How Does The British Government Counter Islamic Extremism?
April 30, 2009
Martin McCauley writes: The acquittal of three men accused of involvement in the 7/7 London bombings which killed 52 people has come as a shock. After a four year investigation and two trials no one was convicted. Coming on the heels of the release of twelve suspected Muslim ‘bombers’, who were staying in the UK on student visas, it appears that the criminal justice system is not able to cope with Islamic extremism. Does this mean that the ‘terrorists’ are much cleverer than the security services or that the legal system lacks the instruments to deal with the problem?The government has been rethinking its counterterrorism strategy and last month published Prevent, Pursue, Protect, Prepare: The United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering International Terrorism. The document...
Peter Pan, Captain Hook And The Others. Looking Back At The G20 Summit
April 29, 2009
Thomas Mathew writes: Do you remember the G20 summit which ended with a statement informing the world that an agreement had been reached to combat the world recession? No? It took place on April 2nd and 3rd in London in the glare of the world’s media. A lot of upbeat words were said then by a lot of world leaders.Alas, since then nothing of any substance has been done by any of the members of the G20 group. They have not even been able to find the money to pump into the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as they promised. All that determination to tackle the crisis simply evaporated once the media’s attention turned to other things. It is business as usual once again: waiting for the next photo opportunity to pretend that things are moving in the right direction. And does anyone...
A Look At President Obama From Moscow: Is He Already Using Smokescreens?
April 29, 2009
Anton Goryunov writes from Moscow: Does anyone seriously believe that US President Barack Obama did not expect the scandal surrounding the ‘torture memos’ to get out of control? And does anyone really think that the whole idea of making these memos public was not intended to target senior officials in former President George Bush’s Administration? If so, then all those who think like that should stick to reading celebrity magazines and trashy tabloids.President Obama needs as many smokescreens as he can master to cover up his inability to come up with worthwhile solutions to the current economic crisis in the United States. By now most people have already realised that he has yet to produce specific measures that would help tackle the recession. The economic bail-out package...
Will Jacob Zuma Rule As A Communist Or Will He Surprise Everyone?
April 28, 2009
Martin McCauley writes: Jacob Zuma, once he is inaugurated next month as President of the Republic of South Africa, will become the most powerful politician in Africa. This follows from the fact that the country is the richest on the continent. But what will he do with this power? Zuma is a former communist who had schooled himself in the politics, tactics and strategy of Vladimir Ilich Lenin. The founder of the Soviet state in Russia was a ruthless tactician. One of his hallmarks was the ability to change course if it suited his aims. Between 1918 and 1921 Soviet Russia attempted to leap over the capitalist phase of economic development straight into socialism. By 1921 the state was bankrupt. What did Lenin do? He reverted to a capitalist economy but kept the commanding heights (energy, mining,...
Joseph Stalin’s Favourite Dishes. We Present The First Recipe
April 28, 2009
Hi there, readers of StirringTroubleinternationally! This is your editor speaking. Today I would like to present to you the first instalment from our new section (it’s not yet a section but Paul, our designer, promised to have it in place soon) which would be called Stalin’s Favourite Dishes. Why so, you may ask. Well, because dictators generally like to spoil themselves with good food and Stalin was no exception. He loved Georgian and Russian and Ukrainian cuisine and even ordered for a cooking book to be produced in the 1930’s that would be worthy of the Soviet people. It was a good book, mind you, with a lot of excellent recipes. We decided to present to you some of the recipes from the first Stalin’s cookbook that came out in 1939. We would concentrate on the dishes...
The Stand-Off Between North Korea And The World Intensifies. The Options Are Very Limited
April 27, 2009
Thomas Mathew writes: As the stand-off between North Korea and the rest of the world resumes we, at StirringTroubleInternationally, pose a question: what is it that the West and the United States in particular can actually do to stop the regime in Pyongyang from re-starting its nuclear programme and beefing up its nuclear arsenal? At the moment, according to intelligence reports, North Korea has around six or seven nuclear devices. It also seems to be very close to have the capacity to mount them on missiles to hit targets thousands of miles away. Like Alaska, for example, or even the northern part of Australia. Whichever way you look at it the options to take on North Korea are very limited, one reason for it being that in case of any hostile action against the country Pyongyang could detonate...
It Is Time To Cut Up That Credit Card. It Makes No Sense Having One
April 27, 2009
That is it: I have had enough of this! I announce a war against credit card companies. I call on you, people, to stop using your credit cards. Just stop. Or, even better, cut them up into small pieces and throw them away. Yes, throw them away. You would not be able to reason with these disgusting people because there is no law in Britain against licensed loan sharking. But at least you can ignore them and deny them access to your money. You have probably heard about credit card companies raising their interest rates recently even though the base interest rate is now 0.5 per cent. Some companies are even encouraging their customers to use their cheques that carry the same interest as when they are withdrawing cash. Which could be as high as 29 per cent and even more. And that is not all. The...
We Present The First Instalment Of The Thriller The Debt Collector
April 27, 2009
Today we present the first instalment of the futuristic thriller, The Debt Collector, set in post-Putin Russia. It is the story about an undercover agent who is investigating the link between a group of Russina oligarchs and the assassination attempt on the wife of the new Russian President. The Debt Collector ‘I am a Ghost. I walk this earth in sorrow and no one knows who I am. When I was among the living, I led a double-life and even my family had no idea who I really was. My dark secret went with me to my grave and now I pay the price. I roam among the sinners, I weep, but there is no one to blame but myself… ‘This story though, is not about me. It’s about the “debt collector”, who battles with the ones who steal from others. He tracks them down, one by one,...
China Now Has An Independent Naval Force to Combat Somali Pirates
April 26, 2009
Martin McCauley writes: A second Chinese naval task force has arrived in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia to combat the activities of pirates in the region. The new task force replaces the one which consisted of a multi-purpose destroyer, a destroyer equipped with the latest long range air defence missiles and a supply ship. During its mission, which began on January 6, the task force rescued three ships from pirates and prevented over 100 pirates’ vessels from harassing commercial shipping. The second task force consists of China’s most advanced missile destroyer and the most up to date frigate. There are also two helicopters and a contingent of naval Special Forces. All ships were constructed in China and belong to the South China Sea Fleet, based at Zhanjiang in Guandong...
We Present The Latest Comments By Our Readers
April 25, 2009
We have received quite a few comments on our piece Jacob Zuma Is Zooming Into The Presidency Of South Africa. Is This A Good Thing. Thecave writes: ‘I’m a South African going to the polls today. Your article gives a fair appraisal of where South Africa is at. The one consolation for having an uneducated, unwise, backward man of dubious morality in the presidency is that the last guy was so bad, it’s hard to imagine Zuma being worse. Thabo Mbeki drove the dream of the rainbow nation straight off a cliff, with a Harvard examination estimating that 300,000 people are dead in South Africa who would be alive today if not for Mbeki’s refusal to accept the science (and blatantly obvious consequences) of HIV. ‘Furthermore, he ran the civil service as a jobs-for-pals racket that...
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- Winning Hearts And Minds In Afghanistan. Even When They’re Detached From The Bodies
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