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https://x.com/ddgsarah/status/1906728482333458713?s=46&t=DuLUbFRQFGpB8oo7PwRglQ “You will never de-Zionize the United States without confronting the religious ideology that underpins it. This country was not only founded on Protestantism, it was shaped by an evolving belief system that merged American exceptionalism with Biblical prophecy, culminating in dispensationalism, a theology that made support for Israel a sacred duty. Protestants make up about 40% of the U.S. population, and within that, Evangelicals are the largest and most politically active bloc. The most zealous form of Zionism in America isn’t Jewish—it’s Evangelical Protestant. Their worldview is dominated by a homegrown American theological export called dispensationalism, which originated in the 19th century with theologians like John Nelson Darby and was popularized in the U.S. through figures like Cyrus Scofield and later Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye (author of Left Behind series). Dispensationalists believe: •The return of Jews to the Holy Land is a divine prerequisite for the Second Coming of Christ. •The modern state of Israel is God’s chosen nation, and its survival and expansion are necessary to fulfill Biblical prophecy. •Any attack on Israel is literally a battle between good and evil. This belief system is embedded in American foreign policy through decades of lobbying, political donations, and mass voting blocs. It transcends political parties, with both Republicans and many Democrats subscribing to or fearing the wrath of the Evangelical base. Every election cycle, candidates from both parties tout their pro-Israel credentials, not just to appease AIPAC, but to win over millions of Evangelical voters who see Israel as a divine project. Media, megachurches, Christian TV, and even homeschooling curricula in the U.S. indoctrinate children from a young age with pro-Israel prophecy.“

Comments on Iran from the above YouTuber: “My humble opinion on the Iran nuclear deal propaganda: Trump and the Zionists aren’t really too worried about Irans nuclear program. If they were, they wouldn’t have tore up Obama’s deal. Because the deal scaled back the program significantly. In the time since, Iran has enriched ten times as much uranium. If they were so afraid of an Irani nuke, then it would have made more sense to keep the deal in place while pressuring Iran to renegotiate it. The real reason they tore it up is because it offered sanctions relief that brought Iran more money. Money for the weapons they can actually use: The axis. You see the U.S. and Israel knows very well that even if Iran developed a nuke they would never actually use it. According to estimates, Iran has the ability to produce maybe 5 nukes over the course of 6 months to a year-and that’s if they start today. And none of these nukes would be larger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. That’s because there is a lot more than just “enriching uranium.” You have to then work it into a warhead and it’s just a whole process that takes time. If the U.S. or Israel got even a whiff of Iran near a completed nuke, they’d preemptively strike. And even if Iran did manage to make their nukes and deploy them, the United States has 5,000+ nukes, some of which 80 times more powerful than anything Iran could build. And Israel has 200 nukes with a million ways to deliver them. Whatever you think about Iran, they aren’t suicidal. So this maximum pressure campaign isn’t really about the nukes. It’s about the axis of resistance network that Iran has been funding, arming and training. The Houthis have ballistic missiles and drones because of Iran. They gave Saudi Arabia hell for years, wrecked two of their oil facilities, and closed down the Red Sea for an entire year. Iran made that possible. Israel, Saudi and the neocons are sick of it. So Trump wants Iran to not only agree to abandon their nuclear program entirely but also their ballistic missile program and the logistics support for AnsarAllah, Hezbollah and other groups. How Iran responds will define the identity of their nation moving forward. They either submit or stand up. If you read Ken klippensteins article the other day, then you know what Trump has in store for Iran and would understand why they would capitulate. I don’t know what Iran will eventually do however because capitulation could be just as destructive as standing up to the U.S. and Israel right now. Because if they are willing to abandon the nuclear program and the axis, why have they been subjecting their people to decades of sanctions just to back down in the end? This question has produced issues internally. It’s why Iran has appeared so rudderless over the last 6 months. Hezbollah is weakened. Syrias gone. The neocon Zionist Warhawk maniacs are in power and they smell blood in the water. They think this is the best time to break Iran. Whether or not they’re correct in their assessment doesn’t change the fact that they are going to try.” Grayzone and Sachs commentary. The buildup on Diego island could just be posturing to make Iran capitulate - a bargaining tactic Trump is using with everything and everyone. Or he could be serious about bombing them, who knows these days..

