BlackHat's Journal: /Yah!/Yah!/Do you remember the Yen-Yet?/Yah!/

That has got to be one of the most obscure lyric refs I've used yet. Google will not help you this time, you'll have to search thru a different pool to find that meme. So, I will offer this as an alternative that reflects the method, rather than their motive. "/Violence as self defense/ Smiles and metaphors/"

Skipping over the ox pulls and Huntington's stump. That will appear at some point in a future JE. As for now there will be some more sporadic delays and topical posts. I'll pick up that thread anon. News, toon etc. Read on.

Quote(1):
In 1889 the old fears of possible Russian aggression again revived, and Gilgit was reoccupied with a strong detachment of Cashmere troops, accompanied by several English officers. The Government of India pointed out that the development of Russian military resources in Asia rendered it necessary to watch the passes over the mountains, in order to prevent what was called a coup de main from the north. In short, they dreaded the march of a Russian army over the Pamirs and the Hindoo Koosh --a region where Nature has constructed for us perhaps one of the most formidable frontiers in the world.

Friendship with the ruler of Chitral was also cultivated. He was given an annual subsidy, and a present of 500 Sniders; being visited also by English officers. It was even contemplated at the time to construct a direct road from his capital to our frontier near Peshawur; but as he was suspicious, and as his neighbours in Swat, Bajour, and others would probably have objected, the suggestion was happily postponed.

In October 1892 the ruler of Chitral died, and after the usual family contests and intrigues, Nizamul-Mulk, his son, established his authority in the country.

In January, 1893, Dr. Robertson arrived at Chitral as our representative, accompanied by two officers and fifty Sikhs. Although he was received in a friendly manner by the new ruler, his account of the state of affairs in April was discouraging and ominous. He wrote: 'We seem to be on a volcano here. Matters are no longer improving; the atmosphere of Chitral is one of conspiracy and intrigue.' A few weeks later he gave a more cheerful account, and although he described the people as fickle, he considered that Englishmen were safe. It became evident, however, that the Nizam-ul-Mulk was weak and unpopular, and Dr. Robertson described the country as 'in a distracted state, and torn by factions.'

The reports of our Agent, in short, would seem to prove that he was in a false and dangerous position, with a small escort, far away in the mountains, about 200 miles from our frontier.

In January, 1895, the Nizam was murdered by his brother, and the whole country at once again fell into anarchy. Dr. Robertson, who had been temporarily absent, but had returned in February, was besieged in a fort, with his escort, which, however, had been increased to about 290 men. The crisis had come at last, and there was no time to spare.

A strong force under Sir Robert Low was assembled at Peshawur, and crossed the frontier on April 1. It must be pointed out that, in proceeding to Chitral, the British troops had necessarily to pass through a difficult mountainous country inhabited by independent tribes; and the Government of India issued a proclamation in which they pointed out that their sole object 'is to put an end to the present and to prevent any future unlawful aggression on Chitral territory, and that as soon as this object has been attained the force would be withdrawn.' The proclamation went on to say, that the Government 'have no intention of permanently occupying any territory through which Mura Khan's misconduct may now force them to pass, or of interfering with the independence of the tribes.'

The military operations were conducted with great skill and rapidity, and Dr. Robertson's small garrison, which at one time had been hard pressed, was saved: a small force under Colonel Kelly, which had left Gilgit, having by a daring and successful march arrived just before the main body from Peshawur.

The short campaign having thus accomplished its object, the gradual withdrawal of the British troops in accordance with the proclamation would seem to have been a natural sequence. In the weak, distracted state of the country, and in the assumed necessity of not losing our influence in those distant regions, the Government of India, however, considered that a road from our frontier to Chitral should be made, and certain positions retained in order to guard it. This vital question having been carefully considered at home, the Secretary of State for India, on June 13, 1895, telegraphed to the Viceroy that her Majesty's Government regretted they were unable to concur in the proposal. He went on to say that no 'military force or European Agent shall be kept at Chitral; that Chitral should not be fortified; and that no road shall be made between Peshawur and Chitral.' He added that all positions beyond our frontier should be evacuated as speedily as circumstances allowed.

It so happened that within a few days of this important decision a change of Government occurred at home, and the question was reconsidered; and on August 9, fresh instructions were telegraphed to India, by which it was ordered that British troops should be stationed at the Malakund Pass, leading into Swat, and that other posts up to, and including, Chitral, should also be held, and a road made through the country. In short the previous decision was entirely reversed.

Before going further it may be as well to point out that this is no mere question between one political party and another. It goes far beyond that, and we may feel assured that in considering the subject, both Governments were actuated by a desire to do what was considered best in the interests of the Indian Empire.

