Tag Archives: Across the Pond

National Insecurity

Marching through Georgia

Georgia: Russia enters into ‘war’ in South Ossetia

If there is anyplace on the planet with as intricate a set of blood-feuds, ethno-political complications, and a potential for generating mayhem on a massive scale as the Balkans, it’s the Caucasus. This is where Russia, Iran, Turkey, and numerous smaller nations and ethnic identities all are cheek-by-jowl, and many dislike if not hate each other, and have done so for centuries.

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The current events there are the latest manifiestation of this…although the situation is greatly complicated a Cold War II geopolitical calculus that has Georgia, which had been aligned to seek NATO membership musch to Russias displeasure, and which has a pipeline terminus that allows central Asian gas to by-pass Russia on its way to Europe, under attack by Russia for seeking to assert sovereignty over part of its own recognized territory opposed to an ethnic minority that looks to Russia for protection.

This is also taking place in the context of Russian threatened “bomber rattling” – floating ideas to place supersonic nuke bombers in Cuba and Venezuela, to threaten…guess who…as possible paybacks for preceding with missile defense against possible Iranian ballistic missiles. Phew! That’s a LOT on the geopolitical platter at one time.

Over 1,300 people are reported dead after Russian forces responded to a Georgian attack on rebels in the breakaway province of South Ossetia by mounting a full scale invasion. Columns of Russian tanks plunged the two neighbours into war as they filed into South Ossetia, marking the Kremlin’s first military assault on foreign soil since the Soviet Union’s Afghanistan intevention, which ended in 1989.

Russian tanks rolled towards the capital of South Ossetia and fighters bombed Georgian air bases after Georgia launched attacks on rebels in the breakaway region. South Ossetia won de-facto independence in a war which ended in 1992 but has been a source of tension ever since, along with Abkhazia, another separatist region.

The only light note in the situation, is the assurance that Atlanta will be safe…unless we learn that the Russians have a general named Sherman.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

More Notes on Cold War-II

Putin says Russia needs to go back to Cuba

This goes along with previous posting here, talking about Soviet…er…Russian talk about moving nuclear bombers to Cuba and Venezuela.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday said it was time for Russia to rebuild links with former Cold War ally Cuba, news agencies reported.

The Kremlin is angry at U.S. plans for a missile defence system in Eastern Europe, and last month a news report suggested Russia might use Cuba, a thorn in America’s side for half a century, as a refueling stop for nuclear-capable bombers.

Keep your powder dry.

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Passing of a Titan: R.I.P. Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Russians mourn dissident hero Solzhenitsyn

The Chief has read everything by Solzhenitsyn that he could get his hands on…both in the 60’s and (early) 70’s when he was “cool”, and later when he spoke out against the “Evil Empire” as it was spotlighted by Reagan…and therefore became “un-cool”, at least to the MSM.

Russians on Monday mourned Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the author and dissident whose criticism of the tyranny of Soviet rule made him one of the bravest figures of the 20th century. Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel literature laureate, died of heart failure late on Sunday in his Moscow home. He was 89.

It’s worth noting that Aleksander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn’s passing has generated a further piece of irony:

“The death of Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn is a heavy loss for the whole of Russia,” said a telegram from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a former agent with the KGB security service that led the persecution campaign against Solzhenitsyn.

It’ll be a long while before there’s another Russian writer of the stature of Solzhenitsyn again. The Chief would place him in a league with Tolstoy, and Doesteyevsky.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

Cold War II?

US general warns Russia on nuclear bombers in Cuba

The Chief has been on the road for about the last 10 days for a summer teachers’ institute for a program called Teaching American History. As part of the program, the group had the chance to visit a number of SD historic sites. One of these was a Minuteman Missile site in western South Dakota, which is preserved (without a live missile, of course) as a site and artifact of historical significance in the context of the Cold War.

Very interesting to see, and contemplate the destructive energy that was (and still is to a lesser degree) ready to be unleased if required by the US and USSR if there was a REALLY bad day.

Now comes this little reminder that those sorts of concerns are, or certainly should be, still part of the international landscape.

Russia would cross “a red line for the United States of America” if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday. “If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America,” said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force’s chief of staff.

