South African Shootings. Russian Punks. IKEA.

The indiscriminate shooting of South African mine workers protesting over poor conditions and wages was a step back to the days of apartheid. Admittedly, some of the workers were armed, albeit with spears and machetes. To shoot thirty of them was barbarous in the extreme. The BBC news story this morning is laying the blame solely at the feet of the workers. No surprise there. No attempt to actually investigate the incident, just spouting the official line. They really are a disgrace to the name journalism. It will be interesting to see what action is taken over this.
I have been doing a bit of research into the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot case. My opinion is that the whole thing is a huge publicity stunt. I have tried to watch a couple of videos on youtube and they are absolutely appalling. To a certain extent the stunt has worked because the bands music sales have soared throughout the world. The down side is that some of them could be going to jail. I think they should all be going to jail, not for what they did, but for inflicting their so called music on to us.
On a lighter note, IKEA are planning to open a chain of budget hotels. I can just imagine booking in at reception and being handed a flat pack and being told to build your room yourself. Perish the thought. Till next time.

Julian Assange Granted Political Asylum.

Julian Assange has been granted political asylum by the Ecuadorian government. The first place the government post this important news is on twitter. They can't even be bothered to make an official statement in front of the UK news cameras. Well Cameron, your governments bluff has been called. The empty threat to storm the embassy was just that, empty, just like your brain Cameron. The Ecuadorian government have acted with integrity and transparency at all times in this matter. They even offered the Swedish government access for them to come to the UK to question Mr. Assange. They refused. The reason for this is as I expect, that the case they have  is flimsy in the extreme or, it is a totally fabricated case. Earlier in the year they sent officials to Serbia to question a suspected murderer. Why not in this case? Double standards is the answer. The US involvement is in my opinion, confirmed.
It is unlikely that the police will "storm" the embassy, they will probably mount a siege of sorts in the short term, but in the longer term, who knows. Going by Cameron's past handling  of crises, he will do a complete U-turn. Thankfully, Julian Assange has some breathing space and hopefully he can be spirited away to carry on his work. Till next time.

Julian Assange. Israel. Extradition.

Today, the UK government reached a new height of stupidity. It was announced that if Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, who is seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, is not sent out to be arrested by the police, they will force an entry in order to arrest him. It is about time that this farce was ended once and for all. it is widely known that the charges the Swedish government have brought against him are completely false and it is just an excuse to hand him over to the US authorities. If the police do actually storm the embassy, it will have serious repercussions for UK embassies throughout the world.
An article in the Israeli, Haaretz newspaper says that hundreds of Israelis have signed an on line petition urging Israeli Defence Force pilots to refuse to carry out orders to bomb Iran. This is just part of growing opposition to Israeli government policy. Street protests have been taking place for the last year or so but it is not reported in the lamestream media. Ordinary Israelis are beginning to realise that a strike on Iran would not go unpunished. Iran is well armed and has the capability to strike back. I don't think that the US actually wants Israel to carry out it's threat, at least not until the Syrian crisis is settled.
On the 24th February, Christopher Tappin, a retired UK businessman was extradited to the US on charges of selling batteries to Iran. The US say that these batteries could be used as components of surface to air missiles, Mr. Tappin says that he was lead to believe that they would be used in the automotive industry. If found guilty, Mr. Tappin could spend the rest of his life in prison. This week, a UK bank, Standard Chartered, was fined around $300,000,000 for dealing with among others, Iran, Libya, Burma. Yes, you read it right, they were fined, no one was arrested. Where is the justice? The answer is that where banks are concerned, there is no justice. Banks rule the world. The money involved in Standard Chartereds dealings were upwards of $250,000,000,000. Yes two hundred and fifty billion dollars. Double standards in the extreme. Till next time.

Taking a small break.

I will be off the air for a couple of weeks due to my wedding on Friday, 3rd. August, and then our honeymoon. I will be posting again from Tuesday 14th.

