The Brit babes do cry in Persia

It will get worse

I had just left a comment on Chxta’s World that this saga of naval personnel selling their stories could not get any worse. On reflection, I did somewhat anticipate this media frenzy in my first write-up on this matter.

Here is what I said then in Stripping the “Great” out of Britain on the 4^th of April.

The naval personnel would return and be made to recant all their recorded confessions of having trespassed on Iranian nautical territory; the tabloids would lay out full spreads of the gallantry of the lady and the men in the midst of enemy territory …

However, by the time the tabloids have unravelled this saga and milked every ounce of newsworthiness out of this farce, nothing great would have been achieved for Great Britain.

Well, I was wrong with my comments on Chxta's World; as we race for the lowest pits of ignominy; the Iranians are now going to oil up the paths that we do reach ignominy faster than anticipated.

They are now going to release their film of the capture of the personnel to counteract any inkling that any of the personnel were treated in anyway but nicely and humanely.

It would appear that the Iranians are still gong to trump the British in this propaganda game as it goes to expose the rank incompetence in both the Defence Ministry and Foreign Ministry, that of the naval personnel is a foregone conclusion.

In releasing both a CD and a book, I can almost bet on the editor of the film becoming the toast of film festivals around the world for best editing. Sadly, in this case, the naval personnel would have no mobile phone footage of their saga to challenge Iran’s sound and vision documentary of events.

Expect this film to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the most bootlegged film ever.

For once, even I cannot wait to see the footage as the foolish British media find out that they have paid out large sums of money for piffle at first and that now they cannot get exclusives to the snippets of new Iranian film – The Brit babies do cry in Persia.

If the naval personnel had any dignity left, they would go quietly into obscurity before their private shame becomes a public stock and rotten eggs show.

A row the MoD cannot row out of

To sell or not to sell

It has now transpired; the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reversed the decision to allow the naval personnel to sell their stories, which many thought was part of a covert rehabilitation process. However, this was not before the lady and the youngest captive had spilled their hearts and fears to the papers and television for filthy lucre

There is no doubt that these people were in some way in fear for their lives and security, but the whole fear of rape and sexual abuse talk is beginning to sound like the sensationalism anyone would expect the moment the media decides to fabricate public interest in a non-story.

The about-face of the MoD is really a cack-handed mishandling of a rather sensitive situation in the quest to wreak a reciprocal propaganda war against Iran without due consideration of the effect it would have on families of those have not been fortunate enough to return to their local pubs to tell their stories. It is sickening to the extreme.

No heroes just naval serfs

One must reiterate, that these naval personnel were no heroes, they acquiesced to every entreaty, they succumbed to every threat, they submitted to literally every suggestion and basically were in a situation of being conveniently blackmailed into saving their skins at any cost, in the end, they subserviently genuflected to the President of Iran and were overly effusive in gratitude for their release.

They allowed themselves to be in such a vulnerable setting that they were taken advantage of without much coercion, the hoo-hah about their family attachments became part of the enemy’s strategy for interrogation and mental torture, these people were just too chicken to be where they were and when they were caught, they just blabbed like hens and bawled like babies.

This apologia to service in the British forces is now a story worthy of hearing? Indeed the glory of Britain departed its shores and its people.

The only thing that might redeem this situation is to find the really gallant and courageous amongst our forces and celebrate them with honour and reckoning that has been subsumed to the despicable cult of the stupid personality.

Foolish MoD

In the end, the MoD attracted deserved opprobrium, condemnation and vilification, the incompetence of all concerned from the politicians through the civil service to the forces themselves was laid bare for the world to see, there must be a redeeming factor somewhere, if only someone can see it and get it going.

References

Heseltine joins furore over sailors' stories | UK News | News | Telegraph

BBC NEWS | UK | Browne under fire in sailors row

Irksome airport landings

Baggage handling

Despite all the automation and technology involved in baggage handling at airports, the end of the chain still requires the man-handling of luggage to and from the cargo hold of planes.

Sometimes I have looked from inside the plane how bags get thrown, dumped or dropped, even with the occasional panicky official who has just noticed some baggage is about to leave on the wrong plane.

There was one instance, a suitcase was dropped a good 2 metres from the belt to the ground, I could say I felt ever bit of that drop and the possible consequences, as 7 years ago when the mishandling of my luggage by a no-frills airline had my laptop in pieces. I have not done no-frills since that episode.

