Israel only bombs terrorists, not civilians.

Your German nationality will now be revoked for thinking the wrong thought.

The way the US political system works is that it really requires solid majorities to want something.

So it will take a long time where nothing seems to happen and then suddenly big changes can happen.

I remember back in the 90s, it seemed impossible to ever get a black president, gay marriage or legal marijuana.

Or look at student loans or universal healthcare. Not perfect, but steps have been made.

So yeah, I do think the USA will lag for a long time and then suddenly surprise us all.

I know a lot of people don’t like the American First Past the Post system, but to be honest, even in a proportional system like here in the Netherlands, you end up with very similar dynamics.

Truth is, progressives are always a small minority, in every country. Because they are always ahead of the curve on change.

In the US, this means that you only get a handful of progressives in the most progressive districts and never a really progressive national government.

In the Netherlands, this means progressives are always represented, but need to compromise to form a government. And often, they even get skipped and the centrist and conservative parties form a coalition.

Truth be told, Biden is as progressive as you could hope to get in the USA.

And, while I do think it is important to criticize him - and even threaten to not vote for him - to enable him to move more towards the left, it is also important to vote for him.

Progressives always win, not through getting majorities, but because they have the right ideas and eventually the other parties catch up to them.

For recent examples, gay marriage in the USA or marihuana legalization are now law in the USA.

I am 100% confident that American policy on Israel will also shift thanks to progressive voices. And it will not require a progressive majority.

Americans still care about the price of oil, which is set in a global market and where Saudi-Arabia and Russia have more influence than the USA.

Obviously, the extremist Arabs that overthrew their own leaders are also to blame. Where did I deny that?

I don’t think you really have a lot of choices to be honest.

You’d first need to get new candidates to win a primary and then a general and the required majorities are lacking almost everywhere.

A more fruitful approach is to actually change public opinion.

It’s a long uphill battle, but it’s happening.

For decades, Israel and the US (and European countries) have pursued a policy to destabilize middle eastern regimes.

People don’t realize this, but there was a wave of Arab nationalism that was killed by sponsoring Islamic extremists. Had that not happened, the middle east would be much more secular today than it is.

Israel attacking and destabilizing Lebanon and Syria and the US maintaining a dictator in Egypt are part of this strategy.

In turn, this leads to hate towards the West and Israel by the Muslims affected.

It won’t stop as long as American voters care much more about gas prices than about human rights. American politicians are willing to sponsor genocide to have some control on oil prices in order to win elections.

Once the alternatives become more profitable, they will move to legislate in their favour.

Here in Europe, we already have billions in subsidies for wind and solar energy.

Will it go smoothly, or fast enough?

No, I think 3 degrees warming is basically inevitable at this point.

But it will happen, about five decades later than it should have happened.

Guess we will see in the next two decades.

There will always be winners and losers with any change.

Plantation owners definitely lost a lot of wealth due to the abolition of slavery, while the industrial tycoons gained a lot of wealth.

Switching away from fossil fuels will similarly benefit those who invest in the energy sources and technologies of the future, while shrinking the fortune of those dependent on fossil fuels.

Already, some forms of fossil energy are losing new investment.

For example, the high profile Keystone XL pipeline was never built, even though Trump approved it, because investors doubted its profit potential. Biden revoking the permit was mostly symbolic.

Now, I do otherwise agree with this more nuanced take of yours. Morality needs to be aligned with financial incentives in order to achieve change. That’s just how our current world works and I don’t see that basic mechanism changing.

So it makes more sense to focus on making fossil fuels less profitable, e.g. through taxation.

If you really think that wage slavery is comparable to being owned by a human, then you’re delusional.

Yes, slavery and child labour still exists. But if you think living in the US or China or India in 2024 is just as bad as 1850, then you are also delusional.

Some countries like Afghanistan or North Korea might be objectively worse, but those are a minority.

And yet, we managed to mostly abolish slavery and child labour in most countries.

It’s not going to be easy, but it can be done.

I remain pessimistic on the course this genocide is taking, but a UN resolution for peace that both the US and China voted for…

I didn’t expect to see this happen any time soon.

It’s unlikely that the details will be known before an agreement is reached.

But to your point, what really matters is whether the USA will force Israel to accept the proposal, or if the Israeli population protests harder against Netanyahu (but that’s unlikely to reach the required mass).

Netanyahu wants the war to continue and will not accept any deal, unless his hand is forced.

Anyway, Israel was telling people to flee Rafah. My local news says they are probably doing that to pressure Hamas by panicking the Gazan population.

So, no, I don’t think Israel will accept the deal.

Indeed, also it’s much nicer to use a shared high quality tool than to buy an el-cheapo disposable tool.

Even something simple like a crowbar. I once borrowed a (shorter) professional crowbar after struggling with a (larger) cheap one. The thing I was trying to pry came out like butter.

Even though physics dictates that a shorter lever should be inferior, it just had a much better design and grip.

Better for our wallet, sanity and environment.

If you can’t tell the difference between a limited number of well known examples and a statistical percentage, then perhaps you shouldn’t lecture others on thinking.

I am not a Jew, but I have to recognize that many of the people most fiercely standing up against Israeli human rights violations are Jews.

In the USA, Bernie Sanders, Robbert Reich and Chuck Schumer are three Jewish politicians that have been very consistent in their messaging.

Netanyahu and the right need more terrorists in order to justify further land grabs, so yes, that’s the goal.

Radicalize more people, so that those people strike back, then engage in war and take their land.

And yes, this is also how the Europeans and Americans took land from the natives during colonization.

I really don’t want to victim blame, but people really have to be careful when travelling.

Not every country is as liberal as the West.

Otto Warmbier

Brittany Griner

And now this guy.

The last natural, human, popular subreddit to arise on reddit was r/antiwork

After that, the site got swarmed by bots and censorship.

If you try and post something even remotely progressive in a popular subreddit, it will get deleted and you will probably get banned.

I didn’t think I’d find a mercantilist in 2024, but here we are.

No, that’s not how it works, otherwise the US would be a poor country based on their massive trade deficit.

Trade takes place because it is mutually beneficial. Each parties gets something out of each trade.

Reducing trade therefore will always hurts both countries.

Exactly which loses more will depend on a lot of factors, but in general smaller economies are more dependent on larger economies.

Usually with these types of things, it tends to be worse for the smaller economy, but both suffer. (See Brexit, Sanctions on Russia, Iran and Venezuela, and also historically those on apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia).

Turkey has a GDP 2-3x that of Israel, so I don’t know why you’d think it would be worse for them.