Visit To Mugdock, Stirlingshire 7.6.2013

In and out those dusty bluebells......or  'Who's got a new camera?'

Campsie Hills Along Red Deer Run

Bluebell Woods

Mugdock Castle, Built in 1244 - Seat of Clan Graham

110 year-old Oak

Mugdock Loch from Red Deer Run

Mugdock Loch From Bluebell Woods

Clunie  Moor Looking West towards Strathblane

Strange Weather Descends On Scotland

Maybe the Summer is making up for the meteorological crimes and frauds it committed in 2012. Pic taken of view across Kinlochleven on my new camera yesterday.

Cuttings By Theodore Roethke

This urge, wrestle, resurrection of dry sticks,
Cut stems struggling to put down feet,
What saint strained so much,
Rose on such lopped limbs to a new life?
I can hear, underground, that sucking and sobbing,
In my veins, in my bones I feel it --
The small waters seeping upward,
The tight grains parting at last.
When sprouts break out,
Slippery as fish,
I quail, lean to beginnings, sheath-wet.

Ville Libanaise de Baalbek Frappee Par Des Roquettes tirées de Syrie

Syria - Battle Rages For Key Outposts

14 Iraq border police killed at fake checkpoint

14 Iraq border police killed at fake checkpoint: police | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR: "The checkpoint was set up along the main highway connecting Iraq to Saudi Arabia, with the attack taking place near the town of Nukhaib.
At about 11:00 am (0800 GMT), the border guards were travelling along the highway in three unmarked civilian cars in order to begin their shifts at various checkpoints, Major General Yasir Assem from the border guards said."

A Look Around Guantanamo

The process of force-feeding has been condemned by the United Nations and the American Medical Association. They say it is a betrayal of medical ethics. The military staff, though, who carry out the procedure, says it would be unethical to allow a patient to starve. The US military insists that it is legal and complies with the same practice carried out in federal prisons.The goal is clearly to ensure that none of the prisoners dies. One detainee has been on hunger strike for more than five years. The camp's psychologist says many of those refusing meals are suffering from depression. But few are willing to seek help.
That sense of defiance was born out as we were escorted quickly around Guantanamo. In Camp Six, we heard one detainee shouting out in protest. Later, a few prisoners appear to catch a glimpse of our presence from behind the screens that are used to block their line of sight. MORE

Kenyan Mau Mau promised payout as UK expresses regret over abuse

Kenyan Mau Mau promised payout as UK expresses regret over abuse | World news | guardian.co.uk: 
"In a statement to MPs, William Hague, foreign secretary, is expected to announce payments of £2,600 each to more than 5,000 survivors of the vast network of prison camps that the British authorities established across its colony during the bloody 1950s conflict: a total of about £13.9m.
After weeks of negotiations with lawyers representing three elderly former prisoners who brought a series of test cases in the high court in London, the government has agreed also to fund the construction of a memorial in Nairobi to Kenya's victims of colonial-era torture.
The settlement, predicted by the Guardian last month, is a historically significant moment, representing the first major compensation payment arising from official crimes committed as Britain withdrew from its empire. It is also the first governmental acknowledgment that such serious crimes were committed at that time."

Banksy Says It With Eloquence

Big Change in Obama's foreign policy team as Ziocons replace Ziocons

Susan Rice to replace top White House security advisor Tom Donilon in massive shake-up of Obama's foreign policy team - Americas - World - The Independent: "Obama considered nominating Rice as his second-term secretary of state, but she withdrew amid the Republican criticism, saying she didn't want her confirmation fight to be a distraction for the White House. The president instead nominated John Kerry, who easily won confirmation from his former Senate colleagues.
Rice's new post as national security adviser does not require Senate confirmation."

Syrian Conflict Stokes Lebanon Sectarianism

Syria - Fight For The Shrines

Syrian war widens Sunni-Shia schism as foreign jihadis join fight for shrines | World news | The Guardian: "Interviews with serving and former members of Abu Fadl al-Abbas suggest that upwards of 10,000 volunteers – all of them Shia Muslims, and many from outside Syria – have joined their ranks in the past year alone. The group's raison d'etre is to be custodian of Shia holy sites, especially Sayyida Zeinab, a golden-domed Damascus landmark, but its role has taken it to most corners of Syria's war. It is now a direct battlefield rival, both in numbers and power, for Jabhat al-Nusra, the jihadist group that takes a prominent role among opposition fighting groups."

Two killed in Afghanistan as hundreds protest over US ‘torture’

Two killed in Afghanistan as hundreds protest over US ‘torture’ - Asia - World - The Independent: 
"The three bodies were dug up this morning near a former US special forces base in Nirkh district, according to Attaullah Khogyani, the provincial governor’s spokesman. Six other bodies were unearthed there in recent weeks.
Mr Khogyani said an investigation was under way but that it was too soon to say if the three were among at least nine people who villagers say disappeared into American custody."

