Will Knocker

Unbelievably, Iran (yes, Iran) has just been elected to the UN Committee that sets the priorities for women’s rights, counter-terrorism and peacekeeping. This, the country with an almost uniquely violent record of brutalising women, executing peaceful female protesters and of course sponsoring very widespread terrorism. Equally unbelievably, the UK nominated Iran and although the voting is secret, we must assume it subsequently voted for Iran in the General Assembly. This is the same UK that is nominally run by PM Andy Burnham who declared only a few weeks ago that “we will always stand with the underdog and take what action we can to support them.” If the young women of Iran who dare to remove their headscarves, or sing, or engage in peaceful protest to press for basic democracy aren’t the underdog in their battle with a vicious and murderous regime… who then is an underdog?  I can’t exaggerate how ashamed I am of my country. I’m sickened and repulsed by what it has become. I barely recognise it. Burnham should hang his head in utter shame. And as for the UN, it has come to embody institutional corruption and gaslighting on a global scale.  It put China, Qatar and Cuba in charge of the body charged with protecting human rights worldwide. It put China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan (all of which crush/ban NGOs in their own countries) in charge of the body that decides which civil-society groups and NGOs get UN accreditation and access.  It put Syria (under Assad) in charge the body that promotes education, culture, and press freedom. How long must this continue? The UN has no credibility whatsoever and should be stripped back to the basics- a debating chamber for the big global issues of the day. And nothing more.  How can anyone defend this?

🚨 BREAKING: Somalia Faces Diplomatic Crisis After Nine Delegation Members Disappear in Kosovo Kosovo has formally demanded answers from Somalia after nine members of an official government delegation disappeared during a visit to the country. According to a diplomatic note dated 30 October, the nine individuals left their accommodation on 27 October without notifying authorities and failed to appear for their scheduled departure the following day. Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry has expressed serious concern over their whereabouts and safety, demanding an urgent explanation from Somalia. The incident is a major diplomatic embarrassment for Somalia, where government passports and official trips have long been used as a way for people to enter Europe and disappear.

«It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.» Thomas Sowell The combat losses of the enemy from February 24, 2022 to November 12, 2026.

4th anniversary of the liberation of Kherson. Drones, mines, artillery: Kherson celebrated in safe places, in small groups. Our film composer Borys Goyna played music for the first time after a Russian drone attack in September. Borys lost his right arm and leg. Kherson stands.

Christians in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, are facing escalating intimidation, death threats and protests from radical Islamist groups attempting to prevent them from building churches or holding religious services, even inside private homes. According to an investigation by the Daily Caller, Islamist groups are exploiting Indonesia's strict religious permitting laws to obstruct Christian worship, sometimes threatening violence against congregations that refuse to close their churches. In late September, a Muslim man armed with a machete interrupted a prayer gathering attended by approximately 40 Christians, threatening them with bloodshed unless they stopped worshipping. "If you don't close it, bloodshed will occur inside," the man warned, declaring that he was not afraid to die for Allah. The terrified worshippers fled. Rather than immediately arresting the man, local authorities arranged a mediation meeting in which he apologized. Officials subsequently ordered the prayer house closed. In another incident, six Christians worshipping inside a private residence were ordered to suspend their religious services. The pastor said one neighborhood official slammed a table and threatened to have the Christians arrested and killed if they resisted. At least 11 places of worship have faced construction suspensions following protests this year. During an October protest, an Islamist speaker warned that the local Muslim community was furious about plans to establish a church, accusing Christians of threatening the religious identity of future generations and warning that the building could eventually be dismantled. Christian pastor Dedi Saputra was sentenced to two years in prison in July 2026 on blasphemy and hate-speech charges related to Christian evangelism on TikTok following his conversion from Islam.

Nothing enrages me more than hearing Hamas leaders and their supporters boast that October 7 brought Palestine back to the forefront of the world's attention, or celebrate the fact that Israelis are now being thrown out of restaurants around the world, as though any of this were a victory. Do you know what I wish for? What so many of us in Gaza wish for? To go back to October 6. Yes, October 6. With all its injustices, hardships, and imperfections. I would give anything to have our old lives back. Our homes, most of which we owned, not rented. Our jobs. Our cars. Our neighbourhoods. Our families gathered under one roof. Our children sleeping in their own beds. The ordinary, precious stability we never imagined could be taken from us so completely. I would give anything to return to a time when Palestine was not the world's most urgent headline, when our lives were not reduced to death tolls, our homes to rubble, and our suffering to speeches about resistance, sacrifice, and victory. What good is putting Palestine back on the world's agenda if the Palestinians themselves must be buried beneath it? What kind of victory demands that we lose our homes, our loved ones, our livelihoods, our communities, and the very lives we were supposedly fighting to protect? We were not born to be sacrifices for someone else's political glory. We were born to live. And if the price of making the world remember Palestine is the destruction of everything Palestinians hold dear, then I would rather the world forgot us. Forget us. Leave us out of your headlines, your speeches, your celebrations, and your grand declarations of victory. Just give us back our lives.