You repeat history if you forget it

I am a big fan of geo-politics and more so of history
I love reading wikipedia on an arbit subject I would type in and then keep on clicking away on related or embedded links and seeing what and where that leads me to.

This Saturday I spent a good part of the day reading on the kulaks in Soviet history, then going on to reading on the Soviet history itself and its a pretty dark, sad and un-nerving one.
Soviet Union was ruled effectively by 4 people till it was dismantled; the no of people Stalin got killed or purged as its referred to runs easly into a few 10's of millions and the error factor (ie what the esitmates may be worng by) is something like 5-7mn (its as if you were talking of ants and not people).

Its very strange that a super-power came crashing down in a matter of months post a failed coup; but when you read more into it; its pretty clear that it was bound to happen.
The Soviet society was based on fear; it is estimated that a good proportion of kulaks killed were not kulaks at all; each and every member of the State Police was suposed to show results and they went overboard on it; again absolute dis-regard for human life or any value system.
Forget all that ... how can any govt pass an order to have its own people killed ..? NKVD Order No 99447
One logic a prof in JNU (where I grew up in Delhi) gave me was they were anti-govt; and I was like God what a doofus; you blame America and all its pursuits and you are actually justifying this shit.
In case you dont get it I HATE Communists; they are definitely by far the worst of the lot; Soviet Union enslaved its own people into gulags; invaded and occupied parts of Eatern Europe for a brief spell in the late '60s; put up the Berlin Wall; invaded Afghanistan ... and none of the Commies called any of this an imperialist pursuit;
I mean come on!! What is it then; a call for lunch?

In that country between 1960s and 1970s poets and writers were just picked up and sent to the KGB HQs for interrogation; most were tortured and disposed off or sent out to Siberia. In fact some of those who did sort out their lives in Siberia and improve their lifestyle were again brought back or sent to gulags (slave labor camps)

Whats the point of this blog then?
We are moving into a society which is heading there again.
Look at Russia right now; Russians seem to be happy that they are very rich now and have had good growth coming in; but then thats not ALL thanks to Mr Putin; ok he is a strong man and all that but Russia has more to thank its natural resources esp gas, oil and now the metal commodities.
Putin knows that and thats why he is behaving like a spoilt brat; passing funny comments at embassy meets; cutting off gas supply to Ukraine and EU, going to Iran and offering that nation nuclear fuel. And then the thing of resigning from Presidency only to re-elect himself as PM; simple ways of staying in power.
And thats where the problem lies; Russians may feel wealthy & rightfully so, but they still live in fear; fear from Putin's men (KGB is back, now its called FSB but its far stronger and worse than its predecessor); already free press is an oxy-moron in Russia; and then Putin has Russian defectors and reporters killed in other nations.
An avg Russian has no clue whether European are allies or not as it depends on what side of the bed Putin gets off from ... all this leads to one thing again and thats Russians are going more and more inwards in terms of perspective and not trusting anyone and living in fear.

And thats why I am scared; if the commodity cycle craps out suddenly, and it will sooner or later, I mean crude cant stay @ $90/barrel for long w/o an effective subsitutes coming up (I am talking a few years; not like tomorrow) then Russia will be like a beggar everyone wants to ridicule because of its high handedness at present.
THEN the problem will start; because when economics fails; there is increased rumbling as unasked Qs become more stronger; then the society wakes up and says fukk you. Then you have purges happening again and then you will have a possible war to break out for Putin (or whoever is ruling Russia then) so as to divert attention elsewhere.

It may sound like a far fetched theory; but Russian/Soviet leaders have more often than not used this step to stay in power and this is like a few centuries old.

So much so for my analysis; I think China will be a great eg for Russians to work along as; Chinese are way too smart.
Indian policy and say in foreign matters has improved dramtically but I think we need to be aggressive and have a government without the Commies there.

In case you are wondering why such a long discourse; well the Commies in India have initiated a few changes in the Indian markets and I may be a statistical input no one appreciates; so I wanted to see what exactly are these Commies proud about; Russia/Soviet Union ... no way; China .. well China is far more capitalist than USA right now.
The only possible success stories could be North Korea and Cuba ... well you can have both of them.
And you dont want me to start on North Korea; I can write or 2 days on that country and its "Dear Leader".

Cheerio and all that!

Have you noticed?

a. The villans in Die Hard or Live Free were not religious terrorists but financial whiz kids AND most were French
b. In Near (Nicolas Cage); the terrorists were ALL French
c. In a few animations off late the swine has a distinct French accent

Whats happening guys? Whatever happened to zi Nazi Germans and da Soviet (Russians) and woh sabh Islamic militants?

