WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG

Where did it all go wrong? I was watching this morning on YouTube, an interview, from CNN, between Jake Tapper and Stephen Miller the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Mr Miller was giving his explanation about the executive order to freeze federal aid. The legality of the order was not discussed, but during the course of the interview it became clear that the main reason behind the policy was to ‘stop federal funds being diverted to left wing projects’ or words to that effect, adding, that the current civil servants who have some say in the expenditure of federal funds are left wing and supporters of Kamala Harris; also,  Joe Biden’s previous polices were a waste of public funds for left wing projects and that the civil servants in question had to be fired and completely replaced by new people, in order to enable  government to regain control. It was not intended (although it did) to stop funding Medicaid or other social support for the elderly like meals on wheels or child care programs etc.

In effect, what is intended, is a complete dismissal of all federal government employees who do not agree with Trump & Co.  and replace them with their own people, to enable complete control of public funds and all the power that goes with it. Mr Miller spoke of ‘the left’ as if it was a position that had no right to even exist, especially in the United States. He also went on about getting rid of ‘undocumented criminal immigrants’ in the same tone, as if the only criminals in the United States were undocumented illegal immigrants. The promotion of division and fear was his entire message, his entire policy. It is the continuous refrain of Trumpism. It is now another ism.

Sadly, it dawns on me now, that my generation must have a lot to do with what is going on. We were born during and just before the second world war. The world had come out of a deep depression, particularly in Germany, and the resentments of prior disputes boiled over into the rise of nationalism in Europe and around the world. The antagonisms that developed, and the fear mongering and scapegoating that took place led to that world war. Afterwards, our parents returned to work in earnest to try and make their world a better place in a variety of ways espousing, as normal, the different political points of view that go into making up the social order of things and the governance that goes with it. But, they did so in the firm belief that they would not let their children suffer the horrors of the war they had just survived.

Those that were able, did everything they could to protect their children. The work and education ethic were very strong and for a while, during the 1950’s and early 1960’s, most things, in the western world at least, were good.  I was one of those children. We had a great time growing up. Our parents were mainly protective and consequently a bit conservative (not necessarily politically) and reluctantly allowed us a degree of social freedom so that we might grow up to be better people. We, in the course of growing up, rejecting some of the more staid views of our parents and rejected certain attitudes to form our own.  

Given the particular events prompted out of the cold war (Korea, Vietnam etc..) a world-wide social movement developed into the flower power generation. It was all about peace and love, flowers in your hair, jaw jaw instead of war war, and ‘getting it together’. It was all about inclusion and getting on with each other. We all went to Woodstock, one way or another. Even Ronald Reagan in a farewell speech (which I had previously posted, but here it is again) spoke of inclusion and the state of what it was to be an American.

The modus vivendi now seems to be exclusion, division and a refusal to listen to another point of view. We are back to the entrenchment of resentment, the fearmongering and blaming of ‘outsiders’ for our troubles. Differences of religion no longer conform to their espoused adherence to charity, but have evolved into outright hatred, violence and carnage. So again, I ask myself, once a 1960’s hippy, where did we go wrong? Why are our children so full of hatred and division? Why are they so disparaging of others? Why do they seek to wield knives and guns and rampage? Why are our politicians so utterly divisive and seeking to so control their nations into zombies of ordered and over controlled citizens? Why have free thinking citizens elected these people to be our representatives? Why have we acquiesced to put them in such high authority? What is this attraction towards the dictator? Why are we repeating the mistakes of our ancestors?

We have all been here before and the protest songs and folk songs we sang together seem to echo is some distant world. Recently Rolling Stone Magazine published a list of the hundred greatest protest songs. Oddly a great many were composed in the 1980’s, 1990’s, and in the last 25 years of the 21^st century. Sadly, they have had as much effect as those from the 1930’s through to the 1970’s

In any event, the generations that have come after us seem to have completely lost the way. As much as there are people who want to save the planet, protect the environment, ensure the survival of humanity, protect and preserve existing welfare programs (NHS, income support, social security, care homes, meals on wheels, child care etc..) freedoms of expression, religion, education, employment and movement, there are people who want to abolish state funding all together and control these freedoms with an iron hand of conformity and dictatorial powers. The divisions could not be more stark. The refusal and denial of climate change and genuine democracy is apparent to all. The evidence is expressed in our daily lives.

