Arab Republic of Jordan Turns Own Citizens into Refugees
As part of ongoing Arab attempts to perpetuate the Palestinian refugee problem, in order to extort money from the Western world and bring about the destruction of Israel, Jordan has announced that it is revoking the passports of thousands of its own citizens who had lived in the West bank until 1967.
Sadly, mainstream media coverage of this matter has been virtually non-existent.
The Hashemite Kingdom of of Jordan (originally Transjordan) was created by the British in 1923, by separating 76% of the territory of Palestine located east of the Jordan river and giving it to King Abdullah as a favour in exchange for not fighting the French in Syria. Jordan was founded with a policy forbidding Jewish people from living there.
This move by the British to create Jordan from lands under its administration was controversial, considering that the land was commited to being part of the Jewish state in the Balfour declaration of 1917, which was recognised by the League of Nations [the forerunner of the UN], in 1922.
Jordan was one of the Arab participants in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war who invaded Palestine following the declaration of Israeli independence. By the end of the war, it captured land West of the Jordan river, which today is commonly referred to as the West Bank, Cis-Jordan or the Hebrew names Judea and Samaria.
Jordan annexed this territory following the war and gave citizenship to all residents, except Jewish people who had been forced to flee.
Jordan lost control of the West Bank following the six-day war of 1967, when Israel defeated the Arab coalition comprising Syria, Egypt and Jordan. Jordan eventually gave up all territorial claims to the West Bank in 1988, following the first Intifadah.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-24
- Tased Aboriginal petrol sniffer catches fire following police pursuit: http://tinyurl.com/nql6ol #
- British wildlife park baboons learn to loot visitors' cars (The photo is amazing!): http://tinyurl.com/ma2sbg #
- Looks like Telstra is failing to restore its glory days of monopoly: http://tinyurl.com/mrjaxb #
- French military shells own city in bungled military exercise: http://tinyurl.com/m6dzcu #
- Oz Govt gives extra powers given to ACCC to combat price fixing – it's about time! http://tinyurl.com/l5e9h3 #
- Contrary to mainstream media reporting, Palestinian Militant Group Fatah says it will never recognise Israel: http://tinyurl.com/lxdfvl #
The Teenager Who Almost Became an Airline Tycoon
Filed under: Business, Finance and Investment, International News
I am always inspired by creative young people who start with with no money, connections and end up doing really clever things to hit the big time.
In the media, it has been reported that a 17-year old British ‘autistic’ teenager from Yorkshire was attempting to set up a new Channel Islands-based airline that would service most of Europe.
He pulled this off by creating a number of bogus websites, and using virtual office services in a number of countries and writing convincing letters and emails to air industry bosses, which led to telephone conversations and face-to-face meetings.
His mistake came undone after an aviation magazine, who ran an article on his business, got suspicious and started snooping – his biggest mistake was using his own voice to impersonate several different people. In my opinion, he should have invested in one of those voice changing gadgets and learnt to speak and switch between several British regional accents.
His real name has not been published, but he is referred to one of the pseudonyms he used – Adam Tait.
The reports said that he was autistic, but I find this very hard to believe considering the number of social interactions he had. At worst, he would probably have suffering from some form of Aspergers syndrome, in which individuals are high-functioning.
Here are a few articles that tell the story in details:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6719191.ece
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4487857/
http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/17yearold-with-autism-pulls-off-identity-stunt-of-the-decade-m3504726.aspx
Still, I am not convinced that he would have failed. I wish they had let this go on a bit more and see where he would have gotten up to. I do believe that creative young people have to struggle to get a fair go and face many forms of discrimination in society.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-10
- Italian Cafe extorts $1000 from Japanese tourist couple: http://tinyurl.com/myj4qp. This is how it was when I was in Italy in 1993. #
- Australian rugby league star craps in hotel corridor: http://tinyurl.com/lqd4ty – he's truly the life of the party! #
- No, children have not been getting fatter over the last 10 years: http://tinyurl.com/lxr5rh #
- Frightened, abused Saudi Arabian woman sent to prison for disobeying parents: http://tinyurl.com/nxjvss #
- Satirical YouTube cartoon – "An Atheist Meets God" – http://tinyurl.com/b2zqds #
- I like singing. Apparently, singing also reduce your stress: http://tinyurl.com/nh4e43 #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-03
- Russia bans gambling and casinos: http://tinyurl.com/kp49gk #
Take Advantage of the Small Business Investment Allowance
Filed under: Australian News, Business, Finance and Investment
The current Financial Year 2008-2009 ends at midnight next Tuesday 30th June, so now is a good time to take advantage of any tax benefits that you are entitled to.
