Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

on a less parochial front, FT has laid into Saudi in no uncertain terms ..... below is a short extract .....


Saudi Arabia not only exports oil, but tanker-loads of quasi-totalitarian religious dogma and pipelines of jihadi volunteers, even as it struggles to insulate itself from the blowback; and King Abdullah, in his end of Ramadan address, warns against the “devilish” extremism of “these deviant forces”. Jihadi extremism does present a threat to the kingdom. But in doctrinal terms it is hard to see in what way it “deviates” from Wahhabi orthodoxy, with its literalist and exclusivist rendering of Sunni Islam. Its extreme interpretation of monotheism anathematises other beliefs, in particular the “idolatrous” practices of Christians and Shia Muslims, as infidel or apostate. That can be read as limitless sanction for jihad.

About 80 seats outright majority Fred with labour on 38%.

Its only one poll though.

Think come the day itl be more like 30 to 40 overal majority to labour.

don't rush to open the champagne :-)

Not everyone is blind to it c, but you wont see it on news at ten.



Isis's slaughter of the Yazidi is a new Rwanda happening before our eyes


By Dan Hodges World Last updated: August 7th, 2014


http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100282699/isiss-slaughter-of-the-yazidi-is-a-new-rwanda-happening-before-our-eyes/

everyone deludes themselves about Saudi's stability
there's much underlying unrest and, more importantly, strong fundamentalist support

US President Barack Obama on Thursday night authorised air strikes to halt the advance in Iraq of Islamic militants and prevent a possible “genocide” in a substantial escalation of America’s military role in the country.

what is the view of this board?
do please not get sidetracked down the "gaza route", as that is not the question asked

for myself, i fear the consequences of both acting and of doing nothing at all.
on balance, i just about come down on the side of action, but am happy to leave the amis to do the dirty work

Why not get O'Bammy to have a word with isis's sponsors?


jaw jaw is better than war war (copywrite)

Im for action. Air Strikes and Food drops. (IRAQ)

These barstewards need wiping off the earth.

Hanging Kids and choping their heads of , truly sick.

Max - i'm afraid isis leadership are not of the mentality to talk sensibly, any more than were the mahdi

Yep Cynics right they will never sit around the table and negotiate, they have already made that clear to the World.

This is one occasion that zI agree with the use of force. In a way it is important that this has come to a crisis point. It brings the struggle between extremism and the general population into sharp relief. It gathers large numbers of crazies into one place and makes it easier to deal with them.

Sounds like the present Israeli administration.

as usual, fred fails to answer the question and slithers around it

Just look at this posted a bit earlier on Twitter, DISGUSTING, what are the police playing at, they should be in taking the flag down and knocking hell out of those thugs. Religion my arse, thugs and nothing but thugs.

David Jones @DavidJo52951945 ·

ISIS flag flown in London- muslims will never be British flag should be banned like in Holland

'Jihadist' flag flown in east London
Flag flown outside housing estate on Poplar High Street
We must be intolerant of this intolerance

Rajeev Syal
The Guardian, Thursday 7 August 2014 21.14 BST


The entrance to the Poplar housing estate. Photo: Martin Godwin/Guardian

A black flag with white Arabic writing, similar to those flown by jihadist groups, was flying at the entrance of an east London housing state near Canary Wharf.

In a highly provocative gesture, the emblem was planted on top of the gates of the Will Crooks estate on Poplar High Street, and is surrounded by flags of Palestine and slogans.

The flag bears similar writing to the jihadi flags that have been flown by the extremist group in Iraq and other jihadi groups since the 1990s. When the estate was approached last night, a group of about 20 Asian youths swore at Guardian journalists and told them to leave the area immediately. One youth threatened to smash a camera.

When a passerby tried to take a picture of the flag on a phone, one of the gang asked him if he was Jewish. The passerby replied: "Would it make a difference?" The youth said: "Yes, it fucking would." Asked if the flag was an Isis flag, one local man said: "It is just the flag of Allah." But another man asked: "So what if it is?"

One local man said that the flag has been there for several days. "People were taking photos of it last night," he said. A Metropolitan police spokesman said on Thursday that they had received no complaints about offensive flags in the Tower Hamlets area. The Dutch government has banned the public display of the Isis flag, but it is not illegal in the UK.

Fair enough, knock the isis shits for a six...no problem, but you cant do it with aircraft alone.

Also, there remains the problem of their sponsors...Saudi and others, are you going to knock them off as well?

Fred , dosen't want to answer it , that would mean agreeing with the other poster's and he wouldn't get any perverted Pleasure / kick out of that

saudi are not a threat in themselves

aldo - fred's persistent non-answers are those of a retired civil servant of some rank i suspect or something of that ilk

GF , the flag , unbelievable !! why oh why are we so weak in this country ..

Take it down ( we don't want our estates decorated with anything unless it's jubilee time) and kick the shit out of the lot of them ...

Come on lets stop the personal stuff, and debate this flag flying in london.

Should be ripped down.

Isnt that where Hays lives?????

A Metropolitan police spokesman said on Thursday that they had received no complaints about offensive flags in the Tower Hamlets area.

Strange , do they all surport Isis in the Tower Hamlet's area ?