There is the joke about the elderly person who asks God why he hasn’t warned him about approaching death. God suggests, look in the mirror, what do you see? How much warning do you need?  We can all say, look at the weather, look at the devastating floods, hurricanes, typhoons, drought and fires. How much warning do you need? Listen to the likes of Trump, Putin, Le Pen, Netanyahu, Sinwar,  Al-Masri, etc. How much warning do you need?

Can we not get it back together?

DO WE STILL LIKE TO BE IN AMERICA?

What a difference a day makes. Listening to the news is difficult. The various stories that are currently reported emphasise the difficulties faced by editors needing to prioritise the events reported on in order of their importance. Is the decision on level of importance arrived at by the editor alone or by a group of journalists in the newsroom based on their collective view as to what story should take precedence? The BBC have a basic formula of generally dealing with international news to begin with, unless there is a pressing national story which appears to be dominating the headlines. It then moves on to ‘local news’ which, when dealing with the greater London area, will often be part of a national news story.  Again, the degree of importance given to the story appears to be based on the editor’s judgement of what the public considers of most interest at the time of publication. ITV newscasts generally begin with local news followed by national and international news reporting.  A different approach but effectively along the same lines of separation of importance to the perceived viewer.

 

The main stories however are generally the same in whatever publication is on offer, presumably taking the general public’s attitude to what is of importance to them; although, the circulation of the various journals gives an indication as to what their particular readers feel is of importance. This is clearly indicated by the variety of headlines one finds in the Sun, The Express, The Mirror, The Mail, the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph, the Financial Times etc. Each has their particular approach to lead story lines indicative of their readership. Know to whom you speak.

 

Given my own anxieties, I confess I lean towards the Guardian. I prefer its editorial views and I find some of its contributors are usually in agreement with me (tee hee) or at least express opinion with which I agree.  This attitude is clearly biased and full of ‘liberal lefty” prejudice, but it is what it is. I have sent the odd letter to the editor but have never had anything published. Indeed, I have sometimes been pissed off when I find my particular point being expressed in someone else’s letter or regular column the next day or a few days later. But such is life. People hold similar views and some occasionally have a platform. Some others are actually elected representatives, politicians who one hopes will promote the views we feel might go some way to improving the current problems and finding solutions to the difficulties.

 

This would be on both a national and international scale, after all it’s not like fight club. What happens abroad does not stay abroad. The ramifications go everywhere. Any perturbation on the globe clearly affects the entire planet. Spatiality matters. In discussing the brain, Professor Netta Cohen, now at University of Leeds, has proposed:

 

“One of the key things is that there are many interactive components, interacting in a non-trivial way, as physicists would say interacting with degrees of freedom.  There are microscopic degrees of freedom and macroscopic degrees of freedom that are interacting, each of those (components) are acting and interacting on a wide range of scales, this includes both temporal scales; you’ve got very very quick proteins acting on nanoseconds, all the way to the range of microseconds and sometimes milliseconds and you’ve got lifetime learning. A very broad range of time scales and a very broad range of spatial scales, things acting intracellularly, at the molecular level and the G-network level which are very localised and you’ve got things happening at whole brain level and that’s excluding your interaction with the environment which is whole organism level... A single protein can change the macroscopic state of the system; a single macroscopic perturbation can cause some gene expression which then causes some cascade which completely changes your system”

 

As a metaphor for what is going on across the globe on a very broad range of time scales and on a whole world level, it is more than somewhat appropriate. Can one see Mr Trump as that single protein or macroscopic perturbation causing cascades which are completely changing our system, or is it in fact a sequence of such proteins in the form of Putin, Trump, and other single minded right wing nationalists’ intent on bullying their way to supreme power? What on earth is the Greenland, Canada and Panama obsession about? Is it to emulate Putin and Ukraine, or Xi Jinping and Taiwan? What can Trump possibly have said to Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen?

