Karmadhi

I feel like this "He is a Zionist" argument is moot. Being a Zionist is not the same as allowing them to do mass murder, disrepect the USA and lie 24 7. You can be a Zionist but keep them in check and punish them if they go out of check. A Zionist would say "Israel has the right to exist", but as long as they start breaking interntional law then we will punish them accordingly. What you refer to here is a shameless Zionist that has no remorse nor principles. It is sad for a democratic USA president to be such a person.

That is indeed true. That does not make him weak but dangerous to democracy. Although I feel like the US has so many checks that it is very hard to become authoritarian. In Israel they had the same issue last year with the justice reforms that would nullify the supreme court. In Israel, is was indeed a high chance it could turn into a dictatorship because they have only 1 check on power which is their supreme court. They do not even have a consitution. Unlike Israel, USA has tons of checks on the power so I feel like it will be hard for Trump to become like Putin. But I am not an expert in American politics.

Okay. But I can flip the script and say that Trump supports the idea that Russia and Ukraine are 1 country but does not want to openly admit it. There is no word for that ideology like there is for Zionism but you get the point. That will not make him a coward, just with a different attitude and outlook on things. Or he does not see Russia as the boogyman others see it but as a potential ally perhaps. I see that Trump does not see Russia as the enemy but he sees China. I am just speculating here. I know that Trump killed the second most powerful person in Iran when he was president. That is quite a daring move and could have sparked a war with Iran. Not something a coward would do. Being friendly to Russia does not make you weak, just different perspective on things. I know many of the political commentators out there say similar things. Now, I am not saying Trump is not stupid. But to me he is more of a unpredictable reckless idiot than a pussy coward. But just my opinion.

If Biden was strong and had a spine he would tell Bibi to fuck off after Bibi seriously hurt Biden and USA reputation as well as loosing him millions of votes. Biden reaction to Bibi and his cabinet complaining about the US not supporting them enough shows how weak he is. I am consistently shocked at how much of a pushover Biden has been regarding that whole issue. Compare that with Bernie's declarations and comments. Night and day difference. A strong USA president would not take that from a country with 10 million people in the other side of the world. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ryccwveir https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-800531 Imagine if Beria made a declaration saying "Hitler loves Roosevelt" in the middle of world war 2.

I was referring to more about pre October situation. With the war now, I do not except most Israelis to support two state.

So when Leo says that Israelis want land more than peace than he is correct. Thank you for being honest. I hope you realize that attitude will lead to more terrorist attacks and more hatred towards Israelis. If that is a price you are willing to pay, then ok. I already have given you my opinion on this matter regarding where I think the land belongs so I will not waste time on it here again. I just wanted to verify what Leo has said here from day 1. I will a bit later. Ok thank you, what you shared is very interesting. I thought that they were pro two state until the Hamas attack. I can imagine now that nobody will be in favour of it for obvious reasons. So when I talked for pro two state, i meant more for the pre October situation. But I am not very familiar with politics there so I will take what you said into account. It does make a lot of sense to be honest what you say. I obviously do not agree with it, but it is good to say stuff as it is other than sugar coat it. You remind me of some pro Russians I know who say Ukraine should be all Russia and openly say it. For some reason I find transparency easier to deal with. Just one question. I know that there were the Oslo accords in the late 90s and also Israel forced settlers go leave Gaza in 2005. The people in charge that did these things, they were somewhat pro two state right? Or am I missing something?

Which is the most popular Israeli politican right now? Gantz? Yapid? Are Yapid and Gantz similar or different? What about Bennet, I saw he was PM for a short time. To me Bennet seemed more rightwing than some other politicians. What do you think of him?

Ok thank you. It was not linked with the video. I know the guy you sent. Yes, because often here you openly say that the land we call Palestinian territories aka the West Bank and Gaza are Israeli land and should become so. Those 2 say the same, they are all for making them part of Israel. Meanwhile other Israeli politicians tend to be more pro the two state solution which would see those lands becoming part of a Palestinian state. That is the division I see in Israeli politics. Also you seem to me to prioritize the Torah over international law, those 2 are the same.

