Let us all pretend at the same time!

 Anyone with any previous form & pedigree normally tends to be a little more snotty than the rest. For example in this country we have had all the kings & Queens & the heritage & culture that naturally comes with it. The same holds for the Italians, French, Swedes, Chinese, Japanese, Hindus, Egyptians, Persians & Palestinians.

  Normally, if you are born & bred at the same vicinity of your past generation then you claim certain rights over it. A bit like how London Cabbies think they own every street in London. A historical mandate is indeed the best way of looking at ownership of a whole land/nation. The Vikings have always been in Sweden/Norway & Denmark & are still there. I propose that we start a programme of "importing" Italians into Sweden & wait & see what happens. Shit will Happen!

  In 928 B.C. King Solomon built the Temple of Jerusalem which later formed the separated people of Judah & Israel! Prior to all this, the land called Palestine has records of human presence as early as 600,000 B.C. This in, normal, historical terms is perfectly normal. Different Kings come & go. They build & destroy, conquer & get defeated. Absolutely nothing unusual. The area in question has seen the likes of Assyrians, Greeks( Al the Great), The Romans, The first Crusade, The Ottomans, etc. All the while the "born & bred" somehow survive & it becomes another chapter in their history. In this case, however, there is this slight historical twist. Between 1903 & 1914 some 150,000 immigrants started arriving in this place called Palestine, mostly Eastern European. They were a mere 6% of the total population. Through sheer force & some very Dark colonial politics the immigrants continue coming & by 1922 the new Jewish population is 11% owning about 4% of the land. In fact the British Census of same year calculated the Arab population as 78%, Christians at 9.6% & the Jewish population at 11%.

  Imagine how confusing things must have been. All of the sudden the place is loaded with "foreigners". Its ironic that when the French came into this country how quickly they were chucked out. Then before you could say my name is "Mustafa from the West Bank", the British have dropped the Balfour declaration. There is another 250,000 influx of immigrants (by 1939) an organisation called Haganah & another called Irgon. These guys were basically there to irritate, beat & kill Arabs in order to establish a power base. The mandate for all this: a 3500 year historical mandate. Translation for stupid people like me, if you lived somewhere 3000 years ago, you can go back & take it, use force if you have to.

  As if all this was not bad enough the Second World War did not help the situation at all. With the Nazis murderers loose in Europe, there became a greater need to reform the Nation of Israel. In some way rightly so. What happened in the holocaust is as inexcusable as what happened in New York on Sept 11th 2001. But I guess they did not think the plan through enough. The whole region has been a continuous battle ground ever since the State of Israel was formed in 1948. However, it was during that same period that the Arabs were promised an independent State by the same liberators, the British, through the UN. Obviously some aspects did not materialise, such as the formation of some kind of Palestinian State. The two sides haven't really looked back since. They have been rocking with each other for ages. Skirmishes that led into full on invasions, into full on Genocides & blood baths. Both sides have been at each others throats, properly, for over 50 years. Things got funkier when, the internationally recognised United Nations passed 2 resolutions for Israel to leave not once but twice. Check it. They called it UN Resolution 242, 1967 & UN Resolution 338 1973. But the Israelis were going nowhere other than Lebanon. Funnily enough the current prime minister, Sharon, was pretty involved in the Sabra & Shatila massacres. But as he started getting older he decided to stop chasing Arabs with guns & got a job in politics. Oh well!

  From my layman point of view, things get nasty when kids start getting killed. When innocent bystanders get blown up. When an Army invades & destroys whole villages & communities & the rest of the world stands by playing with themselves. If you give one set of people to claim land by simply sticking a flag in that land, then you will face opposition. The locals are not going to like it. If we look at how long it has taken this country, and still a long way to go, to adapt to the West Indian & Asian cultures. It is truly heart breaking to see what goes on & yet one feels totally powerless to do anything other than condemn both sides for the cycle of violence that has escalated since 1948. This stuff is not recent. We have, our Western Governments, stood by & watched this for too long & been fed with the most ridiculous versions of the truth. If you are going to call one man a terrorist then don't forget that the other one also has a bit of form. The life of an Israeli child is as precious as an Arab child, English child or American child. But when the circumstances do nothing other than desensitise life itself then it is a different ball game.

