Again, while there are definitely some parallels between Putin’s annexation of Crimea and Hitler’s of the Sudetenland, there are also plenty of differences that make a direct comparison complicated and not altogether helpful. Hitler’s goals were obviously more wide-ranging, proactive, and expansionist, whereas Putin’s were much more localized and reactive to a perceived threat. A diplomatic solution didn’t work with Hitler but it might have for Putin.

I understand and sympathize with Ukrainians who want to fight to the bitter end, but how much longer will that take? How many more lives will be lost? Is a military victory even likely?

With Ukraine recently being given access to long-range US missiles with which they have conducted strikes within Russian territory, the war seems to be gradually escalating with neither side willing to back down.

NO BUTS. That’s IT. Russia is IN THE WRONG.

No argument from me. I wasn’t condoning the Russian invasion so much as explaining what Russia’s grievances were.

How do you ensure a tyrant doesn’t regroup under a ceasefire and strike again after he gained a prize?

It was not Putin’s intention to stay in Ukraine for long and the war has proven to be very costly. What he really wanted was to show the world that he would stand up to what he saw as the bullying of NATO, the EU, and the US.

A diplomatic solution that would have given Putin a chance to save face while also ensuring a ceasefire would have likely been enough for him, since he knew that Russia didn’t have the military strength to beat NATO and Euro forces in an outright ground war. This, incidentally, is why I don’t buy the direct comparison to Hitler, who actually had both the will and the military / economic might to take over Europe.

As to the very reasonable question of how: One suggestion I remember liking the sound of was the idea to establish a de-militarized zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border in the contested Donetsk-Luhansk region under the joint supervision of Kiyv, Moscow and the European Union.

Either way, I’m not saying it would have definitely worked out, but it seemed to me that not enough effort was given to trying to find a relatively peaceful alternative to a war that was always going to last years and costs tens of thousands of lives.

1. I explicitly said the Russian invasion was not justified

2. Propaganda is often a kernel of truth wrapped in a lie. That’s true of US & EU propaganda as well.

I took the time to explain a complex alternative viewpoint and support it with reliable sources. It’s pretty unfair to just dismiss it as a gish gallop or misinformation.

I don’t have time to sit down and fully respond to your points now, but hopefully I’ll have time later today.

See my comment here as a response.

See my comment here as a response.

The Russia/Ukraine conflict is a lot more complex than people in the West generally think.

You won’t hear this often in mainstream media but NATO expansionism and the involvement of neo-nazi far right paramilitary groups in the Maidan revolution in Ukraine were legitimate grievances for Russia. (If you’re interested in learning more about the conditions that created the conflict, there’s a great interview with a Ukrainian sociologist here that explains things in a fairly even handed way).

Russia was wrong to invade Ukraine, no question, but in the beginning there was a potential diplomatic resolution on the table if the US and NATO were willing to back off Ukraine. Support for joining NATO was always mixed in Ukraine anyway - Before the war, less than half of Ukrainians wanted it.

And who says the war will be endless? That’s another Russian talking-point intending to sow defeatism.

Russia’s resources are vast and they are supported by China. Ukraine is backed by the deep pockets of NATO. Over half a million troops on both sides have been killed. A recent UN report said:

Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine, which is about to enter its third year with no end in sight, continues to cause serious and widespread human rights violations, destroying lives and livelihoods

and stated that over 30,000 civilians have already died. A diplomatic solution three years ago could have possibly prevented all that.

Yup, this pretty much sums it up.

To add, the vast majority of the antisemitism complaints involved other Labour ministers liking and posting anti-Israel Tweets that were consider too extreme. These ranged from ones that “crossed the line” of criticism against Israeli policy and the Israel lobby in the UK (some of which you can read in the report on pages 27-30) to ones that allegedly blamed Jewish members of the Labour party for making false complaints, or even tried to dimish the Holocaust (although I can’t find the exact details of those).

Either way, none of the complaints involved Corbyn himself but his reputation was tarnished and it made him an easy target for his opponents.

Certain parts of the media/political establishment certainly tried to paint him that way, but all he was advocating for was a ceasefire and for Ukraine and Russia to come to a diplomatic solution instead of just perpetuating an endless war.

