War on Terrorism (Politics)

[Wile E. Coyote]

All this tosh about clever, new generation, assymetric warfare, Gerasimov (the patron saint of assymetric), after losing his elite forces around Kiev, has done much better by a combo of mobilising prisoners, constructing trenches, and refitting T 60s.

[Mick Harper]

Yes, people always forget that Russia improves its warfighting capabilities exponentially during wars. It would not surprise me if they conquer the whole of Ukraine. This time.

[Mick Harper]

The Ukrainians have at last recognised the realities of the war. After months of telling us their offensives were making steady if slow progress, an official spokesperson said last night, "Our soldiers have been fighting magnificently and the frontlines are now stable."

[Mick Harper]

Definition of Chutzpah

[Wile E. Coyote]

It appears to Wiley that, given they have been up against the might of the Russians who most analysts thought, prior to the invasion, had one of the strongest militaries in the world, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi didn't do badly enough to warrant sacking?

Maybe the plan is to reinstate him if they now go backwards......

[Mick Harper]

All war leaders find themselves in this position. They can't sack themselves, they can't sack the army, who's left? So long as it isn't (as reported) because he is fearful of the bloke taking his job, I don't mind too much.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Whilst I don't want to sound too conspiratorial, he is killing off the lot of them. Navalny will not be the last. Girkin is probably next.

[Mick Harper]

This is a puzzle. There does not seem to be any need, these people have little in the way of real mass popular support. Like this weirdo who had his application refused because some of his signatures weren't acceptable. I can only offer two possibilities:

1. Putin is adopting the 'Catholic' approach, that all heresy must be crushed at all times because you never know which may have legs
2. Putin is preparing the way for a genuine CP/Tsarist-style autocracy.

I would add 'going mad' but it's too orthodox. I see no other signs of derangement. You need all your wits about you to run Russia.

[Mick Harper]

The Axis of Resistance to Israel in Gaza has become a ring of steel. Susan Sarandon is now securely in place.

[Mick Harper]

News that Israel's GNP is down 20% in the last quarter is the first good news outa there for some time.

[Mick Harper]

News from the Sahel

Ecowas has lifted sanctions from Niger. They had found that applying sanctions to a country that is 191st out of 192 countries in the Poverty Index hurts them more than it hurts them. But they're tough hombres, Ecowas. They insisted, before lifting the sanctions, that Niger's military government agree they will start roughing out a timetable for a return to civilian rule. "Yessir, Mr Ecowas," said Lance-Corporal Ibrahim, "I'll pass the message on."

In Senegal, they are rioting because the local strongman has put off elections. Al-Jazeera's man on the spot started interviewing rioters and at one point grabbed hold of and started to spin round a hulking biker in full crash helmet and accessories, who had two of the opposition candidates stencilled on the back of his Hells' Angels-style jerkin. The bloke was just about to deck him him when he remembered, just in time, the power of the press.

[Wile E. Coyote]

[Mick Harper]

I wasn't saying it was very bad news but--so far as I know--it represents new news for Israelis who aren't used to their foreign policy costing them money. There's no point in arguing things from the point of view of Palestinian pocket books. Nobody could argue that the State of Israel is anything but a powerful force for good economically. My guess though is that those 150,000 Palestinians are celebrating every much as Palestinians without an economic stake in their overlords.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Covid did greater damage to the Israeli economy than Hamas has done. A few months of partial construction shutdown is no problem.

[Mick Harper]

Do you dig holes for a living, Wiley?