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“You’ll Live, But I’ll Not…”
ANNA AKHMATOVAYou’ll live, but I’ll not; perhaps,
The final turn is that.
Oh, how strongly grabs us
The secret plot of fate.They differently shot us:
Each creature has its lot,
Each has its order, robust, —
A wolf is always shot.In freedom, wolves are grown,
But deal with them is short:
In grass, in ice, in snow, —
A wolf is always shot.Don’t cry, oh, friend my dear,
If, in the hot or cold,
From tracks of wolves, you’ll hear
My desperate recall.Once again, John Wayne America rides to the rescue. Huh? Well, not quite – in fact the stupid barstards, in imagining that they could get away with ramming Nato ever closer to Russian borders, have succeeded in the likelihood of taunting Russia into another Cold War. Bloody marvellous.
Author Andrew Alexander vents his perspicacious spleen splendidly thus: “As so often, the Americans are proving a menace on the international stage.And the term humbug is wholly inadequate to describe the reproaches that President Bush heaps on the Russians.As are reckless and irresponsible to describe the use of the U.S. military to carry humanitarian aid to Georgia. That is the way conflicts can escalate.
Nato has been expanding eastwards and wooing former Soviet satellites, including the Ukraine, which could cause future conflicts with RussiaIt is easy to imagine the frenzy in Washington if Russia treated the U.S.’s Latin American neighbours as though they were within its sphere of influence.One question has been lingering for years. Whatever made Washington think it could keep pushing Nato right up to Russia’s border without provoking conflict?Some European governments have long been uneasy about this provocative strategy, but never the United States.
This dangerous recruitment drive started under President Clinton.Now we have Poland and the Czech Republic agreeing to U.S. missile and radar sites.Almost beyond belief, Nato is wooing the Ukraine.Yet, as anyone with an ounce of history knows, fear of encirclement has characterised Russia for centuries – after so many invasions from east, west and south. This fear has a deep hold on the country’s psyche.
This is not just being ignored by the U.S., it is being flouted.The problem about Nato is that it may be a multi-nation alliance in theory, but Washington has always led it by the nose, being the dominant power, by virtue of size, funds and military technology. There is also a curious fear that if we upset the Americans they might lose interest in Europe and become isolationist. If only!Few would have believed that East-West relations should have so declined 20 years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Nato itself has been a principle cause. With the collapse of Communism, the organisation lost its principal purpose. But anyone familiar with large international organisations knows that no great military and bureaucratic machine is ever easily persuaded to dismantle itself or even shrink
.Jobs, pensions, prestigious appointments, fringe benefits, visa privileges and all the other comforts of officialdom were at stake. So Nato set about devising a new role – expansion to the east.This fitted all too well with Washington’s expansionist instincts. Every quarter of the globe is regarded as the business of the U.S. Everyone is seen as needing American guidance, to say nothing of lectures on human rights and the rule of law (from the creators of Guantanamo Bay).The expansionist urge gained impetus from the ‘neo-cons’ in the late 1990s, with their ‘Project for the New American Century’, in which they lamented a lack of forcefulness in Washington’s policies.
Commanding huge sums of money, not least from the defence contractors, they succeeded in getting their pawn into the Oval Office and themselves into key government posts.The American defence industry has good reason for backing the drive to the east. The former Soviet satellites could be offered American military technology, naturally on comfortable terms.The ‘industrial-military complex’, which a disillusioned President Eisenhower warned against nearly half-a-century ago, is alive and well. Now we are in a position as if the Cold War had never ended.Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has announced that the current conflict does not mean that Georgia may not yet become a Nato member. He seems happy, like Bush, to strengthen the hardliners in the Kremlin.In the course of its relentless expansion, Nato has acquired dangerous commitments.The alliance is pledged to come to the aid of any member under threat.Thus, we assume a responsibility for the policies of an array of former Soviet satellites, many of them traditionally unfriendly to Russia.
