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Last updated on March 6th, 2018 at 12:30 am
Mark Steyn on asymmetrical cultural warfare:
The merest glimpse of a freaky West Virginia tramp leading an Abu Ghraib inmate around with girlie knickers on his head was enough to prompt calls for Rumsfeld’s resignation, and for Ted Kennedy to charge that Saddam’s torture chambers were now open “under new management”, and for Robert Fisk to be driven into the kind of orgasmic frenzy unseen since his column on how much he enjoyed being beaten up by an Afghan mob: “Just look at the way US army reservist Lynndie England holds the leash of the naked, bearded Iraqi,” wrote Fisk. “No sadistic movie could outdo the damage of this image. In September 2001, the planes smashed into the buildings; today, Lynndie smashes to pieces our entire morality with just one tug on the leash.”
Who’s straining at the leash here? Down, boy. But, if Lynndie’s smashed to pieces our entire morality with just one tug, Bush’s Zionist neocons getting it on with Congolese kindergarteners would have the Independent calling for US expulsion from the UN – no, wait, from Planet Earth: slice it off from Maine to Hawaii and use one of those new Euro-Airbuses to drag it out round the back of Uranus.
But systemic UN child sex in at least 50 per cent of their missions? The transnational morality set can barely stifle their yawns. If you’re going to rape prepubescent girls, make sure you’re wearing a blue helmet.
Which is worse, lefties? Leashes or repeated rape? (Or does this depend on the UN’s fine line between forced and willing sex?)
- Thank God my helmet isn’t blue!Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 02/15 at 11:37 AM • permalink
…in West Africa, it’s Sex-for-Food, with aid workers demanding sexual services from locals as young as four; in Cambodia, it’s drug dealing; in Kenya, it’s the refugee extortion racket; in the Balkans, sex slaves.
If you’ve been to Cambodia, it’s pretty apparent—there was no shortage of child prostitution and sex slaves around the UN forces there. Same thing in Haiti.
UN territories like Kosovo are the global equivalent of inner-city council estates with the blue helmets as local enforcers for the absentee slum landlord. By contrast, a couple of years after imperialist warmonger Bush showed up, Afghanistan and Iraq have elections, presidents and prime ministers.
Can Steyn possibly rock any harder? Why, yes…yes he can.
It’s one thing to invent humanitarian disasters to disparage Bush’s unilateralist warmongering, but a month ago the UN was reduced to inventing a humanitarian disaster in order to distract attention from the existing humanitarian disaster it wasn’t doing anything about.
The position of “The Man” has been filled; thank you for your interest.
- This is why I really appreciated it when, during the tsunami crisis, the UN limited itself to ankle-biting and swapping business cards while the US and Australia did all the work. More at Moonbattery“ target=”_blank” >http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2005/01/un_army_conquer.html]Moonbattery[/url].Posted by Van Helsing on 02/15 at 12:51 PM • permalink
- Sorry, I must have messed up the pMcode on the comment above. The URL I was trying to link to is http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2005/01/un_army_conquer.html.Posted by Van Helsing on 02/15 at 12:54 PM • permalink
- Yes the French lead the world in so many fields of human achievements.
Let’s see… there’s train technology, bridge building, haute cuisine and now child sex education in third worls countries. And explicit tutorial pictures too!
Wonder if Al Jazeera-on-the-Seine will run a series on this french humanitarian aid.
Of course the redneck Americans are also way behind in this field of Education.
Whilst the UN aid workers are busy Scheduling meetings about holding meetings and exchanging business cards, the American and Australian aid workers on the ground in Aceh have not managed yetvto even educate one tsunami victim in the field of Sex education!
Shame on them!
- Hey Davo,
Problem is the stingy US won’t cough up enough gelt to hire more European rapists to provide “sex eucation” in tsunami areas.
Posted by Gary from Jersey on 02/15 at 03:11 PM • permalink
- Here’s a link that might be of interest: from UN Wire
Nothing new about the failure to confront sexual abuse, of course.
Won’t get into the politics of “fine lines” here.
What makes it worse is that the organisation is one that holds itself up as a moral beacon etc etc
“Freaky Virginia tramp” is a tad harsh, but Steyn’s general argument is a worthy one.
In any instance, it’s clear all those involved at Abu Ghraib, including Lynddie England, have copped more than their fair share for acting in ways that they probably wouldn’t usually.
Posted by Darlene Taylor on 02/15 at 03:42 PM • permalink
- Abu Ghraib was an embarassment and a disgrace, but it was a small number of people behaving badly and using the press to try and blackmail their way out of it. However, systemic child sexual abuse is criminal behavior and if the left does not care about this it only proves what hypocrites they really are.
