Well technically Ariel Sharon died of a stroke in 2006. This is more a case of his vital organs decomposing to the point that they can no longer be sustained by machine. However to say that Sharon was a central and divisive character in middle-eastern politics is an understatement.
Born in 1928 in Palestine at 14 years old Ariel Sharon joined Haganah which alongside groups like Irgun and the Lehi formed the Jewish Resistance Movement. This was a paramilitary group that set about and succeeded in expelling British forces from Palestine through a campaign of terrorist bombing and assassination. Most notable amongst their attacks were the bombing and sinking of the Patria ocean liner that killed 260 civilians and the assassination of Lord Moyne the British Minister of State for the middle-east.
Following the expulsion of the British the Jewish Resistance Movement became the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and Sharon one of its commanders. During what is described as the "Israeli War of Independence" by Israelis but the "1948 Arab-Israeli War" by those who see it as a mere extension of Jewish attempts to purge Arabs from Palestine Sharon was promoted to commander of the Alexandroni Brigade which fought some of the fiercest battles of the war. Having earned a reputation as a tough, brave and highly aggressive soldier who was seriously wounded several times following the war Sharon was promoted to commander of the Golani Brigade's reconnaissance company and later to an intelligence officer at the IDF's central command.
In 1952 Sharon set up and headed the infamous Special Forces Unit 101. This was a commando force set up specifically to mount attacks against civilians in Syria, Jordan and Egypt in retaliation to attacks by Palestinian militias. The most controversial Unit 101 operation was Operation Shoshana which took place in October 1953 and saw Israeli troops commanded on the ground by Sharon blow up 45 house, a school and Mosque which were all occupied at the time. 69 Palestinian civilians were killed of which 46 were women and children. What became known as the Qibya massacre was at the time condemned by both the US State Department who described the incident as shocking and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) who passed Resolution 101/1953 which expressed the strongest possible censure.
Partly in response to the Qibya massacre Unit 101 was merged into the paratroop regiments of the IDF but Sharon remained as a commanding officer. In 1956 Sharon was the field commander of paratroop Unit 202 which invaded Egypt to seize a seemingly pointless patch of desert just east of Sinai's Mitla Pass. This was the first act of "Operation Musketeer" which Israel had concocted with France and British Prime Minister Anthony Eden to give Britain a pre-text to seize the Suez Canal and prevent Egyptian President Gamal Nasser from nationalising it for the good of the Egyptian people. This was known at the time as "The Suez Crisis."
In June 1967 Israel used the build up of Egyptian forces in the Sinai as a pre-text to launch a pre-emptive war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan which became known as either "The Six Day War" or "The 1967 Arab-Israeli War." In six days of lightning conflict Israel overwhelmed the opposition seizing large swathes of territory most notably east-Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine and the Golan Heights in Syria. Technically this war between Israel and Syria is still going on today. Key to Israel's success was their defeat of Egyptian forces at the battle of Abu-Ageila which prevented Egyptian tanks rolling across the Sinai. Israeli forces on the Sinai front were commanded by Ariel Sharon.
On October 6th 1973 Egyptian and Syrian forces used the Jewish day of Atonement to launch a surprise attack on Israel which is know by some as "The Yom Kippur War" or "The 1973 Arab-Israeli War." With almost their entire armed forces at home on leave for the Jewish equivalent of Christmas holidays this war very nearly succeeded in wiping Israel off the map. What is largely seen as key to Israel's victory is the way that a division of tanks commanded by Ariel Sharon broke through Egyptian lines at the Telsa corridor before defying orders to cross the Suez Canal to encircle Egypt's Third Army. For that Sharon is regarded by many Israelis as the saviour of the nation.
Buoyed by his success in the 1973 war Sharon entered politics as a member of the Likud Party and special aide to the then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Sharon quickly aligned himself with extreme-Zinonist wing of the party which frequently advocates the expulsion and even extermination of Palestinians in order to build a wider Jewish state. Sharon himself said in 1956 that he advocated his troops raping Arab women because they are slaves of the Jews and with the blessing of god it would force them to give birth to Jewish children. However this quote is hotly disputed by supporters of Sharon.
In 1981 Prime Minister Menachem Begin appointed Sharon as Israel's Minister of Defence. It was from this position that Sharon masterminded the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Officially this was done in response to attacks against Israel by groups based in Lebanon such as the attempted assassination of Israel's Ambassador to the UK Shlomo Argov. Unofficially though it was to expel Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) from Lebanon where they enjoyed support from Syria and install a puppet regime headed by the Christian Bashir Gemayel. This was a particularly brutal war and although Israeli troops finally withdrew in 1985 the conflict continued as a civil war until 1990.
Perhaps the most horrific incident of what is now known as "The First Israel-Lebanon War" came in the days following the September 14th (14/9/82) assassination of Bashir Geyamel when IDF troops encircled the Sabra and Shatila camps for Palestinian refugees. At dawn on September 16th (16/9/82) those IDF troops allowed - and some say assisted - Geyamel's Phalange militia to enter the camps to extract their brutal revenge. Over the next two days and under the full view of the IDF the Phalangists proceeded to massacre some 3,500 civilians in scenes that were reminiscent of the Nazi holocaust. It was only after Ariel Sharon personally was no longer able to pretend that he did not know what was going on that the slaughter was finally brought to a halt. The events of the Sabra and Shatila massacre and the wider Israeli invasion are examined in great detail in very good Israeli animated film called "Waltz With Bashir."
To their credit the Israelis themselves found Ariel Sharon to be indirectly but personally responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre through the Kahan Commission which led to Sharon being sacked from government all but ending his political career.
However on September 28th 2000 (28/9/00) Sharon marched into the al-Asqa Mosque complex on the Jerusalem's Temple Mount declaring that it was his basic right as a Jew and this holiest of Muslim sites would forever be under Jewish control. This caused so much anger amongst Palestinians that is almost single-handedly sparked the second (or al-Asqa) Intifada which saw some 3000 people killed. Riding the wave of anti-Palestinian feeling that the Intifada created Sharon managed to come back from the political wilderness and was elected Israeli Prime Minister in March 2001.
