Last Thursday (14/1/16) the nominations for the 2016 American Motion Picture Association awards - the Oscars - were announced.
As surely as night follows day this has prompted black America to thrown a tantrum for not being given an award simply for turning up.
The campaign has been led by Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett-Smith both of whom have announced they won't be attending the ceremony although it's not clear they were even invited.
As such I think it is only appropriate to take a quick look at some of the actors/movies that the protesters claim have been overlooked due to racism;
Idris Elba: The self-appointed "Greatest Actor the World Has Ever Seen" had been expecting to be nominated for his performance in "Beasts of No Nation." Although done well and on a high budget this is TV movie and therefore not eligible for Oscar nomination.
Amazon who produced it did have the option of giving it a full cinema release but opted not to. Instead they decided to hold it back to promote their own Amazon Prime platform at the expense of the American Motion Picture Association. Amazon then gave it an extremely limited cinema release in the hope of receiving awards for this stab in the back to the industry.
Perhaps if Mr Elba spent more time focused on his craft rather than on endless self-promotion he wouldn't have associated himself with such a project.
Micheal B Jordan: He had been expecting to be nominated for his debut performance in "Creed." This is of course the year that Leonardo DiCaprio is widely tipped to win his first Oscar in a 25 year career which has seen him appear in many critically acclaimed movies such as "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "Titanic," "Gangs of New York," "The Departed" and "Inception."
Creed is of course the 6th instalment in the "Rocky" franchise. Although the original film and the 5th instalment "Rocky Balboa" have some redeeming qualities these films have always concentrated on mainstream appeal rather than artistic excellence.
Sylvester Stallone did receive a supporting actor nomination for Creed. However this seems to be more to reflect a 45 year career in which he's always been consistently good rather than excellent. He won't win.
Will Smith: Many of you will be shocked to learn that Jada Pinkett-Smith's husband has even been in a film this year. However she clearly expected him to be nominated for "Concussion." This was really only released in the US because being about concussion in American Football very few people outside of America are even remotely interested.
The tiny minority of reviewers who have seen Concussion all say the same thing. It was utterly ruined by a needless racial narrative which saw Smith as the black hero trying to save young black men from the white devils at the NFL who force them to injure themselves like plantation slaves.
Samuel L Jackson: Although I happen to think he's better than that people have asked why Mr Jackson wasn't nominated for snowbound western "The Hateful Eight."
The big film of this year is DiCaprio's "The Reverent" which is a snowbound western. The Hateful Eight is seen simply as an exploitative attempt to cash in of The Reverent's success. Mr Jackson is of course a big fan of cartoons and comic books and his acting frequently reflects this.
Straight Outta Compton: If there was an Oscar for most over-hyped film of the year this would win easily. Basically in the early-1990's there were a lot of fans of a rap group called "NWA." This nostalgic biopic of the band has got all those fans so excited no-one's bothered to consider its merits as a film.
In terms of the Oscars is made the same fatal mistake that "Selma" did in attempting to re-write history. At the time the movie was set one of the central characters "Dr Dre" was an extremely violent misogynist who beat the crap out of at least two women. However the movie does not mention that at all.
With the way Hollywood treats women also being a hot button issue there is no coming back from that.
Spike Lee: Again some of you will be shocked to learn that Mr Lee has worked since the early-1990's. However this year he directed a film called "Chi-raq." This is simply a re-hash of the "Aristophanes" play "Lysistrata" which was first released in 427BC.
Dozens of new productions of this play have been put on every year for the past 2,700 years. If you want acclaim for simply re-telling a story that old you are going to have to do something absolutely amazing. Mr Lee simply hasn't. Even residents of Chicago have condemned it for mocking a serious issue, relying on racist stereotypes and have compared it to the nasty Black-exploitation movies of the 1970's.
Although it can be easily confused with a very famous French President the title "Chi-raq" is a combination of "Chicago" and "Iraq." This is a reference to the fact that due to black-on-black violence more American citizens are killed in just one district of Chicago every year than the US' 8-year occupation of Iraq.
You would think that being familiar with that fact Mr Lee would have something more insightful to say about Black America's entitlement culture.
18:20 on 19/1/16 (UK date).
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
Monday, 18 January 2016
Operation Featherweight: Month 18, Week 4, Day 2.
On December 28th 2015 (28/12/15) the government of Iraq declared the city of Ramadi liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Ramadi is one of the largest cities in Iraq's predominately Sunni-Arab south-western Anbar Province and sits around 65km (40 miles) west of Iraq's capital Baghdad.
As far back as the summer of 2015 I've been complaining that I'd been unable to gather the same level of information about the fight against ISIL in Anbar Province as I had in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq and Syria. I said that I needed time to build up that information.
Unfortunately in July 2015 US President Barack Obama made his now infamous telephone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In this phonecall Obama seems to have given Erdogan permission to join the fight on the side of ISIL against the Kurdish forces conducting air-strikes against them in Iraq and threatening a ground invasion in Iraq. Since then the Kurdish areas along the Turkish border have produced one crisis after another.
Just today Turkey is reporting that ISIL fired mortars from inside Syria at a school in Turkey's southern Kilis Province killing one. As with the repeated ISIL strikes against the Bashiqa camp which is occupied by Turkish troops in northern Iraq this attack seems intended to provide Turkey with an excuse to resume its invasion plans on the pre-text of self-defence. The true purpose of any invasion of course would be to re-establish the supply lines between Turkey and Raqqa - ISIL's de facto capital in Syria.
However even without going into too much detail it seems obvious that in Ramadi ISIL has been deploying the same tactics it used in the battle of Tikrit back in March of 2015. Rather than attempting to hold territory ISIL build in multiple layers of minefield's and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's) to slow the liberators advance while the ISIL fighters flee. Then while the liberators are clearing the IED's ISIL launch frequent raids which prevent the civilian population returning.
This proved a particular problem in the town of Baiji and its adjoining oil refinery which sits around 50km (30 miles) north of Tikrit. Although the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were able to liberate Tikrit they failed to press home the advantage and clear ISIL from the triangle of land around Hawija that sits between Baiji, Tikrit and Kirkuk. As a result the battle over Baiji never really ended continuing for many months after it was first declared liberated.
The ISF seem to be encountering the same problem with Ramadi with fighting continuing almost 4 weeks after liberation was declared. However those attacks are becoming smaller and less frequent.
Therefore it is clear that the ISF's next objective has been liberating the area surrounding Ramadi from ISIL. This includes the series of towns that run north-west of Ramadi along the Euphrates River up to Qa'im on the border with Syria. The ISF have then got to liberate the city of Fallujah which sits between Ramadi and Baghdad. Once that is completed they need to return to Tikrit to clear out Hawija and link up with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk. Then and only then can the ISF think about liberating Mosul.
What is making progress so painfully slow is that US President Obama - the nominal Commander-in-Chief - of Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR), the international anti-ISIL coalition - simply does not view ISIL as an enemy. Instead he views them as a strategic partner in removing all Shia-Arab governments from the region. Quite why that is Obama's strategic objective is something we're still waiting for him to explain.
As a result rather than helping the Iraqis defeat ISIL CJTFOIR has been doing everything in its power to protect ISIL by slowing down the Iraqi's efforts. For example one of the main problems the ISF had in liberating Ramadi is that CJTFOIR had come in and destroyed all the bridges the ISF would have used to enter the city adding another layer to ISIL's defences. CJTFOIR of course flatly refused to participate in the liberation of Tikrit at all.
This position has become completely untenable for the US since Russia joined the fight against ISIL in Syria on September 30th 2015 (30/9/15). Russia most certainly do not view ISIL as an ally to be coddled. Instead they view them as an enemy to be defeated and they have set about that task with quite some pace.
Although it's an asymmetric battlefield without clearly defined front-lines in the three and a half months since joining the fight Russia has succeeded in pushing ISIL and associated groups some 120km (75 miles) back from Latakia Province into Aleppo Province. With Russia's backing the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is rumoured to be about to launch a large offensive to drive ISIL and associated groups from Aleppo City and the surrounding areas.
