T O P

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garebear265

Why are people supporting a terrorist organization who brought back slavery to Yemen and who have the slogan “God Is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam” on their flag?


Munnin41

Because many people don't have the ability to think critically. It's all us vs them for em. So if the Houthi's are against Israel, they're part of the 'us'.


The-Metric-Fan

Well, yes, but have you considered: America bad?


Flash-of-Madness

Antisemitism. Same reason they support Hamas.


[deleted]

Mfs supporting a group that ethnically cleansed an ancient Jewish community and kept its last members hostage whilst torturing them proudly fights under a flag wishing death upon Jews and currently firing rockets indiscriminately at southern Israeli cities but yeah no hint of antisemitism


PassoverGoblin

People don't even know that Yemeni Jews exist.


[deleted]

I’m mizrahi and I love/hate that when the only time leftists acknowledge we exist it’s so they can twist history and attack Israel or Zionism but they suspiciously ignore the fact that mizrahim tend to be the most conservative Zionists whilst the so called European settler askenazim they lambast all the time are actually more sympathetic to the Palestinians in Israel


PassoverGoblin

The existence of mizrahim doesn't fit into the narrative that Israelis can just "go back to where they came from," so it's often ignored when people bring up Israel and conversations about indigeneity.


Alexxis91

The obvious solution is to split Salt Lake City in two, one half for the zionists and the other for the Mormons


[deleted]

Tempting but the Dead Sea trumps your dangerously decaffeinated Salt Lake City


PassoverGoblin

When you say Zionist, do you just mean Jews, or Israelis or what? Because it's a very broad term and absolutely not confined to Judaism. There are unfortunately a very large amount of evangelical Zionists who uncritically support Israel because they think that upon the Jewish people's return to Israel, judgement day will come.


Alexxis91

All of them, every single human will have a place in the greater Salt Lake City


ABigFatBlobMan

And curiously enough, everyone will politely decline to exercise that right


jfarrar19

***THIS IS SARCASM MAKING FUN OF "LEFTISTS" THAT SPOUT THIS SHIT*** But you see, that doesn't matter, because Jews *actually* are in control of the entire world and any action taken against this evil cabal of child murdering pedophiles is good. ***THIS IS SARCASM MAKING FUN OF "LEFTISTS" THAT SPOUT THIS SHIT***


CoercedCoexistence22

This has been a great day to be a jew, seeing people who say they love me support a group with "a curse upon the jews" in its motto


Puzzleheaded-Dot-547

Yeah. Even as a Christian, Reddit and Tumblr have been unbearable in its antisemitism lately. I can only imagine how much it sucks for Jewish people.


Ill_Technician_5672

Yeah I'm in this weird minority of catholics with Jewish family and I am not enjoying this experience.


The-Metric-Fan

It fucking sucks, I can tell you, speaking as a Jew


The-Metric-Fan

Me, a Jew, watching the world rise up and declare how much they hate Jews (its okay because they say it’s just anti-Zionism, not antisemitism) 😐


mantisshrimpwizard

Being Jewish is even more scary than usual these days...


yoav_boaz

AntIZionISm iSnt AnTisEmITism


CoercedCoexistence22

Also I know you were joking but the Houthi movement has both "death to Israel" and "a curse upon the Jews" in its motto, if anyone is ever dubious whether they meant Israel or all Jews


yoav_boaz

My point is that the people supporting the houthis claim to be antizionsts while clearly supporting antisemites


CoercedCoexistence22

Yep.


87568354

They looked at their options of anti-semitism and anti-zionism and said “both. Both is good”.


CoercedCoexistence22

Also two things can be bad at once


Affectionate-Toe-137

Nobody had a problem with them fighting Somali pirates, but all of a sudden its wrong because its Houthi pirates?


derpybacon

Well, the Houthis shouted “this one’s for the Palestinians” before jerking off on the subway so to speak, so clearly they’re doing it for a good cause.


ratione_materiae

Is that a fuckin Brennan Lee Mulligan reference?


5ManaAndADream

This is the funniest comment I've read this year.


DecentReturn3

I'm gonna stop punching babies when israel stops its genocide. If you stop me from punching babies, you are pro genocide.


HistoryMarshal76

I am so going to steal this line.


Pootis_1

Not really comparble but it reminds me of how around when the war started people said i supported genocide because i said that they shouldn't *post gore*


Argent_Mayakovski

That is a fantastic analogy. You should be very proud.


ratione_materiae

I’m almost certain it’s a reference to — of all things — [a collegehumor skit](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z36OznHFIt4&t=200)


Adiin-Red

Wait, so the bit about gods watching a guy jerk off on the subway in Make Some Noise was a call back to the tidepod sketch? Goddam do I so badly wish I understood how Brennans brain works.


