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Radio War Nerd EP #473 — Nasrallah Assassination, feat. Joshua Landis (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-30 01:48:58
Imported:
2024-09
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Content

Guest: Joshua Landis

Recorded: September 29, 2024

We talk to Joshua Landis about his 5 Takeaways from Israel's Killing of Nasrallah...

Follow Joshua on Twitter.

Check out our previous RWN episodes with Joshua:-EP #118 — Turkey, Syrian Kurds & Afrin Invasion-EP #150 — Idlib & the Syria Endgame-EP #358 — Syria War Update

Music interlude by Brendon Anderegg. Check out music from his group Mountains here

Total time: 55:57

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here

*

Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd

Sound production by Telescope Audio

Check out the Radio War Nerd Merch store here!

Order your print or ebook of John Dolan's new book Erdogan Pizza: Dispatches from a Violent & Grotesque World

Files

Comments

gatito

I already know this is gonna make me very sad

AG

In Joshua's article, take away #4, he says that that the resistance forces believed the West would turn away from the atrocities in Gaza but haven't. I have learned to think of Israel as a very bad friend and want to the US to distance itself. Perhaps, as you mentioned on previous shows, the next generations will remember these horrors.

NYCM&AHole

This guy never read disconnecting the dots

William

I don’t think the 9/11 comparison is a good one; I think the idf didn’t think Gaza/hamas was a threat, whereas they clearly saw hezbollah as one, and divided resources accordingly. I can see the claim of 10/7 being allowed to happen, but Isreal has never needed much justification to murder Palestinians before that, so why would they need it now

William

People who think “just get Iran out and no more problems” are fucking morons. As if there’s no such thing as blowback and there’s an actual way to “take Iran out”

NYCM&AHole

Yup this guy never read disconnecting the dots

Geronimo Covarrubias

Really depressing episode. I do think they're discounting Iran's show of force too much, they did telegraph what they were gonna hit, when then fired everything in waves. And they still hit some of the targets. I think the reason Iran hasn't retaliated is just don't interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake, Germany has started pulling support and when Netanyahu spoke at the UN most people walked out.

Podconsoomer

Hamas largely destroyed? You sure about that Joshua

hence therefore

Grim ep even by RWN standards. Great analysis

Cameron Young

I don’t think a return to a Pan Arabism is likely, I also can’t connect with the analysis of “these Arab states just need more democracy” Given your comments about Brute power- What does that give them? Make their Armies large enough to fight Israel? Reverse recognition by Egypt? Get the US out of the region? You have hit on the symptoms, but the cure is still elusive to us all.

Hamburgler

I think much of landis analysis is correct but I do think he has come to the conclusion that this round of fighting has a determined conclusion and that Israel has achieved total victory. I don’t think that is correct. There will always be new leaders and I think it’s a bit premature to presume that Hezbollah is finished in this round. The RWN guys always make this point about new leaders emerging. Hezbollah has been dug in for a long time. There surely will be others who are capable. We shall see.

xasquim

He's very clearly just parroting his own Ameri-brained analysis, he's seriously dismissing the role America and co have played in destabilizing the middle East for the past century, inciting the sectarian conflict and "disagreement" that he blames for why much of the Middle East is the way it is. Utterly ridiculous tbh

Neil Y

Perhaps my memory is poor but feels like it's been a while since we've had a Brendon interlude. Much appreciated.

xasquim

Yeah honestly Landis' analysis for why things are the way they are in these respective countries comes off as extremely juvenile, and for lack of a better word, Ameri-brained

George Gallowgay

The killing of Nasrallah was a “stunning show” of Israel’s “technological superiority” (landis’ “takeaway” #1)… how? The willingness to bomb residential blocks is not a tech innovation, unless your analysis is permanently clouded by a western perspective. Drivel.

