World Politics

[python]

1st, feel free to link to the westerm msm that mentioned the attacks on the police stations...i did not read any locally
2nd, since you often allude to some scientist not being up to your standard, i need to point out to your obvious sloppiness (for a scientist wiping others noses) with respect to reading and using the term as written...i specifically said the msm (main street media). you - very sloppily or self-servicing - 'western news outlets'

posters like blutto and aphro use 'the western news outlets' all the time to bring up the hypocrisy of the western msm. you ? when it serves you ?

 

[blutto]

Re:

1st, feel free to link to the westerm msm that mentioned the attacks on the police stations...i did not read any locally
2nd, since you often allude to some scientist not being up to your standard, i need to point out to your obvious sloppiness (for a scientist wiping others noses) with respect to reading and using the term as written...i specifically said the msm (main street media). you - very sloppily or self-servicing - 'western news outlets'

posters like blutto and aphro use 'the western news outlets' all the time to bring up the hypocrisy of the western msm. you ? when it serves you ?

....keyboard please.....wonder if J does house-calls cause I had coffee bubbles coming out my nose after I saw that....too funny....real fine shooting p.....

Cheers

 

[Jagartrott]

Re:

1st, feel free to link to the westerm msm that mentioned the attacks on the police stations...i did not read any locally
2nd, since you often allude to some scientist not being up to your standard, i need to point out to your obvious sloppiness (for a scientist wiping others noses) with respect to reading and using the term as written...i specifically said the msm (main street media). you - very sloppily or self-servicing - 'western news outlets'

posters like blutto and aphro use 'the western news outlets' all the time to bring up the hypocrisy of the western msm. you ? when it serves you ?

Still not gotten over it eh. I was responding to your claim, then obviously I'm talking about 'Western MSM'. Sorry for the sloppiness.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...iolence-flares-in-myanmar-rohingya-bangladesh

 

[python]

^ keep in mind, not everyone holding you to your own 'scientific' standard needs to 'get over' something...that article, while heavily slanted, indeed mentioned the 'insurgent' violence against the authorities. in that regard it is much closer to a modicum of a balanced journalism than any of the western msm i still keep on my rss feed.

'ethnic cleansing' is the only theme left reverberating in an average layman mind after getting spun by the uncritical reporting of a rather complex issue...

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re:

i speculate - like most 'whites' - i did not know all that much about that lost corner of asia called myanmar...

that is, until i started reading a bit more to form my own opinion which i admit is already suspicious of the western msm 'genocide' chorus...

to begin with, how many 'whites' know the muanmar is no longer burma ? indeed, i found it funny that despite thinking of themselves as 'civilized europeans' the commentators on france24 persistently use only a 'burma' term. or how many europeans and 'whites' know/remember that during the ww2 the allegiances of the burma muslims (the now persecuted rohingya) were with the japanese as opposed to the rest of burma inhabitants with the allies....? or the simple facts of ethnicity and religion...how many knew the rohingya are darker skinned muslims like many south indian ethnicites vs the typical 'chinese like' buddist residents of the myanmar ?

of course this does not take away from the mass injustices done by the military authorities of myanmar. but i have not found A SINGLE mention in the western msm that the current violence was started by the extremist muslims attacking the police stations...

i am far from supporting the asiatic violence against the defenseless refugees, but i feel suspicious of the chorus of IDENTICAL ideologically painted stories from the western msm...

btw, again try as hard as you may, but you will not find in the western msm that india, like china support the official govt. you need to sift through what i did to find that... russia leans the same way too. thus a zero chance of the unsc sanctions !

yes, it is a horrible mix of some geopolitics, some religion some ethnic intolerance etc.

it is NOT a single, simplified emotion that so many of us in the west swallow from our msm

Back before I was a USMC my knowledge of asia was slim.
While being on many operations in Thailand / Cambodia / Laos was in many ways brought to my attention the country of Burma and the people. In Thailand around most major cities there are many refuges from Burma and Cambodia a large percentage of the folks who lived came out with missing limbs and many other health issues.

I was in the military and that made me or caused me to be rather cold ---looking back on it. But there is so much that could be done and so much attention that should be paid to that area because it is basically the same type of death and genocide that was happening in the 60 and 70's.

 

[python]

Re: Re:

i speculate - like most 'whites' - i did not know all that much about that lost corner of asia called myanmar...

that is, until i started reading a bit more to form my own opinion which i admit is already suspicious of the western msm 'genocide' chorus...

to begin with, how many 'whites' know the muanmar is no longer burma ? indeed, i found it funny that despite thinking of themselves as 'civilized europeans' the commentators on france24 persistently use only a 'burma' term. or how many europeans and 'whites' know/remember that during the ww2 the allegiances of the burma muslims (the now persecuted rohingya) were with the japanese as opposed to the rest of burma inhabitants with the allies....? or the simple facts of ethnicity and religion...how many knew the rohingya are darker skinned muslims like many south indian ethnicites vs the typical 'chinese like' buddist residents of the myanmar ?

of course this does not take away from the mass injustices done by the military authorities of myanmar. but i have not found A SINGLE mention in the western msm that the current violence was started by the extremist muslims attacking the police stations...

i am far from supporting the asiatic violence against the defenseless refugees, but i feel suspicious of the chorus of IDENTICAL ideologically painted stories from the western msm...

btw, again try as hard as you may, but you will not find in the western msm that india, like china support the official govt. you need to sift through what i did to find that... russia leans the same way too. thus a zero chance of the unsc sanctions !

yes, it is a horrible mix of some geopolitics, some religion some ethnic intolerance etc.

it is NOT a single, simplified emotion that so many of us in the west swallow from our msm

Back before I was a USMC my knowledge of asia was slim.
While being on many operations in Thailand / Cambodia / Laos was in many ways brought to my attention the country of Burma and the people. In Thailand around most major cities there are many refuges from Burma and Cambodia a large percentage of the folks who lived came out with missing limbs and many other health issues.

