The deaths of Israeli citizens in their own homes at the hands of Hamas shocked the world. Now there are big concerns about the plight of civilians in Gaza as Israeli forces seek out Hamas fighters in crowded urban areas and close to hospitals. Meanwhile death and destruction rain down on the areas of Ukraine close to the battle lines. Neither side can gain an advantage sufficient to shift Ā decisively the heavily defended positions along the frontier between two armies.
Most wars end with a negotiated ceasefire and a subsequent peace treaty. Some after huge damage and death end with unconditional surrender of the losers.
It looks as if NATO and the EU will stay out of these two ugly current wars. Nonetheless their financial and military support is essential to Ukraine and important to Israel . This means President Biden has some leverage over Israel and Ukraine and may well be considering using it to ponder Ā options to negotiate. The President looks as if he would prefer war off the agenda. On Ukraine he is being harried to spend less by some Republicans and faces in Mr Trump an opponent who wants peace.
The EU is struggling to get agreement to all the money Ukraine needs. The EU was involved in the overthrow of the elected President of Ukraine in 2014 for being too pro Russian. The EU offer of future membership of the EU to Ukraine is seen as a further provocation Ā by Putin following the expansion of Ā NATO.
Many call for a ceasefire in Gaza and think the US and NATO could require one. The truth is Hamas are not ready to return the hostages and stop rocket attacks on Israel, minimum requirements for a ceasefire. Nor is Israel willing to stop fighting Ā Hamas in Gaza despite civilian casualty levels. Until both Ā shift they will carry on fighting whatever others want.
December 29, 2023
Good morning.
I do not care about Ukraine as this war is self inflicted. It should never have tried to get into bed with the EU in the first place.
Israel must defeat an enemy intent on its destruction. It has no other choice. This is, in my view, a just war. Israel has allowed a corridor for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza and has agreed to a cease fire in exchange for hostages. Hamas can have another ceasefire but must release all hostages.
What concerns me is that Hamas is being treated in some ways better than Israel. I find it odd that a US President and others want a ceasefire, which will aid Hamas, and yet, when they were pursuing terrorist that killed many of their citizens there was no suggestion of basically letting them off.
Let me be clear. Hamas must be destroyed. There can be no peace whilst even the faintest embers of their existence glow.
December 29, 2023
Ademdum
There are other wars going on in the world but, for some reason, they are not covered here or much elsewhere. Maybe this is because the life of a Burmese is less than that of a Ukrainian ?
December 29, 2023
Also the atrocities and murders of Christians in Nigeria by muslim fundamentalists. Some sixty over the Christmas period. Many thousands over the past decade. Unreported in our bought media or BBC.
December 30, 2023
Same for India. You would think it might feature in any trade negotiate with the āson-in-law of India!ā No, just more immigration to cancel our culture! Get Sunak out.
December 29, 2023
It is important for the West that both Hamas and Russia are defeated. Neither of them can be trusted and to capitulate would only cause trouble for the future.
Putin is the 21st century Hitler with the sane warped mindset.
December 29, 2023
Stop reading the propaganda.
December 29, 2023
no we saw what they did. Both invaded another country for no other reason than that they had failed to improve the lives of the populations they ruled. Thats not propaganda “Lynn” its the facts.
December 29, 2023
“Ademdum” (sic)?
Did you mean “addendum”?
December 29, 2023
Well said Mark B.
Not a penny of taxpayers money for corrupt Ukraine. Ukraine should not have been encouraged by EU, Cameron, Johnson etc. Now Cameron is back God help us from his stupidity including, as we saw, in Libya. It was agreed Ukraine should remain neutral as a buffer between west and Russia. US would not want Russian missiles in Cuba!
UK still wrongly inter connected to EU energy who has bought 30% more LNG from Russia!! So much for the sanctions rot.
December 29, 2023
Cameron has already said Ukraine will get at least another Ā£2 bn from the UK next year.
December 29, 2023
Perhaps he could source funding from China,
December 29, 2023
That slipped through the Cabinet then, unnoticed?
December 29, 2023
They say ‘sanctions’ are the use of soft-power ….I say its woke hypocrisy (buying and selling via 3rd countries with russian & hamas criminals living in London with their millions)
December 30, 2023
Problem is that if Putin not stopped at Ukraine, he will march into rest of (Eastern) Europe – like Napoleon. And who knows where after Eastern Europe.
Putin has to be stopped at Ukraine. You have to stand up to bullies – lie at school!
December 30, 2023
Agree – we should’ve stopped them in the crimera, but we took their money and made them peers
December 29, 2023
I fully support your opinion Mark , Hamas and those who support it must be totally destroyed , they are animals!
How ever Bojo made a big mistake , we should never have been involved , our money thrown away. But then he is a WEF puppet!
December 29, 2023
Johnson tried to use Ukraine to deflect his party gate problems.
December 30, 2023
And Netanyahu’s approach to Hamas isn’t based on WISDOM but on chaos / desperation mixed with fragile ego / fragile masculinity. Yes, to force, but effective force that contains and puts out the fire – not make the fire worse.
Netanyahu’s approach is like throwing water on a grease-hob fire. Wrong approach. You make the fire worse – long-term. You should be covering that fire with a fire blanket not water.
Happy to be corrected but find it hard to see how my analysis here is wrong!
December 29, 2023
+1 Mark B
Hamas has for many years held hostage the citizens of Gaza who should be assisting IDF.
December 29, 2023
Wipe Hamas out. It is inconceivable the Palestinians did not know what Hamas was doing. 129 Israeli hostages still unaccounted for. They reap what they sow.
How about N.Ireland JR? Part of our country given away to the EU forcing the rest of the UK to act in lock step to a rotten EU organisation that we voted to leave!! N.Ireland now a vassal state of the EU! Not across word but helped, aided and abetted by your remainer party/govt! How about a bit of help to our countrymen in N.Ireland?
December 29, 2023
I’m in agreement with your opening comments about Ukraine. The blame for the awful war? Russia: 70%. Ukraine: 20%. USA: 5%. EU: 5%. The exercising of foreign-policy by that lot has been dire. What could have prevented the war? Ukraine’s pursuing a foreign-policy akin to Finland’s traditional approach of trying to get on with its neighbours to both east and west. But once Russia started massing troops, America could have deterred the invasion by the simple act of sending troops to straddle the known invasion-routes.
Anyways, I hope that 2024 will see the demise of Putin, though my money would be on Xi to lose his job first.
December 29, 2023
SW, you didn’t mention why Russia started massing troops. They were getting tired of doing nothing while for years thousands of ethnic Russian civilians in the Donbas were getting killed and injured in targeted bombardment by NATO-trained government forces. The Kremlin’s hope was that Kiev’s army would desist if threatened by Russia, but the provocation continued following NATO’s aim to have a war that would weaken Putin and lead to his downfall. Fast forward two years and the ‘Downfall’ script is being applied to Zelensky, not the Russian leader. As with Afghanistan, Biden has messed up big time, and this dreadful war should not be kept going just to bolster his re-election chances.
December 29, 2023
As the great Dr Michael Hudson put it most succinctly at the start of this war:”just like Afghanistan,we backed the crazies”
December 29, 2023
The security and defence pact with EU will give away UK military and foreign policy to EU! Cameron undoubtedly doing his best to achieve this aim. He sounded pretty buoyant about UK being under EU law through the EU courts in Lords recently! The ToryLabour uni party are in cahoots to make it happen. Withdraw from PESCO, withdraw from WHO, withdraw from Paris Agreement and being sovereignty back to the UK.
December 29, 2023
I agree regarding the existential threat to Israel. Surely refusing refugees from a war-zone (Jordan and Egypt) are in breach of some global āruleā?
Hamas must be totally destroyed and Saudi must deal with Yemen.
