• The Pig’s Arms
  • About
  • The Dump

Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle

~ The Home Pub of the Famous Pink Drinks and Trotter's Ale

Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle

Category Archives: Reuben Brand

Fin du Guerre Mondial – Reuben Brand

25 Monday Dec 2017

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff in Reuben Brand

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Kim Jong Un, Trump

http://www.reubenbrand.com

FatManLittleBoy_1_FINAL_LR

Pig’s Arms Bumper Christmas Edition – 2015

25 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff in Reuben Brand

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Turnbull, Turns back Abboatt

TurnBackAbboatt

Cartoon by Reuben Brand – Turning Back Abboatt

Image

End the Violence in Gaza

08 Wednesday Oct 2014

Tags

End the Violence in Gaza, Reuben Brand Cartoon

EndTheViolenceInGaza_1_WEB

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff | Filed under Reuben Brand

≈ 6 Comments

Reuben Brand’s Guide to Australian Politics

17 Thursday May 2012

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff in Reuben Brand

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Australian politics, cartoon, sad state

The sad state of Aussie politics by Reuben Brand

27/08/07

10 Friday Jun 2011

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff in Reuben Brand

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

Poem, Today

By Reuben Brand

Today I am not a breath,

Today I am not a tear,

Today neither am I hungry nor am I full,

Today neither do I sleep nor do I wake,

Today is the day I walk.

Yesterday I was full,

Tomorrow I will be hungry,

Yesterday I slept,

Tomorrow I shall wake.

Yesterday is gone,

Tomorrow is forever.

I cannot finish, for I did not start.

I cannot die for I have not lived.

Be humble,

Be grateful,

Behave,

Be.

Today is the day.

Stay silent.

Can you hear it?

Listen closely, and hear

The sound of a heart exploding.

A distant echo,

A far off cry,

A murmured word,

And then silence.

Today is the day,

Yesterday is gone.

Today is the day.

Tomorrow is forever.

Today is the day

I walk.

Osama: A death marred by mistruths

06 Friday May 2011

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff in Reuben Brand

≈ 53 Comments

Tags

assasination, Osama Bin Laden

By the Pig’s Arms Middle East Correspondent Reuben Brand

“USA! USA! USA!” echoed through the streets of New York City, as thousands of people, adorned with American flags, placards and slogans, congregated at Ground Zero to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden.

“Now that he’s dead, it feels good! To feel excited about somebody’s death is a weird feeling, but when it comes to him (bin Laden) it’s alright!” Said Michael Carol, a young man who lost his father on September 11.

Since the death of Osama bin Laden the popular media has been awash with White House spin. Commentators, politicians, analysts, anyone with a public voice, all towing the official line and like good little boys and girls, not questioning the vast holes in the abyss that is US “intelligence” in this mess that is the death of one man.

“Bin Laden is dead! Bin Laden is dead…  Osama bin Laden is dead! Happy days! Happy days everybody! This is the greatest night of my career! The bum is dead! The savage who hurt us so grievously… and I’m so blessed, I’m so privileged to be at this desk, at this moment!” Cheered Geraldo Rivera from Fox News, as he high fived a colleague.

So quickly the West descends from its moral high horse, so quickly it returns to a mob mentality, so quickly it becomes the thing that it hunts. The thing that it hates.

Osama bin Laden’s death was the result of a targeted assassination. But there are too many holes in the official story to believe it outright. I am a sceptic and refuse to ingest garbage that is continuously served up by a super power with such a bad track record. WMD’s in Iraq, ring any bells?

The initial story was one of a heroic mission, wherein a triumphant team of US Special Forces stormed bin Laden’s “heavily fortified” compound (which was apparently only 50 kilometres from the capital Islamabad – but we will address that later), encountered an armed struggle with bin Laden who resisted detainment and then callously used one of his wives as a human shield. The result of which was the death of bin Laden, his wife and a number of al Qaeda operatives.

Bin Laden’s body was then airlifted away by US Special Forces only to be dumped at sea 24 hours later.  Even a common criminal’s body would have been kept for longer – bear in mind, this was the most wanted man in the world, so where is the post-mortem examination report? Where are the DNA tests to prove identity? Where is the video evidence of this sea burial? Where is any evidence from the entire operation?