This is why Turkey is desperate to get its irregular Turkmen forces into position north of Aleppo City around the town of Marea and why ISIL are desperate to help them. If Turkey is unable to get its forces into position before the SAA then ISIL will be cut off in a small strip of land between the Euphrates River to the west and the Iraq border to the east. From there it will be relatively easy for the SAA to simply drive ISIL out of Syria and into Iraq.
The original plan of course was that CJTFOIR would drive ISIL out of Iraq and into Syria.
If Russia and the SAA do succeed in pushing ISIL out of Syria it will be catastrophic for the US. That's because it won't be long before the Iraqi government gets sick of the constant delays and dumps CJTFOIR in favour of Russia ending US influence in the country and greatly reducing its influence in the region.
Sadly I think that it is obvious to all that Obama will respond to this by increasing his backing of Turkey in the hope of protecting ISIL in Syria so he can continue to protect them in Iraq. However what he should be doing is speeding up operations in Iraq so ISIL end up getting crushed between the two advancing forces.
The quickest way for Obama to speed up operations in Iraq is by abandoning this constant training of the Iraq Army. Rather than attempting to create the greatest army the World has ever seen before giving it permission to attempt to fight ISIL CJTFOIR should concentrate more on forming a vaguely competent Iraqi army and then supporting it as it fights ISIL.
The other major thing that Obama could do to speed up operations in Iraq is include the Shia militias that are known collectively as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). This represents one of the largest and the most highly motivated fighting forces in Iraq.
However as Obama flatly refuses to accept that Iraq is a majority Shia nation CJTFOIR is forbidden from working with them. That is why the PMF were banned from the Ramadi operation and why CJTFOIR refused to participate in the Tikrit operation.
With CJTFOIR now having to liberate and hold vast areas of Iraq including the major cities of Fallujah and Mosul in what could be a period of less than three months it is clear that they are going to need every fighter available. That includes the PMF.
ISIL's main sponsor - Saudi Arabia - is clearly well aware of this so has spent the start of 2016 trying to inflame Sunni/Shia tensions across the region. This began with the execution of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr on trumped up terrorism charges and continued with the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Iran - the regions largest Shia nation.
The intention being to re-enforce the claim that sectarian tensions - which Saudi Arabia created - mean that the Shia PMF couldn't possibly be used to liberate Sunni Anbar province. This of course would serve to preserve the positions held by ISIL and further delay the liberation of Iraq.
On the ground in Iraq ISIL have been attempting to capitalise of this increased support from Saudi Arabia by launching a new campaign of sectarian terror attacks against Iraq's majority Shia civilian population.
A particular attack of note occurred on January 11th (11/1/16) when ISIL gunmen set off a car bomb and then stormed the al-Jawhara Shopping Mall in Baghdad killing 18. This marked a shift in tactics away from ISIL's usual suicide bombings and seemed intended to mirror the tactics used by African Islamists. For example such as in the September 21st 2013 (21/9/13) attack on Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya and the November 20th 2015 (20/11/15) attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali.
Capitalising on the wave of Islamist terrorism that has swept the globe in connection with the COP21 summit the al-Jawhara attack was ISIL trying to create a Shia backlash against Sunnis by announcing that they are backed by Saudi Arabia and together they're going to destroy all the Shias.
Yesterday it was announced that on Friday (15/1/16) three Iraqi-born US citizens had been kidnapped in Baghdad. Those who are clearly holding a grudge immediately blamed this on the PMF particularly the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq group.
However I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that this kidnapping had been ordered by Saudi intelligence specifically to drive a further wedge between the US and the PMF. Thus further protecting ISIL.
18:30 on 18/1/16 (UK date).
As far back as the summer of 2015 I've been complaining that I'd been unable to gather the same level of information about the fight against ISIL in Anbar Province as I had in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq and Syria. I said that I needed time to build up that information.
Unfortunately in July 2015 US President Barack Obama made his now infamous telephone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In this phonecall Obama seems to have given Erdogan permission to join the fight on the side of ISIL against the Kurdish forces conducting air-strikes against them in Iraq and threatening a ground invasion in Iraq. Since then the Kurdish areas along the Turkish border have produced one crisis after another.
Just today Turkey is reporting that ISIL fired mortars from inside Syria at a school in Turkey's southern Kilis Province killing one. As with the repeated ISIL strikes against the Bashiqa camp which is occupied by Turkish troops in northern Iraq this attack seems intended to provide Turkey with an excuse to resume its invasion plans on the pre-text of self-defence. The true purpose of any invasion of course would be to re-establish the supply lines between Turkey and Raqqa - ISIL's de facto capital in Syria.
However even without going into too much detail it seems obvious that in Ramadi ISIL has been deploying the same tactics it used in the battle of Tikrit back in March of 2015. Rather than attempting to hold territory ISIL build in multiple layers of minefield's and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's) to slow the liberators advance while the ISIL fighters flee. Then while the liberators are clearing the IED's ISIL launch frequent raids which prevent the civilian population returning.
This proved a particular problem in the town of Baiji and its adjoining oil refinery which sits around 50km (30 miles) north of Tikrit. Although the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were able to liberate Tikrit they failed to press home the advantage and clear ISIL from the triangle of land around Hawija that sits between Baiji, Tikrit and Kirkuk. As a result the battle over Baiji never really ended continuing for many months after it was first declared liberated.
The ISF seem to be encountering the same problem with Ramadi with fighting continuing almost 4 weeks after liberation was declared. However those attacks are becoming smaller and less frequent.
Therefore it is clear that the ISF's next objective has been liberating the area surrounding Ramadi from ISIL. This includes the series of towns that run north-west of Ramadi along the Euphrates River up to Qa'im on the border with Syria. The ISF have then got to liberate the city of Fallujah which sits between Ramadi and Baghdad. Once that is completed they need to return to Tikrit to clear out Hawija and link up with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk. Then and only then can the ISF think about liberating Mosul.
What is making progress so painfully slow is that US President Obama - the nominal Commander-in-Chief - of Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR), the international anti-ISIL coalition - simply does not view ISIL as an enemy. Instead he views them as a strategic partner in removing all Shia-Arab governments from the region. Quite why that is Obama's strategic objective is something we're still waiting for him to explain.
As a result rather than helping the Iraqis defeat ISIL CJTFOIR has been doing everything in its power to protect ISIL by slowing down the Iraqi's efforts. For example one of the main problems the ISF had in liberating Ramadi is that CJTFOIR had come in and destroyed all the bridges the ISF would have used to enter the city adding another layer to ISIL's defences. CJTFOIR of course flatly refused to participate in the liberation of Tikrit at all.
This position has become completely untenable for the US since Russia joined the fight against ISIL in Syria on September 30th 2015 (30/9/15). Russia most certainly do not view ISIL as an ally to be coddled. Instead they view them as an enemy to be defeated and they have set about that task with quite some pace.
Although it's an asymmetric battlefield without clearly defined front-lines in the three and a half months since joining the fight Russia has succeeded in pushing ISIL and associated groups some 120km (75 miles) back from Latakia Province into Aleppo Province. With Russia's backing the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is rumoured to be about to launch a large offensive to drive ISIL and associated groups from Aleppo City and the surrounding areas.
This is why Turkey is desperate to get its irregular Turkmen forces into position north of Aleppo City around the town of Marea and why ISIL are desperate to help them. If Turkey is unable to get its forces into position before the SAA then ISIL will be cut off in a small strip of land between the Euphrates River to the west and the Iraq border to the east. From there it will be relatively easy for the SAA to simply drive ISIL out of Syria and into Iraq.
The original plan of course was that CJTFOIR would drive ISIL out of Iraq and into Syria.
If Russia and the SAA do succeed in pushing ISIL out of Syria it will be catastrophic for the US. That's because it won't be long before the Iraqi government gets sick of the constant delays and dumps CJTFOIR in favour of Russia ending US influence in the country and greatly reducing its influence in the region.
Sadly I think that it is obvious to all that Obama will respond to this by increasing his backing of Turkey in the hope of protecting ISIL in Syria so he can continue to protect them in Iraq. However what he should be doing is speeding up operations in Iraq so ISIL end up getting crushed between the two advancing forces.
