In todays news...

[Hoonercat]

A mob of aggressive young male migrants in Yemen try to force their way over the border into KSA and (allegedly) get shot.

Only one use of the word "allegedly" in that sentence suggests you're confident that the rest of it is fact. Care to share your source?

[Horse]

A mob of aggressive young male migrants in Yemen try to force their way over the border into KSA and (allegedly) get shot.

Only one use of the word "allegedly" in that sentence suggests you're confident that the rest of it is fact. Care to share your source?

CNN see it slightly differently:


Saudi border guards killed “hundreds” of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023, Human Rights Watch alleged in a report released Monday.

The organization said it interviewed 42 Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers and analyzed over 350 videos and photographs posted to social media, as well as satellite imagery. Together, HRW said it showed evidence of dead and wounded along the migrant trail, in camps and medical facilities, as well as burial sites and “expanding Saudi border security infrastructure.”

Videos shared on TikTok and Facebook purport to show dead bodies along the migrant trail near the Yemen-Saudi border, as well as migrants with wounds consistent with injuries from explosive blasts or gunshots, according to a forensic pathologist. HRW claimed to have sourced and verified the videos.


Several videos purportedly recorded near an informal migrant camp appear to show Saudi border guard posts, and newly constructed fences next to one. HRW further said that satellite imagery obtained by the nonprofit also indicated growing graveyards nearby.

“Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons indiscriminately and shot people at close range, including women and children, in a pattern that is widespread and systematic."

[Count Steer]

If they're armed to the teeth and acting aggressively that's one thing that probably warrants a lethal response. Copping an attitude and shouting a bit, probably not.

[weeksy]

Every time I open this thread to check you're all behaving, 2 things spring to mind.

1. The world is bonkers
2. So are many of you.

The things that enter your minds, the reactions, the ' this really matters ' I simply don't get it.

Maybe I live in a little bubble, maybe I'm wrong, but honestly guys, sometimes some of you need to just ignore "the world", if it doesn't directly affect you today, then worry about it another day .

Not really a rant, just an observation of society, or here, media etc.

[Dodgy69]

Whoever came up with the bubble idea was a bloody genius. Is that war still on.

[Cousin Jack]

Every time I open this thread to check you're all behaving, 2 things spring to mind.

1. The world is bonkers
2. So are many of you.

The things that enter your minds, the reactions, the ' this really matters ' I simply don't get it.

Maybe I live in a little bubble, maybe I'm wrong, but honestly guys, sometimes some of you need to just ignore "the world", if it doesn't directly affect you today, then worry about it another day .

Not really a rant, just an observation of society, or here, media etc.

I agree the world is bonkers.
I agree that some of the people on here are bonkers too.

I disagree about it 'not mattering', it does matter.

Most of the disagreement is about the precise bits of what matters. Eg, people getting shot/blown up, or people being free to go where they want despite the wishes of the residents. And also what the end result will be, a nice multicultiral melting pot where everyone lives happily, or a shitstorm of civil unrest.

IMO of course, many others disagree.

[Hoonercat]

A mob of aggressive young male migrants in Yemen try to force their way over the border into KSA and (allegedly) get shot.

Only one use of the word "allegedly" in that sentence suggests you're confident that the rest of it is fact. Care to share your source?

My source is my decades of experience all across the world, in multiples roles, observing that the majority of migrants attempting to illegally enter countries are young men and that they often act aggressively.

It is an assumption, but feel free to correct me that they're mostly something else, if you have proof.

Completely up to you as to what what you believe, it's no skin off my nose. My only gripe was you presenting something as fact when it was an assumption. If you're genuinely interested, try reading the witness statements from the people who were actually there. This one is from a 20 year old woman who was part of a group that had been released by Saudi border guards.

The Saudis picked us up from the detention center in Daer and put us in a minibus going back to the Yemen border. When they released us, they created a kind of chaos; they screamed at us to “get out of the car and get away.” They trapped us into the same lane, they didn’t want us to spread out in case we tried to go back to Saudi I think, and this is when they started to fire mortars – to keep us into the mountain line, they fired the mortar from left and right. When we were one kilometer away, the border guards could see us. We were resting together after running a lot…and that’s when they fired mortars on our group. Directly at us. There were 20 in our group and only ten survived. Some of the mortars hit the rocks and then the [fragments of the] rock hit us…The weapon looks like a rocket launcher, it had six “mouths,” six holes from where they fire and it was fired from the back of a vehicle – it fires several at the same time. They fired on us like rain.
When I remember, I cry... I saw a guy calling for help, he lost both his legs. He was screaming; he was saying, “Are you leaving me here? Please don’t leave me.” We couldn’t help him because we were running for our lives. There are several people who lost their body parts.

And another

We walked about eight hours [from Al Thabit] to arrive at that place [where the attack happened]. There is … a space where you take a rest. We stayed there for a few hours… As soon as we started to walk again, the border guards started to fire on us – like ten times.
They [the Saudi border guards] … were firing big things like a mortar …They fired it from the back of a car. We could see where the border guards were positioned. They were in four spots. We lost 130 people that day – the majority were women and there were children there too

And this one from a 14 year old girl

We were fired on repeatedly. I saw people killed in a way I have never imagined. I saw 30 killed people on the spot. I pushed myself under a rock and slept there. I could feel people sleeping around me. I realized what I thought were people sleeping around me were actually dead bodies. I woke up and I was alone.

