Iran

[badgerx16]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

You know the world's gone mad when Nigel Farage and Zarah Sultana are on a similar wavelength...

 

 

 

 

Farage and Sultana, two miserable bores who should never be allowed near to Government.

[hypochondriac]

37 minutes ago, trousers said:

You know the world's gone mad when Nigel Farage and Zarah Sultana are on a similar wavelength...

 

 

 

 

Call me mad but I really don't care about shit like this. People do cringe shit in their workplace all the time and it doesn't have an impact on their ability to do their job.

[egg]

14 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Call me mad but I really don't care about shit like this. People do cringe shit in their workplace all the time and it doesn't have an impact on their ability to do their job.

Yep, agreed, plus life doesn't stop here because there's a war happening in the middle east. 

[Gloucester Saint]

16 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep, agreed, plus life doesn't stop here because there's a war happening in the middle east. 

Exactly, I got on with work today same as everyone else.

Well, apart from one retired Boomer driving a Range Rover the size of Snowdonia who decided to block our local petrol station and fill up no less than four enormous containers of diesel.⛽️ 

So when supplies run lower and OPEC screw us to the floor, you know who it was.

Edited Wednesday at 18:15 by Gloucester Saint
Who

[whelk]

58 minutes ago, trousers said:

You know the world's gone mad when Nigel Farage and Zarah Sultana are on a similar wavelength...

 

 

 

 

I can’t believe anyone watches football or comedy when the world teeters on brink of WW3. Or for that matter when immigrants are crossing the channel.

[egg]

6 minutes ago, whelk said:

I can’t believe anyone watches football or comedy when the world teeters on brink of WW3. Or for that matter when immigrants are crossing the channel.

This is peak time to watch comedy - all sorts of new and inappropriate material. On that, the Attic in Totton has morphed into a brilliant comedy club, and the curry house on the corner is superb. Highly recommended for an alternative night out. 

[Gloucester Saint]

11 minutes ago, whelk said:

I can’t believe anyone watches football or comedy when the world teeters on brink of WW3. Or for that matter when immigrants are crossing the channel.

Nice to see they’ve developed some new policies…oh

Their own internal research (probably conducted by a YTS boy) shows that two-thirds of Reform members admire Rupert Lowe and similar for Soggy’s favourite.

Whoever put that update on Nigel Redknapp’s desk would’ve been risking the sack https://www.facebook.com/rupertlowemep/videos/restore-britain-has-100000-membershistory-in-the-making/1639133300844726/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd03lgmkr70o

[whelk]

10 minutes ago, egg said:

This is peak time to watch comedy - all sorts of new and inappropriate material. On that, the Attic in Totton has morphed into a brilliant comedy club, and the curry house on the corner is superb. Highly recommended for an alternative night out. 

A mate was mentioning the Attic being very good. Tickets often sell v fast though 

[Lord Duckhunter]

4 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Superb rebuttal. You have made your point clearly and definitively.

Were you captain of your school debating team ?

Yes

[Gloucester Saint]

5 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Yes

Did you have any Lego-headed team members?

[Lord Duckhunter]

3 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Did you have any Lego-headed team members?

No

[trousers]

4 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Superb rebuttal. You have made your point clearly and definitively.

Were you captain of your school debating team ?

 

10 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Yes

Oh no you weren't...

[egg]

16 minutes ago, whelk said:

A mate was mentioning the Attic being very good. Tickets often sell v fast though 

They do. Peg and Parrot over the road, two en suite Indian restaurants, free parking, sweary/non woke comedians. What's not to like. 

[egg]

5 minutes ago, trousers said:

 

Oh no you weren't...

Was he the panto star? 

[trousers]

4 minutes ago, egg said:

Was he the panto star? 

Yeah, he was the rear end of the panto pony...

[Lord Duckhunter]

If Davey”s “heart is in the right place” why did he pretend he didn’t know ex pats  start paying tax as soon as they return to reside in the UK. Playing to the gallery, like every other politician….

