Israel always was, at least for the last 2 decades. We all (including me) were just too blind and stupid to see through it.
If you want to form an opinion around Israel, I would've suggested, in better times, visiting the Red Crescent center in Doha accommodating and treating Gazan women and children.
Not to mention, they've even put their allies on shaky grounds now. I have Emirati friends, and all of them told me that they're hearing that none of their compatriots are happy with the war, as well as with the government's current posturing about allying with Israel, even though it was a 50/50 support for it when the Abraham Accords were signed. With full support for US actions, they've only strengthened the case for radicalization and dissident actions in their homeland.
Not to mention, the image of the GCC, particularly Dubai, as a stable oasis in the midst of a reckless desert, has been shattered. All the rich folk have already left (including some in my network), and companies are unilaterally laying off workers and shutting down.
There's also the issue of divisions within the GCC itself - there are many influential rulers who were caught completely unawares by US actions, and secretly voicing criticism against the federal authority's actions.
Dubai and the Emirates in general should have concerned themselves first with securing the freedom of navigation of the Persian Gulf, and then with building a playground for adults. But they didn't and expected someone else to do it for them.
Why is it that in every thread of a newly released product, there's always some European popping by, just to say, "Oh, but the name doesn't sound appropriate in _my language_"? Suck it up Yurop, or make your own.
And imo, Mythos is a much better name than the kind of shit Mistral seems to come up with.
Europe is currently lagging on the cloud front, the AI front and even the SaaS front. They can't even wean themselves off of MS Office ffs, after all the shenanigans Microsoft and the US have pulled against them. I have no hopes of the EU building anything that can replicate even 25% of Palantir.
They only have to replicate Palantir marketing and garnish it with a bit of nationalism. Not like the government is good at getting its money's worth in the end.
And not forget hardware. All they have is meaningless leaders with zero vision. My dumb AI claw tool has better view of the world than they do. They might as well be replaced by those AI agents. Probably better outcome that current
The problem - for them - is that they wouldn't be able to make as much money as a curator than as a grifter, a middleman. As a curator or a creator, they would be actually forced to work, as compared to the current rentier model that they enjoy.
Those executive bonuses don't pay for themselves you know.
Read accounts of former UN peacekeepers who've served at UNIFIL, or actual thoughts of Lebanese themselves. Israel has been longing to acquire South Lebanon since ages, and the only thing that has prevented them from doing so were the Hezbollah. Israeli troops would block roads, fire and shoot at UNIFIL positions, as well as carry out espionage and sabotage. Every peacekeeper will attest to Israeli troops being far more problematic and dangerous than Hezbollah attacks and rockets. Lebanese themselves will echo the above opinion, and further add that Israeli looting is pretty much the same as Russian looting in Ukraine - everybody stopped buying stuff because they would know that IDF troops would seize it from them within days during the previous occupation. Shops would rather remain shut and lose business than keep themselves open under Israeli watch. Even moderate Israeli media has been extremely hostile to the very idea of UNIFIL.
The Hezbollah has always been a boogie man excuse for the Israelis to expand into Lebanon. Well, Hezbollah's gone now and we already know what's happening. Lebanon is losing close to a fifth of its land.
That handicap is due to the fact that the USA today doesn't fight defensive wars. It's hard to justify fighting wars happening in the Old World to Americans.
Woodrow Wilson only joined WW1 once the Lusitania was sunk, which caused American deaths. FDR only joined WW2 once Pearl Harbor was attacked. Reagan got away with Grenada because it was a quick and dirty operation. Same with GHWB and First Gulf War. The younger Bush could justify the Afghan invasion only because of WTC, yet even as more Intel dropped on the identity of the terrorists and the lack of progress in locating Bin Laden, domestic support fell.
> But if America stops playing as cautiously as it does, it turns into a very different war machine.
Good luck trying to convince average Americans to do that. On the other hand, the US and Israel have managed to convince the same for the Iranians. They literally rained bombs on the upper class neighborhoods of Teheran, the places where moderates and regime opposition actually lived.
The US has an eternal fool on the throne. Common sense also claims that you can only declare bankruptcy once, and never with a casino, yet here we are.
It is also very clear that both the US and Israel have very different mission objectives, which is why there's no way out for this admin. A long war may destroy Iran but will also help them in the long run - a war that they're eager to fight. Furthermore it has been established that Trump was goaded into this war by his benefactors, as well as Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Salman.
What Israel and US (and MBS) don't understand is that they've just enabled a country 3 times the size of France to go militant, in their backyard.
If you want to form an opinion around Israel, I would've suggested, in better times, visiting the Red Crescent center in Doha accommodating and treating Gazan women and children.
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