Thirteen years ago today.. the Observer journalist Farzad Bazoft walked out into the Baghdad dawn, to be hanged as a spy by the Hussein government..
This in spite of a call for clemency from Maggie Thatcher, and journalists around the world.
Y'see Farzad had been told of an explosion outside Baghdad.. hundreds killed in some sort of 'industrial accident' at a military base south of the city..
Being a reporter.. he hitched the first available ride towards the scene.. this happened to be with British nurse Daphne Parish..
They were both arrested..charged..and convicted of spying.. The explosion was at one of the many top secret military installations scattered about the countryside..
Maggie called the execution an 'act of barbarism'.. but didn't quite go so far as imposing further trade sanctions against Hussein and Co. .. the thought was that it would throw a wrench into any chance Daphne had to ever seeing light of day again..
As it turned out.. Daphne was released on the 16th of July 1990..
On the 2d August.. Hussein invaded Kuwait..
Lest we forget..

Ahh well.. some days you can't find right from doing wrong..
Tony's looking at a major rebellion within his ranks, should this war proceed without the official seal of approval from the United Nations..
That being highly unlikely.. figures as prominent as House Leader Robin Cook could soon leave their seats empty as they retire to the back benches..
Not a good sign for Tony.. and while some are stalwart in their support.. saying indeed, he's taken them to two election wins.. this revolt within will remain a problem, even should Tony be proven justified in his unwavering support of the US..
At this point.. surely someone is adding up the cost of all this, and weighing what's lost against what's gained.. for what remains, will be the shape of the real New Labour..
Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed..

'Splendid Isolationsm'.. a British political stance that dates back to the days of constant conflict with the Continent.. days of Napoleon..Tallyrand.. Hanovarians on the Throne..William Pitt in the House..of British supremacy on the seas and universal colonial expansion..
Those were the days.. It's a concept buried deep within the British psyche..the pride of achievement and heroic isolation seen in the 1940's still lingers even within the hearts of those who three weeks ago were chanting against this war..
Thanks to France.
The stance taken my Jaques Chirac has drawn this country together.. this time not in protest, but in defence of what's seen as our national identity.. This French posturing and political jockeying is something we are familiar with.. it's history.. And it gives us a common enemy.. a foe worthy perhaps of our uniting against..
Unlike poor Hussein, who was given so much support... simply by dint of his underdog status..
But what was natural for a mighty 19th Century empire and stirring for a people standing alone in the 20th Century is not necessarily appropriate for a middle ranking European power of the early 21st Century.
One will watch as things unfold over the next few weeks.. as Tony finds his distance against Chirac.. as the war begins and what discoveries it might provide..
As this political game continues..

Well.. says Tony.. looks as though this United Nations Resolution is a no-go.. that, in a rare use of American terminology, Downling Street could not 'elasticate' forever..
Just what is elastication.. the mind boggles..
Nevertheless, It's all France's fault, that Chirac has poisoned the whole diplomatic process..
Even the Queen has perhaps signaled some Regal distaste for the Continent, cancelling a planned trip to Belgium.. mind you she'll be needed here if the country does push off to war.. she'll sign the final papers..
Now.. the Tories have rallied closer behind Tony than has the PM's own Labour.. and Conservative leader Ian Duncan Smith,an eminently forgettable man at this point, has spoken out, perhaps less in support of Tony, but more certainly to condemn the despicable French, and has, in one's opinion, summed up what this political farce has degenerated to..
That being France and Russia, along with a particularly quiet Germany, promising to wield their vetos if a vote is called.. while the others in the Security Council look about themselves and think 'well then.. so what'..
It matters nothing how anyone else votes on this now.. it's condemned before it hits the ballotbox.. So much for the UN.. when the will of the mighty US can be considered an issue for debate, when faced with a determined France..
So much for the future of the UN.. but then again one can see a pattern in the dismanteling of the UN and NATO, through the withdrawal of European support..
For make no mistake.. for now.. Jaques Chirac speaks for Europe..
And the US with Britain tagging along.. will most certainly wage this war, which has become so much larger than ever it should have..
Odd, that the most skilled diplomatic moves made throughout all this nonsense, have come from Saddam Hussein..

Public opinion.. a strange animal at the best of times..
Tony has been battered these past twenty four hours.. what with Donald Rumsfeld's blase approach to the British commitment to the cause.. threats of resignations from his own ministers.. the intractibility of the public towards this action.. it's been difficult..
Seems now the new UN resolution might not even make it to the voting stage.. what with so many of those holding veto's blithely tossing them about like confetti.
This is not good for Tony.. the public has been geared now to expect legitamacy, whatever that really means..
A sampling of what the motk was saying..taken from various sources from around the island today, gave us this should there not be another Resolution passed by the Security Council..
..It makes it far harder to hold the Labour Party together...
..It will outrage a swathe of public opinion...
..All those extra tests announced hours earlier would presumably fall...
..So would promises of further delay...
..It could therefore bring war even closer - within days..
And the question now aimed at the continent.. at Jaques Chirac.. with his inspirational intractability..
..Has France pressed the 'Go' button?

It was a good laugh down along the bar this evening.. as American Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put his foot squarely into Tony's pie..
One's sure it was with the best of intentions.. but when Don said Britain didn't really have to go to war here.. that the United States would go it alone should the political cost be too much for Tony..
Well. To say the least it taken some of the wind from Tony's sails.. How can he justify to the Commons British troops in action.. when even the country we're helping doesn't really need us.. and has said so..
And there's more here.. for Tony has tied us with the West.. setting us against the will of the combined EU.. so we've lost face on two fronts with one lapsis linguam..
This is worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan..

This war has taken up most of the talk these days.. both in the news and in the home..
When working in public media.. it was one of the delights of the job to take someone who was fresh in the industry, and teach them how all that had to be done, could be done and done well, within the ubiquitous timeframe. One of the first lessons which had to be learned, was to take a step back.. look at what's relevent within all the sources of information available.. get an overview..
This particular time, these past few months. will take some while to digest once the dust settles.. for definate lines are being drawn in the sand, and historical alliances tested to their limits. One could say Hussein's merely a puppet in this charade.. that any excuse would have suited the purpose of this time..
That Iraq and it's petty problems with the world have simply become the focus of a struggle far more powerfull.
That the politicking behind this Middle East crisis, is the real war, not that which will certainly be fought in that distant desert.
Perhaps indeed this can all be traced back in an unbroken line to the dissolution of the Imperial Era, and the advent of instant mass communication.. but certainly just as Gibbon has documented that of Rome.. some historian will soon be examining what data remains from the Rise and Fall of what might be called 'The Age of Pseudo-Enlightenment'..
The tone in the chats is beginning to turn somewhat.. there are those frightened of war.. there are those who believe it to me a moral imperative at this point.. and then there are those who would, so they purport, sooner die themselves than be thought resoponsible for the death of another.
Admirable.
However, as mentioned, while the tenor of chat was firmly against action in Iraq.. it seems now to be more ballanced with similar numbers pro as con..
This could simply be a case of familiarity breeding contempt.. the motk having become saturated with information and arguments and wanting only now to see an end.. any end.. to it..
It could be that resignation is setting in.. that the inevidable is recognized, and while there was a time for dissent it is now a time to stand behind the preservation of one's way of life..
Whatever the cause.. the public is wavering.. and this is perhaps the most telling of the results of this conflict to this point.. that people's emotional weathervanes have been set to spinning..
It must be indictive of the sense of confusion that we all of us feel on a daily basis.. brought into a focus..
Perhaps we should be taking notes, for purposes of future self-examination..

Following a day wherein both Britain and the US havebent their diplomatic backs double.. France and Russia seem determined to use their veto's against the new resolution due to be presented on Wednesday..
Not that this is unexpected.. as has been explained at length, Chirac has an agenda of his own, in which opposition to the US is a political necessity.. Russia as well, wants to ensure itself a position of influence in this new Europe..
Regardless, despite French claims of 'no smoking gun' and the Anglo/American stance of existing breaches to 1441.. the fact remains Husseins days are numbered..
We'll add up the political profit and loss statement when Iraq is in American hands.. with both Tony and George betting it all on their being evidence yet to be found..
One wonders what the reaction from the anti-war movement, when Husein releases VX or Sarin on the invading troops..
Will the collective moral outrage shift aim.. or will there be such an antiAmerican backlash that there will be cries of 'serves them right'..
One has to say.. from a number of perspectives this is a lose-lose situation..
Popular opinion is an ill-educated beast.. it sways on the fulcrum of emotion.. and gods know these days it's more important to feel good.. than to be unpleasantly employed ensuring freedoms are preserved..

And for those who look to Baghdad, and see the teeming millions who starve and suffer.. a glimpse of the other side.. Hussein's world..
On Friday, as the world debated possible action against Iraq, some of Baghdad's elite were practising their jumping. Equestrian that is..
'If the weather wasn't bad we'd have a lot more riders,' said Ahmed, one of the coaches, as he mounted a horse in the ring. 'But everything is normal, even with the Americans. There were two doctors here this morning. They said they heard the bombing would start on Tuesday but they plan to come that day anyway.'
The British left a mixed legacy in Iraq - a typically well-organised civil service, palace intrigues that continue today, and a tradition of clubs. There are hundreds of them across Baghdad: some for professionals, one for every government ministry and others for religious minorities.
The business elite in Baghdad, who make up the majority of the Club's membership, has been doing well in the past few years. Following the the Gulf war, a class of 'new billionaires' made money from reconstructing the bombed Iraqi infrastructure. And during the oil-for-food programme, a lot of money was made in oil contracts as well as smuggling.
Many of the businessmen are Syrian and Lebanese, though Europeans, Russians and Canadians with government connections come in and out Baghdad on a regular basis. Arab businessmen, some of whom were offered Iraqi citizenship, were encouraged to move here and have opened some of the high-end restaurants that serve wine illegally to journalists and UN inspectors.
'Since 1991 and the sanctions we have been living normally - we haven't been affected by them in our business or our lives,' said Erfan Dhamen, the owner of a chain of restaurants that offer mazgouf , a Tigris river fish. 'Business is good - business in Iraq is getting better.'
One wonders if Kalashnikovs are standard issue for waiters.. Probably not..

