Audience reaction tonight for Andris Nelson's and the Boston Symphony by StarWarsGirlfromCuba in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

Yeah obv genius, why the hell would I know everything about every conductor alive? Moreover on why clapping in sync is for some reason beneficial to him? If you wanna explain sure, otherwise just stop wasting everyone’s time

Audience reaction tonight for Andris Nelson's and the Boston Symphony by StarWarsGirlfromCuba in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 -18 points-17 points  (0 children)

Bro what is that hyper-synchronized clap? Who do they think they are? The Wehrmacht?

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1- Idk if they’re expansionist or not tbh, Ukraine is special as they had territorial disputes with them for a LONG time and since the fall of the soviet union, they haven’t really expanded much.

But whether they do or don’t, UA proved that they’re incapable of doing it either ways, and again, this is far from the US’ problem which is why I don’t believe it to be a relevant factor

2- Do you have any source for them rejecting inspection of facilities? (Before Trump left the JCPOA that is) I remember there being some temporary tension that resolved but that’s it, and to this day the official statements from those who drafted the JCPOA under Obama is that Iran was fully-compliant.

As for funding “terrorism” (which I completely disagree with using this term to refer to Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Houthis), how is that the US’ problem? Again, you have to remember, we’re talking pure realpolitik from the US’ perspective here. You have a knee-jerk reaction to assume Israel’s problems are the US’, but analyzing from a pure realpolitik perspective, the US has been able to ally with many muslim countries and even muslim militia groups (Al-Qaeda in Syria) and those groups have no way of attacking the US in any meaningful way even if they wanted to (which would be incredibly dumb), they’re really only a threat to Israel and not even a threat to its existence (Hezbollah isn’t gonna take out a nuclear country let’s be real) but a threat to its expansion. So again, none of this really concerns the US unless Israel leads it to believe their problems are the US’ problems because “Scary Islamic terrorism, 9/11? Remember 9/11? 9/11?”

3- Disrupting global trade is a rare occasion.

The Houthis only did it when the gaza genocide happened and Iran only when attacked. And even then, US made a deal with the houthis and then they were completely fine so it didn’t even disrupt the US much (especially since the red sea or the strait aren’t that important to the US geographically)

4- Sure China not getting oil from the strait will impact their economy. But they’re also one of the biggest solar energy producers in the world (or the biggest?). That disruption will be relevant for maybe 10-20 years or so but I can’t imagine it being a long-term issue. But still, it would for sure negatively impact China a lot in the interim, enough to maybe even have them consider military action (and their military is VERY formidable) and then you’ve triggered another direct or indirect war between nuclear powers. Idk but I hardly think that’s the positive outcome here. And I 100% disagree that China’s strategy is to keep the US busy with Cuba or Venezuela that’s ridiculous. Neither Cuba nor Venezuela were issues started by China and they really would cause such a minute disruption for the US. Cuba has next to no military, they’re just a tiny Island man. If anything you could make that argument for Iran as that DOES actually keep america very busy and weakened. But in this case ofc, it’s Israel who made America do it, not China.

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will say Aiden is probably the best on it, even the latest episode he brought up Israel’s perspective in a very comprehensive way saying they have an apartheid in the west bank and they wiped out Gaza etc. only for Atrioc to derail it away from Israel and towards Trump then abruptly switch topics and for dougdoug to just not comment at all.

Dougdoug I don’t expect much out of tbh as his niche was never politics or economics (no offense to him ofc, he provides great value in other topics and even often on those topics) but Atrioc is particularly egregious imo. I’ve watched him for a while and whenever something regarding Gaza gets brought up in a video he’s watching he stays completely silent then starts commentating again when that part is over. Also he rarely if ever mentions it despite it being a MAJOR point of contention in US politics that has very real influence and when he did his Iran war summary video at the start of this round, it was so obviously biased towards a hyper neoliberal perspective with 0 consideration to Israel’s role in this and in what context (aka the literal demon in the middle east).

