TIA MYSOA

Commentary on Nelson Mandela

2013-06-10T22:19:00.002+02:00

The Presidency announced on Saturday morning that Nelson Mandela (94) was in a "serious but stable" condition after being admitted to a Pretoria hospital in the early hours of 8 June 2013. Thereafter, on Monday, it issued a statement saying Mandela's condition was "unchanged".

This evening’s SABC news did not shed any further light on Mandela's condition either.

The old ~~terrorist~~ freedom fighter has been in and out of hospital quite often lately, and in the light of the fact that The Presidency and other official bodies are not really saying much it is near impossible to make any assumptions regarding his chances of recovery at this point in time.

I have no knowledge of Mandela’s personal circumstances or health, but what I do know is that when someone who is nearing the ripe old age of 95 is suddenly admitted to hospital, and their condition is described as "serious but stable" and - two days later described as "unchanged", then it is logical to assume that a ‘departing’ episode is going to happen soon. However, in our modern day-and-age with medical technology designed to maintain and sustain life for longer, “soon” can also become ages.

Mandela may have won many fights in his lifetime, but there’s one fight he (and all of us) cannot win: the one with death.

My 'old-school' upbringing taught me to respect the dead and dying, and if you have nothing good to say about a dead or dying person it is best to keep quiet, no matter how strong the urge to do otherwise. I was also taught that you only show aggression in self-defence, and if it so happens that you perhaps kill that person in the act of self-defence, attending his funeral - mourning or celebrating his death should be the last thing on your mind, as such madness can quickly weaken your defences in case you’re attacked again.

In the light of this I may as well make the announcement now that in the event of Mandela’s death there will be no major commotions on this blog. There will be no expressions of joy or tears of grief. I will not celebrate nor mourn his death. I will listen to the initial announcements and some of the news bulletins on the day his ‘passing away’ is officially announced. After that I’m switching off, because there will most certainly be an endless stream of liberal bleeding-heart propaganda about this man-made god – transmitted worldwide 24/7 for many days and weeks thereafter.

In the event of Mandela’s death before the year 2014 the ANC government will surely not miss the opportunity to exploit it to the absolute max, to gain support for the coming National Elections. That millions have already been spent in preparation for this massive exhibition (a weakening of our defences) is a definite certainty!

Although I am by no means hoping that Mandela will breath his last breath soon, it will not surprise me in the least if his passing away is ‘timed’ to occur precisely on a significant date, because believe it or not – such things can happen when your destiny is controlled by other powerful entities.

It is thus worth mentioning that the month of June has three noteworthy dates forthcoming, for example:

12 June - Mandela was sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island on 12 June 1964.
14 June - Mandela's last day in office as President was on 14 June 1999.
16 June – This date is celebrated as Youth Day in South Africa and commemorates the start of the Soweto uprising of 1976. It also The Day of the African Child - first initiated by the Organisation of African Unity.

In July there is one prominent date…

18 July - Nelson Mandela's birthday. The date was declared by the UN General Assembly as an annual International Day (Mandela Day).

In the meantime, while we’re waiting for more news on Mandela’s latest condition, I’ve taken the liberty of listing a few older related postings - with some commentary and associated links to external sources:

The double standard of the left – (April 2012)
This is an interesting article written by our old blogger friend in the UK, Sarah: Maid of Albion. When the Norwegian mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, used the clenched fist salute during his trial, a similar salute habitually used by Mandela and his followers, the media first published misleading reports that the gesture was a “far right salute”, but later corrected the error.

Another worthwhile read by Sarah is an older article, posted in June 2008, titled Mandela - The Legend and the Legacy.

Dead Boer Walking – (September 2011)
The posting introduces an extraordinary book written by Renate Ackerman. The book is a firsthand account of Susan Van Der Merwe’s story and explains how blacks threatened to kill her if she did not stop her inquiries in to racist attacks on Boers. Her most terrifying moment came when she was shot and left for dead outside President Mandela’s house. The Kindle Edition of the book is available from amazon.com. The softcover can be ordered from Kalahari.com.

Mandela – the useful idiot – (August 2011)
Mandela’s affiliation with the murdering godless communists is a truth that doesn’t seem to really concern the majority of contemporary South Africans. It didn’t even bother them when Professor Stephen Ellis, a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre, University of Leiden, published a study that confirmed Mandela’s membership of South Africa's Communist Party… The posting includes a piece, written by Rian Malan, on the significance of this fact.

Incidentally, the full text of the handwritten Manuscript: HOW TO BE A GOOD COMMUNIST by Nelson Mandela can be downloaded here.

I did it for Madiba! – (July 2011)
Whenever I do something for charity I try my best not to advertise it -- in keeping with the principles of my Rule Book, which states: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets (and on Facebook), to be honored (liked) by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” - (Matthew 6:1-2 NIV)

Mandela is NOT my god, so what gives people the right to tell me that on a certain day of the year I MUST do it for Madiba?

This posting also reveals, among other interesting facts, that in the year 1983 when Soviet-backed forces were threatening to invade our borders, and while Mandela was still an inmate of Pollsmoor Prison, the world’s new god-figure was being decorated with honours of all sorts, including honorary citizenship of the world’s greatest 'Western' cities... The hypocrites!

Ramblings about Mandela, his facial blemishes, latest pics, and so forth... – (June 2011)
This posting presents a few seemingly insignificant details (ramblings) about Mandela and his facial blemishes. The posting also expresses dismay as to why pictures of this world-renowned idol, taken during Michelle Obama’s visit to his home during June 2011, are of such pathetic quality. Shouldn’t gods be photographed by experts?

Missing Makarov Pistol worth R22 million? – (May 2011)
A Makarov pistol was given to Mandela by Colonel Biru Tadesse of the Ethiopian Riot Battalion in Addis Ababa when he was on a trip to seek military assistance, in the early 1960s. However, Mandela was arrested before he could use it. Mandela apparently buried the gun somewhere on Liliesleaf farm in 1962. Years later the missing pistol is still haunting the old ~~terrorist~~ freedom fighter.

Bulala: A True story of South Africa
This posting introduces Cuan Elgin’s book - Bulala: A True story of South Africa, a historically accurate story of South Africa, in novel form. The posting carries the label “Mandela” because it includes a short extract from the book which mentions that Mandela was NOT imprisoned for his "political beliefs" (as commonly believed by the clueless millions), but for 193 counts of sabotage (terrorism) and for smuggling huge amounts of Soviet-bloc munitions. Mention is also made of Mandela’s foreign bank accounts, on which he paid no tax (according to Business Day, March 10, 2007).

Reflections on the Mandela myth – (October 2010)
Patrick Laurence writes about the dual burdens of Mandela’s sainthood, and the newly published sequel to Mandela’s internationally acclaimed autobiography Long Walk to Freedom in which Mandela apologises for the false image of being a saint that he "unwittingly projected" while in prison. Entitled Conversations with Myself, Mandela writes in the sequel: "I never was one, even on the basis of an earthly definition of a sinner who keeps on trying."

Desmond Tutu and The Elders - (July 2010)
The Elders (aka Global Elders or 12 Elders) is a group consisting of 12 prominent public figures. Although Nelson Mandela is Founder and Honorary Member of this group, The Elders was founded by the British entrepreneur Richard Branson and the English musician, Peter Gabriel. Mandela announced the formation of The Elders in July 2007, on the occasion of his 89th birthday. Richard Branson and others pledged $18m to fund the group.

The ANC does not own Mandela – Zille – (July 2010)
This article by the DA leader, Helen Zille, illustrates how far the ANC government has strayed from Mandela's legacy, and how they have long ceased to respect the values (seemingly) symbolized by Mandela - such as selflessness, integrity, non-racialism, and freedom for all under the law. Hmmm, does Zille really think these hooligans will ever regard such values in high esteem?

Invictus - The Film – (December 2009)
Nelson Mandela’s time in prison wasn’t all that dreadful as most people tend to believe. He himself spoke of listening to Springbok games on the radio during his long incarceration on Robben Island, and admitted that he never supported the Springboks. Yet, in 1995 – in the rugby-crazy New South Africa, the peculiar game of politics forced Mandela to publicly support the Bokke, or else!?!

The Pitiful State of Education in South Africa (Video)

2013-06-09T19:06:00.002+02:00

NOTE: The original video embedded in this posting encountered problems during the upload process, which negatively influenced the playback quality. It has thus been deleted and replaced with the following:

The message expressed in the deleted video had to do with the ANC’s ’struggle’ to transform education in South Africa and their efforts to do away with so-called ‘mud schools’. The video also included a sound clip where anti-apartheid struggle heroine, Mamphela Ramphele, is quoted as saying that South Africa’s education system is worse today than the Bantu education the country had under the apartheid government. (See above video @ 1:56 and the news report here)

Procrastination and lies

In 2004, then-president Thabo Mbeki said: "By the end of this year, we shall ensure that there is no learner learning under a tree, [or in a] mud school ..."
In 2006, Mkhangeli Matomela, then MEC for education in the Eastern Cape, said: "I'm confident we will eradicate mud schools in the next two financial years."
In 2007, then education minister Naledi Pandor said: "Fifty percent of the mud schools will be rebuilt between 2007 and 2009."
In 2008, Mahlubandile Qwase, then MEC for education in the Eastern Cape, said: "It is my plan that the eradication of mud schools must be fast-tracked in the 2010/11 financial year."
In 2011, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said: "By 2014, we will have eradicated all mud schools in the province",
In 2013 Angie Motshekga said: "By 2015, in terms of mud schools, we should be done." — Compiled by Equal Education

Source: Mail & Guardian

Here are some of the graphics that were included in the deleted video:

South Africa bottom of class out of 41 countries

Related Posts:

ANC Politics: "Black Good. White Bad."

2013-06-05T14:17:00.002+02:00

With the elections coming up next year it’s becoming all too obvious that the ANC have no intentions of playing the game fairly. Their devious behaviour is unsurprisingly predictable, for what else can we expect from these terrorists of old, who after all these years of so-called democratic freedom still think it’s acceptable to make War against the Peoples of South Africa?

South Africa at War

There are numerous examples of the ANC’s deceitfulness, their greed, their arrogance and stupidity, and also their infatuation with race (Google is your friend). One only has to browse the comment sections of various local news sites to see how South Africans are becoming increasingly more agitated with this nonsense. It was never like this a few years ago, and it’s one of the reasons why this blog took an aggressive stance against the ANC.

It is gratifying to see that the citizens of this country are becoming progressively more vocal in this regard, and that more and more people are acknowledging the fact that we have the wrong government in power. Maybe the time has now come that this blog can slacken down somewhat on matters that concern ANC politics ;-) It bores me to death anyway!

On the user-generated section of News24.com you’ll find several Black columnists who don’t play with words when it comes to describing how they feel about the ANC and their dirty politics. One prime example is a columnist who goes by the display name “Mkhandela” (Real name Thabang Ndlovu). As far back as 2012 already he published an article on News 24 titled Politics is dirty, ANC dirtier.

The opening paragraph reads as follows:

“Politics is infamous for being a dirty game. South African politics is no exception! If one follows it closely one can draw the conclusion that South African politicians are incurably racist. This statement is directed more to the vanguards at Luthuli House and the overwhelming squad that follows them.”