He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis. It was unclear from the report whether that would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refueling stop. In his confirmation hearing to become the air force’s chief of staff, Schwartz was asked what he would recommend if Russia were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba.

“I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach,” he said.

The newspaper Iszvestia on Monday cited an unnamed senior Russian air force official in Moscow as saying that Russia may start regular flights by long-range bombers to Cuba in response to US plans to install a missile defense system in eastern Europe.

A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the Russian report because there had been no “official response from the Russian government.”

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A Clean Sweep

Caught on camera: The moment a fearless grandmother used a broom to fight off hammer-wielding robbers raiding her shop

This is a really good one!

Armed with claw hammers, two hooded youths walk brazenly into a convenience store for an early morning robbery. But as these astonishing CCTV images show, they hadn’t reckoned on bumping into shop assistant Ann Withers – who brushed away their violent crime using a broom. The brave 55-year-old grandmother grabbed her weapon of choice and battered the hooded duo into submission, forcing them to flee empty-handed.

Determination and righteous indignation trumps thuggery.

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French Cooking, Again

SUMMER BARBECUE SEASON UNDERWAY!

…Sarko Had Better Bully France’s Thugs

In my previous post I mentioned that 297 cars had burned during the night of July 13-14. Now it seems that another 295 were torched the following night, making a total of 592 cars destroyed – 150 in Ile-de-France (the Parisian region) and 145 in the provinces. In addition, 98 persons were arrested and 58 were placed in custody in all of France. The figures just for Ile-de-France are 48 arrests and 29 in custody.

However the worst crime so far took place in Asnières, in the department of Hauts-de-Seine (Parisian suburbs). TF1 reports:

He may lose an eye. On the night of July 13-14, a police commissioner was injured by a pyrotechnical device during a confrontation between young persons and the police. “The wound is extremely serious,” according to a police source.

The commissioner, about 30, was visibly wounded by the ricochet of the pyrotechnical device while violent confrontations between about 50 young persons and the police were taking place in the northern neighborhoods, considered dangerous [“sensibles”], of Asnières. The commissioner received a visit on Monday from Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie.

The socialist mayor of Asnières, Sébastien Pietrasanta, called these confrontations “extremely serious”, and spoke of gangs of “well-prepared and hooded” young persons who attacked anyone and anything that represented order and institutions.” According to a source at the office of District Attorney [“parquet”] of Nanterre, these were” blatant acts of urban violence, an unprecedented violence, premeditated,” that pitted “from 30 to 60 persons” against the forces of order.

Thr Frogs are continuing to have some real problems. One wonders if/when they’ll find a bit of elan again, and start to take control of their own country.

Culture Wars

British Wisdom & Warning

Totalitarianism in the United States of America in 2009?

Paul Marks at Samizdata has a strongly cautionary note on how things have been developing here for some time. This is well worth the read.

…and his point is:

“But why should non-Americans care what happens in the United States?”

Because the brutal truth is that neither Britain or any other part of the West can stand if America falls – there is not, and can not be, any Plan B.

He has, as the saying goes, reason.

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…Another big DUH!

Higher CO2 levels may be good for plants: German scientists

The dangerous rise in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may be troubling scientists and world leaders but it could prove to be a boon for plants, German researchers said Tuesday. Increasing exposure to carbon dioxide appears to boost crop yields, Hans-Joachim Weigel of the Johann Heinrich von Thuenen Institute for rural areas, forestry and fisheries in the central city of Brunswick told AFP.

The Chief has been teaching high school science for 25 years. Allow a BRIEF summary of some truly BASIC biochemistry:

Plants are CARBON-based life forms. They gain most of their CARBON out of the atmosphere in the form of CARBON dioxide, and then via photosynthesis assemble this CARBON into CARBOhydrate in the form of glucose sugar, which provides the energy basis for our life on Earth.

In other words, CARBON dioxide is the primary building material plants use for production of food and ultimately everything else they make like proteins, nucleic acids, starches, cellulose, and any other carbohydrates like fructose, sucrose, etc. all of which are once again (this IS the important point) CARBON BASED, with the CARBON coming from CARBON dioxide.

