Of wars and criminals

In July 2023, Reuters reported that The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s arrest. (The ICC is distinct from the International Court of Justice, an organ of the United Nations that hears disputes between states.)

This is because he is held responsible for the actions of his army and ‘Russian forces in Ukraine are responsible for rapes, widespread" torture and killings.’

The article further clarified that ICC can bring a prosecution against political leaders for "waging aggressive war" in the event of an unjustified invasion, or conflict not undertaken in self-defense.’

I was happy to learn from a PBS report on December 23rd, that “South Africa launched a case at the United Nations’ top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and asking the court to order Israel to halt its attacks — the first such challenge made at the court over the current war.”

South Africa’s submission to the International Court of Justice alleges that “acts and omissions by Israel … are genocidal in character” as they are committed with the intent “to destroy Palestinians in Gaza” as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.”

This excellent submission put forward by the South Africans needs widespread support, for when you see the reports on the nightly news showing the results of the days activities in both Ukraine and Gaza, there is little difference between Putin and Netanyahu’s government.

In fact, in terms of cruelty, the Israelis seem to be way ahead.

I am certainly no defender of Putin or the Russians, but in their effort to steal the Ukrainian’s land, the Russians seem to be targeting mostly soldiers, whereas in Gaza, the government and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) clearly aim to eliminate as many women and children as possible!

In a chilling report on December 31, 2023, The Daily Ground reported that the Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, told the Israeli army radio that ‘Israel must control territory in Gaza and significantly reduce the number of Palestinians living there. "If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, the whole discourse about the day after will be different," he said.

If that news report is correct, since the population of Gaza is around two million, this means the likes of Smotrich have no reservations or qualms about wiping out up to 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza!

If that isn’t genocidal, nothing is.

It has been very clear for some time that the Israeli government is also not simply setting out to kill as many of this generation of Palestinians as possible but also as much of the future generations as well.

So, they are promising to carry on this campaign for much longer.

This campaign cannot only cause Israel to become an international pariah, but also ensure that the country cannot ever exist in peace, for by their own actions, they are simply forcing the future generations in the territories that it oppresses, to become terrorists!

You know, some powerful people like to label all criticism of the Israeli actions in Gaza as anti-Semitic. This is absolute nonsense however, as social media is replete with videos ofJews from all over the world, including descendants of victims of Hitler’s genocide in Germany, opposing the Netanyahu government’s acts of genocide against the Palestinians and the apartheid regime that passes for democracy in Israel!

Even Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper has been reporting that ‘Protests calling to oust PM Netanyahu are taking place night across Israel, including a Tel Aviv solidarity rally with the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.’

No one is more responsible for what is taking place in Gaza today, than that Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and his blood-thirsty cabinet which cannot see beyond totally eliminating the Palestinian population.

So far, their army has killed almost 22,000 Palestinians in Gaza and under the watchful eye of the IDF, settlers in the West Bank have been murdering Palestinian farmers and stealing their land.

That is what the government of Israel wants as they are determined that the Palestinians should never have their own state but simply remain in eternal bondage or flee their land.

The proof of this is reported in the Times of Israel on December 31, 2023, which quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying during a press conference at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv that 'he was “proud” he prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state and took credit for “putting the brakes” on the Oslo peace process.' 

2024 will see no improvement in the Middle East and many have been wondering if the Falasha’s living in Israel are not in danger of elimination too.

This concern is based on a declaration made even before November 8^th by Judith Varnai-Shorer. This influential politician is a powerful former Israeli Consul for General the Southern United States, a former ambassador to both Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as a former minister of congressional affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC. Her most recent post was desk director at the Center for Policy Research.

In a video circulating on You Tube, she is heard warning other powerhouse Israelis at a secret meeting in the US that major problem Israel has is with ‘the young generation of the black community.’

That smells like trouble for the young Ethiopian Jews. The older ones migrated to Israel and while their population is listed at 85,000, some 20,000 were born there according to Israeli statics.