The herd embarks

What really gets to me is the herd mentality of boarding and disembarking from a plane, the way people rush to get on considering we all have pre-assigned seats, people with seats in the aisles what to be on first and then discomfited by passengers with window seats, as if getting on early means you get to the destination faster.

Keep seat belts fastened ignored

Then on landing, as the aircraft taxies to a gate, the seat belt fastened lights are still on and some cretin gets up to open the overhead lockers to get his stuff, at which time other members of the cretin club get up to do the same whilst the plane is yet to come to a complete standstill.

At one time the cabin crew had to bark the order for all to sit down and fasten their seat belts. One wonders how getting up first to get your stuff is going to help you get out of the airport first when a majority of luggage is checked in, though I would not be surprised if some had also checked in their brains and with their manners, consideration and smartness.

Then just as the plane comes to a halt, lights still warning to keep seat belts fastened, they still get up and open the lockers grab their stuff and the wait standing for possibly 5 to 10 minutes before they are able to disembark and there is no way they would get their stuff from baggage reclaim any earlier than those who have been patient to get off the plane gracefully.

Mobiles off planes

It looks like impatience and stupidity vying for prominence in their heads.

Beyond that, there is that other herd stampede that occurs the moment we arrive, all mobile phones go off and everyone is calling arranging meets, dinner, coffees and so on, all these can wait till they are out in the arrival lounge but the fact that too many people are complete addicts to information and slaves of electronic communication; it is a blessing that a flight still has the sanctity of a mobile phone free zone even though the science of not using mobile phones on planes is suspect.

Methinks mobile phones should be checked in and not allowed in hand luggage though there are other security consequences for that, the rule to keep them switched off completely is good enough for me, it should be extended to say they should never be switched on in a plane.

In fact, the plane should be a Faraday Cage of sorts which is let down only in emergencies.

Kids at play

The final peeve is at baggage reclaim, what has been checked in is probably quite heavy luggage, but then you find that kids are allowed to run around the baggage belt and stand in the way of bigger people who really know their business about standing there.

In some cases, there is a complete lapse in discipline; the kids get on the belt, in one case the kid was pulling off stuff twice his size and the rotten parents proudly looked on at the initiative of their devil kid.

In exasperation, just before the kid gets mangled in the conveyor belt mechanism, one helps giving a look that could kill the parents only that the result of their deaths might leave one the guardian of an orphaned devil kid - one cannot live with that.

Once out of the airport, the relief that one has been separated from these crazy people is the joy of being on holiday or having returned to home sweet home.

My Spanish Indecision - Easter in Madrid

Madrid for Easter

A long weekend and my thoughts were in overdrive about where I had never been before. I had the choice between Copenhagen and Madrid, I ended up with Madrid because it had hotels belonging to the Accor chain which Copenhagen did not, I had decided on a 4-star Sofitel smack bang in the centre.

This means, I have still not visited a Scandinavian country ever, sad, but I have till now resisted every attempt to get me off to Norway for official business, I have cried I am from tropics, do not send me to the North Pole, that grovelling supplication has kept me out of those lands all winter.

Then to learn that Madrid would be colder and wetter than Amsterdam over Easter, it would make one think the weather travelled with me.

My flight over was quite lovely and as we approached Madrid the cloud cover was not so bad that I even took pictures from the flight being able frame in the shadow of plane I was in.

Per hotel per issue

I seem to have my share of problems with hotels no matter how will appointed, this time with was first the LAN connection which got fixed after the receptionist lost me an important write-up, I should have kept him miles away from my laptop.

The next day, suddenly, the television would not recognise that there were 2 guests in my room and so would not provide a menu of other service options, just television channels and no LAN link.

When I called reception about the problem, the man was about to start with telling me the service is not a primary hotel facility, I cut him off with a terse - Don't give me that kind of line, it is unprofessional and annoying to guests. My requirement is a room with a full service of Internet access and television services, please arrange this as you will see in my reservation request.

The television did not get fixed till the next morning, but I ended up with a free 24hr wireless LAN connection access, which was helpful but then some service-oriented businesses try to cop-out with a compensation offer rather than providing the service or ensuring the service is available.

Basically, I hate compensation, it cheapens the whole idea of expecting and receiving the service you have requested.

