SHOULD THE UNITED NATIONS MOVE OUT OF NEW YORK?

The majority of commenters underneath an article on the BBC website are of the opinion that denying a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, Teheran's pick for UN ambassador, is an egregious offense, just not done, and it's high time that the UN move somewhere else.
I agree wholeheartedly with that last part.
All of you, please leave.

I suggest THREE possible venues: Geneva, Brussels, and Mecca.

Geneva was one of the original locations proposed, and had that been acted on over sixty years ago, we would not have had that bunch of third-world gangsters shoplifting, attempting rape, driving drunk, and scoffing at our laws, which at present we are blessed with. Additionally, we wouldn't have to host a whole herd of self-important European pencil-pushing pimps sneering at everything American on our soil while eating our food.

Brussels would also be perfect. Given that the French, Germans, Irish, Walloons, and Brits have utterly ruined what was once the cultured capital of Brabant, and none of those snob-educated poncy Eurocrats will even try to learn the local language -- which is Flemish, NOT French, that's strictly for poofters -- Brussels has devolved into a hellish crap-hole, and it would therefore be entirely fitting that woggah woggah shouting savages from Dirtwadistan be posted there to hobnob with the trash.

Mecca has the advantage that the paymasters of every depraved regime in Africa and Asia would be just across the street.


While we're at it, let's expel diplomats from a very large number of African, Asian, and Latin American countries, and tell the Europeans that they're on short notice.
Too many poxy blisters from the rest of the world enjoy trashing the United States while benefiting substantially from our economy and largesse; up theirs and the camels or knackered lipizzaners they rode in on.


The United Nations is an expensive and completely useless exercise in giving face to failures, while diplomacy, in the modern world, simply means that some syphilitic party-hack from a foreign country gets to snootily act superior.
Far better that our relations with most of the world are conducted on a cash or aircraft carrier basis.



ADDENDUM

Per Wikipedia, the top 10 contributors to the UN budget in 2013 were as follows:

United States: 22.00%
Japan: 10.83%
Germany: 7.14%
France: 5.59%
United Kingdom: 5.18%
China: 5.15%
Italy: 4.45%
Canada: 2.98%
Spain: 2.97%
Brazil: 2.93%

As expected, some of the noisiest tin-pot rinky-tink dungheaps contribute hardly anything. Which becomes even more significant when their special needs are taken into account: peace keeping. There are countries that just don't get along with anybody in this world, and barbarian tribes that really wish to slaughter their neighbors. The United Nations, while a miserable failure at actually preventing bloodshed, does have feet on the ground in a number of locations.

Significant cite: In 2013, the top 10 providers of assessed financial contributions to United Nations peacekeeping operations were the United States (28.38%), Japan (10.83%), France (7.22%), Germany (7.14%), the United Kingdom (6.68%), China (6.64%), Italy (4.45%), the Russian Federation (3.15%), Canada (2.98%), and Spain (2.97%).


We're not getting our money's worth.


Note: This is a rant. As such, it is not meant to prompt serious discussion, or a careful moot and rebut of points. Especially not by people who are literalists. Or logical positivists. Thank you.




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HAUNTING IMAGES AND APATHESIS

A few weeks ago I saw the cutest little girl. Often little girls are far more appealing than little boys, and awaken the protective response. Their male counterparts don't do that; there is much less evident vulnerability, and not nearly so much of an empathy-arousing characteristic. A key word here is "medelevings-vermogen".

Sometimes you don't want to shield masculine children so much as introduce them to mr. Ravenous Predator. Especially rowdy ones.
"Here, Johnny, this lion REALLY likes you!"
Little girls, on the other hand.....
Beschützerinstinkt.


ADORABLE LITTLE MOPPET

[Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26183878. Copyright: BBC. See also this article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26171674. ]

Quote:

"Little Baraa struggled to find words and courage to speak but one detail was firmly lodged in her mind: "People killed cats to eat."

Baraa means innocent in Arabic, but it no longer captures the life of this little girl.

The mother who gave Baraa her name died instantly when a mortar slammed into their kitchen. The children found her body slumped over the cooker, decapitated.

Then their pet cat was killed by a sniper and snatched from the road by a passer-by desperate to find food."

End quote.

[Emerging from the siege of Homs, BBC.]


Yes, in one sense we can blame the bestial Bashar Assad for this. But both Obama and Putin deserve a fair share of the blame also. So do the United Nations, as likewise do the Persians and the Arab states.
The Turks do too; they used to like Bashar Assad.
He was their favourite dictator.

There is plenty of onmedelevingsvermogen / indifference to go around.


Little girls need mommies.


I do not know whether the child in the photo is little Baraa. But she is desperately unhappy. And that picture keeps floating into my head.



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VERENE SHEPHERD, BLACK PETE, SAINT NICHOLAS, AND MAD CHEESE

Apparently, my fellow Dutch-speakers have intimidated independent experts at the United Nations. This according to a blogpost by the United Nations themselves.

See this: http://blogs.un.org/#sthash.Pz58oVcv.2gMdQhox.dpbs.

Quote:
"While there may be vigorous debate on issues raised by independent experts, these individuals should not be subject to hate speech or attacks on their personal integrity or any form of harassment or intimidation in their defence of human rights, as has happened in this case. - See more at: http://blogs.un.org/#sthash.Pz58oVcv.2gMdQhox.dpuf".
End quote.

Hate speech is not cricket. That's a no-no.

Dingbats, no matter how dingy they bat, should NOT be threatened. Verbally chastised, yes, alerted to their mistakes, fallacies, false praesumptions, unfair praeconceptions, evident bigotries, and the startlingly ridiculousness of their assertions, most definitely.

So-called experts and their alleged expertise should always be questioned. Most particularly as regards the United Nations, which has a long history of unfairness, hatred, and divisive ideologies.
But not threatened. That's just not done.

Bad Dutchman, whoever you are! No salty licorice for you!


Questioning the integrity of anyone associated with that bunch of hectoring loonies and loathsome third-world tin-pot tyrannies and failed states that dominate the United Nations is, however, in the eyes of this blogger, perfectly justified. The letter and subsequent statements originating from Jamaican firebrand professor Verene Shepherd clearly show that she has a bias priori about the issue of Black Pete, and considers the Dutch a rather odious bunch, whose traditions should be suppressed if necessary.


"The working group cannot understand why it is that people in The Netherlands cannot see that this is a throwback to slavery, and that in the twenty first century this practice should stop! My personal view is that in the twenty first century this should not be happening!"

-----Verene Shepherd
[Source: Telegraaf TV, citing from a broadcast by Een Vandaag.]



Given that she came to that unpleasant conclusion BEFORE visiting the Netherlands to examine that tradition, nay, formed her judgment based on her own agenda and that of dubious activists in the Netherlands, examining her personal integrity seems completely appropriate.

Especially as since the storm broke she has refused to speak with Dutch reporters and government representatives, and has been hiding out in some lair avoiding all contact with people who would seek to discuss the matter.

They've tried to communicate with her, but she has disappeared.
Evidently she does not wish to talk about it.
At least, not with them.

Possibly because they're Dutch.


