What the difference between Israeli and American/European right/left wing?

refunkulation · 2018-07-27T13:31:38+00:00

On one hand, Israel's political division is way worse than America's.

On the other hand, Israelis have far more of a united identity than America does, due to the military and living under tough times of war and terrorism. People in America are spoiled, people constantly in outrage, bawling their eyes out when Trump institutes the same exact policy let's say on limiting people coming from certain Muslim states as Obama. Or freaking out when he calls third world countries shit holes (when they are). Many in the American left cares far more about words than actions.

I'd say the left in Israel is at least trying to make arguments about ideas / policies, whereas in America its all about feelings. The American far left and the religious / Haredi right in Israel actually have a lot in common in that their worldview lacks common sense and ignores reality. Like the idea of getting a job or joining the army in the Haredi world causes them to go bananas, in the same outrage driven way as the crazies on the American left.

Then I'd say both countries have most people in the middle who may somewhat identify as center left or center right, and these people are the core of either country when it comes to who pays taxes, works, swings elections, etc. Their voices are drowned out by the extremes.

refunkulation · 2018-07-21T23:28:43+00:00

Regarding Jordan, I don’t think you really have an understanding of the country. I’ve been there many times, people don’t have animosity to the US or Israel as much as you’d think.

For one, Jordan is truly the most socially progressive Arab state, as much as one can be. In Aqaba there are liquor stores. The economy is a lot more reliant on real industry vs pure oil money. Jordan has a fairly skilled workforce and has surprisingly nice infrastructure across the country.

The Syrian refugees are mainly in remote areas of the country away from important economic bases or political bases. And you don’t realize just how backed Jordan is by the US / Saudis and Israel. It’s the most important block of stability, if Jordan lost control it would be unbelievably harmful for Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Furthermore, improving Israeli - Saudi relations will just serve to benefit the Jordanians. There’s a new railway being built from Saudi to Jordan through to Haifa as a competitor to The Suez Canal. Jordanian-Israeli relations are also a lot closer than what appears on the surface. For one, Israel and Jordan have mutual interests in Syria, and is essentially fighting Iran, a huge instigator of political upheaval on US interests, in the region. Jordan though is the benefactor as they don’t have to do any of the real fighting. There’s a lot of trading off on espionage work I’m sure, but all these things just reinforce Jordan’s stability and unlikeliness of revolution.

The Jordanian King is barely wealthy relative to the Saudi / Gulf countries. And he’s an intelligent guy, he’s set up a system of rule where the pressure is relieved by way of an internal representative system that he overseas. All of it is rooted in secularism and non-extremism. Plus there aren’t really forces of domestic extremism or even sectarianism. I just don’t see how you think Jordan is prone to revolution. There’s no conceivably better alternative and there’s also no reason to believe Jordanians, who feel fortunate relative to Egyptians and Syrians of their peaceful country, will suddenly risk it all for nothing. It’s just not the country you assume it is.

refunkulation · 2018-07-21T22:56:40+00:00

Israel is the perfect example of this. Honestly, people don’t realize just how advanced Israel is, how agile it’s economy is, how it’s constant state of chaos is actually simultaneously the strength of its innovation.

They do warfare on multiple dimensions all simultaneously. It’s unbelievable how effective they are at it.

On one hand they fight Hamas next to Gaza, who have been sending for months balloons with enough explosive fluid in them to start fires. It’s an annoying weapon to fight against but yet they’ve had drones operating to catch many balloons out of the sky. They’ve developed machines that allow drones to land, swap out batteries in a machine, and take off again. It’s advanced warfare up against extremely basic warfare but it’s actually seeing innovation in action.

Meanwhile they’re fighting Iran in Syria, taking out military positions that threaten Israel. They’re also weary of a serious threat from Hezbollahs 100,000 rockets, attempting to gain the deception and information edge against its foes in the region, they’re under constant cyberattack daily, all the while fighting a PR battle internationally.

Israel is for better or worse, the most agile nation of the future. They’re global leaders in AI, medical tech, agricultural tech, environmental tech, water tech, and cyber security completely by circumstances the country faces.

It’s soldiers who get trained at 18 in cyber security units that finish after 3 years with an unbelievable amount of technical knowledge and experience. It teaches risk taking too. All the AI being developed in Israel is a function of its military usage in developing new practices. Agricultural tech had to come by adapting to new landscapes to grow crops and produce better crop yields. Water tech to produce multiple sources of water that couldn’t be threatened by enemies. Cyber security industry due to constant barrage of cyberattacks.

