The Iranian regime is impervious to reason

Melanie Phillips, Why Iran will not ‘come to its senses’

War with Iran is a truly fearsome prospect ...

But however fearsome this prospect, that of a nuclear-armed Iran is worse ...

It could mount its long-threatened attempt to wipe Israel off the map ...

... the west is putting on a show of strength to show Iran that the west ‘really, really means it’ in order to get Iran to ‘come to its senses’.

To which there are three points to make. First, this is all far, far too late ...

Second, even these tougher sanctions are likely to be ineffective as they will be circumnavigated by Russia, China and others ...

But third, the deeper problem is the west’s assumption that the Iranian regime is capable of ‘coming to its senses’ – its assumption that these are rational actors who ultimately will act in their own interest. Few in the west understand that, on the contrary, the Iranian regime is impervious to reason. Educated, intelligent and cunning they may be – but they are religious fanatics driven by an entirely different set of considerations. That’s what makes this situation so terrifying.

As I have written over and over again, from the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei downwards the Iranian regime is dominated by people (adherents of a sect called the ‘Twelvers’) who believe that the Shia messiah, the Mahdi, will return to earth either as result of or to bring about the apocalyptic end of days. It is that apocalypse that they are intent upon facilitating. That is why the argument that ‘they wouldn’t dare launch a nuclear attack because they know half of Iran would be obliterated as a result’ is so fatuous. They would be happy if that were to occur ...

What really threatens to bring the west to its knees is its own cultural hubris. Refracting everything in the world through the prism of its unshakeable faith in universal reason, it is incapable of recognising or understanding religious fanaticism – and insists instead upon treating the fanatic as a rational actor ...

File under: treating the fanatic as a rational actor.

Video: Africans wanted over Perth stomping

A video of the alleged racially motivated stomping in Perth that left a shoeprint in the victim's face.

File under: the alleged footprint of diversity.

Diversity: who needs it?

This guy does not object to diversity in moderate amounts, but does object to mass immigration that transforms Britain into angry squabbling tribes. Diversity should have limits and a nation should have the right to remain largely homogeneous. A good video.


Summary:

Diversity isn't a virtue. It isn't a benefit to society. It isn't even anything anybody ever planned on having. Diversity is no more a social good than is obesity, climate change or pollution. Just like those other realities of modern life diversity is an unintended consequence of other policies and blind forces. We no more have to pretend we welcome ethnic diversity than we have to celebrate erosion or the loss of woodland.

Diverse nations are not nice places to live and they are not easy places to build the social consensus necessary to operate a successful welfare state.

File under: why is this seen as something radical?

Charlie Teo does not have a brain, he has a bias

Welcome to Australia Day 2012, where we are lectured to about how racist we are by an Asian brain surgeon who needs a scalpel to find his own demented bias.


Here he talks about white Australia's racist "rage" ...

Probably 3 or 4 months of the year I spend working in developing countries and it always surprises me that there's no rage there where there ought to be ...

And in Australia, where we seem to have everything, there's more rage. People are angrier...

I think there should be zero tolerance when it comes to racism...

Things have changed in the last 50 years, the minority groups almost are the majority groups, and people need to have a complete different mindset about that. The absolute typical Australian is no longer the white fella who's wearing a pair of boardies ...

Gee, why would racially homogeneous nations be less angry than diversified Australia? Hmm? What could the difference be? Hmm? Homogeneous versus diversity. Hmm?

Of course, you don't need to be a brain surgeon to conclude that diversity is making white Australians unhappy, and we'd be infinitely more happy if we remained largely homogeneous. But can this genius brain surgeon see through his bias to the obvious truth? Nope, that's an inconvenient truth that would conclude diverse immigration should be stopped.

Teo is a textbook case of motivated reasoning, where one cannot (or will not) see facts in plain sight because of one's bias:

The theory of motivated reasoning builds on a key insight of modern neuroscience: Reasoning is actually suffused with emotion (or what researchers often call “affect”). Not only are the two inseparable, but our positive or negative feelings about people, things, and ideas arise much more rapidly than our conscious thoughts, in a matter of milliseconds—fast enough to detect with an EEG device, but long before we’re aware of it...

We’re not driven only by emotions, of course—we also reason, deliberate. But reasoning comes later, works slower—and even then, it doesn’t take place in an emotional vacuum. Rather, our quick-fire emotions can set us on a course of thinking that’s highly biased, especially on topics we care a great deal about...

In other words, when we think we're reasoning, we may instead be rationalizing. Or to use an analogy offered by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt: We may think we're being scientists, but we're actually being lawyers. Our "reasoning" is a means to a predetermined end—winning our "case"—and is shot through with biases...

