The Ukraine: A  Bridge Too Far ?

I said in a previous blog that the actions of Russia could push the Ukraine into an economic abyss.

Beyond that, ethnic cleansing will create refugees fleeing into Russia in numbers and tragic scenes we normally associate with Africa and the Middle East.

What does the future now hold in store for the European Union, The Ukraine, America and Russia?

The above assumes that Russia will just 'stand by' while 'over-motivated' Ukrainian nationalist forces

supported by the Ukrainian Air Force overrun the 'terrorists' in the Eastern Ukraine.

The likelihood is that Russia will, sooner rather than later, either directly or indirectly (utilizing

'contracted' special units) intervene before such a refugee catastrophe and mayhem takes shape on and over it's border with The Ukraine.  The key question is will NATO join the fray or just let Russian forces 'fight it out' – perhaps with years of guerrilla warfare as both sides attempt to wrest control of the country caught up in the vortex of civil war. We could well have a scenario similar to that of the historic Civil War in  Spain (The Spanish Civil War, July 1936-April 1939) – with fighting brigades from the four corners of the globe being encouraged to show support for the legitimate government in Kiev.   Likewise Russia will also mobilize patriotic fervor amongst it's citizens throughout the Federation so as to ensure that a proxy war takes shape with years (perhaps decades) of instability ensuing.

Lets be clear about why the Soviet Union lost the Cold War: it was outspent by the West to such an extent that standards of living were actually going backwards as the USSR desperately struggled to keep pace with military innovations, nuclear arms and the SDI program and last but not least, the economic aspirations and expectations of it's own people.  Likewise there is some confidence that if push comes to shove, the West can 'outspend' Russia, ultimately, on a proxy war in the Ukraine.  And what about the plight of all of the Ukrainian people during years or decades of  future conflict?

As I said earlier, without the East and Crimea the Ukraine literally reverts to being just a breadbasket (not a basket case – at least not yet).

I remember at my childhood school being taught the history of this vast territory and I imagined the vast expanses of wheat lands stretching across the plains until ultimately meeting the border of Russia. (My history teachers also wrote history books, had studied such areas in very great detail, so I had an appreciation of history from people who knew what they were talking about.)

The immediate future for all of the people living in this region – whose ancestors have seen so much terror, brutality and hardship throughout the centuries - looks very bleak.

The lessons of history which existing superpowers have learnt is that the Russian people are (historically) very resilient to pain and suffering and hardship and are in 'for the long-haul'.   In a nuclear age, the thought of direct conflict between superpowers, even using conventional tactics, with the potential for escalation, is unthinkable.   The only other options are therefore unconventional – and there is a toolbox full of unconventional scenarios – which the people of the Ukraine will, sadly, because of recklessness, feel unleashed with maximum and merciless efficiency - by all sides.

I remember a NATO-sponsored visit to the Ardennes Forest many decades ago.  It was a beautiful summer's day.   I recall there was a well-mannered and convivial gentleman, probably African in origin, selling trinkets nearby at the side of a road where we disembarked.  I cheerfully greeted him and we briefly conversed and agreed about the glorious weather surrounding us.  As I looked across the vineyards so beautiful and placid in the sweltering afternoon, with just a very gentle breeze wafting through the trees, and I looked into the rich brown soil, I could not but help reflect on the millions who had perished over the centuries amid such and similar fields of tranquility throughout Europe – men, women, children, babies (born and unborn), who were just obliterated and never had the chance to know what it was all about.

Their epitaph should read 'they died for a cause' – but most would have preferred to have lived happily with their families and loved ones, if they had not been ordered (or influenced) to hate.

This is the Russia, this is The Ukraine, this is the Europe those fortunate enough having escaped to the 'Promised Land', America, left behind, forever; and believe me, if you were caught up in tribalism, famine, clan and civil warfare, racialism, Apartheid, Pogroms in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and elsewhere in Europe, America is, or should I say, was, the Promised Land.

Lets just hope (and if you are religious, you might pray) that it never comes to this again in Europe and that all will step back from the brink of the abyss, reflect, and take shelter from the coming storm.

Patrick Emek

typographical corrections on 25th April 2014

Brother Ali:

Mourning In America

(and Dreaming In Color)

Brother Ali is a Hip Hop artist who follows in a long line of U.S. conscientious objectors (COs).

This article seeks to explore why Brother Ali's message resonates amongst lost and forgotten sectors and generations of American society today.

His message and philosophy can be encapsulated as follows:

The Philosophy

1.Brother Ali opposes violence by the State, on behalf of corporate America, against it's own people.

2.Brother Ali opposes U.S. Foreign policy -especially the War on Terrorism.

3.Brother Ali presents reasons – including rendition and torture of Muslim prisoners – to justify opposition to such practices through Jihad (or Holy War.)

4.Brother Ali gives support to those who oppose with 'force of arms' and using their weapons-and all means permitted under Islam in Jihad when they, as Muslims, are being oppressed and denied their right to religious practice.

5.Brother Ali opposes corporate enslavement – which his music suggests is rooted in the military-industrial complex and responsible for the chaos in today's world - economic, political, racial, religious, social and monetary.

6.Brother Ali presents Islam and it's followers as innocent victim's of aggression and encourages resistance using violent and non-violent methods.

7.Brother Ali suggests that non-violence is just as powerful a tool as is violence to oppose and provoke further oppression from the 'Police State'. [The underlying basis for this being, if you can demonstrate to the mass population the oppression of the (reactionary) Police State, supporting the economic-military-industrial complex, you destroy confidence in it's institutions-and provide the basis for mass insurgency by the general populace.]

8.Brother Ali [will not say this but it is apparent] presents himself as a voice for the voiceless.

It is often said that the youth of today are less politically motivated to oppose political and corporate injustice than they were, say, forty years ago. Many reasons are given for this but the enduring one is their fear of 'blacklisting' should they publicly evocate a 'hostile' position to corporatism, the military-industrial complex or the War against terror. In other words, they will find it impossible to get a 'good' job after High School or University if they engage in political opposition activities - so powerful is the reach of corporate globalism into the lives of the youth of today.

