Listening to a podcast the other day, someone claimed that the average person in 2023 receives as much information per day as someone would in their entire life a few hundred years ago. This sounds absurd but it surely makes sense. Today I have looked at hundreds of sites, from maps to videos to online translators. Were I a farm hand in the 1720s, no such things would be available to me.
Well said, Frederick. I agree. It's not for us to take sides, not over Israel or over Ukraine. We are not involved. We cannot change anything. We are small and insignificant now. We can suggest maybe there are peaceful solutions but we can no longer expect to be listened to. Our glory days, so to speak, are long gone. As for the multi-cultural diverse country we live in - I weep for what it once was and no longer is and for what it has become. But all things will pass, including us.
I cannot pick a side between Israel and Palestine either and I refuse to, because it is too complicated for me to understand. However I do take against the USA, not the people of course but the government. Or more accurately those who make money and power out of war. History tells me that we do as we are told and it’s about time we grew up. I can’t stand their hypocrisy any longer.
Another well balanced and interesting article from Frederick.
He is right.
Our leadership elite are only too happy to deflect from the real damage going on within the UK. The Hamas-Israel attack throws up the sole brutal purpose of Hamas (it's not only to 'clear out' Israel but anyone not on their 'side') but also the way the violence of this complex dispute has been imported to the streets of many cities.
These citizens who call for death and violence on the streets of the UK do not appear to understand free speech. Rather, it reflects the crudity of the politics in a land far, far away. Each person who calls for 'death' should face a question - prosecution or deportation? Time for the Elite to wake up.
Good evening. I'm a bit behind the curve but like the overabundance of information you referred to, I have signed up for so many writers I can get overwhelmed sometimes.
Well said about the growing insignificance of the UK. I find it interesting that we still hold the position we do and could easily disappear down yet another rabbit hole as to why that might be.
The Hamas / Israeli atrocities affected me emotionally far more than I would have expected (which does not reflect well on my general demeanor, I must confess). There are plenty of analyses out there and some valid points for both sides. However, my overarching feeling is, what did Hamas expect would happen as a result of their actions? They knew there would be a price to pay and as usual it is the poor bystanders who take the major hit. I would suggest they have as much concern for their people as do the current incumbents of our parliament. And although the topics are not the same, people wielding power target the next generation to be indoctrinated into their version of reality. What hope for a peaceful resolution when the kids are taught to keep hating. What has disappointed me is the over simplistic dopes who hold up banners with no real intelligence as to the complexities of any given situation and the supine response of our boys in blue to the antics of certain expatriot middle easterners. I can see nothing good coming out of this and I find myself overwhelmed sometimes by the sadness of it all.
Britain specifically does have a national interest wrt Israel: the extensive connections between Irish republican and Arab terrorists make a defeat of the latter in our interests to remove allies of the former, so weakening them. Irrespective of current events, we should be sharing intelligence of such connections and, given similarity of COIN in Ulster and Israel’s troublesome territories, knowledge of tactics and equipment, as well as selling to each other and collaborating on manufacture of relevant kit (disgraceful that we invent the first remotely-controlled bomb-disposal robot, the ‘Wheelbarrow’, and now we use one made by Northrop-Grumman while Israel makes its own).
Obv. we should make war directly on Irish republican terrorists but this is easily done (were any British government to find the balls, missing since 1921) in conjunction with removing their allies.
wrt latest Hamas attack, all countries with burgeoning Muslim minorities should desire Hamas’ defeat to demoralise them—as is evident from 9/11 onwards, the more they win, the more ground ceded to them, the more it encourages them.
‘[A]s the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say “Civis Romanus sum”; so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and strong arm of England shall protect him against injustice and wrong.’
That duty should apply to all governments: Germans, for example, should ‘feel confident that the watchful eye and strong arm of [Germany] shall protect them against injustice and wrong’—and *revenge* them when needed. That duty being criminally neglected by modern governments is no excuse not to remind them of it.
One might legitimately dispute over how ‘[x]’-national some of those victims are, frequently described as ‘[x]-Israeli’; but if there is no responsibility for nations to defend or revenge [x]-Israelis then there can be no responsibility for nations to ‘rescue’ [x]-Gazans; and we should remark this at every opportunity—if we owe one lot ‘rescue’ then we owe the other lot defence and revenge.
But it’s a false dichotomy that the choice is between deploying our respective armed forces and letting Israel burn. In 1967 Israel defeated the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq; in 1973, they defeated them again along with some Cuban forces. They don’t need foreign soldiers (esp. if they’ll spend their time waving rainbow flags); just some moral, diplomatic and logistical support. Give them the tools and they’ll finish the job, to paraphrase Winston.
As for worrying about HMG behaving in such a way as to provoke riots—we should *want* the Muslims to riot so that people see exactly what the problem is. The mainstream, ‘normies’, the less-politically aware, are already waking up, however slowly: I’ve observed a few extreme-ish ideas turning up in mainstream circles, from deporting foreign troublemakers regardless of them actually breaking a law to ‘defunding’ the police. ‘Too late’ you say? Perhaps so, but we might at least go down fighting; and, to paraphrase Scott Alexander: If we’re doomed anyway, we’ll at least get the consolation of feeling like we’re doing them some damage on our way down.
It would be sensible to add our voices, however small, to these currents.
The Woke-Left are revealing themselves for what they actually are. They have openly declared that this is what ‘decolonization’ is—it’s not removing a few statues, or giving greater attention to black people in history: it’s mass rape, mass murder, and a level of evil not even sparing children or elderly. The Left are splitting. The Labour Party are splitting. The Greens (after Greta associating cause with the Hamas rape/murder fest) are splitting. And BLM are burning what little is left of their reputation.