According to Washington and regurgitated by the Sydney Morning Herald, “Bin Laden’s body was washed and placed in a white sheet, following Islamic custom. The body was then put in a weighted bag. A military official read religious remarks that were translated into Arabic. The body was placed on a board that was then tipped, and the body was ‘eased into the sea’.”

“Eased into the sea,” it sounds so gentle, so poetic, like an act of kindness and care. I am curious as to when the US military suddenly became so respectful of religious customs, traditions and formalities. The actions at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Bagram Prison in Afghanistan all tell a different tale of respect.

Remember, the West has been hunting this man for nearly ten years now. One would think every aspect of this operation would have been documented.

Apparently, President Obama has the official death photos of bin Laden, but does not want to release them for fear of offending and infuriating the Muslim world – news flash Obama, you just killed the leader of al Qaeda – pretty sure you’ve pissed of a few people already.

The simple fact is that a large majority of the Muslim world do not follow, or believe in bin Laden’s ideology. They want freedom and democracy, just like you and I – the revolutions and uprisings against corrupt dictatorships and regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria are all testament to this.

Yes, al Qaeda will use bin Laden’s death photos as propaganda pieces to inspire more hatred, just as the West uses every available media outlet as a vehicle of propaganda to do just the same thing.

New versions of the official story are emerging – now we learn that the official story has been changed, again. This time, apparently bin Laden was not armed when he was shot, he didn’t use his wife as a human shield, she wasn’t killed, she was shot in the leg and his young daughter was present and witnessed her father’s assassination.

One curious piece to this story is the geographic proximity of Islamabad to Abbottabad.  The popular media would have you believe that it is a short 50km drive, that bin Laden was living just next door to President Zardari, that Pakistan itself is in on the whole thing.

I have worked in Pakistan and have travelled up into the mountains to Muzaffarabad – the road to Muzaffarabad goes directly through Abbottabad and I can tell you, it takes a lot longer than a brisk 50km drive. Do a quick Google maps search and you will find that the average distance is actually around 123km on roads that are sometimes very precarious. When simple facts such as these are so blatantly overlooked and not even fact checked by so called journalists, we have to question the full story and its authenticity.

We have no proof; we only have the word of an administration that is known for its mistruths. It does make for a good story though, but who’s to say bin Laden didn’t die a long time ago? Who’s to say he isn’t still alive? Without proof we are left with hypothetical stories.

As long as we are speaking in hypothetical’s, here’s one for you. Osama bin Laden, an old, weak and very sick man, who was reported to have been on a dialysis machine for much of his time, died peacefully in his compound in Abbottabad, explaining the large amount of family members who were present to attend the funeral. The US, who had surveillance of the region caught wind of this and seized an opportunity too good to pass up – Osama bin Laden cannot die of natural causes – America must take credit for capturing public enemy number one!

Hypothetical? Yes. True? Who knows, but it is just as plausible as the official US version.

Has US Foreign Policy become synonymous with targeted assassinations, covert espionage and clandestine raids? Is the West safer now that the leader of al Qaeda is dead?

The actions of the US have violated and vilified Pakistan’s sovereignty. Pakistan is now under intense scrutiny by the international community, the very convenient capture and killing of bin Laden have given the US carte blanche (not that it needs any more) to do as it sees fit in the region. Pakistan has become the new public enemy number one.

Make no mistake, Osama bin Laden is no victim. The acts of September 11 were gruesome, they were brutal and they were uncalled for. The loss of innocent life is an inexcusable travesty no matter where it occurs, how it occurs or who perpetrates it

Reuben Brand is a Freelance Journalist – for more information please visit his website at: www.reubenbrand.com

The Pig’s Arms Welcomes Reuben Brand

11 Saturday Sep 2010

Posted by Mark in Reuben Brand

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Pakistan, politics, Taliban

All good cyber pubs need a  foreign correspondent to keep the patrons well-informed and up to date.  Our man in the Middle East is Reuben Brand.

Reuben’s following article, “Pakistan’s dirty laundry” was first published in Online Opinion – Australia’s leading journal for social and political debate:

And you can see his portfolio at

http://www.reubenbrand.com/?cat=13

The ongoing war with the Taliban has nothing to do with freedom and democracy: it is a distraction.  Look beyond the curtain and you will find a lot of dirty laundry.

