Honestly I can't claim much, if any sympathy. Maybe she was born there and w/o any other prospects for citizenship- if so, then I'd feel otherwise- but otherwise, for those living in the genocidal settler-colony established less than a century ago? lmao

Happens with many Asians as well (in Canada, in truth also at least for some in Asia... can speak for ASEAN anyways).

Part of the western influence is creating this false dichotomy across the entire globe- social progress, for instance decent treatment of women and LGBT+ people is painted as "westernizing." Not abusing one's kids is "westernizing," technological and economic development is "westernizing," etc, etc... Somehow also for too many people/in parts of the world this view is somehow held alongside a view of the west as "godly (or historically so and now 'corrupted by secularism/etc')" thanks to the long and ongoing history of western evangelizing.

The amount of damage this has done... well, I can't say for sure on the frequency of it vs. healthy mixed-race relationships with white people (perhaps half or a third, maybe less? hell if I know) but it's certainly visible in many communities (and- from a outside view looking in, in many others like with yours). Anecdotally the scars of it have left a deep and ongoing trauma and issue in my family and upbringing... let's just say that somehow both my mom and my aunt have this sort of mentality and it doesn't pair well at all with mental illness .

This is the first succession of power for the position, hell if I know if I'd call it "hereditary/dynastic" just with this.

I believe I'd heard in some analysis vid quite a while back that the son is closely affiliated/engaged with the IRGC; I imagine that's the more important point. It might be good optics (though the only optics they should need to care for are their own people, and the Shia world in this context) not to pass it down another generation after, though. But what definitely matters most is keeping the revolutionary core of the state intact (even if it isn't exactly proletarian, in this struggle and in many other things due to circumstances that won't change too much for the foreseeable future it is the same as and vital to the entire cause of the rest of humanity). I imagine it's that kind of consideration that was in play, especially when the country is being besieged by the west, now open in their intent to wage unprovoked war until all of west/central Asia (and ultimately the world) is a destabilized, fractured, helpless hellhole they can prevent from developing forever..

Not to mention, the west are the ones trying to push the shah's failson who never even has stepped foot in the country to be leader instead, the west is full of "constitutional monarchies" and political/economic dynasties, and back a swathe of absolute monarchies in the region and around the world.

If it were true in any sense I'm sure that we'd be seeing nonstop footage of Russo-African soldiers getting killed or captured, body bags being displayed rather than exchanged, and all the accusations and blood libel against Russians as usual coupled with a western gloating of "see? The Russians are the same as us 'somehow worse' than our 500 years and ongoing atrocities across the entire African continent and global south in general!"

Seriously though, maybe, just maybe it's even partially resembling some reality - but if so it would be counter to consistent Russian policy and attitudes thus far, not to mention the only claims of such are coming from basically the empire of lies (specifically their Qatari vassals), from the western regimes which are so ridiculously dishonest, hypocritical, and also who are not only the ones at fault for this mess but basically almost all of humanity's current crises and are deeply involved and at least partially responsible for pretty much every evil to exist in our day and age...

As in, sure, healthy scrutiny of Russia's behavior is important too. But this is akin to the claims of "Palestinians/Iranians beheading babies," it's like as if the Nazis were crying out that their enemies were sending sending Jewish children to gas chambers, or the Japanese claimed their enemies were holding "beheading Japanese civilians" contests, or the US claimed their indigenous victims were actually the ones trying to starve the "innocent white population."

Which is to say I certainly wouldn't give it any dignity of even consideration, it would have to come from the mouths of actual people with a conscience or at least without the history of being basically lies made manifest.

On one hand, true- on the other, the Russian people at least had a history of coexistence (whether they liked it or not, and in spite of many atrocities) with other peoples, as well as an indigeneity of their own (in the western portion of the country). The Anglo-colonies in contrast are founded entirely on theft, genocide, racial supremacism, and the exploitation and destabilization of the entire globe.

And ultimately the USSR fell, and with it the whole eastern bloc. Honestly I've often thought that (alongside the betrayal from within) race played at least some part in their downfall- while the Russians had far, far less guilt in the crimes of colonialism than the west, and many European AES had not yet had any association whatsoever, the "allure" of the racial supremacy and colonial privilege the west flaunted and tempted them with won out, at least for a sufficient comprador segment of the population. While the Slavic republics also voted to keep the union, it was the central Asian republics who were most strongly in favor, after all.

