Funnily enough, some of his old associates are blanking me.
Is it because after I reported on the killing of a Polish man in Essex in 2016, he said that I had caused him "more misery than any other in 25 years in politics"?
So I'm asking the Great British public to lend me a hand because NF is seeking to be our lord and master.
Were you at school with NF? Worked with him in the City when he was a tin trader? Met him through politics?
Did you drive the pink Cadillac hired by Nathan Gill who last year got ten years for taking bribes from a Russian spy?
Yes, my impressions of Lebanese people have often. been very positive, too, although major and generalised anti-semitism has often become an issue, as well, after so many years of Israeli attacks and worries.
Very hospitable, passionate, imaginative and spirited people, including many bright and beautiful women.
Lebanon sounds wonderful. However in the modern world a functioning state has a central government capable of being in charge of a monopoly of the use of force, defence, attack, and control of who enters the country, and a justice system which deals with any threat to that 'monopoly of violence'. In that sense SFAICS Lebanon has not qualified as a nation state for quite a time.
I was joking about Barry being off with a bad back and Steve on a golfing holiday meaning they couldn't get the boat ready for a week....seems closer to the truth. Its 5 o clock mate, we don't work past then.
Its been reported that Trump signalled to Starmer on the 11th Feb that Iran strikes were likely in near future, but they also let our own working sub sail to Australia.
The more pertinent inquiry would be why the RN has to rely on Serco to prep a T45 for deployment.
Anson simply had to go Fleet Base West because a) AUKUS is lookng shaky enough already and b) the sundodgers had already been promised a lengthy run ashore in Fremantle. Where those who only have minor brain damage from CO2 inhalation will doubtlessly be Shanghaied by the RAN.
Big new psephological analysis on voters Labour is losing to the Green Party, plus the Liberal Democrats and nationalist parties.
Key quote:
Demographically, most progressive defectors are frustrated lower middle class Millennials - not affluent urbanites or a PMC ‘lanyard class’. Though they have liberal social values, many are frustrated graduates; Millennials with a mortgage or rent they are struggling to afford - primary school teachers, IT support or clerical workers. In short, the face of the modern social democratic voter.
Makes sense. Many voters to the left of Labour are people whose salaries don't match their level of educational attainment.
Big new psephological analysis on voters Labour is losing to the Green Party, plus the Liberal Democrats and nationalist parties.
Key quote:
Demographically, most progressive defectors are frustrated lower middle class Millennials - not affluent urbanites or a PMC ‘lanyard class’. Though they have liberal social values, many are frustrated graduates; Millennials with a mortgage or rent they are struggling to afford - primary school teachers, IT support or clerical workers. In short, the face of the modern social democratic voter.
This New Statesman YouTube offering from yesterday is a very good discussion of this.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
"But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23." - no, I'm not.
Big new psephological analysis on voters Labour is losing to the Green Party, plus the Liberal Democrats and nationalist parties.
Key quote:
Demographically, most progressive defectors are frustrated lower middle class Millennials - not affluent urbanites or a PMC ‘lanyard class’. Though they have liberal social values, many are frustrated graduates; Millennials with a mortgage or rent they are struggling to afford - primary school teachers, IT support or clerical workers. In short, the face of the modern social democratic voter.
Makes sense. Many voters to the left of Labour are people whose salaries don't match their level of educational attainment.
Labour now does best among the highest earners.
It all amounts to the same thing. Those attracted to the populists, left or right or nat, are those who believe they are hard done by, and deserve better. And don't really care if the result is to collapse the entire system. It's a kind of entitlement culture and who knows where it will take us - but nowhere good, that's for sure.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
I don't read the telegraph or any newspaper now (they are out of date in the modern age) and I have never watched GB news. Have you mistaken me for somebody else? I mean I know we are all SeanT and all that, but you are presuming rather a lot about me based on my objecting to Roger's constant anti Israeli bile.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
"But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23." - no, I'm not.
Woolies snap/insta judgement on last nights council by elections
2 Ref gain and one loss, 1 Con gain, 1 Lab gain and 1 loss, 1 Green hold, 2 indy losses
Reform look good for taking Tamworth Laura Trott looks reasonably secure in Sevenoaks Labour not dead and buried in the NE yet Essex looks messy, underwhelming Ref gain. Could be a real battleground at CC and next GE Stroud showing Green strength again but theyve yet to breakthrough at GE level there - with Ref underperforming at the last GE it might be a genuine multi way fight
The Essex example was complicated by a strong Ind/Green showing, and a relatively good Labour one.
It was, but i genuinely think Reform are not performing as well in Essex as they should on national polling and the 2024 results. May will give us a good overview of expectation vs reality.
Declaring an interest, I hope you're right. As I posted before there seem to be a lot of flags in Braintree itself and my granddaughter tells me there are plenty in Castle Point. I suspect the presence of lots of Union Flags, and even more, St George's ones is an indication of Reform activity. Although it's a bit like moles in a lawn; one only needs one or two to give the gardener headache with molehills!
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
"They brought it on themselves" and "no choice" are non-starters when it comes to justifying attacks on civilians.
I was joking about Barry being off with a bad back and Steve on a golfing holiday meaning they couldn't get the boat ready for a week....seems closer to the truth. Its 5 o clock mate, we don't work past then.
Its been reported that Trump signalled to Starmer on the 11th Feb that Iran strikes were likely in near future, but they also let our own working sub sail to Australia.
The more pertinent inquiry would be why the RN has to rely on Serco to prep a T45 for deployment.
