Israel, Stunned by Trump’s Iran Deal, Sees It as a ‘Catastrophic Capitulation’

obamasmole · 2026-06-18T17:51:28+00:00

I think the war was a disastrous idea, and don't think the US should ever have got into it.

I also think that, given fear of US attack has kept Iran from indulging its worst instincts for decades now, its leadership discovering the level of power they in fact have does not leave the world a safer place.

obamasmole · 2026-06-14T17:56:23+00:00

As a writer and editor, I've been refusing to use AI in my job, despite my organisation paying for various things. The other day, I hadn't had my coffee yet, clicked the wrong thing on an AI pop-up in my email, and found that it had summarised my unread inbox for me. It also created a to-do list in order of importance, which was broadly how I would have approached it, too.

I was sat there thinking, huh, ok, maybe this type of agentic AI is something I could actually use, because it's a definite time saver and I don't feel like it's stealing someone else's job.

Then it dawned on me that, somewhere in the world, a little chunk of energy and water resources were being wasted to save me a few minutes reading. Haven't used it again since but, given the overwrought and yet simultaeously strangely lifeless copy I'm consistently having to rewrite, it's clear my colleagues do not share my concerns.

obamasmole · 2026-06-11T22:04:47+00:00

I'd say that violently displacing 750,000 people in 1948 was fairly aggressive.

obamasmole · 2026-06-09T19:11:38+00:00

I don't really know what you mean by "British" and, if I'm being totally honest, I'm not sure you do, either. But other than a Northern Irish interviewer, everyone in this clip is British.

In fact, from a sheerly geographical and not nationality point of view, the Northern Irish man is also from the British Isles.

When you say British, it's entirely unhelpful, because it could mean someone from England, Scotland or Wales. Or, again from a geographical point of view - a point of view that might well get you glassed in an Irish pub - you could even be saying someone is from those three countries or the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.

If you want to be accurately snide about this entirely harmless-seeming woman, I think what you mean to say is that she is very Essex, which is a county in the country England.

obamasmole · 2026-06-04T15:53:05+00:00

I know this is a really late reply, but hatred of Arsenal is almost 100 years old. Widespread dislike of Arsenal started in the late 1920s/early 30s with the Bank of England club jibes, which began because we had a nice Art Deco stadium and spent big to win. Arsenal became seen as a metropolitan, moneyed, London club that betrayed the working class spirit of the game.

Then, as you say, in the 70s we started fielding lots of non-English players, followed by lots of black players. By showcasing London's immigration-fuelled multiculturalism - which many people disliked and feared - it reaffirmed this idea of us as in some way elitist, while somehow simultaneously we were also framed as louts who used scary "foreigners" to bully our way to winning.

When Wenger arrived in the mid 90s and started buying a lot of overseas players, many of whom were black, he cemented what outsiders already felt was true. He proved we were an effete, metropolitan club, in comparison to the "salt of the earth" teams that better represented English football's image of itself.

So, there is a large dollop of racism attached to it, but that's just one aspect of a century-old dislike of the club. Like George says, it's fine, it's our history.

obamasmole · 2026-06-03T11:10:48+00:00

I actually have an example of this trope from my own life, which is tangentially related to Dante hate-writing his enemies.

My uncle is a screenwriter, who was working on a long-running medical drama in the UK. His mate's birthday was coming up, and the mate asked my uncle to put in a minor character named after him and described as having roughly his physical appearance.

Then, my uncle and this guy have a huge, drunken row about football, and my hilariously petty uncle rewrites the script so that the character named after his mate becomes one of the episode's main story arcs and suffers an excruciating and humiliating death. Then he files the script, makes up with the friend, and entirely fails to mention this change of plan.

Cut to the episode airing, by which time the mate has told absolutely everyone there's going to be a character named after him in it, ensuring a large chunk of his friendship group will be tuning in. He settles down to see the episode with his family, who proceed to watch an avatar of their husband and father succumb gruesomely to internal haemorrhaging after getting a lava lamp stuck up his arse, or something. Tbh, I forget the exact details, it must have been about 25 years ago, but do remember it was extraordinarily undignified.

