kactus

Still remains a mystery why missiles have put into target a commercial aircraft.... The operator was on high alert and sources confirm that he acted on self defence not hearing anything from command centre. But surely they must have to distinguish an aircraft from a missile... It is quite dubious. Another thing that remains a mystery is a a video showing on social media someone filming the whole incident before this Ukrainian plane was intercepted by a missile. Now given that this incident occurred early hours on Tuesday morning how would this person know this incident is taking place? It is baffling...

Who will pay the security costs for hosting them in Canada still remains...Canadians won’t be happy to fork this out of their tax pay...

Well he did that with the Kurd who thought against ISIS and were on the same side as US. The Kurds were at the mercy of Turkish army. I wouldn’t read too much into his tweets. If they last past the election then perhaps there is something in that message for Iranian people...

This is a good move by Trump to play up the supreme leader against Iranians. I have seen footage where people openly refuse to trample the American flags and this is a good start for a dialogue. This gesture of goodwill by Trump towards Iranian people and moral support is a good sign but it may soon fizz out after the election....

I see that model as Europe during the middle ages when the church had lots of power that interfered with the day to day lives of people. This came to the head when King Henry VIII wanted to re-marry and the church did not allow him. Of course he married again and told the church to pi@& off. He instigated the separation of church from the state. The rest is history following the industrial revolution and modernisation in Europe. Bottom line there’s no place for religion in politics or in Henry’s case personal life... England got this right but somehow their interference in other countries’ politics always seems to be a stumbling block. It evolve around exploiting the various religious factions and create endless wars.....

Unfortunately, this is the same predicament many Iranian women of her stature have faced under this brutal regime. Iranian women are fighting the apparatus of this regime on a daily basis by not covering their hair and wearing hijab. It is an ongoing battle and the women in Iran and their movements is one of the forces that the regime is very afraid of...

Even if this true which is questionable as I do not know the background to this. Nevertheless she is the bride to the Royal family and has been subject to racism from day one when she married Prince Harry and became part of the Royal family and all because of her background and her colour of skin...The press in UK is very intrusive. Much more than in US. Prince Harry has had enough of this and understandably like any responsible would chose his wife over his royal family obligations. If she was a white American actress this would not have been the case and she would not be subject to racism. This subject is very sensitive and much talked about in british press.

Interesting perspective but not far fetched given the pathetic interview Andrew gave to Emily Maitlis. The guy’s desperate attempt to hide his ties with Epstein was quite telling and quite an embarrassment to the Queen.

If you asked any average American who Soleimani was until a few months ago they wouldn’t have a clue.... it would be interesting to see what the long term strategy is to defeat ISIS. That’s for all the parties concerned. Their cells are well active across the middle east.

Cost of security for keeping a royal family member in a foreign country safe is not cheap....It’s a hell of a responsibility and headache for canadian government.

It is exactly the race thing and the colour of her skin that prompted this decision to leave UK for Canada....

You need to take into account that the role of paparazzi in UK is quite different from elsewhere. Very intrusive into the royal family lives as is evident by the death of Diana....Meghan was subject to a lot of racism and it is a real problem with inter racial marriages in UK. Unfortunately, racism has been inherent in the British culture and the more you go away from London the more this becomes transparent but in a discreet manner ....Oddly!

Dougie I have a lot of respect for your style of writing and the posts you share here on MLW. There were several other flights before this and it begs the question why this particular flight was intercepted by an anti missile? It seems to me that there is a vested interest for the regime to specifically target this airline. After all, it is a Ukrainian airline, not Ghatar Airways where the regime has less negotiation powers as far as their own leverage and financial interests are concerned. I am coming to the way of thinking that perhaps this attack was intentional and am deeply concerned that maybe these 176 poor souls that got caught in the crossfire were used a shield incase of an attack from US. I am not a military man so I wouldn't delve too much into this thought unconsciously incase I will be called a conspiracy theorist... On a more empathetic level I think it is insensitive to the families of these 176 passengers 63 of whom were Canadians that they were not meant to travel to Iran. They have just lost their loved ones.....We don't know the motive for their trip although the the coincidence with festive season suggests they were there to spend time with their families and loved ones over Christmas. There were several other flights before this flight so the passengers would not have known about the problems on the ground. More importantly the authorities should have closed the airspace, followed the correct protocol and informed passengers.

