#pakistani officials

[runawaymarbles]

This BBC reporter on NPR right now is making me actually want to hurl

[penthesilia]

British Healthcare workers don't be raging bigots for two seconds challenge

[tabileaks]

T20 World Cup, Surprising Confession from Haris: Saim, Azam, Afridi, Usman | Tabi Leaks

[archiveofliterature]

that one line about ramy's bangla being rudimentary made me absolutely sob (i'm bengali) and i wanna talk about why

there's so much to it both contextually with ramy's character as well as historically. contextually because ramy is fluent in 6 languages, an insane number of languages for one person but none of which are his mother tongue. he's described as a performer, one who knows he can't blend in so instead he stands out as a means to escape as much of the racism as he can. he gets lost in it that he almost forgets who he is; this is reflected in his language ability too – he gets so lost in his linguistic academics he just barely remembers the native language of his home place that he adores.

and honestly, you can't even really blame ramy for it at all when it was induced. it's the british who saw urdu, arabic and persian as more valuable than bangla, it's the british that make ramy put on this act so he can literally stay alive. and when you know the historical relevancies between urdu and bangla, it hurts so much that ramy was forced to forget bangla

very brief history context: after the partition, where british india was split into india, pakistan and east pakistan (now bangladesh) bangla was seen as inferior to urdu due to its hindu connections. bengalis experienced so much shit because of this (and bengali muslims are still dealing with the internalised cultural racism today honestly). pakistanis tried to make the official language urdu, even though literally everyone in east pakistan were bengali and spoke bangla, so bengalis fought back against it. we still celebrate that day today (feb 21)

so to have ramy be in this position in the 1830s where urdu was seen as superior to bangla, especially when ramy is a bengali muslim, is just extremely accurate?? and maybe it's bc we don't have much western literature where we talk about this but it's just so nice to have it acknowledged

the bangla language movement didn't happen until around the 1950s, over a century after babel's timeline, but the seeds are always there. while i do think it comes with both this islamic superiority tendency a lot of asians have (arabs i'm looking at you) and britian's imperialistic racism, i just love how it all makes sense

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Dawn is Pakistani Private Media]

The heinous killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh risks tipping the Middle East into “wider conflict”, the chair of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) told a meeting on Wednesday.

The comments from Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara came as a senior Iranian official said during the meeting that the Islamic republic would need to defend itself from Israel, which it blames for Haniyeh’s death last week in Tehran.

Iranian and Palestinian officials called for Wed­nesday’s gathering of the 57-member OIC in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, saying the body needed to respond to the killing of the Hamas leader.[...]

Haniyeh’s killing “will not quell the Palestinian cause but rather it amplifies it, underscoring the urgency for justice and human rights for the Pales­tinian people”, [Tangara] said. “The sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states are fundamental principles underpinning the international order.

“Respecting these principles has profound implications and their violation equally carries significant consequences.”[...]

“Currently, in the absence of any appropriate action by the (UN) Security Council against the aggressions and violations of the Israeli regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to use its inherent right to legitimate defence against the aggressions of this regime,” Ali Bagheri, Iran’s acting foreign minister, told the OIC.

[NewStraitsTimes is Malaysian Private Media]

Malaysia has proposed four key measures to support the Palestinian cause, including the establishment of a group of eminent persons tasked with assessing and identifying measures to implement the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) Advisory Opinion.[...]

He said the measures emphasised the need to expand global support for Palestine, leveraging the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) rulings and the unity achieved by Palestinian factions through the Beijing Declaration.

"Such measures should focus on universal jurisdiction and ensure the consistent application of international law," he stated during the meeting in Jeddah, yesterday.

Second, Malaysia called for the reinstatement of the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid.

The primary task of this committee would be to halt the illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories (OPT) by Israel and to address the apartheid policies imposed on Palestinians, he added.

Third, Malaysia proposed that the OIC, in collaboration with like-minded countries, request a resumed session of the 10th Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the Issue of Palestine.

"This suggestion is to discuss the means and ways to implement or "give effect" to the ICJ's Advisory Opinion.

"Finally, we should extend our undivided support and fully assist, in the rebuilding of the Palestinian economy and livelihood post-conflict. This is a key step that would ease their return to normalcy," Mohamad said.

Following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who also led Hamas' political bureau, Malaysia called for a concerted effort to counter Israeli propaganda and misinformation.

"Malaysia has always been a strong advocate for peace and stability. As much as we condemn the assassination, we urge all parties to restraint, to avoid escalating the situation into a regional and global crisis.

