I feel no desire to outsource offense, and that is probably what bugs me most. Your theory seems to justify expansion and to turn outward instead of inward. Perhaps I misunderstand what you are saying in this regard.

What?

Workers taking action, love to see it.

Violence is typically taken up by actors on their behalf. In an organized state this is, well, generally the state. In non-state activity, this tends to be their friends and family. In societies with weak or nonexistent centralized states, you see this in the form of honor societies being willing to have the young and healthy take up arms and feuds on behalf of offenses against elderly, children, or disabled who they have ties with.

I don’t think violently hurting people is a good idea.

A lot of people forget, due to the exceptionally stable nature of modern Western society, that society is built on violence. We, as citizens of a polity, subcontract out our violence to a central state. And this is, to at least some degree, a good thing - there’s a central entity which can be observed and judged and regulated, rather than a million people all trying to enforce and judge one another’s usage of violence as justified or unjustified.

But ultimately, such subcontracting of violence is conditional - as long as the central state represents our rights adequately, to at least some degree, people are willing to continue to surrender their own sovereign right to commit violence to it. Whenever the central state does not represent a citizen’s rights adequately, the citizen often withdraws that surrender of sovereignty - either in total or, more often, conditionally - to protect their own rights.

When you make a contract - even in something as small as buying an apple - you are relying on the threat of force from the state to back it - “We will forcibly remove property or freedom from you if you violate this contract.” Violence is a part of everyday life - what’s important is to act in such a way that minimizes the need for it. In the case of defense of LGBT rights, sometimes that means using violence as a means of deterrence against the violence of bigots that is insufficiently deterred by state action.

With “thank you” cards?

“Thank you for respecting our identity :)” written on a brick.

Show it to friends, ‘show it’ to foes.

Man, if being ineffective stopped Dem policy, we’d have a lot less Dem policy.

Take the deal, institute a 99% wealth tax on billionaires anyway.

God, I wish the Dems had the balls for that.

Whose got the stethoscope theory image?

You’re joking right

Sorry, do you not remember who the de-facto leader of the Northern Alliance was?

Things the US will forget:

Korean War (3mil civilian dead)

Vietnam War (2mil civilian dead)

Iraqi War (1mil civilian dead)

Imagine thinking that the US has forgotten any of these when they’re a constantly pressure on the cultural zeitgeist even literal decades later. Or, for that matter, that the Korean War is in any way comparable.

Violent overthrow of Afghanistan (twice, over 1 mil dead)

Twice? Christ, tell me you aren’t talking about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Not to mention that the ‘overthrow’ of ‘Afghanistan’ the second time would rely on recognizing the Taliban, and not the democratically-oriented Northern Alliance which was fighting them at the time, as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

Yes yes I understand why Jolani needs to work with a genocidal state which openly says it wants to annex Syria and is doing it now. Very smart!

Weren’t you just advocating for Jolani to side with Iran, a state which quite openly supported genocide with military force in Syria out of a desire to keep it as a puppet state, and which is still attempting to overthrow the current Syrian government in order to replace it with their puppet?

Jesus Christ. Either absolutely disingenuous, or zero self-reflection. You’re all for genocidal states until it’s Bad Camp, I guess.

Good.

So funny how all of them come from Saudi then isn’t it?

Jesus fucking Christ. “I’m not racist, I’m just asking questions about why all these ISIS are BORN IN SAUDI ARABIA”

10/10.

Wahabism is the Saudi state idology

Yes.

and exclusively spread by the Saudis.

No. But considering your position dehumanizing all oppressed peoples as helpless puppets that need a Campist Savior™ like you to guide them, it’s unsurprising that you think as much.

You can stop opening Google and digging yourself in a hole.

Sorry that I’m relatively well-read on the matter. I understand that your games of internet telephone with your fellow ‘anti-imperialist’ friends who can’t tell the difference between Islamist groups and switch sides as often as is needed to oppose ‘bad camp’ are much more entertaining than actual history.

