I am becoming quite fond of my little corner of Schiphol airport. I have put up my Christmas cards and a few bits of tinsel. I now have a boarding card for the 0800 to Manchester. This is the sixth boarding card I have had. It is very hard to understand why, time after time, they don’t know a flight is cancelled until some time after it was due to leave and all the passengers have queued at the gate for hours.
Of course, Manchester is a lot further from Ramsgate than Schiphol is, so even if the flight atually goes, this represents rather dubious progress.
Happy New Year everybody.
Remarkably, KLM delivered my lost luggage, including my laptop, at 9.30 pm on New Year’s Eve. At that time a pretty lively party was already in full swing,much improved by the presence of a great many beautiful young women, mostly from Latvia. I am not sure why; my life as ever consists of a bewildering succession of chance encounters with really nice people. I am in the fortunate position of being able to say that Nadira was the most lovely of all, without indulging in dutiful hyperbole.
It was an extremely happy Christmas. Having my mum, both my brothers and all my three chidren together was as great as it was rare.
We have been through the laptop in lost luggage discussion before. The problem is that my shoulders dislocate at the drop of a hat, and I travel without hand luggage to avoid an accident.
2011 is going to be a very important year for me. particularly the first quarter. A number of crucial events are going either to set me up financially for the rest of my life, or result in real distress and failure. At present I have reason to be very optimistic. I am also very absorbed in my life of Alexander Burnes, which I hope will help establish a serious academic reputation.
The Portuguese edition of Murder in Samarkand has sold unexpectedly well in Brazil. The translation of the Turkish edition has just been finished.
I hope to do a Wikileaks retrospective in the next couple of days. Just a quick thought on the case of the poor young gardener in Bristol. Of the Jill Dando case, long before Barry Bulsara’s succesful appeal I blogged that this appeared to be a miscarriage of justice in which the police had fitted up the local weirdo.
Despite not being enamoured of landlords in general, I fear the same dynamic is at work in Bristol, albeit Chris Jefferies is much more intellectually capable than Bulsara. My instinct is that the police have picked up on Jefferies for being camper than a boy scout jamboree and archer than Trajan.
Jefferies’ release on bail has me worried that there was nothing against him other than the “He’s a weird one, guv” instinct of some not very bright cop. The case needs to be closely watched as history shows that the powers of the police to make the evidence fit the suspect are considerable.
To “anon” who admits agreement with much of the Frankfurt school agenda for the New World Order, may I simply note that the notion that it is the state that creates the nation — an essential premise of the Frankfurt School agenda — is of the essence of Fascism as enunciated by Mussolini.
Frazer: Shouldn’t you add “judgemental indviduals” and maybe “sweeping generalisations” to your list?
The only “911 lunatic” here is Larry. It’s hardly surprising that threads go off-topic when not much of a topic gets raised, and nothing further is added by CM for weeks at a time.
If CM really is taking orders from you, when don’t you *tell him to* introduce registration, and some slightly more sophisticated message board offering viewing options (such as making certain trouble-makers invisible)?
The fact that there are trouble makers here (and you get them everywhere) is no reason to abandon the entire blog, if it’s all the same with you.
gosh, frazer, Craig could take some responsibility for his blog, in fact. if he’s not prepared to, and it has outlasted his usefulness to him/society, then he probably should shut it down. Worth noting, however, that the reason this blog is being targeted is that Craig has, in the past, set himself up in direct opposition to the most vicious and tenacious posters. Unfair to leave other people struggling to keep order in the detritus of a neglected forum, with no sign of any direction, possibly. I don’t think I would, if I had a blog. Of course, none of the often saintly posters has to post here, on the other hand what would it look like if they didn’t? A gibbering pit.
@ AB,
But here you are Dr. Saadi, here are a couple of the questions you say you’ve answered but haven’t.
(1) If Al Qaeda was responsible for 9/11, and if on 9/11 Al Qaeda was run by Osama bin Laden, and if Osama bin Laden was then a guest of the Afghanistan Government, and if as was the case, the Afghanistan Government refused to hand Osama bin Laden over to American justice, on what possible grounds can the US and its allies, including Britain, be condemned for their war against the Afghanistan Taliban?
(2) According to Wikileaks, Osama bin Laden’s is alive and well and and living in Pakistan from where he is directing military operations against the US in Afghanistan. So are not US military operations in Pakistan, however tragic the consequences, entirely justifiable, or are we to conclude that Julian Assange is an unwitting dupe or conscious agent of US disinformation?
The answers come:-
(1) “In the immediate days following 9/11/2001,
Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, indicated that
the Taliban might turn over Osama bin Laden to the U.S. if presented
with evidence of his guilt. He also suggested that a Taliban trial of
OBL was possible.
