I never want to hear anyone try to say NATO isn't just an international military that is guided / deeply influenced by American foreign policy ever again. One of the few good things to ever come from the Trump fiasco is that they're finally saying the quiet parts out loud, but the fact that this will receive no coverage, let alone criticism, means that might just be even more dangerous for all of us, even outside the Atlantic.
The world is on fire and humanity is prioritising manufacturing our own suicide above investing in fire extinguishers.
US President Joe Biden has said that countries receiving American weapons must adhere to international law in a memorandum issued on Thursday night....
In 2002 Congress passed the "American Servicemembers Protection Act" with bipartisan unanimous support which authorizes the president to "use all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of a US or allied person detained or imprisoned by the International Criminal Court (ICC).” It also forbids the US Government from providing support for the ICC, cooperating with its requests, or granting military aid to any state party to the ICC, among other provisions. The Bush administration also pursued Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIAs), or Article 98 Agreements, in which both countries agree not to extradite current or former government officials, military personnel, or citizens of the other party to the ICC.
Just for anyone who had forgotten the legal stance the US currently takes on the ICC. This current statement is just lip service.
And Biden's 2021 stance: "the United States continues to object to the ICC’s assertions of jurisdiction over personnel of such non-States Parties as the United States…and will vigorously protect current and former United States personnel from any attempts to exercise such jurisdiction.”
I was assigned male at birth but have increasingly started to notice over the years that other guys don’t have a big notch on either side of their torsos like I do. It’s my pelvic bone. I would go to a doctor to see what they had to say but they’ve seen me plenty of times and said absolutely nothing about being intersex...
Definitely. What a treat they are to have around too, even if their sounds sometimes make me sad for them because they're mimicking cars and chainsaws.
You can hear them calling clear across valleys, and the only reason you know they a lyrebird is because they cycle through mimicking different sounds like an album on random playback.
What makes you think that I thought circumcision was OK? And fo you understand in what ways sterilisation and circumcision are not medically equivalent procedures in terms of risk and recovery?
The Biden administration has skirted Congress to rush weapons to Israel and shielded its ally from international calls for a cease-fire in the four months since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. But the White House has also urged Israel to take greater measures to avoid harming civilians and to facilitate the...
The US needs to condemn Israel because of the atrocities it's committing - the fact that those haven't been convincing enough is horrific. And the idea of hoping for a reactionary policy change because a single poor excuse for a human being was showboating? Somehow that's even more terrifying than just having a military-industrial economy making strategic genocide-supporting decisions.
Perpetual war is how the US maintains hegemony. They have no interest in stopping Israel, because it both pays the US ruling class and keeps the wealthy Islamic nations busy spending money on keeping their own people alive and borders intact. If you and other Americans want your government to condemn genocide, you're going to have to do more than hope Ben-Gvir is irritating enough. Because the entire US economy banks on this continuing.
Perhaps some more familiar packaging would be more to your taste:
The US enjoys its positioning as a global leader by addressing security challenges using strategic partnerships with the goal of ensuring freedom and bolstering regional security and prosperity. To stop providing strategic support to Israel would compromise their historic friendship, their good economic relations, and an integrated Middle East.
The European Union and the United States expressed their deep concern Sunday after Kosovo banned the use of the Serbian currency and police raided the premises of organizations working with the Serb minority in the north of the country....
The centerpoints of major waterways and roads are often the places with the most conflict, especially when it's good fertile land that someone might want to live in. Different religious sects have had major presences in the region, some even established there - the first Christian Roman Emperor was born nearby. They're also positioned directly in the path of many cultures, both ancient and modern, attempting to increase the size of their own Empires.
The land was built on conflict.
While humans continue to choose competition instead of collaboration with other slightly different humans, it will remain in conflict - much like other strategic arable accessible locations we see in the headlines.
Climate change will slowly increase the amount of land affected by conflict, when resource shortages become more severe from natural disasters; but the flashpoints are places like the Balkans.
I'm pleasantly surprised they didn't start up again sooner. But, like, in the tiniest glimmer of silver lining kind of way.
Edit: tl;dr We all live in a shitty Civilization game but with less predictable players.
There's nothing more human than killing each other to stop war, either.
The human species' best creations have been through collaboration on new ideas and projects, but we keep going back to the old competitive methods that have clearly demonstrated that they don't make good long term solutions. We just don't learn.
The United States and Britain struck at least 30 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday in a second wave of assaults meant to further disable Iran-backed groups that have relentlessly attacked US and international interests in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, American officials told the Associated Press....
And about 2 decades being how long the US has been using drone strikes in Yemen.
There is never an end to any "who started it?" question, but it's pretty clear that the US military hasn't been there to make friends. When people ask what the Houthi expected, perhaps they should also be asking why a foreign military was there at all.
Thanks for standing up to Nazis. It gives those of us who had family experience the horrors wrought by fascists in WW2 hope that Germans haven't been won over again by the same poisonous ideas.
In places that were invaded, resistance were thrown from the top of buildings after they were interrogated, their bodies were left there to be collected by whoever dared. At night all you could hear were their screams while they were being tortured in cellars by the Gestapo. Dissidents were hanged from lampposts in the main street and left as warnings. The concentration camps were often in the middle of the town, not placed at a distance to avoid offending the locals.
And the next generation in those places grew up right next to those concentration camps and mass graves. They were raised by physically and psychologically scarred people, in places that were not funded by the Marshall Plan reconstruction funds that even West Germany received. Decades later there was still rubble and half destroyed buildings.
I appreciate there is much trauma involved in losing any family, friends or community members to war, or to experiencing the bombs being dropped around you. But, I think the level of cruelty and fear experienced by invaded regions was next level. And I don't think Germans generally understand the details of what life was like for the places that were occupied - but that is only my suspicion. I can't understand how else the AfD could discuss deportations or receive such a huge proportion of the vote.