Doing Madrid

We have done a few things, good Spanish food but we have never been about to get a decent restaurant before 22:00 even when we got the reception who are slowly redeeming themselves to book a table in the restaurant that serves the best paella in Madrid. La Paella de la Reina 39 - reservations recommended.

The Royal Palace in Madrid has had my custom, a whole day spent looking through the opulence of Spanish royalty or possibly the rape of the people for the aggrandisement of the privileged few - sometimes visiting such places does tempt one to become republican.

After 4 hours of museum saunter, neck ache from looking up at frescos of megalomania and idolatry, masters by the hands of Goya, Valasquez and Caravaggio to name a few, my back ached like I had been given the Spanish Inquisition version of a back massage, thankfully, my cane did help in succouring the pain.

It definitely became clear why the Spaniards had the temerity to challenge England to many wars, many of which they lost, the Royal Armoury was quite a feast of weapons wrought to damage other fellow human-beings and how royal kids were groomed for a life of the savagery of war.

No flash photography was allowed within the palace walls which meant some rooms were too dark for photography to produce the best images, makes one wish for a camera that develop the real colour of the objects even in the dark, something like infra-red but more colour than green.

Another procession

As we returned to the open courtyard outside the palace, one long procession of religious relics, a guard of horse-riders, people in black and red hoods that could instil the terror of the inquisition, ladies in Spanish comb headdress looking almost too regal but definitely sophisticated - indeed, a Spain steeped in Roman Catholic rituals preserved in the formaldehyde of time - a sight to behold.

There is so much to do in Madrid, and we have hardly done anything, we sighted a cable car service (Teleférico) from the palace and went looking for the 2.5 kilometre ride the next day which was quite good - in all I have taken about 500 pictures, it is possible to suffer repetitive strain injury just clicking away with amateur paparazzi abandon?

Visit my Photo Album to see Madrid and Madrid Tour, I still need to give descriptions to most of the material and there are still about 400 pictures to upload.

Selling their discretion, dignity and honour

The death of discretion

It is now institutionalised; our armed forces do not have to live by the old English tenets of honour, courage, discretion, dignity and valour.

In fact, this might as well be the whole sum of 10 years of Tony Blair in government, the fact that everything that was traditionally British in terms of conduct and decorum has been jettisoned for the cult of personality.

After the naval personnel were released and had flown back to motherland, they lamented the fact that they were blindfolded, kept in isolation and interrogated.

The fact of captivity

One is left quite gob-smacked about what else was to be expected; surely, if anyone captures a group of military personnel in seemingly criminal activity like in this case allegedly plying the waters of Iran.

Any self-respecting intelligence outfit would isolate the members, disorientate the individuals and introduce elements of mental anguish and disinformation to discover in reality what that team was up to.

This is serious business, and what was to say that the British personnel under the guise of UN inspections were not trying to gather other intelligence about Iran?

The Iranians having captured the seeming enemy had to ensure beyond reasonable doubt that not one of all those captured had a specific assignment to do something different from what the team as a whole believed was their purpose and assignment when they presumably strayed into Iranian waters if that really was the case.

Preventing group-think

Beyond that, isolation was necessary to prevent a case of group-think where the captives would parrot out an agreed view rather than allow the intelligence people to piece together each story to see if they indeed match up.

It is something used everyday in crime-fighting, evidence gathering and basic interviews or interrogation, there is no reason for the Iranians to have been foolish about this.

That aspect of group-think came out in one of the interviews when some of the personnel said they all agreed that they would confess that they had crossed into Iranian waters - this is the kind of thing isolation and disorientation through blindfolding is supposed to prevent.

Smart and dumb

The supposed outrage at this treatment is a bit over-stated, we are at war in that region, and some really hard things are happening there just as we learnt of the death of four of our soldiers in Iraq on the day the naval personnel flew in to be reunited with their loved ones.

The only really smart thing the naval personnel did was not to adopt the folly of bravado in resisting the overwhelming power of the force that took them captive in the Iranian/Iraqi waters a few weeks ago.

Sell, sell, sell

Now, this is where I have abandoned hope about the discretion of the English, however, one must say, this more the exclusive preserve of the well-bred and properly schooled; that sort of breeding seems to have been exhausted at the Ministry of Defence when they gave permission to the naval personnel to sell their stories to yellow journalism newspapers, village rags and tabloids.

