Eetan
7hr ago
Well, maybe. Let's see how many weapons they're able to build after being bombed like this.
It begins.
Yes, Iran is (or was) industrial country, world's 10th steel producer.
It is not about freedom and democracy any more (LOL, never had been) but about reducing the country to the medieval age.
Yes, they can do it. WW2 examples do not matter - in 1944, precision bombing meant hitting the right borough of right city, today it means hitting the right pane of the right window of the right building.
Eetan
7hr ago
Most of what he's saying sounds pretty copey.
After everything that happened, most of what he says sounds superhumanly calm and level headed, looking to the future instead of past grudges.
Loren Balhorn: When you met people, didn’t you often ask yourself if they had been Nazis?
Theodor Bergmann: I knew that about some people. Professor Röhm, he was the rector for the anniversary in 1968, 150 years of Hohenheim. He said to me: “Mr Bergmann, I was foolish. My wife was smarter. I was foolish, but I’m not a Nazi anymore.” I can understand that: “I learned.”
Loren Balhorn: You can accept that? That was enough for you?
Theodor Bergmann: That was enough for me, yes. I can’t say “you’re guilty forever”. The people didn’t know any better. He’s from a small village, the village was full of Nazis. “But my wife was smarter,” he said. I accept that.
I don’t believe in collective guilt! There were Nazis and there were others. I have nothing to do with the Nazis, but I’m in solidarity with the others. We’re trying to do something better.
Eetan
8hr ago
Nothing about Rogan specifically - to your average Norm. N. Normie, big number is a big number. Million, billion, trillion - if it is above the magnitudes he uses regularly in his personal life, it is just lump of zeroes.
BTW, was Joe Rogan also asked how many people are there on Earth in total?
Eetan
19hr ago
More mysterious posts from WH.
Option 2 it seems to be, it is deliberate strategy to spread FUD. If you insist on monitoring the situation, monitor the islands and coasts of Iran, not WH xitter.
1/ White House Xitter intern by mistake posted video from his personal fodder, be thankful it was not the gay Nazi furry porn fodder.
2/ White House is trolling Xitter audience for purpose. Every minute situation monitorers dedicate to decoding meaning of this mysterious boot signal, is minute they cannot dedicate to other habbenings in the world.
EDIT: It was my 1000th post! Time to celebrate!
Eetan
20hr ago
world where hunger essentially isn't a concern, the common man having access to healthcare that was beyond the reach of emperors
After 100 years of scientific and technological progress, the workers are not starving any more, how great!
You mistake communism for trade unionism.
Communism was never about higher pay and longer lunch breaks for proletarians, and it was ever less about wokeness and LGBTQ+. It was about building new world, world free of all oppression and exploitation, world where man in brother to man, not wolf. This is what communists believed in, this is what they were dying and killing for.
(to quote famous post-Soviet "We tried the best, happened as usual")
Here is one very rare piece of history - interview with last pre-WW2 German Jewish communist (the ultimate devil for many ppl out there). The hypothetical man IRL.
“A Communist Doesn’t Whine — He Shows His Teeth”
Theodor Bergmann, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 101, was the last of his kind. Born to a middle-class Jewish family in Berlin in 1916, he gravitated to Germany’s explicitly socialist workers’ movement as a young boy and remained what he called a “critical Communist” for the rest of his life. Known among friends and comrades as “Young Theo,” he was, as Mario Kessler wrote, “the last participant and eyewitness to the German labor movement of the Weimar era.”
Most of the interview is about the vanished world of interwar Europe, but here is how he feels about modernity.
TL;DR: He does not think 62 different brands of toilet paper in every supermarket equal paradise on earth.
Everything in our society today is swindle and betrayal. Even the words are lies. “Social market economy,” “people’s shares,” “capital formation in workers’ hands” — everything is a lie today, there are no true words left. The “social market economy” is gone, now we have the “new social market economy.” Everything is a lie!
An expression of a defeat, an expression of our inability to create our own media and make ourselves self-sufficient, and an expression of our weakness. The Left back then had self-confidence — we don’t have that today. We have a deep depression. There are only a few who would write in the newspaper, “I’m a Communist”. What’s happening in America now — that this old man says, “I’m a socialist!” — is unthinkable [in Germany], but it must happen.