The quickest way for Obama to speed up operations in Iraq is by abandoning this constant training of the Iraq Army. Rather than attempting to create the greatest army the World has ever seen before giving it permission to attempt to fight ISIL CJTFOIR should concentrate more on forming a vaguely competent Iraqi army and then supporting it as it fights ISIL.
The other major thing that Obama could do to speed up operations in Iraq is include the Shia militias that are known collectively as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). This represents one of the largest and the most highly motivated fighting forces in Iraq.
However as Obama flatly refuses to accept that Iraq is a majority Shia nation CJTFOIR is forbidden from working with them. That is why the PMF were banned from the Ramadi operation and why CJTFOIR refused to participate in the Tikrit operation.
With CJTFOIR now having to liberate and hold vast areas of Iraq including the major cities of Fallujah and Mosul in what could be a period of less than three months it is clear that they are going to need every fighter available. That includes the PMF.
ISIL's main sponsor - Saudi Arabia - is clearly well aware of this so has spent the start of 2016 trying to inflame Sunni/Shia tensions across the region. This began with the execution of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr on trumped up terrorism charges and continued with the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Iran - the regions largest Shia nation.
The intention being to re-enforce the claim that sectarian tensions - which Saudi Arabia created - mean that the Shia PMF couldn't possibly be used to liberate Sunni Anbar province. This of course would serve to preserve the positions held by ISIL and further delay the liberation of Iraq.
On the ground in Iraq ISIL have been attempting to capitalise of this increased support from Saudi Arabia by launching a new campaign of sectarian terror attacks against Iraq's majority Shia civilian population.
A particular attack of note occurred on January 11th (11/1/16) when ISIL gunmen set off a car bomb and then stormed the al-Jawhara Shopping Mall in Baghdad killing 18. This marked a shift in tactics away from ISIL's usual suicide bombings and seemed intended to mirror the tactics used by African Islamists. For example such as in the September 21st 2013 (21/9/13) attack on Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya and the November 20th 2015 (20/11/15) attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali.
Capitalising on the wave of Islamist terrorism that has swept the globe in connection with the COP21 summit the al-Jawhara attack was ISIL trying to create a Shia backlash against Sunnis by announcing that they are backed by Saudi Arabia and together they're going to destroy all the Shias.
Yesterday it was announced that on Friday (15/1/16) three Iraqi-born US citizens had been kidnapped in Baghdad. Those who are clearly holding a grudge immediately blamed this on the PMF particularly the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq group.
However I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that this kidnapping had been ordered by Saudi intelligence specifically to drive a further wedge between the US and the PMF. Thus further protecting ISIL.
18:30 on 18/1/16 (UK date).
Sunday, 17 January 2016
The Aylan Kurdi Cartoon.
As I think has been mentioned once or twice on New Year's Eve (NYE) the German city of Cologne was subjected to a co-ordinated wave of sex attacks at the hands of those either seeking political asylum (refugee status) or those who had been granted political asylum.
This prompted a little bit of a backlash across the European Union (EU).
In it's latest issue the notorious French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo responded to this with a cartoon that I have attempted to upload. However it's probably best you meet me on Twitter;
href
="http://s414.photobucket.com/user/Sovereign16/media/AKR_zpsbmejeffv.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp226/Sovereign16/AKR_zpsbmejeffv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo AKR_zpsbmejeffv.jpg"/>
If you don't read French or as is perhaps more likely my upload has failed the cartoon asks what World famous refugee Aylan Kurdi would have become if he'd lived while showing an adult version of him as a sex attacker.
Although challenging this is quite clearly a pro-refugee message. In effect it grabs all those who are claiming that all asylum seekers are rapists by the throat and screams; "What you think he's a rapist too, you c*nt!"
The UK's BBC actually did something similar prior to the Cologne attacks in a satirical show called "Charlie Brooker's 2015 Wipe."
Taking a comedic look at how the British news media had covered the refugee crisis throughout 2015 it pointed out how in the early part of the summer the refugees were largely portrayed as a sinister swarm that was out to destroy Britain. Then the pictures of Aylan Kurdi appeared and like a light-switch being flicked Britain suddenly realised that these refugees were people.
The segment ended with a phrase similar too; "But then the Paris Massacres happened and the refugees went back to being scum."
Unfortunately this Charlie Hebdo cartoon has highlighted another cultural difference between European and Arab societies.
Simply the Arab audience just didn't get it and decided the cartoon was an insult to Aylan Kurdi. This prompted Jordan's Queen Rania to post a similar cartoon. Again I have attempted to show this below;
href
="http://s414.photobucket.com/user/Sovereign16/media/AKJ_zpsbjr6j2lm.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp226/Sovereign16/AKJ_zpsbjr6j2lm.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo AKJ_zpsbjr6j2lm.jpg"/>
This shows Aylan Kurdi growing up to be a doctor and a loving father.
In short it represents Charlie Hebdo's entire f*cking point just with none of the subtly.
The reason why the Arab audience missed the point of this latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon is simply that they're just not that accustomed to satire. That's because the Monarchs and Dictators who've been robbing the region blind for generations really don't like people pointing out their failures and their hypocrisy.
Some have even gone so far as to convince people that this goes against Islam through the ban on images of the Prophet Mohammad.
However with that ban only coming in around 200 years ago as part of the Wahabbist interpretation I happen to think that it's an Arab problem rather than an Islam problem.
For example during last January's march in Paris in response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks as UK journalist - possibly Kay Burley - showed a microphone in the faces of a group of Sufi Muslims and demanded to know what they thought of the magazine's cartoon of the Prophet.
They responded with the sort of blank expression that seemed to say;
"Do your own research. As Muslims we think the attack was just as nuts as everybody else. That's why the Al-Sauds keep trying to kill us."
With intellectualism being a particular bete noir of Recep Tayyip Erdogan it almost goes without saying that the backlash against this latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon has been led by Turkey's Justice & Development Party (AKP). However they've refused to show the cartoon in question so people just have to trust that it is as offensive as Erdogan claims.
The fact that normally rather moderate Jordan has decided to join in with this campaign demonstrates to me how many Arab government's find it easier to attack the west in the name of Islam rather than admit how they've been holding their nations back.
If I was France I would be expecting an immediate apology from Queen Rania.
19:30 on 17/1/16 (UK date).
This prompted a little bit of a backlash across the European Union (EU).
In it's latest issue the notorious French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo responded to this with a cartoon that I have attempted to upload. However it's probably best you meet me on Twitter;
href
="http://s414.photobucket.com/user/Sovereign16/media/AKR_zpsbmejeffv.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp226/Sovereign16/AKR_zpsbmejeffv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo AKR_zpsbmejeffv.jpg"/>
If you don't read French or as is perhaps more likely my upload has failed the cartoon asks what World famous refugee Aylan Kurdi would have become if he'd lived while showing an adult version of him as a sex attacker.
Although challenging this is quite clearly a pro-refugee message. In effect it grabs all those who are claiming that all asylum seekers are rapists by the throat and screams; "What you think he's a rapist too, you c*nt!"
The UK's BBC actually did something similar prior to the Cologne attacks in a satirical show called "Charlie Brooker's 2015 Wipe."
Taking a comedic look at how the British news media had covered the refugee crisis throughout 2015 it pointed out how in the early part of the summer the refugees were largely portrayed as a sinister swarm that was out to destroy Britain. Then the pictures of Aylan Kurdi appeared and like a light-switch being flicked Britain suddenly realised that these refugees were people.
The segment ended with a phrase similar too; "But then the Paris Massacres happened and the refugees went back to being scum."
Unfortunately this Charlie Hebdo cartoon has highlighted another cultural difference between European and Arab societies.
Simply the Arab audience just didn't get it and decided the cartoon was an insult to Aylan Kurdi. This prompted Jordan's Queen Rania to post a similar cartoon. Again I have attempted to show this below;
href
="http://s414.photobucket.com/user/Sovereign16/media/AKJ_zpsbjr6j2lm.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp226/Sovereign16/AKJ_zpsbjr6j2lm.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo AKJ_zpsbjr6j2lm.jpg"/>
This shows Aylan Kurdi growing up to be a doctor and a loving father.
In short it represents Charlie Hebdo's entire f*cking point just with none of the subtly.
