More evidence that a conscript army is not a reliable defender of a dictatorship. As became obvious in Tahrir Square, when the army refused to intervene, and in Bahrain, where foreign troops had to clear Pearl Square, and in Libya, where Gadaffi had to import foreign mercenaries, people will not kill their own to keep a despot in power.
Almost all the dictatorships in the region rely heavily on conscription. Almost all are critically vulnerable.
6/19/2011
Libya In Credit UN1973
There a general chorus that freedom in Libya is simply too expensive. That British taxpayers are denying themselves hospitals and schools to prevent Gadaffi slaughtering at will.
This is an understandable response, especially for a people under the lash of George Osborne's regime. But it must be remembered that the West has been creaming the top off Gadaffi's criminal deposits for decades. So the Relief of Bengazi and the entire UN1973 operation probably hasn't cost the British taxpayer a penny, in real terms. It is all paid for in advance, and is probably still in credit, courtesy of Gadaffi Investments Inc, and the blood of the Libyan people. They are now merely drawing on their deposits, and it is the duty of the west to pay up. The consequences for renaging on this debt would not only be massacre on a biblical scale, but also a ruinously expensive war which would make Iraq look like a librarian's disco and which would disrupt oil supplies for a decade.
This is an understandable response, especially for a people under the lash of George Osborne's regime. But it must be remembered that the West has been creaming the top off Gadaffi's criminal deposits for decades. So the Relief of Bengazi and the entire UN1973 operation probably hasn't cost the British taxpayer a penny, in real terms. It is all paid for in advance, and is probably still in credit, courtesy of Gadaffi Investments Inc, and the blood of the Libyan people. They are now merely drawing on their deposits, and it is the duty of the west to pay up. The consequences for renaging on this debt would not only be massacre on a biblical scale, but also a ruinously expensive war which would make Iraq look like a librarian's disco and which would disrupt oil supplies for a decade.
There is simply no choice.
6/17/2011
Fantasy Diplomacy Volume 23. Israel to Syria's Rescue!
Israel has everything to gain and almost nothing to lose from simply opening The Golan to Syrian refugees.
Such a move would be a huge PR coup, enable the uprisings to intensify in the relative absence of civilian targets, carry first hand accounts into the outside world, and lay some very fertile ground for Israel's relationship with its new democratic neighbour.
And all it has to lose is a patch of land it occupies illegally, and will have to return someday. Far better the handover is managed in this way, by saving lives, than bickered over for years souring the new Israeli/Syrian relationship.
It's an offer they almost can't refuse, assuming a degree of sanity in the Israeli war-machine. In fact, as a proposition it is a moral gun held to Israel's head.
Such a move would be a huge PR coup, enable the uprisings to intensify in the relative absence of civilian targets, carry first hand accounts into the outside world, and lay some very fertile ground for Israel's relationship with its new democratic neighbour.
And all it has to lose is a patch of land it occupies illegally, and will have to return someday. Far better the handover is managed in this way, by saving lives, than bickered over for years souring the new Israeli/Syrian relationship.
It's an offer they almost can't refuse, assuming a degree of sanity in the Israeli war-machine. In fact, as a proposition it is a moral gun held to Israel's head.
6/09/2011
Celebrity Blight
The images of the dead Princess of Wales are about to be released on a TV documentary, to great controversy. Do we need to see them? What possible good can it do? - And other piercing daytime TV chat-show questions.
I would like to see them, just to get a sense of how much in control the photographer was. How professional he was able to be in the face if the photo of the century.
We despise politicians for the same reason we worship 'Celebrities', because our Human Values have become so debased in the interest of selling information, and our society so fractured and alienated as a result, that all emotions which should be shared in the real world are expressed by proxy in this cast of fantasy villains, heroes, and fairytale princesses. A form of porn, in other words. Junk life in a junk economy. The economy that killed Diana Spencer as surely as it killed the victims of the Irish Potato Famine.
The celebrity class, which includes anyone whose image sells information, are are dehumanised and degraded as any famine victim, and for much the same reason.
I would like to see them, just to get a sense of how much in control the photographer was. How professional he was able to be in the face if the photo of the century.
We despise politicians for the same reason we worship 'Celebrities', because our Human Values have become so debased in the interest of selling information, and our society so fractured and alienated as a result, that all emotions which should be shared in the real world are expressed by proxy in this cast of fantasy villains, heroes, and fairytale princesses. A form of porn, in other words. Junk life in a junk economy. The economy that killed Diana Spencer as surely as it killed the victims of the Irish Potato Famine.
The celebrity class, which includes anyone whose image sells information, are are dehumanised and degraded as any famine victim, and for much the same reason.