So exactly why these German scientists are announcing this as a significant scientific discovery, somewhat baffles the Chief.

No wonder we won the war!

Culture Wars

Brit Food Kommisars Established to Monitor Kids Eating

Toddlers who dislike spicy food ‘racist’

The National Children’s Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care. This could include a child of as young as three who says “yuk” in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food.

HUH? Do any of the Brit moonbats that cooked this one up have any kids? Kids ALWAYS express dislike for some foods…and guess what, cultural origins have nothing to do with it. They need to take some deep breaths, relax, and get a life started over there.

The 366-page guide for staff in charge of pre-school children, called Young Children and Racial Justice, warns: “Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships.” It advises nursery teachers to be on the alert for childish abuse such as: “blackie”, “Pakis”, “those people” or “they smell”. The guide goes on to warn that children might also “react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying ‘yuk'”.

Staff are told: “No racist incident should be ignored. When there is a clear racist incident, it is necessary to be specific in condemning the action.” Warning that failing to pick children up on their racist attitudes could instil prejudice, the NCB adds that if children “reveal negative attitudes, the lack of censure may indicate to the child that there is nothing unacceptable about such attitudes”.

This is such a degree of surveillance it can only be described as totalitarian.

Nurseries are encouraged to report as many incidents as possible to their local council. The guide added: “Some people think that if a large number of racist incidents are reported, this will reflect badly on the institution. In fact, the opposite is the case.”

This reads almost exactly like stuff about the old Cheka/NKVD/KGB as described in Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago. Based on that, can quotas for mimimum numbers of reports be far behind?

China Watch

Oil Price Crunches Globalist Trade Pattern

Oil price shock means China is at risk of blowing up

The Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is one of the sharpest reporters around, and has been for some time. He describes a very interesting situation.

The great oil shock of 2008 is bad enough for us. It poses a mortal threat to the whole economic strategy of emerging Asia. The manufacturing revolution of China and her satellites has been built on cheap transport over the past decade. At a stroke, the trade model looks obsolete….

Can you say “schadenfreude“?

“The monumental energy price increases will be a ‘game-changer’ for Asia,” said Stephen Jen, currency chief at Morgan Stanley. The region’s trade model is about to be “stress-tested”.

Energy subsidies have disguised the damage. China has held down electricity prices, though global coal costs have tripled since early 2007. Loss-making industries are being propped up. This merely delays trouble. “The true impact of the shock will only be revealed over time, as subsidies are gradually rolled back,” he said. Last week, China raised internal rail freight rates by 17pc.

BP ‘s Statistical Review says China’s use of energy per unit of gross domestic product is three times that of the US, five times Japan’s, and eight times Britain’s. China’s factories “were not built with current energy levels in mind”, said Mr Jen. The outcome will be “non-linear”. My translation: China is at risk of blowing up.

Non-linear…as in jagged, or sharp and sudden, not smooth and gradual.

Any low-tech product shipped in bulk – furniture, say, or shoes – is facing the ever-rising tariff of high freight costs. The Asian outsourcing game is over, says CIBC World Markets. “It’s not just about labour costs any more: distance costs money,” says chief economist Jeff Rubin. Xinhua says that 2,331 shoe factories in Guangdong have shut down this year, half the total.

North Carolina’s furniture industry is coming back from the dead as companies shut plant in China. “We’re getting hit with increases up and down the system. It’s changing the whole equation of where we produce,” said Craftsmaster Furniture.

It’s an ill wind indeed that blows no good!

Evans-Pritchard concludes with a turn of phrase that is well worth some serious contemplation, as it cuts to the real heart of the matter IMHO:

Come what may, globalisation has passed its high-water mark. The pendulum will now swing back from China to America. The mercantilists will have to reinvent themselves.

Interesting times, indeed!

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Brit Religious Freedom? Not in school anymore.

Schoolboys punished with detention for refusing to kneel in class and pray to Allah

Yet more stomach-turning politically correct moonbattery from Britain.

Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and ‘pray to Allah’ during a religious education lesson. Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped. They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent – which included wearing Muslim headgear – was a breach of their human rights.