"Recently, four of these experts sent a letter to the Dutch Government relaying information they had received predominantly by people in the Netherlands. According to the information, the character and image of Black Pete perpetuate a stereotyped image of African people and people of African descent as second-class citizens, stirring racial differences as well as racism. The experts also asked whether, as had been reported to them, the Dutch authorities had selected the annual Saint Nicolas Event to be submitted for inclusion in the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. - See more at: http://blogs.un.org/#sthash.Pz58oVcv.2gMdQhox.dpuf"

[Source: http://blogs.un.org/#sthash.SDjTEhqT.dpbs, as of Friday October 25, 2013.]


The United Nations often serves as both the forum and the display window for vitriolic spew anent certain countries, groups, and freedoms which the vast majority of this world's nations despise, as it is the one theatre in which all the failed states and repressive tyrannies that litter Africa, Asia, and Latin America can pretend that they are equal.
They are not; they're voices shouldn't be heard.
Not until they clean up their act.


WORKING GROUP OF EXPERTS ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT

Ms. Verene Shepherd has spent too much time surrounded by the comforting support of the intellectual pretendeurs and corrupt diplocrats who make up the majority of the United Nations departments.

Her mind is already made up.
And quite closed.

If she will not speak to the people whom she accuses, and will not accept that an alternative point of view may have some validity, then there is little reason to take her -- and her henchpersons Farida Shaheed ("Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights"), Izsàk Rita ("Independent Expert on minority issues"), and Mutuma Ruteere ("Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance") seriously.
They may be lovely and intelligent individuals. And certainly they are entitled to their opinions. But if they will neither argue their points, nor actually listen to people who have a different take, nay, if they are unwilling to face those whom they accuse, and investigate the matter from anything other than an intellectual distance, they are fakers, and their organization likewise.

But then, it IS the United Nations. There is a venomous miasma of falsehood and dishonesty about that institution which accompanies everything they say, and every cause they champion.


If there is any place on earth where there are devils, it is the United Nations, and a permanent stench of sulfur adheres to it.



Ze zijn daar in New York ronduit belachelijk.



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UNITED NATIONS IRRELEVANCE, NAY, PANDERING TO THIRD WORLD BIAS: OBJECTING TO SAINT NICK

In the latest storm in a teacup, a functionary of the United Nations has decided that the Dutch had better permanently cancel an annual celebration, because she does not like it.

Professor Verene Shepherd, member of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, recommended that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte forbid forever the celebration of Saint Nicholas Day on December sixth, because it is, in her expert opinion, a return to slavery.

As a black woman, and a Jamaican, she is offended.


One can understand why. She is incredibly sensitive and in a permanent state of dudgeon. Naturally she would be upset.

Prof. Shepherd is editor/compiler of Women in Caribbean History, co-editor of Engendering History: Caribbean Women in Historical Perspective (with Barbara Bailey and Bridget Brereton) and editor of Engendering Caribbean History: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (forthcoming, 2010). Among her other publications are Livestock, Sugar & Slavery: Contested Terrain in Colonial Jamaica (2009), I Want to Disturb My Neighbour: Lectures on Slavery, Emancipation and Post-Colonial Jamaica (2007) and Maharani’s Misery: Narratives of a Passage from India to the Caribbean (2002).[*]

A previous foray by the respected professor saw her demanding that England, France, and the Netherlands pay reparations for slavery to several Caribbean nations. Which is an idea that only makes sense if they take those funds out of the budgets set aside for aid to developing countries, make a one-time payment, subsequently reduce diplomatic relations with such failed states to an interest section at best, and never send another cent that way again.

There is no logical, moral, or ethical reason why the tax-payers in those countries should be shafted because Caribbean nations have, in the generations since their independence, utterly failed to do anything worthwhile. Putting a financial burden on people who themselves are in the main descended from desperately poor disenfranchised victims of imperialism -- as the populations of Europe are, and as any student of history should know -- would be a grossly unfair and racist act. Arguing that because poor starving illiterate peasants and brutally exploited urban proletarians lived in countries which were involved in the colonial enterprise, their great-great-great grandchildren should now be robbed, for the benefit of corrupt politicians who may or may not be great-great-great grandchildren of people who were equally starving, illiterate, and exploited.........

Well now.

Let me tell you what you can do with your Blue Mountain Coffee.
As well as ganja, murder capital of the Caribbean [*], and ska.



But let us return to the folkloric event which got her professorial and United Nations knickers bunched in a wedgie.

Saint Nicholas Day.


HET SINTERKLAAS FEEST

During the night of December fifth, Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) rides over the rooftops on his white steed, with his servants, and descends down the chimneys to leave presents and candy for little children. Which they happily discover the next morning.

But NOT the kids who have been irredeemably naughty. Those were stuffed in a burlap sack, to be taken away to Spain, where they will be tortured by the Spanish and put to work as slaves on the galleys.

Half a month before this wondrous abduction of the little monsters, the good holy man arrived on a steam boat in Amsterdam harbour, where he and the joyous entourage were welcomed by the city fathers.

In the period leading up to his feast-day on December sixth, he and his servants made appearances at numerous parties and charity events, where children obediently sang cheerful songs, and quivered apprehensively because he would sit in judgment over them.
Good little boys and girls got candy. Sometimes lots of candy.
Bad little boys and girls got a wild thrashing with a broom or bundle of birch twigs, administered clumsily but with enormous enthusiasm by one of the saint's servants.

They had better reform by the Fifth of December, or else!

Obviously the celebration has an element of moral instruction, and encouragement to the little savages to lead more upstanding lives. Which is salving to their parents, besides providing excitement, tension, and entertainment.
Very wholesome.

Except that the servants are in black face.
They are 'Black Pete'.


ZWARTE PIET

Usually the role of 'Black Pete' is played by teenage girls, with thick black face paint, red lips, and curly wigs. Dressed in mediaeval page costumes. Talking in gibberish, which is supposed to be some dialect of Spanish.

The back-story on the servants used to be that because the saint lives in Spain, the servants are Moors or Moriscos. One variant has Black Pete as an Ethiopian slave freed by the saint, who subsequently converted to Christianity and followed the holy man on his travels.
The more modern tale explains that it is the servants who go down chimneys, while the saint patiently waits above. That is why they are black; they are covered with soot.

Why chimney sweeps are dressed in Mediaeval garb is a mystery.
Embroidered doublet, poufy breeches, and dark hose.
Please don't ask. Probably union rules.

There are, in fact, older roots to the tale, in which the holy man is seen as a likely re-interpretation of Odin, and the servants are variously devils, trolls, or Odin's ravens.
A politicized event I once attended (unwillingly) turned them into the proletarian workforce making consumer goods all year long, and the saint into a reformed cleric who became party commissar.
There have also been purple Petes.

But what remains essential is the birch or willow implements used to administer remonstrance. Without the credible threat of punishment -- as well as the terrifying prospect of permanent servitude on Spanish galleys in the Mediterranean -- the event loses its rectificatory suasion.
Along with whatever entertainment value it has for grown-ups.

Black face. Pitch-hued and shiny.
And a curly fright wig.
Problem.


"The working group cannot understand why it is that people in The Netherlands cannot see that this is a throwback to slavery, and that in the twenty first century this practice should stop! My personal view is that in the twenty first century this should not be happening!"

