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More and more frequently of late we find instances of the political elite working alongside each other to cover up illegalities and injustices. Perhaps the most blatant of these ‘all boys together’ tactics is taking place right now in Britain.

Recently, an arrest warrant was issued in London by a British judge. The warrant was in the name of Tzipi Livni, who was the Israeli foreign minister during that country’s incursion into Gaza a year ago.

1,400 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli strike on Gaza, more than half of them civilians – women and children. The United Nations investigator, Richard Goldstone, along with human rights organizations, claimed Israel was guilty of war crimes.

No-one has ever been held accountable. Just as in the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, where heinous war crimes were the norm, no-one has been brought to justice.

Now, it seems, the British government is determined that the British judicial system will be overturned, so that war criminals can visit the country at their leisure.

Britain’s Foreign secretary, David Milliband, said today:

“Israel is a strategic partner and a close friend of the UK. We are determined to protect and develop these ties. Israeli leaders – like leaders from other countries – must be able to visit and have a proper dialogue with the British government. The procedure by which arrest warrants can be sought and issued without any prior knowledge or advice by a prosecutor is an unusual feature of the system in England and Wales. The Government is looking urgently at ways in which the UK system might be changed in order to avoid this sort of situation arising again.”^[1]

What Milliband hints at here is that the government should not only make the laws, but administer them; that powerful individuals from any nation, whatever their crimes, should be able to visit Britain provided UK government officials deem it okay.

If allowed to happen, this will conveniently place anyone fawned over by the British government above the law, making retribution for war crimes almost impossible to impose through the courts.

Livni is not the only one prevented from visiting Britain by virtue of alleged crimes. Only two months ago, so yesterday’s Telegraph informs us:

……….Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s vice prime minister, turned down an invitation to visit London on the advice of legal experts in his government. They warned him he could face arrest over an Israeli bombing raid that killed 15 people in Gaza in 2002, when he was chief of staff of the Israeli military.”^[2]

It would seem the British government is determined to strangle the nation’s judiciary whenever the implementation of justice doesn’t suit. War criminals can do as they please, provided the nation they come from is ‘close friends’ with Britain.

In fact, Israel is no friend of Britain. Most Brits consider its treatment of Palestinians both brutal and inhuman. The British government may be great pals with its counterpart in Israel – yet another case of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ – but its shockingly unrepresentative of its peoples’ opinions.

But then, in today’s world, how many of us can honestly say we have a government truly representative of us?

The political elite are hard at work ensuring that old adage, “One law for them; one law for us”, is more apt than ever.

^{[1] “UK ponders law change after Tzipi Livni arrest warrant” BBC, December 15th 2009}

^{[2] “Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni ‘cancels London visit over prosecution fears'” Telegraph, December 14th 2009}

Filed under: Not so artful dodgers

With the advent of Christmas upon us, or, as our American cousins prefer to call it, the “Holiday Season”, absurdity shines all around, much as did the “glory” in that well known Christmas carol.

Nowhere is this more evident than outside the multitude of churches dotted all over the American heartlands. Two, that I pass each day, are particularly nonsensical.

Jesus Is The Reason For The Season.”

If you live anywhere within the area proudly designated as ‘America’s Bible Belt’, you’ll be familiar with this one. It’s as common as a Chicago street corner Santa on Christmas Eve.

Of course, it’s utterly inaccurate. The season is winter; the festival Yuletide; the reason is the Equinox. Jesus is no more the reason for the season than Tiger’s antics in the whore parlor form the basis of his golfing prowess.

Further down the road is another neon-illuminated bit of religious nonsense that declares:

The Most Precious Gift To Mankind Was Wrapped In A Manger.”

Now I’m aware that Joseph was billed as a carpenter, and would probably have been artistic with wood. But, given that Miriam-Webster defines a “Manger” as: ‘a trough or open box in a stable designed to hold feed or fodder for livestock’, I doubt even he could have successfully redesigned a feed trough as a wrap-around cot for his new infant in the time available.

Perhaps ‘swaddling clothes’ was just too many words to fit on the billboard?

Seasonal absurdity is not, however, confined to the religious institutions of this great country. While making one of my less-and-less frequent visits to our local Walmart this week, I remembered the need to purchase Christmas cards, for friends and relatives back in the old country.

