Perhaps it's time for the Brits to revisit their heritage, to wit - A story from the Second Opium War:
On 13 August 1860 during the march on the Taku Forts, a party of Sikh sappers and some laborers transporting their column's rum rations was captured by a force of Tartar cavalry. Among them was Private John Moyse of the 3rd (East Kent) Regiment ...
The next day the prisoners were brought before a local mandarin and were ordered to kow-tow, under penalty of torture or execution if they didn't comply. Private Moyse alone refused and was savagely beaten and then beheaded, his body afterwards thrown on a dungheap. He was, ironically, his regiment's only casualty in the fighting.
The cause of his refusal has been a subject of much dispute. The popular story was that it was on the grounds that it would disgrace his country. Contemporary reports, however, have him saying that "...he would not prostrate himself before any Chinaman alive." His stubborness is not surprising because he had a history of insubordination and willfulness while in the service.
#4
As Wm. Roger Louis recently put it, "Britishness is an idea in apparently terminal decline." After this latest fiasco with Iran, Lieutenant Chard, John Nicolson, the Lawrence brothers...hell, most of Britain's old graveyards must sound like turbine testing centers these days.
Posted by: Mac ||
04/07/2007 12:21 Comments ||
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#5
Seeing as it is Wikipedia I am going to surf on over and get to editing...
The cause of his refusal has been a subject of much dispute. The popular story was that it was on the grounds that it would disgrace his country. When the prisoners were released a week later, their tale of Moyse's bravery spread through the army and his act of defiance was later celebrated in "The Private of the Buffs" [1], a poem by Sir Francis Hastings Doyle. The poem refers to Moyse as a young Kentish farmboy but it is more likely that he was, in fact, a middle-aged Irishman. However, the poem was written on the strength of newspaper reports, and it is likely that Doyle was unaware of the discrepancies.
His personal bravery - and its celebration by his fellow soldiers and countrymen - stands in marked contrast to the less exalted present of Her Majesty's Royal Navy.
This didn't get picked up by the MST. H/T gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/
The secular Turkish daily Aksam has reported that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with President Bashar Al-Assad at his Aleppo palace for over two hours during an official visit.
The paper reported that that same day, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in Syria, and noted that Pelosi had refused to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on his recent trip to the U.S. The paper said that Assad sent a message to Pelosi that he could not meet with her: "It is not possible. I cannot meet you today. I have a very important guest from Turkey; and tonight we will watch together a soccer game. I cannot come to Damascus before he leaves. We may meet tomorrow."
Turkey's most popular soccer team Fenerbahce was in Syria at that time to play Syrian champion team Al-Ittihad.
The paper reported that Erdogan told journalists that Turkey-Syria relations were "further developing in a positive direction" and that "the direct relationship between our peoples is also growing; sports events contribute to that..."
#2
Wonder what Nancy was thinking when she was too busy to meet with the Turks who are nominally our allies, but can find time to grovel to the Syrians, our enemies. For someone from the sophisticated realm of San Francisco, she certainly acts the country bumpkin when abroad. The only thing more embarrassing was Madeleine Albright dancing in North Korea.
#3
Did Pelosi really think that MME (Muslim Middle East) males actually were going to take a woman politican seriously? Like most other males on earth, Assad was more interested in watching football than jawing with some uppity woman.
Wait 'til all those hard-left, Bush-hating bloggers get a load of this:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in damage-control mode, says her trip to Syria was a good thing, because it showed strongman Bashar Assad that Americans are united behind President Bush: "Our message was President Bush's message."
"It became clear to President Assad that even though we have our differences in the United States, there is no division between the president and the Congress and the Democrats on the message we wanted him to receive," she said.
Is she mad to think that would fly?
Or is it just a pathetic attempt to salvage what has become for her a personal political disaster?
Amazing what a storm of controversy - including a public rebuke from Israel's prime minister and a stinging editorial by the liberal Washington Post calling her actions "counterproductive" and foolish" - will do.
Indeed, Pelosi even tried to spin that to her advantage.
"The funny thing is, I think we may have even had a more powerful impact with our message because of the attention that was called to our trip," she suggested.
As a National Security Council spokesman yesterday noted, "there is nothing funny about the impact her trip to Syria has had."
Moreover, to suggest, as Pelosi did, that the message she delivered - "the road to Damascus is a road to peace" - is the same one advocated by President Bush, who has labeled Syria a terrorist-supporting state, is patently ludicrous.
Her message isn't in sync with the president's - it's diametrically the opposite.
And dangerous, to boot.