Research for yourself the terrible discrimination the Falasha’s are currently subjected to in Israel!

The European Jews who control Israel, clearly don’t want any people there who are not lily white and by giving them full support, the Americans are being drawn into that mire.

 

 

 

 

Jottings

 As I sit in the airport waiting on flight to Livingstone, Zambia, I have been thinking about some things I learnt in Cape Town.

This beautiful building is a mere pizza place

This city is full of fabulously designed buildings built by backbreaking slave labor but because history is written by the victors, most of the Black people give the colonial/slave masters credit for them.

I got angry with a tour guide who kept thanking the British, so at a stop, had to pull him aside and read him the riot act.

His commentary changed after that but mental slavery will probably take centuries to be eliminated.😡

And did you know that when Rhodesia got independence and became Zimbabwe, whites born there could move to South Africa, be granted citizenship immediately and given access to all the privileges whites automatically get here?

I didn’t!

Even now, this country has so far to go. For example, no matter how rich a black person becomes, to get a child into what had been a private white school, they must go on a long waiting list while white children are immediately accepted. (Education is supposedly free up to high school but there are private schools which offer better facilities).

And although the white population has shrunk from 20% to 8%, they still control commerce. With unemployment among blacks at 18% the exploitation of workers is sickening as those who have a job must accept anything to hold on to it.

 Working and living conditions are still in the pits for blacks.

On a more pleasant topic, our Usain Bolt is so loved that a taxi service to compete with 

Uber was established using his name. While Uber is popular with tourists, Bolt is popular with locals.

And my personal favorite, the late great Peter Tosh was given special credit at the slave lodge, for his militant songs decrying oppression. 😊

I was a bit miffed when South African after South African kept telling me that Jamaica is in America though, until someone explained that it means we are in the Americas just like how the island of Mauritius which is in the Indian Ocean, is considered Africa.

A bit upset still but understand the complications of geography better😊.

I was quite surprised to see so many mixed race people, having read Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime.” 

As interracial sex was a crime, in public his mom had to pretend to be his nanny not to get arrested!

His Swiss father was never in any peril though,  I suppose because sexual exploitation of black women by white men was part of their perks under apartheid.

Many people are upset because the South Africa today supports Russia in the Ukraine affair. We must remember though that the USA ‘empowered apartheid‘. When  the UN called for sanctions against the apartheid regime in 1962, the US resisted until the late 80’s😡

Memories are not short!

On a lighter note; 

South Africa is the only country in Africa with nuclear power and I was intrigued to discover that you can buy your electric service at the corner shop where you buy bread. 

All you need is a pre-paid meter and the shop transfers power supply from its meter to yours. And it costs no more, as the shops are agents of the power company. 

Neat eeh?

To get to Zambia we took Airlink, one of the 3 South African owned domestic carriers. We had to fly through Johannesburg and would you believe that although it was only an hour and half we got breakfast?

The beautiful box in which breakfast was served on Air Link

We could fly for hours in the USA and even internationally to Jamaica and those darn airlines would not even give you a bottle of water!

My wandering thoughts😏

I hate socialism!

 It is almost impossible to turn on television these days and not hear some shrill accusation about some politician being a socialist.

 Of course, these charges are being widely thrown at Democrats, who are trying to hold on to the House and Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections.

And the label is sticking, to their detriment.

Every time I hear the accusations, I realize more how ignorant some Americans are. Or maybe they are not as stupid as they pretend to be but are simply hoping  to deceive the uneducated.

For in all the years I have been following politics, I have never heard a sensible leader in the democratic party, claim to be a socialist.

I deliberately said sensible as that immediately eliminates Bernie Sanders who in my book is moving rapidly towards senility.

For Socialism is a system whereby the government controls the economy so market forces do not prevail.

