What Is Frightening?

That the things I have been worrying about since the President drew his bold red line have been echoed by Laughing Wolf over on Black Five.  It is sobering to know someone else has been comparing the sitting President with the fictional Robert 'Bob' Fowler from Clancy's Sum of All Fears and finding the real President wanting in comparison.

Or the alliances in the region are mobilizing in much the same way they did in 1914 in Sarajevo.  One madman kills a noble that almost no one knew about and the gears of war started to turn as all the years of treaties came into effect as Austria tried to browbeat Serbia into giving up the assassin.  So the Serbs called in their Russian allies while Austria called in Germany.  And it just escalated from there.  What resulted from all of that smart diplomacy was four years of brutal carnage that killed millions and set the stage for a greater conflict.

An even more brutal question to ask will there be a US lead alliance in regards to the murky issue of who gassed whom in Syria?  The British Parliament just said no to Prime Minister Cameron's request for supporting the Americans, the first time they have said no since 1782 and the American Revolution.  The French and Germans are going soft as well; they should when it concerns American consistency, they just have to look at the series of slights and insults this Administration has delivered to England along with betraying European missile defense for a nebulous promise from Russia.  A Russia that supplies Europe with a majority of the natural gas it will need to stay warm this winter.  A Russia that supports the Assad regime in Damascus.  Europe sees more downsides than upsides for joining the American charge.

Then there are the Middle Eastern nations to look at.  Iran likes Assad in power and has threatened Israel if the US attacks.  Saudi Arabia finds itself wanting Assad in power in order to keep the Muslim Brotherhood out of power.  Saudi Arabia is also supporting the current government in Egypt for the same reason - fear of the Muslim Brotherhood.  And the United States, because of the decisions of this Administration, finds itself in opposition to Saudi Arabia, a long time ally, and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood both in Egypt and Syria.  Turkey has refused to assist the United States in regards to Syria so Greece had to be asked to allow the US to use Greek air bases.

If this is not a powder keg with a fuse lit, then I do not know what is.  And for what reason is the US getting involved when there are no geo-political reasons that can protect American interests?  Because of one reported attack on civilians by someone using chemical weapons.  No one knows if it really was Assad's forces that did it or even the rebels themselves that did it by accident.  This is far worse in murkiness than when USS Turner Joy thought it was being attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats.  But we have a President who said this was a Red Line even though in the past when Saddam used nerve agents on Kurds or Assad's father obliterated a town with artillery to stop a Muslim Brotherhood insurgency no one protested so loudly that these heinous attacks were used as reasons to depose either tyrant.

As Laughing Wolf said, we are going to be held hostage to the least stable actor in this drama.  Isn't that a cheery thought.  So if you are a devout praying person, please pray harder.



Addendum on the parallels from 1914.
There is the diplomatic war that was fought in concert with the war effort.  England wanted the neutral powerhouse the United States to enter the war on their side.  Wilson became President in no small part because he promised to keep the country neutral to the conflict that was devouring Europe so people with similar feelings voted for him. 

Churchill as First Sea Lord engaged in stratagems that are a bit shabby and dishonest viewed from this end of history; from painting British ships in American colors to putting war materials aboard passenger liners, but what he wanted was England to emerge victorious.  Meanwhile the Royal Navy was hunting German U-boats where they could.  All these actions forced Germany to abandon the cruiser rules and turn to unrestricted warfare on the open seas against any ship they found. 

So the German U-boats became wolves prowling for kills.  Any kills.  It was scant comfort to the families of the dead from these attacks that Germany had followed the rules of war by announcing a zone around England where unrestricted warfare would be prosecuted.  The Huns in the U-boats were now butchers.  The same was not used to describe German commerce raiders but those ships did not skulk below and strike from hiding, instead they still operated under the cruiser rules and treated their captured as well as could be expected.

Another arrow in the cap that helped tilt American opinion in favor of England was a master stroke of counter-espionage by British spooks.  I am referring to the famous Zimmerman telegram where Germany's Foreign Minister tried to entice Mexico into attacking the United States.  That really incensed the American public when it became news and further destroyed any warm feelings that sections of the populace felt towards Germany.