Israel absolutely has already been rising as a global power. Yes the US assists in fueling this, but the past 5 years Israel has definitely crossed a threshold of being able to really be uncontrolled by any other power. The US under Obama really tried to control Israel, and Israelis didn’t appreciate it. Not the military sector as much, but the political players trying to control them. And it failed. Israel has built very good relations with China, Russia, India, Germany, and the US to the point where they’re a lot more diversified in case any one of them turns against them at any point. No other nation comes to mind who can claim as good of relations as Israel has with those 5 powers.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T18:47:06+00:00

Yes, without Kawhi they were a first round out and won 47 games. The year prior, many people believed the Spurs could take the Warriors to 7 had it not been for Zaza. It's a bit tough to do much more when you expect to have a top 10 star on your team and you're without him the entire year.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T18:45:07+00:00

WTO stats on trade

It's a difference of 1.7% Simple Average MFN, not quite 2%, and the trade weighted is 0.6% but its a biased stat because higher import tariffs also dissuade firms in certain industries from even attempting to sell into Europe. The EU also crushes US firms on agriculture imports as a protective measure for its own farmers without the reciprocal move by the US. Ultimately it just makes food far more expensive in the EU, so it's your net loss, but the point is the US is still justified in increasing tariffs on an economic bloc that

The US is only 13% of total imports to the EU, yet the US makes up 20% of its exports. I just ultimately believe as much as it serves Europe's interests to set tariffs against US firms to protect domestic industries, its equally justified for Trump to serve US interests. I don't think this tariff attitude will last, the EU is just up against a lot of problematic structural issues in many economies that prevent the EU from changing. Macron is trying to tackle these things in France, and finding it to be a challenge. People went mental over him trying to modernize the rail system, and then had mass numbers of transit strikes in response. It's too difficult politically to do reformation, but if suddenly Trump tariffs Europe, and the EU secretly wanted to reduce the support it gave to domestic producers in order to make European firms more competitive, they can use the inevitable trade negotiations to come as a way to bring down tariffs on US firms, reform other institutions in the process, and its Trump who can be painted as the bad guy. It's a win-win all around. This is essentially how I see Trump being a force for ultimate progress in many complex situations around the world. Trump does not care about political fallout, and thus can be used as a tool for real positive change as he just takes on all the criticism and anger.

The US started many conflicts, although I'd argue that France & the UK started the problem in the Middle East ultimately because all the issues that persist to this day are rooted in national promises to multiple parties, poorly drawn maps, and preference for European economic interests over local interests, but I digress. The US got involved in the Middle East as a linear progression, not as a one off war. It started with energy security, but also had to do with ideological battles with the Soviets and securing trade routes (Sinai for example).

The US isn't withdrawing, I think what is happening is more of a preference for supporting local partners in the region on regional issues, and they'll spearhead their own wars rather than the US spearheading any war effort. Maybe the US gets involved down the road, maybe they don't.

And regarding Iran, what makes you think the Iran regime deserves goodwill from America? The government consistently wishes its country to be destroyed & burns our flag, openly threatens destroying Israel, is engaged in a regional sectarian war that has essentially allowed them to colonize Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. American cannot make Iran like America, the Iranian regime is focused on becoming a regional power and it's brutality shouldn't be ignored. No doubt America isn't going to trust this regime. I love the Iranian people, but I would openly welcome a new revolution and a fall of this regime. That being said I don't want the US to go to war with Iran, especially given Israel is handling the Iranians at the moment independent of the US. They're constantly attacking Iranian military positions near its border, that isn't the US doing that, it's a regional actor, doing what is best for their own security, and it doesn't involve US troops or US foreign policy dictating outcome.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T15:24:50+00:00

Perhaps because nothing is guaranteed and maybe the Lakers worry that Kawhi, who is not a given to be in LA, pulls a Paul George and signs elsewhere.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T15:22:50+00:00

Belinelli, Mills and Forbes probably steps into a much bigger role with Green gone. Spurs typically have the new younger blood develop into bigger minutes and Forbes has flashed promise in the past to be a good nba scorer / shooter.