@Gennadiy1981 Do you like Ben Gvir and Smotricht?

I agree. Usually sanctions make the country worse which can spark resentment against the current government and lead to revolutions or overthrows. That is the logic. If you want for example Putin gone, there is not other realistic way. You cannot just invade Russia you know. You can invade Iraq though. If a country has nuclear weapons you cannot invade them.

To be frank you are a moderate Israeli. The issue is not with people like you. It is with more radical people. So I can understand you.

There is also plenty of collective punishment happening against Israelis in the world by normal people. But on an institution level there is none yet. Israel is still allowed to participate in the Olympics, Eurovision etc. On an individual level, I saw plenty of clips of Israelis not being allowed to serve in restourants etc. Personally, I think it is wrong because you do not know what that individual thinks. Same with Russians. Although, statistically speaking most Israelis do support what happened to Gaza and most Russians do support what happened in Ukraine. But not everyone.

I think he does this guys to show that Israel is a normal country, they have a beach, people chilling in evening and everything else. Considering that the whole vibe here is to demonize Israel to the point of looking at them as non humans. But the picture shows that it is indeed a beautiful country with normal people just like me and you. They are not so different from other people. I think this is what he is going for when posting these pictures.

Interesting proposition. It reminds me of Hamsterdam from the Wire Season 3. The closest thing we have to it, is Amsterdam in Netherlands. When I was there you had access to all types of weed, LSD and Shrooms/Truffles. Also in Netherlands you can go to ayahasca retraits. In terms of legalizing cocaine or heroin I am a little less enthusiastic. Especially heroin, which can become addictive very very fast and is deadly. Cocaine I never tried but I find it more ok to be used due to it not being so addictive and requiring a big ass amount to die from it. Lets face it, tons of rich people use cocaine. Now for the city to work, you need 2 components. 1. It needs to be on a developed city (society wise). Stage Green is the bare minimum. Stage Yellow would be ideal. I would put Amsterdam quite green. 2. The surrounding areas need to be also somewhat developed and also not easy to smuggle the powerful drugs. So although it is a good idea it can only be done at certain parts of the world. Lastly, It is very important for a spiritual roadmap to exist and be easily accessable. It is often the case that people try these drugs, including shrooms, yet they do not really grow from them. They see it as a fun hallucination experience and nothing more. They miss all the spiritual and metaphysical components that a deep trip can do. It would be amaizing if in these cities you could hire experienced trippers to guide you during your trip. I did that with a friend who is very spiritual and the trip was life changing in terms of inner growth. But that is not really the case with most people that took it. What do you think?

Of course. I am not saying why their friends and relatives protest. I am talking about society at large. It goes both ways. Issue is that I blame Israel for the hostages as much because they could have ended it a long time ago. Just end the war, leave Gaza and they will be released. Also, I seen footage of the released ones and they all seem relatively in good shape. I am sure they will be released in the long run. Their biggest threat is Israel bombing them or shooting them by mistake. Hamas will not kill them. If they wanted to, all of them would be dead a long time ago. I think protesting for their release is the right thing, but would be nice if people also mentioned that Gazans are suffering too. Truth is that the Israeli government wants land and to kill Hamas more than they want the hostages to be free. They prefer to kill 300 innocent Palestinians to free 3 of them, instead of just ending the war to get all of them. That is the issue here. Hamas is already quite weakened. They just want to kill their top leadership and do not care about concequences. What Israel does not understand, is that the vaccum will be filled by other people. It is like putting a drug lord to jail, one of his subordinates or rivals will fill his place. As long as there is demand. And the demand has been hugely increased with all the 40.000 people killed in Gaza. Tons of people will want to join now. This war is a total failure. But that is what happens when half of the government are fascists. A more moderate government would have ended this war months ago.