-----Verene Shepherd
[Source: Telegraaf TV. In Dutch, except for her sound byte. Note both the newsreader, dressed as Black Pete, as well as the salt of the earth types giving their views on the matter. Then note further the ending bit, where an Iranian festive occasion (Nowruz) is shown featuring a buffoonish performer in black face (Hajji Firuz); an event which is registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Because Persians cannot be bigots.]


You know, I am mighty surprised that the Catholic Church has not objected vociferously over this rancid stereotyping of its teachings and the role of its functionaries. An absolute cliché of a churchman, plus elements of clerical sadism, and the bribing of little children with sweeties so that they kiss-up to the prelate.

It's shocking, is what it is.

Remarkably, however, it was the Catholics who kept the tradition alive when the severe Calvinist church fathers in the north would have banned it for being a Papist feast, propaganda for the Evil Bishop of Rome, and heretical in the extreme.


I can remember being terrified as a five year old by the prospect of being taken back to Spain in a gunny sack. Spain was a horrid place, everyone knew that! And Spanish people were incredibly mean.
We Dutch-speakers have a history with Spain.
It is fundamental to our psyche.

Of course, by the time I was twelve I was marveling over the shapely legs of Zwarte Piet, as well as the evidence of curvature.
Mmmm, Black Pete has boobies!

I'll be the first to admit that questions may be asked about this charming little example of Northern European culture.
All folklore is dark. Some of it disturbing.

But Ms. Verene Shepherd should NOT interfere with our candy.

[Ms. Shepherd is not alone in her crusade. The signatories of the first letter of bellyache (dated January 17, 2013) are: Verene Shepherd, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on people of African descent; Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights; Izsàk Rita, Independent Expert on minority issues; Mutuma Ruteere, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.]


You know, I still find shapely teenage girls in theatric mediaeval garb and black face exciting. Good things are bound to happen with them around! And if there is a graduate of a British Public School present, there could even be a birching! He'll like that!
There may, in fact, be candy.
It will stop the weeping.
Candy is good.

Such things don't happen very often in my circles.

Lively lassies with candy, that is.



The traditional confectionary during the Saint Nicholas season consists of 'Pepernoten', 'Taai taai', marzipan, crisp gingerbread biscuits, tablet, and above all chocolates. Huge heaping mounds of chocolates.
The obedient little brat gets a large chocolate letter for the initial of his or her first name. The cretinous little sod, as previously mentioned, will be abducted by Spaniards.


Note: David Sedaris' lecture about Zwarte Piet is here: Live at Carnegie Hall.
He provides a complete how-to, more or less.
Informative and educational.



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SORRY, BERKELEY!

At the risk of irritating all my readers in Berkeley, I would like to remind everyone that today marks the anniversary of the historic United Nations vote that grudgingly acknowledged the inevitable: The Jewish homeland would once again become a Jewish state.

Possibly further irritating all my readers in Berkeley, I hasten to point out that the United Nations vote in effect did not really mean anything – it was the Haganah and the other organized groups among the Jews in the Land who made it happen, but it was the Britain and the United Nations who were entirely powerless to stop Israel becoming a state, OR prevent the Arab armies from trying to wipe the young state off the map.

[Well, the English did not actually have any intention, ever, of keeping the Arabs from invading - the Arab forces were largely armed by Britain, allied to the British, and led by British officers. Hugely embarrassing that they lost, eh what? So badly, too. Tssk, tsk.]

And also probably irritating to my readers in Berkeley: the Arabs of the part of British Mandate Palestine which was not carved off and given to the Hashemites (gotta park those hosers somewhere, they might prove useful eventually) could have had a state as early as 1947.

Let me repeat that:

The Arabs of British Mandate Palestine COULD have had a state as early as 1947!


That they did not get their state was due entirely to their fellow Arabs and their British puppet masters.
It also proved the United Nations impotent even at that early date.
That the Arabs of British Mandate Palestine STILL don’t have a state is because of their peculiar pathology.
And the help of their friends.

The Arabs of British Mandate Palestine could have had a STATE as early as 1947!

Since then, of course, the United Nations has become a patsy of the Arabs, and Berkeley has become a sanctuary for hatefilled scumsuckers.

Sorry, Berkeley.


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WORLD FILLED WITH PUS

We Americans have a reputation for not speaking any other languages than our own. Aside from the sheer oddness of that idea - in addition to English very many other languages are spoken here - what that often means is that foreigners often think that whatever they say in their own languages will never be understood by Americans.
It's assumed to be a private conversation with no Yankee dogs listening in.

[All the languages in the world are spoken in the United States. Among my friends and acquaintances here in San Francisco are speakers of Afrikaans, Arabic (Cairene, Hijazi, Levantine, Maghrebi, and Yemeni), Armenian, Bengali, Berber, Bikolano, Burmese, Cantonese, Caviteno, Cebuano, Chabacano, Danish, Deng, Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Gujarati, Hakka, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Igorot, Ilocano, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kapampangan, Korean, Lao, Mandarin, Marathi, Meo ('Miao'), Min, Mixtec, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quechua, Russian, Sicilian, Shanghainese, Spanish, Sundanese, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Tausug, Teochew, Thai, Vietnamese, Waray, Yiddish, Yoruban, Yucatec. Plus some Montagnards and Tatars, and others with unusual tongues.]

In consequence of that misapprehension that we are all utterly monolingual and illiterate, foreigners freely say all manner of unpleasant things about us.
Yes, they really do talk about us - we are probably the most enthusiastically discussed group on the planet.


Now consider this doozy:
"Hypocriete Amerikaan zoals zoveel Amerikanen, en maar zeggen wij zijn het meest democratische volk op de aarde, bah wat een viezerds, en dit is dan een topje van de hypocritische ijsberg naar mijn idee."

------ Gert in Hilversum, on the website of De Telegraaf.


[Translation: 'Hypocritical American like so many Americans, and always saying 'we are the most democratic people on earth; faugh, what a repellent lot, and this then is a mere top of the iceberg to my thinking.']



GERT IS THE WORLD

It doesn't really matter what he was commenting on, the point is that based on one news item he opportunistically slandered three hundred million people, indicating that he loathes all of us. Which is not at all unusual. Under any Dutch article and on any Dutch website that mentions America there will be a surfeit of anti-American comments. Many Dutch do hate and despise us, and will take any chance to make that clear to their fellow Dutchmen.

The Dutch aren't strange in that regard.

The same sentiment thrives underneath articles and on web fora in German, French, Italian, and the Scandinavian tongues........


I sincerely hope that Gert in Hilversum dies painfully of the pox. Considering the sexual smorgasbord which is metropolitan Holland, that is very likely. But it cannot happen soon enough.

I wish similar fates on many other Dutch people, a very large number of Frenchman, Arabs, Germans, Italians, Poles, Pakistanis, Russians, Englishmen, Swedes........

Actually, much of Europe and most of the Islamic world.

If there ever is another World War (in other words, a war that starts in Europe and is fought mainly in Europe) we should stay the hell out.
Let those bastards kill each other. It's what they're good at.