D’ya think? FORCING participation in prayer…in someone ELSE’S religion? Of course this couldn’t happen here, could it?

(Oh, it already did? In California – of course – and with nary a squawk out of the ACLU.

One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: “This isn’t right, it’s taking things too far. “I understand that they have to learn about other religions. I can live with that but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn’t join in Muslim prayer. Making them pray to Allah, who isn’t who they worship, is wrong and what got me is that they were told they were being disrespectful.”

HUH? The kids were disrespectful?

What about the *$%@&*# teacher being respectful of the (non-Moslem) students own religious views?

The idiocy here boggles the mind.

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Columbian Narcoterrs Embarassed

Colombian rebels tricked into freeing hostage Ingrid Betancourt

Ingrid Betancourt, who has been held hostage by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels for six years, has been freed in a cunning military operation in the Colombian jungle.

Colombian security forces rescued the French-Colombian politician, 11 Colombian police and three US intelligence operatives in an operation in the eastern jungle province of Guaviare which saw the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) lose their negotiating trump cards.

Read the story…it sounds like an operation out of a Tom Clancy scenario…except this time for real!

Score this one for the good guys, for sure!

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Triumph of Thuggery

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Official: Mugabe wins re-election after opposition pulls out

Zimbabwe opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said Sunday he would not participate in Friday’s presidential runoff, provoking dismay from international observers and handing an apparent victory to President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai said his Movement for Democratic Change party decided to pull out of the vote because of violence and arrests targeting his party and its supporters. “A free and fair election is impossible,” Tsvangirai told reporters Sunday. “We in the MDC have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate … sham of an election process.”

It’s a real shame what’s happened in Zimbabwe. It’s potentially one of the most productive areas in Africa…but under the mis-rule of Mugabe, the country is verging on famine, and has an inflation rate that is so high and out of control (tens of 1000’s % OR MORE!) that there is literally no way to accurately determine it.

Culture Wars

Church of England: Still Alive & Kicking

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Church attacks Labour for betraying Christians

The policies of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have helped to generate a spiritual, civic and economic crisis in Britain, according to an important Church of England report.

WHAT? Ingsoc is spiritually deficient?

Labour is failing society and lacks the vision to restore a sense of British identity, the report says in the Church’s strongest attack on the Government for decades. It accuses the Government of “deep religious illiteracy” and of having “no convincing moral direction”.

No moral direction? Religious illiteracy? DUH! Somehow they must have stumbled into range of getting clotted by ye olde cluebat.

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The Road to Serfdom via Bureaucracy

E-who? The EU power game has begun

The more the Chief watches the EU political machinations, the more queasy the stomach gets.

This account of the sort of political dealing going on surrounding the EU should seem familiar to one familiar with history…similarly complex dealing is an old Euro tradition…the Borgias, deMedicis, Hapsburgs, and the Court of Louis XiV at Versaille all too readily come to mind as precedents of the type. Of course there ARE differences, obviously…this stuff is more reminescent of more recent efforts at Europen unification that took place in the 30’s-40’s.

On the other hand, the former examples of this sort of back-channel political intrigue were in essence family enterprises,,,and in that way at least still had a touch of humanity involved, unlike the administrative regime that is currently evolving in a direction that seem to lead in the direction of the soul-less administrative self-absorption of latter-day Adolf Eichmanns.

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New Atrocity Charges Involving Serbs – Oooops! The Serbs were the victims!

Serb prisoners ‘were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war’

This is REALLY ghoulish:

Serb prisoners had their internal organs removed and sold by ethnic Albanians during the Kosovo war, according to allegations in a new book by the world’s best known war crimes prosecutor.

Carla Del Ponte, who stepped down in January as chief prosecutor at the Hague tribunal for crimes committed in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, said investigators found a house suspected of being a laboratory for the illegal trade.

A senior adviser to Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s prime minister and a leading member of the Kosovo Liberation Army which is accused of benefiting from the trade, yesterday denied the allegations.

Naturally.

