UKIP and Ukraine.

Bear with me, there is a point here.

On Maundy Thursday (17/4/14) representatives of the US, Russia, the European Union (EU) and the government of Kiev met in Geneva, Switzerland. There they drew up an agreement to stabilise the situation in Ukraine. That can be read via the link below but its main points were that all illegal protests such as building occupations must end, all illegal groups must be disarmed and all expressions of extremism, racism and religious intolerance including anti-Semitism must cease; http://eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2014/140417_01_en.pdf

The problem was that the signing of the Geneva agreement was immediately followed by the four day Easter weekend which meant that in a heavily Christian country like Ukraine very little got done. As a result nothing much at all happened. There was an incident on the Saturday (19/4/14) in which five people were killed at a checkpoint near Slaviansk that was manned by a militia opposed to the Kiev government but that is the sort of thing that happens when there are too many hotheads running around with assault rifles and why most people are trying to calm the situation. On the Tuesday (22/4/14) two bodies including one of a member of the Fatherland Party which makes up the government in Kiev were discovered in a river in Donetsk which prompted the Kiev government to announce that it would resume its military operation against militias in the east of the country but failed to indicate when this would take place.

The absence of anything significant actually happening did not stop US Secretary of State John Kerry giving a high-profile televised address on the situation in Ukraine on the one week anniversary of the Geneva agreement (24/4/14). Although this address seemed predominately aimed at a South East Asian audience while US President Obama was visiting the region and had a strong subtext of the US' "Pivot Towards the Pacific" policy and associated Rihanna operation Kerry declared - without offering evidence - that the Kiev government were completely upholding the Geneva agreement while the Russians were breaking by sending special forces into eastern Ukraine. As punishment the US would work with the EU over following days to draw up fresh sanctions against Russia.

Kerry's speech was the diplomatic equivalent of pouring gasoline onto a fire and the situation in Ukraine quickly and dramatically worsened. Clearly spurred on by Kerry's comments the Kiev government resumed it's military operation on Friday (25/4/14) resulting in the deaths of two Ukrainians opposed to the Kiev government. This prompted Russia to launch military training manoeuvres within Russia on the border with Ukraine in order to offer a deterrent to prevent the Kiev government going too far. On Sunday (27/4/14) several thousand pro-Kiev Ultras from Dnipro and Metalist football clubs attacked several hundred anti-Kiev protesters in Kharkiv leaving 15 people injured including two police officers. On Monday (28/4/14) Gennady Kernes the Mayor of Kharkiv - Ukraine's second largest city - was shot whilst out jogging and remains in hospital fighting for his life. On Tuesday (29/4/14) several thousand anti-Kiev protesters assembled outside government buildings including the main police station in Luhansk and quickly seized the buildings after the police defected without a fight.

On Monday - Holocaust Memorial day - the US announced that it would be punishing Russia by imposing sanctions against seven Russian government officials and seventeen Russian companies. Later in the day the EU announced that it would be joining the US in imposing sanctions against the seven individuals. Although this spilt indicates that the US is far from enjoying universal support for its campaign against Russia I am disgusted that the EU would even entertain the idea of supporting the current Kiev government let alone punishing Russia for opposing it. For example on Sunday members of  Ukraine's Svoboda (Freedom) Party of which Kiev's vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Sych and Prosecutor General Oleh Maknitskyi are prominent members held a rally in Lviv celebrating Nazi Germany's Waffen SS and it's role in the Holocaust. This should be morally repellent to all and most certainly represents a clear violation of the Geneva agreement which specifically forbids expressions of anti-Semitism.

The way that the EU has been able to overlook this clear fascism from the Kiev government actually touches on something that is a big issue in the EU and the UK in particular in the run-up to the May 27th (27/5/14) EU elections - the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).

Despite only having been formed a few years ago and being a single issue party about the UK's relationship with the EU UKIP have seen their popularity surge in recent years with them expected to do very well at the EU elections. This rise has of course meant that UKIP has been taking support away from the more established parties such as the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrat Parties. As a result those established parties have joined together to mount a covert smear campaign against UKIP aimed at labelling them as racists and lunatics. In short the UKIP are being likened to the fascist and Neo-Nazi British National Party (BNP) that the UK worked very hard to get elected at the last round of EU elections.

The problem is that while some of their junior members may well hold racist views UKIP is not a racist party and is most certainly not fascist nor Neo-Nazi. Instead it is entirely focused on the UK's relationship with an EU that is overwhelming white. The reason why UKIP campaign so heavily on the immigration issue is because it is a very overt and easy to understand element of the EU's desire for rapid expansion and the free movement of people that comes with it.

The plan behind the EU's free movement of people policy is just that it allows people to move freely between member states for work. This is obviously very attractive to newer, poorer EU members because they can travel to richer member states and charge what is to them a small fortune for doing the same job they do at home. The theory is though that this flow of money created by higher wages along with EU development grants and increased trade through the abolition of customs tariffs will all combine to bring the poorer nations up to the standard of the richer nations stemming the flow of large scale immigration. The problem is that the EU has been expanding so quickly in recent years that so many new nations are joining that this flow of wealth is being dispersed and there are constantly new waves of immigration.

There are a variety of reasons driving the EU's desire for rapid expansion. For example camps such as those represented by UK Baroness Catherine Ashton want to create a totalitarian superstate while others want to build an economic bloc to rival the global power of the US and in doing so reduce the US' influence. One of the most significant drivers behind the EU's expansion though is this old Cold War mentality of imposing the capitalist west including the US onto eastern Europe in order to limit Russia's power to the point that it is almost entirely destroyed. This of course continues despite the fact that the Soviet Union has long since collapsed and modern Russia is very much a capitalist society. It is this Cold War mentality that has been the key driver behind the unrest in Ukraine and why the US and the EU seem perfectly happy to do business with Neo-Nazi groups such as Svoboda, Right Sector and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA).

However Ukraine is not the only place where the EU is prepared to overlook political views it used to find repellent. For example many of the new EU states have fascist and Neo-Nazi Parties in their governments such as the Jobbik Party in Hungary, The Slovak National Party in Slovakia, the NOP in Poland, the Estonian Independence Party in Estonia and Attack in Bulgaria. It is parties such as these are part of the reason why they EU is being pressured to accept a Kiev government that many of the newer nations consider to be ideological allies. The fact that they are tolerated has also helped strengthen similar parties in more established EU nations such as the National Front in France, Golden Dawn in Greece and the Northern League in Italy. To my mind that is going against one of the core, founding principles of the EU - that it is a political and economic union held together by shared values.

So by attacking parties such as UKIP who seem to be trying to have a grown up discussion about EU policy as racists and Neo-Nazis people seem to actually be strengthening actual fascist and Neo-Nazi Parties within the EU. 

16:15 on 30/4/14 (UK date).

[Expletive] Turks, Always Ruining Football.

This afternoon my father received an email from a woman he vaguely knew through the Brixton gal whose wake was held at the now famous Devil's Bridge hotel in Aberystwyth, Wales, UK.

