The Russo-Ukrainian War is that very battle gone hot and bloody. I see Gaza as a distraction from it that we can do very little to influence.
I’m a history guy, so I see this all from a very big perspective, where it becomes impossible to keep ones hands perfectly clean. I think the best way to help Gazans is actually, very counter-intuitively, to help Netanyahu, since it keeps him from being backed into a corner and forced to adopt even more brutal, dictatorial, but also slower methods to accomplish his own personal goals, which he will pursue regardless.
If we could save Gazans somehow I would be in favor of that, but simply stopping the flow of weapons would not do that. There are many ways to ethnically cleanse, and we simply cannot change that. So to me, it’s weighing between 100k Gazan casualties and 1 million Gazan casualties.
Unless we took hostile action against Israel, but that would have its own consequences. It’s very much a rock-and-a-hard-place with no good answers. We simply cannot save them, not at the current moment.
Even the UN resolution was just calling for a cease fire. It wasn’t an actual, enforced cease fire, where you go and make it happen through coercion or force. And even if we did, hamas would still be there, still preying on Gazans in pursuit of their own goals.
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is just pure ugly. Personally I support a rescinding of our treaties with Israel, but we can’t do that during a war without further destabilizing the globe by demonstrating we will not honor our treaty obligations.
Yeah, as far as Israel and Gaza goes, I would at least contemplate hostile action against the Israeli government, but our history of occupying and nation building tells me that wouldn’t work out, so what I really want is for us to either give Israel an ultimatum to shape up or we end our allegiance or just end it straightaway (though I do think there’s some value in maintaining the reputation of being a country that stands by its treaties and that would take a hit with the second approach). Ultimately, I think they need a one state solution that’s secular and gives all Jews and Muslims and everyone else equality before the law regardless of their religious beliefs, but I think any kind of movement to make that happen is going to need to come from the people living there.
I also want us to massively streamline the processes of obtaining asylum and permanent residency and tell every Palestinian (and, while we’re at it, Uyghur, Iranian dissident, Saudi dissident, Russian dissident, and anyone else who’s being persecuted) - if you can make it to the US you’re welcome to build a new life here. The war in Iraq thoroughly convinced me that spreading human rights by force is almost always counter productive, but I think we can still do a lot to protect human rights just by promoting asylum.
The Russo-Ukrainian War is that very battle gone hot and bloody. I see Gaza as a distraction from it that we can do very little to influence.
I’m a history guy, so I see this all from a very big perspective, where it becomes impossible to keep ones hands perfectly clean. I think the best way to help Gazans is actually, very counter-intuitively, to help Netanyahu, since it keeps him from being backed into a corner and forced to adopt even more brutal, dictatorial, but also slower methods to accomplish his own personal goals, which he will pursue regardless.
If we could save Gazans somehow I would be in favor of that, but simply stopping the flow of weapons would not do that. There are many ways to ethnically cleanse, and we simply cannot change that. So to me, it’s weighing between 100k Gazan casualties and 1 million Gazan casualties.
Unless we took hostile action against Israel, but that would have its own consequences. It’s very much a rock-and-a-hard-place with no good answers. We simply cannot save them, not at the current moment.
Even the UN resolution was just calling for a cease fire. It wasn’t an actual, enforced cease fire, where you go and make it happen through coercion or force. And even if we did, hamas would still be there, still preying on Gazans in pursuit of their own goals.
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is just pure ugly. Personally I support a rescinding of our treaties with Israel, but we can’t do that during a war without further destabilizing the globe by demonstrating we will not honor our treaty obligations.
Yeah, as far as Israel and Gaza goes, I would at least contemplate hostile action against the Israeli government, but our history of occupying and nation building tells me that wouldn’t work out, so what I really want is for us to either give Israel an ultimatum to shape up or we end our allegiance or just end it straightaway (though I do think there’s some value in maintaining the reputation of being a country that stands by its treaties and that would take a hit with the second approach). Ultimately, I think they need a one state solution that’s secular and gives all Jews and Muslims and everyone else equality before the law regardless of their religious beliefs, but I think any kind of movement to make that happen is going to need to come from the people living there.
I also want us to massively streamline the processes of obtaining asylum and permanent residency and tell every Palestinian (and, while we’re at it, Uyghur, Iranian dissident, Saudi dissident, Russian dissident, and anyone else who’s being persecuted) - if you can make it to the US you’re welcome to build a new life here. The war in Iraq thoroughly convinced me that spreading human rights by force is almost always counter productive, but I think we can still do a lot to protect human rights just by promoting asylum.