I was in the military and that made me or caused me to be rather cold ---looking back on it. But there is so much that could be done and so much attention that should be paid to that area because it is basically the same type of death and genocide that was happening in the 60 and 70's.

hear you...
my previous inputs/posts on the burma/myanmar human tragedy are no more than some think-aloud, wide-eyed student reactions to a brand new subject.. clearly i can only read about what you personally experienced in the troubled hood.

you sound pessimistic enough, but would the cambodia khmer rouge atrocities - you did not mention it, but it is my interpretation of your gloomy view - be a fair parallel to the modern myanmar events ? my genuine curiosity.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re: Re:

i speculate - like most 'whites' - i did not know all that much about that lost corner of asia called myanmar...

that is, until i started reading a bit more to form my own opinion which i admit is already suspicious of the western msm 'genocide' chorus...

to begin with, how many 'whites' know the muanmar is no longer burma ? indeed, i found it funny that despite thinking of themselves as 'civilized europeans' the commentators on france24 persistently use only a 'burma' term. or how many europeans and 'whites' know/remember that during the ww2 the allegiances of the burma muslims (the now persecuted rohingya) were with the japanese as opposed to the rest of burma inhabitants with the allies....? or the simple facts of ethnicity and religion...how many knew the rohingya are darker skinned muslims like many south indian ethnicites vs the typical 'chinese like' buddist residents of the myanmar ?

of course this does not take away from the mass injustices done by the military authorities of myanmar. but i have not found A SINGLE mention in the western msm that the current violence was started by the extremist muslims attacking the police stations...

i am far from supporting the asiatic violence against the defenseless refugees, but i feel suspicious of the chorus of IDENTICAL ideologically painted stories from the western msm...

btw, again try as hard as you may, but you will not find in the western msm that india, like china support the official govt. you need to sift through what i did to find that... russia leans the same way too. thus a zero chance of the unsc sanctions !

yes, it is a horrible mix of some geopolitics, some religion some ethnic intolerance etc.

it is NOT a single, simplified emotion that so many of us in the west swallow from our msm

Back before I was a USMC my knowledge of asia was slim.
While being on many operations in Thailand / Cambodia / Laos was in many ways brought to my attention the country of Burma and the people. In Thailand around most major cities there are many refuges from Burma and Cambodia a large percentage of the folks who lived came out with missing limbs and many other health issues.

I was in the military and that made me or caused me to be rather cold ---looking back on it. But there is so much that could be done and so much attention that should be paid to that area because it is basically the same type of death and genocide that was happening in the 60 and 70's.

hear you...
my previous inputs/posts on the burma/myanmar human tragedy are no more than some think-aloud, wide-eyed student reactions to a brand new subject.. clearly i can only read about what you personally experienced in the troubled hood.

you sound pessimistic enough, but would the cambodia khmer rouge atrocities - you did not mention it, but it is my interpretation of your gloomy view - be a fair parallel to the modern myanmar events ? my genuine curiosity.

Yes I think it is a fair comparison.

What has me the most depressed is the Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi has been the leader during this and nothing has been done. She was supposed to represent something else for the people of Burma and yet that does not seem to be the situation.

 

[Beech Mtn]

If they really care about changing the world, the Nobel Peace Prize people ought to go back and rescind some of their awards, and make a big media stink about why they are doing it.

 

[python]

@beach and semper
the noble prize awarding (or the revocation if it was possible) is/would be, apart from its prestige, is an inherently POLITICAL affair.

we, in the west are conditioned, by the very definition, that a noble prize recipient is a winner. not necessarily if one takes into account that the very institution awarding the thing is....a strictly western institution. though, being a nordic myself, i trust they try being fair.

yet, the west's colonial skeletons and/or our own guilty conscience wrt to how we EVOLVED re the treatment of women, minorities, or workers leads to a bunch of politically correct awards. or some stupid ones. like awarding a superpower leader with the coveted prize.

my opinion - a noble award in politics should be scrapped all together !!!!!!!

btw, congratulation to all the marxists on this board (is the italian expat the only one ?) ! it was 2 days and 150 yo that the capital was published first. i admit,as a very young man i read the german original and was - for a short time - very impressed.