See:
“Osama will not be extradited without evidence: Taliban”
The Hindu (India’s National Newspaper), Thursday, September 13, 2001
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/09/13/stories/0313000b.htm
AND
(2) The fact that a diplomatic communique states that Bin Laden is alive, does not automatically indicate as you say:-
i) That Assange is duped. Why so ?” if the communique is genuine ?” then it does not automatically follow that the information contained in the communique is true. It need be no more or less than the honestly held opinion of the diplomat who wrote the communique ?” and
ii) All that the Assange operation has done so far is release a number of US communiques ?” so in so doing, and the communiques are genuine ?” why does this automatically imply that Assange should be held accountable for the information which someone in a diplomatic office forwarded to his home government?
Awaiting your answers AB.
New Year’s Day post from William Blum.
Subject headings:
Wikileaks, the United States, Sweden, and Devil’s Island
The right to secrecy
Preparing for the propaganda onslaught (Reagan’s centenary)
http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer89.html
I don’t think that was Frazer writing.
“The question implies a lie: the lie that my position concerning the BNP is ambiguous”
The question does not imply a lie. The question requests an answer, which may or may not be a lie.
“there are reasonable grounds to suppose that I am a crypto-nazi and a racist.”
genocide in leicester! America was more or less deserted when the Europeans arrived! calling Suhayl a ‘racist Anglophobe’!
incidentally, no-one has called this person a crypto-nazi or a racist, as far as I know. the closest, I think, was ‘racialist’ since they were arguing for ‘ethnic’ purity, and I think that was Richard Robinson.
alancambell; the awfulness was mitigated by interesting discussion on religion, of course. and i appreciate being made to check the Telegraph’s ‘facts’; in a way. i do however feel that 11 years spent as a child in the republic of Ireland hardly qualifies you to ‘know about terrorism’; the point you were arguing at the time.
I have checked back and the real Frazer uses the capital letter ‘F’.
@AB: The anonymous post, as I clarified later, was me. Your responses to my questions, and what you would do for each, would be much appreciated (a single sentence on which agenda you think I am captured by does not in itself answer the questions I’ve put to you). Also, more information on the last two questions would be great, if you’d like to discuss them.
Btw, I am not sure my name can be used as a weapon against Suhayl. I am somewhat in favour of the view that you +would+ vote for a party +like+ the BNP, provided that you didn’t feel they were a security services operation. That fits in with your refusing to answer a simple question: I guess you are in favour of the BNP’s anti-multiculturalism, but on the other hand don’t wish to be dismissed as racist? Or perhaps you want white rights to be respected in the mainstream before you wear the membership badge with pride?
That would fit into the view of Tungsten et al, I think, though whilst your assimilation worries presumably regard blacks and asians, their target is Jewish.
Perhaps the other reason why you are cautious on this issue is that you are aware that the BNP (or any other similar party) may be crypto-fascist. From that we could deduce that you don’t want to be seen as being fooled by their anti-multiculturalism policies that in truth hide racist discrimination/deportation ideas (the alternative is that you have fascist tendencies, and are hoping that the BNP is crypto-fascist, but I find that less likely).
Still, this is all conjecture. If I’ve guessed you wrongly, set me right, but be detailed! Be expansive! At the moment, in pinning down what you believe, I feel like I’m catching cigar smoke.
Wow the poor bastard is still stuck at Schiphol. What a rubbish Christmas he’s had!
@Frazer, shutting the blog down completely is excessive. All blogs require maintenance or spam control, and as I’ve pointed out to Craig, his has neither.
Furthermore my offer to help moderate, given the Craig is often busy and/or out of the country, is now starting to gather moss. Please remind him to email me, when you next see him – the offer won’t sit around for ever.
Wow the poor bastard is still stuck at Schiphol. What a crap Christmas he’s had!
Another cruel death of a Palestinian woman is recorded today following inhalation of IDF tear gas. There has been a litany of death and serious injury at this location. WHEN WILL THIS ISRAELI BRUTALITY AND KILLING STOP?
Israeli Forces Kill Female Protester in Bil’in
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
January 1, 2011
Jawaher Abu Rahmah, 36, was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital yesterday after inhaling massive amounts of tear-gas during the weekly protest in Bil’in, and died of poisoning this morning. Abu Rahmah was the sister of Bassem Abu Rahmah who was also killed during a peaceful protest in Bil’in on April 17th, 2010….
Doctors at the Ramallah hospital fought for Jawaher Abu Rahmah’s life all night at the Ramallah Hospital, but were unable to save her life. Abu Rahmah suffered from severe asphyxiation caused by tear-gas inhalation yesterday in Bil’in, and was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital unconscious. She was diagnosed as suffering from poisoning caused by the active ingredient in the tear-gas, and did not respond to treatment.