- blogstrop: I think I banned Wopat. He was getting on my nerves. However, if you think he was more entertaining than irritating I could always unban him. I know—let’s vote!Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 02/15 at 05:42 PM • permalink
- Four Corners on Monday night was again obsessed with…wait for it…missing WMD and Abu Ghraib! Surprise! Surprise!
I promptly went to their website and politely asked…are you going to apply this much scrutiny to the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal? And what about Africa? Darfur? The Congo? Or is the ABC’s “concern” for Africa merely limited to its pretentious promos???
I haven’t been back there to see if this comment was actually posted. Like the literally DOZENS of comments I have posted previously on these subjects, I have to assume it wasn’t! That’s “everyone’s ABC” for you!
- Perhaps the UN troops can pimp for the hookers and then pay off the UN ‘diplomats’ parking tickets in NY, I mean it’s just one more step and a logical extension.
It will help the local economy.Either that or we have to get our Gitmo babes to stop torturing the pure islamozarquoids by wearing tight t shirts.
Posted by epaminondas on 02/15 at 07:26 PM • permalink
- For the record (just in case any Abu Ghraib-obsessed lefties still have their knickers in a knot about the US military’s response to the crimes its personnel committed there), Spc Charles Graner was convicted of the following:
Conspiracy to maltreat detainees; dereliction of duty for willfully failing to protect detainees from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment; maltreatment of detainees; assaulting detainees; committing indecent acts; adultery; and obstruction of justice.
He was sentenced to ten years in a federal penitentiary and dishonorably discharged. So, after passing ten years at Big Stony Lonesome, Mr. Graner can look forward to a life of… well, with a dishonorable discharge, he’ll be lucky to find a job picking cherries. That is what you call serious punishment.
In stark contrast, how can the UN be expected to respond to crimes committed by its personnel? A lavishly catered Investigatory Committee meeting in a five-star hotel perhaps? Maybe a few smarmy, canned expressions of outrage? Even a mock prosecution or two? I shall be waiting with bated breath.
- unban then ban!! wa!Posted by Deo Vindice on 02/15 at 08:06 PM • permalink
- Let me just say that as someone who has voted Labor in every election, at every level of government for my entire voting life…except at the last Federal election…I have to say that I COULDN’T AGREE MORE with Mark Steyne’s comments about “assymmetrical cultural warfare.” I’ve never actually seen Fox so I can’t comment, but aside from talkback radio in this country, I’ve ALWAYS considered that ALL other media demonstrates a clearly discernable left-wing slant! The Australian and the Bulletin included! Anyone who thinks that so-called dissent…or what they THINK is dissent…is dead or even under threat, is kidding themselves! That’s why I am a frequent visitor to this site. I refuse to align myself to an ideology that mindlessly and reflexively blames the U.S. for everything…everything bad that is. I’ve NEVER been comfortable with this in-built anti-Americanism and now I’m downright repulsed by how contrived it truly is. The internet has really given me the opportunity to see the whole picture. That, and the sight of two mighty towers tumbling into the street has revealed the truth to me, and changed my worldview forever!
Please, please, please let the Wombat play.
The Tribe has spoken! I have officially unbanned Mr. Wombat—um, whatever—and I even sent him an email inviting him back. Now don’t leave marks play nice.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 02/15 at 09:35 PM • permalink
- Kicking somebody off your blogs (which she does a LOT) leaves them with only a zillion other blogs just like it.
More importantly, and obvisouly, claiming victory in a fight from which you ran is never going to be cool, no matter how tough you talk it up. It’s sad. Really.
I am now proud member number #1,482 of People Banned By Andrea, and that’s pure internet credibility which I wouldn’t give up for quids. For me, it’s like being put on the Vatican’s list of banned books. Thank-you.
- Tom, I’ve been banned about six times from other blogs. One time it was even valid. I was really drunk and started calling one imbecile an imbecile, going on from there – I’m afraid to look. I think I obliquely threatened to call in a Blackhawk strike and send witches after him.
I can’t get into any eblog site whatsoever. Does this count?
How do you stack up? We’re talking about credibility here.
- Brian
Back in July 2004 I wrote to ABC Current Affairs, quote:One of the biggest developing news stories overseas is the Iraq Oil for Food (Koffigate) scandal which is well on its way to exposing graft, fraud and corruption at the highest levels of the United Nations.
