Gubu-World

Iran - "It's not a strike, It's a campaign"

2012-02-22T18:54:00.004Z

As the tensions continue to rise between Iran and Israel many Republicans continue to argue that the only issue of relevance is whether Obama has the guts to bomb Iran. Perhaps this video below on Fox News will make them appreciate that there is a little more to it than that.

Xi Jinping in Ireland

2012-02-22T18:31:00.005Z

No foreign dignitary can set foot in Ireland without the standard photo op with a Hurley stick.

China’s Vice President Xi Jinping has just concluded a three day trip to Ireland. The man expected to be China's next Premier as of 2013 stopped off in Ireland on the halfway point of his round the world trip, the first stage of which was in the USA. He is now in Turkey. It is being rumored that the reason Ireland is the only EU country that Xi has visited is because the Chinese intend to use Ireland as their gateway to the European market in a similar way that many Americans companies have done. Several trade agreements have already been signed. The enormous Chinese economy is currently growing at 9% a year. Wouldn't we like to get some of that.

Abraham, Martin and John

2012-02-18T23:33:00.003Z

Pieces of Music that have political connotations to them are always interesting. In the last few days I have heard the beautiful song Abraham, Martin and John played as a tribute to Whitney Huston. It's a simple song dedicated to the memory of great American leaders that have been felled by assassins. No disrespect to Whitney but I much prefer the Marvin Gaye version. It's probably more appropriate too as Gaye also met a violent death in a domestic incident. While the song is noted for its tribute to Lincoln, King and Kennedy it is also a more general expression of the bewilderment and helplessness we all feel about such murders. Enjoy and this may just be the beginning of a "Political Music" segment on Gubu World

When Hard Liners Are Wrong

2012-02-16T19:13:00.007Z

In a recent robust discussion on the blog Seraphic Secret I argued the point that the United States should look for a "third option" when it comes to Iran. Allow me to explain. I fully accept that a nuclear Iran is an unacceptable security risk, particularly for Israel, and that if necessary military action should be taken to prevent it from happening. However an air strike against Iran might not succeed in destroying Tehran's nuclear programme and even if it did it could result in a wide range of conventional and unconventional retaliations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Israel and the Persian Gulf which could all have devastating consequences both in terms of human life and for the global economy. This is why I believe a third option is required, one which would remove the threat without war. The Israeli attempt at a third option appears to be a bold plan to wipe out the team of Iranian scientists working on the programme. Five unfortunate souls have so far been assassinated. An American third option is likely to be in the form of some kind of secret opening to Tehran in which they agree to verifiable abandon the nuclear option in exchange for economic incentives. However the hardliners in Washington and Israel seem to think that this is all cloud cuckoo stuff and that the Iranians are committed to obtaining the bomb and will only be stopped when they are forcefully confronted. Mr Avrech on Seraphic Secret quite reasonably pointed out that the Israeli attacks on the Iraqi (1981) and Syrian (2010) nuclear facilities met with zero retaliation. He went on to quote historian Niall Fergusson's recent article in the daily beast where he articulately makes the case that Iran's ability and will to retaliate is significantly overestimated. I was beginning to lose heart in my argument and in my own mind I was starting to concede that military action may be the right thing to do.

The Fog Of War
But later that evening something occurred to me. There has in the past been a much more tense and dangerous nuclear stand off. One in which much more hung in the balance than the fate's of Israel and Iran. The stand off in Cuba in 1962 is generally seen as the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. And on that occasion the hard liners got it wrong. During the Cuban Missile crisis it appeared that the safe and responsible option was to attack/invade Cuba before the nuclear war heads arrived on the island and the missiles became active. Kennedy decided against this opting for a blockade instead leading to a chorus of calls that he was a weak liberal who was incapable of standing up to the Soviets. Now watch this truly astonishing clip from the 2003 documentary Fog of War where Kennedy's since deceased Secretary of Defence Robert Macnamara explains how he found out in 1992 upon meeting with Fidel Castro that the nuclear war heads were already on Cuba at the time of the crisis.

To sum up, after the Kennedy administration successfully negotiated the removal of the missile sites without war, US Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis Lemay continued to argue that the US should bomb Cuba. Had he been listened to at any time during the crisis or indeed after it, I would probable never have been born. Perhaps the lesson is that the US should have a better intelligence capability. But I think the real lesson is that if there is a third option regarding Iran, all involved should try damn hard to make it happen. Because what if Niall Fergusan, Robert Avrech, John Bolton and other hardliners are wrong.

