Pussy Riot: Politics of Russian Punk Rock?

Given that punk rock had been pigeonholed as an inherently political music genre, did the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot ever have a chance of a fair trial in Vladimir Putin’s Russia?

By: Ringo Bones 

Punk rock aficionados will be sure to agree that it is a highly political genre of music since it gained a modicum of mainstream fame during the mid 1970s. Who can ever forget the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen – a somewhat harsh polemic of HRH Queen Elizabeth II that became an anthem for “Generation-X”? But the question now is, will the Marxist-Leninist Socialism inspired protest against social injustice in Vladimir Putin’s Russia by the Russian punk rock band called Pussy riot forever shape the perception of how the international community sees the inherent lack of freedom of expression in Russian society this day and age? 

The rather harsh sentencing of the three members of Pussy Riot over their anti Vladimir Putin protest inside Moscow’s main cathedral had attracted international condemnation not just of Pussy riot’s loyal fans but also of the British and US governments and also of the EU. Guilty of hooliganism or not, one is left to wonder whether sentencing the three members of Pussy Riot to two years a harsh labor camp could eventually put a dent on Russia’s tourism revenue. With an inherent lack of the rule of law, who knows what passes as “hooliganism” in Vladimir Putin’s Russia these days? Prospective tourist could be steering clear of Russia from their travel itinerary in droves. 

London 2012 Olympics: Politically Correct Olympics?

With a lot of the preparation and execution done just right by present standards, will the London 2012 Olympics go down in history as the first “Politically Correct Olympics”? 

By: Ringo Bones 

They may have been some “bad” aspects that plagued the preparation of the London 2012 Olympics – the private security contractor failing to hire enough qualified security personnel that got exploited by a far-right fear-mongering US presidential candidate. Scores of unoccupied seats on the more popular events during the first few days, not to mention the main sponsors are peddling unhealthy products that can cause chronic health problems to their unwary consumers. But I think that enough good has been done to make the London 2012 Olympic Games to go down in the annals of history as the first ever politically-correct Olympic Games. 

London 2012 was the first time ever that all of the Olympic events were open to both men and women – which make it score highly in the political correctness stakes. All of the Olympic facilities that had been constructed didn’t involved evicting some disadvantage ethnic minorities from their ancestral homes, as in not a single Druid was evicted during the construction of the London 2012’s main stadium. Unlike what is currently happening in the preparation of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and during the Beijing Olympics back in 2008. And London 2012 did manage lower Britain’s unemployment rate. 

The 2012 Mitt Romney Political Olympics: Too Self-Serving?

With his gaffe that almost “overshadowed” the shortcomings of the London 2012 Olympics, is the US Republican Party presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s “2012 Political Olympics” too self-serving for the rest of us?

By: Ringo Bones

Forget about the controversial G4S private security contractor failing to hire enough security personnel for the London 2012 Olympics (which tend to only “scare” anyone who just seen a warts-and-all documentary of the PLO terrorists killing Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics – or too occupied with the politics of a post-9/11 world), forget about the empty seats in the supposedly sold-out since May 2012 popular events of the London 2012 Olympics. It is the Mitt Romney “Gaffe Olympiad” that managed to steal the “political” limelight of this year’s Summer Games a day before the opening ceremonies.

US Republican Party presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s comments on the city of London not supposedly ready to host this year’s Summer Olympic Games – which is more about the US Republican Party’s somewhat insular (and Evangelically warped) perspective of the post – 9/11 world than the issue of the private security firm G4S not hiring enough security staff – is primarily what irked British Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson. Romney questioned both of them on the city’s security preparedness ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games – which 80,000 of the folks who first heard Romney went on to the nearest social network to err their grievances of the visiting American. Even HRH Queen Elizabeth II is not amused. At least the GOP presidential candidate’s gaffe will make the 2012 US Presidential Elections several notches more interesting. 

Is Mitt Romney’s view on the “unpreparedness” of the city of London to host the 2012 Olympics just too politically self-serving for the rest of us? Apparently so, because it is not that long ago that Mitt Romney manage to absolve himself from all responsibility over the “fiscal malfeasance” of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics with the help of the US Republican Party’s “political machinations”. Well, at least Mitt Romney is off again to visit Israel in order to fulfill the US Republican Party’s on-going mission to use Hebrews as pawns in their war against the Muslim World.

Will Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad Use Chemical Weapons On His Own People?

With the top UN human rights groups officially declaring that Syria is now in a full-blown civil war, will Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad be eventually be forced to used chemical weapons on Syrian’s who don’t pledge allegiance to his rule? 

By: Ringo Bones 

The recent interview by the BBC on the former Syrian ambassador to Iraq – Nawaf Al-Fares, currently the Bashar Al-Assad regime’s highest-ranking defector – suggesting that the Assad regime will be forced to use chemical weapons if his rule is threatened. Not only that, Nawaf Al-Fares also heard reliable testimonies that chemical weapons has been covertly used in the Syrian town of Homs months before. Will this be a repeat of the late Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein ordering the use of chemical weapons composed of Sarin, mustard gas and hydrogen cyanide in a mostly Kurdish Iraqi town of Halabja back in 1988? 

