• anarchiddy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    2 hours ago

    I find in endlessly funny that we’ve been screaming at the democrats to leverage Israel more to end hostilities in the ME without any real movement from them, but suddenly Trump is willing to say ‘fuck it’ just because the right people happen to be bribing him.

    If the right people keep trump’s palms greased for long enough we might actually end up on the right side of history by accident, and if that’s not comedy I don’t know what is.

  • Suavevillain@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    2 hours ago

    The crowd that went on about a laptop for 5 years suddenly don’t care about The President getting a whole ass jet and tower as a gift. But they aren’t a cult. Only decorum and the law matters when Dems are in power.

  • Caveman@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    2 hours ago

    Is this maybe taken out of context. Normalising relations with the new Syrian government is happening and Sharaa could have floated as a sign of more open trade and capital flows.

    I think it’s more likely to Sharaa trying to tell Trump what he wants to hear very successfully.

    Trump is corrupt and a Trump tower is a very low price for normalising relations, Sharaa is playing to Trumps corrupt tendencies.

    • RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 hours ago

      My friend, even if this is the way to handle Trump, it’s not okay for anyone. Imagine other leaders could be as easily bought. There’s a reason we don’t want bribery in politics.

      • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 minutes ago

        We already had bribery in politics, the media just doesn’t talk about it like they do with Trump and other particularly egregious ‘fall guys’ like Clarence Thomas.

      • Caveman@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        55 minutes ago

        I’d argue it’s savvy and not corrupt by Sharaa. Just as selling weapons for concessions only he sold land for sanctions lifted. It’s the US that has an incredibly self serving president and Syria with a leader that serves Syria.

  • HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 hours ago

    The really ugly thing here is, al-Sharaa is the best thing to happen to Syria in decades. Most people have been urging recognition of his government and the relaxation of sanctions because he’s about as good we can expect a leader of Syria to be.

    And he is still bribing Trump.

    This isn’t merely corruption. This is the *normalization * of corruption. Even countries that abide by democratic norms and international law are going to need to grease palms to conduct regular diplomatic relations. The EU and UK and Canada might be able to weather his bullshit until he folds like he always does, but developing nations will be stuck trying to bid for American favor.

    Welcome to the Chinese century.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 hours ago

        I don’t know if that’s blame, or just acknowledging that USA’s general direction leads to China becoming ‘the’ world power by USA forfeitting their soft power around the world.

      • RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        2 hours ago

        I’m not sure if this is blaming it on China, but acknowledging that China might be picking up after the downfall of the USA.

  • p3n@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    5 hours ago

    I am not arguing with the obvious corruption, but to provide a counterpoint to the second part of the argument: if we aren’t allowed to make peace with former terrorists, then we can never stop fighting each other, and if we keep fighting each other, then we will keep creating the next generation of terrorists.

  • ZMoney@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 hours ago

    Here’s my most optimistic take for Americans. This guy is not as bad as Hitler. He’s out to scam the world, not conquer it militarily. So that’s a plus, for now. If his successor is Vance then the invasion of Canada and Mexico might actually happen.

    • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      48 minutes ago

      This guy is not as bad as Hitler.

      The jury is still out on that, but it’s not looking good. Hitler took power in 1933, and didn’t start his first euthanasia program until 1936, and it didn’t really get going until after the establishment of the first death facility in Chelmno in 1941. Between those years, Hitler consolidated his power, reconfigured the government, and began rounding up his enemies.

      HitlerPig took power in 2024, and is already making the exact same moves as Hitler. If he sticks with a similar timeline, he starts murdering his enemies in 2027.

      Hitler’s first victims were the mentally and physically handicapped. HitlerPig’s henchman RFK, Jr., has already announced that they’re starting a database of Autistic people, which they want to pretend doesn’t really exist. We’ve already seen that these scientific Neanderthals think that the best way to improve concerning statistics is to get rid of the statistics (Remember how HitlerPig didn’t want a Covid testing program because that would increase the numbers?), and so the most efficient way to win the “war” on autism, is to get rid of all the aughties, and prohibit anyone else to be diagnosed with it. Hurray! MAGA cured autism!