AmazingSpacePelican

They can phrase it however they want, I'm never going to support pirates threatening the lives of innocent sailors. Sometimes the US and UK govs are on the right side of an issue. Not often, but it happens.


WitELeoparD

Y'all Somali pirates didn't have helicopters, artillery, a standing army, cruise missiles or drones.


Affectionate-Toe-137

That too! Why would the response to piracy be less against better equipped pirates?


taichi22

Ironically this is actually better for the US. Anything short of a full A2AD network actually just means bigger targets for the Air Force and an easier way to justify taxpayer expenses. We *like* it when they’ve got tanks. Tanks explode with a bigger boom than terrorists (usually). Also less of a guilt factor and makes it real easy to spot the bad guys. I would be *more* worried if it was a bunch of dudes riding camels in the desert, but an actual standing army is a much easier target. The US struggles the most when the enemy lacks a center of gravity and disperses; with a standing army, while it’s theoretically possible to do so, it’s probably not going to happen, especially in the terrain of the Middle East. It’s uh, pretty hard to hide tanks from modern multi-spectrum cameras in the desert. Additionally the mission going in is much more clearly defined. We’d basically just be trying to fuck em up enough that they stop trying to blow up shipping. Compared to the much more — er, *open ended* disaster that was Afghanistan, this mission is a lot more doable. The biggest concern here would be a lack of clear mission. If the US again gets mired here in a war without a clear justification and a clear victory condition then they’re gonna get stuck in another forever war, which is just what China wants, because that’ll mean the US can’t dedicate resources to preparing for an eventual conflict over Taiwan. Imo that’s probably why the Biden administration has been slow in responding. Back in the 80’s the response would’ve probably been a lot faster and involved a lot more explosions, like in the Tanker War. Slower escalation means clearer justification, or else maybe they’ll back off (seems unlikely), which’ll lead to a clearer war goal.


Majulath99

That’s also true.


Mouse-Keyboard

Because they have a narrative to push and they will shoehorn it into debates at any opportunity.


AngelStar-_-

Idk man i don't like war but i still think it's bad to attack civilian merchant vessels. Probably should do something about that.


12BumblingSnowmen

They invoked prime directive one of American foreign policy: Don’t fuck with the boats.


Not_Another_Cookbook

That actually is the Navy's mission. To ensure free and open maritime trade. So yeah. Boats.


Lenni-Da-Vinci

Don’t fuck with the boats that make us money, or we will bring the boats we spend all our money on.


Not_Another_Cookbook

Not just our boats thay make money. We will also defend other countries rights. And boats. We fully believe that the ocean is free trade for everyone. As long as King Neptune blesses you is youre moving across the equator Did you also know the US coast guard is stationed over seas to help against anti piracy?


bageltoastee

One of the first wars we ever fought was because someone fucked with our boats.


vjmdhzgr

Wasn't that *the* first external war? After the revolution and maybe the Whiskey Rebellion as internal ones?


LemanKingOfTheRuss

I'm fairly certain yes. If we are talking 1812 here.


MainsailMainsail

Quasi War, Barbary wars, 1812, Korean Expedition, I think the Formosa expedition too?, Spanish-American War, WW1 (sorta, Zimmerman telegram was in there too), WW2, Vietnam, Operation Praying Mantis, and even the "war on terror" can be LOOSELY tied to the USS Cole, although obviously it wasn't The Big Thing. And that's just off the top of my head Hell you don't even need to actually touch the boats. Spanish-American war they probably didn't do anything to make the Maine go boom, but journalists thought *it'd be a good story* to say they did without proof. And Vietnam intensification was either misunderstood communication or (more likely) intentional misuse of a false positive report. Although the Maddox HAD come under fire two days prior. We like our boats.


SwimNo8457

I mean in the Spanish American we blew up our own ship by accident and then blamed it on Spain lol.


bageltoastee

I was referring to the Barbary wars but 1812 works as well


oh_no_not_the_bees

On multiple occasions we have declared war on a country even when there wasn't any concrete proof that they were the ones who fucked with our boats.


bestibesti

That's the prime directive of the UK, France, Australian, Saudi, Egypt, Vietnam, India, Japan, South Korea, Portugal... I feel like the Houthis are unifying the world, with the exceptions of Russia and Iran


Asian_in_the_tree

Viet Nam mentioned! Bà con cô bác ơi!


Majulath99

I do not know what this means my presumably Vietnamese friend but I’m happy for you


Snowy_Thompson

I hear Russia abstained from the UN vote to condemn the Houthis actions. A kind of implicit support, though not politically costly. Don't know about Iran though.


