AMERICAN HISTORICAL PERCEPTIONS

I belong to a number of historical journals and associations, amongst them a number American (USA) publications. The American ones are concerned with general history and seem to limit themselves to WW2, and forget Vietnam and other American excursions in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asian. The genocide of the Native Americans and Slavery are hardly ever analysed in depth. The real reason for seeking independence from Great Britain is simply not mentioned except when Hollywood decides to have a triumphant go at the conquest of the West portraying natives as cruel subhumans, a striking parallel with the portrayal by the American Military and Media of the Vietnamese population, they forgot that the Vietnamese had been fighting foreign invaders for two thousand years, this is equally applicable to Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and so forth, History can be a great teacher if you only pay due attention.

It is not clear at all, why most of the Independence leaders, who were all slave owners and British, did not relinquish their human property once they had achieved their goal. This was rather strange if you consider their much vaunted views on freedom and liberty etc etc. Even stranger is the fact that African Americans are still fighting for freedom and equality in the supposed Land of the Free, please note that during WW2, the American Military still operated an apartheid system, ironic indeed since these black soldiers were put in harm’s way in order to defend democracy just like the their fellow soldiers from the Raj and other British colonies. Thee must be something awfully wrong with a society that needs the slogan “Black Lives Matter”.

Perhaps we should return to this subject in depth and dig out the real objective of the exercise.

Another aspect of this sorry business is that when Americans put on their anti-imperialistic gown they conveniently forget their invasion and occupation of the west and their virtual annihilation of Native Americans. Apartheid and concentration camps (Reservations) was what survivors could look forward to.

Texas, New Mexico, California etc., were other territories that the freedom loving ex-colonists had there eyes on and eventually occupied and kept for themselves. Unfortunately for them they could not keep the whole of Cuba and the Philippines, though they tried their damnedest, however they got away with Hawaii, Puerto Rico and bits of Panama including the Canal after engineering a split from from Colombia.

This really looks like a country following in the footsteps of it’s mother country, with one important proviso, the mother country did not hide its imperialistic nature and wherever possible acted in a fair way, according to their lights. Not so America (USA).

I cannot understand why America claims that she wants to see democracy flourish in distant lands when it is still unattainable for millions of citizens at home. Why are overseas authoritarian regimes backed by the freedom loving US government? Surely charity begins at home, as the saying goes. Unless there is something untoward in this stance, selling arms to a guaranteed clientele and thus making them dependent on your arms manufacturers, perhaps? In this scenario the more wars you can start the better for the economy back home, especially certain sectors such as banks and other financial institutions and with full employment to boot.

Not since Roman times have soldiers been feted so much and thrust into the center of government and politics, it is to be noted that twelve american generals has become presidents of the nation during its short history.

I have a suspicion about who really govern the U S A, it is not the politicians, General/President Eisenhower could, indeed did, tell us a few things.

Manifest Destiny I suppose.

The above may seem rather like anti-Americanism but, even in today’s world, facts are facts……………..

BRITISH VALUES…………

After the abolition of slavery, newly freed men and women refused to work for the low wages on offer on the sugar farms in British colonies in the West Indies. Indentured labour was a system of bonded labour that was instituted following the abolition of slavery. Indentured labour were recruited to work on sugar, cotton and tea plantations, and rail construction projects in British colonies in West Indies, Africa and South East Asia.  From 1834 to the end of the WWI, Britain had transported about 2 million Indian indentured workers to 19 colonies including Fiji, Mauritius, Ceylon, Trinidad, Guyana, Malaysia, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa.

The Indian indenture system was finally banned in 1917.^[25] According to The Economist, “When the Indian Legislative Council finally ended indenture…it did so because of pressure from Indian nationalists and declining profitability, rather than from humanitarian concerns.

I have been  paying attention to the British media about immigration, cultural identities etc and in particular to the abolition of slavery within the then British Empire and I am astonished not to hear about Indentured Labour, which in effect was Slavery by another name.

The hypocrisy of the British media knows no bounds, especially when referring to themselves and their values, that is to say their  supposed moral superiority, whilst forgetting their atrocities and double dealing fron the Indian sub-continent through to the Middle East (PALESTINE, BUT NOT ONLY), to Cyprus, North and East Africa, I could carry on but I am sure the reader will catch the drift.

What astounds me is that not in one single instance has anybody questioned this British invention and it  remains largely unknown or ignored world-wide.

Perhaps some tribunal should look into this, I doubt it.

A triumph of British Values!!!

Food for thought.

WINDRUSH (BRIT..ISH VALUES)

NO COLOURED, IRISH OR DOGS.

I saw the above in newsagents ads for rooms to let in London in 1958.

At the time I did not understand what this meant, I am rather older and wiser now.

So, hardly anything has changed, except for dogs and Irishmen. It would be interesting to know,  how  many immigrants from the white Commonwealth, illegal or not, have been harassed to the same extent  as the Windrush lot.