No doubt coming under extreme pressure from the US and the European Union (EU) due to his involvement in Sabra and Shatila Sharon adopted the 2002 Roadmap for Peace. As part of the Roadmap in 2004 Sharon ordered the eviction of Jewish settlers and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. This offended many in Sharon's Likud Party so Sharon simply went off and formed the rival Kadima Party. Leading in the polls Sharon was widely expected to win a second term as Prime Minister when he was suffered a stroke in 2006 and much like his predecessor Yitzhak Rabin was struck down seemingly on the verge of signing an historic peace deal with Palestinians.
So there you have it Ariel Sharon - a hero to some but a butcher to many. The scary bit is that the way things are going in Syria Israel may well need his ilk again.
17:20 on 11/1/14 (UK date).
Saturday, 11 January 2014
Turns Out CBB Must be Important.
Well it's got me blogging on a Saturday at least.
Last night (10/1/14) in Celebrity Big Brother there was another live eviction show. It turns out I may not have been giving the voting process my full attention. Rather then being asked to vote for the housemate they wanted to evict viewers were asked to vote for the housemate they wanted to save from eviction. Therefore the housemate with the lowest number of votes ended up getting evicted. However the big twist last night was that the two housemates with the fewest votes (Evander Holyfield and Luisa Zissman) were then passed over to Lee Ryan and Casey Batchelor who'd been hidden away in an annex. Lee and Casey then got to choose who was evicted and they chose Evander Holyfield.
After Evander had left the house Lee and Casey re-entered the main house. I think this took a lot of pressure of the production team because the spectacle of Lee and Casey using a live feed of the Big Brother house to paper over the very obvious cracks in their relationship put the show on very thing ice with a significant number of its viewers. It also massively increased the pressure on Jasmine Waltz who genuinely thought that Lee and Casey has left the show for good. When Jasmine's great rival Casey walked back into the house Jasmine shot her a series of looks which I think meant she was seriously weighing up if she could get away with killing Casey. Apart from witnessing the return of her main rival Jasmine was also forced to quickly reassess the new game plan involving Luisa that she'd already put in motion.
In previous years - especially when the show was on Channel 4 - there was a tendency to put members of the public into the main Big Brother show that looked a bit like certain celebrities. That way the contestant could be used as a metaphor to discuss (but mainly libel) the celebrity in question. In preparing to ship out from the US to join Celebrity Big Brother Jasmine clearly noticed that she (or her plastic surgeon) could make her look a bit like Jessie J, the UK pop-star.
Jessie J repeatedly claims to be bisexual however every time she does all most people hear is; "I'm a massive dyke but the record company are worried that might put off potential customers." More importantly Jessie J is widely accepted as a mouthpiece of the British state using her songs to forward the UK's political agenda abroad in an example of what is known as "Soft-power." As a result Jessie J is frequently discussed in political/intelligence circles. So for example when Jessie J announced that she was shaving her head to raise money for the Comic Relief charity the South Korean pop band AKB48 announced that it was forcing one of it's members - Minami Minigishe - to shave her head as punishment for being caught dating a man in violation of band rules.
Thinking that Lee and Casey were permanently out of the game and with Dappy proving to be nowhere near as attractive as he thinks he is Jasmine had decided to focus on the Jessie J connection by assuming the predatory lesbian role within her relationship with Luisa. After all while Jasmine clearly isn't keen on a bit of girl-on-girl action she isn't totally averse to it either.
So whilst they were sharing a bed on Thursday (9/1/14) night Jasmine started up a conversation with Luisa about what Lee and Casey had got up to in that bed. Jasmine was fixated on the idea that Casey might have performed oral sex on Lee which she was keen to emphasise she thought was disgusting. Jasmine went on to pull Luisa's head under the covers to tell her that Lee had performed oral sex on her during the UFO task. While this might be partially true it certainly doesn't tell the full story and Jasmine only mentioned it in an effort to find out if Luisa might be interested in performing oral sex on her. This was an attempt by Jasmine to damage the reputation of Jessie J and lesbians in general by again highlighting the way that Luisa had been exploited by lesbians in the past. Well that and I think Jasmine had an itch.
Although I think most of this has gone right over his head the relationship between Jasmine and Luisa has made Dappy extremely jealous because well he thought he was in with a chance with Jasmine. As a result Dappy has been behaving extremely unpleasantly towards Luisa. This culminated in a huge argument between the two that was teased during Friday's show and no doubt will be shown in full tonight. Basically it involved Dappy calling Luisa a slut, a whore and a dozen names in between. Most hurtfully though Dappy kept asking if Luisa was going to tell her five year old daughter how many men she'd had sex with. Needless to say this had Luisa in floods of tears and led to her having another argument over basically nothing with Lionel Blair later in the evening.
While I doubt Dappy is that cunning and is more likely simply lashing out against someone who stole the toy he wants to play with his behaviour towards Luisa jeopardises her relationship with Jasmine. That's because in response to Dappy's outburst Luisa will be looking for comfort and emotional support. Being herself under pressure due to the return of Lee and Casey and well her personality Jasmine is unlikely to be in a position to provide that support.
Incidentally whilst he was in the annex Lee Ryan pretty much spent the entire time in floods of tears complaining about the big mistake he'd made by cheating on Casey with Jasmine. This was all a cynical ploy to get the public back on his side. Unfortunately the general consensus from Twitter was that he should; "Put his tampon back in and head off to bed."
11:40 on 11/1/14 (UK date).
Last night (10/1/14) in Celebrity Big Brother there was another live eviction show. It turns out I may not have been giving the voting process my full attention. Rather then being asked to vote for the housemate they wanted to evict viewers were asked to vote for the housemate they wanted to save from eviction. Therefore the housemate with the lowest number of votes ended up getting evicted. However the big twist last night was that the two housemates with the fewest votes (Evander Holyfield and Luisa Zissman) were then passed over to Lee Ryan and Casey Batchelor who'd been hidden away in an annex. Lee and Casey then got to choose who was evicted and they chose Evander Holyfield.
After Evander had left the house Lee and Casey re-entered the main house. I think this took a lot of pressure of the production team because the spectacle of Lee and Casey using a live feed of the Big Brother house to paper over the very obvious cracks in their relationship put the show on very thing ice with a significant number of its viewers. It also massively increased the pressure on Jasmine Waltz who genuinely thought that Lee and Casey has left the show for good. When Jasmine's great rival Casey walked back into the house Jasmine shot her a series of looks which I think meant she was seriously weighing up if she could get away with killing Casey. Apart from witnessing the return of her main rival Jasmine was also forced to quickly reassess the new game plan involving Luisa that she'd already put in motion.