5/27/2011
British Helicopters Smell Like Victory
The belated decision to deploy attack helicopters in Libya may have come too late to save thousands of lives in Misratah, especially, but at least it is another clear sign that Gadaffi is running out of steam, and that he is a spent force.
If NATO intelligence thought for a second that there was the remotest chance of a helicopter being shot down and its crew held to ransom, there would be no decision to deploy them. The risk assessment must therefore conclude that Gadaffi no longer has any significant anti-aircraft capacity. As they say.
It's Health and Safety making sense.
And now that the Russians have finally come to their senses, and are prepared to lean on Gadaffi until it hurts, the young men from Tripoli outside the Libyan embassy in London last week will soon have even more to sing and dance about than the mere prospect of freedom.
5/23/2011
The Rape of Free Speech
As the Injunctions absurdity drags on, and last week's controversy about rape relativity dies away, much to Ken Clarke's relief, it must be remembered that the two issues are inextricably linked.
The press isn't interested in freedom of speech, only in money. And mainly in the money to be made from perpetuating degrading stereotypes of women, debasing sexuality and emotion, and feeding the manufactured addiction to Celebrity, all of which ultimately combine to cause real assaults and rapes in the real world. To drag the 'Human Rights' of the press into this debate is a rape of Freedom of Speech, not championing it. Blazing hypocrisy, not the Sword of Truth. If injunctions have the effect of destroying 'Celebrity Culture', or even just making it less profitable, they will have done a great service. The depths of the celebrity disease can be seen by one of the first Tweets to come to hand on the footballer in question. Apparently his injunction is a betrayal of his adoring public, which a corrupt legal system allows:
'Because he has a right to trick you into thinking he's a good guy.'Who says he isn't? What is this? 1850? The fact is that he did what the Twitterer wanted to but couldn't, and so deserves toasting. This would be blazing hypocrisy if it wasn't quite so pathetic and disgusting.
The private lives of footballers are not in the Public Interest, and not even very interesting to the public, they are commodities to be bought and sold. And at present the tabloids are furious because Twitter is able to give this information away, and know that their days are numbered if this crucial source of profit is denied them and they have to revert to proper journalism.
The secret plans and backroom dealings of corporations and politicians are not as profitable a commodity as celebrity pillowtalk. But even if they were, the media can hardly be expected to attack its fellow corporations with the same gusto it does a footballer or variety artiste. That would not go down well at boardroom level.
The press isn't interested in freedom of speech, only in money. And mainly in the money to be made from perpetuating degrading stereotypes of women, debasing sexuality and emotion, and feeding the manufactured addiction to Celebrity, all of which ultimately combine to cause real assaults and rapes in the real world. To drag the 'Human Rights' of the press into this debate is a rape of Freedom of Speech, not championing it. Blazing hypocrisy, not the Sword of Truth. If injunctions have the effect of destroying 'Celebrity Culture', or even just making it less profitable, they will have done a great service. The depths of the celebrity disease can be seen by one of the first Tweets to come to hand on the footballer in question. Apparently his injunction is a betrayal of his adoring public, which a corrupt legal system allows:
'Because he has a right to trick you into thinking he's a good guy.'Who says he isn't? What is this? 1850? The fact is that he did what the Twitterer wanted to but couldn't, and so deserves toasting. This would be blazing hypocrisy if it wasn't quite so pathetic and disgusting.
The private lives of footballers are not in the Public Interest, and not even very interesting to the public, they are commodities to be bought and sold. And at present the tabloids are furious because Twitter is able to give this information away, and know that their days are numbered if this crucial source of profit is denied them and they have to revert to proper journalism.
The secret plans and backroom dealings of corporations and politicians are not as profitable a commodity as celebrity pillowtalk. But even if they were, the media can hardly be expected to attack its fellow corporations with the same gusto it does a footballer or variety artiste. That would not go down well at boardroom level.
5/20/2011
Is Ian Hislop a Virgin?
We must thank parliamentary privilege for revealing today that Fred the Shred was an adulterer. Now we know that he was a lousy banker and cost the country billions. Before that, we were never sure. Just as we must be eternally grateful to Private Eye for the news that Andrew Marr was no saint either. And as such, was a hypocrite to ask politicians any questions about their private life.
But if Marr had been the only reporter to know about the Profumo scandal, would he have been 'hypocritical' to write the story? Indeed, if all journalists in 1960 led lives as blameless and boring as Ian Hislop, would Private Eye even exist?
Why should profitably famous people be punished more for their marital indiscretions than anonymous wastes of space? The Sun is not interested in what happened in your office photocopier room unless a suitable fantasy figure was involved. At least when the revelations emerge on Twitter, nobody seems to make much money. And that is the real measure of freedom of speech in this society, after all. How much money can be made from it. The argument is not about Human Rights at all, but a restraint of trade dispute.
