It is well known communists cracked down on religion because they are staunchly atheists.

As much as I want religion to be gone, you can't force people to change their beliefs overnight. We frown upon forced conversion by one religion on another; why can't atheist apply the same standard to theists? That was the mistake of communist Afghans and it only led to a severe backlash of inducing the mostly conservative Afghans to become ultra-consenservative Islamists. Every reaction has an opposite but equal reaction. Social changes has to be organic.

Forcing someone to change their beliefs is considered progressivism and secularism? I did not get the memo that progressives are authoritarians. What were the Afghans resisting the Soviets for then?

The Soviet-friendly Afghan government wasn't a) progressive and b) wasn't secular. The government is explicitly Marxist-Leninist who oppressed and forced people to drop their religion as part of state atheism.

The progressivism and secularism you refer to was during the kingdom era before being overthrown by the communist Afghan military. The more liberal attitude is only contained in a bubble in the capital city of Kabul. The rest of 80% of Afghans are still religious conservatives living rural and in poverty. An Afghan female former politician lamented not seeing this because she grew up in liberal Kabul.

Also more importantly, it's a misconception that the US helped the Taliban. The mujahideen was composed of various factions, some are secular, some are conservative, while some are more Islamists. But, the ultraconservative elements only came later in more definite form under the Taliban, which defeated both the secular and conservative forces.

I guess it's true what they say about liberals would rather side with the far-right than let the left take power. But Democrats are doing this in a veeeerrrrryyyy weird way by throwing the working class, lgbt and ethnic minorities under the bus.

Would you say the same to the black and Hispanic voters who elected Trump as being stupid? Look at Europe and they have also have the same far-right problem. De-industrialised Northern France, Eastern Sweden and East Germany are voting the far-right. You can't just tell people to reskill when there are no alternatives offered. You can't also expect them to move. There are still people living in Detroit, right? The problem with Western governments and its citizens is they are bad with offering alternatives and essentially abandoned the working-class. Just look at Liverpool-- they were the second busiest port city in Britain but experienced economic and population decline in the latter half of 20th century. Despite all that, the government of Liverpool has been effective in investing in their communities, attracting businesses, and revitalising their economy and city. And they have always been proud multicultural, has strong working-class background who always voted for Labour, and voted to Remain in the EU unlike its similarly neighbouring de-industralised Northern English counties.

Sure, there are racists who voted Remain, Trump, Sweden Democrats and Le Pen, but liberals need to realise that you can call others racists or misogynists if they haven't offered alternatives. I found it laughable that anti-Trumper social and news bubble keep making character assassinations, but rarely I see posts highlighting how Democrats would do better economically than Trump (and frankly, Harris' economic platform isn't very appealing compared to Trump which is why I understand why people voted for him). Otherwise, those who are left to fend for themselves are feeling vulnerable and lost in a dark place are desperate to hug a dark embrace from the allure of easy promises. I'm amazed you dismissed FDR's quote about economically insecure folks being the ingredients of a dictatorship. It is true then and true now. It just so happens that I am listening to a podcast and the main criticism on both liberal and left alike is the grown hubris of appearing know-it-all and taking down the working-class, either intentionally or not. The sooner the left, liberals and progressives get out of their bubble, look at the problem at close distance, and search for others for inspiration (Liverpool's revitalisation is a success for example), then the sooner they would win back the next election. There is a reason why many electorates sat down because they were not inspired. It's not enough to tell other eligible voters of "tRoLlEy pRoBlEm" which Lemmy and the left drool over. Offer tangible solutions. Blame inflation as much as anyone wants, but the fact of the matter is that Democrats haven't done enough to alleviate the effects which does not make much of the people "feel" the growing economy.

One could say the same about the Liberal Revolution of 1848. It failed, and yet it took many years before much of the liberal and progressive values became culturally ingrained.

"The arc of moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."- Martin Luther King Jr

Good or bad, that's why any ideas never die. That's why the powers-that-be love to censor.

