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Questions Of The Day (Politics)
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Mick Harper
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This is not very topically political, Borry, but we'll let it go on the grounds of you not being back in the swim of things yet.

passionate opinions, informed views, and challenging new angles

Yeah, right. You try that and they'll send the police round. When I find some outfit that truly wants something other than what it believes I will retire. Not that we allow anything that breaks our rules but at least they are our rules and not society's.

However, at the urgings of a young ingénue (non)admirer of mine, I have joined something similar called Medium https://medium.com/ and just posted something up on it. As with everything on the internet, the money is incidental. Exposure is everything. Whether that is actually achieved via Medium I have my doubts given the sheer tide that arrives daily. The whole site is very badly laid out, (e.g. I can't find what I posted) doubtless because it was laid out by a software engineer.
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Boreades


In: finity and beyond
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Mick Harper wrote:
This is not very topically political, Borry, but we'll let it go on the grounds of you not being back in the swim of things yet.


Sorry, absence makes the mind grow duller. Which forum should I move it to?
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Mick Harper
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I wouldn't know, Borrie, I only work here.
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Boreades


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Mick Harper wrote:
However, at the urgings of a young ingénue (non)admirer of mine, I have joined something similar called Medium https://medium.com/ ...


Was that you Hattie?

Mick Harper wrote:
... and just posted something up on it. As with everything on the internet, the money is incidental. Exposure is everything. Whether that is actually achieved via Medium I have my doubts given the sheer tide that arrives daily. The whole site is very badly laid out, (e.g. I can't find what I posted) doubtless because it was laid out by a software engineer.


Have you tried using their Search function?
https://medium.com/search/users?q=harper

With inconclusive and misleading results.
e.g.
https://medium.com/@harper
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Mick Harper
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Please do not continue this apolitical discussion here. I have posted up my reply in the Cabinet.
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Mick Harper
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Great hilarity from Scotland. For billions of years schools from the poor districts of Glasgow have been getting worse grades than those from rich districts. Nobody drops a jaw. This year an algorithm awards poor schools worse grades than rich schools. Uproar. There's two ways of looking at this:

1. They're too dumb to be independent
2. They're so dumb we should cut them adrift.
3. You wait for our twats now they know the drill.

N.B. Mr Harper is speaking in a personal capacity. The AEL is strictly binomial.
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Mick Harper
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Kamala Harris, black? Not that you'd notice. Good. Like Obama before her, at least American liberals have the good sense not to force the citizenry to change their deep-dyed prejudices faster than the body politic allows. If only liberals could force themselves to change their deep-dyed prejudices fast enough not to mean the body politic goes on without them.
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Mick Harper
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Will Joe Biden and Kamala Harris start a Democratic Dynasty?
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Boreades


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Mick Harper wrote:
Will Joe Biden and Kamala Harris start a Democratic Dynasty?


All things are possible. Who knows what might happen on the night of celebrations after a Democratic win. Haven't we've all been to office parties like that? Too much booze, and it's surprising who you wake up with.

But isn't he too old to be a father? What with him being so close to the ultimate finishing line.

Kamala Harris, as a Single Parent First Female POTUS, would certainly create a media storm.
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Mick Harper
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French Government Considers Tit-for-Tat Quarantine

Why, is this a spy swap or something? Paris doesn't have to agree with London about how serious the situation is in France but they must know the British government is not inconveniencing its own citizens just for the pure devilment of it. So why is France thinking of quarantining Britain? It cannot be because of their (lower) Covid rate because that would mean the British were well justified. No, obviously it is, as advertised, purely a reprisal. To send out a signal that nobody wants to mess with Grande Mauvaise France.

They are not, mes cherries, honest. But if you think any country in the world is going to worry about whether French tourists will have to spend a couple of weeks in their maisons rather than worry about what their own lot are bringing back from France by way of ze peste, then you are off your trollé.