In previous years - especially when the show was on Channel 4 - there was a tendency to put members of the public into the main Big Brother show that looked a bit like certain celebrities. That way the contestant could be used as a metaphor to discuss (but mainly libel) the celebrity in question. In preparing to ship out from the US to join Celebrity Big Brother Jasmine clearly noticed that she (or her plastic surgeon) could make her look a bit like Jessie J, the UK pop-star.
Jessie J repeatedly claims to be bisexual however every time she does all most people hear is; "I'm a massive dyke but the record company are worried that might put off potential customers." More importantly Jessie J is widely accepted as a mouthpiece of the British state using her songs to forward the UK's political agenda abroad in an example of what is known as "Soft-power." As a result Jessie J is frequently discussed in political/intelligence circles. So for example when Jessie J announced that she was shaving her head to raise money for the Comic Relief charity the South Korean pop band AKB48 announced that it was forcing one of it's members - Minami Minigishe - to shave her head as punishment for being caught dating a man in violation of band rules.
Thinking that Lee and Casey were permanently out of the game and with Dappy proving to be nowhere near as attractive as he thinks he is Jasmine had decided to focus on the Jessie J connection by assuming the predatory lesbian role within her relationship with Luisa. After all while Jasmine clearly isn't keen on a bit of girl-on-girl action she isn't totally averse to it either.
So whilst they were sharing a bed on Thursday (9/1/14) night Jasmine started up a conversation with Luisa about what Lee and Casey had got up to in that bed. Jasmine was fixated on the idea that Casey might have performed oral sex on Lee which she was keen to emphasise she thought was disgusting. Jasmine went on to pull Luisa's head under the covers to tell her that Lee had performed oral sex on her during the UFO task. While this might be partially true it certainly doesn't tell the full story and Jasmine only mentioned it in an effort to find out if Luisa might be interested in performing oral sex on her. This was an attempt by Jasmine to damage the reputation of Jessie J and lesbians in general by again highlighting the way that Luisa had been exploited by lesbians in the past. Well that and I think Jasmine had an itch.
Although I think most of this has gone right over his head the relationship between Jasmine and Luisa has made Dappy extremely jealous because well he thought he was in with a chance with Jasmine. As a result Dappy has been behaving extremely unpleasantly towards Luisa. This culminated in a huge argument between the two that was teased during Friday's show and no doubt will be shown in full tonight. Basically it involved Dappy calling Luisa a slut, a whore and a dozen names in between. Most hurtfully though Dappy kept asking if Luisa was going to tell her five year old daughter how many men she'd had sex with. Needless to say this had Luisa in floods of tears and led to her having another argument over basically nothing with Lionel Blair later in the evening.
While I doubt Dappy is that cunning and is more likely simply lashing out against someone who stole the toy he wants to play with his behaviour towards Luisa jeopardises her relationship with Jasmine. That's because in response to Dappy's outburst Luisa will be looking for comfort and emotional support. Being herself under pressure due to the return of Lee and Casey and well her personality Jasmine is unlikely to be in a position to provide that support.
Incidentally whilst he was in the annex Lee Ryan pretty much spent the entire time in floods of tears complaining about the big mistake he'd made by cheating on Casey with Jasmine. This was all a cynical ploy to get the public back on his side. Unfortunately the general consensus from Twitter was that he should; "Put his tampon back in and head off to bed."
11:40 on 11/1/14 (UK date).
Friday, 10 January 2014
All the Best People Holiday in CBB at This Time of Year.
I know that should probably be getting on with some proper work. It's just that this really the first opportunity I've had to relax since before the last Olympics. The next Olympics are just a couple of weeks so if you don't mind I'm going to continue slacking off with Celebrity Big Brother.
The problem is that there's not actually much to say about Celebrity Big Brother at the moment. The show that aired last night (9/1/14) was all about the events of Wednesday (8/1/14) which featured an eviction. These very much dominate life in the house with the events of the day all focusing on the build up to the eviction which is shown live in show that obviously tocuhes on that day's goings on. Then after the eviction the remaining housemates revert back to their comfort zones in order to consolidate their position rather then trying anything new.
A perfect example of this would be Jasmine Waltz to reacted to the eviction of Lee Ryan and Casey Batchelor (to a secret annex) by rekindling her relationship with Luisa Zissman. This involved Jasmine and Luisa platonically moving into Lee and Casey's double bed together. That revealed quite a lot of clues that Jasmine and Lee had indeed had full, unprotected sex with each other. For example when they were changing the bed sheets Jasmine kept saying things like; "I bet this is full of sperm" and "Yeah this has got a couple of ejaculations in it." Therefore Jasmine and Lee's reproductive health is becoming something of a major background issue although no-one is prepared to tackle it head on.
Also in my previous post I said that Luisa has, probably in her past had her emotional vulnerability exploited by predatory lesbians. For the sake of clarity I should point out that a predatory lesbian is a predatory female homosexual. Jasmine seems to be a perfect example of a predatory female heterosexual.
Perhaps in an effort to provide something to put in the Thursday show directly following the eviction the remaining housemates made their nominations for the next eviction. What normally happens is that each housemate nominates two other housemates for eviction and then the two housemates with the most nominations go forward to face the public vote. However on this occasion that process led to Jim Davidson and Liz Jones being put forward. As these are both housemates we'd like to get our money's worth from the bar was dropped to include the third housemate with the most nominations. As Jasmine Waltz, Luisa Zissman and Evander Holyfield were all tied in third place there are now five potential candidate for eviction on Friday (10/1/14).
Presumably the candidate who receives the most public votes will be evicted on Friday. However there is also rumoured to be a secret twist involving the second place candidate. Annoyingly we're not being told what that twist will be which is incredibly frustrating because it's hard to know who to vote for if you don't know what you're voting for them to do. However I would be most happy to see Evander Holyfield leave the house. That's because apart from undermining Dappy's masculinity with his mere presence the four time heavyweight boxing world champion doesn't really do anything. Therefore life in the house would carry on much the same as before whether he was in there or not.
Also of course Lee and Casey are supposed to re-enter the main house on Friday. I think that's a bit of a shame because personally I think they could have done with another day in the annex to let everything progress a bit.
13:50 on 10/1/14 (UK date).
