Politics

[Brent in Az]

This week's leftist word flavor in support of Palestine is "Israeli apartheid".

 

[fourfive8]

I also noticed the California Metro Boy is chasing the cameras again. Hurry, get a new Speaker who can assign him to some committee like Mugwump Migration Studies.

 

[cash_tx]

A pretty good compilation of Israeli Air Force strike videos. I have to assume their targeting intel is pretty good (which begs the question how they failed so badly in detecting the pending Hamas attack). My assumption is they are taking out every building and facility associated with the Hamas governance of Gaza. They would also strike known weapons storage areas and suspected tunnel complexes. I also suspect not a single Hamas leader has a home to which he can return.

This sort of interdiction campaign in a built-up area will cause collateral casualties - probably large numbers of them. We almost certainly would no prosecute it so aggressively, but then again 911 was not perpetrated by a neighbor, and our more restrained strategy in Afghanistan (the closest comparison) was not altogether successful. Whatever else happens over the next several weeks, the Israeli response will be long remembered in Gaza.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/17454zy

I gotta be honest, the last 14 seconds of that video didn't disappoint. ;-)

 

[geoff rath]

Leaving arms in Afghanistan was a complete cluster and embarrassment, but those arms aren’t the ones needed to fight China. Same goes for the arms we shipped to Ukraine. Those arms aren’t what we’d need to fight China either. Any arms we ship to Israel will be bought and paid for. We’ve been selling them arms for decades. Again, any arms we sell to Israel won’t be what’s needed in a war against China.

Any conflict with China will be a Naval war. You see, their entire economy depends on those shipping containers they load on boats being full of merchandise when they leave and food when they come back. Bottle them up for 60 days and China stops functioning. Their decision to invade Taiwan, if it ever comes, will only be made despite all of the reasons not to. Xi may well do it, but it’ll be the end of the PRC.

Interesting reading on the "China Threat', to Australia in particular is the late Gen Jim Molan's book "Danger on our Doorstep". He did sterling work during the Iraq deployment, as I suspect Red Leg , and others would know.

 

[Ray B]

Somewhat like the Tet offensive in Viet Nam.

Not at all like the TET offensive- like the liberal media and Walter Kronkites spin.

Too bad so many misconceptions continue about that conflict.

 

[Hunt anything]

Not at all like the TET offensive- like the liberal media and Walter Kronkites spin.

Too bad so many misconceptions continue about that conflict.

I was basing my statement from a conversation with a UH1 pilot that WAS there. We had the conversation at a dove hunt yesterday.

 

[geoff rath]

Some of my surmises and statements on Hamas' link to the PLO are patently wrong, I freely admit them. Meanwhile, strong anti-Israeli protests in Sydney were allowed to proceed, while a single Jewish protester was arrested "for his own protection". NOT a good look for Aussie (leftist) leadership. Our foreign minister has been reluctant in her condemnation of Hamas' action, (she is of Malaysian/Chinese origin.) and our globetrotting Prime Minister is little better.
We are less than a week away from a vote on Indigenous voice to parliament, a dividing move, IMHO.
Finally, we need to accept that the hostages are all but gone; any who survive will be so seriously traumatised and brutalised they will need a lifetime of support. The video of a small female child being held aloft among protesting men, clutching a "full-house" M4 means no male Hamas supporter, civilian or militant, should remain alive.

 

[Vintageguy]

Notice how many outspoken Arabic women have come to the fore in the west? "Back home" they'd still be in the mud kitchen cooking bread over an open fire, subject to all sorts of brutality ...

Yet they hate this country, smh.

 

[CJW]

This video is graphic. It's heart breaking and disgusting. It shows what evil truly is. But like Ben says, look at it. I will add that we need to remember that we have plenty of sympathizers in our own country and our government.

Pray for the prisoners.

 

[Ray B]

I was basing my statement from a conversation with a UH1 pilot that WAS there. We had the conversation at a dove hunt yesterday.

You seem to be presuming that I wasn't. Just goes to show you, you can be wrong twice in a row.

 

[Foxi]

80 years ago, Bomber Command and the 8th Air Force would have gone full Hamberg and Dresden on Gaza. It was a different time where victory was the only objective and you did not have iPhones to record the carnage.

"This war differs from other wars, in this particular. We are not fighting armies but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war."

the harsh hand of war was really felt by the civilian population in the totally bombed cities of Germany .
The result was only an even closer alliance with Hitler.
"Now more than ever" was the realisation.
Strategy looks different.

