Bibi sworn in

Well Netanyahu, on being sworn in as Prime Minister, has said, "We will not let anyone question our right to exist." (1) Therefore, I am hurrying here to set the record straight before the "most moral army in the world" wipes out half of Fürstenfeldbruck during a surgical strike on my person.
Now, if by that "right to exist" you mean we have to accept the cannibalization and ethnic cleansing of Palestine then no it cannot be accepted. However, if you mean that present day Israelis should be allowed to live peacefully in what is now Israel alongside Palestinians after a number of outstanding issues, such as UN Resolutions 194 and 242 have been addressed, then .....well, if the Palestinians can live with that so can I. What do you mean though Bibi when you talk about a state's right to exist when that state has still to define its borders, when that state is still depriving another people of their right to exist, when that state does not accept international law and when that state does not acknowledge certain historical facts, such as the fact that it was created on someone else's land, what do you mean Bibi?
Now Bibi if you mean we have to accept Israel as an exclusively Jewish state then no Bibi it is unacceptable, unless you want to try to establish that state, in agreement with the international community, in a part of the world that is uninhabited and as we can see in yesterday's post the maasai were getting a trifle upset back in 1903 when it was looking for a time that Israel just might land in East Africa. If we were to accept Bibi's drivel, we might as well just accept that post 9/11 there really has been an ongoing war on terror, we might just as well accept that Obama really is a harbringer of change and hope for the planet and we might even accept that 2+2 = 5; over to you Winston.
1 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075228.html

The Uganda Proposal

It is interesting to note that Israel might not have ended up where it did and that we even had the British planning to give a portion of British East Africa to the Jewish people. Indeed the, British Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain's proposal in 1903 to give a big chunk of what is now Kenya to the Jewish people was taken so seriously that when Theodore Herzl brought it onto the agenda in 1903 at the sixth meeting of the World Zionist Oranisation's Zionist Congress in Basle, it actually led to a delegation being sent out to look at the land where the new Jewish state might be. Interestingly, when the three man delegation went out to survey the area under discussion, they were a little bit perturbed not only by the presence of lions in the area but also by the Maasai tribes who didn't take too kindly to strangers just moving in on them. Those would appear to be plausible explainations and we shouldn't think too much about the fact that at 15,500 km² (1) the new state would have been substantially smaller than present day Israel, which has 20,770 km² as I am sure that by now our zany Zionists would be telling all and sundry that there is no Maasai, no Acholi, no Hutu, no Tutsi, no Chagga, no Nyika, no Kamba, no Kikuyu, no ..... anyway, get the picture? We would be hearing some unadultarated drivel to the effect that they are are all Africans, and that Africans already have most of the continent so its alright to establish a Jewish homeland, a bastion of western civilisation, from the Zambezi to the Blue Nile.
1 http://lexicorient.com/e.o/zionism.htm

The Zionist state and Anti-Semitism

It really doesn't wash anymore, it really, really doesn't and we can read in 'Haaretz' today that there is a rise in anti-seminitism in Europe with "Cartoons likening the Star of David to the Nazi swastika becoming commonplace in Scandinavia."(1) The paper also writes that In Spain too protestors demonstrated against the IDF offensive in Gaza last January; a war, which apparently ignited a wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. (2)
It really doesn't wash, you just don't get it, do you? These are protests against a rogue nation that really does think of itself as being beyond good and evil, beyond reproach, a nation that believes itself chosen by God and with a moral dispensation to maim, maraud and massacre as it sees fit. We are not all mugs and, indeed, some of us recognise drivel when we hear or see it and the Zionist "Jewish Democracy" should enter into a dialogue with the one of its creations, "the self hating Jew"; people like Michael Neumann, Naom Chomsky,Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe, Naomi Klein and Saul Landau and if it were to talk and listen to these people it would discover that they are, to varying degrees, disgusted by the behaviour of "their" tribal kin towards Palestinians. This is about a state that tolerates no criticism, this is about a state that believes it has the moral dispensation to do what it wants, this is about a state that is built on someone else's land, this is not about anti-semitism and there are many of us, Jewish or otherwise, who are aware of this.
1 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074991.html
2 http://www.haaretz.com
The picture shows demonstrators in Barcelona burning a symbolic "Israeli" flag

IDF ends Gaza probe

It is interesting how the little sham of a "democracy", our pretentiously "plucky"but in fact mucky , very exclusive "Jewish democracy", really flounders and fails at every turn when it comes to it showing the democratic nature of the state. Today, I am not talking about the Zionist entity's treatment of the non-Jewish citizens of Israel who have, at best third class citizenship, but rather I am talking about the fact that the Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit has nstructed the Military Police Investigation unit to close the investigation into soldiers' accounts of alleged misconduct and serious violations of the army's rules of engagement during Operation Cast Lead. Police investigations into the testimony of IDF soldiers who have been reporting crimes has come to the conclusion that that testimony is based on rumours.(1) What a farce and these are the same people who were screaming for blood when the 'Catholic God Squad's' Richard Williamson questioned the extent of the holocaust. Here in Germany holocaust denial is a crime as it is in some other countries. One wonders why and would it not just be better to portray the "deniers" for the delluded fools that they are? Down in the Zionist state we have denial of war crimes when the evidence is not only coming from the victims and the international press but also from members of the organ that committed those crimes. Could someone please tell me how these people manage to get away with it?

War officially spreads to Pakistan

In earlier posts I referred you to Steve Coll's marvelous book, 'Ghost Wars' and the evidence would, indeed, seem to suggest that the Saudis, the Pakistani ISI and the American CIA spawned their "little" Frankenstein that is the Taliban.(1) Yes, "Uncle Sam" put the Taliban into power and perhaps it was because the CIA wasn't allowed to continue their exploitation of the poppy crop, perhaps it was the Taleban not giving Unocal the green light to build their pipleline through Afghanistan, perhaps, "Uncle Sam" was just suffering from a change of mood, whatevever, it was "Uncle Sam" who decided that the "merry" mullahs had to be removed and here he is now, talking to "moderate" Taliban but harrassing and harrying the "radicals", along with 'al-Qaida' on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Does anyone really still believe the nonsense that Washington spouts out? Well, apparently John Hutton, the British Defence Secretary, does and he is offering "Blighty's" full backing to the US in her military objectives in the region. Military objectives that, according to Hutton, must now have an equal focus on both Afghanistan and Pakistan.(2)
Do any of you actually get the picture here? War and instability in a country with a population of about twenty six million has just officially spread to a nuclear power with a population of some 140 million. It is surely time to realise that these people are not just a danger to the innocent women and children who they are killing in the region, they are a serious danger to all of us and, while the reasons for their "little game" is difficult to ascertain, certainly more of a threat to many more people than 'al-Qaida' or the Taliban are, ever were or are ever likely to be.
1 http://thediplomatabroad.blogspot.com/search?q=ghost+wars
2 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/29/pakistan-afgan-border-foreign-policy