From Arnaud: ”This is actually an extraordinary admission to make for a US Vice President. Vance explains that "the idea of globalization was that rich countries would move further up the value chain while the poor countries made the simpler things." But he laments that it didn't quite work out this way: as he explains it turns out that poor countries (mostly China) didn't want to just remain cheap labor forever and started moving up the value chain themselves. Which is why, according to him, globalization was a failure. Meaning that the objective of globalization wasn't to reduce global inequalities but very much to maintain them, to institute a system of permanent economic hierarchy where rich countries would maintain their hold over the most profitable sectors while relegating poor countries to perpetual subordination in lower-value production. This is basically all you need to know to explain 90% of U.S. foreign policy these past few years: colonial thinking is alive and well, and America's shift of strategy in recent years - away from the previous "Washington Consensus" of "free" markets towards a much more overt attempt to contain and restrict China's development - stems precisely from this mindset. From semiconductor export controls to investment restrictions, these policies aren't about 'national security' in any genuine sense - they're about trying to preserve a global economic order where, simply put, poorer nations know their assigned place and stay there. At the very core, that's the "China threat": a China that stepped out of the economic lane assigned to it by the West. It's deeply ironic when you think of it: a global game allegedly designed to "spread market principles" worldwide is being abandoned precisely because it worked too well. When China succeeded better than expected, the response wasn't to celebrate the validation of the game's effectiveness but to change its rules. Precisely because the real unspoken game - but now clearly stated by the U.S. Vice President - was to maintain global inequality, not eliminate it. All in all, in case they hadn't yet gotten the memo, this sends a very clear message to the developing world: economic development will require challenging a U.S.-dominated economic order that views their advancement as a threat rather than a success. Which incidentally is why Vance's words might actually help accelerate the very redistribution of global economic power he laments, pushing more nations to recognize that genuine development requires strategic independence from a system intended to keep them in their place.”

@Lila9 @Nivsch The problem isn’t that one side has more extremists than the other, it’s that’s one sides extremists (Israel) are enforcing a system of control and domination, in the form of occupation - while the other sides extremists (Hamas) emerge in reaction to that system, as a symptom. Israeli extremism exists within a domain of systemic domination, Palestinian extremism exists within a domain of symptomatic desperation. One side has the power asymmetry to end the cycle causing both extremisms, more than the other. What underpins that system of occupational domination is a dark interpretation and implementation of the ideology of Zionism. Returning to a historically rooted home to coexist with natives is fine, but dispossessing them because of an ethno-centric fever dream isn’t. A lot of the arguments stem around survival and national security. That’s something I’ve talked about regarding understanding Russias actions in reaction to Western containment that could threaten their national security at the border of Ukraine. The difference with Israel is that a besieged conclave of people with no tanks, navy, air or nuclear capability - aren’t a existential threat to a nuclear armed high tech power like Israel, backed by the collective West including a superpower like the US. It’s not the same level of national security concern the way it is for Russia. Not only are Israels actions as an occupier completely unjustified, its reactions to those it occupies, reacting to that occupation, are also completely unjustified - because those resisting pose no existential threat. Israel was simply asleep at the wheel which caused a breach of the border on a one off occasion. Some say it was allowed to happen but that’s beside the point. Even this notion of Israel being in a hostile neighbourhood surrounded by wolves is false. Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties, Saudi Arabia has been in silent alignment via the US and normalizing more recently (paused for now due to Israel’s psychotic behaviour), Syria poses no threat and has its own issues. Hezbollah exists mainly as a defensive militia protecting Shias in South Lebanon, in reaction to Israels invasion in the past. The reason Israel breach Lebanese and Syrian air space / sovereignty is because of Iranian supply lines to Hezbollah, who came to exist because of Palestinian resistance in the first place. Most, if not all Israels regional conflicts can be traced back to the refusal to resolve the ongoing Palestinian issue. Israels surrounded by countries reacting to its own system of control over a dispossessed people - it’s not innate hostility towards Jews, but circumstantial towards a state behaving dominantly in the region.