 

[python]

a new potentially very dangerous dynamic is developing in sysria which, if allowed to escalate, may lead to a direct shooting exchanges btwn the us and russia...

since i did not find one single analysis/review of the events that took place yesterday, including the background, i will summarize it here.

allegedly, yesterday russian planes attacked and caused considerable casualties to the us-backed kurdish miltia that is fighting isil in the province of raqqa. late yesterday, the pentagon OFFICIALLY accused russia of a deliberate attack, which was OFFICIALLY denied this morning by the russins.

as is well known, the us-backed insurgents after surrounding the isil in the raqqa city are now racing west towards deir ez zor where the syrian govt forces just broke the 3-year isil siege with the help of the russian air force. the us supported kurds and the russian-backed govt troops are said to be separated by only several kilometers...the volatile situation is made more dangerous by the aggressive statements on both sides. a kurdish rep said yesterday, 'we will not allow the govt east of the euphrates river', to which an adviser to assad replied, 'we will continue liberating our sovereign territories regardless of which ILLEGAL gropup is holding them'...

so, how to view the russian attack on the us-backed troops (and the us advisers according to the pentagon) and why would they do it ?

i can only speculate that it is a hardball. in part a warning/reply to the multiple us attacks on the syrian troops ('we, like you, stand by our allies') and in part a real and very dangerous competition for the oil-rich region AFTER the isil gets pushed out.

normally, after such incident take place the 2 powers to avoid an escalation try to come up with the new demarcation lines. i would not be surprised if russia is testing/measuring the us commitment vis-a vis kurds and sending a nod to their new partner in syria - the turks.

whatever...

 

[Merckx index]

Aung San Suu Kyi’s biographer, Peter Popham, writes in “The Lady and the Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s Struggle for Democracy” that she “has become an object lesson in the slipperiness of the concept of heroism, and the folly of hero-worship.” Indeed, the tenor of the denunciations suggests that Aung San Suu Kyi’s critics are angered as much by a sense of personal betrayal as they are by her silence. She has exposed the artlessness with which many in the West reduced a complex personality into a Rapunzel of the East, emptied of her more illiberal traits, such as an authoritarian leadership style, and some potentially unsavory views on Muslims. The BBC correspondent, Fergal Keane, who probably knows Aung San Suu Kyi better than any other foreign journalist, has admitted that “we knew too little of Myanmar and its complex narratives of ethnic rivalries. . . . And we knew too little of Aung San Suu Kyi herself.” In a rare interview with Keane in April, she denied ethnic cleansing was taking place in Rakhine, and resisted the cruder perceptions of her persona: “I am just a politician. I am not quite like Margaret Thatcher, no. But on the other hand, I am no Mother Teresa, either.”

Few can blame Aung San Suu Kyi for her political impotence. The constitutional arrangements of Myanmar would foil the shrewdest operative. Designed by the military, in 2008, the constitution gives the armed forces control of three ministries—the interior, borders, and defense—that are beyond the oversight of the civilian government. It bars Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming President, and allows the Army to veto any attempt at constitutional reform. The irony, then, is that if Aung San Suu Kyi once represented the power of the powerless, she is now powerless in power, taking the flak for the Army’s unrelenting inhumanity in its fight against ethnic rebels on the borderlands, and the Rohingya.

Her father was an extraordinarily tenacious, even ruthless, man who navigated between the British and Japanese empires in order to achieve his objective—a unified, independent Burma. He was also a Burmese nationalist who cared little for the nation’s ethnic minorities. Today, he is universally venerated in Myanmar, while few outside the country know who he is. This has almost certainly influenced Aung San Suu Kyi, who mimics his leadership style, moral code, and political priorities. The Rohingya are a distraction from her overriding ambition: to complete her father’s dream of unifying the country and ending a civil war that has raged between ethnic rebel forces and the Myanmar government since 1948.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/aung-san-suu-kyi-the-ignoble-laureate?mbid=nl_170916_daily&CNDID=48665305&spMailingID=11933793&spUserID=MTc5MTUxNTY5OTg1S0&spJobID=1241328600&spReportId=MTI0MTMyODYwMAS2

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

So in Spain they actually jailed some of the Catalan government officials who were involved in organizing the independence referendum and they raided a regional government ministry.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41331152

To be honest, I know very little about this particular issue, so I'll abstain from having an opinion for now, but at first sight a national government using force to prevent an independence referendum doesn't look very pretty. Presumably it will also have adverse effects. At least, I don't think Catalans who are discontented with Madrid are suddenly going to change their minds when Madrid actually starts using force to prevent them from leaving. Quite the opposite I'd imagine.

 

[blutto]

Israeli Right Wing Faction Announces a Plan for Ethnic Cleansing

By Ian Berman. | (Informed Comment) | – –

– Essentially an offer that says ‘Get Out or We Will Make Your Life a Living Hell, or Worse.’
The Platform Provides 3 Choices for Palestinians: Accept Ethnic Cleansing, Bend the Knee to Apartheid or Expect Even More Violence

After initiating and winning what is commonly known as the 6 Day War in June of 1967, Israel conquered East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Since that time Israel ruled over these territories through military law and over 600,000 Israelis known as settlers have colonized these areas in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory. Article 49 of the convention explicitly states “the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The international community only recognizes Israel to the extent of the borders prior to the 1967 War, but has only gone as far as issuing U.N. resolutions against the colonial settlements. Never have sanctions of any significance ever been imposed upon Israel for its brazen flouting of international law.

50 years later, on September 12, the National Union delivered the brazen “Decision Plan” to permanently integrate East Jerusalem and the West Bank into Israel, while disregarding Palestinian human rights under international law. The National Union is a faction within the powerful ultra-nationalist right wing Jewish Home Party that is part of the current coalition running the Israeli government. Although the conference does not represent ruling government, Members of the Israeli Knesset and the Jewish Home Party led the initiative. The approximate 100 delegates that attended voted unanimously for the plan.