These poor souls , were invited by  THEIR   British Government (they thought) to a hostile and cold (in every sense) land,   which they naively thought was there motherlend,  in need of reconstruction after the War, which Mr. Churchill, proclaimed was for the defence of Democracy and Freedom. Obviously this was meant for others since the Empire should not be affected! And furthermore NO SENSIBLE  ENGLISHMAN WOULD DO THIS SORT OF WORK AND MOST CERTAINLY NOT FOR  THE WAGES  OFFERED.

It  now transpires that  this fiasco  was planned  by Labour, aided, abetted  and executed by Tories and Liberals in their infamous  cosy coalition. In other words, by the whole bloody lot of corrupt and rascist politicians, who now want to blame the Civil Service for this shocking  and disgusting  policy.

I wonder about Sailsbury and Syria………………………………………….?

Iraq, Lybia ………………………………………….etc etc?

BRITISH VALUES!!

AMERICA,AMERICA

The best TV reality show on any network.

Truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.

Perhaps old Harvey W. is also producing this show. I would not put it past him.

Democracy.

clipped from english.aljazeera.net Yet the Obama administration, like its predecessors, regularly celebrates him as a key ally and a crucial mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Does Obama really not understand that Mubarak’s interest is not in peace, but rather in an unending peace process that ensures his continued relevance and billions of dollars in no-strings-attached American aid? Then he jailed his main opponent, Ayman Nour, for more than three years for election fraud just to make sure everyone got his point. Undemocratic election techniques Saudi Arabia remains our most crucial Arab ally despite the fact that its government is among the world’s most repressive and undemocratic (about which Obama has had nothing to say since becoming president). The substance of Obama’s foreign policies in the Middle East and North Africa remain in many key areas strikingly similar to, and are in some cases more aggressive than, those of George Bush, his predecessor.

Spy?

What do you think?

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk The American journalist Roxana Saberi was jailed for espionage in Tehran after obtaining a confidential Iranian document about the American invasion of Iraq, it was claimed today. Saleh Nikbakht, one of Ms Saberi’s Iranian lawyers, revealed that a document Ms Saberi had obtained while working as a translator for a powerful clerical lobby had been used as evidence to convict her on charges of espionage. Ms Saberi, 32, was released on Monday after an appeal court dismissed charges of spying and reduced her eight-year prison term to a two-year suspended sentence.

NAKHBA

IT`S ONLY THE PALESTINIAN GENOCIDE.

clipped from content2.clipmarks.com I didn’t celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut today. I don’t think I can celebrate this holiday any more I’ve come to believe that for Jews, Yom Ha’atzmaut is more appropriately observed as an occasion for reckoning and honest soul searching As a Jew, as someone who has identified with Israel for his entire life, it is profoundly painful to me to admit the honest truth of this day: that Israel’s founding is inextricably bound up with its dispossession of the indigenous inhabitants of the land. In the end, Yom Ha’atzmaut and what the Palestinian people refer to as the Nakhba are two inseparable sides of the same coin. And I simply cannot separate these two realities any more. I wonder: how must it feel to be a Palestinian watching the Jewish community celebrate this day year after year on the anniversary that is the living embodiment of their collective tragedy? Rabbi of Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evansto

THE HEART OF EUROPE

If Europe does not pay enough attention to this problem it could explode in its  face.
The EU is far to pre-occupied with overseas problems and forgetting its own.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Bosnia’s “crisis” is so much talked about these days, yet so difficult to define. Bosnia is not a failed state. Not yet, at least. Instead, it is more like a zombie state. Like Afghanistan and Iraq, Bosnia has been reanimated out of conflict following external intervention. Outwardly it appears to be in possession of the institutions of democracy, but those institutions, say critics, are moribund in most respects. It was not supposed to be like this. The country’s war, which occurred during the break-up of Yugoslavia, pitted the three national identities against each other – Orthodox Christian Serb against Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Bosniak against Catholic Croat – with many secular Bosnians from all sides fighting with the Bosniak-dominated government for the dream of a multi-ethnic state.

KOSOVO AND THE REST.

Beware of the Balkans.
It can yet again cause a flood of tears, to the rest of Europe.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk The Kosovo Albanians – the vast majority of the province – want independence from Serbia. The most that Belgrade says it can tolerate is a loose autonomy. Europe, for all its pretensions to speak with one clear voice to the world, is divided. Greece and Spain have been wary of the idea of Kosovo becoming Europe’s newest state. Madrid does not like to give encouragement to its own Basque secessionists. Greece is agitated about Macedonia. Britain and France and most of the rest of Europe favour an independent Kosovo under the novel concept of EU supervision designed to guarantee good behaviour towards its minorities. Time is now very short. The mandate for the EU’s peacekeeping force in Bosnia expires this week and it is contested whether it can legally continue if the Russians wield their veto. There is a 10 December deadline for agreement in Kosovo. It is almost universally expected there won’t be any agreement. Then the really scary stuff threatens to start happening.

