Yes, and even on a global scale, at that.

Because China can use international law to its advantage. After all, the U.S. is blackmailing its own allies and openly threatening NATO with another war of aggression against one of its founding members. It wouldn’t be unwise to join forces and impose sanctions on the U.S. together in order to strengthen ones own negotiating position. I mean everyone knows what “Taco” means by now.

Sanctions don’t even require the UN, as the example of Russia shows - a country that also holds a veto right in the UN and is a permanent member of the Security Council. Yet they do face sanctions for their war of aggression they wage against Ukraine in violation of international law - the war the US is waging against Iran is just as unlawful under international law, and so was the previous abduction of Venezuelan head of state Maduro.

This time, the US stands alone in its violation of international law - except for Israel, which is committing genocide and should have been excluded from the international community long ago.

In short: International law plays into China’s hands, especially since the US, along with its allies, is committing such horrific war crimes. Bombing hospitals and schools makes it abundantly clear what monsters they are and how dangerous such psychopaths are to the world.

On top of that, this war is paralyzing nearly 20% of global oil trade. It is by no means only China that is affected.

Unfortunately, I’m not so sure about that, because in Germany virtually every established party across the entire political spectrum still stands behind Israel.

There’s even a term for it: “Staatsräson,” which refers to Germany’s historical responsibility toward the victims of the Holocaust. Absurdly enough, it is precisely this historical responsibility that is being invoked to support Israel’s genocide, rather than to prevent it by any means necessary.

In my view, the public by no means supports the blatant abuse of this so-called “Staatsräson” by established politicians, who obviously don’t do so out of any (misguided) sense of morality.

But we’ll see - they might cave in quickly if other EU countries exert pressure, as they rightly should.

Nevertheless: Especially in Germany, the Israel lobby is unfortunately very strong - so strong, in fact, that despite the atrocities and inhuman crimes of this state, there are still many, particularly influential people who are not ashamed to continue standing up for these monsters.

I hope for the best, but I’m not quite that optimistic.

I don’t think China will be so incredibly foolish as to actively intervene in this war, which violates international law.

What they could certainly do, however, is use their influence to impose sanctions on the US - and just how disastrous that would be has already been demonstrated by the embarrassing saga of tariffs that led to such a spectacular failure for the U.S. In doing so, China would be completely in the right. In fact, all countries whose ships are being held up by the US’s illegal war should join in, because the blockade of trade routes is also a clear violation of international law.

So I think it will turn out the same way it has so many times before: China will once again benefit from the hubris of this absurd U.S. regime.

The Art of the Deal

Well, it’s hardly surprising that such propaganda has been successful, especially since it contains more truth than most U.S. media outlets dare to publish these days.

That really worked out great…

Iran chose ‘not to accept our terms’, Vance says after negotiations

That much is clear. It’s just the modus operandi of this criminal regime to use a ceasefire as a pretext to gain an advantage. Israel has been doing the same thing all along for a long time.

This highlights two things:

1. Nothing is sacred to these people, and they don’t care about international law either.

2. Agreements with the U.S. are impossible, since the regime and its allies will never abide by them.

Thus, diplomacy is impossible from the outset.

That doesn’t make the U.S. look good at all, but its psychotic leader doesn’t care, because he’s clearly not interested in the well-being of U.S. citizens, nor does he care that thousands upon thousands of people are dying in Iran.

So the U.S. is bragging about having sailed through the Strait of Hormuz while peace negotiations were underway - and then they wonder why Iran is threatening them - and why the peace negotiations are failing? Seriously?

Hey, we’ve got social media and all that now. The memes and all the valuable info from whoever will surely take care of it.

I’m afraid there is no business model that can finance quality journalism. We are currently seeing the consequences of this.

You don’t seem to understand: What I’m saying is simply that those who still support this regime do so because they expect to gain something from it. Most of them don’t support it because they still believe the fairy tales.

In the U.S. in particular, there are many who have been left behind by society. They see Trump as a chance to make something of themselves - and indeed, his administration offers them that opportunity.

Yeah, sure, that’s how propaganda always works. If Fox were to report anything based on facts, it would be clear to everyone that conservatives represent only the interests of the super-rich - which, of course, couldn’t be more at odds with the interests of ordinary people.

