Friday, July 08, 2005

London

A couple of things i am glad about.

First, Tony Blair's measured response, urging Britons not to scapegoat London's large Muslim population, the vast majority whom are loyal subjects of her majesty the Queen, who share the World's outrage, and several who also spilled their blood in this atrocity.


Second, Londoners amazing resillience and fortitude in facing the tragedy. Emergency services were superb, and many in the affected population went about that most difficult day in an orderly and disciplined fashion, without panicking.

I think that the country as a whole, will avoid the collective meltdown that afflicted many (but by no means all) Spaniards in the wake of 3/11. Spains' voters, we may remember, essentially ended up appeasing the terrorists by voting out Aznar's party in an astounding display of auto-flagellation.

Speak of self-abuse, I am also astounded by how the American Media, particularly the usual suspects in Fox, have managed to spin this into a "Can This Happen In The U.S.?" type of story. People it is about London, England right now, educate people about how the Brits have policed their public transportation system for the past 30 years. Don't get me wrong at all - New York, L.A., Chicago, and Copenhagen could be facing real threats right now. I am just annoyed at how quickly major U.S. media, particularly 24 hour outlets, will hijack international stories, taking time away from the actual coverage and analysis of what happens in-country.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you think about the reaction in the US? I think raising the terror level and then calling for heightened vigilance and security on public transportation is a bit ridiculous. It will only lead to more fearmongering and mass paranoia among Middle America.

Boli-Nica said...


tollas said...

What do you think about the reaction in the US? I think raising the terror level and then calling for heightened vigilance and security on public transportation is a bit ridiculous. It will only lead to more fearmongering and mass paranoia among Middle America.


Fox in particular is going crazy right now about the lack of security in trains. I personally think that security in public places in the U.S. - particularly in major cities should be beefed up, it is too lax.

But, ultimately, London should be a sobering lesson. London went through a long I.R.A. bombing campaign, and England was also on the receiving end of some pretty vicious Middle-Eastern terrorism (The Pan Am plane over Lockerbie. As a result London's anti-terror measures in public places are second to none, and they are extremely vigilant. A buddy of mine told me he was barred from taking a picture of a tube entrance by a Bobby in 1995, for security reasons. That this bombing ocurred when it did, shows what a small highly dedicated and patient group can do even with all sorts of measures in place.

So, yes we need more security in the subways, but in the end that is not going to stop people who want to cause damage. There is only so far you can go with that. Making Americans paranoid will also not work, the media should be educating people about how other countries cope with this kind of thing.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is a tragedy. It reminds me of New York, Madrid, and hmm.., we forget, EVERY day in iraq!!!! Oh wait, they are not British, never mind, it's not the same..

I don't see writings on how measured and "stoic" the iraqui women and children are when they get their homes bombed or their relatives blown to pieces, or the palestinian woman who has her house destroyed. I guess they scream too much to be "stoic"

Oh my God, they bombed the British!!! oh my God the end of the world has come!!--PLEASE I wish you would cry the same way about Rwanda, Nigeria, Ethiopia or any of those countrys that have no white blood. This is pathetic.

Stop kissin up to the British, they are the source of most trouble in the world, if you read anything, you would know. What happened yesterday in London is terrible, any fool would know that, but I think at least we should all raise the question on Blair's motives to get these innocent people involved in a carnage that he and his cousin bush have caused. Blair shares the blame as much as the thugs that put the bombs in those trains.

Anonymous said...

tollas, you wrote:

So, yes we need more security in the subways, but in the end that is not going to stop people who want to cause damage. There is only so far you can go with that. Making Americans paranoid will also not work, the media should be educating people about how other countries cope with this kind of thing.

You miss the point entirely. No matter how much money, propaganda, security, weapons, show of force you shove down everyone's throat, terrorism will never end. Why do people still fail to get that? YOU CAN NOT kill ideas. You cna not kill thoughts... What the "western" world needs to do is do what it will never do, and that is: stop raping the poor countries, stop mingling in their business, stop sacking their resources, stop ripping their future generations, stop invading their countries, and START changing your policy, start paying reparations for all the damage done so far, start real fair trade, stop lying, stop being so hipocritical. The days of the old bristish empire and now the current american empire cost us not only lives, but the future itself. Terrorism will never end.. face it, accept it. We will pay for all this for a long time, our children will too. Some day people will get it and things will begin to change, until then, these obtuse mentality only adds to the problem. Wake up!!

