#chief among them being 'middle eastern' being used at all

[sangfielle]

this feels like an offensively bad way to divide these things

[bookofjin]

Account of the Eastern Barbarians (LS54)

[百濟: Middle Chinese: *Paek-tsej, Standard Chinese: Bǎijì, Korean: Baekje, had quite extensive contact with Jiankang through seaborn travel.

[新羅: Middle Chinese: *Sin-la, Standard Chinese: Xīnluó, Korean: Silla, was probably the least known Korean kingdom to Six Dynasties China.

[倭: Middle Chinese: *'Wa, Standard Chinese: Wō, Japanese: Wa in more recent centuries has been used as a rather derogatory name for Japan. However this might not have been the case during the Six Dynasties when Japan was after all a remote and little known land in China.

A lot of this material derive from the Sanguozhi, and so was not exactly new when the Liangshu was written.

Also, please don't eat people even if their flesh is delicious.]

Among the states of the Eastern Yi, Chaoxian is the larger part. They obtained Jizi's conversions, and their receptacles and things still have rites and music. In the time of Wei, that of Chaoxian which belonged to the Dongma Han and the Chen Han for generations communicated with the Central States. Since Jin went beyond the Jiang, there floated envoys from east of the sea, and there was Gaogouli and Baiji, and in the timespan of Song and Qi they regularly exchanged appointments and tribute. When Liang flourished, they also made additions to them. The state of Fusang was in the past unknown. Middle of Putong [520 – 527], there was person of the Way that claimed he ad arrived from there. His words on the primary origins were particularly thorough, and for that reason [I] have also copied them.

…

Baiji, their ancestors among the Eastern Yi were the states of the Three Han. The first was called Mahan, the second Chenhan, and the third Bianhan. The Bianhan and Chenhan each had twelve states, Mahan had 54 states. The great states had more than ten thousand families, the small states had several thousand families, altogether there were more than a hundred thousand households. Baiji was precisely one of them. Later they gradually become strong and large, and combined the various small states. Their state was originally together with Gouli located east of Liaodong. During the Jin period when Gouli was roughly possessing Liaodong, Baiji likewise occupied land of Liaoxi and Jinping commandeiers, and from them set up Baiji commandery.

Middle of Jin's Taiyuan [376 – 396] there was King Xu, middle of Yixi [405 – 418] King Yuying, middle of Song's Yuanjia [424 – 453], King Yupi. All of them dispatched to present living mouths. Yupi died, they installed his son Qing. Qing died, his son Moudu was installed. Du died, they installed his son Moutai. Middle of Qi's Yongming [483 – 493], he was appointed Great Chief Controller for the Various Army Affairs of Baiji, Great General who Quells the East, and King of Baiji.

…

Xinluo, their ancestors were originally of the Chenhan kind. The Chenhan were also called the Qin Han, the distance between them was ten ten thousand li. Tradition say that in the age of Qin, fugitives fled conscription and came consequently to the Mahan. The Mahan likewise cut off their eastern area to settle them. Since they were people of Qin, they for that reason were called Qin Han. How they call things in their language resembles people from the Central States. They call a state a country, a bow an arc, a thief a bandit, and drinking wine as drinking toasts. They all call each other convicts, which is not the same as the Mahan. Also for the kings of the Chenhan they regularly employed people of the Mahan to make them. For generations they were bound together, the Chenhan did not mange to install themselves as kings, and they made clear them being drifting and shifting people was the reason.

The Chenhan at first had six states, little by little they divided to become twelve, Xinluo is precisely one of them. Their state is located more than 5 000 li south-east of Baiji. East of their land they adjoin the great sea, and north and south they have borders with Gouli and Baiji. In the time of Wei they were called Xinlu, in the time of Song Xinluo and sometimes Siluo. Their state was small and they were unable to communicate through envoys and missions.

…

The Wo refer to themselves as descendants of Taibo, by custom they all decorate their bodies. The distance from Daifang is more than 12 000 li. For the most part they are located east of Kuaiji, the distance between them is exceedingly long. From Daifang to Wo, [you] follow the sea and travelling by water, go past the Han states, east then south, and after more than 7 000 li, first cross one sea. The sea is more than 1 000 li broad and is named the Han Sea. [You] arrive at the state of Yizhi. Again cross one sea for more than 1000 li, named the state of Weilu. Again travel south-east by land 500 li to arrive at the state of Yidu. Again travel south-east 100 li to arrive at the state of Nu. Again travel east 100 li to arrive at the state of Bumi. Again travel south 20 days by water to arrive at the state of Touma. Again travel 10 days south by water, and travel by land a month and a day to arrive at the state of Qimatai, which is precisely where the King of Wo resides.

Their officials are the Yizhima, next the Mimahuozhi, next the Nuwangdi. The people grow millet, rice, ramie, and hemp, silkworms and mulberry, they weave and spin. They have ginger, cinnamon, tangerine, (fagara) pepper and perilla. They produce black pheasant, true pearls, and blue-green jade. There is an animal which is like an ox, named the shanshu [lit. “mountain mouse]. There is also a great snake that swallows this animal. The snake's skin is hard and not possible to cut, On it there is a hole which opens and closes, sometimes it is glowing. Shoot and hit it, and the snake then dies.

The things and products are roughly similar to Dan'er and Zhuya. The land is warm and temperal, the manners and customs are not licentious. Men and women all expose their hair-knots [?]. The rich and noble use brocade embroidered with a mix of colours for their headgear, resembling the Central States' Hu-style wear. For food and drink they use bamboo bowls and platters. When they die, they have an inner-coffin but no outer-coffin, they raise a mound to make a tomb. The people all by nature have a thirst for alcohol. In their customs they do not know the correct year, but many live to old age. Many become eighty or ninety, some become a hundred years old. In their customs, women are many and men are few. The noble have four or five wives, the humble still have two or three wives. A wife is not licentious or jealous. They have no banditry or theft and few arguments and disputes. If [someone] transgress the law, if it is light they take his wife and children. If serious, they wipe out his clan.

Middle of Emperor Ling of Han's Guanghe era [178 – 184], the state of Wo was in chaos. They attacked and invaded each other over successive years, and then installed a woman, Beimihu as King [Middle Chinese: Pjie-mjie-xu]. Mihu had no husband and held close the Way of ghosts. She was able to deceive the multitudes, and for that reason the people of the state installed her. She had a younger brother who aided her in governing the sate. After becoming king, few saw her. She used a thousand servant girls to attend herself, and only made a single man set out and enter to pass on her teachings and orders. The location of her palace houses, regularly had troops and defending guards. Reaching Wei's 3rd Year of Jingchu [239 AD], after Gongsun Yuan was executed, Beimihu first dispatched envoys to court with tribute. Wei used her as King Friendly to Wei, making use of golden seal and purple ribbon.

Middle of Zhengshi [240 – 249], Beimihu died, and they once more installed a man as King. Within the state [people] did not submit, and once more executed and killed each other. Then they installed a clanswoman of Beimihu, Taiyu, as King. After her they then installed a man as King. All accepted the Central States' feudal titles and instructions. In the time of Emperor An of Jin [r. 396 – 419], there was King Zan of Wo. Zan died, they installed his younger brother Mi. Mi died, they installed his son Ji. Ji died, they installed his son Xing. Xing died, they installed his younger brother Wu. Middle of Qi's Jianyuan [479 – 482], they appointed Wu Holding the Tally, Controlling the Various Army Affairs of the Six States of Wo, Xinluo, Renna, Qieluo, Qinhan, and Muhan, and Great General who Quells the East.

…

South of them is the state of Zhuru [lit. “Midgets”], where people are three or four chi tall. Again south are the states of Heichi [“Black Teeth”] and Luo [“Nude”], the distance from Wo is more than 4 000 li, travel by boat is perhaps a year before arriving. Again south-west for more 10 000 li are the sea people. Their bodies are black and their eyeballs are white, they are nude and repulsive. Their flesh is delicious and travellers sometimes shoot and eat them.

The state of Wenshen [“Patterned Bodies”] is more than 7 000 li north-east of the state of Wo. People's limbs have patterns like animals, and on their heads are three patterns. Those whose patterns are straight are noble, those whose patterns are thin are humble. Their native custom is to be happy and pleased. Things are plentiful but worthless. Travelling guests do not offer provisions. They have roofs and eaves but no walled cities. The place where their king resides is decorated with gold, silver, and precious and magnificent [things]. They surround their houses with a moat, 1 zhang wide, and fill it with mercury. Rain then flows on top of the mercury. At the market they use precious treasure. Those who commit a light crime they whip and cane. Those who commit a capital crime, they set up a violent animal to eat them. If it is unjust, the violent animal will turn away and not eat them. If they pass through the night, they will pardon them.

The state of Dahan [“Great Han”] is more than 5 000 li east of the state of Wenshen. They have no troops or weapons, and they do not attack or battle. Their manners and customs are both similar to the state of Wenshen, but their language are different.

[vacantgodling]

pwease tell me more about jihan

oo thank u for asking! some more about jihan beloved <3

as mentioned he’s around 800 years old give or take. it’s a bit relative because he stopped keeping track of his age when he was about 150 and honestly, that was only because he was around people who cared about counting. if i imagine that this story takes place around the mid-2010s, then that would mean he was born he was born around 1200 or so 👀 if asked he’d classify his “mental age” as being around 40 or so because that’s around when he feels his personality was set in stone lol.

his ethnicity is also a bit of a mystery, but he’s not fully white. he suspects that he might have some african/middle eastern mixed in somewhere in his blood and he’s probably from the mediterranean, but getting turned kind of fucked up a lot of the features he had as a human or any semblance of his memory about being human soooooo… a bit unhelpful lmao. on this vein he does speak about 20 assorted languages conversationally. his strongest ones are 1. english 2. arabic 3. french 4. mandarin/cantonese—it’s kind of a blend really a lot of chinese people have had a hard time placing his accent or the words he use but it’s enough to get by LMAO.

he’s surprisingly pretty good with technology, hue is the “old dad that doesn’t understand tech” between them lmao.

because vampires in this universe have severe prosopagnosia the most recent memory of his face jihan doesn’t remember. some younger vampires he’s interacted with throughout his life will tend to have a pretty good grasp of their own features but jihan can’t be assed to remember. he kinda goes off of what people tell him and usually if he really looks like shit people will throw things at him so that’s his gauge 💀 however, he does miss being able to see what other people look like. not knowing FOR SURE what esther and ozzy or hue looks like kind of bothers him but he’s gotten really good at not dwelling on this. ozzy has gotten pretty good with art though and she’s promised him that one day she’ll draw him a family portrait so he can know what they all look like (art for him is a bit easier to process; he just says it looks only a bit fuzzy compared to everything else). it made him emotional haha.

jihan is extremely close with hue’s family. hue’s the only boy and has 3 older sisters, and he was the pillar for the four of them collectively when their mother suddenly passed away (well, it was suddenly but not entirely surprising. werewolves esp in this universe tend to “soul bond” with their mates and if one of them dies there’s a very high chance their mate will die from a broken heart. that’s what happened to their mother; around the first year hue and jihan began to date his father died suddenly in a car accident. their mom held out for a few years but eventually returned to their ancestral cave and passed away when she couldn’t take it.) bc jihan has lost many important people in his life before he was kind of able to guide them through grieving which strengthened he and hue’s bond but also his place in their pack tm.

speaking of other people jihan has loved, jihan would say he’s had 3 major loves before he and hue got together and started a family (making hue kind of chief among them; he never had any desire to settle down before hue). his first love was a human woman and he has a tattoo of a begonia on his thigh for her. his second love was a dryad and on his opposite thigh he has the type of tree they were; a birch. and the third was a witch and he has a potion bottle on the back of his neck for them.

jihan in general loves tattoos and has quite a bit. he has a tattoo for hue; a wolf shape over his heart, and he has yet to get tattoos for the girls yet but it’s only because he’s not sure what he should get for them. he’s thinking maybe a wand for esther and a paint brush for ozzy maybe in an X shape lol.

so that’s a bunch of rambles off the top of my head BUT if you wanted to know anything specific about jihan pls feel free to ask :’)

[generation1point5]

Though I’m waiting for The Smoke Room to be finished before I offer a full-blown review of my thoughts on the game and themes, I have a few thoughts on each of the routes as I’ve encountered them thus far.

1915 is a chaotic era in both US and world history. Being set in a historical era means that I approach the subject matter more from my analytical side than personal side; in some ways I relate with many of the other characters, but it isn’t to the same degree that I have with Echo; not that this is a bad thing, but it will certainly influence my analysis to follow.

It makes sense to me that The Smoke Room using Echo as a setting would not be concerned with world affairs; that being said, I figured Cliff’s story might have involved itself a little more with the Great War; he would have been around fighting age, and any relatives he had as a member of the gentry would have been conscripted as part of the Dutch’s contingency in case the war came to the Netherlands, not that it did. Even so, nationalist sentiments among all the countries of Europe at the time were arguably at its height; many of the world’s biggest empires in this era were in an existential fight for their place and prestige on the world stage. I wouldn’t expect Cliff himself to have any particular notions of pride in nationhood, but I would have thought to have glimpsed some of that in at least some of his family.

By that same measure, I’m curious to know more of Nik’s own situation, given that his own homeland is the chief battleground for the Eastern Front; any family he has left there would be in a kind of peril that no amount of money he might send could save them from. Even if he could pay for safe passage, any escape through the Baltic would have been at risk of attack from unrestricted U-Boat warfare as soon as they hit the North Atlantic. For both narrative and character reasons, these considerations are extremely peripheral to the central focus of the Smoke Room as a whole, but at the same time I can’t help but wonder how these factors would play into the psyche and the motivations of the characters, however minor. 

On the domestic front, The Smoke Room constructs a much more sophisticated picture. The more developed eastern United States coming into the modern age, slowly brings its technological progress and the dominion of capital upon the last vestiges of the United States frontier. With the growing assertion of federal oversight on these lands, the last vestiges of native independence are slowly but surely extinguished. On the opposite coast, the rapid development of California as a (former) hub for immigrants from the East and the gold rushes up and down the coast has capped the other side of the United States with a cosmopolitan hub and economic powerhouse in its own right. In the middle of all these developments, Echo becomes the confluence of a number of diverse characters of all sorts of backgrounds, the nexus of dire changes that bear down on a small town founded in the middle of a lurking, and growing, horror. In contrast to the Echo of 2015, the boomtown’s population was much larger, and much more diverse. Many more will presumably be witness to the horror that will begin the town’s slow but inevitable decline.

The inclusion of Chinese immigrants into the picture was a welcome surprise for me; the story of the diaspora that came in the late 19th century and their reaches is not readily portrayed outside of places beyond their point of origin and a brief mention of their work on the railroads, but some Chinese did in fact settle in the United States frontier (and in parts of the South!), as early as the closing years of the Wild West era. Their own eventual involvement in what may befall the town is a point of keen interest to me; as far as Echo itself is concerned, there will be more reasons than just racial tensions that would prompt their eventual exodus from the town.

In contrast to the paranormal forces of Echo as experienced in the modern day, the beings as they exist The Smoke Room thus far has been relegated to the background, presumably to erupt towards the end of the routes as events come to a head. A greater emphasis is placed on horrors of the artificial sort; the class disparity, the racism, the homophobia, the various factors that divide the town into haves and have-nots set the stage by which the supernatural events will inevitably unfold. I get a growing impression of “the Sins of the Fathers” as a theme in The Smoke Room; but this is by no means as black and white as the term implies. Like its predecessor, the lines between protagonist and antagonists are blurred. Among the more sympathetic characters there are real flaws that lead to devastating consequences. Sam kills in self-defense, kicking off the awakening of the evil that will eventually consume the town. William’s sense of justice, while not legalistic, is still bound by laws as applied by the pressure and the influence of those in power and led to the shattering of a family. Murdoch’s people-pleasing behavior puts him between the conflicting goals of his loved ones. Cliff’s well-intentioned anthropological pursuits retains the imperial paternalism of his privileged origins in Europe, and Nik’s protectiveness puts him at risk for the same pitfalls as Leo will fall into 100 years later. Countless external and internal factors, at a socioeconomic scale impacting the psyche of many individuals, create the dialectic which will set the destructive cycle of Echo to follow. From the beginning, the end is a foregone conclusion.

To bring this full circle with my initial observations before, I anticipate (and hope) that The Smoke Room will retain much of my initial impressions of Echo; a microcosm of the human condition at a point in time; accelerated by supernatural means to an inevitable conclusion. What we observe in the Smoke Room is Echo at its height, where the confluence of people from all around the world, great and humble alike, coalesce around a point at which its slow, entropic decline will begin. It serves as the counterpoint to Arches, where a small external group of strangers is witness to the final moments of the cycle burning through the cinders of its last victims, its last perpetuators. 

[indiejones]

THE STORY OF 'THE SHAH OF IRAN', NADER SHAH'S 1.5 YEAR TRYST WITH INDIA & IT'S 'KOHINOOR' !