In the email this woman claimed that she was in Ankara, Turkey with her son where they were robbed of their cash, credit cards and cellphones. As a result they were wondering if my father could help them out paying their hotel bill. Keen to help my father emailed back but it turns out that for some reason the hotel couldn't accept credit card payment and the pressure of time meant my father couldn't make an instant bank to bank (BACS) transfer so instead he would have to send GBP 21000 in cash via the Western Union wire transfer service.

Obviously this spectacle of a damsel in distress needing a white knight to ride in to her rescue sounded a lot like a classic con-trick. However given my relationship with the Turkish government over things like Egypt and Syria along with Britain's dramatic helicopter rescue of a damsel in distress trapped in the tower of Wells Cathedral in Somerset, UK this in fact sounded like a very sophisticated con-trick

My advice to my father was to get said women to give him a telephone call before sending any money. However this was not good enough for him so after visiting the local Western Union office whose system was 'not working' he instead sent back an email asking her to confirm some personal details before shooting off an email to the British Embassy in Turkey to confirm the details of the story. As I write neither email has been responded to.

So although it sounds strange a part of me hopes that this family friend has actually been robbed in Turkey and that local crime gang has tried it on with my father. After all the alternative is that the UK has announced to the world that my father is indeed the man a Crown Court put in charge of my grandmother's financial and healthcare needs.

As I was dealing with all that I was unable to write an update on the situation in Ukraine but I promise that it will follow tomorrow and will be nothing short of awesome. In the meantime though as the situation has clearly worsened since the US gave its big speech on the Geneva agreement and introduced new sanctions it does look a lot like it is the US rather then Russia that is working to destabilise the situation.

While I'm here I should point out that I've got to the bottom of Monday's (28/4/14) teacher stabbing in Leeds, UK. Amid a lot of noise the UK is highlighting that they've realised that my 15 year old burglary suspect has killed off the entire Croydon operation which involves members of the local council, schools, hospitals, police etc. For example a lot of people are asking why Croydon police doesn't assign officers to local schools in order to identify known trouble makers like they do in Leeds?

19:30 on 29/4/14 (UK date).

Obama in Asia

This past week US President Barack Obama has been touring South-East Asia with stops in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. You may remember that as the area under the focus of the US' "Pivot Towards the Pacific" policy S.E Asia was targeted heavily by the third and final leg of Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour at the end of 2013. You may also remember that Rihanna's tour as a whole and the final leg in particular was a disaster politically speaking with the US achieving nothing aside from p*ssing a lot of people off.

Displaying something of a troubling relationship with reality the US appears to consider it's Rihanna operation to have been a total success and seem intent on pushing ahead with it with Drake replacing Chris Brown in the role of Rihanna's owner and Miley Cyrus providing the big talked about tour of 2014. As a result the US has been experiencing a lot of push-back from its allies while Obama has been touring S.E Asia.

For example whilst Obama was in Japan the hope was that he would be able to announce the signing of the multi-trillion dollar Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact. That simply didn't happen and although these things are kept as closely guarded secrets it appears that while the talks have not yet completely collapsed they have become deadlocked with Japan in no mood to do the US any favours.

Next Obama travelled to South Korea (Republic of Korea, ROK) which is a nation totally gripped by the recent Sewo ferry disaster in which a suspected 305 people were killed - the majority of them school children. With a crew that apparently were unable to realise that the ship was in trouble and therefore failed to order a life-saving evacuation along with a reference to a large and unsightly gash this disaster provides a rather apt metaphor for the US' Rihanna operation. After all if the US does lose control of the situation with North Korea (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, DPRK) as they seem intent on doing then the threat to South Korean lives far exceeds the death-toll in the Sewo sinking.

Following South Korea Obama moved onto Malaysia which is a nation gripped by the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. Although that stunt has wider and more sinister elements to it a large part of the plan was to make it look as though Malaysia and by extension the UK Commonwealth were giving the US a damn good talking too about the disastrous Rihanna operation and their insane desire to continue. For example a large part of the planned success from the Rihanna operation was supposed to have come from the idea that nations would be unable to track her movements as Rihanna flew between nations. By involving the US military in the search for MH370 Malaysia has afforded itself plenty of opportunity to explain to the US that nations in S.E Asia are perfectly capable of tracking aircraft in the air - especially when they are following a designated flight path.

After Malaysia Obama made his final stop in the Philippines. Being the poorest and least politically stable nation on the schedule I would have been happy for the Filipinos to take a back seat and allow their richer neighbours to stand up to the US. As it turns out it appears that the Filipinos landed the heaviest blow of all with the signing of a 10 year agreement that would see US troops stationed on the islands. Initially this caused some controversy because at first glance it appeared that US pressure had forced the Filipino government to violate an article of the national constitution preventing US bases in the nation. However on closer inspection the Filipinos have actually agreed to allow US troops to be stationed on bases run and commanded by the Filipino military. Although as always the devil will be in the detail it seems that the Filipino government has managed to strike one of the best deals with the US military ever seen because the US despises having its troops placed under foreign command. The advantage to the Philippines is obvious because should problems with groups such as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) like those that plagued Rihanna's visit or Typhoon Haiyan which rapidly followed it occur in the future the responsibility will very much be on the US troops to sort out the ensuing mess.

The big announcement that changed the tone of the entire trip came not from the S.E Asian region but from the Middle-East. On Thursday (24/4/14) it was announced that the much hyped, US brokered peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine had totally collapsed. Clearly this was more then the US' already bruised ego could take so they responded by throwing an absolutely massive and aggressive tantrum.

A large part of this was a stream of thinly veiled and ultimately empty threats on Twitter towards me along the lines that I had better do as the US wanted or they'd have me killed. With it being something of an open secret that I was spending the weekend alone in Croydon in order to defend the property whilst my father attended a family wedding in Wales this was intended to create fear for my safety amongst my supporters which at this point seems to be anyone who isn't the US.

The US threatening behaviour really intensified on Friday (25/4/14) when a teenage boy stabbed and killed a teenage girl at a school in Connecticut, US. The motive for the killing is not yet known but it has been claimed that the boy killed the girl as revenge after she refused to go to the school prom with him. Obviously with me taking up a defensive position alone in a borough where there has been a recent surge in gang related knife crime all this talk about stabbings was supposed to contribute to the culture of fear surrounding my safety. Beyond that though if you sign up to the US' version of reality I suppose you could liken my actions during Rihanna's tour as me as a spurned lover lashing out against her. However if you sign up to everyone elses version of reality you could liken Drake's current behaviour towards Rihanna to a murder carried out by a jealous lover. After all it's clear to all concerned that Rihanna just isn't that into Drake and his behaviour has killed her just as sure as if he'd plunged a knife into her throat.

