nonTROPPO.org

Threads blowing in the wind...

Michael Meacher has written an interesting article on the links between British support and funding of Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan and Bosnia, and the current London bombings (and wider context of the "war" on "terror"). Although the lines he sketches are far from definitve, they do give us pause to imagine that Islamic radicals supported by the British Government, just as happened with the US, could have turned round and bitten the hand that fed and supported them. Meacher (a labour MP by the way), even suggests that our secret services could then even play a game of cat and mouse with the police obscuring the original organising forces behind the London bombers to hide their "men".

According to a recent report by the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, a contingent was also sent by the Pakistani government, then led by Benazir Bhutto, at the request of the Clinton administration. This contingent was formed from the Harkat-ul- Ansar (HUA) terrorist group and trained by the ISI. The report estimates that about 200 Pakistani Muslims living in the UK went to Pakistan, trained in HUA camps and joined the HUA's contingent in Bosnia. Most significantly, this was "with the full knowledge and complicity of the British and American intelligence agencies".

Guardian Unlimited | Britain now faces its own blowback

See individual entry…

Lost in Photo-op Land

Can you believe this; Bush's visit to New Orleans forced helicopters to be grounded for the duration of his visit, thus delaying distribution of three tons of food to the survivors: Bush Halts Food Deliveries...

There is even a report that a food centre photo-op was staged for his visit then torn down again.

See individual entry…

Non-Proliferation Treaty - RIP…

Tomorrow is the 60th anniversary (6th August 1945) of the Hiroshima atomic bomb in which the most shocking and horrific weapon of mass destruction was ever unleashed on a civilian population. One hundred and fourty thousand people were dead in the few months after the bomb. They were burnt, crushed (by a pressure wave) and radiated to death, often dying painfully and slowly within weeks and months due to the gamma radiation. Along with Nagasaki bomb 3 days later, over a ¼ million people were murdered; the Americans deemed it the only solution to end their war with Japan.

The United States now wants to start developing Nuclear Weapons again, and the UK is starting to rebuild its Nuclear Arsenal. In a staggering act of circularity and defiance of the NPT, the new weapons of mass destruction will be used to combat weapons of lesser-mass destruction:

Bush wanted to destroy the treaty because it couldn’t be reconciled with his new plans. Last month the Senate approved an initial $4m for research into a “robust nuclear earth penetrator” (RNEP). This is a bomb with a yield about ten times that of the Hiroshima device, designed to blow up underground bunkers which might contain weapons of mass destruction. (You’ve spotted the contradiction). Congress rejected funding for it in November, but Bush twisted enough arms this year to get it restarted. You see what a wonderful world he inhabits when you discover that the RNEP idea was conceived in 1991 as a means of dealing with Saddam Hussein’s biological and chemical weapons.(8) Saddam is pacing his cell, but the Bushites, like the Japanese soldiers lost in Malaysia, march on. To pursue his war against the phantom of the phantom of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, Bush has destroyed the treaty which prevents the use of real ones.

It gets worse. Last year Congress allocated funding for something called the “reliable replacement warhead”. The government’s story is that the existing warheads might be deteriorating. When they show signs of ageing, they can be dismantled and rebuilt to a “safer and more reliable” design.(9) It’s a pretty feeble excuse for building a new generation of nukes, but it worked. The development of the new bombs probably means that the US will also breach the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty – so we can kiss goodbye to another means of preventing proliferation.

But the biggest disaster was Bush’s meeting with Manmohan Singh a fortnight ago. India is one of three states which possess nuclear weapons and refuse to sign the non-proliferation treaty (NPT). The treaty says it should be denied access to civil nuclear materials. But on July 18th, Bush announced that “as a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology, India should acquire the same benefits and advantages as other such states.” He would “work to achieve full civil nuclear energy cooperation with India” and “seek agreement from Congress to adjust U.S. laws and policies”.(10) Four months before the meeting, the US lifted its South Asian arms embargo, by selling Pakistan a fleet of F-16 aircraft, capable of a carrying a wide range of missiles, and India an anti-missile system.(11) As a business plan, it’s hard to fault.

