Quoting the Israeli journalist Amira Hass, a leading specialist on Gaza: "The total separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank is one of the greatest achievements of Israeli politics, whose overarching objective is to prevent a solution based on international decisions and understandings and instead dictate an arrangement based on Israel's military superiority."
One aspect of the destruction of Gaza that is never reported is the naval blockade which has been driving back Palestinian fishermen since 2000. Not unrelated is the discovery of a rich source of natural gas in the same waters, which Israel is buying from British Gas and zero going to the supposedly Palestinian-controlled Gaza strip. The lack of media attention to this probably makes it of primary importance as, once again, we see politics as a method of obfuscating a real war over natural resources.
As always, Chomsky is good at highlighting the political newspeak and repeatedly points out that behind every initiative is a list of conditions that make them all largely worthless. Israel, backed by the United States, will do whatever it takes to avoid a Palestinian state. Chomsky picks through Obama's Cairo speech and finds numerous restatements of past US positions. All UN resolutions against Israel will be ignored as America pretends it is being an 'honest broker' whilst funding one side.
On nuclear weapons Obama again called for nations to adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty whilst failing to mention that Israel is not a signatory to the NPT. In contrast, Iran should be allowed "access" to nuclear technology, meaning access from the outside rather than running its own research and development. The "threat" Iran poses is not of a suicidal first strike against Israel but as a deterrent against further Israeli expansion. The double standards go on and, I suspect, the decades-long deadlock now serves as the pretext for the illusional war on terror, which in itself is really yet another war to control natural resources.
You can read the full Chomsky article here.
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Children Taught to Spy on Their Neighbours
Councils in Britain are training an army of children to spy on their neighbours. As the UK shuffles into its Orwellian dystopia these 'citizen snoopers' are being taught how to take photos, note down car number plates and all relevant information that can be used in a prosecution - and on how to do it in secret. The Neighbourhood Watch schemes have been around for decades and were designed to stop criminals, especially thieves. But when families can be fined £100 for having their bin slightly too full this is no longer about crime but rather a fundamental shift in the powers of local councils. People already pay for things like waste collection and policing in their taxes but councils now see their populations as a source of revenue rather than as recipients of public services.
The councils indoctrinate these children into believing they are 'environment volunteers'- note that the kiddie-police are not paid a penny. How long will it be before they are victimized at school? Have the councils considered this backlash? The destruction of communities and civic behaviour is a tried and trusted method of totalitarian communism and a hallmark of Airstrip One.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Community spirit is one thing, spying on your neighbours is quite another.
The councils indoctrinate these children into believing they are 'environment volunteers'- note that the kiddie-police are not paid a penny. How long will it be before they are victimized at school? Have the councils considered this backlash? The destruction of communities and civic behaviour is a tried and trusted method of totalitarian communism and a hallmark of Airstrip One.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Community spirit is one thing, spying on your neighbours is quite another.
WHO Insists "Concern over flu pandemic justified"
The Director-General of the World unHealth Organization gave a speech to the World Health Assembly in Geneva today. The lengthy speech was designed to show the world that the WHO is trying to level the delivery of healthcare in spite of a wide gulf in the resources of countries.
If there is a disease that would warrant the term 'pandemic' then that is surely HIV/AIDS, and yet that is mentioned as a mere epidemic. There is enough evidence to show that HIV was also manufactured, but the DG was obviously silent on this.
One section caught my eye, however:
"For five long years, outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, and sporadic frequently fatal cases in humans, have conditioned the world to expect an influenza pandemic, and a highly lethal one. As a result of these long years of conditioning, the world is better prepared, and very scared."
Pavlov is still alive and in the service of medicine. Perhaps Dr Margaret Chan is unaware of how "very scared" people on the net are and that the "conditioning" is not really working very well.
The southern hemisphere is entering its flu vaccine season, but we shall probably have to wait for the north to cool down before the swine flu vaccine gets smuggled into the annual jab.
If there is a disease that would warrant the term 'pandemic' then that is surely HIV/AIDS, and yet that is mentioned as a mere epidemic. There is enough evidence to show that HIV was also manufactured, but the DG was obviously silent on this.
One section caught my eye, however:
"For five long years, outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, and sporadic frequently fatal cases in humans, have conditioned the world to expect an influenza pandemic, and a highly lethal one. As a result of these long years of conditioning, the world is better prepared, and very scared."