Later on Friday it was announced that the suspect in the mass stabbing of people at a High School in Pennsylvania on April 10th (10/4/14) had been charged with a further 21 counts of attempted murder in addition to the 4 counts he already faces. That incident was a direct response to a burglary that I experienced a few days before and was intended to find out what exactly China knew about the school aged suspect. Apart from being an attempt to further add to fears about my security this announcement was intended to increase the pressure the Chinese by forcing them to work out what the US was talking about. The main focus of the Pivot Towards the Pacific policy is to contain growing Chinese influence in the region so the US was hoping that China would be hanging on every word during Obama's visit. Essentially the US was trying to convince everyone - mainly itself - of its continued strengh by announcing that they were going to continue with what they viewed as a successful and viable plan.

Really emphasising that they intend to continue with the operation the US brought Rihanna back into play by getting her to fly from Los Angeles, California to New York City, New York on Friday. Primarily this was so she could attend a National Basketball Association (NBA) play-off game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors. Before he was forced to sell up in order to consolidate his position Rihanna's mentor Jay-Z owned a tiny stake in the Brooklyn Nets so they obviously represent him in the sporting code. The Raptors are based in Toronto, Canada which is twhere Drake comes from meaning that they represent him in the sporting code. So over the course of the 7 play-off matches between the two we're supposed to all be searching intently for clues about whether Jay-Z will allow Drake's 'relationship' with Rihanna to continue. In order to maximise the attention given to the play-offs Rihanna attended the game wearing a tight white top without a bra underneath meaning that her breasts were clearly outlined producing the type of photographs that tabloid editors love to print.

The wider political context of the NBA play-offs is that they are taking place at the same time as the National [ice] Hockey League (NHL) play-offs for the Stanley Cup. Although most people know it to be untrue the US is very keen for Ice Hockey to be seen as a sport for white people while Basketball is a sport for black people. As such the rivalry between the NHL and the NBA play-offs is supposed to look a rivalry between white Americans and black Americans. Really driving this point home on Friday alleged recordings of LA Clippers NBA owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend not to show off pictures of herself hanging out with black people emerged. This prompted a wave of anger against Sterling by predominately black Americans and caused one TV commentator - Charles Barkley - to declare the NBA to be "a black league" invoking memories of the Negro leagues that existed before the civil rights era.

The reason why the Clippers were chosen for this is because they represent Rihanna in the sporting code. In old English slang a "Clipper" is a conwoman who pretends to be a prostitute by taking money in exchange for sex but then failing to deliver on her promise. As such the Clippers 7 game play-off series against the Golden State Warriors is supposed to look like the US carrying out an internal assessment of whether the Rihanna operation has been a success so far. After all as I've said time and time again while Rihanna's antics might fool the teenagers who buy her records she doesn't stand a chance against the type of warriors that inhabit the world of international diplomacy and espionage. For example Rihanna's decision to attend the Nets v Raptors game wearing that tight top does make her look rather foolish by playing up to her image as a Clipper.

Also contributing to the spectacle of "Race in America" theme that was established in Miley Cyrus' Robin Thicke inspired stage settings there has been the Cliven Bundy case. If you've not been following it Bundy is a Nevada rancher who has been grazing his cattle on land owned by the Federal government. Bundy claims he has the right to do this while the Federal government claims that he does not. Last Friday, April 18th (18/4/14) armed representatives of the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) moved in on Bundy's ranch in order to seize 900 of his cattle. Having become something of a cause celebre for the libertarian right Bundy was backed by equally well armed supporters from across the US. After a two day stand-off and fearing a repeat of the Branch Davidian massacre the federal agents backed off releasing the cattle that they hadn't already killed. Despite obvious differences such as me not owning cattle and the attacks against my property are by one privately owned entity against another privately owned entity the US has been keen to use the Bundy case as a metaphor for my situation.

On Thursday (24/4/14) a recording emerged of Bundy talking about how he'd driven by a what he termed "Negro" area. He then observed that the people there were simply sitting around with nothing to do because they were all on government welfare. He then went on to speculate on whether it was this culture of welfare dependency that meant black people in America experience higher then average rates of educational failure, family break-down, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, violent crime and imprisonment. Finally Bundy questioned whether black people would in fact be better off if they were kept as slaves by white ranchers such as himself which obviously provoked a storm of criticism.

Although the way he phrased his comments were at best clumsy and at worst out and out racist Bundy did actually succeed in raising an interesting discussion point because black people in America are clearly not equal to white people meaning that the journey that began with the abolition of slavery has not yet been completed. Now this could be because of racism or it could be because of a culture where all the problems are blamed on racism and there is an expectation that the government owes people a living while people like Chris Brown, Al Sharpton and a succession of corrupt politicians are raised up as heroes. After all as someone commented on Twitter in the time between Trayvon Martin being killed and George Zimmerman being acquitted of murder some 10,000 black American men were killed by other black American men. I bet you can't name a single one of them.

While they may now cancel it after being called on it the next twist in the theme is likely to be the announcement that the Donald Sterling recordings are indeed fake. After all it seems highly unlikely that a woman who is suing Sterling after being sacked from her job would be given the access required to record such a private conversation between a man and his girlfriend. If that happens all the - predominately black - people who have been rounding on Sterling over the weekend - Rihanna included - are going to be left looking rather foolish and frankly second class inflaming the race debate even further. The sympathy vote the Clippers would then receive could help swing the remaining games against the Warriors back in their favour giving the entirely false impression that the Rihanna operation stands a chance.

On a related but not directly connected note the trial of Chris Brown for assault outside a Washington D.C hotel in October 2013 should have begun on April 23rd (23/4/14). However in order to allow him to act as a defence witness during Brown's trial his bodyguard Chris Hollosy was tried first separately. The problem for Brown's defence team was that Hollosy was convicted of assault and it was found that Brown was the initial aggressor in the incident. This meant that it was practically guaranteed that Brown would be convicted.

As a result Brown's defence team decided to appeal the Hollosy verdict delaying Brown's trial for what could be many months. During the delay Brown remains in prison but his defence team have applied for a hearing in front of the Los Angeles Court that initially sent him to prison. Now I've become involved that Court may free Brown until the Washington trial takes place. However even that will be difficult because Brown was initially jailed for violating probation by getting himself kicked out of a rehab facility rather then because of the Washington assault allegation. 

11:10 on 29/4/14 (UK date).

I Don't Mean to Alarm Anyone But...

...There's been another family wedding.

It was the Welsh cousins this time and my father went down on Friday (25/4/14) morning and got back about an hour ago. I of course stayed home out of security concerns although after the August 2011 riots and the Lee Rigby murder it somehow feels like my national duty to avoid weddings.

Obviously the fact I was taking up a defensive position on my own prompted the US to try and fail to call out their dogs of war in order to increase the drama. To make matters worse on Thursday (24/4/14) I succeeded in spraining my left ankle. This was nowhere near as bad as my recent sprain of my right ankle - for example I can not only stand but also walk. However I've been in no mood to push my luck.

Fortunately though all this did give me the time and space to finally, finally watch "Tosca." Having seen it for the first time I have to say that it turned out to be an inspired random pick because the Miley Cyrus and Rihanna thing is starting to play out like a really, really bad version. After all the title character is a bit of a silly cow really and the US only seems happy when it is inhabiting the "Scarpia" role. Drake can keep his "1/9" codename though.

