Depending where you are in the World Thursday (8/2/18), Friday (9/2/18) or Saturday (10/2/18) will see the start of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. These are to be held in Pyeongchang in the Republic of Korea (RoK/South).
Any event on the scale of an Olympic Games presents a number of security challenges. The Republic of Korea hosting an Olympic Games presents a number of very specific and complex security issues.
The Republic of Korea is technically still at war with its northern neighbour the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North). Therefore it is reasonable to say that the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in a warzone. Albeit a not particularly active one.
The RoK hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics. On November 29th 1987 (29/11/87) - roughly 10 months before the start of the games - Korean Air Flight 858 took off from Baghdad, Iraq en route to Seoul, RoK.
On board were two North Korean agents carrying a bomb hidden inside a radio. They got off the plane at a scheduled stop-over in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The bomb detonated just before the flight made its second scheduled stop-over in Thailand. The explosion brought the aircraft down over the Andaman Sea killing all 115 people on board.
One of the North Korean agents - Kim Hyon-hui - was captured alive. She testified that the bombing had been ordered by Kim Jong-il in an effort to frighten nations into not attending the 1988 Summer Olympics.
At the time Kim Jong-il was being groomed to take over from his father Kim Il-sung as leader of the DPRK. He eventually became leader in 1997.
The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in Nagano, Japan.
From 1910 through to 1945 the Korean Peninsula was invaded and occupied as part of the Japanese Empire. It was the defeat of the Japanese Empire at the end of the Second World War that directly led to the partition of the Korean Peninsula and the creation of the nations of the DPRK and the RoK.
In June 1997 - roughly 7 months before the start of the games - several North Korean warships crossed over the partition line into South Korean waters in the Sea of Japan. They attacked two South Korea ships leading to an exchange of fire. At the same time North Korean land forces crossed around 70km (40 miles) into South Korean territory triggering a roughly 30 minute battle.
In 2002 The Football World Cup was jointly hosted by Japan and the RoK.
This growing alliance between two enemies apparently at the exclusion of the DPRK triggered what is known as the; "Second Battle of Yeonpyeong." During the World Cup on June 29th 2002 (29/6/02) North Korea warships crossed into South Korean waters triggering a battle with South Korean warships. In this battle 6 North Korean sailors and 13 South Korean sailors were killed.
In 2011 Kim Jong-il died and was replaced as leader of the DPRK by his son Kim Jong-un at around the time of the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, UK.
I remember this well because while I'm no longer sure how old I am I know that I am roughly the same age as Kim Jong-un. He is married to Ri Sol-ju - a very famous popstar in North Korean. The 2012 Summer Olympics saw me 'married off' to famous popstar Rihanna sometimes known as; "Ri-ri."
It is perhaps no coincidence then that Kim Jong-un has made his foreign spokesman Ri Jong-ho. Pronounced; "Young ho Ri."
Under Kim Jong-un the DPRK has dramatically increased its nuclear weapons capability. In 2013 it conducted its third test of and Atom Bomb (A-bomb). In 2016 the DPRK tested its first - much more powerful Hydrogen Bomb (H-bomb). It has gone on to test two more H-bombs - most recently in September 2017.
The DPRK has also dramatically increased its missile capability. On July 4th 2017 (4/7/17) they successfully tested their first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) - the Hwasong-14.
On July 28th 2017 (28/7/17) the North Koreans successfully test-fired a second Hwasong-14 ICBM. This this was done to successfully test a re-entry vehicle capable of delivering a H-bomb warhead to targets as far away as the cities of New York and Boston on the east coast of the US.
Therefore if the 2018 Winter Olympics see any repeat of the 1987, 1997 or 2002 incidents the results could be apocalyptic.
It might seem a strange thing to say. However I think the DPRK's advances in its nuclear weapons program actually reduces the security risk to the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The DPRK's desire for nuclear weapons stems from the period leading up to the July 27th 1953 (27/7/53) signing of the armistice in the Korean War.
It particularly stems from a series of incidents between September 1950 and April 1951. At the time the DPRK was being backed in the war by China. This led to the US flying nuclear armed bombers over both the DPRK and China in a strategy known as; "Nuclear Blackmail." The objective was to intimidate China into ending its support for the DPRK.
Not being a nuclear armed state at the time China really had no option other then to backdown. This US strategy prompted both China and the DPRK to aggressively pursue nuclear weapons of their own to guard against future blackmail by the US.
China obtained its nuclear weapons relatively quickly testing their first A-bomb in 1964, their first nuclear capable ICBM in 1966 and their first H-bomb in 1967.
Being a much smaller country than China the DPRK's pursuit of nuclear weapons has been much slower. Although it remains part of the nation's constitution the DPRK hasn't really been pursuing them since the 1970's. Kim Jong-il in particular only ever really paid lipservice to the idea.
Instead particularly Kim Jong-il pursued an international strategy more akin to running a protect racket. The North Korean military would do something violent and aggressive such as the two Battles of Yeonpyeong. The DPRK would then demand concessions - often simply just cash - to not do more violent and aggressive things.
Much like Kim Jong-il oversaw the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 prior to taking over from Kim Il-sung in 2010 Kim Jon-un oversaw what's known as the; "Bombardment of Yeonpyeong."
Simply the DPRK launched a massive artillery bombardment of the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong on November 23rd 2010 (23/11/10). The prompted the RoK to return fire. Five South Koreans including three civilians were killed. The RoK claim that 5-10 North Koreans were killed. The DPRK has only confirmed the deaths of five.
The Bombardment of Yeonpyeong seemed to be the North Korean Generals attempting to school Kim Jong-un in his father's strategy of racketeering.
Having fully taken over as leader of the DPRK Kim Jong-un seems to have completely abandoned his father's strategy of provocation. While making serious attempts to modernise and open up the DPRK Kim Jong-un has focused on advancing the nations nuclear weapons capability which the DPRK has always seen as a defensive measure.
Obviously though it is impossible to test H-bombs and ICBM's without it seeming at least a little bit provocative.
One bump in Kim Jong-un's less hostile strategy has been the death of Otto Warmbier on June 19th 2017 (19/6/17). Since January 2nd 2016 (2/1/16) this US student had been imprisoned in the DPRK on charges of the wilful destruction of government property - a propaganda poster.
The US in particular has pointed to the death of Otto Warmbier as evidence that there is no difference in the DPRK under Kim Jong-un and the DPRK under Kim Jong-il.
I think the US is wrong in that assessment. Not only does that claim show a fundamental misunderstanding of how the DPRK functions it also shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how the human race works.
Even in absolute dictatorships no one person hold complete power. Every leader needs to rely on a hierarchy of subordinates prepared to carry out their orders. Within this hierarchy different factions each with their own interests always emerge.
The US actually suffered a similar intelligence failure leading up to and during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
They seemed convinced that Russia has strict laws against homosexuality because Russian President Vladimir Putin is himself homophobic. They couldn't even entertain the idea that Russia has strict laws against homosexuality because many ordinary Russians hold extremely homophobic views forcing the President to take action.
In no small part the reason Russia was given the 2014 Winter Games was to constructively engage with and tackle those widely held homophobic views.
If anything I think that the death of Otto Warmbier was the result of one of these factions trying to derail Kim Jong-un's attempts to move the DPRK in a more open and peaceful direction.
The other alternative is that it was just an unconnected event. I am certainly not attempting to defend the DPRK's prison system where people are routinely subjected to torture and inhumane torture of which death is often a side-effect. However I don't think anyone seriously believes Kim Jong-un spends his weekends moonlighting as a prison guard.
The US is sending Vice President Mike Pence to the 2018 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony. As his guests of honour Vice President Pence is bringing Otto Warmbier's family. I think that only works as a gesture if Pence is hoping it will prompt all other nations to form an orderly queue to explain to him why he's in the wrong.
Showing just how congested things are the news of Pence's invitation to the Warmbier family actually broke during Sunday's (4/2/18) Super Bowl.
Particularly when US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Hayley popped up I was tempted to point out to US President Trump that the RoK would likely use Warmbier to explain to him that no dictator has absolute power. Before going on to point out that the 'New England Traitors' would say they're using Robert Mueller in an effort to make the same point.
So despite the fire and fury of 2017 I've always thought the security threat from the DPRK to the 2018 Winter Olympics is extremely low.
It must often seem that I'm ignoring the situation of the Korean Peninsula.
The truth is that I know the DPRK and the RoK have been exchanging extremely complex messages on a near daily basis for nearly 70 years.
For example on Monday (5/2/18) the RoK had to dismiss 1,200 private security guards with 900 military personnel taking over their duties following an outbreak of Norovirus. Norovirus is of course famous for causing what is delicately described as; "Gastrointestinal Distress."
On Tuesday (6/2/18) the DPRK issued a statement condemning US President Trump and; "The foul smells emanating from his body."
So I am extremely aware of how little I know about the exact state of relations between the DPRK and the RoK. I am also aware that when nuclear weapons are involved the stakes are extremely high. So I've been actively avoiding blundering about in a situation I realise I do not fully understand.
Amid my silence the RoK and the DPRK have been discussing the matter directly amongst themselves.
On January 20th 2018 (20/1/18) they agreed that 22 North Korean athletes will attend the games. They will be joined by a 400 strong diplomatic delegation including a cheerleading squad, a Taekwondo demonstration team and an orchestra. It will also include Kim Jong-un's sister and senior government figure Kim Yo-jong.
Of the 22 athletes 12 will compete as part of a combined Ice Hockey team and all the athletes from both nations will enter the Opening Ceremony under a Unified Korea flag.
The Korea's old colonial master Japan does not seem happy about this.
Throughout 2017 one of the big stories in Japan has been plans by Princess Mako - granddaughter of Emperor Akihito - to marry a commoner. This would involve her giving up her Royal status.
Today (7/2/18) Japan has announced that the wedding is off. It is just not ready to see the two unified as one.
Despite Japanese objections the fact that senior North Koreans will be physically attending the games significantly reduces the already low chance of the DPRK launching an attack.
It does though mean the politics are going to get really complex.
In what I feel is a flawed strategy the US has responded to the DPRK's missile tests by imposing international sanctions - particularly on fuel. Today (7/2/18) the DPRK has asked for an exemption to be made so they can refuel the ship that brought their delegation to the RoK.
That level of political complexity though is entirely preferable to people blasting away at each other with artillery cannons.
The other big threat to the games is of course from Islamist terrorism. I will have to deal with that in a separate post. Most probably tomorrow.
18:00 on 7/2/18 (UK date).
Wednesday, 7 February 2018
Tuesday, 6 February 2018
Super Bowl 2018: The Commercials
One of the main parts of any Super Bowl is the commercials.
In fact I think the reason American Football is given this special status is because it is so boring it provides advertisers with ample opportunity to broadcast this 30 second short films making a statement about modern day America. The products they're trying to sell are almost entirely secondary to their cultural contribution.
Obviously in the UK we don't get to see the commercials. However if something is really talked it tends to trend of Twitter during the Super Bowl. The following day many broadcasters compile their lists of the best commercials. So you can normally track them down on the Internet.
This year I really do not have time for any of that.
On Saturday (10/2/18) the 2018 Winter Olympics begin in Pyeongchang in the Republic of Korea (RoK/South). Due to the time difference this will be Friday (9/2/18) in the UK and Thursday (8/2/18) in certainly the west coast of the US.
One of the main attractions at the Winter Olympics is Ice Hockey. One of the main controversies at this year's games is that the US National Hockey League (NHL) has refused to suspend its season. So none of the best Ice Hockey players will be attending the 2018 Winter Olympics.
However before I get into any of that I've got to get through the Opening Ceremony. I will not be getting drunk at 8AM to watch this live.
Before I get into the Opening Ceremony I've got to deal with the security situation. There has been a small issue between the RoK and their northern neighbour the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) involving some nuclear weapons. You may have heard about it.
Therefore the only Super Bowl commercials I have seen are the only ones that trended on Twitter during the game. The ones for the Proctor & Gamble detergent brand; "Tide."
They actually did 11 commercials all parodying Super Bowl commercials for other brands that had been shown during previous years.
The joke was that while watching you'd find yourself wondering; "Oh, is this the car/perfume/whatever commercial they showed last year."
Then a booming American voice would shout;
"No! It's a Tide commercial!"
"How can you tell? It's clean!"
This referenced the infamous 2004 "Nipplegate" incident when Janet Jackson was brought out as a guest during Justin Timberlake's half-time show.
One of the 11 commercials featured an entirely black family similar to the family in the ABC sitcom "Blackish." When the announcer shouted; "It's Clean!" the teenage/adult daughter who looked at bit like Janet Jackson looked down the front of her shirt as if to check her nipples were still there.
Apart from the absurd "No Nipples" rule the US broadcast regulator - the FCC - is also extremely strict about swearing and foul language.
Although not as absurd as the rule that content is only sexual if it shows a female nipple the FCC's extreme attitude to swearing is a little odd. You only need to look at Twitter or other forms of social media to see that Americans do indeed swear.
I mean they're not British and certainly not Irish but Americans do have a certain proficiency when it comes to swearing. Even if someone really does need to teach them how to pronounce; "Twat."
This is extremely frustrating for broadcasters. Particularly when they are broadcasting a live event such as a Super Bowl where they have no real control over the content.
So for example if a drunk member of the public sitting in the stands swears so loudly that it's picked up by microphones and broadcast there's not really anything to broadcaster can do to stop that. However they can be fined extremely heavily for one of these, what are termed; "Fleeting Expletives."
This actually happened at the 2013 Super Bowl when the Baltimore Raven's Joe Flacco uttered the F-word which is considered the second most offensive swear word in the English language. This was broadcast live and the broadcaster CBS was fined by the FCC. CBS then challenged the fine and I think it eventually it ended up in the Supreme Court.
Recently we got an example of just how frustrating US broadcasters find the FCC's attitude towards swearing to be.
The Democrats claimed that President Trump referred to; "Shithole Countries." As this comment allegedly occurred at a meeting that was broadcast live on several news networks you wouldn't think the Democrats would have any trouble producing footage to back up theirclaim.
Either false or not because; "Shithole Countries" is a direct quote from an event that is of significant public interest. Therefore there it presents an exemption to the FCC's tight rules on swearing.
This meant that Americans were finally allowed to swear on TV.
My god did they take full advantage.
21:30 on 6/2/18 (UK date).
In fact I think the reason American Football is given this special status is because it is so boring it provides advertisers with ample opportunity to broadcast this 30 second short films making a statement about modern day America. The products they're trying to sell are almost entirely secondary to their cultural contribution.
Obviously in the UK we don't get to see the commercials. However if something is really talked it tends to trend of Twitter during the Super Bowl. The following day many broadcasters compile their lists of the best commercials. So you can normally track them down on the Internet.
This year I really do not have time for any of that.
On Saturday (10/2/18) the 2018 Winter Olympics begin in Pyeongchang in the Republic of Korea (RoK/South). Due to the time difference this will be Friday (9/2/18) in the UK and Thursday (8/2/18) in certainly the west coast of the US.
One of the main attractions at the Winter Olympics is Ice Hockey. One of the main controversies at this year's games is that the US National Hockey League (NHL) has refused to suspend its season. So none of the best Ice Hockey players will be attending the 2018 Winter Olympics.
However before I get into any of that I've got to get through the Opening Ceremony. I will not be getting drunk at 8AM to watch this live.
Before I get into the Opening Ceremony I've got to deal with the security situation. There has been a small issue between the RoK and their northern neighbour the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) involving some nuclear weapons. You may have heard about it.
Therefore the only Super Bowl commercials I have seen are the only ones that trended on Twitter during the game. The ones for the Proctor & Gamble detergent brand; "Tide."
They actually did 11 commercials all parodying Super Bowl commercials for other brands that had been shown during previous years.
The joke was that while watching you'd find yourself wondering; "Oh, is this the car/perfume/whatever commercial they showed last year."
Then a booming American voice would shout;
"No! It's a Tide commercial!"
"How can you tell? It's clean!"
This referenced the infamous 2004 "Nipplegate" incident when Janet Jackson was brought out as a guest during Justin Timberlake's half-time show.
One of the 11 commercials featured an entirely black family similar to the family in the ABC sitcom "Blackish." When the announcer shouted; "It's Clean!" the teenage/adult daughter who looked at bit like Janet Jackson looked down the front of her shirt as if to check her nipples were still there.
