Style book- Orwell was prophetic.

David Bowie  sang 1984

, who could ask for more? Apparently, the Associated Press thinks we need more words to replace illegal immigrants, and they have a guide called style book. Perhaps bland or mind-numbing would be apter adjectives.  This latest attempt to alter the USA immigration debate is taking us down   a path in which we will be afraid to call a spade, a spade.  Yep, I said it .

Bowie used the word fag in a number of songs in the 1970's and 80's . Scream like a baby

Patti Smith  tried to re-define nigger in the late 1970's as outside of society in the song : rock & roll nigger

 Fast forward: Today it seems that you must be a member of the group you are commenting on and possibly deriding. Black rap bands freely use the word nigger. Gay have tossed the term fag around forever, but today it's homophobic for straights to use that term in the sports arena or anywhere else.

Freedom  isn't always pretty but it's worth a little pain. This over-sensitivity towards another's feelings is the first layer of the concrete of repression.

I lost count of how many times gays snidely refer to straights as breeders, but that's allegedly ok  cuz they're a minority. BTW,  it didn't make me run to a law office to sue.

Add more examples and I'll return to continue the discussion


4/24/13   Many of the tunes on the Honi Soit album were about dealing with military action. I think Cale is using the word- nigger- to describe a fellow struggler who happens to be dark. Artists often strive to not be limited by how others define words.

Like lovers below Bataan, below the senses
Cause the senses smell of tears
While we and nigger marched

Wilson Joliet by John Cale


08/14/13: Be wary of orthodox thought. In 1984, Julie, a  member of the Junior Anti-Sex league, was promiscuous.  The do as I say not as I do crowd knows no shame.

Liberals promoting bad public schools while sending their kids to the best private schools.

Federal politicians exempting themselves from the nightmares of ObamaCare(less)

11/18/13

I had to mention this: Patriot News in Pa retracts a Nov 19, 1863. editorial that panned the Gettysburg address. Really? What does this prove? Can we retract everything ever said and/or written?  http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/us/gettysburg-address-editorial-retraction/index.html?hpt=us_c2

11/27/13

off the air: Balwdin learns that cocksucker is an anti-gay slur
on the air: Bashir suggest someone should crap in Palins mouth
MSNBC retains Bashir  and cans Baldwin.

Even Orwell could not have imagined MSNBC.

3/21/14

Add Ergodan  to the  Orwellian club. here's his comments on shutting down Twitter to cover his corruption.

"They will see the power of the Turkish Republic. This has nothing to do with freedom-shmeedom. Freedom is not invading someone's privacy."

3/27/14

Delay now means accommodation according to the BO Care team. Orwell turns over in his grave again.

4/15/14

Ergodan's clampdown on Twitter includes   wanting them to pay more Turkish taxes. Did Orwell foresee that angle?

5/14/14

right to be forgotten is this the right to control or rewrite  history. strange ruling since Google linked but didn't write the original story don't google me

7/21/14

So Ergodan thinks Israeli's barbarism has surpassed Hitler's? Watch out Turkish citiznens,  Ergodan is intent on   runninjg secularists to the ground and making Turkey an Islamic state again.

7/27/14

Interesting  op-ed .  Elif Shafak   I agree the Turkish pledge was a bit  strong, however I never felt my  individuality was strained by the USA Pledge. The rest of the article enlightens.

The Prime Minister tells us that every Turkish woman should have at least three children while the government talks about the need for creating a "new, pious Muslim youth."

9/22/14

Turkey is being led further away from secularism by Ergodan. Is an Islamic state coming to all their neighborhoods.

10/8/14

This thread  has been Turkey- topped lately, but the level of dis-information from Ergodan's crew rises daily. Most folks sense their action are  more about the demise of the Kurds than ISIS(L). link

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said that Turkey was doing "whatever can be done" for Kobane.
He said that it was a "massive lie" that his country had done nothing for the town's inhabitants.

Mr Akdogan: Actions speak louder than words.

