#peace talks in Afghanistan

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

How surprising ...

[laineystein]

How do you make peace with the IDF storming into hospitals and UN schools? How do you make peace with the news that the IDF opened fire on Israeli citizens on October 7th? Why do the Palestinians deserve to be chased out of their homes since 1948? Do you know about Rachel Corrie? Do you know that the IDF has killed a record breaking amount of journalists? I don't understand how you can be so close to this tragedy and act like it is anything other than genocide.

You make peace when you understand international law and learn that the only war crimes being committed are being committed by Hamas. We’re not storming hospitals or schools. International law also states that as soon as a faction begins using an area for military purposes, it is no longer protected. It is no longer a “civilian” area, even if civilians still reside there. So many sources (that notably hate Israel and Jews) have come out confirming that Al Shifa is Hamas HQ. Many sources have come out confirming that Hamas is using schools to store weapons and indoctrinate children *and* that NGOs like the UN have turned a blind eye.

You make peace when you learn to educate yourself instead of falling victim to jihadist propaganda. The “Israelis killed their own people on October 7th” lie has been debunked. No sources could be found confirming that and the IDF and the Israel Police both came out saying that was factually inaccurate. If you know reporting out of those groups you know that when we’ve fucked up, we admit it. This was all a fabrication to excuse terrorism and continue to wrongfully demonize Israel.

You make peace when you deal with actual facts. There was a two-state solution planned before 1948 and then four countries attacked Israel and we defeated them all which lead to what y’all refer to as the Nakba. BUT!!! The Jewish population did not want their Arab neighbors to leave. Arab nations encouraged the Nakba. Arab nations have always used the plight of the Palestinian people to further their agenda of demonizing Israel in an attempt to eradicate it and kill Jews. But if we’re going to talk to about being expelled from your homes - Jewish families were expelled from Gaza in 2005 when we gave the land to the Palestinians. Do you care about that? Where are the Jews in Iraq? Yemen? Afghanistan? Syria? Sudan? Morocco? Feel free to talk about how those people were ethnically cleansed from those countries - but if that doesn’t interest you then your activism might be performative and you might just hate Jews.

I know it is not genocide because I’m so close to it. I spent all of last week ensuring the safe passage of Palestinians out of Gaza, into the South. I had Palestinians thank me. I administered aid to Palestinian children and the elderly. I watched them pray to Allah that Hamas would go away. What happened to my people on October 7th was an attempted genocide - something that Hamas has admitted to. What we are doing in Gaza is working to prevent a genocide, one of Hamas’ own doing.

Please read a book. Please get off social media. Please stop regurgitating lies fed to you by influencers and antisemites that did not care about this conflict before October 7th. You clearly need to be educated and messaging an IDF soldier on anon isn’t the way to do it. I have better shit to do. Yalla bye✌🏼

[afghanbarbie]

The sex-based apartheid against women in Afghanistan cannot be reduced to, "Afghan men saw Afghan women enjoying freedom and got mad, so they established extremist religious governments to stop it." I am really tired of seeing this misconception and oversimplification spread around by leftists, liberals and feminists – it's racist, and simply not fucking true.

The majority of Afghans want a secular government and for the oppression of women to end. The Taliban represent a minority of Afghanistan's people. The deterioration of Afghan society – in particular, women's rights and freedoms – directly results from decades of foreign intervention, imperialism and occupation. Afghans did not destroy Afghanistan, the United States did, and the USSR paved the way for them to do so.

Had Afghanistan never been treated like a pawn in the games played by imperialistic powers, had we not been reduced to resources, strategic importance and a tool for weakening the enemy, extremism would have never come to power.

An overview of Afghanistan's recent history:

The USSR wanted to incorporate Afghanistan into Soviet Central Asia and did so by sabotaging indigenous Afghan communist movements and replacing our leaders with those loyal to the USSR. The United States began funding and training Islamic extremists – the Mujahideen – to fight against the Soviet influence and subsequent invasion, and to help the CIA suppress any indigenous Afghan leftist movements. Those Mujahideen won the war, and then spent the next decade fighting for absolute control over Afghanistan.

During that time period, known as the Afghan Civil War, the Mujahideen became warlords, each enforcing their own laws on the regions they controlled. Kabul was nearly destroyed, and the chaos, destruction and death was largely ignored by the United States despite being the ones who caused and empowered it. This civil war era created the perfect, unstable environment needed to give a fringe but strong group like the Taliban a chance to rise to power. And after two decades of war, a singular entity taking control and bringing 'peace' was enticing to all Afghans, even if their views were objectively more extreme than what we had been enduring up to that point.

When the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001, they allied with the same warlords that had been destroying our country the decade prior and whom they had rallied against the Soviets – these are the people that made up the Northern Alliance. The 'good guys' that America gave us were rapists, pillagers, and violent extremists, no better than the Taliban. And that's not even mentioning the horrible atrocities and war crimes committed by American forces themselves.

So, no, Afghan men did not collectively wake up one day and decide that women had too much freedom and rush to establish an extremist government overnight. No, this is not to excuse the misogyny of men in our society – the extremists had to already exist for Americans to fund and arm them against the Soviets – but rather to redirect the bulk of this racist blame to the actual culprits. The religious extremism and sex-based apartheid would not be oppressing and murdering us today if they hadn't been funded and supported by the United States of America thirty years ago. And despite all the abuses and restrictions, many Afghan women prefer the Taliban's current government to another American occupation. I felt safer walking in Taliban-controlled Kabul than I did being 'randomly searched' (sexually assaulted) by American military police in my village as a child.

Imperialism is inextricably linked with patriarchal violence and women's oppression. You cannot talk about the deterioration of Afghanistan without talking about the true cause of said decline: The United States of America. Americans of all political views, including leftists and feminists, are guilty of reducing or outright ignoring Western responsibility for female oppression in the Global South, finding it much easier to place all blame on the foreign brown man or our supposedly backwards, savage cultures, when the most responsibility belongs with Western governments and their meddling games that forced the most violent misogynists among us into power.

(Most of this information comes from my own experience living as an Afghan Hazara woman in Afghanistan, but Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the Propaganda of Silence covers this in much more detail. If you want more on the Soviet-Afghan war and Afghanistan's socialist history, Revolutionary Afghanistan is an English-language source from a more leftist perspective)

[simply-ivanka]

Trump Writes a New Playbook for Quagmires in Gaza and Ukraine

President��s blueprints for the world’s intractable problems represent rejections of decades-old U.S. policy

Wall Street Journal

By David S. Cloud Alexander Ward and James T. Areddy

WASHINGTON—President Trump is rewriting the accepted playbook for solving the world’s intractable conflicts—offering talks to settle the Ukraine war with concessions to Russia and crushing hopes for a Palestinian state with his plan to resettle Gaza’s entire population.

His blueprints for both places are rejections of U.S. policy going back decades, a stark assertion that Washington’s conventional answers to these seemingly interminable clashes have been tried and have failed.

To Trump, Gaza and Ukraine look much the same. Thousands die needlessly. Cities lie in ruins. Ancient hatreds fuel endless fighting. His solutions share much in common as well.

They stem from his belief in his powers of persuasion, a stated yearning to be seen as a deal-cutting peacemaker of historic significance, and a penchant for imposing solutions on weaker countries, including allies, said analysts who have studied both conflicts.

“What he wants in both situations is quiet, peace, a deal,” said William Wechsler, the senior director of the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, a think tank. “Less American engagement and less American risk.”

A question is whether Trump might now try his game plan elsewhere, such as in Taiwan, where fears are growing that the president’s desire for a quick trade deal with Beijing might inspire him to use the democratic island as a bargaining chip.

Trump’s unorthodox approach also risks creating new strategic dead ends.

In Ukraine, Trump’s push for peace has inspired some fears in Kyiv that he might seek a deal without the country’s buy-in that brings a temporary halt to fighting but doesn’t provide Ukraine with enough support to resist Russian efforts to subjugate it in the long term.

As Trump disclosed Wednesday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin talks on a peace deal, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was laying out in Brussels the parameters of a possible agreement that ruled out Kyiv’s reclaiming all of its Russian-seized territory, as well as Ukrainian membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the deployment of U.S. troops as peacekeepers.

European officials said the administration’s concessions surrendered Trump’s leverage before talks even began.