The sinking of the RMS Lusitania was just the final act that brought the US into WWI on the British side.  While the US tried to stay out of the war, events conspired against the President that stripped him of any freedom of action.  And that is how the United States entered World War I on the side of the Serbian assassin since England was an ally of the Russians who were the ally of the Serbs who sheltered the assassin.

Grandstanding

Or your fifteen minutes are used up.  That is what I think when I contemplate Dr. Karen King's possibly earth shattering discovery.  Dr. King claims this scrap of papyrus has Coptic writing and is from the 4th Century. 

Side note Coptic Christianity is separate from Roman Catholic/Christian and Eastern Orthodox but shares more with Eastern Orthodox.  It is a faith predominately found in Egypt.

Dr. King says this fragment refers to a woman named Mary as being Yeshua bin Yusef/Jesus's wife.  That would be a monumental upheaval to more than one billion Christians worldwide if verified.  Therein lies the rub.  Dr. King has not yet exercised due diligence in verifying the papyrus is authentic.  She has not examined the ink to see if it matches known 4th Century examples.

Until Dr. King actually does some research and investigation, I advise all Christians to treat her 'blockbuster revelation' with a Lot's wife sized grain of salt.  I fear this maybe another Hitler's diaries forgery. Or Talpiot.  If this turns out to be such a forgery, then I suggest Harvard have someone outside conduct a review of Dr. King's other research.  If they do not do that, then they will be under the same cloud as Dr. King.  That of con-artist.

News for Friday

Egypt is progressing to a regressive state with all alacrity - American tourists taken hostage and then released.

Google's seven year battle with authors who want their royalties has taken another step to somewhere.  While having a corporate motto of 'Don't Be Evil' it seems Google is using the old lobbyist ways to influence the federal government to see things it's way.  

Meanwhile Amazon keeps going digital and redefining the concepts of bookstores and business models.

The Obama administration and its water-carriers better gird their ideological loins as Catholics and their organizations take their objections to the next level.  Get ready for June 14th.  It might be the thing to toss OWS onto the rubbish heap of failed socialist plans.

Special bath salts have entered the common lexicon after a man had to be killed by police in Miami as he tried to chew another man's face off.  It seems to be a serious problem where sedation does not work and no one is sure if people will be normal after taking a dose.

On the space front, there was a bit of good news.  The SpaceX Dragon capsule performed a flawless mission to the ISS and splashdown.  Bravo Zulu people, may you keep doing it.

Solar Energy and the end of the Harappan Civilization

I first discovered the Harappan civilization while reading H. Beam Piper's excellent short story Omnilingual.  Like many other authors, Piper was fascinated with the concept of Martian civilization.  In this story, the advanced civilization of Mars has vanished while leaving tantalizing clues.  Martha Dane is on the first Earth expedition to Mars, she had previously worked on the Harappa civilization in the Indus valley.

So when I run across stories about Harappa, I pause to think of Piper. Then I plunge into reading the newest story on this mysterious civilization that was in some ways far greater than the better known civilizations that rose alongside the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris rivers.

After extensive use of satellite data along with years of geologic sampling where the Harappan civilization flourished, the scientists have come to a possible theory on why it collapsed.  The culprit it seems is the sun.  For several thousand years solar radiation in the Northern Hemisphere moderated the monsoon rains which allowed the Harappan civilization to reach great heights.  And then that same solar radiation caused the fall of the same civilization as the monsoon rains dwindled and the land became incapable of supporting the same population density because the land then dried out.  So the people of Harappa migrated east towards the Ganges and its more reliable monsoon rains, leaving behind a mystery that is now just a bit less mysterious.

P-40 Identity Confirmed

The P-40E Kittyhawk I that was discovered earlier this year in the Egyptian desert has been identified.  The people working the issue, who are on the Key Publishing forum, are simply amazing in their knowledge and tenacity.

From post on 23 May, 2012 by Shepsair -
Now that 1035 has been reported and with the link, it is safe to report that the P40E Kittyhawk in the desert is now confirmed as Curtiss P40E-1-CU Curtiss number 1035, construction number 19761, US serial 41-35928 and British serial ET574.

The Copping family were made aware of the confirmation early last week.

Still no word on the final fate of Dennis Copping.  His body is still somewhere out there in the vastness of the Western Desert.  I hope he is found and properly buried before Siag Travel leads mobs of tourists tromping over the site.  Today they are visiting the crash site.