Born in 1688, into poverty, accompanied with early parental loss, Nader Shah rose thru the ranks by first enlisting as a musketeer to one the governors, to first slowly but steadily rise to become his right hand man thru the years, & by 1724, cutting a deal during the Treaty of Constantinople, to acquire a city for his own rule in the north of Iran.

Via this position, Nader made strategic alliances with other satraps for common defense & came to acquire the confidence of then Shah of Iran, Tehmasp II, who then made him the chief of his entire army, and governor to many eastern provinces of Iran thereafter, aside giving his own daughter in marriage. But with rising disagreements over the years, Nader decides to depose him from the throne & appoint his baby son instead, who he subsequently deposes via a unanimous decision of all nobility, to become 'Shah of Iran' by 1736.

Thus bringing us closer to our main timeline for this blog, the year 1738, when Nader decides to invade India. But before we do so, let's brace ourselves to the ‘God blessings’ accumulated by Nader, he infact being among the much lesser blessed of most people in Iranian admin of then. We’re talking, as the Good Lord informs me via meditation, 1 Billion Billion….9,200 times mentioned Billion Governing Council members in family lineage, & with 18,200 immediate elders & relatives with exact same ‘blessing’ as Nader! His wife, & daughter of previous ‘Shah of Iran’ btw, carrying 1 Billion Billion…26,000 times mentioned Billion Governing Council members in family lineage & with 72,000 immediate elders & relatives with exact same ‘blessing’ as her!

Known to be a moderate Muslim, who traversed the middle path btwn his national Shia Muslim identity & Sunni Islam, Nader Shah infact played a key role in bringing Middle East Asian Persia & the West Asian Turkish/Ottoman Empire closer.

So, after conquering Kandahar & defeating the Hotaki Dynasty ruling the border areas of Iran & Afghanistan for long, Nader sets his sights on the dwindling Mughal Empire of 1738. Babur’s super successful Mughal force of 1520’s that had rapidly started depleting in influence after 175 yrs of rule esp after Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, now ruled by his descendant Muhammad Shah, again with same 3 Million Governing Council Members in lineage & 720,000 immediate elders & relatives in family with exact same ‘blessing’ as him…that’s roughly a mere 400,000 Billion GC lineage in all!

Moreover, with continual war-induced famine having engulfed Persia, accompanied with a reduction in exports over the decade, Persia was in deep financial crisis by this time. And all Nader had to barter & curry favors with, was his enormous ‘God blessings’, that a crazy India of the time was lusting after!

Entering India on pretext of nabbing runaway Afghan rebels from Kandahar, but actually to bolster his coffers, Nader Shah supposedly undertook a daring super-heroic flank march past steepest narrowest mountain passes, to surprise the Mughal northern vassal army waiting at mouth of Khyber Pass and beat them despite being outnumbers 2:1, paving the way for his easy conquest of Peshawar, Lahore, Sindh, Kabul & Ghazni, thereafter. 2 important things to remember in all this, is how Nader Shah also took along with him, a commander named Erekele II, the future king of Georgia, as his military commander, incidentally with 1 Billion….9,200 times mentioned Billion GC family lineage blessings with him & with 52,000 of his immediate family carrying exact same blessings! Further, per wiki itself, ‘tis boasted how Nader Shah with mere 50,000 men by his side, defeated the vast Muhammad Shah army, 8x larger, & with ground knowledge, at the Battle of Karnal, in merely 3 hrs flat. Basic understanding of ground warfare, would make us believe this to be a virtual impossibility w/o, as the Good Lord informs me, use of God blessings to get strategic support via winning key Mughal commanders’ hearts & minds over, carrying ~30,000 times more blessings to the entire Mughal blessing tally, as the Good Lord informs me via meditation, encompassed in just it’s top 2 members itself!

However, a slight disagreement with wiki accounts emerge, from their narration of how an accidental attack on & killing of Iranian army men, caused Nader to swear revenge & cause bloodbath in Delhi & enslavement of lakhs upon lakhs of women & children. But basic understanding of God rules states, how he couldn’t have done so, in a deeply God-believing & even God-blessed India of then, outside official war times, as also the facts as stated in wiki itself, & as Good Lord concurs with in meditation, on how Nader gave back all the land territory acquired east of Indus back to Muhammad Shah before returning, making us conclude that twas actually a mutually agreed settlement btwn Muhammad Shah & Nader Shah, that allowed Nader Shah to only walk out of India with the loot of gold, diamonds & other movable material wealth, in return for the land mass taken over during war, 80% of which btw, was looted back from him, by the Sikh warlords as a tired Nader army made it’s way back to Iran via the Punjab route – ie. 80% of Nader’s loot only shifted base from Delhi to Punjab, & stayed within India! This 80% sadly not including the famed Kohinoor diamond & other precious gemstones including the Darya-e-Noor diamonds, from Muhammad’s prized exclusive collection, as perhaps carried by Nader himself on own person for extra security.

A 20% catch, yet enough to, allow Nader to forego all tax liability on Iranian people, next 3 years! The ‘Hand of God’ evident over Nader Shah’s very brief conquest over India & it’s riches!

[jewellerymachinery]

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Harshad  group is  founded by Late Mr Hargovind Dhakan Babubhai about 45 years back. He started working as a goldsmith and he faced some problems & obstacles in jewellry manufacturing. Then being a true entrepreneur, he founded a one-stop solution of all jewellry manufacturing equipments “Harshad Group”

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[kemetic-dreams]

Never been a beef between Africans and African American it was a plan to divide us.

I have notice, whenever you speak or act proudly about being African. Everyone who is non African becomes an expert. Your not a real African, “they don’t like African Americans or African American hate you etc.

You never been to Africa, you don’t look like them!!!!

They feel comfortable when your Christian, because they feel they can control you and tame you, and in the end fight for their cause.

They feel comfortable when you wear their names and feel proud to wear their names. Makes them feel like their ancestors may have been rough with us, but did a good job that was needed.

Notice their are no African languages in most public schools

Notice how African religions are demonized!!!

This Document is Exhibit 10 of U.S. Supreme Court Case No.00-9587

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL MEMORANDUM-46 MARCH 17, 1978

Presidential Review Memorandum NSCM/46 TO: The Secretary of State The Secretary of Defense The Director of Central Intelligence SUBJECT: Black Africa and the U.S. Black Movement

The President has directed that a comprehensive review be made of current developments in Black Africa from the point of view of their possible impacts on the black movement in the United States. The review should consider:

1. Long-term tendencies of social and political developments and the degree to which they are consistent with or contradict the U.S. interests. 2. Proposals for durable contacts between radical African leaders and leftist leaders of the U.S. black community. 3. Appropriate steps to be taken inside and outside the country in order to inhibit any pressure by radical African leaders and organizations on the U.S. black community for the latter to exert influence on the policy of the  Administration toward Africa.

The President has directed that the NSC Interdepartmental Group for Africa  perform this review. The review should be forwarded to the NSC Political Analysis Committee by April 20.

(signed)

Zbigniew Brezinski cc: The Secretary of the Treasury The Secretary of Commerce The Attorney General The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff

Objective of our policy toward Black Africa is to prevent social upheavals which could radically change the political situation throughout the area. The success or failure of our policy in the region depends on the solution international and internal issues whose importance of the United States is on the increase.

II. A. U.S. INTERESTS IN BLACK AFRICA

A multiplicity of interests influences the U.S. attitude toward black Africa. The most important of these interests can be summarized as follows:

1. POLITICAL

If black African states assume attitudes hostile to the U.S. national interest, our policy toward the white regimes; which is a key element in our relations with the black states, may be subjected by the latter to great  pressure for fundamental change. Thus the West may face a real danger of being deprived of access to the enormous raw material resources of southern Africa which are vital for our defense needs as well as losing control over the Cape sea routes by which approximately 65% of Middle Eastern oil is supplied to Western Europe. Moreover, such a development may bring about internal political difficulties by intensifying the activity of the black movement in the United States itself. It should also be borne in mind that black Africa is an integral part of a continent where tribal and regional discord, economic backwardness, inadequate infrastructures, drought, and famine, are constant features of the scene. In conjunction with the artificial borders imposed by the former colonial powers, guerilla warfare in Rhodesia and widespread indignation against apartheid in South Africa, the above factors provide the communist states with ample opportunities for furthering their aims. This must necessarily redound to the detriment of U.S. political interests.

2. ECONOMIC

Black Africa is increasingly becoming an outlet for U.S. exports and investment. The mineral resources of the area continue to be of great value for the normal functioning of industry in the United States and allied countries. In 1977, U.S. direct investment in black Africa totaled about $1.8 billion and exports $2.2 billion. New prospect of substantial profits would continue to develop in the countries concerned.

IV. BLACK AFRICA AND THE U.S. BLACK MOVEMENT

Apart from the above-mentioned factors adverse to U.S. strategic interests, the nationalist liberation movement in black Africa can act as a catalyst with far reaching effects on the American black community by stimulating its organizational consolidation and by inducing radical actions. Such a result would be likely as Zaire went the way of Angola and Mozambique. An occurrence of the events of 1967-68 would do grievous harm to U.S. prestige, especially in view of the concern of the present Administration with human rights issues. Moreover, the Administration would have to take specific steps to stabilize the situation. Such steps might be misunderstood both inside and outside the United States.

In order to prevent such a trend and protect U.S. national security interests, it would appear essential to elaborate and carry out effective countermeasures.

1. Possibility of Joint Action By U.S. Black and African Nationalist Movement.

In elaborating U.S. policy toward black Africa, due weight must be given to the fact that there are 25 millions American blacks whose roots are African and who consciously or subconsciously sympathies with African nationalism. The living conditions of the black population should also be taken into account. Immense advances in the field are accompanied by a long-lasting high rate of unemployment, especially among the youth and by poverty and dissatisfaction with government social welfare standards. These factors taken together may provide a basis for joint actions of a concrete nature by the African nationalist movement and the U.S. black community. Basically, actions would take the form of demonstrations and public protests, but the likelihood of violence cannot be excluded. There would also be attempts to coordinate their political activity both locally and in international organizations.

Inside the United States these actions could include protest demonstrations against our policy toward South Africa accompanied by demand for boycotting corporations and banks which maintain links with that country; attempts to establish a permanent black lobby in Congress including activist leftist radical groups and black legislators; the reemergence of Pan-African ideals; resumption of protest marches recalling the days of Martin Luther King; renewal of the extremist idea national idea of establishing an "African Republic" on American soil. Finally, leftist radical elements of the black community could resume extremist actions in the style of the defunct Black Panther Party.

Internationally, damage could be done to the United States by coordinated activity of African states designed to condemn U.S. policy toward South Africa, and initiate discussions on the U.S. racial issue at the United Nations where the African representation constitutes a powerful bloc with about one third of all the votes.

A menace to U.S. economic interests, though not a critical one, could be posed by a boycott by Black African states against American companies which maintain contact with South Africa and Rhodesia. If the idea of economic assistance to black Americans shared by some African regimes could be realized by their placing orders in the United States mainly with companies owned by blacks, they could gain a limited influence on the U.S. black  community.

In the above context, we must envisage the possibility, however remote, that black Americans interested in African affairs may refocus their attention on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Taking into account; the African descent of American blacks it is reasonable to anticipate that their sympathies would lie with the Arabs who are closer to them in spirit and in some case related to them by blood. Black involvement in lobbying to support the Arabs may lead to serious dissention between American black and Jews. The likelihood of extremist actions by either side is negligible, but the discord may bring about tension in the internal political climate of the United States.

3. Political options

In the context of long-term strategy, the United States can not afford a radical change in the fundamentals of its African policy, which is designed for maximum protection of national security. In the present case, emphasis is laid on the importance of Black Africa for U.S. political, economic and military interests.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In weighing the range of U.S. interests in Black Africa, basic recommendations arranged without intent to imply priority are:

1. Specific steps should be taken with the help of appropriate government agencies to inhibit coordinated activity of the Black Movement in the United States.

2. Special clandestine operations should be launched by the CIA to generate mistrust and hostility in American and world opinion against joint activity of the two forces, and to cause division among Black African radical national groups and their leaders.

3. U.S. embassies to Black African countries specially interested in southern Africa must be highly circumspect in view of the activity of certain political circles and influential individuals opposing the objectives and methods of U.S. policy toward South Africa. It must be kept in mind that the failure of U.S. strategy in South Africa would adversely affect American standing throughout the world. In addition, this would mean a significant diminution of U.S. influence in Africa and the emergence of new difficulties in our internal situation due to worsening economic prospects.

4. The FBI should mount surveillance operations against Black African representatives and collect sensitive information on those, especially at the U.N., who oppose U.S. policy toward South Africa. The information should include facts on their links with the leaders of the Black movement in the United States, thus making possible at least partial neutralization of the adverse effects of their activity.

V. TRENDS IN THE AMERICAN BLACK MOVEMENT

In connection with our African policy, it is highly important to evaluate correctly the present state of the Black movement in the Untied States and basing ourselves on all available information, to try to devise a course for its future development. Such an approach is strongly suggested by our perception of the fact that American Blacks form a single ethnic group potentially capable of causing extreme instability in our strategy toward South Africa. This may lead to critical differences between the United States and Black Africa in particular. It would also encourage the Soviet Union to step up its interference in the region. Finally, it would pose a serious threat to the delicate structure of race relations within the United States. All the above considerations give rise to concern for the future security of the United States.

Since the mid-1960s, when legislation on the human rights was passed and Martin Luther King murdered, federal and local measures to improve black welfare have been taken, as a result of which the U.S. black movement has undergone considerable changes.

The principle changes are as follows:

*Social and economic issues have supplanted political aims as the main preoccupations of the movement. and actions formerly planned on a nationwide scale are now being organized locally.

*Fragmentation and a lack of organizational unity within the movement.

*Sharp social stratification of the Black population and lack of policy options which could reunite them.

*Want of a national leader of standing comparable to Martin Luther King.

B. THE RANGE OF POLICY OPTIONS

The concern for the future security of the United States makes necessary the range of policy options. Arranged without intent imply priority they are:

(a) to enlarge programs, within the framework of the present budget, for the improvement of the social and economic welfare of American Blacks in order to ensure continuing development of present trends in the Black movement;

(b) to elaborate and bring into effect a special program designed to perpetuate division in the Black movement and neutralize the most active groups of leftist radical organizations representing different social strata of the Black community: to encourage division in Black circles;

(c) to preserve the present climate which inhibits the emergence from within the Black leadership of a person capable of exerting nationwide appeal;

(d) to work out and realize preventive operations in order to impede durable ties between U.S Black organizations and radical groups in African states;

(e) to support actions designed to sharpen social stratification in the Black community which would lead to the widening and perpetuation of the gap between successful educated Blacks and the poor, giving rise to growing antagonism between different Black groups and a weakening of the movement as a whole.

(f) to facilitate the greatest possible expansion of Black business by granting government contracts and loans with favorable terms to Black businessmen;

(g) to take every possible means through the AFL-CIO leaders to counteract the increasing influence of Black labor organizations which function in all major unions and in particular, the National Coalition of Black Trade Union and its leadership including the creation of real preference for adverse and hostile reaction among White trade unionists to demands for improvement of social and economic welfare of the Blacks;

(h) to support the nomination at federal and local levels of loyal Black public figures to elective offices, to government agencies and the Court.

This would promote the achievement of a twofold purpose: first, it would be easier to control the activity of loyal black representatives within existing institution; second, the idea of an independent black political party now under discussion within black leadership circles would soon lose all support.

One more thing. I was on a program in Illinois recently with Senator Paul Douglas, a so-called liberal, so-called democrat, so-called white man, at which time he told me that our African Brothers were not interested in us in Africa. He said, the Africans are not interested in the American Negro. I knew he was lying, but, during the next two or three weeks, it is my intention and plan to make a tour of our African homeland, and I hope that when I come back, I’ll be able to come back and let you know how our African brothers and sisters feel towards us. And I know before I go there, that they love us. We’re one, we’re the same. The same man who has colonized them all these years colonized you and me too all these years, and all we have to do now is wake up and work in unity and harmony and the battle will be over -Malcolm X

And the reason this tendency exists, the strategy of the white man has always been divide and conquer. He keeps us divided in order to conquer us. He tells you, I’m for separation and you for integration, and keep us fighting with each other. No, I’m not for separation and you’re not for integration, what you and I are for is freedom. Only, you think that integration will get you freedom; I think that separation will get me freedom. We both got the same objective, we just got different ways of getting’ at it.-Malcolm X

[classicalmonuments]

Great Theatre of Philadelphia (Theater of Amman)

Philadelphia (Amman), Jordan

2nd Century CE 

 6,000 seat

The Roman Amphitheater is located in the eastern part of the Jordanian capital, Amman. A Greek inscription on one of the pillars indicates that this amphitheater was built in honour of Emperor Antonius Pius (138–161 CE).

The large and steeply raked structure could seat about 6,000 people: built into the hillside, it was oriented north to keep the sun off the spectators.

