Harry's Place

And let me remind you that it’s Australia Day today, as well!

Jorge Luis Borges once said that Edgar Allan Poe is held in higher regard in France than in Britain because Baudelaire’s translation was an improvement on the original. I suspect something similar may lay behind the otherwise inexplicable enthusiasm for Burns in Russia.

Oh god, yes, I remember being set a task by my Russian tutor when I lived in Ukraine, to translate “My Heart’s In The Highlands” (which is particularly adored in the ex-USSR: the Estonian-Scottish love in is more explicable than that of the two countries dedicated to St Andrew, I think).

Still, re. Burns, far from me to speculate why Russians might like over-romantic and incoherent sentimental drivel written by a philandering alkie.

Such SAD pictures why r they burning the jewish stateof Israel…ain’t they jewish or are they undercover muslims… lol what has Israel done to them.. has ant Israel gave them the whole of palestine to reside in!!!

So many Israeli and American flags get burnt, it might be interesting to go into the flag making business.

Naturei karta would also burn Enstein’s theory of relativity if they could. They are Hamas’ and the Muslim Brotherhood’s twins.

Naturei karta are fake jews who receive millions annually in funding from the anti-Jewish lobby, holocaust deniers and Islamic governments. It also has a world membership less than the number of people who live on my block.

A nearby Indian restaurant (the very excellent Babur in Forest Hill) did a “Himalayan Burns night”, with a Ghurka piper and various Scots/subcontinent fusion dishes. I rather wish I’d gone, if only for the experience.

I doubt Burns would be popular with Troofters and clerical fascists. He was a Freemason after all.

Still, re. Burns, far from me to speculate why Russians might like over-romantic and incoherent sentimental drivel written by a philandering alkie.

Hahahahahahahaha… I’m still going to stab you.

Don’t forget it’s also the Year of the Ox

Republic Day in India..

Hang on, are we talking about 25 or 26 January? Whichever, both have passed. Now it’s St Devota’s feast day.

“Naturei karta are fake jews”

Is that at all like the fake left?

It seems I am banned yet again, and I don’t even remember why :)

testing the ban method

It seems it is email related

If you’re lucky, occasionally you can see a flag burner accidentally setting themselves on fire.

It’s like watching black people have a lynch-a-thon.

why are they doing that??

It’s my mate Chris’ birthday…

“Give a man a fire and he’s warm for a day, but set fire to him and he’s warm for the rest of his life.”
— (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

I think this quote by one of the Chuckle Brothers sums it up;
“It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—the suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend. And why not?”

could these goofballs be parachuted into Iran?

The Star of David, a Judaic religious symbol, the six days of working, and the seventh of rest, the Seven Spirits of God, may be the last symbol a Muslim Palestinian will see as they are blown apart from ordnance from Israel’s aircraft in Gaza.

Not the cleverest symbolism is it?

“man fe dead
jus mek dem know we nah waste no lead
gunshot we buss up inna informer head”
A heartfelt plea for tolerance and an end to violence from the Dalai Lama.

And only 25 days after the feast of the circumcision.
Okay, most Catholics no longer celebrate that ever so special day; funny, the things you miss………..

I don’t really understand anything in this post, but I followed the link, and a Haggis is a Kishke, you cultural thieves!

I geddit! “Rabbi Burns”. Subtle!

Burns was also admired in Hungary, Poland etc. as well. Central and Eastern Europeans used to love romantic ballads that tried to imitate folk poetry. And, obviously, some of the best local poets translated them.
The case of Poe is even more universal: Cortázar translated most of his ficition into Spanish, Fernando Pessoa some of his verse into Portuguese, including The Raven (and, if my memory doesn’t fail me, it was Vladimir Jabotinsky who translated The Raven into Hebrew.) But such a great linguist as Roman Jakobson was also among Poe’s admirers. Read TS Eliot’s essay on Poe and Valéry.

Mikey – that’s a good business proposition, making US and Israeli flags. If you sold them ready-impregnated with lighter fuel you would do a roaring trade. Protestors wouldn’t then embarrass themselves on youtube when the thing refused to catch fire.

Back to the point: who’b be Islam’s NK? The Druze, maybe?

Is it permitted to burn the Star of David? I know that Muslims feel unable to burn the Iranian, Iraqi and Saudi flags because they have Allahu Akbar written on them. Does this also apply in Jewish symbolism?