This is what former Prime Minister of Jamaica Michael Manley tried to foist on us, causing me to have to endanger my life and join the fight against socialism there.

For I am totally opposed to a government controlling the so-called “Commanding heights of the economy” as he espoused.😡

That has never worked. Not in Cuba, North Korea, Russia nowhere.

Even China never started to grow until they loosened the reins and allowed market forces to prevail.

So effective has the Repubican propaganda become that I have even heard some ignorant people claiming that Justin Trudeau is a socialist and Canada is a socialist country! 

They had long thrown countries such as Sweden, Finland, Denmark etc. into that bag too!

Pure ignorance.

What these countries which all operate well established market economies have in common, is something called Humanity.

For, they do not believe people should starve and be trampled on, simply because they are poor.

That is what even the US based Social Security System was to prevent.

This was established in 1935 by President Roosevelt during the Great Depression, when poverty rates among senior citizens exceeded 50 percent.

I can just imagine the hullabaloo by the rich in 1935, when that government tried to prevent the poor from starving!

That’s whats so clear about American politics.

Republicans just do not believe in helping the poor in any way, although their supporters benefit from programs designed to alleviate poverty.

What bothers me is that the Democrats do not understand the damage the socialist label does to them, especially among immigrants from countries where they actually had to contend with the evils of socialism.

It is therefore not surprising that the polls are now showing that Latin Americans, many of whom have seen or experienced socialism, have bought into the rhetoric and are moving to the Republican party in droves.

The democrats often utter the phrase “Words matter” but I wonder if they realize how true that is!

Maybe they themselves really don’t know what socialism is, so that is why they are allowing the label to stick.

It is to their detriment.

 Link; 2020 DECISION: SOCIALIM, RACISM OR HAPPINESS?: Williams, Joan, Williams, Joan, Bridgestone, Carol: 9781696578523: Amazon.com: Books

CARRIED IN SUN SENTINEL 7/11/2022

Kick the dog!

 

I have noted some pathetic attempts in various media to validate Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. This unprovoked war has led to the murders of thousands of civilians in Ukraine including women and children plus serious instability worldwide.

Apart from creeping international inflation caused by the disruption and increases in oil prices, the war has also had serious repercussions in poor, drought ridden countries, where starvation is now rampant. They had previously been able to buy basic foods such as wheat and corn from fertile Ukraine, but the disruptions caused by the war, have driven up the prices of these products where they are available.

If it wasn’t so serious, it would be hilarious to see and listen to the excuses by the apologists whose reasoning seems steeped in nothing but the ‘kick the dog’ philosophy!

For those who are not familiar, the kick the dog reaction is most often used by cowards. For when one cannot confront the real source of their displeasure or hurt, they find the weakest thing to abuse and take out their anger.

Often this is a harmless dog lying around at home!

This philosophy shines clearly throughout the writings and reasoning of most who have come out in support of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The latest attempt at justification was written by one Maxim Artemyev, a so-called journalist at the state-run media empire in Russia called RT. His piece published on 9th September, is entitled “The West took advantage of Russian weakness in the 1990s and is unable to understand the trauma it unleashed.”

It begins “A series of articles published in the Washington Post in August about the events leading up to Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, and its first stage of operation, raise a significant question. “How realistically and objectively do people in the West perceive the situation?”

In putting forward his justification for the illegal invasion of Ukraine, Artemyev spouts a series of injuries/indignities he claims Russia suffered since 1985-1991, when Mikhail Gorbachev pulled the USSR out of the arms race and ended the Cold War.

In the long diatribe which wreaks with self-pity (as a Russian), he itemizes the various indignities, financial and reputational losses Russia has suffered since 1985. While doing so, he pointed an accusing finger at many in the west and NATO but reading it through carefully, I could find nowhere that the Ukrainians were the villains.

Clearly by his own admission, Ukraine is just the dog!