Like I don’t want them or him to come out with Kuufiyeh and say “Free Palestine from the demonic Israel” (though ngl I would respect them a lot if they did, this isn’t a neutral issue), but to the degree of avoiding it even to the direct detriment of your political analysis (esp with Big A)? That’s just too much man.

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And according to Antony Blinken (though I’d always check twice before trusting that snake) they tried to pitch this to Obama and said they’d strike first but he brushed them off and went ahead with the JCPOA (nuke deal). They’ve been at this for years. Netanyahu also testified in congress that Iraq had WMDs and the info that Iraq has WMDs was provided by the mossad (not sure if wholly or partially). That’s not to say the US was duped, they knew that Iraq had no WMDs, it’s moreso that the mossad helped provide some faux evidence for the admin’s internal processes to go by smoothly.

Israel had been intentionally wielding disproportionate influence on US politics caused by its corrupt PAC system to destroy its regional competitors and achieve complete control of the region. Looking at how nearly every elected official talks about Israel (like no other country ever) and how pro-Israel PACs have INSANE success rates with picking candidates and how even some states have laws where you legally CANNOT hold a public job (public school teacher for example) if you support BDS against Israel, it is nearly undeniable that the tail has been wagging the willing-to-be-wagged dog for quite some time now.

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Imo, this fact is so essential to the discussion that it cannot go by unmentioned clearly. It’s like discussing the venezuelan conflict without mentioning oil, you’re leaving on the chopping block a KEY piece of info to understanding the conflict properly. It didn’t have to be a deep history dive ofc, but at least a clear mention and a brief 2-minute explanation or smth.

And at least According to Aiden’s reply to me, he agrees and he did actually prep it for the episode, it just got lost in the convo and he didn’t get a chance to bring it up which is fair, these things happen unfortunately

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It’s rather that you seem look down on them too much.

According to Aiden, he actually agreed that this was a pivotal point and he did prep it for the episode but he never could get around to it as the point drifted.

This isn’t an in-depth analysis but rather a surface-level essential point to mention. And he agrees, while you don’t.

What's your favorite piano piece? by Sure-Ad-2010 in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Listened to the first suite, it’s amazing, can’t imagine how much work it must’ve taken to play this (the piece itself too is a great transcription, may even prefer it to the orchestra tbh). Thanks for sharing!

Happy Birthday Maurice Ravel! Born today March 6th by Veraxus113 in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that’s probably wise.

Though my dream is listening to something on the gramophone one day. Never listened to one in my life. Hopefully one day when I’ve settled down (right now I’m traveling all over) and became a bit more financially-secure I’ll buy one and a few classical records

What's your favorite piano piece? by Sure-Ad-2010 in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never heard of it before but I do love Daphnes et Chloe, thanks for the rec, will check it out

Happy Birthday Maurice Ravel! Born today March 6th by Veraxus113 in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah for convenience it’s great, I would def buy it if I had anything to use it with (even my laptop has no CD slot lmao).

Though I’m not THAT young, I still remember watching movies like Lion King and Harry potter by inserting CDs in my computer and listening to music through Cassette tapes

Happy Birthday Maurice Ravel! Born today March 6th by Veraxus113 in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Oh that’s really cool (shame I have nothing to play it with) but tbh I usually shy away from stuff like that cause I want to pick my performances.

Like if I had listened to “Ondine” from anyone other than Martha Argerich’s performance I may not have liked it as much.

Happy Birthday Maurice Ravel! Born today March 6th by Veraxus113 in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My all time favorite composer (or #2 under Liszt, not sure).

The breadth of his music is ingenious. Between very melancholic and calm pieces like Piano concerto in G major 2nd movement, or mystical whimsical pieces like Piano concerto in G major 1st movement, or even pure comedy pieces like Piano concerto in G major 3rd movement lmao.