Not a single person in the GAZA Strip is in favour of Israel.
Do they want to kill them all?
2.2 million people in an area the size of Munich?
After this war on terror, there must be a solution and the worldwide recognition that Iran must never possess the atomic bomb.

Israel's right to exist must be defended, in Germany in particular, this is rightly a matter of state policy,
but the settlement policy in Gaza and the West Bank is a desaster

 

[Ray B]

, there must be worldwide recognition that Iran must never possess the atomic bomb.

Oh I don't know, I suspect the free world has a few that they would be willing to give to Iran- manner of delivery to be determined.

 

[bowjijohn]

Hamas are possibly just pawns in this

Questions that spring to mind …

Who is behind it?

Why now?

What are the tactical and strategic goals?

What else is being planned?

Once her boarders are re-secured Israel needs to move strategically, with care and caution

Over reaction on Israel’s part might be one of the short term objectives of the attackers

I can’t help but see Iran’s finger prints all over this

Perhaps even Russia too

Here in the west we might see fissures in our own political values laid bare

 

[Hunt anything]

You seem to be presuming that I wasn't. Just goes to show you, you can be wrong twice in a row.

Massive intelligence failure an enemy that killed indiscriminatley with no regards to woman and children was Toms main point. seems similar. Didn’t presume anything just relaying what someone that was there told me.

 

[fourfive8]

I smell many rats(D) in all of this

Yep, and the odor of rats is getting stronger, including from within the US

 

[Red Leg]

Massive intelligence failure an enemy that killed indiscriminatley with no regards to woman and children was Toms main point. seems similar. Didn’t presume anything just relaying what someone that was there told me.

I agree that there is a parallel. The scale was much larger in Tet, but the Hamas "offensive" is in a number of ways quite similar. There was a massive "indications and warning" failure by the intelligence community; the assault was initially successful in seizing ground and inflicting massive casualties; and conventional forces eventually overcame the enemy. Containing the much larger offensive in Tet it took weeks, inside Israel it took about 72 hours.

In 1968, the press, led by Walter Conkrite concluded that war could not be won. That conclusion was reached in spite of the fact that the Vietcong were destroyed as a meaningful combat force for the remainder of the war. The North Vietnamese regular units were used sparingly during the offensive to preserve their combat power.

There have been dozens of books written about Vietnam, but I think there is a general consensus that a constant stream of "we're making progress" reports from the American leadership in Saigon seemed to be made a lie by the offensive. The country was growing weary of the war, and the offensive seemed to indicate the North Vietnamese and Vietcong were gaining strength rather than being defeated. In that environment, any objective assessments from the battlefield were discarded by a then thoroughly skeptical press. We still have to await the eventual press reaction to Israel's coming ground assault into Gaza. However, Tet offers a clear warning.

The parallels pretty much end there however. Israel does not have the luxury of withdrawing and Gaza isn't going anywhere. For nearly fifty years, Israel has shown great restraint and allowed first the PLO and then Hamas a large degree of self-determination in Gaza. I am certain the coming incursion will be massive and will likely rival the fighting for control of Fallujah.

This morning it was announced that the crossing point from Gaza to Egypt had been reopened and that Israel was encouraging non-combatants to flee. I have no doubt reporters will be offered the opportunity to see any number of grieving Muslim mothers and wives once the Israeli counterattack begins. Taking a chapter from ISIS, Hamas may publicly murder their hostages. Unlike the US, I sense that Israel intends to carry through and defeat if not exterminate the Hamas organization. I suspect they will be immune to any press criticism for a while to come.

 

[Brent in Az]

Never underestimate what the Democrats will do for distraction.
The heat is on Biden & Son, and $6 billion is made available to Iran with impeccable timing.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

 

[bowjijohn]

An exit to Egypt for women and children and non fighting males would seem a sensible idea

Before IDF enter Gaza in search of Hamas fighters and hostages they’d do well to revisit ‘Black Hawk Down’

 

[mdwest]

An exit to Egypt for women and children and non fighting males would seem a sensible idea

Before IDF enter Gaza in search of Hamas fighters and hostages they’d do well to revisit ‘Black Hawk Down’

Pressure on Gaza border alarms Egypt as strikes close crossing

Egypt is moving to prevent a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip into its Sinai Peninsula, as Israeli bombardments halted crossings at the only exit point from the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, Gaza officials and Egyptian security sources said.

www.reuters.com

Israel has told non combatants to go to Egypt…

Egypt however doesn’t want a mass exodus of Pals entering their country.

BHD has little relevance…

Fallujah or Ramadi would be far better case studies for the Israelis.

 

[Brent in Az]

What are the odds of another terrorist attack on American soil? It's been awhile.