"Breeding ground" threat - by Richard... Tuesday, June 07, 2011

"Breeding ground" threat - by Richard... Tuesday, June 07, 2011

The Islamites, we can deal with. The "enemy within" is far more dangerous and, over term, has done much more damage.

It's a pity they don't do this (above) with a Tory Party logo.

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Another hijack attempt - by Richard...

The Failygraph tried it some time back, offering readers their own blogs, but now The Guardian is trying a different approach - but with the same objective, to dominate the blogosphere.

It is interesting to see quite how much the independent blogosphere worries the MSM, with even The Guardianacknowledging that there are "many bloggers out there who are often just as good as Guardian journalists – if not better – at spotting stories and responding quickly and imaginatively to them".

Unable to up its game and thus to compete, it is adopting the usual corporate trick of trying to corral the bloggers into a pen, where they can be housetrained and controlled.

But, of course, such is the poverty of corporate thinking, that it ends up recruiting the dross, unable – as always – to deal with the real independents. They will continue to provide the real thinking, and the best content, while the MSM continues its steady decline to obscurity.

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Führernomics - by Richard...

The "sea of people" is real says the Athens-based English language newspaper Ekathimerini, referring to the protests in Syntagma (Constitution) Square (pictured right).

But, as the Greek euro crisis grumbles on, even the Germans are having doubts about whether the latest bail-out will work, with Merkel facing the glimmerings of a rebellion in her own parliament – even if the risks of serious disruption are, at the moment, extremely low.

However, the protests might be that much stronger is the Germans revisited their own history, and in particular when they sought to organise a Greater European economic area, only under German leadership, as opposed to the cross-nation fudge they are having to deal with at the moment.

The template for this plan was actually set out on 22 July 1940 and, while talk of a common European currency had been prevalent at the time, based on the Reichsmark, the report of this date dismissed the idea.

Produced under the chairmanship of Economic Minister Walther Funk, it noted that "theoreticians were always putting forward ideas on currency that had nothing to do with reality". It was "unprofitable for currency matters to be discussed in the abstract, especially by unauthorised persons: this could lead nowhere".

The report then when on to say that, before deciding the question of currency, "we must be clear as to the methods whereby the economy was to be organised". It added:

It was a fantasy to talk at this stage of a unified economy on a European scale, and in the same way that is was harmful to use slogans like "currency and customs union" and expect them to solve all difficulties. A currency or customs union could only be envisaged with a country having a similar standard of life to our own.

Reference was then made specifically to "southeastern Europe", whence it was stated that it "was not at all in our interest to confer on that area a similar standard of life to our own". This, the report said, "could only impair the efficiency of the local economy", then stressing that "we must always be clear what immediate measures were necessary and what might be called for in the long run".

Some years ago, it was a fad amongst a certain brand of eurosceptic to argue that the European Union was a Nazi construct. In fact, as the then contemporary records quite clearly show, the model which currently determines the nature and the structure of the EU was put up as analternative vision, to compete with the Nazi ideas. Despite its superficial similarities, it is very different.

As the entirely predictable Greek experience shows, the current model cannot work, and is on the brink of collapse. Ironically, had the Nazi model been adopted, the EU would have been much better organised. One wonders if Merkel appreciates that, and whether she is tempted to adopt what might now be called Führernomics.

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Forum - by Richard...

The forum is back up. The server, we are told, was undergoing "emergency repairs". It was expected to be back online about 13:30 hrs BST. That sort of promise, I observed, was in line with the "the cheque is in the post" claim. My pessimism was unfounded - but then we are dealing with Host Rocket, a US private sector company.

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Listening mode off - by Richard...

Lavish spending on foreign aid is making Britain a "development superpower" and voters should take the same pride in it as they do in the Armed Forces and the Queen, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell claims.

But he admits that the Cleggerons are facing "bracing" criticism over its decision to increase aid spending by 34 percent to £12 billion at a time of austerity at home. Nevertheless, he insists that the money is achieving "brilliant" results and making Britain admired around the world.

Therefore, he – and his boss, the Euroslime Dave – are going to ignore you and carry on as before, without taking the blind bit of notice of your concerns, raiding your pockets to pay for their largesse ... just like they do on everything else. Meanwhile, the Indians can continue taking the mick.

Purple Scorpion has the right idea, but this administration, with no mandate and no popular support, is not in the listening mode. Why should it listen to the plebs? They are just there to pay the bills - buy the nice slinky armoured limousines for them, and the Mercedes for their clients.

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The mighty have fallen - by Richard...

"Rooney's hair transplant could be a boost for English football". Times leader.

COMMENT: The forum is down ... we're working on it.

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Foreign aid is "bold and right" - by Richard...

From the man who effectively destroyed the Conservative Party over forcing through the EU's Maastricht treaty, we have the epic fail himself, John Major, telling his Europhile successor what a jolly good chap he is to give all that money away to the fuzzies.

And, just in case there is any doubt at all as to the value of such aid, extracted from the pockets of unwilling British taxpayers, The Indian military would like to say thank you very much for the "bold and right" decision to give the Indian government £1.3 billion.

No doubt that has helped underwrite a contract with the Russians for the supply of 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four two-seat MiG-29KUBs to India, signed in January 2004, part of a $1.5-billion deal to deliver the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, currently being retrofitted in Russia for the Indian Navy.

India's first four MiG-29Ks and MiG-29KUBs officially entered service in February 2010 and, in March 2010, Russia and India signed a $1.5-billion contract for 29 additional MiG-29K Fulcrum-D carrier-based fighter jets to New Delhi. The start of the supplies is scheduled for 2012.

The contracts for the jets also stipulate pilot training and aircraft maintenance, including the delivery of flight simulators and interactive ground and sea-based training systems.

And with the UK so generously doshing money that the Indian government would otherwise have to pay, buying these useful toys just got so much easier, giving India a capability, incidentally, that the Royal Navy no longer has - truly a "bold and right" decision.

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