Anson simply had to go Fleet Base West because a) AUKUS is lookng shaky enough already and b) the sundodgers had already been promised a lengthy run ashore in Fremantle. Where those who only have minor brain damage from CO2 inhalation will doubtlessly be Shanghaied by the RAN.
Serco because if it was Capita it'd on the seabed full of water?
Woolies snap/insta judgement on last nights council by elections
2 Ref gain and one loss, 1 Con gain, 1 Lab gain and 1 loss, 1 Green hold, 2 indy losses
Reform look good for taking Tamworth Laura Trott looks reasonably secure in Sevenoaks Labour not dead and buried in the NE yet Essex looks messy, underwhelming Ref gain. Could be a real battleground at CC and next GE Stroud showing Green strength again but theyve yet to breakthrough at GE level there - with Ref underperforming at the last GE it might be a genuine multi way fight
The Essex example was complicated by a strong Ind/Green showing, and a relatively good Labour one.
It was, but i genuinely think Reform are not performing as well in Essex as they should on national polling and the 2024 results. May will give us a good overview of expectation vs reality.
Declaring an interest, I hope you're right. As I posted before there seem to be a lot of flags in Braintree itself and my granddaughter tells me there are plenty in Castle Point. I suspect the presence of lots of Union Flags, and even more, St George's ones is an indication of Reform activity. Although it's a bit like moles in a lawn; one only needs one or two to give the gardener headache with molehills!
I don't know what kind of result would be considered Par for Reform in Coggeshall. Given that it previously elected Independents aligned to the Greens, I would not have thought it was an especially rightward-leaning ward. I expect that Reform will sweep Basildon, Harlow, Castle Point, and Clacton in May, but results will be more mixed in rural parts of Essex.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
I don't read the telegraph or any newspaper now (they are out of date in the modern age) and I have never watched GB news. Have you mistaken me for somebody else? I mean I know we are all SeanT and all that, but you are presuming rather a lot about me based on my objecting to Roger's constant anti Israeli bile.
It's also interesting to note the descriptions of entire nations/ethnic groups as arrogant or beautiful.
Reminds me of something, that does - the time I met the Nigerian Hitler fan at Lagos Airport.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
"But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23." - no, I'm not.
You are and on this thread.
In your head perhaps. There is a difference in understanding why someone does something and agreeing with it. Nuance. Try it.
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
So what are Trump's options from here, and how long does he have to pick one?
Hoping that the Iranian edifice crumbles before the oil stops flowing seems optimistic.
Trump’s obvious play is he stops attacking Iran and claims victory. More difficult, but I think achievable, he leans on Bibi to also stop. This is how last year’s 12 Day War ended.
If Iran is sensible, they can do a Venezuela and buy Trump off with the promise of some US oil contracts.
The belief that military options (which on a very basic level involve the cruelllest things imaginable) are made OK or not OK depending on the word of a lawyer, is disturbing. In previous centuries armies had to be blessed by priests. Now it's lawyers. I'm not convinced this is progress.
The belief that military options (which on a very basic level involve the cruelllest things imaginable) are made OK or not OK depending on the word of a lawyer, is disturbing. In previous centuries armies had to be blessed by priests. Now it's lawyers. I'm not convinced this is progress.
It seems better than the Trump administration’s approach of war for social media clicks.
China’s BYD unveiled its next generation Blade Battery and FLASH Charging Technology:
10% to 70% in 5 minutes (room temp) 10% to 97% in 9 minutes (room temp) 10% to 97% in 12 minutes (−30°C extreme cold)
BYD plans 20,000 flash-charging stations by end of 2026. • ~1.5 MW charging power • 1000-V EV architecture • 18,000 “station-within-a-station” deployments added inside existing charging hubs
So what are Trump's options from here, and how long does he have to pick one?
Hoping that the Iranian edifice crumbles before the oil stops flowing seems optimistic.
Trump’s obvious play is he stops attacking Iran and claims victory. More difficult, but I think achievable, he leans on Bibi to also stop. This is how last year’s 12 Day War ended.
If Iran is sensible, they can do a Venezuela and buy Trump off with the promise of some US oil contracts.
Would be good if that happens.
It won’t
We’re in for a long haul. Be glad to be proven wrong.
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
My God, that's a whole new universe of Ultra-Cringe
Keir, I implore you, please: get some bloody voice training. It's like nails down a blackboard.
Self deception is everywhere, but most strong in politics I suspect. Sir Keir and his team have to be looking at his output and thinking it’s ok, that’ll work. Connectedly Morgan McSweeny’s farewell party was apparently awash with fulsome tributes to the ginger homunculus, including SKS calling him a world class talent...
I think he is. Though I probably differ with the PM on just what kind of 'talent' he exemplifies.
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Funnily enough, some of his old associates are blanking me.
Is it because after I reported on the killing of a Polish man in Essex in 2016, he said that I had caused him "more misery than any other in 25 years in politics"?
So I'm asking the Great British public to lend me a hand because NF is seeking to be our lord and master.
Were you at school with NF? Worked with him in the City when he was a tin trader? Met him through politics?
Did you drive the pink Cadillac hired by Nathan Gill who last year got ten years for taking bribes from a Russian spy?
China’s BYD unveiled its next generation Blade Battery and FLASH Charging Technology:
10% to 70% in 5 minutes (room temp) 10% to 97% in 9 minutes (room temp) 10% to 97% in 12 minutes (−30°C extreme cold)
BYD plans 20,000 flash-charging stations by end of 2026. • ~1.5 MW charging power • 1000-V EV architecture • 18,000 “station-within-a-station” deployments added inside existing charging hubs
They don't f##k around in China.