The belief that because these countries are now democracies they are bound to behave responsibly is absurdly optimistic.We cannot be certain that none of the new Nato states – nine of them resentful, former Soviet satellites – may not drag us into conflict with Russia. The position of Russian passport-holders in the Baltic states, a remnant from the Soviet conquest in World War II, has already been seen as a potential source of trouble.Baiting the Bear is not only dangerous, it is wholly unnecessary. Russia will do as it pleases – which may sometimes be disagreeable – when it thinks its own security is at stake. It is hard to see why President Bush, of all people, should be surprised, let alone shocked.”Absobloodyluteski!!
@*Sian wrote:
For me Esme, rape is rape and shouldn’t been seen any different but there are different levels of violence. That is the only other element that should be taken into consideration when sentencing.
What about assaults carried out by men suffering from..
@*Sian wrote:
@*Sian wrote:
If a prostitute isn’t working would that be classed as theft?
There is a thin line in rape and lots of people see it as a stranger picking a victim but it’s still a violation regardless of how inebriated the person is or what job that person decides to do.No is no and should remain that way, even if the man/woman decides to “bottle” out at last minute.
Perhaps I didn’t clarify my position very well, Sian. I do of course mean that if the prostitute is ‘working’ then it is theft rather than rape. To generalise sexual violation into a single category is as ludicrous as failing to differentiate between a slap on the face and a knife through the heart when considering gbh, manslaughter or murder.
I have experienced the horror of a terrible sexual assault, but I have also experienced the death of a friend who hanged himself after a false accusation of rape by a ‘lady of ill repute’ who later retracted her statement. Every rape case should be considered on its circumstances and I still maintain that those can be to greater or lesser degrees.@*Sian wrote:
@sir Actor wrote:
note to self;
pete has short term memory loss but his pudding is huge.
:shock: Terrence! :lol:
What’s worse is..Pete finished off his pudding before I even got a mouthful. :wink:
@sharongooner wrote:
Okay. Could the crime of rape be classified into differing degrees? I dont know… never been a victim of it and dont know anybody who has, so am only speaking from what I hear/read.
Is there a difference between the act of a down right perve in flasher mack pouncing on any random female in the street, say victim number one (he is not fussy about who she is, just a female victim) and raping/assaulting her in a most vile manner to the daterape king in the club picking the girl (victim number two) he fancies doing that night?
what if victim number one was drunk?
what if victim number two was sober?
On those off the cuff thoughts then no. Rape is rape, and the situations should have no bearing.
If there is more violence then more compo, but not a reduced compo for the act of having sex with someone without their consent simply because of the circumstance.
Yes, there are varying degrees of severity in cases of rape. I have long argued, for instance, that having sex with a prostitute against her will, is theft and not rape; it is incomparable to the violation of a child, as is the assault of a husband against his wife incomparable to that of one perpetrated by a rapist on a stranger.
To cover all sexual assaults on women in a generalised swathe, is to minimise the worst assaults and to allow guilty men to walk free rather than face a lesser penalty for a lesser assault.@*Sian wrote:
My puss is back home :D She still can’t walk very well, the vet seems to think she has either spinal damage or had a blow to the head, hense her being on the wobble. Early days yet but hopefully she’ll be fine. I have to take her back on saturday morning for another check up.
Keeping fingers, eyes and legs crossed for her, Sian!
@*Sian wrote:
Enough already! :lol: Sex Toys please!
Be gone with your penile sustitutes and prostate fondlers. There is no greater stimulant than a fine and clever brain to moisten the Esmeralda lady parts.
@sharongooner wrote:
well I reckon you’ve got it all wrong Pete.
When Esme asked for a decent size rabbit, I dont think that is what she had in mind… :wink: :lol:
I asked Pete to give me something big, hairy and partial to going at it like a…well…um…rabbit.
Guess he delivered on most counts. :roll:
