Kibbutz

[sinkov]

A tricky sod you are sinkov.

My son-in-law was before his discharge a Drill Sergeant down at Pirbright. One Sunday I was invited in as an "Honorary Guest", during the course of the day I had the immense good fortune to watch a dozen top Army snipers (two were female) firing with the latest SAS sniper rifle.

It's hard to believe they can shoot your helmet off from a mile away mon ami - but they can!

Yes but they got this lad's kneecap BT, not his fecking helmet, these guys are real pros obviously, if I was a Pally I wouldn't go within ten miles of that fence, are you even safe at that distance ?

[The Bedlington Terrier]

What I fail to understand sinkov is why shoot the Palestinians who are standing on the other side of a f*cking great fence...

Attachment 20956

[Balanbam00]

Its not so high BT , The fence has a road that is swept I would say at least twice a day ,with barbed wire behind a jeep ,to spot any footprints and which direction taken. Its the angle this photo is taken, it looks huge.

Gaza


The fence:


I was in S'derot ,some 12 years ago ,then the rockets were home made stuff ,in fact some would have landed in Gaza itself

[Balanbam00]

After that photo of that huge fence, and of course you wrote,(post 62) What I fail to understand (sinkov), is why shoot the Palestinians who are standing on the other side of a f*cking great fence...
And what I fail to understand BT , is ''such a huge great high fence. ''How is it possible to shoot anybody standing on the other side, how high must a sniper be in order to shoot the ''buggers?''
Maybe 300m or 400 m???

[Balanbam00]

Never mind the fence, our Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman spoke.
The world is on the brink of chaos and anarchy'' he says.'' It is time, he says, for the G7, Russia and China to work together.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/po...article-695379

This Liberman was concerned and full of dire warnings. The world, he told the Magazine, needs to wake up immediately because if it doesn’t, it will be thrown into a dark period of chaos and anarchy.

There are, he explained, four catalysts behind the chaos.
First, he said, is the emergence of more technology driven by artificial intelligence. There are young hackers, he said, who are capable of doing things with their computers and cell-phones that were unimaginable just a few years ago.

The US, he added, stopped the use of 5G – fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks near airports – over concern that people would be able to take over planes with cell-phones. In a decade, he said, every kid will have software like NSO’s Pegasus on their phones to be able to use as they desire.
“These are technological developments that have no oversight or coordination,” he said. “There is no form of global regulation and it takes us to places that are potentially frightening.”

The second catalyst, Liberman continued, is the rise of cryptocurrencies across the globe. There are, he noted, 15,000 different types of cryptocurrencies today.
“A few people get together and make a digital currency,” he said. “There are crypto markets in Iran to evade sanctions and to launder money and it can be used to finance terrorism and crime.”

Countries like Israel that have advanced technology, he said, can meet the challenge. “But there are 193 countries in the United Nations and 140 of them have no way of confronting this,” he explained. What happens, he cautioned, if massive multinational corporations come out with their own currency? “It doesn’t make a difference if it is Tesla or Amazon or another company. The moment these companies create their own currency, then some country out of the 140 will see its citizens lose trust in their economy, their leadership and the state itself.”

THERE IS no single monetary entity that can regulate 15,000 different digital currencies especially when countries are doing with them what they want, Liberman said, referring to El Salvador, which has made ******* an official currency – in contrast to Thailand, which has outlawed its use.
The third catalyst, according to Liberman, is what is happening on the Darknet, a gathering place for criminals and terrorist activities. Liberman said that he became familiar with the Darknet from his roles as defence minister and chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.

“This becomes all the more complicated with far-reaching consequences due to the ability to spread fake news and conspiracy theories,” he said. “What we are seeing on conventional networks is child’s play compared to the Darknet where there is a concentration of criminal psychopaths, terrorists and spies sitting on the same network.”

The fourth catalyst, he explained, is the breakdown and collapse of international order and systems.
An illustration of this, he said, can be seen in Vienna where the world superpowers continue to negotiate with Iran in pursuit of a new nuclear deal. They speak to the Iranians at the same time that Iran is supplying the Houthis in Yemen with ballistic missiles and drones and ordering them to attack the United Arab Emirates.

“They don’t even say ‘Nu, nu, nu’ and are afraid to say that the Houthi attacks are being carried out by Iran,” Liberman explained. “At the same time, North Korea is testing missiles. No one is accountable anymore. And in Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken over. You see a weakness of the global superpowers and their ability to create order and values.”

Altogether, Liberman said, this creates chaos and anarchy.

So, what can be done, we asked.

“We need to rise above the regular daily problems in each country to stop these trends,” he answered. “There is only one chance and that is to regulate and coordinate together with all of the big players working in unison.”

What that means, he explained, is getting the G7 – an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – to work with Russia and China to find ways to regulate a new world order and to stop the slide toward global chaos.
“You need all of the players together to create uniform regulation in all of these different fields since if you don’t, everything will move in directions that will make the movies we see in Hollywood turn into a reality,” he warned.
Liberman is not sure his plan will work but he believes that the world is at an inflection point and now is the time to act.

He said that he recently met with the president of Tel Aviv University and asked him to convene the brightest minds on campus to build simulations and models for where the combination of technology, cryptocurrency, Darknet and collapsing world order will lead the world.
“There is time to act,” he said. “I hope they do.”

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Are there no Pikeys in Acre Balan? Surely they could take that old rusty $hite off you for a few shekels.

[Balanbam00]

I have not been in Acre, ( Akko ) for some time, its no good taking it away ! Its our winter now, 10 - 17 C. That's a tourist attraction. Americans pay good money to see that stuff. surely you would think to earn dollars is better than selling for a few shekels. But you are into sales ,so your mind would think like that. Akko has stood the test of time ,its written in Egyptology, 4000 years ago.

What is Akko?

Akko is a city that has been shaped by the Romans, Ottomans, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Byzantines, and British. Today it is home to a brilliantly coexistent mixed population of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Old City of Akko is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest ports in the world.

Is Akko worth visiting?
For history fans, Akko is one of the best places to visit in the country thanks to the preservation of its stone architecture. There are plentiful historic tourist attractions and things to do amid its squiggle of narrow alleyways with khans (caravanserais), fortifications, and Crusader-era monuments to explore. But if you are friends with the Pally's ???

Who Lives in Akko Today?

Akko residents speak of its pull, its mystique. The tiny, original Old City has 5,000 residents: Muslims and a few Christian Arabs.
Though this is Israel, there are almost no Jews in the Old City. They lived here until the Arab Revolt of 1939.

Akko asks for your time and attention: to climb the Citadel steps, to watch real belly-dancers, to hear Ottoman music,



to get your fill of clean Mediterranean air at seaside cafés.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/akko-in-is...ttable-2250868

[The Bedlington Terrier]

I have not been in Acre, ( Akko ) for some time, its no good taking it away ! Its our winter now, 10 - 17 C. That's a tourist attraction. Americans pay good money to see that stuff. surely you would think to earn dollars is better than selling for a few shekels. But you are into sales ,so your mind would think like that. Akko has stood the test of time ,its written in Egyptology, 4000 years ago.

What is Akko?

Akko is a city that has been shaped by the Romans, Ottomans, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Byzantines, and British. Today it is home to a brilliantly coexistent mixed population of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Old City of Akko is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest ports in the world.

Is Akko worth visiting?
For history fans, Akko is one of the best places to visit in the country thanks to the preservation of its stone architecture. There are plentiful historic tourist attractions and things to do amid its squiggle of narrow alleyways with khans (caravanserais), fortifications, and Crusader-era monuments to explore. But if you are friends with the Pally's ???

Who Lives in Akko Today?

Akko residents speak of its pull, its mystique. The tiny, original Old City has 5,000 residents: Muslims and a few Christian Arabs.
Though this is Israel, there are almost no Jews in the Old City. They lived here until the Arab Revolt of 1939.

Akko asks for your time and attention: to climb the Citadel steps, to watch real belly-dancers, to hear Ottoman music,



to get your fill of clean Mediterranean air at seaside cafés.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/akko-in-is...ttable-2250868

I'd prefer the Beatles Balan!

[Balanbam00]

Its almost a choice of culture, if the mind's limitations, are local ,or it encompass the world. Ah! the Middle east ,its passion. How the Ottoman empire spread, they were here in Akko too. ( but of course I wasn't ) Do you see on the video the calligraphy (Tughra)? Each Sultan had his own name ,quite different ,we can see it here also in Akko too.



What does the Ottoman symbol mean?
Image result for the calligraphy sign of the Sultans of Turkey
Flowers on the left symbolize the Toleration of the Ottoman. ... Weapons on the left and right symbolize the Ottoman Armies. Sun symbolizes the greatness of the Ottoman state. Green medallion on the Sun with the sultan's seal (Tughra) within symbolizes the great Ottoman dynasty.



The star and crescent is an iconographic symbol used in various historical contexts. By the mid-20th century, the symbol came to be re-interpreted as the symbol of Islam or the Muslim community.

One of the many narrow streets in old Akko.

[Balanbam00]

Akko:

Khan Al-Umdan
Khan al-Umdan is a large merchant’s inn adjacent to the port which was used for international trade. Merchants who arrived to the port unloaded their goods in the inn’s storerooms on the first floor and slept in the rooms on the second floor, which constituted a unique hotel.
The khan was built in the late 18th century by Ahmed al-Jazzar and it rests on a row of granite pillars brought from various sites in the area.
The khan’s courtyard can be viewed partially from the outside.



The history of the Wall of Akko
The siege of Napoleon was the last chapter in a very interesting and strange saga in the history of the Land of Israel. Napoleon journeyed to Egypt and for reasons that are unclear started a military campaign along the coast of the Land of Israel. He might have been hoping to conquer his way back to Europe after the British navy destroyed most of his fleet. In Jaffa the French soldiers committed a terrible massacre, and Haifa fell without a battle. Apparently, Al Gazzar, the ruler of Acre, didn’t have a chance against the great Napoleon, but two ancient factors were on his side – geography and the understanding that my enemy’s enemy is my friend.

The siege that Napoleon imposed on Acre in March 1799 wasn’t effective because the city is surrounded on three sides by the sea. The British navy carried supplies to Acre, and the ships that carried Napoleon’s canons fell into British hands. This turned the tables, and the French soldiers were now the ones lacking supplies. Fighting alongside Al Gazzar and the British navy was Antoine de Phelippeaux, a French officer that studied with Napoleon at the military academy. After the French Revolution they found themselves on different sides, as Napoleon supported the revolution and de Phlippeaux the monarchy. De Phlippeaux was the one that encouraged Al Gazzar not to surrender during the siege. Napoleon solders attacked seven times, and in the last attack they managed to break the wall and stormed into the city. But here they encountered an inner wall and were slaughtered between the walls. On May 21, after a siege of nine weeks, Napoleon gave up and made his way back to Egypt and from there to France, leaving many of his solders behind.

This campaign was supposedly short and had no significance. After returning to France, Napoleon led many other well-known military campaigns, which brought him, for example, deep into Russia. And yet at the end of his life, in exile on St. Helena, he wrote that if Acre had fallen that he would have changed the course of the world and that the destiny of the East was determined in this small town.