Paraphrasing a Haaretz headline on the conference, ‘National Home has approved an annexation plan to coerce Palestinian departure.’ Further, the article’s subtitle states that “with a stamp of Netanyahu approval, right-wing party conference discusses their plan to annex the Palestinian territories and offer a surrender-or-transfer ultimatum.” Yet the offer that Netanyahu implicitly endorsed is even worse than that.
The first two points of the Decision Plan provide Palestinians may live in the Jewish State if they give up their right to participate in the government ruling over them. Those that refuse to accept this second class residency will “receive assistance” in emigrating. There is an ominous third option. Since the Palestinians may not accept the compulsion to leave their homeland, as many of us would also reject, and may also resist living under an Apartheid state, as many of us would do, the third option is to face even more violence from the soldiers already enforcing the colonization and domination of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The Decision Plan specifically provides
“1. Anyone who is willing and able to relinquish the fulfillment of his national aspirations will be able to stay here and live as an individual in the Jewish state.
“2. Anyone who is unwilling or unable to relinquish his national aspirations will receive assistance from us to emigrate to one of the Arab countries.
And then there is the ominous third option, with its violent implications as plain as day.
“Anyone who insists on choosing the third ‘option’ – to continue to resort to violence against the Israel Defense Forces, the State of Israel and the Jewish population will be determinedly handled by the security forces with greater force than at present and under more comfortable conditions for us.”

So if the Palestinians choose not to leave their millennia-old homeland and do not accept the permanent domination of the Jewish State over their lives, and instead exercise their right under international law to resist the occupiers of their territories, Israel will turn its modern war machine on the defenseless Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank much as it has repeatedly done on the open air prison of Gaza.

In other words, the Israeli Right Wing’s position is ‘Get Out or We Will Make Your Life a Living Hell, or Worse.’
The 4th Option Goes Unmentioned

Notice that the three options leave out a fourth that neither the Israeli Right Wing parties nor the Western mainstream media acknowledge – peaceful resistance to living under the boot of the Israeli occupation and colonization. Apparently then anything the Palestinians do is considered violence against the Jewish State. This does help explain why 816 Palestinian political prisoners were held without charges as of May of this year.
Indeed, a peaceful protest of over 10 Palestinians has been illegal since Israel passed the far reaching Military Order 101 on August 27, 1967. For the 50 years since the Israeli military entered East Jerusalem and the West Bank in June of 1967, Palestinians not inside the internationally recognized borders of Israel have lived under military law dictated by the “only democracy in the Middle East.” The New Arab notes “Israeli military law places severe restrictions on nearly every aspect of civilian life. This also goes beyond everyday life with a ban on all freedom of expression in the occupied territories.

“Israeli authorities immediately issued Military Proclamation No.2 following the Six-Day War, granting the area commander of Israel’s military full legislative, executive and judicial authorities over the West Bank and its civilian population.

“Under Military Order 101, the display of Palestinian flags, emblems, posters or the publication of documents and images of a political nature are also banned.” Therefore, under Israeli military law, all forms of Palestinian political expression can be censored.

Military Order 101 is the ace in the hole for the Israeli occupation forces. For example, “prominent Palestinian human rights activist Issa Amro was jailed in 2016 for attending a protest in Hebron without a permit.” Further, Military Order 101 is one of the many tools Israel has used to arrest and detain “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, including women and children.” As members of the dissenting Israeli veterans’ group Breaking the Silence have noted, many of these arrests occur during middle of the night home raids which have the explicit purpose of intimidating the Palestinian population. If the Israeli military chooses to prosecute, Palestinians are essentially automatically guilty given the military courts’ conviction rate of “99.7 per cent.”

Perhaps then the statement of Ayalet Shaked, the Israeli Minister of Justice and a member of the Home Party that attended the conference should not be surprising. Earlier this month she stated, “Zionism should not continue, and I say here, it will not continue to bow down to the system of individual rights interpreted in a universal way.” After all, she is the person most responsible for enforcing the law of the so-called “only democracy in the Middle East.”

Finally, Honesty about the Zionist Objective to Ethnically Cleanse Palestine
Perhaps almost as startling is the implication of a comment made by one of the leading supporters of the Decision Plan, Minister of the Knesset Bezalel Smotrich.

“’After a hundred years of managing the conflict, the time has come for a decision,” MK Smotrich told the assembly.

In other words, this “conflict” between the Zionist colonizers, most of whom came from Europe, and the Palestinians that have called this land their own for millennia, has been going on since 1917, the year of the Balfour Declaration. So let us start there with the importance of the key changes the Bristh made to the original draft the Zionists submitted to Balfour. The original Zionist draft stated:
“His Majesty’s Government accepts the principle that Palestine should be reconstituted as the national home of the Jewish people. His Majesty’s Government will use its best endeavours to secure the achievement of this object and will discuss the necessary methods and means with the Zionist Organization.”
Yet the British used this language in the final draft.