12/16/14

talking Turkey again. Ergodan arrest members of the press, blames it all on Gulen, and gives the middle finger to the EU.Yep , he's a secularist .:wink:  ergodan

1/19/15

As Turkey moves closer to a theocracy and clamps down on the press, a local newspaper in Turkey has started filling its front page with recipes with satirical titles such as deputy's finger. link

2/8/15

don't call ergodan average or you could face jail time     link

2/26/15

Four young people were arrested in four days last week on different charges of insulting the Ergodan during street protests this month.  link

4/23/15

Ergodan is as close to elected dictator as one can get.  link

• During Mr Erdogan's time in office (Prime Minister 2003-14, President from 2014), 63 journalists have been sentenced to a total of 32 years in prison, with collective fines of $128,000

4/24/15

Cartographic aggression. I'm no fan of Al Jazeera but  is this too much

 India has taken al-Jazeera off air for five days, claiming that it had shown wrong maps of Kashmir.

5/22/15

Yes, I think Turkey is a key player in themess in Syria & Iraq. Ergodan's domestic power grab may fail, and his regional mess is being exposed. link

 Turkey's state intelligence agency helped deliver arms to parts of Syria under Islamist rebel control during late 2013 and early 2014, according to a prosecutor and court testimony from gendarmerie officers seen by Reuters.

6/8/15

Big day for the Kurds and finally a bad electoral day for Ergodan. turkey elections

 The vote turned on the historic performance at the ballot box of Turkey’s Kurdish minority, which aligned with liberals and secular Turks opposed to Mr. Erdogan’s leadership to win almost 13 percent of the vote, passing the legal threshold for earning representation in Parliament.

7/28/15

Turkey bombs the Kurds in northern Iraq while ISIS rolls on. No coordination

8/18/15

Could the three other parties, CHP, MHP, & HDP, form a new Govt w/o the AKP. Tension increases in Turkey. link

10/4/15

The gun control debate stirs more statistical  juggling  and shifting than last minute fantasy football roster  moves with that in mind I offer this from John Cale's song Magazines:

What wouldn't be lost if loud men diedMagazines of gun

Take it any way you like

10/11/15

 The BBC gives a variety of angles on the problems in Turkey. Here's one point that nabbed my attention: hdp

 The pro-Kurdish HDP party has blamed the state. That is undoubtedly a reference to the so-called "deep state" often talked about here: a shady mix of nationalist forces either colluding with or supporting the government in power.

10/30/15

Ergodan raids press offices just before  more run-off elections. Hope the Turks vote against the AKP Sunday. press crackdown

“They have their own version of reality,” she said of Erdoğan and the ruling AKP. “An Ottoman dream, a palace. Erdoğan and his world see anyone opposing that reality as a threat. Even the tiniest criticism is perceived as a threat.”

12/30/15

Free speech can be expensive .   Naji Jerf, 38, a vocal critic of the so-called Islamic State,was shot with a silenced pistol in downtown Gaziantep, near the Syrian border. jerf

2/10/16

what's happened to san diego- why did they consider it? link

San Diego backs off ban of 'gender-biased' term 'Founding Fathers'

5/3/16

Ergodan practices repression domestically but the EU wants to allow Turks to travel without visas to Europe's passport-free. Schengen area. EU is desperate and won't make Turkey  follow through on less repression.

5/28/16

Turkish news has dominated this blog because Ergodan has turned the country into a restrictive theocracy. Now they're pissed that US special forces in Syria are wearing insignia of Kurdish militia. Mostly they're doing it to blend in. Plus  the Kurds have been our ally warriors in Iraq  & Syria while the Turks have twisted in the wind. yes, I know the Turks and Kurds have a bad history.

5/29/16

 Memorial Day weekend and  I recall  a Navy vet of the  Vietnam war telling me that he was sent to Cyprus after Nam, and it felt crazier because both sides were shooting at us. Turkey responded  in July 1974 to a coup led by Greek Cypriots.

7/15/16

Ergodans's theocratic dictatorship has  led to a  military coup in Turkey. Military has stressed:  “All international agreements are still valid. We hope that all of our good relationships with all countries will continue.”

