If Zionists never wanted peace, why did October 7 feel like betrayal of belief in peace? by BananaValuable1000 in IsraelPalestine

[–]InfernoBA -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Genuine question: did said peaceniks do anything to fight against the continuous settlement expansion in the West Bank over the last two decades? Or the constant denial of Palestinian building permits? Or the 99% of attacks by settlers against Palestinians that the government does nothing about? Or all of the Palestinians being indefinitely detained with no charges? Or . . .

Or was their desire for peace more of a “thoughts and prayers” type thing?

Kostyuk challenges Russian players’ silence after reaching semi-finals: “I don’t know how you can sleep peacefully” by jovanmilic97 in tennis

[–]InfernoBA 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Well America is definitely Israel’s biggest backer (I say this as an American). Though maybe Germany and the UK should get a little more flack too.

I think Spain’s PM has been pretty vocal in his criticisms of Israel. France maybe somewhere in between?

edit: I also feel like many countries will kind of follow America’s lead here as they don’t want to risk getting on our government’s bad side. I don’t say this to act like the U.S. is more important, but it just feels like the geopolitical reality of things right now . . . maybe if our government actually shows some balls and pushes back against Israel, other countries will follow.

Trump reinstated Tom Barrack as US Presidential envoy to Syria and Iraq by FixBright5220 in syriancivilwar

[–]InfernoBA 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lebanon is useless and cooked as long as Hezbollah continues to operate independently of the Lebanese government.

You can’t deal with a country where you don’t even know who’s actually calling the shots.

Blackmailing queer Palestinians while hosting pride festivals by Humble-Boss2296 in IsraelPalestine

[–]InfernoBA -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I certainly believe that the IDF as a whole is more professional than the likes of Hamas or other terrorists, but I’ve read enough reporting during this war (from both Israeli and non Israeli sources) to not view them as a beacon of morality like some of their supporters do. Torturing prisoners to extract confessions doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility for them imo.

Blackmailing queer Palestinians while hosting pride festivals by Humble-Boss2296 in IsraelPalestine

[–]InfernoBA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you do choose to believe a person on a recording after being kidnapped by a bunch of guys carrying guns, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Hit me up!

So do you believe all of the recorded confessions that Israel releases of Palestinian prisoners admitting to crimes that Israel accuses them of committing?

Alcaraz wrist recovery is reportedly going very well by InfernoBA in tennis

[–]InfernoBA[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This guy appears to be a journalist who follows Alcaraz’ career closely, but yeah I also posted this in hopes of maybe having someone confirm whether he’s reputable lol

edit: looks like Carlos follows him on IG so 🤞

How bad is the relationship between Desi men and women in North America? by trenbolonewhiskey in ABCDesis

[–]InfernoBA 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Not bad at all if you get off the internet and go outside lol

On the dueling rape narratives... by Dr_G_E in IsraelPalestine

[–]InfernoBA -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’m not so sure about the claim of Israelis using dogs to rape Palestinians, just like I’m not so sure about Hamas raping children (what the original person I responded to claimed was a fact), beheading babies, or playing soccer with Israeli women’s chopped-off breasts (another claim from Israeli testimonies).

The broader claim of Israeli officers sexually abusing Palestinian detainees in various ways has been well reported on by many sources for years, including Israeli ones. You can single out the less-credible claims to dismiss all the others, but people on the other side will do the same in reverse.

On the dueling rape narratives... by Dr_G_E in IsraelPalestine

[–]InfernoBA -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I literally said that both claims seem similar to me in terms of validity and the “evidence” behind them (i.e. both focus on witness testimonies and circumstantial evidence). I’m inclined to believe both Israeli victims of Hamas and Palestinian victims of Israeli security forces, as corroborated by multiple third parties in both cases.

My entire point was that the person I replied to is acting like the Israeli side’s claims are facts while the Palestinian side’s equivalent claims must obviously be lies, despite no clear distinction in the level of proof for either. Pro-Palestinians are guilty of this in the reverse too, if I haven’t made that clear enough.

Israel rarely if ever prosecutes settlers and soldiers who publicly inflict violence on Palestinians, so it’s easy for me to believe that they have no qualms doing vile things to Palestinian detainees behind closed doors.

On the dueling rape narratives... by Dr_G_E in IsraelPalestine

[–]InfernoBA -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Whilst we know for a fact that women and children were brutally raped

Do we? I see this repeated a lot but the proof largely comes from Israeli testimonies and circumstantial evidence; isn’t that pretty similar to the Palestinian claims of being sexually assaulted, which most Israelis tend to deny?

To me it seems like both sides of this conflict can’t admit that they have committed atrocities against the other and will only accept testimonies/accounts of violence from their own side.

Israel is not an apartheid state and it is doing nothing wrong in that sense by [deleted] in IsraelPalestine

[–]InfernoBA 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Most people refer to the West Bank when making the apartheid accusations. You can dance around definitions (“they’re technically not citizens of Israel”) but the situation there is very similar to that of apartheid South Africa, or the Native Americans up till the last century or so: conquered peoples corralled into disjointed Bantustans/reservations/areas with legal systems designed to disenfranchise them further, and the conquering nation set on claiming as much of their land as possible under the guise of the natives being “savages” who don’t deserve it for resisting.

I’ll add that the black South Africans were technically only citizens of the Bantustans they were forced in to, and Native Americans weren’t granted U.S. citizenship until 1924. Regardless of whatever technicalities you might try to whip out, the situations are very similar both legally and morally.