“His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
How have the Zionists fulfilled their end of the bargain then? Over the past 70 years, their reign began with the Ethnic Cleansing of 1948, the colonization and military rule of East Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1967, and the failed attempt to colonize Gaza as well. Yet this failure to colonize Gaza was replaced with turning the world’s largest and longest running refugee camp into an open air prison for over a decade. Clearly Israel has failed to live up to the term “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

Some Israelis now believe that Zionists were entitled to all of Palestine at the time the conflict began, 100 years ago, even though Jews only constituted 8% of the population (as of 1918).

Obviously it doesn’t matter to Zionist supporters, that some Zionists came to Palestine with the intent of “transferring” the indigenous population out of Palestine from the beginning. Not only did many early Zionists discuss this need prior to 1948, but even the draft of the declaration they presented to Lord Balfour envisioned that outcome. It is worth repeating that the Zionists’ draft stated “Palestine should be reconstituted as the national home of the Jewish people” (emphasis added). (It is also worth noting that even the British, the leading colonizers in the world, thought that demand went too far and changed it accordingly.)

Too few in the world know that some Zionists have all along had the objective of the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, let alone part of a plan for 100 years. So at least the National Union is doing something Zionist propaganda has covered up all this time. It is being honest about the destiny for Palestinians under Zionism.
– – – – – –

https://www.juancole.com/2017/09/israeli-announces-cleansing.html

Cheers

 

[blutto]

Ma’an News Agency | – –
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Netherlands has reacted with outrage after Israeli authorities seized dozens of solar panels in a remote occupied West Bank village that were donated by the Dutch government.
Israeli forces confiscated the solar panels in the isolated village of Jubbet al-Dhib east of Bethlehem on Wednesday that were installed last year, under the pretext that they were built without the nearly impossible to obtain permits required by Israel to develop in Area C — the 61 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control

https://www.juancole.com/2017/07/furious-donated-palestinians.html

Cheers

 

[movingtarget]

Ma’an News Agency | – –
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Netherlands has reacted with outrage after Israeli authorities seized dozens of solar panels in a remote occupied West Bank village that were donated by the Dutch government.
Israeli forces confiscated the solar panels in the isolated village of Jubbet al-Dhib east of Bethlehem on Wednesday that were installed last year, under the pretext that they were built without the nearly impossible to obtain permits required by Israel to develop in Area C — the 61 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control

https://www.juancole.com/2017/07/furious-donated-palestinians.html

Cheers

Well at least they didn't shell every roof with a solar panel...........give it time..........I can hear bulldozers warming up in the distance..........

 

[blutto]

Ma’an News Agency | – –
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Netherlands has reacted with outrage after Israeli authorities seized dozens of solar panels in a remote occupied West Bank village that were donated by the Dutch government.
Israeli forces confiscated the solar panels in the isolated village of Jubbet al-Dhib east of Bethlehem on Wednesday that were installed last year, under the pretext that they were built without the nearly impossible to obtain permits required by Israel to develop in Area C — the 61 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control

https://www.juancole.com/2017/07/furious-donated-palestinians.html

Cheers

Well at least they didn't shell every roof with a solar panel...........give it time..........I can hear bulldozers warming up in the distance..........

....must be so tough for that chapter of God's children....so many houses...so few bulldozers....so little time to do all of God The Real-estate Agent's work....

Cheers

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re:

Aung San Suu Kyi’s biographer, Peter Popham, writes in “The Lady and the Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s Struggle for Democracy” that she “has become an object lesson in the slipperiness of the concept of heroism, and the folly of hero-worship.” Indeed, the tenor of the denunciations suggests that Aung San Suu Kyi’s critics are angered as much by a sense of personal betrayal as they are by her silence. She has exposed the artlessness with which many in the West reduced a complex personality into a Rapunzel of the East, emptied of her more illiberal traits, such as an authoritarian leadership style, and some potentially unsavory views on Muslims. The BBC correspondent, Fergal Keane, who probably knows Aung San Suu Kyi better than any other foreign journalist, has admitted that “we knew too little of Myanmar and its complex narratives of ethnic rivalries. . . . And we knew too little of Aung San Suu Kyi herself.” In a rare interview with Keane in April, she denied ethnic cleansing was taking place in Rakhine, and resisted the cruder perceptions of her persona: “I am just a politician. I am not quite like Margaret Thatcher, no. But on the other hand, I am no Mother Teresa, either.”

Few can blame Aung San Suu Kyi for her political impotence. The constitutional arrangements of Myanmar would foil the shrewdest operative. Designed by the military, in 2008, the constitution gives the armed forces control of three ministries—the interior, borders, and defense—that are beyond the oversight of the civilian government. It bars Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming President, and allows the Army to veto any attempt at constitutional reform. The irony, then, is that if Aung San Suu Kyi once represented the power of the powerless, she is now powerless in power, taking the flak for the Army’s unrelenting inhumanity in its fight against ethnic rebels on the borderlands, and the Rohingya.

Her father was an extraordinarily tenacious, even ruthless, man who navigated between the British and Japanese empires in order to achieve his objective—a unified, independent Burma. He was also a Burmese nationalist who cared little for the nation’s ethnic minorities. Today, he is universally venerated in Myanmar, while few outside the country know who he is. This has almost certainly influenced Aung San Suu Kyi, who mimics his leadership style, moral code, and political priorities. The Rohingya are a distraction from her overriding ambition: to complete her father’s dream of unifying the country and ending a civil war that has raged between ethnic rebel forces and the Myanmar government since 1948.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/aung-san-suu-kyi-the-ignoble-laureate?mbid=nl_170916_daily&CNDID=48665305&spMailingID=11933793&spUserID=MTc5MTUxNTY5OTg1S0&spJobID=1241328600&spReportId=MTI0MTMyODYwMAS2

SO do you have any relevant opinion on what you posted? Or is this just a fluff link post?