Red Herring McGuffin

they don't need to justify the slaughter to themselves, they needed al aqsa flood to justify it in the eyes of the western world

Stephen Norrie

Feels like the Israel has won narrative of much of the episode is too early. Hezbollah's still firing rockets, their leadership has been devastated but not to the extent that they can't arrange a succession or function at all, and they still have battalions trained for an Israeli invasion with the possibility of a ground invasion very real. And that might well go badly for the Israelis given the difficulties they've had dealing with Hamas. It's always been the case, and still true, that for them the bombing and James Bond shit is the easy bit, the dying they find harder.

Hilary is Pant-suited Syphilis

This was extremely depressing. Mainly because the only thing that would deter Israel is a military defeat. The last year has shown they can do whatever they want up to and including genocide and the western governments will continue to support them. The protest movements haven’t been able to exert enough pressure to get their governments to pull back support.

Hans Anders

Exactly. Just because they found Nasrallah doesn’t mean they can pull off a ground invasion. And until they do, the settlers cannot return to the north.

William

They didn’t need that during the march of return

William

You guys are acting like he’d have his position in academia if he didn’t have some brain dead viewpoints

William

I think he’s referring to their ability to have pinpointed his location, despite their normally good opsec

Red Herring McGuffin

The great march of return is but a tiny fraction of the slaughter and destruction of the current phase of the genocide

William

The slaughter the israllys visit upon the Palestinians has always been disproportionate and on the thinnest of pretenses. Why would that need to change now?

William

I don’t think a military defeat would deter them. They seem fully bent on using nukes to win if they need to

Hilary is Pant-suited Syphilis

Israel may want to use nukes but then using a nuke (which would have to be a very small nuke otherwise it risks contaminating their own environment) would open that option for Russia in Ukraine and might possibly be a red line America wouldn’t want crossed and Israel does what it does because it has the full/unrestrained backing and support of the US and other western governments. Anything Israel does imo is a joint venture between it and other imperial countries.

Nasreen

Shockingly weak analysis & frankly neo Orientalist drivel, but then again the guy can’t even to bring himself to say the word “genocide”. It’s honorable and necessary to be skeptical of blind boosterism but excessive pessimism masquerading as sober analysis serves practically the same purpose. I appreciate the diversity of guests that RWN brings on but really struggling to understand what Landis brings to the table here.

T

Israel’s GDP has fallen by 20% in the last twelve months. There is no end in sight for the conflict in Gaza or the north, and the slow attrit from Yemen continues. How much longer can the Israeli economy sustain the war at this rate of degredation? Money and goods can continue to flow from the US, but if the economy is ceasing to function the country cannot sustain itself. This is why Israeli is acting with such manic determination to wrap this war up - their economy is on its last legs and their enemies know this - this is how guerilla warfare works and let’s not forget it just because there has been a big emotional set back.

PostmasterFenian

I emailed Joshua landis about the 2006 hezzbollah war this summer he got back pretty quickly with a decent response. Always enjoy his appearances even if I disagree on some points but unfortunately he may be right.

Smellslikeupdogs

Yes it seemed like a stretch when JL claimed “Hamas is destroyed”

Sean Atkinson

Does this guy even speak arabic? Was this episode aimed at ensuring this show does not get demonetized? Cause thats what it looks like. How do you always have a propagandist american white guy available to comment on organizations they are completely removed from?

Sean Atkinson

"I'm sure Iran was urging him". Mind reading much?

William

At the end of the day, Mr Landis has an extensive knowledge of Syria and the Middle East, but still can’t escape the prevailing theories of political formation that have been put forth by people like Francis Fukuyama (who isn’t wrong, just not 100% correct). To paraphrase tarence ray, “it goes to show what no dialectics [and or historical materialism] does to a motherfucker”

James Johnson

Always good to have a dissenting voice on, here are my critiques: 1) There’s no way Hamas expected 10/7 to be met with enthusiastic backing from Arab states, their aims were to put the Palestinian question back on the table and torpedo Saudi normalization, both of which were achieved. 2) All this mention of dysfunctional Arab regimes, yet none of Egypt. I appreciate Vincent Bevin’s analysis of what would happen if the US and Gulf allowed a democratic process there and why that won’t happen if they can help it. 3) what about the significance of his martyrdom??? What happened to the idea that Israel operates like a mad dog with no strategic thinking, undertaking operation because they can? The media narrative is that this has neutralized resistance and only time will tell, and I guess we’ve learned post Ukraine not to make predictions, but…

Nicholas Levis

How is Israel so strong relative to neighbors? What would it be without full blind backing of US superpower, its arms, intel, tech, money, and politics run by Israel's supporters?

