#Afghanistan Crisis Britain

[eaglesnick]

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.”  Seneca the Younger

Nigel Farage is jetting off to the USA for a second time in a month. Pocketing  £12,000 for a speech at the “Keep Arizona Free Summit". it appears he is more interested in increasing his own personal wealth than serving the people of Clacton who elected him as their MP.

The “Keep Arizona Free” flier has this billing:

“Featuring Keynote Speaker Nigel Farage. Also known as “Mr Brexit", is a British politician, broadcaster and political analyst” (Keep Arizona Free Summit 2024)

Other speakers include the crusading Christian Brandon Tatum, a man who converted to Christianity in 2008 and now says he is working for the “Great Commission”. This means Tate is an evangelical Christian.

Unfortunately, Tate goes beyond simply preaching the word of God. Much like political Islam and Islamic extremists, Tate combines his faith with politics. He describes the Democratic Party in America as “the enemy".

“You cannot say that you are a Christian and you believe in Christian values and you turn around and vote for a party that believes in mutilating kids and gay marriage and all this other stuff,”  (Tate: 30/11/23)

I’m not sure how much child mutilation and “other stuff” happened under democrats Obama and Joe Biden but mixing politics and religion is a recipe for intolerance and dictatorship: just look to Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Yemen where Islamic theocratic governments rule with an iron fist. But don’t think a Christian theocratic dictatorship could not happen in the West.

“Jesus is their saviour, Trump is their candidate” was a recent headline in an apnews.com article.  And reiterating the hatred of liberal politicians, espoused by Nigel Farage’s fellow speaker Brandon Tate, Time Magazine said this:

“Trump has white evangelicals in his pocket. Whatever cognitive dissonance some devout Christians may feel for supporting a twice-impeached serial philandering liar who tried to stage a coup and threatens violence against political opponents is easily dismissed with the conviction that no Republican nominee, no matter how problematic, could be worse than losing to a Democrat.”

Another speaker sharing the Keep Arizona Free Summit platform with Nigel Farage is James T. Harris, another deeply religious man on the right of US politics, a man “committed to faith".

Farage will be in the company of like-minded people. Speaking of Britain, Farage said:

"We are a Christian country with a Christian constitution and a Christian monarch…I absolutely believe in Christian values that have made this country great." (Daily Mirror: 19/12/2015)

According to Evangelical Focus, only 6% of the UK population are practicing Christians, while 42% are non-practicing Christians. This presents Farage with a problem. Declaring his Christian believes will not bring him many votes, unlike in the USA where political evangelicalism thrives. But don’t believe for one minute right wing Christians don’t look to Farage as a UK saviour in the same way fundamentalist Christians in America look toward Trump.

This was a headline during the recent UK election campaigne:

“Reform UK: The Best Option for British Christians”. (Crisis Magazine: 01/07/24)

Fundamentalist Christians, like fundamentalist Islamist, are totally intolerant of people with values and believes that do not match their particulate brand of religious zealotry. 

Railing against the concept of social justice, Crisis said that Christians in the western world (do they mean white Christians?) were:

“..ignoring the voting recommendations of bishops wedded to a “social justice” ideology largely developed by the very same prelates, priests, thinkers, and activists who variously tolerate, implicitly accept, or actively favor sexual immorality, female ordination, liturgical abuses and numerous other evils—turning instead to such parties as the Brothers of Italy, Poland’s Law and Justice Party, and France’s National Rally.”

There you have it. GOOD Christians vote for the far-right. BAD Christians vote for liberal democracy, which brings us back to the “Keep Arizona Free Summit" and its guest speakers.

All three are regarded as “good Christians” hence their invitation to speak.

I am sure the people of Clacton, where over half of those over 16 are “economically inactive” will be cheering their support as Farage pockets his £12,000  fee as a “good Christian”. Maybe, he will ask his fellow speakers to pray for the one-in-three children in Clacton who are living in poverty? Maybe Farage, the highest paid MP in Parliament, will take heed of what Jesus said about riches.

 “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” (Matthew 19:12)

Maybe, but I sincerely doubt it.

[old-school-butch]

Really not sure I agree with you over your dismissal of economic factors. It’s not simple, but economic / geopolitical warfare with China, as well as attempts to have influence over oil reserves in the region, definitely can’t be separated from American (and European) economic interests. Biden said if an Israel didn’t exist in the Middle East then they would create one. Israel itself isn’t valuable for its economic returns, but it’s an important (and reliable) American military outpost (that would not survive without American military support) in a region that is hostile to Western economic interests, and ultimately a region in possession of a major part of the world’s oil reserves. Since Iran fell out of Western sphere of influence in 79, US recognises its access to the region’s oil is tenuous and needs a means of ensuring continual unrest in the Middle East, leading to lack of organisation amongst states to oppose US influence in the region. Israel are much more loyal to America than the Saudis will ever be, because without America Israel couldn’t exist. Not to mention they’re a great source of support for the US arms industry, but that goes without saying.

The reason I mention China is because a larger goal of US foreign policy is isolating it from any potential ally; the proxy war in Ukraine is ideal for weakening Russia economically and militarily, for example. Having a military outpost in Israel keeps Iran in check and acts as a base of operations, and destruction of Palestine potentially baits Iran into some kind of intervention (it’s been theorised, who knows what hand Iran will play), which would fare poorly for Iran, and then you have isolated China from two of its major allies.

My main critique of this argument is that it's a weirdly US-specific perspective on global politics, as if the citizens of non-US countries are the NPCs of a US story. Describing the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war to weaken Russia is like... not technically wrong but do you really think that's why Russia started the war? US opportunities resulting from conflicts don't explain the conflicts themselves.

So, does the US have economic and strategic interests in the middle east? Sure. Is that why the people in the region are at war? No. For more evidence, history shows that the US interest and role has shifted significantly over time, but the conflict hasn't fundamentally changed. The French - not US - were Israel's strongest backers in the late 40s/50s - remember, Britain, France and Israel joined forces over the Suez crisis with Egypt. France, at first, rewarded Israel with access to sales of their military equipment into the 60s but later cooled relations with Israel because it was trying to play nice with it's former colony Algeria, and the Muslim population there didn't like Israel because of those aforementioned religious reasons. The Soviets, at one point, loved Israel's socialist flirtation with kibbutzes and happily provided MiGs and other arms but later on found less independent allies with a variety of Islamic revolutionaries.

Because Israel is politically isolated in the region - due to religion - it can opportunistically make and break alliances with global powers because it represents an a contrarian bet to whatever else is happening in the area which shifts over time. In the 70s-80s, the US was courting Islamic countries because they felt they'd be immune to Soviet influence since they were godless communists - this was the era of funding the Muhajadeen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, if you recall. As you might guess, that didn't turn out all that well and the Russians have managed to make very strange bedfellows with the BRICs alliance even today. (Although I will note that India, much like Israel, plays its own game and remains uniquely neutral in its relationships, which is possible - like Israel - by a unusual combination of a powerful economy and regional situation.

The US has - at times - said that Israel as its best friend in the middle east, but in reality Israel is Israel's best friend in the middle east and everyone knows that. It has been successfully strategic in courting support from multiple backers, but doesn't feel too beholden to following US policy. In fact, the careers of multiple American presidents have been made or ruined by their efforts to try to make peace between Israel and its neighbors. Even today, we can see Blinken working hard to try to settle this war before it affects the American election and hands a victory to Trump. That has been Russia's motivation to back the Houthis, Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas - all of whom have been invited to Moscow to plan and coordinate their strategy. Based on the success of the information war, I think Russia and China disinformation campaigns have their fingerprint on that end of the public relations cover. And of course I find it disturbing how effective it's been, but what's the point of running tiktok and bot campaigns if you can't leverage the information you gain about how to get traction with a liberal Western audience?

