distrusted NATO, and see the war (with Orban/Putin) as a desperate attempt to salvage what remains of an elitist Utopia, in which "EU values" will confirm End of History man in perpetual peace forever. But Time and politics are outrunning the war. Republicans want Russia to win because they see the war as the latest front of the Culture War (think Pride Marches in Red Square). And Biden has little to show for his $billions. Ukraine did not even attempt the "winner take all" assault with carnage worthy of history nooks and names for submarines. "Inch war" is the jargon of the meatgrinder, and politics is the religion of expediency (thing epic battles with 70,000 casualties). But time is running out, Europe is forced to rob its Peace Dividend, and Republicans have already pulled the plug. And worse, the political chaos leaves ample room for Putin to hatch pre-election nightmares to draw attention to hapless Harris in an increasingly dangerous world.
(French knows this would make his column a must read. He's too scared to let it through--but there--four hours later--it just went. That was the high-pitched shriek you thought was the wind. They need to bring the downvote back. This would sink like a stone)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US3h ago
One hand clapping to the choir. It may have occurred to French that there is a counter-animus which fuels the emotional depth on the Right globally. It's the reason the global Right wants Russia to prevail over NATO which they see as being hi-jacked by the EU to promote "EU values", which Orban/Putin claim, will not stop until it sees Pride Marches in Red Square. The radicals in Congress cannot be extreme enough for this crowd. Why? Because the religion of (big S) Secular statism has become so imbedded in American institutions that it will require burning the entire house to the ground to save the ancient Republic. These are the agrarian instincts of the Old Republic which sees "the Land" as the bedrock of the ancient myths and rituals. They need only the barren land to start over (they know that coastal elites have their power from "the cities"). But back to the mob mentality that serves as a catalyst to provide a global front that needs no creed or structural justification. Think the Pride flag which has become the symbol of globalist "freedom" (which is why Ukraine's "freedom" does not resonate on the Right). It does what the red flag does to an enraged bull.
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(they'll never let this through)
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
The death penalty by sniper for poor 18-ear old's marched to their deaths at the point of a gun. Would the Left drop its objection to the death penalty for murderers if the US used a squad of assault rifles (with bulletproof glass on the viewing room) instead of the medical (overseen by the Surgeon General no less) cocktail? For what kid doesn't want to be an elite Seal with an assault rifle (the pic is a gun manufacturer advertising bonanza). Perhaps the Times could have added a picture of Russian mothers watching Red Square parades clutching their dead sons' funeral flags.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US9m ago
I still have my International Brotherhood of Laborers card from Alaskan rough and tumble days. But unless Kristoff can convince Americans to fork over $100 instead of $10 for a coffee maker at Walmart, those days are gone for good. Take the housing industry, the greater part of which is fueled by immigrant labor. "A Skillsaw in a pickup truck" is how lumber yards smirk at local contractors who throw up cheap houses. The rest of their tools are all China made, which is the only way these fly-by-night entrepreneurs get to enter the game. They sub-out back breaking cement work to other contractors who know where to find cheap labor without the paperwork. A union house would cost you triple. And the Golden Age of unions is largely an accident of the Wars: the spoils of the victor who gets to bestride the world and markets. Again, the culprit is that $10 coffee maker which just brewed my very fine cup of coffee. How does Kristoff expect me to read the Times without my tasty brew, which, I understand, comes with a propitiative draft on wages?
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US21m ago
This is a faux victory: no more than the shaking down of a woke insurance company to preempt a boycott. The lawsuit would not have gotten within ten miles of the Supreme Court without a complete makeover of the 2nd Amendment. Tobacco is not the DNA of the State. Violence is. And any State has a vested interest in preparing the psyche of the upcoming cannon fodder. Which is why the military puts its hardware at the disposal of Hollywood free of charge--as long as the Pentagon gets to edit the script as recruitment propaganda. In another world, the Surgeon General would regulate the military as a serious health concern (Colin Powell called it a blood machine). These lawsuits thus intrude on the Industrial Military Complex, which is the monopoly of violence, which is the sole purpose of the State. Disarming the cannon fodder only works where the State is completely militarized: China. Without Hollywood propaganda the US would have to restate the Draft. For what is Rambo without his assault rifle.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
A brilliant move by the firebrands to flush out the last of the closet RHINO's, and signal their allegiance to Trump II, where they hope to resurrect as cabinet members. Republicans may well take the blame. Trump will not. And he gets to thrash around amidst the chaos, while frail Biden is made to weather another blow. When Caesar's lieutenant barged into the Senate to deliver his demands, a horrified Senator cried out, "By what right"? "By this," he replied, clapping his sword. It will be Trump shutting down the government.
shreir
Shamblesheep, USSept. 29
By this new measure, mothers who lost sons on the battlefield will be able to sue the Pentagon for luring high school students to a gruesome death on the battlefield by dangling "careers and adventure" to starry-eyed high school students without so much as a mention of the reality of the word's most savage profession. And why would mothers whose children are blown to pieces by unexploded cluster bombs which both the US Government and the manufacturer say have a 20% dud rate not be allowed to sue at the International Court under International Law?
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Ryan Bingham commented 9 hours ago
R
Ryan Bingham
GA9h ago
@shreir, Look at the exceptions on your insurance policies for guidance.
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MMJB
Brooklyn8h ago
@shreir Do people who answer with these hypotheticals ever bother to ask why, in fact, the lawsuits they imagine as so outlandish may or may not actually happen? Or do they just strike what-aboutists as absurd and that's all they need to know. There is, in fact, an entire body of lawsuits regarding what is and isn't legal behavior when it comes to recruiting people for the military. Why does that seem so unimaginable? And mothers of children killed by cluster bombs can't really sue the US because we never signed the international accord forbidding their manufacture, sale, or use. So there's no law or agreement we'd be violating. I guess, theoretically, somebody could try, but we pulled out of most international courts as well, so good luck to those poor moms. This is easily available knowledge: we don't have to pretend it exists in Sillyland beyond the pale of all reasonable imagining.
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JJay
Mercer Island7h ago
@shreir One still has to volunteer to be in the military. No one I’ve heard of ever volunteered to become a victim of a mass shooting.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
All besides the point. Both parties are dug in and determined to protect the most extreme interpretation of their rights in the legal writ. Case in point: The rambling nature of the 2nd Amendment makes it either obsolete (absent militias) or a militant's dream. But its rhetorical power against Congress is the stuff of firebrands. So now you can hardly turn around in Texas without poking yourself with a gun. Which leaves public sentiment, which, through propaganda, allows for huge swings in creative reinterpretation of ancient texts. For the Court is the world's largest wind van. They know the mood of the mob from the ballot box.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US8h ago
Nothing so glorifies the Nazi era as Hollywood. The long-hooded cars, impeccably dressed arrogant generals, military dispatch--all project power, fashion, and (in an age of doubt) supreme confidence. Then there's the unresolved pathology which caused Germany to fight to the last man. This went underground and there fermented into Lost Cause mysticism. The average German was not an SS fanatic. But he could easily be turned into one. Hollywood fascination with the photogenic Wehrmacht demonstrates this aspect of the Nazi mystique. It's of a piece with larger Greece's fascination with the Spartan regime which made them shudder: part admiration, part horror. Movie-ready Nazis do not look like monsters, but rather like dashing heroic figures whose exploits puts them on the level of the Roman Legions. This is the rarest of oxygen. France still honors Napoleon, a mass murderer by any measure.
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Stephanie Wood commented 6 hours ago
SStephanie Wood
Bloomfield NJ6h ago
I heard that when Werner Klemperer (whose famous family fled the Nazis) agreed to play Col. Klink, he did it on condition that Klink would never, ever win. The joke would always be on him. His cousin Victor stayed behind and survived, and wrote the greatest war diary. And remember Helmut Dantine as the wounded German soldier in Mrs. Miniver? Dantine was, ironically, nearly a victim of the Nazis, and I think they killed members of his family. And of course there was Werner Goldberg, whose photo was used as the image of the perfect German soldier, but, like so many persecuted Germans who played Nazis, his roots were also Jewish.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US6m ago
Nothing here but "ifs", "buts", and "maybes". The writer grasps at straws because he feels compelled to sing to the choir. The war is lost because it was never more than the delusion that the West would be be forced to intervene on moral grounds. Republicans who will now hamstring war funding see nothing of interest here. They see the war as the latest front in the Culture War to advance EU (globalist) agendas. Bluntly, they (and Orban) want Russia to win. As does the rising Right in Europe. Then there is the sheer futility of funding endless slaughter which everyone knows is forever war--as long as Democrats fund the hopeless boondoggle. Ukraine is being cut to pieces, the sanctions have not worked, and Putin's war chest is being replenished by high energy prices. What does Ukraine have to look forward to? The day to day meatgrinder with little to show for its losses. The collapse of moral is inevitable. On the other hand, Russia compensates for its losses with imperial size gains, and the humiliation of NATO. Look for the mother all parades where Putin will take his bows in Red Square. Immense sacrifice, but look at the size and quality of the new assets. Then there is the uneasy silence of Europe. They know the war is lost, and they're ready to cut their losses by dealing with Putin. And the fake warrant, reparations, war crime tribunals? As Friedman says, the crisis calls for "dirty dealing." To paraphrase General LeMay: the only war crime is losing.
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
@Realist The incendiaries are deep within (where they have been hiding since the war). And now they're being funded by Putin with Orban as chief arsonist. And with Germany now dragged kicking and screaming into Ukraine as an American vassal, they sense opportunity in rudderless Europe. An iron fist will only make things worse.
(A smug Canadian preaching to Americans on hate speech)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US3m ago
@Welcome Canada
But India just assassinated a Canadian for preaching violence against it in Canada unopposed.
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(this must be bad--they sat on it for 7 hours)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US4m ago
The undealt-with social issues of conquered Germany have been stewing unground since the war. Germany's mono-Politick made no provision to vent the frustrations of this social underworld, since even "moderates" had to prove their distance from the Reich. With no representation, this elements was left to create its own reality on myths, conspiracies, and genuine grievances. Germany's "my way or the highway" approach to sanitize the past created the thin veneer of hypocrisy that hides the awful truth: that Germany was not hijacked. Its armies fought to the last man because they embraced the vision of the Reich fully. The suppression of this pathology is now rupturing into the public square. German's iron fist will only make it worse.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US4m ago
"the only shot"? If you make a seven headed hydra out of the lot. People would vote for the spectacle. What a circus!
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
The "non-Trump" show. When will the NY Times cease trying to stir up oxygen with these minnows with the Great White circling half a world away. Reminds me of the football game where cheerleaders outnumber the crowd 10 to 1. Even the concerted effort to not cover Trump ends up being an infomercial on Trump. Not to worry: he will swoop in to debate Biden. A fearful spectacle.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US3h ago
Now put this within the context of the tax-funded bailout of the banks who committed the fraud that brought down the world economy. None of the banksters went to jail. Ordinary Americans see little more than white collar crime in Wall Street/hedge fund fortunes. The question then for Everyman is: why zero in on one person? Which is why you will not see Trump diminished by this latest pile-on. "Great fortunes," the ancients used to say, "bespeak great crimes." Moreover, if what you witnessed in Texas last week is any indication of things to come, state attorneys will now become front line soldiers in the Culture War. Paxton was acquitted because of his willingness to use his position to attack the Federal Government. Super-States like Florida and Texas will soon become no-man's land for Democrat power brokers. And as tax havens for plutocrats, they will have the heft to hamstring the Federal government at every turn. The radicals now shutting down the Government in Congress are of this vintage. They are the tip of the spear of a movement that has long since left the negotiating table for pure scorched-earth power politics. And this will be true even if Trump does not return to the Oval. Europe is already hedging its bets in case he does. The prospect causes them to tremble, for the unthinkable is once again thinkable. The unthinkable for Democrats is: what if this man gets hold of such power.
