Monday, April 02, 2007

Mr. Blair's Need for Viagra

Paul Weston’s meditation on the possibility of civil war in Europe should be looked upon through the lens of Britain’s pathetic stance regarding the kidnapping of its military in international waters.

You will notice that this is a very myopic lens. It leads those who view life through it to make short-sighted decisions, which in essence amount to no meaningful decisions at all. Ignoring the Geneva Conventions as though they didn’t exist — and one could make the case that those rules were beheaded a long time ago — Britain has gone hat in hand to our favorite eunuchs, the EU and the UN. The results of his plea for help range from zilch to insulting, thus proving Tony Blair’s increasing need for a dose of Viagra himself.

Notice that Mr. Blair did not ask the Americans for help. He dare not — remember our own response to the kidnapping of those in our consulate in Tehran under Jimmah’s reign?

And notice also the fact that the British consulate in Tehran in still open, though the siege there has begun its very early stages. It may be that Britain hasn’t closed the embassy because it dare not do so: it knows that its foreign officers would not be allowed out of the country. Well, not alive, anyway.

The time for diplomacy is past. In fact, diplomacy’s moment has utterly passed out of view and gone so far ’round the bend that even the far-sighted can’t see it anymore.
- - - - - - - - - -
Unfortunately, the right moment for a firm, manly and military stance has also passed. Some moments have to be seized, a fact that Tehran understands. However, Britain is stuck in a time warp from the end of the last century’s “soft” approach to rogue nations, the Clintonesque “why-can’t-we-all-be-friends” mentality.

And so the EUnuchs and the UN continue to undermine the strength and vitality of Europe. Those British sailors are hostages to fortune, and their leaders have failed them miserably. British citizens stuck in the consulate in Tehran (and equally vulnerable) cannot be sleeping well of late.

Has America been as emasculated as Britain? It is likely. With Mrs. Pelosi in charge of the House, we cannot rest easy, either. Nor do we dare judge the British for their impotent response to this artificially created crisis. We had our own such confrontation with Tehran within living memory and we failed — as with Britain, it was largely the fault of a feckless leader.

Our paralysis back then was due to the long shadow cast by Vietnam; and the manipulation of public feeling by the elites in the media and the academy “proved” our failure in that war. Britain’s powerlessness now is due to a similar darkness: the evil created by those elites who run the EU and the UN.

Is it too late to turn away from useless, unmanly, and immoral calls for “diplomacy” in the face of lawlessness? Or will our response to being grievously bullied continue to be a Gallic shrug, a turning our back on our people as we pull our pants down? Is this the new third way, to roll over and let the inevitable humiliation transpire?

God help us all.


In the interests of full disclosure, I admit my deep pessimism comes from personal experience, and I know the dangers of making the jump from the personal to the political. On the other hand, that very path is what turned so many former New York City liberals into law-and-order citizens.

Several days ago, my eldest son was viciously attacked by six or seven “youths” in a public place — the pedestrian mall of a “nice” university town. Their motive wasn’t robbery, it was humiliation. After they got him down, they proceeded to take turns kicking various parts of his body until other people passed by, causing the attackers to run away. The police station was several blocks away but after they were called it still took ten minutes for officers to arrive at the scene. And their response? A helpless shrug. “What can we do?”

My son is white. His attackers were black. The incident never made the news. What do you think the response would have been had it been reversed — i.e., six or seven white guys beating a lone black man, injuring him merely for the purpose of sadistic humiliation?

Can you say “outrage’? How about “racism” or “hate crime”? Can you believe media coverage and talking heads from the NAACP on the night’s news?

But the victim was white, so who cares? “Happens all the time,” say the police. “He didn’t bleed enough,” say the media.

The doctor says it could have been much, much worse. My son sounds relieved to have gotten off with such a light beating. After all, he has only a few fractured ribs, a bruised liver and some tearing of the muscle wall in his abdomen. There doesn’t appear to be any internal bleeding. In a few weeks he will have largely healed, especially if he doesn’t venture out in public again.

I am outraged. I cannot stop seeing in my mind’s eye the image of my first-born curled on the ground in a fetal position while strangers kick at his body, the same body I carried for nine months, the same body I cherished for all his growing years.

And now I can only imagine what the mothers of those British sailors are going through.

I repeat: God help us all.



20 comments:

Gordon Pasha said...

God help us indeed. Best wishes to your son. I would be burning with anger if it happened to my own son. The police, no fault of their own, are no longer there to protect the citizen, only to enforce the self-righteous "moral code" of their masters. It's up to the citizen to protect themselves, as best as he or she can. As for that event occurring in a univeristy town, of course, the town and the university only think of protecting their reputations. Best to keep things quiet, lest the citizens begin to think that there might be a problem there.