Nicholas Levis

The change obviously will never come out of Israel. It is possible in United States.

Nicholas Levis

do not confuse unisono blob media with where US people will be in future

Alex

Seriously. All investment in Israel has dried up, Israelis are leaving in droves, northern Israel is increasingly depopulated… it’s Hitler opening up a second front

Alex

This reeks of the “western sanctions will crush the Russian economy” line we saw in the weeks after the invasion of Ukraine. Overestimating the western powers against a determined enemy that has had decades to prepare

T

I can’t be the only one that hears that quote in a thick Kentucky brogue

Inmybirkin

I appreciate his perspective but honestly I find most of it useless, bar his critique of Iran.

Sam Zeng

What is clear is that with out US support Israel is simply not a viable state. Military and economically.

Inmybirkin

How good is the opsec though let’s be fr he was killed in a crowded Beirut neighborhood a city notoriously crowded with intelligence operatives. Idk the narratives are just writing themselves right now.

John Waaben

Agreed, Israel has been shown to be attrited economically at the very least- along with troop casualties that have led them to mobilizing the ultra-orthodox community.

Tyler Berglund

I wasn’t particularly convinced by Joshuas tweet of crystal ball predictions, but hearing him explain it makes more sense of it. I respect his work and his opinion but find a few flaws in this. Primarily Iran as a paper tiger. The region is mostly behaving in accordance with Israels nuclear deterrence, I don’t think that makes Iran a paper tiger, thats a bit hyperbolic.

Red Herring McGuffin

does he really not speak arabic after living in syria for four years? if so it'd go some way to explaining some of his stupid takes.

Sean Atkinson

Oh my God, "that is the difference between arabs and the west ....Europeans are rule followers" Great example showing what western "experts" are all about.

Miko

I agree with the other commenter's point that this is a VERY western-centric view on things. I'm glad you had Joshua on the show again and hope he comes back. However, the analysis seems extremely "doomer" for the non-US factions in the same way analysts had similar dim views on Russian chances in Ukraine. Which failed to materialize as Russia continues to meat grind through multiple Ukrainian armies in spite of the full backing of NATO. On the primacy of US and Israel tech, intel, military, balance of power, etc. This still boils down to "we're going to bomb them into submission" as used in Iraq and Afghanistan. 20 years on and those countries are run by the Iraqis and the Taliban (again). The long term doesn't favor "making the rubble bounce" as we keep seeing war, after war, after war. Listening to this you'd think Hez has ceased to exist and Iran has collapsed.

Ander Pierce

How is the capacity to destroy huge chunks of the opposition's officer corp anything other than technological superiority? Hezbollah cannot intercept the weapons or their delivery systems, and so far lacks either the capacity or willingness to retaliate in kind. Israeli technical superiority is not pretty, but it isn't inaccurate to characterize it as 'technical superiority' and it certainly isn't drivel.

Jess

don't be sad, a whole new generation of bums is coming up... It's going to be wild

drizzly_november

He grew up in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War and has been a regular RWN guest on Syria for years. You don't have to agree with his analysis but he does have an informed perspective here.

Podconsoomer

They would be nothing, just like Nicaragua it would collapse the second the weapons stop flowing in.

Lord-Admiral of the Pyrenees

They would not be “nothing” but they wouldn’t be able to do anything near what they can now

Podconsoomer

Relative to what they are now they’d be nothing. At best they’d last a couple more years on their own and that’s being generous imo

Miko

Every show needs a Brendon interlude.

Bry

Someone is not watching Jon Elmer’s weekly reports on EI lol

Miko

Probably not a good sign for global stability that we need emergency episodes every few days.

