All-purpose news and politics thread: One Step Beyond!

[Charles RB]

Oh and Iraq has called Syria a Totalitarian Regime.

That's a big change, they've been staying out of it until now.

Also, Turkey has said it hasn't found "flammable" material on its downed plane, so it may not have been shot down (at least not by a missile).

Well, I'll be calling this bloke back first thing tomorrow morning and giving him all the help he can.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...ments-olympics

G4S fucking up at security again? Who'd have guessed?

And just a guess, but if Scotland secedes from the UK, wouldn't they become huge trade partners?

Yes, and I'd be surprised if we didn't still have an open border. The only issue is going to be that we'll have to purchase Scottish banknotes/euros when we go up north from then on.

[king mob]

Charging another country for the use of our assets is hardly unreasonable. Not blocking them out, just charging them a tariff.

You missed the bit about Scotland becoming part of the EU if it becomes independent?

But this campaign is getting ugly, and will continue to get uglier.

No, the campaign has been going on perfectly well until Cameron, Westminster politicians and the London media suddenly realised what they might be losing and so we've got story after story about how this is a 'dirty' campaign and undemocratic because Salmond won't rush into a vote and is actually doing what he was elected to do.

There's a lot of anti-English vitriol coming from the Scottish, and it's no better on the southern side. There will be no "special relationship" between us, only antagonism for a long time to come.

Yes, there's a bit of anti-English (I'm sure you're aware the SNP purged these people) vitriol but the majority is aimed at Westminster and the Tories with their cronies in the media. When you've been a country who have been used and abused as the Scots have then you're going to expect some spite thrown at the system that's holding the country back.
What I'm hearing come from the English side is a lot of nasty, hateful xenophobia like this shite, which is in the Mail, but this is the par of what's being thrown at Scotland and Scots over the past few years especially and frankly I'm tired of it because people think they can get away with it because we're not a minority group.

The entire argument for Scottish independence is built upon being free of Westminster and becoming a country which stands or falls by itself. It's not because Scots hate the English. If it was you wouldn't have so many English people living there!

[king mob]

Nah, we'll muddle along fine, same as we always have. This is just a natural progression.

Pretty much. They'll be a bit of friction but this should honestly help England rediscover it's own bollocks and ask why Westminster has treated it (well, most of it) badly as well.

[king mob]

It's quite possible his company is loaning staff to G4S for the Games and needs to replace the people on loan.

Not quite as easy as that but that's his angle.

[king mob]

Just for starters, Scotland will probably adopt the Euro.

No, Scotland will stay with Sterling and that's one of the incredibly controversial elements of Salmond's plan

[Gryphon]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07...etroit-tunnel/

The tunnel connecting Windsor, Ont., to Detroit, Mich., was shut down Thursday because a bomb threat, police said.

A staff member at the international crossing received a phone call at 12:30 p.m. that said there was a bomb in the tunnel, said Sgt. Brett Corey of the Windsor Police.

“What we’re dealing with is a non-specific bomb threat,” Sgt. Corey said.

The tunnel was evacuated and closed, he said. Police in Ontario are liaising with the police department in Detroit, and have set up a command centre on the Windsor side of the tunnel.


Detroit–Windsor Tunnel is currently closed to traffic after a non-specific, anonymous bomb threat was received. Find alternate routes.^BD

— Windsor Police (@WindsorPolice) July 12, 2012
.
According to the Windsor Star, the U.S. Coast Guard has set up a 900 metres safety zone to north and south of the tunnel, which is one of the busiest Canada-U.S. crossings between the two countries. More than 14,000 vehicles use the tunnel every day.

The 1.6 kilometre tunnel and border crossing runs underneath the Detroit River.

Motorists who need to cross into the U.S. can take the Ambassador Bridge or the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia. There is also a border crossing in Niagara Falls, Ont.

[Iangould]

But this campaign is getting ugly, and will continue to get uglier. There's a lot of anti-English vitriol coming from the Scottish, and it's no better on the southern side. There will be no "special relationship" between us, only antagonism for a long time to come.

Have you seen the anti-British vitriol that was coming out of the US from essentially Day One up until December 7th 1941?

[Charles RB]

this shite

What the hell was that crap? I saw the footage of people cheering him (my girlfriend made me) and some of the yells of encouragement sounded bloody English to me.

[Paradox]

gryhpon has me tweak the plot:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07...etroit-tunnel/

Motorists who need to cross into the U.S. can take the Ambassador Bridge or the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia. There is also a border crossing in Niagara Falls, Ont.

See, if "they" were smart, they'd call in the bomb threat for the tunnel, and actually have the bomb on the bridge, where all the traffic is diverted.

Of course, it turns out to be all BS. I blame bored, hot teenagers somewhere in the Detroit suburbs, myself.