Zerosumgame said...

This is the same Britain that just gutted half its Navy, so that now the mighty Belgians, whose navy is now the same size, can probably defeat them at sea.

Worse yet, now the Argentines probably could beat them too -- they might want to try Falklands, Part II.

The Brits might want to warm up by taking on Sierra Leone first.

kepiblanc said...

Dymphna, all the best for your son and I hope he recovers quickly. Somehow I wish this had happended in Utrecht, Holland....

Once again the EU disgraces itself beyond comprehension. So much for the "EU-citizenship". Not even a trade boycott...
(Luckily, my own country is already in a full and total boycott with those subhuman scum).
Whenever I'm aware of being a "EU-citizen" I feel compelled to don a burqa in shame.

History Snark said...

My best to your son (and to you, of course). It's heartbreaking the way that lawbreakers are treated now. They do whatever they want with no fear of reprisal, while those of us that embrace Civilization lie on the ground covering our vitals from their attacks, and hoping for someone to aid us.

We need to band together. The Social Contract is on the verge of collapse, and the "system" that we have in place-both on the local and global levels-is no longer functional.

KJP said...

I doubt Viagra will help a complete lack of Cojones...

ENGLISHMAN said...

As this seems to be the season for international apologising,i apologise to all our friends,in the US and around the world,for the actions of the craven cowards who purport to lead us whos timidity has stung the heart of our nation,with a deep , sickening humiliation.lions led by donkeys,believe it or not there are still men here in England,ENGLISHMEN

Dymphna said...

Englishman--

Perhaps you can tell me the answer to a question I've wondered about: often, when I say "England" -- the word my mother used to refer to the "Strangers Who Came and Tried to Teach Us Their Way" (as the song goes), I am corrected and told that the correct word is "Britain." Englishmen are Brits it seems.

How come? Why the change?

Profitsbeard said...

As William Blake put it:

"If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise."

There're going to be some *bleeping* geniuses in England before long.

History Snark said...

Dymphna,
I don't claim to be an expert, but the answer to your question about "England" vs "Britain" is pretty simple. Britain is a geographical term for the entire Island, while England is one portion of it. The "Brits" include the Scots and the Welsh, while the English are the "dominant" culture there.

Great Britain (or the United Kingdom) is the political entity which covers the whole Island.

I guess Britain would be the correct term, since it is the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales (and perhaps Northern Ireland). But of course the UK government is dominated by the English.

Or at least I think that explains it, albeit briefly. If I'm wrong, I hope someone will explain it better.

Cindi said...

It now falls to us to travel in packs as well for protection.

Fellow Peacekeeper said...

Dymphna, how ghastly. When the lad gets well he needs to hit the gym and martial arts classes, can't let an incident like that destroy the psyche and make for a little Blair.

Fellow Peacekeeper said...

On the subject of Blair and the Falklands : Argentina has chosen this moment to renew their claims

"The Malvinas are Argentine, they always were, they always will be," said Argentine Vice-President Daniel Scioli

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6517705.stm

X said...

But of course the UK government is dominated by the English.

Wrong, actually. Parliament is dominated by the scots. Almost the entire cabinet is scottish. Blair is scottish. Brown, his annointed successor, is Scottish. The scots rule us in ways that don't really seem believable until you start looking quite hard at how things are arranged.

The argument over the name is interesting. If you call a scot english he'll hae yur heid, and if you call a welshman english he'll just eat you. THe problem does come from refering to Great Britain as England, which can be quite insulting to all the people who aren't English. England is the big bit in the middle. I am quite happy to call myself English, because that's what I am; I was born in England and, unless I pop me clogs in some foreign clime, I'll die there too. I am also British. I tend to correct people who use the two words, English and British, as synonyms because it shows a lack of understanding. But, then, I come from a land that has a minimum of three, possibly four names depending on who you ask so the confusion is understandable. :)

Now, the rest. There's really no defense for the behaviour of our government in this. I have been trying to write up a post on it myself, but I never got past the title. England's Shame. This truly is shameful.

fellow peacekeeper, I believe the reason Argentina is renewing its claim is because yesterday was the 25th anniversary of their invasion. It's been known for a long time that we wouldn't be able to repeat our feat of arms, considering how hopelessly underequipped our forces are these days. The people at the top are just the icing on the cake. That isn't to say we wouldn't try. When Thatcher launched our counter-attack we were in a terrible state. We'd just scrapped our last carrier, the Ark Royal, and were mothballing large portions of the fleet at the behest of the outgoing labour government, yet we pulled off an action over 8000 miles. Talk about long supply tails. I believe we could do it again, given a suitably iron-willed leadership... so, really, until we get another Thatcher we're sort of boned, I guess.

