Finally, someone told the truth about Israel / Palestine. Or, this is why I am no longer an activist

It's about time somebody told the truth about the Israel / Palestine conflict. And they finally did - the Guardian put this letter from an Israeli diplomat in the paper. Go and read it if you're interested in this issue.

5,000 terorist attacks a year. That's over 13 a day. Imagine that happening anywhere else in the world. Imagine that happening in Britain, the IRA continually bombing, shooting and running people over, when they're not lobbing rockets around that is. The Troubles? That's a Saturday afternoon in Israel. 

Imagine that happening in America - the neo-Nazis and seperatists attacking random people in their homes, in streets, in their churches. Blasting random people because they are the wrong ethnicity.

Imagine that happening in Ukraine - imagine if the Ukrainian response to Russian occupation was to attack civilians in the occupied areas 13 times a day with guns, bombs, cars, anything to hand.  How long do you think we'd support Ukraine if they were pulling that shit?

These attacks are not against soldiers, mind you - they're against civilians minding their own business, not hurting anyone, so you come out of your workplace or church or whatever, and Bang! Bang! You and whoever you happen to be standing next to are dead.

The Palestinian terrorists use children - in this case gunmen in their early teens. They use suicide bombers, they use car attacks, they use rockets - if anything remotely like that happened here we'd be living under a state of emergency. We'd be world leaders in missile defence. We'd be sending the Army in, no fucks given - and yeah, we wouldn't give a shit about occupying their territory either. Why would we let a load of murderers control any territory whatsoever? They'd only use it to launch more attacks.

I'm not saying the Israelis are angels. But for fucks' sake, can we please stop pretending the Palestinians are? 

This is why I'm no longer a left-wing activist, but a theorist / commentator with a blog nobody reads. I could no longer be a part of something I had begun to consider institutionally racist. I could no longer be a part of a movement that lionized murderers.

If anyone on the Left is reading this, perhaps old comrades of mine or whatever - what I want you to take home from this isn't that I'm a "the Left left me" reactionary whinger (just look at my blog!) it's that I, and a lot of other people, I suspect, will never, ever support a movement that supports terrorism.

Afghanistan: What happens next may surprise you

 The Chinese embassy in Kabul signalled on Sunday that it had been contact with the Taliban and would be staying put. Russia said it saw no need to evacuate its embassy for the time being. Turkey said its embassy would continue operations.
-South China Morning Post, 16 / 8 / 2021:
Afghanistan: US lowers flag at Kabul embassy as Taliban seize power

"You can't buy an Arab, but you can rent one."
-Israeli proverb.

I think the Taliban are going to sell out.

The entire country of Afghanistan is one massive Lithium mine. Lithium is the wonder metal in Lithium batteries - Lithium is the reason electric cars do 200 miles rather than 50 (if that), and the reason phones are slim, lightweight devices rather than the "bricks" people of a certain age remember having in the late 90s. They're also the reason laptop computers are portable rather than transportable, and the reason the kids all have little speakers that fit in a coat pocket  instead of massive ghetto blasters you carry on your shoulder.

Enough Gen-Xing now. Lithium is a vital part of the modern world, and the growth in demand for electric vehicles means that lithium will likely be the new oil... and Afghanistan is its' Saudi Arabia. The people that run Saudi Arabia hate everyone as well, they are also primitivist fascists, but while they might hate us, they just love our money......

So it is with Afghanistan. The Turks, Chinese and Russians are forming a loose alliance, a counterpoint to NATO which defends *their* "way of life". They need Afghanistan for the same reason we've needed Saudi Arabia - and I don't think they'll take kindly to dope pushers and terrorists setting up shop there. But they know how much the Taliban shit up the West, and having a well-muzzled attack dog on hand does tend to make negotiating with hostile others a lot less... difficult.

But anyway - that war is over, America lost already - the Taliban have no need to fight it all over again and risk everything they've gained.

Besides, the '80s-era Mujihadeen must be getting on in years now. Bin Laden was in his 20s when he went to Afghanistan, and would be in his sixties now. So are his confederates. When you're young, you're radical, you want to defeat superpowers, topple skyscrapers and defy the West from your mountain lair - but when you reach a certain age, you want to chill out, relax, have a bit of fun, repress your own people for a change! And a Lithium deal would allow them to do that. China and Russia don't need to guarantee security, but I know for a fact the Turks could sell them some lovely drones that would make short work of any interlopers - and the Chinese electronics industry will pay handsomely for all that lovely lith under their feet.

They'll do business, and before you know it, the country will be turned into a billion phones for Chinese teenage girls to watch their favourite K-Pop bands on, and a billion cars for their Dads to drive to work in. 

 I hope so anyway, because the alternative is too horrible to even contemplate.

Further reading:

https://nypost.com/2021/07/05/china-ramping-up-afghanistan-involvement-amid-us-withdrawal/

https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/china-in-afghanistan-trade-and-terrorism/

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/beware-taliban-promises-afghanistan-envoy-china-warns-2021-08-06/

https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/China-moves-swiftly-to-exploit-the-void-in-Afghanistan