The reason why the Arab audience missed the point of this latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon is simply that they're just not that accustomed to satire. That's because the Monarchs and Dictators who've been robbing the region blind for generations really don't like people pointing out their failures and their hypocrisy.
Some have even gone so far as to convince people that this goes against Islam through the ban on images of the Prophet Mohammad.
However with that ban only coming in around 200 years ago as part of the Wahabbist interpretation I happen to think that it's an Arab problem rather than an Islam problem.
For example during last January's march in Paris in response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks as UK journalist - possibly Kay Burley - showed a microphone in the faces of a group of Sufi Muslims and demanded to know what they thought of the magazine's cartoon of the Prophet.
They responded with the sort of blank expression that seemed to say;
"Do your own research. As Muslims we think the attack was just as nuts as everybody else. That's why the Al-Sauds keep trying to kill us."
With intellectualism being a particular bete noir of Recep Tayyip Erdogan it almost goes without saying that the backlash against this latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon has been led by Turkey's Justice & Development Party (AKP). However they've refused to show the cartoon in question so people just have to trust that it is as offensive as Erdogan claims.
The fact that normally rather moderate Jordan has decided to join in with this campaign demonstrates to me how many Arab government's find it easier to attack the west in the name of Islam rather than admit how they've been holding their nations back.
If I was France I would be expecting an immediate apology from Queen Rania.
19:30 on 17/1/16 (UK date).
Embarassing Bodies.
For as long as anyone can remember my father has been complaining of what - at this point - can only be described as stratospheric medical problems.
Obviously I don't like discussing my medical issues on the world wide web let alone anybody else's. However my father is that much of a hypochondriac I'm surprised he hasn't told you himself.
Essentially the problem is that as his body has aged the urethral sphincters at the entrance of his bladder have weakened leading to a frequent and urgent need to urinate. As any woman who's ever had a baby knows he simply needs to do exercises - sometimes known as "Kegel exercises" - to strengthen his pelvic floor muscles to compensate.
My father's case is exacerbated by the fact he flatly refuses to drink any water, ever. As a result the toxins cleaned out of his blood by his kidneys are not readily able to leave his body through his urine. This causes the kidneys to constantly send a message to his bladder going; "Dude, hurry up."
Unfortunately my father has decided to sign up with my grandmother - his mother's - General Practitioner (GP) doctor's practice. I think we all know how keen they are on unnecessary medical procedures.
So rather than simply treating my father they decided to order blood tests to rule prostate cancer. The problem is that the blood test for prostrate cancer is notoriously unreliable. As a result taking the test sees you almost automatically referred for a prostate biopsy. This is equally unreliable. Therefore you are rapidly trapped into a constant cycle of blood tests and biopsies.
It does rather call to mind that episode of "Family Guy" where they discover the Quagmire character is bald.
As I've mentioned my father had another one of these biopsies on Thursday (14/1/16) under general anaesthetic. Demonstrating his hypochondriac tendencies this gave him cause to gather all his children around for what we were sure was his imminent death. As a result I should currently be having dinner in a pub with my father and little brother.
However this morning my father cancelled because apparently the after effects of the anaesthetic are still causing him to feel unwell. With the half-life of one of the main anaesthetic drugs - Propofol - being 2 hours and the half-life of the other - Fentanyl - being 20 minutes three days later this is simply not true.
France has decided to make an issue out of all this with their "Biotrial" drug test that went dramatically wrong on Thursday (14/1/16). Just today it's been confirmed that the man who was left brain dead has had his life-support system turned off and been declared officially dead.
With the Iran nuclear deal to which French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was deeply opposed going into effect while the COP21 draft agreement that Fabius wholly supported seeming to flounder it seems clear that the French feel they need a little bit of love and attention.
After all the behaviour of certain government ministers has left France in a seemingly permanent state of emergency with troops on the streets to guard against the constant terror threat.
This is all rather annoying for me because with junior doctors on strike and given their past behaviour it's clear it won't take much to tempt the UK to exploit the situation to get me to explain where it all went wrong.
Unfortunately they clearly aren't prepared to pay for that explanation.
Therefore my only recommendation is that one specific GP's practice run by a small group of senior doctors in a specific Primary Care Trust (PCT) is charged for every unnecessary medical procedure they order.
18:15 on 17/1/16 (UK date).
Obviously I don't like discussing my medical issues on the world wide web let alone anybody else's. However my father is that much of a hypochondriac I'm surprised he hasn't told you himself.
Essentially the problem is that as his body has aged the urethral sphincters at the entrance of his bladder have weakened leading to a frequent and urgent need to urinate. As any woman who's ever had a baby knows he simply needs to do exercises - sometimes known as "Kegel exercises" - to strengthen his pelvic floor muscles to compensate.
My father's case is exacerbated by the fact he flatly refuses to drink any water, ever. As a result the toxins cleaned out of his blood by his kidneys are not readily able to leave his body through his urine. This causes the kidneys to constantly send a message to his bladder going; "Dude, hurry up."
Unfortunately my father has decided to sign up with my grandmother - his mother's - General Practitioner (GP) doctor's practice. I think we all know how keen they are on unnecessary medical procedures.
So rather than simply treating my father they decided to order blood tests to rule prostate cancer. The problem is that the blood test for prostrate cancer is notoriously unreliable. As a result taking the test sees you almost automatically referred for a prostate biopsy. This is equally unreliable. Therefore you are rapidly trapped into a constant cycle of blood tests and biopsies.
It does rather call to mind that episode of "Family Guy" where they discover the Quagmire character is bald.
As I've mentioned my father had another one of these biopsies on Thursday (14/1/16) under general anaesthetic. Demonstrating his hypochondriac tendencies this gave him cause to gather all his children around for what we were sure was his imminent death. As a result I should currently be having dinner in a pub with my father and little brother.
However this morning my father cancelled because apparently the after effects of the anaesthetic are still causing him to feel unwell. With the half-life of one of the main anaesthetic drugs - Propofol - being 2 hours and the half-life of the other - Fentanyl - being 20 minutes three days later this is simply not true.
France has decided to make an issue out of all this with their "Biotrial" drug test that went dramatically wrong on Thursday (14/1/16). Just today it's been confirmed that the man who was left brain dead has had his life-support system turned off and been declared officially dead.
With the Iran nuclear deal to which French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was deeply opposed going into effect while the COP21 draft agreement that Fabius wholly supported seeming to flounder it seems clear that the French feel they need a little bit of love and attention.
After all the behaviour of certain government ministers has left France in a seemingly permanent state of emergency with troops on the streets to guard against the constant terror threat.
This is all rather annoying for me because with junior doctors on strike and given their past behaviour it's clear it won't take much to tempt the UK to exploit the situation to get me to explain where it all went wrong.
Unfortunately they clearly aren't prepared to pay for that explanation.
Therefore my only recommendation is that one specific GP's practice run by a small group of senior doctors in a specific Primary Care Trust (PCT) is charged for every unnecessary medical procedure they order.
18:15 on 17/1/16 (UK date).
Saturday, 16 January 2016
COP21 Terrorism Update #17
Today sees the start of the 6th Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Although just a two day meeting focused entirely on renewable energy this is the first time that delegates from nations party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have gathered together in the same place at the same time since the end of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris, France on December 12th (12/12/15).
Since COP21 nations have had a chance to reflect on the draft global change agreement it produced and found it to be riddled with errors. As a result it is seeming increasingly less likely that the draft will be ratified by the minimum of 55 nations required for it to come into force.
As the COP21 draft (aka; "The 12/12 Atrocity") will block any effective action being taken to combat climate change either now or at any point in the future the Gulf States led by Saudi Arabia are desperate for it to be ratified. After all these nations that were only created to control the flow of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas view any attempts to move away from fossil fuels as a threat to their very existence.
As a result these Gulf States have long mounted a campaign of Islamic inspired terrorism to intimidate nations into obeying them on the issue of climate change. Initially the objective was to prevent nations from participating in the UNFCCC process. However now that process has produced a draft agreement that will permanently prevent action being taken to combat climate change the objective is now to bully nations into ratifying that draft.