It was divided into three horizontal sections (diazomata). Side entrances (paradoi) existed at ground level, one leading to the orchestra and the other to the stage.

The highest section of seats in a theatre offers excellent sightlines, while the actors can be clearly heard, owing to the steepness of the cavea.

Sources and more text below.

“The great theatre of Philadelphia is situated near the eastern extremity of the town, on the south side of the stream (see map), at a point where the mountain¬ side, a steep wall of rock that rises from the river throughout the greater part of the length of the town, stands back from the bank of the stream, leaving a level terrace, partly artificial and partly natural, upon which a number of ancient buildings stood. The cavea of the theatre, which consists of three horizontal divisions of seats, was almost completely excavated in the rock of the hill-side, though it was found necessary to build up the higher parts of both ends of the semicircle. None of the seats was cut in the natural rock, but all were made of a slightly different quality of limestone, quarried, no doubt, in the immediate vicinity. The artificial portions of the cavea were erected upon masses of masonry penetrated with tunnel vaults that followed the curve of the cavea to about a third of its perimeter on either side. The semicircle of the cavea was produced in straight lines about four meters on either hand, and this part, being entirely artificial, was built upon three stories of superposed tunnel vaults separated by great masses of solid masonry. The lowest of these vaults, on either side, served as an exit, a. sort of covered parados, under the end seats. The scaena with all the stage buildings has been entirely destroyed, leaving only remains of its foundations. The auditorium (Ill. 31) is exceptionally well preserved so that even the casual visitor will observe that the cavea had three horizontal divisions of seats, with an upper and a lower praecinctio, besides an outer horizontal passage above the uppermost tiers of seats. The seats in the middle sections are preserved, from the orchestra to the uppermost passage, though those of the lowest division are almost completely buried in soil that has washed down from above. A more minute examination reveals, as the plan (Pl. IV) shows, that the lower and middle sections comprised each sixteen tiers of seats, divided by six scalaria into seven cunei, with scalae at the ends of the outer cunei. The uppermost division of seats is composed of eight cunei, and the scalae in this division were midway between the ends of the scalae of the lower divi- sions. The number of tiers of seats in the lowest division is assumed to be equal to that in the middle division from the oldest descriptions on the one hand, and from the measurements on the other. The orchestra and the lowest tiers of seats are completely buried, as is shown by the dotted line in section C. D. of Plate IV ·, but the level of the orchestra may be determined from the level of the passages within the arches that open upon the orchestra on either side. The semicircular barrier about the orchestra is not likely to have been over 1.50 m. high, and a height of 1.30 m. would allow for just sixteen tiers. The middle division preserves almost all of its tiers of seats intact, on the west side (Ill. 32) as far as the scalae on the diameter of the semicircle, and on the east side (Ill. 33) to within two or three meters of that line, as is shown by dotted lines on the plan and in Pl. IV, section C.D. The topmost division preserves five cunei intact, the cuneus on the west end, and the corresponding cuneus on the opposite side, with half of the cuneus adjoining it, having fallen in ruins (Ill. 32 and 33). These portions being built upon artificial substructures were naturally among the first to fall. The middle horizontal division of seats was reached from the lower praecinctio by double flights of steps in the middle of the terminal cunei. The uppermost division was reached from the upper praecinctio by similar flights in the middle of each of the uppermost cunei, at the ends of the lower scalae (Plan, Pl. IV). The upper and the lower praecinctio are each 2.30 m. wide; their walls are 1.80 cm. high; the passage at the top of the cavea is 3.40 m. wide, and probably had a colonnade corresponding to its outer wall which is 4.50 m. high. In the middle of this outer wall is an exedra which will be discussed later. Immediately within the wall of the lower praecinctio, at both ends, is a vaulted passage with two openings upon the praecinctio. From the present condition of the passages it is not possible to determine how far the vaults were carried; but, judging from the slope of the hill at this point, I do not believe that they were carried far beyond the second opening to the praecinctio. (Section C. D.). The passages within the wall of the upper praecinctio were carried well around the curve to points shown in the plan by dotted lines drawn across the uppermost division of seats. It had three openings to the praecinctio, on either side of the cavea. (Section C. D.). The openings between the vaulted passages and the praecinctiones were not arched, but were provided with long three-piece lintels or flat arches, that carried the seats above them. The steps which mounted to the upper divisions of seats were placed on either side of these openings, and within the circle of the lowest tier which was not a seat, properly speaking, but a narrow passage above the praecinctio. The arches that opened upon the orchestra sprang from moulded caps, and had moulded archivolts, as is shown in the detail drawings in Plate IV. The same plate shows also the details of the mouldings at the top of the walls of the praecinctiones, and the mouldings and other details of the seats and steps. The details of the exedra at the top of the cavea could not be accurately drawn, owing to the fact that the place has been converted into a modern dwelling. It appears to be well preserved. Two columns stand in the opening of the exedra, supporting an architrave and an arched pediment (Ill. 31). The spaces between the columns, and on either side of them, have been filled with walling pierced with a door and windows, and the pediment has two windows in it. The whole surface is covered with mud plaster, so that nothing but the chief dimensions of the exedra are obtainable. I was told that there were three niches within the exedra, and I have shown them in the plan and elevations as they were described to me. The extension of the cavea toward the north was, of course, entirely artificial. The lowest of its vaulted passages are preserved on both sides, with their ornamental arches which opened upon the orchestra. These arches are in line with the sixth tier, from the top, of the lowest division of seats. Above the arches were five tiers of seats. The outer ends of these passages were undoubtedly open, though they are closed now, so far as we may see in the accumulation of debris; for this reason I have shown walls in the plan closing the ends, but in section A B I have shown an arched opening at the left end. The remains of the next vaulted passage, i. e., that on the level of the first praecinctio, consist of a pavement and two side walls on the west side (Ill. 32), and a pavement on the side opposite (Ill. 33). Of the uppermost passage no remnant remains, but it unquestionably existed. In section CD of Plate IV, a cut through the three vaults is shown on the left, with the ends of the curved passages opening upon them; on the right is shown the plain outer wall that rose from the pavement of the parados to the top of the end of the cavea. It is impossible, in the present condition of the ruins, to find out definitely the width or disposition of the paradoi. Owing to the distance between the cavea and the foundations of the scaena, it seems certain that there were open spaces on either side between the ends of the cavea and the stage buildings. However, there seem to have been walls at the ends of the paradoi, as may be observed in Ill. 32, where an ancient wall, now employed as the east wall of a modern dwelling, is seen, abutting the end of the cavea at the level of the lower praecinctio. The lower part of this wall is deeply buried in debris, and it is impossible to say whether there was an opening in it on the orchestra level at the end of the parados. It may have been that the ends of the paradoi were closed, and that the paradoi were used exclusively by the chorus (see small restored plan above section A B); while the vaulted passages below the ends of the cavea were the means of entrance and exit for the audience. One would hardly detect the remains of stage buildings in the ruins of this theatre without searching for them. Some writers have even gone so far as to say that the theatre of Phila- delphia had no stage. The foundations of these buildings are indeed almost completely buried, only the upper surface of the stones can be seen in the general level of the soil, and this surface is worn smooth with constant passing. In the plan I have shown the foundations as they appear. To the left of the line which bisects the cavea are foundations which show a semicircle and a quadrant facing the cavea; the quadrant terminates in a short projecting wall: the rear part of these foundations is perfectly straight, and three meters from it are the foundations of a wall, 1.10 m. thick, composed entirely of headers. On the right of the line which bisects the cavea there are no traces of foundations now visible as far as a modern wall; this wall are foundations with a semicircle corresponding exactly to the other, and with a straight line behind it, a passage three meters wide, and an outer wall, 1.10 m. thick, which forms the boundary of a modern court-yard. Beyond the semicircle, i. e., toward the west, is an open space, and on the other side of this, more foundations, and other modern houses. These remains are scant enough, but they apparently give us a basis for the restoration of the scaena in the form of a solid wall 4.30 m. thick, with an opening in the middle flanked by half niches, with semicircular niches on either side beyond the half niches, and with a passage in the rear. We may perhaps carry the restoration a little further by recognising a side portal of the scaena in the break in the west side, though it does not appear to be matched on the opposite side. This, however, may be due to the condition of the ruin. The plan of the parascenia must remain a matter of conjecture until systematic excavations shall have been undertaken here. Eastward from the foundations of the scaena are heaps of rubbish, and westward are modern houses. I am of the opinion that two of the modern houses shown on the plan, and in Ill. 32, make use of the wall of the stage buildings, but the house- walls are so completely coated with mud plaster that it is quite impossible to ascertain whether they are ancient or not. The extreme north wall of the stage buildings appears, from the ruins, to have been prolonged to the outer ends of the cavea, as I have shown in the small tentative restoration. Outside of the rear wall of the stage buildings, and at a distance of about seven meters from it, there appears to have been a colonnade of Corinthian columns. Eight of these columns are still standing, with architraves above them, opposite the western end of the cavea. The row of columns extends a little beyond the line of the west side of the cavea to a double column, the stump of which protrudes from the soil. From this point a second colonnade was carried northward, not quite at right angles with the first colonnade. The second colonnade consists now of only four columns without capitals; it is of smaller scale than the other: the larger columns are .70 m. in diameter, and the intercolumniations are nearly 3 m.; while the smaller columns have a diameter of only .60 m., and inter- columniations of 2.32 m. The greater colonnade undoubtedly extended entirely across the width of the theatre, and the smaller one may have corresponded to a similar colonnade at the east end of the theatre, the three enclosing one end and two sides of a public square in front of the great theatre, flanked on the east by the odeum, and, possibly, on the west by some other building which has completely disappeared. M. de Laborde published a sketch1 of the theatre as it was in 1827, anti gives a short description of its ruins; Captain Conder gives an incomplete plan~ on a small scale, and describes the ruins at some length as he found them in 1881. Among the earlier illustrations of the theatre are those published by Merrill3, and Thomson 4 5 who visited "Amman between 1875 and 1880. A more recent photograph is that published by Professor Briinnow in his great work u on the Province of Arabia. “

(Text is told first hand by Howard Crosby Butler, who wrote the Syria series) 

Sources: 1, 2 ,3 

[realbeeing]

ancestral trauma & healing

I’ve recently come to understand what it means to honor my ancestors. I had heard mystics and shamans talk about how we can either relate to our ancestors in an unhealthy way— by holding onto their pain and perpetuating it unconsciously— or in a healthy way, by doing our best to work through the dysfunctions they passed on to us, starting to identify the pain as not solely our own but part of a chain of experience from which now another decision can be made. Breaking the cycle, in other words. 

Lately I started to feel a lot about my Jewish heritage, especially because I got a DNA test where it was confirmed I am pretty much of three-quarters Ashkenazi Jewish descent. I already knew my father’s family and maternal grandmother’s family came from that tribe so it was not a huge surprise, but with the company I bought the test from, they reveal not just that you are of Ashkenazi descent but what that particular descent really means: usually being one-half to two-thirds Arab genetics with the other part Southern European genetics, often Italian. In my case, I learned I had about a third Arab and Near-East origins and another third Italian. (My levels were lower because I have one non-Jewish, Irish grandparent).

Going through my results brought to light a new realization for me about the story of my ancestors. The Jewish people had moved around a lot: from the Middle East, to the Roman Empire, to the German kingdom and then further into Eastern Europe. And then many of them left Europe entirely to come to the United States or to Israel, havens for the Jewish population. For some reason I had never really thought about what it took for my ancestors— really just my great grandparents — to come all the way to America  It was not like they just decided one day to to travel to a new continent for a vacation. Nowadays it’s hard to understand the scope of such travel before the time of cheap and abundant flights and a more globalized culture. I can’t imagine what it was like to uproot yourself from your homeland and go to a place where your familiar language wasn’t spoken, where the culture was totally different. No, they must have come here out of necessity. My family has kept scant records though so I can only speculate. 

I have read a lot about anti-semitism recently and the pogroms that occurred in Eastern Europe, where my ancestors were living. The Jews were always on the run, a persecuted people, for whatever reason that is still mysterious to me. Were we victims? Were we perpetuating this cycle ourselves from a victim complex? I wasn’t there to know. 

Jews have learned to make a home in many places. I feel that in myself in my need to travel and the desire I’ve had since being a child of running away, being a nomad, going to an unknown land. Yet what is my enjoyment was their serious task. In my youthful seeking phase I contacted a bunch of different eclectic religious paths, settling into the Hare Krishna way for a couple of years in Peru as well as going into strange rabbit holes about all sorts of new age topics such as aliens and lost civilizations. In this period, I hardly thought about Judaism at all, nor my ancestors. I was convinced the body is just a phantasm, that we are soul first and thus that my true ancestry was first cosmic and that any earthly ties were not a subject for any earnest consideration. Growing up on North American native land, spending time on Andean land, going deep into Vedic religion— I was a mix of many influences and those related to blood seemed like the least relevant. 

In my Krishna commune, we called our group “family” and I think genuinely felt that way about each other. It was not genetics that connected us but a spiritual purpose and a belief we were all headed to the same lofty quarters of heaven. I remember learning one Hebrew song after hearing tons of Vedic chants and seeing a Star of David in my mind’s eye during a sweat lodge, but other than that my ethnic-spiritual past seemed far away.  

Meanwhile it wasn’t until a couple of years after leaving that group when I began to do a lot of deeper healing than that which had been supposedly dealt with in my religion, when I thought all my burdens had been lit on fire by god. In a way it was true: I received a spiritual communion which rooted itself so deeply in my consciousness that I can never go back to who I was before that experience. But still there was quite a deep wound to address, namely a traumatic childhood based on being abused by a parent. A parent who was abused by their own parent. And so on: a chain not of spiritual transmission but of shit. They were not the ancestors how I would have liked to imagine them: old sages or native chiefs whispering wise words in my ear. I did not want to admit the reality of the situation for a long time because of my chronic conditioning to downplay serious events in my life, brushing them aside because I never thought they were important enough—  which was an idea I had been brandished with by my abuser. Also it went against the image I had of myself as this spiritually liberated person. It wasn’t necessarily that this image was a complete illusion, which is a tempting conclusion to make when we receive a humbling from life. It would be easier to dismiss the entire past— but nothing can be so black and white. My ancestors are not all good or all evil. My initial spiritual experimentation did yield some truly healing moments. That was real for the time being. I could find meaning as a “galactic” citizen. But then eventually I did have to come down to earth. Another layer of the spiral had to unfold. A death had to take place. 

At first I resisted it and I saw my life stagnate a lot. Besides the fact that I was forcibly stranded in a rural country not my own due to the worldwide pandemic, I was stuck creatively, mentally and socially. I was isolating myself both physically and in way of ideas. I slowly started to become more interested in conspiracy theories, especially since world events have gotten so crazy which has sparked a whole tidal wave of increased paranoid thinking among everyone. Forget my ancestors being persecuted-- I was being persecuted just for being alive! The essential message of love—which was the lesson of all my valuable spiritual trips— was sometimes forgotten and the adrenaline rush of fear or excitement at some impending catastrophic event became almost a hobby and stood in for giving my time and energy to more creative and nourishing endeavors. It took a location move and I think my Saturn return to really kickstart a new cycle for myself, one where I do want to look at the pain I have been carrying and see how this pain is both mine and is not. The suffering in my genetic line is both something I can transcend out of and something I am inexplicably bound to and responsible for addressing. 

In the recognition of pain comes the power needed to finally confront it head on. I thought I had already sufficiently looked into my past and done the emotional purging work— but it was a whole new step for me to acknowledge the abuse as well as to acknowledge that I had some degree of trauma from what I went through. What followed from taking this step was not only more self-love and psychological balance but also a razing of my mental inventory: I was not exactly who I thought I was. This clearing made space for new inspiration and motivation, for the courage to create beauty where I could. To make jewelry, paint, dance, run, sing. Things I had forgotten and filled instead with trivial information. That was okay then, and I am okay now too. It is not some before/after scenario: that paradigm of healing is over. Like I said, healing is a spiral which unfurls at its own pace. I am exactly where I need to be. And from this vantage point, I can better hear what my ancestors are speaking to me, and I listen— while also telling them, I’m going to do things a bit differently now. We are going to do things different. 

[greatworldwar2]

• Otto Skorzeny

Otto Skorzeny was an Austrian-born SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in several operations, including the Gran Sasso raid which rescued Benito Mussolini from captivity.

Otto Skorzeny was born in Vienna on June 12th, 1908 into a middle-class Austrian family which had a long history of military service. His surname is of Polish origin, and Skorzeny's distant ancestors came from a village called Skorzęcin in Greater Poland region. In addition to his native German, he spoke excellent French and was proficient in English. He was a noted fencer as member of a German-national Burschenschaft as a university student in Vienna. He engaged in fifteen personal combats. The tenth resulted in a wound that left a dramatic dueling scar known in academic fencing as a Schmiss (German for "smite" or "hit") on his cheek. In 1931 Skorzeny joined the Austrian Nazi organization and soon became a member of the Nazi SA. A charismatic figure, Skorzeny played a minor role in the Anschluss on March 29th, 1938, when he saved the Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas from being shot by Austrian Nazis.

