Category Archives: History

History, Poetry, Security

Ace of Spades: Assassination of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld

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A new podcast with journalist Ravi Somaiya, to promote his book “Golden Thread“, discusses some of the latest thinking on a 1961 assassination of the UN Secretary-General:

Dag Hammarskjöld was called ‘the greatest statesman of our century’ by John F. Kennedy, but he was found dead with an Ace of Spades mysteriously placed on his body. […] In this episode, Dan was joined by award-winning investigative journalist, Ravi Somaiya, who takes him into the depths of this event and the remarkable consequences across the globe.

It’s a good listen on one of my favorite topics in history, but to be honest Ravi spoils it a bit by claiming he only did it because he was bored while working nights in boring New York.

Anyway, accountability for this incident has long been a sore and unresolved topic of white supremacists controlling African liberation from colonialism.

The U.S. refuses to declassify its intelligence files even today, so that gives this particular incident even more of a flair towards conspiracy.

What on earth is going on? Those (UN investigators) who investigate the death of Dag Hammarskjöld do not want to know about Crypto AG and those who report on Crypto AG (The Washington Post) do not mention once the United Nations scandal. We know that the US hold important undisclosed information regarding the Hammarskjöld case and we know that they refuse to share this information with the UN investigators. Why do you think the US has been withholding this information?

See also: Daily Briefing (25 October 2017) DEATH OF DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD: SECRETARY-GENERAL ASKS COUNTRIES TO MAKE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE

A film recently was released by another journalist, and similar to the Ravi Somaiya book (spoiler alert) he focuses viewers on the narrative of racism.

It seems “white corporate interests exploiting black people” had so much influence over British and American foreign policy that assassination was used on some leaders who tried to get involved in African independence.

With the case still unsolved 50-plus years later, Danish journalist, filmmaker, and provocateur Mads Brügger (The Red Chapel, The Ambassador) leads us down an investigative rabbit hole to unearth the truth. He, his Swedish private-investigator sidekick, and a host of co-conspirators tirelessly pursue a winding trail of clues, but they turn up more mysteries than revelations. Scores of false starts, dead ends, and elusive interviews later, they begin to sniff out something more monumental than anything they’d initially imagined.

Dag Hammarskjöld wrote amazing poetry in the 1960s, but it was the British band Motörhead formed in 1975 who penned the lines…

Pushing up the ante, I know you got to see me,

Read ’em and weep, the dead man’s hand again,

I see it in your eyes, take one look and die,

The only thing you see, you know it’s gonna be,

The Ace Of Spades

The Ace of Spades.

It became a well known implement of psychological warfare, a particular signature promoted by American soldiers in the Vietnam War five years after assassination of Hammarskjold.

History, Security

COVID-19 2021 Wave Mapped to 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act Votes

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According to Time.com the “4th Wave” of COVID-19 infections seems to have a very particular acceleration path through specific parts of America.

Source: Time.com

The distribution of infections reminded me of maps of Americans voting for slavery in the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Source: Search for “bleeding Kansas map”

I’ve written before here how 1873 Slaughterhouse cases explain resistance to wearing masks for COVID-19.

Perhaps now we see a degree of validation of this history lesson; areas historically where Americans objected to freedom (e.g. abolition 1854, vaccination 2021) are places Americans are most likely to have less freedom.

For all the hype about “anti-aging” drugs delivering freedom, a vaccine is the real deal. Source: FT

Speaking of 4th waves, the Modern War Institute at West Point wrote this on the topic of militant resistance to authority:

Since the 1930s, insurgency has evolved through three waves. Here’s what the fourth wave could look like, and why we aren’t prepared for it.

They are talking about Syria, when perhaps they should have been researching Arkansas.

History, Security

This Day in History 1933: IRC Was Founded

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July 24 1933 was the day the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was founded, thanks to a call from Albert Einstein to aid people suffering under Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Although much of the world greeted the Nazi takeover with indifference or apathy, some people were alert to what was happening and the threat it represented. In July 1933, a committee of 51 prominent American intellectuals, artists, clergy, and political leaders formed a branch of the International Relief Association in New York, at the request of its chief, German-born physicist Albert Einstein. Among them were the philosopher John Dewey, the writer John Dos Passos, and the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Other prominent citizens, even including Eleanor Roosevelt, soon joined the effort.

Since they mentioned Eleanor Roosevelt, probably worth noting she also helped end the internment camps to aid people suffering under legacy of Stanford and “Working Man Party” regime of California.

Energy, History, Sailing, Security

Can Electric Cars Be Made to Smell Like Real Horses?

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An incredibly expensive electric car ($500-600K) has this to say about its simulation features:

Totem claims that using gaming algorithms and internal combustion engine calibration, it can make engine torque, gear ratios, power band, engine brake, and sound and vibration sound “realistic and customizable.” Even the gear lever can be made to have a conventional shifter’s mechanical feeling. Engine sounds are customizable as well.

Yuck. This reads to me like an electric carriage can be made to smell like it’s being pulled by animals. At some point people have to give up all the horseshit and move on.

In ancient Rome, Julius Caesar banned horse-drawn carriages due to gridlock and pollution. In New York City, though, that seemed implausible — horses were just too essential for urban transportation and shipping.

Things being too essential shouldn’t mean people are allowed to do the wrong things when those things no longer are essential, right? I guess someone would have to define what is wrong with things like engine sound.

Maybe for some this is yet another moment to celebrate technology holding on to distinct obvious smell and noise pollution of horse power. I still say yuck.

To be fair many years ago I spoke with nautical engineers about making a giant empty carbon fiber box with a tiny electric trolling engine that looked just like a $500K cigar boat with jet engines. Then I would slowly float and gurgle it along the Intracoastal Waterway with big speakers that made it sound real. True story. And we never built one but obviously there’s a market.