We are used to governmental stupidity all round the world but this would be the first example outside Washington of sheer childish petulance. Translate this, Hatty, and send it off to Monsieur Pompidou.
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Mick Harper
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The UAE's recognition of Israel is one of the big under-reported news stories of the week. The story so far:

1. Traditionally, the three countries in the Middle East that a) most need oil and b) don't have oil were Egypt, Israel and Turkey. This kinda led to an informal axis between the three of them against all the other states that either did have oil or didn't need oil.
2. This cut across the Jewish/Muslim grain but not, in the case of Turkey, the Israeli/Arab grain. Everybody was a bit uncomfortable but in foreign relations you often end up in bed with people you don't fancy.
3. This came to an end when Israel and Egypt struck lucky in the Eastern Med, leaving Turkey swinging in the wind. Two things were preventing Turkey from getting in on the bonanza: Cyprus and Libya.
4. Cyprus because not only was it technically independent and Grecophile but Greece itself was hampering Turkey by exploiting its own islands to keep Turkey out of the Eastern Med thanks to the UN Law of the Sea (for which reason Turkey refuses to recognise it). Plus both states are members of the EU and nobody messes with the EU lightly.
5. Libya, because it was one of the oil-rich states. Until this happened...
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Mick Harper
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Libya imploded into civil war and two halves, thereby ceasing to be an oil state. And up for grabs. Enter the two Great Powers in the world that have no oil: France and Germany. Germany is a bit of a team player (aka a complete wuss) but France immediately sent in its lads to help out the "Libyan warlord Khalifa", as he is always referred to (Eastern half of Libya) against the "internationally recognised government of Libya", as it is always referred to, (western half of Libya) The oil by the way is in the middle.

The oil coalition -- Egypt, UAE, Saudis, Israelis all piled in behind France. Russia piled in behind its new chums from the Middle East. Khalifa promptly conquered the western half of Libya except for...
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Mick Harper
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...Tripoli. Since the two traditional Libyan-bothering powers, the US and the UK, have given up on foreign affairs [for which, much thanks] it was all over and the poor long-suffering Libyan people could settle down again and become oil-comfortable citizens of this new bloke. And backed by every country that counts for anything.

But wait. One player had been left out in the cold, Turkey. They had manged to alienate everyone anyway over Syria and Cyprus so figured they might as well play a lone hand. They put a few planes into Tripoli and the whole rest-of-the-world coalition promptly collapsed! The game was back on and the Libyan people would have to live in the rubble a bit longer.

But why? What was in it for Turkey? Libyan oil? You can buy oil anywhere, what difference would Libya getting its own oil back have for Turkey? Thruppence off a barrel? Ah but...
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Mick Harper
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Libya, official UN-recognised Libya, does have one very marketable asset. A big chunk of the Eastern Med as part of its economic zone and an even bigger chunk if you don't recognise the UN Law of the Sea. But an even smaller chunk if you've just sat down with Turkey to draw the dividing line between Turkish Cyprus and Libya and given away long-term drilling concessions in their own bit in exchange for a few Turkish aeroplanes.

So now it's got its own sector of the Eastern Med, Turkish drilling rigs and most of the Turkish navy start putting facts on the ground. Cyprus can protest all it likes but without the EU they don't scare anybody. With Greece on their side they scare even less. Israel and Egypt are very happy the way things are carved up in the Eastern Med so that takes care of the Grand Coalition. Only the EU is a doubt but now France finds out what happens when you don't march in step with Germany. Paralysis. Of if you do march in step with Germany. Paralysis. They're wusses, remember?

That's why back in the good old days of overthrowing Qaddafi, which started all this, it would never have occurred to Sarkozy and Cameron to even consult Merkel. But now there's a new man left out in the cold, Vladimir Putin. What's he going to do?
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Mick Harper
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There's this private contractor called Vagner that is currently operating in sixteen African countries. They are a bit mysterious since they keep away from bank accounts so nobody can follow the money but a clue emerged the other week when twelve Mig-29s and several Sukhoi-24's landed on a Syrian airbase, refuelled and flew off to a Libyan airfield controlled by the warlord Khalifa. They were flown by Vagner pilots and joined 3000 Vagner mercenaries on the ground.

There's only one man on earth who can put together that kind of firepower at short notice. Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Protected by his new airforce the warlord Khalifa was able to start up Libyan oil production and is now pumping out three hundred thousand barrels a day. Enough to pay all his mercenaries and plenty more where they came from. Well, Turkey, do you feel lucky?

Actually she does. She's got everything she wants and every reason to suppose that her deal with the Official Libyans will be honoured by the next, Russian-backed, regime. Libya and Russia are already awash with oil and don't need any more from the Eastern Med. And Turkey is a very useful ally for both. If I had any confidence in anyone's long term strategic vision, I might suspect the whole thing was a stitch-up from start to finish.

The losers are France, Egypt, Israel and the Gulf states who thought they were dealing with some rump Libyan government and now find Russia squatting in their midst. How they will sigh for the good old days of the US Seventh Fleet. No wonder they are edging closer with recognition-for-land deals. That's all, folks. And I am referring to the Palestinians.
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