7 ms·

The justification for foreign aid to Israel is always pretty much “but it’s OK because most of it comes back to us via arms sales”. Essentially billions of doll

The justification for foreign aid to Israel is always pretty much “but it’s OK because most of it comes back to us via arms sales”. Essentially billions of dollars of American taxpayer wealth transferred to defense contractors laundered through the IDF.

marshmallow_12 6y ago
Israel stops Iran from blowing up or conquering the entire Middle East. Also, military intelligence. Also, the military industry is probably more beneficial to the US by being based there rather than being outsourced to China. I think the tax money given to weapons manufactures is paid back in double by tax. Also, you wouldn't want to fight wars with allies in Chinese planes. Hope this answers your concerns.
- KDJohnBrown 6y ago
  > I think the tax money given to weapons manufactures is paid back in double by tax. Broken windows fallacy.
- KDJohnBrown 6y ago
  > Israel stops Iran from blowing up or conquering the entire Middle East. The propaganda poster you paint here is dubious. Have you ever looked at a map? Sunni majority nations KSA, Syria, Kuwait, and Turkiye probably have a lot more to do with it than Israel. Having been to every middle eastern / near eastern / Balkan / North African nation except Libya, I’m not too afraid of Iran. Iranians have always treated me better than Israelis or myy my fellow Americans have, even after finding out I’m a queer atheist.
  - marshmallow_12 6y ago
    -I’m not too afraid of Iran. I am. They have sworn to destroy Israel and America. They are developing nuclear weapons to do so. They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. They are trying to gain control over syria, iraq, yemen etc. The irgc is probably the best funded terrorist organization in the world https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ . I'm afraid of Iran. KSA, Syria, Kuwait, and Turkiye probably have a lot more to do with it than Israel. Depends what you look for. Most visible, front- line opposition, certainly. But who does all the high profile bombing and intelligence raids and computer hacking? I think it's Israel. -Iranians have always treated me better than Israelis or myy my fellow Americans have. That's fine! I'm not asking you to hate Iranians, and i'm also not asking you to love Israelis. What i am asking you is to recognize that Iran is a global threat to peace and that Israel can offer the best answer. I think that's true.
    - yellowcake0 6y ago
      > They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. Would it be more honorable if they just invaded countries in the Middle East instead, the way the US does? Of course the US is funding proxy wars as well. If a beligerant and much more powerful country came across the Atlantic and invaded Mexico and Canada, I know I would want some nukes as a deterrant. Iran couldn't even defeat Iraq during their brutal eight year conflict. Even if Iran wanted to take over the ME, there is zero chance they would be able to.
      - marshmallow_12 6y ago
        >If a beligerant and much more powerful country came across the Atlantic and invaded Mexico and Canada, I know I would want some nukes as a deterrant. Where is your belligerant nation? Not Israel surely. Iran was fine with israel before some terrorist inciters hijacked the country.
        KDJohnBrown 6y ago
        > Where is your belligerant nation? Not Israel surely. Iran was fine with israel before some terrorist inciters hijacked the country. Iran was a democracy until America funded a coup to overthrow their government to try and control Iranian oil resources. Uncle Sam is one belligerant old bastard.
        dang 6y ago
        Would you please stop posting flamewar comments to HN and using the site for political and/or ideological and/nationalistic battle? It's not what this place is for, and it destroys what it is for. You've been doing a lot of it, unfortunately. Just to be clear, I'm not disagreeing with your interpretation of Iranian history. I'm talking about a repeated pattern of breaking the site guidelines, which is not cool. We ban accounts that do that—we have to, because otherwise everyone starts flaming everyone and soon this place burns to a crisp. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful. The intended spirit is thoughtful, curious conversation.
imtringued 6y ago
The irony is that this is why foreign aid never works. It's mostly spent on weapons and if there is no foe the government can just use the weapons to suppress its own population and thus ask for even more foreign aid. Developed nations don't care because their defense contractors get the money.

marshmallow_12 6y ago

Israel stops Iran from blowing up or conquering the entire Middle East. Also, military intelligence. Also, the military industry is probably more beneficial to the US by being based there rather than being outsourced to China. I think the tax money given to weapons manufactures is paid back in double by tax. Also, you wouldn't want to fight wars with allies in Chinese planes. Hope this answers your concerns.

KDJohnBrown 6y ago
> I think the tax money given to weapons manufactures is paid back in double by tax. Broken windows fallacy.
KDJohnBrown 6y ago
> Israel stops Iran from blowing up or conquering the entire Middle East. The propaganda poster you paint here is dubious. Have you ever looked at a map? Sunni majority nations KSA, Syria, Kuwait, and Turkiye probably have a lot more to do with it than Israel. Having been to every middle eastern / near eastern / Balkan / North African nation except Libya, I’m not too afraid of Iran. Iranians have always treated me better than Israelis or myy my fellow Americans have, even after finding out I’m a queer atheist.
- marshmallow_12 6y ago
  -I’m not too afraid of Iran. I am. They have sworn to destroy Israel and America. They are developing nuclear weapons to do so. They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. They are trying to gain control over syria, iraq, yemen etc. The irgc is probably the best funded terrorist organization in the world https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ . I'm afraid of Iran. KSA, Syria, Kuwait, and Turkiye probably have a lot more to do with it than Israel. Depends what you look for. Most visible, front- line opposition, certainly. But who does all the high profile bombing and intelligence raids and computer hacking? I think it's Israel. -Iranians have always treated me better than Israelis or myy my fellow Americans have. That's fine! I'm not asking you to hate Iranians, and i'm also not asking you to love Israelis. What i am asking you is to recognize that Iran is a global threat to peace and that Israel can offer the best answer. I think that's true.
  - yellowcake0 6y ago
    > They are funding proxy wars throught the Middle East. Would it be more honorable if they just invaded countries in the Middle East instead, the way the US does? Of course the US is funding proxy wars as well. If a beligerant and much more powerful country came across the Atlantic and invaded Mexico and Canada, I know I would want some nukes as a deterrant. Iran couldn't even defeat Iraq during their brutal eight year conflict. Even if Iran wanted to take over the ME, there is zero chance they would be able to.
    - marshmallow_12 6y ago
      >If a beligerant and much more powerful country came across the Atlantic and invaded Mexico and Canada, I know I would want some nukes as a deterrant. Where is your belligerant nation? Not Israel surely. Iran was fine with israel before some terrorist inciters hijacked the country.
      - KDJohnBrown 6y ago
        > Where is your belligerant nation? Not Israel surely. Iran was fine with israel before some terrorist inciters hijacked the country. Iran was a democracy until America funded a coup to overthrow their government to try and control Iranian oil resources. Uncle Sam is one belligerant old bastard.
        dang 6y ago
        Would you please stop posting flamewar comments to HN and using the site for political and/or ideological and/nationalistic battle? It's not what this place is for, and it destroys what it is for. You've been doing a lot of it, unfortunately. Just to be clear, I'm not disagreeing with your interpretation of Iranian history. I'm talking about a repeated pattern of breaking the site guidelines, which is not cool. We ban accounts that do that—we have to, because otherwise everyone starts flaming everyone and soon this place burns to a crisp. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful. The intended spirit is thoughtful, curious conversation.

imtringued 6y ago

The irony is that this is why foreign aid never works. It's mostly spent on weapons and if there is no foe the government can just use the weapons to suppress its own population and thus ask for even more foreign aid. Developed nations don't care because their defense contractors get the money.