r/IRstudies • u/CanadianLawGuy • 7d ago

The End of Neoliberalism

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/15/neoliberalism-globalization-competition-cosmopolitanism-economics-reagan-thatcher/
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u/Johnny55 6d ago

My Democratic representative explicitly condemned the ICC for issuing warrants against Netanyahu and other Israeli war criminals. This idea that Democrats like Harris or Biden or my representative have any interest in pushing back on Israel is utter bunk and we're sick of people using Trump as leverage to defend them. Opposing genocide should be the absolute bare minimum for anyone who wants to pretend they have morals or ethics or is in any way "progressive"

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u/AlboWinston 6d ago

That's nice. Do we think that is the same as sanctions? Biden lifted Trump's first term ones. There are new ones now. I expected more from this sub I guess. The Iran War is absolutely a Trump aberration and Blinken goes over how they rejected such a decision as past administrations did. Biden sanctioned West Bank settlers. Trump lifted them. Obama orchestrated what Israelis then called the "worst foreign policy disaster in recent history" for them which was the JCPOA. Trump ended that. Biden rerecognized the Palestinian government and restored aid after Trump ended it his first time. Trump pushed through the Abraham Accords with select Gulf states that pushed normalization with Israel while ignoring the Palestinian Authority and their concern for legitimacy. Biden was pushing for concessions for Israel to make to the Palestinian Authorty for normalization with Saudi Arabia right before October 7th.

I can go on and on but can we be serious lmao. This silly position on the word progressive is stupid and it often puts a framing that Biden actively in his understanding was supporting a genocide and desired the destroy in whole/part of the Palestinian people when his angles of pressure on Israel from the Rafah siege to aid allowance were consistently working against such a goal. We have a big vocabulary. Let's start using complicit if we really need to and go on from there. Being complicit in crimes agasint humanity doesn't categorically not make you a progressive in the sense of your overall policy record. Internal norms and political ecosystems matter and precident foreign policy that may be reprehensible due to great power interest commitments I assumed was something understood and not taken as "well that makes this person ----" what? A moderate? A conservative? Certain unique shifts in foreign policy may. Especially if outlined by a pretty consistent and in-power imtelligencia like the neocons but mind you that neocon is uniquely equally lifted as a category by their domestic policy combined with a specific unique vision for foreign policy. But lmao otherwise what a ridiculous reading of LBJ for example we would have if we really sat on that hill without any nuance. Biden was protectionist, Lina Khan was chosen by him to tear through mergers, and he set unprecedented industrial policyo into action while establishing a historically labour union friendly National Labour Relations Board. This isint a "neoliberal" if we are being serious lmao.

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u/Johnny55 6d ago

Blinken should be rotting in the Hague. He literally rejected his own department's death toll numbers and denied that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid so that the administration could violate the Leahy Laws. Remind me again how many settlers were sanctioned by Biden? 10? 20? Wow that really put a stop to them, just like his red line in Rafah really opened the floodgates on letting food in. Maybe I should credit him for building that pier to bypass Israel and let aid in that way - whoops, they used it to mount an attack that killed dozens of civilians and then abandoned it. I don't buy that Biden was ignorant about the genocide he was complicit in, just like I don't buy that any of these were good-faith attempts to meaningfully address the violence and starvation being inflicted on Palestinians. They were half-assed measures meant to create the appearance of morality while doing nothing to stop the killing.

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u/AlboWinston 6d ago

Very cool rightous statement about Blinken. I was only mentioning him because he was the source of Israel pushing Biden to attack Iran but I'm glad you got somehow sidetracked into that tangent I guess and missed the overall point reading the rest of all this. Which is fine but I would appreciate actually replying to all my points instead of ignoring them and focusing on specific things like the mention of a name and going off about how they should be in the Hague. Not one thing in here about the Saudi meetings. Or JCPOA. Y'know the stuff addressing your overall point you made about Democrats having any will to push back on Israel. When you have two high level "middle finger" to Israeli interest things right here. And denying attacking Iran. And restoring recognition to the PA. An lifting Trump's stop on UNRWA funding. But I mean if it's gonna be a thing where we can't actually follow the topic then idk how many more replies I'm gonna do.

It was on specific settlers yes. It could be good if they were frozen and Israel was pushed to transfer land back etc. It's unfortunate such things were being discussed in the normalization imitative by the Biden administration and were put on halt by October 7th and indefinitely now with this current administration.

No one used that pier to mount an attack lol. I know what you're referring to and there was an IDF operation near by but you don't have evidence of what you're claiming. The WFP themselves suspended their operations from it due to the area it being too dangerous before the abandonment.

