A New Goethe Needed 114


The Peacock Throne of the Mughal Emperors was set at the heart of beautiful gardens, fountains and elegant courtyards. Poetry was as important to them as warfare. On the throne was set the inscription: “If there be heaven on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.”

I am in Dubai. If there be hell on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here. Dubai. The land that taste forgot. Apparently designed to gather together as many as possible of the nastiest people from all continents, and give them anything their heart desires. I am sure, if you could just find the right person to chuck a spare million, you could make a snuff movie starring one of the unfortunate little Sri Lankans or Central Asians who are everywhere, doing all the work, but apparently invisible. Then you could go to a Spa.

It is as though someone had given Jordan a trillion dollars and a million slaves and invited her to construct the city of her dreams. For those who believe that consumption is the purpose of life, this is the new Mecca. I think I can sum it up best by saying that I am continually expecting to see Tony and Cherie come round the corner, followed by Mandy, Nat Rothschild, Deripaska and Gulnara. I met nicer people and my soul was less disturbed up country in the middle of the Sierra Leone civil war. My God, I want to get out of here, burn all my clothes and shower for a week.


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114 thoughts on “A New Goethe Needed

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  • Mary

    You will not hear Humphrys on Radio 4 Today this morning asking Meridor about the number of nuclear warheads Israel possesses, what goes on at Dimona and how Mordechai Vanunu is.
    .
    8.34
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9707000/9707000.stm
    .
    Israel’s deputy Prime Minister has said that if Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons, it would be “almost catastrophic”.
    .
    Dan Meridor, who is alos the country’s minister for intelligence and atomic energy, said that “it would be a different world altogether”, and the “beginning of a nuclear race” if Iran were to get nuclear weapons.
    .
    Mr Meridor, who is in London to speak at the The International Institute for Strategic Studies about Israel’s perspective on the changing strategic landscape in the Middle East was reflecting on the growing concern in Israel about the implications of Iran’s nuclear programme.
    .
    He said that America and the European Union have taken “important steps” in imposing economic sanctions, adding that “we’re in the eye of the storm”.
    .
    But he said that “this is not an Israeli story” and that “stating and setting deadlines and red lines is not very helpful”
    .
    “It sends shivers of fear to all Arab countries and is against the basic stability of the region”, he continued.
    .
    He finished by saying there is “no way out but one. Stop the nuclear project”.
    .
    Please note: We apologise for the delay on the line.

  • Passerby

    Komodo,
    Caught a glimpse of the Sky reporter, talking about the GPs opposition to divert even more profits to the private sector …… silence/technical hitch/censor….. with sound getting back to normal when he finished.
    ,
    The plutocrats can no longer be arsed to hide their ill intentions, they are now openly going about stripping us all from all our assets never mind the public assets.

  • netlinking

    Its such as you read my mind! You appear to grasp so much about this, such as you wrote the guide in it or something. I think that you just can do with a few percent to power the message home a little bit, but instead of that, that is excellent blog. An excellent read. I’ll definitely be back.

  • boniface goncourt

    Don’t expect anything but zionist muck from John Heimfriess.
    Israhell’s ‘Iranian problem’ is the same as Nazi Germany’s 1939 ‘Czech problem’. Nazi Germany WAS the Czech problem.

  • Frazer

    Thanks Mary for the link…quite fancy the look of the BMW…might start up a second hand scrap business lol…

  • Mary

    The ba*tards have done it. If Owen, Jenkins, Rodgers and Williams had fought their corner in the Laour party, there would have no Social Democratic Party in 1981 and hence no Liberal Democrats. The latter have sold us down the river.
    .
    The British National Health Service: 5th July 1948 – 20th March 2012 RIP
    .
    The process of privatisation begun under Thatcher is virtually complete:
    .
    “7.09pm: We are watching the final amendment being debated in the House of Lords. But there is fury on twitter about the BBC’s lack of coverage of the health bill in the upper house.