“Trump always speaks about ‘peace through strength,’ and that is precisely the right approach with the Russians,” said a senior European official. “But here we have not really seen the strength part yet.”

While Trump vowed in comments to reporters Wednesday to continue U.S. military aid to Kyiv, he insisted that Putin’s desire for peace is genuine, a sentiment some analysts said is doubtful.

“Trump wants a cease-fire and some kind of arrangement that would sideline the Ukraine issue for a while,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, in a post on X. “But his vision still differs radically from Putin’s. For Putin, a real solution means a Ukraine that is ‘friendly’ to Russia.”

In 2016, Trump barnstormed his way to the presidency by blaming Washington for launching long-term occupations in Afghanistan or Iraq, with little to show for it. But he often found his ideas blocked by his advisers and his unfamiliarity with policymaking.

The peace deals that he did push through in his first term were also unconventional—and yielded mixed results. 

The normalization pacts between Israel and four Arab states—the Abraham Accords—discarded decades of thinking in Washington and Middle East capitals that the century-old conflict required a Palestinian state for peace. But it didn’t catch on with other Arab countries. Hamas cited the sidelining of the Palestinian cause as a rallying cry for the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that sparked the war with Israel.

In Afghanistan, Trump bucked Washington’s establishment in 2020 by striking a peace accord with the Taliban that didn’t include the U.S.-backed Kabul government. While the Biden administration was roundly criticized for its handling of the final troop withdrawal, many longtime observers of Afghanistan blasted the accord for not constraining the Taliban from restricting the education of girls and other hard-line policies.

In his second term, Trump is already proving more willing to pursue his own ideas.

 “We inherited a world on fire thanks to a generation of so-called experts from the foreign-policy establishment,” said Brian Hughes, a National Security Council spokesman. “President Trump is quickly reversing their terrible mistakes, and America is once again the dominant force for peace and stability.”

Trump’s threats to seize the Panama Canal, to make Canada a U.S. state and to take control of Greenland have alarmed U.S. allies.

In Gaza, his plan to relocate the nearly two million Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt so the U.S. can “take” and rebuild the shattered enclave has been rejected by Arab governments and some Gazans who have said they would never abandon their homes.

No previous White House since the founding of Israel in 1948 has suggested the permanent removal of Palestinians from Gaza, which most U.S. presidents have seen as a part of an eventual Palestinian state.

But Arab and Israeli public support for side-by-side states has waned dramatically, especially since Oct. 7.

Trump sees all of the region’s players trying to turn the clock back to before Oct. 7, said Wechsler. The president’s plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza and have the U.S. take ownership of the strip for a real-estate project is designed to shake up a region that he sees as stuck in the past.

Yet Trump’s proposal is also one that people in Israel and the Arab world regard as unrealistic, with the potential to destabilize such countries as Egypt and Jordan that border Israel. 

 “Gaza seems like a nonstarter at best, which makes me wonder if it isn’t just a wild gambit to kick-start diplomatic paralysis with either the Egyptians and Jordanians,” said Reid Smith, vice president for foreign policy at Stand Together, a nonprofit founded by the Koch family.

Trump’s ideas for Gaza and Ukraine are being watched by other U.S. allies and adversaries, wondering if he might try similarly disruptive ideas in Taiwan and other hot spots.

For decades, Washington has been Taipei’s most important military backer, supplying the weapons needed to deter and defend against a potential attack by China. Beijing claims the island as its territory and hasn’t ruled out the use of force in asserting control over it.

“If China harbors doubt that the U.S. is going to follow through on its commitments to Taiwan, then we are not deterring China, we are tantalizing and emboldening China,” said Daniel Russel, a former U.S. diplomat and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York.

The tense peace that exists rests on an array of agreements, understandings and practices that govern China-Taiwan relations, and they reflect delicate language and raw power honed over decades.

Trump has mostly stuck to the traditional “strategic ambiguity” messaging over whether the U.S. would get involved in a China-Taiwan conflict that has been Washington policy for decades. But he has at times spoken in transactional terms about the island.

“The big question is whether the president thinks a grand bargain with Beijing, one that might include Taiwan, is possible,” said Richard Fontaine, chief executive of Center for a New American Security, something he said few around the president consider realistic or desirable. 

“That would be very unconventional,” Fontaine said.

REPOST

[bucksboobs]

I really think people just plugged their ears when you gave the context of *Ryan himself* speculating that eddie might regress into “staff sergeant Diaz”. I also think people don’t like to acknowledge that the realities of the American military industrial complex and that anyone who makes the decision to join it has absolutely followed orders that no one should follow and that includes your favourite character! IF he complies to keep the peace/protect himself/any number of reasons it could (and Ryan seems to agree) actually be in character bc - and I reiterate - *this man was a US soldier in Afghanistan*

I keep talking about how Eddie doing anything “out of character” RE: Gerrard will be because he’s a former soldier! I keep stressing it will be a result of his military trauma because the US military fundamentally breaks and reshapes its soldiers, and I’ve seen it first hand with members of my family but people think I’m saying that Eddie will become Gerrard’s right hand man when I’m literally not! I’m discussing how a traumatized man might react to a stressful situation in a less than ideal way. Idk maybe people forget he was a soldier in the US Army and that has lasting effects???

[therealvinelle]

What does Norway think of the us

Far too many things for me to begin to cover in a tumblr post.

Suffice to say: we arguably owe our welfare and current standing in the world and inarguably our liberty as a nation to the US. This has shaped our domestic and foreign policies for the past 80 years, and we are currently breathing into a paper bag about the fact that Uncle Sam is talking about breaking up with us.

Also beware, there are matters in this post which are a matter of political opinion (rare for this blog, I know), and there are nightmareishly long paragraphs in here, so read at own risk and sorry about the long paragraphs.

Readmore for length and in case I need to make edits.

Norway, the war, and the Marshall Help

Imagine: your country is invaded by Nazis in 1940, and remains occupied for five years. When you are liberated, your country's gold reserve is depleted, many places bombed, and the entirety of Northern Norway is so badly ravaged that the population is evacuated and the region deemed uninhabitable (you'll notice, today, the architecture up north is new. All of it.). To say nothing of the human toll: one third of our Jewish population was slaughtered in Auschwitz, the country is littered in war memorials and tombstones of men shot or otherwise killed by Germans, and every family has at least one wartime story.

(I will take a note to say that it's our own occupation that comes to mind when I see the war and genocide happening in Ukraine. The differences are many, but the shared horror of an invasion, the fact that this happens on European mainland and is perpetrated by a country we share a border with, makes it feel extremely close. More, if Ukraine loses... I'll get into that further below, but suffice to say "Norway's defense budget" these days is labelled "Ukraine aid")

What are you going to do when peace comes, and the time to rebuild is upon you? Well, it so happens the rest of Europe is asking itself that same question, and the United States meanwhile sees an opportunity to both help its allies, strengthen our bonds so that we'll be on the same side for the foreseeable future, and weaken the communist sympathies in Europe. It's a win-win type of deal, and so the Marshall aid is launched: billions of dollars ($13 billion then, $178 adjusted for inflation) are poured into Europe, bolstering the post-war economy and allowing the countries which accepted (all of Western Europe, save Spain and Finland. Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union declined as well.) to get back to their feet much sooner.

It's in this context that Norway's government's plans of a welfare society were possible to realize. Perhaps we would have managed it anyway, but the historically recorded fact is we did it with the help of the USA.

Then there's NATO, that beautiful response to not only the Eastern threat, but to the naivety that had reigned prior to World War II. Hitler had... helped himself... to increasing chunks of Europe, and country leaders kept saying "Well I don't want war, and I'm sure he'll be satisfied after that. Oh no, he invaded Poland?! Oh well I'm sure he'll be satisfied with- oh no, he's entered France!"

NATO means "Invade one, you fight us all", and while it may have come to mean "one invades Afghanistan, so now I guess we're all going" and even "boy Ukraine is having it rough huh. But we can't do anything without getting NATO involved, and that'll launch a new world war :/", and de facto "if NATO ever acts against Russia that will be world war three. Hang on, what's NATO for then?", NATO at its core still means "I am in NATO, so Uncle Sam will protect me. :)"

Which makes countries like Norway feel very safe. And, I cannot overemphasize, is why we've felt safe for the past 70+ years.

Which brings us to the next section.

That border. That border!!

