[VIDEO] Ken Burns’ Thomas Jefferson Documentary , Parts 1 & 2
Posted: July 4, 2017 Filed under: History, Think Tank, White House | Tags: 1700s, America, American Revolution, Britain, Declaration of Independence, documentary, Film, Founding Fathers, July 4th, Ken Burns, Revolutionary war, Thomas Jefferson, United States, video Leave a comment
‘ENOUGH’: New York Post Cover for Monday, June 5, 2017
Posted: June 5, 2017 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Mediasphere, Religion, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: Britain, England, ISIS, Islamism, Jihadism, journalism, London Bridge, Manchester, media, New York Post, news, Tabloid 2 Comments
Source: Covers | New York Post
Happy Birthday Hong Kong: 176 Years Old Today
Posted: January 26, 2017 Filed under: Asia, China, History, Mediasphere | Tags: Big Puddle, Britain, Captain Edward Belcher, Convention of Chuenpee, Hollywood Road park, Hong Kong, Opium War, Possession Point, Queen Victoria, Tai Hang Hau Leave a comment
It is an event that neither Hong Kong, China nor Britain are likely to be celebrating. Nevertheless, on this day – January 26 – in 1841, the British flag was first unfurled at Possession Point by Royal Navy sailors.
At the time, Hong Kong was a sleepy backwater, though it would prove to be a handy trading outpost. “Albert is so amused at my having got the island of Hong Kong”,wrote Queen Victoria in 1841.
The Convention of Chuenpee ceded Hong Kong to the British after the First Opium War in which 600 Chinese soldiers died.
Within five months, British officials began selling land in Hong Kong and the territory formally became a British possession a year later.
Possession Point was originally named Tai Hang Hau, or “Big Puddle”. The area was redeveloped into a Chinese-style garden which is today known as Hollywood Road park.
Brussels: ‘We’ll Make Britain Beg’
Posted: September 9, 2016 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Britain, Brussels, England, EU, headlines, Magazines, media, news, Newspapers 1 Comment
Normandy Attack: Tomorrow’s Newspapers Today
Posted: July 26, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, France, Mediasphere, Religion, Terrorism | Tags: Britain, Catholic Priest, Catholicism, Christianity, ISIS, Islamism, Jihadism, media, murder, news, Newspapers, Normandy, The Daily Star, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, UK 1 Comment
Source: #tomorrowspaperstoday hashtag on Twitter
OH YES THEY DID: Secret Document Lifts Iran Nuclear Constraints, Cuts Time Tehran Would Need to Build Bomb by Half
Posted: July 18, 2016 Filed under: Breaking News, Censorship, Diplomacy, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: Associated Press, Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, Britain, China, Diplomat, France, Iran, Islamism, nuclear, Nukes, RUSSIA, Vienna Leave a comment
Breakout time would be reduced to six months, or even less if the efficiency is more than double.
VIENNA (AP) — Key restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program imposed under an internationally negotiated deal will ease in slightly more than a decade, cutting the time Tehran would need to build a bomb to six months from present estimates of a year, according to a document obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The document is the only part linked to last year’s deal between Iran and six foreign powers that hasn’t been made public. It was given to the AP by a diplomat whose work has focused on Iran’s nuclear program for more than a decade, and its authenticity was confirmed by another diplomat who possesses the same document.
12 Times the Obama Administration Caved to Iran on Nuclear Deal
The diplomat who shared the document with the AP described it as an add-on agreement to the nuclear deal. But while formally separate from that accord, he said that it was in effect an integral part of the deal and had been approved both by Iran and the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, the six powers that negotiated the deal with Tehran.
[Read the full story here, at the Associated Press]
Details published earlier outline most restraints on Iran’s nuclear program meant to reduce the threat that Tehran will turn nuclear activities it says are peaceful to making weapons.
But while some of the constraints extend for 15 years, documents in the public domain are short on details of what happens with Iran’s most proliferation-prone nuclear activity – its uranium enrichment – beyond the first 10 years of the agreement.
The document obtained by the AP fills in the gap. It says that as of January 2027 – 11 years after the deal was implemented – Iran can start replacing its mainstay centrifuges with thousands of advanced machines.
Centrifuges churn out uranium to levels that can range from use as reactor fuel and for medical and research purposes to much higher levels for the core of a nuclear warhead. From year 11 to 13, says the document, Iran can install centrifuges up to five times as efficient as the 5,060 machines it is now restricted to using.
