nickm's latest activity

In a nutshell, the Palestinians are entitled to the protections of the ICJ, that Palestinians are indeed v vulnerable; whether or not genocide is occurring is TBC, however Israel in the meantime has to take measures to make sure there isn’t one.

She is in the hair splitting business, I suppose. But she was saying it is plausible that Palestinians have a right to be protected by the ICJ, under the genocide conventions, because they are “a distinct national, ethnic or religious group”...

Fact check but ICJ did not rule for a plausible case of genocide, despite what’s been said. Here is the former president of the ICJ explaining what the ruling was.

And in 2021, Musk paid $11 billion.

I'm thinking these long range weapons will massively lengthen Russian supply lines, so Russia may have more artillery but they won't be able to get it quickly or easily to the front.

Firstly, I think the US / West was afraid of what might happen if NATO gave Ukraine the tools to strike logistics hubs & various military targets inside Russia - it might embolden Russia to do the same inside, say, Poland. However, Ukraine is...

Why is it $250bn? The reports I have read put the US contribution, until Feb at more like $75bn, with $46bn being military aid, half of which has been donated spare US equipment, so not really spending. You argue it is of limited strategic...

Yeah but humans have been doing some other stuff instead: James Webb telescope - a modern wonder of the world SpaceX - reusable rockets Photographing black holes LIGO - observing gravity waves Ingenuity Mars Copter (a helicopter on Mars!) New...

I think it was more that US wants to maintain strategic stability. They don't want a collapsed Russia to deal with, they didn't want the risk of NATO getting pulled in hence the caution. Unfortunately that approach has prolonged the war, which...

Just read Israel's response was to take out one of the air defence radars for Iran's Natanz nuclear facilities. So a very specific message about what a possible escalation could have looked like.

NATO, money, sanctions, AKUS, intelligence. Not a game changer, Europe mostly doesn''t have the assets in the region, but I don't see how the US takes on China (god forbid) with all the diplomatic and economic wreckage that would cause, without...

It was Iran's first ever direct attack on Israel. That seems pretty meaningful to me.

At least it looks as though Ukraine is going to get the weapons it needs again, which is a relief, although hopefully it's not too late. Finally people in the US seem to be waking up.

I think the point seems to be (at least decoding what Macron is saying) is that we can't box ourselves in with red lines, when Putin does not. By creating uncertainty about what the West might/might not do, we make it harder for Putin. And the...

If the US doesn't help Europe with Ukraine, then there won't be any European Patriot systems - or anything else - being sent to help the US protect Taiwan. You can be certain of that.