EAP and the DELTA

Let us call it an industry, for that is what it is and as an industry "English for Academic Purposes" appears to be bucking the current economic trend. As competition for available jobs becomes increasingly intense, an "Anglo-Saxon" education becomes increasingly desirable. It is, therefore, to be welcomed that the industry is correspondingly taking itself increasingly serious and that is why, in my mails to various perspective employers, I have stated that the DELTA, is the best qualification that our industry has even if it is not always wholly relevant.
The extent of its irrelevance became apparent today when I was watching a clip of Scott Thornbury explaining genre and using an academic text as an example. In doing so he referred to the preponderance of modalities in an academic text and I thought fine, very interesting Scott, but "my" students know what an academic text is and the last thing I have to do is make them aware of the modalities. Certainly, they need to know those modalities and for the purpose of exercising academic caution they need to know how to use them. However, it is safe to say that they are already a step ahead of simply recognising an academic text because it's peppered with modalities; In the university environment the students are quickly made aware of the need to qualify those sweeping statements that smack not only of stereotypes but also of naivity and of the need to "hedge" when making their statements. Furthermore, while this is one of many specific examples, where a "DELTA approach" is not required it might be added that a course, which pays so much reference to course books, methodologies, teaching discrete items and a systems based approach, all of which have no or very little place in an academic environment, can never be wholly relevant to EAP.
However, for the time being at least, it is the best "qualification" that this industry has, it can make EAP teachers more "language aware" and it can, in some instances, provide a framework which they can use as a point of reference when teaching. For instance, in the past I had no real problem explaining to my students that a definite article might refer to a particular noun in the previous sentence. Now, I can label this and I am more aware of introducing strategies for the students to discover meaning for themselves. Yes, the DELTA does offer the EAP teacher a lot. Nevertheless, it is time either for the industry to move on and find a more relevant qualification or for Cambridge itself to see the need for this development. However, until that happens, yes, the DELTA by all means.

It cannot really get much more ridiculous, can it?

It cannot really get much more ridiculous, can it? In today's 'Haaretz' we learn that an American judge has ordered Iran to pay twenty five million US dollars for the murder of an IDF soldier.(1) The soldier, who was born in Israel, had dual American and Israeli citizenship, the 'Hamas' operatives who kidnapped him had, apparently been trained in Iran. The soldier's mother, an American citizen, and his six brothers, who all have dual American-Israeli citizenship, filed the lawsuit and there we have it; a soldier who really could have been supping a cup of latte in Manhatten, captured in what is essentially a theatre of war by the enemy who had been trained by someone else and now that someone else has been successfully sued in an American court. Right, where do we start?
Well, the very fact that these people are allowed to have dual nationality when millions of Palestinians are deprived of a homeland might get us to begin to think and if that doesn't then what about this; the IDF who are murdering every day are doing so with weapons that are either paid for with US taxpayers money or are delivered directly to the Zionist state courtesy of "Uncle Sam". Could this be a signal for the families of the 1,200 dead Gazans to take the American government to court? Of course, these people are more likely to have no citizenship than they are to have dual citizenship. Moreover, has it ever occured to anyone that this was an IDF soldier who, even if he wasn't on illegally occupied territory at the time of his capture, would probably have ended up there at some time during his service and anyway, 'Hamas' operates from a point of view that all of the land of what is now Israel is occupied territory and, with the evidence overwhelmingly in favour of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine as a historical fact, they might have a few arguments in their favour. Of course, I could go on and on; why was the claim made, do those who filed the claim actually expect the money, what are the political ramifications of this claim etc. etc.? Here, however, I will content myself by simply concluding that it cannot really get much more ridiculous, can it?

Barack Obama sets out new strategy for Afghanistan war

There was the "hype" man today, flanked by Hilary, his secretary of state, and defence secretary, Robert Gates, telling all and sundry that the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was the most dangerous place in the world.(1) Yes, Barak it is an extemely dangerous place because "Uncle Sam" and his mates are dropping bombs on innocent civilians on both side of the 'Durand Line'. More to the point, however, the "hype" man is beginning to resemble that great British hype who we all mistook for hope back in 1997 and their was Tony, not knowing his arse from his elbows, with his universal "conflict resolution theories" for Northern Ireland, for Palestine, for the whole planet and now we have Barack with his "So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future. That is the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just. And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: we will defeat you."(2) What unadultared drivel and with "Uncle Sam" begging just about everyone for help in an unwinnable war, is it not time that we started to see through the facade that puppets like Tony Blair and Barack Obama provide for the irresponsible, selfish, twats behind the scenes who pull the strings?
1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/27/obama-new-strategy-afghanistan-war
2 ibd

The Dung Heap Theory of History

It has been mentioned in earlier posts, nevertheless, I would like to reiterate that when I was at university it was pointed out to me by a friend that a Historian's brain is like a dung heap in that the longer you leave it the more likely it is that something will grow. With the wisdom that hindsight affords me it is, therefore, probably no accident that I soon discovered a certain penchant for history and in no time at all I had developed into the waffler supreme. Nevertheless, in retrospect it also has to be said that in history's favour there has to be a little bit more and it was, therefore, that I found myself in agreement with Dr Finkelstein when he says that comparing and contrasting has always been an essential ingredient in the study of history. Indeed, I would go a step further than Dr Finkelstein does in the interview I have just watched and argue that by comparing and contrasting history teaches us valuable lessons. Whether those lessons will be followed or not is another matter. They are, however, there to be referenced.
That, therefore, brings me to the "uniqueness" of the holocaust, a "uniqueness" that is exploited by Israel and gives the Zionist state special moral dispensation when it comes to ethnically cleansing Palestine, when it comes to erecting an apartheid state, when it comes to murdering innocent men, women and children. For remember, Israel represents the "Jewish people" and the Jewish people have had suffering inflicted upon them that is beyond comparison by an evil that it is beyond comprehension. This is a people for whom those "normal" moral parameters that we are all expected to reference just do not apply, for they have been visited by an immorality that none of us can understand. The moral extortion takes shape and the drivel holds the high ground and the "dung heap theory" of history lends justification to the sting I talked about in yesterday's post.
Have a look at the Finkelstein interview, which has been posted.

