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phoenixyfriend · 29 days

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Can you explain the Iran-Israel situation please?

Alright, let's get to it. Please note that I'm writing this on mobile during my lunch break, so I can't include reference/source links as much as I'd like. Thankfully, most of what I'm going to be telling you should be easily located by searching for an article on one of the following: APNews, Reuters, BBC Global News Podcast, Democracy Now!, NPR, or The New York Times. Long-term background is probably best found in videos by the YouTube channels Real Life Lore or tldr global news, or on Wikipedia if you prefer text.

The short version: Israel attacked Iran's consulate in Syria to get at some of the military commanders that were there, which is legally equivalent to attacking Iran itself. Iran responded by sending about 300 bombs at Israel, most of which were shot down in transit. Given that they still called it a success, even though it seems only one person was even hurt, my understanding is that it's very likely that they only intended the rockets to be a show of force, rather than an actual escalation, because Iran can't afford a war right now.

To support my blogging so I can move out of my parents’ house, I do have a ko-fi. Alternately, you can donate to one of the charities I list in this post OR this post.

The long version:

Okay, let's start with some background on Israel, then Iran. This is... a lot, so if you already know the broad strokes skip down to 2023.

Israel was established following WWII by the English and French, following borders the two countries had secretly drawn up decades earlier in the Sykes-Picot agreement. The intent was to give the Jewish people a place to go... or, depending on who you ask, a place to send them. Their ancestral homeland was viewed as the best choice, sort of like a deportation millennia after a diaspora. Given that WWII had just ended by the time Sykes-Picot was actually put into effect, 'getting out of Europe' was something a lot of Jews were given to agree with.

The Arab world was not happy, as that land had belonged to the Ottomans for centuries, and had long since 'naturalized' to being Arab. I'm not going to pretend to know the nuances to when people do or do not consider Palestine to have been its own nation; it was an Ottoman state until WWI, at which point it came under British control for just under three decades, and that period is known as the British Mandate of Palestine; it ended after WWII, with the creation of Israel. Palestine's land and people have sort of just been punted around from one colonizer to another for centuries.

Iran is the current form of what was once Persia. They were an empire for a very long time, and were a unitary monarchy up until the early 20th century; in 1925, Iran elected a Prime Minister who was then declared the monarch. The following several decades had Iran's monarchy slowly weakened, and occasionally beset by foreign interventions, including a covert coup by the US and UK in 1953. The country also became more corrupt throughout the 1970s due to economic policy failing to control inflation in the face of rising oil prices.

In 1979, there was a revolution that overthrew the monarchy and the elected government, replacing the system with a theocracy and declaring Iran to be an Islamic Republic, with the head of state being a religious authority, rather than an elected one. This was not popular with... most countries. 1980 saw the closure of all universities (reopened in 1983 with government-approved curriculums), as well as the taking of over fifty American hostages from the US Embassy in Iran. You may have heard about that in the context of Ronald Reagan encouraging Iran to keep the hostages until the end of Carter's term in order to force the election.

So, the West didn't like having an Islamic state because it claims to like democracy, and also because the Islamic state was explicitly anti-American and this has some Bad Effects on oil prices. The Soviets didn't like having an Islamic State because a theocracy goes directly against a lot of communist values (or at least the values they claim to have), and weakened any influence their supposedly secular union could have on Iran and the wider middle east. The other countries in the Arab world, many of them still monarchies, didn't like the Islamic republic because if the revolution spread, then it was possible their monarchies would be overthrown as well.

(Except Oman, which is not worried, but that's the exception, not the rule.)

This is not a baseless worry, because Iran has stated that this is its goal for the Arab world. Overthrow the monarchies, overthrow the elected governments, Islamic Rule for everyone. That is the purpose of its proxies, like Hezbollah (Lebanon), the Houthis (Yemen), and Hamas (Palestine), along with less well-known groups like the Salafi Jihadists in Mali, who are formally under the umbrella of al-Quaeda, which Iran denies having any relation to but is suspected of funding. In areas where these proxy groups have gained power, they are liable to enact hard Shari'a law such as has happened in Northern Mali and other parts of the Sahel region.

While other conflicts have occurred in these countries, I think the above is most relevant.

Israel has repeatedly attacked, or been attacked by, other nations in the middle east, as they are viewed as having taken over land that is not theirs, and as being a puppet of the US government. The biggest conflicts have been 1947-1948, 1968/1973, and 2014.

And then, of course, 2023.