 

This degree of freedom interaction is cause for considerable concern. He is being given a free ride in the United States by an astronomically ignorant and poorly educated electorate, a corrupt and without moral judgement so called Supreme Court and a Congress (in particular the Senate) of sycophants and lickspittles without a scintilla of integrity. Am I being harsh? I do not think so. His assumption that he can override the Constitution of the United States by executive order or decree is therefore not without foundation. ‘They’ have come round to his edicts before and there seems to be no reason for ‘them’ not to come round again.

 

As to the Washington Press Corps, they are alas absent without leave. There is nothing to challenge his ego. The only fly in his ointment is a little Episcopal Bishop in the Washington Diocese in the shape of Mariann Budde who spoke up from her pulpit. Her sermon to bless and commemorate the inauguration was in her church where he would not be able to voice objection or interrupt with the rage of his bully persona. He just had to sit there and take it. His usual response came out later on line with the usual epithet of nasty and other derogatory descriptive adjectives.

Her sermon has gone round the world and can be viewed:

I am not a believer in God. I do not call upon him as a saviour or proffer him as having a hand to lift me up and guide me through life. Marianne Budde however, is of a different view and she knows she has God on her side. This was not a sermon from a doubting Thomas. She was clear and articulate and spoke directly to power. ‘Smoke on your pipe and put that in’. 

NONSENSE AND NOSTALGIA

This was written yesterday but not posted till today.  

The United States Senate is going through the charade of questioning prospective secretaries of the various government departments put forward by Donald Trump. The choices he has made have been all over the news and have attracted a variety of opinion, most of which has pointed out the ineptitude of the various choices either through their disturbing right wing rhetoric, ineptitude or lack of relevant experience. All have a singular devotion to Mr Trump despite their claims of political impartiality and adherence to the constitution and the rule of law. I say charade because the current make-up of the Senate contains a majority of Republican Party representatives, most of whom are equally devoted to Mr Trump.

 

The scrutiny and style of questions put to the various candidates is nothing other than congratulations and leading questions extoling their supposed virtues. Indeed the Chairman of the Committee invariably introduces into ‘evidence’, without exceptions, positive letters of recommendation and backing for the respective candidates.  There are apparently no letters making any adverse comment. Equally no witnesses in opposition appear to come before the committee. So, despite the obvious caveats normally associated with Senate enquiries, the various candidates will be approved and Trump will have all his sycophants sitting at his table licking and brownnosing galore. The manner in which the Republican party cosies up to these so called secretaries of defence and attorneys general is sickening. The evasive answers and non-answers to question from opposition senators is breath-taking as is the scorn and arrogance displayed in the candidates replies. Never, in the history of the United States, have presidential choices for heads of cabinet posts been so low and lacking in character. It is a gathering of gangsters who have no regard for anyone but themselves in the shadow of their godfather.

 

That the United States Government should stoop so low as to choosing officials no better than mobsters and racketeers is the undoing of America. The convicted felon will have his way and there appears to be nothing that can be done about it. I would not be surprised in the long run if the United States applies to become a member of the Russian Federation under Putin, given Mr Trumps admiration of the man. The way Putin rang the changes at their last meeting through cajoling flattery was masterful, and will no doubt continue in the same vein.

 

Enough of that. Moving on to more fun things. Many things are getting far more expensive throughout the world. I can recall that in 1960 a cup of coffee at Ships Coffee Shop in Westwood cost 10 cents with just about unlimited refills. In addition there was of small jug of single cream on the table (along with other condiments including maple syrup and raspberry jam). Coffee went up to 20 cents in the 70’s. Herewith part of a sample menu:

There was a film called Diner released in 1982 written and directed by Barry Levinson about a group of friends in 1959 who frequent a Diner in Baltimore called Fell’s Point Diner. The depiction in the film is very much like my own time at UCLA in Westwood and meeting up with friends in Ships.  The film starred Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly and Ellen Barkin. They were all in their when the film was made. It’s worth a look if only for nostalgia. The film starts two minutes in to video:

As to the Ships menu, it should be noted that a top sirloin steak served with a baked potato sour cream and chives between 5pm and 9pm seems like a good deal at $2.85, but it would be the equivalent of $23.18 today, so not so very great since one can get a 6oz sirloin steak and eggs at Norms Restaurant in Inglewood, California for $17.99. 

