Between Monday June 1st (1/6/15) and Thursday June 11th (11/6/15) the 42nd meeting of the Subsidiary Body to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (SB42) took place in Bonn, Germany. Unfortunately I was absolutely no help whatsoever. Between the UK General Election, the Eurovision Song Contest, the UK Queen's Speech and the US attempt at a FIFA coup I ended up getting so tired that I made myself ill. Seriously on Wednesday (10/6/15) and Thursday of last week I was struggling to follow the plot of repeats of "The Simpsons" let alone the news.
However the meeting started in dramatic fashion with the sinking of the Eastern Star cruise ship on the Yangtze River in China with the loss of 440 lives. This touched on several key areas - most notably the Yangtze River itself.
Twice the length of the Mississippi River in the US and almost as long as the Nile River in Africa and the Amazon River in South America the Yangtze is big river in every sense of the term stretching all the way from Tibet in the west of China to the East China Sea in the east of the country. Across this great expanse the Yangtze both impacts on and impacted by the environment that surrounds it. So in agricultural areas it is polluted by the surface run-off of fertilisers and in industrial areas it suffers from the discharge of things like heavy metals. It also of course occasionally floods its surrounding areas and has a constant effect eroding the land around it.
The environmental issue that is probably the most relevant to SB42 though is the Three Gorges Dam which upon completion in 2012 became the World's largest generator of hydro-electric power. However since construction began in 1994 the Three Gorges Dam project has been plagued by accusations of environmental damage including the blocking of silt flow through the river increasing the flood threat down stream and causing the extinction of fish species including the Chinese River Dolphin which is sometimes referred to as the "Baiji" despite it having no connection to the Iraqi town of the same name. Although it started a bit before my time looking back I sort of get the impression that the US has used the Three Gorges Dam as an excuse to rally environmental protest groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to put pressure on China over other issues.
The Three Gorges Dam is particularly relevent to efforts to combat climate change though because the main source of electricity in the World isn't from oil, natural gas or even coal. Instead it is from hydro-electric power which accounts for around 40% of all electricity. Obviously in our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions we would like to increase that figure but to do so would involve building more dams like the Three Gorges project and things like Tidal power projects such as the one the UK recently announced for Swansea Bay. Although these projects will cut greenhouse gas emissions they will obviously have impacts of their own on the environment and those impacts do need to be carefully considered. After all there's not much point in China reducing sea levels if Shanghai gets flooded by the Yangtze anyway.
The second major area the incident touched on was the US' "Pivot Towards the Pacific" policy or "Mission to Contain China" as it's more widely referred to. This really has two prongs; the first being the US removing trade sanctions from unpleasant South-East Asian regimes such as Burma/Myanmar. In this first instance this builds an allegiance between the US and those nations but also drives down wages and working conditions across the entire region - including in China. On Friday (12/6/15) US Congress gave permission for this process to be "Fast Tracked."
The second prong has been for the US to build up the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea) into a reckless and rouge state that its neighbours will need the US to protect them from. For example during last year's COP20 Summit the US carried out a cyber-attack on Sony Pictures which they then blamed on the DPRK and by association China. Back April 2014 the Sewol Ferry sank in the Republic of Korea (RoK/South Korea) with the loss of 476 lives. This was largely seen as a protest against the US' policy of encouraging the DPRK to behave increasingly recklessly because if the worst does happen the RoK will be first in the firing line and a lot more then 476 people will be killed.
The third main area the story touched on was the US TV Show "Oz" which seems to have become the script for most things going on in US politics at the moment. Around about the third season Oz starts getting quite silly. For example in one major storyline they start medical trials for this magical ageing drug that can cause the prisoners to age 20 years in a matter of weeks. This is a clumsy device to promote discussion about whether the prison system is merely a way to warehouse offenders until they are too old to re-offend or whether it should make some effort to rehabilitate them.
In another major storyline a Chinese ship full of irregular migrants sinks and all the men aboard are sent to the Oz prison while their asylum claims are processed. At no point does the show attempt to explain why a ship sailing from China would end up sinking on the US' east coast or why the people aboard would be sent to a state rather then a federal prison. Then suddenly a news report in the back ground announces that the US government has agreed with the Chinese government that the men aren't being persecuted and the characters all disappear with no further explanation. This is a bit of a confusing little head-scratcher all around.
As such I think the Yangtze incident was supposed to give the impression that China was panicking because it was struggling to follow what the US was doing - particularly in regard to the Pivot Towards the Pacific. This would then help identify those nations that were also confused by what the US was up to and therefore at risk of falling into the US' sphere of influence. This would be a problem for UNFCCC negotiations because China are very much one of the leaders while the US is very much a hindrance.
For example US President Obama likes to boast about how he recently forced China into a historic deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. People who are familiar with the issue though are well aware that it was more a case of China finally getting the US to agree to do something. For example in the four months since that deal China has actually cuts it's emissions by 5% while Obama has talked, a lot. Obviously peer review and verification are hot topics but as a further example of it's leadership China has reduced the first round of the ex-ante process in an effort to make sure the negotiations meet their looming deadline.
Unfortunately the spanner in the works was the UK who totally panicked and tried to muscle in on the Chinese play first with the June 2nd (2/6/15) Alton Towers Roller-Coaster incident. The actual roller-coaster involved is the "Smiler" which is inspired by a character in the "Saw" horror movies who likes to trap people into vicious and sadistic mind games - a sensation that won't be unfamiliar to many international diplomats. The wait to get the ride re-opened could equally be interpreted as an attempt to match the Chinese efforts to rescue and recover the Eastern Star or a way to raise speculation over whether I'd ever get around to doing any actual work relating to SB42.
The UK also teamed up with their Monarchistic ally the Netherlands to put on the discovery of 68 migrants on a ferry at the Harwich port in Essex UK on June 5th (5/6/15). With 22 of the migrants coming from China this was a very clear reference to the Oz element of the Yangtze incident.
With Australia and the US also trying to get in on the story I obviously have more to add but I'll do that after the Slovenia V England game or maybe even tomorrow. After all we don't those New York State prison fugitives being caught too soon.
15:30 on 14/6/15 (UK date).
Edited at around 18:50 on 14/6/15 (UK date) go; "82 hits, WTF?!" and add;
Obviously during the rescue and recovery operation for the Eastern Star cruise ship the relatives of the 440 dead crammed the banks of the river and nearby hotels because often although your head may tell you that your loved one is dead your heart needs to see the body before it will accept. Although I think this was just a side-effect of the situation rather then part of the plan these scenes did resemble the relatives of the 152 Chinese citizens aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 who are still crammed into hotels waiting for news.
This clearly struck a nerve with Australia - the other "Oz." Since March 17th 2014 (17/3/14) Australia has been heading the search for MH370 without much success. In July of 2014 Australia lost 27 of it's citizens when Malaysia Airlines MH17 crashed in similarly mysterious circumstances over Ukraine. The Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott immediately blamed Russia for the incident and threatened to "Shirt-front" Russian President Vladimir Putin in retaliation. Although there are clear cultural differences by comparison China's ongoing response to the fruitless search for MH370 has been a picture of quiet restraint.