      Hitler ordered the construction of Dachau in his first year in power (1933). HitlerPig has already started building his first American concentration camp in Guantanamo Bay to hold 30,000 people. To provide context, the average maximum security prison in America hold 800-1200 prisoners, with the largest being the prison in Angola, LA, which holds 8300. That means the new concentration camp is almost 4x larger than our largest max security prison, which is already several times larger than the average. They are already sending people to El Salvador, and are negotiating a deal with Rwanda as well. Clearly, they intend to lock up a lot of people.

      It needs to be stressed that HitlerPig’s closest advisor, Stephen “PeeWee Himmler” Miller, is an avowed Nazi. In his mind, the only thing the Nazis did wrong is that they weren’t decisively harsh enough. He has said that he wants to reduce the population of America from 335 million to 100 million white people. That’s 235 million people, about 70% of our current population, far more than the paltry 6 million deaths is assigned to Hitler.

      I think your statement should be amended to read:

      This guy is not as bad as Hitler…

      …YET

    • Oniononon@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      edit-2
      6 hours ago

      Yeah, at least he aint sending anyone he doesn’t like to labour and death camps, replacing everyone with loyalists and doesn’t talk of invading random neighbours

      • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 hours ago

        Exactly.

        I said it for many years. Trump only cares about Trump and no one and nothing else. He doesn’t believe in anything other than having his ego stoked and being enriched. The leaders of the world are absolutely laughing at him, but they also want him in power because he is so fucking easy to manipulate.

    • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      5 hours ago

      What a world we live in, where calling someone not as bad as Hitler is an optimistic take

  • Lorem Ipsum dolor sit amet@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    6 hours ago

    The sanctions on Syria should be lifted, but WTF. I mean honestly. It will be interesting to see what Israel does from that as they generally want Syria destabilised. Could further add to the rift between Netanyahu and Trump.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      2 hours ago

      It will be interesting to see what Israel does

      Interesting? I’ll predict the future right now: The zios will continue to invade, murder people, and steal land.

    • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Yeah, this, the Saudis getting closer to him and the Quatari plane gift sounds like he’s slowly realising the Arabs in general have more money while he’s perhaps the one politician in the US who is immune to the AIPAC trying to primary him. And I would guess Israel hasn’t even said thank you.

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    5 hours ago

    Lol Trump is becoming a bitch to every country that the FBI and CIA have spent a decade to show as the main baddies. I wonder how the red necks that have “Russia and Muslims are bad” engraved into their spinal cords are taking this?

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      2 hours ago

      the FBI and CIA

      Who do you think helped put this dude in power? It’s been decades of pumping these people with weapons, etc.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    86
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    13 hours ago

    … and no one should put all the blame on one man … he isn’t that powerful or persuasive

    It’s a complicit government that had decided to allow this orange menace to do as he pleases because it benefits some wealthy owners.

    It’s a lot easier to blame one man because it would remove the complicity of a large organization of people that are driving all this.

    • Oniononon@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Blame lies on the judicial branch for not putting him on the chair for his coup attempt and instead telling before elections he can do whatever he wants, legally.

      • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 hours ago

        the blame lies on every one of us. we know exactly what is going on, that the government is broken, and yet we do nothing. we are the last guardrails of this democracy. if we don’t do something, this is the people’s fault.

    • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      11 hours ago

      So they just SAY they will build this tower, not they are building it. What’s the chances they aren’t building shit but told our dumb fuck president this to get this done? I think pretty high. They can strimg him along, because they know he will be gone in four years either by end of presidency or death.

      • jagermo@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        10 hours ago

        And that is what I don’t get. He is so easily wooed by stuff. The UK trade agreement is not great, but he flounts the high tariffs that the importers will have to pay. Someone dangles a picture of something shiny and he jumps. This is so weird

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          7 hours ago

          The UK trade deal is great because over here it was basically just reported as “the status quo has been maintained”, and then they just moved on to other news items. No one really cares about it.