It's similar idea with the evil gods of ancient Mesopotamia. Unlike in most religions where evil deities tempt humans to commit evil acts, evil Mesopotamian deities represent the evils of humanity.

Edit: wording

It's both? Mediterranean and Japanese diet are said to be the healthiest diet. There is a reason why Mediterranean and Japanese are the longest lived in comparison to everyone. If anyone isn't convinced, compare with the Polynesians. They also eat lots of fish and coconuts like the Japanese, but they are some of the most obese in the world due to their wide adoption of ultra processed and fast foods.

I grew up learning British spelling but I prefer American spelling. The American spelling is simplified because words are spelt as phonetically.

We're talking about Ukraine and Russia being in conflict and has to negotiate. What guarantee is there that Russia will respect Ukraine's own sovereignty and will not invade again?

That's why Musk is smart, because he is a scammer.

People poke fun of Musk as being a idiot. But he had us Kaiser Soze'd by pretending to be dumb so that he could implement his self-serving ideas.

No one wins ever in appeasing a tyrant. It is though that ever worked and did not lead to a major war before.

"*Meet me in the middle." said the unjust man

You take a step forward and he takes a step back

"Meet me in the middle." said again by the unjust man*

You do realise that more Ukrainians will die in the future if you are truly concerned? It is obvious that Putin will use any lull to lick his wounds and attack again. He lied multiple times. Why And more importantly, the longer the war drags, the more it becomes more disadvantageous for Russia, even if Ukraine could not win back their territory. Look, sure Russian economy has experienced growth, but as with any economy on a war footing, their economy is already overheating as inflation is rising. The Russian Central Bank increased their interest rate to 21%; ninety-eight percent of all Chinese banks are refusing to give loans to Russia for fear of secondary sanction; there is labour shortage which increases wage on the private sectors as they have to compete with army wages set by Kremlin; and as the war drags on, more Russian men and women are either fleeing or dying which hurts the Russian economy. Now, with manpower shortage, Russia is now relying on North Korean soldiers because he fears further mass mobilisations will cause political chaos. And even so, there is already a growing political rift among the Russian oligarchs and we see the cracks growing and growing the longer the war takes. Not to mention releasing and pardoning Russian prisoners for war effort is already causing rising crime rate to soar and social backlash to communities who received former convicts turned recruits.

No one except armchair generals playing Starcraft, Hearts of Iron or Company Heroes is expecting Ukraine to pull a gamey, miraculous military victory and then march to Moscow. Seeing as letting Putin gain any sort of concessions is any victory to him and will use the lull period to recuperate to attack again, the liberal democratic world should not allow that to happen. Ukraine knows this. They are fighting for their own survival and have nothing to lose so they keep going. You could easily Google to see how many Ukrainians are still willing to fight-- even if they don't retake Crimea or other territories. That's why they attacked Kursk in spite of Putin's nuclear threat. To them, submitting to Kremlin is as good as being nuked because they will face genocide regardless. So they took the gamble, and lo and behold the nuke threat turns out to be just another bluff like the last ones.

However, any ongoing war is always unpredictable. No one expected Ukraine to still keep fighting. No one expected them to retake much of Kharkiv, Kherson and Donetsk. No one expected Russia to still stand following the humiliation. If Putin is somehow able to keep his power and much of his current gains in the foreseeable future, the best that Ukraine could do is to serve him a humiliating political defeat à la North Vietnam against the US by making Putin pay for every inch of the ground gained. But Putin's gains could likely be reversed, when he's gone, because the long term social and financial consequences of invading Ukraine will take effect in the coming generations. Russia will become less of a great power than it was before 2022.

I completely agree that ideally there should be peace, but there needs to be guarantee that Ukraine will not be invaded ever again by duplicitous Russia. Either let Ukraine join NATO or repossess some nuclear weapons.

Hamlet is a remake of and Old Norse legend Amleth.

