• stella@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Of course.

    Fuck this country.

    Never voting for a democrat or republican again. They’re all scum.

    • Lols [they/them]@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      unless youre actually voting for a third party, not voting for the shinier turd is still a worthless position that does not improve anything

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        I mean, voting 3rd party in the US system is just letting the party you agree least with win… There’s no good option :(

        • Lols [they/them]@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          i can appreciate that third parties can only become mainstream if folks vote for them while they arent, and that its perfectly possible that there will never be a ‘right’ time to vote for them

          even if you dont think its worth it now, theyre at least using their vote to improve things long term

    • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      Aye that’ll solve it.

      Trump actively increased sanctions while biden reduced them. They’re both shitty, but let’s not pretend they’re the same.

      Not voting at all makes it easier for the vastly worse party to consolidate power.

      • stella@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Not voting at all makes it easier for the vastly worse party to consolidate power.

        There is only one party: the party of the ruling class.

        The bickering between democrats and republicans is just a show to distract people while making them think their side is making progress.

        Both sides are just looking out for rich people. This will be true until we can get money out of politics.

        • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 year ago

          You’re right that the US’s democracy is deeply flawed. Criticising and discussing how politicians are influenced, and the systems that allow it is great and valuable, especially when those systems are used to influence both major parties.

          But to pretend that every single politician is part of some hive mind run by a shadowy cabal, rather than a set of individuals with their own beliefs and aspirations is not only falling prey to conspiracy theories, but also massively damages your ability to actually understand how the systems work, and how its flaws can be mitigated. At the end of the day, regardless of what else may be influencing them, politicians still have to be elected by the citizens.

          Opting out of being involved in politics, not voting and just letting the universe run its course doesn’t solve the problems or stick it to the man, it only takes away your small piece of influence.

          If you don’t vote, politicians don’t care about you

          So vote, protest, have conversations with people about your views and listen to theirs. That’s the only way the system will work better for the people.

          • stella@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            No, not all politicians are bad.

            US democracy is so horrendously flawed, however, that only a few good eggs make it though. They almost serve as an excuse for ‘not all representatives are bad’ when the vast majority of them are.

            I think the true issue is the constituency. Nothing will change until the culture changes. For the culture to change, people need to admit when they’re wrong.

            I won’t hold my breath, personally.

  • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    If the US and Israel are completely aligned in foreign policy, what keeps Israel from just becoming treated as another state of the US?

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Its ethnonationalist policies would violate Federal law pretty severely, and then the US is explicitly on the hook for Israel’s war crimes, terrorism, assassinations, etc.

      • kboy101222@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        The US isn’t on the hook for it’s own war crimes, terrorism, or assassinations, so that wouldn’t matter

        • stella@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Yes, “all’s fair in love and war” means you can do anything you want if you can get away with it.

  • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    In all seriousness, who does the embargo really benefit. Maybe it made sense during the Cold War when missiles were getting moved around, but now? Someone somewhere must be profiting from it, but it’s not the American people.

    • enkers@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I think that’s an understandable position, given their situation. They’re receiving a lot of military support from the US, so it’s not surprising that they’d at least be cautious about taking a position that might harm ties with the US.

        • enkers@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          I mean, they didn’t vote to uphold the embargo either, so maybe half puppet? Also, not saying I agree with their position, just that it’s understandable.

              • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                Stop being obtuse. Why would Ukraine be even hostile to Cuba to the point of not opposing the murderous embargo? The only reason is to bootlick USA.

                • Cockmaster6000@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from Putin’s “special military operation” directly depends on continued financial and military support from the US.

                  It’s not bootlicking, it’s a rational decision to avoid making waves with US foreign policy that doesn’t involve Ukraine at all.

            • Lols [they/them]@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              can you explain in detail how you came to the conclusion that i meant ‘by cuba’, because im genuinely interested

              • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                You said:

                how many of those are currently suffering an invasion

                (by “those” i meant US vassals)

                It’s pretty clear you somehow counted Ukraine being invaded by Russia as reason for Ukraine to not oppose the murderous embargo on Cuba, unrelated country on the other side of the world.

                • Cockmaster6000@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  Yeah, why would Ukraine not upset the US when continued support for their country’s defense is currently being debated in congress?

                  It’s a real head scratcher.

                • Lols [they/them]@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  It’s pretty clear you somehow counted Ukraine being invaded by Russia as reason for Ukraine to not oppose the murderous embargo on Cuba

                  thats funny, ‘it being pretty clear that i meant russia’ is a weird reason for thinking i meant cuba

                  It’s pretty clear you somehow counted Ukraine being invaded by Russia as reason for Ukraine to not oppose the murderous embargo on Cuba, unrelated country on the other side of the world.

                  currently relying on military aid from the US government to deal with an ongoing invasion might be a reason to abstain from voting against an embargo being upheld by the US government

                  ‘the other US vassals’ are generally not currently relying on military aid from the US government to deal with an ongoing invasion

                  i figured that was pretty clearly what i was talking about, what with it being the literal topic of the conversation:

                  They’re receiving a lot of military support from the US, so it’s not surprising that they’d at least be cautious about taking a position that might harm ties with the US.

  • _cnt0@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Podcast recommendation for people like me who like to listen because they don’t find time to read as much as they’d like and don’t have first hand experience/memory of the Cuban revolution and the following intertwined history with the US, because, well, they weren’t born yet:

    https://blowback.show/Season-2

    After a critically-acclaimed retelling of the Iraq War, season two of Blowback presents the unlikely story of the Cuban Revolution: America’s Cold War crusade brings the world to a nuclear-tipped showdown between the Kennedy brothers, Fidel Castro, the Soviet Union, the CIA, and the Mafia. Co-hosted by Brendan James and Noah Kulwin, season two is a 10-part account of how the United States tried and failed to thwart the creation of a socialist government less than a hundred miles to its south.

    The style of the podcast, with two moderators, took some getting used to for me. But I learned to love it. It is very comprehensive and in-depth. You can find it pretty much everywhere; I listened to it on spotify.

  • D3FNC [any]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    It feels very cool to buy hand soap or whatever at the grocery store and see the box is stamped ‘made in Iran / DPRK / Vietnam’ though

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    HAVANA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly called for the 31st time on the United States to end its decades-long trade embargo against Cuba as the communist-run island suffers its worst economic crisis in decades, with shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

    Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in a speech before the assembly that the “blockade prevents Cuba from accessing food, medicines, and technological and medical equipment.”

    Havana is also prohibited from exporting to the neighboring United States, Rodriguez said, curtailing access to a massive market for its goods and costing Cuba nearly $5 billion in losses in 2022 alone.

    “The blockade (embargo) qualifies as a crime of genocide,” said Rodriguez, who said the U.S. policies were deliberately aimed at promoting suffering among the Cuban people in order to force change in the government.

    U.S. diplomat Paul Folmsbee, in a brief speech opposing the resolution, said the embargo was aimed at promoting “human rights and fundamental liberties in Cuba” and that the U.S. made exceptions for humanitarian purposes.

    The long-running dispute between Cuba and the United States shows little sign of detente, despite some modest gestures of goodwill under the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.


    The original article contains 330 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 40%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!