ASANTEHENE; Heavyweights In Kumawu Challenge His Authority

Osei Tutu II

Otumfuor the Asantehene, Osei Tutu appears to be heading for a lot of trouble as some of the traditional authorities in Kumawu have challenged his authority.

Styling themselves as “majority kingmakers of Kumawu” the authorities claim that the installation of one Dr Sarfo as Kumawuhene was characterised by arbitrariness and arm-twisting.

Nana Sarfo Agyekum II, Aduanahene of Kumawu is acting as the spokesperson of the Kumawu authorities.

There are reports that the Asantehene has been dragged to court and that contempt charges may be preferred against him.

On page 73 of the “Daily Graphic” of December 24, 2014 an order for substituted service in respect of the raging dispute is published.

There are very strong indications that the raging dispute could very easily degenerate into a violent conflict with major historical dimensions.

The Insight is keenly following the developments in Kumawu and from tomorrow will bring its readers some insights into the conflict.

Editorial

A New Year

Last year had its challenges and difficulties for all the people of Ghana and it is indeed the wish of all that 2015 will present new opportunities for dealing with the hydra-headed problems of the country.

Among the headaches of Ghanaians in 2014 was what has come to be described as “domso-domso”.

The inadequate supply of electricity has so severely damaged the national economy and created substantial discomfort in every home.

No matter what the cause of the problem may be, the people of Ghana expect their government to deal with the problem to create favourable conditions for improving the lives of the people.

This is not time for making excuses It is time to solve problems and “The Insight” hopes that 2015 will bring an end to “domso-somso” and create conditions for reducing unemployment, improving the housing stock, access to education and health.

KB IS GONE

Kwabena Mensah, son of the distinguished politician, Mr J.H Mensah and a former presenter of the British Broadcasting Corporation could not make it to 2015.

KB as he was affectionately called passed away at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital within a few hours after reporting for treatment.

Family sources say that he was suddenly taken ill and was rushed to the hospital from his Teshie-Nungua home.

KB was a presenter on the BBC’s “Focus On Africa” and several other programmes.

Several of his colleagues at the BBC claimed that he had a brain which was faster than a computer.

He was a reservoire of knowledge and an avid reader.

KB sought knowledge in economics , history, politics, physics and indeed all subjects.

During his stay in Ghana, he became a regular visitor to “The Insight” where he spent considerable time discussing world affairs and offering advise on the production of the newspaper.

He was also a close friend and associate of King Ampah, one of Ghana’s most accomplished film makers.

Before his death KB was writing a script for a film on Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah which was to be produced and directed by King Ampah.

Family sources say that burial and funeral arrangements would be announced  later.

Cape Coast Metro Hospital cries for help

Kweku Agemang Mensah, Health Minister

Madam Hannah Okwan, a midwife at the Cape Coast Metropolitan Hospital, has appealed to the government, cooperate institutions and individuals to come to the aid of the Hospital since many of its infrastructure were in bad condition.

According to her, the maternity ward of the hospital in particular was saddled with many challenges that hindered maternity health care delivery.

Madam Okwan made appeal when the Ghana News Agency visited the maternity ward on Christmas Day.

She said the only air-conditioner in the labour unit had broken down leading to unbearable heat in the room during delivery sessions and surgery.

Madam Okwan stated that sometimes patients were made to hold their infusions because only four beds had drip stands, out of 24 beds at the labour unit which she described as very worrisome.

She said the mosquito-proof nets were all damaged making way for mosquitoes, mice, insects and other rodents to enter the unit, putting the lives of the nurses and the patients in great danger.

She said the maternity ward was in need of support as many of their infrastructures such as the toilet were in bad condition and the roofing in a deplorable state as it had not been rehabilitated for a very long time.

Some of the nurses at the unit also spoke about the intense heat at the corridor where they had their desks due to direct exposure to the sun.

They also complained of not having any source of entertainment and news as the only television set in the ward had broken down.