True... Or they may be hanged from their balls. On a serious note, it is problematic when religion is mixed with politics be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism or whatever ....ism exists out there. You get my drift.

We have been down this road before. 1953 to be exact....Conflict of interest exists with foreign powers on O.I.L. Perfect wisdom for myopia.... Maybe and only maybe then we wouldn’t have had all these conflicts or ayatollahs....

Gen. Soleimani being no 2 posed a direct threat to the authority of the supreme leader. The position of the supreme leader has been shakey for some time now. Sanctions have taken their toll on the indigenous population. People are not happy with the regime and I doubt any country will grant entry to the supreme leader if the situation turns regime change... The ayatollah will do anything to survive or justify their existence even it means killing Iranians as was evident in the recent protests across the country or tip off Soleimani’s whereabouts to Trump's administration. Afterall, making Trump look good will massage his ego. Khamenei made damn sure he could make a martyr out of the killing of Soleimani by the Americans. The death of Soleimani helped the regime to build support and bring people to ballot boxes for the election that is happening in Iran soon. It also helped Trump to come out triumphant now that the devil general is dead. It will also help his chances for the second term and dilute the impeachment process. Iran then takes a so called "hard revenge" by attacking US bases in Iraq. No one is killed or injured surprisingly....Haleluja... Now with Soleimani dead I suspect there is something about the general the ayatollah does not want to disclose.

It is naive to contemplate that Trump knew Soleimani’s whereabout....He is tipped off by the Iranian regime. Trump takes the credit for his assassination and boldening his support at home. Win win

Talking of climate change I came across this article today that ER (Extinction Rebellion) is an extremist ideology! Where is this gonna stop now for goodness sake?...We are talking about counter terrorism that is clearly designated for white supremacist, neo nazis and islamist extremists....And now ER added to the list for the fear of radicalisation. Seriously!? By this measure Brexitiers should be associated with extremism: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/extinction-rebellion-prevent-extremism-terrorism-racism-climate-change-a9279761.html Here's the excerpt: Sir Peter Fahy, who was head of Prevent from 2010 to 2015, said confidence from communities was vital to its success and legitimacy. He was speaking after the Guardian revealed police had branded the nonviolent climate emergency group as an extremist ideology in a guide designed to help stop terrorist violence. The publication produced by counter-terrorism police in the south-east showed police had placed XR on a list of ideologies alongside neo-Nazis and Islamist extremists that should be reported to the authorities running the Prevent anti-radicalisation programme. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/12/ex-prevent-chief-criticises-terror-lists-inclusion-extinction-rebellion-sir-peter-fahy- I mean what world are we living in Where the bipolarity of the society is becoming more transparent. Whether it is in US or everywhere else around the world this radicalisation is taking shape. Look at UK, Italy, India and many european countries that are leaning far more to the rightwing nationalism.

The last that I have heard was that Gen Soleimani’s protege and his wife were also on the same flight to Canada. Now, whether this has any links to his assassination and the regime wanted to silence him before he steps a foot in Canada remains unknown. I believe there was a ‘deal’ agreed between the supreme leader and president Trump to take Soleimani out. Time will tell...Maybe it won’t.

Jasmin 'Jaws' Moghbeli — the first Iranian American astronaut says space 'unites' us all https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/facts-about-the-first-iraninan-american-astronaut-jasmin-moghbeli-who-believes-space-unites-us-all/amp_articleshow/73222541.cms This is a positive news given the current tragedy and sad news over this airline.

Sad thing is the expert on this matter is specialised on commercial flights and aviation. This requires a much deeper understanding of what has gone wrong.

If that is true the military defence has been seriously compromised...The plane was heading back to the airport after the interception by the missile.

The accident happened shortly after the take off within a short distance from the airport. One would assume that the airport still has this plane under the radar system and it makes it very peculiar how this can go wrong. According to the article from Washington Post the operator had 10 seconds to decide what to do in the absence of confirmation from the control centre....

Without a doubt...This has been evident from day one and dialled to... The discussion circumvented whether the plane catching a fire internally due to a mechanical fault as the Iranian regime initially claimed....

Good question....Whether to put the blame on the operator is to exonerate the higher level of command remains moot.... Despite the clean up the regime could not fool the experts who visited the site of the crash and the black box which is why they had to admit the truth about shooting down the commercial airplane