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When the CIA was trying to frustrate democracy in Central America, they used Moslem money, from the Saudis. (Cached)
In Indonesia, money from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf has been financing mosques and preachers demanding a 'purer' form of Islam. (Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within)
Beginning in the 1970s, "activists linked to the Saudi-sponsored Islamic World League began indoctrinating small groups at the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology with Brotherhood materials". (Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within)
In 1998, there was the possibility that Indonesia would change its government and become a democracy like Malaysia, where there is no miserable poverty.
Unfortunately, Indonesia's American-trained military hijacked the 1998 protest movement.
The May 1998 riots which toppled Suharto were organised by the military; certain Chinese people were made the scapegoats for all of Indonesia's problems; most of the old elite, consisting of generals, Chinese-Indonesian businessmen, religious leaders and politicians, remained in power; certain factions within the elite lost out.
Now sections of the elite are using Islam to frustrate democracy.
Indonesia's Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) 'is Indonesia's version of the Muslim Brotherhood'. (Playing with Fire in Indonesia). It does not support Sharia law but supports 'Moslem values'.
"According to CIA agent Miles Copeland... the CIA began to cooperate with the Muslim Brotherhood... This signalled the beginning of an alliance between the traditional regimes and mass Islamic movements against Nasser and other secular forces." (aangirfan: The use of the Muslim Brotherhood by MI6 and the CIA in ...)
In the 2004 national elections, the PKS won 45 out of 550 seats in the Indonesian lower house (DPR). They also got 3 seats in the cabinet. (Playing with Fire in Indonesia)
At the local level, the PKS has won 88 out of 149 elections.
In April 2008, PKS candidates won the Governorships of West Java and North Sumatra.
West Java has a population of 40 million people and is home to Jakarta.
Why do poor Indonesians vote for the PKS? They are fed up with "corruption, poor public services, poverty, and the perceived lack of real political choice." (Playing with Fire in Indonesia)
The PKS may form an alliance with Indonesia's president Yudhoyono, a former Suharto general. Alternatively, the PKS might form an alliance with Suharto's old party called Golkar, the largest party in parliament; or with one of the Moslem parties such as the PPP or PAN.
Reportedly, the "founding manifesto" of the Justice Party that went on to become the PKS, called for the creation of an Islamic caliphate. (Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within)
1. Vladimir Nabokov found boys interesting, and there are gay characters in almost all of his 17 novels.
Vladimir came from a ‘liberal’ family which contained a number of ‘gay’ characters.
When Vladimir occasionally used ‘homophobic slurs’ this did not neccessarily mean that he was not fond of young males.
With Nabokov things are not always what they seem.
2. Some quotes from Nabokov’s novel ‘Pale Fire’:
"When he was a dark strong lad of thirteen ... he had several dear playmates but none could compete with Oleg, Duke of Rahl. In those days growing boys of high-born families wore on festive occasions ... sleeveless jerseys, white anklesocks with black buckle shoes, and very tight, very short shorts called hotinguens ...
"Both lads were handsome, long-legged specimens of Varangian boyhood... Oleg ... stripped and shiny in the mist of the bath house, his bold virilia...
"Oleg’s last visit, when for the first time the two boys had been allowed to share the same bed, and the tingle of their misbehavior...
"A secret passage... his soft blond locks ...his golden brows ... the downy warmth of that crimson ear ... dark passageways ... stealthy intrusion ... blind pokings ... penetrations ...dusky odor ...
"Oleg walked in front : his shapely buttocks encased in tight indigo cotton moved alertly, and his own erect radiance, rather than his flambeau, seemed to illume with leaps of light the low ceiling and crowding walls. Behind him the young Prince’s electric torch played on the ground and gave a coating of flower to the back of Oleg’s bare thighs... smooth entrance ...
"You’re all chalky behind," said the young Prince ... Both were in a manly state and moaning like doves...
"He inhaled the hair oil of the pretty page who had bent to brush a rose petal off the footstool...
"The King waded into the damp ...its odor, its lacy resilience, and the mixture of soft growth and steep ground...a bare kneed mountain lad like a tawny angel...
"The boy-handsome tousle-haired girlfriend...
"Some of his predecessors, rough alderkings who burned for boys...
"He saw nineteen-year-old Disa ..She had come in male dress, as a Tirolese boy...
"Gordon ... A slender but strong-looking lad of fourteen or fifteen dyed a nectarine hue by the sun. He had nothing on save a leopard-spotted loincloth... The graceful boy wreathed about the loins with ivy...
"The boy wiped his wet hands on his black bathing trunks... The boy striking his flanks clothed in white tennis shorts... The young woodwose had closed his eyes and was stretched out supine on the pool’s marble margin; his Tarzan brief had ben cast aside on the turf..."
3. In the 1950s Nabokov wrote Lolita. For six months it was the number one bestseller in America.
Nabokov liked girls, so long as they looked like boys. Lolita was the girl with the ‘puerile hips’, the girl wearing ‘shorts’.
4. A quote from Timon of Athens:
The moon's an arrant thief
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.
5. With Nabokov things are not always what they seem.
In Pale Fire, the commentator appears to be Charles Kinbote. But, Nabokov reveals in his diary that the commentator is Prof. Vseslav Botkin, a Russian and an academic. Nabokov was Russian and an academic.
According to Nabokov, in Pale Fire :
"reality is neither the subject nor the object of true art which creates its own special reality having nothing to do with the average ‘reality’ perceived by the communal eye."
Vladimir Nabokov's 1962 novel, Pale Fire, is about things not being as simple as they first appear.