Why should profitably famous people be punished more for their marital indiscretions than anonymous wastes of space? The Sun is not interested in what happened in your office photocopier room unless a suitable fantasy figure was involved. At least when the revelations emerge on Twitter, nobody seems to make much money. And that is the real measure of freedom of speech in this society, after all. How much money can be made from it. The argument is not about Human Rights at all, but a restraint of trade dispute.
This entire shitstorm is also about our moral and sexual identity crisis. If we had a healthy attitude to sex and relationships, there wouldn't be any money in pillowtalk stories, and nobody's careers would be in danger, and therefore no need for lawyers. But since the private lives of the rich and powerful are a prized media commodity, and help to feed our inhibitions, there is a lot of money at stake, and therefore a lot of law. Privacy has become a copyright issue, and nothing to do with morality, as the Anglesey Babes will soon find out.
The Injunctions Affair is a clear example of how our morality and laws are shaped by the sale-price of goods, not by any immutable philosophical edicts from on high.
The Injunctions Affair is a clear example of how our morality and laws are shaped by the sale-price of goods, not by any immutable philosophical edicts from on high.
Hitler was a Human Being Shock Discovery
So now that Lars Von Trier has been burned at the stake, should we go after Hitler's biographers? After all, they were actually paid to understand Hitler, and (if they were any good at their job) to even sympathise with the young Hitler, seeing as they would have researched the circumstances of formation. Websites like Buzzle would have to go on the bonfire too, of course. And all the literature which deals with Hitler as a real person rather than the Angel of Death.
Hitler was, believe it or not, a human being almost identical to everyone else, originally. So for anyone to claim they do NOT understand him is an admission of human failure, and the real cause for concern. Either that or they believe that there are Evil Monsters walking the earth doing the work of The Devil and causing all the trouble in the world. Which makes them as paranoid and fit to be tied as Hitler himself.
Hitler was, believe it or not, a human being almost identical to everyone else, originally. So for anyone to claim they do NOT understand him is an admission of human failure, and the real cause for concern. Either that or they believe that there are Evil Monsters walking the earth doing the work of The Devil and causing all the trouble in the world. Which makes them as paranoid and fit to be tied as Hitler himself.
5/19/2011
Orwell Turns in His Grave
A fellow tory party hack on the same site as yesterday's winner of the Orwell blog Prize claims this morning that "a very high percentage - probably most - of the rape allegations made are false. " Which is a bad sign.
Who was on the panel who elected this soft-core tory sentimentalist? With his rambling decorative cameos of squalid Hackney streetlife, leading to his scintillating conclusion that The Poor must be helped.. And that nobody should 'seek public office or a grant in Tower Hamlets if you’re not willing to conform to the standards of the Islamic Forum of Europe.' No mention of the real problems people have to face, just a slickly P.C. vehicle for the usual tory bigotry and political ignorance.
Orwell is turning in his grave. Not only is the prizewinner merely another radio phone-in bore who got lucky, but a self-confessed and blatant apparatchik, which automatically disqualifies him from any association with Orwell, whose political beliefs were completely free of party interference. By this time next year the Orwell Trust will have to rethink its policy, or sack its judges, or something, otherwise their main function will be to distort and defame Orwell's memory as much as the reactionary press has done since his death.
Who was on the panel who elected this soft-core tory sentimentalist? With his rambling decorative cameos of squalid Hackney streetlife, leading to his scintillating conclusion that The Poor must be helped.. And that nobody should 'seek public office or a grant in Tower Hamlets if you’re not willing to conform to the standards of the Islamic Forum of Europe.' No mention of the real problems people have to face, just a slickly P.C. vehicle for the usual tory bigotry and political ignorance.
Orwell is turning in his grave. Not only is the prizewinner merely another radio phone-in bore who got lucky, but a self-confessed and blatant apparatchik, which automatically disqualifies him from any association with Orwell, whose political beliefs were completely free of party interference. By this time next year the Orwell Trust will have to rethink its policy, or sack its judges, or something, otherwise their main function will be to distort and defame Orwell's memory as much as the reactionary press has done since his death.
On the same site, Why doesn't the Right protest in Britain? comes to the conclusion that it's because they're too clever to waste their time. Protest is a waste of time. All action is a waste of time, in fact. Only making money makes any sense. Unlike the stupid Egyptians who protested very successfully. The answer to their dilemma is very simple.
The reactionary mindset is docile, conformist, confused and frightened, and only prepared to act against those weaker than itself. So naturally it is not prepared to undergo the risks of demonstrating its convictions in public. Neither does it enable the individual to join in solidarity with others, as it is inherently suspicious of and hostile to its fellow man, which is what makes it reactionary, or 'Right-Wing' as the meaningless euphemism has it.