On June 2nd (2/6/15) professional Australian basketball player Luke Martin is alleged to have attacked Sydney's Lindt Cafe with rocks. The so-called "Sydney Siege" was of course Australia's unconventional response to the COP20 Summit. As such this seems to be a slightly paranoid attempt by Australia to question whether China was criticising them - "throwing rocks" - over their stance on climate change or over their failure to find MH370.
Within the TV Show "Oz" there is a professional basketball character "Jackson Vahue" who has been jailed for rape and sexual assault. Although he was only 11 years old when the character was cast Drake - the Canadian rapper and one-time boyfriend of Rihanna - can, from certain angles resemble Vahue particularly when both have the slightly longer hair. I was not immediately aware of this connection at the time because although Oz is being re-broadcast five nights a week here in the UK rather then watching it nightly I tend to DVR the week's episodes and watch them in one go over the weekend. Due to the Eurovision Song Contest my viewing schedule had got significantly behind the broadcast schedule.
On June 5th (5/6/15) two prisoners tunnelled out of the Clinton Prison in New York State, US leaving behind a particularly racist drawing of a Chinaman alongside the slogan "Have A Nice Day." This was a very clear "F*ck You" to both the prison and to China. Apart from the reference to 2016 Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton the ensuing manhunt caused authorities to shut the Route 374 highway. In the graphic that CNN International broadcast globally this was made to resemble the Yangtze River only on a much smaller scale.
Although this has been dubbed "The Shawshank Jailbreak" the whole thing is a storyline directly out of Oz. At the end of - I think - the third and the start of the fourth seasons two of the prisoners "Miguel Alvarez" and "Agamemnon Busmalis" escape through a tunnel that Busmalis has dug. While Busmalis is very quickly re-captured Alvarez very nearly escapes all the way to Mexico. One of the prisoners in the Clinton escape has a "Mexico Forever" tattoo. Annoyingly I haven't actually seen either of these episodes because my DVR opted not to record them. This provokes lots of discussion about who has been hacking my DVR.
Joyce Mitchell the prisoner worker who is alleged to have aided the Clinton escape could actually be interpreted as one of two characters in Oz. First there is "Claire Howell" a guard who doesn't so much have affairs with various male prisoners as sexually abuses and rapes them. Due to her physical appearance Mitchell could also be mistaken for "Suzanne Fitzgerald" - the mother of "Ryan O'Reily" and a 1960's radical who spends years on the run and comes to the prison to perform community service by teachning music as punishment for killing a police officer in a bombing.
As such the search narrative of the manhunt was intended to reassure US regional allies by giving the impression that the US was zeroing in on China's play while at the same time trying to make life difficult for China with all the references to my watching of cult 1990's TV shows.
I actually think the continuing search makes the US look quite weak but I'm pretty they'll be able to con certain people into thinking that it's all an elaborate bluff.
19:40 on 14/6/15 (UK date).
Sunday, 14 June 2015
Saturday, 13 June 2015
Operation Featherweight: Month 11, Week 3, Day 2.
I know, it's been a while.
Certainly since they made their advance into Iraq in January 2014 it's been clear that one of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) main battlefield tactics has centred around the use of what are known as Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED's). Essentially these are large, armoured trucks that are packed with explosives that are driven by a suicide bomber into the enemy's defensive line. Often once the VBIED blows a hole in the defensive line follow up vehicles packed with infantry and infantry units on foot then swarm through the gap outflanking the defensive forces causing them to withdraw.
This tactic was a particular problem during the recent fall of Ramadi where the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were widely criticised for fleeing from ISIL VBIED's. However in the interests of fairness I should point out that if a VBIED can kill 50 troops at a time and ISIL can launch 4-5 VBIED attacks a day they if they didn't retreat then the ISF would rapidly run out of troops which leads to a much more serious form of defeat.
Obviously then developing a way to prevent this type of VBIED attack has become a priority in the fight against ISIL. I don't want to go into too much detail because it has developed into something of an arms race with forces on the ground discovering a weakness that they can exploit only for ISIL to modify their VBIED designs in order to remove that weakness. However I think it is well established that in Iraq's Kurdish areas the Peshmerga have become skilled in modifying high calibre (.50 inch+) weapons to use as sniper rifles to eliminate either the drivers or the engines of the VBIED's before they can do any damage. The Peshmerga have also been making use of MILAN-type wire-guided anti-tank missiles against VBIED's. These have the added advantage of destroying the VBIED rather then forcing someone to have to go out into no-mans land to defuse it. Unfortunately they're not being supplied with enough of these type of weapons and despite all the US training the tactic doesn't appear to have filtered down to the ISF.
Today a man in Texas, US drove an armoured truck packed with explosives at the police HQ in Dallas. Eventually the vehicle was stopped by a .50 inch sniper round to the engine block and another .50 inch sniper round to the driver's face. It is obviously this type of weapon that US President Obama wants to ban the police from using as part of his frequent attacks on the police - most recently in Cleveland, Ohio and McKinney, Texas.
As almost something of side note the driver appears to have been motivated in carrying out the attack because of a child custody dispute in which he accused the police spreading lies about him. This is a reference to the Rebecca Minnock case that has been running in the UK throughout the week. Essentially what happened is that as part of a custody dispute Ms Minnock accused her ex-husband of abusing their child. This triggered an investigation that found Ms Minnock was mentally unstable and had been lying so custody of the child was awarded to the father. Ms Minnock then kidnapped the child and went on the run. She has since handed herself in and the child has been returned to it's father.
With this all taking place in and around Bristol this all seems to have been a rather wobbly reference to my lesbian wife and what is generally referred to as the "Bristol Abuse Case." Essentially Switzerland brought this up on the UK's behalf at the recent Eurovision Song Contest only for nations such as Norway, Spain and particularly Germany to roundly mock the UK over the matter. As such the Minnock case was supposed to give the impression of the UK entering into some dialogue over the issue. The UK constantly tries to engage it's neighbours over the issue but nothing ever changes.
21:30 on 13/6/15 (UK date).
Certainly since they made their advance into Iraq in January 2014 it's been clear that one of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) main battlefield tactics has centred around the use of what are known as Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED's). Essentially these are large, armoured trucks that are packed with explosives that are driven by a suicide bomber into the enemy's defensive line. Often once the VBIED blows a hole in the defensive line follow up vehicles packed with infantry and infantry units on foot then swarm through the gap outflanking the defensive forces causing them to withdraw.
This tactic was a particular problem during the recent fall of Ramadi where the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were widely criticised for fleeing from ISIL VBIED's. However in the interests of fairness I should point out that if a VBIED can kill 50 troops at a time and ISIL can launch 4-5 VBIED attacks a day they if they didn't retreat then the ISF would rapidly run out of troops which leads to a much more serious form of defeat.
Obviously then developing a way to prevent this type of VBIED attack has become a priority in the fight against ISIL. I don't want to go into too much detail because it has developed into something of an arms race with forces on the ground discovering a weakness that they can exploit only for ISIL to modify their VBIED designs in order to remove that weakness. However I think it is well established that in Iraq's Kurdish areas the Peshmerga have become skilled in modifying high calibre (.50 inch+) weapons to use as sniper rifles to eliminate either the drivers or the engines of the VBIED's before they can do any damage. The Peshmerga have also been making use of MILAN-type wire-guided anti-tank missiles against VBIED's. These have the added advantage of destroying the VBIED rather then forcing someone to have to go out into no-mans land to defuse it. Unfortunately they're not being supplied with enough of these type of weapons and despite all the US training the tactic doesn't appear to have filtered down to the ISF.