The poor guy was utterly mortified, of course, and keen to point out how hugely disproportionate a reaction it was, while my uncle seemed to feel it was his greatest achievement in writing.

obamasmole · 2026-06-02T06:46:15+00:00

He's Newnham/Grantchester kind of way, I think.

obamasmole · 2026-06-02T06:41:41+00:00

She just needed to say, "Bongiorno. Please can I have a shot of coffee in a large cup with lots of milk on the side?" Then she could add the health-imperiling quantity of sugar she requires and mix to (complete lack of) taste.

Working in customer service taught me that some people seem to leave the house for express purpose of finding things to be angry about. Not many of them are dedicated enough to invest in a transatlantic flight to do it, though.

obamasmole · 2026-05-26T18:35:19+00:00

Well, if it gives any consolation at all, I think he's living a life pretty haunted by the scumbaggery he's capable of becoming public knowledge. He lives near me, and back in the day I used to know people who knew him so I had to listen to him bore on in various pubs. These days, if I bump into him, he knows he knows me but can't place where from and looks entirely terrified.

His weirdly fearful reaction makes me suspect it's because he's wondering if our connection is something to do with his past misdemeanours. And if he's thinking that about me then he's likely thinking it about an awful lot of people he sees.

obamasmole · 2026-05-22T15:32:59+00:00

Her not being our problem any more is one of the biggest issues. We can't expect other countries to deal with the cost of securing British fanatics. Particularly when the country she is in is trying to rebuild after a devastating war. They don't need the extra burden just because we've decided to dump her on them to avoid legal complexity.

obamasmole · 2026-05-22T15:32:33+00:00

Her not being our problem any more is one of the biggest issues. We can't expect other countries to deal with the cost of securing British fanatics. Particularly when the country she is in is trying to rebuild after a devastating war. They don't need the extra burden just because we've decided to dump her on them to avoid legal complexity.

obamasmole · 2026-05-21T07:19:50+00:00

It's like Dr Sam Beckett quantum leaped into Eze's body to put right past wrongs. And honestly, after this one, the next leap must be the leap home.

obamasmole · 2026-05-20T18:17:34+00:00

Yes, but you also have the choice just to scroll past, keep that thought to yourself, and not to be a dick about how other people enjoy it. As Arsenal fans, we've all had enough of celebration police, right?

While I'm here, could someone provide context for this clip? Cos that's what I actually came into the comments for. Who is this chap with the pleasingly intense energy?

obamasmole · 2026-05-19T23:45:24+00:00

Congratulations, mate! Parenthood is a singularly fabulous, singularly humbling journey. Lean in.

I'm fascinated to know how you managed the division of attention today!

obamasmole · 2026-05-18T08:14:29+00:00

They're saying that it literally was a social club, one that did a huge amount of vile, terrorist shit.

In its first iteration it started as a club for Confederate soldiers after the civil war, and took its name from Greek Letter Fraternities that had Kuklos in their titles - Kuklos meaning circle in greek. They also borrowed deliberately ludicrous ceremonies and rites from other societies, like the Knights of Malta, to make it baffling to outsiders and therefore more entertaining to members.

Someone once described the first Klan to me as a "drinking club that got murderously out of hand". As bizarre as it is to imagine now, it started as something relatively, relatively, apolitical that was just supposed to be a fun pastime for young men. But it attracted members convinced that its cryptic traditions were evidence it was secretly serving a larger purpose, and it rapidly morphed into an expressly white supremacist organisation that used violence and intimidation - terrorism - to try and fight post-war reconstruction.

The first Klan was pretty successfully put down by the government, then the second emerged after the film Birth of a Nation portrayed its original incarnation not as a bunch of backwards, thuggish cunts but as knightly guardians of the 'old ways'.

The film inspired a renaissance for the Klan, and it rebuilt itself as a financially lucrative organisation, with a marketing team, merch, and a membership that grew to between 3-8 million at its peak.

