My Dinner with André the Giant

Here’s an interesting confrontation: read as Marxist-Leninist Communism tries to run head-on into Ronald Reagan and try to rhetorically topple it with the mendacious assumption that the USSR’s radical leftism was the defender and standard-bearer of human rights.

Secretary General Gorbachev: It is a shame, Mr. President, that you and I do not have enough time to discuss humanitarian issues. We have concrete ideas on this which we simply are not going to have time to discuss. I have to say that people in the Soviet Union are very concerned about the human rights situation in the United States. There is one other important subject. This is the importance of mutual information in our day. The situation now is this: the Voice of America broadcasts around the clock in many languages from stations you have in various countries in Europe and Asia, while we cannot present our point of view to the American people. Therefore, to achieve parity, we are forced to jam Voice of America broadcasts. I propose the following: we will stop jamming Voice of America and you will be able to broadcast what you consider necessary to us, but at the same time you will meet us half-way and help us lease, from you or in neighboring countries, radio stations that would allow us to reach the American people with our point of view.

Then, as with today’s radical leftism, they continue to parrot the bogus position, still reading off the same, yellowing 3 by 5 cards as their fellow travelers were in 1986 and 1956.

President Reagan: The difference between us is that we recognize freedom of the press and the right of people to listen to any point of view. This does not exist in your press. Today in Washington there will be a press conference, and Americans will see it, and newspapers will publish the text of it. It is not that way in your country. Your system envisions only a government press.

In fact Leftism appears to have liberate no-one and subjected billions of lives to an unnecessary compromise between the individual and a power-hungry state whose only purpose is to preserve the privileges of a permanent, hereditary class that runs it and lives off of it. That outlook even modifies the notion of common sense, and the very idea that a civil society can guide itself in any endeavor, no matter how common or banal.

Secretary General Gorbachev: We are for parity in general. In the information field, for example, or in film. Almost half of the movies showing in our theaters are American. Soviet movies are hardly ever shown in the United States. That is not parity.

President Reagan: We do not have any ban on your movies. The film industry is a free business, and if someone wants to show your films he can do it.

Secretary General Gorbachev: I see that the President avoids this question and goes into talk about business.

President Reagan: Our government cannot control the film market. If you want to inundate us with your movies go right ahead. How our movies get to your country, I do not know.

What I can tell you is that the idea that half the films being run in the Socialist East were American is entirely false. What did give them a woodie, oddly enough, were films critical of American society freely made by Americans, something not one of the Socialist states permitted themselves.

Fast forward to day. Government run Voice of Russia runs flamethrower shortwave transmitters and have leased AM transmission capacity in London, Washington, and New York City that broadcast in English, is buying up capacity in other parts of Europe on MW and in India on FM, and attempt to entertain when they aren’t trying to counter the obvious conclusion anyone would have for the moves that Moscow makes.

The US, on the other hand, may do no such thing in Moscow.

Ireland to erect monument to Che Guevara

"No worse insult to Che Guevara’s forgotten victims" fumes Fausta:

The Galway Advertiser reports that “A major and innovative monument to the Irish-Argentinean revolutionary, guerilla, doctor, writer, and politician Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, has taken a step closer to becoming a reality this week.“

One can imagine many places wanting to build a monument to El Che, but why would precisely Ireland step in to do that? Because Ernesto Guevara had an Irish ancestor, born in Galway in 1715 (and appropriately, perhaps, named Lynch). Fausta notes that

it’s still time to stop [the building of a monument honoring "a mass murdering sociopathic racist Communist"].
Here is the Galway City website. You can contact Billy Cameron at bcameron@eircom.net. Please make sure to be polite and civil when you contact them.

Public Secrets, Sister Toldjah, and Babalu have also reacted to Fausta's announcement, as have Parkway Rest Stop, Blood Thirsty Liberal, and Marathon Pundit, who opines that

it might be a good idea to ask Cameron how he would feel if Buenos Aires built a monument to Oliver Cromwell—the man who utilized what is now called ethnic-cleansing in Ireland.

