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Notes -
Iran - US - Israel War Flareup
“Israel says it has launched attack on Iran, as explosions reported in Tehran”
“The US has begun Major Combat Operations in Iran” - Donald Trump (headline flashed up just now on my phone, no link yet)
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More to follow but thought I’d post quickly for any commenting.
Mods, can we get a mega thread on this? Else I fear it will be like the Charlie Kirk thing, or just devolve into dozens of bare links which you will have to keep moderating.
The Charlie Kirk assassination was rather obvious culture war fuel. A Middle Eastern shooting war, while obviously a rather serious development, does not necessarily prove to be culture war fuel. What exactly would the culture-warring be about anyway?
The one thing I can surely say is that in my native Hungary the local Blue Tribe, which supports the main opposition party almost without exception and is otherwise heavily influenced by the US Blue Tribe in every other thing, is, due to the historic legacy of WW2 and the Cold War, largely supporting not only Zionism as such but also the project of Greater Israel (i.e. Israeli control over the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Southern Lebanon, if not more), and in this they are not a bit different from the government that they otherwise hate with a burning passion. And for this reason I rather doubt this will be fodder for any local culture-warring.
Culture war aspects:
10 minutes before Trump announced we started military operations in Iran, there were already organizations putting out calls to protest. Americans protesting against the attacks while the Iranian people are celebrating the death of Khamenei. Several online people saying they are hoping that the US military gets annihilated to teach us a lesson.
US Congresswoman Tlaib said, "This is who they are", where "they" refers to Americans, while the normal pronoun to use would be "we." She doesn't think of herself as American despite serving as a US Congresswoman.
Early polling showed that the war was massively unpopular with independents and Democrats, but the vibe online seems to be changing as it looks like we took out 40 of their top leaders while taking 0 casualties. How much can we trust initial polling data? What does this mean for Trump's approval going forward?
Iran lashed out at neutral countries, attacking hotels, shopping malls, and apartment complexes in UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc.
School in Iran was hit, many deaths. Arguing over whether it was Israel/Americans or Iranians misfiring.
Or, more charitably, "they" refers to the Trump admin & DoD. Er, DoW, now.
She word for word said, "Both the U.S. and genocidal Israel doesn't care about the laws. This is who they are."
https://x.com/RashidaTlaib/status/2027755832742416584
Grammatically it has flaws, for sure. But the referent to "They" is "the US and genocidal Israel." She does not consider herself one or the other, otherwise she would use "We."
Couldn't it be a "Not my president" kind of vibe? Versus an "I'm not an American and I hate the Americans" kind of thing? I don't like Congresswoman Tlaib. She has many characteristics, and been behind many public stunts, that are easy to criticize, but worst of all she's just plain trashy. But I find it hard to believe she seriously wouldn't consider herself an American considering she was born and raised in Michigan.
Isn't "Not my president" bad too? This reminds me of when the Red Tribe was cheering like mad for the Figure Skater and all the leftists were saying, "She's progressive, she'd hate you, why are you cheering for her?" And the Red Tribe was just, "USA! USA! USA!"
As crazy as it sounds, I like to think we have an actual country that has more in common than divides. I believe we should support our troops always. Our troops. Even if we are worried about their current orders. If they aren't your troops, if he's not your president, then you aren't in the same country as I am. I don't see how we could be.
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