I've spent longer than 9 minutes waiting to pay for fuel in the past..
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
T45 won't have theatre level anti ballistic missile capability until the Sea Viper Evolution program delivers in the early 2030s. They are sending Dragon because it's something not nothing.
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
"They brought it on themselves" and "no choice" are non-starters when it comes to justifying attacks on civilians.
What about German civilians who voted for Hitler, in full knowledge of his anti-Semitic insanities?
Millions of Germans did that. Voted for Hitler. And he didn't hide his desires vis a vis Jews or conquering Europe, he wrote entire books about them, prior to his elections
To me that partly justified the bombing of German cities in WW2. Not that it needed justifying, the mere fact that they started the war, brutally invaded everyone, started killing Jews and "sub-humans" from the get-go, and then started the mass bombing of British towns, makes for a just cause in itself.
The belief that military options (which on a very basic level involve the cruelllest things imaginable) are made OK or not OK depending on the word of a lawyer, is disturbing. In previous centuries armies had to be blessed by priests. Now it's lawyers. I'm not convinced this is progress.
You're saying it's a bad thing that we put some hurdles in the way of going to war ?
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
I don't read the telegraph or any newspaper now (they are out of date in the modern age) and I have never watched GB news. Have you mistaken me for somebody else? I mean I know we are all SeanT and all that, but you are presuming rather a lot about me based on my objecting to Roger's constant anti Israeli bile.
It's also interesting to note the descriptions of entire nations/ethnic groups as arrogant or beautiful.
Reminds me of something, that does - the time I met the Nigerian Hitler fan at Lagos Airport.
It's always nonsense to attach individual human qualities, either positive (brave, warm, generous etc) or negative (humourless, uptight, lazy etc), to national or ethnic groups. In all cases the variation in those things within a group vastly exceeds that between groups. Despite being nonsense it's very common (esp with men of a certain age and background). Usually, and thankfully, it's not down to racism (although it can be) it's more a conversationalist tic intended to signify (in the speaker) a sense of being well-travelled and worldy-wise.
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
T45 won't have theatre level anti ballistic missile capability until the Sea Viper Evolution program delivers in the early 2030s. They are sending Dragon because it's something not nothing.
AS-30 has intercepted ballistic missiles in tests. Whether it would work against the Iranian IRBMs is a question.
The belief that military options (which on a very basic level involve the cruelllest things imaginable) are made OK or not OK depending on the word of a lawyer, is disturbing. In previous centuries armies had to be blessed by priests. Now it's lawyers. I'm not convinced this is progress.
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Nice.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
T45 won't have theatre level anti ballistic missile capability until the Sea Viper Evolution program delivers in the early 2030s. They are sending Dragon because it's something not nothing.
They can see them coming, though, so can warn everyone to duck.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
I don't read the telegraph or any newspaper now (they are out of date in the modern age) and I have never watched GB news. Have you mistaken me for somebody else? I mean I know we are all SeanT and all that, but you are presuming rather a lot about me based on my objecting to Roger's constant anti Israeli bile.
It's also interesting to note the descriptions of entire nations/ethnic groups as arrogant or beautiful.
Reminds me of something, that does - the time I met the Nigerian Hitler fan at Lagos Airport.
It's always nonsense to attach individual human qualities, either positive (brave, warm, generous) or negative (humourless, uptight, lazy), to national or ethnic groups. In all cases the variation in those things within a group vastly exceeds that between groups.
Despite being nonsense it's very common (esp with men of a certain age and background). Usually, and thankfully, it's not down to racism (although it can be) it's more a conversationalist tic intended to signify (in the speaker) a sense of being well-travelled and worldy-wise.
It's fundamentally racist - see Edward Said and Orientalism. While I have disagreements with some of what he says in that book, the concept of "racial traits" is a pernicious one. Just because it is used positively doesn't change the fundamental problem with such thinking.
I can remember tory chickenhawks on here telling us we need carriers to keep vital trade routes open so the billions spent on them are worth it. Well, the Madiq Hormuz is closed and causing chaos so where the fuck are they?
A centimetre is one hundredth of a metre. A centi-millionaire is someone with a wealth of £10,000, which is something like 40% of the UK population.
Does a centipede have 1/100th of a leg ?
The UK population is pretty much all expecting a pension from the government at some point. IIRC the pension would be worth £240K if you tried to buy a pension with that payout on the open market.
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
I can remember tory chickenhawks on here telling us we need carriers to keep vital trade routes open so the billions spent on them are worth it. Well, the Madiq Hormuz is closed and causing chaos so where the fuck are they?
Portsmouth, where they seem to spend most of their time?
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
US F-15s are carrying a payload of 18 of BAE's APKWS for the mission, which seems appropriate (except for the fact that the weapon was developed for Ukraine and they've never received any).
If reports are true the Iranians are due to elect a new Supreme Leader via teleconferencing. Sensibly they dont want all US hitlist targets in one place.
On the other hand given the recent revelations on Tehran traffic cameras and Mossad, I can see Bibi with a bucket of popcorn watching proceedings.
Or even more Trump joining in the teleconference and telling them all who to vote for,
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Nice.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
It's an error to use a song with that title, saying "oh it's only tiktok" is letting them off too lightly, but all round it is just a crass thing to do. War should be avoided wherever possible, and our politicians should be full of regret when they feel they have no other option. Using that kind of music and video makes it look like an advert for something exciting to watch on tv next week.