Hawks of the Desert

Official group insignia of the 79th FG USAAF that fought in North Africa

 My friend Mut over at the Temple of Mut is working on a post detailing the widespread devastation that is occurring throughout Upper and Lower Egypt.  So I will focus on a more recent occurrence of destruction.

In February of this year an oil exploration team operating in Egypt's Western Desert stumbled across an amazing find.  Pictures were quickly snapped and then posted to a Polish modeling magazine.

Curtis Kittyhawk I somewhere in the Western Desert of Egypt.

Lost for 70 years an RAF Kittyhawk was discovered in Egypt.  At this time the exact identity of the airframe and name of it's lost pilot is unknown.  The sand has scoured much of the paint away.  Some have played with the photographs posted searching for the plane's identity.  What is known is this airplane is a P-40E-CU-1.  Six wing guns.  Ring and post site.  No fin fillet.  Intake on top of cowling.  RAF roundel has a yellow outer circle.  And there is red paint still remaining on the propeller.  All the above tid-bits have lead some to speculate this is Kittyhawk I ET574 HS-B assigned to 260 Sqn and lost in 1942 while being ferried from one airbase to another for repair.  The pilot for this mission was Flt Sgt Dennis Copping.  This is all speculation but once the media found out about this lost warrior, well it was definitely Copping's airplane.  The UK Metro even wrote on how the brave pilot tried to get the plane working again ...  with the propeller and gear box wrenched off I wonder if they even looked at the photos.  Or the CBC calling it a WWII jet fighter.

So right now the British Ministry of Defense is trying to work with the Egyptian government to preserve this airplane and and find its pilot so the story can be finally told.  They better hurry before there is nothing left of the airplane.

Perfectly intact canopy after 70 years.

The canopy has now been shattered and someone has shot up the armoured windscreen.

Who knows what else is vanishing with every passing moment.  The survey crew has tried to protect the location, for example the original online photo album has now vanished, but the crew also had local guides.  And then had to report the plane to the Egyptian Army because ammo was still in the plane that the Army then went and removed.    So things have started to happen to the plane, it has suffered more damage in the past few months than the previous 70 years.  And with each piece that vanishes, perhaps the clues needed to find the lost pilot also disappears into the desert.

P-40F Warhark with Group CO Col. Earl E. Bates.  The Egyptian hieroglyphs are supposed to be the Group's number.

I will leave it to the readers to tell me if the insignia at the top or at the bottom has the hieroglyphs correct.  I wanted to include an American fighter unit in this post is to show how integral to the whole desert campaign were Curtiss' P-40s and to show the lasting impact ancient Egyptian culture has on our modern world.

Interesting footnote - The intelligence officer for 260 Sqn when Copping and his plane vanished was none other than Sir Christopher Lee who later gained fame as Dracula going against Peter Cushing as Dr. Helsing.  Or when he appeared in the Lord of the Rings.

Twelve Dreams of Egypt

It does seem the curtain on Egypt's future is closing as we speak.  The extreme Muslim Brotherhood has now said it will seek the Presidency, breaking a promise.  And the last direct link between Egypt and Ottoman Turkey, Princess Nesliash Sultan, has passed away.  Tourism at the Giza Plateau is extinct because of the political turmoil, an objective the Muslim Brotherhood had sought to destroy during the Mubarek government in order to topple him, it seems they have won this battle just when it seems they are on top politically. 
 
And the war against the Coptic Christians continues apace. Even as Pope Shenouda III was being laid to rest, the Salafists were hurling insults that remind me of Westboro and other extremists in their hatred - "We rejoice that he is destroyed. He has perished," Ghoneim said on March 18, the day after Shenouda died at the age of 88. "May God have His revenge on him in the fire of hell -- he and all who walk his path."

But there is good news on the Giza Plateau as several tombs are being re-opened for tourists.  All of them are minor tombs but I hope the writer of this article learns proper English before he publishes again.  Or I will think he is related to the sign maker in the Valley of the Kings who in 1997 created such amusing English signs as the following -

The wall is Oecorated with The Book of

the DeadBook of the

Book the Book BookBook.

pg. 178, The Lost Tomb, Dr. Kent R. Weeks, 1998

I will end with something from brighter days of modern Egypt.  Jean Michel Jarre's concert at Giza to celebrate the arrival of the year 2000 A.D. and the hope of a new age.

