Devizes Melting Pot

“Protection. Conservation. Restriction. Deep ecology. Give me deep technology any day. They don't scare me. "I'm damned if I'll crawl, my children's children crawl on the earth in some kind a fuckin' harmony with the environment. Yeah, till the next ice age or the next asteroid impact." (Moh Kohn, The Star Fraction)/ "This is the fight between God and the Devil. If His Grace is with God, he must join me, if he is for the Devil he must fight me. There is no third way" King Gustavus Adolphus

My Photo
Name:
Location: Devizes, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

University graduate, currently working as an Information Assistant for the NHS. Interested in politics, history, sci fi etc.

Friday, April 30, 2004

IBN KHALDUN
(1332-1395 C.E.)

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Bio of Ibn Khaldun a great Arab historian and
philosopher of history

Ibn Khaldun on the web

Abu Zayd 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun

Ibn Khaldun Iranian Muslim Philosopher
1332--1395

Islam and Islamic History in Arabia
and The Middle East


Falluja fighters dent US morale

ARAB-ISLAMIC HISTORY

Outrage at US abuse of Iraqi prisoners

Bush 'disgusted' at torture of Iraqi prisoners - Bush could care less, Bush 'disgusted' yeah right *rolls eyes*

US forces 'withdraw' from embattled Falluja

Falluja violence continues as Iraqi force arrives

Three Palestinians die after Israeli raids

Thursday, April 29, 2004

The Sykes-Picot Agreement : 1916

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

The Middle East Today

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

A US general responsible for four jails in Iraq has been suspended pending an investigation into alleged abuse of her prisoners.

A two-day international conference on anti-Semitism in Berlin has drawn criticism from Palestinians who have described it as a "red herring" and a "sly distraction" aimed at diverting attention from their oppression by Israel.

Eight US soldiers were killed and four more wounded when a car bomb destroyed their convoy in a southern suburb of Baghdad

A Palestinian member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades resistance group has been shot dead by Israeli occupation troops.

Pentagon to investigate contract scam

The american war dead (which Dubya tried to hide), huge loss of life in a pointless war, both soldier and civilan, they did not deserve to be caught up in this Neocon cock up.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

the rest of the pictures can be found here -
Photos of Military Coffins
(Casualties From Iraq)
at Dover Air Force Base


Vietnam on Crack is what billmon on his blog has described Iraq as, a pretty good summary I think.

news from Iraq today

Renewed fighting shakes embattled Falluja

US air, ground forces pound Falluja

Iraqis offer bounty for US officials

Al-Asad: Iraqis are right to resist

US soldiers have fired on a minibus full of civilians near a checkpoint on the outskirts of the beseiged Iraqi town of Falluja.

One failure after another sums up Iraq right about now, the US is doing CRAP, its quite painful to see how stupid Neocons are, their great plan for reshaping the middle east is in tatters, poor deluded fools.

Those Taliban chaps won't give up and now it appears they have seized a central Afghan district.

on the British front

Army chiefs resist call for more Iraq troops

what fools we Brits were 'sticking' by America and being dragged into this war of nothingness, this pointless war.

Thought Blair seems to get more and more deluded each day, poor guy he has started to believe his own propaganda, not the best thing to do when leader, the only good thing Blair can do next year is to stand down at the next election.

Blair to me reminds me of Mrs Thatcher, same style of leadership, except this time the Labour party have no balls and probaly won't depose him. Blair is a liability, we have grown tired of Blair - out with him NOW!

some more stories linked to Iraq

Enough already

Baquba blast claims US lives

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he views political opposition to his unilateral withdrawal from occupied Gaza as a personal affront.

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Embattled Falluja rocked by fresh fighting

Al-Ibrahimi: Interim body by June

Resentment turns to loathing in Iraq

Al-Sadr City: Support from the impoverished

US renews attack on Falluja

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Israeli troops kill Palestinian teenager

Report: Rights abuses persist in Libya

more depressing stories from Iraq

US kills tens of Iraqis on Najaf's doorstep

Clashes shatter faltering Falluja truce

Iraq is really disentergrating

plus....