And he knows that too, since he places the blame squarely where it should fall, writing; “The collapse of historical Russia was the result of Gorbachev’s remarkably weak leadership and Yeltsin’s personal ambition, as the latter tried to consolidate power even if only over a smaller state.”

So, Mr. Artemyev, if the Russian empire disintegrated as a result of poor leadership in Russia, how does that justify the murder of thousands next door?

Maybe this article was intended to be a salve for those Russian readers who wondered why their brothers and sisters in Ukraine were being murdered by Russian soldiers and not for an international audience.

What is clear though is that Russia had expected the dog to run away whimpering, but instead, it is biting back!

So, the carnage and war crimes continue.

Ukraine is different!

"When elephants fight it is the grass that gets trampled." African proverb

There has never been a truer word, and lest we are inclined to forget, the recent events in Ukraine have brought this wise proverb center page.

Although many of us never heard of Ukraine until February 2022, that country cannot be categorized as an 'elephant,' in world affairs. But, this war is really being fought by the USA, the European Union (EU) and Russia.... real big league!

Anyway, as the African proverb said, its the grass or the less wealthy countries that are suffering the most.

For while the price of energy is skyrocketing because of the war, wealthy countries are better able to deal with such spikes. And since energy costs affect most things, crippling inflation will be on the rise almost everywhere.

Ukraine has also been a very fertile agricultural country, producing significant amounts of sunflower oil, barley, corn and other basic foods.

Just think of our and other poor countries dependence on corn meal as a basic staple! Either it will soon be priced out of our reach or there will be a chronic shortage soon. When corn and other basics are no longer produced by in large quantities by Ukraine, starvation and famine will surely escalate in poor dependent countries.

Let me state up front though that I support the USA and EU getting involved in the Ukraine situation, as the concept of a larger well-armed country invading a neighbor cannot be tolerated in civilized society.

It should never have happened in Iraq in 2003 when the powerful USA, supported by Poland, Great Britain invaded that little country on a false pretext.

It should never have happened in Panama either when the powerful USA invaded to take out their leader Manuel Noreiga who had stopped colluding with the CIA.  Some records say some 15,000 Panamanian were killed in that exercise.

So yes, modern history is replete with stories of big bullies invading less powerful countries on spurious grounds. 

What we are seeing today though is the level of racism existing in many influential media houses in the western world. 

For never before have innocent war victims been so deservedly humanized as have the Ukrainians,  from where the suffering of ordinary people been brought into our homes so graphically and regularly.

Each time I see a report out of Ukraine, I have to ask myself what makes the pain and suffering of the Ukrainian people at the hands of the blood thirsty Putin worse than the pain and suffering of Afghan, Iraqi children in the past at the hands of the USA? 

But they are still just a small sample of the innocent women and children who have been forced to flee their homes daily, often with just the clothes on their backs, in the face of bloodthirsty dictators worldwide..

According to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, (UNCHR), there are today over twenty million refugees worldwide. Watching western television however, one would never get that impression, as no other race of innocent victims is being humanized anywhere. 

Only the Ukrainians need world sympathy and assistance one could easily conclude!

And are there really more Russian war criminals around than in other countries where innocent civilians are being wiped out ad infinitum?

Quite frankly, the only difference I am seeing every night is that its white Europeans who are suffering in Ukraine whereas in other conflicts it is 'people from shithole countries or as some may say "children of a lesser god."

As to the matter of international justice and punishing war crimes, Russia is one of the 144 countries that are members of the International Court of Justice, (an organ of the United Nations that deals with those matters) but neither the USA nor China are. 

Of Caving,Thai kids, Omens and, Claustrophobia

Entrance to Blue Hole, Westmorland

What I think will be the most memorable story for 2018, is what I dub the Cave Event in Thailand.

In brief, On June 23, 2018, 12 young soccer players ranging in ages from 11-16, who went exploring the six-mile-long Than Luang cave complex at a park in Northern Thailand along with their 25-year-old coach, went missing.

