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The United States withdraws from UNESCO

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721–730 of 989 posts

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#721
post #716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some US interference? Like funding the genocide? Pretty much all atrocities in the middle east can be traced back Europeans (mainly UK) carving up the area after ww1 and theirs and American imperialism since ww2. Israel is a project of this.

So you want Israel to cease to exist? Germany did the Holocaust, nobody said Germany can't exist. Russia attacks Ukraine in an emperialistic power move, no one suggest Russia shouldn't exist. But Israel is a "project" that needs to end. More like a scape goat. I'm israeli. This war is bad, my government is evil. But I deserve to have a nation to call home, so do the Palestinians. If you disagree with me, think about…

Hey, American here.

> This war is bad, my government is evil.

We have a lot in common

> But I deserve to have a nation to call home, so do the Palestinians.

Absolutely!!!

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#722

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar to the Israeli ambassador being recalled from Dublin. They mean it as a big dramatic statement but they've done it that many times it's lost all significance. She only gets reinstated again for the purpose of making another dramatic exit.

They always send their most incompetent ambassadors to Dublin, ones that put their foot in their own mouth.

I suppose looking at it from the Israeli government's perspective, Ireland is a very safe place for Israelis and Jewish people in general, but the public and government are vocal on Israel's actions and there's no defence/intelligence links between the two countries. Trade links are on the European level.

There'll never be a reason for them to send a skilled diplomat, so may as well send a shit stirrer who's only good for causing controversy.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#723
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AIPAC is the most powerful lobby in Washington. And money get's you anything in politics.

I’ve heard this for decades now. But how do they rank in importance compared to other juggernauts like the teachers unions, NRA, or United Auto Workers, Planned Parenthood? Not to mention individual lobbyists for massive companies? because the latter dominate discourse during elections.

When was the last time you had to sign an agreement not to boycott gun fairs or a car manufacturer, for a job?

Planned Parenthood? You mean the healthcare-providing entity that has been entirely defunded by this administration?

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#724
post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't believe Gaza's health ministry, how about Agence France-Presse? The journalists' association of the French wire service Agence France-Presse (AFP) warned on Monday that staff working with the agency in Gaza are at risk of starvation and that "without intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die." In the statement, the SDJ said that AFP's journalists in Gaza have warned that they no longer have stren…

I fully believe that Gazans are starving, I just don't think it's Israel's fault. Hamas is stealing and withholding food, and other resources.

Israel controls 80% of the territory in Gaza and all the aid posts. This is a complete fabrication by the media that has no correspondence to what people in the ground are saying.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#725

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multiple things can be true at once. It is hard/impossible to come up with an accurate death toll. The Gaza Health Ministry systemically underreports the death toll by only counting bodies that they have directly observed. Some third parties have tried to extrapolate from the reported numbers to get to the actual numbers; but that is a highly speculative endeavor under the best circumstances.

> by only counting bodies that they have directly observed This was only true in an early phase of the conflict; they've long since been adding casualties reported by "reliable media sources" as well as a Google form.

It's amazing how there's all this skepticism when literal first-person repots come out every day showing that things are much worse on the ground.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#727

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's part of it, but a relatively small part of it. Most of it is Christians who think they can force apocalyptic prophecies to come true by ensuring Israel's continued existence. The nature of their belief is such that it doesn't matter how badly Israel behaves, they will unconditionally support them.

I think hundreds of billions in dollars and unique testing bench for weapons development is a significant part. The fact that it has synergies with the American foreign policy for dominating the oil rich Middle East is also definitely another plus. It’s not just “oh the Israel lobby is strong”.

The Israelis don't buy that many weapons from America, either directly nor by having the American government buy and gift the weapons. It's significant, but weapon sales alone can't explain the fanaticism of American politicians in both parties and the American public. Weapon sales can't explain why states like Texas would pass laws requiring school teachers to swear oaths of loyalty to Israel. It can't explain why small town diners in rural America hang Israeli flags, or why America/Israel combined flag fridge magnets and patches are on sale at every truckstop.

The American public are absolutely fanatical about Israel and it's mostly because of their insane religious beliefs, not because they're all invested in the defense industry.

Look up figures for how much defense material Israel actually imports from America vs other countries. Have you ever heard of American politicians getting grilled at debates about how much they support Japan? Have you ever heard American politicians boasting that they support Qatar far more than their opponent? How many American politicians mention support for Australia during their campaign rallies? Support for Israel is a unique phenomenon in American politics, not merely a straight forward function of arms exports. It's because the American people have loyalty to Israel specifically, because their bibles say that Israel is important and say nothing about South Korea.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#728

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s pretty naive. There are never unambiguously good and bad sides in a civil war. Case in point: the ANC terrorized and massacred Zulu nationalists.

Okay that’s fine — call it naive. Way would you call condemning the Gazans for fighting against occupiers while white washing the long history of crime and abuse by Zionists?

Israel hadn't 'occupied' Gaza since 2005.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#729

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> by only counting bodies that they have directly observed This was only true in an early phase of the conflict; they've long since been adding casualties reported by "reliable media sources" as well as a Google form.

It's amazing how there's all this skepticism when literal first-person repots come out every day showing that things are much worse on the ground.

I don’t think anyone here is denying the suffering that’s occurring, but it’s still important to make sure we have our facts right.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#730
post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The U.S. is $35 TRILLION in DEBT. It's on a fast path to very high inflation which will be bad for everyone. U.S. can't afford $18 billion of non-essential spending. It can't afford $1 billion of non-essential spending. In fact, it can't afford $1 of non-essential spending. The argument "we're $35 trillion in debt so it's not a big deal to add 0.01% to it" is just incomprehensible to me. And it's not just UN. It's $4…

What’s the counter to the standard “nation-states do not run like family budgets, especially when the nation-state is the global hegemon”? Or “Owe your banker £1,000 and you are at his mercy; owe him £1 million and the position is reversed.”?

That at every point in the past and almost certainly in the future, global hegemons don't stay that way once their currency is sufficiently devalued and no longer held as the reserves of other nations.
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