Pillars Of Sand

The US economy grew last quarter, officially ending the recession there.

 

I can’t help but feel, though, that said recovery is entirely due to TARP and “Cash for Clunkers” and that there’s still a lot of fragility in the real economy... Remember the jobless rate.

Griffin and Question Time

I haven't posted here for a while- trying to resolve a crisis at AJJE Games that looks about to spill into the open.

I'm not sure about whether it was a good idea to invite Griffin onto Question Time. It certainly gave him the oxygen of publicity, but it also gave people some good quotes to attack him on. Defending the Ku Klux Klan, for example.

Speaking of indigenous Brits, how far back does he want to go with "voluntary repatriation"?

We'll have to see what this does to the success of the BNP.

An interesting picture

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/entertainment_enl_1255430698/html/1.stm

 

I saw someone similar- it may have been these people- in Chicago last year. I remember some dude telling people to die. I guess it was an attempt at a joke.

Apparently You Get Points For Trying

The decision of the Norwegian Storting to award President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize bemuses me to say the least.

 

The man apparently got it for strengthening international institutions and promoting global nuclear disarmament. By this logic, FDR should have got one for setting up the UN and Reagan for ending the Cold War.

 

The word “premature” comes to mind. I really wish people would stop waving pom-poms for this guy before he actually achieves something.

 

PS Can someone brighten up Mile End tube station please?

Sir Richard Dannatt and the Tories

May not be an opportunist political gimmick...

 

But the timing looks mighty suspicious. It’s very rare for a serving officer to make public criticisms of policy (Sir John Hackett did it once and got away with it by wearing his NATO hat) and to go straight into a political advisory role to the Shadow Cabinet isn’t really cricket.

 

I naturally favour our troops having what they need to succeed in Afghanistan, but Dannatt has possibly done them a disservice.

Iranian Evasion

Testing a feature of Blogger that I haven’t yet utilised, namely creating posts by email.

 

The discovery that Iran had a secret nuclear facility is rather alarming. They’re clearly being very sneaky. That said, considering the likely results of an attack on Iran by Israel or anyone else, I am not inclined to military action as yet. That said, I favour economic sanctions, as it’s time to hit the mullahs where it hurts.

 

I don’t want a nuclear-armed Iran. In fact, I don’t want nuclear-armed anybody, although I’m not a unilateralist.

"The whole point of the doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret!"

I knew about this already, but still it's interesting reading.

There's actually a system of similar purpose in British service, known as the Last Resort letters. These letters from the PM are placed in a safe on each Vanguard missile submarine. In the event that the UK ceases to exist, the letters are opened and the crew follow his or her instructions, which are probably one of four options.

1. Take out Moscow (or whoever)
2. Contact the Americans or the Australians (if they're still around)
3. Do nothing
4. Use your own judgement.

I'm sure other nuclear powers have their own systems.

Trafigura to make a payout

This won't cheer up Jams, as he commented.

Historical Unemployment Figures

Just a little study I'm doing, partly to make myself feel better about the recession and Labour's likely electoral defeat next year.

Obama and Missile Defence

Obama's announcement cancelling the "third site" in Central Europe today is not an end to missile defence by any means, contrary to how many right-wing sources are reporting this.

He's just moving to another method, namely AEGIS and the SM-3.

I'm actually a supporter of missile defence. I'd rather have protection than deterrence, with all that entails.

I sunk your Plucky Comic Relief!

They're making a movie of the board game Battleship.

I'd say the world has gone mad, but that happened years ago.

9/11 Eight Years On

It was when I went to the Ground Zero exhibition and was told that the debris was ten storeys high that it really, really sunk in.

May we never forget.

Book about the Long Beach Naval Shipyard

RustyBattleship, from World Affairs Board has a book out on the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.

If you're interested in shipbuilding, check it out.

Dropping A Blood Clot On Her

I'm not entirely sure whether the demise of a certain female character in a certain UK crime drama last night was poor writing or not.

Having a character die off-screen from a medical complication does seem a bit strange, but then again it's a subtle statement about life. People don't always get better and surgery isn't perfect.

Let's hope we're not dealing with a Replacement Scrappy...

Realpolitik Stinks- Libya and Afghanistan

So, we've had a convicted terrorist (although there are doubts about his guilt) essentially released from prison to secure an oil deal and bring a former state sponsor of terrorism in from the cold.

These are the choices you sadly have to make though in international politics. I don't personally think al-Megrahi should have been released on compassionate grounds or as part of a "prisoner transfer arrangement", but I understand why Gordon Brown did it.

Meanwhile, the election in Afghanistan looks to have been seriously corrupt, on many sides. I hope, frankly, this ends up in a run-off and that Karzai loses. The "marital rape" law that he allowed to be enacted is fundamentally wrong and should be repealed immediately.

That said, I still support our mission in Afghanistan, provided we put a lot of pressure on Karzai and the warlords. There are many Afghans who are not corrupt, oppose these restrictive laws and they deserve a decent future that does not involve the Taliban. We definitely need an altering of strategy.

However, my view on an exit strategy is this:

1. Define the job
2. Do the job
3. Go when it's done
   

70 Years Ago Part Two

Chamberlain's announcement of war from 1939.

If I'd have heard that in 1939, I'd have been very worried. The announcements after hardly sound reassuring.

70 Years Ago Today...

Hitler invaded Poland, starting the Second World War in Europe.

The Polish people would suffer tremendously in the six years to come, as 7 million Poles were killed in the fighting or murdered by the Nazis in their "Final Solution".

Poles played a key part in defeating Hitler, delaying his invasion of France until spring 1940 by their resistance in Poland, flying in the Battle of Britain, fighting in other theatres such as Italy and, perhaps most importantly, providing key information on Enigma.

As we remember the destruction caused by one man's megalomania, may we also remember those who gave everything to stop it.

Gordon Brown's Surprise Visit To Afghanistan

Is a clear indication that the country is still very dangerous.

I've probably said something like that before.

Unfairly Maligning The Eurofighter

There's a lot of discussion over British equipment in Afghanistan and a lot of criticism of the Eurofighter Typhoon, with critics describing it as an "interceptor" and a "Cold War relic".

Yet again, people don't bother to check their facts.

1. The Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 Typhoons are capable of doing air-to-ground operations just as well as the Tornado GR.4.
2. The Eurofighter is a Cold War design, true. So is the A-10, F-16, F-15 and the Harrier.
3. We're not going to be fighting Taliban-style enemies (i.e. air defence borderline non-existent) for the next 50 years. At some point we will be against someone with fighter aircraft and decent SAMs. In fact, we did that only a decade ago.
   
4. The Eurofighter is a highly capable air-to-air fighter, perhaps second only to the F-22. It can also self-escort.
   
5. We're not buying the original 232 planned anyway.
   

Daily Mail Headline Generator

Fun for all the left.