So the short answer is, they don't have the guts, and don't have the numbers. They're a bunch of bully-worshipping cowards who always need someone else to fight their battles for them. And as they are now seeing in the Arab Revolution, protest most decidedly works, and it is driving them to distraction. Tough. It's a hard world for the obsolete and defunct. No matter how prettily they package their product.
Far from being in the tradition of Orwellian breadth and political freedom, the winner of this year's prize is nothing but the usual petty tory mythology of winners and losers and heroes and vagabonds. And all wrapped up in a cosy decorative style packed with lots of lovely squalor, darling! An introductory box of chocolates from the Big Society Bandwagon. (AKA Cutting with Conscience). Not a word of genuine political understanding, just party policy from a prospective tory MP.
The reactionary mindset is docile, conformist, confused and frightened, and only prepared to act against those weaker than itself. So naturally it is not prepared to undergo the risks of demonstrating its convictions in public. Neither does it enable the individual to join in solidarity with others, as it is inherently suspicious of and hostile to its fellow man, which is what makes it reactionary, or 'Right-Wing' as the meaningless euphemism has it.
So the short answer is, they don't have the guts, and don't have the numbers. They're a bunch of bully-worshipping cowards who always need someone else to fight their battles for them. And as they are now seeing in the Arab Revolution, protest most decidedly works, and it is driving them to distraction. Tough. It's a hard world for the obsolete and defunct. No matter how prettily they package their product.
Far from being in the tradition of Orwellian breadth and political freedom, the winner of this year's prize is nothing but the usual petty tory mythology of winners and losers and heroes and vagabonds. And all wrapped up in a cosy decorative style packed with lots of lovely squalor, darling! An introductory box of chocolates from the Big Society Bandwagon. (AKA Cutting with Conscience). Not a word of genuine political understanding, just party policy from a prospective tory MP.
5/09/2011
Cluster Bombs Don't Grow On Trees
First sighting of a serious evaluation of Gadaffi's resupply problem, by U.S. Air Force Major General Mark Ramsay.
Maybe now some serious commentary can begin and the absurd doom-mongering and defeatism come to an end.
Abottabad and Cos TelloLou
The antics of Abottabad and Cos TelloLou prove one thing at least, when Seal team 6 met the Invisible Man, he must have thought; 'I never shoulda left Afghanistan.'
5/05/2011
'Bin Laden Down and Insane Blues
It's almost worthy of a chapter in Revelations, where madness seizeth the multitude and driveth them wailing across the land and the streets and the retail outlets thereof. Let the sightings of Osama Bin Laden in supermarkets begin! He can't be dead because Obama says he is. And Obama has now gained so many brownie points from the operation that he has probably rescued his second term, which is what really hurts.
But it doesn't need to be that way, with Osama's help. All he has to do to bring down the Obama presidency now is to crank up the old camcorder, do the gig in his usual inimitable style, and post it off to AJ. Job done. So why doesn't he? Because he's dead.
I suspect that there is far too much wish-fulfillment behind the pose of 'scepticism' adopted by many at this time. If Osama were alive, Obama might yet be doomed. Which is comforting. Unless you overlook the fact that no sane president would ever dangle that sword of Damocles over his own head. Not even Nixon did that. And however dull and lifeless he may be, Obama is no Nixon.
Maybe America should be asking whether Obama is alive.
But it doesn't need to be that way, with Osama's help. All he has to do to bring down the Obama presidency now is to crank up the old camcorder, do the gig in his usual inimitable style, and post it off to AJ. Job done. So why doesn't he? Because he's dead.
I suspect that there is far too much wish-fulfillment behind the pose of 'scepticism' adopted by many at this time. If Osama were alive, Obama might yet be doomed. Which is comforting. Unless you overlook the fact that no sane president would ever dangle that sword of Damocles over his own head. Not even Nixon did that. And however dull and lifeless he may be, Obama is no Nixon.
Maybe America should be asking whether Obama is alive.
5/03/2011
The Glorious Spiritual Leader Brutally Martyred
And now that the veritable Tsunami of outrage has spilled onto the streets in the form of mass violent demonstrations outside US embassies across the Islamic world... The Chant everywhere is: 'Osama Bin Laden - The Prophet's Son!'
No hang on. That never happened, did it?
That was Glenn Beck and Kelvin McKenzie talking. Not me. In fact, the Islamic world seems to feel the same way that everyone else does, on balance. That Bin Laden might have meant well, but allowed himself to be manipulated, and ended up killing the people he meant to free, and serving the powers he meant to destroy.
We need a modern Shakespeare to properly interpret the tragedy of Osama Bin Laden. And modern political methods to achieve political change. The methods of the C12th can never succeed.
The judgement of Pakistan can be pretty much left to the 'Aneurin Bevan Prosecution'.
