Apparently, Iran is about to close the Strait of Hormuz. Again. I didn´t realize it was supposed to be open? The reason is Israel´s offensive in Lebanon against Iran´s allies Hizbollah. Again.
So I suppose Vance has to strut all the way to Islamabad again for another round of negotiations with the defeated, overthrown and non-existent Iranian regime...
Again.
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| - Yeah, I´m an extinct Giant Swan from Malta, so how does this Hormuz opening help me? |
So apparently the Strait of Hormuz has been opened. For ten days. Because of something in Lebanon. Maybe. Don´t get me wrong, but does anyone even care anymore?
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| Credit: fir0002 |
The Iranian regime (which supposedly doesn´t exist anymore c/o Trump) just closed the Strait of Hormuz again. Oh.
Tobias Hübinette tar kraftigt avstånd från vänsterns anti-semitism. Kan ju bli problem, då...
The Syrian Civil War rekindles, and is even more complex than before. The article below is from a Ukrainian newspaper. It states that Ukraine´s intelligence services have been training the rebel forces (many of whom are Islamists) fighting the Syrian army in Aleppo. The Syrian military and the Assad regime are backed by Russia.
But note that the rebels are also sponsored by Turkey, usually seen as an almost-ally of Russia in other theatres! So in Syria, Russia and Turkey are enemies...while Turkey and Ukraine are friends?! To make the situation even more complex, the "SDF" (really the Kurdish YPG or PKK) have attacked Aleppo from the east. But the SDF are anti-Turkish...
Oh, and both Hamas (pro-Turkish/pro-rebel) and Hizbollah (anti-Turkish/pro-Assad) are sponsored by Iran against Israel and the United States.
I wish Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner good luck at their new jobs.
Ukrainian trained, Turkish sponsored Syrian rebels lead assault on Aleppo
This must be the strangest aspect of the recent US presidential election campaign. Trump managed to convince at least a portion of the Muslim/Arab community in the battleground state of Michigan to vote for him as "the peace candidate".
Note also that Richard Grenell played a prominent role in the Muslim/Arab outreach. I suppose they "forgot" to mention that Grenell is, ahem, gay...
I suppose it´s within the realm of the possible that Trump, whose son-in-law Jared Kushner was instrumental in negotiating the Abraham accords, will tell Israel to cool it, so the accords (the real purpose of which is to encircle Iran) will survive. However, "possible" and "probable" aren´t the same thing.
Besides, Biden and Harris also support the Abraham accords and are more likely to tell Israel to wind down its military actions in Gaza and Lebanon. Or engineer Netanyahu´s ouster in favor of a more "moderate" leader. So it still makes no sense from a "pro-Palestinian" perspective to vote for Trump.
Is the US the only nation in the world were the Jews support the "anti-Israeli" candidates, while the Muslims vote for the "pro-Israeli" one? Amerikwa is crazier than I imagined!
THOT is (of course) a sexist meme. It means That Hoe Over There. Here are two women who try very hard to actually be...well...THOTs.
This is some kind of feminist nightmare!
Monica Lewinsky suggests sex, coloring books against election anxiety
Ex-porn star Mia Khalifa still supports Hamas, etc
Öh...jaha? Vill Danmark invadera Mellersta Östern? Och göra vad, återupprätta det osmanska riket kanske?
Men okej, om Fredriksen går med på att sälja Grönland till Trump för lite smörrebröd, så kanske USA kommer att hjälpa till med en smärre intervention i södra Beirut?
Some musings by the Supreme Dark Lord on the recent Israeli attacks on Hizbollah in Lebanon.
He obviously has a point, since attacks of this kind are unlikely to have any military significance, and the psychological impact on a militant cadre organization of religious fanaticos (as opposed to civilians) probably isn´t very large either. Add to that the global distrust against high tech gadgets that might follow in their wake. Tech bubble, anyone?
The transhumanist agenda was probably DOA anyway, but I´m sure the cultists will continue for another 20 years or so, until they drop dead, their heads preserved for posterity in a cryo-chamber somewhere on a melting glacier in Greenland, but I´m talking too much...
Is this true? Are historians and archeologists really this stupid? Or is it conspiracy theory as usual?