  Both Arafat & Sharon have been in the business for long enough. They don't like each other. In fact, I think they hate one another. The difference being that Arafat has been the representative of the Palestinians since the 60's & Sharon has not. Arafat is supposed to go out there & find all these terrorists with Israeli tanks parked outside his home & office. If terrorist catching is such an easy task then the mighty US government would not be spending billions & committing 1000's of troops to find Bin Laden. Still no sign! These are excuses to actually dog the issue. When are these guys going to get their land & autonomy back & allowed to get on with their lives. They have been "born & bred" there after all. More than we can say for the advisor to the prime minister of Israel. He has the most amazing New York accent & is very pale in complexion. The right to a nation can not be by religion alone. If so then you have automatically opened the gateway for thugs from the other side, Jihad, Hamas & Al Queda groups. Let us not forget, that the popularity of the Moslem Fundamentalists grew after the Iranian Revolution, followed by the expulsion of the Soviets from Afghanistan. This was a double edged sword that is not currently working in anyone's favour, the Afghans, the Iranians, the Arabs in Iraq & Saudi, the Jewish in Israel & the Palestinians. Having said all this the price of oil is now some 20% cheaper than it was 20 years ago. Personally I rather walk than watch kids & innocent people, on both sides get killed for nothing.

K. Savage
17 December 2001

The Psyche Of Americanism!

 In order to fully understand any system you must immerse yourself in the system & operate within it. Einstein said! So who am I to argue with the genius. Since the September 11th events the whole world has been engulfed in what the US says, does, wants, etc, more than ever before. The United States is used to being at the top of most international news. But this time the whole show is theirs alone. Every word & act is scrutinised, analysed & then chewed back out again. For good reason too. This is the worlds most powerful economic & military nation. And they are pissed off. Really pissed off. Their current president is lacking in oratory skills & experience, even though the rest of the team is more experienced. Tricky stuff indeed.

 I have always had/maintained some kind of link with the States. The native American culture with their unfortunate demise & current situation, my ex-girlfriend from San Francisco, my sister in Florida & so on. The place always intrigued me as one of unnecessary consumer waste & overt patriotism. I had the chance of a one week break in Vegas recently felt compelled to go. It was a self invite to go & see the boxing match between Lewis & Rahman. I tell you I am no hard core boxing fanatic either. But figured that it will be a show & indeed it was totally spectacular.

 The first thing I noticed on this trip is the increased security & the presence of the Army/National Guards at the Airport. Understandable & necessary. Then you can not help but noticed the whole place is really covered in Stars & Stripes. Houses, cars, offices, hotels : every where is AMERICA FOREVER or GOD BLESS AMERICA. To the English too much flag waving is normally associated with the far right & idiots like Ian Paisley or the National Front. But in the States they are just regular Joe Public that are doing it. The main problem being that they are so far removed from all the normal trouble spots of the world that they can not understand nor comprehend why some one would attack them as they did. America is an insular & by large a conservative society. They are quite liberal as long as you go along their way of doing things. A bit like the Brits, Swedes, Germans, Swiss, French & the Italians. The difference being if they don't like something they make it known there & then. The Brits don't. They cuss you & deal with you behind your back. They like their country. They don't need to travel very much, well the President didn't. They have the weather, the land the lot. Every thing in America is with the home market(self) first. This is how they make foreign policy errors. They back the Israelis with out really understanding the other side. They also pretty much believe what ever CNN or 60 minutes tells them. The American Media is so good at their stuff that they can be almost convincing. They do not have face to face debates with questions being thrown at them, like our Question Time. The Us politician needs to know what he will be asked of first before he goes on air. The reporting of news & current affairs is definitely biased towards their system. But their system seems to work for them, on the surface. The average American consumer pays less than a third for their petrol. My Harley Davidson costs about £13-£14 to fill in the UK. The same thing in the US for the bike I hired cost about £3-4 . Then price of food, housing & any other consumer product you like to name. It is cheaper there. The roads are better. The houses are cheaper & easier to buy. Businesses are helped rather than hampered. The United States of America is capitalism at its best & ugliest at the same time. They know the rules of this particular game & not ashamed to play. We tend to play this game only when it suits. One minute we want National health next we want to de-nationalise every thing. We tax ourselves to death & then have to end up paying for everything all over again privately. The Vat rate in Nevada is about 4-5%. I guess we will be waving a whole bunch of flags too if we were given all this. If you use the old models then you can see why they flourished in the way that they have. They believe in investment & not half measures. If the Dome thing had happened in the US the whole Nation would have got off their arses to go & visit it to ensure commercial success. We decide to dismiss things from our arm chairs. Having said all this the American economy is showing some nasty/unhealthy signs. The current budget set By the Bush administration showed a marginal surplus. But mainly due to the fact that he brought the corporation tax collection date forward by a year. So on paper it looked as if he got money. We had this in the UK. It was called Thatcherism. It took them, with great reluctance, 6 months to admit that they are actually in a recession. The average American is not happy about all this at all & take it all very personally. We just pay & growl & bitch. They are a very result & performance oriented society & do not mind kicking their presidents butt if he ain't cutting it. Democracy of sorts I guess.