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Shamblesheep, US2h ago
One might try "defunding" surveillance camera's until the dawn of better days. It's not like Target (the wokest of the woke) can just join Musk in Texas or Florida where its stores are doing brisk business already. On the other hand, they could carry Socialism to the next realm and simply deconstruct the false construct of "property". My cat is constantly helping himself to the dog's portion (sight unseen), but I don't accuse the rascal of stealing. He would probably see Target as hoarding unnecessarily, while he, an intrepid mouser, is getting less than his share. And what makes employees feel unsafe? Are they casting judgmental thought crimes against "takers." or perhaps even referring to outmoded notions the false "store construct"? I note that these are all open border sanctuary cities. Open borders/open stores. What's the difference? Unless you're in MAGAland. But it seems that Target is about to decamp for places where it can exercise its full rights of sovereignty.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US8h ago
Find one item in Walmart that is either American, much less, union made. Legacy auto are the Mom and Pops about to succumb to China's Carmart. Without China, a coffee maker would cost $100 instead of $10 (I don't even bother with the warranty). Throwaway cars are a no brainer in cities where routes are short and slow and where smog (not safety) is a concern. (Cheap) Cars and Circuses will soon be the next vote-getter. China cars will be so cheap you wouldn't even trouble with the warranty. And you can still call yourself a Patriot while shlepping a cart full of China gadgets, the profits from which, as everyone knows, China uses to fill the seas with aircraft carriers. But how do you say "no" to a $10 coffee maker? That's the bottom line here. This will likely be the last auto strike of a vanishing world.
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Jerseytime commented 7 hours ago
JJerseytime
Montclair, NJ7h ago
@shreir Extolling the virtues of cheap foreign garbage is the same as extolling the virtues of a vast, unemployed and underemployed American working class. How much can the income gap grow, or the middle class shrink, before we wake up and realize the US is becoming Sri Lanka?
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RRobert
Dallas7h ago
@shreir Exactly, the fruits of a century of unionization has decimated the American manufacturing sector.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US10h ago
The only thing worse than an invading army, the ancients used to say, is a mercenary one. The US is not primus inter pares here. The rest of NATO are at best what auxiliaries were to a Roman Legion--basically heft. Because economics is the new face of global warfare, the price Europe will now pay to huddle under the US nuclear umbrella is to give the US veto power over economic and tech policy. That and they will be careful to buy armor that plugs into the Pentagon grid. In time, unplugging will become impossible. Biden fears Xi's accountants and tech-bros more than his generals, and China sees German tech as low hanging fruit. That will stop. Germany wants its pipelines to Russia back. Strictly verboten. And so on. And this is the invoice under a very sympathetic Democrat paymaster. Republicans are no friend of the EU (they see it as the root of the Culture War) and could greatly increase their burdens. There will be nothing left for the Welfare state.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US5h ago
@JW The EU is now little more than an American Colony which stands to become Pentagon II in the Baltics. The war ruined their energy-intense economy (which migrated to China) and allows the US to veto its economic policy regards China. Security at the price of freedom. The backlash will be anti-Americanism the like which Europe has not seen before. Germany, for instance, sees the rebuilt Nord Stream pipelines as the only way out of ruinous energy prices.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US7h ago
There goes the Peace Dividend, and the much hyped Nordic Welfare Model. And that's with Democrats in charge. If Trump get in, if he "chastised them with whips" before, they have come to expect the lash of "scorpions" on his return. He will put them to the tribute. Looks like Socialism is about to be "not tried" again.
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Harvey Green commented 2 hours ago
H
Harvey Green
Upstate2h ago
@shreir You grossly underestimate the intelligence and wisdom of the Nordic countries, as does defendant DJ Trump.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US7h ago
"Biden handled and hapless Harris hidden" about sums it up. The latter is the real force multiplier of Biden's age, especially so in an increasingly dangerous world (rest assured, Putin is cooking up pre-election surprises). Biden's age has become the wolf whistle to highlight the real threat going into 2024: hapless Harris. Because Plan B (Harris) makes even Democrats' hair stand on end. And you can't replace Harris, because she's wokeness personified. Get ready for a dramatic increase of Trump Anxiety Syndrome.
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CaitlinFinnegan commented 1 hour ago
CCaitlinFinnegan
USA1h ago
@shreir Good to hear people finally call out their real issue: VP Harris. People have been toptoeing around their real problem and I am glad to have it out in the open so people can decide what they want to do accordingly. Get a young(er) white man on the ticket and get this over with.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USSept. 23
That's like asking Trump to take one for the Republic. Israel is where it is because Bibi is determined to cheat the hangman at all costs. His sponsors, Ultras and Settlers, could care less what the rest of the world thinks: what matters is that they are "God's chosen people"--as they say "you and God make a majority". Consequently, Biden has absolutely nothing to offer either Bibi or his backers for blowing up the results of the election which put them in power. Biden's promise of acceptance "among the Gentiles" flies in the face of everything they see in their Torah/Talmud studies. They are in Israel because they refuse to "become like the Gentiles". "Us against them" is a staple of their existence. But let's get to the heart of the matter. No Ultra or Settler will ever agree to hand over control of the Temple Mount to non-Jews, nor agree to forever cede the Biblical heartlands, Judea/Samaria and the Old City. To do so would be to disobey the Torah. No Muslim could agree to leave the third most holy place in Islam in non-Islamic hands. Palestinians will never agree to a Palestinian state without East Jerusalem (with the Temple Mount) as its Capital. Most people know this, and Bibi sees Biden's plan as all smoke and mirrors. If the point is to get Israel back to the rule of "reasonableness", Biden could have cut a deal with the Seculars to allow Bibi to retire to his estate in Caesarea in peace. That would have been a saner option than arming MBS with Nukes.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
Blame the immigrant: Musk. He singlehandedly made electric vehicles believable. He's also lightyears ahead of the competition, and Wall Street only funds the future. Unions on the other hand are creaking moral programs against ruthless Mammon. They cannot win against hyper-Capitalism. Labor knows this, and they see Biden's efforts as too little too late. Because Biden is trying to put a local bandage on a global and political problem: 1) Global--unions cannot compete against cheap, unregulated, and carbon-heavy China; 2) Political--immigration policy creates the exact antithesis of the artificial constraints of unions to limit the supply of labor. The high-dollar components are easily shipped from abroad, and slapped together by low-skilled labor which immigration provides in unlimited supply. Add to that, China's dominance in market share and you see legacy Auto go the way of the Mom and Pop store. Find anything in Walmart that is US, much less, Union, made. China dominates the Green Market because it, like Putin, weaponizes the West's Climate policies to its advantage. It promises to make the World Green on the back of dirty coal.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US2m ago
A Republican bonanza and Democrat nightmare. Look at the crews of any MAGA farm or construction firm to see hypocrisy write large. MAGA lords cry up the agrarian virtues of the old Republic in the town square, while undermining it by reducing their neighbors to servitude by helping themselves to cheap and abundant foreign labor. Then they turn around and use Government subsidies to buy up every scrap of property left to the hardscrabble plebs who find themselves crowded into cities where they are now forced to compete for housing with the same immigrants. "Are they legal"? you ask MAGAs. "You get sued for asking," they'll tell you. Nice work(force) if you can get it. In sanctuary states, migrants are a union busting wrecking ball: a Trojan horse within Democratic ranks in every way. They are more culturally and religiously Conservative than even Evangelicals, and they are straining Blue State socialism to the breaking point. And all Musk need do to ward of unionization in the South is to flood the North with with an oversupply of cheap labor. The plebs have zero bargaining power as long they can be replaced cheaper. A Capitalist bonanza. Open borders are forcing coastal elites to try their religion, and most of them find their "punishment greater than they can bear." Even Replacement Theory has fallen on hard times as Republicans watch the mixed multitude change Democratic strongholds. They're in no hurry to Finish the Wall. It's their path to the Oval.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
Poor Canada. Always ready to help out and create goodwill, only to be deserted when her allies find the cost of "moral diplomacy" too distracting. Biden has larger fish to fry, and India is the tip of his spear against China. How does the assassination of one Sikh compare with the loss of Taiwan? The UN is silent, and no one expects the International Court to order the arrest of top Indian officials. Laws are like spiderwebs, the ancients said. They entangle the poor and weak, while the rich and strong snap their bands. On the other hand, even if India killed one of its enemies on foreign soil, by what law is that a crime? The US kills its enemies on foreign soil frequently, even if they reside in friendly countries (Pakistan. Of course, the US, not being a signatory of the fraud that is the International Court is by default also not subject to the fiction of International Law). MBS' mistake was in the crudeness of his methods. Modi's lack of stealth too, left Trudeau without plausible deniability to avoid a costly International incident that could rob Canada of coveted India market share. The anger in the State Department is not that India trespassed, but that Canada lacked the prudence to resort to ambiguity to make an impossible situation go away. They seem to have learned a costly lesson from earlier: better not to boast an iron fist, when you know you'll have to fist-bump later.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US6m ago
@Susan C. Don't worry, he knows what he's doing. These are uncharted waters where only the desperate tread. He's playing Russian Roulette with the Constitution against opponents who don't see a future without it. Cheating the hangman is not much of a future, unless it's the only one you have left: an asymmetrical game of chicken
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US14m ago
The Left is being lured into a trap here. The indictments give Trump the tools he needs to turn the System against itself by running it into the Buzzsaw of "technicalities". You can always convict on "a technicality", as every lawyer is taught, but not without sowing the seeds of the Laws destruction. Because the Law is never meant to be more than a guide for the majority, and remedial retribution for those who think to cheat it. It presumes "good faith" and "the benefit of the doubt" in order for it to hold sway over the masses. People know this instinctively, and are careful not to disturb its fragile nature. In this instance, Trump will run the System headfirst into the First Amendment, knowing that doing so will rally the faithful to the standards of the Old Republic. He will simply use the rhetorical power of the express words of the 1st to put his followers on edge: "Congress shall make no law....repeat after me...no law...but now the Democrats have made a law...." Here be monsters.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US9m ago
@Gracey Texas just acquitted a very shady character because in time of (Culture) War, you spring felons on the enemy. Morals are for the Peace. Note the Left's warcry regards Ukraine, which put the final (moral) nail in the coffin of EU Values. You fight fire with fire, the old saying was, because when it's all over, "scorched earth" is still land. That is if you get to possess it. It's the Putin doctrine in Ukraine. Like Einstein said, WW4 will still have to be fought, but "with sticks and stones."