Oh totally, we really don’t see why people dislike Israel - must be something about the whole having their boot on the neck of Palestinians thing. And every time those Palestinians gasp for air, resist or lash out in a savage manner due to being cornered - they’re instantly labeled terrorists, dehumanized, and told they were raised to be sociopaths by the same colonial forces that used to do this in black and white and now do it in HD. But yeah, no clue why anyone would have an issue with that.

I can acknowledge the possibility of that, including that Hamas can be savage. But can you acknowledge that it isn’t right to collectively punish Gazans then? If some people including your family, are held hostage in a house by crazy people, does that make it okay to switch off the heating to that house in winter so they can all freeze? Just because you want the crazy kidnappers to freeze also.. The hope is that at least some of the aid is getting to the people, including the hostages the whole of Israel protests over. How else would they be surviving all these months otherwise.. the look of Palestinian detainees is starkly different to the Israeli hostages - which means they are at least getting something. Also those hostages are a bargaining chip for Hamas, they have the incentive to keep them alive.

The bigger question is why did they start bombing Yemen again? Because they started blockading sea lanes. Why is Yemen doing that? Because Israel ended the ceasefire and is blockading and starving out Gazans - during Ramadan of all months, including killing over 400 in a single day last week.

So if they are that evil, how can we expect Palestinians to overthrow them? And how does it make it okay to collectively punish / pressure the population via starvation..

Isn't the fact that Palestinians are protesting against Hamas, proof that they aren't complicit in October 7th and therefore shouldn't be collectively punished via starvation? Therefore the country doing this is a terrorist state?

American exceptionalism on display. The best line “I’m an American reporter and would like a answer to the British reporters question” Europe needs to do what’s in its best interest and build itself up over time. The “hostile” US is going to relegate itself so nothing retaliatory needed. They are self owning themselves. They talk about Europe freeloading but won’t ever mention Israel doing so lol retards

@Raze Horrible. They need the media blackout to cover for what they’re doing. When does it become genocide? Isn’t Gaza currently under siege being starved? Is the West (who has the power to stop this) going to wait for Palestinians to die off slowly through malnutrition and untreated diseases? Does it even register to them what is happening? It seems that when they do, their only way of acknowledging this is by saying whoopsie, we should have done something sooner.

True, the meme logic isn’t technically correct but points at the general truth of it being crazy to fafo with a nation full of nukes.

Interesting and fiery discussion that shows the different perspectives on addressing inequality - which is a core issue of what’s going: Just see the comments and the general sentiment displayed - ironically on a YouTube channel of a entrepreneur named Diary of a CEO. The left generally view taxing the rich as the solution, the right generally view lowering taxes and de-regulation as the solution. As I said above, the issue is systemic and the solution from the left or right isn’t enough to solve it, but merely just tweaks things enough to hasten or slow the inevitable. The problem with taxing the rich is that they have ways to avoid (not evade) tax. And you incentivize them to incorporate in tax havens like Dubai, Singapore etc unless the world implements a global minimum tax rate to prevent it them fleeing to places to stash cash. The reason hustle culture even exists is symptomatic of a broken system. Most people don’t want to be, or aren’t event cut out to be a giga chad bio hacking entrepreneur living lavish in a tier 1 city.

Hopefully 🙏🏻

@integration journey What about the videos of Syrians being killed recently? Who were they and what’s the reason? Is it a extreme faction of HTS doing but that isn’t approved by the government?

@Hatfort Nice summary. Europe simply isn’t understanding Russias core concern. The idea that buffer states must pledge loyalty to one power or another like medieval vassals is a modern distortion, not the historical norm. For most of history, multiple power centers coexisted, and buffer nations functioned as neutral bridges rather than frontline battlegrounds. Not always peaceful, but there were times of peace where power centres knew their red lines. The reason that reality has been forgotten is that for the past two centuries, the world has been shaped by a succession of dominant unipolar hegemons - first the British, and now the US - both imposing a unipolar universalist mindset on world affairs. Under their paradigm, buffer states aren’t independent actors but must pick a side: either adversary or ally. Putin being the modern day Hitler ready to conquer Europe is the present day version of WMD in Iraq.