Here then is how it works. If you acquire the bomb and threaten to use it, you will qualify for American exceptionalism by proxy. Could there be a greater incentive for proliferation?

See individual entry…

Extremists Attack Milan

Extremists have today indiscriminately attacked Milan and its residents. These monsters targeted groups with little justification from their stated goals. Hijacking an agenda of fear, their prejudice and racism drove them to take full advantage of their power.

I'm talking about the Italian Police, who in an ominous foretaste of what may come, have started arresting Gypsies, drug addicts, immigrants and potential petty criminals while claiming they are working for the good of National Security:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4667513.stm

Police reportedly raided several Gypsy camps and other deprived areas.

Of those arrested, 83 are said to be non-EU citizens. Deportation orders have already been issued for 52 of them.

"Charges are mainly related to crimes like burglary, theft, evading home arrest and infringement of drug laws," Col Piccino was reported by daily Corriere della Sera as saying after the arrests.

Italian Police are well-known for the fascist elements within them, and it seems that some attack on Gypsies and immigrants is fair game for them. When I visited Milan a few years ago, I remember bars in which cocaine use was prevalent, but I doubt these drug infringers were targeted; they were all Italians working for Banks, Law firms and other respectable professions.

See individual entry…

Setting Fire to the River Today I read the following story: Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Turkey promises to compensate Kurds after years of terror Below where I live are friends of ours who run a cafe, they are 'Kurdish'. Tonight we had a group dinner with them, traditional Kurdish dish of raw meat with bulgar wheat and lots of chili - and we talked and sang traditional Kurdish songs (and drank lots of raki, an anise liquor). Everyone there belongs to or is somehow affected by resistance groups in Turkey who fight against the dictatorship. One older couple has lost two children, both killed fighting against the military dictatorship. Being there and listening to songs about 15th century Anatolian revolutionaries fighting against the Ottoman Empire, and knowing that those songs still resonate today among todays kurds who have faced appalling persecution from Turkey was a shocking, poetic and profoundly challenging moment. The article above suggests that the Turkish Government will pay compensation to Kurds who were affected by a government barbarity that resulted in up to 1 million victims. No one will face justice for torture and murder, disappearance and state sanctioned violence. They want to pay some money and hope that is the end of it - so they can become an EU member. This is disgusting and outrageous. Where is the US, with their superior morality helping the persecuted all over the world? Why does Saddam Hussein's abhorrent crimes against the Kurds (which US and European governments rubber stamped until it suited them to use it as a moral bludgeon for their gain), weigh heavier than Turkey's systematic and devastating torturous campaign. See individual entry…

He can Run, but He Can't Hide... Due to probable pressure from the Mayor of London, the British police have decided not to enforce an American style of democracy for GW Bush as he comes to drink gallons of Tea in his ten-gallon hat with the Queen (the most convincing reason so far to turn me from an apathetic anti-monarchist to a rabid one!) The current US style of democracy involves police forcing those who happen not to share the Presidents love of using overwhelming force and even more overwhelming lies, to be unable to get within shouting distance. This is by forcibly infringing on their civil liberties (probably in the name of national security as always). However, the British police although not willing to set up exclusion zones (apart from Whitehall), will use anti-terrorist legislation again, an horrific abuse of police power. Everyone knows a group of cyclists is hardly likely to be carrying a thermonuclear warhead, but the police are hugely misusing the power given to them by doing this. PLEASE, everyone who can - come and spend some days in central London playing kiss chase with our beloved dimwit. To find him, see: "CHASING BUSH - A BUSH TRACKER (Hunt for Presidents of Mass Destruction)":http://www.interwebnet.org/ And if ya see him, tell em. See individual entry…

Comparative Destruction A "series of articles":http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,965463,00.html in the Guardian today outlines the comparative benefits that international intervention has made in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. See individual entry…