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, Lord Duckhunter said:

If Davey”s “heart is in the right place” why did he pretend he didn’t know ex pats  start paying tax as soon as they return to reside in the UK. Playing to the gallery, like every other politician….

As you said yourself, they all do it. I don’t think he’s especially effective either despite the GE large seats gain, but none of the others impress me in the slightest either. Ashdown would have cleaned up, pants down or not.

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, whelk said:

Tbf he will get a laughing emoji 

And still he get no where near my record.

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

And still he get no where near my record.

Thought I’d top up your tally

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Thought I’d top up your tally

Thanks pal I collect laughing reactions like SOG collects celebrity pals at village lunches 

[AlexLaw76]

29 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

As you said yourself, they all do it. I don’t think he’s especially effective either despite the GE large seats gain, but none of the others impress me in the slightest either. Ashdown would have cleaned up, pants down or not.

Given the rise of the Green Party, Ed is going to have to start streaking, or do even more wacky stuff, to get noticed.

[Gloucester Saint]

6 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Given the rise of the Green Party, Ed is going to have to start streaking, or do even more wacky stuff, to get noticed.

Nearer to a GE people start scrutinising policies far more. Plus most of the polls don’t take tactical voting into account. If the Greens can’t win but LD or Labour could beat Reform in a seat they may switch over however much they like Polanski (not sure why they would, but each to their own!). Only just had dinner so will pass on the thought of Ed streaking 🤮

 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

 

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

 

🤣

Epic TV.

"crucially, that is not in Iran otherwise they would all be machine gunned and killed"

[badgerx16]

Trump says that "Bad things happen when crazy people have nuclear weapons". Well, on that I agree with him.....Trump, Putin, Kim, all have nuclear weapons.

[hypochondriac]

19 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Yeah, UAE, Qatar and KSA are known for not having much money.

Having money doesn't mean you're particularly keen on spaffing billions up the wall on a few missiles defending against drones that cost a few thousand to produce for an extended period. 

[Saint86]

16 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Farage and Sultana, two miserable bores who should never be allowed near to Government.

And yet, it is absolutely inappropriate that parliamentarians are behaving like this at at time when the UK is being reprimanded by world powers ranging from Cyprus to the usa, having foreign service personnel reliant on the Greeks for defence, unable and unwilling to act in self defence against iran, and unable to even get a single evacuation flight out of the middle east after 6days, whilst even countries as small as Thailand can manage it, and the USA has rescued 18,000 of their own citizens.

And its not like the economy is doing well, unemployment isn't spiralling etc. I bet the students they're trying to shaft by freezing the repayment threshold are delighted to see them dancing around enjoying themselves. Newsflash for the government, when you're one of the worst performing ones in recent memory, don't draw attention to yourselves pissing about.

Just shows that we've got a load of incompetent unserious cockwombles having a jolly on the taxpayers dime... certainly getting our monies worth out of them.

Edited Thursday at 09:35 by Saint86

[Farmer Saint]

17 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Having money doesn't mean you're particularly keen on spaffing billions up the wall on a few missiles defending against drones that cost a few thousand to produce for an extended period. 

I think you've just read a load of bollocks, that's all. 

[Farmer Saint]

8 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

And yet, it is absolutely inappropriate that parliamentarians are behaving like this at at time when the UK is being reprimanded by world powers ranging from Cyprus to the usa, having foreign service personnel reliant on the Greeks for defence, unable and unwilling to act in self defence against iran, and unable to even get a single evacuation flight out of the middle east after 6days, whilst even countries as small as Thailand can manage it, and the USA has rescued 18,000 of their own citizens.

And its not like the economy is doing well, unemployment isn't spiralling etc. I bet the students they're trying to shaft by freezing the repayment threshold are delighted to see them dancing around enjoying themselves. Newsflash for the government, when you're one of the worst performing ones in recent memory, don't draw attention to yourselves pissing about.