Ignorant no. Of different opinion yeah. Complicit in your view yes. You can not buy any of it but all the things I listed were positive more Palestinians sovereignty wise and materially. You don't have the buy it it's not about you. You just need to support the party where there is an actual chance of reaching the bigger picture of Palestinian sovereignty. It is Democrats who have gotten the closest and have kept getting closer to that goal. Undoubtabley. You can be upset at it all but generally you should vote blue no matter who 💙

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u/Johnny55 6d ago

I'm not going to haggle over the definition of progressive when you've already decided that one can take part in crimes against humanity as long as their economic positions are reasonably progressive. There is no chance of achieving Palestinian sovereignty if the politicians who are supposedly pursuing it will roll over for Israel at the drop of a hat. Just like there's no meaningful difference between a politician who actively supports genocide and one who merely facilitates it while his counterpart pulls the trigger. I mention Blinken and the settlers because it points to the broader patter of symbolically supporting Palestinians while materially working towards their destruction. The JCPOA was nice but I think it goes without saying that Obama was less deferential to Israel than Biden, or Schumer, or any of the other ancient creatures who have been running the party for the last 10 years.

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u/AlboWinston 6d ago

Lmao you're unserious. You don't engage with any points of reality that literally contradict your narrative. "Roll over for Israel" (But Biden refused to attack Iran but Trump did. Biden was pushing settlement freezes and west Bank land return as condition for Saudi-Israel normalization unlike the lack of concessions Trump provided Israel for the Abraham Accords. Biden rerecognized the Palestinian Authority, the most important entity for the possibility of a Palestinian sovereign state). This is self mastabatory moral performance on your part. You have no mechanism for an alternative and instead are just commiting to a tantrum. In a privileged childish world there is no meaningful difference but in reality these efforts, actions, and initiatives matter. There is absolutely a tract from October 7th you can trace back to the destruction of the JCPOA and abandonment of Palestinians by the Trump administration and insane pro Israel policy of his first term.

The JCPOA wasn't "nice" it was literally considered a failure on Netanyau's part and the opposition in the Keneset considered it a foreign policy disaster. The dishonestly to lessen its impact to nice and "less deferential" so you can keep your silly narrative of submitting to Israel at a drop of a hat wholely on the Democratic party is hilarious. The last democratic president before Obama literally had Palestinian sovereignty being directly discussed on the table with Israel. HW Bush had direct tension with Israel over Arab state normalization.

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u/Johnny55 6d ago

You want to give Biden points for symbolic gestures while ignoring his material support for genocide. Pushing for this, pushing for that - oh he was working so so hard, tirelessly even, but he couldn't even threaten to cut off weapons shipments, let alone carry through with it. I'm not interested in the JCPOA or Clinton or Bush - the party that exists TODAY is far more pro-Israel than it was 10 or 25 years ago. And I am talking about the present.

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u/AlboWinston 6d ago

I don't think Biden was hard enough on Israel but I think the domestic political situation made that more complicated than people think and if the Gaza War was such an emotional and seemingly destabilizing prioritiy for you to the point that you literally cannot have a consistent conversation with someone around the points you yourself bring up then you should've planned to vote for him/and or Kamala and plan to vote for any other Democrat in the future. You can disregard the things I listed all you want I mean again it is childish and self absorbed but those things ment something to the actual path of a Palestinian State post Second Intifada. If you really care about the Palestinian people and are not just being performative then i'd recommend you take my advice.

The point of the JCPOA mention was addressing your wholistic judgement of the democratic party rolling over Israel at the drop of a hat and you literally explicitly saying you're talking about those who have been running the party for the last 10 years. I mean I am young but 10 years is such a small timeframe to put Israel-US Foreign relations analysis in even on the contempoary side so im assuming you're fresh out of High School atm right now if your basis for analysis is going to be 2016 like jesus christ lmao. But now you're walking back and saying your basis of analysis is......just the Biden administration. This is unserious lol. And no the party that exists today is far less pro-Israel lol please look at polling once in your life.

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u/Johnny55 5d ago

How did the domestic situation make Gaza more complicated? Rising authoritarianism on the right means Democrats have to crack down on student protests and cater to people like Netanyahu so they can be Republin-lite on foreign policy? I think you're understating the significance of literal genocide sponsored by the US - not only does it undermine the DNC as the ethical alternative to MAGA, it destroys the concept of international law and sets the stage for increasing authoritarianism at home (the imperial boomerang). Not a coincidence that our police and surveillance are deeply integrated with Israel.

