BAe-Blair arms corruption scandal continues

This video is called Saudi Prince Bandar Bush – Corruption? So What?!

From British daily The Morning Star:

Sacrifice to Mammon

(Thursday 14 February 2008)

THE “strictly private and confidential” documents obtained by the Campaign Against Arms Trade and The Corner House illustrate that the supposed majesty of the law was sacrificed on the altar to Mammon when the Serious Fraud Office was made to terminate its investigation of arms deals to Saudi Arabia.

Legality fell victim to a pincer movement by arms dealer BAe Systems and corrupt theocratic dictatorship Saudi Arabia.

And their collaborative efforts were never likely to fail while Britain was lumbered with a prime minister who, despite his self-proclaimed religiosity, was ruled by an unrelenting worship of private profit.

Just as his much-touted attachment to Christianity did not interfere with his record of mass murder in Iraq and Afghanistan, so his training as a lawyer did not impinge on his contempt for due process of law.

While BAe wrote to the attorney general and the Ministry of Defence suggesting that investigation of its bribery of Saudi officials over the £43 billion al-Yamamah arms deal would not be in the “public interest,” Tony Blair rejected such namby-pamby whining.

In his view, which then-attorney general Lord Goldsmith then parroted, the SFO probe threatened “national security.”

No justification was ever given for this bizarre statement, because it was plainly unjustifiable. The only thing threatened was political embarrassment.

BAe would have been embarrassed at the revelation that it bribed trading partners and the Saudi officials, members of the rancid House of Saud, would have been shown up as grasping, sticky-fingered crooks.

But, above all, the Blair government would have been exposed as covering up past venality in order to facilitate future crimes.

Six months ago, Saudi Arabia agreed to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets for about £4.4bn. Whose hands were greased for this deal or would it compromise our national security for these details to be known?

Britain’s symbiotic relationship with the Saudi autocracy ought to be unthinkable by any government that acts as though it has a divine mission to promote democracy, freedom and human rights – from the barrel of a gun – throughout the world.

In common with its US senior partner, it praises Saudi Arabia, not as a democracy – how could it? – but as a force for stability, moderation and reliability in the war against terror.

Tell that to the women of Saudi Arabia who are banned from driving cars, who cannot appear in court without a male representative and who cannot travel without a male relative’s permission.

Tell it also to Fawza Falih, who has been sentenced to death in the kingdom on the spurious charge of “witchcraft,” solely on the basis of her coerced confession.

What on Earth is our country doing selling weapons of mass destruction to this despotic monarchy, which sets its face like flint against any meaningful progress to democracy of any kind?

Far from Britain’s “constructive engagement” policy encouraging Riyadh to relax its dictatorship, our government’s Byzantine smothering of due legal process suggests a contrary flow of influence.

New Labour stands accused of subverting national democracy and the rule of law in its chosen quest of prioritising corporate profits over everything.

BAe update, March 2008: here.

Dutch philosopher says Ayaan Hirsi Ali should not have got the Beauvoir prize

Translated from the Dutch philosophical review Filosofie Magazine:

De Beauvoir specialist unhappy with prize for Hirsi Ali

Dutch De Beauvoir specialist Karen Vintgesis unhappy that Ayaan Hirsi Ali has won the Simone de Beauvoir prize.

‘Simone de Beauvoir is probably noisily turning in her grave right now. It is OK that Hirsi Ali opposes fundamentalism; however, it is not OK that she attacks all of Islam across the board. She helps to create an atmosphere in which seemingly each and every Muslim is dangerous; de Beauvoir definitely would not have wanted to have anything to do with such an atmosphere’, according to Karen Vintges, a philosopher at Amsterdam University.

The prize goes to women who, in the spirit of Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) work for women’s rights. …

In a letter to the editors of the French review Nouvelles Questions Féministes, founded in 1981 by Simone de Beauvoir, Karen Vintges explained her objections to awarding this prize to Hirsi Ali. In a short interview, she explains her objections further. ‘The kind of feminism, established in France now, pretends that oppression of women is something still only happening in non-western cultures. Also, Ayaan Hirsi Ali stands for a kind of feminism which sees western [neo-]liberalism as the only way to liberation. For many Muslim women, this kind of views are an obstacle, rather than a help towards emancipation. De Beauvoir would have been very critical about the claims of western [neo-]liberalism of bringing freedom on a world scale. She was allergic to imperialism and colonialism. She was one of the first French intellectuals resisting the French wars in Vietnam and Algeria.’