According to the sources, senior figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army were aware of the scheme, in which hundreds of young Serbs were allegedly taken by truck from Kosovo to northern Albania where their organs were removed. Miss Del Ponte provides grim details of the alleged organ harvesting, and of how some prisoners were sewn up after having kidneys removed.

“The victims, deprived of a kidney, were then locked up again, inside the barracks, until the moment they were killed for other vital organs. In this way, the other prisoners were aware of the fate that awaited them, and according to the source, pleaded, terrified, to be killed immediately,” Miss Del Ponte writes.

The claims in The Hunt: Me and War Criminals have renewed tensions between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo, which declared independence two months ago. In it, the Swiss ex-prosecutor reveals how her efforts to bring alleged war criminals to justice were stymied by lack of co-operation from all sides – Serb, Albanian and even Nato.

Hmmmmm. Remember those evil (CHristian) Serbs, abusing the innocent (Moslem) Kosovar Albanians meriting the military wrath of NATO during Pres. Bubba Clinton’s “Wag the Dog” episode in response to Monicagate?

Maybe the Serbs had a point in not wanting the Kosovars around.

As for the Moslem Kosovars and what brings to mind a certain Dr. Josef Mengele of the unlamented 3rd Reich, perhaps it’s worth recalling that the literal Arabic translation of Mein Kampf is, al-Jihad.

By the way…this sort of stuff is why I HATE the use of terms like “human resources”. THIS is an ultimate form of utilization of humans as a resource…literally. Whether it’s the old Nazi fascism, the Kosovars’ modern repeat performance of it, or for that matter the modern “liberal” and their advocacy of pre-natal infanticide, it’s all just a different face of the same type of ultimate evil.

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Mugabe Election Fix Fails

ZIMBABWE VOTES TO LIVE

It takes a special kind of dictator to fix an election – and still lose.

Yet that’s exactly what seems to have happened to Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, whose 28-year reign of terror has dragged a nation once known as Africa’s breadbasket to the brink of starvation.

Voters went to the polls Saturday for elections that no one of sound mind thought would turn out to be free or fair. Still, the Zimbabwe Election Commission revealed yesterday that Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party has lost control of parliament for the first time since 1980.

You’ve GOT to hope that Mugabe and his thugs are somehow ousted, once and for all. NOBODY deserves what he’s done.

Space Patrol

Who’s on First? The Doctor is In!

The stars line up for Doctor Who

‘You know, as an actor, the things to do here are to play at the National, open at the West End, do a BBC film that’s so good it’s really a quality movie – and be in Doctor Who?!” says Michael Brandon, the American actor and committed anglophile who gave us Jerry Springer on stage and Dempsey of Dempsey and Makepeace on TV. He’s not joking: a guest role in the new, regenerated Doctor Who, the fourth series of which begins tomorrow, has become, if not quite the holy grail of the thespian world, then certainly an acting badge of honour.

Interesting. The Chief really liked the Doctor…it seems he isn’t alone.

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Effect of Socialism on Venezuela

Polls: Support for Chavez government falling

Public support for President Hugo Chavez’s government has significantly declined, according to two polls published on Tuesday.

Some 34% of Venezuelans surveyed said they support Chavez’s government, down from a high of 67% in early 2005, to the lowest level in five years, a quarterly survey of 2,000 Venezuelans by Caracas pollster Datos found.

The poll was published by the Caracas-based newspaper El Nacional, which said it had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points and was carried out last month in cities and towns representing 75% of Venezuela’s population….

Another survey, by Venezuelan pollster Alfredo Keller, showed that 37% of Venezuelans questioned identified themselves as Chavez supporters in February, down from 50% in mid-2007.

Chavez’ moves towards a Marxist socialism is having its usual effect on the economic situation:

Polls have consistently shown that rampant crime is a major concern to Venezuelans. Double-digit inflation has also accelerated, and sporadic shortages of milk and other food products persist.

Meanwhile, apparently the usual lib apologists attempt to explain things away:

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, was skeptical of the polls’ results, citing Chavez’s longstanding popularity and the growth of the country’s oil-rich economy. “Obviously, Chavez has been affected by these food shortages,” said Weisbrot, who has supported Chavez’s policies.

This is worth some examination.