Tommy Edmunds

To further underscore your points, Moody’s downgraded israeli bonds to Baa1 indicating a serious collapse in their economic outlook

PostmasterFenian

great points While I still really respect Joshua Landis and enjoy his apperances on Radio War Nerd I think he's somewhat off here. I emailed Landis a while back (august after the assassinations) when he stated on bob wright's podcast that hzb lost the 2006 war- which at the time i thought was an insane statement. He replied pretty quickly that if iran and hzb were smart they would lay low and at most do minimal calibrated non esclatory responses. Welp they did what you said they should do landis and the psychotic israeli's still escalated. I also just think it reflects western bias that over emphasizes air power. Air power can't win wars of occupation. His crowing about US and Israeli technological superiority just strikes me of all the talk of us air power in vietnam (a war where the favorable kill death ratio is constantly brought up). As soon as HZB and the axis of resistance get's good air defenses like in the vietnam war it's over.

Inmybirkin

I agree that I don’t see the point in downplaying it but I also think that this episode is just full of premature triumphalism

Hafiz Celkan

need like four hours in a float tank with Sina rahmani laughing on loop to undo what this Fauntleroy McBlanco did to my time on this earth. his thoughts feel straight-jacketed, overconfident. i assume he consults.

Demented Avenger

Jared Kushner's post on Twitter epitomizes what the Scarecrow told Dorothy Gale: Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking.

JoR

It's always a good sign for the show when an episode gets 70+ comments in 12 hours. I'm not saying that ironically, either. Engagement and controversy is a good thing, it shows that the show isn't just an echo chamber. With that said, really hope you can get Amal Saad on, maybe even next episode? I know that's a tough ask, but basically getting two perspectives and finding the "truth in the middle" would be productive. Honestly, my gut, not-backed-by-evidence reaction is that Israel may have just popularized Hezbollah in Lebanon. Even if you're anti Hezbollah, the precedent of Israel just leveling your country to assassinate a leader is not good. Also, if Israel does go through with even a "limited" ground invasion, it's only going to cause more issues. If they're smart they will "quit while they're ahead.". But lets be honest who ever quits while they're ahead?

.

Yeah this was some white supremacist shit tbh.

JoR

It's amazing listening back to old episodes, especially the first 50, and how much "lower" the stakes were. The first emergency episode was either for the Paris attacks, or the Russian Sukoi getting shot down by turkey. Than I think we went like a year without one until the failed Turkish coup. Much simpler times when the Syria war was the center of all news. Lmao!

Isaac Suárez

Great interview, but I feel like we should push back on two assertions “the IDF has destroyed Hamas” and “the IDF will destroy Hezbollah.” The civilian structures of these organizations have been shattered by Israeli attacks, but the armed wings still seem like they’re kicking. Israel still can’t control Gaza- they’re mostly just stuck in the Netzarim corridor and southern border with Egypt. Hamas is still hitting IDF units and has inflict significant material and human casualties. Their tunnel system is still largely intact. Hezbollah still has thousands of fighters deployed in fortifications in southern Lebanon- it will take months of fighting and many casualties to destroy these positions. They are deeply enmeshed in Lebanese society and have access to the eastern border with Syria, where they can receive resupplies. The situation is dire, but a big element of the severity is that Israel still faces major obstacles to victory. They use strikes against high value targets, in part, to distract from how little they’ve managed to accomplish after a year of war.

steppingstone

i can't lie, this is the most deflated i've ever felt after a RWN ep

Smallbusinessman

Jesus this guy sucked. I think this is the first guest I didn't like.

Cameron Young

If Israel is not going to invade, just hit more spec ops raids or Just bombs away from the air, doesn’t that speak to the inherent weakness of Israel as opposed to Hezbollah and Iran. A leaderless movement with a disrupted communications network and you aren’t gonna go? It wouldn’t get “easier”. Israel is gonna just punish the people who live there.

Isaac Suárez

Israel and the US are masterful when it comes to killing, but terrible when it comes to winning wars. If either had a lick of sense, they would not be in the current mess- they would’ve cut deals with their beaten enemies while they had all the leverage (the examples that come to mind are the USSR, Russia, the Iraqi opposition, Fatah, the PA, Syrian government, and Taliban.)