Apologists for the Algerian war in the 1950s used to say that the war had to be waged as the enemies supposedly were ‘backward Muslims’.

She would have been much more suspicious about the way people in France and other West European countries think about headscarves of Muslim women and girls. Simone de Beauvoir would, on the contrary, have supported an inclusive feminism, giving Muslim feminists a voice from their own culture. These other voices have been around for a long time; however, you hardly hear them in the Dutch press.

Not just on this blog, there is one of various photos of Simone de Beauvoir with headscarf. Proving once again that headscarves often do not have anything to do with professing Islam; let alone with professing ‘fundamentalist’ Islam.

Feminism, imperialism, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan: here.

Alain Badiou: here. And here.

Related articles

• When Neo-Cons And Liberals Unite: The Case of Anti-Muslim Crusader Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• No, Brandeis Isn’t ‘Silencing’ Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• Brandeis withdraws honorary degree for Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Kenyan river delta threatened by sugar corporation

This is a video about the Tana delta in Kenya.

From BirdLife:

Sugar is not so sweet

18-02-2008

A flourishing wetland on Kenya’s northern coast is under serious threat from plans to grow vast amounts of sugarcane, partly for biofuel production. Developers want to transform nearly 20,000 hectares of the spectacular Tana River Delta, into sugarcane plantations with other parts of the Delta earmarked for rice.

“This development would be a national disaster, wreaking havoc with the area’s ecosystem and spelling the end for wildlife across much of the Delta”, said Paul Matiku, Executive Director of NatureKenya. “Large areas would become ecological deserts. The Delta is a wildlife refuge with cattle herders depending on it for centuries as well. There is no commitment to mitigation for the damage that will be done and no evidence that local incomes will be in any way improved. The sugarcane scheme cannot be allowed to go ahead.” …

The Tana Delta is home to several Endangered and Near Threatened species such as the Southern Banded Snake-eagle Circaetus fasciolatus, the Malindi Pipit Anthus melindae, and the migratory Basra Reed Warbler Acrocephalus griseldis. The Tana River Cisticola Cisticola restrictus, extremely local and on the verge of extinction, has recently been recorded. Over five thousand water birds of at least thirteen species breed in the Tana Delta and twenty two species gather in internationally important numbers.

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis: here.

Brazil biofuel workers exploited: here.

Britain: SOLOMON HUGHES reports on the competing sugar firms that are putting money into Tory pockets as they attempt to shape what kind of Brexit we have: here.

Carnivorous dinosaurs found in Sahara

This video says about itself:

Here is a tribute to Abelisaurids, with the song “Savin’ Me” by Nickelback.

This video features Abelisaurus, Aucasaurus, Carnotaurus, Ekrixinatosaurus, Ilokelesia, Indosaurus, Indosuchus, Majungasaurus/Majungatholus, Rajasaurus, Rugops, and Xenotarsosaurus.

From British daily The Independent:

‘Fierce-eyed’ grandfather of T-rex found in Sahara

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Thursday, 14 February 2008

The remains of two meat-eating dinosaurs have been unearthed in the Sahara desert where they once terrorised their prey.

The fossilised bones of the two dinosaurs were excavated during an expedition in 2000 but it is only now that scientists have been able to identify and name them as a newly discovered pair of carnivorous species that lived 110 million years ago.

One of the new dinosaurs is a short-snouted creature that grew to about 25 feet long. Scientists have called it Kryptops palaios, or “old hidden face”, because of the horny covering on its snout.

Kryptops may have lived on dead or dying animals in the manner of a modern hyena. Like later members of its group, the abelisaurids of South America and India, Kryptops had short, armoured jaws and small teeth, which were well designed for gobbling guts and gnawing. The other dinosaur, a contemporary of similar size, has been named Eocarcharia dinops or “fierce-eyed dawn shark”, because of its blade-shaped teeth and prominent bony eyebrow. Unlike Kryptops, its teeth were more suited to attacking live prey and severing body parts, the scientists said.

Carcharodontosaurids, the group to which Eocarcharia belongs, gave rise to the largest predators on the southern continents, which were as big, if not bigger than a T-rex. …

Mr Serano [sic; Sereno] and Mr Brusatte formally described the fossils in a study published this week in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Concavenator, a Spanish carnivorous dinosaur: here. And here.