The war for civilisation, the war on terror, the war for oil, natural resources, control, freedom, whatever you want to call it, it is here and it has made itself quite comfortable in the minds, media and lounge rooms of the world.

Pakistan is now public enemy number one and the US are making no attempts at hiding the fact that they want to bring this nuclear armed Islamic Republic to its knees.  The war with the belligerent Taliban has become a joke, a proxy, and a distraction.  And of course, as always, it is the innocent civilians caught, quite literally, in the crossfire who suffer most.

Thanks to US pressure, and the basic ultimatum of “either you fix the problem, or we’ll do it for you – Iraq style,” more than two million people are now refugees, baking in the oppressive summer heat in makeshift camps. With no proper amenities, little to no medical services and living in appalling conditions, it won’t take long before serious disease and sickness sets in. Not such happy campers.

So what exactly is this indigenous Pakistani Taliban that we are so obsessed about? The reality is they are nothing more than an excuse, used by both East and West to justify more violence. Sure they have committed some heinous and barbaric crimes, but at this point in “the war” they are now seen as means to an end. Nothing more than pawns in a larger chess match for control.

“We are not fanatics! We want what everyone wants. We want to be able to live our lives in peace!” said Omar, a local Pathan businessman, as we sit in his office in the heart of Peshawar.

“The Americans continuously terrorise us with their constant drone attacks in the tribal agencies, the Taliban don’t make it any easier for us to live in peace and the media portray us all as terrorists! We are not terrorists!” he said with frustrated passion.

Another man then spoke up, telling me in broken English that most of what the West see are the actions of common criminals: “most of these men are not even Taliban,” he said, “they are criminals and miscreants who are bought by external agencies like the CIA and India’s RAW agents to further destabilise Pakistan”.

Later that evening Omar kindly offered to take me into the centre of the Swat Valley, a Taliban stronghold. I assured him that my fair Aussie complexion and somewhat pathetic excuse for a beard was no match for the trained eyes of Taliban spies.

“I like my head firmly attached to my body” I said jokingly. He laughed, “You will be perfectly safe when you’re with me. You don’t have to worry about security, this is our insurance plan” he said, handing me his Kalashnikov. “I drive into some very remote parts of the tribal belt and sometimes into Afghanistan as part of my job, so I need this (weapon) for my protection,” he explained.

Later we heard a huge explosion as we sat drinking sweet buffalo milk tea – a music shop had been blown up, it was just up the road from his office – the media reported it the next day as an act of terrorism and, of course, the Taliban were responsible. But Omar believed it was nothing more than the jealousy of a competitor who wanted to generate more business for himself. Who needs an expensive media campaign when all you need to do is blow up the competition and blame it on the Taliban?

So the Taliban have become scapegoats. One such incident came as no surprise as only a few days ago a friend told me about a mulvi (religious leader) from his village, who had been discovered as a Hindu agent working for India. The man had been posing as a religious leader; he taught Islamic scripture and led the prayers in the local mosque; but it wasn’t until the inquisitive minds of the local children began to probe that his elaborate ruse became undone.

They saw him dancing and listening to pop music in the mosque. On telling their parents they were quickly scolded and called liars, but as time passed and the so called mulvi began asking for food enough for 20-plus men each night, the villagers became suspicious.

When asked who the food was for he would reply “guests” but no one was seen entering or leaving the mosque, until one morning the villagers found a group of Taliban fighters’ asleep inside. So again, it begs the question: who are the indigenous Taliban if some of them are not even Pakistani? These faux Taliban fighters’ are an excuse; they are the perfect playing field for the political motives of external agencies bent on further destabilising an already unstable country.

(Cultural note to self: When posing as a religious leader in a village in Pakistan do not be so stupid as to have a Bollywood dance-off in the mosque!)

So why destabilise this third world country? What does it have that the rest of the world so desperately craves? It sure isn’t its open sewers and copious piles of garbage. You don’t think it has something to do with Pakistan being the geographic doorway to Asia and the Middle East do you? Unlike Iraq, Pakistan has nukes. Unlike Afghanistan it has Osama bin Laden. And of course, it has an oil and gas route that the US wants for its Trans-Afghan pipeline. Did I mention the nukes? Lucky Pakistan.

