Europe is not at all the same thing for Russia as China is for the US. Russia was already practically a European country. Ukraine's accession to NATO only has any real significance in words. In reality, it ended with Finland's accession to NATO. So what? This is all a pointless confrontation with Europe instead of mutually beneficial cooperation.
People don't realize it's a zero-sum game. Everyone points at negative conflicts, but how about positive conflicts? You've got cultures who's idea of the perfect leisure weekend conflicts directly with another's. Call to prayer volume, dog walking philosophy, loud music philosophy, which day is the Sabbath etc. I think the Western natives get leap frogged and the cultural battle ends up being between Hindu and Muslim. How ironic is that?
There has been a decades long PR war to convince westerners (primarily 'white people') that they have no culture, everything was stolen from someone else, and they should be feeling suuuuper guilty about anything good in their lives because it came from the blood of someone else. So naturally it leaves an exploitable gap of accommodation, accommodation, accommodation where an antagonistic culture can get a grip and sloooooooowly raise the temperature until suddenly the frog is now getting boiled alive.
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Trump's move was smarter: he eliminated a leader with a bad reputation, and if he helps the Venezuelans (even while profiting from it), he deserves praise even from leftists. Putin wanted to do the same thing with Ukraine as he did with Crimea, but it didn't work out. And the current war is an attempt to save face by presenting the capture of Donbas as a victory. Yes, the land corridor to Crimea and the Sea of Azov is relatively significant, but the overall goal has been lost — Ukraine can no longer be brought under Russia's control (if Europeans don't abandon Ukrainians).
This is not a weakness of your government. It is a weakness of modern Western ideology. Trump may not be the best candidate, but at least he sees the problem and is trying to change it.
Let's be real - the respect towards people is a western construct really. Not a single non-westernized country has respect towards its people.
Lol, a trial. For a trial they need to lose a real war. But as long as the military is not joining the protesters, nothing will happen.
It cannot be adopted. It can be only learnt in time. It is just like a democracy - you cannot just "install" it. Society should be able to understand it.
Maybe. But - just like Venezuela - Iran is not a country where just elections change anything. Ayatollah and IRGC is one of the forces there. But not the only one. I am curious how it is going to end but I don't think Pahlavi has any opportunity there. Too many interested groups within Iran.
Its a CHRISTIAN construct, really, but anything inherent in western values other than maybe a by product of a high trust society you can find elsewhere. Christianity puts humanity first (well, religion first), above family, town, country and that's incredibly baked into the american mindset. Other groups can be very predatory on "the other" in ways I don't think the typical Christian "my word is my bond" really thinks about when they are the vast majority.
I imagine that if you are profiting under the current regime, there is a very real likelihood that you will get killed by any new regime, as that's pretty much the way of things for a violent change in power.
Article: I've just heard from sources on the ground that the families who are going to identify their loved ones who have been killed by the Islamic republic for protesting are being forced to pay approx one billion tomans and sign a false confession that their family member was a "member of the Basij who was killed by the protesters."
Effectively, the Islamic Republic plans to use this in order to justify mass executions of the thousands of Iranians they have arrested.
This makes no sense. Do you really see American liberals as pro-Ayatollah? Do you talk to any liberals with any good-faith effort?I am not sure why it does not make sense for you considering that the media has been propping up Hamas whole last year, believing every number provided by their authorities. Add to that the fact that there are many many lefists / liberals working in the media. We see it in USA and it is kinda worse in the Europe. The current Iranian regime represents everything that democrats and Europeans want to be - unfortunately for them the regime is collapsing in real-time and it becomes inconvenient to cover, as it would require explanations why it happened and suddenly Starmer (as an example) turns into ayatollahAdditionally it gives power to anti-state and anti-EU forces as Iranian are protesting against erasure of their true legacy - persian one - and that erasure was done by islamists. Kinda similar to Europe, don't you think?
100% I mean without X, only some small forums would post anything about that. But together with Starlink it is a huge headache for governments as they have trouble suppressing people.
It is not a free market - just like with tampons in the men's lockers - you have peer pressure, amplified by loud women with suicidal empathy and having support of men who want to sleep with them.
This is why we have the 2nd Amendment. Something tells me the typical Iranian doesn't have access to any kind of firearm, much less a battle rifle in a serious caliber.
Yep. I'm a left of center guy, and I constantly have arguments with left-wing folks over this. They scream ACAB and also want all the guns gone, but the moment you introduce the criminal element, they instantly vapor lock with no concrete solutions to the problem. Some of them now currently advocate arming themselves because they view the current administration as hostile, not realizing the irony of suddenly being cool with the 2nd amendment. Suddenly the core rationale for why we have that in the Bill of Rights is unveiled for those individuals... we all have the right to defend ourselves against threats, perceived or otherwise.
There were mass protests in Russia and Belarus. The standard of living and quality of life in Iran are much worse than there, despite the greater number of sanctions — Iranians are protesting not because they suddenly want democracy.
I'm seeing figures of between 500-5000 protesters killed alongside mass arrests across the country. It doesn't matter how strong your resistance is if the Regime has decided to fight a war of attrition against its own people. They'll literally bury the country to keep their Islamic Regime in control. Sadly, the only way you're getting that out is civil war.
Article: Iran: Protests across Iran are escalating. Increased security measures, road closures, public transportation disruptions, and internet blockages are ongoing. Airlines continue to limit or cancel flights to and from Iran, with several suspending service until Friday, January 16. U.S. citizens should expect continued internet outages, plan alternative means of communication, and, if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye.
U.S.-Iranian dual nationals must exit Iran on Iranian passports. The Iranian government does not recognize dual nationality and will treat U.S.-Iranian dual nationals solely as Iranian citizens. U.S. nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest, and detention in Iran. Showing a U.S. passport or demonstrating connections to the United States can be reason enough for Iranian authorities to detain someone. More at ir.usembassy.gov/iran-security-…