7/30/16

Ergodan is whining about the world not liking him after he suppressed a coup. His clampdown is in full effect as he marches Turkey toward a theocratic dictatorship. Meanwhile he  withdrew  all lawsuits against people charged with insulting him. Now there's a man who understands democracy-LOL

8/2/16

Must be clampdown season: Police in Zimbabwe arrested ,Victor Matemadanda, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, in a growing crackdown on critics of President Robert #Mugabe after a series of rare protests.

9/30/16

Orwellian nightmare goes on and on. It blows my mind that #TheSlants, an Asian -american band,  have had to  fight for five years to get a  SCOTUS hearing to acquire a trademark for their band name. Meanwhile bands ,#Yellowman, #redman , etc are trademarked.  Too much "sensitivity" going on. 

10/19/16

Some folks are standing up to the word police. Malaysian Tourism and Culture Minister #NazriAziz slammed the ruling by a Malaysian religous government body that  hot dogs must be renamed,  calling it "stupid and backward".

"Hot dog is hot dog lah. Even in Malay it's called hot dog - it's been around for so many years. I'm a Muslim and I'm not offended,".

Let's focus more on these Muslims with some common sense

10/31/16

#Wilders in 2014 wanted "fewer or more Moroccans" in the Netherlands. After supporters chanted back "fewer", he replied: "We'll organise that."Now he faces hate sppech charges in Schiphol, Holland. Hope this crap isn't headed to the USA.

11/16/16

Major problems in the world but don't call the dictator fat.

Chinese websites are censoring "Kim Fatty the Third", a nickname widely used to disparage North Korean leader #KimJongUn,

12/5/16

I watched a little bit of #christinehefner 's comments during the a symposium on #LennyBruce and was glad she stressed the way to deal with what you may perceive as insensitive comments is MORE SPEECH.

12/27/16

Ergodan is a dictator: A judge on Monday remanded in custody a cook, Senol Buran, who is alleged to have told police he would not serve President Erdogan a cup of tea.

1/8/17

Return to #Orwell:

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." 

2/8/17

To #Ted Koppel: Just a reminder about real, not imagined, attacks on journalists: #Turkey is currently the world's largest jailer of journalists - with some 150 behind bars.

3/13/17

#ergodan  wants to run Germany and Holland and the world. Hope the #turks don't give him more power.  He just helped #Wilders chances in the upcoming Dutch election

"Netherlands 'will pay the price' for blocking Turkish visit-Ergodan"

4/23/17

My Earth day sign "remember #Anglia U emails" when the "hockey stick" scientists were caught hiding  results that didn't fit into their global warming agenda. #Orwellian

4/28/17

Orwell 101: #Ecuador fines several media outlets for not covering a left wing report, " #Lasso: the offshore tycoon", . Can't make this sh^t up!

8/20/17

#ergodan is issuing Interpol "red notices" to nab his critics, and #spain has obliged by arresting #Akhanli who will have his day in a Spanish extradition court. 

9/19/17

#ergodan wants to rule the world . The Turkish government criticised German authorities for allowing the #PKK’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan’s posters to be unfurled and group leaders’ messages to be read out during the rally in Germany.

10/15/17

I wonder what #orwell would think of this : Health professionals in England are going to ask patients aged 16 or over about their sexual orientation, under new NHS guidelines. The rationale:
 "no patient is discriminated against" and gays, bis and trannies will receive  better care. This is not an ONION report.

10/31/17

Give #ergodan a halloween mask of  Mussolini, Hitler,  Stalin, or name your dictator. 11 #AmnestyInternational chiefs on trial. in #Turkey

11/14/17

Fashion designer #Lagerfield criticized #Merkel's open door for migrants policy and said the word Holocaust on a French radio broadcast, and now may be investigated by the French media regulators. More #Orwellian everyday. 

2/2/18

#ergodan 'sTurkey gets scarier daily. Turkish authorities  ordered the detention of 13 people for supporting the national medical association online  opposition to a military campaign in Syria.

5/6/18

 About time:The White House on Saturday criticized China’s efforts to force foreign airlines to refer to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as part of One China, labeling China’s latest effort to police language  as “ #Orwellian nonsense.”