Just shows that we've got a load of incompetent unserious cockwombles having a jolly on the taxpayers dime... certainly getting our monies worth out of them.

One of the worst performing in recent memory? Short memory there.

Worst Governments in recent history:

1. Truss - Conservative

2. Johnson - Conservative

3. Cameron - Conservative 

4. May - Conservative 

5. Sunak - Conservative

6. Starmer - Labour

7. Brown - Labour

8. Cameron/Clegg - Conservative/Lib Dems

9. Blair - Labour

[tdmickey3]

11 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

One of the worst performing in recent memory? Short memory there.

Worst Governments in recent history:

1. Truss - Conservative

2. Johnson - Conservative

3. Cameron - Conservative 

4. May - Conservative 

5. Sunak - Conservative

6. Starmer - Labour

7. Brown - Labour

8. Cameron/Clegg - Conservative/Lib Dems

9. Blair - Labour

If Reform get in (god forbid) Truss will move to no 2

[whelk]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

And yet, it is absolutely inappropriate that parliamentarians are behaving like this at at time when the UK is being reprimanded by world powers ranging from Cyprus to the usa, having foreign service personnel reliant on the Greeks for defence, unable and unwilling to act in self defence against iran, and unable to even get a single evacuation flight out of the middle east after 6days, whilst even countries as small as Thailand can manage it, and the USA has rescued 18,000 of their own citizens.

And its not like the economy is doing well, unemployment isn't spiralling etc. I bet the students they're trying to shaft by freezing the repayment threshold are delighted to see them dancing around enjoying themselves. Newsflash for the government, when you're one of the worst performing ones in recent memory, don't draw attention to yourselves pissing about.

Just shows that we've got a load of incompetent unserious cockwombles having a jolly on the taxpayers dime... certainly getting our monies worth out of them.

That looks like a lot of effort to post a load of shite

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

I think you've just read a load of bollocks, that's all. 

Personally I'd trust a New York Times article (or the Times where I read it originally) over some randomer on an internet forum. 

 

 

 

[AlexLaw76]

[Farmer Saint]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

Personally I'd trust a New York Times article (or the Times where I read it originally) over some randomer on an internet forum. 

 

 

 

Well, I guess we'll see what happens and can revisit this at the end of the war.

[hypochondriac]

41 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Well, I guess we'll see what happens and can revisit this at the end of the war.

Even if it doesn't happen it's obviously not bollocks and is a valid perspective. From Iran who have few options, looking to deplete very expensive resources with cheaper strikes seems fairly rational. 

[Farmer Saint]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

Even if it doesn't happen it's obviously not bollocks and is a valid perspective. From Iran who have few options, looking to deplete very expensive resources with cheaper strikes seems fairly rational. 

For some of the wealthiest countries in the World. I just don't buy it. They're just hitting out at US allies, and they have a lot of drones, that's all. I assume if they wanted to hit the countries financially, they'd be hitting oil extraction plants, docks, business centres etc and it doesn't seem to be what they're concentrating on.

Also, not sure how cheap Ballistic Missiles are...

“As of Sunday 1st March, the UAE has intercepted 541 drones, 165 ballistic missiles and 2 cruise missiles, demonstrating its defence capabilities” says Katy Keenan, CEO, British Chamber of Commerce Dubai.

Edited Thursday at 14:30 by Farmer Saint

[hypochondriac]

42 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

For some of the wealthiest countries in the World. I just don't buy it. They're just hitting out at US allies, and they have a lot of drones, that's all. I assume if they wanted to hit the countries financially, they'd be hitting oil extraction plants, docks, business centres etc and it doesn't seem to be what they're concentrating on.

 

[Farmer Saint]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

 

Exactly my point, thanks.

[Patrick Bateman]

23 hours ago, whelk said:

I can’t believe anyone watches football or comedy when the world teeters on brink of WW3. Or for that matter when immigrants are crossing the channel.

