Good evening, and welcome to this edition of the Weekly News.
Headlining tonight is the death of three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan after a rogue Afghan army soldier opened fire after a routine parade. I covered this last Sunday when I heard about it, and while my tongue has calmed somewhat, my soul still seethes at this betrayal and our concomitant stupidity.
There was also some brief issue about a Qantas lockout, but I'm sure if you're interested, you can look it up yourself.
Moving to international news, we start in the United Kingdom. As Britain faces a population explosion from immigration over the next several decades, interest is rising on a parliamentary debate on immigration policy to reduce the immigration intake. Considering, however, the way the EU debate was handled, I wouldn't hold my breath for there to be any great action on the part of Westminster and the bureaucracy.
However, according to Professor Lynn, the decline of the UK has quite a bit to do with the mass immigration of the past 60 years. If only the world were so nice as it was back then - I certainly couldn't call running a business almost entirely on trust to be "boring".
It would seem, however, that the British government is quite trusting of other nations though, given that there was no Royal Navy ship specifically designated as a first response vessel for at least the past month. Brittania ruled the waves, but alas, no more.
In the EU, the Eurozone crisis has itensified as the Greek Prime Minister promised a referendum to his people on the adoption of the latest austerity package, simultaneously baffling Eurozone leaders and enraging them and the Europhiles. It emerged today that the PM is now backtracking under pressure from the Eurocrats and it appears pressure is being placed on the conservative opposition. One must wonder how much longer the farce will play out, and how much more money will be spent and lost, before the Euro finally expires.
Meanwhile, in France, a satirical magazine that had been assembling an issue on the "Arab Spring" and had declared Mohammed of Arabia a guest editor was firebombed. Additionally, a Catholic celebration for All Saints Day in southern France was attacked by Muslims, with members of the congregation having stones thrown at them. Now remind me again, which is the religion of peace?
Of news of Muslims, let us start in Turkey, where news has emerged that the Patriarchal Basilica of Holy Wisdom, better known as the Hagia Sophia, is under renovation for reopening as a mosque after nearly a century being a museum. Undoubtedly, the beautiful Orthodox iconography that was uncovered after being plastered over in the 15th Century will once again be covered up. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.
Moving now to Egypt, murder and oppression are the order of the day. The murder was of a seventeen year old student who had the audacity to show a cross to his Muslim classmates who beat him to death. The news has only recently come to light about the circumstances surrounding his death, and the Copts have subsequently declared Ayman Nabil Labib a martyr.
The general fate of Copts in Egypt, and Christians in the Middle East in general, is still under a significant cloud, and the geopolitical implications could be quite alarming. With the recent massacre of protesting Copts, along with possible implications of regime members inciting and provoking violence, the situation looks, frankly, awful.
In an incident that's sure to turn some heads though, Salafists in Alexandria have veiled ancient Greek siren statues. The political party they represent claims to be against the statues. If they go the way of the Bamiyan Buddhas, one must wonder just what sort of destruction would provoke the West into defending the past.
On matters cultural, it has emerged that the father of a near-victim of Anders Breivik in Norway wants the video game Call of Duty to be banned as it "promotes violence". Stop me if you've heard this one before.
And now, a reiteration of a plain home truth - we must study the narratives of our culture in order to know ourselves.
To conclude, I shall merely state that people must be quite desperate if they intend to steal this sort of thing.
And that is the end of the News.
0 comments:
Post a Comment