5/9/18

#australia :  Rockhampton Regional Council painted over a Taiwan flag on a student art project in deference to #china not recognising Taiwan as a country.  #pathetic

6/28/18

I haven't seen #Hollywood saying  FU to #ergodan In Turkey where Kurdish-German singer #HozanCane was arrested  on terrorism charges. Some the evidence includes a scene from a movie that she directs and plays the lead role in, which depicts  genocide committed by the "Islamic State" group against the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

8/9/18

"Being pro-west and pro-NATO is a big crime in Turkey now." from Former Lieutenant Commander #CaferTopkaya who skipped out on house arrest in Turkey and landed in #brussels.  

8/12/18

Turkey 's currency the #Lira is in deep trouble and here's  their leader #ergodan 's answer  "They have the dollar, [but] we have our people … and Allah."

8/17/18

More than 1,000 employees of #Google have signed a letter demanding that the company come clean about an alleged secretive search engine  in the works for #China market that would ban information related to human rights, democracy and religion. So some folks at google have heard of Orwell! 

9/28/18

Adding some words to  a billboard attached to a truck at the #Berlin airport: #ergodan lands in Berlin (with full military honors), journalists land in prison.  #turkey #merkel

1/8/19

 #macron plan  to ban yellow-vested "troublemakers" from participating in demonstrations, similar to the way football hooligans are banned from stadiums has #Orwell turning over in his grave.

2/7/19

I'm guessing that #orwell would chuckle that seventy years later the #BritishCouncil would apologize for rejecting his essay, Defence of English Cooking, because it was "unwise to publish it for the continental reader". At this point , why bother.

3/18/19

 #macron considers banning protests on Champs Elysees. His knee-jerks again

3/20/19

#ergodan reaction to the Christchurch, NZ terrorism was to warn anti-Muslim Australians that they would be sent back in coffins like their grandfathers at Gallipoli.(world war 1). It looks as if there is no middle ground.

4/1/19

#ergodan 's AKP  suffered some losses in local elections and here was his newspeak reply: "perhaps his party could not express itself enough to some voters."

5/13/19

Dictator and Theocrat  #Ergodan rolls over foes: His #AKP party lost a mayoral  election in Istanbul so they're running another one, and #Demirag,  a journalist, was beaten up after moderating a TV show that discussed the new election. Also, German-Turkish journalist #DenizYücel claims he was tortured while being held in pretrial detention at Silivri prison near Istanbul.

6/5/19

More revision of history. It's one thing to remove statues , but dead bodies? 
Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a Socialist, want to move #Franco 's remains on June 10 from his current resting place at the Valley of the Fallen to a public cemetery near Madrid claiming Spain could not "continue to glorify" the former dictator. The Supreme Court has delayed the move.

6/15/19

 The Catholic Church is giving into the Orwellian revision of history. Bishop #Irarrazaval in Chile resigned  for  commenting “we have to respect that” about  no women being seated at the table at the Last Supper.

6/24/19

#EkremImamoglu of the (CHP) secured 54.21% of votes in a re-run of the Istanbul Mayoral election in May. #ergodan must be seething.

8/7/19

  A Turkish court  banned 136 websites and social media accounts mainly those belonging to organizations and people critical of President Erdogan's government.
 Brazil’s Supreme Court rejected a request for the extradition of Ali Sipahi, a businessman and owner of restaurants in Sao Paulo and an opponent of  #Erdogan, stating there was no guarantee he would get a fair trial in Turkey.
 8/19/19-  #ergodan the Turkish dictator replaced three Kurdish  mayors,who received 60% of the popular vote with state officials in three cities and then detained more than 400 Kurds for suspected militant links

04/04/20

How about Comrade #Cuomo seizing ventilators from folks in upstate NY who prepared for tough situations to assist areas around NYC  that didn't prepare and calling it sharing. Paging #Orwell

05/17/20 

 Laetitia Avia, the French MP behind an online hate speech law that will force platforms and search engines to remove prohibited content within 24 hours starting July 1, has been accused of  homophobic comments and apologized for using the expression “the fags’ amendment. Paging #Orwell

6/25/20

Finally, a little common sense: French constitutional court scrapped multiple provisions of an anti-hate speech law on the grounds that it violated the constitution. And as expected #Avia won't , "give up the fight to protect Internet users, victims or witnesses of online hatred."

