On December 5th 2013 (5/12/13) Nelson Mandela died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa at the age of 95. As with the assassination of John F Kennedy and the September 11th terrorist attacks this is one of those moments that you will always remember where you were when you heard the news. However this is not the first such world stopping moment that Mandela provided us with. That came on February 11th 1990 (11/2/90) when he was finally released from prison. I vividly remember that moment but being only 8 years old my main memory is of being very annoyed that the cartoons had been cancelled so we could watch this old man walk along a road. Since then though I've come to learn that Mandela was truly important.
Born in 1918 Mandela was born into a world white men were considered superior to all and black men were considered to be the lowest of the low. This was true to the extent that the Methodist missionaries who schooled Mandela decided that his given name Rolihlahla simply wasn't up to their standards so re-named him Nelson. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's this belief in racial superiority dominated with Germany's Nazis taking it to it's natural conclusion with the holocaust during which the 'inferior' races were simply exterminated. During the holocaust the Nazis also carried out a range of horrific medical experiments to prove their 'science' of eugenics. Fortunately though all the Nazis achieved was to completely disprove their theories.
So from the 1940's onwards this belief in racial superiority began to die out in most parts of the world. Everywhere that is except Mandela's South Africa which continued to insist on the innate superiority of white people over blacks and operated a system of apartheid to keep whites, coloureds and blacks apart in all areas of life such as employment, housing and even public bathrooms. Being both a black man and clever enough to qualify as a lawyer before the introduction of apartheid Mandela obviously objected to this and joined the African National Congress (ANC) which was set up to resist apartheid. Mandela eventually became a member of the ANC's national executive committee in 1950.
On March 21st 1960 (21/3/60) as part of the ANC's peaceful campaign against apartheid some 7000, mainly black, protesters gathered outside a police station in the Township of Sharpeville. The all white police officers responded to this by opening fire on the crowd killing 69 people in just 40 seconds. Later becoming known as the Sharpeville massacre this highlighted to Mandela and others that peaceful protest and civil disobedience simply would not be enough to end apartheid. So on March 26th 1961 (26/3/61) Mandela formed the "Spear of the Nation" (MK) group which was a guerrilla force based heavily on the tactics used by Che Guevara.
Over the following year the MK carried out multiple acts of sabotage against military buildings and government infrastructure including 57 co-ordinated bombings on Dingane's Day 1961 (16/12/61). Although the South African government had already declared the ANC to be an illegal organisation jailing many of its leaders including Mandela it took a very hard line with the MK and 1962 Mandela and 9 others were arrested on charges of sabotage and attempting to overthrow the government. Initially the Judge threw out the case but the government simply tried again and following what became known as the Rivonia trial 9 of the 10, including Mandela, were convicted in June 1964 and sentenced to life in prison very narrowly escaping the death penalty.
Mandela spent the first 18 years of his prison sentence in Robben Island where the forced labour permanently damaged his lungs leading to him contracting tuberculosis and the glare of the sunlight permanently damaged his eyesight. From that prison cell where he was often kept in solitary confinement Mandela continued to play a leading role in the anti-apartheid struggle helping to keep it on just the right side of Communism and the just the right side of terrorism to be acceptable to western liberals. That campaign grew into the first and largest worldwide political campaign in history with people across the world protesting against the South African government, boycotting companies that traded with South Africa and many nations imposing sanctions on the South African government.
Due to that world wide campaign and the prisoners own protests Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor Prison alongside other jailed ANC leaders in 1982. Taking advantage of the improved conditions in Pollsmoor Mandela began to negotiate directly with the South African President P.W Botha. With South Africa being crippled by international sanctions and being driven to the point of civil war with violent protests being crushed ever more violently by the police Botha offered to release Mandela in 1985 on the condition that Mandela gave up on his struggle. Mandela refused.
With the Cold War coming to an end and it becoming possible for western powers to drop their support for the South African government who - on a continent where the Cold War was often a real life shooting war - were massively strategically important Mandela was moved again to the comparatively luxurious Victor Verster prison in 1988. Finally being afforded the comforts befitting a man of his stature from prison Mandela successfully negotiated with South African President F.W de Klerk first for his own release and then the dismantling of the apartheid system.
