Reference :- The Sky Reply is about to return .

 Reference :-   After an absence of many weeks , The Sky Reply is preparing to return . 

The lads out here in Kooralya have been suffering through the cold winter .  Nobody has put pen to paper for a long time , and  it occurs to me that they have all come down with a malady that the shrinks call Seasonal Affective  Disorder , or SAD .  

Even Dog has fairly copped a dose of it . The other morning a cheeky hare appeared in the back yard , bouncing up and down like the Dow Jones Index .  Ken junior saw it through the foggy kitchen window as he put the kettle on the stove for a cuppa. 

"Hey Dog , that hare is back .  Go get him boy !  " , Ken junior said . 

Ken junior opened the kitchen door and pushed the rusty fly screen open . 

" Go get him boy . Look boy , look  ! " , Ken junior said . 

Dog lifted his head from his blanket and looked .  He looked at the hare . He looked at the fog . He looked at Ken junior's knitted beanie and fleece jacket . He looked at the steam departing Ken junior's mouth as , hunched over , he shivered and rubbed his icy hands together .  Dog let out a feeble whimper ,  lowered his head between his paws and closed his eyes . 

Well , the lads all feel like dog does lately , especially when Ken junior opens the door and let's the cold air in . 

" Shut the bloody door before we all freeze  ! " ,  Monte said 

" Bugger this , where is the hottest place on earth ? " , Gabbo said .

" It's 52 degrees in Saudi Arabia right now , thanks to global warming " , Ken junior said . 

" Well I am moving  there . " , Gabbo said . 

"  Idiot . Last summer you said you were moving to the Antarctic . " , Monte said . 

"  Calm down lads , who wants a cuppa ? " , I said . 

" Calm down yourself . " ,  Monte said 

" Look everybody , there is a lot in the news lately that we should write about ", I said . 

"  Is there .  " ,  Ken junior said  ( question mark deliberately omitted ) 

 "  Both the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza could trigger a nuclear war " , I said . 

"  Great , bring it on . " ,  Monte said . 

As you can see , a nuanced analysis of world events by The Sky Reply team  has not been possible so far this winter .  

 I would get heaters  installed , but we are a bit short of funds due to the cost of firewood .  Besides , the electricity bill would be extortionate .  Quite a catch 22.   Ken junior did cut up the timber from our old chook pen , but we have burned it all , and a ute load of firewood cost us a king's ransom .  

I don't know how much longer we can go on like this , everything is utterly miserable and pointless . 

 But at least I don't have  Seasonal Affective Disorder like the lads . 

Your comrade , Ken

Reference:- Russian activist Alexei Navalny has died in prison .

 Reference :-   It is very dangerous to oppose a corrupt elite who rule a nation .  

We were shocked  to hear that Alexei Navalny  has died under suspicious circumstances . 

" Did Putin have him killed ? ",  Monte said . 

" Yeah , I think so . ",  I said . 

" Biden says he is certain that it was Putin. " ,  Ken junior said  

" Is he ? " ,  Gabbo said . 

" Why was Navalny in jail ?  " , Monte  said . 

" He opposed the ruling elite of Russia and accused them of crimes and corruption . " ,  Ken junior  said . 

" Is that so bad ? ", Monte  said . 

" It triggered demonstrations  and threatened Russian security " , Ken junior said . 

 " How long was his sentence ? " , Monte said . 

" Around 31 years , and he had already served about 3 of them . " , Ken junior  said . 

" What about this Julian Assange guy ? ",  Monte  said .  

" He opposed the ruling elite of America and accused them of crimes and corruption. " ,  Ken junior said . 

" How long is his sentence ? " , Monte  said . 

" He faces 175 years , and has already been in prison for about 5 years ." , Ken junior  said  

Gabbo , who was still listening , spoke up . 

" You know how Biden accused Russia of blowing up that gas pipeline ?   Eventually people started thinking that it didn't make sense for Russia to damage it's own economy and political power by destroying it's own expensive pipeline when  it could turn it off any time with a tap . Now the general consensus is that Biden did it .  " ,  Gabbo said . 

" What is your point? " , I said 

" Maybe the Americans killed Navalny ?   The alleged murder has come just before the Russian elections , and it has caused a backlash against Putin.  Putin must have known that would happen , why do it ? " , Gabbo said . 