The accelerationists techno-optimists sold one side of the political aisle the supposed solution to the unsustainable system I outlined above. They know: 1. They no longer have a young enough demographic (demographic dividend) to fuel long term organic economic growth. 2. Their productivity isn’t increasing fast enough to offset the effects of financialization and debt accumulation. 3. The financialized economy is fundamentally unsustainable in the long run, and they need a way out before it collapses. So they want to buy some time and kick the can the can down the road long enough to reach a moment where productivity skyrocket (economic singularity) at which point they hope to use that productivity boom to sort out their debts and economic imbalances. Some of them believe that they should speed up the inevitable technological shift that will supposedly save them. But the way they are trying to get there is designed to benefit only corporations and the ownership class, not the working population. Because when capital no longer needs labour, how does labour gain capital? This is why Musk and his cohort discuss UBI as a solution to their techno feudalism. The irony is that their very base hung ho about liberty and freedom - and economic dependency is very much contrary to their own ideology. China will be able to implement what’s needed because they aren’t idealogical, but pragmatic. Their ideaology is whateverworkism. The techno accelerationist vision is essentially the next step of financialization- except instead of detaching capital from real economic productivity (as financialization did) it detaches productivity from human labor entirely. See the divergence between wages and productivity (that financialization consolidated) in the following chart: Notice when the divergence takes place - 1971. The moment Nixon unpegged the dollar from gold in 1971, financialization was born. That was the big bang of the modern casino economy. That’s when Wall Street and Main Street became two separate realities - introducing an economic apartheid. Notice also how the gap has increased despite the left or right political parties being in power. Once you sign up for this game it’s very hard to get out of it without collapsing the system. The only solution I see is a two pronged approach. 1. Stop the bleeding by stripping away reckless financial excesses that make the system unstable. 2. Seize control and decouple capital from politics and the state. Reorient capital toward serving the economy, not ruling it. This requires being strategic in regulations, it takes a surgeons scalpel not a chainsaw. Trump/Musk should be regulating financialization, speculation, monopolization, and capital flight. Instead, they’re just deregulating industry including financial class by slashing oversight, making it easier for capital to extract even more. It’s about regulating the right things and deregulating the right things. And that’s what they’re failing to do and what Americans will struggle to do due to being ideological rather than pragmatic. Interesting insights from Balaji:

The problem is structural - Trump/Musk are cutting the excesses of the system ie trimming the fat, but aren’t making the systemic changes that will keep the fat off ie dietary and lifestyle habits. They are basically shooting up ozempic, but not changing the root cause that made someone need it. The cause generally is financialization. A financialized system will always serve the financial class because that’s what financialization does. It detaches the economy from real productivity and labor, turning it into a machine that extracts value from workers and funnels it into the hands of asset holders. This is neo-feudalism in a suit and tie. The lords own the land, the assets, and the markets. The peasants work harder for less, trapped in an illusion of mobility while the ownership class pulls the strings. And that’s the problem with the so called populist uprising. Trump, Musk, and the deregulation crowd are right that change is needed - that regulation can throttle productivity, bureaucratic bloat stifles growth, and wages don’t keep up. But their solution doesn’t fix the disease. Deregulation may create more growth, but in a financialized system, that growth doesn’t go to the people who produce it. It gets siphoned off by the same mechanisms that created this mess in the first place. It’s a hamster wheel of exploitation. The distinction is: China HAS a financialized economy, the US IS a financialized economy. In China the state dictates, directs and checks capital - in the US, capital dictates, directs and capitalizes its influence on the state. Until this dynamic and relationship between the state and capital changes, nothing will improve for the everyday person. Cutting debt and expenses (DOGE) doesn’t change the fact that the system is designed to accumulate more debt, due to financialization. It only buys the unsustainable system some more time and breathing room, unless they are so aggressive in their policies as to cause a systemic collapse. The US and China have the ingredients of great powers (raw material, energy, population, industry and tech). In the past Europe had power from colonially extracting what it lacked from beyond its borders, in the present it remained somewhat powerful by being adjacent to a great power (US). The US and China have the ingredients it takes for a great power to exist, mainly within their borders. Russia does too but to a lesser extent (smaller and aging demographics) The flaw with MAGA is thinking that because you have these ingredients = you can be self sufficient = means you are powerful and prosperous. They think they can play the isolation game and come out strong. But no empire is great only due to its ingredients - but in how it uses them in strategic in engagement with the world. Then, it’s about how those gains are domestically used to develop their society, or misused and hoarded amongst the ruling class. Russia as an example engages with the world, with its main resource being energy - but they domestically mismanaged the gains from it due to corruption. Those gains haven’t translated to widespread upliftment of their people compared to how China has used its resources. The US likewise has mismanaged its gains because the system of financialization is designed that way. China is using the same engine (financialization) but without over-revving it. It has financialized aspects of its economy, but it isn’t fully financialized in that finance isn’t in the driving seat itself. Self sufficiency is for survival, but for powers to thrive they need engagement with the world - not the kind of isolation MAGA thinks will make them great.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/mar/18/israel-gaza-live-blog-updates-air-strikes-strip-netanyahu-hamas Bibi deflecting from domestic issues. He seems to be lashing out while he’s still in power and before the country falls into civil unrest. Horrible behaviour from the terrorist state of Israel and the US.