I mean really do you have any F ks to give? How about a actual TAKE?

I will continue to gloss over anything you post until you own up to the education levels of certain parties in the USA. I think you a old man poser or maybe not. BUT to post up a quote and links is some *** I could do as a post padding Fk.

You trying to get up to 10K or what?

I will go with my passed on friend who said you sure do know a great deal of knowledge but yet have no FRESH takes. Weaksauce.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

more proof of climate change today in Japan. Another Errfff quake near Fukushima. Dam the Japanese and them developing the prius. Karma biach's the nuke power has caused the climate to go all Fcked.

 

[python]

...posting my random thoughts after just finishing my morning load on world news...not necessarily connected.

- so we are about to experience (or not) 2 referendums that may change the european and the middle east politics for years to come. the catalonia i suspect wont be allowed to go anywhere. too many of the european establishment are scared..unlike with the scottish referendum, i dont have an opinion here, though frankly, i do feel a truly democratic process must be respected no matter what. regarding the iraqi kurds, i reckon their independence referendum will take place despite the huge pressure. they will for sure vote to form their own state, BUT it will take years, if not decades - too many pressure points - before the true independence will take shape. barzani probably knows that too. if he totally ignores the will of iran, turkey and the iraqi shiites his young autonomy will be strangled.

- the nor kor called trump 'the barking dog'. i actually agree. perhaps a tweeting old dog would fit better. whatever...his bluster at the un was beyond amateurish. even stupid - my opinion. frau mutter this morning said just about that much in german...

- according to tillerson, when theresa may asked trump if he can share his 'secret decision' on whether to stay in the nuke accord with iran, the 'barking dog' refused the request. pathetic. if trump feels that deliberately creating ambiguities should be a part of his international relations, even with the allies, he is even more stupid than i thought. i take it back... not stupid, amateurish !

regarding the substance of the nuke accord, my hunch is that the 'secret' trump decision is to pile some new demands on iran or a threat to withdraw entirely. will have to see, but i doubt very much the us will find any support among the original signatories. of course, the zionists will have a long orgasm. but the us will pay with the further decline of its credibility and prestige. china and russia i think will benefit, but not as much the zionists.

- and lastly...INDIA. everyone watch india ! it's not been widely commented on, but i see a consistent drift of the recently '3d world state' to the west and particularly towards the us. lots and lots of symptoms...perhaps a subject for a different post.

 

[blutto]

For half of the past two decades Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has served as prime minister of Israel. Whatever his ultimate fate (given the ongoing criminal investigations he is currently facing), it is clear that he has had a profound impact on Israel, the Palestinians, and the entire region.

There are those who have doubted that Netanyahu had any core beliefs, other than the desire to retain power. But even with his maneuvering and his penchant for prevarication, there are, in fact, core beliefs that have directed his career.

Shortly after his first election as Prime Minister, and before his maiden address to the US Congress, a team of Reagan-era neoconservatives (many of whom ended up in senior positions in the George W. Bush Administration) wrote a paper for Netanyahu to guide his remarks before Congress and to US audiences. The paper, echoing many themes from Netanyahu’s own writings, was called “A Clean Break.” Since he was already aligned with these views, he repeated the paper’s themes and policy proposals during his many public appearances in Washington. “A Clean Break” can be seen as Netanyahu’s road map to relations with the US and the Middle East region.

The central themes of the paper were:

ending the Oslo process and rejecting “land for peace” formula; reasserting Israel’s claim to the “land of Israel”; weakening the ability of the Palestinian Authority to govern; and poisoning the PA’s image in the US to damage its standing,
securing Israel’s northern border, by confronting Iran, promoting internal conflict in Lebanon, and destabilizing Syria,
strengthening ties with US Republicans, including proposing ending US economic aid in favor of military aid and buying into the Reagan-era idea of a “missile defense” system—a concept favored by the GOP, and
confronting Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Over the past two decades, Netanyahu and his US allies, whether in or out of office, pursued these same objectives. To a great extent, they have succeeded.

This unholy alliance between US neoconservatives and Netanyahu was no accident. They had long been partners. Back in the late 1970’s, Netanyahu convened many of these same thinkers to Israel for a summit at the Jonathan Institute—an event which some have called the birth of the American neoconservative movement. Back then, their focus was hostility to the Soviet Union and the “national liberation movements” alleged to be Soviet pawns. The ideology they spawned was decidedly pro-Israel and anti-Arab, and extremely hostile to all things Palestinian.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Oslo peace process, and the election of Bill Clinton, the focus of both the neocons (as they were called) and Netanyahu shifted. Seeing US Republicans as his allies in the effort to sabotage the peace process, Netanyahu’s Likud party set up a shop to provide talking points to GOP members of Congress. Their goal was to make Republicans partners in their fight with the Clinton administration/Labor Party endorsed peace process. With the GOP take-over of Congress in 1995, followed by Netanyahu’s election in 1996, the stage was set to kill the Oslo process. It was an unholy alliance of Likud and the GOP squared off against Labor and the Clinton Administration.