Following his release in 1990 Mandela set about transitioning South Africa from apartheid rule to democratic rule. This was without doubt his greatest achievement. Firstly he resisted calls from many in the ANC to set up a socialist style government that would have seen South Africa's natural resources nationalised. He also resisted calls for white owned property to be seized and given to blacks as reparations as Robert Mugabe had done so disastrously in neighbouring Zimbabwe. Mandela also managed to keep the peace as South Africa was rocked by a series of massacres carried out by both supporters of apartheid and rivals to the ANC. Finally Mandela resisted calls for members of the apartheid regime to be tried and punished for their role in numerous atrocities instead setting up truth and reconciliation committees which allowed for people to admit to their crimes and be forgiven.
On May 10th 1994 (10/5/94) Mandela took up office as the first black President of South Africa following the first election in which all South Africans had been allowed to vote regardless of race. Aged 81 Mandela stepped down as President on June 14th 1999 following a hugely successful single term. After his retirement from politics Mandela remarried and set up the 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS and the Nelson Mandela Foundation to combat HIV/AIDS, rural poverty and a lack on educational opportunity.
Tomorrow he finally gets to go home.
21:50 on 14/12/13 (UK date).
Saturday, 14 December 2013
Friday, 13 December 2013
Operation Misery: Month 10, Week 2, Day 2.
Yeah frankly I'm getting a bit bored of writing these.
However it appears that after being sent gifts from most of the world's top designers Rihanna has decided to move out of her New York City hotel room and move into her New York City apartment. My main concern of course is whether this apartment is being rented or is now owned outright. Obviously though I would hate for that question to be answered via the Internet. After all it does raise legitimate UK tax issues.
The specific UK tax issue raises relates to the - I think - 2012 Budget in which 'we' decided to cut down on tax evasion by imposing stamp duty (sales tax) on properties owned by corporations. At the time I believe I opposed this on the grounds that certain corporations did need - from time to time - to bring in specialised staff on temporary contracts. Live Nation is a perfect example of such a corporation. I mean not only last year did they bring in Justin Beiber, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Beyonce but this year they intend to bring in Beyonce and Miley Cyrus to name but a few. So surely rather then renting just the same hotel suite in my name it would just be much easier for them to buy a few O2 adjacent apartments in the London Docklands and stock them with staff as needs be.
The big problem though is that Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) don't appear to have accepted that the long since dead Diamonds World Tour (DWT) won't be resurrected in South America. As a result they seem to be keeping Rihanna pepped on pre-tour energy. So she's recently been kept busy in a recording studio and summoned to a photoshoot for US Vogue Magazine where she had her hair set up like Zindzi Mandela. Personally I like to think of this as just Rihanna's natural hair. After all this was rumoured as Rihanna travelling to Brazil for a photoshoot. I stand by my Twitter (@Sovereignaka) comments that US Vogue are now getting seriously tired of digging Rihanna out of the sh't.
Anyway in response to Beyonce's surprise iTunes album launch I believe Rihanna took to Instagram to blink - in morse code - that she is; "Totally Happy With Her Life!"
Unfortunately I then looked at what the rest of her crew stuck up on Instagram and decided that - much like the fresh pine on my new UPVC porch - sadly it's going to rot in place.
21:30 on 13/12/13 (UK date).
Edited at around 01:20 on 14/12/13 to add;
Back somewhere in the late 1970's this new music know as punk was born.
Somewhere in the fire and fury of that DIY ethos those who were good at music decided to play some.Those who were good at photography decided to take some. And those who were good at scribbling decided to write about it.
Sadly though amongst all those people there were some who were only good at partying. After they'd drunk, smoked, smiled and snorted those 'people' fell into the gutter. And they became known as;
The Gutter Punks!
However it appears that after being sent gifts from most of the world's top designers Rihanna has decided to move out of her New York City hotel room and move into her New York City apartment. My main concern of course is whether this apartment is being rented or is now owned outright. Obviously though I would hate for that question to be answered via the Internet. After all it does raise legitimate UK tax issues.
