dogfish
1mo ago
The idea that they would nuke Israel is a bit silly. They would immediately get nuked back (unless they can take out all of Israel's warheads in a first strike, which they have no way of guaranteeing). And isn't the whole point that they want the land returned to the Palestinians? Why would they turn it into an uninhabitable wasteland (and kill untold numbers of Palestinians in the process)? Iran, despite what Netanyahu wants you to believe, is a rational actor at the end of the day.
dogfish
1mo ago
Would Iran nuke America though? Thinking about it for more than 5 seconds, how can one honestly think they would? They act like people who care about continuing to exist (for example, their retaliations against US aggression, e.g. Soleimani's killing, are always highly calculated so as not to start a full-scale war with the US). And they must know that nuking America means they will cease to exist the same minute. So, I need more convincing that they are willing to commit civilizational suicide. Or is the idea that they're biding their time so they can reach the point where they can nuke one US city, and then having achieved that goal, they'll happily get vaporized? Somehow I doubt that.
Like the other person said:
Note that "marg bar _____", while literally translating as "death to _____", is often used as an idiomatic expression of general hostility; compare how N. W. A. were not expressing carnal desire for the local constabulary.
Iran's whole shtick since 1979 has been hyperbolic rhetoric and sabre-rattling. Doesn't mean they would commit country-level suicide.
dogfish
1mo ago
Proportionally more Germans and Japanese folks lost loved ones to Allied bombing and yet 20 years later both of them were singing god bless America.
The Germans and Japanese weren't displaced, had their lands settled and permanently occupied. Well ok, Germany lost ethnic German land, but they still have a sizeable country. But Germany and Japan were also aggressive expansionist empires, while the Palestinians, from their own perspective, were just minding their own business when a bunch of Jews moved in. That all probably makes a big difference.
dogfish
1mo ago
Part of me wonders if everyone would have been better off if the Isreali's had just ripped the band aid off back in the day and just straight pushed them out/completed the ethnic cleansing. The displaced Palestinians would still be salty, but they'd be a few generations into moving on by now, and they'd probably get bombed way less.
I mean, obviously, if you don't finish the job, the remnants will continue to be a problem for you. But if the only way to ensure long-term peace for Israel was complete ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, maybe the whole project should never have been attempted in the first place (especially over such dumb sentimental reasons as "our mythology says this is our homeland" and then hoping that the people already living there would be understanding).
dogfish
1mo ago
The best way to convince a country not to get nukes is to not be hyper aggressive towards them.
And to not have nukes yourselves. People warn that if Iran gets nukes, it will trigger a regional arms race, and Turkey, Saudi, etc will also have to get them, but that arms race already began when Israel acquired nukes and created an imbalance.
Didn't we all? One only needed to have looked at the Palestinian-to-Israeli death ratio in any given scuffle to have known how this was gonna turn out
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