9.If you are a Black or White inner city child or youth in corporate-controlled America today, from an early age you are criminalized by 'the Police State' (arrested or detained on some trumped-up charge, DNA fingerprinted etc.) in the belief that such will make you docile and subservient (the 'system' not understanding that the very opposite will more likely be the result), your places of recreation and social assembly are considered of no financial value so you have no option for protection other than joining street gangs where drugs, guns and violence replace normal childhood dreams and adolescence while at the same time corporate America profits from the sale of drugs, guns and murders in the inner city ghettos – by pouring additional resources into law enforcement and terminal incarceration of this abandoned youth with no hope nor resources allocated for rehabilitation but only a steady spiral downwards until they, the abandoned generation, are forced to live and behave like animals in a jungle where the only rules are violence, survival and the power of the gun to get your daily bread and maintain your dignity and respect as a human being not the grovelling insect corporate America desires that you become.

In a nutshell, this is Brother Ali's philosophy and belief, as spoken through his music.

Brother Ali presents himself, as he believes himself to be, as the 'voice' for this 'voiceless' generation.

What are the realities of Brother Ali's Claim To Represent the 'Oppressed' or, at the Very Least, that his 'Jihad' as an American is to Non-Violently Oppose Oppression with all of his Capabilities as an Artist?

The first of the beliefs of Brother Ali I want to debunk is that the youth of today are frightened of not being hired by corporate America or the globalized Western world if they oppose government and global corporatism.

This assumes that everybody wants to be hired by global corporatism or indeed subscribes into it.

This is certainly not the case with the youth of today. If anything global corporatism represents 'the Angel of Death' or 'Grim Reaper' to a not insignificant proportion today's educated American youth.

They have a different toolkit than previous generations did to oppose oppression but those who feel strongly are no less motivated than my generation. Of this I am 100% absolutely certain. But the numbers who are motivated to oppose are no different a minority than they were during my generation of youth. But there are fewer who have that aura of leadership and evocate the highest principles of the movement which majority fair and just youth of America can 'see' as a visionary way forward – and are prepared to even (lay) down their lives to peacefully, without recourse to violence and use of weapons, bring about such change.
[The most powerful philosophy for change is the 'Boycott' and Non-Violence.
'Boycott' by the way, is named after a tyrant in Ireland, Captain Boycott, who tried to brow-beat impoverished people at times of great hardship and famine.  They simply refused to buy anything or work on anything or associate with anyone associated with his name; hence the term 'boycotting' or 'boycott'.]

Herein lies the pathos of my argument against Brother Ali.

I am not questioning the sincerity nor bravery of Brother Ali nor his fortitude in the face of oppression and injustice nor his personal suffering because of his beliefs and what he advocates.

What I am questioning is his inability to capture the imagination of the youth of America not because of their 'enslavement' to corporatism (which by the way, is very real, worldwide) but the fact that those who will, decades from now, determine the destiny of America, the silent (youth) majority, are not just not motivated by Brother Ali but they 'turn off' when he speaks.

Where Is the Youth Opposition If Not On YouTube?

There are growing movements which oppose universal corporatism, injustice and unjust wars on behalf of corporate America, who oppose (what is perceived as) enforced enslavement to GM foods and everything else scientists wish to incorporate, or, at the very least, hold the impoverished in the world to ransom with unfair trade and management practices which are no better than slavery on plantations – be they urban plantations in 3^rd world city sweatshops or 'managed' plantations where the workers live and tend their master's (global multinational) crops, buy their own foods from shops on the plantation with a range of modern services provided to ensure their 'domestication' on that reservation.

They are the new age movements who are not fooled by the re-branding of products with logos such as 'Fairtrade' or 'Eco-Friendly' – such are seen simply as corporate America re-inventing itself. [I am not talking about those set up nor back-door funded by corporate enterprises.] Then there are movements opposing unjust and unfair trading blocks which are regarded by reputable economists as in part responsible for  impoverishment in the developing world.
This is where the educated (and visionary) youth of today (and tomorrow) is.

There are worldwide movements which want to make the world a fairer, better, environmentally cleaner and genetically (food) safer place for all of it's people to live and work. There are movements which believe that health care and education and food and decent housing, safe communities and parks and schools and social centers for the youth and, above all being able to work (if that is what one wants) are all basic human rights which should be universally enshrined by law and not the privilege of a few who can afford them or compete against other impoverished individuals to offer his or her labor at the lowest possible wage on the job (slave) market. There are such individuals and groups who are not part of corporate America nor branded by it and genuinely do want to create fairer and more just communities, societies and a genuinely better world for all. But Brother Ali most certainly does not represent any of them.

[The great F.D.R himself was the first visionary to advocate the right of every man and woman in America to a job, as a basic human right. It may yet be centuries before corporate America is ready to accept this principle.]

None of such movements will subscribe to Brother Ali's vision for America – because his vision does not ultimately include any of them – only the supremacy of Islam in America – with an ultimate Jihad against all 'non-believers' such as other ' moderate' Muslims not following the declared 'brand' of Islam, Atheists, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and everyone else refusing to submit to Allah - effectively creating 'Jihad' in America, not to change the status quo, but to pulverize it into dust and start at Year Zero - with only the true [pure of heart] believers alive to create the New Order.

Who Resonates With This Message of Hate?

Brother Ali has more in common with The Nation of Islam and national socialism than he does with Middle America. I am including the majority of fair-minded moderate American Muslims within my 'majority' America.    Hell ! ; I would go so far as to say that even 'Redneck' America believes more in the principles equality and justice and would equally have little (if anything) in common with either Brother Ali nor any other of the organizations which would support his ideologies.

Vision For America

There are far too many ways I could show why Brother Ali fails to capture the educated mass youth culture. I could explain to him how they know Islam was built on slavery and oppression - which continues to this day with a horrific oppression of women you have to see to believe in these imprisoned Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa.   I do exclude Muslim countries beyond the Middle East and North Africa, especially those which have been little influenced by Saudi Arabia Imams and their hate agendas. (Brother Ali argues in his music that so too the United States was likewise built on slavery.)

