[beslan] remember the innocent

Remember September 1st to 6th

Concerning 911, this blog remembered the 115 nationalities who died in the World Trade Centre atrocity. Today, eleven days too late, it remembers the Beslan atrocity and hopes that its western readership will also pay heed to that terrible event.

September 1, 2004

The only surviving attacker, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, claimed that attacking a school and targeting mothers and young children was not merely coincidental, but was deliberately designed for maximum outrage with the purpose of igniting a wider war in the Caucasus.

According to this theory, the attackers hoped that the mostly Orthodox Christian Ossetians would attack their mostly Muslim Ingush and Chechen neighbours to seek revenge, encouraging ethnic and religious hatred and strife throughout the North Caucasus[72]. North Ossetia and Ingushetia had previously been involved in a brief, but bloody conflict in 1992 over disputed land in the North Ossetian Prigorodny District, leaving an estimated 600 dead and 50,000 displaced.

I didn't show the later photo of this boy

Here's what Basayev claimed it was about:

We can also guarantee a renunciation of armed struggle against RF by all Muslims of Russia for at least 10 to 15 years under condition of freedom of faith. We are not related to the apartment bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk, but we can take responsibility for this in an acceptable way.

If you substituted the word Congress for State Duma, a western name for the Russian one and set this in the American heartland, the sentiments would ring true in many hearts. Why do they cease to ring true when written as they are?

The head of the State Duma’s security committee Vladimir Vasilyev says Shamil Basayev belonged to the very special breed of terrorists who are hell-bent on creating an Islamic Caliphate in Russia using for this purpose money donated by radical groups abroad.

Politkovskaya's connection with Basayev was unfortunate and her mediation role in the Moscow theatre siege, by definition, shows she at least had the ear of the terrorist warlords. Of course the prosecutors claim far closer involvement. Putin claimed her murder was designed to stir up waves of anti-Russian feeling, which of course it has done. It's far easier to believe in the Russian monster than to look elsewhere for the culprits.

Leaving aside rhetoric, why would a hitman leave behind his calling card anyway:

The gun found near her apartment block in central Moscow was a 9mm Makarov, known as the weapon of choice for Russian hitmen

… except to pin suspicion on the FSB? If Putin's men had ordered this, the last thing they would have done is deliberately leave behind incriminating evidence causing international condemnation at a time when Russia was trying for admission to the WTO and had paid off its Club of Paris debt. It simply does not ring true.

Novaya Gazeta, which is offering a reward of almost a million dollars for information about the shooting, has written that it believes her murder was either revenge by Kadyrov, or an attempt to discredit him.

Conditions inside the gym

A correspondent named Odessafile, writing for Lebanese Forces, put it this way:

The Chechens have been killing Russians, blowing up apartment buildings, opera houses, killing school children by the 1000's, kidnapping Russians and they along with the Georgians and one other group (the oligarchs) are the keepers of the so called Russian Mafia.

Thus, when this lady defended the Chechnians who are Salafi Islamists funded by the Wahabis she had as much credibility with the Russian people as a US journalist would in defending the Taliban and Bin Laden. So to say she had any impact on Putin, or on Russian policy in Chechnia is as far fetched as one could have imagined.

To say Putin gave a crap about what she said or even paid much mind to it boggles the imagination. No one else cared in Russia. And the only damage Putin could have gotten because of her is if some one killed her and then blamed it on him. So alas,you see the irony here.

The Berezovsky/Litvinenko/Politskaya/Basayev/Kadyrov connection is not all that popular in Russia and to judge solely from Politkovskaya's alleged lack of objectivity is sheer bad journalism.

Basayev and one of his child killers

So the questions still remain: Who wanted Ossetia in turmoil with its citizens killing one another? How could these monsters have acted so inhumanely at Beslan? Who stood to gain by Russia being refused admission to the WTO and other western bodies? Who stands to gain by Russia being an international pariah?

Answering these questions would surely move us closer to the real truth.

[black gold] why be held to ransom by the arab world

Logical question is - if there are trillions of barrels in Colorado and Shell knows how to convert oil shale, why they aren't developing it?

Since 1981, Shell researchers at the company's division of "unconventional resources" have been spending their own money trying to figure out how to get usable energy out of oil shale. Judging by the presentation the Rocky Mountain News heard this week, they think they've got it.

On the other hand, there are admittedly warnings:

During the 1970s, presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter had encouraged the development of the oil shale reserves, but the then Exxon company ceased its development project as oil prices tumbled.

I'm going to resist the temptation to comment on why they did this but it's clearly tied up with the middle-east. Secondly, what about the Jack Field?

Known as the Jack Field, the reserve – some 270 miles southwest of New Orleans – is estimated to hold as much as 15 billion barrels of oil.

Thirdly, what about the Angostura Field which the Australians seem to know all about?

Australian resources group BHP Billiton has again signalled its faith in overseas oil and gas investments, committing $327 million to speed development of the Angostura offshore field near Trinidad.

Fourthly, what about the Alberta Sands?

Second only to the Saudi Arabia reserves, Alberta's oil sands deposits were described by Time Magazine as "Canada's greatest buried energy treasure," and "could satisfy the world's demand for petroleum for the next century".

For what is America undertaking the perilous journey to the middle-east, letting itself be held to ransom by OPEC and trying to get into Sakhalin 2, when it could have developed these other reserves?

The answer is twofold:

1. oil prices had to create a domestic crisis;

2. the U.S. had to be in Iraq for various reasons.

It's not easy to convert shale, it's not easy to develop Alberta and the others and it weakens the U.S. position vis a vis Canada and Mexico to do so but it is certainly an alternative.

