Below the belt

[butters]

in a country already suffering from homelessness problems due to civil war/historical conflicts, a further 300,000 displaced and homeless after Aug 4th bombing in Beirut

after the past few days, that number has grown by at least another 90,000

Among the mass exodus of people trying to flee deadly Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon are migrant domestic workers from countries such as Kenya, the Philippines, and Ethiopia, some of whom feel trapped and unable to get to safety.

The airstrikes, which have killed 620 people and displaced more than 90,000 in the past week alone, are the largest and deadliest escalation since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

While the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has been simmering for years, tensions have ramped up since October, when a Hamas attack on Israel killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages. Israel’s brutal response has reportedly killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza in heavy bombing and ground fighting that the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, has said could plausibly include acts of genocide.

the language in the above para should have included the word 'brutal', too, when referring to hamas' October attack on Israeli citizens.

In total, around 200,000 people have fled southern Lebanon over the past 11 months due to intermittent cross-border fire, but the past week’s flare-up represents a dramatic escalation.

On 18 September, Israel detonated the first of two waves of explosives-laden pagers and other devices belonging to alleged Hezbollah members, killing 37 and injuring thousands in attacks that Human Rights Watch and others have called a violation of international humanitarian law. Israeli airstrikes followed, as Hezbollah sent up its own rockets and missiles in response.

https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/...:~:text=Kafala, or “work sponsorship”, is the

I doubt i'll be back to comment in this thread much, since it's way too depressing now to see attempts for a ceasefire and potential peace derailed time and time again, and now this unflinching march toward full-blown warfare we're watching unfold in real time.

my thoughts are with all innocent civilians on all sides, and with soldiers having to carry out orders or pay a great price themselves in the name of religious power.

 

[Sappho_CGN]

What I think is totally annoying is that many people do not understand how complex the Near East conflict is.

It is not

rich against poor
socialism against capitalism

It is

Israel fighing for the survival of it inhabitants encircled by enemies yelling to kill them all
Jews fighting for survival
Muslims feeling deprivated from property, maybe dignity
Sunnits and Shiits fighting each others
Iran supporting the Hisbollah and trying to get more politcal, economic and militarical influence in the Near East (as 2000 years before)
Saudia-Arabia trying to stop Iran and supporting Hamas
Turkey also trying to become again a power in the Near East

 

[Buffalogurl]

Welp it seems it's game on..... attack drones have been launched from the iran/Iraq border. Sources say Iranian ballistic missiles are being fueled/gyros are being spun up... near all of the Isreali refueling aircraft are Airborne....us embassyis in a shelter in place/stay near bomb shelters..... 3 more squadrons of us f15e, f16, A10 warthogs are arriving in the region directly......the Israelis and the US are seriously talking about a "preemptive strikes directly against Iran......
Always keep in mind the sleeper cells they/them have slipped across our open borders......

 

[DukeofPaducah]

The terrorists hide in between the so called civilians. It is the strategy of HAMAS to cause "civilian" victims to give people like you the possibility to yell antisemitic slogans and still feel good and pretend not being antisemitic.

Of course defends the IDF the Israelian people. What else are they doing? What would you do ... accept that your enemies kill, rape and plunder and accept that as it is difficult to decide who is a terrorist and who not? Really?

The support of HAMAS children-killer and raper by Western intelligenzia is based on Anti-Americanism and so called Anti-capitalism. In Germany you can clearly see that. The HAMAS supporting groups call themselves "progressive, socialistic, anticaptalistic" and the main enemy are the USA for them. Israel is from their view an appendix of the USA.

I’m not anti-Semitic. I don’t hate anyone for being who they are.
What they choose to do is another story. Still, I won’t say it’s hate.
I do believe in the presence of good and evil, and I won’t hesitate to send evil to its next appointment with prejudice.
You will NEVER convince me that the killing of children is justified. For any excuse.
The Bible condemns it and I agree. It is evil.

What’s truly heartbreaking is the perpetual cycle of death and destruction. Today it’s bloody murder in downtown Tel Aviv. Tomorrow a school is demolished. Each side offering no remorse; only justification.

It’s a persuasive argument for another Great Flood. Drown everyone, Saint and Sinner alike, and start over.

God made a covenant to never repeat it, so He’ll have to come up with something else.

That's the spirit! And most of that, I agree with.

Except for the deportations. We need those, all 30-50 million of them, or you can kiss the USA goodbye. We'll be a one party state in 10 years and/or fighting a civil war without those.

The broad strokes of a new brush sounds attractive at first blush.
The risk of collapsing the service and agriculture economies is quite real.
Accurate vetting will be an ongoing nightmare. Be careful of netting Sergei Brin in your sweep.
I prefer a dolphin-safe product.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I’m not anti-Semitic. I don’t hate anyone for being who they are.
What they choose to do is another story. Still, I won’t say it’s hate.
I do believe in the presence of good and evil, and I won’t hesitate to send evil to its next appointment with prejudice.
You will NEVER convince me that the killing of children is justified. For any excuse.
The Bible condemns it and I agree. It is evil.