There is no rule that says the universe must make sense to human beings. In fact the more we learn about it - subatomic particles, quantum mechanics, the multiverse, etc. the stranger it becomes and the less it appears to operate in ways that are intuitive to our primitive primate brains.

Hell, even space and time might not be fundamental properties, and could themselves be abstractions which emerge from an even deeper underlying reality…

All of which is to say your list should have an extra option:

D. Who The Fuck Knows?

As someone married to a JW and who is friends with several others, I will say this: like any group of people, they can be a mixed bag. Some are more closeted and “in the truth” whereas others are more outgoing and “worldly”.

One the things that I actually admire about them (the individuals, mind you, not the Watchtower organization) is that they really seem to try and live by the teachings of the Bible and study it frequently. Much more so than, say, your average evangelical Protestant.

As someone who is mostly agnostic, those who belive that absence of evidence equals evidence of absence belong in psychotherapy.

This position is a straw man. Atheists generally do not argue that God categorically does not exist. Instead, we usually say that we don’t believe in God because there is insufficient evidence. Much like the proverbial invisible unicorn in your backyard - since there is no evidence that it exists, there is no reason for it to affect how we go about our daily lives.

When it comes to whether you’re agnostic or atheist, I think it helps to answer the following question on a scale of 0 - 10: How confident are you that God exists? If you say around 5, then you’re agnostic. If you say around 1 or 2, then you’re an atheist.

Because

• None of the above legally prevent him from running.
• Republican voters will still vote for him en masse.

It’s that simple.

FYI, UNWatch is a right-wing organization that has been described as a “pro-Israeli monitor” and “lobby group” that attacks anyone in the UN who is openly critical of Israel. Source

Therefore the claims made in this article should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

Nobara may well use a non-stock configuration, but by default a three-finger swipe left or right on the trackpad will switch between workspaces. As for keyboard shortcuts, I believe they are disabled by default but you can always set your own by going to settings > keyboard shortcuts > navigation > switch to workspace on the left/right.

Stock Gnome has this too.

It’s not that simple; A court must rule that the action in question is an “official act”. As the SCOTUS intentionally declined to elaborate further on how this is defined, it will be up for the courts to decide what is and what is not covered by immunity.

Not that this couldn’t become subject to abuse and partisan rulings, but it’s more than just the presidental equivalent of

“You have your tax dollars being given in grants to things like the Fringe Festival, which is like a sexual festival where they’re doing all this stuff,” DeSantis said during a Thursday press conference, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Hmm, I wonder what kinds of “sexual stuff” he’s referring to.

the Tampa Bay Times reports that the governor’s spokespeople did not respond to questions about specific events he found objectionable.

Oh.

Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani (D), who attended this year’s Orlando Fringe festival, told the Times that she saw nothing “sexual” at the festival.

“It does feature drag queens and other forms of artistic expression that DeSantis has wanted to censor despite courts telling him otherwise!” Eskamani said.

So a man dressing in women’s clothes is an inherently sexual act, according to these sexually repressed freaks.

The first thing to understand is that Israel’s parliamentary system of government is quite different from the US’. Instead of two main parties dominating the political landscape, i.e. Republicans vs Democrats, Israel has around a dozen main parties which work together to form coalition governments where more than one party is in power at one time. Under this fragmented landscape, if you have a religious or ethnic minority who all tend to vote for the same party, that can lead to a situation where one group in society may hold sway over others politically even though they are not as as large a population numerically.

And yes, you’re quite right - a lot has changed since 2016, and some Haredi (especially the young) have been increasingly drifting towards the far-right nationalist parties like Likud (Netanyahu’s party) and the Religious Nationalists. However, as this AP article suggests, these recent converts moving away from the traditional Haredi parties are still a minority.

While the majority of Haredim living outside Israel still do not identify as Zionists (as per this recent, post-Oct 7th survey), I admit I don’t have any hard polling data for the current situation in Israel itself. If anyone else does, I would appreciate the info.

The vast majority of Hareidi Jews are Zionist.

According to a recent survey, less than half of Haredi Jews outside of Israel identify as Zionists, post October 7th.

In 2016, the percentage of Israeli Haredim who identified as Zionist was just 33%.

Do you have any recent figures for within Israel itself to support your statement above?