So much for nostalgia. One forgets the salaries on offer. In Billy Wilder's film, The Apartment (released in 1960) in the opening monologue, Jack Lemon's character, C.C. Baxter, mentions that he receives take home pay of $94.70 per week, which today is the equivalent of $1,009.72 per week or £827.64. That is roughly equivalent to a yearly salary of £56,000.00 a year before tax. Not too shabby for a young single man in his 30's. He also paid less than one week's salary for one month's rent or about $200 a week (£163) for an apartment in New York City. He claims to live in the West 60's just half a block from Central Park. At today's rents he would have to pay at least  5 times that much for a one bedroom apartment in the same location. So there were things that were better value for money, like  rent generally, which would mean that a person on £56K per annum could not afford to live in Manhattan or indeed central London unless they shared. 

 

Perhaps sharing is altogether better for social interaction? Hard to say. A couple with a double income might manage it. It would appear that the current economic climate favours the couple, both working with fairly decent incomes. The single person clearly has more difficulty. This is even reflected in package holiday costs were there is usually a single person supplement. One has to say however, that the hours and work intensity required to earn those salaries means that there is less time to associate socially other than an after work drink with co-workers. Not necessarily the ideal way to pair up if one is seeking to have a partner. Hence the internet match making sites offering a variety of like-minded people to put themselves up to social interaction across the web. There have been successes but there have also been rather serious problems arising.

 

Economics and communications have clearly changed society in quite dramatic ways. It’s tough out there and it seems to be getting tougher. So back to nostalgia.

WHAT ABOUT MORE EDUCATION

The opening of 2025 has been a very mixed bag of events, mostly unfortunate. There is talk of a ceasefire in the middle east but Ukraine smoulders on. In the United States, Southern California is equally smouldering, quite apart from the insanity of the current transition towards a new federal government in Washington D.C. An infantile psychotic narcissist, as head of the free world, seeks to surround himself with sycophants and ridiculously unqualified people of inferior intellect as his secretaries of ministerial departments of state. To what end, not even he knows. The day to day reveals of the lack of character and knowledge of his cabinet choices is astonishing; yet, the Republican Party representatives inexplicably fall in behind him like lapdogs. This godlike adulation will be the undoing of the Republic. Of that I have no doubt, unless the rational and decent citizen’s left can somehow rally together and hold him and his cohorts in check as intended by the constitution. Good luck with that.

 

In the United Kingdom the new government is finding its own transition into governing extremely problematic. The first six months of the current parliament, despite the party’s massive majority, has been a string of little failures causing a distancing of its supporters from the leadership.  Government ministers are having to defend themselves vigorously at every interview after only six months in office. They have not ‘hit the ground running’ as claimed, and how long will they be able to carry on with “We have inherited a drastic situation left by the previous government`’ as a preamble to their excuses for inaction? I am perhaps being a bit harsh so far as the Labour Party is concerned, and the expectations of the citizenry may be a bit demanding and optimistic, but such is the nature of the beast.

 

 “You said X would happen and it hasn’t, and you appear to be lacking in judgement about certain matters relating to policy and personnel” is a constant refrain at present. That is not surprising given this first past the post majority from a minority one third of the electorate. The country is out of sync. The Labour Party did not enter parliament with a sigh of relief from the electorate in July 2024, but with a grumble of discontent, so despite the hoopla of congratulations at the polls, it was never going to be easy. With that in mind the pratt falls during this first six months have not helped. We can but hope the new year will prompt the ground running to commence. 