Yet we have heard virtually nothing from ABC news and current affairs on this $10 billion outrage.
Why is this so?
Is there a deliberate gag on the story, or is it merely incompetence?I got a ‘bot acknowledgement but nothing more. After a few weeks I followed up and asked why the ABC hadn’t responded. Several days later I got a reply (signed by Denise Musto, Audience Liaison Manager)saying that the ABC had not ignored the Oil for Food scandal and referred me to three ABC links.
The first of these related to an ABC Radio PM segment, broadcast in April 2004, where the main subject was the Australian Wheat Board’s dealings with Iraq.
The second link also referred to an ABC Radio PM story in May 2004 which noted that the UN was ‘embarrassed’.
Both of these radio reports could be described as fleeting sound bytes.
The third link was to a buried story in a ‘Foreign Correspondent’ segment dated August 3, 2004 which was all about the Darfur genocide and which rated all of three very short paragraphs.
Not one mention in any of it’s mainstream news or current affairs programs!Technically, of course, the ABC had wriggled off the hook. But in real terms, certainly as far as journalistic integrity is concerned, the ABC was caught with its pants around its ankles.
Eventually, the ABC will have to take its fingers from its ears and recognise the whine of approaching chainsaws. Whether, or not, the Australian blogsphere can exert the muscle to drag an unwilling ABC bridegroom, such as occurred in the US with the Eason Jordan and Dan Rather affairs, to the alter of accountability remains to be seen.
- Tom Wopat’s life has been enriched by having been banned from this blog? My, you don’t have much going for you in real life, do you Tom?
At any rate, the only “internet credibility” you’ll have is with people who are considered laughingstocks around these parts themselves. I know which crowd I’d rather have on my side. They ain’t it.
Kicking somebody off your blogs (which she does a LOT) leaves them with only a zillion other blogs just like it.
Correct. Banning you from this blog, or any other blog under the watchful eye of webmistress Andrea, leaves you with plenty of other blogs to go to. 99.999% of which aren’t read by anybody who reads Tim Blair (and usually aren’t read by anybody else either), which is apparently a fact that escaped your attention in your grandiose “I can still comment in sooooo many other places, tssbbbtt!!!” argument. At any rate, why are you still here, then?
- Why wear a blue helmet to get away with it? You can just do like Roman Polanski and be French.Posted by Aaron – Freewill on 02/15 at 11:48 PM • permalink
- tom wopat
I am now proud member number #1,482 of People Banned By Andrea
Wow, impressed. Can you actually count that high, or did you just toss some numericals together and remembered from grade 1, where to put the ‘,’?
Ummmm, tom you could have left the # thingy out, it’s redundant. Oh yeah for you and you only (obviously)…redundant. exceeding what is necessary or normal. Merriam-Webster.
- Tom—er, you’re not banned now. See? You can comment.
Other commenters: should I have gone into more detail in my message to him or something? In other words, should I have said something like: “Okay Tom, now when you log back on you’ll be able to comment which will mean, like, you’re not banned anymore, like I already said. And did I forget to mention I unbanned you, that being the opposite of being banned, that is, unable to logon and comment” etc. It’s so hard to get a grasp on the tiny granules of thought that occasionally escape from the craniums of these people.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 02/16 at 12:36 AM • permalink
- Hey—since this has become the Tom Wopat show, who wants me to post all the whining emails he’s been sending me? They’re hilarious.Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 02/16 at 12:48 AM • permalink
- I mean, to put it another way, when Chuck(le) Pelto started e-mailing ME to whine about the whiny e-mails he sent you, Andrea, I’d had my fill.
He seemed hurt by the realization that being able to e-mail me would not guarantee him an audience thanks to the magic of my patented Chuck(le) Email Filter.
- Radio National this morning – news.A large bomb has exploded in Beirut etc.The U.N. Security Council called for a REPORT on the MURDER.This is the first time ABC has described car bomb victims as having been murdered to my knowledge. Israelis,Americans and Iraquis don’t count then? and– Calling for a Report – wow that’s really upping the ante.
- Only 1482? I thought Blog Mistress Andrea was into 6 figures by now!Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 02/16 at 01:12 AM • permalink
- hey miss andrea, how about banning him again just to mess with his head?Posted by Deo Vindice on 02/16 at 01:24 AM • permalink
- Crash: well, it happened in Beirut. If it happened in Israel or Afghanistan (or the US?) it wouldn’t be “murder”—it would be “car bomb explodes, n people killed”—as if spontaneously combusting cars were just a hazard of the weather that you could discuss dispassionately.