The Cape Coast Metropolitan Hospital, which used to be called the District Hospital, had been crying for infrastructural upgrading to befit its Metropolitan status.

GNA

Education is a priority for development - Woyongo

Mark Woyongo

Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, Minister of Interior, has reiterated that education was a tool for development for any society and therefore the need to make it a priority in all aspects of planning.

Mr Woyongo said “our future lies on education and we need to make extra efforts to make it a priority for all in the Kassena Nankana Municipality (KNM).

The Minister made the call during an address to the chiefs and people of Kassena Nankana Municipality on the occasion of Fao festival celebrated annually to appreciate favors received from the ancestors and God for good harvests.

The Interior Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Navrongo, urged the sons and daughters living outside the Municipality to be involved to push the education agenda of the area further through their commitment and contribution in cash and kind.

Mr Woyongo indicated that part of his MP common fund was spent on education and said more deprived children in the area required similar support to enable them go to  school and called for fund raising during such festive occasions to raise funds to support more needy students to go to school.

Navro Pio, Wekem Arthur Balina Adda , Chief of the Navrongo Traditional Area, expressed concern at the falling standards of education at both junior and senior secondary levels, which he attributed to irregular school attendance, migration among the youth to the south, staying late at night at funeral performances and poor parental care.

Navro- Pio condemned alcoholism, premarital sex and drug abuse among the youth and called on stakeholders to join hands to seek solution to the educational problems in the municipality.

To fulfil his pledge to award deserving schools for good academic performance, the chief presented a cow to the St John Bosco Junior high school for obtaining 100 percent in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) with 10 distinctions.

He congratulated the District Director of Education and staff for keeping to the promise to work hard and urged them to continue to do more.

Meanwhile Dr Stanislaus Kadingdi, District Chief Executive of KNM has expressed worry about non-teaching of the Kassim Language in schools in the area which he indicated affected both spoken and written kassim language which according to him was dying among the youth.

He said the use of broken kassim language and chatting in different languages among the youth had made it more difficult for the youth to understand and use the language.

Mr Kadingdi bemoaned the poor presentation of kassim on radio stations and called for an improvement in the language use and also encouraged its usage and teaching in schools.

He urged the youth to use the festival to learn.

GNA

Five shining stars

By Nuria Barbosa León

The singer-songwriter’s 62nd concert of his Neighborhood Tour, held December 20, became a perfect opportunity for residents of the Havana municipality of Cerro to welcome the Cuban Five, and share a moving evening of song.

 “The wounded Major rides on” was the line sung out loudly by the Five together with Silvio Rodríguez during the singer-songwriter’s 62nd concert of his Neighborhood Tour.

Immense was the impact of Gerardo Herández, René González, Ramón Labañiño, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González´s presence, encircled by the audience who came from neighborhoods surrounding Havana’s Latinoamericano Stadium, and greater still when they joined Silvio on stage to sing songs of freedom and love.

When Gerardo commented that the song “El Necio” had become a hymn of resistance for the Five during their most difficult times, locked up in isolation cells, missing the sea, rain, radiant Caribbean sun and the smell of coffee, the verses, “I don’t know what my destiny is/ I am what I am as I go along/ Up there God, who may be divine/ I will die as I have lived,” came to represent their immense pride in being Cuban and revolutionaries.

To the tune of “El dulce abismo”, tears began to flow among the Five and their families, who shared the joy of being reunited with their most cherished loved ones.

Moving was musician Vicente Feliú’s explanation that he made a promise to wear a yellow band until the Five Cuban Heroes arrived home, free at last. It was Tony who had the honor of removing the band in the his name and those of his brothers, after which Feliú and the Five performed a rendition of Tony’s poem “Regresaré”, set to music by deceased musician Polo Montañez, which closed their interaction.

David Torrens and his group, who opened the cultural event, got everyone dancing including Tony and his sister Maruchi, with “Sentimientos ajenos”, “Razones”, “Ni de aquí, ni de allá,” and several others.