Still, it is I think impossible not to regard the ultimate decision as very unfortunate, and as likely to lead to serious consequences. In a mere military point of view, it was a repetition of the policy pursued of recent years of establishing isolated military posts in countries belonging to others, or in their vicinity; inevitably tending to aggravate the tribes, and which in time of trouble, instead of increasing our strength, are and have been the cause of anxiety to ourselves. Therefore, not only as a matter of policy, but in a purely military sense, the arrangement was dangerous.

I would further observe that many officers, both civil and military, men of the highest character and long experience in the Punjaub and its borders, did not hesitate to express their opinions at the time, that retribution would speedily follow; and their anticipations appear now to have been verified. Suddenly, not many weeks ago, the people of Swat, who were said to be friendly, violently attacked our position on the Malakund, losing, it is said, 3,000 men in the attempt; and also nearly captured a fortified post a few miles distant at Chakdara. Not only that, but this unexpected outbreak was followed by hostilities on the part of the tribes in Bajour, and by the Mohmunds north, of Peshawur, and also by the Afredis, who, subsidised by us, had for years guarded the celebrated Kyber. Again, the tribes of the Samana range, and others to the west of Kohat, rose in arms; and a very large force of British troops had to be pushed forward in all haste to quell this great combined attack on the part of our neighbours. General Sir Neville Chamberlain, perhaps the greatest living authority on frontier questions, has written quite recently, pointing out that never previously had there been a semblance of unity of action amongst the different tribesmen.

There surely must have been some very strong feeling of resentment and injustice which brought so many tribesmen for the first time to combine in opposition to what they evidently considered an invasion of their country. As regards the Afredis, who are spoken of as treacherous and faithless, it must be borne in mind that in 1881 we specially recognised their independence, and have ever since subsidised them for the special purpose of guarding the commerce through the Kyber; a duty which they have faithfully carried out until the present summer. Lord Lytton, who was Viceroy when the arrangement was proposed at the end of the war, wrote in 1880--

'I sincerely hope that the Government of India will not be easily persuaded to keep troops permanently stationed in the Kyber. I feel little doubt that such a course would tend rather to cause trouble than to keep order. Small bodies of troops would be a constant provocation to attack; large bodies would die like flies....'

'I believe that the Pass tribes themselves, if properly managed, will prove the best guardians of the Pass, and be able, as well as willing, to keep it open for us, if we make it worth their while to do so....'

Many of these very men, and those of other tribes on the frontier, have for years enlisted in our ranks, and have proved to be good soldiers. I repeat that some strong cause must have influenced them suddenly to break out into war.--John Ayde

Quote(2):
Our travellers soon sallied forth from their hotel, impatient to drink the strength-giving waters of the fountains. They continued their walk far up the valley under the poplars. The new grain was waving in the fields; the birds singing in the trees and in the air; and every thing seemed glad, save a poor old man, who came tottering out of the woods, with a heavy bundle of sticks on his shoulders.

Returning upon their steps, they passed down the valley and through the long street to the tumble-down old Lutheran church. A flight of stone steps leads from the street to the green terrace or platform on which the church stands, and which, in ancient times, was the churchyard, or as the Germans more devoutly say, God's-acre; where generations are scattered like seeds, and that which is sown in corruption shall be raised hereafter in incorruption. On the steps stood an old man,--a very old man,--holding a little girl by the hand. He took off his greasy cap as they passed, and wished them good day. His teeth were gone; he could hardly articulate a syllable. The Baron asked him how old the church was. Hegave no answer; but when the question was repeated, came close up to them, and taking off his cap again, turned his ear attentively, and said; "I am hard of hearing."

"Poor old man," said Flemming; "He is as much a ruin as the church we are entering. It will not be long before he, too, shall be sown as seed in this God's-acre!"

The little girl ran into a house close at hand, and brought out the great key. The church door swung open, and, descending a few steps, they passed through a low-roofed passage into the church. All was in ruin.

The gravestones in the pavement were started from their places; the vaults beneath yawned; the roof above was falling piecemeal; there were rents in the old tower; and mysterious passages, and side doors with crazy flights of wooden steps, leading down into the churchyard. Amid all this ruin, one thing only stood erect; it was a statue of a knight in armour, standing in a niche under the pulpit.

"Who is this?" said Flemming to the old sexton; "who is this, that stands here so solemnly in marble, and seems to be keeping guard over the dead men below?"

"I do not know," replied the old man; "but I have heard my grandfather say it was the statue of a great warrior!"