 The American Dream encourages & thrives on success, hard work & challenges. These guys had nothing a mere hundred years ago. It was the Wild Wild West & they had to get the place to run, operate & function as a nation. This they have done brilliantly. They certainly have more than we do. But god help you if you are not in the money in the good old US of A. That is when things go wrong. Horribly wrong. Apart from the inability of providing for your lot. The rest of the society shuns you. Basically you is a loser, no matter how intelligent you is. Not good for the arty farties we love & cherish in here so much.

 During this particular excursion I hired a Harley & just chucked around from village to village in southern Arizona. The original Wild West. I went to the smallest Country Western Bars & met some incredibly cool & loving people. In a movie they will be stereotyped as hill billies & red necks. In real life they are nice regular boys & girls who happen to love the town or village they live in. Not one person said anything negative about their home towns, some with populations of 1100 or so. They went out of their way to show us around their pad. Invited us back for longer & so on. Not very different to the Peruvian, Brazilian or Asian boys & girls I met in the past. The best way of connecting with them is to merge with them & then discuss the issues & not automatically dismiss everything they have. You will be told to fuck off, loud & clear. What the American Administration gets involved in has little to do with what the regular American does. A bit like what the Royals do in here is not remotely representative of what we do. Give them a break & pressurise the corresponding governments for their fuck ups!

K. Savage
29 November 2001

YOU MAY BE DISTURBED

 Imagine or visualise this: a human being's, homosapien variety, head cut off then petrol poured into their stomach & set on fire. The blood is gushing out of the beheaded body & everyone around the body celebrates the " Dead Man Dance". "WELCOME TO THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE". Not convinced. Okay, try this then: a bunch of human beings, still the homosapien variety, locked up together in a steel cargo container left for days in the blistering desert heat to literally cook in the oven. "WELCOME TO THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE".

 I do not think that any of us can even begin to comprehend the level of cruelty that the nutters in Afghanistan can impose on one another. The problem is that they have being doing exactly this for the past 6 years. The other problem is that they are supposed to be "allies". I really fucking hope not. I do not want to be associated with deranged murderers. Thank you very much. But our beloved press is constantly painting a great picture of these guys, or as much as they can get away with anyway. The main reason is that they have not access to the Taliban held areas. So it is quite natural for them to write nicer stuff about their current hosts, I suppose.

 The current advances by the Northern Alliance has been really intriguing me. At first we had the secretary of State chucking around into Pakistan, Uzbekistan & foreign secretary into Iran. Then Before you know it the Northern Alliance comes marching up & down with a bunch of crispy new camo uniforms, a whole load of tanks( all marked in English numbers, not local lingo), more rocket launchers. Basically looking more like an Army now than they did two weeks ago. Indeed at that time the attacks were being carried out on horse back & not modern imported military vehicles. In fact the Afghans have always squabbled within their territory in this way. That's probably why we never heard of them before. Until we decided the arm them, heavily against the Soviets & we all know the story from then on. In effect the West is totally responsible for the cause of imbalance here & now it is our turn to address the imbalance to an extent that more lives, the innocent type, will be lost.

