Saturday, 22nd August 2009
EDINBURGH, SATURDAY
We’re further up North than usual, and it’s a relief from the heat, I can tell you. Typically, when it’s raining we almost start moaning, being ungrateful humans who don’t appreciate when we have it good.
We’re up here having watched a stupendous U2 concert in Glasgow and then been driven around the Highlands by the Toxic Loan, who has now tootled off on his own, leaving the ancestors to explore the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe. We saw “Porn - the Musical” last night and it remains a great show. It’s been nominated for Best Musical, which is a blast.
The news here hasn’t been dominated by some dictum from one or the other of our politicians, though there has been a Malta connection.
Al Megrahi, the only person convicted of having a part in the Lockerbie atrocity, has been released to serve out the last few days of his life in Libya. To this compassionate act there was quite a reaction, much of it favourable but quite a bit negative, the negative, predictably, coming from the States and from politicians. Listening to the radio on Friday morning, many ordinary citizens expressed the view that compassion rather than revenge should be the driving consideration.
I found the position taken by the United States, predictable as I’ve already said it was, to be discomforting, if not surprising. It was not surprising because this is a country that, for all the good reason it has to want revenge post-911, still espouses the hypocrisy of extreme rendition and still maintains Guantanamo Bay, though Obama has made overtures to dismantling it. Many states still have the death penalty, and evidence of greater inhumanity is hard to find.
And you have to remember: if there was a “deal” element to the release, the deal was not made by or for American commercial interests, this time (as opposed, say, to the invasion of Iraq) so there’s no reason for the vested interests to spin the story positively.
So we have Obama being “disappointed” and Mrs Bill Clinton being sour, a feat she carries off with consummate ease.
Of course, the sight of assorted Libyans prancing around Tripoli celebrating Megrahi’s release gave fuel to the nay-sayers, and to be frank I didn’t find them to be an edifying sight myself. On reflection, though, you have to bear in mind that a) they’ve been fed the line, over the years, that the case against Megrahi is weak anyway and b) they’re probably the same type of people who jigged around celebrating after 911, so their antics were hardly surprising.
Incidentally, I had actually forgotten how weak the case against Megrahi actually was, though this should have nothing to do with my conviction that showing compassion is something a civilised country, which Scotland certainly is, should always do.
Being able to behave in a civilised, humane, way is what distinguishes a nation from the vengeful and the fundamentalist and if we don’t do the right thing, we’re no better.
Which latter theory is one that the United States is in danger of proving, sadly, if some of its government’s public utterances are taken at face value.
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Comments
I just cannot fathom why you think that I am anti-American simply because I criticize that which Americans like you cringe at themselves!
Deny the fact that Americans hate to see fellow Americans arrive in wooden boxes from Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.? As do Canadians btw, because of a non-Canadian war in Afghanistan.
Deny the fact that Obama's popularity was, a mere few months ago above 65%+ and today is lower than 50%? And don't forget he had nothing to do with the war in Iraq.
Deny the fact that the recession fuse was lit in the very heart of America with global consequences?
Deny the fact that America is indebted to China to a degree that should China call in the loans, America will be instantly bankrupt?
Deny the fact that you do not have a universal Health Service such as Malta's?
Deny the fact that your grand, grand children will still be paying off the trillions which America now owes just to bail out your lax bankers?
Deny the fact that even when the recession is over, you will still have millions unemployed because the Big Three have permanently closed plants?
Frightful isn't it Denis?
@ Peter Prictoe
Dear Peter, maybe Britannia doesn’t rule the world’s waves anymore but I am convinced that Great Britain is still great and its armed forces still have the superior capacity to rule on the European States. Per ardua ad astra.
The UK is, in some respects, considered the strongest military power in Europe, though its effectiveness is arguable, and there are reservations about our presence in Afghanistan.
The subject of International terrorism is highly complex and the present hoo-hah over the freeing of a convicted Libyan has ramifications that include Malta - whose name cropped up again in today's news.
