This is a refreshed 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.
- 1375
- 6
What is this place?
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
If in doubt, please post it!
Rules
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Posting mostly for comedic value
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Ukraine-war/Ukraine-war-Free-to-read/Ukraine-latest-Putin-and-Netanyahu-discuss-Gaza-crisis
from Reuters
Iran is distancing and hard. Seems that everyone is worried, but not so worried as to help the palestinians or putting a leash on them.
Unfortunately with the shock of the attack passing by the time is moving against Israel. On the other hand Putin really really wants a regional war in the middle east - Europe flooded with refugees and everyone preoccupied will give him some breathing space.
Out of all Iran’s close friends and proxies (Assad, Houthis, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shia groups…) Hamas has the most strained relationship with the mothership. Hamas is the only non-Shia group in the above, was on the opposite side in the Syrian civil war etc. Hamas are fair-weather friends for Iran.
Also, the situation is pretty good for Iran now, their allies control most of Iraq, Assad is firmly in power in Syria, relations with India and China are fine, the hijab protests were seemingly totally suppressed, and even the Saudis are close to suing for peace in Yemen. They’re on the way to accomplishing almost everything they want geopolitically.
Meanwhile Palestine is this dog chasing car situation, the regime only supported it because of Khomeini’s longstanding anti-Zionism going back to the ‘60s and because it was good propaganda against the Shah back in the day, and then it kind of snowballed into the present situation.
It’s unclear that even a generous settlement for the Palestinians would be good for Iran at all. It’s mainly a way for them to project a kind of moral and religious purity to the rest of the Ummah.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link