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| Credit: Meganesia |
Thus, Karlsson points out that Monophysite Christians played a leading intellectual
role in the medieval Muslim world, collecting ancient Greek or Roman
manuscripts, and then translating them into Semitic languages. In the “multi-culturalist”
pro-Muslim propaganda, this is often credited to the Muslims themselves. The Catholic crusader states were multi-ethnic
and multi-religious (except for the city of Jerusalem, where only Christians
were allowed to live). Medieval Muslim historians considered the crusades to be
a minor nuisance, instead viewing the Mongols as the larger threat. When a
German emperor during the 19th century wanted to pay homage to
Saladin, it took considerable time to locate the tomb of the legendary Muslim
leader, since it had been almost forgotten! Muslim obsession with the crusades
is mostly a 20th century phenomenon, a kind of counterpoint to the
*modern* Western encroachments on the Middle East (and, of course, Israel). It
works in tandem with Western obsessions about the same thing, positive or
negative. The roots of the present situation in the Middle East are in any case
to be found in the aftermath of World War I, and has nothing to do with the Middle
Ages.
Karlsson does consider the Turkish/Kurdish massacres of the Armenians to
have been a genocide, but also points out that the Armenians supported Russia
during World War I (which technically made them traitors, since the Ottoman
Empire was allied with Germany), that Armenian terrorist groups existed long before
the genocide, and that they often targeted Kurdish civilians. One Armenian group
even massacred Kurds in the hope that they would retaliate and the ensuing
chaos provoke a British intervention (which never materialized). The Turks are
often cast as evil oppressors by liberals and leftists in the West, but were
just as often on the receiving end of violence and ethnic cleansing, for
instance in Greece and Bulgaria during the 19th century Balkan wars.
The Greeks began their liberation struggle against the Ottoman Empire by large
scale massacres of Turks in the Peloponnese. I get the impression that Karlsson
has a (perhaps involuntary) admiration for Kemal Atatürk, the authoritarian Turkish
nationalist who managed to stop the dismemberment of Turkey in the aftermath of
World War I.
More recent alliances in the region are often extremely confusing. Thus,
the pro-Israeli South Lebanese Army (SLA) during the Lebanese civil war was led
by an Eastern Catholic and mostly consisted of Shia Muslims?! The Armenian Churches
outside Armenia are part-Arab, since affiliating with these Churches gives you
a higher social standing. In Iraq, about half of the Christians belong to a
Shia-dominated pro-Iranian coalition. The Iraqi gentleman who spent most of
last year burning Qurans in Sweden have a background in this milieu. One thing
not mentioned in the book are the weird alliances of the Druze, a peculiar
minority religion found in both Israel, Syria and Lebanon. Maybe the next
edition can fill us in?
The most controversial chapter is probably the last one, in which
Karlsson makes negative comments about the “Assyrian” immigration to Sweden
from Syria during the 1970´s and 1980´s. He wonders why nobody was surprised
about the fact that a people who disappeared from history 2,600 years ago
suddenly re-appeared…in the Swedish town of Södertälje! Most of the “Assyrians”
were members of the Syriac Orthodox Church and hence didn´t identify as Assyrian.
Mass immigration of Syriac Orthodox from Syria to Sweden mainly took place from
the Qamishly district, where no Syriac were persecuted by the Assad regime,
many of the regional officials and officers were Syriac, and a Syriac church
stood next to the building of the secret police. One of the first persons from
Qamishly to get political asylum in Sweden as a refugee was a local boss of the
ruling Baath party! Many of the “refugees” regularly returned to Qamishly (even
greeting the Swedish “refugee coordinator”), forged and strangely uniform documents
proving “persecution” were legion, one of the “banned Assyrian organizations”
was actually legal and complained about the exodus, and so on. Delegations of “refugees”
often visited Syria in order to construct new “native languages” which were
then taught in Swedish schools (at the tax-payers expense) to Syriac children. The
Syriac Christians referred to Sweden as “Ammo Djebbo”, a naïve and stupid
character who tries to become popular by giving everyone money, while people
laugh behind his back…
Karlsson claims that the political parties in Sweden each had their own
favorite refugee/immigrant group during the 1970´s and 1980´s. The Social Democrats
promoted Latin Americans, the Left Party the Kurds, the Center Party the West
Saharans (!), the Conservatives anti-Communists from the Soviet bloc, and the Liberal
Party “Christians from the Middle East” – actually, mostly the Syriac Orthodox.