    .
    6.31pm: No Lib Dems would back Lord Owen. Instead 73 vote with the government to block any delay in the bill’s progress just because we don’t know what the risks are and the information commissioner thinks we should.
    .
    5.08pm: It’s a pretty heavy defeat of Lord Owen’s amendment. Lib Dems lined up behind their Tory counterparts.
    .
    One vignette worth considering is that sources tell the blog that Baron O’Donnell (Gus O’Donnell), the former cabinet secretary who served four prime ministers, was seen watching with intent as the vote came in. When it was won he raised a clenched fist in victory. The instinct to keep things from the public obviously runs deep in the civil service.”
    .
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/19/nhs-reforms-live-monday-19-march
    .
    The British National Health Service
    5th July 1948 – 20th March 2012
    RIP
    .
    ConDems – No mandate for privatisation
    .
    Copied from Vegetable Man on Medialens

  • Mary

    A goldmine for speculators
    http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/116790
    .
    It beggars belief that David Cameron has the brass neck to cite water privatisation as a successful model for his plan to hand over our roads to profit-hungry speculators.
    .
    “Why is it that other infrastructure – for example water – is funded by private sector capital through privately owned, independently regulated utilities but roads in Britain call on the public finances for funding?” he asked disingenuously.
    .
    Because, Prime Minister, water, gas, electricity, rail and the rest are natural monopolies that, with the right amount of corporate ruthlessness and governmental complicity, can be an absolute goldmine for speculators.
    .
    Cameron’s helpful backbencher Matthew Hancock suggested that, “over the past decade or so, one of the few bills that hasn’t gone up as sharply as council tax and other taxes has been water bills.”
    .
    /…

  • Komodo

    Now is presumably not the time to mention that the water companies are wasting as much water as they are selling because profits come before re-investment in infrastructure…and requesting government restrictions on consumption.
    I was also smiling when some apparatchik told us the the handover of the roads would result in less congestion. This would be, I imagine, because there would be no more expensive road maintenance, ever, and no roadworks, when the new age has dawned.
    And what of an affordable joined-up public transport designed to get people to work without building more roads? (But answer came there none..)

  • Komodo

    Analysis -”Wargaming Iran” now starting on R4. Will not prejudge….although I can guess.

  • Jay

    What happened to “not for profit” companies?

    Surely in our current cultural and economic climate this would be a test of our britishness in nation building.

    One thing I know not a lot beats a good days work.

  • Mark Golding - Children of Iraq Association

    In memory of Danny Jowenko (PBUH, RIP):
    .
    Danny Jowenko gained further notoriety when former Director of Studies at the US Army War College, Dr. Alan Sabrosky, said in a radio interview in 2010, that his skepticism of the official WTC story was prompted by Jowenko’s testimony. Jowenko’s death comes three days after Sabrosky gave an exclusive interview to PressTV in which he again reiterated his belief, which he says is common knowledge in some intelligence circles, that elements within both the CIA and Israeli Mossad planned the demolition of the twin towers. Dr. Sabrosky holds the General of the Army Douglas MacArthur Chair of Research at US Army War College.
    .
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-tYNIqwdFzY#!

  • boniface goncourt

    Re the NHS, “A population of sheep will get a government of wolves”. Brits are too docile. Too much textin and not enough trashin. Just imagine if these tory bastards lived not just in fear of being egged, but in fear of their health. Look what the muslims get away with. Slightest insult to their prophet, and they are out burning embassies, exploding car bombs, and assassinating Dutchmen. Tell them the NHS means ‘National Halal Sunni’, mess with the NHS, you are haram. The beardies know where you live. See how Lansley, Gove etc like being burned in effigy, or not in effigy. Only language they understand.

  • oof puff grunt aaah

    “NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, Despicable Scumbag President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the revoked Constitution and the bullshit laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 19, 2012, as a National Day of Honor. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that commemorate the return of the United States Armed Forces from Iraq.”

    In the spirit of appropriate activities I took a big greasy dump on the star-spangled banner.

  • James Chater

    I am he! Please could you direct me to a small principate, nestling in the hills, where I could be prime minister and write poetry? Somewhere like Wales, but where it rains less!