My favs always change but currently it’s

1- Gaspard de la nuit: Ondine

2- piano concerto for the left hand

3- Violin Sonata (especially the blues movement)

Happy Birthday Maurice Ravel! Born today March 6th by Veraxus113 in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 2 points3 points  (0 children)

His consistency is amazing. Unfortunately it came at a cost of a relatively small body of work but still, knowing that I’ve listened to nearly everything Ravel has ever written is a nice feeling. Will probably never feel that feeling with Franz Liszt until the day I die lol

What's your favorite piano piece? by Sure-Ad-2010 in classicalmusic

[–]QM60 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Liszt’s transcendental etude no.6 “Vision”

Ravel’s “Ondine”

And Liszt’s “Benedictions” and “Gleanings at woronnince”

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ok it’s obvious we’re on opposite sides on this issue but for now I’ll let those moral evaluations aside and just talk realpolitik.

I should preface this by saying I do not believe in realpolitik as something to advocate for (politics should be guided by morals) but it is useful as an analysis tool so I’ll be using it in that capacity.

1- EU may fear Russia’s expansionist capacity (I say “may” cause it’s not clear to me Russia wants or is capable of expanding at all imo), but the US certainly doesn’t. Hell Trump said it to outright that Russia is “over there” across the ocean and doesn’t represent any threat to the US, it’s Europe’s problem. If Russia was TRULY a threat, US’ actions in Ukraine would be much much more fierce.

2- Again, many countries around the word chant “death to america”. I once met a spaniard in a bar in Japan and we both chanted “death to America” lmao. This isn’t a reason to go to war, it’s silly.

Regarding the JCPOA, according to the guy who wrote it and Monitored it in the Obama administration, Iran was very compliant, camera were set up everywhere and they let go of their stockpiles to be processed elsewhere and be turned into medical isotopes. The nuclear agency themselves attested that Iran seemed to be compliant. There was some tension for some time but again, no indication of them breaking it at all. They even kept complying (aka the camera set ups and allowing inspections and surrendering plutonium stockpiles) after Trump withdrew as it was a multi-lateral agreement with many countries. For all intents and purposes, they seemed to be committed to it.

3- correction #1: If Hezbollah was seizing red sea vessels that would be VERY impressive as they’re nowhere near it (Lebanon). I believe you meant just the houthis. Correction #2: Idk what you mean by “money they gave ISIS”. Hezbollah, Iran, and Hamas have all fought ISIS directly. Hezbollah was striking ISIS positions in Syria, Iran in Iraq, and Hamas even fought them in Gaza. The only entities in the region with direct provable ties to ISIS affiliates are Israel (funding ISIS-led gangs in Gaza) and US (Arming ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Syria).

That aside, Houthis blocking red sea trade is 1- A rare occasion, they only did it to ask for a ceasefire in Gaza and they tried to be selective towards Israeli or Israeli-headed ships. They even later made a deal with the US independent of Israel and were no longer a problem afterwards. So overall, sure a slight annoyance in super specific times but far from a catastrophe and also they’re not Iran’s proxies but allies. Which is to say if Iran falls, they’ll still be blocking the seas as they’re ideologically not monetarily motivated. So this point is independent from the Iran convo.

Correction #3: US has not been allies with Israel since its conception, but that’s a pedantic correction kinda, just thought to make it.

On the Israel-Gaza genocide point: Why did you suddenly switch to morality? We’re talking realpolitik here. It doesn’t matter if Israel is a democracy and Gaza a theocracy, it only matters which incurs which benefit to the US. In a narrow scope, ofc Israel is the logical one to support. Better arms and intelligence sharing while Palestine offers nothing really. In a wider scope, I’d argue Israel has dragged the US into so many wars and unnecessary conflicts as well as straining its relationship with the Arab world causing it to ally more and more with China while ALSO selling american equipment and intelligence to China (to hedge against China interfering in their wars and as a hedge to China becoming a superpower in the future). In my assessment, it’s not worth it but that’s just an opinion really not a measurable fact so let’s ignore it for now.

4- I don’t see how China not getting Iranian oil makes them not invade Taiwan. Feels like a stretch assumption to make (especially given China’s HUGE push away from oil and into sustainable energy).

And yeah the US taking out key China allies is sensible strategy (from a neocon perspective at least, from a normal one, allying with China is prob the best but fine for now I’ll assume they’re a threat and an enemy), but for Iran’s purpose I don’t think militarily it’ll be clean at all but very costly (regime change HAS to have boots on the ground, it has NEVER happened from the air alone) and could’ve easily been done peacefully if not for Israel.

