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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   31391 thread views

Israel-Gaza Megathread #1

This is a megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.

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That said, I think that in that situation the Arabs definitely would go berserker mode, and then there's no guarantee even nukes would be a deterrent.

Less deterrent and more a Final Solution to the Jewish Problem, in reverse. Arab armies aren't so competent they can survive nuclear decapitation.

Arabian sand is shit anyway, too coarse for construction, so an upgrade to blast glass shouldn't be sniffed at.

I'm curious, do you have something less extreme in mind, or do you think that even if Israel does commit something that extreme they still won't face retaliation in kind?

I don't claim any particular confidence in such an extremal scenario. The world will be very different from what we know today if it comes to that.

I think that measures such as kicking every Palestinian out of Gaza would be sufficient for the US to backpedal, if not cut ties, and how much lower it goes from there is anyone's guess.

We seem to have pretty different perspectives here. If Israel used enough nukes to decapitate their current enemies' armies, I'd expect other Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey to join the fight. The only way Israel wins, even temporarily, is via escalation, and escalation breeds escalation.

Before that happened though I'd expect the US, China, and Russia to step in and probably turn the whole battle into yet another proxy war, meaning no nukes allowed.

I think kicking Palestinians out of Gaza would maybe prompt some kind of response from the US, but definitely not enough to cut ties. The alliance between the US and Israel is bizzarely strong. TBH I don't even unprovoked nukes from Israel would be guaranteed to entirely cut ties between the two countries.

The Saudis can't even squash a starving insurgency in Yemen*, you have far too much faith in their competence if they think they can take on Israel. And yes, I think that if they get involved, the F-35s will pay them a visit.

TBH I don't even unprovoked nukes from Israel would be guaranteed to entirely cut ties between the two countries.

Depends on how strict you are about "entirely", but I think any actual support would cease.

*And they're not nearly as shy of war crimes as the Israelis are. Hence the starvation.

Arabian sand is shit anyway, too coarse for construction

Isn't it the other way around, that it's too smooth due to aeolic erosion and thus doesn't bind well?

Ah. Memory fails me, and Google confirms you're correct.

Either way, what's one form of quartz over another? Dubai will sparkle from glass either way.

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