  • Mary

    Does anyone understand the government’s plan for the NHS?
    Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
    .
    “I was not looking forward to January. Each year I teach a course on health systems. My students are among the brightest and best of their generation. They come to London each year from more than 100 countries in a search for enlightenment about health and health policy. Last year the hot topic for discussion was the reorganisation of the US health system, led by President Obama. Although it required a few days of intensive reading, it was not difficult to explain…
    .
    This year it is different. I know my students will expect me to explain the changes proposed by the Department of Health in England. If I am to do so, I need to understand them first. Here lies the problem. No matter how hard I try, I can’t—despite 25 years of experience researching health systems, including writing over 30 books and 500 academic papers.
    .
    My first problem is understanding the problem the changes are trying to solve…
    .
    My second problem is to understand what is being proposed. I can take some consolation from Malcolm Grant, the incoming chairman of the National Commissioning Board, himself a distinguished academic, who has described the bill as “completely unintelligible” {www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/19/nhs-reform-bill-completely-unintelligible}, but surely there must be someone somewhere who understands it?
    .
    … My third problem is understanding why so much is happening now. I know this will be a particular problem when I try to explain things to my American students, who have a clear understanding of the concept of the separation of powers between the executive, legislature, and judiciary. The US president, like his counterparts in most advanced democracies, cannot do anything without the approval of the legislature… Yet, here, the Health and Social Care Bill 2011 is already being implemented even though it has not passed into law. Indeed, the government’s main justification for passing the bill now seems to be that the bill is already being implemented and it is impossible to go back. How will I explain to my students that this is not contempt of parliament? ”
    .
    See also Paul Corrigan: Who will account to Parliament for all the unconstitutional changes that have been made if the bill fails?
    .
    “One of the main arguments currently being used by those in favour of the Health and Social Care Bill getting through its last stages in Parliament is that most of the changes it would bring about have already started to happen. Those arguing for the Bill say that to stop it now would cause greater disruption than if the changes go ahead.

    .
    This is a good, practical argument. It makes sense to people who intuitively know that in their own lives when they are halfway through something – even if they know it was a mistake to have started it – that sometimes it’s better to finish it – and then have a think about what to do next.
    .
    Those arguing for the passing of the Bill do so for this very pragmatic, common sense reason.
    .
    The only problem with this argument is that in this context it completely undermines the sovereignty of Parliament.
    .
    The Bill to abolish PCTs has yet to pass through Parliament, but they have already been abolished.
    .
    The Bill to set up the National Commissioning Board is yet to pass through Parliament, but this illegal body already has a Chief Executive and Chair – and last week outlined its structure, where the staff are going to sit, and what they will do.
    .
    The Bill that will move public health functions to local authorities has not passed through Parliament, but most Directors of Public Health are already spending a lot of their time arguing about to whom within the local authority they should report.”
    .
    That’s all quite apart from the content of the Bill which is almost certainly in violation of our international obligations under the ICESCR (which, apart from anything else, requires state signatories to ‘progressively realise’ the right to health. ie. not only not to go backwards in health provision, but not even to stand still: health care provision is supposed to become more comprehensive, more equal, accessible to all – etc etc.)
    .
    Fails on every single count.
    .
    http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e399
    .
    Q. Where is our law?

  • Komodo

    I am beginning to think Boniface G has a point. If democracy changed anything it would be illegal.

  • Uzbek in the UK

    Mr Murray
    .
    You are quite right. If there is a place on earth that can be compared to Hell, then Dubai certainly ticks most of the boxes.
    .
    It is hard to find another place where money could buy everything, and by this I mean everything. Having money in Dubai means that one could get away with anything including murder, not to mention dirty ways of money making. In Dubai no one questions how you made your money, what matters the most is to find a sponsor (local Arab resident) and continue making money avoiding any sort of responsibility.
    .
    You might be familiar with confessions of Farhad Inogambaev, former chef financial adviser to Gulnara Karimova. According to Inogambaev, Dubai was the most important centre in Gulnara Karimova’s money laundering chain. It is now believed that Gulnara owns fair (to her but not fair to millions of Uzbekistanis) share of the most lucrative estate development projects in Dubai, Europe, US, South America, China and Russia. Not to mention that Gulnara through her business associates was involved in sex trafficking of Uzbek women to UAE and to Dubai in particular.
    .
    Another infamous link between Dubai and Uzbekistan is through Gafur Rakhimov, Uzbek thug who was mentioned by Mr Murray before. Rakhimov is known for his interests in horseracing but his frequent visits to Dubai are due to another more important and more profitable business, drugs. Gafur and his pal Salim Abduvaliev are believed to be two most important middle men in drug trafficking from Afghanistan. It is believed that both thugs play major liaison role in converting drugs into hard cash and also in making sure that converted cash is invested in the most appropriate way.
    .
    All in all, Dubai is (and this might sound controversial) clear example of Muslim hypocrisy. Not to say that it is relevant to all Muslims but certainly to the most of those who are Arab residents of Dubai. By Muslim hypocrisy I mean the way of enriching themselves through dirty money and yet at the same time keeping their hands clear and putting Good Muslim face. Who on earth would believe that resident of Dubai are Good Muslims when very foundations of their material success based on what is strictly prohibited in Holly Quran? Hypocrisy in its very brightest shine.

