International violence and UK security.

Looks like the change of tack by Turkey has changed the situation considerably.

It more than likely stems from a Kurdish promise to inject only Iraqi Kurds into the conflict as opposed to local or neighbouring Kurds - with whom they have been having trouble with for decades.

Yes, something along those lines seems to be going on. As usual a complicated situation that we can hardly be expected to understand properly. The Kurds seem to be doing the work that needs doing on the ground in Kobani. As long as they are supplied with appropriate weaponry, just from a budget point of view, they are providing value for money compared to airstrikes.

Islamic state, battle hardened, have shown remarkable strategic intelligence, flexible response and long term planning, resulting now in their wealth of resources and finance.

As the UK ponders the implications of the situation in Paris, the reaction may be to anticipate similar attacks here. Officially, "Very likely". But, there may well be a tactical 'lull'.

The expansion of terrorism outwards from the remains of Iraq and Syria may appear chaotic, but the long term planning behind it should not be underestimated. Western societies and especially the media concentrate on the transient and immediate, Islamic state are more in it for the 'long game'.

Meanwhile, in Africa, similar strategy, sudden mass extermination of population and seizure of territory.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/boko-haram-deadliest-massacre-baga-nigeria

Looks like Atlas was right in his prediction things would get worse in 2015.

Whichever way you understand it, whoever you think is responsible for what, it seems apparent that here in the UK and Europe generally, defensive security will need to be strengthened. How that is to be done without apparently draconian methods should, and probably will, be a subject of debate in the near future.*

*Although probably not on here. Is this website still connected to the internet, or, has it just become 'cached' on my computer?

'Ooooh' 'Cached' -Hmm. Don't know Not that good about computers.????

Boko Haram. Another set of lunatic rebels set on taking whatever they want by murder and force under the guise of Islamic Fundamentalism. Just a band of brigands really. Johnathan couldn't really give a toss for the region in which they are operating as it produces nothing towards the wealth of Nigeria as a whole and would take too much from their national budget to eradicate properly. He only reacts to International pressure - meanwhile the obscenities go on. We will eventually have to 'help' out if the problem is to be put to bed properly. - - - But which politician here would dare to suggest such expenditures.

Speaking of international expenditures, we are all motivated to feed the hungry and help the oppressed, but a true accounting of where 'Foreign Aid' has really gone over the years might be a sorry story.

We see a patchwork of fundamentalist Islamic 'states' appearing in vulnerable countries and regions globally. Typically involving the extermination of indigenous populations and seizing of resources. A familiar story.

A changing world heading into an uncertain future, needs a re-think.

A spirited response from France, and a general wake up to the way their culture and way of life has been eroded and is under threat.

If our and European society and culture is to be worth defending, it needs to take a look at itself, and at least admit the many things that need sorting out. 

A good start would be to re-think political correctness, ban the use of the word 'vibrant' as a description of places and communities, ban the word 'spree' in context with killing, and put a button on TV zappers that turns off the background music.

A compulsory tax on the super-rich is needed immediately to finance everything that needs sorting out.

Ay I don't know. 'Til the pips squeak I suppose?

It's no good asking for the money back once it has been banked. The 'claim' should be upfront and not form part of 'claw-backs'. A bird in the hand and all that.

Try advancing the removal of all tax avoidance schemes thereby laying claim to the monies in advance of potential profits. Try installing 'fair' tax percentages on exorbitant earnings thereby payments are made/owed immediately. I don't like 'windfall' or 'nationalisation' as a weapon. As for 'mansion' taxes - I despair.

Make usury a criminal offense. Eradicate offshore hideaways. Make unlawful all obscene differentials in the workplace.

If you are serious about fair rewards then go for the gut not the toenail.

You let banning the words 'vibrant' and 'spree', and removal of background music pass, Atlas, but, with those obviously beneficial measures, few could disagree.

Economics is more contentious.

In response to the banking crash, the government paid super-billions of our money to the banks, not to us. That money found it's way into the accounts of a new super-rich. The super-rich presence in London attracted investment and more super-rich people.

All well and good then as an emergency rescue plan for the national economy, but in fairness, those billions have to be returned to where they came from, to the UK public. The question is, when, and it needs to be in time to prevent a lot of suffering, a potentially disastrously unstable divide in society, and before the internationally unstable financial climate changes and that super-rich money may flee to another economy or tax haven.

Sudden and inexplicable political decisions were made in the aftermath of the banking collapse, but were accepted by the public. A sudden and inexplicable decision to return that money to the public by means of a pip-squeaking tax on the super-rich should be just as acceptable, but for some reason, things don't tend to work that way.

One should not confuse 'governments/individuals' and 'super-rich' as two different entities. Each are some of each and always the 'twain' shall meet. Politicians would have you believe that the riches filter down (trickle down they call it). Be not deluded into this program of falsehood. It is far, far less than a trickle and barely dampens the surface in reality. Therefore - the only way to open up the trickle into a favourable flowing stream is to charge/remove the profits as they are accrued not attempt 'hold-ups' after the event.
As for the banks - stricter regulation and an effective watchdog is the only method of ensuring the return of most of the monies given to them to keep them afloat and a drastic change in the way they operate in the future as the present legislation and 'laws' are inadequate to stop them risking all our assets in the future.
In order to keep our present (and future) economic positioning on the world markets it will be necessary to encourage other counties to adopt similar changes. It cannot be done in isolation.

Therefore talk of bashing the banks, castrating the super-rich will (if undertaken) give you the end result - it's called Vladimir Putin and all that such entails.

A strong unassailable coalition, whereby no one party can operate without a large majority assent, would, in the present circumstances, be preferable next time around.

