Charlie Hebdo: Can we move forward from here?

Tout sont perdonnes!  All is forgiven.  When I saw the front page of the new issue of Charlie Hebdo on the early morning news on Al Jazeera English I couldn't quite believe it.  So strong!  Such a forceful bi-line for peace.  Chapeau a tous la!  That, in the wake of the Unity marches around the world have given me some cause for hope.  If the message of forgiveness can be championed by those directly in the firing line then this can surely become an irrepressible message of hope that can light the way for the peoples of the world, the governments of the world, to "endeavour to persevere," (quick film quote there.... big kiss and hug to the first person to name the film) and to strive for a peaceful end to all hostilities.

A vain hope I know, but a hope nonetheless.  To see Netanyahu and Abbas marching so close to each other was amazing, something I think only the most optimistic of us might have imagined before last Wednesday. But, there they were.

My colleague (and my biggest puppy!.....I'm so proud! Gush!), Mister Cool in his blog yesterday (  ) tried to show how violence begets violence in a seemingly never-ending cycle.  Violence to quell violence doesn't work.  We have thousands of years of documented history behind to illustrate the point.  Let's try something new, for all your God's sakes.

Sure, we dogs understand better than most that you must protect what you have, sometimes with your life. There is always some dirty dawg somewhere who'll want to take what's yours.  So, yes, we should protect what is ours.  But then be strong enough to stop there.  Not go for retribution but offer the hand of peace; show forgiveness, a la Charlie Hebdo, and stand firm, stand together, and reassure the would-be conquerors that we don't covet what is theirs; we wish to live in peace and harmony, and if we can do this together then we can all win and move forward together as a united Species, all men, all hu-mans together.

Us dogs might end up getting a better deal then, eh?  Here's hoping!

Lola Lush, reporting for NN, live from the almond grove.

PS.  That slacker of a Boss hasn't finished my avatar yet, so no little piccy of me.  Eventually he might get his arse into gear, but even then I don't expext to be too impressed by his handiwork!  Not much of an illustrator, is he? LOL

TV review: Monday night's Panorama: After Paris, what's next?, and the Incas: masters of the clouds

Last nights Panorama wasn't exactly an eye-opener.  I think deep down most knew that the runaway extremist viewpoint among many young Muslims was on the rise.  What I did find surprising was the attitude of some of the women who if they got their wish to live in their 'conservative Muslim' society that they would end up being the oppressed and the fact that they cannot see that is .....what?  Short-sighted?  Ill-informed?  Badly informed?  Mislead?  I don't know.....! From everything you hear about Taliban and ISIS societal organisation women are at the bottom of the heap with no right to education, no voice and, to be frank, no life to speak of.  So why do they seem crave this subjugation?  

I have no answer to this.  I can only assume they have some romantic notion (though romance is disallowed; hence I use the word for purely illustrative purposes) that after they have succeeded in oppressing every other woman in their fantasy world that they will somehow rise above the rest and achieve exalted status, either in this life or the next.  I have only one question for them.  What have they got against happiness?

And as for the self-said 'moderate Muslim' who would see all ex-Muslims executed (presumably by stoning) and who insists he is not an extremist....well, this guy needs to dig his dictionary out and look up a few of the words he's bandying around because this guy is clearly confused.

They should try reading the Koran for the beauty therein and not see it as a recipe book for dominating other cultures, people and religions, maybe then they'll soften up and see Islam for the peace loving religion it should be and not bring violence, fear and lies to the true moderates in Allah's name.  I'm pretty sure He would be ashamed of you.

It was heartening though to see the new British Muslim TV channel who seem to have their finger much more on the pulse, showing a much more realistic, tolerant and rounded attitude to Islam.  I hope they succeed in their endeavour and we at NN wish them every success. 

Every day the news and media bring us one horror story after another from one exotic location to another. From beginning to end news bulletins are of Wars, conflicts, murders, incurable and highly lethal communicable diseases, weather extremes all leaving us feeling worn out, fed up with it all and wondering what is truly the greatest threat to hu-mankind.   Climate change, religious extremism, EBOLA, AIDS or social unrest or just plain boredom?

I digress.....

