benjii

Not sure why we haven't put Adams on.

My Ifollow is the Milwall one and they're banging on about Downes deliberately elbowing the Milwall guy and should have got a red. Complete bollocks! Anyhoo, Stuart and Alcaraz both having a bit of a stinker. I'd get Adams and Fraser on before too long, I think. Sometimes we need to get it in a but quicker. Milwall look like they'll gift us a cock up if we put them under a bit more pressure. Slightly concerned about the ref. Doesn't really have control and misses quite a lot. Hope he doesn't nobble us.

This guy is a complete piece of shit and it's this sort of nonsense that creates support and sustenance for organisations like Hamas, not seem genocidal fervour amongst Muslim populations.

If you genuinely believe there is a materially significant quantity of people in the Middle East who want to kill all Jews simply because they are Jews then you have to admit, putting a Jewish state there was a fucking stupid thing to do. If you don't believe that there is a significant population of people who want to kill all Jews come what may, then by extension you believe there could be a solution. I don't see how anyone can sensibly argue that the current Israeli actions will contribute to a long term solution. I see the director of the UN New York office has resigned, citing the inability of the UN to recognise a "text book case of genocide" against Palestinians.

Brilliant thread from Omid Jalili: https://twitter.com/omid9/status/1719451267997593645?t=uU3GwmxOI5RDUHBAtvJYyQ&s=19

Reposting the above from a week ago, seeing as the Houthis have now declared war on Israel. Looks like we may be heading rapidly towards "quite likely" scenario, which is worrying.

Her family are saying she was shot in the head and died straight away. Obviously she was paraded around and the whole episode is disgusting either way.

People who know ice hockey say there's no way it was an accident. Tough one to prosecute though I guess. As others have said, it must have been horrible to be there.

Those people are less annoying than the fuckwits that just loiter around on/with some equipment for ages doing fuck all.

https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1718201487132885246?t=clQSOaot8cse3_PjzsAXJQ&s=19 Interesting interview that I think sums up the non-partisan middle ground very well.

Insane signing.

I mentioned Iran's Shia militia in an earlier post. This is a warning from USA. Any major escalation will come when Hezbollah gets fully stuck in after the ground war starts (not the odd rocket from Lebanon but large-scale deployment of precision weapons that end up hitting water plants, power plants, population centres etc) but Iran will, or should, be careful to ensure they do not play a direct role as that will cause a big problem.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5d1PSdCMvAzshgwJlUHvxn?si=VKoF-DzlR3aaE8JJRy5vuQ This is well worth a listen for broader context.

Guns don't kill people, wappers do.

Long post, but hopefully worthwhile. * * * * * I was speaking with a couple of people in the intelligence community this morning. Obviously I won't say who! Anyway, here is their assessment of what happens next. Further background below. SCENARIOS - Best case scenario: IDF pursues ground campaign in Gaza with no further intervention from Iranian proxies. Will take months and result in tens of thousands of civilian deaths. See, e.g. Mosul or Falujah. Will radicalise swathes of young Arabs across the region and cause lots of terrorism in the future. That's the best case. Estimated as relatively unlikely. - Similarly likely next scenario: IDF pursues Gaza campaign. See above.... plus Iranian proxies react but in a fairly restrained way. A few token rockets but no sustained attack on critical infrastructure. Hezbollah is the big worry. It is Hamas multiplied massively in terms of capability. It has precision weapons and more of them. It could target power stations, water plants, population centres etc. IDF ends up embroiled in a second front in Lebanon as well. See above, plus more radicalisation and economic and social unrest spreading directly inside and outside Israel. - More likely scenario: scenario 2 above but a bigger response from Hezbollah - attacking infrastructure deeper inside Israel, for example - and from the Iranian-backed Shia militia in Iraq as well as Yemeni Houthis. Risk of further escalation. Potential hotspots in Kuwait and Bahrain. Potential for US plus allies to have to get directly involved. The ongoing current US deployment in the region is the reason why the Gaza invasion is being delayed. - Extreme scenario: situation escalates beyond Iranian proxy involvement and into direct Iranian military involvement. Potential direct attacks on US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. Triggers GCC defence pact, meaning Saudi and UAE (plus others) enter into war with Iran. Who knows how far that goes.... Considered least likely. Whatever happens, big wave of terrorism very likely in UK, France, Germany, Turkey etc. in short to medium term. So, pretty bleak, seeing as the best case is horrible. To the extent there are positives.... they don't consider Russia has any material resources to spare and is quite fucked militarily in Ukraine. They don't consider China has any appetite to get involved in a war in the middle east. It is sending warships over but that is to protect Chinese energy assets but nothing else. WHY DID THIS HAPPEN NOW? Saudi Arabia wants the region to settle down and to focus on economic growth. Economic growth and stability means Saudi will be regional superpower. Iran does not want Saudi to be regional superpower. Of the Sunni Gulf states, Saudi is the only one with a big population and the hugest natural resources. Iran and Saudi did a deal in Beijing in March. https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/03/what-you-need-know-about-chinas-saudi-iran-deal One of the main concerns of Saudis is the Syrian captogen empire. Bashir Assad and his family are making TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars manufacturing and distributing captogen and a lot of it ends up in Saudi. The Hamas attackers were apparently off their nut on Captogen. That Syrian regime has been relying on Russia and Iran over recent years in the Syrian civil war. Saudi wanted Iran to help sort this out but it hasn't. Saudi obviously also wanted to ensure the Israel / Palestine situation didn't flare up and to have better relations with Israel, following the accords signed by Bahrain and UAE. It's become clear that the Saudi / Iran deal was, for Iran, just a way for Iran to buy some time whilst deceiving the Saudis and Iran is simply too paranoid/resentful to allow Saudis to pursue harmonious development plans. Obviously this ties in with a lot of public speculation, so there is nothing massively sensitive here, but thought it would be interesting to share. Of course, this also doesn't address the question of what a "post-Gaza Israel" ends up being, but if, at least, the local power of Hamas is removed then perhaps the Palestinian Authority and Israel can do some sort of deal. However, it looks like this could all go quite bad.