The Druze arent really Muslims. anyway, their backing for Israel is purely pragmatic, as is the backing of the Golan Druze for assad, the Lebanese Druze alliance with Hariri etc. If I may venture an inappropriate quote, their ‘game is called surviving.’

I hope their beards and peyot catch fire. I wonder whether any of the NK have ever been attacked on racial or religious grounds. I picture them trying desperately to explain that they hate Israel as much as their attackers as they get a foot in the faces, only to realise that they are being attacked for their Judaism and that I-P is peripheral at best…rant over.

I like haggis a lot-I bought a great one from Borough Market the other week.

Fabian, I have to say, I think haggis has a lot more flavour than kishkes or stuffed helsel or whatever. My Spanish teacher (from BA) was trying to (metaphorically) tempt me with chichulines (chitterlings) from a parilla she went to when she went home recently but I was not biting…

followed up the pudding link – tempting – but i must say the old recipe (under the heading “aaaargh” sounds better than the gourmeted-up version synthetic skin …

…. don’t really care about the flag-burning beardies though: if they didn’t present themselves as some-of-my-best-friends the antisemites would make up some new some-of-my-best-friends…. rather feel pity for them, given how antisemites treat their s.o.m.f.s once they’ve dealt with the s.o.m.f.s’ relatives…

OK I’ll play…..It’s part of a Borat sketch?

The Druze are great people and it’s not true to say that their allegiance to Israel is purely pragmatic. There are different feelings in different Druze communities. The Druze split from mainstream Islam in the 11th century in Egypt according to what my Druze friends tell me. There is no love lost between them and Islam at all. Their religion is much more open than Islam, especially as regards the status of women. Generally speaking the Druze who live in Israel in the area around Haifa and in the Galillee are very loyal to Israel and it is real loyalty – not at all pragmatic. The Druze in the Golan, who I know very well, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Many of them have family in Syria and they are very aware that one day they may find themselves under Syrian rule again. They therefore walk a political tightrope – a fact which Israelis understand and respect. I had a Druze builder from Majdal Shams do some serious building work on my house and we used to joke that the reason he was doing such high-quality work was that after I was evacuated from the Golan, he would move in!

” My Spanish teacher (from BA) was trying to (metaphorically) tempt me with chichulines (chitterlings) from a parilla she went to when she went home recently but I was not biting…”

Barad, you are missing something beyond great. Something wonderful that Israel lacks. Oh, chinchulines!!!

But they are not from pig, they are cow’s intestines.

Druze political behavior can be understood in the following way:

1. Work out who the strongest force is in the area you’re living.
2. Make an alliance with them.

Thats the whole thing. You’ll notice that the alliances of all Druze communities in our region conform to this. It’s the way you stay alive and keep your land if you’re a small sect, regarded as heretical by the dominant local religion. Another way you stay alive is by developing a reputation as extremely tough and often brutal fighters, who it’s worth the local power’s while to be allied with. This too is part of what the Druze do. It tends to mean that in war, they have a reputation for doing things that make their enemies hate them very much for a long time and fear them – see the mountain war in Lebanon between Druze and Maronites in the 1970s, the Palestinian Arab attitude toward Druze Border Policemen and soldiers, see also, eg, Samir Kuntar.

I’m aware that the alliances often develop a sentimental superstructure of good relations, friendships etc. the Galilee Druze’s relations with Israeli Jews are an example of that. I can assure you, if you havent met them, that the Lebanese Druze who adopt standard Arab nationalist attitudes to Israel are no less personally charming. I’m not at all blaming the Druze, btw. I think their strategy is supremely pragmatic and logical. In this respect, we as Israelis and Jews could learn a lot from them.

ps – apologies to all for changing the subject. Neturei Karta are the opposite of the Druze in that their behavior is possibly the least pragmatic of any group in human history.

“Barad, you are missing something beyond great. Something wonderful that Israel lacks. Oh, chinchulines!!!”

Fabian, ok, I will ask her to smuggle some back next time. I doubt they are very easy to find in Israel either?

I hope their beards and peyot catch fire.

Antisemite!

I wonder whether any of the NK have ever been attacked on racial or religious grounds. I picture them trying desperately to explain that they hate Israel as much as their attackers as they get a foot in the faces, only to realise that they are being attacked for their Judaism and that I-P is peripheral at best…rant over.