Eetan
21hr ago
Past a certain point, sanctions are going to come down
Sanctions from whom?
China does not GAF, they want to make money.
India GAF about Muslim lives even less.
Russia the same.
Muslim world? It already sanctions Israel or sanctioned in the recent past, Israel lived with it.
Europe? Maybe, if it goes fully Muslim or woke but this is not happening soon, and Europe is not so important as it used to be (and getting less important every day).
US? Again, it will require all boomer Evangelicals die off, and this will not happen soon either.
Eetan
21hr ago
Israel is not giving up anything.
And being "normal country"? This was the dream of old school Zionists, who imagined "Belgium of the East", cozy Viennese coffee house in the desert of Middle East. Not going to happen.
Current and coming generations have another plans and another dreams.
Eetan
1d ago
I was told repeatedly by the US government, Israeli government, and many users on this board that Hezbollah was destroyed. I wonder who is destroying the dozens of Merkava tanks every night which I can watch on telegram.
Meanwhile, one million of Shiite inhabitants of South Lebanon fled their homes. They will be never let back (and will have nowhere to return).
They were the "sea" in which Hezbollah was swimming, they were source of Hezbollah recruits and reinforcements. This is over, this is now Israeli land, ancient land of Asher and Naphtali tribes restored.
Hezbollah can for some time hide in the ruins, until they are bombed out and hunted down. That's all.
Eetan
1d ago
There is not always a long arc of morality.
It depends how you define "morality" and "winning" in the long terms. Many causes marched towards to victory, and few of these victories looked as the founders of movement would imagine triumph.
If, for example, first century Christian fell asleep for 1000 years and woke up in 11th century, what would he think? He would be dismayed that Jesus hadn't returned yet, and he would be even more revolted by this barbarian world that reveres Jesus by worshipping golden idols and sheds rivers of blood in his name.
He would see history of this thousand years as complete triumph of satan and possibly started to question his whole faith.
The same with more modern examples. What would communist from 1926 think about world of 2026? He would see it as maximally degenerate and depraved world where capitalism won in the most decisive way possible and stomped the workers of the world to the dirt.
Eetan
1d ago
laugh at the outgroup
This was not happening, and this shows that this forum is really elite discussion forum not like any other. Nearly everyone here recognizes JCC as idealist devoted to cause of liberation of working class of the world, and his case as more tragic than comic.
Just few people argued that Marxist activism of JCC is just excuse to gain fame and sex, but these arguments fail flat.
250M is lots of money. With such cash, you could build replica of Nero's palace in all of its ancient glory (yea, in less prestigious location and not up to ancient craftsmanship standards), then fill it with harem of catgirls and catboys and livestream the orgies.
This way, you could become one of the most famous people of the world (and also undermine capitalism by several magnitudes more than anything JCC was doing).
But this is not what JCC wanted.
Best entries will be rewarded with eternal revolutionary glory and virtual Stalin Golden Prize.
Thread is over, the time for grading is now.
And the winner is ... anyone who mentioned human capital.
Old time communists won over one third of humanity because they were Elite Human Capital of the time.
This is not the case any more, EHC lost interest long ago, modern self identified communists are rather sorry bunch.
Could this situation be reversed? Could Elite Communist Human Capital be rebuilt out of nothing? Probably not, this historical moment really passed for good.
Eetan
1d ago
The goal is more or less to reduce capacity for the RCI bloc to project power.
Since the "axis of resistance" bloc does not seem to be in any way real (excepting Russian-North Korean friendship and brotherhood), this mission had been already accomplished.
Eetan
1d ago
So how low a percentage of a group can be destroyed before it's no longer an attempted genocide?
"Genocide" is legal category, and, as such, this is something to be settled by precedent.
As is what exactly counts as " national, ethnical, racial or religious group" for the purposes of the Convention.
Unfortunately, legal proceedings for genocide are scarce, and the defendants in these case argued "we are good boys, we didn't do anything" instead of "yeah we did it, but they were terrorists, not any legitimate "ethnic group".
Just let ICC work for few hundred years for case law to accumulate.
Eetan
2d ago
I mean. They could voluntarily reform themselves into a peace-loving liberal democracy.
When we talk about Iran in this debate, we talk about Iranian state and regime, not ordinary Iranian people.