You Can Only Vote Allah Into Political Office Once-and Forever

I could show how Islam is a 'One Way Street' in the Middle East, Iran and Afghanistan. You get one vote one time to vote Islam into political office. Unfortunately once you vote 'God ' [Allah] into office you can never get him out (the argument would be that nobody-except 'Satan'-would want to vote 'Allah' out of political office.)    So, in America, it would be one man, one woman, one vote, once, for Allah.   Then, let the Witch hunt (Kristallnacht) for non-believers begin - with the enslavement of women simultaneously taking place.

(I have seen up close and personal how Muslim and Christian shopkeepers in the Middle East and North Africa have their shops smashed by Islamic 'Storm Troopers' because they have served alcohol – and are too frightened to report it to the Police for fear of further reprisals against themselves and their families.)

Saudi Arabia, the instigator of such hatred, is Brother Ali's vision for America.    He will not say this openly but this is, what in effect, his vision want's to achieve.

This why the educated American youth of today are not 'buying into' Brother Ali's 'alternative' vision of Islamic Sharia law  as a better framework for America than it's existing Constitution.

It's not widely publicized but did you know that it is a crime punishable by death to build  a Christian Church in Saudi Arabia?   Some influential Imams are campaigning to make Christian worship in the Kingdom also a crime punishable by death. You didn't know these facts? You'd better get more informed about what your TV News Channels are not discussing.   So welcome to Brother Ali's vision for America.    Are you beginning to see why the educated youth of America (other than under pain of death or as 'hostages') will never buy into Brother Ali's vision for it's future?

Nirvana

Brother Ali is charismatic-but so too were many artists in ages of chaos, far too numerous to mention.

Adolf Hitler started life as a humble artist. Josef Stalin was once destined to become a Priest. Pol Pot once served in a Buddhist monastery.   Their 'Nirvana' were all built on the dead bones of millions of murdered men, women and children – hundreds of millions if it had needed to be.    But they never told their masses how exactly they would deliver Nirvana because to do so would be expose the horrors of what they really stood for - intolerance to everything in opposition to their vision.   Likewise this is Brother Ali's vision for the future of America.

Of course there are intolerant people who, as we see in Europe, easily achieve political power through the ballot box then set about implementing divisive policies which tear countries and continents apart and lead them into world wars – all to achieve a racial, political or religious ideal or all three combined.

Corporate Greed v Human and Community Need

Where government is perceived as being owned, lock, stock and two smoking barrels,by corporations, expect something else to fill the vacuum.   In this case it is the advocates of extreme national socialist, religious, political and financial alternative structures which demand a New Order.
When corporate America is perceived, because of it's actions, as 'Public Enemy' No. 1, worldwide; where trade unions are considered by multinationals as 'unfriendly' and 'hostile' to corporate America, expect something else to fill the vacuum.   It did  in pre-Bolshevik revolutionary Russia, in pre-Nazi Germany, so why should history be any different today?   We never learn from the lessons of history.    History teaches us that.   Where foreclosures and starvation in America can be attributed to outsourcing and corporate profit abroad – at the expense of starving and jobless local communities at home - expect something else to fill the vacuum.   Where civil disobedience and lawful peaceful non-violent assembly are met with overwhelming disproportionate use of police force (perceived as guardians of corporate America), expect something else to fill the vacuum for opposition.

As a sector of the isolated, disenfranchised, 'lost' generation of debt-shackled university graduates, denied their potential (most can't get a job, which pays their bills, allows them to live and also pays enough to pay off their debts) they too have nothing to loose-except their chains,expect something else to fill the vacuum; as a sector of the further 'lost generation' of the motivated intelligent youth of America 'switch off' from the mirage of Sitcoms all carefully manufactured by media and beyond communications (the perceived 'media conspiracy') to massage their brains into docile oblivion; show their anger and protest against the corporate 'owned', 'branded' and corporate-sponsored (product endorsed and endorsing all manufactured ) Hip Hop, Rap, Heavy Metal and other corporate-enslaved and 'branded' 'creative' artists, all (as they perceive) designed to produce apathy, quell direct community protest against lack of jobs, poverty, injustice, expect more of the extremes from where forth came Brother Ali - but don't for a moment think that most will follow in his footsteps towards his eternal salvation - nor share his vision of the new 'promised land'.

The above are just some of the reasons Brother Ali will never captivate the  (majority) youth of Middle America.   But that was never his intention.   By promoting hatred against everything the U.S. stands for, as it exists at present, as the cornerstone of his belief, it is also, sadly, all too apparent, exactly which groups of the population in America, are his target and most receptive audiences

Patrick Emek.

Brother Ali:

Mourning In America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKHsGh-y8d8

Work Everyday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwgwI_Inglo

Breakin' Dawn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbWozgMf4M

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preah_Maha_Ghosananda

http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma/heaven.html

Afghanistan – Holy Wars Without End

Their Only Weapon Is Their Pen – And Some Pay the Ultimate Penalty

The brutal murder of the unarmed Associated Press Photographer, Anja Niedringhaus, and the critical wounding of the AP Television News Freelance Journalist, Kathy Gannon, as they both carried out their normal duties of reporting events in this war zone, should be evident that the war in Afghanistan is far from over.

President Obama's drone war policy, the only way of hitting back at so elusive and inaccessible an enemy (surrounding itself as it always does with innocent victims – the 'collateral' or 'unintentional' targets) only serves to amplify the hopelessness and futility of this conflict.

An Educated Woman With A Pen-The Most Dangerous Of All Threats To The Talibanization of Afghanistan

I want you to think of Niedringhaus and Gannon as examples of the thousands of innocent women, mainly Afghan, whom the Taliban and Al Qaeda regularly target for murder because they both represent everything they, the Taliban, hate – including the rights of women to have an active role in Afghan Society.

Afghanistan was a broken society even before the Russian forces arrived in the country.

A neglected country where human rights were ignored until Afghanistan became the focus of a strategic significance for transit oil and gas pipelines. A country forgotten until the strategic significance of having a physical presence after the Russians was too great to resist.

Then the media went along for the ride – human rights, the rights of children, child soldiers, the rights of  women, freedom of the press; suddenly the media had 'discovered' all these human rights and, being embedded, parachuted them into Afghanistan, a country whose customs and culture had hardly changed since Islam had arrived and, in this particular part of the world, entrenched itself as a one way street, no other minority religions permitted to exist and all had long since been extinguished by the time the Russians invaded the country.