03/12/21

After #VíctorObiols completed a  Catalan translation of Amanda Gorman's The Hill We Climb last month, Viking Books requested the work to be carried out by a female activist with African-American origins, if possible. Part of Obiols reply: 

"But if I cannot translate a poet because she is a woman, young, black, an American of the 21st Century, neither can I translate Homer because I am not a Greek of the eighth century BC.

6/30/21

#LinkedIn made a trade-off to accept Chinese censorship when it entered China in 2014 but still keeps making this claim: the company supports freedom of expression.  The most recent Communist Chinese dragnet was a deletion of entire profiles instead of individual posts.

12/19/21

You can't make this sh^t up. Julia, a feminist re-telling of Orwell’s novel 1984, has been approved by the estate of the late author. I guess the character Winston got too much ink and/or they don't understand the book 1984.

10/29/23

EU warned X, Meta, and TikTok over Israel-Hamas dis-information. When did the EU become the sole arbiter of truth? What the he!! is illegal content?

 

Hitch 22

I picked up this memoir in the B&N discount area, and it's been a mad scramble tracking Hitch's allusions, delusions, and explanations. When I first noticed Christopher Hitchens on the cable chatter shows in the late 1990's I was perplexed by his wild swings across the ideological map, and I've never  grasped how fervently one can be so anti- organized religion and not realize that has become one's religion.

His tales of travels inside the International Left  has been educational, but I've never understood that fascination. When I was ten, I read a biography of Tito and knew that that the totaliarianism of Communism would never appeal to me.

Perhaps, I've never grasped the English public school boy's continuing dalliance with the left.

Some amusing tales of Bill Clinton's days at Oxford in the late 1960's.

I'll read on and type more later.

March 6, 2013

Since Syria dominates Middle East headlines , I thought about Hitchens and found his article on the time he defaced a swastika while walking in Beirut , Lebanon.  2009 Vanity Fair article

I recognized it as the logo of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a Fascist organization (it would be more honest if it called itself “National Socialist”) that yells for a “Greater Syria” comprising all of Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Cyprus, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, and swaths of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt.

Another thing to consider when evaluating what's going on in Syria today.

May 11, 2013

I wonder if  those on the left who bashed Hitchens as a neo-con have  started to see him as more of a realist on Islamic terrorism, Syria, and messy Middle East. He's turning over in his grave.

June 18, 2013

  Just saw a funny quip from martin Amis, one of Hitch's buddies: Amis "views the Brooklyn hipster scene as populated by conventional posers." Amis & Hitch were not always on the same political page.

July 2, 2013 

 I've read about thirty pages  of  Lionel Asbo and  felt a Faulknerian dilemma, the need for a  flow chart of family trees.. Granted, the 15 year-old Destin fucking his 39 year-old grandmother   does give one pause for thought. Maybe he's trying to be Derek Raymond (Crust of the uppers). His personalization of Lionel's killer dogs, Joe & Jeff, adds to the confusion of tracking events.

Oct 3, 2013

I scanned through the article link in  the March 6th comments and thought it was worth noting that it wasn't too long ago that the now troubled Syria had troops in Lebanon.

The street reaction to the murder of Rafik Hariri was so intense that it led to the passage of a United Nations resolution mandating the withdrawal of the Syrian Army from Lebanon after almost three decades of occupation. 

Oct 18, 2013

I mentioned Derek Raymond (aka Robert William Arthur Cook (12 June 1931 – 30 July 1994), in my July memo , and may re-read some of his works if I can find a Cockney  dictionary.

12/11/13

I suspect Hitch would be livid over western concessions to Iran

4/17/14

Syria mess spills into Jordan. & Turkey. Maybe they should ask Putin to rein in Assad? Interesting 2004 Hitchens column on the Kurds role in the area. Hitchens on the Kurdss

6/21/14

Quote from Hitchens  "Saving Islam from bin Laden," from The Age, September 5, 2002:

It is impossible to compromise with the proponents of sacrificial killings of civilians, the disseminators of anti-Semitic filth, the violators of women and the cheerful murderers of children.

If it weren't for oil would we (the west), bother with the Stone Agers. 