If you look at a map of Norway, you'll see a long and happy border to Sweden. There has been much discourse (and war, war, war) over that border, I for one still think it would be nice if they gave us back Bohuslän, but overall we are very close and good allies.

Look a little further up, however. Yes, past the border to Finland.

Is that...

(photo credit)

Oh no, it's Russia!

This hasn't always been an oh no. We lived peacefully side by side frankly always, and the Soviets liberated Finnmark from the Nazis which was wonderful of them. Then Norway accepted the Marshall Aid, however, and while our governing party had had strong communist sympathies prior to the war (and after...) this cemented our ties to the United States. Our side in the Cold War had been chosen.

Border relations with Russia have been good, they have had to be good, but NATO was our safety and security during a very tense period of time. (This comedy skit is very funny but... kind of true... as does the entire Whaledimir debacle (adorable whale charmed the country, but was Whaledimir a Russian spy? Somehow, the answer appears to be yes.) The Russo-Ukrainian war has made relations historically bad, however. (Norwegian news article on the topic, if you feel like translating.)

Where am I going with this?

Norway has a shared border with Russia. Norway would not be capable of defending Finnmark if Russia invaded from the shared border, and having Sweden and Finland join NATO makes us feel better but the defense strategy has still been (and remains) "we defend what we can until US reinforcements arrive". One of the sexiest things the US has done this year was send a massive war ship sailing into our waters, just to say hello and show off their presence. MUCH APPRECIATED.

And, again, this might seem very remote and like the plot of a bad political thriller to the cursory anon and even to many Norwegians, but we were invaded in the last century, we have a shared border, a strategically important coastline and a lot of natural resources (oil!), and should Ukraine (god forbid) lose the war, the question will be this: what does Russia do next? What, specifically, does NATO and the US do if Putin for instance decides to take Svalbard? Is anyone risking nuclear war over Svalbard? What about Finmark? What about cyber attacks, underwater cable att- oh wait there were two underwater cables cut open yesterday.

Gee, that's not worrying at all.

In summation

America is a very important trade partner, and the cultural and political influence you have on us (on all of Europe, really) is immense. I imagine most asked would focus on that, especially on Norway's thoughts on the election, but you asked me and so you get my answer. Your election was a sports match to us (or at least covered by media and social media like one).

I will say this: Trump's first victory had us worried, and we have spent more on defense since then, but his second victory proves the first was not a fluke and the United States is shifting away from us. This is not something we can influence, as it is the will of the American people (or at the very least what they voted for), what we must do is adapt. I, a lifelong opponent to Norway joining the European Union, now see no other way if Norway is to prosper (though the EU also needs a major makeover to survive now, on our own without the US we are all shaking in our knees here in Europe). Likewise, to paraphrase a very good op-ed, Norway's national security neither can depend on a few undecided voters in Wisconsin who aren't thinking about Europe or Norway at all, nor should it.

We have been too dependent on the United States, this has been mutually beneficial and if it was up to us, this wouldn't change (I am now ignoring a faction on the far left which has been saying "Guys, I have a great idea: we should leave NATO :)" and another faction on the far right which is so eager to please Trump-senpai they think Norway is supporting Ukraine's effort because we're stupid), sadly it seems the US wants it to change.

We shall see what happens.

[lostinthewiind]

Hi! Hope you're having a good day! You are so right, the Generation Kill fics are very rare, it's a shame.

Could you please write something for Nate Fick where the reader is oblivious and doesn't realize that he loves them?

Thaaanks!

Atypical

Nathaniel "Nate" Fick - Generation Kill

Rating: All ages

It had been a long tour. Iraq was brutal from start to finish, and even now, when you knew you would be heading back to the States in a couple of days, it still didn't feel real.

Staring out at the vast Iraqi desert that surrounded the base camp, you exhaled long and deep—a last-ditch attempt to expel the weeks of dust that accumulated in your lungs.

"Ready to head back home?" A familiar voice came from behind you.

You smiled to yourself as you scooted over, making room for your visitor in the back of the truck you had found refuge in. "And here I was thinking I had finally found a moment of peace and quiet in this damn war."

Nate smirked as he sat down next to you, his bright blue eyes practically sparkling in the sun. You had seen a lot of things you wouldn't ever forget while in Iraq, most of them bad—but Nate's eyes were one of the few good things that lingered in your mind.

"Sorry to disturb your personal oasis in the back of this Motor T rust bucket." The truck made a worrying sound as he shifted his weight and he quirked a brow. "Point made."

"Well maybe if you had whipped your men into shape more, I wouldn't have to feel as though Motor T is the only place I can go for some quality alone time," you told him as you tilted your head toward the sunset.

"Manimal trying to buy your underwear off of you again?"

You choked on your next breath. "How the hell do you know about that?"

Nate laughed. "I know about everything that goes on in my platoon."

"Either way, no, that wasn't happening ... not again, at least." You shook your head. "I was just trying to take some time to reflect. I thought going home would be a happy feeling."

"You're not happy?"

"I am. But I'm also not." You tried to explain your complex feelings. "I don't know, the possibility of never seeing any of you guys again isn't as much of a relief as I thought it might be. Don't tell anyone I said that."

"I won't," Nate assured you with a chuckle. "For someone coming into a group of guys who have been together since Afghanistan, you really held your own. It'll be weird if we ship out again and you're not there."

You watched as the night sky shifted from a brilliant shade of orange into a dark purple. "Give it some time and I'll be as ready as you are to be done with this war and go home."

"How do you know I'm ready to go home?" Nate asked.

"You're not the only observant one," you answered, earning a dubious look from Nate. "... and I overheard you and Brad talking."

Nate nodded when you confirmed his suspicions. "That sounds more like it."

"Hey, I am plenty observant!" You smacked him on the shoulder. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. It's a pretty important quality for a marine."

"True. But still."

"But still?"

Nate turned away from the sunset to look at you. His mouth opened to respond, but before he could get a word out, he decided against it and averted his gaze. "Nothing."

"No, no, no." You grabbed his face with your hand and forced him to look at you once more. In that moment, you didn't think about the fact that you were technically laying hands on your superior. "But still what?"

"I think it's a conversation better had at a later date," he told you as he gently pushed your hand away. "When there's less sand and less gunfire. When we're just normal people, not a Lieutenant and his Corporal."

"You know we could die tomorrow, right?" you reminded him. "Or right now. There could be a sniper lining up the head shot as we speak. What if I died right now and you never got to tell me whatever it is you're being so secretive about?"

Letting out a defeated sigh, Nate reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a ring. It wasn't just some class ring either; no, it was an honest-to-God gold banded ring with a diamond on the top.

"Lieutenant Fick?" Your eyes darted between his face and the ring.

"Please do not call me Lieutenant when I'm holding an engagement ring."

Your mouth fell open. You were at a loss for words. "What ... what the fuck, Nate?"

"I suppose that's better." He clasped his hand firmly around the ring so it was no longer in sight. "When I first met you, I wrote a letter home and mentioned you. Told my folks all about how we had this woman riding with us and how I didn't think she'd last a week."

You were too impatient to wait for the follow-up. "And?" you prompted.

"And my mother sent me back the family ring and told me to let her know when the wedding was."

You laughed. You were aware how incredibly insensitive it was but in that moment, it was the only outlet you could think of for your overwhelming emotions. "What the fuck, Nate?" you whispered.

"You already said that."

"Well, I'm sorry I'm a little shocked in a moment like this. Can you blame me for not exactly expecting a proposal when I didn't even know you had feelings for me?"

Nate rolled his eyes. "I never actually asked you to marry me, now did I?"

"Then what's the ring for?"

"Well obviously it's for engagement!"

"What is happening right now?" You couldn't believe what was going on. Surely, you must have been dreaming. "Did you hit your head when I wasn't looking? Do I need to call Doc Bryan?"

"Oh, my God. I've really fucked this." Nate stuffed the ring back into his pocket. "This is not how I meant to approach this topic."

"What topic?"

"That I'm in love with you!" Nate proclaimed before burying his face in his hands.

A beat of silence passed and you were suddenly very grateful that you had chosen an abandoned corner of the camp to watch the sunset from.

"Nate?" you whispered once more.

"Yes?" he whispered back, his voice even more muffled from his hands.

"Did you just tell me you're in love with me?"

"Yes."

"And that engagement ring in your pocket is for me?"

"Yes." He finally lifted his head to look at you. "Not right now, of course. But yes, theoretically, at some point."

