Yes, but it seems the government hasn’t gotten the memo, which is my point.

These conditions are there to prevent them from killing more people.

And/or defend themselves the next time Israel comes knocking. Their occupation of more Syrian territory in 2025 certainly doesn’t inspire confidence.

If you’re referring about the war of '82 I assume you have either a very, very onesided or a very, very rudimentary view on that part of history.

No I’m referring to Shebaa Farms and the outposts they refused to leave in Southern Lebanon after the ceasefire.

But then if poverty is the best predictor for crime, that begs the question why would any country want people who are inherently more prone to crime in the first place?

Labor? Something something declining birth rates. It’s not like flipping burgers in Berlin or Stockholm will let one live in anything but poverty conditions. That’s what needs to change if you want to reduce crime, not heavy handed enforcement that’s almost always just going to be used as an excuse to harass immigrants. I’m not clear on the details of the Swedish immigration system, but European immigration systems in general definitely don’t need to be more draconian; it’s a solution looking for a problem.

The thing about Japan is complex for several reasons. On the one hand, late payments only affect your PR application if they took place within the last two years.

“Oops, your bill came late, no PR for you for two years” isn’t my idea of a fair or productive system.

Can’t have a collapsing massive empire without insane elites shooting themselves in the foot.

Because only Israeli violations fucking kill people wth is this question? Also I like how you ignored the bit about occupying Lebanese territory.

Yeah but this isn’t that. This is just another company trying to make their products hip and trendy.

Fraud, debt evasion, tax evasion etc are not a consequence of poverty

Except poverty is the single best predictor for crime. Also laws like these can be and are used in combination with purposely obtuse laws and bureaucratic barriers to harass immigrants who didn’t do anything wrong. The debts thing in particular reminds me of Japan, where paying a bill late for any reason (even if it’s not your fault) can be used as reason to deny PR and give shorter visas. You should question the motivations of politicians more.

And fighting violent extremism is in no way dystopian.

Violent extremism like checks notes opposing Israeli colonialism. See: Germany.

Jesse what the fuck are you talking about?

Your attempt to whitewash the Israeli invasion of Lebanon (brutal enough that even Reagan told them to dial it down) was not missed.

But neither seems like a valid reason to keep attacking Israel today

Are Israel’s near-daily ceasefire violations and its occupation of Lebanese territory reason enough?

Except we already know that doesn’t happen. Again, we’ve seen this movie before. As soon as you start making credible threats (see: Uncommitted)—or even if you don’t, see: 2024 Gaza protests—you’re treated as The Enemy trying to let the fascists win, and there’s no way to effect change without making credible threats towards people in power.

Do… do you know why Hezbollah was even founded? For a hint, here’s a literal former Israeli PM on the topic:

In 2006, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak stated, “When we entered Lebanon … there was no Hezbollah. We were accepted with perfumed rice and flowers by the Shia in the south. It was our presence there that created Hezbollah.”

Hamas, in one form or another, has been attacking Isreal for many decades.

One doesn’t become a victim due to being attacked; it takes being unjustly attacked to make one a victim. This makes certain individual Israeli civilians victims, but not Israel as a whole.

Just like the people of Gaza could have voted for a government that strived for a peaceful solution, but chose a violent one

With all due respect, this is the most historically illiterate thing I’ve read today. The only reason Hamas even exists is the complete and utter failure of peaceful solutions. And of course they failed; what, did you also expect the Irish or Algerians to strive for peaceful solutions? Rejecting peaceful solutions has been Israeli policy for longer than Israel existed. Hell, the current state of the West Bank should tell you all you need to know about what “striving for peaceful solutions” looks like,.

TF do you mean “apologist?” Hamas being a (and, in fact, by far the biggest) Palestinian armed resistance organization and the fact they do a lot of evil shit are two facts that can be true at the same time. That doesn’t mean supporting Hamas is victimizing Israel.

You can’t make things better while they’re getting worse.

Yes you can; in fact that’s usually what happens. That aside, no reason not to vote Democrat, but it’s simply not a viable way of holding back fascism. Also, lesser evil politics can and does directly contradict with direct action (see: Gaza protests during Biden’s term), so “let’s just do both” is only remotely viable when the Democrats aren’t in power. When they are, you end up having to choose between supporting them and denouncing their ghoulish actions. We’ve seen this movie before.

Being able to vote democrats in gave you two parties to play against each other.

*Two parties to be played by. The existence of two parties allows the ruling class to launder their neoliberalism and/or fascism through a “legitimate” political process. If there was only one party people would actually take to the streets.

You need to use all your cunning and what little power you have to best negotiate the one you live in.

And maybe there’s a way to do that better than carrying water for the “lesser evil” that ends up losing to fascists anyway? The model you’re proposing has decisively failed anyway; might as well try something else.

Voting for them certainly hasn’t fixed them so far. Maybe they just can’t be fixed?

Ah, yes, everyone who doesn’t like my dear leaders is The Enemy. Where have I seen this before?

That aside, maybe you just haven’t asked?

Iran has been arming resistance to Israeli colonialism for decades, but that does not in any way make Israel a victim. Palestinians and Lebanese have the right to defend themselves, and Iran has the right (and, like the rest of the world, moral duty) to help them defend themselves.

Victims in what way? They’re only taking an infinitesimally fraction of what they’re dishing out. A serial killing getting scratched every now and then isn’t my idea of victimhood.