Reader, if perchance you don't understand some people's opposition to this most romantic of revolutionaries — if indeed you find it baffling — or if you are Irish in this particular case (and proud that in his "veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels"), you might want to peruse through some of the following thoughts on Che Guevara:

• It is customary for followers of a cult not to know the real life story of their hero, the historical truth

• "I have sworn before a picture of the old and mourned comrade Stalin that I won't rest until I see these capitalist octopuses annihilated"

…The future T-shirt icon … proclaimed to the press that his ideal societal model was Kim Il-Sung's North Korea. … Guevara traveled there in 1965, saw the brutality and poverty with his own eyes, and then made it his goal to import that system to Latin America. As a champion of the poor, Che aspired to emulate a society that truly benefits its poorest inhabitants -anyone not named Kim Jong-il or Kim Il-Sung. … Leftists always have a problem with U.S.-backed dictatorships, but never with Stalinist and Maoist stooges like — well, like Che Guevara. (Benjamin Duffy)

• Stalin II

There is a misperception that [Ernesto "Che" Guevara] was a free spirit. He had cold Stalinist personality. He used to sign his early correspondence "Stalin II." He said early on that he saw the solution to all the world's problems behind (the) Iron Curtain. But this was not some hippie dippie Marxist, Guevara said in speech in 1962 that he regarded the very spirit of rebellion as anti-revolutionary. Figure that out, he said individualism must disappear in Cuba. If you tried to do your own thing under his regime you wound up in a prison camp. (Humberto Fontova)

• The jails of Castro are far worse than those of Batista

Who is the writer of that claim? A capitalist reactionary? An imperialist? A (neo-)fascist? A Batista ally? No. Gustavo Arcos Bergnes is Castro's fellow revolutionary, imprisoned with the future Líder Maximo in the mid-1950s. And he experienced Castro both as a fellow cell-mate and (twice) as a warden. Castro's violent revolutionaries of the 1950s were treated far more humanely by the dictator Batista than non-violent human rights activists are treated by Castro today, he says as he recalls getting special treatment (hospital rooms as cells, private cooking facilities, etc) and pardons after only 21 months. (Since Castro's coming to power, incidentally, there have been 20,000 summary executions, but — unlike Pinochet's 3,000 victims — these are not of any particular concern to "human rights activists")

• Che’s biographers consistently report that he sent thousands to the firing squad:

Che Guevara was one of the regime’s chief executioners during this period and is said to have acknowledged ordering "several thousand" executions. All took place without affording the victims fair trials and due process of law.

• The mass executioner's T-shirt adorns the very people who oppose capital punishment!

• Leftists: Don’t feed them after dark and don’t get them wet

In 1956, when Che linked up with the Cuban exiles in Mexico city, one of them recalls Che railing against the Hungarian freedom-fighters as "Fascists!" and cheering their extermination by Soviet tanks. (Humberto Fontava)

• Where Are the Mickey Mouse Ears?…

Nearly four decades after his death, the legend of Che Guevara has grown worldwide. In this new book, Alvaro Vargas Llosa separates the myth from the reality of Che's legacy, and shows that Che's ideals were a re-hash of notions about centralized power that have long been the major source of suffering and misery in the underdeveloped world. With testimonies from witnesses of Che's actions, Alvaro Vargas Llosa's detailed account of the "real Che" sets the record straight by exposing the delusion at the heart of the Che phenomenon. Vargas Llosa shows that Che's legacy—making the law subservient to the most powerful, crushing any and all dissent, and concentrating wealth under the guise of "social equality"—is not the solution to poverty and injustice but is the core of the problem.

• A la Cabaña, lorsque les familles rendaient visite à leurs proches, Che exigea qu'on les fasse passer devant le mur d'exécution maculé de sang frais

Oubliées, les purges, oubliées, les exécutions sommaires, le plaisir sadique des tortures: Che Guevara est un mythe, et un mythe ne peut être que parfait. … Fidel Castro sut exploiter les pulsions sacrificielles de son ancien compagnon en l'envoyant exporter la guérilla dans le vaste monde — et surtout, coupé de tout lien officiel avec le régime. Che Guevara finirait bien par mourir sur un champ de bataille ou un autre; resterait de lui son image inspirée et intemporelle, contrastant avec une dictature cubaine qui n'en finit pas de pourrir encore aujourd'hui. L'homme devint légende grâce à d'innombrables intellectuels de gauche cherchant à éviter l'erreur du soutien passé à Staline: mieux vaut rendre un culte à la personnalité d'un révolutionnaire mort qu'à celle d'un dictateur vivant. Son histoire fut soigneusement épurée et revue, les moments de gloire mis en avant et les périodes sombres gommées ou effacées. (Stéphane)