After the 1939 invasion of Poland, Skorzeny, then working as a civil engineer, volunteered for service in the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe), but was turned down because he was considered too tall at 1.92 metres (6 ft 4 in) and too old (31 years in 1939) for aircrew training. He then joined Hitler's bodyguard regiment, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). Skorzeny took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union with the SS Division Das Reich and subsequently fought in several battles on the Eastern Front. In October 1941, he was in charge of a "technical section" of the German forces during the Battle of Moscow. His mission was to seize important buildings of the Communist Party, including the NKVD headquarters at Lubyanka, and the central telegraph office and other high priority facilities, before they could be destroyed. He was also ordered to capture the sluices of the Moscow-Volga Canal because Hitler wanted to turn Moscow into a huge artificial lake by opening them. The missions were canceled as the German forces failed to capture the Soviet capital.

In December 1942, Skorzeny was hit in the back of the head by shrapnel; he was evacuated to the rear for treatment. He was awarded the Iron Cross. While recuperating from his injuries he was given a staff role in Berlin, where he developed his ideas on unconventional commando warfare. Skorzeny's proposals were to develop units specialized in such warfare, including partisan-like fighting deep behind enemy lines, fighting in enemy uniform, and sabotage attacks. In April 1943 Skorzeny's name was put forward by Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the new head of the RSHA, and Skorzeny met with Walter Schellenberg, head of Amt VI, Ausland-SD (the SS foreign intelligence service department of the RSHA). Schellenberg charged Skorzeny with command of the schools organized to train operatives in sabotage, espionage, and paramilitary techniques. Skorzeny was appointed commander of the recently created Waffen Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal stationed near Berlin (the unit was later renamed SS Jagdverband 502, and in November 1944 again to SS Combat Unit "Center", expanding ultimately to five battalions). The unit's first mission was in mid-1943, Operation François. Skorzeny sent a group by parachute into Iran to make contact with the dissident mountain tribes to encourage them to sabotage Allied supplies of material being sent to the Soviet Union via the Trans-Iranian Railway. However, commitment among the rebel tribes was suspect, and Operation François was deemed a failure.

Throughout the war Skorzeny and his unit conducted several additional operations including Operation Oak (Unternehmen Eiche, September 1943) and operation planned to rescue of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Operation Long Jump a planned operation to assassinate the "Big Three" (Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt) during the 1943 Tehran Conference. The plot was uncovered before its inception. Skorzeny denied any plan existed. Operation Knight's Leap (Unternehmen Rösselsprung, May 1944) an attempt to capture Yugoslavian partisan leader Josip Broz Tito alive. Operation Griffin (Unternehmen Greif, December 1944) a false flag operation to spread disinformation during the Battle of the Bulge, and Operation Armoured Fist (Unternehmen Panzerfaust a.k.a. Unternehmen Eisenfaust, October 1944) the planned kidnapping of Miklós Horthy Jr. to force his father, Admiral Miklós Horthy, to resign as Regent of Hungary in favor of Ferenc Szálasi, the pro-Nazi leader of the Arrow Cross Party. As part of the German Ardennes offensive in late 1944 (Battle of the Bulge), Skorzeny's English-speaking troops were charged with infiltrating American lines disguised in American uniforms in order to produce confusion to support the German attack. For the campaign, Skorzeny was the commander of a composite unit, the 150th SS Panzer Brigade. As planned by Skorzeny, Operation Greif involved about two dozen German soldiers, most of them in captured American Jeeps and disguised in American uniforms, who would penetrate American lines in the early hours of the Battle of the Bulge to cause disorder and confusion. A handful of his men were captured and spread a rumour that Skorzeny personally was leading a raid on Paris to kill or capture General Eisenhower, who was not amused by having to spend Christmas 1944 isolated for security reasons. Eisenhower retaliated by ordering an all-out manhunt for Skorzeny, with "Wanted" posters distributed throughout Allied-controlled territories featuring a detailed description and a photograph. In all, twenty-three of Skorzeny's men were captured behind American lines and eighteen were executed as spies for contravening the rules of war by wearing enemy uniforms.

Skorzeny spent January and February 1945 commanding regular troops as an acting major general, taking part in the defence of the German provinces of East Prussia and Pomerania, and at the Defence of Schwedt Bridgehead. On March 17th, he received orders to sabotage the last remaining intact bridge across the Rhine at Remagen following its capture by the Allies, but the bridge collapsed that same day, and the naval demolitions squad prepared instead unsuccessfully attacked a nearby Allied pontoon bridge between Kripp and Linz. Hitler awarded him one of Germany's highest military honours, the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. After the war was officially over Skorzeny was interned for two years before being tried as a war criminal at the Dachau trials in 1947 for allegedly violating the laws of war during the Battle of the Bulge. He and nine officers of the Panzerbrigade 150 were tried before a US Military Tribunal in Dachau on 18 August 1947. They faced charges of improper use of US military insignia, theft of US uniforms, and theft of Red Cross parcels from U.S. POWs. The trial lasted over three weeks. The charge of stealing Red Cross parcels was dropped for lack of evidence. Skorzeny admitted to ordering his men to wear US uniforms, but his defence argued that as long as enemy uniforms were discarded before combat started, such a tactic was a legitimate ruse de guerre. Skorzeny was detained in an internment camp at Darmstadt awaiting the decision of a denazification court. On July 27th, 1948 he escaped from the camp with the help of three former SS officers dressed in US Military Police uniforms who entered the camp and claimed that they had been ordered to take Skorzeny to Nuremberg for a legal hearing. Skorzeny afterwards maintained that the US authorities had aided his escape, and had supplied the uniforms.

Skorzeny hid out at a farm in Bavaria which had been rented by Countess Ilse Lüthje, the niece of Hjalmar Schacht (Hitler's former finance minister), for around 18 months, during which time he was in contact with Reinhard Gehlen, and together with Hartmann Lauterbacher (former deputy head of the Hitler Youth) recruited for the Gehlen Organization. Skorzeny was photographed at a café on the Champs Elysées in Paris on February 13th, 1950. The photo appeared in the French press the next day, causing him to move to Salzburg, where he met up with German veterans. Shortly afterwards, with the help of a Nansen passport issued by the Spanish government, he moved to Madrid, where he set up a small engineering business. In April 1950 the publication of Skorzeny's memoirs by the French newspaper Le Figaro caused 1500 communists to riot. In 1952 Egypt was taken over by General Mohammed Naguib. Skorzeny was sent to Egypt the following year by former General Reinhard Gehlen (who was now working indirectly for the CIA) to act as Naguib's military advisor. Skorzeny recruited a staff made up of former SS and Wehrmacht officers to train the Egyptian army. Among these officers were former Wehrmacht generals Wilhelm Fahrmbacher and Oskar Munzel; the head of the Gestapo Department for Jewish Affairs in Poland Leopold Gleim; and Joachim Daemling, former chief of the Gestapo in Düsseldorf. In addition to training the army, Skorzeny also trained Arab volunteers in commando tactics for possible use against British troops stationed in the Suez Canal zone. He stayed on to serve as an adviser to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. According to some sources, he traveled between Spain and Argentina, where he acted as an advisor to President Juan Perón and as a bodyguard for Eva Perón. The Israeli security and intelligence magazine Matara published an article in 1989 claiming that Skorzeny had been recruited by Mossad in 1963 to obtain information on German scientists who were working on an Egyptian project to develop rockets to be used against Israel. According to their information, a Mossad team had started to develop a plan to kill Skorzeny, but chief Isser Harel decided to attempt to recruit him instead, as a man on the inside would greatly enhance their ability to target Nazis who were providing military assistance to Egypt. No confirmed source can explain Skorzeny's motives for working with Israel, but he may have craved adventure and intrigue and feared assassination by Mossad.

In 1970, a cancerous tumour was discovered on Skorzeny's spine. Two tumours were later removed while he was staying at a hospital in Hamburg, but the surgery left him paralyzed from the waist down. Vowing to walk again, Skorzeny spent long hours with a physical therapist; and, within six months, he was back on his feet. Skorzeny died of lung cancer on July 5th, 1975 in Madrid. He was 67 years old. At no point in his life did Skorzeny ever denounce Nazism. He was given a Roman Catholic funeral Mass in Madrid in August 1975. His body was cremated afterwards, and his ashes were later taken to Vienna to be interred in the Skorzeny family plot at Döblinger Friedhof. His funeral "was attended by dozens of German military veterans and wives, who did not hesitate to give the one-armed Nazi salute", according to former Mossad agents who also attended the funeral.

[mexcine]

I’m All Right Jack (1959) review: I’m All Right Jack was reportedly the most popular British film of the year of its release, and has maintained its critical reputation in the decades since.  While I found it interesting and entertaining, I was slightly underwhelmed by the film, largely due to several structural aspects of the film’s narrative.

    The basic plot: Stanley Windrush, an Oxford graduate and a former serviceman, is the “poor relation” of a wealthy family and decides to “enter business” as a management trainee.  However, he’s naïve, clumsy and outspoken, and is repeatedly rejected by various companies.  Finally, his uncle Tracepursel suggests Stanley seek employment at Missiles Ltd. (a company Tracepursel owns), but as an ordinary worker.  Stanley innocently clashes with the plant’s unions, but head steward Fred Kite (who has pretensions to be an intellectual analyst of the capitalist system) offers to rent Stanley a room in his own house and educate him in the ways of the working class.  Spotting Kite’s sexy daughter Cynthia (who also works at the plant), Stanley accepts the offer of lodging.  [This has little or no bearing on the plot, as Stanley and Kite have almost no interaction after this; and as noted below, even Stanley’s romance with Cynthia is jettisoned at the conclusion.]

    Meanwhile, unbeknowst to Stanley, Tracepursel is conspiring with Sidney De Vere Cox to have Missiles Ltd. default on a contract to supply arms to a Middle Eastern nation so that Cox’s company can take over the contract (at a higher price, which they’ll split amongst themselves and buyer’s agent Mr. Mohamed). When Stanley unknowingly cooperates with a “time-and-motion” study man and reveals that Missile Ltd’s employees could work much harder, Kite calls a strike.  This soon spreads across the nation, including to Cox’s company, so the scheme has worked too well.  Tracepursel urges plant manager Major Hitchcock to negotiate with Kite to end the strike; since Stanley’s removal is a condition for a resolution, Cox tries to bribe Stanley with a bag of cash to “resign for reasons of health.”  During a television broadcast about the strike, Stanley denounces both sides of the dispute as corrupt, and tosses the money into the air, which provokes a brawl among the studio audience.  Stanley is arrested for his actions, chastised, and put on probation for a year.  As the film concludes, he’s living at a nudist colony with his aged father.

    One of the main flaws of I’m All Right Jack is that the film changes focus throughout—it’s not necessarily a case of an “ensemble cast,” the film almost literally switches back and forth between protagonists.  Stanley Windrush seems to be the protagonist, but at a certain point—when Missiles Ltd. goes on strike—he almost literally vanishes from the screen for an extended period of time, and is replaced in the spotlight by union steward Fred Kite.  There are also extended sequences focusing on Sidney De Vere Cox and Mr. Mohamed, with lesser footage (more traditional use of supporting characters) allotted to Tracepursel and Major Hitchcock, while Aunt Dolly appears only briefly and without much effect on the plot.  A more traditional film would have centered on Windrush throughout, but his disappearance for much of the middle section of the picture makes the conclusion feel forced.  I’m All Right Jack has a curious, “unhappy ending”—Stanley is reprimanded in court, and is last seen being pursued by amorous female tennis players at a nudist resort, his relationship with Cynthia Kite apparently terminated (she’s last seen, weeping, while Stanley is being dressed down by the judge, suggesting she still cares for Stanley).

    Additionally, I’m All Right Jack has a needlessly complex and somewhat illogical plot.  As noted above, Tracepursel and Cox’s scheme to have Missiles Ltd. default on an arms contract so Cox can take over the contract (at a higher price that will allow for kickbacks to those involved).  Apparently as part of this plot, Tracepursel has his ineffectual nephew Stanley Windrush hired by Missiles Ltd.  As it develops, Stanley’s naïveté results in a massive strike that shuts down Missiles Ltd. (but then spreads to Cox’s company and in fact nation-wide), but this was not something Tracepursel could have anticipated.  He gives Stanley no instructions or advice, and it’s only purest luck that Stanley’s actions cause a strike--he’s by no means an agent provocateur (despite Kite’s accusation of him being exactly that) even unwittingly. He just clueless. Any number of alternate outcomes could have occurred as a result of his hiring.

    There is some confusion about the film’s setting: it seems to be contemporary to 1959 when it was produced (the most notable auto in the film is Stanley’s tiny, 3-wheel 1958 Heinkel Kabine), but this would mean Stanley—who served in WWII in Private’s Progress (1956), which features the characters of Stanley, Major Hitchcock, Tracepursel, and Cox—is still unemployed nearly 15 years after the war is over, and is probably pushing 40 (in real life, Ian Carmichael was born in 1920 and did serve in WWII), which seems out of character.  The narrator [E.V.H. Emmett, well-known in the UK as a newsreel narrator] specifically says “Industry! With tremendous opportunities for the young man…”

    This is not to suggest I’m All Right Jack is a bad film—it’s amusing and well-acted, and contains a significant number of interesting ideas.  Barbs are tossed at unions, management, the government, political parties, advertising (detergent Detto and snack bar Num-Yums, both with obnoxious jingles), and so on.  Unionism is attacked mercilessly: Missiles Ltd. has 2 unions, so if one is granted higher wages, the other can request an increase in pay, and then the first one has its turn again, etc.  Stanley stumbles across a group of men who play cards all day in a hidden spot (they can’t be fired but have no work to do), the unions resist cooperating with time-and-motion studies and reportedly assaulted a previous investigator, and so on.  While management and ownership is also depicted as corrupt and/or inept, this could be explained away by labeling Tracepursel and Cox as anomalies.  Working-class opinion presumably supports the principles of the strike (although the most prominent union members shown are Kite’s toadies, and his own wife is certainly not on his side, as she leaves him!), large crowds—whose placards identify them as the “Housewives League” and “Empire Loyalists”--are shown applauding Stanley’s actions (“Three cheers for Mr. Churchill and Stanley Windrush!”) as they sing “Land of Hope and Glory.”  The conservative “Daily Express” newspaper headline reads “Salute Stanley Windrush,” while the Labour-oriented tabloid “Daily Mirror” has a large photo of Stanley and Cynthia (emphasizing her bust) and the clever “Stanley Strikes Lucky” headline (referring to his romance with Cynthia).  Tracepursel says Stanley has the press on his side--some papers for ideological reasons, but others apparently only interested in gossip.

    The political content of I’m All Right Jack is mild and even-handed (basically, a plague on both houses).  Curiously, Ian Carmichael also appeared in Left Right and Centre in 1959, a film that’s focused more specifically on politics and while it’s still balanced in its depiction of the political parties in the UK—the protagonists are more or less evenly split between Conservative and Labour—it points out the differences between them more clearly than I’m All Right Jack.

    Trivia note: I was mildly shocked to see some nudity in I’m All Right Jack, in the opening and closing nudist camp scenes.  It’s bare rear-only nudity (and only of women), shown from a distance and in a non-sexual manner, but it was surprising nonetheless.  

    I’m All Right Jack is well-made and has a strong cast.  The comedy is mostly subtle and character-based: the chief exception to this is Stanley’s slapstick tour of the Num-Yum factory, in which he’s repeatedly urged to sample the product and finally ends up vomiting into a mixing machine.  The film briefly pokes fun at advertising (the “Detto” detergent and “Num-Yum” billboards and musical jingles) but drops this rather abruptly.  Not all of the verbal and character humour works—one of Kite’s union cronies stutters, and the “joke” is that you think he’s going to say a profane word based on the first letter but he doesn’t (“F-f-f-f…friend”).

    Ian Carmichael was somewhat typecast as a well-meaning but naïve and bumbling member of the upper class, and he is reasonably effective here.  Peter Sellers’ Fred Kite is a much more complex character, mispronouncing large words, lauding the Soviet Union, reminiscing fondly about the “very good toast and preserves they give you at tea time” at Oxford (where he attended a summer session in 1946).  When his wife (well-played by Irene Handl) and daughter Cynthia (Liz Fraser, also good) leave him, Fred’s home life goes to blazes (sink full of unwashed dishes, etc.) and he gains additional audience sympathy (although he isn’t a really unsympathetic character earlier, just a self-important and overly enthusiastic labour union representative).  Dennis Price, Terry-Thomas, Richard Attenborough, and Margaret Rutherford have clearly-defined supporting roles and play them straight.  Further down in the cast in very minor roles are Esma Cannon, Wally Patch, and John Van Eyssen (who appeared as Jonathan Harker in Horror of Dracula, 1958, if you’re wondering why he looks familiar).  

