I kinda think we do bear some responsibility. I wish we were more principled about who we sold weapons to, but I also get the practical realities of international relations. Sometimes you have to do ugly things for the greater good. But I really wish it wasn't for things like oil or business interests. Our relationship with the Saudis, for instance, is very troubling.deadheadskier wrote: ↑Oct 12th, '23, 14:28 We sell weapons to many, many nations around the globe. Some of those nations get involved in conflicts. Does that mean the US shares responsibility in every conflict? You can say yes to that if that's your opinion. I disagree, but could understand how someone feels differently than I.
But I don't see how the U.S. dealings with Iran can be linked to this Hamas attack. It's too attenuated a connection. We need Iran's oil and we also need them to not develop nukes, so we cut deals. Getting them to stop funding Hamas wasn't an available option, and Iran would still be supporting Hamas even if we didn't cut those deals. If you want to place blame, though, I think Trump's boneheaded peace proposal has more to do with Hamas' current situation than anything Biden did or didn't do.
Wouldn't it be interesting if we saw centrist democrats and republicans come together for a compromise candidate? I'm not sure enough politicians on either side are mature enough to support it, but it certainly would be historic.
Incidentally, this reminds me of those discussions about parliamentary systems - this shows our system is every bit as vulnerable to instability as those systems are. At least with a parliamentary system we could have a snap election to settle the gridlock.