Left to their own devices, at present, each of the parties would overstep the mark in their eagerness for power and influence. None, as far as I can see, have what might be called a good long term solution towards sanity and reality. Each pontificates implausible solutions to an ever burgeoning problem i.e. How does 21stC man survive his own stupidity and at the same time positively evolve.

On that last question, human 'stupidity', for want of a better word is busily destroying the natural world, it's probably not until that destruction is fairly complete and the consequences inevitable that there will be any major 'evolutionary' changes in attitude.

That will take a while maybe a couple of hundred years. Meanwhile from where we are, the catastrophe of Islamic wars is trickling into Europe, defending against that will be high on the agenda for the foreseeable.

It appears the situation is the middle east is rapidly getting worse, has become overtly diabolical. Have you read 'In the Days of the Comet' by H.G.Wells? Not one of his more readable books, but an interesting plot. A comet hits earth and emits a gas that puts everyone to sleep, and they wake up sane.

It would have to be a very small comet not to obliterate our civilisation unless it could be persuaded to explode in the ionosphere to then release its gasses. As you say - not very plausible but no less incredible than man thinking he can continue to rape this spinning rock and survive it.
We are all going to hell in a hand basket because to survive (on the one hand) we will have to take too much of nature and destroy it and (on the other) we are too greedy a species to leave the rest alone.
I know that the ultimate demise of the planet is inevitable, the galaxy, the black-hole, the event horizon and so forth, but that is some way off (5 million years approx before frying tonight). Meanwhile couldn't we just 'get wise' for once and give ourselves (meaning our offspring's offspring) a chance. Hmmmm! Pretty please.

Well that was almost 12 months ago. So where are we now? Is 'Paris' (and by that I mean the Climate Change Conference) a beginning, a means to an end? Or just the usual well intentioned rhetoric? Do we still have 'faith'?

On the subject of faith. We are told that the Christian communities of the Syria/Iraq region, that have existed continuously since the time of Christ have now been exterminated, extinguished and massacred.

This cutting out of the roots of Christian cultures leaves Christianity now with the sense of being an uprooted, nomadic religion.

You can no more destroy the 'roots' of a messianic deluded belief system like Christianity than you can plat individual specks of sawdust. Like the Jew with Jerusalem. As long as there are others who still believe, the delusion will be perpetuated, revived and re-promulgated to any lazy minded individuals who listen. Why those well-heeled, closeted, disingenuous so called, Leaders of the Christian faiths bother to call 'foul' at the genocide of some of their 'flock' whilst themselves having a history of ignoring the same po grammes on other faiths in the past, that might threaten their comfortable futures, could be a mystery if it wasn't so blatantly obvious and highly hypocritical.

I don't care if they have 'faith' or otherwise. Murder for the sake of enjoyment and play is never acceptable in any shape or form. That is a human 'given'. The perpetrators of such actions will, in most instances, be hunted down and eradicated judiciously. Faith has nothing to do with it.

Merry Christmas by the way - Been away have you? Hope you has a nice time. Atlas.

British security tell us they are expecting a 'huge and spectacular' attack of some kind from islamic state. I wonder what that will be, and what the response will be.

We see islamic state are attacking from Libya into Tunisia. A look at the map will show the strategic reason.

ISIS are religious anarchists. You will remember them - anarchists? They've been around like - forever.
It's to do with power and greed - i.e. taking the power and greed from one faction and keeping it for oneself. But with all so afflicted mental cases much wants more until you end up with the Stalins' and Hitlers' and Pol-pots[' of this world. Unless of course you put a stop to their antics by similar means employed by them. i.e. You blow the bastards to the farthest stars in bits preferably.
There's only one way to stop them. Kill every single one of them or starve each one to death by cutting off their power inlets. (i.e. money supplies).
Of course they are coming here. Some are already here in the guise of fellow citizens and the more we let in the more they will congregate like rats in the sewers. Find them and eradicate them. That's what we do with vermin isn't it? Simples.
Tunisia has known for decades the problems it has with fundamentalists. Nothing new there. They are very good at eradicating them. It's a national pastime.

Perhaps they are more interested in a coastal strip of Tunisia as base for smuggling operations in the Tyrrhenian sea than in Tunisia itself. Nice name isn't it, Tyrrhenian sea. Very little is known about the Tyrrhenian sea due to difficulty with spelling it.

They are biting off more than they can chew going for anywhere in Tunisia. Tunisia really, really doesn't want to know about fundamentalists. Being the first with the Arab Spring movement and a successful revolution such dregs of humanity are less than welcome. I think it's more a case of home-grown criminals from next door making hay whilst the sun shines and hoping to survive long enough to enjoy the spoils. There's not much else to do in Tunisia without a DisneyLand nearby.
And that there sea along with it's counterparts Adriatic and all the rest is called after the indigenous tribes that occupied its coastline (Tyrrhenians) way back when the Etruscans were making that there pottery stuff. Too all brown and black for my liking - no pizzaz -.

Yes, they could have done better with the pottery, almost seems as if they didn't care.

I think that they were more into debauchery myself. It paid more. Them pots were really just chattels until the Victorians came along. They already had plenty of debauchery and wanted to supplant it with something less tiring. Hey ho. History. Don't you just love it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b073b1xn/digging-for-britain-series-4-1-west

History is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. Where do the chimeras come from?

From the dark recesses of the human mind. Eugenics. Not a subject to 'tinker' lightly with. The morphing of species one to another or the tweaking of single species to produce something reputably better is for the purest of heart and the brightest of minds - however - these tend to be the naivest of our species. Cripes kiddo - where are you sending me lass -!

In the programme, about 18 minutes in is about excavations near stonehenge, dating from the iron age, animal bones buried mixed together to create hybrid sort of arrangements. Very strange. Imaginary combined species seem a bit of a theme in ancient history, minotaurs, centuars, sphinx, griffins and so on.