That ended over 15 years ago.
Hegar
joined 2 years ago
The middle east, it's energy resources and trade links are vital to the stability of the 'rules based order' - what washington calls the US empire. Israel is a vital partner in this region. They need our security architecture to exist and we benefit greatly from having a dependable and depend ally supporting our imperial presence. Israel knows how important they are to US imperial policy in the region.
There are also strong cultural and person-to-person ties between the US and Israel. The US received a steady influx of Europe's Jewish population, fueled in part by frequent 19th and (notably) 20th century pogroms. US Jews vote Democrat by ~3:1 - 71% D vs 26% R since 1968. Republicans have apocalyptic Christians in their base who support Israel for bonkers Revelations reasons, but the image of the US as a glorious crusader attacking infidel Arabs still resonates with the wider christian base as well.
The only thing Israel 'has' on the US is the reality of US foreign policy and domestic politics.
This is the most obviously made up piece of Russian disinformation I've ever heard (excluding anything said by Medvedev, of course).
I am guessing their calculation is that losing support of Israel lobby is 100% loss?
Yeah, I've been presuming that's a significant part of it. That and the importance of a dependent and dependable ally to help anchor US security architecture in a vital region. Israel needs US imperial presence in the region. Saudi just benefits from it.
There was one of those and multiple people died.
US support for Israel continuing the current conflict or US support for Israel in general? If really forced into it, maybe the Democrats can withdraw their blessing for the current conflict, but I don't see how they could end support for Israel. If Putin wins the US election who knows what could happen but short of that Israel is just too important to the US empire and they know it. I mostly believe the official line from Washington that they don't have that much leverage against Israel - in the sense that Bibi&co have enough counter levers to make acting against them more costly than it's worth for the Democrats.
Hence the bullshit antisemitism law, the brutalizing of campus protests, etc. Democrats are even willing to drive down turn out among their base in one of the most important elections in US history over this - I just don't see them doing that if they had a better card to play.
I doubt it will change even if the US withdraws support, but I'm a cynical depressive type.
Our fundamentally inhuman treatment of the Palestinian people led to October 7.
There are only two ways to prevent it happening again. We could stop the unconscionable deprivations we inflict on the Palestinian people or we could speed up the genocide we've been engaged in.
No surprises that the government compromised of war criminals and people the Israeli courts have deemed to be terrorists are going for the later. The far right are in charge and they're pretty open that this is the goal.
It's not divide and conquer, that implies keeping multiple groups at parity and fighting each other. Israel intentionally kept the crazies in charge to undermine the viability of a Palestinian state.
Quick check of the post history shows nothing but vitriol and unrealistically black and white thinking. Classic signs of depression.
I hope things get better for you, but in the meantime you're an easy block.
The courts legalized bribery years back.
I'm ~3/4s through my second playthrough and appreciating it more and more. Haven't picked up the expansion yet either.
I found it hits much harder with a female character. The Johnny Silverhand situation especially felt much more... metaphorically resonant? And Jackie feels more rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold when his best buddy is a woman.
Quickhacks are OP but felt correctly haxx0r, mantis blades are super fun. I enjoyed the combat well enough. Cars are meh, but it's cyberpunk so if you're not riding a futuristic bike ala Akira you're doing it wrong. And wiping out on a bike is great.
The characterisation and world building are what really shine. I was reluctant to play the corpo background but it really makes the story sing.
spoiler
The first time you're in a car with Judy she has a prominent tattoo that says "underwater where thoughts can breathe". Then next mission or a while later her apartment has jellyfish looking paint splotches and an aquarium. It's expanded on more explicitly later, but I really enjoy the way they pull together their characters.The scene with Takemura on the roof talking about Bakeneko is another moment that I enjoyed first playthrough and came to really appreciate a lot the second time. His food snobbery becomes quite endearing after he accidentally texts you his attempts to search for restaurants.