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How death and ill health have ceased to be the main causes of by-elections – politicalbetting.com
How death and ill health have ceased to be the main causes of by-elections – politicalbetting.com
This parliament we have seen a huge change in how Westminster by-elections are triggered.
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Like the grim reaper will soon be...
@spectatorindex
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30m
BREAKING: Iran's foreign minister says 'if we do not defend Gaza today, tomorrow we will have to defend against bombs in our own cities'.
Brace...
Charles Lister
@Charles_Lister
NEW -- 2,000 U.S. Marines are headed to the coast of #Israel as a "rapid response force," as tensions tick up re. #Gaza & region-wide.
*soon
The Americans are distorting the dynamics, and with the language coming from Netanyahu he would be a fool not to take advantage of this.
Israeli intelligence failures allowed terrorist attacks and then because of that a Gaza invasion and possible meltdown in the Middle East .
*I should add that's not Bartholomew's only blind spot.
1. Netanyahu isnt running this on his own anymore. He directs nothing alone, he is not the almighty.
2. Military logic is that you do not disperse your forces, there isnt a single person of proper senior military background in the unity government nor in the miltary hierachy that doesnt get that
3. If you pay attention to what the Israelis themselves are saying they dont want to have to launch a full scale assault on three fronts, or even two. There is no appetite for it, thats why pretty much no one of note is suggesting it in the country. They will quite happily sustain the current low level long range shooting match with Hizbollah and the other militias providing it stays that way.
Hamas' goal is the destruction of Israel, the security forces could only ever contain them not destroy them as the IDF will now try and do
Balci: I would not advise anybody to make their Jewish faith visible in Neukölln."
https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/muslim-anti-semitism-in-berlin-wide-swaths-of-arab-speaking-population-harbor-sympathies-for-terrorists-a-f7c73040-7be1-4509-9150-810266818f49
"Güner Balci is the integration commissioner for the Neukölln district of Berlin."
What do you think would happen if Hezbollah got lucky with its anti-ship missiles and removed an American vessel?
Other than that, I cannot see how they gain from this.
Iran can say that they are providing weapons and other indirect support. Can those other countries say the same?
Do they have a clear objective and a clear set of steps to achieve that objective?
ii) Unite anti-Israeli forces in the region against Israel
iii) Disrupt the Israeli rapprochment with other countries (eg Saudi Arabia)
So far, three for three. The fact that this is killing quite a lot of Gazan people does not matter to Hamas.
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/five-films-to-watch-from-netflix-s-palestinian-stories-collection-50918
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-67129290
Conjugation refers to inflected verbs, and therefore, in English at least, the pronouns are irrelevant.
A BBC programme has raised questions about whether the Hamas massacre at Kfar Aza kibbutz had really taken place.
Trending, a programme on BBC Arabic, suggested there were different versions of the story and that even Jeremy Bowen, the corporation’s Middle East editor who went to the scene, was simply repeating what he had been told by Israeli forces.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/16/bbc-programme-questions-hamas-massacre/
"UK prisons plan ‘will see violent inmates released this week’" (£)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-prisons-plan-system-government-crisis-x8btq933f
"The happy dysfunction of Dover
Americans will never create communities like the British
By Chris Arnade"
https://unherd.com/2023/10/the-happy-dysfunction-of-dover/
https://www.anglicancommunion.org/communications/press-and-media/press-releases/anglican-communion-secretary-general-echoes-jerusalem-church-leaders’-call-for-global-day-of-prayer-and-fasting-in-response-to-israel-hamas-conflict.aspx
Israel suffered a massive terrorist attack the other week; innocent civilians are still being held by Palestinians. I do wonder what some of the anti-Israel crowd expect Israel to do, given Hamas's avowed aims.
Of course we'll have to wait for his memoirs to find out.
It's all our fault. Again.
The security will be insane, which is easy when you have an aircraft carrier close by and several bases in the area, and everyone knows that there are some targets you just don’t think about taking out, because of the very dramatic consequences of doing so. The advance warning prevents ‘accidents’.