Four Mour Years

2012-02-14T23:11:00.005Z

Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign has not even gotten into first gear yet. And the latest figures suggest he will raise one Billion Dollars for this effort. The Republicans will have to get their act together very soon if they are going to beat him. Frankly, at this stage, I don't think they will. Below is what I think is Obama's first official campaign video for 2012. It was launched on the fifth anniversary of his announcement that he was running for President.

And below is what I think is his second campaign ad. Its title, and sound track, "Start Me Up" is an indication of the momentum the Obama campaign team are hoping to kick start.

Photo of the Day

2012-02-10T13:23:00.003Z

Photo of the Day is back after a significant hiatus. Most of my upcoming Photos of the Day will be from my November/December period which I spent in the Cork Kerry area of Southern Ireland. I took this picture in the village of Sneem in Co Kerry. I was amazed to find out upon investigation that when Charles De Gaulle resigned the Presidency in April 1968 he retired to Co Kerry of all places. He spent four months in the tiny Kerry village spending his days taking long walks on the beach and working on his memoirs. He returned to France later that year before his death in 1970, aged 80.

Osombie

2012-02-09T17:02:00.004Z

I have never liked Horror Movies. Most of the famous ones still freak me out today as if I was a 10 year old. There is however one strange exception. I like zombie movies. I really can't explain it but I am a fan of George Romero's Living Dead series. I find them to be a weird and captivating combination of apocalyptic humor and horror and lets face it, who hasn't spent time imagining how they would fare out in an end of days scenario. So you can be sure I will be looking out for Osombie. That's right folks, Osama Bin Laden is back. In this movie he comes wading out of his watery grave to wage round two of his Jihad. Below is the trailer.

Iranian Nukes, the no spin truth !

2012-02-06T17:03:00.006Z

I have been blogging about this since I started Gubu World in 2008 but it really does seem that 2012 will finally be the year that the Iranian threat comes to a head. I find that the debate surrounding the Iranian threat to be full of platitudes and the commentary to be fairly lazy. So I have decided to lay it out as I see it in a clear and no spin way.

1. During the Second World War the Nazis invaded all of Europe, rounded up every Jew they could find in occupied territory and exterminated them in the most efficient and cost effective way, which turned out to be the gas chamber. Six million Jewish people were murdered this way.

2. Every Jewish family today has a story of a relative from the 1930s who used to say that you can't take this Hitler guy serious. It was believed, either through naivety or simply by underestimating humanities potential for cruelty that the Nazis either did not really mean to carry out their threat or would never obtain the capability.

3. After the Holocaust the Zionist theory of a Jewish homeland to protect the Jewish people gained enormous merit and the Jewish state was established in 1948 with one primary objection, to Never Again allow the Jewish people to be led to the slaughter by extreme bigotry and anti semitism.

4. The Islamic regime in Iran is fiercely anti Israeli. It has declared Israel to be an illegitimate state and that it should be wiped of the face of the map. The Iranian government appear to be on the verge of obtaining a nuclear weapons capacity. This would give them the capability to carry out that threat either by missile launch or via a proxy terrorist group that they sponsor. This is an unacceptable security risk for Israel.

5. Those opposed to military action against Iran seem to argue that the US and Israel are war mongering and that the threat is not that severe. They often argue that the threat to "wipe Israel off the map" actually got lost in translation somewhere between English and Farsi. This may be true but no reasonable person can expect Israel to rely on just hoping that Iran does not intend to carry out their threat. Given point Number 2 there is a strong belief within Israel that the government should take the Iranians at their word when they threaten to obliterate the Jewish homeland.

Below is a provocative and disturbing video that was released last week in Israel which depict the consequences of a nuclear attack on the Jewish state.

I want to make a few crucial points. We simply cannot expect Israel to rely on the good will of the International Community to protect it. We must consider the psychological legacy of the holocaust to understand why this is so. The last time the Jewish people relied on the world for protection six million of their civilians were herded into gas chambers. Back then the Jewish people didn't have a state to resist mass slaughter. Now they do and now they will defend themselves.