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US53m ago
"See," says Trump, "we're all in the same boat (heh). Politics (to paraphrase Plato) is white collar crime, and you can't outvote crime." So many indictments, who's to say..... "Hold your nose," say Machiavelli and Bismarck. I suspect this will add ten points to Trump's numbers. The dilution of guilt. First Biden's son and now the Senator.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US5h ago
About as effective as blowing the top off Tora Bora, in the US high-tech boondoggle in Afghanistan. The West interpreted the Spring Offensive to mean a major winner-take-all assault like in the old days when wars were won in a single battle yielding 70,000 casualties which generate names for history books and submarines. Instead, Biden's billions are raining down on empty fields by remote (the joysticks could just as well be in Florida). The fact remains. No US boots on the ground, no measurable gains--not even the infamous "bargaining chip". Europe's economy is in ruins, and the politics (and Time) have outrun the war. All else is propaganda.
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Oscar Newman commented 1 hour ago
O
Oscar Newman
Austin, Texas1h ago
@shreir "All else is propaganda." Then to avoid propaganda, I suggest trusting only geolocated imagery-- most of which demonstrates that the russians are slowly, steadily, inexorably getting pushed back.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US6h ago
"hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic" (Marx) Work is little more than the flipside of those other two toxins: the property and money constructs. Remove both and every man will take what he needs from Nature's abundance and go his way content. "I tried it," snorted Doolittle, "it taikes up yur whole dai." He was, as you recall, "The most oouriginal philosopher in all of England."
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D
d
Gil54m ago
@shreir Ever wonder if it is a coincidence that there is an opioid crisis in the regions were people were living off of the land? Get those people out of the land economy and into the machine.
(Stephens sat on this for a whole day before letting it through)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US16m ago
All rubbish. There is no such thing as International Law. Only the ancient right of the conqueror over the conquered. "Had we lost the war," General LeMay crowed, "we would have hanged as war criminals." That was his commentary on the Nazi trials, which were no more than the ancient ritual of making an example of the principals. If there was such a thing as International Law, the world's policeman, the US, would not be allowed to exempt itself from the dictates of that other fiction, the International Court. As it stands, it is no more than a poodle to do the wishes of its paymaster, the US. Otherwise, George Bush would be in the docket for the Iraqi war. And Stephens would not as much as hint that the International Court should proceed against China for its genocide against Uighurs, or that the Court should allow the Palestinian Brief to move forward. It is stuck in limbo because the US (not a signatory) will not allow it to move forward. There will be International Law the day there is an International Ruler. Coincidently, the Global South is already putting forth its own version of International Law, which will of course demand its own (Global South) International Court. And when two Popes hurl anathemas at each other? Then its back to the field "where such suits are tried."
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
@Mark Kropf "the world is (not) at risk". The Global South is rising fast on the back of this messianic boondoggle. China, South America, India, MBS, Netanyahu are making hay here. Canada now wants Global Sheriff US to confront India. "Fist-bumping" is the tool of choice in the charade of International Law.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US10m ago
"The secretary general (UN) can cajole but not command, urge but not enforce" That's like saying Montana's "reasonable and safe" speed signs were laws. Were there is no "enforcement" there is no law. Let Biden try to "enforce" the International Court's arrest warrant for Putin and see what happens. The field of war is the attempt to "enforce" "commands". Law exists only under a monopoly of violence. The ancients called it "Might is Right".
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US5m ago
Big Auto and Big Oil are birds of a feather. If the combustion engine means more high paying jobs, then a Trump win is a no-brainer. Electric vehicles will spawn a "plug-in" economy similar to the Walmart "service economy". The high-tech components will generate a few very well paying jobs, while those who put them together (basically shelf-stockers) will hive around "the Company store". Unionizing "smart cars" is like unionizing smartphones. Moreover, Big Auto knows where to go for cheap labor and deregulation. Welcome to Super-statism. The Federal Government will soon have the status of the UN: "able to cajole, but not enforce".
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
"The Military" (as in "a strong military") used to be a mainstay of Evangelical doctrine, and an unquestionable redoubt of "Christian America". Conservatives now see it as being dismantled and innervated by the Culture War and Democratic statism. As such it falls within the purview of "No Government is Good Government". Welcome to Trumpism. You saw it last week in Texas where a very shady character was acquitted because he's a very effective subversive in the Culture War. It's the equivalent of releasing felons on a conquering army. Firebrands are elected, not to govern, but to do the opposite: to create crises within Government in order to make it self-destruct. These are the ancient Agrarians of history who see "the (bare) Land" as the true face of the Old Republic. First destroy, the thinking is, and then rebuild on the ruins
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USSept. 19
Bibi could care less if he's "out of focus" for some Americans. He knows Evangelicals have his back, and if Trump returns to the Oval, well--"all bets are off". He's in perfect "focus" with Evangelicals, who would see a march on the Temple Mount as the fulfillment of all their religious expectations. Evangelicals are ready to throw every Palestinian (even the Christians)under the bus to make Eschatology come out right. Moreover. there is no Jewish Plan B. There is only one Israel, one Judea and Samaria, and one Temple Mount. The most secular Jew has no choice but to support whatever government exists in Israel, for Jews can no more do without Israel than Catholics without the Vatican. Friedman still dreams of a two state solution, which would mean forever giving up the crown jewels of Israel: the Old City, the Temple Mount, and Judea and Samaria. No Ultra or Settler would ever agree to that, and they are in power. What Friedman wants is a return to the fiction of a " Secular Jewish Democracy". The Seculars have been outvoted, and are now crying that their country is being "stolen" from them. But no one doubts the fairness of the election. It's the results that are unacceptable (for some).
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UpstateNYObserver commented September 19
UUpstateNYObserver
UpstateNYSept. 19
@shreir Evangelicals have his back to help fulfill their interpretations of Biblical prophesies. They want the Jews in Israel for one reason to bring on their destruction, Armageddon and the "end times", they're not exactly friends of Israel.
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Patrick M. commented September 20
Patrick M.
The WorldSept. 20
@shreir "Bibi could care less if he's "out of focus" for some Americans." Do you not mean "could not care less"? They are not the same thing.
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Christopher commented 1 hour ago
CChristopher
Oakland, CA1h ago
@shreir said "Jews can no more do without Israel than Catholics without the Vatican" Hmm. I think both groups could do very well without these institutions. By all means keep the faith! Just allow these corrupt and teetering institutions to fade away.
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Charlotte Banks commented 54 minutes ago
CCharlotte Banks
By the river54m ago
@shreir No Jew has to support a violent, corrupt, unjust government determined to punish the group that was living there first. Israel risks alienating not only nations but the Jewish diaspora. There's only so much ugliness good people will tolerate. Israel (all-powerful Netanyahu) has rapidly shown itself to be a bad actor, utterly ignoring the first-hand lessons of the past. It's too often the case, part of our human folly. There are consequences, even among those inclined to favor a peaceful two state solution -- which Israel resolutely is not.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US5h ago
But put all this in context. The auto-strike is the collateral damage of Biden's war against the combustion engine. Now add China's dominance in electric car production fueled by dirty energy. China, like Putin, is weaponizing Western climate doctrine, and as everyone knows, Xi wouldn't need a huge army if he can buy up global assets with increased market share. The West has come to fear his accountants more than his generals. Putin crippled Germany's high energy sector, and China is now flooding it with cars made with dirty coal.
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A.
NJ4h ago
@shreir Germany inflicted that wound on themselves.
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W.A. Spitzer commented 4 hours ago
WW.A. Spitzer
Faywood, NM4h ago
@shreir .... "The auto-strike is the collateral damage of Biden's war against the combustion engine.".....I think I understand something of what you are trying to say. The short coming is that you have not considered the cost of the alternative. It is not rational to continue down a dead end road just because near term it appears to be the easier path to follow. Leadership is making the right decision for the future even though it might presently may be somewhat more difficult.
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MattZN commented 44 minutes ago
MMattZN
San Francisco42m ago
@shreir The "auto strike" is mostly a function of the stupidity of GM, Ford, and Stellantis not taking EVs seriously for 10 years. VW in Germany is having problems as well. In fact, the issues VW is having are front-and-center the same issues that the big-three are going to have very soon now. Basically, Tesla's build costs have dropped like a rock and Tesla's labor costs, JUST IN MAN-HOURS, are half of that of any other vehicle maker. Half! The legacy automakers really had to start retooling and re-engineering their lines a decade ago. Now it might be too late for them to remain competitive. Even though the automakers have not told the unions this yet (outside of Germany where VW HAS told its line workers), but massive additional automation and man-hours reductions are needed in the auto industry. It is possible to pay fewer workers more. It is not really possible to pay the size of their current workforce more and remain competitive. That is the reality. And I say that as a generally pro-labor guy.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
The writer has yet to awaken to the scorched earth policy of the young Turks. Behind them is the juggernaut (or so they think) of Trump II. Trump thrives on crisis, and these flame-throwers do not fear the chaos of a government shutdown. In fact, they see it as adding to Biden's woes, like impeachment. It's all an infomercial to get to the ultimate prize: the return of Trump. His return will make no difference who controls the House or Senate, and these firebrands can expect to be amply rewarded.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US7m ago
Biden fatigue and Trump oxygen. That's the equation. The Trump indictments are not a weight to be overcome. In fact, their sheer number has diluted his guilt by making them seem like so many petty straws to break the strongman's back. Now all he need do is play to Biden's discontents: inflation, immigration, Hunter, the war--and worse, the very real prospect of hapless Harris in an increasingly dangerous world. The foreign influence (Xi, Putin, Modi, MBS, Netanyahu) on this election will be unprecedented. Count on Putin to spring pre-election surprises with Harris in view.
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(the Censors took forever to let this through. The hissing was so loud they had to remove it. What frauds)
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
What am I missing here? US cluster bombs are killing and de-limbing 18 year old Russians marched to their deaths at the point of a gun by the thousands, and the NY Times scruples about doctor-assisted deaths of people on Death Row for murder? European chemical companies are applauded for withholding drugs used to make legal cocktails, while cluster bombs (criminalized by International Law) are seen as a necessary evil to uphold the International moral order.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
@Pdianek Why not ask the Industrial Military Complex for advice? Isn't that their whole purpose: killing the most the quickest the cheapest? If it's good enough for 18 year olds marched to the Front at the point of a gun, it should do for convicted murderers.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US14m ago
Cuomo is the obvious answer. He would attract all the Independents, and the never-Trumpers. And he's a world-class brawler who would strip Trump of his gallows-humor clickbait. He's not Left enough for the radicals, but they're not going to vote Trump. Which leaves #MeToo. This, too would not be a problem against Trump if the Liberals forsook orthodoxy and do necessary back-room deals. Cuomo would beat Trump.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US3m ago
This is the iPhone coming for cars. The iPhone is more art than industry, and you can't regulate art without putting a damper on creativity. But the elephant here is China. Cheap labor and energy will do to cars what Walmart did to Mom and Pop. And you can't ban Carmart without shutting down Walmart. Most Americans can't wait to buy throwaway cars for next to nothing.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US13m ago
Like trying to unionize industrial farming. The tech bros needed to maintain the algorithms are already well compensated, while any migrant can step in to do the non-tech. You can't unionize Apple. And China is the next Apple. China is already flooding big auction sites with industrial equipment to give Deere and CAT a run for their money, and they'll do to cars what they did to smart phones. Add to ruinous energy prices in Germany while China builds cars with coal, and the math is obvious. President Xi doesn't need an army as long as he has sharp accountants. Carmart is the next Walmart. Look for "Union made" in Walmart.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US4h ago
Another example of moral (good vs. evil) warwashing. "Never," General LeMay said, "use morality and war in the same sentence." The war threatens the 70 year fiction that there is such a thing as International Law overseen by an International Court, under the benign stewardship of the US, which (surprise) exempted itself from its dictates. The war can only be won and Putin arrested if Supreme Sheriff US enters the fray with guns lazing. Friedman knows this. So what's the point of perpetuating endless slaughter in an endless stalemate with no more than--well, evil must not be allowed to win. NATO is being hurled back, the rising Global South will soon have its own International Court serving its one International law, and, like Medieval Popes, hurl anathemas at each other before they enter the court of last resort (war) where such suits are tried.