Later on on Monday evening there was a wonderful documentary on the Incas: Masters of the Clouds. Whilst they might not have been the most 'civilised' of people to our modern way of thinking, they did have, what I considered to be, a somewhat enlightening attitude towards the expansion of their Empire and the way they went about it, albeit that the conquered peoples had little choice in the matter.  It was 'our way or the highway ...to heaven,' but that trifle aside, it seems that once the choice of least resistance had been adopted they would be incorporated into Inca society.  The Incas allowed their 'subjects' Religious freedom to continue to practice their own religions and beliefs or, they could adopt the Inca way as they saw fit with the various beliefs often morphing into something of an integrated, half-half religion.  As a result it seems their societies functioned rather peacefully and whatever your creed or belief system, you could find a place to fit in.

I thought that was kinda cool and it set me to thinking.  Newton's third Law of Motion states that every generated force has an equal and opposite force opposing it. The Inca conquered through integration and tolerance.  Today's religious extremists seem to want to conquer through violence.  But as young Master Newton has proven, the problem with oppression through violence and force is that it inevitably breeds an equal and opposite reaction from within the oppressed.  The more they push, the greater the resistance they are likely to encounter.  To be fair though, one might easily argue that today's extremists are often yesterdays oppressed.  The fault, if there is one, is perhaps then within your hu-man nature and not within a political or religious sphere.  But again, I digress.

One of the most over-used and purely pseudo-political expressions of the past decade was the fight to 'win the hearts and minds' of the various nations that the US lead coalitions invaded.  And look how that worked out!  In theory, to win the hearts and minds of the people is a sound concept, but in actuality it was somewhat different.  The Americans always stopped short of 'going the whole hog' in my opinion.

The Taliban, for example, arose in Afghanistan after years of violent oppression by the Russians, who subsequently, as we know, got their asses sorely kicked by the then, Mujaheddin, who were backed up covertly by the CIA eventually resulting in, not only the withdrawl of the Ruskies, but also the added bonus of the collapse of the old Soviet Union.   Case to point......violent oppression by force leads to equal and opposite reactionary force.

Yeah ok, I hear you say.....what's your point?

Well....my point is this.  If the campaign to win hearts and minds had truly been an honest and well thought out plan the Americans could have gone into Afghanistan after the War armed with donatives, money, aid, medicine, help with reconstruction...all that shit!  But they didn't.  Once the Russians were gone the Yanks left well alone, leaving a War ravaged nation full of bitter young men and women who'd seen their families dismembered and blown up after having fought the War of all Wars basically on behalf of the Americans and the West in general. We should all have been thanking the Mujaheddin but instead we marginalised them, allowed them to become more bitter, their resentment turning inward to eventually change into something we now call Islamic extremism.  The weapons supplied covertly during the 80's to fight the Russians, were just that, covert.  They didn't know it was the US that had supplied them with the weapons.  And then whilst the Americans sat back congratulating themselves on the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Mujaheddin were left to rebuild a devastated country with very little practical help from those who had gained the most out of their amazing triumph.

If just a fraction of the money spent supplying covert weapons was made available to rebuild Afghanistan after the War we might just have had flag waving Mujaheddin instead of them burning the Stars and Stripes. So, as much as we decry the violence and bloodshed and terror wreaked upon us by today's extremists, I think, to a large extent, the problem is one of our own making.

Conquering through violence just doesn't work unless, like the Romans, you completely obliterate any and all resistance leaving none left to bitch about it afterwards.  But, of course modern sensibilities mean that we cannot condone such a course of action.  Governments and armed forces are much more accountable these days than they were 2000 years ago!

So, the Russians begin the game by using force.  They are met with an equal and opposite force in the Mujaheddin.  Now marginalised and dispossessed, bitterness turns inward and we witness the birth of the Taliban and Al-Queada who then use force themselves (9/11 etc), which in turn is countered by the reactionary force, resulting in yet more force being applied in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, resulting in yet more reaction and the countenance of yet more reactionary force.  It's an endless cycle of bloodshed, blinkered ideals and the misuse of force and resources.  At some point we have to learn that military force ultimately doesn't work.  Integration, discussion, shared resources, forgiveness, understanding, tolerance and good old fashioned 'lurve' will surely bring greater stability than what we face now at the point of a gun.  It's gotta be worth a try cos we're doing now plainly doesn't work and unless we can sort it out soon the other problems faced by hu-mankind (such as climate change) become largely irrelevant, because there won't be a world left to watch it happen.

