617
Trump, Netanyahu and Khamenei – three angry old men who could get us all killed
(www.theguardian.com)
And Putin (72), and Xi Jing Ping (72)
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
617 points (94.9% liked)
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Great man theory nonsense. Was Netanyahu in power during the Sabra and Shatila massacre? During the Nakba? During the June 1967 war? Was Trump president when the US invaded Iraq? Was he president when the US sent billions of dollars in military aid to Israel to commit their genocide with? It's the countries, not the leaders. They're just the personification of a system. You could shoot each of these men in the head today, and nothing would change.
Trump, definitely. He's at least too dumb to be evil effectively, I shudder to think where Vance would take things if he decides to keep the MAGA line going.
Netanyahu dying would lead to a collapse of his government and a more moderate faction coming to power and probably ending the wars... for now.
I know less about the internal politics of Iran, although this war they didn't start obviously wouldn't end.
There is broad support in Israeli society for the ongoing genocide in Gaza. There are polls showing as much (I think one of them showed a rate of 82%). This is not one man's whim, this is not the will of some small shady elite, this is a consequence of material conditions in Israel. If you don't take those away, some other face will lead the charge.
Plus I'm not convinced that an assassination of Netanyahu would lead to a different party taking charge. I can't imagine their system of governance is set up this way. But this is entirely beside the point. The point is that one man's death doesn't change history. The allies didn't win WWII because Hitler killed himself, Hitler killed himself because the allies won WWII.
There is broad support in Israeli society for the ongoing genocide in Gaza. There are polls showing as much (I think one of them showed a rate of 82%).
I did say "for now".
I'm guessing "genocide" wasn't in the wording of the poll question, but a two-state solution is just as fringe as a one state solution at this point. The vibe of the average Israeli is that they want Palestinians gone and don't want to talk or even think about how.
Plus I’m not convinced that an assassination of Netanyahu would lead to a different party taking charge. I can’t imagine their system of governance is set up this way.
How much do you know about the system?
It's a party list parliament with a pretty high degree of political fragmentation, comparable to the Netherlands. Netanyahu started with a slim majority propped up by the far-right parties, and his party has polled poorly since they let Oct 7 happen. Security was his main thing. He's globally famous for his skill holding together coalitions, which he couldn't do while dead, and it's pretty typical to hold snap elections after something like that anyway. His successor also wouldn't need to worry about being thrown in jail for corruption the moment they're out of office.
But this is entirely beside the point. The point is that one man’s death doesn’t change history. The allies didn’t win WWII because Hitler killed himself, Hitler killed himself because the allies won WWII.
Great man theory is indeed dumb, but "leaders don't change anything even in the short term" is too far in the other direction.
There are actually some differences here. After the Cold War ended Israel was making some peace deals. The Oslo Accords(1993 and 1995) and a deal with Jordan 1994 were big parts of that. In 1996 Netanyahu came to power and basically all of that stopped. There was a bit with Ariel Sharon being in power, when Israel gave up its settlement in the Gaza strip. Netanyahu was not prime minister all the time, but he was in government and more often then not in position to sabotage that. The only time he failed was Ariel Sharon ordering to close the Jewish settlements in Gaza. He is really the main reason there is no somewhat working two state solution today.
Trump currently sents billions of aid to Israel to commit genocide AND fight a war within Iran. So yes he is that president. Biden at least used the US military to send some food to Gaza, Trump stopped that.
Khamenei is the leader of Iran since 1989. He is hardly innocent of supporting the Assad clan, destroying democracy in Lebanon by supporting Hezbollah, massive war crimes in Sudan happening right now, with the biggest starvation crisis in the world, although not as hard as Gaza, the huge civil war in Yemen and so forth. Keep in mind that before the Iranian revolution Israel and Iran were very close allies. They even developed fighter jets together. Point is that both countries are not natural enemies.
At least two of those men have formed their respective countries and systems for decades. If you killed Netanyahu today, then it would mean a new election and likely a win for the liberals, which is usually good news for Palastinians. If you killed Khamenei today, then there is a pretty good chance, that the infighting would end the Islamic Republic. Iran has had some massive protests in the last couple years. If you kill Trump, then the Vance ends up president and he lacks the charisma of Trump and is not even directly elected.
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What an insanely stupid article. Israel bombs Iran completely unprovoked. Khamenei and Iran are incredibly responsible and measured in their response. Meanwhile Israel is flailing around like a wild bully with their American big brother behind its back, threatening Iran that they are not allowed to strike back
And the liberals from TheGuardian write a both sides article about it as if all parties share blame.
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you know it's bad when western MSM is both-siding it
Ah yes, blame all three even though its been clearly israel and Netanyahu who have been beating the war drums for 30+ years. Israel has been talking about Iran developing a nuke for 30 years and saying that "its around the corner". Israel did the same with Iraq btw and dragged the US to war.
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Don't forget Putin...
Fuck thes old, power-hungry war-mongering pieces of excrement. Their death will be celebrated by millions.
Please put an age restriction on politicians, it would solev sooo much nonsense.
Please put an age restriction on politicians, it would solev sooo much nonsense.
While I partially agree on this, let's consider some cases:
- Hitler's reign 1933-1945, his age: 44-56
- Stalin 1922-1952, age 44-74
- Putin 2000-?, age 48-?
- Pol Pot 1963-1981, age 38-56
- Louis XIV 1643-1715, age 5-77 or 16-77 if you count coronation as the start (sacre bleu jesus fuck)
- Xi Jinping 2012-?, age 59-?
Youth is clearly not enough. Age limit + term limit might be a useful combination, but it all falls down when you allow somebody to just grab all power anyway and reset all the rules and limits, like Putin and Xi Jinping have done.
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Trust The Guardian to "both-sides" a blatant war of aggression and just completely fail to mention the massive genocide Israel is carrying out.
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Peak liberal both sidesism. Desperately clinging to the illusion that USA good, Iran bad. This is a big part of why we have genocide against palestinians and trump in office.
Desperately clinging to the illusion that USA good
You are either being dishonest or have bad reading comprehension. The OP clearly labels Trump as part of the problem, alongside Netanyahu and Khameini. They also blame Israel for escalating with Iran when talks were still ongoing. They are not saying what you claim they are.
I think it's probably that Americans only do this "both sides are to blame" when their side is the one to blame
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damn they just pretend the UK is not the country that fuel Jets over Iraq to facilitate the bombing. Or it is not the UK base in Cyprus and vessels that provide a command center and communication tool to facilitate the mission.
If you want to attack Iran and accelerate to a wwiii don't shy from telling the truth about your involvement, we know it, you know it ...
False equivalencies.
Khamenei maybe an angry old man considering his country is facing an existential threat but Netanyahu is a wanted war criminal and Trump is a rapist with nefarious ties to the notorious Epstein
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