Death of a Nation

Here's a documentary looking at the situation in post-commuist Russia.

It's a very bleak situation.

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Louis Theroux meets the most Hated Family in America

Louis Theroux spends time with the members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas. These people are hate-mongering cult members trapped within the confines of an authoritarian ideology that provides escape from the fires of hell that await all of us "fag enablers". You'll see.

As a prelude I thought it would be a good idea to post this lecture from Harvard university about the dynamics and characteristics of cult organizations.

Real player is needed.

part one.
part two.
part three.

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"I'm ashamed to be an American, where the fags can freely roam. They spread their filth around this land every pervert calls their home."

Robert Baer on Charlie Rose

Here's another Charlie Rose episode, this time featuring Robert Baer, discussing the situation in the middle east, particularly focusing on Iran.

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Dr.Suess goes to war

Here's some interesting editorial cartoons done by Dr.Suess during the second world war.



Here's the catalogue.

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Inside Chernobyl

Here's a stunning view into the recovery work that was going on inside of the Chernobyl power plant. The level of danger these technicians were exposed to is simply stunning.

enjoy

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Online Videos by Veoh.com

Mara Salvatrucha

Here's Ross Kemp On Gangs. This time he's looking into MS-13 an extraordinarily violent gang in El Salvador. It's an interesting look into to the "gang" mindset that perpetuates the violence.

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Identifying Demagogues;

According to Princeton University a Demagogue is: "a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions and prejudices".

I'd like to focus on one particularly extreme example of demagoguery: George Galloway. George Galloway is a politician without substance who relies exclusively on emotionally loaded arguments, and it shows when he is debating someone with a solid historical understanding and years of experience in the region.

This video is a debate held by the Qatar foundation in Doha, Qatar. The motion being debated is Iraq needs a new dictator to bring stability. On one side you can watch the arguments put forth by Rober Baer, an ex-CIA station chief who knows the history of Iraq intimately. Robert Baer argues that Democracy, Freedom and other widely held popular ideals are useless to the Iraqi people without stability. Baer argues that without a strong dictator capable of crushing dissent, reigning is anarchic militias, and bringing some semblance of normal everyday life to Iraqi civilians the nation will continue to self-destruct as foreign interests (USA, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, The Kurds and Iran) and religious ideology continue to rip the country into pieces. Baer builds his argument on historic fact, and you will notice that he refrains from turning to emotionally loaded ideals.

Galloway on the other hand, builds his arguments on unrealistic ideals of "freedom", "justice", "resistance". Statements such as "think what the Arabs could be if they were free" serve to inflame the passions of the audience but do nothing to address the very real issue at hand: Is democracy worth anything when death squads can torture and mutilate bus loads of people periodically with impunity? When daily life in your country looks like this:



How much is a vote really worth?

Frighteningly enough in the end it is the emotionally loaded, unrealistic and hopelessly idealistic argument that wins the debate by inflaming the passions of the audience. Interestingly enough, while Galloway is staunchly anti-bush, he uses the same political techniques to gain support for a foolish and unrealistic cause. Bush won't be the last politician to pepper his speeches with healthy doses of "freedom", "liberty", and "justice for all" while pushing an unrealistic and unworkable agenda that spits in the face of reason.

The video illustrates Galloway's strategies well. He hides behind emotionally loaded language while supporting his friends in The Islamic Republic of Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and the "Glorious Iraqi Resistance Which every honorable and dignified Arab supports".

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Doha Debate:



Al Quds rally in London:



Thought I throw that in too, it's just galloway showing his support of the the government of Iran. For somebody who claims to support freedom, he sure is friendly with some very authoritarian political groups.

Promises

This documentary film provides a rarely unbiased look at the conflict in the middle east by interviewing the children on both sides. By interviewing children the film maker gets a remarkably candid and honest opinion. The children interviewed include secular Israeli children, religious Israeli children, Israeli arab children and Palestinian children living in the Deheisha refugee camp, providing a well rounded view into the dynamics of the conflict. To me, it's interesting to see how the effects of trauma have shaped the perceptions the children have about each other - essentially assuming that the "other" has the worst intentions in mind.

Perhaps the children have associated the most terrible kind of pain, trauma and sense of loss with their enemy, and perhaps just talking to them brings back these terrible emotions. It seems to me that if peace is going to come there will need to be some sort of meaningful rehabilitation of populations traumatized by war.

After all:

"Flashbacks are not necessarily episodic — that is, the re-experienced memories may not include specific identifying features (such as images and sounds) that were part of the original event or experience. Because there is a strong emotional component to memory as well, flashbacks can occur as a rush of feelings, emotions, and sensations associated with a traumatic event. This is especially true for young children who were lacking the cognitive abilities needed to define and characterize the trauma when they experienced it, but who may, nevertheless, relive all of the emotions associated with the traumatic event. In addition, those adult survivors of childhood trauma who have solely these emotional memories to draw on, also may experience them in flashbacks."

Flashbacks

In fact, if you choose to watch this documentary you will watch one such flashback, brought about when the children meet. I won't tell you where, you'll have to watch the movie and spot it for yourself. It's a great film, enjoy.

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The Fall of the House of Saud

This is a chapter from Robert Baer's book Sleeping with the Devil. Robert Baer is a former CIA station chief who worked in the middle east for close to 21 years. It's a great article giving some insight into how dangerous the Saudi monarchy really is, and how the quest for cheap oil has led America into the hands of the corrupt House of Saud.

"Americans have long considered Saudi Arabia the one constant in the Arab Middle East—a source of cheap oil, political stability, and lucrative business relationships. But the country is run by an increasingly dysfunctional royal family that has been funding militant Islamic movements abroad in an attempt to protect itself from them at home. A former CIA operative argues, in an article drawn form his new book, Sleeping With the Devil, that today's Saudi Arabia can't last much longer—and the social and economic fallout of its demise could be calamitous"

The Fall of the House of Saud

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Charlie Rose interviews Henry Kissinger

Here's a great interview featuring Former Secretary of state Henry Kissinger. He's attempting to "put the middle east conflict into historical perspective". This interview is particularly insightful because Henry Kissinger is still a major force in the shaping of united states foreign policy by privately advising various political figures. He is a man with powerful friends and a highly valued opinion. Some consider him a genius, others consider him a war criminal. Either way his opinion on Iran offers insight into some of the opinions on Iran being expressed at high levels.

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