?Sorry I don't get you? I said that outside of Israel, Iran has the second highest Jewish population who are free to practice their religion without fear of anti-semitism.
Okay, well that's incorrect as well. The USA have a much larger Jewish population.
My point being, that Iran's stated vow to wipe Israel off the face of the earth has nothing to do with Judaism. It must be something else? I would suggest that it has to do with Zionism, which I can only conclude now is the project of fascist and autocratic zealots who have debased the religion of Judaism.
Zionism is the belief that Israel has the right to exist so in that sense I agree; Iran have a problem with the existence of Israel and think it should be wiped off the map. If they don't think so then they should say so.
The same can be said of Israel and US. Israel, supported by Netenyahu, once funded Hamas to cause a split in the Palestinian Liberation movement. This is widely documented. Israeli 'militia's' in Lebanon act as a buffer to hold illegally occupied territory. The US has been financing both sides of any number of conflicts since God knows when.
Yep, both sides, at least both ruling groups, believe that they have a mandate from heaven to wipe out the other side.
I'd rather not go down the road of whataboutery, there are no innocents protaganists in this whole affair, not in military or government anyway. Only civilian innocents.
I agree. I totally get the condemnation of the actions of the Israeli government but I don't get the support for the government of Gaza, Hamas, by so many people. Hamas are a suicide cult that are more than happy to see every child in Gaza die on the alter of their fetishized religious mania.
Their counterparts in Israel don't hold the lives of their own children is such contempt.
This thread is the Israel's war on Iran that commenced on 13 June 2025. It was started under the false pretence of WMD being within days/weeks/months of being obtained by Iran. Clearly that is now a lie, and hundreds of innocent civilians are needlessly dead.
How is that clearly now a lie? I don't think the case was made for the attack, not by any stretch, but I don't think you can say it is clearly now a lie.
Exactly. If it was not clear, at best, and all the intellegience both indepenent and US indicated that Iran was not near obtaining nuclear weapons then Israels attack on Iran was wholly wreckless, and criminal in my opinion.
Probably, not not certainly.
My point is that what Israel is doing in Palestine and its recent aggressive criminal attacks on Iran have, to my mind, been the most de-stablising factor for the region, and further afield. As your next point demonstrates.
I'd say the Arab Spring and the resulting Syrian Civil War was far more destabilising.
International law was the imposition of Western liberal values on the world and that period is now most certainly over. Trampled on by a (too) dominant USA that imposes sanctions on International Prosecutors for issuing arrest warrants against wanted war criminals.
It is the loss of US dominance that has, to a great extent, caused it to behave in this manner.
I would take a dominant US over China or Russia et al any day of the week too - but not without condition. Not at any price. It would have to be on the principle of Western values being upheld internationally and not selectively.
It's always been selective, as has every country and every empire and every law forever.
The US in my opinion has become too dominant. It is untouchable, unaccountable, and the consequences are there for everyone to see with never-ending wars terrorising local civilian populations without any semblence of end-game.
Up until 10-15 years ago we had a period of decades with a very stable world with very few wars.
The warmongers are in control, it is a fascist autocratic system.
No, it's a democratic system. That's what's keeping the extremists in check. It's also worth remembering that the US on its worst day, even under the current administration, is better than China or Russia on their best day.
The only saving grace from my perspective is its not Europe that is being torn to shreds this time.
Give it time. We'll probably vote in the Shinners the next time. They are our populists with a history of murder and subversion of democracy. Anyone who votes for them has no business complaining about Trump.
Populist leaders have been elected all over Europe and more are to come. As long as the centre, embodied by our public sector, does such an appalling job of running our countries, and as long as a selfish older wealthy middle class behaves with such smug entitlement, we increase the risk of populists cloaked in the rhetoric of the left or right, taking power.
Trump is just a manifestation of that.