So on Thursday (14/1/16) we had the Islamic inspired terror attack in the Indonesian capital Jakarta which I covered in my 16th post in this series.
There I explained how a cinema and shopping mall were specifically targeted in an effort to invoke memories of an attack against a cinema and shopping mall in the Somali capital Mogadishu on December 19th (19/12/15). The intention being to remind east/central African nations that although Indonesia was being attacked on this occasion Saudi Arabia remains poised just across the Gulf of Aden from east Africa.
On Friday (15/1/16) the threat to east/central Africa became a lot more explicit when the Islamic inspired terror group Al-Shabaab (literally: "The Youth") attacked a Kenyan army base close to the town of el-Ade in southern Somalia. Although details are still a little hazy it appears that 65 Kenyan troops were killed in this attack which is similar to an attack that killed 70 Burundian and Ugandan troops near the village of Leego in June 2015.
Later on Friday (15/1/16) there was yet another Islamic inspired terror attack in Africa. This time on a luxury hotel in Ouagadougou - the capital of Burkina Faso.
Here four terrorists - 2 men and 2 women -stormed into the hotel killing 26 people in the communal areas before rigging the building with explosives in an effort to use the other 126 guests as hostages. The siege was professionally ended by Burkinabe troops backed by French special forces.
Although the siege has only ended in the past 8 hours it appears that the majority of those killed and injured were not only foreigners but also represent a wide variety of nationalities.
As with the November 20th (20/11/15) attack on similar hotel in Bamako, the capital of Burkina Faso's neighbour Mali the intention seems to be to show that Saudi Arabia is not only able threaten nations in east/central Africa but also west Africa.
Not only do yesterday's attacks cut across Africa from east to west they've occurred in a very specific part of Africa known as the Sahel Belt. This area is particularly important within climate change negotiations because it represents a zone of transition between the Sahara to the north and the rich Savannah farmlands to the south.
The problem is that climate change is causing the Sahara to expand and encroach into the Sahel Belt reducing the amount of viable farmland and therefore reducing the food supply. As a result what is known as "Food Security" in UNFCCC jargon is a major concern for governments in the Sahel.
In 2010 the Sahel region experienced an extreme famine that left at least 20 million people starving in scenes far more harrowing then those currently coming out of the Syrian town of Madaya. In 2012 the Sahel experienced another extreme famine which saw 2.8 million people driven into starvation in Burkina Faso alone.
In December 2015 United Nations (UN) staffers forced the UN Security Council (UNSC) to sit through a briefing on the threat of climate change on the Sahel Belt in the hope of connecting the US - that month's UNSC chair - with the reality of the threat that climate change poses to African nations.
As a result you would think that nations in the Sahel Belt would have the most to lose from seeing the 12/12 Atrocity ratified and the most to gain from seeing it fail to be replaced with something that actually works. This makes them prime targets for Saudi Arabia's terrorism.
In terms of why the Hotel Splendid was chosen as the specific target I'm hesitant to assign too much meaning.
One the big problems faced by many African nations in responding to climate change is that they have extremely low levels of socio-economic development.
For example in the US or the UK roughly 100% of people can read and write. However in Burkina Faso that drops to around 36% while in Somalia it is so low that it's not possible to put an exact figure on it. The fact that the COP21 draft requires nations such as these to keep full greenhouse gas (ghg) inventories and submit new actions plans every 5 years is just one of its many flaws.
These low level of development effect every aspect of life in these nations including their terrorists.
Back in - I think 2014 - a group of child recruits were rescued from an al-Shabaab training camp. A large part of their indoctrination was telling them that if they committed suicide attacks they would be rewarded by 72 virgins in Paradise. Their instructors 'proved' this too them by showing them a portion of a Bollywood film which they claimed had been sent back from the afterlife by suicide attackers who'd gone before them.
Having little concept of India the country let alone that they made movies there many of the al-Shabaab recruits actually believed this to be true.
Therefore if there was any significance to the choice of the Hotel Splendid as a target it was that it is used by comparatively rich international visitors. As result this attack has been headline news across much of the World while the attack on Kenyan troops earlier in the day only really received a few lines on Twitter.
If you want to target a luxury hotel in Ouagadougou that's popular with international visitors you don't really have much choice. However Hotel Splendid is owned by a Ukrainian.
On Tuesday (12/1/16) US President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union (SOTU) address. As is a fitting end for Obama's Presidency this was an utterly empty speech devoid of any substance.
However in talking about US strength overseas Obama declared that he was forcing Russia to prop up Ukraine. This seemed to be an admission by Obama that the US had plunged Ukraine into chaos in order to provide an excuse to sanction Russia for opposing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The fact that the US would do something so horrific in support of Islamic inspired terrorism shows the World that rather than being prepared to protect it from Islamic inspired terrorism the US views itself merely as Saudi Arabia's servant. That's hardly reassuring.
Of course the main thing that brings international visitors to places like Burkina Faso and hotels like Hotel Splendid is working for the UN. Although we are still waiting for identities to be confirmed it seems that many of those killed, wounded or held hostage were indeed working for either the UN or associated aid agencies.
Therefore the attack is another show of force by Saudi Arabia. After all if the UNSC too afraid to take action to protect its own employees from Saudi Arabia it's certainly not going to take action to protect its smaller and weaker members.
At around 17:55 on 16/1/16 (UK date) I've got a little more to add. After dinner.
Edited at around 19:05 on 16/1/16 (UK date) to add;
Despite the ticking off by the UN the Obama administration's response to this latest round of terrorist attacks has continued to be typically childish.
The December 19th (19/12/15) bombing in Mogadishu was accompanied by a wave of 'popular' protests against the governments of several east/central African nations including Burundi, Uganda and Ethiopia. The intention being to send the message that terrorist attacks was not the only tool at Saudi Arabia's disposal to remove disagreeable governments.
On Thursday (14/1/16) in response to the Jakarta attack the Assistant Secretary of State for the Africa region Linda Thomas-Greenfield issued a statement further condemning the Ethiopian government's response to the Oromo protests that sprung up in the wake of COP21.
Within hours of the start of the attack in Ouagadougou Obama's Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power Tweeted a message calling for the African Union and other regional partners to intervene in Burundi to solve another one of the crises that sprung up in the wake of COP21.
Several hours before the attack in Ouagadougou was brought to an end the US State Department issued a statement condemning the government of Uganda for violently suppressing opposition protesters in the run up to elections next month. This is a tactic the US often uses to de-legitimise governments as a pre-cursor to calling for their overthrow.
This is a clear indication that the Obama administration has not looked at these latest attacks in Indonesia, Somalia and Burkina Faso as terrorist outrages that must be stopped.
Instead the Obama administration has seen them as an opportunity to secure Obama's grand "Legacy" by simply piggy-backing on Saudi Arabia's attempts to intimidate nations into ratifying the 12/12 Atrocity.
This decision to be a follower rather than a leader is what has led the Obama administration into so much trouble particularly in Iraq and Syria. It has also seen the US reduced from a global power to simply Saudi Arabia's servant.
Today US federal authorities have announced that a man from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon has been arrested for driving a government vehicle without permission. That seems to suggest that in its last 11 months the Obama administration is now speaking in its personal capacity rather than on behalf of the US government.
I should also point out that on the first working day of the Oregon protest (4/1/16) the US formally filed charges against Volkswagen (VW) of the emissions scandal. That scandal is of course synonymous with the peer review process that had been touted as a central to a climate change agreement. The timing of the US announcement was intended to highlight how the stripping out of the peer review process was an act of wanton vandalism. Although I didn't cite VW specifically I like to think I conveyed that message at the time.
It seems not everyone was clear on that though because during Thursday's (14/1/16) attack in Jakarta the French car manufacturer Renault announced that it had been raided by the fraud squad over the emissions scandal. It was only as the day wore on Renault confirmed that the fraud squad had found no indication of wrongdoing.
With Renault's share price turning somersaults throughout the day this was a French enquiry as to what the US was getting at with the 4/1/16 charges.
Although just a two day meeting focused entirely on renewable energy this is the first time that delegates from nations party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have gathered together in the same place at the same time since the end of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris, France on December 12th (12/12/15).
