[Publish Date updated to restore to front page]
Okay as an experiment here it is. Discuss your favourite generals here!
Well perhaps… Really this is simply the place to post news-items, fun-items or whatever takes your fancy. In short just post what you want here.
It’s just another wee experiment – comments welcome.
Squonk.
[Image: General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett (Stephen Fry)]
s/be….for the Palestinians
Mary: Best wishes for your recovery, may it be complete and speedy.
You might be interested in Roger Waters position on performing in Israel, as explained to Bon Jovi who apparently saw nothing wrong with that wretched apartheid state:
Often in the past I have written detailed, and sometimes even persuasive, letters to colleagues in the music business, encouraging them not to give succor to the Israeli government’s apartheid policies by performing in Israel. Having read Jon’s comments last week in Yedioth Ahronoth, I won’t waste my time drawing parallels with Apartheid South Africa and the moral stand that so many artists took then and that thousands are taking now in the face of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.
It continues:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/roger-waters-slams-bon-jovi-over-israel-concert-in-open-letter-20151002
Mary, while I was at the boat-builders’ workshop in Palnackie I met an interesting young woman from Syria; a metal worker, welder, and sculptor in her 30s, her mother is Syrian and her father German, most of her family being in Syria.
I tried to talk to her, to discover first-hand news of the situation there, but she refused to discuss it saying that she finds it too distressing to talk about. All she’d say was that it’s violent bloody mayhem, and that everyone has an agenda. By ‘everyone’ it was pretty clear that she meant governments and other powerful entities.
I asked her how others could best help, and she replied ‘take more refugees’.
Mary, sorry to learn that you’re still suffering problems; I do hope matters improve. Thanks for your concern about me. Craig, Nadira, Jamie and our very own Squonk were all very supportive, as were some others, including Dayo who posted here and others who know me in Essex.
“As I see it, little peace and light in the Middle East for the people in Syria and Yemen living under the USUKIsNATO bombs and missiles and none for the Palestine still living under a cruel occupation 69 years on”.
_____________________
2016 minus 69 years gives us 1947. Hence the author of the above thinks that Palestine (“the” Palestine? Does it mean “Palestine” or “the Palestinians”?) has been under occupation since 1947, ie, since the foundation of the State of Israel.
Now that’s quite a statement.
Had it said some Palestinians have been under” cruel occupation” since 1967, one could accept that as a n expression of a political position shared by many respectable people.
However, to say that Palestine has been under “cruel occupation” since 1947 is the sort of discourse normally voiced by people who believe that the State of Israel has no right to exist, or, to put it more bluntly, that “Israel should be thrown into the sea”
Or more likely Habbbakuk that’s just your paranoid interpretation. I’m fairly sure you genuinely believe it in your own head though.
Squonk
“Or more likely Habbbakuk that’s just your paranoid interpretation. I’m fairly sure you genuinely believe it in your own head though.”
__________________
You may be right, Squonk. But I’d be interested to hear what would be your interpretation of Mary’s comment that “.. the[sic – possibly] Palestine still living under a cruel occupation 69 years on”?
In Albert Einstein’s words
http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/einstein/nyt_orig.html
Letters to the Editor
New York Times
December 4, 1948
TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES:
Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine.
The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States. Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughoutthe world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents.
Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin’s behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement. The public avowals of Begin’s party are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.
Attack on Arab Village
A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants ? 240men, women, and children – and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin. The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party.
Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority.
====
More at link http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/einstein/nyt_orig.html
Squonk
Before I reply to you in more detail, can you confirm that – despite the way you’ve presented it – Einstein’s letter did not contain the section starting with the title “Attack on Arab village”?
Thank you.
Yes it did. I gave a link to a scan of it. All copies or transcriptions on the web contain that section.
Here’s another https://archive.org/details/AlbertEinsteinLetterToTheNewYorkTimes.December41948
Why do you think otherwise?
And here it is on Wikipedia which also has a scan of the letter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionist_political_violence
You know I sometimes wonder if Habbakuk isn’t actually an opponent of Israeli expansionism, playing devil’s advocate fully expecting his arguments to be demolished…
Squonk (copy to Clark)
You called my interpretation(18h05) of Mary’s post “paranoid”.
Your only response to my questionabout how you yourself would in that case interpret her comment that “the Palestine [is]still living under a cruel occupation 69 years on” is to quote extracts from a December 1948 letter from Einstein to the NYT condemning Menachem Begin and his new party as fascist and instancing Deir Yassin as an example of that fascism.
No reasonable reader would accept that as an answer to my question.
Would you like to have another go at answering?
