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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   7938 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 23, 2026

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Nothing will create a global multilateral coalition faster than Iran indiscriminately making the strait of Hormuz impassible.

You would think. But they did, and the global response was "fuck you, US, for doing this". Then Europe backed off a little and sent a strongly worded statement asking the strait to be reopened and nothing more.

I doubt anyone seriously expected the Europeans to do anything. But indifference from the international community to the Iranian war is good enough. If China and Russian can't even be bothered to veto the Security Council resolution against them, the Europeans tut-tut, and the GCC is on side - it's just letting the Israelis and Americans do the dirty work.

If the GCC acted at all like the Europeans, the Iranian strategy of "if we're attacked, we'll shoot at anyone we can reach" probably would have worked a lot better. The Gulf states would be expelling us, embargoing oil, cozying up to Iran, etc.

Russia of course is happy because less oil through the strait = more oil sales for them.

You would think. But they did, and the global response was "fuck you, US, for doing this"

Why would you think that, and why should the global response be anything else? I get the "American hyper-agency syndrome" argument when it comes to the war in Ukraine, but it wears a little thin when we're talking about easily predictable retaliation in a war you started.

I shoot at you. In retaliation, you throw a grenade into a crowd. I knew you had the grenade... who is responsible for the grenade damage?

In other words, yes, this is still American hyper-agency syndrome.

If I have to shoot through a crowd of people to defend myself…

If I yell “fire” in a crowded theater, the I’m responsible for the fallout the ensuing panic generates. Likewise if I shoot at someone who I know has to shoot through a crowd to defend himself, I’m responsible for my actions incurred as a result.

You are. You provoked a psycho (threatened his life, really) who in turn became hyper aggressive. The psycho is also responsible, but you absolutely carry part of the blame. This was a predictable result of your actions, and you did nothing to mitigate the harm you knew (or should have known) would occur.

Your position denies agency to the "psycho", and in doing so makes hostage-taking a perfectly reasonable strategy.

No. Both have agency. And the bystanders are correct to blame both the instigator and the culprit.

I shoot at you. In retaliation, you throw a grenade into a crowd. I knew you had the grenade... who is responsible for the grenade damage?

If you shoot at me from far outside my reach, and the only people I can reach to hit back are some of your friends who happen to be very economically important to you, then yeah, you're the one responsible for your friends getting hit. Your crying about them being attacked is roughly equivalent to hypothetical Iranian crying that you parked your forces out of range, or are using stealth tech.

Indeed. If you’re someone who’s upholding aggressive and hostile behavior of a party you’re on good terms with, then I believe we call that one “aiding and abetting.” You’re a legitimate target. It’s like a manipulative mother holding her baby in her arms at the same time she’s physically abusing her husband and egging him on to fight back. And then when he tries to defend himself, guess who’s the abuser trying to play the victim?

If you shoot at me from far outside my reach, and the only people I can reach to hit back are some of your friends who happen to be very economically important to you,

It is worth pointing out that in case the "friends" are also holding the gun, helping you reload the gun and hosting a bunch of your employees who help aim and fire the gun.

No, they were not. That's kinda the point; Iran fired at those who were and those who were not.

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