" Putin wanted him silenced before the election . " , I said . 

" Navalny was in prison .  He could have been deprived of any way to communicate during the election , he could have had his tap turned off, so to speak . "  Gabbo said  

" It's also a good way to distract everybody from the Tucker Carlson /Putin interview that has opened the world's eyes more than somewhat . " , Ken junior said . 

" Maybe the British MI6  killed Navalni ?   He died the day before the big Munich Security Conference , which would make attendees view Putin as a badass who needs to be stopped .  ",  Gabbo said .

 " That's enough , you lads are making my head hurt . " , I said . 

The trouble with young folk is that they tend believe everything they are told  , without looking  for the evidence . Besides , when have the Americans or the British ever murdered anybody  ?

Your comrade , Ken .

 

 

Reference :- The Sky Reply is running another of its popular quizzes .

 Reference:-  What do you know about the Geneva Conventions ?  Complete our simple seven part questionnaire to discover where your knowledge ranks . 

Question 1      The First Geneva Convention contains 64 articles that provide protection for wounded or sick soldiers , medical personnel , ambulances , and also religious personnel .   How many of these 64 articles have been breached by the brave soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces ? 

A.   None of them,  since the IDF is the most ethical army in the world . 

B.  All of them . 

Question 2      The Second Geneva Convention covers the treatment of combatants during hostilities at sea .  It contains 63 articles protecting sailors from summary execution , denial of medical care and so forth .  How many of these articles have been breached by the brave soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces ?

A.  None of them , since the IDF is the most ethical army in the world . 

B. All of them . 

Question 3    The Third Geneva Convention contains 143 articles relating to the humane treatment of prisoners of war .  For example , torturing , starving or humiliating prisoners of war , or executing them without trial , is deemed illegal under international law  .  How many of these articles have been breached by the brave soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces ? 

A . None of them , since the IDF is the most ethical army in the world .   

B . All of them .

Question 4    The Fourth Geneva Convention concerns the protection of civilians .  Forced relocation , looting of homes  , execution of civilians , and deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, among many other actions,  are  deemed illegal .  It contains 159 articles .  How many of these articles have been breached by the brave soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces ?

A . None of them , since the IDF is the most ethical army in the world . 

B .  All of them . 

Question 5     Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions contains additional rules pertaining to the humane treatment of surrendering soldiers and captives .   It features 3 protocols , which also include rules relating to the treatment of medical personnel and other providers of humanitarian aid .    How many of these protocols have been breached by the brave soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces ? 

A .  None of them , since the IDF is the most ethical army in the world . 

B .  All of them . 

Question 6 .  How many times has Israel been the subject of a United Nations General Assembly Resolution accusing it of war crimes ? 

A   Never , since the IDF is the most ethical army in the world 

B.  194 times . 

Question 7 .     How many times has a United Nations Security Council Resolution  called upon Israel to stop committing war crimes . 

A . Never , since the IDF is the most ethical army in the world . 

B . 189 times . 

If you answered B to every question you have scored 100% on the quiz.   Unfortunately , that probably also means that you are a disgusting antisemite . 

We did initially plan to send the results of our questionnaire to Mr Netanyahu's public relations office  , but we have been told that it would be a waste of time .  Apparently he is busy pursuing total victory in Gaza , and is not interested in receiving any feedback . 

Your comrade , Ken .

 

Reference:- Last night we discussed statistics here at The Sky Reply .

Reference:-   In many respects , war is a numbers game . 

 Yesterday the lads decided to run a home made pizza night ,  and dog enjoys that because there are always plenty of pieces of left over crust chucked his way .  Dog catches them in his jaws midair . Sometimes he just stands there and snaps them up with barely a movement and avoids making eye contact . Other times he makes a deliberate display of exaggerated acrobatics , and looks at us with a beaming smile to court our praise .  Sometimes the exaggerated acrobatics make him miss the catch .

Anyway , the lads started talking about how many crusts dog missed , which is few indeed .  The general consensus was that he missed about one in eight .   We didn't run a trial though , since there would not be enough  pizza left for us . That got us talking about numbers again , and the topic of the Israeli hostage returns . 