Hull channel is the same. Cycling through and all the iFollow seem fine apart from ours.

Went up the night before for a night on the town in Wigan. #ITK

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67173344

If we don't go up this season then a big chunk of the first XI will leave. Then next season it'll be, "there are lots of new faces, it'll take time for them to understand what we're asking them to do..." rinse and repeat. A long term strategy within the club is a good idea and it should contribute, over time, to a higher chance of having a good team. At a first team level, the only thing that matters is winning the next game. If you have a good player then unless you are one of the big few clubs you have about two years to extract maximum return from them.

Jews lived in Palestine before the UN partition plan. There weren't many there, but they were fine. How's that theory working out for the West Bank Palestinians?

Biden's visit is a little worrying. Geriatric mumblings about Hamas making ISIS look more reasonable are idiotic and inflammatory. Let's hope he doesn't say or do anything too stupid whilst he's there. Fuck me, look at the people the US and UK have had in charge recently Trump, Biden, Johnson, Truss, Sunak.... it's utterly mental.

- We're not aware of any deaths. We'll investigate. - Some people were killed, but by Palestinians. Rocket went off by mistake. - OK, we did kill them but they were terrorists. - Yes, OK, some of them were civilians but they were being used as human shields by the terrorists. - OK, there were no terrorists in the area. We made a mistake. But we only kill civilians by accident and they do it on purpose. - Yes, OK, we have killed way more civilians than they have but look at other countries - they do bad stuff too! - Why are you so interested in Israel anyway? Are you some sort of anti-semite? Edit: this post wasn't about the hospital blast. Looks to me like that was not an Israeli air strike.

I think they are in Qatar, not UAE.

Yeah, dropping bombs/shelling trucks full of people on the main highway south does, on the face of it, look like the work of a complete cunt.

The people of Gaza weren't being bombed because Netanyahu has tried to cosy up to Hamas to cause a split in alliance between the Gaza leadership and the West Bank. Certain Israelis think this is why such a huge defence failure occurred at the weekend - Netanyahu didn't think it would happen. Putting Gaza aside, the reason there can never now be a clear two state solution is because of the Israeli government's support and encouragement of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and ensuring that Palestinian settlements are contained in ever shrinking enclaves without any hope of effective collective governance or statehood. Whether the above is justified or not is a matter of opinion but it is a policy clearly designed to eliminate the prospect of having to concede a proper Palestinian state on the land. It's a complete mess now with little chance of permanent solution in the absence of a pretty comprehensive genocide, but that would likely cause further escalation. I would also point out that post 7/7 the UK government didn't bomb Leeds, Leicester and Bradford. Edit: Bernie Sanders has summed it up pretty well