First, the assertion that Venezuela’s economy is growing. Obviously the curse of economic growth is causing the food shortages, and inflation. Sounds like a healthy economy to the Chief. Not.

Secondly, there is the point that there are food shortages at all. D’ya think that just MAYBE food shortages might cause people to think less of the leadership of their gloriously “progressive” socialist government?

DUH! The sooner Chavez is gone from the scene, the better it will be for Venezuela.

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A Counter-example for monarchy

Prince: Global effort needed to counter climate change

Prince Charles continues to demonstrate how big a dolt he is.

Bad enough he dumped Di for Camilla (come on, definitely a downward step), he continues to spout off on stuff like this.

Sheer madness. That’s how Prince Charles described skeptics who view calls for rapid action to counter climate change as overstated or completely invented.

This judgement is no doubt based on the Prince’s extensive and in-depth scientific background and expertise.

What’s that? He has no scientific background? Oh. Yeah. Well, never mind…there’s always the other explanation about being a natural dolt. (Hey!? Anyone else notice that his ears are like those of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman?)

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It COULD be even worse (and may well become so!)

To set a context for this piece, Britain actually adds import duties to the price of gasoline and diesel fuel…and has an increase scheduled to take effect next month, generating a certain amount of hostility, since the Brits gas is now over 1 pound per liter (non-metric types think of a quart). The pound is running around $2 now, making their gas NOW oaver $8.00 per gallon!

Alistair Darling under fire over fuel duty rise

Motorists could be paying £5 a gallon for petrol within weeks if the Chancellor implements the 2.35 pence a litre rise in the Budget. Diesel drivers have long since broken the £5 barrier, much to the fury of hauliers and farmers. With oil on the world market trading at $103 a barrel, there was little relief in sight for road users, especially with mounting speculation that other “green motoring taxes” could be included in the Budget.

The groundswell of opposition to further rises appeared was growing last night after it emerged that the cost of fuel has increased by nearly 20 per cent in 12 months. A coalition including the National Farmers’ Union, motoring groups, business leaders, petrol retailers and the TaxPayers Alliance is demanding the next rise, scheduled for April 1, be scrapped.

Sort of like the saying “I complained because I had no shoes, then met a man who had no feet.”

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Jerusalem Update: Religion of Peace Doing It’s Little Thing, Again

Gunman kills 8 religious students in Jerusalem

Eight Jewish religious students have been shot dead in the worst terrorist incident in Jerusalem for more than three years. The attacker reportedly dressed himself as an Orthodox Jew in order to gain access to the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, or rabbinical seminary, in Kiryat Moshe, a suburb to the west of Jerusalem.

Normally a place of spiritual study, it was turned into a blood bath as the gunman, a Palestinian from east Jerusalem, opened fire with an AK47 automatic rifle and a pistol. The shooting began in the central library where about 80 students were gathered.

Medical sources said eight students, all young men, died and 35 were injured, 15 of whom were described as being in a critical condition. Witnesses said the gunman fired as many as 500 rounds, pausing only to change magazines.

Sadly, there is no surprise. That’s what the Islamoterrs do.

Complements are due to the Israeli vet who took the initiative to end the Terrs consumption of oxygen with a nice shot:

The sound of the shooting attracted the attention of an Israeli neighbour, a former member of the army. He is reported to have climbed on the roof of his house and shot the terrorist through the head.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

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Balkans Pot Bubbling Again

Once again the Balkans give one that same old deja vu all over again.

Kosovo MPs proclaim independence

Whether it’s the Austrians mad at the Serbs (summer of 1914) or the Serbs, Bulgarians, Russians, Turks, Macedonians, Albanians, Greeks, Montenegrans, Bosnians, and of course, the Kosovars mad at one another and MORE than willing to pull the trigger, some things never seem to quite change.

What gives this a somewhat more serious aspect is what, IMHO, is essentially still a hangover from the Moslem Ottoman Empire being pushed back from its 17th Century high-water mark when it was attempting with some real chance of success to change the map of Europe by bringing the crescent flag of Islam to rule over Vienna.