[911] we also remember

Lord Nazh sums it up:

This is the day to say to your children that the U.S. will NOT back down; will NOT lightly lose 3,000 of it's precious peoples. On this day, 6 years ago, the country became one like it has only a few times in the history of this great land. That should be remembered ... and mourned.

The only thing I'm going to add, for the benefit of my own countrymen, is my Dad's comment when someone hit Len Fairclough in Coronation Street. Dad told me: "Now watch him come back like a Yank." Though the Americans might not realize it - that, from a Yorkshireman, was high praise indeed for the fighting qualities of America.

We also remember, America.

[english] as pure as the driven snow

The good doc

Wish I knew who had said this:

"The defence of the mother tongue against perceived decline or corruption by foreign terms is a major preoccupation of the French. L'Académie française sets an official standard of language purity of the French language by removing foreign words such as microchip and hamburger from the vocabulary."

Most are familiar with the James D. Nicoll addendum:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

I understand but can't be sure that there is an English body which convenes for the purpose of doing just this - rifling other languages for new vocabulary and I'm all for it. While we don't wish to see other languages die out for want of usage, as Johnson said [quoted 1785 by Boswell in reference to the New Hebrides]:

I am always sorry when any language is lost because languages are the pedigree of nations

… nevertheless sometimes the foreign words seem better. For example, the cumbersome "in front of you" when you only need say "devant" [Fr - stress the last syllable]. Or "that is so awful" when all you need to say is "uzhas" [Ru - stress the first syllable].

And in the article on Tingo, Georgina Pattinson of BBC News said, in 2005:

English is a rich and innovative language. But you can't help feeling we're missing out on some words … Of course, the English language has borrowed words for centuries. Khaki and croissant are cases in point.

So perhaps it's time to be thinking about adding others to the lexicon. Malay, for instance, has gigi rongak - the space between the teeth. The Japanese have bakku-shan - a girl who appears pretty from behind but not from the front.

… and so on. The Russians show their fixation with the prescriptive and pedantic rules of their language [which are then abused] by the following exchange in English:

Me: Which of these are correct: "How many brothers and sisters ... ?"

a] have you got b] do you have c] are you having d] have you

Girl: a] have you got

Me: Any others?

Girl: What do you mean? Isn't that the correct answer?

Me: It's one of them.

I then go on to explain that in many multiple choice exercises in English, there are four variants - one clearly incorrect, one unlikely or not in a good form and two possibles - one being the better.

This messes her mind up because her English teachers all insisted she have the correct variant in every case, nothing else being possible and if she put forward, say, variant b] above, then she is wrong, wrong, wrong and loses the marks. End of lesson, see you next week.

I've been fighting this attitude [and in particular the ubiquitous and tyrannical "marking key"] ever since I've been over here. Typical every day:

Him: What's the correct one?

Me: They all are.

Him: [incredulous look on his face].

Then I might say: "If yer want owt fer nowt, alas, do it fer thisen," and ask him what language it is. Or: "I'm gooin oop ont moor." He refuses to accept it is English from 200km north of London. What's more, the Americans don't even speak English [:)] and my evidence for this is Websters - my friend's constant companion is the dictionary of American Language, not American English. It clearly states this on the cover.

Which language for her?

So in the end, which model do you wish to follow - the prescriptive and pure attempt to keep your unchanging language pure or the more rollicking, "all comers welcome" model?

[sooner or later] the number comes up

Steve Fossett's Cheyenne - fastest around the world

Steve Fossett was an adventurer and these things happen to adventurers who continue for long enough:

The search process has been made considerably more difficult by the fact that Fosset didn't file a flight plan for his jaunt to reccy possible locations for an attempt on the land speed record. He did, however, have "full radio capability", but has ominously not made contact.

He's a type, like his mate Richard Branson. Ellen MacArthur, the fastest solo voyager roudn the globe, is another. Australia had its Dick Smith and they're characterized by restless spirits, a vision, a sort of maniacal bravery and some cash.

I had the first two and embarked on a few adventures myself [I'm in the middle of one now]. My mate and I were reputed to be the first to attempt circumnavigating tiny Port Phillip Bay in an open QB2 catamaran, I attempted a speed record for summer bobsled in Finland and broke my wrist in the process and I've just finished the design of my outrigger sailing canoe I plan to travel to Turkey in.

Ellen waves from B&Q

One thing you never think about is that you can come a cropper. Like when you play rugby, you're concentrating on the task ahead and injury doesn't enter your thoughts. I don't think it's bravery - it's more single-mindedness. Richard Branson shows this when he says:

"Steve is a tough old boot. I suspect he is waiting by his plane right now for someone to pick him up. The ranch he took off from covers a huge area, and Steve has had far tougher challenges to overcome in the past. Based on his track record, I feel confident we'll get some good news soon."

A school friend of mine who later joined a 70s pop group called Skyhooks was just such a type. He flew his helicopter into a cliff face in Queensland in 2001. Don't forget Steve Irwin either. I might have already told you about one of my brushes with death which still stays with me.

I was sailing my A Class cat and at the same time the rescue boat went off to rescue some kids, I decided to sail out wide off course, my trapeze snapped, the boat threw me five to ten metres and sailed off by itself and suddenly I was in pretty cold water and the feeling started disappearing and the thinking got foggy within about ten minutes. I reached the stage of happiness before being rescued on an off chance.

The class I sailed - you have to use a trapeze to sail it.

It happens. If you keep at these things long enough, it happens.

[world cup] swing low, sweet chariot