naraburns nihil supernum
7mo ago
(text post)
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Israel-Gaza Megathread #2
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.
When The Times’s Israel correspondent Isabel Kershner recently asked an Israeli Army tank driver, Shai Levy, 37, to describe the purpose of the looming Israeli invasion of Gaza, he said something that really caught my ear. It was “to restore honor to Israel,” he said.
All these Islamist/jihadist movements — the Taliban, Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis — have deep cultural, social, religious and political roots in their societies. And they have access to endless supplies of humiliated young men, many of whom have never been in a job, power or a romantic relationship: a lethal combination that makes them easy to mobilize for mayhem.
And that’s why, to this day, none of these movements have been eliminated once and for all. They can, though, be isolated, diminished, delegitimized and decapitated — as America has done with ISIS and Al Qaeda. But that requires patience, precision, lots of allies and alternatives that have legitimacy within the societies from which these young men emerge.
Perhaps the greatest political challenge is what to do with surplus young men. It is this group that lies behind most terrorism, ISIS, inceldom, much of the dissident right, most challenges with policing and crime. Rich countries have more options than poorer ones, as do countries with lower birthrates compared to higher ones (due to reductions in the proportion of violent, dispossessed young men as a percentage of the total population).
as America has done with ISIS and Al Qaeda. But that requires patience, precision, lots of allies and alternatives that have legitimacy within the societies from which these young men emerge.
I'm pretty sure Al Qaeda and ISIS were mostly knocked down by consistent application of violence, not any of that stuff. How many times did the US kill the "#2" person in Al Qaeda?
IIRC one of the interesting things about the ISIS conflict was that it relied on a prophesy of declaring a caliphate and then winning global domination via victory in traditional battle, not guerilla terrorist tactics. This is, to put it kindly, an offer the West found acceptable, to the tune of tons of JDAMs and eventual victory of non-ISIS ground forces.
I remember someone in these parts observing that, although there is no evidence it was planned as such, it was certainly an effective honeypot at drawing in Muslims prone to violent extremism from around the world to a scenario where they became legitimate military targets.
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Notes -
[NYTimes, Friedman] Why a Gaza Invasion and ‘Once and for All’ Thinking Are Wrong for Israel
Perhaps the greatest political challenge is what to do with surplus young men. It is this group that lies behind most terrorism, ISIS, inceldom, much of the dissident right, most challenges with policing and crime. Rich countries have more options than poorer ones, as do countries with lower birthrates compared to higher ones (due to reductions in the proportion of violent, dispossessed young men as a percentage of the total population).
I'm pretty sure Al Qaeda and ISIS were mostly knocked down by consistent application of violence, not any of that stuff. How many times did the US kill the "#2" person in Al Qaeda?
IIRC one of the interesting things about the ISIS conflict was that it relied on a prophesy of declaring a caliphate and then winning global domination via victory in traditional battle, not guerilla terrorist tactics. This is, to put it kindly, an offer the West found acceptable, to the tune of tons of JDAMs and eventual victory of non-ISIS ground forces.
I remember someone in these parts observing that, although there is no evidence it was planned as such, it was certainly an effective honeypot at drawing in Muslims prone to violent extremism from around the world to a scenario where they became legitimate military targets.
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