 

Addendum:

Celia is extremely upset about the above two paragraphs. I do understand. Yes there was great relief by all that the Conservative Party was so massively defeated at the last general election. Also, the Labour Party is doing wonders given the unfortunate and drastic situation left by the Conservative Party. A great deal of time and effort will have to be spent on cleaning up the mess. It has been an extremely difficult transition for the new government when faced with the urgencies required to get the NHS back on track, to deal with the calamitous fallout of Brexit and find a way to revitalise the United Kingdom’s relationship with its foremost trading nations in Europe. Apart from NHS reform. new legislation relating to tenants, employment, education and social care is urgently needed. The finances to secure the success of such endeavours is paramount and the economic growth to that end is not easy to promote. The success of the new government is in difficulties as it is subject to an onslaught of negative press and the polling which indicates that 70% of the public appear to be dissatisfied with the government. That is not surprising given that those figures have in fact not changed since the July 2024 election when70% of the electorate did not vote for Labour. So the fact that there has been no real change is pretty good going. I’ve no doubt they will bounce back, which is why I said that perhaps I was being a bit harsh. In any event the United Kingdom is a much safer haven that the United States or the Russian Federation. True freedom of expression and the rule of law survive here and are in no danger of succumbing to the likes of Trump and Putin.  

 

I am encouraged to have a more optimistic outlook and refrain from obsessing about the growing insanity in the United States and other depressing news in general. I will go for that, as I find my sleep pattern interrupted, not only from more frequently having to pee in the middle of the night, but from the anxiety of what one is helpless to change about the world. This, I am sure, is a not uncommon experience with people of my age. To paraphrase, what thoughts may come gives me pause.

 

I am certainly not at a stage where I would consider making my quietus by means of a sharp instrument or bottle of pills, not even of any kind. I believe there are still a few miles left in the current corpus, although closure does not seem far off. I see and hear of bits of prospective parliamentary environmental and social legislation that will come into effect in and around 2030, 2035 and 2050, and it does dawn on me that I am unlikely to benefit from the effects of such measures. Does that stop me from wishing they would come into effect even so? I wonder if the commitment levels are as strong as they once were, although I have to confess they were never that forceful in any event.

 

My critical faculties also seem to be out of step with current thinking. As an example, there is a new police procedural program on television, though not the most brilliant, original or earth shattering of shows, but which I found pleasantly entertaining. On reading a review in the Guardian it was panned in no uncertain terms by a reviewer I normally find reliable and amusing. So what can one say? A difference of opinion or a critical lack of discernment? It is hard to know which. In any event it is vital to keep the brain active and in a perpetual state of enquiry. Which is perhaps why one should once again consider the pursuit of another university degree of some kind. Should I follow up on the abandoned Phd in performance writing, make a formal application to engage in the aforementioned PPE degree, or some other subject entirely? To engage with academia is making a commitment to study, research, read and write essays within a disciplined and organised structure. One has to keep to a timetable and engage with other students and tutors or the fees required are just thrown away funds. Higher education costs, whereas autodidacticism can be a leisurely and inexpensive hobby. Within a university environment one has deadlines and targets to meet in order to obtain the piece of paper that demonstrate the qualification and expertise, or at least specific knowledge, in and of a subject. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.  

 

Applications for the year 2025-2026 are now in the process of being considered by various institutions. UCL, LSE, Birkbeck and Kings College are but a bus ride away.  Perhaps a meeting and a discussion with some professor might be in order to get an idea as to what and whether it is worth pursuing? Perhaps a study in the vagaries and indecisions of old age from a philosophical, political and economic point of view? Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men? More of this anon.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY

One is devastated by the news from Los Angeles. Two friends (I have known them for over 66 years) Bob, who has contributed comment on the blog (Monday 28^th October 2024 and Friday 8th November 2024) and lives in the Palisades, and Lolita, who lives in Malibu, have lost everything in the fire. It is almost impossible to comprehend the overwhelming distress they are going through. Bob and Kirie have lived in their home for over 50 years. Over half their lives have been obliterated. Lolita’s studio (whose work can be seen at  https://www.lolitasaprielsculpture.com/home ) has been decimated along with the rest of her home and possessions. The frustration of being so far away and unable to offer assistance is more than somewhat distressing.

This is not the kind of event that should be happening to us in our 80’s. It is imperative that they be given every assistance to reconnect with living, looking forward and re-establishing the equilibrium they had achieved before the fire. Family and friends come forward, as should the state of California and the United States Government.  President Biden has made clear the commitment of the Federal Government to do so, whilst the President Elect and his cohorts sing from a different hymn sheet. While Mr Musk is prepared to bank roll the Reform Party in the UK with $100 million, he seems unable to offer the same, if not more, to a fire relief fund for Los Angeles. It’s loose change to him after all. Even ten times that much would be insignificant to someone with allegedly over 4000 times that amount in assets. He could even pay the entire $51 billion estimate and it would still leave him with $400 billion, according to Forbes. He is unlikely to do any of that so long as he is allied to the right of politics and his stooge Donald Trump.