Pavlov is still alive and in the service of medicine. Perhaps Dr Margaret Chan is unaware of how "very scared" people on the net are and that the "conditioning" is not really working very well.
The southern hemisphere is entering its flu vaccine season, but we shall probably have to wait for the north to cool down before the swine flu vaccine gets smuggled into the annual jab.
Draft National Institutes of Health Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research - First Comments
The National Institutes of Health has just released its draft guidelines on future stem cell research in the USA. It is also seeking public debate on these guidelines with a view to establishing firm guidelines for funding bodies giving grants to stem cell researchers.
Here is what seems to be the crucial conclusions of the current stem cell research draft guidelines:
"These draft Guidelines would allow funding for research using only those human embryonic stem cells that were derived from embryos created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) for reproductive purposes and were no longer needed for that purpose. Funding will continue to be allowed for human stem cell research using adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. Specifically, these Guidelines describe the conditions and informed consent procedures that would have been required during the derivation of human embryonic stem cells for research using these cells to be funded by the NIH. NIH funding for research using human embryonic stem cells derived from other sources, including somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis, and/or IVF embryos created for research purposes, is not allowed under these Guidelines."
On first reading, the NIH has tried to placate both the research community and the largely Christian right-wing anti embryonic stem cell research lobby. After all, the arguments are largely about embryonic stem cells but here we find that essentially the same embryonic stem cells from two different IVF sources are treated in two different ways. There seems no logic as to why spare embryos from an IVF clinic should be treated differently to an IVF embryo created specifically for research purposes. It also opens up a way around the proposed legislation by encouraging IVF so as to harvest the resulting embryos rather than primarily for fertility reasons. Shoddy piece of logic and, from what I've seen so far, both sides are up in arms.
Here is what seems to be the crucial conclusions of the current stem cell research draft guidelines:
"These draft Guidelines would allow funding for research using only those human embryonic stem cells that were derived from embryos created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) for reproductive purposes and were no longer needed for that purpose. Funding will continue to be allowed for human stem cell research using adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. Specifically, these Guidelines describe the conditions and informed consent procedures that would have been required during the derivation of human embryonic stem cells for research using these cells to be funded by the NIH. NIH funding for research using human embryonic stem cells derived from other sources, including somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis, and/or IVF embryos created for research purposes, is not allowed under these Guidelines."
On first reading, the NIH has tried to placate both the research community and the largely Christian right-wing anti embryonic stem cell research lobby. After all, the arguments are largely about embryonic stem cells but here we find that essentially the same embryonic stem cells from two different IVF sources are treated in two different ways. There seems no logic as to why spare embryos from an IVF clinic should be treated differently to an IVF embryo created specifically for research purposes. It also opens up a way around the proposed legislation by encouraging IVF so as to harvest the resulting embryos rather than primarily for fertility reasons. Shoddy piece of logic and, from what I've seen so far, both sides are up in arms.
Every Intelligent Man Dreams of Being a Gangster
The quote is from the French existentialist author Albert Camus:"The truth is that every intelligent man, as you know, dreams of being a gangster and of ruling over society by force alone."
Perhaps too many people cling on to their morals as an antidote to the news. As swine flu has infected our consciousness it has also sidelined the continuing financial crisis. But both are manifestations of the same covert quest for power and control.
Paul Farrell predicts the new film Public Enemies will be a big hit because it will tap into what many people would love to do to all those who have been ripping us off for years - be they bankers, politicians or pharmaceuticals.
Unfortunately, the truth is that it is us who are staring down the wrong end of the barrel. "Yes, this time the banks are the gangsters. They're robbing Main Street's Treasury. And it's an inside job. Hank Paulson, the "Goldman Conspiracy's" Trojan Horse, plays a "Dillinger," leading a much bigger conspiracy, the "Happy Conspiracy," that robbed America's 300 million citizens and taxpayers. They made off with trillions, while our "guards," a clueless Congress, laid down their guns and surrendered the keys to the vault."
Except that in our oh-so-civilized world we see no guns, no masks, no hold-ups - just the silent theft of our ration of freedoms. Whether it is the WHO or the SEC, the first lesson is that none of these organizations exist for your benefit; they are funded, often covertly, by people for whom your well-being is measured in how much profit you can make for them. The consequence is that your future depends on disempowering these public enemies of their trade.
