It is the easiest thing to feel the pressure and fall back in line. It is sometimes hard to walk in the opposite direction, but it is sometimes the true road , and you will know because you will be following your conscience, As long as you have that , you will never walk alone
Author: bobsblog.scot
I have been in business for well over half a century but I learn something new every day. My politics are the middle of the road. I believe that the far-right and far-left are equally harmful.
Jim Murphy ( at that time, leader of the Scottish Labour party) asked me if I called myself a socialist. I said, "no Jim, I am not a socialist, I am a capitalist, but a capitalist with a social conscience.
Gaza, a genocide, while the West watches and indeed participatesin.
As we navigate through the complexities of our world, one region continues to capture global attention and concern: Gaza. The situation there is not just a recent development; it is the culmination of decades of conflict, oppression, and suffering that many argue constitutes a creeping genocide, particularly since Israel’s establishment in 1948. This week, I delve deeper into the historical context and the current humanitarian crisis that has left the people of Gaza in dire straits.
The World This Week From Mennies: A Reflection on Gaza
A Historical Perspective
To understand the present, we must first revisit the past. In 1947, the United Nations proposed a partition plan aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict between Jewish and Arab populations in Palestine. This plan was met with mixed reactions, and ultimately, in 1948, Israel declared independence, leading to the first Arab-Israeli war. The war resulted in significant territorial gains for Israel and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, an event referred to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”
Since then, the Palestinian people have faced a series of challenges: dispossession of land, restrictions on movement, and military occupation. The establishment of settlements in the West Bank, the blockade of Gaza, and the perpetual state of conflict have all contributed to a systematic erosion of Palestinian rights and dignity. Many activists and scholars argue that what has transpired over the decades represents a slow but deliberate attempt to erase Palestinian identity and existence—a creeping genocide.
Current Conditions in Gaza
Fast forward to today, and the situation in Gaza is nothing short of catastrophic. The blockade imposed by Israel since 2007 has turned this small strip of land into one of the most densely populated and impoverished areas in the world. Reports from various humanitarian organizations highlight alarming conditions: chronic shortages of food, clean water, and essential medical supplies. The infrastructure is crumbling, and the economy is in tatters, with unemployment rates soaring.
As we look around, we see the harrowing images of families struggling to survive amidst famine-like conditions. Children, who should be playing and learning, are instead facing malnutrition and a lack of basic healthcare. The psychological toll of living under constant threat and instability cannot be overstated. Many people in Gaza have known little else but hardship and despair.
The International Response
Despite the overwhelming evidence of human suffering, the international response has often been tepid. While there are calls for humanitarian aid and a ceasefire, the underlying political issues remain unresolved. The narrative surrounding Gaza is frequently polarized, with many failing to grasp the historical injustices that have led to the current crisis.
In recent weeks, protests have erupted worldwide, demanding an end to the blockade and calling for justice for the Palestinian people. Activists are urging governments to take a more active role in advocating for human rights, emphasizing that the plight of Gaza cannot be overlooked any longer.
Looking Forward
As I reflect on the situation in Gaza this week, it’s crucial to recognise the importance of awareness and advocacy. The history of the region is complex, and the challenges faced by its people are immense. However, as global citizens, we are responsible for amplifying their voices and pushing for meaningful change.
In conclusion, the situation in Gaza is a stark reminder of the consequences of historical injustices and the urgent need for collective action. It is a call to conscience for all of us to stand in solidarity with those who suffer, to demand accountability, and to strive for a future where peace and justice can prevail.
As we move forward, let us not forget the lessons of the past and the cries for help echoing from Gaza. The world is watching, and it is up to us to ensure that these voices are heard and that change is not just hoped for, but actively pursued.
Well, quite an eventful week in world politics and let’s start with Ukraine.
As I postulated way back at the start of this conflict, the US/NATO would fight Russia until the last Ukrainian, and more or less that is what has happened.
Ukraine has run out of soldiers to fight this unnecessary war and in figuring out the unnecessary part, you need to go back to where it started. No not the 24 February 2022 but back to the events in Maiden square and the insurrection set up by the US CIA in 2014.
I won’t go over all the history, but I have covered all that in blogs around about the time when Russia moved into the Russian-speaking Donbas area, to protect the population that the mainly Nazi Azzov brigade had oppressed.
