On US-led strikes on Syria

 Every response has turned wrong since the beginning of the civil war in Syria. Failure of diplomacy, failure of the UN. 

It's like Washington, London and Brussels watched from afar almost glad to see me destructions in the Middle East and now they want to look like the final heroes. Just hearing from Tony Blair is infuriating!

It's been the same war since 2003. Since 2001 even. The same world war with no name. But in Europe and North America, citizens look the other way...

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Just the facts now:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/14/air-strikes-in-syria-what-we-know-so-far?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

US-led strikes on Syria: what we know so far

US, UK and France have launched a joint military strike. Here is a summary of what has happened

Graham Russell

Sat 14 Apr 2018 12.08 BST

• Military strikes launched against Assad regime – live updates

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• The US has launched military strikes alongside UK and French forces aimed at reducing Syrian regime’s chemical weapons facilities in the wake of last weekend’s gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Douma.
• Moments after President Donald Trump finished his address on Friday night, reports emerged of explosions in Damascus at about 2am BST. A Pentagon briefing later confirmed three sites were hit: two in Damascus and one in Homs. The sites were all regarded as linked to the storage, or testing, of chemical weapons. Syrian air defences responded to the strikes but the US said it had suffered no losses in the initial airstrikes.

The scene in Damascus after strikes. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP

• The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has described the strikes as an “act of aggression” and said the attack would worsen the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, said “such actions will not be left without consequences” and that Moscow was being threatened. 
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• Syrian state TV has shown a video of Bashar al-Assad arriving at work on Saturday morning after the coalition strikes. Syria’s air defence systems intercepted 71 out of 103 cruise missiles fired as part of the US-led strikes, according to the Russian military. Russian air defence systems did not respond to the missiles, it added. 
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• Trump said the attack in Douma a week ago represented “a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use” by the Assad regime, adding: “We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.”

'A strong deterrent': Trump announces strikes on Syria – video

• The British prime minister, Theresa May, said she authorised targeted strikes to “degrade the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons capability and deter their use”. Taking a swipe at Russia, she said: “We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised – within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world. We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none.”
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• Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – a staunch ally of Bashar al-Assad – has condemned the US-led airstrikes, describing the leaders of France, the UK and the US as “criminals”.
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• Turkey welcomed the attack, describing the raids as an “appropriate response” to the use of chemical weapons in Douma last Saturday.
• The US defence secretary, James Mattis, said the US, UK and France had taken “decisive action” against Syria’s chemical weapon infrastructure and did not rule out further strikes. “Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message” last time, he said, referring to the response to the Ghouta chemical attack in 2017. He said the allies had “gone to great length to avoid civil and foreign casualties”.
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• The UK’s Ministry of Defence said four Tornado jets flew from Cyprus as part of the strikes on Homs.
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• French defence ministry sources have said France fired 12 missiles from fighter jets and frigates as part of the coordinated air and sea raids.
• The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime posed an “immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security”.
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• The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has called the airstrikes “legally questionable” and said May should have sought prior parliamentary approval.
• The Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has issued his support for strikes. The organisation’s main political decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, was due to hold a meeting to discuss the developments on Saturday afternoon. 
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• The European Union and Canada have backed the strikes. The EU commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said those who rely on chemical warfare must be held to account.
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• Hezbollah, which fights in support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, said the US-led strikes “will not realise” America’s goals. 
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• The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for calm, urging “all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances”.

Coming up at the British Library in London in June:

EXHIBITION

Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land

Fri 1 Jun – Sun 21 Oct 2018

A free exhibition

Welcomed by some as ‘Sons of Empire.’ Vilified by those spreading fears of a ‘black invasion.’ 70 years since the Empire Windrush carried hundreds of migrants to London, hear the Caribbean voices behind the 1940s headlines. Why did people come? What did they leave behind? And how did they shape Britain?

