Diversion – any recommendations for neoprene overshoes ?

Same with cameras. DHL will carry them for commercial customers but they’re on the prohibited list for Joe Public.

More outrages from the Most Moral Army

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/20/israeli-soldiers-filmed-pushing-bodies-of-palestinians-off-west-bank-roof?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Stand by for some more epic mental gymnastics in response

I’m afraid I can’t compete with the contortions required to claim that Israel’s longest serving PM somehow doesn’t represent public opinion. Simone Biles would be proud!

I have a nice life in Scotland and if Israel really were the ultra-right wing fascist klepto-kakistocracy that some of you claim then there are plenty of easier, safer ways of making a living and I wouldn’t have been coming here for the last 5 years.

Of course. Let me guess – you’re not Arab. Then I can imagine you have a nice life. I had relatives who lived in apartheid S Africa. They had a nice life too.

This is Schrödinger’s Democracy. Israelis get to choose their leader (hooray!!) but they’re not responsible for the leader they choose.

ISIS was a democracy? Who knew?

Logic fail. Try again.

DrJ, Did you miss the bit about demonstrating against the government or just wilfully ignore it?

Well I thought I’d ignore it, since Ox ignored this demonstration:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna164213

and it seemed to me that the most effective demonstration is the one you have at the ballot box.

Because that’s what you seem to be claiming. That because Netanyahu was elected, every single Israeli supports his policies and is therefore guilty of the same war and humanitarian crimes?

Obviously not. But a free democratic vote reflects the will of the majority. And if the majority keep making the same choice over and over again then you’re entitled to conclude that it’s a dominant proportion of society that holds that view.

By “they” I assume you mean the entire population of Iraq or Syria? To keep the comparison.

Well, Iraq was not a democracy so the comparison is hard to make. The entire membership of ISIS, sure.

When Liz the lettuce was PM in UK did her views and policies reflect yours? Borris?

Liz Truss was not elected by the people. Boris was once and was turfed out due to corruption. He wasn’t elected over and over.

A better comparison is Tony Blair, the only PM to have led the UK into a dirty war comparable to Gaza. He resigned in disgrace.

Can you imagine the pile-on if a similar statement was made about Muslims

Saddam was a Muslim. ISIS are Muslims. Etc etc . I don’t remember anyone getting their tights in a tangle when they were criticised?

I don’t recall describing any of that DrJ. You seem keen on tarring an entire population with one brush on the basis of no evidence whatsoever

Evidence of elections. Israel is a democracy, I keep hearing.

My source is being in Israel and walking about, seeing people buying cars and eating in restaurants and dancing in nightclubs and going to work and demonstrating en masse against Netanyahu and his government.

Ii’m sure you’re correct and things are as normal. Killing Arabs. Voting for a fascist government. Applauding genocide. Everything you expect from a depraved degenerate society built on oppression.

But I’m sure another UN resolution will bring them to their knees.

That maybe correct but it seems hardly likely that pagers used by racist, fascist, terrorists, are going to carried by innocent civilians.

Why would they want them? For what purpose?

I still stand by my statement that is a very precisely targeted strike against their enemies.

How do you feel about agents spreading nerve poisons on doorknobs? That’s a pretty precisely targeted strike, right?

We seem to have a cultural dislike of hi viz jackets and the people who wear them.

Tory leaders you mean ?

I’m sure the French Foreign Legion did something similar ?

Another indiscriminate attack on civilians by the Most Moral Army.

Not relevant to the OP’s use of esim – but may be other interest to others. Moving an O2 esim to a new phone is a complete pain

Thanks for the advice. O2 used to have really good support. Now it’s impossible to contact them.

Looking at esims here in Greece for when my O2 roaming runs out. Aralo seem to use WIND network which doesn’t exist where I am so if anyone has experience of Bytesim please shout up :-)

Morten Hilmer nature photography

Did once buy a selection from TM Lewin and had the sleeves taken off. When the sales assistant was querying why anyone would want short sleeved shirts I pointed out that it meant it was easier to shove your hand up a cow’s arse that way to do Pregnancy Diagnosis than with long sleeves. It did remove his smarmy smile for a second.

Did you then reveal that you actually work in IT ? :-)

Recruiting foreigners to fight in your armed forces is perfectly legal under international law. France has been doing it for nearly 200 years with Foreign Legion and Britain even longer with the Gurkhas. And both use the suggestion that it will help with residency applications.