Ok, so, let’s get back to where we are and that is that finally, and I hate to say this, thanks to Donald Trump, some realism is being projected into this debacle.
Now when I say “thanks to Donald Trump” let me qualify this seemingly, flattering accolade. Yes, the war was unnecessary and yes it is good to see it concluding, but Daft Donald is not doing this out of a sense of altruism, no he is looking for the deal of the century by requiring Ukraine to grant the rights to 50% of their rare earth mineral deposits.
If you ever want to find the reasons for either the start of a conflict or the ending of a conflict then just follow the money.
OK, and if ever anyone wants to see who started this and who will benefit from it, then it is there in plain sight, the US and just to prove it Vance has just told the naughty Europeans that they will have nothing to do with any negotiations for a settlement.
So to sum up, the US has shafted the economies of Europe, by crazy sanctions on Russia, especially oil and gas. The US has enriched itself by supplying the replacement gas and oil at four times the price that Russia was supplying it. Europe has supplied Ukraine with an abundance of weapons, which it will never be paid for and now that peace is a probability, Uncle Sam will take over negotiations, which will include further enrichment for the US in rare earth minerals.
My god, is it possible to construct more of an example of the sheer stupidity that Europe has been displaying?
Palestine
Ok so now Palestine, which has to be the most horrific display of abject cruelty to fellow human beings ever displayed by a single country and that Country is Israel.
Again I have covered the origins of this going back to the invention of Israel in 1948 and before that to the Jewish terrorist organisations such as Irgin and Stern Gang. Run by future Israeli politicians. One of which was in fact the first prime minister of the newly formed country of Israel David Ben Gurion, who famously ( in his previous occupation which was a terrorist) said “ I have a holiday in my heart every time a British soldier is slaughtered”
So back to the last week which kicked off with Dopey Donald saying that he wanted to own the Gaza Strip and turn it into a millionaire’s playground. The only problem was, that an inconvenient two million Palestinians were living there in an Israeli-inspired hell. The massive oil and gas reserves off the coast of Gaza might have had something to do with Trump’s muddled thinking. No problem to our Donald, he would simply and illegally ethnically cleanse them to Egypt and Jordan. Oh dear.
He had no sooner blurted out that nonsense than he came away with, “If all hostages were not released by 12 am on Saturday(today) then all hell would break out” Leaving the occupants of Gaza wondering exactly what his definition of hell was, after enduring almost one hundred thousand deaths in one and a half years in the genocide that Israel was carrying out.
Hamas’ response was not capitulation but a threat to stop the release of any of the hostages unless Israel ceased their violations of the ceasefire.
One thing Trump should have learned this week is that you can only bully countries that have something to lose, like Canada, Mexico, the UK, the 27 Countries in the EU et etc, but you can’t bully a country that has nothing left to lose apart from their integrity, and that is what happened.
Israel relented and allowed supplies, to once again reach Gaza and today as agreed according to the very tenuous ceasefire in place three Hamas hostages were released by Hammas and almost 400 Israeli hostages were realized by Israel.
Ok So that was the week in a nutshell and Trump has sent his suit to the cleaners to clean off all the egg that dripped from his sun lamp-altered face.
So time for a pint in Mennies, have a good weekend all.
And remember: Never be afraid to say what you honestly feel is the right thing to say.
And never be afraid to listen to what someone else believes is the right thing to say.
Invariably, the right thing is somewhere in between.
It has been some time since I wrote a, The World This Week From Mennies blog. There has been so much going on in the world that I wouldn’t know where to start and probably once started, where to finish.
The most incredible tragedy in history is unfolding before our eyes, as Israel carries out a genocide of the Palestinian people. The astonishing part of it is not that Israel is doing it, as they have been carrying out multiple slaughters against Palestinians since Israel was formed in 1948 , and before that the terrorist organisations such as Irgin and Stern Gang who were the precursor to the first Israeli government, no the astonishing part is that the west has sat back and watched this genocide as it is happening.
It is such a complicated and jaw-dropping story that I couldn’t adequately give a detailed description of the situation and how it was arrived at, however, I came across this Oxford Union Debate and a speech by Susan Abulhawa so I have reproduced it here. Please take time to read this.
The Oxford Union debate, November 28, 2024, considered the motion- “The House believes Israel is an Apartheid state responsible for genocide”
The motion was passed overwhelmingly. The vote will go down in history as one of the pivotal moments in the global tidal wave against zionism and the zionist American imperial war machine.