Learn about the Jamaican feminist poet Una Marson, who became the first black woman employed by the BBC. Read Trinidadian J J Thomas’s scathing rebuttal of English colonialism. See the manuscripts of Andrea Levy’s novel Small Island and Benjamin Zephaniah's poem What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us. And listen to the sounds of the Caribbean, from jazz and calypso to the speeches of Marcus Garvey and personal reflections from some of the first Caribbean nurses to join the NHS.

Enslavement. Colonialism. Rebellion.

Revisit 1948 and explore how the Windrush story is much more than the dawn of British multiculturalism it has come to represent.

Image: Some of the first migrants from Jamaica arrive at Tilbury on board the Empire Windrush 22 June 1948

Details

Name:	Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land
Where:	Entrance Hall The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB Show map      How to get to the Library
When:	Fri 1 Jun - Sun 21 Oct 2018  Opening times and visitor information
Price:	Free
Enquiries:	+44 (0)1937 546546 boxoffice@bl.uk

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TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS

British Trade in Black Labour: The Windrush Middle Passage

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 19:00 - 20:30

Keynote lecture by Professor Sir Hilary Beckles

After World War Two Caribbean people re-crossed the Atlantic Ocean, this time not as chattel slaves but in response to the push of colonial oppression and exploitation, and the demand for their labour in the UK. Professor Sir Hilary Beckles examines the circumstances which lead to this ‘second Middle Passage’ in this keynote lecture.

Historian Hilary Beckles is Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI). Born in Barbados, he received his higher education in the UK and has lectured extensively in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Professor Beckles has written widely on Caribbean economic history, cricket history and culture, and higher education.  The author of more than 10academic books he also serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals. He is also the founder and Director of the CLR James Centre for Cricket Research, and a former member of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library

Image: The Empire Windrush by Royal Navy official photographer, via Wikimedia Commons

Details:

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 19:00 - 20:30

Knowledge Centre
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB


Full Price: £12.00
Member: £8.00
Senior 60+: £10.00
Student: £8.00
Registered Unemployed: £8.00
Under 18: £8.00
Friend of the British Library: £8.00



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"Spectre"

..."Fear puts a spell on us
Always second-guessing love"...

Evidence that even absolute greatness can be misunderstood and rejected....

This song was better off given freely to music lover than in this film.

Ironically, I chave to share that clip in which Radiodead's 'Spectre' is included for you to hear it.
But the film producers actually disregarded the song.

Spectre (2015) Main Title with Radiohead Song & Credit

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Lyrics: 

"Spectre"

I'm lost, I'm a ghost
Dispossessed, taken host
My hunger burns a bullet hole
A spectre of my mortal soul
These rumours and suspicion
Anger is a poison
The only truth that I could see
Is when you put your lips to me
Futures tricked by the past
Spectre, how he laughs

Fear puts a spell on us
Always second-guessing love
My hunger burns a bullet hole
A spectre of my mortal soul
The only truth that I can see
Spectre has come for me

'Windrush generation' face deportation threat

History cruelly coming back to square one...

And ongoing unfairness!

Anger as 'Windrush generation' face deportation threat

Thousands of people who arrived in the UK as children in the first wave of Commonwealth immigration face being threatened with deportation.

BBC

11 April 2018

A slap in the face for the Windrush generation?

They have lived and worked in the UK for decades but many are now being told they are here illegally.

A new petition on the government's website calling on the Home Office to grant them an amnesty has attracted more than 23,000 signatures.

The Home Office said it would handle applications to stay "sensitively".

The problem arises from the fact that under the 1971 Immigration Act, all Commonwealth citizens already living in the UK were given indefinite leave to remain - but the right to free movement between Commonwealth nations was ended from that date onwards.

However, the Home Office did not keep a record of those granted leave to remain or issue any paperwork confirming it, meaning it is difficult for the individuals to now prove they are in the UK legally.

The Migration Observatory at Oxford University estimates there are 500,000 people resident in the UK who were born in a Commonwealth country and arrived before 1971. 