What’s truly heartbreaking is the perpetual cycle of death and destruction. Today it’s bloody murder in downtown Tel Aviv. Tomorrow a school is demolished. Each side offering no remorse; only justification.

It’s a persuasive argument for another Great Flood. Drown everyone, Saint and Sinner alike, and start over.

God made a covenant to never repeat it, so He’ll have to come up with something else.

The broad strokes of a new brush sounds attractive at first blush.
The risk of collapsing the service and agriculture economies is quite real.
Accurate vetting will be an ongoing nightmare. Be careful of netting Sergei Brin in your sweep.
I prefer a dolphin-safe product.

This probably comes as a surprise, but I don't disagree. We are heading into troubled times.

What I will say is, this is what happens when the USA elects a weak-assed President. The Biden Administration are a pack of fools, their weakness has created chaos world-wide, and we either elect Trump and see things stabilized fast, or we elect Harris and god help the world. And us.

People can yap yap yap all the like, but Biden and Harris are weak, they are bringing the US down, and everyone in the world can see that. And take advantage of us. All this shit in the Middle East is just one more example of what happens when the USA elects an incomptent senile old fool. Carter was bad enough, Obama was a disaster, Biden is just fucking insane and Harris will be the death of us all. We've never needed Trump more.

 

[butters]

NewsWorldMiddle East Israel invades Lebanon and Iran retaliates in major escalation of regional conflict Multiple waves of hundreds of Iranian missiles flashed over densely populated cities across Israel as millions of civilians were urged into bomb shelters

 

[DukeofPaducah]

This probably comes as a surprise, but I don't disagree. We are heading into troubled times.

What I will say is, this is what happens when the USA elects a weak-assed President. The Biden Administration are a pack of fools, their weakness has created chaos world-wide, and we either elect Trump and see things stabilized fast, or we elect Harris and god help the world. And us.

People can yap yap yap all the like, but Biden and Harris are weak, they are bringing the US down, and everyone in the world can see that. And take advantage of us. All this shit in the Middle East is just one more example of what happens when the USA elects an incomptent senile old fool. Carter was bad enough, Obama was a disaster, Biden is just fucking insane and Harris will be the death of us all. We've never needed Trump more.

I might agree with you, if not for the fact that Big Dick Cheney supports Ms Harris. Say what you may about that prick, but he’s not weak. Do you think Kamala might choose him for Sec. of Defense?
Trading Biden for Trump would be like swapping Moe for Curly, if Curly were a sociopath.
A strong leader commands by respect, not fear.
Trump possesses neither. He’s fine as long as someone is smoking his White Owl. He’s likely to cede Ukraine to Putin.
He’s a nightmare in progress.

 

[Lazaran]

This probably comes as a surprise, but I don't disagree. We are heading into troubled times.

What I will say is, this is what happens when the USA elects a weak-assed President. The Biden Administration are a pack of fools, their weakness has created chaos world-wide, and we either elect Trump and see things stabilized fast, or we elect Harris and god help the world. And us.

People can yap yap yap all the like, but Biden and Harris are weak, they are bringing the US down, and everyone in the world can see that. And take advantage of us. All this shit in the Middle East is just one more example of what happens when the USA elects an incomptent senile old fool. Carter was bad enough, Obama was a disaster, Biden is just fucking insane and Harris will be the death of us all. We've never needed Trump more.

Chloe “Chicongo” Tzang pretends that this isn’t all the result of "strongmen", like DonOld, engaging in "strongman" games.



Meanwhile, President Biden has largely kept America’s powder dry, and has the free world alliance in position to emerge victorious in its battle against the rise in authoritarianism.

America / NATO / the free world alliance could step in at any moment and settle matters if need be. Currently, President Biden is prudently maintaining a defensive posture, “rope-a-doping” our adversaries. Our adversaries are being weakened / degraded, as America rearms and modernizes to meet the challenges of "ultra" modern warfare. Old ordinance is being rotated out, and new, upgraded ordinance is being rotated in - the same goes for old military strategy being rotated out and new strategy being rotated in.

If America does go on offense against Iran at some point, it will be against a softened up Iran - presuming that the Israelis ARE going to retaliate in a significant fashion after this latest attack. From all reports, Israel doesn’t possess the deep bunker busting capabilities to take out Iran’s nuclear processing sites, so it will be up to the U.S. to inflict the coup de grace after Israel softens Iran’s defenses up.

Iran is in a veeeeery precarious position right now, and there are undoubtedly some in the DOD who want to kill two birds with one stone by taking out Iran’s capability to produce military equipment for Russia while simultaneously ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions. (Regime change to a more moderate form of government in Iran would be an added bonus.)

And then there’s Iran’s oil…

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

This probably comes as a surprise, but I don't disagree. We are heading into troubled times.

What I will say is, this is what happens when the USA elects a weak-assed President. The Biden Administration are a pack of fools, their weakness has created chaos world-wide, and we either elect Trump and see things stabilized fast, or we elect Harris and god help the world. And us.

People can yap yap yap all the like, but Biden and Harris are weak, they are bringing the US down, and everyone in the world can see that. And take advantage of us. All this shit in the Middle East is just one more example of what happens when the USA elects an incomptent senile old fool. Carter was bad enough, Obama was a disaster, Biden is just fucking insane and Harris will be the death of us all. We've never needed Trump more.