 The options for us, as human beings, is limited but straight forward. We can not allow Taliban, Bin Laden or Northern Alliance, supported by Iran all these years, to hold any kind of power what so ever. It is not even a matter of if they are going to behave. They can not behave. The primitive tribal hatred that has existed for centuries is the reason why we should not supply arms to these groups. Forget your dollars, shareholders & economics. The situation is getting rather revolting here. As individuals we can actually exert enough pressure on our politicians to ensure they get this one particular scenario once. Maybe I am naive, but one can only hope & stay positive.

 The Afghanistan needs a long period of stabilisation, through the UN (what ever that is worth), or some international local force, that can maintain & form a basic government & regain a sense of normality. A thug is a thug is a thug. What ever we choose to call them. Just because they are serving our purposes & are on our side it does not mean we have to accept them in any form or shape what so ever.

K. Savage
14th November 2001

Choo choo train is not acoming!

 As if there was not enough insanity going on around us. Its time for the Rail Track boys to get sorted once & for all. This is a company that was created out of the depths of Thatcherism in 1996, under the John Major government. The point in this country's history where all of our national industries, ie. our assets, were being denationalised & floated on the stock exchange for a quick buck. Having utilised tax payers money for decades to end up with the best Railway network in the world the tories concluded that the "market knows best". Question: if the "market knows best" then why doesn't the fucking market invest the huge amounts that the state invests into these industries. The answer to the question of "the market knows best" is : "only when they can make a quick killing".

 The privatisation of British Rail in May 1996 was a blinding coup for all the tory boys. The company was undervalued by half, to the tune of mere £2 billion with shares going out £3.90. Nice touch said every Essex plasterer who had already done this a few times with the London Electricity privatisation, British Gas & so on. All you gotta do mate is get down the share shop buy a couple of grands worth & go back & flog it 2 months later & bosh, you just made a nice little earner. Market forces. I doubt it very much. Even the mostest tory, a dead one now, McMillan, bitched at the government saying that you can not continue selling the family silver for ever. Meanwhile, back at the ranch the Rail track shares rocketed to over £17.90 within the first 12 months. Good heavens, life is great if you are a share holder doing fuck all. At that point in the history of Rail track the share holders were laughing their heads off & not giving a penny back to the government for the initial under valuation. They couldn't you see, because it is a private company with millions of shares.

 The current situation is a total contradiction of the very definition of private business. The rise & fall of a private business will remain private & under the control of the private investors. But right now they want the government to bail them out to the tune of £1.4 billion between now & March next year. How nice would it be if all of us could rely on the government to bail us out of our overdrafts, investment plans/expenditure, wage bills, etc. My other question here is this: Are the tories really mad & stupid or are they just pretending? Why should anyone, this includes the government, give you a vast amount of money & not have any control over it. The government has not said they are not prepared to invest in the railway system. They just don't want to give you money for nothing. If an investor came into my world, I certainly hope they don't, then I expect them to have certain control over things. the government has stated that it will do the expenditure & run & manage it because its their money. If you don't want it then go to your city boys & raise the damn £1.4 billion yourself. So if you want to call this privatisation through the back door then it is. I prefer to see it as a private company that has failed miserably to perform its obligations which is now holding the begging bowl out & hoping to get a few scarps. The arrogance of it makes me laugh. We got to remember that Rail track was infact making about £138 million a day in gross profits & stayed ever so private. In addition they offered absolutely no support nor condolences to the victims when they had the consecutive train crashes. They just jumped about chasing their own tails & quickly dumping their shares. Put another way "market forces" does not/can not recognise human aspects of situations because it is primarily involved with the preservation of profit for its investors & shareholders.

 As a point of principle certain things cannot be effectively in private hands or subject of "market forces". National Railway transport is one. The other examples are the Health Service, Royal Mail, Utility companies like gas, water & electricity. You can not believe the night mare you would have to go through right now if you wanted to deal with London Electricity, British gas or Thames water. It is essentially the most backward way of doing things through 3 different contractors, accounts, etc. Ask the guys that actually work in these companies & they would tell you how they would love to have just the one company to deal with things. The privatisation of the railways was a disaster because it has to service non-profitable sectors in certain areas of the country as opposed to the very profitable sectors like the Birmingham-London route. Can you imagine if the tories had been re-elected then we will be sitting here trying to unravel the National Health, Royal Mail & god knows what else. No, lets re-nationalise the railway system just for the sake of accountability. If the government fucks it up with our tax money then we can boot them out at the elections. And thats what I call " people forces" which to me is a hell of a lot more effective than "market forces|".

