Topspin715

There 1.6m million immigrants in total since the 90s, beyond just the USSR, so no, not even close to 50%. You seem to be very ignorant about history and basic facts so not worth continuing this.

About a million Jewish people migrated from the Soviet Union to Israel after the USSR collapsed so not even close to a half. This way of seeing the world is so simplistic. Do you think anybody who legally migrates to the US or Europe is a "colonizer"? Colonialism has existed since ancient times. After WW2, the world more or less agreed to respect territorial boundaries, but we have a legacy of colonialism across the entire planet.

95% of Jews living in Israel today were born after 1948 or were less than 18 years old. Modern Jews are also related to the original inhabitants from the Levant, which makes this conflict even worse as they are fairly close genetic relatives.

Saying that you want to do something isn't bluffing. A bluff requires threatening an action upon which you won't follow through even if they don't meet your demand. Offering a peace initiative isn't a very strong effort to de-escalate. They have to guarantee Israel's security and take an active role in occupying and governing the West Bank and Gaza. It would be much more likely to succeed when accomplished in stages. Basic security for all parties is the most important interest that all state in the region share.

Trump is threatening to do this to create a strong incentive to get the surrounding Arab and Muslim countries to do their part and de-escalate the conflict. For so many years, the Palestinians have been used as pawns, continually being sacrificed in proxy conflicts for all kinds of religion and cultural power struggles. Trump doesn't bluff and he's ruthless but it will push pressure of the Arab states to show how much they care about regional peace. It's sloppy and hostile, but it can be an effective way of forcing their hand. Part of the reason that he's been "successful", is that he will fight to the death for table scraps but he doesn't know to cook very well himself.

He's aware of a lot of problems with our current medical industrial complex. Many of which are real and some of which aren't. The reality is that the conventional "gold standard" of medical research, the double blinded controlled test has serious limitations even before you consider the massive regulatory capture. His views on vaccines are largely incoherent but they are not as safe as people think. We need new ways of thinking about health care policy and research and clinical treatments. I've unfortunately suffered tremendously, due to an injury caused by a pharma giant that they covered up in order to preserve sales. I've done very deep investigations into this kind of thing and while I disagree with a lot of what RFK is saying, the status quo is so rotten and rigid and public dissatisfaction with our institutions is so low (for many good reasons and some bad) that the people elevate kinda unhinged populists to expose weaknesses and faults in the system. It's just the start of the restructuring process.

It's unclear to me. The gesture was very sharp and forceful like a militant salute. He didn't outright deny it or condemn Nazism and then he proceeded to give a speech about how Germans should be proud of their culture and not indulge in multiculturalism to dilute their population and culture. It's dangerous to normalize these kinds of symbols and gestures but at the same time they naturally tend to lose their significance over time too.

The 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". This definition is really vague and can be applied to pretty much any war. I don't really want to go down a semantic and academic debate of different genocides but it's clear that this term has been hatefully weaponized against Israel, largely because of the atrocities committed in WW2 against the Jewish people. Assad had murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people and the general public hardly cared. I say this as somebody who disagrees with a lot of the things that Israel does, but to call it a genocide is way out of line in my opinion. Words are just words, but they can carry heavy political weight, and to casually weaponize a term like that reveals a lack of seriousness and objectivity in my opinion. As much as I hate this war, I see a ton of anti-semitism basically saying that Israel should just lay down its arms and die. It has a right to defend itself and is surrounded by enemies, I don't know of any similarly precarious geopolitical situation in history. I personally think they've been reckless with targeting but I am no expert and fighting an urban war is probably the hardest terrain on which one can fight.

You can't argue with ideologues with facts. They will ultimately have a different value system than you. To understand it, figure out why these people have become receptive to such an ideology and how they got exposed or socialized to it. There are sociopolitical cycles and conditions that make ideologies come in and out of vogue over time. To understand Trump and why he has risen to power, you can't see him as either purely good or bad. But a lot of people hate him because he is erratic and says ugly and hateful things about people. The Trump coin scheme was unpalatable to me, as somebody who cares about business ethics, but ultimately will probably end up worth much less than it is today, and a lot of other politicians have grifted plenty in much more subtle ways. Confidence in our institutions and elites are decreasing which is what gives rise to populism and anti-semitism and often identity politics.

It's not because I see what other people care about and how they're thinking about things and then I do my own research on why they think that way, what the truth actually is, and deeper historical research on the causes leading up to whatever it is they are freaking out about. The corporate media is largely for "entertainment" purposes and often provides a very narrow and dogmatic view on issues. It tends to ignore a lot of stuff that you'd find on twitter as well. There are legitimate journalists on twitter as well that you can follow to see what they are writing about. My boomer generation parents closely follow cable news still and they barely know what's actually going on.

I get most of my news on twitter these days. Much of what is reported in the mainstream media is not really relevant to anything but at least what you see on X is whatever is capturing the attention of the zeitgeist and you'll see many different perspectives. If it's for the sake of creating art, maybe look into whatever is intellectually or emotionally provocative to you.

Why is politics important to your life? I find that people consume way too much news that doesn't affect them or for things that they can't even do anything about and it's not great for their emotional or mental health.

This is gibberish

Nation states and national identities are mere social constructs that have evolved for the purposes of group survival If Israel is a lie then Palestine is definitely a lie and America is a lie and Russia is a lie etc

The difference between sex and gender lies in their definitions, scope, and usage: Sex Refers to biological and physiological characteristics. Includes chromosomes (XX, XY, or variations), hormones (estrogen, testosterone), and reproductive anatomy (e.g., male, female, intersex). Typically assigned at birth based on observable physical traits. Binary in classification (male/female) but acknowledges intersex as a naturally occurring variation. Gender Refers to social, cultural, and psychological attributes, roles, and expectations associated with being male, female, or another identity. Includes gender identity (how a person feels and identifies) and gender expression (how someone presents their gender through appearance or behavior). More fluid and diverse, encompassing identities such as male, female, nonbinary, genderqueer, etc. Influenced by societal norms, cultural context, and personal experience. Summary Sex = Biological traits. Gender = Social and cultural identity. These terms are often interrelated but not interchangeable, as someone’s gender identity may not align with their assigned sex at birth.