Seeadler

hell of a thing for a retired merchant banker to say to people supporting an actual plumber.

I would not usually support Iranian missiles being launched at other countries...but I will make one exception.

What *is* interesting, though, is the crew survival rate. F-15s are probably the toughest airframes any Western nation now fields.

Remember, the absolute best-in-class for this were the Italian antiaircraft gunners who in 1940 shot down Field Marshal Balbo, their own commander in chief.

Patriots are long-ranged and fired in volleys. So once launched, a volley would have enough time and fuel to engage multiple targets, especially if the aircraft were flying in formation. If the Patriot battery or the F-15s were tuned to the wrong identification signal, this is to be expected.

Escorting a prisoner in the dark while having one hand already occupied holding a phone for a torch sounds like exactly the sort of thing that couldn't possibly go wrong.

Well yes: drones are slow and Cyprus is far from Iran.

Never, however, regaled with the sweet sound of singing.

bsky.app/profile/naom...

There are residents in Helsinki going "WTF?"

It's easier to demonise others if you know nothing about them, and are insecure about your own identity.

It seemed to me to be a genuine howl of frustration rather than mendacious stupidity, so I chose what I thought was the more constructive form of engagement. I could, of course, be wrong.

"We are dealing with a wholly theocratic regime, Pope. What would the..." *checks notes* "...head of state of the Vatican know about what is so obviously a secular matter?"

It's hard to make an oiler pretty, but that's a very sleek hull design.

"There's nothing can touch you, sky king. Fly high. Fly straight. Fly true. The radar warning receiver and the SAM battery it's detecting are worries for lesser men. You got this."

The Iranians have already bombed the French, who are not part of the Israeli/American attack. Do you really think British bases aren't also in the firing line?

/end

You may disagree that this is necessary. You may think that this is a slippery slope. Your opinion may even be justified.

But it's not coming from a bomb shelter on Cyprus, wondering if the last thing you and your children will feel is the overpressure of a 1,500kg warhead detonating on the ceiling

This explains Starmer's phrasing. He is not trying to mislead you. He is simply describing which of the two defensive options is available.

He is also describing the lowest-risk way of doing it. In 1991, taking out Iraqi missiles was the job of SAS troops on the ground in-country. 4/n

The Iranian target, RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, is home to 4,000 personnel *and their families*.

And long-range ballistic missiles are notoriously imprecise at the end of their flight.

Defending against them, if they can't be shot down, means stopping them from launching. 3/n

A ballistic missile moves too fast to be shot down in midair. So that rules out the RAF intercepting them and leaves ground based interception from the Royal Navy's 6 Daring-class destroyers:

Daring's in Brunei.
Defender's in the Irish Sea.
Diamond's in the Baltic.
The rest are in Portsmouth. 2/n

I am not dunking on this account but it's important to explain a couple of things that they haven't understood.

There are only two ways to defend against a ballistic missile. Either shoot it down, or stop it launching.

We're not in a position to do the first, which leaves only the second. 1/n

I expect better of someone who's ex-military. And I expect better of someone who's ex-law enforcement. Specifically, what I expect – for the simple reason that it's the right thing to do – is for them to delete their false accusation, and apologise for making it.

You have done neither.

Sounds like you still haven't learned your lesson, then:

Read the whole thing before leaping in with your opinion. Especially when your opinion isn't about what you know, but what you believe – like an incorrect and ignorant accusation of spreading disinformation.

This is how I learned I'm on a "doesn't like Black food" list, despite having no experience of it and, as a direct result, never having ventured any opinion of it.

I have no idea why I'm on that list.

37 million years old whale spine found in the hot dunes of Egypt. This is a complete skeleton, the first-ever find for Basilosaurus, a large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale uncovered in Wadi El Hitan, preserved with the remains of its prey.

Original post

I present the very pinnacle of brain-rotted shit takes.

War increases all risks. Including risks of accidents. And it is only phenomenally ignorant people who don't recognise the consequences of this.

Two smiling tax administration employees standing at Arrivals section of an airport with a large hand-drawn banner with the text translated above

“To all influencers and other tax exiles in Dubai, the tax authorities wish you a safe return to France”

No.

Terribly sorry to point out that he died in a vehicle accident...in a river....in Iraq. Which is a whole other country.

I know that grief is a motherfucker and I don't blame the mom here, but, journalists, you don't have to print every unhinged coping strategy by berieved military parents.