The legions of Rome were ruthless and all conquering!

Friends, from the ashes of the bloodthirsty, greedy, decadent Roman Empire, perhaps a new Empire has arisen, one created in part by stealth and duplicity.

This new Empire is not located in Rome but you will work out where it is located if you answer the following questions:

- which nation spends more on defence than the rest of the world combined?

- which nation’s economy would go bankrupt if its weapons industries were closed down?

- which nation has its legions…sorry, armies spread right across the world?

- which nation has initiated most of the wars since 1945?

- which nation is heavily into invasion and occupation in resource rich countries?

- which nation is the world leader in destabilizing national leaders, arranging coups, carrying out false-flag operations, and supporting terrorists whose objectives suit its own?

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Those who live by the sword, die by the sword!

Friends, two events have occurred over the last few days: Bibi went to Russia on a secret visit and, in the U.S., commemorations are being held for 9/11. These two events are related. How you ask?

The purpose of Bibi’s visit was to beg the Russians not to sell Russian anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. The reason? When Israel bombs Iran in the near future, possibly with nukes, it doesn’t want its aircraft shot down.

No folks, Israel is used to attacking countries which have no air defenses. Gaza is the most recent example and Israel is still bombing Gaza. It likes to go in and attack whatever targets it wants to without fear, without loss, a task that takes a great deal of bravery.

So, given the impending attack on Iran, how does that relate to 9/11? Well, 9/11  demonstrated what happens when militarily powerful countries attack or invade and occupy other countries. In so doing, people are killed, many of them innocent civilians including women and children. When people are killed, hatred is created, legitimate hatred. And with hatred comes the desire for revenge.

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No civilians were killed here according to the IDF!

It’s not often that I find something about Israel that I can praise but the Jewish organization called B’Tselem offers some hope that not all Jews are bloodthirsty imperialists and religious fanatics.

According to Reuters today, B’Tselem has carried out its own survey in Gaza and has found what everyone else in the world knows: that more than half of the nearly 1,400 casualties in the recent Gaza genocide were civilians.

B’Tselem said that 1,387 Palestinians were killed in the war — 773 civilians, 330 combatants, 248 Hamas policemen and 36 people whom the group was unable to classify as combatants or non-combatants. This finding is in agreement with surveys carried out by other groups like Amnesty International, etc.

Of course the IDF continues to dispute the findings. Surprise, surprise. Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said in response to B’Tselem’s findings that the group “does not have the tools, nor the intelligence capabilities” to provide a full picture of casualties. With a straight face, she continued to say the IDF went to extravagant lengths to avoid killing civilians.

The photograph above (from Reuters) shows a bomb falling on a building in Rafah. Perhaps, on the sides of the bomb, there are signs in Hebrew which say: TO KILL MILITANTS ONLY.

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Bombers in Briton plan to blow up 7 planes.

Global Warming. Economic crisis.

Cancer increasing. Nuclear war.

Growing old. Infidelity. Rape.

How fearful are you?

This game involves one large snake, one small, and many construction ladders!

Friends, there is a new game in town. It is called the U.S.-Israel Settlement Game.

The rules of the game are simple. The U.S., led by Obama, tells Israel:

- that settlement building on occupied land in the West Bank must stop.

This direct order is designed to make the U.S. appear like an honest broker, one who cares deeply about the plight of the Palestinians and things like human rights and democracy. Ha, ha, ha, ha!

Then Israel, via Netanyahu, tells Obama that:

- that settlement building is going to continue where ever approvals have already been given.

- that all settlements must be allowed to expand naturally.

- that they intend to approve 20,000 more homes and units on occupied Palestinian land before peace talks will begin (this was announced today).

The next phase of the game involves much huffing and puffing and mock breast-beating and the sending of gaggles of envoys by the U.S. because Israel appears to be making the world’s military superpower a laughing stock (much as it did when George W. ordered Sharon to get out of Jenin).

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Is this normal?

Friends, Mr Netanyahu, leader of Israel, made the claim a day or so ago that the 300,000 plus Jewish Settlers in the West Bank had the right to live ‘normal lives.’

By this he meant that these settlements, illegally built on Palestinian land, should be allowed to grow naturally, expand like other towns in other countries. Of course, he was really arguing that Israel should not have to accept Obama’s edict that Israel stop settlement building, an edict that Israel has ignored.

Now, on the surface, this seems like a reasonable demand. However, if one adds into the equation the fact that Palestinians have lived under sixty years of brutal occupation, that they live in poverty, that they have little freedom of movement, that they have no rights, that Israel dictates every breath they take, then the demand seems ridiculous.

More broadly, what exactly is a normal life in this crazy world? If we could take a quick magic carpet ride across the world, we would find people living many different ways. People live in rain forests, in deserts, in frozen wastelands, on tropical islands, in high mountains, on level plains, in tiny towns, in huge cities, in communes, in cardboard shelters or on park benches, in luxurious mansions.

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When will we ever learn?

Friends, in Poland today they are holding ceremonies to mark the 70th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland which started WW2. It was a war which involved much of the world and resulted in millions of casualties and massive destruction.

Prior to the German invasion, Stalin had signed a non-aggression treaty with Germany and they both agreed how Eastern Europe would be divided up with Poland becoming part of Russia. Russians and Germans jointly killed more Polish citizens than were killed in any other country (relative to Poland’s population). This included Jews as well as all the officers in the Polish army who were killed on Stalin’s orders.

Later on, Hitler ignored the non-aggression pact and invaded Russia, a strategic error which, like Napoleon, brought him undone. Another serious strategic error he made was not to have invaded Britain which allowed the Allies (of course, the U.S. did not enter the war for the first two years) to mount a relentless air assault on Germany.

As you know, I am not a lover of war. Ever since WW2 ended with the dropping of two atomic bombs, the world has seen constant wars.

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In Australia, winter is over today. In a way I’m sad because there is something magical about having a fire and huddling around it while the winter winds blow or the rain pours down on the old iron roof.

Of course, our combustion fire has burned almost continuously for three months. We stack it of a night time and, when morning comes and the frost is heavy on the ground, we hurry to the family room and luxuriate in the glowing warmth and drink hot tea or milk coffee.

I suppose fires are something that are dear to humans and have been since they lived in caves. Perhaps the appreciation of a fire is in our genes, has been handed down through countless generations since the time of the sabre tooth tigers. Then our ancestors used fire both to keep predators at bay and to survive the freezing winter temperatures.

These days we don’t have to fear such terrible beasts of prey but there are other predators afoot who threaten us. Who, you ask?

There are politicians who would take our children and send them to war in faraway places using spurious justifications. There are politicians that keep us in a constant state of fear by falsely claiming that people around the world want to attack us and take what we have.

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