bobfrombrockley.bsky.social
Middle aged anti-fascist and left libertarian in South London. In to: dub, country and western, critical theory, Yiddish, black history, internationalism, trade unions, salt beef. Fan of: Omar Aziz, Bayard Rustin, Hannah Arendt, Cesaria Evora.
672 posts
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Getting Started
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Basically agree - but I have seen a few anti-Zionists say the IRI are good guys
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Obviously the goal was never energy. But isn’t it likely the goal is a sense of potential existential threat and stake a claim to being a nuclear club member — rather than an actual intent to start a nuclear war?
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I don’t think it’s plausible Russia & China care about Iran’s conflict with Israel enough to create a global conflagration. Russia (which is quite friendly to Israel) abandoned its real close ally Assad when it became too costly. China even less; its “alliance” with Iran is purely transactional.
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I meant direct strikes as in Iranian ballistic or aerial power rather than via proxies, as I take to the former to be more of an indicator of how they might act with nuclear missiles
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My question, which you didn’t answer until now was how many times have Iranian air strikes hit Israel since the 1979 *and what was the context of these attacks*? What was the context of the April 2024 attack, and what does that tell us about when Iran strikes directly instead of using proxies?
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*just noticed an error here. I meant up to now Iran HAS been content
bsky.app/profile/bobf...
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Oh it’s because of the url www.mohammadmossadegh.com/news/mahmoud...
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Ahmadinejad! Not sure where that mistake came from!
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Mossadegh’s speech is quite something isn’t it! “In addition to the people of Germany, the peoples of the Middle East have also borne the brunt of the Holocaust.”
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And “Aryan” identity has used at times to legitimate this (which the Nazis tried to instrumentalise, as @davidmotadel.bsky.social and @arashtehran.bsky.social have written about). iranwire.com/en/sardari-p...
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It’s weird in all kinds of ways. Whiteness is a contingent frame that misrepresents histories of racialisation if applied to Israel or Iran. Iran certainly has histories of racial hierarchy, with on Arab, Azeri, Balochi, Kurdish & other minorities systematically excluded…
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I think I used an unhelpful term. I meant a world war.
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This is a deeply weird take. (Most Israelis don’t consider themselves white. It is mainly their opponents who see them as white.)
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“And don't place the onus for an Armageddon on our shoulders.” I think it’s correct to place *some* of the onus on perpetrators of rash actions that can’t but produce reactions (don’t we place some of the onus for Israel‘s destruction of Gaza these last months on Hamas?)
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I’m sorry but I don’t accept that October 7 was “Armageddon, literally”, however horrific & traumatic it was. No Israelis shouldn’t have to live in fear, but a response that creates more rattlesnakes is not the best solution to rattlesnakes.
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Yes they’re part of a piece. But (a) the 🇮🇱 gov’s official narrative for strikes is about nukes not terrorism. (Is that just spin?)
(b) it’s utterly plain that strikes on Iran will do *absolutely nothing* to prevent another Oct 7 or stop on-going proxy war.
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Here’s the story: paganplaces.com/places/hilly...
Recommended follow on this sort of thing: @transpontine.bsky.social
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Full war on Iran is also an experiment and a gamble. The gamble since the 1990s (international negotiations plus sporadic Israeli airstrikes) has so far not caused global Armageddon. The new gamble, all out regional air war, may well.
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If I’m understanding right, you’re pivoting here, from justification for full war on Iran due to nuclear threat, to justification for due to conventional + terror attacks by proxies. But these threats are very different; the strategically best response differs for each.
bsky.app/profile/bobf...
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I don’t make any case for Iran’s nukes. I want a nuclear-free world and an end to the mullahs’ regime. I have no tears for Iranian military figures assassinated or military installations taken out. My point is that Iran past behaviour doesn’t suggest imminent nuclear strikes.
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So my understanding is that Iran wants a mood of existential threat but has not been content to act via its proxies in an endless Cold War rather than risk its own destruction via a direct strike. We know it’s long had the capacity to hit Israel directly with conventional weapons: how often has it?
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In 1992, BN said Iran would have nukes in “3-5 years”. In 1995, he said Iran would have nukes in “3-5 years”. In 2009, he said “1-2 years”. In 2012 he said “next summer”. So I’m not saying the threat is hallucinated but simply that it’s not as present as we’ve been repeatedly told.
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We’ve been told Iranian nuclear capability is weeks away since I can’t remember when. Tell me: how many times have Iranian air strikes hit Israel since the 1979 and what was the context of these attacks?
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There have already been Israeli civilian casualties as a result of Iranian reprisals; the danger is not hypothetical www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... The nuclear danger is distant & hypothetical, may not be eliminated by strikes, & may increase if it’s not seen as a deterrent tool or symbolic statement
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Such a good statement
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London Black looks so fabulous but I know I’d hate it because I’m a beer philistine - it’s mass produced continental lager all the way for me.
Would love to join you as I’m now longing for a cold pint, but working late tonight alas
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Thinking about how the Corbynistas tried to deselect her a couple of years ago
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Surely John doesn’t promote Loupis? She’s not only a veteran right-wing anti-vaxxer, but also deeply racist. She should be treated as a pariah by the Palestine solidarity movement.
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Apparently not
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Yes you’re 100% right. I need to switch that on until I train myself. bsky.app/profile/bobf...
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Addendum: I should have noted that, apart from the Minnesota shooter, the perpetrators of the other incidents in this thread have been apprehended. Don’t want to encourage panic! (Also apologies for hastily assembled thread lacking alt text; I endeavour to do better!)
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I think that’s right
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Pro-Trump counterprotester threatened No Kings marchers with a gun in Nashville
www.wkrn.com/news/local-n...
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Here’s an example from Portland of ICE goons pointing guns at protesters
www.instagram.com/reel/DK52POT...
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Striking how much of the (violent) policing of the (largely peaceful) No Kings protests was done by ICE and border protection officers. The border was already everywhere but under Trump border cops are becoming the key presidential militia.
bsky.app/profile/jere...
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Meanwhile: protesters critically injured by gunman opening fire at Salt Lake City No Kings rally www.sltrib.com/news/politic...
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And in San Francisco, a red Tesla was driven into the crowd bsky.app/profile/miso...
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In Culpepper, Virginia, a man identified as Joseph R Checklick Jr deliberately drove into No Kings protesters www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...
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Meanwhile: protesters critically injured by gunman opening fire at Salt Lake City No Kings rally www.sltrib.com/news/politic...
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Doesn’t look like it to me. More likely unhinged, radicalised reactionary
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There’s a zero percent chance any of the Trump fans claiming the shooter is “far left” (and, according to Twitter, attacked these Dems for not being pro-migrant enough) will apologise when it is becomes clear he was a conservative
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Other key facts:
1: Some of his five kids are cops
bsky.app/profile/jswe...
2: He was a supporter of the conservative Christian “Alliance Defending Freedom”
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allianc...
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I think so. Or maybe it already had.