Tomas, you really do great research, wonderful thinking and fantastic synthesis on every topic - except that of Israel.
You have in recent months highlighted the reasons that Palestinians are to be blame entirely for the conflict. Your reason? That Palestinians don't want peace. That is the only reason?
A March 2025 poll conducted by Pennsylvania State University and published in Haaretz found that 82% of Israeli Jews support the "transfer" or forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
The Penn State study also found that 47% of Jewish Israelis agreed that the IDF, when conquering an enemy city, should "act as the Israelites did in Jericho... killing all its inhabitants".
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said on Sunday that dropping an “nuclear bomb” on the Gaza Strip is “an option”. The Institute of Strategic Dialogue found that between 7 October 2023 and 7 October 2024, there were more than 513,000 English-language posts by 261,000 unique authors with ‘no innocent Palestinians’ rhetoric. The president and defence minister said they were human animals. And therefore, killing new born babies and children is fine.
Israelis were horrified by the rape and killing of Palestinian prisoners at the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility. Not because the solidiers who perpetrated these crimes should be put on trial, but that this should be considered normal and standard practice with Palestinian prisoners, and that they should be released. Which they were. Between 84 and 98 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli jails since October 7, 2023, according to the United Nations.
In effect you are blaming the victim Tomas. Brown University estimates $21.7 billion of military aid has been provided to Israel since October 7 2023, and neither Republicans nor Democrats have put any limits on Israeli activity. Since the so-called peace plan came into effect, Israel controls more than 53% of the Gaza.
'Oh but Hamas' you say. There is no Hamas in the West Bank, and yet the same thing is happening there. Israel plans to annex 82% of the occupied West Bank to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in September. “Israeli sovereignty will be applied to 82% of the territory,” Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism Party, told a press conference in Jerusalem. It already controls more than 70% through settlements and walls.
Bibi Netanyahu went to the UN showing a map of Israel with no Palestine. This is part of the Greater Israel project which is thinking of taking much of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, and has already made significant inroads in that plan, with land grabs up to the Litani River in Lebanon and close to Damascus in Syria.
And this is all nothing new. One of the fathers of modern Israel, Menachim Begin, was called a terrorist by the British, and was even reported to have proudly started a speech by proudly saying he was a terrorist. In the formation of Israel, over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes. They were not compensated, there was no deal, they were driven out at gunpoint. Many of those driven out had given refuge to Jewish refugees, just as they had done to Armenian refugees before that, and just as many in Europe had to Ukrainians.
Imagine having given refuge to a Ukrainian, and then have them lock your doors and told to leave or you will be shot. That is exactly what happened to many of those Palestinians.
Tomas, you are an intelligent and well-meaning individual. You have also been fed a steady diet of Zionest propaganda, as have most people reading western media. It is time that you at least allow the possibility than not everything you have read is the complete truth, and start to do your own research into this complex subject.
Everything I have referenced is based on reported research or stories. Most of it from Israeli media, which has a much more rigorous debate on these topics than in the US or UK. I would suggest you start there.
There's a mistake in the 60k€ tax calculation (at least for Spain): a single-no kids spanish worker earning 60k€ would pay around 25%. Adding Social Security charges, you get 68% of your salary. I think the guy who made the chart was using marginal tax rates.
I don't know what is the agreement, but agreements can be made to get Starlink to not run on your country. Turkey has lacklustre consumer internet which is more or less as expensive as a Starlink membership. Somehow Starlink agrees to not sell subscriptions in Turkey, and one cannot also buy a subscription elsewhere and use it in Turkey. Leaving money on the table doesn't make much sense so probably there needs to be an agreement of sorts.
Strong synthesis here, especially the coherence research on city specialization. The finding that small cities succeed through concentrated focus while large ones diversify feels counterintuitive at first but makes total sense when you think about how ecosystems develop. Spent some time in a smallmanufacturing town last year and the cluster effects were visible everywhere, from suppliers to talent pools to informal knowledge sharing. What's less obvious is when the inflection point happens, when a city should start diversifying rather than doubling down on specialization. California Forever's dual foundry + shipyard approach might actually be testing that question in real time tbh.
"He’s one of the most joyful, optimistic, intelligent, driven founders I know. His vision is very ambitious."
I do like that compliment!