21:10 on 27/4/14 (UK date).

AR5 - Mitigation.

Between April 7th (7/4/14) and April 11th (11/4/14) the third working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) met in Berlin, Germany to prepare the third part of it's fifth Assessment Report (AR5) concentrating on mitigation. This final report is not expected to be published until September/October 2014 but a draft of the Summary for Policy Makers was released on Sunday (13/4/14). However being a super-duper nerd I had to wait until Tuesday (15/4/14) when the final draft was released including annexes, technical summaries and explanatory notes. To even get that far I had to sign a waiver acknowledging that even that wasn't the final, published version.

I supposed I should start by addressing the sensationalist and inaccurate way in which AR5/3 was reported in Britain. The headline that most media outlets reported was that AR5/3 recommended that we immediately stop using fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. This was simply not the case. Having accepted in part one of the report (AR5/1) that humans are responsible for climate change through the release of greenhouse gases (ghg) this mitigation section then looked at where human's ghg emissions are coming from and found that 78% came from energy generation particularly from coal fired power stations. Funnily enough it then observed that if we were to immediately stop generating energy our ghg emissions would drop by around 78%. However it then went on to examine a range of other scenarios such as increasing energy efficiency to reduce the demand for energy production, increasing the number of so-called carbon sinks such as forests to absorb the ghg's that are being emitted and designing more efficient cities to reduce the 11% of emissions that come from transport such as car use.

Rather then recommending any particular course of action the purpose of AR5/3 was simply to establish the facts in order to allow policy makers to decide what action to take that best suits them. For example while in northern Europe people use energy primarily for heat and lighting in many other parts of the world it is used primarily to power air conditioning systems to help people stay cool while the sun is shining. In those nations using solar power over fossil fuel generation simply just makes more sense.

The reason why everybody was so interested in the mitigation section of AR5 was because it is likely to provide much of the scientific guidance to nations as they draw up their Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA's) and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Commitments (NAMC's) which will form the basis of the replacement to the Kyoto Protocol (KP) which is scheduled to be signed and ratified at the end of 2015. As such I think it is important to look at the metrics and measures used in AR5/3.

In terms of the definition and measurement of ghg's AR5/3 stuck with the definition used in the KP. That is to say ghg's are defined as methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and flourines (F-gases). However all ghg's are measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalent. In part this has been done because due to KP the vast majority of research in the area has been conducted in those terms meaning that data using other metrics is hard to come-by. However given a growing acceptance of carbon intensity over simple emission totals it does seem sensible to continuing to use this metric because although carbon dioxide is only the second most potent ghg it is by far the one that humans release the most of accounting for about 76% of all ghg emissions. As such it is the one that needs to be the most heavily targeted. If any nations do have legitimate problems with this method of doing things now would be the time to raise those issues although there is absolutely nothing stopping nations providing even more detailed ghg inventories.

In terms of financial cost AR5/3 defines currency as the US dollar at the 2010 exchange rate and the price parity rate at the US dollar at the 2005 exchange rate. This is just a standard accounting method when dealing with international trade so should be wholly uncontroversial. There may need to be some discussion about the base years used though because coming in the midst of the financial crisis the 2010 figure might be slightly under valued leading to some inaccurate forecasts as we head into the 2020's and beyond.

The much more interesting element of AR5/3 relating to finance and economics though is the notion of distributional weighting. This addresses one of the core problems in the area that while it is easy to see how mitigation efforts increase costs it is more difficult to calculate the benefits that off-set those costs. For example it is easy to measure how adding carbon scrubbing technology to a power station will increase energy bills but that measure doesn't factor in the benefits and co-benefits that come from reduced emissions. Examples included in AR5/3 include increased rates of death and hospitalisation amongst labourers working in areas experiencing increased temperatures and the health benefits of encouraging people to walk/cycle more rather then driving through better urban design. Things like increased health or a reduced risk of death are generally considered intangibles that cannot be measure in monetary terms because as people like to say "You can't put a price on your health."

The truth though is that in the developed world we do put a price on people's health and even their lives every single day through things like health insurance, pensions and personal injury settlements. The only problem is that  in developing nations insurance products and civil injury/loss settlements are not widely employed with some Islamic societies going so far as to forbid insurance as a form of gambling. In fact I recently read a short but illuminating article in this week's Economist magazine addressing just this issue using "Takaful" which offers Sharia compliant insurance against drought related vegetation loss to Kenyan cattle farmers based on the work of Andrew Mude at Nairobi's International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) as an example.

As such a possible route to finding a common metric to measure intangible costs in NAMA's and NAMC's would be an analysis of  insurance payouts and civil settlements for injury/loss in nations where such things are common. That though is sadly a far too data intensive task for me to undertake on my own. It is also likely to lead to some very controversial negotiations that centre around questions like what is an American life worth compared to a Kenyan life?

The final interesting thing I found in AR5/3 is that it extensively used and highlighted the importance of distinguishing between the main source of ghg emissions (e.g a power station) and the indirect user of the energy produced by those emissions (e.g a cement factory). I think this is an essential methodology to employ when drawing up NAMC's and NAMA's because it becomes a lot easier to reduce emissions both nationally and sectorally once you fully understand what is causing those emissions. For example if a national or local government can track its emissions down to a specific power station and then track down the factory that is buying most of the energy from that power station they can then work with that factory to reduce their need for energy by employing more energy efficient methods. Through things like their "Top Runner" program the Japanese are already well advanced in this way of thinking.

The main problem between distinguishing between the emissions source and the indirect users is that it is a system that relies on double counting with emissions being attributed first to the source then to the indirect users. Unless properly policed this is a recipe for fraud and abuse that plagued the KP to an extent with nations counting the figures for both the source and the indirect user in their final tally allowing them to claim that had cut their emissions by twice as much as they actually did. As such there needs to be a standardised accountancy method and the openness to allow nations to review each other accounts.

That is why NAMA's and NAMC's need to be submitted far in advance of the 2015 Summit in Paris ideally with prototypes being submitted in advance of the Peru's 2014 Summit.

14:30 on 20/4/14 (UK date).

Operation Misery: Month 14, Week 2, Day 2.

Since 2010 Rihanna has been under investigation by the US' Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over allegations of tax fraud relating to her 2009 "Only Girl in the World" tour. In response Rihanna sued her accountants at the time - Berdon LLP - arguing that they were responsible for any and all malfeasance. The pressure created by this legal action and the IRS investigation has been one of the main driving forces behind Rihanna's almost suicidal behaviour in recent years.