The Sting, slang: complicated confidence game planned and executed with great care

There was reference in a couple of earlier blogs of how the ethnic cleansing of Palestine entailed one of the biggest stings in the history of mankind.(1) Jonathan Cook's article, "Palestinians benefit as Israel-Turkey ties sour",(2) gives some idea as to the nature and, perhaps, extent of this sting, an even bigger theft than the Wall Street bailout, which I was discussing a yesterday.
A few weeks ago, with the Israelis wreaking havoc in Gaza, the Turkish president, Erdogan stormed out of a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, while accusing accusing Peres that he knew very well how to kill, and since then the Turkish government has given lawyers acting on behalf of Palestinians access to Ottoman land registry archives for the first time. Until now Turkey was a close military and political ally of Israel and has avoided straining ties by becoming involved in land disputes in the occupied territories.
What do the Palestinian lawyers find? Well, what they don't find are documents that support the claims of the Sephardi Jewish Association that they purchased Palestinian land in East Jerusalem in the nineteenth century and Mr Cook admirably goes on to emplify the extent of the scam by pointing to one case where Jewish settler documents were signed in 2004 by a Palestinian man who died in 1961.(3)
Now, what does the above tell us? Well, it gives us some indication as to the nature of the absurdity that is the Zionist state; a state built on someone else's land, on some gobblydegook biblical claim and on, perhaps, the biggest sting in the history of mankind, a state built on lies, lies and more lies, a state. Does it really consider itself a propostion for the longer term?
1 http://thediplomatabroad.blogspot.com/2008/10/professor-sternhall.html
2 http://www.jkcook.net/Articles2/0381.htm#Top
3 ibid

Socialising Debt and Privatising Profits

Watched Amy Goodman interview Matt Tabbi, the contributing editor for 'Rolling Stone' magazine, today and managed to get the gist of the story behind the story of the economic meltdown and the bailout, with Tabbi arguing that there has been "a kind of revoloution a coup d'etat" where a political trend that has been going on for some time has been formalised and cemented. Namely, "the takeover of government by a small class of connected insiders, who use money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations."(1) How has this been achieved? Well Tabbi contends that because the government now owns a controlling stake in an enormous variety of companies we now have, in effect, an extemely complex holding company and that the only people who know how to administer this holding company are the Wall Street insiders and the ex-Wall Street insiders who are now in the administration. Essentially, their political power has been increased because a political system that is beyond the comprehension of the average system has been created.(2)
Now, what is that big holding company doing with the money, money that it gets from the taxpayer? Well, they are sharing it out among themselves or, as Matt Tabbi says, "socialising the debt and privatising the profits."(3) Anyway Matt thanks for the way in which you formulated and expanded on the consequences of something I tried to explain in a couple of earlier posts.(4) One wonders as to the "quo vadis" of it all and I am off to get myself a cup of tea and catch up with today's sports.
1 http://www.democracynow.org/
2 ibid
3 ibd
4 http://thediplomatabroad.blogspot.com/search?q=bailout

The Rat joins the Beaver

Will he, won't he? Of course, he will and he was always going to and the little rat Ehud Barak has joined Bibi's coalition. Please, please stop harking on about the "peace process", there never was one and the evidence is surely blatant enough to suggest that there never will be one. The nonentity Barak will remain as Defence Minister and after all he did such a good job of defending the Zionist state against the Gazan hoardes. Not only that under the auspices of his government more illegal settlements were built in the illegally occupied territories than under Bibi's administration. "Bibi" sounds like beaver and the beaver and the rat will continue to gnaw away at what is left of Palestine.

Pax Americana

Apparently Obama has conceded for the first time that the US needs an an exit strategy in Afghanistan. Now, one wonders what shape this exit strategy will take and I am forced to think about the "exit strategy" in Vietnam and the impending, 2011, withdrawal from Iraq. What exactly is the situation there? Will they go, or will they (some of them at least) stay? More importantly, however, I find myself putting the whole thing into a historical perspective and drawing comparisons between the "Pax Americana" and the "Pax Britannica" and what an awful mess the Brits left behind them; straight lines cutting through tribal areas all over Africa, divide and rule not only on the African continent but also on the Indian sub-continent and the cock up that is the 'Durand Line' that places some Pathu in Afghanistan and some in Pakistan. Indeed, the cock up that is Pakistan itself and, of course, let us not forget the Middle East where "Blighty" had nothing better to do than give someone someone else's land, and now we have "Uncle Sam" and bad enough that he has built and prospered on "Blighty's" cock ups, worse still that he is also in the process of making a few of his own. Therefore, what do we have when he has retreated from the scene, when the sun begins to set on his little global empire? No doubt, there will be an Iraq where everyone is at each others throats, there will be an Afghanistan where "moderate" elements of the Taliban reestablish 'Sharia law' and get their brethern on the other side of the 'Durand Line' to further destabilise Pakistan .... and what will happen when our zany Zionists can no longer rely on Washington? Well, the short-sighted arrogance that they are displaying would suggest that their little diaspora won't be that far away.
The assumption is that "Uncle Sam" doesn't really care and I find my mind drifting back to 1912 when the British moved the capital of the 'Raj' from Calcutta to Delhi, built their new purpose built capital in "New Delhi" so that they could be closer to Simla and their retreat to the hills in the summer and so that they could punish the leading lights of the Congress Party, who were based in Bengal, by removing the capital, with the jobs, with the prestige etc.etc. away from that state. With the writing already on the wall that the 'Raj' was coming to an end, the myopia and vidicitiveness were all too blatant and it is also very obvious with "Uncle Sam"; kill a few more innocents, let the zany Zionists run riot, create a few more artificial borders and set up some hopelessly ineffective puppet governments and not to worry, when it comes to scores being settled, the retreat to "splendid isolation" will be well underway and it isn't your problem, you were, after all, only trying to help everyone. Of course, that little lie will be for home consumption only. For the rest of us it will be good riddance to bad rubbish.

Objective Journalism

There are certain similarities that can be drawn between the UK's 'Independent' newspaper and Israel's 'Haaretz' and one is that they each offer a platform for one particular decent objective journalist; in the case of 'Haaretz' it is Amira Hass and at the 'Independent' it is Robert Frisk. However, when you actually get to read the reports written by most of the other reporters at these newspapers you are tempted to think that those two fine journalists only get published to dress up what is 95% drivel and that they only help to make both of those newspapers "Salonfähig" to a wider "liberal" readership.
Today the 'Independent's' report on dozens of Jewish "ultranationalists" - of course, all Israelis are "ultranationalists" - marching through the Arab town of Umm el-Fahm was naive to say the least, with its pathetic "objectivity"; for instance, it reported that, "Arabs make up 20 per cent of Israel's population and, while enjoying full citizenship rights, complain of widespread racial discrimination. Some refuse to recognise Israel, which was founded in a 1948 war on what was then British-ruled Palestine."(1) The reuters' reporter is not mentioned by name, but the question has to be asked, whoever it is, what planet does he or she live on? "The Arabs" are Palestinians, that many of them live in Umm el-Fahm is because they were forced to move their after they had been "ethnically cleansed" from where they had originally lived and now they are being asked to swear an oath of allegience to a state, which has not fulfilled its international obligations regarding their right of return to their original homes. Moreover, they do not enjoy full citizenship rights and this is not about widespread racial discrimination. This is about Israel as a "Jewish state" a state for Jews and nobody else and this is about an ethnic cleansing that started in 1948 and is still going on at this very moment. That this is obvious was reflected elsewhere in this pathetic article when it was stated that "Umm el-Fahm is in an area of Israel, where many of the country's 1.5 million Arab citizens live, that ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman wants to cede to a future Palestinian state in exchange for Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.(2)
Finally, the daily drivel that is pumped out by mediocre journalists is more than just offensive to our good tastes. It creates an "atmosphere" where a new reality is the order of the day. Indeed, we might have the "unknowning" reader thinking; "well, that seems a good idea, the Arabs get land on the West Bank in exchange for their land in Israel." We cannot call it amnesia because the general public is quite simply ignorant and the facts are; these are Palestinians living in Palestine, many of them had to move to Umm el-Fahm when they were illegally forced out of their original homes, they do not want to go to any future Palestinian "Bantustan" in the West Bank, a West Bank that is illegally occupied by the Zionists and here we have them talking about giving something that is not theirs to give for something that is not theirs to take. It really doesn't get much more ridiculous.
1 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/clashes-as-israeli-farright-marches-in-arab-town-1652928.html
2 Ibid