We are aligned on what Starlink Direct to Cell means for nations states https://disruptive-horizons.com/p/elon-musk-vs-the-nation-states
Tomas, you really do great research, wonderful thinking and fantastic synthesis on every topic - except that of Israel.
You have in recent months highlighted the reasons that Palestinians are to be blame entirely for the conflict. Your reason? That Palestinians don't want peace. That is the only reason?
A March 2025 poll conducted by Pennsylvania State University and published in Haaretz found that 82% of Israeli Jews support the "transfer" or forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
The Penn State study also found that 47% of Jewish Israelis agreed that the IDF, when conquering an enemy city, should "act as the Israelites did in Jericho... killing all its inhabitants".
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said on Sunday that dropping an “nuclear bomb” on the Gaza Strip is “an option”. The Institute of Strategic Dialogue found that between 7 October 2023 and 7 October 2024, there were more than 513,000 English-language posts by 261,000 unique authors with ‘no innocent Palestinians’ rhetoric. The president and defence minister said they were human animals. And therefore, killing new born babies and children is fine.
Israelis were horrified by the rape and killing of Palestinian prisoners at the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility. Not because the solidiers who perpetrated these crimes should be put on trial, but that this should be considered normal and standard practice with Palestinian prisoners, and that they should be released. Which they were. Between 84 and 98 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli jails since October 7, 2023, according to the United Nations.
In effect you are blaming the victim Tomas. Brown University estimates $21.7 billion of military aid has been provided to Israel since October 7 2023, and neither Republicans nor Democrats have put any limits on Israeli activity. Since the so-called peace plan came into effect, Israel controls more than 53% of the Gaza.
'Oh but Hamas' you say. There is no Hamas in the West Bank, and yet the same thing is happening there. Israel plans to annex 82% of the occupied West Bank to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in September. “Israeli sovereignty will be applied to 82% of the territory,” Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism Party, told a press conference in Jerusalem. It already controls more than 70% through settlements and walls.
Bibi Netanyahu went to the UN showing a map of Israel with no Palestine. This is part of the Greater Israel project which is thinking of taking much of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, and has already made significant inroads in that plan, with land grabs up to the Litani River in Lebanon and close to Damascus in Syria.
And this is all nothing new. One of the fathers of modern Israel, Menachim Begin, was called a terrorist by the British, and was even reported to have proudly started a speech by proudly saying he was a terrorist. In the formation of Israel, over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes. They were not compensated, there was no deal, they were driven out at gunpoint. Many of those driven out had given refuge to Jewish refugees, just as they had done to Armenian refugees before that, and just as many in Europe had to Ukrainians.
Imagine having given refuge to a Ukrainian, and then have them lock your doors and told to leave or you will be shot. That is exactly what happened to many of those Palestinians.
Tomas, you are an intelligent and well-meaning individual. You have also been fed a steady diet of Zionest propaganda, as have most people reading western media. It is time that you at least allow the possibility than not everything you have read is the complete truth, and start to do your own research into this complex subject.
Everything I have referenced is based on reported research or stories. Most of it from Israeli media, which has a much more rigorous debate on these topics than in the US or UK. I would suggest you start there.
There's a mistake in the 60k€ tax calculation (at least for Spain): a single-no kids spanish worker earning 60k€ would pay around 25%. Adding Social Security charges, you get 68% of your salary. I think the guy who made the chart was using marginal tax rates.
Mistake or misinformation?
I don't know what is the agreement, but agreements can be made to get Starlink to not run on your country. Turkey has lacklustre consumer internet which is more or less as expensive as a Starlink membership. Somehow Starlink agrees to not sell subscriptions in Turkey, and one cannot also buy a subscription elsewhere and use it in Turkey. Leaving money on the table doesn't make much sense so probably there needs to be an agreement of sorts.
Strong synthesis here, especially the coherence research on city specialization. The finding that small cities succeed through concentrated focus while large ones diversify feels counterintuitive at first but makes total sense when you think about how ecosystems develop. Spent some time in a smallmanufacturing town last year and the cluster effects were visible everywhere, from suppliers to talent pools to informal knowledge sharing. What's less obvious is when the inflection point happens, when a city should start diversifying rather than doubling down on specialization. California Forever's dual foundry + shipyard approach might actually be testing that question in real time tbh.