Vrubel

He moderated a lot though, and he will be forced to park some of his most extreme ideas if he wants to rule in a coalition. I don't see him as an authoritarian crazy person, he has the right to his opinion about Islam and stopping Islamic immigration is a legitimate standpoint. However, he must assure the Islamic citizens of the country that he won't harm their basic rights. I think he is able to do that. Personally, I voted for Omzigt because I think integrity should be rewarded even though I don't trust him entirely, he seems kinda autistic to me haha.

I am more unbiased than you think. I care for a two-state solution but in this war, I am fully behind Israel. I am not talking propaganda when I say "Hamas has broken the seal of humanity". Israel is in a dark place right now and needs to ensure it's most basic and fundamental security. If it's not able to do that it has no right to exist. Haha, as a secular Jewish person I don't really care about what nationality I date. But dating an Arab girl, even if she is secular, modern and not anti-Israel, it's way too awkward. I am not racist and maybe there are some exceptions,(I did date an Iranian girl but she was obviously pro-Israel so that doesn't count) but generally, it's just too awkward. People also have the right to their own opinion but for me dating a pro-Palestine Western girl is also out of the question. I have already figured out that I have the best click and cultural affiliation with Russian women. So maybe I'll find a nice Russian girl ideally with some Jewish roots or a connection to Israel, that's actually not so rare. Maybe we'll end up moving to Israel together.

@Danioover9000 I am not unbiased, I am on the side of Israel in this war but I can also see the bigger picture and nuances. I know the history and much of what I explain is general, like war, basic human survival and state defense. If you would ask me during WW2 are you for the British or Germans? I would be absolutely biased in support for the British.

@Karmadhi The UN human rights council is chaired by Iran. All that I say is based on personal observation, not the Israeli army. Nothing of what I say is the "official" Israeli standpoint meant for the low-brow propaganda war that is being waged. I fully support and love the IDF but I have no problem pointing out shortcomings, failures and when-and-why they are being untruthful.

One is a death cult that is suiciding its own people and the other one is an accountable army defending its citizens.

@Karmadhi Don't take it personally out on me. I am explaining basic human survival and state defense.

Yes, I used my words very deliberately. When you rip away everything we hold dear as humans, When you rape the daughter of a big club bouncer in front of him, you open the gates of hell on yourself. Life becomes desanctified because naked survival takes over to save the daughter and to ensure such a thing can never happen again. Hamas is hiding amongst the civilians, and Imagine if you will the "hand of God" coming down from the sky, grabbing and ripping the Hamas terrorists out, and snaring up scores of civilians along them as collateral. That's what Israel is doing because protecting your citizens from rape, massacre and mutilation is paramount and trumps the tragic collateral.

I have nuanced and critical views on the broader conflict and especially the Israeli government. But I fully support Israel in this war against Hamas. Hamas broke the seal of humanity and desecrated everything we hold dear and sanctify as humans. So what we are seeing now is an extremely understandable retaliation. Brutal as it is, it is still within certain bounds. My point is that if Israel was not as developed as it is or not kept in check by American influence, we would have seen WAY more casualties. People don't appreciate this.

Did you consider that it might be impossible for Israel to effectively fight Hamas without striking through some human shields? To be honest I think all calls to a permanent ceasefire are extremely naive without the destruction of Hamas or the safe release of all hostages. Israel cares about saving lives of their own. They also care for international support or tacit approval as without it Israel cannot wage the war. So that's already a selfish reason for Israel to minimize civilian casualties. This is not a revenge war, it's definitely methodical and militarily focused. But there is certainly an element of fury that made gloves come off. Which is very understandable considering all that was done in the Hamas attack. Definitely, some manipulations going on. The numbers might be even higher but they could leave out men of fighting age. It's already clear that the numbers do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. But yeah arguing about this is useless and not what is important. It's tragic either way. The number would be way higher if Israel did not employ tactics to save civilians.

1. Because Israel is a first-world developed country with economic and cultural affiliations with the West. 2. It did not start this war 3. It's fighting a terrorist group/government 4. It's doing its best to minimize civilian causalities. Israel does not benefit from killing civilians and has a decent degree of accountability. 5. Terrorists use human shields and creating civilian casualties in their own population is their main objective.

Suriname:

To save my daughter I would kill all homeless people and solve the homelessness crisis, thank me later. How is that a real dilemma? For me, it only becomes a dilemma when I have to choose between killing my daughter or two other girls of the same age that I know. That's a situation I'd rather kill myself in.

@Nabd Damn interesting vision. I hope much of it will be fulfilled. Sadly the harsh reality is different. I think the civil war in Syria was so brutal many Syrians are just relieved that some sense of stability has returned even though the overall political situation seems lost.

