“The hysteria over the release of the so-called Lockerbie bomber reveals much about the political and media class on both sides of the Atlantic, especially Britain. From Gordon Brown’s ‘repulsion’ to Barack Obama’s ‘outrage’, the theatre of lies and hypocrisy is dutifully attended by those who call themselves journalists.”
John Pilger Lockerbie: Megrahi was framed
John Pilger in ITV’s Breaking the Silence, Truth and Lies in the War on Terror in 2003.
January 1st 2024 — Australian journalist and documentary film-maker John Pilger died on December 30 2023 in London. He was 84. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So, they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.”
Book of Joshua[2:1 (NIV)]
December 31 2023 — The phrase “the oldest profession” is commonly used to refer to prostitution, while “the second-oldest profession” is often humorously attributed to espionage. The origins of these expressions are not definitively traced to a specific source, but they have been used colloquially for many years. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“The people of Pakistan had rejected bigotry and prejudice in electing a woman Prime Minister. It was an enormous honor, and an equally enormous responsibility… I had not asked for this role; I had not asked for this mantle. But the forces of destiny and the forces of history had thrust me forward, and I felt privileged and awed.”
Benazir Bhutto Autobiography
Benazir Bhutto takes her oath in 1988 as the first Muslim Woman Prime Minister of any Muslim State.
December 27 2023 — Benazir Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990 & 1993–1996) and then-leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, had been campaigning ahead of elections scheduled for January 2008. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
A diagram depicting the Indo-European family of languages. Drawn from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
December 27 2023 — In most European countries, the education system is falling apart. This is not limited to STEM area. Classical languages (Greek and Latin) have long become optional. Adults have a very poor knowledge of their primary language. Geography and history are deemed unimportant. Absurdity does not go to infinity. I would like to suggest that this failure is responsible for the chaos of European Geopolitics. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
Let us take a good look at the diagram depicting the Indo-European family of languages. Did you know that Greek is very close to Indo-Iranian, a language from which both Iranian and Sanskrit eventually emerged? Perhaps, you may want to re-think the battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fight against Xerxes and his massive Persian army?
In the last few months, the Ukraine-Russia conflict has given rise to deep tensions among the members of the European Union and NATO. Finland suddenly decided to join NATO (Effective: 4 April 2023). Estonia demands a new world order. Hungary is holding hostage the European summit. And Turkey, a non-European country where people speak a non-European language, has the final word on NATO matters
In order to get your attention, I would like to ask you a couple of questions. First, let us consider a non European language. How many Japanese words do you know? The fact is that, even if you never took a lesson of Japanese in your life, you probably know a dozen of Japanese words!
Here is a quick list I just put together this morning: Aikido, Amaterasu, Amazake, Anime, Bento, Bokeh, Bonsai, Bonze, Cosplay, Dojo, Edamame, Emoji, Futon, Geisha, Genki, Haiku, Hanko, Hara-kiri, Hikikomori, Ikigai, Ikebana, Itadakimasu, Judo, Jujutsu, Kabuki, Kakemono, Kamikaze, Karate, Katana, Katsu, Kawaii, Kendo, Kimono, Kirigami, Koi, Kokoro, Koto, Manga, Meishi, Miso, Momme, Ninja, Noh, Noren, Obi, Omotenashi, Onsen, Origami, Otaku, Oyakodon, Ronin, Sake, Samurai, Sashimi, Sayonara, Sensei, Seppuku, Shiatsu, Shiitake, Shogun, Skosh, Soba, Soy, Sudoku, Sumo, Sushi, Tatami, Tempura, Tofu, Tsunami, Tycoon, Ukiyo-e, Wabi-sabi, Wasabi, Yen, Zen.
And now come my next questions. How many words from the Finnish language do you know? My guess is that you probably know just one word: sauna.
How many words from the Hungarian language do you know? Again, my guess would be that you know three of them: Goulash, Paprika, and… Sabotage.
Why so few? The answer is simple. Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian languages do not belong to the Indo-European family. They belong to the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family.
Perhaps this will help you to understand why the European Summit has become a modern Babel Tower.
Language differences contribute to misunderstandings, cultural disparities, and challenges in fostering a cohesive geopolitical strategy. This is particularly true for languages that belong to different families. A human being cannot think in term of words he does not know.