[weeksy]

Every time I open this thread to check you're all behaving, 2 things spring to mind.

1. The world is bonkers
2. So are many of you.

The things that enter your minds, the reactions, the ' this really matters ' I simply don't get it.

Maybe I live in a little bubble, maybe I'm wrong, but honestly guys, sometimes some of you need to just ignore "the world", if it doesn't directly affect you today, then worry about it another day .

Not really a rant, just an observation of society, or here, media etc.

I agree the world is bonkers.
I agree that some of the people on here are bonkers too.

I disagree about it 'not mattering', it does matter.

Most of the disagreement is about the precise bits of what matters. Eg, people getting shot/blown up, or people being free to go where they want despite the wishes of the residents. And also what the end result will be, a nice multicultiral melting pot where everyone lives happily, or a shitstorm of civil unrest.

IMO of course, many others disagree.

Does it though? Directly to you? Not just any of the issues in news from here in last 24 hours, but pretty much all of them.

"This happened in America"
"Someone got killed here"
"Someone in London did xyz"
" the prince didn't go to the football"
" Elon musk says....."
"Inflation"
"Public transport '
"Ulez"

It's all just bollox and posturing from random people who don't really exist apart from in an article. It's not even News really. It's just rubbish mostly being spouted to get some clicks and justify their job existence.

I even laugh at the pension thread with all the discussions, but 99.9% of people can't or won't do a lot about it.
"Mine has dropped" yeah, so has all of ours, but wtf can you do about it?

I don't expect many to agree but as far as I go I use a logic
1. Does it directly affect me?
2. If yes, can I actually do anything about it?

That's it. I have to say, using my logic, 99.999% of things don't matter.

[Cousin Jack]

But if everyone adopted that attitude Hitler would have triumphed.

Invaded Poland? Doesnt affect me.
Invaded Belgium? Doesnt affect me.
Invaded Holland? ditto
Invaded France? "

By the time stuff like that does affect you personaly it is far too late.

[weeksy]

But if everyone adopted that attitude Hitler would have triumphed.

Invaded Poland? Doesnt affect me.
Invaded Belgium? Doesnt affect me.
Invaded Holland? ditto
Invaded France? "

By the time stuff like that does affect you personaly it is far too late.

It's a reasonable argument yes, from nearly 100 years ago though. I get now we'd use Putin etc to prove the point.

But fortunately for you/them, I'm not everybody. Harsh as it sounds, even things like the war in Ukraine, I struggle to get worked up about it. There's other wars in less developed countries, but they don't make the news. Do they somehow mean less? Mmmmm.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... _conflicts

[Count Steer]

But if everyone adopted that attitude Hitler would have triumphed.

Invaded Poland? Doesnt affect me.
Invaded Belgium? Doesnt affect me.
Invaded Holland? ditto
Invaded France? "

By the time stuff like that does affect you personaly it is far too late.

Now everyone* would 'tut tut' about it on social media and feel they'd 'done something'.

* Almost. There would of course be those that would say 'Fair enough, 'e dunt mess about dunt Adolf, Poland wuz corrupt anyroad'. Or 'It's all orchestrated by the banks/big pharma/Bill Gates/....'

[Cousin Jack]

All the wars matter, but ones close to home matter even more.

That is why, IMO, we need a strong military and we need to be prepared to use them when necessary, either as peacekeepers or to repel boarders. Sometimes we may even need to intervene on one side, but, again IMO, we need to be bloody carefull with that and remember Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

[Cousin Jack]

Now everyone* would 'tut tut' about it on social media and feel they'd 'done something'

True.

[Mussels]

All the wars matter, but ones close to home matter even more.

That is why, IMO, we need a strong military and we need to be prepared to use them when necessary, either as peacekeepers or to repel boarders. Sometimes we may even need to intervene on one side, but, again IMO, we need to be bloody carefull with that and remember Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

That's a bit harsh, some of those foreign students bring in a lot of money.

[ZRX61]

All the wars matter, but ones close to home matter even more.

That is why, IMO, we need a strong military and we need to be prepared to use them when necessary, either as peacekeepers or to repel boarders. Sometimes we may even need to intervene on one side, but, again IMO, we need to be bloody carefull with that and remember Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

That's a bit harsh, some of those foreign students bring in a lot of money.

There was a big punch up between Kuwaiti & Iraqi students at Sawston College the night Saddam's invasion kicked off.

[Horse]

I even laugh at the pension thread with all the discussions, but 99.9% of people can't or won't do a lot about it.
"Mine has dropped" yeah, so has all of ours, but wtf can you do about it?

Part of my reasons for posting is to have a whinge. But also to try encourage others, that's younger others, to take an interest (pun intended) on where their money is and what's likely to happen with it.

I was, perhaps, naive and shouldn't have trusted the experts so much. Others have options.

I don't expect many to agree but as far as I go I use a logic
1. Does it directly affect me?
2. If yes, can I actually do anything about it?

See above, for:
1. If you have pension savings, then maybe
2. Up to you

[cheb]

[JackyJoll]

In the killer nurse case, I don’t understand why the suspicious doctors didn’t tell the Police immediately.

I think it leaves a lot on their conscience.

[Ant]

Corporate manslaughter comes to mind.

[weeksy]

I was, perhaps, naive and shouldn't have trusted the experts so much. Others have options.

I completely get that, but arguably that's why they're experts. It's getting off track of course, but it's a decent discussion that got slightly lost due to this place, well, being this place