Same goes for the Muslims. The Persians and Iraqis killed millions between themselves - a good beginning. The Egyptian military gassed Yemeni highlanders - splendid. The Pakistanis keep blowing each other up - jolly good. The Lebanese and Syrians can't stand each other - way to go, guys, make it happen. The Turks slaughtered tens of thousands of Kurds - meh. The governments of all Muslim countries repress and kill their own people - no biggy. Muslim terrorists slaughter thousands of fellow Muslims - cool, dudes, totally.

Screw all of you.

Maybe I should start reading South American and African websites next.

FAITH, PERFECT AND COMPLETE

Rabbosai, there are times when being able to read Dutch is both a blessing and a .... well, not quite such a blessing.
There are, in fact, times when reading the language of Brederode and Vondel turns up material of a startlingly 'wat heb ik je nou gehalte' ("what have I you now quotient").

If any one ever tells you that the small-town Dutch intellectual world is dull and boring, laugh at them. They don't know what they're talking about.



MELKERT TO BECOME UN ENVOY

Consider the following stellar and germane comment placed underneath an article about Ad Melkert becoming the next UN Envoy for Irak on the website of a Dutch-language newspaper:

"Het Pruisisch koninkrijk is 400 jaar geleden naar de USA verhuisd en hebben aldaar onder de Voc-vlag de VOC-daalder ingevoerd, tahns de US-$-dollar.
Iraq wilde in Euro's betaald worden dus de Pruisische maarschalk Rumsfeld was in no time in Iraq.
Dat Melkert gezant van de UN in Iraq wordt is dus GEEN TOEVAL.... Het Nederlands-Pruisisch koninkrijk is namelijk eigenaar van de US-$-dollar."
[Chris - Zaandam - 07/07/09 ]


TRANSLATION: 'The Prussian monarchy moved to the USA four hundred years ago and introduced the VOC (Dutch United East-India Company) dollar there, (which) at present (is) the US-$-dollar.
Iraq wanted to be paid in Euro's, therefore Prussian marshal Rumsfeld was in Iraq in no time.
Ergo, Melkert becoming UN envoy is NO coincidence ..... the Netherlandish-Prussian monarchy is the possessor of the US-$-dollar.'

[SOURCE: http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/3350844/Melkert_nieuwe_VNgezant_Irak.html ]


Elements of several alternative realities have impressed themselves upon the fevered mind of Chris in Zaandam. Rather than pointing out all of the brittle areas of his belief-system, or speculating about what other surprising concepts percolate in his slightly too warm brain, I shall merely inform you that it is cucumber time in Zaandam at present.



CUCUMBER TIME

Cucumber time ("komkommer tyd") is the slowest part of summer, when thousands of pallid Northern Europeans head to the Costa Del Sol to soak up rays. Consequently everything is quiet on the home front, there are far far fewer normal people to bounce ideas off of, there is an emptiness in the village that is especially oppressive in the dark of night, or just before dawn, when you start hearing those insistent voices in your head again, and they tell you things that at other times you might doubt.......

But what they say makes complete sense now. There is no one around to deny these simple facts, which explain so much, and give you a thrilling sense of 'control' over an otherwise threatening and confusing world. These voices speak knowledge, knowledge is power!

You believe them. Those voices. Because all your friends, your so-called friends (!), who are employable and consequently can AFFORD vacations, have deserted you and headed towards warmer climes. You are alone. Alone. Utterly alone in the darkened silence. Alone except for those comforting voices in your head. They'll NEVER leave you.
They are your true friends.

THIRD WORLD GANGSTERS IN GENEVA

Yesterday the European delegates to the Geneva conference walked out during Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's speechiweechy.
Along with the delegations from Jordan and Morocco, I have heard.


The remaining delegates gave mister Ahmedinejad tumultuous applause.


That tells you how serious Africa, Asia, and Latin America are about discrimination.


In principle, most of the third world refuses to accept that their own bigotry is a problem, and most third-world gangster regimes ignore whatever discrimination goes on within their borders. It is only when a fast buck can be made by screwing the West, or toeing the Muslim party-line about Israel, that they sit up and take notice. That explains all those tin-pot tyrannies who have sent diplomats (bag men) to Geneva. At the very least, they'll be able to drink fancy liquor and hobnob with women dressed in designer rags. And if it works out better than expected they'll get a share of the funds the wealthy nations will pledge towards defeating racism or whatever, which they'll be able to bank in Switzerland. Where, conveniently, they already are.



My toleration of third-world racism is on roughly the same level as my patience with the superior attitude evinced by so many ignorant Europeans. Meaning near zero.

You know, guys, there is a reason why so many of you come here to live, and so few of us migrate in the opposite direction. And it's not strictly economics.


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ADDENDUM

Excerpts from an e-mail sent to a mailinglist.

Natuurlijk kan ik mijzelf absoluut niet vinden in wat die Iranees heeft gezegd, maar ik merk van diverse internet fora dat bijzonder veel Nederlanders het grondig met hem eens zijn - niet verbazend, overigens.
Ik zal daar niets over zeggen, ge weet inmiddels wat ik over Nederland en Nederlanders denk.
Verhagen, overigens, is duidelijk geen Nederlander - veel te intelligent.

Wat die delegaten die Ahmedinejad's gespietsj vrolijk applaudiseerden betreft, tsja, ik verwacht van schurkenstaten echt niet anders. Het racisme en bigotrie van de derde wereld, van de Arabieren, en van Aziatische landen steekt me net zo erg in de keel als het superieuriteitswaan van Europeanen. Screw them all.

Wat herstel betalingen betreft - Ikzelf heb weinig tot geen benefijt genoten van die 'goede oude tijd', daar ik bijna een eeuw na het afschaffen van slavernij werd geboren (dus ook na de depressie, na de tweede wereld oorlog, en zelfs na de colonialistische landen hun imperia verloren hadden).

Ik zie liever dat geld besteed word aan onderwijs, vooral voor de privilegeloze klassen, dan dat het in de zakken van politieke opportunisten word gekieperd.

Afrika (en zuid Amerika) kunnen er ook maar naar fluiten - gefaalde staten, corrupte leiders, en over het algemeen aarslikkers van de Arabieren in de Verenigde Naties. Bung Karno heeft in de derde wereld volop ervenis. Screw them all.

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Don't worry, all you are missing by not reading Dutch is invective.

HAMAS DISTRIBUTES BLANKETS AND FOOD

On Tuesday evening Hamas police raided a United Nations warehouse in Gaza and seized thousands of blankets and foodparcels. This was under orders from Hamas leadership, which justified the action by stating that the UN intended to distribute the material randomly without taking into consideration that some of the recipients would be opponents of Hamas.
In the context of Gaza, that means secularists, gays, Christians, and members of Fatah.
All of whom deserve to have their knees broken.


Source A - Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch):
http://www.ad.nl/buitenland/2974416/Hamas_haalt_pakhuis_van_VN_leeg.html


Source B - Haaretz (in English):
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061426.html


Quote:
Police seized the aid after UNRWA officials refused to voluntarily hand it over to the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Affairs, he said. Similar aid packages were distributed to 70,000 residents over the past two weeks, Gunness said.

Ahmad Kurd, the Hamas official in charge of the ministry, did not deny the aid was seized. Other Hamas officials defended their actions.