Pogroms & Tribalism -The New World Order In Europe and The Middle East-But Why?

Ethnic cleansing appears to be the order of the day - in Afghanistan, Israel, Syria, the Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Ukraine, and parts of the European Union as Israelis, Arabs and Christians (in The European Union) all assert their rights to rule as majority populations and create exclusively Jewish,Christian or Islamic States governed according to their historical or religious principles and in their own unique images. And if you don't like it, the door is always open.  Such practices are very familiar to the older generations - who sought sanctuary from such pogroms and persecution in America, 'The Promised Land', 'the land of the free and the hope of the brave' - in comparison with the horrors of racism, apartheid and discrimination-pogroms  (race, religions gender and ethnicity)  they had left behind in 18th 19th and 20th century  Europe.
(Many of the waves of immigrants to the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries were, of course, economic migrants fleeing impoverishment and starvation in Europe and in search of a better life for themselves and their families in the New World.)

This is the ultimate fallout from the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, The Ottoman Empire and (in Africa and the Far East) the British, German, Belgian, French and Italian Empires after World War II and, more recently, the unfreezing and shattering of nearly a century of Communist enforced tribal or ethnic co-existence with the collapse of the Soviet Union Empire.

[Strictly speaking France is the last 'old' colonial power in the world today.  It never relinquished it's colonies and rules them today as a part of French Overseas Departments and Territories or, as in the case of Africa, Françafrique.]3&4

It is the ultimate fallout because with the collapse of each Empire ethnic minorities were imprisoned within alien borders, often used as indigenous minority rulers in proxy by the departing Empires to give some semblance of their continued ability to intrigue local politics; something which suited the isolated minorities and their departing colonial powers.
In the case of Europe, the most recent major bout of ethnic cleansing took place during the Second World War when races considered sub-human -The Slavs, Jews, Gypsies, Communists, Jehovah Witnesses and other minorities- were 'cleansed' (or exterminated) to prepare 'Lebensraum' for what was to be the Fourth Reich, an era of re-colonization after the Third Reich.
The rise of Neo-Fascist movements today follow a long tradition since the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths which reflect Europe as a volatile collection of warring tribes more obsessed with local ethnicity than being ruled or legislated by a 'foreign' 'power'.  Today, the casus bellum is the European Union - which is forcing (by legislation) tribes to accept (integrate) others which, in past centuries would have resulted in pogroms, concentration camps, gas ovens for human extermination, and, going back a further few centuries, wholesale slaughter and putting to the sword of 'Infidels', the (Christian) sacking and putting to the sword of (Christian) men women and children  in towns, villages, cities and States refusing to accept, for example, the supremacy of the Holy Father throughout Christendom, and Holy Wars to retake Jerusalem for Christendom and the sacking of Constantinople⁵ (The Fourth Crusade.)
The European Union is, in effect, enforcing the compliance of tribes and powerful 'Warlords' (modern-day European politicians in countries which, historically, have fought to determine the economic, political and military direction of such countries on this continent - at least those having the authority to agree war or peace) to accept the supremacy of a higher authority and ideals which, as they perceive it, will 'dilute' their own (Warlord) ability to govern or rule individual 'tribes', rendering them as subjects (or Vassals) to this 'higher authority' outside the tribe, yet having the legislative authority to determine it's destiny.   This is Europe today.  That was Rwanda yesterday.  Afghanistan is no different.

'Faith'

I have just finished reading Barack Obama's book, 'The Audacity Of Hope' (I am probably the last person in the intellectual world to have read it.) I had it on my shelf for several years but only recently found the time to sit down and read it cover to cover. In Chapter 6 ('Faith') he describes the religious bookshelf (library) in his childhood homes in Kenya and Indonesia, which were not dissimilar from the ideals and values most reasonable people share.

He likewise comments on the beliefs of his father, mother and stepfather. But to have such an appreciation and respect for all faiths you have to live in a tolerant society – which Afghanistan most certainly is not now nor will it be in the immediate future.

For the Taliban and Al Qaeda, Anja Niedringhaus, for example, represented everything they fear their society has the potential to become, preferring instead the comfort of  8^th century Islam and the destruction of modernity – the latter being the agent of Satan as, in their eyes, personified by the United States, Britain and Israel. So everything the United States has put in place must be demolished before an Islamic Afghanistan can be rebuilt.    There is no room for both Allah and Satan to co-exist.

Herein lies the futility of the war in Afghanistan.

All of the institutions the West has 'created' in Afghanistan will be destroyed with a 'holy zeal' the world public has yet to appreciate – because our media does such a terrible job when it comes to the preparation for bad news.   For a Police Officer to calmly walk up to their car and empty his machine gun on helpless and unarmed civilians just doing a job of work, should tell you how this Police Force will be upholding law as the country fragments into it's more comfortable tribal and clan loyalties.

It's accepted today that journalists are 'fair' game for every terrorist group they encounter.

Embedding NGOs and Journalists

Embedding journalists (in many instances offering no other choice for coverage and safety in war zones) within armed forces has, in my opinion, made them more not less vulnerable as potential targets for murder, ransom and hostage taking.

The only rule when operating in a war zone is to stay alive – at least until after you get the story.

The last thing any journalist wants to do is to be a part of the news story itself.

Likewise 'embedding' NGOs within the military-industrial complex in ways not previously undertaken, will, I believe, make them more not less vulnerable in zones of conflict throughout the world. Like journalists they will be seen as 'easy' targets – operating as they do without weapons and with very limited local protection.

So Where Will Afghanistan Go?

Afghanistan will regress to the 8^th century of tribal fanatical Islam in the absence of foreign armies 'of occupation' (as Al Qaeda and the Taliban perceive the coalition presence to be.)

The speed with which this happens will be either accelerated or slowed down depending on how fast all foreign forces exit the country

An unrelenting war of attrition will take place for so long as a single coalition ('Kafir', Kuffār or Infidel) foreign country continues to 'occupy' or has any presence in the country.