There was a time.. not so long ago in a place not far away, when the stereotypical images of the World Powers were lampooned regularly..
The Red Army sang songs, while the US army dropped bombs.
It is funny to see some of these images again, after all this time. The same mad cartoon generals, holding the same missiles or dropping the same fat-bellied bombs. The other week, the New Statesman carried a cover piece by Francis Beckett, in which he wrote: 'The Bush administration is the final corruption of an imperial nation convinced that its destiny is to rule.' I am pretty sure that, circa 1959, you could have read almost exactly the same words in the Daily Worker, substituting Eisenhower for Bush.
The Red Army, as discovered in August 1968, did not just sing about the glories of the steppe. The Chinese were not all delighted to find themselves living through the Cultural Revolution. The list of crimes - from Chile to Angola - which are trotted out every time America is discussed, mostly took place in the context of the Cold War, when we had a terrified nuclear peace in Europe, and proxy wars and proxy dictators throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. Yet, if anything, the idea of 'America' is more widely shared now than it was even back then.
Some of this is almost eternal semi-prejudice. Young, brash America is characterised by recklessness, naivety and greed, just as (for the British, at any rate) Italy is full of theatrical cowards and France of cynical philanderers. Bill Clinton (that odd combination, a theatrical philanderer) was often depicted by British cartoonists as riding a phallic rocket, wearing a cowboy hat and going to war to try and extricate himself from the consequences of his various liaisons.
But now it matters more.
Since 11 September, we have all been frightened. And, increasingly, we blame the Americans for frightening us. I think a lot of ordinary Europeans (and quite a few Americans) believe that if the US would somehow stop doing whatever it is that is so upsetting people, then the threat would lessen, and we could get back to normal. The Yanks are stirring the nest, we think, and we could all be stung.
But.. this perception is facile..
George came to power wanting not to intervene and not to build nations. During the bitterly divisive election of November 2000, the Texas Governor cast Al Gore as the naïve moralist who wanted to be the world's policeman. As one observer noted at the time, George's story was that, 'America is over-committed around the world, pushes its weight around too much, and tells other countries how to run their affairs too often. We need to scale back, be humble and get out of the nation-building business.' A Bush-supporting commentator put it this way, 'Virtually every friendly state expects America to take the lead in solving every problem everywhere. But the Cold War is over. The world is dramatically less dangerous for the United States.' A year later, four planes blew this conceit to smithereens.
Criticism.. if any is due.. applies with equal force to us in Europe. We have, over years, dealt with torturers and tyrants, sold them weapons and flattered their egos. And if there is one thing that the west could do to win over sceptics, it would be to admit the nature and origin of these errors..
That being said, there are those in opposition to the west's recovery from this scenario, who would take nothing as admitted.. nor would they admit any similar acts in their own spotted histories.. These must simply be endured.. while the problem of the Middle East, so long in addressing, is dealt with, finally..

One is amazed once more, at how the political machinations of a country such as Iraq, can discomfit so many in the west.
George Bush is being vilified worldwide..even his own countrymen speak against him and his efforts against Hussein..
Tony Blair is facing by far the most cataclysmic of crises, with already one Parliamentary Private Secretaries.. that's a step down from a Ministerial post.. resigning over the stated intention of war on the 18th.. This could cost him and Labour years of progress in the eyes of the enfranchised populace.. could cost him his job.. and even if he 'wins'..goes to war and finds weapons of mass destruction, he will find the rifts within his own Party deep and unfordable.. a Pyrrhic victory at best..
Chirac has whipped the French into a frenzy of peacefullness.. counting on and getting the benefits of the intrinsically hysterical nature of the Gauls.. and the divisions declared now between France, the US, Britain, and the EU are deliberate, and designed to grow wider as the EU consolidates it's hegemony..
Malta voted today to toss in with the Union.. Slovenia.. Cyprus.. Hungary.. Slovakia.. Lithuania.. Poland.. Czech Republic.. Estonia and Latvia will all vote on membership this year.. effective next..
Odd in a sense.. it was back in 1798 the Maltese reballed against Napoleon and his French occupation of the Island.. preferring to be in British hands til 1964.. that today they would vote to put themselves under central European control.. mind you, today's Maltese referendum is non-binding.. an indicator so to speak.. ratification takes place next month.. Perhaps by that time Chirac will have been demonstrated to be a manipulator of the first water..
Second only perhaps.. to Hussein himself..

A message to the west from the Iraqi leader today.. to the UN.. to NATO.. to those who have expressed their opposition to war against his regeme..
In a statement, Hussein announced the chief weapons inspectors had exposed what he called American lies about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
"The embargo against Iraq should be lifted totally and comprehensively after America's motives were revealed to the world and after Iraq abided by Security Council resolutions," the statement said.
This from a man who's government has kept the UN and it's inspectors dangling for a dozen years..
It also demanded that the Security Council denounce the US and Britain as "liars", strip Israel of its alleged weapons of mass destruction and force it to pull out of "Palestine and occupied Arab land".
Ahh.. what weapons we hand our enemies in the name of 'enlightenment'.. what strength we give abominations, through the desperate willingness to atone for what's seen as our own..

This is a peculiar country, this Scotland.
Case in point, there's been an editorial meeting called in Glasgow for those of us who toil, at the ungodly hour of 8am of a bloody Sunday morning..
Now truth be told this is not an unexpected development this meeting, but what is unique in this instance, is that we're all required to appear, in person. Some of us have never met, and while most have a desk somewhere in the complex, many would have impressive layers of dust were it not for the cleaning staff. This making a personal appearance is not unprecidented, but highly irregular, and that in itself is what makes this country peculiar.
There are many of us who work from the comforts(sic) of our own homes, passing information back and forth either by post or electronic means. Many who meet for daily discussions, while remaining miles apart...
There are segments of the workforce who have managed to integrate their work habits into their basic lifestyles, without assuming a seperate persona for the office.. without a shirt and tie.. and soon.. it may well be that this political machination to preserve geographic autonomy, will be superceeded by the economic reality of a global village..
Macluhan is smiling.. somewhere..

It's getting down to the short strokes for Tony now.. he's spent this day telephoning his fellow world leaders.. drumming up support for the upcomming vote..
An ICM poll published in Sunday's News of the World suggests 69% of people back war with Iraq.
It is the first public poll to be published since Dr.Blix delivered his final report to the UN in New York last Friday night ..suggests just 22% now oppose military action. Less than a fortnight ago, another ICM poll suggested 52% opposed military action in Iraq. But.. 77% of those who support war against Iraq said there must be a second UN resolution.
The need for a second UN resolution is reinforced by the fact that just 15% of the public as a whole would support war without one.
The problem being, there are still folks turning out in their numbers around this world, demanding, for whatever their reasons might be, that war not be an option at all..
Curious as to where these folks were, when raq invaded Iran.. when Egypt invaded Israel..
Also curious to hear their solutions to the ongoing carnage in the Middle East..

It appears Mr.Blix is somewhat erratic on his approach to Iraq..
Yesterday his message was that Iraq is showing significant movement towards appeasing those who would attack it.. Today he's distributing a rather large collection of documents to Security Council members, detailing a wide range of questions Iraq has failed to address.. still,according to MrBlix, unaccounted for are some ten thousand litres of anthrax..SCUD missiles fitted with biochemical warheads..and UAV's with a range beyond the 150km limit set by the UN..
And the deadline rolls on..
It was somewhat unprecidented, the meeting yesterday in which Jack Straw did his utmost to convince the French there was a danger in Hussein.. Jack broke with convention.. appealing to direct emotion at times.. addressing the French minister as 'my friend, Dominique'..
An approach, by the way, that met with typical Gallic distain..
The French have their own agenda here, involving the formation of a new world power which does not include the United States, and quite possibily will not include Britain either. It's doubtfull Jaques Chirac will allow any compromise at this point in the game. He's set his hat for the leadership of the new Europe, and the US is only an impediment.