"The attack in Tehran could well be an attempt to derail the ongoing peace negotiations in the Middle East.

"We should not fall into their trap. Cool heads must prevail. We should support the continuation of the peace process to be resolved at the negotiating table. Diplomacy is the way to go," he noted.[...]

According to [Turkish State Media] Anadolu Agency (AA), the world body also urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to impose an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire on Israeli aggression and "ensure adequate and sustainable access to humanitarian aid throughout Gaza Strip."

7 Aug 24

[kaalbela]

Abbas Attar's photographs of Dhaka on December 16, 1971: when the Pakistani Armed Forces finally surrendered to Mukti Bahini, ending the nine-month Liberation War and 1971 Bangladesh genocide and marking the official secession of East Pakistan to become the new state of Bangladesh. Bangladesh commemorates this day as Victory Day (বিজয় দিবস) to honour the martyrs who laid their lives down in the war.

[purplesimmer455]

Kyung Mi and Iseul catch up, and Kyung Mi grins at Iseul. "What do you say we go out to dinner at this Pakistani restaurant nearby? It has some amazing food," she says and Iseul nods. "Sure, I'd like that." She says. "So," Kyung Mi starts casually. "Are you seeing anyone?" Iseul grins. "Well, kind of. Megs and I reconnected a couple years ago when my niece Cam started dating her niece Piper. And after a while we realized our feelings towards each other and we're taking a year or so to sort out our lives but after we'll start dating officially." She says. Kyung Mi can't stop herself from scoffing and Iseul gives her a surprised look. "What?" She asks. "Nothing," Kyung Mi says, biting her lip.

Kyung Mi gathers her courage. "It's just that you've been wrapped around Megan’s finger for so long. I know you were in love with her when you were 18, but we're all in our 40s now, don't you think you should move on?" She says in a rush and Iseul ’s face flushes. "It's not like that. I love her and she loves me, and its not the same as it was before." Iseul says, trying to keep the defensiveness out of her voice. Kyung Mi sighs. "I'm sorry Is, I just don't want you to get hurt." She says and Iseul sighs too. "I know, Mimi. I spent way too long pining after Megs instead of going after her when I could, but we had a long talk and we're both serious about this." She says and Kyung Mi nods.

In game, Kyung Mi tried to ask a risqué question but Iseul wasn't having it and they both got so embarrassed. 😅

[milfstalin]

[...]

Ultimately, this story about Pakistan is more properly understood as one about the contest between China and the U.S. that pits the rest of the world in the middle. Chinese officials, we learned, regularly told their Pakistani counterparts that Beijing doesn’t see the contest as zero sum, that it’s okay to be friendly with both major powers. The U.S. does not quite see it that way, and Pakistan knows it. The result is the story below. If you’re at all interested in foreign affairs, we think you’ll find this one enlightening.

[...]

In October of 2022, a pivotal year for Pakistan, military chief Qamar Javed Bajwa finally won what he had long been striving for: an official state trip to the United States. His mission was explicit; a document prepared for Bajwa ahead of the visit is titled, “U.S. Re-Engagement with Pakistan: Ideas for Reviving an Important Relationship.”

[...]

From New York, Munir Akram, Pakistan’s representative to the United Nations, began reporting back cables highlighting “sarcastic” comments from his Chinese counterpart, who openly tweaked Akram about Pakistan’s sudden swing toward Washington. In private conversations with their Pakistani counterparts over the past year, as reported by Pakistani diplomats, Chinese officials have expressed displeasure with Islamabad for “switching camps”—rather than merely seeking open relations with both countries.

Now, with their U.S. gamble failing to pay off, Pakistani officials have become increasingly frantic in their efforts to repair relations with China, including, asthe documents reveal, by granting China approval for a military base at the port of Gwadar—a major and longstanding strategic demand of Beijing—and authorizing joint military operations inside Pakistan.

[...]

Internal reports emphasize Pakistan’s wish that its relations with the U.S. and China not be “zero-sum.” “What the Pakistani military prefers is to be able to maintain a balance between their Chinese and U.S. military relationships,” said Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute and an analyst on Pakistan. “They believe that if things are balanced, both sides will have an incentive to keep relations strong.”

Despite this preference, a classified internal Pakistani intelligence assessment judges China to be a more “natural strategic ally” than the U.S., with whom Pakistan is deemed to share “limited” strategic interests.