The specific UK tax issue raises relates to the - I think - 2012 Budget in which 'we' decided to cut down on tax evasion by imposing stamp duty (sales tax) on properties owned by corporations. At the time I believe I opposed this on the grounds that certain corporations did need - from time to time - to bring in specialised staff on temporary contracts. Live Nation is a perfect example of such a corporation. I mean not only last year did they bring in Justin Beiber, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Beyonce but this year they intend to bring in Beyonce and Miley Cyrus to name but a few. So surely rather then renting just the same hotel suite in my name it would just be much easier for them to buy a few O2 adjacent apartments in the London Docklands and stock them with staff as needs be.
The big problem though is that Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) don't appear to have accepted that the long since dead Diamonds World Tour (DWT) won't be resurrected in South America. As a result they seem to be keeping Rihanna pepped on pre-tour energy. So she's recently been kept busy in a recording studio and summoned to a photoshoot for US Vogue Magazine where she had her hair set up like Zindzi Mandela. Personally I like to think of this as just Rihanna's natural hair. After all this was rumoured as Rihanna travelling to Brazil for a photoshoot. I stand by my Twitter (@Sovereignaka) comments that US Vogue are now getting seriously tired of digging Rihanna out of the sh't.
Anyway in response to Beyonce's surprise iTunes album launch I believe Rihanna took to Instagram to blink - in morse code - that she is; "Totally Happy With Her Life!"
Unfortunately I then looked at what the rest of her crew stuck up on Instagram and decided that - much like the fresh pine on my new UPVC porch - sadly it's going to rot in place.
21:30 on 13/12/13 (UK date).
Edited at around 01:20 on 14/12/13 to add;
Back somewhere in the late 1970's this new music know as punk was born.
Somewhere in the fire and fury of that DIY ethos those who were good at music decided to play some.Those who were good at photography decided to take some. And those who were good at scribbling decided to write about it.
Sadly though amongst all those people there were some who were only good at partying. After they'd drunk, smoked, smiled and snorted those 'people' fell into the gutter. And they became known as;
The Gutter Punks!
Crisis in the Ukraine.
Throughout the Cold War western powers funded and co-ordinated anti-Communist pro-nationalist movements across the Soviet bloc such as the Solidarity movement in Poland. Equally the USSR funded and co-ordinated anti-Capitalist movements across the west such as the National Union of Miners (NUM) in the UK.
When the Cold War ended with the collapse of the USSR the Soviet money flowing into the west obviously ended with it. However the west continued to support groups within the old Soviet bloc in order to limit the political power of loyalists to Russia and to contain Russia by encircling the nation first with an ever expanding NATO military alliance and then an ever expanding European Union (EU) political and economic alliance.
The most notable of these was the 2004/5 Orange Revolution in the Ukraine which set about to oust the pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and replace him with the pro-western Viktor Yushchenko. Almost immediately after seizing power in 2005 Yushchenko's government began to fall to pieces and was replaced by popular vote at the earliest opportunity in 2010. Unfortunately the Orange revolutionaries who are essentially made up of extreme right-wing Ukrainian nationalists/fascists led by Yuschenko's American wife continue to attempt to overthrow the Ukrainian government to this day taking the epically corrupt Yulia Tymoshenko as their unlikely heroine.
Perhaps the only good thing to come out of the Syria conflict has been a growing understanding in both the EU and Russia that this constant confrontation between the two regional powers does nobody any good. So in the run up to Ukraine signing a contentious economic co-operation deal with the EU the EU decided to make the immediate release of Yulia Tymoshenko a condition of the agreement. The EU did this knowing full well that the Ukrainian government simply could not release Tymoshenko if for no other reason then she was rightfully convicted and jailed for stealing some USD188million from both Russia and the Ukrainian people. This was done by forcing Naftogaz to sign a supply deal with Russian Gazprom that Naftogaz then failed to honour with the money instead going into Tymoshenko's pockets. The intention being that the failure of the EU trade deal would trigger a small wave of anti-Yanukovych protests that would quickly burn out as the Orange revolutionaries would be exposed as western stooges and finally realise the error of their ways.
The problem was that the Orange revolutionaries are still so caught up in their own hype that they failed to realise that the failure of the trade deal was the EU withdrawing its support of them. Also the Orange revolutionaries are still very heavily dependent on US intelligence for funding and support. The US has a vested interested in keeping both the EU and Russia weak by keeping them in conflict with each other. Due to the conflict in Syria the US is also under great pressure from the Gulf Monarchies to keep up the pressure on Russia. The US seems unable to resist this pressure from the Gulf so the protests in the Ukraine look set to stumble on into a third week.