K. Savage
12th October 2001

ONE MONTH AND COUNTING

 Since the 11th Sept 2001 we have all had the misfortune of witnessing & listening to most obscene images, conversations & points of view.

 Well it's not easy for anyone to really comprehend the gravity of the actual event. From as early as the second day after the WTC attacks I started seeing the usual media manipulation. Oh yes the circus went into full swing. You will remember that the president of the US was hopping from bunker to bunker instead of getting his butt over to the scene of the crime. At the same time making threats that could not possibly nor realistically be achieved. Each time they are asked about evidence against Bin Laden it became a matter of national security. The trail back to the Taliban is also a matter of national & international security. However, we have had 4 weeks of pointing the finger at the Bin Laden group. We have repeated this old fools' name enough time & now have given Mr. Bin Laden an international status he does not deserve. He is a criminal that is supported & housed by a bunch of other thugs & criminals, the Taliban, which have been trained & armed by the CIA via Pakistan. Each & everyone of them deserve nothing less than capital punishment.

 We now have to deal with anthrax scare stories, security alerts about further attacks & so on. All of these statements & stories are designed to distract us from the real debate & more importantly give the impression that our elected representatives are doing something. Because something needs to be done. Right here & right now. The real issue, from my point of view, is to examine the evidence. Ascertain ,honestly & objectively those responsible & bring them to justice. We are not getting any of this though. Instead its more like a damage limitation exercise. The sort of things that big global corporations do when they have spilled 10 billion gallons of crude oil into the sea.

 Have you all noticed how Tony Blair has actually ended up as the most sensible one through out this whole scenario. First he had to reclarify the presidential position, interview with CNN, by actually recognising that going to war with another nation normally requires a declaration of the same: Geneva Convention. He then stated that we are at war with the terrorists. Well done mate. We have been at war with terrorists in the UK for the past 25-30 years. Then he was very quick to go out there & spell out, in no uncertain terms, that the war & the issue was with the Taliban & not the Arabs or Moslems. He also told us that we can not possibly expect to get & apply the same rules of evidence that may work in a court of law to get these terrorists. Maybe because its weak! The prime minister was also the first one to actually do an interview with the influential Arab TV network, Al Jazeera, who CNN claims, continuously, to be mates with Bin Laden. Maybe its because its an Arab network which appeals to Bin Laden. The US government asked the TV networks in the US not to show the Bin Laden interview, or rather pre recorded tapes. The only person who has actually tried to calm the situation with any real resolve & objectivity has been Tony Blair. And rightly so. Yesterday he was in Oman dining with the soldiers at their canteen eating the same food. We don't see Bush doing that now? Do we? The real politicians have always lived in England. In fact the book of politics was written by the English.

 On the other hand, we have the likes of Mr. Sheron, PM of Israel. What a nutter he is. Since he opened his fat gob about not appeasing to the Arabs as it was done with the Nazis in 1938, he has taken a back seat. Ex premiers & Isreali heavy weight politicians have had to apologies for him & he has not been on TV since. The Americans were quite right to take public offence to the fool's comments & told us directly that his comments were unacceptable. Mr Sheron is a "goner" so far as I can see. Why, because he has actually forgotten the roots of his country, created by the British & the Americans. Without the American political, military & economic aid Isreal would not exist as it does today. You do not bite the hand that feeds you. A very bad move. One week later, ie today (I think) ,I caught a small mention on one of the satellite channels. Sheron's son has been accussed of messing about with money during the Israeli elections, regarding funding etc. They claimed this to be "illegal" in Israel & this link will go back to him. He will have to be sacked, obviously, & a new prime minister elected. Maybe one that holds more considered views. The new PM will meet with the Palestinians, won't bark at the Us or try & cancel meetings with the foreign minister of England. Good bye Mr. Sheron! Good bye Taliban! You are both one of the same evil. Because once the issue of middle east is resolved properly, & it will, then the existence of Bin Laden or Taliban becomes a redundant issue. Tony Blair mentioned this as an important factor in achieving stability in the Middle East, whilst chatting with yet another dodgy regime in the area. Egypt's President Mubarak. The irony is that our current Arab/Moslem allies are infact proper dictatorships. Pakistan is really not a democratic society under the military regime of the Generals. Saudi Arabia is still engaged with the same human rights records that are really not that different to the Taliban. They cut hands, chop heads, women's rights are almost non existent. We can see how we are now friends with the Northern Alliance. Same thugs different faces.

