Tamarama comments

Taiwanischina

So everybody gets nukes? How is that going to work out? Israel has the good sense to deny their nukes.

So, you're suggesting that only a privilege few can have nuclear weapons? How to you determine that? And why would any one particular group get to decide who can have what?

We don't have another country that supports terrorism to the same level as Iran.

That's not what I asked. Re-read the question.

It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu."

Exactly right. Israel is the US's rabid dog in the Middle East. Stop the US tax payer funding, and watch Netanyahu wet his pants.

NB

NBToday  06:46 am JST

The nuclear proliferation must be stopped.

Israel and the US has nukes. It's more than a little hypocritical of them to tell others they can't have them.

However, they will also distribute their nukes to their proxies, thus putting the whole world under a grave and unprecedented risk.

Abject, hyperbolic nonsense. Name one country in the world that 'distributes their nukes'? Just one.

TaiwanIsNotChinaToday  06:35 am JST

Just imagine how much this is costing the US in military readiness. And runs the risk of blowing up the oil market.

It's certainly costing you as a US tax payer.

How embarrassing.

41 people. 41.

I had an exchange yesterday with someone here who clearly has a limited handle on the history of this situation in Palestine/Israel, and part of his rationale for Israel attacking the Palestinians was that Hamas had a history firing rockets at Israel. Here was my response:

True, though the 'rockets' have generally been home made contraptions that may have killed an estimated 30-40 people since 1988.

Israel exceeded the casualties of 37 years of Hamas 'rocket' attacks in a single killing session yesterday. In the same time period, Israel killed around 14,000 Palestinians. That's not including the numbers since October 2023, which if you do include go up to around 50,000 people.

Then there's the annexation (read: stealing) of Palestinian territory - which is nearly 30,000 square kilometres of Palestinian territory since 1948, about 77.5% of historic Palestine.

Those who are in any doubt about how imbalanced the ledger actually is in this conflict are either wilfully ignorant, or unable to evaluate the situation objectively and critically.

The numbers don't lie.

gaijintraveller

Sorry, Israel, I do not feel sorry for you. Your aggression has led to retaliation. There is no doubt about who the aggressor is.

A lot of people feel this way now, rightfully so.

Even back in October 2023, these boards were quite full of people commenting about Palestinians getting what they deserved for Hamas' attack and being very pro-Israel, with little to no understanding of why it had happened at all. At this point, most of that appears to have evaporated.

To those who have a better grasp of the big picture, Israel has actually been visiting misery and oppression on the Palestinians since 1948. They have been given a kind of 'Hall-Pass' on that because of their history, which itself has been bad, and people recognise and understand that. But the truth is, Israel has taken that hall pass and completely abused it. They have killed, stolen from and abjectly mistreated the Palestinians for 77 years, and in the last couple, simply conducted a genocide against them. Israel has turned into a monster.

I also have no sympathy for them whatsoever at this point, and Iran has every right to strike back at them.

JBone

I might be worth you remembering that Israel's inability to peacefully manage it's place in Palestine and the Middle East is currently costing you personally. A portion of what you currently earn as a member of the US armed forces, or whatever you do, is taken from you and given directly to Israel.

You are paying for that. You are gifting them your money, because they cannot manage their situation responsibly as a respectful and considerate country in the Middle East. They can't build relationships, only destroy them. They can't negotiate mutually respectful and beneficial agreements and abide by them, they do the opposite.

You are paying for that incompetence.

Garlic Eater

In my haste, I forgot to mention the 'annexation' (stealing, in another man's terms) of nearly 30,000 square kilometres of Palestinian territory by Israel since 1948, which was remiss of me.

Israel has taken control of 77.5% of historic Palestine since 1948.

Make sure you include that in your narrative, because those are simple, historically accurate facts.

Garlic eaterToday  06:36 am JST

@GuruMick

Did you know Hamas are legitimately designated a terrorist organization.

Legitimately by only 35 countries of the 195 - all largely US allies.

