In this post, Neo didn’t explicitly poll her readers, but I’m among those who appreciate both the quality and quantity of her posts on the war between Israel and Hamas/Iran.

Having said that, I’m going to pretend that Neo asked a different question, one that’s barely related. Is there a general topic that you wish Neo would write more about? This has to be a realistic suggestion. For example, I’m a long-time basketball fan. Except for the possibilty of naive comedy, I wouldn’t look to Neo for posts on basketball.

But what about asking for more posts on the social consequences of chatbots, AI, and LLM’s? Some people here are obviously interested, but it’s not Neo’s expertise. So what would be a realistic request? US relations with China? Illegal immigration? Political consequences of economic policy? Fashion and culture–high and low? Social psychology and politics? Population genetics and historical change?

Even more off-topic, if there’s something you like reading about, but it’s not a realistic topic for Neo, where do you read about it online?

Thanks.

P.S. If I’ve opened an unwelcome can of worms, I wouldn’t be offended if Neo deleted this comment. In fact, I’m very close to not clicking on the “post comment” button. Not sure this is a good idea, but I’m curious.

P.P.S. I probably won’t reply to anyone who takes the time to comment. I’d rather not start any wrangling. Just want to know what people think.

Israel is the vanguard of Western Civilization.

Hopefully, Biden will be flushed down the toilet bowl of history.

My opinion of Ukraine is free or Russian doesn’t really make a bit of difference to us

To me it has become something like a defining moment in the eternal moral tug of war.

Sadly, as is so often the case, those who think with moral clarity seem to be disengaged, while the morally corrupt (I mean that) are so vocal and visible.

I also feel strongly about Ukraine. I have noted that there are shifting themes that suggest that “maybe Russia was justified”, and “Ukraine is corrupt”, etc. I suppose the people who mouth such foolishness, are the same sort who said, “well, Hitler should be excused for annexing Austria”, and so on.

I can almost foresee the equivocation after China invades Taiwan.

There are, of course, plenty of worries about the breakdown of our own society. “Gradually, then suddenly” paraphrases an old adage about how transformative change occurs. We seem to be a step or two away from “suddenly”.

After 9/11 I even believed that the “Pentagon’s New Map” https://th.bing.com/th?id=OIP.CHhUqd-xTXWsnY36BeDDuQHaLM&w=203&h=307&c=8&rs=1&qlt=90&o=6&dpr=2.2&pid=3.1&rm=2 was a possible strategy to bring the lesser developed countries into the modern world. Foolish me.

What has transpired since 1993 is that the authoritarian regimes -China, Russia, North Korea,
Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and many smaller dictatorships – have become more aggressive, more willing to stand against the democracies. It’s clear that they view democracies as threats to their survival and/or ambitions.

They aren’t formally allied, but they do agree that they don’t like the U.S. and its main allies.

More of them are acting in concert against the West in whatever ways they can. Weakness and indecision are an invitation to these sorts of governments. IMO, if the leaders of the Free World don’t soon wake up to this and begin to rebuild the military and financial strengths of the democracies, major war lies ahead.

And that’s why I don’t mind reading a lot about Israel and Palestine because they are part of the big picture that needs to be understood.

Two senior American officials held indirect meeting with Iranian officials in Oman this week in an effort to avoid a regional escalation, according to the Axios news site.

The talks focused on “clarifying the consequences of actions by Iran and its proxies in the region and to discuss US concerns regarding the status of Iran’s nuclear program,” according to two sources quoted in the report.

A government official confirms to the Times of Israel that White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk and special envoy on Iran Abram Paley were in Oman this week for the talks.

McGurk was also in Saudi Arabia this week, according to the same official.

Axios says it was unclear who represented Iran at the Oman talks and there was no official statement from either country.

The talks come after Iranian threats in recent weeks that Tehran will change its doctrine on nuclear weapons — currently banned under a fatwa by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — if its existence is threatened by Israel.

Similar talks were held between the United States and Iran in Oman January, when reportedly Tehran asked the Biden administration to secure a ceasefire in ongoing Gaza war while Washington pressed the Islamic Republic to curb attacks by its proxies

Pathetic.

With a few obvious exceptions the old gods of the ancient Near East were relatively benign, being chiefly concerned, most of them, with fertility, reproduction, the ordering of the seasons, and the overall stable functioning of the cosmos. In terms of their capacity and predilection for immiserating humanity, they didn’t hold a candle to Allah, a truly violent, bloodthirsty, and — dare I say it? — evil deity.

I’d forgotten the controversy about the events leading to the return of the Shah.

For neutrality, readers must turn to the relatively obscure work of Diarioush Bayandor—fittingly, a resident of Switzerland—who possesses the most impartial moral sense among all Mossadegh historians. In his fastidiously sourced Iran and the CIA: The Fall of Mossadegh Revisited (2010), he delivers the verdict, that while “It is fair to conclude that even if the Shah’s dismissal order was not stricto sensu unconstitutional … it was a feature of a foreign scheme to bring about a change of government” and thus was of questionable legitimacy.

However harsh that is—and it is distinctly harsh, considering that at no time did the shah ever breach the laws of his country, while Mossadegh did promiscuously, and unapologetically—facts remain: Mossadegh was not democratically elected. He was not a democrat. He was not overthrown by the CIA, but by domestic forces he had repeatedly manipulated or misunderstood, and who welcomed a foreign hand of unmeasurable and uneven utility.

Remembering a CIA Coup in Iran That Never Was
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/cia-coup-in-iran-that-never-was-mossadegh

And these same corrupt authoritarian states exercise veto power in the UN, these days. Leaving us ever more alienated from a once respected institution.

But the 10 and then 20 years of GWOT have made Americans look inward and spurn foreign affairs. It’s quite natural for a people to be war weary.

The Biden machinations and rationalizations regarding the ME only make me hate FJB more.

I’m with Kate and huxley on Neo’s focus. It’s lacking in my alt reading and YT information sources. This beat is your pulse, and therefore I am glad you share it….even though I’m certainly among those commenting less, if at all, about it.

But speaking of the 800 pound gorilla and the Obama-Blinken blinded mice, the unfiltered and unconstrained open border immigration not withstanding, the US debate we never had because the Left-Media shut it down with the pre-woke “racism” rant since 2003: “Islamophobia!”

Why is Islam incompatible with Western freedom and open sicieties?

That gorilla. And this is why I will always take Israel’s fate and prospects seriously. They constitute our frontline nation, that even Europe is abandoning.

This last fact scares me. And I feel so helpless about it (another reality that generates or hardens my neglect, I must admit)….