Yesterday Mr Netanyahu praised the brave soldiers of the IDF for retrieving two hostages .  The retrieval  has been described as a "perfect " operation . Apparently a  few dozen Palestinian women and children  were killed because Hamas was using them as human shields , but there has not been much on the Israeli news about that .   There have now been a total of 3 hostages released as a result of direct military action .  Ken junior reminded us that the IDF also killed three Israeli hostages when they shot them by mistake , and killed another with poisonous gas , so I guess that strictly speaking a total of 7 hostages have been removed from captivity by the IDF .....one way or another . 

Over 500 brave IDF soldiers have given their lives to achieve this result , but Mr Netanyahu has explained that the only way to free the hostages is to wage relentless war , since it is impossible to negotiate with Hamas .  I explained this to Ken junior .

" The only way to free the hostages is to wage relentless war , since it is impossible to negotiate with Hamas . ",  I said . 

" But 110  Israeli hostages were released months ago without loss of life as a result of negotiation with Hamas . " , Ken junior said . 

" That was then . It is completely different now ." , I explained . 

The Israeli media described the two recently released hostages as having lost a lot of weight during four months in captivity .  

" One of them looks like he has a BMI of about 35 . ",  Ken junior said. 

" Huh? " , I said . 

 " He looks like he will need to stay on the Hamas diet for at least another four months to get his weight down into a healthy range . " ,  Ken junior said . 

Sometimes I haven't a clue what the lad is banging on about .

 Has anybody ever heard of this BMI thing ?

Your comrade  , Ken

 

 

 

Reference:- Conservative commentator and leading intellectual , young Douglas Murray ,does make some strange remarks at times .

Reference :-  Young Douglas  Murray supports Israel so strongly that he occasionally gets rattled and makes a fool of himself . 

Dear Douglas , 

                              Steady on young fellow , steady on . Try to stay calm and don't let the crazy left, riddled as it is with Holocaust deniers ( even the ones who survived the Holocaust are Holocaust deniers , you tell us) , rattle you .  You are the clearest of thinkers , and your moral compass sets an example for us all .   As you regularly say , war is war , and civilians die , like WW2 in Dresden for example . Of course that is why the Geneva Conventions were ratified in 1949 , establishing humanitarian laws .  But naturally , nobody could give a sailor's cuss for all that malarkey , especially Israel . 

Anyway Douglas , although you are championing the Israeli agenda to great effect , I feel compelled to point out an error in your reasoning that does make you look foolish .  I am no linguist , like that leftist idiot Noam Chomsky , who you could no doubt humiliate in a debate , but I think I do know the meaning of the words  " proportionate " , and " equivalent " .  

When you say that Israel's response to the attack on Oct 7 need not be proportionate , since that would mean killing , kidnapping , raping and beheading the exact number of Palestinians in return , you appear to be confusing the word " proportionate " with the word " equivalent "  .     A proportion can be in any ratio one chooses  . Both 1:1 and 1000 :1 indicate  proportions .  Are you with me son ? 

Mind you , you are correct when you say that it is stupid to discuss proportionate responses to Oct 7 .  For starters the number of Israelis killed , and by which side  , and the number of rapes ( recently quietly removed from the New York Times website due to conflicting evidence) and the number of beheaded  babies ( down from 40 to 1 , which is also questionable ) clearly means that a proportionate response is not possible .   If the IDF had beheaded Palestinian babies they would have overdone it by a ratio of 40 :1 . 

(Doubtless that has happened , but at arms length in a distant blast , which sanitizes the whole process and makes it suitable  for television audiences .   ) 

I see that the IDF has just freed two more of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.  If they can free one more that will compensate for the three Israeli hostages that they accidentally shot dead .  That could then be called equivalent , or proportionate if you prefer  , in a ratio of 1:1 .    The mathematics of genocide are endlessly fascinating , are they not  ?

It really is  a shame about the three slaughtered hostages , but sadly in war , mistakes are made , and one can hardly ask  IDF soldiers to tell the difference between an Israeli hostage and a surrendering unarmed Palestinian civilian at a moment's notice . 

 Ken junior has read this , since he does all the proof reading at The Sky Reply .  He says the whole thing makes about as much sense as one of your interviews on Sky News.   That is high praise indeed. 

Your comrade , 

Ken . 

PS   Ken junior reckons " proportionate " and " proportional " have subtly different meanings and wanted to know which word you used .   For the love of God , how different can they be ? 