          Trump was going on and on about how America “has the best beef”, and how it’s unfair that we won’t take it, and this trade deal essentially means that farms will have to follow UK food standards in order to send beef (or whatever) to the UK. Since none of them will, essentially nothing has changed.

          • jagermo@feddit.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            4 hours ago

            Right? Nothing has changed except the tariffs that are still in place and will cost the americans money. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

    • ILoveUnions@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      13 hours ago

      It’s easy to just blame the government. When the reality is there is an entire complicit class of voters voting them in

      • BlackSheep@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        9 hours ago

        Agreed. But when critical thinking is systematically being removed from the education system, well, you see what happens.

        • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 hours ago

          we do nothing to stop it. we are a cooperative society. if we allow this to happen, then the blame is on all of us.

          • Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 hours ago

            What about those that have only recently learning about the anti-education trajectory from the Right? Or those that are oblivious but would oppose such trajectory if aware?

            Am I complicit if I don’t know it’s happening?

            • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              4 hours ago

              if you don’t know it’s happening, you’ve had your head in the sand or spent too much time watching tik tok. there are no excuses.

    • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      4 hours ago

      we americans are pathetic. it seems like we fall into one of these categories:

      • christo fascists who voted for him
      • suburban sociopaths who voted for him
      • clueless libertarians who either voted for him or absolve themselves of any responsibility
      • NPR liberals who are basically useless pacifists
      • millennial/gen Z cowards who can’t even drive a manual trans, much less start a revolution

      it’s fucking hopeless and we deserve this. i’m building a bunker. fuck every one of you.-

      • LePoisson@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        3 hours ago

        Hey, I’m driving a manual trans don’t be putting that on my whole generation.

        The problem is: nobody wants to die, we all are fed and fat, our education system has been being weakened for 40 years now, did I mention the whole not dying part?

        I’m hopeful that our institutions are strong enough to hold until the midterm elections, Dems will take Congress with a strong majority and we can avoid mass bloodshed and actually impeach the guy and get him convicted. No doubt that may be a long shot and people will suffer but I’m not violent revolution is anywhere in the cards anytime soon.

        Edit: just to be clear, I do wish we were and kind of could do more. This is just my realist take

        • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 hours ago

          I’m hopeful that our institutions are strong enough to hold until the midterm elections

          lol. ok.

  • NoMadLadNZ@lemmy.nz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 hours ago

    Imagine Obama or Biden, or Harris, doing this!

    Everything about this is like we have all been force-fed industrial strength hallucinogens. That YMCA played by the murderous Saudi prince after that fawning display… WTAF world are we living in any more?

    If this was the Matrix I’d be demanding to be unplugged right now, and promptly throw up on the floor

  • protist@mander.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    123
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    edit-2
    16 hours ago

    This post reeks of Israeli propaganda. Ahmed al-Sharaa renounced al-Qaeda many years ago and has a lengthy, demonstrated record as a moderate, inclusive leader who fought both the Assad regime and ISIS at the same time. A moderate Arab leader who protects ethnic minorities is a threat to the Israeli narrative about their neighbors.

    • psycocan@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      6 hours ago

      You totally read my mind. The campaigners against Trump for aligning a little bit with some Arab countries (through bribes of course) totally normalize the infiltration of the Israelis into the western governments. AIPAC literally bribes politicians and boasts about it continuously and of course the politicians return the favor by funneling more taxpayer money to Israel.

      Also, remember how Israel rigged theatrical disputes with Biden administration, only for us to discover later there was zero pressure from the Biden administration on the Israelis whatsoever. The Biden administration literally was in on the genocide as much as the Israelis. The Israelis like to play along and pretend they lack enough support so they can suck even more western resources.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Tbf the fact that the Israelis are putting out propaganda in this issue is, in my opinion, a tiny bit of a good thing. If a wedge is driven between Trump and Bibi over this it is a good thing.