No joke, Nancy.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2007 11:33 ||
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#1
Dems--the "Not Ready for Prime Time" players.
Posted by: Mac ||
04/07/2007 12:14 Comments ||
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#2
"Our message was President Bush's message."
Strange, I don't see where it ever came out as "STAY THE FUCK HOME, NANCY!"
I find it REALLY hard to believe W said: "use me like a two-bit whore for your terrorist-state propaganda."
Color me skeptical
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2007 19:21 Comments ||
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#12
Kudo's to Michael Young at the Lebanon Post. I don't expect to see a statement like this in the U.S. or European papers. Thank you for linking this Deacon Blues. This was a sweet addon to the NYPost story. Speaker Pelosi is out of her element in International Affairs.
We can thank the US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for having informed Syrian President Bashar Assad, from Beirut, that "the road to solving Lebanon's problems passes through Damascus." Now, of course, all we need to do is remind Pelosi that the spirit and letter of successive United Nations Security Council resolutions, as well as Saudi and Egyptian efforts in recent weeks, have been destined to ensure precisely the opposite: that Syria end its meddling in Lebanese affairs.
Posted by: Caesar Glemp7672 ||
04/07/2007 23:22 Comments ||
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may well have committed a felony in traveling to Damascus this week, against the wishes of the president, to communicate on foreign-policy issues with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The administration isn't going to want to touch this political hot potato, nor should it become a partisan issue.
The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, "without authority of the United States," to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government's behavior on any "disputes or controversies with the United States."
The Supreme Court has spoken clearly on this aspect of the separation of powers. In Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall used the president's authority over the Department of State as an illustration of those "important political powers" that, "being entrusted to the executive, the decision of the executive is conclusive." And in the landmark 1936 Curtiss-Wright case, the Supreme Court reaffirmed: "Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude, and Congress itself is powerless to invade it."
Ms. Pelosi and her Congressional entourage spoke to President Assad on various issues, among other things saying, "We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace." She is certainly not the first member of Congress--of either party--to engage in this sort of behavior, but her position as a national leader, the wartime circumstances, the opposition to the trip from the White House, and the character of the regime she has chosen to approach make her behavior particularly inappropriate.
Of course, not all congressional travel to, or communications with representatives of, foreign nations is unlawful. A purely fact-finding trip that involves looking around, visiting American military bases or talking with U.S. diplomats is not a problem. Nor is formal negotiation with foreign representatives if authorized by the president. (FDR appointed Sens. Tom Connally and Arthur Vandenberg to the U.S. delegation that negotiated the U.N. Charter.) Ms. Pelosi's trip was not authorized, and Syria is one of the world's leading sponsors of international terrorism. It has almost certainly been involved in numerous attacks that have claimed the lives of American military personnel from Beirut to Baghdad.
The U.S. is in the midst of two wars authorized by Congress. For Ms. Pelosi to flout the Constitution in these circumstances is not only shortsighted; it may well be a felony, as the Logan Act has been part of our criminal law for more than two centuries. Perhaps it is time to enforce the law.
#2
Please, Please, Please arrest her at the airport upon landing, Do it very publicly, invite the TV news, haul her off in handcuffs, in the back of a FBI Van (Get a "Black Mariah" from a museum), marked FBI with BIG letters, and MEAN IT.
She's stepped far outside the law.
This is a test to see what she can get away with.
Show her that "Rule of Law" Still holds In America.
If she gets away without punishment, she'll try again bigger, and with more publicity, STOP HER NOW.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/07/2007 10:48 Comments ||
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#3
Don't forget the orange prison suit and black-out hood. Arrest Cindy Sheehan at the same time.
#5
Good point. That photo has serious creep-out power.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/07/2007 16:07 Comments ||
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#6
I like it, because you can her skeletor skull under the parchment-thin skin
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2007 16:28 Comments ||
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#7
"see" Pimf, Pimf, Pimf.....sh*t
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2007 16:31 Comments ||
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#8
Frog march this self-aggrandizing political whore straight to jail the moment she sets foot back on American soil. Bush must make these traitors understand that certain lines are not to be crossed.
This egomaniacal wingnut sits on a key intelligence committee. What's to prevent her from taking it into her head that "leaking" some sensitive information to our enemies might satisfy her agenda even better next time around? If she can betray American the way she has already, I see nothing to prevent her from going to the next step.
Greetings to all my friends and best wishes on the occasion of Easter Holiday. I regret that I have not been able to post for a long time now due to momentous personal circumstances. My whole life is about to undergo a complete upheaval and when the waters become a little calmer further down the stream of my life, perhaps I might have some time to tell you about it. But all is well and I am optimistic that it is all going to be for the better for me personally and my familly.