Now, Iran, more than any other nation in the Middle East, hates Israel. They have for a very long time, viewing them as an affront to the goal of spreading Islam across the whole of the middle east, and as being a front and a staging ground for the United States and other Western powers. Two common refrains in the slogans of Iran and its proxies are "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."

Due to Iran's military power and virulence towards Israel, the United States has been funneling money to Israel for decades. It has more generally been to defend itself against the Arab world at large, but it has narrowed over the decades to being about Iran and its proxies as relations have normalized with other nations like Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Cue October 7th, 2023. Hamas invades Israeli towns, kills some people, and takes others as hostage. Israel retaliates, and the conflict ramps up into what is by now tens of thousands of dead, some half of which are children.

In this time, Hamas's allies are, by definition, Iran and the other proxy forces. Hezbollah, being in Lebanon, share a border with Israel's north. They have been trading rocket fire across the border in waves for most of the past six months. The Houthis, down in Yemen, claim to be attacking the passing cargo ships in order to support Palestine. Given that the attacks often seem indiscriminate, and that the Houthi's control over their portion of Yemen is waning in the face of their poor governance, this is... debatable. It's their official reason, but given that "let's attack passing ships, claiming that we only attack Israeli or American ships and that it is to support Palestine" is rallying support domestically for their regime, it does seem to be more of a political move to garner support at home than about supporting Palestine.

Iran, however, has not attacked Israel. They've spoken out about it, yes, but they haven't done anything because nobody wants a regional war. Nobody can afford it right now. Iran is dealing with a domestic crisis due to oil subsidies bleeding the states' coffers dry, and the aging Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of Iran, refusing to pick a successor. They are looking at both an economic crisis and succession crisis, and a regional war would fuck up both situations further. Iran funds most of its proxies, and they can't do that, and fight a war on top of it, while their economy is in its current state. Pure self preservation says they don't want a war, especially with the ongoing unrest that's been going on for... well, basically since the revolution, but especially since the death of Mahsa Amini.

Meanwhile, in Israel, Netanyahu has been looking at corruption charges and legal issues since before the Hamas attack. It's generally agreed that if Israel were to hold new elections right now, he would lose and be replaced, and also immediately taken to court. Netanyahu wants to stay in power, and as long as the war on Hamas lasts, he is unlikely to get voted out. A change in leadership in the middle of a war is rarely a good idea for any country, and he's banking on that.

However, the war on Hamas rests on the shoulders of American money and supplies. Without that military support, Israel cannot fight this war, and America... is losing patience.

Officially, America and most of the western world have been telling Israel to not fucking escalate for the majority of the war.

There have been implied threats, more or less since Schumer's big speech about how Israel needs a new election, of American legislators putting conditions on any future aid. There have even been rumblings of aid being retracted entirely if Israel follows through on invading Raffah.

So...

American aid to Israel has, for a very long time, been given in the name of defending Israel against Iran and its proxies.

Israel has been fighting this war against Hamas for six months, killing what is by now innumerable civilians, on the power of US military aid.

Netanyahu benefits from the continued war due to domestic troubles.

Iran does not want a regional war, or really any big war, due to its own domestic troubles.

The US is, in theory, losing patience with Israel and threatening to pull the plug on unconditional support. It's very "we gave you this to fight Iran. Stop attacking civilians. If you keep attacking civilians, then you're going to have to rely on what we already gave you to fight off Iran so that you won't keep wasting it on civilians."

Israel... attacks Iran, prompting a response, and is now talking about escalating with Iran.

I am not explicitly saying that it looks to me like Israel, which is already fighting a war on two physical fronts and even more political/economic ones, has picked a fight with Iran so that America feels less like it is able to withdraw support.

I just... am finding it hard to understand why Israel, which is in fact fighting both Hamas and Hezbollah, would attack the Iranian consulate in Syria otherwise. They can't actually afford to fight this war, escalating to a full regional conflict, on a third front.

Not without pressuring American into keeping the faucet of military funding open at full blast.

To support my blogging so I can move out of my parents’ house, I do have a ko-fi. Alternately, you can donate to one of the charities I list in this post OR this post.

#phoenix politics #current events #iran #israel #hamas #houthis #hezbollah #syria #politics #united states #military funding #military aid

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dowhatteverer · 1 year

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Born from the same discord chat as this

I give you James Ironwood shipping alignment chart with doodles by me.