Ukraine is a different story because not only did the west replace a pro-Russian elected leader, but Zelensky won a landslide on a āpeace with Russiaā ticket.
The people of Ukraine are being fed into the meat grinder on western money.
Sir John does not yet understand the Russian war tactics of setting up a firebag, settling down and killing those that Ukraine feeds in. Ukraine has spent 14 years fortifying some towns and the last of them is almost surrounded.
Russia will take all of that which is historically Russia and leave the rest to the west, that means Kiev will be a Russian city and no longer defiled by the old German ideology which we all agree is worse even than Communism, and the Russian Federation is no longer communist.
There will be no negotiation but the Russians will talk while they fight.
December 29, 2023
At least one person, you ā¦. sees the situation as it exists
December 30, 2023
Thank you. I spend a lot of time researching – reading official readouts and studying the maps produced by satellite.
Russia and Israel are in the same position, both under existential threat. They have no option but to fight. Letās hope to God they both win!
I think the Ukraine horror will be over in the spring. We MUST stop providing āair defenceā – for every Russian rocket, air defence automatically fires two. What goes up must come down. The Russian rockets are aimed at military and other institutional targets NOT civilian low value targets. But air defence is fired indiscriminately at wherever the rocket is flying over and comes down often on civilian infrastructure.
December 29, 2023
Blair was a p-ssy as well for supporting the Iraq War (and Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld p-ssies as well. The amount of proper leadership we’ve had in the UK, the USA and Israel and elsewhere is frighteningly low in recent times – and Hamas and their supporters are p-ssies / mad dogs as well of course).
December 29, 2023
IanB – that’s ridiculous I’m afraid.
Ukraine is a sovereign State, a democracy whose people were overwhelmingly in favour of EU membership and turning themselves towards the West rather than russia…
Why should they not be able to CHOOSE to do that?
You seem to think they should simply live their lives under a russian yoke because it makes everyone else’s life easier.
If we let trhem take Ukraine that’s a form of appeasement – and we know from history, appeasement never works; it’s a short-term fix and the heavy price is that the next phase is always much worse. Russia with Ukraine’s resources will be much more difficult to deal with.
December 29, 2023
When did the Ukrainian PEOPLE vote to ājoinā the EU and NATO?
December 29, 2023
In the people’s great referendum …..oh no, that didn’t happen, my mistake, it was the decision of the political elites
December 30, 2023
When they looked at the West and saw richer freer and longer lives than Russians under Putin.
December 29, 2023
I think you need to look at more recent history than your 1930s appeasement analogy, XY. Ukraine has been a very divided country since the 2014 Maidan coup and the fighting that followed, when the Kiev government tried to suppress Russian speakers’ civic rights. Vlodomyr Zelensky won the presidential election in 2019 by promising an end to the conflict and addressing their grievances. That would have implemented roughly what Ukraine had signed up to with the Minsk accords of 2015. Unfortunately he was not allowed by the ultra-nationalist extremists, who regularly bully Kiev politicians, to carry out his promise. Then in April last year his negotiators came to an accord with Russia that would have preserved the territory of Ukraine, by agreeing to give the Donbas limited autonomy as per Minsk 2015. It might also have got the far-right extremists off his back as well. But NATO had other ideas. Zelensky, a native Russian speaker, could have been the man to make Ukraine whole again, but tragically he was not allowed to be.
December 29, 2023
Bombing and killing the Palestinian population will most certainly not destroy Hamas.
December 30, 2023
As stated above – Stop reading the propaganda.
December 30, 2023
The population wont have a chance unless Hamas is removed.
December 29, 2023
As long as the Israel Lobby controls American policy and a party like Likud is in power in Israel then requests for ceasefires or solutions will be ignored.
Israel will use maximum force, possibly with the aim of expelling all Palestinians and pushing for a Greater Israel with expanded borders. The Hamas raid may even have provided a useful casus belli.
Public opinion in America may be turning against Israel but the Lobby still holds sway. Netanyahu is not popular in Israel itself, look at the comments in newspapers like Haaretz. However, Netanyahu has always been a political survivor.
December 29, 2023
Hamas has never asked and never will ask for a ceasfire. Hamas has always rejected a two state solution. It wants only one thing: the extirpation of all Jews. It says all this often enough. Why don’t you believe it?
December 29, 2023
Israel has never asked and never will as for a ceasefire. The Israeli government has clearly and unequivocally rejected a two state solution. It wants only one thing – the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. It says all this often enough. Why donāt you believe it?
Zorro
December 29, 2023
Zorro,
Agreed.
December 29, 2023
Zorro, nonsense.
December 29, 2023
Thanks for your insightful input John, care to expand on your convincing rhetoric? The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was expoiunding those points only last week.
Zorro
December 29, 2023
+1. It seems very odd indeed that no-one had wind of the brutal Hamas attack, who knows the machievellian goings-on.
Also, I don’t want millions of Palestinian refugees pouring into Europe – some Israeli voices are calling for “voluntary migration” , to somewhere outside of Palestine. Even if Egypt were to accept them (it has strongly rejected the idea), that would only create another staging post to cross the Mediterranean.
December 29, 2023
@ Wanderer “…āvoluntary migrationā , to somewhere outside of Palestine” – to the Home Counties perhaps, for the Home Secretary will put up no obstacle.
December 29, 2023
As soon as the Israeli government started to say that this was their āPearl Harbourā, it was clear to me what was going on, and subsequent events have convinced me even moreā¦..
Zorro
December 29, 2023
Well we can see who has drunk all the media (BBC) kool-aid, don’t we ?
December 29, 2023
Hamas are not fretting over loss of life .It was obvious that there was going to be retaliation and deaths to their own.So in effect they were deliberately inciting hardship and death to their own people.
Putin has a large landmass in Russia and should take great responsibility to ensure it’s citizens are safe.The fundamental responsibility is to his people not to land grab.Why do they allow him to continue?
Similarly the Ukrainians want to be Ukrainian and not Russian.Why do both sides not have sufficient intelligence to understand that the forceful taking of nations and random killings will leave a bitter taste for generations.The hate will continue.
There’s no point trying to jazz up the facts with sides and strategies.We live in a world still where the least intelligent take the lead and everyone else pays the price.
December 29, 2023
Margaret, many Ukrainians want to be Russian, and expressed that wish in referendums last year. An armistice which left the contact line where it is now is emerging as a least worst option in Western ruling circles. As well as preserving a sovereign Ukraine for people who still want to live there, it would also let people living in Eastern Ukraine who voted to join Russia have their way. This may help to mitigate the bitter taste that you mention, over the random killing of civilians in the Donbass by the Kiev forces since 2014.
December 29, 2023
A pillow fight would be gentler. Russiaās ability to gain territory and sustain attacks depends on access via the Kerch (aka Crimean) Bridge. The bridge is some 12 miles long and is supported by 7000 piles. Destroying a few of its pillars periodically would heavily reduce the loss of life.
December 29, 2023
No it doesnāt! šš¤£
December 29, 2023
As reported, that has already happened twice, Bloke. I didn’t notice any reduction in the loss of life, and I don’t suppose you did.
December 29, 2023
Lynn Atkinson & R Grange:
My recollection was of only the bridge roadway being broken which is relatively easy to repair within a matter of days with determined effort. Apparently destruction of just one of the pillars would involve much more complicated difficulty and be a far more serious long-term breakage to remedy. 12 miles is a long distance to defend. Occasionally breaking just another one of those 7000 targets before the last is restored might keep Russian access restricted indefinitely.
December 30, 2023
Bloke’s recollection about the location of the hit seems incorrect. ‘The SBU [Ukraine intel] did release a video showing the pilotās view moments before one of the Sea Baby drones struck a concrete support pillar of the bridge.’ Guardian 16-8-23
December 30, 2023
Bloke – Russia controls the āLand Bridgeā – look at a map. The Kerch Bridge is just a quick route from Crimea to Krasnodar.
