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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   24338 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026

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Needless to say, satellite states are now within the realm of things they no longer want to pay for.

Let's consider America's allies/satellites. Britain - Five Eyes, cooperative, sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, was going to help out in the Asia Pacific before things heated up in Europe. Not very strong but causes no problems.

Australia - Five Eyes, cooperative, Pine Gap signals, rare earths, sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, helping out with developing US submarine-building to buy some nuclear subs. Small and weak but causes no problems.

France - a bit unruly, wants more European strategic autonomy, doesn't like buying US weapons, kicked out US troops of their own country for a while but is still in NATO. Not a major problem though.

Turkey - quite unruly, buys some Russian weapons, complicates things with Syria or anything to do with the Kurds. Constantly double dealing everyone.

And then there's Israel.

Israel is constantly needy for US weapons - about 3-4 billion in military aid per year. Israel has all kinds of special carve outs where the US will contribute to R&D for Israeli weapons that the Israelis later export. Whenever there's a war they get more supplementary military aid. Even their neighbours get military aid to serve as a bribe for being nice to Israel.

The Israelis provide bad intelligence, it was the Israelis producing imaginary armies of Kurds for this most recent Iran shambles. They've been demanding Iran be bombed for 20-30 years now because of nukes that nobody's ever seen. They were demanding war with Saddam's Iraq and didn't lift a finger to help out. They don't contribute to US wars, unlike all other US clients who at least show up sometimes. South Korea sent plenty of troops to Vietnam. Israel never shows up for a US war with the exception of the Iran war, which was started for Israel. Rubio's initial remarks were that Israel was about to attack Iran and so America had to go in too due to the inevitable response. Israel causes massive diplomatic and reputational problems for the US. Why was Osama and all these Muslims so upset with America? To a large extent because of Israel.

Consider non-proliferation, how much harm does it do to the US non-proliferation agenda for Israel to be sitting there while America warns Iran must never be allowed to have nuclear weapons? Rules for me and rules for thee...

Israel is a uniquely toxic US ally but exercises such vast power over American politics it's insane. What has Canada ever done to America that would motivate harsh rhetoric and trade wars? Canada might be incompetent and weak but is that such a great crime? They show up to US wars. Better a weak friend than a moderately powerful leech, deceiver and problem-starter who's shown zero intention to help the US.

Trumpian anger with US allies has been directed everywhere except where it actually belongs. Most farcically, he's now fallen taken that final step that even Bush shied away from.

The Israelis provide bad intelligence, it was the Israelis producing imaginary armies of Kurds for this most recent Iran shambles.

The idea that America went to war with Iran because of Israeli intelligence about the Kurds strikes me as very bizarre.

They've been demanding Iran be bombed for 20-30 years now because of nukes that nobody's ever seen.

Why does Iran keep building secret nuclear sites under mountains where inspectors aren't allowed to go?

how much harm does it do to the US non-proliferation agenda for Israel to be sitting there while America warns Iran must never be allowed to have nuclear weapons?

How much harm does it do?

What has Canada ever done to America that would motivate harsh rhetoric and trade wars? Canada might be incompetent and weak but is that such a great crime?

Canada imposes tariffs and other barriers on American goods, often in violation of our agreements. Trump retaliated. I really don't think it's deeper than that.

Immediately after I posted this yet another story about fake Israeli intelligence emerged. The CIA had 'low confidence' in the threat to Trump's life that sponsored the plane switcheroo, while it seemed to serve Israeli goals in reinforcing the threat from Iran.

I wouldn’t trust Israel uncritically and I think they understand well when their interests differ from ours. But I saw the same story and I don’t see why I should trust that either. It’s much more likely that someone at CIA has an axe to grind with Israel, or that someone in the media wants to boost something anti-Israel, or someone is exaggerating something because it sounds like a good story. I think it’s extremely implausible we know what he actual story is.

Canada imposes tariffs and other barriers on American goods, often in violation of our agreements. Trump retaliated. I really don't think it's deeper than that.

Let's be fair here, America also had its own share of unfair trade practices that Canada tolerated. I don't begrudge Trump for playing the game, and I find silly how politicians here act like his actions are unprompted aggression (it plays well to the population, who loves a good reason to feel offended or to act morally superior to americans), but putting fingers on the scales with regards to trade is a game everyone, including the US, has been playing.

I think the US took more than it gave before Trump but I think you're also basically right.

This is one of those things where, I think, a lot of the emotion and anger is really just for the cameras. That is to say, I know that a lot of Canadians are angry, and I know that a lot of Canadian politicians also claim to be angry, and I know that Trump certainly sounds angry, but I suspect that behind closed doors Trump and the Canadians probably are just doing business.

That is to say, I know that a lot of Canadians are angry, and I know that a lot of Canadian politicians also claim to be angry

As I understand it from my Canadian friends, the defining point of Canadian culture is being "better (morally/culturally, rather than economically/militarily) than the US". The 51st state talk really riled them up far more than any trade war could ever have.

Yes, agreed. I was born in Canada and spent the first half of my life there, and I always explain that the major difference between the two countries' cultures is that, while Americns are very proud of being American, Canadians are very proud of not being American.

I think things have changed in the last 25 years or so–and especially since Trump started provoking us—but certainly in the latter part of the 20th Century Canadians were rarely overly patriotic in the way Americans are. Sure: we'd sew maple leaf patches to our knapsacks when travelling abroad for obvious practical reasons, but otherwise the only places you'd normally see Canadian flags were on government buildings and on Canada day.

But—despite CanCon rules— we consume massive amounts of American media (though obviously we know which shows are actually shot in Vancouver of Toronto, and which of Hollywood stars are originally Canadian), and largely absorb the same values and world view. Those of us from the more populous parts of Ontario even get accused of sounding American by fellow Canadians who grew up closer to Saskatoon!

But as much as we (used to) think of Americans as our pals, and despite how little overt patriotism you'd see on any day but July 1st, Canadians almost necessarily define their cultural identity in opposition to our larger neighbor to the south:

  • Univeral healthcare is obviously hugely popular— and never more salient than when we are purchasing travel insurance for trips south of the border!
  • The Loyalist influence continues, with many Canadians being positively disposed towards the monarchy and commonwealth, and perhaps a bit skeptical (especially of late) of the populist flavour of presidential systems.
  • While recognising that our national security benefits immensely from—indeed, relies entirely on—being allies of the US, the legacy of the Vietnam war echos, with many of Canadians being glad that most overseas deployments of the Canadian military have been as UN peacekeepers, while participation in US-lead adventurism has been generally very unpopular.
  • Though it has certainly changed somewhat in recent years, most Canadians remain proud of our nation's image of being tolerant and welcoming (particularly of refugees), and supportive of the Canada's policies of official bilingualism and multiculturalism. At least when I was growing up, schools taught us about our cultural values specifically in contrast to the American "melting pot" model.
  • Despite the shameful history of "indian" reservations and the ongoing furore concerning native residential schools, I think many Canadians continue to feel that we can and should be proud that our country took a slightly less (intentionally) genocidal approach to the pre-colonial population, and that, via our courts honouring many First Nations treaty land claims, we have and continue do a much better job of making amends for the past.

the defining point of Canadian culture is [maximum snobbishness]

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I think it's an Anglo/French HBD thing. Fortunately, with all the immigrants they're importing at my direct expense, they'll soon be a minority; unfortunately, it'll be too late for me to gain financially from that because destroying any hope of that is why they are importing the people in the first place.

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