The MoA Week In Review – OT 2024-108

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April 14, 2024

Last weeks posts on Moon of Alabama:

Middle East:

April 8 – Two Israeli Actions Misfired, Pushed Netanyahoo Into Retreat
April 9 – Israel To Launch Major Escalation?
Related:
– Aid ‘still not reaching Gaza’, as top US official warns famine has started – Guardian
– Crutches and chocolate croissants: Gaza aid items Israel has rejected – Washington Post
– As Surgeons, We Have Never Seen Cruelty Like Israel’s Genocide in Gaza – Common Dreams
– Top IDF commander in aid strike wanted to block humanitarian supplies into Gaza – Telegraph
– Settlers riot in West Bank towns after teen’s murder; Palestinian killed, others hurt – Times of Israel
– Diagnosing Israel’s Imperial Narcissism – Libertarian Institute
– The IDF is accused of military and moral failures in Gaza (archived) – Economist
Its generals botched the strategy, and discipline among troops has broken down
– Saying What Can't Be Said: Israel Has Been Defeated – a Total Defeat (archived) – Haaretz
– Minister Gantz: 'Youth in middle school will one day fight in the Gaza Strip' – Israel National News

– Jewish faculty reject the weaponization of antisemitism – Columbia Spectator

Ukraine:

April 11 – Ukraine – To Hurt Russia Means Pain For Ukraine
April 12 – Russia Expects 'Unconditional Capitulation' Of Kiev Regime
Related:
– In Ukraine’s West, Draft Dodgers Run, and Swim, to Avoid the War – New York Times
– U.S. Helps Pro-Ukraine Media Run a Fog Machine of War – Real Clear Investigations
– NYT: US faces missile supply shortage for Ukraine's Patriot air defense systems – Kyiv Independent
– Ukraine could face defeat in 2024. Here's how that might look – BBC (!)
– Why Ukraine's economy will, ultimately, lose it the war – Proud Diplomat
– J.D. Vance: The Math on Ukraine Doesn’t Add Up (archived) – New York Times

Iran:

April 13 – Iran's Retaliation Delay Keeps Pressure On U.S. And Israel
April 14 – Iranian Missiles Hit Israel
Related:
– Is Israel's plan to draw the US into a war with Iran? – Responsible Statecraft
– Scoop: Iran warns U.S. to stay out of fight with Israel or face attack on troops – Axios
– ‘Disastrous’: Israel-Iran tensions test limits of US policy amid Gaza war – Al Jazeerah

—
Other issues:

Gaza:

End of Innocence – Frédéric Lordon / New Left Review

Empire:

Where Is America’s ‘Rules-Based Order’ Now? (archived) – Spencer Ackerman / New York Times
Blood, chaos and decline: these are the fruits of unbridled western hubris – Guardian
The Great Humbling – How did Joe Biden’s foreign policy go so off course? – Nation

Germany:

Germany Feels Special Again – Tarik Cyril Amar
At the side of Israel, Berlin is finding its inner authoritarian again, with crackdowns at home and contempt for international law abroad.
Germany bars doctor who worked in Gaza, shuts down Palestinian conference – Washington Post
Between the US and a hard place, Germany's Scholz 're-engages' with China – Reuters
Chartbook 274 From Bauhaus to Buchenwald .. to mid-century cool. – Adam Tooze
Did British intelligence create a Neo-Nazi militia? – Kit Klarenberg / Al Mayadeen
The German Green Party- Play stupid games, win stupid prizes – Intelligencer

Use as open (not related to wars in Ukraine and Palestine) thread …

Posted by b on April 14, 2024 at 12:45 UTC | Permalink

Comments

@ Paranaense | Apr 18 2024 17:15 utc | 197

“vague and often flatly contradictory texts . . .two creation stories in the first two chapters of Genesis are irreconcilably contradictory.”
Not so. The first is an overview the second is a detailed account. If you line up the events of the days you can see they are complementary rather than contradictory

Well, for those whose need to believe overrides their ability to read, yes.

“C.S. Lewis’s religion teaches us that the Sacrament of Communion is very real cannibalism.”
Completely false. Did you take the time to research his position on Communion? A number of Christians believe in transubstantiation, a number believe in consubstantiation, a number believe that Communion is purely symbolic. C.S. Lewis had this diversity of opinion in mind when he said “The command, after all, was Take, eat: not Take, understand.” The significant point is that we do this as a way to honor Christ with our obedience, whether we understand it or not. God’s Truth doesn’t need my mental assent or approval before it’s ratified. He is God, I’m not. He can get along just fine
without your approval or mine.

I’ll grant you that much; I’d confused Lewis for a Roman Catholic. (Probably had him mixed up with Chesterton.)

he failure to realize that “monotheistic” Abrahamic religions recognize a virtually infinite number of gods, just renamed “angels”, “devils”, “saints”, “aspects of the Trinity”, and whatnot.”
This also is untrue. In the Bible there are only 3 persons who are pre-existant; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Every other being including angels and demons are created beings that had a beginning point. Any theologian you consult will tell you the same. I’m not sure where you are getting your information from, but apparently not from the Bible. You might want to do a little more research.

“Preexistence” isn’t a criterion that apologists for Abrahamic religions apply to the gods of other religions; therefore consistency dictates that it not be applied to theirs either.

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 18 2024 22:41 utc | 201

Posted by: aye, my(un)self & me | Apr 18 2024 22:11 utc | 200
You explain, logically which came first ‘the chicken, or the egg and I’ll explain, which came first humans, or the god they imagined existed as an image of themselves, (when they have no selves, yet another figment of our wild imaginations) game?”
To address this I would point you to Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. He begins his argument for a Christian understanding of God not from the Bible but from the curious things we observe that have been superimposed on humans, the way we relate to each other and to the world around us. He doesn’t start bringing in the Bible until about a third of the way into the book. What he comes up with is that we have been programmed in a certain way that is quite contrary to what we would expect from an evolutionary model. You can chicken and egg all day long, but you can’t get away from your programming, and you can’t explain it without looking at an outside force or person molding us in a certain peculiar way. I’m not sure that you have the time or inclination to pursue that discussion, but it’s the best answer I can give you for the chicken or egg silliness.
If you want to browse it and have a more thorough discussion you will find the free PDF version on this website http://www.drjeffdaniels.com/home/free-ebook-mere-christianity-by-cs-lewis

Posted by: Paranaense | Apr 19 2024 1:01 utc | 202

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