But even these efforts are more about strategy than oil itself - after all, Israel is the one country without oil reserves - why would anyone pick that as your only ally to secure oil? US foreign policy involves multiple lines of communication, alliances and trade, often supporting both sides of multiple disputes. When you hear reports of how many US bases have been targeted by Houthi rockets, for example, you might want to contemplate that the US maintains more than 750 military installations globally in 80 different countries. Yes the US provides foreign aid to Israel, but also to Palestine, UNWRA, Egypt, Jordan, Saudis and almost everyone else... the list is long but remember that 'aid' is sometimes just 'letting' those countries buy your weapons systems in exchange for some other favor. So I don't think that's really evidence that explains what's happening.

The period you're describing best matches the American perspective between 1980-2000. You should note that by the late 1990s the US was importing oil primarily from Canada and Venezuela, and the US is currently a net exporter of energy. It has zero oil interest in this region now. Furthermore, the US arms sales to Israel currently account for maybe 15% of their total military purchases but Germany is a close second in sales to Israel, and Israel overall is a net arms exporter to places, including the US and US allies like Ukraine. In 2020, the US gave $3.8bn in military aid to Israel (which means they provided weapons on that value under some form of reciprocal deal - the term 'aid' is confusing), but Israel exports $12.5bn in arms. The $6.6bn of US aid that flows to its other MENA partners is less per country, but also has fewer returns. The US has been a net buyer of Israeli military technology lately, and would love to get its hands on the Iron Dome system so there will be more deals incoming, but the US would love nothing more than to get the region to simmer down so they can get to business.

[mariacallous]

The so-called small boats crisis has consumed British politics this year. As asylum seekers cross the English Channel on rubber dinghies to reach British shores, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cracking down on the crossings one of the Conservative government’s top five priorities. A lectern at 10 Downing Street even features the slogan “Stop the Boats.”

It’s not just the Conservatives who want to reduce the number of crossings. After sidestepping the issue for more than two years, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in September outlined a plan to address the small boats. A Labour government, he said, would get tough on the people smuggling in asylum seekers and treat them on par with terrorists; it would also seek a deal with the European Union to share intelligence on smugglers.

There is a good chance Starmer will have the opportunity to implement these policies. The latest polls indicate that 46 percent of the U.K. population intends to vote Labour at the next election, compared with just 25 percent for the Conservatives. Most commentators seem to agree that the United Kingdom’s next general elections—which are slated to be held no later than January 2025—are Labour’s to lose. But the plans Labour has laid out are a missed opportunity to get to the heart of the issue. Refugees and migrants will continue to make the dangerous journey. A lasting solution to the small boats crisis will require Labour to provide safe, legal pathways to the United Kingdom.

In the first half of 2023, 11,500 asylum seekers crossed the English Channel. Globally, this number is relatively small—77,000 people navigated the Gulf of Aden to seek safety in war-torn Yemen in same period. But it’s a large number for the United Kingdom, which saw only nine asylum seekers enter on a small boat from July 2014 to June 2016. This has provided the Conservatives, desperate to distract from the failures of their 13 years in power, with what they describe as an “existential” threat only they can solve.

The Conservative government’s strategy has relied on trying to deter asylum seekers from even attempting the journey—namely, by eroding the right to seek asylum.

The 2022 Nationality and Borders Act created a system that divides refugees into two groups: those who enter Britain through “safe and legal routes,” and those who enter through “irregular” routes. The act deems the latter illegal and allows the government to remove people who take that route for offshore processing. Refugees who cross over irregularly also have no recourse to public funds or family reunification. Leading British faith leaders have criticized the bill for having “no basis in evidence or morality,” and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that it constitutes a violation of international law.

The Illegal Migration Act, adopted in July, went one step further. It enables the government to immediately remove people who arrive in the United Kingdom irregularly, effectively preventing them from claiming asylum.

The government’s approach is not just inhumane. It has also backfired. By restricting safe and legal routes for asylum seekers, the Conservatives have created a booming business for smugglers. Asylum seekers have compelling reasons to cross the English Channel—ones that, for many, outweigh the risk of drowning in the strong currents of the world’s busiest shipping lane. These range from the desire to reunite with family members to police brutality in mainland Europe to a connection with the United Kingdom due to work with the British military in countries such as Iraq or Afghanistan. As research suggests, deterrence efforts—whether they consist of criminalizing asylum seekers, making material conditions upon entry miserable, or other tactics—are not effective in preventing arrivals and only lead to more fatalities.

The government’s policies are also expensive. The United Kingdom spends around $10 million per day housing asylum seekers in hotels. But instead of addressing the country’s social housing shortage or its backlog of unprocessed asylum claims, the government has turned to short-term measures in an attempt to cut costs. This year, the U.K. tried to house asylum seekers on the Bibby Stockholm, a barge moored off the coast of Dorset county. Thirty-nine asylum seekers spent five days on the barge before being evacuated after Legionella—a bacteria that can cause a serious form of pneumonia—was found in the boat’s water system. Two months later, 21 people returned to the barge.

The most notorious scheme has been the Rwanda plan. Modeled on Australia’s controversial offshore processing facility in Nauru, the U.K. government proposed in 2022 to send asylum seekers to the East African nation while their claims were processed, at the staggering cost of around $210,000 per person. Before chronic underspending on social housing all but decimated Britain’s housing stock and forced the government to place asylum seekers in hotels, local councils budgeted just around $10,700 to cover the costs of an asylum seeker’s first year of resettlement.

Amid a cost-of-living crisis at home, the United Kingdom has already paid Rwanda around $176 million but has not removed a single asylum seeker to the country—and likely never will. The program’s first flight, chartered for June 2022 for an estimated cost of $629,000, was stopped after the European Court of Human Rights intervened. On Nov. 15, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that Rwanda was not a safe country for asylum seekers, effectively preventing the U.K. government from going through with the plan unless the protections for asylum seekers in the scheme are entirely reworked.

Though Labour’s stance on asylum seekers is more humane, it misses the opportunity to address the root cause of irregular migration. In addition to Starmer’s plan, a number of Labour advisors and left-leaning commentators have suggested that the United Kingdom should sign an agreement with the EU akin to the bloc’s Dublin Regulation, which places the primary responsibility for processing an asylum seeker’s claim on the first safe country of entry. They argue that the regulation, which Britain elected to leave after Brexit, will deter asylum seekers, since it will allow the United Kingdom to deport them to any “safe country” they passed through en route.

These analysts point to the fact that small boat crossings have increased since the United Kingdom pulled out of the Dublin Regulation. But they neglect to mention that smugglers’ routes have changed as well. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, asylum seekers often crossed over from northern France via the Eurotunnel on freight trains or trucks. This route has become almost impossible as security has tightened in Calais, the city at the French end of the tunnel. Furthermore, while nearly all small boat arrivals are registered after they reach British shores, those who enter on trucks and trains disembark at different stages and are thus much harder to detect.

In any case, the Dublin Regulation has been a resounding failure. As an aid worker, I’ve worked with individuals from Afghanistan, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo who spend years undocumented, waiting to claim asylum after the fingerprints registered in their first country of entry have been expunged. A Dublin-style agreement would only prevent individuals seeking safety from starting a new life and contributing to British society.

Starmer still has time to reconsider Labour’s plans. Though Labour is wary of immigration policies that could be seen as lenient ahead of the election, it should not assume that it needs to play to voters’ most xenophobic tendencies. Polling consistently shows strong support for safe and legal routes for those fleeing war or persecution. Public approval remains strong even for programs that have resettled large numbers of asylum seekers, including the recent visa schemes that allowed 154,600 Ukrainians and 144,500 Hong Kongers to enter the country.

If Labour wins the next election, Starmer should adopt three policies to reinforce safe and legal pathways to the United Kingdom and address why asylum seekers are forced to reach the country.

First, the United Kingdom must commit to resettling more refugees, including via the UNHCR’s resettlement scheme. The Conservative government resettled 25,000 refugees through this program from 2015 to 2020 before abandoning it.

Labour should also fix the Conservatives’ failing Afghan resettlement schemes: the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). Since they were launched in 2021, the programs have been too slow-moving to meet the United Kingdom’s moral obligation toward Afghans. Only 7,000 Afghans have been resettled out of the government’s target of 20,000, leaving thousands languishing in hiding from the Taliban.