It may seem like it but this is not a post arguing in favour of military action against Iran. I get angry when I see Republicans mocking Obama for not having the metal to do it as if that was the only issue. If the Iranian nuclear programme could be destroyed by military action it would have happened long ago. And even in the event of a successful strike we would no doubt see massive retaliation in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf as well as via a host of proxies which would wreak havoc on the world and the global economy. This is why I suspect both Israel and the US are working on a third option. The Israeli version of this appears to be an attempt to wipe out the team of nuclear scientists working on the Iranian programme. The Americans I suspect favour some sort of secret approach to Tehran guaranteeing an end to the nuclear programme in exchange for economic incentives. Some call this appeasement, but if successful it would represent the biggest victory in US Foreign Policy since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Whatever approach is taken I would appeal to all sensible people to be on Israel's side on this issue. Be on the right side of history with it. Nobody wants to see another war and hopefully it won't come to that but ask yourself, would you prefer another Mid East war or another holocaust against the Jewish people on the conscience of the western world.

Who does George Soros like ?

2012-02-04T21:52:00.002Z

I am fascinated in how negative associations and even unwanted endorsements can come into play in such a central way in US elections. Can someone explain to me why exactly George Soros is such a boogey man.

Game Changer

2012-02-01T11:01:00.003Z

Wow, I didn't see this coming. HBO are set to release a movie in the US this March about Sarah Palin and her bid to become Vice President of America in 2008. Juliane Moore plays Palin and Ed Harris plays John McCain. If the movie portrays Palin in a negative and condescending light, it could very well prove a boost for the Republicans who will be able to highlight, rightly in my view that liberals, particularly in the media often try to humiliate people with conservative views by labelling them as stupid. It could be used as a rallying point to fire up the conservative base, and firing up the base might be very much required if, as it seems from last night in Florida, that a "Massachusetts moderate" will be the Republican nominee. Having said that, the clip below doesn't appear to show a movie that is mocking of the former Alaska Governor.

Assad's fall "inevitable"

2012-01-31T18:31:00.005Z

I never thought the unrest in Syria would reach the same levels of that which has gone before in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. I was wrong. I thought that because Bashar Al Assad is younger, sharper and more in touch with world trends that he would prevent (through a combination of conciliation and oppression) the emergence of a revolutionary situation. Again, I was wrong. This week Obama called for Assad to step down stating that his fall was inevitable. Due to the sectarian element in Syria I thought the US would be reluctant to encourage further unrest in Damascus as was the case in Bahrain. However I believe geopolitical opportunities have overridden any such concerns. Assad's Allawite sect, which is similar but not identical to the Shia Islam that we are familiar with from Iran and Iraq, represent the ruling minority in Syria and are seen by many Arabs as being the gateway with which the sinister Persian regime in Tehran can meddle in Arab affairs. For this reason I believe there is a growing international consensus that Assad must throw in the towel. From a western point of view the fall of Assad and the Allawite sect could be highly rewarding as it would mean a major loss of influence and power for Hezbollah in Lebanon who would be isolated and unable to rely on the Iranians for training and supplies. So much so that if Assad were to go the way of Gadaffi and Mubarak, it would make the Iranian threat look significantly less serious. I give him until the summer.

A little bit too pro Israeli !

2012-01-27T18:08:00.004Z

I really can't stand watching Republicans trying to out do each other in being more pro Israeli than the next candidate. This was the case at the Republican debate in Florida last night. Only Ron Paul tells the truth when he says that some Americans are more pro "Israeli than the Israelis". According to Next Gingrich the Palestinians are an "invented people" and that two hours after he becomes President he will issue an executive order moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The reason statements like these bother me is because it is the most blatant example one can ever imaging of a politician attempting to fire up their base by making outlandish remarks which in the event that they actually become president they would never be able to stand by. American national interest in the region is not all just about Israel. There happens to be an Arab Spring, a war in Afghanistan, an unstable Iraq not to mention an Iran on the verge of obtaining nukes. Good luck President Gingrich in dealing with all that when you don't have a single Arab Ally, which would be the case after Newt the Chief declares from the Oval office that the Palestinians are not a real people. Why can't Republicans be pro Israeli, yet pragmatic.

