Touching Hot Irons - Anti-Semitism And Racism

The Islamic resistent movement Hamas kept firing rockets on Israeli territory and was also accused of killing three Israelic Juveniles. Israel responded by bombing the Gazah strip with the main aim to destroy their tunnel system. As a result, many demonstrations in Germany took place with participants chanting anti-Semitic slogans, what in turn upset the usual suspects here. Before i write my opinion about it, i want to quote someone with the name " Pro_Europa", who had this to say about Anti-Semitism: " ... Whoever uses the word anti-Semitism, wants to defame, wants to lay a smoke-screen and wants to defend the radikal Zionists and their crimes. It's the strategy of the criminal Zionists to call every critic on their deeds anti-Semitic ... " It is thus important to make a distinction between Jews and jewish Zionists. While the regular Jews are peaceloving people wanting to live out their religion, the Zionist's are nationalistic, atheistic and ready to terrorize in order to achieve their goals. Jewish Zionists included Rothschild, Warburg and Schiff and more contemporary Larry Fink and Lloyd Blankfein among others. It seems, a non-Zionist does not need to apply for the Fed's president's job and some of the worst war mongers and neocons in George W. Bush's administration were Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz. So there is a relative small group of folks equipped with enormous wealth and global power. According to Henry Kissinger "globalisation" is only another word for American hegemony and my point of view is, that they are trying to establish a " One World Government " with the Euro, the EU, Free Trading Zone's and lots and lots of compliant politicians as their tools. I also took a look into the who is who in the Ukraine linked to the West and there we go again ... Petro Poroshenko, Victoria Nuland, John Kerry and Ihor Kolomoyskyi are in the mix and again and again many of the main protagonists in the world theater belong to this exquisite class. I am not going to agitate against anyone, however as a sensible, politically matured citizen i would like to voice my concerns about current proceedings with these people involved, without being hit with the anti-Semitism stick. How will they react, if the financial system crashes or Putin and others tackle the dollar ? It is going to get ugly./ Once i was involved in a discussion, when somebody was accused of being a racist. He went furious about the accusations, but i only thought : " Mellow out, dude, there is a racist, smaller or larger or even only momentarily in each and everyone of us (except Claudia Roth). " I mean, nobody likes to be called an racist, but there is a plethora of races very different from each other and you cannot like them all equally, be it because of their culture or habbits or another reason. I have no affinity to religion and like my beers,  so i stay clear from places , where they prefer it the other way around and perhaps even that makes me a mild racist. But there is no room for error, should i make a shortlist with people i dislike most, that list would mostly contain whites wearing neckties. And now everybody listen to BLACK SABBATH.

Johnny Winter †

Guitar slinger Johnny Winter died July, 16th in Zurich. After devoting most of the seventy years of his  lifetime to the blues and various substances, his frail body eventually cried "enough" briefly before the release of a new album. Johnny played regularly here in Hamburg and watching this cross- eyed albino picking fluid, powerful lines and licks al fresco was certainly something, nobody will ever come close to again. The Guardian wrote the following obituary about him.

" I had the mojo boogie
  It was that mojo boogie
  Gotta be that mojo boogie
                                           It was that mojo boogie, begin to slide on down. "

                                                           Johnny Winter  - Mojo Boogie -                                     

Merkel, Gauck And the World Cup 2014

I had my doubts about the German team, but was proven wrong. With the excception of a few bumpy games, this handsome bunch played good, intelligent football and deservedly won the cup. Their behaviour after the thumping of Brasil needs a special positive mentioning. However i wouldn't be a German, if i had nothing to nag about. They are great football players, but terrible dancers as Thomas Müller demonstrated in this video - a duck on ice has more elegant moves. Just kidding and what really winds me up was the presence of chancellora Merkel and to make matters worse she had Federal President Gauck in her tow. These two constantly act against the interests of the German people, albeit in favour of the EU and the financial elites as Merkel recently for instance made clear by supporting the Transatlantik Trading and Investment Partnership (TTIP). I posted this video earlier to show her attitude towards Germany, but that does not hinder her to grab the limelight in between successful football players to present herself as the " mother of the nation " -  opportunism and hypocrisy taken to a new height and watching millions of Germans wearing black red and gold must be sheer horror for her. Merkels spying activities for the former East German secret police " Stasi " were well documented, hence her nickname IM Erika, however the so called "Rosenholz files" disappeared, but were probably seized by the CIA and contain enough explosive material to blackmail Merkel and other German politicians. Furthermore rumors keep lingering, that Merkel is an illegitimate daughter of former chancellor Helmut Kohl, whose real name is Henoch Kohn. Sounds absurd ? Her biography tells something different, but nowadays manipulating biographies is no big deal ( Ever heard of Barry Soetoro ? He is better known under his alter ego Barack Obama). At least it would explain Merkels affinity for Israel. Not too long ago she explained, that Germany would guarantee Israel's security and since decades, Germany delivers arms to Israels with submarines worth hundreds of millions dollar almost exclusively on the German taxpayers expense. Besides Merkel has meanwhile a closet full with honors and awards fom Israel. With her powerful friends and networking skills, she made shure every noteworthy opponent was taken out of her way to the top ranks, where she is untouchable now. I really would like to see, German national players would get clued up and avoid "selfies"  with her in the future, but that is probably asking for too much.