Be that as it may, in the autumn of 2009, sixteen years ago, I visited Los Angeles and took a few videos at the 50 year class reunion, one of which was with Lolita. Herewith is that video of a truly lovely human being. It’s not very long but it gives you an idea.

 

A TRIAL TO LOOK FORWARD TO

Well here we are again. A new year on the calendar and the first quarter of the 21^st century is in its final year. The turmoil that has occurred since the 11^th September 2001 is by no means insignificant. The escalation of automated military hardware has increased immeasurably and the death toll has trundled along with increasingly conspicuous breaches of crimes against humanity raised by the International Criminal Court.

 

Indeed, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is Karim Asad Ahmed Khan KC. He was born in Edinburgh and received his qualifications from King’s College London and Wolfson College, Oxford. He assumed his current office on the 16^th June 2021 having been elected chief prosecutor of the ICC on the 12^th February 2021 for a nine year term.

 

There is an entry on his Wikipedia page which states:

“On 24 April 2024, Khan was sent a letter signed by 12 Republican U.S. senators threatening him and other UN jurists and their families with personal consequences if the ICC were to seek an international arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu or other members of the Israeli government. The letter cited the American Service-Members’ Protection Act – known informally as "The Hague Invasion Act" which specifically includes "all means". The signatories said they would view any arrest warrant as "a threat not only to Israel's sovereignty, but also to the sovereignty of the United States". They threatened: "Target Israel and we will target you", and that any further action would "end all American support for the ICC" and "exclude [Khan and his associates and employees] and their families from the United States". The letter ended: "You have been warned."”

 

On the 20^th May 2024 Karim Khan KC issued a statement concerning Applications for arrest warrant in the situation in the State of Palestine, in which it is stated, inter alia:

“On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and, Yoav Gallant the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:

• Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
• Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
• Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
• Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
• Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).

My Office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day…”

 

At the same time Mr Khan also issued warrant against Yahya SINWAR (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023.

 

Also the list of defendants before the ICC includes Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin who faces the following charges:

“Allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).”

 

An arrest warrant was issued by the Court on the 22^nd February 2023 for Mr Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation amongst others including Ms Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. Additionally on the 2^nd February 2024 warrants were issued for Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash, a Lieutenant General in the Russian Armed Forces who at the relevant time was Commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Aerospace Force and Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, an Admiral in the Russian Navy, who at the relevant time was Commander of the Black Sea Fleet. Further warrants were issued on 5^th `March 2024 for Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation at the time of the alleged conduct; Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces, and First Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation.

 

I do not know if Mr Khan has received any threats from the Russian Federation, but noting his response on the 20^th May 2024 to the threats from the United States on the 24^th April 2024, I am sure that he has clearly taken a view in issuing arrest warrants based on the “evidence collected and analysed by his Office pursuant to its independent investigations”.

 

Mr Khan has been busy in the last couple of years and there are arrest warrants outstanding in many parts of the world for numerous defendants, but for those who have screwed up the world in such a major way, it would be nice if  the warrants could all be executed at the same time.  One would like to see a trial before the court:

 

The World

-v-

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Maria Lvova-Belova, Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash, Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, Ismail Haniyeh hi

Charge:

Conspiracy to screw up the world Etc...

 

I wonder how they would all get on being in the dock together at the same time. Personally I think one could add Donald Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator to round it up to a dirty dozen. 

 

We have had insanity so far and, what with co-Presidents Trump and Musk, the next four years seem to be a continuation of more of the same. Nonetheless, I will remain optimistic. One has a number of delightful events on offer in the near future including, the car passing its MOT midweek, a reconciliation supper next Friday or Saturday Night, Burns Night chez nous, a night out at the theatre to see The Score at the Haymarket in February and who knows what else may crop up of a cultural and life enhancing nature.  

 

I wish you all a very good start to the rest of the century.