As part of the Australian Labor Government’s measures to try and stimulate the economy, the Small Business and General Business tax break legislation went into effect on the 22nd of May 2009.
The allowance in a nutshell is this:
if you run a small business with a turnover of less than $2 million and buy an eligibile depreciating asset costing over $1000, you can make an additional one-off 50% tax deduction. This is in addition to the all the normal tax deductions on assets used to earn an income.
If your business is bigger, you still get an additional deduction, but it’s only 30%.
Full details can be found here on the Australian Taxation Office’s website:
The website smartcompany.com.au has a well-written explanation in their article “New details on the 50% small business tax deduction“.
Some examples of tangible depreciating assets include new computers, peripherals, furniture, vehicles and tools. Computer Software does not count as it is not considered tangible and does not depreciate.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-26
- A truly amazing story about the Super Repo Man that recovers jet aircraft: http://tinyurl.com/ql5weq #
- Leading Japanese scientist explains why perceived Global Warming is not Man-made: http://tinyurl.com/dfow26 #
- Hamas's latest 'peace offer': Replace Israel with an Arab State – http://tinyurl.com/lc4pv9 #
- Iranian government forces kill innocent man, then demand $3000 from father to claim his son's body: http://tinyurl.com/n6akud #
Music Legend Michael Jackson Passes Away
Online media has reported that Michael Jackon suffered a heart attack at his home and could not be revived. He was declared dead earlier this morning at the UCLA Medical Centre.
His artistic contributions to pop music will withstand the passage of time. His trademark ‘moonwalk’ is widely known and imitated by many (including me), and some of his most played songs on video hit shows include ‘Thriller’, ‘Beat It’, ‘Billy Jean’ and ‘Bad’.
He was not a living god, but a human being with imperfections. It is my opinion that media gossip about his private life was a mixture of truth and fiction, his prominence and eccentricity fuelling opportunistic individuals seeking attention and money.
Perhaps his suffering children and family may now live a more normal life, with fewer media intrusions.
Should We Help Egypt Go Nuclear?
Filed under: Australian Foreign Policy, Australian News, Middle-East Affairs
The biggest Australian engineering firm Worley Parsons, an ASX-listed company, has just won a $160 million contract to help build Nuclear Power Plants for the Arab Republic of Egypt.
According to a Bloomberg article, the contract will provide “engineering and advisory services” including “training Egyptian nuclear engineers, advising on which technology to use and best construction locations”.
I have very strong reservations about this deal. Egypt is an Arab-Muslim country. At the moment, the current Egyptian Government is somewhat friendly to the West and uses overwhelming force to prevent its home-grown Islamic fanatics taking control, but this could change overnight.
There are many different designs for electricity-producing nuclear reactors, some of which are designed to avoid producing weapons-grade nuclear fuels as by-products. A the moment, I have no idea what sort of design Worley Parsons plans to recommend to the Egyptians.
My fear is that the reactors could be converted to allow production of weapons grade nuclear fuels, or that Egypt will learn enough to be able to build new reactors specialised for this purpose. The last thing we need is another Islamic regime with nukes.
Netanyahu’s Speech
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu made a fantastic speech that succinctly addressed the history and realities of the Arab-Israeli conflict and provided a framework for a settlement with the Palestinians. A copy can be found here
This speech was remarkable in what was conveyed, namely that:
- The conflict is about the constant Arab rejection of self determination for the Jewish people in their historic homeland.
- Exploding the popular media myth that the main Arab gripe is about the territories captured by Israel in 1967 following the 6-day war, when in fact Arab hostility against Jews in Mandatory Palestine began in 1920, long before the modern state of Israel was established.
- Exposed the folly of the belief that unilateral withdrawals bring peace, by recounting the aftermath of the complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, resulting in the Islamic terrorist group Hamas taking power and launching missiles against Israel.
- Israel accepts the realisation of an Arab Palestinian state provided that the Arabs accept the reality of the Jewish state.
To Prime Minster Netanyahu, I say Bravo!