Zero, the reason our navy has been gutted is not for any ideological reasons, or at least not directly the ideology you're hinting at. It's been gutted because of the Ministry of Defence's "buy european at all costs" attitude to procurement, which has seen us purchasing fewer units of less capable equipment at a higher price than it could be had elsewhere. The navy is being gutted to pay for our Type 42 destroyers, developed jointly with France, and those new carriers that are still on the drawing board. The RAF has spent all ts cash on the eurofighter, which we're desperately trying to sell to the saudis so we can recoup some of the cost to pay for the JSF. The ideology is, of course, European Integration, and it does rest on the anti-americanism of the EU. They think they can do without NATO. Fat chance.

The reasons are unimportant, though. The state of our armed forces is horrendous, and it shames this country in ways I can't quite express.

Baron Bodissey said...

fellow peacekeper--

The suggestion for self-defesne would work only if, as Cindi says, we travel in packs. Even with some expertise in the martial arts, being blindsided by seven men who lie in wait and jump you from behind doesn't offer much protection.

Where he was attacked is a well-traveled, touristy area. I have walked it myself many times and would not have been concerned with safety in the past. In fact, he got off lightly because some groups of people came by and the men ran.

Another acquaintance was not so fortunate. A group of three friends coming out of a movie were attacked at their car. They fought back but one was knifed in the spleen and spent two weeks in the hospital. Again, the motive did not seem to be robbery, just mayhem.

Fellow Peacekeeper said...

Baron : No, not just self defence. Avoiding/fleeing a band of 7 or 12 roving "minorities" is necessary anyway unless one is willing to become Bernard Getz.

It is still necessary to get up and refuse to be a victim (that which does not kill us makes us stronger rather than "poor me" or "somebody should do something" etc), and bounce back from a nasty incident. Or accept being a sheep and learn to say "baa" pleasingly.

In any case, sometimes you don't have a choice (Kim du Toit's many horror story examples of goblins breaking into homes).

Archonix : would the Argie still have said such an outrageous thing on the 25th anniversary if a iron man/woman like Thatcher was PM at this time? My point is I think not.

Baron Bodissey said...

FP, et al. --

A clarification: the comment above which seemed to be by me was actually by Dymphna.

She got up at the crack of dawn this morning and used my computer instead of hers (her laptop is in the room where I was still asleep), paying no attention to the fact that she was thus disguised as me.

Not that I disagree with her. I am, however, emphatically in favor of packing heat. But I think she is, also.

History Snark said...

Archonix,

I stand corrected. I wasn't aware of all that, but I mostly was speaking in the historical sense.

Nevertheless, I appreciate the correction.

X said...

gtw (can I call you gtw? wacko sounds so animaniacs...)

Historically speaking the scots have always been strongely represented in parliament, but your assessment was broadly correct for just about parliament up to the one elected in 1997. Now we face a bit of a constitutional crisis, as the SNP are agitating for scottish independence again, just as Brownstuff is vying for the PM's office. His constituency is in scotland which means he'll have to make a very tough choice: appeal to his fellow scots and lose any chance of the premiership, or get his dream job and antagonise the scottish rump in parliament.

Gleeful am I? You don't know the half of it.

FP: Your point is my point. You're simply more direct about it. :) Such sad times we live in.

Captain USpace said...

Tony Blair is losing it, this whole thing is pathetic from every angle. The sailors can't defend themselves on a UN sanctioned mission when they're attacked (as Mark Steyn pointed out in the NY Sun yesterday.), so of course the UN doesn't try to help, and neither does the EU stick up for the 'European' citizens seized. Disgraceful, I would love to see Iran bombed on Good Friday, like the rumors say, but it will never happen.

I'm so sorry about your son, I'm glad he is getting better. Hopefully, if these thug monkeys decide to try this again, someone will come out of the shadows and blow their brains out; for they all deserve to die in the act of committing a violent crime; no matter how old they are.

absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
don't kill monkey thugs
.

Obi's Sister said...

How horrible! Best wishes to your son and you while he heals.

I live in the American South and have to put up with this "reverse discrimation" crap all the time. In some restaurants, we haven't been able to get service because we're white. My daughter, now in college, tells stories about high school that would make you vomit.

But you are exactly right - if the same thing happened to blacks or browns or somewhere in between, it'd be splashed all over the news.

I hope he mends well. The physical will heal quickly - I hope the emotional/mental heals as well.

God Bless!