Forget computer games, forget virtual reality, here is a game we can all play. The targets are shadows, behind which lurk real people with flesh and bile. But the shadows are worth chasing for without them the shadow-masters would have to step into the light of day. Remember how effective was the boycott against South African goods all those years ago? Yes, it was politically approved by the media, which made it easier, but it still shows the power of the masses when focussed.
We can all train our sights on these shadows that darken our lives. We all need to protect those dear to us. Camus was not so wide of the mark.
Perhaps too many people cling on to their morals as an antidote to the news. As swine flu has infected our consciousness it has also sidelined the continuing financial crisis. But both are manifestations of the same covert quest for power and control.
Paul Farrell predicts the new film Public Enemies will be a big hit because it will tap into what many people would love to do to all those who have been ripping us off for years - be they bankers, politicians or pharmaceuticals.
Unfortunately, the truth is that it is us who are staring down the wrong end of the barrel. "Yes, this time the banks are the gangsters. They're robbing Main Street's Treasury. And it's an inside job. Hank Paulson, the "Goldman Conspiracy's" Trojan Horse, plays a "Dillinger," leading a much bigger conspiracy, the "Happy Conspiracy," that robbed America's 300 million citizens and taxpayers. They made off with trillions, while our "guards," a clueless Congress, laid down their guns and surrendered the keys to the vault."
Except that in our oh-so-civilized world we see no guns, no masks, no hold-ups - just the silent theft of our ration of freedoms. Whether it is the WHO or the SEC, the first lesson is that none of these organizations exist for your benefit; they are funded, often covertly, by people for whom your well-being is measured in how much profit you can make for them. The consequence is that your future depends on disempowering these public enemies of their trade.
Forget computer games, forget virtual reality, here is a game we can all play. The targets are shadows, behind which lurk real people with flesh and bile. But the shadows are worth chasing for without them the shadow-masters would have to step into the light of day. Remember how effective was the boycott against South African goods all those years ago? Yes, it was politically approved by the media, which made it easier, but it still shows the power of the masses when focussed.
We can all train our sights on these shadows that darken our lives. We all need to protect those dear to us. Camus was not so wide of the mark.
Swine Flu Meme Spreading at the Speed of Panic
Swine flu is this week's big hype. The information meme is spreading faster than the biological virus. This has all the symptoms of another engineered social experiment. As the viral meme is faster than the virus, one would hope that an informed public would act rationally and head off the virus at the next pass - wrong!
Here are a few facts.
Every year in the USA alone some 25-35,000 people die from flu - that's about 80 people every day. The corporate media are silent on this. Sure, these are largely old people and young children, the most vulnerable people to flu. I haven't yet found any data on how many of these deaths are actually due to flu vaccines, but that's another story.
So before swine flu is tagged as a "pandemic" it has to do a bit more outreach work. The media love "pandemics", with their end of the world connotations compared to the rather boring but more accurate "epidemics".
Swine flu symptoms are pretty much the same as any other human flu. Given the levels of panic, if you know of anybody with the sniffles then they should go to a doctor immediately rather than hanging around waiting for it to run its course. Remember, doctors always tell us that antibiotics do not work against the flu as it is caused by a virus rather than a bacterium.
Actually there are two products that are alleged by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to work on this swine flu: oseltamivir and zanamivir. However, a look at research for oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is less than conclusive. A Vietnamese study conducted on avian flu victims concluded that the drug was "useless". The psychological and neuropsychatric problems from taking oseltamivir have been well-documented in Japan, the country that has swallowed the majority of the world's production of this drug. Self-harm and suicides have been documented, especially among younger patients. Roche's typically stone-walling response is that influenza itself may cause psychological problems. Yeah, sure, many people commit suicide after a few sneezes - the loss of balance during a sneeze can cause disorientation and an inability to see on-coming traffic!
Also, just take a step back... go on... slowly back away from the hype, the media, the government. Try it, it's good for the soul.
“It makes me think back to 1976, the first year I served in the Congress,” Ron Paul has said in a video update. “We had a vote on the swine flu. Back then there was panic, they said it was going to sweep the nation and they rapidly came up with some flu shots and the government was going to inoculate everybody and save the world from this disaster.”
“It turned out that our instincts were correct.” the Congressman, also a medical physician, commented. “… the flu came, the flu went and one person died, except for those individuals that died from getting the flu vaccine.” At the time, Ron Paul was one of only two Congressmen to vote down the vaccination program - just two! And note, most people died from the vaccine!
Read Swine Flu Expose by Eleanora I. McBean, PhD, ND.