"There is history for you!" exclaimed the Baron. "There is fame! To have a statue of marble, and yet have your name forgotten by the sexton of your parish, who can remember only, that he once heard his grandfather say, that you were a great warrior!"

Flemming made no reply, for he was thinking of the days, when from that old pulpit, some bold reformer thundered down the first tidings of a new doctrine, and the roof echoed with the grand old hymns of Martin Luther.

When he communicated his thoughts to the Baron, the only answer he received was; "After all, what is the use of so much preaching? Do you think the fishes, that heard the sermon of St. Anthony, were any better than those who did not? I commend to your favorable notice the fish-sermon of this saint, as recorded by Abraham a Santa Clara. You will find it in your favorite Wonder-Horn."

Thus passed the day at Langenschwalbach; and the evening at the Allee-Saal was quite solitary; for as yet no company had arrived to fill its chambers, or sit under the trees before the door.--Longfellow

As time makes itself available, I'll say more... Until then.

News in 8 pin dot-matrix font:
From a few days ago, but worthy of echoing. Some are smeared and some are spots/ Feels like a murder, but that's alright/ Somebody said, 'there's too much light/'

Emily meets Arnold Lane on Alternet.

Hey there pretty girl what is with you?/ Don't you know the love that wants to kiss you?/ And she said, "You may dream believe I see/ All the people who are in need"...Not! Rice dishes out the answers
QUESTION: Madame Secretary, Maliki said he would like to merge the militias with the Iraqi army. What's your view on this? Do you think that this is the right way to go or do you think that this might lead to even more sectarian problems?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I read just the brief statement that is in the press and so I don't want to comment until I know more properly what he said, except to say, Sue, that he also said that there can be only one -- essentially one authority and one gun. I mean, he said that, you know, that armed force has to belong to the state. And with that we would certainly agree and so I think the question of how militias are going to be handled, how they will be demobilized, what aspects or what elements of armed groups might be incorporated into the national army, I think those are all issues to be discussed in a more detailed way than we can do based on initial comments. But I would just note that he did make a very strong statement that armed force has to be the providence of the state.
[insert clip of SNL:Church lady "Special" here, ~12 seconds]

"I do not want to go into the details of any of my advice to the prime minister and his response to my advice," he said stiffly. But soon he was back where he was happiest: playing with jargon like a small boy diving into a huge box of Lego. "With rigorous methodology we try to draw out solutions which are rooted in incentive structures ... conventional performance measurement capability," he said merrily, or at least some combination of the above.

The mix, of Osama Bin Laden and the various Pigeon hunts, calls for a repost of my toon from a while back.

Four Canadian soldiers have been killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan, Canadian military officials have said. ... [Texttoon{localized+=3}] ...Fifteen Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

SD-DPB Softball continues with the BlackSox vs the EvenBlackerSox. Let's get right to the play by play:
QUESTION: Okay. Can I -- if I don't know if we're done with that, but I wanted to ask you about terrorism, if I might. A Knight Ridder good reporter has what seems to be accurate statistics, if that's the word, on an increase in terrorism incidents last year. You have a report coming out in about a week. Is that account -- which now, of course, others are beginning to duplicate -- is that account basically correct? Can you speak about that?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, a couple things, Barry. One, a process point, the National Counterterrorism Center is responsible for producing a number of statistics related to terrorism incidents worldwide. The State Department is responsible for producing an annual report regarding the state of the fight against terrorism. Certainly, that report reflects the reality of the statistics accumulated by the NCTC, but it is a narrative. It doesn't include statistics. So those two processes are conducted separately, yet, in parallel.

QUESTION: Right.

MR. MCCORMACK: So the NCTC will talk about what the statistics are. The legal requirement is that these reports come out on or about May 1st. So I would expect -- I don't think we've set the exact date yet, but I would expect probably at the end of next week or the beginning of the week following that, that we'll have these reports we'll do a briefing for you on it. So they can speak to the numbers at that point.

I would make one important point and that is that if you look back over the past three years, the methodology that the NCTC has used to make these counts has changed. So there is -- you don't have a baseline. I don't think it's technically inaccurate. You know, I guess technically you could say that there might be a larger number of incidents from one year to another, but it's comparing apples and oranges. You don't have a common baseline. Just this past year, the change was made because of a change in the law. In prior years, it was actually just a change in methodology that the NCTC made that was an internal change in the way they counted things. So I expect within the next week or so we'll have those reports out and people can brief you in more depth, in detail about exactly what the numbers are and also about the narrative.