#james ironwood #Ironqrow #horseshoes #lucky ironqrow #IronThorn #hazelwood #military funding #silver shamrock #ironclock #cold war #irondeath

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dragynkeep · 11 months

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Watts x Ironwood ship bingo?

#rwby #james ironwood #arthur watts #ironwatts #military funding #ais.txt #answered #q

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defensenow · 2 days

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youtube

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psycheapuleius · 10 months

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#presented w/o comment #articifial intelligence #military funding #wild even if fake

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whats-in-a-sentence · 10 months

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As early as the end of October 1946 Philip Morrison indicated his anxiety about the situation during the annual forum on public affairs conducted by the New York Herald Tribune:

At the last Berkeley meeting of of the American Physical Society just half the delivered papers . . . were supported in the whole or in part by one of the services . . . some schools derive 90 per cent of their research support from Navy funds . . . the Navy contracts are catholic. They are written for all kinds of work . . . some of the apprehension that workers in science feel about this war-born inflation comes from their fear of its collapse. They fear these things: the backers – Army and Navy – will go along for a while. Results, in the shape of new and fearful weapons, will not justify the expenses and their own funds will begin to dwindle. The now amicable contracts will tighten up and the fine print will start to contain talk about results and specific weapon problems. And science itself will have been bought by war on the instalment plan.

The physicist knows the situation is a wrong and dangerous one. He is impelled to go along because he really needs the money. It is not only that the war has taught him how a well-supported effort can greatly increase his effectiveness, but also that his field is no longer encompassed by what is possible for small groups of men. There is a real need for large machines – the nuclear chain reactors and the many cyclo-, synchro- and beta-trons – to do the work of the future. He needs the support beyond the capabilities of the university. If the O.N.R. or the new Army equivalent, G6, comes with a nice contract, he would be more than human to refuse.

"Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists" - Robert Jungk, translated by James Cleugh

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brw · 7 months

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"but hamas is getting funded by extremist islamic hate groups!" do you think the U.S. government and military giving funding for israeli's war efforts against palestinians is a morally neutral and inherently righteous body that had no influence in the politics of southwest asia as a global colonial superpower. do you really think anything you can say about the people resisting oppression can't be said about the oppressors.

#brieuc.txt #palestine #this isnt me justifying it but it is me pointing out the double standard how hamas' funding is antithetical to the freedom movement #but the u.s.' influence and financial support is completely fine and doesnt need to be brought up at all #''hamas doesnt have the best interests of palestinian people'' may be true but the alternative is not allowing an apartheid state to exist #also its a ridiculous thing to say because thats a common thing in most countries #neo-nazi groups r a major problem in the Ukraine military but nobody questions ukraine's right for freedom.#the double standards keep on piling up #im not saying you cant criticise these groups but is it criticism or is it propaganda #are you talking abt how war radicalises and changes n traumatises people or are you implying every palestinian is a dirty terrorist #etc #and do you understand that in an active war zone n worlds largest open air prison violence is guaranteed and is brutal.#or do you think that if the people with no electricity and water just Werent So Stubborn And Talked everything would be okay?#and do you consider white people fighting for freedom martyrs but brown people doing the same terrorists

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snekdood · 6 months

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so uh

for 1. most people are gonna take advantage of black friday and wont see your specific niche tumblr post, I hate to say it

2. the us isnt running out of money for war any time soon, so...

3. this is just antisemitism???????? all we need is some (((echoes))) around the us and israel and then I'd have no reason to suspect otherwise from op...............

#why in tf do you think they care that much about getting your money rn and not before in any other war?#does it. mayhaps. have something to do w jewish people being involved now?#our tax dollars go to the govt regardless and has been for years and we already have an obscene amount of funding for military shit #preeetty sure they're not concerned about getting a couple hundred tumblr users money...#and also pretty sure one could only believe that if they're paranoid about jewish ppl.................#hard not to put two and two together and figure out op is prolly antisemitic and hopefully they just dont realize it #i say hopefully they dont realize it bc thats better than someone who knows and is pretending to be a leftist still.#if anything this pause happened bc its thanksgiving and biden doesnt wanna think about it over the holidays. thats p much it.#thats the only amount of conspiracy theory im willing to believe in this situation lmao.#but that ^ still assumes that biden has some sort of control over this that he really doesnt #and i dont think netanyahu cares that much about thanksgiving tbr...#it sounds more like to me that op is seeing this from a very american centric pov and assumes everyone celebrates thanksgiving #or cares enough about it to remember the dates.... i dont think this is as planned as op is making it out to be and any insinuation #that it IS planned sounds like conspiracy theory talk to me personally. i dont think biden is hittin netanyahu up and going #'hey thursday is thanksgiving and would be the perfect time to pause so we can (((get peoples money))) out of them #asiftheUSdoesnthaveplentyalready' like i just really dont think that convo is happening lmao.