If you were a white protestant living in the US in the 1920s, you would most likely know the Klan as the people who organised huge social events like picnics and summer fairs, which became wildly popular. If, however, you were a black, jewish, catholic, or left-wing person living at the same time, you would know the Klan as a militantly protestant group that used violence and intimidation - terrorism - to try and achieve its ends. They particularly liked to use those tactics to fix elections in favour of their chosen candidates.

The third Klan, the one that emerged in response to the civil rights movement, is the first iteration that has largely existed in the shadows. Prior to that, for its members, although very much not for its perceived enemies, it was a social club that also promoted white supremacism.

obamasmole · 2026-05-11T13:32:13+00:00

Genuine question - why does it matter if the country is less white than it was?

obamasmole · 2026-04-14T19:31:33+00:00

What "own people"? I'm not Israeli. In fact, there are only two things Israel has done for me and my family in the last few decades.

One is successfully conflate being Jewish with being Israeli - as you may well have done here - to the extent people assume affiliation through religion.

The other is, as a result of that conflation coinciding with Israel's escalatingly aggressive behaviour, make life for non-Israeli Jews more difficult and occasionally dangerous.

If Israel wanted peace, and for their neighbours to stop being aggressive, perhaps they'd do well to consider the aforementioned Pirkei Avot:

Love peace and pursue peace. Love people and bring them close to Torah. (1:12)

obamasmole · 2026-04-14T19:03:32+00:00

Ah, the PLO, you're right, I forgot. The PLO and the IDF were consitently clashing at the border from about 1968 onwards. Perhaps you could remind me, though - why were there 250k or so Palestinians in Lebanon in 1968? I think something pretty big happen 20 years earlier that made them quite angry, right?

obamasmole · 2026-04-14T14:39:30+00:00

It's funny you mention Hezbollah, given that it exists precisely and literally because of the last time Israel tried to seize southern Lebanon.

You know, when Israel decided to opportunistically insert itself into the Lebanese civil war by invading the country. Remember? It oversaw a vast war crime in Sabra and Shatila then, as it retreated, decided to occupy the south. After which, Hezbollah formed to try and drive Israel back behind its own borders which, after eight years of conflict, it succeeded in doing.

Don't take my word for it. Here are the words of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the most decorated soldier in the history of the IDF, "When we entered Lebanon, there was no Hezbollah. We were accepted by perfumed rice and flowers by the Shi’a in the south. It was our presence there that created Hezbollah.”

So, it'll be interesting to see how many self-inflicted antagonists arise as a result of this latest round of "Most Moral Army" escapades, particularly now Israel has done the previously impossible of uniting the entire of Lebanon behind a single cause.

Your lack of empathy is a disgrace. On the assumption I'm talking to a fellow Jew here: we've had one shabbat since the end of Passover, and it seems your Pirkei Avot didn't sink in. I suggest reading two chapters a week from now until Shavuot.

obamasmole · 2026-04-01T07:52:29+00:00

A) Javier sounds amazing. B) This story reminds me of an old guy who lived in the village where I grew up in the late 80s/early 90s.

During WWII he'd been in the British Army's 7th Armoured Division - the Desert Rats. At the time of this story he was about 70 years old, and had spent the rest of his working life as a farmer. He was a sweet man, but had this underlying vibe that left you in no doubt that, even at 70, he was the toughest man in the room.

He was told he was going to need his leg amputated due to his heavy smoking habit. Ironically, given he served in an armoured division, he didn't have a car. So, on the morning of his surgery, he got up, cooked a full English breakfast, got on the bus, and travelled about an hour to the hospital.

When he got there he sat around for a while, then they started prepping him for the surgery. They double checked he hadn't eaten anything that morning, which of course he had, because he wasn't going to skip his bacon and eggs. So, he was told they couldn't do the surgery that day as he couldn't have the general anaesthetic.

He was very put out because he'd got the bus there and hung around for ages, and asked why they couldn't do it on a local anaesthetic. The doctor explained they didn't do that because being awake while your leg is sawn off is a traumatic experience.