Click here to view other commentaries by the same columnist.

(Take Note: One cannot rule out the possibility that this person’s identity is fake – expertly created by the Demonic Liberal Mob, with fake facebook identity and all!)

While we’re on the subject, here’s the latest news about an ANC politician who feels no shame whatsoever about being a racist:

Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane

"PALE males" will make a return to the government in Gauteng if the Democratic Alliance (DA) wins the province in next year’s elections, warned Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane on Monday, as the battle over South Africa’s economic hub accelerates with both parties parading their service delivery successes in a push to win over voters.

"It can’t happen, it shall not happen" that South Africa’s richest province will be run by the DA, which would immediately put in charge "a pale male". Speaking after delivering her office’s budget speech, Ms Mokonyane said despite posturing over liberation struggle credentials or of service delivery, DA governance was characterised by reversals in transformation and the African National Congress (ANC) would ensure the public was spared the "white gevaar". (Full report here)

----------------------

DOUGLAS GIBSON - former Opposition Chief Whip and South Africa's Ambassador to Thailand, recently posed the following question to readers of The Citizen, in response to the latest racist remarks so shamelessly uttered by Ms Mokonyane:

I wonder if readers of The Citizen are as tired of racism as I am. In the bad old days, white was good and black was bad. I hated that. In the bad new days, black is good and white is bad. I hate that too.

It is remarkable how politicians, some of them very senior, feel no shame about being racists. Some feel no need to set an example of tolerance and respect.

They ignore the principles of the Freedom Charter, which they pretend to venerate, and the constitution, which they have sworn to uphold.

Our Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.

Why is it so easily ignored by populist politicians when engaging in a bit of rabble-rousing?

Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane is a racist. She does not regard herself as premier of the whole province or of all the people of Gauteng.

She saw fit to refer with contempt to “pale males” and gave an emphatic assurance that they would not return to the Gauteng legislature.

“It cannot happen, it shall not happen,” she said.

Later she said the ANC would ensure the public would not have to experience white gevaar.

I would be interested to know how this differs from the racist cries of old about swart gevaar.

In the new South Africa racist comments like this should be taboo, but as long as they come from ANC members they seem to be acceptable. How would similar comments be received if they were made by a white racist instead of a black racist?

Is the ANC happy to have the Gauteng premier promoting interracial fear and loathing? Not a peep has come from the ANC HQ about her prejudice.

The ANC must be unconcerned about the conduct of Mokonyane. It does not care that some people in this province are publicly vilified by this premier as a danger and an affront.

No one will be surprised that the provincial cabinet of MECs has not a single white male and only one white female.

But not everyone who is an ANC MEC is useless. Some are adequate, some are mediocre and some are worse than useless.

This province is the financial heartland of our country with significant numbers of people of all races and both genders with professional, technical and financial skills that could be used to help provide wider representation and good government.

If the ANC made a determined effort to return to its honourable but today almost forgotten nonracial past it might help to improve the overall quality of its governance.

Something that comforts me and others is that increasing numbers of black and white voters reject racist and divisive politics.

We want to be recognised as humans, South Africans, men and women who are equal and who are valued as individuals.

When the ANC loses votes in 2014 perhaps the message will get through that racism is out and nation-building is in. - Sourced from: The Citizen

Nay, I don’t think so Mr Gibson! The ANC has far too many sheeple voters on their side, which they would prefer to keep untutored and living in obscurity for as long as possible. Do you really think the shambles in our Education Department is just all a coincidence?

Limpopo's Education woes continue, and ANC disbands former Malema strongholds (Limpopo)
Dirty politics?

The Oscar Pistorius Case - Shooting at Doors (Video)

2013-06-03T20:38:00.000+02:00

It was sometime near the beginning of April this year that I was contacted by a British Television News and Documentaries Producer. The Producer needed assistance with the making of a documentary on the Oscar Pistorius trial and the evidence that will be looked at before the trial commences.

I gave the Producer the details of other people to contact in South Africa, as I was rather reluctant to involve myself in a high-profile case or in a field of expertise I was no longer permanently involved in, namely Forensic Ballistics.

Nevertheless, I was contacted again later when the Producer eventually arrived in South Africa - only to discover that the people who initially promised to assist with the Ballistic aspects of the documentary had suddenly changed their minds. “We urgently need a safe place where we can shoot at a door,” the Producer said. “Oh, and we also need a 9mm pistol, ammunition, and a door or two to shoot at, and a Firearms/Ballistics Expert.”

It was quite apparent - the poor Producer was in a real tight spot and also had a strict deadline to adhere to, as the planned documentary not only involved the Oscar Pistorius case, but also other related matters, which they intended incorporating into the 1-hour documentary.

After confirming that I was dealing here with a team of distinguished professionals, and not some-or-other backyard television crew, I contacted an old mate of mine, an ex-colleague from the old SA Police forensic days. Together we quickly made a plan, although I must confess – my old friend did most of the planning and all the work :-)

We all met at a nearby outdoor shooting range on 19 April 2013, where the original house plans of Oscar’s home were used to construct an outline of the bathroom area where the fatal shooting occurred.

An integral part of the team consisted of two eminent South African lawyers who were not involved in the case, the one in Oscar’s defence and the other representing the State’s case. I acted only as a silent observer in the whole affair and watched the scene from a distance. I also managed to record some footage of my own (with permission, of course), which I combined with some graphics to compile an amateur video, the quality of which will obviously come nowhere near the professionalism that will be featured in the final product.

Please bear in mind that this amateur video was made long before a leaked picture of the scene flooded the Internet (a rather insensitive act I must add), and thus long before the type of door (solid or hollow) or actual location of bullet holes in the door were known. The simple reconstruction depicted here was thus based on the version of the shooting as provided in the Official Affidavit by Oscar Pistorius himself, and should not be construed as the only true version. The video, however, does point out how the mainstream media, in their many sensational speculations, attempted to bring the shooter closer to the bathroom door, while preliminary observations showed that the shooter probably fired the shots into the door from as far a distance as possible – taking into consideration, of course, the confines of the available space in the bathroom.

Video soundtrack:
The first part of the video includes the opening segment of the international hit Midnight Blue by Louise Tucker, which slowly fades out (no copyright infringement intended). The remaining part of the video includes the original sounds one normally finds at a busy shooting range. Some commentary by the two lawyers can also be heard. The range is located near a racetrack, so in addition to gunshots going off in the background there’s also noise coming from the racetrack. The Producer assured me that all the racket going on was no distraction for them whatsoever, as the unwanted noise would be filtered out later by a Sound Engineer. I must say – I now have much respect for Sound Engineers!

The documentary titled, Pistorius Trial: The Key Questions – Examining the Evidence, will be aired tonight (3 June 2013) at 22:00 on Channel 5 (UK).

I have no idea what the final product looks like, and will only get a copy thereof after it has been screened on television. I unfortunately don’t know whether this specific documentary will also be screened in South Africa, or not… Watch the comment-section for updates!

Related Posts:

Ramokgopa wants to ‘dismantle‘ Kleinfontein

2013-05-22T14:14:00.002+02:00

Congratulations Mr Ramokgopa! You have deserved this blog’s award for…

MAMPARA OF THE MONTH

Kgosientso David Ramokgopa - Executive Mayor of Tshwane (PRETORIA)

KLEINFONTEIN - This exclusive Boer-Afrikaner community, managed as a business enterprise known as “Kleinfontein Boerebelange Koöperatief Beperk” (KBK Bpk) - situated about 30km South-East from Pretoria, on the historical terrain where the battle of Diamond Hill (Donkerhoek) took place during the Second Anglo-Boer War, is once again in the gun-sights of South African government officials.

Tshwane (PRETORIA) mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, is apparently planning on dismantling this whites-only enclave, which has been in existence since 1992.

Says Ramokgopa: "I was shocked to discover the size and nature of the problem (???) in Kleinfontein and I'm planning an unannounced visit so that I can have a sense of the extent of the problem… It is unfortunate that these kind of prehistoric racial practices happen in a city rising from the ashes of past segregation laws like the rest of the country… We will equally alert the Human Rights Commission to investigate the matter… Blah, blah, blah…" [Source]

Since when does a community - all of the same culture, religion and ethnicity living within the same neighbourhood, become a prehistoric racial practice? Does it perhaps become a “prehistoric racial practice” only when these people happen to have a white skin? Hmmm, Mr Ramokgopa?

If this is the case then several residential zones in Pretoria-East are also ‘guilty’ of prehistoric racial practices… Statistics SA’s latest figures show that Afrikaners dominate the eastern suburbs of Pretoria, and that there are about 124,000 of them in suburbs such as, Garsfontein, Woodhill, Mooikloof and Moreletapark. Centurion has the most residents (111,000) whose home language is Afrikaans – [Source].

All these people share the same culture and the vast majority follow the Christian faith. There are 1000’s of large Security Estates in these areas with rules and regulations far more stringent than Kleinfontein. Are you going to dismantle these communities as well, Mr Ramokgopa?

Several newspapers have been running with the story. The Pretoria News published a full-page article on 21 May 2013 titled: “Pretoria's own Orania exposed”. Oddly enough though, the article provides relatively positive feedback (considering the negativity in other reports) and speaks of friendly hospitable residents who treat visitors with coffee and baked milktart with a smile.

Several people, including Mr Jaco Mulder (Freedom Front Plus), have already reacted to Ramokgopa’s idiotic statements… See Afrikaans report here.

When is the media going to expose the countless EXCLUSIVE BLACK South African communities and organizations scattered all over South Africa?

Related Post (Kleinfontein): The Reawakening of the Boer-Afrikaner

This blog’s previous MAMPARA of the month

May we never forget...

2013-05-20T19:39:00.001+02:00

The Church Street bombing was a car bomb attack on 20 May 1983 in Pretoria, authorised by the ANC chief terrorist, Oliver Tambo. Nineteen people, including 10 civilians and two bomb-planters, died in the explosion. Of the 217 people injured, 114 were civilians.

May we never forget this cowardly and ghastly act of terror committed by the ANC!

It sickens me to the core to think that Africa’s largest airport is named after Oliver Tambo and that so many streets and buildings have also been renamed in honour of this terrorist. Even his grave has been declared a National Heritage site!

I suppose there was no moment of silence today in parliament.

BTW – Tomorrow (21 May) is Savate Day. It is the only date marked by 32 Battalion as a general Remembrance Day for all those who had fallen while serving in the battalion. Click here to view an older posting regarding Savate Day.

Do white people have a future in South Africa?

2013-05-20T11:20:00.001+02:00

This is a question that has been asked countless times before. It was even asked during the years prior to 1994, long before the country was handed over on a platter to the communists. Millions of white people decided they were not going to hang around to see whether they have a future in the country, or not. They made a wise choice, because if they had stayed in the country the odds are pretty high that many of them would probably have ended up dead at the hands of murdering savages.

With the same question in mind BBC News editor John Simpson decided to visit South Africa to find the answer. On his return he compiled a report, published on 19 May 2013.

I was immediately offended by the very first sentence in Simpson’s report, because it is the same old lie, repeated so often by the BBC and other large media groups that it has become accepted as truth. I know it to be a lie because I am a white South African - born in the year 1960 and who has lived 34 years of my life in Apartheid South Africa. It is only the brainwashed liberal fools and those who were born sometime in the mid-and late 1980’s who will believe the falsehood in Simpson’s opening sentence that - “Apartheid South Africa looked after white people and nobody else.”