Related articles

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• First dinosaurs identified from Saudi Arabia
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• Ghosts of Gondwana: Dinosaurs of the Last Super-continents

Nestboxes for birds in Britain

http://www.youtube.com/p/827F428A9B6FE4ED?hl=nl_NL&fs=1

This video series from Britain is about British birds.

From British daily The Guardian:

Today marks the start of National nest box week, which is asking people in the UK to put up nest boxes to help breeding birds and other wildlife. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), which runs the campaign, says that the natural nest sites on which many of our bird species depend, such as holes in trees and buildings, are fast disappearing as gardens and woods are ‘tidied’ and old houses are repaired.

The BTO says that, since the drive was launched in 1997, thousands of enthusiastic naturalists have put up boxes. It is estimated that there are now 5-6m boxes in gardens across the UK. Visit the website to find out how to build your own nest box, or where to buy one, and use our [photo] gallery to discover which species of bird prefers which type of box.

Tufted titmouse in North America: here.

British working class children don’t go to university because of money

This is a video of British students demonstrating against top-up fees in London, January 2011.

From British daily The Guardian:

Tuition fees favour the rich – new study

Children from poor familes say fear of debt deterred them from university

Polly Curtis, education editor

Thursday February 14, 2008

Teenagers from poorer families are turning their backs on a university education because of fears they will be saddled with thousands of pounds of debt, new research shows. The study on the impact of tuition fees reveals today that nearly two-thirds of pupils who decided not to seek higher education cited anxieties about money.

The number of students planning to study at universities close by, so they can live with their families, has risen from 18% in 1998 to 56% today, the research shows. By comparison, pupils from independent schools [also known as “public schools”; with mainly pupils from richer backgrounds] are now significantly more likely to move to a university in a different city, opening up the option of Oxbridge and other leading institutions, says the influential charity the Sutton Trust.

Its findings set the government’s fee-charging regime at odds with ministers’ ambitions to “unlock the potential” of children in the poorest areas of the country and boost the number of them attending top universities, student leaders claim.

Government figures out today suggest a 7% rise in the number of students applying to university – taking applications to record levels – but opposition MPs say the statistics mask a stagnation in the number of pupils from low-income homes applying – and in particular, boys.

To the extent that the British opposition are Conservatives, their reaction is somewhat … err… problematic. Not just because of their one sided worrying about boys; also because of the tuition fees fit in the policies of their “heroine” Margaret Thatcher. However, the present harmful tuition fees, the “top-up fees“, are the work of the “New Labour” government; ever since Tony Blair open admirers of Thatcher.

Related articles

• Third of London pupils ‘worried about cost of university fees’
• Oxbridge elites still running Britain, study says
• Students and lecturers welcome Labour education reforms
• Students to Hold National Week of Action to Stop the Privatisation of Student Debt
• Remembering the Burston strike
• The Darker Side of Margaret Thatcher: From Austerity to Apartheid

Threatened spoon-billed sandpipers discovered in Myanmar

This is a spoon-billed sandpiper video.

From BirdLife:

Wintering Spoon-billed Sandpipers found in Myanmar

14-02-2008

Sightings of 84 Spoon-billed Sandpipers Eurynorhynchus pygmeus at two coastal wetland sites in Myanmar have cast new light on the winter distribution of this Endangered species, and confirmed that these wetlands are of international importance for their biodiversity.

The known global population of Spoon-billed Sandpiper has plunged alarmingly in the last few years to only 200-300 pairs.

“The number of breeding pairs in Chukotka, Siberia, fell by 50 percent between 2006 and 2007, and no birds have been seen this year at their traditional wintering sites in Bangladesh”, says Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, Vice President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union (BirdLife in Russia).

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Team which found the birds included staff from Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA), BirdLife International’s Partners in Russia and Thailand, and members of ArcCona Consulting (Cambridge, UK and Kiel, Germany) and the Japan Wetlands Action Network (JAWAN). …

The Arakan team also recorded Indian Skimmers, several pairs of Sarus Crane and a huge number of wintering Bar-headed Geese. At Martaban, an estimated 50,000 waders are believed to include globally significant numbers of Broad-billed sandpiper, Lesser Sand-plover and Pallas’ Gull.

Simba Chan added: “The coast of Myanmar is still relatively intact, but most of the tidal area along the eastern asia flyway is under very heavy development pressure. This work provides further illustration of the global importance of Myanmar for biodiversity conservation.”

See also here.