In AD 98 the Roman Historian Tacitus wrote Agricola, an account of the military conquest of Britain (some twenty years earlier) by his father-in-law General Agricola. In chapter 30 he puts this memorable saying into the mouth of Calgacus, a Caledonian tribal chief, on the eve of the battle of Mons Graupius against the Romans in 83 AD.

“Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.”

“To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a desert and call it peace.”

This phrase has rung in my mind ever since yesterday’s announcement that Hamas and the Israelis have finally agreed a ceasefire. You only need to look at press photos of the urban landscape to which the people of Gaza are now returning  to understand why.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx2nzlj2j4kt

The one piece of good news today is that the Nobel Committee have announced the award of the  2025 Nobel Peace Prize to María Cochina Machado, the political opposition leader of Mexico who was barred from running in last year's presidential elections won by President  Nicolás Maduro.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1l80g1qe4gt

Better luck next time Donnie :-P

It is most apt. I will steal it.

9 minutes ago, toucana said:

In AD 98 the Roman Historian Tacitus wrote Agricola, an account of the military conquest of Britain (some twenty years earlier) by his father-in-law General Agricola. In chapter 30 he puts this memorable saying into the mouth of Calgacus, a Caledonian tribal chief, on the eve of the battle of Mons Graupius against the Romans in 83 AD.

This phrase has rung in my mind ever since yesterday’s announcement that Hamas and the Israelis have finally agreed a ceasefire. You only need to look at press photos of the urban landscape to which the people of Gaza are now returning  to understand why.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx2nzlj2j4kt

The one piece of good news today is that the Nobel Committee have announced the award of the  2025 Nobel Peace Prize to María Cochina Machado, the political opposition leader of Mexico who was barred from running in last year's presidential elections won by President  Nicolás Maduro.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1l80g1qe4gt

Better luck next time Donnie :-P

Venezuela,surely?

Yes a fine passage,though.

Always the way with imperiums. It is how they print their passports.

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by geordief

2 hours ago, toucana said:

Better luck next time Donnie :-P

Trump was apparently threatening tariffs and other actions against Norway if he didn’t win. Copying the strategy of Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama seemed like such a good idea, too!

2 hours ago, geordief said:

Venezuela,surely?

Yes a fine passage,though.

Always the way with imperiums. It is how they print their passports.

Yes, I misread the breaking news flash, my head was back in AD 98 with Tacitus and the Roman imperium :-)

Yep, I had noticed that Israel had to convert the infrastructure of Gaza into gravel before marginally nobler sentiments could emerge. Quite difficult imagining the NPP board in Oslo saying, "hey, he bullied everyone (including us) and kept harping on threats of complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza - what a great way to forge lasting peace! Let's give him the prize next year!"

So, I'm guessing a good day in the life of a civil service employee is one where you do not have to seriously consider the merits, and possible implementation, of ideas which you initially thought were just satirical nonsense published in some outlet like The Onion. So this report from Reuters is one that I feel did not give said CS folk warm fuzzy feelings.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-backed-palestinian-who-wants-push-gazas-rubble-into-sea-2026-01-15/

But I could be wrong. After all, I'm not a demolition engineer or marine biologist or allied with any other field that might be relevant to pushing the wreck of Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea. That's why we have science forums, so that projects which seem on their face to be harebrained can be coolly examined by intellects loftier than our own and perhaps reveal their inner beauty and logic.

But...aside from the sheer volume of wreckage, isn't warfare wreckage rather toxic stuff to just be shoving into a marine ecosystem?

So, we're not going to see a Trump beachfront resort in Gaza ?

14 hours ago, MigL said:

So, we're not going to see a Trump beachfront resort in Gaza ?

You are going to see whatever the leader is telling you to see, didn't you get the memo?