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu demanded an apology and said UNRWA was spreading false news. Ihab Ghussein, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the incident occurred because the UN was storing the blankets in an area not authorized to be distributed.


Source C - BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7869704.stm


Quote:
The Hamas Social Affairs Minister in Gaza, Ahmed al-Kurd, denied that members of the Islamist movement had removed aid from a UN building.
However, he said his ministry was in dispute with the UN relief agency about how aid should be distributed.
He accused the UN of giving aid to local groups with ties to Hamas opponents.


Clearly the United Nations is lying.
A respected and beloved organization such as Hamas would NEVER steal. Ever. As all supporters of Hamas (i.e.: Western Europe, the Muslim world, and Berkeley) will tell you.
Even the criminals and recidivists (Fatah members, Christians, Gays, and Secularists) who were kneecapped recently after Hamas defeated the Israelis will gladly aver as much (or else).


I have two suggestions:
1. Have volunteers from Berkeley distribute UN aid to Gaza, to ensure that the aid reaches the people for which it is intended (core members of Hamas).
2. Give Berkeley a seat at the United Nations, so that ALL supporters of Hamas - Western Europe, the Muslim World, and Berkeley - can present a united front, and counter the bigotry of the anti-Hamas faction at the United Nations.

Christopher Gunness, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Spokesman who made the base accusation, should be dismissed forthwith. In the interests of fairness. He is unsuited to the job. It is obvious that neither he nor his agency can be relied on to be fair and equitable as regards distributing blankets and food to the truly deserving.

This blog joins the good activists of Western Europe, the Muslim World, and Berkeley, in expressing shock and outrage at the clear and evident bias of the United Nations.
We are truly horrified.

ABOUT THE U.N., FROM SOMEONE IN A POSITION TO KNOW

Quote:
"Some may feel satisfaction at repeatedly passing General Assembly resolutions or holding conferences that condemn Israel's behavior. But one should also ask whether such steps bring any tangible relief or benefit to the Palestinians. There have been decades of resolutions. There has been a proliferation of special committees, sessions, etc. Has any of this had an effect on Israel's policies, other than to strengthen the belief in Israel, and among many of its supporters, that this great Organization is too one-sided to be allowed a significant role in the Middle East peace process?''


Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Anan, speaking before the UN Security Council in December 2006.

TUTU: TURBULENT CLERIC

I see that the world's foremost authority on the use and mis-use of South-African historical perceptions has once more judged Israel and found her wanting.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, conniving anti-imperialist and religious charlatan, asserts that Israel may have committed a war-crime shelling Beit Hanoun in 2006. He further castigates the international community - not for their toleration of terrorism from the territories, not for their silence about Arab anti-Semitism, not for their passivity in the face of Arab, Persian, Pakistani, and Malay clerics and politicians openly demanding genocide of the Jews, but for not feeling particularly responsible for Gaza.


Quote:
"It is the silence of the international community in the face of what is happening there which most offends. This silence begets complicity"

Further quote:
"I think the West, quite rightly, is feeling contrite, penitent for its awful connivance with the Holocaust - The West is penitent, the penance is being paid by the Palestinians."

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7623583.stm


As usual, the Palestinians claim that it was a war crime. Considering that they claim everything is a war crime, if done by Israelis, and nothing no matter how reprehensible is a war crime, if done by Palestinians, it is obvious how much credence should be given to Arabs claiming war crimes.


"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"
-----Henry Plantagenet


I suggest that the UN take Tutu's report, fold it until there is nothing left but sharp corners, and put it somewhere deep in Tutu's rotund body. And they should pound some sand in after.

I am not fond of South-Africans of any hue. I cannot think of a more sick and dysfunctional society than South Africa. Their ideas about sex, their idiocy about HIV, and their raping of juveniles as a means to cure AIDS, widespread in that pit of a country, rather suggest that South-Africans need more lecturing than they will ever be capable of giving.
At the very least, that pesky ecclesiastic should concern himself only and entirely with the rectifying of his own ghastly society.


Nor am I fond of churchmen. Many such, of whatever denomination, are pederasts and petty bullies.
I will not suggest that someone deal with him violently, despite the quote above about a meddlesome priest.
I will, however, state that it does NOT take all kinds - there are many we could well do without. Mr. Desmond Tutu is one of them. I shall shed no tears when he dies, and the manner by which he leaves this world is of no consequence to me; I just hope that it is very soon - it would merely be icing on the cake if it were bloody and brutal, but that is not an essential condition.

One knave less and the world will be a better place.

ENKELE GEDACHTEN OVER AMERIKA EN DE REST VAN DE WERELD

Men heeft wel eens gezegd dat Amerikanen niet bepaald veel talent hebben wat diplomatie betreft. Onze relatie met de Europeanen bewijst dat wel - met elk jaar dat voorbij gaat zijn de Europeanen minder te spreken over ons dan voorheen.
De transatlantieke bondgenootschap bestaat nog maar nauwelijks, Europa is ons in vele opzichten liever kwijt dan rijk. En het is duidelijk dat de Europeanen hun eigen affaires beter regelen kunnen zonder door ons lastig gevallen te worden.

Ook wij hebben niet zo veel meer aan de Europeesche connectie.


Joegoslavië

Balkan een en twee zouden, zonder inmenging van de VS, nog grotere slachtpartijen zijn geweest dan ze al waren. Niet dat dat goed zou zijn geweest, maar die inmenging heeft ons echt geen lof gebracht - nu nog worden wij daarvoor verboemand door velen die liever geen confrontatie met de Serben hadden gehad en zich door onze betweterij gekrenkt wisten.
[Ware wij instede afzijdig geweest, dan zou de hele wereld hebben geweten wat een stel hypokriete nietsnutten de Europeanen zijn. Eerlijk gezegd zou dat mij goed uitkomen.]

Stel nu dat er ergens weer een oorlog plaatsvind - Is het niet hoogtijd dat Europa er wat aan doet? Daargelaten dat ze normalitair daar net doen alsof er niets aand de hand is en er geen str*nt aan hun fikkes kleeft.


Irak & Iran

Wat Irak betreft, dat was een geweldig stomme zet van ons. Niet alleen omdat die oorlog geen valide basis had, maar meer omdat het zo'n pracht opportuniteit was voor onze "bondgenoten" ons voor aap te zetten. Die opportuniteit heeft de Bush regering hun stomblind geschonken, de Duitsers en Fransen gingen met die opportuniteit vrolijk aan de haal, en genieten er nog van na.

Sindsdien kunnen we om enige medewerking wel fluiten, vooral wat het midden-oosten betreft. Geen mens in Europa die zich aantrekt wat de VS over Irak of Iran zegt, of het zou slechts om te spotten wezen.
We moeten maar dulden dat de Fransen en Duitsers, kalm en doordacht, op subtiele en intelligente wijze, door geduldige diplomatische onderhandelingen met hun ambstgenoten in Iran, het op den duur toch niet presteren de Iraniers ervan te overtuigen dat die kernwapen ontwikkeling stop gezet moet worden. Het word beslist een mislukking, maar wel een zeer beschaafde mislukking. Een monument van jamitsneemaar.

