Definition of Irony

I once saw a movie called "Con Air".  There is a scene where Steve Buschemi says. "Irony-a bunch of idiots on a plane singing a song from a band who died in a plane crash."

That is the first thing I thought about when I read this article about the federal Privacy and Civil Rights Oversight Board determining that the NSA's phone snooping program was illegal.

Here is the story for your consideration

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/23/politics/nsa-telephone-records-privacy/

Ottoman Empire=Byzantium 2.0?

I have finished a class on the Ottoman Empire and it bears a lot of resemblance to the Byzantine Empire it conquered in 1453.  How do I come to this conclusion?  Take a look....

Although the West often had problems seeing the Roman-Byzantine connection, the Turks and Arabs had no problem referring to the Emperors in Constantinople as Romans.  Sometimes, "foolish Romans" but Romans nonetheless.

The Ottoman Sultan referred to himself as the heir of the Caesars and even the Khans (!).  The second is a big of a stretch but the Byzantine/Roman reference in clear.  The Grand Vizier, the Sultan's right hand man, seems awful similar to the Byzantine megas domesticas.  The Byzantine horse archer seems to represent the Ottoman version too thought that might be a chicken and egg argument.

The Ottoman Turks were a cultural mishmash from the beginning.  Their religion, Islam, was borrowed from the Arabs.  A lot of their organization, military, bureaucratic, and administrative, is a copy from the Byzantines.  Even their capital was the old Byzantine one.

The Turks were originally pastoral nomadic barbarians.  Lord Kinross, in The Ottoman Centuries, describes such cultures, such as the Turks.Manchus. or Mongols, as "ephemeral".  Looking at the Mongols, you can see their absorption into China as evidence.  The Mongols conquer China in 1216 and two generations later, the capital is in Bejing and everyone is speaking Chinese.  The same applies to the Manchus (or Ming, if you prefer) who conquered China in 1644 and were technically in power until 1912.  Only by 1912, the country is referred to as "China" because Manchuria is 95% Chinese and Manchu is essentially an extinct language. 

If a couple of things had gone differently, ie no Fourth Crusade, it is possible that the Turks could have been incorporated into the Byzantine Empire and who knows.  The Byzantine Empire, which is really the Roman Empire, might still be around today.

I wonder whose side they would have taken in both World Wars?

The other EU

When you hear about the EU, it is usually the European Union.  Now, there is a new EU on the horizon, the Eurasian Union.  This new EU was first proposed in 1994 and it includes most of the former Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin is driving this forward, all ready obtaining commitments from Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and maybe Ukraine,

The current tug of war between the two EUs over Ukraine has brought this to light.

Many in the US State Department call the Eurasian Union a revived Soviet Union.  They may be right but the European Union has its own Soviet tendencies and Moscow may see the European Union attempt to take over Kiev as an "invasion". 

You have to remember that NATO, after the unification of Germany in 1990, promised not to expand eastward yet now Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia are in the alliance.  In 2004, NATO moved to Russia's border with the admission of the Baltic States.  The tug of war in Central Asia is not allying Russian paranoia and the crude attempt to unilaterally pull Georgia into NATO against direct and announced Russian displeasure resulted in a brief war in 2008.

Before people like Hillary Clinton start shouting about a revived Soviet Union, they need to look at their own conduct and see the reaction it leads to.  I am not saying Putin is a victim or innocent.  The conclusion that I am reaching is that neither EU is really the good guy and they resemble each other more than anyone wants to admit.

Turning the page on 2013....

It was a good year and now a new one is upon us!  Go forth and conquer into 2014!

Happy Boxing Day!

Decided to try something new! :-P

Saturday The Fourteenth

The day after Friday the 13th features rain pouring down by the buckets!

At least the Army-Navy game is on and in the snowy conditions I like so much.  I have a million books to read and Michelle will try to get me to watch "Michelle Movies"/documentaries about all sorts of odd stuff.

She probably thinks the stuff I watch is weird...Crusades, Alexander, Seven Years War etc....LOL

We move closer to Christmas so there is not a lot happening at the moment.  Probably just as well but if I have to comment on any issues of the day, it is this: "Get out of Afghanistan and let the idiots destroy each other."

Army just scored a touchdown and they have a 105mm howitzer in the stadium....Is that safe? 

Oh well, its Philly.....

Haas Thanksgiving Football Weekend

This year's Thanksgiving Football weekend was spread out a bit since Thanksgiving was really late in the month.  In fact, it started before Thanksgiving--in Canada!

The Sasakatchewan Roughriders won the Grey Cup and my cousin Pete was out in the streets of Regina celebrating.  It was the Riders first championship since 2007 and you have to remember that they suffered through two Cup losses in 2009 and 2010 to Montreal.  This time, they beat my old team, Hamilton,  It would have been better to take out Montreal but you play whoever makes it through the playoffs.  This game was in Regina on the Riders' homefield so that made it an even more special win.

The rest of my teams tanked....LOL

My Steelers lost to the Ravens on Thanksgiving night 22-20 despite Coach Tomlin's best efforts :-P.  I have never seen the Steelers win on Thanksgiving.  This was their first turkey day game since the infamous "heads-tails" game against Detroit back in 1998.  Maybe we should keep away from turkey day football....

  East Carolina was pummeled but Marshal 59-28, losing any chance of going to the Conference-USA championship.  It is their last year in C-USA before they go to whatever the Big East has "evolved" into...The American Athletic Conference or something like that.  ECU is 9-3 and heading to some bowl, probably the Military Bowl against Maryland according to the panjandrums at ESPN.

Before West Virgina ran off to the Big 12 (or 14?) and Pitt bolted to the ACC, the day after Thanksgiving was traditionally the day of the Backyard Brawl.  This year, I had to settle for watching Pitt lose to Miami 41-31.  Will Pitt go to a bowl game?  With a record of 6-6 and a million bowl games, it is certainly possible.

Not the best record but a Grey Cup championship makes up for it!  Of course, if you are watching football with Michelle sleeping on the couch next to you and with Sprinkles the cat sleeping on the other side, you have all ready won regardless of what the scoreboard says.