Today a man in Texas, US drove an armoured truck packed with explosives at the police HQ in Dallas. Eventually the vehicle was stopped by a .50 inch sniper round to the engine block and another .50 inch sniper round to the driver's face. It is obviously this type of weapon that US President Obama wants to ban the police from using as part of his frequent attacks on the police - most recently in Cleveland, Ohio and McKinney, Texas.
As almost something of side note the driver appears to have been motivated in carrying out the attack because of a child custody dispute in which he accused the police spreading lies about him. This is a reference to the Rebecca Minnock case that has been running in the UK throughout the week. Essentially what happened is that as part of a custody dispute Ms Minnock accused her ex-husband of abusing their child. This triggered an investigation that found Ms Minnock was mentally unstable and had been lying so custody of the child was awarded to the father. Ms Minnock then kidnapped the child and went on the run. She has since handed herself in and the child has been returned to it's father.
With this all taking place in and around Bristol this all seems to have been a rather wobbly reference to my lesbian wife and what is generally referred to as the "Bristol Abuse Case." Essentially Switzerland brought this up on the UK's behalf at the recent Eurovision Song Contest only for nations such as Norway, Spain and particularly Germany to roundly mock the UK over the matter. As such the Minnock case was supposed to give the impression of the UK entering into some dialogue over the issue. The UK constantly tries to engage it's neighbours over the issue but nothing ever changes.
21:30 on 13/6/15 (UK date).
Monday, 8 June 2015
Obama's Nigger Army.
Yesterday (7/6/15) and today (8/6/15) has seen the always gossipy G7 Summit being held in Germany. Saturday (6/5/15) in Croydon where I live saw the annual "Thornton Heath Community Carnival."
Officially this is an opportunity for the area's black residents to celebrate their cultural diversity. In reality it is a front to allow the housing associations that home many of the black residents to terrorise the local community with an annual crime wave and general disorderly behaviour driving down property prices and allowing the housing associations to expand. With the UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently being re-elected on a platform to dismantle the housing associations I think it is fair to say that the event is currently under a lot of pressure. In fact it is hard to understand why it went ahead at all this year.
However it is clear that Croydon's problem communities still enjoy a lot of support from US President Barack Obama. So on Saturday the US brought us the McKinney Pool Party incident in McKinney, Texas. Basically what happened is that a large number of predominately black teenagers decided that they were going to throw a mass party at a swimming pool in a private housing community without permission. They were asked to leave by the housing communities security guards acting as agents of the property owner. When they refused to leave the teens and many of their parents committed the offence of trespass which in the US is considered a criminal and therefore arrestable offence. As such the police were called and a number of fights broke meaning that numerous other offences of assault, battery, public disorder and obstruction of the police were committed.
However as we've come to expect from what has become known as "Black Twitter" the incident prompted the usual wave of outrage that black Americans were being expected to obey the law and - much worse then that - the police would dare to try arrest them if they didn't. As a result one police officer has been suspended despite it being clear from the video that there are 8 least members of the crowd who have little option other then to plead guilty to public order offences.
Displaying their usual relationship with reality much of Black Twitter pointed the recent and legally similar mass biker brawl in Waco, Texas as evidence of how the police are far less aggressive when dealing with white suspects. In Waco the police of course shot and killed 4 people and arrested and will be prosecuting to the full extent of the law all those involved.
Yesterday evening a riot broke out at the Met Life stadium in New Jersey at the "Summer Jam" concert being headlined by our old friend Chris Brown. I've often said that Croydon is England's New Jersey so this was a pretty transparent attempt to create drama about my safety and security during the G7. However what is also obvious is that the predominately black crowd were fired up by the McKinney incident. It is also clear that the situation was engineered by the police failing to aggressively intervene early to control a difficult crowd causing the situation to spiral out of control. McKinney police of course did a much better job.
So at his G7 press conference Obama was looking distinctly crestfallen because it's clear that unless he intervenes in situations like the one in Baltimore America is looking at a very long and hot summer in terms of black violence.
14:50 on 8/6/15 (UK date).
Edited at around 16:40 on 8/6/15 (UK date) to add;
It appears that Black America is still not getting the reality check it badly needs because just this afternoon a Grand Jury in South Carolina has indicted former police officer Micheal Slager for the murder of Walter Scott.
As I seemingly have to point out every time one these politically charged cases comes up the 5th Amendment to the US Constitution is quite clear that no-one shall be held to answer for a capital crime (such as murder) without indictment by Grand Jury. Slager has been held in prison without bail on the charge of murder since April 7th 2015 (7/4/15). In this time he has been denied legal counsel in defiance of the 6th Amendment to the Constitution.
Whether the issue of Slager's lack of legal counsel has been resolved is still a bit of an unknown. However I suspect it has not because the case was only presented to the Grand Jury this morning. The fact it has been able to return a verdict within less the 4 hours - including lunch - suggests that there was no-one speaking for the defence.
If someone had been allowed to speak for the defence it would have been made clear to the Grand Jury that there was a physical altercation between the deceased and the accused immediately prior to the deceased death. This would lead a reasonable person to conclude that there was a need to act in defence of self or others. As such a murder charge is out straight away although a properly directed trial jury should be able to consider whether the self-defence used was imperfect constituting an offence similar to manslaughter.
Edited again at around 12:15 on 12/6/15 (UK date) add;
It seems that Black America is still waiting on its much needed reality check.
You may remember that back on November 22nd 2014 (22/11/15) police in Cleveland, Ohio shot and killed a black 10 year old boy by the name of Tamir Rice in a public park. As seems to be the fashion the Federal Justice Department then headed by Eric Holder immediately launched an investigation. A few weeks ago it was found that there was no case to answer because no crime had been committed.
However since then Benjamin Crump - who you may remember as the terrible lawyer from the Micheal Brown case - applied for a local Judge to offer his opinion on the case. Yesterday that Judge - Ronald B Adrine - recommended that there was probable cause to pursue charges including for murder against the officers involved. This opinion is deeply flawed.
In the first instance in order to make such an application a person must have "firsthand knowledge of the facts." In this case none of the applicants had such knowledge having not been present during the incident. Instead they had watched an edited video of the incident. As such Judge Adrine lacked the authority to even consider the matter.
Much more seriously though Adrine disregards the fact that at the time of the shooting Rice was in possession of a BB/pellet gun that was the same size, shape and was built from the same materials as a Colt model 1911 pistol. This is considered a lethal weapon as per Graham V Conner (1989) authorising the police or any member of the public to use lethal force to disarm Rice. The weapon did not have any of the "distinctive markings" for toy weapons required under Title 15, Chapter 56, Section 5001 of the US Federal Code. However if Adrine had taken the time to read the relevant section of the code he would be aware that the weapon Rice was carrying is not considered as a "Toy" as Adrine refers to it.