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B
bill
southwest4h ago
@shreir "Supreme Sheriff US enters the fray with guns (b)lazing." You've watched too many movies especially westerns. The US, with its paper army, can only take on third world countries such as Panama, Grenada, Somalia, Afghanistan, etc and, even then, "Sheriff US" gets whipped in most cases.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US2m ago
1) The US is the war's paymaster. Republicans will pull the plug as soon as it politically safe to do so. Without US funds, the current stalemate will become an untidy armistice which will leave Ukraine what it was before, a buffer zone, minus its industrial/agricultural heartland and Black Sea access, a haven for Wagnerian mafias and Balkan overlords seeding more Orbans into the EU. 2) There is no such thing as "Ukraine's security" without direct NATO intervention, which Biden fears would trigger WW3. And rebuilding Ukraine is pure fiction as long as it remains a war zone. Republicans will never allow Ukraine into NATO, and Germany and France will bar it from the EU. The war is unwinnable without US troops, and time is running out fast. Putin's game of outwaiting the West is working, and the fast rising Global South is using the war to game market share on the back of NATO weakness. Meanwhile, the EU's economy is in ruins, and it's politics are outrunning the war. 3) Biden made Putin's removal a goal of the war. Despots have long memories and their wrath is bottomless. No one doubts that Putin hatching pre-election surprises that will make the war a political nightmare for Biden. 4) Without dramatic political change in Russia, it will never relinquish its gains. So what's the sense of endless slaughter in an endless stalemate? To perpetuate the messianic fiction that there is a "law based International order" overseen by the US?
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(Now Kristoff wants to get back to marriage to solve inequality)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US11m ago
And what exactly is the algorithm of this one hand clapping: "the single mom." Is this a social construct or an immutable function of Nature. It would appear that false constructs being removed, modern society mirrors what you see in Nature, where offspring attach to the mother until weaning time, at which point those who make it take their place in the herd. The notion of Fatherhood doesn't exist in Nature. Why does Kristoff create it in the higher life form? He's arguing for "Fatherhood" here, a notion he finds only among the wealthy. In other words, if you throw enough money you can trump Nature. But if the Fatherhood gets to chose to participate or not, does that not render it artificial? Which, feminist argue, describes the Patriarchy exactly. In the old days, the Patriarchy among the low classes was the function of compulsory religion. Drop religion, and only the rich Patriarchy remains to preserve their privileges for their offspring.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US8m ago
But this was precisely Marx's point: that the bourgeoisie invented the marriage construct to safeguard their privileges, just as they invented religion to keep the poor in line. And with the latter they introduced notions of adultery, morality, chastity, inheritance, and legitimacy to the lower classes while criminalizing salacious gossip about palatial excess. Long live the Revolution. It has yet to be tried.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US29m ago
@Melissa Only the rich choose to "become" single parents. All the rest is collateral: the reality of unintended consequences. In ancient times, the rich (so Marx) stepped in to force "shotgun" marriages to keep such offspring from becoming wards of the lords of the manor.
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(MIT scientist wants to put iron dust--like in the last ice age--in ocean to cool planet)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US9m ago
The steelhead trout is in fact a leftover of the last ice age. They're actually quite tasty if served with hacksaw blades. The only downside, as far as I can tell, is hardheadedness. But if you really want to cool the planet, make it against the law to turn off air conditioners.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US6m ago
Why stop there? Take any taboo that simmers underground: race, gender, cannibalisms, climate-dictated population reduction, etc., etc., etc. On what basis does the professor assume there is such a thing as "morality". There is none in Nature, and to lift humans above Nature is Religion. The Prof obviously thinks Law is a convention. What makes him think morality is not?
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US1h ago
The "what if" here is Harris. She was never more than Woke credit in what was supposed to be Biden's one-term stint at the wheel. Biden's age could be made to work with a strong backup plan. But his frailty makes Harris the real Democratic candidate. This is what makes Democrats' hair stand on end. She is hardly more coherent than Trump, without his world class bombast and clickbait gallows humor.
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Bobo the Clown commented 2 minutes ago
BBobo the Clown
Pa2m ago
@shreir The VP becomes extremely important when Biden runs for a second term. Harris doesn't cut it and will lose votes for Biden. Now is the time to switch VP's and put a vote getter from a red midwestern state on the ticket. Whitmer might work. She wins in red areas, and she still has some female minority cred. Whitmer might not be the boat anchor that Harris has become. If Harris decides to drop out for personal reasons, they can swap her out for a stronger candidate.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US15m ago
"she wanted the impeachment inquiry to be 'long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden.'” 1) Attaching to the "long arm of the law" adds legitimacy to the most bogus rumor. 2) Politicians have always feared forced exposure. King Charles could have sued for millions over the hacking scandal, but knew the details would become frontpage news. 3) In this poisoned environment, Republicans have nothing to lose. Why not use a potent instrument at their disposal? 4) Given the President's attachment to his son, Republicans hope the psychological toll will weigh heavily on the already frail Biden. 5) It gives Trump fodder to add to his gallows humor. This is swamp material, enough to create a lot of political oxygen, and Biden cannot afford to get into a slinging match with the greatest Swampmaster of them all.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
Talk about getting the cart before the horse: The war's reality, by the day, demonstrates that Ukraine doesn't have a future. It will have lost its industrial/agricultural heartland and become a landlocked shadow of its former self without Black Sea access. France and Germany will not allow it into the EU and Republicans will bar it from NATO. Which means it remains fertile ground for Russian meddling and corruption, leaving it the shambling no-man's land it was historically. And because its security will remain elusive, so will its rebuilding. Without the EU and NATO, it will revert to the rule of Russian sponsored oligarchs. Ukraine is running out of time, and Putin is using the rising Global South as a cudgel to hurl back NATO. Germany and France are already in post-war mode because the politics are outrunning the war. And no one doubts that Putin can spring pre-election surprises to make the war a Biden nightmare.
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R
RJ
Mount Vernon Ohio7m ago
@shreir Love the idea of the pre-election surprises. Your mouth to God's ears. Anything that can be done to punish the neocons - Biden included - will hasten the transition to a rational foreign policy. I hope I live to see it.
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P
PK
MI3m ago
@shreir Now there's a depressing and cynical analysis that completely ignores the Ukrainians themselves -- they're just passive victims who share your cynicism about the country, with no influence over their fate, which is determined by all the big boys around them. The Ukrainian will for independence has grown stronger and stronger in this war -- the country you're describing is the old Ukraine, as it if can go back to those days rather than confront its future with a new-found will and determination.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US23m ago
@Alex Edwards Better hurry. Time is running out. Ukraine will have the status of a failed country as long as Putin is in it. And from there he can turn the rest of the Balkans into an oligarch Mafia to destabilize the EU. This is what Germany and France see.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US10h ago
The damage is already done by attaching the ignominy of impeachment to the Biden name. As in, "what's the difference between the crimes of impeachment and indictment." What gives the plot teeth are the sordid doings of the son, which, given their close relationship, Republicans will argue, makes it implausible that Biden did not know what the son was up to: selling Oval access to foreigners. If the process rises to impeachment--that will be a bonus. It can cripple Biden by doing far less than that: drawing him into the swamp by throwing enough of the son's mud to sully the father. Conversely, Republicans stand to lose nothing. They seem confident that a fishing expedition could yield surprises. The sleaze of the son, they hope, could make the father fail the smell test. It will most certainly add to Biden's woes. And in the total absence of good new, it doesn't take a large straw to break the camel's already frail back.
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AACNY commented 14 minutes ago
AAACNY
NY14m ago
@shreir Is it really a fishing expedition? The fact that investigators were prevented from pursuing certain crimes indicates that there is the potential for more charges.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USSept. 12
@Leonard In other words, Father and son didn't talk about the weather while the son was hatching an El Dorado by dangling access to the Oval to his customers. This is Banana Republic sleaze: selling the Republic. However, family crime is almost impossible to prove. Which is why the Mafia is still around.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US30m ago
And who didn't see this coming. An eye for an eye. Politics is the art of disguised violence as Clausewitz says. And as in undisguised violence, as General LeMay smirked, "Had we lost the war we would have hanged as war criminals." It's the nature of the trade. There are no innocents here. Politics is about getting your hands on the monopoly of violence. The only crime here, as in war, is losing. Proof? No victor ever repudiated his gains due to the unjustness of his cause. Might is always right. Trump will pardon everyone without blinking an eye. Such is the vacuum left by the loss of good will, good faith, and benefit of the doubt.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
"what it means to be both a Jewish state and a democratic one."
Read "what it means to be a democracy for Jews". Which, of course, leaves Israeli Arabs and the Occupation of Palestinians. Which, of course, is the classic definition of an Apartheid State. A Jewish state by definition disfranchises all the rest.
shreir
Shamblesheep, USSept. 11
So how is he different from US weapons trafficker-profiteers who trade in the mass killing of Russian 18 years old marched to the Front at the point of gun? Or the Industrial Military Complex run and lobbied by people who sit in the front pews on Sunday? Or the people who assemble assault rifles by the thousands, knowing precisely that they deal in "Merchandise of Death". "Had we lost the war," General LeMay smirked, "we would have hanged as war criminals."
8 Recommend
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
And how much time does the ADL devote to taking up the cause of the Palestinians? To the contrary, they exist to stamp out Palestinian advocacy in all its manifestations. Does that make them guilty of anti-Palestinianism? Not that it would be of any significance, since there is no resonant "anti" category to sum up Palestinian plight. French is making hay here as an ADL shill. His lack of substance and strawmanship is pure journalistic jingoism, guilty precisely of what he tries to pin on Musk.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
The question Democrats are left with is this: Why is all the noise about immigration now coming from Democratic sanctuary cities? Because sanctuary cities were a response to counter Republican immigration policy. That response now threatens Democrats in their own strongholds. What am I missing here? Why would Republicans not try to increase Democrats' misery rather than ease it? "Socialism," Republicans sneer, "Socialists should (continue to) try it."