Since COP21 nations have had a chance to reflect on the draft global change agreement it produced and found it to be riddled with errors. As a result it is seeming increasingly less likely that the draft will be ratified by the minimum of 55 nations required for it to come into force.
As the COP21 draft (aka; "The 12/12 Atrocity") will block any effective action being taken to combat climate change either now or at any point in the future the Gulf States led by Saudi Arabia are desperate for it to be ratified. After all these nations that were only created to control the flow of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas view any attempts to move away from fossil fuels as a threat to their very existence.
As a result these Gulf States have long mounted a campaign of Islamic inspired terrorism to intimidate nations into obeying them on the issue of climate change. Initially the objective was to prevent nations from participating in the UNFCCC process. However now that process has produced a draft agreement that will permanently prevent action being taken to combat climate change the objective is now to bully nations into ratifying that draft.
So on Thursday (14/1/16) we had the Islamic inspired terror attack in the Indonesian capital Jakarta which I covered in my 16th post in this series.
There I explained how a cinema and shopping mall were specifically targeted in an effort to invoke memories of an attack against a cinema and shopping mall in the Somali capital Mogadishu on December 19th (19/12/15). The intention being to remind east/central African nations that although Indonesia was being attacked on this occasion Saudi Arabia remains poised just across the Gulf of Aden from east Africa.
On Friday (15/1/16) the threat to east/central Africa became a lot more explicit when the Islamic inspired terror group Al-Shabaab (literally: "The Youth") attacked a Kenyan army base close to the town of el-Ade in southern Somalia. Although details are still a little hazy it appears that 65 Kenyan troops were killed in this attack which is similar to an attack that killed 70 Burundian and Ugandan troops near the village of Leego in June 2015.
Later on Friday (15/1/16) there was yet another Islamic inspired terror attack in Africa. This time on a luxury hotel in Ouagadougou - the capital of Burkina Faso.
Here four terrorists - 2 men and 2 women -stormed into the hotel killing 26 people in the communal areas before rigging the building with explosives in an effort to use the other 126 guests as hostages. The siege was professionally ended by Burkinabe troops backed by French special forces.
Although the siege has only ended in the past 8 hours it appears that the majority of those killed and injured were not only foreigners but also represent a wide variety of nationalities.
As with the November 20th (20/11/15) attack on similar hotel in Bamako, the capital of Burkina Faso's neighbour Mali the intention seems to be to show that Saudi Arabia is not only able threaten nations in east/central Africa but also west Africa.
Not only do yesterday's attacks cut across Africa from east to west they've occurred in a very specific part of Africa known as the Sahel Belt. This area is particularly important within climate change negotiations because it represents a zone of transition between the Sahara to the north and the rich Savannah farmlands to the south.
The problem is that climate change is causing the Sahara to expand and encroach into the Sahel Belt reducing the amount of viable farmland and therefore reducing the food supply. As a result what is known as "Food Security" in UNFCCC jargon is a major concern for governments in the Sahel.
In 2010 the Sahel region experienced an extreme famine that left at least 20 million people starving in scenes far more harrowing then those currently coming out of the Syrian town of Madaya. In 2012 the Sahel experienced another extreme famine which saw 2.8 million people driven into starvation in Burkina Faso alone.
In December 2015 United Nations (UN) staffers forced the UN Security Council (UNSC) to sit through a briefing on the threat of climate change on the Sahel Belt in the hope of connecting the US - that month's UNSC chair - with the reality of the threat that climate change poses to African nations.
As a result you would think that nations in the Sahel Belt would have the most to lose from seeing the 12/12 Atrocity ratified and the most to gain from seeing it fail to be replaced with something that actually works. This makes them prime targets for Saudi Arabia's terrorism.
In terms of why the Hotel Splendid was chosen as the specific target I'm hesitant to assign too much meaning.
One the big problems faced by many African nations in responding to climate change is that they have extremely low levels of socio-economic development.
For example in the US or the UK roughly 100% of people can read and write. However in Burkina Faso that drops to around 36% while in Somalia it is so low that it's not possible to put an exact figure on it. The fact that the COP21 draft requires nations such as these to keep full greenhouse gas (ghg) inventories and submit new actions plans every 5 years is just one of its many flaws.
These low level of development effect every aspect of life in these nations including their terrorists.
Back in - I think 2014 - a group of child recruits were rescued from an al-Shabaab training camp. A large part of their indoctrination was telling them that if they committed suicide attacks they would be rewarded by 72 virgins in Paradise. Their instructors 'proved' this too them by showing them a portion of a Bollywood film which they claimed had been sent back from the afterlife by suicide attackers who'd gone before them.
Having little concept of India the country let alone that they made movies there many of the al-Shabaab recruits actually believed this to be true.
Therefore if there was any significance to the choice of the Hotel Splendid as a target it was that it is used by comparatively rich international visitors. As result this attack has been headline news across much of the World while the attack on Kenyan troops earlier in the day only really received a few lines on Twitter.
If you want to target a luxury hotel in Ouagadougou that's popular with international visitors you don't really have much choice. However Hotel Splendid is owned by a Ukrainian.
On Tuesday (12/1/16) US President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union (SOTU) address. As is a fitting end for Obama's Presidency this was an utterly empty speech devoid of any substance.
However in talking about US strength overseas Obama declared that he was forcing Russia to prop up Ukraine. This seemed to be an admission by Obama that the US had plunged Ukraine into chaos in order to provide an excuse to sanction Russia for opposing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The fact that the US would do something so horrific in support of Islamic inspired terrorism shows the World that rather than being prepared to protect it from Islamic inspired terrorism the US views itself merely as Saudi Arabia's servant. That's hardly reassuring.
Of course the main thing that brings international visitors to places like Burkina Faso and hotels like Hotel Splendid is working for the UN. Although we are still waiting for identities to be confirmed it seems that many of those killed, wounded or held hostage were indeed working for either the UN or associated aid agencies.
Therefore the attack is another show of force by Saudi Arabia. After all if the UNSC too afraid to take action to protect its own employees from Saudi Arabia it's certainly not going to take action to protect its smaller and weaker members.
At around 17:55 on 16/1/16 (UK date) I've got a little more to add. After dinner.
Edited at around 19:05 on 16/1/16 (UK date) to add;
Despite the ticking off by the UN the Obama administration's response to this latest round of terrorist attacks has continued to be typically childish.
The December 19th (19/12/15) bombing in Mogadishu was accompanied by a wave of 'popular' protests against the governments of several east/central African nations including Burundi, Uganda and Ethiopia. The intention being to send the message that terrorist attacks was not the only tool at Saudi Arabia's disposal to remove disagreeable governments.
On Thursday (14/1/16) in response to the Jakarta attack the Assistant Secretary of State for the Africa region Linda Thomas-Greenfield issued a statement further condemning the Ethiopian government's response to the Oromo protests that sprung up in the wake of COP21.
Within hours of the start of the attack in Ouagadougou Obama's Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power Tweeted a message calling for the African Union and other regional partners to intervene in Burundi to solve another one of the crises that sprung up in the wake of COP21.
Several hours before the attack in Ouagadougou was brought to an end the US State Department issued a statement condemning the government of Uganda for violently suppressing opposition protesters in the run up to elections next month. This is a tactic the US often uses to de-legitimise governments as a pre-cursor to calling for their overthrow.
This is a clear indication that the Obama administration has not looked at these latest attacks in Indonesia, Somalia and Burkina Faso as terrorist outrages that must be stopped.
Instead the Obama administration has seen them as an opportunity to secure Obama's grand "Legacy" by simply piggy-backing on Saudi Arabia's attempts to intimidate nations into ratifying the 12/12 Atrocity.
This decision to be a follower rather than a leader is what has led the Obama administration into so much trouble particularly in Iraq and Syria. It has also seen the US reduced from a global power to simply Saudi Arabia's servant.
Today US federal authorities have announced that a man from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon has been arrested for driving a government vehicle without permission. That seems to suggest that in its last 11 months the Obama administration is now speaking in its personal capacity rather than on behalf of the US government.