More deaths in Palestine

Three Palestinians die in West Bank

and an article about the Samaritans, who slowly are vanshing, yet they do get on with Palestinians and generally fit in. The Samaritans believe they are the true followers of Religion and use authentic hebrew, they think the hebrew speaken today is a mixture of Assyrian and Aramaic languages. All very interesting

Samaritans in Palestine A faith on the verge of extinction

some interesting articles from The Guardian

Doomed to failure in the Middle East
A letter from 52 former senior British diplomats to Tony Blair


Minister rejects attack on foreign policy

Monday, April 26, 2004

you want more examples on how Bush comes from a famliy of crooks, I give you them

Chapter - II - The Hitler Project Bush Property Seized--Trading with the Enemy

Bush Family and the Savings and Loan Scandal

They Have Been called Nazis

Two US helicopter gunships have launched a missile attack on Falluja's Golan district despite talk of an enduring if not unstable truce.

this truce keeps flip flopping, will they make up their minds or have the forgotten what the word 'truce' means?

'Indefinite' ceasefire in place in Falluja

considering how desperate Bush is, I am not suprised if they start unloading their WMDs in Iraq as a plant, just so they can make this war appear legal (no wmds = illegal war) - They keep pushing the WMD crap in order to cover up how weak the basis for this war of nothingness is, once they admit there are no wmds, they will have to be held to account and the war will be condemmed as an illegal action

Pre emp strikes are always on dodgy grounds, its a simple case of "I am going to burgle your house before you burgle mine" its madness! but then most Neocons are escaped lunatics, the mental aslyum left the door opened - lock up the insane Neocons before they destory us all!

Baghdad bomb targets US occupation convoy

Baghdad children killed in battle crossfire

some pictures from the recent Falluja bloodshed from Al Jazeera

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Occupation in Falluja

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Displaced children who have fled from the violence in Falluja and are waiting to go home

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
The body of a two year old child killed in the Falluja fighting

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
The dead two year old

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Red Cresent

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Soldiers

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Mother and Child fleeing from Falluja

With images like these and the news comming out of Iraq, it makes you realise how bad the Neocond have fucked up, one mistake after another. the Neocon dream of an outpost in the middle east is going up in flames, with the recent U turn on hiring ex-baath party memebers, it makes you wonder whether they had any plan at all? or whether all they wanted to do was further their Neoimperial dream and grab as many resources as they can, Neocons don't care about the civilians and even the soldiers who are dieing in this war of nothingness, they are so divorced from reality its scary.

Israeli killed 'in Rantisi's name'

Israel is another fault of America, there blind loyalty to Sharon - that monster - is scuppering what chance there was at peace, since they view the Palestinians as sub human or something not even worth their time, the lack of neutrality on America's part is a major problem, if only they could become neutral, like Britain did after the Anglo-Irish agreement and declared they had no interests in N Ireland anymore, it would be a start.

A solution to the problems in the middle east would be for the muslims in america to form their own powerful lobbty group to compete agains the Jewish and Christian right lobbies and successfully gain influence, maybe that will help change what America does in these majority Islamic countries, it migh help if they were to support their brethern in the middle east, where they are suffering, that is the way only real change will happen

A good book I recommend is Albert Habib Hourani is
A History of the Arab Peoples
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
It is a very accesible read and should help you understand the religion and history of Islam more not to mention the people's who follow it, the musilms. A book I cannot recommend enough, read it today and expand your mind!

Friday, April 23, 2004

John Dimitri Negroponte has been appointed to take over Iraq when Bremer leaves.