Columbia

Onward Christian soldier

clipped from en.wikipedia.org This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast called American Progress, is an allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny. Here Columbia, intended as a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she travels; she holds a school book. The different economic activities of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation. The Native Americans and wild animals flee.

Surprising!

People are thoroughly fed up with American Military arrogance.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Zimerman appears to have been upset by Barack Obama’s decision, announced this month, to maintain the Bush-era policy of installing a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. “Yes,” Zimerman responded with derision, “some people when they hear the word military start marching.” “Get your hands off my country,” Zimerman told the stunned crowd in a denunciation of US plans to install a missile defence shield on Polish soil. Some people cheered, others yelled at him to shut up and keep playing. A few dozen walked out, some of them shouting obscenities. So he triggered more than the usual rumble of discomfort when he raised his voice in the closing stages of a recital at Los Angeles’ Disney Hall on Sunday night and announced he would no longer perform in the United States in protest against Washington’s military policies. ‘Get your hands off my country’ … Krystian Zimerman’s outburst stunned the crowd. Photograph: Grzegorz Michalowski/EPA/Corbis

William Blake

No comment,

clipped from www.sheilaomalley.com

Thanks Seosamh Dalzell

Waiting for an answer

clipped from www.metmuseum.org To God— If you have formed a Circle to go into Go into it yourself & see how you would do

JUST A THOUGHT!

No wonder Iran is wary of foreigners.

clipped from www.heartland.it

politicians beware !

THE SCOURGE OF POLITICIANS

Monday, April 06, 2009

ALL POLITICIANS SHOULD BE MADE TO READ OLIVER CROMWELL’S SPEECH TO THE RUMP PARLIAMENT EVERY MORNING. PERHAPS THEY WOULD THEN STOP LYING, CHEATING AND THIEVING………..METHINKS NOT!!!!!!

“…It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

“Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter’d your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

“Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defil’d this sacred place, and turn’d the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d; your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse the Augean Stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings, and which by God’s help and the strength He has given me, I now come to do.

“I command ye, therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. You have sat here too long for the good you do. In the name of God, go!”

DEDICATED TO ISRAEL & ALL BELLICOSE NATIONS

READ AND LEARN!

clipped from www.poetry-archive.com ACCURS’D BE HE THAT FIRST INVENTED WAR! by: Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) CCURS’D be he that first invented war! They knew not, ah, they knew not, simple men, How those were hit by pelting cannon-shot Stand staggering like a quivering aspen-leaf Fearing the force of Boreas’ boisterous blasts! In what a lamentable case where I, If nature had not given me wisdom’s lore! For kings are clouts that every man shoots at, Our crown the pin that thousands seek to cleave: Therefore in policy I think it good So shall not I be known; or if I be, To hide it close; a goodly stratagem, And far from any man that is a fool: They cannot take away my crown from me. Here will I hide it in this simple hole.

SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI

This man should have stayed an academic, he is not aware of the world around him.
This is the 5th or 6th time he has made a gaffe.

Any leader in any field would have resigned after the second or third gaffe. He has earned without doubt the royal order of the boot with his father Christmas  garb included.
He may be a feeble old man (  I doubt it)  and I must also admit we get what we deserve.

But surely he is surrounded by qualified advisers, who also seem to think they inhabit a different planet.

Perhaps, before this man speaks publicly he should talk to ordinary people as a sounding board.

It must also be noted that millions of Catholics  accept this man’s words as DOGMA,  although this is not the case.

The damage he can cause is truly enormous.

Good grief, Bush Blair, Pope Benedict, Lieberman etc. etc., what have we done to deserve this?

“A POPE FOR OUR TIMES”

If God exists he/she/it must be totally fed up with us.

We do no need an alien invasion to do us in, we can do it ourselves, thank you!

clipped from www.bbc.co.uk Pope Benedict says “Condoms can increase the problem of Aids” “HIV/Aids is a tragedy that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem.” This was Pope Benedict’s message to Africa at the beginning of his papal visit to the continent. 22 million people are infected with the Aids virus in sub-saharan Africa, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of infections worldwide. But Pope Benedict believes condoms can exacerbate the problem by encouraging promiscuity.

les affaires sont les affaires

U S MBA in marketing!

clipped from crooksandliars.com ONE THIRD of all the weapons procured for the Afghan security forces are missing and can be presumed sold onto the black market. Worth roughly $40 million at wholesale cost (and weighing in excess of 200 tons) to the Pentagon, would anyone like to guess at the black market value? The report has been compiled by congressional auditors, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). Fri, 02/13/2009 – 12:51 — andrew galea Business is business! Democracy, free market and other American values. The American forces are teaching the Afghans the finer points of commerce.

live & learn…………..