In spite of your wet dreams, it turns out that the NK haven’t been attacked. It’s pathological how Israel apologists would like politically incorrect Jews to be attacked so that they’ll be taught a lesson.

I once read a Haaretz article moaning that Argentinian Jews were not discriminated against, which discouraged their aliyah.

I know that Muslims feel unable to burn the Iranian, Iraqi and Saudi flags because they have Allahu Akbar written on them.

Have any demonstrators anywhere ever publicly burned any of these flags?

“I hope their beards and peyot catch fire.

Antisemite!”

Excellent-I am smiling at you!

“I wonder whether any of the NK have ever been attacked on racial or religious grounds. I picture them trying desperately to explain that they hate Israel as much as their attackers as they get a foot in the faces, only to realise that they are being attacked for their Judaism and that I-P is peripheral at best…rant over.

In spite of your wet dreams, it turns out that the NK haven’t been attacked.”

Did you call them to check or do you just, like, know these things? I know they are a small group but surely you cannot have spoken to all of them today…

Ann Frank: they are doing that because their literalist reading of scripture says that the Jews can only be restored to Israel by a divine act, unassisted by man. That, however, hasn’t stopped them from claiming alms from the Israeli government, Israeli-run businesses abroad, etc., which they have always done as well as accepting money from Arafat and, I suspect, Ahmadinejad, at least to the extent of flying to Tehran to help put on a good Holocaust denial show.

shriber
27 January 2009, 12:05 am

Naturei karta would also burn Enstein’s theory of relativity if they could. They are Hamas’ and the Muslim Brotherhood’s twins.

Close but not quite. So far as I know, the NK doesn’t make the eradication of anyone else’s state a holy mission — just their own, nor does it organize squadrons of suicide attackers on anyone. Desecrating the synagogues of other Jewish sects, that they will stoop to.

Did you call them to check or do you just, like, know these things? I know they are a small group but surely you cannot have spoken to all of them today…

Actually I was wrong; the NK have been attacked — by other Jews.

NK have frequently faced violence from other Jews. Look at their website.
Strange bunch who are largely disowned by other Satmar Jews for their love affair with “I’m a Dinner Jacket”

Lynn T,

That is correct, shriber has completely wrong. It is pointless to compare Neturei Karta to either Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas. Before we begin, they do not believe in violence and when did anyone ever hear of a Neturei Karta suicide bomber?

The poster who refers himself as “thegrandmufti” also does not know what he is talking about when he argues that the “Naturei karta are fake jews.”

The disgusting Meshumads of The Netrei Karta have beytrayed The Jewish People – They should be treated like The Scabs that They are & Excommunicated from The Jewish Community .

I have visited Druze & Circassian villages in Israel and I can tell You that They are wonderful & Hospitable People Who are fiercely Loyal Israeli Patriots Who show great Bravery in The IDF & Israeli Police .

Robert Burns was actively involved in Democratic Politics & the Enlightenment of Freemasonary in the 18th Century . Many Jewish Communities in Scotland have Jewish Burns Night celebrations in honour of this great champion of Liberty .

Australia Day should be celebrated as a Remembrance of the Determination & Heroism of The Convicts ( most of Whom were unjustly sentenced for such “crimes” as stealing Bonnets like Mary Bryant , or Poaching to feed Their starving families like My ancestor George Nelms of Ickford -Transported to Tasmana in 1843 ) and of the defiance of The Irish Rebels Who were sent to British Imperialism’s Gulag .

These Survivors of the Brutality of The Monarchist Ruling-Class built Australia with Their Blood & Sweat . Their Struggles to achieve democracy in Australia ( The Eureka Rebellion , The Shearers Strikes, The development of The Australian Labor Party ) helped Australia become the amazing & dynamic Nation that it is Today .

I once read a Haaretz article moaning that Argentinian Jews were not discriminated against, which discouraged their aliyah.

Got a link?

Hang on, i thought Israel was a secular democratic state that is right to attack the clerical fascists of Hamas who want to create a theocratic state… yet somehow these Jews being Jews are traitors to the Jewish religion because they attack the state of Israel which is secular and democratic… could go for ever getting myself into loops of logical hypocracy but i may just go drink…

hypocracy

A hypocracy is a place ruled by hypocrites.

A.k.a. the West.