Facing such loss of trust from a key ally, the documents also show that Pakistan’s military-backed government privately promised Beijing a long-coveted concession: a Chinese military base in the key port city of Gwadar. Gwadar is a key node in China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative—the last stop in a land corridor through Pakistan that would connect China’s economy westward, and make it less reliant on shipping transit in the South China Sea. 

In return, Pakistan asked for a major upgrade in economic and military assistance from Beijing in order to insulate Islamabad from the fierce reaction from the U.S. such a deal is expected to provoke.

[...]

This August, Pakistani government sources vented frustration to the media over their failed reconciliation with the U.S., lamenting the meager benefits that mending ties had brought. Government sources told the Express Tribune that “Pakistan’s reliance on the United States to secure the IMF package was not yielding the results.” This week, the IMF announced a decision to consider Pakistan’s loan request at an upcoming meeting slated for September 25, raising hopes that a deal may still be secured.

Pakistan’s private concessions to China come as the U.S. State Department has continued to publicly defend the military regime from criticism over its role in rigging elections this February, gross human rights abuses inside the country targeting the press and civil society, and an ongoing crackdown on supporters of now-imprisoned former Prime Minister Khan. That crackdown now includes credible threats to Khan’s life, as he continues to be held in government custody despite repeated rejection by the courts of the charges against him.

“We believe good governance, long-term capacity building, and sustainable market-based approaches that let the private sector flourish are the best paths to sustained growth and development,” the State Department told Drop Site News in its post-publication statement. “Our partnership with Pakistan spans the full range of regional and bilateral issues, including increasing trade and investment, strengthening security cooperation, promoting regional security and stability, building climate resilience, supporting democracy and human rights, and expanding people-to-people ties.”

The rigging of elections this February was met with general indifference in Washington, as has the ongoing suppression of press and political activism in the country.  On the economic front, Pakistan’s imploding economy has consumed Western aid with nothing to show for it but soaring inflation, blackouts, an internet slowed to a crawl, and joblessness. 

18 Sept 2024

[argumate]

Many issues with your response:

1) the grooming gangs do, in fact, encompass the entire Pakistani community. Even the Pakis who didn’t individually rape were involved in the protection and coverup of those who did. There are no Pakistanis who were not involved, there are none who did not fully endorse it. You can prove me wrong simply by finding one Paki speaking out against it, but you can’t because it doesn’t exist. You’re probably going to say some retarded shit like “how is that different from collectively blaming White people for xyz racism” and the answer is that it’s different because the situation is different. When I say “the entire Pakistani community” that’s not some exaggeration or generalization, it is a factual statement of the status of ALL of them. 83% of those prosecuted for Group Localised Child Sexual Exploitation between 1997 and 2017 are Muslim. 84% are asian (in the UK sense) and 8% are black, only 7% are White. The UK as a whole is 82% White. These statistics are staggering, it goes beyond per capita. This community raped with the consent, knowledge, and endorsement of the UK government and police. It was officially endorsed.

2) in many ways, we do limit the amount of cars made. To be more specific, we strictly enforce what type of car is made. Cars as a whole may be built more, but specific types of cars are not. The amount of cars made without seatbelts or airbags was reduced down to zero, the amount of used cars on the road was greatly reduced by the Cash For Clunkers program (Obama did that by the way, so you should like it). The equivalent would be if we had unlimited mass migration but only of White people, with strict immigration restrictions against subhuman brown cockroach vermin like Pakis or Indians. Did you know cars also have immigration restrictions? If you buy a foreign car outside the country which doesn’t comply with United States EPA regulations, there is a 25 year ban before you can bring it into the country. If I went to Germany right now and bought e.g. a 2010 VW Beetle, I would not be allowed to bring it home to the United States. I would need to buy a 2010 VW Beetle specifically manufactured for US dealerships. The equivalent to that would be if Muslims were allowed in the west, but only if they were extremely orientalist White people who arrived at Biblical unitarianism and decided to convert of their own volition.

3) Rotherham is merely the case I first heard of, and it struck such a chord with me. It was a formative experience to learn of it. Rotherham is to me as the Japanese dislike spicy food lady is to you. I cannot forget Rotherham ever, so I constantly bring it up. But Rotherham is NOT the only one. It’s not one little anecdote. Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford, Halifax, Aylesbury, Banbury, Bristol, Derby, Huddersfield, Manchester, Newcastle, Peterborough, Telford, West Yorkshire, all are places with the same story. Mass rape, same perpetrators, same victims, full knowledge of police and government, light sentencing if any for the perpetrators, punishment for natives who speak out, same exact fucking story. That’s just in one tiny little island country. This is what I mean when I say “the purpose is to spread Rotherhams across the globe.” At this stage it's pretty safe to say that brown pedophiles are some of the most effective footsoldiers of the new regime, and that child rape is actually a deliberate tool of social engineering.