Here is the text of Susan Abulhawa’s presentation.
“I will not take questions until I’m finished speaking; so please refrain from interrupting me.
Addressing the challenge of what to do about the indigenous inhabitants of the land Chaim Weizman, a Russian Jew, said to the World Zionist Congress in 1921 that Palestinians were akin to “the rocks of Judea, obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path.”
David Gruen, a Polish Jew, who changed his name to David Ben Gurion to sound relevant to the region, said. “We must expel Arabs and take their places”
There are thousands of such conversations among the early zionists who plotted and implemented the violent colonization of Palestine and the annihilation of her native people.
But they were only partially successful, murdering or ethnically cleansing 80% of Palestinians, which meant that 20% of us remained, an enduring obstacle to their colonial fantasies, which became the subject of their obsessions in the decades that followed, especially after conquering what remained of Palestine in 1967.
Zionists lamented our presence and they debated publicly in all circles—political, academic, social, cultural circles—regarding what do with us; what to do about the Palestinian birthrate, about our babies, which they dub a demographic threat.
Benny Morris, who was originally meant to be here, once expressed regret that Ben Gurion “did not finish the job” of getting rid of us all, which would have obviated what they refer to as the “Arab problem.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, a Polish Jew whose real name is Benjamin Mileikowsky, once bemoaned a missed opportunity during the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising to expel large swaths of the Palestinian population “while world attention was focused on China.”
Some of their articulated solutions to the nuisance of our existence include a “break their bones” policy in the 80s and 90s, ordered by Yitzhak Rubitzov, Ukrainian Jew who changed his name to Yitzhak Rabin (for the same reasons).
That horrific policy that crippled generations of Palestinians did not succeed in making us leave. And frustrated by Palestinian resilience, a new discourse arose, especially after a massive natural gas field was discovered off the coast of Northern Gaza worth trillions of dollars.
This new discourse is echoed in the words of Colonel Efraim Eitan, who said in 2004, “we have to kill them all.”
Aaron Sofer, an Israeli so-called intellectual and political advisor, insisted in 2018 that “we have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.”
When I was in Gaza, I saw a little boy no more than 9 years whose hands and part of his face, had been blown off from a booby trapped can of food that soldiers had left behind for Gaza’s starving children. I later learned that they had also left poisoned food for people in Shujaiyya, and in the 1980s and 90s, Israeli soldiers had left booby trapped toys in southern Lebanon that exploded when excited children picked them up.
The harm they do is diabolical, and yet, they expect you to believe they are the victims. Invoking Europe’s holocaust and screaming antisemitism, they expect you to suspend fundamental human reason to believe that the daily sniping of children with so called “kill shots” and the bombing of entire neighborhoods that bury families alive and wipe out whole bloodlines is self-defense.
They want you to believe that a man who had not eaten a thing in over 72 hours, who kept fighting even when all he had was one functioning arm, that this man was motivated by some innate savagery and irrational hatred or jealousy of Jews, rather than the indominable yearning to see his people free in their own homeland.
It’s clear to me that we’re not here to debate whether Israel is an apartheid or genocidal state. This debate is ultimately about the worth of Palestinian lives; about the worth of our schools, research centers, books, art, and dreams; about the worth of the homes we worked all our lives to build and which contain the memories of generations; about the worth of our humanity and our agency; the worth of bodies and ambitions.