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AAGS
MA20m ago
@shreir You ask, "Why would Republicans not try to increase Democrats' misery rather than ease it?" Because decent people don't manipulate those in need to score political points. But the GOP is not a group of such people.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US33m ago
As with the war in Ukraine, the President is on the ropes here. Biden needs to end the war fast. Putin knows this and will likely spring a few surprises to weaken Biden further and expose the war as a colossal policy blunder and NATO humiliation. Likewise, Biden cannot address the migrant problem without alienating either his union or leftwing base. Sanctuary states were meant to be a thumb in the Republican eye. Now it is sanctuary cities who demand relief. The war now threatens to blow up European unity, the migrant crisis, the Democratic Party. "Never," Napoleon said, "interrupt your enemies while they're making mistakes." Republicans see the migrant crisis as a gift that will keep on giving all the way to November 2024. Like Ukraine, the mayor is left without a bargaining chip. And as General LeMay would say, "never use politics and morals in the same sentence."
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US19m ago
@JRS Unfortunately, in ideology as in religion, there is no plan B, and Republicans think they can run Plan A over a cliff. The question is not if, but for how long true Socialism "can be tried" before the dream succumbs to reality. The Left has the wolf by the ears here, and cannot continue (they think) to hold him, nor safely (they hope) let him go.
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Note the difference between description (what is) and prescription (what you want it to be) in the reply below. Hence, the proverb "shoot the messenger" if he brings you true but unacceptable news. The US, he says, defeats tyrants. The Taliban, then, must not be tyrants.
shreir
Shamblesheep, US3h ago
1) Domestically: Immigration and Inflation. He cannot address the first without alienating his extreme left (his party's vigor), and the latter would require ending the Russian energy embargo. 2) Globally: the Ukraine war is becoming a forever war and unending NATO nightmare that has crippled the European economy. Trump's promise to end the war his first day in office is not costing him any support. The war, as everyone knows, has but one major sponsor: Biden. But he made it the hinge pin of his China containment policy and cannot abandon it without admitting to colossal foreign policy blunder. But the facts are all too obvious. For not only has it reinvigorated Russia with its new acquisitions, but simultaneously, by demonstrating NATO weakness, created the fast rising Global South, the counterweight to "the US rules based global order." Meanwhile, broke Europe has become little more than a hapless American colony huddled under NATO while China gobbles up its industrial market share. If Europe cuts its losses and accepts the reality in Ukraine, it will amount to another failed war on Biden's watch. Hardly a vote of confidence. If Putin pushes the envelope, this unpopular war would cost Biden a lot of political oxygen of which he has none to spare.
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Kevin Groome commented 2 hours ago
K
Kevin Groome
Pelham, NY2h ago
@shreir You want Europe to "accept the reality in Ukraine", which presumably means acquiescing to Putin's lawless invasion of that country, annexation of large portions of its sovereign territory, and indiscriminate bombing of its capital city. And what "reality", do you think Europe (and the US) will have to "accept" after that? The invasion and annexation of Poland? Lithuania? Estonia? All of the above? You say the war against Ukraine has "reinvigorated" Russia. Really? Russia has spent most of the summer pulling back from their winter positions and lobbing missiles into civilian areas to make up for their lack of success on the battlefield. Putin has faced an uprising from Wagner -- the most competent arm of his military. Russian men have exited the country in droves to avoid dying in the conflict. China is showing signs of reticence in its support. The Ukrainian will to fight remains unbroken. And while Putin has rattled his nuclear saber, there have been no signs of the escalation that Republicans have been wringing your hands over. I am astonished by the ease with which you would abandon an international order that hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions of Europeans fought and died to create. Here in the United States, we don't "accept the reality" of tyrants. We oppose and defeat them.
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midsouth30m ago
@shreir This is the first I learn of Russia’s reinvigoration and renaissance as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US41m ago
@Barbara8101
Simply the fickle nature of the human psyche. Shambler's Law says that when presented with "the equals of two evils", the mind is irresistibly attracted to the chance of change. As in, "throw all the rascals out" and replace them with other rascals. After all, who knows what will happen...?
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US3h ago
So now even obituaries have become Trump infomercials. In ancient Greece too much praise could get people like Aristide exiled. In the age of the Influencer, simple View count will get you elected.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
"I'm forcing you to practice what you preach," Julian the Apostate smirked when he plundered Christians. Don't give up now, Democrats. Socialism is finally being tried. Adams, the Republicans' favorite politician, must be running to be Trump's Border Czar. He could even go higher. He's already outgrown NY City. He alone can take credit for running Biden into Abbott's Buzzsaw. With enemies like that, who needs friends?
shreir
Shamblesheep, US33m ago
Look on the bright side. Extreme partisan politics shows that Statist mono-rule can be checked and thwarted. You couldn't do this in Europe, where the seething Right stewed underground since the War and now becomes more menacing by the day. The $10 million from shadowy outside entities (think Soros) hardly represents the will of the people. It's called legal racketeering: pure power politics. Soon you will be able to drop the "politics". Politics is always disguised mob rule. Ultimately, the mob installs an autocrat to cement their monopoly. Republicans know what they're getting into here. They're willing to settle for Orbanism.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US1h ago
Straight out of the Trump handbook. This would be political suicide for most politicians. He's imploding the rawest nerve in the land right into the Oval Office, a flagrant breach of Party etiquette. He knows full well that Biden would first have to shovel billions to southern states. He is fast becoming Biden's biggest problem. He could shape the 2024 election. Heady stuff. He's not looking to fix a crisis. He's exploiting one. As long as gets to beard with Biden on the national stage, his opponents at home will look like annoying flies. He's got bigger fish to fry. They'll have to wait.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
A shrewd move by Adams. He's throwing red meat at the howling mob. He knows the political winds. And Republicans have his back. Welcome to Influencer politics. You create oxygen however you can--good or bad. Even Likes are out. Simple "Views" will do. And this is steering Views Trump's way.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US3m ago
These are Climate migrants. Carbon overload, we are told, is the fruit of Wall Street. Historic justice, then, in the midst of Woke Street. From henceforth let no man say that Socialism has not been tried. "In such and such a year, in such and such a city," New Yorkers will be able to tell their grandchildren, "we tried it." Take a long bow, Big City, you've earned it. Wokesters of the World, Unite! You have only to lose your gains.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USJust now
The mayor protesteth overmuch. NY City adopted its policy to set the moral tone of the nation. Morals, like religion, must not turn to Caesar to fund the commanding heights it hopes to occupy among the shivering masses. The mayor knows what the law is, and the law is not conditioned by Federal handouts. He lives amidst an embarrassing wealth of vacancy. He has an instrument ready at hand to the purpose: Eminent Domain. Lacking is but the will to do what the law so clearly demands of him. Do your job, mayor. Do your job.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US21m ago
Pure fiction. Friedman knows: 1) That Settlers and Ultras will have to be put in straitjackets if Israel relinquishes control of Biblical heartlands, Judea, Samaria, and Mt. Moriah (Temple Mount); 2) which means that East Jerusalem can never be the Palestinian Capital, 3) which leaves the Two-State dead on arrival, as no Muslim will agree to leave the third most holy site in Islam in the hands of their traditional enemy. Bibi is no fool. He knows: 1) That he has carte blanche regards Evangelical America who will shout for joy the day the Settlers and Ultras march on the Temple Mount; 2) that, in the end, American Jews, like American Catholics, simply don't have an alternative to Plan A. Catholics need a Vatican, and there cannot be two; 3) that, Israel is the equivalent of 100 aircraft carriers in the most troubled spot in the world--the US gets all that for a few measly $billion a year; and, finally--and this seems utterly lost on Friedman--4) that the Settlers and Ultras are the Masada of modern Israel. Religion drove the US out of Afghanistan. Remove it from Israel, and it will fall to Hamas within a year.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US6m ago
@David S "It's not a normal government" because Israel is not "a normal nation": 1) you cannot be both Jewish and Democratic, 2) Israel owes its existence to the Holocaust, Evangelicalism, US strategic value, and, perhaps most importantly, 3) the American-Israeli makeup of its citizens, which makes it largely a suburb of NY City. It's superficial, inorganic, nature easily lends itself to fragmentation.
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TL
Bethlehem, PA52m ago
I’m not shocked by anything Bibi does. He would make common cause with Amalekites if it would keep him in power.
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shreir commented 8 minutes ago
Sshreir
Shamblesheep, US8m ago
@TL Saul, the first king did just that, until Samuel the judge stepped back in, whom King Agag found most unreasonable.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US1h ago
Which leaves the utter unseriousness of his running mate. The world could become dramatically more dangerous before the election, and Harris has been largely no-show. Biden may appear weak, and Harris too woke, but Trump will turn focus elsewhere. For what is being whispered in secret even among Democrats? The real possibility of the world spinning out of control with Harris as Commander in Chief. Republicans will make Harris the issue. The problem is that Harris cannot try to make a vigorous comeback this late in the game without drawing attention to Biden's frailty. But either one or the other will have to step up to counter Trump bluster, lest it consume all the oxygen in the campaign. This will the ugliest campaign in American history, and Biden will have to meet it on camera. A dreadful prospect.
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LLK
NY1h ago
@shreir its not obvious that engaging with Trump like that is useful- they will not 'out-bluster' him.
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BBen
DC52m ago
@shreir I don't think there's any getting around the basic fact that Harris needs to get off the ticket. No serious person thinks she's prepared to serve as president. And, no person who looks at actuarial data should be confident in Biden's ability to complete a second term--even though he's doing an excellent job right now. Harris should find an excuse to step off the ticket, not force Biden to remove her--that would be the patriotic country before personal ambition thing to do. Then Biden should go with someone who's ready to assume the office of the president on a moments notice. Susan Rice, Cory Booker, Mitt Romney and Gretchen Whitmer all come to mind.
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Susan
St. Louis, MissouriSept. 5
I don’t understand why all the designers of women’s clothing in this article are men. Why don’t these high-end companies hire women to design for women? It makes no sense to me.
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J
JS
buffalo4h ago
@Susan Because men want the models to be a size zero. Other than that, I don't know why. Maybe women want to be the model instead of the designers.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US4h ago
@Susan Reality's subtle nod to the Patriarchy: men know what men want in their playthings. This is the most woke crowd in the world, on the most primitive platform in the world. Only the male (billionaire) gaze matters here. Designer males are there to exhibit their stable to a this clientele. An older (less attractive) woman would ruin the effect.
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(rich cities buying property for water rights)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US5h ago
Years ago, I bought prime real estate in the Congo rainforest with all the mineral rights. Now the locals howl about Colonial plundering. I use Wagner to protect my routes to the sea. Now I'm buying up freshwater lakes In Minnesota--my best bet yet--and lobbying Congress to build a pipeline to the desert.
(if you hear howling from the cheerleading squad, you'll know this has gone through--there it just went)
( A total rout in Comments Section today. Like a breach in the Berlin Wall. They know Putin is running this into 2024, and if he creates a real crisis to help Trump, the focus will turn on the utter unseriousness of Harris)
Sang Ze
Massachusetts32m ago
Does this mean the war is just a bunch of crooks fighting each other?
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
@Sang Ze Is any war ever more than that? Remember General LeMay's commentary on the Nazi trials: "Had we lost," he smirked, "we would have been hanged as war criminals." "Don't use war and morality in the same sentience," he said. An expanded version of General Sherman's remark that you don't sort criminals in Hell.
Paul
California2h ago
So when Ukraine puts out the begging bowl for a few trillion to repair the damage, expect that a large percentage will go to graft, corruption and the few. It has been the Ukrainian way for decades. Just like what happened in Afghanistan. At least the Ukrainians are fighting their own war, not like the Afghans.