Israel is shocked

A certain Thomas Schmitz, writing in today's 'Süddeutsche Zeitung' reports that Israel is shocked and disgusted by the IDF's behaviour in Gaza.(1) Of course, Thomas Schmitz, like 95% of his guild, is a mediocrity and a million miles removed from the Pilgers and Frisks of this world. He is also the type of journalist you might expect to see asking the "right" questions at a white house press conference.
However, I am not here to write about Thomas Schmitz, I am here to write about the nonsensesical nonsense that these nonentities are required to write. Israel is shocked and disgusted by the behaviour of its army? Are these the same Israelis that are shocked by the fact that they are living on someone else's land, that are shocked by the "ethnic cleansing" that began in 1948 and is continuing to this day, that are shocked by the massacres at Deir Yassin, Shatila, Shaba, Jenin, Qana and elsewhere? Furthermore, are they really surprised that "their" IDF is coming increasingly under the control of the religious rabbis who are now pumping the boys up for a little Jewish jihad? Israel is a Jewish state, it is not a state for Jews, and is it really to be wondered that a state that seeks its legitimacy in religion is ultimately going to be governed by religion.
There is no choice in or for Israel and with all and sundry appalled that Avigador Lieberman is to be the next foreign minister, we would do well to reflect that what he actually does and what he represents will be no different from what Livni did and represented. Similarly, Gaza is not unique and what about me? Well, I am shocked and disgusted that the world community not only sat back and tolerated Deir Yassin, Shatila, Shaba, Jenin, Qana etc, shocked that we tolerate the bulldozing of Palestinian homes at this very moment, that we tolerate an illegal occupation that has been going on since, at least, 1967 and, of course, shocked by the mindless pillage and slaughter that was going on in Gaza only a few weeks ago. Israel is shocked and disgusted? Don't make me laugh.
1 'Die Süddeutsche Zeitung', 23.03.2009, p1

A tale of two farces

It is really a farce that the Israeli Military Advocate General has for the first time called for criminal inquiries into the conduct of Israeli troops in Gaza.(1) On a day that we also hear that Ehud Barak has issued an order against demolishing Israeli homes built on Palestinian land in the West Bank settlement of Ofra.(2) Unadultared theft continues apace and IDF soldiers report on how innocent men, women and children were intentionally slaughtered. Now, we are informed that the Israeli Military Advocate General is about to demonstrate how Israel is a democracy and does what democracies do, namely, investigate crimes and while it might be the first time the military itself has called for an investigation we have had investigations in the past. There will be a whitewash and a few minor heads may roll and the reality remains that one of those responsible for those crimes, Ehud Barak, stopped the demolishing of Israeli homes on Palestinian land saying that there must be an investigation before such action is taken and with B'Tselem providing evidence that shows that 58 percent of land of the veteran West Bank settlement was built on private land belonging to Palestinians and furnishing documents to prove their case, we might well ask, what is it that Barak wants to investigate? Of course, we might also ask what is it the Israeli military want to investigate and it will certainly not be its dirty, illegal little war and what do both investigations have in common? Well, both refer to two different "incidents" in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine that has been going on uninterrupted since 1948.
1 http://www.democracynow.org/
2 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072968.html

Back in Fürstenfeldbruck

Bloody cold here in Munich and I have been told that they had snow a couple of days ago. It all sort of belies my theory about Europe being a small continent. There was me in Seville this morning, up to Madrid on the "AVE", a hop skip and a jump, or rather a short flight to Munich, and before you can say, "bob's yer uncle", or something similarly ridiculous, there was me home.
Anyway, memories are short and Seville is already receeding into the "pasado" so before it quite does a quick reminiscing; flat was hardly immense, the course was extremely intense, enjoyed myself even if I didn't quite have a ball, sun was fun and up I would get, a spring in my step and stop, as a rule, on my way to the school for a "bocadilo con jamon", then I was gone, down to CLIC where I should have studied a bit more, if it wasn't to be such a bore but I am actually grateful to Terry who, thanks to skype, saved me from a certain Scott Thornbury; now he appears to be an anal fixated smarty, the type of guy you would want to avoid at a party. However, I am being a bit unkind and also not helping myself as I'll have to find, by June at the latest, something useful he said, in short; I will have to get him into my head or at least skim and scan his 'Beyond the Sentence' or I am afraid that for ego there will be a period of penitence.
The people on the course were nice, but I won't say that twice, for at fifty three you can get terribly frantic if you still demonstrate tendencies towards the incurable romantic. However, they were really alright; there was a good mix and no need to fight. It was, however, yes, you've guessed, the city that impressed, you see it is pretty small but really it has got it all; the cafes are grand, the girls anything but bland and in the evening you can sometimes see them dance, or you can just walk around Triana in a trance and if there is a member of the opposite sex on hand, I am quite sure you can even indulge in romance. Moreover, at the end of the day, I just have to say that the Spanish are generally nice folk, it is just a pity that even the babies smoke. Still, joking aside I don't want to deride the pleasures of living in a city that for many fits the bill, the Andalucian capital, the city of Seville.
Nevertheless, now I am home but already I am thinking of Rome, Rangoon, Rwanda, Ramallah, Rawalpindi and Reims or, to be more to the point, of distant scenes, of the "quo vadis" I am not sure but I am almost certain that it won't be dour, it most definitely won't be the Kingdom of Saud and it might very well be somewhere quite loud, anyway, I will keep you posted with all the news and informed of the place I choose and, if anyone thinks that ego is a phoney, you might be surprised by an interview with Kony although for the Democratic Republic of the Congo I am probably too much of a whiner and my good sense is more likely to land me back in China.
For the next days, maybe weeks, however, I am back home and Munich is really on a par with Rome, indeed, I would even say it is right up there with the best in Spain that, is of course, providing it doesn't rain. Anyway, I will say "ciao", there is a cup of tea waiting for me now and all of a sudden the coming and going is par for the course and on leaving Spain there is no remorse. Well, maybe I should have skyped less with Terry and got a bit more interested in a certain Thornbury but the man, to use Bavarian dialect, is hardly a "gaudi" and .... if I take him seriously I really could go to Saudi where I can chat to the Arabs with their "hamdillah", which is not unlike Scott's "blah, blah, blah", both represent deductive trite and to tell you the truth they are close to ........... Anyway, good night!

