Dr. Gonzo

Beheaddie Howe talking about how “Newcastle have no friends to loan us players” lol

Apparently this ship that's been seized is the same one the US seized sometime last year.

Not the first time Iran's navy's done this either so they've got a bit of experience. I'd imagine they helped train the Houthis on how to do this too.

Iran's seized an oil tanker - US is demanding it's immediate release. Iran's playing a dangerous game, either thinking the US doesn't have the strength or will to strike at it - or doing what it can to force a US strike on Iran so they attempt to turn the Israel v Palestine conflict into a West v Islam conflict. They're not leaving many options available for the West. Sanctions haven't worked as a deterrent for... decades. It's just squeezed a desperate people, while the corrupt elite there have hoarded the remaining wealth. Diplomacy's a limited option when you don't have anywhere near close to normal diplomatic relations with a country. From the IR's perspective, conflict with the US gives them a convenient excuse to really clamp down on all dissent as brutally as possible and they can use an attack by the US to attempt to get the same sort of "rally around the flag" affect Israel's had since the October 7th attack.

If you're referring to the first Gulf War, I'll have to remind you that: the US led coalition did not remove "the head of the snake" - they stopped Iraq from taking over Kuwait's oil fields, they didn't remove Saddam Hussein from power. If you're referring to the second Gulf War, they removed Saddam Hussein from power - and then the remnants of the Baath party of Iraq into the eager arms of the Saudis and unleashed ISIS on the world. Wahhabis and Salafists teach and force others to accept a poisonous form of Islam that is as dangerous as the Shia extremist crap the IR pushes. And with Hamas, they're not even Shia, they're just extremist Sunnis being backed by Iran because Iran views them as useful pawns in it's proxy war with the US and Israel. It's Qatar that's more similar in ideology and dogma. But either way, referring to either Gulf War in this instance is a bit weird. Neither war accomplished much in terms of combatting extremism, in fact the second war led to the spread of radicalised Islamic terrorists. Most, if not all, of the US's adventures in the Middle East have been abject foreign policy failures that at best don't affect the status quo too much and at worst just ended up enflaming an already enflamed region. The Houthis won't be crushed easily, it's just a conflict that would inflict more Yemenis to be caught in that brutal battle between Iran's puppets and Saudi Arabia's puppets for years to come. It's pretty clear that Russia and Iran (and probably China too) are hoping to pull the US into more open conflict in the Middle East. With Iran, they've learned from the US invasion of Iraq, Syria's civil war, and Yemen's civil war is that instability in the region gives them greater influence. It's why they've encouraged their proxies to kick off the way they have - stability was leading to peace between two of their geopolitical enemies. Iran's banking on the US being unlikely to invade and occupy them. Russia's banking on the US getting involved in expensive Middle Eastern conflicts means they'll care less about Ukraine.

Israel’s tried slapping down Hamas and Hezbollah with military might and it’s not really done much for Gaza, the West Bank, or Lebanon other than keep people radicalised and keep the conflict going on forever. Expanding the conflict makes Israel less safe in all honesty. Israel couldn’t beat Hezbollah the last time they tried, it ended up in a stalemate that just left Lebanon in dire straights… but did nothing to change the status quo of the conflict. Expanding the war to 3 fronts for Israel just means they will need the US and UK more than ever. Hamas, Houthi, and Hezbollah all just want to escalate this conflict as large as it can be because that’s the worst case scenario for Israel and their allies & the best case for the allies of these terror groups - Russia and Iran. Escalation doesn’t really benefit anyone in Israel other than Netanyahu who needs the war to go on for as long as possible so he puts off his trial and prison sentence.

Really? I think from the outside looking in, I've got more confidence in your squad to get results than I've got in Chelsea's squad. And a part of that is while I think some United players look like they're checked out at times... while I've not watched a lot of Chelsea this season, when I see them I just think they look so carefree and unmotivated. I think the long contracts they've given to some of their newer, younger, and more expensive signings have kind of had the opposite effect those at Chelsea thought it might give them. I think they've inadvertently loaded up on players who now think they've got it made and can just sit back for the next 7 years or so.

I remember playing it a while back shortly after it launched and I thought "what the fuck is this bullshit?" and considered it the worst Fallout game I'd ever played. Since launch though they've added a lot to it... and in the process made it feel like more of a Fallout game. And now I think it's quite a good Fallout game. It's obviously not a "traditional" Fallout, partially because there's no way to make it a traditional Fallout while keeping it an online game... but it's a pretty good game and I think the improvements they've made have taken it from a total piece of shit into something that's quite enjoyable. Particularly if you need to scratch an itch that only a Fallout game can scratch. I'll give Cyberpunk another go when I'm less busy. That game was very time consuming and my god... so many fucking cutscenes.

Poch is better than Lampard, that's certain. But is he doing any better than Potter was? Or is it likely that Chelsea's problem has fuck all to do with the manager and has everything to do with the players? Imo, it's a little bit of both. But I've not watched a lot of Chelsea this season. But to me it looks like Poch is washed as a manager and that Chelsea have a problem where they've got a load of players that nobody can seem to motivate.