Smallbusinessman

left wing pro-Palestine observers have been saying this since like December. they need to lose militarily before this ends. it will result in millions slaughtered.

Yairo Martis

That's more Tom than Tarence though.

Yairo Martis

We can't even get honest casualty figures for the IDF (same goes double for Ukraine).

Yairo Martis

It was direly needed after getting rope-a-doped with a series of gut punches.

Yairo Martis

Well, the Israeli ground invasion has started. Let's see if Hezbollah can still quagmire the IDF.

Yairo Martis

It's really one government though supplying nearly all of the material, monetary, intel and logistical support.

Yairo Martis

They didn't raze Gaza City during the march of return. Just maimed and killed people with small arms fire.

Matthew Duhamel

Definitely disagree with Landis on a lot, and his bias definitely shows. Calling systematic regime change that has killed millions "mischievous" makes me consider him a non-serious thinker. The some elements I hope you find some smart people to come on and respond to / critique are: 1. The idea that Islamic countries need to just figure out democracy -- some real space here to acknowledge our complicity in preventing that over the years, even as we claimed we were trying to nurture it with violence. 2. The idea that a two-state solution is a viable one the US should push for and support -- without any acknowledgement of the military imbalance that would need to be addressed to make that viable makes the suggestion almost absurd. If Palestine doesn't have a Nuke and F-35s and tanks you best believe Israel would keep doing what they're doing. There's no state without the capacity for state violence. 3. That the Palestinians would accept a "modicum" of justice and that would totally dismantle Hezbollah and Hamas' powerbase. Laughable to the point where I wonder if he thinks Palestinians are stupid. They deserve much more than a drop of justice, and I don't see how after all this any major percentage of the population would accept anything less (nor should they)

Michael S. Judge

The comparison of 10/7 to 9/11 is an accurate one, but not because "America had no defenses" for that kind of attack – that's thoroughly and irrefutably wrong. The single most important similarity is the mounting critical mass of evidence that Israel, just like the USA, knew what was coming for a long, long time and let it happen as a matter of policy, because it would finally give a generation of psychopaths the pretext they needed for the insane "new world" they've spent decades salivating over.

Brian Brain

At one point Landis speaks about how Middle Eastern (ME) countries are not nation-states like Western nations; that Western 'nation-states' are 'rule followers' with the implication being that ME countries are not. Coincidentally, the 'nation-state' form has only ever worked for the (Western) nations (and later their proxies) that ruled over global empires for centuries, that extracted (and continue to extract) massive surpluses from peripheral nations, and drew almost all of the borders of 'nations' we see on a map today. These same 'successful' nation-states also happen to be the nations that have written and enforced the rules imposed upon the global south and peripheral nations. Lebanon itself, is an example par excellence of a technocratic Western imposed (failed) state-building project. In this way, I find Landis' framing and 'statecract' perspective completely outdated and utterly lacking in ability to historically explain or theorize about the nature of conflict in the Middle East or the world at large. This assumption that the 'nation-state' form can seemingly be copy/pasted and imposed is a pure fantasy that has literally blown up in the face of the United States, and other Western nations, in almost all of their historical attempts to do so. The nation-state and system of nation-states have 'functioned' for those states that continue to consume, produce, extract surpluses from, and define and enforce the rules upon weaker states. So rather than asking why the nation-state form 'fails' in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia; it is more valuable to think what is the purpose of state-building projects (that have never worked) and how rhetoric and discourses of 'failed' and 'successful' nations legitimizes outside intervention, domination, extraction, and war-crimes. Finally, one cannot truly begin to understand the origins of Zionism and Israel itself, without engaging with the culturally hegemonic Western conceptualizations of the nation, the nation-state, and who belongs to the nation and within its sovereign territory.

fw

Incredible wording here btw

William

Damn. Sorry to hear that, get well soon

William

I can see that argument, but isreals history is dotted with similar intelligence failures, like the Yom Kippur War, where they thought there was no way Egypt was going to attack. Just seems that there is more stupidity involved here, than with 9/11, but that could be because I think the israllys are fucking retarded