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shreir commented 59 minutes ago
Sshreir
Shamblesheep, US58m ago
@Paul You can't blame a seasoned oligarch for grabbing mouthwatering low-hanging fruit. The US is dumping $billions faster than Putin's bombs.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US29m ago
Guess which party profits from the war while being against it? Lobbyists and military contractors of the Industrial Military Complex and Big Oil read like a Who's Who of the NRA. What a boondoggle.
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Steve Bolger commented 15 minutes ago
Steve Bolger
New York City14m ago
@shreir: Don't forget the promise of religion for a better life after death.
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Trent
Pittsburgh7h ago
And we keep giving them free money. Insane
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Sshreir
Shamblesheep, US7h ago
@Trent Relax. The Industrial Military Complex is what's keeping the US economy going, Europe is now hooked to US fossil fuel, and most of the graft is propping up Florida villa estate. Plus, as long as the war lasts, Europe can't do its mischief in China. It's a master-piece of hegemonic strategy.
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MMax
Canada1h ago
@shreir as much as I enjoy the irony about this ingenious chess strategy, there are better ways to spend money at home than this war.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US28m ago
When you see the rats running for the exists, you know your creaking bark is going down fast. This war is $90% US and 10% Ukraine. The 10% being the cannon-fodder. War, says Tolstoy, who got his muse watching the bloodletting below from the safety of his artillery post, is how the rich kill off the poor. Not that the $90% makes a dent in the US budget. In fact, when you factor in increased energy market share and prices, the bonanza to the industrial military complex, and real-time weapons R&D (minus US blood), the war does not cost the US even the interest on the interest. Add to that, the US now has the EU market hostage regards China as payback for holding Putin at bay. The whole racket is so superficial and bloated that oligarchs may be forgiven for reverting back to their prewar days. I suspect the General will now retire to his villa in Florida. Note how stingy Europe has become. They've given up, and the politics are outrunning the war. Renewed anti-Americanism will be its bitter fruit.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USSept. 3
Big Farms, Big Government--and these are MAGA farms, America's Corporate Well Fare Queens. When the USFDA calls me late at night to do its annual Farm Census my response is always the same: you're the problem. No, they say, but this is why we're here, to help you. Ok, I say, your subsidies are what give MAGA farmers the free money to drive up land prices 100 times above its usable value. It gives them the money to convert swamps (the only scraps left for grazing) into million dollar tillage. Is there anything in your program, I ask, that will help me buy a few more acres of grassland? You're offering me the cart, I say. But how am I to get the horse? I see, they say. Bill Gates is the largest farmland owner in America. Before his divorce, no one even knew he farmed. Two entities could legally acquire all the farmland in America before drawing the attention of Federal monopoly busters. These bottom-liners have converted the prairies into unbroken planes of corn and soybeans. City people don't realize that small hardscrabble farms are complete ecosystems where critters of every sort compete for leftovers among the sprawl. The MAGAS dig a hole, and fill it with the buildings to make a nice sterile field to produce (wait for it) "renewable" ethanol. Them critters ain't coming back.
(They let this through only after they removed the article)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US7h ago
Sounds like social engineering. How, one may ask, does this program achieve civility when it designs to avoid the Culture War raging throughout the nation. Sounds like more of the same one hand clapping. If the Western Canon is now discredited as Rightwing propaganda by the Left, how are Conservative student not to see its replacement as Left wing wokewashing. Tinkering with the Canon is like tinkering with the Constitution, or Religion. It works only after the war.
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
Ahmari can be found a dime a dozen in any Grad school. A drifter without convictions in search of an ideology (read well-heeled patron). These rootless tumbleweeds pine for the days when an over-degreed sophist could spend his entire life idling in the company of the rich. His trajectory is a familiar one. A brief sojourn behind the barricades (the Right), followed by a season of fence-straddling. Note how careful he is to distance himself from the Culture War. Then the last refuge of the scoundrel: the Poor (inequality). Not, as we read of Judas, "that he cared for the poor", but they provided cover for his serious deficits. The Great Conversation is over, and the Great Ideas dismantled as propaganda. The carnage has left words and terms as fluid as in the confusion of Babel, leaving idea-smiths like Ahmari stranded with no place to ply their arts. The Right is taking the hammer to the System, not with ideas, but with something much more primitive. I predict Ahmari will end up at the NY Times. If Trump wins he will be indispensable.
(Xtrodinary--I resubmitted it and here it is again)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US20m ago
shreir | Shamblesheep, US The New World Order thought it had rendered the word "cannon-fodder" obsolete. My family farmed that region during both Napoleon and the Crimean War. My great-grandmother described it as a land like no other (for farmers). It must be the most blood-soaked ground in the world. We got out when Alexander threatened to make it genuinely Russian. That part of Ukraine is as Russian as Tolstoy, and Russia will never relinquish it. Ukraine is now in its suicidal (Lost Cause) stage. The leadership cannot quit now without going into exile, and NATO needs results to keep the billions coming. They're racing against the mud now--and 2024. Right into a finely tuned Russian meat-grinder. For no one does the meatgrinder like the Russians. Putin knows the Europeans are desperate to end the conflict, but his terms will leave Ukraine under the Bear's paw: greatly reduced, no reparations, no economy, and no NATO. Putin sees advantage in prolonging the war, and the West doesn't know how to end it. Like the South and Germany, they're still hoping for the game-changing miracle that never comes. The have the bear by the tail, and cannot continue to hold him, nor safely let him go.
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(The allowed my reply to this)
JRP
Warsaw, Poland2h ago
Don’t give up on Ukraine America! They are fighting for our freedom and theirs.
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bokhara commented 42 minutes ago
Bbokhara
Harar41m ago
@JRP How are Ukranians fighting for "our freedom"? If by "our" freedom you mean that of US citizens? They are certainly fighting for "their" freedom. But the outcome of this conflict has no bearing regarding the freedom of the US populace.
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shreir commented 18 minutes ago
Sshreir
Shamblesheep, US18m ago
@JRP Few Americans believe that. If they did, politicians would campaign on it. Democrats don't, and Republicans can't wait to turn the war into a Democrat liability.
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(this caused so much Angst, they removed it. That noise you heard was them shrieking at the top of their lungs in Manhattan. I'm not a subscriber--I get in through the back door--so I can't complain. Lot of Comments from the Eastern Front--they likely saw it as disinformation. Or the White House ordered it removed)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US1h ago
The New World Order thought it had rendered the word "cannon-fodder" obsolete. My family farmed that region during both Napoleon and the Crimean War. My great-grandmother described it as a land like no other (for farmers). It must be the most blood-soaked land in the world. We got out when Alexander threatened to make it genuinely Russian. That part of Ukraine is as Russian as Tolstoy, and Russia will never relinquish it. Ukraine is now in its suicidal (Lost Cause) stage. The leadership cannot quit now without going into exile, and NATO needs results to keep the billions coming. They're racing against the mud now--and 2024. Right into a finely tuned Russian meat-grinder. For no one does the meatgrinder like the Russians. Putin knows the Europeans are desperate to end the conflict, on terms that will leave Ukraine under the Bear's paw: greatly reduced, no reparations, no economy, and no NATO. Like the South and Germany, they're still hoping for the game-changing miracle that never comes.
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(this must have gone all the way to the top. They sat on it for 12 hours)
Shamblesheep, US51m ago
It helps to see this as the Cultural War. Or rather, the Culture War turned into Total War. Proof: the Right has left the negotiating table. Napoleon wanted to negotiate in Moscow. Too late. Russians burned their country to the ground to survive. This is what the Right is doing now. Their confidence rest on three pillars: 1) Super-states like Texas and Florida will become uber-wealthy (read asset parking) sanctuaries where Federal agents will fear to tread. States' Rights will soon make mincemeat of Federal policy; 2) a Rightwing Court will provide cover and become the de facto ruler of the land (as in Israel); and 3) the monopoly of violence, for not only is America's private arsenal entirely in the hands of the Right, but most of them are veterans. Military "ground pounders" are entirely Right. Now add the word "Evangelical" and you have Religious War, after the manner of Calvin and the Puritans who beheaded their king without blinking an eye. Now add the more pagan element of nationalism (read Second Amendment) and you have a toxic brew unlike any in history. Religion is the great force multiplier here. It is what drove the US out of Afghanistan.
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(must be the censors' day off)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US1h ago
What am I missing here? Adams is trying to shake down the US Treasury in order to comply with NY immigrant law, when he is surrounded by vacant structures on every side, and has the right to make use of them through Eminent Domain. Use it or lose it. Why does the mayor seek the poor working man's tax money to fund foreign asset parking (which is what NY vacancy amounts to) and Wall Street excess? To each according to his need, from each according to his ability. And from henceforth, let no one say that Socialism has not been tried.
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(3 months ago, this would have made the war cheerleaders hiss non-stop. Now another Biden retreat will be seen as a major blow going into 2024 and they need to get it behind them quickly. What frauds,)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US34m ago
Global South (BRICS) is gaining momentum because two major NATO retreats under Biden's tenure signal the rapid weakening of the post-war hegemon. No one understands the suppressed mutterings in NATO corridors better than Putin, who uses the war to sow discord in Europe, and Republicans will make political hay with the war as soon as it is safe to do so. Putin holds all the cards, and the war has become China's major asset to add to its Global South portfolio. Such is the fruit of absolutist (woke) diplomacy of messianic globalism. NATO has no bargaining chips, and Republicans will never allow Ukraine into NATO. The coming armistice will simply return Ukraine to what it was before: a buffer state. This time stripped of its major assets: the Black Sea and its industrial/agricultural jewels.
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shreir
(this one is probably too much--oops, it just got through)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US8m ago
@Pica NATO is on its back foot. The war is lost, and it remains but to cut its losses, before Putin implodes the war into the politics of Europe, and the new leadership cries up the new Munich to Moscow Peace. Europe is broke and can be bought. Like Xi, Putin the accountant is more dangerous than Putin the General.
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(you know they're about to throw Ukraine under the bus when they let this through)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US36m ago
How do you negotiate with a convicted war criminal without arresting him? Or is an "International" pardon part of the carrot here? Another Biden/Blinken strategic "fist-bump" of thwarted messianics? The handwriting has been on the wall ever since Russia went back to its classic never-fail playbook: hunker down with Siberia to your back and let the meatgrinder do its work. The Kyiv rout was the toxin of the jackpot, the delusion that you can beat the system. No one ever thought Ukraine could prevail without US troops, which Ukraine assumed it could force on the West on moral grounds. Nukes, China, and Republican disdain made Biden hesitate until it was too late. Now the race is on to find a "non-dishonorable" peace before the war becomes a Democratic boondoggle going into 2024. The EU is hedging its bets with an eye on the nightmare that is Trump. For if he "chastised them with whips" before, this time they have come to expect the lash of scorpions. He will finish what Putin began: destroying the Welfare State by making them pay for security. Republicans will never allow Ukraine into NATO, and there's little chance that Zelensky will survive a truncated Ukraine with its depleted population. The authors hint at a catastrophic retreat for NATO, and a humiliating climbdown of the war's strategic design: assurances regards Taiwan. The EU is now made to beard with a rejuvenated Russia. Look for the mother of all victory parades in Red Square as Putin takes his bows.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US1h ago
@Mark McIntyre Trust? Nations are never friends, only marriages of convenience. They only ever do what the monopoly of violence (or lack thereof) compels them to do. Which is why they have nuclear warheads pointed at each other.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US35m ago
Compared to Haggard's "the working man can't get nowhere today", this sounds like the angry tantrum of an overprivileged brat who was led to believe that he had the right not to have to pull himself up by his bootstraps--like busy immigrants around him. An idle mind is an opiate workshop. The migrants I know make double pay by working two jobs. Their hope that the only way is up keeps them working--and alive. Despair, suicide, and opiates are not words associated with migrants. Why? The hope of achieving parity with the despairing sons of privilege keeps them going. Kristoff may find it useful to examine this loss of hope in the victims.