The Success of 'Democratisation' There is a nice "article in the Observer":http://www.observer.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,962905,00.html on the current state of affairs in Afghanistan. bq. Once again, statistics highlight the staggering scale of the Western betrayal. In Bosnia there was one peacekeeper for every 113 people, in East Timor every 66, in Kosovo every 48. There is one Isaf soldier for every 5,380 Afghans. Without an international security presence the Afghan countryside has fallen back into the hands of the warlords and their militias, conservatively estimated at some 200,000 strong. The international presence is feebly trying to counter-balance the power of the warlords by building up the central government security framework. So far those attempts have been at worst disastrous and at best meaningless. Interestingly, donors have pledged just $300million in reconstruction of the road network. That is the same amount that the US administration is spending on rebuilding its own Embassy in Kabul - they care more about their posh offices and security aparatus, than on opening up *vital* road networks to stimulate the Afghan economy. Yet no questions are asked, little publicity in the mainstream press at why the US deems its own Embassy more worthwhile than rebuilding an infrastructure it has been complicit in destroying (first through funding of the Mujahideen, and then through a massive air bombardment). See individual entry…

Get your Virtue On p(centre). !http://nontroppo.org/blog/images/waron2.gif 423 343!
"Get your cynical views of the Bush administration on":http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war24.html See individual entry…

Globalisation "Here is a nice article":http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,949996,00.html about the purported statistics from the world bank that claim the 'world poor' are getting better off financially. Based on an critique in an "academic paper":http://www.columbia.edu/~sr793/ by an economist and a philosopher, the article describes their findings relating to how the World Bank drastically mis-measures 'poverty', finding some disturbing paradoxes: bq. "As the service sector expands in poor nations, the bank's figures will create the impression that the purchasing power of the poor is increasing, whether or not their real economic circumstances have changed. The same false trend is established by a shift to the service sector in rich nations, as one dollar there will then buy a smaller proportion of the total of available goods and services. The relative purchasing power per dollar of the people of poor nations is increased by this measure, even though their absolute cost of living remains unchanged. When house prices boom in New York, the shanty-dwellers of Lusaka appear to get richer." See individual entry…

Tobacco p(centre). !http://nontroppo.org/blog/images/tobacco.gif 143 187! bq. "The Carirí Indians had implored the Grandfather to let them try the flesh of wild pigs, which didn't yet exist. The Greandfather, architect of the Universe, kidnapped the little children of the Carirís and turned them into wild pigs. He created a big tree so that they could escape into the sky.
The people pursued the pigs up the tree from branch to branch and managed to kill a few. The Grandfather ordered the ants to bring down the tree. When it fell, the people suffered broken bones. Ever since that great fall, we all have divided bones and so are able to bend our fingers and legs or tilt our bodies.
With the dead boars a great banquet was made in the village.
The people besought the Grandfather to come down from the sky, where he was minding the children saved from the hunt, but he preferred to stay up there.
The Grandfather sent tobacco to take his place among men. Smoking, the people talked with God."

CREATION MYTH, taken from Memory of Fire, Eduardo Galeano I don't smoke, and I never have, but I love this story of the creation of tobacco (even if they end up eating their own children!). If I was to smoke, I would like to use tobacco in this 'ritual' way[1], lost in the forest somewhere communicating with God through burnt leaves. I dislike however, the role of tobacco in our society - successively conditioned into us that it is 'cool' through manipulation by the advertising $$$ of massive Corporations. Commercial tobacco is chemically treated and smells like shit (comparing it to 'real' tobacco - somewhat analogous to the 'Star Bucks' version of real coffee), I really never understand why people smoke this crap[2] (well, apart from that the nicotine is addictive...) Those massive Corporation, who actively seek to misinform and damage (Inter)national health regulation regarding tobacco use, have managed to "convince the US Government to disrupt":http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=402305 the new WHO(World Health Organisation) treaty on Tobacco. Yet another example of how the Bush administration is for sale to the highest bidder, in this case Phillip Morris who was the largest corporate contributor to the Republican party.
[1] I know it is 'orientalist' and romantic, but, well, you know... [2] I think everyone should have the right to smoke however, unless it infringes on my right to not be affected by it! See individual entry…

