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Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

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Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#621
post #475
post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's the point they're making. Arguably US citizens are more complicit in the crimes of Israel than Iranians are in the crimes of Russia since Americans have more capacity to choice their leadership.

I understood that, only posted what I did because let's just not say "Iran is a democratic country, like the US". It is not.

Iran has a longer history, obviously, but it’s worth mentioning the US is no longer a democratic country. The congress has effectively delegated its powers to the president. You can’t really come back from that any time soon.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#622

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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This is an ultra simplistic take. Iran does not like the role the US has in propping up Israel, entirely rational and understandable. Israel may not be recognized by our government as a "sworn enemy" but it's done infinitely more damage to the US and US citizens than Iran has. The only reason they're not sanctioned is because one of the ways Israel attacks the US is through bribery (AIPAC) and blackmail (Epstein).

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Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#623

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Every international body had checked, and confirmed that Iran had no intention of building nuclear weapons. Even to this day. Even after what Israel and US did. Netanyahu has been saying Iran in minutes away from building nuclear weapons since early 2010s. Never mind those facts. Let's say they are building weapons. What gives the US the right to build enough nuclear weapons that they could destroy the world multiple…

> What gives the US the right to build enough nuclear weapons that they could destroy the world multiple times over, but Iran cannot?

Already having nuclear weapons, being a superpower and the center of the post-WW2 and post-Cold-War world, being able to fight 2 ground wars simultaneously, etc.

The relationships between countries is governed by nothing other than might makes right, and any seemingly altruistic cooperation between the hegemon and its lessers only occurs because the hegemon benefits more.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#624

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an ultra simplistic take. Iran does not like the role the US has in propping up Israel, entirely rational and understandable. Israel may not be recognized by our government as a "sworn enemy" but it's done infinitely more damage to the US and US citizens than Iran has. The only reason they're not sanctioned is because one of the ways Israel attacks the US is through bribery (AIPAC) and blackmail (Epstein).

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Israel will be dissolved as the older generations die off. At that point we can fully remove ourselves from the Middle East. It's not our oil anyway, let's focus on other energy sources that don't require propping up synthetic states and causing worldwide terror.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dress it up however you like, the fact remains that countries can choose to not provide goods and services to whomever they want for whatever reason they want. There's absolutely no moral obligation on an individual in any country to defy these laws and risk prison time - if they want change they can petition, vote and protest. Beyond that the West is not responsible for any deaths caused by governments that refuse t…

> The west is not responsible for any deaths caused by governments that refuse to cooperate with us This US-centric mindset is so disgusting and emblematic of the narcissism of the west. The country has established itself as the most potent force for violence and economic abuse in the world.

My country should prioritize its own people first, second, third, fourth, fifth....and all other people a distant last, if at all. It sucks that the people in the US don't benefit as much as they could from being world hegemon, but that doesn't mean they would be better off if the US was in a lesser position in international relations.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#626

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think sanctions are pointless. Just do business with Iran as usual, but use the money earned to take out the ayatollah and his revolutionary guard. Or give that money to Israel to do the job.

Taking out a regime is easy. Every occupation of Afghanistan in history has been prematurely terminated mere moments before achieving its goal :(

Afghanistan is a special story. The previous Iran regime was taken out easily.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#627

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sanctions have a theoretical basis behind them. In the Western Political Philosophical Canon, leaders and elites are expected to strive for the Common Good. From that perspective, sanctions aren’t meant as “torture for fun,” (as you put it) but as a way of creating pressure so governments change their behavior without having to resort to war. They’re basically a tool to raise the cost of bad actions and make it more…

The poster above was pointing out that this is a double standard. You don't expect a US citizen to risk their livelihood to help an Iranian, but you then expect an Iranian citizen to risk their livelihood AND life to topple a regime that is doing things that the USA doesn't like. So, you either take personal responsibility for enforcing sanctions yourself, or you admit that sanctions are a form of collective punishme…

I think Western leaders are clear headed enough to understand that sanctions do not cause people to raise against their leaders. This has been known since bombing Germany and Japan in WWII (a different, more violent kind of sanctions). However sanctions weaken the adversary technologically, economically, and ultimately militarily. This is a pragmatic reason to enforce sanctions on the adversary.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#628
post #358

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> Nobody should be expected to take that risk I've seen this sentiment so many times from westerners. You all say this, and yet at the same time you levy economic sanctions on countries like Iran, Cuba, and North Korea, with the justification that by making their citizens lives horrific, you encourage them to rise against their government. Their authoritarian militaristic government that doesn't care for human rights…

> I've seen this sentiment so many times from westerners. You all say this, and yet at the same time you levy economic sanctions on countries... "You all" is a weird way of putting it. I don't support my government levying sanctions on these countries, but I have zero power to change it. It's funny, as the gist author points out that he doesn't support the actions of the Islamic Republic, and has no power to change i…

Sanctions are not designed to coerce a populace into rebellion, in order to facilitate regime change.

Sanctions are designed to prevent an enemy government from profiting from our western economy. Sanctions are designed to bring hostile entities to the negotiation table. Sanctions curtail the worst behaviors of enemy nations because the sanctions deny those enemies money. Money is power. Little money = little power.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#629

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This is not true and is nonsensical. The Iranian regime is explicitly anti-American, and it was American inaction that allowed them to rise to power. If America had intervened during the revolution, they could have eliminated the regime in its infancy and saved half a century of headaches and many lives lost due to Iranian wars and terror proxies. The US also did not create political Islam, which predates the US by o…

> If America had intervened during the revolution Well they did intervene during the 1952 revolution. The secular democratic government wasn't very convenient so they basically undid the revolution and reinstalled the Shah in power. Then the second time the Shah was overthrown, it was done by Islamists, not by the secular elected parliament.

Third time's the charm, just one more revolution and we'll have it all sorted out, juuuuuust one more /s

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#630

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think sanctions are pointless. Just do business with Iran as usual, but use the money earned to take out the ayatollah and his revolutionary guard. Or give that money to Israel to do the job.

We should be sanctioning Israel, not giving them even more money.

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