Apart from the absurd "No Nipples" rule the US broadcast regulator - the FCC - is also extremely strict about swearing and foul language.
Although not as absurd as the rule that content is only sexual if it shows a female nipple the FCC's extreme attitude to swearing is a little odd. You only need to look at Twitter or other forms of social media to see that Americans do indeed swear.
I mean they're not British and certainly not Irish but Americans do have a certain proficiency when it comes to swearing. Even if someone really does need to teach them how to pronounce; "Twat."
This is extremely frustrating for broadcasters. Particularly when they are broadcasting a live event such as a Super Bowl where they have no real control over the content.
So for example if a drunk member of the public sitting in the stands swears so loudly that it's picked up by microphones and broadcast there's not really anything to broadcaster can do to stop that. However they can be fined extremely heavily for one of these, what are termed; "Fleeting Expletives."
This actually happened at the 2013 Super Bowl when the Baltimore Raven's Joe Flacco uttered the F-word which is considered the second most offensive swear word in the English language. This was broadcast live and the broadcaster CBS was fined by the FCC. CBS then challenged the fine and I think it eventually it ended up in the Supreme Court.
Recently we got an example of just how frustrating US broadcasters find the FCC's attitude towards swearing to be.
The Democrats claimed that President Trump referred to; "Shithole Countries." As this comment allegedly occurred at a meeting that was broadcast live on several news networks you wouldn't think the Democrats would have any trouble producing footage to back up theirclaim.
Either false or not because; "Shithole Countries" is a direct quote from an event that is of significant public interest. Therefore there it presents an exemption to the FCC's tight rules on swearing.
This meant that Americans were finally allowed to swear on TV.
My god did they take full advantage.
21:30 on 6/2/18 (UK date).
Monday, 5 February 2018
It's Okay - I've Fixed the Super Bowl.
I think I first got bullied into watching the Super Bowl back in 2013. This was played at the New Orleans Superdome.
The halftime show featured Beyonce. There was a staged powercut during her performance. This was in reference to the way power was cut to much of New Orleans and in particular the Superdome arena as it was being used as an evacuation centre in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Since then it has become something of a tradition that I stay up and watch the Super Bowl. I then spend the whole time complaining.
Complaining that I'm being forced to stay up until the time commuters head out to work on a Monday morning. Also complaining that all this fuss is being made over an American sport which isn't even Ice Hockey.
The truth is that the only opportunity I get to watch ice hockey is at the Winter Olympics. Watching around half a dozen games every four years really does not make me an expert in the sport.
However with the game being centred around getting a round object into a net my background in football has made me think I could get into this in a way I just can't get into American Football.
Imagine my joy then when at the start of the 2017/18 National Hockey League (NHL) season a UK free-to-air network started broadcasting select games.
This is all done on a pretty chaotic and seemingly random basis where you get just the games. You don't get any of the pre-game, post-game or game analysis. Also I get the impression they only show the games no-one else is prepared to pay to broadcast.
Once the initial excitement of being able to watch any sort of hockey game wore off I became interested in watching games featuring teams I'd actually heard.
One NHL team that I have heard of are the Boston Bruins who come from the same part of America as the New England Patriots. I'm still waiting to see a Bruins game but I have been forced to sit through a lot of games by the New York Rangers who I gather the Bruins arch rivals.
From the moment I discovered I'm able to watch NHL games I've lived in this constant fear that it's all going to be taken away again. Probably just before things start to get interesting with the Stanley Cup playoffs. So I've been trying to keep the whole thing a secret.
With keeping a secret being hardwork I decided the best way to announce my new found ability to watch hockey was during the Super Bowl. So I recorded a game broadcast on Saturday (3/2/18) afternoon in the US to watch during the Super Bowl.
Now this secret is finally out I look forward to being able to look up things on the Internet such as the rules of ice hockey and how the NHL and playoff system actually works.
Through no real choice of my own the game I watched was between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators.
The Philadelphia Flyers of course come from the same city as the Super Bowl's Philadelphia Eagles. In the US this game was broadcast on the NBC network which also broadcast this year's Super Bowl.
The Flyers still stand a chance of making it through to the playoffs while the Senators are already out of the running. However following a dramatic game involving overtime and a penalty shoot-out the Senators defeated the Flyers 4-3.
In light of the Super Bowl I thought this was quite fitting.
US Senators of all political parties really should have done more to put a stop to the Democrats attempts to abuse the legal system to rig the 2014 mid-term elections. Something which is represented in American Football by the flag and anthem protests and at the 2018 Super Bowl by the Philadelphia Eagles.
US Senators of all political parties should also be doing more to put a stop to the Democrats attempts to abuse the legal system through the ridiculous Russia investigations into President Trump.
So in short I've fixed the Super Bowl - You just replace all the bits containing American Football with Ice Hockey.
At around 13:00 on 5/2/18 (UK date) there is more to come.
Edited at around 15:00 on 5/2/18 (UK date) to add;
I don't think I was alone in looking for reasons to avoid watching the Super Bowl.
The flag protests meant that there was much talk of a complete boycott by fans. This year of course marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the tradition of having flag and anthem ceremonies at US sporting events.
Therefore you would think that one of the most part important parts of the 2018 Super Bowl would be the flag and anthem ceremony.
Apparently not though if you work for the BBC who broadcast the event in the UK. They waited until after the flag and anthem ceremony to begin their coverage.
At the best of times this is extremely frustrating. It's like walking into a movie ten minutes after the start. This year it seemed to almost defeat the entire purpose of broadcasting the Super Bowl in the first place.
Obviously I have been able to track down footage of the flag and anthem ceremony on the Internet. However that's edited to the point where it just shows the anthem being sung with no wider context. It even failed to show the military flypast - as if military jets flying low over the stadium can be ignored.
From what I can tell no players protested during the Super Bowl. However it was clear that a number of particularly Eagles players really wanted to but were too afraid to do so.
Not least because immediately after the flag and anthem ceremony there was the coin toss where the guest of honour was a Second World War veteran. He'd won the Medal of Honour fighting on Iwo Jima where men famously died trying to raise the American flag.
The anthem itself was sung by the popstar Pink. I have a bit of a history with her.
Although a guilty pleasure I've always liked her music and general attitude to life. Particularly when she teamed up with Tim Armstrong from the famous punk band Rancid for one of her albums.
Also I famously have this lesbian wife although at this point ex-wife is probably the better team.
For a period in our relationship she had dyed pink hair like Pink had at the time. So she was assigned the pseudonym; "Pink." I was assigned the pseudonym; "Justin Timberlake." You'll notice I'm not exactly rushing to dispel that particular rumour by posting photographs to show you what I actually look like. Particularly not today.
As with just my entire life this all came to a head during the 2012 London Olympic Games where I got married off to Rihanna. Since then I've been deliberately keeping my distance from Pink to avoid her getting dragged further into my drama.
I actually did a similar thing with Miley Cyrus. So it was frustrating to say the least to be reunited with her at the concert she did for victims of the May 2017 bombing in Manchester, UK at the concert of her friend Ariana Grande.
It was particularly frustrating because the concert was intended to raise money to pay for the healthcare of the surviving victims. The UK has the National Health Service (NHS) which means healthcare is free for all at the point of use.
Having already paid for these people's healthcare being told by an American popstar you have to work some more to pay for it again did not go down well.
Apparently no matter how much you try to suppress it things that frustrating will trigger a tantrum eventually.
Although on nowhere near the same scale I had a similarly awkward reunion with Pink following the events of August 12th 2017 (12/8/17) in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The lies the Democrats told about the death of Michael Brown and others not only triggered a wave of false protests by American Football players. They also led to a campaign to tear down statues, graveyards and other public monuments to the American Civil War.
The US Civil War was basically the Democrat Party fighting to keep slavery. It is obviously a very shameful part of their history which they want to erase.
In attempting to erase the Civil War from US history the Democrats frequently claim that in Germany you don't get monuments to the Second World War which Germany acknowledges is an equally shameful period in its history.
Following the events in Charlottesville Pink took to social media to condemn President Trump. She did so by posting pictures of her recent visit to a Second World War memorial in Berlin, Germany.
Thus completely undermining her entire argument.
In response to the deluge of stupid following the events in Charlottesville I started a Twitter game of; "Name That Nazi!" I would post a video by a white skinhead punk band and ask people to guess if the members of that band were Nazis or not.
I particularly chose the British band Cocksparrer because I knew that Tim Armstrong from Rancid is a big fan of this non-Nazi band and cites them as a major influence. Given their friendship you would think that Pink would know that.
The 2018 Super Bowl took place in Minnesota where it was very cold. To the point that commentators in the Ice Hockey game I was watching were looking at the Super Bowl warm-up and going; "Wow, that's cold."
Pink claims she performed while suffering from the flu or a common cold. This led to her spitting out a cough sweet just before singing.
Appearing to spit while standing next to a giant American flag is not a great visual. So I think this was Pink's own little flag protest.
I would hesitate to judge her too harshly though. She's Jewish on her mother's side. However I get the impression Israel only informed her of this in around 2014.
Prompting her to go on a bit of a quest to get in touch with her previously unknown Jewish roots. Particularly at Second World War memorials in Germany.
At around 15:50 on 5/2/18 (UK date) there is so much still to come.
Edited again at around 17:00 on 5/2/18 (UK date) to add;
As you might expect with Pink performing the national anthem the halftime show was performed by Justin Timberlake.
Rather than being spectacular this was quite drab and lowkey. For example there were no special guests. However that made it spectacular by keeping with the main theme of the event of; "Is anyone still bothering with this?"
In fact Timberlake's performance began not on the arena floor but in a utility room in the stands which had been decked out to resemble an intimate nightclub. This emphasised the small and lowkey approach that Timberlake was taking.
The Democrats lies about Micheal Brown not only triggered protests by American Footballers and a campaign to erase the Democrats role in the Civil War from history. It also seems to have triggered a competition over who can most elaborately invent racism and take offence to things where no racism exists.
One of the most popular tactics in this game is the crime of; "Cultural Appropriation." Effectively taking an aspect of one culture and appropriate it for another culture. Amongst people well versed in issues of racial integration and equality this is known as; "Multiculturalism."
Justin Timberlake has repeatedly faced accusations of appropriating black culture - whatever that might be - throughout his career. This is particularly true of his infamous 2004 Super Bowl performance which killed Janet Jackson's career stone dead.
Janet Jackson's career was never as strong as Justin Timberlake's and it was certainly coming to an end in 2004. In fact it seemed that Timberlake only brought her on as a guest star to remind people that she was still alive.
However in this brave new world the Democrats have created none of that matters. Apparently the entire reason Janet Jackson's career ended while Timberlake's went from strength-to-strength because it was a racist conspiracy against a woman of colour.
Throughout his performance Justin Timberlake acknowledged and appeared to apologise for his apparent cultural appropriation and; "White Privilege" which has emerged as another uber fashionable buzzword.
At the start of the performance Timberlake appeared in silhouette giving the pelvic wiggle and wearing the fringed jacket so associated with Elvis Presley.
Like Timberlake Elvis grew up in Tennessee listing to traditional black blues music. As he had a white face Elvis was able to bring this type of music to a wide American audience in a way that black peers such as Little Richard were unable to do. Elvis has been accused on cultural appropriation since before the term was invented.
When he finally took to the arena floor to perform his greatest hits Timberlake did so in front of a backing orchestra. This wouldn't have looked out of place supporting similar but black artist Bruno Mars. As far as I could tell all of the members of this orchestra were black.
This was very much a gesture showing all the black people who help support the star Justin Timberlake.
Timberlake then appeared with what is known as a; "Drumline" - essentially a marching band.
Particularly in the Northern Ireland part of the UK this type of drumline is synonymous with pretty hateful white, Protestant marchers like the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys. They use them to intimidate equally white Catholics.
However in the US drumlines are considered part of black culture. Particularly in southern states like Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.
While Timberlake's orchestra was entirely black his drumline seemed to be entirely white and dressed in the smart Sunday suits of the Orange Order. This played about with the question of whether any single culture can really claim a monopoly on marching with a drum.
Timberlake went on to perform a cover of the Prince song; "I Would Die 4 U" on a piano. As he was playing what was technically a video being projected onto a screen but has been described as a; "Hologram" of Prince also singing the same was shown.
Prince is probably Minnesota's most famous musical son. In the early 1980's he picked up the baton from Elvis and became one of the first people with a black face to make black music popular to a wide American audience. He of course died in 2016.
The irony of this tribute is that Prince had made it clear that he really opposed dead artists being brought back to life as holograms.
That posed the question of whether Timberlake was really paying tribute or again disrespectfully using a black man to further his own career.
Also while Timberlake performed his hit; "Mirror" audience members - who were really choreographed performers - held up mirrored panels.
These twinkled in the reflected light rather like the flashes of all the camera phones being used to record the performance. Just beforehand Timberlake actually urged the crowd to show him their phones.
The use of camera phones by audiences has become an increasing talking point amongst live performers from all disciplines. There is a growing feeling that it ruins the audience enjoyment by taking them out of the live experience by placing them behind a camera phone screen.
On his current tour US comedian Chris Rock who I feel almost stupid pointing out is black has banned the all cellphones. He's even gone to the expense of providing special "Yonder" pouches to give to every guest. These keep audience members phones locked away during the performance.
As for the American Football game itself it is in many ways the least important part of the Super Bowl. I of course did not watch it and from experience I know that if I had I wouldn't have understood it enough to offer much by way of informed comment.
However when I did check in on it to catch the score I can't think of a single point where the Patriots were leading the Eagles. The Eagles went on to win 41-33.
I found this rather surprising. Since 2014 the NFL have effectively been spitting in the faces of their fans through by refusing to crackdown on the flag protests. This is causing a lot of fans to desert the sport as this low energy Super Bowl showed.
In fact during the second period the broadcaster NBC did a little stunt. They blacked out the broadcast for a few seconds blaming "equipment failure." This meant that across the nation it appeared that TV's were being turned off at the sight of American Football.
The sale of broadcasting rights to American Football matches are complex. The NFL have a thing called the; "Black Out Rule." If tickets to a particular game are not sold out then that game cannot be broadcast on TV.
If people stop attending games over the flag protests then the black out rule is going to apply across the board. No American Football games will be shown on TV and the NFL's funding model will completely collapse.
2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the flag and anthem tradition. Therefore with the Patriots in the Super Bowl I would have through the NFL would take the opportunity to apologise to the fans they've been insulting all season and provide the big cathartic moment of the Patriots absolutely crushing the Eagles.
Instead though the NFL decided to really twist the knife by handing the Eagles victory.
Even in Philadelphia Eagles fans have a reputation for being massive jerks. So they reacted to this win in the way you would expect - rioting, looting and shooting.
That really brings up back to the question of whether it is right to tolerate let alone appease the flag protesters. After all they are protesting in support of thugs like Micheal Brown.
As something of a consolation it is traditional that the Super Bowl winner's take their rings and visit the President at the White House.
So the Eagles victory actually puts huge pressure on them to decide whether they will apologise to President Trump or continue behaving like spoilt brats who won't be so spoilt when the money runs out.
18:10 on 5/2/18 (UK date).
The halftime show featured Beyonce. There was a staged powercut during her performance. This was in reference to the way power was cut to much of New Orleans and in particular the Superdome arena as it was being used as an evacuation centre in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Since then it has become something of a tradition that I stay up and watch the Super Bowl. I then spend the whole time complaining.
Complaining that I'm being forced to stay up until the time commuters head out to work on a Monday morning. Also complaining that all this fuss is being made over an American sport which isn't even Ice Hockey.
The truth is that the only opportunity I get to watch ice hockey is at the Winter Olympics. Watching around half a dozen games every four years really does not make me an expert in the sport.
However with the game being centred around getting a round object into a net my background in football has made me think I could get into this in a way I just can't get into American Football.
Imagine my joy then when at the start of the 2017/18 National Hockey League (NHL) season a UK free-to-air network started broadcasting select games.
This is all done on a pretty chaotic and seemingly random basis where you get just the games. You don't get any of the pre-game, post-game or game analysis. Also I get the impression they only show the games no-one else is prepared to pay to broadcast.