If left to its own devices Pakistan has the potential to become a very powerful and prosperous country. Agriculture would blossom in its extremely fertile soil; it has its own oil reserves, nuclear capabilities, strategic trade routes, and natural resources galore. But who are we kidding? The first world lives on the back of the third world. They carry us. Perish the thought of living in a world without sweatshops and soccer balls, fake Reeboks, child labour and bootleg DVDs. Without the third world we would have no first world.

To make matters worse, there are also whispers for the need to break Pakistan up into smaller nation states. If you take away the sovereignty of a country and it makes it a lot easier to control.

A good friend of mine recently had a gun held to his head and was robbed of all his personal possessions in Lahore, one of Pakistan’s major cities. A senior government official later told me that “when the crime rate dramatically increases in certain areas, it is usually a sign that the Taliban are on the move … They send out gangs of thieves to steal what they can as a means of funding their operations.”

Just like my friend in Lahore, Pakistan also regularly falls victim to the rule of the gun. But you have to ask yourself; what is the difference between a military dictatorship which oppresses its citizens and rapes the country via greed, power and fear, to that of another militant force that comes under the guise of religion? Both regimes share fundamentally flawed objectives. Pakistan cannot afford either if it wants to survive.

The sad reality now is that democracy has become a beggar in Pakistan: it lives, starving, in the minds of many while greed and corruption remain fat and opulent. The fanatical religious factions and corrupt politicians, who routinely bend to the will of external influence, are dividing the country and tearing shreds off any hope of Pakistan moving forwards.

Keep an entire country occupied with an internal threat and you’re well on your way to imposing pseudo democracy. Or maybe with President Zardari’s track record he has better credentials as a dictator. Either way, fear is a great medium for control.

Live Sheep Export: Cruel, Ruining Local Industry and Exporting Jobs – Reuben Brand’s Update

07 Wednesday Jul 2010

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff in Reuben Brand

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Abattoir job losses, Australia, Live Sheep Export, Middle East, sheep

Sheep transport - Dubai

By Reuben Brand

Live export is not only cruelly exporting Australian animals; it is crippling local industry and exporting our jobs. Writes Reuben Brand

After conducting numerous investigations at livestock markets and abattoirs throughout the Middle East, I returned to Australia with hours of footage and hundreds of photographs that document the inhumane treatment these animals endure at the receiving end of the live export trade.

These investigations were launched by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore during a forum at Parliament House in Sydney, where I spoke alongside representatives from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU).

Since my return I have been working closely with local meat processors and Australian meat workers who are now doing it tough due to the fact that there is simply not enough livestock to support local industry because they are all being shipped offshore.

The myths about why live export is important are many; the most common are as follows:

Myth: “Many people do not have the luxury of home refrigeration, and supermarkets are often inaccessible and unaffordable to those living in regional villages.”

Fact: Australia predominately exports to the Gulf region which, despite industry claims, is a very prosperous region for obvious reasons. Oil. The idea of “a lack of refrigeration” is not only an extremely ignorant and un-researched claim, but it is highly culturally offensive. People in the Middle East are not Bedouins living in tents, during my time living in the region I saw more luxury vehicles and high-rises than I see in Sydney or any other “developed” country. Supermarkets are very plentiful and very accessible, all of which stock a huge variety of chilled meat – with Australian chilled meat as the cheapest and most sort after of all.

Did I mention that Dubai has air-conditioned public bus stops and indoor ski slopes? But apparently no one has a fridge. Go figure.

Myth: “The supply of live animals is also important for religious and cultural reasons.”

Live sheep in a car boot - Dubai

Fact: Yes, there are religious celebrations that require live animals – only two times a year.  Eid al Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan and Eid al Adha, that marks the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. Only twice a year – but we continue to send live animals 365 days a year.

I spoke to one of the young migrant workers at a livestock market in the region who told me he does not get paid by the local livestock company for his services. Rather, they give him a small amount of food and let him sleep in the holding pens with the animals. He has a Diploma of Associate Engineering and this is what he gets. This kind of cheap labour comes at a very high price and is all the more reason for Australia put an end to a trade that treats both humans and animals so appallingly.

The solid fact of the matter is that the live export trade is exporting Australian jobs (to countries that in some cases don’t even pay their employees) and is crippling our meat processing industry.

During a recent trip to Townsville and Dinmore in Queensland, I interviewed meat workers who are now either unemployed or have had their shifts cut right back and are trying to survive on government handouts.

