I want one of these!!!
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This is my take on the intended semiotics of the video showing the beheading of journalist James Foley, by a jihadi with a British accent:
This is my take on the perceived semiotics in the west:
The Islamic State just made it a trivial domestic political task for anyone who wants to support their enemies against them. Hamas fires rockets at Israel and then tries to get the IDF to kill some journalists in Gaza to win sympathy. The ‘Islamic State’ murders a journalist themselves by cutting his head off. I guess the ‘Islamic State’ cannot afford the same a PR advice that Hamas gets 😀 August 20th, 2014 | 71 comments - (Comments are closed)
 This excellent report from what used to be Iraq and Syria highlights the very strange bedfellows that conflict in the Middle East can produce: It is great to see reportage like this as watching CNN or the BBC is often like watching a weird Disney version of reality. Highly recommended. August 19th, 2014 | 13 comments - (Comments are closed)
… apparently it flies a yellow flag with a rattlesnake on it, rather like the one in the sidebar of this blog.
It is only bizarre if you do not understand what drives such notions. Indeed such an approach to the state makes perfect sense given what the state has done to black American civil society. But expecting that to comprehensible by people deeply invested in the modern regulatory state is unrealistic, so of course he finds it bizarre. And I wonder how many Democrats know about the origins of the KKK or the eugenics movement? August 16th, 2014 | 23 comments - (Comments are closed)
So, when the police are dressed like combat troops, it’s not a fashion faux pas, it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of who they are. Forget the armored vehicles with the gun turrets, forget the faceless, helmeted, anonymous Robocops, and just listen to how these “policemen” talk. Look at the video as they’re arresting the New York Times and Huffington Post reporters. Watch the St Louis County deputy ordering everyone to leave, and then adding: “This is not up for discussion.” Really? You’re a constable. You may be carrying on like the military commander of an occupying army faced with a rabble of revolting natives, but in the end you’re a constable. And the fact that you and your colleagues in that McDonald’s are comfortable speaking to your fellow citizens like this is part of the problem. The most important of the “nine principles of good policing” (formulated by the first two commissioners of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 and thereafter issued to every officer joining the force) is a very simple one: The police are the public and the public are the police. Not in Ferguson. Long before the teargassing begins and the bullets start flying, the way these guys talk is the first indication of how the remorseless militarization has corroded the soul of American policing. Which brings us back to the death of Michael Brown. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that everything the police say about this incident is correct. In that case, whether or not the fatal shooting of Mr Brown is a crime, it’s certainly a mistake. When an unarmed shoplifter in T-shirt and shorts with a five-buck cigar box in one hand has to be shot dead, you’re doing it wrong. August 16th, 2014 | 113 comments - (Comments are closed)
Sometimes when doing a blog post, the hardest bit is coming up with the most appropriate title. This one had me LOL’ing 😀 I Felt A Great Disturbance In The Narrative Note, this is about the art of blogging rather than some civil disturbance in the USA, about which I really have no opinion beyond saying I am against US-style paramilitary policing. But I also think burning down local businesses because you are pissed off with the state indicates an advanced state of communal derangement. But have I have seen no reliable information that moves me to stick my oar in the water at any length about this particular bit of local nastiness. August 15th, 2014 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
My reaction upon reading this story was “wow, this would make a hell of a movie!”
Time to stay calm and think very carefully before saying anything! August 15th, 2014 | 17 comments - (Comments are closed)
I found this interesting:
Now I can certainly see why making it easy for the ghastly Chinese authorities to spy on people would be undesirable, but I wonder… where to locate the data centres then? Presumably not in the USA or UK if state access to people’s data is the big problem right, right? 😉 August 15th, 2014 | 13 comments - (Comments are closed)
I recommend the five part video series on the Islamic State over on VICE News. Very factual with a minimum of ‘interpretation’. VICE News is often a haven of fluorescent idiocy and tedious Guardian-speak, but in this case it has been a while since I have seen such good old fashioned journalism relating to the Middle East. UPDATE: they have posted the series in one full length video, so I have adjusted the link accordingly. Highly recommended. August 13th, 2014 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
And the word of the day today is… fungible…. قابل مبادله August 12th, 2014 | 27 comments - (Comments are closed)
Ok, so a third of the country has been over run by blood thirsty Sunni Einsatzgruppen, but you know what? The Really Important Thing is not getting the national shit together, it is holding onto personal power in Baghdad! Forming pragmatic coalitions in wartime is for sissies! Thank goodness for all those years of democratic nation building! August 11th, 2014 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
And whilst attention is focused on the horror in the Middle East…does that later day Mussolini (Russian edition) and gay icon Vladimir Putin invade the Ukraine? Probably. The real question being, where is the Stop Line? August 11th, 2014 | 21 comments - (Comments are closed)
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