Israel (now broader Mid East discussion)
For all those who seem to have their heels dug in that Israel is 'fighting a war' and it's simply 'Israel vs Hamas' and keep fighting against the fact that this is a genocide.....
Maybe the CURRENT POTUS telling us that Netanyahu admitted to carpet bombing civilians in Palestine will change your mind?
What about the UN? I thought that it was this joke of an organization? Why is Biden justifying its existence?
He mentions he's paraphrasing some of this, but here ya go (from the video):
Biden: "Bibi, you can't be carpet bombing these communities"
Netanyahu: "Well you did it..you carpet bomb..you dropped a nuclear weapon..killed thousands of innocent people. Because you had to in order to win a war."
Biden: "But thats why we came up with the UN. New deals for what we do relevant to civilians and the military"
Now, what do I think about this? I think Biden's trying to save face. I think he's involved in a genocide and it's an uncomfortable thing.
But he makes some KEY admissions there that tell us a LOT. And honestly -- at least for some of us, aren't very surprising.
If the POTUS saying Israel admitted to slaughtering innocent people doesn't change your mind about Israel's intentions - I doubt thousands of images of dead children will either.
im only going to chime in here because you, and others, seem to have this misconception of what "WAR" is.
War, by its very nature, is to either eradicate the opposition, or inflict enough death and destruction make them bend the knee. Thats it. Thats ALL IT EVER WAS going back to the Mongols, the Roman Empire, British Empire etc etc.
Thats IT. If the enemy continues to churn out warriors, you keep going until they cant. Its barbaric. Its disgusting. But its "War".
Somewhere along the way, the term "war" got watered-down. Im no historian, but i would go back to Korean war, followed by Vietnam war. Not 30 years post WWII and the MASSIVE loss of life and destruction, you couldnt conduct an all out war without domestic repercussions. So we started inventing "smart bombs" that made its way into the psyche of every American. Oh you can put a missile thru a window and target only those you want to target? WOW ok.
Technology changed the way in which warring was conducted. No longer hand-to-hand combat. No longer trench warfare or infantry moving across an open field getting mowed down by automatic .50cal - we had the technology ( and money ) to make warring seem less "destructive" for both sides - especially innocents.
So here we are today- we have 2 countries at war - Russia ( v Ukraine ) and Israel ( V Palestine/Hamas/Hezbollah etc )
Here is a post from just today from RuAF.
This one has the video/still photo removed, but if so inclined, you can click for link.
The reason i post this is because you see, Russia(ns) understand "WAR" and what it takes to win. Kill everyone. Or kill as many as it takes to make them submit/surrender. Israel is no different in this regard.
Meanwhile, US has fought Vietnam, GW1, GW2, Afghanistan- with "rules of engagement". And those rules, once figured out by the enemy, get exploited. RULES of ENGAGEMENT in a war is not war. Its lopsided. Especially when your opponent has ZERO restrictions/rules. You cannot effectively fight nor win a war when you have 1 hand tied behind your back.
But we Americans havent seen/lived a REAL WAR as most of us werent around for 1918 thru 1945. And the powers that be wanted to avoid another WW1/WW2 at all costs.
So now we fight conflicts with half the intent, thinking our superior tech and weaponry will make the enemy submit. But when the enemy, TO A MAN, has no intention of surrendering or submitting, and is ready to DIE for what he deems necessary, and you are not, you cant win that WAR. They keep coming.
I say all this so that folks can understand when Putin or Bibi say "war" - they mean war. Not some "targeting operation" that they announce to the world 'how long and what we will do, how far we will go ( and not go ) etc etc"
No they mean all out war. Kill everyone or make them submit. Thats war. Thats what we are seeing today. Its just we havent seen this level of death and destruction since 1945.