Once the initial excitement of being able to watch any sort of hockey game wore off I became interested in watching games featuring teams I'd actually heard.
One NHL team that I have heard of are the Boston Bruins who come from the same part of America as the New England Patriots. I'm still waiting to see a Bruins game but I have been forced to sit through a lot of games by the New York Rangers who I gather the Bruins arch rivals.
From the moment I discovered I'm able to watch NHL games I've lived in this constant fear that it's all going to be taken away again. Probably just before things start to get interesting with the Stanley Cup playoffs. So I've been trying to keep the whole thing a secret.
With keeping a secret being hardwork I decided the best way to announce my new found ability to watch hockey was during the Super Bowl. So I recorded a game broadcast on Saturday (3/2/18) afternoon in the US to watch during the Super Bowl.
Now this secret is finally out I look forward to being able to look up things on the Internet such as the rules of ice hockey and how the NHL and playoff system actually works.
Through no real choice of my own the game I watched was between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators.
The Philadelphia Flyers of course come from the same city as the Super Bowl's Philadelphia Eagles. In the US this game was broadcast on the NBC network which also broadcast this year's Super Bowl.
The Flyers still stand a chance of making it through to the playoffs while the Senators are already out of the running. However following a dramatic game involving overtime and a penalty shoot-out the Senators defeated the Flyers 4-3.
In light of the Super Bowl I thought this was quite fitting.
US Senators of all political parties really should have done more to put a stop to the Democrats attempts to abuse the legal system to rig the 2014 mid-term elections. Something which is represented in American Football by the flag and anthem protests and at the 2018 Super Bowl by the Philadelphia Eagles.
US Senators of all political parties should also be doing more to put a stop to the Democrats attempts to abuse the legal system through the ridiculous Russia investigations into President Trump.
So in short I've fixed the Super Bowl - You just replace all the bits containing American Football with Ice Hockey.
At around 13:00 on 5/2/18 (UK date) there is more to come.
Edited at around 15:00 on 5/2/18 (UK date) to add;
I don't think I was alone in looking for reasons to avoid watching the Super Bowl.
The flag protests meant that there was much talk of a complete boycott by fans. This year of course marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the tradition of having flag and anthem ceremonies at US sporting events.
Therefore you would think that one of the most part important parts of the 2018 Super Bowl would be the flag and anthem ceremony.
Apparently not though if you work for the BBC who broadcast the event in the UK. They waited until after the flag and anthem ceremony to begin their coverage.
At the best of times this is extremely frustrating. It's like walking into a movie ten minutes after the start. This year it seemed to almost defeat the entire purpose of broadcasting the Super Bowl in the first place.
Obviously I have been able to track down footage of the flag and anthem ceremony on the Internet. However that's edited to the point where it just shows the anthem being sung with no wider context. It even failed to show the military flypast - as if military jets flying low over the stadium can be ignored.
From what I can tell no players protested during the Super Bowl. However it was clear that a number of particularly Eagles players really wanted to but were too afraid to do so.
Not least because immediately after the flag and anthem ceremony there was the coin toss where the guest of honour was a Second World War veteran. He'd won the Medal of Honour fighting on Iwo Jima where men famously died trying to raise the American flag.
The anthem itself was sung by the popstar Pink. I have a bit of a history with her.
Although a guilty pleasure I've always liked her music and general attitude to life. Particularly when she teamed up with Tim Armstrong from the famous punk band Rancid for one of her albums.
Also I famously have this lesbian wife although at this point ex-wife is probably the better team.
For a period in our relationship she had dyed pink hair like Pink had at the time. So she was assigned the pseudonym; "Pink." I was assigned the pseudonym; "Justin Timberlake." You'll notice I'm not exactly rushing to dispel that particular rumour by posting photographs to show you what I actually look like. Particularly not today.
As with just my entire life this all came to a head during the 2012 London Olympic Games where I got married off to Rihanna. Since then I've been deliberately keeping my distance from Pink to avoid her getting dragged further into my drama.
I actually did a similar thing with Miley Cyrus. So it was frustrating to say the least to be reunited with her at the concert she did for victims of the May 2017 bombing in Manchester, UK at the concert of her friend Ariana Grande.
It was particularly frustrating because the concert was intended to raise money to pay for the healthcare of the surviving victims. The UK has the National Health Service (NHS) which means healthcare is free for all at the point of use.
Having already paid for these people's healthcare being told by an American popstar you have to work some more to pay for it again did not go down well.
Apparently no matter how much you try to suppress it things that frustrating will trigger a tantrum eventually.
Although on nowhere near the same scale I had a similarly awkward reunion with Pink following the events of August 12th 2017 (12/8/17) in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The lies the Democrats told about the death of Michael Brown and others not only triggered a wave of false protests by American Football players. They also led to a campaign to tear down statues, graveyards and other public monuments to the American Civil War.
The US Civil War was basically the Democrat Party fighting to keep slavery. It is obviously a very shameful part of their history which they want to erase.
In attempting to erase the Civil War from US history the Democrats frequently claim that in Germany you don't get monuments to the Second World War which Germany acknowledges is an equally shameful period in its history.
Following the events in Charlottesville Pink took to social media to condemn President Trump. She did so by posting pictures of her recent visit to a Second World War memorial in Berlin, Germany.
Thus completely undermining her entire argument.
In response to the deluge of stupid following the events in Charlottesville I started a Twitter game of; "Name That Nazi!" I would post a video by a white skinhead punk band and ask people to guess if the members of that band were Nazis or not.
I particularly chose the British band Cocksparrer because I knew that Tim Armstrong from Rancid is a big fan of this non-Nazi band and cites them as a major influence. Given their friendship you would think that Pink would know that.
The 2018 Super Bowl took place in Minnesota where it was very cold. To the point that commentators in the Ice Hockey game I was watching were looking at the Super Bowl warm-up and going; "Wow, that's cold."
Pink claims she performed while suffering from the flu or a common cold. This led to her spitting out a cough sweet just before singing.
Appearing to spit while standing next to a giant American flag is not a great visual. So I think this was Pink's own little flag protest.
I would hesitate to judge her too harshly though. She's Jewish on her mother's side. However I get the impression Israel only informed her of this in around 2014.
Prompting her to go on a bit of a quest to get in touch with her previously unknown Jewish roots. Particularly at Second World War memorials in Germany.
At around 15:50 on 5/2/18 (UK date) there is so much still to come.
Edited again at around 17:00 on 5/2/18 (UK date) to add;
As you might expect with Pink performing the national anthem the halftime show was performed by Justin Timberlake.
Rather than being spectacular this was quite drab and lowkey. For example there were no special guests. However that made it spectacular by keeping with the main theme of the event of; "Is anyone still bothering with this?"
In fact Timberlake's performance began not on the arena floor but in a utility room in the stands which had been decked out to resemble an intimate nightclub. This emphasised the small and lowkey approach that Timberlake was taking.
The Democrats lies about Micheal Brown not only triggered protests by American Footballers and a campaign to erase the Democrats role in the Civil War from history. It also seems to have triggered a competition over who can most elaborately invent racism and take offence to things where no racism exists.
One of the most popular tactics in this game is the crime of; "Cultural Appropriation." Effectively taking an aspect of one culture and appropriate it for another culture. Amongst people well versed in issues of racial integration and equality this is known as; "Multiculturalism."
Justin Timberlake has repeatedly faced accusations of appropriating black culture - whatever that might be - throughout his career. This is particularly true of his infamous 2004 Super Bowl performance which killed Janet Jackson's career stone dead.
Janet Jackson's career was never as strong as Justin Timberlake's and it was certainly coming to an end in 2004. In fact it seemed that Timberlake only brought her on as a guest star to remind people that she was still alive.
However in this brave new world the Democrats have created none of that matters. Apparently the entire reason Janet Jackson's career ended while Timberlake's went from strength-to-strength because it was a racist conspiracy against a woman of colour.
Throughout his performance Justin Timberlake acknowledged and appeared to apologise for his apparent cultural appropriation and; "White Privilege" which has emerged as another uber fashionable buzzword.
At the start of the performance Timberlake appeared in silhouette giving the pelvic wiggle and wearing the fringed jacket so associated with Elvis Presley.
Like Timberlake Elvis grew up in Tennessee listing to traditional black blues music. As he had a white face Elvis was able to bring this type of music to a wide American audience in a way that black peers such as Little Richard were unable to do. Elvis has been accused on cultural appropriation since before the term was invented.
When he finally took to the arena floor to perform his greatest hits Timberlake did so in front of a backing orchestra. This wouldn't have looked out of place supporting similar but black artist Bruno Mars. As far as I could tell all of the members of this orchestra were black.
This was very much a gesture showing all the black people who help support the star Justin Timberlake.
Timberlake then appeared with what is known as a; "Drumline" - essentially a marching band.
Particularly in the Northern Ireland part of the UK this type of drumline is synonymous with pretty hateful white, Protestant marchers like the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys. They use them to intimidate equally white Catholics.
However in the US drumlines are considered part of black culture. Particularly in southern states like Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.
While Timberlake's orchestra was entirely black his drumline seemed to be entirely white and dressed in the smart Sunday suits of the Orange Order. This played about with the question of whether any single culture can really claim a monopoly on marching with a drum.
Timberlake went on to perform a cover of the Prince song; "I Would Die 4 U" on a piano. As he was playing what was technically a video being projected onto a screen but has been described as a; "Hologram" of Prince also singing the same was shown.
Prince is probably Minnesota's most famous musical son. In the early 1980's he picked up the baton from Elvis and became one of the first people with a black face to make black music popular to a wide American audience. He of course died in 2016.
The irony of this tribute is that Prince had made it clear that he really opposed dead artists being brought back to life as holograms.
That posed the question of whether Timberlake was really paying tribute or again disrespectfully using a black man to further his own career.
Also while Timberlake performed his hit; "Mirror" audience members - who were really choreographed performers - held up mirrored panels.
These twinkled in the reflected light rather like the flashes of all the camera phones being used to record the performance. Just beforehand Timberlake actually urged the crowd to show him their phones.
The use of camera phones by audiences has become an increasing talking point amongst live performers from all disciplines. There is a growing feeling that it ruins the audience enjoyment by taking them out of the live experience by placing them behind a camera phone screen.
On his current tour US comedian Chris Rock who I feel almost stupid pointing out is black has banned the all cellphones. He's even gone to the expense of providing special "Yonder" pouches to give to every guest. These keep audience members phones locked away during the performance.
As for the American Football game itself it is in many ways the least important part of the Super Bowl. I of course did not watch it and from experience I know that if I had I wouldn't have understood it enough to offer much by way of informed comment.
However when I did check in on it to catch the score I can't think of a single point where the Patriots were leading the Eagles. The Eagles went on to win 41-33.
I found this rather surprising. Since 2014 the NFL have effectively been spitting in the faces of their fans through by refusing to crackdown on the flag protests. This is causing a lot of fans to desert the sport as this low energy Super Bowl showed.
In fact during the second period the broadcaster NBC did a little stunt. They blacked out the broadcast for a few seconds blaming "equipment failure." This meant that across the nation it appeared that TV's were being turned off at the sight of American Football.
The sale of broadcasting rights to American Football matches are complex. The NFL have a thing called the; "Black Out Rule." If tickets to a particular game are not sold out then that game cannot be broadcast on TV.
If people stop attending games over the flag protests then the black out rule is going to apply across the board. No American Football games will be shown on TV and the NFL's funding model will completely collapse.
2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the flag and anthem tradition. Therefore with the Patriots in the Super Bowl I would have through the NFL would take the opportunity to apologise to the fans they've been insulting all season and provide the big cathartic moment of the Patriots absolutely crushing the Eagles.
Instead though the NFL decided to really twist the knife by handing the Eagles victory.
Even in Philadelphia Eagles fans have a reputation for being massive jerks. So they reacted to this win in the way you would expect - rioting, looting and shooting.
That really brings up back to the question of whether it is right to tolerate let alone appease the flag protesters. After all they are protesting in support of thugs like Micheal Brown.
As something of a consolation it is traditional that the Super Bowl winner's take their rings and visit the President at the White House.
So the Eagles victory actually puts huge pressure on them to decide whether they will apologise to President Trump or continue behaving like spoilt brats who won't be so spoilt when the money runs out.
18:10 on 5/2/18 (UK date).
Sunday, 4 February 2018
Is Anyone Bothering With Super Bowl This Year.
Today sees the 52nd Super Bowl.
Americans are terrible at proper sports. So along with the Oscars this has traditionally been one of the big events of their mass cultural year.
However this year's Super Bowl occurs at a difficult time for American Football.
In 2014 the Democrat Party needed a way to energise their base ahead of the November mid-term elections. So they invented a story about an innocent young black man named Micheal Brown being murdered by the racist police. While having his hands up in surrender and begging; "Don't Shoot!"
The Democrats then tasked the FBI with perpetuating this lie.
Led by microphone haired buffoon Colin Kaepernick some American Football players took to showing their support for Micheal Brown. This involved them protesting during the raising of the US national flag and singing of the US national anthem which has become a tradition before all big US sporting events.
Some took to standing with their hands up just like Michael Brown. Some adopted the Communist raised fist salute which was popularised by Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War and continues to be used by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). Even if they were too politically illiterate to realise that's what they were doing.
Eventually though the majority of them settled on kneeling during the flag and anthem ceremony. In a gesture of disrespect rather than deference.
2018 actually marks the 100th anniversary of the start of this tradition of the national flag being raised and national anthem being sung before all big sporting events in the US.
With US troops finally engaged in the First World War there was debate over whether to hold the 1918 Baseball World Series.
Eventually it was decided that cancelling the event would damage troop morale. So it went ahead with the anthem being sung and flag raised as a sign of respect for the sacrifice of the living and the dead.
So protesting against the flag raising and anthem singing is hugely disrespectful. Particularly when the reason for the protest is false and those protesting are far more privileged then those they are protesting against.
American Football's governing body - the NFL - has strict rules about this type of gesture being made during games. In the past they have punished players for raising their hands in prayer or even just dancing too extravagantly after scoring.
However the sport's governing body has decided that when it comes to the flag and anthem protests it is not going to enforce the sports rules. This has alienated a large section of the sport's fanbase.
If anything this really highlights the flaw with the type of mob rule the Democrats have been trying to impose since certainly 2014.
The NFL has found itself caught between two mobs.
If it were to punish the players making these protests they risk all of their players who tend to be black walking out in protest leaving them without a sport. By failing to punish the players they risk all the fans who tend to be white staying home in protest leaving them without a revenue stream.
President Trump has made it clear that he sides with the fans and the players should be punished. The Democrats and the anti-Trump media have leapt on this as evidence of Trump's "racism."
The whole thing has all got rather nasty. Or at least a lot more nasty then it should be for what is meant to be a fun pastime.
Amid this hostile atmosphere the NFL seem to have completely given up. So the theme for this year's Super Bowl is exactly the same as the theme for last year's Super Bowl.
Representing the American Football Conference (AFC) you have the New England Patriots.
The New England area of America is made up of states such as Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine. Just to confuse things the largest state in New England - Massachusetts - is strongly and proudly Irish. Stereotypically this area of the US is very white.
I challenge you to find a team that better represents the concept of Patriotism then the Patriots.
It's also probably worth noting that the Patriots are very much the Manchester United of the Hand-Egg world. Or at least when Manchester United were despised by all but actually won things.
Representing the National Football League (NFL) you have the Philadelphia Eagles.
Philadelphia is the largest city in the - technically - Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Named after one of the first English settlers to the US William Penn Pennsylvania is technically part of New England. But let's not confuse things.
Philadelphia is a stereotypically black city and has a long history of being run by the Democrats. As a result it has one of the highest murder rates of any US city leading to it being dubbed; "Killadelphia."
From its peak of 532 murders a year in 1985 Philadelphia's murder rate steadily dropped to a low of 246 murders in 2013. Then for some reason the murder rate started to rise again in 2014. In 2016 there were 320 murders in the city.
Last year's Super Bowl of course saw the New England Patriots face off against the Atlanta Falcons. If there's a difference between Hawks, Eagles and Falcons I certainly don't know what it is.
The game will be played in Minneapolis in the State of Minnesota.
With the exception of Alaska Minnesota is probably the US' most northern and coldest state. If temperatures are anything like last night's the game will be played at a balmy -23C (-9.4F).
