No, it is a parliamentary democracy.

A democracy is never a guarantee of favorable or progressive outcomes.

The people voted for this though. The secular dictatorship was replaced by a democracy, and this is something Sunni and Shia parties agree on with a majority in the parliament. The old (abolished) law was introduced in 1959 with the beginning of the republican era after the end of the monarchy in 1958.

Even the opposition to it doesn’t look that popular, not a lot of people:

The US put Iraq through sanctions, killed its scientists, and artists, and then invaded it and destroyed its infrastructure. The majority of Iraqis left through all that trauma had nothing but their religion institutions and tribal connections left, and through the democratic system the US imposed voted for this directly or indirectly. It sucks, but the destruction of Iraq started years ago.

I don’t argue with Zionists, bots or otherwise. The humans are just as insufferable.

I don’t know if Netanyahu is glad now that the Iraqi resistance is attacking Israel. But he did a good job selling it to congress.

US sanction power is not like it was in the 1990s. I think most people don’t realize that.

Being poor is why I had a Chevrolet Spark once. I would have bought a Chinese car if I could.

I think they struck one or two aircraft carriers with ballistic missiles.

The USSR is part of the reason why Yemen, the poorest Arab country, has hypersonic weapons technology. Yemen literally has nothing to lose.

“What I’ve seen of what the Houthis have done in the last six months is something that — I’m just shocked.”

I’m not surprised. Yemenis are unlike their neighbors. They have a long history of being industrious and builders. The only thing they lack is plenty of natural resources. Otherwise Yemenis can do anything they set their minds to. They got their hands on missile technology when South Yemen was socialist and allied with the USSR, and after unification they kept developing their capabilities.

Scholz is on his way out though.

With cars they figured they were far behind and there were many patents on internal combustion engines that it made sense for Chinese companies with government directives to skip straight to battery electric vehicles. Maybe they will do the same with semiconductors, maybe not. I hope so but I hate to mix hope with insight or prescience.

China needs EUVs somehow. As for TSMC I can’t expect being distracted by the US is good for them

This is the lesser evil they wanted millions to vote for

Inshallah

Be optimistic, he might accidentally destroy it.

Anyone remember Biden throwing a hissy fit over Iran and Saudi Arabia’s reproachment?

Now there’s indications that the China-brokered peace deal wasn’t just a photo-op. Saudi, Iranian senior military officials discuss defense cooperation.

Saudi Arabia has been a loyal US ally and for decades; and it is still deep in the US camp financially and militarily. I want this defense cooperation to be everything it can be, but I fear that the Saudi government isn’t ready yet to distance itself from US interests.

Zionist*

I am not going to get my hopes up. The government has the ability to keep functioning on autopilot regardless of who is at the top.

The rise of China makes boycotting the West much easier.

The true international community. A diverse collection of nations, languages, religions, and economic and political systems.

I wish there was a version with a better colour scheme. But this is the only one recent enough not to include Argentina and to include the upcoming tentative members.

It is significant how relatively insignificant the West got in one generation. A lot of Western leaders are too old and still think it is the 1990s.

It still serves as an unsinkable aircraft carrier off the coast of China