11:45 on 13/12/13 (UK date).
When the Cold War ended with the collapse of the USSR the Soviet money flowing into the west obviously ended with it. However the west continued to support groups within the old Soviet bloc in order to limit the political power of loyalists to Russia and to contain Russia by encircling the nation first with an ever expanding NATO military alliance and then an ever expanding European Union (EU) political and economic alliance.
The most notable of these was the 2004/5 Orange Revolution in the Ukraine which set about to oust the pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and replace him with the pro-western Viktor Yushchenko. Almost immediately after seizing power in 2005 Yushchenko's government began to fall to pieces and was replaced by popular vote at the earliest opportunity in 2010. Unfortunately the Orange revolutionaries who are essentially made up of extreme right-wing Ukrainian nationalists/fascists led by Yuschenko's American wife continue to attempt to overthrow the Ukrainian government to this day taking the epically corrupt Yulia Tymoshenko as their unlikely heroine.
Perhaps the only good thing to come out of the Syria conflict has been a growing understanding in both the EU and Russia that this constant confrontation between the two regional powers does nobody any good. So in the run up to Ukraine signing a contentious economic co-operation deal with the EU the EU decided to make the immediate release of Yulia Tymoshenko a condition of the agreement. The EU did this knowing full well that the Ukrainian government simply could not release Tymoshenko if for no other reason then she was rightfully convicted and jailed for stealing some USD188million from both Russia and the Ukrainian people. This was done by forcing Naftogaz to sign a supply deal with Russian Gazprom that Naftogaz then failed to honour with the money instead going into Tymoshenko's pockets. The intention being that the failure of the EU trade deal would trigger a small wave of anti-Yanukovych protests that would quickly burn out as the Orange revolutionaries would be exposed as western stooges and finally realise the error of their ways.
The problem was that the Orange revolutionaries are still so caught up in their own hype that they failed to realise that the failure of the trade deal was the EU withdrawing its support of them. Also the Orange revolutionaries are still very heavily dependent on US intelligence for funding and support. The US has a vested interested in keeping both the EU and Russia weak by keeping them in conflict with each other. Due to the conflict in Syria the US is also under great pressure from the Gulf Monarchies to keep up the pressure on Russia. The US seems unable to resist this pressure from the Gulf so the protests in the Ukraine look set to stumble on into a third week.
11:45 on 13/12/13 (UK date).
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
I'll Let You Into a Secret
Rather then watching the painfully long Mandela memorial service I may have gone to the gym instead.
However I think the Obama/Castro handshake may have begun life as the ANC trying to remind America which side supported Apartheid and which side supported Mandela during the Cold War. Rather then simply taking it on the chin and snubbing Castro Obama instead decided to build his part by making it appear that this handshake symbolised something of great significance. The next person in the line-up might like to insist on a Rihanna concert if she wants to find out what exactly it signified.
Or to put it another way; "Isn't sweet when the Rihanna's, Miley Cyrus' and the American Music Awards of this world think they can come out and play(!)"
18:50 on 10/12/13 (UK date).
Edited at around 11:30 on 12/12/13 (UK date) to add;
It has now emerged that the sign language interpreter who was standing next to all the speakers during the memorial ceremony was just randomly waving his hands around rather then translating anything for deaf viewers. This of course has sent out the message globally that all the signs given out during the ceremony were in fact nonsense. This seems to be a specific reference to Obama's handshake with Castro and in particular its attempts to sell a Rihanna tour to the South Americans.
Inititally the South African government denied any knowledge of who the alleged sign language translator was prompting speculation of security failings and whether Obama actually knew to Castro was. Those arguments are of course nonsense because while the South African authorities might allow a stranger that close to the US President the US Secret Service most certainly would not.
The 'translator' has since come forward and attempted to explain away his behaviour as the product of a Schizophrenic episode. To anyone with even basic knowledge of psychology this is instantly recognisable as nonsense. However if you were so lacking in psychological knowledge to believe this excuse you may also have had serious trouble working out what was going on in Rihanna and Chris Brown's 'relationship' or find yourself believing that Chris Brown could be rehabilitated.
