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The events took place under the auspices of the Türksoy, established in 1993. The occasion also commemorated the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and spiritual leader Magtymguly Pyragy. The stage in Arkadag, the new smart-city just built in honour of the former president and 'father of the fatherland'.

Governments cannot take big decisions extremely quickly except in the most extreme of circumstances. There are mechanisms in all states that consider policy decisions, weigh them up, involve the various departments of the state whose activities are affected by that decision, and arrive at a conclusion, though not necessarily a good one.

The decision to stop aid funding to UNRWA was not taken by numerous western states in a single day.

In the UK, several different government ministries had to coordinate. Even within only a single ministry, the FCDO, views would have to be coordinated through written submissions and interdepartmental meetings between the departments dealing with the Middle East, with the United Nations, with the United States, with Europe and then of course between the diplomatic and development wings of the ministry.

That process would include seeking the views of British Ambassadors to Tel Aviv, Doha, Cairo, Riyadh, Istanbul and Washington and to the United Nations in Geneva and in New York.

It is not necessarily a lengthy process but it is not a day’s work, and nor would it need to be. There was no practical impact to making the announcement of cutting UNRWA funding a day sooner or a day later.

Consider that the parallel process had to be completed in the United States, in Canada, in Germany, in Australia and in all the other Western powers that contributed to starvation in Gaza by cutting aid to UNRWA.

All of these countries had to go through their procedures, and it could only be by prior coordination – weeks in advance – between these states that they announced all on the same day the destruction of the life support system for Palestinians, then in absolute need.

And then consider that we now know for certain that the Israelis had produced no evidence whatsoever of UNRWA complicity in Hamas resistance, on which these decisions in all those states were allegedly based.

I have no doubt at all that the western political elite, paid tools of the zionist machine, are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and ethnic cleansing of Gaza at a much deeper level than the people have yet understood. The refusal by Starmer and Sunak to contemplate ending arms sales and military support to Israel is not due to inertia or concern for the arms industry. It is that they actively support the destruction of the Palestinians.

The coordinated decision of the western nations to fast track famine by stopping UNRWA funding was announced within an hour,  following the ICJ ruling that Gazans were at immediate risk of genocide, and drove from the media headlines the adverse ruling against Israel.

This sent the clearest signal in response that the Western powers would not be stopped from the genocide by international law or institutions.

The Western powers give not a fig for 16,000 massacred Palestinian infants. No evidence of mass graves in hospitals will move them. They knew genocide was happening and continued actively to arm and abet it.

This genocide is the desired goal of the West. No other explanation is remotely plausible.

I have never believed the spin that Biden is trying to restrain Netanyahu, while simultaneously arming and funding Netanyahu and using US forces to fight alongside him.

Biden is making no effort to restrain Netanyahu. Biden fully supports the genocide.

My reading of this was reinforced when I was looking back at the Israeli murders on the Mavi Mamara in 2010, when they killed ten unarmed aid workers attempting a Freedom Flotilla aid delivery to Gaza. Israel’s actions were clearly both murderous and in breach of international law. Joe Biden as Vice President defended Israel staunchly then.  It is essential to understand that Genocide Joe has always been Genocide Joe.

Joe Biden took the lead in defending the raid to the U.S. public. In an interview with PBS, he described the raid as “legitimate” and argued that the flotilla organizers could have disembarked elsewhere before transferring the aid to Gaza. “So what’s the big deal here? What’s the big deal of insisting it go straight to Gaza?” Biden asked about the humanitarian mission. “Well, it’s legitimate for Israel to say, ‘I don’t know what’s on that ship. These guys are dropping eight — 3,000 rockets on my people.’”

Biden is not outplayed by Netanyahu. He is actively abetting Netanyahu and shares with him the objective of full Israeli occupation of Gaza after the Palestinian people are killed or expelled into Sinai. He also shares with Netanyahu the aim of a wider regional conflict in which the US and Gulf states ally with Israel against Iran, Syria, Yemen and Hezbollah. This is their joint vision of the Middle East – Greater Israel, and US hegemony operating through the Sunni monarchies.

