Karadzic

Radovan Karadzic (remember him?), erstwhile leader of the Bosnian Serbs, has been sentenced to life in prison on appeal to his previous conviction for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. The sentence is an increase from the 40 years handed down at the original trial. Karadzic is now 73, so will spend the rest of his life behind bars. It's a pity that (thus far) only RT.com is the sole English-language news provider to carry that news. I'm not relaying their link, due to bias in their reporting. Referring to the Srebrenica massacre in quotation marks amounts to bias in my book.
Only NOS.nl has an unbiased report, but that channel reports in Dutch.

One of the worst war crimes that Karadzic was involved in was the massacre of 7,000 men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995. A supposed safe UN-enclave in Bosnian Serb territory, the male Moslim population was taken away, under the noses of and without resistance from (and with coerced assistance by) the Dutch UN forces. The Dutch were blamed for this. Maybe so. But it was the UN who were at fault for providing peashooters against tanks; and the Bosnian Serbs and their military commander Ratko Mladic who organised and perpetrated the killings.

Utrecht

Utrecht is a city I know well, as I went to university there during the 1980s. In September 1982, I went into lodgings in the Kanaleneiland [Channels' Island] district for two years. I lodged with a lady and her two sons, who were somewhat older than I. After the tramline to Nieuwegein was opened in 1983, I would take that tram to go to her flat.

It was on board that same tram service that three people were shot and killed this morning, and another five were injured, some severely. The TV images showed the area mostly as I remembered it, except for the fly-over. I am horrified at the events in Utrecht, which is a university town, full of young people. I hope the culprit(s) are captured soon.

Auckland

Hatred breeds hatred. First it was people pretending to be of Muslim faith committing atrocities, now there are people pretending to be the opposite carrying out reprisals. Senator Anning's outpourings of bile (the shortest word I can think of) has attracted 17 THOUSAND comments, and I don't feel like reading any of his or his respondents' remarks. Yesterday, the families of those killed in the Bloody Sunday murders in Londonderry expressed their simmering resentment and hatred, 47 years after the event. They want revenge. After 9/11, Islamophobia went into hyperdrive, which has now led us to New Zealand. Social media has its part to play, and it's not a good one. In conclusion: An eye for an eye - (to quote Mahatma Gandhi) ends up making the whole world blind.

Brexit - 14 March 2019

As our MPs manage to get their daily quote of exercise by walking through the lobbies five times today, I wonder what we have gained by watching 650 men, women and Theresa May expending hours of their and our time making lots of vibrations in the sound spectrum.

Best thing to happen is, and I agree with Alex Bell in the P&J today: Theresa May revokes article 50 then quits. New elections, maybe a new referendum (please no) and give ourselves plenty of time to get our shit in order for departing the European Union eventually. Putting a time limit on this process is ludicrous, and has only served to fracture and paralyse British politics. Taking a decision as egged on by our beer swigging Nige, the cowardly Cameron and the inept Corbyn has proven to be the worst decision ever in British history. Please, let's elevate the House of Commons to its proper place, and away from the undeserving soubriquet of House of Fools.

The bride, the babies and the caliphate

The group that calls itself Islamic State managed to establish a state-like entity across Iraq and Syria in 2014. Through international cooperation, it has been militarily defeated, although a hard core of fighters remain at large in the Middle East and beyond. The majority of fighters had to surrender and were placed in refugee camps. Adherents to IS were not just men. Women also flocked to the cause from Europe and elsewhere. One such was a 15-year old British girl, Shemima Begum. With a couple of friends she left for Syria in 2015. After becoming the bride of a Dutch IS fighter, she had two children, both of whom died in infancy. When Ms Begum turned up in a refugee camp after IS was defeated, she expressed a desire to return to the UK. She was also still a vocal adherent to IS, and was not bothered by the sight of corpseless heads in a bin, the fact that innocent people were blown up in the Manchester Arena two years previous, although the death of children was 'sad'. After the media took up her case, Ms Begum's attitudes began to change - but by then, the UK Home Secretary had revoked her UK passport and told her to go to her mother's country of origin - Bangladesh. Bangladesh has since refused her entry. Shemima was pregnant, and gave birth in late January. The child has now died, succumbing to the harsh conditions in the refugee camps.

A war of words has blown up following the death of the baby. Who is to blame? Well, let's face it, at the end of the day that is of course Islamic State and its toxic ideology.

That discussion is in danger of becoming swamped in tides of emotion at the sad death of an infant. The revocation of British citizenship is held up as the cause of death of the child. A baby carries no blame; but its parents do. Shemima Begum and her partner now face the consequences of their actions, which (if anything) have claimed the lives of their three babies. But also the lives of many innocent people in Syria and Iraq, for whom they did not care a jot, feeling invulnerable, beyond the call of the law. The caliphate would grant them protection. Not so anymore.

Should Shemima Begum be restored with British citizenship, if only because it is illegal to render someone stateless? I am very relieved that this judgement call is not mine to make.

8 March 2019

The Brexit muddle is sloughing on to its eventual conclusion, and nobody knows what that will be. My conclusion is that there is in fact nothing wrong with the UK wishing to leave the EU. I don't agree that that is the best course of action. What appals me, even now, three years after that referendum, that nobody really has a scooby doo how Brexit will actually work out. There is still political wrangling and the word backstop has really begun to grate with me. The future is bright, the future is --- a muddle.

March is showing its usual weather pattern, as the transition from winter to spring takes place. The early blooms are out, such as daffodils and snowdrops, and the buds are swelling on trees and plants. Occasional gales play havoc with the ferry schedules, but what do you expect in the Outer Hebrides.