Furthermore although BB/pellet guns are not considered firearms under US law they are considered deadly weapons in their own right. Even a quick Google search established the precedent in State V Pettiford (1982), State V Wesldl (1994) and State V Fleming (2001).
Fortunately rather then being a ruling that will lead to arrest and prosecution this is simply Judge Adrine expressing his non-binding opinion. It seems to be the sort of opinion that should lead to Adrine being brought in front of the judiciary committee for a professional competence hearing.
On a related note White (or more accurately Jewish) Twitter was recently ablaze with the Meitiv case. These Maryland parents allowed their 10 year old child to go to a public park unsupervised although unlike the Rice's their child was not allowed to carry a deadly weapon. The parents were promptly arrested and convicted of child neglect. So it does seem as though far from being racially discriminated against Black Americans are in fact being held to a far lower standard then their white counterparts.
Officially this is an opportunity for the area's black residents to celebrate their cultural diversity. In reality it is a front to allow the housing associations that home many of the black residents to terrorise the local community with an annual crime wave and general disorderly behaviour driving down property prices and allowing the housing associations to expand. With the UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently being re-elected on a platform to dismantle the housing associations I think it is fair to say that the event is currently under a lot of pressure. In fact it is hard to understand why it went ahead at all this year.
However it is clear that Croydon's problem communities still enjoy a lot of support from US President Barack Obama. So on Saturday the US brought us the McKinney Pool Party incident in McKinney, Texas. Basically what happened is that a large number of predominately black teenagers decided that they were going to throw a mass party at a swimming pool in a private housing community without permission. They were asked to leave by the housing communities security guards acting as agents of the property owner. When they refused to leave the teens and many of their parents committed the offence of trespass which in the US is considered a criminal and therefore arrestable offence. As such the police were called and a number of fights broke meaning that numerous other offences of assault, battery, public disorder and obstruction of the police were committed.
However as we've come to expect from what has become known as "Black Twitter" the incident prompted the usual wave of outrage that black Americans were being expected to obey the law and - much worse then that - the police would dare to try arrest them if they didn't. As a result one police officer has been suspended despite it being clear from the video that there are 8 least members of the crowd who have little option other then to plead guilty to public order offences.
Displaying their usual relationship with reality much of Black Twitter pointed the recent and legally similar mass biker brawl in Waco, Texas as evidence of how the police are far less aggressive when dealing with white suspects. In Waco the police of course shot and killed 4 people and arrested and will be prosecuting to the full extent of the law all those involved.
Yesterday evening a riot broke out at the Met Life stadium in New Jersey at the "Summer Jam" concert being headlined by our old friend Chris Brown. I've often said that Croydon is England's New Jersey so this was a pretty transparent attempt to create drama about my safety and security during the G7. However what is also obvious is that the predominately black crowd were fired up by the McKinney incident. It is also clear that the situation was engineered by the police failing to aggressively intervene early to control a difficult crowd causing the situation to spiral out of control. McKinney police of course did a much better job.
So at his G7 press conference Obama was looking distinctly crestfallen because it's clear that unless he intervenes in situations like the one in Baltimore America is looking at a very long and hot summer in terms of black violence.
14:50 on 8/6/15 (UK date).
Edited at around 16:40 on 8/6/15 (UK date) to add;
It appears that Black America is still not getting the reality check it badly needs because just this afternoon a Grand Jury in South Carolina has indicted former police officer Micheal Slager for the murder of Walter Scott.
As I seemingly have to point out every time one these politically charged cases comes up the 5th Amendment to the US Constitution is quite clear that no-one shall be held to answer for a capital crime (such as murder) without indictment by Grand Jury. Slager has been held in prison without bail on the charge of murder since April 7th 2015 (7/4/15). In this time he has been denied legal counsel in defiance of the 6th Amendment to the Constitution.
Whether the issue of Slager's lack of legal counsel has been resolved is still a bit of an unknown. However I suspect it has not because the case was only presented to the Grand Jury this morning. The fact it has been able to return a verdict within less the 4 hours - including lunch - suggests that there was no-one speaking for the defence.
If someone had been allowed to speak for the defence it would have been made clear to the Grand Jury that there was a physical altercation between the deceased and the accused immediately prior to the deceased death. This would lead a reasonable person to conclude that there was a need to act in defence of self or others. As such a murder charge is out straight away although a properly directed trial jury should be able to consider whether the self-defence used was imperfect constituting an offence similar to manslaughter.
Edited again at around 12:15 on 12/6/15 (UK date) add;
It seems that Black America is still waiting on its much needed reality check.
You may remember that back on November 22nd 2014 (22/11/15) police in Cleveland, Ohio shot and killed a black 10 year old boy by the name of Tamir Rice in a public park. As seems to be the fashion the Federal Justice Department then headed by Eric Holder immediately launched an investigation. A few weeks ago it was found that there was no case to answer because no crime had been committed.
However since then Benjamin Crump - who you may remember as the terrible lawyer from the Micheal Brown case - applied for a local Judge to offer his opinion on the case. Yesterday that Judge - Ronald B Adrine - recommended that there was probable cause to pursue charges including for murder against the officers involved. This opinion is deeply flawed.
In the first instance in order to make such an application a person must have "firsthand knowledge of the facts." In this case none of the applicants had such knowledge having not been present during the incident. Instead they had watched an edited video of the incident. As such Judge Adrine lacked the authority to even consider the matter.
Much more seriously though Adrine disregards the fact that at the time of the shooting Rice was in possession of a BB/pellet gun that was the same size, shape and was built from the same materials as a Colt model 1911 pistol. This is considered a lethal weapon as per Graham V Conner (1989) authorising the police or any member of the public to use lethal force to disarm Rice. The weapon did not have any of the "distinctive markings" for toy weapons required under Title 15, Chapter 56, Section 5001 of the US Federal Code. However if Adrine had taken the time to read the relevant section of the code he would be aware that the weapon Rice was carrying is not considered as a "Toy" as Adrine refers to it.
Furthermore although BB/pellet guns are not considered firearms under US law they are considered deadly weapons in their own right. Even a quick Google search established the precedent in State V Pettiford (1982), State V Wesldl (1994) and State V Fleming (2001).
Fortunately rather then being a ruling that will lead to arrest and prosecution this is simply Judge Adrine expressing his non-binding opinion. It seems to be the sort of opinion that should lead to Adrine being brought in front of the judiciary committee for a professional competence hearing.
On a related note White (or more accurately Jewish) Twitter was recently ablaze with the Meitiv case. These Maryland parents allowed their 10 year old child to go to a public park unsupervised although unlike the Rice's their child was not allowed to carry a deadly weapon. The parents were promptly arrested and convicted of child neglect. So it does seem as though far from being racially discriminated against Black Americans are in fact being held to a far lower standard then their white counterparts.
Sunday, 7 June 2015
The Great Oz Gamble.
Since the 2015 Oscars I seem to have been constantly talking about this US TV Show "Oz." Initially I brought it up because being set in a US prison it address many of the issues surrounding crime and punishment that have suddenly become very current due the wave of anti-police protests that began with the killing of Micheal Brown in Ferguson, Missouri back in August 2014.