Did you know they had been carrying out terrorist rocket attacks against Israeli cities for decades.

True, though the 'rockets' have generally been home made contraptions that may have killed an estimated 30-40 people since 1988. About the same number of starving Palestinians the Israeli's kill at controlled food distribution event at the moment.

And Israel took it on the chin until finally Hamas shot Israeli’s attending dance parties and took hostages, some of whom were beheaded on social media feeds?

If you think this is true, time to do some proper reading. Like real, objective, unbiased reading. Around 14,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the same time period.

LancetToday  06:20 am JST

Unprovoked aggression by a nuclear armed state against a non-nuclear state.

Iranian sovereignty violated in a clear breach of the UN Charter.

Civilians in Tehran targeted and killed.

Where is the outrage from Europe and the "international community" and "rules-based order"

Waiting for Europe to seize Israel's assets and impose sanctions on Tel Aviv.

Waiting....

Exactly. The silence is deafening, isn't it. Western Hypocrisy at it's worse.

By this measure, if the Arab states created a 'coalition of the willing' and bombed Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa etc into a similar state to Gaza over the next couple of years, it would only be fair and right for the rest of us just sat around twiddling our thumbs.

The BBC quotes Trump as saying the Israeli attacks on Iran are 'Excellent'.

Process that for a minute, think about it.

You have a completely unhinged, fully armed ultra nationalist Israeli regime, funded by the US tax payer and loudly and publicly backed by their equally unhinged President, attacking and striking several countries in their region, but now starting a full scale war with Iran and targeting nuclear facilities in the process.

Israel are not only internally genocidal, they are regionally minacious - the mad dog of the Middle East.

bass4funk

No, Israel is not trying to kill Muslims or any Muslim nation

You are right, they are succeeding in killing Palestinians wholesale, not merely trying.

Spot on mate.

A couple of Israeli quotes in the BBC for you. Just let this sink in, given what they have been subjecting the Palestinians to:

A journalist for Israel's Haaretz newspaper and a resident of Tel Aviv, Gideon Levy, has just spoken to the BBC about Iran's missile attacks on the city earlier this evening.

In an interview for Newshour, Levy, who had been seeking refuge in a public shelter in the city, says: "We heard quite loud the explosions. Not a very pleasant feeling.''

And,

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said that Iran crossed "red lines" on Friday when its missiles targeted civilian areas in response to Israel's recent wave of attacks.

"Iran has crossed red lines by daring to fire missiles at civilian population centres in Israel," he said in a statement.

Wow on that one.

Not a sliver of irony either, it would seem.

Yet Israel's massive strikes on Iran will test that promise as never before, potentially setting up a showdown with his base as Trump decides how much support the United States will offer.

Since October 2023, US taxpayers have funded the Israeli military to the approximate tune of $22 Billion USD. That's just gift money, it's not intended to be paid back. That's a lot of support arleady.

When I get my domestic tax return at the end of the year, I get a little wheel graph breakdown of where my taxpayer dollars het spent. You know, Education, Health services, welfare etc.

Do the US taxpayers have a little slice of their pie that says: Military Aid for Israel? And given that Israel are currently committing genocide with those dollars, AND, trying their level best to start a major war that will require more of your tax dollars and possibly American lives, are you OK with that?

Is that what you pay tax on your hard earned for?

GuruMickToday  06:17 am JST

Israel hasn't been able to "remove the Hamas threat,', nor the "Hezbollah threat "

That's because Israel, and others more broadly fundamentally misunderstand what Hamas is, Mick. Hamas is the manifestation of a normal human reaction in the face of sustained and systematic oppression over decades, namely, resistance and a will for liberty.

History is full of cases where rebels are lauded as national heroes. Take for example, say, the American Revolutionary War, where American rebels (freedom fighters) fought against the oppression of British colonial rule. National heroes. Founding fathers of the modern US State.

And when you strip away the flags, colours, belief systems etc, exactly the same scenario in Palestine.