Because if the roles were reversed—if Palestinians had spent the last eight decade stealing Jewish homes, expelling, oppressing, imprisoning, poisoning, torturing, raping and killing them; if Palestinians had killed an estimated 300,000 Jews in one year, targeted their journalists, their thinkers, their healthcare workers, their athletes, their artists, bombed every Israeli hospital, university, library, museum, cultural center, synagogue, and simultaneously set up an observation platform where people came watch their slaughter as if a tourist attraction;
if Palestinians had corralled them by the hundreds of thousands into flimsy tents, bombed them in so called safe zones, burned them alive, cut off their food, water, and medicine;
if Palestinians made Jewish children wander barefoot with empty pots; made them gather the flesh of their parents into plastic bags; made them bury their siblings, cousins and friends; made them sneak out from their tents in the middle of the night to sleep on their parents’ graves; made them pray for death just to join their families and not be alone in this terrible world anymore, and terrorized them so utterly that their children lose their hair, lose their memory, lose their minds, and made those as young as 4 and 5 year old were die of heart attacks;
if we mercilessly forced their NICU babies to die, alone in hospital beds, crying until they could cry no more, died and decomposed in the same spot;
if Palestinians used wheat flour aid trucks to lure starving jews, then opened fire on them when they gathered to collect a day’s bread; if Palestinians finally allowed a food delivery into a shelter with hungry Jews, then set fire to the entire shelter and aid truck before anyone could taste the food;
if a Palestinian sniper bragged about blowing out 42 Jewish kneecaps in one day as one Israeli soldier did in 2019; if a Palestinian admitted to CNN that he ran over hundreds of Jews with his tank, their squished flesh lingering in the tank treads;
if Palestinians were systematically raping Jewish doctors, patients, and other captives with hot metal rods, jagged and electrified sticks, and fire extinguishers, sometimes raping to death, as happened with Dr Adnan alBursh and others;
if Jewish women were forced to give birth in filth, get C-sections or leg amputations without anesthesia; if we destroyed their children then decorated our tanks with their toys; if we killed or displaced their women then posed with their lingerie…
if the world were watching the livestreamed systematic annihilation of Jews in real time, there would be no debating whether that constituted terrorism or genocide.
And yet two Palestinians—myself and Mohammad el-Kurd— showed up here to do just that, enduring the indignity of debating those who think our only life choices should be to leave our homeland, submit to their supremacy, or die politely and quietly.
But you would be wrong to think that I came to convince you of anything. Thehouse resolution, though well-meaning and appreciated, is of little consequence in the midst of this holocaust of our time.
I came in the spirit of Malcolm X and Jimmy Baldwin, both of whom stood here and in Cambridge before I was born, facing finely dressed well-spoken monsters who harbored the same supremacist ideologies as Zionism—these notions of entitlement and privilege, of being divinely favored, blessed, or chosen.
I’m here for the sake of history. To speak to generations not yet born and for the chronicles of this extraordinary time where the carpet bombing of defenseless indigenous societies is legitimized. I’m here for my grandmothers, both of whom died as penniless refugees while foreign Jews lived in their stolen homes.
And I also came to speak directly to zionists here and everywhere.
We let you into our homes when your own countries tried to murder you and everyone else turned you away. We fed, clothed, gave you shelter, and we shared the bounty of our land with you, and when the time was ripe, you kicked us out of our own homes and homeland, then you killed and robbed and burned and looted our lives.
You carved out our hearts because it is clear you do not know how to live in the world without dominating others.
You have crossed all lines and nurtured the most vile of human impulses, but the world is finally glimpsing the terror we have endured at your hands for so long, and they are seeing the reality of who you are, who you’ve always been. They watch in utter astonishment the sadism, the glee, the joy, and pleasure with which you conduct, watch, and cheer the daily details of breaking our bodies, our minds, our future, our past.
But no matter what happens from here, no matter what fairytales you tell yourself and tell the world, you will never truly belong to that land. You will never understand the sacredness of the olives trees, which you’ve been cutting down and burning for decades just to spite us and to break our hearts a little more. No one native to that land would dare do such a thing to the olives. No one who belongs to that region would ever bomb or destroy such ancient heritage as Baalbak or Bittir, or destroy ancient cemeteries as you destroy ours, like the Anglican cemetery in Jerusalem or the resting place of ancient Muslim scholars and warriors in Maamanillah. Those who come from that land do not desecrate the dead; that’s why my family for centuries were the caretakers of the Jewish cemetery in the mount of olives, as labors of faith and care for what we know is part of our ancestry and story.
Your ancestors will always be buried in your actual homelands of Poland, Ukraine, and elsewhere around the world from whence you came. The mythos and folklore of the land will always be alien to you.
You will never be literate in the sartorial language of the thobes we wear, that sprang from the land through our foremothers over centuries—every motif, design, and pattern speaking to the secrets of local lore, flora, birds, rivers, and wildlife.
What your realestate agents call in their high-priced listings “old Arab home” will always hold in their stones the stories and memories of our ancestors who built them. The ancient photos and paintings of the land will never contain you.