In Townsville I watched as truck after truck, loaded with cattle, drove straight past the local abattoir. One local meat worker, who is now unemployed, told me that the export vessel docked in the harbour was not only exporting cattle, it was exporting the jobs of approximately 250 people who had just been stood down.

“Nobody is working today and yet there is a boat with thousands of cattle leaving. Thousands! You know, that’s a whole months’ worth of work for us,” she said.

According to Grant Courtney, President of the AMIEU, 40,000 people have lost their jobs and 150 processing plants have been shut down due to the live export trade – over 700 of these job losses have happened in the past six months alone.

“I can’t understand why the Government is sticking its head in the sand when thousands of Australian jobs are being lost due to this trade,” he said.

Another man I spoke to who lost his job at the local abattoir is now struggling just to keep his family afloat. His fiancé, who is also pregnant, has now had to go back into the workforce to try to support their growing family.

With no money for food or bills, no fuel in the car, debt collectors breathing down his neck and relying on donations to survive, life is becoming increasingly tough he bravely told me.

“Lately it’s been getting pretty bad… we’ve even had to go down to the local community centre and grab food vouchers… You start to appreciate things like that when people donate food and money vouchers so you can live.”

Shift cut backs and job losses at the processing plant in Dinmore now have workers pondering the future of the Australian meat processing industry. As one woman told me, if the Dinmore plant is suffering, which is one of the biggest in Australia, then she can’t see hope for the survival of any of the smaller ones.

“Every boat of cattle that leave this county, leave the Australian worker and I know what it feels like without work…it’s no good saying that the live cattle export doesn’t contribute, it certainly does. Because it’s just got worse and worse,” she said.

With a daughter who has a terminal illness and needs a surgery that could save her life, this woman courageously sat and gave a first-hand account of how the live export trade is affecting her life and many others who are now in the same boat.

Andrew Martell, a sheep farmer from central Western NSW, attended the live export forum at Parliament House last month and made some points during Q and A time – he also told the room that he receives the same amount of money for his sheep regardless whether he sells them to exporters or local industry.

Kuwait abattoir - 2009

So why on Earth would you want to send sheep offshore to be slaughtered and transported inhumanely when you could have it all done here and create much needed jobs in the process?

It is an absurd idea to think that all people in the Middle East buy their daily meat from a wet market – can you imagine how long it would take just to buy a single steak? Local supermarkets and butcher shops operate on a cuts and carcass trade where the outcome for the consumer would remain the same with a chilled meat trade.

Independent research, conducted by ACIL Tasman, shows that a sheep processed domestically is worth 20 per cent more to the Australian economy than one exported live.

According to the Australian live export industry this trade contributes $1.8 billion to the economy, so by using their own figures, if we phase out the live export trade and implement a chilled meat trade for export we could have an industry that injects $2.16 billion into our economy. Not to mention the huge impact it will have on Australian jobs.

A chilled meat trade is not only a sustainable alternative but is also extremely lucrative for all involved, be it farmer, processor or meat worker.

To view a video of Reuben’s investigation in the Middle East please click here

To view interviews of meat workers please click here

Reuben Brand is a freelance journalist who has worked extensively in the Middle East. For more information please visit his website at: www.reubenbrand.com

Reuben Goes the Rat on (mostly) Live Sheep Exports

05 Friday Mar 2010

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff in Politics in the Pig's Arms, Reuben Brand

≈ 11 Comments

A Note from Merv:

The Pig’s Arms is the home ground for several teams and we’re happy to allow them to put notices up on our board. 

And we’re also happy to allow air time for visiting teams –  unless they’re total twats.

Reuben Brand - Middle East Correspondent

Dear all,

I am launching an in-depth investigation into the live animal export trade from Australia to the Middle East at Parliament House in Sydney on March 10 – you are all invited to come along and show your support, but please RSVP ASAP as seats are limited.

For those of you in other countries or sitting at a news desk please feel free to pick up the story – all information, photos and footage will be readily available in electronic form – Please contact me directly for any enquiries.