On Maundy Thursday (17/4/14) Rihanna sensationally withdrew this legal action opting for an out of Court settlement with Berdon LPP just a month before the Court was expected to hand down it's judgement which would likely have found in Rihanna's favour. The financial details of the settlement are still being kept as a closely guarded secret but that has never been the issue in the case. By settling out of Court Rihanna has agreed to share liability for any malfeasance with Berdon LLP. Although the IRS or a Court would be unable to directly infer guilt from this decision the fact that Rihanna has dropped the case just weeks before having to give evidence certainly does not cast Rihanna in a positive light. As such the US government through the IRS seem to own Rihanna for life now and not even I can think of a way for her to refuse their every whim.

On a related note Maundy Thursday was also a very bad day for the Eurotunnel rail link between the UK and France. First there was a suicide on the French side of the tunnel and then a train broke down in the tunnel. This forced the train operator Eurostar to cancel most of their services and issue refunds and compensation payments to ticket holders. As Eurostar has long been used as a metaphor for discussions about Rihanna between the UK and France this sounds like a suggestion of what organisers of the Wireless festival could do after it is announced that Drake will be prevented from performing. However being a festival rather then a concert the organisers of Wireless aren't even obligated to do that.

Perhaps more worryingly in the early hours of Friday (18/4/14) the London flagship store of Rihanna's favourite brand Chanel was targeted by a smash and grab robbery in which a significant amount of merchandise was stolen and the store itself was badly damaged. This seems like a UK response to France's Eurostar suggestion. It is very bad news for Rihanna though because it contributes to a growing feeling that wherever Rihanna goes trouble quickly follows.

So in summary I hope that Rihanna is very happy with Drake because it looks like the wind has changed so she's stuck with him now.

The only possible glimmer of hope is that the cancellation of the remainder of Miley Cyrus' US tour demonstrates a growing acceptance by the US that they are going to have to make major concessions and most likely abandon the entire operation. 

14:00 on 19/4/14 (UK date).

The Geneva III Talks.

Today representatives of the United States, Russia and the European Union (EU) met in Geneva, Switzerland for the latest round of talks on the war in Syria. However due to a hardening of the position of the Syrian government the US were forced to re-cast Ukraine in the Syria role.

These talks have only just ended in the last few hours so information is still filtering out. However the first thing I noticed is how calm and moderate the Russian position was. If I was in charge of the Russian delegation what I would have done is refuse to grant even a suggestion of legitimacy to the Kiev government that the US have chosen to represent Ukraine in these talks despite the fact they seized power by force and have no democratic mandate. This would have put pressure on the EU delegation to in turn put pressure on the US to moderate it's somewhat rabid position and demonstrate that it is committed to building a safe and stable nation for all Ukrainians rather then simply looking for any excuse to attack Russia. If the EU received such commitments from the US it would then be free to put pressure on Russia to speak with the Kiev government.

As is turns out the Russians put aside this sort of diplomatic gamesmanship and agreed to speak to the Kiev government without pre-condition. Following those talks it then agreed a number of steps that Kiev needs to take in order to stabilise the nation it claims to run. The Kiev government also agreed to these steps but as always with them I don't think they've quite understood what has been said to them. For example the agreement talks about the need to disarm all illegal armed groups and clear all occupied streets, squares and occupied spaces. That means that the Kiev government is now under an obligation to do what it attacked Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukoyvch for and clear Independence (Maidan) Square of its armed thugs.

Obviously without these efforts to moderate the US' position the US continued in it's usual rabid and irrational fashion. For example in his press conference after the talks US Secretary of State highlighted leaflets that had been handed out in the eastern city of Donetsk demanding that Ukrainian Jews register themselves and all property they own with the local authorities or face deportation. Kerry obviously did this in order to portray anti-Kiev protesters in the east as anti-Semites and Neo-Nazis. The US is also trying to argue that these anti-Kiev protesters are Russian government agents so by extension it is attempting to smear the Russian government as anti-Semitic. However by doing this Kerry may have instead exposed the US chronic lack of understanding of what is and has been going on in Ukraine and other eastern European nations including EU members.

Rather then being evidence of anti-Semitism these leaflets which appear to have only been distributed to journalists strike me as someone with access to a photocopier making a point. That's because these leaflets provide an easy to point to prop demonstrating something that has been happening more quietly and more discreetly across the rest of Ukraine since the start of anti-government protests in November 2013.

Those protests - which the US has fully endorsed - were led by a group called "Right Sector" (Pravyi Sektor in Ukrainian). In speaking about those protests one of Right Sector's leader's Igor Mazur described them as being against "The Jewish oligarchs [who] care only for their trans-national business empires, for making money." Bizarrely Mazur has also claimed that Yulia Tymoshenko the leader of Ukraine's Fatherland" Party "Must have some Jewish blood in her" when asked about her imprisonment on pretty epic embezzlement charges. Last Monday (7/4/14) a Jewish cemetery and holocaust memorial in Odessa was attacked and vandalised by people who left behind pro-Right Sector graffiti.

Although more street thugs then a political party with an organised platform Right Sector's leader and current Deputy Minister for National Security in Kiev Dymtro Yarosh stated Right Sector have a lot of common positions with the Freedom (Svoboda in Ukrainian) Party. Formed as the National-Socialist (Nazi) Party in 1991 and using the "Idea of Nation" emblem that is remarkably similar to the Nazi Swastika Svoboda are unashamedly fascist and anti-Semitic holding marches to commemorate the 'achievements' of the Waffen-SS. In May 2013 the World Jewish Congress labelled Svoboda as Neo-Nazi and called for them to be banned. In June 2013 30 members of the Israeli Knesset signed a letter to the EU condemning Svoboda and calling for them to be isolated. Oleksandr Sych and Oleh Makhnitskyi both serve the current US and EU backed Kiev government as Deputy Prime Minister and Prosecutor General respectively.

Another group that played a leading role in the US backed anti-government protests was the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA). They are not so much Neo-Nazis as actual Nazis. That is to say that they fought on the side of Nazi Germany during the second world war and actively participated in the holocaust particularly the massacre of 200,000 Jews in Volyn in 1942 and 100,000 Poles in Volhynia in 1943/44. Both Right Sector and the UIA believe that territories such as Przemsyl that were ceded to Poland at the end of the second world war should be returned to Ukraine. That is something that both the EU and NATO are under an obligation to prevent from happening

The largest provocation of the day came from the White House itself though which announced that it is sending non-lethal aid such as medicine and tents to Kiev. These things are of course completely irrelevant to the situation in Ukraine but are badly needed by the foreign and completely illegal insurgents fighting the Syrian government. As such Obama seemed to be reminding everyone that the US' true objective is to destabilise Ukraine in order to punish Russia for it's support for Syria and by extension the founding principles of the United Nations (UN) in the hope that the EU would join him in cowering in fear that Saudi Arabia will lash out if they are not obeyed. That's a bit of a shame because I think we all know what would happen the following day should the Saudis ever follow through on their threat to cut off the world's oil supply.

As is pretty much par for the course the EU who were represented by Catherine Ashton were pretty much an irrelevance during these talks.


19:55 on 17/4/14 (UK date).

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/15/3997076/leader-of-ukraines-right-sector.html#storylink=cpy

Eurovision's Going to be Awkward This Year.