"A radio newscast (Jan. 77) reported that one of the paralyzed swine flu victims has filed a $5,000,000 suit against the vaccine promoters for causing his paralysis in December of 1976. His suit is against the instigators of the flu epidemic scare, who are Dr. David Sencer of CDC (Center for Disease Control) who spearheaded the vaccine campaign, and Dr. Theodore Cooper of WHO (World Health Organization), the Health Departments which promoted the shots and the six drug houses making the swine flu vaccine. (Why not Ford also and his Congress who financed it?) His complaint was that they had put out propaganda promising that the vaccine had been thoroughly tested and was perfectly safe, and that the swine flu was contagious and people could die if they didn’t get vaccinated, and that they would be protected if they had the shots, and that the side effects, if any were "inconsequential."" Ring any bells?!
So what is an individual to do?
DON'T PANIC!
The numbers are really small - you can keep track of this "pandemic" at wikipedia. If you have flu symptoms then go the doctor sooner rather than later. There are enough medicines (on the assumption they work) to treat those with flu symptoms - there are not enough for a mass preventative prescription, although given the side-effects would you really want to? There are no vaccines yet for this particular strain.
If you think that face masks are going to be the new must-have fashion accessory than make sure they are certified N99 and not the cheaper off the shelf ones numbered N95. Is there a crime such as "coughing with intent to infect"?
If you're lucky the schools will close, the transport system will be empty and you can take a short holiday.
Stay alert but not alarmed.
Be Careful What You Blog - FBI Arrest Twitt
A man from Oklahoma has been arrested for wild threats made against the authorities on Twitter.
Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, was arrested by FBI agents who identified him as the Twitter user CitizenQuasar. In a series of tweets beginning April 11, CitizenQuasar vowed to start a “war” against the government on the steps of the Oklahoma City Capitol building, the site of that city’s version of the national “Tea Party” protests promoted by the conservative-leaning Fox News.
His challenge to the authorities was: “Send the cops around. I will cut their heads off the[ir] heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps.” Hayden’s MySpace page is filled with conspiracy and surveillance links - not in itself a crime given that so many governments are on the path of control by stealth.
Hayden was arrested at his home on the 15th April. He was arraigned on the 16th, and ordered released to a halfway house pending trial — a move that suggests the magistrate judge does not consider him a genuine threat. At least a judge showed some sanity as Hayden's rants have all the signs of mental instability.
But what is important here is that the authorities really do track the stream of words that are the internet. For anybody who thinks this is pure paranoia this is incontrovertible proof. When I wrote on flash mob techniques used by demonstrators - again using Twitter - I voiced my scepticism that this would be but a minor irritation to security forces as they too would be tracking the public messages. Keeping secrets secret needs to be a bit more ingenious.
The FBI have successfully added another non-entity to their War on Ghosts. But make sure you keep idle threats to yourself rather than blabbing them on the net - unless a visit from the feds will brighten up an otherwise dull day.
Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, was arrested by FBI agents who identified him as the Twitter user CitizenQuasar. In a series of tweets beginning April 11, CitizenQuasar vowed to start a “war” against the government on the steps of the Oklahoma City Capitol building, the site of that city’s version of the national “Tea Party” protests promoted by the conservative-leaning Fox News.
His challenge to the authorities was: “Send the cops around. I will cut their heads off the[ir] heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps.” Hayden’s MySpace page is filled with conspiracy and surveillance links - not in itself a crime given that so many governments are on the path of control by stealth.
Hayden was arrested at his home on the 15th April. He was arraigned on the 16th, and ordered released to a halfway house pending trial — a move that suggests the magistrate judge does not consider him a genuine threat. At least a judge showed some sanity as Hayden's rants have all the signs of mental instability.
But what is important here is that the authorities really do track the stream of words that are the internet. For anybody who thinks this is pure paranoia this is incontrovertible proof. When I wrote on flash mob techniques used by demonstrators - again using Twitter - I voiced my scepticism that this would be but a minor irritation to security forces as they too would be tracking the public messages. Keeping secrets secret needs to be a bit more ingenious.
The FBI have successfully added another non-entity to their War on Ghosts. But make sure you keep idle threats to yourself rather than blabbing them on the net - unless a visit from the feds will brighten up an otherwise dull day.
Where Are My Western Friends?
Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, is a man under seige. With Russia nibbling away at its border and seemingly also funding the current wave of domestic protests, Saakashvili is also ruing his faith in America.