Egypt's Pope

March 17th, 2012 will be a solemn day for Coptic Christian Egyptians.  The Pope of the Coptic Church in Egypt passed away.  Pope Shenouda III was 88 when he passed away.  He was the 117th Pope of Alexandria since his ascension to the post in 1971.

Let us pray for this man and the repose of his soul.  We also pray that the Coptic Christians be comforted, sheltered, and guided by G_d during this transition.  The nation of Egypt has been convulsed with revolution, violence, and other changes before the passing of this man.  May G_d bless and guide the person selected to be the 118th Pope of Alexandria. 

Libyan Thanks

Kudos to Powerline for this very sad tale.  There are cemeteries in Benghazi, Libya where the fallen soldiers and airmen of the British Commonwealth are buried.  According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission there are over 1,500 buried there.  They are sons, brothers, husbands, fathers from across the Empire - United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and even the Sudan Defense Force - all are buried here.  At least one Victoria Cross recipient is interred here.  All killed during World War II resisting Nazi aggression.  Even Italian war graves have also been attacked.  No word if the British war cemeteries at Tobruk or Knightsbridge have been attacked.

And now their resting places have been brutally attacked and defaced, over a hundred known so far.  The perpetrators?  The same people the RAF, USAF, and their NATO allies helped to liberate last year from the tyranny of now deceased despot Gaddafi.  They even filmed themselves toppling gravestones with Crosses and Stars of David while calling the deceased warriors dogs.  Even the Cross of Remembrance has been smashed as seen in the video that Powerline has.

The reaction from the United Kingdom government has been diplomatic and couched with the caveat that Islam does not condone destroying graves.  The Libyan transitional government has offered apologies.  The Australians are not as diplomatic, calling it a desecration and sickening though no word if any Australian graves were smashed.

I am sorry England, there are graves and then there are the graves of infidels.  All these men are infidels to their defilers and hence they do not belong in any land claimed by the faithful warriors of Islam. 

The Western nations need to tell the Libyans to clean up their mess.  To hold accountable to the fullest measure these criminals.  If little or no action is done to these vandals, then Libya should be allowed to slide back into the 7th Century they seem to desire.

Post script -  Talking about Libya and WWII always brings up the mystery of Lady Be Good, a B-24 Liberator that vanished with her crew during a bombing mission against Italy.  To this day the body of SSGT Vernon Moore has never been found, he is presumed lost in the vast southeastern desert sea that comprises the border between Libya and Egypt.  As for the plane's wreckage, it was last seen in 2001 in a Libyan police impound yard.

What could --- Oooppss

In 1965, the Soviet nuclear powered ice-breaker V.I. Lenin suffered the first of its two nuclear accidents. One reactor suffered a loss of coolant before the nuclear fuel was removed. Due to all the heat, many of the rods melted themselves to the reactor vessel. The melted parts of the reactor core were sealed and disposed of in 1967 on an island. The second accident in 1967 involved a leak in one of the reactors. They had to use sledgehammers to get through the containment vessel to find the leak. The sledgehammers damaged the reactor vessel beyond repair. The repair and installation of new reactors was completed by 1970. In 1989 the ice-breaker was retired.

Back in 1994, in the primitive days of the Internet when a 56k modem was high speed, an American teen managed to turn his mother's garden shed into a Superfund site. David Hahn was a Boy Scout who managed to get his Atomic merit badge in 1991. But he did not stop there. Using various means including social engineering nuclear officials, he managed to obtain critical information. Along with material. First he wanted to create a neutron gun. Then he decided to try and create a breeder reactor. Then things started to get hot when his Geiger counter picked up radiation five doors down from his mother's house. So he started to take his project apart. It was the parts in his car that unraveled the whole mess, someone had called the police reporting a teen was stealing tires. Police found David Hahn. Along with a toolbox in the car's trunk that David said was radioactive. So the garden shed was taken apart and buried with other radioactive waste. David refused treatment for radiation exposure. And that should have been that. Except in 2007 David Hahn was arrested and convicted of stealing smoke detectors. His 90 day sentence was delayed because he had to get treatment for radiation exposure. His mug shot ain't pretty.

