3,189 karma · joined December 12, 2023
1. Many men and women fear to commit to a relationship today and are increasingly remaining single, or marrying late (in their late 30's or 40's). Thus, even those who marry can't have a large family as the older you get the more fertility issues you have (along with additional anxieties of how to manage young kids when you are old).
2. For indian women in particular, it is also anxiety about loss of freedom if they can't work. Thus, even those who marry young, try to avoid having a large family as they fear it will be an impediment to their career (which means less financial freedom, and the fear of being under the "control" of a male spouse).
3. And finally there's the western capitalistic consumerism , where even spouse or a kid can be seen as an impediment to enjoying a consumerist lifestyle by the individual in their "pursuit of happiness".
Elections. The Trump administration joined the war hoping that any positive outcome in the Iran war would boost its mid-term prospects. Netanyahu attacked Iran and Lebanon because he faces elections in a few months and he wants to prolong all his wars till the election is over - apparently Israeli electorate don't tend to vote out a PM during a war. Trump has now realised the Iran war has been a political disaster and is looking to extricate out of it, through temporary ceasefires (which means he can resume the war later - which is standard US policy with a weaker foe). That doesn't work for Netanyahu because if he loses this election, he could also find himself behind bars due to some corruption conviction. Thus, he is working to sabotage Trump's ceasefire deals as he needs the wars to go on till October, when the elections will presumably be held ...
That would have worked. But it is still a stupid idea if you don't cripple and destroy Iran's military capability first as Iran would have also retaliated and destroyed all its Arab neighbour's oil infrastructure too, plunging the world into an economic depression because of the energy crisis it would cause - The Iran War Is Destroying Something More Valuable Than Oil - https://houseofsaud.com/iran-war-refinery-crisis-saudi-aramc...
While it is true that the Saudis are hostile to Iran and do want Iran's power to be curtailed, they were never in favour of the current war because they knew the plan was ill-thought and suicidal for it, as they knew how Iran would respond (and how ill-prepared they and the American military was to defend them). Iran's foreign policy with its Arab neighbours is based on the blunt but simple principle - "Peace for all. Prosperity for all." Implied in it is that if any of the Arab neighbours upset the public peace in Iran and / or attacked its economy, it would retaliate to ensure they too wouldn't have any peace or prosperity. And that's exactly how it played out ...
> The most-notable reported event detrimental to a public library was during the great famine that occurred in Egypt about 1070 (about ah 460) when the Fāṭimid caliph al-Mustanṣir was forced to offer for sale thousands of books of the great Fāṭimid library in Cairo in order to pay the money due to his Turkish soldiers. On one occasion he sold “18,000 books on the ancient sciences.” On another, in one day, he carried out of the library 25 camel-loads of books to pay off debts to two of his ministers ... Another tragic war-related incident happened during the capture of Tripoli (now in Lebanon) by the Crusaders in 1102. After a siege of six years, the city offered to capitulate on the condition that lives and property be safeguarded, which the Crusaders promised. But after the surrender the Crusaders ... plundered the city and captured money, treasures from its people, and books from its schools beyond count.
> ... After establishing his rule in Egypt, Saladin found himself in dire need of money to carry on his campaigns against the Crusaders and to pay off those who had cooperated with him and served him. He therefore donated as well as offered for sale many of the treasures he had confiscated. On two occasions it is reported that among those treasures were great public libraries ... Thus Saladin liquidated what remained of a library that had once contained, according to Abū Shāmah, as many as two million volumes before the Fāṭimids themselves starting selling it ... Abū Shāmah reported a second incident, in his account of the fate of another library, of more than a million books, in the Syrian city of Amida (present day Diyarbakır) on the upper Tigris River, which Saladin in 1183 ce (ah 579) donated, for services rendered, to his chief supporters.
> ... A prevailing sadness also emerges from those accounts, which is an indication of the widespread feeling of resentment and discontent at the loss of such a priceless legacy of learning. Saladin was accordingly exposed to bitter criticism, especially by the survivors of the old regime whom he feared and sought to suppress. It was imperative, therefore, that the adherents of the new order should rise to the occasion and seek to justify the actions of the new ruler.
Source: The fate of the Library of Alexandria - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Library-of-Alexandria/The-f...
> The Telecommunications Assistance and Access Bill (TAAB or AssAccess) require technology companies like FastMail, Google, Apple, Cisco to provide Australian law enforcement and security agencies with access to all communications without any judicial oversight, transparency, or reason. The only restrictions offered to protect people’s privacy is the vague terms “reasonable and proportionate.”