6/23/14

Some things change little. Hitch on the Kurds in 2007 Slate column:

It maintains its own security, does not require foreign troops, has put an end to sectarian warfare among Kurds, fights against al-Qaida with some success,

8/28/14

2004 Hitch column on the Kurds & Syria. kurds

9/23/14

Syrian refugeees, including Kurds, flooding into Turkey.  Putin is mad at the world but won't agree with anyone. Hitch would be hitting all pundit shows today.

11/10/14

Yep Syria, Iraq , Turkey , and Iran remains a mess. I'm sure the way the Brits carved things up still is wreaking havoc

1/31/15

 “Who are your favorite heroines in real life? The women of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran who risk their lives and their beauty to defy the foulness of theocracy. Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Azar Nafisi as their ideal feminine model.” 
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22: A Memoir

3/17/15

Hitchen paid attention to the Kurds maybe we should start. link

A senior Kurdish official in Iraq has voiced concern over Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militias fighting with Iraq's army against Islamic State (IS).

5/19/15

Kurds getting closer to an independent state? link

Barzani added, “A lot of countries have the same attitude shown by Hungary, whose PM declared its support for the independence of the region of Kurdistan.”

6/23/15

Kurds backed by US air units gain ground in Syria. kurds

7/16/15

From 8/16/10 Slate column by Hitch: link

The concept of "nonproliferation," so dear to the heart of the right-thinking, will go straight into the history books along with the League of Nations.

10/05/15 

Even Hitch couldn't keep up with the Syrian "scorecard". Ergodan ctiricizes Russia on a few issues plus

Turkish jets 'intercept Russian plane'

10/7/15

Watched  some of a 1951 movie Sirocco  featuring Bogey  gun-running for the rebels during the 1925 Syrian insurgency against French occupation. Wonder what the French stance is on Syria now?

11/7/15

Maybe Hitch would've comented on this today. 

Nov 7, 1917 - British capture Gaza, Palestine, from Turks

11/19/15

Keep coming back to why the "West" won't  use the Kurds more in the Syria&Iraq

11/24/15

Turks shot down a Russian plane and I  thought of high school history lessons on the Crimean War.

3/2/16

sad laughter on this line  assad?

Syria's Assad: We've shown restraint, but 'everything has a limit'

6/20/16

Must be fun to live in Syria.

Russia denies bombing U.S.-backed Syrian rebels near Jordan border

8/20/16

Maybe, I'm stretching for a comparison, but #Morrissey is just as difficult to pigeon hole politically as Hitchens was. The former lead singer of the Smiths  bashed the BBC for denigrating LEAVE voters   and has hailed #Farage (UKIP) and ex Labor MP #Galloway in the same sentence.

9/10/16

One of clearer , less Cockney quotes from Derek Raymond.

"Existence is sometimes what a forward artillery observer sees of enemy lines through field glasses. A distant and troubling view brought suddenly into focus with a wealth of obscene detail.” 

10/17/16

Anarchy and/or various agendas in Syria?

"Turkish troops involved in Operation Euphrates Shield clashed with the YPG militia, part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)."

safe zone

11/20/2016

 Probably was 50/50 on  #Hitchens opinions so I'll turn back the clock to an excerpt from a   Hitch diary  on the 1996 RNC convention:

" #DonaldTrump – a ludicrous figure, but at least he’s lived it up a bit in the real world and at least he’s worked out how to cover 90 per cent of his skull with 30 per cent of his hair."

Jan 6, 2017

Russia, Turkey , and Iran are bragging about "peace"in Syria, but the UN is claiming more than five million people in Damascus are currently without drinking water.

Feb 10, 2017

Is this the main reason #assad remains in power in Syria :  the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t

feb 27, 2017 

another part of The Syrian war: #Saudi Arabia and #Iran support different camps,

march10

#hitchens was spot on about the Kurds .  #Kurds and #turks are supposed to be fighting ISIS in #Syria but

Turkish troops and Turkey-backed Syrian opposition forces have killed 71 Syrian Kurdish fighters in northern Syria this week.