Those new models will number less than those being used now, ranging between 2,500 and 3,500, depending on their efficiency, according to the document. But because they are more effective, they will allow Iran to enrich at more than twice the rate it is doing now.
Secretary of State John Kerry and the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, at the State Department on Wednesday. Credit Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The U.S. says the Iran nuclear agreement is tailored to ensure that Iran would need at least 12 months to “break out” and make enough weapons grade uranium for at least one weapon.
But based on a comparison of outputs between the old and newer machines, if the enrichment rate doubles, that breakout time would be reduced to six months, or even less if the efficiency is more than double, a possibility the document allows for.
The document also allows Iran to greatly expand its work with centrifuges that are even more advanced, including large-scale testing in preparation for the deal’s expiry 15 years after its implementation on Jan. 18. Read the rest of this entry »
‘POWER to the PEOPLE!’: New York Post Cover for Saturday, June 25, 2016
Posted: June 25, 2016 Filed under: Breaking News, Diplomacy, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Brexit, Britain, England, EU, EUROPE, journalism, media, New York, New York Post, news, Newspaper, Tabloid Leave a comment
‘U.K. Vote Sets Off Shockwaves’: Front Page of The Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Edition
Posted: June 25, 2016 Filed under: Breaking News, Economics, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Brexit, Britain, England, EU, EUROPE, journalism, media, news, Newspapers, U.K., Wall Street Journal Leave a comment
front page of The Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition
[VIDEO] Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s Bizarre Maoist Spectacle: Final Nail in the Coffin for the Cuckoo Bananas Labour Party?
Posted: December 19, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Global, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Britain, British people, British Politics, China, Cinema of China, Clement Attlee, Communism, Communist Party of China, Cultural Revolution, Dictator, Government of the People's Republic of China, House of Commons, John McDonnell, Labour, Labour Party (UK), Mao, Mao Zedong, Maoism, Marxism, Mass Murderer, Sotheby's, Stalinism Leave a comment
John McDonnell audaciously brandished a copy of Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell dropped a political bombshell in the House of Commons What was it over? A book. Not just any book, mind. A book conveying a philosophy that is most certainly taboo in British politics. A book that was none other than Mao Zedong’s very own ‘Little Red Book’. The commotion caused by it was far from little, however.
The immediate reactions of everyone in the House of Commons were indeed telling. The Conservatives were overjoyed. It was an early Christmas present for them. Many MPs were chorusing “more! more!” On the Labour side of the hall, some found it amusing; yet it clearly stirred up much discontent. Even Deputy Leader Tom Watson, who could be seen sat beside McDonnell at the time, had a faint look of despair as this historic book was pulled out; which is, to some extent, the scriptures, or holy book, of the far left.
Clearly it was done as a mere jest, and nothing more than a humoured attack at Chancellor George Osborne – who he ironically labelled “Comrade Osborne” – in criticism for his approach to Britain’s relations with China. His direct quote from Chairman Mao was as follows:
Archive/Getty Images
“We must learn to do economic work from all who know how. No matter who they are, we must esteem them as teachers, learning from them respectfully and conscientiously. But we must not pretend to know what we do not know.”
Yet it is an unsuitable affiliation. Surely you’d expect something like this from the Communist Party of Great Britain themselves; not from a serious opposition party vying to win power in modern-day Britain – where Thatcherism still lingers and private property is still at large.
[Read the full story here, at Ideology. Vision. Discussion]
Most Marxists I have ever associated with would actually distance themselves from Mao Zedong: a dictator of the People’s Republic of China, responsible for the deaths of millions of his own civilians – from famine and executing those against the rule. Even if you are going to cite a Communist figure at all in British politics, better to use a figure such as Lenin or Trotsky; not a brutal mass-murdering despot.