Both ARAP and ACRS are poorly designed. Only 36 government staff handle ARAP, compared with 540 on the Homes for Ukraine visa scheme. Afghans must have already left Afghanistan to be eligible for ACRS, unlike Homes for Ukraine, which provides a pathway for entry for those still in Ukraine. Afghans applying under ACRS also are not guaranteed right to family reunion. These design flaws lead Afghans into the hands of smugglers: Afghans were the largest nationality taking small boats in the last quarter of 2022 (33 percent of arrivals) and the first quarter of 2023 (24 percent). By comparison, there are no reports of Ukrainians and Hongkongers arriving on small boats.

Labour’s second action should be to redress the United Kingdom’s restrictive family reunion policy. Under the current policy, spouses applying to join their partners with refugee status in Britain must have been living together for at least two years, and children with parents with refugee status must be under 18 and unmarried. Other family members cannot apply unless they can prove “exceptional circumstances,” such as meeting all the criteria of being unable to lead an independent life, having no other relatives to turn to for financial or emotional support, and being likely to become destitute if they live alone.

These policies are often futile against the intense pain of separation. By the British charity Care4Calais’s estimate, 50 percent of those who continue from a first safe country to the United Kingdom have family there. For those who meet the narrow official criteria, backlogs have resulted in thousands of family members resorting to irregular migration. Expanding the criteria for family reunion to all partners who can demonstrate a “genuine and subsisting” relationship, all children, and other dependents such as older parents would address a significant number of irregular crossings.

Finally, Labour should provide alternative routes for groups who are unlikely to have asylum applications approved—for instance, Albanian men, who had an 11 percent success rate in 2022, and Indian nationals, whose success rate was just 6 percent in 2021. Many of these individuals have pressing reasons for leaving home, but many of those reasons are economic, and so they are not eligible for pathways intended for those fleeing war or persecution.

To dissuade these demographics from resorting to smuggling, Starmer’s third policy intervention should tie smart immigration policy to chronic domestic labor shortages. Labor shortages have driven up inflation, which is currently higher in the United Kingdom than in any other G-7 nation. The most acute shortages are in the agricultural, construction, hospitality, and social care sectors. As these shortages threaten domestic supply, business leaders across all sectors have begged the government to address them. The government could meet demand by expanding its seasonal worker visa into a multi-year visa in sectors facing labor shortages, which Starmer could frame as a policy targeted at rejuvenating the country’s post-pandemic economy. This would ensure political buy-in and support Labour’s promises of delivering on economic growth.

Arrivals on small boats will only continue. For those who take this route, the right to seek asylum must be protected, in line with international law. But the next British government needs to focus on reducing the number of people forced to take the crossing. That will be the only way to address the moral panic that Britain has lost control of its borders—and avoid humanitarian catastrophe on its shores.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.27 (after 1950)

1954 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force. 1958 – Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed by General Ayub Khan, who had been appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier. 1961 – NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1. 1962 – Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down over Cuba by a Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile. 1962 – By refusing to agree to the firing of a nuclear torpedo at a US warship, Vasily Arkhipov averts nuclear war. 1964 – Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of the Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launches his political career and comes to be known as "A Time for Choosing". 1971 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire. 1979 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom. 1981 – Cold War: The Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden. 1986 – The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang. 1988 – Cold War: Ronald Reagan suspends construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow due to Soviet listening devices in the building structure. 1991 – Turkmenistan achieves independence from the Soviet Union. 1992 – United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay, precipitating debate about gays in the military that results in the United States' "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy. 1993 – Widerøe Flight 744 crashes near Overhalla, Norway, killing six people. 1994 – Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified. 1997 – The 1997 Asian financial crisis causes a crash in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. 1999 – Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing the Prime Minister and seven others. 2014 – Britain withdraws from Afghanistan at the end of Operation Herrick, after 12 years four months and seven days. 2017 – Catalonia declares independence from Spain. 2018 – A gunman opens fire on a Pittsburgh synagogue killing eleven and injuring six, including four police officers. 2018 – Leicester City F.C. owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha dies in a helicopter crash along with four others after a Premier League match against West Ham United at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, England. 2019 – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi kills himself and three children by detonating a suicide vest during the U.S. military Barisha raid in northwestern Syria.

[back-and-totheleft]

The Untold History of the United States

Prequels

Episode A: 1900-1920 – World War I, The Russian Revolution & Woodrow Wilson Episode B: 1920-1940 – Roosevelt, Hitler, Stalin: The Battle of Ideas Episode C: On History: Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone in Conversation

Chapter 1: World War II This chapter delves into the history of World War II, with a focus on the often-overlooked events that played a key role in the war's outcome. The Spanish Civil War, Roosevelt's desire to join the allies, Japan's strategic decisions leading up to Pearl Harbor, and the Soviet Union's contribution to the war effort are all explored in detail. Chapter 2: Roosevelt, Truman & Wallace In this chapter, we examine the aftermath of World War II, including Stalin's attempts to exert control over Poland and Eastern Europe, the Democratic party's efforts to remove Henry Wallace from the presidential ticket in 1944, and Britain's attempts to maintain its colonial holdings. Chapter 3: The Bomb Chapter three centers around the conclusion of World War II, with a particular focus on the events leading up to the use of atomic bombs and Japan's subsequent surrender. This chapter explores the Truman era of American history, with special attention given to the overlooked role of Henry A. Wallace. Chapter 4: The Cold War: 1945-1950 The origins of the Cold War are analyzed in this chapter, with a month-by-month breakdown of the initial aggressors. The chapter also covers Winston Churchill's famous "Iron Curtain" speech, the rise of the "Red Scare" in the US, and Joseph McCarthy's controversial anti-Communist crusade. Chapter 5: The '50s: Eisenhower, the Bomb & The Third World Eisenhower and the CIA are the main focus of this chapter, with an examination of their role in shaping the global political landscape of the 1950s. The chapter delves into the development of the Cold War and the US's battle against communism. Chapter 6: JFK: To the Brink Chapter six focuses on JFK's presidency, including the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The chapter also explores early US involvement in Vietnam and JFK's attempts at peace with Khrushchev, as well as the assassination of JFK. Chapter 7: Johnson, Nixon & Vietnam: Reversal of Fortune The Vietnam War is the central theme of this chapter, with a focus on the public's disillusionment with modern military power in the face of guerrilla-style warfare. Richard Nixon's administration is also examined, with a particular focus on its methods and their impact on American politics. Chapter 8: Reagan, Gorbachev & Third World: Rise of the Right This chapter explores the relationship between Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, which led to new attempts at peace as the Berlin Wall came down. However, the chapter also covers the Iranian hostage crisis, which heightened fears and uncertainty around the world. Chapter 9: Bush & Clinton: American Triumphalism – New World Order In this chapter, we examine the US invasion of Panama and its failed attempt at establishing peace in the aftermath of the Cold War. The chapter also explores the George W. Bush administration's approach to security, which ultimately led to a new era of "endless war" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chapter 10: Bush & Obama: Age of Terror The final chapter of the book centers around homeland security and the worldwide global security state. It also covers the economic struggles facing the US, as well as the presidency of Barack Obama and the future of the American Empire.

[nova0000scotia]

Paul Franklin

 https://www.facebook.com/627936885/posts/10156139576386886/?app=fbl

Salute to a brave and modest nation - BRAVERY OF CANADA'S MILITARY - Kevin Myers , 'The Sunday Telegraph' 2002 UNITED KINGDOM

Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan , probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the region.

And as always, Canada will bury its dead, just as the rest of the world, as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.. It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored.

Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States , and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts.

For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.

Yet it's purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10% of Canada 's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, it's unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the 'British.'

The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.

Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world. The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time.

Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter, Mike Weir and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer, British.

It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces.

Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia , in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.

So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbor has given it in Afghanistan ?

Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honorable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian families knew that cost all too tragically well.

[swldx]

BBC 0526 16 Nov 2023

6195Khz 0500 16 NOV 2023 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from SANTA MARIA DI GALERIA. SINPO = 55344. English, pips @0500z fb newsroom preview. @0501z World News anchored by Neil Nunes. The US and China have agreed to resume military-to-military communications in an effort to ease rising tensions, President Joe Biden says. Mr Biden also said both leaders had agreed to establish a direct line of communication with one another. The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday called for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip for a "sufficient number of days" to allow aid access. The 15-member council overcame an impasse, which saw four unsuccessful attempts to take action last month, to adopt a resolution that also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas. The United States, Russia and Britain, who are council veto-powers, abstained from Wednesday's vote on the resolution drafted by Malta. The remaining 12 members voted in favor. The Kremlin has launched a wide-ranging campaign to force Ukrainians in occupied territories to become Russian, an investigation has found. Ukrainians are being denied healthcare and free movement unless they take up Russian citizenship, evidence suggests. Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA on Monday was loading a supertanker with crude and fuel for Cuba, maritime documents showed, an unusually large volume to help its political ally overcome an energy crisis with repeated blackouts. Madagascar is holding presidential elections despite an opposition boycott following weeks of protests. One of the UK's most senior generals was warned in writing in 2011 that SAS soldiers were claiming to have executed handcuffed detainees in Afghanistan. But instead of referring the evidence to military police, Gen Jenkins placed it in a classified dossier and locked it in a safe. A top leader of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang will stand trial in New York on terrorism charges, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday. El Salvador citizen Elmer Canales, known as "Crook de Hollywood," was arrested by Mexican authorities last week and sent to Texas, where a federal court on Wednesday ordered him to face trial in New York. Iceland's south-western peninsula could face decades of volcanic instability, warns the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). Earthquakes and fears of an impending eruption have led to the evacuation of the small fishing town of Grindavik. @0506z "Newsroom" begins. MLA 30 amplified loop (powered w/8 AA rechargeable batteries ~10.8vdc), Etón e1XM. 250kW, beamAz 185°, bearing 49°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 7877KM from transmitter at Santa Maria di Galeria. Local time: 2300.

[unesco2932]

CRISIS

After speculation over whether Queen consort Camilla would be wearing the Kohinoor diamond in her coronation crown, global conversations about the Kohinoor diamond have resparked. As a speech by a well-known Indian politician picks up momentum and goes viral social media users are calling for the British government to surrender the diamond and other artifacts obtained by the British Empire during colonization with the #ReturnTheKohinoorToIndia. 😮

----

In response to growing demands, All Indian Human Rights Organization (AIHRO), an Indian non-governmental organization (NGO) filed a petition with the International Criminal Council, urging the government to take immediate action to retrieve the Kohinoor Diamond. The petition argues that the diamond was wrongfully taken during the colonial era and should be returned to its country of origin, as it holds immense cultural and historical significance for India. They demand Immediate Repatriation and a formal apology and acknowledgment from Britain for the acquisition of the diamond during the colonial era and a letter of formal apology for other notable crimes such as the Jallianwalla Bagh and the loot of treasures such as the Amaravati Stupa. Additionally, there is mounting diplomatic pressure from other nations, with other BRICS nations calling for the return of the diamond to India.

However, Britain maintains their views that the diamond is an integral part of the British Crown Jewels and holds significant cultural value for the nation. They emphasize the diamond's preservation and accessibility to a global audience through its display in the Tower of London.

As this controversy gains momentum, the situation becomes further complicated as rival claims of ownership arise from the multiple stakeholders and the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. 

Members of the QUAD  express support for a peaceful resolution between India and Britain, encouraging diplomatic negotiations and mutual understanding. International museums express interest in hosting temporary exhibits of the Kohinoor Diamond to ensure wider access and appreciation of its cultural value while the ownership dispute is ongoing.

Multiple stakeholders call for the involvement of the UN, particularly UNESCO, as a mediator to find a solution that respects the cultural significance and historical connections of each country involved. 

[summarychannel]

Sinai is on fire.. The US Army Commander warns Israel against committing suicide on the Gaza border while the Egyptian border is on fire!

Updates on the Al-Aqsa Flood operation presented in this episode of Samri Channel. The beginning begins with retired US Army Commander David Petraeus, former director of the US Central Intelligence Agency and commander of US forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, who warned Israel in statements highlighted by the American magazine Politico of a dark fate like the one faced by US Special Forces in the Somali capital Mogadishu in 1993, stressing the danger of The open clash with Hamas, which is skilled in street warfare.

Google deletes Sinai from maps, and there is great anger in Egypt There was great anger on social media sites in Egypt, after activists discovered that the search engine Google had deleted the name Sinai from its maps. A large number of users discovered during their searches on Google that the name “Sinai” had already been deleted, leaving a large empty space without the name Sinai being placed on it.

From Israel to Egypt, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said, in a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz yesterday, that “the forced displacement of the people of Palestine cannot be allowed.”

The Egyptian President said that he discussed with the German Chancellor Egypt's efforts to calm the situation in Gaza, Palestine, noting that "I propose transferring civilians from Gaza to the Israeli Negev Desert until the end of military operations." Al-Sisi continued, saying: “The displacement” of the people of Palestine from Gaza to Egypt may lead to “displacement” from the West Bank to Jordan. Al-Sisi added that Egypt rejects the liquidation of the Palestinian cause and the displacement of the people of Palestine from their lands, noting that Egypt has not closed the Rafah crossing since the beginning of the crisis, but the Israeli bombing has prevented it from operating. Al-Sisi called for allowing humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, and said, "Continuing military operations will have repercussions on the region and could get out of control."

 On the other hand, Josh Ball, Director of the Office of Public and Congressional Affairs in the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs at the US State Department, announced his resignation from his position due to President Joe Biden’s approach towards the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

In his resignation statement, he considered that “blind support for one side” of the Joe Biden administration was leading to political decisions that were “short-sighted, destructive, unfair, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly embrace.” He added: "The response taken by Israel, along with American support for this response and the current status of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the peoples of Palestine and Israel."

“I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we made in past decades, and I refuse to be a part of it any longer.” Paul indicated in an interview with HuffPost that he felt “forced to resign” because he was unable to push for “a more humane policy within the government.” "American".

 Paul, who spent more than 11 years in the Office of Political-Military Affairs, which deals with arms deals, said he had extensively discussed “policy change efforts associated with controversial arms sales,” adding: “It was clear that I could not change anything here. Accordingly, I submitted my resignation.”

In another context, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu that Britain would stand by Israel in its “darkest hour,” and welcomed the decision to allow aid into Gaza, saying that Israel is doing its best to reduce civilian deaths.

#Egypt #Palestine #latest news

[c-40]

A-T-3 122 Techno Necropolitics

I finished writing my look at the framing of the 'small boats' narrative and posted it, walked into the kitchen in my flat, ran the taps to fill the kitchen sink, added washing-up liquid into the sink, put on the podcast I'd been wanting to finish, and began cleaning and drying plates, bowls, and cutlery

The podcast was an episode of Tech Won't Save Us hosted by Paris Marx. I'm listening to episode 158 with author and Goldsmiths lecturer Dan McQuillan. When Dan McQuillan called himself a "jackdaw" it caught my ear because I know exactly what he means, then he went on to talk about Necropolitics and Achille Mbembe's book of the same name. I'd not heard of necropolitics before but I could see the 'small boats' and the government's The Illegal Migration Bill (also known as the Refugee Ban Bill) as a form of necropolitics. I've read Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power by Byung-Chul Han and he argues we are moving away from what Foucault refers to as Biopower (and his conception of Biopolitics) and towards Psychpolitics, a transition away from controlling the population through their bodies (access to food, shelter, heating, health care, pregnancy, education, work, etc, but also who and how you love) to their minds, influence over what people think and see reality (ie. "we are being invaded", "we don't have space", "we can't help everyone", ...). It's plain to see one isn't replacing the other, or at any rate it certainly isn't changing equally for everyone. Biopower is very much how politics is still being done, just look at the Windrush Scandal, Detaining Asylum Seekers, and Flights To Rwanda. As an example of psychopolitics the Cost Of Living Crisis isn't framed as the result of energy companies recording record profits, and bonuses for the richest multiplying into larger and larger numbers, which of course to an important degree it is. The governments answer to the Record Profits For Energy Companies Crisis has been 'remember to turn your lights off when you leave the room'