Nausea

Being a believer in the old adage, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", I am most certainly not a big fan of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Mullah gooks that run the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nevertheless, one thing we cannot accuse them of is hypocrisy and when I heard the drivel that has just been coming out of the "hype" man's mouth, I had feelings akin to those experienced by Jean Paul Satre's hero, Antoine Roquentin, in the novel 'La Nausee'. Nausea is a fitting description of my feelings as this hypocrite rabbits on about the "great Iranian people", and the "great Iranian civilisation" and how Iran should take its place in the community of nations.(1) My stomach turns, I am revolted and the nausea is all prevading because we know that belonging to that "community of nations" implies toeing the line and following the dictates of "Uncle Sam" and the zany Zionists and the nausea, like a black fog, decends on me me, penetrates my whole being, sinks into the depths of my soul because I know that if Iran doesn't give up enough of its independence to satisfy the United States and Israel, we will hear, "we offered them friendship and they rejected it." My heart sinks because I know that with speeches like this the United States is preparing the ground for its "justified" strike. There is to be no respect and there is to be no "inter pares" for in this world whether through the "bull in the china shop" policies of Bush or through the guile of Obama, the end results are to be the same, there is to be only American global hegemony and there is to be only Israeli hegemony in the Middle East. It is a hegemony that has caused the deaths and continues to cause the deaths of not millions but hundreds of millions.
1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/barack-obama-iran-message

Adios Seville

Ten weeks in Seville are coming to an end amid wonderful weather; they are all outside, supping, sipping, skipping and i can sense that with the sun shining there is a little bit of a heavy heart on leaving here.
The course itself? Well with its cataphoric, anaphoric, exaphoric and deictic reference it has me looking forward looking back and beginning to think about those things that I know best; my own little personal points of reference and an ardent thirst to go back to China is tempered by the desire for the familiar and the determination to start that book on Kony, on the Zionists and their cronies, on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and that in turn is tempered by the knowledge that if a nice ten weeks are not to be in vain, I have still to study for an exam in June. However, June is a long way off and even the "que serra" of post Saturday is not quite an issue at the moment and it is the thought of leaving Seville in the sun, my peers of the last ten weeks, and a routine that was thoroughly liveable that is responsible for the little bit of a heavy heart, that and the fact that, as always, much much more could have and should have been achieved and with my deictic reference taking me back to the 80s and my walking away from a London that I liked and my post graduate studies at the LSE with only a Master's in my pocket ..... Well, some things never change!

One Big Fuck Up

There is news in the 'Guardian' today of the United States carrying its so-called "war on terror" further into Pakistan with the paper quoting the 'New York Times' and reporting, "that the US may push its firepower into Pakistan's vast, economically backward, Baluchistan province." The article then goes on to quote Munawar Hassan, secretary general of Jamaat-i-Islami, the biggest mainstream religious party, who said that "The United States would be pouring petrol on the 'war on terror' by these methods," "The United States has no message of peace for the world, they can only talk through arms and armaments."(1) It is, of course, all one massive "fuck up" and with the "hype" fellow promising to send some 17,000 American troops to the area, while begging his NATO allies to help in his lost cause, the farce that is the first black president of the United States is beginning to be revealed. One can only wonder when he will call, that other "fuck up", George W Bush, who, on tour in Canada this week, said, "If he (Obama) wants my help he can pick up the phone,"(2) This was the former president on his first paid speaking engagement since leaving the White House in January.(2) That is right folks; the "first paid speaking engagement" for the inarticulate, babbling, George and there he is offering the "hype" man help when, if the "hype" man had lived up to the hype, babbling George would be in prison for war crimes. Still Barack is hardly going to put anyone in prison for crimes that he himself is in the process of committing. Yes, what a pair of "fuck ups" and isn't it all just one big "fuck up", with the already suffering people in Baluchistan about to be fucked even more.
1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/18/us-pakistan-terror-air-strikes
2 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/18/bush-offers-to-help-obama

The Spanish interlude approaches its end

There appears to be a life that is increasingly interfering with the blog and it was a big effort tonight to pull myself away from the people who I have spent the last ten weeks doing this course with. Nevertheless, in for a penny, in for a pound and here is me persisting with my at least one entry a day.
The interesting news is of Russian-Turkish rapproachment and with the Turkish President, Abdullah Gul having paid a four-day visit ot the Russian Federation from February 12 to 15.(1) That and the Americans being "forced" to abandon their base in Manas, Kyrgistan, are alone enough to suggest that the "Great Game" is really on. On the one hand we have the Government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan showing increasing impatience with Washington's policies in the Middle East and on the other we see the Russians adopting a more agressive foreign policy against encirclement by NATO. The "Great Game" is on and the evidence would seem to suggest that "Uncle Sam" is not going to have it all his own way.
http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Geopolitics___Eurasia/Turkey___Russia/turkey___russia.html

Josef Fritzl goes on trial

The trial of Josef Fritzl, the 73 year old Austrian, who kept his daughter Elizabeth in a cellar, raped her at least three times a week and fathered her seven children, has started and there we have Josef in St Pölten, today saying, "I had a very difficult childhood. My mother didn’t want me. She was 42 when she had me. She simply didn’t want a child and she treated me correspondingly. I was beaten." (1) Right Joe off you go and confess your sins and you can go home. Seriously though, I was made to think about all the asocial, anti-social, headcases that peopled parts of Drumchapel when I was a child and I think I have heard this one before. Went something like this ..... "Yer honour, a didnae mean to kill him an anyway ma ma used ti beat me up when a wus a wean." Didn't even work back then in Glasgow and it will be interesting to see the effect that it has in Austria in 2009. Meethinks though that Joe is never going to see freedom again.

Historical Reference and the Revolution eats its Children

After weeks of exposure to, among other things, anaphoric, exaphoric, cataphoric and deictic reference, today was a welcome reminder that my real referencing is historical and there they all were marching through the streets, waving their flags and they were not a kick in the arse off of mounting the barricades and what do you do with a couple of thousand people demonstrating for a wee bit more money? They cannot just be shot, can they? Well, not in Spain today and how some of the conservative little catholic people looking on must have wished for a return to the good old days of the Generallisimo and my mind drifted to what might happen if there is a similar demonstration over in Beijing and that has to be the point. In there among the workers demonstrating for better wages and better conditions, in there among a mass of union flags and banners, there were little PCE flags to be seen here and there and there was me thinking there is a healthy body at large in Andalucia, one that is prepared to go onto the streets and demonstrate for its rights but within this healthy body there is already a cancerous element and when the barricades are mounted, the revolution successful and the red flag flying high, the union leaders will go the same way as Danton, as Andres Nin*, as the hundreds of thousands who died during Mao's "hundred flowers" campaign, as the tens and tens of millions who died during the Cultural Revoloution, as the millions of good party members who died in Stalin's Gulag labour camps; yes, "La révolution dévore ses enfants" but please don't let that deter you from demonstrating.
* Spanish POUM leader who was "arrested" and murdered by the "communists" after the "May Days" of Barcelona, in 1937