What I’m trying to say is that this regime is acting so brazenly that it’s almost impossible to overlook the fact that there’s no tribal belonging here - rather, the idiots who, for a long, long time, felt a sense of belonging for some eccentric reason, are now confronted with a reality in which even they can see that they’ve been used as pawns, that the tribe to which they felt they belonged has no other purpose than to enable the loyalty of expendable foot soldiers who stand up for their masters even though they’re being exploited.

Here’s my point: Anyone who is still on board now can only assume that they will benefit in a fascist-authoritarian state. ICE creates incentives for this as well, because a job there offers people with no education whatsoever a salary they wouldn’t get anywhere else.

So, I think it’s a mistake to underestimate the supporters of this regime. I don’t think they still believe the lies, but rather that they are fully aware of what they’re participating in and that they think they will benefit from it.

I’m not saying propaganda doesn’t work. Just that it’s very easy to see through because the lies are so far removed from reality. This reality simply can’t be hidden anymore: social benefits have been slashed, the cost of living is higher than ever, as are gas prices - something that’s particularly noticeable in the U.S. - and so on. Even if you bury your head in the sand and get your information exclusively from channels that are completely brought in line, you’ll find it hard to overlook that this regime does nothing but enrich itself.

Nevertheless, you are of course right: the only question is whether the propaganda is still sufficient to maintain the quasi-religious status that the MAGA cult ascribes to its leader.

In short: What the U.S. regime is doing seems to me to indicate that they no longer see any need to go to great lengths to conceal their sinister machinations. That, in turn, seems to me to strongly suggest that they will soon rule by sheer force. With ICE, this regime already has the means to do so, for this obvious secret police has a budget equivalent to the military spending of a medium-sized country; it has a budget that exceeds the combined budgets of all U.S. federal agencies (CIA, FBI, etc.). In my judgment, there can be only one reason for this: the establishment of an autocracy modeled after kleptocracies like today’s Russia.

But hey, that’s just my opinion, and I’m from Europe - Germany, to be precise -which is why I can’t help but notice many parallels with our own dark history.

This refers to all political dissidents - it does not matter whether they are organizations, political movements, or individuals. What they have in common is that they draw attention to the regime’s crimes and advocate for consequences or even criminal prosecution.

This is enough for autocratic regimes to declare them enemies of the state, allowing them to persecute them completely arbitrarily, since they view the state solely as a tool for carrying out their own crimes. Anyone who stands in the way is an enemy and will be mercilessly persecuted.

As a rule, it is always minorities, intellectuals, journalists, civil rights movements, unions, and such that are targeted first - precisely those whom the regime must silence to prevent the population from rising up.

This is already happening in the U.S., and ICE is the secret police carrying out the “purge” outside the bounds of the rule of law.

The next steps are historically very well documented: for various dictatorships that have emerged throughout history.

The most obvious example is today’s Russia, but the rise of the Third Reich is also a good example of what is happening in the U.S.

The mechanisms have hardly changed: gaining control of the media, infiltrating the legal system, establishing a heavily armed secret police force that spreads terror, eliminating political opponents, and violently suppressing the people, so that resistance means persecution or death.

Man, I only watched that for thirty seconds and had to stop right away because the orange one is such a moron:

Many, many, many years ago - hundreds of millions of years ago - people were doing business and they traded in rocks and stones and other things…

Nope, I’m out…

Edit: If only I’d read the previous comment … I missed it.

I certainly wouldn’t let that influence me, since I’m fully aware of what FOX News is all about.

But yes, I see what you mean. Still, I can’t understand how anyone can still believe this crude propaganda, given what’s happening in the U.S. every single day. Anyone who claims to know nothing about it either simply doesn’t want to know or is profiting from it themselves.

In my opinion, this level of absurdity and criminality cannot even be concealed by the massive propaganda machine at the regime’s disposal - Fox News actually plays a rather minor role in this compared to all the mainstream U.S. social media platforms.

That’s just sad. In almost any other democratic country, a government would be forced out of office for any one of these crimes - and those responsible would almost certainly all face criminal charges as well.

What about the blatant corruption, the open disregard for the law, the inhumane treatment of people, their disastrous policies across all sectors, the fact that this regime not only protects pedophiles but obviously has numerous ones in its own ranks, or any of the countless other crimes committed by these monsters?

Ah, yes, that’s right.

canyon.mid is also a real classic, even if it’s not quite as funky.