May Day Here is the Speech by August Spies, one of the 4 men convicted and hanged for the Haymarket Riots of 1886 with no evidence. This was the key event that sparked the flowering of the modern May Day Holiday. bq. "Anarchism is on trial! If that is the case your honor, very well; you may sentence me, for I am an anarchist. I believe that the state of castes and classes--the state where one class dominates over and lives upon the labor of another class, and calls this order--yes, I believe that this barbaric form of social organization, with its legallized plunder and murder, is doomed to die and make room for a free society, voluntary association, or universal brotherhood, if you like. You may pronounce the sentence upon me, honorable judge, but let the world know that in A.D. 1886, in the state of Illinois, eight men were sentenced to death because they believed in a better future; because they had not lost their faith in the ultimate victory of liberty and justice!...
You gentlemen, are the revolutionists! You rebel against the effects of social conditions which have tossed you, by the fair hands of fortune, into a magnificent paradise. Without inquiring, you imagine that no one else has a right in that place. You insist that you are the chosen ones, the sole proprietors. The forces that tossed you into the paradise, the industrial forces, are still at work. They are growing more active and intense from day to day. Their tendency is to elevate all mankind to the same level, to have all humanity share in the paradise you now monopolize. You in your blindness, think you can stop the tidal wave of civilization and human emancipation by placing a few policemen, a few Gattling guns and some regiments of militia on the shore; you think you can frighten the rising waves back into the unfathomable depths whence they have arisen by erecting a few gallows in the perspective. You oppose the natural course of things, you are the real revolutionists. You alone are the conspirators and destructionists!...
Look upon the economic battlefields! Behold the carnage and plunder of the Christian patricians ( upper class )! Accompany me to the quarters of the wealth creators in this city. Go with me to the half starved miners of the Hocking Valley. Look at the pariahs ( out casts ) in the Mongahela Valley, and many other mining districts in this country, or pass along the railroads of that great and most orderly and law abiding citizen Jay Gould. And tell me whether this order has in it any moral principle for which it should be preserved. I say that preservation of such an order is criminal--is murderous. It means the preservation of the systematic destruction of children and women in factories. It means the preservation of enforced idleness of large armies of men, and their degradation. It means the preservation of intemperance, and sexual as well as intellectual prostitution. It means the preservation of misery, want, and servility on the one hand, and the dangerous accumulation of spoils, idleness, voluptuousness, and tyranny on the other. It means the preservation of vice in every form. And last but not least, it means the preservation of the class struggle, of strikes, riots, and bloodshed. That is your "order" gentlemen. Yes, and it is worthy of you to be the champions of such an order. You are eminently fitted for that role. You have my compliments!" "See here for more of the History of May Day":http://www.mayweek.ab.ca/history.html See individual entry…

Further Wrestling with Perle "A further question of private interests clashing":http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/24/opinion/24MON3.html with Richard Perles position in the Pentagon. This has lead to "calls for an investigation ":http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-congress-perle.html of Perles activities (see my "previous post":http://nontroppo.org/blog/archives/2003/03/11/perles_and_swine_in_the_dirt_with_the_bush_boys.html#000062 for another article on Perle). Let us hope that such indications of private gains by such a core (background) figure in the Bush war machine will result in an open and critical probe on his role in the US Government. UPDATE: "Perle has resigned":http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2894059.stm his position as chairman on the Defense board (although he is still a member of it). Looks like he knew he was in for a hard ride, and didn't want to embarass his fellow chickenhawks. The fact is, however, he is STILL working for the US government. See individual entry…

Perles and Swine - in the dirt with the Bush Boys A nice little background on one of the movers'n'shakers of the Bush love boat, Richard Perle. He is a co-founder of a business which is involved in 'homeland security' technology, and at the same time works deep within the Defence Department. This is the perfect stereotype of the sort of person who should be kept WELL clear of public office (if it is to ever regain any sense of 'ethical rigor' with voters). The article suggests repeatedly that the only reason that Perle is not undergoing a serious conflict of interests is because _he says so_. I assume there are probably legal requirements in place, but that someone like him is doing that job at all places such requirements in a grey-area at best. "Richard Perle in the New Yorker":http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030317fa_fact See individual entry…