I should also point out that on the first working day of the Oregon protest (4/1/16) the US formally filed charges against Volkswagen (VW) of the emissions scandal. That scandal is of course synonymous with the peer review process that had been touted as a central to a climate change agreement. The timing of the US announcement was intended to highlight how the stripping out of the peer review process was an act of wanton vandalism. Although I didn't cite VW specifically I like to think I conveyed that message at the time.
It seems not everyone was clear on that though because during Thursday's (14/1/16) attack in Jakarta the French car manufacturer Renault announced that it had been raided by the fraud squad over the emissions scandal. It was only as the day wore on Renault confirmed that the fraud squad had found no indication of wrongdoing.
With Renault's share price turning somersaults throughout the day this was a French enquiry as to what the US was getting at with the 4/1/16 charges.
Friday, 15 January 2016
So Apparently This Has to be Posted.
You know how my father's a major hypochondriac.
Well he's finally taked his doctor into ordering a surgical biopsy which was performed in hospital yesterday (14/1/16). For some reason this had to be done under an opiod based general anaesthetic rather than a local anaesthetic. As a result I had to pick him up from hospital yesterday afternoon and keep an eye on him until the euphoria wore off.
Basically he talked at me for like five hours. A particular highlight was;
Him: "I don't know what was in that saline they gave me but I feel amazing!"
Me (silently): "Fentanyl, by the looks of things."
I suppose if nothing else it serves to highlight how the Brits deliberately sent my grandmother - his mother - dotty by effectively hooking her up to an opiod IV for the best part of a year.
The UK obviously tried to seed the drama with the start of a trial on Wednesday (13/1/16) - the newspapers yesterday - of two anaethetists at Tunbridge Wells hospital on a charge of manslaughter by way of grand negligence for essentially killing a patient with anaesthetic.
As a result a lot of people are viewing the death of British actor Alan Rickman as highly questionable. The French in particular seem to be struggling to hold their sh*t together.
I have to say that the whole thing strikes me as an awful lot of hassle for the sake of a few pelvic floor exercises.
15:00 on 15/1/16 (UK date).
Well he's finally taked his doctor into ordering a surgical biopsy which was performed in hospital yesterday (14/1/16). For some reason this had to be done under an opiod based general anaesthetic rather than a local anaesthetic. As a result I had to pick him up from hospital yesterday afternoon and keep an eye on him until the euphoria wore off.
Basically he talked at me for like five hours. A particular highlight was;
Him: "I don't know what was in that saline they gave me but I feel amazing!"
Me (silently): "Fentanyl, by the looks of things."
I suppose if nothing else it serves to highlight how the Brits deliberately sent my grandmother - his mother - dotty by effectively hooking her up to an opiod IV for the best part of a year.
The UK obviously tried to seed the drama with the start of a trial on Wednesday (13/1/16) - the newspapers yesterday - of two anaethetists at Tunbridge Wells hospital on a charge of manslaughter by way of grand negligence for essentially killing a patient with anaesthetic.
As a result a lot of people are viewing the death of British actor Alan Rickman as highly questionable. The French in particular seem to be struggling to hold their sh*t together.
I have to say that the whole thing strikes me as an awful lot of hassle for the sake of a few pelvic floor exercises.
15:00 on 15/1/16 (UK date).
Thursday, 14 January 2016
COP21 Terrorism Update #16
The 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met between (technically) November 29th 2015 (29/11/15) and December 12th (12/12/15) in Paris, France. The main objective of this meeting was to agree a draft global agreement to tackle climate change.
Due to violent opposition to action on climate change by the Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia this meeting triggered a global upsurge in Islamic inspired terrorism;
However if I had to identify the major problem it is that the draft agreement re-establishes what is known in the jargon as the principle of binary differentiation. The was the main reason why the Kyoto Protocol (KP) failed.
Essentially it limits the requirement to reduce greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions to just 38 nations who are defined as "developed." This definition does not include China - the World's 2nd largest economy - or India - the World's 9th largest. It is also a matter of debate whether this definition includes the US - the World's largest economy.
As a result this draft agreement will do absolutely nothing to keep global temperatures below a 3C rise let alone limiting them to the 2C rise needed to avoid runaway and uncontrollable changes to the global climate. By removing any obligation to reduce global ghg emissions it also destroys many of the programs such as Carbon Trading Schemes (CTS) that could reduce emissions by protecting Rainforests globally.
The absolutely critical flaw in the draft though is that unlike the Kyoto Protocol it contains no sunset clause at which point it ceases to be in effect. Therefore if ratified the COP21 draft not only fails to take action to combat climate change now it also prevents any action being taken at any point in the future.
With COP21 ending and the dust settling nations have had the opportunity to reflect on the decisions made. As a result a number of nations have begun to express regret at the draft. This includes the US who were the main authors of the text.
In order for the COP21 draft to become a global agreement it needs to be ratified by at least 55 nations by April 2017. If that fails to happen it will be scrapped and we can resume work on an agreement that might actually combat climate change.
China and India are obviously likely to ratify the draft because it allows them to continue to grow their economies by emitting ghg's while holding back their competitors. Due to President Obama's ego-driven desire to claim saving the World as part of his legacy the US is also likely to ratify the draft. As it prevents action being taken to tackle climate change being taken now or in the future Saudi Arabia is also likely to ratify the draft and bring with them the 22 nations that make up the Arab League.
However this still requires another 30 nations to ratify the COP21 draft before it can come into force. As a result Saudi Arabia has been trying to intimidate nations - particularly in east/central Africa - into ratifying the draft.
So on December 19th (19/12/15) there was yet another terrorist bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu which targeted a cinema and a shopping. This of course was again intended to demonstrate Saudi Arabia's reach across the Gulf of Aden.
At the same time there has been a concerted effort to destabilise the east/central African governments of Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda through 'popular protests'. These were intended to show that terrorism is not the only weapon in Saudi Arabia's arsenal when it comes to removing disagreeable governments.
Seemingly oblivious to the regional political climate the US threw its weight behind these efforts prompting a ticking off from both it's peers on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the UN itself.
Saturday (16/1/16) sees the first formal UNFCCC meeting since COP21 take place in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although small and concentrating specifically on the issue of renewable energy this two day meeting will be the first time that delegates from UNFCCC nations will be gathered together in the same room at the same time.
It should come as little surprise then that today we have seen yet another Islamic inspired terror attack.
This one has taken place in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and has seen at least five attackers carry out Paris-style gun, grenade and suicide bomb attacks at multiple locations across the Sarinah district of the city. Fortunately at this early stage the death toll appears to be substantially lower than the 130 killed during the November 13th (13/11/15) Paris Massacres.
Within climate change negotiations Indonesia is considered a nation of particular interest. They've long operated a system of slash and burn farming whereby farmers set fire to the land they've been using all year in order for the ashes nourish the soil before moving on to the plot of land they burnt in previous years. Although technically carbon neutral this practice produces a lot of smoke/smog.
This smoke/smog's refusal to stay within Indonesia's borders has helped to develop what is known in the jargon as the principle of global commons - essentially the natural environment does not respect man-made borders. Many of Indonesia's neighbours have also long tried to use climate change negotiations to get Indonesia to end this practice including a concerted effort to have specific language on the issue included in the COP21 draft.
The US recently made a lot of reference to Indonesia in its sizable contribution to the discussion which took the form of the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the US state of Oregon.
Indonesia is also a country of note within discussions about Islamic inspired terrorism. It is after all the World's most populous Muslim nation. However it doesn't generally subscribe to the nasty Wahhabist perversion of Islam that is promoted by Saudi Arabia and is particularly prevalent across the Arab World.
As a result Saudi Arabia cannot automatically count on Indonesia's support in the same way it can count on some of its regional neighbours such as Malaysia which has long used its flag-carrier Malaysia Airlines to prompt the cause of Islamic inspired terrorism across the globe.
Therefore today's attacks have simply been an attempt to intimidate Indonesia into ratifying the COP21 draft agreement.
However the specific targets chosen all seem to have their own individual meaning;
13:15 on 14/1/16 (UK date).
Due to violent opposition to action on climate change by the Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia this meeting triggered a global upsurge in Islamic inspired terrorism;
- On October 31st (31/10/15) the Russian airline Kogalymavia's flight 7K9268 was bombed out of the skies over Egypt killing all 224 people on board. This was intended as a show of force demonstrating that the terrorists can kill large numbers of civilians with impunity.