It is perhaps bizarre then that Minnesota is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the US. This is made up mainly of immigrants from Somalia. Which is a desert country.
Due to this large Muslim population Minnesota elected the US' first Muslim Congresswoman in 2016. Ilhan Omar of the Democrats.
Minnesota is also the home state of Keith Ellison - Vice-Chair of the Democrat Party. Keith Ellison is a member of the Nation of Islam (NoI) cult.
Although they have the word; "Islam" in their name the Nation of Islam believe humans to be an alien race. They created the Earth using their spaceships known as; "Motherplanes."
These are not mainstream Muslim views.
The Nation of Islam also believe that the Black race is the Master Race. The evil Yacob the Jew is constantly trying to enslave this master race by turning them into white people.
As such Keith Ellison like all other members of the Nation of Islam has extremely racist and anti-Semitic views.
This tolerance for Democrats and quasi-Islamic views has meant that Minnesota is the main recruiting ground for Islamist terror groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al Shabaab in the US.
At around 13:30 on 4/2/18 (UK date) I'll finish this up later.
Edited at around 16:15 on 4/2/18 (UK date) to add;
This general sense of apathy extends to the half-time. This will be performed by Justin Timberlake. He performed the 2005 Super Bowl half-time show.
Given the location this could give some opportunity for discussion about Muslim modesty standards and the US' absurd; "No Nipples" rule.
The US broadcast regulator the FCC determines whether content is sexual or not purely on whether it features female nipples.
So for example a completely non-sexual scene - such as a corpse on an autopsy table - would be deemed sexual if it features nipples. Meanwhile actors are free to mimic a whole range of sexual acts provided the woman keeps her fingertips over her nipples.
As a special guest in 2004 Justin Timberlake was joined by Janet Jackson. She suffered what has been termed a; "Wardrobe Malfunction" and for a fraction of a second America was exposed to a woman's nipple. I'm only half joking when I say America was more outraged by this then 9/11.
Janet Jackson's career was never what you would term strong. The "Nipplegate" incident ended it once and for all. In obscurity Janet Jackson has converted to Islam and married Qatari businessman Wissam al-Mana.
This all sets the scene for many, many jokes along the lines of;
"If Janet Jackson is performing this year she'd best wear a Burqa"
And;
"Just how ISIS is Minnesota?
Justin Timberlake's performing,
Because music has been banned."
As you may have noticed I'm not exactly enthused by all this. I may not so much boycott as just go to bed at a sensible time.
However by a total coincidence I'm taking a scheduled break from the gym to let everything rest and recover properly. So I've already started drinking while watching actual football.
In 8 hours time staying up might seem like a good idea.
16:30 on 4/2/18 (UK date).
Americans are terrible at proper sports. So along with the Oscars this has traditionally been one of the big events of their mass cultural year.
However this year's Super Bowl occurs at a difficult time for American Football.
In 2014 the Democrat Party needed a way to energise their base ahead of the November mid-term elections. So they invented a story about an innocent young black man named Micheal Brown being murdered by the racist police. While having his hands up in surrender and begging; "Don't Shoot!"
The Democrats then tasked the FBI with perpetuating this lie.
Led by microphone haired buffoon Colin Kaepernick some American Football players took to showing their support for Micheal Brown. This involved them protesting during the raising of the US national flag and singing of the US national anthem which has become a tradition before all big US sporting events.
Some took to standing with their hands up just like Michael Brown. Some adopted the Communist raised fist salute which was popularised by Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War and continues to be used by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). Even if they were too politically illiterate to realise that's what they were doing.
Eventually though the majority of them settled on kneeling during the flag and anthem ceremony. In a gesture of disrespect rather than deference.
2018 actually marks the 100th anniversary of the start of this tradition of the national flag being raised and national anthem being sung before all big sporting events in the US.
With US troops finally engaged in the First World War there was debate over whether to hold the 1918 Baseball World Series.
Eventually it was decided that cancelling the event would damage troop morale. So it went ahead with the anthem being sung and flag raised as a sign of respect for the sacrifice of the living and the dead.
So protesting against the flag raising and anthem singing is hugely disrespectful. Particularly when the reason for the protest is false and those protesting are far more privileged then those they are protesting against.
American Football's governing body - the NFL - has strict rules about this type of gesture being made during games. In the past they have punished players for raising their hands in prayer or even just dancing too extravagantly after scoring.
However the sport's governing body has decided that when it comes to the flag and anthem protests it is not going to enforce the sports rules. This has alienated a large section of the sport's fanbase.
If anything this really highlights the flaw with the type of mob rule the Democrats have been trying to impose since certainly 2014.
The NFL has found itself caught between two mobs.
If it were to punish the players making these protests they risk all of their players who tend to be black walking out in protest leaving them without a sport. By failing to punish the players they risk all the fans who tend to be white staying home in protest leaving them without a revenue stream.
President Trump has made it clear that he sides with the fans and the players should be punished. The Democrats and the anti-Trump media have leapt on this as evidence of Trump's "racism."
The whole thing has all got rather nasty. Or at least a lot more nasty then it should be for what is meant to be a fun pastime.
Amid this hostile atmosphere the NFL seem to have completely given up. So the theme for this year's Super Bowl is exactly the same as the theme for last year's Super Bowl.
Representing the American Football Conference (AFC) you have the New England Patriots.
The New England area of America is made up of states such as Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine. Just to confuse things the largest state in New England - Massachusetts - is strongly and proudly Irish. Stereotypically this area of the US is very white.
I challenge you to find a team that better represents the concept of Patriotism then the Patriots.
It's also probably worth noting that the Patriots are very much the Manchester United of the Hand-Egg world. Or at least when Manchester United were despised by all but actually won things.
Representing the National Football League (NFL) you have the Philadelphia Eagles.
Philadelphia is the largest city in the - technically - Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Named after one of the first English settlers to the US William Penn Pennsylvania is technically part of New England. But let's not confuse things.
Philadelphia is a stereotypically black city and has a long history of being run by the Democrats. As a result it has one of the highest murder rates of any US city leading to it being dubbed; "Killadelphia."
From its peak of 532 murders a year in 1985 Philadelphia's murder rate steadily dropped to a low of 246 murders in 2013. Then for some reason the murder rate started to rise again in 2014. In 2016 there were 320 murders in the city.
Last year's Super Bowl of course saw the New England Patriots face off against the Atlanta Falcons. If there's a difference between Hawks, Eagles and Falcons I certainly don't know what it is.
The game will be played in Minneapolis in the State of Minnesota.
With the exception of Alaska Minnesota is probably the US' most northern and coldest state. If temperatures are anything like last night's the game will be played at a balmy -23C (-9.4F).
It is perhaps bizarre then that Minnesota is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the US. This is made up mainly of immigrants from Somalia. Which is a desert country.
Due to this large Muslim population Minnesota elected the US' first Muslim Congresswoman in 2016. Ilhan Omar of the Democrats.
Minnesota is also the home state of Keith Ellison - Vice-Chair of the Democrat Party. Keith Ellison is a member of the Nation of Islam (NoI) cult.
Although they have the word; "Islam" in their name the Nation of Islam believe humans to be an alien race. They created the Earth using their spaceships known as; "Motherplanes."
These are not mainstream Muslim views.
The Nation of Islam also believe that the Black race is the Master Race. The evil Yacob the Jew is constantly trying to enslave this master race by turning them into white people.
As such Keith Ellison like all other members of the Nation of Islam has extremely racist and anti-Semitic views.
This tolerance for Democrats and quasi-Islamic views has meant that Minnesota is the main recruiting ground for Islamist terror groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al Shabaab in the US.
At around 13:30 on 4/2/18 (UK date) I'll finish this up later.
Edited at around 16:15 on 4/2/18 (UK date) to add;
This general sense of apathy extends to the half-time. This will be performed by Justin Timberlake. He performed the 2005 Super Bowl half-time show.
Given the location this could give some opportunity for discussion about Muslim modesty standards and the US' absurd; "No Nipples" rule.
The US broadcast regulator the FCC determines whether content is sexual or not purely on whether it features female nipples.
So for example a completely non-sexual scene - such as a corpse on an autopsy table - would be deemed sexual if it features nipples. Meanwhile actors are free to mimic a whole range of sexual acts provided the woman keeps her fingertips over her nipples.
As a special guest in 2004 Justin Timberlake was joined by Janet Jackson. She suffered what has been termed a; "Wardrobe Malfunction" and for a fraction of a second America was exposed to a woman's nipple. I'm only half joking when I say America was more outraged by this then 9/11.
Janet Jackson's career was never what you would term strong. The "Nipplegate" incident ended it once and for all. In obscurity Janet Jackson has converted to Islam and married Qatari businessman Wissam al-Mana.
This all sets the scene for many, many jokes along the lines of;
"If Janet Jackson is performing this year she'd best wear a Burqa"
And;
"Just how ISIS is Minnesota?
Justin Timberlake's performing,
Because music has been banned."
As you may have noticed I'm not exactly enthused by all this. I may not so much boycott as just go to bed at a sensible time.
However by a total coincidence I'm taking a scheduled break from the gym to let everything rest and recover properly. So I've already started drinking while watching actual football.
In 8 hours time staying up might seem like a good idea.
16:30 on 4/2/18 (UK date).
Friday, 2 February 2018
Britain Gives Itself a Bloody Nose.
On June 19th 2017 (19/6/17) a van mounted the pavement and struck pedestrians close to a Mosque in the Finsbury Park area of London, UK.
This event occurred at a time when Islamist terror attacks were striking the UK on an almost monthly basis. In March 2017 there was the Westminster Bridge attack. This was followed in May 2017 by the Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) bombing and the London Bridge attack in June 2017.
Prior to these attacks there were indications that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had adopted tactics long used by Al Qaeda. These tactics use terror attacks to destroy the space in society in which Muslims and non-Muslims coexist - essentially as a way to recruit Muslims to the terrorists cause.
So for example a terror attack would be conducted against non-Muslims to provoke a backlash by non-Muslims against Muslims. Terrorist recruiters would then point to this backlash as evidence Muslims need to join up to protect themselves.
As such attacking a Mosque in the hope it would be blamed on non-Muslims very much fits with Islamist terrorist strategy.
There is actually a well researched 2010 British satirical movie called; "Four Lions." One of the major story elements revolves around British Al Qaeda members plotting to attack a Mosque in the hope the attack will be blamed on non-Muslims.
Just two days after the events in Finsbury Park on June 21st (21/6/17) ISIL blew up the famous Grand Mosque of al-Nuri in the Iraqi city of Mosul. They attempted to blame it on the "Crusader" (American) airforce and called on Muslims to join them in a last gasp defence of the city.
The driver arrested in Finsbury Park was a man named Darren Osborne. Until roughly a month prior to the incident he was living Cardiff, Wales with his wife and daughters. They had befriended Muslim neighbours who worshipped at the Riverside Mosque in the city.
The Riverside Mosque has close links to ISIL having produced at least three fighters to the group. These include Reyaad Khan who was killed by a British drone strike in Syria on August 21st 2015 (21/8/15).
In fact Reyaad Khan's death only became public knowledge after the Imam at the Riverside Mosque announced it during a service and asked for prayers to be offered for the Khan family. This revelation prompted something of a political backlash within the UK.
Leader of the opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn used the Imam's announcement to declare the death of Reyaad Khan to be "legally questionable" and went on to say that then Prime Minister David Cameron had; "Very difficult questions to answer."
As the relationship between Mr Osborne's family and their Muslim neighbours became closer Mr Osborne found himself increasingly isolated from the family unit. A month prior to the incident in Finsbury Park he was forced to leave the family home entirely.
The day prior to the incident Mr Osborne was making an exhibition of himself in a pub in Cardiff. He was ranting about his fears that (his) daughters would forever be lost to Muslim and ISIL grooming gangs. He also wrote a lengthy letter to that effect.
Mr Osborne then started a bar fight. That sort of behaviour normally results in you being arrested and held in custody in a police station. Where you have no contact with the outside world. Normally until the Court's re-open on the following Monday.
It has since emerged that the 47 year old Mr Osborne had been arrested and appeared in Court on more than 30 occasions over the course of his life. Therefore was well rehearsed in police arrest and Court detention procedures.
On June 18th (18/6/17) Mr Osborne took that letter with him and drove to the al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day march in central London. However at no point did he attempt to drive his vehicle into the assembled crowd.
I don't have the exact attendance figures for the 2017 al-Quds march. However it normally attracts around 20,000 people. The majority of whom are Muslims.
Having attended previous marches I know that the sheer size of the crowd means there is a significant risk of crush injuries - even without someone driving a vehicle into it. I also know the march takes place on at least partially open roads where the only thing separating marchers from vehicles is plastic police tape.
Perhaps realising his claim he was unable to drive into the al-Quds march because of road closures would not be believed Mr Osborne proceeded to get drunk and drive erratically to several other locations within London. Again this sort of behaviour normally results in you being being arrested and held in custody at a police station.
Having not been arrested Mr Osborne's vehicle finally collided with a group of just eight people close to a Mosque in Finsbury Park in the very early hours of June 19th (19/1/17). This resulted in no serious injuries.
However the small crowd had assembled because one man - the 51-year old Makram Ali - had suffered a heart attack. They were waiting for an emergency ambulance to arrive. The collision with the crowd coincided with Mr Ali's death.
As is their job the autopsy carried out by the prosecution claimed that Mr Ali's death was the result of the collision. However given Mr Ali's long history of health problems and the fact he was in a life threatening condition at the time an independent autopsy would likely have completely discredited that claim.
It is a legal right that this second, independent autopsy is performed. However in this case no such autopsy took place.
On January 24th 2018 (24/1/18) the trial of Darren Osborne began with the prosecution alleging murder and attempted murder.
In laying out its case the prosecution entered into evidence the letter that Mr Osborne had written along with the statements he'd made in the pub along with his repeated attempts to get arrested.
The prosecution also entered into evidence that Mr Osborne had the opportunity to kill large numbers of Muslims at the al-Quds march but declined to do so. Directly contradicting their assertion that Mr Osborne wished to kill as many Muslims as possible.
The prosecution also entered into evidence computer records showing a lot of activity on far-right, anti-Muslim websites. However this activity had only occurred in the three weeks prior to the incident. Roughly a week after Mr Osborne had been excluded from the family home and lost access to the computer in question.
So far from showing Mr Osborne's motive this evidence entered by the prosecution demonstrated that a third party was attempting to make it appear as if Mr Osborne was a far-right extremist.
Finally the prosecution called as a witness Mr Osborne himself.
The UK has no written constitution. Therefore is has no written equivalent to the US' Fifth Amendment which prevents defendants being called as prosecution witnesses against themselves in trials.
However the US Fifth Amendment is based on a longstanding British legal principle that no defendant can be called as a witness against themselves in trials.
As such I can offer no explanation as to why the prosecution felt it could call Mr Osborne as a witness nor why the Judge permitted Mr Osborne to be called as a witness for the prosecution.
The timetable of trials in British Courts has been well established over nearly a thousand years;
The prosecution lays out its case.
It is then up to the Judge to decide whether the prosecution's case is sufficent to even question the assumed innocence of the defendant. If it is not the case is dismissed there and then. The Jury is sent home and told to disregard anything it may have heard while the defendant is released.
If however the Judge decides the prosecution's case is sufficient to question the defendant's assumed innocence it is the turn of the defence to answer those questions.
It then again falls to the Judge to decide whether the defendant's assumed innocence is still in question.
This generally relates to any defence based on a point of law such as lawful excuse or duress. Lawyers are forbidden from sitting on UK juries specifically to ensure that all randomly selected juries are equally unable to rule on complex points of law.
If a clear defence based on a point of law has been demonstrated then again the case ends there and then. The Jury is sent home and told to disregard anything it may have heard while the defendant is released.
However if a question over the defendant's assumed innocence still remains then finally that question is put to the Jury and they are asked to consider and then give their verdict.
In this case the prosecution finished laying out its case late on Wednesday (31/1/18) evening. Immediately after they'd taken the highly irregular step of calling the defendant as a witness.
On Thursday (1/2/18) morning the Judge decided to dispense with all the usual trial procedure and hand the question straight to the Jury.
