Fair. I think you can understand them as a group still, similarly to how you can see anonymous as a group.
I don’t think I’m educated enough to say anything against the group as a whole, as I haven’t sat down to do a lot of research on them (I’m realizing now that my comment was made from a BS bias that I had picked up from when I was a conservative).
however I don’t think the logic of the source meme on it’s own shows someone as fascist just because they oppose the antifa orginization.
I think it should be noted, the difference between antifa the organization and antifa the philosophy.
I am very much ideologically anti-fascist and I believe I would take up arms against a fascist government, however antifa the org has made some questionable calls in the past.
The problem with your argument against Israel is that everyone around them is so much worse. None of the countries around them respect any form of human rights, and some of them (including Hamas) actively want to try and commit their own genocides. This much was obvious given how Hamas fighters acted on the Oct attacks (I think it should be common knowledge that they did target civilians as apposed to just military targets, however here is a taste [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch6T9oR6tro]).
“The only thing US brings to the world is horror and suffering.”, this should be an obviously hyperbolic statement. What about World War II? Are you not saying that the U.S. at least brought some good by fighting the Nazi’s.
“It’s pretty obvious what genocide Joe should do. He should pack up and leave”. First of all, it is abhorrent to say anyone should do any sort of genocide. I know you likely didn’t mean it like that, and I don’t want you to think I’m trying to nit pick. I just want to encourage people to be careful with their words.
My second point on that quote, is that your missing the point. Have a little empathy. Regardless of how effective it would be at curbing Israelis actions in Gaza, this would have severe ramifications on civilians. Despite our shared thoughts on Israel, withdrawing US troops would likely both do nothing to curb Israels attacks on Gaza (Israel has a long history of operating fine without the US [2]) and it would only put Israeli lives at risk due to the bombing campaigns conducted by groups like Hamas.
[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch6T9oR6tro
[2] - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/16/why-israel-allies-explainer
This seems like what about-ism to the original topic. Regardless, this is a U.S. base that was established during the war on terror.
“U.S. troops returned to Iraq in 2014 after entirely withdrawing in 2011. They returned at the invitation of the Iraqi government, which was struggling to fend off a devastating Islamic State takeover of one-third of the country. The following year, the U.S. deployed troops to Syria to help the nascent SDF defeat the same group.” [1]
Although the base was still actively being used by U.S. forces, we were working on removing U.S. troops.
“Another report on Wednesday by Reuters revealed that the U.S. and Iraq will begin talks on ending the American-led coalition troop presence in that country, conveying the message in a letter to Iraq’s foreign minister. The report noted these talks will likely last several months, with a potential U.S. withdrawal far from imminent.” [2]. Look at [3] for Reuters article.
Outside of what Biden wanted to do, congress has already implied that they wanted those troops to stay there [4]. Even if Biden ignored the fact that a law requiring this much was struck down by congress (I don’t know if he even could), he would be destroying his reputation with law makers and could be risking his public reputation.
The main purpose of the base was to combat Islamic extremists who were operating outside of Syria. We can debate if the war on terror was a good idea, however it was already previous U.S. doctrine. The big thing to remember, is that there was an ongoing effort to remove the base.
You can shit talk the people who put that base there, but I don’t think it’s fair to say “Biden is not looking after his own people” just because he didn’t create some lunatic order to withdraw on short notice like what trump repeatedly did during his presidency.
What do you want him to do? Israel is a major military partner and is one of the only semi-sane governments in the area.
I get the disdain for Israels tactics, their risk to civilian calculations are well out of wack. They need to stop the settlements shit.
But, what do people really want him to do? We do not need to go to war with Israel, all that’s going to do is put Israeli lives at extreme risk. Most Gazans have started supporting Hamas (https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-palestinians-opinion-poll-wartime-views-a0baade915619cd070b5393844bc4514) and Hamas has proven that they don’t care about Israeli civilians.
What is it people want from him, just to virtue signal? Don’t get me wrong, I’m disgusted by Isreal’s conduct, but there isn’t anything he can do that would do anything more than virtue signal.
Public services in capitalist and communist societies are often hindered by inefficiency and corruption, causing issues with access to public housing. Public services are often influenced by political agendas and it can be difficult for disadvantaged groups to access. (https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2022/03/DHS-.pdf, for New York Budget) (https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/07/26/homeless-shelters-are-overflowing-and-most-likely-in-poor-areas-despite-fair-share-promises/)
I think the problem has more to do with the fact that humans are common to fall into nepotism and greed. This is not a problem that is siloed to either economic solution. (https://www.history.com/news/ukrainian-famine-stalin)
This post was revised using the help of a locally run instance llama2-uncensored from https://ollama.ai/.
Kind of a shitty mix of both.
“Everyone around them is a direct product of US meddling sine time immemorial”, I think I can agree to this statement. However just because you shouldn’t have gone in, does not mean you should leave.
Look at how the us withdraw from Iraq. It may even have been a good Idea to withdraw, however it was not a good Idea to make a hasty retreat like the US did.
Its same with Israel. If removing our selves actually don’t do anything to Israel, than we are just putting more Israeli lives at risk. Removing our supply of munitions would likely force Israel to pivot to primarily using ground forces which we would be an even worse outcome [1].
If withdrawing ourselves from Israel did have an effect on them, it would leave Israel on the Blackfoot and could risk the lives of innocent Israelis.
“And yes, have a little sympathy for the millions…”. I agree, it is sad that innocent people are dying. The sad truth is we’re in a catch 22 between the Islamic extremists and a country that make questionable moral choices. The problem is that their isn’t anything the US could do that would really effect the situation.
Biden is taking some action, pressuring Netanyahu to actually come up with a plan for Gaza that will end the endless loop of war in the area [2].
He also has started posturing towards Israel that things should be ramped down [3]. Athough it may not be the feel good story everyone wants from our democrat president, it is a pragmatic one. Focused on considering the lives of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
[1] - https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/drones-actually-the-most-humane-form-of-warfare-ever/278746/
[2] - https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/04/biden-gaza-israel-hamas-war-00130000
[3] - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67788359