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Nice.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
A centimetre is one hundredth of a metre. A centi-millionaire is someone with a wealth of £10,000, which is something like 40% of the UK population.
Does a centipede have 1/100th of a leg ?
Well, no centipede species has 100 pairs of legs or 100 legs. They always have an odd number of pairs of legs. Scolopendra cingulata is common in Dubai and has 42 legs.
Centi- is the SI standard for a hundredth, versus hecto- for a hundred (see “hectare” = a square 100m by 100m).
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
Moral of the story is you need to take out the factories which produce them
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Nice.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
It's an error to use a song with that title, saying "oh it's only tiktok" is letting them off too lightly, but all round it is just a crass thing to do. War should be avoided wherever possible, and our politicians should be full of regret when they feel they have no other option. Using that kind of music and video makes it look like an advert for something exciting to watch on tv next week.
I concur with you that a government TikTok about war is crass, whatever song you use.
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
US F-15s are carrying a payload of 18 of BAE's APKWS for the mission, which seems appropriate (except for the fact that the weapon was developed for Ukraine and they've never received any).
Everyone and their dog is putting guidance on 70mm rockets. They are very very cheap, and stuff like laser grid targeting turns them into precision weapons cheaply.
!950 has called and is offering an F-89 armed with Mighty Mouse. No, really.
"The Kremlin has reportedly passed information on the locations of several US assets since the start of the war on Saturday, according to the Washington Post who spoke to three intelligence officials."
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Nice.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
It's an error to use a song with that title, saying "oh it's only tiktok" is letting them off too lightly, but all round it is just a crass thing to do. War should be avoided wherever possible, and our politicians should be full of regret when they feel they have no other option. Using that kind of music and video makes it look like an advert for something exciting to watch on tv next week.
I concur with you that a government TikTok about war is crass, whatever song you use.
Perfectly possible to put out a message about war on TikTok that fits the format - 10 second infomercial - and isn't crass
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
Moral of the story is you need to take out the factories which produce them
Or, and stop me if you think this is too radical, avoid going to war where you can.
Just spoke to a centi-millionaire businessman friend. Has big investments in the Gulf (and Russia - he's been in pain for a while)
He reckons "Dubai is probably fucked"
He's not normally that blunt. But he may be in a fit of pessimism after his recent disasters in Kyiv/Moscow
Damn. Did he start out a billionaire ?
No. Normal middle/upper middle class wealth, certainly not even a millionaire as a young man
Self made. He would be a billionaire if Putin hadn't invaded Ukraine. Half his companies were seized. So that may be giving him an overly negative perspective on the Gulf
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Nice.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
It's an error to use a song with that title, saying "oh it's only tiktok" is letting them off too lightly, but all round it is just a crass thing to do. War should be avoided wherever possible, and our politicians should be full of regret when they feel they have no other option. Using that kind of music and video makes it look like an advert for something exciting to watch on tv next week.
I concur with you that a government TikTok about war is crass, whatever song you use.
Perfectly possible to put out a message about war on TikTok that fits the format - 10 second infomercial - and isn't crass
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
Moral of the story is you need to take out the factories which produce them
And then the next enemy stockpiles the major components in smaller and smaller places. They can be home assembled, with a screw driver.
I'll bet most of the airframes of the Iranian drones is fibreglass skin, with expanded foam inside to provide strength/support. That's cottage industry level stuff.
BA are flying extra flights to Muscat because it’s reliably open, unlike Bahrain/Dubai/Doha which are still frequently closed by military activity. People have made their way to Oman from UAE by road. (Dubai to Muscat is only about 4h drive).
A centimetre is one hundredth of a metre. A centi-millionaire is someone with a wealth of £10,000, which is something like 40% of the UK population.
"A centi-millionaire is an individual with liquid investable assets of USD 100 million or more, representing an elite, rapidly growing class of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals. There are over 30,000 centi-millionaires worldwide, mostly comprising tech founders, heirs, and executives, often outnumbering billionaires nearly 10-to-1."
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Nice.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
It's an error to use a song with that title, saying "oh it's only tiktok" is letting them off too lightly, but all round it is just a crass thing to do. War should be avoided wherever possible, and our politicians should be full of regret when they feel they have no other option. Using that kind of music and video makes it look like an advert for something exciting to watch on tv next week.
I concur with you that a government TikTok about war is crass, whatever song you use.
Perfectly possible to put out a message about war on TikTok that fits the format - 10 second infomercial - and isn't crass
Maybe. Can you produce us a storyboard?
Ask @Roger - I've seen such from medical charities on the subject of life threatening disease, for example. And from other charities on the subject of war.
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
Moral of the story is you need to take out the factories which produce them
If only you hadn’t been so overly cautious in France, the war could have been over quicker. If it was down to you, D-Day would have 1947! And the Germans would have nuked us by then.
"The Kremlin has reportedly passed information on the locations of several US assets since the start of the war on Saturday, according to the Washington Post who spoke to three intelligence officials."
Worrying stuff, if true.
But we know where Donald Trump is - his schedule is published in advance. So we know the location of at least one US asset of the Russians.
Why didn't they use the main track from that LP: brothers in arms?