PS — In July 2002, President Bush, Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, and France’s President Jacques Chirac were discussing economics and, in particular, the decline of the French economy. “The problem with the French,” Bush afterwards confided in Blair, “is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur.”
REFERENCES
Indo-European languages — Britannica
=
If words could talk. [The history and geopolitics of words]
“Our current actions, and especially the results were are achieving, will create the future world order.” Statement on foreign policy by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (14 Sept. 2023)
“Communism was an ideal which, if it could have been achieved, would have been well worth it. I thought it could be, and I did what I could to help it, to build such a society. It has not proved possible. But I think it is a noble idea and I think humanity will return to it.”
George Blake
“Looking back on my life, everything seems logical and natural.”
December 26 2023 — George Blake, one of the famous “moles” in British intelligence, spied for the Soviet KGB during the 1950s before being arrested in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“The CIA and the Ford White House quickly saw Welch’s murder as a political windfall. At a time when the CIA was under assault from Congress and Bush’s nomination was in peril in the Senate, there was now a dead CIA hero to mourn.”
James Risen The Intercept (December 8 2018)
Richard Welch — CIA Chief of Station in Athens
December 23 2023 — On December 15, 1975, a Senate committee opened hearings on whether George H.W. Bush should be confirmed as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. It was not going to be a slam dunk. When the CIA Chief of Station was assassinated on December 23 1975, Bush quickly rewrote the history of this tragedy for his own political advantage. And later, his lies became the “truth”. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“Operation El Dorado Canyon (1986) turned out to be a more decisive blow against Libyan-sponsored terrorism than I could ever have imagined. There were revenge killings of British hostages organized by Libya, which I bitterly regretted. But the much-vaunted Libyan counter attack did not and could not take place. There was a marked decline in Libyan-sponsored terrorism in succeeding years.”
Margaret Thatcher The Downing Street Years (Memoirs 1993, pp 448-9)
December 21 2021 — On December 21 1988, N739PA — the Boeing 747 aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of Pan Am Flight 103 — broke up in flight over Scotland. All 243 passengers and 16 crew died as well as 11 residents of Lockerbie. This horrific crime has been called the world’s biggest unsolved murder. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“There was a real push in the embassy community to make sure that everybody was aware that there had been a terrorist threat made, and that people flying Western carriers going through Frankfurt should change their tickets.”
Karen Decker Consular Official at the Moscow US Embassy (November 30 1989)
December 13 2023 — On December 13 1988, William Kelly, the Moscow US embassy administrative counsellor, drafted a memo addressed to “All Embassy Personnel” and posted on the staff notice board the next day. “Sometimes, during the next two weeks, there would be a bombing attempt against Pan Am airliner flying from Frankfurt to the United States.” On December 21 1988, Pan Am 103 — a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York — exploded over Lockerbie. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“Reading and thinking about Palme makes you wonder who you are. And who you might have been, but weren’t. And where your moral courage went when it was needed. You ask yourself what power drove him – golden boy, aristocratic family, brilliant scion of the best schools and the best cavalry regiment – to embrace from the outset of his career the cause of the exploited, the deprived, the undervalued and the unheard?” David Cornwell Olof Palme Award acceptance speech (January 30 2020)
(October 19, 1931 – December 12, 2020)
December 13 2023 — David John Moore Cornwell — also known by the pen name John le Carré — died of pneumonia at the Royal Cornwall Hospital on December 12 2020. He turned down all literary honors, but accepted the 2019 Olof Palme Prize. His magnificent acceptance speech is a reminder that Olof Palme’s words and deeds still inspire people to commit to democracy, human rights and peace. His murder must be solved. We owe him that much. Today, perhaps more so than ever before, “one must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.” Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“I was you once. Gary, I started down this road. Though nowhere near as far as you are. When they saw I wasn’t gonna stop, they ‘controversialized’ me. Do you have any idea what I’m talking about? They make *you* the story. And you have a history of schizophrenia, you’re a liar, you’re a homo, you beat your dog, you’re a pedophile, it doesn’t matter if none of it’s true. The point is no one remembers what you found. They remember you and you’re nuts. You cease to exist.”
Fred Weil Kill the Messenger
December 10 2023 — On December 10 2004, investigative journalist Gary Webb, the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who broke the story of the CIA’s involvement in the importation of cocaine into the U.S., died of two .38 caliber gunshot wounds to the head. Quite logically, the coroner ruled the death a suicide. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
Intel Today 