The problem is that there's not actually much to say about Celebrity Big Brother at the moment. The show that aired last night (9/1/14) was all about the events of Wednesday (8/1/14) which featured an eviction. These very much dominate life in the house with the events of the day all focusing on the build up to the eviction which is shown live in show that obviously tocuhes on that day's goings on. Then after the eviction the remaining housemates revert back to their comfort zones in order to consolidate their position rather then trying anything new.
A perfect example of this would be Jasmine Waltz to reacted to the eviction of Lee Ryan and Casey Batchelor (to a secret annex) by rekindling her relationship with Luisa Zissman. This involved Jasmine and Luisa platonically moving into Lee and Casey's double bed together. That revealed quite a lot of clues that Jasmine and Lee had indeed had full, unprotected sex with each other. For example when they were changing the bed sheets Jasmine kept saying things like; "I bet this is full of sperm" and "Yeah this has got a couple of ejaculations in it." Therefore Jasmine and Lee's reproductive health is becoming something of a major background issue although no-one is prepared to tackle it head on.
Also in my previous post I said that Luisa has, probably in her past had her emotional vulnerability exploited by predatory lesbians. For the sake of clarity I should point out that a predatory lesbian is a predatory female homosexual. Jasmine seems to be a perfect example of a predatory female heterosexual.
Perhaps in an effort to provide something to put in the Thursday show directly following the eviction the remaining housemates made their nominations for the next eviction. What normally happens is that each housemate nominates two other housemates for eviction and then the two housemates with the most nominations go forward to face the public vote. However on this occasion that process led to Jim Davidson and Liz Jones being put forward. As these are both housemates we'd like to get our money's worth from the bar was dropped to include the third housemate with the most nominations. As Jasmine Waltz, Luisa Zissman and Evander Holyfield were all tied in third place there are now five potential candidate for eviction on Friday (10/1/14).
Presumably the candidate who receives the most public votes will be evicted on Friday. However there is also rumoured to be a secret twist involving the second place candidate. Annoyingly we're not being told what that twist will be which is incredibly frustrating because it's hard to know who to vote for if you don't know what you're voting for them to do. However I would be most happy to see Evander Holyfield leave the house. That's because apart from undermining Dappy's masculinity with his mere presence the four time heavyweight boxing world champion doesn't really do anything. Therefore life in the house would carry on much the same as before whether he was in there or not.
Also of course Lee and Casey are supposed to re-enter the main house on Friday. I think that's a bit of a shame because personally I think they could have done with another day in the annex to let everything progress a bit.
13:50 on 10/1/14 (UK date).
West Virginia's a Disaster Area.
Just as I was going to bed and most of the eastern hemisphere was waking up and beginning their working day a state of emergency was declared in Chris Brown's home state of West Virginia after a chemical spill affected the drinking water supply. Obviously this meant something of a stressful start to the day for eastern hemisphere as they tried to work out what had happened and what it all meant. For example the 'chemicals' could be a reference to any number of legal/illegal drugs and there could be some specific meaning to the chemicals themselves.
As it turns out the chemical involved was 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol. During alcohol prohibition the US government added poison (mainly cyanide) to industrial alcohols of this type to prevent people drinking them killing a few thousand of its own citizens in the process. Therefore there is a connection to marijuana prohibition. Mainly though 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol is used to clean sulphur from coal before in burnt in order to reduce the risk of acid rain. Therefore it seems to specifically target China's chronic air pollution that comes primarily from coal fired power stations. This strikes me as an unwise target for the US because China is already more then aware of that problem and have started the long process of doing something about it.
The main focus of the stunt though was to pose the question of whether the Chris Brown/Rihanna operation is in such a state of emergency that it needs to be classed as a disaster area? Or to put it another way; "If the US continues to drink from that source will it end up poisoning itself?" Obviously this question is being posed both domestically and internationally but there seems little point asking it internationally. That's because most people have now gone passed the point of laughing at the US for thinking the Chris Brown/Rihanna operation is still viable and are now mainly just baffled as to why the US thinks it could still be viable.
10:25 on 10/1/14 (UK date).
As it turns out the chemical involved was 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol. During alcohol prohibition the US government added poison (mainly cyanide) to industrial alcohols of this type to prevent people drinking them killing a few thousand of its own citizens in the process. Therefore there is a connection to marijuana prohibition. Mainly though 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol is used to clean sulphur from coal before in burnt in order to reduce the risk of acid rain. Therefore it seems to specifically target China's chronic air pollution that comes primarily from coal fired power stations. This strikes me as an unwise target for the US because China is already more then aware of that problem and have started the long process of doing something about it.
The main focus of the stunt though was to pose the question of whether the Chris Brown/Rihanna operation is in such a state of emergency that it needs to be classed as a disaster area? Or to put it another way; "If the US continues to drink from that source will it end up poisoning itself?" Obviously this question is being posed both domestically and internationally but there seems little point asking it internationally. That's because most people have now gone passed the point of laughing at the US for thinking the Chris Brown/Rihanna operation is still viable and are now mainly just baffled as to why the US thinks it could still be viable.
10:25 on 10/1/14 (UK date).
Thursday, 9 January 2014
CBB Viewers Are a Spiteful Bunch.
I should start by explaining that as this is meant to be a bit of fun I don't really have the time to scour the Internet for all the latest gossip on this current UK season of Celebrity Big Brother. So instead I just watch the nightly highlights show. The problem is that there is a 24 hour delay on this so what I watch on the Monday actually happened on the Sunday, what I watch on the Sunday actually happened on the Saturday and so on.
The big event of this past Monday (6/1/14) which was broadcast on Tuesday (7/1/14) was the UFO task. This involved the housemates being woken at dawn by bright lights and loud noise to discover that an 'alien spaceship' had 'landed' in the garden of the compound. The 'aliens' immediately 'abducted' two of the housemates (Lee Ryan & Liz Jones) and took the aboard the ship. After a couple of hours Luisa Zissman & Jasmine Waltz were also abducted and joined Lee Ryan and Jones on the ship. Finally after being identified as "the leader of the group" Jim Davidson was invited aboard the ship to dine with the leader of the aliens.