Every year members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) gather to explore their cultural and political differences through the medium of pop music. A major theme of last year's Eurovision Song Contest was former Soviet states in eastern Europe relationships with Russia who were represented by homophobia and the European Union (EU) which was represented by tolerance for homosexuality. If this theme is going to be continued at the 2014 contest it is likely to be heavily overshadowed by events in Ukraine.

As I feel I've explained dozens of times before towards the end of 2013 US intelligence services massively increased their support from Ukrainian Neo-Nazi groups such as Right Sector and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA) and encouraged them to wage war against Ukraine's government. The intention being to destabilise a nation along Russia's border in order to punish Russia for it's support for the Syrian government in the face of US backed aggression. In the middle of the 2014 Winter Olympics that were being held nearby in Sochi, Russia the Ukrainian government collapsed. This created legitimate fears that groups like Right Sector and the UIA would then use the apparatus of the Ukrainian state such as the police and army to purge eastern Ukraine of ethnically Russian Slavs. This forced Russia to mass troops within its own border to act as a deterrent and prompted the people of Crimea to hold a referendum and vote to break away from Ukraine.

Since then very little has changed. Sure certain more sensible voices within Ukrainian politics have suggested that Right Sector and the UIA have no place in main stream politics and Aleksandr Muzychko - one of Right Sectors more militant leaders - was recently killed by Ukrainian security forces. However being simply an ideology of violence and hate Ukraine's Neo-Nazis have been swift to silence any and all dissent.

For example last Tuesday (8/4/14) there was an outbreak of violence within the Parliamentary chamber in Kiev. In much of the western media this has largely been dismissed as a simple fight and something of a joke. However what actually happened is that Petro Symonenko - the head of the elected Communist Party - attempted to give a speech denouncing the Neo-Nazis who responded by beating him up and forcing him from the chamber. Although it was completely disregarded by the western media Right Sector followed up the attack on Symonenko by seizing the Head Quarters of his Communist Party in Kiev before burning the building to the ground on Wednesday (9/4/14) night. The western media also appear to have failed to notice an attack on Monday (7/4/14) night by Right Sector on a Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorial in Odessa in which a number of graves were desecrated.

Under these circumstances it is no great surprise that Russian Slavs in eastern Donbass region have started to form self-defence militias that have recently started to seize control of government buildings and call for referendums allowing the region to leave Ukraine. The US has been quick to label these self-defence militias as "Russian Special Forces" but it seems much more likely that they are simply militias being bankrolled by wealthy Ukrainians from the Donbass region possibly even the Ukrainian President Vicktor Yanukovyvch.

The US' response to this has been inflammatory and reckless to the point of insanity. On Saturday (12/4/14) the director of the CIA John Brennan travelled in secret to Kiev. There he instructed Kiev's self-proclaimed National Security Council of which Right Sector's Dmitry Yarosh is deputy minister to send Ukraine's military into the Donbass region on the pre-text of staging an anti-terrorism operation. However the real reason was to put Ukraine's military in firing range of the Russian troops who are still within Russia. In the short term this was intended to act as a deterrent to Russia but as Russia's military dwarfs Ukraine's this deterrent effect is likely to be limited at best if needed at all. The US' longer term objective is to provoke a war between Ukraine and Russia in the hope of forcing EU and NATO forces to join that conflict on the side of the Ukrainians.

As such I think it is long past time for the EU to get tough with the US by making it clear that there will be no more support for the Kiev government or sanction of Russia until the US demonstrates that its objective is a safe and stable Ukraine which borders both the EU and Russia rather then simply using the situation as an excuse to attack Russia over Syria. As Drake was the stick with which the US has been beating the EU throughout this his future strikes me as a very good place to start.

10:50 on 15/4/14 (UK date).

Edited at around 10:50 on 16/4/14 (UK date) to add;

Using the anniversary of the Boston marathon bombings as cover the US plan for Ukraine yesterday went into motion. This involved Ukrainian troops backed by tanks and fighter jets moving south from the Kharkiv region into the Donetsk region in an effort to re-take the towns of Slaviansk and Kramatorsk. The situation is still very much in flux although fortunately there have been few reports of any violence or deaths. However today defectors from the Ukrainian military having driven light tanks flying the Russian flags into Slaviansk which could be a precursor to a tank battle.

What I found interesting was that immediately as the operation began the Russians startted reporting that people had been killed although those reports have not been verified. Throughout the crisis the US been claiming that the whole thing has been one giant Russian conspiracy intended to provoke violence in order to allow Russia to invade under the pretext of protecting Russian Slavs. By announcing fatalities the Russians seemed to be making the point that they've now got the pre-text to invade but are not doing so because that has never been their intention.

Also yesterday Saudi Arabia effectively sacked Prince Bandar bin Sultan as the head of their intelligence service. Bandar was of course the mastermind behind the plot to launch terrorist attacks against the Sochi Winter Olympics in order to punish Russia over its support for the Syrian government. His dismissal seems to indicate a Saudi acceptance that the US' more subtle approach of starting a conflict in Ukraine and then sanctioning Russia over that conflict is a much more effective way of punishing them for attempting to uphold international law. This of course also highlights the challenge Russia faces over Ukraine because co-operate or not the US are going to be pushing for action to be taken against them anyway.

Of course the situation also highlights that clearly using troops, tanks and fighter jets against your own people is apparently perfectly acceptable but only when the US are telling you to do it.

Operation Misery: Month 14, Week 1, Day 4.

Yesterday (13/4/14) Rihanna appeared alongside Eminem at the MTV Movie Awards to perform his song "The Monster." This was the performance that was announced last Tuesday (8/4/14) in an effort to put the US at the centre of discussions about the third section of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) fifth assessment report by making it appear as though the US were holding onto some great secret. The secret in question was whether Rihanna would save herself by teaming up with Eminem and by extension me or continue to allow Drake to destroy her. The problem is that everyone in the business already knows that Rihanna's 'relationship' with Drake is orchestrated and pre-determined so there isn't any room for speculation until Drake is removed from the equation.

Needless to say the US got short shrift for this little stunt with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) convening for an emergency session on Ukraine just as the MTV Movie Awards were beginning. The message seemed to be threefold. Firstly the UNSC was showing that it was in no way concerned by the US' Rihanna operation. Secondly it was mocking the US' plan that I would stay up all night in the hope of catching a glimpse of Rihanna by providing me with another and probably much better reason to stay up. Finally it was laying out the consequences of the US' actions in front of them because the situation in Ukraine is most certainly not improving and is unlikely to do so until the US adjusts it's attitude.

10:45 on 14/4/14 (UK date).

The Meeting of the IPCC's Third Working Group in Preperation of AR5.

Now there's a snappy title.

Between Monday (7/4/14) and Friday (11/4/14) the third working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is meeting in Berlin, Germany to prepare the third section of it's fifth Assessment Report (AR5). This section will cover efforts to mitigate climate change including - in no small part - the cutting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although this involves hundreds of scientists from hundreds of nations meeting up it tends to be a technical rather then political event with scientists simply co-operating to find out what is going on in the world around us. However on this occasion the agreements the scientists reach on things like the classification of GHG's and the metrics by which they are measured are likely to play a large role in the drawing up of a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol (KP) that is scheduled to be signed by the end of 2015.