Picture this..
From an historical perspective, the European countries which have had a major presence in Africa and the Levant have been Britain, France, Germany, and to a smaller extent Italy..
Since the end of the First World War, these European powers have withdrawn from their protectorates, most before the Second World War began, Britain and France leaving it until 1948 for the former, 1966 for the latter, but there have been tight ties maintained, diplomatic bonds, especially by the French.
Now, we have France itself, once pre-eminent in Europe, humiliated in both World Wars by the Germans, losing ground constantly in all endeavours other than the European Union. And with the planned expansion of the EU, to include many states which were part of the former USSR, states which have drive and a will to catch up, France and to a lesser extent Germany, are concerned with their positions, their influence, in the new EU.
France is the strongest opponent to an American defence of it's presence in the Middle East, and has been a constant critic of Israel, and it’s American leanings. If France manages to delay action to assure the west's foothold in the Middle East, it strikes a major blow on two fronts.
One, it puts a finger in the eye of the United States, and another in Britains.. It brings down NATO, an organisation which could easily be replaced in funtion by the formation of an European Army.. made up of factions from all member states.. and draws a line between Europe and the new world again..
Two, it tightens ties with the Middle East, and leaves France as the savior of the oil producing nations.. This will bolster it's position in Europe immensely, and indeed offer it a card with which to trump American interests, what with the US being the largest importer of oil on the planet..
War is unpleasant.. no denying it..
But national interest is national interest.. and when it comes down to it.. the nation must examine what it stands to lose, if this divisive trend continues..
While supporting a war is politically unfashionable.. the necessity of undertaking one's responsibilities, and succeeding.. must be obvious.

General Sir Michael Jackson.. no, no relation.. is in the Gulf himself today.. he's the British equivalent of the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his message for his men is 'semper paratus'..
It's been a day of sabre rattling in Britain.. Jack Straw telling the UN Iraq has ten days to demonstrate some meaningful intent to disarm.. or Britain will invade on it's own..
France, Russia, they've declared their opposition to anything that would offer support to the US.. the question has been asked of Europe.. should more time be given for the inspection process, and Iraq continues to misinform and misdirect, will there be support when the extension expires..? An addendum to the question is a query..' why light a fuse when you rally don't want an explosion anyway..'? The political agenda of the EU is obvious, and as such even the motk should see that there will never again be support for the US, unless it means significant economic and political gain for Europe..
On the foreign fronts.. bin Laden's relatives are being picked up.. two sons-in-law arrested in Pakistan.. ties to terrorist organizations.. it's expected more and more al Q'aida operatives will be in jeopardy.. some of whom have been in deep cover for decades.. since the capture of and revelations of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed..

It's amazing what 'human rights' our activists will put themselves to preserve..
14 Moroccan men have been carted off to the Casablancan equivalent of The Big House for committing 'acts capable of undermining the faith of a Muslim' and for being in posession of 'objects which infring morals'. These guys were performing heavy metal, and the objects the posessed were their guitars, and of all things, their band tee shirts..
The press has dubbed these lads as 'Satanists', alleging they're involved in international devil worship..
For those who follow the Moroccan heavy metal scene by the way, nine of the 14 were in 'Nekros', 'Infected Brain', and 'Reborn'..
Now it's not as though Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell haven't stood in their respective pulpits and denounced American rockers.. it's been going on in the fundamentalist sects ever sice Elvis started swivling his hips around.. but one can't think of an incident where musicians were handed out jail time for religious reasons..
Well.. Jimmy Morrison, but that was Florida.. and he was somewhat over the top..
The point of this was meant to highlight the sad fact, that those around the world who have been out in their millions in support of regemes in the Middle East, without having a single bloody clue what these governments support.. to what conditions the normal people in these countries have become used to..
Ahh.. and for those christians who would head off to Morocco to try and bring them the message of light and forgiveness.. It's a crime to try and convert a Muslim to another faith.. three years worth..
Imagine what a Moroccan religious chatroom would sound like.. compare to say.. Yahoo.
And get those warrants lined up..

Days, not months.
Jack Straw expects this new UN Resolution to go down in either French or Russian flames.. the world expects the US and Britain to contiune on the path to war.. and the boys along the bar believe this whole thing's going to be over in a matter of weeks.. and are looking for a new topic..
Thankfully this is Britain, and one or another of our politicians is always doing something..
One subject that's got many a finger along many a nose is the disposition of Iraq.. once Hussein's away in a Libyan palace..

A row this afternoon, at a meeting of 57 members of the OIC, the Oranization of the Islamic Conference, began when the Kuwaiti official interrupted a speech by Izzat Ibrahim, the second-in-command of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, with the words "shut up you dog".
Mr Ibrahim, who had been delivering a speech critical of Kuwait and the US, responded by calling the Kuwaiti representative a "monkey" and a "traitor".
"Shut up you minion, you (American) agent, you monkey. You are addressing Iraq," said Izzat Ibrahim, the second-in-command of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council.
Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah tried to fight back but his comments could not be heard over the fray, according to those present from the 5th Estate..
Another Kuwaiti minister then jumped up and waved a small Kuwaiti flag which had been on the desk.
The angry exchange was halted when the summit chairman, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin-Khalifah al-Thani said the discussion was not relevant to the meeting and moved on to the next speaker.
Now..the aim of the summit was to present a unified front from the Muslim world calling for war to be averted...
And we turn out in our millions.. we are an easily led folk..

A jont declaration from France, Germany, and Russia this afternoon, saying they 'will not allow' a UN respolution to pass them, if it authorizes war against Iraq.
Surprised? I think not somehow..
At the joint press conference the Foreign Ministers of those countries, it was France's Dominique de Villepin who actually did the talking, while Germany nodded in blank agreement and Russia was caught looking rather nervously towards the wings, as though on third, dreading the call from the dugout, to steal home..
Colin Powell has made another call for the world to look at the reality of the situation, stressing that nobody wants to live in a world where the United Nations means nothing.. intimating that should that august body, through the veto's of France and Russia stymie this Resolution, then that's exactly the impression the world would have. The US is certainly going to go this alone, well with Britain if nobody else.. and that would be a massive slap in the face to the French.. the Russians.. the Germans..
Perhaps enough for them to dissolve historic ties the likes of NATO, so as to concentrate their attentions, and their budgets, on the formation of an European Army..
It's historically something piddly.. something intrinsically 'small', that starts the ball rolling on matters monumental..

You have much to lose, here in the west.
Much, taken that much for granted, that there's honest surprise when confronted with the lack of it when abroad.
The disgust of first-time visitors, when checked into their medium rate London hotel, that there are only 5 television channels.. and the chagrin of those who choose the discount hotels, at the discovery that the bathrooms are not en suite.. And that's in Britain..
One of the rights defended most vehemently, and abused so blatantly, is the right to free speech.. to voice one's opinion, or to regurgitate with vigour the opinion one's learned, by rote, from one's particular media outlet.. This is a right peculiar to western cultures. Unique, one might say, to the extent it's permitted in such countries as Canada, Britain, and the United States..
It's that much of an ingrained habit, that we cannot imagine any existence at would deny others the same degree of 'freedom'.. and we get righteously indignant when confronted with societies which display such restrictions..
Yet it may well be this social conscience, a phrase coined back in the 60's by someone the likes of Ginsberg..or Leary.. or McCluhan.. which has us playing into the hands of people who would see us in motley.. who do see us as milling sheep.. following the piper of 'enlightenment'..
Now lets not get it wrong here.. enlightenment it something to be greatly sought after, but it's a personal path as most in the west are beginning to agree..
What has been forgotten is the price that was paid, for this freedom to be..
What has been forgotten that no matter how much we wish it were otherwise, there are those who do not feel as we do, who do not like us, and who will do their damnedest to ensure we start thinking the way they do.
It's a mission from God.

Again one has to smile.
An essay question was given to a group of 13 year olds in the London area..
One young girls response to the assignment began..
"My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc."
Which in translation from text messaging shorthand would read: "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It's a great place."
Seems the art of composition is now defined my the space available on the text screen of a mobile phone,

There's been much talk of late about the Balfour Declaration, and what it amounted to..
For purposes of edification only..

Foreign Office

November 2nd, 1917


Dear Lord Rothschild,


I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.


"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."


I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.


Yours sincerely,

Arthur James Balfour


That was it folks.. and here we are today..

Picture this.
Somewhere in continental North America.. include Hawaii.. some kids are on their computers.. in Internet Cafe's perhaps.. setting up meetings.. chatting.. whatever..
Suddenly appear men in dark ill-fitting suits, accompanied by an armed guard or so.. and these kids are swept away to be charged by the Morality Police for 'illicit contact'..
Orwellian.. ain't it..?
Dozens of Iranians were arrested yesterday for excatly this.. according to General Ahmad Rouzbehani.. "Some people were using an internet site to allow girls and boys to talk and arrange meetings in a place in north Tehran where they had illegal relations."
It's for the preservation of a regeme such as this one.. that we turn out in our millions to protest..?

Interesting.
In the chats, the sentiment against the war continues unabated, however, if one takes the link to http://news.bbc.co.uk and has a look at their 'Talking Point' feature, one will find a more reasoned response.
Not to say all are in favour, but it would seem that those who have used the BBC's forum have spent more time looking into the situation as a whole, rather than being led by the nose by their favourite newscaster or editorialist..
Meanwhile, Hussein has agreed today to destroy yet another 6 al Samoud missiles.. and France has hardened it's stance and will alomost certainly apply it's veto to the second UN Resolution. But again, all this will do is drive the wedge further between what France sees as a 'unified Europe' and the 'western hegemony'.. France is desperate to reaffirm itself as a world power, and Chirac sees this issue as a 'flag'.. something he can rally the disaffected under, to campaign for a Europe united under the leadership of France, Germany, and possibly Russia..
It's not to be thought for a moment that the EU nations opposing this action are unaware of the very real threat Hussein poses, but they're less concerned with the preservation of the State of Israel than is either Britain or the US.. France can always reforge ties with Algeria, or the Sudan, to establish a European presence in the area.. The west has all it's eggs in one basket, with only one hen laying for it.. while the rest of the flock would sooner break their offspring than give them to the one that feeds them..