Jawaher Abu Rahmah was the sister of Bil’in activist, Bassem Abu Rahmah, who was shot dead with a high velocity tear-gas projectile during a demonstration in the village on April 17th, 2009. See here for a video of his shooting.
Media Contact: Jonathan Pollak +972-54-632-7736
Mohammed Khatib, a member of the Bil’in Popular Committee said this morning: “We are shocked and furious for Israel’s brutality, which once again cost the life of a peaceful demonstrator. Israel’s lethal and inhumane response to our struggle will not pass. In the dawn of a new decade, it is time for the world to ask Israel for accountability and to bring about an end to the occupation.”
Adv. Michael Sfard, who represents the village in an appeal against the Wall added: “The son was killed by a directly aimed projectile, the daughter choked in gas. Two brave protestors against a regime that kills the innocent and doesn’t investigate its criminals. We will not quiet, we will not give up, we will not spare any effort until those responsible will be punished. And they will.”
17:51 ECT
http://www.uruknet.info?p=73471
I mean, he must be still at the airport, right?
Because if he had managed to get home he would have told us, wouldn’t he?
That’s just common courtesy.
Jon
(1)The Left-Hegelian predilection for social engineering was spawned by French revolutionaries and political philosophers who fantasised re-the idea that the “scientific” understanding re- control of human behaviour they now possessed meant they and they alone were key to man’s achievement of final
“perfectability” on Earth.
This was top-down social engineering inasmuch as it was the new “intelligentsia”, as they styled themselves, who knew best what the desired changes should be and how to bring them about.
From such intellectual origins came the idea that education’s sole purpose was universal social engineering overseen by a technical elite.
Today we have ended up with an inherited form of the empty sloganizing and sloppy thinking re-inherently contradictory concepts like equality, liberty and fraternity that animated the French Revolution. In that cataclysm equality replaced fraternity and in the struggle between the two liberty was destroyed as well.
In the truly rational world in which these early revolutionaries thought they lived any assumptions re-the mutual compatibility of such ideas should surely have died with them!
In the 21st century we’re still basing social planning around sloganizing about the desirability or reality of certain ways of organizing society.
We could argue all day, for example, whether an equality between genders, races and sexualities is desirable but no-one in their right mind believes such a parity between these antithetical potentialities really exists in practice are they?
At just what age do you want to foist such political agendas on to children I wonder?
Can “equality” be taught in school and is it desirable that it should be?
The French revolutionaries were as good at sloganizing about it as you are but they never achieved it did they?
Moreover a lot of innocent blood was sacrificed during the “creative destruction” the revolutionaries believed was needed to bring it about.
Children have an innate sense of justice and like to see teachers treating themselves and others fairly. Role-play and sport offer all sorts of scope for their aspirations to see fairness in practice but equality is something entirely different. Equality is a political end unlike fairness which is a moral and practical imperative.
(2)Teachers are authority figures and authority is more acceptable in some communities than in others. The decline in the acceptance of authority generally has naturally made the teacher’s management role more a product of negotiation in order to achieve the most educationally desirable outcome for the child. Punishment in the form of time set aside for the child to reflect on the need to achieve the negotiated outcome may take place.
The most undesirable option possible for schools and families is to have the state targetting rebellious or “recalcitrant” parents with your Orwellian “persuasive mechanisms” like community service!
Teachers’ authority has also been undermined by the national curriculum’s reinforcement of the solely instrumental and vocational value that is ascribed to obtaining an education. Education and teachers’ authority are thereby deprived of their essential mystique. Education is no longer valued as an end in itself and people no longer therefore understand the limits of their own potential. They learn that their failure is down to what is wrong with the system and by implication-the teacher!
The equality agenda is an Orwellian one in the sense that it produces frustration and resentment between those who education suggests are more equal than the others who are less so.
(5) Your assumption re-the desirability of cultural pluralism relies heavily on the idea that it can be divorced from the minority group ethnocentrism which is actually contiguous with it in practice. The legitimacy of ethnic consciousness in general produces an upsurge in traditionalism particularly in religious practice and endogamy.
The perception that multiculturalism like equality has been foisted on us by powerful and secretive globalist elites without real public scrutiny is bound to make these incoming groups all the more negatively visible and make for extreme forms of group competition in the times of economic hardship that lie ahead.
I do not think that the aforementioned history of elite-led social experiments in human perfectibility like equality and multiculturalism will ultimately end in a cataclysm like the French Revolution.
I do, however, think there is a strong case for more real public participation in the question of whether we want to live in a world state or a national one.