Fighting my way through all the trite religious crap on the shelf, a rather pleasant looking pack was noted, with male and female Red Cardinals not too distastefully displayed on the front. Eighteen cards for five dollars seemed a fair price, so eager to escape this depressing superstore, I threw the box in the cart and headed for the checkout.

Yesterday, I sat down to write my cards only to find they were totally unsuitable for the purpose.

Why?

The cards themselves were fine. The envelopes were dark green. In artificial light they looked black. It was impossible to address them with a normal pen. The whole box went in the fire.

They weren’t even “Great Value!”

I suppose some people would think them ‘cool’, or ‘fashionable’. No doubt, somewhere in the depths of its display cabinets, Walmart sells a pen containing white ink.

It is depressing to consider that, if the human species weren’t so gullible, we wouldn’t have to put up with all this absurdity designed to relieve us of our hard earned cash. Marketing ploys only last so long as they work.

Absurdity pays.

Filed under: The conman cometh

The belief systems of Western leaders, in particular those of the United States, are difficult to fathom. Any semblance of commonsense is masked behind indoctrinated arrogance, totally blinding the owners to obvious flaws in their thinking.

It’s as though they’ve drawn all their reasoning from re-runs of Mickey Mouse cartoons, or the early animated feature films of Walt Disney.

Take U.S. General Stanley McChrystal as, perhaps, the perfect example.

McChrystal is peeved he hasn’t been able to get his hands on Osama bin Laden. The al Qaeda leader is obviously a thorn in the American general’s side. McChrystal’s cap would gain a very exotic feather were he to apprehend America’s No 1 enemy, and the general can’t resist talking about bin Laden at every opportunity.

Giving testimony to the U.S Congress recently, General McChrystal told them:

I don’t think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he [bin Laden] is captured or killed. I believe he is an iconic figure at this point, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organisation across the world.”^[1]

The US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, supported this view, stating the capture or killing of bin Laden was key to stabilizing Afghanistan:

[It’s]……important to the American people – indeed, the people of the world – that one day Osama Bin Laden is either captured or killed, brought to justice”.

Can these people, living in their high-powered isolation from real life, truly believe the eradication of one man will cause the whole structure of al Qaeda to collapse? Have they no idea what it is these people are fighting for? We may not approve of their bloody methods, their contempt for innocent lives, but their cause is as real to the members of al Qaeda as McChrystal’s and Eikenberry’s are to them and their political bosses.

The U.S. military high command appears to think it’s fighting some medieval-style war. Kill the enemy’s king and you’ve won the day. Osama bin Laden is more than a leader, or king, to al Qaeda. He’s a figurehead. One day he’ll be their greatest martyr. It matters not whether he dies in his bed; from a U.S. sniper’s bullet, or rots in an American jail. Except that, in either of the latter cases, retribution may be far more traumatic than ever was 9/11.

Why does Karl Eikenberry believe it’s “important to the people of the world” that this man is eradicated? It’s not important to me. Why is bin Laden so ‘under the skin’ of most Americans? George Bush and Co blamed him for 9/11. Later, everyone from the CIA upwards screamed that Kalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind behind those attacks. Perhaps bin Laden is important to Americans today for the same reason Saddam Hussein was in 2003?

America needs its whipping boys.

The very large number of affiliated Muslim groups that make up al Qaeda are fighting to prevent any further spread of American imperialism across their lands. Osama bin Laden has always maintained that. His primary battle was originally with the Saudi rulers for, as he saw it, desecrating holy lands by allowing American troops to be stationed there. That battlefront has grown broader over the years.

Osama bin Laden cannot live forever. His death, by whatever means, will initially turn him into a Muslim martyr; as years go by he’ll become a legend, maybe even, eventually, another Muslim prophet. Al Qaeda will continue, and feed off his memory, just as it draws succor from the man today.

U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, and US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, are living their own little dreams, where America is the good fairy of the world, and any opposition can only come from the wicked witches.

But, what’s wrong with that, you may ask? After all, it worked well for Walt Disney.

^{[1] “Gen McChrystal: Bin Laden is key to al-Qaeda defeat” BBC December 9th 2009}

Filed under: Wishing on a star