politics is done in the darkness #5

I hope I'm right about the number. I think this is the 5th audio-cast.

Freedom of speech restricted in France?

Man claims he takes down his website because he is afraid of alleged new law limiting disagreement with the government. I tried his site out of curiosity and got a white screen only. Hmm...

Paris, France post two

One other note about the coverage and analysis of the meaning of the attacks in France the other day. People are already predicting how the future will unfold based upon this factoid or that, this theory or the other. The truth is nobody yet knows how the future will unfold, or if they do, they don't know what the masses will come to think of this future. I would say that the analysts, critics, and conspiracy theorists are way ahead of the curve this time, but also very pessimistic in their outlook.

It is too soon to tell whether this will mean greater suffering for the people of the Middle-East, not to mention the world. It could mobilize the western countries to double down with a policy of trying to remove Assad from power, while at the same time purportedly taking on ISIS. Or, the Russians might have more to say about that than some of the analysts might believe currently, and the focus could shift towards ISIS alone. Or, if we are very lucky, reason could prevail, and peace could be made. But don't hold out on that last one.

Finally, for tonight at least, nothing is really clear yet about what happened in France, except it was terrible and violent. In other words, we don't know what it means yet, and only time will tell if we ever find a reason that makes sense for not only what happened in France, but also what has happened in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Ukraine......

The bottom line is really no explanation could be ruled out at this point, based on the history of the 21st century thus far. Let me pose this as a question then: Does it not seem as though some of the people who claim to oppose ISIS have had a little something to do with the rise of ISIS? Just a question. Just wondering. Don't get too upset about it please.

Paris, France

There is a lot I, like many others, would like to say about the Paris attack. But now is not the time to say it. Some people are, and their analysis is spot on. But for me, I'll wait until it seems like, to the extent I'm paid attention to at all, any analysis or criticism would seem appropriate rather than callous.