Is this the beginning...

[mapuc]

....of armageddon, that we are witness to, in the middle east??

Markus

[Torplexed]

NOOOOOO! I can take Bruce Willis, but not Ben Affleck

I knew there was a reason why they got the shuttle working again recently.

[TteFAboB]

Agreed. Ben Affleck should be donated for dissection to the Martians.

But there's no armageddon without nukes, in the movie or in the middle east, and none of the players involved have a nuke, hehe.

[bradclark1]

No, but it will be interesting to see if it draws insurgents away from Iraq. :hmm:

[August]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

Agreed. Ben Affleck should be donated for dissection to the Martians.

Agreed but Liv Tyler is mega hot in that movie. Oh to be that animal cracker!

[scandium]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

But there's no armageddon without nukes, in the movie or in the middle east, and none of the players involved have a nuke, hehe.

Israel has nukes. Not officially, but never the same the matter of them possessing them is something there is little doubt over. They probably don't have anything of the ICBM variety, but from their location you don't ICBMs to flatten the middle east.

Personally I'm a little concerned, just in the geo-political sense for the purpose of this thread, with the escalating situation there. Superficially this appears to be just the usual stepped up retaliation against the Palestians, with a bit of a swipe at Lebannon thrown in for good measure. However, I'm seeing (I may elaborate on this later if nobody else does first) signs that it may expand to include Syria and possibly even Iran (much less likely but I'll get into that later too).

Could this become another 6 day war? Doubtful, Israel is not the new nation it was then and is far stronger while the other players have grown relatively weaker and more fractious, so a repeat wouldn't even last 6 days. The only broader threat lies in the Western powers or Pakistan becoming involved in the conflict, and this I think is a possibly (a small one, but possible) if it were to extend in earnesr (ie: all out war) to Syria and Iran. But who knows, probably it is nothing more than the usual ME jousting. :hmm:

[scandium]

Originally Posted by August

Agreed but Liv Tyler is mega hot in that movie. Oh to be that animal cracker!

Do yourself a favour and "rent/buy" One Night at McCool's; its a half decent movie anyway, but in it she sets the sexual godess standard.

[August]

Originally Posted by scandium

Do yourself a favour and "rent/buy" One Night at McCool's; its a half decent movie anyway, but in it she sets the sexual godess standard.

I've already seen it. Unfortunately she's an evil sex goddess in that movie. Broke my heart it did...

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by mapuc

....of armageddon, that we are witness to, in the middle east??

Markus

Nope - read revelation - a lot of crap hasn't happened yet

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

Nope - read revelation - a lot of crap hasn't happened yet

Don't worry, they're working on it

[The Avon Lady]

Originally Posted by scandium

Superficially this appears to be just the usual stepped up retaliation against the Palestians, with a bit of a swipe at Lebannon thrown in for good measure.

More idiotic rubbish, as usual, from the same dump.

Israel left every last centimeter of Gaza last summer, at the expense of destroying vibrant communities, expelling 8000 Israelis and rippping apart the country's morale and political system. Since then the Palis have done nothing but lob rockets into Israel town and communities, stock up Gaza with more weapons and munitions than were smuggled in there over the last 40 years, and continually tried infiltrating into Israel to kill our soldiers and citizens.

Israel withdrew completely from Lebanon 6 years ago and foolishly allowed the Iranian and Syrian backed Hazb'Allah to stock 10s of thousands of rockets, kidnap and kill our soliders and fire at them when Iran or Syria need something to distract international pressure on them.

Now, our soldiers are killed and kidnapped by terrorists infiltrating from both Gaza and Lebanon and you stupidly think this is about "retaliation"?

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

More idiotic rubbish, as usual, from the same dump.

Israel left every last centimeter of Gaza last summer, at the expense of destroying vibrant communities, expelling 8000 Israelis and rippping apart the country's morale and political system. Since then the Palis have done nothing but lob rockets into Israel town and communities, stock up Gaza with more weapons and munitions than were smuggled in there over the last 40 years, and continually tried infiltrating into Israel to kill our soldiers and citizens.

Israel withdrew completely from Lebanon 6 years ago and foolishly allowed the Iranian and Syrian backed Hazb'Allah to stock 10s of thousands of rockets, kidnap and kill our soliders and fire at them when Iran or Syria need something to distract international pressure on them.

Now, our soldiers are killed and kidnapped by terrorists infiltrating from both Gaza and Lebanon and you stupidly think this is about "retaliation"?

I'm all for it. I hope Isreal levels the entire area!

-S

[aaken]

I'm really sorry to desagree, but giving my OWN and personal opinion and from a lawyer (as I am) perspective I don't see any point about invading and bombing an indipendent country (Lebanon), as it is absolutely against all the basic international law principles.

Lebanon may be an independent country but either cannot or does not want to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets at Israel. Israel just happens to defend itself against attacks from abroad. IMO they should attack Syria as well, if they have proof that Damascus is supporting Hezbollah.

[Mike 'Red Ocktober' Hense]

It could easily be the beginning of another widescale war.

i agree... as a matter of fact, that was the second thought to run through my mind when i heard of the escalating military actions in the region... this is potentially more serious than a lot of people seem imagine...

fragile and non formal alignments spread across national boundaries, the proliferation of not only nuclear, but biological weapons and other weapons of mass destructive capabilities... add to that the tenuous command and control that exists, plus the obvious rising tensions in the far east...

this may well be the flashpoint that could start the dominoes tumbling...



anyway... my best wishes to all on the forum who are in the region... stay safe and try to remain out
of harm's way...

where is our young female soldier... is she alright...

--Mike

[STEED]

Originally Posted by mapuc

....of armageddon, that we are witness to, in the middle east??

Markus

Not yet, certain things must be in place and that's another matter.

Well we all shall see how this one pans out and the long term outcome.