littleyellowbirdie
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Posts posted by littleyellowbirdie
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36 minutes ago, Naturalcynic said:The ICC is in serious danger of bringing itself into disrepute.
It's notable that the case against Israel has been restricted to focusing on the extent to which aid has been limited into Gaza as a crime against humanity, rather than the prosecution of the war in Gaza itself.
Had it been in isolation, I'd have taken a dim view of it, but as there have been arrest warrants for key Hamas figures for the crimes against humanity on October 7th that many have refused to acknowledge, then overall I think the ICC is making a genuine and laudable bid to deter the worst excesses of the conflict.
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27 minutes ago, Naturalcynic said:I think militarily we became more and more demoralised at what appeared to be an unwinnable asymmetric war against a committed and fanatical enemy in a country that traditionally has always resisted the presence of occupying western forces (and I include Russia in that). The mounting toll of body bags and maimed soldiers became increasingly unsustainable for what appeared at the time to be a conflict of questionable benefit to anyone. I’m not convinced that the idiotic Stop the War coalition and its pacifist acolytes really had that much bearing on the eventual capitulation, and I say that despite the fact that I loathe all of those far-left activist types and their pathetic demos.
Respectfully, I think you grossly underestimate the effect of people making persistent noise on a subject distorting impressions and persistently putting out the false message that it was 'unwinnable'. To win a war, it's necessary to have the resolve and also show your enemy that you have the resolve. The Taliban rallied on many occasions throughout the 20 years, in spite of huge setbacks for them on the back of spineless politicians pandering to the 'unwinnable war' nonsense.
The US had less than 3,000 soldiers killed in Afghanistan over 20 years from a military comprising over 2,000,000 personnel. Everybody can see horribly clearly now that the military presence provided massive benefits for civilians in Afghanistan.
By the time we pulled out, no NATO forces were directly involved in combat, rather they provided logistical and intelligence support for Afghan forces. Afghan forces for their part were horrifically corrupt, but nevertheless still functional with NATO support. It's not out of the question that the corruption of Afghan forces couldn't have been tackled over time to give them the foundations to be able to contain the Taliban without any NATO support beyond arms and intelligence.
What we can say is that 20 years of effort and the dead NATO soldiers that had achieved something tangible for Afghan civilians was wasted. All thanks to the myth that the price that was higher than it was, pedalled by the likes of Stop the War and their American brethren.
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3 hours ago, A Load of Squit said:You've posted that before.
If that's the case, go and quote where I've posted it before and demonstrate it; you must know where it is to be so confident starting from a presumption you're not just posting rubbish, which I know you are having double-checked myself. Failing that, STFU.
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21 hours ago, Naturalcynic said:I have to say that I’m not sure that marches in the UK by the likes of Stop the War etc would have had much, if any, effect on US foreign policy with regards Afghanistan, but I certainly think that the aims and demands of idealistic left-wingers including JC have been shown to be hopelessly naïve in this respect with the reality on the ground for ordinary Afghans reverting to a living hell. The strident voices of the protesters were on the wrong side of history then, as they usually are, and as they almost certainly will be on the Israel/Gaza/Hamas issue.
Then how do you account for the perpetual mood of the NATO operation in Afghanistan from very early on being a bad thing that ultimately led to its abandonment? Did those sentiments just catch on out of nowhere?
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Hezbollah and the Houthis have praised Raisi as 'a protector of resistance'. Lebanon has declared three days of mourning for Raisi.
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19 minutes ago, KiwiScot said:Didn't Tony Blair once say technology would solve the problem?
I think he did, and I think the complacency of that view is part of the problem.
All of the polluting technologies are replaceable with cleaner alternatives. The problem is that the polluting technologies work as far as immediate economic needs are concerned, and therefore there's no economic incentive to replace them.
At a population level, the gilets jaunes protests in France showed this perfectly. Government offers subsidies on electric cars, which are no use to anybody who isn't earning enough money to even pay the subsidised prices (and the subsidies just mean the manufacturers jack their prices up anyway), while fuel prices were rising and hitting those same people who couldn't afford the electric cars.
