I agree that midtown wouldn't be my first choice at this stage in life (though I was in the 50s for my first apartment out of college). I think the long-term goal is to make midtown less shitty by having it become more residential, somewhat similar to the financial district.

It will never be trendy (at least not for the next few decades) but it can certainly offer more housing stock for people looking to get more bang for their buck and potentially reduce demand elsewhere.

In summary: not for me, but good luck I guess

D'oh! Why didn't every other country think of that

Have you ever seen a Jew and a Nazi in the same room????? Really makes you think /s

What do you mean by that?

True. But that was the case as of a couple months ago

I'm surprised there were any exports to Iranian firms left

I was envisioning something closer to the zone rouge in France, but point taken yeah

The simplistic tradeoff would be civilian deaths caused by landmines vs. civilian deaths prevented by use of landmines against Russian troops. It is clear that Russian troops have no qualms about intentionally massacring civilians. If landmines stop a group of tanks from overrunning a Ukrainian village or whatever, is that worth it? Hard to say without looking at a ton of very specific scenarios.

If Ukraine is doing a good job documenting where landmines are being laid and keeping civilians away from those areas (which, based on what you said, maybe not) then that could be ok.

I hope so, and I imagine that's true from a top-down perspective. But I suspect that the lower level troops, many of whom are not professionals, are probably a little more focused on rapid deployment rather than perfect documentation. Which is understandable, if not ideal

I understand why they’re using them and think it might be justified. But it’s important to remember that the most frequent victims of land mines are civilians, long long after the actual war has ended.

I wish Ukraine luck but also I hope they’re keeping track of where they lay mines

That's what happens when you make peace and stop trying to destroy your neighbors. Who knew peace improved quality of life!

The effects of gravity propagate at the same speed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_gravity

Israel most likely. Maybe Saudi Arabia with the support of some other Gulf states

Okie dokie, then. I'm very curious about where they were going to get a Torah scroll from though. Those things are hella expensive - there are rules about it needing to be handwritten on specific materials etc. - it's not like printing a mass-produced book

I don't really disagree with what you wrote. To clarify, I was referring to the PLO from the time around the Oslo Accords. While far, far from perfect, that showed they were at least willing to make some sort of compromise. Better and more rational than Hamas et al.

That said, the modern PA has made some compromises with Israel. Not in terms of a lasting peace plan or anything major, but they do generally (outside of particularly large flare-ups like this month) cooperate with Israel on day-to-day matters like minor civil things, taxation, and even limited security cooperation

The only counterpoints I can think of in terms of old world (i.e., excluding the Americas since those are predominantly multi-ethnic, immigrant-based societies) successful truly multiethnic states are Switzerland and Belgium. Maybe India as well, though they seem to be sliding into chaos as well these days. There are probably some in Africa as well, though I have to admit I'm not particularly well versed in demographic trends there.

Nonetheless, none of the successful versions are anything close to a theoretical one state solution

Yep. Look no further than Lebanon to see what that dysfunction would look like. Not an inspiring track record

Yep. Unfortunately it seems like a demographic issue as well. Current Israeli adults have predominantly lost trust in Palestinian leadership due to the intifadas plus the growing share of Haredim as a % of population. Will require some buffer time until (hopefully) the voter base has replenished with people who have not experienced intifadas. Similarly, Palestinian youth are increasingly affiliating themselves with Islamist groups (Hamas, PIJ, etc.) rather than secular groups. While I have plenty of criticism for the PLO/PA, at the very least they are ideologically able to make compromises and less tied up in religious absolutism.

We're about as far as we've been from a two state solution any time in at least the past 50 years.

Bibi accepting extremists into his coalition to avoid corruption charges, Abbas likely dying of old age soon without any successor, and Hamas increasingly having a presence in the West Bank. Good fucking luck, Blinken