4) Your human freedom point is nonsensical. To put it in a cutesy metaphor (and I know you love those): your rights to have your hand in a fist end where my rights to have a face begin. What human freedom was given to the girls in Rotherham? What human freedom was given to Natalie Shotter? Where was the human freedom in Rochdale, Oxford, Halifax, Aylesbury, Banbury, Bristol, Derby, Huddersfield, Manchester, Newcastle, Peterborough, Telford, or West Yorkshire? You’re in the USA. What human freedom was given to Laken Riley? What human freedom was given to Reagan Tokes? What human freedom was given to the Central Park five victims? What human freedom was given to Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña (she was Hispanic, you can at least mourn her)? Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. You believe that the White victims of these crimes are non-human, or at least subhuman, because they are middle class and liberal and insufficiently radical, so their brutalization is “human freedom” while drinking from a separate water fountain is a violation of human dignity. What human freedom was given to those left behind in Rosedale? Do you even know what “Left Behind In Rosedale” means? How about “Race War In High School” or “White Girl Bleed A Lot?” I tell you about these things and you don’t listen. I listen to you, I respond to you, you don’t even know what I’m referring to right now.

5) As is typical in our discussions, I dutifully answer all the little hypotheticals and questions you throw my way while you weasel and dance around everything I ask you. Let me re-ask my questions. You can ignore every other point I raised and just answer this last part: Would you have supported any policies that would have prevented Rotherham before it happened? What policies? If you knew the future, would you support immigration restriction, or is mass widespread sexual abuse a fair price worth paying for unlimited immigration? If yes, why? If no, at what level of bad behavior does immigration restriction become acceptable?

I don't think the policies required to protect children from abuse relate to immigration, and those same policies would be needed in the absence of immigration.

(also enough with the collective responsibility stuff; there are heaps of things that I haven't publicly spoken out about -- only so many hours in a day -- but that hardly means I endorse them).

[beardedmrbean]

The gunman who nearly killed former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month used encrypted messaging accounts on multiple platforms based in Belgium, New Zealand and Germany, according to a House representative appointed to a congressional task force investigating the assassination attempt.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., a retired Green Beret appointed to the 13-member House bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of Trump, told reporters about the accounts while at the Trump Hotel Chicago Wednesday.

One reporter asked Waltz what he and other members of the task force had learned during the investigation and about the encrypted messages on the shooter's cellphone.

"We still haven’t learned a lot. We haven’t learned that much about those overseas accounts," he said, referring to accounts held by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks. "We do know that they were in, if I get this correctly, Belgium, New Zealand and Germany. 

"Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted platforms not even based in the United States, but based abroad, where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into? That’s a question I’ve had since day one."

The representative then turned his attention to the FBI and Secret Service, bashing them for not saying a thing until they complete their investigations months from now.

"They need to be releasing information as they come across it, because this wasn’t an isolated incident," Waltz said. "The threats are continually Iran’s threats."

Waltz then cited an alleged plot that was foiled regarding a Pakistani national who paid off hitmen to kill Trump and other U.S. officials.

The New York Post reported that the FBI is scheduled to brief members of the task force on Wednesday, which Waltz said he hopes will provide insight into the "ridiculously flawed" security detail at the Trump campaign in Butler on July 13, 2024.

Both the FBI and Secret Service are conducting their own investigations into the assassination attempt, as is the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.

On the evening of the rally, Crooks opened fire on the main stage, grazing Trump’s ear with a bullet. Crooks also killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore, 50, and wounded 57-year-old David Dutch and 54-year-old James Copenhaver.

[adropofhumanity]

British-Pakistani writer, political activist and public intellectual Tariq Ali has criticised the United States for its role in a rescue operation on Saturday that has resulted in the death of over 274 Palestinians.

"The involvement of US and UK troops in this latest operation is a sign of the times," Ali wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On Saturday, the rescue of four Israeli captives from Gaza in a special operation on Saturday made headlines around the world and saw an outpouring of praise from international leaders.

What none of them mentioned, however, was the hundreds of Palestinians who were killed by Israelis during the operation. The Palestinian government media office in Gaza said the death toll from Israel's attack reached at least 274, with 698 more wounded.

