The “funny” part is that *all* of this shit is none of Washington DC’s fucking business
I don't stand with anyone - the battle in the middle east has been going on for hundreds of years. BUT - does the real data at these two sites add perspective?
I do think Hamas is winning the propaganda war.
https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/attacks/attacks.aspx?Yr=Last30
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/palestinian-rocket-and-mortar-attacks-against-israel
10's of thousands of rockets and mortars fired into Israel JUST the last decade or so. If your neighbor was throwing grenades into your window every year the last X years (you pick how many) how long before you say enough is enough?
I'm not diminishing the fact that Palestine was largely suppressed financially by Israel. They have been. But that did not stop them from building $100's of million in tunnels so they could transport those rockets to the right residential location (to promote Israel attacking the location killing their own people).
Goodness - what they could have done with all that money for their people. Just thinking out loud here....
Discussion
Well, I 100% agree in todays world where US produces enough oil to be independent. But there was a time after WW2 that US was the police force of the world keeping energy flowing (that has gotten WAY off track).
In CURRENT situations we can probably pull out of the Middle East and it would not hurt USA. But, that would really create a problem for Europe/World who are decreasing oil imports from the middle east but still import about 10%. And the rest of the West is already a mess due to massive distortion in the fiat money system (misdirected capital everywhere - gearing up for war - same cycle happening again). Hamas thought it was a good idea to build tunnels to transport rockets under residential area - spending $100's of million to do so. How did that work out?
Also - some would say better to fight terrorist on their soil than ours? This is questionable because in my opinion, this meddling creates terrorist. But you could argue that either way.
Bottom line, it's a tangled mess. How you get out of the mess is pretty hard to figure out. And if you don't support Israel and things go south - you have no allies in the middle east you can trust - and a lot of commerce runs though that area.
Hopefully Israel sees the writing on the wall with USA 'trying' to bring back manufacturing (translation - USA can't afford for this middle east mess to continue so we will eventually pull out). But until then keep your friends close and your enemies closer.