March 30 

#Tillerson told Turkey no on its request for the US to drop its alliance with Kurdish fighters, because they are the most effective force in #syria

April 27

In the mid 1970s a a guy came back to our neighborhood from  his Navy tour of duty, mostly in Nam and told us that a stint in Cypress on the way home was the scariest because  all sides were shooting at us. Syria is the same way. #turks are bombing the #kurds in syria although both groups claims ISIS is the enemy. Now there are reports that Israel targeted a Hezbollah military base in Damascus. #tednugent song "free for all" should  be the background music for a #syria documentary

May 8. 2017

Syria remains the regions "war ground" and more than a  civil war is going on. Syrian Foreign Minister #WalidMuallem labeled the role of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds fighting the Islamic State group in Syria as "legitimate," which irked the Turks who consider them terrorists.

June 27, 2017

Get ready for more moaning from #ergodan. #Mattis said the U.S. has made it clear all along that, "we're going to equip them #kurds for the fight in Raqqa , Syria

aug 17, 2017

The #Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq  will  hold an independence referendum in September. A Yes vote will rock #syria , #iraq, #turkey , #iran .

sept 27 2017

An act of protest in #Iran : thousands of Kurds marched in support of the #Kurdish independence referendum, defying a show of strength by Tehran which flew fighter jets over their areas.

Oct 20

#Kurds  got rid of #ISIS in their province when Iraqi soldiers couldn't , and now Iraq is attacking the Kurds and you can bet oil is a big part of that fight.

dec 11, 2017

Russia will keep the Hmeymim air base as well as a naval facility at the Syrian port of #Tartous. Here's what I'm not buying: #Putin  gave the order today for Russian forces to start withdrawing from Syria to their permanent bases in Russia.

jan 21, 2018

#syria has become a playground for it's neighbors' goals. Turkey is bombing the Syrians Kurds , a group the USA supports in a fight against ISIS, in #Afrin . It sure feels as if Syria may never attain peace.

jan 23

#ergodan 's clampdown on the press grows.  Turkish PM #BinaliYilidirim summoned journalists to a meeting on Sunday to lay out a 15-point plan on how the operation in #Afrin should be covered in order to quash criticism.  Members of the press, peace protesters, and some Kurds were arrested.

jan 31

Plenty of chatter from #trump and now #macron  who  "warned Turkey that its operation against Kurdish militias in northern Syria should not become an excuse to invade the country and said he wanted Ankara to coordinate its action with its allies." But #ergodan rolls on

feb 7, 2018

Iran's President  #Rouhani seems to be echoing the USA stance by calling on Turkey to stop its military operation in the Syrian enclave of #Afrin. #ergodan is headed toward a wake up call.

Feb 19, 2018

 The Syrian government and the main Syrian #Kurdish militia in control of #afrin may have reached a working agreement. Will #Turkey  exit?
march 19: Interesting move : #Iraq approves payment of civil servant salaries for #Kurdish Region amid ongoing budget dispute.

may 29, 2018

Has #syria become Iran's playground? The US  State Department warned the Syrian government against “any actions that risk broadening the conflict”.

#Israel says it does not want Iranian forces massing close to the nearby occupied Golan Heights.

june 17, 2018

#ergodan   needs to be checked in his pursuilt of #kurds   An offensive against the PKK in Qandil, #IRAQ  is Turkey’s third cross-border operation (other two in #syria ) since 2016. Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan #Rouhani have  agreed to maintain regional security while #Iraq 's leadership  has been silently complicit.

sept 8, 2018

#iran is having internal problems and yesterday protesters outside Iran's consulate in #Basra , Iraq  burned an Iranian flag and chanted "Iran, out!"  Many blame Iranian-backed parties for interfering in Iraqi politics and playing a role in the deterioration of its public services. Maybe the #Syrians will the be the next group  to give the middle finger to Iran.

sept 27, 2018

Maybe the #Sisi (Egypt) and #Netanyahu chat yesterday and the announcement that Israeli and Egyptian companies  will buy into a pipeline that would enable a landmark $15 billion natural gas export deal to begin next year will ease tensions in the Middle East?