You couldn't help but laugh again. "This is so weird."

Nate made a strangled, embarrassed sound. "You're killing me here." He stood up to leave. "I should just go. This was clearly a mistake."

"Oh, settle down." You grabbed him by his uniform and pulled him back down. "Yes, I had a bit of a strong reaction at first, but considering the circumstances, I think I'm allowed that much. I never said I didn't love you back."

Nate's blue eyes lit up. "Do you?"

"Well, I don't know. I hadn't thought about it until now," you answered. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" That same sound slipped past his lips. "That's romantic."

"Okay, it's not that I've never thought about. You're obviously very attractive and all that," you rephrased. "I've just never thought about it seriously. In case you haven't noticed, we are in the middle of a war."

"I noticed. Which is why the ring's been burning a hole in my pocket until now." He drew in a deep breath, and when you didn't share another thought, he spoke again. "Now what?"

Reaching into his pocket, you fished out the engagement ring and handed it to him. "Now you ask me to marry you."

"Really?" His fingers trembled slightly as they plucked the ring out of your grasp. "Here?"

"Right here." You nodded.

"Okay. Right. Yes." He cleared his throat and jumped down from the back of the truck. Then he offered you a hand down, and once you were both standing on solid ground, he dropped down onto one knee. "Y/N, I know we haven't known each other very long. I know the typical thing is to date for a while before asking this question; hell, the typical thing is to actually have feelings for one another before asking this question. However, as a fellow marine, you know that typical is merely a suggestion. Either way, meeting you has been the highlight of this war, which I know isn't saying much but still ... I'd like for you to be the highlight of the rest of my life as well. Will you marry me?"

Your heart swelled at the gentle words falling from the mouth of one of the toughest men you had ever met. The way Nate looked up at you, as if you had the answer to every question in the world, was beyond endearing. You could truly picture a long, happy life with him.

"No," you answered.

Nate's hopeful smile fell. "No?"

"That's what you get for springing a goddamn engagement ring on me like this." You plucked the ring from his hand before inspecting it. "It is a rather beautiful ring though. Ask me again in a couple months and I'll gladly take it off your hands."

Nate shook his head as he stood back up and dusted off his knee. "And until then?"

"We date," you said matter-of-factly. "As typical as it is, I've had enough atypical for one lifetime."

Nate smiled wide. "I can't wait to marry you."

[azspot]

There’s only one problem: Trump’s actions when he holds power don’t match his rhetoric when he’s seeking it. As Elias Khoury showed last year in response to Parenti, Donald Trump is definitely no anti-imperialist. In practice, he did just as much to provoke war and destruction as anyone he criticized. Trump illegally assassinated Iran’s General Qassim Soleimani, dropped the “Mother of All Bombs” on Afghanistan, aided Saudi Arabia’s brutal air assault on Yemen, tore up international arms control agreements, and emboldened Israeli settlers to seize land in the West Bank from Palestinians. He also planned or suggested even worse actions, like invading Venezuela, “bombing the drugs” in Mexico, using a nuclear weapon against North Korea and blaming someone else, or labeling F-22s with Chinese flags and “bomb[ing] the shit” out of Russia. (He is particularly fond of plans that would work in Looney Tunes, but would just lead to nuclear apocalypse in real life.)  On several occasions, he was talked down from starting major wars by more level-headed members of his White House team. The whole idea of Trump as a “peace president,” as he described himself recently, is a ludicrous lie.

Hell Is Empty, And All The Devils Are Here

[rotzaprachim]

I say this as someone who obviously opposes the Vietnam war, the war in Afghanistan, and the current war in I/p, but I think a lot of Americans including one I was just talking to haven’t got a lot of comprehension that it sure took the uS a lot longer than five months for public opinion to shift strongly away from supporting any of the above, but furthermore - we dont fucking KNOW what the us gov or us public would do or support if they had a hostage crisis with hundreds of us civilians being held by the viet cong or taliban or Sinaloa cartel for months on end, with significant evidence of that group committing sexual assault, within kilometers of where Americans lived. This is not an equivalent thing thing that has ever happened to the us and for the sake of world peace we can be glad it never has, but it’s truly beyond our comprehension what the US (or uk or Canada and such) might do

[hadesoftheladies]

palestine is a wake up call to all the people in the global south and all countries and peoples that have experienced colonialism by western empires. especially following the western world's response to ukraine.

when you're flooded with footage of children starving, their bodies shredded by missiles, shrapnel and collapsed buildings, when you see once vibrant, beautiful lands reduced in seconds to rubble . . . you realize how easy it is to provoke a white man. all you have to do is a be a person of colour on your land with all its natural resources. that's it. all you have to do is exist on the same soil as your ancestors. and if a white man says you're in the way of his expansion, it doesn't matter what moral ethics you think white people have. it really doesn't matter what you expect of a human being. what conscience you think they have.

you will die. no one will rescue you. they will murder you. torture you. they will justify it. they will make jokes about it. and years later, when it's not too inconvenient for their people to feel guilt, they will feel sorry and still make what they did to you about them. about their "human complexity" and their "nuance." your people will be dead for thousands of years before they "apologize" (not to you but) to their descendants. and even then they'll lie. they'll blame the "internal conflicts of the region." conveniently leaving out who supplies the guns and military gangs. why. what they get in return.

what's happening in congo, tigray, palestine, haiti, iran, afghanistan, etc is not an isolated event. you cannot afford to think so. it's literally what they did from the 17th-20th centuries. the exact same tactics. the exact same propaganda. these are millions of people dying and set up to die within this year alone.

white man sees resource, white man cuts a bloody path toward it. he is superior, so it's his right. it's that simple.

if you are self-righteous about politics (especially toward western empires like france, britain, russia, canada and the u.s., etc.) please understand that the only thing between your "peaceful" or stable country and all-out war is how agreeable you are to the demands of these empires. please don't think these people have evolved or will consider you in any way. they will nuke you, too, if you resist. that isn't peace. we don't have peace with them. they aren't peaceful. complying under threat of war isn't peace. coercion is not consent.

if these insane people can hear from the mouths of their own scientists that their wars are killing their own people and accelerating the death of life on this planet, i don't know why you'd think they have a shred of humanity left in them. that there's anyone in this life they could possibly care for.

reject that lie. that you can appeal to their humanity. how many fucking "peace talks" have we had since hitler? for fucks sake. begin to build your community and focus your aid and efforts on each other. be aware, but also think smaller. focus on local businesses and markets rather than imports. let's change the way we consume (this is hugely important). wherever you are, whichever people concern you, take care of your own communities. give back. even if you're part of the diaspora. just find a way to give back and strengthen your communities. don't let "the drain" empty out in the west. i'm not claiming its simple work, or that i have all the answers. i'm just saying increase your awareness of how these empires and their propaganda function and don't give into them however you can afford to. you know what you can do. you know your own communities and countries better than i do. and we all know that one of the prime ways the empires keep us weak is by destroying or own intracommunity solidarity.

because there is no UN we can appeal to. there is no western "mediator" we can rely on.

they'd kill us all if it wouldn't tank their economy.

internalize that. don't ever let them coax any trust out of you. there is no "international unity" we can have with them because their prosperity will always require our suffering. resist, at least, by reclaiming your mind from them. see them outside of how they have conditioned you to see them. every time your president shakes one of their hands, see the blood smearing them.

don't trust a single word out of their dirty, lying mouths.

[stealth-liberal]

So, it's that time again, the anniversary of 9/11. Two years ago, on the 20th anniversary, I wrote an essay about the Twin Tower jumpers and how we as a society have refused to look their fear and pain in the face and hold it.

Now, it's been 22 years since that day and my thoughts go elsewhere. Now I am thinking about legacy and remembrance. Honoring the dead. How do we fully honor the 3,000 people who were killed that day? Because I have some serious issues with how that has played out over the last 22 years.

I was in my 20's when 9/11 happened, and I was in the Marine Corps, so, as you can imagine, it changed my life, and not a single one of those changes was positive. Right now though, it's not what I want to talk about.

We say never forget, always remember, but how are we doing that. By dooming ourselves to what was 20 years of unending war? That doesn't sound like a good memorial.