"This is a slap in the face for the Windrush generation," said Patrick Vernon, who started the petition, a reference to the Empire Windrush, which brought workers from the West Indies to Britain in 1948. 

People who had "worked hard, paid their taxes, raised children and see Britain as their home" were being "threatened and harassed" by the Home Office in what he described as "an historic injustice".

It was particularly ironic, he added, because 2018 was the 70th anniversary of the Empire Windrush's arrival at Tilbury docks, in Essex. 

He said his aim was to gain the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a debate in Parliament and force the government to stop deportations, establish an amnesty and pay compensation to those who had suffered "loss and hurt". 

Labour MP David Lammy, who is backing the campaign, tweeted: "We invited people as citizens, Home Office treating them like criminals."

People born in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries are thought to be more affected than those from other Commonwealth nations, as they were more likely to arrive on their parent's passports without their own ID documents.

Many have never applied for a passport in their own name or had their immigration status formalised, as they regarded themselves as British.

The Guardian newspaper has highlighted a number of cases of such people being threatened with deportation.

Earlier this year, the Labour peer Lord Faulkner raised the case of Paulette Wilson, a former cook at the House of Commons, who had come to Britain from Jamaica in 1968.

"(She) had never applied for a passport because she assumed she would not need one if she did not intend to travel abroad," he told the House of Lords. 

"One day, she got a letter from the Home Office telling her to register each month at the Solihull immigration centre.

"While she was there on a visit, officials declared that she was an illegal immigrant, had her carted off to the appalling Yarl's Wood immigration removal complex and told her that she would be deported - presumably back to Jamaica, which she had not visited since she left as a child almost 50 years before," he added.

She was saved from deportation by the intervention of her MP, Emma Reynolds, and the Refugee and Migrant Centre in Wolverhampton.

She has now been given leave to remain, said Lord Faulkner, "although she has lost benefits for the past two years, as well as her flat, and has to rely on financial support from her daughter".

He said there were "many others" like Mrs Wilson - and he blamed measures introduced by then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2013 to make the UK a "hostile environment" for illegal immigrants, restricting access to jobs, driving licences, benefits, health care and accommodation.

He said this had "clearly led to overzealous interventions by officials". 

Valued contribution?

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We value the contribution made by former Commonwealth citizens who have made a life in the UK. 

"We want to assure individuals who have resided in the UK for an extended period but feel they may not have the correct documentation confirming their status that there are existing solutions available. 

"They should take legal advice and submit the appropriate application with correct evidence so we can progress the case.

"We have no intention of making people leave who have the right to remain here," the Home Office added.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said there were cases of Australian, Canadian and South African, Indian and Pakistan-born citizens facing the same problem.

But it was "not as likely you will be asked to demonstrate your immigration status" by landlords or officials if you were "white and of European origin", JCWI chief executive, Satbir Singh, told BBC News. 

The JCWI is calling for Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1971 to be given the same status as EU citizens living in the UK, who will face a much lower burden of proof of residence than the Commonwealth citizens after Brexit.

The final details have yet to be confirmed but EU citizens may be able to produce things like school registration paperwork or library cards to prove residence, something that would not be accepted from Commonwealth citizens, the campaign group said.

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Link to the BBC's website: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-43726976

About AI

About the "Do You Trust This Computer?" documentary. 

The problem's not about trusting the machine. It’s about devaluating what humans are, what emotions, empathy, experience bring in the way we are conscious & intelligent. It is about different kinds of intelligence...

'Do You Trust This Computer?' - Trailer

Do You Trust This Computer? (2018)

Science fiction has long anticipated the rise of machine intelligence. Today, a new generation of self-learning computers has begun to reshape every aspect of our lives. Incomprehensible amounts of data are being created, interpreted, and fed back to us in a tsunami of apps, personal assistants, smart devices, and targeted advertisements. Virtually every industry on earth is experiencing this transformation, from job automation, to medical diagnostics, even military operations. Do You Trust This Computer? explores the promises and perils of our new era. Will A.I. usher in an age of unprecedented potential, or prove to be our final invention?

http://doyoutrustthiscomputer.org

KEY scene

Abyss in a box...

