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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026

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I'm not convinced that lacking the ability to run a modern state is enough of an impediment to prevent a group from trying to run a modern state. Look no further than the Taliban.

In any case, I suspect the arrangement that exists between the religious Zionists and the Haredi sects can only exist as long as there is a secular state there to exploit. Once that is diminished, things will come to a head rather quickly.

Afghanistan is a medieval kingdom that happens to exist in the 21st century and not really a modern state; in fact ‘state’ is a word that doesn’t necessarily apply. The taliban can govern that state through handwritten notes and beatings. Israël cannot be.

Naftali Bennett is already trying to take advantage of the collapse of the Israeli left to realign Israeli politics based on an alliance between right-wing patriotic secular Jews and Modern Orthodox patriotic religious Zionists, as opposed to Netanyahu's coalition which is increasingly based on an alliance between MO and the Haredi parasites.

Given the widespread view in Israel that Netanyahu should have been able to prevent October 7th, he is likely to succeed.