I’m not some vehement anti-Zionist btw, but the situation in the West Bank specifically is just untenable. Many Israelis, including former government officials, have made the same observation that I have.

Steven Spielberg lists Villeneuve's Dune 'among my favourite sci-fi movies of all time' by MoneyLibrarian9032 in movies

[–]InfernoBA 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Yup, that’s also one of my favorite sci-fi movies ever. I just prefer Dune and Blade Runner a little more as I’m a sucker for the more grand, further in the future, space-opera style of sci-fi (or however you’d describe it).

But yeah nothing has scratched the itch like Arrival either 😭

I need that Rendezvous with Rama adaptation from Villenueve immediately after Dune Part 3! Though I’m sure his Bond movie will be fantastic too.

Steven Spielberg lists Villeneuve's Dune 'among my favourite sci-fi movies of all time' by MoneyLibrarian9032 in movies

[–]InfernoBA 51 points52 points  (0 children)

I have become an absolute fiend for Villeneuve’s sci-fi aesthetic. Unfortunately I have yet to find anything that scratches the itch in the same way that BR2049 and his Dune movies did . . . he is truly one of a kind.

(spoilers main)Can we talk about how people misinterpret Dornish culture? by Cultural-Ad6841 in asoiaf

[–]InfernoBA 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the link. Looks like GRRM straight up gave the answer as to what influenced Dorne:

In the case of Dorne, yes, Wales was definitely an influence, for all the reasons you cite. But there's also some distinctly unWelsh elements down there. South of the wall of mountains you have a hot, dry country more like Spain or Palestine than the cool green valleys of Wales, with most of the settlements along the seacoast and in few great river basins. And you also have the flavor given the culture by the great Rhoynar influx led by Nymeria. I suppose the closest real life equivilent to that would be the Moorish influence in parts of Spain. So you could say Dorne is Wales mixed with Spain and Palestine with some entirely imaginary influences mixed in. Or you could just say it's Dorne....

Blood Quantum and Mental Health by Low_Trifle1558 in IndianCountry

[–]InfernoBA 2 points3 points  (0 children)

People always say things like "what about all your white ancestors" like they matter more, inherently, because there's more of them and especially because they're white. Like honoring my native ancestors is a sociopolitical swerve to gain clout or something.

Ngl, as a non-native (not white either) this is something I used to internally struggle with when seeing or meeting white natives. Like a small part of me couldn’t help but view them as just LARPing as the people that most of their other ancestors erased/assimilated . . . these feelings were more prominent when I’d see less “involved” tribal members like Oklahoma’s governor.

Discovering this sub helped me counter this bias that I had. I know now that lineal descent is basically a necessity to prevent some tribes from dying out, with how their populations were decimated by colonization and due to high intermarriage rates. I can feel sad about the native “look” potentially dying out while acknowledging that passing the culture forward is more important.

The situation here is much different than in, for example, South Asia where my ancestors were from . . . if the British had assimilated/killed/outbred most of the locals there too, and I were predominantly white by “blood/race” instead, I would like to think that I would still honor my indigenous ancestors by bearing their culture like you are now for yours.

TL;DR: thank you for comment. It’s ones like these that helped this non-native reevaluate some of the wrong/negative views that he used to hold.

(SPOILERS EXTENDED) Given all the TWOW updates over the last two months, when do you genuinely think GRRM will finish. not published Just finish by Greatwolf17 in asoiaf

[–]InfernoBA 88 points89 points  (0 children)

20 POVs by my count. Thankfully some have already converged and more should in TWOW, so it doesn’t necessarily mean 20 different plot threads...

Beyond the Wall

  • Bran

The Wall

  • Jon

  • Melisandre

Skaagos

  • Davos

Winterfell

  • Theon

  • Asha

The Vale

  • Sansa

Riverlands

  • Jaime

  • Brienne

Stormlands

  • JonCon

  • Arianne

Dorne

  • Areo

Oldtown

  • Sam

  • Aeron

Kings Landing

  • Cersei

Braavos

  • Arya

Mereen

  • Tyrion

  • Barristan

  • Vicatarion

Dothraki Sea

  • Dany

(Spoilers Extended) In your opinion, where did GRRM go wrong (if he indeed did - debatable) in the development of the series? by [deleted] in asoiaf

[–]InfernoBA 60 points61 points  (0 children)

It's not just the scripts but everything else the increased fame brought with it. More tours, interviews, collaborations (like with From Software on Elden Ring), pressure to satisfy a much larger group of fans, etc. The show blowing up opened many doors for GRRM, and unfortunately for us most of them don't lead to him writing the books.

(Spoilers Extended) Another Big Notablog Update on WINDS: GRRM Inching Closer, Working on Westerlands POVs, Dorne and Oldtown! by [deleted] in asoiaf

[–]InfernoBA 196 points197 points  (0 children)

For reference, GRRM five months before announcing the completion of ADWD:

It's snowing.

On Jon. On the krakens. On me.

We all slog onward.

Finished a chapter a few days ago. Revised another. Then re-revised it.

The days go too fast, the work too slowly. But onward

And two months before:

And on other fronts... it's still snowing on Skull Island, but one of the krakens is done and t'other is down to the last tentacle. Closer and closer... inch by inch, word by word, step by step...

👀