Climate change denial is mostly people burying their head in the sand because they are powerless to do anything about it and the prospect of what it actually means is terrifying.
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4 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:That must be the worst bottom 3 ever to be relegated. A pathetic 66pts between.
Or maybe the chasm between the two leagues has just got that little bit bigger.
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45 minutes ago, Fen Canary said:I don’t want that personally because it’s clear it doesn’t work if you get promoted, as ourselves (twice) and Burnley have found to our cost. It’s no good having a team set up to dominate possession when you’re going to spend large periods without the ball. The defending for the last 6 years has also been atrocious. Even Farkes second title where we didn’t concede many was a result of simply keeping the ball (and Krul having one of the best seasons by a keeper in memory) rather than actually being able to defend.
If the club is serious about having a sustained run in the top flight then it has to be much more pragmatic built on a solid defence and pace and power.
I don't think it's impossible for it to work, but if it's to work then we need to be much more dominant when it comes to winning the signatures of target players who are good enough to do it in the Premier League as well as the Championship, which means there has to be some really serious spending on the salaries required to woo the top targets.
Everyone seems to have turned their noses up at the sort of pragmatism that both Smith and Wagner encapsulated, and the new club management seem to be keen to do what most fans seem to want, but we're heading into spending beyond our means in a bid for success in a very specific style; there's no room for failure on this path without putting the club at existential risk.
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i can only think Attanassio must be getting ready to get his cheque book out.
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4 hours ago, How I Wrote Elastic Man said:What's happening in Sudan is horrific
I don't know what we can do, but this situation deserves more coverage in the media
😔
On the BBC's page, even on the Africa page it was way down the list today.
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2 hours ago, Naturalcynic said:"When we fought in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, nobody debated civilian casualties. "
Absolutely bang on the money.
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13 minutes ago, Terminally Yellow said:But it is. Show me any sort of proof otherwise? Even those that watch German football (Dan O Hagen) accept that to be the case. It's not "English exceptionalism".
More importantly show me the statistics of what he has achieved in a Norwich shirt. That's what counts.
I won't pretend to know the ins and outs of the statistical analysis, but this website has Bundesliga 2 very slightly above the Championship on standards at the moment. https://www.teamform.com/en/league-ranking/europe
There is an explanation of their methodology for people who want to dig deeper.
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How do Theodore and Theo get listed separately. Do people not know that Theo is an abbreviation of Theodore?
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17 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:Against all odds and did seem to be a one off down to him being the right man at the right place at the right time.
For example he joined Young Boys FC after they had won the league three seasons in a row and somehow managed to then get them to finish below the leading team by 15 points.
Then there was probably another underlying problem at Young Boys. Honestly, football's a game with 22 players on the pitch in a game, so why on Earth is there this ridiculous notion that the managers and coaches are the be all and end all? It's dumb.
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On 18/05/2024 at 11:24, cambridgeshire canary said:As has been said before he's a decent, nice bloke.
It is clear however that he's not the kind of manager able to get your club automaticly promoted however.
On the other hand, he was the sort of manager to get a club promoted and keep them up.
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A massacre of civilians is ongoing in Sudan. Millions of people are fleeing, and some still die afterward from hunger. Children eat a paste made from grass and roots to survive. "Some have an arm circumference of 3.7 inches (9.5 cm). There are no muscles left. Only bone," says Dr. Wojtek Wilk, president of the Polish Center for International Aid (PCPM) to o2.pl.
The world's attention is focused on wars in Ukraine and Gaza, but the situation in Sudan is no less alarming. The country is facing one of the most significant humanitarian crises on Earth. There is no clarity on what is happening in the capital, Khartoum, or other cities because the two warring armies have cut Sudan off from the world. There are no Western media on the ground. At least several journalists have been killed, newspapers have suspended operations, and the entire country has internet access issues.
The incomplete information that reaches the world is shocking. On May 9, 2024, the organization Human Rights Watch reported that genocide against the Masalit and other non-Arab residents might have occurred in the town of Al-Junaynah in western Sudan. Mass graves were found in the city. According to the UN, about 15,000 people might have been killed there. The total number of war victims is unknown, but estimates range from 15,000 to, as the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, said in early May, even 150,000.