'Necropolitics is the use of social and political power to dictate how some people may live and how some must die.' The larger picture of what the tories dissociate by calling 'small boats' (It’s the bigots prerogative to not use language seriously), what the English Channel crossings are a symptom of, is record levels of global displacement around the world. Britain as a military and industrial power, and former empire, has been present in Afghanistan, South Sudan, Yemen, and Myanmar. Our government has made the decision to react to global displacement with hostility

When writing about the 'small boats' narrative I'm aware I'm referring to asylum seekers and immigrants not really like they are people at all, that is one of the objectives of the narrative, they are a faceless mass, a number. 2,500 successful small boat crossings this year, an asylum application backlog of 161,000, a detention ship for 500

Dan McQuillan argues AI will increase "bureaucratic indifference and cruelty under the cover of AI superiority and algorithmic obfuscation." Remember the disastrous Track And Trace app developed by the government the other year, would you want the government using AI to speed up asylum applications? He also argues AI is ushering in the return of race science and referring to the work of Francis Galton who was the first to apply statistical methods to the study of human differences. Galton was into counting and classification, he founded psychometrics, and he advanced differential psychology and methods for classifying fingerprints. Galton is from one of the large Birmingham/Midlands patriarchal families, Charles Darwin was his half-cousin. He was a polymath developing, amongst many other things, correlation and regression methods for statistical analysis, standard deviation, initiating scientific meteorology and invented the weather map. Of course Sir Francis Galton also coined the term Eugenics and is generally seen as the father of scientific racism

Francis Galton's grandfathers were Erasmus Darwin and Samuel Galton Jr. were both members of the Lunar Society that met in Handsworth, Birmingham. Galton Jr. inherited his father's gun making business providing arms for Britain's colonial exploits

McQuillan refers to The Lucas Plan of the 1970s as a way to steer AI. Lucas was the factory nearest to my school in Birmingham it was the largest employer and it manufactured parts for weapon systems (now part of BAE Systems). I attended the 40th anniversary conference of The Lucas Plan. In short, workers facing mass redundancies put forward a plan to divert production away from military technology and put their knowledge and expertise into socially useful tech, for example they invented kidney dialysis machines and power banks that are used too charge phones etc on the go https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/03/lucas-aerospace-plan-1976-socially-useful-work-green-new-deal-manufacturing

The last thing I want to mention is queer and trans necropolitics. Queer and trans people are facing hostility from our government equal to that of asylum seekers, they are literally brought out to be the other punching bag. Government rhetoric and policy is comparable to encouraging genocide

R.E.M. - Computer Communication Not that R.E.M. Ron Hardy played this italo gem at The Music Box in Chicago. It uses Mattel's Speak And Spell instead of a vocoder

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Burned Out, More Americans Are Turning to Part-Time Jobs (WSJ) Part-time work is exploding. The number of Americans working part time rose by 1.2 million in December and January compared with the preceding months, according to the Labor Department. Most of that increase—857,000 workers—was driven by people who worked part time by choice, not because they were unable to find full-time work or their hours were cut. The increase reflects changes in the U.S. economy and the historically tight labor market, according to economists, employers and workers. As the pandemic led to burnout among some workers and drove many to reconsider their careers, some have downshifted to part-time roles. And with inflation high and prices for food, housing and other necessities rising, others who had retired or opted out of the workforce are taking on part-time jobs to supplement their household income.

The scale of El Salvador’s new prison is difficult to comprehend (Washington Post) Earlier this month, Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, unveiled his latest infrastructure project: a massive, “first-world” jail that could well become the largest penitentiary in the world, with an alleged capacity to hold 40,000 inmates. This weekend, he announced the transfer of the first 2,000 prisoners to the new facility. Spanning about 410 acres in an isolated region of El Salvador, the jail is slated to become the largest, and most overcrowded, prison in the world.

Britain and E.U. reset relations with new post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland (Washington Post) British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak—trying really, really hard to finally get Brexit done—on Monday announced an agreement in principle with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on how to handle Northern Ireland trade. Resolving this toxic bit of leftover Brexit business has been described as a defining test for Sunak. People are watching to see if he can improve chilly relations with Europe and help restore a functioning government in Northern Ireland. He also hopes to bend ardent Brexiters in his Conservative Party, who don’t quite trust him, to his support his premiership.

Soccer fans shower stadium with teddy bears for Turkey’s earthquake victims (Washington Post) Fans at a soccer match in Istanbul threw thousands of soft toys onto the pitch in a bid to send a message to the many children affected by the deadly earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria this month. The arena usually seats 42,000 people. At this match, though, an array of multicolored stuffed animals could be seen in the stands before they were sent flying through the air as music played. The outpouring of donations came 4 minutes 17 seconds into the match—marking the exact time the first earthquake hit: 4:17 a.m. Some people threw scarves and hats—donations they hoped would keep those displaced by the disaster warm amid harsh winter weather. The scene was hailed as “incredibly moving” by some who watched footage of it online.

Dying Children and Frozen Flocks in Afghanistan’s Bitter Winter of Crisis (NYT) When the temperatures plunged far below freezing in Niaz Mohammad’s village last month, the father of three struggled to keep his family warm. One particularly cold night, he piled every stick and every shrub he had collected into their small wood stove. He scavenged for trash that might burn, covered the windows with plastic tarps and held his 2-month-old son close to his chest. But the cold was merciless. Freezing winds whistled through cracks in the wall. Ice crept across the room: It covered the windows, then the walls, then the thick red blanket wrapped around Mr. Mohammad’s wailing son. Soon the infant fell silent in his arms. His tears turned to ice that clung to his face. By daybreak, he was gone. Afghanistan is gripped by a winter that both Afghan officials and aid group officials are describing as the harshest in over a decade, battering millions of people already reeling from a humanitarian crisis. As of Monday, more than 200 people had died from hypothermia and more than 225,000 head of livestock had perished from the cold alone, according to the Afghan authorities. That does not take into account a vast and rising human toll from malnutrition, disease and untreated injuries as clinics and hospitals around the country have come under stress. While Afghanistan has endured natural disasters and economic desperation for decades, the harsh temperatures this winter come at a particularly difficult moment. In late December, the Taliban administration barred women from working in most local and international aid organizations (and have refused to reconsider)—prompting many to suspend operations, severing a lifeline for communities reliant on the aid.

22,000 Indian Christians Peacefully Protest Rising Persecution at Historic Delhi Gathering (Christianity Today) India’s church is exhausted by the surge of anticonversion laws and accusations of illegal proselytization. They’re tired of mobs driving out Christians from their villages and the possibility that many face property destruction and personal violence. Perhaps most significantly, they’re angry at a government that passively enables these actions at best and actively foments them at worst. Last week, 22,000 Christians across the denominational spectrum and from around the country gathered together in their nation’s capital to demand better. “This protest is basically to call the attention of the government to the increasing violence against Christians and our institutions. These attacks are without reasons and basis,” Youhanon Mar Demetrios, a Delhi-based priest with the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church told CT. “So, we are calling upon the government to ask how the protection of the Christians and their institutions will be guaranteed. We are not asking for anything out of the ordinary.”