Two brief notes here..
Seems Venezuela's been noticing odd things of late.. their time, as compared to the rest of the world, has appeared to have slowed down.. clocks run some ten and a half seconds slower each hour, than they do anywhere else..
Had them scratching their heads for a while.. in fact it wasn't until they noticed the sun was setting at about 3 in the afternoon, that they calculated some 14 hours and 36 minutes had been lost over 12 of the last 13 months..
It's their power supply aparently.. the entire national grid is running on a reduced output, which has made their electric clocks.. run slower..
Just the clocks mind..
The second comes from the United States..
No more will American schoolchildren stand in the morning, before their lessons begin, face the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.. at least not on the west coast..
The case against the pledge was brought before the courts by a parent of one of the children who undoubtedly mumbled their way uncomrehendingly through it each morning, who felt the reference to 'One nation, under God..', or more precisely, '..under God..' was not in his child's best interests..
Michael Newdow felt his daughter should not have to be 'subjected' to those terrible words, he being an atheist and of the mind this would brainwash his daughter into a life of deism, or horror of horrors, theism.
How incredibly inane man can be at times. One of our more endearing qualities.

A quiet, rather dull day across the island, as Spring makes up it's mind whether to make an appearance, or spend a couple more weeks wending it's way towards us..
An afternoon of rugby.. racing on the flat at Ainstree.. life continues at it's measured pace here, with few raising their voices in protest.. as many raise their eyes, as though watching the skies for the signs of war their parents described to them, as it had been described in turn to them by their parents. It's a general sentiment, this being unhappy with, but resigned to the reality of another war.
Tony has taken perhaps his boldest stance to date.. gently comparing those who oppose this action against Iraq to those who opposed any action against Hitler during that man's meteoric rise to prominence in the 1930's.. saying it was the misguided action of these well-intentioned peoples who were ultimately responsible for the carnage to follow.. Tony went even one step further, saying even if the US does not take action, for whatever reason George might have at folding at this point in the game, Britain is quite prepared to take Hussein on it's own.
Tony must be thinking it as rather ironic, that while there are 123 members of his own Party who would oppose him, his official Opposition is backing him to the hilt.
Strange bedfellows doth politics make.. forsooth.

This is how it works..
Iraq has agreed that it's supplies of al Samoud missiles will be destroyed.. this, a day before the deadline set not by George and Tony, or the UN itself, but by no less than Hans Blix.. force majeur indeed..
It was only a matter of timing anyway.. and Hussein got weeks and millions of his enemies marching for him.. for what will doubtless be very little indeed..
But today, it's the 2d UN Resolution that occupies George and Tony.. with the British supplying the diplomacy, and the Americans the cash.. They're buying votes, unabashedly..
Anglola is willing to side with the US, if there's post-civil war aid.. not a sure bet in any case..
The President of Cameroon is under some pressure from his own people to cut ties with the French in this, an election year for him.. but again not a sure bet for the US..
Chile has been outspoken in it's opposition to any war, but economically speaking they can't afford to defy the US when the markers are called in..
Guinea is a Muslim state, and appears to be weighing the advantages of siding with the US.. it takes over the rotating presidency of the Security Council tomorrow.. while officially on the fence, it appears there could be backing for the American stance here..
Mexico is in a political dilemma.. it's election year and the public is against a war.. but the government's anti-war stance has begun to waffle this past week.. a deal regarding Mexican migrants is purportedly on the block..
Pakistan is thought to be one which will abstain.. the Islamic power there and public opposition to war.. another 'million man march' is promised for Karachi this coming Sunday..
These are the 6 countries who could force unilateral action through their own inaction..
We know what France will do.. we suspect what Russia is playing, that being both ends against the middle..
What we will see over the next week or so, is how seriously the major powers take the UN these days.. whether the prospect of a European Hegemony is more appealing to those who pull the strings in that theater than a settlement of a world problem.. whether the promise of American cash will be enough to sway those, who realize the one eyed man is king in the land of the blind..

This is becoming a farce, and it's the scenario both the White House and Whitehall wanted to avoid..
What Iraq has sparked is a reorganization within the ranks of the EU.. and NATO.. and indeed the very concept of what constitutes 'The West'.. Russia's now threatening to use it's UN Veto to scupper the 2d Iraq Resolution.. that puts Russia and France and Germany in an agressive stance concerning particularly the US, but coincidentally Britain.. sets the stage for what France would desperately like to see.. an European hegemony which could concievably rival the economic clout of the US..
An European hegemony in which France plays a pre-eminent role..
So while the various motk's around the globe have been fired.. infused with one or the other stance on the Middle East.. the reality is that the global population is being visibly manipulated into assuming emotional arguments in a situation that hithertofor would have been purely politically driven..
Certainly the average citizen of this world cannot pretend to understand the machinations of government in the Middle East.. even the diplomats there train in the subtleties of negotiation, prevarication, and appeasement for decades before they're allowed to open their mouths in public.. We in the west.. generally forthright and open.. cannot seem to get our minds around the differences between societies.. We are saddled with a sense of guilt for our own success.. a sense of somehow failing the rest of the world because we did it better and faster.. a willingness to decry our own perspective and assume another must be at least partly right..
We're a particularly self-destructive group we are..
And those in the East can see this.. They know, given enough time, we'll argue ourselves from a position of strength to one of weakness.. if only to 'let the little guy win for once'..
The East has learned patience.. It's obvious to anyone that this society of ours cannot last, that it will tear itself apart like a machine.. once well-oiled and tended and now left to run at full speed, reviled and kicked into a corner..
We will destroy this enlightened west of ours, ourselves.. all we need is time.. and those who oppose us are only too willing to give us all that's necissary..

One must say, that up til this point George has stayed on the right side of the truth.. that his claims justifying action against Hussein were reasoned and justified..
But today, the spin was on, and the target audience was the American people, his constituents..
George answered critics, who claim war would destabalize the area, by saying ' A liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform that vital region, by bringing hope and progress to the lives of millions..'
That's at best naive.. at worst deliberate deception.
Mind, it would allow the US, while occupying Iraq as a military government pro-tem, to keep a sharper eye on the Israeli's and the Palistinians, and to force compliance from both sides to the strictures of numerous UN Resolutions directed at the cessation of occupation of disputed lands and terrorism..
But as for the average Iraqi.. one doubts they want their country to be 'edified'.. turned into a giant PX.. eventually becoming an eastern copy of Nevada..
They'll never accept the presence of a non-Islamic leadership, regardless of the kind intent or will to help.. and George will have one heck of a job getting an Islamic government in place..
Already there are murmurings among Iranian dissident expats.. who await the day Hussein leaves, so they can go back to where home used to be.. with George saying he'd use some of Saddam's 'untainted' officials in an advisory capacity..
The majority of Iraq is Shi'ite.. the Ba'ath government, and the Civil Service, are for the most part Sunni.. They don't really care for one another.. let alone what they feel about 'westerners' and 'Christians'..
Would have been more honest George, to have shrugged, and admitted ' you can't please everybody'.. and gotten on with the job..

It's a closed session at the UN.. where the US will be working the other members of the Security Council, lining up support for this second resolution on Iraqi disarmament.. Tony's again working his own party, after last evening's mini-revolt.. and Iraq's has moved a unite of the 'elite' Imperial Guard in the north of the country, the first redeployment of Iraqi troops, in any numbers of any importance, since this brouhaha began..
Tell the truth, anything of any real import today seems to be generated from within the media itself..
ITV.. one of the three national broadcasters in this country, has anounced it will move it's main nightly news to 9PM, in the event of a war with Iraq.. This is the timeslot the BBC vacated two years ago, when it became the trend to stay up a tad later, have one more cuppa.. when the murder mysteries were over, time for the news..
But, if we're heading back into a war footing, that must include the public.. and early to bed..early to rise and all that.. has been part of the British war mentality forever..
One wonders if they'll be issuing blackout curtains, or if we'll have to buy them ourselves..
And it's not a beautiful day in the neighbourhood today.. Fred Rogers lost his fight with cancer .. and has died..

See, this is where it becomes confusing..
It's a matter for some jubilation among the public at large, that Tony's had the biggest party revolt since he took the reins of office, and that Jaques Chirac, christened 'le Worm' by the Sun..one of the tabloids.. has had huge support for his 'standing up to the United States'..
There still apears to be some confusion here, as to who wears the black hat in this drama..
Now normally one would be overjoyed, if not downright gleeful, to see Tony in discomfort.. but in this particular case even the Conservatives have to agree there is a case for preparing for war.. and that should Hussein force the issue, it should not be a responsibility we abrogate.. leave for one nation alone to face... especially a nation we've always had strong ties to such as the US..
Although, one of the village political experts did compare the antics of Jaques to those of Joe Kennedy, while London was being bombed..
However, this situation we face today.. it's prompted some shaking of the heads down at the local..
Those who have dealt with the politics of the Middle or Far East are in agreement, that those who have not, don't understand 'shyte from shoepolish' as one sage put it.. This, mind you, while removing encrusted wellies at the front door, proving he certainly knew the difference himself..