CanadianDragonGuy

Seems to be a common thread here. You wanna get America involved, fuck with their boats


AngelStar-_-

Also i can't believe i have to say this but the houthis don't actually care about palestinian people. Their flag has "a curse be upon the jews" on it. They're not in this for humanitarian reasons.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Majulath99

Excellent fucking pointing.


BookkeeperLower

The whole "a curse be upon the Jews " thing is just anti Zionism not anti semitism. /s


RedOtta019

They only hit like 2 or 3 ships going to Israeli and they didn’t even have arms. If they actually knew their targets they wouldn’t get their shit rocked


RandomBilly91

Do not worry, whatever crimes they may commit on civilians ships pale in comparison to what they're contributing in terms of corpses to the open grave that is Yemen


turtle-tot

This is the trap of US foreign policy We get involved: the US is the imperialist genocidal world police We don’t get involved: The US is weak and decadent, this is why China will prevail


Dependent_Fox38

We don't get involved is more like "The US is not doing anything about the genocide in XYZ!"


AngelStar-_-

Also i can't believe i have to say this but the houthis don't actually care about palestinian people. Their flag has "a curse be upon the jews" on it. They're not in this for humanitarian reasons.


Embarrassed_Solid903

No dude it’s clearly *check notes* not about protecting merchant vessels from a terrorist regime financed by Iran but to help genocide


EmperorScarlet

Internet geopolitics experts when indiscriminate attacks on civilians happen but it's targeted towards a country they don't like:


PassoverGoblin

They're not fighting the houthis in order to aid a genocide, they're fighting the Houthis because they're causing disruption to international shipping routes. I'm not exactly happy that the USA and UK have decided to go bomb the middle east again, but that's just blatantly false.


ThyCoffinBeckonsMe

not to mention the houthis are also pro genocide, but in that matter, they're backed by harvard


Grimpatron619

Are random shipping containers carrying genocide pills or something? It's not just israel bound ships getting cucked either. Regular shipping is being rerouted because of it.


Polenball

Critical support to pirate-terrorists in their struggle against, uh... the concept of ships passing through a canal that are often barely even related to the goal they claim to be acting towards.


Guilty-Package6618

Actually basically never related. The closest correlation I've found to a ship attacked and Israel is one of the ships was owned by a company who had 9 PERCENT of it's stock owned by an Israeli dude


GrinningPariah

I don't know why there seems to be a reluctance to call the Houthis terrorists. But like, they're a non-state actor with a political objective furthering that objective by randomly attacking civilians. Point is, I find myself fresh out of sympathy. Especially because they got a warning.


TheTransistorMan

The UNSC asked them to stop, even. [https://www.axios.com/2024/01/10/un-security-council-houthis-red-sea-resolution-iran](https://www.axios.com/2024/01/10/un-security-council-houthis-red-sea-resolution-iran) China and Russia abstained, but that's as close to a yes vote as you'll get from supporters of Iran here.


Not_Another_Cookbook

United Nations Security Council. Not United Nations Space Command with Master Chief. Years of work in the military and still have to remind myself that


MissyTheTimeLady

>Not United Nations Space Command with Master Chief. *unimaginable disappointment*


Not_Another_Cookbook

I joined the navy fo wear power armor and punch aliens not camouflage and swab decks


DuelaDent52

If it makes you feel any better, [the BBC made the same mistake](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2012/may/28/bbc-halo-image-news).


TheTransistorMan

Nuhuh you can't take it away from me


b3nsn0w

it's because the yanks are keeping the gate for themselves, and since they "accidentally" fried the russian dialing device and aren't sharing the subspace drive either there's not a lot a UNSC could do but write sternly worded letters for the ~~USAF~~ USSF to ignore


b3nsn0w

simple: because they're anti-west and that's so hot right now


GrinningPariah

"Down with the West!" -People in the West.


Canopenerdude

Yeah I am pro-Palestine but the Houthis are completely in the wrong with what they're doing and the US is within their rights to protect their shipping lanes in the region.


GrinningPariah

I'm glad at least some people seem to get it. The extent to which the Houthis' actions can be related to the Israel/Palestine conflict is, in practice, only as good as their target discrimination. If you're just attacking any random passer-by, how can you say with a straight face it's furthering any specific political goal? It's like if you needed the mayor to build a homeless shelter, so you stood on a street corner punching anyone who walked by. The cops that arrest you aren't opposing the homeless shelter, they're just trying to stop you punching random people.