Age as an excuse now - for I am acutely aware of a decline in my faculties - the years inevitably take their toll. As I have written before, age does not bring wisdom but rather understanding.
The US objected to the celebrations upon arrival of Al Megrahi on Libyan soil and NOT on his release on compassionate grounds.
You keep mixing apples with oranges. Al Megrahi is ALLEGED to have committed a crime since, as it turns out, there are serious doubts whether he had received a 'fair' trial. Had you followed the case closely and read about the recent disclosures that an important piece of evidence had apparently been kept hidden during the trial, then you would never have disproportionately compared Hitler to Al Megrahi.
In the meantime it is the US who never seems to learn that playing Rambo does not pay dividends, not in Iraq, not in Iran, not in Afghanistan, not in Pakistan, not in N Korea, not in the West Bank and not in Guantanamo Bay.
Sadly, the US has dragged Canada, Britain, Australia and several other countries into its misadventures. Countries which were never terrorists' targets to begin with because they mind their own business and use diplomacy first and force second - a distant second while the US has kept its traditional Wild West custom of shooting first - and asking questions later!
@J Martinelli: The U.S rightly so, reacted negatively towards the release and hopefully learned a lesson in letting another country handle a trial and his or her punishment when Americans are killed.
Does it not bother you one bit that a 'deal' could have been struck with Al Megrahi, that in return of his compassionate release, he had to drop his pending appeal thus forever exclude the possibility of proving that not only Malta was not involved, but that the bomb was placed in the baggage at Heathrow Airport? Does it not bother you that the sworn testimony of a security man at Heathrow of a baggage break-in occurring hours before the fated flight, was conveniently omitted at the original trial?
Yes, you will probably acknowledge the above pointing out, however, that the information pertained to the trial and has nothing to do with Al Megrahi's release. Hmm..
As far as Al Megrahi's compassionate release, I have no reason other than to agree on two counts: 1. He is a dying man, anyway and at this point he is not the least bit interested to clear his name - he will have little time to enjoy the benefit. 2. There are still very valid serious doubts whether justice was done in the first place.
The US and UK reacted negatively to Libya's celebrations and not to the 'compassionate release'.
Wikiwiki . Just enter Recipe for haggis and you would be able to cook for 10.
As for the haggis recipe I would appreciate details of the spices used and the method of cleaning the sheep's stomach. Also is there a vegetarian alternative version?
Isn't it nice to blog away in this light-hearted manner. ABC I liked your comment re La Clinton - she perfected the "sourness" feat during her hubby's last years as president when he proved to be quite a mouthful!
I followed your short run-down on haggis and it was followed by the runs.
Seriously now, I find our traditional ‘Mazzit’ ( Maltese black pudding) very similar to the haggis’s palate, perhaps it’s the strong taste of the sultanas (zbib) which can be added to both recipes.
The thought struck me that gentle readers may not be familiar with haggis so here
is a short run-down
Take the liver, lungs & heart of a sheep and boil them. Mince the meats and mix with chopped onions, toasted oatmeal, salt, pepper, and spices. Take one properly cleaned sheep's stomach. Stuff the cleaned stomach with the prepared contents. Sew up the stomach (leaving enough room for expansion to avoid a large messy explosion) and boil. Serve and eat. Lovely !
A welcome by Robert Burns.
“Nice seeing your honest, chubby face,
Great chieftain of the sausage race!
Above them all you take your place,
Belly, tripe, or links:
Well are you worthy of a grace
As long as my arm........”
Well the last one went off (quicker than usual though) without politics rearing its ugly head and let us hope that this one does as well.
This Englishman commends the Scots for compassion and you may note that Scotland is rather more independent of England than say Gozo is of Malta.
I have an American family as well but their tradition hearks back to the Wild West where the procedure was to give a man a fair trial and then hang him.
We spent the first night of our married life in Edingburgh for we arried on a Saturday and in 1956 there were no trains to Oban or anywhere on a Sunday north of the border. Yes it rained then and I still recall the sound of wet kilts slapping against bare legs in Princess St.
So how did you find the haggis Andrew?