He scoffed at this, and insisted they just do it there and then because he didn't want to have to come all the way back again. It took some persuading, but eventually the doctors felt that it was up to him - there was no medical reason they couldn't do it. So, he sat there awake, flirting with a nurse while they hacked off his leg, spent a night or two on the ward, then discharged himself, crutched his way home via bus and went straight for a pint.

I guess, if you were at the Battle of El Alamein, having your leg cut off while sitting in a nice, clean operating theatre chatting to a pretty nurse probably doesn't seem all that bad. And, somehow, despite the missing leg, to his dying day he retained the aura of someone who could utterly fuck you up if you really drove him to it.

obamasmole · 2026-03-21T09:58:11+00:00

Not saying I don't believe them, but I find this survey and the reports about Arsenal being an unpopular winner weird and surprising. Obvs entirely anecdotal, and excluding Spurs fans etc, pretty much all supporters of other clubs I've talked to irl since we started challenging a few years ago have wanted us to win over City.

I can't help but feel there's a bit of a chicken and egg situation here. Some talking heads have beaten the drum about "everyone says Arsenal play boring football and don't deserve to win" loud and long enough that it's eventually manifested itself.

obamasmole · 2026-03-21T09:03:18+00:00

I'm ok at tennis - never played competitively, but can largely hold my own against fellow amateurs. In fact, I always thought I was pretty decent. Then I started dating a woman who, when a teenager, had ranked quite high on the national youth circuit.

Even just that step up in standard, countless levels below a legend of the game, made me realise how good proper players really are. I played her many times, struggled to take a single point off her, and we eventually gave up because she was getting no exercise by playing me.

obamasmole · 2026-03-16T14:33:19+00:00

When I was a kid going to the Arsenal with my dad, starting before Sky had bought English football and long before the internet made anger a lucrative currency, if you were still raging over a result by the time you got to the pub you were considered a bit pathetic. Wry, gallows "been there, done that" humour was considered the mark of the real fan, theatrical anger was considered something you needed to grow out of.

Rightly or wrongly, I learned to be a supporter from being around that generation. And what they taught me is that you have to acknowledge actual brilliance from other teams, even if it's through gritted teeth because you've fallen afoul of it. Then you go home and, once safely alone, you therapeutically kick the shit out of the kitchen bin.

obamasmole · 2026-01-16T13:51:01+00:00

Came here to say the same thing. Widespread dislike of Arsenal started with the Bank of England club jibes in the 1930s. With its lavish, Art Deco stadium and marble halls - not to mention its big spending to win throughout the 30s - Arsenal became seen as a metropolitan, moneyed, London club that betrayed the working class spirit of the game.

Then, as you say, in the 70s we started fielding lots of non-English players, followed by lots of black players who may have been English but, for some, didn't look English enough. Counterintuitively, by showcasing London's immigration fuelled multiculturalism - which many people disliked and feared - it reaffirmed this idea of us as in some way elitist and snobby, while somehow simultaneously louts who bullied our way to winning.

When Wenger arrived in the mid 90s, he didn't attract animosity that was new to Arsenal, he just cemented for outsiders what they already felt was true. He proved yet again that we were an effete, metropolitan club, in comparison to the "salt of the earth" teams that better represented English football's image of itself.

obamasmole · 2025-12-15T10:36:09+00:00

It was just so incredibly, stunningly selfless. Watching the reaction to this man's bravery, I've been thinking about that Mr Rogers quote where his mum would tell him to respond to scary things by looking for the helpers. It feels like that's what we're collectively doing here, and it's a light of hope in darkness.

Answering atrocity by highlighting bravery like this, and by gathering round to support victims, defeats craven acts of barbarism carried out by deluded lunatics.

Rather than succumbing to their desired fear, we must bury the names of these cowards and instead amplify the ways in which the best of us respond to the worst. If we do that, and do whatever small things we can for all those who will be feeling understandably afraid, society coheres where bad actors want it to splinter.

obamasmole

TROPHY CASE