…And the Whole World Goes Blind

There has been so much killing, caused as a punishment for other killing, there have been so many murders. that the cause of all these deaths is now hard to discern. We can know the immediate cause of the deaths of nearly 300 Russians who were blown up when returning from holiday in Egypt, or the immediate cause of the 126 people who were murdered in Paris, but not the root causes of these events which are shrouded in the thick fog of history and as such open to misinterpretation or complete misunderstanding.

A Calm Day in London

It is a calm day in London but elsewhere in the world there is much turbulence. In South Carolina,

“X” Marks the Spot

Traditionally “X” marked the spot where there is hidden treasure on an old treasure map. Old treasure maps have all been lost or faded into nothing but now “X” will mark different things on maps.

Patriots, Freedom and Paperwork

Mr Edward Snowden, now presently under asylum protection in the Federation of Russia, seems to have made his point. Certain provisions of the Patriot Act expired and were not renewed. Instead, The USA has passed what they call the Freedom Act (another name which sends a chill down my spine) enabling it to get telephone information by warrant issued by a court or metadata after submitting relevant keywords to the telephone companies.

Greek Debt and the Pipeline

While the European Commission are trying to reach agreement with Greece over the repayment of its debt and Greece is trying to resist European calls for more austerity measures which will inflict more hardship on the Greek people, it is interesting to note that the only positive news for Greece which will create jobs and help the nation towards prosperity comes in the form of a Greek deal with Russia over energy.

Russia in Cyprus

Cyprus has now agreed to allow the Russian Navy to use its ports and is in discussions with the Russian Federation to use Cypriot airports to provide a base for Russian aircraft that are involved in providing humanitarian relief. 

Free Trade Becomes Less Free

Free trade has been the mantra of all major economies for many years. Of course many economies protect their markets subtly, and free trade does not stop governments from adjusting things like environmental and tax laws in order to favour their own businesses, but nevertheless there is less protection of domestic industries now than there has ever been.

The Puzzle of MH17

I have been trying to get my head around what actually happened when flight MH17 was blown down over rebel held areas in the Ukraine. It is hard for me to understand the motivation that any side in the conflict has for bringing down a civilian airliner carrying passengers far above the war zone. such an act would bring worldwide universal condemnation and would bring such reprisals as would make the angels weep.

No Spoon is Long Enough

Two hundred and ninety eight souls were remaindered yesterday when a Malaysian Airline passenger plane was shot down over the Ukraine by a surface to air missile. There are several suspects for this outrage and who do not know which group, whether pro Russian or pro Ukrainian was responsible for it. Eventually we might find a specific group and even specific persons who, whether deliberately or by mistake shot down a passenger plane containing people who had nothing to do with their cause or conflict and was simply carrying people from the Netherlands to Malaysia and happened to be flying, somewhat in-advisably, over Ukrainian Air Space.

Sly Secret Briefings and Nudges and Winks

It is all rather odd. A few months ago the news media in the United Kingdom was full of stories about Crimea and the Ukraine; no one had actually died there, but we were given the impression that the Western Democracies would intervene with military might to prevent Russia annexing parts of the Ukraine or that at least serious economic sanctions would be imposed on Russia. There then followed Russia taking the Crimea from Ukraine, and major cities in the east of Ukraine being taken over by people who wanted to transfer those cities to Russia, fighting broke out, more than a hundred people died and rebel groups were formed but all the bellicose noise from the Western Democracies stopped.