Not for nothing do the Serbs recall the alliance between the (Moslem) Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Hitler’s 3rd Reich that led to the formation of Moslem Bosnian Waffen-SS divisions during WW-II. Admittedly the Serbs haven’t been Mr. Nice Guys in the 1990s edition of the on-again/off-again Balkan wars, but then again neither was anybody else, including NATO’s extensive use of US air power to decimate the Serb infrastructure without regard (unlike Bush’s Iraq policies) to collateral damage.

Unfortunately, we’re still there on the spot if the balloon goes up again. This is NOT a situation we need to be in. If you’re walking down a path in the desert and come upon a scorpion fighting a rattlesnake, you don’t choose sides and get in the middle of the situation. That is too close to what we did in the Balkans for the Chief’s comfort.

War fears put British troops on standby as Kosovo declares ‘freedom’

Meanwhile the Serbs feel severely put upon since Kosovo includes the original cultural and religious heartland of the Serbian nation…not that the Moslems will leave much of that standing for long, given their penchant for burning Christian churches these days.

Russia denounces Kosovo declaration

Another complication is that the Russians have traditionally – going back a couple hundred years or so – have considered themselves to be the “big brother”protector of their brother Slavs in Serbia, which does little to lessen the tension there now – remember, it was the Russian response to Austria-Hungary attacking Serbia in the above-mentioned summer of 1914 that triggered the diplomatic train-wreck that became WW-I.

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Archbishop Lost in Space

Britain must reject craven counsel of despair

The previous post notes the Iranian application of sharia to the circumstances of those who “opt out” of Islam.

Meanwhile, the alleged Archbishop of Canterbury has spouted off on the desirability of having sharia as a part of some sort of dual legalism in the UK. Would you believe “poor situational awareness” on the part of the not-so-Reverend Dr. Rowan Williams?

In an interview with The World at One on Radio 4…, Dr Williams made his case more accessibly, claiming that the adoption of certain aspects of sharia law “seems unavoidable”. As things stand, he said, “there’s one law for everybody and that’s all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts – I think that’s a bit of a danger.” Hence, the Archbishop’s enthusiasm “for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law”.

The problem arises here:

Equality before the law is, in practice, the most meaningful form of equality that we have. The universal franchise is exercised only sporadically. But the presumption of legal equality – the blindness of the goddess Justitia – is our best guarantee that ethnic minorities and religious groups have of fair treatment.

Far from encouraging such groups to insist on special treatment, or juridical devolution, moral leaders such as the Archbishop should be doing precisely the opposite: identifying, defending and celebrating the legal common ground on which all citizens can and should gather. It is astonishing that a man of Dr Williams’s notional intelligence should end up on the side of legal apartheid and moral cantonisation, even in the euphemistic guise of “plural jurisdiction” or “transformative accommodation”.

The Telegraph has more of this which is about as thorough a treatment of this absurdity as the Chief has seen anywhere. Check it out.

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Towards an Islamic Reformation?

The Lost Archive
Missing for a half century, a cache of photos
spurs sensitive research on Islam’s holy text

On the night of April 24, 1944, British air force bombers hammered a former Jesuit college here housing the Bavarian Academy of Science. The 16th-century building crumpled in the inferno. Among the treasures lost, later lamented Anton Spitaler, an Arabic scholar at the academy, was a unique photo archive of ancient manuscripts of the Quran.

The 450 rolls of film had been assembled before the war for a bold venture: a study of the evolution of the Quran, the text Muslims view as the verbatim transcript of God’s word. The wartime destruction made the project “outright impossible,” Mr. Spitaler wrote in the 1970s. Mr. Spitaler was lying. The cache of photos survived, and he was sitting on it all along. The truth is only now dribbling out to scholars — and a Quran research project buried for more than 60 years has risen from the grave.

OK. And the point is…?

According to Islamic orthodoxy, the Quran is a verbatim record of direct revelation. No changes. No editing. No revisions. Pristine, from Allah to Mohammed to the book.

Evidence of an evolutionary progression of ancient texts into the current book directly undermines the claims of Islam to absolute and unchangeable truth. Too bad, reality is a bitch!

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Britain Off-limits – to the Brits!