- On November 13th (13/11/15) a series of co-ordinated suicide bomb and gun attacks occurred across the French capital Paris killing 130 people. Again this was a show of force demonstrating not only that the terrorists could kill large numbers of civilians with impunity but also that they could strike at the heart of the city hosting the COP21 Summit. It was intended to disrupt COP21 by creating a climate of fear and forcing the French hosts to introduce restrictive security measures.
- On November 20th (20/11/15) a hotel in the Malian capital Bamako was attacked by gunmen who went on to kill 22 people. This was intended to further increase the oppressive atmosphere surrounding COP21 by creating fear that delegates could be attacked in their hotel rooms. It was also intended to demonstrate the global reach of the terrorists. Particularly in Africa where many of the most vulnerable and least capable nations in terms of climate change are located.
- On November 24th (24/11/15) terrorists attacked a bus carrying members of the Presidential guard in the Tunisian capital Tunis. This was intended to demonstrate that COP21 delegates could not only be attacked at the summit venue and at their hotels but also on the shuttle buses taking them from their hotels to the venue and back again.
- On December 2nd (2/12/15) terrorists struck in the city of San Bernardino, California, US. With the attack being carried out by an environmental health inspector and his wife in a the Riverside area of the city this raised a number of complex issues - such as access to water - that play a big role within climate change negotiations. It was also intended to send the message that the terrorists could strike at the heart of the US - the World's biggest economic and military power - and still US President Barack Obama would do nothing to challenge them.
- On December 7th (7/12/15) Jaafar Mohammed Saad - the Governor of Yemen's Aden province - was killed along with several of his aides in a car bombing in Aden. This was intended to remind everybody how Saudi Arabia is poised to attack any east/central African nations that oppose it through Somalia which sits across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. It was also intended to show how far from being opposed to this the US is actively supporting Saudi Arabia in its efforts.
However if I had to identify the major problem it is that the draft agreement re-establishes what is known in the jargon as the principle of binary differentiation. The was the main reason why the Kyoto Protocol (KP) failed.
Essentially it limits the requirement to reduce greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions to just 38 nations who are defined as "developed." This definition does not include China - the World's 2nd largest economy - or India - the World's 9th largest. It is also a matter of debate whether this definition includes the US - the World's largest economy.
As a result this draft agreement will do absolutely nothing to keep global temperatures below a 3C rise let alone limiting them to the 2C rise needed to avoid runaway and uncontrollable changes to the global climate. By removing any obligation to reduce global ghg emissions it also destroys many of the programs such as Carbon Trading Schemes (CTS) that could reduce emissions by protecting Rainforests globally.
The absolutely critical flaw in the draft though is that unlike the Kyoto Protocol it contains no sunset clause at which point it ceases to be in effect. Therefore if ratified the COP21 draft not only fails to take action to combat climate change now it also prevents any action being taken at any point in the future.
With COP21 ending and the dust settling nations have had the opportunity to reflect on the decisions made. As a result a number of nations have begun to express regret at the draft. This includes the US who were the main authors of the text.
In order for the COP21 draft to become a global agreement it needs to be ratified by at least 55 nations by April 2017. If that fails to happen it will be scrapped and we can resume work on an agreement that might actually combat climate change.
China and India are obviously likely to ratify the draft because it allows them to continue to grow their economies by emitting ghg's while holding back their competitors. Due to President Obama's ego-driven desire to claim saving the World as part of his legacy the US is also likely to ratify the draft. As it prevents action being taken to tackle climate change being taken now or in the future Saudi Arabia is also likely to ratify the draft and bring with them the 22 nations that make up the Arab League.
However this still requires another 30 nations to ratify the COP21 draft before it can come into force. As a result Saudi Arabia has been trying to intimidate nations - particularly in east/central Africa - into ratifying the draft.
So on December 19th (19/12/15) there was yet another terrorist bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu which targeted a cinema and a shopping. This of course was again intended to demonstrate Saudi Arabia's reach across the Gulf of Aden.
At the same time there has been a concerted effort to destabilise the east/central African governments of Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda through 'popular protests'. These were intended to show that terrorism is not the only weapon in Saudi Arabia's arsenal when it comes to removing disagreeable governments.
Seemingly oblivious to the regional political climate the US threw its weight behind these efforts prompting a ticking off from both it's peers on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the UN itself.
Saturday (16/1/16) sees the first formal UNFCCC meeting since COP21 take place in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although small and concentrating specifically on the issue of renewable energy this two day meeting will be the first time that delegates from UNFCCC nations will be gathered together in the same room at the same time.
It should come as little surprise then that today we have seen yet another Islamic inspired terror attack.
This one has taken place in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and has seen at least five attackers carry out Paris-style gun, grenade and suicide bomb attacks at multiple locations across the Sarinah district of the city. Fortunately at this early stage the death toll appears to be substantially lower than the 130 killed during the November 13th (13/11/15) Paris Massacres.
Within climate change negotiations Indonesia is considered a nation of particular interest. They've long operated a system of slash and burn farming whereby farmers set fire to the land they've been using all year in order for the ashes nourish the soil before moving on to the plot of land they burnt in previous years. Although technically carbon neutral this practice produces a lot of smoke/smog.
This smoke/smog's refusal to stay within Indonesia's borders has helped to develop what is known in the jargon as the principle of global commons - essentially the natural environment does not respect man-made borders. Many of Indonesia's neighbours have also long tried to use climate change negotiations to get Indonesia to end this practice including a concerted effort to have specific language on the issue included in the COP21 draft.
The US recently made a lot of reference to Indonesia in its sizable contribution to the discussion which took the form of the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the US state of Oregon.
Indonesia is also a country of note within discussions about Islamic inspired terrorism. It is after all the World's most populous Muslim nation. However it doesn't generally subscribe to the nasty Wahhabist perversion of Islam that is promoted by Saudi Arabia and is particularly prevalent across the Arab World.
As a result Saudi Arabia cannot automatically count on Indonesia's support in the same way it can count on some of its regional neighbours such as Malaysia which has long used its flag-carrier Malaysia Airlines to prompt the cause of Islamic inspired terrorism across the globe.
Therefore today's attacks have simply been an attempt to intimidate Indonesia into ratifying the COP21 draft agreement.
However the specific targets chosen all seem to have their own individual meaning;
- Starbucks: International summits like COP21 tend to be fuelled by a heady mix of adrenaline and caffeine. Starbucks is of course the leading global brand when it comes to coffee. In fact I think it's only Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) that don't have at least one branch of Starbucks.
- Djakarta Theatre & the Sarinah Shopping Mall: With the Djakarta Theatre essentially being just a cinema these are a direct reference to the December 19th (19/12/16) attack in Mogadishu, Somalia that struck a cinema and a shopping mall. This is intended as a reminder to east/central Africa that they are sill under threat and had better obey.
- Pakistani Embassy: On December 16th 2014 (16/12/14) Pakistan experienced the worst terror attack in its history when Islamic inspired terrorists attacked a school on a military base in Peshawar killing 141 people including 132 children. Coming days after COP20 which had been held on a similar military base near Lima in Peru this was another threat to nations not to defy Saudi Arabia by taking action on climate change.
- Turkish Embassy: Certainly in the past five years Turkey has been a major global exporter of Islamic inspired terrorism. As a key ally of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Turkey has been implicated in both the bombing of flight 7K9268 and the Paris Massacres. Just this Tuesday (12/1/16) it appears to have carried out the murder of 10 German tourists in a suicide bombing in Istanbul. The fact that both the US and the European Union (EU) are not only failing to punish Turkey but actually rewarding them for their vile behaviour sends a chill wind across the globe.
- United Nations Offices: As with national Embassies such as those of Pakistan and Turkey UN buildings are protected by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations. This obligates the nations hosting those buildings to protect them to the extent that if that are attacked the injured party can hold the host nation responsible for the attack even if they had nothing to do with it. This is something Saudi Arabia is currently doing to Iran over the attack on its Embassy in Tehran on January 3rd (3/1/16).
13:15 on 14/1/16 (UK date).
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