Once again I am struck by the inherent difference between even the US, and this Island which spawned it..
One might see George Bush sit down with a carefully selected panel, to defend his stance concerning this impending conflict.. but frankly one doubts it. The American idea of a leader is one who is a step removed from the public, for both the protection of their person, but also the preservation of their image..
Here, Tony has just spent the last 40 minutes on live television, facing eight of those who protested a week ago last Saturday.. who he knew were all going to be hostile to his stance..
The group was again a cross demographic mix.. perhaps representing the range that protested.. the questions all revolved about the 'why' of the war.. both the practical and the ethical...
One found onese'f actually sitting on the edge of the seat.. tell the television to 'just explain it to them as though it was a staff briefing.. tell them the truth..'
But rather, for some reason unbeknownst to us, Tony kept mum.. and while convincing in his sincerity, was too convincing when he repeated he 'didn't have the monopoly on wisdom..'
That statement amounted to preaching to the choir..

Tony's facing the greatest threat to his political career this evening.. at seven o'clock, less than half an hour, the House will vote on the government's position on Iraq..
As mentioned earlier, Jack Straw made his case forst, and then the rest of this afternoon's sitting was dedicated to responses from throughout the House, from all parties..
Comments ranging from 'Saddam only responds when his feet are held to the fire, and the heat becomes unbearable..' from a Conservative MP.. to 'it would be a criminal act of agression, were we to march in following the unilateral action of the US..' from one of Tony's own Labour members.
This is a free vote, which means the members can vote their concience, loosely speaking and assuming some have them. Already some 80 have declared they'll break Labour ranks and vote against their Prime Minister..
This, while George appears to be gaining ground with Mexico.. another fencesitter in the Security Council..
Had we only forseen the consiquences of the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.. we might have acted differently in 1918..

An interesting speech from our esteemed Foreign Minister this afternoon.. Jack Straw, while not quite managing to bring the house down, did demonstrate with his answers to what may well have been a series of non-sequetorial interruptions, what the government was having to deal with from those opposing military action, while laying out why military action, is justified..
Jack dealt with the question in five parts.
He saw it breaking down into, why Iraq in particular, why not more time for inspections, why a new resolution if Iraq is already in contravention of an existing sanction, why not a policy of continued containment, and is there a double standard with the government's support of Israel v Palestine..a conflict of interests so to speak..
His answers.. edited for brevity.. were, Saddam's had ten years and disregarded 13 UN Security Council resolutions, still hasn't complied with the terms he agreed to at the end of Desert Storm, and he's a nutter who has a country bigger than France to hide things in.. that further time for more inspections would be pointless. Hussein has been raised in the age old Ottoman style of politics, and what would seem an humanitarian extension for more inspections bu the good folk of the west, would be to him a gesture of weakness, tantamount to permission to continue stockpiling his arms elsewhere while refining his plans against the Kurds and the west. It was also pointed out that when South Africa had to disarm following the abolition of aparteid, it took 9 inspectors three years to assure the world there was nothing that could possibly commit genocide in the arsenal. Iraq has had 12 years, and more than 100 inspectors off and on, and still they haven't a clue...the new resolution, says Jack, is to demonstrate to a doubtfull world that neither the US nor Britain want to rush off, guns blazing, to crush poor Saddam and the Ba'athist government. It is not recissary, as Jack so rightly pointed out, that this resolution even be asked for, becuase Iraq is already contravening the demands of 1441, but it is to allow the well-meaning impediments to a settlement of the problem a chance to see the logic and the right of action.. further containment, said Jack, would allow Hussein more time to increase his arsenal, as he has been doing since inspectors withdrew in 1998, and would serve to increase the suffering of the Iraqi people..
Now as to the last of the five.. is there a double standard in the west when Israel is brought into the equation..?
Yes, said Jack, there is.
Mind you, there is a not very subtle diference between an ally and a declared enemy, one which should be obvious to anyone. Jack continued to say that of course, the government was constantly urging both the Israeli's and the Palistinian authorities to follow the UN resolutions which bind them, intimating that the Middle East as a whole was at this time, a matter for concern.
They vote on the government position this evening. One will watch the results with.. 'bated breath..

Harry J. Anslinger. A man who wanted his name to go down in history.. just as his contemporary Edgar J Hoover did..
But though Harry himself managed, despite holding the office of Commission of the US Bureau of Narcotics for 32 years, to slip un-noticed into obscurity, his legislative accomplishments remain a souce of public interest to this day..
Harry, along with Randolph Hearst, managed to between them turn cannabis use into a criminal activity..
Now, as laws relax around the world on the use of this drug, and as new testing brings forth evidence of medical efficacy.. we have the UN stepping in with a warning to Britain about the relaxation of laws concerning the use of the drug, which take effect this summer.
As if the UN didn't have more pressing items on it's agenda..
Mind you, one can imagine Harry smiling.. somewhere..

This is becomming something worthy of Tristan Tzara himself..
The international support Hussein has received over these past few months has given him such incredible leeway, that he now has the affrontery to turn western politics against itself, by demanding a public debate between himself, and George.
Now this cannot be taken seriously, for the Iraqi leader hasn't even spoken to a western journalist in ten years, let alone showed any willingness for dialogue..
Having said that tho, this request for the debate was spoken to Dan Rather, as he did the first interview with Hussein in the afformentioned timeframe. Saddam put on his pious face for the occasion, and stated 'this is an earnest proposal, made out of his respect for the people of the United States and those of Iraq..'.
And now he'd like you to look at this prospectus for land investment in Florida..
Hussein has also intimated he'll not follow the demands of the arms inspectors, and order the destruction of the al Samoud missiles which Hans Blix says contravene the UN resolution.. This is a direct result of the idiotic peace demonstrations held worldwide ten days ago.. now Hussein believes the West is split, that he's managed to do it single-handedly, and that he can do as he pleases with impunity..
Of course, the stance that France and Germany are taking helps Hussein as well, for if NATO falls..there's one less coalition to concern himself about while he continues his regeme of repression and atrocities.
It's time for the western man to take a wakeup call.. to shed this caul of guilt.. this denial of success.. and the glorification of those percieved to be 'weaker'..
It's time we grew up.. for those enemies we do have in the Middle East, will next look to Israel, and will test the commitment we have to that ally.
And never for a moment believe that by appeasing Hussein, we will see an end to terrorist attacks.. for we are still and will always be, the Infidel.. and the enemy..

Now here's a point to ponder..
Folks turned up in their millions nine days ago to march against the war in Iraq.. some notable celebrities took their chance to do a Geldorf and have their photo's taken as they put on their 'Man am I concerned' faces..
But not one of them has come out with a protest song..
Are we that jaded.. perhaps uninspired by this..? Deep in our hearts.. do we believe.. that we shall overcome..?
One saw seasoned protestors out there weekend before last.. but no chants.. no beating of drums.. nothing to infuse the masses with a sense of urgency, unity, and passion..
Janis McNair, who teaches at Caledonian University's Center for Political Song.. no, not making it up.. says it's ironic, but the sheer mass appeal of the anti-war movement rendered it silent.. That there was too much of a demographic swath cut.. for any camaraderie to form..
Only one heard deserves a mention.. and it's to be sung to the tune of 'If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands'..
"If we cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq..
If the markets hurt your Mama, bomb Iraq..
If the terrorists are Saudi and the bank takes back your Audi
And the tv shows are bawdy, bomb Iraq.."
Yes.
And to think it took John Lennon ten minutes to write 'Give Peace a Chance'..

Some political posturing from Labour today.. with Geoff Hoon announcing to a less than enthusiastic Kuwaiti audience that Britain is 'poised for war'..
That's taking British understatement to an extreme.. the whole bloody navy, airforce and most of the troops this country posesses are mucking about in the sand, while this diplomatic charade winds it's way towards the inevidable..
Geoff's main issue is argument against those who would want 'unlimited' time for the inspectors to wander about.. used phrases the likes of 'abdication of responsibility on a massive scale..' and Saddam's 'endless procrastination'.. warning of 'dire consiquences' should this man be allowed to snigger, openly, behind his hand, at this dance the west is performing to accomplish that which he'd effect with a wave of his hand..
Meanwhile..George is suffering.. image-wise in Europe.. The ubiquitous 'Senior American Official Who Has Access To These Reports' says it's astonishing, that nobody sees Hussein as the bad guy here.. One ambassador to a 'friendly' Arab state bluntly reported that the US had become 'the enemy'.. one would put money on that envelope bearing a Saudi postmark..
It's not quite the reaction from the world at large that the Americans had been expecting.. especially in the wake of the World Trade Center incident..
But therein the inherent problem with American diplomacy.. they've become so big so fast.. they've either forgotten the unshakeable pride, perhaps hubris, of the far more ancient European nations, or they've never bothered to pay it much attention.. This oversight has given the Europeans a 'moral ascendancy'.. completely spurious in nature but still a viable force, and left the Americans wondering what it is they've done wrong..
It's not the easiest job George and Tony have taken on here, and it may well spell the end itself for Tony.. but then perhaps history will treat them more kindly than do their countrymen, when all's said and done..

It would make a grown man weep..
This computer is a monster y'know.. it's churning out millions of children who cannot spell.. cannot understand the basics of grammatical construction..who's vocabularies are miniscule.. and who's social skills can be called tribal at best..
Now typo's, and those words which might be construed as 'difficult' one might excuse, but when a grown woman in the western US constantly writes 'witch' when meaning 'which'.. or we can see statements the likes of 'asl..duz enny1 wanna chat w/me' as a mean.. then we must examine the cost of this progress against that which is lost..
In the meantime.. remedial spelling courses should be manditory.. if only to assuage the pedants out there..

UAV's.. the future of warfare..
The newest generation is called the 'Global Hawk'.. costs £25million.. can fly itself at 65 thousand feet from California to Australia and land itself.. without even a ground controller..
At the moment they're used for reconnaisance.. but as the technology improves.. it could be the end of manned bomber aircraft entirely..
Science.. it's wonderful..