Looks like Hollywood has a new enemy or at least a political one.
Is Sarkozy listening; though the timing is bad esp when Sarkozy is cozying upto US and Gordon Brown making a move away; maybe you will have the next movie showing MI6 being infiltrated and planning to bomb dem 'mericans!

Pretty cool ad!

The previous link got some really bad email responses so I had to remove that get this one in place. Well to undo whatever I had done to upset woman-kind; coz the guys loved it for some reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqBy6TgYxTU&mode=related&search=bannedcommercials%20commercial%20wal-mart%20joo%20xxx%20porn%20lol%20pants%20sexypants%20hotpants%20funnycommercial%20hommadevideo%20homemade

Cheers!

Things you dont want to try

* Never try fixing the brakes on your bike when you dont know where to start from; and if you do try to do that; dont go on a slope after that; especially if it rained the previous night.
* Never kick your teacher hard even if he says you can do that; the rejoinder wont be pancakes or pats on the back. It will be if you are lying down .... later.

Thats enough for today's lessons; tomorrow I meet the Beast again.
Considering the aftermath of the above two incidents; I look forward to meeting her.

I had a vision ...

This is basically an innate attempt at some 3 ppl writing a stupid novel; or well 1 writing a short story (http://halfsweetnhalfnuts.blogspot.com/2007/09/inanimate-foot-lies-elevated-on-pile-of.html) and the others adding (http://nicenewguy.blogspot.com/2007/10/other-side.html) something on to it; so its just for kicks and not to emotionally hurt or challenge anyone; with me just trying to spoil the poop.
___________
She was dead, finally SHE was dead; after having spoilt so many lives including mine; I couldnt see her make use of Keith.
Keith who has been like a brother to me; Keith who would follow anyone who would be nice to him and not just make fun of his "funky teeth"...

So apparently the maiden had sprained her ankle and was at home; she had noticed Keith go ga-ga over her and hadnt it been for me; it was clear that she would have used and thrown him away as a rag-tag doll as she has with so many others, including me.
So when I finally told Jason and Lars about Keith about what I intended to do; the initial reaction was of course of dumb foundedness and then came the revelation ... can we actually get back at the one who has spoilt the lives of so many whom we know of... but I guess the clincher was when I told them that she was using her "ankle trick" again
The plan was then set and executed to perfection; but the only faltering point was the fact that Keith was spposed to eat some of the donuts as well so that both would get drugged and there would be least resistance from either.

I had prepared the syringe for her especially and though would have hoped to inflict most gruesome pain; we all decided against it; since death was to be given a chance as well.
The plan for Keith was simple; he would have the donut(s); we drug him out and have him dropped over at my place with some alcohol injected in his body to make him feel nice and high when he'd be awake and with a bloody hangover.

But as luck would have it; Keith being the nice kid was busy massaging her sprained ankle when we walked in; and he saw me; had it been Jason or Lars we could have managed something and since he did put up a stuggle the alcohol injection went in a bit too painfully for him.
One thing I mis-adjudged for which we have to decide what to do with Keith now and that is - we didnt realise the poor kid would have already fallen for her...

So he remains gagged and bound till we decide what to do with him ...
_________________________
..... so who would want to take it up from here?
_________________________
Nuttty I hope you dont mind the twist which has come in the tale... I know you are a sport; but still would like to put this disclaimer in as well. MMuuaaahhh!!!
Nice New Guy; THIS is what I call sordid!!

The Neighbor

It was Nice New Guy and then Nutty; so I thought well what the hell, maybe I can try my hand as well...
____________________________________________________________

"Have you seen the movie?"
The Q was innocuous and out of the blue. I wasnt sure I was the one who was addressed in it; so at first I ignored it. Then she asked me again and this time all eyes were on me.
So just out of the fact that everyone expected me to say "Yes I have and dont want to see it again" I said well, "No, would you like to go for it?"
And she said "Yes; weekends fine with you?" and I said, "Yeah sure"
Ok a little bit of background ... she is THE single most hotty in town but at the same time a sweet old girl; old because well she is 5 yrs my senior and happens to be my sister's groups' heart-throb. And she is a neighbor, living in the big bungalow next to mine.
Me, I am a lazy sod who spends most of his time in the gym and the remaining in books; so not the actual "find" for this girl.