China purging ‘Western erroneous views’ from legal education (AP) China has ordered closer adherence to the dictates of the ruling Communist Party and leader Xi Jinping in legal education, demanding that schools “oppose and resist Western erroneous views” such as constitutional government, separation of powers, and judicial independence. The order was dated Sunday, a week before China’s ceremonial parliament begins its annual session and reinforces the leading role on ideology assumed by Xi, who is named no less than 25 times in the document. Already China’s most powerful leader in decades, Xi was granted a third five-year term as party leader last year and has removed term limits on the presidency, effectively allowing him to rule for life. Similar directives have been issued in past, with students encouraged to report on professors who speak positively about Western concepts of governance. While China’s constitution pays lip service to ideas such as freedom of speech and religious observation, it places the interests of the party above all.

Hong Kong ends mask mandate, one of the world’s last (Washington Post) One of the last holdouts in the world for legally mandated masking, indoors and outside or on public transportation—is dropping the last of its coronavirus restrictions starting Wednesday. Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday announced the scrapping of the mask mandate as the pandemic “has been largely contained” with “no major spike in the number of cases so far.” High-risk locations such as hospitals or homes for the elderly could still require visitors to keep masks on, he added.

Taiwan needs more Top Guns as chance of conflict with China grows (Washington Post) Five years ago, Taiwanese fighter pilot Lt. Col. Hsiao Yi-chiao was ordered to scramble to intercept an incoming Chinese military aircraft. He took off within six minutes, his F-16 jet screaming into the sky above southern Taiwan. Hsiao, 37, is a member of a small pool of elite fighter pilots in Taiwan whose numbers are in increasingly short supply. Even as Taiwan awaits the delivery of 66 F-16 fighter jets by the end of 2026, it is facing a personnel shortage that could meaningfully undercut the island democracy’s ability to defend itself if China attacks. Falling birthrates, the declining appeal of the military and the increasing chances of conflict mean the military has for years struggled to meet its recruitment targets. As a result, the government in December extended mandatory military service from four months to one year. Nowhere is the problem more critical than in Taiwan’s elite ranks of fighter pilots, who are dealing with near-daily incursions by Chinese warplanes.

The cycle of violence (Washington Post) When confronted by scenes of bloodshed and destruction in Israel and the occupied territories, there’s a tendency to talk of “the cycle of violence.” The chain of atrocity lengthened by a few more links this weekend when an organized force of vigilante Israeli settlers descended upon the West Bank town of Huwara on Sunday and carried out a deadly, destructive rampage, torching dozens of homes and scores of cars. The raid was described in some Israeli and Palestinian circles as a “pogrom.” It left at least one Palestinian civilian—Sameh al-Aqtash, 37, who had just returned from a stint in Turkey as a volunteer earthquake relief worker—dead, an estimated hundred more injured and a whole community traumatized. The attack by the settlers was billed as an act of revenge after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a traffic junction near Huwara, killing two brothers who lived in a nearby Jewish settlement. That assault itself was likely retaliation for an Israeli military raid on the city of Nablus last week that saw 11 Palestinians—including militants and civilians—killed. On Monday, there were reports of new Palestinian attacks on Israeli-owned vehicles in the West Bank. The bloody wheel turns, the cycle of violence continues. But such logic obscures more immediate forces at play. The installation of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history at the beginning of the year has been accompanied by the marked rise in violence. Since the start of the year, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 61 Palestinians—civilians and militants.

U.S. Commandos Advise Somalis in Fight Against Qaeda Branch (NYT) The promise and perils of America’s counterterrorism campaign were on full display at a remote training base in central Somalia. It was graduation day for 346 recruits who would join an elite Somali commando unit trained by the State Department, advised by U.S. Special Operations forces, and backed by American air power. Since last August, the unit, called Danab, has spearheaded a string of Somali army victories against Al Shabab, an Islamist terrorist group that is considered the deadliest of Al Qaeda’s global branches. But sadness hung over the ceremony. Many of the recruits will be rushed to the front lines to backfill two Danab battalions decimated by a Shabab attack last month that left more than 100 Somali soldiers dead or injured. The United States withdrew from the country after the “Black Hawk Down” episode of 1993, when Somali militia fighters killed 18 American service members in a blazing battle later depicted in books and Hollywood movies. Now, nearly two decades after the rise of Al Shabab, Somalia is the most active front in the “forever wars” that the United States has been waging against Islamist extremists since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Governments shut down the internet more often than ever, report says (Washington Post) More countries shut down the internet in 2022 than ever before, according to a new report by digital rights researchers, as the threat of “digital authoritarianism” races up the agenda of many governments worldwide. Authorities in 35 countries instituted internet shutdowns at least 187 times, according to the New York-based digital rights watchdog Access Now. Nearly half of these shutdowns occurred in India, and if that nation is excluded, 2022 saw the most number of shutdowns globally since the group began monitoring disruptions in 2016.

[simonloweblog]

Where is Britain Heading?

1. The Armed Forces: 

(Edward Lucas The London Times Feb 13) In this article the current state and limitations of the armed forces are exposed and the stark reality of the analysis is both shocking and frightening. Government foreign policy simply does not match the reality of available resources. It is time to face the fact that whereas we may be a nuclear power we are no longer a true World power. It is over 100 years since Brittania ruled the waves and over 80 years since the country went bankrupt defending itself and its Empire. Like Russia's old guard, many "old timers" may still dream of the days of yore but the young have other priorities and sending troops to Iraq, Afghanistan and overseas is neither a priority nor condoned by most Brits today. 

Grandiose procurement such as the Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales aircraft carriers were delivered years late and without any aircraft because the project had gone hopelessly over budget. This was yet another example of poor planning much akin to the HS2 project. As with the NHS, the defense budget must be balanced with realistic defense goals and a clear long-term strategy to achieve both.

2. The NHS:  Alan Milburn interviewed on.... "and the rest is politics".

Oh dear; is there ever going to be a time when the NHS is not the subject of political wrangling, public frustration, professional stress and crisis? Liberated from political office,  Alan Milburn,  the Secretary of State for Health in Tony Blair's government, recently gave a concise assessment of the current state of the NHS when interviewed by Alastair  Campbell and Rory Stewart. In short, he stated the obvious,  namely that the NHS's resources do not and have rarely matched demand and that unless there was a radical reappraisal and reorganization of this the largest employer and organisation in Britain there could be no solution to the ever increasing problems facing the country’s most beloved institution. Surely Britain’s political leaders must understand that the only way to solve the most challenging institution is with a by-partisan approach. It is time to put Country before Party.

3. Singapore or Scandinavia:

The political arguments of the past 75 years as to what society Britain wants and what it should evolve into has produced nothing but stop-go policies with every change of government, as each one tries to reverse the policies of its predecessor. From extreme right Brexiteers to the extreme left socialism of Corbin's Labour party, Brits have endured a see-saw of philosophies that have produced increasing extremes between the North and South, the haves and the have nots,  Racism and Sexism that together have exacerbated division amongst its citizens in many cases resulting in a complete lack of hope for the future.

Is Britain, a small Island that has been gently and sometimes not so gently declining in power and influence going to understand that it needs a new model that its people want to participate in and that can maintain consistency over a period of time. It's time to choose between Singapore and Scandinavia.

4. Old or New Monarchy?: 

Almost every Brit mourned the passing of the Queen, surely one of the greatest women who has ever lived, but many now want to see the monarchy adapt to the 21st Century. As the Prince Of Wales, Charles  said he would be "Defender of Faith" and had the opportunity to confirm that when he ascended the Throne. Sadly he did not take that opportunity to assert himself and his beliefs and instead succumbed to the Church and the Palace by swearing his commitment to be "Defender of the Faith". If Britain is to survive as a Kingdom and embrace the changes necessary to become a modern, prosperous society then the Monarchy must change and adapt quickly. Charles should start by insisting that the "gong" system be reformed immediately. Dropping the word "Empire" from all honours is a pre-requisite to the reality that it is Britain but no longer "Great" Britain. The class system remains one of the relics of Victorian England and is an ongoing barrier to a society where there is truly equal opportunity and an end to the top hat-flat cap society of the past.