+++++++++++++++++++
In case your you will say that it is not for you to interpret Mary’s comment, I will ask you the same question that underlay my interpretation of Mary’s comment: do YOU believe that Israel has the right to exist?
Don’t be shy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes I do.
Personally I’d have been minded to give part of Germany as a Jewish homeland after WW2. Germans would not have been in a position to resist.
However Israel is where it is and I accept it is staying there. That doesn’t mean I have to like certain Israeli policies.
I think that states only earn a conditional right to exist by how well they serve and/or treat people, both inside and outside their boundaries.
It may be argued that Israel is serving some Israelis well. However, a glance through the columns of the Israeli tabloids reveal that a large proportion of the population are acutely xenophobic and paranoid – these are unhealthy traits; Israel has let these people down. A similar accusation could be leveled at Hamas in Gaza, but the point is moot since Israel wields disproportionate power over Gaza.
Actually, the state that has come closest to sudden gratuitous existence failure recently is the United Kingdom.
Ukraine and Syria both have serious existence challenges. Israel looks pretty damn secure by comparison, with all that US “military aid” propping it up.
The Difference between Brutish… And down right EVIL – 2915 – THREE TIMES they committed the WAR CRIME of Spraying Palestinian Crops
” If in recent times, a larger fraction of these incidents is violent, it’s the blowback from the brutish fanaticism currently plaguing the Arab-Muslim world. If the goal is to contain these spurts of anti-Semitism, the prudent thing would be for Israel to cease carrying out massacres or just stop calling itself a Jewish state, or for official Jewish organizations in the diaspora to cease defending Israel’s criminal actions. It surely hasn’t helped matters that Netanyahu has now donned the mantle of “representative of the entire Jewish people.”[2] When Muslim youths in Europe take him at his word, and exact revenge on those whom he claims to represent, it is not right, but it’s not surprising either. Meanwhile, in the face of the alleged “new anti-Semitism” scourge, Netanyahu has been prodding Europe’s endangered Jewish species to migrate to the safe shores of their homeland in Israel. But it’s hard to make out the sense of this counsel if, also according to him, the Jewish state confronts the imminent prospect of a “second Holocaust” from Iran.”
Read more at:https://www.byline.com/project/13/article/673
The Difference between Brutish… And down right EVIL – 2015 – THREE TIMES they committed the WAR CRIME of Spraying Palestinian Crops
” If in recent times, a larger fraction of these incidents is violent, it’s the blowback from the brutish fanaticism currently plaguing the Arab-Muslim world. If the goal is to contain these spurts of anti-Semitism, the prudent thing would be for Israel to cease carrying out massacres or just stop calling itself a Jewish state, or for official Jewish organizations in the diaspora to cease defending Israel’s criminal actions. It surely hasn’t helped matters that Netanyahu has now donned the mantle of “representative of the entire Jewish people.”[2] When Muslim youths in Europe take him at his word, and exact revenge on those whom he claims to represent, it is not right, but it’s not surprising either. Meanwhile, in the face of the alleged “new anti-Semitism” scourge, Netanyahu has been prodding Europe’s endangered Jewish species to migrate to the safe shores of their homeland in Israel. But it’s hard to make out the sense of this counsel if, also according to him, the Jewish state confronts the imminent prospect of a “second Holocaust” from Iran.”
Read more at:https://www.byline.com/project/13/article/673
Thank goodness that Obama held his cool when the military-led Pentagon tried to set up the Iranians as the fall guys for intercepting US Navy boats for intruding into Iranian waters.
The US military war-makers thought that their Iranian captors, especially the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, would go berserk when the 10 Americans appeared, but they kept their cool, preventing any “January surprise” which would have threatened the nuclear arms settlement.
As a result, the President merely alluded vaguely what is currently transpiring.
Obama is certainly the best of a bad bunch!
Squonk
“Yes I do”
____________________
Well, that’s clear enough. Thank you for answering without the equivocations used by some others on CM (eg, Mr Scorgie, whose answer went along the lines of “Yes but not as a self=proclaimed “Jewish state”). I like honesty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Personally I’d have been minded to give part of Germany as a Jewish homeland after WW2. Germans would not have been in a position to resist.”
___________________
I’ve heard that before and there were some voices in the aftermath of WW2 who advanced the same idea. The big snag there was that the Jews who survived the Holocaust would not have entertained the idea – for rather obvious reasons, I’d say.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“However Israel is where it is and I accept it is staying there. That doesn’t mean I have to like certain Israeli policies.”
___________________
I agree with both sentences: accepting the right of Israel to exist certainly does not mean that you have to like all of its policies.