You will never know how it feels to be loved and supported by those who have nothing to gain from you, and in fact, everything to lose. You will never know the feeling of masses all over the world pouring into the streets and stadiums to chant and sing for your freedom; and it is not because you are Jewish, as you try to make the world believe, but because you are depraved violent colonizers who think your Jewishness entitles you to the home my grandfather and his brothers built with their own hands on lands that had been in our family for centuries. It is because Zionism is a blight onto Judaism and indeed onto humanity.
You can change your names to sound more relevant to the region and you can pretend falafel and hummus and zaatar are your ancient cuisines, but in the recesses of your being, you will always feel the sting of this epic forgery and theft, that’s why even the drawings of our children pasted hung on walls at the UN or in a hospital ward send your leaders and lawyers into hysteric meltdowns.
You will not erase us, no matter how many of us you kill and kill and kill, all day every day. We are not the rocks Chaim Weizmann thought you could clear from the land. We are its very soil. We are her rivers and her trees and her stories, because all of that was nurtured by our bodies and our lives over millennia of continuous, uninterrupted habitation of that patch of earth between the Jordan and Mediterranean waters, from our Canaanite, our Hebrew, our Philistine, and our Phoenician ancestors, to every conqueror or pilgrim who came and went, who married or raped, loved, enslaved, converted between religions, settled or prayed in our land, leaving pieces of themselves in our bodies and our heritage. The fabled, tumultuous stories of that land are quite literally in our DNA. You cannot kill or propagandize that away, no matter what death technology you use or what Hollywood and corporate media arsenals you deploy.
Someday, your impunity and arrogance will end. Palestine will be free; she will be restored to her multi-religious, multi-ethnic pluralistic glory; we will restore and expand the trains that run from Cairo to Gaza to Jerusalem, Haifa, Tripoli, Beirut, Damascus, Amman, Kuwait, Sanaa, and so on; we will put an end to the zionist American war machine of domination, expansion, extraction, pollution, and looting.
..and you will either leave, or you will finally learn to live with others as equals.”
Ok, so off on my travels again, after a wee while of a gap, due to high work load and heading ( eventually hopefully ) to Tenerife, to board the P&O Arvia.
When I say “eventually hopefully” I am speaking about the dely caused by the weather and several changes to the substitute flight. I was originally scheduled for an 07.30 flight this morning, but because of the impending storm this was canceled and after a couple of changes I am now booked to fly out tomorrow morning.
Fortunately, the cruise had a night in Tenerife before sailing tomorrow evening so providing there are no more holdups I should be joining the ship just after lunch time.
I am staying at the Hamilton Hilton airport hotel tonight. Decent room, probably slightly higher grade than travel lodge , but long queues for check-in, then for a meal. Hopefully I will get arround to a couple of blogs while on board as I have been rather remiss on that lately.
There is just so much happening in the world at the moment that I wouldn’t know where to stop, between , the US replacing a senile incompetent with a raving nut case, to the ongoing genocide committed by Israel in Gaza.
You know , in China, they are teaching their children “genocide as it happens” lessons in schools. Something that should also be taught here in every school. Ok, that is enough of the horrors going on for the moment , so a meal ( when it finally gets here ) then some shut eye before an early start tomorrow.
A photo of the less than salubrious restaurant in the hotel. And remember
There are many injustices in this world, unfortunately, they make good traveling companions of the silent people.
Today was the memorial service for Alex Salmond and it was marked by the wonderful eulogies from a number of his friends and associates. There is no question that he was by far the greatest Scottish politician in recent history and will go down in history as a historical figure in the character of Wallace and Bruce. The ceremony I feel was contaminated by the presence of the present first minister, John Swinney who has been carrying out the slash and burn policies of Nicola Sturgeon as far as the independence movement is concerned. Hopefully, we will get rid of these political Minnows and once again get back on the road to independence that Alex initiated . Rest well soldier and regards to Wallace and Bruce.
This is me again on a wee jaunt to the northern climes. Big difference from my last trip which was to Thailand, and the main difference will be the weather, as I am heading to Norway on a journey that will take in, various Norwegian towns and one in Denmark.
So, my latest adventure started yesterday with a very short trip to the ship which was docked at King George Docks in Dundee, a mear 15-minute trip from my place of work, for an afternoon check in.
I have checked in at, and visited many cruise terminals all over the world, some in pretty poor and underdeveloped countries, but the Dundee facility has to be one of the worst I have used. Honestly, it is simply an embarrassment. This is no way to welcome people to Scotland and Dundee Council should get their act together, along with Forth Ports authority ( who own Dundee Docks) they should work on providing a 21 century cruise terminal.