Watch the keY (W)hole. "Mulholland Drive" is a very interesting film regarding external manipulation of "timelines".

'Clouds In My Sunshine'

A song of hope...

Despite the worse situations and history, the American "reservations", the Indigenous people of North America managed to perpetrate their culture and message of respect for life.

One example:

Redbone - 'Clouds In My Sunshine' 

From the fifth Redbone album, Wovoka, released in 1973 Epic Records - KE 32462 Lolly Vegas - Vocals, Guitar Pat Vegas - Vocals, Bass Tony Bellamy - Vocal, Guitar Arturo Perez - Drums Produced by Pat and Lolly Vegas Video By Diaz Bros.

'Buffalo soldier'

While reading more on the history of the Indigenous people of North America.

Bob Marley - 'Buffalo soldier'

Lyrics:

Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta There was a Buffalo Soldier In the heart of America Stolen from Africa, brought to America Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival I mean it, when I analyze these things To me, it makes a lot of sense How the dreadlock Rasta was the Buffalo Soldier And he was taken from Africa, brought to America Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival Said he was a Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta Buffalo Soldier, in the heart of America If you know your history Then you would know where you coming from Then you wouldn't have to ask me Who the heck do I think I am I'm just a Buffalo Soldier In the heart of America Stolen from Africa, brought to America Said he was fighting on arrival Fighting for survival Said he was a Buffalo Soldier Win the war for America Said he was a, woe yoy yoy, woe woe yoy yoy Woe yoy yoy yo, yo yo woy yo, woe yoy yoy Woe yoe yoe, woe woe yoe yoe Woe yoe yoe yo, yo yo woe yo woe yo yoe Buffalo Soldier, troddin' through the land woo ooh Said he wanna ran, then you wanna hand Troddin' through the land, yea, yea Said he was a Buffalo Soldier Win the war for America Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival Driven from the mainland To the heart of the Caribbean Singing, woe yoy yoy, woe woe yoy yoy Woe yoy yoy yo, yo yo woy yo woy yo yoy Woy yoy yoy, woy woy yoy yoy Woy yoy yoy yo, yo yo woe yo woe yo yoy Troddin' through San Juan In the arms of America Troddin' through Jamaica, a Buffalo Soldier Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta Woe yoe yoe, woe woe yoe yoe Woe yoe yeo yo, yo yo woe yo woe yo yoe Mostrar menos

Chris Maker à la Cinémathèque de Paris

A venir: une exposition  CHRIS MARKER   En mai 2018

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More soon...

Falling Into Place?

Radiohead - 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' - Live At Reading Festival 2009

'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' 

Lyrics

Just as you take my hand, Just as you write my number down, Just as the drinks arrive, Just as they play your favorite song... As your blather disappears, No longer wound up like a spring. Before you've had too much, Come back and focus again. The wall's abandon shape, You've got a Cheshire cat grin. All blurring into one, This place is on a mission. Before the night owl, Before the animal noises, Closed circuit cameras, Before you're comatose. Before you run away from me, Before you're lost between the notes, The beat goes round and round, The beat goes round and round! I never really got there, I just pretended that I had. What's the point of instruments? Words are a sawed off shotgun. Come on and let it out, Come on and let it out, Come on and let it out, Come on and let it out. Before you run away from me, Before you're lost between the notes, Just as you take the mic, Just as you dance, dance, dance... Jigsaw falling into place, There is nothing to explain. Regard each other as you pass: She looks back, you look back. Not just once, not just twice. Wish away the nightmare, Wish away the nightmare. You've got a light, you can feel it on your back. You've got a light, you can feel it on your back. Jigsaw falling into place.


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