Where: Parliamentary Theatrette, NSW Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney

When: 10am for a 10.30 start until 12pm, Wednesday, March 10, 2010

RSVP: Limited seats available and allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP by emailing jessicaborg@wspa.org.au

Over the past seven months I have been working closely with the World Society for the protection of Animals (WSPA) and have undertaken numerous investigation throughout the Middle East regarding the Live export trade from Australia. The investigation covers five countries and highlights the undeniable cruelty these animals endure from the point of pick up in Australia, the four week sea voyage and the handling and slaughter at their destination.

On average 40,000 sheep die en route every year – but an even worse fate awaits those that survive the journey at holding pens and abattoirs.

Due to the live export trade over 700 Australian meat workers have lost their jobs in the last few months alone and are now struggling to survive.

So please come along, show your support and help put an end to this cruel trade that is not only exporting animals but jobs as well.

For more information please visit: http://www.humanechain.org.au or http://blog.humanechain.org/2010/03/come-along-to-humane-chain-public-forum.html

Kind regards,

Reuben.

Politics in the Pub – Reuben Brand from the Middle East

06 Monday Jul 2009

Posted by Therese Trouserzoff in Politics in the Pig's Arms, Reuben Brand

≈ Leave a comment

Reuben Brand - Pakistan, March 2009
Reuben Brand – Pakistan, March 2009

All good cyber pubs need a foreign correspondent to keep the patrons well-informed and up to date. Our man in the Middle East is Reuben Brand.

Reuben’s following article, “Pakistan’s dirty laundry” was first published in Online Opinion – Australia’s leading journal for social and political debate:

And you can see his portfolio at

http://www.reubenbrand.com/?cat=13

The ongoing war with the Taliban has nothing to do with freedom and democracy: it is a distraction. Look beyond the curtain and you will find a lot of dirty laundry.

The war for civilisation, the war on terror, the war for oil, natural resources, control, freedom, whatever you want to call it, it is here and it has made itself quite comfortable in the minds, media and lounge rooms of the world.

Pakistan is now public enemy number one and the US are making no attempts at hiding the fact that they want to bring this nuclear armed Islamic Republic to its knees. The war with the belligerent Taliban has become a joke, a proxy, and a distraction. And of course, as always, it is the innocent civilians caught, quite literally, in the crossfire who suffer most.

Thanks to US pressure, and the basic ultimatum of “either you fix the problem, or we’ll do it for you – Iraq style,” more than two million people are now refugees, baking in the oppressive summer heat in makeshift camps. With no proper amenities, little to no medical services and living in appalling conditions, it won’t take long before serious disease and sickness sets in. Not such happy campers.

So what exactly is this indigenous Pakistani Taliban that we are so obsessed about? The reality is they are nothing more than an excuse, used by both East and West to justify more violence. Sure they have committed some heinous and barbaric crimes, but at this point in “the war” they are now seen as means to an end. Nothing more than pawns in a larger chess match for control.

“We are not fanatics! We want what everyone wants. We want to be able to live our lives in peace!” said Omar, a local Pathan businessman, as we sit in his office in the heart of Peshawar.

“The Americans continuously terrorise us with their constant drone attacks in the tribal agencies, the Taliban don’t make it any easier for us to live in peace and the media portray us all as terrorists! We are not terrorists!” he said with frustrated passion.

Another man then spoke up, telling me in broken English that most of what the West see are the actions of common criminals: “most of these men are not even Taliban,” he said, “they are criminals and miscreants who are bought by external agencies like the CIA and India’s RAW agents to further destabilise Pakistan”.

Later that evening Omar kindly offered to take me into the centre of the Swat Valley, a Taliban stronghold. I assured him that my fair Aussie complexion and somewhat pathetic excuse for a beard was no match for the trained eyes of Taliban spies.

“I like my head firmly attached to my body” I said jokingly. He laughed, “You will be perfectly safe when you’re with me. You don’t have to worry about security, this is our insurance plan” he said, handing me his Kalashnikov. “I drive into some very remote parts of the tribal belt and sometimes into Afghanistan as part of my job, so I need this (weapon) for my protection,” he explained.

Later we heard a huge explosion as we sat drinking sweet buffalo milk tea – a music shop had been blown up, it was just up the road from his office – the media reported it the next day as an act of terrorism and, of course, the Taliban were responsible. But Omar believed it was nothing more than the jealousy of a competitor who wanted to generate more business for himself. Who needs an expensive media campaign when all you need to do is blow up the competition and blame it on the Taliban?