US-Rot Will Hutton writing about the state of the US. Interesting mainly because I learned that McDonalds has posted its first quarterly loss (makes me exceedingly happy - I'd love it to implode Enron style). "Will Hutton in the Observer":http://www.observer.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,868777,00.html See individual entry…

Kissinger we love you. Heres a "really nice article":http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/82dec/hersh.htm on the involvement of the US in chilean politics, and a rather well-known coup the year I was born (also the original September 11th...) See individual entry…

Truth & Lies "An article":http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1219-05.htm outlining the recent oft-recurrent idea of a new "ministry of truth". A nice exerpt: bq. "Let's do that simple old thing where we put the shoe on the other foot and see how it feels, substituting "China" for "United States" and using the exact plan outlined by the Times: "The Chinese government is considering a secret propaganda program that would include, for example, efforts to discredit and undermine evangelical Christian churches and religious schools that have become breeding grounds for militant anti-Chinese sentiment because of China's abortion policies and human-rights issues. It might even include setting up schools with secret Chinese financing to teach a more moderate Christianity, laced with sympathetic depictions of how the religion is practiced in China. The plan also includes secret Chinese payments to American journalists to write articles favorable to China, and paying citizens' groups to organize rallies in support of Chinese policies." No, not a good idea. This country already has a credibility problem around the world--why set up an official propaganda office to tell lies, when the truth works much better?" See individual entry…

War Drums Nice to see that the brief lapse in the frenzy to attack Iraq has reignited (not that it ever went away, but media coverage did). Bush's and his officials (string-pullers?) have been frantically raising suspicion (even before the weapons inspectors could report their first findings). Rather transparently and unsuccessfully, they claimed Iraq firing on 'allied' planes was a 'material breach' (and thus reason to start the war). All of this antagonism has been met today by bellicose statements from Iraq - which one may have expected - Iraqi generals seem to respond like clockwork. Looking at the Daily Telegraph (right-wing + bad journalism) I saw a nice example of skewed english usage: bq. "United Nations inspectors have raided a sinister installation where Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons programme began." Both the US and the UK (and many other nations) have far more 'sinister' installations (because they actually work!). What makes his bombed out facility particularly 'sinister'? I find it sinister that the very nations that actively gave him those possibilities can make sweeping moral statements about evil without even remotely raising the awareness of their own culpability. "A link on the relationship of Rumsfeld and Hussain":http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0802-01.htm during the period (mid to late 80s) of active use by Iraq of its 'weapons of mass destruction' (supplied of course, by 'us'). See individual entry…

Bush and his Lies A "fairly interesting article":http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61903-2002Oct21.html deconstructing some of Bush's seemingly perpetual lying: bq. "On Sept. 7, meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David, Bush told reporters: "I would remind you that when the inspectors first went into Iraq and were denied, finally denied access, a report came out of the Atomic -- the IAEA -- that they were six months away from developing a weapon. I don't know what more evidence we need." The IAEA did issue a report in 1998, around the time weapons inspectors were denied access to Iraq for the final time, but the report made no such assertion. It declared: bq. "Based on all credible information to date, the IAEA has found no indication of Iraq having achieved its program goal of producing nuclear weapons or of Iraq having retained a physical capability for the production of weapon-useable nuclear material or having clandestinely obtained such material." The report said Iraq had been six to 24 months away from nuclear capability before the 1991 Gulf War." They break-down a whole other group of his recent lies. Now, I accept politicians are very fluid with facts, but such colossal reversals of meaning denote either Bush is so stupid he doesn't know what he is talking about, or that he is so stupid because he can't lie properly without getting uncovered. How can Americans genuinely take him seriously???? See individual entry…