No no, Nige and Sultana say everyone should stop doing anything, I mean, why are you still shopping? Why are you showering? Why are you watching the latest box set on TV and going for lunch with a work colleague, it's nearly WW3 ... 🌚

These people are insane. 

[benjii]

4 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

For some of the wealthiest countries in the World. I just don't buy it. They're just hitting out at US allies, and they have a lot of drones, that's all. I assume if they wanted to hit the countries financially, they'd be hitting oil extraction plants, docks, business centres etc and it doesn't seem to be what they're concentrating on.

Also, not sure how cheap Ballistic Missiles are...

“As of Sunday 1st March, the UAE has intercepted 541 drones, 165 ballistic missiles and 2 cruise missiles, demonstrating its defence capabilities” says Katy Keenan, CEO, British Chamber of Commerce Dubai.

 

UAE is using expensive missile defences to shoot down cheapo drones. So far, it has been very succesful with hardly any direct hits achieved by Iran, despite UK media hysterics.

Economically it's not sustainable, though, and they don't have an infinite supply. This is why they want Ukraine to come and show them how to make cheap interceptor drones and why the US also wants this help.

 

4 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

 

Yes, this is the strategy. It's not going to work though. Remember the Venezuela episode? It's almost as if the US wanted a ready supply of oil before launching this attack.... it's the same campaign. Venezuela was about Iran.

What this will do, is not fuck the US (no more than Trump already fucks the US economy), but fuck the UK and Europe, if access to the Red Sea becomes impossible. That means supplies from Asia need to sail round Africa instead of going via Suez, increasing costs and delays. We can start bulk buying bog roll again in anticipation. It will also fuck Japan and South Korea and other Asian economies needing sea route access to gas and oil. China is probably not as exposed, although they won't want this to carry on for too long.

The reality is that Iran has no cards to play and can't really create an escalation severe enough to deter US and Israel. So this will probably carry on until someone grants a Trump family member the right to make some (more) profit out of Iran.

Edited Thursday at 19:12 by benjii

[Lighthouse]

At what point do you start calling this WW3, I wonder? If you include USA, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, UK, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, all the gulf states, Cyprus and the Kurds as all being involved one way or another, there's quite the Royal Rumble going on.

[hypochondriac]

4 hours ago, benjii said:

 

UAE is using expensive missile defences to shoot down cheapo drones. So far, it has been very succesful with hardly any direct hits achieved by Iran, despite UK media hysterics.

Economically it's not sustainable, though, and they don't have an infinite supply. This is why they want Ukraine to come and show them how to make cheap interceptor drones and why the US also wants this help.

 

Yes, this is the strategy. It's not going to work though. Remember the Venezuela episode? It's almost as if the US wanted a ready supply of oil before launching this attack.... it's the same campaign. Venezuela was about Iran.

What this will do, is not fuck the US (no more than Trump already fucks the US economy), but fuck the UK and Europe, if access to the Red Sea becomes impossible. That means supplies from Asia need to sail round Africa instead of going via Suez, increasing costs and delays. We can start bulk buying bog roll again in anticipation. It will also fuck Japan and South Korea and other Asian economies needing sea route access to gas and oil. China is probably not as exposed, although they won't want this to carry on for too long.

The reality is that Iran has no cards to play and can't really create an escalation severe enough to deter US and Israel. So this will probably carry on until someone grants a Trump family member the right to make some (more) profit out of Iran.

You are exactly right and yes it almost certainly won't work. 

[hypochondriac]

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

At what point do you start calling this WW3, I wonder? If you include USA, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, UK, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, all the gulf states, Cyprus and the Kurds as all being involved one way or another, there's quite the Royal Rumble going on.

Pretty one sided at present though. If a heavyweight like China got directly involved then you could start thinking about something like that. Russia have their own problems.

[egg]

17 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Even if it doesn't happen it's obviously not bollocks and is a valid perspective. From Iran who have few options, looking to deplete very expensive resources with cheaper strikes seems fairly rational. 