The story of Europe's current fracturing is replete with ironies, outsize personalities and conflicting national interests, all three of which were on display in the one might think deliberate destructive intrusions recently by Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. defense secretary. Historic elements have overshadowed the fact that there is a genuine argument to be had about the wisdom of rushing to war against Iraq. To worry that the march to Baghdad might kindle rather than douse the fires of terrorism or to fret about the legitimacy of preemptive war is not to be anti-American, merely obstructionist.
But listening lately to the discordant voices of Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder and others has led one to believe that the source of the tension runs deeper. A decade and more after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Europe is only now confronting the consequences both for the transatlantic relationship and for its own identity. The countries of Europe may agree to make common cause when the issues are small -- a peace-keeping force for Macedonia, a few thousand troops to help stabilize Afghanistan. But once the geopolitical stakes rise, national interests and pride win out over solidarity.
While the United States is pursuing those who launched the attack on the World Trade Centers, and those who support the 'cause' that led to 911, Europe is left standing, somewhat ineffectually, in the wings.
There are cocerns within the courts of Europe that since 1989, the US has been so preeminent, that eventually a western hegemony will emerge, and the EU while expanding, is not the vehicle for solidarity it had been expected to be..
Chirac and Schroeder lead the EU a the moment, and are well aware that their positions in the heirarchy are precarious, with membership in the EU burgeoning from 15 to 25 over the next few years.
This action against the Middle East may well be justified, but what Europe wants, which even Britain wants, is action that will eventually lead to a settlement of the Israeli/Palistinian problem.. and that is not on the American agenda at the moment..

Right then.. it seems the US, with Britain in the wings, is clearing up the diplomatic debris and is about to call time gentlemen..
George will allow the UN one more chance to examine the evidence and see what he sees, one more Resolution while the inspectors set a seven day deadline for the destruction of missiles that should not exist, one more chance for those Iraqi ships to end their endless cruise in the Indian Ocean.. to drop anchor and submit to examination..
But it's all a bit late in the game for anything other than war at this point..
The question is how many fronts..?

One has to shake one's head sometimes, at the well meaning bumbling about of those who live with a vibrant 'social concience' but no sense of how to apply it..
So many who will accuse themselves and their own of wrongdoing, while excusing the transgressions of others with all manner of sincerity, and great expense..
The tenor of the talk in the chats is changing from bemusement, to near universal condemnation for action against Iraq. The cost has been quoted at one trillion dollars by some who've read the extremist press and who take that figure at face value, without understanding the machinations of a war economy..
As Pope said 'a little learning is a dang'rous thing..'
Meanwhile, the inspectors protestations of non-cooperation from the Iraqi's is being buried, even disregarded completely by those who would sooner allow Hussein to continue than face the reality of the situation..
If only the masses understood what leeway they've allowed the Iraqi leader.. what weight they've given his cause, even at home..
One would bet good cash that the organizers of this protest understand the ramifications, and that in itself still has one's head shaking in puzzlement..
To what end..

An auspicious date aproaches.. one which should be noted for, if nothing other, coincidence's sake..
Twelve years ago today, George Senior told Iraq they had til 5 tomorrow afternoon to get out of town, or there'd be a showdown..
If we transposed.. that would be Sunday at 5pm..
A dozen years ago Monday morning, in the early hours, the shooting began..
And they say history isn't cyclical..

Y'have to love this island, and most of the people who live on it.. The wit and knowledge of those about you is astouding at times, and indeed the national identity is in large part based on knowledge, of something or other. Real in depth knowledge that is.. And the wit is inbred.. one is reminded of a taxi driver who when driving across Westminster Bridge mentioned this was where Wordsworth wrote quite a few of his famous lines, and when the recent arrival asked in all innocence, 'what.. right here on this bridge?', was told 'well no, he probably went home to actually write them down..'
Wit.. knowledge.. British.. tradition..
One actually stood, stock still in the doorway of the kitchen this afternoon as Anne Robinson worked her caustic paring down of the weakest British links,while one of the contestants, when asked in which Commonwealth country is the Province of Ontario, answered..after a pregnant pause mind you..' America..?'.
This proves inarguably that the US does not have the monopoly on general ignorance or downright stupidity..
Mind you, it took a lot to top the article in the Washington Post that informed it's readers that 'Scotland, is a country to the north of England..'.
Or Brooke Shields profound statement against the evils of smoking.. "Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life.."
Or Mariah Carey reaching right to the very heart of Third World problems with " Whenever I watch tv and see these poor starving children all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean, I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.."
Yes.
None of us care much for those damned flies..
And those Americans in Ottawa.. ruining the bloody colony, they are..

As the anti-war movement plods it's way through yet another workweek, for as we know even those with moral ascendancy do need to eat and pay bills, those plodding in the other direction are working out the final details..
One topic that's been quite popular with the motk, is what's going to happen to Iraq once Hussein's no more than a blurb in the history of what will soon become just another Middle Eastern country again..
Well, they've been busy, those boys in the back room..
Among the other parts of the post-Hussein plan..
Iraqi military forces would be gathered in prisoner-of-war camps.. Ba'ath opposition members now receiving U.S. training at an air base in Hungary serving as part of the guard force. The Iraqi troops would be vetted by U.S. forces, and those who were cleared, beginning with those who "stood down or switched sides" during a U.S. assault, would receive U.S. training to serve in what one official called a "post-stabilization" force... Now there's a time-honoured tradition being maintained.. find those who can't be trusted to have strength of conviction and give them a rifle and the power to use it..
U.S. forces would secure any weapons of mass destruction that were found, including biological and chemical weapons stores. "At an appropriate time," according to an an official, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency might, let's stress that word might, be brought in to examine weaponry, scientists and documentation.
Now, as well as a 'consultative council', an Iraqi commission would be formed to reestablish a judicial system. Yet another commission would write a new constitution, although officials emphasized that they would not expect to "democratize" Iraq along the lines of the U.S. governing system. Instead, they speak of a "representative Iraqi government"..whatever that might be.. considering the differences in religous denominations, tribal affiliations, and general traditional trains of thought..
They say the decision to install U.S. military and civilian administrations for an indeterminate time, stems from lessons learned in Afghanistan. There, power has been diffused among three power bases..U.S. military forces still waging war against the remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda, a multinational security force of several thousand troops in which the United States doesn't take part, and the interim government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. And they're having a wonderful time.

Another sign of the times..
When one reads of incidents on Kuala Lumpur where a man will run amok, killing indescriminately, while crowds beyond his reach continue without any apparent interest, one might smile, and from the comfort of one's armchair reflect on how much more civilised is this western culture than theirs.. how much more we have travelled along the ethical path, that we understand better the value of human life.. After all, western man turned out in his millions to protest the killing of innocents in Iraq just this past weekend..
Washington DC police had released a surveillance tape from a gas station, which shows a man being shot to death in front of a number of witnesses.. all of which ignored the dying man as he bled out on the forecourt.. one of which, only a few feet away, continued to pump his kerosene til he had what he wanted, left the body without a glance, paid for his purchase and drove away.
The attendant, in a soundproof booth, didn't know of the shooting til another customer happened to mention it, three minutes after the crime..
Ahh we are so concerned about those in other countries.. about our worldwide image..
We speak the good line of 'love for fellow man'..
ts elliot would have laughed.. for we are the hollow men..

One has to admire the Americans in one sense.. While the motk will complain unceasingly about 'bailing out other countries all over the world', and the morality of what is commonly and mistakenly seen as an 'oil grab'.. thay're possibly keeping their collective mind off what's happening in their own back yard..
Lets leave the economic slowdown, the reluctance of foreign money to come to the US, the 3 trillion dollar budget for fiscal next year, the increasing street violence and the spiral of what may well be a sizeable minority of American youth into a somwhat twisted version of the 60's.. with the emphasis on ennui and nihilism rather than the Age of Aquarius and free love.. Lets leave those concerns for a moment, and look at the Department of Homeland Security..
A frightening organisation that is.. one which will be closely watched by countries the likes of Britain, Australia, Canada, and the states that were the USSR..
Mind you those latter will be smiling, to see how close this American version of the Secret Police coms to that which they endured under the KGB..
The goal of this exercise is laudable.. to make the country a safer place to live..
But the logistics alone of this move are staggering.. Merging agencies as diverse as the Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency..pushing a venerable old department the likes of the Customs Service which has had protocols of it's own since 1789.. the cost of office stationary alone will be tens of millions..
A concern this is.. what with all these departments now having to fight each other for a slice of the pie..
A note about the American Customs Service here.. Seattle's not the busiest port in the US by a long shot.. but on average 1.5 million containers are offloaded from foreign ships every year there..
As it is now.. there are certainly not enough men..dogs..bodies available to search them all.. absurd to think they could..
This is what the Homeland Security Department should be looking at.. rather than merging these separate agencies..
It should be a small committee.. with powers to direct fresh funds into departments they see has a need for them.. due to overt threat..
But who's being naive here.. after all this is government..