Nevertheless, I believe the article is worthwhile republishing here as it does deal with a few pertinent issues related to the general theme of this blog.

Do white people have a future in South Africa?

By John Simpson World Affairs Editor, BBC News

19 May 2013

Apartheid South Africa looked after white people and nobody else (a lie). Now some of its white communities face a level of deprivation, or of violence, which threatens their future in the country.

Everyone here, regardless of colour, tells you that white people are still riding high.

They run the economy. They have a disproportionate amount of influence in politics and the media. They still have the best houses and most of the best jobs.

Many whites feel like
strangers in their
own country"

All of this is true but it is not the only picture.

Look below the surface and you will find poverty and a sense of growing vulnerability.

The question I have come to South Africa to answer is whether white people genuinely have a future here.

The answer, as with so many similar existential questions, is "Yes - but…"

It seems to me that only certain parts of the white community really have a genuine future here: the better-off, more adaptable parts.

Working-class white people, most of them Afrikaans-speakers, are going through an intense crisis. But you will not read about it in the newspapers or see it reported on television because their plight seems to be something arising out of South Africa's bad old past - a past which everyone, black and white, would like to forget.

According to one leading political activist, Mandla Nyaqela, this is the after-effect of the huge degree of selfishness and brutality which was shown towards the black population under apartheid.

"It is having its effect on whites today, even though they still own a share of South Africa's wealth which is entirely disproportionate," he said.

That may all be true. But the people who are suffering now are the weakest and most vulnerable members of the white community.

Ernst Roets, a leading Afrikaans campaigner from the AfriForum organisation, took me to a squatter camp outside the country's capital, Pretoria. A white squatter camp.

It has been set up on the property of a sympathetic white farmer and is called, optimistically, Sonskyn Hoekie - Sunshine Corner.

There are broken-down cars and bits of discarded furniture everywhere. Beyond the wooden shacks lie ditches and pools of dirty, stagnant water where mosquitoes breed. Two basic toilets serve the whole camp.

According to Roets there are 80 white squatter camps - many of them bigger than this - in the Pretoria area alone. Across South Africa as a whole he believes there could be as many as 400,000 poor whites in conditions like these.

The Sunshine Corner squatter camp has no running water or electricity

Sonskyn Hoekie has no water and no electricity. The inhabitants live on two hand-out meals of maize porridge a day, which is provided by local volunteers. There is no social security for them, no lifeline - any more than there was for non-whites when apartheid ruled.

"I don't want to live in a place like this," said Frans de Jaeger, a former bricklayer, who with his beard and wrinkled face looks like one of the old Voortrekkers.

You are twice as
likely to be murdered
if you are a white
farmer than if you
are a police officer"

"But I can't get out."

His wife died suddenly of cancer a few years ago and it sent him into a downward spiral of binge drinking and destitution.

Semi-skilled white people have little chance of getting a job when so many black South Africans are unemployed.

There is another group of white Afrikaners, far higher up the social scale, who are deeply threatened - in this case, literally. Virtually every week the press here report the murders of white farmers, though you will not hear much about it in the media outside South Africa.

In South Africa you are twice as likely to be murdered if you are a white farmer than if you are a police officer - and the police here have a particularly dangerous life. The killings of farmers are often particularly brutal.

Ernst Roets's organisation has published the names of more than 2,000 people who have died over the last two decades. The government has so far been unwilling to make solving and preventing these murders a priority.

There used to be
60,000 white farmers
in South Africa -
in 20 years that
number has halved"

I went to a little town called Geluik - happiness. A few weeks ago gunmen burst into the farm shop there and opened fire, killing one farmer outright and injuring one of his sons and a shopworker.

They stole next to nothing. It seemed to be a deliberate, targeted killing. Soon afterwards the son died of his injuries.

Belinda van Nord, the daughter and sister of the men who died, told me how dangerous the lives of white people in the countryside have become. The police, she said, had seemed to show little interest in this case.

In the little graveyard where her father and brother are buried there are two other graves of farmers murdered recently. The wonderful landscape which surrounds it has become a killing ground.

There used to be 60,000 white farmers in South Africa. In 20 years that number has halved.

In the old days, the apartheid system looked after whites and did very little for anyone else. Nowadays white people here are on their own.

Those who fit in and succeed will certainly have a future. As for the rest, there are no guarantees whatsoever.

Sourced from: www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine

PS: The BBC article also has a video embedded (which cannot be shared) but which is worthwhile viewing.

And while I’m logged into blogger I may as well also make a special announcement:

I have recently pumped my last few rands into a new project in a desperate attempt to keep my head above water. The project can only succeed if I give it my undivided attention - 24/7. It is also the reason why postings on this blog have not been all that frequent lately. I realize this comes at a bad time, considering that Mike Smith has also temporary ceased delivering excellent political commentary on his blog, but bear in mind there are a few other blogs and forums that are actively involved in delivering excellent commentary as well. Some are listed in the left sidebar of this blog (Blogs of Interest), but there are others… Search and you shall find them!

I’d also like to make use of this opportunity to wish Mike all the best with the completion of his book - Opening Pandora’s Apartheid Box. May his book finally expose the numerous lies about South Africa’s so called apartheid era, and the traitors who facilitated the process of handing over this beautiful country to a bunch of communist-gangsters.

Many may ask - what is the purpose of publishing such a book? The answer: If we want to define our future in this country and if we really want to survive and prosper in this country, then it is vital that we study past truths and make it known for the entire world to see. Living in falsehood will only lead to our eventual destruction!

“Study the past if you would define the future.” ― Confucius

Helen Zille frustrated by the ANC’s lies and distortions

2013-05-18T23:55:00.000+02:00

Helen Zille gets worked up after a heated debate on a report released by the Commission of Employment Equity. (Courtney Africa)

Zille dismissed the image this week saying there were "absolutely no tears" but that she was furious and frustrated.

"That photo captured a split second after the debate when I was talking to some of the whips," she told the Mail & Guardian this week. "I was very frustrated by the lies and distortions that characterised the ANC's inputs during the debate, especially an outrageous statement by member of the provincial legislature [MPL] Max Ozinsky that Helen Suzman wanted to kill people.

"I felt the whipping was not up to scratch in that context and I was discussing that. I was furious and frustrated, but certainly not crying."

The Western Cape provincial legislature has a tradition of robust debates and colourful interactions between its members.

On May 9, the legislature held a debate on a report by the Commission for Employment Equity in the Western Cape.

Divisions
Speakers from both the ruling DA and the ANC accused each other of politicking and racism. "It was very sad that the report shows that the Western Cape remains the most untransformed and the most un-affirmed province in South Africa," charged Lynne Brown, who leads the ANC caucus in the legislature and had asked for the matter to be debated. "The situation worsens year on year as we move closer to becoming a separatist and secessionist Western Cape under the DA rule."

Brown claimed that, under the DA, purging of African and Coloured staff members was a daily experience and divisions between communities were growing.

DA provincial leader Ivan Meyer, who is also MEC for sport, said the ANC has been reduced to a party that only had "one issue left on its agenda and that is race".

"We all know that this debate is not about employment equity. This debate is about racial engineering by the ANC. This debate is about racial quotas that the ANC wants to force on to the Western Cape.

"What is at stake here is that the ANC wants to punish coloured people because they refused to vote for the ANC in 2009 and 2011," he said.

ANC MPL Khaya Magaxa, who is also the provincial secretary of the South African Communist Party, who upped the ante when he questioned Helen Suzman's role in the struggle and the claim that the DA was a party of liberation.

"Their predecessors, such as Helen Suzman's Progressive Party, were collaborators of apartheid," he said. "Let me remind you that Suzman thought that you could oppose apartheid while maintaining economic apartheid."

Embarrassing reports
Magaxa charged that Suzman campaigned globally against any form of sanction and had endorsed British arms sales to the apartheid regime at the height of their attacks on [black] people.

His speech drew a number of interjections from Zille, as well as from Ozinsky, who supported him. "She [Suzman] wanted to kill us!" interjected Ozinsky at one point.

Zille challenged this and a debate on whether it was parliamentary to make such a claim ensued.

Ozinsky explained that Suzman supported arms sales to apartheid, adding that: "Arms are used to kill people, so clearly she wanted us to be killed. I don't see what the point of order is."

Ozinsky based his speech on an address that former president Nelson Mandela gave to the ANC's national conference in Mahikeng in 1997, in which he addressed affirmative action.

Zille described the commission's paper as perhaps one of the most embarrassing reports the state has yet produced, saying it has fundamental flaws of logic, of numeracy, of grammar and of spelling.

"It is riddled with mistakes and it is absolute misrepresentation," she said. "And it does it for obvious reasons, because you cannot just disaggregate anything."

Although she admitted that the Progressive Party did at one stage support a qualified franchise, she said she had fought very hard as a young Prog at the time for a universal franchise.

"We won that debate long before the ANC became a nonracial organisation," she said. "The ANC only opened its doors to all races in 1969 and its leadership in 1985. They cannot lecture anybody on nonracialism."

Sourced from: Mail & Guardian

The amazing Harvard aircraft - and other boisterous things

2013-05-14T00:05:00.000+02:00

Picture © tia-mysoa.blogspot.com

We South Africans can be truly proud of our magnificent European heritage on the African continent, and specifically South Africa’s rich aviation history which during its early years included participation in both World Wars, the Berlin Airlift, and the Korean War.

I spent a large portion of my childhood living next door to Zwartkop AFB. It was a noisy place back in those days, and I can clearly recall the incessant racket made by, among other aircraft, the Harvard trainer planes - (how can we ever forget?) It was a commotion we miraculously grew accustomed to over the years and longed for when they ceased making a racket. This is perhaps why I will today seldom miss an air show and why I have a particular fondness for the Harvard and the boisterous noise they make.

This past weekend I attended another fantastic air show at Zwartkop AFB, after acquiring my entrance tickets on Thursday last week already, directly from the SAAF Museum at Zwartkop. While I was there and while there weren’t many people around I decided to shoot a quick video of some of the historic exhibits on display. I was basically done in the main display hall and on my way out when I heard an extraordinary sound (something I was not accustomed to) coming from another display hall. The last portion of this video will reveal what the strange sound was… Enjoy!