Funnily enough with no opportunity being granted for the defence to answer the allegation the Jury quickly convicted early that afternoon.
As to what defence Mr Osborne could have offered if granted the opportunity normally afforded to defendants he stood a reasonable chance of lawful excuse by way of defence of self/other.
Between 1997 and 2004 this particular Mosque in Finsbury Park was run by Abu Hamza al-Masri.
A founding member of Al Qaeda Abu Hamza al-Masri turned this Finsbury Park Mosque into a terrorist recruiting centre. In 2004 he was arrested in the UK under the Terrorism Act of 2000 for multiple charges of conspiracy to murder and preparing acts of terrorism.
In 2012 Abu Hamza al-Masri was finally extradited to the US. In 2015 he was convicted 11 charges relating to hostage taking, establishing terrorist training camps and waging war against the US. He is currently serving a whole life term in the ADX Florence Supermax prison in Colorado.
Therefore it is reasonable to assume that eliminating members of Abu Hamza al-Masri's Mosque in Finsbury Park would reduce the terror threat thus saving lives. After all that is exactly what the British and American legal systems spent 11 years doing.
However following Abu Hamza al-Masri's arrest in 2004 this Finsbury Park Mosque was placed under new management. This new management has made it a beacon for tackling violent Islamist violence. That though has been much less well publicised.
Therefore a defence of lawful excuse would be imperfect meaning that it would not see Mr Osborne acquitted. However it would see the murder charge reduced to manslaughter and the attempted murder charges dropped entirely.
Based on time already served while awaiting trial those lesser charges could well have seen Mr Osborne walk free from Court.
The fact that this defence was not even attempted alongside the evidence entered by the prosecution should have rung alarm bells with the defence, the Judge and even the prosecution that Mr Osborne was acting under duress and was continuing to act under duress.
At around 13:35 on 2/2/18 (UK date) I'll finish this up later.
Edited at around 14:40 on 2/2/18 (UK date) to add above & below;
Today the Judge in the case has chosen to disregard ordering let alone considering the usual pre-sentencing reports in favour of immediately passing sentence.
Normally when sentence is passed sentencing guidelines along with case law precedents must be considered and followed.
In order to find a sentencing precedent in case similar to Mr Osborne's you do not have to look far;
On June 28th 2016 (28/6/16) a Muslim man named Lugman Aslam ploughed his van into a small group of non-Muslims in the British city of Leicester. He had been angered by the fact the non-Muslims had been eating in public during Ramadan when Muslims fast. Mr Aslam went on to claim this constituted racist and Islamaphobic abuse.
As with the prosecutions allegation's against Mr Osborne - conviction would require opportunity to respond - Mr Aslam's actions had intent, premeditation and were motivated by political/religious reasons.
However unlike Mr Osborne Mr Aslam was never charged with attempted murder let alone terrorism offences. Instead he was charged with the simple traffic offence of dangerous driving. Although some are considered criminal offences traffic offences are considered low crimes or misdemeanours.
Mr Aslam was sentenced to five years in prison - with a minimum term of 2.5 years and banned from driving for a further 4 years.
Mr Osborne has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 43 years.
A clear example of a non-Muslim being treated extremely more harshly by the justice system then a Muslim offender. A vicious attack on a system that is built on the principle of equality under the law.
In response to the case sections of the media who try and convince us Jeremy Corbyn is a competent leader and ISIL are our friends have been asking what the case tells us about the threat of far-right extremism in the UK.
It tells us that the threat of far-right extremism in the UK is so low it can be completely disregarded.
Through this case Britain has shown that it is prepared to utterly abandon its core values such as the rule of law in order to validate the conspiracy theories of Islamist terrorists.
In doing so it has loudly declared that it has no interest in protecting non-Muslims for Islamist terrorists. Therefore non-Muslims should immediately join far-right groups in order to protect themselves.
I very much doubt those far-right groups will take the time to discover the Judge - Justice Cheema-Grubb - is of Indian Sikh heritage rather than Pakistani Muslim.
The reason Britain has chosen to do this is because of a misguided belief that by validating the conspiracy theories espoused by the likes of Jeremy Corbyn they will stop British Muslims being recruited into terrorism.
So it is quite clear why the British Security Services consider the current terrorist threat to be severe. It has nothing to do with Tommy Robinson.
I only hope they've taken the precaution of quietly killing the attack planners.
After all as with all miscarriages of justice the main concern has to be the actual guilty party is still out there about to commit another offence.
And as we know appeasement only ever has one result.
15:25 on 2/2/18 (UK date).
This event occurred at a time when Islamist terror attacks were striking the UK on an almost monthly basis. In March 2017 there was the Westminster Bridge attack. This was followed in May 2017 by the Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) bombing and the London Bridge attack in June 2017.
Prior to these attacks there were indications that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had adopted tactics long used by Al Qaeda. These tactics use terror attacks to destroy the space in society in which Muslims and non-Muslims coexist - essentially as a way to recruit Muslims to the terrorists cause.
So for example a terror attack would be conducted against non-Muslims to provoke a backlash by non-Muslims against Muslims. Terrorist recruiters would then point to this backlash as evidence Muslims need to join up to protect themselves.
As such attacking a Mosque in the hope it would be blamed on non-Muslims very much fits with Islamist terrorist strategy.
There is actually a well researched 2010 British satirical movie called; "Four Lions." One of the major story elements revolves around British Al Qaeda members plotting to attack a Mosque in the hope the attack will be blamed on non-Muslims.
Just two days after the events in Finsbury Park on June 21st (21/6/17) ISIL blew up the famous Grand Mosque of al-Nuri in the Iraqi city of Mosul. They attempted to blame it on the "Crusader" (American) airforce and called on Muslims to join them in a last gasp defence of the city.
The driver arrested in Finsbury Park was a man named Darren Osborne. Until roughly a month prior to the incident he was living Cardiff, Wales with his wife and daughters. They had befriended Muslim neighbours who worshipped at the Riverside Mosque in the city.
The Riverside Mosque has close links to ISIL having produced at least three fighters to the group. These include Reyaad Khan who was killed by a British drone strike in Syria on August 21st 2015 (21/8/15).
In fact Reyaad Khan's death only became public knowledge after the Imam at the Riverside Mosque announced it during a service and asked for prayers to be offered for the Khan family. This revelation prompted something of a political backlash within the UK.
Leader of the opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn used the Imam's announcement to declare the death of Reyaad Khan to be "legally questionable" and went on to say that then Prime Minister David Cameron had; "Very difficult questions to answer."
As the relationship between Mr Osborne's family and their Muslim neighbours became closer Mr Osborne found himself increasingly isolated from the family unit. A month prior to the incident in Finsbury Park he was forced to leave the family home entirely.
The day prior to the incident Mr Osborne was making an exhibition of himself in a pub in Cardiff. He was ranting about his fears that (his) daughters would forever be lost to Muslim and ISIL grooming gangs. He also wrote a lengthy letter to that effect.
Mr Osborne then started a bar fight. That sort of behaviour normally results in you being arrested and held in custody in a police station. Where you have no contact with the outside world. Normally until the Court's re-open on the following Monday.
It has since emerged that the 47 year old Mr Osborne had been arrested and appeared in Court on more than 30 occasions over the course of his life. Therefore was well rehearsed in police arrest and Court detention procedures.
On June 18th (18/6/17) Mr Osborne took that letter with him and drove to the al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day march in central London. However at no point did he attempt to drive his vehicle into the assembled crowd.
I don't have the exact attendance figures for the 2017 al-Quds march. However it normally attracts around 20,000 people. The majority of whom are Muslims.
Having attended previous marches I know that the sheer size of the crowd means there is a significant risk of crush injuries - even without someone driving a vehicle into it. I also know the march takes place on at least partially open roads where the only thing separating marchers from vehicles is plastic police tape.
Perhaps realising his claim he was unable to drive into the al-Quds march because of road closures would not be believed Mr Osborne proceeded to get drunk and drive erratically to several other locations within London. Again this sort of behaviour normally results in you being being arrested and held in custody at a police station.
Having not been arrested Mr Osborne's vehicle finally collided with a group of just eight people close to a Mosque in Finsbury Park in the very early hours of June 19th (19/1/17). This resulted in no serious injuries.
However the small crowd had assembled because one man - the 51-year old Makram Ali - had suffered a heart attack. They were waiting for an emergency ambulance to arrive. The collision with the crowd coincided with Mr Ali's death.
As is their job the autopsy carried out by the prosecution claimed that Mr Ali's death was the result of the collision. However given Mr Ali's long history of health problems and the fact he was in a life threatening condition at the time an independent autopsy would likely have completely discredited that claim.
It is a legal right that this second, independent autopsy is performed. However in this case no such autopsy took place.
On January 24th 2018 (24/1/18) the trial of Darren Osborne began with the prosecution alleging murder and attempted murder.
In laying out its case the prosecution entered into evidence the letter that Mr Osborne had written along with the statements he'd made in the pub along with his repeated attempts to get arrested.
The prosecution also entered into evidence that Mr Osborne had the opportunity to kill large numbers of Muslims at the al-Quds march but declined to do so. Directly contradicting their assertion that Mr Osborne wished to kill as many Muslims as possible.
The prosecution also entered into evidence computer records showing a lot of activity on far-right, anti-Muslim websites. However this activity had only occurred in the three weeks prior to the incident. Roughly a week after Mr Osborne had been excluded from the family home and lost access to the computer in question.
So far from showing Mr Osborne's motive this evidence entered by the prosecution demonstrated that a third party was attempting to make it appear as if Mr Osborne was a far-right extremist.
Finally the prosecution called as a witness Mr Osborne himself.
The UK has no written constitution. Therefore is has no written equivalent to the US' Fifth Amendment which prevents defendants being called as prosecution witnesses against themselves in trials.
However the US Fifth Amendment is based on a longstanding British legal principle that no defendant can be called as a witness against themselves in trials.
As such I can offer no explanation as to why the prosecution felt it could call Mr Osborne as a witness nor why the Judge permitted Mr Osborne to be called as a witness for the prosecution.
The timetable of trials in British Courts has been well established over nearly a thousand years;
The prosecution lays out its case.
It is then up to the Judge to decide whether the prosecution's case is sufficent to even question the assumed innocence of the defendant. If it is not the case is dismissed there and then. The Jury is sent home and told to disregard anything it may have heard while the defendant is released.
If however the Judge decides the prosecution's case is sufficient to question the defendant's assumed innocence it is the turn of the defence to answer those questions.
It then again falls to the Judge to decide whether the defendant's assumed innocence is still in question.
This generally relates to any defence based on a point of law such as lawful excuse or duress. Lawyers are forbidden from sitting on UK juries specifically to ensure that all randomly selected juries are equally unable to rule on complex points of law.
If a clear defence based on a point of law has been demonstrated then again the case ends there and then. The Jury is sent home and told to disregard anything it may have heard while the defendant is released.
However if a question over the defendant's assumed innocence still remains then finally that question is put to the Jury and they are asked to consider and then give their verdict.
In this case the prosecution finished laying out its case late on Wednesday (31/1/18) evening. Immediately after they'd taken the highly irregular step of calling the defendant as a witness.
On Thursday (1/2/18) morning the Judge decided to dispense with all the usual trial procedure and hand the question straight to the Jury.
Funnily enough with no opportunity being granted for the defence to answer the allegation the Jury quickly convicted early that afternoon.
As to what defence Mr Osborne could have offered if granted the opportunity normally afforded to defendants he stood a reasonable chance of lawful excuse by way of defence of self/other.
Between 1997 and 2004 this particular Mosque in Finsbury Park was run by Abu Hamza al-Masri.
A founding member of Al Qaeda Abu Hamza al-Masri turned this Finsbury Park Mosque into a terrorist recruiting centre. In 2004 he was arrested in the UK under the Terrorism Act of 2000 for multiple charges of conspiracy to murder and preparing acts of terrorism.
In 2012 Abu Hamza al-Masri was finally extradited to the US. In 2015 he was convicted 11 charges relating to hostage taking, establishing terrorist training camps and waging war against the US. He is currently serving a whole life term in the ADX Florence Supermax prison in Colorado.
Therefore it is reasonable to assume that eliminating members of Abu Hamza al-Masri's Mosque in Finsbury Park would reduce the terror threat thus saving lives. After all that is exactly what the British and American legal systems spent 11 years doing.
However following Abu Hamza al-Masri's arrest in 2004 this Finsbury Park Mosque was placed under new management. This new management has made it a beacon for tackling violent Islamist violence. That though has been much less well publicised.
Therefore a defence of lawful excuse would be imperfect meaning that it would not see Mr Osborne acquitted. However it would see the murder charge reduced to manslaughter and the attempted murder charges dropped entirely.
Based on time already served while awaiting trial those lesser charges could well have seen Mr Osborne walk free from Court.
The fact that this defence was not even attempted alongside the evidence entered by the prosecution should have rung alarm bells with the defence, the Judge and even the prosecution that Mr Osborne was acting under duress and was continuing to act under duress.
At around 13:35 on 2/2/18 (UK date) I'll finish this up later.
Edited at around 14:40 on 2/2/18 (UK date) to add above & below;
Today the Judge in the case has chosen to disregard ordering let alone considering the usual pre-sentencing reports in favour of immediately passing sentence.
Normally when sentence is passed sentencing guidelines along with case law precedents must be considered and followed.
In order to find a sentencing precedent in case similar to Mr Osborne's you do not have to look far;
On June 28th 2016 (28/6/16) a Muslim man named Lugman Aslam ploughed his van into a small group of non-Muslims in the British city of Leicester. He had been angered by the fact the non-Muslims had been eating in public during Ramadan when Muslims fast. Mr Aslam went on to claim this constituted racist and Islamaphobic abuse.
As with the prosecutions allegation's against Mr Osborne - conviction would require opportunity to respond - Mr Aslam's actions had intent, premeditation and were motivated by political/religious reasons.
However unlike Mr Osborne Mr Aslam was never charged with attempted murder let alone terrorism offences. Instead he was charged with the simple traffic offence of dangerous driving. Although some are considered criminal offences traffic offences are considered low crimes or misdemeanours.
Mr Aslam was sentenced to five years in prison - with a minimum term of 2.5 years and banned from driving for a further 4 years.
Mr Osborne has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 43 years.
A clear example of a non-Muslim being treated extremely more harshly by the justice system then a Muslim offender. A vicious attack on a system that is built on the principle of equality under the law.
In response to the case sections of the media who try and convince us Jeremy Corbyn is a competent leader and ISIL are our friends have been asking what the case tells us about the threat of far-right extremism in the UK.
It tells us that the threat of far-right extremism in the UK is so low it can be completely disregarded.
Through this case Britain has shown that it is prepared to utterly abandon its core values such as the rule of law in order to validate the conspiracy theories of Islamist terrorists.
In doing so it has loudly declared that it has no interest in protecting non-Muslims for Islamist terrorists. Therefore non-Muslims should immediately join far-right groups in order to protect themselves.
I very much doubt those far-right groups will take the time to discover the Judge - Justice Cheema-Grubb - is of Indian Sikh heritage rather than Pakistani Muslim.
The reason Britain has chosen to do this is because of a misguided belief that by validating the conspiracy theories espoused by the likes of Jeremy Corbyn they will stop British Muslims being recruited into terrorism.
So it is quite clear why the British Security Services consider the current terrorist threat to be severe. It has nothing to do with Tommy Robinson.
I only hope they've taken the precaution of quietly killing the attack planners.
After all as with all miscarriages of justice the main concern has to be the actual guilty party is still out there about to commit another offence.
And as we know appeasement only ever has one result.
15:25 on 2/2/18 (UK date).
Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Operation Featherweight: Month 43, Week 4, Day 1
This should be read as a direct continuation of yesterday's post; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/operation-featherweight-month-43-week-3_29.html
Shangri-La is not the only area of Syria under SDF control. They also control a roughly 2,400kmsq (1,400 milesq) area in the north-west of Syria. Centred around the city of Afrin this has been designated; "The Afrin Canton."
Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long wanted to annex part or all of Syria as part of a New Ottoman Empire. To this end he has backed various terror groups including ISIL and Al Qaeda to fight against the Syrians.
One of the key groups Erdogan has backed at the United Turkmen Army (UTA). Sometimes known as the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB) this is the paramilitary wing of the fascist Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) known as the Grey Wolves. Within Syria they operate as an irregular and therefore illegal branch of the Turkish military.