Boli-Nica said...

, You miss the point entirely. No matter how much money, propaganda, security, weapons, show of force you shove down everyone's throat, terrorism will never end. Why do people still fail to get that? YOU CAN NOT kill ideas. You cna not kill thoughts... What the "western" world needs to do is do what it will never do, and that is: stop raping the poor countries, stop mingling in their business, stop sacking their resources, stop ripping their future generations, stop invading their countries, and START changing your policy, start paying reparations for all the damage done so far, start real fair trade, stop lying, stop being so hipocritical. The days of the old bristish empire and now the current american empire cost us not only lives, but the future itself. Terrorism will never end.. face it, accept it. We will pay for all this for a long time, our children will too. Some day people will get it and things will begin to change, until then, these obtuse mentality only adds to the problem. Wake up!!


Whatever you write that isn't dumb, is IRRELEVANT to the issue at hand,

The issue is the rage of Islamic extremists, and their rage against the West. This is not strictly an issue of the have-nots against the haves, this is an issue of people who are not necesarilly starving - and who come from a complex culture, struggling against those who live extremely well.

Anonymous said...

"The issue is the rage of Islamic extremists, and their rage against the West. This is not strictly an issue of the have-nots against the haves, this is an issue of people who are not necesarilly starving - and who come from a complex culture, struggling against those who live extremely well."

I agree in part, terrorism is a reponse to the excesses of the western world fueled by ignorance, religious fundementalism, calcified anger and hopelessness. Terrorism is the planet's vomit, the planet got sick and tired and it threw up. The world has been sacked by a few and most humans suffer, most humans pay, most are sick and tired of being ripped off, forgotten, cheated and abused. Throw the fundamentalists in the mix and you get what we have, a nightmare. (people bombing your worshiped London, etc..) To make matters worse, you add an extreme right, extremely ignorant emperor who is ran by corporations and whose vision is similar to that of the sports fan who only knows about car races and you get what we have. A real mess.

Boli-Nica said...

,I agree in part, terrorism is a reponse to the excesses of the western world fueled by ignorance, religious fundementalism, calcified anger and hopelessness. Terrorism is the planet's vomit, the planet got sick and tired and it threw up. The world has been sacked by a few and most humans suffer, most humans pay, most are sick and tired of being ripped off, forgotten, cheated and abused. Throw the fundamentalists in the mix and you get what we have, a nightmare. (people bombing your worshiped London, etc..) To make matters worse, you add an extreme right, extremely ignorant emperor who is ran by corporations and whose vision is similar to that of the sports fan who only knows about car races and you get what we have. A real mess.

You are as simplistic as the right wing/Fox TV/Bush types you rail against.

In your narrow little world, Bush and five corporations run some conspiracy, that effectivelly runs the world, and everyone else in the world, is at the mercy of these forces, and bear no responsibility for their collective situation(s).

Get off your ass and learn shit. The Bush White House, barely knows what the fuck is going on in the Pentagon, much less the State Department to be 'conspiring'. Most Corporations act for THEIR own interest -which can be multiple interests in the same place, which means that they will go against U.S. foreign policy if need be (i.e. collaborating w/Saudi boycotts of Israel, buying oil from Chavez).

The Middle East is screwed up because Islam, in its day an advanced and tolerant civilization, got stuck around 1400, while Europe went through such things like the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, which pretty much broke down the power of religions, kings, and feudal lords, while setting the basis for a little something called the industrial revolution.

When you are able to make lots of big guns, educate more people, and in general improve the lives of your citizens drastically, it makes it easier to go and kick the hell out of stagnant countries with resources you want.
The loser who for centuries used to doing the conquering, ends up feeling pretty humiliated, particularly when they see how low they have fallen.

Anonymous said...

The paragraph..

"When you are able to make lots of big guns, educate more people, and in general improve the lives of your citizens drastically, it makes it easier to go and kick the hell out of stagnant countries with resources you want. The loser who for centuries used to doing the conquering, ends up feeling pretty humiliated, particularly when they see how low they have fallen."

...should at least, help you realize your hilarious gym-like mentality where you live as the stupid fan of the one with the lowest IQ and the bigger muscles running over the smaller less noticeable ones.. because you are scared...

You display the proverbial jock mentality, where the bigger and not necessarly smarter Neanderthal is the one to cheer for because he can push his way around. And you are scared.