 I am just so relieved that there exists, in this insane situation, people like Colin Powell & Tony Blair. We all recall the initial instictive reactions from Bush. "we are gonna git these folks", "we'll smoke 'em out" & more & more poetic rhetoric. The presidential banter has now been carefully monitored & toned down to take the word view & the bigger picture into account. In a way I feel for the President. To get all this thrown at you & then your whole nation & indeed the world waiting for your reaction that must work for everyone is the toughest thing in the world. Right now he is going on about Evil Saddam. Why not pick him off whilst in the area. The nation wants blood. The red necks want revenge. Why not take the fire works display up the road & give it large in Iraq as well. We didn't get any evidence, "national security", over the current bombings so why should we have anything for the Iraqis. Hopefully, Tony Blair & Mr. Powell will point to the right direction. The mass support for the president is a normal one. In times of National tragedy the leadership always gets full support, remember Vietnam. The problem begins when the boys don't come back. Yesterday, the mayor of NYC refused to accept a $10 million dollar donation from some rich Saudi prince. Good move. Not. Two reasons, firstly they need the money & secondly it is this attitude that causes the problem. The reason for the refusal was that the young Prince stated " the US & Israel may need to re-examine their middle east policy....." He is saying this because he thought that he had freedom of speech in the land of the free & the brave. What the Saudi Prince said was infact not that different to what Jack Straw said, or Tony Blair said in Egypt or president Bush has already said: " The creation of the State of Palestine is a vision we all share"(Bush interview last week). Sorry Mr. Guilliani no presidential nominations for you! Despite your quick responses on the day of the event. All this demonstrates the insular nature of the US. They keep asking "why do the Arabs/Moslems hate us"? I don't think its hate but more a sort of resentment. When you put your self on the pedestal you must deliver all that is good & righteous. You must be just & even handed. It is a mistake to think its only the Arabs that have this resentments. If you talk to the average person in South America you get the same feed back. The one thing I love about Americans is that they love their land, & a very beautiful one it is too, & they are not up for any of this stuff happening on their soil ever again. They will see to it one way or another. It is the nature of the system to go into self protect & not self destruct. The bigger picture is America & the West & all the money that is tied into it & not Mr. Sheron, Bush or any other parties. No body is bigger than the whole.

 As for the continous bombing/fire work display over Afghanistan. The intersting thing is the way these wars are funded. The gulf war, was the first war that was carried out by "invoice". The Japanese, German, Saudi & the Kuwait governments were actually asked, or rather "invoiced" to contribute towards the effort against Mad-Sad! Very righteous indeed. This particular war, however, is being done on "credit". The US has already gone to the IMF for further credit. On the first night they spent $50 million dollars to fire 50 Tomahawk missiles. Add to all this the cost of the troops, planes, ships, national guards (back home). It really runs into billions. What do we get from all this. A few more piles of rubble in Kabul & a whole bunch of stressed out & scared camels & not much more. They do not have a proper supply of electricity & we are hitting the power stations, all two of them. Then we are doing this & then told we have air supremacy. Fuck me I didn't realize those guys had planes or can even fly them. They certainly don't look as if they can, with the turbans & all. They are good at using the hand held anti aircraft Stinger missile rocket launchers that the US supplied them. They have had a lot of practice with those when they pushed the Soviets out. The thing that I constantly remember, from one interview, with this old British general geezer is that he was saying that Alexander Great could not hang on to the area, nor did Ghengiz Khan, the British Or the Soviets. It is a fucked up place that is not easy to govern. For my money give them 10% of what is spent on the military in food & medicine aid & get them to trust & like us.Spend half the remaining budget on the US itself to recover & boost its economy. Before long they will kick out Bin Ladens & Talibans of the world themselves & far less on all sides will be killed. I am even more optimistic about our species than ever before.

K. Savage
11th October 2001