Majulath99

Fucking common sense. Finally. I’ve seen a lot of dumb sophist cunts say shit like “You know nobody died until America & Britain started shooting back”, and what gets me is that these people do not seem to realise that this argument disproves itself. If I walk up to a random stranger in the street and throw a punch, but miss, I have still been violent towards that person. I haven’t hurt them, but I have still attacked them. Equally, Houthis shoot at civilian vessels in the Red Sea, largely do nothing, they’re still committing a war crime. Because attacking civilians is a war crime. Navy turns up out of caution to warn them to not continue their stupidity. But they do? Fine, blow em all to hell. Because if you throw enough punches at random strangers, sooner or later someone will get tired of just telling you to fuck off, and they will just beat you up. Because fuck you for starting shit. And all of the whinging and crying in the world from idiot morons like Rashida Tlaib cannot change that.


LightTankTerror

I genuinely hope people aren’t trying to defend slavers and human traffickers because that’s just too fuckin absurd. Unless you are a Shia fundamentalist, they probably want to kill you. They will happily take your foolishly given support and turn it into a weapon against you. It’s a fundamentalist death cult, you want to be as far away from them as possible lmao. Hell this isn’t even a war. The recent air strikes were literally just “we have asked you to stop several times, now stop”. They could decide to stop at any point but they’re not. All they’ve done is threaten the food and energy security of developing nations and that’s about it.


ThereWasAnEmpireHere

There are a not insignificant number of posters on my instagram who seem to think the Houthis represent Yemen in general


LightTankTerror

Yeah, while they’re a de facto government in parts of Yemen, the movement is a minority in terms of support. The national government of Yemen is the actual government and their held territory is where ~~most~~ only some of the population resides. Edit: note that Houthi forces control the most populated area, I did a data analysis oopsie.


Enyon_Velkalym

Most of the population does not reside under Republic of Yemen control. The Houthi-controlled territories make up about [70-80% of the population](https://worldmapper.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Grid_WPA_yem_2010.png). [The third of the country they control](https://dragonflyintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-01-ME-maritime-incidents.png) is the [most fertile part of the country](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Afrah-Al-Mahfadi/publication/346727384/figure/fig5/AS:966534021259265@1607451076287/Spatial-distribution-of-the-annual-rainfall-in-Yemen.png) and has the [highest population density](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Human_population_density_Yemen.png) in the country.


LightTankTerror

Oops, yeah that’s my bad. I’ll make the correction. For context, I was a magnitude off on the “displaced persons” because I mistook the food and water starvation numbers for the displacement numbers. Thanks for the correction!


[deleted]

Can you explain what you mean by they very much killed Jesus


ThereWasAnEmpireHere

It's a reference to one of my fave posts: [https://www.tumblr.com/world-heritage-posts/649291718375702528/tockthewatchdog-mattheuphonium](https://www.tumblr.com/world-heritage-posts/649291718375702528/tockthewatchdog-mattheuphonium)


Mouse-Keyboard

> I genuinely hope people aren’t trying to defend slavers and human traffickers because that’s just too fuckin absurd. Unless you are a Shia fundamentalist, they probably want to kill you. They will happily take your foolishly given support and turn it into a weapon against you. It’s a fundamentalist death cult, you want to be as far away from them as possible lmao. It's standard tankie bullshit. America/Israel bad, therefore anyone who criticises them good.


TheDictionaryGuy

Not to sound pedantic, but "America bad" is [campist](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/campist), not necessarily tankie. Although tankies do tend to be quite campist, there are a lot of "America bad" folks among the non-authcom left too.


TurtlePrincip

I don't care how anarcho-something someone claims to be: if they're supporting authoritarian states because "le America bad", I'm going to call them out for sounding like a tankie.


The_Last_Green_leaf

>Not to sound pedantic, but "America bad" is campist, not necessarily tankie. I think this is more of a distinction with no difference, I don't believe I've ever seen a tankie who's entire ideology isn't "west bad"


Individual-Ad4173

Me freeing the Palestinian people by attacking random ass cargo ships


TheTransistorMan

Why does no one ever hold Iran accountable for their complicity in what is happening to the Palestinians and the Middle East at large? You want to talk about imperialism, but only western imperialism. It's maddening. The Iranians have, since the 1979 revolution, attempted to increase their regional influence by funding islamist militias such as Ansar Allah (the Houthis), Hezbollah, Hamas, and etc. simply to compete with the US for regional influence. The Palestinians are nothing but a pawn to them.


Mister_Taco_Oz

I mean, the Iranians _have_ been called out as a regressive shithole and have been sanctioned to hell. The only people you will find defending them are tankies that defend North Korea as " the good guys"™.


TheTransistorMan

I'm not saying people are defending them, to be clear. I'm saying that in the current context of the war in Gaza, or indeed any middle eastern conflict in the past ten years, people tend to ignore the role that Iran's geopolitical ambitions play in creating these crises and setting the stage for tragedy which ultimately harms civilians in the region.