That's ll from me today, your peace-loving canine TV critic, Mister Cool.

Exhale, inhale ........Breathe!!!

After all the chaos of the last few days we at NN finally feel able to exhale after days of holding our breath. We are all slightly light-headed, still in shock to some extent, but at least we're still here.  Since the vast majority of us here at NN are manimals, religion to us seems to be a largely irrelevant source of angst and one that sometimes we struggle to comprehend.  To be sure, the biggest thing we worship is our lunch, or in Sonny's case it's not just lunch, you can include brekky, din-dins, supper and every snack time in between!  We worship at the full bowl ........prostrate ourselves in front of the empty bowl ....and sure enough, the powers that be fill it up again soon enough.  Now that's a religion that works in my book!

Watching the TV news with my bro's the last few days we couldn't help wondering why you hu-mans complicate your lives so much.  Think about language for instance: I don't know how many hu-man languages there are currently in use, but I'd take a wild stab at it and say there are more than 6 anyway. Linguistic differences are the first smokescreen layer between individuals that confuse communication and lay the first bricks in the walls of misunderstanding that each and every one of you builds.  Immediately you start relying on phrasebooks, dictionaries and interpretors just to fill your own bowl.  Why not simplify it? One species, one language, like us manimals.  I'm a Spanglish dog but I still speak the same lingo as any other dog no matter where he comes from....that's why I knew Scruffy's name (see the linked page, Snow Wolves and me, with Mister Cool's belated Festive TV review) wasn't Scruffy; it was George.....not that it matters, but it does illustrate the point. One species; one language;  equals no confusion.

This would also help to level the playing field.  If you understand each other it becomes that much harder to see yourself as different.  You become more likely to treat others as you would treat yourself.  In manimal society we have no 'oneupmanship,' no class system, no one manimal is better than another (or though, it doesn't necessarily stop one manimal eating another, but at least we show a bit respect whilst we're doing it!).

Next let's look at religion.  Now to my knowledge, apart from my little joke above about food, us manimals have no religion to speak of.  We all live our lives as if every day is the last with, for my wild cousins, our major preoccupation being food, sex, drink and more food (not necessarily in that order) and since we're so busy enjoying our day and living it to the full we don't have time for religion.

But look at you hu-mans.  So many different beliefs that inevitably you not only misunderstand each other, you tend to look down on others who don't share your beliefs.  This seems to be tied up with hu-man race, skin colour and cultural differences which serve only to widen the gulf of misinterpretation that exits between you.

Make it easy on yourselves.  One religion for all, or better still, just knock the whole lot on the head and go without. Worship life.  Worship love and worship your similarities rather than focusing on the differences. And you guys think we're stupid ones!  That we're the dumb manimals!  Talk about the kettle.......!

NN is based in Spain, as you may know, and more murderous bunch of characters you'd be hard-pushed to find.  I speak from personal experience, mind, so even though that assessment might seem a bit harsh to some, especially the Spanish, if the cap fits.......!  In Spain every holiday and every weekend for 5 months of every year they venture out to kill anything that moves.  We've had buckshot hitting our house (though, of course that is totally illegal but it doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference), I myself have been shot and almost died because of it, but in the end thanks to my amazing vet I only lost my tail.  A lucky escape you might say!  And what did I do to deserve it?

Nothing.  Nothing at all.  Wrong place, wrong time.  In the same incident my nephew, Diamond, also got shot, initially only losing an eye, but subsequently his life!  Why?

Wrong place, wrong time!  And I should say, that 'wrong place' was less than 50m from my front door!!

What happened to the offender?  I'll tell you.....nothing!  Nothing at all.  Despite all evidence to the contrary the judge decided that 2 dogs shot didn't warrant taking someone's licence away.  So instead they rubber stamped it, said to him, "carry on mate!  Kill all the family pets you wish!"  Unfortunately, said offender took that encouragement to heart and 2 months later threatened an actual hu-man with similar violence when he thrust his double-barrelled shotgun into the hapless victims face and offered to re-arrange his features for him!  Finally, the law acted and took his gun licence away!  But the guy is still at liberty and will probably, in due course, regain his licence to kill and maim again.