They Still Don't Get It On Capitol Hill (!)   -   Always Remote As Ever:-The Folks Who Live On The Hill

American lawmakers, even as yet, simply  'don't get it'. The United States, it's way of life, it's values, it;'s money, it's culture, it's technology are not wanted by the Taliban and Al Qaeda and for so long as a single NGO attempts to project America or the United Nations or parachute 'alien' values into Afghanistan, the war will continue.

It gets even worse. Those brave Afghan people (men and women) who trusted in what they were told about democracy, Women's  rights and free speech, the support of the United Nations and the United States for their evocation of such principles within and throughout Afghanistan will be the first to die at the hands of a merciless Taliban and Al Qaeda, after U.S. and coalition forces depart and their safety is entrusted to the Afghan State (or, to be more precise, Afghan warlords and tribal chiefs.)

As they are murdered one by one with increasing regularity and frequency, what will anger me will be that the international media will close it's eyes and ears to their plight – just as it did before it 'discovered' the absence of human rights in the country – coincidentally at the time of the Soviet invasion.

But What About The Recent Election?

Lets be clear what has just happened.   An umbrella of security was provided by foreign forces, with foreign international observers, supervising a Western-style Presidential election – none of which would have been possible in the absence of foreign forces and foreign international observers.

You simply cannot parachute 21^st century democracy into the 8^th century unless you intend to maintain a long-term (at least two hundred years) civil and military presence to support, model, re-brand, service and maintain democratic institutions as the foundations of  a new  modern, secular, civic society.

[We can see today in Turkey that even after one hundred years of support for the secular state from within, Islamists can, by stealth, legislate it's dismantling, almost overnight.]

So when foreign forces depart Afghanistan and you later read that a 'moderate' Taliban government or President and Prime Minister are 'elected' and news services' like CNN scramble to portray him as a 'moderate' don't believe a word of what they tell you. As the stoning of women, the abolition of 'Western' style schools for girls throughout the country and the enshrinement of Sharīʿah law, Taliban-Al Qaeda-style, all manifest, watch as the international media will struggle to explain to a very confused American and Western public the justification of these laws and how they are in keeping with 'traditional' Afghanistan and beneficial for the local people.

In my own opinion, an appalling betrayal of a people is taking place under the guise of leaving them, the Afghan people, with democracy – an even worse betrayal than the abandoning of our Allies in South Vietnam.   At least the victorious (atheistic) Communists showed some mercy.

The Afghan people can expect neither mercy nor forgiveness as the Taliban and their religious-military fanatical allies 'reassert ' 'Allah's Kingdom' over 'Satan'.

Patrick Emek

http://www.anjaniedringhaus.com/

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/anja-niedringhaus



3.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_departments_and_territories_of_France
4.    http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonial_empire

5.    http://latter-rain.com/crusade/curfor.htm

6.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassal

7.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensraum

http://www.habeeb.com/Fourth.of.July.Origins.4.html

http://www.ushistory.org/documents/banner.htm


updated April 8 
an addendum on April 9 to add a section about the European Union and composite several centuries of tribal wars in Europe - with a personal interpretation and comparative analysis

King Rama IX (Bhumibol Adulajev)

Reports have it that Thailand's much loved and revered King Bhumibol is again in ailing health.

Fortunately his premature expiration has been falsely predicted on many occasions and, for many years, he has managed to soldier on – and the country continues prosper as a beacon of economic success and development for South East Asia and rest of the world.

Most Thais would rejoice if the King's daughter succeeded her father to the throne.

She is (genuinely) much loved by the populace as a whole.

But the Royal line of succession precludes a Queen of Siam.

It is for this reason that millions of Thais are praying that the King will continue to live – for forever and a day.   We all know that such is not going to happen and talk in the country about the Royal succession, whilst strictly forbidden, is nonetheless the main event in every other Thai household.

The King's son, however, is the likely successor.

[Interestingly, there has been a Buddhist prophesy for centuries that after the IX Rama, the dynasty will end.   I am unclear as to whether this solely refers to the male lineage or the dynasty as a whole.   There are so many different versions and interpretations of this prophesy that it would just be too confusing to mention all of them - other than to say that some Thais give considerable weight and respect to prophesy.]

King Bhumibol has brought stability, economic prosperity and development for Thailand as a whole.

Yes, admittedly there are groups – political parties, farmers, local communities, trades union representatives who will tell you a different story - and there are genuine grievances about wealth distribution, corruption, intrigues for power and influence within the elite of the Armed Forces and the Royal Thai Police.

Then there are border disputes with Cambodia which, thanks to international mediation and restraint by both sides, rarely escalate beyond occasional skirmishes over temples.

In November of last year, much to the disappointment of Thailand, the U.N. Court ruled in favor of Cambodia in the area around Preah Vihear Temple and ordered Thai forces to withdraw from the immediate vicinity.  This area is likely to be the flashpoint for further future conflict between the two countries as Thai nationalists and their supporters in the armed forces will never accept this decision.

There is also the prospect of Islamic insurgency intensifying in the South of the country as Malaysia does little to bring the insurgents to heel - for fear that the Jihadi militias will turn their attention (guns and bombs) to waging a campaign to destabilize the peace and quiet of Malaysia proper and an even greater threat is that they will link across with Jihadi insurgents in the province of Sabah to create a unified front – which could have devastating consequences for economic and political stability in the region as a whole.
[The Malaysia authorities will argue that they work in cooperation with Thai security forces to prevent terrorist infiltration across both sides of the border and will also suggest that arms and explosives are reaching Islamic rebels not across the Thai-Malaya border but from other countries.]

Hence the successor to King Bhumibol  will require the continued unanimous support of the Police and Armed forces to ensure that peace on the Thai-Cambodia and Thai-Malaysia borders are maintained as these areas could quickly flare into all-out wars between both parties, if outstanding border and Islamic identity issues, are not resolved to the long-term satisfaction of protagonists, and continue to linger.

Patrick Emek



http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2011/08/03/kings_failing_health_and_his_30b_fortune_puts_thailand_in_jeopardy.html


http://kanchanapisek.or.th/library/Tambiah-Thailand3.htm


http://madeinthai.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/the-nine-kings-of-the-chakri-dynasty-rama-i-%E2%80%93-the-founding-father-2/


http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324906004578289220025564486


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/world/asia/un-court-rules-for-cambodia-in-temple-dispute-with-thailand.html?_r=0


https://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130108213038AAciCU3

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Erdoğan Vows To 'Crush The Internet'

An increasingly embattled and politically isolated Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan threatened to 'wipe out' the Internet – or at least the part of it which 'Tweets' to the rest of the world.