If you believe all the spin from the White House about Biden trying to restrain Netanyahu, I suggest you look instead at the White House and State Department spokesmen refusing to accept any single instance of Israel atrocity and deferring to Israel on every subgle crime.

I am currently in Pakistan, and I must say it has been a great refreshment to be in a country where everybody understands why ISIS, Al Nusra etc never attacked Israeli interests, and sees precisely what Western governments are doing over Gaza. What is understood by developing nations is thankfully understood by GenZ in the West as well.

The Arab regimes of the Gulf and Jordan are dependent upon Israeli and US security services and surveillance for protection from their own people. The lack of really massive street protest against their own regimes by Arab peoples is a direct testimony to the effectiveness of that vicious repression, particularly when states like Jordan actually fight alongside Israel against Iranian weapons.

The anti-Iranian card is of course the trick both Biden and Netanyahu have left to play. By promoting an escalation with Iran, western politicians were able to default to a position of claiming the case for arming Israeli was proven – and I think were genuinely perplexed to find the public did not buy it.

The political class, across the western world and the Arab world, is utterly divorced from its people over Gaza. We are seeing worldwide repression, as peaceful conferences are stormed by police in Germany, students are beaten by police in American campuses, and in the UK old white people like me suffer the kind of continual harassment long suffered by young Muslim men.

This is not the work of Netanyahu operating as a rogue. It is the result of the machinations of a professional political class across the Western world welded to zionism, with the supremacy of Israel as an article of fundamental belief.

Times are not this dark by accident. They were designed to be this dark.

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The post Worse Than You Can Imagine appeared first on Craig Murray.

Poland Ready To Help Ukraine Round Up Military-Aged Men Tyler Durden Fri, 04/26/2024 - 02:45

Former British PM Liz Truss Warns About Global Threat Of The Left Tyler Durden Fri, 04/26/2024 - 02:00

Mainstream economists believe that economic theory is valid when it “predicts” economic actions or trends. Austrian economists, however, say that the purpose of economic theory is to explain economic events.

Antony Blinken is now in China for his second such journey as secretary of state and his third encounter with senior Chinese officials: This is our news as April marches toward May. I have to say, it is a stranger state of affairs than I can figure when the State Department and the media that...

Lawfare — using the legal system against political opponents — is now a common leftist tactic. It’s effective. Just last month, VDARE.com announced it is effectively shutting down operations after 25 years. Perhaps more than any other site, VDARE has spotlighted how America’s immigration policy leads to demographic disaster. Its shuttering would be a huge...

In confecting a media row about the policing of London marches against genocide, the Israel lobby knew it would score a victory, whatever happened A gruesome discovery was made in Gaza last weekend. Some 300 Palestinian bodies – of men, women and children – were unearthed from an unmarked mass grave in the courtyard of...

Here's what everyone needs to understand about Ukraine: The United States has already moved on to Plan B. No, the Biden administration has not issued an official statement on the matter, but the shift has already begun. The Washington Brain-trust has abandoned any hope of winning the war outright (Plan A) and has, thus, adopted...

After passing the Ukraine aid bill this week, arch warmonger Mitch McConnell, a man with a 6% approval rating whose entire existence surrounds servicing the Jews, claimed that the entire reason it took so long to get the bill passed was because Tucker Carlson disagreed with it. He was asked why it took so long,...

By now I should be entering on the supreme stage
Of the whole walk, reserved for the late afternoon.
The heat was to be over now; the anxious mountains,
The airless valleys and the sun-baked rocks, behind me.

Now, or soon now, if all is well, come the majestic
Rivers of foamless charity that glide beneath
Forests of contemplation. In the grassy clearings
Humility with liquid eyes and damp, cool nose
Should come, half-tame, to eat bread from my hermit hand.
If storms arose, then in my tower of fortitude–
It ought to have been in sight by this—I would take refuge;
But I expected rather a pale mackerel sky,
Feather-like, perhaps shaking from a lower cloud
Light drops of silver temperance, and clover earth
Sending up mists of chastity, a country smell,
Till earnest stars blaze out in the established sky
Rigid with justice; the streams audible; my rest secure.

