I was hoping they got specific, but you’re right:
Cato Institute Senior Editor Michael Chapman explained that the poll did not define socialism, leaving it up to the respondents to determine what the term meant.
So kind of meaningless data, since we have no idea how the respondents define it in their head.
Would like a better source on this than AP.
Damn, that is infuriating.
I’m glad for your perspective on the reformists, cause otherwise this would make no fucking sense at all. I mean, even with that context, it’s confusing as hell to follow along with in the news. Like how do they even benefit from this? I don’t get it.
This whole thing with the MoU is an absolute shitshow, from everything I’ve seen shared on it. Not just from Iran’s end, but like US says one thing, israel says another… I wonder how much is purposeful psyop and how much is infighting from both ends (empire and anti-imperialist).
The fact that Japan and Germany apparently have some of the highest and were also key imperialist/fascist powers of WWII… and still today are very reactionary in spite of their WWII base of power largely being destroyed…
Must be a coincidence, not that the Yankees have made a concerted and violent effort to keep them interested in imperialism, as an ally in it. Pay no attention to the Yankees working with Nazis after WWII behind the curtain.
O_O what is with israel and trying to compete with itself to reach new heights of unhinged
given other recent news though, I wonder if this is a sign of fracturing between israeli and US leadership: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11983139
but maybe I am doing wishful thinking there
Was just wondering about this as a possible route the empire would go with some days ago:
The power brokers of the Yankee end of empire are the real leash holders at the end of the day. The question, as far as I can tell, is: what strategic calculus are they going to make if israel doesn’t want to bend the knee enough to match step with them?
They can threaten removal of support, or even carry it out in which case israel’s situation becomes even more precarious. If israel bends, they have to reign in their more rabid tendencies, which may require a forced change in the power status quo of israel.
https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11916359/8331856
Time will tell of course if this really goes anywhere or means anything about the rabid status quo state of things there. I’m very skeptical about any of it meaning a damn thing more than performance. But it makes sense to me that Washington may be seriously contemplating this, if the Yankee understanding of the situation is that israel’s current leadership doesn’t want to move in lockstep with Washington. If that is the belief and this isn’t just for show, they are probably hoping they can salvage the settler project there, without having to abandon it.
I guess it depends on what you mean by “defend”. I can’t speak for others, but for me, it’s not about defending them morally, as in “they should be excused because they were pushed into it.” It’s more about the practicality of it and how much potential they have for change. If somebody was driven toward it cause of poverty and didn’t understand what they were getting into until they’re already deployed, that doesn’t excuse things they do on behalf of the empire. It doesn’t change the fact that people who did wrong need a mechanism for being held accountable, especially by the people who they wronged. What it does mean is that they’re probably more capable of change and more apt to have guilt about what they directly or indirectly participated in.
On the other hand, if somebody is a rabid, bloodthirsty weapon of imperialism, they would surely be one of the last ones it’d ever occur to me to try to reach out to or change.
That said, I completely agree that Yankees are largely insulated from the wars themselves and it makes us varying shades of clueless (I say us cause I live there myself). I would venture to say, in fact, that what’s going on with Iran is one of the few times they haven’t been and it’s still insulation from attack on actual “US” soil. This time, the oil stuff is impacting things and it’s harder to ignore for that reason.
The only way the occupier will ever understand the word “ceasefire” is if they cease to have weapons with which to fire. Only on that day will they suddenly remember what peace is and claim to cherish it above all else.
‘A ceasefire does not mean ceasing fire. It means not escalating the attacks.’
The empire used to try to be clever with the lies.
I’m resisting the urge to anger post about this, but suffice it to say, I resonate with this:
I’d be laughing at this circus if my blood wasn’t boiling.
Well there is this: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11916359/8339247
So whether this deal holds together as anything or not, I don’t think Iran is going to be lowering its guard any time soon. Everything I’ve been reading as this goes on gives me the impression that Iran is explicitly and vocally aware of how duplicitous the empire is. I’ve noticed @Malkhodr@lemmygrad.ml has an understanding of the internal factions that influence which way it goes, that it’s not all a uniform set of interests, but I don’t understand it very well myself. My rough impression from what they have shared about it in the past, is that there are bougie types who are more apt to push for a deal for their own benefit and there are hardliners who are more apt to push for maintaining military confrontation as needed. And that deals falling through due to the dishonesty of the empire gives more credence to the arguments of the hardliners. So it seems to me that either Iran gets more time to rebuild or the position of those are staunch on the need for self-defense is strengthened.