Poet Víctor Cassaus, explained the purpose of the never-ending neighborhood tour and recalled that during many concerts the demand was made for the release of the Five heroes who “are with us today”.

With the Cuban flag as the backdrop, the crowd sang along to more than 15 of Silvio’s songs, among them: “Balada para Elpidio Valdés”, “Reparador de Sueños”, “Días del Agua”, “Papalote”, “Mujeres”, “Tonada del Albedrío”, “Óleo de mujer con sombrero” and “Canción del Elegido”.

At the close of the show - the area radiating with human warmth - the song “La era está pariendo un corazón”came as a reminder of the high ethical values that people can reach when they give their lives to just causes.

Music to move the soul; happy faces; emotions; euphoria; triumphant embraces; voices united in song; an unforgettable December evening - inspiration to start the new year with kindness and say to the world” I live in a free country/ which can only ever be free/ in this land, in this moment/ and I am happy because I am great…”

More than a starry night, the evening itself was magnificent, elating all those in Cuba and the world who believe in freedom and justice.

Libya: A Failed State Threatens The Region

Muarmmar Al Gaddafi

By Soufan
• Nearly three years after the collapse of Muammar Qadhafi’s regime, Libya has become a failed state, reaching levels of instability never before experienced in North Africa and the Sahel

• More than 1,700 competing clans, regional and Islamist militias are vying over control of what remains of the state; some radical groups are gaining ground amidst horrific and anarchic violence that has spilled over into neighboring states (Egypt, Tunisia, Niger, Algeria, and Mali); and regional powers are exploiting the disorder to pursue their own interests in the country

• Libya’s economy, overwhelmingly driven by oil and gas revenues, has collapsed; energy sector exports have plummeted, and GDP has declined a stunning 10 percent during the past year

• International efforts to stabilize Libya have been wanting; the United States warns that some new and some old players in the region—Egypt, Algeria, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates—are undermining diplomatic efforts to bring reconciliation among partisan groups with their activities in the country.   

Since the NATO-backed revolt against Qadhafi in 2011, Libya has descended into extraordinary disorder and threatens regional stability. Municipal, regional, and clan-based conflicts that had been stifled during Qadhafi’s 42-year rule have exploded, producing a proliferation of militias staffed by young men who refuse to lay down their arms. A weak new government headed by Abdullah al-Thinni has obtained international recognition but little else—it’s “new parliament” has been forced to meet in the eastern city of Tobruk and has issued appeals for external military intervention to restore order. The capital city of Tripoli remains in the hands of Islamist umbrella group Libya Dawn, while the Sunni extremist group Ansar al-Sharia has taken control of Benghazi.

The government has been hamstrung by ideological and political disputes, and al-Thinni has recently announced an alliance with Khalifa Bilqasim Haftar, a Qadhafi-era strongman and former major general with previous links to the Qadhafi regime. Haftar has promised to restore order by crushing violent extremist groups and the political factions he accuses of empowering them.

Haftar has impressed Egypt’s military-led government, which has bolstered him materially and politically, even deploying aircraft to support his effort.

It’s likely that Egypt and Algeria would have become more involved in attempts to determine political outcomes in Libya regardless, because the ongoing chaos in Libya increasingly threatens the stability of their own regimes. In particular, the capture by Islamist and armed jihadist forces of the operational terrain of the eastern Libyan province of Cyrenaica, which borders Egypt, puts them in a position to launch attacks into both Egypt and Sudan. Egypt’s escalation of participation in the Libyan quandary has apparently galvanized al-Thinni to expand his activities. Recently, he launched a series of airstrikes against Libya Dawn that he claims were the start of an offensive to retake the capital city.

Algeria is also reactively expanding its engagement in Libya, understanding that a failed state in Libya will negatively affect both Algeria and Tunisia. Algeria has the most effective intelligence services and military in North Africa, which means that their coordination with Egypt, if effective, could possibly change the military dynamics within the country.

