The Paved Way to European Terror

Was anything surprising about the Paris terror attack? About the fact that Brussels has become a hub of terror? Why do we take an insurance only after the fire consumed our house?

This was a post I blogged over 5 years ago.

Devolution

I fear, therefor I am –

A tool of the political trade

sadly, so effective.

The Fallen Teeth

(Mamila in the 1960's. Photo by Igal Morag)

With its main entrance in Israel, and its far wall in Jordan, the dilapidated old people's home, originally a luxurious mansion, towered over the neighborhood of Mamila. With falling walls and alleyways blocked by piles of debris, it was not the neighborhood of choice.

On summer days, when snipers would hide from the punishing sun and not attempt to shoot the occasional passers-by, the old people would open the metal shutters that protected their large window, and sunbath. It was on one of these days that Mathilda, suffering from a cough attack, had dropped her teeth to the ground below. This would not have been a problem if it were not for the fact that the teeth fell in the no-man-zone between the countries. The old people, crowding at the window, watched the unfolding of events as the army on both sides and the United Nation were summoned.

First to arrive in an open Jeep was an unshaved Israeli Colonel. He was followed by a United Nations car – the one that looks like a white funeral car with big black UN written on it. Soldiers rushed out of the white car and opened the door for an officer, who moved with a puffed chest, as if he owned the border. None of the old people in the window had ever seen so many medals sparkling on a single chest, and a cacophony of animated arguments, pushes and shoves, erupted over what they were for, and how he could move his legs in such overly starched trousers.

The UN officer approached the fence and talked with the Israeli Colonel, until a convoy arrived from the Jordanian side. A Jordanian General emerged from an armored car and approached the fence. With shouting and a great deal of hand movements, the sides communicated over the many rolls of barbwire that separated the countries. Eventually, the three sent their soldiers to stand back, while they started moving the wires aside, making their way towards each other through the slippery dirt. As they didn't have gloves on, it was a painful job, and the occasional rude word turned into a flood when the UN officer spotless uniform got caught in the barbwire and ripped. He was French.

When they finally found the teeth stuck deep in the mud, a new discussion erupted. The Jordanian General pointed his walking staff at the soldiers and then at the teeth and back at the soldiers. The UN officer, clearly upset, argued vehemently. The Israeli Colonel, ignoring the two, simply bent forward, plucked the teeth from the mud and waved them triumphantly. On both sides, everyone cheered and clapped. That is, everyone except for the UN officer. He was still in a foul mood, shouting at his poor soldiers even when they drove off.”

The old people secured back the metal shutters. One by one they reclined on their straw mattresses in the room lit by a single dim yellow bulb. They were happy. That night they would have something to dream about.

Every spring leads to winter; in Egypt it may skip summer altogether

In a typical convoluted Arab political logic, a senior Egyptian source blamed Israel that the raid of the mob on its embassy in Cairo did not yield the desired results.

A senior Egyptian security source said that the room which the mob was able to breach in the embassy's first floor was left unsecured, and the documents that were found there were "worthless."

"This was a trap for those who broke into the room, so Israel could drag Egypt into a diplomatic crisis by claiming that the embassy was compromised," the source maintained.

Many in the west have called it the Arab Spring.

Egypt, Israel, and how not to solve problems

The internal problems that infest Egypt are likely to lead the country into a chaos or religious tyranny. Yet, in a typical Middle East fashion, a million people are now called into the streets to protest against the relationship with Israel – the only country in the region that free economic relationship may help Egypt break out of its cycle of illiteracy and poverty.

Israel has nothing to do with the social problems in Egypt, nor with the killings in Libya or the massacre in Syria. But after nearly a century in which the Arab world (with the moral support of many of the western countries) has blamed Israel for all their problems, it’s hard to drop old habits and start taking responsibility. But unless they do, the future they are facing will be graver than the past they fought to leave behind.

A naive question about Israel, Gaza and hypocrisy

The Rafah Crossing

The Israeli attack on the flotilla to Gaza has heated up emotions around the globe. But leaving emotions aside, the Gaza situation raises many question. 

The first one that comes to mind, is about the siege itself.  Because, while Israel is condemned for the marine siege of Gaza, a territory from which thousands of rockets have been launched onto Israel cities, Gaza has another border, a border with Egypt. Rafah is the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. However, except for a few short periods, the crossing has been closed since 2007. 