I think there’s a certain degree of desperation about it, when we’re talking about what’s being said and done about it in good faith by regular folks (as opposed to CIA meddling and the like). Whether with PSL or with the military.
To try to explain what I mean, imagine if the conclusion, upon careful investigation, is that the US military is mainly imperialist loyalists and that PSL is largely useless for getting anywhere. This would imply, based on my understanding of the current crop of parties in the US: 1) There isn’t really anybody visibly leading the charge from within who is capable of meeting the moment and 2) The military is going to be a major obstacle from within, unless it breaks itself in imperialist wars.
If this is actually the case, better to know that than to believe in falsehoods. But it’s also a grim outlook for those of us who were born in the US and would have a hard time going elsewhere.
I hope that makes sense.
Lol exactly. Iran demonstrated that you don’t even need the best tools to make the declining US hurt and retreat, and China has an even more powerful arsenal than Iran.
They must mean, it was already won for China. If the US can’t break Iran, they definitely can’t break China.
Difference is, I don’t tend to hear stories about people becoming cops because their options in life sucked and then they regretted it after.
But I don’t know if that’s because of different conditions for military recruitment and cop recruitment, or difference in public narrative that gets passed around and the cop stories just aren’t being told.
Either way, the meme has a valid point.
That’s hard for me to even fathom, flying super low like that. Kudos to those Iranian pilots.
The power brokers of the Yankee end of empire are the real leash holders at the end of the day. The question, as far as I can tell, is: what strategic calculus are they going to make if israel doesn’t want to bend the knee enough to match step with them?
They can threaten removal of support, or even carry it out in which case israel’s situation becomes even more precarious. If israel bends, they have to reign in their more rabid tendencies, which may require a forced change in the power status quo of israel. If israel refuses to bend, Trump of all people, world’s biggest narcissist, is not going to bow to their will. Especially not after the consequences of this war, which are forcing the empire to make concessions when it would normally go full speed ahead and not acquiesce a thing. I mean, if you look at the way the empire has acted in post-WWII, this seems unprecedented to me, the level of successful military resistance and the deal being pushed on it.
I don’t want to be overly optimistic, but to me it looks like Iran is essentially putting the US in a position where it has to choose: either force israel to be less rabid, or cut it loose. Either way is a loss for US dominance in the region and gives Iran, and the axis of resistance as a whole, more breathing room to build back its strength as a force of anti-imperialist in the world. Meanwhile, the US doesn’t seem to have the military power in this case to force a different outcome. Every time they push, Iran wrecks their military forces in the region all the more, sending a clear message that comprador states are taking on risk to be hosting the empire and sending a message to the empire that its weapons (some of which are hard to replace) can be destroyed when they hang out there.
So while I’m not exactly confident in israel’s ability to stop violating ceasefires, I am more confident in the idea that the narcissist in chief is not going to be pleased if the empire tries to make a strategic retreat and their rabid dog makes a fool of them and their negotiation efforts.
That said, it’s possible that the US is only negotiating for show while it plans more attacks, but Iran is of course going to be well aware of that possibility and make them hurt again if they do. And the capitalists looking at oil and markets and so on are going to be none too happy if this keeps going on and keeps stressing oil supplies to their limits.
It’s always weird reading stuff like this. We spend so much time on explaining things and the stuff going on beneath the mask. And then somebody drops a statement like this. Like what other meaning is there than “we’ve been committing genocide in Gaza, now we want to do that in Lebanon.” Their actions already seemed in that direction to me. But he’s basically saying it outright. Yeah, he may not use the word genocide, but 1+1=2.
Interesting, ok. I know very little about the situation with Türkiye, but I’m curious to know more. You figure Erdogan wants to restore control of territory that Türkiye had when it was the Ottoman empire, is it along those lines?
It’s wild how they blame it on China, while spelling out how German industry is actively choosing to do layoffs and outsource. Because, and of course this is the part they don’t say, the empire/capital class is prioritizing their personal profits over the local working class. They are, from the sound of it, actively de-industrializing their own country for short-term capital gain and blaming it on China. None of which is inevitable! They could prioritize their own industry and focus their efforts inward, but that would make the imperialists unhappy.
Of course, in typical imperialist fashion, their solution is not to reign in the exploiting classes at all, but instead to lash out at another country as the bogeyman.