Cameron and Obsourne’s reactions show their delight
Many feel content with a more narrow view of politics. Even if it isn’t one that directly mirrors the Conservative party’s ideology, it wouldn’t drift too far from this. Hence by both the Conservative party and the then-austerity-favouring Labour party gained 330 and 232 seats respectively (562 out of 650 overall) in the General Election last May. Many predict the latter figure, which is that of Labour of course, will be trimmed away if trends stay the same. Read the rest of this entry »
The Times Front Page: ‘United Against Terror’
Posted: November 18, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, France, Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Britain, England, Islamic Extemism, Islamic extremism, Islamism, Jihadism, media, news, Paris Attacks, The Times, UK Leave a comment
Friday’s Sun Front Page: Exclusive: ‘Jihadi Plot to Snatch Brit Envoys’
Posted: November 12, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Diplomacy, Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Britain, England, Jihadi, journalism, media, news, Tabloid, The Sun (Newspaper) 1 Comment
Nick Sutton via Twitter
Times Front Page for October 8, 2015: ‘Millions of Migrants in New Flight to Europe’
Posted: October 8, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Health and Social Issues, War Room | Tags: Britain, England, EUROPE, Immigration, Invasion, Ireland, London, media, news, Refugee, Syria, UK Leave a comment
From Your Former Rulers: A Rebuttal
Posted: July 4, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, History, Humor | Tags: Britain, Colonial America, Democracy, King George, Loyalists, Monarchy, Ruling class, satire, United Kingdom, United States 1 Comment
Malala’s Taliban Attackers Arrested
Posted: September 12, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: Britain, Malala, Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize, Pakistan, Swat District, Taliban, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Leave a comment
…the group of Taliban militants who were behind the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in 2012 have been arrested. Until now, not a single person had been arrested. According to the army’s press officer, 10 attackers have been identified and arrested. Malala is now based in Britain, but is not able to return home to Pakistan because of Taliban threats to kill her and her family members. Two other girls were wounded in the attack…(read more)
‘Hey, it Still Might Work’
Posted: August 31, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: BBC, Britain, Daily Mail, James Delingpole, London, Muslim, Sharia, Ukip, United Kingdom, YouTube Leave a comment95 Percent of BBC Viewers Think Multiculturalism Has Failed
A whopping 95 percent of respondents to a BBC straw poll have said that they think multiculturalism in Britain is a failure. The poll was taken yesterday morning during the BBC’s Saturday Morning Live show, and asked “Is multiculturalism working?” Just 5 percent said “Yes”; 95 percent said “No”.
“fortunately the actually scientific polling suggests that’s quite a pessimistic answer.”
Breitbart London’s James Delingpole was a guest on the show. During the discussion of the results, he said: “I think the thwacking great majority in that poll says it all. The multicultural experiment in Britain has failed totally and people have finally realised how much it has failed. Rotherham was just one example; we’re seeing cases all around the country. It has been a disaster. I think that this is going to be the turning point.”
Also on the show was the left-wing journalist Owen Jones, who extolled the virtues of interracial sex and claimed: “fortunately the actually scientific polling suggests that’s quite a pessimistic answer. Yes there are always tensions which we need to work on. We need to bring our communities together. But Britain has one of the highest levels of interracial relationships in the whole world.”
“I’m investigating that other 5%, but so far we haven’t found anyone willing to go on the record.'”
“We need to break down segregation like faith schools. We concentrate poor people in particular areas because of the lack of social housing, and that disproportionately affects people from black and minority ethnic communities.” Read the rest of this entry »
Andrea Tantaros and Mark Styen on Confronting the Islamoplogists’ Fear of Violating Social Norms and Correct Manners
Posted: August 31, 2014 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Politics, The Butcher's Notebook, Think Tank, War Room | Tags: Asian American Journalist Association, Asian American Journalists Association, BBC, Britain, Fox News, Fox News Channel, Islam, Islamophobia, Mark Steyn, Pakistani, Political Correctness, Roger Scruton, Rotherham, Tantaros 2 Comments
Rotherham
Q: Why Did British Police Ignore Pakistani Muslim Gangs Abusing 1,400 Rotherham Children?
Forbes‘ Roger Scruton writes:
A story of rampant child abuse—ignored and abetted by the police—is emerging out of the British town of Rotherham. Until now, its scale and scope would be inconceivable in a civilized country. Its details will make your hair stand on end.
A: Political Correctness
Imagine the following case. A fourteen-year old girl is taken into care by the social services unit of the town where she lives, because her parents are drug-addicted, and she has been neglected and is not turning up in school. She is one of many, for that is the way in Britain today. And local government entities—Councils—can be ordered by the courts to stand in for parents of neglected children. The Council places the girl in a home, where she is kept with others under supervision from the social services department. The home is regularly visited by young men who try to entice the girls into their cars, so as to give them drugs and alcohol, and then coerce them into sex…(read more) Forbes
What happens when public figures fear putting their reputation at stake to speak truthfully 
about the deadly force required confront these depraved, barbaric practices? Rapes and child slavery and beheadings that are, by now, plainly visible to all?
Fox News Channel host Andrea Tantaros is being publicly vilified for her blunt comments, ripping Obama’s handling of ISIS and other radical Islamic groups on last week’s Outnumbered.
