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1500 questions
34
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5 answers

According to pro-Palestinian sources, does Hamas indeed embed itself into civilian areas (to complicate IDF operations)?

It doesn't take long reading about Gaza events and civilian casualties before finding examples of the pro-Israel narrative that those casualties are largely caused by Hamas' propensity to keep its military assets as close as possible to Gaza…
Italian Philosophers 4 Monica
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34
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14 answers

Why do some people support Russia's war in Ukraine?

The Economist Intelligence Unit reported in March that some 33% of the world's population live in countries that support Russia in their war with Ukraine, and another 30% live in countries that are neutral on the subject. A report from Cambridge…
mdarwin
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34
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5 answers

Was Silicon Valley Bank's failure due to "Trump-era deregulation", and/or do Democrats share blame for it?

In CNN's March 13 2023 State of the Union clip Expert advises all depositors to get their money out of collapsed bank after 05:58, CNN's Kaitlan Collins introduces US Senator Elizabeth Warren's tweet: President Biden called on Congress and…
uhoh
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34
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5 answers

Who does the most unpleasant dirty work in full communism?

In an anarchist society, or a society of "higher" or full communism, who does the necessary and necessarily unpleasant work required to keep society functioning?
Samuel Russell
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34
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9 answers

What are possible explanations for why Democratic states appear to have higher homeless rates per capita than Republican states?

The principal argument I see regarding homelessness in blue areas is that cities draw a larger homeless population than rural areas which is objectively true. However, from the evidence I have found, blue states appear to have higher homeless rates…
Grant Curell
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34
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4 answers

Are power plants legitimate military targets under international law?

I've seen clips and articles stating that recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian power plants amount to "War Crimes". This seems right to me but I couldn't find any resource explicitly prohibiting it. Are these valid/invalid military targets in both…
Slack Groverglow
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34
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4 answers

How do Western democracies justify censorship of foreign media outlets?

One of the features of a democracy is freedom of speech and media, but in the last few months Russian media outlets were closed and blocked online. Such censorship happened for example in the EU and in the UK. An earlier example of such censorship…
user43557
34
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2 answers

Did Russia once want to join NATO? Does former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov refer to a serious interest in the past?

In CNN's April 15, 2022 He was once Putin's Prime Minister. Now he supports Ukraine after 05:30 former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov says (my transcription, no closed captions available): I'll bring you back twenty years ago when I was…
uhoh
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34
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3 answers

Why can water not be transferred within California?

Water transfer requires government approval. And the government does not approve it. For example, in 2022, 337,564 AF1 was requested and 0 AF was granted. Given that politicians talk about reducing water waste, wouldn't it make sense to approve…
personal_cloud
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34
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What, if any, groups of pro-Russian separatists are in East-European countries?

Russian separatists in Ukraine have had an important role in "inviting" Russia to invade Ukraine. In order to predict future steps that may be taken by Russia, it may be useful to know: are there substantial groups in other East European countries…
Erel Segal-Halevi
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34
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4 answers

Why did Putin call Ukrainian officials “drug addicts”?

Among other things, Putin has called the Ukrainian leadership a “band of drug addicts” (source) shortly before invading Ukraine in 2022. This seems like a strange accusation. He could have simply accused them of corruption, extremism, or any other…
hb20007
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34
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4 answers

Is there any meaningful purpose in stopping selling consumer goods to Russia?

So, my newsfeed had an item about "H&M" stopping selling things to Russa, as well as a score of other random retailers (Nike? etc...). I can sort of see the possible argument about efficacy of a (self) ban on Google or Apple's side, given their…
user4012
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34
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4 answers

Why first world countries have astonishing amount of foreign debts, but third world countries don't?

USA, for example, having a total foreign debt of over 23 trillion dollars (according to the statistics provided in 2019), is still on the frontline of those countries which are considered to be successful first world states, making remarkable…
Rameez Ul Haq
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34
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4 answers

Why is the Second Amendment to the US constitution structured differently from all other amendments?

The Second Amendment reads as follows: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. This can be neatly divided into two parts, split after the…
Alex
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4 answers

Why did the USA stay in Afghanistan for 20 years?

When George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan, his target was, I suppose, to root out the terrorist network of Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden was killed in 2011. Recently, Joe Biden said that the USA didn't go to Afghanistan for nation-building. So, if Bin…
user366312
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