At the time of the fighting in South Ossetia I did wonder whether the Georgians were pushed into the conflict. A few things just didn't ring true. Blackwater was conducting exercises there at the time, supposedly helping Georgian forces. Always good to find news reports close to the event, before there is time for the editorial hand to spin a convincing narrative. Russian reports had found Blackwater troops had been killed in the fighting. Also, if you or I had planned such a manoeuvre we would have looked at all the possible Russian responses and our counter-measures. But footage at the time showed a president running for his life - scared and clueless. Maybe, just maybe, he really didn't know what was going on.
Speculations, sure, but look at the situation now. Georgia's attempts to join both the European Union and NATO are in the slow lane. Saakashvili can rightly feel let down by his Western friends. Some accommodating agreement between Russia and the USA has obviously taken place and Georgia must be feeling like a rather minor player in a much bigger game. However, the Newsweek interview given by Saakashvili has a few revealing nuggets, especially about who his Western friends truly are.
"Of course, my best friend was always John McCain. You can say he is Georgian already. We expect McCain to come and visit us in a week or so. I have good relationships with Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden and especially Richard Holbrooke—he is my teacher. I learned a lot of great things from him."
Richard Holbrooke! The same Richard Holbrooke who is currently United States Special Envoy for Oil - sorry, for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The same Richard Holbrooke who was on the Board of Directors of AIG for seven years until July 2008. The Georgian President should reflect on his choice of friends.
There is also a wise saying from Machiavelli: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer still. He seems to have done neither.
At the time of the fighting in South Ossetia I did wonder whether the Georgians were pushed into the conflict. A few things just didn't ring true. Blackwater was conducting exercises there at the time, supposedly helping Georgian forces. Always good to find news reports close to the event, before there is time for the editorial hand to spin a convincing narrative. Russian reports had found Blackwater troops had been killed in the fighting. Also, if you or I had planned such a manoeuvre we would have looked at all the possible Russian responses and our counter-measures. But footage at the time showed a president running for his life - scared and clueless. Maybe, just maybe, he really didn't know what was going on.
Speculations, sure, but look at the situation now. Georgia's attempts to join both the European Union and NATO are in the slow lane. Saakashvili can rightly feel let down by his Western friends. Some accommodating agreement between Russia and the USA has obviously taken place and Georgia must be feeling like a rather minor player in a much bigger game. However, the Newsweek interview given by Saakashvili has a few revealing nuggets, especially about who his Western friends truly are.
"Of course, my best friend was always John McCain. You can say he is Georgian already. We expect McCain to come and visit us in a week or so. I have good relationships with Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden and especially Richard Holbrooke—he is my teacher. I learned a lot of great things from him."
Richard Holbrooke! The same Richard Holbrooke who is currently United States Special Envoy for Oil - sorry, for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The same Richard Holbrooke who was on the Board of Directors of AIG for seven years until July 2008. The Georgian President should reflect on his choice of friends.
There is also a wise saying from Machiavelli: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer still. He seems to have done neither.
Super-Thermite Explosive Found in 9/11 WTC Dust Demolishing the Official Report
The mother of all smoking guns has been unearthed by scientists investigating the dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center collapse.
Published in the Open Chemical Physics Journal, no doubt a scientific journal unused to being headline news, Steven E. Jones and Niels Harrit make a stark and sombre discovery: that within the dust and rubble of the World Trade Center towers lies evidence of "a highly engineered explosive," contrary to all federal studies of the collapses. (Raw Story)
They claim their analysis has uncovered "active thermitic material": a combination of elemental aluminum and iron oxide in form of thermite known as "nanostructured super-thermite."
Thermite, used in steel welding, fireworks shows, hand grenades and demolition, can produce a chemical reaction known for extremely high temperatures focused in a very small area for a short period of time.
The sheer cost of super-thermite has limited its use to the defence industry and "is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services."
This is going to have every investigator into the 9/11 scam jumping for joy. And great to see that not all scientists have been bought off by the authorities.
Published in the Open Chemical Physics Journal, no doubt a scientific journal unused to being headline news, Steven E. Jones and Niels Harrit make a stark and sombre discovery: that within the dust and rubble of the World Trade Center towers lies evidence of "a highly engineered explosive," contrary to all federal studies of the collapses. (Raw Story)
They claim their analysis has uncovered "active thermitic material": a combination of elemental aluminum and iron oxide in form of thermite known as "nanostructured super-thermite."