State of the Reunion

2012-01-25T16:27:00.003Z

I have seen most of Obamas State of the Union address in clips today. I have also seen much of the criticism from prominent Republicans and conservative pundits which was all rather predictable and boring. However one element of the criticism which I fully agreed with was the repetitive nature of this event. See the clip below which demonstrates this quite remarkably.

Gingrich in Front

2012-01-23T21:43:00.004Z

I must apologise to any Newt fans out there but I just had to put this up.

The Republicans seem to me to be making a big mistake in their thinking. They don't realise that Barack Obama is not Jimmy Carter and Newt Gingrich is not Ronald Reagan. This is an altogether different showdown requiring a much different approach. If they don't get to grips with this they will lose.

Maggie

2012-01-20T15:51:00.005Z

I saw the movie The Iron lady last night. As a history and politics fan I must say that I was highly disappointed. I suppose I would recommend that people see it given the enormity of the film but be warned, Gubu World readers will find it a let down. The fact that the film intensely irritated me has nothing to do with politics or the Thatcher persona. I was simply annoyed at the style of the film. I was very excited about seeing a movie on the life of one the the 20th centuries most interesting characters. Instead, over half of the movie dealt with how Thatcher was dealing with old age. To be blunt, there is nothing unique about growing old and dealing with the passing of loved ones. We will all go through this if we're lucky. There is something very much unique about being Britain's longest, most controversial, arguably most successful and first female Prime Minister yet the movie kept flashing forward to the 2012 Maggie sitting around her London Apartment hallucinating about her dead husband. I found this utterly pointless and became very frustrated when the movie began to explore interesting events such as the Falkans or the IRA hunger strikers only to flash forward to 2012 after only a few minutes.

Anyway, that's my rant over. But I do think that the occasion is worthy of my own brief analysis of Thatcher, which is unique given that I hold fairly conservative views but am also a proud Irishman from a Northern Catholic background. I look back at Margaret Thatcher's 11 years in Downing Street and I admire her for it. It is clear that in the 1970's Britain was descending into mediocrity. By taking on the unions and confronting the Keynesian ethos that was over running the nation she reversed Britain's post war downward trajectory. I'm not going to get into a discussion about the merits of her economic philosophy except to say that her belief in free markets clearly affected her world view and is the main reason she found a partner in Ronald Reagan. She shared Reagan's view that coexistence with the USSR was not the goal. In this respect she was undoubtedly on the right side of history.

Her legacy on Northern Ireland is not as clear cut. She stood up to the IRA which should be commended. However she continually rejected outreaches from constitutional nationalists in the north and in Dublin. Even worse was her tendency to show off to hardliners and unionists by making statements that she was never going to be able to stand by like when she said that Northern Ireland was as "British as Finchly". Her general attitude in my view made the conflict more difficult to solve. She had an ally in the late Garret Fitzgerald who was fiercely anti provo but whom she instead preferred to humiliate by publicly rejecting all of his proposals. Of course this attitude was never sustainable and she had to do a complete u turn which culminated in the 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement, a settlement which caused the likes of Ian Paisley to call her a "wicket traitor". Her stubbornness was perhaps understandable given that Republicans had killed close friends of hers like Airey Naeve (an incident which the movie actually does portray quite well) and came astonishingly close to wiping out the whole cabinet at Brighton. But her hard line approach can hardly be credited with bringing the conflict to an end, and as commander of British forces she does bare responsibility for elements of collusion that occurred between British forces and loyalist paramilitaries. However sometimes we Irish can get a little caught up in our own affairs. The implosion of the USSR was a monumental event in world history and of much greater significance than Northern Ireland. Margaret Thatcher's role in it guarantees her place in history as one of the great historical figures of the 20th century.

More Racial Nonsense

2012-01-17T18:28:00.005Z

Every chance he gets Newt Gingrich refers to President Obama as the food stamp President. And on every occasion that he does so he gets accused of making a racially charged remark. For my non American readers allow me to clarify that a food stamp is a welfare document for purchasing food only. Let me make clear, I don't believe Newt Gingrich is a racist but I do believe he deliberately uses the phrase "Food Stamp President" in the hope that he gets accused of being a racist because nothing generates publicity like an accusation of racism. It also fires up his base and others who sympathise. To be accused of being racist is a horrible thing and Mr Gingrich knows that it is a controversial issue that will get many Americans on his side. It suits Gingrich and others to reinforce the perception that criticising Obama is racist. However I have no memory of either President Obama or anyone in his administration ever playing the race card. Some bloggers and left wing commentators do because once again race is ratings gold. I believe it is primarily the media who inject race into politics which some politicians then exploit to their advantage. I really hope this doesn't begin to dominate the campaign. Watch Newt below being interviewed on MSNBC. Note his comment on the "automatic reference to racism".