File under: genius brain surgeon ignores obvious truth to suit his ethnic bias of wanting to further colonise Australia with non-whites until the "minority becomes the majority".

African gang wanted for racial bashing of Perth teen

Bashed teen speaks of terror

Perth detectives are hunting up to 20 youths, believed to be of African descent, who were involved in the attack in the city at 11.30pm last night...

19-year-old James Claxon ... said he and four friends had just got off a train and had been walking through Forrest Place towards a city nightclub when they were confronted by the group...

"The only thing I heard before they caught me was: 'Who are these white c**ts?' It was totally unprovoked.

"They kicked me in the head a few times, stomped on my head a few times, kicked me in the kidneys and the ribs. It was mostly around the head and the ribs...

Detective Sergeant Steve Coelho said the gang appeared to have been walking from the McIver train station on a "rampage" last night.

"They have singled out white Australians and for no reason whatsoever, completely unprovoked, they've attacked one of the males. That lead to a vicious assault. He's had severe facial injuries and his head literally stomped on," Det-Sgt Steve Coelho said.

File under: brought to you by the bleeding-heart pro-diversity ideologues.

Alain de Botton: Atheism 2.0

An excellent TED talk by philosopher and atheist Alain de Botton on how atheism, being somewhat vacuous and individualistic in nature, can learn from religion in building a more substantial culture and community. I haven't found a transcript but an intro and related article are below.


Introduction:

For the last decade or so it's been quite clear what being an atheist means. There have been some very vocal atheists who've pointed out not just that religion is wrong, but that it's ridiculous... Now, I think it's too easy to dismiss the whole of religion that way ... and what I'd like to inaugurate today is a new way of being an atheist ... a new version of atheism we could call Atheism 2.0 ... It starts from a very basic premise: of course there's no god ... now let's move on, that's not the end of the story, that's the very, very beginning. I'm interested in a kind of constituancy that thinks ... I can't believe in any of this stuff, I can't believe in the doctrines, but ... who are attracted to the ritualistic side, the moralistic, communal side of religion but can't bear the doctrine.

Until now, these people have faced a rather unpleasant choice, it's either you accept the doctrine and you can have all the nice stuff, or you reject the doctrine and then you're living in a sort of spiritual wasteland under the guidance of CNN and Walmart ... I don't think we have to make that choice, I think there is an alternative. I think there are ways ... of stealing from religions. If you don't believe in a religion there's nothing wrong with picking and mixing, with taking out the best sides of religion.

Atheism 2.0 is about ... going through religions and say "what here could we use?". The secular world is full of holes, we have secularised badly ... and a thorough study of religion can give us all sorts of insights into areas of life that are not going too well, and I'd like to run through a few of these today ...

FAQ with Alain de Botton on ‘religion for atheists’

What is it you’re most interested in in religion?

The secular world believes that if we have good ideas, we will be reminded of them just when it matters. Religions don’t agree. They are all about structure; they want to build calendars for us, that will make sure that we regularly encounter reminders of significant concepts. That is what rituals are: they are attempts to make vivid to us things we already know, but are likely to have forgotten. Religions are also keen to see us as more than just rational minds, we are emotional and physical creatures, and therefore, we need to be seduced via our bodies and our senses too.

You propose to reform schools and universities to teach humans how to deal with the most important existential problems; loneliness, pain and death for example. Why? Can existential lessons be taught at school?

The starting point of religion is that we are children, and we need guidance. The secular world often gets offended by this. It assumes that all adults are mature – and therefore, it hates didacticism, it hates the idea of moral instruction. But of course we are children, big children who need guidance and reminders of how to live. And yet the modern education system denies this. It treats us all as far too rational, reasonable, in control. We are far more desperate than secular modernity recognises. All of us are on the edge of panic and terror pretty much all the time – and religions recognise this. We need to build a similar awareness into secular structures.

Religions are fascinating because they are giant machines for making ideas vivid and real in people’s lives: ideas about goodness, about death, family, community etc. Nowadays, we tend to believe that the people who make ideas vivid are artists and cultural figures, but this is such a small, individual response to a massive set of problems. So I am deeply interested in the way that religions are in the end institutions, giant machines, organisations, directed to managing our inner life. There is nothing like this in the secular world, and this seems a huge pity.

File under: teach the children well.

Why Won't GOP Candidates Talk About China?

Richard Seireeni, Why Won't GOP Candidates Talk About China?