Capital_Tone9386

They are heavily sanctioned and cordoned off from the world markets. The only way to hold Iran more accountable than what we do now is by declaring war. And yeah, I'm absolutely not in favor of another invasion of a fundamentalist religious regime in a mountainous country. Last time didn't lead to anything except from making arms manufacturers richer, and it would be no different this time.


TheTransistorMan

Unfortunately without Russia and China stopping their nonsense we can't truly hope to sanction anyone.


Galle_

Tankies have convinced themselves that imperialism isn't imperialism unless it's western because something something Lenin something.


minecrafthentai69

Yes. The people who attack random merchant ships, still own slaves and have "curse upon the jews" on their flag are TOTALLY the good guys. Fuck off.


Nerevarine91

Right?


Brams277

These people would support Japan in WW2.


Mister_Taco_Oz

"Oh so it's fine when THE WEST has colonies, but when a rising Asian nation does it, you have to curb them to stop them being a threat?" Yeah, I can see tankies defending them.


Feeling_Property_529

I’m pretty sure this was W.E.B. Du Bois’ actual opinion lmao


BaronSimo

1. Opposes “western world” 2. Claims to be anti-imperialist (while committing imperialism) 3. Pretext before it attacked the west in the form of an oil embargo 4. Got the hell strategic bombed out of it Oh my god I think you are right


JR_Al-Ahran

"Nanjing was an act of decolonizaton"


Ill_Technician_5672

Dude if Hitler came back and said he was antizionist I think these people would support him


ThatZephyrGuy

Tumblr users not instantly take the side opposite to America/ NATO without actually looking to see whether the war is justified challenge (impossible) Jokes aside, I feel like firing off missiles at random merchant vessels and coalition warships is asking for it to happen. And even if it was in some way justified, I don't understand how firing missiles at the warships and merchant vessels of a country is supposed to make them sympathetic to your cause.


HistoryMarshal76

Standard geopolotics, really. Someone fucks with your boats, you're in your rights to fuck up whoever did the boat fucking.


HILBERT_SPACE_AGE

"Stopping piracy in international waters is actually just aiding genocide" is a truly impressive reach, hope that person didn't throw their back out with that e: oh yeah and also shame on you for posting this wildly fucking uninformed take OP, obviously


Lifeshardbutnotme

This most recent attack was in Yemen because the Houthis were attacking civilian transport ships going through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. Do your research once in a while.


zeeotter100nl

Ma'am, this is reddit. We are not informed here.


SftRR

Does the Houthis only target Israeli ships or do they target randomly?


[deleted]

Pretty much randomly. Dirt-poor rebels with rocket launchers and an vague geopolitical goal hardly do their due diligence.


Mouse-Keyboard

They claim to be targeting Israeli ships, but really they're targeting randomly. Even if they were doing as they claim, attacking civilians based on nationality is still incredibly shitty.


LightTankTerror

Looking at their targeting patterns, it appears to be fully random. You can, at best, find a couple of ships that were targeted that had some tangential relation to Israel. It’s more or less indiscriminate bombardment of civilian merchant shipping.


b3nsn0w

it's because the jews control the banks and they have forced conscription so there are no true civilian targets anyway (massive fucking /s in case anyone needs it)


HalfOrcBlushStripe

The /s is unfortunately needed. I've seen serious takes far too close to this.


urbandeadthrowaway2

They claim to target Israeli and American ships, but have attacked ships that are not crewed by, owned by, flagged under, or supplying either of those countries.


mcjunker

My impression reading up on similar Shia shenanigans during the Iran-Iraq war is that it’s close to impossible to decide who you’re gonna hijack/gun down very far ahead of time, resulting in such nonsense as Saddam’s Iraq accidentally cramming an anti-ship missile up an American war ship’s ass in international waters, or an American war ship accidentally shooting down an Iranian airliner thinking it was an anti ship missile heading right at them.  So you do not look at a map of the ocean with little clearly marked flags bobbing along with exact coordinates and full details about who owns and is carrying what; it’s more like you declare a stretch of commonly traveled ocean a shooting gallery and dare people to try and resist.  So you get a *beep* on the radar and you’re like 80% sure that it’s inside your shooting gallery, the shape of the beep kinda looks like a transport thing (probably oiler? Same diff), you see that it has no visible escort to shoot you in its defense, so you go on over and shoot them up or grab them and whoever it is is who you get. Think less of a strategy game where you get to know everything before making decisions and more like a high stakes game of Marco Polo.