The UAE has become more involved in bolstering ant-Islamist and anti-jihadist forces not only in Libya, but also in Egypt. The UAE was extremely upset with the ouster of Hosni Mubarak from power in Egypt in 2011, and Mubarak’s Vice President Ahmed Sahfiq—who lost in a close election to Mohamed Morsi—now resides in the UAE. UAE aircraft based in Egypt have also launched attacks into Libya and the country has liaison points in Libya engaged in discussions with Haftar to coordinate operations. It is expected that UAE involvement in Libya will deepen even further.

The entry of Egypt and Algeria into the Libyan imbroglio will marginally improve Haftar’s efforts but will be insufficient to counter the power of armed militia groups. The militias can be neutralized only by greater military involvement, to which neither the United States nor NATO are inclined to commit. If Egypt and Algeria further escalate their involvement, then the order of battle within Libya will change. Mediators are calling for dialogue and reconciliation but, given the militias’ more than adequate arms arsenal and their unwillingness to participate in discussions, the time does not seem ripe for mediation.

In July 2014, escalating violence drove the UN, U.S., U.K., France, Germany, and Canada to evacuate their embassies and personnel from Libya. In the wake of the embassy closures, the appetite for intervention in Libya is low. UN and American officials appear to believe that it is in their interest to stand on the sidelines of the Libyan crisis, urging dialogue and threatening sanctions on uncooperative factions. The Obama administration is focused on combating the rise of extremist groups in Iraq and Syria, and though the disorder in Libya poses some threat to U.S. security interests, Washington appears to have decided that the Libyan crisis is too complex to be effectively mediated by external powers.

Source:Ocnus.net 2014

Churchill’s urge  to convert to Islam

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill’s family begged him to “fight against” the desire to convert to Islam, according to a newly-discovered letter.

“Please don’t become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalise, Pasha-like tendencies, I really have,” the letter from Churchill’s future sister-in-law, dated August 1907, says, the Independent reported.

“If you come into contact with Islam your conversion might be effected with greater ease than you might have supposed, call of the blood, don’t you know what I mean, do fight against it,” Lady Gwendoline Bertie, who was soon to marry Churchill’s brother Jack, added.

The letter was found by a historian at Cambridge University, Warren Dockter, while he was researching for his book ‘Winston Churchill and the Islamic World: Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East’.

The former UK prime minister was greatly interested in Islam and oriental culture, but “never seriously considered converting,” Dockter told the paper.

"He was more or less an atheist by this time anyway. He did however have a fascination with Islamic culture, which was common among Victorians," he added.

Churchill became acquainted with Islamic culture during his army service in Sudan, and was greatly taken with it.

The researcher noted the possible reason behind the letter, and that those close to Churchill needn’t have been worried. He may have been a great admirer of the culture, but was also critical in his views on Islamic society.

“The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men,” Churchill wrote in 1899 of his experience in Sudan.

America stumbles through another year, spreading chaos and trivia everywhere in its path

US President Barack H. Obama

By John Chuckman

The Palestinians are seeking a vote in the United Nations' Security Council on a resolution favoring their statehood, unquestionably a reasonable proposal in the minds of most of the world's people. Of course, the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council, would automatically veto such a resolution, as it vetoes all efforts to restore order to the chaos of the Middle East. And of course, were such a resolution somehow miraculously to pass, Israel would simply ignore it, as it has ignored a long list of binding UN resolutions. But a veto and certain contempt are not enough for an upright, God-fearing Southern gentleman like US Senator Lindsey Graham. He busied himself recently with threatening America's withholding funds from a United Nations that gets involved in the "peace process." Imagine, the United Nations getting involved in peace? That is a chilling thought. Since the United States has a history of withholding its UN dues against its solemn treaty obligations to bully its way to certain changes, such threats do carry weight. 

Senator Graham, regarded neither as an idealist nor a  voice for peace, is only doing what so many American politicians do under the unbelievably corrupt, money-drenched American election system, and that is to make ridiculous public statements about the Middle East in return for generous dollops of campaign funds from the world's most tireless political lobby, that for Israel. You might think that the lobby itself would tire of funding backwater blowhards demanding the other ninety-five percent of humanity play the game by America's rules or America is picking up its marbles or chips or whatever and going home, but clearly it does not. 