If the Pakistan military didn't scrutinise every property within ten miles of its equivalent of Sandhurst, it is run by idiots not fit to manage a flock of goats.
If it did monitor the Bin Laden bunker, it would have discovered Bin Laden, who had been there for years. In which case it protected him. Given the ridiculous location, it might well have actively helped him. It stands doubly condemned. It is a failed nuclear state, and another legacy of the Cold war's attempts to crush civil liberty.
The Arab Spring started digging the grave of Global Jihad four months ago. After Tahrir Square it was already gaping wide. It seems fitting that its figurehead was dumped in it at this point. God's will, obviously. He knows when the Game is Up.
The real story today is not the understandable celebration of New Yorkers but the total apathy of the entire Muslim world. Not the minor demonstrations in Manhattan, but the yawning silence across three quarters of the globe.
No hang on. That never happened, did it?
That was Glenn Beck and Kelvin McKenzie talking. Not me. In fact, the Islamic world seems to feel the same way that everyone else does, on balance. That Bin Laden might have meant well, but allowed himself to be manipulated, and ended up killing the people he meant to free, and serving the powers he meant to destroy.
We need a modern Shakespeare to properly interpret the tragedy of Osama Bin Laden. And modern political methods to achieve political change. The methods of the C12th can never succeed.
The judgement of Pakistan can be pretty much left to the 'Aneurin Bevan Prosecution'.
If the Pakistan military didn't scrutinise every property within ten miles of its equivalent of Sandhurst, it is run by idiots not fit to manage a flock of goats.
If it did monitor the Bin Laden bunker, it would have discovered Bin Laden, who had been there for years. In which case it protected him. Given the ridiculous location, it might well have actively helped him. It stands doubly condemned. It is a failed nuclear state, and another legacy of the Cold war's attempts to crush civil liberty.
The Arab Spring started digging the grave of Global Jihad four months ago. After Tahrir Square it was already gaping wide. It seems fitting that its figurehead was dumped in it at this point. God's will, obviously. He knows when the Game is Up.
The real story today is not the understandable celebration of New Yorkers but the total apathy of the entire Muslim world. Not the minor demonstrations in Manhattan, but the yawning silence across three quarters of the globe.
5/02/2011
Al Qaida R.I.P. February 18th 2011
Bin Laden's death won't effect AQ operations because AQ effectively died as a political force in Tahrir Square on February 18th 2011. A real, modern, relevant, positive, political force has emerged as an alternative to the negative, supernatural medieval agenda of Jihad. Young men do not want a harem of post-mortem virgins, and young women do not want a lifetime's imprisonment and the annual birth-bed, they want freedom to enjoy life here and now.
Naturally, the conspiracy theorists are loving it. So if you come across one, and you will, the question to ask is: If you were Sammy B today, sitting there watching the reports of your own death over your bacon and eggs, what would be the first delicious line of the video-speech you were planning in your head?
"To quote the illustrious American author Mark Twain...' No maybe not.. What would you (OSB) think would be the nicest way to break the news to the US people and the American President?
When George Bush Jnr falls off his dune-buggy we can all have closure.
Naturally, the conspiracy theorists are loving it. So if you come across one, and you will, the question to ask is: If you were Sammy B today, sitting there watching the reports of your own death over your bacon and eggs, what would be the first delicious line of the video-speech you were planning in your head?
"To quote the illustrious American author Mark Twain...' No maybe not.. What would you (OSB) think would be the nicest way to break the news to the US people and the American President?
When George Bush Jnr falls off his dune-buggy we can all have closure.
The Royal Rentamob
Now that the Chinese plastic bunting has been packed away for another ten years, the message sent by the royal wedding is clear. Communities only matter when the royalty needs an endorsement. But that they will only co-operate if given a day off work at the taxpayers and employers expense. So the Royal Rentamobs brandishing their Sainsbury's sausage rolls will turn out again and adulate on command. But they want paying for their trouble.
5/01/2011
Royalty Almost As Popular as Morecambe and Wise!
Yes. We don't know how lucky we are to have the monarchy. 24 million people in the UK watched the wedding on TV. Twenty Four..
That makes the royalty almost as popular as Morecambe and Wise. Who regularly pulled figures higher than that. And did it more than once a lifetime. And on a microscopic budget. And without paying everyone in the country a days wage to watch.
And with those same inducements (and the months of incessant groundwork) Royalty even succeeded in being more popular for a day than Simon Cowell's X Factor, from which they no doubt learned a lot.
Yes, we must say to Will'n'Kate -
Didn't They Do Well!
That makes the royalty almost as popular as Morecambe and Wise. Who regularly pulled figures higher than that. And did it more than once a lifetime. And on a microscopic budget. And without paying everyone in the country a days wage to watch.