December 30, 2023
With my apols, I thank each of you for your correction.
December 29, 2023
That is the real situation Philip, but some of the socalled elite dont want to recognise that!
December 29, 2023
1. NATO is not at war with anyone. Some of its members are supporting a friendly state, individually and collectively.
2. NATO is not a provocation to Putin. He knows NATO is a defensive pact that only threatens russian imperialism, not russian security.
3. Ukraine knows that there is no such thing as peace with russia. All they get is a piece of paper that everyone knows russia will not honour (in the fullness of time). So there is no point for them in negotiating.
4. Ukraine also knows that the arrival of F16 jets could turn the tide in their favour next year.
5. Trump does not favour peace, he favours a (temporary) end to hostilities where he looks like the broker. He will blackmail Ukraine into doing as he wishes by threatening to end all support. That is the worst option available. Both US parties are putting up ridiculously weak candidates, even by modern democracy standards.
6. Hamas will not accept a 2-party state solution since they are committed to the destruction of Israel. Israel cannot allow them to regroup and get away with the atrocities. It will continue until Hamas tunnel network destroyed. Eliminating Hamas is not likely since they hide among civilians and escape easily to other countries.
7. The actions of Hamas only shocked some of the world. The rest seem to care nothing for Hamas’s atrocities and actively support “Palestinians” – including an alarming number living in the UK.
December 29, 2023
I would add that the Americans know that a 1970s fighter jet, even though upgraded, isn’t going to deliver a Ukraine victory. The US is already signalling to Kiev that its support for the war is time-limited, especially now Biden is entering an election campaign. Against that background, the best outcome for the Democrats is some kind of negotiated settlement freezing the lines of conflict, which can be spun as a defeat for Putin. The problem for the US is that in September 2022 Zelensky put a block on negotiating with Russia. Either that block is removed, or he is.
December 29, 2023
Germany and the EU already blackmailed Zelensky on 27 Feb 2022 in truly Faustian style: weapons refused until then in exchange for future EU sovereignty over Ukraine.
December 29, 2023
+1
December 29, 2023
As always I watch the Christmas institute lectures.The topic this year was artificial intelligence.The overall theme was that AI ,no matter how it developed with self learning from the world’s AI ,the responsibility lay with the original intelligence inputted.Can you imagine Hammas inputting information or some other emotionally primitive society which the A I network could learn from and use?
December 29, 2023
Indeed AI might rightly conclude there is rather little human intelligence around certainly in government, given all the many religious beliefs both old and new (like Net Zero and all the woke lunacy) and all the damaging wars going on.
Perhaps we could set AI to work on the very high excess death figures post the vaccine rollouts so as to work out the likely causes. It would not take long long if it were given the raw data broken down by vaccines dates, types and death dates and causes. But this information is largely being hidden by so many governments. As high as 16% in some countries and sadly in all vaccinated age groups young and old. So quite a significant drop in life expectancy and pension costs then. But more life insurance claims.
On the Christmas lectures I used to listen to these but have not done so of late after a couple of duff ones & as it became more political.
The male domination was and still is rather large with the first female lecturer being Susan Greenfield as late as 1994 and it has been going for 200+ years. Good to see a few more women now but interesting that they seem to be mainly from medical or biological science areas. They should certainly choose on scientific merit and not go down the evil āBBC thinkā flower arranging by gender, race & religion road.
AI might struggle to work out why on earth the vastly expensive (sick joke) Covid Inquiry is asking not of the right questions. Or how it could be that so many WhatsApp etc. messages were so magically lost but this is not even questioned by the KC.
The life scientific programme on radio 4 for example seems to have a 50/50 gender policy rule regardless of merit which does not help the programme at all and clearly actively discriminates against men. Needless to say the programme does not have any climate realists on pointing out the economic and environmental lunacy of net zero nor and Covid āvaccineā realists on. Nor have I head anyone point out that bikes and walking are not remotely zero CO2 emission per mile as out moronic government websites so falsely claim.
December 29, 2023
@ Margaret – so the message is “garbage in, garbage out”, I am guessing said by scientists well-used to stating the obvious until it suits them to lie.
December 29, 2023
A chilling thought. Could AI become the “Image of the Beast” from the Book of Revelation? Makes me wonder….
December 29, 2023
In a way that problem already exists. A model (AI or ML) needs to be “trained” by running on suitable data sets to begin its learning. The bigger the training data set, the better the model is when it emerges into normal use.
ChatGPT was trained (rather lazily in my view) on public data sets such as social media, the content of the whole of the web etc. That means it has all the same inaccuracies and biases that are collectively contained within the minds of the (many) authors of its training data set. With so many russian trolls actively posting their insidious nonsense all over the internet, so many socialists with seemingly endless time for political posting… those biases are already there in AI created in this way.
Since ChatGPT is an example of “generative” AI (it generates output whether text, images or whatever), the text it generates has all the biases inherent in its training data. People are already using ChatGPT instead of using a search engine. Worse is that people tend to believe ChatGPT and its ilk even more than they are suckered by what they read in the newspapers or in supposedly bona fide media sources online.
If there’s a need for legislation here, it would be on the pre-training of any model allowed into the public space.
December 29, 2023
SJR: You say NATO/EU are staying out of the Ukraine war. That may be the official story, but sometimes the mask slips:-
“We are fighting a war against Russia.” – Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, January 2023.
“We will not allow President Putin to win this war.” NATO Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, February 2023.
That doesn’t sound like staying out of a war to me. Nor are we doing so. British SAS forces were observed at the frontline in Ukraine by a Polish government minister in March 2022 (declassified.uk) and their presence in the country was also confirmed by a leaked US military source. Our Parliament hasn’t approved their participation in the war, but that just means it has to be covert, apparently.
December 29, 2023
Did anyone from Germany trumpet “We are supporting Putin by buying ā¬1bn of gas every day from Russia”?
December 29, 2023
The German leaders prefer that to lynching. However Germany has fallen from the third most industrialised country to the 26th – and thatās just a snapshot as it whizzes down. Looks like a huge iCE market for a homegrown British car industry.
December 29, 2023
“We” being…?
However, I also regret the involvement of Stoltenberg, who should be staying out of it as head of NATO except when it comes to discussions around Ukraine’s accession.
There is however an argument to say that russia would withdraw – one way or another – if Ukraine were granted accession now. It would signal a very long war with NATO able to do as it wishes and win in its own timeframe, while russia is an international pariah.
In this it’s important t realise that Putin is not untouchable in russia. The “elites” there don’t like being unable to leave russia, being under sanction, being indicted by the ICC, having their yachts confiscated etc. They would remove Putin and the new leader would pretend to loathe all Putin stood for and remove russian troops in return for a normalisation of relations. That’s the theory. My view is that it’s probably right (but only probably).
December 29, 2023
I note no doubt the deliberate omission of totalitarian Iran from this article but then we’ve come to expect such propaganda from party politicians who seek to maintain the party line by creating a narrative that isn’t supported by the facts.
Iran-Israel = proxy war
Ukraine-Russia – proxy war between Russia and Obama’s US
I’ve almost given up listening most politicians who no doubt yearn to speak the truth but buckle under the weight of a political culture whose now only purpose is pumping out bullshit, lies and crap
December 29, 2023
Not quite right. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 22 Feb 2022 was a golden opportunity for Germany and the EU to expand the EU further east and gain control of Ukraine’s vast mineral reserves of which lithium and rare earths alone are valued at up to US$12 trillion. Three days later they blackmailed Zelensky: weapons hitherto refused would be supplied in exchange for future EU sovereignty over Ukraine. The EU now has formal plans, as announced by Von Der Leyen and available on its websites, for the post war reconstruction of Ukraine to be directed towards supporting Energiewende and EU Green Energy.