Here’s a short video-tribute to the Harvard aircraft and the lucky buggers who have the privilege of flying these amazing machines:

P-51 Mustang whistling sound, recorded at the air show on 11 May 2013:

Related Videos:
(Tia Mysoa YouTube Channel):

Related Posts:

South African Mirages and Cuban MiG-21s dogfighting over Cuito Cuanavale, the largest tank battle on African soil since El Alamein; Puma troopships shot out of the skies by Strela missiles and RPG-7 rockets; Alouette III gunships hovering menacingly above Koevoet tracker-combat teams as they close in for the kill; Hercules and Transall transports disgorging their loads of Parabats over Cassinga; suicidal helicopter hot extractions of Recce operators deep in enemy territory; and a lone Alouette pilot who disobeyed orders and under intense ground fire evacuated a critically wounded soldier ... such is the story of the South African Air Force, the SAAF, over the 23-year period 1966-1989, the period of conflict that became known as the 'Border War'. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, the SAAF was effectively South Africa's first line of defense against Soviet expansionism in southern Africa. That the Soviets, through their surrogates-the Cuban military, Angola's FAPLA and Namibia's SWAPO-sought a communist regime in South Africa is indisputable, as too was the SAAF's skill, quality, determination and capability to defeat the best Soviet air defenses of the time. This account covers all the major operations that the SAAF was involved in, from Operation Blouwildebees, the opening salvo of the conflict at Omgulumbashe, South West Africa in 1966 to the final curtain, Operation Merlyn, the so-called April Fool's Day 'war' of 1989 when the SAAF and Koevoet, almost alone, frustrated SWAPO's last throw of the dice with its illegal invasion of South West Africa. In this account, highlighting such operations as Reindeer, Bootlace/Uric, Sceptic, Protea, Daisy, Askari, Moduler, Hooper and Packer, among many, as well as the ongoing methodological operations like Lunar, Maanskyn, Donkermaan and Butterfly, Baxter examines and brings to life the squadrons and aviators that fought in both counterinsurgency and conventional warfare roles. Besides an extensive selection of rare photographs, the book features a comprehensive section on camouflage and markings and 6 pages of color aircraft profiles and insignia by noted SAAF authority William Marshall, making this title especially useful for modelers.Peter Baxter is an author, amateur historian and African field, mountain and heritage travel guide. Born in Kenya and educated in Zimbabwe, he has lived and travelled over much of southern and central Africa. He has guided in all the major mountain ranges south of the equator, helping develop the concept of sustainable travel, and the touring of battlefield and heritage sites in East Africa. Peter lives in Oregon, USA, working on the marketing of African heritage travel as well as a variety of book projects. His interests include British Imperial history in Africa and the East Africa campaign of the First World War in particular. His first book was Rhodesia: Last Outpost of the British Empire; he has written several books in the Africa@War series, including France in Centrafrique, Selous Scouts, Mau Mau and SAAF's Border War. Order online now from Kalahari.com or Amazon.com

Al-Qaeda: Alive and well in South Africa

2013-05-13T09:25:00.002+02:00

By De Wet Potgieter - Daily Maverick

The police’s specialised unit, Crimes Against the State (CATS) and the State Security Agency (SSA) have been monitoring the training of al-Qaeda terrorists in South Africa for several years, without taking any action.

A year-long investigation by the Daily Maverick’s De Wet Potgieter has revealed surprising inaction by police despite incriminating evidence about secret military training camps and sophisticated sniper training at three well-documented locations as well as several others across South Africa. These subversive activities have taken place at a farm near the notorious Apartheid police hit squad camp at Vlakplaas outside Pretoria, as well as a secluded farm in the mountains of the Klein Karoo.

The SAPS top-secret, deep-cover operation – Operation Kanu – was driven by crime intelligence, and was launched shortly after the 9-11 World Trade Center terror attacks to investigate extremist Muslim activities in the country. Operation Kanu began at the same time as the parallel investigation into far right-wing activities called Operation Waco.

Operation Waco resulted in the marathon Boeremag trial. The right-wingers were dubbed Al-Cadac by a police wit, as the Afrikaners’ plot was often discussed over a braai. Yet Operation Kanu resulted in no action from intelligence agencies, and no arrests of the alleged trainees or the masterminds.

All spying activities in connection with Operation Kanu were abruptly halted at the beginning of 2010 under yet-unexplained circumstances. The teams of intelligence operatives were recalled from the operation sites, all visual material seized and laptops with the surveillance data and situation reports of deep-cover agents taken away from them. The men were told by their superiors that the orders for the cessation of the surveillance operation had come “from the top”. No other explanations were given and they were re-deployed to other assignments.

In the wake of the cessation of Operation Kanu, British and US intelligence agencies began to pressurise the South African government to act against any possible Muslim terrorist threats emanating from within South Africa.

Top-level intelligence sources confirmed that representatives from both those countries’ intelligence services have been in the country for negotiations regarding the al-Qaeda operations here.

US and British intelligence have warned the South African authorities to stop “pussyfooting” with intelligence regarding international terrorists activities in South Africa. “The fact that no bombs have gone off to date in the country doesn’t mean that the threat doesn’t exist within South Africa’s borders,” they warned.

They have been frustrated for some years with the South African authorities for not taking action against perceived international terrorist threats.

South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations resolution against international terrorism and is thus obliged to act against any such threats.

Despite overwhelming intelligence information gathered well before the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, no action had been taken to date.

The cause of the anxiety stems from the fact that thousands of illegal immigrants from Pakistan manage to cross into South Africa, while the government appears to turn a blind eye.

Says Professor Hussein Solomon from UFS in Researching Terrorism in South Africa: More Questions than Answers:

“Pretoria’s ambiguous response to terrorism also extends into the international sphere. In October 2006, during his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former president Thabo Mbeki spoke of the need for international co-operation in the area of counter-terrorism. When such co-operation, however, is needed from the South Africans, they baulk. In January 2007, when South Africa was informed that the US intended to place two South Africans – the Dockrat cousins – on the UN Security Council’s list of terror suspects, South Africa was vehemently opposed to this. Needless to say, relations between Washington and Pretoria soured. These incidents raise the question of whether South Africa is prepared to walk the talk in the global fight against terrorism or not. Put differently, is South Africa a credible partner in the fight against terrorism?”

THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONNECTION

At the centre of this alleged terrorist network are several members of the well-known and influential Dockrat family.

The family was catapulted into the world focus in 2007 when US terrorism financing trackers have noted suspicious financial transactions coming out of South Africa that appeared to benefit al-Qaeda.

Some of these transactions predate 9/11. The money trail led them to a Johannesburg dentist, Junaid Ismail Dockrat, and his cousin, Farhad Ahmed Dockrat, a Muslim cleric. Farhad, the older of the two cousins, was a leading cleric at the Darus Salaam Muslim Centre in former Indian township of Laudium outside Pretoria. This mosque is said to be popular among Pakistani and Malawian Muslims...

Visit Daily Maverick for the full article.

Happy Mother's Day!

2013-05-12T08:26:00.000+02:00

You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool mom.
~Author Unknown

No love lost between Motshekga and Lovemore on the state of education in South Africa

2013-05-08T15:28:00.000+02:00

Angie Motshekga - SA Minister of Basic Education (Picture: Beeld)

Last year September the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools declared that close to 90 percent of the country’s schools were dysfunctional. This shocking revelation sparked off heated debate with new research confirming that while the real number is high the number of dysfunctional schools is closer to 75 percent. [Source] Whatever the case - whether it be 90 or 70 percent, urban or rural, it is quite obvious that the education sector in South Africa is in a complete and utter shambles.

No amount of money is going to fix this crisis, for the more money that gets pumped into the system the more chaotic it gets. It’s all part-and-parcel of the cleverly constructed grand plan of the Communist-Marxists… It is, in fact, nothing but a gutless onslaught on our youth, the future thinkers, planners, and leaders of our country.

The ANC government will, every odd now and then, when their backs are against the wall and when questions are flying in parliament, admit that that there are problems, but 9 out of 10 times apartheid will get the blame. They will NEVER acknowledge the true magnitude of the problem, nor the fact that their own stupid policies and procedures will not work.

The whole principle of Batho Pele (putting people first) is something the ANC will never fully understand, even though it was one of their own political initiatives, and even though glossy Batho Pele posters decorate the walls of all government departments all over the country – with some posters lavishly framed and displayed under spotlights, as if the meaningless words were a masterful work of art.

In February this year it was revealed in parliament that truant teachers were absent for close to 7.5 million days last year (2012). The exact number of days calculated to 7,448,000. Minister Motshekga also mentioned there was "great concern" in her department about teacher accountability - arriving at school on time, and teaching for the full day. See news report: SA teachers set absentee record.

Results from two international benchmarking assessments of science and mathematics, released in December last year, revealed that the overall performance of South African pupils were at rock bottom of the study rankings.

Bullying also emerged as a factor to blame for poor performance of the country's pupils. A study by Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) revealed that at least 55 percent of grade 4 pupils report frequent bullying at primary school - the highest internationally! On a scale of 0 to 1000, pupils tested for English and Afrikaans in grade five achieved a score of 421, described in the PIRLS report as, "the lowest for benchmarking participants." The study was conducted in 49 countries. According to the PIRLS report, 43% of grade 5 pupils in South African schools have not developed the basic skills required for reading at an equivalent international grade 4 level. [Source]

Well, what did they expect in a country infested with uneducated murderous and thieving savages, ruled by a gang of corrupt and incompetent fools?

Annette Lovemore (DA) Shadow Minister of Basic Education

Yesterday (Tuesday) Annette Lovemore, the DA’s Shadow Minister of Basic Education, decided to give Minister Motshekga a good verbal thrashing in parliament, just after Motshekga gave her same old blah-blah gibberish speech on the subject. Her words were also televised last night on SABC News:

"Despite a budget of R17.6 Billion, and a slew of policies, your education system does not work. If you believe it does, I'm afraid you are in denial… Admit failure. Until you do, we will never make the massive changes that are required for this country to succeed."
Annette Lovemore - DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education

Lovemore also challenged Motshekga to "be bold" and aim higher… "You cannot continue to fail our children," she said.

Full news report: Motshekga defends education system (again!)

In the following video Lovemore’s verbal reprisal starts @ 7m:18s. If you do not wish to view the entire video - with Motshekga’s ramblings and all, click here to view on YouTube where the video has been configured to start @ 7m:18s.

Illegal foreigners can simply walk into South Africa (Video)

2013-05-08T08:54:00.000+02:00

Thousands of foreigners flock daily to South Africa in search of a better life. Many of them soon find out the grass is not necessarily greener on this side of the border, and end up as beggars on the streets.

The video shows how easy it is for Zimbabweans to enter South Africa illegally, by simply walking across a shallow portion of the Limpopo River.

It is estimated that South Africa harbours at least five million illegal immigrants, although some estimates increase this figure to eight million. It is believed that at least three million of these immigrants are of Zimbabwean origin due to political and economic instability caused by Robert Mugabe's government. [Source]

Media racial bias and the arrest of corrupt officials at the Caledonspoort border post

2013-05-07T22:31:00.000+02:00

Nine police officers were arrested, along with seven other people, for fraud and corruption at the Caledonspoort border post on Tuesday, the Hawks said.

Spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko said of the seven, six were immigration officers and one an official from the health department.

The officials allegedly allowed people to enter the country from Lesotho without documents and charged them R150 each.

“In some instances taxi drivers delivered passports at the port of entry to be stamped, in order to extend the days of holders in SA, at a fee of R150,” he said.

“This had been orchestrated for a long time. The officials were able to make over R100 000 per day. At one instance officials shared R200 000.”

He said people without passports arrived at the border in a bus and a police officer entered the bus and counted them.

“Each person was charged R150 or R200 and the bus was allowed to enter SA.”

Police confiscated R38 000 found in the boot of a car belonging to one of the immigration officials.

The group was expected to appear in the Fouriesburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Ramaloko said they were arrested on duty at the port of entry. One of the police officers was arrested at a hospital, where he had been booked in for alcohol abuse.