    I’m All Right Jack is a fine, entertaining film but perhaps slightly over-rated in terms of its overall importance.  Still, recommended.

[bookofjin]

Rise of Sixteen States: 304

This year there were many affairs.

Liu Yuan declares himself King of Han.

Li Xiong declares himself King of Chengdu

22 February 304 – 10 February 305

(Jin's 1st Year of Yongxing)

(Han's 1st Year of Yuanxi)

(Chengdu's 1st Year of Jianxing)

3rd Month, wushen [1 May], used the King of Chengdu, Ying as August Brother-Heir and Commander-in-Chief of All Army Affairs in the Centre and Outside, and Assisting Chancellor.

7th Month, bingshen, New Moon [17 August], the General of the Guards of the Right, Chen Zhen, used a decree summoning the hundred companions to enter within the hall, and following that directed troops to punish the King of Chengdu, Ying.

On jihai [20 August], the Minister over the Masses, Wang Rong, the King of Donghai, Yue, and others served the Emperor on a northern campaign. They arrived at Anyang with a multitude of 100 000. Ying dispatched his general Shi Chao to resist them in battle.

On jiwei [9 September], the Six Armies were defeated at Dangyin. Arrows reached the Driving Carriage, the hundred officials divided and scattered. The Emperor that evening favoured Ying's chariot, the next day he favoured Ye.

8th Month [16 September – 15 October], the General who Calms the North, Wang Jun, dispatched Wuwan cavalry to attack the King of Chengdu at Ye, greatly routing him. Ying drove with the Emperor in a single chariot to flee to Luoyang.

11th Month, yiwei [14 December], Zhang Fang coerced the Emperor to favour Chang'an.

The King of Hejian, Yong, led public officials and 30 000 infantry and cavalry to welcome [the Emperor] at Bashang.

(Liu Yuan)

The King of Chendu, Ying, became August Brother-Heir. He used Yuan as Colonel of Garrison Cavalry to the Brother-Heir. Emperor Hui attacked Ying, and stayed at Dangyin. Ying made use of Yuan as General who Assists the State and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Affairs of the Northern City. When Emperor Hui had been defeated, he used Yuan as General of the Best of the Army, ennobled as Earl of Lunu. Soon after, the Inspector of Bing province, the Duke of Dongying, Teng, and the General who Calms the North and Inspector of You province, Wang Jun, raised troops to attack Ying. Ying's host fought and was defeated. Yuan spoke to Ying, saying:

Now the two garrisons trample on restraint, with a multitude exceeding 100 000. [I] fear we will not be able to manage them with the personal guards and the nearby commanderies' gentlemen and people. Yuan will, Your Highness, return to explain to the Five Sections, assemble and gather a righteous multitude, and thereby hasten to the state's difficulties.

Ying said:

The multitudes of the Five Sections, can they protect and set out already or not? Allowing for you being able to send them out, the Xianbei and Wuhuan are strong and quick like the wind and clouds. How easily can it be done? I wish to serve the Driving Carriage and return to Luoyang, and avoid their spear points, calmly summon Under Heaven to arms, and govern them according to their opposition or loyalty. Lord, what are your thoughts?

Yuan said:

Your Highness is the son of the Martial August Emperor, and has special merits in the royal house. Your power and kindness shine in harmony, the Four Sea's reverent wind. Who would not consider to lose their lives and throw down their bodies for Your Highness? What is the difficulty in sending them out! Wang Jun is an upstart son and Dongying a distant cousin, how could they contend equally with Your Highness?

If Your Highness goes out alone from the Ye palace, and shows weakness to people, is it possible then to arrive in Luoyang? Suppose you reach Luoyang, power and authority will not be restored to Your Highness. A paper calling to arms is a foot-long letter, who will the person be who receives it!

Moreover the Eastern Hu's courage does not exceed the Five Sections. [I] wish Your Highness would encourage and console the multitude soldiers, calming them down and thereby quell them. [I] will, Your Highness, use two sections to destroy Dongying and three sections to put on display Wang Jun. You can point to the day when the heads of the two upstarts will be hanging up.

Ying was pleased and designated Yuan as Northern Chanyu, Assisting the Army Affairs of the Imperial Chancellor. Yuan arrived at Zuoguocheng. Liu Xuan and others elevated him to the title of Great Chanyu. Within twenty days the multitude was soon 50 000. He set his capital at Lishi. He dispatched the Yulu King of the Left, Hong, to lead 5 000 elite cavalry and meet up with Ying's general Wang Cui and resist the Duke of Dongying, Teng. But Cui had already been defeated by Teng, so Hong returned back with nothing done.

Wang Jun sent General Qi Hong to lead Xianbei and attack Ye. Ying was defeated, and held onto the Son of Heaven to run south to Luoyang. Yuan heard Ying had left Ye, he sighed and said:

Ying did not employ my words, on the contrary he is himself running from disaster. He truly has menial talents. However as I and him had words, I cannot but aid him.

Hence he instructed the Yulu King of the Right, Liu Jing, and the Dulu King of the Left, Liu Yannian, and others to lead 20 000 infantry and cavalry, and commanded them to punish the Xianbei. Liu Xuan and others firmly remonstrated, saying:

Jin is without the Way, slaves and lackeys govern us. Therefore the Worthy King of the Right's fierceness does not surpass his anger. Just now Jin's guide ropes are not spread. [If] the great affair is not followed through, the Worthy of the Right will smear [himself] with earth, to the Chanyu's shame.

Now in the Sima clan, father and son, elder and younger brother, are themselves [chopping] each other [like] fish meat, this is Heaven casting aside Jin's virtue and conferring it on us. [If] the Chanyu stores up virtue in his body, and is submitted to by the people of Jin, [he] soon will raise up our nation and tribe and restore the patrimony of Huhanxie. The Xianbei and Wuhuan are of our manners and type, and could be used as helpers, why would [we] resist them and aid [our] foes!

Now Heaven is acting through us and cannot be disobeyed. To disobey Heaven is not auspicious, to go against the multitudes is not helpful. [He who when] Heaven gives does not take, will in turn receive his calamity. [I] wish the Chanyu would not doubt.

Yuan said:

Good. [I] will be raising up the hill to the pinnacle mound, why would I make a hillock! As for Emperors and Kings, when where they regular? Yu the Great was born among the Western Rong, King Wen was born among the eastern Yu. Looking back, they were conferred for virtue, that was all. Now [I] see a multitude of more than 100 000, and anyone of us is a match for ten of the Jin. To strike the march and destroy chaotic Jin is like snapping deadwood, that is all. At best I can complete the legacy of Gao of Han, at worst I will be no less than the Wei clan. How is Huhanxie a sufficient course of action!

However, the people of Jin are not necessarily similar to us. Han had Under Heaven for many generations, kindness and virtue connection to the population's hearts. Thus though Zhaolie [lived] rough and rugged in the lands of a single province, he was yet able contend at an equal level Under Heaven. I am also a sister's child of the Han clan, sworn to be elder and younger brothers. When the older brother perishes, the younger carries on. Can we not do likewise? Now moreover, I can raise up Han, posthumously honour the Later Ruler, and thereby comfort the populace's expectations.

Xuan and others touched head to ground, saying:

[They] are not reaching up [to you].

1st Year of Yuanxi [304 AD], he moved to Zuoguocheng. The Jin people who [came from] the east to adhere were several ten thousand. Xuan and others sent up [to assume] the venerated title. Yuan said:

Now the Jin clan still exist, the Four Regions are not yet settled. [We] can look up to and honour the Exalted August's first regulations, and moreover designate [me] King of Han [while] for the moment delaying the tile of August Emperor. [When I] hear the cosmos is mixed into one [I] will once more discuss it.

10th Month [14 November – 10 December], he had an altar in the southern suburbs, and falsely ranked as King of Han. He sent down an order, saying:

Formerly our Grand Founder [taizu], the Exalted [gao] August Emperor used his divine martial ability to follow expectations, and broadly began the great patrimony. The Grand Ancestor [taizong], the Filial and Civil [xiaowen] August Emperor gave weight to using enlightened kindness, peace and prosperity was the Way of Han. The Generational Ancestor [shizong], the Filial and Martiaizul [xiaowu] August Emperor expanded the territory and repelled the yi, the territory exceeding the days of Tang. The Middle Ancestor [zhongzong], the Filial and Propagating [xiaoxuan] August Emperor, sought and lifted up the capable and outstanding, many scholars filled the court.

Hence the Way of our founder and ancestors strode pass the Three Kings, their achievements exalted as the Five Emperors. For that reason the foretold years were many times the Xia and Shang's, the foretold generations exceeded the Ji clan. But Yuan and Cheng had many crimes, Ai and Ping were briefly blessed. The traitorous subject Wang Mang overflowed Heaven and usurped disobediently.

Our Generational Founder [shizu], the Brilliant and Martial [guangwu] August Emperor was expansively endowed with sagely martial ability. He immensely restored the vast foundation, worshipped Han matched with Heaven, and did not neglect old matters, so that the Three Luminaries' obscurity were yet restored to clarity, the Three Receptacles' darkness were yet restored to visibility. The Manifesting Ancestor [xianzong], the Filial and Enlightened [xiaoming] August Emperor, and the Solemn Ancestor [suzong], the Filial and Articulating [xiaozhang] August Emperor, amassed eras, the blazing light twice revealed.

From He and An and afterwards, the august guide-ropes gradually decayed, Heaven's pace was hard and difficult, the state's government again and again cut off. The Yellow Turban seas boiled in the Nine Provinces, the crowd of eunuchs' poison flowed in the Four Seas. Dong Zhuo following that indulged his careless heedlessness, Cao Cao, father and son, fell rebels, were soon after.

For that reason Xiaomin let go and put aside the ten thousand states. Zhaolie strayed beyond Min and Shu, hoping the stoppage in the end would have exaltation, returning the carriage box to the old capital. How to assess Heaven not regretting the calamity, the Later Emperor was embarrassed and humiliated.

Since the altars of soil and grain were lost and ceased, the ancestral temple have not had blood to eat for forty years until this point. Now Heaven is coaxing its inner self, regretting the calamity to August Han, and making the Sima clan, father and son, elder and younger brother, repeatedly break and wipe out each other. The numerous multitudes are in the mud and soot, scattering to denounce and accuse.

This Orphan is now all at once pushed forward by the crowd of excellencies, to carry on offering to the Three Founders' legacy. Looking at [my] current crippled ignorance, [I] shiver in fear for collapsing in a shallow grave. However, as the great shame is not yet wiped away, the altars of soil and grain are without a host, with gall in the mouth and the roost cold, [I] will strive to follow the crowd's opinion.

He changed Jin's 1st Year of Yongxing to be the 1st Year of Yuanxi [“Inaugural Radiance”], there was a great amnesty Under Heaven. He posthumously venerated Liu Shan as the Filial and Cherished [xiaohuai] August Emperor. He established Gaozu of Han and below, three Founders and five Ancestors, as divine rules and worshipped them. He established his wife, Ms. Huyan as Queen, set up the hundred officials, and used the Worthy King of the Right, Xuan, as Imperial Chancellor, Cui You as Imperial Clerk Grandee, the Yulu King of the Left, Hong, as Grand Commandant, Fan Long as Great Herald, Zhu Ji as Grand Master of Ceremonies, Cui Yizhi of Shangdang and Chen Yuanda of the Rear Section both as Gentlemen of the Yellow Gates, his clan-child Yao as General who Establishes the Martial, the remainder were designated and conferred each proportionally. You firmly declined and did not go.

12th Month [12 January 305 – 3 February], the Duke of Dongying, Teng, sent General Nie Xuan to chastise him, they fought at Daling. Xuan's host achieved defeat. Teng was afraid, he led more than 20 000 households of Bing province to go down East of the Mountain. Thereupon [the people who] lived there were robbed. Yuan dispatched his General who Establishes the Martial, Liu Yao, to rob Taiyuan, Xuanshi, Zhunliu, Zhangzi and Zhongdu, all were lost to him.

He also dispatched the General of the Best of the Army, Qiao Xi, to rob Xihe. The Prefect of Jiexu, Jia Hun resisted steadfastly and did not surrender, saying:

I am a defender of Jin, [if I am] not able to maintain it, why cautiously seek to live therefore serving thieves and miscreants? How could I face accordingly to watch and breath in the world!

Xi was angry, apprehended and wanted to kill him. Xi's general Yin Song said:

[If] the General saves him, [he can] thereby convince [him] to serve you, Lord.

Xi did not listen and thereupon murdered him. Jia Hun's wife, Ms. Zong, had a beautiful figure and Xi desired to take her. Ms. Zong reviled him, saying:

Slave of the Tuge, how can you murder a person's husband then desire to assign [her] without decorum, how is this to you? Why do you not hurry and kill me!

Then she raised her head to Heaven and greatly wept. Xi thereupon murdered her. At the time she was (more than) 20 years old. Yuan heard about it, and greatly angered said:

If it is the Way of Heaven to be perceptive, the view of Qiao Xi has sown seeds!

When the pursuers returned, he demoted his salary four grades, collected Hun's corpse and buried it.

(Cui You)

Cui You, courtesy name Zixiang, was a native Shangdang. As young he was fond of studying, he was discerning and enlightened in the Ruist methods, tranquil, peaceful, humble and withdrawn. From young to old his mouth not once spoke about wealth and profit. At the end of Wei, he was examined as Filial and Upright, and appointed Retainer of the Chancellor's Office. He set out to be Chief of Dichi, he was very kind in government affairs. He retired due to illness, and thereupon was disabled and sick.

At the beginning of Taishi [265 – 274], Emperor Wu favoured the succession from Emperor Wen's old office companions and staff, and attended on the family to designate a Palace Gentleman. Aged more than 70, he still esteemed studying and did not tire. He compiled a Chart of Mouring Clothes, which has come down through the ages. He passed on at home, at the time he was 93 years old.

(Liu Cong)

Liu Cong, courtesy name Xuanming, also named Zai, was Yuan's 4thson. His motherwas named Lady Zhang.Earlier, when she was pregnant with Cong, Lady Zhang dreamt the sun enter her breast. She woke up and told Yuan. Yuan said:

This is a good omen, take care not to talk of it.

Fifteen months from that then she gave birth to Cong, at night there was an exceptional white light. The shape of his body was not usual. In his left ear there was a single white hair, more than two chi long with considerable shine and lustre. As a young child he was yet intelligent and aware and fond of studying, the Broad Scholar Zhu Ji greatly marvelled at him. At the age of fourteen, he delved thoroughly into the the classics and histories, and even more so the assembled words of the hundred schools. In Sun and Wu's Principles of War there was nothing he did not completely understand.

He was skilled with the draft and clerical scripts, and good with composing texts. He displayed and expressed his deepest feelings in more than a hundred chapters of poetry, and more than fifty chapters of rhapsodies and hymns. At fifteen he practised striking and stabbing. He had ape arms and was good at shooting, he could bend a bow 300 jin strong, was strong in body, valiant and agile, ahead and beyond the times. Wang Hun of Taiyuan saw and was pleased with him. He spoke to Yuan, saying:

This boy cannot be measured by me.

As a youth he drifted to the Imperial City, there were nobody of the famous scholars he did not communicate and connect with. Yue Guang and Zhang Hua particularly marvelled at him.

Jin's Grand Warden of Xinxing, Guo Yi, nominated him has Master of Accounts, he served accordingly in the commandery's affairs. He was recommended good and supportive, and entered to became Marshal of Detached Section of Valiant Cavalry. The King of Qi, Jiong, used him as Palace Commandant of State. He set out to be Marshal of the Left Section, and soon after amassed to move to Chief Commandant of the Right Section. He was good at consoling and connected, there were none of the Five Section's prominent and honoured who did not revert to him. The Grand Steward, the King of Hejian, Yong, petitioned him to be Commander of the Palace Gentlemen of the Red Sand.

Cong, since Yuan was at Ye, and he feared he would be murdered by the King of Chengdu, Ying, he absconded and ran to Ying. Ying was extremely pleased, and designated him General who Amasses Crossbows of the Right, Assisting the Battle Affairs of the Vanguards. When Yuan became Chanyu of the North, he was established as Worthy King of the Right, and accompanied to turn back to the Right Section. When he was enthroned as Great Chanyu, he changed his designation to Lulu King.

(Liu Yao)

Liu Yao, courtesy name Yongming, was Yuan's clan-child. He was orphaned young, and was nurtured by Yuan. As a youth, he was yet perceptive and intelligent, and had unusual measures. Aged eight sui, he accompanied Yuan to hunt in the Western Mountains, when they came across rain, and stopped beneath a tree. Suddenly, thunder shook near the tree. None of the people did not fall over and lie down, Yao in spirit and colour was like himself. Yuan was amazed by him, and said:

This is my family's thousand li colt, older cousin is not gone!