I suspect the price it is prepared to pay for that will diminish as other souces of critical minerals are developed. It is a finely balanced calculation because the EU could perhaps fall black on the pre-war arrangement it had for supply rather than control. I believe Putin’s territorial objectives are limited and he might well be attracted by a lucrative supply deal with the EU in exchange for Crimea and an eastern portion of Ukraine where these resources are located.
December 29, 2023
+1
From the Atlantic to the Urals. As stated (when he was PM) by our now Foreign Secretary.
December 29, 2023
Yes.See the interview with John Mearsheimer on Spectator TV,Christmas edition.
December 29, 2023
@Peter Gardner – ‘I believe Putinās’ that is like suggesting that you believe in this Conservative Government. Its not just the UK, its the Worlds so-called political class that should now never be believed or trusted they have now all gotten into the group think habit of seeing themselves as rulers.
December 29, 2023
Putin has 15 challengers in the Presidential election in March.
December 29, 2023
”The (russian) commission said 29 people have so far filed to run for the presidency. But after today’s decision, Mr Putin remains the only candidate to be able to register as a candidate.” BBC 23-12-23
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67810463
December 30, 2023
Glen the BBC might be wrong again do you think? Spin. Putin is the only candidate to stand for his party. Itās called the selection process. But of course there are other parties. Many I believe rather like the U.K.
The MSM are literally desperate to hide the democratic credentials of the Russian Federation which is showing up the USA (like Main for example, where one woman āis the lawā and took Trump off the Presidential Election list of candidates unilaterally!) and the ādemocratic EU Commissionā – the heroic defenders of democracy.
But the truth will out.
December 29, 2023
@ DOM – Iran is very significant in all of this, perhaps using Hamas as a pawn, fully expendable. Its apparent encouragement of Houthi rebels to attack shipping and Saudi Arabia’s muted response including a refusal to join Biden’s naval protection initiative suggest power politics on a grand scale about which we know not enough.
December 29, 2023
The Houthis are currently using cheap drones and missiles to draw the fire of the US fleet whose expensive missiles are in limited supply.The Houthis (who may number around 2 million under arms) have access to far more sophisticated weaponry which they are probably saving for the appropriate moment.
Iran and Saudi are both joining BRICS + next month,together with the UAE (which serves as Russia’s offshore financial hub).
December 29, 2023
@ Mitchel – indeed so, well noted. And it is amongst the BRICS members that we find the chief customers for Russia’s oil and gas. Luckily, Sleepy Joe is alert and astute, so we hope.
December 29, 2023
@DOM
December 29, 2023
Ukraine would find it easier to secure weapon supplies if it occasionally paid for the stuff. I’d suggest that it needs to issue war-bonds.
December 29, 2023
Who would want to buy them?
December 29, 2023
The likely outcome of war can change suddenly, just as a losing playerās single move can gain victory in a tournament of chess. Opponentsā competing minds determine who wins. They should resist without killing to decide the outcome. Winning peace is available.
December 29, 2023
Russia conducted an illegal invasion annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014, which was tacitly accepted by the then President Obama and NATO. Emboldened by the lack of Western response, Russia armed “separatists” in the UKraine oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk and began further hostilities. We all know what will happen if we try and appease Putin with territorial concessions; the Baltic states, Moldova and Poland will be next
The ” the overthrow of the elected President of Ukraine in 2014 for being too pro Russian” was the democratic decision of the Ukrainian people, who chose freedom and independence from Putin’s fascist Russian kleptocracy and elected the outstanding and Churchillian President Zelenskiy.
The West has provided nearly $150bn in military and economic support to Ukraine and the UK alone has provided Ā£3bn. We have given them just enough to defend themselves and stop Russia at the current front lines; Biden, afraid of “escalation” has made sure that Ukraine is unable to force the Russian aggressors back and throw them into the Black Sea
The West has seized about $300bn of Russian assets, a not inconsiderable sum. This should now be given to Ukraine in economic support, to allow them to build and expand their armed forces, further develop their own armaments industry and to buy weaponry and ammunition. The overwhelming desire of the Ukrainian people is to liberate the lands that Russia has siezed by force. The war criminal Putin must not be allowed to succeed
December 29, 2023
@ Sakara Gold “… the Baltic states, Moldova and Poland” – all far away countries of which we know nothing though.
December 29, 2023
+1
December 29, 2023
As usual you do not know what you are talking about.In response to the recent FT article”The US has put forward a G7 plan to seize $300bn in Russian assets”,former central banker,Kathleen Tyson,who very much knows what she is talking about,tweeted:
“The expropriation of USTs and G7 debts will not greatly matter to Russia.Russia now holds land and mineral rights in Ukraine worth at least $7 trillion and has re-allocated western corporate assets in Russia to Russian companies,keeping profits at home.Russia is growing strongly at 3.4% and has fiscal and trade surpluses.In any event,Putin wrote off these “imaginary assets” in March 2022 when he predicted that imaginary assets would give way to real and hard assets with demonstrable value.”
Furthermore,and this is very important,she added:
“The 1922 Genoa Conference established USD and GBP as reserve assets for central bank accumulation to underpin wider credit growth.The system relied on security of rights to property.That is now destroyed.”
December 30, 2023
The US Dems and equally mad European elitists will do it anyway. Not much of the 300 billion will find its way past the sticky fingers to Ukrainian pensioners. But the whole Western financial system will lie in ruins with the massive debt landing squarely on the western taxpayer. I think the USA will be crushed by the weight of the USD 34 trillion. The only escape is to leave the country with its debts – the Greeks showed us that.
So maybe genetic Brits who won the War of Independence against German George will return home after their sojourn abroad, and Britain will have life breathed back into it. š¤š»
December 29, 2023
Even crazier than your ecolunacy.
December 29, 2023
Yep!
December 29, 2023
Sounds about right to me, not sure why the strange negative comments above – except that there’s a new class of Neville Chamberlain style pro-appeasement Brit these days who just want their lives to be easy again, looking for a desperate argument to allow them to stick their heads back into the sand.
One point – the money seized will (should) be withheld until it becomes clear that it won’t end up back in russian hands either by conquest or via corruption. There’s also little point in peace time style rebuilding in a war zone. And they need to ensure that the “legal” basis on which it is done is sound (in the sense that it doesn’t come back to bite them).
December 29, 2023
Chamberlain was entirely correct. Britain could not win a short war, nor afford a long one…and so it proved. Britain was effectively bankrupted and became a US supplicant.
Happily he, and previously Baldwin, started and continued re-armament to prepare for a prospective war, whilst trying to avoid one.
His mistake was in giving the Polish Guarantee, which the Allies were incapable of fulfilling.
December 30, 2023
100% Correct.
December 29, 2023
You’re not sure why SG’s NATO playbook is getting negative comments, XY? You might consider the possibility that the commenters have taken the trouble to inform themselves about the current reality re Ukraine rather better than you have. I have dropped the UK media as my news source on the war, and instead read articles in the US media such as the Washington Post, Politico, and the New York Times. They give me a clear sense of which way the wind is blowing: the 1930s, Chamberlain-style ‘appeasement’ and ‘Churchillian’ Zelensky (!) are yesterday’s talking points.
December 29, 2023
Always good to know the MI6 angle on events, Sakara, so thanks for that.
Still, you and they are a bit behind the curve, now that the US seems to be looking for a way out of the Ukraine shambles before the Presidential election.
December 29, 2023
The situation in Gaza is desperate by anyone’s standard but the lack of understanding exhibited by so called supporters of Palestine is staggering.
