Hello Sinisterees, I'm afraid this post is going to be something of a rant about something which really has annoyed me. I have been sitting this afternoon watching the news on satellite TV about all this shit that is going off in Israel and to be honest, I'm a bit miffed about it. Can anybody explain to me why Israel gets away with the shit it does? I mean they are as I write this, launching numerous air attacks on Palestine cities because two of their soldiers were killed this morning in a riot. Fair dues, it's not on killing people in riots, but is it not a bit over the top to then launch apparently random and indiscriminate attacks on cities full of innocent people. What really gets me about it though is the hypocrisy shown by countries such as Britain and the US. When old Slobba was killing the Kosovo people last year it took about ten minutes (well ten minutes after it appeared on telly) before the threats were issued by Clinton and the air strikes started but they seem to turn a blind eye to Israel. Admittedly I was not a huge fan of bombing Yugoslavia but nonetheless NATO and that lot set a precedent by getting involved. Why after years and years of killing and generally stirring it up in the Middle East, ignoring UN resolutions, refusing to negotiate in peace talks and forcefully removing Palestinians from their territory, has America and NATO or whoever not got involved in bombing the shit out of Israel or at least ostracising them and imposing sanctions against them? I'm quite sure that the Palestinians are not innocent and have caused a great deal of trouble over the years but surely their cause is no different to that of the Kosovars in Yugoslavia and the Kuwaitis when Iraq invaded them, in that they are people who have found their land taken off them and want the right to live on it, and as we all know the offenders in those cases were both on the recieving end of a fair old pounding from the West. Perhaps it only works if there's oil or communists involved. On a similar subject why is Israel included as part of Europe? It's quite clearly not on the map of Europe but every year they get into the Eurovision song contest and they play in European football competitions and are generally percieved as a European nation (in lifestyle if not location). Perhaps it's because they have a predominantly non-Arab population and that in the eyes of the powers that be makes them alright, which is frankly racist and downright insulting to the rest of the Middle East countries. Personally, I hope the rest of the Middle East countries get involved in this current situation and flatten the place. (disclaimer: This last sentence is my opinion, you may agree or disagree with it but it is an opinion and as such I stand by it, please do not bother emailing me with abuse if you do not agree) Now for something completely different.... It was sad to hear about the death of Donald Dewar. Somebody on the list said that you don't really appreciate the impact a person makes until they die and that is so true. I don't really care too much about the whole Scottish parliament thing but now that Dewar is dead, I can now start to appreciate how much the whole thing meant to him and how much he worked to get it up and running. He also seemed like a genuine guy which is something of a rarity in politics. If you've read this far, thank you and goodnight. David White Visit www.belleandsebastian.freeserve.co.uk because you know you want to.... +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+