The Rabbit

No. I am not talking about the celebrity sex toy (I was told about that - I had no clue). All who read this wonder, what the hell is going on? This is neither a critique on a new tech toy, nor an economic/political analysis of current events, or even an update on the current conflict. Nay, this my friends is a person. A fascinating individual who has managed to capture my undivided (well, not quite) attention.

An easy laugh, a zest for life. A sense of humor unparalleled in many quarters. A sense of adventure one seldom finds these days and a streak of independence that is to be admired in anybody.

Smug, smart and searching for centre, at times confused, disoriented. All put together, rather a fascinating individual. The more you converse, the more you realize its something you want to keep on going. For however long it will go on till.

Blatantly outspoken, at times outright obscene, but most times unbelievably hilarious. Sometimes soberingly candid. Seems never to get into anything without thinking, but blows off fear about the unknown with casual bravado.

Never insecure, always sure of what is going on - a refreshing experience all around.

All in all, a fun person to be with I refer to as 'Rabbit'. She is infuriated by it as evidenced by each an every infuriated, withering remark directed at me with every utterance of the word. She prefers to be called, Her Highness - The Queen of all Evil. Xelene - the Death Dealer. Fancies herself to be a fan of Kate Beckinsale, but i beg to point out that she herself (Rabbit, not Kate) is much better than Kate - on screen or off.

She is defensive - to the point of trying to be rude and offensive. I believe that all that is a defense to prevent past hurts from occuring again. She may realize in time that life is about getting burned, and that it happens to everybody. Its how we let that affect us that will either make us or break us.

I don't need to use a name nor a picture for the reader who knows who the Rabbit is know what I'm about.

The Elements

Anyone can attest that the 4 known elements are essential to life. Earth, Wind, Fire, Water. (If you count Captain Planet, you need Heart too).

Earth - Every bloody war has been waged since the god knows when for this. Real estate, dirt, a place to live in peace.

Wind - Every politician in the world is full of it, the poor voters are the only ones who smell the wind.

Fire - The tool of every participant in any conflict, i.e fire = weapons, causing death and destruction to all those they claim to protect and represent

Water - The elixir of life. A need that circumvents any human law anywhere on the planet as it is a fundamental human right.

Heart - What everybody needs, but most people don't have.

I don't know what I started off to write about, but I just keep writing now on an interesting tangent.

In any seige like situation, the victor will be the one who controls the water. When the Egyptians invaded Mesopotamia, Babylon was put under seige. It was a traitor that led the pharoahs through the secret tunnel via the canal into the city. But even they did not block it, poison it. Oh yes, they raped and pillaged and did everything a victorious army back in the day (or even now in some cases) did. But at any time, poisoning (or effectively preventing access to water) was considered a crime against God - Egyptian, Christian or whoever. However, militarily it was an effective method of neutralizing an enemy. Historical use of 'Hydrowarfare' is listed here.

I believe that it is in the 'Hague Convention' that the following is listed in no uncertain terms (also listed at above link);

Protocol I (art. 54) prohibits, ‘whatever the motive’, the attacking, destroying, removing of ‘objects indispensable to the survival’ of civilian population, such as ‘drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works’.

All in all, I don't think anybody in their right mind needs a bunch of wise old men to get together to write up a document that tells us whats acceptable and whats not. neither do we need any script telling us whats right and whats wrong. Laws are there to punish perpetrators, but the upholding of social mores is an individual effort. What kind of example are the Tigers hoping to set by doing this? Encourage 'hydrowarfare' between individuals who have grievances with each other? "He owes me money and he is not paying so let me poison his well, or the village well for that matter".

There is a reason that Bio Weapons, Chem Weapons and Nukes are all classified as Weapons of Mass Destruction. American policy for example is this: if there is a Bio/Chem attack on the US, its response will be in kind - WMD. But since America 'does not have' Chem/Bio weapons, they will launch a nuke.

