Azeem

What DDW said.

I would ideally have commentator panel like reality shows like American idol. One serious meticulous, one blowhard, one for humor, one easily irascible

8 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I think options 1 and 3 bring the world closer to world war 3, so that's not great.

Slowly and steadily.

Every century has a period where borders are changed, old polities go extinct new ones come up. Last century it was in 40s then in 90s with Yugoslavia and Soviets. 

Definitely it will happen in this century as well. 

I propose

independent Texas bcz at least they have local cuisine to distinguish from rest of America.

independent Scotland

merge both Koreas

merge back all the irrelevant former Yugoslavians

independent Catalonia and 2010 WC should go to them. 

all -stan countries to merge

Israel allowed to annex Greater Israel but in return for giving independence to US

All frozen places like Siberia Greenland declared no man's land like Antarctica

independent Tasmania

Athens declared an international city to host all kinds of sporting events to avoid sports washing

All irrelevant countries in Africa Asia that have three colors common in their flags should merge

11 hours ago, Spike said:

It won’t be federally recognised because it doesn’t meet the requirements set for seceding.

Is it a fringe or popular movement ?

Argentina vs Ecuador

Uruguay vs Brazil

Mexico vs Peru

Colombia vs USA

Argentina vs Uruguay

Mexico vs USA

Argentina vs USA

U.S had three options when this started

1. Treat it like an actual war

2. Keep sending low-medium efficiency weapons to drag the war without Ukraine either winning or loosing

3. Disengage and leave Ukraine to its own

They were doing the option 2 but the situation in Israel has taken that off the table. Now they must either go for 1 or 3

Texas has got enough petitions to put secession as an option for the primary elections next year

It's happening

U.S making similar calls but it is likely

a) Just rhetoric

b) Not workable. Most of these 'settlers' are dual nationals. They hold nationalities of US, Belgium etc they don't need a visa.

Israel is now moving from political Zionism to Messianic Zionism. 

If people were following news from Israel prior to all this they may know huge protests were going on against Nethanyahu.

Nethanyahu is leading a coalition govt of very right wing Kahanist-Messianic groups of Israel. What is Kahanist ? Watch video below

One of the primary goals of Kahanism is to bring about the coming of the Jewish Messiah. Early Zionist leaders were mostly secular they faced opposition from Orthodox Jewish circles who opposed creation of Israel bcz they believed a Jewish state cannot be established until the Messiah comes. 

Watch from 17:50

Early Zionist leaders pleaded with them that we can't wait forever let's have a Jewish state first and then you can work for coming of the Messiah. Some Orthodox groups agreed but others oppose to this day as in the video above. 

But as one can sense it was just a ruse to get them on their side as Israel was run by secular leaning, political Zionist groups who kept Kahanist leaning groups at bay. But that started to change in 90s with the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin who was viewed to be giving Palestinians too much concessions.

Since 2000s Nethanyahu has been gaining gradual power. Now the Kahanist-Messianic groups believe the time of Messiah is near and they can't waste time anymore. Some things need to be sorted like a final solution to Palestinian issue and rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.

Nethanyahu in 1991

The end goal of Messianic Zionism is not just solution to Palestine but returning all those places where Jews have ever lived from near to distant past. Weekly publication of Kahanist groups called for annexing south of Lebanon in recent edition.

The red heifer whose sacrifice is needed inorder to mix its ashes with water for purification before building of the Jewish Temple, as a prerequisite for coming of Messiah, were bread and sent from Texas to Israel in Sept 2022. Out of the total five only one needs to be in perfect shape for the ceremony planned in April 2024. 

The Evangelicals in US also support this because they also believe the temple needs to be rebuilt in order for Jesus to return that's why they are supporting the Kahanists in all this. What happens to Jews after that in their view  is another story. 

imo what happens in the region next will be determined by which elements prevail in the policy making circles of US and Israel. Those who view it religious ideologically vs those who view it secular strategically.

– Most centuries in 4th innings of Tests in history (5)

– Only player to score a Test ton in each Test nation

– One of the highest Test century conversion rate of over 50%

– Three times he was informed of a death of his relative ( including mother and brother) while he was batting 50+

– Known for erratic behavior and even pulled a knife at a batting coach

– Known for being rigid as a captain and there was an attempted mutiny against him during CT 2009 which failed bcz one of the mutineer snitched.

I see Judaism as a class indicator in America (at least in upper echelons of society) not some strict ethno-religious group. Marry into one or convert and you are part of the club like Trump's daughter did. 

Chile suddenly went shit after winning back to back Copa Americas

What's with erratic hairstyles and right wing politicians ?

Babar has stepped down from captaincy in all formats. He has been poor in decision making lately yes but he has been treated disrespectfully. Hopefully with captaincy gone he can focus purely on his batting.

Redemption arc coming in T20 next year !

3 minutes ago, Stan said:

Had a quality World Cup but yesterday was annoying for me when Aus were batting.

At that time you'd want someone to really psyche up the players and keep the momentum (after first 10 overs) going. But when Head/Labuschagne started to get settled, his body language was absolutely pathetic. It's like he knew the game was lost and gave up trying to influence it or get the momentum back. He looked bored and uninterested. 

India should've kept one pacer from one end in the middle instead of both Jadeja and Kuldeep bowling. 

I felt bad for Rohit Sharma. He seems a nicer bloke than Kohli but yet has to win a WC despite being so dominant lately. 

ICC white ball tournament index in last 10 years.

Winner = 10 pts

Runner-up = 5 pts

Semifinals = 3 pts

India 37 (1 trophy)

England 36 (2 trophies)

Australia 33 (3 trophies)

New Zealand 24 (0 trophies)

Pakistan 18 ( 1 trophy)

West Indies 13 (1 trophy)

Sri Lanka 13 (1 trophy)

South Africa 12 (0 trophies)

Bangladesh 3 (0 trophies)

Petition to ban Australia from ODI WC. Sign here !

The constant references to bombing of Dresden as a justification for using brute force in Gaza will not convince majority of population with a conscious but it will certainly dent the dominant view of WWII as some sort of virtuous warfare. 

God works in mysterious ways !

I judge Olympics based on the fireworks. Beijing had the best. 

Not one competitive match even upsets were one sided.

India, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia. Cut straight to the semifinals

There is still the mainstream narrative that bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was somewhat necessary that Japan brought it on itself. If you can sell that everything else pales in comparison.