I never had an issue with the war in Afghanistan. We were attacked Pearl Harbor style, and that was always going to end the way it did. But the war in Iraq? It made me an angry liberal. I had never been conservative, and I joined the Marine Corps to pay for college, we had been at peace for So Many Years that I guess I didn't really think that could change. The war in Iraq was criminal, though. Dubya and his cronies whipped our pain and our grief into a storm and used it to help him LIE to Congress (both sections) so he could get his war. Afghanistan had no natural resources besides poppies for opium that would benefit the war profiteers. They were strategically placed, but that was it. Iraq? Iraq had oil and Haliburton, Chaney, Dubya, Condoleezza Rice, and the rest made So Much money. Billions were made, and billions were "misplaced." Congress was given false intell reports so they would vote for the Iraq War. The fact that no one went to jail for that scarred me. They lined their pockets, and my friends came home in body bags because they SOMEHOW didn't have the money for proper body armor. I will never forgive them for that.

So... It's not a very good way to remember the 3,000 who died on 9/11. Perhaps the worst memorial of all time. Dubya shackled us to pain and grief, and no one was allowed to recover. Least of all the families who lost people. They were paraded for the cameras to be used, and looking back on it, it was sickening. How could they do that to families and the survivors? Why?

I mean, intellectually, I know why. Emotionally, I will never understand it. The survivors and the families deserved to recover. We, as a nation who witnessed the horror, deserved to recover. But recovery meant no profit. Recovery meant no Iraq War. Recovery meant Halliburton might not make quite as much money. So we all stayed traumatized, unable to move forward.

And here it is, 22 years later. How should we honor the 9/11 dead and the survivors? Well, I have a few ideas.

1. 3,000 people died that day, but it could have been less. Why? Both the Twin Towers and the Pentagon had structural and safety issues that made something catastrophic even worse. The Twin Towers did not have enough emergency staircases for it's size. All skyscrapers were supposed to have 4 staircases in case they ever needed to be evacuated. Both Towers only had 2, and the why of that is rage inducing.

You see, 4 staircases meant less floor space, which meant less desk space, which meant less ability to charge businesses higher rents. So money changed hands when the towers were built, and the number went down to 2 emergency staircases. This was a decision that was heavily criticized at the time, and many in the trades predicted disaster.

When the 1993 bombing of the Twin Towers happened, the towers stayed standing, and the 2 missing staircases weren't a problem. Everyone thought all was good. To be fair, NO ONE ever thought a terrorist group would fly a jumbo passenger jet into each tower. No skyscraper was built with that eventuality in mind. They are now, though.

When the planes hit the towers, each tower lost access to elevators and 1 staircase each. Now, both towers had to be fully evacuated with just that one staircase. It wasn't enough, and survivors have all spoken about how everyone was jammed into the stairwells going down those stairs one at a time at a snail's pace. It's a miracle as many people actually survived as they did.

The South Tower was hit more on the side, so some people above the impact zone were able to get out. The North Tower was not so lucky. It was hit head on, everyone above the impact zone was doomed, and they knew it. It's why so many of them chose to jump once faced with what was no real choice to begin with, burn, or jump to their deaths.

Had there been enough staircases, had there been 4 instead of 2, many more people would have survived. So I think a suitable way to never forget the people who died in The Twin Towers is to enact legislation so that never again can a skyscraper be built without proper emergency egress/staircases in case of an evacuation. Any skyscrapers without enough staircases are brought up to code so that if the worst happens, as many people can be saved as possible. That seems a fitting memorial.

The Pentagon was built like a fish trap, the idea was if an enemy somehow got in, they would never get out. No one ever factored in the notion of a jet being flown into the building, most of the inner ring collapsing and massive explosion damage and fire racing through everywhere. There are many stories of people pounding on the glass and not being able to get out.

Thankfully for the people at the Pentagon, they were not in a skyscraper, and first responders were able to find ways to get to them. But they couldn't and didn't get to everyone. So I think a fitting memorial to the Pentagon dead that day would be to make sure no building is so secure that you can't get out, can't truly evacuate, if the catastrophic happens. When a building is on fire, everyone deserves the best possible chance to get out and get home alive.

2. The first responders of 9/11 were the heroes of that day. I think we can all agree that the very definition of heroic is running back into a collapsing and/or burning building determined to save just one more life. So many first responders died that day doing the best they could to save lives. The ones who survived were harrowed to their bones.

The people who worked the wreckage of both sites, who collected what was left of human remains. Who bit by bit picked up the wreckage and tried to heal two cities with the labor of their hands. These people were also heroes, and anyone who says differently is just wrong.

They were told it was safe, and they were told we would take care of them. However, it wasn't safe. Both of these groups of people have had massive health complications ever since from the toxins they were immersed in for days, weeks, months, and even years. The dust alone caused so much lung damage.

Then, to add insult to injury, a Republican congress tried to take away their health benefits, to leave them twisting in the wind. These ghouls left the ACTUAL heroes of that terrible time in chronic illness, terrible pain, and in many cases tried to let them die. Why? Because they were too cheap to spend a dime on these people. John Stewart basically had to retire from The Daily Show to shame Congress into taking care of these people.

On the 17th anniversary he gave a blistering speech to them and I paraphrase here: "17 years ago, they acted heroically and did their jobs. They did their jobs! NOW DO YOURS!"

You want to know the very best way to remember the first responders who died in 9/11? Take care of their brothers and sisters who survived, their brothers and sisters who spent years working The Piles. None of these people should EVER pay so much as a dime for their health care ever again. For the rest of their lives. Period.

This is how we should memorialize them, this is how we never forget. Not chaining us to a never ending cycle of pain, despair, and anger. Not lying to us to get a second war that no one needed. Not war profiteering and then calling it patriotism. Not terrorizing our Muslim citizens. Not taking away our rights, not trading our civil rights for the illusion of safety.

This is how we make peace with the horror of what happened. This is how we move forward and let the memory of the dead be a blessing.

[thewarfox]

Reagan gave the rich big tax cuts and Trump did too. The war in Afghanistan was still going when Trump was in office. He released 5000 Taliban prisoners including their leader. Now tell me that you paid less taxes and the world was safer under Trump. Denial ain't a river in Egypt, Cletus! Crawl back inside your Trailer. Your cousin is going to have another of your babies now.

... did an AI write this? I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to take this seriously. There's not even an indication of what provoked this. I don't recall saying anything about tax cuts or the 'world being safer'. When those tax cuts end soon and you have to pay through your ass on taxes next year, you tell me what situation you'd prefer, with or without them. As far as Taliban prisoners? If I recall correctly they were released as part of an Afgani peace deal that the US was brokering with the Taliban to try to end conflict. Said deal was to release 5000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for 1000 of the Taliban's prisoners. The point was that Trump was trying to arrange for the US to withdraw from Afganistan so that the various muslims of the region could solve their own problems and conflicts with one another. That Afganistan withdrawal was utterly and tragically botched by Joe Biden, who left tens of billions of dollars in military equipment, weapons, and money behind for the Taliban, got a lot of people killed, and for good measure he drone-bombed an entire family thinking they were attackers when they were actually US allies who had been providing our people water on the way out. The deal had been to be out by a certain date, giving our people time to remove our equipment, dismantle/destroy our bases, and evacuate our allies and troops without needing to fire a shot. Biden and his incompetent staff not only did not do any of the preparation needed to accomplish any of this, but he also tried to renege on the deal by pushing back the exit date for symbolic reasons(to September 11th, I believe). The Taliban had enough of our shit not sticking to the deal, and forced us out in humiliating and disastrous fashion.

Whether or not Biden liked the deal orchestrated by his predecessor, it was still his duty to see it through, as he's responsible for treaties and military action and whatnot. If you want to talk about what has left the world less safe, $85 BILLION in weapons, armor, helicopters, and other equipment in Taliban hands certainly didn't make things safer. I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that Hamas in Israel were funded and equipped through this massive transfer of wealth and spurred them into attacking last October.

You're a brainwashed stooge who doesn't know anything about the world, nor do you understand anything about it. And you know what? I will say I paid less taxes under Trump. And I will say that I think the world was trending towards being safer under his leadership, bravery, and guidance. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize(FOUR TIMES) for a reason. Fuck off with your shit, scumsucker.

[doldrumcalamity]

this is some great acting for some of the most hilariously awful messaging i have ever seen

"Revolution is bad because time keeps spinning so someone's going to revolution you so that potential situation is why you shouldn't change things ever teehee" "Why the frick do countries go to war ! It's so illogical ! Why can't they just TALK about their issues and deal with them ?! I'm sure if everyone just got to talking in a room instead of doing wars then we would have world peace !"