In the run up to the Republican Convention, we've heard everything and nothing. We've heard Newt, Mitt and Ron go on about issues that have little if any impact on jobs and national security, but not a single word about the real reason we have massive and permanent unemployment. We've heard very little about the greatest national security threat facing our nation. That problem is unfair, unbalanced trade with the People's Republic of China.

In 2010, we imported 364 billion dollars in goods from China while we exported only 91 billion to them. That is nearly a 4 to 1 trade imbalance...

With capital and technology that came from the West, China has become the factory to the world in less than 20 years. The Chinese people have become admirable competitors, but their hybrid Totalitarian-Capitalist government is not our friend. They don't share our philosophies on human rights, labor rights, or geo-political issues, like containment of Iran's nuclear ambitions. In fact, China is a major importer of Iranian oil, in opposition to U.S.-sponsored trade restrictions, and has probably received access to our recently downed drone aircraft as a reward.

While GOP candidates are preoccupied with Terrorism and Obamacare, the People's Liberation Army has been quietly developing a new advanced stealth fighter, Predator-style drones, the first in a planned fleet of blue water aircraft carriers, an advanced rocket and space program, and a growing nuclear arsenal. Those cheap consumer products have turned China into a super power one purchase at a time. Every time an American patriot buys a Made-in-China product at Walmart, he or she is investing in China's military expansion, which forces us to invest more in our military to counter the threat.

... If you didn't read the label on your new toaster, you'd never know that you are helping the PRC send a rocket to the moon.

Supporters of free trade, whose views dominate in right-wing think tanks, will argue that unfettered trade floats all boats, but in our trade with China, their boat is rising much, much faster. Ours, in fact, is sinking...

What most Americans don't realize is that we buy high-tech consumer goods from China while the few exports we ship to China are mostly grains, raw materials and scrap. It appears that we are the Third World country and China is among the First...

Chinese have a right to build their economy, but we do not have an obligation to build China's military and worldwide political power.

Via: Chris Lewis

File under: Chinese goods are not cheap.

Yet more holiday viewing

Crazy kayakers on the Ottawa River, Canada.


File under: envy.

Turkey's 'concentration camp' for secularists

Turkish prosecutor probes opposition over plot trial remark

Turkey's main opposition leader is being investigated over critical remarks he made about a prison near Istanbul and the integrity of judges presiding over the "Ergenekon" trials, state media reported on Monday.

The probe into remarks by Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was launched three days after the arrest of a former armed forces chief in the sweeping investigation into alleged plots to overthrow the government by the underground Ergenekon network.

The arrest of Ilker Basbug, who retired in 2010, was a stunning blow to the prestige of the military, once the most powerful body in the country.

Hundreds of people, including military officers, academics, lawyers and journalists, have been arrested in the Ergenekon investigation, though many people are sceptical about the existence of the shadowy network described by prosecutors.

Ergenekon is seen as part of a power struggle between the secularist establishment and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK party, which has roots in a banned Islamist party and swept to power in 2002.

The investigation of Kilicdaroglu follows remarks he made on a visit to two party deputies - both Ergenekon defendants - in Silivri prison west of Istanbul, and his critical comments on special courts set up for Ergenekon trials.

State media quoted him as saying Silivri prison was like a "concentration camp." ...

Turkey's Former Top Soldier Arrested Over Alleged Coup Plot

General Ilker Basbug, Turkey's top soldier until 2010, was jailed Friday morning, the highest ranking officer arrested to date in a group of court cases alleging a terrorist plot to topple the government.

The former Chief of the General Staff was taken to jail to await trial following an hours-long interrogation by prosecutors Thursday afternoon. Shortly after midnight, a court accepted the prosecutors' request to formally detain Gen. Basbug.

The questioning and arrest were in connection with an alleged internet campaign launched by lower ranking military officers that established news and other websites aimed at discrediting the Islamic-leaning government of Turkey's Justice and Development Party, or AKP, with a view to toppling it after its election in 2002.

Hundreds of defendants, including more than 100 military officers, plus journalists and academics are currently awaiting or on trial in cases related to the alleged coup plot. Defendants and many analysts argue the cases have become a political tool to discredit and weaken Turkey's once all-powerful armed forces...

Gareth H. Jenkins, THE ARREST OF İLKER BAŞBUĞ

In the early hours of January 6, 2012, General İlker Başbuğ, who served as chief of the Turkish General Staff from 2008 to 2010, was arrested and imprisoned on allegations of “founding or directing an armed terrorist organization” and “inciting the overthrow of the government of the Turkish Republic or the prevention of it fulfilling its duties”. For many, the arrest of Başbuğ on terrorist charges will be regarded not so much as demonstrating that the General staff is no longer untouchable but that the Fethullah Gülen Movement has the power to imprison whoever it likes...