He was nine chi, three cun tall, his hands hang down past the knees. When he was born, his eyebrows were white and his eyes had a red glow. His beard and whiskers did not exceed a hundred roots, but all were five chi long. He by nature lifted up and let drop the high and brilliant, and was not among the crowd of the multitudes.

He read books with a mind towards a broad overlook, and did not concentrate on pondering chapters and verses. He was good at composing text and was skilled with the draft and clerical scripts. His gallantry and martial ability was beyond other people. Iron one cun thick he shot and pierced, at the time it was declared to be a godly shot. He particularly fond of military books and could recite roughly all from memory. He often made light of and ridiculed Wu and Deng, but compared himself with Yue Yi, Xiao, and Cao. At the time people did not acknowledge him, only Cong said:

Yongming is in the class of Shizu and Wu of Wei, how are some Excellencies worth mention!

As a youth he drifted to Luoyang, was implicated in an affair and was to be executed. Therefore he absconded with Cao Xun to run to Liu Sui. Sui hid him in a book cabinet, carried, and sent him off to Wang Zhong. Zhong sent him off to Chaoxian. For the remainder of the year, he was starving and hard-pressed. Thereupon he altered his family and personal name, and as a retainer became a county soldier. The Prefect of Chaoxian, Cui Yue, saw and was amazed with him. He gave him clothes and food, his charity and regard was very substantial. Cao Xun, though he was in the midst of a difficult situation, served Yao with the rites of lord and subject. Yao was very gracious to him. Later there happened to be an amnesty, and he was free to return home.

He himself, since his appearance and substance was different from the multitudes, and feared he would not be tolerated during the era, once lived in hiding in the mountains of Guancen, using a qin zither and books to amuse himself. In the middle of the night, suddenly there were two servant boys who entered, knelt, and said:

The King of Guancen sends his young subjects to offer his respects to the August Emperor of Zhao.

They presented a single edged sword, put it in front of him, bowed twice, and departed. He used a torch to look at it. The sword was two chi long, the shine and polish was not ordinary, red jade made up the sheath, on the back side there was an inscription which said:

The godly sword holds sway, removes the multitudes' poison.

Yao thereupon wore it. The sword followed the four seasons and altered to have the five colours.

(Shi Le)

1st Year of Yongxing [304 AD], the King of Chengdu, Ying, defeated the Driving Carriage at Dangyin, and pressured the Emperor to go to the Ye Palace. Wang Jun, since Ying had secluded and humiliated the Son of Heaven, sent Xianbei to strike him. Ying was afraid, clasped Emperor Hui and ran south to Luoyang. The Emperor then was pressured by Zhang Fang, and moved to Chang'an. East of the Passes troops were rising up, all using executing Ying as their name. The King of Hejian, Yong, feared the abundance of the eastern host, and wished to bring together and placate the Eastern Xia. He therefore memorialised to debate deposing Ying.

This Year, Liu Yuan declared himself King of Han at Liting.

(Li Xiong)

1st Year of Jianxing, Spring, 1st Month [22 February – 22 March), Luo Shang arrived at Jiangyang. The Minister of the Army, Xin Bao, went to Luo to show the circumstances. A written decree gave authority to control Badong, Ba commandery, and Fuling commanderies, to supply his army taxes.

(JS066: At the time the Inspector of Yi province, Luo Shang, was defeated by Li Te. He dispatched envoys to announce the urgency and request provisions. Hong circulated a letter to supply and provide. But the provincial office's mainstays and guidelines, as the transport roads were isolated and remote, and the civil and military officials wanting and weary, desired to use Lingling to alone transport 5 000 hu of rice to give to Shang. Hong said:

You Lords have not yet thought about it, that is all. Under Heaven is a single family, this and that are not different. If I today provide for him, then there is no anxiety in looking west.

Thereupon he used 30 000 hu of rice from Lingling to provide for him. Shang relied on it to strengthen himself.)

Winter, 10thMonth [14 November – 13 December], the various generals firmly requested Xiong accede to the venerated rank. (HYGZ: Yang Bao and Yang Bao together urged Xiong to declare himself King.) Hence he presumptuously declared himself King of Chengdu, with an amnesty within his territories, and changed the inaugural to Jianxing [“Establishing the Rise”]. He removed the Jin laws, and condensed the law into seven chapters.

He used his junior uncle Xiang# as Grand Tutor, his commoner-born older brother Shi as Grand Guardian, the Smashing Charges Li Li as Grand Commandant, his junior cousin, the Establishing Domination Li Yun as Minister over the Masses, the Supports the Army Li Huang as Minister of Works, the Talented Officials Li Guo as Grand Steward, Yan Shi as Prefect of the Masters of Writing, Yang Bao as Supervisor, Yang Fa as Palace Attendant, Yang Gui as Master of Writing, Yang Hong as Inspector of Yi province, Xu Yu as Garrisons the South, Wang Da as Army Teacher. For the remaining civil and military officials, he designated and conferred each proportionally.

He retroactively venerated his great grandson Hu as the Mighty [huan] Duke of Ba commandery, his grandfather Mu as the Accomplished [xiang] King of Longxi, his father Te as the Luminous [jing] King, his mother Ms. Luo as Queen Dowager. His senior uncle Fu as the Ardent [lie] King of Qi, his middle uncle Xiang as the Martial [wu] King of Liang#, his middle uncle Liu as the Civil [wen] King of Qin, his older brother Dang as the Strong and Civil [zhuangwen] Duke of Guanghan.

Winter, Shang relocated to station at Ba commandery. He dispatched an army to plunder within Shu. He beheaded Xiong's granduncle Ran, and captured Xiang#'s wife Zan, his son Shou, and his brothers.

12th Month [12 January – 10 February], Xiong's Grand Commandant Li Li invaded Hanzhong, and killed the Battle Leader Zhao Min.

(Zhang Gui)

Reaching the difficulties of the two Kings of Hejian and Chengdu, he dispatched 3 000 troops to proceed east to the Imperial City.

Earlier, at the end of Han, a man of Jincheng, Yang Chengyuan, killed the Grand Warden in rebellion. A man of the commandery, Feng Zhong, attended to the corpse, shouting and weeping. He vomited blood and died.

A man of Zhangye, Wu Yong, was appointed by the Colonel who Protects the Qiang, Ma Xian. Later he was on the staff of the Grand Commandant, Pang Can. Can and Xian defamed each other with crimes that merited death. Each pulled on Yong as evidence. Yong planned and reasoned without the two accepting responsibility, and thereupon he cut his own throat and died. Can and Xian were ashamed and remorseful, and themselves made peace and cleared out with each other.

Gui in both cases sacrificed at the their tombs and honoured their sons and grandsons.

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Trump Expected to Order Troop Withdrawal (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Donald Trump is set to order a dramatic and rapid cut in the number of U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia as he seeks action from loyalists newly installed at the U.S. Department of Defense. A perception that Mark Esper, the previous U.S. Secretary of Defense, would not agree to further troop reductions on so quick a schedule, was seen as one of the reasons for his removal from the post shortly after the U.S. presidential election. Although the numbers are not yet public, several media reports signal a halving of current troop levels in Afghanistan from the 4,500 troops currently stationed there. A reduction in Iraq would be less severe, but almost all of the 700 U.S. troops stationed in Somalia are expected to return to the United States. Although Republican leaders are wary, a troop withdrawal appears to be popular among the American public. According to a YouGov poll commissioned by the libertarian Charles Koch Institute in August, 76 percent Americans supported withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, with almost half of respondents strongly supporting withdrawal. The number supporting U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq was 74 percent. The desire to end America’s wars in the Middle East and South Asia is felt similarly among U.S. military veterans. An April poll by another Koch-backed group found 73 percent of veterans surveyed supported a full withdrawal from Afghanistan, an almost 13 percent increase from the previous year.

Covid-19 origin remains a mystery (South China Morning Post, Tumori Journal) The virus that causes the Covid-19 disease has now infected more than 54 million people across the planet, but the question of just where it came from remains a mystery. Researchers may have found a new link in this puzzle after discovering evidence suggesting the pathogen had infected people across Italy as early as September last year, or months before it was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The unexpected finding “may reshape the history of [the] pandemic”, said the team led by Dr Gabriella Sozzi, a life scientist with the National Cancer Institute of Milan, in a peer-reviewed paper published last week in the Tumori Journal.

Hurricane Iota bashes Nicaragua, Honduras after Eta floods (AP) Hurricane Iota battered Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast and flooded some stretches of neighboring Honduras that were still under water from Hurricane Eta two weeks earlier, leaving authorities struggling to assess damage after communications were knocked out in some areas. By late Tuesday, Iota had diminished to a tropical storm and was moving inland over northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras, but forecasters warned that its heavy rains still posed a threat of flooding and mudslides. The storm passed about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south-southwest of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, where rivers were rising and rain was expected to intensify. In mountainous Tegucigalpa, residents of low-lying, flood-prone areas were being evacuated in anticipation of Iota’s rains, as were residents of hillside neighborhoods vulnerable to landslides.

Boris Johnson, in self-quarantine, says he’s ‘bursting with antibodies’ (Washington Post) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson boasted that he was “fit as a butcher’s dog” and “bursting with antibodies” as he began two weeks of self-quarantine after having close contact with a lawmaker who contracted the coronavirus. Johnson was infected with the virus in March—and struggled to breathe in an intensive care unit for three days. His staff did not say on Monday whether he had been tested this time, but cases of coronavirus reinfection have been incredibly rare. Johnson on Monday said that he felt great and that because he previously had the disease he was “bursting with antibodies” but that he would self-quarantine for two weeks as “we got to interrupt the spread of the disease.” He added that he would continue to govern by video conference.

After Trump, Europe aims to show Biden it can fight for itself (Reuters) The Donald Trump era may be coming to an end. But European Union ministers meeting this week to discuss the future of the continent’s defence will say the lesson has been learned: Europe needs to be strong enough to fight on its own. EU foreign and defence ministers meeting by teleconference on Thursday and Friday will receive the bloc’s first annual report on joint defence capabilities, expected to serve as the basis for a French-led, post-Brexit, post-Trump effort to turn the EU into a stand-alone military power. “We aren’t in the old status quo, where we can pretend that the Donald Trump presidency never existed and the world was the same as four years ago,” a French diplomat said. The EU has been working since December 2017 to develop more firepower independently of the United States. The effort has been driven mainly by France, the EU’s remaining major military power after Brexit.

Hungary and Poland Threaten E.U. Stimulus Over Rule of Law Links (NYT) When European Union leaders announced a landmark stimulus package to rescue their economies from the ravages of the coronavirus, they agreed to jointly raise hundreds of billions of dollars to use as aid—a bold and widely welcomed leap in collaboration never attempted in the bloc’s history. But that unity was shattered on Monday when Hungary and Poland blocked the stimulus plan and the broader budget. The two eastern European countries said they would veto the spending bill because the funding was made conditional on upholding rule-of-law standards, such as an independent judiciary, which the two governments have weakened as they defiantly tear down separation of powers at home. Their veto has thrown a signature achievement of the bloc into disarray, deepening a long-building standoff over its core principles and threatening to delay the stimulus money from getting to E.U. member states, if a new agreement can be reached at all.

Armenia seethes over peace deal (Foreign Policy) Armenia’s government is under strain after signing a cease-fire agreement with Azerbaijan in a Russian-backed deal a week ago. On Monday, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan resigned after a public disagreement with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over the direction of peace talks. Pressure on Pashinyan has shown no sign of easing in recent days: 17 opposition parties have called for his resignation as street protests against his leadership continue.

Kissinger Warns Biden of U.S.-China Catastrophe on Scale of WWI (Bloomberg) Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said the incoming Biden administration should move quickly to restore lines of communication with China that frayed during the Trump years or risk a crisis that could escalate into military conflict. “Unless there is some basis for some cooperative action, the world will slide into a catastrophe comparable to World War I,” Kissinger said during the opening session of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. He said military technologies available today would make such a crisis “even more difficult to control” than those of earlier eras. “America and China are now drifting increasingly toward confrontation, and they’re conducting their diplomacy in a confrontational way,” the 97-year-old Kissinger said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. “The danger is that some crisis will occur that will go beyond rhetoric into actual military conflict.” U.S.-China relations are at their lowest in decades. As President Donald Trump stepped up his criticism of China, blaming it for the spread of the virus and the death toll in the U.S., each side also has ramped up moves the other sees as hostile.

Hundreds of fraudulent votes were discovered. Then a fat green parrot was elected. (Washington Post) A plump, waddling parrot has soared past its competition to claim victory in New Zealand’s Bird of the Year contest, a tense race marked by attempted voter interference during a divisive month of campaigning. In what event organizers conceded was “a stunning upset,” the critically endangered kakapo flew into first place to steal the title—ruffling the feathers of those who say the bright-green parrot unfairly secured a second term as chosen bird. The bird-of-the-year controversy took flight after data analysts working with Forest & Bird discovered that roughly 1,500 fraudulent votes had been cast. The “illegal votes,” which were submitted using a suspicious email account and came from the same IP address in Auckland, briefly pushed the country’s tiny kiwi pukupuku bird into the lead, a brazen meddling attempt that sent officials and campaign managers into a flap. Those votes were immediately disregarded, organizers said. “It’s lucky we spotted this little kiwi trying to sneak in an extra 1500 votes under the cover of darkness!” Laura Keown, spokesperson for Bird of the Year, said in a statement Nov. 10, adding that officials did not “want to see any more cheating.”

Israelis Take On Netanyahu And Coronavirus Restrictions In Wave Of Civil Disobedience (The Intercept) Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, having been at the helm for over 11 consecutive years. He is also the first sitting prime minister to be indicted, currently on trial in three cases of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, arising from abusing his authority to grant favors for, among other things, favorable media coverage. While there have been small but stubborn protests against Netanyahu since investigations into his corruption first opened in late 2016, it was not until the coronavirus paralyzed Israel’s economy that people—many of them in their 20s and 30s—starting coming out in droves. For more than 20 weeks now, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to call on Netanyahu to recuse himself for corruption, for failing to manage the pandemic, and for what many describe as his megalomania—doing whatever it takes to evade trial. They have been convening in massive numbers in front of his official residence, many carrying homemade signs, chanting in unison “Go!” and “We won’t leave till Bibi resigns.”

Protests that historically bring out large numbers of Jewish Israelis have long been dominated by Israel’s left-leaning peace camp, and a decade ago, others drawing attention to the high cost of living. What is happening now is different: With over a million people unemployed in a country of 9 million, culture and nightlife all but dead amid the pandemic, and people’s ability to travel outside the country severely restricted, a nationwide movement of disgruntled Israelis, spanning ages and to an extent sociocultural backgrounds, is practicing civil disobedience. The government has responded with relative force against a segment of the Jewish population that is largely unfamiliar with police brutality and has not had their individual rights violated. At the same time, the government has all but ignored incitement and incidents of violence against the protesters. The official response is giving Jewish Israelis a tiny window into what it has always been like for Palestinians, both in Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza, whose protests are, prima facie, treated as suspect.

Ethiopia bombs Tigray capital (Foreign Policy) Ethiopia’s air force began bombing the Tigray region’s capital, Mekelle, on Monday in another escalation of the country’s civil war, now entering its third week. In a tweet he later deleted, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called for the two sides to negotiate and halt the conflict “lest it leads to unnecessary loss of lives and cripples the economy.” Redwan Hussein, a government spokesman, said the war would be a “short-lived operation,” and that mediation offers from Uganda or another country were not being considered.

Amazon opens online pharmacy, shaking up another industry (AP) Now at Amazon.com: insulin and inhalers. The online colossus opened an online pharmacy Tuesday that allows customers to order medication or prescription refills, and have them delivered to their front door in a couple of days. The potential impact of Amazon’s arrival in the pharmaceutical space rippled through that sector immediately. Before the opening bell, shares of CVS Health Corp. fell almost 9%. Walgreens and Rite Aid both tumbled more than 10%. The big chains rely on their pharmacies for a steady flow of shoppers who may also grab a snack, or shampoo or groceries on the way out. All have upped online services, but Amazon.com has mastered it, and its online store is infinitely larger. Amazon will begin offering commonly prescribed medications Tuesday in the U.S., including creams, pills, as well as medications that need to stay refrigerated, like insulin. Shoppers have to set up a profile on Amazon’s website and have their doctors send prescriptions there. The company said it won’t ship medications that can be abused, including many opioids. Most insurance is accepted, Amazon said. But Prime members who don’t have insurance can also buy generic or brand name drugs from Amazon for a discount. They can also get discounts at 50,000 physical pharmacies around the country, inside Costco, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and other stores.

R.I.P. whoopsie (Euronews) French broadcaster RFI has apologized after a bug on its website triggered the publication of obituaries of Queen Elizabeth II, Pelé, Jimmy Carter, Brigitte Bardot, Clint Eastwood and about 100 other prominent (and still alive) celebrities. RFI said in a statement that a “technical problem” led to the erroneous publications. Broadcasters often prepare obituary material in advance to publish it promptly when a death is announced.

