UK and US to bomb Yemen tonight

[Squid]

I see Jordan is the latest country to take military action. How many is that involved directly in some way now?

That's an ongoing bombing campaign against captagon dealers in southern Syria, so not linked to the conflict in Gaza.

Interesting that Squid cheers.

Genuine question - would you say that makes it not linked to what’s going on more broadly? I wouldn’t, but would like to hear your view or rationale

It is not linked to Israel/Gaza.

However, the fallout from the Syrian Civil War has caused many issues in the region, some of which is impacting/directly connected to what is happening now:

1)Iran - is active across Syria, this makes it v easy to supply Hezbollah (who are also in Syria) and they have both plundered the country. Iran's riches are also used to support the Houthis in Yemen and it makes their vaunted "Axis of Resistance" look strong.

2)Russia - also finds it advantageous to be in Syria. It's a Mediterranean base for their navy among other things. It also noted the ineffectiveness of the West/UN in halting the Assad regime's many human rights abuses and this presumably emboldened them to invade Ukraine.

3)Israel - also noted that the outside world did very little to stop Assad levelling vast chunks of Syria and so has been saying that people must only care so much about them behaving similarly in Gaza for reasons of antisemitism.

4)Syria - is now not only a failed state, it is a narcostate. The world's leading producer of the synthetic amphetamine captogen. This has lead to an increase in organised crime, including in the border regions, hence Jordan conducting bombing raids.

5)Europe - as Syria became and has remained uninhabitable in most regions, it caused a colossal refugee crisis. Many of those refugees, settled in, or wish to settle in Europe. The reaction of much of Europe to this influx is a political lurch to the right across much of the continent.

So, IMO, the region has two sets of problems and the first set (the Syrian Civil War) has made the subsequent problems in Israel/Palestine worse, because it has increased the wealth and military capability of Iran and the Israeli sentiment that they can't do whatever they want to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and that nobody can stop them.

[Protheroe]

Israeli sentiment that they can't do whatever they want to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and that nobody can stop them.

The Israelis are *ONLY* conducting operations inside Gaza against Hamas because of 7 October. 

The skirmishes on the West Bank are much more low level, but indicative of the draw the West Bank has for more extreme Zionists.

[Squid]

Israeli sentiment that they can't do whatever they want to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and that nobody can stop them.

The Israelis are *ONLY* conducting operations inside Gaza against Hamas because of 7 October. 

And Assad regime would claim that they were only conducting operations in (insert name of Syrian city here) because of the events of (insert specific date here).

The end result is identical. Thousands of dead civilians and the rendering of vast areas as incompatible with human life.

The only reason you think they are any different is because you view the Israelis as racially superior.

[Protheroe]

Israeli sentiment that they can't do whatever they want to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and that nobody can stop them.

The Israelis are *ONLY* conducting operations inside Gaza against Hamas because of 7 October. 

And Assad regime would claim that they were only conducting operations in (insert name of Syrian city here) because of the events of (insert specific date here).

The end result is identical. Thousands of dead civilians and the rendering of vast areas as incompatible with human life.

The only reason you think they are any different is because you view the Israelis as racially superior.

Wow. That's some accusation.

I certainly believe democracy is superior to the jackboot of totalitarianism or terrorism. I also believe that mass rape, murder, mutilation and kidnap of innocent civilians by a terrorist cabal who have no democratic legitimacy should not go unanswered. Racially superior? That's a leap.

[Squid]

Israeli sentiment that they can't do whatever they want to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and that nobody can stop them.

The Israelis are *ONLY* conducting operations inside Gaza against Hamas because of 7 October. 

And Assad regime would claim that they were only conducting operations in (insert name of Syrian city here) because of the events of (insert specific date here).

The end result is identical. Thousands of dead civilians and the rendering of vast areas as incompatible with human life.

The only reason you think they are any different is because you view the Israelis as racially superior.

Wow. That's some accusation.

I certainly believe democracy is superior to the jackboot of totalitarianism or terrorism. I also believe that mass rape, murder, mutilation and kidnap of innocent civilians by a terrorist cabal who have no democratic legitimacy should not go unanswered. Racially superior? That's a leap.

1)There's no democracy for the Palestinians of West Bank/East Jerusalem and Gaza living under Israeli occupation. There's a reason why Desmond Tutu called Israel an apartheid state.

2)There's a big difference between something going unanswered and mass genocide. As appalling as the events of 7th October were, they neither justify nor excuse the mass extermination that has taken place in Gaza by the Israelis.

3)Your frequent use of slurs against the population of the Middle East (Israel excepted of course), would indicate that there is a racial element to your views. If you don't want people to think you are racist, maybe don't use racist language.

[Ted Maul]

Israeli sentiment that they can't do whatever they want to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and that nobody can stop them.

The Israelis are *ONLY* conducting operations inside Gaza against Hamas because of 7 October. 

And Assad regime would claim that they were only conducting operations in (insert name of Syrian city here) because of the events of (insert specific date here).

The end result is identical. Thousands of dead civilians and the rendering of vast areas as incompatible with human life.

The only reason you think they are any different is because you view the Israelis as racially superior.