Initially the abductees were questioned by the aliens in a scene very reminiscent of the torture episode of US TV "Firefly." They were then left to their own devices in a sparsely furnished room which was constantly lit by bright artificial lights and mechanical 'spaceship' type noises were played on a constant loop. This was remarkably similar to what the CIA would term an "Enhanced Interrogation Technique." The intention is to put the subject in a vulnerable psychological state by making them as physically uncomfortable as possible whilst removing all environmental clues to the passage of time such as clocks, the position of the sun in the sky, air temperature etc while the constant noise disrupts the bodies natural internal clock. In fact there is a rather famous story about how during the invasion of Iraq the CIA used to lock detainees in small, brightly lit cells and loudly play the theme tune to the TV Show "Barney the Dinosaur" for hours on end.
Apart from winding up the CIA the purpose of the UFO task seems to have been to toughen up the housemates before two of them were transferred to the annex on Wednesday (8/1/14). After all the annex will be similar to the spaceship in that two of the housemates will be trapped in a confined space together although the conditions won't be as harsh. For example in the annex the housemates will be able to sleep in proper beds, there is unlikely to be the constant noise and they will be able to watch the action from the main house on TV screens. What was interesting though was that only one half of the couples that were nominated for the annex (Liz Jones of Liz Jones & Dappy, Lee Ryan of Lee Ryan & Casey Batchelor and Luisa Zissman of Luisa Zissman & Evander Holyfield) where subjected to the spaceship. This seemed to be Big Brother trying to give one half of the couples an advantage over the other half in the annex although in the case of Luisa Zissman and Evander Holyfield it seemed to be more a case of levelling the playing field.
The problems with the UFO task began on Sunday (5/1/14) night. Having been accepted as couple by the other housemates Lee Ryan and Casey Batchelor were kissing and cuddling in bed in full view of the other housemates and the cameras. With things getting distinctly hot and heavy Casey suggested that Lee go off to the privacy of the toilet where there are no cameras. I think her intention was that he was to wait for her there because a few minutes later Casey also got out of bed and headed for the toilet. The problem was that Lee had gone to the wrong toilet. After returning to join a clearly frustrated Casey in bed Lee confirmed that whilst in the toilet he'd, erm, taken care of himself so to speak.
Meanwhile the idea that Lee Ryan & Casey Batchelor's relationship was a cynical ploy to win the show that Luisa Zissman had planted was churning around in Jasmine Waltz's cold and calculating mind. Clearly not keen to compete by getting into a lesbian relationship with Luisa Jasmine instead plotted to split Lee and Casey up by offering Lee what he thought Casey wasn't prepared give. Amid the increased tension of the UFO task Jasmine's plan was successful with her leading Lee into the spaceship toilet that night for what we're all assuming was full sex.
This was particularly painful for Luisa Zissman who was pretty much forced to watch the whole thing. Having read up on Luisa - particularly her treatment for sex addiction which to me seems genuine - I think my initial assessment of her as someone who pretends to be bisexual to make herself more attractive to men was a little harsh. As with all addicts genuine sex addicts tend to be trying to replace something that is missing in their emotional lives or attempting to cover up some deep seated emotional damage. Therefore rather then trying to manipulate Jasmine by putting "the lesbian moves on her" Luisa appeared to be copying the way in which a (or succession of) predatory lesbians had exploited her own emotional vulnerability.
Provided it is done carefully within a safe environment this process of getting an abuse victim to act of the role of an abuser is a well established therapeutic technique. However subjecting the abuse victim to something traumatic like the way Luisa was forced to watch Jasmine have sex with Lee is most certainly not. To make matters worse Jasmine seems to have quite a good cursory understanding of what makes Luisa tick and in the post-coital afterglow couldn't resist pushing her buttons. For example in a group discussion about bisexuality Jasmine told a very theatrical anecdote about how when she was in prison for a year in the US on marijuana charges she had a lesbian relationship with another inmate. For Luisa's benefit she was very keen to emphasise how rather then finding women sexually attractive she was merely looking for love, compassion and affection.
This was also not good for Casey Batchelor who doesn't seem to be as cynical as Luisa would have Jasmine believe. After getting a suspicion of what Lee and Jasmine were up to whilst on the spaceship Casey had to spend an awful day slowly working out what was going on first from the looks on the faces of the other housemates that had been on the spaceship and then from the way Lee and Jasmine were behaving around each other before Lee finally owned up. A few hours later the viewers voted to send Lee and Casey to the annex together.
This might actually work out quite well because being - I think the term "shark-eyed b*tch" is appropriate - Jasmine will simply move on to starting a relationship with Dappy in an effort to win the show which should keep Dappy distracted and out of the way. Also if Casey wants Lee back the annex should provide at least the illusion of privacy for her to provide what is needed to keep Lee's attention.
15:15 on 9/1/14 (UK date).
The big event of this past Monday (6/1/14) which was broadcast on Tuesday (7/1/14) was the UFO task. This involved the housemates being woken at dawn by bright lights and loud noise to discover that an 'alien spaceship' had 'landed' in the garden of the compound. The 'aliens' immediately 'abducted' two of the housemates (Lee Ryan & Liz Jones) and took the aboard the ship. After a couple of hours Luisa Zissman & Jasmine Waltz were also abducted and joined Lee Ryan and Jones on the ship. Finally after being identified as "the leader of the group" Jim Davidson was invited aboard the ship to dine with the leader of the aliens.
Initially the abductees were questioned by the aliens in a scene very reminiscent of the torture episode of US TV "Firefly." They were then left to their own devices in a sparsely furnished room which was constantly lit by bright artificial lights and mechanical 'spaceship' type noises were played on a constant loop. This was remarkably similar to what the CIA would term an "Enhanced Interrogation Technique." The intention is to put the subject in a vulnerable psychological state by making them as physically uncomfortable as possible whilst removing all environmental clues to the passage of time such as clocks, the position of the sun in the sky, air temperature etc while the constant noise disrupts the bodies natural internal clock. In fact there is a rather famous story about how during the invasion of Iraq the CIA used to lock detainees in small, brightly lit cells and loudly play the theme tune to the TV Show "Barney the Dinosaur" for hours on end.
Apart from winding up the CIA the purpose of the UFO task seems to have been to toughen up the housemates before two of them were transferred to the annex on Wednesday (8/1/14). After all the annex will be similar to the spaceship in that two of the housemates will be trapped in a confined space together although the conditions won't be as harsh. For example in the annex the housemates will be able to sleep in proper beds, there is unlikely to be the constant noise and they will be able to watch the action from the main house on TV screens. What was interesting though was that only one half of the couples that were nominated for the annex (Liz Jones of Liz Jones & Dappy, Lee Ryan of Lee Ryan & Casey Batchelor and Luisa Zissman of Luisa Zissman & Evander Holyfield) where subjected to the spaceship. This seemed to be Big Brother trying to give one half of the couples an advantage over the other half in the annex although in the case of Luisa Zissman and Evander Holyfield it seemed to be more a case of levelling the playing field.
