Abrasive, enormously talented, somewhat wild: the life was that much better with you around, but your books stay.
- The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.
- I don't mind you thinking I'm stupid, but don't talk to me like I'm stupid.
- Love ain't nothing but sex misspelled.
And another gem via Greg Aydt:
At issue is a tweet that COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) shared with its 120,000+ followers in order to commemorate the plight of Palestinian refugees on World Refugee Day. The tweet included an iconic photograph from 1950 depicting a group of Jewish refugees who had been placed by the Israeli government into a refugee absorption center, known as a ma’abara.But the lazy "anti-Zionism" of COSATU is only part of the story. The other part is about a related matter:
Stories abound about one of these groups of refugees—the Palestinian Arab refugees. Even Israelis learn about the creation of the Palestinian refugee crisis in their schools. But, as is clear from COSATU’s blunder with the appropriated photo, many Palestinians and their global supporters aren’t aware of the other refugee population—the “forgotten exodus” of Jewish refugees and the suffering that Jews in nearly a dozen Arab countries experienced on account of hostility toward Jews, Zionism, and the very creation of the state of Israel.Read the whole article, it is worth your time.
Russia provides approximately a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the European Union; approximately 80% of those exports travel through pipelines across Ukrainian soil prior to arriving in the EU.So far so good (for Kremlin, that is): being a provider of the essential substance gives Russia, beside a significant income, a valuable addition to their stranglehold on the European behavior in other aspects.
The use or misuse of information is central to the conflict in the Middle East. There has been a growing need for supporters of, in particular, the Palestinian cause, to master the art of information gathering, analysis and dissemination. This requires well organised, focused and targeted operations. Such initiatives are virtually non-existent in the West today.ETC. (Check out the personnel list of this institution, and much of the above will become clear-er).
The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) was established to fill this gap.
It will be a grave omission on my side to skip another observation related to the promenade described here. You can see in the picture of the promenade in this post that every 50 m or so there is a sign warning the passerby not to venture onto the rocks. It is heartwarming to state that both Arabs and Jews disregard this warning.
A senior member of Hamas' political bureau said during a TV interview on Wednesday that 50 people killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes in Gaza on Monday were members of Hamas.So far, so good. Only in this case, unlike in many other cases where the blame is laid at the Israel's doorstep, CNN diligently sought some input that will sow doubts about that quote. Like this:
Ahmed Abu Artema, widely credited as the person who brought the latest wave of demonstrations into being, cast doubt on Hamas' claims.I don't know how the Hamas' mandarin reached his number of 50 and, frankly, I don't care.
It is already several weeks since Hamas cold-bloodily and calculatingly started to encourage the attempts to breach the border fence. Hamas know perfectly well what the response will be and are consciously sending people to die.
Anyone who understands that and still finds it acceptable to encourage Hamas murderers - directly or by blaming Israel - is covering their hands in blood. That much is clear.
And now to the reason for this post. Here it is:
Just to make sure that the location and the general environment of the rest of the pictures is clear, this is where they were taken: along the Jaffa seaside promenade.
There has been an aircraft swap for your flight today to Tel Aviv, which has resulted in seating changes. We have done our best to keep your original seating preferences, but your seat assignments have changed.There are three intriguing points about that email: that it was sent about two hours before take-off time from point X; that it contradicts the flight cancellation story of the supervisor; and the reference to "original seating preferences". Original my foot.
New seat assignments:
[Passenger 1] - 30A
[Passenger 2] - 30B
We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
The blogging will be scarce to not done at all till (approximately) mid May.
You all out there - behave!
The British authorities have demonstrated their inability to ensure the safety of Russian citizens more than once. The glaring examples include the poisoning of former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, the death of businessmen Badri Patarkatsishvili and Alexander Perepelichny under unclear circumstances, the mysterious “suicide” of Boris Berezovsky and the strangling of Berezovsky’s business partner Nikolai Glushkov, and lastly, the recent attempt on the lives and health of Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia.There is more in this text, but the quote should be enough.
In the latter case, London acted contrary to all the norms of international law, ethics and even common sense. London has accused Russia of poisoning Russian citizens without providing any evidence or the complete picture of the crime. At the same time, it has provided the alleged name of the toxic agent, which has never been used in Russia, and has launched a large-scale political and media campaign against Russia. It has initiated the campaign to expel Russian diplomats from a number of countries and representative offices at international organisations and has announced a package of other sanctions. Meanwhile, it has completely disregarded our legitimate requests to share the samples of the alleged toxic agent.
Director of the Global Policy Development Center, Sergei Gorodnikov, told Pravda.Ru that the Russians are absolutely uncompetitive in the world, "primarily because we have the universal Christian morality, and the West obeys concepts of national interests and corporate ethics. They see the rest of the world beyond the notion of ethics and morality," the political scientist noted in an interview with Pravda.Ru.You could easily see where the learned national socialist is right: Russian economy isn't competitive and accounts for a very thin slice of the world economy indeed. The picture of the bloodthirsty West that is preparing to wipe Russia out, though, fits like a glove the current Kremlin view of the political map.
According to him, "the countries of the West that stand on the positions of double morality are much more powerful economically and financially. They will wipe Russia out with its weak economy that accounts to only 1.7% percent of GDP of the world economy. They will squash Russia like a fly, we have one or two decades left maximum."
The West, Sergei Gorodnikov continued, has been preparing its public opinion for a consolidated struggle against Russia on the scenario that they had used against Saddam Hussein. As soon as they all consolidate, they will launch an offensive on Putin's regime," the expert told Pravda.Ru.
According to the political scientist, Russia's salvation lies in her return to totalitarianism. "Party is a system-forming core that rules the country for generations. This is an instrument of strategic management. We've had the communist regime that would give the country a strategy for three generations,"