However since then I've noticed that the references have become a lot more specific - as if the show is being used as the inspiration for many current diplomatic plays. In fact I'm starting to get the impression that bets are being placed on which specific episode I'm currently watching. I of course got a little bit behind during the Eurovision Song Contest.
One of the most important characters in the show is "Kareem Said." Obviously across the six years and six seasons the show ran for there is a lot of character development and narrative arcs. Also none of the characters who are serving sentences in the maximum security prison are particularly noble or even likable. For example as a black supremacists Said is in prison for what these days would be considered a terrorist attack against a white owned business. However Said represents what I would consider to be a true Muslim. I mean that in the sense that he has a very deep understanding of not only Islam as a religion but particularly its moral and philosophical implications. Said uses this to offer moral advice to many of the other prisoners and staff very much making him the conscience of the show.
As part of his journey Said faces challenges to his power as leader of the prison's Muslim faction. The first of these comes from "Hamid Khan" whose knowledge of Islam is not as strong possibly causing him to be more militant and ego driven. The Khan character is a not particularly subtle reference to the black supremacy "Nation of Islam" movement. Later on Said faces a leadership challenge from the "Supreme Allah" character who openly represents the "5% Nation" which is an even more extreme off-shoot of the Nation of Islam.
What makes the Said character even more interesting is that Oz began in 1997 and ran until 2003. This means that it was in production during the September 11th 2001 (11/9/01) terrorist attacks when America really lost it's innocence and the entire World changed dramatically.
In the season that was broadcast in the winter/spring of 2001 Said goes into this really self-destructive spiral becoming increasingly angry, aggressive and even violent. As a result there are lots of frantic discussions amongst the prison staff along the lines of; "What's wrong with Said," "We must do something about Said" and "Said's going to hurt someone."
In a parallel story line a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) terrorist is brought into the prison as he fights extradition to the UK. Upon learning that his asylum claim has been rejected this IRA character decides that he is going to build a bomb. This leads to lots of discussion about the pros and cons of terrorist ideology and the season ends in a massive fiery explosion.
Those complimentary storylines is the sort of thing that fuels plenty of 9/11 conspiracy theories. However I should point out that back in July of 2001 - two months before the 9/11 attacks - the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) were concerned enough about the terror threat posed by Afghanistan that they unanimously passed Chapter 7 resolution 1363 (2001) authorising the use of military force. Although it was a just before my time I suspect that everybody suspected that "It" was coming even if they didn't know what it was until it happened.
Perhaps reflecting the rather oppressive political atmosphere in the US at the time the season of Oz that was broadcast in the winter/spring of 2002 doesn't mention the 9/11 attacks at all. However it does begin with a bus crash that kills many of the prisoners loved ones giving way to lots of storylines about grief, loss and tragedy. Also some of the older prisoners share their stories about being soldiers in both the Vietnam and Second World War. The over-riding message being that sometimes people have just got to take the hit.
Obviously post-9/11 Said and all the Muslim prisoners became highly controversial. In a effort to redeem him Said is given the job of mentoring this prisoner called "Omar White." Despite having an Islamic name Omar is not a Muslim and if anythings seems to represent a crack cocaine addict. That is to say that he never sits still, he never stops talking, his thoughts are very chaotic and he is very impulsive leading to him getting into lots of fights. At the start of mentoring Said tells Omar to make his bed and after noting that he's made his bed Said gives Omar the mantra to repeat; "I must not fight." This strikes me as a very liberal TV show trying to warn the US not to invade Iraq.
Saving me the effort of separate post while I was catching up on these Oz episodes last night the FIFA Women's World Cup began in Canada with a match between the hosts and China. I didn't watch all of it because due to the UEFA Champions League Final earlier in the evening I was a bit footballed out. Also I have no problem admitting the fact that in light of recent events the CONCACAF nations haven't been suspended from the competition leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The match actually provided a prime example of the corrosive effect that CONCACAF are having on World football. In the 15 minutes of the first half and the last 20 minutes of the second that I watched it was clear that China were parking the defensive bus in an effort to eek out a 0-0 draw and with it a point. They were succeeding in this right up until the 90th minute (90+4stoppage) when China's Zhao Rong was guarding the ball in her own penalty area with her arm outstretched as she is entitled to do. Canada's Adriana Leon then headbutted Zhao's arm and tumbled to the ground. The Ukrainian referee then wrongly awarded a penalty that won the match.
The referee - Kateryna Monzul - is Ukrainian. Canada has a large Ukrainian diaspora population and in frequent, transparent attempts to appeal to that section of the electorate Canadian PM Harper likes to rail against Russia. Just on Friday (5/6/15) Harper claimed that Russia had no place in the G7. China is of course considered an ally of Russia.
By contrast the Champions League final was a clean if uninspiring contest. You can't help but wonder though whether it was the influence of their Qatari sponsors that allowed Barcelona to sign match winner Suarez at a time when Suarez was banned from all football activity and Barcelona were banned from the transfer market.
11:15 on 7/6/15 (UK date)
However since then I've noticed that the references have become a lot more specific - as if the show is being used as the inspiration for many current diplomatic plays. In fact I'm starting to get the impression that bets are being placed on which specific episode I'm currently watching. I of course got a little bit behind during the Eurovision Song Contest.
One of the most important characters in the show is "Kareem Said." Obviously across the six years and six seasons the show ran for there is a lot of character development and narrative arcs. Also none of the characters who are serving sentences in the maximum security prison are particularly noble or even likable. For example as a black supremacists Said is in prison for what these days would be considered a terrorist attack against a white owned business. However Said represents what I would consider to be a true Muslim. I mean that in the sense that he has a very deep understanding of not only Islam as a religion but particularly its moral and philosophical implications. Said uses this to offer moral advice to many of the other prisoners and staff very much making him the conscience of the show.
As part of his journey Said faces challenges to his power as leader of the prison's Muslim faction. The first of these comes from "Hamid Khan" whose knowledge of Islam is not as strong possibly causing him to be more militant and ego driven. The Khan character is a not particularly subtle reference to the black supremacy "Nation of Islam" movement. Later on Said faces a leadership challenge from the "Supreme Allah" character who openly represents the "5% Nation" which is an even more extreme off-shoot of the Nation of Islam.
What makes the Said character even more interesting is that Oz began in 1997 and ran until 2003. This means that it was in production during the September 11th 2001 (11/9/01) terrorist attacks when America really lost it's innocence and the entire World changed dramatically.
In the season that was broadcast in the winter/spring of 2001 Said goes into this really self-destructive spiral becoming increasingly angry, aggressive and even violent. As a result there are lots of frantic discussions amongst the prison staff along the lines of; "What's wrong with Said," "We must do something about Said" and "Said's going to hurt someone."
In a parallel story line a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) terrorist is brought into the prison as he fights extradition to the UK. Upon learning that his asylum claim has been rejected this IRA character decides that he is going to build a bomb. This leads to lots of discussion about the pros and cons of terrorist ideology and the season ends in a massive fiery explosion.