I simply think that Craig has lost intrest, and I don’t blame him, I am not going to “tell” him what to do, but he does listen to what I say, he is not at Schipol but happily at home with the family..
@King – perhaps he should be sent back to Schiphol for a few days as punishment!
Any comment on Jawaher’s death tungsten? Were you affected when reading the details or perhaps you were in the middle of composing your philosophical comments?
Alfred, I have answered the two questions you put to me – please see 3:11pm post.
Yet still no answer to mine. How sad.
if that is Frazer giving a nice ‘fuck off’ to the engaged and interesting people on this board, I’m surprised.
Not that I don’t have every sympathy for a blog writer who doesn’t want to carry on blog writing: must be an invidious position. But blaming the entire audience for the troublemakers is low: rather like the government’s response to the student protests, in fact.
Meanwhile, while we’re still here, interesting stuff and facts on the public spending cuts:
http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/campaign-resources/there-is-an-alternative-the-case-against-cuts-in-public-spending.cfm
People who offer to moderate other people’s blogs are in my experience complete and utter ignorant fascist tossers who should not be trusted with a parking warden’s uniform.
Happy New Year
Love & Peace,
Tony
somebody: The only human rights issue here is whether the poor Israeli thug that was forced to fire the teargas is now traumatised by the experience. We all know that Israel is never guilty of anything except too much restraint, and to suggest otherwise is antisemitism.
@technicolor…yes i am actually..engaged and interesting..hmmm…waste of space the lot of you..
@technicolor…yes i am actually..engaged and interesting..hmmm…waste of space the lot of you..
well, i don’t know you, in fact, so no reason I should be surprised. whoever you are, did you read the information about the proposed cuts to public spending?
Courtenay Barnett, you don’t answer the questions I raised. They were:
First, “If Al Qaeda was responsible for 9/11, and if on 9/11 Al Qaeda was run by Osama bin Laden, and if Osama bin Laden was then a guest of the Afghanistan Government, and if as was the case, the Afghanistan Government refused to hand Osama bin Laden over to American justice, on what possible grounds can the US and its allies, including Britain, be condemned for their war against the Afghanistan Taliban?”
In other words, I ask that if certain facts were the case then is not the US war against the Taliban justified?
You “answer” does not address that question.
Second, “According to Wikileaks, Osama bin Laden’s is alive and well and and living in Pakistan from where he is directing military operations against the US in Afghanistan. So are not US military operations in Pakistan, however tragic the consequences, entirely justifiable, or are we to conclude that Julian Assange is an unwitting dupe or conscious agent of US disinformation?”
In response you say:
“The fact that a diplomatic communique states that Bin Laden is alive, does not automatically indicate as you say:-
“That Assange is duped. Why so …”
BUT this is a non-sequitur based on a false statement.
I did not, as you claim, say that “Assange is duped.” I raised three alternatives: That (a) US military action in Pakistan was justified by the presence there of Osama bin Laden who is directing the war against the US in Afghanistan, or that the report that Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan directing war against the US in Afghanistan is false and, in disseminating that false report, Julian Assange is (b) either an unwitting dupe or (c) a conscious agent of US disinformation?
But why not leave the questions for Suhayl Saadi for whom it was intended. After all, he claims to have already answered them, so it should not be too much trouble for him to answer them here in public.
Jon said:
“Btw, I am not sure my name can be used as a weapon against Suhayl.”
Don’t worry Jon, I was not using your name, I was using your words — exactly quoted.
Dr. Saadi, novelist, said,
“Alfred, I have answered the two questions you put to me – please see 3:11pm post.”
You call that load of bollocks an answer?
“Yet still no answer to mine. How sad.”
Dr. Saadi is still insinuating a lie, I see.
You must feel proud of yourself, Dr. Saadi. But you’ll never be a great writer unless you attend, not to the argument, but to the truth. Still you could aspire to write for Gruniard, I suppose.
Jon said:
“Still, this is all conjecture. If I’ve guessed you wrongly, set me right …”
You so bloody right it’s all conjecture. And a load of bollocks too.
In fact, it’s a none to subtle recycling of Dr. Suhayl Saadi (novelist)’s smear, as rubbed in by Techie, who is perhaps too dim to understand what’s going on, but knows who’s side is best served by authoritarian political correctness.
If..if..if.. “be condemned for their war against the Afghanistan Taliban?”
Thousands upon thousands dead or displaced, corrupt fundamentalist propped up in power, aid agencies saying country increasingly less safe, main women’s association calling for withdrawal of troops, killer drone attacks on the Af-Pak border, children starved, average lifespan under 44 years, UK soldiers dead, maimed, mentally tortured –