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(they sat on this for 5 hours)
shreir
Shamblesheep, US2m ago
The Air Force has been flying the F16 remotely for decades. Musk claims to see the carnage in real time from his SATS. Why not put a dummy in the seat and have retired EU pilots fly them remotely through Muskavite SATS. Service them in Poland by buying them back after each mission, or give willing Polish pilots "in flight" Ukrainian citizenship. Make the Law "useful" by weaponizing it. The legal framework is certainly there in International Law. If Putin has a problem with that let him make his arguments at the International Court and see how far he gets. But they seem to have trouble finding him, which, no doubt, is why they haven't arrested him yet. And yet there he is on TV in Red Square walking around like a free man. What gives?
shreir
Shamblesheep, US36m ago
@Catman Bill All Russia need do now is to keep its annexed assets, which few think can be pried from it: the industrial/agricultural heartland and supreme command of the Black Sea. These are Imperial size spoils, large enough, in the minds of ordinary Russians, to give Putin a place among Russia's Greats. For nothing so revives the slumbering dogs of nationhood as additions to the portfolio. The clergy already have "Just War" proofs in hand. Europe now has a rejuvenated Russia on its hands: a catastrophic blunder by Biden/Blinken.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US45m ago
Trump, like Netanyahu is all the more useful for all his troubles. The latter does Ultra/Settler bidding to escape the hangman--not out of conviction. Trump has no convictions save opportunism and the cunning to improvise crisis upon crisis on the edges of the System until they reach critical mass. For if you break all the laws in the System and get away with it, you have become the equivalent of "the king can't break the law, because he is the law"--or far above it. Kings, and Roman tyrants, kept "the peers of the realm" at bay by threatening them with the exploited masses. Fake wrestlers have more star powers than the real because they can project real gallows humor. Trump is pure gallows humor, and all the more useful as a revenge candidate. He is meant to trash the System to save the Republic. Which is why the sum total of his bombast does not translate into one coherent idea. He's Everyman's practical Reagan: the Great Reduction of Big Government by any means. Because for the anti-statist, any addition (good or bad) to Government beyond a certain size is poison calling for Occam's Razor. If you see him as the Great Reducer, you will grasp his appeal. "The alternatives", by contrast, try to gain traction with more "good" government. They miss the point. Because beyond "limited government", all government is a danger to The Republic, the dreaded Tarquinius in the Roman imagination.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US8h ago
No one knows the backrooms of European Capitals better than Cohen, and he's pulling his punches here, because he knows he's walking on eggshells. He sees zero support for the war in the streets (rather resentment over its economic hardship) and knows what's being muttered in the corridors of the Reichstag. If ruinous energy prices were not enough to cripple German industry, US strategic demands require that it now has a veto regards EU access to China's market, which had become the major engine of German growth. Moreover, you cannot be both a Welfare State and a War Economy. There goes the Nordic Social Model, the plowshares of which are now being hammered into NATO armor. Europe is keenly aware that it has been converted into NATO, and stands to become little more than Pentagon II on its Eastern flank. In short it has lost its freedom of self-determination by becoming an American colony when it called in the mercenary US to hold Russia at bay. And what does a stalemate offer Germany ten years down the road as it sees its industry migrate to China? For what? To save Taiwan? They see themselves as little more than cogs of America's sprawling Super-Statism to serve the messianic delusion that the world can be made safe for Democracy. No one knows what the end game is here. Which is why they want to simply end it.
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M
Mark
Liverpool8h ago
That's nonsense, there is overwhelming sympathy and support for Ukraine from this genocidal invasion. The greedy oil and gas companies have exploited this situation and kept prices high, supermarket behemoths have done likewise. Our enemies are in boardrooms and Moscow.
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Martin
Amsterdam3h ago
@shreir And no mention here of UvdL, who seeing her position as EU president challenged has jumped ship before it reached port, and become more and more hawkish as she tries to win US approval as successor to Stoltenburg. In French terms, that is a serious betrayal of Europe and its values.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US2h ago
@Peter D In short, some problems can only be managed, not solved. Buffer states serve as regions of ambiguity needed to serve such interests. It is what reality will impose on Ukraine, eventually. That is, non-membership in NATO, regardless of what's left of it. A geographical "fist-bump" to keep things going, and the morals left to the history books.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US8h ago
@Jon Harrison And who will bring the war criminal to the negotiating without starting WW3? He's in no hurry. Time is on his side. And "the breakthrough" has not given Ukraine the much vaunted bargaining chips. At the moment, he's confident that he cannot be dislodged from his gains. Reality will soon impose an armistice, and time will legitimize the assets in hand. Republicans will not allow Ukraine into Nato, so it will revert to its historic buffer state status. Neither Putin, nor China, nor India recognize "the rules based" notion of referendums. For International Law is pure fiction without an International Enforcer, and always will be. There has never been either.
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(see how my Comment is being out-recommended by the-hope-for-a-miracle cheerleaders below. Because Ukraine is winning, and Putin is on his last, and everything else is fake news. If they shriek long enough by flagging it, it will get removed. I'm surprised it even got through)
Six months ago, this would have been hissed out of the room as Putin propaganda. An estimated 500,000 dead/maimed later and the room feels vacant. Putin must be driven out even of Crimea, Russian assets must be seized to rebuild Ukraine, Putin arrested, regime change--all the idle boasts of war fever. Now what? Europe lost its freedom by hitching its plow to Biden's globalist agenda, hoping the spoils of a defeated Russia will make up the difference. Now they are left with a very angry bear to the East, and, potentially, a wrathful Trump to the West who will put them under tribute--they're already broke.. He blames Ukraine for all his troubles, and the EU for jumping on the Biden bandwagon.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, USAug. 26
Like another chapter in Tolstoy: on the job training. Lose two armies before you finally get the meatgrinder right. Ukraine's hopes for a miracle dashed again. The war was never more than the hope that Putin would expire and that his Russia will disintegrate. And that the US would be forced to intervene on moral grounds. Wishful thinking as strategy. The stalemate gives Putin the crown jewels of Ukraine and moral cover for his actions. He will take his bows in Red Square before an adoring nation. A catastrophic defeat for Biden/Blinken, and an ominous message for Taiwan.
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Jonathan
DecaturAug. 26
@shreir , how is Putin killing Prigozhin a defeat for Biden and Blinken. Ukraine is slowly winning this war. The war has been a potentially fatal mistake by Putin. This event does not change that. Without the Wagner Group, Russia's chances of winning are probably less.
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edward strelow commented 6 hours ago
edward strelow
san jacinto6h ago
@shreir You are too keen to bash Biden and are missing the major problem here, that Russia is now economically isolated from the west and win or lose in the Ukraine, this will isolation probably remain so for our lifetimes. NATO has come back to life as a result and a new cold war was started by Putin. That didn't work out well for Russia the first time and now we know that Russia's supposed military might is more Potemkin than real.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US8m ago
And Democrats, as we see in "all Trump all the time Angst", fear nothing more than the absence of "a Trump alternative". Because "the alternative" candidate is as weak as the base that supports it. Poll after polls show that Republican have already picked their man. This despite everything they know about the candidate whom Democrats label as illegitimate. It may have occurred to Brooks that if the candidate cries for "an alternative", then so do the masses who chose him. In short, Brooks is calling the mass of Americans who chose Trump in need of "an alternative", a subversive and illegitimate body which must de denied the right to shape the destiny of their children. Their aspirations, he seems to think, are so beyond the pale that they do not merit understanding. And so he's left preaching to half the choir. My way or the highway. Trump commands the field, because his voters see "the alternatives" as too weak to stem the tide of Democratic Statism. Trump, in their view, is all the more effective as no more than a wreaking ball to destroy the juggernaut. Brooks knows this, but finds the reality too nightmarish to contemplate. He likes America the way it is, and has no time for the masses who do not.
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shreir
Shamblesheep, US22m ago
In Red States, the Left would call this rewilding: the bears were here before humans, and humans must learn to accommodate them, regardless the cost. Talk about NIMBYISM. Guns? I almost swallowed my eye-teeth, for there are not a handful of Trumpers in the whole state. I take it these "unbearables" happen mostly in upper-class enclaves where uneaten prime rib is bound to make a bear's mouth water. California solved it's bear problem by allowing the homeless to beat the bears to the buffet. Just a thought...
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Let's see if they let this through---Manhattan wokesters have a very thin skin. Nothing terrifies them more than free speech.
shreir
Shamblesheep, USPending Approval
The writer would be more convincing if, instead of moaning about the Inferno, he had instead called upon his fellow uber-privileged to reduce their carbon footprint by foregoing vacation "cottages'' and carbon Bigfoot leisure excess, and staying at home. The "jet-set" Left, like Gore, Kerry, and the rest of Paris-café globetrotters are the equivalent of prosperity preachers begging for the widow's mite to fund their pampered lifestyles. "What we have done"? Speak for yourself, Serge. Stay at home and save the Planet--like the rest of us, who can barely afford a "cottage" at home. The sense of entitlement here is breathtaking.
My reply to another comment made it through--after 5 hours. It usually takes less than a minute
Callie
Maine5h ago
If you own a second home, sell it. If you own a third or fourth home, shame on you for you've likely burned carbon to heat and cool empty boxes. Look to live in a smaller home and to increase its energy efficiency. And be grateful for any remaining good days, for the climate that's coming will be worse and worse.
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shreir commented 8 minutes ago
shreir Shamblesheep, US8m ago
@Callie In other words, "Do as I say, not as I do," Those "cottages" are carbon monsters.
Shamblesheep
US2h ago
Here we go again, All Trump All The Time. Even Trump's absence will consume all the political oxygen at the debate. Yawn. And, in the Age of The Influencer, success is measured by sheer exposure, which Brand Trump delivers in galactic proportions on the Front Page of the NY Times. By November 2024, he will have made himself so much of the global psyche that the thought of four more years of suffocating boredom will drive voters to his standard. According to Shambler's Law, the Kardashian metric grants legitimacy by sheer exposure (in an age where good/bad are only opinions of such). Which means that All Trump All The Time on Front Pages will put Trump in office. But how do you not cover the elephant in the room? By pointing to the small fry, the also rans, which the governor is trying to wake from their yawning slumbers? He just inflated the elephant more. This is the paradox.