You are a simplistic Neanderthal who believes in what only Neanderthals understand well: physical, brute force. And so you hang on to the one that carries the ball as if the fear of being on the weaker side means the end of the world. You are scared.

How pathetic are you, how insignificant and trivial your life is. It is a total tragedy. You are nothing, just a screaming sport freak who doesn't even know what you fight for, you only fucntion in terms of fear of being trampled over by the very same Neanderthals that you would apologize for and kiss up to..

You are a follower, a "team-oriented" idiot who sticks to the rules of the game because you lack total creativity and openeness. You suck, you loser, you make me laugh and you add nothing to any discussion other than some useless sports names and car models. You are a fearful creature that only knows fear of that which is different to you. You are pathetic. You are sad and FUNNY.

Keep it up! Ignorant!

Boli-Nica said...

, How pathetic are you, how insignificant and trivial your life is. It is a total tragedy. You are nothing, just a screaming sport freak who doesn't even know what you fight for, you only fucntion in terms of fear of being trampled over by the very same Neanderthals that you would apologize for and kiss up to..

You are a follower, a "team-oriented" idiot who sticks to the rules of the game because you lack total creativity and openeness. You suck, you loser, you make me laugh and you add nothing to any discussion other than some useless sports names and car models. You are a fearful creature that only knows fear of that which is different to you. You are pathetic. You are sad and FUNNY.


DANG! Harsh words, harsh words indeed!!!!

I am at a complete loss here, how to compete with such an erudite and witty response.

You really manage to pull it off; few people can manage to sound so pompous, humor-less, annoying and whiny while at the same time showing zero substance.

Bottom line, is you do nothing to challenge my underlying assumptions:

i. Islam as a whole did not go through the upheavals challenging its primacy among its followers life as Christianity, ii. That Christianity did, challenging the Church's authority, allowing greater personal autonomy and further intellectual exploration. Not only the church's authority was challenged, but also the primacy of Kings, and increased importance to individuals of all classes; iii. That the resulting structures favored scientific advances, leading to massive industrialization and increasingly sophisticated commerce; iv. That this allowed European countries to project their power, to the horror of many Islamic Nations of the Middle East, who were stuck with authoritarian regimes - such as the Ottoman Empire, which rapidly fell behind.

Might does not make right, but it does explain a lot.

Anonymous said...

i. Islam as a whole did not go through the upheavals challenging its primacy among its followers life as Christianity,

Might be true. But why don't you make a huge effort and think a little further and ask yourself, why is that?

ii. That Christianity did, challenging the Church's authority, allowing greater personal autonomy and further intellectual exploration.

You mean during the inquisition or after? youa re hilarious, and you've got to be kidding me. your mind only works in terms of simple geometric forms, you really oversimplify sports boy!

Not only the church's authority was challenged, but also the primacy of Kings, and increased importance to individuals of all classes;

I'm sure you believe that is true today. Yes, they were challenged, but have you ever asked yourself how many had to die and burn for that to even get started?

iii. That the resulting structures favored scientific advances, leading to massive industrialization and increasingly sophisticated commerce;

Yes, those advances created other opportunities too. (rape and control of others) The western world rewrote history to its advantage. The asians and other cultures were doing most of the scientific advancement and discovery before the westerners you suck up to. A lot of the great scientific discoveries happened while the europeans were eating with their feet.

The "wonderful" structures you admire were developed to sack and conquer and distabilize.

iv. That this allowed European countries to project their power, to the horror of many Islamic Nations of the Middle East,

Actually, the conaving ways of the european countries allow them to sack and rape the new world and the entire planet. "Projecting power" I guess in your mind sounds sweet and noble when in fact you are covering the fact that it meant rape and genocide.

who were stuck with authoritarian regimes - such as the Ottoman Empire, which rapidly fell behind.

Of course, they were ripped off, invaded and sacked. How do you expect them to catch up?

The western world you admire so much got a great head start by stealing resources and establishing a gigantic economic advantage over the other areas of the planet. It did that systematically using the capital created by the stolen resources and by enslaving and destroying other cultures.

Terrorism now is a response of the planet to these abuses. The problem is, we all pay dearly.

Wake up obtuse mind!
Ignorant!

Boli-Nica said...

Amazing, that Mr. "Anonymous" never comments on serious topics about Bolivia. Maybe the ritalin doesn't kick in enough to enable him to read anything more than a few paragraphs.

Anonymous said...

