Thoughts on Israel

 Hi All,

Another awful event that came through too late on Friday was the news that there had been several shootings & terrorist murders  in a Synagogue in Jersualem or as the BBC put it 'Occupied Jerusalem'. 

This is the trouble with the way the whole Israeli-Palestine issue is reported, because the BBC, like most western organisations has bought into the Arab lie. This lie is  that this is essentially a struggle between a colonial-settler state on one hand (Israel) and the native Palestinian Arabs on the other. Seen from this lense the conflict is seen as freedom fighters (not terrorists) on one hand and the imperalist occupier on the other, so we can make the comparisons with the Americans of 1776, Arafat as the latter day George Washington etc etc . 

The problem with this worldview is that unlike other nations in the past, 'imperial' Israel has no-where to go, either in terms of territory or people : if the territory is given up, then where are the 8 million plus people going to go? I doubt that they would want or be allowed to live under either a corrupt Arab State or a corrupt Islamic Arab State. It cannot as the British Empire did remove itself from the Raj, Africa or everywhere else and retreat into the centre and even this wasn't a pain free event for either side. Israel is not, therefore ,an imperium trying to hold down a population or land  for resources or greatness and a terrorist war of attrition simply won't work in those circumstances. Israel cannot recall home the legions, because for better or worse it is stuck where it is stuck and sees itself fighting not for a far or not so far flung empire, but for the safety of her survival, Jerusaelm is the centre , not an imperial outpost in the NW Frontier and for her citizens.

You may disagree here and suggest that the BBC is, like the UN, referring simply to the territory of the west bank, gaza and Jerusalem and not the 'rest' of Israel. Yet before 1967, that 'other' was considered to be occupied and dare I say it ask most Arabs and they would say the same today, it is just to westerners they talk of gaza and west bank.

It is not the case that Israel has never sought peace or given up land. Israel did so with Egypt and returned the Siani in return for peace. Israel left Gaza and instead of peace, got an islamic dictatorship whose goal was not the welfare of Gaza or its people, but war against Israel. Gaza could, given its backing of wealthier gulf states, become a Hong Kong or Singapore or a tax haven for Europeans and Arabs , but instead it is what it is today. Gaza is in fact exhibit A as to why Israel might be reluctant to give up any further territory , who would do so if in the back of their minds, an Islamic fundamentalist state would arise and given the matchstick thin border would threaten Israel with further rockets and attacks?

Another tradegy in America

 Hi All,

As we approached the Sabbath there was news from America that there had been another police killing.One thing that is striking about this case in particular is that is was black officers beating to death a black person who had been pulled over alleged speeding, so rather than this being racially motivated this murder rather robbed those who make a big issue out of these matters the ability to climb on the bandwagon of shock and horror as to what had happened. Moreover it should shift the conversation to different grounds and fundamental ones : the relationship between the state(as represented by the police) and the citizen (everyone else) and how power is weilded. In failed and police states these powers are arbitary, total and one sided, rather than one of mutal consent. 

But this does beg the question, what is going on in America's police forces? To be a police officer is to weild the power of the state, but this power is supposed to be proportional to the risk that the officers are involved in, not to be melted out in an arbitary and dare I say it criminal gang like way.  How do Police forces recruit? Is it professional or are they elected ? How do they weed out people who clearly should never get into the force in the first place? It is a great responsibility and these incidents do no credit to the police, who are there to 'protect and serve', not 'do what I want because I have been invested with xyz powers'.

Shabbat Shalom!

 Hi All,

Shabbat Shalom and enjoy a version of the lecha dodi, traditional for Shabbat 

Shabbat Shalom!

 Hi All,

Shabbat Shalom and an open thread, don't forget to check out my post below 'the Bishop of Venus has splendid balls' .

The Bishop of Venus has splendid balls: The exposition Prologue

 Hi All,

A prologue to my short story 'The Bishop of Venus has splendid balls'

Prologue 

The Vardassians had conquered 150 systems and 55 different civilisation that had been at a pre-warp level before first contact. The Vardassians strip mined and over exploited every single planet and system they controlled. Realising that their civilisations were doomed unless they struck back, the conquered civilisations began an armed guerrilla resistance, hoping that a war of attrition would force the Vardassians to leave their worlds.

The Vardassians were constantly clashing with the various great powers of the galaxy, the biggest mistake they ever made was to attack a Varg( Martian) aid convoy to Relsiah Prime, one of the many worlds that Vardassia occupied, but was suffering from a variety of epidemics. The  furious Martians, who need little excuse for war anyway, declared war and invoked the Treaty of Woking to wit, brining in the Albion Commonwealth into the war, who having had their New Gloucestershire Asteroid settlement of Leckhampton attacked, killing one hundred thousand people, needed little persuasion to join their ally. Besides which this acted as a prid pro quo for the Martians in return had to pledge to join in the fight aganist the Pholians, which they agreed.

While smarting from these upsets, the Vardassian People’s Democratic Socialist Republic was fighting a huge, long and costly war against the Earth Union which had established colonies within 80 light years of Vardassian territory. The EU had superior technology, but inferior fighting power, summed up by the fact that they had no actual defence forces, only a thing called ‘Peace Fleet’, which was capable of  deploying diplomatic and exploration vessels, which just happened to be equipped with weaponry, but otherwise were known as luxury 'gin palaces' and it was known that these vessels including not only the crew, but their families as well. Even the Vardassians did not send their children into war zones or dangerous situations. The EU only began to prevail because the sheer scale of the technological gap was the equivalent of a professional soldier being given a water pistol and an amateur civilian a rocket with one button to press.