The most shocking thing about this is the small fact that Negroponte backed death squads in Central America, he is known to of turned a blind eye to human rights abuses and now he is being given Iraq! it is very bad but not suprising of the Bush junta, since it is run by crooks, thieves, liars, cheats and criminals, why not add a supporter of death squads along with it?

more info - The Case Against John Negroponte

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Death Squad Backer

John Dimitri Negroponte

yet another death in Palestine today - Palestinians die in Israeli raids Israel are merchants of doom, will they be happy once all the Palestinians are wiped out? Sharon is a monster, fed by America, a butcher.

Al-Sadr's army beats back occupation assault The Americans cannot afford to attack or blow up Shi'a holy shrines, that is tatamount to signing a death warrent, they will lose support of moderate Shiites and probaly have more attacks against them.

Palestinian factions find new unity these targeted assassinations are counter productive, violence begats violence and now it has succeeded in uniting Palestine even more. The attacks on the PA and the Palestine infrastucture has made it so hard for this state to function, after all dead policemen in the street cannot arrest these 'terrorists'. The violence and bloodshed needs to end, Sharon needs to he hauled in front of an International court and be held accountable for his butchery.

Thursday, April 22, 2004

Map of Palestine

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

image taken from Atlas of the Orient

A Backgound guide to Palestine

We must remeber that not all Jews support an Israel state and example is the Neturei Karta - Orthodox Jews United Against Zionism who recently staged a protests when Sharon visited America and Bush overturned orthodox US policy and kiss Israeli ass, refusing to be a neutral player and clearly alienating and making his arab 'allies' look like fools - way to go Bush, ya dumb chimp!.

"Sharon" and the State of "Israel"
The nemesis of Jewish representation

Israel brings death to Tulkarim

Israel kills seven in Gaza invasion

It is stories like these which anger me so much, how can Palestinians fight against tanks and guns? is not equal and its cruel, shame on Israel, a big bully picking on someone weaker than themseleves, why don't they go pick a fight with someone their own age.

Israel was a mistake, it has cause far too many problems in the middle east, and made refugees of the Palestinians in their own land, such injustice.

Danish hostage found dead in Iraq can things in Iraq get any worse? It is the most biggest cock up in history, the Neocons, Blair and Bush are just making up plans as they go along, they have no clue or idea about Iraq, what a bunch of fools we have for leaders.

Saudi group claims car bomb responsibility

Stories in Britain today

Blunkett: ID cards will not be 'cock-up'

Joining the club EU enlargement

A brief history of Cyprus

Worlds collide on the web

Carnage comes to the British zone

BBC NEWS | In Depth | Israel and the Palestinians

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Poland considers Iraq troop withdrawal

Palestinian cabinet may resign en masse

Saudi dissidents: 'Regime' is cracking

Key News Stories Today

Freed Vanunu: Inspect Israeli nukes

Basra bombs kill dozens

Israel kills seven in Gaza invasion

US destroying Falluja homes

Blast levels Saudi Arabian security building

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Mordechai Vanunu, a brave man treated shoddily by Israel and Mossad, shame on them, lockin up Vanunu for 18 Years for a secrete that everybody knew anyway!

The Guardian profile: Mordechai Vanunu

Monday, April 19, 2004

A series of photos from Al Jazeera on the death and burial of Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi's the recently assassinated Hamas leader.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us


Sunday, April 18, 2004

Images from inside the Holy Shrine

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Karbala, Holy Shrine of Imam Husain, Martyr of Shi'a Islam


What Non-Muslims say about Imam Hussain (AS)

Imam Husain And His Martyrdom By Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Imam Husain

The Martyrdom of Imam Husain

The Journey of Imam Husain

Imam Husain, the Defender of Truth A Hero revered by millions


WHO IS IMAM HUSAIN?

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

now some photos from Palestine, quite thought provoking - these photos were all found by my mother's Palestinean friend - all credits go to this brave nurse who is currently living in the Gaza Strip

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

New name for my blog, thought the old one was not as good as this.

