Wintour's Leap

It's the holidays hence lack of blogging - but I've been up to a few things including up a rather large cliff called Wintour's Leap. Here is the evidence:



I'll blog more about it when I find a mo' and download all the photos.

Christmas in Worcestershire

Christmas Day dawned rainy and gray but it began to lift so we went out for a run. Following on from last years "tradition" I YouTubed it - see below. This afternoon the sun actually came out s we went out for a walk. Some photos of wintery Worcestershire follow. Hope all celebrating had a great day.

A damp Christmas morning in Worcestershire

Running across a muddy field and using a camera is tricky

Surprisingly un-muddy shoes

Looking northeast towards the Black Country

The church at dusk

South across the fields

Sunset over Walgrove Hill

Happy Christmas

I escaped damp and virtually-always-dark Finland for damp, misty but slightly less dark England. It's the food that keeps me coming back.

Christmas shopping lunch in Kidderminster. Yes, it really is that cultural.

And to everyone who for some reason I am yet to really figure out, keeps coming back here for another look - have a wonderful Christmas (or alternative holiday for those otherwise inclined!).

Biking 2007

I'm off to England tomorrow and won't be back until after New Year, so today I did my last 45 kms cycling of the year, to work and back. The results are in - 300 kms short of my target (once again) but not too bad. If I hadn't done it, I'd be 2708 kms fatter. That's a lot of donuts I got away with!

Road bike 137 kms
Mountain bike 308 kms
Commuting bike 2263 kms

Total 2708 kms

One man's terrorist...

...is another man's strategic asset? Particularly when the first man is President Ahmadinejad of Iran, the second man works for the U.S. State Department and the group in question is PJAK.



You've got to love that revolutionary vibe!

PJAK are Iranian Kurdish guerrillas/terrorists/freedom fighters/insurgents/militants/dudes (delete as ideologically suitable/aesthetically pleasing). The Iranian government is almost certainly messing around inside Iraqi Kurdistan, probably by sponsoring a nasty Takfiri/Jihadi Kurdish group Ansar al-Islam, who have been repeatedly bashed down by the Kurdish Peshmergas but keeps popping back up again like mushrooms after rain. But on the other hand, neither the U.S. as the occupying power, nor the Iraqi National Government or Kurdish regional government are doing much about the PJAK bases inside Iraq from where they attack Iran. This can be contrasted with the recent bombing by the Turkish air force of the PKK bases inside Iraq, which the U.S. must have given a nod to as the USAF has dominance over Iraqi airspace. The Iranian government has responded though, by firing artillery into Iraqi Kurdistan - seemingly with little impact beyond injuring Iraqi Kurdish civilians who had nothing to do with PJAK.

The saying "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" has come in for regular bashing over the last few years, particular from American commentators after 9/11: moral relativism, etc. etc. But PJAK isn't listed by U.S. as a terrorist organisation, and it's representatives have visited Washington D.C. Only a few people claim that the U.S. is supporting the group directly and they present no real evidence of it beside the normal unnamed sources or just saying 'it's logical'. But the U.S. is danger of falling into its own rhetorical trap of demanding 'moral clarity' in the 'War on Terror', even when in the past parts of the government have already shown hypocritical tendencies in that direction.

PJAK may well have a legitimate cause, and as it appears to have a certain pro-feminist ideology making them rather sympathetic in a region where women are heavily oppressed. But its methods would be quickly described as terrorist if they were aimed at Western forces in Iraq, or at Western countries more generally.

Links of interest:

• Quality BBC reporting on the tenuous position of the Iraqi Kurds trying to balance American, Turkish and Iranian interests against their own.
• Jamestown Terrorism Monitor article on the PJAK.
• Wikipedia article on PJAK with lots of links to news coverage, particularly on their relations with the U.S.

Sympathy for the Devil

The regime in Iran is a thoroughly repressive, autocratic, illiberal AND incompetent bunch - haven't the people of Iran suffered enough? Maybe not. From the BBC:

De Burgh 'will play gig in Iran'

Lady In Red star Chris De Burgh will be the first Western artist to play a concert in Iran since the country's 1979 revolution, according to reports.

The poor Iranians wait nearly 30 years for someone to come and play some gigs and then we send Chris De Burgh?! It must be some complicated CIA pys-ops mission I presume. Oh well, if nothing else it is an excuse to link this again.

Sunday ice climbing

ice bubbles

Tony tiptoes up the smear to get to the slightly thicker stuff

Simon approaches the tricky bit

Coffee break

A marginally less boring than normal Karelian pie

Making the most of some skinny ice at Kauhala

I didn't realise until I got home and looked back in this blog - but last year on exactly the same date we went climbing and eating donuts at Kaffestuga. Whether this simply means I have found my niché in life or if it is time to pack up and join the Foreign Legion, I'm not sure - but at least this year there was some very thin ice to tiptoe up, rather than last years freezing rock. Although not quite as miserably wet and unfreezing as last December it's getting there. Roll on real winter.

Ron Paul and men with guns

I just noticed this on the Weekly Standard blog about the Ron Paul campaign:

"...and that money is pouring in from all sorts of unpredicted sectors (more active-duty military have given to Paul than to any other candidate)"

I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but it is definitely interesting and suggests some soldiers have had enough.

And please, just don't ask why I was reading the Weekly Standard. Blame it on the singing Pizza.