Former Jordanian Prime Minister Taher Masri has perhaps given us the most incisive insight into feelings in the Middle East today, in a statement he made this morning in Cairo.. "..nobody denies (Hussein's) mistakes, nobody denies he loses more than he gains..and nobody denies his is not a democratic regeme, and that atorocities against Iraqi's by their own government are well known. Some of us try to ignore it, because we have a common battle to prevent American invasion, but the faults are there to be found, without much digging.."
Those who look at this situation as a simplistic expansionist move by the west are deluding themselves. Those who see this as nothing more than a grab for oil are utterly off track. Those who fill the already congested atmosphere with self-serving politically-correct rhetoric are nothing more than mountebanks, pushing their own particular brand of snake oil..
This, as was mentioned several months ago, is an ideological war, with geopolitical advantage the prize..
Ahh.. it must be noted that support for Hussein is not what it was back in '91.. he's tarnished his image.. blotted his copybook with the rest of the Islamic world..
But the cause remains..
And for the most part, it's the Islamic fundamentalist activists which have become the dominant voices in this struggle. And their goal, as stated, is for the removal of all western influence from the Middle East, entirely.
Which of course includes the State of Israel..

It's always been a concern, the manner in which the elderly are regarded, indeed treated in Western society..
Those in the flush of youth, or the bloom of middle age, seem to have little thought towards the day they too, will return to the habits of their infancy, and require assistance to perform that which is not only simple, but instinctive, other than to look at that eventuality as a financial issue. Pensions, investments, savings, all accruing weight to defray the massive cost of caring for the aged infirm.
It's refreshing to see the government here, albeit some eight years and a different Party after the fact, looking into the NHS responsibility in the field of geriatrics, and is now shouldering some of the cost, and is preparing to construct facilities suitable for a dignified and less stressful endtimes..

The machine rolls on..
Britons have been formally told to leave Iraq immediately, and to postpone all non-essential trips to Kuwait and Israel..
As though, commented one wag along the bar this evening, who in their right mind would be planning a jaunt to the Dead Sea these days..
It's been a while since there's been any mention of that which has been tabled in the chatrooms, and for the simple reason nothing new is being said at all.. people are mouthing the same platitudes pro and con, for some weeks now. Perhaps a sign of the inherent tension underlying everyday life these days, as we teeter on the brink of what many feel will be Armageddon..
Really.. they are concerned..
There's one particular fantasy I will recount.. I'll omit the name of the chatter involved for reasons which will be plain on the 5th of July this year..
The story is, this chatter was visited back in 1993 by a 'spirit' named Anna.. claims to have physical proof of the message she delivered in the form of a tape recording.. y'see this epiphany was via the radio.. This tape by the way is under scrutiny by a team of Amerian scientists somewhere is the eastern United States, our suspicions are the implication is Langley..
However, Anna, and seven others will appear before us all on the 5th July, at 10:45pm EST.. after which we all will be 'changed'..and life as we know it will come to an end..
Ahhh.. Anna also says the Biblical number of the Beast as reported in Revelation, is not quite correct.. It's not '666'.. but rather '60614332233'.. a 'cold evil heart' will appear..
Now somehow a Tulsa preacher by the same of Kenneth Hagen is involved in this.. and around the world today there are those who are 'chosen'.. and who somehow 'know' or 'sense' their mission.... again, one might speculate the number of the 'chosen' might be what.. 144 thousand maybe..?
However.. we shall see on the 6th July ..
That's 3:45am here.. but we'll be online.. waiting for the lights to go out..

Once again it's been a day of justification for Tony, as the window for an invasion gets smaller and smaller.. One would think there's litle doubt the US will hold off as long as possible, in the hopes that a smoking gun will materialize, that a mistake will be made by those involved in the transport and concealment of that which would demonstrate the true extent of the arsenal he has at his disposal, but it's the weather y'see.. and when it gets hot there.. it gets very hot indeed..
One might say the same, as far as the political side is concerned, right here at home..
Meanwhile.. and one must apologise in advance for blatant editorialism.. some idiots left Dorset a coupple of weeks ago on a double decker bus no less, and drove all the way to Baghdad to act as human shields for Hussein..
Now one must applaud the sentiment and the conviction that led Joe Letts and his crew to set off on this..adventure.. and one cannot deny that the scenes of deprivation, sickness and disease running rife, malnutrition, are indeed endemic in the quotidien life of the average Iraqi.. but this has been caused by Hussein himself.. not those who would remove him..
When Joe spoke to the government officials who so graciously welcomed him, one wonders what was on the menu of that government dinner..
And was ever the question asked.. why doesn't the government distribute the obvious wealth controlled by the Ba'ath?
One doubts it..

Finally.. some progression in the British Penal System..
By the end of this year, there will be no more under 16's in the prison system.. they'll all be farmed out to 'correctional homes' across the country..
Now what this means is, that a juvenile from London, will be taken to say Aberdeen, and put to work, given a wage, a curfew, and an ankle bracelet that keeps constant tabs on them.. If regulations are broken, then privilages will be removed, just perhaps as any parent might, til the problem's corrected..
This move might provide for some of these kids.. the first chance they've had to what even comes close to a family environment.. with the state acting not as a gaoler, but as a parent..
Not to say there won't be some 'hard-cases' that simply will not see this as a chance, but if only a small percntage respond to this new rehabilatory process, then it's well worth it..
And it also frees up space for those who we know will not come back to the fold..
Win win..

Ahh yes.. the war..
In brief.. it appears the EU is growing concerned over the rift developing between east and west... at least that's what we're told..
France, Germany and Greece..Greece currently holding the Presidency of the EU, which essentially means little more than they get to sit in the big chair at the head of the table, are still warning against rushing into war in the Middle East.. with Britain, Spain, and Italy on the other side, saying they'll stand behind the US..
The largest protests to this war were held oddly enough, in Britain, Spain and Italy this past weekend, with figures now showing more than a million marched in each of Barcelona, London, and Rome..
Meanwhile, the weapons inspectors will continue their impossible search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction..
A thought to ponder.. What might be the odds of that which has already been found, the modified missiles, the warhead casings, the missing documented chemicals, having been planted by the Ba'ath authorities themselves, to fuel a hawk stance from the US and it's allies, and a massive public outcry against 'over-reaction' from the peoples of the west..?
All this, while Hussein's production of proscribed materiel continues elsewhere..
Just a thought..

Was listening with some interest to the boys at the pub last evening, as they dissected the war, the £5 charge that it'll cost to drive into London as of this very morning, the value of the Euro, and possible dates for slurrying their fields..that date by the way is of tremendous import to we in this village..the waft from that fertilizing process curdles milk.. when one of the venerable members of the order of the bar began emitting a warbling from his vest pocket..
Of course it was his mobile. His wife asking he come the half mile back to his house via a three mile detour into town to pick up something domestically indispensible.. Thus, mumbling his apologies, he took his leave, and shortly thereafter our nightly forum dispered, and we all went our separate ways. But before that, two more of the group had similar calls from their respective spouses with almost identical requests, and there was a bit of a rush to catch the first so he could collect for all of them..
That, is a sad sign of our times.
One, that there isn't a place on this earth one can escape to, away from the possibility of a phonecall. Even the sanctity of the pub is breached, and equally a mother can no longer escape the family for a peaceful hour, without enduring the presistent nagging guilt that comes with turning the bloody phone off..
And two, the frightening fact there are 49 million registered mobile phones in use.
This island has some 57 million people on it, which includes the doddering through the swaddled.
And what these phones can do, is surprising to say the least..
One has to wonder where a simple neural implant will be developed, that would allow you instant access to all telecommunicated services..

One has to laugh.. Not at poor wee Britney Spears for winning the NAFTA for Worst New Actress Of The Year.. or for the vehicle she starred in winning Worst Picture Of The Year, along with Most Flatulent Offering To A Teenage Audience award..
One understands the selfsame film and actress et al are up for similar awards at the American counterpart..The Razzies..
No, what is amusing is the renewed attention the star, and the film are recieving, and the inevidable rush that will follow to buy the DVD so that one can add it to one's collection of 'world's worst movies'..
Never to be watched, unless exceedingly intoxicated, but, a conversation piece..
Should look good, right there next to 'Cannibal Ferox' and 'Barry Lindon'..

It appears NATO has resolved it's difficulties regarding deployment of forces in Turkey.. with Germany and Belgium dropping their objections to the move this evening.. France, which had vocally condemned this action, is not represented in NATO military committee meetings.. France dropped out of any involvement with the military decision making process in 1966..
NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson says 'solidarity has prevailed..'
Turkey gets it's AWACs.. it's anti-missile batteries..and it's anti-chemical warfare units after all..
Only seems fair..
I'm sure the French would respond with some Gallic wit.. perhaps 'Merde'..

Yesterday afternoon Tony had to stand before his party faithfull, and once again make his case for war with Hussein. And indeed, for the first time, the Prime Minister said he wanted a regeme change in Iraq, and that ridding the world of Saddam would be 'an act of humanity'. However, he reluctantly conceeded that for his part, he would allow the weapons inspectors more time, but warned that while every step should be taken to avoid war, if peaceable means proved unsuccessfull, we should not fall to the delusion the problem can be safely ignored..
Tony is these days, between the proverbial rock and the hard place.. he is justifiably throwing all the country's resources behind the American determination to wipe Hussein and his ilk off the face of the planet, but the tide of popular antagonism towards the stance has him totally off balance..
Today, as though guiltily slinking back to their party roles, those Ministers who marched with the mob yesterday are singing the assurance they have in Tony's sincerity.. They're falling short of toeing the line and backing his war plans, but they wholeheartedly believe he believes he's right..
Politics is a harsh game.. One can be sure Tony knows exactly who was marching yesterday, demographically speaking, and he knows his credibility rides with George on this one..
Meanwhile, in spite of American pleas of not turning this into a 'street fight'.. NATO is still split on the issue of sending military support to Turkey. Now, it would seem an odd stance for France, Germany, Belgium to take, denying a fellow NATO member the support they have the right to ask for, in fact it is a very odd stance. It could spell the end of NATO as it exists today, and a leaning towards the EU being the representative of it's member countries in defining issues of defence.. it also would spell an end to the organization that has been the bedrock of the alliance between the US and Europe..
These are disturbing times..
Again.. keep an eye on the Euro.. one could have made a fortune in futures..