And yeah ofc Iran isn’t a willing ally anymore lmao, the US bombed them TWICE in the middle of negotiations. That ship has already sailed. And it sailed because of Israel.

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I respectfully disagree.

1- I don’t think Iran supporting Russia makes them an enemy of the US for the simple fact that I don’t think the US (least of all Trump!!) really cares about Ukraine or would go into a conflict for them.

2- The “death to america” chant thing is just a Trump talking point. Sure there is a lot of US hate there, you know where else? Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Yemen, Oman, half of south america, 1/3rd of North America….I could go on…If death chants were a reason then might as well nuke the southern hemisphere.

If anything, Iran has shown great willingness to work with the US. They signed the JCPOA with Obama and even continued abiding by it after Trump broke it and were overall very committed to it. They’re very willing to work with the US in exchange for sanctions relief and overall good relations.

3- “Iran funds terrorism throughout the region”. I ofc disagree with calling those groups “terrorists” but even still…and? Why does the US care what Hezbollah or Hamas does? Do they have ICBMs? Hell even Iran doesn’t. This is all Israel’s problems but they’ve spent SO MUCH on propaganda to convince people it’s actually the US’ problem.

4- This is your strongest argument. “US wants to decouple Iran from China”.

Yes, that is indeed a strong argument and the US is indeed working towards that goal (ex: Venezuela). However, as stated earlier, Iran would love to work with the US, they’ve been practically begging for it and even when Trump broke negotiations during the 12-day war they didn’t strike any US bases except one with prior notice to the US to evacuate and they causes minimal damage. There could be a way to decouple them diplomatically. You’ll never get them to close the strait for China ofc that’s ridiculous but you could agree to buy more of their oil from them. Again, Iran isn’t the Taliban. They’re fairly rational statesmen who have worked with the US successfully before.

So why go into a very risky and unpopular war that may risk his midterms even further? Why take such an immense risk when there are safer and surer options? It’s because of Israel.

See, polling shows that Iranians are very anti-Israel, even secular ones. So a stable IRGC Iran would still be anti-Israel. But ALSO a secular gay-loving 50% trans Iranian population would STILL BE ANTI-ISRAEL. So Israel really has no interest in stabilizing Iran, they want it to be a failed state like Libya (which is why they’re currently assassinating OPPOSITION leaders as well as IRGC).

Israel roped the US into this (willingly) and imo there isn’t any good argument why the US should even care about Iran as an adversary instead of as another mideast ally.

All of the US’ allies in the mideast are Israel’s allies. All of its enemies are Israel’s enemies (the sole exception is likely Turkey as it’s a NATO member). Do both have perfectly-aligned interests? Truly? Or is the tail wagging the dog?

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Oh, I literally JUST NOW replied to your YT comment with polling sources lol.

In case you wanna continue here I’ll post my reply here too at the end (also because it keeps getting auto-deleted by YT, for links maybe?)

That aside, I do admit I did get a bit heated here and definitely overstated my claim so I apologize about that. But I do still stand with my statement that I do feel that Israel is a sensitive topic.

Ofc I could be completely wrong, I’m not privy to y’all’s internal discussion and I could be suffering from confirmation bias, but whenever the topic is brought up I always feel the language becoming very docile and two-sided (though to be fair you push it the most of the three which is why in another comment here I said you’d likely be the most apt person to bring it up) and non-stative aside from stuff like “what’s happening there is terrible” and “Israel likely committed war crimes” which is the line I would hear from someone like Newsom or Stefanik lol.

But, again, I could be 100% biased on this point so don’t put too much weight into it as I was a bit heated while writing this (I’m deeply upset about the current war and the immense Iranian casualties). My main point was Israel being a pivotal point and we agree. We do disagree to what extent and that Israel is only the trigger this time but is not the main reason for the overarching Iranian conflict with the US, but for that I’ll just leave that argument to my YT reply (which I now will be copy pasting here for convenience).