5. Correcting Brexit.

I remain a Brexiteer but am shocked by the lack of preparation that the Government and the Civil Service put in place during the 4 years after the referendum and before we left the EU. Britain is, for the time being still the 6th largest economy in the world and is therefore strong enough to forge its own path and future but the likes of the Foreign office and the Joint Chiefs must give up on the idea that Britain is a world power that can send its armed forces across the world. Government must concentrate its energy on providing good health, education and living standards for its people and agree a long-term plan to do so.

6. The North-South divide:

Is Levelling Up dead? Osborne's "Northern Powerhouse" was followed by Johnson's "levelling up" both of which got stuck soon after being launched. It is high time that action and not lip service be paid to the continuing North- South divide. In recent years, Governments have failed to deliver large projects either on time or on budget; 50 years on, the country is  still waiting for another runway at Heathrow. The HS2 project is already way over budget and behind schedule and there is about to be yet another review of it. It should be canceled and the £100 billion plus it will cost used to upgrade and modernize schools, hospitals and support new businesses in the Midlands and the North. Shaving 20 minutes off the trip from Euston to Birmingham is simply not good value for money.

7. Coming together:

The government needs to stop making enemies:  fighting Scotland, the Doctors and Nurses, Unions and the EU and start getting everyone on Board by doing deals that work. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher said as she entered Downing Street, "Where there is discord, may we bring harmony...."

Sadly,  much as she and her policies were loved by many, she was hated by many and neither she nor those who have followed her have succeeded in bringing any measure of harmony that is essential in any family, corporation or community to achieve success, peace and happiness. Instead, greed, personal ambition and tribal conflict dictate social, political and economic direction. 

    .       Is there anyone out there who will put the good of the people first??

[thedhongibaba]

*New Zealand Prime Minister resigned from the post in tears.* *Reason - no money, no job, economy is like a boat with no direction...* *Australia is also in the same situation... Reserves are kept, somehow it is managed.* *Prime Minister of Britain resigned within a month.* * America is in fear of the biggest economic recession.* *China is still reeling because of Corona.* *Now the whole European countries are scattered due to Russia Ukraine crisis..* *Most of our neighboring countries are bankrupt.* *Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka are all completely bankrupt and could't pay their employees. are struggling to float.*

Inspite of all this, only India is getting stronger day by day without shaking.* *Dozens of missile tests, modernization of the army, fast trains, huge projects that will shake the world, many expressways, highways that are being built in a way that is unheard of in the history of the nation, hundreds of projects that help the farmers and common people. Modi government is successfully implementing it. Every day in some part of the country, Modiji is dedicating one big project to the nation. *Projects are being completed at a rapid pace.* *So India will rule the world for the next 20-25 years.

*This is the achievement of an extraordinary person called Modi.. If Modiji was not present in these 8 years, India's situation would have deteriorated like most of the countries in the world. Engaged..*

I am a well-wisher of Mother India.

Send this to at least one person you think is a well-wisher.

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[mariacallous]

The United States made food security a top priority when it chaired the U.N. Security Council last month—and rightly so. Earth just experienced its hottest month in 120,000 years. Heat waves, droughts, and floods are killing off crops by the field full. Places such as Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Haiti are gripped by worsening famine. In a blow to global food security, Russia recently backed out of the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export millions of tons every month. The geopolitics of nature have ushered in an era of unprecedented instability, and the worst is yet to come, with this year’s El Niño season predicted to persist through 2024.

To solve our mounting global food crisis, world leaders must look not only to the land, but to the waters as well—and to the often-forgotten and underappreciated source of vital nutrition known as blue foods.

The term “blue foods” is shorthand for food that comes from marine and freshwater ecosystems—from tunas, pollock, and cod to shrimp and seaweeds. Political attention and funding of blue food initiatives remain significantly underrepresented in national and global food discussions, despite the immense contribution that blue foods make to the health of people and economies around the world.

Blue foods support the livelihoods of more than 800 million people and remain among the most traded global commodities. Nearly half of humanity depends on the food group as a significant source of animal protein, vital micronutrients, and cultural identity.

Though producing some blue foods may have an inherently lower environmental footprint relative to cattle and other land-based livestock, there is not an endless supply. In our oceans alone, roughly 92 percent of our wild-caught fish comes from stocks that can’t handle additional fishing pressure or have already been overfished. The picture isn’t better for migratory freshwater fish, which have declined on average by 76 percent since 1970. With the demand for blue foods projected to nearly double by 2050, the math simply doesn’t add up to a stable future. Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic species, is an important part of the solution, but it can’t backfill the collapse of ocean fish populations or insulate the global economy from its consequences.

While resource conflicts are commonly thought of as a land-based challenge—for example, disputes over oil, minerals, or forestry—conflict over marine natural resources has always existed.

One study found that during the Cold War, 25 percent of military conflicts between democracies were over fisheries—and they have only been increasing ever since. Since the 1990s, more than 150 international fishery conflicts involving militaries have occurred, and five countries have been involved in 40 percent of them, with China and Russia leading the chart.

In China, the world’s largest fishing power, whose population consumes almost twice the global average of seafood per capita, the fisheries economy generates nearly $200 billion annually and employs millions of people. As such, fish are a strategic and critical resource for Beijing, and China has increasingly used legislative, economic, and military means to access and control the global supplies of seafood over the past 35 years. In the Horn of Africa, the past three decades have been rocked by more than 600 conflicts that have disrupted livelihoods, killed hundreds of people, and contributed to rampant piracy that has threatened maritime security.

Climate change will exacerbate all these trends. Warming waters are impacting fish reproduction and forcing species to migrate at unprecedented levels, creating newly fish-rich and fish-poor places. In the next seven years alone, 23 percent of fish stocks connected to territorial waters will move—including in waters near Canada, Britain, Norway, Iceland, and Japan. There will be winners and losers because of these shifts, spurring heightened competition for scarce resources that will intensify conflict between communities and countries.

When fish become harder to find, so too will peace and security. Small-scale fishery conflicts destabilize coastal communities, contributing to environments that foster greater crime, food insecurity, and poverty. Internationally, the risk of escalation from small, relatively innocuous conflicts on our oceans is growing, particularly in regions already grappling with maritime conflicts over borders and resources. Labor and human rights abuses are also pervasive in blue food value chains—half of all blue foods come from countries that the U.S. government has identified as having high risk of human trafficking.

We still have time to prevent the escalation of conflict and human rights violations, particularly when conservation and natural resource management offer the opportunity for cooperative engagement and protection of blue food resources.

First, climate science, oceans science, and political science can pinpoint where the greatest conflict pressures will emerge in the future—five to 10 to 30 years out. With access to this high-quality data, governments can deliver a new era of refined early warning systems and maritime security and conservation planning. This kind of information also makes it easier to prioritize and safeguard areas where crucial habitats, such as spawning and nursing grounds, contribute to a sustainable blue food supply.

To effectively manage and protect these areas, we must design inclusive conservation strategies that prioritize the needs and voices of coastal Indigenous peoples and local communities that are often on the front line of the climate crisis. These communities are the most vulnerable to changes in the environment and are highly dependent on seafood, with 15 times higher consumption per capita than non-Indigenous communities, on average. And case studies have shown that an inclusive approach can be beneficial to all. In Indonesia, for example, community involvement and equitable governance led to more fish in protected areas than in nonprotected areas.

Second, we need to improve local and global fishing practices through science-based fishery management that proactively plans for the impacts of climate change by strengthening oversight to bring about more sustainable and responsible fisheries. Fisheries that regulate the amount and location of fishing efforts depending on the present or projected health of fish stocks will be better placed to handle future threats. These practices must extend to small-scale fisheries, which contribute about 32 percent of overall global seafood nutrient supply.

Third, aquaculture of noncarnivorous species should be scaled up to supplement the increased demand on fisheries, as wild-caught fish are a finite resource. Currently, developing countries supply nearly all of aquaculture, making it a critical source of food and income for them. But because they are strapped for resources, environmental protection and regulation is often a lower priority. Thus, policies that support effective zoning and permitting in lakes, rivers, and coastal regions need to be reformed to ensure that production does not exceed the carrying capacity of these natural habitats.

