Top ten countries for reading my blogs

The top ten countries re reading my blogs are as follows. Of course they can also be sourced on FB and Twitter. 1) USA 73712 2) NZ 36757 3) Russia 2353 4) Australia 2231 5) China 1166 6) UK 1151 7) Germany 8) Luxembourge 467 9) France 296 10) Ukraine 177 And about 50 other countries with smaller numbers but growing Thanks for your support.

What does a nation do, when its citizens enlist in a foreign war?

Many people have been shocked at the terrible shots online of an American photographer being beheaded by a masked IS fighter. That he was obviously British makes large sections of the British public even more uncomfortable. The perpetrator has been called a murderer and no doubt would support any move to bring him to ‘justice.’ The events in the area controlled by the IS are subject to draconian laws that completely reject any philosophy other than ‘their own’ narrow interpretation of Islamic law. If one is not in agreement with that stance or belongs to another ‘faith, be it a branch of Islam or a different ‘ethnic group,’ then there are few choices, the most being, leave, pay protection money or die if one doesn’t convert. Such actions as we are witnessing do not exist in this time alone. During the 1930’s in the Spanish Civil War, many foreigners flocked to the aid of the left-leaning Republican Government as it tried to retain power and the Forces behind Franco, aided by an emerging Nazi Germany attacked the regime. Atrocities were committed on both sides of the fray and even today, many do not forget those times. New Zealanders joined the International Brigade that supported the Republican cause and no doubt witnessed many of the crimes against humanity, including the murder of priests and the decimation of entire villages. Sound familiar! In today’s analogy, we are seeing something similar but on a more vast scale. Combined with the events in Syria, the suffering of large segments of the population in huge areas of Iraq are troubling because the IS does not allow for any negotiation and resorts to methods that have only one goal—the complete takeover of most of the Middle east, stretching from Iraq right through to parts of Northern Africa. Empire building, not unlike so many historical precedents but run by religious despots who will quell any forms of diversity and be completely intolerant of those espousing even a slightly different interpretation of how they would have us worship. There is little that is good about those who control this IS. They are not similar to the forces opposing the Crusaders of old. They do not represent the cultural richness of the Islamic Empire from that time. They do not value education, the arts, science or any other cultural experience. They are narrow minded bigots who would set the region on fire, in order to impose their quasi- political dogma. They should be feared, by all people who wish to live in peace, caring for their families and having a modicum of freedom. History will look back at this time, but I wonder from what bastion! Will the IS have succeeded in imposing its will?

John Key--'At the end of the day-----I----read on!

By now anyone watching TV or listening to Kohn Key on the radio and other media, will have come to a conclusion that John Key has a very limited vocabulary and that he is stumbling his way to what he thinks is a forgone conclusion re the election -----that he is going to romp in because NZers have made up their minds that he represents the best choice re the outcome. He arrogantly assumes that most NZers think that any criticism of him, his policies and his Government is just a left-wing conspiracy. For a while there, that seemed to be the case---well the fact that he was on the home straight re a victory for National; that was until we started to hear (although many did not find the latest revelations about his style of politics to be something they didn’t already know!) about some pretty damming evidence about how he has maintained his hold on power. Nicky Hager’s book is the catalyst for this growing under swell of opposition to something that is just not right. Every day seems to bring more ‘dirt’ to the fore as various parts of emails and reported (an unreported) communications between politicians in the Key camp and government departmental heads, makes it into the public sphere. What we are witnessing is a government and a PM in particular who will go to almost any length to confuse, diffuse and outright lie to the public about policy, and the day to day running of Government. We are hearing about the manner in which he suppresses opposition and criticism, via links to some incredibly dubious characters, notably Slater and his cohorts and contacts within the National party. These actions have transformed NZ politics to a new low. Now that the limelight is clearly focussed on Key and Slater, along with is Achilles Heel, Collins, Key is beginning to unravel as evidenced by his peculiar overuse of the term, ‘At the end of the day.’ TV three did a count, over the period of a day and I think they stopped counted once the total had reached beyond 20. I am not sure how it affects others, but I oscillate between feelings of frustration and absolute mirth, when he opens his mouth now. Any real attempts to get ‘policy out there’ are diminished every time he utters those words. I bet households are having ‘lounge sweepstakes, with the ‘winner take all,’ as to who guesses the correct number of usages he has in a defined time. So what we now have with John Key is---‘At the end of the day, I forget what I said or heard and I will probably lie about it anyway.’ SO this is the person you want to lead us through the next three years! Not a question---a statement! www.authorneilcoleman.com