Those complimentary storylines is the sort of thing that fuels plenty of 9/11 conspiracy theories. However I should point out that back in July of 2001 - two months before the 9/11 attacks - the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) were concerned enough about the terror threat posed by Afghanistan that they unanimously passed Chapter 7 resolution 1363 (2001) authorising the use of military force. Although it was a just before my time I suspect that everybody suspected that "It" was coming even if they didn't know what it was until it happened.
Perhaps reflecting the rather oppressive political atmosphere in the US at the time the season of Oz that was broadcast in the winter/spring of 2002 doesn't mention the 9/11 attacks at all. However it does begin with a bus crash that kills many of the prisoners loved ones giving way to lots of storylines about grief, loss and tragedy. Also some of the older prisoners share their stories about being soldiers in both the Vietnam and Second World War. The over-riding message being that sometimes people have just got to take the hit.
Obviously post-9/11 Said and all the Muslim prisoners became highly controversial. In a effort to redeem him Said is given the job of mentoring this prisoner called "Omar White." Despite having an Islamic name Omar is not a Muslim and if anythings seems to represent a crack cocaine addict. That is to say that he never sits still, he never stops talking, his thoughts are very chaotic and he is very impulsive leading to him getting into lots of fights. At the start of mentoring Said tells Omar to make his bed and after noting that he's made his bed Said gives Omar the mantra to repeat; "I must not fight." This strikes me as a very liberal TV show trying to warn the US not to invade Iraq.
Saving me the effort of separate post while I was catching up on these Oz episodes last night the FIFA Women's World Cup began in Canada with a match between the hosts and China. I didn't watch all of it because due to the UEFA Champions League Final earlier in the evening I was a bit footballed out. Also I have no problem admitting the fact that in light of recent events the CONCACAF nations haven't been suspended from the competition leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The match actually provided a prime example of the corrosive effect that CONCACAF are having on World football. In the 15 minutes of the first half and the last 20 minutes of the second that I watched it was clear that China were parking the defensive bus in an effort to eek out a 0-0 draw and with it a point. They were succeeding in this right up until the 90th minute (90+4stoppage) when China's Zhao Rong was guarding the ball in her own penalty area with her arm outstretched as she is entitled to do. Canada's Adriana Leon then headbutted Zhao's arm and tumbled to the ground. The Ukrainian referee then wrongly awarded a penalty that won the match.
The referee - Kateryna Monzul - is Ukrainian. Canada has a large Ukrainian diaspora population and in frequent, transparent attempts to appeal to that section of the electorate Canadian PM Harper likes to rail against Russia. Just on Friday (5/6/15) Harper claimed that Russia had no place in the G7. China is of course considered an ally of Russia.
By contrast the Champions League final was a clean if uninspiring contest. You can't help but wonder though whether it was the influence of their Qatari sponsors that allowed Barcelona to sign match winner Suarez at a time when Suarez was banned from all football activity and Barcelona were banned from the transfer market.
11:15 on 7/6/15 (UK date)
Thursday, 4 June 2015
The SB42 Meeting, Bonn.
On Monday (1/6/15) the 42nd meeting of the Subsidiary Body to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (SB42) began in Bonn, Germany. It is scheduled to last until Thursday June 11th (11/6/15). High on the agenda has been efforts to streamline and consolidate a text Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform (ADP) that will form the basis for a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol which scheduled to be signed in Paris, France in November 2015.
As this deadline approaches US President Barack Obama's weakness on the issue has become more cruelly exposed and the US' diplomatic behaviour has become increasingly erratic.
For example the US has decided to schedule another round of talks over Iran's nuclear program in Geneva, Switzerland to coincide with SB42. Highly technical and often deeply secretive discussions over nuclear programs - particularly nuclear power programs - have a long history of having a distorting effect on climate change negotiations. The Iran talks are particularly destabilising because if the US fails to reach an agreement with Iran then the US will continue to be overly dependent on the Sunni Arab Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These oil and natural gas producing nations will simply not allow the US to sign up to any agreement that limits greenhouse gas emissions caused by people buying and burning oil and natural gas.
On top of the Iran talks the US has decided that it is also an appropriate time to convene a meeting of the coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Paris, France. Apart from again highlighting the US' subservience to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this further increases the tension because as it is becoming increasingly apparent that the US has absolutely no strategy to defeat ISIL tempers within the coalition are starting to get distinctly frayed.
For example just yesterday the US was told - in so many words - by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) not to make any further accusations of chemical weapon use against the Syrian Government until the US can produce a shred of evidence to back up what are viewed as black propaganda claims.
By entering into a war against ISIL without the intention of defeating them has massively increased risk of terrorist attacks within the US and the US security forces are disrupting plots at a rate of around one per week. On Tuesday the FBI shot and killed Usaama Rahim - a young, black male convert to Islam - after he attacked them with a knife in an apparent attempt to behead them. As has become the sort of the Pavlovian response under Obama America's black and Muslim communities responded to this by accusing the police of racism and brutality.
Since the rioting in Ferguson which coincided with the start of the US' campaign against ISIL people - like me - who monitor this sort of thing have been watching ISIL trying to use the so-called "Black Lives Matter" protests as a way to recruit disaffected young black men to carry out lone-wolf terror attacks. Although linked the Al Sharpton rather then ISIL the killing of two New York City police officers in December 2014 bore all the hallmarks of a lone-wolf terror attack.
ISIL actually have quite a firm foundation in this effort because within the Black Supremacy movement that drives the protests there is the Nation of Islam who are easily identifiable by their natty red bow-ties, very camp marching and feverish anti-semitism. There is also the 5% Nation which teaches that 5% of black men and women have been chosen by Allah to rule over all other people on earth. The characters "Kareem Said" and "Supreme Allah" in the TV Show "Oz" give a pretty fair overview of their ideology. Both of these organisations are about as Islamic as ISIL.
At the root of the US' failure to fight ISIL is Obama's failure to seem them as a hate organisation that has flown in from across the globe to kill Shia Muslims. Instead he chooses to see them as a long suffering minority protesting against Shia oppression. Obama also seems to have similar problems identifying the rioters in his own country.
The US' big effort to disrupt SB42 though has been it's attempts to mount a coup within FIFA. As I've mentioned before the US' long-term objective here was to have Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan installed as FIFA President in order to strip Russia of the 2018 World Cup over it's opposition to ISIL and to prevent Qatar being stripped of the 2022 World Cup. Obviously this further illustrates the US' utter subservience to Saudi Arabia and Qatar which hardly builds confidence in UNFCCC circles.
Beyond that though football is truly a global sport followed by roughly half the earth's population. As result absolutely everybody has got an angle.
For example Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup because it was in the right timezone and its dilapidated football infrastructure provided ample opportunity for legacy building. The cherry on top though is that there is quite a serious problem of Nazism and neo-Nazism amongst Russian and eastern European football fans. Holding a World Cup in Russia would allow this to be put in the spotlight and tackled in the same way the 2014 Sochi Olympics were intended to tackle homophobia. Unfortunately since then the US has thrown it's full weight behind eastern Europe's Nazis and neo-Nazis. Despite their obligations under the Minsk agreement Ukraine has even gone so far as to pass a law that would make the criticism of Nazi and neo-Nazi football fans a specific criminal offence.