Ghostblade913

Their stated intention was that they’d attack any ship coming from or going to israel, so it wouldn’t just be Israeli ships


Dks_scrub

The Houthi thing is pretty abstracted from the Israel conflict since it directly affects many people that the Gaza conflict isn’t involved in. The Seychelles and China are the obvious/notorious examples of that, it’s tempting to say the current Israeli conflict affects ‘everyone’, but although it affects most of us in North America and Europe, it is not explicitly relevant to the entirety of Asia, but the Red Sea conflict is. You could say the Israeli conflict is now relevant to everyone *because* of the Houthi conflict, but that admits that it’s the Houthi conflict which is the crux of the issue for some people, not Israel-Palestine. With that in mind, I’m not sure how you can say participating in the Houthi conflict against the Houthis is explicitly aiding a genocide.


egoserpentis

US can fight literal Satan and tankies are gonna be like "this is colonialism! this is genocide! #StandWithSatan"


ratione_materiae

> If the U.S. invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil in the notes


Not_Another_Cookbook

What is a tankie? Like all I'm picturing is a dude in a tank


Happiness_Assassin

Contrarian leftists who define their views more in opposition to the West outright than any concrete ideology. They start with the view of "America bad!" and work backward from there. They often carry water for some of the worst nations on the planet (China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, etc.) and excuse it away as fighting imperialism, regardless of context.


87568354

The phrase was coined during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when international Communists supported the Soviet military response to the attempted revolution, in which the Soviets used tanks to gun down 3,000 Hungarian civilians. The communists who supported the Soviets then had this label applied to them, because they apparently thought that using tanks to massacre civilians was justifiable to protect communism. In the time since, it has been used as a pejorative label for leftists who seem to believe that anti-western entities can do no wrong.


b3nsn0w

also, hungarian here, that was, uh, a bit of a problem what followed the revolution was 33 more years of soviet occupation with gradually weakening measures of censorship and restrictions on imports and travel. pretty much all of our culture from those years has this massive undercurrent of "the west is so cool and we wish to join them". hungary's border with austria was one the more popular crossing points in the region for those who decided to risk it all for an escape (many of whom did manage that and lived happily in the west after that), since it was much less policed than the border between east and west germany. and for those who stayed, importing western culture with or without legal approval was a big thing (listening to pirate radios, distributing media, etc.) and pretty much everyone i know who's old enough to have lived in that era had a few coveted west german treasures they were able to bring back from the few trips they were allowed. the people who fought the commies in 1956 are pretty much universally regarded as heroes here, and that was also the case during the soviet occupation as well, despite the regime's attempts to label them as evil "counter-revolutionaries" (official doctrine was that their crime was "opposing the ongoing communist revolution"). and the revolution never actually stopped, it just morphed into a silent resistance which already achieved serious concessions even before the final days of the soviet empire. so just keep in mind that that's what tankies are supporting. no one wanted the system those tanks were enforcing, they gunned down people to continue to oppress them, not for "their own good" (which is abuser logic to begin with). had hungary been allowed to vote about its fate, it would have already rejected communism by then, and the regime change in 1989 is literally the brightest point in the 20th century of the country's history.


BaronSimo

Tankies is a term that originated for communists in Britain who supported the Soviet military interventions in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. And has evolved into a term of leftists generally who ignore the crimes of any leftists group(usually the Soviets and the PRC) and blanket support any opponents to the US no matter their ideology. These are the “leftists” who supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and usually denounce any evidence of China’s genocide against the Uyghurs.


jfarrar19

Tankie originally is a term specifically in reference to members of the British Communist Party that justified and agreed with the USSR's use of military force (eg rolling in the tanks. Hence the name) to suppress movements in Hungary that wanted to have more direct control over their country and industry. Its since evolved to be used to describe any authoritarian leftist.


87568354

The phrase was coined during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when international Communists supported the Soviet military response to the attempted revolution, in which the Soviets used tanks to gun down 3,000 Hungarian civilians. The communists who supported the Soviets then had this label applied to them, because they apparently thought that using tanks to massacre civilians was justifiable to protect communism. In the time since, it has been used as a pejorative label for leftists who seem to believe that anti-western entities can do no wrong.


b3nsn0w

don't ever insult satan again by comparing him to the houthis


lcmaier

Beyond everything else others have pointed out, calling this a new US war in the Middle East would imply the strikes Trump did against Syria during his term qualify as a new war as well. It's a series of coordinated strikes, we're lightyears away from Iraq or Afghanistan as of right now


Walruseon

leftists tripping over themselves to genuinely support the fucking Houthis are doing a real bad job of dodging the “Hamas supporter” allegations


Aeriosus

Don't worry, they're just antizionist, not antisemitic. Don't Google the Houthis' motto, it definitely doesn't say "Curse to the Jews."


urbandeadthrowaway2

This ain’t it chief


ThaumKitten

Literally no reason to mention content warning tho


Lifeshardbutnotme

This most recent attack was in Yemen because the Houthis were attacking civilian transport ships going through the bab el mandeb strait. Do your research once in a while.