  • Nicholas Shaxson

    By coincidence, I just wrote an article on Dubai, looking into what exactly the problem is with it. (In short, it’s a particularly dirty tax haven.) Relax standards, and attract the hot money. And in your wake, contribute to the problem of failed states elswhere.
    http://treasureislands.org/dubai-one-of-the-filthiest-spots-on-the-planet/
    A commenter pointed to your article, and I’ve pasted some of it up. We are basically saying the same thing, but in a different way.

  • Komodo

    Uzbek, I think it is unfair to brand this as Muslim hypocrisy. It is human hypocrisy, and by no stretch of the imagination a specifically Muslim characteristic. Think of the pious Christian godbotherers like Bush…and reflect that Dubai’s “development” is paralleled by numerous other examples of insultingly conspicuous consumption based on the naked exploitation of the underclass by dim and venal autocrats; St Petersburg, for instance, or Versailles.

  • Uzbek in the UK

    Komodo
    .
    I see sense in your words but what makes Dubai different from St Petersburg or Versailles is that if you ask ANY Arab resident of Dubai whether or not they are Good Muslims, the immediate answer that you get will be YES. And then when you start citing Holly Quran to them and particularly where it is said that usury is strictly prohibited the immediate answer you get will be WE are NOT usurers, and depending at what angle you look at it their answer might be sincere truth.
    .
    The other part of hypocrisy is that Arab residents of Dubai treat Muslims much harsher than non-Muslims. If you ever been in Dubai airport you will see a difference of how passenger from Karachi are treated against passengers from London. And this is not to mention pay differences. English, French, Swiss or any other White financial adviser who seats comfortable in his modern Dubai office where air conditioning keep constant temperature of 20 degrees earns 100 (if not more) times more than Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Iraqi worker who is under hot sun cleaning streets in Dubai.

  • Uzbek in the UK

    Not exactly on topic but,
    .
    Today following the claim from Shillings, who acted on behalf of their client ArcelorMittal, access to the web site of the Socialists Movement of Kazakhstan has been blocked for all users. The main reason as explained on the fergananews.com web site
    http://www.fergananews.com/article.php?id=7318
    was publication of the confession of former ArcelorMittal employee in Kazakhstan who stated that the company employed armed men wearing masks who were given orders to shoot in case there are any disturbances similar to Zhanaozen (disturbances 3 months ago when armed police killed dozens of demonstrators in Kazakhstan).
    .
    Shillings stated that publication of the article could affect their customer’s reputation.
    .
    Meanwhile, it is believed that ArcelorMittal workers in Kazakhstan have been denied their claim of 30% salary increase. Despite of increase in the company export revenues workers in Kazakhstan are believed to be underpaid comparatively to the workers of other factories in both Kazakhstan and in Russia.

  • Komodo

    I still don’t think that’s Muslim-specific, Uzbek, though I see where you’re coming from. Dubai’s an artificial construct, though. Some decades ago it was a lot easier not to be a hypocrite, since no-one at all had much money (except of course the fat cats to whom hypocrisy was second nature) You might blame the autocrats for squandering Dubai’s oil revenues on potlatch projects…you might equally ask what conditions in India, Pakistan, etc must be like to make it worthwhile to do heavy construction work in a shithole like Dubai for peanuts, for months at a time away from home.
    Another question; what have the Gulf states got after the oil is sucked dry? Can they realistically return to pearl fishing and the camel caravan trade?
    Yes, the developments are disgusting, and yes, they run counter to Islam, but IMO that is far more indicative of the successful subversion of Islam by capital, than of innate faults (and those certainly exist) in Islam.

