Telegram Archive - week 52, 2025
- 3 minutes read - 498 words
“In 1960 there were 22,877 pages in the Code of Federal Regulations. Today, it’s more than 175,000 pages.” — Michael Dahlen, HBL
Netanyahu & Trump are indirectly responsible for Bondi beach massacre. Israel’s capitulation from finishing the job in Gaza and Iran is the reason that the islamists are brave and invigorated. I don’t know enough about Somaliland to comment on it specifically, but Netanyahu calls countries like UAE partners. You cannot partner with evil. You can have a peace agreement and free trade, but its not a partner, it’s an ideological enemy.
UAE 2015 Human Rights Report by US Gov: https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/253163.pdf
You can read it online here. Select UAE from the country dropdown.
Please note that countries do not trade. Trade is between individuals living in different countries. A proper country may not prevent individuals from trading with each other (unless the countries are in a declared war, not a ‘cold’ war).
There’s no sense in half measures. What I have found out is that, apparently and allegedly, the UAE helps rogue nations get around sanctions. But are sanctions moral?
Somaliland is an interesting case because I suspect Israel is looking for new allies in the Muslim world. I do wonder how other African countries will react to their recognition of Somaliland.
I would support sanctions only on arms sales to bad countries/regions, which includes material that can help build a nuclear bomb.
I was against economic and trade sanctions against Russia, when the war started. One must respond with force to force.
Israel (or any Western country) won’t find any allies in the Muslim world, until Islamism loses completely and irrevocably on the world scale. That is, until Islam goes through the same secularizing transformation that Judaism went through after the Roman war, and Christianity after Renaissance.
So Israel should not waste its time trying to curry favour in the Arab or Muslim world? Even for short-term strategic purposes? It does make sense that there should be a Reformation within Islam. To my knowledge there is no real equivalent to, say, the Episcopalians or the Unitarians or liberal Reform Judaism.
So an arms embargo, and particularly one that limits the ability of a hostile rogue oppressive country to secure WMDs, is fair game? Because yeah, otherwise I’m not at all a fan of prohibiting Coca-Cola from selling its products directly in Russia or Iran. I mean, I know they get Coca-Cola from third-party countries, but it does strike me as silly to restrict trade otherwise.
I am planning to read Sinclair Lewis, “It Can’t Happen Here”. Has anyone read it?