General News Thread

[Zear0]

Ugh and it begins again...

 

Moving the USS Gerald Ford off the coast of Israel made this so predictable. 

[Lionator]

Going after the Iranian is wild as a) he’s largely powerless b) of the power he does have, he’s exactly the sort of guy you’d probably want in charge of Iran in terms of moderate politics.

[st albans fox]

36 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Ugh and it begins again...

 

Moving the USS Gerald Ford off the coast of Israel made this so predictable. 

The announcement last night that Rubio would be in Israel on Monday but there would be no press allowed on the trip so don’t bother to make the usual arrangements was about as clear a sign that an attack was this weekend. Rubio likely has an appointment at his barbers on Monday

 

i wonder if there is still a possibility that this is somewhat ‘staged’ with a limited range of attacks. 
 

there is no sign so far of a huge number of targets in the initial phase 

[st albans fox]

9 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Going after the Iranian is wild as a) he’s largely powerless b) of the power he does have, he’s exactly the sort of guy you’d probably want in charge of Iran in terms of moderate politics.

You’ll need to clarify for me 

Who is ‘the Iranian’ ?

 

[Lionator]

11 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

You’ll need to clarify for me 

Who is ‘the Iranian’ ?

 

I meant President, oops. 

[Robo61]

9 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

To be fair that is only part of the picture. How much has the population grown in say the last 25 years and how much driven by migration. You of course can take a view if this is good or bad etc but don't look at a smaller sum in isolation. I read a BBC report that there was a rise of 700000 in a year to 2024.

Yes there were,  that was the  "Boris wave",  he knew without large numbers of economic migrants the economy would tank in the first years following Brexit.  If these has not come the economy would have been in a even worse state,  think about that for a second.

[Foxdiamond]

8 minutes ago, Robo61 said:

Yes there were,  that was the  "Boris wave",  he knew without large numbers of economic migrants the economy would tank in the first years following Brexit.  If these has not come the economy would have been in a even worse state,  think about that for a second.

As I said people can take a view if a good or bad thing.

[st albans fox]

19 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I meant President, oops. 

Ha

yes the president of Iran is pretty impotent 

I haven’t seen that he’s been targeted 

 

perhaps the defence minister and the chief justice of the clergy are two rumours 

 

[Zear0]

Subtle name for the ongoing event... 

 

 

[leicsmac]

9 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Subtle name for the ongoing event... 

 

 

.... they really do treat warfare and all the associated death and suffering they inflict like it's some kind of perverse video game, don't they?

 

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, events like the seemingly imminent one is almost always where feelings of nationalism (as opposed to garden variety patriotism) acting upon end up, and that's why it's not necessarily a good thing. As if there were any more evidence actually needed of that, though. 

[leicsmac]

7 hours ago, foxes1988 said:

I mean only if you ignore the criticism other countries have gotten for pushing their nationalism too far. India / Pakistan / China / Japan.

And only if you ignore that the biggest nationalist in play right now, the one that is apparently imminently about to throw their weight around again right now as it has multiple times in the recent past, as well as actively encouraging others of similar stripe to do so, is...

[Lionator]

7 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

.... they really do treat warfare and all the associated death and suffering they inflict like it's some kind of perverse video game, don't they?

 

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, events like the seemingly imminent one is almost always where feelings of nationalism (as opposed to garden variety patriotism) acting upon end up, and that's why it's not necessarily a good thing. As if there were any more evidence actually needed of that, though. 

I can’t remember where but someone posted something good about Americans having this attitude because they’ve never really suffered. All the other great empires have literally had to go to the trenches to survive (think British, French, Russian in Europe), whereas it’s largely been untouched. Even Pearl Harbour, 9/11 were cosmetic and the biggest risk to the country was always and is always internal. Therefore geopolitics is simply a game with no existential impact for the states, unless of course they start a nuclear war with China or Russia. 