Als we straks Iran plat moeten bombarderen krijgen we waarschijnlijk weer van de Europeanen te horen dat we te ongeduldig en te ongenuanceerd zijn, werkelijk, onderhandelingen waren bijna geslaagd, heus waar, maar wat wil je, die Amerikaansche cowboy mentaliteit.......


Scheel

Laat Amerika zich maar niet in andermans oorlogen mengen, en zich niet met andermans natuurrampen bemoeien. Als ergens de boel in puin is, triest, maar wie kan het eigenlijk schelen? Wat mij betreft klaart de wereld maar hun eigen perkara.

Ik begrijp wel dat zo'n opvatting asociaal is, kinderachtig, onrealistisch, onhumanistisch, en typisch Amerikaans. Doet me weinig.
En ik weet wel dat het onze eigen schuld is dat de rest van de wereld de pest aan ons heeft. Maar ge raad het wel..... ook dat kan mij allang niet meer schelen.

Kijk, de internationale populariteits contest hebben we al verloren. Venezuala, Rusland, Iran, en Cuba zijn ons op dat gebied ver en blijvend vooruit. Het heeft dus geen punt om nog te competeren.

IN WHICH I SPEAK UNFAVOURABLY OF THE DUTCH, THE EUROPEANS, AND THE UNITED NATIONS

No, this has naught to do with Israel. Or Jews. I have in the past slammed the Dutch, Europeans, and United Nations several times for their abysmal two-facedness and reprehensible record regarding Jews and Israel. Not this time.

This time I speak of their abysmal two-facedness and reprehensible record regarding Muslims and the Balkans.


SREBENICA

In 1993 General Morillon (a Frenchman, currently member of the Euro parliament) told the besieged town of Srebrenica that they were under the protection of the UN, and he would never, never (!) abandon them. He left the army within the year.

In April of that year, the UN Security Council officially declared that Srebrenica was a UN safe area, and that it would be safeguarded from attack.

By spring of 1995 the situation was desperate: the Serb terrorists were determined to capture Srebenica and expunge the Muslim inhabitants, the UN had done nearly nothing to ensure the safety of the sixty thousand people in the town despite looming disaster, supplies were running low, and the Dutch peacekeepers were becoming keenly aware of the apathy of their NATO colleagues about the situation.


NOTE: I should mention at this point that the Dutch had become overly friendly with the Serbians during their time in the Balkans - Lieutenant Colonel Karremans (now hiding out in Spain, where no one particularly cares about his role in the debacle), in command of the Dutch at Srebenica, seems to have had a drinking-buddy relationship with Serb terrorist commander Ratko Mladic, to whom he looked up, and from whom he accepted favours.

There have also been well-attested incidents of ethnic Dutch soldiers hazing (abusing) fellow soldiers of Moroccan and Turkish ancestry in the Dutch army - including one incident in which they poured gasoline over a companion and threatened to burn the damn' heathen. Certainly they did not look upon the Muslim Bosniaks in an overly kind fashion, and an argument can well be made that the bigotries of small town Holland affected their concern for their charges in Bosnia.


JULY 1995

Between July tenth and July twenty first, Dutch forces witnessed several incidents which indicated that Serbs neither respected the inviolability of people in the UN safe area, nor intended to honour the assurances of safety and civilized treatment of the refugees that they had given the Dutch - there were numerous murders, rapes, and incidents of brutal torture. There is consequently no way that any of the Dutchbat soldiers and officers could then, or can since, claim ignorance of what was going to happen.

On the 21st of July 1995, after surrendering the Bosniaks to the Serbian terrorists, Karremans and company left the area of Srebrenica for safer climes. Apparently the four hundred Dutch soldiers did not develop any psychological problems despite what befell the refugees they abandoned, as not long after they were happily carousing in Sarajevo. Since their return to the Netherlands, however, the Dutch government has kept them mostly under wraps, claiming that they are 'traumatized'.
Which conveniently keeps them out of the light, and away from the somewhat disinterested eyes of the Dutch press.


Now the survivors of their compassion are seeking justice. And suing the Dutch government.


Article from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7457239.stm

Quote: "They allege the Dutch state was liable for its troops' failure to protect some 8,000 Muslim civilians killed when Bosnian-Serb forces overran the town."

And: "Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that the UN Dutch battalion (Dutchbat) allowed the killings by handing over Muslims to the Bosnian-Serb forces, and that the Dutch state was liable because it had command of the military."



It took the Dutch seven years to conclude that perhaps something went disastrously wrong. Now let us see how the Dutch courts deal with the issue, and who will get splattered - there is more than enough blame to pass around.
The Dutch, the Europeans, and the United Nations; all bear guilt for the slaughter of eight thousand Bosniaks.


On a related note, if it weren't for the US, the Serbians and their Greek and Russky volunteers would've pogrommed Bosnia and Kosovo right off the map. The Europeans were ready to sit back and watch it happen, the UN would've done nothing more than pass the usual resolutions, and a majority of the international community would've ignored the issue in return for their own flaws being overlooked.

I sometimes think that when we bombed Belgrado in 1999 we should've dropped a couple of stray thousand-pounders on the other European capitals.

ROZ ROTHSTEIN HURTS TENDER FEELINGS OF UN MEMBERS

Apparently a few short words by a Jew can turn some Arabs and Persians into badly behaved little boys.
How sad!

I am referring to the extremely short speech by Roz Rothstein at the seventh Human Rights Council of the United Nations on March 19th. 2008.
The horror, the horror!


It was interrupted by Egypt, a stalwart paragon of human rights, democracy, and free speech, as well as by Iran, a champion of freedom of expression, tolerance, and liberal-humanist ideals.
Bravo!
Roz Rothstein is the director of Stand With Us (on the net here: http://www.standwithus.com/ ), who, as befits a height-deficient and non-threatening Jewish-mother type, is a notorious firebrand, rabble-rouser, and 'slam-disturber. She is infamous for disagreeing with the righteously oppressed peaceful Hamas-members and Hezbollah supporters (mostly Euro-left and Berkeleyites), and blatantly refuses to adhere to any commonly accepted standards of political correctness.
Bad girl!

The representatives of Egypt and Iran, justifiably irked by her assertions, jumped up and down waving their little fists, shaking their bushy tails, and screeching loudly in the cutest manner. Several other representatives hastened to do nothing to prevent this, remaining loudly and supportively silent while the Egyptian and Iranian lost control of their rhetorical bowels.
Oh the humanity!


Here is her speech and where it was interrupted:


[UN Watch Oral Statement, Agenda Item 9: Review of Mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Doudou Diène]

Thank you, Mr. President.
We strongly support renewing the mandate against racism.
We wish to address the draft resolution that is before us.

