You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Jerusalem’ tag.
The United Nations is a marginalized entity, like the League of Nations, it was formed with the idea that humanity, as a species can do better than just sit within our imaginary borders and fling poo (sometimes thermonuclear) at each other.
It’s a noble and nice idea.
And that’s about it.
Any sort of movement toward a more globalized world is always drowned out by the odious strains of nationalism and exceptionalism of the powerful countries of the world.
The summation of Noam Chomskey’s work in international politics is this: “The same rules should apply to everyone.” Strip away the academic writing and the dense prose and you will see him return to this thesis repeatedly. A war crime is a war crime whether it is committed by the ‘good guys’ or the ‘bad guys’ and the judgments and punishments meted out should be the same in both situations. This, of course, would mean that every US president would be charged with war crimes and would be prosecuted thusly – a flight of fantasy in the current geopolitical order – but it would be what a just world would look like.
Possessing the biggest stick should not be an automatic exemption from the rules that everyone else has to follow. Breaking news on this one though – the current bearers of the big stick club resoundingly disagree with me on this point. And thus the big stick carriers rightly get annoyed when marginally global institutions like the UN fail to toe the line on important issues regarding the ‘national interest’ (see imperialism/exceptionism).
“The United Nations general assembly has delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump, voting by a huge majority to reject his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The vote came after a redoubling of threats by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said that Washington would remember which countries “disrespected” America by voting against it.”
Way to go UN! As far as impotent political statements and actions go, you are doing fantastic work.
“Despite the warning, 128 members voted on Thursday in favour of the resolution supporting the longstanding international consensus that the status of Jerusalem – which is claimed as a capital by both Israel and the Palestinians – can only be settled as an agreed final issue in a peace deal.”
It’s hard to find a more prescient example of US exceptionalism. The constant untrammelled stream of unwavering support for Israel – notwithstanding the incredibly shitty things Israel is doing/has been doing to the Palestinians for decades- by the US merely underlines how irrelevant the UN is to US foreign policy and its associated imperial ventures.
“Twenty-two of the 28 EU countries voted for the resolution, including the UK and France. Germany – which in the past has abstained on measures relating to Israel – also voted in favour.
Thirty-five countries abstained, including five EU states, and other US allies including Australia, Canada, Colombia and Mexico. Ambassadors from several abstaining countries, including Mexico, used their time on the podium to criticise Trump’s unilateral move.
Another 21 delegations were absent from the vote, suggesting the Trump’s warning over funding cuts and Israel’s lobbying may have had some effect.
While support for the resolution was somewhat less than Palestinian officials had hoped, the meagre tally of just nine votes in support of the US and Israeli position was a serious diplomatic blow for Trump.”
Yeaaaaaa Canada – we abstained. Such a bold move for our country, we’re really standing up to the injustice and stupidity being visited upon the world by our neighbours to the South.
*sigh*
I suppose it is the best we can do given our geographical and economic situation. But wouldn’t be nice if we could just denounce this bullshite -rightly on moral an ethical grounds – without always having to defer to the realpolitik of the situation.
Welcome to the 21st century. A time where demonic possessions, cursed spirits, and other such notions of the supernatural manifestations have been gratefully laughed into the tabloids where no sane person, and certainly no judiciary body, would give them anything other than scorn and ridicule. Oh wait….it seems some courts haven’t learned much since the Dark Ages. Fuck… Today’s disservice comes from an article from yesterday’s Journal.
Two decades ago, in a Jewish court in Jerusalem, a secular lawyer was sentenced for insulting the court. I’m not sure, but I think the penalty for contempt of court around these parts is a fine, maybe a short jail term. I welcome any clarification on this point, as law is no speciality of mine. Whatever it is, it’s nothing like what the courts hand out in the “holy land”. The offending lawyer was cursed by the courts, that his soul would be reincarnated into the body of an impure dog.
That’s right. They cursed him.
If that was all there was to this story, we could just laugh at the silly religious nutbags who think they can curse/condemn/bless people because of their elite status with whatever deity, but alas no. As it has happened countless times before, the ludicrous notions of believers resulted in events much too horrible to be laughed off. Fast forward two decades and the court is interrupted by a dog who will not leave.
Well, says one of the judges, this must be that lawyer we cursed all those years ago. Seems he still hasn’t learned his lesson. Therefore, the good, just, and sane thing to do is sentence this dog to death. But a quick death is too good for him, thus we order the method of execution to be stoning! Praise be to our invisible sky-daddy!
A court, a judicial body, societal elites who are law experts, cursed one man and sentenced a dog to die by stoning. I am rebounding between incredulity at how ludicrous this is and disgust at how appalling this is. Mistreatment of animals is a grievous evil and being stoned to death is a horrifying fate, undeserved by even histories worst criminals. But it gets worse. The court decided that the stoning was to be carried out by local children. Children! I can only imagine what the psychological ramifications of having to not only witness, but take part in such a brutal and savage atrocity would do to an impressionable youth. I can’t even imagine what it would do to me. In one fell swoop, this court orders a barbaric act of animal cruelty and an unforgivable act of child abuse. Why? Because of their faith in the supernatural, and the arrogance that people can affect said supernatural through curses and blessings.
Fortunately, this double dose of monstrous infamy was ultimately thwarted. Not by reason, of course. The religious are impervious to logic when it comes to their faith. No, the dog somehow managed to escape on its own. I would like to think that someone there, anyone, saw the horror of the intended sentence and made it so the dog could get away. I would like to think that a seed of doubt took just enough root to drive someone into action against the ‘holy court’, even if only to anonymously save a dog. A wild hope, I know, but at present, wild hopes are all I that I can muster for the religiously controlled areas of the world.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…