+++++++++++++++++
I’m happy we managed to have a polite and quite fruitful conversation.
“I agree with both sentences: accepting the right of Israel to exist certainly does not mean that you have to like all of its policies.”
Do you accept the right of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and other countries have a right to return to the land their forefathers lived on and worked for centuries?
Or does the invented right of an invented country supersede all other human rights?
Habby/Squonk
Glad to observe that exchange.
People with narrow, one-sided views do not realise that they only serve to strengthen the conflict. I am not even aware of what the precise view of the Palestinians of the ‘ideal’ resolution is, especially if their is unanimous view from their power-structure???
Habby can we not now see you at CM’s as well?
Thx Squonk for hosting.
BrianFujisan, January 10, 2016 at 10:07 pm : ANY OF YOU SCIFI ONES Read the Follow up to ‘ Rendezvous With Rama’
I read “Rama 11”. It was OK but disappointing. Another Raman craft turns up in the solar system a few decades later when humans are more technologically advanced. They are able to explore the huge cylinder world more thoroughly but the action is centred about humans and their wicked ways rather than about new hard science. Arthur C Clarke gives you big ideas – hard SF. Gentry Lee gives you characterisation – soft SF.
I read the follow-up as well, “Garden of Rama”, but it was even more of the same (wishy washy – if I want love stories, I’ll read Mills and Boon) so I didn’t bother with the third one, “Rama Revealed” (I bet it wasn’t).
If you haven’t read “Childhood’s End” yet, I’d recommend it for Arthur C. Clarke fans. My favourite current authors are Neal Asher for fast action, and Greg Egan for big ideas.
Fred; seconded. Well asked.
Rama was somewhat disappointing but Childhood’s End is on par with Heinlien’s ‘Stranger in a strange land’ if not superior.
i’ll order Childhoods end in a few minits…Good to see ya back Ben..a Safe 2016 to ya … And thanks for Rama feed back..
And to you too Node… Cheers.. I’ll give the follow up’s a miss methinks…I’ve been wondering where i put this one –
http://www.patrick-tilley.com/fadeout/index.php
Great read
P.s.. Sorry for Dupelicate Posts Squonk..was having Computer Glitches..and had No edit button..I think all is well noo..At least the Correction Button is Back 🙂
Seems that the intrusion of two US Navy small craft into Iranian waters around Farsi island was intended as a replay the IDF’s attack on the intruding USS Liberty when it was witnessing off Sinai its massacre of Egyptian prisoners during the 1968 war.
This time the Iranian Revolutionary Guards would play the IDF’s role, and it would go bonkers when it discovered the intruders, resulting in the sailors murder, and Washington not only quashing the nuclear arms deal, but also bombing its nuclear facilitates.
Fortunately, Tehran suspected the set up, and reacted with the greatest restraint.
The trouble for Washington is that the spokesman for the covert fiasco indicated so, apologizing to the Irainians for mistakenly intruding into their waters.
Now Washington is denying that there was any kind of mistake, and apology.
Seems it’s gearing up to throw the book at the leaker.
Gwad What noo
6.7 quake hits northern Japan
https://www.rt.com/news/328826-japan-hokkaido-coast-quake/
Ben, good to see you commenting here again.
Node, good to see you here, too.
Now the Pentagon, CNN, and other right-wingers are claiming that the Iranians violated the Geneva Convention when they assured the intruding sailors while taking their pictures that they would be alright instead of being shot like sitting ducks as their bosses wanted and intended!
It’s just a propaganda effort of putting the cart before the horse as the Geneva Convention only applies to prisoners of war which the Pentagon hoped to achieve by setting up Tehran in the hope it would start one.
Washington is the biggest terror state in the world, even outdoing Isis.
Thats For sure Trow..But they Created Isis in the first place..Like uk, they aid and abet Israeli war crimes.. the uk aint far behind the.U.S
Anyhoo… i popped for matters of Science.. including some comments on Nukes..Amazing footage here of some Giants in their fields –
Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Arthur C. Clarke – God, The Universe and
Everything Else (1988) –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKQQAv5svkk
Now Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian has been freed in a spy swap, showing that he was a spy all along.
This just shows again how corrupt the Western media is.
Jason collected photographic and verbal information about Iranian secret facilities, especially about its missile and nuclear underground ones, which is so important when using space weapons to destroy them through openings which give them access to them.
Such information was so successful in attacking Chinese ones in Sichuan and Eastern Yunnan.
