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.

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.

Permabanned for “harassment”

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

Sure, Americans are definitely to blame. The Democrats are Americans, by the way.

What you’re becoming is much worse than Russia.

Kamala lost fair and square. She was a shitty candidate who ran a shitty campaign. Supposing that Arabs and tankies are what lost her the election, well, perhaps she should have tried to win them over? Perhaps she could have promised to stop supporting the mass slaughter, for instance, but I guess unconditional support for Israel was more important than keeping Trump out of the White House!

And yet, despite the total failure of the Democrats to stop Trump, you still cling to them. “If only those damn Arabs had voted for us! So what if we’re killing their families?” “Tankies torpedoed Kamala for not being the perfect candidate!” Pathetic! You should own your failure - the Democrats failed you, and you failed yourselves and everyone else for not demanding more from them. You could have used this to grow as a person, morally and intellectually. Instead, you just fall back on scolding like in 2016. You’ll never learn a thing.

The white moderate is at it again, MLK remains undefeated in his assessment

Yes, that does make you a Nazi.

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.

Comrade Donnie over here nationalizing industries, you love to see it

Being the best president of the 21st century is also an incredibly low bar. Two of the five are child molesters!

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