[jmc247]

That's a big change, they've been staying out of it until now.

Iraq has their finger in the wind and sees Assad is losing.

U.S. Concerned as Syria Moves Chemical Stockpile

WASHINGTON—Syria has begun moving parts of its vast arsenal of chemical weapons out of storage facilities, U.S. officials said, in a development that has alarmed many in Washington.

The country's undeclared stockpiles of sarin nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide have long worried U.S. officials and their allies in the region, who have watched anxiously amid the conflict in Syria for any change in the status or location of the weapons.

American officials are divided on the meaning of the latest moves by members of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Some U.S. officials fear Damascus intends to use the weapons...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...orld_LeadStory

Will Assad gas the hell out of his people like Saddam did? I bet Putin would still support him if he did.

[the4thpip]

Pope Ratzinger's lawyers stopped distribution of a German satirical magazine's newest edition. On the cover, the mag alluded to the recent "vati-leaks" scandal and claimed they had finally found the leak:

[jmc247]

Death toll in attack on Syrian village is over 200: activists

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian government forces killed more than 200 people, most of them civilians, in a village in the province of Hama on Thursday, opposition activists said.

The village of Taramseh was shelled by Syrian troops and later stormed by pro-government Shabbiha militia, they said. Several people in the village were killed by the shelling and more were shot later in the head, execution-style, they added.

Syrian television said three security personnel had been killed in fighting in Taramseh, and accused "armed terrorist groups" of committing a massacre there.

A statement by the Hama Revolutionary Council said: "More than 220 people fell today in Taramseh. They died from bombardment by tanks and helicopters, artillery shelling and summary executions."

Fadi Sameh, an opposition activist from Taramseh, said he had left the town before the reported massacre but was in touch with residents.

"It appears that Alawite militiamen from surrounding villages descended on Taramseh after its rebel defenders pulled out, and started killing the people. Whole houses have been destroyed and burned from the shelling.

"Every family in the town seems to have members killed. We have names of men, women and children from countless families," he said, adding that many of the bodies were taken to a local mosque.

Ahmed, an activist from the Union of Hama Revolutionaries said: "We have reports of more than 220 killed. So far, we have 20 victims recorded with names and 60 bodies at a mosque. There are more bodies in the fields, bodies in the rivers and in houses ... people were trying to flee from the time the shelling started and whole families were killed trying to escape."

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/id...20712?irpc=932

It makes me really angry at my government and European governments when Putin is willing to ship heavy weapons endlessly to Assad and the U.S. and Europe are too chicken to provide any real support to the rebels other then 'moral support'. Even NBC which is no conservative bastion is taking them to task about not even trying to meet their promises of aid to the rebels.

By the way NBC has an awsome video below of one of their reports out on the front lines with the rebels and it covers the state of the conflict.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-n...7315/#48127315

[bringthenoise]

What the hell was that crap? I saw the footage of people cheering him (my girlfriend made me) and some of the yells of encouragement sounded bloody English to me.

Not to mention the STANDING OVATION at the Mock The Week tapings earlier this week. Unless the BBC secretly filled it only with Scottish people without anyone finding out.

Oh, and the irony of the Daily fucking Mail accusing ANYONE of being "rabidly anti-[foreigner]". Christ.

[Vibranium]

It makes me really angry at my government and European governments when Putin is willing to ship heavy weapons endlessly to Assad and the U.S. and Europe are too chicken to provide any real support to the rebels other then 'moral support'. Even NBC which is no conservative bastion is taking them to task about not even trying to meet their promises of aid to the rebels.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-n...7315/#48127315

the US is winding down an unneccesarry war on two fronts, goint to Syria means raising Irans hackles in what is already a delicate situation

[Iangould]

It makes me really angry at my government and European governments when Putin is willing to ship heavy weapons endlessly to Assad and the U.S. and Europe are too chicken to provide any real support to the rebels other then 'moral support'. Even NBC which is no conservative bastion is taking them to task about not even trying to meet their promises of aid to the rebels.

The rebels are receiving western weapons via Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

fairly obviously, they don't give out details of those sort of ongoing covert operations.

But we do know that within a few months the Free Syrian Army hs gone from being almost completely ineffective to controlling half the country and has been using increasing number of advanced anti-tank weapons. The regime's started using helicopter gunships precisely because lots of areas are now too dangerous for its armor.

What I would like to see is a deployment of western troops back to Iraq and to Jordan. You just have to say they're there to assist with the humanitarian crisis and respond to any possible developments and park them opposite the Syrian border. Their mere presence woudl force the Syrian government to deploy troops to prevent any attack weakening their ability to kill their own people. (Assad's father did this during the Second Gulf War, he didn't particpate in the invasion of Iraq but he did threaten Iraq by moving large numbers of troops to the Syrian/Iraq border forcing Iraq to divert troops there.)