I see a trend in the Middle East where minority groups generally seem to be more successful than the majority. For example, when Lebanon was predominantly Christian they were very prosperous. Christian Lebanese in the diaspora also tend to be successful, not forming an underbelly like many Muslim immigrants do for example. The Druze have a specific strategy where they are loyal to the main power because as a minority they want to make themselves useful and keep detrimental instability at bay. The Kurds also seemed to organize themselves pretty decent. And Assad is from the small Alawite minority. May I ask what group you belong to and what your vision is for Syria? For Example, should it split up/come together and what should be its attitude to the West and its neighbors?

I agree with a lot of your points. Though Multiculturalism in the West is Post-nationalist while in the Middle East, it's pre-nationalistic. The diversity in the Middle East is also much more vulnerable to all kinds of tensions and wars. Being a minority group in the Middle East is definitely not easy. Even though people can live friendly on a day-to-day basis, you can't do away with all the political differences of these groups, and when it comes down to it and tensions erupt they will be more loyal to their subgroup than to the larger country. That's one of the reasons Arab dictators tried so hard to unite their lands by demonizing and blaming everything on Israel. United by common hatred if you will. Of course, this doesn't work because it takes love to unite. Arabs talk all the time about being brothers but in reality, it's all extremely superficial. An Alawite must feel a real meaningful connection with a Kurd and Sunnis and Shia must care for each other as if they belong to the same people. You don't see this happening in reality and that's why they have no qualms about brutally killing each other in civil wars. So for now the Middle East definitely needs some more stage blue nationalistic uniting. Also, I want to make the point Israel might be literally without exaggeration the most diverse country on Earth. The Nakba happened because Jews needed to have their own land. Period. Why should they accept living with Arabs as a minority, when they treat each other so badly. Furthermore, even before Israel there were massacres of Jews, like the one in Hebron where a "native" Jewish community was attacked in their homes.

After Israel took over those territories it was open to exchange them for peace and recognition. But the Arabs famously proclaimed the three no's of Khartoum, including no to peace.

@Nabd I think you'll find it interesting to know that many Palestinians considered themselves Syrians before Israel, and referred to themselves as such. 'Palestinian' as a distinct national identity was only formed in reaction to the Jews settling the land. The reason Israel was established and not Palestine is because the Israelis had a clear identity and were very energetic about their goals. The Palestinians still had to figure out who they were in a sense. Before 1967, Arabs had full sovereignty on the West Bank and Gaza and yet there was no Palestine. Nor did the Palestinians demand sovereignty from the Egyptians and Jordanians. Jordan was basically a Palestinian state with a big Palestinian majority, they were just not the ruling elite.

The expulsion of Jews from the Middle East is yet another example of how Arabs shoot themselves in the foot. The expulsion ended up being extremely beneficial for Israel as Middle Eastern Jews make up more than half of the population of Israel.

@Leo Gura Why not actually travel? I recommend going to Suriname, I went there last winter. It's a diverse, severely underdeveloped, and obscure country (certainly from the American POV) but it's also very small population-wise so you can get quickly a good feel for how the society and economy are structured. The Nature there is stunning and as wild as it gets. I would say Stage Red is very prominent there but still relatively safe because of its small size and open friendly people. But if you're a woman, simply walking the streets there is out of the question.

People here are so childish and unintelligent. I can only respect reasonable arguments, not whatever I am seeing here. Militarily, Israel is conducting this war brilliantly. The monster needs to be fought for the sake of everyone even if it's hiding beneath hospitals it will get no immunity that is how it should be. Godspeed IDF!

They are just pro-Palestine, even pro-Hamas. They are in total denial of 0f 7/10. Their commentators and analysts were extremely gleeful when it happened.

I think what people fail to understand is that Israelis view this as a war against Hamas, and that's exactly what it is. Much of the world kinda seems to dismiss it and conveniently leave Hamas out of the equation when talking about the suffering in Gaza.

Hamas is responsible for this war, they choose this. They throw their own civilians under the bus because they are dogs that think, live and die like dogs. I don't have a "Western" attitude in this regard, I am more like: you started this, you will be crushed without mercy and hesitation. Guess that's my Russian part. And boy are the Palestinians lucky Israelis are not Russians.

@Nabd Moshe Dayan spoke incredibly wise words about the tragedy of the situation or the destiny if you will of the two peoples, he warned against harboring hate against Arabs and how Jews have no choice but to live on their land always armed with a rifle. Btw something unrelated but I can't help but share: I just heard of the case of a small girl's hands being cut of and left all alone to bleed out for hours. Israeli paramedics came in but they only could witness her last breath and looking so scared.

Don't compare the Warsaw Ghetto with Gaza. If Nazis put the Jews in Gaza (like conditions), it would be a Singapore and the Jews there would thrive.