Al-Qaida and Reality To follow-up on a previous post, where I "pour some cold water":http://nontroppo.org/blog/archives/2002/10/16/predictable.html#000029 on the simplistic notion that there is only one closely knit terrorist organisation in the world, "here is an article":http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1020-02.htm giving a similar perspective on Al-Qaida. Here are some quotes: bq. "So, too, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's chief operating officer, the real power behind the organization. Zawahiri was a doctor in Egypt until wrongfully arrested, jailed and savagely tortured. After being released, Zawahiri formed Islamic Jihad, a murderous underground organization that battled to overthrow the U.S.-backed regime of Gen. Hosni Mubarak." "During the 1980s, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia organized and financed 100,000 young Muslims from across the Islamic world to go fight in the Great Jihad in Afghanistan. I came to know many of these mujahedin, or holy warriors, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 1986, Sheik Abdullah Azzam, the spiritual and political mentor of Osama bin Laden, told me, 'Once we have driven the Soviet imperialists from Afghanistan, we will go and liberate Saudi Arabia, and then Palestine, from western imperialism.'"
"After the Soviet defeat, the mujahedin scattered. They became known as "Afghani," and were held in high esteem for their valor and faith. But when some of these veterans decided to try to overthrow the dictatorial regimes of the Muslim world, the U.S. and its regional allies branded them as "terrorists." Most of these "Afghani" kept in touch, creating an informal network of like-minded militants. While there is no formal linkage between al-Qaida and militant Islamic groups in Asia and Africa, an old-boys' network of war veterans allows for secure and effective communication, as well as occasional co-operation. " See individual entry…

Predictable... As I felt would happen, two largely unrelated causes - the bomb in Bali and the War against Iraq, are being inextricably linked together by desperate political forces. Bush, in his usual spectacular leaps of reasoning without substance, has claimed Al-Qaida is being used by Saddam Hussein as his front-line army against the West. Now, it is not altogether inconcievable that it IS the case, but it is equally far from certain, especially considering the criticism thrown on Saddam Hussein (and many other Arab leaders) by many members of these Islamic groups. They have repeatedly condemned current Arab leaders for corruption and being far from Islamic ideals. Any other collection of tin-pot leaders could equally well be linked to Al-Qaida. Al Qaida has automatically been assigned blame for the Indonesian bomb, without any evidence. Again, they could be likely candidates, but there are many other groups equally prepared to use such tactics. Al-Qaida has become the bogeyman for small-brained people (and journalists) who need bite-sized parcels of their news to make it easy to digest. They also therefore find it difficult to distinguish between Al-Qaida and Iraq (small-brains dislike complexity), and thus popularity to bomb Iraq has shot up in the last couple of days. I normally dislike insulting people who don't share my point-of-view, but I am tired of giving pro-war supporters the benefit of the doubt. If they don't have the ability to try to deconstruct the situation somewhat, and recognise that at best, any link between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and BogeyMan#1 is complex, then I simply dispair. That doesn't even begin to deal with the moral argument about whether bombing Iraq is justified EVEN if Saddam is in some way related to this latest atrocity. I have yet to be convinced by any evidence showing how much better Afghanistan is now, and how safe the world is. I see that the reverse has happened, but I am willing to argue on that one. Sorry to be cynical, but this latest bomb attack has played right into the hands of the hawks, it has given Bush & Blair a new emotional kludgeon to use in battering down any dissent on this issue? See individual entry…

UN Resolutions Here is an "partial list of unfulfilled UN resoutions":http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2002/0210unres.html from countries other than Iraq. This list does not include many other resolutions, and test-resolutions that were blocked by a council member (normally the U.S.) Interesting to see that many of the worst offending countries (Isreal of course, but also e.g. Indonesia) are considered 'allies' of the U.S., and thus the Bush rhetoric of non-compliance by Iraq sounds even more hollow than it already is. See individual entry…

Need an Axis to Attack? !(right)http://nontroppo.org/blog/images/map.png! Is the thought of North Korea and Iran belonging to the same axis of evil getting you down? Then worry no more, because the "automatic axis generator":http://artport.whitney.org/commissions/codedoc/Levin/axis.html will give you new and dastardly foes to worry about. Just click on any three countries, and it will give you some common thread to dislike about them. Hold on, the original axis of evil HAD NO common thread, so this thing is even better... p(spacer).   See individual entry…