“The only proper response, I think, Sandra, is for the president in about 45 minutes, to approach that podium and admit, not just that he was wrong, but that we’re going in there and we’re gonna flatten them. Last night we should have taken out 10,000 ISIS fighters, warned them, last night, not today, that if you kill that other journalist, we will be back and we will wipe out 10,000 more, and we will continue to decimate you with aggressive air war until we obliterate every single one of you, period, end story,” she said.
Tantaros added “they’ve been doing this for hundreds and hundreds of years, if you study the history of Islam … this isn’t a surprise, you can’t solve it with a dialogue, you can’t solve it with a summit, you solve it with a bullet to the head.”
“All we’ve heard from this president is the case to heap praise on this religion, as if to appease them,” she accused. “His Cairo speech, his remarks from last Memorial Day saying that we have a shared history of tolerance. Instead of making the case against this threat that is never going to stop.”
The Asian American Journalists Association went bananas and is demanding an apology:
“AAJA calls for Tantaros and Fox News to apologize for the irresponsible, inflammatory statements,” the organization said. “We also call on Fox News to discourage its journalists from making blanket comments that serve to perpetuate hate and Islamophobia. Muslims and Islam are not interchangeable terms with terrorists or ISIS. We in the media know better and must be vigilant in our choice of words.”
As the left-wing islamopologist backlash continues, Tantaros responds:
I will not apologize for speaking the truth about radical Islamic jihadism. Period.
— Andrea Tantaros (@AndreaTantaros) August 30, 2014
All I can say is, bravo, Tantaros, and recommend NRO‘s comments, No, Pointing Out Muslims Have Been Beheading People for Centuries Isn’t Islamophobic.
It’s not just the kidnapping and beheadings of adult men, captives killed in
distant deserts for prime time viewing on social media, it’s already brazenly at home torturing children in quaint communities in the modern west, protected by a collective fear of violating politically correct social norms.
The parallels between Tarantos’ widespread media “shaming”, and Rotherham’s conspiracy of blindness to widespread child slavery are hard to ignore.
If you dare read anything about the Rotherham nightmare, read Steyn‘s comments:
“The queasy reluctance among the fearless knights of the media to state the truth anywhere north of the 20th paragraph helps explain why this happened, and why it will happen again.”
Grits with that Scone? If Britain were a U.S. State, it Would be the Second-Poorest, Behind Alabama and before Mississippi
Posted: August 27, 2014 Filed under: Economics, Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Alabama, Britain, Fraser Nelson, Gross domestic product, Mississippi, Spectator, United Kingdom, United States Leave a comment
The ranking, determined by Fraser Nelson, an editor of The Spectator magazine, was made by dividing the gross domestic product of each state by its population, and it took into account purchasing power parity for cost of living. Several other European countries were also included in the ranking.
“No one beats up America better than Americans.”
Ranking by GDP per capita instead of just GDP means that states with mega-economies such as California, which has the top GDP in the United States (its GDP is also larger than most countries’), was knocked down to 14th place among the states when divided by its more than 38 million residents. Alaska comes in first, with a GDP of more than $59 billion divided by a population of 735,000. Read the rest of this entry »
The Independent UK Saturday Aug. 9 2014 Edition Front Page: ‘War in Iraq – Again’
Posted: August 8, 2014 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Britain, Global Panic of 2014, Independent UK, Iraq, Islamism, Kurds, media, Newspapers, UK Leave a comment
Mass Immigration: A Policy Intended to “Rub the Right’s Nose in Diversity…”
Posted: June 20, 2014 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Politics, White House | Tags: Andrew Neather, Britain, Immigration, Jack Straw, Jay Nordlinger, Labour, mass immigration, New Labour, Politics, Tony Blair 1 Comment
Get a Whiff?
Labour aide Andrew Neather
Via The Corner, Jay Nordlinger writes:
…A Labour aide, Andrew Neather, admitted that a policy of mass immigration was intended “to change the face of Britain forever.” He further said that this policy was meant “to rub the Right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date.”
“To rub the Right’s nose in diversity” — that is one of the most pungent phrases of the modern political age, I think.
Honeymoon Murder Suspect Dewani Not Looking Forward to His Appearance in Western Cape South African High Court
Posted: May 10, 2014 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Global | Tags: Britain, Cape Town, Dewani, London, Shrien Dewani, South Africa, Western Cape, Western Cape High Court 2 Comments
Extradited British millionaire businessman Shrien Dewani is due in court in South Africa Monday on charges of ordering his Swedish wife’s murder during their 2010 honeymoon in Cape Town.
