LongTimeLurker

Think they could still technically ditch Vale of Leithen given they finished bottom in a season that was not null and voided. Not suggesting that would actually happen though.

You are not responding to what I am actually writing. I have stated repeatedly now that I am opposed to both Likud and Hamas for Richard Dawkins type reasons, think both sides need to stop firing missiles at each other, think both sides need to stop voting in extremists, and think both sides need to start seriously negotiating a lasting two-state solution on close to 1967 borders as per UN resolutions.

Possibly but let's not lose sight of the fact that Hamas are pursuing a strategy that is potentially catastrophic for the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip if Israel invades and there is street to street fighting complete with close air support on the Israeli side. If Hamas have figured out how to circumvent Iron Dome, a lot depends after that on the level of Israeli appetite for ground invasions and taking relatively high casualties with today's internet generation. Iron Dome was supposed to end the need for that sort of thing to pursue purely military solutions to Israeli security issues because Israel didn't do too well in Lebanon in 2006 the last time they did one of those with the aforementioned internet generation.

A ground invasion of the Gaza Strip is where this could be heading unfortunately because the chances of Likud under Netanyahu going for the more peaceful route are not as high as they should be unfortunately. Both sides have their extremists in control right now after all. I'm old enough to remember Israel almost losing in 1973 after the Egyptians used high pressure water hoses in an unexpected way to overcome what was supposed to be an impregnable line of defence at the Suez canal: It's a mistake to underestimate what can happen with relatively low tech approaches like drones if somebody is able to think innovatively enough outside the box.

You really don't understand the full implications of Israel not having an inexhaustible supply of very expensive interceptors?

What Hamas appear to be aiming for is to keep firing enough of these cheap projectiles that Israel drains its stocks of the massively expensive interceptors at which point Israel loses its Iron Dome capability and Hamas still potentially has plenty of missiles that can now reach Israel unimpeded. Israel has to stay one step ahead or the strategic balance tips very quickly on this given even Tel Aviv has been demonstrated to be in range. The Iron Dome resupply has to come from the USA and there appears to be some genuine nervousness over whether it will be forthcoming in some quarters:

A two-state solution on close to 1967 borders is unpalatable ideologically because it rewards the original Zionist land grab but it is the only viable pragmatic solution at this point given there is no realistic way to peacefully undo the various population transfers that happened in both directions from 1948 onwards. In order to get the stalled Oslo Accords process back on track both sides have to stop firing missiles at each other, stop voting in extremists and have to get serious about a lasting compromise rather than allowing people within their own camp to believe that going after the whole shebang is still on the agenda. The road to that has to pass through Washington because the biggest problem in being able to apply international pressure on Israel to do the right thing is the pro-Israeli lobby in the United States. If people don't see sense soon I suspect Israel-Palestine is heading for a catastrophic end game because Israel is way too small to be able to successfully sustain the Netanyahu style military solution long term. The problems they are having with Iron Dome in recent days in stopping direct missile hits in Tel Aviv are a glimpse of how quickly things could shift for them strategically if they are not able to stay one step ahead on countering emerging drone technology.

The best scenario would be an LL2 west and an LL2 east at tier 6 so automatic promotion could be guaranteed.

So looks like they did have one last box to tick that is now sorted. Meanwhile in the lower half of SPFL League2:

Thank you for that insightful comment. Was always going to happen eventually. Overall a very good run in the top division for a club the size of Accies. I'm sure I'm not alone in finding a race for 10th year after year rather than a league title more than a wee bit old at this point to the extent that being relegated isn't exactly emotionally devstating but more a refreshing new beginning.

16-16 as the national divisions would have been OK if there was a way provided for the 5 clubs to play their way back in later. The problem with what was being attempted in the 60s was that there was no Lowland League angle to it. It's bizarre that it took so long for the pyramid principle to take root and how it had to happen in England first before it even became a fringe idea in a Scottish context.

I'm a fan of both Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein although I think the latter has lost his balance a bit but that's understandable after what he has been subjected to by the pro-Israeli lobby in the United States over the years. As for other colonial occupations and also having something to say about them:

What is viewed as symptomatic of antisemitism is the way people latch onto Israel as their obsessive cause celebre and appear to hold it to a completely different set of standards than other states. Nothing wrong with being bitterly opposed to Benjamin Netanyahu right now (he is clearly up to no good) but if you have hee haw to say about what Hamas get up to and other examples of grave injustice that happen around the world and exclusively focus on Israel, people will start to wonder whether it's because you have deep prejudices against the you know whos and have found a socially acceptable way to vent them.

It takes one to tango! All those low budget missile swarms from Gaza suddenly appeared out of nowhere and just launched by themselves. Used to think it was only American culture that had this infantile need for a good guy and a bad guy and couldn't cope with real life being about shades of grey. Adam Curtis was quite persuasive about how it also went on closer to home:

If Israel can't keep Tel Aviv safe from relatively low cost and easily manufactured weaponry like this they are in deep trouble. The Iron Dome costs a fortune to operate.

He's more a relatively well-to-do bible thumper than somebody that is likely to have helped build a bonfire for the 11th night on a loyalist estate. What's really intriguing is how he plans to be the party leader while not being the first minister but still being a Stormont minister. Looks like a recipe for disastrous levels of in-fighting.

There's nothing complicated about understanding that both Hamas and Likud should be nowhere near governance of a state with access to some sort of missile technology. It is frankly bizarre that there are some people on here who can only find fault with one side in this conflict.

....it also wasn't the western powers that drove non-Zionist Arabic speaking Mizrahi Jews out of Arab countries post-1948. Something that a lot of people who refer to the Nakba conveniently forget about as they need a purely Ashkenazi Israel to be able to peddle their preferred narrative of Israel being a western colonial settler state. In reality the flow of refugees was not one way and it's more complex than that.

I am opposed to what both Likud and Hamas are doing so you are not responding to what I have actually written and what I actually believe should happen.

Welcome to my ignore list.

You do realise that's something Judaism and Islam actually agree on? I invoked Richard Dawson for a reason. Kind of why I see both Likud and Hamas as being at fault and don't see it as good guy bad guy.

If that's aimed at me where have I said that's OK? My posture is that both sides need to stop firing projectiles at each other, stop voting in extremists that favour military solutions and instead start working seriously towards a two-state resolution to the conflict on something close to the 1967 borders as per UN resolutions.

That says more about your prejudices than anything else. Perfectly calm at this end. More bemused than anything else that people who are clearly well to the left of centre can look at what's happening and not see socially conservative Islamism as part of the problem as well. Richard Dawkins ya bass!