It was one person's opinion in a newspaper. The gulf nations can and will afford to defend themselves. The annoyance, I suspect, will be with having to buy overpriced US kit to defend themselves against drones being pinged at them as a result of the US supporting Israel in this nonsense. Probably not a line the NY Times would run with though. 

[benjii]

12 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

At what point do you start calling this WW3, I wonder? If you include USA, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, UK, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, all the gulf states, Cyprus and the Kurds as all being involved one way or another, there's quite the Royal Rumble going on.

Countries directly involved through participation or receipt of attacks:

1 USA

2 Israel 

3 Iran 

4 Bahrain 

5 Kuwait 

6 Oman 

7 Qatar 

8 Saudi Arabia 

9 UAE

10 Iraq

11 Lebanon 

12 Azerbaijan 

13 Jordan 

14 Cyprus 

Yemen likely to he directly involved very soon.

Then you have defensive support: UK  France etc.

You have Pakistan at war with Afghanistan.

Turkey probably quite twitchy.

Egypt likely to intervene if Suez Canal gets cut off.

Potential flare ups in Horn of Africa.

 

It is somewhat "messy".

 

Edited yesterday at 09:24 by benjii

[AlexLaw76]

How will it look for the USA and Israel if, when this skirmish is over, it is more of the same in Iran.

The US can’t afford for this to happen, can they?

[egg]

20 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

How will it look for the USA and Israel if, when this skirmish is over, it is more of the same in Iran.

The US can’t afford for this to happen, can they?

Without a ground invasion, Iran will put whoever it wants in charge. The longer it goes on the more that will be necessary if the US want to win, but the longer it goes on the more the global economy, in particular the US economy, is decimated. Quite what Trump really wants I'm unsure though, but it definitely isn't the best for the people of Iran. 

[benjii]

31 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

How will it look for the USA and Israel if, when this skirmish is over, it is more of the same in Iran.

The US can’t afford for this to happen, can they?

It will be, unless there is a full scale civil war / ground battle, or unless they can find someone senior enough in the IRGC, who can take it and the military with him as an organisation, who is willing to run a coup and cooperate with America. Fat chance.

[S-Clarke]

32 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

How will it look for the USA and Israel if, when this skirmish is over, it is more of the same in Iran.

The US can’t afford for this to happen, can they?

I don't think the end goal is really clear, all that's happened so far is massive destabilisation across the entire middle east, which will ripple world wide into our own pockets. We'll see the costs, it's the 'war machine' at the end of the day.

I think you can get rid of all the leaders you want and I don't think anyone disagrees with the idea of trying to topple this regime, but you'll always have radical people left behind in huge numbers who end up dictating the next course of action. Trumps idea that 1) the Iranians will topple the rest from inside and 2) he will choose who is next in charge feels a bit far fetched to say the least. Iran isn't Venezuela. It's an enormous country, in an already volatile region with splinter groups spilling all over the middle east.

I honestly have no idea how this is going to end.

[egg]

22 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I don't think the end goal is really clear, all that's happened so far is massive destabilisation across the entire middle east, which will ripple world wide into our own pockets. We'll see the costs, it's the 'war machine' at the end of the day.

I think you can get rid of all the leaders you want and I don't think anyone disagrees with the idea of trying to topple this regime, but you'll always have radical people left behind in huge numbers who end up dictating the next course of action. Trumps idea that 1) the Iranians will topple the rest from inside and 2) he will choose who is next in charge feels a bit far fetched to say the least. Iran isn't Venezuela. It's an enormous country, in an already volatile region with splinter groups spilling all over the middle east.

I honestly have no idea how this is going to end.

The impact on the US economy, and beyond will be grave. The petrodallar and US debt are joined at the hip. I haven't really considered how a long term war could help Donny perhaps being able to swerve the mid-terms, but I wonder if there's a selfish political angle that outweighs the US economy.