Wow. That's some accusation.

I certainly believe democracy is superior to the jackboot of totalitarianism or terrorism. I also believe that mass rape, murder, mutilation and kidnap of innocent civilians by a terrorist cabal who have no democratic legitimacy should not go unanswered. Racially superior? That's a leap.

1)There's no democracy for the Palestinians of West Bank/East Jerusalem and Gaza living under Israeli occupation. There's a reason why Desmond Tutu called Israel an apartheid state.

2)There's a big difference between something going unanswered and mass genocide. As appalling as the events of 7th October were, they neither justify nor excuse the mass extermination that has taken place in Gaza by the Israelis.

3)Your frequent use of slurs against the population of the Middle East (Israel excepted of course), would indicate that there is a racial element to your views. If you don't want people to think you are racist, maybe don't use racist language.

Israel is #LeastWorst, probably.

[Squid]

The Israelis are *ONLY* conducting operations inside Gaza against Hamas because of 7 October. 

And Assad regime would claim that they were only conducting operations in (insert name of Syrian city here) because of the events of (insert specific date here).

The end result is identical. Thousands of dead civilians and the rendering of vast areas as incompatible with human life.

The only reason you think they are any different is because you view the Israelis as racially superior.

Wow. That's some accusation.

I certainly believe democracy is superior to the jackboot of totalitarianism or terrorism. I also believe that mass rape, murder, mutilation and kidnap of innocent civilians by a terrorist cabal who have no democratic legitimacy should not go unanswered. Racially superior? That's a leap.

1)There's no democracy for the Palestinians of West Bank/East Jerusalem and Gaza living under Israeli occupation. There's a reason why Desmond Tutu called Israel an apartheid state.

2)There's a big difference between something going unanswered and mass genocide. As appalling as the events of 7th October were, they neither justify nor excuse the mass extermination that has taken place in Gaza by the Israelis.

3)Your frequent use of slurs against the population of the Middle East (Israel excepted of course), would indicate that there is a racial element to your views. If you don't want people to think you are racist, maybe don't use racist language.

Israel is #LeastWorst, probably.

Not to the 25,000 Palestinians they've killed in the space of four months.

[CaptainFantastico]

Israeli sentiment that they can't do whatever they want to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and that nobody can stop them.

The Israelis are *ONLY* conducting operations inside Gaza against Hamas because of 7 October. 

And Assad regime would claim that they were only conducting operations in (insert name of Syrian city here) because of the events of (insert specific date here).

The end result is identical. Thousands of dead civilians and the rendering of vast areas as incompatible with human life.

The only reason you think they are any different is because you view the Israelis as racially superior.

Wow. That's some accusation.

I certainly believe democracy is superior to the jackboot of totalitarianism or terrorism. I also believe that mass rape, murder, mutilation and kidnap of innocent civilians by a terrorist cabal who have no democratic legitimacy should not go unanswered. Racially superior? That's a leap.

1)There's no democracy for the Palestinians of West Bank/East Jerusalem and Gaza living under Israeli occupation. There's a reason why Desmond Tutu called Israel an apartheid state.

2)There's a big difference between something going unanswered and mass genocide. As appalling as the events of 7th October were, they neither justify nor excuse the mass extermination that has taken place in Gaza by the Israelis.

3)Your frequent use of slurs against the population of the Middle East (Israel excepted of course), would indicate that there is a racial element to your views. If you don't want people to think you are racist, maybe don't use racist language.

Aye

[Protheroe]

1)There's no democracy for the Palestinians of West Bank/East Jerusalem and Gaza living under Israeli occupation. There's a reason why Desmond Tutu called Israel an apartheid state.

2)There's a big difference between something going unanswered and mass genocide. As appalling as the events of 7th October were, they neither justify nor excuse the mass extermination that has taken place in Gaza by the Israelis.

3)Your frequent use of slurs against the population of the Middle East (Israel excepted of course), would indicate that there is a racial element to your views. If you don't want people to think you are racist, maybe don't use racist language.

There are more democratic and human rights for Arab Israelis than in most Arab States. Gaza and the West Bank had elections to the Palestinian Authority. Fatah became corrupt and ineffective (though not on the scale of the ANC) and Gazans actually elected terrorists who then suspended democracy.

I don't agree with your egregious use of the terms "mass genocide" or "mass extermination".

My slurs are against Middle Eastern regimes and those that support them. The armpit of the world is quite a mild description for a region of poverty stricken failed states, megalomaniac extractive petro-states engaged in bonded labour, Islamofascist regimes and bloodthirsty terrorist groups. You're entitled to consider that racist, I don't agree. I think it's a bloody good description.

Unfortunately no change is on the horizon. As the much feted "Arab Spring" has demonstrated one jackboot is very much like another. The only thing the liberal West has in common with much of the Middle East these days is that we inhabit the same planet. 

I could apply the same slur to Cuba, or Venezuela where regimes have used summary justice and coercion to keep their own people in their lane.  Is that racist too?

I thank goodness I live here, in our lovely peaceful, liberal, inclusive democracy. It's no wonder so many others are so motivated to join us on our island that they literally risk their lives to get here.