So yeah if the US wants any clearer indication that it should terminate Operation Misery and put Rihanna in direct contact with me so I can assist with her recovery it's that all the nations Rihanna visited on her tour along with a fair few she didn't now passionately dislike the US. In fact at least one is actively trying to overthrow the government that helped bring Rihanna to them.
However I think the Obama/Castro handshake may have begun life as the ANC trying to remind America which side supported Apartheid and which side supported Mandela during the Cold War. Rather then simply taking it on the chin and snubbing Castro Obama instead decided to build his part by making it appear that this handshake symbolised something of great significance. The next person in the line-up might like to insist on a Rihanna concert if she wants to find out what exactly it signified.
Or to put it another way; "Isn't sweet when the Rihanna's, Miley Cyrus' and the American Music Awards of this world think they can come out and play(!)"
18:50 on 10/12/13 (UK date).
Edited at around 11:30 on 12/12/13 (UK date) to add;
It has now emerged that the sign language interpreter who was standing next to all the speakers during the memorial ceremony was just randomly waving his hands around rather then translating anything for deaf viewers. This of course has sent out the message globally that all the signs given out during the ceremony were in fact nonsense. This seems to be a specific reference to Obama's handshake with Castro and in particular its attempts to sell a Rihanna tour to the South Americans.
Inititally the South African government denied any knowledge of who the alleged sign language translator was prompting speculation of security failings and whether Obama actually knew to Castro was. Those arguments are of course nonsense because while the South African authorities might allow a stranger that close to the US President the US Secret Service most certainly would not.
The 'translator' has since come forward and attempted to explain away his behaviour as the product of a Schizophrenic episode. To anyone with even basic knowledge of psychology this is instantly recognisable as nonsense. However if you were so lacking in psychological knowledge to believe this excuse you may also have had serious trouble working out what was going on in Rihanna and Chris Brown's 'relationship' or find yourself believing that Chris Brown could be rehabilitated.
So yeah if the US wants any clearer indication that it should terminate Operation Misery and put Rihanna in direct contact with me so I can assist with her recovery it's that all the nations Rihanna visited on her tour along with a fair few she didn't now passionately dislike the US. In fact at least one is actively trying to overthrow the government that helped bring Rihanna to them.
Friday, 6 December 2013
Nelson Mandela
Last night (5/12/13) Nelson Mandela passed away peacefully at his home in Johannesburg aged 95. What I should be doing now is writing a tribute to mark the remarkable life of a remarkable man. Today though as with last night I still don't know where to start.
That is because unlike with the recent death of one of Mandela's contemporaries Margaret Thatcher there is no great controversy surrounding his life and death with one side mourning and another side celebrating. Instead there is just a universal sadness that one of the truly great figures of history is no longer with us.
So I will add to this over the coming days but in the meantime do not take my silence as a sign of disrespect or that I don't think this is important. It is just that I simply don't know what to say.
In fact I think the greatest tribute to Mandela is that as the news broke last night my entire neighbourhood fell silent as did many, many neighbourhoods across the world.
11:55 on 6/12/13 (UK date).
Edited at around 23:05 on 6/12/13 to add: Technically this is me on holiday.
Born in 1918 just weeks after the end of the First World War Nelson Mandela lived through the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Nazi holocaust, the start of the Cold War, the end of the Cold War and the fall of apartheid - something in which I believe he played a large part. He also ceded power to Thabo Mbeki and watched him fall. So I do not think that is a life that I can do justice to tonight.
However I think due respect must go to F.W De Klerk. After all he was South Africa's last apartheid President.
That is because unlike with the recent death of one of Mandela's contemporaries Margaret Thatcher there is no great controversy surrounding his life and death with one side mourning and another side celebrating. Instead there is just a universal sadness that one of the truly great figures of history is no longer with us.
So I will add to this over the coming days but in the meantime do not take my silence as a sign of disrespect or that I don't think this is important. It is just that I simply don't know what to say.
In fact I think the greatest tribute to Mandela is that as the news broke last night my entire neighbourhood fell silent as did many, many neighbourhoods across the world.
11:55 on 6/12/13 (UK date).
Edited at around 23:05 on 6/12/13 to add: Technically this is me on holiday.
