*Benjamin Butler

Ah, but that would mean Turkey wouldn’t be blocking the flow of migrants anymore, and we can’t have that now, can we?

…Sounds like you’re looking for “Thousands of Beavers”. Great movie.

That’s certainly a take on “family business”.

OTOH, it’s possible he’s consciously splitting with the US in hopes of getting the EU with him. Long term, could be smart.

Yup. And when Russia invaded Ukraine, everyone called him a Russian puppet because of course America would never!

That, nukes, NATO… It may have been rank anglophobia, but man, did history prove him right…

Clown-on-clown violence

It’s more than likely this asshole

The setup is correct, but calling the problem “very simple” just means you don’t understand the trolley problem.

I see the proud tradition of drinking mercury concoctions is alive and well. I mean, not well, but…

If it worked like that, everyone would have defederated .world cca December 2023.

But also, they do have a point: education isn’t, or rather shouldn’t be, just a means to get a better job. We don’t think of someone who takes singing or playing lessons as “failed” if they don’t become a professional musician. A day labourer with an art degree isn’t worse than one without one

I would have thought his part in contraception would be being 70.

Depending on the angle (a lot going on there) you could go with “denial”. As in, you’re lying, because if you’re bot, then my life sucked, and that’s unacceptable, so you’re lying.

On the contrary, from Wikipedia:

Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization.[1][2] A heretic is a proponent of heresy.[1]

…

Heresy is distinct from apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one’s religion, principles, or cause;

Atheism is not heresy. A heretic is a type of believer. You can argue you meant the colloquial usage as “divergent thought”, but that’s not the usage I used.

Either way, the point stands: not all Islam is the same thing, and the Tehran regime quite clearly has an easier time stomaching cooperation with secularists than with Sunnis.

No, secularists are nonbelievers, possibly apostates. A heretic believes in the same religion as you do, just the wrong kind of it.

…Yes, the Ba’ath party is 100% secular, and Tehran would rather deal with secularists than with heretics.

Religion isn’t religion isn’t religion. Iran is Shia, “moderate rebels” are by and large Sunni.

They think they’re Aragorn and we’re orcs.