In these modern 21st Century times, such incidents might be filed under lessons not to repeat. It seems some have not learned. Or are just betting they can avoid the pitfalls this time around.

Example of the first, of not learning, seems to be this story out of Sweden. This delightful chap tried to do Hahn one better. He tried to build a reactor on his kitchen table. Then he had an attack of sanity, called Swedish nuclear officials to ask some questions about legality, and then the man and his project was scooped up before any harm happened.

Second one is from Russia and is far more troubling due to the possible scope of impact if calamity happens. And again it seems the Arctic environment is what could be affected, including all those polar bears everyone worries about. The Russians want to put on large cargo vessels nuclear reactors so they can stake better claims on Arctic resources. They use their experience with nuclear ice-breakers as justification that these 'nuclear wessels' will be safe. Right. Its also mentioned that Algeria and Indonesia are interested in floating nuclear power stations. Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, and Spain I think would object to such a plan; all of them worrying what happens if the vessel founders and the reactor gets breached in the confines of the Mediterranean Sea. And just thinking of such a vessel getting caught in another tsunami that devastated Banda Aceh gives me major goose pimples.

The Heritage of Egypt

I sometimes wonder if Dr. Hawass has any clues to what is reality. It seems he is still trying to pry out of Germany the bust of Nefertiti.

Germany has denied repeated Egyptian requests, insisting there was nothing illegal about the acquisition. It says the bust - unearthed in 1912 by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt - was bought legally by the Prussian state, with documents to prove it.

Even as they recover four bronze statues stolen during the unrest. Small statue of Tutankhamun is still missing.

One statue of Osiris (37.5 cm tall) and one of Horus (18cm tall), are treasures that were missing from the Egyptian Museum, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said.

And security around the antiquity depots remains very tenuous it looks like.

Forty armed men attacked an antiquities warehouse in the northern Egyptian city of Kafr el-Sheikh on Saturday, shooting at warehouse security men and injuring several, state news agency MENA said.

Footnote - in Turkey they are tearing down a statue. Prime Minister Erdogan calls it a "freak." So far one painter has been stabbed protesting the demolition. The statue was meant to promote reconcilliation between Armenia and Turkey over atrocities that happened during WWI.

Remember Egypt?

While the media focuses on neighboring Libya and the unrest there, the unrest in Egypt is still happening. The struggle for a free Egypt continues even as the global eye is turned elsewhere. The future for the soul of an ancient and proud country is still in the balance. Tahrir Square is still the flash point for all this drama as this Saturday showed.

Thousands of demonstrators barricaded themselves in Cairo's central square with burned-out troop carriers and barbed wire Saturday and demanded the removal of the military council ruling Egypt, infuriated after soldiers stormed their protest camp overnight, killing at least one person and injuring 71 others.

What is buried below the above lead paragraph is what needs to be known. It seems the freedom lovers are still protesting, but two of their allies have switched sides in this struggle. El Baradei and the Muslim Brotherhood are standing with Defense Minister Tantawi, an ally of the now deposed Hosni Mubarak, who now rules Egypt.

Now what prompted this latest crackdown in Tahrir Square? The peoples' defender and bulwark against anarchy, the Army seems to be crumbling. Twenty-five officers of the Egyptian Army seem to have joined the protesters in Tahrir Square and denounced the current military government. Tantawi's government is putting forward a different picture, the use of the term 'thugs' reminds me of similar rantings that came out of Libya in regards to its protesters.

Egypt's struggle still continues. The nightmare did not end when Mubarak stepped down. In fact the whole country just might be waking up to an even worse nightmare. Perhaps it is time for the international community to again intervene, like they did when ousting Mubarak and tell all sides there are certain that need to be encouraged and protected if a post-Mubarak Egypt wants to be part of the modern world.

All Mighty Isis

Since Hollywood is on a big comic book kick as of late. With X-Men, IronMan, redo of Batman[again], imminent arrival of Thor, Green Latern[gag that CGI costume], and Captain America on the big screen. And Wonder Woman set to return to TV, hey wait a minute put Diana on the big screen you jerks! I have decided to campaign for one of the lesser known super heros that once graced that wasteland called Saturday morning television - Isis. How about it Hollywood, bring back Isis!