Not disagreeing exactly, but at least in part I don't think the triumph of the Soviets can be mentioned in this context without the dissolution.. and the collective west is basically a bunch of Baltic chihuahuas (for the Europeans), or the end result of a successful Lebensraum or Zionism on steroids (for the Anglos).

Must be noted, (not to doom about it, that's not my takeaway either from this) allegedly from CNN polling, 41% of Americans approve of this (at least in the under-34 demographic this falls to 29%).

Not to overly give credence to such polls, and there's likely selection bias among other things (as well as the general ignorance and learned apathy of the populace). It sounds not far off from reality coming from another western country, though. Not to mention that most of the "disapproval" is surely just because of the economic fallout and that Iran actually can defend itself.

As with reactions to the genocide in Palestine, as with many other things, I find myself often wondering - how are we supposed to live with these people? How can the rest of humanity coexist with these people who are of the same stock mentality as that of the Zionists (who inspired the Zionists, Nazis, and countless other fascist or otherwise imperialist and settler-genocidal movements)?

Even with education many will still hold onto their blood money/colonial arrogance, and constantly grasp for more. There's clear social progress (and I am optimistic for it and even more so, for the development of the south not being restrained by the brainworms and rabid temperament of the west), but it seems the bulk of it will be through the natural course of older generations dying out.

In the end I imagine (for all he too was a genocidaire), Lincoln's take on the US civil war seems to be right, for the whole of the west... "every drop of blood by the lash (of settler-colonialism, imperialism, etc) may be repaid with another drawn by the sword." One would hope not (though it'd fully self inflicted, and better than the status quo, for all that the west could bleed itself completely dry and still not have repaid in full) and that the we- those in the west that is- can choose a better path for all, but anyone with sense knows that won't be the case, not until every other possibility is exhausted through blood.

TL,DR is unlimited Hiroshima-Nagasakis on the ""free world,"" and 100 cultural revolutions would still not be enough to reform the west..

Honestly, if by the end of all this (not just the war, the global system of empire in general) the west ends up with its aquifers drained, its soil depleted and fertilizers scarce, its arsenals empty of both offensive and defensive munitions, in hyperinflation and barter economies, and with collapsing infrastructure, demographics, and social cohesion, totally reliant on the largesse (not coercion, but the goodwill) of the south, and having lost out on generations of technical knowledge.. that sounds like "progress" towards a better world of a sort (so long as the same does not go for the south) in my books.

Would be better if the west could simply choose to be better, collectively, to join the rest of humanity in mutual cooperation and development. I certainly wish it could be so, and am and will be a part of the process. And it's not impossible.. eventually, or now, who's to say. But I've no trust in that, I don't think even 100 years from now or after some "world socialism" is achieved one could yet trust in that, considering all they've done. But then that's my mentality having been raised in it, a product of it and formed in response to it as well.. cautiously optimistic, but cynical and jaded perhaps to a fault...

Honestly I'm not gonna shed a tear if by the end the population is <10 million (most of them fleeing elsewhere of course). Just like the empire's fall will be an undeniable, primarily, almost entirely unmitigated good no matter what happens, including if all my loved ones and I go down with the ship. Sounds cold but this is the world the west has made

As a (adult and thankfully NC with one of them) child of GenXers, I think it's the lead, combined with seeing the height of US/western triumphalism and the "end of history" bullshit, and not having the constant devastation of 2008 onwards define their formative years (childhood all the way up to early adulthood).

Boomers are cursed, but at least then, I feel the lines were drawn, across the map, across class interests, maybe. Granted, I'm coming from an immigrant family (parents came over when I was 2), but my parents grew up seeing this triumphalism and perhaps the high-point of western whitewashing and erasure of history, and not the worst of the ongoing atrocities of just how the western order was made and sustained. On the other hand, even my paternal grandparents who are deeply religiously colonized know what it is like to have been a colonial subject. They know what it was like to face US-destabilization and massacres and abuses of their community and broader ethnic kin, and colonial "containment" wars with the US slaughtering millions of their neighbors. In these senses (I suspect also racially, etc) there was a understanding that was- not lost, but diminished, intentionally paved over with feel-good nonsense like as if all the horrors of the west never existed, or were in some distant past, as the west portrayed itself as the gatekeepers and origin of all social progress and development. And genX was raised seeing the worst of it.

