And what is dropping this wikipedia link supposed to prove?
Does it contradict the scholarly article I cited which supports everything I said?
P.S. who is “you people”?
- 1 Post
- 137 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: June 17th, 2023
You are not logged in. If you use a Fediverse account that is able to follow users, you can follow this user.
Gaddafi literally funded terrorist attacks on the US in the 80s, which led to about 15-20 years of political disruptions between the two countries.
According to the Regan administration perhaps, but not according to intelligence agencies from several European countries. There was a concerted effort to link Gaddafi to individual terrorist attacks, like the Lockerbie bombing, although there was no hard evidence to support that.
It seems we’re largely in agreement then - that 1) NATO did, in fact, make a move on Gaddafi and 2) the West supported him when it was beneficial but turned on a dime the minute he stopped cooperating.
That also overlooks all the times western powers were friendly with Gaddafi. They didn’t mind him following his ascent to power, nor in the post 9-11 period when the U.S. and European countries restored diplomatic ties with Libya, and Western oil companies re-entered the Libyan oil sector.
In 2007, the UK’s Tony Blair visited Libya to strike up energy deals, and France’s Sarkozy met with Gaddafi for military and economic agreements.
Was Gaddafi a supervillain then too, or did he only become one when his interests were no longer aligned with the Western powers?
He certainly played up to the role, presumably for egotistical reasons, but most of it was sabre rattling bravado. He wasn’t seen as a genuine threat by Western intelligence agencies.
Also, NATO didn’t have to kill Gaddafi directly in order to be instrumental to his deposition. You only have to look at the history of US intervention in Latin America for many examples of how regime change can be carried out via proxies and rebel groups.
Except there is strong evidence that Western powers (predominantly France, the UK and US) created the fiction of Gaddafi being a global supervillain and then used NATO forces to enact regime change in Libya, under the pretext of “preventing civilian casualties”. The real goal, of course, was to secure Libyan oil reserves and open the country up to western markets.
NATO is often used an extension of Western foreign policy. To pretend it is solely a benevolent peace keeper is just as simplistic and naïve as saying that everything the West / NATO does is pure evil.
Ear buds or IEMs typically have a much higher sensitivity than full sized earphones. The higher the output power of your PC’s headphone out, the louder your earbuds will be at any given volume %.
There isn’t anyway around this except to manually change the volume whenever you use your earbuds.
Actually, it’s nothing more than lazy slander pepetuated by duopoly apologists.
There’s zero proof she’s “Putin backed”. She once sat at the same table at an international conference and barely spoke to the man.
Sure, because our current economic system creates governments and laws that protect private capital and short-term exploitation at the expense of the natural world.
I do see hope in the book, though. Once you look beyond the human scale, it shows us that trees are always going to outlast us, no matter how hard we try to destroy our environment. The question is - can we learn from their patience and adaptability before we screw ourselves beyond the point of no return?
I haven’t finished it yet, but so far the fatalism seems to be balanced by the reminder that we are intrinsically linked to the natural world, and that it is never too late to seek solace in it.
21·3 months agoA translation of the top caption says
The last Iron Swords survey was conducted between the dates 07-11.8.24 led by the data collection and analysis desk at the Institute for National Security Studies. The fieldwork was carried out by the “iPanel” Institute, during which 772 men and women were interviewed on the Internet and by telephone in the Hebrew language and 200 in the Arabic language, which constitute a representative sample of the adult Israeli population in Israel aged 18 and over. The maximum sampling error for the entire sample is 3.5% ± at a 95% confidence level.
He won’t need to nix anything - Hamas will not agree to a deal that does not actually hold Israel to a lasting ceasefire:
“After being briefed by the mediators about what happened in the last round of talks in Doha, we once again came to the conclusion that Netanyahu is still putting obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement, and is setting new conditions and demands with the aim of undermining the mediators’ efforts and prolonging the war,” Hamas said.
More specifically, Hamas objects to the fact that the proposal doesn’t include a permanent ceasefire or comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
All this talk of a ceasefire deal is a PR stunt that allows the US to pretend like it’s trying to make progress while still funneling weapons to Israel.
Same here, although I confess I wasn’t blown away by this one. I often find that while Ghibli films always crush it on the imagination front, the writing can be hit and miss. I understood the autobiographical origin of the plot, but there were several parts that felt underdeveloped or poorly explained. Overall, was good but definitely not up there with Mononoke or Spirited Away, imo
Shame you’re being downvoted, but you’re right. While Maduro’s regime is certainly autocratic and corrupt, the US has been interfering in Venezuela for decades in order to gain access to its oil reserves (the largest in the world).
This article in The Intercept is a good overview of the history, which includes two failed coup attempts.
Any claims that this latest ploy is being carried out for the sake of “democracy” should be viewed with the utmost skepticism.
Not just in the 80s - US government actors and proxies have tried to overthrow the government in Venezuela twice since then - in 2002 and in 2020.
Then there’s also the crippling effects that US economic sanctions have had on several countries in South and Central America, which has led to the deaths of thousands and many refugees fleeing those countries. The surge in the number of people trying to cross the US-Mexico border is in no small part driven by the US’ own policies on Latin America.
Several genocide scholars seem to be convinced on the matter, though:
Designating something as a genocide is not a matter of opinion – it’s a legal definition.
0·3 months agoBut as I noted above, the average UK citizen is not in favor of strict immigration controls (legal or otherwise) and certainly not supportive of the recent riots.
Of those who are, the majority comes from lower-income areas that suffered the most under years of Tory austerity, which is understandable. But even then it’s really a case of the socioeconomic elites pointing the finger at immigrants rather than themselves.
As for the Muslim community, again there is good evidence to suggest that a lot of the fears you mentioned are unfounded. Surveys have shown that most feel that they belong in Britain and have no objections to integrating with the culture.
Again, the problem you tend to find is that extremists like Anjem Choudary are amplified by the press, giving the impressions that the Muslim community is incompatible with British values, when in fact the vast majority disagree with that statement.
It’s ironic you mention ‘reality’, since the hysteria surround immigration is largely based on misinformation and xenophobic propaganda being spouted by right-wing politicians and media for well over a decade. This has led to a highly distorted view of the scale and severity of the issue.
First off, the mass migration of peoples seeking refuge from war and other geopolitical disasters is a global issue rather than something that is unique to the UK, but even then the UK has taken in far fewer asylum seekers relative to other EU countries.
For instance:
- When measuring the number of asylum applications per 10,000 citizens, the UK only ranks 20th when compared to other EU countries.
- In terms of migrants arriving by boat, the UK is well behind other EU countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain.
- Despite the obsession with small boat crossings, they represent only a tiny fraction of overall arrivals. The vast majority of immigrants still come through official channels for work, study, etc.
Also, the UK population is actually pretty positive when it comes to immigration:
- In a global survey, 55% of UK citizens said immigration was a net positive, and only 30% were in favor of strict limits.
The paranoia about immigrants causing higher crime rates is also based on a myth:
- The overall rates of violent crime has been steadily falling for decades despite a steady rise in the number of foreign-born citizens.
- There is no evidence that an increase in the rate of foreign-born citizens even correlates with a rise in burglaries, thefts, and other property crimes.
All this is to say that a lot of the anger inflaming these racists riots come from a combination of political and media misinformation and many people’s innate prejudice towards non-Europeans.
Aesthetics, plus the seductive appeal that pre-modern, pre-liberal-democratic societies (when the governments were authoritarian, the women were submissive, and the men “were men”) have for reactionaries, incels, and cryptofacists.