The real economy runs on people and productivity, but the system we’ve got runs on printing and predation. The first two build civilisations and the real economy, last two grow financialized empires on the bones of the working class. The economy is supposed to be made of three P’s - people, productivity, and printing. But only the first two are real. The third is just the duct tape holding together a broken economy. Printing exists because growth doesn’t. But even when growth does happen, it doesn’t even go where it should - due to financialization, thus we have a divergence of Main Street (real economy) and Wall Street (financialized economy). Printing was originally meant to compensate for a lack of people or productivity. If a country had a shrinking workforce or stagnating innovation, monetary expansion could help bridge the gap temporarily by lowering borrowing costs, encouraging investment, and keeping the system running. But when the economy became financialized, printing took on a new role. Instead of being used to fuel real expansion, it became a siphoning mechanism - a way to extract economic gains away from the people actually producing them and toward those who control capital. Even when productivity grows, wages stay stagnant. When workers produce more due to innovations and efficiencies, their share of the economy shrinks. Why? Because financialization changed the way growth is distributed. Instead of rewarding workers with higher wages, corporations use productivity gains to increase profits - and those profits don’t get reinvested in the people who created them. They get funneled into stock buybacks, leveraged asset acquisitions, and financial engineering schemes that boost corporate valuations without actually producing anything new. Printing fuels that process. It doesn’t compensate workers but asset holders. When liquidity is injected, it doesn’t flow into wages or real economic growth but into financial markets. It inflates stock prices, real estate, and corporate assets, making the wealthy wealthier while doing nothing for the real economy. This is why there is a correlation of asset prices and stocks with the printing of money - fed intervention. MAGA and libertarians who believe de-regulation = growth, are partially right. Deregulation can unleash growth, but that growth isn’t distributed in a financialized economy. Deregulation allowed corporations to stop reinvesting in wages and start pumping up stock values instead. Buybacks, asset inflation, and debt leveraged acquisitions is the new growth model. This is why wages have stagnated while the economy has “expanded.” It’s not that growth isn’t happening but that all the benefits are getting funneled upward. And this is why the stock market will never fully collapse. It can dip and crash but it can’t be allowed to die. The system isn’t built on real economic activity anymore but on debt, collateralized against assets that must always go up. If asset prices fall too much, the credit markets seize up, and that’s game over. The financial system is a ponzi scheme in a bulletproof vest - its built to take a hit, but never to hit the ground. They can let stocks take a hit and let small holders take losses, while the big players scoop up assets on the cheap. But once asset prices get affected too much and credit markets freeze, the Fed will step in with liquidity to avoid systemic collapse.

Comments are telling of a vibe: Aussie think tank: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/critical-technology-tracker “ Our research reveals that China has built the foundations to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains. China’s global lead extends to 37 out of 44 technologies that ASPI is now tracking, covering a range of crucial technology fields spanning defence, space, robotics, energy, the environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and key quantum technology areas.1 The Critical Technology Tracker shows that, for some technologies, all of the world’s top 10 leading research institutions are based in China and are collectively generating nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked country (most often the US). “

Trump and Putin talking today whilst European leaders meeting on Thursday to discuss putting peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.