QUESTION: Well -- but for now to the extent that you can say, is that estimate about 10,000 additional incidents last year? I realize measurements change. I mean, what's going on in Iraq? Is that every incident in terror or not? I mean, this is difficult to wrestle with. But that aside, how does 10,000 -- as a surge, a surge in terrorist incidents last year about 10,000 -- does that stand up?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, first of all, in terms of specific numbers, Barry, well, let's wait a week. Let's wait a week or so and people can brief you on that. And again, I would have to, you know, you'll choose your own words, but I would take issue with the word "surge" because that implies that you're counting from a common baseline, which we're not.

QUESTION: Right.

MR. MCCORMACK: Again, two different -- two completely different baselines. It's -- the count this year will be unique. You can't compare it against the count from the previous year or the year before that.
Sreee*cough*911eerriiik! One unique strike.

QUESTION: Yesterday at the White House, there were two pretty major mishaps regarding President Hu's visit: the national anthem, the name of the People's Republic of China being called the Republic of China and also the Falun Gong protestor slipping through security. How can these two incidents not affect U.S.-Chinese relations? I mean, those things are seen as very offensive over in China. You know, and given their importance with talks on Iran and North Korea and things like that, is this something that's worrying the United States? Have the Chinese moved on?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I'm going to have to get back to how that relates to Iran, but --

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: Well, I mean, you know, Nick met with him for a half hour last week or an hour-and-a-half.

MR. MCCORMACK: I know, I know, I hear you. Look, Libby, the folks over at the White House talked about these incidents yesterday and I think that their assessment -- I'm not going to try to add to their assessment of what effect that had on any particular discussions. I think, you know, certainly, the U.S.-China relationship is broad enough and deep enough so that such incidents aren't going to have -- cause any major disturbances in those relations.

Look, you know, the White House talked about how that it was regrettable that those things occurred, but their readout of the meetings was that it didn't really affect the meeting, so I would expect that it doesn't have any effect on the relations, Libby, as much as everybody wishes that those things had not occurred.
Two, and one for the error in not mentioning CNN's first hand look at the 'limits to democracy'(tm). [Sarcastic 'sweet' voice]--"Play Ball!"

QUESTION: April 24th the Secretary Condoleezza Rice will travel to Ankara, but the same day the world famous American pop singer Madonna will travel to Kurdish city Amed, A-m-e-d, known among Kurds as the capital of Kurdistan in Southeast of Turkey. She will give a free concert in a football stadium to entertain, as she says, the Kurdish people. I'm wondering if you're concerned about her safety since April 17 you issued, Mr. McCormack, a Public Announcement advising the U.S. citizens not to visit this (inaudible) area of Southeast of Turkey by May 16, 2006.

MR. MCCORMACK: We're not going to the concert, I can tell you that. You know, people make their own assessments. We put out this information for people to consider. They will make their own judgments about traveling in areas where there are Travel Warnings and Travel Announcements.
And Three for the show. See you next time sport fans.

OYAITJ:
104470 : News in verse and audio direction. "Fifty bodies found in Iraqi river" and other top hits of spring 2005 including the new dance number--QUESTION: Look, yesterday the State Department did publicly commit the National Counterterrorism Center to releasing these statistics.

MR. ERELI: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: And it's a simple question. Do you believe that they will do so, as you said that you did yesterday?

MR. ERELI: I think they will decide. They will make a decision, you know -- they will make a decision and I'll leave it to them to speak to how and when and on what basis they're going to make their decision.

TYAITJ:
69346 : Scaphological Temporal Explorations 'R' Us, Atlantis waits still[see SDball above], Galloway and much more.

TYAITJ:
31023 : The retired US general sent to lead an interim administration has begun assessing the damage the war inflicted on Baghdad, where large parts of the population are still without water or electricity. Jay Garner flew into Baghdad insisting he was a "facilitator not a ruler", but opposition appeared to be growing to the invading forces taking a leading role in the reconstruction. A Kurdish leader, Jalal Talabani, said he objected to any "foreigner" leading an administration for Iraq. Do you like your "New World Order" ? They bought it just for you...kinda...in a trickle downish future returns after expenses way.

Texttoon:
Ink on paper/half-tone/cel-phone grab/ : A figure dressed as an Australian soldier drawn from the rear right. He looks into a vast vaulted hall. With solders of every era sitting on benches before the tables. Winged valkyries serve ale from giant casks in the arcades above. Most of the patrons are drawn with muted lines, except for a group at a table mid left, who are rendered in bolder lines and white spaced. These are all dressed as ANZAC's. One is waving a folded brim hat and says in a bubble; "O'er lad!"