Başbuğ is the highest-ranking member of the Turkish military to be arrested since the Ergenekon investigation was first launched in June 2007. When news of his arrest broke, pro-AKP journalists fervently proclaimed that it marked another step towards the “normalization” of civil-military relations and was proof that, with the former commander of the once untouchable General staff behind bars, nobody was now above the law. In reality, the picture is considerably more disturbing.

Defenders of the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases often argue that, even if they contain some flaws, they are nevertheless necessary in order to break the political power of the General staff. In fact, the Ergenekon investigation was only launched when the AKP was confident that the General staff was a spent force politically and that the era of military tutelage was finally over. Since 2007, over 600 defendants have been charged in the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases, including nearly 400 serving and retired members of the military. In the Sledgehammer case alone, 250 officers are currently in prison pending trial, including more than 50 serving generals and admirals. The case against them rests on a purported coup plot which prosecutors allege was initiated in December 2002 and finalized in March 2003 – even though it contains references to events in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. As with the prosecutor’s claim that approval of propaganda websites is proof that Başbuğ is a member of an “armed terrorist organization”, the irrationality of the Sledgehammer allegations has failed to halt the case or to persuade the court to release the defendants pending the completion of their trial.

If, as currently seems likely, Başbuğ is eventually explicitly charged with membership of Ergenekon, he will join a motley collection of defendants whose only common characteristic appears to be that they are opposed to the AKP or have alienated followers of the exiled Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. Critics maintain that Gülen’s supporters now control large sections of the police force and judicial system and are driving both the Ergenekon and the Sledgehammer investigations.

Turkish ex-president Kenan Evren faces coup charge

A Turkish court has accepted indictments against the country's seventh president, Kenan Evren, for his role in the 1980 army coup.

Prosecutors are seeking life terms for Gen Evren, 94, and another retired general, Tahsin Sahinkaya, 86, the only survivors among the five coup leaders.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday the time for coups was over...

The indictment of the surviving leaders of the 12 September 1980 coup is seen as a result of changes to Turkey's 1982 constitution, under which the leaders of the army had been given effective immunity from prosecution.

The authors of this video, Pınar Doğan and Dani Rodrik, are the daughter and son-in-law of Çetin Doğan, currently in prison as the alleged leader of the Sledgehammer plot.

File under: democracy is a train ride in Muslim countries, a one-way ticket to Islamic theocracy.

70 years of tomato sauce production ends

"It's really gut-wrenching ... The manufacturing processing of food in Australia is just buggered ... The government should be looking at it because we all can't work in a service industry".

146 jobs lost as Heinz closes Girgarre factory

HEINZ will no longer make tomato sauce in Australia leading to the loss of 146 jobs when it closes the doors on a factory in Victoria's north... before moving sauce production to New Zealand.

The move will see 146 employees lose their jobs and affect three tomato growers...

Heinz Australia's supply chain director Mike Robinson said the cost of making the factory competitive was too high...

... the redundancies represented the continuation of the Goulburn Valley's hard-luck story.

About 150 workers also lost their jobs when SPC Ardmona closed a fruit cannery in September last year.

Hey, Prime Minister Julia Gillard! Hey, Trade Minister Craig Emerson! Anybody home? Are you OK with more jobs going overseas? Is there any trace of intelligence or conscious left in your brains? Anything at all? Yoohoo? Anybody home? Knock knock? Wakey, wakey.

Oh, stupid me, what was I thinking? Of course we are just "transitioning" to more competitive industries in the new Asian Century. Silly me. At ease people, the ship is in good hands. The captain knows exactly what she's doing. Yep, we're moving forward. Forward to where you ask? Oh don't ask such silly questions, Labor is the progressive party so they must have a good answer. Surely they do. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure they know what they're doing. Yep.

Oh, that's right, I forgot about Gillard's master plan: "There is a simple equation at work here: trade equals growth, equals jobs". Phew, I'm glad it's so simple, I was getting worried there for a minute.

Doo, doo, dee, dum... Spose we all better go register with Centrelink then, hey, until another business "transitions" into town. I reckon once the carbon tax kicks in that'll make us more competitive in the Asian region. Yep, sunshine and lollipops are on the way...

File under: the gut-wrenching and brain-dead ideology of free-trade strikes again.

More holiday viewing

Robert Pecnik of Phoenix-Fly carving around the Swiss mountains in his V4 wingsuit. Expertly filmed by Ludo Woerth, also flying the V4.





File under: wow!

What country is this?

These pics are from Myer and David Jones at their 2011 Boxing Day sales in Sydney, Australia.

File under: country for sale.