Distraction Tactics

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/26/trump-china-beijing-election-midterms-interference-claim

Not a bad display of geography knowledge, President Trump, although if you were really looking for election meddling and were mentally capable of taking heed of your own intelligence services you might be looking north of the Sino-Russian border ....

Trump continues to blunder through the Israeli-Palestinian china shop

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/03/trump-threatens-cut-aid-palestinians-peace-talks

Personally I wouldn't be doubling down on such an idiotic decision if I was Trump (god forbid). Unpredictability and threats to cut aid might seem like a quick fix to a failed businessman but a constructive intermediary has to maintain good relations with both sides.

His current policies simply mean that the US will become not only an irrelevance but an active obstacle to peace in Israel (and the surrounding countries with Palestinian refugees). 

Trump fumbles in Middle East

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/06/trump-to-plunge-middle-east-into-fire-with-no-end-with-jerusalem-speech

I'm starting to think that Trump must be competing with somebody for the title of worst American president/ international leader in living memory.

I mean surely nobody could be so stupid as to think that this will have any positive effects beyond massaging the egos of hardliners in Israel and maybe giving him a slight electoral boost.

Meanwhile he reignites an issue that has eluded settlement for decades and regularly leads to costly and deadly wars in a sensitive area of the globe.

Total and complete imbecile.

Saying it how it is ...

At last something said by the current US administration that I agree with!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/04/rex-tillerson-trump-moron

Clowns vs Trump Supporters

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/16/insane-clown-posse-trump-juggalo-march-on-washington

I'm not even going to touch this - too easy!

Trump shows his true colours

Swell job defending  the killers and bigots in Charlottesville, Mr President, way to alienate a solid proportion of the population that you purportedly govern.

If you could just alt-right out of office we'd all feel a lot more comfortable.

Affleck correspondence leaked

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/18/ben-affleck-pbs-ancestor-slave-owner-henry-louis-gates

Interesting stuff about the intersection of carefully maintained celebrity images and the sort of light historical enquiry that has fuelled the latest interest in genealogical research.

I'm a bit surprised that this hasn't come up sooner. Surely one of the hundreds, or even thousands, of previously involved celebrities will have found something in their family past that they wanted to keep off the show. However, Henry Gates does seem genuinely shocked and disturbed by Affleck's slightly conspiratorial request.

Wikileaks doing a fine job at exposing the actions that those in positions of power and privilege might not want us to hear about. Of course it is Affleck and the producers decision as to how they structure their show but it does reveal a side to the actor that he might want to reconsider.  

Extra-terrestrials and Vikings

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/26/5656288/construction-workers-unearth-legendary-cache-of-atari-games-in-new

Is it bad that as soon as I saw the headline I thought it would probably be about the rumoured cache of E.T. Extra-Terrestrial games in the desert?

In completely unrelated news, if you ever get a chance to go to Iceland then take it. A completely beautiful country that takes at least three days to even scratch the surface of. The food isn't as bad as rumoured and they advertise space ship game conventions prominently at the airport. Still can't decide if the people are rude and cold or polite and friendly though. We encountered both in our time there but generally everything was fantastic.

Needless to say an unforgettable experience and a genuine adventure.

Europe approaches Cuba while USA sulks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-26198379

"Earlier this week, the European Union agreed to open negotiations aimed at restoring full relations with Cuba."

Well done to the EU - an overwhelmingly sensible bit of international diplomacy. Now if only the USA could forget their humiliating cock up at the Bay of Pigs and follow suit.

Space Cthulu wants you!

http://rt.com/usa/nro-satellite-octopus-emblem-854/

Typical Russia Today paranoia exhibited in their article reacting to the logo adopted by the Americans for their reconnaissance satellite launch of 8 December 2013.

However, it does seem an odd decision for the NRO to have used such a Machiavellian-looking Cephalopod. They must know that their public image is not at a peak right now!

Tensions in the Pacific

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25133957

See China, this is the problem with drawing lines in the sand. Everyone else involved will just cross them to show that they can. A diplomatic solution is always the best option in these circumstances.

Buscemi vs the Tea Party

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/20/steve-buscemi-shutdown-elections-boardwalk-empire

This quickly tracks back to being a run of the mill Hollywood interview but it is still worth a read.

Steve Buscemi, famous for his roles in Boardwalk Empire and A list movies, rails against the recent govenment shutdown and entirely blames it on the radical's hijacking of the Republican party.

Towards the end of the talk it suggests that he is slightly disenchanted with Obama too but I think this is a fairly common feeling among those on the left (and is maybe entirely warranted after the hype that the media built up around America's first black president).

USA gets its act together (finally)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24563189

A good result but I can imagine more interesting ways that Obama could have ended the crisis. How about cutting the funding for anti-terrorism raids in Africa and the Middle East or military aid to Israel until the Republicans let the government do similarly crazy things like pay federal workers or run lucrative tourist sites.

The whole thing just shows the two faced nature of the lunatic right in a country that makes other country's extremists look like Salvation Army members. They talk about their desire for lower taxes and austerity through cuts in welfare services but then waste billions of dollars in posturing.  As ever the politicians who masterminded this travesty were only concerned about any threat to a society of economic inequality and privilege rather than about any genuine commitment to the economy.