Then there is the UK which has managed to get this mad idea in its head that if Russia is stripped of the World Cup it will be hosted in Britain instead. Failing that the UK thinks it will be able to host a rival tournament when everyone boycotts the Russian World Cup. Back in 2013 the UK hosted the UEFA Champions League Final. Despite being fully sanctioned no-one wanted to play in this final and big team after big team crashed out in the earlier rounds. In the end it fell to two Germans teams to come over and put on a passable exhibition match before leaving quickly.
Within UEFA the closest thing the UK has to an ally is Micheal Platini - the President of the group - who is massively corrupt having accepted millions of dollars in bribes to get UEFA to vote for the 2022 World Cup to be held in Qatar. Platini wants the FIFA Presidency in order to increase the amount he can command in bribes. Although FIFA ballots are secret it is widely understood that Spain broke away from Platini and voted against Prince Ali. So at the French Open tennis tournament all the Spaniards have been knocked out to allow the French player Tsonga and the British player Murray to share the glory in the final after Murray knocks out Djokovic whose Serbia nationality allows him to sub for Russia.
In its efforts the UK has clearly subscribed to the old adage that "He who wields the knife doesn't get to wear the crown." So yesterday (3/6/15) they revealed that Nike's Oregon centre has been massively involved in doping within international athletics/Olympics. This is an attempt to separate the UK from the US Soccer Scandal by making it appear as if the UK is protesting against the US' actions.
Obviously with the UK viewing football as just another political metaphor it's battles with UEFA have quickly got tangled up with the UK's relationship with the European Union (EU). In turn this has got tangled up with the UK's desire to extend EU sanctions against Russia which expire at the end of this month.
So up until now I haven't been unable to get involved in SB42 because although I can pretty much do it without thinking the US Soccer Scandal is using up a lot of my time and energy.
15:05 on 4/6/15 (UK date).
As this deadline approaches US President Barack Obama's weakness on the issue has become more cruelly exposed and the US' diplomatic behaviour has become increasingly erratic.
For example the US has decided to schedule another round of talks over Iran's nuclear program in Geneva, Switzerland to coincide with SB42. Highly technical and often deeply secretive discussions over nuclear programs - particularly nuclear power programs - have a long history of having a distorting effect on climate change negotiations. The Iran talks are particularly destabilising because if the US fails to reach an agreement with Iran then the US will continue to be overly dependent on the Sunni Arab Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These oil and natural gas producing nations will simply not allow the US to sign up to any agreement that limits greenhouse gas emissions caused by people buying and burning oil and natural gas.
On top of the Iran talks the US has decided that it is also an appropriate time to convene a meeting of the coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Paris, France. Apart from again highlighting the US' subservience to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this further increases the tension because as it is becoming increasingly apparent that the US has absolutely no strategy to defeat ISIL tempers within the coalition are starting to get distinctly frayed.
For example just yesterday the US was told - in so many words - by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) not to make any further accusations of chemical weapon use against the Syrian Government until the US can produce a shred of evidence to back up what are viewed as black propaganda claims.
By entering into a war against ISIL without the intention of defeating them has massively increased risk of terrorist attacks within the US and the US security forces are disrupting plots at a rate of around one per week. On Tuesday the FBI shot and killed Usaama Rahim - a young, black male convert to Islam - after he attacked them with a knife in an apparent attempt to behead them. As has become the sort of the Pavlovian response under Obama America's black and Muslim communities responded to this by accusing the police of racism and brutality.
Since the rioting in Ferguson which coincided with the start of the US' campaign against ISIL people - like me - who monitor this sort of thing have been watching ISIL trying to use the so-called "Black Lives Matter" protests as a way to recruit disaffected young black men to carry out lone-wolf terror attacks. Although linked the Al Sharpton rather then ISIL the killing of two New York City police officers in December 2014 bore all the hallmarks of a lone-wolf terror attack.
ISIL actually have quite a firm foundation in this effort because within the Black Supremacy movement that drives the protests there is the Nation of Islam who are easily identifiable by their natty red bow-ties, very camp marching and feverish anti-semitism. There is also the 5% Nation which teaches that 5% of black men and women have been chosen by Allah to rule over all other people on earth. The characters "Kareem Said" and "Supreme Allah" in the TV Show "Oz" give a pretty fair overview of their ideology. Both of these organisations are about as Islamic as ISIL.
At the root of the US' failure to fight ISIL is Obama's failure to seem them as a hate organisation that has flown in from across the globe to kill Shia Muslims. Instead he chooses to see them as a long suffering minority protesting against Shia oppression. Obama also seems to have similar problems identifying the rioters in his own country.
The US' big effort to disrupt SB42 though has been it's attempts to mount a coup within FIFA. As I've mentioned before the US' long-term objective here was to have Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan installed as FIFA President in order to strip Russia of the 2018 World Cup over it's opposition to ISIL and to prevent Qatar being stripped of the 2022 World Cup. Obviously this further illustrates the US' utter subservience to Saudi Arabia and Qatar which hardly builds confidence in UNFCCC circles.
Beyond that though football is truly a global sport followed by roughly half the earth's population. As result absolutely everybody has got an angle.
For example Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup because it was in the right timezone and its dilapidated football infrastructure provided ample opportunity for legacy building. The cherry on top though is that there is quite a serious problem of Nazism and neo-Nazism amongst Russian and eastern European football fans. Holding a World Cup in Russia would allow this to be put in the spotlight and tackled in the same way the 2014 Sochi Olympics were intended to tackle homophobia. Unfortunately since then the US has thrown it's full weight behind eastern Europe's Nazis and neo-Nazis. Despite their obligations under the Minsk agreement Ukraine has even gone so far as to pass a law that would make the criticism of Nazi and neo-Nazi football fans a specific criminal offence.
Then there is the UK which has managed to get this mad idea in its head that if Russia is stripped of the World Cup it will be hosted in Britain instead. Failing that the UK thinks it will be able to host a rival tournament when everyone boycotts the Russian World Cup. Back in 2013 the UK hosted the UEFA Champions League Final. Despite being fully sanctioned no-one wanted to play in this final and big team after big team crashed out in the earlier rounds. In the end it fell to two Germans teams to come over and put on a passable exhibition match before leaving quickly.
Within UEFA the closest thing the UK has to an ally is Micheal Platini - the President of the group - who is massively corrupt having accepted millions of dollars in bribes to get UEFA to vote for the 2022 World Cup to be held in Qatar. Platini wants the FIFA Presidency in order to increase the amount he can command in bribes. Although FIFA ballots are secret it is widely understood that Spain broke away from Platini and voted against Prince Ali. So at the French Open tennis tournament all the Spaniards have been knocked out to allow the French player Tsonga and the British player Murray to share the glory in the final after Murray knocks out Djokovic whose Serbia nationality allows him to sub for Russia.
In its efforts the UK has clearly subscribed to the old adage that "He who wields the knife doesn't get to wear the crown." So yesterday (3/6/15) they revealed that Nike's Oregon centre has been massively involved in doping within international athletics/Olympics. This is an attempt to separate the UK from the US Soccer Scandal by making it appear as if the UK is protesting against the US' actions.
Obviously with the UK viewing football as just another political metaphor it's battles with UEFA have quickly got tangled up with the UK's relationship with the European Union (EU). In turn this has got tangled up with the UK's desire to extend EU sanctions against Russia which expire at the end of this month.