Worth bookmarking the post where Ernie justifies Israeli actions on the basis of behaviour of colonial powers. He’s wrong, of course – Gurkhas were not recruited from the asylum system to help out with genocide – but that’s another issue.

Apparently (report in Haaretz) the most moral army in the world are recruiting African asylum seekers to undertake dangerous missions in Gaza with the bribe of citizenship. You’ve got to wonder how much lower these people can actually sink.

Still, I’m sure there’s some kind of UN statement on the matter.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-09-15/ty-article/.premium/israel-is-recruiting-asylum-seekers-for-war-effort-offering-promise-of-permanent-status/00000191-f1f9-da43-a1db-f9fb07cf0000

@drj a lot of us here have used and recommend Calibre in Dundee

Thanks. I’ll take a look :-). What service did you use to send in your watch ?

Edit – I see they arrange that.

Maybe someone can help me out and suggest a place in Newcastle to service a Rolex? The background story is that it was my FIL’e and it has more value to me for sentimental reasons than timekeeping. It does keep decent time but I keep thinking I should  have it serviced just to make sure it’s in good condition. Having said that, I’m afraid the repair shop will take it to bits and then tell me it will cost a mint to service and reassemble  in which case I’d rather keep it as it is !!

Ukraine is never going to get its land back – the western nations have sold Ukraine down the river, we have dithered to such an extent that Putin knows he’s won.

See also “red line chemical weapons Syria Assad”

I think I found an actual benefit. Maybe. Apple are not releasing their AI goodies in the EU due to competition law or some such. But I *think* they will be releasing then in Blighty-land.

Or something approximately like that.

Up the Shanghai tower

Is that a euphemism?

It’s amazing how stable Britain has been compared to almost everywhere else.

Breeding, old chap.

Poor civilian leadership at the top sending the wrong message, badly trained reservists at the bottom losing discipline.

So that’s ok then. Not actually brutalising prisoners at all.

There’s a big difference between low-level indiscipline, which will happen in any army, and a deliberate strategy of brutalizing civilians and prisoners-of-war.

Where does Abu Graib fit in with your classification?

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_37750.htm

tankies

zzzzzzzz

Reading back through my posts I’ve maybe been a bit tetchy with DrJ at times.  Apologies.

No offence taken. And apologies where I gave it.

Do Russia’s motives justify laying waste to every town and village that they come near, destroying civilian infrastructure. killing and wounding hundreds of thousands of people, etc.

No, and nowhere do I suggest that they do. But they’re hardly alone in conducting a war this way – it seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

Not since 2010 when the pro-Russian Ukrainian government of Viktor Yanukovych declared the country “neutral”, which the Kremlin would be very aware of. In 2014 Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the Donbas region triggered further calls from Ukraine for NATO membership, understandably

So not since 2010, except for since 2014. Yes. Now I understand.

the truth is that Ukraine wasn’t pursuing NATO membership

The truth is that Ukraine has pursued NATO membership at various times.

However, the point is not to claim who are goodies and who are baddies, but to observe that groups have their own motives which may not appear valid to outsiders but which make sense to them. How history judges them is not necessarily obvious at the time.

Why do they need to be “specially virtuous”,

This comment makes no sense.  Suggest you re-read the context.

I would imagine that Russians will say that if they stop fighting then the ever increasing NATO encirclement will continue.

If there were widespread, state sanctioned war crimes by the Kyiv government, western governments would come under a lot of public pressure to stop aid. Zelensky can’t afford that.

Since you brought it up – there are widespread state sanctioned war crimes by the Israeli government. How much has that resulted in aid being stopped?

i believe, for what it’s worth, that the Russians have been another level of evil in this war. But Grozny, Aleppo etc don’t stand out much from Raqaa and Gaza as atrocities perpetrated on a civilian population, so I’m not confident that if/when the boot is on the other foot we won’t see some horrors of Ukraine’s making.

So, in the end a convincing victory for Roglic. Much as I like Sepp Kuss I don’t think he did much to advance the idea that he’s a grand tour winner for the future.

If for no other reason, that the continued international coalition of support depends on it

That doesn’t seem to be a factor elsewhere. Saddam Hussein was supported by the west despite gassing the Kurds.