As an American, the US participation in the Ukrainian conflict as well as the Palestinian genocide are beyond reproach. Many describe them as proxy wars, but I’m not there yet.

During the Cold War, there was the Afghanistan, Vietnam, South America, Cuba, etc. These were proxy wars because there was a clear adversary on the other side. The Soviet Union.

Now, who is that? Russia? China? Who is “our enemy”? I see it was war is good for business and projection of power.

Am I wrong?

  • Carrolade@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    4 months ago

    I guess you don’t think our politicians care which of them are in charge? And I’m not so sure about ironclad, we’ve withheld aid in past decades.

    I really question exactly how Israel has significant influence over Egypt. Much less Saudi Arabia, which isn’t even a neighbor and has significantly more wealth and influence than Israel does.

    • queermunist she/her
      22·
      4 months ago

      Saudi Arabia learned its lesson in the Yom Kippur War. Do not fuck with the USs unsinkable aircraft carrier.

      As for Egypt, Israel is extremely important for transporting natural gas and, to a lesser extent, important as a trading partner. They also cooperate on security matters wrt terrorism.

      Of course, the US is also very important for ensuring all its other puppets in the region play nice with Israel. Israel, itself, has influence because it is an extension of the US and more important than any mere puppet.

      • Carrolade@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        4 months ago

        The Saudis barely participated in Yom Kippur, from some brief googling they deployed a single battalion that saw a little bit of fighting in the Golan Heights. I honestly wasn’t even aware they had participated militarily.

        Their much bigger impact was the oil embargo against the US, which caused rather famous gas shortages here and one of the most severe recessions we’ve ever had, during the Nixon years. Perhaps seeing the rest of the coalition demolished was enough? Though there were clear reasons for the Israeli victory that aren’t that difficult to understand. It’s far more specific than just Israel strong or something like that. That oil embargo ended up proving the power of OPEC though, dramatically strengthening the Saudi’s position on the global stage, which persists to this day.

        Regarding NG, the main pipeline through the area for exporting Egyptian NG actually takes some pains to go around Israel, rather than through it.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Gas_Pipeline