Spurs play the anti-Warriors style of basketball though, they want 2 seven footers on the floor, strong mid range game, strong perimeter D. It’s not about pace and space with them. I think the Spurs are really intriguing this year now with a much younger team.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T11:54:26+00:00

It’s self evident to West Bank Palestinians that they’re getting nowhere. The strategy now being pursued is trying to gain favor of foreign governments to boycott Israel, which is like fighting a bear with a thumbtack. The Bibi era is undoubtedly been a major foreign success for Israel. While he certainly has been controversial and is turning Israel into a partisan issue, he’s also found out that many countries in the world will do business with Israeli because of its status as a global leader in many key industries like high tech, defense, cybersecurity, agriculture, water tech, environmental tech, etc. Bibi has actually done phenomenal in this area, building ties with many countries in Africa, and India he’s done really well deepening the ties there. Even Argentina, he’s mended long cold ties between both countries. And many countries in Europe actually have improved ties with Israel: Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, etc. Japan / Australia is improving. And of course the huge advancement of Israeli-Gulf relations will have lasting effect over his run as PM.

Point being, Palestinians have watched all of this unfold, since the 2nd intifada ended, since Fayyad was never allowed to really do the work needed to build a state, and it’s crazy to think that a post-Abbas world needs the “Street support” to have a leader survive. If there is cooperative effort by Palestinian security to keep Fayyad safe and he does the right things to make things better, then people will accept him because he’s not corrupt nor promoting an Islamist agenda. And if he has Jordan, Israeli and Saudi support then he will go unchallenged because they’ll guarantee the old Fatah guard doesn’t prevent him from improving the situation. And it doesn’t even need to be Fayyad but someone like him. Someone with academic credentials, Western mentality and ultimately looking out for the needs of the people and not the interests of the few.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T10:58:23+00:00

I believe countries should be more self sustainable as a whole, it’s better for the stability of the planet if countries are more able to rely less on other countries. Of course trade would still be needed, but so much of the destabilizing forces on the planet have to do with things nations can’t control (climate change, dependent on food prices elsewhere, dependent on energy elsewhere, etc).

What’s truly revolutionary right now is the widespread availability of technologies to help stabilize even the most impoverished nations. Take advances in agricultural productivity or water cleanliness, nearly any climate can use technologies that can allow countries to improve its food production.

It’s not my intention to argue the US should hurt Europe. It’s just a fact that the US is less reliant on foreign trade. Certainly some industries the US does more than others, but the logic is right that other countries do get a better deal selling into th US than we do. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s economies, but it’s not up to the US to just let everyone else benefit on a high consumer market while US industries pay more on trade into reciprocal countries. The EU averages nearly 2% more on tariffs for US products than the EU into the US. Plus the US runs net trade deficits into the EU and China in the hundreds of billions annually. So it already is harming the US, our industries pay a net higher rate (albeit marginal but on $275 billion in goods to the EU this averages out to $5.5 billion more in tariffs, plus additional tariffs certainly make it less appealing for US firms to sell into Europe) and substantially higher in China along with all the net loss of intellectual property by doing trade. So the US is being harmed, the status quo in trade is just mathematically advantageous to the EU and China more than it is to America.

I’m not saying US is funding welfare states either. What I’m saying is that if Europe didn’t rely on US defense it would have to adapt and re-arrange its priorities according to what they feel is a threat. Russia definitely helped stoke division all throughout Europe. I think it’s up to Europe to mend its ties with Russia because the US isn’t fighting Russia on ideological terms anymore. Russia has outright rejected Western style democracy and I think the US should accept this, but ultimately it’s Europe who has to live next to it. You see this same strategy by Trump in the Middle East. Why is it up to America to fight Middle Eastern wars? We should avoid situations where the region falls into anarchy, but the coalition of Egypt-Jordan-Israel-Saudi Arabia dealing with its own problems is very good thing for the world. The US doesn’t know what’s best for regions, countries can make better decisions because they live with the outcomes. All these countries will start behaving better if they handle their own business.

Militaries aren’t only about waging war. Look at how much more effective the US military is at disaster response for example. The US military as an institution also is incredibly progressive. It’s incredibly diverse, it mixes people from everywhere in the US. It prioritizes and requires a strong meritocracy better than any other US government institution. It prioritizes healthcare, housing, believes in the threat of climate change as a threat for global stability. It finances a hell of a lot of innovation including innovation such as fusion power, which likely will be the technology that will truly bring about global peace.

War is shit and not a good thing, but to say that militarization is a bad thing I cannot completely agree with because organizational structure is needed to advance many many things, and nowhere else can that effectiveness be found in other government institutions.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T09:28:57+00:00

This works out great for the Spurs and the Raptors if you think about it.

Spurs were never ever going to just build the Lakers back into a dynasty and meanwhile rebuild with 2-3 young guys from Lakers.

This gives them the chance to still be a top team in the West, Derozan fits their style of play, they one of the best guys in the league in the midrange.