In August 2016 Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to invade and occupy a roughly 100km (60 mile) stretch of northern Syria between Azaz/Kilis in the west and the Euphrates River in the east. The purpose was to stop the SDF linking Shangri-La with Afrin Canton cutting off ISIL and Al Qaeda's supply lines with Turkey in the process. As such this area has been designated; "Garvaghy Road."
Within Garvaghy Road and the area to the south of Afrin Canton Erdogan has been steadily absorbing fragments of the long defunct FSA into the UTA. On October 25th 2017 (25/10/17) Erdogan attempted to give the UTA legitimacy by renaming them the Syrian National Army. Despite the fact they're fighting Syria's national army.
The SDF's success against particularly ISIL puts them at odds with Erdogan.
On January 15th 2018 (15/1/18) the UTA and regular Turkish forces within Turkey started intensely shelling Afrin Canton.
Amid continuous shelling Erdogan announced on January 19th 2018 (19/1/18) that he would be sending regular Turkish forces to invade and occupy Afrin Canton. This announcement was apparently coordinated with ISIL's attacks against the SDF at Gharanji and Shafah.
On January 20th 2018 (20/1/18) Erdogan launched his invasion of Afrin Canton.
The first stage of the operation was massive Turkish airstrikes across Afrin Canton. Using 72 strike aircraft this is said to be the largest air attack the Turkish military has ever undertaken.
On January 21st 2018 (21/1/18) the ground phase of the operation was launched.
This began with an attack by regular Turkish forces and the irregular UTA on the west of Afrin Canton.
In this area the key navigation point is the town of Rajo. This is located around 25km (15 miles) north-west of Afrin City and around 5km (2 miles) from Syria's western border with Turkey.
However Erdogan's forces did not attack Rajo directly. Instead they launch a two pronged or "branched" attack to the north of Rajo.
The northern branch launched from Mount Pomza which sits on the Turkish side of the border. It attempted to capture Mount Qarah Baba which sits on the Syrian side of the border roughly 30km (20 miles) north-west of Rajo.
The southern branch attempted to capture a ridge known as Point 740. This sits around 12km (7 miles) west of Rajo just some 5km (2 miles) inside Syria's western border with Turkey.
By January 22nd 2018 (22/1/18) Erdogan's invasion had expanded to include an attack by regular Turkish forces and the UTA on the north of Afrin Canton.
In this area the key navigation point is the town of Bulbul. This sits around 30km (20 miles) north of Afrin City and around 20km (12 miles) north-east of Rajo. Bulbul sits at the foot of Mount Domrik which straddles the border between Syria and Turkey.
However again Erdogan's forces are not attack Bulbul or Mount Domrik directly. Instead they are focusing their efforts on a roughly 10km (6 mile) stretch of border to east.
On January 23rd 2018 (23/1/18) Erdogan's invasion expanded to include attacks by regular Turkish forces and the UTA to the east of Afrin Canton from Garvaghy Road.
Here the two key navigation points are the towns of Azaz and Marea. Together they mark the boundary between the SDF's Afrin Canton and Turkish occupied Garvaghy Road.
Azaz is located around 20km (12 miles) north-east of Afrin City and around 35km (20 miles) south-east of Rajo. From Azaz Erdogan's forces have been attempting to capture Mount Barsaya located around 5km (3 miles) to the north-west.
Marea is located around 30km (20 miles) east of Afrin City and around 20km (12 miles) south-east of Azaz. From Marea Erdogan's forces have been attempt to capture the town of Tal Rifat located around 10km (6 miles) to the south-west.
Directly to the south of Afrin Canton you have what is known as the; "Atmeh-Salwa Access Area."
This is territory occupied by Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate The Support Front/Jabhat al-Nusra who in an effort to disguise their links to Al Qaeda changed their name to The Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant/Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in June 2017.
Despite being under Al Qaeda control the Atmeh-Salwa Access Area is home to 10 control points or small bases belonging to regular Turkish forces.
In fact one event that may have triggered Erdogan's attack on Afrin Canton is that on January 12th (12/1/18) Turkish troops with the support of Al Qaeda attempted to establish a further control point close to al-Eis which is around 25km (15 miles) south-east of the Atmeh-Salwa Access Area. They were shelled by Syrian forces and several Turkish troops were wounded.
On January 24th 2018 (24/1/18) Erdogan's invasion of Afrin Canton was expanded to include an attack by regular Turkish forces and Al Qaeda on the south of Afrin Canton.
Here the two key navigation points are the city of Cindirese/Jandairis which sits around 20km (12 miles) south-west of Afrin City and the town of Salwa which sits around 10km (6 miles) south-east of Cindirese just inside the Atmeh-Salwa Access Area.
In this area Erdogan's forces have been attempting to capture Mount Qalat. This sits around 5km (3 miles) north of Salwa.
After 10 days of what has been extremely fierce fighting Erdogan's forces have yet to significantly advance from those starting positions. The only confirmed gain by those forces has been Point 740 a mere 5km (3 miles) inside of Afrin Canton.
Turkish media however has reported a number of great successes.
Some of these reports are simply false. For example just today (30/1/18) the state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Erdogan's forces had captured the villages of Sati Ushaghi & Suleiman Khali. These are located some 15km (10 miles) east of Rajo. For Erdogan's forces to have advanced that far overnight the SDF's defences would have had to collapse completely. That is the sort of thing that people would notice.
However what is more common is that Erdogan's forces have attacked an area making short-term gains. The SDF have then responded with a counter-offensive which has completely forced Erdogan's forces out of the area. A prime example of this would be Mount Barsaya.
On January 24th 2018 (24/1/18) Erdogan's forces announced that they'd captured Mount Barsaya. The SDF then launched a counter-offensive and had recaptured all of the mountain by that evening.
On January 28th 2018 (28/1/18) Erdogan's forces announced they'd captured Mount Barsaya and invited selected members of the international media to inspect the peak. The SDF then launched a counter-offensive and had recaptured the mountain by that evening.
Apart from resisting the assaults by Erdogan's forces the SDF have also been able to conduct a number of nighttime raids of their own.
On January 24th 2018 (24/1/18) they raided a regular Turkish military base at Marea. They succeeded in killing three regular Turkish soldiers and destroying an number of armoured vehicles.
On January 27th 2018 (27/1/18) the SDF conducted coordinated raids against eight regular Turkish military bases at Tawis, Azaz, Marea, Kafra and Tal Mated all to the east of Afrin Canton. They killed a number of regular Turkish soldiers and destroyed armoured vehicles and artillery positions.
Alongside a lack of progress on the ground Erdogan's forces have been suffering a high rate of casualties.
So far in the operation the SDF have destroyed seven regular Turkish military tanks. This included by Avesta Khabur a 20 year old member of the SDF's elite Anti-Terrorism Unit (YAT). On January 27th 2018 (27/1/18) she single-handedly placed an explosive charge on an advancing Turkish tank destroying it. Sadly she was killed in the explosion.
The type of tank regular Turkish forces use is the German made Leopard II. This has a crew of four. In all of the seven tanks Turkey has lost so far all crew members have been killed. That gives the regular Turkish military a deathtoll of 28 from its losses of tanks alone.
Over the night of January 25th (25/1/18) Erdogan's forces attempted attacks on the east of Afrin Canton. Those attacks were repelled of the SDF and seven regular Turkish soldiers were killed.
Photographs of those dead Turkish soldiers rapidly appeared online challenging Erdogan's claim that only two Turkish soldiers have been killed in the entire operation. Erdogan's response was to block websites providing information about the Syria conflict across Turkey.
The Turkish deathtoll is such that it is rumoured that in the last few days Turkey has attempted to open negotiations with the SDF.
This lack of progress by Erdogan's forces or perhaps more accurately the deluge of false information from the Turkish media puts me in something of a difficult position.
This attack on Afrin Canton seems to have been launched only because Erdogan lost a bet. He gambled that the threat of an attack on Afrin Canton would be enough to get Russia to pressure Syria to stop an offensive of its own against Al Qaeda to the south of the Atmeh-Salwa Access Area. He was wrong.
In diplomacy normally what you do in a situation like this is offer a way for someone to quietly back out of a mistake they've made while avoiding embarrassment in the eyes of their domestic supporters.
As such I can't help but think it would be better for me to not point out that almost all of the claims made by the Turkish media are entirely false. Then when they've falsely reported enough 'victories' Erdogan can declare the operation a success and end it without anything actually changing on the ground.
Erdogan himself however does not seem keen to take up this option. Despite his forces lack of progress Erdogan continues to make aggressive statements about expanding the operation beyond Afrin Canton to Shangri-La.
For all his bluster though signs of desperation are clearly starting to show.
Domestically Erdogan has placed 15 Turkish towns and villages under curfew to prevent protests. Erdogan has also prosecuted members of the opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP) for criticising the attack on Afrin Canton. Just today (30/1/18) eight members of the executive committee of the Turkish Medial Association have been arrested over their refusal to support Erdogan's aggression.
The tactics used by the Turkish military have also become more wild and reckless;
On January 25th 2018 (25/1/18) they conducted airstrikes against Manbij and Tal Abyad/Gire Spi. These are located within Shangri-La some 100km (60 miles) and 200km (120 miles) east of Afrin Canton.
In this area the US, France and the UK has Special Operations Forces (SOF's) and regular forces based with the US alone having some 2,000 troops stationed there. These Turkish airstrikes create a very real risk that those troops will be killed or injured giving the CJTFOIR nations no option to intervene.
In their effort to cling on to Mount Barsaya on January 28th 2018 (28/1/18) the Turkish air force deployed Napalm against the SDF's advance. Something which is wholly illegal under international law.
Also on January 28th (28/1/18) the Turkish air force conducted multiple airstrikes targeting the Maydanki Dam. Those airstrikes were repeated on January 29th 2018 (29/1/18).
Located around 15km (10 miles) north of Afrin City the Maydanki Dam holds back the Maydanki Reservoir. If Erdogan's forces were to succeed in blowing up the dam it would send floodwater crashing down towards Afrin City killing potentially 200,000 civilians in the process.
In March 2017 the SDF were forced to undertake an operation to liberate the city of Tabqa on the Euphrates River from ISIL. The reason for this operation was to deny ISIL the opportunity to blow up Tabqa Dam in order to protect civilians living in the Euphrates River basin.
If Erdogan's forces continue to threaten Maydanki Dam then CJTFOIR have no option other than to deploy aircraft and air defence systems to totally eliminate that threat.
At around 18:50 on 30/1/18 (UK date) I'll have to pick this up later.
Edited at around 20:05 on 30/1/18 (UK date) to add;
Also on January 28th 2018 (28/1/18) Erdogan's forces conducted an airstrike against the Gubli. There they killed 13 civilians.
In their resistance of Erdogan's forces the SDF have also suffered significant casualties.
Although it is subject to change minute-by-minute, second-by-second the SDF's deathtoll currently stands at 34. Earlier in the week this was misreported as 43 by people who'd miscounted the 10 killed in the battle of Gharanji.
The Turkish military however are reporting that they have killed 649 members of the SDF.
Erdogan of course is prone to just completely making things up. However the large disconnect of 615 deaths raises concern that Erdogan's are simply listing civilians they have killed as members of the SDF.
Obviously any deaths or injuries the SDF sustain at the hands of Erdogan's forces undermine their ability to fight ISIL in the Euphrates River basin. Already the SDF has been forced to redeploy forces from the ongoing Cizre Storm operation to resist Erdogan's attacks.
On January 26th 2018 (26/1/18) British and American members of the SDF's International Brigade volunteered to be redeployed from Shangri-La to Afrin Canton.
On January 29th 2018 (29/1/18) the Assyrian/Syriac Military Council (MFS) element of the SDF also redeployed part of their force to Afrin Canton.
20:20 on 30/1/18 (UK date).
Shangri-La is not the only area of Syria under SDF control. They also control a roughly 2,400kmsq (1,400 milesq) area in the north-west of Syria. Centred around the city of Afrin this has been designated; "The Afrin Canton."
Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long wanted to annex part or all of Syria as part of a New Ottoman Empire. To this end he has backed various terror groups including ISIL and Al Qaeda to fight against the Syrians.
One of the key groups Erdogan has backed at the United Turkmen Army (UTA). Sometimes known as the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB) this is the paramilitary wing of the fascist Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) known as the Grey Wolves. Within Syria they operate as an irregular and therefore illegal branch of the Turkish military.
In August 2016 Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to invade and occupy a roughly 100km (60 mile) stretch of northern Syria between Azaz/Kilis in the west and the Euphrates River in the east. The purpose was to stop the SDF linking Shangri-La with Afrin Canton cutting off ISIL and Al Qaeda's supply lines with Turkey in the process. As such this area has been designated; "Garvaghy Road."
Within Garvaghy Road and the area to the south of Afrin Canton Erdogan has been steadily absorbing fragments of the long defunct FSA into the UTA. On October 25th 2017 (25/10/17) Erdogan attempted to give the UTA legitimacy by renaming them the Syrian National Army. Despite the fact they're fighting Syria's national army.
The SDF's success against particularly ISIL puts them at odds with Erdogan.
On January 15th 2018 (15/1/18) the UTA and regular Turkish forces within Turkey started intensely shelling Afrin Canton.
Amid continuous shelling Erdogan announced on January 19th 2018 (19/1/18) that he would be sending regular Turkish forces to invade and occupy Afrin Canton. This announcement was apparently coordinated with ISIL's attacks against the SDF at Gharanji and Shafah.
On January 20th 2018 (20/1/18) Erdogan launched his invasion of Afrin Canton.
The first stage of the operation was massive Turkish airstrikes across Afrin Canton. Using 72 strike aircraft this is said to be the largest air attack the Turkish military has ever undertaken.
On January 21st 2018 (21/1/18) the ground phase of the operation was launched.
This began with an attack by regular Turkish forces and the irregular UTA on the west of Afrin Canton.
In this area the key navigation point is the town of Rajo. This is located around 25km (15 miles) north-west of Afrin City and around 5km (2 miles) from Syria's western border with Turkey.
However Erdogan's forces did not attack Rajo directly. Instead they launch a two pronged or "branched" attack to the north of Rajo.
The northern branch launched from Mount Pomza which sits on the Turkish side of the border. It attempted to capture Mount Qarah Baba which sits on the Syrian side of the border roughly 30km (20 miles) north-west of Rajo.
The southern branch attempted to capture a ridge known as Point 740. This sits around 12km (7 miles) west of Rajo just some 5km (2 miles) inside Syria's western border with Turkey.
By January 22nd 2018 (22/1/18) Erdogan's invasion had expanded to include an attack by regular Turkish forces and the UTA on the north of Afrin Canton.
In this area the key navigation point is the town of Bulbul. This sits around 30km (20 miles) north of Afrin City and around 20km (12 miles) north-east of Rajo. Bulbul sits at the foot of Mount Domrik which straddles the border between Syria and Turkey.
However again Erdogan's forces are not attack Bulbul or Mount Domrik directly. Instead they are focusing their efforts on a roughly 10km (6 mile) stretch of border to east.
On January 23rd 2018 (23/1/18) Erdogan's invasion expanded to include attacks by regular Turkish forces and the UTA to the east of Afrin Canton from Garvaghy Road.
Here the two key navigation points are the towns of Azaz and Marea. Together they mark the boundary between the SDF's Afrin Canton and Turkish occupied Garvaghy Road.
Azaz is located around 20km (12 miles) north-east of Afrin City and around 35km (20 miles) south-east of Rajo. From Azaz Erdogan's forces have been attempting to capture Mount Barsaya located around 5km (3 miles) to the north-west.
Marea is located around 30km (20 miles) east of Afrin City and around 20km (12 miles) south-east of Azaz. From Marea Erdogan's forces have been attempt to capture the town of Tal Rifat located around 10km (6 miles) to the south-west.
Directly to the south of Afrin Canton you have what is known as the; "Atmeh-Salwa Access Area."
This is territory occupied by Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate The Support Front/Jabhat al-Nusra who in an effort to disguise their links to Al Qaeda changed their name to The Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant/Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in June 2017.
Despite being under Al Qaeda control the Atmeh-Salwa Access Area is home to 10 control points or small bases belonging to regular Turkish forces.