Well, I guess you can't reply to my post...

Boli-Nica said...

The Emperor Has No Clothes, just a litany of absolutely inane commentary, cheap sloganeering, with zero substance. Lets begin the obvious fact that you just have absolutely no grasp of history, political theory, culture, or economics. Further, you have a childish belief in vast conspiracies, to explain away centuries of complex interactions between millions of people and institutions. You also spell worse than I do by the way.

The worldview of a dumbass:

The western world you admire so much got a great head start by stealing resources and establishing a gigantic economic advantage over the other areas of the planet. It did that systematically using the capital created by the stolen resources and by enslaving and destroying other cultures.

i. Blame: : the West has ruined the world.
ii. relativism: The West is bad, everyone else is good
iii. grand generalizations: The West 'stole' resources
iv. bad economics: the West got richer, by making others poorer
a. the west got 'capital' from stolen resources and enslaving to establish an economic advantage.

Reality: Human beings are nasty to each-other , no matter origin, color, or anything else.. Humans in groups have fought wars with other groups and between themselves. The 'West' has been conquered and been the conqueror. The fact the West is 'the winner" now is relevant 'now' (as in from 1700 to the present) it can change in another 50 years. Peoples as a whole, including nation states and entire civilizations go up and down. Progress as a whole, is the result of centuries of gradual, mostly un-planned and spontaneous growth, subjected to the whims of nature, constraints of geography, and just plain good or bad luck.
The West owes its present success to the fact that it has been able to appropriate, and synthesize disparate sources of knowledge, and effectively apply them to the everyday needs of its people.
But the bottom line, is that this would not have been possible were it not for the spontaneous development of institutions that allowed millions upon millions of people to assist and contribute to this whole process.

Yes, those advances created other opportunities too. (rape and control of others) The western world rewrote history to its advantage. The asians and other cultures were doing most of the scientific advancement and discovery before the westerners you suck up to. A lot of the great scientific discoveries happened while the europeans were eating with their feet.


What a dummy. every major civilization has adopted, borrowed, appropriated, stolen ideas , advances, from others , and use them effectively. Most cultures do this, the west has simply had the chance to do it better in recent centuries. The Islamic world 'adopted' Greek discoveries and knowledge from ancient texts, in the process preserving these classic works for Western scholars.
Anonymous said...
i. Islam as a whole did not go through the upheavals challenging its primacy among its followers life as Christianity,

Might be true. But why don't you make a huge effort and think a little further and ask yourself, why is that?


In a nutshell, and in simple terms for the ignoratii you represent. The Prophet Mohammed, came from a nomadic desert tradition, whose customs and traditions strongly influenced Islam. More than a religion, it also provides a code of conduct - much of it relevant to the circumstances of 7th Century desert life, as Judaism did to Jews living in ancient Israel. Mohammed was also a warrior and a statesman, who was forced to wage war on his rivals, and the Koran reflects that as well - as does parts of the Old Testament. As a result religion and leadership are interwoven.

Jesus, in the gospels, was a poor man, who suffered at the hands of both local and occupation authorities. He did not fight back. In a way the message centers on spiritual matters - and the afterlife.
"Give Unto Caesar What is Caesar's", implies separation of worldly government and spiritual leadership - rejecting to some extent Judaism. Of course, humans also found enough there to go on bloody rampages, but in the end people could find justification in the New Testament for separating the spiritual from the material.
,
ii. That Christianity did, challenging the Church's authority, allowing greater personal autonomy and further intellectual exploration.

You mean during the inquisition or after? youa re hilarious, and you've got to be kidding me. your mind only works in terms of simple geometric forms, you really oversimplify sports boy!


Hey goatboy, this is almost two millenia worth of change. The fact is that it took the Reformation and the 30 Yr. War, to really turn the tables on the Church as a political power in Northern Europe. In Southern Europe it took hundreds of years more, including the French Revolution .

Boli-Nica said...

First of all, I have found a name for my anonymous buddie. Hereinafter you shall be known as Elpe. That is short for El pendejo que ni mi@$Da sabe, .

Elpe,there are 12 year old skate-punk wannabees at obscure college towns, who make more sense than you.
You have 0 game, go back to the bench where you belong with the rest of the third string radicals, wait for the varsity to go in.

--Damn, I love using sports analogies on this ignoramus, I know how it annoys him.

Roberto Iza Valdés said...
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Roberto Iza Valdés said...
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