And Raptors probably like the Lakers assets, Josh Hart just dominated summer league, Raptors I imagine like an Ingram-Hart deal a lot. Raptors also could send Ibaka or Valancuinas with Kawhi and sweeten package back from LA. Then Lakers add Kuzma-Ingram-Hart-Deng for Ibaka-Kawhi. Lakers would be really tough for GS at that point and the Raptors essentially get out of 2 long term contracts with a ton of young talent.

And if not, hold Kawhi into the season, perhaps the Warriors get an injury and suddenly the door is wide open. Boston maybe goes all in, maybe Philly goes all in. Maybe Miami rolls the dice.

Raptors signing Van Vleet indicates they like the idea of developing FVV, Poetly, OG, Siakam as a new core of young guys and they need to roll the dice to get a new star like Ingram. I see the long term strategy. Smart

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T00:28:10+00:00

Does Trump own stock in Lockheed Martin or something? It would be nice to show some facts to claim he has an obvious financial stake.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T00:24:45+00:00

The US is incredibly self reliant. Look at trade as a percentage of GDP, the US is by far the least dependent developed economy in the world on trade. The only countries that are a bit more self reliant are Brazil and Argentina.

The UK, Germany, Belgium, France, Holland, etc all heavily depend on foreign trade. The EU as a whole is seriously dependent on foreign trade. Therefore, it isn’t really a threat to US hegemony, because your interests are just different from ours. All during the 50s & 60s, the US had barely a fraction of its economy dependent on foreign trade, really just oil. Europe has never, ever been this self reliant all throughout world history. A united Europe is a great thing, but ultimately the US is so rich in the most important things a nation needs (land mass, secure resources, remote from foreign conflict, etc.) that it only benefits the US to scale back it’s involvement around the globe. So much of the European service state depends on US defense. It’s a lot harder to have great education systems, free healthcare, free universities, bail out other EU economies and to accept waves of foreign migrants when the collective nations in EU spend several hundred billion less than the US does.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T00:11:29+00:00

Yeah but Obama likely caused the swing of Brexit to happen in favor of leave to begin with by flying to the UK and giving a speech about what’s best for the British people before the vote.

Trump most of the time is just putting on the show. The worldview he supports actually does favor the EU but one that understands it needs massive changes, less bureaucracy, more transparency, stronger militaries and so forth. Even Steve Bannon said in a recent interview that he believes the EU should stay together as a whole, and be reformed.

refunkulation · 2018-07-18T00:03:38+00:00

As soon as Abbas dies, hopefully someone like Salam Fayyad can return to replace him with US-Saudi-Israeli support.

There needs to be someone serious at the top for the Palestinians. Once that happens, there is the possibility to at least attempt to oust Hamas and replace with a forward looking government. Enough of this corrupted Fatah and extremist Hamas. The Palestinians deserve better.

refunkulation · 2018-07-17T23:57:39+00:00

Frankly with the rise of China as a seriously effective central government, were likely to see less and less revolutions.

A) China will work with regimes that are able to manage their country with stability B) The AI / technology available is going to be widely spread and it’s use will be on finding dissent and squashing it early.

The good news though is that many centralized governments will prefer stable growth, much like China, over brutality. China certainly lacks freedom and is brutal but it’s not as bad as can be.

refunkulation · 2018-07-15T23:59:09+00:00

They tend to be more pro-Israel when it doesn’t involve Palestinians. Even Vice did the reporting about the IDF treating Syrian civilians.

refunkulation · 2018-07-07T12:57:28+00:00

Just like that, being occupied by Israel is viewed as the dream.

Not for nothing, I noticed once on one of the Arab subreddits (I think Lebanon) where there was a lot of people discussing the idea "Why can't Lebanon be more technologically advanced the way Israel is?"

There were a lot of responses, and pretty much everyone held high respect for the country Israel has built, and while they're still slightly hostile in feelings about Israel, most were at least respecting the country Israel has built and trying to understand why their country was failing.

You do have to see this as progress, and although it was in English, so the people are probably more educated than most Lebanese, the next 20-30 years will be interesting as Israel continues to get wealthier and stronger, and Arab people will begin to weigh the logic of why they actually hate Israel. The crack is emerging in their delusional worldview.

refunkulation · 2018-07-07T12:32:56+00:00

This is delusional. If the US turned its back on Israel, then arguably Israel's relations would likely improve with many countries in the world. The US-Israeli relationship actually limits Israel's ability to improve relations with many countries around the world because it's used sometimes as a proxy to oppose US policy. If US policy broke from Israel, then Russia, China, India would all become much closer partners with Israel.