The head of the Hawks in the Free State, Maj-Gen Senaba Mositi, said the arrests were part of the police's quest to stop corruption in the province. - Sapa

Sourced from: IOL News

Racial Bias in Media

The misleading illustration used in the OFM News Report

While the video by enewschannel gives a strong indication of the race of the suspects, or at least some of the suspects, the Afrikaans report published on OFM News is accompanied by a picture of a white man’s handcuffed hands. This type of blatant media bias is becoming increasingly widespread in South Africa, yet you’ll seldom hear white South Africans complaining about it. It makes me sick to see how the black majority in this country can belittle and slander the white minority, and then still get away with it... It is about high time journalists and news producers in this country start realizing that misleading reports can have serious and harmful repercussions.

Gupta Airbus – A Decoy?

2013-05-06T16:03:00.001+02:00

DJ MAC spins into action in MARK WIGGETT's latest cartoon

There are so many weird aspects related to the unauthorized landings of the Gupta aircraft at AFB Waterkloof that it won’t surprise me if a book about ‘Guptagate’ will soon see the light.

I sincerely hope that whoever is planning on writing such a book will also look into the ‘worst case scenario’ this blog sketched in the previous posting related to this issue, because I find it rather odd that the mainstream media has not uttered a word about the underworld funding of Jet Airways owner Naresh Goyal. They could have at least, as a bare minimum, looked into the reasons why Jet Airways struggled for more than 2 years to get the necessary clearances from US authorities to fly to the United States, but they didn’t.

Neither has the media questioned the fact why Sun City in South Africa was chosen for the wedding venue, and not one of the many lavish wedding venues in India. See, for example, Top 5 Wedding Venues in India, or Top 10 Expensive Wedding Venues in India.

But no, the Gupta family chose South Africa instead - and one cannot help but wonder why.

The previous posting may not have been all that clear on the actual extent of the Gupta invasion into South Africa, and how a decoy was possibly used to dupe the media and the rest of us. Whatever the case, it could not have been done without some insider assistance.

It is no secret anymore that drug trafficking is hugely financing today's global terrorism, and that Muslim terrorists have also intensified their onslaught in Africa. We South Africans tend to leave things until the last minute before reacting to a crisis, hence the reason why the overwhelming majority of us don’t really care much about the activities of Muslim terrorists, even when their activities are taking place almost on our doorstep - like next door in Botswana, for example, where 28 suspects were recently arrested on suspicion of raising funds for Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups. Why are South Africans not alarmed by this, considering that we know the country to be a heaven (and a haven) for criminals and terrorists?

At this point in time we know that South African authorities were not completely in the dark about the Gupta’s requests for the use of OR Tambo International Airport and AFB Waterkloof. The Minister of Transport, Ben Martins, reportedly turned down a request for the use of OR Tambo - while the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, reportedly turned down a request for the use of AFB Waterkloof (see Sunday Independent report. Info – thanks to David Maynier’s article published on Politics Web).

The denial of the Gupta’s requests for the use of OR Tambo is suspicious in itself, considering that Jet Airways has, since December 2012, a codeshare agreement with South African Airways – according to Wikipedia. Why do I get the feeling that certain authorities knew something was cooking and wanted to cover their own backsides?

Only much later did the South African media, by mouth of Rapport (the skunks) expose the fact that the Gupta invasion was far bigger than previously thought, and that besides the Airbus A330 - there were other aircraft at AFB Waterkloof, including Sahara's Cessna Sovereign executive jet, as well as several (about eight) helicopters. See Rapport’s article: Gupta-bruilof: Hier is die 2de skande.

The Rapport article has a photograph of the Cessna Citation Sovereign jet standing at AFB Waterkloof, on the same day the Airbus A330 landed there. The Cessna jet also landed without any authorization, but this news was only published on Sunday, 5 May. All media attention focused on the larger plane.

Why do I get the feeling the larger plane was the decoy in the whole operation, and that attention was deliberately diverted from the other aircraft for reasons that will probably never come to light – no matter how long the ANC government looks into the whole sordid affair?

Whatever comes out of this scandal, I hope it shatters the ANC into a million little fragments, and that it will lead to the long overdue ousting of President Jacob Zuma – as advocated in this latest report.

Related Posts:

Is there more than meets the eye behind the Gupta flight saga?

Why the big drug dealers never get caught - (This old posting, published in April 2009, deals with the massive global network of drug-smuggling, and how its tentacles reach into the very core of our governments where corrupt officials wheel and deal behind the scenes. The posting explains why the so-called War on Drugs will never end, and introduces an excellent book, titled: “Shadow Masters: An International Network of Governments and Secret-Service Agencies Working Together with Drugs Dealers and Terrorists for Mutual Benefit and Profit." The book is unfortunately out of stock at kalahari.com, but still available through amazon.)

Is there more than meets the eye behind the Gupta flight saga?

2013-05-03T20:52:00.000+02:00

After reading up on the latest news related to the Gupta flight saga and all the ramifications involved, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more behind the whole affair than meets the eye. Will we ever know how serious the security breach at the Waterkloof Air Force Base really was?

The incident has evoked many questions in my mind. Will the number of guests who arrived on the unauthorized Airbus A330 equal the number that will depart, especially now that they’re not departing from where they landed in the first place? Do the authorities even know who exactly were on the initial passenger list? Could it be possible that a wanted criminal or terrorist may have been on the plane? What else was smuggled into the country that we will never know about? Was the influence of the wealthy and politically connected Gupta family perhaps exploited for other clandestine motives, by a terrorist network that is currently creating havoc in other parts of Africa?

According to a media statement by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) the Airbus A330 belongs to Jet Airways. It the second largest Indian airline - owned by wealthy Indian businessman, Naresh Goyal.

It took Jet Airways more than two years to get the necessary clearances from US authorities to fly to the United States. While the airline initially expected to begin service to Newark via Brussels in June 2005, the US State Department only gave the final go-ahead on 15 November 2006. The airline’s alleged links to organized crime in India and abroad was apparently one of the reasons for the delay.

Another controversy arose with Jet Airways when Asmin Tariq, a British contractor of Asian descent, who was working for the airline as a security agent at Heathrow Airport became implicated in the foiled terror plot of 10 August 2006. Tariq apparently had plans to blow up ten transatlantic airliners belonging to three different US airlines in mid-air on their way from London to New York, Newark and Los Angeles. [Source]

A Facebook page (note) titled, “THE GREAT INDIAN LIE - A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE” reveals that the fugitive, drug baron, and terrorist, Dawood Ibrahim, has a major stake in Jet Airways and that his connections with Jet Airways owner, Naresh Goyal, go a long way back. The same source alleges that Naresh Goyal to this day has not revealed the ownership pattern of Jet Airways and that the Indian Government is also apparently “clueless”.

Readers can read more about Dawood Ibrahim’s terrorist activities on Wikipedia, but for purposes of this posting it is worthwhile mentioning that he is India's MOST WANTED criminal. Among a long list of various atrocities committed by him it is widely believed that he organized and financed the 1993 Bombay bombings and also provided logistics and support for the 2008 Mumbai Terror Strikes.

Indian intelligence believes the attacks on Mumbai’s commuter train network during 2006 might be the work of Dawood Ibrahim. [Source]

Several sources have linked Ibrahim to the terrorist network al-Qaeda. The US Department of Treasury keeps a fact sheet on Ibrahim which contains reports of his syndicate having smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle-East and Africa shared with and used by al-Qaeda.

Well, there you have it in a nutshell dear readers… The criminals and terrorists of the world are ruling the roost!

"No stone will be left unturned," says Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, Jeff Radebe... Yeah sure!

Just look how these clowns ignore valid questions and pass the buck…

video platform video management video solutions video player

PS: See also follow-up posting: Gupta Airbus – A Decoy?

'South Africans are backward'

2013-05-02T22:01:00.000+02:00

By David Smith

Zambia's Vice-President Guy Scott wastes little time on diplomatic language as he lets loose on Africa's biggest economy, race, Mugabe and gay rights.

Guy Scott, Vice-President of Zambia [Picture Source]

One of the most colourful men in African politics happens to be white. Guy Scott is the vice-president of Zambia but his race is probably the least exceptional thing about him.

On a recent afternoon in Lusaka, Scott held court with the kind of candour – and eccentricity – seldom heard from today's media-honed political class. He dismissed South Africans as "backward", insisted that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe wants to quit and discussed Zambia by way of references to Marlon Brando and the Klingon empire.

The 68-year-old grandfather was just back from Margaret Thatcher's funeral in London when he took the Guardian on an impromptu tour of an emerald auction at the InterContinental Lusaka hotel. Discussing similar auctions in India with a deferential salesman, Scott said: "Jaipur is a terrible dump. It produces nothing but zinc."

As officials fluttered around him, Scott, wearing a dark suit, blue striped shirt and blue and red tie, was informed that the Hollywood actor Mila Kunis recently visited a local mine as an "ambassador" for Zambian emeralds. "How come I didn't see her?" he pondered morosely.

Mugabe 'a funny chap'
The son of English and Scottish immigrants – his father Alexander was also an MP in Zambia – Scott then gave an interview that wasted little time on diplomatic language. Discussing neighbouring Zimbabwe, where Mugabe has ruled for 33 years, he disclosed: "I think if you asked him he'd say it was enough. That's what he said to us a few months ago. I said the way forward in African democracy is the way we do it in Zambia. He said, 'I absolutely agree, I wish it would happen to me.'"

As in lose an election? "Yes, and a smooth handover. I think he meant it, or he was toying with the idea of meaning it. He wanted to hear how it sounded, maybe. Or something."

Scott went on to describe 89-year-old Mugabe's persona. "He's a funny chap. He seems to doze off and then he suddenly laughs at a joke while in the middle of dozing. And very articulate, without a note, without a scrap of anything.

"He's an anglophone. He loves to give lectures on the English language, English weighing systems, English this or that. He was a teacher and so he taught himself all that."

Zambia's President Michael Sata – whom Scott refers to as "the boss" – is known to be on friendly terms with Mugabe, who used to work as a teacher in Zambia. "I'm sure any good African nationalist admires Mugabe," the vice-president added. "Racism in Zimbabwe is a serious issue. I was sent to school down there and it was like being in the Hitler Youth: the theories about black inferiority and this kind of stuff.

"It was a whites only school; they tried to introduce an Indian and he was hounded out at the instigation of the parents of the boys. I think Mugabe is a product of having to contend with that."

'I hate South Africans'
But Scott has far less time for South Africa, the continent's biggest economy. "The South Africans are very backward in terms of historical development," he said. "I hate South Africans. That's not a fair thing to say because I like a lot of South Africans but they really think they're the bees' knees and actually they've been the cause of so much trouble in this part of the world.

"I have a suspicion the blacks model themselves on the whites now that they're in power. 'Don't you know who we are, man?'"

Scott scoffed at the inclusion of South Africa in the Brics grouping of emerging economies. "They think in Brics that the 's' actually stands for South Africa whereas it stands for Africa. Nobody would want to go in for a partnership with Brazil, China, India and South Africa, for Christ's sake.

"I dislike South Africa for the same reason that Latin Americans dislike the United States, I think. It's just too big and too unsubtle."

