acrossthepond

It's because all of the Arab states except Egypt (and Syria, but they got forced into it by the Egyptians) are too pansy to fight. They were content to sit on the sidelines from '56 (Suez Crisis) on, providing absolutely minimal military support (think in terms of one jeep, twenty rifles, etc.) while talking up the Nasserist rhetoric and vocally sympathising with the Palestinians, but they never put their money where their mouths were. After Egypt finally achieved a modicum of victory in 1973 only to see Israel (with American military support) devastate their 3rd army, win back all the territory they had lost, and push them back to the Suez Canal, they finally wised up and under the guidance of Sadat realised that fighting Israel in the name of "Arab unity" was only going to get Egyptians killed (at the time there was a joke - "We Arabs will never tolerate the existence of Israel. We'll fight them to the last Egyptian.") so they signed the US-brokered Camp David peace treaty which lasts to this day as well as securing billions of US foreign aid (making them as alex said, the 2nd highest recipient of US foreign aid). This, as Dan said, got them kicked out of the Arab League. It also got Sadat assassinated in 1981, leaving Mubarak to take over the country and slowly but surely turn it into a vassal of the US. Israel's army could easily defeat any number of Arab states anyway, there's almost no possibility of an actual war between Israel and its neighbors. Not like any of them would be willing to fight for the Palestinians, who they call their "Arab brothers" but who they showed absolutely no sympathy or asylum to after they lost their homes in 1967.

That's absolutely gash mind. Oh wow, is that awful. What does he think he looks like?

He's finally catching on? Or just cracking up? Howay there Rafa man, "red shirt rule" applies to your lads too, nobody is missing how Stevie Geeeeee keeps winning these soft as shite penalties. Btw was there anything in this dossier about Hitzfeld?

What is this RIP business, they're not dead like. Charles N'Zogbia, "above all, a professional" what a laugh, surely taking the piss out of us, the sulky bastard. I'll not cry too much for him when he goes, I'm more worried about where the money will be "re-invested."

Wow, I dismissed this story as a total absolute 100% non-starter and Mido is talking about it now? What happened to "ohh Newcastle fans are so racist, they should be charged by the FA" and all that claptrap? Clearly he only sees $$$. Please, please, let's not sign that fat knacker, we've got one already who's much better.

Tevez is much better than Berbatov imo, not sure why old whiskey nose decided to go for the Incredible Sulk when he could've just paid up for Tevez and not risked losing him as he undoubtedly will. While we're talking about incredibly illegal transfer dealings, let's have a link to that story about Defoe's transfer back to Spurs? Happy Harry in a dodgy transfer? Why I never...

Some views posted here are a little too 'strawberry fields forever' if you know what I mean, Parky on one side and Fop on the other. (No surprise there on either count ) Both sides are responsible for this, just like they have been since the first intifada. Before then the Palestinians at least had the excuse that the other Arab states had abandoned them and they had nobody to represent them. But they've got government (after a fashion) now and the same problems continue. If Hamas are ever going to get realistic about a Palestinian state, they have got to lay down the guns eventually. But the Israeli response here borders on lunacy. Imagine if the roles were reversed...we'd hear nothing but "terrorists" "massacre" "brutal murder" instead of these placid, sanitised terms such as "ground operation" "surgical air strike" "self-defence" etc. In the end - and this is what the Israelis, who consistently fail to learn from their mistakes, don't realise - Hamas will only benefit from this overblown retaliation, the same way Hizbullah did in Lebanon. As for the UN schools, this shouldn't surprise anyone, Israel was created by the UN but since then has done nothing but give them a two-fingered salute.

This may keep him off other teams' radar for the window, could be a blessing in disguise.

Non-starter imo, he wouldn't go there and they can't afford him.

They were stupid to keep faith with Hughes into January, he's going to blow a lot of money on recruits and then get sacked, then the new manager will want new players, etc. I'd have Onuoha, could back up Beye at RB before challenging for a CB place when he returns.

Imagine if it's us v. Millwall, the Dennis Wise headlines will be enough to make me vomit.

I think that kids thing was just him putting on a brave face because Fat Sam wanted him out. That's just me, I may have my rose tinted specs on but Allardyce showed no inclination to play him and it was time for him to move on, but he didn't want to make a big fuss.

Agree especially about the "learning from his mistakes" which many of our managers have seemed incapable of doing. I don't like how he favors Duff but apart from that he's done alright on the football side. Certainly not the holocaust we were expecting his reign to be. I only wish he could keep his mouth shut though.

Just wondering but has anything Kinnear ever said regarding the administration side of the club ever been true? We need a "Joe lies" thread to go with the Mike lies one.

Just what we needed, a replay. Wonderful. How many players will we lose to injury in that game? Jonas nearly played them on his own in the second half, disappointing result though.

If he actually thinks Almunia is better than Given he's an idiot, which we know he isn't. It's natural he would keep quiet until he's ready to make a move. Probably though he imagines he'll be priced out of Given and doesn't even want to bother. It's Man City we should be worrying about, they don't have anyone close to Given's quality and they've got money to burn.

I agree, send out the youth team. It'd be nice to see the products of the lovely system that cost us our manager.

Thanks for everything, Mike.

We could do worse than Suazo, I mean if we are definitely going to sell Owen this deal wouldn't been the worst we've seen bandied about. Obviously I would prefer not to.

I don't want to spend the money on a position we don't (desperately) need help in on a mediocre player, which is what Doyle is. We have Shola, he's actually having a decent season so far, there's certainly no need to be spending money on another striker unless they are of significant quality. (Of course, this statement assumes we won't sell anyone. If we do, we'll of course need replacements, although I still think we can do better.)

Don't be fucking stupid. If we're talking about Doyle as replacement for the likes of Owen he's not good enough but he's way better than Shola. He would be a canny addition to our squad for me as unfortunately the days of us signing Ferdinand's, Shearer's and Owen's are well gone. I respectfully disagree with your opinion.

Apologies, Farrington you sorry bastard, but I don't think anyone who has supported the club for the last 2 years let alone the last 28 could ever consider Alan pissing Oliver anything but a fawning apologist whose writing is as poor as his sense of responsibility for the club. When we needed someone to really hold the Shepherd and Ashley reigns to account he failed us. Just putting in shitty and biased match reports and doing arse-licking interviews with some of our players doesn't make you a sort of journalistic iconoclast who got the London press to follow his stunning work. What a load of bollocks, piss off Oliver.

Can't have it both ways tbh, either don't have democratic elections (in which case they're backwards barbarians who will never be modern) or don't cry when they don't go as planned (in which case they're terrorists) Israel has the best security force in the world in the Mossad. I simply reject the idea that Israel can't find and deal with whoever is responsible for the rocket attacks without demolishing the homes, businesses, lives of people who are not involved. That is terrorism, end of story. [/shieldsupcaptain]

Was offside and Carroll can go, keep Shola though, I have a feeling we will be needing him.