Saturday, April 17, 2004

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

some news stories from CNN about John Kerry

Poll: Kerry leads Bush among students

Woodward book: Bush secretly made Iraq war plan

End the Bush Tyranny, Bring Back Democracy and Make The World a Better Place from this madman

Thursday, April 15, 2004

here is the transcript to the "real" press conference: President Bush's press conference

Social Democracy - what I believe in

Sweden a model of success and who I admire

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

linking on from my posting of defintion of the various areas of Islam here are a few links to infomation of Wahhabism, Shi'a, Sunni and Sufi Islam

Wahhabism

Shi'a

Sunni

Sufism

Two interesting press relases on Ashcroft and Bush's bullshit

President Addresses the Nation in Prime Time Press Conference - a real hoot, more bushisms than you can shake a leg at.

classic Bush quote - Bush: Gosh, I don't know. I mean -- - and " One of my hardest parts of my job is to console the family members who have lost their life.
Q&A with Ashcroft

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Wahhabi [wə hbi] (plural Wahhabis) or Wahabi [wə hbi] (plural Wahabis)
n
member of Islamic group: a member of a very conservative Islamic group that rejects any innovation that occurred after the 3rd century of Islam. It flourishes primarily in Arabia.


[Early 19th century. From Arabic wahhābī , named after Muhammad ibn bd-al- Wahhāb (1703–1792), who founded the sect.]


-Wahhabism, n
Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Sunni [sni, súnni] (plural Sunni or Sunnis)
n
1. branch of Islam: the largest branch of Islam, which believes in the traditions of the Sunna and accepts the first four caliphs as rightful successors to Muhammad.
See also Shia
2. Sunni Muslim: a member of the Sunni branch of Islam.
Also called Sunnite


[Late 16th century. From Arabic , ‘lawful’, from sunna ‘rule, custom’.]
Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Shia or Shi’a or Shi’ah
n (plural Shia or Shias) (plural Shi’a or Shi’as) (plural Shi’ah or Shi’ahs)
1. major branch of Islam: the branch of Islam that considers Ali, the cousin of Muhammad, and his descendants as Muhammad’s true successors.
See also Sunni
2. See Shiite n.


adj
See Shiite adj.


[Early 17th century. From Arabic šī’a ‘faction, party’ (of Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law and the fourth caliph).]
Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Sufi [sfi] (plural Sufis)
n
Muslim mystic: a Muslim mystic


[Mid-17th century. From Arabic ūfī , literally ‘woollen’ (because of their woollen garments).]


-Sufi, adj
-Sufic, adj
-Sufism, n
-Sufistic, adj
Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

fascism [fáshizəm] or Fascism [fáshizəm]
n
dictatorial movement: any movement, tendency, or ideology that favours dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism


[Early 20th century. From Italian fascismo , from fascio (see Fascist).]
Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

fascism [fáshizəm] or Fascism [fáshizəm]
n
dictatorial movement: any movement, tendency, or ideology that favours dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism

communism [kómmynizəm]
n
classless political system: the political theory or system in which all property and wealth is owned in a classless society by all the members of a community


[Mid-19th century. From French communisme , from commun ‘common’, from Latin communis (see common).]
Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Communism [kómmynizəm]
n
1. Communism
communism
Marxist-Leninist system: the Marxist-Leninist version of a classless society in which capitalism is overthrown by a working-class revolution that gives ownership and control of wealth and property to the state
2. one-party state: any system of government in which a single, usually totalitarian, party holds power, and the state controls the economy


[Mid-19th century. From French communisme , from commun ‘common’, from Latin communis (see common).]
Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.




Sunday, April 11, 2004

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Deiter, my Burmese cat who I love very much.

Saturday, April 10, 2004

the British education system - Education UK

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

pics of my maternal Grandparents during the war

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us My Grandmother - Grace Broadbridge (née Parker)

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Grandfather - Harry Broadbridge

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Bagdad

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Wailing Wall

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Granny on a motorbike

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Grandparents in front of Pyramids

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Cairo

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Mosque of Omar