[creepingsharia]

Qatar Funds Terror...and High Schools, Universities in the U.S.

“...Qatar Foundation gave $30.6 million to dozens of American K-12 and public high schools—a pittance compared to the more than one billion dollars the country gave to U.S. universities”

Qatar’s State-of-the-Art Foreign Lobbying Campaign

Think tanks, universities, museums, newspapers, and key congressional committees are all pieces in a game of 3D chess that the tiny Gulf state is playing with its rivals, using Washington, D.C., as its game board

by Lee Smith

March 30, 2020

The Middle Eastern nation of Qatar has a population consisting of a little more than 300,000 native Qataris, living in 11,586 square kilometers of mostly empty sand. Thus, Qatar might seem to be an unlikely fulcrum for reshaping Western politics and culture through policy debates, think tanks, universities and brand-name cultural institutions. Yet over the past decade, Qatar has implemented the single most sophisticated, sustained, successful effort by any foreign nation or interest group to shape Western policymaking–especially American opinion—in its favor.

The amount of money that Qatar has poured into local governments, universities, schools, educational organizations, think tanks, and media across America, and the number of instruments and initiatives, like the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, that Qatar uses to influence American opinion, is nearly overwhelming. It is impossible to understand how Washington works today without understanding the nature and scope of Qatar’s campaign.

Qatar has already turned much of its energy wealth into an enviable investment portfolio with significant holdings throughout the United States. Its strategy of using sovereign wealth funds and other investment vehicles as political instruments, for example, makes old-fashioned influence plays like bundling $1,000 campaign contributions to political candidates or placing op-eds by retired foreign service officers in the Washington Post seem the equivalent of writing fundraising letters by hand. Last year alone, Qatar reported $2.8 billion in direct foreign investment in American companies, much of which was targeted at states like South Carolina, where Doha took a big space in the state’s aerospace and drone industry. South Carolina’s elected representatives exercise substantial influence on the congressional committees responsible for overseeing U.S. foreign relations and defense expenditures. South Carolina’s influential senior senator, Lindsey Graham, has called for a resolution to the crisis pitting Qatar against its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but has frequently proven to be an outspoken public critic of Qatar’s main target, Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman.

Only a small percentage of Qatar’s jaw-dropping expenditures in America go toward gaming the loyalties of politicians, though. In a broader sense, the kingdom’s influence-buying strategies are a textbook example of how to transform cash into “soft” power in an era in which once-independent American institutions like the prestige media have been replaced by much flatter and easily gamed tech platforms powered by partisan alignments funded by large sums of corporate and foreign cash. Qatar’s official efforts to lobby the U.S. government quadrupled between 2016-2017, from $4.2 million to $16.3 million, but that pales in comparison to the cost of the indirect investments in U.S. political culture. Over an eight-year period from 2009-2017, The Qatar Foundation gave $30.6 million to dozens of American K-12 and public high schools—a pittance compared to the more than one billion dollars the country gave to U.S. universities between 2011-2017, making it “the largest foreign funder by far,” of American academia according to the nonpartisan watchdog group,Project On Government Oversight (POGO). In fact, according to POGO Qatar was the “only country to give over $1 billion in the seven years covered by the Higher Education Act data” included in the group’s report—the next biggest foreign spender, England, was more than $200 million behind. A final example from a Congressional Research Service report updated in March of this year notes that in “January 2018 U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue “recognized” QIA’s commitment of $45 billion in future investments in U.S. companies and real estate.”

In addition to being exponentially more expensive, Qatar’s soft-power strategies are also infinitely more sophisticated than their predecessors. To understand how the new influence system works, imagine a museum hall that has been emptied of all the artworks or antiquities that visitors once agreed were valuable. That empty space is the American public sphere, which was once populated by institutions whose financial independence and professional norms allowed them to reinforce each other in validating accounts of reality for large numbers of people.

Now that those institutions have adopted openly partisan alignments and toxic conspiracy theorizing as the source of their incomes, they are no longer capable of creating a reality that large numbers of people can agree on. The only way to obtain even fleeting agreement in such a decayed and mercenary system is to buy it, in multiple places at once–left, right, center, academia, think tanks, political players, law firms, prestige media brands, leading politicians–so that each piece of the shattered mirror seems to reflect a common agreed upon reality. The difficulty of that task, of course, is that the illusions thus created are both fleeting and expensive. Qatar provides a textbook example of how to play that game, for those whose pockets are deep enough.

“It’s a tiny place with very significant resources,” says Princeton scholar of the Middle East Bernard Haykel. “The Qataris want to protect themselves and make themselves indispensable. They do that in part by making Qatar a convening venue. For instance, if the United States wants to deal with the Taliban, they go through Doha.”

At the end of last month, Taliban and U.S. officials signed an agreement that would allow U.S. forces to withdraw finally from Afghanistan. The deal would conclude one of the most disastrous military engagements in U.S. history, while fulfilling one of President Donald Trump’s most significant 2016 campaign pledges to end pointless foreign wars. And the deal also counts as the latest feather in Doha’s cap—possible only, say Qatari officials and the country’s admirers, through a U.S. partnership with a country that sees itself as friend to all. And for critics of Qatar, that’s precisely the problem.

“Qatar is a profoundly menacing influence to core U.S. interests,” says a U.S. expert on Gulf affairs who asked for anonymity. “The issue is that they’re structurally promiscuous—they’re always trying to buy protection everywhere, that they give money to U.S. enemies—like the Muslim Brotherhood or Hezbollah or Hamas or the Nusra Front in Syria. The Qataris are supposed to be allies of the United States yet they’re funding and dealing with groups and countries that are inimical to American interests.”

To hear Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates tell it, it’s because of Qatar’s support for those groups and countries that it imposed a blockade on its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state in June 2017. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi issued 13 demands that Doha was obliged to meet before the embargo would be lifted. Among other demands, the Saudis and Emiratis said Qatar had to shut down its world-famous satellite news station Al-Jazeera, stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and armed Islamist groups, pull away from Iran, and cease interference in the internal affairs of its neighbors, namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Another demand required Qatar to align its “military, political, social and economic policies with the other Gulf and Arab countries.”

From Doha’s perspective, the demands were tantamount to asking Qatar to forsake its sovereignty. But from Riyadh’s and Abu Dhabi’s point of view, their smaller neighbor’s policies represent a strategic threat, especially, say pro-Saudi and Emirati figures, Qatar’s relations with Islamists across the Muslim world, like the Taliban—as well as Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi-based Shia militias, and Sunni terror groups.

The conflict between the two GCC blocs has resulted in a massive influx of Gulf wealth into Washington as lobbyists, consultants, think-tank experts and journalists fill roster slots on the two competing sides. Former Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is among the latest big Beltway names to register as a UAE lobbyist, while South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s former deputy chief of staff signed on with Qatar last summer.

There is nothing secret about the money that foreign powers spread around the U.S. capital, of course. Indeed, the purpose of spending money is to openly demonstrate power and influence. The point of taking money from foreign powers, aside from the money of course, is to align oneself with the power their money represents. None of the Americans I spoke to for this story was less than open, some boastful, about their working relationship with one or the other side of the GCC conflict.

As far as Donald Trump is concerned, the GCC Cold War is also good for America. The White House says publicly that it wants the two sides, all U.S. allies, to resolve their differences, but before Wall Street crashed their multi-billion-dollar fight fueled the U.S. work force. To compete for Trump’s favor, both sides of the GCC conflict spent lavishly, buying arms, military planes as well as civilian carriers, and investing in real estate and manufacturing throughout the country, from New York to Texas. The jobs created by Gulf spending was a significant part of why in April the United States enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate since 1969.

But are the massive waves of Gulf cash that are washing over Washington and the rest of the country actually good for America? The Gulf states, after all, abide by a very different set of values than Americans do, or did, in a secularized free-market Western democracy. And as rapidly as U.S. regional partners are modernizing under dynamic leadership like Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, there is still a long way to go. The workforce Qatar has imported from the Asian subcontinent to build 2022 World Cup sites is described, with only slight exaggeration, as slave labor.

At times, it seems like American foreign policy decision-making, especially when related to the Middle East and the Muslim world, has itself become a proxy battle between the two opposing camps in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia is critical of Qatar’s relationship with terrorist groups but skip over its own past relationship with Hamas. Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi reportedly tried to act as mediators with the Taliban.

-----END Excerpt Read More at Link Below------------

See the Creeping Sharia archive on Qatar (here) and this post almost a year ago to the day:  Video: New book exposes Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood’s financing and Islamization network.

[benjimirthursby]

The Faithwrights of Numenor

A Record of  House Ciryaturs and  the rise of the Faithwrights of Numenor as compiled and illuminated by Handuli of the House of Ciryaturs, S.A. 1812

Loximir Thursby, T.A. 3002

Tinifalas Thursby, F.A. 18

Preface to the Third Revised Edition of the Faithwrights of Numenor.

The Faithwrights of Numenor (FoN) is compiled from the fragments and precious few complete scrolls and tales from the Eldar Days of the First Age and Second Age of this Middle-earth.  My predecessors in their fashion have done yeoman's work building the foundations on which I have continued the efforts.  It has been only with the insights of the Fare Folk, long friends to the Thursby Kinship much has been preserved of our history and for this I mark here our gratitude.  

- Tinifalas Thursby, Minas Tirith, Fourth Age 18.

Preface to the Second Revised Edition of the Faithwrights of Numenor.

Here is set the known words attesting to the history of the Thursby Family in the bygone ages of Middle-earth.  The luminary historian Handuli of the House of Ciryaturs laid down the first collection of stories from which I have added the accumulated knowledge gained since in this edition. Lore Masters of our Age would be aghast at the lack of original sources, however it is widely understood such is due to the oral traditions giving way to properly scribed records. -Loximir Thursby, Third Age, 3002

Preface to the First Edition of the Faithwrights of Numenor.

The House of Ciryaturs set to put to record the tales passed down from its founding fathers.  Owing to the nature of these earliest years, no proper record was kept until the House had come into being for some many years.  Nevertheless it is my hope this scribe's efforts will not be in vain and give knowledge to those yet to come of our earliest struggles and for what we stood for. - Handuli of the House of Ciryaturs.

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“Souls weary rise anew from the promise of new life on unknown shores amidst a vast sea.” ~Nathamir of the House of Ciryaturs. 28 S.A.

Wars of The First Age and the Coming to Elenna-nore.

In the years of the First Age people of original Edain blood settled near the shores of the Bay of Balar in the town of Arvernien.  Theirs was a life of peace, attuned to the rhythms of the sea and its life.  Soon these men came into friendship with the Eldar who made hearth and home in the Havens of Sirion. For the greater portion of the Age man and Elf enjoyed fellowship with one another.  

Drawn by the lustrous blue of the sea of Belegaer and learning at the knee of their ageless friends, the men of Arvernien came to achieve skill as shipwrights that rivaled any in Beleriand.  In this age it was not the custom of the race of men to take a sires name, the kindred took to title themselves as being of the House of Ciryaturs, or Ship Masters in the tongue of Quenya.  

The rise of shadows and the convulsions of the land and sea heralded the great War of Wrath in the halls of the House of Creatures.  Patriarch of Falathrim who dwelled in Havens of Sirion, ’Tsubchi, rallied the spirits of the Edain through the tales of their Teleri kin and so marshalled the men to war for the first time under the banner of their chief, Nathamir.

The war concluded the stern Edain returned to their homes overlooking the Bay of Balar. They were quick in action and sacrifice yet reticent to claim glory.  By deed they earned immense yet silently given esteem.  It was only with much urgent counsel that Nathamir heeded the call by Elros, son of Earendil, to take-up the gift of rest the Valar bestowed to the race of Men.  Thus the shipwrights of House Ciryaturs saw the Age end as they crafted many white vessels in their traditional fashion.  In turn these ships carried many of the race of men to their reward far to the west during the coming two score and ten years.

The isle settled and the realm of Numenor declared in 32 S.A., Nathamir settled the kin of his house in the city of Andunie on the shores of the bay taking its name from it.  Ensconced in a great fjord on the north western spur of the isle of Numenor, it afforded a secure, sheltered harbor and was nearest to the forbidden Valinor.  This was much desired as they had fought closely alongside the Elves in the concluding war of the first age and his house was named Elendili, “Elf-Friends” by the First Born.  

These Elendili were predecessors in their devotion to the Valar as the Faithful later in the age.  Those of the kin quickly and long kept ties and trade with the Faire Folk of the Undying Lands and those Edain whom kept their homes on Middle-earth.  Likewise, they became fast friends to the men of Hyarrostar and skilled in the husbandry of trees there which were the root of their earliest and best known trade, the building of fine ships.  In service to their early trade, kin also settled in Romenna in eastern Numenor, who's bay hosted the graving docks for their ships.   

Those of House Ciryaturs were well skilled as mariners, a trait not uncommon naturally as it was said to be imbued in the blood of the men of Numenor.  However it was such that their house became among the earliest and most stout supporters of the Uinendili, the “Guild of Venturers” whose guildhall, often kept aboard a ship, was hosted in their home of Andunie in SA 750.

Shadows rose again and the men of Westernesse rose again to meet them.  Tar-Minastir dispatched a great fleeting to aid Gil-galad in the War of the Elves and Sauron in year 1700 of the S.A.  It’s commander was the Numenorean admiral Ciryatur.    His own mother was from the House of Ciryaturs. Ciryatur crossed the sea of Arda aboard a flagship crafted by the House Ciryaturs and many from it took arms and sailed with the kindred admiral.

They sailed to aid the high Elven king whose Elves had been driven back to the River Lhûn by Sauron.  The high King was near defeat when the great fleet from Númenor arrived and Sauron was repelled with great loss.  The Ciryatur was able to effect landings on inhospitable shores thanks to the ships and skills of the House of Ciryaturs.  In so doing the Admiral was able to effect a secret envelopment of Souron’s forces, appearing in force at his rear as he fled the onslaught at the Lhun. Then fully routed at the Battle of the Gwathló, Sauron escaped and fled to Mordor following utter defeat at Calenardhon.  

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"The doom of men ought to keep us from dwelling too much on the ephemeral and seek the greater truth beyond. Too many fail to seek and only escape the doom." - Ocala of Romenna

Fall of the Kings and the Plight of the Faithful.

After the War of Wraith and the breaking of Beleriand, House Ciryaturs returned to their havens on Numenor and resumed their work. The House Ciryaturs had much involvement with the building of the harbors at Umbar, Pelargir and Belfalas.  Dry goods and stores from Middle-earth became an expanded source of wealth for the house.  Trade and other commerce ensured that news also flowed into the halls of Andunie continuously.

All the while the shadows of the Enemy never fully lifted from Middle-earth and even cast darkness over Numenor.  Edain from far away lands held dominion over isolated lands on Middle-earth and became sundered from men of High Blood.  Thus the Middle-men came to be.  Resentment and presumption drove Kings to assert tyranny over the lands beyond the island, exacerbating the change of esteem the blood of Numenor was held in.  

Among the men of High Blood, across Numenor a rift developed between those who honored the Valar and precips of Eru and those aligned with the Kings.  The Kings grew in resentment of the Eldar and the seeming inquiry of lifespans.  The Kings came to pursue corporeal power and to halt the slow decline in longevity which seemed to beset some blood lines more as the age progressed.

The chiefs of the House came into close council with the Lords of Andunie even as ties to the Kings of Numenor frayed.  Relations with the Elves of Valinor and the havens on Middle-earth  remained warm.  Which only gave root to suspicion of the House among the Kings as they lost faith in the patronage of the Valar.  

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"The Doom of Men meant words of lore faded even with the long lived blood of Numenor.  It was with hope of aiding in the passage of wisdom and awareness of darkness that the Falathrim gave their Elf Friends the most revered relics of their House." - Tinfalas Thursby, The Book of Thursby, Volume One.

"Seminal Icons of the House of Ciryaturs." 

The great Seeing Stones and legendary weapons of the age were coveted for their imbued qualities.  They were the highest examples of their kind and we're never replicated as the skill in craft which produced them diminished.

It would be wrong to describe the seminal Icons of the House Ciryaturs as lesser examples of their craft however.  Rather they were with specific and narrow purposes.  These icons were gifts given by Falathrim, who had divided their dwellings between the havens at Edholland and the Undying lands.  They were to provide warning and guidance.  

The first of these icons was the Dagger of Warding.  This dagger was presented to the chief of the House of Ciryaturs and passed to its successor for ages to come.  It possessed a blade of traditional Elven design with a curved blade and grip.  It's pummel featured a crystal  which with a twist of it's true silver mount could be concealed.  The makers imbued the crystal with qualities that gave the blades keeper warning in times of approaching danger.  The crystal would demonstrate a hue when the daggers carrier had need to be weary or mindful.  The hue had no specific threat tied to it.  Rather, like the second icon, its meaning was left to the mind of its keeper.