In fact one event that may have triggered Erdogan's attack on Afrin Canton is that on January 12th (12/1/18) Turkish troops with the support of Al Qaeda attempted to establish a further control point close to al-Eis which is around 25km (15 miles) south-east of the Atmeh-Salwa Access Area. They were shelled by Syrian forces and several Turkish troops were wounded.
On January 24th 2018 (24/1/18) Erdogan's invasion of Afrin Canton was expanded to include an attack by regular Turkish forces and Al Qaeda on the south of Afrin Canton.
Here the two key navigation points are the city of Cindirese/Jandairis which sits around 20km (12 miles) south-west of Afrin City and the town of Salwa which sits around 10km (6 miles) south-east of Cindirese just inside the Atmeh-Salwa Access Area.
In this area Erdogan's forces have been attempting to capture Mount Qalat. This sits around 5km (3 miles) north of Salwa.
After 10 days of what has been extremely fierce fighting Erdogan's forces have yet to significantly advance from those starting positions. The only confirmed gain by those forces has been Point 740 a mere 5km (3 miles) inside of Afrin Canton.
Turkish media however has reported a number of great successes.
Some of these reports are simply false. For example just today (30/1/18) the state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Erdogan's forces had captured the villages of Sati Ushaghi & Suleiman Khali. These are located some 15km (10 miles) east of Rajo. For Erdogan's forces to have advanced that far overnight the SDF's defences would have had to collapse completely. That is the sort of thing that people would notice.
However what is more common is that Erdogan's forces have attacked an area making short-term gains. The SDF have then responded with a counter-offensive which has completely forced Erdogan's forces out of the area. A prime example of this would be Mount Barsaya.
On January 24th 2018 (24/1/18) Erdogan's forces announced that they'd captured Mount Barsaya. The SDF then launched a counter-offensive and had recaptured all of the mountain by that evening.
On January 28th 2018 (28/1/18) Erdogan's forces announced they'd captured Mount Barsaya and invited selected members of the international media to inspect the peak. The SDF then launched a counter-offensive and had recaptured the mountain by that evening.
Apart from resisting the assaults by Erdogan's forces the SDF have also been able to conduct a number of nighttime raids of their own.
On January 24th 2018 (24/1/18) they raided a regular Turkish military base at Marea. They succeeded in killing three regular Turkish soldiers and destroying an number of armoured vehicles.
On January 27th 2018 (27/1/18) the SDF conducted coordinated raids against eight regular Turkish military bases at Tawis, Azaz, Marea, Kafra and Tal Mated all to the east of Afrin Canton. They killed a number of regular Turkish soldiers and destroyed armoured vehicles and artillery positions.
Alongside a lack of progress on the ground Erdogan's forces have been suffering a high rate of casualties.
So far in the operation the SDF have destroyed seven regular Turkish military tanks. This included by Avesta Khabur a 20 year old member of the SDF's elite Anti-Terrorism Unit (YAT). On January 27th 2018 (27/1/18) she single-handedly placed an explosive charge on an advancing Turkish tank destroying it. Sadly she was killed in the explosion.
The type of tank regular Turkish forces use is the German made Leopard II. This has a crew of four. In all of the seven tanks Turkey has lost so far all crew members have been killed. That gives the regular Turkish military a deathtoll of 28 from its losses of tanks alone.
Over the night of January 25th (25/1/18) Erdogan's forces attempted attacks on the east of Afrin Canton. Those attacks were repelled of the SDF and seven regular Turkish soldiers were killed.
Photographs of those dead Turkish soldiers rapidly appeared online challenging Erdogan's claim that only two Turkish soldiers have been killed in the entire operation. Erdogan's response was to block websites providing information about the Syria conflict across Turkey.
The Turkish deathtoll is such that it is rumoured that in the last few days Turkey has attempted to open negotiations with the SDF.
This lack of progress by Erdogan's forces or perhaps more accurately the deluge of false information from the Turkish media puts me in something of a difficult position.
This attack on Afrin Canton seems to have been launched only because Erdogan lost a bet. He gambled that the threat of an attack on Afrin Canton would be enough to get Russia to pressure Syria to stop an offensive of its own against Al Qaeda to the south of the Atmeh-Salwa Access Area. He was wrong.
In diplomacy normally what you do in a situation like this is offer a way for someone to quietly back out of a mistake they've made while avoiding embarrassment in the eyes of their domestic supporters.
As such I can't help but think it would be better for me to not point out that almost all of the claims made by the Turkish media are entirely false. Then when they've falsely reported enough 'victories' Erdogan can declare the operation a success and end it without anything actually changing on the ground.
Erdogan himself however does not seem keen to take up this option. Despite his forces lack of progress Erdogan continues to make aggressive statements about expanding the operation beyond Afrin Canton to Shangri-La.
For all his bluster though signs of desperation are clearly starting to show.
Domestically Erdogan has placed 15 Turkish towns and villages under curfew to prevent protests. Erdogan has also prosecuted members of the opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP) for criticising the attack on Afrin Canton. Just today (30/1/18) eight members of the executive committee of the Turkish Medial Association have been arrested over their refusal to support Erdogan's aggression.
The tactics used by the Turkish military have also become more wild and reckless;
On January 25th 2018 (25/1/18) they conducted airstrikes against Manbij and Tal Abyad/Gire Spi. These are located within Shangri-La some 100km (60 miles) and 200km (120 miles) east of Afrin Canton.
In this area the US, France and the UK has Special Operations Forces (SOF's) and regular forces based with the US alone having some 2,000 troops stationed there. These Turkish airstrikes create a very real risk that those troops will be killed or injured giving the CJTFOIR nations no option to intervene.
In their effort to cling on to Mount Barsaya on January 28th 2018 (28/1/18) the Turkish air force deployed Napalm against the SDF's advance. Something which is wholly illegal under international law.
Also on January 28th (28/1/18) the Turkish air force conducted multiple airstrikes targeting the Maydanki Dam. Those airstrikes were repeated on January 29th 2018 (29/1/18).
Located around 15km (10 miles) north of Afrin City the Maydanki Dam holds back the Maydanki Reservoir. If Erdogan's forces were to succeed in blowing up the dam it would send floodwater crashing down towards Afrin City killing potentially 200,000 civilians in the process.
In March 2017 the SDF were forced to undertake an operation to liberate the city of Tabqa on the Euphrates River from ISIL. The reason for this operation was to deny ISIL the opportunity to blow up Tabqa Dam in order to protect civilians living in the Euphrates River basin.
If Erdogan's forces continue to threaten Maydanki Dam then CJTFOIR have no option other than to deploy aircraft and air defence systems to totally eliminate that threat.
At around 18:50 on 30/1/18 (UK date) I'll have to pick this up later.
Edited at around 20:05 on 30/1/18 (UK date) to add;
Also on January 28th 2018 (28/1/18) Erdogan's forces conducted an airstrike against the Gubli. There they killed 13 civilians.
In their resistance of Erdogan's forces the SDF have also suffered significant casualties.
Although it is subject to change minute-by-minute, second-by-second the SDF's deathtoll currently stands at 34. Earlier in the week this was misreported as 43 by people who'd miscounted the 10 killed in the battle of Gharanji.
The Turkish military however are reporting that they have killed 649 members of the SDF.
Erdogan of course is prone to just completely making things up. However the large disconnect of 615 deaths raises concern that Erdogan's are simply listing civilians they have killed as members of the SDF.
Obviously any deaths or injuries the SDF sustain at the hands of Erdogan's forces undermine their ability to fight ISIL in the Euphrates River basin. Already the SDF has been forced to redeploy forces from the ongoing Cizre Storm operation to resist Erdogan's attacks.
On January 26th 2018 (26/1/18) British and American members of the SDF's International Brigade volunteered to be redeployed from Shangri-La to Afrin Canton.
On January 29th 2018 (29/1/18) the Assyrian/Syriac Military Council (MFS) element of the SDF also redeployed part of their force to Afrin Canton.
20:20 on 30/1/18 (UK date).
Monday, 29 January 2018
Operation Featherweight: Month 43, Week 3, Day 7.
In the summer of 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were at their most powerful.
They controlled large swathes of both Iraq and Syria. They'd declared themselves to be an Islamist Caliphate. Their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be it's Caliph and the Syrian city of Raqqa to be its capital.
On November 3rd 2017 (3/11/17) Iraq was able to declare itself functionally liberated from ISIL. Although the group does retain a small clandestine presence in the country it no longer controls any areas or population centres.
Within Syria ISIL have been reduced to several small areas. In the border area between Homs, Hama and Idlib Provinces and the Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian Refugees in the suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus.
ISIL are also allied with Army of Khalid Ibrahim al-Walid/Jaish Khalid Ibn al-Walid group. They operate in the south-western Daraa Province along the basin of the Yarmouk River close to the Golan Heights United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) zone.
The main focus though has been on ousting ISIL from their traditional heartland. This is in the north-west of the country centred around the Euphrates River basin.
In the latter half of 2017 the Syrians themselves have been working to removing ISIL from the areas on the south bank of the Euphrates River. This began in August 2017 with the liberation of as-Suknah. The Syrians then went on to liberate the major cities of Mayadin, Deir-ez-Zour City and Abu Kamal/Abu Bukamal.
Having cleared all the areas between those cities the Syrians were able to declare the south bank of the Euphrates completely liberated on December 5th 2017 (5/12/17).
The job of liberating the area north-east of the Euphrates has fallen to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD). This is a coalition of forces that was created in October 2015.
The largest element of the SDF coalition is the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). They operate alongside Assyrian/Syriac Christian, Turkmen and Arab Muslim forces. The Arab element which makes up around 50% of the SDF is comprised of both elements of the long defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA) and local tribes indigenous to north-eastern Syria.
The SDF is supported by the US-led coalition; Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) both with air power and Special Operations Forces (SOF's). The SDF also contains a small International Brigade made up of foreign volunteers.
Although the SDF did not formally come into being until October 2015 the YPG have been operating alongside fragments of the FSA since the Battle of Kobane in the winter of 2014/15.
In July 2015 this unnamed combined force liberated the town Tel Abyad/Gire Spi from ISIL. Tel Abyad sits right on the border between Syria and Turkey around 45km (25 miles) east of the Euphrates.
In August 2015 this precursor to the SDF liberated the city of Hasakah from both ISIL and Syrian forces. Hasakah sits around 60km (35 miles) west of the Syria/Iraq border and around 75km (45 miles) south of Syria's border with Turkey.
The liberations of Tal Abyad and Hasakah put what became the SDF in control of a vast area of north-eastern Syria from the Euphrates to Syria's borders with Turkey and Iraq. For operational reasons this area which cuts across parts of several of Syria's provinces has been designated; "Shangri-La."
In November 2016 the SDF launched an operation codenamed; "Wrath of Euphrates." It's ultimate objective was to liberate the city of Raqqa from ISIL. However before it could do that it had to expand Shangri-La to Raqqa City.
In late November 2016 the SDF took up positions around 25km (15 miles) north of Raqqa having liberated around 600kmsq (360 milesq) of territory.
In early January 2017 the SDF took up positions at Lake Assad around 55km (30 miles) west of Raqqa. In the process the SDF liberated around 3,200kmsq (1.920 milesq) of territory along the eastern bank of the Euphrates from where the river enters Syria from Turkey.
In March 2017 the SDF took up positions at Karamah around 30km (20 miles) east of Raqqa. In the process the SDF liberated around 1000kmsq (600 milesq) of territory.
In early May the SDF liberated the town of Tabqa and took control of the Tabqa Dam. This sits on the southern banks of the Euphrates around 50km (30 miles) west of Raqqa. Tabqa Dam forms Lake Assad out of the Euphrates.
On June 6th 2017 (6/6/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the city of Raqqa itself. Raqqa was fully liberated on October 19th 2017 (19/10/17).
While the operation to liberate Raqqa City was ongoing the SDF were also advancing south-east along the north bank of the Euphrates from Karamah.
On September 9th 2017 (9/9/17) the SDF launched a second operation along the Euphrates basin. This was codenamed; "Cizre Storm."
At the time Cizre Storm was launched the only area of Syria north-east of the Euphrates River which did not fall under SDF control as part of Shangri-La is a roughly 1500kmsq (860 milesq) area stretching across the Khobar River.
Roughly in the shape of a triangle this area had as its tip the point where the Euphrates River enters Iraq. It's base is an imaginary line stretching between the towns of Madan and al-Shadaddi.
Madan sits on the Euphrates River roughly 70km (40 miles) south-east of Raqqa and 110km (70 miles) north-west of Mayadin. Al-Shadaddi sits on the Khobar River roughly 150km (90 miles) east of Raqqa and roughly 130km (75 miles) north of Mayadin.
The objective of the Cizre Storm operation is to advance from the Madan-Shadaddi Line, across the Khobar River to where the Euphrates River enters Iraq. This will liberate the area from ISIL and properly establish Shangri-La with the Euphrates River as its southern boundary.
Although the technical aspects of the operation are more complex put simply it has two phases; To advance from the Madan-Shadaddi Line to the Khobar River. Then cross the river and advance to the Syria/Iraq border.
Within both of those phases there are two strands; Liberating the largely unpopulated areas of desert north of the Euphrates. Liberating the population centres that sit directly on the north bank of the Euphrates.
On September 26th 2017 (26/9/17) the SDF reached and liberated the town of as-Suwar. This sits on the western bank of the Khobar roughly 95km (60 miles) south-east of the Madan-Shadaddi Line.
On October 4th 2017 (4/10/17) the SDF reached the town of Markadah. This sits on the western bank of the Khobar roughly 30km (20 miles) south-east of the Madan-Shadaddi Line and around 30km (20 miles) north-east of as-Suwar. Markadah went on to be liberated on October 20th 2017 (20/10/17).
On October 10th 2017 (10/10/17) the SDF reached and liberated the town of Zuwaymiah. This sits on the western bank of the Khobar right where it meets the Euphrates. It is around 100km (60 miles) south-east of the Madan-Shadaddi Line and around 40km (25 miles) south-west of as-Suwar.
The liberation of Zuwaymiah meant that the SDF had reached the Khobar River at three points and the first phase of the Cizre Storm operation had been completed.
On October 14th 2017 (14/10/17) the SDF advanced from Karamah arrived at the outskirts of Deir-ez-Zour City. This linked the Cizre Storm and Wrath of Euphrates operations.
On October 20th 2017 (20/10/17) the Cizre Storm operation crossed the Khobar.
On November 25th 2017 (25/11/17) the desert strand reached the Syria/Iraq border roughly at the village of Mallah and its associated Salt Pan. This sits roughly 45km (25 miles) north-east of where the Euphrates River enters Iraq from Syria.
The task of liberating the urban areas along the north bank of the Euphrates is more complicated than liberating the unpopulated desert areas. Therefore this river strand has understandably made slower progress.
However because the SDF control the area to the north of those urban areas they have been able to advance south to the Euphrates. This has allowed them to cut the urban areas off from each other and liberate them in what to the untrained eye seems a haphazard way.
The immediate focus was on liberating the town of Busayrah. This sits almost on an island where the Euphrates and Khobar Rivers meet. Busayrah was liberated by the SDF on November 11th 2017 (11/11/17).
Having liberated Busayrah the SDF then advanced south-east towards the town of Diban. This sits around 20km (10 miles) south-east of Busayrah and was liberated on November 17th 2017 (17/11/17). En route from Busayrah to Diban the SDF also liberated Shuhyal and al-Gharbi which sit between the two.
The SDF advance then leapfrogged to liberate the town of Abu Hamman on December 1st 2017 (1/12/17). This sits around 25km (15 miles) south-east of Diban.
The SDF advance leapfrogged again to liberate the town of Hajin and the nearby village of Grennig on December 7th 2017 (7/12/17) and December 8th 2017 (8/12/17). Hajin sits around 45km (30 miles) south-east of Diban. It is actually closer to the Syria/Iraq border which sits 30km (20 miles) south-east of Hajin.
On December 2nd (2/12/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the towns of Darnaj, Suwaydan Jazirah, al-Jurdi al-Gharbi and al-Jurdi ash-Sharqi. These all sit in the area between Diban and Abu Hamman.