• C'était le moyen, pour Castro, de donner une image éternellement jeune à la révolution cubaine, alors que Castro et la révolution vieillissaient

Le statut d'icone de Che Guevara est une construction post-mortem, raconte Jacobo Machover dans son livre, La Face cachée du Che

• La victoire des barbudos a réveillé en l'intelligentsia française une vieille passion française pour la révolution

• Che Was a Mainstay of the Hardline Pro-Soviet Faction

The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster. Many of the early leaders of the Cuban Revolution favored a democratic or democratic-socialist direction for the new Cuba. But Che was a mainstay of the hardline pro-Soviet faction, and his faction won. Che presided over the Cuban Revolution's first firing squads. He founded Cuba's "labor camp" system …
In the famous essay in which he issued his ringing call for "two, three, many Vietnams," he also spoke about martyrdom and managed to compose a number of chilling phrases: "Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become …"— and so on. (Paul Berman on The Cult of Che)

• Che Guevara in 10 Quotes

• Commemorating the Death of Che Guevara the Baf Way

• Che Guevara, Revolutionary and Icon

• Channeling the dead for affirmation

• ¿Quiénes son los revolucionarios verdaderos?

• And here I thought under Communism we were all supposed to dispose of our bourgeois pleasures and eat our spinach

• Gaddafi Is Starting to Be Compared to Che Guevara, Allende, and Other Leftist Icons

• Compare with Bin Laden's Death at the Hands of the U.S.: When a Cuban Dissident Is Killed by Havana, Only a Couple of French Readers Bother Reacting

Joachim on the Spot

The man who I feel should have been Germany’s president has been nominated to the position. While the position is that of a state funeral attending figurehead, the position permits commentary on the state of the culture and the of its’ big pieces and parts, namely freedom and the role of the state.

Theologian and former East German dissident Joachim Gauck is just the man for the job, and is at the right place at the right time in European history. A man well aware of the nature of an overbearing state is needed right now in a position where a bully pulpit can be used from time to time.

The nomination is not without its’ distractions though:

The FDP, her beleaguered junior coalition partner, put Ms. Merkel's grip on power to the test on Sunday by backing Mr. Gauck. She was furious, according to a person familiar with the weekend talks, but realized she couldn't persuade the FDP to support any other candidate. Fearing an irreparable split in the coalition, Ms. Merkel grudgingly accepted Mr. Gauck.

Her position on this is strange, given that Merkel is herself a former East German, and the daughter of a pastor who opposed the state, one familiar with the role the Lutheran Church played in the downfall of the repressive Socialist regime.

There must be something unheimlich going on with one or the other of them that isn’t obvious to the rest of us.

It all Just Looks so Vacuous and Flaccid Right Now

Why does this planche of last-years' Plantu seem so totally inappropriate today?

"I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman"

I wouldn't be so sure of that! ;o) Especially with a money quote like this one:

"I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman"

the lawyer of Dominique Strauss-Kahn told French television, prior to the onetime presidential candidate being released after two days of questioning regarding his involvement in an alleged prostitution ring, some of whose members were provided, to him and to other men, by police officers.

Return of the Bunghole Ninja

Discussing DSK is even beneath out dignity, if you can believe it.

Girls as Young as 13 Plied with Drink & Drugs by 11 UK Men for Use as Sex Objects; Needless to Say, the BBC Never Mentions the Sex Ring's Muslim Roots

A group of 11 men plied girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could use them for sex, a [Greater Manchester] court has heard

writes the BBC in a story that is perhaps as significant for what we learn from the story as for what we do not learn. (Because what we do not learn, you understand, is totally irrelevant, has no bearing on the story — whatsoever — and only goes to show the racism of intolerant Westerners like myself who dare to notice that kind of things.)

Liverpool Crown Court heard how the men, aged between 22 and 59 and from Oldham and Rochdale, "acted together to sexually exploit the girls".

All deny conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child under 16.

Rachel Smith, opening the case for the prosecution, said one 13-year-old fell pregnant to one of the defendants and had an abortion.