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JJohn
USA2h ago
@Shamblesheep - You make some really valid points. They could be summarized by simply saying that a critical mass of the electorate is superficial and not very bright. However: if it is true that nearly two thirds of the electorate does not want Trump, that suggests that this despicable, disgusting excuse for a human being will be overexposed. When you hate an obnoxious commercial, does being forced to view it more times make you like it, or just hate it even more, lunging for the remote? That is what I hope the Republicans give us in the 2024 race.
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shreir
us2h ago
What is the fear expressed here? That Trump can win. Remove Trump and you get "the also rans", none of whom can gain traction. For Republicans that means ceding 2024 to the Democrats. The author, no doubt, expects them to fall on their own sword to save the Republic--and remain powerless for the indefinite future. "How few," wrote Tacitus, "remember the Old Republic." Rome had graduated to pure power politics. And there was no going back. Republicans are cynically aware that a line has been crossed, and that politics is now a race to the bottom. Which is why they have left the negotiating table. They see themselves in St. Petersburg watching Napoleon succumb to forces beyond his control. They know they'll have to settle for Orbanism atop the ruins. Yet, they tell themselves, "it's our Orbanism." Had Caesar not crossed the Rubicon, someone else would have. Trump is but a man of his times. Trumpism will not vanish with Trump.
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H.B.
Salt Lake City44m ago
@shreir - I hope you are wrong, but fear you may be right.
shreir
us1h ago
If Trump is attacking the System, it is only because his followers want him to attack the System, because they think it has been hijacked. Putting Trump in jail would bring the Federal Government into direct confrontation with a large segment of the Right who see such confrontation mandated as a religious duty (as followers of Calvinists who beheaded their king) and the Second Amendment. Proof? The Right has left the negotiating table and are ready to settle for Orbanism. They see the trials as no more than one hand (the Left) clapping. Jailing Trump would accelerate the process at warp speed. Both Trump and the judges know this. But allowing Trump to make shambles of the System will create a bonanza of rabbit trails for his lawyers. In short, he's already destroyed the System by alienating half of America from it. His inflammatory language is meant to increase the anger already out there. Jail him now and the Right will explode. Jail him later by process and the Right will cry "election interference". It's the same crisis as in Israel. The Right is in a position to impose Orbanism which can only be denied with a heavy hand. Here be monsters, for this is Apocalyptic thinking which pines for the purifying Inferno on the horizon.
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Kevin commented 54 minutes ago
K
Kevin
Austin54m ago
@shreir We cannot allow him to “game” the system. Jail him. Imprison him. Consequences are the price we will simply have to pay to uphold the Rule of Law.
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shreir
usAug. 15
Wishful thinking. The "pile-on" is but more of the same. And in "dirty politics" it's "let him that is without corruption cast the first stone." What this does is increase the political oxygen around Trump. Italians knew all the unsavory bits of Berlusconi. The voted him in because they loathed their seedy elites even more. And everyone cannot but admire a Colossus who stands athwart against the world. The Right has given itself but one mandate: destroy statism, even at the cost of Orbanism. The institutions Trump is trampling have been turned against them, and they see no recourse but to destroy them. The seeds of Orbanism are already apparent in the increasing dominance of judges (verses representative lawmakers). Judges in Hungary (and soon in Poland) know their paymaster. The problem with benign tyrants are always their successors. A minor problem for an Apocalyptic.
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W.A. Spitzer commented August 15
W
W.A. Spitzer
Faywood, NMAug. 15
@shreir ..."The institutions Trump is trampling have been turned against them,"....Really? How about some evidence. Show me an example. This is about diminished status, a lack of education, and a fear of anyone other, which includes women and minorities. They have no one to blame but themselves and they don't have the courage or integrity to admit it. Their continued support of Trump proves they have justly earned any opprobrium they receive.
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shreir
usAug. 15
Welcome to judicial anarchy. As a billion lawsuits are allowed to process through the courts, they will collapse under their own weight. Moreover, more and more "judge shopping" is the cudgel of the day. Which is why billionaires are "asset parking" in Red States, which are on a collision course with the Federal government. When the major social decisions are made by judges, Orbanism is not far off. Rather than be ruled by a faceless court, the masses will counter with their own strongmen. The legal system has now been fully weaponized by both parties, and the US is already balkanizing into "sanctuary" states in a race to the bottom. Law becomes a tyrant without good faith and good will, where citizens' first instinct is too call their lawyer.
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4-23-22
Against the Wall (of Separation, no less): A Brief Note to Supreme Court Justice Jackson
On Tuesday Marsha Blackburn, the senior United States senator from Tennessee, asked Judge Jackson a simple question: “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?” Jackson, a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and sometime supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review answered: “Can I provide a definition? No. I can’t. Not in this context. I’m not a biologist.”
“Male and female created He them” (Gen.2).
“Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall" (1 Kings 21:21).
"Depression, self-harm and suicide are rising among American adolescents" (NY Times).
Like Judge Jackson, they have been taught that they could be man or beast, male or EMALE+, that the most abominable vice is virtue, that truth is every man's opinion of himself (or of others), and that their only hope of survival depends on experts who lack the mental (moral) capacity to distinguish between male and female.
Does Judge Jackson consider herself a woman? How would she know? Did she consult a biologist? What did she think she was before consulting the biologist? Would she consider Assistant Health Secretary Man-in-Dress Levine a woman? Did Man-o-Dress Levine begin to identify as a woman when so diagnosed by a biologist? This judge is either very dishonest, very depraved or very stupid (She lied under oath here--if you sell the truth for a mess of pottage now, you will likely wrest judgment later). Because GRUMR+ is the refutation of biology. Man-O-Dress will tell you that he is a non-biological woman trapped in a biological male body, and biologists are notorious agnostics of non-biology. The point of GRUMR+ is that biology, with its mistaken notions of male and female, is the root of all Phobia and should be considered dangerous. But here a liberal judge wants to take us back to the Dark Ages and sift EMALES+ on the exact science of biology. And no outcry from those who Self-Identify as EMALES+. What, one wonders, would have been the conclusion of a biologist brought in to examine Assistant Health Secretary Man-O-Dress Levine? It seems that the Judge is not only totally ignorant of the basic facts of life, but of the reasoning behind GRUMR+ that seeks to pervert them as well. Because Man-O-Dress Levine will tell you that the biologists wrongly identified him as a man, when he is so obviously EMALE+.
“Male and female created He them,” the Bible says. True, Judge Jackson may say, but how do you tell who is who. Again, “if any man (or woman–I have to assume Judge Jackson at least self-identifies as such) lack wisdom let him ask of God.” "Female," Judge Jackson, means "woman." All well and good. But which one is that? Wait, wait! God is patient "and upbraideth not" those who "ask Him for wisdom." Ironically, (and this should be the strongest indication of God's manifest goodwill to "them that are out of the way), God is said to give "liberally"--today one might say "progressively?" "Yet," we read, "He giveth more grace." The passage above (1 Kings 21:21) is the strongest possible definition of (at least) who is not a woman. This is not the language (as they say) “of the times.” The Bible is a Masterclass of euphemistic “adult” language (Adam “knew” his wife). The strong language here is used for its shock value, and cannot be translated “male” (God is hurling insults here). No one, since it was written, has ever doubted that there is a single woman among those whom God slams up "against the wall" in His terrible anger. This is God's wall of separation founded on the inflexible law of Nature. It was as insulting then as it is today. God uses insulting language when He is extremely angry, and He is never more angry than when the Commandment (the 7th) safeguarding “be fruitful and multiply” is violated (witness the fires in a certain chapter of Genesis where the suspicious people of Zoar may have wondered if survivor Lot was not the arsonist). “Flee from the wrath of God” then, for men (or women) do not seek clarity (or biologists) when they see God shaking with anger. I would suggest the Judge have recourse to a simple expedient that will yield infallible proof of what is a woman and who is not a man–without, I must add hastily, the expertise (and expense) of the biologist to darken counsel. If the Judge will but have all the people in the courtroom stand in the middle of the noble architecture of those august walls, quote the words of God (above 1 Kings 21:21), and having done that cry out with all her might “against the wall” all those of you who–and again quote the Word of God (1 Kings 21:21). Those remaining in the middle of the room, Judge Jackson, are women, inasmuch as they are excluded from the wall by the (discreet) function of nature. Those “against the wall” are not women, as the wall is (ahem) to that purpose. Or to put it more bluntly: the law of function obviates the need for biologists as gatekeepers of bathrooms. That’s how God lines them up--including biologists and judges--and men-o-dresses. Let that be the wall of separation decreed infallibly in the original Creation. Beware of joining (or confusing) what God personally hewed from the dust of the ground when he created biological Man, and again with surgical precision when He created his exact opposite, Woman. God destroyed the first world with water because of universal adultery, and later, the exotic vice of what Africans call the rich white male disease, with fire.
2-16-22 10:02 AM
Temp is 19 above, but cold wind. Those are my only lambs so far, snug and warm in the hay manger. When their mom calls they slip through and nurse. As you can see the whole lean-to is basically a hay feeder, out of the wind and weather, where the whole flock can eat in peace and comfort. Before, every wind would blow all the snow in the county into it, first from the northeast, then back from the southeast. When I go out to dress the feeder at the last watch of the night and see them warm and content, I think of the 23 Psalm, especially with the coyotes making a fearful racket from every corner: "Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of my enemies. My cup runneth over." Such is the lot of a Christian. "For thou are with me," the lamb says at it sees the shadows in the valley. Next thing it knows, the Shepherd is setting the table with the enemies all around, and, having supped well, it drowses off thinking how good it is to fall asleep in the house of the Lord. For God is always at home. So here we are at night in the middle of nowhere, often in a raging blizzard--and all are chewing the cud contentedly, for "none makes them afraid." Though my house is hooked up to propane, I have for years not filled the tank and burn only wood. I have my writing table next the stove, and love watching the fire through the glass. This area is teeming with wood, most of which gets put on a pile and burned. I like what chopping wood does to my back. I had to learn to swing the ax both right and left, and it takes some getting used to if you're accustomed to swinging only from one side, because you need to keep your eye on the block, and those muscles will have to be stretched before you swing smoothly without losing sight of the block. And nothing is better for the back than shearing. It's like touching your toes for five minutes at a time, but once used to it, the back feels very healthy. I see what lack of activity does to sheep. Some days, if they fed well the previous day and the weather is bleak, they'll come to the gate, and look out dismally for any excuse to bolt back to their cushy nests. The next day they get up stiff, and by the third they refuse to get out of the corral. I'm willing to give them a pass for a day or so thinking they're just not feeling good. After the third day my wrath is kindled, because I know it is no more than sheer rebellion (they know the'll get handouts during the day if they stay behind), and I call out "Bander." When they hear that, they know the jig is up and they better make haste, for Bander does nothing by half. He had an ongoing feud with the black headed ones when he was a puppy, and he never forgets a grudge. They would chase him under a trailer, and he would howl and stick his nose out, and they would try to butt him--back and forth for hours. When they hear "Bander" they find their legs very quickly, and after a good run, they're good as new. I look at that and say, "I better stay busy." Hard work makes the best bed, and the best cook. Much of modern discontent is caused by too little to do. Even daily chores make life meaningful. When I see my sheep munch their fragrant hay with relish, I feel like a grand chef. The cats wait for me to bring them their supper, and tuck in while purring with thankfulness. And after a day out in the cold, Bander would not trade his couch next the fire for the world.