This disconnect from what is actually happening in the region and in the Middle East culturally, is best shown by this fact.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East where it is safe to display as openly gay. The LBGTQ+ activists would be ‘cast from high places’ if they dared to show their preferences in any of the Islamic states surrounding Israel.
No matter that small detail of reality to the paid activists and anti Semitic warriors of the Left. We actually have banners in London saying ” Queers for Palestine”? Good luck with that.
That is how contrived the anti Israel hate is.
December 29, 2023
Sir John It is unclear what message you are trying to send to your readers in your posts of yesterday and today regarding the war in Palestine and Ukraine.
You omit the fact that the UK is currently actively involved in keeping the Ukraine war going which appears to be supported by Parliament. And the UK Government has not called for a ceasefire at the UN for the war in Palestine.
It is surprising with your interest in history that the start date of your assessment of facts only starts on the date a war breaks out and never considers the run up to the event(s) which caused it.
So what are the real objectives Israel would like to achieve in Palestine and the UK in Ukraine ?
Clearly the UK does not want a ceasefire in both wars. The UK is represented by Parliament made up of MP’s elected by the voter/taxpayer. So who is responsible in the end for not calling for a ceasefire in both wars ?
Reply Most MPs would like a ceasefire but also understand only the two combatants can agree one and both are currently a long way from agreeing one. The UK Parliament has no power to enforce a ceasefire.
December 29, 2023
Cease fire is a thinly disguised excuse for letting Hamas off the hook.
Imagine it in terms of bleeding-hearted people in WW2 calling for the Allies to desist from attacking Germany to oust Hitler, wringing their hands a wailing about the poor German civilians at risk.
Hitler, of course, would regroup and return at leisure.
Israel has no choice but to destroy the tunnel network and what it can find and destroy of Hamas. The fact that Hamas, a form of military, hides behind a civilian population is never mentioned by the bleeding hearted. Nor the fact that Hamas is an elected government (well, it was 20 years ago since that’s the last election they bothered to have) and shows no interest in the safety of its people, spending EU aid to make missiles out of water pipes, to create a miltary tunnel system and to lob rockets into Israel achieving little but to impoverish their people.
It is Hamas that causes the civilian deaths, not their victims – who are simply forced to fight back.
December 29, 2023
“Most MPs would like a ceasefire but also understand only the two combatants can agree one and both are currently a long way from agreeing one. The UK Parliament has no power to enforce a ceasefire.”
Sir John I never stated that anyone can force a ceasefire. But the UK Government can a least vote for ceasefire to show it does not support the continuation of the death and destruction both in Palestine and Ukrainian. Not to do so means it agrees that these wars should continue.
You know that the UK is supplying arms to Ukraine and training Ukrainian solders. It has the power to stop this. But if you are supplying arms to keep the war going a bit difficult to vote for a ceasefire I guess.
Reply No MP is against a ceasefire as far as I know
December 30, 2023
That is good. Then MP’s should vote for a Ceasefire and stop supplying arms to Ukraine resulting in deaths of so many Ukrainian solders wasted with no purpose.
Also risks WW3 with Russia, again no benefit to the UK.
The West is fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian standing. Why ?
December 30, 2023
Reply – would any MP have called for a ceasefire in 1945 while battling the nazi across France and the Netherlands ?
December 30, 2023
We are not at War with Russia or are we ? So many people think the Ukraine-Russia war is a re-run of WW2. In some ways it is – Russia fighting a Nazi supporting Kiev Government. Please study the history from 2014 onwards, the Kiev Government shelling the ethnic Russian Ukrainians because they did not support the overthrow (by the US/EU/UK) of the democratically elected Government.
December 29, 2023
Afraid both of the Wars you outline John are the result of true democracy failing, and extremists then getting power with the aid and threat of guns and violence, is when law and order breaks down.
Sadly governments around the World do not appear to be listening to the silent majority of their people, be it incompetence, or lack of will and desire, and whilst perhaps at the moment there is a massive difference between silent protest and street riots, the gap is closing slowly as people get frustrated and turn to extremist protest methods.
December 29, 2023
When I saw the banners “Free Palestine”, I thought yes, free Palestine from Hamas. But then I discover Hamas has widespread support amongst the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip, an area the size of the Isle of Wight with a population of 2 million, dependent on international aid for its survival. Yet the fertility rate is twice what it is in the UK. Why do so many consider it a great place to start a family, whilst the rest of us look on at a s**thole?
What a contemptible prospect to be born into a land where your only use is as a pawn in the “destroy Israel” agenda. Whilst across the border in Israel they are engaging in scientific and technological advancement, winning Nobel prizes.
December 29, 2023
High fertility rates are not a sign of a great place to start a family, studies show it’s actually the opposite. High fertility rates tend to be associated with places with high infant mortality rates, lower life expectancy, etc.
People who think half their kids will die in childhood will typically have more children. Being brutal about it, it’s a numbers game. The mentality is “If we have 4, hopefully 2 will make it to adulthood”. Compare that to a place like the UK where someone having 2 children will expect them both to reach adulthood.
December 29, 2023
Funny that the UKās baby boom was after the War then, if you think security has nothing to do with live birth numbers, and funny that native British and indeed European births have gone through the floor as the people realized they were being invaded.
December 29, 2023
European birth rates have dropped as health care has improved, people have become more wealthy, people have become more secure in their lives.
The birth rate in the UK is not consistent across all demographics. It’s lower in the wealthier, financially more secure and higher at lower income levels and in those who have recent immigrant heritage (perhaps a carryover from those countries). If you make the effort to look at the data, the patterns are very consistent.
And we are not being invaded. If you don’t understand the difference, I suggest asking a Ukranian.
December 29, 2023
I think high fertility rates is more to do with women having no choice over their lives.
December 29, 2023
because they are paid for by UNWRA
December 29, 2023
Correct
December 30, 2023
The Palestinians have made an industry out of victimhood and charity. I could go on but do not wish to be seen unkind.
December 29, 2023
As an aside. If public money can be used to prop up scum like the BBC, Guardian, Stonewall, the unions ie the entire progressive, Neo-Marxist client state then it can be used to finance GB News which has been under assault by Labour’s activist groups since its inception
It’s about time Tory MPs took their head out of their backsides, if you’ll pardon a phrase used by my father, to defend GB News and other free-speech platforms before Labour destroy them
December 29, 2023
+1
December 29, 2023
āļøšš»thats a good suggestion!
December 29, 2023
Biden was Obamaās āpoint manā in Ukraine in 2014 when the coup took place. Victoria Nuland and Jake Sullivan were deeply involved, indeed Nuland was there. These are the same players running Bidenās State Department today. They installed ātheirā man in Kiev. Listen to the audio tape of Nuland deciding who would take over when the elected President was ousted. Listen her comment about the EU! Yes the EU were deeply involved but they lost out to the US. This is when the war in Ukraine really started. You donāt mention Minsk2 and the blatant betrayal of Russia by US and EU. We now know from Angela Merkel there was never any intention to honour Minsk2 it was a smokescreen to re-arm and train Ukraineās military. This US President and his State Department have had their sights set on President Putinās removal for over a decade. Itās a deeply flawed strategy and itās resulted in the unnecessary death of thousands of Ukrainians. Sending more money and military hardware to Ukraine drains our resources and results in further killing. Russiaās strategic gains will not be reversed. We need a ceasefire and peace negotiations.
December 29, 2023
+1
Nicely summed up.
December 30, 2023
Canāt get one now. We lied and trapped Putin publicly, exploited his goodwill and made a fool of him, then boasted about it. (Merkel and Holland said the peace treaty they āguaranteedā was to buy time for Ukraine to arm). He will not fall for that one again, or the Russian people will replace him. Ever heard of Medvedev?