I think it's wild to think Yemen's been given "soft hands" at any point in the last decade. The Houthis withstood the Saudi led coalition (that included the US Navy) waging war, deploying Al Qaeda as a proxy fighter force, and even use of famine and disease as weapons of war. Yemenis generally have suffered immensely due to the civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi puppet government that came before the war broke out. I do think the US and UK have demonstrated a lot of restraint in responding to the Houthi threat to international trade and sooner or later, I do expect the US Navy to dust off some of their more impressive weaponry against the Houthis. Regardless, I think the US and UK have demonstrated a commendable amount of restraint in not acting how Israel almost certainly would - refraining from seriously pummeling Yemen and avoiding further collateral damage while trying to strike the Houthis. There are a lot of people in Yemen caught in between the evil game Iran and Saudi Arabia have been playing in their country. What the Houthis are doing is causing more trouble for the international community than it is for Israel and the more they escalate, the more likely it is that they bring more death to Yemen. But I don't see how anyone can give the US or UK any shit for what they've done in response to the Houthis latest (and largest) attack, tbh. They managed to protect the ship that was being shot at by making the Houthi munitions 100% ineffective and without causing loss of life to any innocents. This conflict has already grown so much since it started - a more bloody response from the west almost certainly guarantees a further escalation of the conflict. Do we really want the worst of the Yemeni civil war to be reignited in 2024? I don't think so.

I've thought that if Trent does make the transition to being a midfielder full-time it would take another right back coming through the academy that looks good as a right back in our system to make it happen. It's obviously very very early days, but Bradley looked very good and if he keeps this up while Trent is out injured, maybe it has Klopp think more seriously about using Trent as a midfielder more often.

Well I guess if the ref was competent he would have booked him for simulation. Dalot showed dissent once tbh, the ref didn't even give him a second to calm down. That was an insane moment of officiating and I think there's nothing that justifies it other than protecting a referee's fragile ego. But if you can be booked for dissent twice back to back, I don't see why you can't get booked for two bookable offenses back to back.

What is the shitty thing anyways?

Shouldn't Pereira received 2 yellows for that, given the precedent set by the ridiculous Dalot sending off? One for simulation one for time wasting.

Most of South America falls under the “elevated warning” status on the 2023 Fragile States index though. Granted, it’s not a perfect index.

Spurs leaving Bayern in a Dier situation.

Not very far lol, I’ve been playing a lot of Fallout 76 with some friends instead

Lol just saw the goal. Gotta be thankful Chelsea stopped us from signing Concedo.

Do you think Iranians aren't distrustful of refugees from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan? Iraq had a long and bloody war where their former leader commit genocide against Kurds (decent chunk of Iran's population is Kurdish) & Shia Muslims (the overwhelming majority of Iranians) - and after the US came in and fucked Iraq up, ISIS spread... ISIS's biggest victims, despite what the media might have you believe are not westerners in Europe... but Shia Muslims across the Middle East. Syria also suffered with the spread of ISIS from Iraq into their borders. And the Taliban in Afghanistan, has targeted ethnic Persian Tajikis in Afghanistan & Shia Muslims. Just last week almost 100 people died and 200 more injured from an ISIS attack in Iran. Iranians have more reason to be distrustful of refugees and those who cross into its border than Peruvians, because terrorists who think you deserve to die because you follow believe in a slightly different version of the sale fairy tale story we know as a religion are a hell of a lot more dangerous than any criminal gang. Turkey and Iran aren't bastions of human rights, they're pretty far from it. But the fact they take in so many refugees from neighboring countries is to be commended. If you turn your back on your neighbors, just don't be surprised if they hate you for it.

I guess it's easier to respond to that than the questions @Spike and I asked

There's always going to be large swaths of populations that are against refugees coming in, in any country. Human rights are human rights though and with drug traficking violence kicking off in a South American country, if neighboring states just close the borders and leave innocent people to die.. it's something that will live long in the memories of Ecuadorians. South America's been plagued with so many of the issues that have made the Middle East the absolute shitshow it is today, but I find it interesting and also alarming how few South Americans really care about the human rights of their neighbors. There's little sense of solidarity or compassion for human rights. It's interesting where literal murderous thugs running a theocratic dictatorship that doesn't respect human rights itself seem to demonstrate more compassion and humanity for their neighbors than some other countries.

That's not really an excuse. Iran's not in a position to take in refugees... and has a highest refugee population in the world.

I probably know more about him than I would otherwise... because my dad wouldn't shut the fuck up about how much he loved Keegan when I was a kid Tbf, we're only going to be familiar with him from highlight reels on youtube cos like you say... we were born well after Keegan's playing days & from just hearing about him. We probably remember him better as a manager. But I think it's interesting there's players from the same era that kind of don't have their legacies as forgotten, while Keegan's one of the top players from that era and I guess doesn't have the same respect. And maybe a part of it is because of how Liverpool replaced Keegan after he went on to Germany, where he won those Balon d'Ors, like @LFCMike says. I think perhaps if we hadn't signed our best player ever as his immediate replacement... maybe the memory of how good he was for Liverpool would have been more established.

Hahahahaha This guy gets a lot of plaudits but whenever I watch him I think he just looks bang average at best. What's up with that?

If it's a full on civil war, wouldn't most people fleeing be people that don't want to have their lives upended because of civil war? So refugees? Wouldn't the criminals that want drug traffickers running free be the ones fighting against the government?