THERE ARE  THREE  THINGS THAT CANNOT LIE HIDDEN FOREVER:

1.LOVE

2.MONEY

3.OIL

Guess What? Lots of Oil, Natural Gas in Gaza!

by jerry23w 1-7-2009 4

SPREAD THE WORD

“Guess What? Lots Of Oil, Natural Gas In Gaza!

A Secret Behind Israel’s Siege of Gaza: Palestinians Have Oil and Natural Gas Resources Martha Rose Crow, M.S. 1-7-9 “there is an abundance of oil reserves both on the strip and offshore” http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/q_israeli_palestinian_peace/ “The Palestinians are, in aggregate, energy rich. For the past six years, the Palestinian Authority has been sitting on a major gas field that contains at least 1.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas.” http://www.epalestine.com/PalestineEnergy.pdf http://www.oilandgasinvestingglossary.com/palestines_natural_gas_troubles.asp The World has been watching Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians for a long time but incredibly, the media never mentions the Palestinians’ natural resources or the fact that Israel has thwarted Palestine’s efforts to develop them. Palestinian oil and gas is no secret in the energy field. It’s just a secret to everyone else.”

IT IS ALWAYS THE SAME STORY.

THEY  WENT AFTER THE WATER AND NOW THE REST.

YES,  IT MAKES SENSE.

SO WHAT’S A FEW THOUSAND LIVES WORTH?

SMALL CHANGE.

DON’T KEEP QUIET!!!!!!!!!!!!

DON'T KEEP QUIET!!!!!!!

WE LEARN QUICK.

We take care of them.

They even have a Dr. Goebbels.

“One of the key parts of Israel’s well-planned media narrative in Gaza is that they are carefully targeting attacks and that there is no humanitarian crisis there which isn’t attributable to the mis-management of the elected Hamas government. President Shimon Peres repeated the claim this Sunday on ABC News “This Week with George Stephanopoulos“.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, sir, the head of the Shin Bet general security services told a cabinet meeting in Israel today, it’s been reported, that Hamas has eased its demands for a cease-fire with Israel. Can you elaborate on that?

PERES: Yes. They made the demand, they made the suggestion to have a cease-fire and open the passages. To open the passages without control means to enable them to bring in more rockets, more missiles, more weapons, more supply from Iran. Doesn’t make any sense that we should do it. Because it started with open passages. They could have moved around without any difficulties. We even permitted the supply of money, not only medical supply, money that we have collected to the Hamas. So what do they want, that we should open to them again, to have more supply of weapons and bombs?

We say that they are — we are not going to. And even today, by the way, one of the passages is open, because there is no shortage of basic needs in Gaza. We take care that medical equipment and food and fuel will arrive to Gaza, even today.”

Herr Doktor or Herr President?

Same thing.

IT IS ONLY COLLATERAL DAMAGE.

They are only kids and they do not belong to the Chosen Ones.

CROOKOCRACY

THE LOOT

MADOFF OR MADE-OFF, HE IS STILL A THIEF.

clipped from www.facebook.com How can anyone take seriously a fellow with the name Madoff, especially when he insists it should be pronounced Made-off. Surely this is a sign that your goods and chattels are not safe, whatever the man and his neighbours say, particularly when they are of the same ilk, with hefty commissions involved. I can only think that his wealthy clientele thought themselves far too clever and powerful, to be taken to the cleaners by this conjurer. My problem lies in the age old question: where’s the loot? I mean 50 billion in any currency, excepting the Zimbabwe geld, is quite a sum, difficult to hide but large enough to work miracles. I am sure it is all a mistake and Mr. M. has not made off with the goods, he has just misplaced them, but being rather advanced in years, he perhaps suffers a memory condition. This ailment is quite common nowadays, particularly in politics and finance, so until medical science progresses a touch more, we will have to excuse the dear old man. CROOKOCRACY

ISRAEL ÜBER ALLES

PAX  IUDAICA

ACHTUNG!  ACHTUNG!

 

PALÄSTINENSER  RAUS!

 

ARABER VERBOTEN!

 

 RAUS!    

 

 

 

DARFUR? BURMA?

The world should be pleased that the above mentioned conflicts have been resolved and that Sudan’s dictator has been indicted by the UN and we must therefore be optimistic, at least two of the worst conflicts are sorted out. We still have Palestine pending resolution but I am sure that other far more pressing matters will soon crop up and will help us forget the genocide in Palestine.

HAPPY HANUKA AND A VERY MERRY XMAS.

POWER IN THE SHADOWS

When has humankind been at peace?

 Man is intrinsically greedy and cruel.
The only animal that kills for pleasure not  survival. Always looking for power and exercising it ruthlessly.