And they call this justice!

Mister Cool, my other nephew and brother to poor Diamond, has also been shot whilst he was sleeping outside NN HQ.  He was asleep!!  Can you believe, and some f*%$£r just let go both barrels into his face. Luckily, the hunters aim was crap and he only caught Coolio a glancing blow resulting in lots of blood and minor surgery to remove over 40 pellets from his chest and one from his eye....that's why one eye is a different colour to the other!  His fur around his chest is so thick that only one or two pellets actually made it through and penetrated the flesh so, I guess you might say, he was lucky!  We could all do with that sort of luck, right?

But now every weekend until the season ends we have endure thousands (again, literally) of shots ringing out all within earshot and often much closer than that.  The law states....well, actually, we don't what the law says exactly about shooting close to houses, but whatever it does say the Spanish killers don't pay it any mind, and they just randomly rattle off as many shots as they can at (again literally) anything that moves within range; rabbits (which they are legally allowed to take), songbirds (by the dozen - if you ask them, they need at least a dozen thrushes to make even a half decent meal.....if they only mange to get 5 or 6, then they just leaves their little bodies where they lie and move on to the next tree to try again), wild boar, deer, hare, grouse, eagles, hawks, owls.......and anything else they come across.  And if you ask the Police or the Guardia what the law is in this regard (which manimals they are allowed to take & how close they can shoot to residences), they have no idea!  And you get the impression, they just don't give a shit either way!  Quite, quite unbelievable!   Why this Medieval and archaic practise is allowed to continue is quite beyond me.  I think it's because they have the cheek to call it sport!!  Sport!  Ha!  What a joke!

But if it must continue, then why it isn't restricted to specific areas away from residences where the dangers are minimised to the innocent and then the blood-thirsty hunters can shoot happily at each other all year long for all I care!  Alternatively, teach the rabbits how to use an Uzi, give 'em the ammo and set them loose on the hunters.  Now, that's what I call sport!  Where both sides start out on equal footing and have equal chances of achieving their aims.  When it's just slaughter, as it is now, sport is the last thing it is.

What with all rumpus the last few days in Paris you'd have thought some people might just take stock..."oh yeah, it's true....guns kill and they are dangerous.  I think I'll stop hunting!  We've seen enough blood shed!" But no!  Oh no, my friends!  This past weekend there seemed to be more than ever, almost as if the violence in France shook some out of their turgid apathy to remind them of the power of the gun!

My Dad and Mum have both said to me on numerous occasions that if they'd known what violent, don't-give-a-shit, thoughtless people the Spanish before they'd come here, they would not have come!  But hindsight is a wonderful thing!

And now to come full circle...... why do you hu-mans have guns at all?  What do they achieve?  Again, as far as we manimals are concerned guns are killing machines, nothing more.  Hu-man Wars constantly ravage our wonderful planet that we all share.  But it's only hu-mans who try to ruin that!  If manimals have a problem with other we fight it out, sure, and the winner is normally the strongest or cleverest one, not the one with the biggest gun, or the most destructive bomb.  If you lot have problems with each other why not choose champions who fight on behalf of a country, or religion or whatever other dumb reasons you guys have for wanting to kill each other and then the violence, damage, terror, pain is limited and doesn't bring the whole world to its knees and leave everyone living in fear!!

Can you imagine a gun-free world, where everyone understands and accepts everyone else as equals and Wars and disputes are settled with the minimum of fuss, bloodshed and angst.  We know it won't happen. But it should!

Negrito  

Nous Sommes Tous Charlie

 Support from around the world is heart warming, especially from Iraq, Iran and other Muslim nations.  Nous sommes tous Charlie.

My Cartoon in support of Charlie Hebdo

None at NN can claim to be a cartoonist but we're trying to do our bit in support of all victims of terrorism.

PS.  Apologies for the line through the middle of the image, but I couldn't scan as a whole, so had to join it all up in photoshop!!!  Enjoy!