Born in 1918 just weeks after the end of the First World War Nelson Mandela lived through the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Nazi holocaust, the start of the Cold War, the end of the Cold War and the fall of apartheid - something in which I believe he played a large part. He also ceded power to Thabo Mbeki and watched him fall. So I do not think that is a life that I can do justice to tonight.
However I think due respect must go to F.W De Klerk. After all he was South Africa's last apartheid President.
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Well That Was Jarring.
Since I've been about 16 my father (and actually initially my mother) has been providing me with a cellphone contract and every year the fixed cost part of the contract has been rolled over as a birthday gift. Since about 2009 I've been thinking I should take this contract over if for no other reason then the fact my father really hasn't come to terms with the concept of mobile Internet. The problem is that ever since 2009 I've been really busy around the time that the contract has come up for renewal mainly dealing with my father's chronic mismanagement of my grandmother's affairs so the contract kept getting rolled over.
Now inspite of the fact I've just come off the back of the busiest and most intense three weeks of my year my father decided this had to be done today. That gave me roughly 18 hours to learn everything there is to know about cellphone tariffs, network coverage and mobile device technology. This would have been achievable expect for the fact that yesterday afternoon I asked my father the very simple question of what is the existing contract was. He replied that he simply didn't have any idea so has apparently just been giving money to a cellphone provider over the years with no understanding of why.
This morning father did some research and managed to dig out some completely irrelevant information. So from the moment I woke up he has been bombarding me with this new information and a barrage of stupid questions as if I would be able to process any of it before he dragged me into a store and forced me to make a decision. Somehow I managed to turn this into a limited success by signing up for an affordable 12 month SIM only contract and a picking up a cheap second hand device to run it in until I'm able to sort out something more permanent.
The whole purpose of me taking over the contract was that I would be able to keep the same number. However since we've got back - and while I thought he was checking his emails - my father has been engaged in some marathon 2 hour webchat with the cellphone provider in which he managed to cancel the existing contract and get my number transferred over to a new pay as you go contract. Fortunately I was able to intervene at the last moment to cancel all that and will try again tomorrow by which point my father will hopefully have gained even the slightest hint of a clue about what he is trying to do.
So I have most certainly not spent today sitting around doing nothing. However it still feels a lot like my life has been wasted.
Incidentally while we were in town getting all this sorted we noticed that the new pedestrian walkway at East Croydon station had its grand opening today. All also having its grand opening today was the Green Climate Fund (GCF) which is headquartered in Korea. Coming on one of the anniversaries of my grandmother's death I can't help but worry that this is only going to make the UK more opposed to taking action on global warming.
18:20 on 4/12/13.
Now inspite of the fact I've just come off the back of the busiest and most intense three weeks of my year my father decided this had to be done today. That gave me roughly 18 hours to learn everything there is to know about cellphone tariffs, network coverage and mobile device technology. This would have been achievable expect for the fact that yesterday afternoon I asked my father the very simple question of what is the existing contract was. He replied that he simply didn't have any idea so has apparently just been giving money to a cellphone provider over the years with no understanding of why.
This morning father did some research and managed to dig out some completely irrelevant information. So from the moment I woke up he has been bombarding me with this new information and a barrage of stupid questions as if I would be able to process any of it before he dragged me into a store and forced me to make a decision. Somehow I managed to turn this into a limited success by signing up for an affordable 12 month SIM only contract and a picking up a cheap second hand device to run it in until I'm able to sort out something more permanent.
The whole purpose of me taking over the contract was that I would be able to keep the same number. However since we've got back - and while I thought he was checking his emails - my father has been engaged in some marathon 2 hour webchat with the cellphone provider in which he managed to cancel the existing contract and get my number transferred over to a new pay as you go contract. Fortunately I was able to intervene at the last moment to cancel all that and will try again tomorrow by which point my father will hopefully have gained even the slightest hint of a clue about what he is trying to do.
So I have most certainly not spent today sitting around doing nothing. However it still feels a lot like my life has been wasted.
Incidentally while we were in town getting all this sorted we noticed that the new pedestrian walkway at East Croydon station had its grand opening today. All also having its grand opening today was the Green Climate Fund (GCF) which is headquartered in Korea. Coming on one of the anniversaries of my grandmother's death I can't help but worry that this is only going to make the UK more opposed to taking action on global warming.
