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The Impacts of the Israeli-Palestinian War on the War in Ukraine
What do you foresee as the immediate and long term impacts that the Israeli-Palestinian War will have on the War in Ukraine? I think the most obvious is the amount of munitions that the West might have to supply to Israel instead of Ukraine. But I also think there is a great symbolic loss to the West within the rest of the world. Any moral fiber that the West had in supporting Ukraine's noble fight against an aggressing nation will be completely lost as the West simultaneously arms Israel while large amounts of Palestinians are killed. Do you have any reflections on how the War in Israel-Palestine might impact the West's case for the War in Ukraine?
What is the benefit to having Israel as an ally?
I asked a friend: what is the strategic benefit to having Israel as an ally is for Western countries? He noted that of course it's in the West's benefit to have a nuclear armed ally on the edge of the world's powder keg of a region. However, a great part of why the middle east is a powder keg to begin with is because of Israel. Much of the conflict in the region is rooted in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even Osama Bin Laden said he was inspired by the 1982 Israeli Invasion into Lebanon. So can you articulate for me, from a realist perspective, what the strategic benefit is for the US to have Israel as an ally? I don't understand it from that perspective, considering how much ill will in the region is derived from the US support of Israel.
How much does experience matter for being a successful speaker/congressional leader.
When Jordan was running to become the speaker there was some talk about how he had never passed a bill through congress and the just elected speaker has been in congress for only around 6 years. It would make sense for experience to make a congressional leader more successful. At the same time, there have been examples of very effective congressional leaders like LBJ who prior to becoming Senate Majority Leader didn't pass almost any legislation in either the House or Senate. This begs the question of whether prior congressional experience matters when predicting whether a congressional leader will be successful or not?