Bishop warns of no-go zones for non-Muslims

Somehow this cannot be what they fought for in “their finest hour”.

Islamic extremists have created “no-go” areas across Britain where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England’s most senior bishops warns today. The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church’s only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology.

Also worth noting is that today’s Church of England is not noted as being a nest of rabble-rousing radical racists, as is already being charged by some Moslem “Britons”.

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Oz P.M. Flips on Enviro Policy

Kevin Rudd recoils from climate change pledge

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last night did an about-face on deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, days after Australia’s delegation backed the plan at the climate talks in Bali.

A government representative at the talks this week said Australia backed a 25-40 per cent cut on 1990 emission levels by 2020.

But after warnings it would lead to huge rises in electricity prices, Mr Rudd said the Government would not support the target.

Dang! What’s a pol to do? Another case of mugging by that evil thuggish reality.

Defense Matters!

Naval News from Across the Pond

British Site Supports R.N. Buildup & Maintenance

The Chief’s posting concerning the current sad state of the UK Royal Navy (no doubt affecting the rest of the British military also) attracted a thoughtful comment from a recently minted website over there called SAVE THE ROYAL NAVY.

Albeit a very sad day indeed when some from the Sceptered Isles find it necessary to proclaim such a need, their site looks like an excellent source of information on the British Front of the long standing struggle against the moonbat sentiments that “all we need is love” to just get along with each other and sing Kumbayah.

The Chief subscribes more to the statement of Lord Charles Beresford: “Battleships are cheaper than battles.”

Anyway, if you’re interested in the state of things over there, this looks to be a good source to check out concerning the state of the Royal Navy in its fight to survive more of the current EngSoc regime.

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Venezuelan Musssolini Slapped Upside the Head by Vote

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Hugo Chavez’s president-for-life bid defeated

Frankly this one took the Chief by surprise. Not the feelings of the people of Venezuela, but the admission by the Chavez regime that they actually lost the vote.

President Hugo Chavez was narrowly defeated today in a referendum on his wish to run for re-election as President of Venezuela indefinitely.

Voters said “no” by 51 per cent to 49 per cent to reforms that would have, among other things, freed him from presidential term limits, scrapped the autonomy of the central bank and given him control over foreign currency reserves, swelled by soaring oil revenues.

One has to fear that Chavez, like Dracula, will be back for another try…but for now at least, the news is better.

Defense Matters!

Royal Navy Taking on Water

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Navy would struggle to fight a war – report

As a former naval person, the Chief is saddened to see this, and is concerned over some evident declines in our own naval forces, especially in the face of the ChiCom drive towards a 600 ship fleet of their own.

The Royal Navy can no longer fight a major war because of years of under­funding and cutbacks, a leaked Whitehall report has revealed. With an “under-resourced” fleet composed of “ageing and operationally defective ships”, the Navy would struggle even to repeat its role in the Iraq war and is now “far more vulnerable to unexpected shocks”, the top-level Ministry of Defence document says.

The report was ordered by Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, who had intended to use it to “counter criticism” on the state of the Navy in the media and from opposition parties.

At least that was the plan…but it looks like the Brownian EngSoc regime got mugged by reality instead:

But in a damning conclusion, the report states: “The current material state of the fleet is not good; the Royal Navy would be challenged to mount a medium-scale operation in accordance with current policy against a technologically capable adversary.”

Key findings of Royal Navy report
• Funding shortfall is “eroding” Navy’s fighting capability
• Fleet is “ageing” and ever more “thinly stretched”
• Anti-submarine capability is now below a “prudent minimum level”
• Royal Marines’ ability to conduct amphibious operations is being “eroded”
• Too many ships are putting to sea with “operational defects”
• Navy’s ability to “deliver influence at strategic level” is under threat
• Navy vulnerable to unexpected shocks compared with 20 years ago
• In 1987 35 ships patrolled UK waters, compared with just 10 today
• New aircraft carriers “provide significant global and military leverage”
• Navy’s modern ships are more capable and cost-effective

Admittedly the last two points are hopeful, but there’s far too much that’s not for an island nation (or its friends) to feel comfortable with the current state of affairs.