The dirty fact of the matter is, its all well and good for the Tigers to block the damn sluice gates and issue demands but a nation cannot retaliate in like manner for it is responsible for all citizens. Just because your dog bites you, you don't bite back - you can, but then your the bigger idiot,. The BBC and pretty much all the newslines I've been reading didn't pick up on this until the air raids started.

Then the headlines go "SL Air Force Conducts Air Raids in East" or "SL Offensive Intensifies". I guess as the tigers are not answerable to the people like an elected government is they don't care to give exact casualty figures either. So far, Army is 5 KIA, 8 Injured, LTTE reports 2 (Army reports LTTE at abt 35). "Heavy Casualties in Mavilaru" on BBC.

Also in the story the SLMM spokesperson 'Blamed both sides for fighting'. If by all accounts the situation was so dire as to require a military response the SLMM should have given an ultimatum to the Tigers instead of dropping to their knees to suck some Tiger Dick and accept all ultimatums received. Why is it that the GOSL (I don't care which one at this point) have to respond to every ultimatum but is not able to give some in return?

My prayers and best wishes to the brave sons of Sri Lanka enagaged in this fight for what is right. May the blessing of the Triple Gem, Bhagwan, Allah and the Holy Trinity be upon all of you.

My deepest sympathies for those who have lost their lives for the cause of righteous justice. May you attain Nirvana.

I apologize to any reader who is offended by the language but now this war has been brought into the homes of the people who are just tyring to eke out a living. Thats where my sympathy lies.

P.S: To hell with CBNSAT.

An Interesting Proposition

(Picture Courtesy of BBC)

Just before Israel launched their ground offensive (not the big one that was shelved, the ‘little’ one going on right now) the IDF Warplanes dropped thousands of flyers into areas asking civilians to leave. They did this for a few days before and during their campaign. The Israeli stance was, “We have given ample time for civilians to evacuate, and now when we advance anyone who remains can and will be considered a sympathizer/member of Hezbollah and will be targeted”. Not a single world power raised a voice against this.

The UN and Red Cross keep requesting clear routes to deliver aid and supplies and the IDF tells them to literally keep their pants on, you’ll get it when we want to give it. So, they wait. US ‘airlifts’ munitions to Israel and only one such flight has been flagged. No one says a thing.

Small question, WHY THE HELL CAN’T WE DO THE SAME?

C’mon Buffalo get your shit together here. Drop some flyers on the territories and clear the entire region of anyone standing. Raze the North/Northeast to the ground. It seems to be the ‘in’ war plan at the time. Endorsed by the US, apparently ratified by the UN. What more can you ask for? Shoot every damn fool standing after dropping the flyers/announcing over loudspeakers. No more once a month air raids, once in a while Long Range incursions or embarrassing hostage situations.

Give a call to Mr. Bush and say, “Machung, charr scene machang. I need a few ‘duppi’ to drop on the kotiyas. You know I’m good for it no? Machang they are terrorists, al qaeda is terrorists and we are fighting the same war no? Ehenang fit thamai, I will tell the airport FedEx is coming with the ‘duppi’.”

Crises upon Crises

(Picture Courtesy of BBC)

Anyone who read about the Bush/Blair conversation that was caught on tape (BBC Article) can see the utter frustration caused on people who are by any standards Bone Headed when it comes to foreign policy.

However, it is interesting to note that Bush and Blair seem to be talking about about a 'Him' who thinks a certain way and that 'this is all part of the same thing'. Interesting. The language that was captured indicate a sense of superiority that the 'him' posses and that these two leaders are answerable to 'him'. And no, I don't think its God either.

Funnily enough, World War I was started 'apparently' because of the assasination of Francis Ferdinandes (I think that was the last name) somewhere in Europe. He was a nobody that no one cared much for but whose death was manipulated for German superiority in Europe. The second one was one lunatics idea of a new order, the Third reich. Neo Nazis - Kiss my Ass.