The picture shows the beginnings of the revolution in Sevilla, before they were eaten

Good News from Seville

Another "no news day" and the sun is really setting its foot in Seville. One of these walk around town days, caught the Manchester United versus Liverpool game in 'Flaherty's', Manchester United suffered their heaviest - 1-4 - home defeat in yonks, and then there was the rugby with Jockland going down 15-22 to Paddyland. A rather pleasant day rounded off in a big tent on the Alemeda, chatting, chanting and chomping with "chums". One week left in Seville and i am beginning to discover just what a pleasant city it is.
And the news? Well, I see at that Tzipi and Bibi are trying to get it together down Palestine way, three men have been arrested in connection with the killing of two British soldiers in Northern Ireland, Wen Jiabao has been meeting the press in Beijing and what about this one, "a girl who was decapitated 700 years ago will get a church burial."(1) Bet she will be tickled pink about that and really, sometimes these "no news days" are just good news.
1 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236764182731&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

There is drivel and there is drivel

Ten weeks in Spain is gradually coming to an end, the ardent thirst for distant scenes is moderated by a looking for something familiar, language is important and the "cafe con leche" will soon metamorphose into a "Milchkaffee", familiarity breeds contempt, so I am told, but it is no longer familiar and I am looking forward to at least a couple of weeks back in Munich and back to "proper" books and "proper" writing although I will have to keep a sort of cataphoric eye on the exam in June. Otherwise there will be a little catastrophe.
The sun has arrived in Seville and the last few days here should be pleasant enough. There will be a gradual return to the "real reading", "real reading" and just as the "Milchkaffee" will still be there back in Munich so too will the abudancy of drivel and what about his from the "hype" fellow; "You have fought against tyranny and disorder. You have bled for your best friends and for unknown Iraqis. And you have borne an enormous burden for your fellow citizens, while extending a precious opportunity to the people of Iraq. Under tough circumstances, the men and women of the United States military have served with honor, and succeeded beyond any expectation."(1) Sort of shines a more positive light on the TEFL industry, I mean there is drivel and there is drivel.
1 Obama's Speech at Camp Lejeune, N.C.,' New York Times, February 27, 2009;

Israel still a long way from achieving gender equality

There was an absurd headline in today's 'Haaretz' and while absurd headlines are par for the course in the Israeli press, somehow I found this one particularly absurd. There was Tzipi, who you remember bears a lot of the responsibility for the murder of men, women and children in Gaza a few weeks ago, calling for gender equality in the knesset. She said that "Israel is still a long way from achieving equality between men and women and that the low representation of females in the Knesset is a "cause for shame".(1) It is not a cause for shame that 20% of the Israeli population, namely, the Palestinians who live in the Zionist state, are second no, sorry, fourth class citizens in the so-called, "Jewish Democracy", it is not a cause for shame that, as I write this an ethnic cleansing is proceeding apace in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it is not a cause for shame that no single Israeli politician or soldier is ever going to be held to accounts for the numerous crimes that they have committed on Palestinians. Really, the drivel goes from the absurd to the absurder and the reality is that Israel has a lot more to be ashamed of than gender inequality in the knesset.
1 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1070631.html

More "no news" from Spain

Another "no news day" from Spain and I haven't even caught up on the Arsenal game; Rome were leading 1-0 when I left and they had just gone into extra time. No the pressures off, the sun has got his hat on and .... well, everything is sort of hunky-dory. Still on the wagon, some ten months down the road and it is not always that easy, with them sitting out in 'Alameda de Hercules', chomping their 'tapas', supping their wee glasses of 'cerveza' and well, sometimes, there is a sort of ardent thirst for a quiet libation, not too much and just another one please and there was that day back in China when I did not get into work because of a bad glass of wine. Which one was it, did I hear you ask? Could have been number fourteen or was it fifteen. No the clear head in the morning makes it all worth and tomorrow the sun will have its hat on again, the pressures off and everything is sort of hunky-dory.
The picture shows the Alameda de Hercules.

Obama wants to talk and Biden calls for more troops

There was the ''Süddeutsche Zeitung' yesterday riddled with various reports of how Obama is preparing to talk to the "moderates" in the 'taleban', sending out feelers through Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and, at the end of the day, they might even end up talking to Mullah Omar.(1) Could this be a tentative admission that the war that could never be won, cannot be won? The evidence would appear to suggest that it is but there we have the same "hype man" committing 17,000 further American troops to a forlorn cause and Joe Biden, the US vice- president, appealing to Nato to help tackle the "worsening security", while adding that "the alliance was struggling to deal with a threat to the West as a whole."(2) Now, what are these people talking about? Their last idiotic criminal administration manufactured a threat from someone that they had put into power when it really began to look like those people weren't going to give them what they wanted; namely, a pipeline through Afghanistan to Karachi. Having manufactured this threat to "all of us" they then preceded to pursue an illegal war in which men, women and children have been slaughtered. Now, "Uncle Sam" is telling the NATO allies to commit more troops and follow him in, despite the hype to the contrary, what he himself infers, is a hopeless cause.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not a big fan of the Mullah Omars of his world and the regime that America's CIA, Pakistan's ISI and Saudi money installed in Kabul was a thoroughly nasty one. However, that is precisely the point; "Uncle Sam" does not care what kind of regime is in Kabul and we are left thinking of the compromise that they might just get from the "God Squad". What about this one; "well "Uncle Sam", you let us reintroduce sharia law, you let us ban radios, beat up our women, while keeping them locked in the house we will let you build your pipeline." The signs are on the wall and the portents do not at all look good for the people of Afghanistan.
1 ''Süddeutsche Zeitung', pp 1,2,4,8 monday 9th March 2009
2 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/03/2009310132444955382.html
The picture shows some "moderate" 'taleban' on their way to talks with the "hype man"

Isn't Auschwitz the name of a Beer?