Pale Fire, Kinbote, Zembla, Charles II, and Gradus, may be the elaborate creation of the Russian academic.
"As the Egyptian regime is confronted by an unprecedented series of strikes, demonstrations, and riots, an extremely timely new book argues that the country is about to witness a popular revolution." -New Book: Egypt on the Brink of a Revolution
"Dee says she was beaten, tied up, drugged and raped for four days in a pitch-black cellar of the notoriousJersey care home Haut de la Garenne... Dee ended up in the grim institution... after a troubled childhood in Portsmouth. Her father, a Royal Navy engineer, sexually abused her from the age of 12." - Naked, drugged, tortured, raped over and over again for 4 days ...
Segev tells us about historian Shlomo Zand of Tel Aviv University.
Zand has written "When and How Was the Jewish People Invented?" - published by Resling in Hebrew.
According to Zand:
1. There never was a Jewish people, only a Jewish religion.
2. The exile of the Jews never happened.
The Romans did not generally exile whole nations; most of the Jews were permitted to remain in the country; the number of those who left the country was at most tens of thousands.
3. Most of the Old Testament Bible stories about the Jewish people, including the exodus from Egypt and the conquest under Joshua, are fiction and myth.
4. When the Arabs conquered this area, many of the Jews converted to Islam.
The Palestinian Arabs probably have Jewish origins.
David Ben-Gurion, and others, believed this.
5. There are millions of Jews in the world.
In 1914, in Israel-Palestine, there were 731,000 Arabs but only 60,000 Jews. The Jews were only 7% of the population.
Why, in 1914, were most Jews living in places like Europe and America?
Zand says Jews emigrated from Israel of their own free will.
And many people, outside Israel-Palestine, converted to the Jewish religion.
According to Zand, the Jews in Spain were originally Arabs and Christians who converted to the Jewish religion.
People from the Khazar Kingdom in the Caucasus converted to the Jewish religion and became the first Jews of Ashkenaz (Germany).
6. Zand believes that Israel should be a "state of all its citizens" - Jews, Arabs and others.
Prior to World War I, there were several great empires and prospective empires, usually in competition with each other.
These empires and prospective empires included the British, the German, the American, the Austrian, the Russian, the Turkish, the French and the Zionist ( Zionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Some people might add the empires of the arms dealers and bankers.
World War I was a disaster. It led to communism in Russia; it led to fascism in many parts of Europe.
Certain people were pleased to see the weakening of the old empires such as the Turkish; and that led on to problems such as Palestine.
World War II seemed to be mainly about which empire would control Eastern Europe and which empire would control the Pacific; some historians would also refer to the Middle East and other areas of the world.
After World War II had ended, the USA was the major power in the Pacific, Russia controlled Eastern Europe, the British Empire was in a state of collapse, and the state of Israel came into being.
Peter Hitchens, in UK's The Mail on Sunday, 19 April 2008, wrote about World War II.
Hitchens asks: "how can we be sure that Churchill's war was a good war?"
Hitchens refers to two books:
1. Patrick Buchanan's Churchill, Hitler And The Unnecessary War
2. Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke.
In relation to Baker, Hitchens writes: "many of the facts here, especially about Winston Churchill and Britain's early enthusiasm for bombing civilian targets, badly upset the standard view."
Was World War II fought to save the Jews from Hitler? According to Hitchens: "No facts support this fond belief. If the war saved any Jews, it was by accident."
The start of the war halted the safe transport of Jews out of Germany.
Hitchens quotes Churchill's description of Hitler in 1937: "A highly competent, cool, well informed functionary with an agreeable manner, a disarming smile, and few have been unaffected by a subtle personal magnetism."
According to Hitchens, Buchanan sees Churchill 'as a man who loved war for its own sake, and preferred it to peace'.
According to Buchanan, the First and Second World Wars are really one conflict. Who was going to control countries such as Iraq or Poland or Palestine or India?
One of the main results of World War I was that Britain was overtaken by the USA.
Did Britain save Poland? One of the results of World War II was that Russia, and not Germany, controlled Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe.
After World War II, Britain lost its Empire, many of its best export markets, what was left of its naval supremacy, and most of its national wealth - "gleefully stripped from us by Roosevelt in return for Lend-Lease supplies".
According to Hitchens: "The country most interested in dismantling our Empire was the USA. Hitler never built a surface navy truly capable of challenging ours."
During World war II, the most evil dictator, Joseph Stalin, 'became our honoured ally, supplied with British weapons, fawned on by our Press and politicians, including Churchill himself'. By Christmas 1940, Stalin had in fact murdered many more people than Hitler."
The richest 1% of humans own 40% of the planet's wealth. Who are these people? - Billion-dollar babies Top 7 exporters 4 are from Europe; 2 are from from Asia; Britain does not appear in the list. Merchandise exports 2007 (Source WTO)
1. Germany 2. China 3. USA 4. Japan 5. France 6. Netherlands 7. Italy
"Lord Kalms, .... accused William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, of behaving like an 'ignorant armchair critic' for criticising Israeli attacks on Lebanese army units and public buildings, and the high civilian death toll. He said that Mr Hague’s remarks were not just unhelpful, they were 'downright dangerous'." - Helicopters, money and Peerages
"The Bronfmans are the “godfathers” behind the political career of John McCain.
"In 1976 a crusading Phoenix reporter, Don Bolles, was murdered by a car bomb after writing a series of stories exposing the organized crime connections of a wide-ranging number of well-known figures in Arizona, including one Jim Hensley.