The war came to a quicker conclusion than most analysis expected because, unlike the clueless & military inept  EU, both Mars and Albion did possess supberb professional war machines, which within 5 months were knocking on the doors of the Vardassian home world .

It was at this point that the other great powers, who were not involved in the wars demanded a cease fire and negotiated settlement, due to balance of power concerns. The allied side -feeling honour had been satisfied- agreed and the Vardassians accepted in principle, but quibbled over whether or not that 55 colonies that were in revolt – and being supported by the Anglo-Martian special forces – should be represented. The allies said yes they should, to which the Vardassians said that only their current governments could attend as ‘observers’. As these governments were nothing other than Quisling puppet regimes the allies refused to attend if they were to be allowed.

The impasse was broken by the sudden toppling of the hard-line regime in Vardassia, as the Politburo reasserted control from the Cabal and cult of personality of the current regime. Alongside this, the puppet governments began to collapse one by one. In any resistance it is often the case that it is a handful of the population, it is when the ordinary citizens go out onto the street in a mass movement, do regimes begin to topple. The Vardassians had been forced to relocate the bulk of their forces onto the front lines and the handful of troops and secret police that were left simply could not maintain order. The puppet regimes local forces simply melted away as guards and police joined in the revolution. 

One by one the colonial Prefects handed over the reigns of power to their puppet governments and left them to their fate as they evacuated. These governments began to collapse like a full strike in ten pin bowling, with often once powerful leaders begin shot, hanged or even worse killed to death in terrible ways by angry mobs. Either way their bodies were strung up in gallows and gibbets as statues of the old regimes were toppled.

This cleared the way for a peace conference, which would be undertaken under the auspices of the Galactic 8, the yearly meeting of the heads of government of the great powers, which this year was to be hosted by the Byzantine Empire on their sphere 19. These events rarely actually achieve anything, although they are good for the elite to network and be wined and dined to oblivion. Hopefully this year would be different, but we shall start with the Bishop of Venus Ball, one of the premier events of the conference, like some kind of travelling circus, the Bishop of Venus always has splendid balls....

The Anglo-Pholian War, Reasons II

 Reasons : The Pholians

We have encountered a species more fanatical in  battle  than the Varg (Martians) if this is possible! But then both Martians and humans originate from the same solar system.The Albion Commonwealth is a scourge and unethical polity if ever there was one, lead by a hereditary Monarch-Emperor, who is supreme governor of a fundamentalist religion called ‘the c of e’. What forced us into war, though, was the intelligence report that their crack troops called Vicars and Rabbis, have this ability to commune with their war god and in the guise of this religious doctrine, called ‘the resurrection of the dead’, raise an army of undead to plague us all. We believe that they use religion as a cloak in which to hide some form of superior science, as our own live experiments on humans have failed in that regard and only seem to kill them, in painful ways.  It is obvious that the Albions were plotting a mass invasion of not only our space, but that of the civilised galaxy with this army of the dead. Thankfully in the territory we gained,  we have been able to destroy two thirds of all of these graves and make sure that once buried we make counter incursions to stop any more of them from being potential recruits to this army, which humans believed was terrible as we broke a so-called ‘truce’ to ‘bury our dead’ . We are now loosing this war and they are coming onto our territory, save a pocket that they have to reconquer. The priority will be to destroy the source of these resurrection powers- we have intelligence that proves they have it-  and bring the war to a swift conclusion. Our battle computers suggest that we try to make peace with this enemy, but how can we, when they possess such frightening powers as bringing living being back from death itself?

 General Assembly of the Pholian People.

The Anglo-Pholian War, Reasons I

Hi All,

Part I of a series of stories : 

Reasons : The Commonwealth

In the entire existence of the Albion Commonwealth we have faced many deadly foes, but the Pholians must rank in the top 3 of threats for their sheer viciousness and cruelty, which is not matched by their physical appearance of perfect polished diamonds. Quite why they have any interest in our territories except for 55 Canceri  e, is beyond our intelligence analysis. They are an advanced race, who at the start of the war made large territorial gains, but we were able to change tactics and new warships designed on Mercia by the Dudley Steam Boiler Company & the Elharar -Horowitz Defence Instruments Corp,  came online from the Northumbrian- Newcastle and New Belfast shipyards, containing not only energy shielding, but also a primary layer of armour and a secondary layer of liquid metallic ablative shielding. We are also in the process of finalising a new weapon which we hope will bring this two year war to a swift conclusion. Why must we fight ? Aside from the fact that they invaded our homelands, they are clearly a danger to the interstellar community, what civilisation can call itself civilised when they dig up bodies of fallen soldiers and civilians and desecrate not only the graves, but also their bodies?

Anon government briefing or Michelle from Accounts 

Happy New Year !

 Hi All,

New Year and New Start!

Please share below your new year's resolutions and whacky predictions for 2023. I already see that Nostrodamus has already popped up, not since 2001 has anyone dragged him out of the wood work. Predictions so vague and general they can appy to any conspiracy theory or major event. 

Well anyway, it is up to us to make it a Happy New Year!