Salafist supporter Erdoğan is himself on the brink of being ousted as his mounting numbers of political and military enemies all weigh up their chances of replacing this increasingly out-of-touch fanatic with a secular government.

The velvet glove of moderation has now been replaced to display the iron fist of brutality, mediaevalized perception of the world, repression and intolerance – bywords for Salafism and Wahhabism.

Prime Minister Erdoğan derives his core support from the uneducated and ultra-religious fanatical Muslim masses in Turkey – Central and Eastern Anatolia being two very important regions. The situation is very similar to that of The Shah of Iran before he was toppled. You have the educated populace which have gravitated to the big cities and larger towns in Turkey then you have the uneducated mass which still predominantly live in the countryside far removed from the 'modern thinking' world and who derive their education and information from (increasingly Salafist-sympathetic) Imams, Turkish and Saudi television and radio stations which broadcast vile and inciteful propaganda against Christians, Jews, Shiite and other 'non-believers' 24/7.

 One positive thing to note is that the continuing draconian and repressive measures of Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan are rapidly increasing the likelihood of his early his replacement and the restoration of Turkey to Atatürk secular values and principles in the very near future.

It will probably be similar to Egypt where the Salafists created (as to be expected) such chaos and discord that someone had to step in before the whole country fell apart.

Patrick Emek

March 18^th 2014, Herr Putin Incorporates The Süd(eten)land, A Region of The Ukraine formerly known as The Crimea, Back Into Russia


To the loud acclaims of ''Führer! Führer! Führer!'' in the Bier Halle, Herr Putin, Führer and Reichsführer, confirmed that the Will of the Volk of Crimea would be heard by signing off on the incorporation Treaty of Friendship.
Herr Putin said at the Bier Halle Rally that The Empire of Russia has no further territorial ambitions and that the process of 'Anschluss' [Anschluß ] has now been completed.
'Peace In Our Time' was also proclaimed by Herr Putin in the Bier Halle.
Herr Putin did however warn that if Anschluß is not accepted by the international community, The Empire of Russia  reserves the right to revise it's position.


For what was actually said, you can hear and watch all of Reichsführer Putin's Bier  Halle Rally Speech at Russia Today TV networks website:



Patrick Emek 

references:
http://rt.com/politics/official-word/vladimir-putin-crimea-address-658/

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/jittery-customers-run-banks-crimea-22898299

Russia: Reserve the Right to Intervene in Ukraine

MOSCOW March 13, 2014 (AP)

Flight MH370 - Terrorism Without An Objective?

I would like to propose an entirely different direction for the inquiry into the disappearance of flight MH370:

1.That neither the pilot nor co-pilot were involved.

2.That there were breaches of security over prolonged periods while this particular plane was on the ground, either at one or at several different locations, which facilitated the ability of terrorists to prepare storage areas in the underbelly for the intended mission.

3.There were persons hiding in the underbelly (where all of the mechanical and electronics are located.) The number would probably be 4-6 persons.

The minimum number would be 2.

A number of tasks would have to be accomplished which could not be achieved without access to the cockpit.  Hence having at least 2 on board as passengers and the assistance of one crew member would be critical.

This would have to be facilitated over a period of time so that spaces were 'created' in the electronics and mechanical areas in the 'belly' of the plane.

4.The last facility would have been rudimentary breathing devices and either an appropriately insulated area or just extra warm clothing worn by the hijackers.

Number of Terrorists Involved

It would also mean that at least 4 persons-possibly as many as 6 were actually on the plane, two as passengers. They may never have met but trained separately-simply combining and meeting on the plane – identifying each other by clothes, dress code or simply by carrying similar versions of the same book or some other object.

They would have to be sure to gain access to the cabin cockpit area.

This might involve a separate observation 'team' or just one person on each journey (different individuals on each occasion) gathering intelligence on crew in-flight patterns.

This could be greatly facilitated by a member of the crew who had flown with one or both pilots over a prolonged period of time – so at least one crew member would be a considerable asset for such a mission.

If there were no accomplices on the plane it would at least have been necessary to have one crew member as part of the team – this would be the very least required.

If there were accomplices, posing as passengers, this crew member could also facilitate the 'friendly' recognition or identification of each terrorist - hitherto unknown  even to each other.

Elevation To A High Altitude

The purpose of elevating the plane could have been to hypoxiate all of the passengers-ensuring in advance that the automated oxygen masks were cut - or indeed they never operated because they had been disabled from operating.

This would simplify the tasks ahead and reduce the number of personnel required to carry out the mission.

Motivation

This mission, if indeed it occurred, would require a very high degree of commitment and motivation because it involves checking to ensure that all passengers - men, women and children - are effectively 'immobilized' – not a task for the faint-hearted – which is why I say that to invoke this stage of the plan would mean persons commandeering the plane would have to have a remarkably high level of motivation and commitment to whatever cause it is they would be espousing.

Anyone with such commitment would almost for certain ensure that other crew members were also disabled.   So neither pilot, co-pilot nor crew would be required as the hijackers would already have on-board the required skills to complete the mission.

 This would mean that the skills required to fly the plane were already available amongst the terrorists.

Management Issues

As all passengers are unconscious or disabled there are no 'management' issues to attend – thereby freeing up the unknown persons to carry out whatever the prime motive was for the hijacking.

If the objective was solely the plane-to store it, change it's transponder and other identifying marks, then the passengers are of no value – as they were never the intended objective of the mission.

What 9/11 has shown us is that such motivation for religious-political ideals mitigate against safety.

The only critical issue was the success of the mission - at all costs.

Rationale

From a psychological viewpoint, it would be easier to dispose of 239 + persons, hypoxiated, than it would be to kill each man, woman and child, individually.  Apart from everything else, such is impractical on an plane in flight.