Warming to his theme, Scott let rip at President Jacob Zuma, comparing him with the last apartheid leader, FW de Klerk. "He's very like De Klerk. He tells us: 'you just leave Zimbabwe to me.' Excuse me, who the hell liberated you anyway, was it not us? I mean, I quite like him, he seems a rather genial character but I pity him his advisers."

Fewer than 40 000 of Zambia's 13 million-strong population are white. Scott, a wildly popular MP for Lusaka, notes that the country has more than 80 tribes and several major language groups. "That doesn't add up to a bipolar formula for the scrap" along racial lines.

Sata-Scott leadership
Scott became vice-president in 2011 but his presence baffles some African leaders at high-level meetings. "I think they regard me as a sort of mascot, a good luck charm for African politics. Michael's very clever, he knows people tend to regard him as a racist because he talks rough.

"He's usually tried it out on me already. He says things like, 'What would you be if you weren't white?' I said, 'The president?' That shut him up."

But opposition parties have accused the Sata-Scott leadership of orchestrating violence, banning rallies, throwing dissenters in jail and dragging Zambia towards authoritarianism. Scott sarcastically predicted that opponents would complain to the Commonwealth, then the United Nations and, if still unsuccessful, the Klingon empire.

"It's a wheeze, it's an attempt I suppose based on some of the stuff that took place in Russia to denounce a government rather than eject it," he said. "But I really am very hard-pressed to find a corner I can sit in and believe that we're looking at a one-party state again."

He added: "It doesn't help that people don't know where Zambia is and they don't know what Zambia is like. If you were to write a story about America getting out of hand and going to a one-party state, everybody knows so much about the United States that they won't believe you.

"If you say, 'Somewhere over there in the African hinterland, not far from where Marlon Brando had a house surrounded by stakes with heads of his enemies on, not far from the Congo, there's a place where there's a one-party state …' Well, there probably is, probably several. And so it's a lot easier for that because there's no built-in balance."

Gay rights
One recent incident in which Zambia's civil liberties credentials took a battering, however, was the arrest of a human rights activist who had appeared on live TV calling for homosexuality to be decriminalised.

Scott admitted: "The problem with this guy going on television was that we had to do something because if we had done absolutely nothing we would have got a bollocking from all these evangelical churches plus damn idiots. On the other hand, we didn't want to give him a particularly hard ride."

As newspapers and television shows whipped up homophobia, Scott set out priorities that offer little consolation to anyone who is gay. "I think you've got so much cleaning up to do of killings and defilements and this and that, it's almost self-indulgent to think, 'Well, why don't we sit here and talk about gay rights?'

"It's indulgent politics that assumes yes, we don't actually have seven million unemployed people. Realistically, I think even an average gay, if you gave him a list of all the concerns Zambia had, would not necessarily put gay rights on top."

He went on: "There's tons of gay joints in this town. Well, not tons but they're there, well known. It's entirely the same phenonemon you get anywhere else. It's live and let live. Stirring up and making it worse, that is the biggest danger. Let sleeping dogs lie is an easier policy."

If Sata were to die in office, Scott would make history as the first democratic white leader in Africa, albeit as a three-month caretaker until an election was held. Seeking the presidency full-time would be "a bridge too far" for qualifying rules because his parents were born outside the country.

Scott, whose wife is from Greenwich, London, has health worries of his own, including a right hand that trembles slightly. "It's possibly Parkinson's, I haven't had it diagnosed yet." He is also concerned about possible cancer under one eye. "In my age group, there is on average six things wrong with you at any one time."

Scott departed, stepping into a lift and flanked by security guards, making a quip about how many emeralds he could conceal in his hand. – Guardian News and Media 2013

Sourced from: Mail & Guardian

See also: SA wants answers from Zambia after 'backward' comments

MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

2013-05-01T08:59:00.001+02:00

MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! This is TIA – TANGO – INDIA - ALFA… MAYDAY! South Africa, country code ZULU – ALFA… Location - southern tip of Africa. There’s something seriously wrong here. It’s Wednesday 07h30, a normal weekday, but the streets are empty; the trains are empty; no busses or taxis on the road and no people queuing for transport… Did the rapture occur? MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

Oops sorry… It’s International Workers’ Day… Cancel mayday call… Ignore! Disregard!

There was this blind man on an airplane and while he was up in the air, the pilot died. This man felt the plane rocking more than normal so he went up to the cock-pit and asked what was wrong and got no answer. He reached down and felt the pilot's pulse, and then moved him to the floor and got on the radio and yelled, "Mayday, mayday, I'm a blind man, my pilot is dead, I can't fly and the plane is upside down."

Someone answers and says, "Okay sir, now you said you were blind. How can you tell that the pilot is dead and that you're flying upside down?"

The blind man said, "Well I felt for his pulse and he had none. And the way I can tell that the plane is flying upside down is I can feel the crap running down my neck!" [Source]

SA Human Rights Commission responds to Volksraad's complaint

2013-04-27T15:27:00.000+02:00

Feedback on the Boer-Afrikaner People’s Council (aka Volksraad) and their Claim to Self-determination was last presented by this blog on 6 December 2012, here. The previous posting made mention of a complaint lodged with the Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on 3 December 2012, following the ANC Government's failure to respond to written communication sent to them by the Volksraad.

The good news is - the SAHRC has finally responded with the following progress report:

"RE: COMPLAINT WITH THE SOUTH AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION [THE COMMISSION]

Your complaint to the Commission dated 3rd December 2012 and bearing reference number GP/2012/0583/AM refers.

We have noted your requests for a progress update in your matter and extend our humble apologies for delay in providing formal communication of same sooner. The Commission can assure you however, that close consideration is being given to the complaint since its receipt.

The Commission in terms of its Complaints Handling Procedures as gazetted undertakes a process of assessment of all complaints on receipt. The process of assessment in complex matters is one which unfortunately does take some time as the Commission needs to fully satisfy itself of its assessment in such instances by considering a range of factors in its deliberations. This is attributable to the fact that complex matters are those which usually have significant impact on broader society. Based on such considerations, the Commission will decide whether it has jurisdiction to provide the relief sought; and if so the most appropriate process through which to achieve this outcome in the interests of rights protection. Decisions of the Commission are thereafter provided to complainants to ensure that, complainants understand the outcomes, and are directed to relief where available and appropriate on the facts of particular cases.

The central complaint before us in your complaint is that of self determination. The right to self determination is indeed one which is complex and nuanced not only in South Africa but globally. It is in this context that the Commission is consultation with its Commissioner, Danny Titus, who is a UN expert on the rights of indigenous peoples and has considerable insights on the right to self determination. In a formal meeting with the Commissioner on the 4th of April 2013, he provided valuable information including the wide diverse history and current practice of the Afrikaans language. A large body of UN based research has also been undertaken, including reference to two authoritative works on Afrikaners, one of which is by Prof. Hermann Giliomee.

This body of work and our report will on finalization be tabled before the Chairperson of the Commission and thereafter formally communicated to you.

I trust therefore that you are more assured of the attention being devoted to the complaint. We will provide you with feedback as we progress.

We thank you for your referral to the Commission and your cooperation herein.
Yours faithfully
_____________________
CHANTAL KISOON
PROVINCIAL MANAGER"

Related Posts:

Blitz Patrollie

2013-04-24T16:08:00.000+02:00

Picture source: mg.co.za

I grew up in the days before television came to South Africa. I was 16-years old when it finally arrived, in the year 1976. Back then most Afrikaners, including my parents, still shared the sentiments of South Africa’s murdered Prime Minister, Hendrik Verwoerd, who compared television with atomic bombs and poison gas, claiming that "they are modern things, but that does not mean they are desirable…” Consequently, by the time I left home in January 1978 we still had no television in our house.

Incidentally, Dr. Albert Hertzog, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs at the time, evidently said that TV would come to South Africa "over [his] dead body," denouncing it as "a miniature bioscope over which parents would have no control." [Source]

I can recall how we as kids looked forward to our weekly dose of Squad Cars on Springbok Radio every Friday night… "They prowl the empty streets at night... these are the men of - Squad Cars!" I was mesmerized by the series and can recall how I thoroughly enjoyed every episode. The series also served its intended purpose well, because back then we had high admiration for members serving in the South African Police Force, a trait many modern-day folk will regard as abnormal.

Today we live in a totally different world… While the image of the old, once proud and proficient, SA Police Force has been completely shattered by years and years of media propaganda, the current new rulers of the country have been unable to remodel an improved one.

The current new Police Force or Police Service (or whatever they call it nowadays) has degenerated into an appalling disgrace - battered by one scandalous incident after the next. See the latest: SA police face R14 billion in civil lawsuits.

It would be rather discourteous towards the entertainment industry to equate the current Police Farce with a circus. Also – the horrendous deeds committed by some of their members are not funny at all! Even if some of their actions were funny it would not be advisable to openly laugh at them…

However, the entertainment industry has provided an excellent avenue through which South Africans can now safely laugh their heads off - without being locked-up or shot at:

Blitz Patrollie, written by Lediga, chronicles the adventures of two police officers who have had the misfortune of being stationed at the “Central” Police Station, the most chaotic police precinct in Johannesburg.

The film releases at cinemas nationwide on May 10, with premieres in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban preceding its release. The film will also be debuting on a global scale, with a team leaving for Cannes on May 15. [Source]

Blitz Patrollie Website

The failure of Black Economic Empowerment

2013-04-23T16:57:00.000+02:00

Supporters of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) argue that BEE promotes economic development, reduced inequality, social upliftment and other good causes. Actually, over the last decade, since the adoption of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Bill in 2003, the true main goal of BEE was the redistribution of capital according to artificial, political aims, at the expense of consumers.

For confirmation that BEE is an attempt to enforce a political blueprint on society, there is no need to look further than the following statement by Trade and Industry minister, Rob Davies: “Black economic empowerment is not just a social and political imperative. We need to make sure that in the country's economy, control, ownership and leadership are reflective of the demographics of the society in the same way the political space does. That's why we are saying Black Economic Empowerment remains an economic imperative.”

The act is currently under review, but unfortunately only with a view on giving it teeth. In terms of the bill of November 2012

A BEE commission will be created to boost BEE compliance;
Companies on the Johannesburg stock exchange will be obligated to report their BEE status and any information the BEE commission may require; and
Heavy penalties, including jail time and fines of up to 10% of company turnover, can be imposed if it is found that false BEE information was supplied.

As political blueprint BEE has had consequences quite contrary to the empowerment of black people, economic development and reduced inequality. In fact, it slowed the pace of economic growth as well as the evenness – also in terms of race categories – with which economic wealth spread in society.

Someone who is in favour of achieving the positive aims given in justification of BEE, like economic growth, reduced inequality and increased economic participation by more black people, should oppose the policy of BEE. Measured against these desirable outcomes, the current policy of BEE is counterproductive. If kept in mind that the main goals of BEE is the transfer of capital according to political processes, then five steps show why BEE is harmful.

1. WEALTH IS ACCESS TO GOODS AND SERVICES

“Wealth in itself is nothing but the food, conveniences and pleasures of life,” Richard Cantillon wrote in opening sentence of his 1730 Essay on Economic Theory, the first economic treatise. Cantillon's insight of almost 300 years ago is as valid today: if one seeks to know if BEE supports wealth creation, then one should consider if consumers in general have greater access to “the food, conveniences and pleasures of life” than before.