And with those same inducements (and the months of incessant groundwork) Royalty even succeeded in being more popular for a day than Simon Cowell's X Factor, from which they no doubt learned a lot.
Yes, we must say to Will'n'Kate -
Didn't They Do Well!
Gadaffi Kills Own Grandchildren
Reports today that Saif-al Arab Gadaffi and three of Gadaffi's grandchildren have been killed in an allied airstrike. Which is a taste of tragedy for their relatives, and very stupid of the Alliance.
Nevertheless, the question of the Denialists is - will they apply the same rigorous standards of verification to these deaths which they insist on when thousands of innocent Libyans are slaughtered by Gadaffi's troops? If Gadaffi's word is good enough for them about his family, then the people's mass testimony should also be good enough for them.
Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Gadaffi killed them himself. He is that desperate and deranged, after all. And in a very real way, he is the cause of their deaths.
Nevertheless, the question of the Denialists is - will they apply the same rigorous standards of verification to these deaths which they insist on when thousands of innocent Libyans are slaughtered by Gadaffi's troops? If Gadaffi's word is good enough for them about his family, then the people's mass testimony should also be good enough for them.
Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Gadaffi killed them himself. He is that desperate and deranged, after all. And in a very real way, he is the cause of their deaths.
4/30/2011
Tariq Ali Joins the Stampede
Let's deal with the twin piece to this as well (Libya is another case of selective US vigilantism).
The sheer pettifogging defeatism is breathtaking. Not to mention the mindless petty points scoring.
"The US-Nato intervention in Libya, with United Nations security council cover, is part of an orchestrated response to show support for the movement against one dictator in particular and by so doing to bring the Arab rebellions to an end by asserting western control, confiscating their impetus and spontaneity and trying to restore the status quo ante."
The sheer pettifogging defeatism is breathtaking. Not to mention the mindless petty points scoring.
"The US-Nato intervention in Libya, with United Nations security council cover, is part of an orchestrated response to show support for the movement against one dictator in particular and by so doing to bring the Arab rebellions to an end by asserting western control, confiscating their impetus and spontaneity and trying to restore the status quo ante."
And how will they seize power from a Libyan people now more class-conscious and unafraid than any revolutionaries in history? Tariq Ali is guaranteeing that battle will be lost before it has a chance to be fought. A dead revolutionary is no revolutionary at all.
Get rid of Gadaffi first, by any means, then deal with anyone else who wants to try their luck.
Why are the pseudo-intellectual pacifist left so determined to sneer at the resolution of the Libyan people, and to treat them like children who need guidance from Hampstead?
Get rid of Gadaffi first, by any means, then deal with anyone else who wants to try their luck.
Why are the pseudo-intellectual pacifist left so determined to sneer at the resolution of the Libyan people, and to treat them like children who need guidance from Hampstead?
"It is absurd to think that the reasons for bombing Tripoli or for the turkey shoot outside Benghazi are designed to protect civilians."
It is despicable to throw Bengazi and Misuratah to the wolves. And death to the revolution. And as it happens, the strikes on Gadaffi murder-weapons are protecting civilians, by definition. What sources in Libya does Ali cite? None. He doesn't seem to have any friends among the Libyan revolution either.
And what is his solution? Nothing. In fact the only 'point' peeking through the rhetoric is that acting in Libya is somehow illegitimate while there is no action in Bahrain. So Ali's great insight is that Two Wrongs Do make a right. We shouldn't do anything in Libya or Bahrain, or anywhere else we suppleid with weapons to suppress the people. In fact, we should do nothing at all but watch the blood flowing in the gutters. It's as if the Denialists are in league with the arms dealers.
It is despicable to throw Bengazi and Misuratah to the wolves. And death to the revolution. And as it happens, the strikes on Gadaffi murder-weapons are protecting civilians, by definition. What sources in Libya does Ali cite? None. He doesn't seem to have any friends among the Libyan revolution either.
And what is his solution? Nothing. In fact the only 'point' peeking through the rhetoric is that acting in Libya is somehow illegitimate while there is no action in Bahrain. So Ali's great insight is that Two Wrongs Do make a right. We shouldn't do anything in Libya or Bahrain, or anywhere else we suppleid with weapons to suppress the people. In fact, we should do nothing at all but watch the blood flowing in the gutters. It's as if the Denialists are in league with the arms dealers.
Gadaffi. Only Three Days Ammo Left
Last night, Moamar Gadaffi gave the clearest sign yet that he will be gone very soon. His threats of 'Total Force' against Misuratah in three days are empty and more divorced from reality than usual. The reality, as has been obvious all along, is that he is simply running out of munitions.