For me, the issue of racism is not academic.
My parents survived the Nazi Holocaust. Eighty of my relatives were murdered.
Mr. President, I know what racism, hatred and anti-Semitism can lead to.
What began with racist words, ended with genocide.
The United Nations and its Commission on Human Rights were created to prevent such evil from ever happening again. Tragically, however, it has happened-in Cambodia, Rwanda, and today in Darfur.
(INTERRUPTION BY EGYPT)

Equally, the evil of anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head, and it is rightly addressed in the proposed resolution.
There are many examples. Iran's President Ahmadinejad actively promotes Holocaust denial, and calls for eliminating the Jewish state. We salute the expert on racism for condemning this.
Hamas and Hezbollah,
(INTERRUPTION BY IRAN)


DID NOT READ THE FOLLOWING: (UN WATCH stopped her due to fear of another outburst)
Hamas and Hezbollah however, systematically promote the same kind of genocidal
anti-Semitism in their sermons, websites and media broadcasts. A terrorist translated this incitement into deed in Jerusalem two weeks ago, murdering eight young Jewish students in a religious school.
And in Gaza, the Hamas government-whose Charter openly advocates killing Jews and destroying the Jewish state-passed out candy to celebrate.

RESUMED HERE:

Organizations such as Stand With Us are doing vital work to educate against hatred.
But the UN, and all nations gathered here, must do more to fight words that kill.
At Durban in 2001, a conference meant to combat racism saw some of the worst displays of anti-Semitism since the Holocaust. Leaflets were distributed with Hitler's picture, calling for the destruction of Israel.

As this Council prepares the 2009 follow-up conference, its noble goals must not be hijacked by the forces of intolerance. Nations must rise to defeat words that kill.
For all these reasons, we support a strong mandate to combat racism.
Thank you, Mr. President.


[Note: Text courtesy of StandWithUs - E-mail: info@standwithus.com Web: http://www.standwithus.com ]--- --- --- --- ---


The honourable members of the UN, deeply aware of the great historical role played by Hitler in the founding of their institution, have an obligation to remain silent and do naught when such respected entities as Iran and the Palestinian gang propagate an appreciative interpretation of that man's legacy.
It is, after all, greatly due to that man that ancient European traditions of anti-Semitism and discrimination have been seamlessly absorbed in the Muslim world, and made palatable (nay, sweet even!) in Berkeley, Brussels, and Moscow.

Not to mention in our very own city of San Francisco, where every speaker at International ANSWER's anti-war rally two days ago dwelt lovingly on the plight of the poor huggable Palestinians and condemned Israel in the most poetic, over-the-top, and lyrically imaginative terms - but more on that display of surprisingly immaterial and irrelevant Jew-hatred later.

DURBAN

Back in 2001, when I criticized the Durban Conference (the world conference on racism sponsored by the UN), I was castigated by a number of right-thinking Dutch weasels and their fellow-travelers, one of whom called me a Jew, a member of Kahane Chai, a possible/probable killer of children, and an advocate of ethnic cleansing.

It is therefore with relish that I reproduce the following text, lifted from the Arutz Sheva website, regarding the follow-up conference scheduled for next year.


[Begin quote]

Canada: Next Durban Conference Will Be No Better

Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier and the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, Jason Kenney, issued a statement on January 23 in which they announced that their country would not be taking part in the UN's 2009 World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. The reason for their decision, they said, was the prospect that the conference would again degenerate into a festival of anti-Semitism, as occurred in 2001.

"Canada has a long and proud history of fighting racism, discrimination and intolerance in all its forms," said Minister Bernier. "It was for this reason, and its promise of concerted global action against racism, that we participated in the 2001 in Durban, South Africa. Unfortunately, that conference degenerated into open and divisive expressions of intolerance and anti-Semitism that undermined the principles of the United Nations and the very goals the conference sought to achieve.

"Secretary of State Kenney and I had hoped that the preparatory process for the 2009 Durban Review Conference would remedy the mistakes of the past," Bernier explained. "We have concluded that, despite our efforts, it will not. Canada will therefore not participate in the 2009 conference."

"Canada will continue to focus its efforts on genuine anti-racism initiatives that make a difference," added Kenney. "Our government’s decision to seek full membership on the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research demonstrates that we remain committed to the fight against racism and to the promotion of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law at home and around the world."

[End quote]

=============================================

For perspective, I also reproduce an e-mail I sent on September 7, 2001.
The recipient was the Suriname Mailing List.

[Begin e-mail]

From:
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 2:44 PM
To:
Subject: Durban

Odd that there has been no comment on the list regarding that travesty in Durban.

Surely my fellow list members have opinions?

The results of the Durban conference sofar:

The Jews (eternal victims of bigotry) have been slammed by the Arabs (slave traders for millennia, who still discriminate against those who are neither Arab nor Muslim, and still surreptitiously support slavery). Odd that those who pretty much invented the slave trade are being allowed to dominate the proceedings... third world solidarity in action?

The African nations, who profited from selling their war-captives and minorities to Europeans and Arabs, now want to be paid again. No mention of reparations for the actual descendants of the merchandise, who of course do not live in Africa anymore.
It is proposed that tax-money paid in part by the descendants of slaves should be given to those who are in part descended from the sellers of those same slaves. And oddly, no one is demanding that the Arabs pay any reparations at all... third world solidarity in action?

India, whose treatment of its oppressed classes is uncivilized and a scandal, gets off Scot-free by collaborating with Africa and the Arabs to slam Israel and the west.... third world solidarity in action?

No mention of discrimination against the Roma by the Slavs? Odd, I didn't know that Eastern Europe was part of the third world....


Shouldn't more time have been spent on actually discussing racism in the world today (such as the dismal record of my own country as regards minorities and the US justice system) and less time devoted to the consideration of a markedly anti-western agenda by a bunch of third world failures with abominable human rights records?

Might it not have been more productive to look at how America and the European countries are dealing with minority issues?
These are, after all, reasonably successful nations who have actually attempted to deal with racism and discrimination.... quite unlike the repressive dictatorships which litter the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America.

The usual chorus of resentful tin-pot tyrants and greedy third-world beggar nations has been allowed to dominate the discussion, giving a shrill chorus of anti-western rhetoric, and sweeping their own rather glaring faults under the rug. One would almost think that hunger for an easy buck drove the proceedings... quite understandable, given that those who steal from their own people often see no reason why they shouldn't steal from everybody else.

Comments? A different opinion? Speak up, I am keen to hear your point of view.[End e-mail]



Today's readers will note that I have not changed very much in ten years, and neither has the world.
Attentive readers will undoubtedly also realize that there is a strong quotient of neener neener neener to this post. Along with a little bitterness.

LUISA MORGANTINI PROVES HERSELF ODIOUS

Trade between the European Union and Israel should be halted in protest at human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, per Luisa Morgantini, a vice-president of the European Parliament, speaking to a United Nations conference in Brussels.

Luisa Morgantini has called for the agreement under which Israel currently enjoys free trade in industrial goods, and preferential treatment of farm produce entering the European Union to be suspended.

[Info source: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article8974.shtml]


Luisa Morgantini is a Member of the European Parliament. She has been a member of the Italian Communist Party since the early sixties.

Not surprisingly, she is also associated with Women In Black, having been one of the founders of the Italian branch of the Women in Black organization.

[I wrote about the Women in Black here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/04/women-in-black-some-more-background.html]



MARXIST-LENINIST WHACK-JOB

Like others among the Euro-sinister, Luisa Morgantini demands that the UN send peacekeeping troops to Gaza and the West Bank to protect Palestinians after they have committed atrocities.
And, again like many, she believes that she has a natural right to opinionate on issues which do not concern her, and which her leaders, her colleagues, and her kind have done much to make worse since 1948.