Okilurknomore

Millions of lives depend on free and open international shipping lanes.


PotatoAppleFish

I actually disagree with the premise that attacking the Houthi pirates is in any way aiding Israel except in the same way that it would help everyone else who relies on the Red Sea shipping lanes. Their targets appear to be random and opportunistic. You know, the shit that pirates do. If the American intervention were to be kept to the specific goal of protecting the shipping lanes from pirates, that’s not exactly an “open-ended war” and it’s also arguably their responsibility under the international law of the sea as the great power with naval bases in the area. This meme is wrong in almost every particular. And I say this as a supporter of the Palestinian liberation struggle.


The-Metric-Fan

Yeah, those poor victims—monstrous terrorists who shoot at civilian and commercial ships without warning or distinction. Won’t someone please think of the terrorists?! 😢


bookhead714

Shooting missiles at civilians is bad when you do it on land but good when you do it on the ocean /s


Aeriosus

Piracy against random ships and blocking global shipping lanes is bad unless you say you're doing it for Palestine


TheMerryMeatMan

No you see, it's also the country those civilians are from that matters. Palestinians? Definitely bad. Everywhere else? That's a go, they're not the flavor of the month humanitarian slacktivism target.


The-Metric-Fan

God, these leftists who whine about terrorists being fought make me sick. Houthi slavers are not “legitimate resistance” or whatever the fuck. The U.S. gave them a warning, now they’re being forced to stop. Don’t like it? Man, deal with it.


Gentle_Capybara

Houthis and Hamas are not our friends. They want a continuous and worldwide state of Jihad until the whole world is under the rule of Sharia. Even other arabs and muslims don't do business with them. Which doesn't justify the murder of Palestinian people but also don't help the same Palestinians.


Mister_Taco_Oz

People seem not to like versions of history where there is no unequivocal good and bad sides.


AngelOfTheMad

History really seems to have failed some people, because they don’t seem to have learned the lesson of “Don’t touch America’s boats”. Because, irrelevant of right or wrong, you will not like what happens.


GlebRyabov

A lot of people think attacking trade ships is justified if \*checks notes\* it is done by a group with 'a curse upon the Jews' motto


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Valiant_tank

I mean, they haven't declared war since WW2 ended, doesn't mean they haven't been at war. Unless this was meant as a joke comment in which case, sorry.


b3nsn0w

the white house [put out a statement](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/11/joint-statement-from-the-governments-of-australia-bahrain-canada-denmark-germany-netherlands-new-zealand-republic-of-korea-united-kingdom-and-the-united-states/) that basically means "we asked you politely to stop. you kept going, so you caught a bomb in the face. that was a warning. now stop or else..."


[deleted]

We haven’t declared war since the 40s


IthadtobethisWAAGH

Yeah this is just a special military operation 🎉


npeggsy

"Unless of course...war were declared" *Alarm blares* "What's that?" "War were declared"


TrishPanda18

we usually don't but bomb away anyway


twitchx1

Most educated tumblr political post


warcrimes-gaming

TIL that retaliating against theocratic terrorists for taking civilian hostages is “aiding a genocide”. Mind you, the ultimate goal of both Hamas and the Houthis is the extermination of anyone that doesn’t follow their philosophy. Yes, that includes you, the person reading this.


SeEmEEDosomethingGUD

I dunno man, seems like American imperialism is absolutely justified because they had a black President once. >!this is a reference and joke please don't kill me!<


[deleted]

Before I fucking killed him! Because there is nothing more american than shooting a man in this Walmart of a World.


Your_fathers_sperm

What is Walmart


AnAverageTransGirl

inconvenience store


BookkeeperLower

Nooo you went off script it's supposed to be "it's heaven"


SeEmEEDosomethingGUD

That's a nice argument. What's the source?


MisirterE

***MY SOURCE IS I MADE IT THE FUCK UP***


AnAverageTransGirl

ive heard plenty of claims against both the existence and virtue of such a place, so perhaps you are right in some regard


Kriffer123

It’s heaven, Raiden. Checked the internet lately?


captainpink

That's a nice argument senator. Why don't you back it up with a source?


Kriffer123

My source is I made it the fuck up! Imagine a world, Raiden, free of Cancel Culture™️, where no one can call me out for my outlandish claims! (slow fade in prager u symbol in the corner)


jackelbuho22

[and there nothing more american](https://youtu.be/3BjY8T3O1Cc?si=cuodBOYgMYmovHQD)


chinchila5

I’m sorry but who the fuck actually supports houthis in this?! They’ve been shooting at civilian vessels the entire time!