18:20 on 4/12/13.
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
More Snowden Drivel.
Today the editor of the Guardian 'Newspaper' is appearing in front of a UK House of Commons select committee to answer questions about information it was provided with by US National Security Agency (NSA) employee Edward Snowden. This has been billed very much as the UK government taking a tough line against those who jeopardise national security. This is of course all nonsense.
You may remember that shortly after I was arrested on that unfounded criminal damage allegation the US dispatched Snowden to Russia. Generally this was to exert pressure on Russia over Syria however it posed specific questions about whether I would skip police bail by attempting to seek asylum in a London Embassy. The fact that Katy Perry had already decided to name her album "Prism" by that point was just sort of the icing on the cake.
After I'd answered bail rather seeking asylum the Guardian newspaper arranged for David Miranda - the Brazilian partner of US journalist Glenn Greenwald - to be detained by UK police under anti-terrorism legislation. Apart from causing a lot of confusion the intention here was to promote discussion about an individuals legal rights whilst under police detention in the UK. Specifically it was to draw attention to the parts of the Police And Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984 that the police had wilfully violated during my detention.
Despite all this Snowden documents are still being released and people are still reading them as if the NSA hadn't intended for them to be in the public domain. The latest round of these included a revelation that the NSA had been spying on Islamists Internet porn habits. This was a reference to the fact when I'm watching Internet porn it's more a case of loads of people watching me watching Internet porn. The timing of this revelation was intended to exert pressure on people in Muslim nations - specifically Egypt - by making them feel very uncomfortable about watching me watching porn.
Slightly more interesting was the revelation that Brazil had signed a multi-million dollar deal to launch a secure communications satellite. The Snowden leak forced the Brazilian government to confirm this. Obviously this all occurred around the time of the COP19/CMP9 where satellites and technology transfers are always hot topics. It was also intended to make Brazil's neighbours paranoid that it was becoming the regional military power.
The really interesting bit though was they way that the satellite is to be built and launched used technology sourced from a variety of different nations. This sounded a lot like the way the Abdul Qadeer Khan network tried to sell nuclear weapons around the globe in the 1980's. Therefore the intention was to make Argentina jealous that Brazil was being included in the Iran negotiations and insist on a Rihanna concert in an effort to find out what was going on.
16:40 on 3/12/13 (UK date).
You may remember that shortly after I was arrested on that unfounded criminal damage allegation the US dispatched Snowden to Russia. Generally this was to exert pressure on Russia over Syria however it posed specific questions about whether I would skip police bail by attempting to seek asylum in a London Embassy. The fact that Katy Perry had already decided to name her album "Prism" by that point was just sort of the icing on the cake.
After I'd answered bail rather seeking asylum the Guardian newspaper arranged for David Miranda - the Brazilian partner of US journalist Glenn Greenwald - to be detained by UK police under anti-terrorism legislation. Apart from causing a lot of confusion the intention here was to promote discussion about an individuals legal rights whilst under police detention in the UK. Specifically it was to draw attention to the parts of the Police And Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984 that the police had wilfully violated during my detention.
Despite all this Snowden documents are still being released and people are still reading them as if the NSA hadn't intended for them to be in the public domain. The latest round of these included a revelation that the NSA had been spying on Islamists Internet porn habits. This was a reference to the fact when I'm watching Internet porn it's more a case of loads of people watching me watching Internet porn. The timing of this revelation was intended to exert pressure on people in Muslim nations - specifically Egypt - by making them feel very uncomfortable about watching me watching porn.
Slightly more interesting was the revelation that Brazil had signed a multi-million dollar deal to launch a secure communications satellite. The Snowden leak forced the Brazilian government to confirm this. Obviously this all occurred around the time of the COP19/CMP9 where satellites and technology transfers are always hot topics. It was also intended to make Brazil's neighbours paranoid that it was becoming the regional military power.
The really interesting bit though was they way that the satellite is to be built and launched used technology sourced from a variety of different nations. This sounded a lot like the way the Abdul Qadeer Khan network tried to sell nuclear weapons around the globe in the 1980's. Therefore the intention was to make Argentina jealous that Brazil was being included in the Iran negotiations and insist on a Rihanna concert in an effort to find out what was going on.
16:40 on 3/12/13 (UK date).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