'Make Tea..Not War'.. The numbers have upped over the afternoon.. with the police saying 750 thousand marched through the streets of London today.. the organizers claim closer to two million, but one can forgive them a bit of licence in the exuberance of the moment.. Similar, if less popular demonstrations were held in 60 cities around the world, all bent on stopping the war against Hussein and terrorism..
One must marvel at the basic ignorance of the great unwashed.. as indeed those in the Middle East are likely doing now.. One would think that before a course of action was taken, the history of the area.. of the conflict.. of the peoples involved would be carefully studied and evaluated, but it appears this is a matter of image, of popular sentiment, not of reasoned thought.
May this not come back to haunt those who marched today.. or their children.. One has fears it might well do just that..
In one sense though, Tony got off lightly.. While he addressed the spring conference of the party faithful in Glasgow this morning, he only had his own to deal with due to the lack of substance in Hans Blix's report to the UN.. One must understand that pacifism has been a cornerstone of the Labour movement since it's inception, and Tony has been bucking the basic Party Image with this alliance with George and the US.
That most reviled of Labour leaders, Ramsay Macdonald had been a hero of the pacifist left when he opposed Britains involvement in the First World War..and in 1935 George Lansbury resigned as Labour leader after union boss Ernest Bevin accused him of 'hawking your concience' around Europe in an effort to forstall Hitler and the Nazi machine..
Tony pitched his war efforts this morning, as a continuation of Labour's time homoured policies, but any student of history could have confounded him with simple history.. no heckling.. no walking out by disgruntled delegates.. but this is a result of Tony himself changing the Party..
One might say, as has been said of most if not all Socialist Parties.. that power has changed Labour into a shadow conservative party..
But then they only had to look to Ontario, and analyze what happened with the NDP under Bob Rae, to see what would happen..
Mind you.. there were some who held posters reading 'No blood for oil'.. which shows the depth of understanding even Labour delegates themselves have of this impending conflict..
If one was prone to quoting the Bible, The Gospel of John, Chapter 11, verse 35 would spring immediately to mind..

Half a million of the politically ignorant, but pristinely correct, will march in London today.. that's the number being touted not by the organizers of this farce, but by the authorities which will be tied up watching them, ensuring there's little if any trouble..
Y'know.. back in the 60's there were people who blythely said 'we'll move back to the farm, grow our own food, make our own clothing.. retire from society and it's ills..
It wasn't long before the discovery of early mornings, late nights, constant work and the ever-present crop failure, forced these pseudo-Rousseau's back to their warm apartments, back to their supermarkets, and back to the ubiquitous complaints that these amenities will be the downfall of western civilisation..
These are the people in charge now..
And what they've either forgotten. or have chosen to ignore, is that those in charge in other countries are those who grew up in the 60's as well, but in an entirely different circumstance. The leaders of the eastern countries grew in a 60's that saw genocide, and casual murder, as parts of their everyday existence, and who watched the west with envy, or distain, or outright hatred for the ease with which it's children could voice their dissent.
The naivete of the west will be it's destruction, for here we are today, out in our hundreds of thousands, protesting something most have no knowledge of whatsoever.
And those in the East..?
They're getting a good chuckle out of all of this.

This is truely an amazing scenario we're seeing played out here these days..
Indeed, how one country, originally created by he west itself from the remains of the old Ottoman Empire, could bring so much of the world into opposing camps, is something to be wondred at. It certainly demonstrates the lengths to which countries will go to further their own political agendas, regardless of the consiquences. Germany for example, France for another. The chaos these two countries caused whem they left their African posessions, protectorates, is now back to bother us, with a vengeance.
As was mentioned a day or so ago, France alone with it's granting automony to Algeria, started a movement which has snowballed alarmingly, and the Paris government seems quite happy to sit back and watch the US and Britain clean up their mess, forgetting the riots of the 60's, oblivious to the calous statements of their own Prime Minister and National Hero Charles deGaulle, which set of this entire powderkeg.. and typically, their stance is one of armchair condemnation.
Public misinformation is widely disseminated and acdepted as fact.. half a million are expected to demonstrate against this war in London alone tomorrow.. countless thousands more around the world.
Can it be so difficult to understand what stragegic import the Middle East is, or is it more a fashion statement, this protest..
Today's west is suffering under a massive guilt, for the most part brought about by the failure to see injustice, and reluctance to deal with it when finally percieved. Hundreds of thousands have died because of the Chamberlain Attitude.. seems image is more important than the lessons history can teach us.
This is a society led by vocal minorities, and sheep desperate to shed their ovine characteristics.
If it weren't so desperately sad, it would bring a chuckle.
The boys are the pub have given up on their fingers beside their noses. It's gone beyond that. Now the looks are solemn, for the while faith is still there that the Scots have managed to keep all out who attacked with force, there is a doubt that we will survive the 'diplomacy' which threatens to bring this society down about our ears..

Aluminum tubes for 'gas centrifuging'.. modified missles meant to carry chemical or biological payloads.. the admission that engines for those missiles had been imported.. the lack of cooperation in finding some key Iraqi scientists.. Hans Blix wants more time to deal with the inspections.. and it would appear he'll get it..
The world appears ready to err on the side of non-violence, and that in this time of political actions and reactions, would indeed be the 'safe' course..
One hopes this is not another Chamberlain exercise..

Ahh it's good to have a chuckle..
We've had a census here in Britain.. the results are just now being released bit by bit.. And it appears that some 390 thousand Brits have chosen 'Jedi' as their faith..
Census officials actually bowed to public pressure, due in large part to a massive internet campaign, and included Jedi on the list of religions..
Support ranged from 2.6% in the southeast of the country.. Tony's consituency of Sedgefield, along with Knowsley, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil and Wear Valley all came up with less than .2% pledging support for the Force..
Unconfirmed reports suggest the 'Dark Side' might hold sway in those benighted areas....
And Darth Vader's been reported walking the streets of Merthyr Tydfil, late at night..
Really.

George Tennet..he's the head of the CIA.. says they have another bin Laden tape which 'almost definately' links the Iraqi government with al Q'aeda.. This tape was aired to the Iraqi's on the Arab satellite station Al Jazeera yesterday, and on it the perrennial villain exhorts the people of Iraq to fight the American Infidel by any and all means at their disposal, including suicide attacks and forcing troops into urban warfare..
Mind you, the Iraqi media hasn't reported the tape, and most Iraqi's don't have satellite dishes..
Ahh well..
Gainsville Missouri, wonderful little town..Ozark County's pride..
It's there a judge has ruled that Richard John Adams, who stands accused of 'tampering', after threatening a judge in an earlier traffic case, can have Jesus Christ represent him. But only as co-counsel, and a licensed lawyer must speak for him..
Richard.. a former member of a militia, and a 'Christian Identity' movement, claims that all lawyers are devils who are bent on undermining the Constitution..
Just goes to show, that even in the ravings of a barking lunatic, there can be a grain of truth..

Odd, how some countries seem to put less emphasis on news from certain parts of the world.. In Canada one hears little about the Belgians..the Belgians are unaware to a large part concerning the daily goings on in Mexico.. and the Mexicans join the rest of us in general ignorance when it comes to China..
But once in a while something crosses one's desk..
It appears that China's ripping along the road of progress, while managing to maintain the Mandarin ambiance of the place. The reports lately have shown a country inundated by cheap labour, as some two million workers migrate from the country to the cities on a seasonal basis. These workers are forming a second working class layer, with little protection from the courts, unions, or police.. these are the ones who work like the devil, and then can be fobbed off when it comes to pay.. who will work with no written contract, and under conditions that any of our workmen would have a right good chuckle over, before suggesting options for the disposal of the offer.
Such is indeed the practice it seems, for workers have taken to threats of suicide to get their employers to pay up.. It works too, but it's happening with such regularity that most Chinese cities have now made it an automatic 14 day stretch in the pokey.. Nothing worse for the image of a construction or for that matter any comany, than to have someone threaten to thunder in for lack of payment..
One mustn't think tho that the Chinese authorities are unaware of their position, precarious as it must be. With two billions of subjects, those who rule do so only at the sufferance of the masses, and he dedication of their troops.
China's quietly throwing itself into the 21st century, with a determination that bespeaks a long thought strategy.. but then that's to be expected in a country who's foundation is long range planning.
Have to keep these human bombs under control though.
A short note.. a total ban on cigarette advertising comes into effect in what.. fifteen hours.. here in Britain..
So far, we've seen 'The Benson and Hedges Snooker Masters' fall to this legislation.. one wonders what Formula One will be doing when it has seeped over to encompass that sport in 2006.. the money is substantial..
But the BMA says even this is not enough..the self-destructive urges should be further legislated away with a ban on smoking in public. Outdoors. Anywhere.
One finds it amazing how fervently the cognoscenti/activists grasped this chimera, and how far the sniggering petrochemical lobby has seen it progress..