December 29, 2023
The thing that both these conflicts have in common is that they are both being fought by two equally nasty protagonists.
While HAMAS showed its true horrible hand when it attacked Israel in October, I cannot forget that all those of my father’s contemporaries who served in Palestine in the aftermath of World War II, returned with great sympathy for the Palestinians, and deep distaste for the Israelis.
Before the current conflict in Ukraine, politics and politicians there were far from pleasant and often corrupt, and while the aggressor, in this case Russia, is de facto in the wrong, I cannot think we would be particularly comfortable if, say Holland applied to join the Warsaw Pact.
While no Western Government has committed troops to either conflict, all are supplying arms, training, and other supplies to Ukraine, in a proxy war with Russia, and Isreal in a proxy war with Iran. In doing this, they have chosen the worst possible path as all they will achieve is extending the suffering and death in both places.
Why can one always rely on politicians to chose the worst option?
December 29, 2023
You mean there were Israelis in Palestine during the War! Well knock me down with a feather, Iām being told there is no Israeli nation an they were in Warsaw not Israel! Therefore this is āPalestinianā land š¤Æ
December 29, 2023
Regarding Ukraine, it seems the Russia winter will hold back their army from pressing forward into the occupied positions, even with their newly acquired NATO tanks and F16 fighter jets. No doubt the winter inspired mini ceasefire there will enable both forces to plan objectives for the future. NATO cannot afford Putin to win, lest he become more imperialistic in his ventures. History tells us so.
Regarding Israel and Gaza, the biggest problem is that Hamas sole objective in life is to destroy Israel, and nothing will deviate them from that deadly serious position. The Israelis will never allow another holocaust and will, I fear, ultimately resort to their nuclear weaponry if they perceive such a danger ever imminent.
One solution is for Hamas to totally withdraw from Gaza and allow the State to be run by elected non-Hamas affiliated Palestinians, but they will never agree to that voluntarily.
However, their mentors and funders, Iran, do have the power to “persuade” by whatever means seen fit, although I cannot see the Iranians wanting to have Hamas militants residing in their own country. Where else could they go?
Meanwhile, the fighting continues until the Israelis achieve their ultimate objective – to either annihilate or at least, remove Hamas from Gaza.
December 29, 2023
@ Derek “NATO cannot afford Putin to win, lest he become more imperialistic in his ventures. History tells us so.” – this is dangerous thinking, based on the off-chance Putin’s territorial ambitions match those of Hitler (or Napoleon) when they likely do not. It risks leading to mission creep through enabling opponents/enemies to manoeuver the other side into engagement and commitments that do it harm.
December 29, 2023
Russia is not interested in Europe-the former Warsaw Pact states were a drain on the Soviet Union’s resources like the accession states have been on the EU.
Anyone who follows what Russia is doing supply chain-wise can see they have built considerable logistical infrastructure over the past decade heading out to Asia(most of Asia loves Russia!) – and have much more planned for the next decade.
Russia is cutting Europeans off from it’s vast and varied resources……until they come crawling back
December 29, 2023
the old USSR encompassed far more than just Ukraine
December 30, 2023
It is no secret that Putin has ambitions to reinstate the old USSR with whatever means necessary. So all the small independent states on his current border are vulnerable to invasion. I suspect that he already has FSB agents posing as refugees entering and already installed in those EU countries on his border.
December 29, 2023
130 cruise missiles launched by Russia last night according to UKRAINIAN REPORTS.
+ thousands of drones etc.
The Institute for the Study of War (owned by Victoria Nulandās neo-con family) reports that Russia is advancing across the whole 600 mile front line.
Ukrainian General Zeluzhny says Ukraine will withdraw from the last Ukrainian fortified town, Avdeyevka.
I canāt see any slowdown.
All from Ukrainian sources Sir John, no Russian āpropagandaā.
December 30, 2023
Odd that same reports this on Dec 20th- “Analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say Ukrainian forces have retained their positions despite Russian counterattacks.
If Ukraine can continue to hold the area it could be a significant advance as it may be able to begin transferring armoured vehicles and air defence systems across the river, putting it a step closer to breaking through to Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014”.
December 29, 2023
I see two possible solutions in Gaza.
1. The total physical elimination of Hamas within Gaza. In achieving it you have to accept enormous damage and inocent death.
2. Allowing Hamas to withdraw completely to Iran their sponsors. The downside of this is that Hamas prefer mayrterdom for themselves and do not care what it costs Palestinians. Iran might need to be blackmailed into accepting them.
However and whenever it is over, Gaza must be reborn as a democratic state and benefit frkm a Marshall type plan. Infrastructure, housing, power, water and education. The UKs contribution could be to help, having worked out how to do it at home.
The answer in Ukraine is devastating technical help until Russia realises they are in an Afgahnistan situation and withdraws. Then again a Marshall plan. No promises of NATO or EU membership, which might help Russia decide that withdrawal is the wisest option.
December 29, 2023
You ask the Victor to withdraw? To allow the guy on the deck to rearm? You should be in the State Department.
Israel must be allowed to win this war. She is always stopped and told to live under daily death threat. Who are we to intervene?
December 29, 2023
Gaza reborn? The land is too small to maintain its population, given the industry available to it. It requires international aid indefinitely.
December 30, 2023
Its international aid that growing the population
December 29, 2023
It is morally derelict for anyone in authority in the UK to preach or talk about these situations. While historically the UK did bring its view of advancements to these alternative cultures, it also walked, left disarray and vacuums when something else popped up to peak its interest.
The UK is not by a long way squeaky clean over any of the situations that have evolved out of the middle east or anywhere else for that matter. The UK as at one moment in time was the dominant player that reinforced the strongest gang at the time, while ensuring that ādemocracyā shouldnāt materialize.
That mentality is still in place today, but is nearer to home, the right to democracy and the rule of law is today’s battle on the streets of the UK. It is the battle that this Conservative Government has created as it fights the Peoples of the UK ā they are morally bankrupt
December 29, 2023
Sir John
In some ways your inference here is that the EU or NATO should be the forces of influence that can protect the wider world.
The EU is still an embryonic trading block, ruled by unelected unaccountable bureaucrats on a personal basis. If just one of these bureaucrats has sympathies with Putin or Hamas they get to follow that route and to hell with the ālittle peopleā.
NATO while as a concept has stood the test of time, it has morphed quite correctly into a US dominated and lead police force. I say correctly as they are the only ones making the commitments in men, machinery and equipment. It canāt be any other way, all the while those that seek NATOās protection donāt want to contribute equally or reasonable fairly. As a NATO partner the UK as with other half-hearted nations is an embarrassment
The UK does not have the manpower to take part in any venture it doesnāt even have the manpower to protect itself. A while back and a different World, the UKās involvement in Afghanistan was a just base that could barely do more than protect itself. They didnāt venture outside it to contain the rebels it was the rebels that were containing them in it. In those days the Army was 30% bigger than today’s, all are politicians did was ensure the deaths of 454 brave service personnel.
Our politicians are so wound up in their own personal agendas, primarily āwokeā and discrimination they canāt see the danger and destruction they are foisting on the UK. First rule of Parliament is the safety and security of the people they represent, this they neglect daily.
December 29, 2023
The EU should shoulder the blame for giving Putin the excuse to invade Ukraine. What galls me is that the UK has had to step up first to assist Ukraine and potentially put itself into Putin’s sights while the EU has blown hot and cold. Wonder what long term game the EU are playing.
December 29, 2023
The UK’s involvement is not selfless;dig deeper into the mechanics of Black Sea trade.
December 29, 2023
In the last Palestinian elections the far-right fascists Hamas were the biggest party with 44% of the vote. In recent opinion polls they have over 70% support amongst Palestinians in the region. There are consequences for those supporters.