4/29/2011
WillenKate Wedding
For all republicans watching on TV, this was a great chance to see a mighty machine (Westminster Abbey) performing at 100% capacity, doing what it was designed to, which is always fascinating, but in the case of the abbey will definitely highlight the attempt by the architect to recreate the sense of one-ness with nature so crucial to religious propaganda.
Some staunch republicans will even feel a reluctant catch in the throat at some stage. Do not worry, you are not losing your convictions, you are watching a movie. Given the same treatment, any wedding would be as moving, even without the mass hysteria on the streets.
And for the secularists, some of the camerawork will almost recreate what it would have been like to be a medieval serf subjected to the full cathedral treatment. A bit of modern archeology, if you like. I look forward to seeing the old place deal with a coronation. The grandest exhibition of The Nanny State in town.
Then there will be issues like why aren't there girls in church choirs? The little things to make up for having vomited at the sound of the fashion correspondent swooning with ecstasy.
And then there is the fascinating game of Spot The Peace Camp. In none of the footage from the BBC / Sky / CNN has the sight of Brian Haw been allowed to ruin the day for the adoring billions. How pathetic is that? More or less pathetic than the arrest of a theatre group for planning to perform a mock decapitation of a head of state? A Channel 4 camera crew was also held in custody in the free country in which the royalty has no power at all.. no none at all.
Compared with the average gypsy wedding, this was fairly lavish. And hopefully, Willenkate will have a better reception than the gypsies we recently saw on TV, who seem to have lost their ability to party altogether. But the royal pair can hardly expect less media harassment than gypsies. Whatever the media say now, there will be a papparazi around every corner. And the adoring mob now baying for gratification will feed the media frenzy, buying anything with their images on. And so the market in Willenkate content will boom. And in the way of this kind of goldrush, tend to destroy the commodity it is based on.
Therefore the only way to escape this attention is to become unmarketable. To become normal, as the European bike-riding bank-clerk royal families seem to have managed. They are not hounded by media or worshipped as demigods. But then, they do not have the powers the Queen does, whether used or not. And they are generally not very rich. Certainly not as rich as the British royalty. Wealth and power are media catnip, and are enough to guarantee attention for life. But the pageantry makes things much worse, creating the enduring mythology, which is still one of Prince Charming and the Beautiful Princess. Exactly the poisonous formula which ultimately killed Diana Spencer.
It seems that none of the lessons of 1997 have been learned; that the job of royalty isn't to learn from its mistakes, but to be able to recreate them precisely and on command. The apologists and drivel-mongers are already at it. Some quotes at random from a popular forum:
'Like it or not, people need celebrities.'
'Celebrities make us feel that we are part of something. They bring meaning to otherwise empty lives.'
'They feed our fantasies and provide an outlet for our need to empathise with others. '
And then we kill them. People do not need celebrities. People do not lead empty lives. What they need is a society which does not block every attempt to express their natural empathy. They do not glossy fairytales in Hello magazine. Celebrities are empathy porn, not the real thing.
The people who sell celebrity need celebrities, which is why they also need our natural instincts to be as suppressed as possible. Which is why we live in a squalid, degraded society which despises the poor and weak, and only respects power, perfection and ruthlessness. Today's level of Olympian elitism is vital to the workings of the Exclusive Society. How else can we be made to detest and fight each other if the Shiny Things are accessible to all?
It is also partly why Britain is the basket-case it is. As yesterday's economic figures showed, Willenkate-obilia is the only thing keeping us out of recession.To paraphrase Mel Brooks:
How humiliating.
The British Empire.
You know who we used to be?
The Empire on which the sun never set..
Herds of elephants sent as gifts to Queen Victoria by adoring potentates and moguls.
The workshop of the world.
Two World wars, one World Cup.
The masters of popular music.
Thousands of investors begging to invest in British wars and slave plantations.
Look at us now. Look at us now!
Selling balloons on the street. To Korean tourists..
Importing printed paper plates from China to keep the country out of the workhouse.
...We have one wedding to turn global pity into enormous respect.All satellite channels to GO.
But the overriding, Blazing Hypocrisy of this charade is that all the morons organising 'street parties' and being pillars of the community for a day will be back in their hermetically sealed anti-social housing units tomorrow, as they will have been for the last ten years while society crumbled around them. And today will leave nothing behind but stale sausage rolls and grubby madeleine bunting.The highlight of the day came during the Bishop of Lambeth's little lecture to the bride'n'groom to be, and was probably the first ever public sighting of the best quote in Chaucer.
'Whan Maistrye comth, the God of Love anon
Beteth his lite wynges and Farwel!
He is gone.'
When a religion with 2000 years of ordering people about resorts to hippie ideology, you know it has its back to the wall. The good Bishop also reminded that today is the saint's day of Catherine of Sienna, who is supposed to have drunk a bowl of pus to prove her indifference to earthly matters. I doubt if that item was on the literal or metaphorical menus of either the Bullingdon Club or the officers mess in Sandhurst.