@Nivsch Why dont they protest also for all the bad things happening in Gaza? Or is their sympathy only for the hostages? How about they also protesting about the boy with down syndrome who was killed by dogs while in his home? Where are the protests about that? They seem as morally developed as Gazans to be frank. Only care about their own. The rest can be wiped out, who cares. Sad.

The more I see this war, the more I think that the world should dis own Israel and leave them alone against the Arabs unless they start respecting international laws. Today the ICJ ruled that the Occupation of the Palestinian territories as illegal, yet they will not change their action. Coercion is needed. Otherwise they will never learn. It is like a country with corrupt politicans, as long as there is no mechanism to imprison them for corruption then they will keep stealing. I cannot even blame Israel fully at this point, I blame the rest of the "civilized world" for allowing these devils to keep doing what they do. A devil will not be reformed unless he is faced the consequences of his devilry. You can say that the October attacks were Israel facing the consequences of their policies, but they will never admit it. And that also broke international laws, so it cannot be called a proper response to devilry. A proper response would be sanctions, cutting all ties and basically being disowned. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjerjzxlpvdo

Fair

Can you please send me the links where I can see footage of Hamas doing anything to civilians that is not shootings, beatings or rape? I tried and could not find. You talk about their most barbaric acts. I want to see those livestreams. And regarding setting houses on fire, I read on many sources that Israeli tanks did fire on houses during fighting and also during their employment of the Hannibal doctrine. I believe a credible Israeli source claimed the Hannibal doctrine was implemented. So the issue is that the whole thing seems fishy. I do not think beating people with hammer sounds ridiciolous if you think IDF is as ruthless as Hamas is. It only sounds crazy if you think they are some sort of ethical army.

Ideally you need to give specific cases or examples of biases and double standards. I tried to do it with the Wagner hammer comparison only to be labeled stuff. Only when Boby intervened, did Vrubel elaborate and gave his version. Lets try on this forum to actually give examples and elaborations when we call someone biased. Since this forum is focused on Leo's epistemic work, the biggest boggyman is the word "bias". It has become basically a meaningless slur to say to those that disagree with you, without proper backup of why the term is used. I have also been guilty of this, will not deny it. From now on, I will try to always give examples or proof when I call someone biased. PS: Calling Leo biased against Israel when he is neither Arab, neither Jewish, neither Muslim, neither Zionist, neither SJW, neither pro lobby, neither Would be good if everyone here started doing it.

Dont forget the 10.000 under the rubble, mostly civilians. With them included it is around 50.000.

Leo has been quite supportive of Ukraine and has said openly that Russia violated international law and has done war crimes. I have not seen him be biased against Ukraine. And Ukraine is also a tricky situation and a Western allied nation. He is critical of Israel because they corrupt USA through their lobbies and influence the media to suit their agenda. Leo's greatest value is Truth and Israel tries hard in the West to distort truth. I have not seen Leo support Hamas either, just understand their perspective and not paint them as cartoonish evil terrorists like Israelis do. So calling him out as biased is quite unfair.

Thank you. To be honest there I wrote a very polarizing thing on purpose, but on the longer replies I try to be nuanced and objective. There I was not being serious. I will admit that. This is not me being serious. A serious note would be: They seem to employ similar tactics and total lack of care for international law.

@Vrubel I remember you used to call out Wagner for smashing someone s head with a hammer yet you stay silent when IDF beat up an innocent man with hammer. Raze sent the clip. IDF makes Wagner look soft these days.

Yet you believe Hamas put babies in oven and decapitated people and other stuff. Why so? There is 0 proof of any of those. Yet you doubt IDF being equally barbaric? At this point they got more proof than Hamas. If you got proof please send me. I looked for hours and all the proof I found was some go pro videos of people getting shot with a gun. Also some people beaten and cases of rape. No beheadings, no burnings. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz9drj14e0lo Meanwhile here you have proof of IDF barbarism.