Well I guess Israel and Iran are at war now.

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Iran has a choice. Demilitarise and give up their Chinese made weapons of death.

No one has claimed that the US and Iran's political systems were comparable, so your choice to argue against that claim is strawmanning.

And since so much of your arguing is based on distortions and responding to arguments that were never made in the first place, it's fair to dismiss your arguments as nonsense.

It's an argument that was explicitly made by Matchbox.

He said:

“The US Presidency is more or less fixed the same way that the Iranian Presidency is.”

""The only difference is whether it's a figure that we can identify, or it's a bunch of oligarchs that mostly try to remain hidden.""

“This whole business of suggesting that they [Iran] don’t have a real government or that their votes don’t matter at all is a bunch of lies.”

These are explicit claims he made that can be interpreted as:

- The U.S. presidency is no more democratic than Iran’s.
- It’s dishonest to suggest Iran is a non-democracy or its elections are far more meaningless than the US's elections.
- He’s acknowledging a difference, but it's a minor one in his view: visibility of control (Ayatollah vs. oligarchs).

This is a direct comparison between the two systems - suggesting equivalence in electoral manipulation and elite control.

I disagreed with that and called it a stretch, it is comparing apples with oranges. That’s not strawmanning - it’s engaging with what was actually said.

If you're now saying no one compared the systems, then you're contradicting what Matchbox wrote, not me.

Disagree with my take all you want - but at least be accurate about what’s being argued.

I guess I'm just a better person then. I grew up with the guilt of coming from a country that engaged in extensive genocide during WWII and grew up in a country that engaged in genocide both in Europe and here in the US against my people. I guess some people have the benefit of not having to grow up with that kind of a weight around their neck.

Ethnic cleansing is not one of those trades that ever works out. It is as close as imaginable to a literal deal with the devil. Right, now you think this is "just about protecting your friends and family" but that's always how it is. They never start these ethnic cleansing campaigns without claiming that it's necessary for national security or that these people are actually decent people. They tell people that they're not like you and that they are a threat to your safety. And they get away with it because gullible fools are willing to spread the propaganda without any critical thinking.

Iran hadn't attacked Israel and Iran had chosen to make serious efforts to deescalate the situation. Israel has at every turn escalated things and backed Iran into the corner. Personally, I'm well aware that Iran isn't perfect, but by the same token, This is literally happening because people like you continue to spread lies and propaganda. Iran has largely kept to itself in terms of wars. The days of the Persian Empire are in the past and the people mostly don't have the sort of ambition to grow massively large that some other countries do.

If they get a nuke, it's going to because they had no other choice.

In all fairness, I was comparing the countries governments to an extent. But, I do think that the governments are more similar than what a lot of people suggest. The Ayatollah does have a lot of weight in that he's effectively a king of sorts. But, the devil is in the details and while I do think the two countries do leave a lot to be desired in terms of the actual governance, there is a fair amount that the two countries have in common, like being able to elect some positions, having some positions be unelected and a bunch of the differences come down to the actual people and what they'll consent to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_ ... stitutions

I do think that the way that works isn't completely dissimilar. Sure, there are definitely a lot of problems, but right now, the US itself has massive problems that aren't entirely dissimilar to what Iran has going on.

Well, the hawks have won and there's another disasterous war in the middle east.

Americans are going to waste a bunch of blood and treasure on accomplishing nothing of value and nothing of actual benefit to their nation.

The American military industrial complex gets to demonstrate its worth by blowing crap up, don't forget.

Why? The IDF are some of the most ruthless heartless sadists ever spawned from the depths of Hell, who in their right mind would ever let down their guard with those godless sociopaths running amok?

Apparently the right to self-defence only applies when simps for Israel approve of it.

Well, you still owe me an apology for falsly accusing me of strawmanning (arguing about something no one argued about); Matchbox has just proved that himself.

It is better not to keep embarrassing yourself with this false accusation.

And no, apparently the US won’t be involved in another ME war; both sides (US and Iran) seem to have bombed emptied locations, not sure what the end game is.
It seems to be all a ploy for saving face or for leverage.
You have the right of being upset for wasting money.