To counteract this, if you do not have superior force you must bide your time and act  in consequence.  Choose your allies carefully  and plan your strategy. Always bear in mind that everyone around you is a potential enemy,  be ever vigilant.  Blend in  and penetrate the spheres of influence ie government, the economy, the military and above all the media.

 Avoid being controvertial.

Always behave in a subtle manner, never ever seeking to be the main protagonist. You must always appear to advice and suggest, always in the shadows.  Strive to make yourself indispensable and always ready to oblige, or so appear to be.  Join the professions  that are essential to the smooth running of the  community. such as Banking, the Law, Education, Medicine and the Arts.

 There you have the magic formula for obtaining power. But be discreet above all else.

Do not appear to be an obstruction or danger to anyone, be a chameleon, be a shadow. Bend with the wind for however strong it blows, it will also pass.

It will not be obvious but Power will then not be a stranger to those who follow this  path.

LA GRANDEUR

 

I have often wondered about France’s constant  boast of her  “Grandeur”.

Granted France has superb wines and food, but the same can be said about Spain and Italy and a few other countries.

Other qualities France might wish to be proud of are also found in many other lands.

Their language, a descendant of  Latin, is therefore similar to all the other Romance languages no better and no worse, and certainly not exceptional unless you happen to be French.

So possibly this “Grandeur” refers to their military, and here I am afraid I really can’t understand it.

Since the late nineteenth century France has lost every major scrap she has been involved in.

Admittedly once or twice she was able to be on the victorious side by the grace of Britain and America. The least said about Algeria, Indochina and other less well known  points on the globe  the better for all concerned. I certainly won’t comment on the  despicable Suez affair and the french responsibility for the development of the Israeli nuclear arsenal.

If we however,r go back a little in this history sans grandeur there is one shining exception: LA REVOLUTION FRANÇAISE, a True beacon of light for humanity to follow.

The French  Revolution is indeed entitled to claim this “appelation”. This instance in history was probably  one of man’s noblest efforts  to  create a more just and equitable  society and it justifiably merits an immense sense of pride.

The first experiment in the history of  so called HOMO SAPIENS to regard his fellow humans as equal and to organize society to that end.

 This is indeed Grandeur!

VIVE LA FRANCE ET  SA GRANDEUR!

Once a crook always a Crook

I am hearing that Mr. Bush, this sorry excuse for a president, will authorize the energy companies to drill for oil in the wild lands of Utah.

 How appropriate to call this Midnight Legislation. We can ascertain from this that this man has always done the bidding of the oil companies, and I suppose this is his going away present to them.

It becomes clearer why Iraq  was was arrogantly attacked and destroyed with the help of that holier than though  perfidious man Blair. 

Granted God spoke to both Messrs. Bush & Blair, I only wonder if the holy ambassador was Cheney or was it  the Pope, since both  above mentioned wonder boys visited Rome  on a number of occasions.

Messages in the Wailing  Wall could also have served as a holy conduit.   Since they also met  the Dalai Lama several times, all bases were covered.

One cannot help but wonder how  much like common thugs these men behaved.

Yet ultimate responsibility lies with their respective electorates who put them there for the glory of Democracy and the Free Market.

Viva Capitalism US style, sod the rest.

Greed is Good!

This is really the essence of capitalism. However since human nature is what it is, greed must be managed, otherwise this present crisis would be like a children’s tea party compared, to what it could be, if it were allowd a free reign.

Apparently Capitalism is the only system that works. However if we do not regulate it with a firm hand, corruption will set in. There is a saying in Spanish “With enough money even a saint can be corrupted”, actually it is much much stronger than this but it will have to  suffice, in other words everyone has a price. Undoubtetly this has become more than evident with the present  problems  such as   “MR. MADE-OFF  to say nothing of Enron and others of the same ilk.

This has come to pass because of  monumental greed on the part of our captains of industry and  prominent financiers, bankers, politicians and every Tom Dick and Harry with a silver tongue.

  We must not however forget the man in the street. His greed is just as great as the afore-mentioned pillars of society  but  the circumstances are different.  He can’t get his hands on as much loot as the others therefore his ambitions are rather more limited. But the priciple is just as valid.

More stringent rules and regulations are required, perhaps we should take a leaf out of the Qur’an.

I would be a pity to see so many one handed individuals

Salutary none the less!

Plus Ça Change…………..

It seems to me that the American political set-up is just  like a new version of a theatre play or new film production of the same script. .

There is a new colourful leading man, but the  the director, producer, and executive producers, who have the financial clout, are the same. In effect it is just a new  studio production catering for modern tastes.

We have Mr. Obama as the new  leading man, but the rest of the cast comes from the same pool of contract actors and Studio executives,  who may or may not be known to the general public, but are disciplined members of their Firm.