Anyways; so she and I go for the movie and she pays for her part and says we should do this again and I go "yeah whatever"; thinking thats that!
After a few days, I am again with my sister's group skipping thru the CDs in the room and she comes over and makes small talk. I get a little bugged; quite bugged because she wants to talk and I have nothing to talk about.
All I can talk about is what weight I lift and history; neither makes interesting conversation.
But she being her, is nice and wants to chat.
Again all eyes are on me not to offer her a drink and get 1 myself; so going against consensus, I do just that. And we start chatting.
I realise she knows something about World War II and I suddenly get into an agitated argument with her on why Patton was way better than Montgomery and being abusive; say a few "fukks and bullshit" along the way.
She gets annoyed and walks out; and I am like "yeah whatever".

But I want to talk to her; thats the first time I have wanted to be with someone and for the first have needed someone to say "I want to talk with you"
But alas not happening tonight...

The winter is on and I like reading my books in the sun: One day she walks over from her home and says, "I have been sitting watching you for the last few days and you know I have been watching you so why didnt you say hi or anything". And I go blank, as a defence I say; "Well yeah whatever"
"Is that your favorite word?" and I swung back, "Used to be" and as adjoiner say, "So how is Ravi?" (hoping to quell any further conversation, for I know they have broken up)
She gives a bad look and walks off and I go back to my reading.
Again comes the feeling and this time I say, "Hey babes, I know about Ravi; so what happened?"

The conversation picks up and soon we spend a lot of time with each other; out for walks and going for movies and kidding each other.
She gets a few funny comments (about spending time with a sod like me); some from my sister as well but she is ok about it; no one messes with me for I am known to be short of temper and a bit of a bully.
So the time spent together goes unabated.

Then one day she introduces me to someone who her parents want her to get married to; she asks me what I think of him and I say, "Well, he does remind me of a rat".
After that I stop meeting her and time comes for me to move out of my city as I have got a job elsewhere. We had not met since the above incident; I had got back to my books and weights and she to her earlier group.
My sister insists that I go meet her once before I leave and against all in my brain, I go.
My first line is, "So what happened to the guy?" and she says, "He looked like a rat"

We laughed; its been 6 years since that and both of us are still single.

"My eyes seek reality; My fingers seek my veins"

English Tea and much more

"You want to come to me mum's place?"
My colleague Chris asked me this when it was finalised that we 2 would be going together to London on work
I have always been a GREAT fan of Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, CS Lewis (among many more) and though I used to get confused why ppl stored food in their ladder (as in seedi); I have always been very keen to see and enjoy the English countryside.
So when Chris asked the above Q; I was like mate you are on!
Chris's mom lives south of Essex in a small hamlet of 400 ppl where obviously everyone knows everyone else and they have their local ghost as well; actually 4 of them; legend has it that the first house that you see when you enter the hamlet has 4 ghosts of sisters who were allegedly killed there. A pity I wasnt allowed to go into the grounds though we tried.
Anyways; so we reached his place at 8am and had the most amazing experience of "sounds of silence"; the hamlet was so quiet it was discerning!
Then followed a drive around the hamlet, followed by scones (no they are NOT muffins but sweeter); tea by the farmside with horses and small farm pets making acquaintance with you. The sun was out and even though it was a bit chilly; sitting out in the sun with a cup of tea and scones just made it worht it.
Lunch/supper (I had supper the first time in my life) was a rack of roasted lamb followed by ash black coffee and blueberry pie.
I KNOW!!!! A perfect English Sunday!!

Anyhow, had to leave the countryside because we WERE in London on work.
London is one of the most beautiful cities in the world; London has been able to mingle the efficiencies (well almost) of a modern city along with the colonial pride it is associated with.
You have ppl riding on horses in the middle of the city's parks; the taxis are imperialistic in appearance and size; and the cabbies are the most helpful in the world. People here actually smile at you and wish you good morning etc if you happen to make eye contact (somewhat like NY)
There is TOO much money here; an Aston Martin or a Lamborghni is very common (though HK has the highest Porches/Ferraris per capita in the world); but somehow out here you always relate the same to class.... the city brings it out.
I managed to do all my inter-city travel via cab because I knew I wont have the time to visit what the city is known for and it was so brilliant one can just imagine what the city would be like in all its glamor and charm of being the imperial capital of the world.

I am way too impressed by London; though have yet to see the darker sides and apparently its pretty bad; but the city has something which makes you feel charmed by it.

Anyways; they are calling my name now; so should rush.

Cheerio!