  • Uzbek in the UK

    Komodo
    .
    I am actually pointing out at (as you well said) “the successful subversion of Islam by capital”, but also I just wanted to replace word Islam with word Muslims. The same can be seen in other Muslim countries and in the Middle East in particular, but Dubai is clear example of this hypocrisy.
    .
    Yes, of course we can blame everyone and anyone else, but as far as Dubai is run by Muslims, in my view it represents Muslim hypocrisy. It is hard to find any other place on earth where so much contradicts Islam and where despite of this so many call themselves Good Muslims.
    .
    One (who no doubt will soon appear here) might of course blame Zionists conspiracy for morally bankrupting Muslim nation, but would this be true? It is not those with dirty money to blame the most, but those who allow them (with dirty money) to spoil them (morally bankrupted) to step away from foundations of their culture and show its hypocoristic ugliness to others.
    .
    As I am not sure if the said above makes sense in English, what I meant was that Arabs of Dubai are equally guilty of crimes committed by those who bring dirty money to Dubai, because by agreeing to provide safe heaven, they (Arabs of Dubai) are conspired in those crimes. And being conspired and at the same time calling themselves Good Muslims, although in contradiction of the very basic rules, seen by me as height of hypocrisy.

  • Uzbek in the UK

    Komodo
    .
    This reminds me the conversation I once had with a shop owner in a village in Uzbekistan. He was concerned with girls wearing short skirts and was telling me how much that was against Islam. I asked him whether he was Good Muslim and he ,without hesitation, said yes. I then asked him why he was selling alcohol in his shop, he replied that it was good business. Apparently, beer and vodka were second most sold items after the bread and by revenue the most profitable.

  • Patrick Quilty

    If the carbon foot print of the West is three times that of anywhere else then the playground of the West, Dubai, must be two hundred times. There was a programme the other day, Homes From Hell, that documented the way in which a number of Brits had bought yet to be built apartments in Dubai that promised indoor sking in the middle of the desert with acres of real snow. Dubai went bankrupt and these particular buildings were never built though there is already an indoor sking resort there. The people didn’t get their deposits back. Normally I feel sorry for people ripped off by developers but I found myself thinking … good I hope you lost your life savings!

  • Uzbek in the UK

    @ Patrick
    .
    Dubai did not go bankrupt. These type of estate development projects have been scam from the start. They are still popular in former USSR where some people still believe in getting something that is too good to be true. If you have decent amount of capital you can still buy properties in Dubai for comparatively good price. And as long as Dubai remains a place where one can launder his cash or save millions on taxes, it will not go bankrupt.
    .
    Although it seems that you are too harsh towards scammed to be Dubai property owners, I somehow share your sentiments.

  • Uzbek in the UK

    Not exactly on topic but,
    .
    Today following the claim from Shillings, who acted on behalf of their client ArcelorMittal, access to the web site of the Socialists Movement of Kazakhstan has been blocked for all users. The main reason as explained on the fergananews.com web site
    http://www.fergananews.com/article.php?id=7318
    was publication of the confession of former ArcelorMittal employee in Kazakhstan who stated that the company employed armed men wearing masks who were given orders to shoot in case there are any disturbances similar to Zhanaozen (disturbances 3 months ago when armed police killed dozens of demonstrators in Kazakhstan).
    .
    Shillings stated that publication of the article could affect their customer’s reputation.
    .
    Meanwhile, it is believed that ArcelorMittal workers in Kazakhstan have been denied their claim of 30% salary increase. Despite of increase in the company export revenues workers in Kazakhstan are believed to be underpaid comparatively to the workers of other factories in both Kazakhstan and in Russia.

  • Uzbek in the UK

    Not exactly on topic but,
    .
    Today following the claim from Shillings, who acted on behalf of their client ArcelorMittal, access to the web site of the Socialists Movement of Kazakhstan has been blocked for all users. The main reason as explained on the fergananews.com web site was publication of the confession of former ArcelorMittal employee in Kazakhstan who stated that the company employed armed men wearing masks who were given orders to shoot in case there are any disturbances similar to Zhanaozen (disturbances 3 months ago when armed police killed dozens of demonstrators in Kazakhstan).
    .
    Shillings stated that publication of the article could affect their customer’s reputation.
    .
    Meanwhile, it is believed that ArcelorMittal workers in Kazakhstan have been denied their claim of 30% salary increase. Despite of increase in the company export revenues workers in Kazakhstan are believed to be underpaid comparatively to the workers of other factories in both Kazakhstan and in Russia

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