 Mr. Gates stays were he, they might even close Guantanamo but I am certain a sort of Guantanamo 2 will open somewhere  else and business will go on as usual. It cannot do otherwise.

The Economy and Financial departments will be run by the same people  such as Shapiro & co.,who were there somewhere in the semi-shadows but always ever vigilant knowing  that they would eventually advice the President. 

The least said about the publicity and advertising departments the better.

I am sure the  President wanted some new blood but, I am afraid the Producers insist on appointing their own people and having their own way, that is what the Studio wants.  End of Argument. 

Money and power talks! This is realpolitik!

Please note that the same lobbies arte still in charge, Mr. Obama has been given a four year contract with a possible further four  years.  The show goes on independently and above all the Studio must carry on with its own agenda.. It would be wise to check the names of the supporting cast and the production crew.

The Studio pays and will have its way, this is Show Business!

The show must go on.

AL RAIS (the leader)

 He went  to Iraq to deliver the American Dream, and in the process destroyed the country and killed more people than  Saddam.It was  ironic  that on his last visit to Iraq he was bidden goodbye and good riddance in an appropriate manner, the shoe farewell, just like Saddam’s statue.

Al  Gitan, as he is commonly called in the Arab World ,will go down in history not as en evil man but an incredibly stupid one. I would suggest that a more appropriate name would be Al-Hmar.

This war was prepared planned and executed like a giant hedge fund, exactly like Mr. Madoff’s one.

 Everybody lost everything except Mr. “Made-off”.

We should ask ouselves who was the only beneficiary in the

 IRAQ  WAR  HEDGE FUND?

WHO WAS THIS MR. “MADE-OFF”?

WHO BENEFITS FROM THIS COLOSSAL DE-STABILISATION OF THE MIDDLE EAST?

 The really evil men were his senior advisers and powerful lobbyists whose agendas were either personal profit and power or even a deeper hidden one which, again paraphrasing Mr. Wilde, no one dares speak its name.

The main actors in this monstrous tragedy don’t even bother to quantify how many Iraqis have been killed or say anything about the destruction and looting of the world’s first civilization.  This is really of no consequence, money and oil   and geo-strategic power  are the practical outcome of this evil did.  However it must be noted that in historical terms this event is like, the Crusades, a never to be forgotten crime and all participants will get their just desserts, however long it takes. 

 The Arabs are a patient and just, but  unforgiving people, and will eventually seek revenge and reparations, Time is of no consequence.

Be warned, the biblical injunction applies to everyone!

 “An eye for an eye………..”

 

 

 

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Same club, same profession and same everything else, including the same city.

Oh my Lord, another one! How many will crawl out of the woodwork? These are the Super-folk. They don’t come from up there, they come from over there.

New York  lawyer, Marc S.  Dreier has “made off”   with a few schekels that are the property of other parties.

It seems to be common practice in our society to thief your way to prominence, fame and fortune, and we still claim to be  the good  guys. I don’t get it.

Other less fortunate beings  must view this show agog.

We complain, castigate and more often than not ,invade  their countries and  take our pleasure and property from these unfortunate people in the name of our western way of life, far superior  to theirs.

Castro, Chavez, Morales, the Iranians, the Palestinians, Latinos and all the usual suspects must be wondering about our values and general behaviour and having a ball at our expense, excuse the pun.

I can hear  “WE TOLD YOU SO” coming from all these quarters to all and sundry in an  ear shatering roar.

If we manage all our affairs in this manner the Lord help us because our fund managers won’t,  they are too busy helping themselves.

Serves us right!

Obviously there is something rotten in this state of  affairs and yet we presume to be superior.

Have I got it wrong? What happened to us?  Who has led us astray?

Whilst we were applying for credit cards etc, others were applying for  their passports and buying enough luggage to carry off their loot.

Is it Hollywood?

Yep, this is Showtime! It’s only geld.

I wonder……….

SUPERMAN & THE AMERICAN DREAM

I am  trying to figure out how Mr. Madoff  (PRONOUNCED MADE OFF) was able to function for decades on his own and make off with the geld.

This man must have been a superman to do what he is alleged to have done, that is to rob,steal,dupe and  comit countless other forms of  thievery on his very own. Or could it possibly be that others, within and without,  were aiding and abetting the poor old man, or simply looking the other way and then  dropping by to collect their  well earned pay check.  It seems to me that this is simply too large an operation to credit to one man.  Mind you there were ample funds to make it an interesting proposition for a lot of people.

Are there are other supermen hiding behind other institutions or we will just send this old man to a summer camp for a while?

I wonder……….

I have  just learned that Mr. Madoff’s name is pronounced made-off: need I say more!

MAFIA & OTHERS

PIRACY NOT SOMALIA STYLE.

Mr.Bernard  L. Madoff.

