I will tell you something about the Holocaust. It would be nice to believe that people who have undergone suffering have been purified by suffering. But it's the opposite, it makes them worse. It corrupts. There is something in suffering that creates a kind of egoism. And when such monstrous things have happened to your people, you feel nothing can be compared to it. You get a moral "power of attorney", a permit to do anything you want – because nothing can compare to what has happened to us. This is a moral immunity which is very clearly felt in Israel.
Uri Avery, speaking after the IDF’s massacre at Sabra and Shatila
Uri was a Zionist poster child - his immediate family fled to (then mandatory Palestine) after the Nazis took power; every other relative who stayed in Germany was murdered in the Holocaust.
During his youth in 1938 he joined the Zionist terrorist group Irgun, in reaction to the first execution of a Jew for the attempted bombing of an Arab bus. He remained a member in the group until partway through most of WWII, when he leaned into nationalism publishing far-right news articles and opinion pieces.
The turning point for Uri was his time in the IDF during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and the ethnic cleansing and displacement that occurred, percolating through decades of his life until during the 1982 Lebanon War he became the first Israeli to meet Yasser Arafat for an interview.
What is the consensus on these things? They’re still vulnerable to tank mines, though definitely fares better against ATGMs and FPV - but is it still an effective tank with all those panels bolted on?
Could this be the weapon to surpass metal gear!?
Especially given that last year most of the Gulf states had/were in the process of normalizing and publicizing diplomatic ties with Israel. Qatar has always been the odd one out in the Gulf, but the fact that these disgusting comments were lauded speaks to how much damage Netanyahu has done in such a short time.
If Arafat wasn’t serious about negotiations, why sit down at all and risk his position in the PLO? For decades the ‘Three Nos’ stunted any Arab-Israeli diplomacy, and the maximalists still hold sway today as they did then
Israel refused the right of return for Palestinians as a whole, while for decades doing all within their power to boost Jewish immigration, bankroll Aliyah flights, rubber stamp naturalization, and regular ‘missionary’ trips to visit US and European nations - all only for ethnic Jews, and their spouses.
A two-tiered system based on race is hardly a fair deal, especially in a democratic system where your people are denied fair representation whilst Jew from the world over are invited to jump on a plane and become a full citizen after three months
Comintern is a word that can be uttered almost without taking thought, whereas Communist International is a phrase over which one is obliged to linger at least momentarily… This accounted not only for the habit of abbreviating whenever possible, but also for the almost exaggerated care that was taken to make every word easily pronounceable.
Because we’re inadvertently building our newspeak, but to wield against the opposition. ‘Woke’ ‘chud’ ‘groomer’ ‘hippie’ lets you hang a label on today’s target of vitriol without understanding. Not understanding the theory, the origins, background, context, etc - we apply the label, the bad person gets chided, now move on to next outrage.
I have a Persian expat for a colleague, and he surmised it basically as such:
For the poor and uneducated, there is religion and aggression with Israel and the US to control them. They are so focused on the outside world, they do not question if better can exist at home by not giving Sepah all the money and power
For the educated and activists, theirs is brutal repression. You shut up now and forever, or risk everything (including death) to tweet or rip down a poster.
Not many are genuinely happy with the government, especially those who were alive during the Shah and have witness Iran’s downfall in their lifetime. But there’s no option except to emigrate, or accept your reality - the Guardian Council decides in reality.
The IRA lost according to the goals they set themselves, Ireland is still partitioned. And the modern remnant and splinter groups are closer to drug trafficking gangs than militant resistance.
What can be learned from that conflict is how the state should act, especially when operating inside non and semi-permissive territory - any atrocities your forces commit will set back your goals, and fuel support for extremist actors.
HFT algorithmic robo-traders still gonna scalp daily delta, often in an incestuous and self-reinforcing cycle based on financial headlines
I’ve been bearish on Tesla for years, but it’s getting increasingly obvious with growing EV competition that their market cap is/was absurd hype that defies fundamentals or even possible value if Tesla was a monopoly
I’ll agree there’s huge potential for ‘assistant’ roles (exactly like you’re using) to give a concise summary for quick understanding. But LLMs aren’t knowledgeable like an accredited professor or tutor is, understanding the context and nuance of the topic. LLMs are very good at scraping together data and presenting the shallowest of information, but their limits get exposed quickly when you try to go into a topic.
For instance, I was working a project that required very long term storage (+10 years) with intermittent exposure to open air, and was concerned about oxidation and rust. ChatGPT was very adamant that desiccant alone was sufficient (wrong) and that VCI packs would last (also wrong). It did a great job of repackaging corporate ad-copy and industrial white papers written by humans, but not of providing an objective answer to a semi complex question.
MH17 was shot down by a Russian Buk system given to the separatists, and likely with polite green ‘advisors’ nearby to set up and operate the SAM. Once they realized their fuckup they rushed it across the Donbas and back to Russia, but it was spotted several times en route both ways.
If that didn’t count, why would much harder to prove jamming trigger A5? NATO forces (yes, even Poland) are not risking escalation on their territory, even if that means Russian helicopters and cruise missiles can ‘temporarily get lost’ in NATO airspace.
I still haven’t seen a use of AI that doesn’t serve state or corporate interests first, before the general public. AI medical diagnostics comes the closest, but that’s being leveraged to justify further staffing reductions, not an additional check.
The AI-captcha wars are on, and no matter who wins we lose.
The US on the regular flexes their ‘global airlift’ capability by shuffling tanks and armored vehicles around the globe via air freight, moving entire company’s worth of hardware between continents.
Sensible militaries with actual budgetary concerns use sea freight, accepting the delay.
I will never get tired of seeing headlines that start with “Gay furry hackers” because if the Venn diagram is that intersectional, it’s schaudenfreude story time with spicy drops! 🍿
I used to live nearby! Loved that silly thing, just don’t treat it like one big roundabout - it’s six chained roundabouts that you can use individually; both green and red routes are valid and legal for the same destination:
God-Emperor Elon knows we must colonize the stars, how dare OSHA question his project