More than that, they're directly aiding and abetting in a explicit Holocaust. They are no different from Goebbels and the other Nazi propagandists, or- considering in this case AOC is directly supplying the Zionists herself- Eichmann and those other bureaucrats responsible for the logistics of the Nazis' Holocaust.

And each and every single one of them should be brought to trial at Nuremberg, and hung and left to rot.

While it's bullshit, if you ask me, it sounds like a good future to me. People should be more open to exploring their sexuality, and if it's in a genuinely harmless way I say more power to them.

This is a good thing, and the inevitable result of the west's constant provocations and salami-slicing, encroaching tactics, IMO. At some point humanity has to fight back, even if it draws us closer to the brink of MAD- the ones responsible are the western imperialists, after all. And when and if they do manage to fully and properly "pivot to Asia" I hope China ups the ante like this as well.

My honest belief here is this- the world will never know peace, until the collective west understands fully and thoroughly the full extent of MAD (not necessarily by invoking it, but by facing and being limited by the same threats they continue to hold over the rest of humanity). If the west had suffered even 1/1000000th of what they have done- even in just the past decade, nevermind the past 500+ years- to the global south, or even just to those powers that can and should defend themselves like Russia, China, India, etc... we would already have triggered MAD 1000 times over. At some point it has to be enough, and those nations with the means of making it so should ensure it. Each Russian life is as valuable, if not moreso, than that of those who support the west- same goes with the lives of Palestinians, Chinese, Indians, all Asians and Africans and Latin Americans and all those even in the west who stand against imperialism, being as valuable if not moreso than that of those who stand for the empire. And the only way the west will ever learn that is by the cold hard reality that they cannot make the same favorable and deeply inequitable exchange, that they have for hundreds of years, any more.

Can it even be called a "pre-emptive strike," when the western imperialist regimes have been striking Russia (and indeed, all of the rest of humanity as well as the working masses and all non-white and indigenous peoples including in the west) constantly with impunity for centuries? I don't think so.

I believe them, actually. This is the same country which has children singing and cheering about the ongoing genocide in explicit terms, the same country which has them and their war criminal, settler families making mocking videos portraying starvation, r*pe, the slaughter of babies, etc. They know what they are doing, while obviously culpability is different for children they absolutely are supporters and even participants even if they are also victims of being groomed to be monstrous racists and criminals in their own right.

And the truth is, Isntreal is not unique in this regard. The Nazis may have had the good sense to do things behind closed doors (somewhat?) but the history and ongoing reality of other settler states (and to my understanding at least to some extent with the Nazis) shows that the process of dehumanization- of teaching settlers to dehumanize their victims, to engage in the same crimes as the rest of society so as to create "bonds" (bonding over committing atrocities), is a foundational part of the structure of fascism, settlerism, and imperialism.

Look at the Anglo settler-states' histories, and it's not that far back- a few decades/half a century really- where entire families and communities would get together for a lynching, even take postcards. People would play carnival games where they would attempt to commit bodily harm against black people. Games like "cowboys and 'Indians'" are declining but absolutely part of this fabric, and the casual racism prevalent across schools in the west is part of this as well. Go further back in the history of the US (but still, not actually that far back) and you will find communities getting together to capture, torture, and brutally murder runaway slaves in public hangings, quarterings, maulings by dogs, etc. A rite of "manhood" in the imperial societies would be joining in the slaughter of various "colored" peoples, whether it be the "Indian wars" and countless little encroachments/massacres in the US and elsewhere, or joining the western regimes' colonial infrastructure. (And an expectation of colonial "womanhood" would be weaponizing it against "uppity" minorities and sometimes/oftentimes even inciting violence and countless atrocities). You can see how it was part of the culture of western Europe, how it was glorified and celebrated as the "manly and adult" thing to do, to go gun down Africans, Asians, other indigenous peoples with guns and artillery whose range was far beyond that of their victims, or with machine guns against in the most extreme circumstances, indigenous resistance armed with swords and spears- but once the Europeans experienced how it was to have the other side shoot back- and be white- the facade of "glory and valor" faced the reality of what it had been all along.