I really feared this development in an earlier blog but against hope really thought that reason and discretion would prevail on those in authority that was not to be the case. Publicists are now working overtime in an auction to determine who would pay the most for stories that were neither heroic nor commendable.

This is going to end up worse than some Big Brother tripe, the first to get their story in might get the most views and who better than the propaganda bait Leading Sea(wo)man Faye Turney to break all records and precedents of serving military personnel set lose to tell tales?

Nothing good will come of this

Each consequent story from other personnel would have to trump the previous till the whole thing becomes too incredible to believe because it is unlikely that each story would be interesting without suggestive prompting and reckless analysis as they egged on by editors without conscience or restraint.

The worse case scenario as I have already predicted is if and when anyone else gets captured anywhere in the world by our enemies, beautiful smiling faces would we not see, that is if they end up living to tell the tale - it could really become that serious, because no enemy would want to be portrayed a fool after their captives are released.

The clear and present danger to those left on the battle field cannot be exaggerated, not to talk of the possible recklessness of others who might see being guest of the Islamic republic as a ticket to earning a cool big packet of cash - at last reckoning Mrs. Turney was being offered GBP 100,000.

Even if the fees were to go to charity, the damage would have been done and it would have done irreparable damage.

No Great in Britain anymore

I am sick to the stomach not of the opportunity and the benefit, but of the fact that the whole infrastructure behind our military personnel could not provide emotional, mental and financial succour to the victims of a seeming injustice and captivity that they think being able to sell their stories would provide the best treatment for their trauma.

The ones who then have nothing interesting to sell would probably be left more damaged for not looking good enough to be fed to the British public as the next "Jade Goody" of ignoramuses who are in cahoots with Tony Blair in taking the Great out of Great Britain.

References

Dismay as crew told they can sell stories | Breaking News | News | Telegraph

Woman sailor sells her story in lucrative deal | Uk News | News | Telegraph

BBC NEWS | UK | Captives' media fees spark fury

Taking the "Great" out of Britain

FGM banned in Eritrea

Too prevalent for comfort

This is topic I think experts would celebrate better than I could in this write up. I was quite shocked to find out how prevalent it was in Africa, Middle-East and Indonesia, no more so when I also heard that the practices does still thrive in Nigeria.

Learning that Eritrea has banned the practice of Female Genital Mutilation or Circumcision (FGM or FGC) is definitely great news and to be celebrated.

It marks a beginning of what should be a wave of the civilising of customs, traditions and religious practices that cause undue physical harm without any particular health benefit apart from a modicum of social acceptance.

With this law, the practitioners of these acts of mutilation who are usually female too and matriarchs of those communities when caught could face fines and possible imprisonments.

Enforcing the law

However, the issue at hand would be how to break down the ranks after this illegal act has been committed; people can be sworn to silence, risk ostracism within their communities or even suffer worse fates like "honour killing" - basically, one wonders about the enforceability of this law.

Beyond this is the need to health and material support for the victims of this heinous mutilation which at times to other health complications.

Now, we also have the aspect of Male Genital Mutilation known as circumcision which seemingly has a religious progeny has been found to provide health benefits in arresting the spread of HIV/AIDS, this is no way comparable to the mutilation that females suffer as a rite of passage into womanhood.

Conserving the good bits

In all, there is no way that the 4 listed types of mutilation which are just too revolting and despicable to list here but covers excision of critical parts of female sexual organs and in some cases the application of corrosive substances can be justified in the 21^st Century, in fact, it is violent abuse and now considered a violation of human rights by the UN. The other types are no less atrocious in trying to understand what they are trying to achieve.

It is time to ensure that these archaic and barbaric customs are rolled back and consigned to history; we should not condone or countenance anymore the sacrifice of human beings to customs, traditions, culture or religious practices just for the sake of keeping uncivilised practices alive.

We can conserve the positive parts of our heritage whilst losing the negative parts without necessarily losing our identity, acts of separation and differentiation through mutilation have no place in what is now a global village of interacting peoples.

Finally, it is a welcome development that even Muslim scholars have called for an end to this practice, with bans and sanctions; it might require religious leaders sounding the word from the pulpit about how unnecessary these acts are without rubbing up too hard on long held but out-dated customs - the abuse must be stopped forthwith.