Most telling is this quote: "Any negotiations on an overall peace agreement should be based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the certainty of a Palestinian State alongside the State of Israel with Jerusalem as a shared capital."

Sweetheart, a Palestinian state is by no means a certainty and arguably not desirable in the first place, Jerusalem is indivisible, the UN is a forum for third-world gangster regimes and has accomplished nothing since the fifties, and, just so you know, Italian Communists are a tired cliché.


Europeans should realize that their voice in world affairs is far less significant than they assume, and that their opinions are hopelessly dated and immaterial. They have not been able to control events since they lost their empires, and given the quisling postures of their politicians and the arrogance of their intellectuals, it is no surprise that the only importance Europe has in world affairs is inversely proportionate to their reliance on America for their collective security and prosperity.

Many European politicians should be considered dangerous and discouraged from travel or public speaking. One rather wishes that the European public would understand how ill they are served by their party hacks.

NOT THE UN - By R. Jeremy Rosen

Follows an opinion piece by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen (www.jeremyrosen.com.) pasted here with permission.

Note that at present I see absolutely no reason to argue with any part of the opinions given below - and, were I to say anything at all, I would not only detract from the clarity, but also possibly offend because of my undiplomatic personal thoughts on the matter.

--------- --------- ---------

NOT THE UN


Calls for the United Nations to send peacekeepers into Lebanon are a sick joke. Have we forgotten that previously Indian UN peacekeepers lent their uniforms to Hezbollah? Indeed, are we all unaware that there are UN 'peacekeepers' in Southern Lebanon still, at this very moment? What HAVE they been doing?


The United Nations is useless and it should be scrapped. Its so-calledpeacekeepers have never kept the peace, but have certainly broughtcorruption, mendacity and sexual exploitation to wherever they have been sent. And, of course, the United Nations itself is so hamstrung by politics that it cannot even get agreement on the ethnic cleansing andgenocide in Darfur, or deal with Iran or North Korea's rogue nuclear policies (I say rogue because other countries which have nuclear capability do not make a point of threatening to obliterate others). It stood by and let the Rwanda Massacres take place. It allowed the Srebrenica Massacres to happen before its very eyes. As for the infamous oil deals with Saddam Hussein's regime, the subsequent reports have all agreed that corruption was endemic and overwhelming.


You will doubtless think I am biased because the United Nations debates and votes on about 35 anti-Israel resolutions each year and spends millions on special bodies designed exclusively to condemn Israel alone while doing nothing about the millions of Muslims and Christians killed by corrupt Muslim states. Yes, it's true--I do think balance andreciprocity is an issue. I am all for condemning any betrayal of human beings any dehumanization of God's creatures, wherever and by whoever perpetrates them. But to single out one state, whose victims pale in comparison to others in terms of number and degree of torture applied, is simply proof that we are not dealing with honest people.


Winston Churchill is reported to have said that he was in favour of the UN even if it was only a 'talking shop' because 'jaw jaw was better thanwar war.' I concede that if they were mutually exclusive then obviously talking is better than fighting. But it is not the case. The 'jaw jaw' goes on while the 'war war' continues.
So what then is the point of 'jawjaw' if it is totally ineffective?


Why should millions be spent on an incompetent and impotent talking shop when the money saved could rid the world of malaria and bring drinkable water to millions of humans? Instead, corrupt representatives of sickand failed regimes go to New York to have a great time doing nothing more than spouting hypocritical , unconsidered platitudes to an audienceof closed minds. It's not the UN that ever gets anywhere challenging theUSA. It was its own Supreme Court which stopped the processes at Guantanamo Bay.


As Edward Luttwack has shown, wherever the United Nations has intervened it has only prolonged the conflict and the agony. In the bad old days nations fought each other and large numbers were killed. But at least there was a resolution. Some survived, some did not. Human affairs have always been about shifting alliances, moving populations, refugees,victims and victors. We Jews have suffered more than most from the vicissitudes of history because we've been around longer than anyone else and gone through more than anyone else. And we know that defence starts at home. But we also know that a weak policeman is often far worse than no policeman. With no policeman you know the odds and you decide to fight or concede. With a weak or corrupt policeman you never know what new factor enters the arena, what dirty tactics might be employed while your hands may be tied behind your back.


One of the saving graces of the United Nations is said to be its agencies. Some of them may indeed do some good, but you don't need theUN for them. They could perfectly well exist independently as do World Trade organisations. Some of their agencies are simply bodies that are paid to perpetuate strife, like the UN agencies in Palestine that say that they have to allow anti-Israel and anti-Semitic material to be used in their school because otherwise they would not be trusted. Of course,"Trusted by whom?" is the question. Indeed, when it comes to aidingPalestinians, who are so poorly served by their leadership, in a humanitarian way (as opposed to giving them money for arms) it is clear that help comes neither from the UN nor the Arab States (who appear to use them as tools to distract their own malcontents) but rather fromEurope, the USA, and, ironically, Israel.


Another example of UN moral corruption is the Human Rights Council, supposedly a reformed version of the discredited Commission on Human Rights which became such a laughingstock with countries such as Zimbabwe, Libya or Saudi Arabia presiding. It was officially replaced last March but, of course, the reform was totally fudged. So here we go again with a council that includes Russia and Azerbaijan, and in which 16 of the 29 states involved come from Africa and Asia and half of them are Muslim. And what is the first thing they have to deal with? What isthe world's biggest problem? Where are most Muslims being killed nowadays or most citizens being jailed for dissent? Not Darfur, not Zimbabwe, not China, not Kashmir, not Iraq, not Saudi Arabia, not Syria, not Lebanon, no. Guess who? No, don't bother. Not even the combative US ambassador, John Bolton, can get anywhere with these apologies for'statesmen.' For humanity's sake scrap it. Save the cash. Donate it to the poor or give it to Bill Gates. I trust him more than the UN.


I'm not sure that bombing Lebanon in general brings peace, even if Hezbollah uses civilians as shields for its supplies and launching pads and its Prime Minister declares that Hezbollah IS Lebanon. But I do think destroying Hezbollah and standing up to Syria and Iran will help. Greater experts than I have stated that Hezbollah is not interested in Palestinians or Sunnis, or, indeed, Lebanon. But don't expect the UN to care.

Whatever Israel does, it must not consign its safety to these jokers.


Shabbat Shalom


---Jeremy

--------- --------- ---------

Please visit Jeremy Rosen's website for more writings, here:
http://www.jeremyrosen.com/


Or join a mailinglist - there are two:

JROSEN Mailing List
The Jeremy Rosen Discussion Group (JROSEN) is an email forum for exploring issues of Orthodox Jewish living, based on the assumption that commitment to Torah doesn't require fundamentalism, rejection of culture, or conformity to one particular social norm. The purpose of the jrosen list is to provide support and encouragement, as well as information.

Jeremy's Open Discussion Mailing List
Jeremy Rosen's Open Discussion (JROD) is a forum for asking questions and discussing issues related to Judaism or anything else about life. It is open to non-Jews and Jews of all persuasions.


Both mailing lists have clickable links on the website.