Sacrebleu !

2012-01-15T22:29:00.002Z

Insulting to Massachusettes

Insulting to the French

Insulting to just about everybody

Who Should I Endorse?

2012-01-13T17:28:00.005Z

A few days ago I asked my Father a very interesting question. I said "Dad, If you were an American would you vote Democrat or Republican". He answered "Democrat". The thing is, my Father is a right wing pro business conservative, so why would he vote Democrat. He went on to say that he could identify more with the Democratic party because he is an Irish Catholic and that traditionally, Irish Americans voted Democrat. Incidentally identity politics in Ireland is something we know all about as the two main parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are ideologically indistinguishable. The reason I asked my father this question in the first place is because I have realised recently that sooner or later Gubu World is going to have to shake the political world to its core and endorse a candidate for President. I have never supported a Republican for President before although I have acknowledged that I was much too hard on George W Bush and think he was a better President than John Kerry would have been. But in 2012 surely the time has come for me to openly support a Republican candidate. And I must say I like Mitt Romney and do believe that a successful business man is the best type of person to address a massive debt problem. But damn it there is something about the Republicans that just irk me and I can't really explain it. Well let me try. Recently I saw an add by Cuban American Congressman Marco Rubio in which he criticises Obama for turning America into a European style welfare state. He opened the advert by saying "My parents fled a country that was pretty much like every other country in the world". Now wait a minute, my country is nothing like Cuba. This genuinely offended me. You can imagine the satisfaction I felt when I heard that Marco Rubio was coming under fire because it emerged that his parents actually fled Cuba a few years before Castro came to power so his sob story was a fib. However Rubio's rant also made me realise something else. Conservative Republicans despise Europe. I mean it really disgusts them. They see us at repulsive welfare states that won't stand up for anything. This does not make me bitter, after all it is very obvious to me that most liberal Europeans despise the United States. But I got to thinking, particularly after watching one of the Republican debates where the candidates were all trying to outdo each other in explaining how un European they are, why should I support a candidate from a party whose dislike for my country is so intense. I know this is not a particularly sophisticated point but we are not dealing with sophisticated things here. Identity politics is tribal by nature. I should be a clear Republican supporter, particularly since my main concern, the Irish economy, would benefit enormously if the US economy were to come roaring back in 2013 with a dynamic fiscal conservative at the helm. That said, I really wish the Republican candidates could just work a bit on being more likable. Some clearly think that being disliked is actually a good thing. I would like to remind them than Ronald Reagan was not only a visionary who liberated half of Europe, he was also adorable.

Hitting Back

2012-01-11T22:25:00.002Z

Newt hits back at Mitt in this latest negative add in the Republican race. Newt Gingrich spent much of the last two weeks complaining about Mitt Romney's negative adds in Iowa and New Hampshire. Well the gloves appear to be well and truly off now. The main issue from all of this as I see it is that if Romney gets the nod, which is highly likely, it is very difficult to imagine Newt or his supporters enthusiastically campaigning for him.

I am working on a detailed post about my impressions of the Republican primaries. Watch out for it tomorrow.

The Arab Spring, the West and Israel

2012-01-07T21:59:00.009Z

Gubu World is a blog that was set up in 2007 in order to discus global politics with a particular emphasis on the Middle East. I could never have predicted what a momentous year for the Arab World 2011 would be. We all watched in shock as millions thwarted the authorities whose ability to control information and assembly was drastically undermined by the social networking generation. My view throughout all of last year remains the same today which is that the unrest in the region is essentially a good thing. However, given the instability that the revolutions and regime changes have caused I want to do a very important post about what it means for the region, for democracy in the Arab World, for Israeli security and western interests.