Some people might see it is somewhat sad that a survey revealed that 25% of 1,000 British school children did not know what Auschwitz was. However, I think it is quite remarkable that 75% did know what it was. Therefore, I fail to see the 'Jerusalem Post's' point when it writes, "A survey of more than 1,000 secondary school pupils aged 11-16 revealed that a quarter still did not know the purpose of the Nazi death camp. Of those, some 10 percent were not sure what it was, 10% believed it was a country bordering Germany, 2% thought it was a beer, 2 % said it was a religious festival and 1% believed it was a type of bread."(1) We are talking about British school children here and I would not be surprised if a large percentage of them were, at best, semi-literate. Of course, the point is the 'Jerusalem Post' is saying, "terrible, terrible, terrible" even in British schools some children are unaware of the worst crime ever, a crime without comparison, a crime that even the 1.4 billion Chinese should be aware of although most of them don't even think about the 100 million or so who died during the cultural revolution.
Most British children are brought up in ignorance of the countless crimes against humanity committed against humanity by their own country and we certainly can't expect them to know much about the Armenian genocide, Nanjing, the bombing of civilians in Vietnam, the killing fields of Cambodia, Srebenicia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and countless, countless other crimes, committed, and being committed, by man against his fellows. Finally, how many Israeli school children know that they are sitting on stolen land, how many know about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine that is still ongoing and how many know about the crimes committed by the IDF as they facilitated the massacres at Shatila and Shaba, as they murdered innocent children in Qana in 1996 and again in 2006, as they killed men women and children in Gaza only a few weeks ago?
Do you know, on reflection, it is actually quite remarkable that 75% of the 1,000 children asked about Auschwitz in the survey actually knew what it was and it is important that they know it and not because it can facilitate them ignoring the little ethnic cleansing that is going on at this very moment down Palestine way, but rather the message of Auschwitz has to be that they should not be ignoring that ongoing crime. Finally, it would be interesting to see how 1,000 British children answered the question, "What is Palestine?" Of course, more interesting would be to see how 1,000 Israeli school children answered the question.
1 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236603389024&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Two Soldiers shot by Republicans

Now I will be the first to admit that British troops should not be on the island of Ireland and I will be the first to admit that the national question in Ireland will not be fully solved until they have gone. Nevertheless, I really am forced to wonder what the so-called "Real IRA" hopes to achieve by murdering two soldiers in cold blood and wounding two pizza delivery men, one of them critically, in the process. The north of Ireland is moving towards an all inclusive society; indeed, it might already be an all inclusive society and one wonders do the "Real IRA" honestly think that the Irish Republic or anyone else for that matter wants them in their society? Moreover, the compromise made by "Sinn Fein" in this day and age does make sense, people are talking, demographics are on their side and those demographics along with certain economic realities will make a united Ireland, in one form or another, a reality. The form that that Ireland will take can not be determined by the fools who murdered two soldiers in cold blood, two soldiers whose presence is tolerated by a Northern Irish Assembly and government. Both of these institutions include members of the "Sinn Fein" and in light of this the statement from Gerry Adams, the "Sinn Fein" leader is to be welcomed. He said, "The peace process was built against the odds and not least because of the willingness of republicans to take risks and to be strategic and long sighted" and "Sinn Fein has a responsibility to be consistent. The logic of this is that we support the police in the apprehension of those involved in last night's attack".(1) A visit to those who were injured in the attack by the Sinn Fein leader or the the deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness might just undermine those intentions.

No News is Good News from Cordoba

The early train was taken to Cordoba and no news is good news, a day without news and when i got back there is still no "real" news, or am I missing something? Well, of course I am and a rather feeble attempt to "catch up" led to this wonderful "no news news" story in the 'Guardian'; "A confidential EU report accuses the Israeli government of using settlement expansion, house demolitions, discriminatory housing policies and the West Bank barrier as a way of "actively pursuing the illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem."(1) "A EU report concluded", well, surprise, surprise and "The EU report goes further, saying that the demolitions are "illegal under international law, serve no obvious purpose, have severe humanitarian effects, and fuel bitterness and extremism."(2) "Illegal under international law", have we got that, let it register and what are we going to do about it?
Nothing today obviously and off I went, early morning train, traipsing for the fourth time through the "mezquita", the little side streets, the sun has got its hat on hip-hip-hip hooray and, well, sometimes, no news really is good news and it's mostly no news anyway, a variation of the theme and are we going to waken up? Not me, not today!
1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/07/israel-palestine-eu-report-jerusalem
2 ibid
The picture was taken during the no news day in Cordoba

Interesting Times

In an earlier post that was peppered with deictic reference, "Mao", "Dickensian Manchester Capitalism", "the Tolpuddle struggles of 1831/32", "Liaoyang", I tried to make the point that China, will discover that the capitalist road is, at best, not a smooth one.(1) Now, the evidence would appear to suggest that, with the IMF talking about 6.7% growth this year, the first big bump is coming up and, while Premier Wen Jiabao is still assuring his comrades that the economy will still grow 8 per cent, the level that the Communist Party believes is necessary to hold down the jobless rate and stave off wider social unrest, we might conclude that the figure is somewhere in between and possibly closer to 7%.
What does this mean? Well, for one thing, with China already the third biggest economy in the world after the United States and Japan, it is going to be all the more difficult to drag the global economy out of its downturn. More importantly, however, is the effect that it is going to have on China itself and the assumption has to be that the wider social unrest feared by "Grandpa Wen" and his mates cannot be avoided. Of course, in the past this has not been a problem for Beijing as the attitude from the countryside was invariably one of, "if the government knew what was happening here, heads would role;" heads did role and Beijing would send a new Head of the Party and a new Mayor out into the village, town or city in question , the peoples' grievances would be "addressed" and everything would be hunky-dory for the far-away Beijing. The problem now, however, is Beijing is not so far away. The unemployed "proletariat" from the factories in Shenzehn are computer literate, more informed and more aware of the injustices in a system that has them in a poverty trap while the new bourgeois sends its children to universities abroad, drives its "made in Germany" cars and pops over to Hong Kong on shopping trips. There are no more "rags to riches" illussions for this new "proletariat", no "Chinese dream" of from factory floor to factory owner and they are all very aware that the real problem does not lie with the party officials back in their villages but rather in Beijing itself. Interesting times, interesting times, indeed!
1 http://thediplomatabroad.blogspot.com/2008/08/china-and-historical-development.html

the UK and the USA talking to the Hezbollah and to Syria

the United Kingdom is ready to engage with Hezbollah and about to urge the United States to do the same. Israel might not be too happy but "Uncle Sam" might be wooed and in the meantime the administration in Washington is trying to court Damascus. Well, if you don't talk, there won't be any solutions and we might have cause to be pleased. The academic caution is, however, well advised and I wouldn't trust "Blighty" or "Uncle Sam" as far as I can throw them. If Syria, and the Hezbollah, which represents about a third of the Lebanese population, are to be accepted into the "fold", there will be a price and, while that price might be one that Bashar al-Assad and Hassan Nasrallah are willing to pay, it will be a price that will cost the Palestinians. Israel might not be too happy with "Blighty" and "Uncle Sam" but they should be because with Syria and the Hezbollah "pacified", Iran will be isolated, perhaps, ultimately ready to talk and the Israelis can then get on with their own little divide and rule game. Perhaps, they will get lucky, isolate 'Hamas' completely, get Abbas to come to some final peace conference as the representative for "all Palestinians" and send him back home to Ramallah as the President of the first "independent" Palestinian state and what a state ........ the European Union will pay for a tunnel from Gaza to Abbasstan in the West Bank, 'Hamas' and other "extremist" parties will be banned in the new Democratic Republic of Palestine, an international community, that will not include Israel or the United States, will dig up a few billion to compensate the those Palestinians in the diaspora for the land that they lost in 1948, the Palestinians living in Israel will swear an oath of allegience to the Zionist state or they will be "transfered" to "Palestine" and humanity will be shown that ethnic cleansing, murder and theft really does pay.
Still, there is hope and it might just be that Assad and Nasrallah are intelligent as I think they are, that they already know how to play their cards and it is they who will short change the Anglo-Saxons this time around. It might even be that our zany Zionists realise this and in realising it they have every reason to worry when "Blighty" and "Uncle Sam" start to talk. For the sake of Palestine I only hope that I am right.