Another crook, a real con man. This time however he does not belong to the Italian Mafia or   other bad guys  and he defintely does not come from Somalia.  I wonder what Mafia he belongs to. Paraphrasing  Oscar Wilde, is it the one no-one dares say its name?

Somehow I don’t think that Hollywood will make many films about this and I’ll bet anything, that the media in general , will soon bury this under other more worthy news such as terrorism, Muslims or other baddies with strange sounding names..

Just as an after thought, please consider the following :  whenever a  muslim commits a crime , the fact that he is of this religious persuasion is always very prominent  in all media reports.

No problem. It’s Showtime , lets Rock’n’Roll.

After all, only in America.

Just a thought!!

DEJA VU

 If one changes the words ‘settlers’ and ‘colonists’ to ‘American occupiers’ and ‘Algeria’ to ‘Iraq,’ this is not a bad assessment of where the U.S. now finds itself — or may soon find itself. Watching current TV news footage coming out of Iraq — say, of American soldiers patting down Iraqi men at check-points (and putting hoods and plastic handcuffs on some of them) or ransacking private homes — one cannot help but wince at the racial and religious hatreds being sown right before our eyes,how to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas. … Children shoot soldiers at point blank range. Women plant bombs in cafes. Soon the entire Arab population builds to a mad fervor. Sounds  familiar?  The French have a plan. It succeeds tactically, but fails strategically.  We could not do better, to learn from our mistakes, than view  Gillo Pontecorvo’s film”The Battle of Algiers”.

We will never learn!!!

IV CENT BC

Thucydides himself said – – that it was enough for him that his words “be judged useful by those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or other and in much the same ways, be repeated in the future”.

We haven’t changed a bit since then!  Methinks  we will not do so in the future.

WE NEVER LEARN!!!

COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP

“GO AWAY! ONLY  YHVH  CAN JUDGE US”

 I wonder what OBAMA will discuss with the Israeli leaders when they meet. Perhaps, Slavery and the Holocaust, I hardly think they’ll worry about a bunch of Arabs who happen to be in Palestine for the moment.
 Would ethnic cleansing be an appropriate item on their agenda??
Somehow I don’t think so.

WE WILL NEVER LEARN!!!

 

MILITARY FOLLIES

I am amazed how the Afghan invasion and other military follies are treated by our media.
Let us imagine for one moment, that the roles were reversed and that Afghan and other forces were occupying the UK, we don’t have to think too hard to find a good reason to justify this, from their point of view.
Historically we’ve humbled, exploited and treated them no better than we treat our pets and yet we hardly talk or care about the people who are suffering our arrogance, we are only worried about our forces having a hard time there.
I really wonder about our values etc etc.
Incidentally, Darfur has disappeared from our media.
Yours, in absolute disgust

 

We will never learn!!!

It’s ironic………….

It’s ironic to listen to the news about Myanmar, we’ve suddenly forgotten the Rohingya!

It’s a sort of Divine Justice for the Noble Laureate who forgot the sufferings of her fellow countrymen and women in exchange for power (she thought).

Europeos???

TAKE HEED…………

by: Christopher Marlowe
(1564-1593)

ACCURS’D
be he that first invented war!

They knew not, ah, they knew not, simple men,

How those were hit by pelting cannon-shot

Stand staggering like a quivering aspen-leaf

Fearing the force of Boreas’ boisterous blasts!

In what a lamentable case where I,

If nature had not given me wisdom’s lore!

For kings are clouts that every man shoots at,

Our crown the pin that thousands seek to cleave:

Therefore in policy I think it good

So shall not I be known; or if I be,

To hide it close; a goodly stratagem,

And far from any man that is a fool:

They cannot take away my crown from me.

Here will I hide it in this simple hole.

And Again…………..

 

 

 

My partners post
All right, Spain. You’ve asked for this.

You’ve issued one of your five-yearly threats to seize, impound, disrupt, tax or otherwise penalise Gibraltar and its residents on the grounds that this small bit of rock is attached to the bigger bit of rock you call home.

For some, this provides irrefutable proof that Gibraltar is Spanish. Presumably in the same way that China is Russian and Denmark belongs to Germany.

Not letting logic get in his way, your foreign minister has declared ‘the party’s over’ and threatened 100 euro fines for people crossing the border, banning flights from Spanish air space and generally started behaving like Franco in a particularly belligerent mood.

Very well. Let’s look at the facts, shall we?

1. Gibraltar is about as Spanish as pie and chips. The first recorded occupants were Lebanese traders , followed by Germans, Romans, and the Islamic empire. The first castle was built by a Berber sultan and it wasn’t captured by the Spanish until 1462.

2. Twelve years later you sold it.

3. You spent 200 years or so invading much of the world, killing millions of Amerindians with smallpox , and burning and torturing those that survived because they didn’t think eating a thin bit of flour and water was the same thing as eating the body of a man they’d never met .