The goals laid out in “A Clean Break” were not so much prophetic as they were a road map in which the neocons and Netanyahu laid out their plans for a new US-Israel partnership, a destabilized Arab World, and an end to Palestinian aspirations for independence.

Netanyahu, the Likud, and their neoconservative allies can rightly claim that the vision they projected for the Middle East in “A Clean Break” is being realized. But, in reality, what they have created is an unsustainable mess that includes: a weakened and dependent PA that was denied the ability to govern causing it to lose legitimacy; a fractured Palestinian polity, with Hamas in control of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza; an Iraq in shambles and in its wake, an empowered and emboldened Iran and a metastasized terrorist threat that now challenges many countries; and a hardened, though divided Israeli electorate from which it is unlikely to see any new peace-oriented leadership emerging.

So this is the “House that Bibi Built.” It is his legacy. While Israel proceeds along its merry way, each day building more settlements, demolishing more Palestinian homes, dishing out more hardships to an embittered captive people, far from being the secure and stable dream Netanyahu envisioned, it is seething cauldron waiting for the next explosion.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-house-that-bibi-built-as-prime-minister-of-israel/5609690

Cheers

 

[blutto]

By the end of the 19th century it was recognized by those concerned with human rights that the nation-state was a destructive anachronism. It was an entity that seemed addicted to periodic spasms of mass violence, particularly in the form of war carried on with little or no regard for non-combatants or other restraining factors.

As a consequence, efforts began to create instruments of international law – treaties, conventions and other agreements – to modify state behaviour in such areas as the treatment of prisoners and the victimization of civilian populations.

The precarious status of international humanitarian law

Progress was spotty until the very end of World War II, when various human rights charters came into existence as a part of the United Nations. Through that institution, provision was made – albeit in very narrowly defined circumstances – for the fielding of UN military forces (the famous Blue Helmets) to try to enforce peace and protect civilian populations. Other institutions, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), were also eventually brought into existence.

The truth is that today only those nations which are relatively weak and have no great power patronage are in any danger of being called to task for gross violations of human rights.

The post-war move to expand international law to cover human rights and provide enforcement measures was all for the good, and in the future it will hopefully prove a powerful precedent that can be built upon. However, this period of progress did not last long. It soon gave way to a hypocritical selective application of humanitarian law.

The truth is that today only those nations which are relatively weak and have no great power patronage are in any danger of being called to task for gross violations of human rights. If you are the leader of some small African or Balkan state and you go on some ethnically or religiously inspired rampage, you run a real risk of being charged with crimes against humanity and hauled before the ICC, while the UN Security Council votes to send military forces into your country.

On the other hand, if you are a great power, or the close ally of one, you can pretty much do what you want, where you want. Great powers hold the concept of their own sovereignty sacrosanct and the us-versus-them mindset that goes along with hubristic nationalism remains unchallenged. That goes for their allies as well who, under the protection of their patron, often commit with impunity the same crimes that land smaller, unprotected powers in deep trouble.

Israel and the US undermine the law

The most blatant contemporary example of this disregard for international law as it pertains to human rights can be seen in the actions of Israel. The Zionist state’s present blitzkrieg in Gaza may be the worst of that nation’s ongoing series of violations of international humanitarian law. I would refer the reader to the Centre for Constitutional Rights’s fact sheet outlining Israel’s violation of humanitarian-law statutes.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the acclaimed “Israel Defence Forces” have become expert in violating human rights: murder and ethnic cleansing, illegal confiscation of occupied land, destruction of civilian housing, destruction of civilian infrastructure (water, electricity, sanitation, etc.), attacking of medical facilities, torture both of adults and children, the use of banned weaponry, the mistreatment of prisoners and more. And they have done it all quite openly.

Official complaints about Israeli behaviour come before the UN several times a year but to no avail. Each time Israel is called to task in the UN Security Council for violating international law, the US vetoes the resolution and therefore Israel suffers no consequences. Obviously, this only emboldens Israeli leaders to continue acting in a criminal manner. However, the impact goes beyond Israel and its victims, because each time the US casts its veto, international law designed to protect human rights suffers degradation.

The reason for US behaviour has to do with the inflated role of special interests, or lobbies (in this case the infamous Zionist lobby) in the governing structure of democratic societies. For a more detailed discussion of lobbies and how they operate in Washington, the reader can go to my essay on lobbies. Under the present circumstances in most democratic states, if a special interest has sufficient resources and organization it can, quite legally, manipulate policy so that the very definition of national interest is warped into an expression of the interest of the lobby. This is what the Zionist lobby in Washington has done in the case of US foreign policy in the Middle East.

This regrettable state of affairs has effectively brought to a halt any progress to expand enforcement of international human rights laws. Indeed, international law in general has fallen so far out of favour that, in the case of the United States, many citizens think that this form of law and organizations such as the UN are elements of shadowy conspiracies attempting to take over their nation.

