It’s a “yes, but” kind of situation. Israel absolutely funded and promoted Hamas with the idea that it would be a counterbalance to the secular PLO and cause infighting, but what ended up happening is Fatah and the Palestinian Authority became (by and large) willing compradors, while Hamas not only remained a resistance movement, but moderated their views over time.

The original Hamas charter was basically boilerplate antisemitism, blaming the Jews for the French Revolution, the Freemasons, and so-on, and stated explicitly that their fight was with the Jews. The updated charter of 2017 is completely different, in form and content the charter of a secular national liberation movement. The new charter rejects the idea that their struggle is with the Jewish people, but with the Zionist project. They still maintain Islamic framing, of course (“In the name of Allah, the most merciful”, etc.), but the actual content of their rhetoric is that of secular national liberation. They’re likewise allied with and have the support of secular resistance groups.

No bodies, nothing to count. The death toll therefore doesn’t increase.

It’s cheaper, easier on logistics, and it does its job fine. The Ukraine war has proved, once again, that no tank is invincible, and the greatest danger to tanks is from dedicated antitank weapons rather than other tanks.

It’s ammo’s job to detonate, you just don’t want it detonating too early, or in the wrong place.

This is the correct answer. The autoloader also enabled them to remove one crew member, thus reducing interior space and increasing armor thickness for the same weight. Contemporary western tanks like the M60 didn’t have blowout panels either, so the argument that ‘the Bolshevik hordes have no regard for the lives of their peasant conscripts, while the enlightened west spares no expense to protect its precious troops’ holds no water

Overblown. Leopard 2s also throw their turrets when the ammo gets hit. Abrams have the blowout panels in the turret, improving survivability, but there is no tank in which having your ammunition detonate is going to be a good time.

The T-72 (the T-90 is just a highly upgraded T-72) remains an effective tank that can be produced in large numbers and has lower logistical requirements than the 70-ton Western heavy MBTs. It’s the same distinction as in WW2 between Shermans and T-34s vs. the German heavies - yes, at the immediate tactical level, the heavier tank is better, but at the operational and strategic levels, the lighter tank that’s available in large numbers and has a lower logistical requirement is superior

The entire western elite was involved in a huge pedophile ring? Russia must be behind this!

Well they’re not gonna mention that one

When Kojima scans feet, he does not destroy them.

They have no defined borders, the most extreme among them claim the whole middle east, and they just keep getting more extreme. The progression is obvious

I don’t know how so many people are still falling for this. Sure, the Iranian government isn’t exactly “good”, but they’re the only major counterbalance to the genocidal Nazi imperialists that’s left in the region.

Nothing is forever, even cold November rain

Nothing is forever, even cold November rain

To be America’s enemy is dangerous. To be america’s friend is fatal.

God, I would hate if my country exercised power over entrepreneurs and private companies. It would suck so bad. If my government did anything to curb the power of business, I would kill myself.

Is there a German compound word for chuck chair? Cuckstuhl?

If America and Israel were supporting protests in hell, I would have no choice but to support the devil

Love the digital panopticon, love being tracked by Nazi pedophiles at all times

Quick! Jam it into toasters! Put LLMs into keyboards so they rewrite everything inputted! AI-powered screwdrivers!