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captain-casual · 2 months

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Source

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allthecanadianpolitics · 3 months

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The Trudeau government authorized at least $28.5 million of new permits for military exports to Israel during the first two months of the state’s brutal war on Gaza, data supplied to The Maple by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) shows. The total value of the new permits authorized over a two-month period exceeds the 30-year annual record high of $26 million in Canadian military exports to Israel in 2021. The information provided by GAC does not indicate the time period for which the newly authorized permits are valid for, meaning not all the goods may have been exported in 2023. Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher with the arms-monitoring group Project Ploughshares, told The Maple: “It’s not only troubling that Canadian officials have continued to authorize arms transfers since the onset of Israel’s operation, but also that the value of those transfers is in the tens of millions.” “These combined values exceed that of total Canadian arms exports to Israel for any year on record.”

Tagging @politicsofcanada @allthegeopolitics

#cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #military exports #canada arms israel #genocide #palestinian genocide #canada funds genocide #arms trade

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ganondoodle · 1 month

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seeing the video of palestinians tearing down the apartheid wall and i cant help but feel a similar kind of joy as when seeing the pictures from when the wall seperating germany fell, with masses of people storming it and helping each other climb qwq

#ganondoodles talks #meanwhile i was making breakfast and heard on the radio our shitty ass Bundeskanzler calling the iranian attack on iof military bases #'horrible and not justifyable by anything'#like you FUCKER dont get to say that while funding the exact same genocidal regime that attacked iran first WHILE carrying out a genocide-#-for months WHILE its been attackign SEVERAL other countries at the SAME TIME AND been violently occupying a country #i feel like i get americans so much more now #like man i love my country but fuck that government #“not justifyable by anything” *actively funds a genocidal regime thats attacking what 3+ other countries as well*#you are not making us beat the 'still nazis lolol' allegations with that #hate it here #free palestine

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batfamfixation · 2 months

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Batman is not "pro-police" and is sure as hell not a Republican

Some people are under the impression that Batman is pro-police, but that is literally so inaccurate. Batman is for police reform and accountability, and he will personally do it himself if he has to. He is anti-gun and believes a police officer should never shoot unless absolutely necessary. He wouldn't have become Batman if he thought the police were competent. He only works with Jim Gordon, because he thinks most of the police are incompetent. He would and has fist fought with dirty cops. He thinks that getting rid of corrupt cops (and politicians) is an important part of making Gotham a better place. He prefers giving petty criminals jobs and social resources rather than having them arrested.

He is not just for police reform but also prison reform, because he believes the point of prisons should be about rehabilitating inmates. He believes that no one is beyond rehabilitation. That is borderline one of his character flaws. He hires former inmates so they can make a living without turning back to crime. He even has a halfway house that former convicts can stay in until they get figuratively back on their feet. He prefers eradicating crime by addressing the root cause, which is often poverty and a lack of social resources.

AND ANOTHER THING- There's this idea that Gotham is a shithole because Bruce isn't doing enough with his wealth, but that doesn't take into account that he is nowhere near the only billionaire in Gotham. He's up against the Court of Owl elites, and a lot of them are board members for Wayne Enterprises and have a say in what the company can and can not do. The Court of Owls plays a heavy roll in politics and most politicians are puppets of the Court and mobs. Politicians that aren't corrupt get killed by the bad guys for refusing to obey. Look at what happened to Harvey Dent. Look at how much money he has funneled into Arkham to no avail. Bruce can not own and control every aspect of every major business in Gotham. No person should have a monopoly on an entire city.

#I saw someone say he was a Reagan Republican because he's pro-police and pro-military #bitch where #He's for police reform and prison reform #He supports giving former convicts another chance #(not a “second chance” because a lot of them have had a lot more chances than that)#This man believes that even his villains can be reformed #He's even friendly with former villains like Harley Quinn #He showed concern for her when she was in an abusive relationship with the Joker #He's even sympathetic and shows kindness to villains like Mr. Freeze #He's anti-guns and pro-gun control #he's a strong proponent of funding social services and rooting out corruption #HE'S DOING HIS BEST #GOTHAM JUST REALLY SUCKS #Batman #Bruce Wayne #Gotham

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