Tuesday 29 October 2024
Anyway, today is the second day of the trip and the ship is heading to Norway through the North Sea, on a dull but calm day. Today is a day at sea with a stop tomorrow in Bergen. A lively port on the southwest coast of Norway.
Bergen
I have been to Norway quite a few times and it is always a pleasure to see what a country with fewer natural assets than Scotland can do with the self-determination that they have with independence.
Norway ceded from Sweden in 1905 and forged an independent economy based on fishing and shipping from then on, to when oil was discovered in 1969 and by 1995 they had the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world.
Norway’s wealth fund sits at just over a trillion Kroner and last year’s profit on the fund was $213 billion
As a comparison, oil was discovered in Scottish waters in 1966, resulting in Scotland being one of the largest oil and gas-producing countries on the planet. The difference was of course that Scotland was not independent and had the millstone of England around our neck, meaning that our potential wealth was syphoned off to spend on things like illegal wars, nuclear weapons costing hundreds of billions of pounds, the House of Lords etc, etc.
Wednesday 30 October 2024
Today we docked in Bergen, which is a thriving city and an obvious hub for the oil industry, with a very busy harbour, shared between fishing, oil and the numerous ferries which sail up and down the coast of Norway going right up into the Arctic Circle. One of the better-known ferry companies is Hurtigruten, who also do expedition cruises into the Antarctic.
I had a long walk into the city which took in some of the many very narrow lanes with overhanging timber houses. Unfortunately, it was fairly steady rain to start with, but I had a couple of stops for the obligatory cappuccino.
So after a pleasant, if wet day in Bergen I am back on the ship and again sitting with another Capuchino in one of the lounges, and contemplating the evening ahead, which will start with dinner in the Buckingham restaurant which is my allocated dining venue at late sitting. There is a lovely young Pilipino lady, Lian, who serves, and makes dinner very pleasant indeed. Food not too bad, indeed I have had a lot lower standards on some of the larger ships, and I cast my mind back to the last cruise I was on with MSC. It was that bad that I was making arrangements to leave after two days and only changed my mind after a meeting with three of the managers who offered quite an upgraded package altogether. So tomorrow we will be docking in Stavanger, followed by Kristiansand, then two days in Oslo and finally two days in Copenhagen in Denmark, before heading south to Newcastle and finally Dundee on the 8th November
Today, Scotland lost a hero of the independence movement, Alex Salmond. I am not one for hero’s but I have a few , Bruce, Wallace and a very few more, but Alex Salmond is among them as I lived through the years he devoted to a free Scotland.
He took us to the cusp of independence in 2014. He was by far, the most able politician in the whole of the countries of the British islands.
He was treated abysmally by the people he left to manage the cause of independence, after the disappointment in the 2O14 referendum. Mainly Nicola Sturgeon, a woman who rose to popularity on the back of the achievements of a giant.
There was a concerted attempt at political assassination by a group of disgusting people close to Sturgeon and her cabal. It didn’t work and Alex was found not guilty on all counts.
He took out an action against this cabal of conspirators which was due to come to court in the very near future and would have destroyed the creadability of the establishment, now he is dead.
I had several chats with Alex, the last being a lunch we had in Dundee along with a good friend of mine and a staunch patriot, John Gibson and Ken McDonald of I Scot magazine.
What a pleasant and informative afternoon it was and an interlude I will always treasure.
So Alex, you have left a void that it will be ny impossible to fill, but perhaps Kenny can take forward the fight on your behalf.
Rest well soldier, your place in history is assured and your duty done.
An evening with Alex in the run up to the 2014 referendum, Me, Alex and my son Jamie.
Well, this a rather belated update on my latest travel project as I look down the club lounge in the First Choice Marina Hotel in Dubai on a huge oil refinery which is the basis of the obvious wealth here in the Arab Emirates.
Now the first thing I would say is that surprisingly, the large round tanks you see in the foreground, are not oil tanks, but water storage tanks, as this site is not just an oil refinery but also a desalination station which supplies water to the city of Dubai.
Now just think, Scotland, which has over 90% of the oil around the British Isles, is about to lose the only oil refinery in the country. Now apart from the loony greens and SNP most people in Scotland realise that oil is going to be greatly important for many years to come especially when because of crazy government policies we are all paying for the idiocy surrounding the sanctions on Russia and on top of that we are edging daily nearer a middle east war which will double fuel prices within the first week of such a war.