William

I guess if a big part of your economy is using the slave labor of the group you’re genociding, then labor costs are going to go up

William

Yeah, you need an army to hold ground, or to do some sort of combined arms doctrine. Yemen shows that all the air superiority in the world doesn’t mean victory is guaranteed

Tyler Berglund

Landis recently tweeted this madness: ‘As for the broader resistance front, I don't foresee it crumbing. Assad was left in contol of Damascus by the US/Israel and the European powers because they feared the alternative.’ US/Israel and EU powers armed, trained, funded and did propaganda for the alternative they supposedly ‘feared’. I fear Landis might believe basic falsehoods that negates entire sections of his analysis.

Alex

Love the RWN comments section for exactly this type of discussion

NYCM&AHole

Looks like you guys need to do a new recording

JJ

Boy did this age badly

NYCM&AHole

It aged almost as fast as multiple volleys of hypersonic missiles

JoR

Exactly, I agree Isaac. One very important point John and Mark always bring up: it's very hard to "cut a deal" when you're winning. Even though it's the smart thing to do, empires and nations always convince themselves they can get a "better deal". It rarely seems to work that way

Karl Childers

welp looks like someone didn't know what the fuck they were talking about with respect to Iranian long range missile capability

Turdferg24

This aged horribly lol

.

This guy is like a step above that NYT’s “journalist” y’all had on about africa that ended up writing the “mass rape by Hamas” article. Im totally cool with listening to someone like this because echo chambers are shit and people should hear different “perspectives” to think through their own shit but good fucking god lol I was like this 🤨 the majority of the time.

Cheya Cary

Not a square millimeter of IDF boot unlicked

NYCM&AHole

Yeah i was like this guy is a fucking moron when he claimed we didn’t know about 9/11.

Doug Cartel

So uh this aged badly I guess

Laura Bouchard

lol a bit of whoops on this episode!!

a clash of purple

It's an ongoing situation, of course, so new developments might come out, but I am confused why Iran's missile barrage disproves Landis's thesis. For a long time, RWN seems to have taken for granted that Iran is capable of a missile swarm that will overwhelm the Iron Dome and do something to Israel. They've lobbed a couple of volleys at Israel now, and they (apparently) have nothing to show for it. They certainly haven't dissuaded the Israelis from attacking them or their allies. The refrain always seems to be "They're holding the good stuff in reserve." It's starting to sound a little hollow. Landis's point is that Iran can't or won't protect its allies, and that means the whole "Axis of Resistance" is mostly a Western fantasy. It remains to be seen whether he's right or not, but the backlash against him calling out Iran for its apparent weakness in the face of Israeli aggression doesn't seem warranted. In any case, it's a really, really bad idea, but the Israelis have apparently decided to put Landis's thesis to the test by invading Lebanon. The best anyone can hope for is that Israel is defeated and de-Nazified as soon as possible. I don't know what that would take, or how it could be accomplished, but these monsters have to be stopped.

Dan

Saying "Shi-ite", instead of Shia, strikes me as an obvious tell of Landis's affiliations and sympathies. Also, I raised an eyebrow at this guy's credentials regarding the Middle East and Syria as soon as he described Alawi as Shia.

Joe Jay

This aged fast lol

joe

My fault guys, I dm’d IRGC “yo Landis says ur a bitch”

Nihalf Mohammed

John, Mark - could you please get Aamer back on the show to discuss Landis' ridiculous and racist-coded comments? I had a lot of respect for Landis up until last Friday, and it would be good to get the perspective of an actual Arab person on both what Landis said and what's transpired since

Karl Childers

i can't speak to the rest of his analysis but unless i'm misremembering badly he specifically said that he thought iran's missile volley in april represented something near their maximum capacity to strike israel, saying he doubted whether they could land a significant missile strike within israel even if they wanted to. that part, at least, is now shown to be wrong and not just by a little bit like fundamentally not even in the ballpark wrong.