Origin of the Olympic torch relay.

The Olympic games opening ceremony takes place today. My question is, what have London 2012 and Berlin 1936 got in common? The answer is, one, the torch relay and, two, thousands of troops on the streets. The idea of a "torch relay" was introduced by Carl Diem, a German sports administrator. The torch relay was just that a relay of runners who carried the torch through Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia. The whole thing was filmed by the world renowned German director Leni Riefenstahl, and used for propaganda purposes by Josef Goebbels. He used it to show the world that Germany had risen from the ashes of the First World War and was prospering under Hitler's leadership. The torch relay for London 2012 has been used for the the same reasons. It has visited the most prosperous regions of the UK. That is understandable because the poorest places in the UK are becoming more akin to a third world country than a country with membership of the G8. Like Berlin 1936, we also have thousands of troops on the streets. This is the most militarised games since 1936, not as many personnel but, much more firepower, including a Helicopter Carrier, missile batteries and a high powered sonic weapon. Are they expecting trouble? Hang on a minute, I have forgotten the "war on terror" silly me. The one thing I will be watching for is if they carry out any drills or exercises. Both 911 and 7/7 took place at the same time as US authorities were exercising a scenario of flying planes into buildings and UK authorities were carrying out an exercise of a scenario of bombing the London underground and buses. Quite a coincidence you might think. The only thing is, I don't believe in coincidences. There is a whole raft of sites on the Internet with predictions of a terrorist attack during the Olympics. Most are just scaremongering but a few are just plain scary. I will let all who read this do there own research and make their own mind up. I hope London 2012 goes off without a hitch. Till next time.

Gun Control. Threat to the US constitution, or sensible move.

This is one of the most disgraceful pieces of video I have ever seen. For a mayor of a city (New York) to publicly call for the police force to go on strike is a crime against the citizens that live in that city. I actually think that he meant all police in the USA. As for the interviewer, Morgan is one of the most sleazy, so called journalists that has ever lived. Gun ownership in the US is written into the constitution in the second amendment. The right to bear arms. here in the UK it is against the law to have a gun unless one is vetted and  purchases a licence. The fact of the matter is, criminals will always get their hands on weapons. You can pass any gun control laws you like, they will still get guns. For saying what he said, Mayor Bloomberg should be removed from his post immediately.
One instance when carrying a gun saved lives occurred in the US a few days ago when a Mr Williams was in an internet cafe when two armed males entered the cafe and threatened to fire. Mr Williams pulled out his concealed handgun and fired at them. They understandably left in a hurry. If he had not been able to lawfully carry a gun, criminals, who pay no attention to the law could probably have ended the lives of the people in the cafe.
I realise that it is a sensitive issue and I don't mean to denigrate ordinary people who have been the victims of gun crime that are calling for tighter controls. I would just like everyone to take a step back and think the whole issue through. Knee jerk reactions seldom work. Till next time.

Yet more Olympic nonsense.

I hate to go on about the Olympics but, this yet another poorly thought out Olympic plan. This morning at six AM. specially designated "games lanes" came into operation. Drivers of vehicles who violate these lanes will be subject to fines of up to £130 or, if the vehicles are impounded, it will cost £200 to get them back. These lanes are primarily to allow Olympic officials and dignitaries travel quickly from their five star hotels in the Park Lane area of central London. How sensible. Instead of staying in hotels in the vicinity of the venues, tens of thousands of workers trying to get to their place of work will be inconvenienced so that a few so called dignitaries can take there free seats in the stadium in time. Yet another farce surrounding these corporate games.
The BBC are continuing there Psy Op, brainwashing exercise trying to convince us all that we are "gripped" by the Olympics. I for one am far from gripped by these games. The BBC can spout there corporate sponsored propaganda all they want. I became immune to marketing scams a long time ago. I will be keeping a weathered eye open to see the amount of bad news the government try to get out while a sizeable portion of the population are distracted by the Olympics. Till next time.