Regarding the situation in Iraq, again, events are unfolding in a way that I fully anticipated before. Remember how I emphasized the importance of two things. The first was the Zarqawi document. I proclaimed it to be the single most important and prophetic document in this whole Third Gulf War affair. Remember how little confidence he had in the Sunnis, and his final prophetic derisive remark: "after all they are Iraqis, too". Yes the Sunnis are proving to be finally Iraqi above all, and the end of the Al Qaeda-Wahabi scourge is going to be at the hand of these very Sunnis on whom they counted to base their Taliban-like Caliphate. The second thing: my emphasis on the "Anbar Salvation Council", and the necessity to promote and support this movement.
The Al-Qaeda terrorists are defeating themselves by their blind brutality against all who oppose them. Also their stifling ideology simply cannot be tolerated long by the Iraqis that I know from any sect and ethnicity. Well the snow-ball effect has started and it would be very stupid not to invest in this natural movement which has already proved its tremendous effectiveness, having almost already cleaned the Anbar, with very modest numbers of poorly armed tribesmen. But these tribesmen know exactly where to find the enemy.
Besides, this is a very good antidote to sectarianism. Sectarian civil war is receding now, as most Shiaas and Sunnis have both a common enemy now.
As the Iraqis have surprised the World before during events such as elections and the like, I expect the World has a very big surprise in store in the not too distant future. The haters, doubters, defeatists, anti-Amrica psychopaths etc. are going to have some very nasty surprises. This apparently endless and unresovable conflict is going to be suddenly and incredibly concluded in an abrupt and rather anticlimatic manner, and that before the end of the Bush term, too. This is my prophesy, and also my fervent hope. Despite all the errors, sacrifices, bloodshed and suffering, Iraq, our beloved Mesopotamia is going to emerge more united than ever and Sunni, Shiaa , Kurd and all other ingredients of Iraqi society are going to live in a harmony unknown in all their long history. This is my prediction and my dream. Have I ever told you anything before that has not been vindicated by the unfolding events ?
Best regards to all my friends.
#2
What I understand (and already knew) is that both wars, in Algeria and Viet-Nam, were lost, thanks to the Leftist propaganda (Communists at the time) in France and the US respectively and not by the Military on the battlefield. To win, then, the best way would be to let the Soldiers do their job.
#1
AP reported that the State Department . . . welcomed the Arab Leagues reaffirmation of [the plan]. That is something we view as very positive, spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. [He] said the United States has no interest in seeking revisions to the initiative. . . . We are not and have not asked them to amend it, he said.
Asked for his response to Abdullah, the Saudi monarch, calling Americas presence in Iraq an illegitimate foreign occupation, McCormack characterized Saudi Arabia as a good friend and ally. . . ."
State's moral compass is demagnetized. Abdullah greedily drains our coffers with one hand while cheerfully flipping us the bird with his other. He has the temerity to characterize our liberation of Iraq as an illegitimate foreign occupation, but doesn't seem to mind how America is spilling so much of its own blood to mitigate regional Shiia hegemony. We are absolute morons to allow this bastard to have it both ways.
As for the Saudi plan, it calls for:
1) Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
2) Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
3) The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Saudis managed to lard that with just a few corkers, now didn't they. Give up the Golan Heights so that Syria can resume shelling Israel. Allow for Right of Return and thereby force Israel to commit demographic suicide. Finally, permit even partial control of Jerusalem by Palestinian factions. We all saw what sort of custodianship the Palestinians demonstrated at The Church of the Nativity.
The House of Saud desparately needs to take a huge flying fuck.
excellent article on the media's lying spin against our military's readiness and troop prep. Murtha makes a cameo...surpise meter was in the shop getting repaired due to overuse/overextended and not available for the graphic.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2007 18:30 ||
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#1
The broken Army propaganda by the Donks is another example of the memory hole that the Donk Ministry of Truth MSM makes sure is the only knowledge the population is to know. Never mind about the late 70s under Carter and the Donk Congress punishing the military for obeying civilian authority. Pay at poverty levels with most junior enlisted who had families qualified for food stamps. New equipment, maintenance, and training monies pooled just to keep the 82nd Airborne in readiness condition while the rest of the force did without. Going days, weeks, and even months without proper funding authorization as Congress screwed the military over. Extensive discipline and moral problems as amply demonstrated by the levels of desertion, article 15s and courts martial, and drug use. Desert One was a fitting monument to the nadir the military was sunk to by years of both intentional neglect and animosity by the Donks.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.