Walsingham

It's not supposed to work, because the UN was never intended as the World Sheriff's Office -- it was meant to be a forum to give diplomacy a chance, to avert a very likely WWIII. NATO was formed as the military arm of the American containment policy. But you know that. However, with the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc, both organizations lost their raison d'

Numbers, there's a key ****ing difference. Bin Laden was just some self-appointed rich douche who one day decided he could kill thousands of people. The US administration has the freely given democratic assent of millions. As for it being illegal, I've already mentioned on the forum the Justice dept. analysis which went into attempts to take out Pablo Escobar. These are detailed in the book "Killing Pablo" by Mark Bowden.

Not wanting to sound harsh, but I'd bet a 100 pounds that there's been better work on signal processing coming out of mining and oil exploration than SETI over the last twenty years, and that's self-financing.

Eh, is like pretty much all other countries. I certainly don't think there's any evidence that UK citizens don't panic when confronted with anything mroe morally complex than the X Factor final.

Not in preferentially elected single-member seats. You do get longstanding MPs, but - and here's the clever bit - it's usually because they're likeable and hardworking. Maybe not to everyone nationally, but locally.

I believe that the solution is to model the logic problem using origami animals of the forest.

Five men arrested on terror charges at Sellafield nuclear power plant. Entirely possible that it's innocuous, but apparently they were filming the plant, five bangladeshi lads in their twenties. There's **** all in Cumbria really, so unless they're birdwatchers I don't know why they'd be there otherwise. If anyone were taking bets I'd put twenty on this being a build up to an attack. Although hopefully we got all concerned IF that's the case.

Well, you know that I agree on the desperate imperative to get off this frogging rock. It's the only strategic drive which really matters, but we're ignoring it because it's easier to spend the cash on comestics and banker's dividends. It's the ONLY thing I wish the communist Chinese well for. Thought that too may slide as they dial up the bread and circuses over the next few years.

The Daily Telegraph* is claiming that wikileaks posted details from Guantanamo which made it fairly clear that the US knew that bin Laden might be in Abbotabad. Good thing AlQ didn't go through the material thoroughly or the little ****er might have got loose again. Thanks wikileaks. Defending justice once again! *I won't link directly to it. US citizens on the forum may be breaking the law if they gambol across and read the direct transcript. I think that'd be rather poor netiquette on my part.

You obviously feel we're arguing at each other rather than with. I apologise. I didn't mean to suggest for one moment that you felt the powerful shoudl be excluded from the receipt of justice. My objection was that you seem to expect that justice to be applied by some abstract figure, and I wanted to know who the hell you thought that ought to be.

I think the only way to avoid corruption is to have a big bloodletting every few years where the main Old Guard get turfed out and stand away from politics. Note that this simply doesn't happen under prop rep, where party machines decide who actually actually mans the portion of the vote.

I see your point. But at the same time, a mile of highway actually does something useful.

I am under the impression that raids into Pakistan territory by US special forces are somewhat regular. While I doubt the Pakistani government is happy about that, they seem to have accepted it in order to secure necessary aid. You're not wrong. They've been complaining about it for years. Although in recent months it's been drone-tastic.

Chechnya acquisition - 1858 to ongoing - 153 years New Mexico acquisition - 1846-1853 - 7 years

The design of a modern tank is such that while a round may panetrate it, that round does not necessarily harm the crew or permanently disable the tank. Not an option if you're in a russian sardine tin tank, but ours have the systems spread out, and the crew much better protected. I've never denied that tanks haven't been taken out. Of course it's possible with an RPG or an Iranian made EFP bomb, or just a whacking great blast bomb. It's one reason I didn't volunteer for armour. But to claim that 4 were destroyed in one day is ewok-grade wishful thinking. And yes, that does mean I'm accusing you of being a tiny cannibal space bear.

Blackhawk Down was pretty good.

I was talking to a volcanologist the other day. He said that he'd seen a volcano shelter which had a big water tank inside. Steam cooked the poor souls who took shelter in it.

http://video.mail.ru/mail/dima850/473/747.html It's Simple, Darling You really are just itching to see dead yankees, aren't you? Word to the wise: hitting a tank and killing a tank are two very different things. Darling.

That would certainly explain my popularity.

America - win yeah! There's no need to be snippy just because we're doing so much better than the Russians did.

No mention of any sodding farm space or storage space. I'd have taken that over the gokking swimming pool any day.

It's possible, but in my experience cabbage soup produces incredible flatulence. So best to get the sex done before the soup. Unless you find a particularly earthy partner.

SEALS have had mixed reviews in the past. Some folks think they emphasise physical fitness above brains. But I think this proves that both the SEALS and their dedicated airlift are in the very top tier of special forces. It must also have taken some moral courage to order the operation. I can imagine it having gone Blackhawk Down all too easily. And that would have ended several careers.

I don't wish to seem like the drunkard I am, but how cool would it be to have a brandy cooled graphics card?

Perhaps that's why they mistake you for an officer? It's either that or my inability to grid map references properly.