"Five years later “Honest John” McCain arrived in Arizona as the new husband of Hensley’s daughter, Cindy. “From the moment McCain landed in Phoenix,” according to Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity, “the Hensleys were key sponsors of his political career.” But the people behind the Hensley fortune are even more controversial.
"McCain’s late father-in-law was the owner of the biggest Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship in Arizona—one of the largest beer distributors in the nation. But the mainstream media has had nothing to say about the origins of the Hensley fortune that financed McCain’s rise to power. The Hensley fortune is a regional offshoot of the big-time bootlegging and rackets empire of the Bronfman dynasty.
"McCain’s father-in-law got his start as a top henchman for Kemper Marley, who, for 40 years until his death in 1990 at age 84, was the undisputed behind-the-scenes political boss of Arizona. But Marley was much more than a machine politician.
"The ascent of the cost of rice to $24 from $10 per hundredweight over the past year tracks the declining value of the American dollar. The link between the declining parity of the US unit and the rising price of commodities, including oil as well as rice and other wares, is indisputable. China has bid aggressively for rice all year, and last week banned rice exports, along with Vietnam and several other producers." - Rice, death and the dollar
"Asians can start by blaming themselves for the present mess in which their farmers remain poor, their poorest struggle to pay for basics such as rice, and their governments continue to pay economic allegiance to the has-been powers of America and Europe." - Bankrupt policies,empty stomachs
According to the News Of The World, one of the Madams Laidlaw does business with is called Sara. She helps run London escort agency Role Models.
"Sara has a string of international models plus well-known British actresses and TV presenters on her books, secretly working as part-time escorts," writes The News Of The World."
Sara said Laidlaw "liked her to send a selection of men over to see him".
Laidlaw was one of the donors to the Conservative Party who were questioned by police investigating 'cash for peerages" claims.
Reportedly, Laidlaw and wife Christine have a £4million vineyard near St Tropez, a £3million apartment in Monte Carlo, a £10 million estate near Cape Town, South Africa, a £2million home in London's Eaton Square, a Scottish mansion called The Royal Palace, and a £14million stately home in Hampshire.
Treaty of Union
2. James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry was very influential in bringing about the Treaty of Union in 1707.
The same evening the 2nd Duke was signing the Act of Union, his son, the Earl of Drumlanrig, is said to have roasted a servant boy on a spit in an oven in the kitchens of his house in Edinburgh. (CachedCached)
In 2007, Lord Carloway asked his fellow judges to investigate top Scottish defence solicitor Aamer Anwar after Anwar criticised the conviction of Mohammed Atif Siddique.
Anwar described some of the evidence against Siddique as "farcical" and said the trial had been conducted in an atmosphere of intolerance and repression against Muslims. The conviction was a "tragedy for justice and for freedom of speech." ( Judge calls for trial of terror case lawyer UK news The Guardian )
At Siddique's trial, computer expert Michael Dickson gave evidence about Siddique's laptop computer.
"The reason Dickson was upset has been erased from this version of the story, but his testimony pointed out that the incriminating videos found on the laptop all had creation dates LATER than the time the laptop was confiscated from the suspect!
"He told the court: 'An initial examination of this system revealed it was last activated between approximately 2219 BST and 2330 BST on 5 April 2006. This immediately struck us as being unusual as we were informed that the computer had been seized from the accused's possession at about 2000 BST the same date.'
"Mr Dickson said further examination revealed that the times and dates associated with more than 200 files on the system had been updated between these times."
Siddique was found guilty of providing training material on bomb-making and spreading terrorist propaganda on websites. He was given 8 years in jail. Anwar said Siddique was merely doing "what millions of young people do every day, looking for answers on the internet".
"The most celebrated names in the English legal establishment have savaged the Scottish justice system for undermining human rights and freedom of speech through threats to prosecute the Scottish lawyer Aamer Anwar for contempt of court in the wake of a terror trial."
Anwar faces being charged with contempt.
Gareth Peirce, who defended the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four, said the treatment of Anwar went against United Nations conventions which guarantee the independence of lawyers. (Legal luminaries defend Aamer Anwar)
Imran Khan, the London solicitor who acted for the family of Stephen Lawrence, said: "There should be no attempt to silence lawyers. If lawyers can't speak out then one of the bedrocks of justice - the right to highlight a miscarriage of justice - just goes. I could never anticipate such a thing happening in England. From across the border, this all seems bizarre. I hope common sense prevails."
Michael Mansfield, one of the top five QCs in England, said: "We need independent strong lawyers who will speak out."
Baroness Helena Kennedy said: "This is exactly the sort of thing a young lawyer does when they are describing what their client felt. To take it to the stage of contempt of court is excessive."
The Duke of Buccleuch and Prince George, Duke of Kent, were allegedly involved in a plot with Rudolf Hess and MI6.
In 1941 there was a large 'peace party' in Britain which allegedly included many aristocrats such as the Duke of Buccleuch, many MPs, many members of the security services and members of the Royal Family.
The 'peace party' wanted to do a deal with Hitler. Some members of the 'peace party' admired the Nazis; some did not. Prince George, Duke of Kent, was reportedly a member of the group that wanted peace.
Lynn Picknett writes: "in 1942 the Duke of Kent was acting as political advisor for George VI... It wasn’t so much that he was pro-Nazi or sucking up to Hitler; he was simply pro-peace.'
Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-up' by Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince & Stephen Prior argues that:
1. Hess flew to Scotland in 1941 with Hitler's blessing.
2. Hess was to meet with a faction of British royalty and the aristocracy who wanted to arrange peace between Britain and Nazi Germany.
Hess is reported to have landed at the Duke of Hamilton's home at Dungavel House.
According to one account, 'two Czech Hurricane pilots who intercepted a lone Messerschmitt heading towards the'Firth of Clyde on the evening of May 10 were told not to attack it...
'A member of the Womens Auxiliary air Force, stationed that night at Dungavel House, remembers the landing lights on the Duke's private airstrip being on, shortly before Hess's plane crashed, despite blackout regulations.'
The Duke of Kent was said to have been at Dungavel, waiting for Hess. The Duke of Kent was involved in a motoring accident with a coal lorry the next morning not far from Dungavel House. His passenger was the Duke of Buccleuch, 'well known for his anti-war, pro-German sentiments prior to 1939'.
According to 'Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-Up':
1. Churchill and his faction got to Hess first when his plane landed and locked him up, even though Hess had been guaranteed safe passage by King George VI.
2. It is possible that the Duke of Kent rescued Hess and tried to fly to Sweden to continue secret peace negotiations.
3. The Duke's plane crashed approximately two miles from where Hess was kept on the shores of Loch More. Hess may have died in the plane crash. The plane crash may not have been accidental.To many members of the 'peace party', the real enemy was the Soviet Union. They wanted Hitler to wage war on Stalin.
The Duke of Buccleuch was put under virtual "house arrest" for the remainder of the war.
Clive Prince writes: 'Churchill was in a very, very insecure position politically in May 1941. In fact, three days before Hess arrived, there had been a vote of no-confidence in Churchill. He didn’t have the support of the aristocracy or the support of MI6 and the King. But the Hess affair basically gave Churchill the opportunity to blackmail his opponents who were involved with the Hess flight into supporting him...
"He also used the Hess flight to ensure that Hitler went ahead with his attack on Russia six weeks after Hess arrived...."
"We’re certain that MI6 was totally involved in the Hess affair - they weren’t luring him over: they were inviting him over. This was because MI6 were supportive of the idea of ending the War with Germany. MI6 saw the real enemy as being Russia. Sir Stuart Menzies - the head of MI6 - advised Churchill to stay out of things and let the Nazis and the Russians get on with it.."
A new biography of Oscar Wilde claims that Wilde's trial and imprisonment was a cover up for a gay affair between the Prime Minister, the Earl of Rosebery, and Viscount Drumlanrig.
The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde, by Neil McKenna, suggests that the prime minister, the Earl of Rosebery, had a gay relationship for over two years with Viscount Drumlanrig, the older brother of Wilde’s own lover, Lord Alfred Douglas.
McKenna told the Sunday Times that, “Oscar was sacrificed to save Rosebery and the Liberals.”
The book says that the Marquess of Queensbury, the father of Drumlanrig and Douglas, was so furious that both his sons were gay that he threatened to reveal the PM’s own homosexuality.
Wilde’s trial was rushed through in order to “buy off” Queensbury and save the PM’s reputation, although Queensbury later called him “a Jew nancy boy” and “that bloody bugger”.
The book also suggests that the relationship between Rosebery and Drumlanrig was instrumental to Drumlanrig being made the PM`s private secretary and eventually a Lord.
The Sunday Times quotes Philip Hoare, who has himself written a biography on Wilde, as saying that McKenna’s theory was realistic, as he believed Wilde had been a political pawn. “The Liberals saw Wilde, as it were, taking all this decadence to the suburbs. They needed to stop it.” It also mentions Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland opinion that “Queensbury had lost one son to this ‘unmentionable vice’ and didn’t want another lost.”
On the morning of 11 September 2001, Shafiq bin Laden was in Washington DC for an investors' meeting of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, linked to George W Bush and family.
(April 26 2008) In a speech in London, Former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir has called for an international tribunal to try Bush, Blair and John Howard for war crimes in connection with the war in Iraq.
"Don't forget to include in your tribunal, the appointments of Israeli and Jewish advisors to posts in the George W. Bush White House and Executive Branch administration many of which were instrumental in the planning stages of the Iraqi invasion and occupation, a planning that existed prior to September 11, 2001.
"The war crimes tribunal should include, but not limited to: Ari Fleischer, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Elliot Abrams, Dov Zekheim, Richard Haass, Henry Kissinger, James Schlesinger, Robert Zoellick, Marc Grossman, Robert Satloff, Mel Sembler, Joshua Bolten, Steve GoldsmithDaniel Saul, Adam Goldman, Joseph Gildenhorn, Christopher Gersten, Mark Weinberger, Samuel Bodman, Bonnie Cohen, Ruth Davis, Lincoln Bloomfield.
"This is only a partial list of the Zionists in the Bush Administration. Bush, Howard and Blair are just sacrificial scapegoats whose role it is to deflect attention from the true mover's and shaker's behind the travesty in Iraq." - Readers' Comments Call to charge Howard with war crimes
A Swiss firm found prion proteins in homogenized and pasteurized milk that's being sold in supermarkets. - Bad Mad Cow Week
"Pennsylvania exit polls - The difference between five percent and ten percent is the difference between Hillary having to drop out and Hillary staying in to help McCain win in November" - permanent link
"Egypt could become a leading gold producer within the next decade following the discovery of large reserves in the country's Eastern Desert, the Le Progres Egyptian newspaper said Monday. 'With annual output of over 30 tons of gold, sales could exceed revenues from tourism, agriculture and even oil,' the newspaper quoted the country's Oil and Mineral Resources Ministry as saying. Proven reserves at the Wadi Hudain deposit alone exceed 50 million ounces, worth around $50 billion. - Egypt Could Become Major Gold Producer in Next Decade
"The British withdrawal of its forces from Basra and the handing over of security in southern Iraq to Iraqi security forces reflectstwo British predictions for the future. On the one hand, that the defeat of US-led coalition forces is a foregone conclusion; on the other, that a US military strike against Iran is in the near offing and that Britain wants its own forces well out of range of what would be one of the immediate targets of an Iranian retaliation...