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7 minutes ago, canarybubbles said:For me, this sums him up perfectly. His erratic (rather than consistently poor) first touch can be frustrating for us as supporters, but it makes him a very difficult forward to play against. His body is often unpredictable - I get the feeling even sometimes to himself. Because of this, I'm concerned about how well he would fit into the kind of possession football Knapper seems to want, though.
I'm concerned we will not be able to compete for the required types of players for this highly prescriptive approach to style. This is exactly what the club tried with Farke and wasn't up to it at the higher level .
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2 hours ago, A Load of Squit said:You've posted that before.
Nope; I've never posted that before.
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29 minutes ago, Herman said:Aye, it's utter nonsense. A truly dreadful piece of trolling from a dreadful troll.
Shouldn't you get back to your stupid Brexit thread?
So what's your view then? Are you alright with the suffering in Afghanistan that has been caused by our withdrawal? No? You agree that all of the year's of campaigning and street protests had nothing to do with influencing public opinion against our presence in Afghanistan?
If pointing out the inconsistency, dishonesty and hypocrisy of people like you is trolling then I've no problem with being called that.
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42 minutes ago, horsefly said:Absolute bollox! But that's no surprise. Moron!
Like hell is it ****, you dishonest, worthless Labour toady. If campaigners don't matter, you definitely need to shut your trap about people who supported Brexit, Farage Reese-Mogg, Nadine Dorries etc. which has caused a damned sight less suffering than pulling out of Afghanistan has!
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14 minutes ago, BroadstairsR said:Read "The Kite Runner" Khaled Hosseini for confirmation.
Using young boys for satisfaction is commonplace, whereas homosexuals are stoned to death, as are wives who stray.
Obscenely backward culture, now ruled by fanatics and uneducated village boys with guns.
Another fine mess, UK, Russia, US.
Yeah, absolutely. The cold war played a huge part in sending Afghanistan down the pan, support for the Taliban then can be chalked down to another terrible decision that really underlines that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' really is utter rubbish.
That said 20 years of NATO presence was changing it for the better as far as ordinary people were concerned. Corbyn, Stop the War and all of their ilk deserve a deep pit in hell for persistently underminining support that everyone can now see was a worthwhile thing to be doing for the scale of the suffering that our absence has caused. Trump should probably go to, but if he does, then Biden should probably go with him for not having the guts to overrule.
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11 hours ago, horsefly said:What an absolutely ridiculous post. Are you seriously suggesting that anyone took a blind bit of notice of the Stop the War campaign? This was entirely down to Trump and his negotiation with the Taliban to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan unconditionally. A negotiation he conducted without the presence of the Afghan government or any of the NATO allies.
Don't be so stupid. If campaigning/protesting didn't make a difference within democracies nobody would do it. Trump did it because abandoning Afghanistan was a popular notion (populist even) because of scum like Corbyn/Abbott/Stop the War and their American opposite numbers in left wing circles.
Trump did it because 'war in Afghanistan bad', a popularly held opinion thanks to these morons. Trump also knew that this would be popular among the left of the democrats, creating a nightmare for Biden.
Stop the War and co provided perpetual morale boosts for the Taliban over their 20 years in the mountains. The very knowledge of their campaigning will have played a part in the Taliban keeping going in Afghanistan .
And here is the outcome for Afghanistan thanks to these stupid lefties, their 'principles' and their influence on public opinion
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If resources were recycled the way remoaners recycle stories, the world would be in amazing shape.
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11 hours ago, Herman said:Oh dear....
Fisherman 'sold down the river' by Brexit.
Stop the War's Legacy in Afghanistan.
in Non-Football
Posted
Attempt on what? All I've done is share a link to some of the human suffering caused by our withdrawal from Afghanistan and suggested that those who campaigned so avidly for it within the democratic nations that make up NATO bear some responsibility? You're a smart chap; surely you can offer a coherent rebuttal if my point is as poor as you suggest?