"The peace process" is the longest running farce on the planet, continuing for nearly fifty years. It might have been funny in the vein of The Mouse That Roared, but there is nothing remotely funny in the killing of thousands of people and the extreme abuse and hopelessness of millions. You just could not make a worse hash of a diplomatic and human welfare situation than America has made in the Middle East. And the situation has only intensified in its cruelty and injustice. Today, Israel openly and regularly steals homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. It threatens ancient Muslim shrines and desecrates some of them. It has savaged Gaza, the world's largest open-air prison camp, twice, killing close to four thousand including nearly a thousand children. It has attempted to starve Gaza's people out with a years-long embargo, and is making ugly noises about still another invasion. It is about to steal Syrian oil on the occupied Golan Heights, drilling there illegally, and it is busy arranging the theft of offshore natural gas that belongs to Gaza and Lebanon. It does all of this with complete impunity and not even a cross word from the likes of Senator Graham. I do think the Middle East provides the strongest possible evidence of the complete unsuitability of the United States to play a dominant role in international affairs. It is genuinely a case of the inmates running the asylum.

In another example of chaos mixed with farce, the United States pretends to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and while that charade continues, planes loaded with American weapons keep flying out of Turkey to make the seeming lunatics even stronger. Indeed, the various ragtag factions trying to overthrow the Syrian government, cutthroats assembled by the US and its friends from all corners of the globe in a kind of hellish foreign legion, announced a new alliance, so telling Washington's approved terrorists in the conflict from those who haven't made the cut is more difficult than ever. Recently, one or another of the lunatic mobs shot down two fighter jets, and how do you think they managed that without American anti-aircraft missiles? Turkey's certifiably unbalanced president, Tayyip Erdoğan, one day makes fiery speeches threatening Israel (to please the poor fools voting for him) and the next makes new secret deals with Israel. Remember, this is a man who just built a one-thousand room palace for himself - yes, that's right, exactly one thousand rooms - and it is the ugliest, most pointless large structure built since the early Soviet era, a kind of gigantic sprawling warehouse incrusted with jewels and filled with porcelain.

Well, dippiness is no barrier to membership in a secret club in the region which includes the UAE, Saudia Arabia, and Israel, all lovingly assisted by the US. They are all governments who regard change as desirable only when it results in an even more rigid status quo, as in Egypt.  Never mind the welfare of the region's people or democracy or human rights or national boundaries. These guys resemble twelfth century lords seeing paupers cross their paths: they run them down and proceed to a rollicking good dinner in the great hall. The club is all about security for hereditary monarchs, security for America's crusader fortress colony in the Middle East, and security for helper states in the American agenda. We've had many reports recently of secret air-freight flights between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi. We also have reports of flights out of Turkey into Syria. The never explained events at Benghazi were undoubtedly blowback from an operation collecting unemployed thugs and arms for secret shipment to Turkey and then into Syria. Saudi Arabia is voluntarily taking a bath by pushing oil prices down, a favor to the US and Israel and Turkey and a way of hurting Russia, Iran, Syria, and even Venezuela - all current members in good standing of Captain America's ever-changing galaxy of villains - aka, the Axis of Evil. The US is willing to sacrifice for the time being its booming shale oil industry, whose more costly production requires higher prices than Saudi conventional crude, in return for the Saudi sacrifice.

Since both countries are desperate to hurt Russia, Iran, and Syria, the deal is a marriage made in Realpolitik heaven. Russia has helped Syria and does business with Iran, and Saudi Arabia and Israel hate Iran and Syria. The US has made a large investment in toppling Syria for Israel's benefit, but the plan has been thwarted by Syrian endurance and Russian help. The plan also overlooked the loyalty of important Syrian societal groups to President Assad, but America often overlooks details as it attempts to reshape the world to its liking with bombs. Of course, there was also the precedent of Iraq, a bloody fiasco that achieved nothing but a million deaths and splintering a country into pieces. That splintering, by the way, continues with the ISIS fiasco: Iraq's Kurds are being used against ISIS to strengthen their own region's quasi-independence from Iraq.   