Yesterday Mut posted an obituary of Elizabeth Taylor and her centerpiece movie Cleopatra. Guess this is what allowed me to ferret out most agile the Secret of Isis. And on IMDB there was message board chatter about an Isis movie, but it quickly devovled into ancient Egyptians are black trope. *sigh* Anyone who has actually looked at the painted walls and know the stories of Egypt know such a sweeping generalization is truly simple-minded. Like the 4,000 year old tomb of Ka-Hay or the tenous linkage between Saharan culture and Eyptian culture that I have blogged on. Cultural cross-pollination in that area throughout history is rampant because it's a nexus of migrations.

North Africa Is Burning

And the Obama administration is sitting on the sidelines. The United States has become a spectator as North Africa is wracked by turmoil.

How else to explain the brave Libyans who are rebelling against Qaddafi/Gaddafi/Whacko are begging for... Are you ready for this? The return of George H. W. Bush and a no-fly zone according to Nasr Ali.

While the news media is focused on the battles in Libya, the battle for the soul and future of Egypt continues. It seems Dr. Zahi Hawass has been forced from his position protecting Egypt's rich past. Archaeological sites have been plundered and even damaged, from Giza to Saqqara. Ancient Egypt has survived, but now the vandals are using heavy equipment to do their acts of destruction. If this is not stopped, it will make the looting that happened in Baghdad seem a spilled cup of coffee.

Global Doomage

In case anyone missed NASCAR recently, then you might have missed them testing E15 fuel. That's right, government mandated bio-fuel is going up from 10% to 15%. Which means even more corn will be turned into ethanol and mixed with gasoline to power vehicles. As a result engines have to be tinkered with to compensate for the loss of energy due to the increase in ethanol content.

Meanwhile the likes of World Bank President Robert Zoellick are warning on the rise of food prices globally. Ever since the concerted push for green energy, the price of things like tortillas has done up - need corn to make them. Cost of meat has also gone up - corn is used to feed cattle. Supply and demand should hold here; but when a national government artificially distorts a market to push dubious goals via monetary bribes, the supply will follow the greatest profit which in this case is government green subsidies. Since the United States exports so much food, this distortion causes global ripples. Which means poor people in places like Egypt become even more impoverished because their limited money has to pay for food who's price has zoomed up. As more money is spent on food, there is less for other things which means other sectors of the economy will starve of cash flow. Which means such dreaded things as recession and rebellion can happen. All because of misguided government meddling based on dubious science. If you want a recipe for a new Bastille Day, this is it.

Egypt Down the Hole

Are we heading to another 444 days of shame? It does seem so. Obama sends a former ambassador of Egypt to privately talk with Hosni and today Hosni gets on the TV and says he has no plans to run in September but is staying on until then. And this is followed by President Obama giving a live non-specific speech that does not support in any way Mubarak.

It does seem we are repeating Iran, the Shah, and 1979 again. Wait until the Suez Canal is closed to traffic until increased 'transit fees' are paid. Check your supplies, see what debts are paid off, and in general be prepared. There are major potholes in our collective future.

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
- Ozymandius
Percy Bysshe Shelley

Egypt Aflame

All I have to say is where is this generation's Major General Mohammed Naguib? A man who seemed to keep Egypt on a middle course? Who still stand against the descent of anarchy in Egypt today? And will the world support that person?

For fun lets use the Wayback Machine and go to Sept, 1951 to see what TIME magazine was writing about the Middle East and Egypt.

In every city, in every oasis, speakers are whipping up hatred for the West. It is the hour of the nationalist fanatic and his gunman hireling. In recent years, the Moslem secret societies (the Moslem Brotherhood, the Crusaders of Islam, the Arab Sacrifice League) have murdered: one King (Jordan's Abdullah) and one President; four Prime Ministers; two cabinet ministers; one police chief, one judge, and one army commander in chief. Near misses: one Shah, one Premier. Two agents of the Moslem Brotherhood were reported last week to be trailing King Farouk on the Riviera.

From Sept, 1952. Again TIME magazine and after the overthrow of King Farouk of Egypt.

Overnight, something new has come to this ancient and despairing land, something that gives a new snap to the salutes of Egyptian soldiers and has brought the new government 50,000 grateful letters—in a country where only one in six can write. For the first time in living memory, there is hope in Egypt.