As a result the UK has been on a rampage. This involved arranging last Thursday's (3/4/14) burglary against me and then using the drama that created to feed into Northern Irish politics as highlighted by the state visit by the President of the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday (8/4/14) and the fresh Coroner's Inquest into the Hillsborough disaster. It would also touch on issues such as the announcement of a fresh Inquest into the death of Mark Duggan in Tottenham which sparked the August 2011 riots and the trial of Nicky Jacobs over the death of Police Constable Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham in 1985. The intention being to make it look like the UK was holding all the secrets forcing everyone at the IPCC meeting to talk to the UK putting it in a powerful position within negotiations. Failing that it would ratchet up the tension at the meeting slowing down the rate of any progress.

The problem was that the UK has now attempted to employ this same strategy so many times without success everyone's patience with them has simply worn out. As a result the international response was both swift and violent. At last count six British citizens/subjects now lie dead.

For their part the US has once again attempted to propel Rihanna into the spotlight. So on I think Tuesday it was announced that she'll be performing at some no-mark awards show on Sunday (13/4/13), semi-nude photographs of Rihanna were 'leaked' on the Internet and that evening she was again whored out to Drake. On Wednesday (9/4/14) Rihanna was nominated for Billboard Music awards and in the evening was forced to act as Drake's escort to a basketball game. Again the intended purpose of this was to make it look as though the US was in possession of some great secret and people would need to talk to their IPCC delegation to find out what it was. Unfortunately all the US seemed to be doing was hoisting a large banner proclaiming themselves to be wholly subservient to the Gulf Monarchies and therefore something of an irrelevance in negotiations. Also they were hoping to raise the tension by provoking me. That is because they've yet to realise that as with Chris Brown before him the sight of Rihanna with Drake doesn't make me feel jealous or angry. It just makes me feel sad.

The US' plan was of course largely blown apart by the international response to the UK's plan. For example Brazil who are largely considered a second tier world power appear to have known enough about the plan to take appropriate action the day before the plan went into motion. Also through the discovery of signals presumably from the flight data recorder of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 the Chinese seemed to be indicating they had a large degree of prior knowledge of the UK's plan. Since the launch of the "Pivot Towards the Pacific" policy the US is considering China to be their main enemy and me a vital weapon in their arsenal. Along with the disaster of Rihanna's 2013 tour it now appears that the US' plan towards China is no longer viable and needs to be abandoned before it does further damage to the US.

The US of course responded to this development in exactly the same way the UK had a few days before - they threw a massive and violent tantrum. So Wednesday morning there was a mass casualty knife attack at a school in Pittsburgh. My burglar is of school age so if the police wanted to catch him they would simply visit local schools and compel them to hand over information on all students fitting the description. The use of knives versus guns in mass casualty attacks has been a long running theme in communications between the US and China so this was the US trying to find out how much China knows about the US and the UK's plans for me.

Later in the day a SUV crashed into a children's daycare centre in Florida killing at least one child. This was of course intended to maximise the drama. For example many of the injured were taken to the Arnold Palmer hospital in an effort to get us all to focus on the US Master's golf tournament. Mainly though it was intended as a reference to Live Nation who are responsible for Rihanna, Drake and Miley Cyrus to name but a few. As was pointed out at length during 2013 and particularly at the Sochi Winter Olympics nothing Live Nation has to offer will in anyway trouble an adult. If this realisation ever hits Live Nation and their CIA handlers it should do so like a runaway freight train. However a SUV was used in reference to the terrorist attack that occurred in Tianamen Square in China immediately after Chris Brown was arrested for assault in Washington D.C.

I must say though that I am most disappointed by the South Africans who are the main sponsors of the Durban Platform that is supposed to produce the replacement to the KP. In their quest to be viewed as a top tier global power and to finally have Shrien Dewani extradited from the UK they have decided to time Oscar Pistorious' testimony in his murder trial for the week of the IPCC meeting. For the most part this is supposed to feed in directly to the UK's plan. For example most of the early questioning focused on witness credibility. This was an attempt to rewrite the history of my trial over criminal damage allegations in which I was not required to give evidence because the prosecution was found to be unfounded and most likely malicious. Today's questioning has centred around Pistorious' negligent discharge of a firearm in a restaurant. Although the original Inquest decided to wholly ignore it what prompted police officers to open fire on Mark Duggan was that another officer experienced a negligent discharge prompting the other officers to fear for their lives.

The only flicker of light in the proceedings came yesterday just hours after Rihanna had again been forced to appear in public with Drake. Things began with surprise cellphone footage of Pistorious at a gun range shooting at water melons and making jokes about how they exploded like "Zombie Brains." Zombies are of course dead people who have not realised that they are dead so continuing walking around like nothing's changed. Zombies have been portrayed in many films and TV Shows including the US show "The Walking Dead." This was a direct reference to Drake's place in this world of ours because his predecessor in the Rihanna operation is now in prison and his decision to involve himself has provoked a lot of international anger which is going to have to go somewhere. Although people might be tempted to strike back against higher value US targets it looks like Drake has already announced his retirement from the entertainment industry even if he hasn't realised it yet.

The questioning then moved on trying to get Pistorious to express guilt for killing a women he supposedly loved by forcing him to look at gory pictures showing the effects of his actions. That's because if Rihanna is forced to stand next to Drake as his future dawns on him she will likely get caught in the crossfire a splattered across the floor. As such a lot of people think Drake should do the decent thing and choose to walk his path alone.

14:00 on 10/4/14 (UK date).

Well That Was Unfortunate.

As I mentioned on Thursday (3/4/14) I experienced possibly the world's worst burglary. On Sunday (6/4/14) a Chief Inspector from the Metropolitan Police's Croydon borough phoned my father and told him that he would be visiting him today (7/4/13) to discuss any concerns he had and how best to progress with the investigation. I must say that at the time I got the impression that this Chief Inspector simply intended to give my father the usual run around of attempting to intimidate him by telling him there was absolutely nothing that could be done before suggesting that my father invests in some very expensive and totally ineffective security measures.

Perhaps it was when this Chief Inspector realised that he would in fact be talking to me about how to proceed with several outstanding felony offences that can be actioned at any time he decided not to turn up.

I'm personally viewing that decision as a mistake because there has been quite a lot of international reaction to Thursday's events. For example on Friday (4/4/14) Italy rushed through a European Arrest Warrant for Domenico Rancadore - a suspected Mafia boss who has been on the run in the UK for the last 20 odd years. This of course forced the UK and specifically the Metropolitan Police to demonstrate that they can indeed execute arrest warrants against members of organised crime gangs and remand them in custody. More dramatically in the early hours of Saturday (5/4/14) morning a millionaire British Businessman - Andrew Bush - was shot and killed by an unknown intruder in his home in Malaga in Spain. As Bush is from and owns a number of businesses in Bristol, UK where my lesbian wife has been held hostage since 2006 the message was quite clear - if the UK continues to protect Croydon's criminal element higher value British assets abroad will simply be killed in retaliation.