I’ve seen the Trump & White House videos like this recently and rolled my eyes; this isn’t a shoot ‘em up movie or video game entertainment. For the UK to be doing it seems incredible, I wouldn’t have thought it was Sir Keir’s style at all. It makes him look like a war monger, which he doesn’t appear to want to be
"Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” is a 1985 anti-war ballad written by Mark Knopfler during the 1982 Falklands War. It is sung from the perspective of a soldier dying on the battlefield, emphasizing the comradeship, futility, and tragedy of war. The song highlights the bond between soldiers while criticizing the destructive nature of combat."
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Nice.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
It's an error to use a song with that title, saying "oh it's only tiktok" is letting them off too lightly, but all round it is just a crass thing to do. War should be avoided wherever possible, and our politicians should be full of regret when they feel they have no other option. Using that kind of music and video makes it look like an advert for something exciting to watch on tv next week.
The video is very American in style, but really not the British way of doing these things.
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
Moral of the story is you need to take out the factories which produce them
And then the next enemy stockpiles the major components in smaller and smaller places. They can be home assembled, with a screw driver.
I'll bet most of the airframes of the Iranian drones is fibreglass skin, with expanded foam inside to provide strength/support. That's cottage industry level stuff.
Yes they can be home manufactured.
That does of course lead to a more complicated supply chain and slower production. The issue then becomes stopping off key components in say the guidance system . Since these have to be produced in a proper factory I o wonder if there is then a remedy to switch them off when they are activated or do a Mossad Pagers trick and make the missile explode in situ.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
I don't read the telegraph or any newspaper now (they are out of date in the modern age) and I have never watched GB news. Have you mistaken me for somebody else? I mean I know we are all SeanT and all that, but you are presuming rather a lot about me based on my objecting to Roger's constant anti Israeli bile.
It's also interesting to note the descriptions of entire nations/ethnic groups as arrogant or beautiful.
Reminds me of something, that does - the time I met the Nigerian Hitler fan at Lagos Airport.
It's always nonsense to attach individual human qualities, either positive (brave, warm, generous) or negative (humourless, uptight, lazy), to national or ethnic groups. In all cases the variation in those things within a group vastly exceeds that between groups.
Despite being nonsense it's very common (esp with men of a certain age and background). Usually, and thankfully, it's not down to racism (although it can be) it's more a conversationalist tic intended to signify (in the speaker) a sense of being well-travelled and worldy-wise.
It's fundamentally racist - see Edward Said and Orientalism. While I have disagreements with some of what he says in that book, the concept of "racial traits" is a pernicious one. Just because it is used positively doesn't change the fundamental problem with such thinking.
Agreed on that. But I was thinking of it more widely. Eg you go to Athens, have a nice trip, get back and say "the Greeks are such lovely people". That isn't racist but it's false - unless you mean most people are lovely and the Greeks are no exception. But if that's what you mean that's what you should say. Put that on your postcard - "Hi from Athens, having a fab time, weather great! And the Greeks are such lovely people, as are people in general of course".
Washington Post report claiming Russian intelligence-sharing with Iran on the whereabouts of U.S. assets.
If true, we really are at a dangerous crossroads.
Yes, I can quite imagine Trump turning his fire on Russia if that's verified. We're in WW3 territory here.
70% of Iran’s oil goes to CHINA at mates rates discount. If Trump handpicks the next Iranian leader, that oil deal might quite possibly change. Do we assume China is just sat there watching, like a spectator?
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
Moral of the story is you need to take out the factories which produce them
If only you hadn’t been so overly cautious in France, the war could have been over quicker. If it was down to you, D-Day would have 1947! And the Germans would have nuked us by then.
You ain’t no Winston Churchill.
Winston Churchill wanted delay D-Day and did several times. He wanted the size of the initial assault increased. And it was, several times.
In the end, he was proved right - on the British and Canadian beaches, Hobart's Funnies made a critical difference. The Americans were nearly beaten back at Omaha, despite the increased scale of the landings over the original plans.
Another critical factor was the specialist landing craft and support vessels. Which only became available in the required numbers at the start of 1944
If reports are true the Iranians are due to elect a new Supreme Leader via teleconferencing. Sensibly they dont want all US hitlist targets in one place.
On the other hand given the recent revelations on Tehran traffic cameras and Mossad, I can see Bibi with a bucket of popcorn watching proceedings.
Or even more Trump joining in the teleconference and telling them all who to vote for,
“Sorry I’m a bit late. Had to do those letters to prove I’m human” “No problem. Ok, shall we start with some introductions? Mojtaba, do you want to kick us off” …. “You’re on mute Mojtaba” “Oops sorry. There was a lot of background noise. Can you hear me now?” “You’re cracking up a bit” “We seem to have list Mojtaba” “Ok, while we’re waiting shall we quickly touch on the Cyprus plans?” “Hi, I’m back”
So rather than deploy our own destroyers in advance of the start of military operations, we didn’t bother as the US had destroyers in the Med. So, it was hoped or expected that US destroyers would protect Cyprus while denying the US the use of UK bases?
How UNPROTECTED did the UK government leave Cyprus, Willy?
If they didn’t leave it unprotected, what you are pushing here is not just an untruth, a myth, it is unpatriotic and treasonous.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones} All that is hardly a nothing that lets drones and missiles fly in at will.
How many drones and missiles have actually hit Akrotiri? I’ve seen lots told reports about one drone that hit a hanger.
Even with the best air defence network the occasional assault will get through
Well, yes. I think this is a(nother) Starmer comms problem, where Govt silence left room for opposition, opportunists, and media to build an essentially fake narrative around "dither" and "left defenceless". That reflects on both those attacking the Govt, and the Govt itself.
He gave a decent reply at PMQ, but there is little effective media operation.