I can see nothing like all this. Was the map wrong?
Maps can be wrong. But the experienced walker knows
That the other explanation is more often true.

The post Pilgrim’s Problem appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

In a 32-28 vote, Arizona legislators passed an “abortion ban repeal” bill designed to overturn an 1864 pro-life law. Republicans have a narrow majority in the Arizona House, but the bill passed because three Republicans joined the Democrats against the pro-life measure. The repeal will now be considered by the Arizona Senate where Republicans also hold a narrow majority. Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs has indicated she will sign the bill into law if the Senate passes it.

 

 

The post Arizona House votes to repeal law protecting life from moment of conception appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Wednesday that state abortion bans enacted after the overturning of Roe v. Wade violate federal healthcare law, though some also questioned the effects on emergency care for pregnant women. The Idaho case under review marks the first time the Supreme Court has considered the implications of a state ban since Dobbs.
 

 

The post Supreme Court ‘skeptical’ state abortion bans conflict with federal healthcare law appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

In the spring, rumors began circulating that Chartreuse, the much-ballyhooed French herbal liqueur, had suddenly become hard to find. Countless fans took to social media to decry the shortage, question if others had any leads on bottles, posit conspiracies, or cheer when they found a bottle. The monks themselves are silent on the shortage – apparently concerned about producing too much of the green elixir, lest they contribute to the “alcoholization of the world,”
 

 

The post How cloistered, silent Carthusians made a big noise with a Chartreuse shortage appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

The “Fr. Justin” interactive Artificial Intelligence app was launched this week by Catholic Answers. The app is focused on apologetics and evangelization and is designed to answer questions about the Catholic faith using material from the Catholic Answers library of articles, talks, and apologetics materials. However, controversy over the virtual priest quickly led to Justin’s laicization.
 

 

The post ‘Fr. Justin,’ AI priest, ‘defrocked’ appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

Whenever people think about Rome (say, after reading the New Testament, or Shakespeare, or scrolling through TikTok), they tend to focus on Rome’s transition from a republic to an imperial monarchy. They recall Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, declaring himself dictator, and being assassinated by senators hoping to restore the republic, only for his adopted son (Augustus) to take back control, defeat his rivals, dissolve the senate, and establish the empire. Meanwhile, a child was born in Bethlehem.

It’s the period after this tumult, popularly known as the Pax Romana, that receives less attention, despite being arguably more relevant for understanding the world today. This was when Rome became a superpower, spanning three continents and bringing its way of life to the whole world. Paradoxically, this was also when the signs of decline began to manifest themselves, particularly among the elite class, and the empire became ever more diverse, calling into question what it even meant to call oneself Roman.

In his latest book, Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age, Tom Holland does a great service: he covers this important period in Western history, not just in a fascinating narrative, but reflecting on the true nature of civilizational progress, successful leadership, and the work of divine providence in human affairs.

Holland begins with one of the most corrupt and disgusting historical figures, Emperor Nero. Last of August’s line, Nero had a surprisingly long reign (AD 54-68) despite his murderous cruelty and deviant behavior. Holland opens with the funeral of Nero’s wife, Poppea, as an opportunity to describe Rome at that point. Yes, Nero likely murdered her and her unborn child in a fit of rage. And replaced her with a mutilated boy who resembled her. And Nero was likely responsible for the great fire that destroyed Rome a few years earlier. But, for all that, as Holland shows, he also happened to be a source of stability for the empire.

Once Nero killed himself, after learning of a rebellion in Germany, chaos followed, which resulted in the succession of four emperors within a single year. At first, there seemed grounds for optimism, particularly with accession of Servius Sulpicius Galba, a man with a distinguished record “as a magistrate, as a soldier, as a governor of major provinces.” Galba, however, was also an insufferable snob with a fatal sense of entitlement.

Only a few months later, Marcus Salvius Otho, who had “become a byword for both effeminacy and hooliganism” because of his friendship with Nero, launches a coup against Galba and becomes emperor. He is soon replaced by Aulus Vitellius, the commander of the German armies who also had a “reputation for viciousness and depravity” and close ties to Nero. Finally, Vitellius is replaced by Titus Flavius Vespasianus, a commander in Judea who was “popular with the men he commanded,” but “quite without pedigree.”

