Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Cry Havoc

The meeting between Assad and Ahmadinejad in Damascus earlier last week produced the expected mumbles about the need for stability in Lebanon and their support for the Resistance. Of course, these days those two statements are mutually exclusive.
I mention it only now because it's been keeping me thinking - not a state of mind I like to be in too often - and it worries me what sort of mad scientist plan they have concocted along with Hezbollah, these leaders whose backs are, internationally speaking, against the wall.
Not having anything to lose is not a state of mind that can be reasoned with and the human impulse to not go down alone is a strong one. A scorched earth policy would be the endgame here as both sides have proved that they are either unable or unwilling to act as statesmen. Thug is the word that comes to mind. Plenty of other words do too but I won’t get carried away.

The UN has again called on Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah. Although the statement seems more directed towards Syria than towards Lebanon, it's still a sign that the international community hasn't forgotten. The Lebanese government hasn't even ordered them to disarm, as if ignoring the situation will make it will go away. Desperate times call for desperate measures, people. Find the cojones.
Amazingly, resolution 1559 was passed in September 2004.
Aahhh, I remember it as if it was yesterday....

The news this morning carried the hardly surprising news that Sven's been forced out. So in the Reality League that's Gutter Press-1, Sense of Proportion-0.
As usual, a pretty one-sided game and no match report necessary.

A lot on my mind this month - my lovely Chelsea playing Barcelona again in the Champion's League. Jammy fecking LiverPoo, minging whiners that they are, get Benfica. I know I've said this before, but the time draws near and the reality is setting in like some depression-inducing concrete. Mind you, the Poo's way-overhyped weekend "Clash Of The Titans" against Manure FC was boredom personified. Yawnfest.
Luckily, before I tense up and get all stressed over anything, the Six Nations starts in less than 2 weeks. It's a good time to be a sports fan, sports fans.

In case you're wondering, I've removed Michael Totten's link from my sidebar because he's starting to believe his own publicity and is in danger of disappearing up his own fundament. For those of you wishing to link to him yourselves, he's still here.

If you are sitting around at work with not a lot to do and have access to the net, do yourselves a favour and go here. Download the StumbleUpon toolbar and enjoy some great sites chosen according to your preferences. Some of the gems that I've come across in my Stumbles include this and this. One of my absolute favourites is this guy, but make sure you check out his archives especially Steve, Don't Eat It! Nasty.

Alright, I've been tagged by GrocerJack. I'm gonna go and do the 7 things thingy and post it later. Consider 7 of yourselves warned.

Enjoy.

*Update*....this tagging thing isn't that easy after all. You can be pretty sure I won't be posting it today. For those who were about to be tagged - a reprieve.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Desmond,
Your point regarding the contradictions implicit in the call for Lebanese stability and support for HA is an excellent one. It is actually an oxymoron of sorts:-)But then reason and rationality have never been the strong suit of either Bashar Assad or Ahmadinajad.
The last issue of the Economist reminds Ahmadinajad to check the facts before he makes his accusations about Israel being totally made up of Europeans. They point to the fact that the current Israeli President is a "Farsi speaker who was born in Iran. The same thing is true of the current defense minister. As for the chief advisor for the defense minister he was born in Israel but of Iranian paresnts.

Ms Levantine said...

Desmond, don't get me wrong, I like your blog. But let us make something clear: without Russian mafia money, Chelsea would be battling Sunderland for relegation. What we need is for the Assads to buy the Spurs and the Hariris Fulham to make things interesting. Go Hammers (or at least don't humiliate us).

desmond said...

ghassan,
It worries me when leaders make knee-jerk blanket comments like those - it shows nothing more than intolerance and arrogance.
I always enjoy your comments both here and on other blogs.

ms levantine,
To be fair, without oligarch money (because Don Putin said their mafia doesn't exist...)my lovely Chelsea would be doing what they always did best - hovering 1 or 2 places above the Hammers' current spot!! Nice to see you...& your Premiership plan would bring the Edgware Rd. crowds flooding back, but could you imagine the chants?

Ms Levantine said...

From what I understand they are working on their new anthem: We demand Goals and Truth.

desmond said...

Nice. That works on so many levels.

Anonymous said...

Away from disgusting, depressing, never ending politics, I wuved the stubmle thingie. Thanks a bunch, Freddy Kreger ;-)

desmond said...

Always a pleasure, scarlo...!

Anonymous said...

Chelsea Football Club said it made a pretax loss of £140 million (€204 million) for the year to end-June 2005.



The loss was almost 60 per cent bigger than the club's previous £87.8 million loss.

Chelsea said it was down to a series of exceptional one-off items, including £25.5 million arising from the termination of a contract with kit supplier Umbro and £24 million from a write-down in the value of some players, including Adrian Mutu and Juan Sebastian Veron.



"These figures reflect the continuing restructuring of the business which we began in 2003/4," chief executive Peter Kenyon said in a statement.

"The overall loss increase is, in the main, down to some exceptional items that were necessary in order to help us achieve our strategic business aim of break-even by 2009/10.

"In simple terms we have taken some pain now for long-term gain," Mr Kenyon said.