4. You tried to do the same here, first by marriage and then by invasion . Not the best way to make friends.

5. You did nothing very much with Gib for two centuries and then lost it in a fight with us and the Dutch. The fight was about whether a French prince could succeed to the Spanish crown and thus rule half of Europe. Most of Europe didn’t like the idea, and you were invaded by pretty much everyone up to and including the Holy Roman Empire.

6. Unsurprisingly, you lost. We all signed the Treaty of Utrecht in which the French prince was allowed to have Spain so long as he promised to be nice and sign away a few things. Article X states: “The Catholic King does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications and forts hereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever.”

7. There’s not a lot of wriggle-room in that. Lawyers, eh?

8. What you gave us in 1714 was a 300-year-old Moorish castle, a medieval town and a fishing port. In the years since we have turned it into a naval base, a financial centre, tourist destination and online gaming base which turns over £650million a year and provides employment for 10,000 of your citizens. You’re welcome.

9. The last person who seriously laid claim to it is the fascist dictator you’d rather forget, and there were referendums in 1967 and 2002 which found 99% of the population wanted to remain British.

10. In 500 years of warring you’ve lost far more often than you’ve won and you have, most noticeably, consistently failed to win against us. You tried to seize Gibraltar by force twice in the 18th century and failed miserably on each attempt, since we smashed your Armada in 1588 it’s never been the same since. Today you’ve got 21,000 sailors and 54 ships, and we’ve got 53,000 with reserves, 97 ships, 61 Royal Marine craft and 170 vessels in the Fleet Air Arm.

Considering all this, it is entirely understandable that with your economy on its arse , suicides endemic following eviction and a government not so much beleaguered as halfway to hell and still digging you might feel the need to hark back to the days of empire and rattle the old sabre a bit.

You are though on rather shaky ground, not just because you signed a contract and the 30,000 Gibraltarians want you in charge of them about as much as they want to contract the ebola virus.

Firstly you claim ownership of a number of bits of rock that are not attached to your main bit of rock – the Balearics, the Canaries, two cities in north Africa and a number of islets which, to an unbiased eye, look very Moroccan .

Secondly your suggestion of border taxes would mainly penalise the 10,000 Spaniards who work in Gibraltar and, er, vote for you. It’s very unlikely to happen, as is your idea of banning planes from your airspace.

Plane companies can get around this very easily and you would soon find that Spanish airports were avoided by British tourist planes and losing millions in revenue.

Seeing as you’re broke, this just isn’t going to happen.

Gibraltar is a place you barely bothered to occupy, sold for cash, lost in wars, and now are trying to grab purely because it’s the only financially successful thing within a 50-mile radius of your border.

Its people are ethnically a mix of Genoese, Portugese, Maltese and Spanish descent and legally they are citizens of the United Kingdom with their own MEP in the European Parliament.

Our economy’s not brilliant but it’s still doing better than yours, as is what is left of our overseas empire which despite its rotten parts also exported the Magna Carta, democracy and the ability to make a decent cuppa.

You exported the Inquisition and the Molotov cocktail . Thanks for those.

But let’s not be antagonistic – we’ve had centuries of Anglo-Spanish fighting and we should be past that now.

You’ve also given us sangria, sherry, tapas and marzipan, and you do amazing things with ham. We holiday with you, and you need our money.

So just be honest, and admit that this has all come about because you wanted to divert attention from problems at home and your traditionally-antsy fishermen have got upset about an artificial reef built to stop them raiding Gibraltarian waters .

Then perhaps you could tell them to stop nicking our fish in the first place, whether it’s off Gibraltar, in the English Channel, the North Sea or the Irish Sea, and make sure they pay the fines our courts have levied for breaking the rules .

After you’ve done that you can apologise properly for 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition, promise to think before you speak and personally I’d be glad if you could tell everyone there’s no need for peas in paella.

You don’t have to, of course. You could carry on acting like idiots and we’ll carry on ignoring you because you’ve got all the threat and military might of a field mouse squeaking at a cat.

Or you could be glad that the bit of rock next to yours is well-run, productive, and law-abiding and that the people who live on it have a right to determine their own futures which they would rather was not closely linked to yours.

That’s something you’ve not really achieved with your own bit of rock, so you’ll forgive us for thinking you shouldn’t be entrusted with any more.

And in case that’s still not clear: Naff off, Juan

Courtesy of my cousins husband Jonathan Cartwright.

THERE IS VERY LITTLE I CAN ADD TO THIS! HOWEVER……..

SPAIN GROW UP!

THINKING OUT LOUD…………

I cannot quite understand why the American (British) colonists declared independence from the mother country.

Was it, perhaps, because the anti-slavery movement was gaining ground in Britain and Western Europe and it would ultimately cross the pond???

Boston tea party indeed!

Time to call a spade by its real name (please forgive  the unintended pun).

Food for thought indeed…………

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