Hahaha. Well, cry me crocodile tears. These pseudo-peacenik concern trolling about saving Ukrainian lives by advocating for them to surrender, but not once from this rhetoric ever explicitly condemned Russia for blatant violation of international laws and called Putin to withdraw his troops. That's the only way for the war to be over!

Дa товарищ?

A broken clock is right twice a day.

Youtube analyst William Spaniel mentioned that Ukraine was so bold with the invasion of Kursk, even with the threat of a nuclear response, because they have nothing to lose. Submitting to Russia-- which of course will be followed by a genocide of some sort-- is as good as being nuked anyway. Besides, Zelensky knows Xi Jinping is their ironic ally by keeping Putin in reins from actually firing nuke. Xi gets irritated whenever Putin threatens with nukes. Only Putin will lose by firing one. Everyone will hate him for it. That being said, an IRBM firing is just another day for Ukrainians and means nothing for them so long as it's not nuclear armed. It is another bluff as usual.

Bernie Sanders is correct that the Democrats abandoned the working class. I will be blunt and say that Lemmy has ironic bigotry and disdain on the people of colour and working class who voted for Trump. It is important to understand the other side even if you don't agree; that way you would know where they are coming from and sway them. Call Trump voters of all backgrounds racists, hillbillies, mysoginists, redneck, traitors, Uncle Toms or Uncle Hector; but people don't have jobs and crime rate is up. The former blue wall is now the orange Rust Belt that colours Trump. And it is taboo to say this but many places are indeed overwhelmed by too much immigration since those places don't have the infrastructure to support the sudden population increase. Chronically underfunded public services make locals and immigrants compete for school, jobs and hospital beds. Immigrants are blamed instead, when in fact it's the affluent middle and upper classes who keep voting against building more social housing and expanding health services because they don't want their property value to go down and/or pay more taxes. And frankly, I believe many Lemmy users fall into this class camp and don't want to admit we're part of the problem. Many of us are college-educated with higher economic mobility and earnings live in safe and affluent areas because we benefit from the new knowledge economy. We are not rubbing shoulders with working class folks who lost their traditional manufacturing jobs and not experiencing their every day struggle. So, we become detached from the real lived experiences of those left out and deprived of opportunities. We consign rural and de-industrialised Appalachian former workers as ignorant and racists, when in fact we're also being bigoted against them for dismissing their genuine feelings of not having anymore jobs left, and their community left rotting by offshoring and automation caused by mismanaged globalisation. Why else has protectionism returned to the political menu? Has no one asked this instead of simply saying autarky and protectionism is dumb and makes their favourite video-games more expensive?

Simply saying that the economy is doing better is not enough if the rest are not feeling it. Just because we're feeling cushy in our office job doesn't mean those in the Rust Belt are feeling the same. We would not say we're fine if we have cancer on the liver while the rest of the body don't.

There is no denying that there are outright bigotry, but many people are left behind by emerging new technology and job market trend. And the folks who are out of jobs who could not put food on the table is the stuff that dictators are made of. I did not say this, it was Franklin Roosevelt. He knows that desperate people are easily brainwashed and swayed. Tell me you have not been in a dark place on a personal level before and you have not had negative thoughts dominate? It's the same situation happening right now with the working class which manifest on the societal level.

If the mostly affluent Lemmy users, progressives and liberals realise this, then we can take back progressivism into the political spotlight. The same progressives who always call for empathy do not place the same to the blue collar, working class folks left behind economically. Progressives need to understand the people different from them. It is only right to learn even from the other side.

During the Great Depression, neighbours would buy their neighbouring farmers' property at a penny to prevent being possessed by uncallous bankers, and threaten auctioneers for not agreeing with the sale. Where is that solidarity right now?

I doubt Putin will press the red button. Even Xi Jinping gets irritated whenever Putin threatens with nuclear weapons and tells him to stop with the obvious bluff.

Using nukes even against Ukraine will literally piss everyone off. It will make Russia even more pariah.