However, at the end of the book, it becomes obvious that Karlsson doesn´t really
oppose immigration. *Today* the Christians in the Middle East are more
persecuted than ever (he blames one George W Bush for this), and presumably
wants the Western world to give them asylum. Instead, Ammo Djebbo has suddenly
become jaded and cynical, and now doesn´t want to let anyone inside.
With that, I end this little review.
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| Credit: Iranian Army (!) |
Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon are attacking Israel with drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Ongoing.
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| En sionistisk T-Rex jagar en liten Lundaprofessor |
Jag undrar vad Malm anser om Sveriges NATO-ansökan. Han stödde nämligen NATO:s intervention i Libyen mot Gaddafi och uppmanade den dåvarande svenska högerregeringen att skicka JAS-plan för att backa USA. Malm måste vara glad över att NATO-medlemmen Turkiet stödjer Hamas och snart ska få F-16 från Förenta Staterna.
Eller nej?
Och att Lunds universitet värnar yttrandefriheten är givetvis skitsnack. Tror någon att en frispråkig sverigedemokrat hade fått vara professor i Lund? Nä, just det. Eller ens en Gaddafi-anhängare...
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| The real flag of Småland... but quite similar to the one seen in the TV series! Credit: FlaggorOnline.se |
“Det finns inga smålänningar” is a four-part
Swedish TV series first aired in 1981 (and probably never aired since). It´s
easily the most controversial production ever shown on SVT (Swedish public
service television). A total of 164 complaints were registered with Radionämnden,
the government agency tasked with overseeing public service TV and radio in Sweden.
In the end, Radionämnden decided not to take any action. Critics in the media accused
the series of being absurd, partisan, anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic, but many
also called it “pretentious twaddle” and considered it an embarrassment for SVT.
Absurd and confusing were other judgments. And yes, it´s about the Israel-Palestine
conflict!
The series retells the conflict between Jews/Israelis
and Arabs/Palestinians in allegoric form, placing it on an alternate timeline
in which a broadly similar conflict takes place in Sweden. The point of the
exercise is presumably to make it easier for the average Swedish TV viewer to
identify with the Palestinians, since they are recast as Swedish-speaking
peasants living in refugee camps, but if that was the intention, it probably
failed. Instead, “Det finns inga smålänningar” gives a chaotic and surrealistic
impression, and frequently comes across as a real turkey. Pro-Palestinian activists
could probably decode the various esoteric references in the series, but I doubt
anybody else came even close. I actually watched the first episode as a kid, didn´t
get half of it, and never watched the rest – until now (it´s available on SVT
Play, but can only be seen in Sweden). Interestingly, I remember it being even
more surreal than it actually was!
The title “Det finns inga smålänningar” means ”There are no Smålanders”, Småland being a historical province of Sweden. It´s a reference to Golda Meir´s notorious statement “There are no Palestinians”. In the series, Småland symbolizes Palestine, the town of Jönköping being Jerusalem. That´s actually quite apt, since Jönköping is often jokingly called “Småland´s Jerusalem” due to its large evangelical Christian community. The area of Värend in Småland symbolizes Israel, and its inhabitants (known as “virdar”) are a stand-in for the Jews. Zionism is called “viridism” in the series, a wholly fictitious concept! The forces of Värend expel the other Smålanders (= the Palestinians) in a bloody war of conquest. Östergötland is Lebanon, Västergötland is Syria and Skåne (Scania) is Egypt. Öresund is the Suez Canal. Somewhat confusingly, the rest of Sweden symbolizes the real Sweden, while no equivalent of Jordan has been included.
The PLO is called the Småland Liberation Organization (SBO) and its leader does look like a convincing cross between Arafat and Castro. The Smålandian militant Lisa Jonsson is clearly based on the PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled. Like her real counterpart, Lisa hijacks an airplane and blows it up. The Smålanders are depicted as simple rural folk who suffer in refugee camps without ever really “getting it”, expect for the younger generation who goes on to form the militant SBO. It struck me that this could be an allegory for young people during the 1970´s becoming leftist radicals, while their parents and grandparents are apolitical and aloof.
