Quantumfreakonomics
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User ID: 324
Venezuela signed law allowing privatization of oil companies
American oil companies are private, yes.
Political prisoners released
Oil company executives are political prisoners.
Foreign investment returning to Venezuela
Foreign investment in oil infrastructure.
Opposition leaders shown on TV again
The opposition loves oil companies.
Enemies of the state coming out of hiding
Oil companies are enemies of the state.
EDIT: A big difference between Venezuela and Iran is that capitalist “exploitation” of Venezuela’s resources will improve the lives of the people living there, but continuous US/Israeli air strikes and CIA/Mossad-backed civil unrest will not.
Quantumfreakonomics
7hr ago
Another view is that given the conditions, this isn't really the Iran war, it's the Lebanon war and the Iran war is a sideshow and a distraction. The casualties are higher in Lebanon, there are troops on the ground in Lebanon, Israel is considering expanding its territory into Lebanon, occupation will inevitably result in settlements which will not be removed, etc. Perhaps the purpose of the Iran war never had anything to do with Iran herself, which is why the goals against Iran never seemed achievable, but were instead more local to protecting the Israeli homefront against Hezbollah. The USA distracts Iran and forces it to accept Hezbollah's defeat.
Wow, another Middle East war where the Israeli interests were real but the American interests were illusory.
Quantumfreakonomics
7hr ago
My modal guess is that Trump’s negotiations rhetoric is market manipulation to buy time. He’s hoping that a surprisingly easy ground victory on one or more gulf islands will either buy political will for a larger operation or convince the regime to surrender.
Of course, that is contingent on the ground operation going well.
Quantumfreakonomics
19hr ago
Is this the greatest vaguepost in Twitter history?
The Ultra-Orthodox are remarkably simple. They want to maximize the observance and study of Torah. Right now, they assess (correctly) that the State of Israel is capable of defending itself without Ultra-Orthodox soldiers. This means that Torah study and observance is maximized by staying in yeshiva and learning Torah all day. If the Ultra-Orthodox became such a large fraction of Israel’s population that the state needed them to serve in the IDF, then they would enlist/relent to conscription, because getting driven out of the Land of Israel is bad for Torah observance and study.
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