Vietnam 3 - The Cu Chi Tunnels

During their struggle against the French colonialists, the Viet Minh excavated a tunnel system, which was vastly expanded after the U.S. invasion and stretched from Saigon to the Cambodian border. Out of these tunnels now the Viet Cong fought a guerrilla warfare against the U.S. troops killing many GIs through sniper fire. To put it into perspective : Down in the tunnels were combatants wearing pyjamas and sandals and were armed with old Russian carbines facing the whole American war machinery with carpet bombing B-52's, helicopters, tanks, bulldozers, Agent Orange and napalm. It took the Americans quite a while to figure out, where the raiders came from and whereabouts they disappeared so quickly. Eventually they discovered the tunnels and tried to flush out the VC with water or gas, what failed by the use of well functioning trap doors. The Americans even founded a laboratory in Maryland to develop various methods to defeat the VC inside their tunnels, but they all failed miserably as well and that was it, when the so called Tunnel Rats entered the picture. These men had a small frame and a slightly crazy mindset. I mean, who in his right mind would travel to such a remote place to creep into a tunnel with a knife and a revolver for head to head combat - mindboggling indeed ! However the VC adapted promptly and secured the entrances with mines, booby traps and bamboo made Punji sticks. At first many unexperienced Rats perished after having entered the tunnels, but later on they were better schooled and some even developed a passion for a tunnel fight, albeit they were not able to defeat the Viet Cong until they pulled out of Vietnam. The Viet Cong were communists and frowned upon unnecessary personal possessions. They had a strong comradeship, but were merciless with those , who collaborated with the enemy and their ability to suffer from the hardships inside the tunnels was remarkable. The tunnels were sometimes multi-leveled with hardly any oxygen, were hot and full with a terrible stench, but nonetheless some Viet Cong spent up to five years inside with very little food. " The Tunnels Of Cu Chi have become for the Vietnamese Communists a symbol of their tenacity and endurance during the war against the Americans from 1965 to 1973." wrote Tom Mangold & John Penycate in their book and it is a thrilling read. YouTube has some interesting videos on the subject too.

Vietnam 2

Vietnam's political system is simple. The Communist Party rules and that's it, albeit meanwhile it is hard to detect any traces leading to their ideology. In Saigon operates a stock exchange and the huge Bitexco Financial Tower dominates the downtown area, where also the rich and beautiful have plenty of opportunities to do their therapy shopping. The traffic system isn't complicated either - the bigger vehicle has the prerogative. At least Saigon is now equipped with more traffic lights, making it a lot less hazardous crossing the street through an endless stream of motorbikes. From Saigon i traveled up north to Nha Trang. Not to long ago this place was a sedate town with a beach, that can easily compete with some of the Caribeans finest. Nowadays it is sporting (almost) more neon lights than Las Vegas and is a playground for Russian all-inclusive tourists. More interesting is the historic jewel of Hoi An en route to Da Nang - a journey to Vietnam wouldn't be complete without visiting it. To escape Nha Trang's intensive heat, i did what the French colonialists already have done and traveled to Dalat in the central highlands. This city is nicely layed out around a lake, but it's main attractions didn't appeal to me and so i moved on after three nights there. A couple of pointers i want to mention here. The Vietnamese seem to be in rude health, what i guess has to do with their cuisine, which is always fresh and healthy, so obesity is almost nonexistent. Why administrations handed out business licenses to Mc Donalds, KFC and Co. is beyond me, but it is good to see only a few people patronize these places. The currency is the dong and 1 euro equals around 28000 dong. Dealing with all these zeros can be a bit confusing at first, but those able to do some basic math get a hang of it quickly.I visited Vietnam three times now and got annoyed only twice and both times cyclo drivers were involved. The first wanted to bring me in a brothel of his his choice instead of my hotel and the second all of a sudden asked me for a ten times higher price we agreed upon. It's never a good idea to show some public rage in Vietnam, however these guys needed an earful to settle the argument. Aside from these two, the people i dealt with were all most wonderful - friendly , helpful and many times displaying a marvellous smile. So what are my conclusions ? Vietnam has undergone a lot of changes in recent years and not always for the right reasons. In fact Uncle Ho would spin in his sarcophage could he see some of them. But nontheless there are no doubts in my mind - Vietnam remains a top travel destination.