References

FGM on the rise in the UK - 2004

Images of FGC - cautionary viewing advised

I see

Enter the lawyer

Somehow, I can see that many fellow bloggers have simply decided that the debacle masquerading as preparations for elections in Nigeria is beyond redemption, and I do not blame anyone for their disinterest.

On Tuesday, I did say that the seemingly conflicting judgements of two courts on the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to bar candidates and eligibility of candidates to contest elections to curtailing the powers of the INEC seems to have been given an interesting breather.

Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) whose career I have followed with interest for years has been at the forefront of the Civil Liberties movement in Nigeria since 1987, he was probably the best prepared to take on the mantle of the presidency of the Nigerian Bar Association which he won in 2006.

Now, this bigwig says that the judgements are in no way contradictory, but complementary, this is worth taking a pause for and I will listen to what he has to say.

The judgements

The first judgement which came from the Court of Appeal, the superior court, he says, "merely resolved the issue that INEC has the power to screen and disqualify a candidate", fair enough - so the INEC knows that it can disqualify a candidate that is settled.

The second judgement which came from the Federal High Court and hours after the judgement of superior court, he says, "reviewed the process of disqualification, which INEC exercised" he goes on to say, "it was the issue of the reasons for disqualification, which the court held in the case of Atiku, that the reason for disqualification is not proper, hence he (Atiku) cannot be disqualified", well, that does look like the crux of the matter, and one could argue that there has been a lapse in due process by INEC because they seem to be driven by tenets that have excited serious legal scrutiny.

A peal of appeals

This for me looks like a good basis for seeking further legal clarification in the courts and it should be left to the appellate process to resolve. For instance, it is testament to the fact that the judgment of the lower court exercises a different legal requirement of the INEC that the INEC has decided to appeal that judgment.

This is like Mr. Agbakoba said because INEC's manner of disqualifying the vice-President was suspect if not illegal.

The vice-President it would appear was disqualified on the basis of the report of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up by the Federal Government, a report that was rubbished by the Lagos High Court months ago - hence, it would appear, the INEC really for now has no legal basis for disqualifying the vice-President - he should run for elections.

The Attorney Miscreant

Enter Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), the legal lackey of the Federal Government as the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, a man who with all his learned expertise has done more to undermine the rule of law and make a ridicule of our international legal reputation.

He was the one who could not invoke the appropriate measures to handle corrupt governors in Nigeria that he ended up appearing in courts himself in the UK to argue the question of immunity of governors and was in cahoots with the FBI to try and undermine the vice-President in the United States.

He has rubbished the view of the President of the NBA because it makes seriously uncomfortable reading for the Federal Government whose head has turned a personal vendetta into a political stalemate in terms Nigeria having good governance in the last 18 months and has usurped the independence of agencies to conduct their activities in a proper manner, in order to achieve a personal end.

Attacking the lawyers

So, Chief Ojo, thinks the interpretation of the judgements by the NBA is politicising the issue, which is quite rich coming from the Attorney General, but really, what the Federal Government fears is the possibility that the postponement of the election might lead to the much reviled political enemy of the President having the opportunity to present himself to the Nigerian people.

I would think the NBA is probably better acquainted with the quest for due process and justice than the Federal Government and I think attacks on the NBA because they have not been subsumed into the craftiness of the Federal Government will pay no dividends.

Rather, it is very much like a struggling drowning and wounded man flailing in a sea of sharks, I expect the NBA not only to rise to this bait but swallow the fisherman before they are done; as the saying goes, only fools tread where angels fear to tread.

Still hoping for justice

Every sleight of hand exercised in our name by the Federal Government as it goes about trying to succeed itself is a rape of democracy, but if justice does fall in favour of vice-President Atiku that he gets the opportunity to contest the elections, the out-pouring of sympathy might just put him in Aso Rock and accomplish the eternal nightmare of the ruling party.

The powder-keg of unrest that is being primed for a major explosion as these elections begin to look pre-determined, doctored, rigged and unfair might as well stay plugged, but I would not hedge my bets.

Meanwhile, there would be no rest for the courts till the last bit of clarity is forced down the throats of all those who refuse to respect the rule of law.

References

Atiku Stands Disqualified, Says FG - DissDay

Presidency Slams NBA over Position on Atiku - DissDay