      It is terrible in every way, shape or form, but if this turns out to make Trump shift policy in the middle east, whatever the reason, might have a sliver of good in it.

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      9 hours ago

      If we are denouncing Guerilla/insurgent/rebel leaders offhand for basically fighting against imperialists and dictators, even if their methods aren’t bloodless or ethical, then we would also need to denounce José Mujica, former president of Uruguay who died today, one of the most progressive and honest leftist leaders the world has known.

      • BussyCat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        8
        ·
        7 hours ago

        Are you really going to compare the fight to restore democracy from a military coup as the same as trying to install a theocratic dictatorship

        • Yeather@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          55 minutes ago

          Congratulations! You have earned the “Fell for Israeli Propaganda Award!”

    • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      74
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      16 hours ago

      It’s still corruption tho. Whether or not they misrepresent that dude I know nothing about doesn’t take away from the fact that Trump is as easily bribed as a toddler.

    • polyploy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Syrians deserve peace and stability, but that is not at all what is being offered here. Sanctions are cruel, and it’s worth celebrating that they’ve been lifted, but the cost looks like it’s going to be an international effort to pillage and exploit Syria.

      These puppets did nothing while israel systematically bombed most of Assad’s leftover military infrastructure, stockpiles, and vehicles. Literally hundreds of airstrikes without any meaningful response. They’re barely disputing occupied territories, even as they expand. Instead they’ve gotten into border skirmishes with Lebanon, attacked the Syrian Druze, and killed thousands of Alawites.

      The testimonies of coastal massacre escapees are harrowing. There are more widely publicized stories of door to door executions, but there’s another pattern I heard described several times by people that lived in smaller villages.

      Security forces would show up in uniform during the day, ask around about locals and their backgrounds, and disarm the population while assuring them that they would be protected. Then at night, there would be a brutal attack, and what I heard again and again is that the groups doing this are one and the same.

      CW: descriptions of horrific NSFL videos:

      I’ve seen them laughing as they took turns beating an old man to death. I watched one execute a teenage boy mid-conversation. I’ve seen mass graves full of children, women, elders. I’ve seen dozens of civilians of all ages and identities in lines along roadsides, against walls, some with bound wrists, some clearly mutilated. I’ve seen military vehicles spray entire apartment buildings with machine gun fire.

      It’s ludicrous to describe this demon as protecting ethnic minorities while his forces have systematically killed thousands in an ethnic cleansing campaign. There were a few scattered clashes with Assad loyalist forces, but Alawite civilians were then described as such in order to justify liquidating entire villages.

      Just because this monster puts on a suit, gets some official uniforms for his dogs to wear for the public, it does not change who he is and what he does. Don’t be fooled by the hollow condemnation of what he dismisses as the actions of extremist elements. This entire regime change operation has been undertaken not by Syrians seeking liberation, but by foreign powers conspiring to strip the country and its people for parts.

      Thousands of Syrians trusted this new regime, believed it could be a step in the right direction, and were instead brutalized and exterminated. al-Jolani is an implant and a foreign instrument, and he’s given himself 4-5 years in power. Syrians did not choose him, other states did.

      • Afaik there’s no evidence that al-Sharaa ordered those attacks on Alawites.

        One thing to understand is that Syria is in an extremely unstable situation at the moment. Al-Sharaa is leader of an already fragile group of militants/terrorists that’s barely held together. He can’t afford war with Israel, because the resulting counter-attack might shatter his government. He’s not fully in control either, leading to these horrible attacks on minorities by certain wings of the armed forces. Militants he has less control over still seek revenge against the Alawites for their support of Assad.

        He basically needs to stabilize the country, centralize control and demonstrate that Syria will rapidly improve under his rule. That is no easy task, and it’s imo not surprising that the civil war is not over yet in certain parts of the country.

        IIRC the EU put as precondition of sanction relief that he gets the militants under control and stops the attacks on minorities. I don’t know for certain that he will or even wants to (he might be a moderate amongst militant Islamists but that’s still fairly extreme), but I also don’t have conclusive evidence that he won’t.