Israel / Palestine

Trying not to sound all jew-consiracy-soros-is-the-devil, Israel has a large lobby group in most western countries.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/conservative-friends-israel-lobby-group-free-trips/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/17/pro-israel-lobby-defeat-democrats-palestinians-2022

It's a hard topic have pure impartiality on.

Plus it is such a sprawling mess. You can't really understand Israel, until you have a grasp of Antisemitism - pre-C19th and then the ramp up in C20th. I think the Origin Story podcast episode on Zionism is a really easy way to get a start on that.

Then you can't really understand the wider power dynamics without understanding the middle east's colonial/post colonial history. For that the BBC series Our man in the middle east by Jeremy Bowen is quite old now, but still excellent:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b08rmkcd?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

For impartiality you're almost better off finding one of those bullet point lists of historical events.

Shocking how relevent this is 2 years later

As cynical as it sounds, backing Israel - rather than Hamas/Palestine - is the path of least political resistance from all perspectives.

Listen to these podcasts (posted above)

For context and Background listen to Origin Story pod, on Zionism
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zi­onism-part-1/id1624704966?i=100061886315­4
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zi­onism-part-2/id1624704966?i=100061951251­9

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=axhjq5IbTqo

This video comes to mind. I don’t speak the language they’re shouting in, so I take no responsibility for it.

Palestine is recognised by 139 UN member states, but I don't imagine their neighbours actually want them to exist. Their neighbours don't want Israel to exist either, but Israel have been pretty good at defending their existence so far.

Everyone should be able to protect their right to exist, but now its scarily becoming more of a cultural and religious proxy war, with support for Israel from the 'West' vs Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria wading in.

I get that these drones are very specialist bits of tech.

Nothing more than my thoughts (am just chatting as I'm sitting in a 'spoons and am on coffee 3) are Iran has lots of sanctions against it, while other Arabic countries (especially ones that murder journalists in embassies on foreign soil ) have easier ways to buy the tech and parts. Remember it is easier to retro engineer/copy others be they purchased, salvaged or plans obtained.

Remember the Iraqi super gun fiasco?

Taiwan is a breakaway state

Im not sure if you believe this or you’re just typing quickly, but even a cursory reading of the history of Taiwan would tell you this is not the case.

Will placing the dredged amount in a different area to create the new land not just cancel everything out?

As you say, the bit that's under the water, or level with the water, would be cancelled out. So there'd need to be a lot which is well above the water. You'd need a big concrete wall to create an artificial cliff.

All true.

Re books: the FT has provided some suggestions..

https://archive.ph/jF5mM

Well, Iran has 85 million people, and 22nd highest GDP.
Despite heavy sanctions, Iran is one of a small number of countries that is able to manufacture its own jet engines (maybe out of necessity), satellites and rockets.

Iran has been making drones (UAVs) since the 1980s, and is one of the world leaders on drone tech, as well as exporting them to a variety of countries, including Russia.

Not sure how to phrase this. There’s relatively reliable reports coming out of unspeakably evil acts committed by Hamas.

In case anyone finds a reminder useful, there’s zero need for you personally to follow this conflict. If you’re in a vulnerable or difficult place, please take care of yourself, don’t subject your mind to atrocities committed thousands of miles away.

Adding- slaughtering people is unspeakably evil, yes. What I’m referring to is another level entirely.

The Beeb are getting hammered by all sides. The right are criticising them for describing Hamas as militants rather than terrorists, even whilst the defence editor of the Telegraph is on GB News, also calling them militants rather than terrorists.

You say the issue is not complex. However, the way it is being described by commentators is that it is less complex than it really is. They are saying basically that you have to pick a side. You are not allowed to consider both sides cases. It's being used as yet another wedge issue.

Thank you for the info, as I was guessing basically from opinion not fact.

Looks like braverman is informing police that waving Palestinian flag maybe criminal offence as well as some chants too. https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/oct/10/people-supporting-hamas-in-uk-will-be-held-to-account-says-rishi-sunak

Article mentions braverman writing a letter to police then sunaks comment about supporting Hamas.

This is the kind of shit I’m really uncomfortable with.

So is the government saying that waving a Palestinian flag and support for Hamas are the same thing?

I realise that that is a hopelessly reductive soundbite but isn’t that what will be taken away from their pronouncements?

More Explainer from the rest is politics pod

https://castbox.fm/vb/639057273

This really illustrates the inability for anyone to explain this conflict without others construing bias.

The way to the spring made a big impression on me when I read it. A feet on the ground documentation of the endless indignities Palestinians suffer on a daily basis.

Have no clue how the letter written by braverman will feed the right and how the police interpret it.
Have no idea and fear the worst. We are losing our right to protest and free speech.

Type a long rant and decided to delete as I am expressing my anger and upset of how we have lost so many rights.

Well they have already restricted our right to protest, so imagine any new moves from Braverman will push those restrictions even further.

Lineker was right, her language was reminiscent of 1930s Germany and, if we're not careful, we could be sleepwalking into very dangerous territory. I really hope that we have a GE soon and the Tories are gone.

Agree with both of the above, this isn’t careless incompetence, it’s deliberate.