Actually, that brings me to the main reason I have waited until almost the end of my trip to post a Nautical Nomad blog and that is that I have been very busy on various social media platforms commenting on the awful situation in both Gaza and now Lebanon.
So, anyway getting back to the trip which started last Wednesday with the bus ride to Glasgow airport, on a beautiful, sunny morning, The photo is of the river Tay and Tay bridge.
It was a long day ahead, with a flight from Glasgow airport to Bangkok in Thailand. This time I flew with Emirates which is a cut above most airlines in both comfort and food.
It was one of these days which never seemed to end with a change in Dubai, but after more or less 24 hours of travelling, I arrived in Bangkok. There I boarded a bus to Hau Hin, another three hours traveling.
The last time I visited Hau Hin, I stayed at the Anantara Hotel which is a beautiful resort hotel on the beach but on the outskirts of Hau Hin. So this time I opted for The Centara Hotel in the center of Hau Hin but again on a very beautiful beach
The Centara Hotel is a beautiful colonial building which started life as a railway hotel and has developed into quite a large resort with lodges on its extensive grounds. I had one of these lodges which had its own pool.
On one of the days there I took a trip to Khao Kalok in Pran Buri District. A beautiful part of the country with soft white sandy beaches and an interesting forest park.
One of the notable aspects of Thailand is the food, especially seafood., There was a small restaurant not far from the hotel that offered quite a surprisingly varied menu which over the week was adequately sampled.
So after a nice 6 days at the Centara Hotel and one night at a hotel near Bangkok airport, I boarded the flight yesterday for the six-and-a-half-hour flight to Dubai and was pleasantly surprised, when checking in to be upgraded to a suite and I am sitting here looking out on the sun going down on Dubai.
Another day here before heading back on an 8-hour flight to Glasgow. It’s always good to be going back home to Scotland, but I will be back.
OK, so quite some time since I wrote a, “The World This Week From Mennies “blog. The reason is that it is difficult to know where to start, with the outrage and mass slaughter that is going on before our eyes in occupied Palestine and as a voter and citizen of the UK, I, like most of you who are reading this are vicariously responsible for what is probably the worst atrocity of the last 100 years at least. Well possibly except the dropping by the US of not just one but two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Make no mistake about it, but if due process takes place through the International Court of Justice, eventually every official and politician who has assisted in this unfolding genocide will be indicted and face severe sentences.
Do I think, in all honesty, that will happen? No, as I have no faith in the processes involved in fully supporting the international courts, and as you can see now, although there is a judgement that Israel is illegally occupying large areas of Palestine and carrying out activities which can be tantamount to committing Genocide with a pending arrest warrant for Netanyahu about to be served, there is a concerted effort by several countries to stop this process by insisting that the ICJ has no jurisdiction when it comes to Israel.
Doesn’t anyone think it strange that Israel always seems to be different when it comes to justice? Israel, the country that has slaughtered more than 40,000 innocent civilians in Palestine in the last 11 months, a country that was invented in 1948 because of a decision taken in 1917 in a letter from the UK Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothchild who was at that time the leader of the British Jewish community. Below is the letter from the British Foreign Secretary offering “ a home” for Jews.
At that time Britain had a mandate to govern Palestine on behalf of the League of Nations, which was the forerunner of the United Nations. You will note that at that stage it makes no mention of the creation of Israel, nor does it indicate that anyone would be displaced. It specifically states that any arrangement would not be to the detriment of civil or religious concerns of the Palestinian people.
Now around this time, Jews had been settling in Palestine as they had been doing, coming and going for thousands of years. Among the world leaders who were quite supportive of this arrangement leading up to the formation of Israel in 1948 was Adolf Hitler who set up a procedure for Jews to emigrate to Palestine in the 1930’s. The arrangement was that he supported the emigration process but they could only take a percentage of their money with them. The balance had to remain in German banks but could be used to trade with Germany.
During the lead-up to 1948, the Jewish community became quite entrenched and they began to displace Palestinians from various villages and townships. This was disrupted by the British troops who maintained law and order. Several Jewish terrorist organizations were formed such as Irgun and Stern Gang who fought both against the British mandate and the Palestinians who they continuously displaced. One of the most heinous actions of these terrorist groups was the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, which resulted in over 90 deaths. The hotel was used by the British as an administration Centre.