After losing a three-year extradition fight in Britain, Dewani, 34, was remanded in custody at a psychiatric hospital when he arrived in South Africa last month.
“Dewani has been accused of orchestrating the murder of his wife. He allegedly ordered local men to carry out a hit on his wife and make it look like a fatal carjacking incident.”
He will appear at the Western Cape high court for a pre-trial hearing, at which the judge will assess the readiness of the prosecution and defence teams to start the trial.
“A substantial amount of money was paid for the hit.”
Dewani, who returned to Britain shortly after his wife’s murder, had fought his extradition, claiming he had mental health problems, including depression and post-traumatic stress. He has been undergoing tests at the Valkenberg hospital in Cape Town to see if he is fit to stand trial. If he is not found fit to face court within 18 months, he will be returned to Britain under the terms of his extradition.
In this 2011 photo, Shrien Dewani, the British man accused of having his wife murdered during their honeymoon in South Africa, arrives at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court in London. Shrien Dewani has spent years fighting extradition over the death of his 28-year-old bride Anni. She was found shot dead in an abandoned taxi in Cape Town’s Gugulethu township in November 2010. Lawyers for the 34-year-old businessman say he suffers from post-traumatic stress and depression and is unfit to stand trial. But last month Britain’s High Court rejected his grounds for appeal. He is expected to be put on a flight to Cape Town Monday, and South African officials say he will appear in court there Tuesday. The dead woman’s brother, Anish Hindocha, said the extradition brought them “one step closer” to justice. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
On his arrival in South Africa Dewani was formally charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and defeating justice by the country’s elite crime-fighting unit, the Hawks. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Friday Night Light Show: Northern Lights Footage from across UK and Ireland
Posted: February 28, 2014 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere | Tags: Aurora Borealis, BBC, Britain, British Isles, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland 2 CommentsA beautiful display of dancing lights illuminated the skies of Britain and Ireland on Thursday night through to Friday morning. Feb. 28
The Special Relationship: Past, Present and Future
Posted: January 13, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Global, History, Think Tank | Tags: Britain, Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher, Reykjavík Summit, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Ronald Reagan, Special Relationship, United States 1 Comment
The history of the Special relationship, from Churchill to Thatcher and beyond
Henry A. Kissinger writes: The challenge that we have come together to discuss is how America and the Western world can find a sense of direction at a moment when they are confronted by revolutions on many continents. And as they navigate this issue, our public needs to have a sense that its leaders are devoted to peace, and our adversaries have to know that there is a line they cannot cross except at extreme peril: To combine these two is the key challenge.
But before we make a few remarks about that, let me say a few things about Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. I knew both of them for many decades, and I used to brief Reagan for President Nixon every month on international development. I remember during the 1973 war, I told him we had a problem. We wanted to help Israel with resupply, but we wanted to do it on the basis of criteria that were not too provocative to those Arabs that had not yet joined the war. So Reagan said, “I have a suggestion. Tell them you will replace all the planes that the Egyptians had said they have shot down.” That would have tripled the Israeli air force, and the Egyptian air force at that time was renowned for never getting anywhere close to an Israeli target.
I had moderately frequent contact with Reagan when he was President. He was exactly the right man for those times. He knew how to navigate between the two poles that I described: defining the limits beyond which the Soviets would not be permitted to go, but, at the same time, laying down perspectives for peace around which people could rally. It was, after all, Reagan who proposed the abandonment of all nuclear weapons at the Reykjavík Summit, but the one weapon he wouldn’t give up at the Reykjavík Summit was the Strategic Defense Initiative because he wanted to be protected against Soviet violations.
David Hockney: Pop Art Legend’s iPad Ingenuity
Posted: December 14, 2013 Filed under: Art & Culture, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Art, Art world, Britain, David Hockney, iPad, San Francisco Leave a commentDavid Hockney one of Britain’s most celebrated living artists is pioneering the art world yet again, turning his index finger into a paintbrush and his iPad into a canvas. AP’s Haven Daley previews his new exhibit in San Francisco.
I’m So Hungry I Could Eat a Horse
Posted: October 6, 2013 Filed under: History, Think Tank | Tags: Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Saxon England, Britain, England, Poole, Saxon Steed, Sutton Hoo, Waverley Root Leave a comment“The horse is a noble animal. This opinion is widely shared in Anglo-Saxon countries where it is felt that it is an ignoble action to eat a noble animal, and one which is an intimate friend of man, on the same principle which forbade Alice, in ‘Through the Looking Glass,’ to sink her knife into a leg of mutton to which she had just been formally introduced.”
