I found two interesting bits to this story in the New Zealand Herald. First, the definition of “traitor” as presented by Kit Bennetts, the man who performed surveillance that ultimately led to the arrest of Dr William Sutch:
“He was a loving husband. He was a great father. He was a great family man. His role in the social development of New Zealand was great. Many would say that would outweigh this silly little dabble with the Soviets, whereas I say he was involved in a full-on intelligence operation as an asset of the KGB. To me that outweighs the good he did.
“I honestly believe he never saw himself as a traitor. I don’t think he would have done anything to consciously harm New Zealand. The fact that he did is probably a product of his arrogance … and his belief that he perhaps knew better.”
And so he was charged with doing unconscious harm to New Zealand, although his intent was purely good? That sounds a bit odd to me.
Second, this story came up because a new book is being published by Bennetts that is causing some controversy:
[Former New Zealand defence analyst Jim Rolfe] said there would be some disquiet from the SIS that a retired officer had published a book, but he doubted if the service would do anything.
“They have been burned too often trying to stop secrets once they have been let out.”
Something tells me if the content was sensitive enough, they would actually stop the secret. But since this is a story about a man who was charged and acquitted thirty years ago, what secret could possibly be worth stopping?
This Grammy Award winning song was released last year by Kanye West.
It’s a remix of a 1971 hit “Diamonds Are Forever” by Shirley Bassey (vocals on the intro and hook), the theme song to a James Bond film of the same name.
“Blood diamonds” usually refers to brutality of white South Africans who used forced labor (even slavery) in Black diamond mines.
It was an asset scheme using monopoly tactics to launder money and illegally fund white supremacy — perpetuate Nazism after 1948 (Mary Gerety wrote the famous “A Diamond is Forever” ad slogan in 1947).
Millions of people in Africa tragically died due from violent conflicts related to white supremacist asset wealth manipulation in countries such as Angola, Botswana, Congo, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.
In 1998 the U.N. and European Union embargoed diamonds from Angola due to the overtly white supremacist (apartheid) South African government policy of military intervention and destabilization (Civil War).
However, Kanye here tries to flip the story, like he’s making Kristallnacht into a song, to attack Jews for the crimes of these modern-day Nazis.
The video goes even further than lyrics, using well-known propaganda imagery tactics to breed racial tension and anti-semitism.
Faceless views of whites (arguably anti-semitic portrayals using a rear-view of spectacle-wearing hunched-over “jewelers”) are contrasted with full frontal views of big-eyed poor Black children forced to work in diamond mines. Source: YouTube
Such propagandist imagery is coupled with record-scratching lines such as this:
I’m talkin’ bout Rockefelle’, my home, my chain
These ain’t conflict diamonds, is they Jacob?
A misplaced call-out to the American oilman “Rockefeller” and a Biblical reference to “Jacob” (people of Israel) clearly expose… Kanye’s intentions of spreading hate towards Jews.
The apparent reason Kanye uses the name here is to pull the classic hate group tactic of blaming Jews for anything and everything.
Here’s the larger context, where you can see how again he abruptly pulls in the conspiracy signal using Rockefeller.
Good Morning, this ain’t Vietnam still People lose hands, legs, arms for real
Little was known of Sierra Leone
And how it connect to the diamonds we own
When I speak of diamonds in this song
I ain’t talkin bout the ones that be glowin’
I’m talkin bout Rockefelle’, my home, my chain
These ain’t conflict diamonds, is they Jacob? Don’t lie to me man
See, a part of me sayin’ keep shinin’
How? when I know of the blood diamonds
Though it’s thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charms
I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless
’til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here’s the conflict
It’s in a black person’s soul to rock that gold
Spend ya whole life try’n to get that ice
On a polar rug boy it look so nice
How could somethin’ so wrong make me feel so right, right?
‘fore I beat myself up like Ike
You could still throw ya Rockefelle’ diamond tonight, ’cause…
A Grammy for hate speech seems… somehow par for course in the country that gave rise to the rancid disinformation of Mel Gibson.
In an earlier post, I quoted the counterterrorism blog, which suggested that Pakistan had signed a treaty with Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf recently appeared on the Daily Show with John Stewart and explained that the Taliban are made up of locals whereas the Al Qaeda are foreigners and easily recognizable. He intended to work with the former to reduce the control and influence of the latter.
In other words, as he explained, the goal is to win the loyalty or at least support of the tribal groups living in the area in order to fight against the insurgency.
This diplomatic balance must have been completely lost on the counterterrorism blog, as their report suggests that the northern region was ceded to the insurgency when in fact a treaty of unification and support had been signed.
My apologies for not researching more thoroughly earlier, and my thanks to John Stewart for his dedication to bringing another perspective to light.
