Forum Topic

Peace In The Middle East?

Doubtful.  The cease fire is due to start at 6am tomorrow but apparently Netanyahu is stalling and says he wants a full list of the hostages names.

Sue Hammond ● 516d17 Comments

Khan's remit is not to see beyond London except where he might learn to improve our excruciatingly expensive transport system and not waste £££ on renaming stations, Philippa.

Lucille Grant ● 515d

All unverifiable allegations.Not surprised that you seem to endorse the claim that the German SECRET SERVICE (!) is investigating a legitimate political Party.MI5 to vet the Conservatives next ?And why the hell should the EU's (unelected) executive branch investigate a social media platform for its political views.Fine for addressing potential terrorist groups (of which there are many amongst the vast number of Islamic immigrants) or groups threatening vulnerable groups such as children and women.But they should keep their hands of constraining legitimate political free speech - even if you don't like its content.

John Hawkes ● 515d

'Thank God the Mayor of London can see and think beyond London'.But for what purpose ?Would you not feel safer on the streets if his vision was more myopic and he introduced harsher police methods to reduce knife crime in the city he is in charge of ?

John Hawkes ● 515d

'What is clear also is the Netanyahu administration could have stopped this war much earlier. Arguably'.But possibly not as quickly as the Islamist Arab terrorists that invaded his country last October.Yours is just an example of victim shaming.He waited to ensure his country's enemies were sufficiently weakened as to pose much, much less of a threat.I note Corbyn and McDonnell were on the streets on Saturday cos playing Palestinian 'freedom fighters'.Were you ?Credit to Starmer and the current Labour Party for standing by Israel's right to exist

John Hawkes ● 515d

@Mr HawkesOh the little man doesn't need to bother himself with the Mayoral job description because he doesn't have to prove that he could actually do it: not all the while his Brothers and the lycra brigade keep electing him. However Khan IS an expert at grandstanding, virtue-signalling and of wasting untold £millions of tax-payers money.  He manages to do this by appointing executives of this-and-that-and-god-knows-what, in fact there were 1,300 employees all on salaries of £100,000+  pa.  These figures were collated from 2023/4 so goodness knows what they are now! Khan's reckless strategy was so successful 🙄that he managed to bankrupt TFL not once, but twice! Khan is also an expert at being chauffeured around his Manor in a huge £300,000 Range Rover which is bulletproof and bombproof and was gifted to him by the Metropolitan Police - the same Force that he fails to support. The one drawback, (with his poundshop rival to Trump's Beast), is that the little squirt has to sit on a big cushion in order to see out the windows.  Aww bless ...

Sue Hammond ● 515d

Thank God the Mayor of London can see and think beyond London.

Philippa Bond ● 515d

"Is Biden winning more important than peace?"Not to me, but, to Biden, I assume that it would be.

David Ainsworth ● 515d

"Possibly. But would that have won him.."Is Biden winning more important than peace? Would you prefer President Biden still to be president and no ceasefire?Now if you claimed Trump somehow prevented a ceasefire in a similar way to the CIA preventing the hostages being released from Iran until after the election that Carter lost. That would make sense although I'm not aware of any such claim from anyone.Of course Trump gave plenty of military aid to Israel as have a lot of presidents. Israel is considered a strategic location for the US presence in the region."What is clear also is the Netanyahu administration could have stopped this war much earlier."US pressure has always been needed to force Israel to show constraint. It doesn't excuse Israel but that US pressure was not there under Biden.

Ed Robinson ● 515d

"What is clear is the Biden administration could have stopped this war much earlier with less civilian casualties and more hostages lives saved."Possibly. But would that have won him the election? Would Trump not have attacked him? There is massive support for Israel in the US. And Biden supports that too.What is clear also is the Netanyahu administration could have stopped this war much earlier. Arguably.Trump gave plenty of military aid to Israel duirng his first term.https://www.axios.com/2023/11/04/us-israel-aid-military-funding-chart

David Ainsworth ● 516d

Is Musk a defender of free speech? "The European Commission has asked X to hand over internal documents about its algorithms, as it steps up its investigation into whether Elon Musk’s social media platform has breached EU rules on content moderation.The EU’s executive branch told the company it wanted to see internal documentation about its “recommender system”, which makes content suggestions to users, and any recent changes made to it, by 15 February.X has been under investigation since December 2023 under the EU’s content law – known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) – over how it tackles the spread of illegal content and information manipulation. The company has been accused of manipulating the platform’s systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibility over other political groups."https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/17/eu-asks-x-for-internal-documents-about-algorithms-as-it-steps-up-investigation-------------------------"Musk has been weighing how he and his allies can destabilise the Labour government and has sought information about building support for alternative British political movements to force a change in government, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.Musk didn't immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, outside regular business hours."His view is that Western civilisation itself is threatened," one of the people was quoted as telling the FT.""Separately, Musk is scheduled to host Alternative for Germany party leader Alice Weidel in a live interview on X on Thursday. The Musk-endorsed German party has been labelled as right-wing extremist by the German security services."https://www.reuters.com/world/musk-examines-how-oust-starmer-uk-premier-before-next-election-ft-reports-2025-01-09/

David Ainsworth ● 516d

'Khan needs to butt out'.Since when did Sir Mayor Khan become an expert on American foreign policy and fascism ?I thought he was paid to ensure the tubes and buses run on time and to keep us safe in our streets from knife crime.He is surely no more than a local councillor and as such should spend his time concentrating on local issues that affect his constituents.His posturing is really quite embarrassing.

John Hawkes ● 516d

What is clear is the Biden administration could have stopped this war much earlier with less civilian casualties and more hostages lives saved.The same administration that allowed the war to go on is the one that Labour saw fit to campaign for.

Ed Robinson ● 516d

Khan needs to butt out. As Labour struggles to forge ties with the incoming US administration, this little tw@t with a big mouth needs to button it and desist from reopening his long running feud with Trump. Will he be stupid enough to allow the huge orange Trump balloon to be hoisted over London again, I wonder?

Sue Hammond ● 516d

Some one seems angry about the new US government. Less angry about our own. Who have been supplying political coverage, intelligence, logistics, probably targeting and more.I believe he has that right.Personally political censorship of free speech which is within the law is a very dangerous slope to go down. As soon as you do that you cease to be a democracy and lose the very thing you claim to protect."Sadiq Khan warns western democracy at risk from ‘resurgent fascism’ ahead of Trump inauguration"https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/18/sadiq-khan-warns-western-democracy-at-risk-from-resurgent-fascism-ahead-of-trump-inauguration

Ed Robinson ● 516d

"He never wanted it in the first place in my opinion. Let's see how he behaves as it ticks down to Monday. He will not defy Trump."Never say never with Netanyahu. Still, Trump v. Netanyahu might be quite a battle."In a surprising turn of events, president-elect Donald Trump recently shared on his Truth Social a video featuring Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being “a deep, dark son of a bitch” who has led the US into “endless wars” in the Middle East."https://unherd.com/newsroom/has-trump-fallen-out-with-netanyahu/

David Ainsworth ● 516d

He never wanted it in the first place in my opinion. Let's see how he behaves as it ticks down to Monday. He will not defy Trump.

Sue Hammond ● 516d

And Netanyahu says "Israel reserves right to resume war" and calls first phase a "temporary ceasefire".......

Ivonne Holliday ● 516d