Now, in what seems to be a repetition of history, the abduction of two soldiers (whose deaths would have mattered only to their families) is being used as an excuse for a possible ground incursion by Israel into Lebanon. Lebanon has already stated that if there is an invasion the Lebanses army will fight Israel (a laudable fact remains that Lebanon still hasn't taken any direct action agianst Israel) This in turn might trigger Syria and Iran to 'assist' Lebanon which will mean alliances being formed to support Israel and Lo and Behold, the middle east might erupt in WW III.

Any historian can attest that wars are begun by men in desperation or when countries want to steal land. War is robbery writ large. The offensive campaign is one that is designed to expand borders and spread their own rule. The current situation CAN lead up to a conflict that will forever define the middle east, along ethnic/religious/political lines.

Anybody who studies warfare can tell you that when you are attacking a superior enemy, the best thing you can hope for is to distract him/her and to weaken them if possible BEFORE launching your campaign.

The US being the biggest dog on the block right now has its hands full and is militarily kind of stretched. So stretched infact that only a small detachment was sent to Lebanon for evacuation. Iraq, Afghanistan are commitments that they cannot drop immediately, North Korea is making noise about Nukes, Iran is making noise about Nukes. Pretty much the US is stretched out I guess on intelligence as well as military might.

The enemy of the antagonists is now effectively distracted - its attention split between multiple, geographically spread out theaters in which it has a vested interest. At the same time it has to look within itself as well to make sure no attacks take place on its own soil anymore. WWIII? Distinct possibility.

Random thoughts borne out of bits and pieces of news seen here and there, but a mite interesting is it not?

Sh*t

Its been a very long time. I have been remiss, busy, in a I don't care about anything anymore blah blah blah mode for a while. Life has taken some crazy swings and methinks trying to get back to doing whatever it was before the shit hit the fan might help to at least slow the slide into purgatory.

Work has been exceptional in a way but a pain in a wrong place at the same time. I mean, my team lead went on vacation for a MONTH! So I was looking forward to a relaxed month to deal with my deliverables and mind my own business and generally have a nice time...NOT! My manager decides to make me the contact person for the leads deliverables and my inbox is always beeping. Hell, I can't go pick up a print out and come back without "You've got mail" on my screen. Basically, workload has increased about 10 fold.

Went and saw a few movies recently. Superman (CGI was cool, story and Supermans acting sucked), Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Mans Chest (so so movie - they did to this franchise what they did to the matrix trilogy: broke apart one story to make parts II and III), Cars (excellent movie, highly recommend) and some mixed up rentals that a sigh+shrug pretty much sums up.

Interestingly, this whole flap going on the middle east and all has got me further annoyed with the foreign policies of the 'developed' nations. Oooh they raided the border, they kidnapped soldiers, they fired rockets. SO? That shit happens on a daily basis in the North/NorthEast and the only people crying are the ones affected - where the hell is the sympathy for them? Some newspaper the other day had quoted some poombah as having said "Israel has the right to do whatever is necessary to protect their national security"... the implication there being it only applies if you are developed and if you are a struggling devlopING country you do what the money lenders want you to do. Bastards.

The outgoing US ambassador to Sri Lanka had said that "the government should ensure that the security forces do not engage in attacks/operations that have not been authorized by the government" (or something to that effect). Now that opens up a whole new can of worms... especially for the US.

When he said that does he mean that all the atrocities at Guantanamo, The rape/killings in Haditha (Iraq), Abu Ghraib (Iraq) was all AUTHORIZED? Goodness, who would've thought it. But no, they could not have been, so he must be HYPOCRITICAL no?

(If you can see, I am trying to channel some stress and unfocused anger into something actual and happening that will continue to happen regardless of my rantings)

Right now, the weekend has been like this. Full workday on Friday, starting at 7:30 on friday a 4 and 1/2 hour drive, drank till 4:30AM, woke up at 8:45AM, sat through one stupid 4 hour lecture, waiting for the second stupid four hour lecture, THEN maybe get a little sleep before going out in the night. Hopefully. Then another 4-5 hour drive back tomorrow! Work on Monday. Oh Joy.