Nihalf Mohammed

I will also accept Amal Saad (sorry Aamer)

G W

What do you mean they have nothing to show for it? Europe has backed down very quickly now that they've proven they can take out every oil well in the region.

Karl Childers

and now we know that the april barrage very clearly was not the maximum that iran is willing or able to do, you're just re-phrasing my point

Haemu

I mean they don't... Neat hyperbole though.

John Hieronymus

Annd the word on the street is that Iran has reduced Israel’s strike capability significantly, killing most of their f35’s and f15’s as well as leveling massad’s HQ this is both impressive and quite the answer to Israel’s escalation. Landis seems to have misjudged Iran. I still enjoyed the interview and need more RWN content on what the hell is happening: https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/strike-completely-destroys-f35-base

Karl Childers

any source you can point me to for the claim that mossad HQ was leveled/damaged? after a quick search i haven't found any confirmation. consensus seems to be that one missile landed "near" mossad HQ but that's it.

a clash of purple

Well, the F-15's are a serious loss, but destroying Israel's F-35's honestly seems like you're doing them a favor. j/k If Iran's missile barrage did more damage than has been reported in the mainstream press so far, or at least if it indicates that they have the ability to do serious damage if they wanted to, then that does seem to invalidate what Landis said about them being a paper tiger.

John Hieronymus

Only the article I linked I’m sure it could be propaganda but after seeing all those warheads slamming into the airfield I wouldn’t doubt it

Baron

I like the pessimism from Landis here, if only to sharpen our perspective. The road to an end to the Zionist project is far longer than we want it to be.

Baron

I heard that line more in a domestic context than international, as in “following the rules” set before you by the state, rather than like UN or whatever. Which does seem true in some senses? Western states seem to struggle far less than other parts of the world with keeping their respective peoples down and in-line with the state.

Alex

Called it

Flipswitch

Aged like milk lmfao

Shane

What has happened?

Shane

Oh a land invasion

jkjkjkj

Yeah there’s a lot of people on here that seem to want him to be wrong but even the missile barrage was itself a lot more limited in effects than I think people are giving it credit for. It looked impressive and showed an ability to do serious damage, but the Israelis frankly don’t seem to care how many of them die and have nuclear arms, it is taken for granted that all of the AOR factions will pull their punches to avoid that, or the mossads obviously very competent assassinations division. Iran can hit, obviously, but can it deter Israel? The answer doesn’t seem to be yes so far

a clash of purple

To be fair to all the pushback against Landis's take, it's only consistent with RWN's outlook on Iran and Hezbollah up to this point. Ames and Dolan might have been overestimating their capabilities all this time. But Landis might still be proven wrong. I definitely don't think Landis is being racist or whatever some people seem to be saying, though. When he says Arab states have largely failed to do effective state-building, yeah, it's true that the Americans and Brits played a big role in that, but acting as if everyone in the Middle East are just helpless pawns dancing on the strings of the white imperialists is denying their agency, to use the academic language. All politics is local. The Western imperialists have done a lot of harm across the world, sure, but always by exploiting and exacerbating local grievances, rivalries, and failures. The empire will always be there, being "mischievous," to use Landis's term. That's not going to change. You have to recognize that, deal with it, and build effective organizations to resist the imperialists and make life better for your people. There are some factions who've managed to do that, in the Middle East and elsewhere, but there's clearly still a long way to go.

T

Epic struggle session from the RWN community. 145 comments on this post alone. About a hundred more comments than the average rwn post.

leah bertrand

“Europeans are rule followers, [arabs are not]” What is this BS doing on RWN?

Dark Belden

Just saw a Landis quote on Al Jazeera where he does some more wish casting and said that if Harris wins she will be more forceful with Israel. I want to reiterate that you don’t have to listen to anyone associated with Oklahoma.

Mao Zedong Superstar

I was a Landis hater but after the events of the last few months I am realizing how wrong I was about his perspective. Whether we like it or not, the good guys lost and Landis put it in perspective quite eloquently. These episodes were important discourse, thanks RWN.

Mark Ames

thanks, was painful for us too, perhaps we aired it too early but we figured our audience would appreciate it