Well said, Frederick. I agree. It's not for us to take sides, not over Israel or over Ukraine. We are not involved. We cannot change anything. We are small and insignificant now. We can suggest maybe there are peaceful solutions but we can no longer expect to be listened to. Our glory days, so to speak, are long gone. As for the multi-cultural diverse country we live in - I weep for what it once was and no longer is and for what it has become. But all things will pass, including us.
I cannot pick a side between Israel and Palestine either and I refuse to, because it is too complicated for me to understand. However I do take against the USA, not the people of course but the government. Or more accurately those who make money and power out of war. History tells me that we do as we are told and it’s about time we grew up. I can’t stand their hypocrisy any longer.
Another well balanced and interesting article from Frederick.
He is right.
Our leadership elite are only too happy to deflect from the real damage going on within the UK. The Hamas-Israel attack throws up the sole brutal purpose of Hamas (it's not only to 'clear out' Israel but anyone not on their 'side') but also the way the violence of this complex dispute has been imported to the streets of many cities.
These citizens who call for death and violence on the streets of the UK do not appear to understand free speech. Rather, it reflects the crudity of the politics in a land far, far away. Each person who calls for 'death' should face a question - prosecution or deportation? Time for the Elite to wake up.
Good evening. I'm a bit behind the curve but like the overabundance of information you referred to, I have signed up for so many writers I can get overwhelmed sometimes.
Well said about the growing insignificance of the UK. I find it interesting that we still hold the position we do and could easily disappear down yet another rabbit hole as to why that might be.
The Hamas / Israeli atrocities affected me emotionally far more than I would have expected (which does not reflect well on my general demeanor, I must confess). There are plenty of analyses out there and some valid points for both sides. However, my overarching feeling is, what did Hamas expect would happen as a result of their actions? They knew there would be a price to pay and as usual it is the poor bystanders who take the major hit. I would suggest they have as much concern for their people as do the current incumbents of our parliament. And although the topics are not the same, people wielding power target the next generation to be indoctrinated into their version of reality. What hope for a peaceful resolution when the kids are taught to keep hating. What has disappointed me is the over simplistic dopes who hold up banners with no real intelligence as to the complexities of any given situation and the supine response of our boys in blue to the antics of certain expatriot middle easterners. I can see nothing good coming out of this and I find myself overwhelmed sometimes by the sadness of it all.
Britain specifically does have a national interest wrt Israel: the extensive connections between Irish republican and Arab terrorists make a defeat of the latter in our interests to remove allies of the former, so weakening them. Irrespective of current events, we should be sharing intelligence of such connections and, given similarity of COIN in Ulster and Israel’s troublesome territories, knowledge of tactics and equipment, as well as selling to each other and collaborating on manufacture of relevant kit (disgraceful that we invent the first remotely-controlled bomb-disposal robot, the ‘Wheelbarrow’, and now we use one made by Northrop-Grumman while Israel makes its own).
Obv. we should make war directly on Irish republican terrorists but this is easily done (were any British government to find the balls, missing since 1921) in conjunction with removing their allies.
wrt latest Hamas attack, all countries with burgeoning Muslim minorities should desire Hamas’ defeat to demoralise them—as is evident from 9/11 onwards, the more they win, the more ground ceded to them, the more it encourages them.
Then there is the duty that governments once owed their citizens (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/11/israel-hamas-war-foreign-nationals/) to protect them; as Palmerston said, speaking in 1850:
‘[A]s the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say “Civis Romanus sum”; so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and strong arm of England shall protect him against injustice and wrong.’
That duty should apply to all governments: Germans, for example, should ‘feel confident that the watchful eye and strong arm of [Germany] shall protect them against injustice and wrong’—and *revenge* them when needed. That duty being criminally neglected by modern governments is no excuse not to remind them of it.
One might legitimately dispute over how ‘[x]’-national some of those victims are, frequently described as ‘[x]-Israeli’; but if there is no responsibility for nations to defend or revenge [x]-Israelis then there can be no responsibility for nations to ‘rescue’ [x]-Gazans; and we should remark this at every opportunity—if we owe one lot ‘rescue’ then we owe the other lot defence and revenge.
But it’s a false dichotomy that the choice is between deploying our respective armed forces and letting Israel burn. In 1967 Israel defeated the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq; in 1973, they defeated them again along with some Cuban forces. They don’t need foreign soldiers (esp. if they’ll spend their time waving rainbow flags); just some moral, diplomatic and logistical support. Give them the tools and they’ll finish the job, to paraphrase Winston.
As for worrying about HMG behaving in such a way as to provoke riots—we should *want* the Muslims to riot so that people see exactly what the problem is. The mainstream, ‘normies’, the less-politically aware, are already waking up, however slowly: I’ve observed a few extreme-ish ideas turning up in mainstream circles, from deporting foreign troublemakers regardless of them actually breaking a law to ‘defunding’ the police. ‘Too late’ you say? Perhaps so, but we might at least go down fighting; and, to paraphrase Scott Alexander: If we’re doomed anyway, we’ll at least get the consolation of feeling like we’re doing them some damage on our way down.
It would be sensible to add our voices, however small, to these currents.
The Woke-Left are revealing themselves for what they actually are. They have openly declared that this is what ‘decolonization’ is—it’s not removing a few statues, or giving greater attention to black people in history: it’s mass rape, mass murder, and a level of evil not even sparing children or elderly. The Left are splitting. The Labour Party are splitting. The Greens (after Greta associating cause with the Hamas rape/murder fest) are splitting. And BLM are burning what little is left of their reputation.
It’s an open goal; and the increasingly-misnamed ‘Right’ are either refusing to score or helping defend it. (One guy gets it, at least: https://americanmind.org/salvo/dont-waste-a-good-crisis/)