"The US has engaged in various high- profile displays of muscle in which thousands of US and Israeli troops engaged in joint exercises to test new ways of intercepting missiles... In addition, Israel recently carried out the largest training manoeuvre in its history. On 20 March 2008, diverse military formations staged simulated conventional and non-conventional assaults on various Iranian targets...
"Overall, the factors against war seem to outweigh the factors propelling towards war. But since when has logic had the upper hand in determining the behaviour of the Bush administration? " - Can Bush attack again?
"Scottish manufacturers enjoyed a rebound in both total new orders and output in the three months to April, and hiked their domestic prices at the strongest pace for 17 years, a survey from the Confederation of British Industry revealed yesterday." - Manufacturing boost north of border
According to an article at Wikipedia: "RBS has been involved in an increasing number of environmental and human rights controversies since Sir Fred Goodwin took the helm in 2001.
"RBS is heavily involved in financing large oil, gas and mining projects world-wide that environmental organizations like BankTrack, PLATFORM , Pacific Environment, The Cornerhouse, and Rainforest Action Network call 'dodgy deals' that they say severely damage the environment and local communities, and that contribute significantly to climate change.
"Sir Tom McKillop and Sir Fred Goodwin, chairman and chief executive of RBS, may be responsible for the biggest absolute reduction in shareholder value in Scottish corporate history.
"How did they 'arise' to this accolade; by irresponsible lending in bubble markets, by paying a grossly inflated price for a major European bank during the biggest financial squeeze for 40 years and by becoming the last of the big spenders on head offices and advertising.
"Sir Fred has shredded the RBS share price and his chairman has presided over it. Both will, no doubt, put it down to the worldwide credit crunch. It's not – it is down to poor management." - ROBIN RAE - RBS chiefs at fault
~~
"Among banks that have capital concerns are Barclays and HBOS, which JP Morgan reckons will need £8 billion and £11 billion respectively." - Look Ma, no capital
2. "Some years ago I was a guest at a charity lunch in Glasgow's City Chambers where Sir Fred Goodwin was the principal speaker and where he delivered his perceived wisdom on the world in general.
"One of the main thrusts of his speech was to question why anyone should be concerned about the loss of our manufacturing industries. His point being that at that time it accounted for less than 20% of the economy and was dwarfed by the banking sector.
"I wonder if the realisation has now dawned that banking, like the country's economy, cannot survive indefinitely on the shifting sands of ever-increasing personal debt;
"that the money loaned by banks needs to contribute to tangible growth in the economy and not just fuel an increase in the price of houses far beyond their true worth - a level where most new buyers will have little hope of ever achieving outright ownership..." - Gregor Egan, Barrhead. (Letters )
3. "The chairman assures the shareholders that no single person is responsible for this apparent catalogue of disaster.
"That may well be the case but, if so, the responsibility must lie across the board and executive management of the bank and be accepted by them all...." - Graham Mathewson, Stirling. (Letters )
4. "Britain's debt culture, the millionaire bankers who have profited from it and the ministers who have allowed it have all dangerously strained the fabric of society, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
"In a pessimistic analysis of modern British life and the economy Gordon Brown has overseen for a decade, Rowan Williams said the Government should impose tougher rules on lenders and demanded action to close the wealth gap between rich and poor.
5. "Collins Stewart rounded off what is likely to be the worst week in its history with another 9 per cent fall in its shares yesterday, closing at 379p. The brokerage, which specialises in small company stocks, has seen £208m wiped off its value since the start of the week.
"The dramatic slide in share value was the City's reaction to the emergence last weekend of a dossier alleging insider dealing, share ramping and biased research at the company compiled by one of its former analysts, James Middleweek.
"Mr Middleweek has gone from being a little-known media analyst to one of the most talked about figures in the City in the past six days.
"His claims include that the share prices of a number of companies, including Epic Brand Investments, Numerica and Millfield, were maintained at 'artificially high'.
"Mr Middleweek's former colleagues Paul Hodges and Jimmy Durkin are accused of being prepared to 'do everything possible to maintain share prices of companies in which their clients are involved, including withholding relevant information'.
"He alleges that he was stopped from covering Numerica, an accountancy group, and Millfield, which owns a chain of independent financial advisers, after he had been "too even handed". He was allegedly prevented from downgrading Numerica late last year." - Allegations prompt fresh slide in Collins Stewart - Business News ...
4. "Currently under construction by Qatari Diar, the development arm of the Qatar government, the $600 million Al Houara Resort is designed to be the most opulent and stylish resort in Morocco...
"Situated on the picturesque stretch of coastline that runs from Tangier to Asilah, the Al Houara Resort will attract the most exclusive visitors to this privileged location. The attractive design of this project reflects the best of Moroccan architecture combined with a design that incorporates the comforts of 21st century living.
5. "Crime in Morocco is a serious concern, particularly in the major cities and tourist areas. Aggressive panhandling, pick-pocketing, purse-snatching, theft from occupied vehicles stopped in traffic and harassment of women are the most frequently reported crimes.
