Quadrant magazine January-February 2016 Out Now!

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I have "Things Fall Apart: The Great Bohemian Cultural Revolution" in this latest edition of Quadrant magazine
(January-February 2016). There are great things in this double issue, including poems by Clive James and an insightful book review by Tanveer Ahmed.  

Qatari investments & Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Oh dear

Here is a fascinating read about how one very wealthy family continues to prop up Erdogan: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/turkey-israel-russia-qatari-money-props-up-erdogan.html

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti: The Islamic State is part of the Israeli army

Oh dear...

Self-deluder or dissembler? Take your pick: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151230/1032472961/saudi-mufti-says-daesh-militants-are-israeli-soldiers.html 

Ramadi: Celebrate the victory but plan for a post-IS Iraq

Here is a link to my article at The Drum on the liberation of Ramadi: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-29/mccann-celebrate-the-victories,-but-plan-for-a-post-is-iraq/7057760

The War of Freedom: Sultan Erdogan is on the dark side

Merry Christmas! Here is the last in my brief series of "Oldies but whatever" for the festive season: http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2015/10/sins-sultan-erdogan/
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has basically declared war on the people of "south-east Turkey" to pick up the hawkish ultra-nationalist vote and add it to the Islamist vote. He is a demagogue. He is an Islamist demagogue. My heart goes out to the victims of his malignant rule. Every freedom-loving person in Turkey is a "traitor" now: https://www.rt.com/news/327015-erdogan-turkey-crackdown-treason/ 

A No-Go Conspiracy Zone

Courtesy of The Onion

Here is another in my pre-Christmas 2015 "Oldies But Whatever" series:

I tend not to believe in conspiracy theories. On a very small scale, perhaps, a conspiracy might work, but when you get beyond a handful of people - not so likely. On the 49th anniversary of the murder of John F. Kennedy I decided to start researching the conspiracy AND anti-conspiracy theories and have an essay ready for the 50th anniversary in November 2013.

A number of conspiracists corresponded with me in late 2013 complaining that I had had overlooked some new "theory" on the matter. Alas, their insight completely contradicted the position of the previous or the next correspondent. To quote (or paraphrase) Dire Straits: "Two men say they're Jesus/One of them must be wrong". All I could say to the conspiracists back then was go read Vincent Bugliosi's expansive Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F Kennedy (2007) and then get back to me. None of them did. Latter-day religions come in very different shapes and sizes and belief is always a strange thing.

That said, I do not rule out the possibility that Lee Harvey Oswald hoped to impress Cuba's Fidel Castro by terminating with extreme prejudice John Kennedy. It is also not impossible that LHO was on his way to a regional Dallas airport with flight connections to Havana when he was approached by Officer J. D. Tippett. None of this, of course, constitutes a conspiracy theory. It is just what the little wanker "Marxist" sociopath fantasist would do! By the way, here is a link to Helen Markham's eyewitness account of LHO murdering Officer J. D. Tippett: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZfGMUq8GdM Obviously, Helen Markham is a CIA- FBI-Zionist-Mafia-Teamster-LBJ plant. [Conspiracists-of-the-world, including Mr Oliver Stone, I am only kidding.]

An important point about conspiracists is this: if you buy into one of their theories then the guilty party and victim become, at the very least, muddled. Justice, in other words, is not served by "Twilight Zone" thinking.  

You may click on this link for the 2013 article:  https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2013/11/john-f-kennedys-assassination-america/

The Zionist Liberation Movement & Its Foes

In my run-up to Christmas 2015 I am posting some of my earlier efforts. The theme today is all things Jewish.


This is the essay I wrote last year on Holocaust Inversion: https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2014/05/lethal-ideology-holocaust-inversion/

You might also be interested in this parallel piece from 2012: http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2012/11/how-the-left-became-anti-semitic/

This is my review of a biography of David Ben-Gurion: https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2012/07-08/the-principled-pragmatist/

While we are at it, here is my obituary for Robert Wistrich (1945-2015) himself, who died earlier this year: http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2015/05/vale-robert-wistrich-1945-2015/

And here is my take on the 2014 Gaza War: http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2014/10/hamass-propaganda-deed-gaza/

And, finally, this is a unit of work for secondary school students on Holocaust Denial & Inversion: http://darylmccann.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/holocaust-denial-inversion-education.html

Bernard Lewis Revisted

Some of the tomes of Bernard Lewis (1916-)

In the lead up to Christmas 2015 I shall try remember to post some of my older essays:

Bernard Lewis was always respectful of Islam as a religion, but also had important things to say about Islamic revivalism. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 people of (almost) all political persuasions in America were desperate for his insights. However, by 2004 the PC Brigade had regained control of the mainstream and intelligent discussion of the subject became mostly taboo in polite society. And yet there is no way forward except addressing the conclusions of Bernard Lewis. We remain in a cul de sac. In 2011, Lewis published his marvellous memoir, Notes on a Century, and I gave it a long review: http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2012/10/bernard-lewis-and-the-dangerous-creed-of-freedom/     

Terry Eagleton: Quincy McGoo

Quincy McGoo

Okay, it is coming up to Christmas 2015 and every day remaining (if I remember) I will post one of my early pieces:

The following is a link to an essay I wrote about Terry Eagleton's 2011 book Why Marx Was Right (2011). Let me make it very clear right now, I do not engage in ad hominem attacks and I believe there is not a single sentence in my article that attacks the persona of Terry Eagleton. All right, "malignant Quincy McGoo" might a little sharp and, in retrospect, a simple "Quincy McGoo" allusion would do. No doubt Eagleton is a good fellow and that we could down a couple of dark ales in a pub anywhere in the world (that allowed such a thing) and get on like a house on fire. That said, the very idea "that Marx was right" is so problematic that I just had to review his book back in 2011. I say this as someone who is an ex-Marxist and a non-communist rather than anti-communist, AND who demands that the Islamo-fascist Recep Tayyip Erdogan re-start negotiations with the communalist-confederalist Abdullah Ocalan. About this article I should also add that the title Quadrant magazine gave it is perfect - The Opium of Terry Eagleton. One other point is that the fabulous Arts and Letters Daily selected the essay in October 2011 to post on their site, which provided me with an international audience for the first time. Respect: the link is on the left-hand-side of this blog. So here is the article: https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2011/10/the-opium-of-terry-eagleton/                         

Are the Syrian Democratic Forces preparing to liberate Shadadi?

The SDF offensive continues

Here is a report suggesting that the Kurdish-associated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) might be on the verge of liberating the key town of Shadadi from the Islamic State: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-supplies-syrian-fighters-ahead-of-push-for-isil-town.aspx?pageID=238&nID=92669&NewsCatID=352

Earlier in 2015, we might recall, the Independent newspaper ran a story about a public execution held in Shadadi by Islamic State authorities: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-publicly-behead-man-in-syrian-town-square-for-insulting-allah-as-he-screams-for-help-10007806.html

Erdogan obstructs the Syrian Kurds who are fighting al-Nusra Front & Islamic State

This is an al-Nusra Front execution in an Aleppo street

Here is one of the leading chaps in al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in Syria) explaining the situation: http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/14122015

Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi on fire!

Screen shots of Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi doing his thing (Memri TV: http://www.memri.org/)

Today, in Australia, there is discussion of the Mufti of Australia's connections with Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/grand-mufti-ibrahim-abu-mohammed-linked-to-banned-sheik-who-approved-suicide-bombing/story-fni0cx12-1227646705109

Here is a link to an article I wrote two years ago about the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2013/12/25955/

Hamas and the Islamic State in the Sinai: an enemy alliance in the War of Freedom

A Hamas military parade in Gaza (Photo: AFP)

Here is a link to a useful article: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4739234,00.html

Enlightened Patriotism vs Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia

We must address the millennialist ideology of Hizb ut-Tahrir to safeguard the freedom-loving people of Australia, Christian or Muslim, religious or non-religious. I mentioned this at the end of my latest piece for The Drum: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-14/mccann-abbott-gets-it-half-right-and-half-wrong-on-islam/7025398

On this theme I link here to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald from a number of weeks ago: http://www.smh.com.au/national/muslim-children-should-not-be-forced-to-sing-national-anthem-says-hizb-uttahrir-20151101-gknwy9.html

In the very same context I should link to my latest essay in the December 2015 edition of Quadrant magazine: http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2015/11/enlightened-patriotism-vs-political-correctness/
     

Abbott Gets It Half Wrong And Half Right on Islam

Here is the link to my latest piece for ABC's The Drum: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-14/mccann-abbott-gets-it-half-right-and-half-wrong-on-islam/7025398

Winter 2015 Salisbury Review Out Now!

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On the Beach: Salisbury Review, Winter 2015

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"Land of Tomorrow" is the title of my new article for the Salisbury Review:

In Neville Shute’s 1957 classic On the Beach, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the southern parts of South America, are the remaining habitable places in a post-apocalyptic world. Radiation poisoning has enveloped the northern hemisphere in the aftermath of nuclear war making that part of the planet unfit for human habitation. The great hope, according to the supposed scientific theory Shute calls the “Jorgensen Effect”, is that radiation levels steadily decline due to weather effects and allow for human life to carry on in Australia or, at least, Antarctica.

New Hope for Venezuela

Courtesy of The Telegraph newspaper

How many times does socialism have to fail before we draw the appropriate conclusion: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/07/venezuela-elections-socialists-dealt-a-blow-as-opposition-wins-landslide 

What would John Lennon be doing at 75?

Lennon's song Working Class Hero mocked working class heroes - a little rude since he himself was not working class

What would John Lennon be doing at 75? Probably not what Neil McCormick is suggesting but, hey, let's not quibble: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/john-lennon-at-75/
Here is something I wrote about John Lennon earlier in the year: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2015/01/john-lennon-nowhere-man/

The Sultan and the Tsar

Here is a fine piece by Nina Khrushcheva for Quartz: http://qz.com/565276/vladimir-putin-fancies-himself-a-tsar-standing-up-to-turkeys-new-sultan/

The Syrian Kurds are winning

Courtesy of the New York Review of Books

See this link for the review in the New York Review of Books of Michael M. Gunter's Out of Nowhere: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/12/03/syrian-kurds-are-winning

December 2015 Quadrant is now out!

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World War IV Starts Here

Courtesy of Yahoo Finance

Here we go: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/putins-latest-message-turkey-could-180220469.html