@aral well, we might see it as a final moment of truth: genocide, sadism, and power lust are actually the very fundamental western values.

@aral It hasn't done anything to discredit democracy. Not enough people cared. The NDP is the only major Canadian party that supports Palestine. Of all the candidates that pledged to support a two-way arms embargo, an end to Canadian complicity in illegal settlements, recognise anti-Palestinian racism, recognise a Palestinian state, and increase funding for humanitarian aid, the vast majority were with the NDP. (in fact, I think there's a good chance all the NDP's candidates took that pledge, but I haven't checked)

One of those candidates was Joel Harden of Ottawa Centre. He had won this same riding twice in the last two provincial elections he ran in. In the previous provincial election earlier this year, the NDP candidate, Catherine McKenney, won 55.7% of the vote, leaving the Liberal candidate, Thomas Simpson, in the dust with 23.3%. If any riding was a shoe-in for the NDP or Palestine, it was this one.

Joel Harden lost this riding with 19.6% of the vote. His Liberal opponent, Yasir Naqvi, got 62.7%. Elsewhere, across the whole country, the NDP only won 7 seats. They won 25 in 2021.

The genocide has shown us the uselessness of international law and the hypocrisy of "Western values", absolutely. But democracy is working as it's supposed to. As sad as I am to admit it, people just don't care.

@aral There Israel is actually on the side of Russia, China, Iran & North Korea.

And now this axis of upheaval has a new joining contender: Donald Trump who wants in on the imperial game!

@aral indeed, it took me a while to understand that.

You expect brutal authoritarian countries to act brutally, but you don't expect "one of our own" to do this so openly.

It's like a brother committing a crime, you try to protect him by stopping him.

Except for Russia Belarus Serbia and maybe Ireland the rest of Europe not only supports Israel it has criminalized any opposition to genocide.
@aral

@aral oh, yeah. 100%. The ripple effects are moving in all directions. The enormity of its impact can’t be overstated.

@aral
I see it as "The Big Unmasking". It looks to me as if the elites had always been classist, racist and prone to violence, but they had just been hiding, after the horrors of WW2 ("It's not polite now"). Let's not forget that fascism, although it took power "only" in 3 European countries, it had sympathies in many, even from Churchill, as I read somewhere, all to defend against "the threat" of Communism. To me WW2 in Europe was not a war against fascism, although it's portrayed as such, but against a nation who became too expansionist in the wrong direction. I guess there would have been no problem if Hitler had decided to expand only eastwards. I guess that Mussolini would have been left untouched had him not allied with Hitler (as Franco was left untouched). In the Spanish Civil War, the Republicans received very few help from abroad (unlike the fascist uprising), I guess because Anarchists and Communists were having too much power for the elites, so fascism was clearly a much better option to them.

I think/hope that most of Europeans do not approve the support our countries offer to Israel, nor the absurd enmity against Russia (being that an attitude of absolute submission to US' interests and completely contrary to ours). We citizens however are not showing any strength in preventing our governments' actions, though. I myself am not very active, in this regard...

Well, I was intending to write a small response, but I ended up with a long one... 🤷

@aral
C'est /
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Voire et dire les choses comme elles sont

@aral Well, this has been evident for the rest of the world for a while now. Am not sure if its going to be any better when the current western overlords drop all pretense.