The legacy still continues as well, you can see it in the glorification of war in the US (and in truth, still across the west, but of course we brand it with slogans like "freedom and democracy" that have no connection to the reality of our actions and policies abroad). The most prevalent introduction to "middle-eastern," Arabic, and Islamic culture (though in truth the religion does not matter, if anything we particularly brutalize and overthrow secular societies and back those who slaughter ethnic and religious minorities) in the west in our modern times, is as the generic "terrorist" to be killed over and over again in FPSes like CoD or (insert western semi-realistic FPS series here that isn't set in WW2, or alternatively fighting "evil Russkies/generic east Europeans"). Or to be killed by the "war heroes" in our movies who show their heroism by going to foreign countries filmed in sepia tones, to label anyone resisting this foreign invasion as a "terrorist" and to kill, more and more. And the US celebrates this at most of its sporting events, it celebrates it in its schools, it celebrates it in its portrayal across mass media, etc, etc.

I could go on and on more and- well, yeah this drew a ramble out of me. But no, I believe it. This is a settler-society that is still in the "early" phases (ie. the "slaughter the Palestinians and all other traces of indigeneity until you've established a secure lebensraum and a overwhelmingly dominant volk demographic where you can start slaughtering native peoples and "manifesting" your destiny elsewhere and tone down society for better optics at home" phase). The kids know what they are doing, they've been taught all their lives thus far to celebrate it, to embrace it, because otherwise the system of sustaining and reproducing future generations of such a monstrous abberation of a society starts to break down in some degree, the "foundational mythos" starts to break down (you can see across the west attempts to whitewash and rehabilitate their bloodstained history, etc etc). Many of those kids could watch Palestinians (or the other generic brown hordes) be mowed down, unarmed, in their schools and hospitals and homes, whether from afar or up front in graphic detail and they've been taught this is good, this is "beautiful" (mind you as noted that I consider them victims as well as perpetrators with vastly diminished culpability as mentioned earlier). And even those they live amongst, they are taught to look down on them, to beat and bully them and to treat them as untermensch, because this is what settler society is (and that reality, that legacy but also the ongoing systemic and cultural racisms, if somewhat diluted with time or whitewashed over for polite company, holds true across the west)

The kid knew what they were seeing. Same as how most kids would probably connect the dots, if they saw movies and other media portraying the struggle from the other side, with Arabs, Asians, Africans, or whoever it might be being portrayed defending their homeland and being inspired to pick up arms and fight for their countries against marauding "generic white invaders in the military fatigues typical of US/NATO (but also the west in general)." Kids are smarter than most people assume (or more precisely in this case and many- it takes years of indoctrination which has to cover all the bases, for them to "learn" all the liberal, imperial, chauvinist hypocrisy, willful ignorance, and lack of self-awareness).

Honestly I think it's safe to say that the west should have absolutely no say in dezionification, or the denazification which is still necessary in Ukraine, Germany, and across Europe. Decolonization, de-USAmericanization and the purging of white supremacist and imperialist ideology which is equally abhorrent and the birthing pit of Nazism and Zionism and other hateful ideologies, still is necessary, for all western societies, if they are ever to properly integrate and rejoin the rest of humanity as normal, peer nations.

Eh, the Isntrealis can choose peace, just as they claimed (but refused to offer the Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, Iranians, etc) their victims could. They genuinely can, the Iranians are more civilized than settlers could ever hope to be in a thousand years.

I'm not gonna cry for the Hitler Youth and SS brigades, staunchly holding onto their genocidal ethos, getting mowed down in their entirety. They can always just- leave. Or throw down their weapons, join the other side.

Curly, smiley, and sweet potato. I've rarely seen the smileys, but they just make me happy and that's a quality in its own right IMO (unapologetically biased)

Happy tranniversary

Why do I keep doing this (staying up deadass late in this case the past few days mainly reading manga or granted some other rabbitholes like learning more about BPD). Anyways I'll get caught up with some people more uh... yeah working on it o7

Now you've gone and got me excited for the parade of all things.

I'm glad it was a good day!!!