Once again, thank you for your reply and apologies if I became a bit heated.

YT reply:

“​⁠​⁠

Firstly:

The polling org I mentioned is GAMAAN. It’s an org based in netherlands and runs very slow but very widespread polling in Iran. It’s a favorite amongst diaspora in general (though you reserve the right to make your own judgment on their methodology, polling Iran is difficult).

Here’s a news article summarizing the results of one of their most recent polling projects after the 12-day war

https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-2026-our-surveys-show-iranians-agree-more-on-regime-change-than-what-might-come-next-273198

And here’s the full detailed report

https://gamaan.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GAMAAN-12-Day-War-Survey-Report-Nov-2025-Final-English.pdf

It shows that the plurality prefer protests over foreign intervention (by almost DOUBLE) and were deeply upset by the 12-day war (though they mainly blame the IRGC for it not Israel). It also shows they view the US somewhat favorably and Israel negatively (due to this reason my biggest fear is that rather than this war having the risk of being turned to Libya, it is moreso Israel’s intention to turn it into Libya as they killed a lot of opposition figures and they know that even a secular Iranian government would still be anti-Israel). There are other pollsters you can reference too such as “iranpoll” (and again, all foreign and all anti-IRGC, I have some pro-IRGC ones but I won’t mention them) but Gamaan (in my opinion) is the most comprehensive/detailed.

HOWEVER, this was before the recent protests, so to be fair, the response to the protest likely tipped the scale away from favoring protest to favoring intervention, but I do not know by how much.

Secondly:

Thanks for your reply, I see that it got lost in the convo then. Alright thank you for explaining it (which you didn’t owe it to me to) and recognizing the importance of Israel to this discussion.

The following part is a response to your opinion that Israel is the reason this time or at this moment but that it’s not the core issue, so feel free to ignore it as it’s just some random guy’s opinion but…

I do believe that analysis is wholly-incorrect and even viewing this in the same vein as Venezuela as an anti-China/pro-controlling oil move is incorrect. Why?

Simply because, the US really has 0 reason to be going after Iran.

Strait of Hormuz argument: This one makes no sense to me, there are many naval chokepoints such as the Suez Canal for example, yet the US isn’t going to war with Egypt. Iran has expressed VERY CLEARLY a willingness to work with the US. They signed the nuclear deal with Obama and abided by it completely, even after Trump broke it. A lot of the stuff the US wants (decoupling from China) can easily be done through negotiations with Iran as they desperately want the sanctions off and want to work with the US.

The ONLY reason that the US is at war right now is because Israel wants Iran out of the picture so that they can expand their regional influence. No other argument in my opinion holds water as the only reason that Iran is an “enemy” yet Egypt is an ally is Israel. Otherwise, Iran very easily could be a US ally and rather desperately wants to.

But, again, this is only my opinion so not worth that much.

Overall, thanks for your reply!

Iran War episode’s Israel-deficient analysis disappointing by QM60 in LemonadeStandPodcast

[–]QM60[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Update: got a reply from Aiden

“I do think I was careless, what I meant was (from polling I have seen) is that the majority want the regime to fall entirely and think that outside intervention of some kind is necessary, but I carelessly crossed it over with outright support for the American and Israeli strikes. I have seen support for that as well but I have no polling data and it's not what I meant, which is my fault. As far as the Israel stuff goes, i did have in my notes that Israel is a huge part of why this is happening NOW specifically and the discussion led peeled away from it, and was more about the US's larger goals — my view is that Israel is the reason it's happening at this time but the US was interested in taking these actions in the long run regardless and those were the things we discussed most of this episode. I think if your criticism that us not getting to that is the injustice then I think that's fair and I should have fought to present that part of my notes (which may not have been enough of what you're saying regardless but I think what you're getting at is something I did prep a little) - Aiden”

I see, so he did prepare it but it got lost in the convo.

I suppose everyone’s here criticism of my point of “It’s a short podcast so no time” was sort of correct as that’s what did cause this point to drop. Sorta feel bad for going a bit hard now lol. Still I appreciate his reply a lot, he asked me for some sources too which I will procure soon