Sadly rather then stepping back, taking a deep breath and carefully considering it's next move the UK responded in it's usual fashion by throwing a massive tantrum. So in the early hours of Sunday morning three women from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were attacked by a man with a hammer in their suite in the Cumberland Hotel in prestigious Mayfair district of central London. One of the women was severely injured and the investigation is being treated as an attempted murder. As I have a bit of a reputation with hammers this was the UK enquiring as to whether rather then simply targeting higher value assets abroad nations would be prepared to eliminate problems within UK borders. After all a nation that cannot defend it's borders most certainly cannot protect gang members or even police officers in Croydon. If you think the UAE mind having their women beaten to death you've clearly never been there.

Possibly due to existing tensions over Gibraltar the UK also took specific aim at Spain. So on Sunday afternoon two British women - Uma Ramalingam and Barathi Ravikumar - effectively threw their children into the sea off Tenerife forcing the local authorities to mount a rescue operation. As is the danger with this type of stunt both women drowned. Although in the publicity photographs that have been released the women appear to be Arabic I suspect from their names they are of Indian heritage. This of course brings in the not exactly small issue of India's General Election which began today and being the largest democratic election ever is expected to last a full eight weeks. The fact the deaths occurred in the sea touches on  the search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 and may have been an attempt to convince the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to speculate whether the natural environment is conspiring to kill off British citizens while they're meeting to discuss the next section of AR5. Of course by killing off it's own people the UK seems to be giving the impression that it wouldn't protest too loudly if an ally were prepared to resolve an issue they can't be seen to be doing themselves. Mind you it is the UK's obligation to keep its own house in order.

Personally I think it rather then going to all that effort it would have been much easier if someone in the UK intelligence community simply phoned up the Croydon borough Commander and informed him that the meeting with me should go ahead because it is time for the police to leave the criminal organisation. This seemed to be a hint that the leaders Police Federation were trying to drop this afternoon. After all while there can be no suggestion that the criminal element can continue to have a presence in the borough it might be possible to negotiate a solution whereby the apparatus of state such as the police, Courts and the local council are allowed remain intact but only after some serious restructuring.

Obviously having had my time wasted today I am now much less likely to agree to that compromise. However if I receive a constructive phonecall tomorrow I may be prepared to reconsider. Hopefully by that point the Brits will have realised they haven't won one since at least May 2013 and it doesn't look like their chances are going to improve anytime soon.

19:20 on 7/4/14 (UK date).

Edited at around 17:15 on 8/4/14 (UK date) to add;

Sadly we did not receive a constructive telephone call from the police today. However my father did call the local Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) who attended at around 16:30. As these were just two lowly constables who lack the ability to deploy the necessary resources this was a very short meeting. However the matter is now being taken up with the borough burglary division and the Chief Inspector of all the SNT's in the borough. Obviously it would be unprofessional of me to publicly identify that commanding officer. Hopefully though he understands the obligation now upon him.

What I found amusing though is that the two officers spent most of the roughly 35 minute meeting bemoaning how their pay, pensions and resources have been cut year on year since these problems began without once identifying the causal link. So clearly not detective material then.

Edited again at around 12:30 on 9/4/14 (UK date) to add;

This is barely worth a full post but two hours after I was scheduled to wake up two detectives from Croydon's burglary divison paid my father and I a short visit. The summary of this is that they are going to arrange a meeting next week between me and Chief Inspector in charge of the division. Ideally they will coordinate with the Chief Inspector of the SNT and the head of the local council's enforcement division so I only need to give one tutorial in zero tolerance policing. However I suspect that all three are already well versed in the concept but are simply choosing not to employ it.

Of course as we have these discussions they will attempt to argue that the law prevents them from doing certain. As such I feel I should point out that I don't just say these things. In fact I check and re-check them before sending them out for peer review. This means that in every single case I'm talking about the probable cause threshold has been met. After all to establish probable cause it only requires a police officer to say; "I think I smell cannabis" or "I think I hear sounds of a struggle." As such if any Croydon Judge refuses to sign off on the actions the matter will simply get refered to a higher Judge and the refusing Judge will be placed under investigation for links to organised crime.

Time to Lift the Embargo.

As of around 21:10 my father has returned from his train journey to Wales. Along with UK Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to ride the first First Great Western train journey to Dawlish station which had re-opened following the Somerset Floods this puts a new perspective on last night's attempt to steal my father's national rail pass. Not least because it means I've now got a fresh half-stick of rock commemorating "the re-opening of the Dawlish line, 4th April 2014."

However what also sheds new light on Thursday's (3/4/14) burglary is that I've recently discovered that someone has smashed the bathroom window on what used to be my grandmother's property in order to effect entry. As a result the laptop which I recovered may have in fact belonged to my younger brother although I doubt even he could remember it. As this laptop was brought on insurance following a similar burglary I am of course convinced that this should now be investigated as a crime against humanity.

In the meantime I feel the need to check; We do all know that last week's Crystal Palace V Chelsea match was all about getting Liverpool to the top of the English Premier League ahead of the new Inquest into the Hillsborough disaster. Only I heard Chelsea got punished for it mid-week.

21:50 on 4/4/14 (UK date).

Edited at around 15:00 on 6/4/14 (UK date to add);

Yesterday the police scene of crime officers came around whilst I was still asleep. Today my father got a call from a Chief Inspector who will be visiting in person tomorrow to discuss the situation. I assume that he will be informing us that Croydon police and Croydon Council's enforcement division have set up an anti-gang task force that will be working closely with the National Crime Agency to eradicate unsavoury elements from the borough. After all that Hillsborough Inquest is all about police corruption and unlawful killing.

I'm Archiving.

In talking about yesterday's (3/4/14) Fort Hood shooting I mentioned that I was debating whether or not to re-read and archive everything I wrote during the recent Sochi Winter Olympics because I couldn't remember a thing about it. I wasn't kidding. When I met up with my mother last Monday (24/3/14) one of the first things she asked me was what happened during the Olympics and all I could do was stare at her blankly. Since then I have been making a conscious effort to try and remember what happened.

However I feel I should point out that this memory loss isn't because I found the Winter Olympics in any way traumatic - it fact I quite enjoyed it. The problem is that when there is a huge amount going on although your brain processes the information it doesn't take the time to encode it into your memory. The same sort of thing can happen in traumatic incidents because - say - the death of a friend in an IED explosion is quite a complex piece of information to process.

Anyway I have decided that over the weekend I will re-reading and archiving everything important I wrote since the start of 2014. That's because if you've been planning something for a long time and then it happens really fast it can be difficult to keep track of whether you've succeeded or failed.

Not that I'm looking in anyone's direction in particular.

16:00 on 4/4/14 (UK date).