The man who has roused that hope is a soldier whose name was almost completely unknown in Cairo, London or Washington seven weeks ago—Major General Mohammed Naguib (pronounced Nageeb). He is now acclaimed by his people as a savior, and by Western diplomats as the most promising figure to appear in the Middle East since Turkey's late great Kemal Ataturk.
...
Committee members keep their names almost a military secret. One of the few known personalities among them is big, burly Colonel Mohammed Rashad Mehanna, 42, who acts as liaison man between the committee and Aly Maher's cabinet, in which he sits as Minister of Communications. A religious nationalist and supporter of the Moslem Brotherhood, Mehanna's is the voice that urges Naguib toward an all-out dictatorship, anti-British, antiChristian, anti-Jewish. He is opposed by Wing Commander Anwar el Sadat, who urges Naguib to leave political business to those who understand it—or think they do—and to stick to the army.

In truth it seems Egypt has not really progressed much. Just more bodies have been added to the graveyards. Maybe this time it will be different if average citizens are willing to stand up against the mobs to protect their culture.

Obelisk Repo

If horrible snow removal efforts that cost an infant its life followed by a failure to deal with fetid garbage was not enough woe for Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, here comes something different. Egypt is threatening to take back an obelisk that has been in Central Park since the 1881 and is called Cleopatra's Needle. The reason for the threat, the obelisk is deteriorating with hieroglyphs obliberated so Zahi Hawass was prompted to write the following -

"Recent photographs that I have received show the severe damage that has been done to the obelisk, particularly to the hieroglyphic text, which in places has been completely worn away. I have a duty to protect all Egyptian monuments whether they are inside or outside of Egypt. If the Central Park Conservancy and the City of New York cannot properly care for this obelisk, I will take the necessary steps to bring this precious artifact home and save it from ruin."

This should prove interesting if New York City gives the same attention to Cleopatra's Needle and its preservation as they have given the rebuilding of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. If so, I expect the History Channel and National Geographic to have specials on the moving of an obelisk.

Ambush at Sea

Earlier today Israeli naval commandos of Flotilla 13 attempted to board the Turkish ship Marmara. Armed with only paint-ball guns and sidearms for self defense, they repelled from their helicopters in an attempt to seize the bridge of the ship. Their mission was to stop the Marmara and the other five ships which were trying to break a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. The ostensible reason given for this voyage was to deliver medical supplies and other urgently needed items to the oppressed people living in Gaza. The activists aboard the ships refused the Israeli order to dock at an Israeli port and the supplies would be delivered after inspection. So was set the stage for today's events.

As the commandos rappelled from their helicopter, these 'peaceful' activists attempted to tie one of the ropes to an antenna hoping to crash the chopper. And from there the kinetic event turned even more kinetic as the activists aboard the Marmara attacked the Israeli soldiers with bats and knives. Even iron bars. It was not until after the second load of troops from another chopper dropped to the deck and met the same fierce resistance was permission sought to use deadly force. Even then the Israelis tried to use the least amount of force to protect themselves by shooting at legs of their attackers. Meanwhile more forces tried to come aboard from the stern, they too were met with physical resistance. At this time it seems at least ten of the unlawful combatants on the ship are dead along with seven Israeli soldiers suffering stab wounds and various forms of trauma.

This event is already being spun as blatant Israeli piracy in Arab media. And it seems others in the Western media are following the same tactic. So lets dissect it from what we do know.
1. Egypt and Israel have imposed a blockade on Gaza in order to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the region. In the past the Arabs of Gaza have used bulldozers to break down the concrete wall that separates them from Egypt to loot the Egyptian side. Then there are the tunnels that run from Egypt into Gaza. Israel imposes the sea blockage to prevent Hamas supporters from smuggling in things like Kassim over-sized bottle rockets to shoot at Israeli civilians. So there is abundant reasons for a blockade.
2. Like St. Pancake meeting that messy end with a bulldozer, this again shows the cynical manipulation and use of credulous Western tools by Arabs to advance their agenda of destroying Israel and the Jews. For this cause, Westerners are perfect props. People talk of the practice of being shang-hai'd and shudder in revulsion. This was an old practise of nabbing drunk sailors and tossing them on ships short of crew. Here the Arabs promised these foolish Westerners a spring break cruise in which they would get to speak truth to power by flaunting their beliefs before the oppressive Israelis. Some of them just might have bought the farm along with a cruise.
3. It seems the leader of the peaceniks was not aboard any of the ships, in fact she is in Cyprus and has denied categorically there were any weapons aboard the Marmara. I have to ask her, since she was not aboard the ship how can she say that. Obviously she can't. But weapons don't fit her narrative and she can't admit to being used by the Arabs, so she screams denial.
4. Finally if they truly were peaceful as the other five ships turned out to be then they should not have resisted. Passive resistance would have been a better tactic since then the Israelis would have looked like brutish thugs. But that was never in cards obviously when some aboard were singing about the massacre of Jews that occurred centuries ago in Saudi Arabia.

