doddisalegend

I'm not so sure. A neutral combined Korea free from outside influence would be good for China. It releaves them of the burden of supporting North Korea and gives them a new market to exploit. The US are only there becuase they agreed to safe guard South Korea. Unify the two and the US can pull out. A unified neutral Korea (think switzerland) would benefit that part of the world and save the US and China some money to boot.

I'd take that bet. Russia allegadly has considerable assets sunk into rail,gas and oil net works in north Korea a war won't benfit Russia. They didn't get involved during the 50-53 shooting match when they had some common ground idealogically so I couldn't see it know.

Not in the slighest. North korea is a country were most of the population are starving, there is practically no electricity or other mod cons. Their army is large but mostly equiped with old Soviet and Chinese stuff (and the Chinese stuff is mostly a knock off of obselete soviet stuff) if the North korea has nuclear capability I'm a monkey's uncle. If it comes to a war North Korea's main strength is its large but outdated artillery park, Seoul will get a pasting for sure but North Korea doesn't have the capability for a long drawn out war without aid from China and a big war isn't in China's interest.

modest too:lol: Though as another highly intelligent person;) I too didn't know who he was either until I read the bbc stuff. Think the Monty Python Terry would be more interesting to listen too frankly.

Well I thought it was quite encouraging the three lower leagues all look very close this season this of course means we're still in with a chance if we can put a good run together. The only problem with such a close league though is a couple of bad results can see a team slip down the league in an alarming manner. Should be a fun ride in the second half of the season.

Interesting piece by Paul fletcher on the bbc. A kind of a state of the season so far. He has this to say about saints I asked in a blog at the start of the season whether anybody could stop Southampton. I guess I had not factored in the Saints themselves. The unexpected sacking of manager Alan Pardew at the end of August, days after they thrashed Bristol Rovers 4-0, undoubtedly resulted in a destabilising period for the club. They are currently two points off the play-offs but I still believe they have the ammunition to do some serious damage. full article here http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/12/happy_christmas.html#280099

Great he is recalling Pulis to strengthen the midfield..............

lol

Oh dear. Saladin at best got a draw. The ninth crusade would have a hard time capturing Jerusalem as they were in Tunisa and if anyone prospered from the crusades it was the Mamluks of Egypt who overthrew the Ayyubid regime of Saladin. Anyway this is well off track. Climate change is real, going "green" can't do any harm and might do some good so I don't see the problem, other than rich people might lose some money.

Made doubly impressive by the fact he died in 1193 and the ninth (and final) crusade didn't end until 1272..............

oh really? I'd like to some stats on that. Religon makes a suitable excuse but is rarely the main reason. The crusades (both holy land and baltic) and the Hussite wars and to a degree the thirty years war prehaps but most is a bit strong.

Really? I feel sorry for you then. I have plenty of things that matter to me in my life, however politicans are not one of them. Do you really feel being asked for your opinion once every four years gives you much say in the way this country is run? We pay lip service to democracy while the general voters have very little impact under the current system.

Does it matter? I've gone from being very excited by politics when I was first able to vote to becoming a political version of an atheist these days. My view on politicans is they promise you the world then kick you in the dangly bits first chance they get. Doesn't seem to matter who is in charge they'll end up acting like ****s. This goverment will end sooner or later and then the next one will look for ways to **** me over. Only two politicians have ever had my respect and both becuase I felt they stuck to their principles come what may Maggie Thacter and Tony Benn as for the rest never had any time for them.

Can't argue with that. Mind you we have no long range bomber aircraft either unlike the early 80s no black buck style air raids this time round. Britains long range strike capability these days seems to down to our subs as far as I can see.

Tomhawk is for softies lets just use trident instead. Might not make us to popular with Argentina's nieghbours though.........

Just one more reason Argentina has gone down the political route in recent years in particular strengthening ties with the US and getting other south American countries to recongise their claim to the Malvinas. In a shooting war it's unlikely to go any better than last time for them. This extract from a article of the Argentinian armed forces tells yo all you need to know about they're chances of taking the Falklands by force In a May 2007 op-ed to the conservative Argentine daily La Nacion, former Defense Minister Horacio Jaunarena declared that the average age of the country’s military hardware is 30 years. He reported that the army was operating at 30 percent of its supposed strength, due to its limited ability to house and feed its troops, as well as to maintain its equipment and weaponry. The former official gave other examples, such as that out of 31 military transport aircraft in inventory, only four were currently operational. Although the Argentine navy is considered new in comparison to those found in other countries across the continent, it remains one of the less potent in terms of its inherent military capacity. http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_14/issue_23/opinion_09.html

And thats the crux of it but without the facts we will never know (you could argue we don't need too). A lot of people are assuming that NC wouldn't do this on the spur of the moment becuase it's not a logical thing to do, clearly forgetting people aren't always logical. Ashely might be completle bonkers but he must have felt he was doing the best thing for Newcastle the same with the new Blackburn owners yet most people would say they weren't and their timming was bad. Interestingly Pardew said this after the liverpool match "Chris Hughton is very, very unfortunate not to be sitting here discussing this win but this game is not easy and can be cruel. I had a very similar issue at Southampton."

I suppose it depends on what people think is a silly reason I suppose. Houghton and Allardyce were both sacked becuase the Chairman/owners wanted them gone their faces no longer fitted, people could argue that niether of them needed to be sacked. Of course that would never happen here.

Well luckily for us it's unlikely. The Argentina military has one of the lowest budgets in South America they've cut down a lot since the military Junta of the early eighties helped by several attempted uprisings by right wing elements in the 90s. Unlike the first time the island is much better guarded too including the airbase at mount pleasant which has euro fighters, a larger naval presence and a larger garrison drawn from the Grenadier Guards add to that Falkland has its own regiment (FIDF) which is far better equiped and trainned than last time. Altogether makes Falklands 2 unlikely.

Just throwing this one out there but all those who keep saying were only 5pts from second do know we're only 6pts from the relegation zone as well don't they? Not that I think we're going to be relegated but a couple of bad matches could see us slide down the table just as quickly as a good run could get us up the table. I'm not sure being 6pts of the relegation zone should be considered an achievement considering our resources at this time of the season.

lol

Maybe but that was one match and a cup final. Are they going to turn up week in, week out at £45-50 a pop? I'm not so sure. I have a sh it paying job, a big mortgage and two money drains (sorry kids). For me a large increase in the cost of tickets would see me go less to SMS regardless of the opposition, becuase I just couldn't afford it. Now I might be the odd one out and 40.000 other people can afford it more than I can, but I doubt it.

I just think they're c rap at predicting the weather to fair.

Well they are clearly aware of climate change they have a whole section of their website devoted to it..... http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-change

You could be right Man U are a bit better price wise ranging from £27.00 to £50.00 however those prices are discounted for Members which cost another £27.00 a year.