4 ms·

Focusing on the good is an important step towards better mental health. That said, good and bad are in the eye of the beholder. For example, Iran and Saudi Arab

by aftbit 3y ago

Focusing on the good is an important step towards better mental health. That said, good and bad are in the eye of the beholder. For example, Iran and Saudi Arabia restoring ties is likely very bad news for Israel.

nyokodo 3y ago
> Iran and Saudi Arabia restoring ties is likely very bad news for Israel While geopolitics creates the strangest bedfellows, this is probably an attempt to play China off against the USA/Japan as well as shake a few geopolitical trees. I doubt some handshakes are going to resolve centuries of mutual hatred and Sunni/Shia supremacy between Saudi and Iran. Saudi has mountains of cash but needs a security guarantor. The USA has played that role for some decades but is losing interest so Saudi is maneuvering to regain American interest or gain another guarantor. They may be betting that diplomatic excursions with Iran ostensibly brokered by China will lead to the USA or Japan stepping in to prevent China gaining greater influence in the region, and if not maybe China would work out for them.
- adra 3y ago
  Hey, look at it this way, the Yemen civil war is still ongoing, and if they are it's likely because Iran and Saudi Arabia are still funding it, which would conflate to eat least a cold war between the sides even if there's some surface level of democracy forming.
sgt101 3y ago
I thought that Saudi Arabia and Israel were on the verge of a rapprochement before October 7th? The offer on the table was F35's and access to the Tempest program in the UK in exchange for normalization. This would have put the Saudis right on top vs. Iran.
Miner49er 3y ago
Very true, countries signing up to end coal use is bad news for a coal miner.
- adra 3y ago
  And democracy is bad news for autocrats. I'm not saying that miners have a moral stain, far from it. Simply that a thing that is good for you and yours may be a significant net negative for the world / population at large. I can certainly empathise for those displaced by a change in geopolitics/economics etc that can significantly harm a subset of the greater whole, it won't stop my resolve if it's truly for the betterment of the world.
Adverblessly 3y ago
> Iran and Saudi Arabia restoring ties is likely very bad news for Israel. It is bad news for the West. Iran will stop after restoring Muslim control of Israel in much the same way that Germany stopped after restoring German control of the Sudetenland.
ganzuul 3y ago
That's like saying the eye transplant is going to increase organ trafficking.

by aftbit 3y ago

nyokodo 3y ago

> Iran and Saudi Arabia restoring ties is likely very bad news for Israel While geopolitics creates the strangest bedfellows, this is probably an attempt to play China off against the USA/Japan as well as shake a few geopolitical trees. I doubt some handshakes are going to resolve centuries of mutual hatred and Sunni/Shia supremacy between Saudi and Iran. Saudi has mountains of cash but needs a security guarantor. The USA has played that role for some decades but is losing interest so Saudi is maneuvering to regain American interest or gain another guarantor. They may be betting that diplomatic excursions with Iran ostensibly brokered by China will lead to the USA or Japan stepping in to prevent China gaining greater influence in the region, and if not maybe China would work out for them.

adra 3y ago
Hey, look at it this way, the Yemen civil war is still ongoing, and if they are it's likely because Iran and Saudi Arabia are still funding it, which would conflate to eat least a cold war between the sides even if there's some surface level of democracy forming.

sgt101 3y ago

I thought that Saudi Arabia and Israel were on the verge of a rapprochement before October 7th? The offer on the table was F35's and access to the Tempest program in the UK in exchange for normalization. This would have put the Saudis right on top vs. Iran.

Miner49er 3y ago

Very true, countries signing up to end coal use is bad news for a coal miner.

adra 3y ago
And democracy is bad news for autocrats. I'm not saying that miners have a moral stain, far from it. Simply that a thing that is good for you and yours may be a significant net negative for the world / population at large. I can certainly empathise for those displaced by a change in geopolitics/economics etc that can significantly harm a subset of the greater whole, it won't stop my resolve if it's truly for the betterment of the world.

Adverblessly 3y ago

> Iran and Saudi Arabia restoring ties is likely very bad news for Israel. It is bad news for the West. Iran will stop after restoring Muslim control of Israel in much the same way that Germany stopped after restoring German control of the Sudetenland.

ganzuul 3y ago

That's like saying the eye transplant is going to increase organ trafficking.