For this to be effective, simply flying at a height with no available oxygen and minor technical adjustments for a very definite period of time would complete this task – relieving the hijackers of the trauma involved in 'close up and personal' and in the management of 233-235 (unpredictable) individuals.

The Mission

Such, however would be a major operation involving a considerable number of individuals.

They would have to be carefully selected by a core group.

It would also be convenient to carefully identify someone who would more likely than not fall under immediate suspicion and divert attention away from the real motives – at least for long enough for the mission to be accomplished.   This in itself would require painstaking observation and intelligence gathering – not an easy task for a ( non-State assisted) terrorist group.

The Planning

It is likely that such a mission would require several years in the planning.

It's almost inconceivable – but so was 9/11.

Temporary Security Measures To Obstruct

The point I want to make here is that should this plane continue to reside on the 'missing' list, then every similar Boeing 777 should be immediately fitted with unique new identification codes,transmitting by the millisecond, which cannot be easily replicated.

Indeed, I would go much further for all airplanes but the initial costs of modifications would be so prohibitive as to make such unrealistic, at the present time.

This should also involve an immediate worldwide grounding of every similar 777 for re-fitting or upgrading.

The airlines industry will, in my opinion, be reluctant to implement such a procedure on the basis of disruption and costs with no clear evidence of an immediate threat available.

As I said earlier, the bottom line for the airline industry is profit and unless something else dramatic happens, NTSB will not take any immediate steps to increase airline operators costs on the basis of speculation alone.

My own view is that it that, should the plane continue 'missing' it might be cheaper (in the longer term) to implement such new technologies and new security policy and procedures with immediate effect than to lose the confidence of the air traveling public, if the worst should happen.

OK, Well Where Did It Land - If It Did Not Crash?

I do not know the answer to that question.

The purpose of the above speculation is not to confuse nor waste time nor resources but to alert about the possibility of intended terrorism.

The incident of a plane with 239 passengers and crew going missing for over a week must send up a red flag for vigilance regardless of the ultimate outcome and whether the plane (or wreckage) is eventually found and the causes turning out to be perfectly rational, if not tragic.

Far-Fetched?

After 9/11, no theory , for myself,  is ever too far-fetched until evidence is produced to the contrary.

Because the Malaysian authorities were initially less than forthcoming (the Chinese authorities have gone much further accusing them of being, at the very least, totally duplicitous) it was really difficult to make out exactly what was going on.  Many say that they are still not entirely forthcoming and there is really no way to be sure.
As I said in my first article, before the row about the paucity and accuracy of information from the Malaysian authorities erupted, there is always a tendency to attempt to 'save face' - especially before Indonesia and China in this particular instance.
If anyone is to be 'sacrificed' it cannot be any of 'the protected ones'  (as one French journalist correctly pointed out)  and certainly blame cannot be attributed to aviation nor airport 'security lapses'  - as such would result in public humiliation for those ultimately responsible at the very top of the 'pecking order'.  India is not the only country which has 'Sacred Cows'.
So whatever the outcome or conclusion, no fault will ultimately be attributed to the former nor latter and all blame will ultimately be carried by the pilot and co-pilot.

Should this Marie Celeste of the skies continue to wander through the pages of our imaginations for much longer I will be seriously questioning what the hell we have so many military tracking satellites for if we cannot even find a 777, triangulation or no triangulation.  I also must seriously question the preparedness of developing countries to deal with a real or imagined scenario as outlined in this article because the next time it happens, the 777 could be carrying a nuclear payload - passengers and crew having being immobilized, deposited, and substituted elsewhere.

Update as at 20th March - A Likely Act of Intended Terrorism , In My Opinion
The more new information which is emerging the more I am convinced that this was an act of terrorism -more than just a hijacking gone wrong. 
Let me give my reasoning:
First I am still to be persuaded that either the Captain (the pilot) or His Deputy were involved.
It may have been that at some stage a gun was put to the pilot's head instructing him to change both altitude and direction.  He was given new coordinates.  At a crossroad point he was then given a new set of coordinates.   At this point realizing (perhaps being aware of the likely destination where he was being instructed to ultimately set course for) he inverted the flightpath flying initially at 90 degrees  - straight line, turning due North - a further 90 degrees, then turning West 90 degrees, then due South - giving a total of  360 degrees; if 2 turns were involved, one  arching back over Malaysia then a second either on a bearing  due North or due South)  and somehow managed to lock or disable the controls - perhaps even securing the cockpit while not being in full control of the plane's electronics.)
This would be the only clue he could logically leave about what had happened, should the very worst transpire.
He would only have done this if he himself was convinced, from what was happening on board, that to do otherwise would be the greater endangerment for himself, his passengers and his crew. I appreciate that this sounds highly improbable but, again, until a theory which makes sense emerges, I find the erratic flight behavior otherwise difficult to account for - other than, of course, a complete mental breakdown of either the pilot or co-pilot,whereupon one of them succumbed.


However, it fits my theory of an attempted hijack which - went disastrously and tragically wrong.

So, in my humble opinion, the final destination may well have been exactly due North or South of where the plane or it's debris will ultimately be found.

Mass Suicide Scenario:
More Questions About  Malaysia Airlines'  Systemic Management Weaknesses

(It has been suggested that personal family problems may have caused the pilot to commit 'mass suicide'.  This cannot be discounted  but I still have issues understanding the context and should this ultimately emerge to be a likely cause, I am failing to understand how Malaysia Airlines could not be aware of circumstances which could impair the pilot's capabilities to fulfill his tasks.) 

Even if this loss of an airline with all passengers and crew is not eventually found to be a case of terrorism, it's handling highlight many operational and procedural failings which hopefully the aftermath of this tragedy will attempt to rectify.


On this story, I will now conclude, and leave the rest to the professionals and forensic experts.

Patrick Emek



updated 18th and 19th March 2014

The 'Disappearance' of Flight MH370: Why China Is Correct In It's Criticisms of The Malaysian Authorities

          

     Why China Is Correct In It's Criticisms of Malaysian Authorities

Without speculating about the fate of the aircraft MH370, I would like to comment on something I do know about.

The information being relayed by Malaysian authorities concerning the unresolved location of flight MH370 appears to be wholly inadequate.