El Pueblo Unido... Yesterday I took part in one of the largest anti-war demonstrations in Britains history. Organiser estimates of up to 450,000 people turned up [1], an amazing number for a country that never has taken the right to assemble in large numbers to criticise the government very seriously. The atmosphere was simply magic. It was so rejuvenating to see the nearly half a million demonstrators from many different organisations so unified in working towards resisting this impending futile war. We sadly missed many speakers, but arrived when Scott Ritter (though I never heard him introduced) was attacking Blair for publishing that rather pathetic dossier of 'evidence' (reminded me of the other equally weak dossier against Osama Bin Laden). Scott said there was nothing new in it, and that it was merely 'propaganda'. He also attacked various groups in the demonstration who were criticising the United States, saying that the American people were 'noble', but that it was who they are ruled by that was to blame. I agree with this only to a certain extent, because one should assume at least some responsibility for the attitudes and deeds of your Goverment. If you just say 'the people are great', when it was those people who in some way enabled that Government to enter office, then who is to blame? Fine, you can say that the Government (e.g. Bush & Co.) did not actually win the elction, but enough Americans voted to get him close enough to the finish line so that he could cheat his way into first position. Just like many Britons, many Americans don't understand the feelings of the majority world, and blaming the Government and media for everything denies us any responsibility. Right or wrong, I know it is very complicated to assign culpability in these situations, but saying NO citizen in a democratic state is ever responsible for the deeds of it's Government seems as fallacious as extremists saying all tax-payers are equally responsible for the crimes of their Government. [1] Police estimated 150,000 - in this case the police were WAY off the mark... See individual entry…

Mirror Writing... Mirrors have always fascinated me. Both straight and curved mirrors - they present a world to us at once familiar, and yet also highly irregular. When I was young I would spend hours walking around my house with a mirror / inverting prism combination so that I was literally walking on the ceiling. We form an internal model of our familiar environments, and so these kinds of manipulations of our perceptual world have an immediate and striking effect on us. The latest use of a mirror is the "GOOGLE mirror.":http://www.alltooflat.com/geeky/elgoog/ A mirror in internet terms is a backup copy of a web site, and google allows an interface into it's main database to be mirrored. This allows access to google even if, for example, a governement blocked the main google site (which China does). This site however also reverses the text of the page, and you therefore need a real mirror to view the web site! It's very bizarre to surf via mirror - but I suppose if content blocking was enabled, the double-mirror could bypass it because all the text is reversed. What if random unicode characters that appeared similar were also used? I've been homeless (!) for the last week and a half, which is why I haven't updated... The joys of London... See individual entry…

Sustainable? "Here is a great use of a weblog":http://www.dailysummit.net/ - keep a tab on what is going on in Johannesburg, updated several times a day... See individual entry…

Outstanding hypocrites Amazingly, the Americans have "strongly condemned Russia":http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2214995.stm over its alleged air-raid attacks in the lawless regions of Georgia bordering Chechnya. They criticise the Russians, and claim they are "deeply concerned" by the loss of life of innocent civilians (1 killed and 5-7 injured). Yet they are still fighting their private war against the "ghosts in Afghanistan":http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-1969367,00.html in which estimates ranging from "350 to 4000 civilians":http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/comment/story/0,11447,770999,00.html were killed, and an unknown number more who would have died through disrupted Aid supply during the military operation. "Further reports of torture being used":http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0824-01.htm against 'suspected' terrorists (i.e. some of the 1200 racially targetted Arabs held incommunicado for many months) underline the staggering hypocrisy of the 'regret' of the loss of Civilian lives/fundamental human rights. "The emerging reports of horrific human-rights abuses":http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,776841,00.html of executing captured soldiers by the American led allies in the Afghan war adds a really strong kick to such DOUBLESPEAK... See individual entry…