PPS  A copy of this is being forwarded to Noam Chomsky for his opinion . 

Reference :- The IDF is having trouble finding and destroying Hamas.

Reference :-   After 127 days of fighting , the IDF has not yet destroyed Hamas . 

Dear Mr Netanyahu , 

                                     There is no doubt that you have made some progress towards " total victory "  in Gaza , but thus far you have not come close to your goal of completely destroying Hamas .  Could it be that every time you kill one Hamas terrorist another steps up to take his place ?    I say " his " without knowing whether Hamas has  female fighters like the Israeli Defense Force . (That's one thing you have to say about the IDF , they run a progressive policy of gender equality and are quite good at training women to be hardened killers . ) 

Anyway Mr Netanyahu , do you think it could be that every time a Hamas fighter is killed , another takes his place ?   Ken junior reckons that perhaps another two might even take his place .  One pictures the scene in Walt Disney's " The Sorcerer's Apprentice " where Mickey Mouse keeps chopping up enchanted brooms only to create more enchanted brooms with every swing of his axe .   Gosh .... perhaps history will label the current "cleansing " ( your word ) of Gaza as " Operation Sorcerer's Apprentice  " ? 

Ken junior also opined that for every woman and child slaughtered in Gaza , or horrendously maimed , one ... or 10... traumatised family members might consider signing  up with Hamas .  Both Israeli and foreign journalists ( all the foreign ones have not been taken out by snipers as yet )  report that support for Hamas has close to doubled , or even tripled since October 7. 

Some lateral thinking is sorely needed.  Other options should be put on the table . Have you thought of this ?  

  Why not distribute fliers in Rafah saying that Hamas is holding a sausage sizzle and sign up day at a location  within comfortable range of those devastating 2000 pound "Spice " bombs you have been cobbling together  . Thousands will arrive keen to sign up , and since everybody in Gaza is facing starvation , quite a few folk might come just for the sausage .   You already have the bombs , despite cries of " war crime" by the United Nations ... yes, those antisemites  .  All you need is the sausages . I would advise ordering in 1.5 million of them .   Everyone might not turn up , but you never know , and sausages are cheap . 

Hope this is helpful. 

Your comrade , Ken . 

PS . Be sure to order beef , not pork .

                               

Reference :- The Israeli Defense Force has recommended that everyone in Rafah move to avoid being accidently bombed .

Reference :-   Where can the people sheltering in Rafah go to be safe ?

Dear Mr Netanyahu , Sir , 

Forgive the presumption  , but I figure that since you and Ken junior have established contact you are now a regular reader of the Sky Reply .   Nobody can doubt your sincere efforts to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Rafa , since you have given a full 24 hours notice so that 1.5 million people can flee to a safe zone .    Of course , since Hamas has stolen all the fuel and used vital infrastructure as shields , it will be difficult for folk to move quickly .  But Gaza is small in area , and I have seen a few donkeys on the news reports . Donkeys are ideal for transport  across roads strewn with rubble and rotting remains .  

  I know that on the very day prior to  the horrific massacre on Oct 7 laws were enacted to limit the number of donkeys that Palestinians could possess, but I guess most of those donkeys would have been bombed by now even if they could have bought more . 

Here at the Sky Reply we have been talking about where the refugees might flee.   Obviously the North is out , since anybody traveling North will be shot . The Southern border is closed .  The West is an ocean , probably teeming with sharks . And to the East is the 1950 Armistice Line with Israel .   ( Anybody approaching the Armistice Line gets shot . ) 

The Lads say that only leaves moving underground or up into the air .  Hamas does not have enough paragliders to get 1.5 million people above  the ground before it is bombed , which leaves under the ground as the only option .  

Apparently Hamas has more tunnels than the Tel Aviv Metro , which is amazing considering all the limitation on supplies they have faced .  And it is amazing how few of these tunnels have been found , despite the constant bombing .  This brings us to the point I wish to make . 

If 1.5 million Palestinians have no place to go but underground , they will surely lead you to the Hamas tunnels .  Half of these 1.5 million are children , and as we all know children are inclined to be noisy and indiscreet , so one would hardly expect that they will venture into the tunnels unnoticed by the brave soldiers of the IDF. 

I reckon you have thought this through very well , Mr Netanyahu .   

Your comrade , Ken