Jeff_S: the blog world is littered by the bones of those who defied me!
Sortelli: ooh, you got whiny Chucklet emails about me? Ah, good times…
murph: well, I’ve got yours for and Sortelli’s against. So it’s a tie.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 02/16 at 01:26 AM • permalink
- Sortelli, what you need is some of that newfangled “lapdancing torture”.
Andrea, I think Moonbat Wompat’s emails deserve a wider audience.
Posted by ArtVandelay on 02/16 at 01:36 AM • permalink
- I can’t even remember what point Chuck was trying to prove, but he even had links and shit.
You know the worst part about Chuck’s e-mails? He doesn’t give them those retarded headers and footers that started that whole mess in the first place. I mean, WTF, man?
TO: Chuck(le)
CC: Wherever the hell you are now.
RE: My ass, instructions for handling.Kiss it.
Regards,
Sortel(li)
- J.Peden — Hell, we want the sumbitch heard. Who knew a newsman could be struck dumb?Posted by richard mcenroe on 02/16 at 01:46 AM • permalink
- Boss Hog,
I remember that Foreign Correspondent story. Two giant stories, the Oil-for-Food scandal and the Darfur disaster, were reduced to mere props for Jill Colgin’s empty profile on King Kofi. Of course being the ABC, the report took several whacks at the U.S. saying that the U.S. was supposed to be fighting for democratic values in Iraq yet it completey disregarded the U.N.’s democratic processes. I attempted to answer this comment in FC’s guestbook saying that given the enormous dimensions of the Oil-for-Food scandal, God only knows how corrupted the U.N.’s so-called ‘democratic processes’ were, but guess what??? My comments were censored!
Thanks Boss! It sure is good to know that there are others out there sticking it to the AB bloody C!
- Whiny Wombat e-mails. Sounds good to me.Posted by Aussie Old Fart on 02/16 at 04:32 AM • permalink
- Hmmmmmm….now that Tom Wopat is back…..
So, Tom, what is your opinion of the UN troops that engage in sex slavery and child prostitution? It strikes me that this is more of a problem than Habib spinning stories about his “torture”.
Not that we should ignore the (slight) possibility that Habib is not lying. But I am assuming, of course, that the UN should be held to the same standards as the United States.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 02/16 at 05:06 AM • permalink
- yes please to Andrea for tom’s emails.
It has occurred to me that the child slave/molesters who rang UNICEF to make an offer had done their market research. How could they have tried to make it the issue while Indonesia struggled with their tragedy knowing that they were one of the biggest offenders is amazing.
- The ABC will, if nothing is done, remain a law unto itself until abolished or privatised.
Poor, obfuscatory, or no response to the public (unless they are craven fans) is the standard.
Speaking as someone who once felt they were a worthwhile part of Australian life, I am as disillusioned with the ABC as with the ALP. I once supported both with gusto.
Until such time as they correct the content, the ABC does not deserve to be called The National Broacaster.
They are The National Disaster.
- 29. Wopat
claiming victory in a fight from which you ran is never going to be cool
Worked for Saddam in 1991, but only with the overlay – the US abiding by the UN’s Oh So Lovely, legal and internationally respectable guidelines, and stopping after evicting him from Kuwait!
Hopefully that sort of wimp-out will not happen again.
- They…the ABC…were at it again tonight, on the 7:30 Report.
Firstly, they continued their campaign to deliberately try and confuse the allegations of abuse which were said to have taken place in Egypt and Pakistan with those said to have taken place in Cuba. Then, they treated their “craven fans”…I couldn’t agree more blogstrop…to the ravings of Sandra Bernhard. She repeated that hackneyed old line about Americans only grieving over 9/11 while ignoring everybody else’s tragedies. Ironic that she should say that on the ABC. Everytime I’ve tried to point out the disparity of the ABC’s newly found anguish (since 2003) over Iraqi dead compared with their complete indifference to the victims of the Darfur disaster and the catastrophic conflict in the Congo, I’ve been censored!!! National disgrace more like it!
How do they get away with it?
- Andrea is upfront and honest about banning people and their views. It seems the ABC and it’s inspiration the BBC, censor political views but are not honest about it.
The success of the Internet is it’s transparency, however legacy coercion funded broadcasters can only survive by trying to hide the minority agendas they push. When an organisation is funded by coercion it can ignore the views of the people, as it’s only real customer is the fearful politicians signing the cheques with other peoples money.
It’s Howards last term, he should abolish coercion funded entertainment and let the ABC be funded by subscription. This will reveal how little demand their is for socialism.