oct 27,2018

 #Macron says such calls , including  #merkel 's , to halt all arms exports to Saudi Arabia  are "pure demagoguery." What? Are France and Germany having a lovers' spat? But Merkel's not done piling on Saudi Arabia. She insists it do everything it can to solve the urgent humanitarian situation in Yemen where the Saudis are fighting a war with Iran -backed #Houthis.  
#Hitchens woud need a flow chart to keep track of all this cr^p.

dec 2, 2018

Chicks watch what you wear in Egypt. An Egyptian court is prosecuting  actress #RaniaYoussef for wearing a lace dress to a Cairo film festival. #Eltahawy  sums it up

"In Egypt, and much of the Middle East, 'inciting debauchery' is like violating national security," 

dec 16, 2018

 US-backed, Kurdish-led fighters have captured #Hajin ,the last town held by the Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border. #hitchens stated years ago that the Kurds were our friends, and they continue to prove it so screw #turkey  .

dec 19, 2018

The #Pentagon warned Turkey against launching an operation targeting #Kurdish militias in northern Syria, particularly as American personnel may be present or in the vicinity.

 jan 11, 2019

EU, with a big push from #denmark ,  approved sanctions against the Iranian Security ministry and two Iranian nationals for their involvement in thwarted terrorist attacks in France and Denmark.

march 1

 #Hezbollah, a group founded in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and a potent political force in Lebanon,  condemned on the British government’s decision to list it as a terrorist organization, saying the move showed “servile obedience” to the USA. No surprises there!

april 9, 2019

If you're going to #Dubai soon or for the #WorldCup in 2022 , keep your phone at home. #Shahravesh , a British woman was  arrested last month over a 2017 FBook comment about her husband's new wife.

april 17

 Lynn Maalouf, a member of #AmnestyInternational, said that a #Bahrain court's decision to sentence 138 people to jail and strip them of their citizenship for conspiring to create a terror cell linked to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards force,"makes a mockery of justice." The IRG is Shia and and Bahrain 's Government is Sunni dominated., but I wonder when AI became so concerned with the rightsof  Hezbollah-friendly groups.

may 26

  Aren't the Turks and Russians "friends"? #Turkey has equipped  Syrian rebels it backs with fresh supplies of weaponry to help them try to repel  Russian-backed Syrian army assault in the northwest section of #Syria. You need a dozen scorecards to keep track of the shifting alliances.

june 17 2019

 For something a little different in the Middle East:  Slave to Sirens are the first all-female metal band #Lebanon

july 4

I'm not sure why it took this route.  British Royal Marines in #Gibraltar have detained the supertanker #Grace1 on suspicion of carrying crude oil to Syria. Mapping showed the shipped sailed from Iran headed for the Banyas refinery in Syria, an entity that is subject to EU sanctions against Syria.

july 11

  8 years of war and #Syria is carved up into areas of U.S., Russian, Turkish and Iranian influence.Way to go #Assad

July 20

Sure signs tensions with #Iran are about to get messier: Saudi Arabia’s #KingSalman approved hosting U.S. forces in the country.

Oct 4, 2019

Interesting response to the riots in #Iraq:  The Higher Council for Corruption Combat has ordered the dismissal of 1,000 employees at state institutions who have been convicted of wasting or embezzling public money.

Jan 23, 2020

Lebanon’s new government is dominated by Iranian ally Hezbollah and is not is being greeted well by the Lebanese. Also,  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo withheld support from the USA, for now.

feb 24, 2020

#hitchens is rolling over.  Lebanon's  most powerful party is Hezbollah, the Shiite political and militant group backed by Iran, and now Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional arch-rival, is ready to support debt-ridden Lebanon.

may 27, 2020

Lebanon 's descent which began long before #Covid19  was unleashed has a few key flash points. In October 2019  the government proposed new taxes on tobacco, petrol and voice calls via messaging services such as WhatsApp . The #whatsapp tax was rescinded quickly, but the discontent did not ease much then ,and it's grown to the point that many Lebanese fear that poverty will end up killing more people than coronavirus.

June 11, 2020

#christopherhitchens  is smiling somewhere. Protesters were chanting anti-Hezbollah slogans during on-going protests yesterday in Lebanon. Some want Hezbollah, the only group to have kept its weapons since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990,  to be disarmed. Good luck with that!