So up until now I haven't been unable to get involved in SB42 because although I can pretty much do it without thinking the US Soccer Scandal is using up a lot of my time and energy.
15:05 on 4/6/15 (UK date).
Tuesday, 2 June 2015
The Day Football Died?
As I think has been widely - if incorrectly - reported last Wednesday (27/5/15) the US Department of Justice (DoJ) confirmed that soccer's Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Associations Football (CONCACAF) is massively corrupt.
For example their President Jack Warner is on record demanding that USD10million that should have been used to develop the game in South Africa instead be paid to him as a bribe. This is despite there being a general consensus within the game that 2010 was the year for the World Cup to be held for the first time on the continent where roughly 1/3rd of football fans live.
Then of course there is the US sportswear giant Nike. Due to their extensive use of child labour and sweatshops that has seen them at the forefront of Obama's "Pivot Towards the Pacific" and the lifting of sanctions on Burma and the associated Rohingya migrant crisis Nike have long been locked out of the FIFA family. Instead access to the eyes of roughly 3.5 billion fans has been granted to the much more ethical Adidas. The DoJ have helpfully detailed both Nike's frustration at this effective ban and their attempts to bribe their way around it.
As such I thought the obvious response to the DoJ's dawn raids would be for CONCACAF to be immediately suspended from all FIFA activities until the situation was resolved. It would then be up to the Central American and Caribbean nations to decide - on a case by case basis - whether they wished to remain within the federation or sign up with CONMEBOL - the South American federation.
In the meantime the suspension would mean that Canada would be unable to participate in the upcoming Womens World Cup that they are hosting. Team USA would also be unable to participate in a competition that they clearly value more then the mens alternative.
If the US then wanted to spend the time explaining in more detail why they are deemed unfit to participate they would be welcome to do so. Alternatively they could save up all their explanations for when they vote against a resolution to strip Qatar of the 2022 Mens World Cup.
Unfortunately FIFA's 79 year old President Sepp Blatter seems to be going soft in his old age so today resigned despite only being re-elected to the role last Friday (29/5/15). I get the impression of a man who is done fielding the slings and arrows of morons.
I am though deeply worried about the future of the game. After all the English FA seem to think that a Cup Final is something that can be decided by an "X-Factor" style phone vote. As such there is a very real danger that football will become just another highly choreographed affair like the Superbowl, the Olympics or Eurovision where nobody cares who's awarded victory provided the ruling elite get to have a jolly good discussion and the sponsors get to shift a lot of units.
19:40 on 2/6/15 (UK date).
For example their President Jack Warner is on record demanding that USD10million that should have been used to develop the game in South Africa instead be paid to him as a bribe. This is despite there being a general consensus within the game that 2010 was the year for the World Cup to be held for the first time on the continent where roughly 1/3rd of football fans live.
Then of course there is the US sportswear giant Nike. Due to their extensive use of child labour and sweatshops that has seen them at the forefront of Obama's "Pivot Towards the Pacific" and the lifting of sanctions on Burma and the associated Rohingya migrant crisis Nike have long been locked out of the FIFA family. Instead access to the eyes of roughly 3.5 billion fans has been granted to the much more ethical Adidas. The DoJ have helpfully detailed both Nike's frustration at this effective ban and their attempts to bribe their way around it.
As such I thought the obvious response to the DoJ's dawn raids would be for CONCACAF to be immediately suspended from all FIFA activities until the situation was resolved. It would then be up to the Central American and Caribbean nations to decide - on a case by case basis - whether they wished to remain within the federation or sign up with CONMEBOL - the South American federation.
In the meantime the suspension would mean that Canada would be unable to participate in the upcoming Womens World Cup that they are hosting. Team USA would also be unable to participate in a competition that they clearly value more then the mens alternative.
If the US then wanted to spend the time explaining in more detail why they are deemed unfit to participate they would be welcome to do so. Alternatively they could save up all their explanations for when they vote against a resolution to strip Qatar of the 2022 Mens World Cup.
Unfortunately FIFA's 79 year old President Sepp Blatter seems to be going soft in his old age so today resigned despite only being re-elected to the role last Friday (29/5/15). I get the impression of a man who is done fielding the slings and arrows of morons.
I am though deeply worried about the future of the game. After all the English FA seem to think that a Cup Final is something that can be decided by an "X-Factor" style phone vote. As such there is a very real danger that football will become just another highly choreographed affair like the Superbowl, the Olympics or Eurovision where nobody cares who's awarded victory provided the ruling elite get to have a jolly good discussion and the sponsors get to shift a lot of units.
19:40 on 2/6/15 (UK date).
The Breaking Bad Story.
Short version; I've finally got around to watching the US TV Show "Breaking Bad."
Slightly longer version; I got given the first three seasons of Breaking Bad on DVD for Christmas 2012 and almost immediately started watching them. One of the things that got everyone raving about the show is that rather then throwing in a new plot twist every 15 minutes or so to keep the audience interested it's not afraid to let the story develop slowly and at it's own pace. For example a 45 minute episode I saw recently was just two men locked in a room trying to catch a fly.
The problem is that immediately after I started watching it Israel held their 2013 General Election meaning that in real life there was a new plot twist emerging pretty much every 15 minutes. So I put the TV show to one side and started watching the election instead. By the time the election had finished I wanted to treat Breaking Bad with the respect it deserved by waiting until I'd forgotten the episodes I'd already seen before going back to the start. I sort of reached this point towards the end of 2014 just in time for Israel to call another election. In the meantime in April this year a UK TV channel started to show it all in order so I started watching it.
On the subject of being force fed classic TV shows five nights a week I'm still making my way through "Oz." I've just got up to the bit where the Chinese migrants had to be rescued after their boat sank. As a result the show's creator Tom Fontana is likely leaning back in his chair somewhere with his feet on the desk going;
"Yep. I'm that good."
15:45 on 2/7/15 (UK date).
Slightly longer version; I got given the first three seasons of Breaking Bad on DVD for Christmas 2012 and almost immediately started watching them. One of the things that got everyone raving about the show is that rather then throwing in a new plot twist every 15 minutes or so to keep the audience interested it's not afraid to let the story develop slowly and at it's own pace. For example a 45 minute episode I saw recently was just two men locked in a room trying to catch a fly.
The problem is that immediately after I started watching it Israel held their 2013 General Election meaning that in real life there was a new plot twist emerging pretty much every 15 minutes. So I put the TV show to one side and started watching the election instead. By the time the election had finished I wanted to treat Breaking Bad with the respect it deserved by waiting until I'd forgotten the episodes I'd already seen before going back to the start. I sort of reached this point towards the end of 2014 just in time for Israel to call another election. In the meantime in April this year a UK TV channel started to show it all in order so I started watching it.
On the subject of being force fed classic TV shows five nights a week I'm still making my way through "Oz." I've just got up to the bit where the Chinese migrants had to be rescued after their boat sank. As a result the show's creator Tom Fontana is likely leaning back in his chair somewhere with his feet on the desk going;
"Yep. I'm that good."
15:45 on 2/7/15 (UK date).
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