Suwaydah was reported liberated on December 12th 2017 (12/12/17). Al-Jurdi al-Gharbi was reported liberated the following day on December 13th 2017 (13/12/17). On December 17th (17/12/17) al-Jurdi ash-Sharqi was reported liberated.
On November 15th 2017 (15/11/17) the SDF's river strand launched an operation to liberate the roughly 225kmsq (135milesq) area between Abu Hamman and Hajin. Prior to the ISIL takeover this area was under the control of the Sheitat Tribe who are traditionally very loyal to the Syrian government.
By December 30th 2017 (30/12/17) the SDF had liberated the towns of Marsama Gharbi and al-Khuskiyah. This left the town of Gharanji as the only town under ISIL control within the Sheitat Tribal Area.
At the same time the SDF had been advancing north-west from Hajin towards the Sheitat Tribal Area. By December 29th 2017 (29/12/17) they had liberated the villages of Jubb al-Bahrah, al-Qahawi, al-Jabal and Kashkiyan.
This left only al-Bahrah directly bordering the Sheitat Tribal Area and the towns between Hajin and Abu Kamal under ISIL control.
Amid all of the recent big battles such as for the cities of Raqqa and Mosul in Iraq ISIL have to some extent fled. They take their most precious resources such as their leader al-Baghdadi and move them to fallback positions.
The final stages of this Cizre Storm operation mean that ISIL have now run out of places to flee to. With ISIL being forced to make their last stand the fighting in this area has intensified significantly.
On January 19th 2018 (19/1/18) ISIL forces at both Gharanji and Shafah launched largescale coordinated attacks against the SDF. Shafah is located around 20km (12 miles) south-east of Hajin and around 15km (10 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal.
At Gharanji SDF resisted the assault by ISIL and launched a counter-offensive which succeeded in liberating the town on January 24th 2018 (24/1/18). Ten members of the SDF gave their lives in this operation. In the process they killed high profile German ISIL member Denis Cuspert. Using the stage name; "Deso Dogg" Cuspert had become known as the Jihadi Rapper.
At Shafah the SDF have also resisted ISIL's attacks however they do not appear to have launched a counter-offensive to liberate the town. They did though direct a US airstrike on January 23rd 2018 (23/1/18) which succeeded in killing between 145 and 150 ISIL fighters.
Shangri-La is not the only area of Syria under SDF control. They also control a roughly 2,400kmsq (1,400 milesq) area in the north-west of Syria. Centred around the city of Afrin this has been designated; "The Afrin Canton."
Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long wanted to annex part or all of Syria as part of a New Ottoman Empire. To this end he has backed various terror groups including ISIL and Al Qaeda to fight against the Syrians.
One of the key groups Erdogan has backed at the United Turkmen Army (UTA). Sometimes known as the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB) this is the paramilitary wing of the fascist Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) known as the Grey Wolves. Within Syria they operate as an irregular and therefore illegal branch of the Turkish military.
In August 2016 Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to invade and occupy a roughly 100km (60 mile) stretch of northern Syria between Azaz/Kilis in the west and the Euphrates River in the east. The purpose was to stop the SDF linking Shangri-La with Afrin Canton cutting off ISIL and Al Qaeda's supply lines with Turkey in the process. As such this area has been designated; "Garvaghy Road."
Within Garvaghy Road and the area to the south of Afrin Canton Erdogan has been steadily absorbing fragments of the long defunct FSA into the UTA. On October 25th 2017 (25/10/17) Erdogan attempted to give the UTA legitimacy by renaming them the Syrian National Army. Despite the fact they're fighting Syria's national army.
The SDF's success against particularly ISIL puts them at odds with Erdogan.
On January 15th 2018 (15/1/18) the UTA and regular Turkish forces within Turkey started intensely shelling Afrin Canton.
Amid continuous shelling Erdogan announced on January 19th (19/1/18) that he would be sending regular Turkish forces to invade and occupy Afrin Canton. This announcement was apparently coordinated with ISIL's attacks against the SDF at Gharanji and Shafah.
On January 20th 2018 (20/1/18) Erdogan launched his invasion of Afrin Canton.
At around 18:20 on 29/1/18 (UK date) I will have to pick that up after dinner.
They controlled large swathes of both Iraq and Syria. They'd declared themselves to be an Islamist Caliphate. Their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be it's Caliph and the Syrian city of Raqqa to be its capital.
On November 3rd 2017 (3/11/17) Iraq was able to declare itself functionally liberated from ISIL. Although the group does retain a small clandestine presence in the country it no longer controls any areas or population centres.
Within Syria ISIL have been reduced to several small areas. In the border area between Homs, Hama and Idlib Provinces and the Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian Refugees in the suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus.
ISIL are also allied with Army of Khalid Ibrahim al-Walid/Jaish Khalid Ibn al-Walid group. They operate in the south-western Daraa Province along the basin of the Yarmouk River close to the Golan Heights United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) zone.
The main focus though has been on ousting ISIL from their traditional heartland. This is in the north-west of the country centred around the Euphrates River basin.
In the latter half of 2017 the Syrians themselves have been working to removing ISIL from the areas on the south bank of the Euphrates River. This began in August 2017 with the liberation of as-Suknah. The Syrians then went on to liberate the major cities of Mayadin, Deir-ez-Zour City and Abu Kamal/Abu Bukamal.
Having cleared all the areas between those cities the Syrians were able to declare the south bank of the Euphrates completely liberated on December 5th 2017 (5/12/17).
The job of liberating the area north-east of the Euphrates has fallen to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD). This is a coalition of forces that was created in October 2015.
The largest element of the SDF coalition is the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). They operate alongside Assyrian/Syriac Christian, Turkmen and Arab Muslim forces. The Arab element which makes up around 50% of the SDF is comprised of both elements of the long defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA) and local tribes indigenous to north-eastern Syria.
The SDF is supported by the US-led coalition; Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) both with air power and Special Operations Forces (SOF's). The SDF also contains a small International Brigade made up of foreign volunteers.
Although the SDF did not formally come into being until October 2015 the YPG have been operating alongside fragments of the FSA since the Battle of Kobane in the winter of 2014/15.
In July 2015 this unnamed combined force liberated the town Tel Abyad/Gire Spi from ISIL. Tel Abyad sits right on the border between Syria and Turkey around 45km (25 miles) east of the Euphrates.
In August 2015 this precursor to the SDF liberated the city of Hasakah from both ISIL and Syrian forces. Hasakah sits around 60km (35 miles) west of the Syria/Iraq border and around 75km (45 miles) south of Syria's border with Turkey.
The liberations of Tal Abyad and Hasakah put what became the SDF in control of a vast area of north-eastern Syria from the Euphrates to Syria's borders with Turkey and Iraq. For operational reasons this area which cuts across parts of several of Syria's provinces has been designated; "Shangri-La."
In November 2016 the SDF launched an operation codenamed; "Wrath of Euphrates." It's ultimate objective was to liberate the city of Raqqa from ISIL. However before it could do that it had to expand Shangri-La to Raqqa City.
In late November 2016 the SDF took up positions around 25km (15 miles) north of Raqqa having liberated around 600kmsq (360 milesq) of territory.
In early January 2017 the SDF took up positions at Lake Assad around 55km (30 miles) west of Raqqa. In the process the SDF liberated around 3,200kmsq (1.920 milesq) of territory along the eastern bank of the Euphrates from where the river enters Syria from Turkey.
In March 2017 the SDF took up positions at Karamah around 30km (20 miles) east of Raqqa. In the process the SDF liberated around 1000kmsq (600 milesq) of territory.
In early May the SDF liberated the town of Tabqa and took control of the Tabqa Dam. This sits on the southern banks of the Euphrates around 50km (30 miles) west of Raqqa. Tabqa Dam forms Lake Assad out of the Euphrates.
On June 6th 2017 (6/6/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the city of Raqqa itself. Raqqa was fully liberated on October 19th 2017 (19/10/17).
While the operation to liberate Raqqa City was ongoing the SDF were also advancing south-east along the north bank of the Euphrates from Karamah.
On September 9th 2017 (9/9/17) the SDF launched a second operation along the Euphrates basin. This was codenamed; "Cizre Storm."
At the time Cizre Storm was launched the only area of Syria north-east of the Euphrates River which did not fall under SDF control as part of Shangri-La is a roughly 1500kmsq (860 milesq) area stretching across the Khobar River.
Roughly in the shape of a triangle this area had as its tip the point where the Euphrates River enters Iraq. It's base is an imaginary line stretching between the towns of Madan and al-Shadaddi.
Madan sits on the Euphrates River roughly 70km (40 miles) south-east of Raqqa and 110km (70 miles) north-west of Mayadin. Al-Shadaddi sits on the Khobar River roughly 150km (90 miles) east of Raqqa and roughly 130km (75 miles) north of Mayadin.
The objective of the Cizre Storm operation is to advance from the Madan-Shadaddi Line, across the Khobar River to where the Euphrates River enters Iraq. This will liberate the area from ISIL and properly establish Shangri-La with the Euphrates River as its southern boundary.
Although the technical aspects of the operation are more complex put simply it has two phases; To advance from the Madan-Shadaddi Line to the Khobar River. Then cross the river and advance to the Syria/Iraq border.
Within both of those phases there are two strands; Liberating the largely unpopulated areas of desert north of the Euphrates. Liberating the population centres that sit directly on the north bank of the Euphrates.
On September 26th 2017 (26/9/17) the SDF reached and liberated the town of as-Suwar. This sits on the western bank of the Khobar roughly 95km (60 miles) south-east of the Madan-Shadaddi Line.
On October 4th 2017 (4/10/17) the SDF reached the town of Markadah. This sits on the western bank of the Khobar roughly 30km (20 miles) south-east of the Madan-Shadaddi Line and around 30km (20 miles) north-east of as-Suwar. Markadah went on to be liberated on October 20th 2017 (20/10/17).
On October 10th 2017 (10/10/17) the SDF reached and liberated the town of Zuwaymiah. This sits on the western bank of the Khobar right where it meets the Euphrates. It is around 100km (60 miles) south-east of the Madan-Shadaddi Line and around 40km (25 miles) south-west of as-Suwar.
The liberation of Zuwaymiah meant that the SDF had reached the Khobar River at three points and the first phase of the Cizre Storm operation had been completed.
On October 14th 2017 (14/10/17) the SDF advanced from Karamah arrived at the outskirts of Deir-ez-Zour City. This linked the Cizre Storm and Wrath of Euphrates operations.
On October 20th 2017 (20/10/17) the Cizre Storm operation crossed the Khobar.
On November 25th 2017 (25/11/17) the desert strand reached the Syria/Iraq border roughly at the village of Mallah and its associated Salt Pan. This sits roughly 45km (25 miles) north-east of where the Euphrates River enters Iraq from Syria.
The task of liberating the urban areas along the north bank of the Euphrates is more complicated than liberating the unpopulated desert areas. Therefore this river strand has understandably made slower progress.
However because the SDF control the area to the north of those urban areas they have been able to advance south to the Euphrates. This has allowed them to cut the urban areas off from each other and liberate them in what to the untrained eye seems a haphazard way.
The immediate focus was on liberating the town of Busayrah. This sits almost on an island where the Euphrates and Khobar Rivers meet. Busayrah was liberated by the SDF on November 11th 2017 (11/11/17).
Having liberated Busayrah the SDF then advanced south-east towards the town of Diban. This sits around 20km (10 miles) south-east of Busayrah and was liberated on November 17th 2017 (17/11/17). En route from Busayrah to Diban the SDF also liberated Shuhyal and al-Gharbi which sit between the two.
The SDF advance then leapfrogged to liberate the town of Abu Hamman on December 1st 2017 (1/12/17). This sits around 25km (15 miles) south-east of Diban.
The SDF advance leapfrogged again to liberate the town of Hajin and the nearby village of Grennig on December 7th 2017 (7/12/17) and December 8th 2017 (8/12/17). Hajin sits around 45km (30 miles) south-east of Diban. It is actually closer to the Syria/Iraq border which sits 30km (20 miles) south-east of Hajin.
On December 2nd (2/12/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the towns of Darnaj, Suwaydan Jazirah, al-Jurdi al-Gharbi and al-Jurdi ash-Sharqi. These all sit in the area between Diban and Abu Hamman.
Suwaydah was reported liberated on December 12th 2017 (12/12/17). Al-Jurdi al-Gharbi was reported liberated the following day on December 13th 2017 (13/12/17). On December 17th (17/12/17) al-Jurdi ash-Sharqi was reported liberated.
On November 15th 2017 (15/11/17) the SDF's river strand launched an operation to liberate the roughly 225kmsq (135milesq) area between Abu Hamman and Hajin. Prior to the ISIL takeover this area was under the control of the Sheitat Tribe who are traditionally very loyal to the Syrian government.
By December 30th 2017 (30/12/17) the SDF had liberated the towns of Marsama Gharbi and al-Khuskiyah. This left the town of Gharanji as the only town under ISIL control within the Sheitat Tribal Area.
At the same time the SDF had been advancing north-west from Hajin towards the Sheitat Tribal Area. By December 29th 2017 (29/12/17) they had liberated the villages of Jubb al-Bahrah, al-Qahawi, al-Jabal and Kashkiyan.
This left only al-Bahrah directly bordering the Sheitat Tribal Area and the towns between Hajin and Abu Kamal under ISIL control.
Amid all of the recent big battles such as for the cities of Raqqa and Mosul in Iraq ISIL have to some extent fled. They take their most precious resources such as their leader al-Baghdadi and move them to fallback positions.
The final stages of this Cizre Storm operation mean that ISIL have now run out of places to flee to. With ISIL being forced to make their last stand the fighting in this area has intensified significantly.
On January 19th 2018 (19/1/18) ISIL forces at both Gharanji and Shafah launched largescale coordinated attacks against the SDF. Shafah is located around 20km (12 miles) south-east of Hajin and around 15km (10 miles) north-west of Abu Kamal.
At Gharanji SDF resisted the assault by ISIL and launched a counter-offensive which succeeded in liberating the town on January 24th 2018 (24/1/18). Ten members of the SDF gave their lives in this operation. In the process they killed high profile German ISIL member Denis Cuspert. Using the stage name; "Deso Dogg" Cuspert had become known as the Jihadi Rapper.
At Shafah the SDF have also resisted ISIL's attacks however they do not appear to have launched a counter-offensive to liberate the town. They did though direct a US airstrike on January 23rd 2018 (23/1/18) which succeeded in killing between 145 and 150 ISIL fighters.
Shangri-La is not the only area of Syria under SDF control. They also control a roughly 2,400kmsq (1,400 milesq) area in the north-west of Syria. Centred around the city of Afrin this has been designated; "The Afrin Canton."
Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long wanted to annex part or all of Syria as part of a New Ottoman Empire. To this end he has backed various terror groups including ISIL and Al Qaeda to fight against the Syrians.
One of the key groups Erdogan has backed at the United Turkmen Army (UTA). Sometimes known as the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB) this is the paramilitary wing of the fascist Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) known as the Grey Wolves. Within Syria they operate as an irregular and therefore illegal branch of the Turkish military.
In August 2016 Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to invade and occupy a roughly 100km (60 mile) stretch of northern Syria between Azaz/Kilis in the west and the Euphrates River in the east. The purpose was to stop the SDF linking Shangri-La with Afrin Canton cutting off ISIL and Al Qaeda's supply lines with Turkey in the process. As such this area has been designated; "Garvaghy Road."
Within Garvaghy Road and the area to the south of Afrin Canton Erdogan has been steadily absorbing fragments of the long defunct FSA into the UTA. On October 25th 2017 (25/10/17) Erdogan attempted to give the UTA legitimacy by renaming them the Syrian National Army. Despite the fact they're fighting Syria's national army.
The SDF's success against particularly ISIL puts them at odds with Erdogan.
On January 15th 2018 (15/1/18) the UTA and regular Turkish forces within Turkey started intensely shelling Afrin Canton.
Amid continuous shelling Erdogan announced on January 19th (19/1/18) that he would be sending regular Turkish forces to invade and occupy Afrin Canton. This announcement was apparently coordinated with ISIL's attacks against the SDF at Gharanji and Shafah.
On January 20th 2018 (20/1/18) Erdogan launched his invasion of Afrin Canton.
At around 18:20 on 29/1/18 (UK date) I will have to pick that up after dinner.
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