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Saturday 28 January 2017

Cate Blanchett has one of the most incisive political minds around



Being an actor is no small thing. At the same time, learning lines and impersonating people or interpreting characters does not automatically mean you are a political thinker. It is possible to be an actor and an intelligent political thinker, but that would require something more than sweeping statements backed up by no argument at all. So, no, I was only joking, Cate - your performance on the Jimmy Fallon Show was crude and lacked any sentient points. The tragedy for lefty lovelies is that nobody pushes them to rise above empty gestures. Sad. And, seriously, if you don't believe me, read this and see if she makes a single point about Donald Trump that a six-year-old couldn't make: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/26/cate-blanchett-on-donald-trumps-presidency-its-absurd-and-ridiculous         

Monday 23 January 2017

Great news! Erdogan is disturbed by Trump's remarks!


Nobody is sure what President Trump remarks exactly have disturbed President Erdogan, but the fact that the Tribune of Anatolia is disturbed at all can only be good news: http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/ca0f7428-1d94-42ea-95a3-9ac9fd979bcc/Remarks-by-Trump-disturbing--Erdogan

Friday 20 January 2017

A Fourth Detente?



First there was Eisenhower/Khrushchev, then Nixon/Brezhnev, followed by Reagan/Gorbachev. Each time a Republican president tried - not always successfully - to bring about an understanding with Moscow. We are now in the Trump/Putin era. Here is a good piece in the Nation on the chances of a Fourth Detente: https://www.thenation.com/article/the-fight-over-a-trump-putin-detente-begins/

January 20, 2017: President Trump's Inauguration

Thursday 19 January 2017

Do it, President Trump!


Let's hope that Donald Trump, at least in this case, takes the advice of the Pentagon: http://aranews.net/2017/01/pentagon-wants-trump-to-arm-syrian-kurds-increase-boots-on-the-ground-report/

Barack Obama, after eight years, could still not make up his mind: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/world/middleeast/obama-isis-syria-kurds.html

Meanwhile, the Ottomanites go further into territory that they lost during the First World War: w.syriahr.com/en/?p=59336 

Tuesday 17 January 2017

Playing the anti-Russia card


The US intelligence agencies have "high confidence" or "moderate confidence" and increasingly we have "no confidence": http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/01/09/russia-trump-election-flawed-intelligence/  

Sunday 15 January 2017

Monday 9 January 2017

Erdogan sets Turkey for self-destruction

The Roboski Memorial has been destroyed

I have said it before, and I shall say it again, President Erdogan is burning down the house to get his hands on the property deed: http://ekurd.net/turkey-destroys-roboski-memorial-2017-01-09

Here's some background on the Roboski Massacre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roboski_airstrike    

Thursday 5 January 2017

'Moderate' Hanan Ashrawi rejects John Kerry's speech

Which part of Hanan Ashrawi's rejection do you reject, John Kerry?
Hear from Palestine Media Watch what even the 'moderates' in the Palestinian leadership think about would-be peacemaker John Kerry's speech:https://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=19760.
    

Monday 2 January 2017

Tony Abbott's Jerusalem Diary

Bill Shorten and Tony Abbott at the 2016 Australia-Israel-UK Dialogue in Jerusalem (Photograph Daryl McCann)
 Here is Tony Abbott's account of the 2016 Australia-Israel-UK Dialogue: http://spectator.com.au/2016/12/jerusalem-diary/


Enlightened patriotism in Hungary and Poland

1956 & 2017
We are in the midst of a global - perhaps that is the wrong word! - phenomenon: https://www.ft.com/content/417e4558-4525-11e6-9b66-0712b3873ae1?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral 

A people's revolt in the People's Republic?

Seriously, what have the people in the People's Republic got to complain about?