Can you list the competent Palestinian leaders who have been killed by Israel? All the people targeted by Israel that I know of were Hamas / IJ / Al Qaeda leaders or Iranian military.

Do you remember all the hijackings that occurred in South Africa in those days? All the hostage taking, and the civilians shot in cold blood? All the bombings of shopping malls and cinemas? No? Neither do I … because they never happened. Even in the face of massive repression, imprisonment, torture and murder of its leaders, the ANC focused their armed struggle on acts of sabotage and avoided as far as possible targeting civilians. They bombed electrical substations and oil refineries. They attacked police stations and military facilities. They never commited the barbaric acts we see today from Hamas. If they had I doubt that I, along with tens of thousands of others, would have marched in the streets demanding the release of Mandela.

Gaza population growth is 3% a year. If the Israelis are committing genocide they’re not doing a very good job.

Words matter. The Israelis treat the Palestinians atrociously but it’s not genocide.

Population of Gaza is growing 3% a year. If the Israelis are committing genocide they’re not doing a very good job.

The ANC won by mobilizing world opinion against the South African regime. The armed struggle was inconsequential and contributed nothing to ending apartheid.

It’s interesting that you mentioned apartheid. Although the ANC did declare an armed struggle against the White regime, in fact their attacks were inconsequential and contributed nothing to the struggle. The game-changer was a concerted campaign to mobilise world opinion. It was sanctions and isolation that ended apartheid, not bullets.

How does this help them gain their land? On the contrary it will harden public opinion against them. The only person that benefits from this is Netanyahu. I’m stunned by the stupidity of Hamas.

If it’s a genocide then they’re not doing a very good job considering that Gaza has an annual population growth of 3%.

Surprised? Yes. The only person who benefits from this is Netanyahu. Hamas has to know that. They also know that a) there is no way in hell they can defeat Israel militarily and b) acts like this push public opinion even more against a Palestinian homeland. So what was the rationale? I’m mystified.

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Colombia too, and so far Petro is doing a pretty good job . The peso is stronger and the economy is doing well, he’s negotiated and end to the flighting with some armed groups and he’s serious about social justice and land reform. I have my fingers crossed… we need some left of center success stories in Latin America to counter the narrative that all socialist policies lead to Venezuela style collapse.

Having said that I understand fully why Argentines would elect this guy … they’ve had a bunch of corrupt and incompetent idiots for far too long.

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Agree fully with your first statement.

Do you have any links to support your second statement?

Yes, yes and yes. Christianity in the middle ages was responsible for all manner of brutality. No argument there. It doesn’t change my assertion.

By the way, instead of saying “in this minute of history” you can just say “now” … it sounds less pompous.

It’s only Islamists that beat girls to death for not wearing the right headgear, or stone people to death for committing adultery, or execute people for being gay, or strap bombs to themselves and try and kill as many innocent people as possible. Yes … all religions are stupid and most are regressive and have crazy rules. But one religion is objectively far worse than all the rest put together (and I include the vile christian conservatives in that group).

Cue the outrage. Meanwhile no-one questions why people feel compelled to sell their own organs in order to survive. This is just a logical and expected outcome of a system where some give their own blood so that others can live better.

Great strawman but no, this is not free speech, this is illegal content and laws exist to prosecute those who disseminate it. Free speech allows you to offend others … it doesn’t give you a pass to break the law.

Russian oil revenues are at near record highs though so we’re still a long way from any kind of collapse.

SQL. The simplest syntax of all languages but can be amazingly powerful if you know what you you’re doing. (And frighteningly dangerous if you don’t).

I remember a case where a mother killed her two young kids because she wanted them to go to heaven. Her reasoning was that if they grew up and became sinners they would end up in hell. By murdering them before they knew what sin was she actually saved them. Thing is, if you believe in that shit then what she did really makes perfect sense.