"We knew everything," Trump said of the Israeli attack plans.

"I tried to save Iran humiliation and death. I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out," Trump said. "They can still work out a deal, however, it’s not too late."

Earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left."

Course they did - they even helped shoot down the incoming retaliatory missiles overnight.

This attack may tip the scales into a bigger war in the Middle East. How long are the other countries going to just sit by and let Israel kill Palestinians holus bolus, and attack other countries in the region at will (So far - Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq?). Us Taxpayer funded rogue state, right now.

Good, it's important that countries like Japan says this clearly.

As Mick says, now Japan needs to pressure for a 2 State solution - and the main party to pressure on this is Israel's primary patron, benefactor and funder - the American taxpayers.

Time for them to call the shots on how and what their hard earned dollars are getting in the ME.

NB

Killing the tiny Jewish nation would not solve the ilnesses of the world. The Jews defend themselves.

I didn't say kill, I said do damage - to infrastructure. I hope they destroy Israeli Nuclear facilities in return.

That would be magnificent.

Honestly, I hope the Iranian drones do some serious damage.

Do we get lengthy reports when other countries sail their ships around and get their aircraft to fly on and off their aircraft carriers?

Don't think so.

This biased, skewed fear mongering narrative around China is hypocritical and inflammatory.

HopeSpringsEternalToday  10:59 am JST

Pres. Trump stated MANY times, Iran can have civilian nuclear power, just no enrichment of nuclear materials.

Why should he get to decide?

The US knew all about this - but their regional mongrel appears to have rabies.

You get what you vote for, don't you.

Donald Trump was never a stable candidate, which has always been crystal clear from an external perspective. He wasn't first time around, he wasn't in his first term, and he isn't this time around either. No surprises there.

World trade markets are in turmoil, diplomatic relations are probably at an all time low, and you currently have riots and the national guard and marines deployed in one of the country's biggest cities.

It's sad.

Ricky Kaminski.

Nice try , but if you brought a bunch of goons over and parked your mini van at the gates of my house, I’d go out and have a word. Most with any metal would.

You mean 'mettle'.

Right. 'Cept, they aren't at the gates of Japan's house, if the article is accurate, are they? They are well beyond Japanese territory, hundreds of km into International waters.

If my calculations are right, this incident was around 150-170km outside of Japan's EEZ in International waters.

So, if the Japanese are flying their surveillance planes close to the Chinese aircraft carriers, who is provoking who?

I saw him play live around 10 years ago. The band was carrying him through his long list of hits, and he shuffled off stage after every song. Had slip on Vans on too. But it was an unbelievable treat to see him, definitely one of my musical heroes.

Good Vibrations.

This disgusts me, actually.

It disgusts me to think the US would strategically use Okinawa as a Nuclear missile base post WW2, having nuked Japan twice. Talk about callous.

Course, it also makes things a little squirmy for those that try to argue that the US occupies bases in places like Okinawa purely because they are defending a country's 'freedom and liberty'.

Clearly, not the case.

I applaud their efforts - they are trying to do what the rest of the world will not, which is actively intervene to save starving Palestinians. That takes courage.

And whilst the Israelis are happy to kill any Palestinian they set eyes on (or don't), they aren't going to kill Greta Thunberg.

2 State solution now.

Situation normal in the US - FUBAR.

From what I’ve come across up to now, this has divided the Spurs support.

They are a big part of the problem.

Here's a guy that won a Europa Cup in a season where they were decimated by injury - the first European silverware for what, 43 years for Spurs, which gets them into the Champions League as well.

That club is a toxic, rotten mess, characterised by bizarre decision making.

Ange will be better off elsewhere and the manager turnstile at Tottenham will continue, fuelled by supporter discontent.

I also think Japan has the talent to go deep into the next tournament - possibly really deep. They have been threatening in the last couple of tournaments.

Whilst they had a lot of possession and played a slick passing game, they didn't really terrify the Australian defence, being forced to mostly shoot from distance.

But cracking crop of young talent.