Iran attacked U.S. troops in 2020.

President Trump did nothing.

https://www.military.com/daily-news...0-us-troops-destroyed-30-aircraft-report.html

 

[ChloeTzang]

Iran attacked U.S. troops in 2020.

President Trump did nothing.

https://www.military.com/daily-news...0-us-troops-destroyed-30-aircraft-report.html

Trump knows where to draw lines and when a response is appropriate. Or not. And he had Mike Pompeo. Not some doofus

 

[ChloeTzang]

Meanwhile, President Biden has largely kept America’s powder dry, and has the free world alliance in position to emerge victorious in its battle against the rise in authoritarianism.

America / NATO / the free world alliance could step in at any moment and settle matters if need be. Currently, President Biden is prudently maintaining a defensive posture, “rope-a-doping” our adversaries. Our adversaries are being weakened / degraded, as America rearms and modernizes to meet the challenges of "ultra" modern warfare. Old ordinance is being rotated out, and new, upgraded ordinance is being rotated in - the same goes for old military strategy being rotated out and new strategy being rotated in.

If America does go on offense against Iran at some point, it will be against a softened up Iran - presuming that the Israelis ARE going to retaliate in a significant fashion after this latest attack. From all reports, Israel doesn’t possess the deep bunker busting capabilities to take out Iran’s nuclear processing sites, so it will be up to the U.S. to inflict the coup de grace after Israel softens Iran’s defenses up.

Iran is in a veeeeery precarious position right now, and there are undoubtedly some in the DOD who want to kill two birds with one stone by taking out Iran’s capability to produce military equipment for Russia while simultaneously ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions. (Regime change to a more moderate form of government in Iran would be an added bonus.)

And then there’s Iran’s oil…

Intentionally delusional and trolling, or just batshit crazy. I go with batshit crazy

 

[ChloeTzang]

I might agree with you, if not for the fact that Big Dick Cheney supports Ms Harris. Say what you may about that prick, but he’s not weak. Do you think Kamala might choose him for Sec. of Defense?
Trading Biden for Trump would be like swapping Moe for Curly, if Curly were a sociopath.
A strong leader commands by respect, not fear.
Trump possesses neither. He’s fine as long as someone is smoking his White Owl. He’s likely to cede Ukraine to Putin.
He’s a nightmare in progress.

Cheney's a warmongering mass murderer who should be on trial as a war criminal. Strong my ass. Oil and money was all that greedy prick wanted

 

[ChloeTzang]

That's how you do it. Carry. Shoot. Kill.

 

[Lazaran]

What I will say is, this is what happens when the USA elects a weak-assed President. <snip>

Iran attacked U.S. troops in 2020.

President Trump did nothing.

https://www.military.com/daily-news...0-us-troops-destroyed-30-aircraft-report.html

Trump knows where to draw lines and when a response is appropriate. Or not. And he had Mike Pompeo. Not some doofus

Chloe “Chicongo” Tzang

 

[Noor]

That's how you do it. Carry. Shoot. Kill.

View attachment 2401536

And he is a Nova music festival survivor who chased and killed the terrorist while in flip flops!

 

[DukeofPaducah]

This is off topic, but it made me laugh. Sorry not sorry

https://twitter.com/x/status/1841059677536235739

I posted a new story last night. The Skinwalker.
I’d be pleased if you would at least skim it and make a comment.

 

[lessOHmo]

This is off topic, but it made me laugh. Sorry not sorry

https://twitter.com/x/status/1841059677536235739

I posted a new story last night. The Skinwalker.
I’d be pleased if you would at least skim it and make a comment.

It sucks

 

[Rebel5soul]

John Stewart hasn't been relevant in 20 fucking years.

 

[ll74]

John Stewart hasn't been relevant in 20 fucking years.

Give Sept 11 first responders a call and tell them that

 

[butters]

Give Sept 11 first responders a call and tell them that

he won't understand what you're referring to

 

[DukeofPaducah]

I was watching the UN Security Council discussing the situation in the Middle East earlier.
All decry the attack by Iran.
Most agree that Israel’s defense is too aggressive. Especially Lebanon.
Israel remains defiant.
I suppose the beatings will continue until morale improves.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I was watching the UN Security Council discussing the situation in the Middle East earlier.
All decry the attack by Iran.
Most agree that Israel’s defense is too aggressive. Especially Lebanon.
Israel remains defiant.
I suppose the beatings will continue until morale improves.

https://i.imgur.com/MHc4Et8.png

 

[Lazaran]

https://i.imgur.com/MHc4Et8.png

"Lebanon" sends rockets, missiles, and terrorists into Israel, so Israel sends its military into Lebanon.

Where is the issue???

 

[ll74]

"Lebanon" sends rockets, missiles, and terrorists into Israel, so Israel sends its military into Lebanon.

Where is the issue???

Return to sender

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

John Stewart hasn't been relevant in 20 fucking years.

If he wasn’t relevant you wouldn’t be keeping track.