Fourth, seafood businesses around the world have a critical role to play. Companies that sell imported blue foods—which constitute more than 80 percent of the seafood sold in America—need to be responsible for sourcing blue foods that are produced more sustainably and ethically. With their market leverage, seafood companies have the opportunity and responsibility to encourage better management of their source fisheries and aquaculture farms. This is especially critical for smaller island nations such as Kiribati and Tokelau, whose economies are both heavily dependent on seafood exports and are on course to lose fish stocks due to climate change.

Fifth, existing frameworks and agreements, including the U.N.’s Agreement on Port State Measures, which was the first binding international agreement to specifically target illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, must be strengthened and modernized to address the shifting environmental realities facing blue foods. Additionally, the world’s major fishing powers, including the United States and China, should support sustainable fisheries in the global south by eliminating harmful subsidies; last year, they took a step in the right direction with the adoption of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.

Continued multilateral cooperation and support for area-based management—the effort toward protecting, conserving, and restoring ecosystems—has the potential to advance solutions as well. A strong example is the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor, a regional initiative led by Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama, that aims to create an uninterrupted, sustainably managed biological corridor across more than 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles).

Finally, we must catalyze robust partnerships across all sectors of society. Under U.S. President Joe Biden, the White House has convened private sector leaders around emerging challenges in strategic sectors, including semiconductors and artificial intelligence. The administration could similarly help rally U.S. and global seafood executives to source and supply the world with blue foods in a way that doesn’t squander the very resource that underwrites their business.

Blue foods aren’t a silver bullet—they’re a strategic commodity. When the bounty is plentiful, it can sustain hundreds of millions of livelihoods and billions of lives; when blue foods become scarce, it can drag communities, nations, and entire regions into violent conflict. The actions that the global community takes in the coming months and years will determine which path we take.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.27 (after 1940)

1944 – World War II: German forces capture Banská Bystrica during Slovak National Uprising thus bringing it to an end. 1954 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force. 1958 – Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed by General Ayub Khan, who had been appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier. 1961 – NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1. 1962 – Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down over Cuba by a Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile. 1962 – By refusing to agree to the firing of a nuclear torpedo at a US warship, Vasily Arkhipov averts nuclear war. 1964 – Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of the Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launches his political career and comes to be known as "A Time for Choosing". 1967 – Catholic priest Philip Berrigan and others of the 'Baltimore Four' protest the Vietnam War by pouring blood on Selective Service records. 1971 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire. 1979 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom. 1981 – Cold War: The Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden. 1986 – The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang. 1988 – Cold War: Ronald Reagan suspends construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow due to Soviet listening devices in the building structure. 1991 – Turkmenistan achieves independence from the Soviet Union. 1992 – United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay, precipitating debate about gays in the military that results in the United States' "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy. 1993 – Widerøe Flight 744 crashes near Overhalla, Norway, killing six people. 1994 – Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified. 1995 – Former Prime Minister of Italy Bettino Craxi is convicted in absentia of corruption. 1997 – The 1997 Asian financial crisis causes a crash in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. 1999 – Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing the Prime Minister and seven others. 2014 – Britain withdraws from Afghanistan at the end of Operation Herrick, after 12 years four months and seven days. 2017 – Catalonia declares independence from Spain. 2018 – A gunman opens fire on a Pittsburgh synagogue killing 11 and injuring six, including four police officers. 2018 – Leicester City F.C. owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha dies in a helicopter crash along with four others after a Premier League match against West Ham United at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, England. 2019 – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi kills himself and three children by detonating a suicide vest during the U.S. military Barisha raid in northwestern Syria.

[heartofstanding]

And whatever they’ve been thinking, there was no need to worry about it because everything is fine (or excluded from the narrative).

Yeah, I think she went for “Bad Boy ‘Cause He’s Wearing a Leather Jacket” John Holland (his first murder is excluded from the narrative, the second is part of it but is just kinda “he shouldn’t be punished for it! Because I love him, Daddy!” (it was her Elizabeth of Lancaster book, her Joan book finishes with Richard’s coronation iirc).

That’s very true. The Glyn Dwr kids are hardly ever talked about - perhaps because we don’t really know what happened to them, perhaps because we don’t really want to know or care what happened to them (I use “we” in a general sense). The Mortimer boys are really glossed over -- there’s an argument that Edmund Mortimer was deliberately presented as incompetent and stupid, to make him seem less of a viable alternative to the Lancastrians, and people just tend to accept it at face value.

Yeah, though I feel if you wanted to write a grand historical romance about Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, you’d focus it on their first meeting and marriage and not on her confinement so much. There’s still plenty of historical drama happening then, too, it’s not like you’ve got to choose between the Interesting History or the Romance with them. I do get so bored of novels that are spend like 10 words on the birth of a child and their upbringing until the Big Bad is like “I shall threaten this child” and the narrative then demands that the heroine is totally driven by the kid they hardly noticed before.

I’m also not a big fan of the idea that France, a massive colonial and imperial power of its own, is often presented as the colonised subject in these production? Not all of them do that (iirc, the ESC productions present them both as imperialist) but it just seems bizarre to present France as such. It makes more sense to present Henry V as a play within a play, as you say, where it can sit next to imperialist Britain. I’d forgot about the London Blitz production but I’ve imagined a production that could sit beside the Franklin Expedition or the Black War between the Tasmanian Aboriginals and British colonialists or in the trenches of World War I, and offer a critique of empire through that but they just go for the “war bad :( Henry V worse :(” reading.

The thing that bugs me about the readings on Henry V and propaganda is that a lot of it draws from England’s Empty Throne by Paul Strohm and, specifically, the way Strohm talks about the Oldcastle revolt and the Southampton plot were depicted in after the fact renderings of the event as though they were cooked up by Henry himself. Strohm himself doesn’t actually say that the plots were entirely invented by Henry, only that they appear so in the accounts - but a lot of people take that to mean that maybe they were totally faked so Henry could wipe out his enemies, show himself to be a strong ruler and leave England secure. It’s so, so, so stupid. Like, if Henry had cooked up the Southampton Plot, he wouldn’t have done it on the eve of when he was meant to leave for France on his very expensive first military campaign where failure would likely result in a crisis in his reign?

There is a bizarre thing too where we tend to read our view of war back onto the medieval population and there’s no consideration of the way how our view of war were formed by the traumas of two World Wars, the anti-war demonstrations the Vietnam War inspired and the hollowness of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m not sure I can unpack this thought entirely - it’s not that there weren’t anti-war sentiments in 15th century England but that their idea of warfare was less... sharply divided as ours?

The Queen’s Choice by Anne O’Brien

The Queen’s Choice is a pretty average novel, with some good tidbits and some things that got under my skin. But it’s main problems aren’t bad history (though there is some of that), but bad writing. It has the same problem that a lot of historical fiction in the vein of Philippa Gregory has, where the heroine of the novel is not necessarily present at a lot of historically significant moments. The way to counteract this problem is by making her the focus of her own plot, so we aren’t left with nothing but a conspicuous absence. The Queen’s Choice goes in the opposite direction– almost every important plot element happens off screen. Even the choice the novel is named for happens only in exposition. Joanna’s imprisonment happens after a six year time skip, so it truly comes out of nowhere. The battle of Shrewsbury, the execution of Archbishop Scrope, most of Henry and Joanna’s marriage takes place in letters or single sentences that get cast aside. It conveys, perhaps more than Anne O’Brien intended, that Joanna was a Queen with nothing to do and no importance. Which makes it increasingly laughable every time Joanna is praised for her political knowledge and ability to give good counsel, when we never see her express either attribute and she gets shot down whenever she tries. This Joanna is ironically far less active than any of the information about her indicates, and her characterisation is too flat to give her any other impact.

To put it frankly, it reads like fanfiction– not just because it’s an easy read, but because it feels like a companion piece, the kind of fic you write about a side character you like but who isn’t very involved in the main plot. If you don’t already know this time period in depth, you won’t have any idea what is going on. 

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