blandy

Decorating all day. Music on

Wordle 1,022 3/6* Fell my way again

Thanks. As a non expert, both genocide. Both utterly appalling. Nothing more to add, really.

I'm not a lawyer, but my reading of the situation and the laws is that it's not "just" the number of dead that tally up to decide whether something is genocide. As per the definition(s) posted earlier, other facets are also relevant. It looks to me like the criteria are met, but I respect your view that there's inconsistency or that it's not proven. I too doubt that anyone will be tried for genocide at the moment. The court case at The Hague brought by South Africa found that "some of the acts alleged by South Africa appear to fall under the provisions of the Genocide Convention", though they didn't order Israel to stop their campaign. I suspect further measures may come about, but who knows? I also get that of all the nations to be accused of genocide, Israel is gonna be the most "sensitive". Finally, though you may (or may not) be right about other conflicts not being tagged as genocide, that doesn't alter the reality of the current Israel/Palestine situation.

Possibly, yeah. I guess that would depend on your (anyone's) view on freedom of speech v freedom from abuse and offence.

That (or the stomach pain that accompanied it) was the most alarming thing for me when I got it. Absolute agony. I didn't know it was Covid at the time, mind you, as it was early on, at the start of the first lockdown. Short of breath, light headed, headache, fever, (mild but repeated) coughing and dry throat and then the stomach pain on another level altogether. GWS Shedder.

Well intentioned, but really poor, I'd say. So full of holes, contradictions, inconsistencies and loopholes. Well meaning but amateurish.

What Israel has done and is doing meets/crosses the threshold for most if not all accepted definitions of genocide. But to take your point about previous genocides, sadly there have been genocides far greater in scale in the past, but that doesn't diminish from the utter barbarity and cruelty of what Israel has done to Palestinian civilians. I don't believe any of us are legal experts, or experts in international law, but as "men in the street" it is impossible not to see a clear intent, or to hear statements from members of the Israeli government which demonstrate absolutely that the characteristics defined as genocidal have been met by the actions and words of Israel, the IDF and members of the government there. UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Israel officially claims that it is engaged in a conflict to destroy the Hamas terrorist organisation and that it takes care to protect the lives of civilians and so on. But its actions (and words) show that as a lie. The scale of death and destruction is completely disproportionate. Now you could argue, perhaps, that these are "merely" war crimes, with a disregard for humanitarian law by the rulers, leaders and troops of the IDF, but the sheer reality is that it's worse than that. It's not "just" the unfortunate deaths of some civilians in close proximity to a firefight between opposing forces (IDF/Hamas), but instead a conscious effort, whether by design, or wanton disregard for rules of engagement, to kill men women and children, to deny aid, to deny food, power, water, medicines, to target aid workers, hospitals, places of worship, shelters, to deny safe passage to Palestinians collectively, and specifically because they are Palestinians. It's genocide.

My dear chap, no no no. This conservative government is steadfast in ensuring the highest standards, world leading standards, apply to the delivery and cleanliness of water and the environment to the British people. its just that we really don’t want a big stink over pollution and profiteering and Thames water going bust, in the run up to an election, so we’ve decided to give Ofwat some wriggle room and a nod and a wink, so they can take the flak instead of us, for easing the way to allow a solution to be reached for a viable business plan.

The government is changing the regulators remits e.g. Ofwat, so that they have to give appropriate consideration to the potential impact of their activities and decisions on economic growth, for the wider UK economy, alongside or as part of their consideration of their other statutory duties. They’re doing it without a commons vote, via a statutory instrument. Looks like they blinked first over Thames water. Colour me shocked.

Wordle 1,021 2/6* that was a one in 3 chance that came good.

Nope, you've broken it. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9134/ For example. We might not have done it as violently as Russia, courtesy of the empire, there's obviously a legacy of "you stole this". "Those were good old the days!" if you're of a certain gammony, Brexity bent. Sort of like the Russians oblivious to what's going on in their names in Ukraine.

It's not for a moment looked like they will "lose" in the sense that Ukraine will win. It looks even less likely now than at any time - neither side wins, IMO, whatever the outcome. The 3 possibilities are Russia takes all of Ukraine - just can't see that happening. Ukraine hoofs Russia out of Ukraine - ditto, or some kind of grinding on until complete exhaustion of resources and manpower leads to a ceasefire and years of sporadic outbreaks of fighting over disputed (by one side or the other) territory. The US Republicans blocking support to Ukraine are clearly helping Russia's cause significantly, and I didn't forsee that being the case, but right now Russia is on top and inclined to throw even more meat at at it, while the US is squabbling internally and running up to an electio n and the potential re-appearance of the Russian lacky with the fake tan and the inflated ego.

I agree with the direction of your post, but unfortunately the west (broadly) did do the things they (Russia etc) are doing now. “We” undermined the UN as much if not more than anyone else. Which doesn’t excuse Russia’s barbarism in the slightest, but it has made it impossible to get any wide consent to stop them, outside of Europe and North America plus Australasia.