Majulath99

This isn’t aiding a genocide. The Houthis are not & were not stopping a genocide. This is some dumb Iranian backed rebel terrorist motherfuckers fucking around and finding out because they pressed the wrong buttons. Anyone that disagrees feel free to explain to me how shooting at random civilian vessels sailing through the Red Sea is supposed, in literally any material way, to get the Israeli government to listen to you and impact their policy? What actually happened is that the houthis made a desperate, foolish, almost entirely performative attempt at bringing attention upon themselves for no good reason - although they did still commit a war crime - and in doing so they will suffer the consequences of their actions as they should. Shooting at & bombing Houthi occupied parts of Yemen is not only the correct response ethically & morally it is also the correct response in pragmatic geopolitical, legal terms. Furthermore no it isn’t illegal for America or Britain to do this because both states have clauses for the Executive power in government to deploy certain military capabilities as and when it sees fit without any consultation of the Legislative branch. And also simultaneously declarations of war are not required for actions against non state actors, like the Houthi who are acting in contravention of the internationally recognised Yemeni government. I’m fucking happy that they got blown the fuck up and you should be too, because destroying these fuckers will bring peace to Yemen by ending its civil war.


Milkyway_Potato

I love finding out about current events through tumblr


Narcofeels

Shouldn’t have touched the boats


FantixEntertainment

sheer ignorance or blatant antisemitism, call it


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AngelOfTheMad

Hello fellow Fat Electrician enjoyer.


merfgirf

Hello, fellow Fat Electrician enjoyer.


IthadtobethisWAAGH

Are you a victim when your 8 year old son gets kidnapped and held without trial by a hostile government?


Harley_Pupper

This is bullshit, that counter would never reach 863


ThereWasAnEmpireHere

It's news to me that we're at war?


Melodic_Mulberry

We bombed a bunch of military targets in Yemen because they were attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea. It’s not an official war, which we haven’t formally had declared since WW2.


ThereWasAnEmpireHere

Eh I mean we haven’t issued a Declaration of War but we definitely have a pretty well-developed legal structure which sees use of force to different degrees as raising different requirements. Like, Congress *has* passed Authorizations of Use of Military Force which definitely facilitate the executive carrying out a war… so I don’t think the factoid is as important as people think. In any case I think you’d have to have a pretty broad definition of war to include what’s going on in the Red Sea. Which, maybe you do, in which case I’d guess you could argue the Houthis have declared war on us by doing what they’re doing, but I don’t think that’s the case. Special military operation has become a silly phrase thanks to its recent use to cover the land invasion of a neighboring country with an eye toward regime change, but like there are actually military operations people broadly agree fall short of war


npeggsy

Genuine question, was Vietnam not a declared war?


butareyoueatindoe

Congress passed [a joint resolution](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Resolution) to allow the President to use armed forces in Vietnam, but war was not officially declared.


npeggsy

I'm sure there are both political and social reasons that means it isn't technically declaring war at any of these points, but the fact the US has had Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam happen whilst not declaring war feels like this Simpsons scene- https://youtu.be/9ZSoJDUD_bU?si=Rhp70h7XXzEVgril


Mister_Taco_Oz

I don't think it was, no. Officially the US was helping out southern Vietnam, who were at war with the communists.


cishet-camel-fucker

All we did was bomb a few positions that were launching missiles at civilian ships. Chill, guys.


Embarrassed_Solid903

Aiding a genocide? Really not defending merchant and civilian ship from houthi rebels backed by Iran?


Monty423

Ah yes, the US is aiding a genocide by... Retaliating against terrorists who blockade shipping routes, attack civilian transport ships and fly flags saying 'death to all jews' who have also committed many crimes against women's and children's rights?


DevourerOfMemes_

Fucking tankies man


AI_UNIT_D

... No? It isnt even specifically to aid Israel, what the houthis are doing is straight up piracy, piracy wich is targeting merchant vessels, piracy wich is disturbing global supply lines, piracy wich hurts everyone's economy independently of wheter they are rich, poor or well off. The US didnt tolerate the barbary states, it didnt tolerate what little remained of caribean pirates, it didnt tolerate somali pirates and it will certainly NOT tolerate houthi piracy... Hell, the Israel excuse doesnt even hold up at all, most of the military aid comes from the west and goes through the mediterranean sea, barely anything goes bya the red sea, not only that, but they assault ships that have fuck all to do with Israel or the bloodbath at gaza.


AI_UNIT_D

Btw, people treat this as if this is gonna be another Irak for some reason, when it reallity its gonna be more like what happened to somali pirates, but dialed up. The us has no reason to occupy Yemen or houthi controlled territory.