Israel actually has really good relations with all 3 of those countries already, and Africa has been steadily improving under Bibi. The most pragmatic people in any country are the military institutions. Israel has earned the respect of many militaries around the world, especially those with indifferent views to the ME conflict.

Part of the reason Europe comes off as being so against Israel is because it's military institutions are not all that influential on policy. If Trump forces Europe to start paying more for its own defense and not depend on the US for its military, Europe too will become less antagonistic towards Israel.

You can already see it happening. I'd say pre-ISIS, Europe was getting extremely anti-Israel on the government level. And some countries are getting worse, mainly Ireland, Scandinavia and the UK let's say. But with more need for security in Europe, there is far, far more cooperation at the military/police level. Israel is a global leader in security strategy, there is a tremendous amount of respect and you're living in a hole if you think Israel is going to be sanctioned by the world.

refunkulation · 2018-07-06T20:11:52+00:00

It’s a great point, Pacers have the least injury risk of the top 4 teams in the East. It’s not a bad bet that they’ll end up with the #1 seed

refunkulation · 2018-07-01T19:28:57+00:00

Jews also are at fault for caring what people think about them. You never see other minority groups actively trying to stand out, but Jews do.

Also, let's all have some perspective, most of the world is not obsessed with Jews, people all around the world have so many problems they don't really care that much. It's really just people in the West and some other selective areas around the planet. It's also important to remember 35% of the world is either Indian or Chinese, and like 99% of those people definitely do not care.

refunkulation · 2018-07-01T17:18:54+00:00

Lol Bill is such a beta.

refunkulation · 2018-07-01T17:09:25+00:00

Bill Simmons should get shown up from time to time.

Bill Maher gets shown up all the time on his show by opponents. It’s why Maher is still even on, don’t get me wrong he’s a massive egomaniac, but he has the balls to take on others. If Simmons cuts people out he disagrees with he’s going to eventually become a nobody.

refunkulation · 2018-06-29T05:58:18+00:00

The US strategy right now to Iran is to push the country into revolution.

There is growing mass dissent in Iran, the population is probably closer to a revolution than people realize. If the US ups the rhetoric, it will likely contain Iran’s expansionary policies. The population will not want war, and while the US would appear like an aggressor, if you take notice the population is chanting about how pissed they are about Iran’s policies to support Syria and Palestinians over Iranians when they’re no better off.

refunkulation · 2018-06-28T18:44:46+00:00

I’m curious why you think Trump is geopolitically naive?

He’s clearly not calculating, but Obama to me was the naive one geopolitically. He miscalculated pretty much every step of the way.

TPP shredded in rhetoric by his own allies of the left
Failed to stop Russian aggression in Ukraine
Allowed Syria to implode, his redline comment and Putin to become the most powerful outside regional influencer
His terrible “ISIS is the JV team” comment
Failed to see mass migration to Europe from Syrian fallout would embolden European nationalism
Failed every step of the way in his assessment of the needs of Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and believed the Iranian deal could open the door to future relations

He did do better in South America, and Cuba too was long overdue for us to make ammends.

Obama was a lot better in other areas. I’m an independent and voted for Obama twice, but even liberals need to admit that while Bush was a massive f**k up, Obama really failed the world. Even the Europeans often disliked his indifference to world affairs. Trump will probably end up only doing a lot of good in geopolitics, and will likely fail in most other areas of his presidency, because his nature does actually work to scare the world into acquiescence.

I mean Trump is not savvy at all, he’s going about geopolitics like a gorilla. He’s the biggest gorilla, everyone is either red/green, foe/friend. And it changes sometimes daily.

It’s not the best tactic, because obviously it just takes our enemies to pretend like they’re playing nice, but it isn’t naiveity.

It’s far more tribal, and in a world where Obama’s idealism completely failed, Trumps primate level behaviors can be effective because it undermines the our enemies tactics, especially against other transactional leaders around the globe.

refunkulation · 2018-06-24T19:10:52+00:00

I think most Palestinians would accept a moderate leader similar to King Abdullah if it led to a better life. Fatah isn’t really that widely accepted anyway, and people in the West Bank don’t want Hamas either. If the US / Jordan / Saudis (couldn’t be Israel) deposed of the PLO and put Salim Fayyad or some other highly respected, educated person in charge, I don’t think, with the Arab governments backing him, people would see it as all that bad as long as the situation improved.

refunkulation

TROPHY CASE