Given that the truth that troops loyal to the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad won’t hesitate to use chemical weapons against disloyal Syrian insurgents, many now wonder who might become Syria’s own Chemical Ali – that notorious Iraqi general who executed Saddam’s orders to use chemical weapons on the disloyal Kurds in Halabja back in 1988. Or will the casualties might be unacceptably high on both sides given that Syria’s Sarin gas delivery system is probably unlike that of the one currently used by the United States’ Department of Defense’s GB-1 binary nerve agent via a BLU 19/B23 GB bomblet – i.e. the Syrian military are probably still using older Soviet-era – and largely unsafe – ordnance filled with ready-to-use chemical agents. 

  

Is Vandalism A Religion?

The late 1970s may be a distant past from the perspective of our post-9/11 world, but does Vandalism qualify as a bona fide religion the way it recruits impressionable-aged youths back then?

By: Ringo Bones

The late 1970s and the early 1980s might have for intents and purposes been just a very distant memory to most of the angry young men today currently preoccupied with the radicalized version of the Wahhabi Doctrine - as in the very tragic shooting of civilians in Toulouse, France dominating the news headlines this very instant. Back when the Sex Pistols still got their share of controversial mainstream FM airplay, a sociological phenomena that "seems" to be born out of the punk rock movement had been seducing angry young men of the period the way radical Wahhabism does today - namely Vandalism. But does vandalism qualify as a true-blue bona fide religion?

The Vandalism religion may have had self-evident truths that its church may not have yet been able to withstand back in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. But there are newly-found underlying sociological truths and truisms that impressionable young people - then and now - (at least most of them anyway) tend not to go around destroying stuff without a justifiable excuse on the ready. Vandalism's appeal to the youth back then may have spurned from the inherent "sexiness" of the aesthetic of punk rock - hint Vivienne Westwood, but looking back from our post-9/11 vantage point, it seems that Vandalism is full of self-evident proofs that qualify it as a true religion. But will a "Church of Vandalism" be resistant to the very own doctrine by which it stands?

A Change of Heart by Pat Robertson?

700 Club's Pat Robertson wants to legalize marijuana and oral sex - is this a change of heart on his part?

By: Ringo Bones

Pat Robertson, the CEO of 700 Club and the Christian Broadcasting Network recently announced - as in back in March 19, 2012 - that marijuana use and oral sex is now o.k. But many of you may be asking, is this a change of heart on his part or is there a "Higher Power" at work here?

Ultra-conservative Evangelical types like Pat Robertson and his ilk has been responsible for influencing the legislation of the most prudish and arcane sex laws in America since the end of World War II. If you're old enough to remember the Man Act / Mann Act, you're probably as surprise as me on his current stance on marijuana use and recreational oral sex / fellatio. Which makes me kind of wonder if Pat Robertson is just pandering to a younger generation to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior or is he trying to establish his very own version of "The Naked Church of Jesus Christ?

Should Al Qaeda Help Initiate A Regime Change In Syria?

Even though they haven’t given out yet a single fashionable Fatwa calling for the death of Bashar Al Assad, should Al Qaeda help in initiating a regime change in Syria?

By: Ringo Bones

Not just gaining notoriety and infamy since initiating their brazen terror attacks back in September 11, 2001 - Al Qaeda has also since become a potent geopolitical force of sorts. But as of late, many a thinking person had been beating their brows raw on why Al Qaeda had never issued a fashionable Fatwa calling for the death of Syrian strongman Bashar Al Assad for the wholesale genocide of Sunni Muslims opposing his rule since last year’s start of the Arab Spring. Even though the international community will forever be cautious about this notorious global terror organization, should Al Qaeda spearhead the global community in initiating a regime change in Syria?

During the Bush Administration, Al Qaeda has always been vocal opposing the US military and NATO’s global war on terror and calling it as nothing more than a war against Muslims who earn less than 25,000 US dollars a year. As of late, Al Qaeda are “mysteriously” silent when it comes to criticizing the Assad political dynasty of Syria. A stance that only fueling the conspiracy theory that Al Qaeda might just only be a creation of the US Republican Party because they only launch attacks that down the road benefits defense firms that are beholden to GOP pork barrel.

HAMAS to have been criticized for staying silent on what Bashar Al Assad’s wholesale genocide of Sunni Muslims opposing his rule in Homs and elsewhere in Syria given that Syria is home to one of the largest number of supporters of HAMAS. It’s very tragic, but the on going genocide in Syria did manage to raise questions on the real mission statement of Al Qaeda and HAMAS. And also, everyone in the world are also stumped on why Al Qaeda also didn’t issue a Fatwa on the two permanent members of the UN Security Council – i.e. The People’s Republic of China and Russia for allowing Syrian strongman Bashar Al Assad to kill more Sunni Muslims.