You become a terrorit if you oppose interests of America and Israel

The chaos the secret club-member countries have created in Syria - perhaps 200,000 killed and a couple of million refugees - appears not to bother them in the least, just so many paupers in the roadway when galloping home to dinner at the great hall. The victims do provide useful free material for the propaganda war being waged, the understanding implicit in America's and Canada's and Europe's press being always that President Assad is responsible for the catastrophe. The US, and cheerleaders on the sidelines like Canada's current dismal right-wing government, are doing virtually nothing for the refugees, or for the many civilians crippled or wounded. Ironically, Israel actually accepts for treatment in its northern medical facilities some of the very fanatics wounded in the dirty work. After all, it is ultimately Israel's dirty work they do, regardless of their fanaticism. It's a phenomenon we might call selective terrorism: fanatical killers who do America's work, or Israel's, are not treated as terrorists at all. No matter how many women and children you kill, no matter how many places you bomb, you only become a terrorist if you oppose the interests of America or Israel.   

The toll in killed and wounded and homeless in Eastern Ukraine continues to mount. New punitive measures come regularly from Kiev, undoubtedly with American advice about possible vulnerabilities - after all, a top cabinet minister in the coup-created government is American. Only the other day we read reports of Ukrainian militia-types, the kind of right-wing thugs who helped the US overthrow an elected government in Kiev, blocking food traffic into the East. Attempting to starve people into submission is defined in international law as a war crime, but we hear no word of concern from America, just as we heard no word of concern for Israel's original blockade of Gaza which actually included a calculated level of calories intended to just keep the population alive (since modified under intense secret international pressure).

In all these induced chaotic situations, we hear little or nothing from the UN, an institution which should be among the first condemning aggressive behavior. But the UN, despite the many differing private views of its members, is now in all official capacities under the thumb of the US. Its current Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, a candidate favored by America, is ineffectual and behaves at times almost as though he headed an organization having nothing to do with peace or human rights.

Well, there is some intimidating history. Boutros Boutros-Ghali was the only UN secretary-general not to be elected to a second term in office, and the reason was an American plan to be rid of him, one of Madeleine Albright's glorious career achievements. America vetoed his second term because it was most unhappy when he did not embrace the bombing of Bosnia, and they disliked other of his views which tended to be thoughtful and compassionate. Earlier, Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, a much admired man, was assassinated in an engineered plane crash, said to have been the work of Belgian mining companies unhappy with the UN's policies in Congo, a place the mining companies had drained of wealth for decades of brutal exploitation, but I think it unlikely anything of that nature happened without at least a nod of approval from Washington, which after all was a major customer for the products of Congo.

The evidence is piling up, despite delays and many irregularities in the official investigation into the crash of airline Flight MH-17 in Ukraine, that a Ukrainian pilot deliberately shot the plane down. His fighter is said to have been armed with air-to-air missiles on take-off, something completely out-of-the-ordinary in the conflict since Eastern Ukrainians have no air force. It returned, according to an eye-witness, with no missiles and the pilot's muttering cryptic phrases. Of course, this would be the kind of act you might expect from people who used sniper rifles earlier this year to kill many hundreds of civilians in Maidan, the central square of Kiev, in order to terrorize the population and start the coup. But where is America's voice in these grotesque doings? As Russia has patiently pointed out, an American spy satellite was virtually overhead at the time of the crash, so definitive evidence exists without a doubt but is not produced.

But then neither is it produced for the destruction of Flight MH-370 in the Indian Ocean, an event it is virtually certain was the work of American forces at the secret Diego Garcia base as the plane came their way for whatever unknown reason.

What kind of world does America want to live in?