2. GOODS AND SERVICES COME FROM THE CAPITAL STRUCTURE

Goods and services – the conveniences of life – do not fall from the air, but are the end products of complex chains of production. These chains of production – including machines, labour processes, tools, supplies, etcetera – forms the economy's capital structure. The better the economy's capital structure is put together and maintained, the more and better is the goods and services it renders and the greater everyone's wealth.

3. THE CAPITAL STRUTURE IS MANAGED BY ENTREPRENEURS

The updating of the capital structure is the task of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are motivated by the profit motive to make sensible judgments about people's future needs. In order to provide for people's future needs, entrepreneurs have to adjust the capital structure in advance, so that the capital structure may produce the appropriate products at an appropriate time. The better entrepreneurs perform this task, the better the capital structure will be adjusted to deliver the most wealth for everyone.

4. INVESTORS DIRECT MONEY TO CONSUMERS' FAVOURITE ENTREPRENEURS

In a free market environment the best entrepreneurs are identified in a consumer-led process. In this process, each consumer (in BEE terms: black, coloured, Indian and white people) play a role, each time when a consumer buys one item and leaves another on the shelf. In this process that entrepreneur who satisfy consumer needs best are rewarded, while his competitors are not rewarded. Investors (capitalists) direct their investments to consumers' favourite entrepreneurs – those who make the most profit.

Therefore, the best entrepreneurs (those who adjust the capital structure in a way that serves consumers best) have greater access to capital.

5. BEE REPLACES CONSUMER'S CHOICES WITH POLITICIANS' CHOICES

BEE undermines consumers' choice of entrepreneurs. Instead of entrepreneurs being evaluated daily by consumers according to the wealth they produce, BEE evaluates entrepreneurs according to political measures. Investors are therefore no longer free to direct money to those entrepreneurs who are best able to manage the capital structure and create the most wealth. More capital now land in the hands of politically favoured entrepreneurs, who create less wealth.

What BEE therefore does, is to redistribute the capital structure, through a process of political favouring, from better to worse entrepreneurs. Afterwards, there is less wealth in the economy and the remaining assets are concentrated in the hands of an elite with the right political friends.

Consumers, for whom all goods and services in the end exist, are harmed by this. BEE cannot speed up economic growth, the reduction of inequality or general black empowerment. According to the true measure of wealth – access to goods and services – almost all South Africans, including black people, are poorer thanks to BEE. The only winners in this process is the politically favoured black elite and other people (including white, coloured and Indian people) who manage to exploit this artificial system.

Sourced from: Solidarity Research Institute's Labour Market Report - April 2013 (PDF)

The Solidarity Labour Market Report is a quarterly publication by the Solidarity Research Institute for the trade union Solidarity. The report is compiled by Paul Joubert and Piet le Roux, senior researchers at the Solidarity Research Institute.

Boston Highlights the Illusion of Terror & Security

2013-04-18T22:50:00.000+02:00

By Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer Report
April 17, 2013

Sometime before 1775, American Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin wrote:

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Across much of the West, after September 11, 2001, we have indeed given up our essential liberty, and more over, our dignity in exchange for the illusion of safety. Our streets and public events are filled with militarized police and very literally soldiers wielding machine guns and riding around in armored vehicles. And yet with this militarized security, invasive Constitution-violating searches, warrantless wiretaps, humiliating pat-downs by federal security at airports, terrorist bombs still managed to rip through the streets of Boston killing 3 and injuring many more.

There is nothing more symbolic of the fall of America as a free people than scenes of impotent militarized police standing around aimlessly with their immense arsenal cradled in their idle hands in the wake of an attack their presence did nothing to prevent. What's more, is their presence after the attack was likewise useless, their weapons and armor incapable of doing anything to help the scores of injured.

Image: (AP) Militarized police stand around aimlessly before and after the blasts in Boston - exposing the "safety" offered to the public in the last 10 years by the growing police state as a mere illusion we have been made to accept, but clearly, to no avail.

The FBI and the Illusion of Terror

Disturbing is the habit of the FBI's posing as terrorists with ties to Al Qaeda, approaching patsies who they then provide explosives and other weapons to, and help engineer an attack which they then "foil" to make spectacular headlines. Many times real explosives are test-detonated with suspects, before inert devices are switched in for the final attack.

In one case in Portland Oregon in 2010, a van was actually parked next to a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony where the FBI-entrapped suspect attempted and failed to detonate an FBI-provided inert bomb.

More astounding was the fact that the FBI had actually brought this same entrapped suspect earlier to a location in Lincoln County, Oregon, where real explosives were in fact detonated. The FBI's official statement titled, "Oregon Resident Arrested in Plot to Bomb Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Portland," released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on November 26, 2010 stated (emphasis added):

According to the affidavit, on November 4, 2010, Mohamud and the undercover FBI operatives traveled to a remote location in Lincoln County, Ore., where they detonated a bomb concealed in a backpack as a trial run for the upcoming attack. Afterwards, on the drive back to Corvallis, undercover FBI operatives questioned Mohamud as to whether he was capable of looking at the bodies of those who would be killed in the upcoming attack in Portland. According to the affidavit, Mohamud responded, “I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured.”

More frightening still was the apparent motivation behind the FBI's uncover operation.

In 2005, Portland became the first city in the United States to withdraw from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, (JTTF) over concerns it would threaten civil liberties. The FBI, unwelcomed in Portland, decided to then approach a dupe, entrap him, and spectacularly "foil" a high profile terror plot of their own design during Portland's annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony - without notifying the local government or local law enforcement of the on going operation.

The operation would humiliate local representatives and in particular, Mayor Sam Adams, making them appear negligent, incompetent, and impotent. And, in the wake of the operation, citing the FBI's charade specifically, Portland would eventually agree to rejoin the JTTF.

What, if not terrorism, would such events be classified as? The FBI's JTTF was ousted from Portland, and it subsequently used the threat of violence to coerce the city into accepting it back. It was an operation A-Z engineered by the FBI with a specific political motivation lurking just beneath the surface.

The opaque, covert nature of these operations should also profoundly disturb readers. The FBI apparently has access to vast resources to conduct these operations, including weapons, real explosives, vehicles, and just about everything else most likely used in the Boston blasts. According to the New York Times, in their article, "Portland, Ore., Votes to Rejoin Task Force After Terrorism Scare:"

The investigation had been under way for many months, but the Portland police were consulted only near the end, largely to help with logistics of a sting operation. Mayor Sam Adams was unaware until after the arrest.

Who then is overseeing these operations outside of the FBI? These are operations where real explosives are even detonated ... and in the case of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, FBI monitored suspects actually went through with the final attack, killing 6, and wounding many more (The New York Times, "Tapes Depict Proposal to Thwart Bomb Used in Trade Center Blast").

The answer is, no one is overseeing them, and they are kept secret until the FBI either "foils" them for political points, or a witness steps forward and reveals the FBI's role in successful attacks that maim or kill innocent people.

This constitutes a very real terror threat to America, but one that lurks within Washington and in our cities' local FBI offices, carried out by men in suits and ties, not cave-dwelling extremists in Afghanistan or "homegrown terrorists." For the people of Boston, one of the first targets for investigation should in fact be, the local FBI office.

Monsters of Our Own Creation/Perpetuation

And while America's domestic threat is one contrived and perpetuated primarily by the very people charged with defending the nation against terrorism, real foreign extremists do exist. It should surprise no one however, considering what the FBI does at home, who is minding this terrorist network abroad.

It is now believed that pressure cooker improvised explosive devices were used in the blasts - devices frequently used overseas by Al Qaeda's many various incarnations. Should "Al Qaeda" turn out to be behind the Boston blasts, readers would benefit from understanding just what exactly "Al Qaeda" is.

CBS News in their report titled, "Homeland Security warned about pressure cooker bombs," stated:

U.S. authorities warned as far back as nine years ago that terrorists could use metal pressure cookers to cause deadly carnage.

The common kitchen cooking implement - found in countless American homes - has emerged as a key component in the horrific bombings that killed three people and injured more than 170 at the Boston Marathon yesterday.

The article would continue by stating:

In 2004 a memo titled "Potential terrorist use of pressure cookers" alerted border inspectors, agents, law enforcement officers and other first-responders that the seemingly-innocuous items could be used to create improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The memo says the bomb-making technique is commonly taught in Afghan terrorist training camps - and had already led to bombing casualties.

The article would also mention terrorists operating in Algeria using rigged pressure cooker devices to carry out attacks - militants long associated not only with Al Qaeda directly, but neighboring Libyan terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) which was recently handed the nation of Libya by NATO.

This would also be the same Al Qaeda that the US and NATO are in the process of arming and funding in Syria for the past 2 years. Likewise, it is the same Al Qaeda spawned from the sectarian crypto-terror organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, helped into power on the back of region-wide US-engineered political destabilization, and funded to the tune of billions by America's allies in Riyadh and Doha.

In fact, for the past 30 years, the US, Saudi Arabia, and other regional allies including Israel have cultivated, armed, funded, and expanded Al Qaeda, using them as both a casus belli for military intervention and a global mercenary force everywhere from Libya to Bosnia, Iraq to Iran, Afghanistan, and of course across Syria for the past two years.

And even as the Boston blasts appear to be shaping up as the work of sectarian extremists affiliated with this vast network of US-Saudi sponsored terror, US ally Qatar is defending its aid given to terrorists operating across Syria. Reuters reported in their article, "Qatar says aid for Syria rebels and Islamists won’t harm region," that:

Qatar on Tuesday rejected criticism that it risked destabilizing the Middle East by supporting rebels in Syria or the Muslim Brotherhood and said it was helping people but did not interfere in governments.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused Arab states who are arming and sheltering rebel fighters of actions that could “create a domino effect throughout the Middle East and beyond,” with Saudi Arabia and Qatar clearly in mind.

Qatar had armed, funded, and even provided air support and troops to Al Qaeda in Libya during their successful bid to overthrow the government and take power in Tripoli. The Guardian reported in their article, "Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels," that:

Qatar has admitted for the first time that it sent hundreds of troops to support the Libyan rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

The Gulf state had previously acknowledged only that its air force took part in Nato-led attacks.

So clearly, Qatar is in the business of interfering with governments, and using Al Qaeda militants to do so.

Similarly, Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia, the US, Turkey, Israel and other allies, have been funneling cash and thousands of tons of weapons into Syria - all of which have ended up in the hands of Al Qaeda's Syrian franchise, Jabhat al-Nusra.

The New York Times in their article titled, "Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With C.I.A. Aid," admits that:

With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders.

The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.

While the West attempts to claim these weapons are being sent to "moderates," the US itself admits that Al Qaeda is operating in every major city in Syria and is by far the most highly organized, most prominent militant front in the conflict. If the West via Saudi Arabia and Qatar is sending thousands of tons of weapons to "moderates," who is sending more weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra?