One eyewitness told Middle East Eye that the attack on Nuseirat refugee camp left "dead children and body parts strewn all over", while health officials said the sheer number of casualties was at risk of overwhelming the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.

[darkmaga-returns]

Achallenge of describing Britain’s grooming gang scandal for an international audience is convincing the reader that it really happened and is not simply the product of a morbid fantasy.

This is not just because the crimes at its heart—those crimes being the rape and torture of young girls—are so appalling. They are, of course, but appalling crimes happen everywhere, becoming no less evil for their pervasiveness. Nor is it not just because the crimes took place on such a vast scale. In Rotherham alone, in South Yorkshire, there might have been 1,500 victims. It is also because the authorities—police officers, social workers and politicians—failed so miserably and wickedly to prevent them.

In Rotherham, and Rochdale, and Telford, and many, many other places, evil men raped vulnerable girls with impunity while the officials looked the other way (and, in some cases, actively helped). How could this have happened? It is partly because the perpetrators were disproportionately of migrant heritage. A striking number of them were ethnically Pakistani. Most—though not all—of their victims were white girls, which, judging by the vicious comments that have been reported, had a lot to do with anti-white racism. “All white girls are good for is sex,” one rapist reportedly told his victim, “They are just slags.”

Local authorities were uncomfortable about digging into claims of young girls being raped on the grounds of political correctness. In Telford, for example, according to an independent report, authorities feared “complaints of racism”.

[stephensmithuk]

The Sign of Four: The Story of the Bald-Headed Man

The Victorians were rather into what is known as chinoiserie, the European imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions, although the popularity had somewhat peaked by this point.

The stethoscope had been invented in France in 1816 by René Laennec and the two-ear version was commercially available from 1852. The practice before and without one - see A Study in Scarlet - was to listen to the chest by applying your ear directly too. This was a bit awkward when dealing with a woman, the reason Laennec invented it in the first place.

We've seen Tokay before, in "The Last Bow".

Since tobacco came to Europe, there have been people who couldn't stand the smell. James I of England/James VI of Scotland wrote A Counterblaste to Tobacco in 1604, one of the earliest anti-smoking works. He would impose an import tax on tobacco, then later made it a royal monopoly.

It was also considered taboo to spoke in front of women for much of this period; hence the use of smoking rooms. It was also seen as unladylike for a woman to smoke at all; if she did, it evoked an image of prostitution. Unless you were working class, in which case women widely smoked.

Hookah comes from the Hindustani word "huqqa". Hindustani is also known as Hindi-Urdu; Hindi being the Devanagari-written version used in India and Urdu the Pakistani version written in the Persian alphabet. Both countries have tried to make their two versions somewhat distinct; Hindustani is not used in official terminilogy in either. In speech, the two are pretty much mutually intelligible, if you keep things simple.

The hookah remains popular in South Asia and the Middle East; smoking is not specifically prohibited in the Quran, but in recent decades, a number of very prominent clerics have declared it haram (forbidden). In much of Europe and North America, indoor smoking bans cover hookahs, places that offer them have had to switch to tobacco-free version.

In any event, hookah smoking is really bad for your health - you're basically inhaling the equivalent of 100-200 cigarettes in a single session.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was a French realist painter. Works of his can be found in the Louvre and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, among various other galleries.

Pondicherry, which we've seen mentioned before, is a city on the south-east coast of what is now India; it was a French territory at the time - the British had taken it more than once, but returned to them each time, the last time in 1814.

The lightweight division of boxing today covers weights of 130 to 135 pounds. The current British lightweight champion is James Tennyson, but he has not fought a professional bout since a technical knockout to Jovanni Straffon in 2021.

Agra, located in Uttar Pradesh, is best known as the location of the Taj Mahal, built on the orders of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan between 1631 and 1653 as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal after her death in childbirth in 1631. He is also buried there himself.

£500,000 in 1888 would be the equivalent of over £54m at 2024 values. Not a bad chunk of change.

[vacuouslyfalse]

Blowback season 4 presents two versions of the Osama Bin Laden assassination.

The official version: US intelligence tracks Al-Qaeda couriers, locates Bin Laden, doesn't tell Pakistan, and kills him.

The Blowback version: a senior Pakistani intelligence official leaks Bin Laden's whereabouts in exchange for the reward money, the US cuts a deal with Pakistan of some sort, and kills him.

I don't know which of these stories is true, nor do I particularly care. However, one thing that is consistent in both stories (explicit in the latter and only implied in the former) is that Pakistan absolutely knew where Bin Laden was and was sheltering him.