For ten nail-biting days parents and indeed the  entire world, anxiously followed the progress of searchers from that country plus numerous international volunteers, many of them experienced divers, as they braved the murky waters inside the flooded caverns, squeezed through narrow twisting tunnels, climbed sharp ledges at great peril to themselves, but despite not finding them for days, they refused to give up hope and just kept going.

All geared up to enter Green Grotto cave, Discovery Bay, Jamaica

 
Miraculously, on July 2nd, they were spotted by two British divers, fearful and hungry but thankfully safe, on a high ledge deep inside the cave.  

After feeding and giving them medical assistance, the rescuers were faced the awesome task of getting them out of the flooded caverns, a journey of some three miles, without even knowing how many of the stranded youth could actually even swim. 

This was a dangerous and staggering task that had to be completed quickly too, as the rescuers soon realized that oxygen levels were being rapidly depleted. Further, the rainy monsoon season was due to begin in days, thus further flooding the caves, despite the effort being undertaken to use a massive pump to get out the millions of gallons  of water already inside the flooded caverns.

Outside the Guadirikiri Caves in Aruba

At one point, it was even feared that they would have to keep the boys inside for months for their own safety as getting them out looked too dangerous. And it was indeed dangerous, as a former Thai Petty Officer,  Saman Gunam,  unfortunately, lost consciousness on his way out, after delivering air tanks inside the cave to facilitate the rescue.

Sadly,  Saman  Gunam later died.

Finally thanks to the skills and technology of  dozens of 

Engineers, geologists, military persons, health care volunteers etc from all over the world, assigning two divers to each boy and medicating the young people so they would not panic in the murky waters, all the boys and their youthful coach were rescued on 

July 10th 2018.

Inside Two Sisters cave, Hellshire

And would you believe that the pump that had been taking out the water from the cave to facilitate their exit, broke down almost immediately after the last person was rescued? This caused the water to start rising rapidly to the point where experienced divers who had gone back inside to recover the gear that was left inside, had to exit quickly to save their own lives!

Eerie isn't it?

Considering all this happened during the exciting  FIFA World Cup which was being played out in Russia and in which upsets have been the order of the day, I couldn't help wondering if this event involving the young Thai soccer players was some kind of omen. 

Marking inside the cave at  Cudjoe Hill, St. Catherine, made by the Tainos in Jamaica before Columbus arrived and wiped them out. Nanny's brother Cudjoe also hid out in that cave for months, when the British were trying  to capture and subjugate the Maroons. 

For example, could it be that in four or eight years, Thailand, a rank outsider in the soccer world, could become a world beater or this young soccer team would eventually represent their county at World Cup? 

I hope I will be around to find out if this was really a soccer omen!

While I know this drama held the attention of people all over the world for all sorts of reasons, for me it was especially eye-opening in understanding my own self!

For I am an enigma in that, although I tend to be extremely claustrophobic, I actually enjoy caving. 

Native Americans built fascinating abodes in the caves at Mesa Verde

However get this clear, when I say caving I do not mean I am a spelunker.

 No sir, I don't go into unexplored caves to study anything. I just like to go into well-established caves with professional guides to look and learn.

However, its is only since the incident with these boys that I realize that my love of exploring the underground and claustrophobia just cannot co-exist! 

For it has never occurred to me before that something like a flood or earthquake could occur while I was under the ground.... especially in my homeland, Jamaica, which sits on a serious seismic fault.

One of the caves along the Cuna Cuna trail in which Nanny hid for months

I cannot even conceive of how I would survive trapped underground for an hour much less 10 days. 

In fact, I have no doubt that I would actually go crazy if I was trappedn underground, anywhere.

This Thai drama has caused me to have a great deal of respect and admiration for those Thai youth who all seem to be in reasonably good spirits, despite being trapped in the dark, no bathroom, no food and not knowing if they would ever come out alive! 

What a terrible 10 days that must have been. 