The irregularities around Flight MH-17's investigation include Malaysia, owners of the airline, being excluded from the group conducting the investigation and include the fact that segments of the wreckage were left behind at the crash site, and that after taking a very long time to get there in the first place, making manipulation of forensic evidence possible and even likely. We also have the absence of any American satellite or radar records, and we have not a word about the autopsy on the pilot, something which might solve the entire mystery, as from the discovery of Ukrainian missile fragments in his body.

What kind of world do we want to live in? One where coups and civil wars are engineered for the pleasure of others? One where airliners full of people are shot down deliberately? This is the chaos, and just part of it, America has bestowed upon us in the twenty-first century. I won't even go into the financial tsunami it created in 2008 with the same lack of caution for others and concern about doing things correctly. The full impact of that has yet to strike us all.

But America brings laughable trivia, too. The President of the United States spending time and breath on the hacking of a private company's web site? A Japanese company, no less? And turning the relatively trivial business of hacking, which happens every day now somewhere, into an international incident by blaming, almost certainly incorrectly, North Korea?

The President said the FBI had investigated and assured him that North Korea was responsible. What he didn't tell us was that the FBI has a decades-long record of being wrong, seriously wrong, a great deal of the time. Given the FBI's history, it certainly is in the running for the title of Most Incompetent Security Organization in the Western World, although, like other national security institutions in the United States, it is grossly over-funded with money gushing out like water from broken plumbing. Americans pay more per unit of misinformation than likely any other people on the planet.

Anyone familiar with the record of the FBI listens to assurances like the President's with a sarcastic smile at best (see FOOTNOTE for a partial list of the FBI's viciousness and incompetence over the years). Shortly after the president's silly words, we had several world-class tech experts tell us why it could not have been North Korea, and I'll take bets against the FBI on this one from anyone.   

It likely was someone at Sony doing a publicity stunt to promote what by all reports is a dud of a film, but why should the man with the biggest job in the world join in? Consider also the fact that if you make what can be viewed as a threatening comment or presentation of any kind against the President of the United States, you will be visited and interviewed by the Secret Service, who will then keep you on file permanently. Why is it okay to make a movie about the assassination of North Korea's president then, the subject of The Interview? Sony certainly has right to do stupidly foolish things, but it is more than a little muddled for the President eagerly to support it. Will he now address the rights of porn actors in California to work without condoms?  

As I write this, a British newspaper reports that some Sony employees have been quietly dismissed. Reported also is the discovery of a web site strongly suggesting disgruntled employees. See what I mean about America overlooking the facts before it acts?

John Chuckman

FOOTNOTE ON HOW WRONG AND DISHONEST THE FBI HAS BEEN:

The FBI was wrong in claiming there was no such thing as the Mafia, something J. Edgar Hoover insisted for many years while he gambled at their racetracks and stayed at their resorts for free, some biographers believing Hoover had been compromised by the Mafia with photos of his secret gay, cross-dressing life. The FBI was wrong in focusing huge resources for many years on the pathetic American Communist Party, half of whose small membership is said to have consisted of FBI agents. The FBI was wrong about the threat of Albert Einstein, seeking his extradition for a time and checking the contents of his garbage to his dying day. The FBI was wrong about the danger of Dr. Martin Luther King, and it played judge and jury with his personal life. The FBI was wrong about Dr. Wen Ho Lee of Los Alamos being a spy, although it ruined his career. The FBI was wrong about the crash of TWA Flight 800, taking an inordinate amount of time trying to let public interest cool and avoid the obvious fact that the crash was an accidental shoot-down by the American military, there being a radar track showing something like a missile rising towards the plane. Despite its vast resources, the FBI never saw 9/11 coming. One of its own senior agents, Robert Hanssen, was one of the more damaging spies of modern times, a man whose carelessness in many details, classic indicators of a paid spy, went unnoticed for years. The FBI was wrong in the Atlanta Olympic bombing, ruining the life of another innocent man. It couldn't have been more wrong in its handling of the sad kooks at Waco, effectively murdering them all. So, too, at the Ruby Ridge standoff where an FBI sniper killed a woman and her child needlessly. The FBI Crime Labs were cited in the 1990s by the Inspector General for misconduct and manipulating evidence, something many had suspected for years. The FBI specialized for years in hurting the reputations of those it didn't like or those it merely suspected, as by asking questions at their place of work and neighborhood, not have any proof of wrong-doing. The FBI, at least under J. Edgar Hoover, held career-threatening information obtained by spying over the heads of many prominent congressmen and government leaders, effectively blackmailing them to do its bidding. It did the same with non-government officials where it felt so inclined. The FBI was wrong about the assassination of President Kennedy, it being the only investigative agency for the lamentable, embarrassing Warren Commission, thereby assuming at least equal responsibility for its inaccurate, dishonest report. Indeed, the FBI did not reveal at the time that Oswald secretly worked for them as a paid informant (since documented). It also lied about evidence a senior FBI agent destroyed after the assassination, a note Oswald had written.