The problems with the UFO task began on Sunday (5/1/14) night. Having been accepted as couple by the other housemates Lee Ryan and Casey Batchelor were kissing and cuddling in bed in full view of the other housemates and the cameras. With things getting distinctly hot and heavy Casey suggested that Lee go off to the privacy of the toilet where there are no cameras. I think her intention was that he was to wait for her there because a few minutes later Casey also got out of bed and headed for the toilet. The problem was that Lee had gone to the wrong toilet. After returning to join a clearly frustrated Casey in bed Lee confirmed that whilst in the toilet he'd, erm, taken care of himself so to speak.
Meanwhile the idea that Lee Ryan & Casey Batchelor's relationship was a cynical ploy to win the show that Luisa Zissman had planted was churning around in Jasmine Waltz's cold and calculating mind. Clearly not keen to compete by getting into a lesbian relationship with Luisa Jasmine instead plotted to split Lee and Casey up by offering Lee what he thought Casey wasn't prepared give. Amid the increased tension of the UFO task Jasmine's plan was successful with her leading Lee into the spaceship toilet that night for what we're all assuming was full sex.
This was particularly painful for Luisa Zissman who was pretty much forced to watch the whole thing. Having read up on Luisa - particularly her treatment for sex addiction which to me seems genuine - I think my initial assessment of her as someone who pretends to be bisexual to make herself more attractive to men was a little harsh. As with all addicts genuine sex addicts tend to be trying to replace something that is missing in their emotional lives or attempting to cover up some deep seated emotional damage. Therefore rather then trying to manipulate Jasmine by putting "the lesbian moves on her" Luisa appeared to be copying the way in which a (or succession of) predatory lesbians had exploited her own emotional vulnerability.
Provided it is done carefully within a safe environment this process of getting an abuse victim to act of the role of an abuser is a well established therapeutic technique. However subjecting the abuse victim to something traumatic like the way Luisa was forced to watch Jasmine have sex with Lee is most certainly not. To make matters worse Jasmine seems to have quite a good cursory understanding of what makes Luisa tick and in the post-coital afterglow couldn't resist pushing her buttons. For example in a group discussion about bisexuality Jasmine told a very theatrical anecdote about how when she was in prison for a year in the US on marijuana charges she had a lesbian relationship with another inmate. For Luisa's benefit she was very keen to emphasise how rather then finding women sexually attractive she was merely looking for love, compassion and affection.
This was also not good for Casey Batchelor who doesn't seem to be as cynical as Luisa would have Jasmine believe. After getting a suspicion of what Lee and Jasmine were up to whilst on the spaceship Casey had to spend an awful day slowly working out what was going on first from the looks on the faces of the other housemates that had been on the spaceship and then from the way Lee and Jasmine were behaving around each other before Lee finally owned up. A few hours later the viewers voted to send Lee and Casey to the annex together.
This might actually work out quite well because being - I think the term "shark-eyed b*tch" is appropriate - Jasmine will simply move on to starting a relationship with Dappy in an effort to win the show which should keep Dappy distracted and out of the way. Also if Casey wants Lee back the annex should provide at least the illusion of privacy for her to provide what is needed to keep Lee's attention.
15:15 on 9/1/14 (UK date).
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
The Mark Duggan Inquest.
On August 4th 2011 (4/8/11) Mark Duggan was shot and killed by the police in Tottenham, north London following an armed traffic stop. This triggered some of the most ferocious and widespread rioting that the UK has ever experienced. Today a Coroner's Inquest released its findings into the killing. Due to the importance of the incident this Inquest was unusually held in front of a Jury. That Jury of 10 was asked to answer five specific questions;
1. In the period leading up to the shooting did the police (MPS) and Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) do everything realistically in their power to collect and act on intelligence that Duggan was taking possession of a firearm from Mr Hutchinson-Foster?
The jury found unanimously that the MPS and SOCA did not do everything in their power noting that there was insufficient intelligence and no emphasis on exploring the intelligence to find out if there was a need for Duggan to be stopped or whether other less dangerous action could be taken.
2. Once the decision to make the traffic stop had been taken was it carried out in such a way as to minimise the need for the use of lethal force?
The jury found unanimously that it was.
3. Did Duggan have a firearm with him in the vehicle prior to it being stopped?
The jury found unanimously that he did.
4. How did that firearm come to be on a patch of grass some 20 feet away from the vehicle at the time Duggan was shot?
8 jurors found that Duggan had thrown the firearm away as soon as his vehicle had come to a stop and before either he or the police officers had exited their vehicles. 1 juror found that Duggan had thrown the firearm away immediately after exiting his vehicle. 1 juror was unable to answer the question because no witness had seen Duggan throw the firearm. However this means that 9 of the 10 jurors believe that Duggan was totally unarmed when the police officers opened fire on him.
5. When Duggan was hit by the fatal shot did he have the firearm in his hand?
Again 8 of the jurors found that Duggan certainly did not have the firearm in his hands when he was hit by the final shot. 1 juror found that it was more likely then not that Duggan did not have the firearm in his hands when he was hit by the fatal shot. 1 Juror found that it was more likely then not that Duggan did have the firearm in his hands when he was hit by the fatal.
Having answered those five questions the jurors were asked to decide whether Duggan had been lawfully killed, unlawfully killed or leave an open conclusion. In order to be lawfully killed Duggan had to present what was believed to be a real and present threat to the lives and safety of those around him. With 8 of the jurors certain that Duggan was unarmed at the time he was shot and 1 believing it to be most likely that he was unarmed they seemed to have little option other then to find that Duggan was unlawfully killed.
However the question is not whether Duggan was armed and posing a threat but whether the police officers believed, mistakenly or not, that he was armed and posing a threat. All of the police officers swear blind that Duggan either had a firearm in his hand or was reaching for a firearm that was in his belt. The sole civilian witness stated that Duggan was unarmed, had his hands raised to surrender and likened to his shooting to an execution. With lots of witnesses saying one thing and only one witness saying something different it is near impossible for jury to find in favour of the minority witness over the majority.
