Dissent, a cornerstone ...

... of democracy, of civilisation, for without dissent in Britain we would have :

1. children chimney sweeps.
2. children mine workers.
3. children as young as 5 working

Our voice of dissent in Britain was Anthony Ashley Cooper, better known as the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury.

In Russia today there are the punk band Pussy Riot,and the object of their dissent is nothing more than the vertically challenged President (some say for life) Putin, a man who is unable to contemplate a democratic challenge.

In 16th century Italy there was Galileo Galilei, a dissenter who searched for truth through science, his adversary was the Roman Inquisition. 

Whereas Galileo was persecuted because he had proven the Earth orbited our Sun, the Pussy Riot are being persecuted by the Russian political establishment because they will have no truck with the Putin regime.

What point life if you are unable to protest another man's politics ...........

Blind, deaf and dumb, pathetic ..

... politics that has a system where regimes that suppress its people are allowed to condone the genocide of the Syria people by applying a veto on civilization.

... student Zaher Shehab has watched, helpless, as the uprising in Syria has torn his country apart. Then came news of a devastating attack on his family, writes Laura Pitel for today's Times

It was a Friday afternoon at the end of term. He should have been working in the university lab. Instead Zaher Shehab was standing in a corridor of the pharmacy faculty, following his mother’s funeral on his mobile phone. He had just lost seven members of his family in a single attack in Syria. His mother, Mayssa, his younger brother, two uncles, one aunt and two cousins had all been killed. They were working in their fields in a suburb of Damascus when they were hit. Two thousand miles away, the Bath University student could do nothing but try to absorb the news, powerless to help. “I can’t remember what I felt because really at that moment I couldn’t feel anything,” he says, his voice calm. “My brain stopped thinking. I couldn’t imagine what had happened. All of them together: my mother, my brother. Everything changed on that day.”

The polite, gently spoken 28-year-old arrived in Britain in 2010 to study for a PhD in pharmacy practice. A top-class student, he came on a scholarship paid for by the Syrian government, and was planning to return to Damascus to teach. But in November, Syrian intelligence snooped on his online exchanges and found anti-regime messages to friends. His funding was withdrawn. The university hardship fund and the Wellcome Trust stepped in. Without them he would have been forced to drop out.

His last trip home was shortly after the start of the uprising, which erupted in Syria last March on the back of turmoil across the Arab world. It was a surprise visit that delighted his parents, particularly his beloved mother. But a brush with the security forces, when he came close to being arrested, has left him unable to go back. Instead he found himself following developments in Syria from the incongruous setting of a West Country spa town.


While fellow students worried about deadlines and grades, over the past year and a half he has watched his country descend into violence. As the movement against President Assad has accelerated, he has seen protests sweep through his town, Daraya, and friends and neighbours killed. As the turmoil has dragged on the bloodshed has grown, with children massacred, whole districts destroyed and the estimated death toll topping 17,000.

Then, on July 6, the conf lict knocked on his family’s front door. He had just that is to blame. “We don’t know the kind of rocket or shelling — if it came from tank fire or helicopters,” he says. “No one could tell me if the rockets came from this side or that side. But for sure, 100 per cent we know that it is the Assad regime that owns these rockets and these tanks.”

Were they targeted deliberately or unlucky victims of random fire? It’s a question he will probably never be able to answer. The family were not politically active — they spent all their time working on the farm where they lived a simple life, growing tomatoes, aubergines and salads. “But in Syria there is no grey, only black and white,” he says. “If you are not with the government, they consider you against them.”

Friends and colleagues have been supportive and kind, putting him up in their homes so that he does not sleep alone. But they cannot compensate for being so far from Syria. “It is a hard time,” he says. “I can’t say anything else. It’s hard because I’m here, far away. I couldn’t do anything to support them. It’s difficult when one person dies ............

I guess we have to send a big thank you to Russia and China ......

...... and a big sigh of hopelessness when we see the antics of our world politicians unable or unwilling to say NO to the tyrants, thanks to the rump of civilization, UK, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, India, Australia .... et al.

 

European leaders do not trust Greece ...

... to keep their promises, insulting or a taste of reality ?

Confidence in the ability of Greek politicians to keep their promises is so low that eurozone finance ministers are likely to demand that a special protected account be set up to receive funds from the second bailout that they aim to agree today.  (as reported in today's Times).

In a sign of the lack of confidence in that leadership, some eurozone ministers will push today for all bailout funds to be safeguarded in an escrow account dedicated to paying off Greek debts. There will be many more conditions to the handout, which comes after a rescue package of €110 billion two years ago, including a team of experts stationed in Athens to monitor austerity measures.

If I were a German taxpayer I would want every transaction from the escrow account on-line with an explanation as to exactly why it was made, although it might be less of a German taxpayer burden if the politicians ate crow and let Greece float like Russia did after its default.

... can you imagine living in ...

... a city like Homs, in a country where the government sends its artillery to fire on your home.  Could you imagine sitting on Caerphilly mountain overlooking Cardiff watching plumes of smoke rising from Splott, or people fleeing from St. Mellons through the fields towards Caerphilly being shot at by snipers.

Over the top?  Ridiculous? ... well that is what is happening in Syria.

What about the opposition?  That would be the Syrian National Council in Turkey:

• Coalition of seven opposition factions, united against Assad regime
• Includes Kurds, tribal leaders, Islamists, democracy activists
• Formed last November after months of talks in Turkey
• Stated aim is to support the revolution and overthrow Assad

And here lies the problem, both Russia and China have applied their veto because this group wishes to replace the hereditary dictatorship that Assad leads in Syria.  If Russia and China had supported the resolution, how could they continue to suppress opposition groups in their respective countries, they needed the UN resolution to condemn both sides in this conflict !

In Britain we have a hereditary Head of State, she has been with us for 60 years, Mr Cameron praised the "magnificent service" given by the Queen and called her a "source of wisdom and continuity".

"With experience, dignity and quiet authority she has guided and united our nation and the Commonwealth over six varied decades," he said.

 A bitter-sweet day for the Queen, the anniversary of the death of her father and her ascending the throne.

If Syria had such a Head of State there would be no smoke hovering over the city of Homs, no funerals during the night because daytime is too dangerous because of snipers.

Sad world .........

... why did they ?

............. It's china and Russia, why did they veto the UN resolution condemning Syria's crackdown against anti-government protesters.

Well today it is reported that a further (estimated) 200 people were murdered by government forces in Syria ....................... and Russia says nothing.

Human rights groups and activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began in March 2011 ...................... yet China says nothing.

......... the sad world of autocratic governments.