As analogy, when wargamer nerds debate: "If you were Napoleon and it was morning 18 June 1815, what would be your optimal moves?" no one would answer "Just surrender, end this pointless bloodshed, let the soldiers go home back to their moms".
Eetan
2d ago
They don't have moves that improve their situation left
Well, persuade Russia and China (mostly China) to create real alliance. Explain to China that with their full support Iran could become killing ground for US like Ukraine is killing ground for Russia. Explain to China that when Iran falls, Russia will be next and China will be left facing Great Satan(TM) all alone.
Yes, we all know this is not going to happen, we know that only future for Iran is martyrdom.
Situation status: MONITORED
Things status: HABBENING
Yes, we live in cyberpunk age of universal surveillance. When TPTB want to find you, you are not getting away.
You can still do things, but only once. No second chances. Ever.
One of the detainees is Youssef Moursi, born in Egypt and a U.S. citizen. He is a student in Czechia, writes articles for the far-left group Druhá Směna, and is also active with Shella Radio, nur.prague, and tadamun_kollektive, which operate out of the Ankali club in Prague.
They face 20 years to life in prison for a terrorist offense.
Youssef Moursi (he/she/they) is an activist, student, and passionate photographer exploring themes like queerness, love, nightlife, and identity. Deep appreciation of intersectional feminism and ‘postcolonial’ studies have been instrumental in shaping his/her/their identity, freeing her from preconceived labels and societal constraints. Continuously learning, they embrace ongoing growth.
For him words "Free Palestine" stand for an indigenous, anti-imperialist, queer, feminist, brown, black, environmental, and anti-colonial uprising; a call for a world liberated from ongoing neo-colonialism. Her beliefs center around collective solidarity and fighting against systemic oppression, while giving love and healing with communities. Right now Youssef is studying at FHS UK.
A New Year's resolution for the ummah. To imagine a decolonial future.
More works of queer postcolonial feminist theory here.
Sadly, Youssef Moursi neglected to study more practical skills, but despite their failing, their result was rather respectable.
Another will come after them who will learn from their mistakes, get ready for interesting times.
edit: links uplinked
Eetan
4d ago
centi-millionaire
Sorry, but this is the officially used term.
100M+ net worth put you safely above the rules of classical grammar.
Eetan
4d ago
From The (In)Effective Altruism Diaries: The Case Of Centi-Millionaire Marxist
You possibly already heard about James Cox Chambers Jr.
He is character that would be laughed at and rejected outright in any creative writing class as crude, primitive and unfunny caricature of leftist written by hate filled right wing bigot.
Descendant of long line of distinguished WASP's. As close to hereditary aristocracy as you can get in today's world. Wikipedia article of your own is now what noble title used to be.
(Yes, pure Anglo Saxon ancestry, no documented Jewish ancestors, if you are looking for this thing, you can be disappointed)
Who is, since early age, dedicated Marxist devoted to fighting for revolutionary cause.
Around age 12, Chambers was introduced to Marxist literature by a teacher, including Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, something which made a lasting impression, although by his account, his focus on political activism has ebbed and flowed throughout his life.
Now, his means are not negligible. 250M hard bourgeois bucks is nothing to sneer at.
Chambers owned a portion of Cox Enterprises until divesting from the company in 2023, resulting in a payout estimated by Rolling Stone of at least $250 million.
Distinguished revolutionaries in the past used cash with great efficiency as weapon to hasten the demise of capitalist world.
Comrade Cox-Chambers is not one of them. In 30 years of struggle, he really achieved nothing much worth showing. The Berkshire Communists, The Berkshire People's Gym, The Butterfly Collective etc. are not up there with The Sealed Train.
Neither are Dakota pipeline protests or Cop City protests.
At least the Georgia commune members had some fun, while it lasted.
Many former commune members recall in a 2024 interview with Rolling Stone that little happened on the commune aside from rampant psychedelic usage and that Chambers pressured commune members to take part in polyamory/free love relationships.
This shows once again weakness of premise of effective altruism and 80,000 hours movement that money alone is sufficient to change the world. It is not specific to communism/leftism, many cases of right wing money wasted in even more pointless way.
Now, if you are inclined to laugh at the outgroup, show how would you do better. Your homework, your hypothetical scenario for today is:
You are given 250M in USD.
