buctootim

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Wow. You must have believed the £350m bus claim too. What the previous president actually said was a quote from the long dead Ayaytollah Khomenei "this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time". Sure they want regime change in Israel, I do too. That is very different to wiping the country off the map. Who told you the Iranians want nuclear weapons?

Well its a self confessed liar that is making the accusations which you are uncritically lapping up. As to the Iranians wish to wipe out half the world as you claimed, again simply not true. They are Twelver muslims. They believe the Mahdi and Jesus will come to save the world after the apocalypse and wipe out the evil that caused it.

Fair summary here https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/05/16/angus-king-donald-trump-iran-middle-east-sot-vpx-newday.cnn

Well done, a totally irrelevant strawman. Haven't seen one as desperately contrived as that in a while. Are you saying the US congress and just about everybody else is wrong and Pompeo, a self professed liar is right?

You are being exceptionally naive. Trump - pushed by hawks Pompeo and Bolton is not just defying international opinion but also the will of his own congress [video=youtube;DPt-zXn05ac]

One other relevant factor is that, under international pressure a couple of months ago the US ended military support for the Saudi's war in Yemen - against the wishes of Trump, Pompeo and Bolton - leaving Britain as its major sources of arms. The Saudis would love nothing more than giving Trump a pretext to reopen hostilities with Iran. And because Trump has designated the Republican guard as a terrorist organisation they can do that without Congresses approval. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47564274

Lets just suppose that the US and EU had agreed after years of negotiations to a treaty that would give us a super trade deal if we left the EU. So we leave but then the US turns around and imposes sanctions crippling 60% of our exports to the extent we cant even afford to pay pensions or run the health service. Even though the EU says we have done nothing wrong they and most other countries in the world comply with the US sanctions because otherwise thy themselves will face sanctions. The other countries of the world then start to export to Britains former customers using UK EEZ waters in the English channel as a route to those markets. Britain can either do nothing and go bankrupt or use the navy to disrupt that trade - not killing anyone but scaring off shipping companies. Would that be unreasonable? On balance of probabilities I dont think Iran did it - but even if they did it seems to me their response is proportionate, mild even. The US is the aggressor here. Trump has ripped up a treaty Obama, China, Russia, the UK, France and Germany all guaranteed. Every country apart from the US under Trump agreed Iran was complying with its obligations under the treaty. Now the UK poodle has volte face and is dutifully echoing its master, just like the gulf wars and Libya. How well did they turn out?

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You mean the mines that were never there according to the ships crew?

I used to work a bit with his dad William who wrote 'The Sovereign Individual'. There's is a good analysis of it the Guardian. I think JRM believes his Dad's predictions and is using what he sees as credulous plebs to bring about a Britain where gets to be even richer. The book foresaw a backlash against the footloose, cosmopolitan elites that digital technology would help create. The economy’s “losers”, as Rees-Mogg and Davidson called them, who “do not excel in problem-solving or possess globally marketable skills”, would turn to nationalism and bitter nostalgia. They would “seek to thwart the movement of capital and people across borders”. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/09/mystic-mogg-jacob-rees-mogg-willam-predicts-brexit-plans

The other interesting thing about this is that Congress is supposed to provide consent before the White House goes to war. But the White House has the unilateral power to act militarily against terrorism. What to do? Easy really. In April they designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation so they could attack Iran without Congress' consent.

Much more likely than the Iranians targeting a Japanese ship when the Japanese PM is in town at the Iranians request to discuss US sanctions and oil exports. The ship owners report the crew saw flying objects and think the ship was hit by shellfire. The damage was on the starboard side - ie the side facing away from the Iranian coast. https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-...15-p51xzz.html Trump wants to intimidate and sanction Iran to reduce its regional power where it is competing with its ally Saudi Arabia. Between Saudi and Iran I think the Iranians are the lesser of two evils. Revolutionary Iran has never started a war and tolerates practice of Christianity and Judaism. Saudi by contrast..... Probably part of Operation Boot MK2 since we never learn https://www.historytoday.com/daniel-wb-lomas/iran-britain-and-operation-boot

https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/japanese-ship-owner-contradicts-us-account-of-how-tanker-was-attacked-20190615-p51xzz.html

How do you think they got the missile to slow down from 2,000mph to say 5mph as it reached the ship so that the mine could both attach nicely and not explode?

Aah the good old days of Lawson. Tax cuts causing a record current account deficit despite record north sea oil receipts; 9.5% inflation, house price inflation of up to 30% and record levels of house repossessions as interest rates reached 15%. Oh and followed by a recession and seven years when it became almost impossible to sell your house as prices collapsed again. You're a sucker for a simple "get rich quick, you can have it all" story aren't you? You should read up on psychology. People lay down their strongest memories between 15 and 25. Whatever you did then, whatever music you listened to, whatever values were held tend to persist in peoples minds as "the best" - ******** to any empirical measures or the fact that people of different ages will likely have different equally legitimate views - they're just pinko wets who are wrong.

Ha. You think firing a rocket with a magnetic mine attached so that it sticks to the side of a ship would be both possible and rational? Why do that as opposed to simply firing a missile from the drone?

Saudi Arabia. Iranian backed Houthi rebels attacked oil installations in Saudi a month ago. Those attacks were in turn revenge for the Saudi war in Yemen. Even Machiavelli wouldnt have the Iranians singling out Japan bound cargo whilst the Japanese PM was in Tehran to talk about peace.

The problem is that many of them wont necessarily vote with their beliefs but will, like Johnson in Sheaf Saint's link above, act in their own interests.

He'll go for a total reversal and second referendum citing some 'unforseeable and unavoidable' circumstances. Supposedly a lot of the remain MPs are voting for him as he's seen as more malleable than other candidates. There's probably a Boris dirt file somewhere.

Rory Stewart is now the surprise second placed candidate behind Johnson (albeit a distant second) amongst Tory members according to ConservativeHome. Just having a remainer on the final two ballot paper and presumably garnering votes would change the dynamic. https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2019/06/next-tory-leader-our-eve-of-poll-snap-survey-johnson-wins-over-half-the-vote-a-record-high.html

I really appreciate you and Wes 'momentum-ising' the Tories. Its a selfless act of sabotage to make them unelectable.

Put it in quotation marks and you will eg "Whitey's lawnmower porn" Tenth result.... Twellth...

I think Johnson admitted it before being outed during the Mayor of London campaign.

It depends on the poll. Some weight by social group and age to reflect how likely people are to actually vote as opposed to who they would vote for if they actually turned up. It’s the adjusted figure which matters.