No, we're not complicit in the killing of 10,000 children. We're not "assisting genocide" either. I totally get that the words our politicians have used have been feeble and they've prevaricated and muttered sort of caveated platitudes and stuff. That's one thing. The practicality is that we're not assisting or enabling or encouraging or anything else along those lines. The words we use, for Israel to subsequently completely ignore, haven't been up to the standard many people expect "us" to use, but beyond that we're basically horrified onlookers, albeit onlookers who can't bring themselves to state the bleeding obvious, or who have any ability or influence to do anything to stop it. We, the UK public, are way too introspective about it all - "David Cameron said this, Starmer didn't say that, the SNP said this, Sunak said this...how will this affect the polls and the next election"? Now we've got to the stage of "this is still horrific, we must stop selling them arms, because the law says so, [argue some retired UK legal bods]" (and they're no doubt correct). I heard an MP, Zultana, I think, who seemed like a good person, on the radio saying that a British plane had been used to bomb Palestinians. That's not true, though the rest of her case was compelling around the horrors and the failings of British politicians' words to match the situation. The best "we" can do is kind of team up with our fellow EU members* as a collective, with other nations, and try and pressure Israel and the US and Germany to take a very different course of action. But even then, with our "EU + others club" all calling for the horrors to be brought to an end, Israel is likely, while it has the current Government to carry on doing what it's doing for a while yet, and God knows what the consequences will be over the next decades. *parently we're not in the EU, we're just a small other, now.

Lucky you! It's horrendously complex and tedious and the most complex and tedious is the US version(s) ITAR, for example. It's kind of odd, at face value, to look at the US eager to sell F16s to Israel, right now, where they're being used to bomb civilians, but using ITAR to really hold back for ages on allowing Ukraine to get any F16s to stop bombing of civilians...until you appreciate that ITAR isn't about morality, it's about preventing US weapons getting to non-approved places/nations and protecting US business interests (though they don't say that).

Possibly, though as @Chindie replied, it wouldn't be without consequence, and is as you say a "gesture" or "message" - but one which is of absolutely no consequence in terms of stopping the war crimes or genocide or barbarity. It would just be for our own edification. Gesture politics - "look at me, aren't I righteous". Well yes, we are (or might be), but especially in the realm of international relations, gesture politics doesn't work. Whether it be in relation to Israel or Russia or China or anyone else determined to do their own thing it's of no benefit at all in terms of fixing anything. I might be an old cynic, but I think it's almost lost in political discourse that what "Britain " thinks, says or does is mostly irrelevant, with some exceptions. And the politicians hide it, not willing to admit their lack of power or influence, and the general public is just kind of oblivious, fed by media which is very parochial and has a narrow world view and coverage. We just don't have any grasp of what is actually "out there".

I think I see it as slightly less forlorn, though that’s a minor quibble. If US public opinion continues to move the way it is, then with the election coming up and his distaste for Netanyahu, he might pull the leash, if not completely then much tighter. The US establishment is seriously pissed off with BN.

I’ve read that we’re not permitted to sell arms to a nation doing war crimes. I’ve read that planes which contain (as I said) uk made components have been used to bomb civilians. Those parts were sold before the October attacks that set this whole genocide off. I’ve tried to find out if or what we’re currently or since October selling to Israel, but it seems to be being kept from us. Up until October it was a tiny amount in relative terms, given the cost of kit. 40 million a year or so. That’ll pay for a few HUDs and a bit of a radar. The way it works if we stop allowing exports is that if (say) a Head Up Display is sent back to Rochester for repair, or of a radar breaks and requires someone from the uk to fix it in situ, the bod can’t go and do that and the HUD can’t be sent back to Israel. The F35 is more legally complicated. We make the empennage (rear fuselage) in the uk. The parts are then sent off to be assembled into planes. I don’t know whether a uk block on the subsequent export of “our” part of it to Israel can be enforced without US cooperation. America is the key to ending this, if Israel continues with it’s current government.

Yeah. Though it’s not simply just him. Their whole set up is deeply protective and supportive of Israel and has been for a very long time. Biden really detests Netanyahu, whereas Trump likes him and enabled him to go further away from 2 state settlement. And congress wants to send aid (why?, what for?) to Israel and sell them a who ton more bombs and planes. It’s mad.

That’s the point. Parliament debating what words of very strong or very weak words of “Stop it you monster”, for Netanyahu to completely ignore is all very liberal and democratic…and almost entirely performative. There is no (publicly available) information or evidence that the UK is assisting genocide. We’ve certainly not condemned it, which is offensive to many people, including me and most of the uk, and that’s sad for us liberal folk over here. In terms of arms sales, as has been posted previously, we sell them almost nothing that goes bang, or launches things that go bang. Bits for radars, and then we sell America bits of the F35 and some displays for F16s that they then sell to Israel as completed fighter jets. The thing is, if we stopped that today, it makes no difference either. It’s a token gesture. We probably should and we probably won’t. Israel gets pretty much all its wooshbangs from America and Germany and its own manufacturers. We’re not a player to anything other than to a tiny extent. It’s also the case that, acknowledging Israel is governed by a horrendous amalgam of right wing extremists and a crooked monster, forged together by the Hamas attacks) that under more normal times Israel is surrounded by nations and groups who want to eliminate it and it therefore needs to have the means to defend itself. Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest are as genocidal in mentality as Israel has become. The irony is that Israel has undone, for a generation(s) the progress that was happening towards a better relationship with its neighbours in the way it has reacted to Iran’s and Hamas’s “initiative” on 7 October.

None of them do.

This may be a slightly obtuse point, but anyway, here it is. Remember there were all these people arguing about the words in, and the calls for, parliamentary votes on a ceasefire/humanitarian pause and all that? Then, eventually all the MPs did calls for the frightfulness to stop. I expect they feel all the happier for their righteousness. But rather oddly it made absolutely no difference to anything at all and Israel carried on with its war criming and collective punishment and barbarity, like they completely don’t listen or take any notice of what UK MPs say or vote on. So George the shill isn’t going to have any luck there either. Still he’s got a few quid out of being an MP for a bit, again, so there’s that.

Oh, Jees. You’ve put something back in my memory that had been wiped. It’s even worse than the other ones, the Junction one and the Cats one. I curse you to the torment of having a fly refusing to get out of your campervan, for a length of time that is mildly annoying. That’ll learn you.