Dominique Strauss Kahn

I have been following the story of Dominique Strass Kahn's incarceration in America on the charge of rape.

There is one person who must be feeling a degree of sympathy with Strass Kahn's alleged charge and that is Julian Assange who is accused of a similar offence. No doubt the truth will come out in time but one cannot help thinking that France will be thrown into a political turmoil now that Nicolas Sarkozy's political rival has been basically seen off.

I have to say I feel slightly uncomfortable about the whole thing and cannot completely erase the thought of a plot from my mind.

Perhaps Wikileaks has something to offer us on this in the future. Now wouldn't that be a thing! I am sure we all wait with baited breath for this drama and political intrigue to unfold.

Stokes Croft Riots Bristol

I blogged on 23rd April 2011 that the riots in Stokes Croft Bristol occurred because of a protest at the opening of a Tesco Express in the area. Wrong!

Since high lighting this in my blog it has come to my attention, particularly through Twitter, that the riots really had nothing to do with the Tesco protest at all but was used as an excuse by a large anarchist element in the city to cause public disorder. In other words, whilst the relatively peaceful and legitimate Tesco protest was high lighted at the very beginning, it was soon hi-jacked by the "anti everything" brigade just as the anti cuts march by Unite was in London on the 26th March 2011.

In the case of Stokes Croft, the police arrived in force based on a tip off that petrol bombs were being made in a squat near to Tesco's and they were there to evict the occupants. Before long the anarchist element around the city had been alerted (mobile communications no doubt being very effective) and very soon there were hundreds in the streets causing appalling damage to properties and the squatters hurling debris, scaffold poles and slabs from the roof of the squat onto the police below. As a result, a 17 year old has been held for attempted murder of a policeman who had concrete dropped on him from above and this same person was also seen hurling a scaffold pole like a javelin into the police crowd.

Yesterday they held an "anarchist book fair" in Stokes Croft and it was said that there were up to 300 people queuing in the rain to get in.

Having visited Bristol recently I can tell you that the City Council has done a mega job in turning Bristol into a very nice place to work and live with major redevelopment of the docks area, Temple Quay and around the new shopping area Cabot Circus.

In contrast, Stokes Croft which is quite close to the city center is pretty run down and is a magnet for those seeking a more alternative existence and who wish to build a more cultural community.

Judging from the instructions put out by the anarchist element on how to avoid arrest (for all to see on Twitter) if your face was caught on the CCTV footage held by Avon Somerset police , much of the trouble was pretty premeditated but of course it was largely blamed on the police for being "heavy handed".

I must say I found it quite unsettling when reading this stuff and viewing some peoples comments on Twitter. There were also very many people living near to and in Stokes Croft itself who were vehemently opposed to the stance taken by the Tesco protesters which showed an opposing view to the statement that 95% of Stokes Croft were against the Tesco store opening. In the end anyway, the riots turned out to be nothing to do with the Tesco issue just another excuse by the "anti everything" brigade to cause as much anti social behaviour against authority as they could.

As it is, I feel a bit sorry for the Tesco protesters who perhaps had a legitimate cause but of course that's probably gone by the by, now that it has been trampled on by all this bad publicity. Shame.

In The Wake Of Bin Laden's Death

There is a lot of rhetoric now as to whether it was right or wrong for America to freeze the Pakistani authorities out when planning their raid on the compound near Islamabad which has housed Bin Laden, his family and protectors for at least the last five years.

I believe that the Americans had a difficult decision to make when weighing up the pros and cons of their projected actions, not least of which is the high level of corruption in Pakistan.

It is well known that everyone has a price in Pakistan, whether it is bribing a member of the police force to get off a traffic violation to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the Pakistani bomb who acknowledged that he had secretly provided North Korea, Libya, and Iran with crucial technological and intellectual information for making nuclear weapons.

What would I have done in the same circumstances? Would I have given the Pakistani authorities vital information about the manoeuvre which was about to take place? Probably not under the circumstances given that Bin Laden was the worlds no. 1 most wanted man I wouldn't have risked it.

On the vexed question of whether or not Bin Laden should have been taken alive, again this was a difficult decision the Americans had to make. On balance one would only have to imagine that had they, there would no doubt have been a series of kidnappings around the world with hostages being paraded in front of cameras under the threat of beheading unless their leader was released.

No, on this occasion the Americans were right to deal with this swiftly and not give Bin Laden's followers a chance to draw breath.

Whichever way the Americans had played this one, there would always have been the threat of reprisals. Hopefully, world intelligence will be aware of the whereabouts of current prominent Al - Qaeda leaders and will be able to deal with them as swiftly as they did Bin Laden.

Rowan Williams - Archbishop of Canterbury

So the very scruffy bit of an ass Rowan Williams feels very uncomfortable that Osama Bin Laden was unarmed when shot dead by American navy seals.

Tell that to the 3,000 odd people who died in the 9/11 atrocity and the countless thousands of others who have died as a direct result of Bin Ladens influence or his money support.

Nearer home, how can we forget the fate of the unarmed britain Kenneth Bigley who was videod having his head sawn off by the Islamist group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi whilst he was still conscious and for the edification of Bin Laden.

Actually, I personally feel no discomfort whatsoever Archbishop and I suggest that you may just have distanced yourself still further from the ordinary decent people in this country who you are trying to encourage into your church. What a silly old duffer.

Osama Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden, the broker of so many major terrorist atrocities, including 9/11 . . . is dead.

He was holed up in a very comfortable residence in Abbottabad a garrison town 61km from Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

Questions will now be asked as to how he was allowed to live freely in such a public area without the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities. From news briefs, particularly Aljazeera, it is suggested by commentators that he could not have existed like this without some credible support system from within Pakistan.

No doubt the full story will unfold in the coming days / weeks and in the meantime most countries will be on full alert in case of reprisals from his fanatical followers in Al Qaeda. It is well reported that Bin Laden has not been "hands on" in Al Qaeda for at least the last decade so the question is . . how much difference will this make to global Al Qaeda? We all wait with baited breath.