Neither Axis aligned country tesidents nor the invaded would cherish reliving it, but they have had and continue to have very very different experiences as a consequence of the war.
Edit: some quick math, the minimum recommended space between trees is 3m, 200 million of those is 600km² / 148k ac , which would make the space required bigger than 17 countries (larger than Andorra but very slightly smaller than Saint Lucia). They have a blog with their tree planting updates but I wish there were more photos.
Perhaps if we consider slavery as more of a spectrum, like we do other kinds of abuse, then economic coercion still fits the definition.
One person being denied medical care, working inhumane lengths of time in hard labor for almost no money, being unable to access different forms of work and being beaten is clearly slavery, as you've identified. But that doesn't mean the person who is experiencing all of that, but only without being beaten, is not experiencing slavery. It just makes it a (possibly) less severe form of slavery.
If the key difference between a fast food worker living in rural wherever who can't access healthcare, doesn't have a choice to move or change jobs etc. and a slave is immediate physical violence... perhaps we need to revisit the definition of "slavery" or of "employment" or both. Dying a slow death from homelessness and poverty due to systemic inequity isn't actually a hugely better deal than a fast death at the hands of one person. In some cases it may even be worse because the suffering lasts much longer.
You assume that people who are unemployed can access help and resources, I'm not sure that the reality on that widely reflects people's experiences, depending on their location.
Thanks for understanding and being willing to entertain a different perspective! I'm glad I could help.
Whenever I catch myself wanting to call someone or their actions stupid, I consider whether telling a 5 year old child that they're stupid has ever helped them learn (good) lessons, and whether calling them stupid is a better teaching strategy than rewarding positive behavior. Research suggests that killing someone's self esteem isn't great for learning, especially pro-social behaviors, so it's probably also not a great first choice for whatever situation I've run into.
It seems to me that if we're talking about addressing starvation, war and political instability, then allowing the demographic who largely are responsible for food production and family health to lead and participate in a single (probably 1 hour long weekly) conversation on TV about those issues might be a key step to better understanding the core problems facing them and increasing democracy by ensuring 50% of the population is heard. Problems can't be properly addressed until they are accurately identified, and missing 50% of the the population's voices about problems won't help.
Also, for just 6 people to address a huge communication gap on a national scale in multiple media formats that can reach a population that is largely illiterate? That sounds like a hugely impactful and solid strategy for organizing important community projects and initiatives that increase stability.
What specific projects would you suggest to these 6 women that address the problems you have identified and make a larger positive impact than their current efforts?
Is it possible that people with lived experience might have a better knowledge of their needs and the next steps in fixing their own problems than you?
My disgruntled lampshade (lemmy.world)
I know, we tried recovery body suits but he kept gnawing his way out of them
NATO Secretary Stoltenberg: "NATO creates a market for defence sales. What Allies buy keeps American businesses strong." (www.nato.int)
My cat likes to lay with me on the floor (midwest.social)
She always jumps off her tree when she sees may lie down on the floor.
US orders 'assurances' from nations receiving American weapons (www.bbc.com)
US President Joe Biden has said that countries receiving American weapons must adhere to international law in a memorandum issued on Thursday night....
Is it possible I am intersex if I apparently have a very wide female pelvic bone and everything else is male?
I was assigned male at birth but have increasingly started to notice over the years that other guys don’t have a big notch on either side of their torsos like I do. It’s my pelvic bone. I would go to a doctor to see what they had to say but they’ve seen me plenty of times and said absolutely nothing about being intersex...
Unknown bird, New South Wales, Australia (lemmy.world)
What is a tip, fact, or piece of information that you want to share?
Far-right Israeli minister's criticism of Biden sparks anger at a sensitive time for US ties (apnews.com)
The Biden administration has skirted Congress to rush weapons to Israel and shielded its ally from international calls for a cease-fire in the four months since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. But the White House has also urged Israel to take greater measures to avoid harming civilians and to facilitate the...
Kosovo's block on the Serbian currency raises alarm in the EU and US (apnews.com)
The European Union and the United States expressed their deep concern Sunday after Kosovo banned the use of the Serbian currency and police raided the premises of organizations working with the Serb minority in the north of the country....
Have you ever tried putting a tiny bit of miso paste on your buttered toast?
It’s fucking delicious, that’s for sure. A perfect addition of saltiness. And it has to be the tiniest bit, anything more is overpowering....
US airstrikes in Iraq killed 16 including civilians -Iraqi PM's office (www.msn.com)
US and UK hit 30 Houthi targets in Yemen in second set of strikes in region (www.theguardian.com)
The United States and Britain struck at least 30 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday in a second wave of assaults meant to further disable Iran-backed groups that have relentlessly attacked US and international interests in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, American officials told the Associated Press....
About 200,000 people protest across Germany against far-right AfD party (www.theguardian.com)
About 200,000 people have taken to the streets of Germany in further protests against the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD)....
Ecosia plants 200 million trees (blog.ecosia.org)
Would you be surprised at all if there was a re-emergence of slavery in the United States?
Weird ancient tree from before dinosaurs found in Canadian quarry (www.cbc.ca)
Emilio in a box (Oct 2023) (lemmy.world)
Jan. 6 rioter who 'blind-side tackled' Capitol officer is sentenced to more than 6 years in prison (news.yahoo.com)
Lock 'em all away.
Days of Darkness: How one woman escaped the conspiracy theory trap that has ensnared millions (apnews.com)
Somalia to launch its first current affairs TV show led by women (www.theguardian.com)
New show will follow Question Time format answering audience questions on taboo subjects from periods to women in politics...