Your mission is to promote COMMUNISM. Not some petty bourgeois hippy nonsense, but real, scientific and authentic Marx-Lenin-Stalin thought.
How would you get the greatest bang for the buck, how would you most efficiently use capitalist cash to bring forward glorious communist future?
Show your work. Best entries will be rewarded with eternal revolutionary glory and virtual Stalin Golden Prize.
Eetan
4d ago
Is there any good credible reporting on the degree of aid from Russia to Iran?
Watch Caspian sea ports.
Any substantial support would have to go through there.
Eetan
4d ago
Dateline 1348: The vast majority of the Holy Roman Empire towns established flagellant parades, because something had to be done.
Eetan
4d ago
Situation status: MONITORED
Situation update:
The object was protected, but no one could predict that someone would use Star Trek tier technology to get in.
Fire in Pardubice: They forcibly entered the building using a hammer and an axe
You can say it like that, but of course we don't underestimate the issue of security. And in the media everything revolves around the fence.
Securing these objects is not just about fencing. Of course, fencing is an obstacle, but it is not a roadblock. This means that if I want to overcome the fence, I will always overcome it.
For me, it is important that the buildings located there are secured by electrical security systems, camera systems, and various detectors.
They got over the fence, but at the moment when there was entry, unauthorized entry into those buildings - I would like to emphasize here that the entry was forcibly made using a large hammer and an axe
Not ordinary hammer, but large assault hammer (probably painted black). Obviously, all resistance was futile.
The damage seems to be substantial.
The Pardubice hall that caught fire must be demolished
Hundreds of millions. Zbrojovka estimated the damage after the arson attack
Hundreds of millions in local money. 100M CZK ~ 4,7M USD right now. Do the maffs.
Cost of operation: train tickets, few hammers, axes and cans of gasoline, about half dozen activists.
Good ROI? Certainly better than throwing soup at paintings, chaining yourself to road or releasing rats in fast food restaurant.
Now, the question is: how many activists are there, and can the recruiting pipeline deliver new ones faster than the existing are hunted down? If the answer to the later question is yes, get ready for spicy times.
Eetan
4d ago
With so many sci-fi fantasies filling up the horizon, why not kill yourself and wait awhile?
In the best case scenario, if you are revived in legit Star Trek utopian future, you end up as rare specimen of primitive ape man living in comfortable zoo. You are living in your cage, all your needs are provided for, all you have to do is to beat your chest, grumble and grunt while the people of the future whizz around in their flying cars and gawk at you.
Paradisical life compared to what you have now, but you will not be participating in any sci-fi fantasy wonders.
Eetan
6d ago
Update: Cancellation of Cesar Chavez proceeds with lightning speed.
It is so urgent that there is no time to call stone workers to grind away his name from marble.
When Gray Lady is speaking, everyone is listening. News about death of traditional press turned out to be way, way premature.
Another news, another habbening, concerning this time both Eastern European and Middle Eastern situations.
A radical anti-Israeli group set fire to a drone manufacturing plant in Pardubice, Czechia.
Looks like continuation and escalation of previous actions, looks as Edinburgh January 2026 action except this time with more competency.
(competency as: use gasoline instead of spray paint and hammers, and do not wait to be arrested, GTFO to fight another day)
Group calling itself "The Earthquake Faction" was never heard about before, and the plant was manufacturing drones for Ukraine, not Israel.
It is rather clear what is going on - even FSB/GRU are learning, and instead of trying to derail European war effort with exploding dildos, found out how to redirect pro-Palestine useful idiots on more fruitful targets.
The perpetrators are very unlikely to be locals - in Czechia, as in whole post-Soviet Central/Eastern Europe, opinions on Middle Eastern situation range from "GO ISRAEL GO! SMASH BURN DESTROY!" to "Pox on the whole sand box". Sympathy for Palestine is extremely rare even among local woke folx, pro-Palestine protests are pathetic affairs with few dozens attending at best.
Situation still developing, keep monitoring.
edit: links links links
South Korea, more precisely, online discourse about South Korea, shows the deepest depths of despair that happens if you use Xitter shitposters as your only source of information.
Imagine complete outsider learning about US only from social media - he would think that all American problems are caused by racism and transgenderism, that average American is transgender or Neo-Nazi (or both).
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