Bulletins and News Discussion from March 24th to March 30th, 2025 - The Genocide Continues - COTW: Qatar

Image is of Gazans breaking their fast with the Iftar meal during the ongoing Ramadan.

Due to a request by @miz@hexbear.net, this thread's COTW is Qatar.

The ceasefire deal broke down early last week after Israel unilaterally changed the terms of the agreement and then blamed Hamas for not meeting them. Violence against civilians has rapidly accelerated to pre-ceasefire levels, with many hundreds dead already, aid once again cut off, and Israeli soldiers once again entering and occupying the attritional labyrinth that is Gaza.

I'm not yet in a position to make any solid predictions or analysis, as the geopolitical situation in and around Israel has changed fairly substantially over the last 6 months; in some ways benefiting Israel, and in other ways not. We know for sure how Hamas and Ansarallah are reacting (thankfully, with open hostility to both Israel and the United States), but the state of Hezbollah has been a giant question mark for months now, and precisely what Iran plans to do (beyond the usual level of supplying weaponry and intelligence to all the allies it can) is unknown. Syria will be almost certainly be a big wildcard, and we'll have to see if the compradors in Damascus can weather the storm.

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733 comments

German Greens want to force people of all ages to serve the state in a new Freedom Service™. Either military or some community service.
"It is time to ask the question: What can you do for you country?", Schulze said to Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The threats are growing.
"In order make our society more robust, to defend our freedom, and to strengthen cooperation, we need everybody. The Freedom Service is a collective project for Germany, by all and for all. Through the Freedom Service, we will to bring together generations and milieus, strengthen our society, and defend what is important to us."
I'm not making this up btw.
They're no longer in government of course, that's just their contribution to the debate about re-introducing conscription.
- Dang not just german greens but bavarian greens?
  Anyways they've been floating that kind of shit for forever because there's a huge demand for people working in healthcare, senior care, education etc. which just can't get fixed. No better wages wouldn't help at all stop asking.
  Like I'm not even opposed to a general idea of that kind of service that will also force people from different walks of life to interact with each other but in the case of germany it'll only be done to get cheap labor for critical work out of the people.
  
  Why should the bavarian greens be any better? I come from the state that has been "green" for a decade and the greens there are basically cdu and pocketed by big car.
- Something I really don't like about conscription (besides the "teach young people to kill for capital" thing) is how condescendingly the victims of conscription is addressed by the politicians aged 50+ supporting it.
  You learn a lot of valuable skills, you get in shape, you learn the values of teamwork and discipline, it is so good for social cohesion. Actually it is for your own best but you are all too immature and childish to understand so we, the responsible adults, need to use the coercive apparatus of the state to force you into military service if you refuse.
  If it is so good, why not use it for everyone, including people our own age? Don't be absurd.
  The idea of conscription works very well as an extension of reactionary old and middle-aged people's vicious hatred against young people.
- German politicians should be measured in their percentage likelihood of having a sieg heil outburst in public

733 comments