Egypt, a country of brothers to the Palestinians, has stopped any access to Gaza. Do they have a reason that Israel doesn’t? Why don’t we see attempts to break the into Gaza through the Egyptian border? Why aren’t they condemned? 

A great moment for English democracy

Is the entire political system corrupt? Can we find senior politicians who do not view those who elected them as means of filling their own pockets? 

At last, the free media is fulfilling its role as the guardian of democracy, waking the public up. Politicians have nowhere to hide.

Unlike 'normal' times, this time we didn’t buy into their excuses, fake regrets, or meaningless apologetic gestures. This time the media and the public demand justice. And the way that thing progress, there might even be justice.

Democracy is not about getting things right; it’s about changing them when they go wrong.

So whatever happens next, we must make sure that transparency, accountability, and most of all free speech and media remain part of the English culture. This is the only safeguard we have, and neither anti-terrorist laws, nor any other ill conceived policies should limit this right. This is something we must always fight for.

This is a great moment in English democracy. Let’s make sure that neither the public nor the media give up. Things can get better – but only if we cared.

The Queen of the Porn

Why is everyone so upset that Jacqui Smith used tax payers’ money to rent porn videos? After all, don’t we want her healthy and cheerful? Maybe then she’ll start doing some proper work.

Instead of paying back the money, as she’s offered, she should give the videos to those who paid for them, and make it public. It’s our right, as good tax-paying citizens, to know what turns on those we put in power.

If I ever tried to claim porn on company expense, I would be escorted out, without even a chance to clear my desk, so I am trying to imagine how could she have mistaken her porn expenses as official? Is it just possible that she simply claims all her expenses.

It’s sickening to hear that whenever any of our gangsters is caught claiming benefits for something that a normal person would be jailed for, they claim that they didn’t break any law. Of course they didn’t – they make the law. This is exactly what a corrupt government is, a government that makes the rules for the benefit of the government.

It’s corrupt, it’s immoral but it’s legal. We call it democracy. England seems to have deteriorated from a role model of democracy to a corrupt regime, whose only role is to protect itself. How much lower can we go?

To Porn Or Not To Porn

It’s heart worming to learn that the Gallant Mr. Brown feels that those who abuse the expense system should apologies. Severe punishment indeed. Let's cancel the legal system, and replace it with letter of apology.  What saving that would be to the tax-payer. Why should I pay a traffic fine, if I can apologize to the policeman.?

And to a nearly completely different matter: I am glad to see that the house has taken measures to ensure that such unpleasant incidents will never happen again. From now, MPs will be allowed a few days to edit their receipts before they become public.

It’s already clear that they’ll be allowed to delete vendor names from their receipts (so we will not know that they used tax payers money to watch porn) and the date (so we will not know that they charged two hotels in different part of the country on the same day). What else will they be allowed to delete -- the amount? Why not? After all, they make the laws. Whatever they say can’t be illegal.

Accountability and transparency, this is what the head of our gang has promised to legislate into the post-credit-crisis economy. I am glad to see that in his own house he does not practice what he  preaches. For a moment I got worried.

Accountability

With all the newly suggested internet policies, Brown the Brave said that “we are ushering in a new world of accountability in which parents, patients and local communities shape services”. But what about Governments Mr. Brown? When will they be held accountable for anything?

What about your government?

Trust the government

Prisoners released early from jail have been paid in compensation for losing free board and lodging.

This is the latest of the government policy kitchen. I have a few suggestions:

1. Why don’t we cancel jails altogether? Instead, we will have our courts pay criminals for the time they do not spend in jail?

2. Even better, why don’t we cancel the judicial system, and have the police (now wearing new red uniform with big white beard) hand cash directly to criminals: cash for not being sent to jail, and the profit from eliminating the court system.

3. This can be followed by cancelling the police as well. Instead, we can put money boxes in the street; boxes which only criminals would be allowed to take money from. We will make it illegal for non-criminals will never touch the money. So if they do, they would be breaking the law, and hence entitled to it.

Iceland, terrorism and the emergence of racism

I got responses to my previous posting, blaming the Icelandic people for the current crisis. As it seems to be common theme, I feel that it warrants a new post.