[foxes1988]

13 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

.... they really do treat warfare and all the associated death and suffering they inflict like it's some kind of perverse video game, don't they?

 

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, events like the seemingly imminent one is almost always where feelings of nationalism (as opposed to garden variety patriotism) acting upon end up, and that's why it's not necessarily a good thing. As if there were any more evidence actually needed of that, though. 

Changing the name to Department of War. They way they tweet and the names they give their military operations.  It kinda fits American policy and even the 'American personality' to be honest (Id include Dems and more traditional repubs in this).  Brash, in your face, arrogant etc they just can't do subtlety, understatement.

 

Not sure a lot of the Maga base is gunna be happy with this are they. Lots of them have feel they just do whatever Israel wants and they hate it.

Edited 28 February by foxes1988

[DJW1]

11 hours ago, Lionator said:

I always divert to ‘Jerusalem’ when people ask me what English nationalism is. People always assume it’s some patriotic nationalist song then you read the words and realise it’s probably the most socialist song ever written lol. Embrace the working man and the countryside and you’ll be sound. 

Yes. I thought It made a refreshing change when they played it at the last Commonwealth games, when an English athlete received a gold medal

[Fox in the North]

 

[Lionator]

British naval base in Bahrain has been bombed 

[Zear0]

14 minutes ago, Fox in the North said:

 

Important we keep politics out of football. 

 

[Fox in the North]

 

[leicsmac]

44 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I can’t remember where but someone posted something good about Americans having this attitude because they’ve never really suffered. All the other great empires have literally had to go to the trenches to survive (think British, French, Russian in Europe), whereas it’s largely been untouched. Even Pearl Harbour, 9/11 were cosmetic and the biggest risk to the country was always and is always internal. Therefore geopolitics is simply a game with no existential impact for the states, unless of course they start a nuclear war with China or Russia. 

I vaguely remember that one as well.

 

There's something in the argument that having never really suffered in that way by comparison to other nations does lend itself to both an increased sense of importance and diminished sense of reality when it comes to such things.

 

43 minutes ago, foxes1988 said:

Changing the name to Department of War. They way they tweet and the names they give their military operations.  It kinda fits American policy and even the 'American personality' to be honest (Id include Dems and more traditional repubs in this).  Brash, in your face, arrogant etc they just can't do subtlety, understatement.

 

Not sure a lot of the Maga base is gunna be happy with this are they. Lots of them have feel they just do whatever Israel wants and they hate it.

Yeah, see above.

 

The base is only unhappy because they believe it to be being done on the instructions of another, rather than the act itself. They don't care that a lot of people of different skin colour to them die, they do care that they're not the ones really "directing" that violence. Still, that discontent might hopefully be useful in its own way.

[Sampson]

At what point do we start calling these times of political tensions at home and abroad as “the pre-war years”?

[st albans fox]

48 minutes ago, Lionator said:

British naval base in Bahrain has been bombed 

Do we share it with the Americans?

afaik, the 5th fleet control centre was bombed in Bahrain 

[Trumpet]

36 minutes ago, Sampson said:

At what point do we start calling these times of political tensions at home and abroad as “the pre-war years”?

We probably won’t be able to do it after the war, so let’s just go ahead and start now.

[Stevosevic]

Seemed inevitable that there would be intervention against the Iranian regime.

 

Hope the people can have a revolution there. 

[Lionator]

48 minutes ago, Sampson said:

At what point do we start calling these times of political tensions at home and abroad as “the pre-war years”?

But who will the war be between and is this not ‘the’ war? If the USA takes on one of the big dogs (Russia or China) which may happen soon, it won’t be like WW2, there won’t be any internet or pubs for us to argue in, just radioactive wasteland.

[leicsmac]

11 minutes ago, Stevosevic said:

Seemed inevitable that there would be intervention against the Iranian regime.

 

Hope the people can have a revolution there. 

That's an interesting framing euphemism for what's about to happen, to be sure.