December 29, 2023
+1 and Jordanās Queen is āconcernedā enough to make speeches but. No so concerned as to open the border to women and children.
December 29, 2023
The last election was over 20 years ago!
And polls in Gaza? About as trustworthy as polls in russia. People in fear of their lives do not give accurate answers to pollsters.
However, it’s likely that there’s still strong support for Hamas – since indoctrination is the way of autocrats and extremists. If you’re born in Gaza, your chances of growing up a fine tolerant person and almost zero.
One has to wonder how a God would decide who “the worthy” are on the basis of what’s to be seen on Earth. Many are doomed before they start.
December 29, 2023
Hamas & Islam = Undemocratic State (supported by the UN and the taxpayers of the UK (and the NHS))
December 29, 2023
As a side issue why are the rich Arab nations, both financially and with land, not offering to take the Palestine Arabs from Gaza? With a population of 2.4 million in Gaza, the death toll, as horrible as it is, has not yet reached 1% of the population. That suggests the IDF is being as careful as possible in all its actions. Russia and Hamas can not be allowed to win, so Ukraine needs offensive weapons to strike at Russia. War is tough, brutal and bloody, but calling for a ceasefire shows Putin & Hamas leaders the west has no stomach for a fight, even for its own survival.
Off topic, yesterday papers claimed Hunt set to axe Inheritance tax. Today papers say red wall MPs say no, reduce income tax instead. The Conservatives once again shooting themselves in the foot! Of course, a serious Chancellor could do both by cutting government spending sensibly.
December 29, 2023
You mean from their OWN land?Do you realise you are advocating ethnic cleansing,if not genocide?
December 29, 2023
Mitchel,
Indeed. The encroachment by illegal settlements were not enough for the Israeli government.
They had always liked to pretend there were no Palestinians anyway.
December 29, 2023
There are NO disputed settlements in Gaza (only the West Bank)
December 29, 2023
And you are not? āFrom the river to the sea?
December 29, 2023
Look up the Ben-Gurion canal and Biden’s putative India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor project -which is probably in tatters now.
December 29, 2023
Actually not their own land. Israel took Gaza in the 1967 war and allowed it to become what it is today. The people there have effectively shown that they are not worthy of such benevolence.
Israel repeatedly tries to make peace, but the fundamentalist religious fanatics won’t allow it. This latest invasion of Israel was due to the impending normalisation of relations between Israel and more Arab countries – their intent was to make that impossible and they have succeeded, since the anti-Israeli sentiment has been whipped up yo fever pitch Arab governments cannot improve relations with Israel at this time.
Israel now sees that they can never make peace while Hamas is in Gaza (also since Hamas will not accept a 2-state solution). That is the backdrop to what we are seeing.
December 29, 2023
You need to listen to the Israeli government who have no intention of accepting a ātwo state solutionā. Their āPearl Harbourā moment allows them to justify the expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza and then the West Bank. The extremists in the Israeli government want to build their Temple again on the ruins of the Al Aqsa Mosque. Not difficult to find this if you care to lookā¦.
Zorro
December 29, 2023
XY,
āNot their own landā. Come off it!
It was their land before the establishment of Israel. There was then a concerted effort to remove all non-Jews from the country – the Nakba.
Ever since, Israeli hasbara sugar coats the reality for foreign consumption. Israeli prime ministers, from Ben Gurion onwards, are quoted as saying the Palestinians have to be removed.
It would be a different story if a Muslim country were herding two million Jews into an open-air prison, illegally settling amongst them and going out of their way to make their lives a misery.
December 29, 2023
When that happened in Kosovo, we joined in – on the Mozlem invaders side and made the Christian Serbs flee from their ancient Christian land. Look up the Churches of Kosovo 13th century!
December 29, 2023
+1
December 29, 2023
All conflicts are disastrous ; the loss and way of life is always a consequence and history shows there is always little to gain . Prior to the Hamas attack on Israel the situation that existed was always a tense one aggravated by disputes over territory ; it should have been resolved by negotiation then just as much as the need today .
Ego personalities such as Putin are also a scourge in world affairs and little has happened over the years to mitigate against them . Perhaps as AI becomes more featured in day to day and world affairs existence will be more stable ; in any event things cannot continue the way things are .
December 29, 2023
But the right to fight is better than having to accept defeat and not being allowed to resist. That is worse that āconflictā. Look at Britain, strangers in our own land, the Lady Bishop of Durham praying for refugees and pointing out we suffer āknife crimeā on our streets (!).
Th Russians in the East of what Stalin decided would be āUkraineā could not fight back and were subject to daily shelling – 14,000 dead before their nation, Russia, came to defend them.
Letās hope there will be a fight for Britain, if there is not it will mean that the British have accepted defeat and have no hope. Mass Suicide.
December 29, 2023
But it isn’t a “dispute over territory”.
Hamas (the so-called “palestinians”) will not accept a 2-state solution. They never have – they were offered their own state back in 1948 along with Israel as long as each party accepted the otehr’s right to their state. Israel accepted, the palestinians refused since they are committed to destroying Israel they could not accept the peace condition.
Israel took Gaza in the 1967 war and gave them Gaza – they’ve simply used it to make war on Israel. See my post above.
December 29, 2023
Israel has rejected the two state Oslo solution. Rabin was assassinated because of it.
December 29, 2023
The entire existence of Israel was contingent upon acceptance of a two-state solution.
As I said, Israel already gave them the Gaza strip in the hope that they would mellow over time or see pressures from within for peace (which clearly didn’t work, as could be seen when they invaded and started beheading babies in the last few weeks). Not only did they give them it, they ripped up Jewish settlers’ homes in order to do it, which was not easy politically. But still the “Palestinians” could not live in peace.
Here is the timeline: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/timeline-israeli-palestinian-peace-process-1993-oslo-accord/
Israel is not entirely blameless, but the preponderance of blame is clearly with the palestinians, or in fact their terrorist jihadi groups. The failure of the Oslo accord(s) is largely because the PLO / PA etc never really spoke for all Palestinians, certainly they were unable to control the terrorists who have routinely destroyed the process by committing acts of terror whenever peace seems likely.
What is also striking in that timeline is how the Israeli public has often elected a peacemaker by a landslide. Netanyahu the hardliner was only elected by 1% due to the problems with Hamas and Hezbollah – and then ejected later. Eventually the Israelis have realised that Hamas will not allow peace, so first Hamas must be destroyed. Who can blame them?
P.S. Rabin was assassinated by hardline extremists, not because there was an Israeli majority opposed to his views.
December 29, 2023
When did Israel reject the two-state solution? This is the history of the Palestinianās rejection:
In 1937, the Peel Commission proposed the partition of Palestine and the creation of an Arab state.
In 1939, the British White Paper proposed the creation of a unitary Arab state.
In 1947, the UN would have created an even larger Arab state as part of its partition plan.
The 1979 Egypt-Israel peace negotiations offered the Palestinians autonomy, which would almost certainly have led to full independence.
The Oslo agreements of the 1990s laid out a path for Palestinian independence, but the process was derailed by terrorism.
In 2000, Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to create a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 97 percent of the West Bank.
In 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to withdraw from almost the entire West Bank and partition Jerusalem on a demographic basis.
In addition 1948 to 1967, Israel did not control the West Bank. The Palestinians could have demanded an independent state from the Jordanians. On the contrary whilst Jordan was in control Arafat said there was no longer a claim as it was no longer part of Palestine. Once it was back in Israeli hands it miraculously became disputed land again! This is one of many reasons Jews and Israelis are cynical.
The Palestinians have famously, never missed an opportunity to reject it.