Le vice-Premier ministre Turc présente ses excuses aux "victimes de violences"

Iraq Records Highest Death Toll in 5 Years

Erdogan - Protesters 'arm in arm with terrorism' as 2nd Demonstrator Dies

Second Turkish protester killed in anti gov't demonstration: 
"Abdullah Comert, 22, died in the town of Antakya, the statement said. Television channel NTV reported he was demonstrating to show support for a wider protest that began in Istanbul last week against the policies of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, and said he was shot in the head.
It was not immediately clear who opened fire at the Antakya rally, the governor's office statement said.
Hatay province borders Syria and has sheltered thousands of refugees from the civil war there. Last month, car bombs ripped through the center of the Hatay town of Reyhanli, killing 52 people.
Comert was a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) youth branch, NTV reported, citing a CHP lawmaker from Hatay and his death was the second reported death of the protests that began last week in Istanbul's Taksim Square. "

US offers rewards for capture of African 'Militants'

BBC News - US offers rewards for capture of African militants: 

"A $5m reward is also offered for Yahya Abu el Hammam, a senior commander of AQIM, whom the state department said had planned attacks and kidnappings in North and West Africa.
The state department said up to $3m was available for information leading to the location of Malik Abou Abdelkarim of AQIM and Mujao spokesman Oumar Ould Hamaha.
It said Oumar Ould Hamaha had taken part in the kidnapping of foreigners for ransom, including taking a Canadian diplomat captive in Niger in 2008."

"The Human Neocortex is More Complex than a Galaxy"

Turkish Protesters Drive Back Police

The United States should be in the dock, not Bradley Manning

The United States should be in the dock, not Bradley Manning - Comment - Voices - The Independent: 

"His punishment has already been severe. According to Juan Méndez, the UN special rapporteur on torture, he has faced cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. For months, he was deprived of human contact. He was stripped of his clothes, left without privacy, and forced to sleep without any darkness. In 2011, P J Crowley was forced to resign as the US state department’s official spokesman after slamming Manning’s treatment as “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid”."

UK Government Obstructing Chilcot Iraq Inquiry

The whiff of suspicion over the Chilcot Inquiry grows stronger - Telegraph: 
"Speaking at a public meeting, Lord Owen said that the inquiry “is being prevented from revealing extracts that they believe relevant from exchanges between President Bush and Prime Minister Blair”. The culprits, he said, are Tony Blair and David Cameron: “Publication of the Bush extracts would not be blocked if Tony Blair had not objected, nor if that objection had not been supported by the present prime minister, David Cameron. Both men are hiding behind conventions that are totally inappropriate given the nature of the inquiry.”"

PKK Set Up Camp In Northern Iraq

AQ in Iraq Now in Syria - US Report

Al-Qaida in Iraq reportedly has fighters in Syria opposition - UPI.com: 
"AQI also took advantage of a significantly depleted security situation in Syria," the report said. "Operating under its alias, al-Nusrah Front, the group sought to portray itself as part of the legitimate Syrian opposition and attempted to hijack Syria's struggle for democracy."
The report comes as international critics of Syrian President Bashar Assad weigh options in terms of arming Syrian rebel forces. Critics of the move say the weapons could end up in al-Qaida's hands."

The BBC lacks ambition to go the whole way in 'Iraq War' Documentary

The BBC lacks the ambition to go the whole way: 

"...surely Israel was crucial to the Iraq War as it is to anything that happens in the area from Egypt to Iran. Israeli intelligence must have had something to say about WMD but no Israeli was interviewed in the programme.  Whether or not Blair (or anyone else) ever thought Saddam’s missiles could hit London, we know from the First Gulf War that they could probably hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. How did that influence the discussions about attacking Iraq? Apparently, no one was asked. Once one big thing is missed out you start to wonder what else was never asked."

From Acton to Aleppo: how one British Muslim's quest to Syria ended in death

From Acton to Aleppo: how one British Muslim's quest to Syria ended in death | World news | The Guardian:
"The Briton's violent death was the culmination of an improbable journey from the streets of Acton to Aleppo, driven, according to friends, by a redemptive desire to atone for past misdeeds.
Almanasfi's family were conservative Sunnis from Damascus, Syria's capital. But he grew up in west London, the son of a bus driver, who later split stormily with Almanasfi's mother and remarried twice. In his passport photo Almanasfi looks not unlike Noel Gallagher.
As a teenager, according to his friend Tam Hussein, Almanasfi drifted into trouble. He got involved in street fights with other Acton gangs and petty crime: drugs, stealing, booze. In 2008 his father sent him to Syria to cool down. Apparently this didn't work. A year later he did something he would bitterly regret: drunk, he attacked an older man. The details are hazy. But he was caught, sentenced to four or five years in jail, and initially imprisoned in Feltham young offenders institute."