Waverley Root, ‘Esquire’ January, 1974
From the always enlightening Bones Don’t Lie, Katy M Meyers writes:
A noble quote, but it may turn out to be not so true in regards to the Anglo-Saxons. The debate over eating horse meat has increased over the past year when in Winter 2013 it was discovered that a slaughterhouse and meat processing company in Britain were selling horse meat as beef for kebabs and hamburger meat. Ikea pulled their meatballs from thousands of locations after it was determined that their meat may too have been tainted with horse. In the US, there has been debate over whether horse slaughter should be allowed and only one slaughterhouse in the US has petitioned to allow horse meat production. While people are very polarized on the issue, there is a demand for horse and in many countries it is considered a delicacy. A great article from Huffington Post discusses horse consumption and in an attached video shows a test taste of horse jerky. But you’re not here to listen to a debate about eating horse, you’re here for the dead people.
A new article by Poole (2013) examines the relationship between the Anglo-Saxons, horses and the rise of Christianity. Texts from the early medieval period note the importance of horses and a Christian taboo against their consumption. The Church saw the slaughter and consumption of horse as relating to pagan practices and sacrifice to false gods. It is also possible that this taboo stemmed from Roman ideals that horses were meant for use, and that consumption was an act of the barbarian ‘other’. The removal of horses as spiritual beings was an important part of the Christian conversion of England. Read the rest of this entry »
Dazed and Confucius: Nine common myths about China
Posted: October 5, 2013 Filed under: Asia, China, Global, History | Tags: Beijing, Britain, China, Chinese Whispers, Confucius, Jerusalem, John Quincy Adams, Opium War, Qianlong Emperor, Sigmund Freud 1 Comment
Myth: The Chinese all speak the same language – most Chinese use local dialects, and even different languages from Mandarin (AFP/Getty Images)
Ben Chu writes: Chinese Whispers was once a party game. A message would be relayed in hushed tones through a long line of people and emerge at the other end amusingly garbled. Most of us have found alternative amusements nowadays, but the name survives as a figure of speech; an idiom used to signify how facts or a story tend to get twisted over time and distance.
Why ‘Chinese’ though? There seem to be no concrete answers. One theory has it that messages relayed between the lonely watchtowers of the Great Wall suffered this kind of distortion. Another is that China was once a byword for misunderstanding and confusion in the West, something to do with the supposed ‘inscrutability’ of the Chinese. It doesn’t seem to be a very old usage, with the first references only appearing in the middle of the 20th century. But whatever the provenance of Chinese Whispers, there’s something rather appropriate about the name.
Myth: China has an unstoppable economy – in order to continue growing, China needs to enact fundamental economic reforms and it is far from certain that the reformers will prevail (Getty Images)
China has always loomed large in the Western imagination because it provides a handy screen on to which we can project our dreams and nightmares. First the dreams. The Jesuit missionaries of the 16th century projected China as a country in which men like them achieved, promoted as councillors to emperors, ignoring (or perhaps ignorant of) the fact that the ostensibly meritocratic, imperial exam system was riven with corruption and nepotism. That tradition of wishful projection continues today.
Many executives of Western multinationals talk of China as a new capitalist Jerusalem, a land of eternally high GDP growth, the biggest untapped consumer market on the planet, the place where the state sees its proper function as to help the private sector to make money. Of course, occasionally they will come up against an awkward fact that challenges this dream – reports of baby milk formula adulterated with a harmful chemical by a Chinese manufacturer, for instance, or a corruption scandal – but these are seen as tests of faith to be overcome. They cannot be permitted to interfere with the glorious vision.
Then there are the China nightmares. The French philosopher Montesquieu, in the 18th century, reviled China as a country where there reigned “a spirit of servitude”. In a similar vein, the Victorians projected China as a place where intellectual progress had come to a pathetic stop. What they were both doing was imagining China as the very antithesis of everything they wanted their own nations to be: free, vigorous and expansive. Read the rest of this entry »
Paris Match: How France became our shooting buddy
Posted: September 1, 2013 Filed under: War Room | Tags: Barack Obama, Britain, David Cameron, François Hollande, France, Mali, Obama, Syria Leave a comment
Britain is out. Germany is out. Turkey is talking tough but giving no indication that it’s prepared to back up its words with action. With the Obama administration hinting that it’s preparing to strike Syria within days, there’s just one country that seems ready to take part in a military intervention: France, a country long mocked for perceived weakness.
pundit from another planet 