"These are more likely to occur in crowded market areas, transportation centers, parks and beaches. Criminals have used weapons, primarily knives, during some street robberies and burglaries.
"These have occurred at any time of day and night, not only in isolated places or areas less frequented by visitors, but in crowded areas as well." - Morocco
"Since March 2008 a number of Europeans, including British citizens, have been attacked and robbed at knifepoint, mainly late at night, near the centre of Tangier in the area from Blvd Pasteur/Mohammed V leading down to the beach, and in and around the Kasbah/Medina.
"You are advised to avoid those areas late at night and not to carry valuables with you at any time in those parts of town.
"A British tourist was injured in an apparent knife attack at a hotel in Marrakech on 9 May 2007. There has also been an increase in reports of other violent attacks, including some shootings, and of car jacking in Casablanca." - Travel Advice
Muhammed VI
6. Some people see Andre Azoulay, counselor to King Mohammed VI of Morocco, as the most important person in Morocco.
Andre Azoulay is Jewish.
Morocco is one of those Moslem countries that appears to be run by the military and the secret police.
Morocco is one of those Moslem countries that appears to be friends with Israel and the Pentagon.
The King of Morocco and his generals are very, very rich.
The bulk of the population is very poor.
There are huge slums on the outskirts of cities such as Marrakech which the tourists never see.
In 2003, when a Moslem party began to win support among the poor, bombs went off. No Jews or Israelis were among the casualties. The bombs were blamed on the Islamists. There was a crackdown on opponents of the military. More than 3,000 people were arrested.
Morocco occupies a strategically important position and is useful to the Pentagon.
Some people suspect that the CIA recruits Moroccans for some of its work.
Tourists should be very careful in Morocco.
7. The Sunday Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2036185_2,00.html reported 12 February 2006, that, according to intelligence sources, the USA is involved with the building of a new interrogation and detention facility at Ain Aouda, near Rabat.
Locals said they had often seen American vehicles with diplomatic plates in the area.
According to The Sunday Times:
The construction of the new compound, run by the Direction de la Securité du Territoire (DST), the Moroccan secret police, adds to a substantial body of evidence that Morocco is one of America’s principal partners in the secret “rendition” programme in which the CIA flies prisoners to third countries for interrogation.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other groups critical of the policy have compiled dossiers detailing the detention and apparent torture of radical Islamists at the DST’s current headquarters, at Temara, near Rabat.
A recent inquiry into rendition by the Council of Europe, led by Dick Marty, the Swiss MP, highlighted a pattern of flights between Washington, Guantanamo Bay and Rabat’s military airport at Sale.
French intelligence and diplomatic sources said the most recent such flight was in the first week in December, when four suspects were seen being led blindfolded and handcuffed from a Boeing 737 at Sale and transferred into a fleet of American vehicles...
The secret police HQ at Temarahas a fearsome reputation among former inmates. Binyam Mohammed, an Ethiopian-born Briton later sent to Guantanamo Bay, told Amnesty International that interrogators there cut his chest and penis when he refused to answer questions.
STONES were being thrown at me. There was blood on my hand. I was standing at the entrance gate to the Moroccan city of xxxxxxxxx. The teenagers who were throwing the stones were presumably not wildly keen on the sight of a rich western tourist who was carrying a large camera.
I reported to the police station on three occasions after being threatened or hit.
On the third occasion the police officer in charge decided to give me a hard time. He suggested that my passport might not have been properly stamped or might be out of date.
I began to get the impression that something was seriously wrong with Morocco. I came across a small malnourished, ragged child staring at some postcards outside a shop. I gave the boy a few coins. He kissed my hand gravely and thanked me many times. Not all Moroccans are louts.
In my 4 star hotel, the barman was arguing with his colleagues. A hotel employee decided to empty his nostrils of mucus as my drink was being served. The restaurant was full of flies.
The streets of Fes were full of litter and insects. There were huge piles of refuse at every road junction.
Moroccan cities also seem to have more than their fair share of the mentally backward (caused by inbreeding?) and the mentally ill (caused by poverty and powerlessness?)
Figures for March 2002 show a 35% drop in the number of package tourists arriving at Agadir airport.
I was in the main square in the Moroccan city of xxxxxxxxxx one sunny morning (May 1st 2002). There were riot police, and ordinary police and soldiers stationed in the square. There were riot police down the various side streets and sitting in cafes. There were plain clothes police and uniformed officers on all the major roads. In the square there were speeches given by the smartly dressed leaders of one of the 'left-wing' parties. These leaders were dressed like the mafia.The crowd which had gathered to listen was small and their applause was less than lukewarm.
Tangier
Riots are common in Morocco.
In 1955, Berber tribesmen descended on the village of Oed Zen and killed every Frenchman they found.
On 20 June 1981, up to 600 people were killed in rioting in Casablanca (Le Figaro 1 July 1981, page 2).
In 1984, up to 200 people were killed in rioting in cities such as Tetouan (Le monde 26 Jan 1984, page 4).
A greater danger than riots is the driving in Morocco. My taxi driver drove with either one hand or no hand on the steering wheel and he loved going right up close to the vehicle in front. France has 2.6 deaths per 1000 vehicles. Morocco has 25.6 deaths per 1000 vehicles, making it the second most dangerous country in the world in terms of motoring.
While I was cycling in Morocco, I was chased by savage dogs and savage children demanding money. The children terrified me as they looked very hungry and as tough as slum kids from Liverpool.