I would though be interested in reading the transcript of the proceedings to see if the Inquest was rigorous enough in questioning the police witnesses - they are of course the ones with the most incentive to lie.
20:40 on 8/1/14 (UK date).
Edited at around 10:50 on 9/1/14 (UK date) to add;
Immediately following the announcement of the Inquest's findings the MPS' Assistant Crime Commissioner Mark Rowley gave a statement on the steps of the Court house. This did not go well as he was effectively drowned out by a crowd of supporters of the Duggan family. Since then people having been lining up to call this a public relations disaster for the police. However I think Rowley knew exactly what he was doing and what the reaction would be. His intention seemed to be to act as a lightning rod for public anger so everybody got it out of their system in that small, easy to control situation rather then allowing it to go off and fester on the streets of Tottenham.
I guess though that it is difficult for politicians and members of the media to realise that sometimes there are more important things then public relations.
That said Rowley is not helping his cause by repeating in every single interview since that the jury found that Duggan had been lawfully killed. That's because to me it seems as though the jury found that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Duggan had been unlawfully killed which is a very different thing. Perhaps the Coroner should have been more clear in their direction of the jury about the circumstances in which they can return an open conclusion.
1. In the period leading up to the shooting did the police (MPS) and Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) do everything realistically in their power to collect and act on intelligence that Duggan was taking possession of a firearm from Mr Hutchinson-Foster?
The jury found unanimously that the MPS and SOCA did not do everything in their power noting that there was insufficient intelligence and no emphasis on exploring the intelligence to find out if there was a need for Duggan to be stopped or whether other less dangerous action could be taken.
2. Once the decision to make the traffic stop had been taken was it carried out in such a way as to minimise the need for the use of lethal force?
The jury found unanimously that it was.
3. Did Duggan have a firearm with him in the vehicle prior to it being stopped?
The jury found unanimously that he did.
4. How did that firearm come to be on a patch of grass some 20 feet away from the vehicle at the time Duggan was shot?
8 jurors found that Duggan had thrown the firearm away as soon as his vehicle had come to a stop and before either he or the police officers had exited their vehicles. 1 juror found that Duggan had thrown the firearm away immediately after exiting his vehicle. 1 juror was unable to answer the question because no witness had seen Duggan throw the firearm. However this means that 9 of the 10 jurors believe that Duggan was totally unarmed when the police officers opened fire on him.
5. When Duggan was hit by the fatal shot did he have the firearm in his hand?
Again 8 of the jurors found that Duggan certainly did not have the firearm in his hands when he was hit by the final shot. 1 juror found that it was more likely then not that Duggan did not have the firearm in his hands when he was hit by the fatal shot. 1 Juror found that it was more likely then not that Duggan did have the firearm in his hands when he was hit by the fatal.
Having answered those five questions the jurors were asked to decide whether Duggan had been lawfully killed, unlawfully killed or leave an open conclusion. In order to be lawfully killed Duggan had to present what was believed to be a real and present threat to the lives and safety of those around him. With 8 of the jurors certain that Duggan was unarmed at the time he was shot and 1 believing it to be most likely that he was unarmed they seemed to have little option other then to find that Duggan was unlawfully killed.
However the question is not whether Duggan was armed and posing a threat but whether the police officers believed, mistakenly or not, that he was armed and posing a threat. All of the police officers swear blind that Duggan either had a firearm in his hand or was reaching for a firearm that was in his belt. The sole civilian witness stated that Duggan was unarmed, had his hands raised to surrender and likened to his shooting to an execution. With lots of witnesses saying one thing and only one witness saying something different it is near impossible for jury to find in favour of the minority witness over the majority.
I would though be interested in reading the transcript of the proceedings to see if the Inquest was rigorous enough in questioning the police witnesses - they are of course the ones with the most incentive to lie.
20:40 on 8/1/14 (UK date).
Edited at around 10:50 on 9/1/14 (UK date) to add;
Immediately following the announcement of the Inquest's findings the MPS' Assistant Crime Commissioner Mark Rowley gave a statement on the steps of the Court house. This did not go well as he was effectively drowned out by a crowd of supporters of the Duggan family. Since then people having been lining up to call this a public relations disaster for the police. However I think Rowley knew exactly what he was doing and what the reaction would be. His intention seemed to be to act as a lightning rod for public anger so everybody got it out of their system in that small, easy to control situation rather then allowing it to go off and fester on the streets of Tottenham.
I guess though that it is difficult for politicians and members of the media to realise that sometimes there are more important things then public relations.
That said Rowley is not helping his cause by repeating in every single interview since that the jury found that Duggan had been lawfully killed. That's because to me it seems as though the jury found that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Duggan had been unlawfully killed which is a very different thing. Perhaps the Coroner should have been more clear in their direction of the jury about the circumstances in which they can return an open conclusion.
Norfolk Helicopter Crash.
Yesterday (7/1/14) - just as I was getting back from the pub a little early - a UH-60 Pavehawk helicopter from the United States Air Force (USAF) station at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Lakenheath crashed on a salt marsh in Norfolk, UK killing all four crew on board. Obviously then I have to talk about this even though I'd much rather be talking about the UFO task in Celebrity Big Brother - Seriously the way that alien craft came down in the compound you would have thought it was a dawn raid.
You may remember that on November 29th (29/11/13) - just after Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour and the COP19/CMP9 Summit had both come to an end - a British police helicopter crashed into a pub in Glasgow, UK killing all three crew and seven passers by. For reasons that are known only to them the Americans took this as the UK signalling that I'd failed miserably and their Rihanna operation had been a resounding success. Now they've had a period of quiet contemplation this latest helicopter crash seems to be a way to revisit that discussion. This theme of US military helicopters crashing has had a mini-world tour of it's own with similar incidents occurring in Japan and Afghanistan in December 2013.
The second element to the story is the salt marsh on which the helicopter crashed. Apart from being a deserted area where the crash was unlikely to injure people on the ground salt marshes are considered very important in environmental science especially when it comes to meeting the challenges of climate change. Left to their own devices salt marshes absorb huge amounts of greenhouse gases and when they're destroyed for things like house building they turn into huge emitters of the greenhouse gases. Also they provide a natural protection against environmental hazards such as flooding by forming a hugely absorbent barrier between the sea and where people live.