So here we are, Israel was invented in 1948, and they have continuously slaughtered Palestinians in what has been a continuous creeping genocide, They have decided to speed up the process now and at the same time involve America in a war with Iran, because if they don’t do it now Iran will have nuclear weapons just like Israel and the game will be up.
Well, I have a feeling that Iran does have at least access to nuclear weapons and they are playing a very astute game at the moment as they taunt Israel with the prospect of retaliation for the latest terrorist act by Israel on Iranian land.
America is, as usual, doing what it is told by Israel and has up to one-third of its fleet stationed in the Middle East. On the face of it, it is not a very wise move as these days ships are really easy targets.
What do we have to look forward to? Probably yet another of America’s endless wars. Look back at every war that has been initiated in the Middle East., Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. All have been carried out on behalf of the Greater Israel project.
In the words of Pete Seager “when will they ever learn”
OK, so quite some time since I wrote a, “The World This Week From Mennies “blog. The reason is that it is difficult to know where to start, with the outrage and mass slaughter that is going on before our eyes in occupied Palestine and as a voter and citizen of the UK, I, like most of you who are reading this are vicariously responsible for what is probably the worst atrocity of the last 100 years at least. Well possibly except the dropping by the US of not just one but two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Make no mistake about it, but if due process takes place through the International Court of Justice, eventually every official and politician who has assisted in this unfolding genocide will be indicted and face severe sentences.
Do I think, in all honesty, that will happen? No, as I have no faith in the processes involved in fully supporting the international courts, and as you can see now, although there is a judgement that Israel is illegally occupying large areas of Palestine and carrying out activities which can be tantamount to committing Genocide with a pending arrest warrant for Netanyahu about to be served, there is a concerted effort by several countries to stop this process by insisting that the ICJ has no jurisdiction when it comes to Israel.
Doesn’t anyone think it strange that Israel always seems to be different when it comes to justice? Israel, the country that has slaughtered more than 40,000 innocent civilians in Palestine in the last 11 months, a country that was invented in 1948 because of a decision taken in 1917 in a letter from the UK Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothchild who was at that time the leader of the British Jewish community. Below is the letter from the British Foreign Secretary offering “ a home” for Jews.
At that time Britain had a mandate to govern Palestine on behalf of the League of Nations, which was the forerunner of the United Nations. You will note that at that stage it makes no mention of the creation of Israel, nor does it indicate that anyone would be displaced. It specifically states that any arrangement would not be to the detriment of civil or religious concerns of the Palestinian people.
Now around this time, Jews had been settling in Palestine as they had been doing, coming and going for thousands of years. Among the world leaders who were quite supportive of this arrangement leading up to the formation of Israel in 1948 was Adolf Hitler who set up a procedure for Jews to emigrate to Palestine in the 1930’s. The arrangement was that he supported the emigration process but they could only take a percentage of their money with them. The balance had to remain in German banks but could be used to trade with Germany.
During the lead-up to 1948, the Jewish community became quite entrenched and they began to displace Palestinians from various villages and townships. This was disrupted by the British troops who maintained law and order. Several Jewish terrorist organizations were formed such as Irgun and Stearn Gang who fought both against the British mandate and the Palestinians who they continuously displaced. One of the most heinous actions of these terrorist groups was the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, which resulted in over 90 deaths. The hotel was used by the British as an administration Centre.
So here we are, Israel was invented in 1948, and they have continuously slaughtered Palestinians in what has been a continuous creeping genocide, They have decided to speed up the process now and at the same time involve America in a war with Iran, because if they don’t do it now Iran will have nuclear weapons just like Israel and the game will be up.
Well, I have a feeling that Iran does have at least access to nuclear weapons and they are playing a very astute game at the moment as they taunt Israel with the prospect of retaliation for the latest terrorist act by Israel on Iranian land.
America is, as usual, doing what it is told by Israel and has up to one-third of its fleet stationed in the Middle East. On the face of it, it is not a very wise move as these days ships are really easy targets.
What do we have to look forward to? Probably yet another of America’s endless wars. Look back at every war that has been initiated in the Middle East., Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. All have been carried out on behalf of the Greater Israel project.
In the words of Pete Seager “when will they ever learn”
Bob Costello 