Its not a fake narrative. Its reality.
Really? Did UK government leave Cyprus completely unprotected?
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
The panic about sending a T45 is this.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
The biggest problem with the drones is the use of wildly inappropriate means to shoot them down, spending valuable and scare resources intended for enemy aircraft and large ballistic missiles.
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
That really doesn't make sense. You have to cover the whole spectrum of threats as best you can.
The UK's problem is that it has severely neglected surface based air defence for a very long time, while worrying about our capacity in things we will use far more rarely, if at all.
Similarly we've spent a lot of money maintaining advanced fighters - and not very much in stuff to arm them with.
We could have bought 10,000 APKWS missiles fir about £300m, so the idea that we'd bankrupt the rest if the devices by purchasing anti-drone weapons is bollocks.
Meantime we've pissed away £5bn on Ajax which will very likely never see real action.
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
I don't read the telegraph or any newspaper now (they are out of date in the modern age) and I have never watched GB news. Have you mistaken me for somebody else? I mean I know we are all SeanT and all that, but you are presuming rather a lot about me based on my objecting to Roger's constant anti Israeli bile.
It's also interesting to note the descriptions of entire nations/ethnic groups as arrogant or beautiful.
Reminds me of something, that does - the time I met the Nigerian Hitler fan at Lagos Airport.
It's always nonsense to attach individual human qualities, either positive (brave, warm, generous) or negative (humourless, uptight, lazy), to national or ethnic groups. In all cases the variation in those things within a group vastly exceeds that between groups.
Despite being nonsense it's very common (esp with men of a certain age and background). Usually, and thankfully, it's not down to racism (although it can be) it's more a conversationalist tic intended to signify (in the speaker) a sense of being well-travelled and worldy-wise.
It's fundamentally racist - see Edward Said and Orientalism. While I have disagreements with some of what he says in that book, the concept of "racial traits" is a pernicious one. Just because it is used positively doesn't change the fundamental problem with such thinking.
Agreed on that. But I was thinking of it more widely. Eg you go to Athens, have a nice trip, get back and say "the Greeks are such lovely people". That isn't racist but it's false - unless you mean most people are lovely and the Greeks are no exception. But if that's what you mean that's what you should say. Put that on your postcard - "Hi from Athens, having a fab time, weather great! And the Greeks are such lovely people, as are people in general of course".
What's wrong with specifics - "met a nice old geezer who told me about a great restaurant in the Piraeus. Met a member of Golden Dawn, shoved him the harbour." ?
Israel’s opposition leader has called for Israel to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon, similar to the Yellow Line in Gaza, by removing Lebanese villages there.
Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, told a local television channel that Israel would “have no choice” but to create a “sterile zone” in southern Lebanon. “It might be unaesthetic, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages,” he said, “but they brought it upon themselves.”
Sounds like the usual Isrseli rhetoric we've come to know and love. As my friend who recently returned from a work trip there said, they've become a highly radicalised state.
The Israelis are wild animals. I have been texting some friends in Beirut and just when Lebanon gets its act together Israel bombs again. the irony is that the first time I went there to work Beirut was riddled with bullet holes and the Israelis weren't badly thought of.
The Lebanese are probably my favourite people in the world and they really don't deserve this. They are generous hospitable bright tri lingual and just very sweet in the most old fashined sense of the word.
The girls have too much plastic surgery but that's just something they do.My last ad for them was using Miss Lebanion who came in the top 3 of Miss World She was funny like a lot of Lebanese. When I think of all those really rounded attractive people and I see the arrogant self important Israelis it makes me want to vomit.
They tell the story of when their President went to visit President Xi in China he asked what the Lebanese population was? "Three million".He said. "
"Three million? Why didn't you bring them with you?"
"The Israelis are wild animals." They are not alone in this though Roger, are they? Oct 7th wasn't exactly a picnic for the victims. Tens of thousands of Iranians killed by their own government for the crime of protesting is not a great look.
How stupid are those people who assume that because someone condemns Bibi for indiscriminately flattening Gaza and now Beirut and Tehran that they are fanatical supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs?
Calling Israelis "Wild animals" is not the same as condemning Bibi. That's the point. I am sick and tired of the polarised extremes on here. There is a lot of nastiness on all sides. Israel has been under attack just for existing for decades. They were attacked to start the war in Gaza. Very much like the Nazi's calling Bomber Command "terror fliers" its a bit rich for people to call Israeli's wild animals after what was done to them.
I just want it all to stop. No more bombs, no more people being killed. Fuck knows how we get there but idiotic comments on PB are not the way.
But you are someone justifying Gaza and Beirut because of 7/10/23.
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
I don't read the telegraph or any newspaper now (they are out of date in the modern age) and I have never watched GB news. Have you mistaken me for somebody else? I mean I know we are all SeanT and all that, but you are presuming rather a lot about me based on my objecting to Roger's constant anti Israeli bile.
It's also interesting to note the descriptions of entire nations/ethnic groups as arrogant or beautiful.
Reminds me of something, that does - the time I met the Nigerian Hitler fan at Lagos Airport.
I'm especially amused by the descriptions of Lebanon and it's people as some kind of utopian idyll - such a place would clearly welcome thousands oh Hezbollan militants with gusto!
Washington Post report claiming Russian intelligence-sharing with Iran on the whereabouts of U.S. assets.
If true, we really are at a dangerous crossroads.
Yes, I can quite imagine Trump turning his fire on Russia if that's verified. We're in WW3 territory here.