al-Bashir indicted today

Well, I jumped the gun a wee bit a couple of days ago and it was only earlier today that Omar al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be issued with an arrest warrant by the international criminal court, today (ICC).(1) Now, I made my opinion on the matter crystal clear in Monday's post but a couple of points should be stressed. Firstly, the reaction in Khartoum, where within minutes of the announcement, protesters flocked to the streets, can be summed up by, an aide to Bashir, Mustafa Osman Ismail's comment who described the decision as "neo-colonialism"(2), while the ministry of information said in a statement: "There will be no recognition of or dealing with the white man's court, which has no mandate in Sudan or against any of its people."(3) Of course, the fact is this is a decision that the West and in particular the United States, France and the United Kingdom pushed for and what it does mean is that there might be a move on the part of the South of Sudan for independence before the planned 2011 referendum. This is an area that holds 85% of Sudan's oil and it is oil that is being largely exploited by the Chinese. Whatever, the crimes committed by Mr al-Bashir the real reason behind his indictment are obvious.
Finally, Omar al-Bashir has been indicted for his complicity in the deaths of more than 200,000 people in the Dafur region and we might, agree with Tawanda Hondora, the deputy director of Amnesty International's Africa programme, when he says, "This sends a strong signal that the international community no longer tolerates impunity for grave violations of human rights committed by people in positions of power."(4) We might agree; however, what signal is it sending? The shennanigans of France and the United States led to a genocide in Rwanda that was at least five times greater in scope and during the last decade various US governments have been instrumental in the murder of millions not only in Rwanda but also in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Believe me the decision of the ICC to indict Omar al-Bashir is a political decision and unless it is to be accompanied by indictments against western leaders for their complicity in the mass murder of civilians not only in Africa, but all over the globe, it cannot be applauded. Indeed, I suspect that had al-Bashir been indicted along with half a dozen other "western friendly" African leaders and their paymasters in Washington, London and Paris, then there wouldn't have been any demonstrations in the Sudan. One thing is for sure, with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Blair, Museveni, Kagame and "our" zany Zionists in the dock along with al-Bashir a signal really would have been sent.
1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/04/omar-bashir-sudan-president-arrest
2 ibid
3 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/04/sudan-demostrators-support-bashir
4 see 1 ibid
The picture shows al-Bashir; in the original caption it said he is responsible for 35,000 deaths. Christ, Bush is responsible for, at least, a couple of million

"Durban 2"

It really is good to see the real international community, as opposed to that "international community" that is made of the United States and its sycophants, take a moral stand and if the stand that community is in the process of taking at "Durban 2" were to be repeated often enough we might just see the usual suspects, "Uncle Sam", "Blighty" and the zany Zionists, becoming isolated. Israel, Canada and the U.S. have already announced that they will boycott the upcoming summit and I am sure that perfidious Albion is about to follow suit.
"Durban 2", which will be held in Geneva next month, is a follow up to "Durban 1" and in 2001 the U.S. and Israel walked out midway through that eight-day meeting over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism to racism.This time round "A draft of the closing statement prepared for the upcoming United Nations-sponsored conference against racism, dubbed Durban 2, states that Israel's policy in the Palestinian territories constitutes a "violation of international human rights, a crime against humanity and a contemporary form of apartheid."(1) So, there we have Israel and the good old USA with not an argument to their name, indulging in their usual whining and denial and they cannot really quite formulate why they will not be sending a delegation. That is just it, you see, while they huff and puff and spout their drivel to the contrary, they have no real arguments against the truth and just as Zionism is a form of racism, so too are Israel's policies in the occupied territories and, indeed, in the so-called "Jewish democracy" itself, a "violation of international human rights and a contemporary form of apartheid. Which, brings me to the crimes against humanity and the 1,300 who were slaughtered recently in Gaza have already given way in the western media to the usual Zionist drivel. Wondering if I can drive down to Geneva and have a look in on the conference next month.
1 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1068076.html

ICC indictes Omar al-Bashir

No doubt about it, Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese President, has, as they would say in Germany, "viel Dreck am stecken" (lots of dirt sticking to him). Therefore, we should normally be pleased to hear that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted him for war crimes in Dafur because crimes there were and the evidence would seem to suggest that al-Bashir's role in them was central. However,if only it was that simple, and I am left wondering why there is no Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda, or Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, making their way to the Hague. The answer, of course, is simple and that is Kagame and Museveni are "Uncle Sam's" friends. Yes, it really is that simple and that is why we should be answering the question, who gains from al-Bashir's indictment? Right, well done! There will, of course, be further instability in the region, a very important source of raw materials for China will be threatened, the area will be further destabilised and "Uncle Sam" can continue to do what "Uncle Sam" does best, raping and looting under the guise of the World Bank, the IMF and humanitarian missions. Interesting too would be discovering the extent to which the United States influenced the ICC to pursue its indictment. At the moment the United States does not recognise the authority of the court to try American citizens. One wonders then, if as a gesture, we will see the court's jurisdiction extended to US citizens as a quid pro quo. Of course, we won't and the world's "policeman" will go on murdering civilians, facilitating genocide and pursuing its illegal little wars, with impunity.

A Glasgow Story

It was during the mid eighties, round about the time when Glasgow was having its "miles better" campaign and being so smug as to knock back a twinning offer from Liverpool Council. Yes, Glasgow was too good for Liverpool and there was me visiting the city of my birth and meeting up with my brother and brother-in-law for a quiet libation and with no great desire to take the evening into the 'Taj' we opted for the wee carry out. "Whit ye wantin?" And there was brother-in-law ordering his usual half bottle of whisky and six cans of tennents and brother opting for the six cans of tartan and me .... well, there was me, influenced by the new Glasgow, the "miles better" Glasgow, and having become a thoroughly continental Jock, I asked the barmaid if she had any "Fürstenberg", a German beer that had hit the new Glasgow and, which I had been enjoying in places like the "Ubiquitos Chip" and there was the barmaid, who the whole evening had been flashing a lovely tattoo of King Billy on her biceps, simply replying, "fuck your "Fürstenberg", I am still not totally sure what she meant but I do believe that to this very day neither "Fürstenberg" or any other decent continental beer has managed to penetrate that particular part of Yoker.
The picture shows a bottle of "Fürstenberg", the beer that blazed the trail for other good foreign beers entering the city of my birth.