I agree that it's only natural that you should feel frustrated when someone who owes you money does not give it back. But these ‘Icelandic pirates’, as some call them, did nothing that our own banks, and most other banks around the world did not do.

The Icelandic banks have never pretended to be safer than they really were. It’s not the role of the bank to tell us how safe it is. Banks are regulated by international standards, audited by international auditors, and rated by external rating agencies. All the above practices should be questioned. But as for the Icelandic banks, they followed these practices just like HBOS, Northern Rock or RBS; otherwise they would not have been allowed to operate in the UK.

This is commercial reality; when you lend money, there is always a chance that you will not get it back. The higher the risk, the higher the return, and if you want risk free investment, you get a low risk free rate.

Why do you think the Icelandic banks were so attractive? Because they offered higher rate. Why did they offer higher rate? Because, at the time, they were considered more risky than our own banks. They did not lie; they worked within the international and UK laws imposed on them. They did not even run into bigger troubles than our own banks; only that their government does not have the size of population it can tax to bail them out.

If it’s done illegally, there should be a court case and some may go to jail. If, on the other hand, it is done by the accepted commercial standards (as this is most likely the case now), then you become a creditor and stand in the queue together with all other creditors.

This, of course, is different when money is given by shark loans. Then if you can’t pay back you should expect to end with broken knees and new holes in your body. But is this the reason we created anti-terror laws, so that we can do whatever we want with anyone we do not like or have a dispute with? I surely hope not. I would not like to live in such a country. I don’t think most of us would.

As for the Icelandic people, the situation is devastating to them as much as the financial failure is devastating to the average person here. The crisis was caused by all of us, the governments and institutions of the developed world. The crisis will be felt by all of us, the tax payers of all these countries.

It’s only natural that in times of hardship racism and separatism raise their heads. I surely hope that this time will be different. Sadly, it does not seem so.

My dear cucumber

One good thing that came out of the hike in food prices is that the EU has agreed to ditch the law controlling the curvature of cucumbers. If you were not aware, until now it was illegal to sell bent cucumbers.

My xxx imagination is working overtime. How did such a law come into being? Who suggested the law in the first place, and what was going through his or her mind? So the good news is that now we can all choose our cucumbers the shape we like them.

Let’s not let the EU take away our most fundamental liberties. Well done Irish voters.

Trust the news: crime and savings

"Automated phone system should be brought in to report crimes. This would save money and ease pressure on the police."

In a time when violent crime sores, the question should be how to prevent and fight crime effectively, not how to cut cost. After all, if cutting cost was our objective, we could get the police off our streets and let citizens defend themselves. Then to justify the money that goes to the legal system, we can arrest those citizens who harm criminals while trying to protect themselves. Alternatively, we can get rid of the legal system too. After all, if we can’t put in jails those sent there by the legal system, why bother at all?

Another option may be to privatise the police force. This seems to work very well in many third world countries. Pay your own policemen policy will clearly improve our GDP and create new business opportunities, especially if we make it tax deductible. If we save the government a great deal of money, don't we deserve some back?

On the other hand, why don’t we get rid of the government and use the money wasted on politician to pay the police. At least I know what the role of the police should be, something I can’t confidently say about the government.

I am a bank owner!!!

Can anyone tell me what it means that Northern Rock will be bought into ‘public ownership’? Am I, as part of the public, an owner? Can I get dividend when the bank starts making money again? Can I  sell my shares, my part of the ownership?

What a misnomer; what a spin!

All it really means is that they will use my money to buy something I cannot use or enjoy. And some would claim that the capitalist democratic world is what we should impose on everyone.

God help them all.

Trust the news

Nuclear clean up cost hit £73bn, was reported merely a few weeks after the government promised that 'Taxpayers will pay nothing to go nuclear'

Without expressing any opinion about nuclear energy, I still have 1uestions:

• Will it be only future investment in nuclear that will not cost anything?
• Will will the private companies running the facilities leave the nuclear waste in place for the time being, and bail out once they are asked to clean it, when it become too expensive -- just the way they did with the privatization of the trains?
• Can we make official deceit illegal, punished by sending the offenders to Baghdad? It was their deceit that got us there after all.