70% of Iran’s oil goes to CHINA at mates rates discount. If Trump handpicks the next Iranian leader, that oil deal might quite possibly change. Do we assume China is just sat there watching, like a spectator?
Who'd volunteer to be Trump's puppet Iranian leader? The poor sod would have a bullet in his skull within weeks and no one would care.
Washington Post report claiming Russian intelligence-sharing with Iran on the whereabouts of U.S. assets.
If true, we really are at a dangerous crossroads.
Yes, I can quite imagine Trump turning his fire on Russia if that's verified. We're in WW3 territory here.
70% of Iran’s oil goes to CHINA at mates rates discount. If Trump handpicks the next Iranian leader, that oil deal might quite possibly change. Do we assume China is just sat there watching, like a spectator?
China has stockpiled 1.5b barrels of oil.
"Xi Jinping can comfortably tough out a global oil shock for longer than Trump can endure the political heat of exorbitant petrol prices in America."
Washington Post report claiming Russian intelligence-sharing with Iran on the whereabouts of U.S. assets.
If true, we really are at a dangerous crossroads.
Yes, I can quite imagine Trump turning his fire on Russia if that's verified. We're in WW3 territory here.
You must be joking. Snippet from today's Guardian:
"US president Donald Trump on Thursday again urged Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to strike a deal with Russia, claiming that Russian president Vladimir Putin was prepared to reach an agreement. “Zelenskyy, he has to get on the ball, and he has to get a deal done,” Trump said in an interview with Politico. Trump, returning to language he used during a tense White House meeting a year ago where he and vice-president JD Vance publicly berated Zelenskyy, suggested the Ukrainian president was in a weak position and needed to make compromises, saying “Now he’s got even less cards” and repeated his insistence that “Putin is ready to make a deal”, without providing evidence."
Trump is enamoured with Putin. And, sitting beside him, is Tulsi Gabbard, the Kremlin's go-to girl.
Comments
Anson simply had to go Fleet Base West because a) AUKUS is lookng shaky enough already and b) the sundodgers had already been promised a lengthy run ashore in Fremantle. Where those who only have minor brain damage from CO2 inhalation will doubtlessly be Shanghaied by the RAN.
Labour now does best among the highest earners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KsG6fgUsGU
Now I have no problem with eradicating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs, although I believe making an effort to ensure women and children do not become collateral is a good idea. Neither Bibi nor Hegseth consider this. Now the idea of regime change and a free Iran is a fantastic idea, but that is not what Trump is targeting.
Perhaps if you read and watched alternatives to the Telegraph and GBNews you might have a broader view of what is going on.
"no Churchill", just the 1 finger....
I suspect the presence of lots of Union Flags, and even more, St George's ones is an indication of Reform activity.
Although it's a bit like moles in a lawn; one only needs one or two to give the gardener headache with molehills!
@JavierBlas
BREAKING: US gasoline retail prices are now higher than at any point since Donald Trump has been president (including both the 1st and 2nd term).
AAA data puts US nationwide average at $3.32 per gallon. The White House will start to feel political pressure above $3.5 a gallon.
https://x.com/JavierBlas/status/2029855199335002523
Reminds me of something, that does - the time I met the Nigerian Hitler fan at Lagos Airport.
Hoping that the Iranian edifice crumbles before the oil stops flowing seems optimistic.
The Cyprus government and Kemi’s Tories and you, have been braying and shouty all week, it was left unprotected by the British government.
The protection in place all week, In the air: Six F-35B Lightning II Stealth Jets, 10 Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, Two Wildcat HMA2 Helicopters equipped with Martlet, three Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft and two MQ-9B Protector RG1 - on the ground the Sky Sabre Missile System, Giraffe AMB radar and CAMM missiles {capable of tracking multiple targets and intercepting threats at ranges of up to 25km} ORCUS Counter-UAS System {specialized electronic warfare suite specially designed to detect and jam drones}
If we are playing this straight, not over excited silly buggers looking for party political angles all time during time of war and peril - all that already in place is hardly nothing - how can you possibly push the line the UK government left British bases on Cyprus unprotected and unable to defend themselves, until Dragon gets there?
And, of course, add to all that already in place from UK government, how Cyprus quickly had additional help in the water, air and on land from UKs European Allies who live locally - so what on earth creates such a panic for Dragon to get there?
This is nothing more than semantics and political spin, building up the trivial into something it really isn’t. Isn’t it? Technically, there is, and never has been, an issue here, has there?
But the next move would be to reopen the Straits.
If Iran is sensible, they can do a Venezuela and buy Trump off with the promise of some US oil contracts.
10% to 70% in 5 minutes (room temp)
10% to 97% in 9 minutes (room temp)
10% to 97% in 12 minutes (−30°C extreme cold)
BYD plans 20,000 flash-charging stations by end of 2026.
• ~1.5 MW charging power
• 1000-V EV architecture
• 18,000 “station-within-a-station” deployments added inside existing charging hubs
They don't f##k around in China.
It won’t
We’re in for a long haul. Be glad to be proven wrong.
The only anti-ballistic missile system the U.K. possesses is the T45.
So far Iran/Hezbollah have flipped a few drones at Cyprus. They are overgrown model aircraft, carrying 50Kg of explosive at few hundred mph. A SPAAG from 1950 can deal with those.
If Iran launches a ballistic missile at Cyprus, nothing currently there would be able to stop it. That’s metric tons of explosive, arriving at Mach 6+
Though I probably differ with the PM on just what kind of 'talent' he exemplifies.