US shutdown drawing to a close

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24557469

"Unfortunately the Senate chose not the follow the House," Sen Cruz said, "Had Senate Republicans united and supported House Republicans, the outcome of this I believe would have been very, very different."

The image that springs to mind is of a man jumping over a cliff and then blaming bystanders for not catching him on the way down.

Taking the leap - Skyline

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/skyline_2010/

So why are all the critics so negative about Skyline?

It's true that the characters are all one-dimensional walking cliches, that the story doesn't really go anywhere and that at times even the stunningly rendered special effects fail to distract from the tedium and illogicality of it all. You might even question why the name of the film bears so little connection to the content if it weren't so blindingly (geddit?) obviously that the producers had no idea what feature of the film they wanted to stand out as original or engaging.

However that doesn't necessarily mean that it was bad watching. The unintentional humour in some scenes is great. "They're on a timer" says Turk from Scrubs in a doom-laden voice as the blinds rise and leave the cast open to attack by alien fighters. None of them attempt to do anything about this (presumably) easily remedied feature of the flat's consumer electronics or thought to mention it beforehand. I didn't know whether to laugh or weep for humanity.

Also brain-harvesting aliens as the twist? In this cynical day and age? Truly brilliant.

I genuinely don't know whether I'm being sarcastic or not since every indication is that I should have turned it off in disgust after approximately 7.9 minutes. Give it a try - maybe it will trigger a similar 'so bad it's kinda watchable' response in you too.

A little perspective, please?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24343698

So the Republicans have shut down American government for the second time in two decades. Lets make that clear. This is not Obama's fault but a conscious policy by the right to obstruct and filibuster like their lives and fortunes depend on it. Or maybe we're just meant to accept that the World's largest economy, with its gargantuan military spending, cannot afford to pay veteran's pension cheques or keep the Library of Congress running.

The shut down is an absolute disaster for a fragile world economy and for democracy itself. However abstract it can become, democracy is meant to be government by the will of and in the interest of the people. I don't think a majority (or even a significant fraction) of the American people would support what has happened today.

Another Cold War near miss .....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24183879

Confirmation has arrived that a malfunctioning aircraft almost led the Americans to nuke their own country in 1961.

"There has been no official comment to the newly declassified details."

Well of course there hasn't. The American military complex doesn't have a great track record on accepting when it has done wrong, is still doing wrong or maybe should think about stopping doing wrong.

Don't go near the mirrors - Black Swan

So my sister deliberately left this DVD at our house because she had given up on watching it. This probably should have given me an initial hint that Black Swan would not just be a slightly edgy drama about the stresses of life as a ballerina.

Instead it turned out to be as disturbing and bleak as mainstream films come. The focus on Nina's obsession with physical degeneration and the horror movie like use of creepy mirrors and hallucinations leaves the viewer unsure of what is reality and which scenes are conjured up by Nina's unstable mind. This rarely makes for pleasant viewing.

The film works on many levels and effortlessly brings together a combination of ugly themes. You could view it as a simple critique of the competitive commercial dance business and the predatory attitudes of certain male managers. One of the reasons for Nina's degeneration is unquestionably the stress of the lead role that she is given and Thomas' attempts to initiate an inappropriate relationship.

Part of the cover that Thomas uses for his advances is the idea that Nina cannot play the titular Black Swan when she is herself so innocent and controlled. The focus on the world famous Swan Lake may appear overdone and cliche to those with a greater familiarity with ballet. However, for those lacking such knowledge it makes things much easier that the film sticks so closely to a clear, well-explained narrative.

Overall I'd say that this was another triumph for Darren Aronofsky and that its apparent weaknesses are simply aspects of his distinctive style. He showed his skill in charting the confusion of a disordered mind in 'Pi' and 'The Fountain' and if that leads to slightly incomprehensible and disturbing films then the beauty of the spectacle and his adaptness in directing certainly compensates for it.

Checks and balances

So Snowden's revelations continue to show what the American intelligence services are getting up to in their strenuous efforts to protect us from all those pesky terrorists.

I especially like the NSA's response to the Guardian in response to the latest information about XKeyscore, a program that allows them to browse huge databases of online activity. Reassuringly the NSA stated:

"Allegations of widespread, unchecked analyst access to NSA collection data are simply not true. Access to XKeyscore, as well as all of NSA's analytic tools, is limited to only those personnel who require access for their assigned tasks … In addition, there are multiple technical, manual and supervisory checks and balances within the system to prevent deliberate misuse from occurring."

The first and second sentences may well be true, although in the wake of the Wikileaks scandal and Snowden's inconvenient honesty the Americans should perhaps be learning that even those they trust with their powerful gadgets and technological toys may have their own thoughts and agendas.

However, the last claim really made me seethe and froth at the mouth. So they had checks and balances in the system that they didn't even reveal to the people that they supposedly protect and serve? We have our own set of checks and balances in the form of representative democracy. Covert operations that breach rights to privacy are clear attempts to circumvent such democratic responsibility and the perpetrators shouldn't try to tell us that they know better when they are caught out.

Taking a look in the mirror...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/edward-snowden-whistleblower-still-missing-at-moscow-airport-a-908023.html

Bravo, Der Spiegel! Clearly the only mature response to the mystery of Snowden's current location is to join in with some vaguely Russo-phobic speculation about what dirty reasons Putin's secret services might have for harbouring/kidnapping/interrogating him. A little evidence would be nice.