3rd December 2015 - Of Fools and Foolishnessness..

Thought for the day: "It is only when a mosquito lands upon your testicles that you realise that there is always a way to solve problems without violence "

I found a post from a friend  who was concerned about the way that we are heading in th BIG world, and wanted to add some views as an individual ...   I am not sure that his views are better or worse than anyone else - and in reality I very rarely read deeply enough to worry .... but here was an opinion   - and I decided to copy it and post..

Devilstick Peat - his views:

Foolish thoughts of a foolish fool

Yes, the atrocities carried out by ISIL are horrific, nearly as horrific as the murder by sanctions that, for 12 years, you and I, carried out on the children of Iraq. Murders so numerous that several top UN officials resigned citing genocide (not that it stopped us). An attempt at genocide that played no small part in forming their belief that it is necessary to destroy us to survive.

Will the killing of more innocent children destroy an ideology born in part from our own violent past, or strengthen their resolve just as Paris has strengthened the resolve of the French?

I can only think of one example of violence beating terrorism. The assault upon the Tamil tigers by the Sri Lankan government. The mass extermination of innocent lives and mass detention of the surviving tamil population needed to beat the tamil tigers quite rightly resulted in international condemnation and clearly breached international laws regarding the protection of civilians.

The IRA, FARC, THE SHINING LIGHT all these stopped fighting only when they and their enemies agreed to talk. Even the violence of Irgun, the Stern Group and nelson Mandela's ANC were resolved not by war, but by dialogue and compromise.

But it's a sad fact of human nature that two opposing sides will sit down and talk only when they have exhausted all other means.
 
And as someone who has personally seen the effects of "precision bombing" I am sad.
I'm Sad for the bereaved widows, parents and children I've spoken to. Sad for the unknown child who's only remains was a shadow scorched into solid concrete by our "precision bombing".
I ran my hand over that shadow and am not ashamed to say I openly wept as I gazed upon his gravestone, a stone hidden amongst the gravestones of the other 400 innocent victims of that one "precision bombing".

There's an old saying; "those that do not remember the past, are condemned to repeat it". In most peoples case it is not a matter of forgetting how we got to this stage. Its more a case of believing the lies, for the responsibility of accepting the truth and our part in it would, for most of us so called "civilized people" be too hard to bear.

This is from a friend who is better known for his performance as a Jester and  Comedian and Magician - Children's entertainer par excellence ( with attitude!!)

So I share another side of Devilstick Peat ..

He would like to go back - but costs prevent him - I think that sometime in the future I may arrange such a trip ...  seems like a plan ...

Meanwhile to put the whole thing into some context... apparently ..

So -the story so far..

If in case it was all too confusing for you, here's a summary:

President Assad (who is bad) is a nasty guy who got so nasty his people rebelled and the Rebels (who are good) started winning (hurrah!).
But then some of the rebels turned a bit nasty and are now called Islamic State (who are definitely bad!) while some continued to support democracy (who are still good.)

So the Americans (who are good ) started bombing Islamic State (who are bad ) and giving arms to the Syrian Rebels (who are good ) so they could fight Assad (who is still bad) which was good.

There is a breakaway state in the north run by the Kurds who want to fight IS (which is good) but the Turkish authorities think they are bad, so the U.S. says they are bad while secretly thinking they're good and giving them guns to fight IS (which is good) but that is another matter.

Getting back to Syria.

So President Putin (who is bad because he invaded Crimea and the Ukraine and killed lots of folks, including that nice Russian man in London with polonium poisoned sushi, has decided to back Assad (who is still bad) by attacking IS (who are also bad ) which is sort of a good thing (!?).

But Putin (still bad) thinks the Syrian Rebels (who are good) are also bad, and so he bombs them too, much to the annoyance of the Americans (who are good) who are busy backing and arming the rebels (who are also good).

Now Iran (who used to be bad, but now they have agreed not to build any nuclear weapons with which to bomb Israel are now good) are going to provide ground troops to support Assad (still bad) as are the Russians (bad) who now have ground troops and aircraft in Syria.

So a Coalition of Assad (still bad) Putin (extra bad) and the Iranians (good, but in a bad sort of way) are going to attack IS (who are bad which is good, but also the Syrian Rebels (who are good) which is bad.

Now the British (obviously good, except that silly anti-Semite who leads the Labour Party, Mr. Corbyn in the corduroy jacket, who is bad) and the Americans (also good) cannot attack Assad (still bad) for fear of upsetting Putin (bad) and Iran (good/bad) and now they have to accept that Assad might not be that bad after all compared to IS (super bad -- see Paris, November 2015).

So Assad (bad) is now probably good, being better than IS and, because Putin and Iran are also fighting IS, that may now make them good. America (still good) will find it hard to arm a group of rebels being attacked by the Russians for fear of upsetting Mr. Putin (now good) and that nice mad Ayatollah in Iran (also good?) and so they may be forced to say that the Rebels are now bad, or at the very least abandon them to their fate. This will lead most of them to flee to Turkey and on to Europe or join IS (still the only consistently bad).

To Sunni Muslims an attack by Shia Muslims (Assad and Iran) backed by Russians will be seen as something of a Holy War. Therefore, the ranks of IS will now be seen by the Sunnis as the only Jihadis fighting in the Holy War and hence many Muslims will now see IS as good (duh).
Sunni Muslims will also see the lack of action by Britain and America in support of their Sunni rebel brothers as something of a betrayal (might have a point?) and hence we will be seen as bad.

So now we have America (now bad) and Britain (also bad) providing limited support to Sunni Rebels (bad ) many of whom are looking to IS (good/bad ) for support against Assad (now good) who, along with Iran (also good) and Putin (now, straining credulity, good ) are attempting to retake the country

Assad used to run before all this started.

Got it?

Meanwhile - back on home ground - safe from bombs and terrorists, safe from bankers and MI6.. the advertising campaigns of the Christmas 2015 - ratchet up another notch in the battle for "caring" for the elderly.. so the Germans go for ..
.

and so - after two installation ceremonies - one for Scarlet Cord and one for Secret Monitor .. I shall relax for a few minutes and drink a glass of Chateau 41..

Cheers!!

So, if we are not worried about the world wide situation - let's get back to decent re-enactment - and so this becomes very relevant

Cheers