He reckons "Dubai is probably fucked"
He's not normally that blunt. But he may be in a fit of pessimism after his recent disasters in Kyiv/Moscow
"Money for Nothing" I'm interpreting as a subtle critique of the combat-shy belligerent White House and the rock heavy MTV media glorification of their actions, which now require the UK to piss money up the wall unnecessarily.
Just me?
Millions of Germans did that. Voted for Hitler. And he didn't hide his desires vis a vis Jews or conquering Europe, he wrote entire books about them, prior to his elections
To me that partly justified the bombing of German cities in WW2. Not that it needed justifying, the mere fact that they started the war, brutally invaded everyone, started killing Jews and "sub-humans" from the get-go, and then started the mass bombing of British towns, makes for a just cause in itself.
It’s a TikTok video. You watch it and then swipe to the next one. People do not spend time thinking about TikTok videos. Any semiotic analysis that goes beyond the most obvious surface features (there’s some military hardware and some pumping rock music) is misguided.
Unless shipping returns to normal instantly, oil storage fills up and the oil fields will need to be shut down.
That sets a whole pile of things in motion that will take weeks to resolve even if things were resolved the day after.
Did he start out a billionaire ?
Outside a few specific uses, such as taking out flammable O&G installations in Russia, their aim is mostly to cause fear and wasted effort. Which is why the Ukranians are now using fast hobby drones and helicopter-mounted guns to take them out.
If true, we really are at a dangerous crossroads.
The UK is... prototyping something.
https://x.com/Gabriel64869839/status/2029657510974459947
https://www.muscatairport.co.om/
On the other hand given the recent revelations on Tehran traffic cameras and Mossad, I can see Bibi with a bucket of popcorn watching proceedings.
Or even more Trump joining in the teleconference and telling them all who to vote for,
The drones are cheap. And easy to destroy. So something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flakpanzer_Gepard wipes them out.
Why not buy a thousand SPAAGs? - there are tons of ZSU-23 around the world, for example.
Well, the argument went, they won't be useful against tougher threats. So in the UK, all the money went in developing the expensive laser systems. Which are just about approaching service now. But we won't be able to afford lots of those.
So if you don't spend the money on cheap anti-drone systems, you are vulnerable to cheap drones. If you do spend the money, your enemies will try and switch to more expensive systems - faster, stealthier, smarter drones. AKA missiles. Leaving the money you spent on anti-drone systems as a waste.
Centi- is the SI standard for a hundredth, versus hecto- for a hundred (see “hectare” = a square 100m by 100m).
!950 has called and is offering an F-89 armed with Mighty Mouse. No, really.
Worrying stuff, if true.
Self made. He would be a billionaire if Putin hadn't invaded Ukraine. Half his companies were seized. So that may be giving him an overly negative perspective on the Gulf
I'll bet most of the airframes of the Iranian drones is fibreglass skin, with expanded foam inside to provide strength/support. That's cottage industry level stuff.
Henley & Partners
You ain’t no Winston Churchill.
international lawthe correct SI unit / terminology being used to describe very wealthy people....That does of course lead to a more complicated supply chain and slower production. The issue then becomes stopping off key components in say the guidance system . Since these have to be produced in a proper factory I o wonder if there is then a remedy to switch them off when they are activated or do a Mossad Pagers trick and make the missile explode in situ.
In the end, he was proved right - on the British and Canadian beaches, Hobart's Funnies made a critical difference. The Americans were nearly beaten back at Omaha, despite the increased scale of the landings over the original plans.
Another critical factor was the specialist landing craft and support vessels. Which only became available in the required numbers at the start of 1944
“No problem. Ok, shall we start with some introductions? Mojtaba, do you want to kick us off”
….
“You’re on mute Mojtaba”
“Oops sorry. There was a lot of background noise. Can you hear me now?”
“You’re cracking up a bit”
“We seem to have list Mojtaba”
“Ok, while we’re waiting shall we quickly touch on the Cyprus plans?”
“Hi, I’m back”
You have to cover the whole spectrum of threats as best you can.
The UK's problem is that it has severely neglected surface based air defence for a very long time, while worrying about our capacity in things we will use far more rarely, if at all.
Similarly we've spent a lot of money maintaining advanced fighters - and not very much in stuff to arm them with.
We could have bought 10,000 APKWS missiles fir about £300m, so the idea that we'd bankrupt the rest if the devices by purchasing anti-drone weapons is bollocks.
Meantime we've pissed away £5bn on Ajax which will very likely never see real action.
https://x.com/i/status/2029831970037846513
Never believe a Daily Mail headline or anything posted by a Farage supporter
China has stockpiled 1.5b barrels of oil.
"Xi Jinping can comfortably tough out a global oil shock for longer than Trump can endure the political heat of exorbitant petrol prices in America."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/03/03/energy-markets-force-trump-end-his-reckless-war/
"US president Donald Trump on Thursday again urged Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to strike a deal with Russia, claiming that Russian president Vladimir Putin was prepared to reach an agreement. “Zelenskyy, he has to get on the ball, and he has to get a deal done,” Trump said in an interview with Politico. Trump, returning to language he used during a tense White House meeting a year ago where he and vice-president JD Vance publicly berated Zelenskyy, suggested the Ukrainian president was in a weak position and needed to make compromises, saying “Now he’s got even less cards” and repeated his insistence that “Putin is ready to make a deal”, without providing evidence."
Trump is enamoured with Putin. And, sitting beside him, is Tulsi Gabbard, the Kremlin's go-to girl.