The Second Page
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Here's a mix of various professional Reports & Comments of great interest, well to me at least
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Observations From Sunny EU Berlin – 23.05.2024
Today marks the 75th anniversary of Post-WWII – EU
Germany’s (United - BRD) ‚written‘ constitution and basic
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-marks-75-years-of-postwwii- constitution/video-69156363
Many aspects were also gleaned from English & US
Common Law
EYE Letter from Tehran
WORLD from Our Own Correspondent
„The world might be holding its breath as our all-powerful
Sepah, aka the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, considers
its response to Israel’s 19 April military strike on Isfahan, but
we ordinary Iranians have more pressing concerns.
International sanctions, rampant inflation and a collapsing currency
mean the rial is worth less than a twentieth of its value a decade
ago, and 1kg of meat takes a huge chunk out of the average
monthly wage. Underlying our economic woe is an enduring despair
with the establishment in general and Sepah in particular, which use
conflicts abroad to divert attention from their incompetence and
unpopularity at home.
The Sepah, often referred to as a state within a state, has never
been stronger or richer. It has its own airlines, banks and telecoms
companies, plus a plethora of real estate and a global oil smuggling
network handled via front companies in the UAE, Malaysia and
elsewhere. Outside Iran, the Sepah’s elite Quds Force has spent
tens of billions of dollars propping up the Assad regime in
Damascus, supplying it with free oil since Syria’s uprising began in
2011. Then there are weapons it sends via Syria to its favourite
proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, often using Iranian commercial
airlines. Russia is a good customer for drones and munitions, too.
In a leaked phone conversation three years ago, former foreign
minister Javad Zarif complained the Sepah had more influence in
foreign affairs than he did, he wasn’t wrong. The Sepah are both
hated and feared. There was a distinct lack of compassion here for
the Quds Force commanders killed in Israel’s airstrike on our
consulate in Damascus on 1 April. Many felt similar indifference – in
some cases, closer to joy – when a US drone strike near Baghdad
in 2020 vaporised Qasim Soleimani, the force’s legendary leader.
He was portrayed as an Iranian hero by some in the western media,
but not by us.
The suppression of protests following Mahsa Amini’s death in
custody in 2022 for headscarf violations saw more than 500 deaths
and 20,000-plus arrests. It left few with an appetite for politics and
bequeathed an overwhelming sense of apathy and cynicism. The
official turnout for last month’s elections to the Majlis, or parliament,
was around 40 percent, the lowest since the 1979 revolution. The
true figure may have been closer to half that; but that didn’t stop out
glorious Supreme Leader, Ayotollah Ali Khamenei, describing the
elections as „great and epic“, lambasting Iran’s enemies for trying to
dissuade voters from voting.
Meanwhile, the poll held simultaneously to choose new members of
the Assembly of Experts was no less, er, electrifying. A group of 84
clerics that makes your own House of Lords look dizzyingly
dynamic, the assembly has one real job: to choose a new Supreme
Leader when the incumbent breathes his last. You can imagine our
delight when spritely Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati was re-elected its
chairman at just 97. Who will fill the sandals of the current Supreme
Leader? No one knows, It may end up being out charisma-free
president, Ebrahim Raisi, who is up for re-election next year – or
Khamenei could try to bypass the Assemby of Experts and slip the
mantle to his son, Mojtaba. In a sense, it doesn’t really matter:
unless something extraordinary moves the dial from within (we
remain as distrustful of our own Sunni neighbours as we are of
meddling western powers, especially the US and Britain), the power
behind the throne will still be the Sepah, who have all the levers to
shape our destiny.“
Private Eye Magazine – London (Printed Edition - issue 1622
April/May 2024)
PS: This report was published about 3 weeks before the fatal
‚accidendal‘ helicopter crash that killed Iranian president Ebrahim
Raisi and other senior government officials.
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How all so very Kafkaesque
Posted 03.06.24 (the 100th Anniversary of his death)
https://www.prague.eu/en/event/186/the-city-of-k-franz-kafka-and-prague?back=1
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You read it here first folks – Posted – 19.07.24
Posted – 05.10.24 – Just about hits the old nail on the head, in respect of who actually can de facto get Justice ‚seen to be done‘ Then & Now (sic) (with reasonable, well-timed compensation going to the actual victims, and not 95%+ of it to greedy fuggin lawyers) in the ever-sunny UK methinks – „Cripes!“
Posted – 06.10.24 – This is seriously well worth listening to, and totally relevant to the „Phoney Pharoah“ stories just above – (The silly initial ad quickly goes away, it's in the second half if you desire to Fast Forward?) https://www.private-eye.co.uk/podcast/123
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Posted – 07.01.25 - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ew0lzggr7o It’s pretty difficult to imagine just what would happen if something this terrible ever happened to the UK’s favourite Satirical News & Current-Affairs Magazine? How would H.M. Gutter Press et al, get all their proper scoop stories (sic) into perspective and roughly real-time-orientated? And just who for god’s sake, would have/love to step/jump in, to do the highly-adored Telly Slots, Clarkson, Fatty Johnson, Rees-Mogg or Brand? „Cripes!“ PS: And not forgetting much of the fine material, posted on this here World-Beating Blog too of course – Hooray!
Posted - 13.01.25 - No comments required - https://www.private-eye.co.uk/rotten-boroughs
Posted
– 19.02.25 – Definately not one of the choicest places to be
arrested and imprisoned at the moment -
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c743jle3vkno
Posted - 10.04.25 - Perhaps that nice Mr Farage & his ever-greedy, racist chums, have scared them all away? - https://www.dw.com/en/asylum-applications-are-declining-in-eu-germany-but-the-numbers-arent-the-full-picture/a-72186640
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