He didn’t leave ISIS. He never joined. Al-Baghdadi attempted to ‘soft coup’ and fold the Al-Nusra Front under his command, which did not satisfy the more Al-Qaeda aligned Jolani. Nor did it, for that matter, satisfy Al-Qaeda, which both groups pledged nominal allegiance to at the time.

Jolani’s atrocities are a different discussion entirely. You can be shitty and Islamist without being part of ISIS. And, for that matter, you can be brutal without being ISIS.

Yes the guy who worked with Al Baghdadi has no relation to ISIS. Put a new sticker on it and it’s good to go!

“Wow two Jihadis that fought the US occupation in Iraq worked together at one point, clearly this means that ISIS and Al-Nusra are the same!”

It’s amazing that people like you claim to be anti-imperialist whilst maintaining a Bush Administration level of understanding of the Middle East. Can’t wait 'til you advocate an invasion of Ba’athist Iraq to defeat Al-Qaeda.

ISIS and Al Qaeda are both Saudi Wahabi groups. You clearly have no idea what the deal with Wahabis is and should probably read up on that if you think it implies racism.

That you think him being born in Saudi Arabia has anything to do with ISIS, or that Wahhabis are exclusively Saudi instead of a religious movement which has been spread across MENA since the 18th goddamn century, when it started, with only a brief suppression with the popularity of secular Ba’athist ideology in the Cold War, is immensely racist.

Sorry that you can’t see why quoting where someone is born as proof of their ISIS credentials is immensely fucking racist.

A 2021 PBS interview with Jolani revealed that he was born in 1982 in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as an oil engineer until 1989.

Oh no. Born in Saudi Arabia. Clearly this means he is ISIS.

Definitely not a racist connection for you to make. /s

In that year, the Jolani family returned to Syria, where he grew up and lived in the Mezzeh neighbourhood of Damascus.

He LIVED in SYRIA as a child? Holy shit, he’s deep ISIS

Jolani’s journey as a jihadist began in Iraq, linked to al-Qaeda through the Islamic State (IS) group’s precursor - al-Qaeda in Iraq and, later, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).

After the 2003 US-led invasion, he joined other foreign fighters in Iraq and, in 2005, was imprisoned at Camp Bucca, where he enhanced his jihadist affiliations and later on was introduced to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the quiet scholar who would later go on to lead IS.

“Jolani fought under Al-Qaeda during the Iraq Occupation” isn’t really all that compelling for your narrative of “He was ISIS” when the whole point here is that you couldn’t tell the difference between ISIS and Al-Qaeda, despite all your posturing about how other people are ignorant and racist.

In 2011, Baghdadi sent Jolani to Syria with funding to establish al-Nusra Front, a covert faction tied to ISI. By 2012, Nusra had become a prominent Syrian fighting force, hiding its IS and al-Qaeda ties.

From your own source, literally starting the sentence after this, which I will generous assume you just didn’t read instead of disingenuously reading and then disregarding in the hope of quoting a misleading narrative:

Tensions arose in 2013 when Baghdadi’s group in Iraq unilaterally declared the merger of the two groups (ISI and Nusra), declaring the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), and publicly revealing for the first time the links between them.

Jolani resisted, as he wanted to distance his group from ISI’s violent tactics, leading to a split.

To get out of that sticky situation, Jolani pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, making Nusra Front its Syrian branch.

From the start, he prioritised winning Syrian support, distancing himself from IS’s brutality and emphasising a more pragmatic approach to jihad.

Do you know Al Nusra origins?

Oh, this ought to be good. Please tell me how Al-Nusra spawned from ISIS.

Jolani is from ISIS and Al Qaeda. Ring any bells?

“Jolani is from ISIS”

Imagine being so racist that you confuse al-Sharaa’s longtime enemy with the org he served.

It is impressive that some people are willing to defend, allying with a genocidal ethnostate while projecting its crimes at those who oppose it.

Your lack of knowledge on this subject is only surpassed by your arrogance and racism.

lmao

Accusing me of ignorance, arrogance, and racism, as you implore Syrians to side with the people who were literally sending troops to genocide Syrians. Sorry that you didn’t follow the Syrian Civil War at all, maybe you should read up on it before talking Syrian international politics in the immediate aftermath.

Very based!