As it has become impossible to argue that climate change isn't happening nations such as the UK have begun to argue that climate change is a natural phenomenon that humans cannot influence or that it has passed a tipping point meaning that there is nothing humans can do to stop it. Therefore we should all give up on mitigation efforts such as cutting greenhouse gas emissions and instead concentrate all our efforts on adaptation mechanisms such as preserving salt marches although the UK favours artificial methods such as sea walls and flood barriers. Over the last month or so the UK has been battered by very powerful (possibly driven by heat energy) storms that have caused our artificial adaptation mechanisms to fail catastrophically. As a result this argument has lost most of its credibility although there are those who will dispute that it had any credibility to begin with.
On the subject of extreme weather the US is currently in the grips of a polar vortex that has sent temperatures plummeting to terrifying lows (-43C and worse). Far from being evidence of global cooling this is a natural weather phenomenon that occurs all the time in the arctic circle. It's just that this year it has decided to move further south then usual. I'll need to read up on the exact reasons why but from disruption it's causing I'm getting the distinct impression that the weather is not particularly pleased with the US at the moment.
While I'm here I should take a moment to comment on what has been something of a follow up to the COP19/CMP9 Summit. On December 24th (24/12/13) a Russian ship - the Akademik Shokalskiy got trapped by antarctic ice while researching climate change. It called for help from a Chinese ship - Xue Long - and an Australian ship - Aurora Australis both of which were unable to rescue the ship with the Xue Long also becoming trapped by the ice.
For years Russia and other nations have actually been trying to speed up climate change so it would melt arctic and antarctic ice freeing up new shipping lanes and oil deposits. By freeing Greenpeace's Arctic 30 during the COP19/CMP9 Russia was signalling that it was no longer pursuing this path. The trapping of the Akademik Shokalskiy was meant to re-state that point and discuss it with other nations that helped in the rescue effort - in this type of circumstance Australia represents the UK Commonwealth. The fact that all the rescue vessels failed suggests that the nations involved now agree with Russia's position.
Finally Russia turned to the US for help and the US Coastguard Ice Breaker the Polar Star was dispatched to join the rescue effort as part of a routine supply mission. Given the cr*p Russia has had to put up with from the US over Syria, amongst other things, rather then assessing the US's attitudes to climate change this seemed to be an effort to trick the US into announcing itself as the global bad guy by being the ones who finally smashed through the antarctic ice.
Yesterday both the Akademik Shokalskiy and the Xue Long broke free from the ice on their own cancelling the US' rescue mission. With the Rihanna operation not only failing but producing serious blow-back for the US in Thailand, Cambodia and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) along with the situations in Syria, Iraq and the proposed 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan this seems to be Russia and China taking pity on the US because they are now in such a hopeless position.
12:25 on 8/1/14 (UK date).
You may remember that on November 29th (29/11/13) - just after Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour and the COP19/CMP9 Summit had both come to an end - a British police helicopter crashed into a pub in Glasgow, UK killing all three crew and seven passers by. For reasons that are known only to them the Americans took this as the UK signalling that I'd failed miserably and their Rihanna operation had been a resounding success. Now they've had a period of quiet contemplation this latest helicopter crash seems to be a way to revisit that discussion. This theme of US military helicopters crashing has had a mini-world tour of it's own with similar incidents occurring in Japan and Afghanistan in December 2013.
The second element to the story is the salt marsh on which the helicopter crashed. Apart from being a deserted area where the crash was unlikely to injure people on the ground salt marshes are considered very important in environmental science especially when it comes to meeting the challenges of climate change. Left to their own devices salt marshes absorb huge amounts of greenhouse gases and when they're destroyed for things like house building they turn into huge emitters of the greenhouse gases. Also they provide a natural protection against environmental hazards such as flooding by forming a hugely absorbent barrier between the sea and where people live.
As it has become impossible to argue that climate change isn't happening nations such as the UK have begun to argue that climate change is a natural phenomenon that humans cannot influence or that it has passed a tipping point meaning that there is nothing humans can do to stop it. Therefore we should all give up on mitigation efforts such as cutting greenhouse gas emissions and instead concentrate all our efforts on adaptation mechanisms such as preserving salt marches although the UK favours artificial methods such as sea walls and flood barriers. Over the last month or so the UK has been battered by very powerful (possibly driven by heat energy) storms that have caused our artificial adaptation mechanisms to fail catastrophically. As a result this argument has lost most of its credibility although there are those who will dispute that it had any credibility to begin with.
On the subject of extreme weather the US is currently in the grips of a polar vortex that has sent temperatures plummeting to terrifying lows (-43C and worse). Far from being evidence of global cooling this is a natural weather phenomenon that occurs all the time in the arctic circle. It's just that this year it has decided to move further south then usual. I'll need to read up on the exact reasons why but from disruption it's causing I'm getting the distinct impression that the weather is not particularly pleased with the US at the moment.
While I'm here I should take a moment to comment on what has been something of a follow up to the COP19/CMP9 Summit. On December 24th (24/12/13) a Russian ship - the Akademik Shokalskiy got trapped by antarctic ice while researching climate change. It called for help from a Chinese ship - Xue Long - and an Australian ship - Aurora Australis both of which were unable to rescue the ship with the Xue Long also becoming trapped by the ice.
For years Russia and other nations have actually been trying to speed up climate change so it would melt arctic and antarctic ice freeing up new shipping lanes and oil deposits. By freeing Greenpeace's Arctic 30 during the COP19/CMP9 Russia was signalling that it was no longer pursuing this path. The trapping of the Akademik Shokalskiy was meant to re-state that point and discuss it with other nations that helped in the rescue effort - in this type of circumstance Australia represents the UK Commonwealth. The fact that all the rescue vessels failed suggests that the nations involved now agree with Russia's position.
Finally Russia turned to the US for help and the US Coastguard Ice Breaker the Polar Star was dispatched to join the rescue effort as part of a routine supply mission. Given the cr*p Russia has had to put up with from the US over Syria, amongst other things, rather then assessing the US's attitudes to climate change this seemed to be an effort to trick the US into announcing itself as the global bad guy by being the ones who finally smashed through the antarctic ice.
Yesterday both the Akademik Shokalskiy and the Xue Long broke free from the ice on their own cancelling the US' rescue mission. With the Rihanna operation not only failing but producing serious blow-back for the US in Thailand, Cambodia and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) along with the situations in Syria, Iraq and the proposed 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan this seems to be Russia and China taking pity on the US because they are now in such a hopeless position.
12:25 on 8/1/14 (UK date).
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