Which is so juvenile and naive that it's really fucking jarring to hear the doctor say it. Like. Wars haven't started for actual principles and agreements in literally all of time ever at all. They don't start because one guy disagrees with another, they start because a fruit company needs land to use exclusively for farming and those dang natives won't leave so please "private" militia who has no ties at all to any major world powers government I swear, please murder these men women and children so I can make more moneeeey!

The reality is that it's literally just business and political interests pushing an entire race to be cleansed from the earth so that the country that invented the fucking desert fucking eagle can expand its territory claim so as to act as an even larger foothold for global powers like the US into the Middle East for excuse manufacturing why they're supporting further conflict with countries like Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, you fucking name it.

MONEY! IT LITERALLY ALL REVOLVES AROUND MONEY! AND CONTROL AND BEING ABLE TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF AND BEING ABLE TO COMMIT THE MOST INHUMANE ACTS AGAINST CHILDREN WITH ZERO REPERCUSSIONS AND IN FACT AFFIRMATIONS FOR YOUR ACTIONS BECAUSE YOU'RE A FUCKING BILLIONAIRE WHO CAN MAKE PERMANENT LIFE ALTERING CHANGES TO THE UNITED STATES LAWS WITH THE FUCKING INTEREST YOUR MONEY EARNS IN TWO WEEKS BEING SENT TO THE RIGHT POLITICIANS - OF WHICH THERE IS AN ENDLESS FUCKING SUPPLY OF! BECAUSE IT'S LITERALLY ALL ABOUT MONEY

Now, does this mean you should hate Doctor Who and stop watching it or something? No. It means you aren't fully aware that most of the stuff you see on TV or in movie theaters is written by libs who are stupid. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Yknow, unless it's Call of Duty or something else that is actively backed by the U.S. government which also spreads overt lies about REAL LIFE conflicts. Then, then yeah that you should probably stop giving money to.

[kosher-salt]

What's this? An actual blog post on my tumblr.com? It's more likely than you think.

Thoughts from the workplace:

It comes up a fair amount in discussions about Palestine, particularly Gaza, and how to help this region find prosperity and legitimate sovereignty. It comes up in talks about military withdrawals and Afghanistan. And it comes up in geometrical ⬠ courtyards in the American northwest over cups of the world's most classified coffee (where they prefer baristas with security clearances and septum piercings).

It's Japan, and it's Germany, and it's how they were reformed as democratic nations with democratic militaries after WWII.

Two points:

I wonder if the power vacuum and successful democraticization of these nations is what hooked the US on the kill-the-government-throw-money-into-it-and-leave shtick that frankly hasn't been working very well since this fluke. Now ideally, we don't absolutely destroy any more nations or nuke anyone in the future, but there were some aspects of post-war that made this forceful takeover more successful than other, more recent attempts at regime toppling. Firstly, Germany and Japan's governments were decimated. We call this the "clean slate" concept and it relates to cancer as well. You cannot wipe out most of a regime and not expect tangential actors to take advantage and install and equally bad government. You also can't remove part of a tumor and expect the patient to stay in remission.

Point 2 brings me no joy, really. I feel it needs to be said. I'm not happy about this: Germany and Japan are where they are at because of unconditional surrender. This meant that neither Germany nor Japan could negotiate the terms of their post-war military restructuring, allowing the Allies to dictate reforms from the ground up. You want to Japan-ify Gaza? Hell yeah I want to see them thrive, too. But the reality is that this was only possible because the extant, defeated, government had no say in how anything went.

The current government of Gaza is terrorist. The current PA is working with and funding terrorists. You will not achieve Kyoto in the middle east by negotiating with terrorists.

I dislike occupation. It feels like keeping a reactive dog (animalizing the government not the people y'all) on a catching pole.

Preferably the dog is rehabilitated, right? Cool, yeah, but not all reactive dogs are considered rehomeable. To avoid that separate debate, let me expand the metaphor for accuracy: the dog has rabies.

You can't keep it on the pole forever. Frankly it's inhumane. It's putting everyone that has to deal with the dog at risk and it's not sustainable. Nobody is happy, not the people in proximity to the dog, not the dog catcher, and certainly not the dog. But the solution is not to put down the leash.

I hate it I hate it I hate it because it is so hawkish. But doves do not win wars. If you want to go the Japan/Germany rehabilitation route, you are going to have to aggressively cut out all the cancer and cauterize the wound. You're going to have to put the dog down.

You cannot rehabilitate Hamas. Gaza cannot determine the conditions in this scenario. So maybe it isn't the path you prefer under that understanding anymore. That's fine. Or maybe you still desire that outcome, but you're going to have to come to terms with how the path there will not be pretty or peaceful. That's also fine as your stance. I'm not your mom.

But I just don't think progress will be made without coming to terms with the fact that there are people in this world in power that will not cede without fatality or complete removal of capacity of influence. And yes, debate on this subject does impact the opinions and proceedings of what happens behind the scenes where decisions are made. Because Israel, the US, and the EU (all actors in this conflict) have governments staffed by human beings. I'm a human being and I read public thought and debate on this all the time. I engage with it often. I'm doing so right now. I say this with love in my heart for all the dovish people and the patience and kindness you embody: please familiarize yourself with what happened to Japan and Germany and their governments in the process to peace. It wasn't clean cut, but it was effective. It was effective, but it wasn't clean cut. It's not good, it's not ideal, but war is never humane. The best thing to do is to get it over with as quickly as possible and spare the uninvolved as much as possible, but mercy to those involved in an authoritarian regime is not feasible.

Those are just my musings, though.

Anyways I hate my job I should have stayed majoring in environmental science so I could stress about climate change instead of the carnage of war.

Disclaimer: all opinions are my own and not representative of any government. I'm not even directly employed right now I'm hanging out in academia for the time being.... It's somehow less chill.

Actually, one more note: both countries went through rearmament, with emphasis on civilian authority over the military. With Japan, the US forced the 1947 constitution to read that it could only be a defensive military and not a traditional one. Both countries though, it should be added, were rearmed because the US wanted them to act as bulwarks against communist expansion.

So idk man. It's not a perfect enough parallel imo to say we can Japan-ify Gaza but I'm not without hope. I'd say one thing is Israel could promise that the IDF would defend them if they'd be allied or at least normalized relations, but.... who exactly is Gaza scared of? The surrounding countries don't want to annex them. Egypt dislikes them but Israel isn't about to threaten Egypt on Gaza's behalf. So there's not a carrot or a stick in that aspect.

[writing-is-hard-af]

“They found another body.” Buck’s voice sounded fragile as he said the words, replacing the usual greeting he’d start their calls with. They ripped through Eddie’s chest, cutting through the peace that he’d almost settled into, the bit of joy still clinging to his insides from talking to Chris earlier. His lips were pressed into a tight, thin line like he was trying to hold in the emotions Eddie knew had been tearing him up since they’d found the first body and god, the idea of there being a second one, of this being more than just a one-time thing– Eddie didn’t want to think of it. He’d seen plenty of the worst of humanity in Afghanistan, had seen the cruelty of man firsthand, but there was nonetheless something completely different about such things happening at home rather than in a warzone. “He was officially declared missing 10 hours earlier, but has probably been missing for days, like– like the first one.”

-----

Next Chapter of my way through is up!

[space-mermaid-writing]

Wednesday [IronStrange]

Summary:Tony fights Strange and his weird wizards on a regular basis. So when he is woken up by Jarvis and being told Strange is sitting in his kitchen, waiting to talk to him, Tony just knows that something is not right. What he does not know yet is that it will be a string of very long days.

Relationship: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange

Tags:enemies to lovers, time loop, time shenanigans, hero/villain, hero Tony Stark, villain Stephen Strange, morally gray Stephen Strange, being a villain is a point of view, protecting the timeline, suicide but it has no consequences whatsoever, open ending, hopeful ending, Stephen needs a hug, Stephen and the never ending day, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, eventual smut, all the stuff you love

Ko-fi | Read it on AO3 | Masterlist | Word count: 3.5k | Previous | Next

Chapter 3: What wizards do

Starting from scratch every day sucked.