Indeed, the entire series could be taken as a fantasy of a revolution in 1970´s Sweden, with the Smålander-Palestinians being "the working class" or "the common people", the treacherous Arab leaders really being the Social Democrats, and so on. At one point, the displaced Smålanders clearly symbolize 1970´s immigrants in Sweden looking for gainful employment, not Palestinians in the Middle East. Maybe it´s a double allegory? Even the use of folk music – which looks rural and traditional – is really
a 1970´s Swedish leftist thing in context, since “progressive” music was
sometimes “folksy”.
It was (of course) the series´ sympathetic portrayal of the Palestinians, including the PLO, that made it intensely controversial. Today, a pro-Israeli series would probably be seen as far worse, which may tell us how (purported) public opinion has shifted since 1981. But, as already indicated, “Det finns inga smålänningar” is so absurdistic that it´s difficult to believe that *it* moved the needle!
On one point, I actually found the series quite
funny: the reporter Valter Ersson is depicted as vain, careerist, uncomprehending
towards the plight of the refugees, and even something of a fake. While this
may be an unfair caricature of an actual foreign news correspondent, it does
capture a certain breed of “intellectuals” almost to a tee. The series is also
hilariously precocious: in one episode, one of Ersson´s colleagues says that
anything pro-Småland (i.e. pro-Palestinian) will surely be reported to
Radionämnden! Go figure.
I think it´s pretty obvious why I decided
to watch “There are no Smålanders” now. Let´s face it, the fact that SVT could
show an anti-Zionist/pro-hijacker propaganda production in 1981 and get away with
it, probably does tell us something of our Woke predicament. But, to repeat myself again,
“Det finns inga smålänningar” in itself is so peculiar that I suspect it had
very little effect on public opinion either way. Even today, it comes across
more like a monument to the stranger strands of the 1970´s left-intellectual
mindset...
Some stray links that may be of some interest. Note especially the joint statement signed by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, the DFLP and the PFLP-GC. In other words, by both Islamists and secular Marxist-Leninists! Here we go again, apparently.
But then, we already knew that the PFLP and the DFLP actually participated in the Hamas attacks/pogroms on October 7. I assume these groups are largely irrelevant today, and jumped on the Hamas bandwagon as a desperate attempt to shore up their credentials. They will probably be driven into the sea once Palestine is "free" under a Hamas caliphate...or thrown out of helicopters.
Note also the link about North Korean/Iranian arms deliveries to Hamas. How *do* you smuggle weapons into Gaza, I wonder? Isn´t it supposed to be under blockade or something...
The Wise Dog
One day there passed by a company of cats a wise dog.
And as he came near and saw that they were very intent and heeded him not, he stopped.
Then there arose in the midst of the company a large, grave cat and looked upon them and said, “Brethren, pray ye; and when ye have prayed again and yet again, nothing doubting, verily then it shall rain mice.”
And when the dog heard this he laughed in his heart and turned from them saying, “O blind and foolish cats, has it not been written and have I not known and my fathers before me, that that which raineth for prayer and faith and supplication is not mice but bones.”
The Eye
Said the Eye one day, “I see beyond these valleys a mountain veiled with blue mist. Is it not beautiful?”
The Ear listened, and after listening intently awhile, said, “But where is any mountain? I do not hear it.”
Then the Hand spoke and said, “I am trying in vain to feel it or touch it, and I can find no mountain.”
And the Nose said, “There is no mountain, I cannot smell it.”
Then the Eye turned the other way, and they all began to talk together about the Eye's strange delusion. And they said, “Something must be the matter with the Eye.”
The Two Learned Men
Once there lived in the ancient city of Afkar two learned men who hated and belittled each other's learning. For one of them denied the existence of the gods and the other was a believer.
One day the two met in the marketplace, and amidst their followers they began to dispute and to argue about the existence or the non-existence of the gods. And after hours of contention they parted.
That evening the unbeliever went to the temple and prostrated himself before the altar and prayed the gods to forgive his wayward past.