With each of these “emperors,” Holland is careful to note the new power dynamics of the empire. No longer is it populist generals waging wars against the patrician senators over the fate of the republic; now, it is rival factions in Rome’s massive military fighting for the crown and ultimate power. Galba and Otho represented the far west (Iberia), Vitellius represented its north (South Germany and Eastern Gaul), and Vespasian represented the east (Judea and Egypt).

Not surprisingly, after Vespasian’s rule, Roman culture became noticeably more oriental and “Hellenized.” Efforts to tame and develop the wild areas in northern Germany, Western France, and England, are gradually abandoned while the emperors focus their efforts on quelling revolts in the Balkans and Judea, as well as expanding eastward into Persia.

Vespasian’s ten-year rule restores the Pax Romana. He is succeeded by his son Titus, most famous for his bloody siege of Judea and the destruction of the Jewish temple. Titus’s reign is cut short by illness, which leads to the rise of his brother Domitian whom Holland describes as a paranoid micromanager with a mission to appease the gods after the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius. Domitian is finally assassinated and replaced by Cocceius Nerva, who cleared the way for his eminent successors, Trajan and Hadrian.

Although almost opposite in their approaches to leadership (Trajan wanted to expand while Hadrian wanted to consolidate) as well as temperament (Trajan hated talking and liked warring while Hadrian loved talking and preferred rebuilding), both were among Rome’s greatest emperors and enjoyed enormous political capital.

Although hindsight confers the greatest honor to these last two emperors, Holland’s history compels the reader to reconsider this assessment. From Nero to Hadrian (AD 54-138), the emperors were all kept busy with the same challenges that came with maintaining the Pax Romana: tame the frontier, pay the praetorian guard, kill all rivals, feed the plebeians in Rome, and pick a good successor. This necessitated extreme ruthlessness by all of them, even in the best of times.

Moreover, the combination of godlike power and pagan amorality led all the emperors to suffer from dysfunctional personal lives where they regularly cheated on their wives and indulged in various perversions (it wasn’t just Nero). Ironically, the most pious of them, Domitian, also happened to be the most malevolent, persecuting and martyring a record number of Christians.

Altogether, this leads the reader to wonder just how great the Romans really were. Until a majority of Romans converted to Christianity, the whole empire would be locked in a bloody cycle of civil wars and rebellions while being ruled by half-insane emperors for at least two more centuries. The Dark Age that followed the empire’s collapse a few centuries after that would have lasted indefinitely. In other words, without the countercultural Christians working in the margins, there would have been the modern West as it is today in its post-Christian disorder. Clearly, God picked a good time to become incarnate.

It’s doubtful that Holland intended to inspire this kind of gratitude for the appearance of Christianity, but this is the real takeaway, and it’s something that everyone, not just Christians, should celebrate.

Tom Holland

The post Decadent Rome and the Christian Counterculture appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

American foreign policy is a museum of horrors in which Gaza 2023/2024 is the main exhibit. It is my conviction that Gaza is much more than just one more American foreign-policy failure, an event and topic to swill around like mouth wash, spit out and move on, once the usual “tsk, tsk” bromides have been...

New York – I was kicked out of New York’s prestigious Collegiate private school many moons ago for ‘revolutionary and disruptive activities.’ Thank goodness my wise parents sent me to the International School of Geneva, Switzerland where I thrived. The underground French fascist group, ‘la Main Rouge’ repeatedly threatened to kill me for organizing student...

It's too bad we can't monetize censorship, because we truly live in a golden age of speech suppression. In this deeply polarized society, the one thing we can all agree upon is that people we disagree with need to shut up. Officially, freedom of speech is a key commandment in our national civic religion. We...

Dissociated Press In its latest effort to combat anti-Semitism, Columbia University has built a separation wall around its campus and hired Israeli Defense Forces soldiers to guard the checkpoints. Non-Jewish students and professors attempting to enter campus are strip-searched, menaced with attack dogs, and otherwise ritually humiliated. Students suspected of being Christian are spat upon...