Off Topic Thread too point uh

I'm booked to go to Paris in three weeks. Im still gonna go, unless the department of foreign affairs says not to... Would have no concern about going for the rugby.

Sunday times had a supplement on Paris today...

What a beautiful city. If I can get cheapish flights and a baby sitter then I'm going back there next year!!

France have launched air strikes on Isis tonight. It's going to be a uncertain future for us all.

Stheno wrote: »

THere was a very long, but incredibly informative article about ISIS posted in the Islam forum today.

Basically they need to have land/territory to exist, if that stops, they fail.

There was a guy being interviewed on BBC the other day, can't remember his title for the life of me but it was something to do with security in the middle east.

He said basically that drone strikes had failed to stem the rise of the ISIS or ISIL or whatever they call themselves and that the most effective weapon against them were the Kurdish troops in the area. He said the west may not like it and it's understandable that they are incredibly hesitant but the only way to stop them is boots on the ground.

After becoming the all-time leading passer in the NFL tonight, Peyton Manning is having a mare. 30 yards passing and 3 interceptions in the first half.

What's more important is that the greatest player of all time Jameis Winston lead the Bucs to a victory over Dallas.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm really struggling to come up with a positive solution to what happened in France. Invading or retaliating is only going to continue the cycle but they can hardly do nothing either. We're just going to be at war forever with terrorism.

It's hard right. Daesh aren't like the Taliban for example, who were more than happy to just hang around in Afghanistan subduing minorities in their own country. They are much more expansionist. They find the very existence of Western culture abhorrent. Those saying if we stopped intervening in Syria they'd take their concentration elsewhere are merely advocating appeasement and it will not work.

The first step is domestic. European nations are at threat from their own citizens here. Western leaders have to get Islamic community leaders involved in the response. Get these Islamic leaders on TV condemning Daesh in the strongest terms. Renew a process of integration. Frustrated Muslims in European cities are going to Syria to express their frustration. Let's get them in front of politicians. Let's set up engagement conferences and education processes. We need to give the young frustrated Muslim an option that isn't extremism.

In the middle east building allies is more important than ever. France and Germany are in a better position than UK and USA to reach out to countries like Lebanon, Iran and hopefully whatever Syria emerges when Assad is toppled. Using these allies together we establish more effective monitoring networks. We stop Beirut and Paris.

As allies we take back the territory Daesh control. If we have to hand it over to Assad that is unfortunate, but we seize it nonetheless. Territory gives them power, legitimacy, money. Topple that legitimacy before people start identifying it as their nationality, becuase at that point we're screwed.

We don't kill this with airstrikes alone, but they will be a part of the response.

Actually it's worth saying, their are only four of us in the particular client I am working on today. Me, another Irish guy a French guy and an Islamic guy. Not only is there no tension at all, but they were perfectly normal to each other when they walked in, "how was your weekend", "ah fairly standard, had a few friends over".

Now when I say this guy is Islamic, I mean he takes breaks to pray. So he's into his religion, but it shows the benefits of a truly integrated society and workplace that neither of these guys care one bit about the politics they supposedly represent / represent them. A bit of familiarity goes a long way.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

What's more important is that the greatest player of all time Jameis Winston lead the Bucs to a victory over Dallas.

For years I've been idly wondering which bucs you were a fan of.

errlloyd wrote: »

Actually it's worth saying, their are only four of us in the particular client I am working on today. Me, another Irish guy a French guy and an Islamic guy. Not only is there no tension at all, but they were perfectly normal to each other when they walked in, "how was your weekend", "ah fairly standard, had a few friends over".

Now when I say this guy is Islamic, I mean he takes breaks to pray. So he's into his religion, but it shows the benefits of a truly integrated society and workplace that neither of these guys care one bit about the politics they supposedly represent / represent them. A bit of familiarity goes a long way.

I work in an area in England with about a 40% muslim population. I have quite a few guys in the office who are muslim and are observant to varying degrees. They're all completely horrified by it, a lot of them are Pakistani and those who are actually from Pakistan had been living with the threat of it themselves, I often get updates from them on the Pakistani army's progress against the Taliban etc. Of course we shouldn't forget the Peshawar school massacre last year which was one of the single most horrific acts of terrorism I can remember, and really highlights (as Emmet pointed out) the awful nature of the type of people we're up against.

In fact there are a worrying number of people from towns near this area who actually went to Syria and joined up with the Islamic State. Some of them are known to my friends here. They say they're often people who've always been a bit "off" or distant, the ones who were loners in school for example, and they just get swept up in the propaganda, which is very strong and most of which is ignored (and therefore unrefuted) by western sources.

Hey that's given me an idea. Can we sort out the Toulon-Bath congestion issue by just having Bruce Craig and Mourad Boudjellal play a one-off game of Jonah Lomu rugby?

Deleted User wrote: »

Feckin RTE player is not working. If I paid a TV license, I'd be going mad.

Stopped working again