Some staunch republicans will even feel a reluctant catch in the throat at some stage. Do not worry, you are not losing your convictions, you are watching a movie. Given the same treatment, any wedding would be as moving, even without the mass hysteria on the streets.
And for the secularists, some of the camerawork will almost recreate what it would have been like to be a medieval serf subjected to the full cathedral treatment. A bit of modern archeology, if you like. I look forward to seeing the old place deal with a coronation. The grandest exhibition of The Nanny State in town.
Then there will be issues like why aren't there girls in church choirs? The little things to make up for having vomited at the sound of the fashion correspondent swooning with ecstasy.
And then there is the fascinating game of Spot The Peace Camp. In none of the footage from the BBC / Sky / CNN has the sight of Brian Haw been allowed to ruin the day for the adoring billions. How pathetic is that? More or less pathetic than the arrest of a theatre group for planning to perform a mock decapitation of a head of state? A Channel 4 camera crew was also held in custody in the free country in which the royalty has no power at all.. no none at all.
Compared with the average gypsy wedding, this was fairly lavish. And hopefully, Willenkate will have a better reception than the gypsies we recently saw on TV, who seem to have lost their ability to party altogether. But the royal pair can hardly expect less media harassment than gypsies. Whatever the media say now, there will be a papparazi around every corner. And the adoring mob now baying for gratification will feed the media frenzy, buying anything with their images on. And so the market in Willenkate content will boom. And in the way of this kind of goldrush, tend to destroy the commodity it is based on.
Therefore the only way to escape this attention is to become unmarketable. To become normal, as the European bike-riding bank-clerk royal families seem to have managed. They are not hounded by media or worshipped as demigods. But then, they do not have the powers the Queen does, whether used or not. And they are generally not very rich. Certainly not as rich as the British royalty. Wealth and power are media catnip, and are enough to guarantee attention for life. But the pageantry makes things much worse, creating the enduring mythology, which is still one of Prince Charming and the Beautiful Princess. Exactly the poisonous formula which ultimately killed Diana Spencer.
It seems that none of the lessons of 1997 have been learned; that the job of royalty isn't to learn from its mistakes, but to be able to recreate them precisely and on command. The apologists and drivel-mongers are already at it. Some quotes at random from a popular forum:
'Like it or not, people need celebrities.'
'Celebrities make us feel that we are part of something. They bring meaning to otherwise empty lives.'
'They feed our fantasies and provide an outlet for our need to empathise with others. '
And then we kill them. People do not need celebrities. People do not lead empty lives. What they need is a society which does not block every attempt to express their natural empathy. They do not glossy fairytales in Hello magazine. Celebrities are empathy porn, not the real thing.
The people who sell celebrity need celebrities, which is why they also need our natural instincts to be as suppressed as possible. Which is why we live in a squalid, degraded society which despises the poor and weak, and only respects power, perfection and ruthlessness. Today's level of Olympian elitism is vital to the workings of the Exclusive Society. How else can we be made to detest and fight each other if the Shiny Things are accessible to all?
It is also partly why Britain is the basket-case it is. As yesterday's economic figures showed, Willenkate-obilia is the only thing keeping us out of recession.To paraphrase Mel Brooks:
How humiliating.
The British Empire.
You know who we used to be?
The Empire on which the sun never set..
Herds of elephants sent as gifts to Queen Victoria by adoring potentates and moguls.
The workshop of the world.
Two World wars, one World Cup.
The masters of popular music.
Thousands of investors begging to invest in British wars and slave plantations.
Look at us now. Look at us now!
Selling balloons on the street. To Korean tourists..
Importing printed paper plates from China to keep the country out of the workhouse.
...We have one wedding to turn global pity into enormous respect.All satellite channels to GO.
But the overriding, Blazing Hypocrisy of this charade is that all the morons organising 'street parties' and being pillars of the community for a day will be back in their hermetically sealed anti-social housing units tomorrow, as they will have been for the last ten years while society crumbled around them. And today will leave nothing behind but stale sausage rolls and grubby madeleine bunting.The highlight of the day came during the Bishop of Lambeth's little lecture to the bride'n'groom to be, and was probably the first ever public sighting of the best quote in Chaucer.
'Whan Maistrye comth, the God of Love anon
Beteth his lite wynges and Farwel!
He is gone.'
When a religion with 2000 years of ordering people about resorts to hippie ideology, you know it has its back to the wall. The good Bishop also reminded that today is the saint's day of Catherine of Sienna, who is supposed to have drunk a bowl of pus to prove her indifference to earthly matters. I doubt if that item was on the literal or metaphorical menus of either the Bullingdon Club or the officers mess in Sandhurst.
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