She said another girl felt flattered by the attention but that she quickly became regularly heavily drunk, depressed and "incapable of getting herself out of the situation".

Another teenager recalled being raped by two men while she was "so drunk she was vomiting over the side of the bed", she added.

Miss Smith said: "No child should be exploited as these girls say they were."

'Raped and assaulted'

The court heard that some of the girls were raped and physically assaulted and some were forced to have sex with "several men in a day, several times a week".

Miss Smith said the girls were given alcohol, food and money in return for sex but that there were times when violence was used.

So far, so good (so to speak). But look at the picture of the defendants. What is clear to the average viewer is never addressed in depth by the BBC piece, let alone mentioned at all: all the defendants are or appear to be from the Middle East or, alternatively, they are second- or third-generation immigrants. (Incidentally, there is no mention of the origin of the girls, either, whether they are of Western extraction, whether they share the defendants' Muslim and immigrant background — my guess — or whether they are a mixture of both…) Indeed: a look at the defendants' names seems to confirm the "hunch" that the 11 men are Muslim — every single one of them.

Kabeer Hassan, 24, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyum, 43, Mohammed Amin, 44, Qamar Shahzad, 29, Liaquat Shah, 41, and Hamid Safi, 22, [along with a 59-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons] have all pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child under 16.

As an aside, anybody is free to plead not guilty to conspiracy, of course. However, needless to say, in at least some Muslim quarters (see how I am being a good politically correct Westerner and how I am making an effort not to "put all Muslims in the same bag"?!?), doing so would be entirely natural in the circumstances, while pleading guilty would seem untoward, in view of the fact that in Muslim society what happened might fit in with the Koran's temporary marriage (Nikah mut‘ah) condition…

Naked Ramblers in the News

While this is an issue the editorial Quango here at ¡No Pasarán! visits from time to time, I did not realize that it’s not so much about scaring dog walkers, but rather gathering statistics.

The committed naturist kept score of the number of positive reactions versus adverse reactions he received on his naked tea-time stroll at Otley Chevin in Leeds on October 2 last year.

What’s particularly funny is that the reporter is trying to give this guy’s strange, empty life of polling those people in that other world who wear garments, the air of someone reasonable who has something to say.

''I saw her turning around, I could tell she was upset about something.''

Aren’t you glad that in this crass, career-obsessed world, that there are Europeans willing to face the big issues of the day? ...and do it with such dignity and aplomb?

20 February 2004 Remembered

¡No Pasarán!: eight years, and still going, well, strong.

Or something.

After All of these Years, and I’m Still Looking

I have yet to meet anybody who gets homesick for Philadelphia.

(Sorry, Skye, You know
we’ll always love ‘ya.)

Nuances and a Range of Possibilities: How the French and the Americans Approach Love and Sex Differently

This is how the French are groomed to think about love from an early age: not in the absolutes of total love or utter rejection, but in nuances and a range of possibilities.

Debra Ollivier makes interesting comments on the difference between the French and the American approach to love and to sex, although keep in mind that she is a HuffPo contributor, and as all leftists, she seems to treat anything done by a non-American is always inherently more reasonable and hence far, far superior to anything a red-blooded American would do… And so we are peppered with statements like the one saying that the American approach to marriage

stands in stark contrast to the French, who not only prefer to cohabitate rather than marry, but are also wary of perfection. "If anything looks too good to be true," my French friend Marie-Louise once said, "it probably is."

And statements like

The French also understand that what creates chemistry and ignites passion has very little, if anything, to do with the factors and algorithms of online dating.

Still, Debra Ollivier's article is hardly unworthy of interest…

Another Luxury Ship Sinking Off Europe's Southern Coast — Dramatic Video from Rescue Helicopter

Another impressive luxury vessel flounders off Europe's Southern coast, reports Le Monde quoting Paris Match's François Labrouillère and David Le Bailly. This time it is not a passenger cruise ship like the Costa Concordia but the mega-yacht belonging to French millionaire Stéphane Courbit, the largest yacht in France which lays down on its side before sinking below the waves, to the bottom of the Aegean sea. The video of the Greek rescue team comes from the very helicopter carrying them to the rescue of the Yogi's crew…

Διάσωση Επιβαινόντων σε Γαλλική Θαλαμηγό from haf.webmaster on Vimeo.