This is according to Chinese authorities - who have every right to criticism as the majority of the passengers on MH370 were Chinese nationals, whose relatives are now beyond distraught.

From a Western perspective it appears at first perplexing that say, for example, a Malaysian Minister will at first politely and courteously invite journalistic scrutiny then when the hard hitting questions are asked about anomalies in the air loss search and recover investigation, will then 'punish' such criticisms with the withdrawal of transparency and accountability for both the general public and the grieving families.

The Chinese Government, in this particular instant, has gone out of it's way to ensure full transparency and accountability and has, according to media reports, provided both adequate facilities for transport, rest and recuperation, and professional personnel for grieving relatives.

(The only facility it appears to have omitted is the availability of Monks, Imams, Priests and Pastors to talk with and console relatives of the travelers on Flight MH370 but probably such would to be expected in a professed Atheist country.)

From the South East Asian perspective, the most important criteria is not to loose face before your peers or indeed before the international community.

With smiles and polite dismissal of detailed direct questions (something South East Asian Politicians/Air Aviation Ministers and Senior Officials of Air Malaysia find discourteous - since you should never ask 'embarrassing' questions which might be heading, in their perception, in the direction of public 'confusion' and public disgrace to that Official or Officials) all efforts to get honest and direct answers (from a Western mentality perspective) are met with polite smiles and incidental answers - which are actually meaningless for the grieving distraught relatives at such 'briefings'.

This is a direct result with unfamiliarity in many societies of what we in the West would call public accountability, scrutiny and transparency in the way we understand the concept of  'transparency' and accountability.

What Malaysia appears to be most worried about is the ridicule it will most likely face as it becomes evident that it simply has no indigenous autonomous coordinated air defense system and is entirely reliant on that of it's senior military regional partners for security.  It's civilian airline tracking system is, as we can see, likewise abysmal, not subscribed into the global (pay-as-you-go) real time tracking systems and as the full extent of this weakness becomes more evident, one has to question it's ability to integrate it's systems in the event a major regional terrorist or military crises.

This could have profound implications for systems integration and real-time intelligence coordination and such implications should not be lost in the aftermath of this (probable) tragedy.

The only conclusion is that as things currently stand, Malaysia would expect it's senior Allied partners to take the responsibility for security coordination in the event of an external security threat or a major strategic or terrorist emergency of an aviation nature as it's own air defense system appears (at present) hopelessly inadequate.
This incident should also have highlighted to all South East Asian and African nations their own vulnerability to a 9/11 incident and steps which they will be required to integrate to prevent such scenarios.

We appear to be in a remarkable 'virtual reality' 'twilight'  zone of the story which as much display the Malaysian authorities inept air defense system as it does their inability, for cultural reasons, to admit systems weaknesses (it just happens to be occurring at present in the aviation sector but it could be reflective of any other aspect  life) for fear of 'loss of face'.

So we have several confabulated stories given out which frustrate the Chinese authorities as they waste valuable time and resources chasing ghost 'leads' evocated in briefings of 'smoke and mirrors' - all designed to save face.  The Director of Malaysian Airlines, Dr Hugh Dunleavy, appears more concerned at not further embarrassing the Malaysian authorities - appealing to the distraught victims families to exercise 'reason' by not asking  'awkward' questions [A SKY World Television News interview is the source of this information.]  This is one of the results of spending just too much time in such countries - you really do 'go Native' and the neural logic, reason, and speech networks get entangled when trying to reconcile the public expectations of East and West.

What you need to understand is that in many South East Asian Societies the loss of face in public is a terrible humiliation and when such occurs, somebody (or persons) must then resign in public and social disgrace - as their offense has, in this instance, will or could have humiliated the nation, before the entire world.

What we (in the West) might regard as an 'opportunity' to identify and correct areas of profound 'weakness' is sometimes perceived in the East only as something causing huge embarrassment which must not be allowed to happen again.

The boundaries of conformity and individual identity expression are shape-shifted as we move from East to West.

So, where do they go from here?

What's needed, in my opinion, is a fresh approach to this baffling enigma and an honest and open security appraisal in it's aftermath.

Perhaps inviting China, The United States, Indonesia, India and Australia to form a special joint partnership task force with the Malaysian authorities might not be the worst decision the Malaysian government might consider so that there are some new grounds for civil security cooperation (as opposed to competition) in so vital an economic region.

It appears that the United States, India, China and Australia (not to forget New Zealand) are now appreciating the 'opportunity' which this unfortunate tragedy has incidentally created, mobilizing their considerable technological satellite intelligence, maritime, military and human resources so that the initiative shifts to practical considerations and 'thinking outside the box' rather than just platitudes.

Patrick Emek

How Can A Plane Just Completely Disappear? The Mystery of Flight MH 370

A critical issue to mention is that the plane has not just 'disappeared', it simply has not yet been located.


First I would like to express my sincere condolences for the families of persons on that flight who are grieving and waiting in agony for just any information which will give them closure to (what is very likely) a tragic situation.

I am not in any way connected to the aviation industry nor to any air investigations branch nor any insurance company and my views here are entirely subjective.

I have a very simple question to ask of the air aviation industry:
In an era where we can send craft to land on planets within our own solar system and satellites beyond towards other galaxies, is it not possible to provide real-time location to the millisecond of every aircraft  in-flight on our planet today?; or are the lives of passengers not yet worth the investment in the technologies available to provide such data?
I am familiar with real-time location and there are no reasons, other than costs, why such cannot be incorporated into a variety of aspects of civilian facilities to improve safety and security.
In my opinion, the lives of public air transport passengers do not reach the profit margin where it justifies the inclusion of technologies to map by the second their in-flight journeys.
It is for this reason that all airlines are comfortable with the status quo.
Having said this, the oceans covering this planet are vast and it is simply not yet possible (for the reasons given earlier) to accurately pinpoint exact locations to the millisecond.
It will be up to the the major manufacturers of civilian aircraft in  U.S., Great Britain and Europe (The European Union) to set new directions in policies and procedures so as to ensure that air safety is improved with the inclusion of available technologies so that real-time (by the second) analysis and observation is mandatory for all in-flight civilian aircraft.




Patrick Emek

article amended for brevity and accuracy,March 12, 2014