December 29, 2023
The recent Saudi Israel peace deal for palestine and the region was nearing success ….therefore Hamas had to stop it, and they did on the 7th October
December 29, 2023
LA,
āOslo faltered and eventually broke down because Likud-led governments negotiated in bad faith. This turned the much-vaunted peace process into a charade. In fact, it was worse than a charade: it provided Israel with just the cover it was looking for to continue to pursue with impunity its illegal and aggressive colonial project on the West Bank.ā
If you want to go back further. Palestinians were driven from their land after the establishment of Israel in 1948. Deir Yassin etc etc – the Nakba. All Israeli Prime Ministers have stated the Palestinians have to be removed. Ben Gurion was saying this as early as 1937.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/12/oslo-israel-reneged-colonial-palestine
December 30, 2023
Oh Peter! Your read The Gruniad! No wonder you are confused. And they have admitted that they were established with money from the slave trade! š±š±š±
December 30, 2023
+1
December 29, 2023
As AI cements woke anti-white narrative as unquestionable truth, you can think about that before reaching for your shovel and breaking the machines. So sayeth Elon Musk. The machines have been seeded with ātheir truthā not āthe truthā.
I could weep for the child-like naivety of the British, always expecting āfairnessā and ācricketā.
December 29, 2023
There will be no end to the Israel/Hamas conflict because neither party is prepared to accept the existence of the other. Hamas is a useful proxy for Iran vs Israel so it is likely to continue to receive support for asymmetric warfare vs Israel. The people living/surviving in Gaza are stuck between a rock and a hard place with no obvious route out. Longer term a two state solution is probably the answer but that will require fundamental changes in attitude by both the Israelis and the Palestinians as well as the positive engagement of their Middle East neighbours. Neither is obviously available right now.
Ukraine has every right to defend itself against Russia and European countries should be ready to support it even if the USA pulls its support. Putin`s Russia is a threat to the countries that border it and its ally Belorussia. He would be emboldened by the military and political collapse of Ukraine. The current military stalemate looks likely to continue – defence has the upper hand. Exhaustion by one of or both of the parties may lead to a negotiated settlement along the line of conflict but that could to be at least a year away. European governments, including the UK, need to think carefully about their military and economic vulnerability given the evidence of the USA`s withdrawal into protectionism after decades of failed interventions from Saigon to Kabul.
Iran is a partner with Russia, promoting a north-south transport corridor between the two countries and providing Russia with military drones for its war vs Ukraine. The Houthi, also Iranian proxies, threat to shipping passing through Bab el-Mandeb will damage European as well as Israeli interests. Several major shipping companies have decided to make the costly re-route around the Cape rather than transit the Suez canal. If sustained it will have implications for Egypt as its Suez canal revenues dry up. Destabilisation of the Middle East will remain the order of the day for Iran and Russia to deflect attention and Western resources away from the Ukraine conflict. Presumably someone in government is thinking through the implications for UK energy needs, food supplies and trade more generally.
December 29, 2023
The Arctic shipping route will be open all round from next year,there is sufficient infrastructure now in place-with much more to follow.The Arctic hub at Murmansk will in due course connect directly with the Iranian ports on the Caspian and Gulf and their connections with India which has very cordial relations with Iran (dating from the Persianate Mughal period)
A vast trade loop is being created from which the west is excluded.Dollars not required!
December 29, 2023
should read “all year round”.
btw Moscow is sometimes known as the “City/port of the five seas” because from the Moscow region you can access the Black,White,Azov,Caspian and Baltic seas using the interlinked network of rivers,lakes and canals in European Russia.Expect them to also make more use of this in future.
December 29, 2023
So what are your conclusions?!
December 29, 2023
Sir John
OFT ā but identifies the problem with this Conservative Government. Today I received in the mail a letter from the NHS addressed not to me personally but to the Household. The promise in the letter was that for each person in the household completing the Survey that was on-line they would receive a Ā£5.00 gift voucher financed by the Taxpayer thanks to this Conservative Government generosity of readily available money to give away.
Out of curiosity I delved into the questionnaire some of it was about daily activities etc. do I feel lonely, is it good to be out socializing so on, do I need friends to go out of the house with and so on, then the real kicker asked numerous times (I mean numerous times) how do identify myself in LBGT terms along with numerous āwoke-ishā further discriminatory questions. A high emphasis was placed on how I liked my āsexā
This was the NHS, no kidding, I checked back along the web trails all legitimate, most definitely the NHS and therefore Conservative Government organized. This at a guess was a costly to the taxpayer funded survey that promised rewards of even more taxpayer funded gift vouchers.
So, our Conservative Government after all they are the ultimate NHS management will push the Woke and Discriminatory card but they wonāt ensure the NHS gets to see or treat the sick, ill and infirm.
This Conservative Government has become the sick joke of our times!
December 29, 2023
We should all warmly welcome Tony Chung. Must be the only genuine asylum seeker, we have seen all year
December 29, 2023
As for the war surrounding Israel, we must decide and declare which side we are on. I declare I am on the side of Israel.
The hideous murderous cruel attack from Gaza which deliberately included the brutal killing of children and babies must never be forgotten. It cannot and should not be excused nor should attempts be made to justify it. It must be punished.
Hamas and their tens of thouands, maybe hundreds of thousands of supporters, and their oppressive religion hate Israel and all of the West. If they are not stopped and Israel falls we will be next, both from without and within.
December 29, 2023
No ceasefire let them conclude the war ….otherwise the battle will continue for decades and decades
December 29, 2023
+1. In the end all land is held by force of arms. The world owes nobody and no nation anything at all.
December 30, 2023
On the contrary, the world owes its inhabitants peace.
December 30, 2023
So do we ignore the aggressor, appease the aggressor or defend & counter-attack the aggressor ā¦..and attack them with enough strength and courage that they wont attack again
December 29, 2023
The russians have, for some time now, invaded the information space more than anything else.
I have looked on in amazement at the bizarre views expressed by some Westerners and wondered where such notions come from. For years I thought the concept of russian and chinese trolls was a myth. I now realise that it is true. Seeing the strange conclusions even here, a place that is a *relative* island of common sense, patriotism and small-c conservatism, is a real surprise though.
If you want to understand the analysis from a rounded perspective, it pays to read beyond social media and the utterly useless British media. This is the last of a 5-part analysis in the Kyiv Post:
https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/26092
This is more realistic about the situation, in terms of what Ukraine is currently setting out to achieve (and actually achieving) given the constraints – and it is also more upbeat about the prospects in 6 months time when the constraints are no longer present. It explains the strategic situation of this war and its geopolitical context. Worth a read.
December 30, 2023
The media war is the only one Russia lost comprehensively. They won the financial and physical war, but Zelenskyās production team cabinet could not be equalled for script-writing, film sets, presentation etc. He has an even better and more expensive PR team than Meghan what-her-name.
December 30, 2023
Thank you, very informative. Of course the Putin fans on here will say its all nonsense and that Putin is a man of peace despite the evidence of their own dimmed eyes, with no ambitions beyond Ukraine, whilst sucking up all his lies as nectar. We had ‘fatigue’ in WW2 but as Churchill stated we kept going, even alone. America was weak willed then in wanting to keep out of it until it was attacked at Pearl Harbour and awoke from its slumbers. Thank god for the greatest generation which has now almost disappeared. Today’s appeasers would have lost the war and may still do this time.
December 29, 2023
Lis Truss’ resignation honours list has been published. At 10.30pm on a Friday night. Between Xmas and New Year.
Were they trying to make sure nobody was aware of it? Any reason why they might want to do that?
December 31, 2023
Ukraine is the most important of these two wars as it is very like the issue that led to the 2nd World War. We should give them all the equipment, help and money they need even if we have to deprive other far flung countries of aid. The Israel situation is clear. HAMAS have to release the hostages left who they have not killed before any ceasefire or peace negotiations can take place. No backtracking on Israel please.