No, me neither.
And if we are unlucky once (after the kind, peace-loving Anglophile Gerry Adams) then it’s our fault,,,
You need to check your moral compass, sir!
This suggests to me that there may be a much greater delay in the start of any ground offensive than had been thought. Perhaps the Americans have managed to persuade the players in the region to open up the southern border and let a lot of Palestinians leave. This will reduce casualties and also reduce the threat of Gaza to Israel going forward.
There was talk yesterday from the UN of the Americans taking over the checkpoints on the southern border from the utterly ineffective European force that is there at the moment. Is this what the 2k marines are for? I can't see the Americans taking on such a task unless the forces involved have overwhelming firepower so that they can defend themselves.
The US would respond to the loss of a ship, of course they would. But they would be very mindful of the risk of conflagration so it would be a proportionate response.
Benny Gantz is a able and effective leader who I have a great deal to time for.
"Currently, the Hamas government punishes all men who are convicted of having engaged in homosexual acts with up to 10 years in prison." (1)
Of course, Owen Jones does not live in Gaza.
The situation in the West Bank is somewhat better, although:
"In August 2019, the Palestinian Authority announced that LGBT groups were forbidden to meet in the West Bank on the grounds that they are "harmful to the higher values and ideals of Palestinian society". This was in response to a planned conference in Nablus by Al-Qaws, a Palestinian LGBT group. The ban was later withdrawn by the end of the month following backlash." (1)
(1): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_State_of_Palestine
Yes a risk, but a calculated one. I wonder if that was Blinken’s last card to play in the cabinet meeting?
With that, and his unpleasant Sky discussion with Margaret Hodge, he has not had a good conflict so far.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/10/16/ehud-olmert-q-a-00121787
Though of course it might tend to have that effect.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/16/joe-biden-visit-israel-00121867
John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, said there’s no agreement between the U.S. and Israel to halt any ground invasion of Gaza while Biden is in Israel.
“We are not dictating military terms and operational mandates to the Israeli military,” he told reporters Monday night...
Belgian police have shot a man following a double-shooting/terrorist attack:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67131128
(See also, Boris - though arguably he was a lost cause from the start.)
Btw kudos to Politico for making explicit the edit to this story, rather than trying to fake omniscience.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/16/biden-blinken-diplomacy-middle-east-00121829
...And in the early hours of Tuesday in Tel Aviv, Blinken announced that the United States and Israel had “agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multinational organizations to reach civilians in Gaza.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller pointed to that announcement in criticizing this story, which was initially published before the plan was unveiled.
“While POLITICO was preparing this story, Secretary Blinken was negotiating a plan to begin delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza that built on days of consultations in the region,” Miller said. “He will continue his intensive diplomacy to ensure Israel can defend itself and prevent the conflict from widening, and will let the record speak for itself.”..
I was quite shocked by how old, and indeed feeble, Biden, looked on TV yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPsa2eoZFH0
Explains Spain's wheel like population distribution.
Anyone who thinks Spain's transport infrastructure would be as appropriate in the UK should watch this.
Your alternative is...?
It reinforces the questions about a second term - though at the same time he seems to respond to these crises remarkably well.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) claims it has established thousands of hours are missed from monthly figures.
Senior A&E doctors have been raising the issue for months.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67056279
Round of applause to those PBers who have been pointing out the ineptitude of the Welsh government.
In an ideal world there would be no terrorists . The blame is on them for being so evil and conducting those attacks . I was merely making the point that we don’t know what can occur down the line . Did the west expect ISIS to pop up after Iraq ?
Whether ordinary US voters will see it that way is another matter.
Is it that our MPs are now more badly behaved? Or is it that they are better policed?
Or is it just that MPs are younger, more likely to resign for other opportunities, and in better health?
I think voters more sympathetic to a party that loses an MP for health reasons than one to misbehavior.
The Dems really should open up their primary process, and choose someone else.
Blinken and Biden have a tricky balancing act. Hope they get it right.
No. I don't think so either but we have to have hope.
But no one is immortal.