The obvious answer is there are no moderates, and the West has been intentionally arming Al Qaeda from the beginning. In fact, this is a documented conspiracy first revealed as early as 2007 by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his New Yorker article titled, ""The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?" which stated specifically:

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

Further evidence that the summation of US aid has fallen into the hands of Al Qaeda in Syria, comes to us from Washington Post propagandist Liz Sly who reported in her article, "U.S. feeds Syrians, but secretly," that:

In the heart of rebel-held territory in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, a small group of intrepid Westerners is undertaking a mission of great stealth. Living anonymously in a small rural community, they travel daily in unmarked cars, braving airstrikes, shelling and the threat of kidnapping to deliver food and other aid to needy Syrians — all of it paid for by the U.S. government.

Sly then claims that most Syrians credit Al Qaeda's al-Nusra with providing the aid:

“America has done nothing for us. Nothing at all,” said Mohammed Fouad Waisi, 50, spitting out the words for emphasis in his small Aleppo grocery store, which adjoins a bakery where he buys bread every day. The bakery is fully supplied with flour paid for by the United States. But Waisi credited Jabhat al-Nusra — a rebel group the United States has designated a terrorist organization because of its ties to al-Qaeda — with providing flour to the region, though he admitted he wasn’t sure where it comes from.

And while Sly attempts to spin the story as merely misdirected anger and ignorance on the part of Syrians receiving the aid, it is well documented that bakeries in terrorist-held territory are manned by Al Qaeda militants. In fact, while Sly maintains that "security concerns" are owed for America's opaque aid distribution, it appears more likely the US is attempting to insidiously obfuscate its use of humanitarian aid to help its militant proxies win "hearts and minds" amid a humanitarian catastrophe the West itself engineered and perpetuated intentionally.

The London Telegraph reported in their article, "Syria: how jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra is taking over Syria's revolution," that taking over bakeries was a key strategy used by Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front to "win over" the population:

Then, in the past weeks, Jabhat al-Nusra – which is outside the FSA – pushed other rebel groups out of the stores and established a system to distribute bread throughout rebel areas.

In a small office attached to a bakery in the Miesseh district of Aleppo, Abu Yayha studied a map pinned on the wall. Numbers were scrawled in pencil against streets.

“We counted the population of every street to assess the need for the area,” explained Mr Yahya. “We provide 23,593 bags of bread every two days for this area. This is just in one district. We are calculating the population in other districts and doing the same there.

“In shops the cost is now 125 Syrian pounds (£1.12) for one pack. Here we sell it at 50 Syrian pounds (45p) for two bags. We distribute some for free for those who cannot pay.”

The bakery works constantly. Inside, barrows filled with dough were heaved onto a conveyor belt that chopped it into round and flat segments, before pushing the dough into a giant oven. Workers packed the steaming flatbread in bags.

“I am from Jabhat al Nusra. All the managers of all the bakeries are,” said Abu Fattah, the manager. “This makes sure that nobody steals.”

In essence, Al Qaeda is taking over neighborhoods upon a mountain of US-provided flour, in bakeries overrun and held at the barrels of US-provided guns.

With this in mind, it becomes clear that not only has America traded in its liberty and dignity for the illusion of safety, but they have done so in the face of fear manufactured and intentionally perpetuated by their own government - a government willfully using the very terror organizations they hold over the American people's heads as justification for an ever-expanding police state at home, as an international mercenary force with which to target their geopolitical enemies abroad.

It is an illusion of both terror and security, masterfully implemented with a myriad of propagandists and corporate-financier interests working in coordination to foist this scheme upon Western civilization and beyond. It is essential to identify these corporate-financier interests, boycott them, and permanently replace them with local solutions - lest we be bent eternally to this charade, without liberty, without dignity, and clearly, without safety.

Sourced from: landdestroyer.blogspot.ca

*****

Running Target: The Day Bombs Came to the Boston Marathon

[Kindle Edition]

This short story is dedicated to the people of Boston and all touched by the tragedy of April 15, 2013. It is written by a runner who attempted to deal creatively with the feelings of horror this event inspired. All proceeds from the sale of this story will be donated to the American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts and Boston by Bridget Esk.

Related Posts:

Assault Rifle Training In Africa

2013-04-17T17:55:00.001+02:00

Now remember Chaps... No pew, then pew and finally pew, pew, pew :-)

Picture credit: Facebook Page - Anti Poaching and Wildlife Protectors

The firearm in the picture is the M4 Type Carbine (assault rifle) - manufactured by Bushmaster Firearms International. It is modelled on the AR-15 platform and is thus compatible with most standard AR-15 parts, including the ability to accept all AR15/M16 type NATO magazines.

Although there are versions that fire in full-automatic mode, I presume - in this case the firing selector is marked 3 x ‘pew’ as in this position it allows for three-round bursts with a single pull of the trigger (to save ammo).

Calibre versions include: .223 Remington, 5.56x45mm NATO, 6.8 mm Remington SPC, and 7.62×39mm (Soviet).

'The Battle in Bangui: The untold inside story' – Truth or Propaganda?

2013-04-14T22:38:00.000+02:00

There has been much speculation and rumour going around since the March 2013 battle for Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR). Zuma and his government has also came under heavy criticism and questioning after it was confirmed that South Africa had lost 13 paratroopers and suffered 27 casualties in the battle.

Various news agencies reported that the SANDF death toll in the Bangui battle is far higher than officially reported. Some news agencies in France reported casualty-numbers between 36 and 50. Commander of the Brigade Rouge, General Hassan Ahmat, told The Times in Bangui that after the battle he himself saw 36 bodies of South African soldiers. He added that more could have died afterwards from their wounds.

SANDF spokesperson Brigadier- General Xolani Mabanga described the comments as "blue lies". "We have no missing soldiers or bodies… I don't know what they are planning to achieve with these unfounded stories," he said. [Source]

If the rumours regarding the casualties are true then it means that quite a number of slain SA soldiers never received a memorial service, and that family-members of the slain were lied to, or perhaps bribed to keep quiet. The possibility also exists that relatives are still under the impression that their dearly beloved are still bravely serving the country on a new assignment somewhere in Africa. Anything is possible - ‘cause This Is Africa!

Military writer and a long-time SA correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly, Helmoed Heitman, expressed his doubts concerning these rumours, saying that in a country like South Africa it would quickly be exposed if the death toll is higher than officially reported. People would notice if soldiers were not coming home (after how many years?)… He added that not even the Soviet Union could get away with lies like that… But then again - Helmoed Heitman works as a consultant for the SANDF.

See also the report in The Citizen: Defence analyst did take arms money

In a matter of a few days after the battle, near the end of March 2013, Heitman was able to provide a reasonably detailed report on how the battle unfolded. After reading his report one cannot help but wonder if Heitman wasn’t perhaps contracted by the government to restore the shaken image of the SANDF, particularly in the light of the fact that South Africa’s military presence in the CAR has been described as “an ill-conceived mission” by so many analysts.

Nevertheless, later -- based on interviews with a number of the officers involved in the mission, both from HQ in Pretoria and on the ground in Bangui, Heitman compiled a more comprehensive account, which not only describes - in substantial detail, what exactly happened in Bangui, but also why President Zuma sent the troops, and what lessons South Africa needs to take out of the events.

Heitman’s latest account - The Battle in Bangui: The untold inside story, is being distributed by Mampoer in various digital e-book formats. A Review Copy (PDF) can also be downloaded on the website of ofm.co.za (see note below). Rapport also gave the publication a sizeable (full page) exposure in their Weekliks supplement, dated 14 April 2013, calling it: Die slag van Bangui: Skoot vir skoot. See abridged online version here.

Note: The link to OFM’s review copy was removed after receiving an urgent request from MampoerShorts to do so – (Tia Mysoa 14-04-2013 @ 13:15)

Propaganda is usually repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create the chosen result in audience attitudes. [Source]

The following excerpt from the last few pages of Heitman’s publication does not create the impression that Heitman was influenced by ANC politics in any way. On the other hand – propaganda may be administered in insidious ways, and very few people read to the very end.

An excerpt from The Battle in Bangui: The untold inside story

“Do not blame the soldiers and junior leaders: they are doing their best and their best is often quite outstanding. The fighting around Bangui was a particular demonstration of that. Do not blame the generals for deploying small or under-armed forces: they can only ‘do the best with what they have’ as a former chief of the Defence Force used to say in another time. And ‘what they have’ in terms of the number of soldiers, the type of equipment and the support capabilities is simply inadequate for the role that South Africa’s government wishes to play.
If there is blame it must go to the politicians who starve the Defence Force financially and then expect it to work miracles. Soldiers of all countries do that all the time, but sooner or later they are expected to do the impossible, and that will take a little longer or prove rather more costly than expected. South Africa must decide whether it is going to undertake regional missions or not. If we are going to do that, we must provide our troops with the equipment needed for such operations, which must as a matter of urgency include transport aircraft to fly in light armoured vehicles and Rooivalk and Oryx helicopters, and tanker aircraft to enable the Gripen and Hawk to be deployed quickly if necessary.
There is no such thing as military operations on the cheap: what is saved in cash will be paid for in blood.”
- Helmoed Heitman

Related Posts:

Click here to view all books available on Amazon.com, written by Helmoed Heitman.

eBook - Modern African Wars (3)
Kalahari | Amazon Paperback

Sterling EQ - An Award-Winning (SA) Instrumental Pop Band

2013-04-13T20:25:00.000+02:00

It is seldom that one will come across a local instrumental pop group that’s a delight for the ears AND the eyes, and who have mastered the art of blending classical and contemporary styles. It is these exceptional characteristics that make this South African all-woman group one of my favourites.

In the following video Sterling EQ performs Theme from Caravans, originally composed by Mike Batt:

Awards and nominations

South African Music Award (SAMA) for Sterling EQ Live in Concert (Live DVD)

SAMA nominations for Nova and Sterling Speel Afrikaans

Tempo Award nomination for Sterling Speel Afrikaans

Carina Bruwer (Founder)

Picture source: sterlingeq.co.za

Sterling EQ was formed in 2007, and is led by flautist Carina Bruwer, a mother of two who holds the degree BMus(Hons) cum laude. Carina also happens to be a professional open water swimmer, who holds some impressive swimming records:

As a swimmer Carina holds the female world record for the Straits of Gibraltar crossing (16km), the record for the fastest swim around Robben Island (11km), as well as for the 8.5km swim around Cape Point. She is the only South African woman, and one of only 4 swimmers ever, to cross the notorious waters of False Bay (35km). In July/August '05 she crossed the English Channel (36km) and was the female winner of the 26km International Swimming Crossing of the Toroneos Gulf in Greece within 8 days of each other. Carina, the first recipient of the Supersport Champion Awards, is also the only swimmer to have rounded both the southern-most (11km) and northern-most (16km) points of Africa; she became the first South African to round Cape Point (8km) and Cape Agulhas (11km), and is the only swimmer to have successfully rounded Danger Point (10,5km) near Gansbaai - the "White Shark Capital of the World". [Source]

Sterling EQ has been nominated in two categories at the annual Ghoema Awards: Best Instrumental Album and Best Music Video of the Year. The Awards Ceremony will take place at Carnival City (JHB) on 14 April 2013.

Sterling EQ's official website

Visit the MUSIC PAGE on this blog for a list of some older South African Rock Groups and a taster of various popular Afrikaans music releases. The page also provides links to other music related postings.