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A Shining French Knight versus The Duke Of Plaza-Toro


dpt


Any regular reader of Sparrow Chat will be well aware of the contempt in which I hold most politicians. Corrupt, self-obsessed, wealth and power-grabbing, utterly unconcerned with the welfare of those who elected them to office, the average politician today is unworthy of his/her position; sad imitations of those few great men of history worthy to bear the title, “statesman”.

And yet, this afternoon, I sat spellbound as the words of a great statesman resounded around the Palace of Versailles, resulting in an enthusiastic standing ovation from both Houses of the French Parliament.

François Hollande, President of France, did not mince words. Neither platitude nor poll-tested pabulum passed his lips as he laid out for the world how France would deal with the evil monster, ISIS, responsible for those heinous crimes against humanity that were perpetrated in Paris last Friday evening.

I would encourage everyone to take time to listen to his words. Words that, even when spoken through a translator, stirred the soul and made one realise that, perhaps, it was time another country became, “Leader of the Free World”, rather than the insipid, spineless, shadow of itself, that is the USA today.

Indeed, by comparison, Obama’s concluding speech at the G20 in Turkey left one painfully reminiscent of that comic Gilbert and Sullivan character from, “The Gondoliers”, the Duke of Plaza-Toro.

As Obama concluded by stating, somewhat anaemically, that the world, “led by America” (of course), would eventually defeat ISIS, W.S.Gilbert’s colourful description of the Duke came flooding back:

In enterprise of martial kind,
When there was any fighting,
He led his regiment from behind —
He found it less exciting.
But when away his regiment ran,
His place was at the fore, O —
That celebrated,
Cultivated,
Underrated
Nobleman,
The Duke of Plaza-Toro!”

Move over Obama; move over Cameron, your platitudes are history. There’s a new kid on the block and no-one’s going to push his country around and get away with it.


hollande


He may be balding; he may only be 5′ 7″ – but so was Napoleon.

Vive La France!


Much Head-Scratching But Where’s The Action?

Yesterday’s post, regarding ISIS and the Paris atrocities, noted that the American President Barack Obama had emphasized, in an interview on ABC, the ‘containment’ of ISIS, viz:

“I don’t think they’re gaining strength,” Obama responded. “What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them…”

Last night three Democrat candidates debated the situation on live US television. One of them, Hilary Clinton, was also emphatic. According to the BBC:

IS[Islamic State] cannot be contained, it must be defeated, Mrs Clinton said, adding that while American leadership was essential, “we will support those who take the fight to Isis.”[1]

These are our top world politicians. Our fate is in their hands. If they can’t agree on such vital issues what hope is there for any of us?

There are three major issues threatening the safety of our species right now, though many others are knocking at the door: 1. Climate change; 2. ISIS and Islamic extremism, and 3. The refugee crisis in Europe.

It would seem our leaders haven’t the faintest idea how to effectively handle any of them.


[1] “Democrats argue over Islamic State fight after Paris attacks” BBC, November 15th 2015

Today Paris, Tomorrow…?

The images of Paris displayed throughout the world in the last twelve hours have been horrific and disturbing. Let’s take a moment to remember how Paris is, and always will be, despite the crazed antics of certain of our fellow human beings…


Eiffel-Tower-Paris-France


Despite assurances from our political leaders that all is being done to keep us safe from Islamic extremists hellbent on creating mayhem and terror, in some vain attempt to achieve god knows what, attacks of the sort witnessed in Paris last night are becoming an inevitable part of daily life.

President Hollande declared it an ‘..Act of War…’. The American President, Barack Obama wore his gloomy look and read the same old tired speech he seemingly uses for every violent act, whether home-grown or otherwise, while carefully avoiding any reference to his earlier announcement on ABC last Friday, when George Stephanopoulos asked him if ISIS was gaining in strength:

“I don’t think they’re gaining strength,” Obama responded. “What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them…[1]

Really? Contained, Mister Obama? Two hundred dead Parisians might disagree.

Meanwhile, the public schoolboy in charge at No 10 Downing Street reacts similarly with his well-rehearsed, ‘…hearts and prayers go out to..’ platitudes, presumably because he assumes it will make us all feel better.

Only twenty-four hours prior to the Paris atrocities the United States had been preening itself in front of the world, declaring it had (or, possibly had) slaughtered the British extremist delightfully nicknamed by the media, ‘Jihadi John’. The British Prime Minister profusely thanked America for, ‘…getting him for us…’, like a small boy grateful to an older brother for taking care of a bully.

CNN, announcing the news:

In a speech in 1942, Winston Churchill said that a recent British victory against the Nazis in North Africa was “not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Might the coalition arrayed against ISIS also be at the end of the beginning of the campaign that eventually will destroy the organization?”

Both the American media and its politicians have a love affair with Winston Churchill and quote him at every opportunity. In this case, though, somewhat inopportunely. Churchill was referring to the decisive defeat of Rommel’s forces at El Alamein in North Africa by Alexander and Montgomery, not the remote-controlled (possible) killing of one individual by a drone strike.

The obvious fact is that our leaders, confined by corporate control and political factions in the Middle East who would use the situation there to advantage, failed to deal with the murderous thugs of ISIS at their outset, preferring to refer to the downward spiral of Iraq and Syria as ‘…not our fight…’, even though America, in particular, was the creator of ISIS through its abortive actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United States of America, with a little help from its ‘friends’, created the monster that has named itself ISIS. Perhaps it’s time that nation and its ‘friends’ shouldered their responsibilities and did something about it, other than targeting lowly individuals of no real consequence.

After all, one doesn’t kill a rampaging monster by simply paring its toenails.


[1] “OBAMA: ISIS IS NOT GETTING ‘STRONGER,’ WE HAVE ‘CONTAINED’ THEM” Breitbart.com, November 13th 2015

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