So the Taliban have become scapegoats. One such incident came as no surprise as only a few days ago a friend told me about a mulvi (religious leader) from his village, who had been discovered as a Hindu agent working for India. The man had been posing as a religious leader; he taught Islamic scripture and led the prayers in the local mosque; but it wasn’t until the inquisitive minds of the local children began to probe that his elaborate ruse became undone.

They saw him dancing and listening to pop music in the mosque. On telling their parents they were quickly scolded and called liars, but as time passed and the so called mulvi began asking for food enough for 20-plus men each night, the villagers became suspicious.

When asked who the food was for he would reply “guests” but no one was seen entering or leaving the mosque, until one morning the villagers found a group of Taliban fighters’ asleep inside. So again, it begs the question: who are the indigenous Taliban if some of them are not even Pakistani? These faux Taliban fighters’ are an excuse; they are the perfect playing field for the political motives of external agencies bent on further destabilising an already unstable country.

(Cultural note to self: When posing as a religious leader in a village in Pakistan do not be so stupid as to have a Bollywood dance-off in the mosque!)

So why destabilise this third world country? What does it have that the rest of the world so desperately craves? It sure isn’t its open sewers and copious piles of garbage. You don’t think it has something to do with Pakistan being the geographic doorway to Asia and the Middle East do you? Unlike Iraq, Pakistan has nukes. Unlike Afghanistan it has Osama bin Laden. And of course, it has an oil and gas route that the US wants for its Trans-Afghan pipeline. Did I mention the nukes? Lucky Pakistan.

If left to its own devices Pakistan has the potential to become a very powerful and prosperous country. Agriculture would blossom in its extremely fertile soil; it has its own oil reserves, nuclear capabilities, strategic trade routes, and natural resources galore. But who are we kidding? The first world lives on the back of the third world. They carry us. Perish the thought of living in a world without sweatshops and soccer balls, fake Reeboks, child labour and bootleg DVDs. Without the third world we would have no first world.

To make matters worse, there are also whispers for the need to break Pakistan up into smaller nation states. If you take away the sovereignty of a country and it makes it a lot easier to control.

A good friend of mine recently had a gun held to his head and was robbed of all his personal possessions in Lahore, one of Pakistan’s major cities. A senior government official later told me that “when the crime rate dramatically increases in certain areas, it is usually a sign that the Taliban are on the move … They send out gangs of thieves to steal what they can as a means of funding their operations.”

Just like my friend in Lahore, Pakistan also regularly falls victim to the rule of the gun. But you have to ask yourself; what is the difference between a military dictatorship which oppresses its citizens and rapes the country via greed, power and fear, to that of another militant force that comes under the guise of religion? Both regimes share fundamentally flawed objectives. Pakistan cannot afford either if it wants to survive.

The sad reality now is that democracy has become a beggar in Pakistan: it lives, starving, in the minds of many while greed and corruption remain fat and opulent. The fanatical religious factions and corrupt politicians, who routinely bend to the will of external influence, are dividing the country and tearing shreds off any hope of Pakistan moving forwards.

Keep an entire country occupied with an internal threat and you’re well on your way to imposing pseudo democracy. Or maybe with President Zardari’s track record he has better credentials as a dictator. Either way, fear is a great medium for control.

Patrons Posts

  • Daisy – Dead at 101 ? April 16, 2021
  • Bye, Phillip the Duke of Edinburgh April 14, 2021
  • Wife Admits Error of Judgement April 13, 2021
  • Shoe and HOO and Big Al: Yet Another Episode April 12, 2021
  • 1971 April 11, 2021
  • Why The Shovel Was Awarded The Contract To Oversee Australia’s Vaccination Rollout: A Statement by The Shovel April 6, 2021
  • Foodge gets thrown out of Buntings March 31, 2021
  • Mrs O’Way is Aggro March 30, 2021
  • A Holy Visitation March 30, 2021

We've been hit...

  • 668,773 times

Blogroll

  • atomou the Greek philosopher and the ancient Greek stage
  • Crikey
  • Gerard & Helvi Oosterman
  • Hello World Walk along with Me
  • Hungs World
  • Lehan Winifred Ramsay
  • Neville Cole
  • Politics 101
  • Sandshoe
  • the political sword

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 356 other followers

Rooms athe Pigs Arms

The Old Stuff

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Archives

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×