Thermite, used in steel welding, fireworks shows, hand grenades and demolition, can produce a chemical reaction known for extremely high temperatures focused in a very small area for a short period of time.
The sheer cost of super-thermite has limited its use to the defence industry and "is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services."
This is going to have every investigator into the 9/11 scam jumping for joy. And great to see that not all scientists have been bought off by the authorities.
Flashmob Rules
In the wake of the G20 and NATO meetings there has been much froth in the online press about how social media tools are helping demo organizers to mobilize forces quickly. The term "flashmobbing" arose from the use of text messaging to quickly bring together a group of people to some event, such as a secret party. The term is now being used by demonstrators using sites such as Twitter and Facebook to announce rendezvous points just minutes before the expected swarm.
Twitter in particular, as a kind of online text messaging service, has grabbed much of the attention. However, once hooked, the demand for instant updates means that the twitters feel the need to transmit the most minuscule details of the experience, such as the desire for a nice hot cup of tea! Yes, there is serious stuff too, but just take a look at... picked at random, Comandante Flops and Climate Camp. I think it's great that organizers have that level of contact with people who come out and support them but the police are only one step behind. A group of police tweeters is going to be following every message and every move that hits the net. Public support requires public information. Hence, a secret demonstration isn't going to erupt unless the police are asleep on the job.
But just as the police record every incident with myriad cameras, including helicopter footage, so as to analyse mob dynamics, so the demonstrators should analyse police response dynamics. But then again, that's no doubt why it is now an offence to photograph a police officer in the UK. It can still be done covertly. Let the cat-and-mouse games commence in earnest.
Twitter in particular, as a kind of online text messaging service, has grabbed much of the attention. However, once hooked, the demand for instant updates means that the twitters feel the need to transmit the most minuscule details of the experience, such as the desire for a nice hot cup of tea! Yes, there is serious stuff too, but just take a look at... picked at random, Comandante Flops and Climate Camp. I think it's great that organizers have that level of contact with people who come out and support them but the police are only one step behind. A group of police tweeters is going to be following every message and every move that hits the net. Public support requires public information. Hence, a secret demonstration isn't going to erupt unless the police are asleep on the job.
But just as the police record every incident with myriad cameras, including helicopter footage, so as to analyse mob dynamics, so the demonstrators should analyse police response dynamics. But then again, that's no doubt why it is now an offence to photograph a police officer in the UK. It can still be done covertly. Let the cat-and-mouse games commence in earnest.
The Queen Gives Orwell's 1984 to President of Mexico
During the G20 summit, the Queen met with all the heads of state, but surely the most bizarre gift was the one she gave to Mexican President Felipe Calderon: a first edition of George Orwell's novel 1984.
Calderon is apparently a great fan of Orwell and must have been elated at getting a leather bound copy of the 1949 classic. However, must surely be disturbing to the Mexican people to have a President who so openly admires such a totalitarian dystopia. Also fitting that the Queen of Airstrip One should oblige. The zero tolerance policing during the G20 meeting was also a reminder of how far the UK has come in emulating 1984 - except that Orwell wrote it as a warning!
Calderon is apparently a great fan of Orwell and must have been elated at getting a leather bound copy of the 1949 classic. However, must surely be disturbing to the Mexican people to have a President who so openly admires such a totalitarian dystopia. Also fitting that the Queen of Airstrip One should oblige. The zero tolerance policing during the G20 meeting was also a reminder of how far the UK has come in emulating 1984 - except that Orwell wrote it as a warning!
President Obama gives Queen of England an iPod
President Barack Obama and wife Michelle yesterday met Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh for the first time. The traditional exchange of gifts between the two heads of state had a modern twist as Obama gave the Queen an iPod. Was this an April Fool's joke? The Queen was said to be "delighted" with her personalized iPod that included footage from her 2007 visit to the USA, as well as numerous Broadway songs.
Obama seems keen to reflect the incoming mood of economic depression, what with digging up the White House lawn for a vegetable garden and the parsimonious gifts. But then again, the Queen did better than British Premier Gordon Brown who was culturally assaulted with a bunch of Hollywooden DVDs.
Obama seems keen to reflect the incoming mood of economic depression, what with digging up the White House lawn for a vegetable garden and the parsimonious gifts. But then again, the Queen did better than British Premier Gordon Brown who was culturally assaulted with a bunch of Hollywooden DVDs.
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