But then again, with each new Wednesday that began, they could discard another theory and hypothesis. So in that sense, failure was a success, as it narrowed down their remaining options. Eventually they would find the right path. Hopefully.

_____________________

“What do you even do? I mean your wizard circle. Most of the bad guys we fight are pretty forward with their agenda. But you… there’s no pattern, no ultimate goal we know. You rob seemingly randomly, meddle with political and military business alike, and we traced several ‘accidents’ back to you. But then, sometimes, you save people? Don’t think we don’t know about that.”

Stephen wasn’t sure how much he should reveal. He wasn’t exactly sworn to secrecy, but he also never talked to outsiders about the purpose of the order.

Christine knew a bit of it. Fragments she collected during medical emergencies. Just enough to not ask questions she didn’t want answers to.

When he didn’t say anything, Tony continued. “I take your silence to that question means it’s something I won’t like and that I should ask myself if I really should help you with this.”

He might not be wrong about not liking the answer, Stephen thought. But at that moment he decided to tell him anyway. He wasn’t sure why. Why should he be concerned about what Stark thinks about his motives?

“We are protecting the timeline.”

“The what?”

Stephen put his Starkpad down. “Are you familiar with Brand’s theory of decision branches?”

“You mean that every decision everyone ever faces is like a parting of ways? Depending on the decision made there’s a different version of the future.”

The sorcerer nodded. “We – the order of the Mystic Arts – make sure that the future is steered in a certain direction.”

Tony gaped at him. “If you influence decisions, you’re stripping people of their free will!” This was bigger than he had thought, and he tried to wrap his mind around it.

“No,” Stephen clarified. “We don’t care if you can’t decide between ham or beef on your sandwich. But if it happens that a lost super soldier will be needed in an upcoming battle, we will make sure that we stay in the ninety-five percent of the futures in which he will be found.”

“Bullshit! You didn’t know where Cap was.”

“You’re right, we didn’t. But we knew what needed to happen for him to be rediscovered. On this we just observed; but in other cases we need to intervene.”

He didn’t mention that the Ancient One probably also knew about the kidnapping of Tony Stark and his whereabouts in Afghanistan. And that she let it happen anyway because Iron Man was a key element for what was to come.

That had been long before Stephen ever heard about a place named Kamar-Taj.

Sometimes he wondered where his own car accident fit in all this. But he didn’t think too hard about it. He had made his peace with it and had adapted to his new life.

Tony still wasn’t convinced. “How can you know about the different futures?” He glanced at the golden necklace and hit the mark once again. “Time magic?”

“Yes. It allows me to watch all possibilities of the future.”

Tony clenched his fists, ignoring the screwdriver he was still holding, and narrowed his eyes. “You’re basically telling me, you’re playing god and get to decide which future you like most. Sounds like an awfully lot of power for one single man to me!”

Stephen glared right back at him, raising his voice. “Do you think I asked for this? I just wanted to find a cure for my hands. But then my mentor died and I happened to have a solution to get rid of a world consuming entity, and coincidentally I was able to use the Eye without accidentally destroying the whole time continuum! And after that I filled in for the ones we lost during the fight. This,” he pointed at his chest where the Eye of Agamotto rested, “is bigger than me. It’s not about personal favoritism; about who is the next president or whoever. A threat is coming, whether we like it or not. Whether we’re prepared or not. It’s about no less than half of the life of the whole universe. Every planet out there will be concerned. So, yes, if I have to send a mugger into a side street to make sure the mantle of Batman will be picked up in the future, I will do that.”

Stephen had gotten carried away with his words and revealed more than he had actually intended. He was angry and tired. With a burden on his shoulders he hadn't asked for, but tried his best to hold anyway. At the end of his rant he wasn't sure if his words were solely meant for Stark, or if he did need to convince himself to some degree that he was doing the right thing.

The hurt that had bled through from between the words had taken Tony by surprise, and he realized that the expression that always lingered in those blue eyes was the mark of a man who had seen too much. Of a man who cared deeply, even if he tried to convince himself he didn’t.

Tony recognized it, because he found the same expression whenever he looked into a mirror.

“Half of the universe, hm? Can’t argue against that – if you tell the truth.”

“I do.” Stephen slouched in his chair. He yearned for rest. Not just sleep but being stripped from all responsibilities. But he knew that that day was far away.

“I also can’t believe you brought a Batman reference into this.”

It was an attempt at a joke and to make amends. Stephen acknowledged it with a hint of a smile.

Silence spread and they turned back to their individual tasks. Stephen had already said more than he wanted to and Tony thought about the words he had heard.

“Can’t your necklace tell you a future in which we get out of this loop?” he asked after a while.

“Unfortunately, I can’t seem to access it during the loop, which is highly irritating.”

The more Tony learned about it, the more he got the feeling this was a magic problem after all. Then something occurred to him: something was coming. Could it be…?

“That threat you mentioned… does it come from space?”

“Yes. As I said: the whole universe will be affected.”

“Hm.” The engineer pondered. It could be what he had seen when the Scarlet Witch had meddled with his mind.

But if he were to finally know for sure it was true and to not be able to do anything about it currently… whatever he did, it would be gone tomorrow. And he was already working on one problem that wouldn’t let him sleep. He didn’t need to add more nightmares and panic attacks to it. He would talk to the wizard after this groundhog day was over. It might even be important enough to use the IOU he was being promised. Even if only to know if the vision he’d seen had been true or false. For his own peace of mind.

_____________________

Twelve days in they had collected a lot of data but were still short of a solution.

Tony learned that even if his body was rested in the morning, having his mind working nonstop was not healthy. He was used to pulling all-nighters, but it felt like his tiredness had reached a new level.

Frustrated, Tony buried his face in his hands. He wasn't used to being stuck in a project, and the fact that he couldn't talk to anyone else about it except the wizard didn't make it any better.

Someone put a blanket around his shoulders and when he looked up, he realized it was the cloak that was hugging him sympathetically.

At first the engineer tensed up at that realization, but then he patted the red fabric. “Thanks, buddy.” It wasn’t really helping but he figured it was the thought that counted.

Strange looked at him in sympathy. They had just performed the spell to create the bond between their souls earlier; the warm tingle still echoed in his chest. It was a familiar feeling by now.

“You should take a break tomorrow, Tony. Why don’t you sleep in and meet with some friends?”

“What about-…?”

“It can wait for another day. I’ll do some meditating and meet you before midnight.”

A break sounded really fucking good. Tony already felt guilty because he had canceled his meeting with Peter so often. Even if he knew that it didn’t matter because the boy didn’t remember it.

The look on Stephen’s face when talking to him was gentle and Tony realized that the sorcerer cared. It warmed his heart and made his stomach flip. Uh – oh. The magic man shouldn’t care. And Tony shouldn’t like the thought of Strange looking out for him.

Tony definitely needed that day away from him!

_____________________

It was weird not being woken up by Jarvis' voice stating the words he had probably memorized for life by now.

Between midnight and waking up it felt as if he at least got some sleep and when he looked at the clock it was three hours later than when Strange usually showed up.

“Good morning, Sir,” Jarvis greeted him as soon as Tony moved out of the bed. “I’ll prepare a coffee for you.”

“Thanks. What day is it?” The engineer asked, just to make sure.

“Wednesday the fifth. You have a missed call from Pearson and Specter regarding the launch of the Stark hearing pro aid. You also have a meeting with Miss Potts scheduled at eleven and you told Peter to drop by after school.”

“Move everything that doesn’t need my immediate attention to tomorrow. And invite Rhodey for lunch.” Today he wanted to have his family around him.

“Of course, Sir.”

~~

The meeting with Pepper was very boring. Tony loved it. He was signing papers and they were discussing some new branches of SI and when to launch the next Starkphone update.

It was a constant problem that Tony developed the technology he was offering to the market far too quickly and every now and then he needed to be reminded that people needed to adjust to and accept change. Those things weren’t to rush.

Tony couldn’t relate to that but he trusted Pepper as CEO to make the right decisions.

Rhodey dropped by for lunch in his armor and brought tacos. It was faster than being stuck in New York’s traffic, plus he hadn’t exactly been in town.

They sat on the roof and listened to the sirens and the honking in the streets below.

“Remember that project I told you about?” Tony asked his friend after taking a sip of his soda. “The one with the guy I don’t really like?”

Rhodey looked at him, knitting his brows together. “No. What project? And what guy?”