Source:Pravda.ru

The Devil in the Vatican

By Victoria F. Lee

There appears to be no limit to the demoralization and degradation of the Ukrainian nation! Along with the civil war involving massive abductions and murders, genocide using forbidden weapons, torture of innocent people and complete destruction of houses, mines and infrastructure, there has been a stunning loss of all dignity and morality!

Consider this horrendous example: Many elderly people have been left to die from hunger because their savings, pensions and supply of vital medications have been blocked.

Eighty elderly people have died recently due to the Kiev Junta's cruelty. They survived WWII just to be dispensed by their own government - a government, which has deliberately brought hell into their lives! A few survivors of WWII remembered that the Germans were less brutal than the Ukrainian National Guard's army.

There are also other shocking events reported in the villages where the Ukrainian army is lodging, including the repeated raping of teenagers by these drunken barbarians who beat their victims savagely afterwards. The nation, which claims to be a pure race, tattooed with the Nazi insignia has lost all shame!

For example, take the organization "Femen," formed in Kiev in 2008! Their website shows two postal address:  Anna Hutsol 01001, Kiev-1, а/с 93-В Ukraine and

This group of bare-chested wild blondes appeared at numerous public places for the past few years, disrupting official ceremonies while demanding controversial abortion be officially recognized, legalized and written into law. They also demand that homosexuality and bestiality must accepted by the church!

Their recent so-called protest was staged on Christmas Day, December 25, 2014 at the Vatican! A topless Yana Zhdanova with black letters across her chest declaring: "God is Woman," darted across the St. Peter's Square and snatched baby Jesus from Nativity scene during the group's pro-choice demonstration.  What did possess her brain to commit such a sin? This sacrilegious act was videotaped and available for the world to see. How can anyone do this on the holiest day of the year? Even non-believers respect Christmas around the globe.

What kind of drugs is she on? It's not a secret that the Ukrainian army indulge themselves in various form drug abuse. They littered Novorossyian land with syringes and empty bottles of hard liquor stolen from the locals when the army occupied the territory of the newly independent DNR and LNR regions.

Sometimes the drunken Ukrainian battalions are shelling each other! That was observed and confirmed by the self-defense Novorossyian fighters! During the peace process signed in Minsk, the Kiev Junta didn't stop provocations. In fact they continue bringing more artillery and took strategic positions! The shelling remains daily and both sides taking losses.  Officially no one reports about it in order to go along with the fragile peace game!   

Donbas nevertheless celebrated the Holidays with an awe-aspiring Christmas tree, decorated in their Novorossyian flag colors! There was a concert with local dancers and singers.  Children received a few treasured gifts delivered from different parts of Russia.  Most donations were anonymous.  The good-hearted people showed their love and support to the forsaken regions, in anticipation to collectively bring back much awaited happiness and hope!

God is with you, Novorrosyians! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to your beautiful children, each family, your heroic self-defense warriors and to all courageous foreign correspondents who follow you to the frontline to unfold  the objective views, shamelessly avoided by a mainstream media! Amen!