Das Doak

The Middle East: Focus of End-Time Prophecy We often see the Middle East catapulted to the forefront of news programs around the world. Even faraway nations are deeply affected by what happens in this volatile region. You need to understand wha...

There is so much of this batshit insanity all over the Internet that I'm kinda shocked you've never encountered it. Every time there's a flare up of tensions, the millenialist Christians start rubbing themselves raw about the end times being upon us:

www.ucg.org/the-good-new...

"These calls have one damn thing in freaking common; our MRFF clients [service members who seek MRFF aid] report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders and command chains as to how this new “biblically-sanctioned” war is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian “End Times" as vividly described in the New Testament Book of Revelation. Many of their commanders are especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfill and be in 100% accordance with fundamentalist Christian end of the world eschatology."

This stuff has been floating around the US bloodstream for decades - I'm glad you've never met anyone who is this kind of nuts, but I have *multiple* times.

jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-...

Ah, yes, because it was Kamala's position on Israel that caused Democrats to lose, and not the fact that every billionaire-controlled media outlet ran cover for Trump, misinformed the public, and actively lied about what he would do.

The millenialist Christians *very much* want this, are extremely explicit about it, and presently have quite a bit of power in the US government to make it happen.

For a bunch of them, there are no broader goals; they're just nuts.

Russia is trying to build 1,000 of its Iranian-designed Shaheds per day, Ukraine's military chief says Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russia is currently producing 404 Shaheds "of various types" per day.

Russia is building its own Shaheds; it doesn't need Iran's assistance anymore, and it's getting a massive cash infusion due to the spike in oil prices.

This is obviously not good for Ukraine.

www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-olek...

Welche Maßnahmen es jetzt braucht, um eine 3. Ölkrise abzuwenden:

- 9€ Ticket reaktivieren
- Tempo 100 auf Autobahnen
- Tempo 80 auf Landstraßen
- Autofreie Sonntage
- Kaufprämie für Fahrräder

Wann versteht die Regierung, dass Verbrenner & Öl-Heizungen nicht Freiheit sondern Abhängigkeit bedeuten?

The President’s Extraordinary Sanctions Powers A new report explains the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and proposes legislative reforms to prevent abuse and reduce harms.

Yup. If a bill had to be passed to tell Israel to go fuck itself, *then* Schumer and Jeffries would be relevant.

But that's not the case - the President can even back up the "go fuck yourself" with sanctions without having to consult Congress.

www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

2024-2025 Literacy Statistics | National Literacy Institute Literacy Statisitics

Fun fact: 54% of US adults read below a 6th grade level.

You have to actively remember literally over half the US adult population is *unable to perceive subtext*

www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/2024-2025-li...

...completely ignoring the fact that Israel has faced no *real* threats since the end of the Second Intifada in 2005 (10/7 was shocking, but not threatening) an "ordinary" state would make efforts to normalize relationships with its neighbors, rather than trying to destabilize *all* of them.

I don't imagine that Zelenskyy is too happy; the Russians have stood up their own domestic production lines for most of what Iran produces, and this makes Russian oil and gas more valuable.

One of the biggest and most persistent gaps in mutual comprehension when it comes to conversations about 🇮🇱/🇵🇸 is that a lot of Liberal Zionists see "there is no public support in Israel for ending the Occupation" as exculpatory, rather than condemnatory.

One of the nice things - from Israel's perspective - is that rising antisemitism in other countries helps encourage Jewish immigration to Israel, and radicalizes the immigrants in the process.

Win, win win!

...until, you know, the future of an antisemitic world arrayed against Israel arrives.

The only partner who could really step into the US's shoes - China - already *has* nukes, cyberwarfare, and surveillance capabilities that outstrip Israel's. And, leaving aside the ways in which Israel is a liability, China needs good relationships with the Gulf states far more than the US does.

There are two problems:

First, the states to whom those are attractive are too weak to actually give Israel anything useful.

Second, Israel is a big enough liability - particularly if they get sanctioned by a US Dem administration - that those things might not cover the costs of supporting Israel.

Honestly, I am pretty frustrated that there isn't more discussion, particularly on the right (including the neo-con right) about the *divergence* of US and Israeli interests here.

A democratic Iran, while not a friend, would be a victory for the USA and long-term probably a catastrophe for Israel.

I'll happily allow their children to immigrate - but their parents are not allowed in the same way I'd refuse to allow a former SS member to immigrate from Poland after WWII.

Sorry, too evil, you just gotta hope your new neighbors are better people than you were.

The median Trump voter doesn't have personal experience using violence to drive people off their land. The settlers are far more violent and racist than your median Trump voter; I don't want them in this country.

I'm not inclined to let any of the settlers in the West Bank immigrate. Most of them can't be charged with any crimes but, as far as I'm concerned, they've made their beds and they can lay in them.

With... restrictions. There are a whole bunch of Israelis who, if they set foot in a civilized country, should be immediately tried for crimes against humanity.

But, broadly, I agree, and the same offer should extend to Palestinians as part of - essentially - reparations.

we need to treat Israel not like a compromised ally but as one of our most important geopolitical enemies

The Abraham accords functionally asked nothing of Israel; everything was on the *other* parties recognizing Israel and then suppressing internal dissent at that decision.

And, yes, Iran is Persian, not Arab; I should have been more clear that Israel just untrustworthy with any other MENA state.

The problem, of course, is that Israel has long shown that it cannot be trusted to hold up its end of any agreement with an Arab nation.

But the global stakes were very clear; the Nazis obviously wanted to conquer as much of the world as possible.

This time around, Israel and the US want... Something? No one's terribly clear, but it's obviously not existential for anyone.

That's more about the stakes for outside parties than about munitions availability - and the Nazis *did* make the Mediterranean quite a mess during the same period, which was a horrid mess for the global economy.

Of course, modern precision bombing is much more destructive than WWII bombing, but Iran also isn't dealing with a ground invasion and most of the intelligence their enemies are getting is going to dry up as the Iranian telecom network falls apart.

Eh... "Eventually" might be quite a while. Germany and the USSR were both heavily bombed during WWII and, while it definitely impacted munition availability, it didn't stop the flow of them.

Thinking it through, I'm not sure how useful Israel's nukes *actually* are once everyone in the region fully internalizes the lessons from Ukraine and gets some.

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and geographically small states shouldn't pin their existence on nuclear retaliation.

I would imagine that Israel knows that, if they nuke CENTCOM in response to a conventional strike, the response would probably be a retaliatory nuclear strike in their *far smaller* area. A tit-for-tat nuke in Haifa would be far worse for Israel than just taking the conventional strike.

Man, when Soylent came out, I thought that that outlook was just a sickness of Silicon Valley specifically.

Apparently I was mistaken.

The US's problems - while serious - aren't foundational, and can probably be solved by tax policies that make it impossible for individuals to accumulate enough wealth to buy media outlets.

Israel's problems *are* foundational and probably won't be solved without fundamentally remaking the state.