9.HASSAN
So what is happening in Morocco?
Morocco's former king, Hassan, was said to be worth $40 billion.
Out of the 100 richest people in Morocco, 'the top 50 are in the armed forces or police.' 'The fortune amassed by the 20 richest army officers would be enough to pay off Morocco's foreign debt of $17bn.'
I visited a shanty settlement. I am not brave; I simply wandered in by accident. This was a place of barking dogs, piles of rubbish, home made shacks with no water supply or sewage disposal, and ragged children who looked seriously malnourished. A high wall hid the shacks of the poor from any tourists on the main streets.
Almost 65% of the population l ive below the poverty line 'and the situation is deteriorating'.
According to ex-army officer Ahmed Rami, who is now in exile, the former King of Morocco, Hassan, was a puppet of the Jews and of the CIA. According to Rami, King Hassan could not take a step without the Jew André Azoulay, a Zionist "adviser". Azoulay - and people like him - allegedly made the important decisions, such as helping the rich get richer, and being sympathetic to Israel and the USA. Education, the media and the whole of social life were regulated by these advisers, not by the Moroccans themselves.
At least 25% of Morocco's population of 29 million are unemployed.
More than half the population is illiterate (70% of women) and two-thirds of people living in the country do not have access to drinking water, 87% are without electricity and 93% receive no medical care.
Morocco makes its money from the receipts sent home by Moroccans working abroad (most Moroccans want to get out of Morocco because of its corruption), from cannabis (sold in Europe), from smuggling (stolen cars and other goods), from phosphates (used in farming), from fishing (sardines), from farming (most of the best land is owned by a small rich elite, including army officers and politicians), from textiles (most Moroccan industry is still medieval and there is much competition from cheap-labour countries such as Turkey), and from tourism (Morocco gets about 2 million tourists per year while Spain hosts 45 million; Morocco has surprisingly few hotel beds).
The farms of the elite have been given much help and produce lots of oranges and vegetables intended for export to Europe; but Europe would rather buy its fruit and vegetables from the likes of Spain or Portugal. Morocco is no longer self-sufficient in wheat but has more oranges than it knows what to do with.
The farms of the poor suffer from having too many people and not enough water. The rural poor escape to the cities -Tangiers, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh - where they crowd into shanty towns on the outskirts or even in the centre.
I visited a poor farming area. The children's faces looked pinched. Few of the girls went to school. The houses had no water or toilets or electricity. Transport was by donkey.
The 5 star Gazelle d'Or hotel, near Taroudant, has been visited by the likes of the Duchess of York and Michael Portillo. It refused to let me in. Rooms cost hundreds of dollars. Not far from the Gazelle d'Or I came across villages with falling down houses and ragged children.
10.Muhammad VI came to the throne in 1999. In all the main towns and cities there are large posters showing his face. (A bit like Baby Doc's Haiti?) His concern for his fellow citizens is very different from the attitude of his father, and his nickname is "king of the poor". The king heads the Muhammad V foundation, which acts like a humanitarian NGO, and sometimes travels to outlying villages to bring tanks of water to drought victims, and support micro-development projects. "He visits the sick and takes care of the destitute. Numbers of stories are told of his goodness, compassion and generosity, and some people literally worship him."
According to Moroccan Professor Muhammad Tozy, "His attitude to ordinary people is undoubtedly sincere, but in addition it is politically astute since it cuts the ground from under the feet of the Islamists, who had until now monopolised charitable work in the poor neighbourhoods. This made them very popular. Now the king appears as a major rival in terms of religious legitimacy, since he is the descendant of the prophet Muhammad and 'commander of the faithful', but also in terms of solidarity with the deprived and excluded."
The new king has also taken an interest in the issue of freedom and human rights. Less than a month after the death of Hassan II, he spoke about the "disappeared" and the "victims of arbitrary arrest". Speaking in Casablanca he underlined the need to respect "human rights and individual freedoms". He dismissed Driss Basri, former minister of the interior and mastermind of a policy of repression that lasted almost 30 years.
Will the new king be able to prevent an Iranian-style revolution?
Islamism is spreading at a fast rate, taking advantage of the poverty and misery. The elite in the army are hardly likely to allow changes that will deprive them of their wealth! The politicians are deeply divided and there are over 30 political parties.
When he came to power, the new socialist Prime Minister, Youssoufi, undertook to straighten out the economy, decentralise administrative bodies, clean up public life, fight corruption, reform justice, combat poverty, develop low-income housing for the very poor, introduce a national pact for employment and, of course, find a solution to the dispute over the Sahara. Not much has been achieved. The figures for illiteracy, poverty and healthcare have scarcely changed. Many reforms are incomplete, though some of them, such as electoral reform, changes to legal procedure, labour law or the law on public freedom, are vital to the continuation of the transition process. And there is still high unemployment, as well as discrimination against women, corruption, feudal authoritarianism and sporadic human rights violations.
In the poorest neighbourhoods people are turning to the Islamists and not the socialists. The Islamist Justice and Welfare association founded by Sheikh Yassin visits the sick, helps them to buy medicine, contributes to funeral expenses, organises evening classes for the schoolchildren and supports single women, widows and divorcees.
What do the Islamists stand for in Morocco? How many are there? A big crowd - almost 100,000 - turned out in Casablanca for a demonstration against government plans to change women's status. The Islamists are very well established in the towns and suburbs and, increasingly, in the country as well. They are close to the people, helping the poor, sick and students, and they have networks all over the poorest neighbourhoods. They are active in welfare, whereas the left, even the far-left, no longer bother.
