BMTea

joined 1 month ago
[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

So what makes him special lol? Everyone and their grandmother is giving Russia "sharp retorts". Sikorski and his wife are both idiots.

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Did Sikorski pay for this article himself? LOL. Almost all the criticism is about his wife. They even neglect to mention the time he created a minor diplomatic kerfuffle by joking that Obama's grandfather must have been a cannibal.

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago

Good news: Man standing in direct path of avalanche puts on snow shoes

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

What they actually said is not that VPNs are banned, but using them to access blocked content is. First they mention porn, which is straightforward religiously, but then they also state that accessing blocked "disinformation" is also haram, which is gibberish and has no basis in either religious or secular morals.

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world -3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The IRA was a bipartisan effort

Had Trump been president a similar bill would have been pushed through due to a post-COVID consensus and a concern over falling behind China. Everything else were accomolishments around the margins outweighed by serious damage to public trust, international stability and affordability.

Biden's abysmal approval ratings are not a failing of Americans to give him proper credit. That's the same argument Reoublicans made during the boom economy of 2017-2019.

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Oh yeah, definitely, it's all just Republican propaganda that both of the two parties in a two party system are co-responsible for national and international policy disasters. For sure. Biden definitely wasn't a lame duck president who decided not even to fight for major proposals he promised and instead squandered political capital to defend Bibi and kill babies. Yup.

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

In some ways migrant successes and not failures are bigger fuel for nativist paranoia. Decline of living standards for locals, malaise, substance abuse, opiod crisis etc. are all policy failures, and nativists are terrified that instead of fixing those issues so they can live well in their own nation, the government is happy to let foreigners with more drive and less baggage move in - after all, deindustrialized Ohio is infinitely better than Haiti currently is.

Of course the racial superiority and bigotry play a huge role (in my view the primary role) and economic precarity is a very poor excuse for the insane racism they've subjected these migrants to. They aren't responsible for the policies.

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

"We have a concrete plan to help you! For example, higher federal minimum wage!"

"Okay, take my vote!

Four years later

"You've been in office for four years. Where is the minimum wage hike?"

"Turns out we can't actually do it unless we have a supermajority of government. And then it's still questionable if we will. Vote for us some more in your state and presidency. Hope that others in other states do too. Also stop bitching, we are moral and the other people are fascists, do not fail us, you must defend women and minorities by keeping us in power etc etc."

"I had more money under Trump, fuck off."

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It was illegal for vendors to charge a fee for card purchases, so if that was the case then they maybe just raised their prices.

 

According to senior defense officials, the Israeli government is not seeking to revive hostage talks and the political leadership is pushing for the gradual annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip.

In closed-room discussions, these officials say the chances of reaching a hostage deal appear slim right now. One of the reasons cited is that since negotiations were suspended, there has been no discussion among international players involved in the talks.

In addition, they say, Israel's political leaders have not held any discussions with the various security branches about the condition of the hostages. Army commanders in the field who spoke with Haaretz say the recent decision to launch operations in northern Gaza was taken without any in-depth discussion. They said it appeared that the operations were aimed principally at pressuring local residents, who were again told to evacuate the area for the coast as winter is approaching.

It is possible that the operation is laying the groundwork for a decision by the government to put into effect the so-called surrender or starve plan of Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland. That plan calls for all the residents of northern Gaza to be evacuated to humanitarian zones in the south, with those choosing to remain deemed Hamas operatives and legitimate military targets. While Gazans in the south are getting humanitarian assistance, those who remain in the north will face hunger.

Defense officials who were asked to respond to the Eiland plan pointed out that it violated international law and that the chances of the United States and the international community supporting it were virtually zero. They said it would further undermine the legitimacy of Israel's entire Gaza offensive.

The Israel Defense Forces planned a wide-ranging operation in north Gaza after the collapse of the latest round of hostage talks, with the aim of pressuring Hamas to return to the negotiating table. However, Israel's war was soon redirected to the Lebanon front.

The 162nd Division, which had been operating in southern Gaza, was ordered to prepare a major assault on Jabalya refugee camp in the north, even though there was no intelligence to justify the move. The security establishment didn't unanimously back the move, and some in the army and the Shin Bet security service warned that it might endanger the lives of hostages.

Sources told Haaretz that when troops entered Jabalya, they did not directly encounter any terrorists. The person pushing for the operation was the head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, before the first anniversary of the Gaza war.

Especially since six hostages were found shot to death after Israeli forces were approaching the place they were being held, the army has been warning that ground operations are endangering the lives of the 101 hostages remaining in Gaza. More recently, Hamas issued orders to its fighters to thwart Israeli rescue operations at all costs, including executing hostages if troops are approaching.

Intelligence officials estimate that before the war erupted, some 4,000 Gazans were known to be Hamas fighters, with an even greater number in the south. Even though Hamas' Rafah Brigade has been degraded and has ceased operating as an organized army, many of the fighters left the combat zone before the IDF entered, they said. They added that other Hamas fighters are operating from camps in the Central Gaza Strip, where the IDF has not yet been active. Meanwhile, Hamas dominates all civilian activity in the enclave. The defense establishment has urged the government to agree to some form of international governance for Gaza, but so far its appeals have been turned down. Hamas has formed a police unit called Arrow Force that numbers several hundred men. Its main task is to crack down on anyone opposed to Hamas rule. Hamas' greatest concern is that the difficult humanitarian conditions in Gaza will cause the residents to revolt.

Nevertheless, after a year of war, many Gazans believe that, once the fighting is over, the organization will remain in control and therefore fear speaking out against it. Until now, Hamas' efforts to prevent civilians from obeying IDF evacuation orders has not been successful because of the danger of remaining in evacuated areas. However, after being displaced from their homes several times in the past year, more and more residents are seemingly willing to take the risk of staying in combat zones.

The defense establishment sees putting an end to Hamas rule in Gaza as a much more complex challenge than the war itself. Senior officials say that even though it has been hit hard militarily, Hamas is still the only civilian authority in Gaza. If anything, the civilian population has become more dependent on the organization than ever, partly because it distributes humanitarian aid.

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