One of the major themes of the podcast (and frankly, other stuff I've read about the war in Afghanistan) is that Pakistan was more or less working at cross purposes with the US for the entire war despite being an ostensible ally, and basically everyone knew this.

[scotianostra]

Happy 87th Birthday Ronald Grant Browne born 20th August 1937 in Edinburgh, Ronnie is a founder member of The Corries.

Born to John Albert 'Bertie' Browne, a truck driver, and Anne 'Nancy' Browne. He was raised in Edinburgh. Aside from singing, Browne's other abilities are painting, sketching and rugby, having once played as a winger for his secondary school Boroughmuir. He met Roy Williamson on the rugby field, as Williamson had played as a winger also for Boroughmuir's rivals Edinburgh Wanderers.

This led to meeting multi-instrumentalist Bill Smith at Edinburgh College of Art in 1955 and the formation of the Corrie Folk Trio in 1962. The group was expanded the following year with the addition of female singer Paddie Bell. Shortly after releasing three albums in 1965, Bell left to begin a solo career. With the departure of Smith, the following year, Browne and Williamson continued to perform as a duo now known as The Corries.

Browne and Williamson were regular performers on Scottish television shows and movies and in 1983 received an International Film and Television Festival gold award for their Scottish Television series, "The Corries & Other Folk". The 1996 film The Bruce features Browne's rendition of the Williamson-penned Flower of Scotland at the end. Browne appeared in the film playing the role of Maxwell The Minstrel.

Since Williamson's death in 1990, Browne continued to perform and record in the spirit of the Corries. He regularly led the singing of Flower of Scotland, de facto national anthem of Scotland, for the Scotland national rugby and football teams. During his performances, he was known to yell "COME ON!" to the audience during the opening line of the song he was singing and this has often been parodied by the BBC Hogmanay sketch show Only an Excuse?. As of 27 April 2015, Browne announced that due to emotional breakdowns during performances, he has put an end to singing in public.

Browne is now an accomplished portrait artist.

Browne met and fell in love with Patricia Elliott during secondary school, and the two married on 30 June 1959. Together they had two biological children: Gavin John and Lauren Anne Violet and one adopted son: Maurice Walter.

Gavin Browne is the eldest of the three, and has run The Corries Official Website since 1997.

Ronnie and Pat were married for 53 years until Pat died due to cancer in 2012.

Scotland the Brave Corries humourous version

Land o' the purple heather Land o' the dirty weather Land where the midges gather, Scotland The Brave Land o' the Pakistanis Andy Capp and Saturday sannies Land where they sell their grannies, Scotland The Brave Used to say in faither’s day You could hear the bagpipes play But now you hear the regal tones o' Elton John and The Rolling Stones Land that is full o' stinkers Wee fat Jews and VP drinkers Whisky put a lot o' stinkers into Scottish graves

Land that is full o' skivers Comic singers, deep sea divers Turbans on our bus condrivers, Scotland The Brave Land o' the brutal Bobbies Councilors wi' part-time jobbies Architects with paying hobbies, Scotland The Brave The tourists come here every year To see all our historic gear But all they see is loads o' navvies, high rise flats wi' concrete lavvies Land o' the artic' lorries Andy Stewart and the Corries Land where everybody borries, Scotland The Brave

Land o' the kilt and sporan Underneath there's nothin' worn!How I wish the wind was warm! Scotland The Brave I must admit it's pretty gruesome Walking about wi' your frozen twosome! It's all we've got - we mustn't lose 'em - Scotland The Brave Conservatives try to assure us Labour's hard-put to endure us The Kirk puts curbs on our enjoyment, government makes unemployment Never mind the day is near When independence will be here! We’ll drink a toast in younger’s beer to Scotland The Brave!

[alanshemper]

Bradley Simpson, October 28, 2023

Washington’s commitment to dismissing allegations of mass murder and atrocities carried out by its diplomatic friends was bipartisan and enduring. When Pakistan launched a war in 1971 to prevent the secession of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, killing hundreds of thousands, President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger stood by the Pakistani military and sought to suppress or discredit reporting on the horrific civilian toll, leading to a low-level revolt by US embassy officials in Pakistan. Following the US-backed overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973, and again following a US-backed military coup in Argentina in 1976, Nixon and later Gerald Ford administration officials publicly denied contemporary press, church, and human rights accounts of tens of thousands arrested, murdered, and tortured, accusing regime opponents of being pro-communist.