“We talked about it, Rhodey bear. I called you from the pla-…” Then it hit him. When he had been on the plane on his way to Malibu, he had wanted to say. On another Wednesday.

Of course Rhodey didn’t remember.

“I meant to call you,” Tony steered back. “Probably fell asleep before I had the chance.”

“You? Asleep willingly in the middle of the day?” Rhodey shook his head. “How exhausted have you been? I thought Jarvis kept an eye on you to keep you from pulling all nighters.”

Tony shrugged, an easy smile on his face he didn’t really feel. “He tries his best. You know how I am.” He took another taco and offered Rhodey the last one.

“Tell me about the project,” his friend said. “And since when are you working with partners…wait, we’re not talking about Doom, are we? That guy’s mad and you shouldn’t work with him on anything.”

It was like having a déjà-vu. Tony answered evasively and changed the topic soon after. Rhodey noticed that he was hiding something but he didn’t push it yet.

Fortunately – he would forget it again tomorrow.

Peter arrived in the afternoon long after Rhodey had left. It was great to have the bundle of energy around.

He talked a lot, about school, his friends, and last night’s patrol.

Tony just listened to his rambles while they plugged the Spider-Man suit into Jarvis and ran a check-up – everything was fine besides a small bug which was quickly fixed.

Then Peter told him about May and their trip to the planetarium last weekend. That had been only a few days ago, but to Tony it seemed like weeks had passed. Because for him it had.

He sent Peter home early in the evening, because he knew May would wait with dinner and also because he didn’t know when Strange would come over.

Afterwards, when he was alone in his lab he had nothing left to do for the day. He just took a look at his workspace, where he had spent so much time with the wizard.

A terrible thought occurred to him: what if Strange didn’t come? If he deemed it best to continue searching alone for a solution.

Tony would forget everything.

Some would call it a blessing not to know but Tony had never been one of those. He had always been pro knowing.

Oddly enough, thinking about not remembering Strange tightened his chest.

They were enemies. At least they used to be. But now he’d gotten to know the wizard. And what he had seen intrigued him.

He wasn't sure that he approved of what Strange told him about the timeline and his work and Tony would most definitely not stop fighting him if necessary. But the things that had used to infuriate him, he now found charming. The way the stoic sorcerer expressed his opinion with a single raised eyebrow; his sharp wit and of course his intelligence with a hint of arrogance that was absolutely legitimate.

Strange was hard working, dedicated and had an exceptional mind. It was a dangerous combination.

Tony should know better by now than to get distracted by a handsome face and sharp cheekbones.

There were still two hours left until midnight. Tony had never been good at being patient.

If Strange didn’t come there was no way for Tony to contact him. He didn’t know about his whereabouts, just that he was located somewhere in central New York.

“Sir,” Jarvis spoke up. “Doctor Strange has just appeared in the kitchen.”

There was disapproval in his voice. Tony had instructed the A.I. and told him of their expected visitor. But that didn’t mean Jarvis had to like it.

“Tell him to come to the lab.”

There was a surprised pause from Jarvis. Then, “Are you sure?”. Not many people were allowed into Tony’s private lab.

“Absolutely. I told you: time loop. You can scold me all about it tomorrow.” If Thursday ever arrived.

Shortly after the door opened and Strange stepped in. Ever since their trip to Malibu he had traded his robes for casual clothes, which still seemed out of place to Tony – even though he had suggested them himself. But still, today there was something different about his outfit.

“Where’s Levi?” At some point Tony had gotten on a first name basis with the piece of fabric.

“They stayed home. I just came by for the spell.”

Although he had long since stopped questioning Tony's willingness to stay in the time loop, his voice sounded uncertain today. As if Tony had changed his mind after a day off.It was probably a justified fear.

“Sure, let’s do it.”

By now Tony knew the movements the spell required by heart. The yellowish glowing thread that connected them. The warm tingle that resonated with something deep inside of him.

Relief flooded through him. He knew he would remember.

Strange had a similar expression on his face, but for a different reason. Then he turned to leave. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Do you have somewhere to be in the next…”, Tony glanced at his watch, “hour and a half?”

The sorcerer stopped and shook his head.

“Do you wanna grab a beer and watch a show? I bet we can find something you haven’t binged yet in all of the free time the loop gave you.” It was a lighthearted joke because it wasn’t hard to guess that entertainment hadn’t been on Strange’s priority list.

“I don’t own a TV, so you’re probably right.”

“You don’t… don’t tell me you were serious about not having a phone. I thought you were just reluctant to give your number.” Tony shook his head in disbelief. “Do you write your letters with ink on parchment in the light of oil lamps? Or is that too advanced already?”

Strange made an amused noise. “We do have electricity and I’m happy to inform you that we own a laptop.”

“A laptop? Like in one? For how many people?”

“Wong and I share.”

“Unbelievable,” Tony muttered.

He took the sorcerer upstairs into his living room where they got comfortable on the couch. Almost the entire opposite wall served as a screen. Tony barely used it himself. Mostly for movie nights with family and friends.

They agreed on Doctor House and watched until midnight.

_____________________

“Sir, Doctor Strange has appeared in your kitchen.”

“Clear the day, J.”

_____________________

Somewhere in between, Strange became Stephen and Stark became Tony. They still argued almost every single day.

_____________________

“We could order pizza,” Tony suggested, going through the take out delivery services in central New York.

“We had that yesterday.”

“Sushi?”

“How about soup?” Stephen offered instead. They hadn’t had that yet.

“Who eats soup when they’re not sick?”

“Soup is a perfectly normal meal.”

“Mhm…”

_____________________

“I think we’re friends now.”

“God, don’t say that.”

_____________________

Pepper arrived with the elevator. Jarvis didn’t announce her because, for one, she was family, and secondly, he was very suspicious of what was going on in the lab.

Pepper stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw who else was present.

“Can you pass me the tongs?” Tony asked the sorcerer who didn’t even look up from his own work and just made a gesture whereupon the tool floated to the engineer. Tony picked it out of the air. “Thanks.”

“You should consider wearing gloves,” Stephen suggested. “You have a fully equipped lab and still manage to ignore any safety rules.

“Since when do you guys tolerate each other?” Pepper’s voice made them both freeze and they looked at her, as if they had both been caught doing something sensitive.

Tony had forgotten to clear the day. At least he thought so. He should be used to it by now, since he had to repeat it every single day. It was somewhere between day 45 and 52. Tony had lost track of time. One day bled into another and it was always Wednesday. He wasn’t used to repeating any request to Jarvis though. Normally, Jarvis knew more than him.

“‘Tolerate’ is a strong word. We’re working together on a problem,” Tony said while Stephen opted for the smarter option: staying silent.

Pepper put her hands on her hips. “Are you solving that problem or are you two creating it?”

“Haha, funny. We’re-…” Tony suddenly had an idea and he turned to the sorcerer. “What if you’re the problem?”

“Pardon me?” Stephen sounded confused as well as insulted.

“You’re the only one remembering the time loop. It starts with you waking up and ending with you at midnight.” Tony explained. “So whether this is caused by magic or by science: it is linked to you.”

Pepper watched their interaction with a healthy amount of wariness. “Jarvis, what is happening?” she asked the A.I.

“Sir said they are stuck in a time loop and the day is repeating over and over for them.”

“Have you any proof for that?”

“Negative, besides that they seem pretty friendly with each other.”

Pepper's face hardened. She had been there the last time Tony had been working together with magic, and had seen how bad it had ended.

“Tony,” she said louder to get his attention.

He stopped his bickering with the doctor and turned his head to her. “Yes, dear?”

“You know he,” she nodded to the sorcerer, “attacked you at the fundraiser gala just a few days ago?”

Stephen had indeed. But that seemed a lifetime ago.

“I know what it looks like, Pep. But I assure you: it’s alright. Everything is fine, really,” Tony reassured her but his words only raised her distrust.

“How can you be sure he is not messing with your head?”

“I am not,” Stephen protested immediately.

“Pepper, please.” Tony made a step towards her, raising his hands in a soothing gesture.

Pepper retreated a step backwards, not trusting anything that was going on here. “Jarvis, call the Avengers,” she told the Jarvis. “There’s been a breach in security.”

“Pepper no! Jarvis, don’t!”

But it was too late. Jarvis had basically just been waiting for an excuse to intervene.

The Avengers assembled promptly. No need to mention that the day didn’t end well.