This has also prompted me to have even greater respect for Jamaica's only female National Heroine, Nanny of the Maroons.

She led the Maroons in Jamaica to victory against the British in the early 1700's when they defeated the Spanish, captured the island and tried to re-enslave the former slaves who the Spaniards had transported from Africa to work on their plantations.

It was the complex caving system that the Maroons studied, which helped them in their struggles, as they were able to strategically select those caves which had water inside, in which they could hide for months on end while waiting to ambush and kill the  British soldiers. 

It was not until hearing about the Thai youth and seeing their plight in living color that I got a much greater appreciation for the suffering that Nanny and her people had to endure, as they hid from the oppressors.

As for me, will I continue going into caves? 

Maybe not right now. Luckily, I have been into all the interesting caves in Jamaica but maybe later if I am in another country and hear about a fascinating cave, who knows what will happen?

You have to ascend many steps to reach the entrance of Hato Cave, Curacao

American/ Russian interefernce in elections

Even if the Americans have themselves had a record of sometimes “interfering” in elections in other countries, they have every right to be upset that Russia interfered in their presidential elections, as all the intelligence agencies have agreed happened. Interestingly, president Trump has time and time again, chosen to believe Putin's word, although he is ex and probably still KGB, while dismissing the evidence provided by 17 of his own intelligence agencies, but that's another issue.

Anyway, the difference between what the Russians did to the USA in their democratic elections and normal "interference,"  is that the US and Russia are currently the two most powerful superpowers in the world and if one can gain unchallenged influence throughout the world because it has its surrogate in power as the head of the other superpower, it would be terrible for the rest of us. 

Especially if the one that ends up with total power is Russia!

For Russia is by no means a liberal democracy and thus their holding sway over what happens in smaller and weaker states would be tragic for people in the free world, who could see the freedoms to which they had become accustomed, being gradually diminished.

I have been there and speak from personal experience on the front lines.

This was during the cold war era in my small island of Jamaica which lies only 90 miles away from Cuba. We were forced to go through four years of turmoil because the democratically elected government of the day decided it preferred the Cuban system of government and the socialist philosophy to the Westminster system of government under which it had gained power. And the Cubans were only too happy to assist them in every way possible to  take away our freedoms. For after all, Jamaica being the largest and most influential island in the English speaking Caribbean, would give them great leverage in their quest to have the then USSR dominate the entire region.

So we saw our island being flooded by thousands of Cubans supposedly coming in to assist in agricultural development and the health service. They however were under the command of a general named Ulysses Estrada who was allegedly the head of their intelligence agency, the DGI. Also assisting the Cubans but covertly, was the Russian KGB and I know that as a fact as I did have an encounter with one.

On the other side was the American CIA which had allegedly heeded the opposition party’s cry for help, but they apparently operated very covertly, for although I was often on the frontlines, I never encountered a CIA agent on the ground.

However, I say without apology THANKS TO THE AMERICAN CIA FOR ASSISTING US, FOR IF THEY HADN’T, JAMAICA TODAY WOULD PROBABLY BE LIKE VENEZUELA where food shortages, hyper-inflation, no press freedom, government sponsored aggression and the silencing of the opposition are the order of the day.

Worse yet, we could be like Cuba itself. I have visited that country four times since 1980, because of its physical beauty and the fact that I have close family there. Their life is one of absolute misery and the younger ones who were born after the revolution, do not even know that there is an alternative world in which people can criticize their government, read and write what they want or even better, get a passport and travel to any place they wish, as long as they have the money. Sad.

I therefore thank the Americans for “interfering” and assisting us in defeating the Cuban DGI and Russian KGB in the elections that followed our four year period of turmoil…1976-1980.

For reducing the world to a position where one of the two super powers dominates totally because it succeeded in putting its surrogate in power, is extremely dangerous for the entire world. For what Lord Acton said in the 1800’s is still relevant today. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”