And the same hour the other learned man, he who had upheld the gods, burned his sacred books. For he had become an unbeliever.
I admit that I know next to nothing about Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), the Lebanese-American writer and Symbolist painter whose most well-known literary work is “The Prophet”, first published in the United States in 1923. According to all-knowing Wiki, “The Prophet” is one of the most popular books ever written, so it´s a bit embarrassing that I literally never heard of it until maybe one or two years ago! I recently read it. It´s available free on the web, and is quite short. It´s not really a “book” sensu stricto, but rather a kind of extended poem. I have no idea what it "really" means, so please take this review with a grain of salt.
The setting of the story is simple. The prophet "Almustafa" has lived in the city of "Orphalese" for 12 years, and must now embark on a ship that will take him back to his home island. The people of the city gather around him one last time to hear his wise preaching on a variety of topics. The rest of the booklet is that preaching. The context strikes me as syncretist. Mustafa means "the chosen one" and is an epithet of Muhammad in Islam, but the prophet´s poetic speech is clearly inspired by Jesus´ Sermon on the Mount. Orphalese itself is pagan, but the people are described as sympathetic to Almustafa´s presence. The city priestess is named Almitra, a reference to the pagan deity Mitra or Mithras. What "Orphalese" itself means seems to be anybody´s guess. A reference to Orpheus, the phallus, or what?
I haven´t bothered trying to decode all of the prophet´s spiritual metaphors, but a few things stand out. The illustrations in the book (made by Gibran himself) are influenced by William Blake´s art. There also seem to be a family likeness with Tarot cards. Almustafa believes in reincarnation, and when he promises to return to Orphalese at some point in the future, rebirth rather than a literal second coming is meant. Also, the "ship" seems to be a symbol for an impersonal divine, so the "journey home" is presumably a temporary merging with the Brahman. Indeed, Almustafa doesn´t seem very keen on going "home"!
The prophet´s sermon does sound Jesus-like at times. Nobody is really evil, in some sense everyone is guilty of the crimes of everyone else, and giving (both material and emotional) is one of the highest goods. Work is also important, but the worker should toil for all members of society, including paupers and poets.
Love trumps all - a love for everyone and everything. Love between spouses is less important, and children should be set free as soon as possible. One striking theme in "The Prophet" is the notion that suffering is inevitable, indeed, it´s somehow part of the good, or even good in itself. This is emphasized again and again.
There is an antinomian tendency in the preaching, since Almustafa clearly doesn´t believe in the efficacy of laws and regulations. Animals and plants are completely free. Earthly pleasure is not rejected, although it must somehow be ultimately transcended. If everyone would be completely pure, there would be no need for clothes or personal grooming?! There is also a pantheist tendency, for instance when the prophet says: "People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror."
So in summary, we seem to be dealing with a "proto-hippie" sage promoting communitas and liminality, while rejecting most things that *actually* hold society together: romantic marriage, responsible child-rearing, work without promiscuous sharing, a tough attitude towards criminals and (I suppose) streakers...
No wonder "The Prophet" is so popular in California!
Still, there is an additional trait perhaps not present in New Age spirituality: the daring acceptance of suffering and sorrow as inevitable in a completely free existence.
With that, I close my review of Kahlil Gibran´s "The Prophet". Live long and prosper! Or not.
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| Credit: Wikipedia |
So I recently visited a bookstore centrally placed in a rather large Swedish city. By Swedish standards, of course.
This particular bookstore had a wide assortement of books on everything ranging from history to pet animals. So I checked its section on religion and spirituality...
WTF???!!
The absolute majority of volumes on sales were about - wait for it - crystals, "positive thinking" (including one Rhonda Byrne), astrology, and even more crystals!
New Age crystals in the year 2023??? Hopefully, these are the books the store has failed to sell...since, I don´t know, 1990 or thereabouts?
I also noticed a surprisingly large amount of copies of Kahlil Gibran´s "The Prophet". I never read it, but at least that´s a bit different from all that crystalline confusion...
In completely unrelated news, the guy at the local pizza place looked at me, laughed and said: "You know, COVID is coming back".
Maybe I should buy one of those crystals, after all...