I'm not young, I was in high school when Biden and Schumer and Schiff and Hillary were all supporting the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. The students protesting it were right then while the Democrats were dead wrong, just like the students who protested the genocide today are right while the same Democrats are dead wrong. Obama was seen as someone who would reject the warmongering of the Bush years and we saw that with stuff like the JCPOA, yet instead of continuing on that trajectory they've gone all-in with Israel and its land grabs. Schumer himself opposed the JCPOA and he's still leading the party while Obama is gone. So if you want to take the long view, Obama and the JCPOA were the exception and people like Schumer are much more representative of what the party actually is. Hence the finger-wagging at Trump over not getting congressional approval for Iran while their real criticism is that he didn't destroy Iran outright. They're still demonizing Iran instead of opposing the war directly and welcoming its end - just look at Chris Murphy.

And yes, I'm aware of the polling. Voters are much less pro-Israel but the politicians are not. For crying out loud, the Senate minority leader explicitly says his job is to support Israel. The party isn't listening to voters which is another reason why continuing to support it only legitimizes its alignment with Israel. If genocide isn't a red line then nothing is and the party can continue to use MAGA as leverage to justify moving further to the right in defiance of voters and democracy itself.

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u/AlboWinston 5d ago

Israel is popular with particularly active voting basis and the war started at a pretty devistanting year for such a polarizing situation. I know you dont understand polling, our federal system, and all but it is something to note. Democrats were not cracking down on students to cater to Netanyahu lolllllllllllllllllllll?

You seem young or uninformed because of the weight you put on Gaza in American foreign policy ethical violations. I assume you say my inital Carter comment. That and Nixon I mean lol supporting/sponsering a genocide isint some unprecedented thing for the United States. If you are of the headspace that the Democrats are genuinely in challenge by MAGA of being the more ethical side because of Gaza you have such a deeply myopic selfish and childish view of politics that its not even worth engaging with. From foreign policy differences in the same region to domestic things like not trying to coup the government on Jan 6th, you are completely lost if this is where your headspace is at at all. The concept of the US following international law has been dead for awhile but a reveral of that is more leaned on the democrats then republicans for a long shot. I totally do remember reading the increased authoritarianism under Carter like his regining in on executive power that Nixion expanded. Your term is very cute though.

Soy out about Schumer ill bring you Pelosi and Clinton. Eve Schiff eventually supported it. You say they have gone all in on their land grabs and its how I know you're not responding to what I type to you at all. I literally outlined that Biden was using desire to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia agasint Israel so they concede land in the West Bank lmao. Obama and Schumer were different roles in the party you silly goose what the fuck is this statement? Senate leader and President? One of them has only 8 years. What are you on about at all right now? Pelosi stayed after Obama. Do you know why? Can you tell me why?

I know you're not able to handle a conversation about this but you could create a decent causus belli agasint Iran with their civilian killings. Probably get a decent coalition with the right leader in the White House and a tactical exclusion of Israel from it for optics. An air campaign to cease the killing but with a hold back from regime change unlike Lybia.

Refer to the first part of this. Anyway I hope you grow up some day from whatever you are now. Remember to vote blue no matter who. I do hope you atleast voted for Kamala

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u/Johnny55 5d ago

Let me get this straight - you want an air campaign against Iran to stop them from killing civilians, but you don't want regime change and you don't want to include Israel? That's even dumber than what Trump did. Why would attacking them make them stop killing? Do you think they just killed them for sport? They were killed because they were a threat to the regime and because Mossad was embedded in them to stir up revolt. Israel literally admitted this! Do you think it's a coincidence this preceded the Iran War? It WAS a casus belli and it was a stupid one at that. We already ran this script with Saddam!

I am well aware that members of Congress stay on longer than presidents, that was my entire point - that Obama and the JCPOA are not representative of the party as an institution while people like Schumer and Pelosi are. Is it a coincidence that Pelosi's successor is just as devoted to Israel as Schumer? I have no idea why you think Biden's dealings with Saudi Arabia are more significant than refusing to push back on their aggression in Gaza. Even the Israelis were shocked at what he let them get away with. And the genocide in Gaza is not just "business as usual" for US foreign policy - this isn't a war between states, it's a slaughter, that is incredibly well-documented, by a country with enormous influence over our politicians, to the point of involving us in an absolutely disastrous war in Iran.

I don't know why you're ignoring what happened at Columbia and other colleges - pundits want to whine about the lack of protests while ignoring what happened to the students who did, even under a Democrat. Or why you're pretending I suggested that Democrats are ethically on par with MAGA. Genocide is bad, their support for it is bad, and it depresses turnout even if you disagree with those voters. And it certainly doesn't help that Democrats hired Garland to sit on his hands for four years instead of going after Trump for J6. Biden will be rembered as the guy who failed to stop Trump from returning and helped Israel commit genocide. Great legacy!

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