politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
Perhaps it feels like that because we don't actually have vassal-like proxies, we have allies, which allow free will and independent decisionmaking based on a simple cost/benefit calculation. Because this free-will aspect is retained, they have to be wooed, convinced, cajoled, pressured, bribed etc.
Israel dropped some bombs in Rafah but did not launch the large-scale offensive people were fearing. It was a case of US pressure actually accomplishing some harm reduction. Not harm negation, mind you, harm reduction.
I see where you're coming from and you're logic as well. But I would disagree. Israel get's a huge amount of funding from the US and in turn the US is able to exert it's influence on the region through Israel. To me, that's a proxy.
They still attacked Rafah, just in a smaller scale. It's not much of a comfort to the civilians killed because of it. I wouldn't actually count that as a win in my opinion.
Israel's budget ran around 125 billion/year, pre-war. If we wanted full control, I think it would cost a little more than what we give.
No, not a win, I agree on that one.
Not saying all of Israel's money is coming from the US. I'm saying the main reason Israel still exists is because of the money and arms America sends to them. If it weren't for that I would seriously question Israel's ability to survive given how hated they are in the region. This level of support let's the US exert it's influence on Israel. My original point was that recent years have shifted the dynamic where the US can no longer control Israel and it feels as if is Israel is playing the US.
Having nukes goes a long way to ensuring survival. That said, we definitely have influence, no question. A lot of influence. But even a whole ton of influence is something different from complete obedience.
For instance, your boss has a lot of influence on you, because they are responsible for your paycheck. However, we would not call it complete obedience, even with your livelihood in their hands. Because of this very basic principle, I would argue the US has never had control over Israel, despite what certain propagandists would claim.
Hell, they've even attacked our navy ships before, decades ago.
No arguments on those points from me. What I'm just saying is that the amount of influence America was capable of exerting on Israel has diminished substantially.
Yeah, I agree. Netanyahu is a very uncooperative fellow, just in general.
Netanyahu has been in power for a long time. Every other president in the past was able to handle him even though they didn't really like him. Biden's lack of control of the situation to me shows his lack of leadership and ability to take charge. Not a good quality for POTUS.
I think Bibi being in imminent danger of prison the second he leaves office may have changed this calculus a bit.
No doubt, it's still a huge failure on Biden to rein him though.