A Good Thing
The unrest is a good thing. It is a good thing for democracy and the dignity of man that the Gadaffi, Mubarak and Ben Ali regimes have been overthrown. I said many times on Gubu World last year that the era of the Arab strong man who seizes control of a nation and holds it until his death has come to an end. Of course what replaces this model will be far from a western style pluralist democracy. But what did we really expect. The alternative is likely to be a multi party system that accommodates Islamists, nationalists and democrats. It will have some successes and some failures but the Arab people deserve their shot at democracy. I for one am getting a little tired of reading posts and articles, mainly from the Pro Israeli right, about the "new Egypt" and the "new Libya" where people single out an incident of a backward Islamic practise and use it to invalidate the wider movement against the tyrants of the region.

The West
President Obama is coming under increasing criticism from some in the Republican Party for throwing the Pro Western Mubarak under the bus and jeopardising Western security in the process. Strange really when you consider that during the Bush era the general consensus was that democracy needed to be brought forcefully to the region. Now some of the same people are feeling very uneasy that the Arabs are trying to do it themselves. So what exactly are the legitimate concerns of the decision makers in Washington, London and elsewhere. Obviously the US does not want to see a new government emerge from the turmoil that is anti western and promotes terrorism. But does that give them the right to intervene in order to prevent unrest and preserve a pro western dictatorship? Let us consider the following. I have always argued that during the Cold War covert CIA action in South America to prop up right wing dictators was justifiable because the consequences of inaction potentially included nuclear war. The world survived the Cuban Missile Crisis. It might not have survived a Chilean Missile Crisis. So in my view, in extreme situations the US can and should play God. This raises the crucial question, just how vital is it for the US that Islamists are kept out of power in the Middle East. Is it vital? Yes. But is a matter of life and death for the nation? No.

Israel
Keeping the Muslim Brotherhood out of power in Egypt may not be a matter of life and death for America, but it certainly is for Israel. The lesser of two evils scenario that America faced during the Cold War is a situation that Israel finds itself in constantly. Israel seems to go through a Cuban Missile Crisis of some sort every year. But Israel alone does not have the capability to take covert preemptive action to prevent the emergence of an Islamist government. So now the question becomes, just how vital is it for American national Security that Israel be defended? Is it so important that the US should put a stop to the Arab Spring. Some clearly think it is. And after all, if you subscribe to the doctrine, as I do that if Israel falls it would embolden Islamists across the region propelling them to power in every Arab nation and that Europe would be their next target, then you must conclude that the preservation of Israel is a life or death issue for the west as well. However this conundrum must be examined from different angles. Israel is a nation of seven million people. There are 270 million Arabs living across 22 nations. A foreign policy designed to preserve dictatorship in the Arab world so that the seven million inhabitants of Israel can live in safety makes little sense. I suppose the truth is nobody really believes that the White House should have protected Mubarak, not when so much of the discourse over the past decade has been about bringing democracy to the Middle East. In truth, what I am hearing is most likely Republicans grasping at straws when it comes to criticising Obamas Foreign Policy which they will probably privately admit, has been better than expected. However if the Muslim Brotherhood do seize control in Egypt and Islamists look like coming to power in Libya this debate will develop into the most serious dilemma in US Foreign Policy in thirty years. And the question at the center of the dilemma will be, just how important is Israel to America and the west.

Four Lions, laughing when you shouldn't

2012-01-05T17:13:00.006Z

Last night I watched the British movie Four Lions, a brilliant satirical take on the madness that is Islamic fanaticism. The movie surrounds the lives of four radical but incompetent British Muslims living in Sheffield Northern England. It was the funniest movie I have seen in a long time and I would recommend it to anyone regardless of their faith or views. I have been thinking today about whether the film is offensive to either Muslims or victims of Islamic terrorism and I have concluded that it isn't or at least that it shouldn't be although one cannot deny how politically incorrect in the extreme it is to make a comedy about four British Muslims hell bent on committing a suicide terrorist attack against Britain. Personally I enjoy laughing at what we are not supposed to in this modern day world of politically correct appropriateness. However the movie does have a serious point to it although it clearly uses humor to achieve it. And that point is that delusions and stupidity lie at the center of extremism.

My favourite scene of the movie is when the four men are transporting their bomb materials from one location to another when their car breaks down. The English convert among the group curses the car and blames the breakdown on its "Jewish parts" before claiming that the Jews make all the spark plugs the world over in order to "control global traffic". The leader of the group suggests that the men abandon the car and regroup in a shed behind a nearby field before he warns them to be careful with the volatile material they are carrying. Watch what happens next.

