Author: pelshvalen

  • Was Victoria a liability?

    Ms Nuland “retired” at the age of 62. I suppose she could afford it. Few people noticed her until her famous 2014 “fuck the EU” in a dialogue with the US Embassador in Ukraine was leaked. The dialogue exposed US involvement in Ukrainian. She was, until she retired: I suggest youOpen the link A case…

  • Sanctions

    I definitely don’t like the way women are treated in Iran, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. And I most emphatically do not approve of putting dissidents in prison, either. And as for torture… no! no! no! (If you tortured me to force me to endorse torture, I would probably give in, but those who love me,…

  • Serpents in paradise

    I have been, and am still, stunned by the sadism of the Israeli government and its military — as well as by the US, UK, and German governments’ enthusiastic endorsement of genocide. Good heavens, what a bunch of psychopaths makes up the top echelons of our western societies! The events in Gaza recently prompted Craig…

  • A word on Ukrainian history

    The events immediately preceding Russia’s entry into Ukraine have been the subject of furious debate (not in my country, true enough, where any scepticism regarding the dominant narrative is fiercely cancelled.) I think those events have been made sufficiently clear, by now, for us to understand what happened and why it happened. What has not…

  • Just a question – or rather three

    The Munich Security Conference, held annually, is allegedly the world’s leading forum for debating – guess what – international security. In other words, it is not the opera and it is not open to the public. I add for the record that it makes no headway safeguarding international security, but that is another matter. Its…

  • Prisons and prisoners

    That Julia Navalnaya is furious is, of course, only as it should be. That the late prisoner’s mother is distraught, likewise. That those who care for Navalny are deeply upset is, to say the least, more than natural. For my part, I am, however, more concerned about the conditions endured by other prisoners in Russia.…

  • Military escalation

    On 2 February less than a handful of Norwegian dailies briefly reported the signing of an agreement between the USA and the Norwegian government, according to which Norway grants the USA 8 new military bases, in addition to the four granted in 2021. All the dailies used the same wording, including the non-word “omforent”, which…

  • Complicity

    I have fantasies of Netanyahu and his co-thugs finding themselves in a modern version of Dante’s purgatory – Gaza, to be precise – alive, it is true, but injured: broken bones, burns, cuts and bruises, but no doctors, no pain killers, no food, no water, no clean clothes, no toilets, … Netanyahu and his cut-throats…

  • Overstory

    Things are not looking good for Ukraine, but at least the country seems able to strike Russian oil depots and refineries, thus in effect striking the rest of us. All our efforts day after day – yours and mine – to reduce our carbon footprints are derisory compared to the output of a few hours’…

  • Whitherto

    Where are we heading? I wonder. When the USA and the UK and Israel (attacks against Palestine, Lebanon and Syria) go around bombing countries they dislike, there is reason to fear anarchy in the worst sense of that word. For one thing: If they can do it, why can’t anyone else? One or more of…