SpaceX rocket launch at 6:42pm UK time Live video below.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jason-3-satellite-prepared-for-launch
In the SpaceX Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Jason-3 satellite is prepared for encapsulation in its payload faring. Jason-3 is an international partnership consisting of NOAA, NASA, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales – France’s space agency – and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. Thales Alenia of France built the spacecraft. Liftoff of Jason-3 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for the opening of a 30-second launch window at 10:42:18 a.m. PST (1:42 EST) on Sunday, Jan. 17 from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The Jason-3 mission will continue U.S.-European satellite measurements of the topography of the ocean surface. It will continue the ability to monitor and precisely measure global sea surface heights, monitor the intensification of tropical cyclones and support seasonal and coastal forecasts. Jason-3 data also will benefit fisheries management, marine industries and research into human impacts on the world’s oceans. The mission is planned to last at least three years, with a goal of five years.
http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv
Craig’s down?
Appears that way to me too Clark, although been working smoothly and I left a comment a couple of hours ago…
Hope you’re well Clark
Take care
I’ve raised the alarm and the outage is hopefully being investigated.
Villager, thanks. I’m improving; not coughing nearly as much and my back is now giving only moderate pain – which is a blessed relief! And thanks for the info about Craig’s site; nice to know it hadn’t been down all night.
Thanks Clark and glad to hear you’re getting better.
Please consider my advice of early to bed and early to rise. It can do wonders in getting the body properly rested and back to balance.
All good wishes!
Sounds nice but it has too many interests which serve space and underwater warfare like measuring the topography of sea depths, monitoring precisely the sea heights globally, keeping track of cyclones, etc.
Sounds just like the ways to help the Pentagon sock it to China, North Korea and Russia, countries known for their vulnerable sea coasts..
There appears to be trouble at t’mill (CM) – is it the unions or the management.
Craig’s blog should be back soon with any luck as far as I understand. Issue is with servers at provider.
Cheers Bri and Clark. I really should get back to reading dead trees. There is something more satisfying about holding print in hand, than the eye-strain of PDF’s.
Hi Habby
It’s good to see you back at Craig’s. It’s also good that you are pointing out the various abuse that is hurled at you there so that the Moderators have a better bearing and overview of what really goes on. I hope it’s easier for them to see the root of things given your absence.
I think if the word troll was banned, commenters deprived of that would have to work harder in getting their points across, which would only be a good thing. Real trolls can easily be spotted, and dealt with, by the Mods directly.
All the best.
Thank you, Villager, that was gracious of you.
You make a couple of very important points.
Firstly: ” it’s easier for them[ie, the Mods] to see the root of things given your absence”
That is absolutely correct. The contents of the latest thread during the period of my absence were instructive. Even more instructive are the contents after I returned (despite my non-provocative and polite approach).
Secondly: ” I think if the word troll was banned, commenters deprived of that would have to work harder in getting their points across, which would only be a good thing. ”
Again, correct. But the word “troll” is only one of the many insult words with which certain posters replace reasoned refutation of most of the points I make.
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More generally: all of the “Magnificent Twelve” together with a number of their hangers-on whom I once identified (listed) as being responsible for at least 80% of the traffic on CM can be put into one of several specific categories. I shall not set out all of those categories here but two significant ones are:
– the bored jokers (example “RobG”, who sounds almost normal on his own blog but comes across as very silly (and repetitive) on CM;
– those who are, clearly. deeply troubled psychologically (example Giyane and Fedup, for whom posting on CM is probably a form of outdoor therapy…but evidently not very successful one).
++++++++++++++++++++++++
All the best to you too!
Squonk
Thanks for that. I hope it will be enough to convince certain posters that it wasn’t an attack by MI5/MI6/GCHQ/CIA/Mossad/assorted Trolls/whoever their Demon of the Week is……
Villager be a good chap and stop felching habby – save some for anon1 and the other feeders… 🙂
Thanks Habby.
To the second category, add someone beginning with the letter E. Then we have EFG which is easier to recall. 😉
PS Squonk apologies if there are unillumined wazzocks here that are ready to pollute your sweet little uncorrupted blog. Some of these conspiraloons just don’t have the finer sensibilities to recognise that you do us a service and a favour. All the best to you and I hope you are keeping well despite the winter!
Pot, kettle, etc.
I’m certainly deeply psychologically troubled. Craig, of course, is bipolar. A good society is an inclusive society; “it takes all sorts”.
As I understand it there have been multiple issues impacting Craig’s blog recently. These range from bot to service provider hardware issues to other. As I further understand it none of these issues are fatal to the blog or anywhere near it .
As as long time friend of Craig’s, that’s a quick summary. Craig’s temporary absence is because he is busy. He will be back and will have more to say. The blog’s not going away!
Thanks 🙂