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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   370 thread views

Transnational Thursday for March 26, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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I’ve seen a lot of people arguing the US is/would be committing war crimes by bombing/threatening to bomb targets like oil depots, refineries, power plants, and desalinization plants.

I understand the argument for desalinization (causing mass water deprivation), although I do think the argument can at times be considered too broad in that besieging an enemy position is a legitimate military tactic, not a war crime and integrating your military position with existing civilian infrastructure is going to make that infrastructure a target. However for oil depots and power plants, I understand it will dampen civilian life. But this is a war! Denying your enemy electricity and especially oil seems like a textbook way to defeat them. How is that a war crime? When I think war crime I think intentionally targeting civilians outside of any military value, or death marches for POWs, or attacks on cultural sites that aren’t militarily valuable. How could removing your enemy’s energy resources be a war crime?

would be committing war crimes

I think the first thing here is to define what we mean by "war crimes". Are those crimes by US law? By Iranian law? By the opinion of some pompous gasbags in UN that have zero legal authority but a lot of ego? By some bilateral or multilateral treaty that US signed and have not currently denounced? Do we mean it in any legal sense or in the sense of "there should be a law against it, dammit!"? I think without finding a mutually agreeable set of definitions the argument has no sense. Of course Iranians think it's a great crime bombing their stuff, who wouldn't? I am sure US military thinks its well within their authority to bomb shit in Iran, especially given Iran is a country which is actively hostile to the US and the US command chain authorized them to bomb the shit out of them. If you want to prefer one of those positions over the other, you need to establish the grounds why.

Reuters:

In London's pubs, love gets a PowerPoint makeover

Fed up of swiping left or right on dating apps, young London singles are returning to a classic British way of meeting people—the pub—with a modern twist: a PowerPoint presentation by a close friend pitching them as dating material.

Putting together a slide deck is second ‌nature for many younger millennials and older Gen Zers. Now, they're using that skill to enhance their mates' love lives, just as dating apps are losing their appeal.

"I hate the swiping," said Annie, 27, adding she was keen to see if her friend's two-minute pitch at a 'Date my Mate' event could land her a boyfriend—or at least a first date.

Organisers said all 150 tickets for the event, held at a north ⁠London pub, were sold in less than five minutes. And they're planning to roll out more, aiming for one a week across the country.

Having seen similar events in Australia and the US on social media, Emily Churchill, head of marketing at wine company Nice [1 2] who helped arrange the event, said she knew she had to bring the concept to London.

"It's just so much fun," she said, ⁠adding it gave coupled-up friends a way to help their single mates find love and escape "horrible dating stories."

How is all this substiantially different from so-called mixers?

Putting together a slide deck is second ‌nature for many younger millennials and older Gen Zers

omg wtf

Emily Churchill, head of marketing

ok now I get it.

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