The second icon gifted to the House of Ciryaturs was named the Beacon of Andunie.  The beacon was a palm sized crystal whose hue was fluid. When spurred to life the beacon was ever changing from transparent to opaque and luminous to dark.  The quality the Elves imbued the Beacon with was to forewarn of interesting times.  The Beacons keepers may devine images and notions from laying of hands over it or gazing into its depths.  However over the ages the Beacon was said to provide guidance best  through inspiring dreams which its keeper was left to determine the meanings of.

These gifts were kept secret and safe from the knowledge of the King of Numenor.  They would prompt their keepers to view their times with clear minds and if not to give foresight, pause at least to consider and prepare for the possible.

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"The dead return to the ground but sometimes the soul rots before the body has fallen." - Tondera of Andunie. "Of the Fall."

"The Fall of Shadow, Rise of Fear and the Flight from Numenor."

Nothing living with any modicum of comfort lacks a fear of it's own demise.  Therefore it is no surprise that the short lives of the race of men by the reckoning of the other races of Middle-earth, created a unique mix of fear and resentment.  Concordantly it was among those with the greatest wealth and power the greatest depth of these sentiments were harbored.  None were more fearful than the nobles and Kings of Numenor.  None were more driven to tap powers and walk paths to abate the inevitable doom all shared than the Kings of Numenor.  

Those men of lesser means and bloodlines rallied to the King, forsaking ancient faith in the purpose of the Doom of Men.  They sought to abate fear by subordinating their wisdom as Kingsmen and the fellowship of others like them.  

Those who sought only to remain faithful to the teaching of the Valar and Eldar became an intolerable reminder of the fear the Kingsmen held in their hearts.

The Eldar, their presence, craft, spoken and written words were bitter reminders of what the Kingsmen coveted.  Soon the use of the ancient Elven tongue was forbidden.  Title and lore became rooted in more common tongues.  The House of Ciryaturs was compelled to move from it's ancestral home in Andunie to Romenna and even forsake their house name.  It took in place of the house name the secret identity of the Faithwrights of Numenor. 

It was in the reign of the last King of Numenor that the disciple of the first Dark Lord feigned supplication before a host of Numenorean might before his gates.  A ruse which earned the title Deciever among those of the Faithwrights.  To the dismay of the Faithwrights, blinded by pride and fear the King took the Deciever to the very shores of Numenor.  There the King harkened to black council which gave root to the eventual doom of Numenor.

In these years the Beacon of Andunie shimmered vigorously in the quarters of the matron of the Faithwrights, Tondera of Andunie.  From dreams filling her sleep Tondera resolved she needed to prepare against a calamity yet unknown.  She took counsel with the Elven friends of the Faithwrights at sea and in the new settlements of Belfalas.  She took heed of the guidance of Cirdan and Elrond in the years that followed.  As ever more terrible acts were visited upon the Faithful she prepared her House for the future.

So it was the Faithwrights redoubled building ashore in Middle-earth and began to craft new and spacious white ships.  These Tondera had kept unfinished but whose parts could be drawn together in great haste.  The Dagger of Warding remained at her side waking and at rest.  Her eyes frequently consulting the pummels crystal.  

So it was that the Deceiver at last put the King's mind to the unthinkable and the greatest host of Numenors history sailed in anger to the shores of the Undying lands.  So awakened by the bright and urgent sheen from the Dagger of Warding that Tondera gave the orders and the White Ships of Numenor were assembled and took those of the Faithful to sea as the island was sundered and consumed.  

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"Foresight prepared them, destiny rewarded them." - Benjimir Thursby, "The Analects."

"The Turn of the Age and the Rise of the House of Thursby."

The Fall of Numenor realized the Deciever's desire to heap vengeance on Numenor.  It did not however purge it's pride and wisdom from Middle-earth.  Arnor and Gondor and their fortress cities had long been founded.  Havens and bastions of the Faithful were well established when Westernesse fell.  Aboard ships of the Faithwrights Elendil and his sons were conveyed to new shores with the icons of Numenor and a resolve to preserve it's memory.  

The Faithwrights took to their own haven in Belfalas and tended their work and business throughout Middle-earth.  Content to take their reward from lives of peace along the shores of the Bay of Belfalas, the Faithwrights sought no title or fiefdom from the named King.  As they had since the First Age they took to service as trusted counselors to the King and the Prince, given lordship over Belfalas.  

Tondera gave command to raise a hall on the greater island in the Bay of Belfalas.  It was also at this time she took as her husband the chief of a stalwart clan of Middle-men.  The clan had over the Age founded settlements and merchantiles in the Faithwrights stead.  As a token of solidarity with and to seal their bond the Faithwrights took as their own the sire name of the clan.  Thus was founded the House of Thursby.

The Faithful were not alone in escaping Numenor's doom.  Kingsmen had long held sway in the haven of Umbar.  Their blood would run thin and diminish with speed after Westernesse fell.  Yet the hate of the Valar, Faithful and the engrained resentment that infected the Kingsmen remained.  From the haven the Corsairs of Umbar gave body and name to the shadow of the Kingsmen.  Soon they grappled with the Navy of Gondor and thus with the ships and men of the House of Thursby throughout the coming  Age.

Even as this bitter rivalry took root House Thursby was called upon by the King as he marshalled the might of the race of men to the Last Alliance.  Once more ships and men under the House banner conveyed might to war.  The Deciever fell and the long Second Age came to an end.

Yet the Last Alliance's victory was incomplete and the Third Age of Middle-earth began under shadow.  It was long after the Deciever fell before the Dagger of Warding and the Beacon of Andunie fell dark.  A great ring of power was lost.  Fell folk remained throughout many a mountain range.  Corsairs challenged for supremacy at sea.  New and hateful foes plagued the Kingdoms from the east.  Most disconcertingly, the bloodlines of Numenor scattered, sundered and diminished.  Strife, pride and petty wants buckled the bonds among men of High Blood.  Middle-men carried on and looked with weary eyes on the Lords who presumed Dominion over them yet provided little wisdom or prosperity.  

The House of Thursby settled into the long watchful peace and laid foundations to guard against the shadows seen in dreams of the future.  The House sent it's sons and daughters to learn and serve in the halls of man, King and Elf alike.  They kept watch over Middle-earth with the pride of true sons of Westernesse and the absolute resolve that against the Shadows, Numenor would prevail.

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[bountyofbeads]

Anguish and Anger From the Navy SEALS Who Turned In Edward Gallagher https://nyti.ms/2EU91FB

The men of Alpha Platoon, SEAL Team 7, described Chief Gallagher as “freaking evil” and “toxic” in videos not shown publicly before. The remarks are blistering testimony about their platoon chief, who was protected by President Trump from punishment.

Anguish and Anger From the Navy SEALS Who Turned In Edward Gallagher

Video interviews and group texts obtained by The Times show men describing their platoon leader in grim terms.

By Dave Philips | Published Dec. 27, 2019 Updated 5:24 AM ET | New York Times | Posted December 28, 2019 |

The Navy SEALs showed up one by one, wearing hoodies and T-shirts instead of uniforms, to tell investigators what they had seen. Visibly nervous, they shifted in their chairs, rubbed their palms and pressed their fists against their foreheads. At times they stopped in midsentence and broke into tears.

“Sorry about this,” Special Operator First Class Craig Miller, one of the most experienced SEALs in the group, said as he looked sideways toward a blank wall, trying to hide that he was weeping. “It’s the first time — I’m really broken up about this.”

Video recordings of the interviews obtained by The New York Times, which have not been shown publicly before, were part of a trove of Navy investigative materials about the prosecution of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher on war crimes charges including murder.

They offer the first opportunity outside the courtroom to hear directly from the men of Alpha platoon, SEAL Team 7, whose blistering testimony about their platoon chief was dismissed by President Trump when he upended the military code of justice to protect Chief Gallagher from the punishment.

“The guy is freaking evil,” Special Operator Miller told investigators. “The guy was toxic,” Special Operator First Class Joshua Vriens, a sniper, said in a separate interview. “You could tell he was perfectly O.K. with killing anybody that was moving,” Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, a medic in the platoon, told the investigators.

Such dire descriptions of Chief Gallagher, who had eight combat deployments and sometimes went by the nickname Blade, are in marked contrast to Mr. Trump’s portrayal of him at a recent political rally in Florida as one of “our great fighters.”

Though combat in Iraq barely fazed the SEALs, sitting down to tell Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents about what they had seen their platoon chief do during a 2017 deployment in Iraq was excruciating for them.

Not only did they have to relive wrenching events and describe grisly scenes, they had to break a powerful unwritten code of silence in the SEALs, one of the nation’s most elite commando forces.

The trove of materials also includes thousands of text messages the SEALs sent one another about the events and the prosecution of Chief Gallagher. Together with the dozens of hours of recorded interviews, they provide revealing insights into the men of the platoon, who have never spoken publicly about the case, and the leader they turned in.

Platoon members said they saw Chief Gallagher shoot civilians and fatally stab a wounded captive with a hunting knife. Chief Gallagher was acquitted by a military jury in July of all but a single relatively minor charge, and was cleared of all punishment in November by Mr. Trump.

Video from a SEAL’s helmet camera, included in the trove of materials, shows the barely conscious captive — a teenage Islamic State fighter so thin that his watch slid easily up and down his arm — being brought in to the platoon one day in May 2017. Then the helmet camera is shut off.

In the video interviews with investigators, three SEALs said they saw Chief Gallagher go on to stab the sedated captive for no reason, and then hold an impromptu re-enlistment ceremony over the body, as if it were a trophy.

“I was listening to it, and I was just thinking, like, this is the most disgraceful thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Special Operator Miller, who has since been promoted to chief, told investigators.

Special Operator Miller said that when the platoon commander, Lt. Jacob Portier, told the SEALs to gather over the corpse for photos, he did not feel he could refuse. The photos, included in the evidence obtained by The Times, show Chief Gallagher, surrounded by other SEALs, clutching the dead captive’s hair; in one photo, he holds a custom-made hunting knife.

“I think Eddie was proud of it, and that was, like, part of it for him,” Special Operator Miller told investigators.

Chief Gallagher’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, said the video interviews were rife with inconsistencies and falsehoods that created “a clear road map to the acquittal.”

Since his arrest nearly a year ago, Chief Gallagher has insisted that the charges against him were concocted by six disgruntled SEALs in his platoon who could not meet his high standards and wanted to force him out.

“My first reaction to seeing the videos was surprise and disgust that they would make up blatant lies about me, but I quickly realized that they were scared that the truth would come out of how cowardly they acted on deployment,” Chief Gallagher said in a statement issued through his lawyer.

“I felt sorry for them that they thought it necessary to smear my name, but they never realized what the consequences of their lies would be. As upset as I was, the videos also gave me confidence because I knew that their lies would never hold up under real questioning and the jury would see through it. Their lies and N.C.I.S.’s refusal to ask hard questions or corroborate their stories strengthened my resolve to go to trial and clear my name.”

The video interviews and private group text conversations obtained by The Times do not reveal any coordinated deception among the SEALs in the chief’s platoon. Instead, they show men who were hesitant to come forward, but who urged one another to resist outside pressure and threats of violence, and to be honest.

“Tell the truth, don’t lie or embellish,” one sniper who is now in SEAL Team 6 told the others in a group text in 2017, when they first tried to report the chief. “That way, he can’t say that we slandered him in any way.”

When several SEALs in the group questioned what would come of reporting the chief to their commanders, another wrote: “That’s their decision. We just need to give them the truth.”

It is an unspoken rule among their teams that SEALs should not report other SEALs for misconduct. An internal investigation could close off choice assignments or end careers for the accusers as well as the accused. And anyone who reported concerns outside the tight-knit SEAL community risked being branded a traitor.

“In a perfect world, there would be no risk, but that is not where we are,” Rick Haas, a retired command master chief who served in the SEALs for 30 years, said in an interview with The Times. “The teams are now divided over this, like I’ve never seen happen before.”

In cramped interview rooms in San Diego, SEALs who spoke to Navy investigators painted a picture of a platoon driven to despair by a chief who seemed to care primarily about racking up kills. They described how their chief targeted women and children and boasted that “burqas were flying.”

Asked whether the chief had a bias against Middle Eastern people, Special Operator Scott replied, “I think he just wants to kill anybody he can.”

Some of the SEALs said they came to believe that the chief was purposefully exposing them to enemy fire to bait ISIS fighters into revealing their positions. They said the chief thought that casualties in the platoon would increase his chances for a Silver Star.

Special Operator Vriens told investigators he had wanted to confront the chief in Iraq but had worried that if he did, he would be cut from missions and no longer be present to protect other SEALs from the chief. As he spoke, he struggled to keep his composure.

“I can speak up, stand my ground,” he said in the interview. “He’s just going to do this to a new guy who he can manipulate. So I was like, I’m going to be his right-hand man, so — so no one else got hurt.”

He pressed his forehead into his fists and started to cry. Then he took several deep breaths, rubbed his hands together and tried to continue.

“So I worked for him and I kept my mouth shut,” he said.

The platoon members told investigators that they tried repeatedly to report what they saw, but that the chain of command above them was friendly toward Chief Gallagher and took no action. Finally, in April 2018, they went outside the SEALs to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Chief Gallagher was arrested a few months later.

The SEALs in the platoon were scattered to new assignments. They tried to keep tabs on the case, texting one another and commiserating over a series of setbacks, including accusations of prosecutorial misconduct, the removal of the lead prosecutor and reports that the judge overseeing the case was being investigated on suspicion of lying under oath.

“This stuff is frustrating to read and makes it seem like Eddie will possibly get away with murder (literally),” Special Operator First Class Dylan Dille texted the group. “Let’s not forget there are 7-12 of us in here who had the balls to tell the truth about what Eddie has done.”

He said he thought the case against Chief Gallagher was strong despite the procedural setbacks. “I am also convinced that we are gonna answer to a higher power someday, and everything happens for a reason,” wrote Special Operator Dille, who has since left the Navy. “Not compromising our integrity and keeping right on our side is all we can do.”

Seven members of the 22-person platoon testified at the trial that they saw the chief commit war crimes. Two men from the platoon testified that they did not see any evidence of crimes. Others refused to cooperate with prosecutors. Crucially, one SEAL who had accused the chief during the investigation — Special Operator Scott — changed his story on the witness stand, testifying that he and not Chief Gallagher had caused the captive’s death.

Three of the men who testified at the trial left the Navy afterward, and have been trying to keep a low profile while they build civilian lives. Others are still in the SEAL teams, in some cases working on classified assignments. Some fear that coming forward has hurt their chances at success in the SEALs, but none have reported any retaliation. All of them declined to comment for this article.

Since the trial, Chief Gallagher has repeatedly insulted them on social media and on Fox News, especially Craig Miller, whom the chief singled out for weeping while talking to investigators.

Chief Gallagher retired from the Navy with full honors at the end of November, and has announced that he was starting a SEAL-themed clothing line.

A few days after he retired, an Instagram account belonging to him and his wife posted a photo of a custom-made hatchet, forged by the same SEAL veteran who made the hunting knife he was accused of using to kill the captive. Before the deployment, Chief Gallagher had told the knife maker he hoped to “dig that knife or hatchet on someone’s skull!”

“Eddie finally got his stuff back from NCIS,” the post said, listing the hatchet among a “few of our favorite things now returned.”

Another item returned to him was a black-and-white Islamic State flag. On Saturday, Chief Gallagher presented Mr. Trump with a folded black-and-white cloth that other SEALs from the platoon said appeared to be the flag.

A post on the chief’s Instagram account said, “Finally got to thank the President and his amazing wife by giving them a little gift from Eddie’s deployment to Mosul.”

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Confidential Videos Show Why Navy SEALs Reported Edward Gallagher Episode 23: ‘The Gallagher Effect’

You can watch the full documentary  now on Hulu and Sunday on FX at 10 p.m. ET.

Producers Jessica Dimmock and Zackary Canepari | Published December 27, 2019 | New York Times |

Combat video, text messages and confidential interviews with members of the Navy SEALs obtained by The New York Times reveal chilling details about the conduct of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a bona fide badass with a chest full of medals.

Trained as a medic, sniper and explosives expert, Gallagher was the consummate leader of Alpha Platoon, SEAL Team 7, part of the Navy’s elite commando force. But when his own men said he committed war crimes, it sent shock waves up the chain of command — reaching all the way to the commander in chief.

Gallagher’s case continues to roil the Navy even after his acquittal on the most severe charges, and the public debate on Fox News and Twitter has widened the rift between President Trump and some top military leaders.

What exactly happened in Iraq in 2017 that so alarmed Gallagher’s brothers in arms? And why has the case resonated with Trump and his political base?

On this episode of “The Weekly,” members of SEAL Team 7 tell Navy investigators that Gallagher was a reckless leader with a disturbing hunger for violence. They say they spent much of their time protecting Iraqi civilians from their battle-crazed chief instead of going after ISIS. And never-before-released video from the SEALs’ deployment shows Gallagher kneeling beside a defenseless ISIS captive moments before Gallagher plunged his knife into the prisoner’s neck.

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