Are you still laughing? Even funnier is the eulogy the three men offer their fallen comrade who courageously took out one Kuffar sheep whilst attacking the enemies source of food.

Kim Jong Il Dead

2011-12-28T13:50:00.004Z

North Korea is the most repressive regime in the world. It's poisonous ideology of totalitarian Marxism has infected the nation to such a degree that the country and its people are in fact suffering from a national mental illness as evidenced by the creepy scenes below of the citizens of Pyongyang mourning the death of their beloved leader. These people are of course unaware that the man they worshipped was the most deluded and evil scumbag on the face of the earth, literally. Lets hope his death can result in some kind of instability that results in a peaceful liberalisation of the communist state.

By the way I am back, for real this time. You can expect daily blogging from now on (although I will be away attending a friends wedding on the 29/30) and throughout 2012. Lets hope its just as bad a year for dictators as 2011 was.

I'm back (sort of)

2011-11-21T23:25:00.006Z

Hi all. I am truly sorry for my latest and longest hiatus to date. The demise of Gubu World has been greatly exaggerated (where does that particular phrase originate from?). The simple truth is I have been exceptionally busy in recent months. My absence has nothing to do with a loss of enthusiasm for the blogosphere. If anything, it killed me to be offline during recent dramatic events such as the demise of the Mediterranean Mad Dog, the Irish Presidential election with all its eccentricities, and the current rumours that Israel's patience with the International community has run out regarding a nuclear Iran and that an air strike is imminent. These are all issue which I will blog about in the very near future.

The gruesome demise of Col Gadaffi is one of the issues I missed during by absence

My absence can be explained by a combination of what I previously had thought were my final law exams (October) ,the Dublin West by election (November) of which I was heavily involved in and my role in the family business which as of recent weeks has involved a lot of travelling around Ireland. I am actually writing this in a Guesthouse in Clonakilty Co Cork. One advantage (blogwise) of my journeys around the country, is the "photo of the day" opportunities that arise. Just today I passed through Beal Na Mblath, the village were Michael Collins was assassinated in 1922. However as all us bloggers know, time is the real enemy and my work schedule between now and Christmas will make it difficult for me to post regularly but I will try very hard to publish two posts and several photos a week. Please be patient with me, particularly when it comes to responding to comments.

70 Years Ago today 30/09/41

2011-09-30T12:19:00.004+01:00

Hamburg: The RAF launches a nighttime raid with 100 bombers.

Russia: As the Wehrmacht onslaught Eastward continues the 2nd Panzer Army under Heinz Guderian attack the Russian towns of Orel and Bryansk.

Leningrad: German forces have been stopped 7 miles from the city. General Zhukov has arrived to organise the defence of the city which ultimately results in the longest and most devastating siege situation of the war.

Kiev: On this day 70 years ago 33,771 Jews were murdered in a ravine outside the Ukrainian capital, now under Nazi occupation. A decision was made by the military governor, Major-General Kurt Eberhard, the Police Commander for Army Group South SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln, and the Einsatzgruppe C Commander Otto Rasch to kill all the Jews of Kiev. In two days (29 Sep - 30) the Jews, who thought they were being resettled were taken to a ravine on the outskirts of the city at a place called Babi Yar and executed by machine gunning. It is thought that the inefficient method of annihilation at Babi Yar which was so costly in terms of manpower and ammunition was one of the reasons the Nazi leadership decided to pursue a more cost effective final solution to the Jewish problem. This of course would take the form of the gas chamber.

A monument to the Babi Yar massacre outside Kiev which occurred 70 years ago today. It was the worst single mass execution of Jewish men, women and children during the holocaust.

Photo of the Day

2011-09-26T13:27:00.003+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posts folks. Like all of us these days I am just quite busy with work and personal stuff and am finding it difficult to make time for posts. I will endeavor to be more efficient with my time. Anyhow, my latest photo sees me meeting controversial Presidential candidate David Norris just after the match in Croke Park last Sunday week. He is not my candidate, but moments after the Dublin victory I could have met Jack the Ripper and I would have given him a hug and a kiss.