The left "has lost contact with the people." A quote from Le Monde Diplomatique: "Latifa, aged 45, teaches maths in a secondary school in the suburbs of Casablanca. She says "The middle classes account for barely 5% of the population, compared with more than 35% in Tunisia. Morocco's dominated by a system of networks, nepotism, clans, interconnected families who would rather give a job to an unsuitable, incompetent relation rather than a highly qualified young person from a poor background."
In May 2003, there were bomb attacks in Casablanca. Over 30 people died. Islamic militants were blamed. The government was then able to have a clampdown and 'hundreds' were arrested.
Enough of politics.
11.Moroccan cities are full of female prostitutes. But they are generally for the Moroccans (soldiers and those not yet married) and not for the tourists.
AIDS is very widespread.
My male guide, Hamid, walked ahead of me with his male friend. Hamid spent most of the time gently rubbing his friends back or holding his friend's hand. According to the experts, Moroccans like spending time with a single friend of the same sex. Same sex friendships are very important for Moroccans all through their lives. There are few limits to intimacy in same sex friendships. Moroccans 'usually marry out of a sense of duty.'
According to 'Culture Shock- Moroc co' by Orin Hargraves (Kuperard), "Homosexual relations among boys and young men are common." "Pederasty is exceedingly prevalent" wrote Edward Westermack in "Ritual and Belief in Morocco." In Morocco, homosexual sex by tourists is heavily punished; and sex with minors is very heavily punished with long jail sentences. In any case, tourists are not loved by the average Moroccan who sees the tourist as an alien
The hotel, the Gazelle D'or, at around £600 a night, is rather special. Visitors have allegedly included Michael Portillo, Jacques Chirac, Fergie, Rory Bremner, Mick Jagger, hosts of pop stars, statesmen, politicians, personalities, and 'the world's wealthiest closet Queens.'
According to Scallywag magazine, "As far as Westminster is concerned, the Gazelle D'or was first "discovered" by the notorious gay MP Sir Charles "Charley" Irving who died from aids in 1993. Irving, who chaired the Commons catering Committee, was famous for his private parties in the Pugin room in Westminster where he outrageously flirted with the male members of staff. Many of the 100-plus gay Tory MP's who inhabit "The Palace", often furtively, were fellow guests........
The REAL attraction of the Gazelle D'or is not just the exclusivity, or the fabulous luxury. It is, quite simply, that they boast one of the most superlative men-only Turkish baths, Sauna and Massage Parlour in the world, manned by hand-picked and specially trained swarthy Berbers who are most willing to accommodate every whim of their customers. The whole concept of the place is designed to be a veritable paradise for gays."
12.Some educated young Moroccans admire all things French and Western. But a large number of Moroccans reject all things Western and non-Islamic. The latter group can be very hostile to tourists.
Sorcery plays a big part in Moroccan lives. There seems to be as much belief in 'magic' as in Islam. The kid who thinks you are a foreign 'devil' may be frightened of the evil eye. The shoeshine boys troubled me.
If I had my shoes shined and paid 30 pence, then six other boys would appear and they would follow me, requesting money. If I gave money to a kid whose photo I had taken as he sat on a donkey, then six kids, then twenty six kids would appear, all demanding money. One group of boys threw stones at me after I had refused to give them cash.
There is a law against troubling tourists; but it has not entirely solved the problem! Moroccans seldom seem to feel guilt or shame. They do not seem to feel guilty when they have cheated you. They may only feel shame when they have been sent to Coventry by their fellows, for example for breaking Islamic rules.
How do I explain the 'rough' conduct of moroccan boys? The Moroccan boy is expected by his mother to be spontaneous, demanding and egotistical. The boy is king. The mother is of lowly status. The father has either gone off with another woman or is out at the cafe or is somewhere else. "The father typically remains absent from the household through major portions of each day in his child's life," according to 'Images and Self Images' by Dwyer (Columbia University press). The father and the mother seldom love each other. Their marriage was one of convenience.
13. Morocco is for the holiday that is exciting and adventurous. It is a trip into the Third World. It is not necessarily going to be stress-free. Morocco needs tourists. It's economy is in trouble and tourism is one o f the few areas where expansion can take place.
But, not all Moroccans welcome tourists! So, it is probably best to avoid places like Casablanca, because of the violent crime, and Tangier, because of the hustlers and occasional muggings (I got mugged at knifepoint on a main street in Tangier in broad daylight).
Agadir is generally geared up for sunshine worshippers, but is not very Moroccan. You'd be better off in the Canary Islands.
Fes is fascinating, but expect a lot of hassle and a lot of litter and filth. An Imperial Cities Tour would be a good bet as you would be escorted most of the time.
Marrakech is probably your best bet, but go with an organised tour which will protect you from hassles. Choose your hotel carefully. Generally the higher the price, the better the hotel!
Ouarzazate would be a bit too hot for my liking, but you might like it. Don't expect to find much to do, other than organised trips.
Essaouira is a pleasant fishing village. But you might get bored after a week.
Taroudannt is a good base for organised excursions into the mountains, but the town itself has little to offer. There are lots of 'adventure' trips into the mountains. Remember it can be cold and primitive up in these hills full of scorpions. And there are few toilets.
14. Most Moroccans, especially those over 40 years of age, are reasonably kind and helpful. Don't be put off by the stone throwers.
Hidayat Nur Wahid, founder of Indonesian radical Islamic party PKS (Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within)