Further reading
Powerline
Ynet
Haaretz
Gaza Flotilla Spring Break
So a bunch of stoners

History Channel Info-tainment

This past weekend caught a repeat showing of what was sold as a sensational take on the Mayan Long-Count calendar by visiting a mysterious island. I should have known better as it was short on real information and long on faux-drama. This two hour show is called Apocalypse Island and is supposed to recount the quest of a chap named James Turner.

It seems back in 1996, after coming off two years at the Palenque Mayan site in the Yucatan peninsula, Turner took a break to visit Juan Fernandez Island. After a bruising tumble and a night asleep he wakes to behold what he takes to be a monument to the Mayan sun god with a crouching jaguar behind it. So he spends the next decade plus doing research. So History Channel decides to broadcast his quest. Including way too many minutes getting from Valparaiso, Chile to the island on a small fishing boat. Along the way, they interview such heavyweights in Mayan lore as Whitley Streiber. Turner opines that a Mayan king from Palenque built the monument and his tomb, which has never been found, might be on the island. And then when they reach this monument, they clamber atop it. And thus ends two hours of your life.

Now there are lots of issues with this whole theory that I have not found addressed in Turner's web-site yet. And it seems others also have issues as this History Channel forum bears out. I will give Turner some kudos for logging in there to defend himself.

My largest issue I have with this show is, they never show how the Mayans got from Yucatan, across the Equator, and south to flyspeck islands off Chile that a guy named Selkirk got abandoned on for four years. Which explains why one island is called Alexander Selkirk Island and another is Robinson Crusoe Island. There is evidence or suggestions the Mayans made it to Florida, but no evidence is offered in the show on how the Mayans got to these islands. Unless they hopped a ride on Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki, except Thor left from Peru on the Humbolt current.

The show also pitches this hazardous trip by boat is the first time Turner has returned to these islands since 1996. As Turner's own postings in the History Channel forum shows, he has used the airstrip many times to get back to the islands and his monument. Which shows how deceitful this show is. Again it purports this is Turner's first return visit. And it endangers Turner's basic premise, this is Mayan built for the solar and Venus transits in 2012. If Turner has visited here many times, then why hasn't he taken some random debris samples from the base of his sun-god/crouching jaguar to see if there are signs of humans working the rock. Oh wait, its a UNESCO site these islands. But would it be truly hard to get permission to take a few rocks for study? Its the hummingbird that is endangered. And it seems an American millionaire, Bernard Keiser, easily got permission to search the island for lost pirate gold.

Before I forget, the whole story angle of the island being the burial place of a lost Mayan king from Palenque. How can anyone categorically state that everywhere in Palenque has been explored and no tomb has been found hence this king must be buried elsewhere? It is very strange considering only recently the Valley of the Kings in Egypt surrendered another tomb, KV-63, for study. And before Howard Carter found KV-62, King Tutankhamun, everyone in 1921 thought the valley was fully explored. I have to place this as another example of shoddy reasoning for simple sensationalism.

And again I return to the History Channel forums and Turner's own web-site where he says that what ended up on the screen was not what he wanted. That they dictated what would be shown because they did not want it to be boring. I have to wonder what kind of contract Turner signed that would prevent him from yanking his name from this show if he thought this show was truly bad since what is in the show reflects upon his professional reputation.

So overall, everyone involved in the making of this show come off as shabby and unprofessional. I have to wonder if this is the same crew that gave us Simcha and his Lost Tomb special on the James ossuary. Seems that way.