this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
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[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 35 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There's a lot Biden could have done- and a fair amount that he could simply have not done.

Like, he could not vow unconditional support for genocidal maniacs. but, you know, details are unimportant. That other politicians also support Israel doesn't mean it's inappropriate to call Biden out for that.

[–] zeppo@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago (3 children)

It's such a crappy situation that there's no way he could win. Anything other than siding with Israel would lead to claims of anti-semitism and criticism from the very powerful Isreal lobby, not to mention Republicans. A more nuanced position would be better, sure, but I don't know how politically feasible it is in the US. We can definitely criticize Biden but "Genocide Joe" always strikes as stupid especially since it's bashing Biden at a time when making him less popular would give us Genocide Donald, who would clearly be so much worse.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago

Anything other than siding with Israel would lead to claims of anti-semitism and criticism from the very powerful Isreal lobby, not to mention Republicans.

I'm not sure of that actually.

  1. By far not all American Jews are Israel supporters in this case.

  2. Not all Republicans as well.

  3. There needs to be some way to raise their voice for those who are heavily against what's happening, which will give such a turn lots of supporters.

And, of course, I hope you do understand that people yelling about anti-semitism in this case are different from people yelling about "white genocide" in only one aspect - they are defending mass murder happening right now, while the latter are just relatively harmless racists.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

“It’s okay that your president supports genocide because like, it could be worse and like, people might say mean things.”

Is that even really an argument? I don’t think accusations of antisemitism hold much water when the accusers are using it to literally defend genocide. Biden decided to run for (and won,) the presidency. He can put his big boy pants on and serve Americans and our interests. Or… he could continue to serve the interests of foreign governments.

As you say, he’s gonna catch flak either way. Might as well be on the right side of history.

[–] zeppo@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Where do you get "people might say mean things"? One of those reductions where someone acts like Trump being derogatory, inflammatory, thin skinned, insulting and lying is just silly little 'mean things'? Obviously I mean that Trumps' actions would be the same or worse, not 'saying mean things', though that is also significant. His inflammatory rhetoric and inconsistency does affect international relations.

Anyway, it's hard to find a national politician in the US who doesn't side with Israel. I agree it would be nice if Biden took a more neutral stance, but Congress are the ones who appropriate money for Israel, not the President.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Anything other than siding with Israel would lead to claims of anti-semitism and criticism from the very powerful Isreal lobby, not to mention Republicans

we all know that the accusations of antisemitism- in this case- are blatant bullshit.

Anyway, it’s hard to find a national politician in the US who doesn’t side with Israel. I agree it would be nice if Biden took a more neutral stance, but Congress are the ones who appropriate money for Israel, not the President.

As for appropriations, once again: that other people support genocidal behavior in a foreign goverment does not justify the president also supporting said genocidal behavior. We can hold everyone to higher standards. as for how hard it is to find politicians that don't... it's actually not that hard. There's more out there than you seem to think. Cori Bush, André Carson, Jesús García, Raúl Grijalva, Marie Newman, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib, all voted against funding on the oct. 10th. Also Thomas Massie, though his explanation was that he's opposed to all foreign aid...

There's also growing calls by other politicans to not provide military support but continue other forms of aid (notably humanitarian aid).

[–] bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Seems like you are expecting Rome to get rebuilt in a day

He's probably put together more positive legislation at this point than Obama did, which is time consuming. With the level of political obstruction in the states, less bad seems acceptable.

Or I guess instead of wrestling one bear at a time, Biden can take on two or three?

[–] zeppo@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Yes, Biden is GNOCIDE because he doesn't strongly oppose the ideology of 90% of the career politicians in the US. So we should just constantly slander him until we elect Trump, which will really, really help.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes, because not doing something is so time consuming. When it comes to Gaza/Palestine/Israel…. He could have sat around with his thumb up his ass and done a better job.

But since you want to make this about broader issues, he simply could have done nothing with the willow project. (Oil in Alaska.)(like he promised to do.)

Student stuff. Inadequate. It should have been forgiven ages ago. And it doesn’t take much time to instruct the DoJ to look into financial fraud by the loan servicers (because all of the loans so far forgiven *should have been forgiven years ago. As part of the loan contract.)

Climate change legislation- mostly tax incentives to corporations that were already going to those things. In other initiatives… he’s going the wrong way.

Economy…. Lol. More corporate lovey dovey ass kissing.

In fact, all the stuff Biden can really claim credit for… has at best been “meh”. So as far as I’m concerned he can do Americans favor and just go shove his thumb up his ass for a campaign… like he promised to do last time….

[–] zeppo@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Great! Let's talk shit about Biden and all vote for 3rd party candidates while the fascists rally around Trump. This is going to work out great.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world -1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Oh look. It’s the tired old boomer rhetoric.

“Vote [for this objectively bad candidate] or else [this objectively worse candidate.] wins! Don’t ask whywe need you to vote for objectively bad candidates and why we can’t seem to find [objectively good candidates]. Just vote for who we tell you to…. And like it.”

Take these comments as a warning: Biden is losing votes like a rock. If your motive is truly to defeat trump, then you’d have to agree that starting with the best candidate is prudent. That is not Biden.

[–] zeppo@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That’s fine. Many people on the left/liberal side would prefer if Biden would fuck off and not run. However, that doesn’t seem to be happening. In the meantime, the fascist shitgibbon is doing perfectly okay. People attacking Biden from his own side aren’t accomplishing jack shit besides helping Trump get elected. Great work.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

People attacking Biden from his own side aren’t accomplishing jack shit besides helping Trump get elected

funny. I say the same thing about Biden running a second time. here's how fucking incompetent his administration is: it took them two an a half years to get the fucking nuclear secrets back from Trump's bathroom.

Seriously, is your sole argument for Biden that he's not trump? Is that seriously... all you've got?

but apparently It's my fault Trump wins? It's not the incredibly shitty candidate that is still missing that binder chock-full of Russian intelligence.

[–] zeppo@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago

I already acknowledged that he’s not the ideal candidate, but bitching about him and blaming a bunch of shit on him that has basically nothing to do with him isn’t helping. You may as well be working for Trump. Again, good job.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes, because not doing something is so time consuming. When it comes to Gaza/Palestine/Israel…. He could have sat around with his thumb up his ass and done a better job.

But since you want to make this about broader issues, and to go with your analogy… no I don’t want Rome rebuilt in a day. I want it rebuilt to code. There’s a difference and he’s taking shortcuts and fucking Americans over to protect the corporations that own him.

[–] bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Not doing something is time consuming, when it's entrenched in decades of policy and military strategy.

I don't know if you noticed but the US is all about force projection and proxy wars. Destabilize strong small governments in remote regions, upend the local economies, and cause dependence on US capital.

How is any president going to starve those dogs without getting bitten?

Obviously something needs to be done about it, but lying all that blame at the feet of one dude is pretty dumb.

[–] AeroLemming@lemm.ee 0 points 10 months ago

there's no way he could win.

Only if you assume his sole objective is to selfishly hold on to power by being re-elected, which is admittedly not necessarily inaccurate. If he cared about saving people instead of furthering his own interests, he could take the political L to actually fucking save people. He's already president, there is no higher position he could go for next to enact even more change.