magnkarl

First two ATACMS apparently used twice this month before the aid package was passed.

Did you by chance see what is under the Israeli aid? A lot of it is for aid for Gaza.

The issue is that Russia would veto it all day every day. It is in Russia, China and Iran's interest that we're squabbling between ourselves over Gaza and Israel when both Putin and Xi have ambitions of taking over other nations. How many hospitals did you read about Putin bombing last week? The number is around 10. When Hamas misfires a rocket into a parking area outside of a Gaza hospital it's the head news for days about how Israel bombs hospitals, people argue, people get stuck, pick a side and in the meantime Putin has bombed another hospital, nursery, theater or hydropower dam in Ukraine. The UN isn't fit for purpose when it is being used to extend the suffering in Gaza for horrible nations' geo-political aims.

Some of those Thor ER missiles and Nano-drones produced in Norway would be great too. I agree, and I think Norway is slowly coming to that realisation.

Going hard for the things that are most expensive in the store this year. Celeriac, turnips, parsnips, melon in the greenhouse, beef tomatoes, outside tomatoes, celery, summer carrots of all colours, spring onions in clumps, red onions, shallots, garlic of 5 types (softneck and hardneck), early and late potatoes from my own from last year, three types of beet, chard, and sweetcorn. Oh and more exotic stuff in the greenhouse. Trying hard for the aubergine but they're so fuzzy about everything and get greenfly like no tomorrow. We're still eating the spuds, parsnip, carrots, leek and celeriac from last year. Have stored so well in a massive old clay pot that I got at a local tip and made an insulated lid for in the garden. Feels like I'm going a bit overboard with the grow your own bit but I think this year's project will be chickens for eggs and fertiliser.

Never understood them either.

No. The US will donate lots of stored stuff to Ukraine at least. For Taiwan and Israel it's more complex but Ukraine will get ATACMS, ammunition and vehicles already ready to go. The US will then use their own capacity to produce new kit for their own military. It's win win for the US, and frankly bonkers why the republicans have been so against this when 7\10 arms industry jobs are in republican states.

And one by Finland, and Norway at about the same size. Maybe once we start seeing the ATACMS in action the Germans will be less scared to give the taurus. Give it until next week before ATACMS will start causing havoc.

In my opinion both Israel and PA/Hamas needs to be removed from Gaza. What have they got to show for? Both sides have had 70 years to sort things out, Palestinians were offered great parts of the land at multiple points but refused (and when you now look at the same people's bank accounts you can understand why), the Israelis have one way of reacting to everything which is violence, it makes them a pawn in Iran/Russia's geo-political games and extremely unreliable. West-Germany after the war is a model of how it should be done. Get peacekeepers in there to control the aid and money, push Hamas out and start educating the people to a point where prosperity ensures that they're not dependent on running around with their AK-47 because Hamas gives you UN-aid as payment. The Palestinian people have been a pawn for the Arabic world for way too long, and they've suffered at the hands of Israel often because other Arab nations have invaded Israel. We've got to end the mindset that got us here, and that also includes admitting that their side isn't always 100% right in whatever for the hawks on both sides in the world.

Just goes to show what happens when America leads. It loosens the purse strings of others.

The line will likely be in China, since Trump thinks Oslo is the capital of Germany.

The bread and shelter being dependent on a militia is exactly why the UNRWA needs to be looked at. And, while I get your point, I don't think any sort of UN or Western aid should go to a teacher who posts pictures online of bombs and wanting to execute any people, no matter where they are from. If you don't see that that is an issue, then that might be part of the problem for UNRWA. 'Oh it's fine that kids are being taught by extremists, the extremists hold those views because of Israel!'. The striking amounts of aid given to Palestine over the years have ensured two things, rich, fat-cat politicians in Hamas\Fatah\PA and a population held ransom by extremists in Gaza. The UN has both the power and military to do the handouts themselves and not rely on a terrorist organisation to do so.

Israel is clearly fumbling here, though the UNRWA is clearly not without fault on many things: Report alleges ethical abuses at UN agency for Palestinian refugees Or that time when they lied about how many 'Palestinians' they serve to increase aid: Lebanon census turns up two-thirds fewer Palestinians than expected Or, that time shortly after Oct 7th where a whole bunch of UNRWA teachers praised the attack. Group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers celebrates Hamas massacre and rape Here's the US hearing on it, full of sources, incriminating articles and research from people not connected to Israeli media, some of it obviously has people from Israel testifying, and some of it is based on internal reports from the UN. I think it's likely a case here that the UNRWA clearly isn't fit for purpose. Why does the UN need its own agency for Palestinians when lots of other groups suffer the same or worse and don't have one? The way UNRWA has propped up Gaza for years now clearly hasn't worked, it's gotten worse and worse, and the organisation seems to lose sight of what its purpose originally was. Hamas controls the aid and the population is off worse. PA/Fatah heads controls the money and amasses wealth at an unprecedented rate. Israel clearly has a habit of trying to discredit UNRWA, though I don't really think UNRWA does a great job at making that job hard for Israel. The historical narrative for UNRWA is that you can't possibly talk about their issues and failures, that doing so somehow discredits Palestinians. I'd say it's the other way around. When this organisation keeps the current cycle going we need to look at it. Just like we need to seriously consider how we could've prevented Israel from committing war crimes while being our ally.

But that was written before the US came in with their biggest aid bill ever. We'll see. My guess is that it depends on the election in November.

Seems the US plans to get stuff in to Ukraine as soon as the ink is on the paper. Trucks moving out of American bases in Germany with Abrams, Strykers and lots of kit from the European rapid response forces being utilised and later back filled.