Resurgent tribalism

http://www.redressonline.com/2014/08/israel-and-the-erosion-of-international-law/

Cheers

 

[python]

...has anyone wondered, why we have the us, the british or the world political threads, and none, NONE, N-O-N-E about the euro or -to put it bluntly, and realistically - the modern (or past) deutschland

the answer is very simple. the post ww2 germany, as most euros should agree with, was that the germans (largely) were TIMID and discrete given their past.

that timidness was discarded today with the german far right party (AfD) winning the unprecedented 13% making it the 3d party in germany and very represented in the parliament.

is the 13% to be scared of ? imo, yes (and no) b/c, ironically, we are dealing with a truly proportional, german-eurpean system.

yes, b/c they have just achieved their personal record in the background of the merkel roughly 1/3 score of the total electorate... no, b/c they are still refused by virtually all center-right or left -center parties.

it certainly would be nice if more germans contribute to what we have just seen

keep in mind, the merkel party is a clear winner, BUT only with barely 1/3 of the german voters opinions.

the western msm may have you deluded about the mutter victory, but she, in all actuality, collected even less than the trump folks in the us. ...proportionally speaking.

looking forward with a lot of excitement to the eu (and the european) foreign policy given the german elections !!!

 

[blutto]

.....some exceptional news from everyone's best exceptional friend.....

The Council of Catholic Churches in Jerusalem yesterday condemned the attack by “Jewish extremists” on one its houses of worship and called on the Israeli government to do more to curtail the escalating violence against Christians in the holy land.

Wednesday’s attack on St. Stephen Church in occupied Jerusalem resulted in the destruction of glass artwork and statues that depict the life of Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary.

The new patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem and Palestine, Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, speaking to AsiaNews said that the incident “fits in with the pattern of past incidents” and was carried out by “some fanatics” whom he described as most likely being “Jewish extremists”.

In addition to the “huge damage” caused by the destruction of statues and windows, there is the deep pain caused by “the fanaticism of these groups who do not want to accept diversity and the faith of others,” the patriarch said.

The attack took place near a chapel dedicated to St Stephen where a group of nuns and some members of the communities of the monastic family of Bethlehem live.

The Council of Catholic Churches moved swiftly to condemn the attack by releasing the statement calling on the State of Israel to punish those who were responsible for the acts “because” they said “it could easily lead to serious and unpredictable consequences, which would be most unwelcome in the current tense religious climate.”

Attacks by Jewish extremists on Christian and Muslim sites have been on the rise in recent years. Earlier this month church leaders united in their condemnation of Israel for its systematic attempt to undermine the integrity of the Holy City of Jerusalem and weaken its Christian heritage in Palestine.

They appealed to Christians, as well as the heads of governments “and all people of good will” to support them in their efforts to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian Christian community

https://alethonews.wordpress.com/2017/09/22/jewish-extremists-condemned-for-vandalising-jerusalem-church/

Cheers

 

[python]

Re:

...has anyone wondered, why we have the us, the british or the world political threads, and none, NONE, N-O-N-E about the euro or -to put it bluntly, and realistically - the modern (or past) deutschland

the answer is very simple. the post ww2 germany, as most euros should agree with, was that the germans (largely) were TIMID and discrete given their past.

that timidness was discarded today with the german far right party (AfD) winning the unprecedented 13% making it the 3d party in germany and very represented in the parliament.

is the 13% to be scared of ? imo, yes (and no) b/c, ironically, we are dealing with a truly proportional, german-eurpean system.

yes, b/c they have just achieved their personal record in the background of the merkel roughly 1/3 score of the total electorate... no, b/c they are still refused by virtually all center-right or left -center parties.

it certainly would be nice if more germans contribute to what we have just seen

keep in mind, the merkel party is a clear winner, BUT only with barely 1/3 of the german voters opinions.

the western msm may have you deluded about the mutter victory, but she, in all actuality, collected even less than the trump folks in the us. ...proportionally speaking.

looking forward with a lot of excitement to the eu (and the european) foreign policy given the german elections !!!

just saw that america (despite its own thread) is taking a front a center in THIS thread, and decided to boost my post. guilty. sorry.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re:

...has anyone wondered, why we have the us, the british or the world political threads, and none, NONE, N-O-N-E about the euro or -to put it bluntly, and realistically - the modern (or past) deutschland

the answer is very simple. the post ww2 germany, as most euros should agree with, was that the germans (largely) were TIMID and discrete given their past.

that timidness was discarded today with the german far right party (AfD) winning the unprecedented 13% making it the 3d party in germany and very represented in the parliament.

is the 13% to be scared of ? imo, yes (and no) b/c, ironically, we are dealing with a truly proportional, german-eurpean system.

yes, b/c they have just achieved their personal record in the background of the merkel roughly 1/3 score of the total electorate... no, b/c they are still refused by virtually all center-right or left -center parties.

it certainly would be nice if more germans contribute to what we have just seen

keep in mind, the merkel party is a clear winner, BUT only with barely 1/3 of the german voters opinions.

the western msm may have you deluded about the mutter victory, but she, in all actuality, collected even less than the trump folks in the us. ...proportionally speaking.

looking forward with a lot of excitement to the eu (and the european) foreign policy given the german elections !!!

The Euro apparently has no opinion unless it is to diss or downgrade the USA.

NOT a peep. They are lost in their own lot. Expecting someone else to foot the bill in my opinion.

It is really sad to see the depths that England has fallen. ONCE The leaders and the beacon for all to follow. The USA took its lead from them. NOW they have no comments no Fcks to give. Unless it is to complain about the USA.