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MEGATHREAD & NEWS WRAP-UP --- Nov/18/2020: \\ War in Artsakh (Karabakh) \\ Artsakh's international recognition \\ roadmap for future \\ opposition & pro-govt demonstrations \\ suspects charged over hooliganism \\ Kievyan bridge incident \\ videos \\ humanitarian aid \\ COVID & healthcare \\ more...
Your 12-minute Wednesday report in 2971 words.
November 18 timeline
Nevada's Clarke County (Las Vegas) has officially recognized the Artsakh Republic. https://twitter.com/ANCA_Wstatus/1328753472565493761 9:37: 1700 Artsakh refugees have returned home so far. The population was around 145,000 before the war. Some 10-20% never left. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035190.html 10:09 PM Pashinyan presented the roadmap: It is time to talk about methods to overcome the current situation. I have already stated that I consider myself the number-one responsible for the situation. I am also responsible for overcoming the situation and establishing stability and security in the country. 1) Negotiations must resume in OSCE format, with the emphasis on Artsakh status and the return of Artsakh residents to their homeland. 2) Secure Artsakh residents' rights to return home. Fully restore daily life. Repair infrastructure. 3) Social aid for families of fallen soldiers. 4) Repairing infrastructure damaged in the Republic of Armenia. 5) Aid for wounded soldiers, obtaining prosthetics, educational training courses for changing professions if necessary. 6) Returning POWs and aid for their families. Clarification of the status of those who are missing, and aid for their families. 7) Rehabilitation system for those who participated in the war, and for the general public, too. 8) The beginning of reforms in the army. 9) Defeating COVID and overcoming its consequences. 10) Restoration of the environment for economic activity. 11) Activation of demographic programs. 12) Reforming electoral laws [opposition and the govt had agreed to lower the passing threshold to allow more opposition parties to enter Parliament, etc.] 13) Introduction of the Institute of Specialized Judges as the first step in establishing an anti-corruption courts. Launching the process to confiscate illegally embezzled property. 14) Conducting regular consultations with representatives of the Armenian political and civil community. 15) Consultations with diasporan institutes and individuals. The goal is to ensure the democratic stability of Armenia and to create guarantees that nothing threatens the formation of power in Armenia through the free will of the people. For this, I'll make changes to the government team. We will need 6 months to launch the aforementioned tasks. In June 2021, I will report to you the progress, and based on the public response, we will decide on what to do next. Full: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035193.html 11:11: US Senator Bob Menendez called on the US government to impose sanctions on Turkey and Azerbaijan for the military aggression, and to end weapon supplies to them. He called for a $100 million aid to Artsakh refugees. https://youtu.be/JCh49hna7hA https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035203.html 11:42 COVID stats: +4,109 tested. +1,589 infected (down). +1,726 healed. +28 deaths. 38,082 active (down). HealthMin Torosyan: the percentage of positive tests and the absolute numbers are declining, but the healthcare system is still under stress. We still have 375 patients waiting for beds, 25 of whom are in serious condition. We will likely hospitalize them sometime today. A few days ago the waiting list was 800. The trend can change again with the resumption of schools. Our main issue right now is oxygen supplies. Without it, the medication is ineffective. We'll soon receive more oxygen stations, followed by four large stations in December. We had purchased many oxygen stations during the first wave but today's large numbers, partly a result of the war, were outside of our predications. We're negotiating over vaccines. There are agreements. They will likely arrive in mid-Spring. We have no shortage of COVID test kits. New test labs are opening; two in the past week alone. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035206.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035232.html 11:43: earlier this year, a part of a residential apartment complex collapsed in Yerevan. The govt has issued free housing certificates to the affected residents. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035207.html 12:05: several soldiers returned from Artsakh and decided to organize a demonstration in support of PM Pashinyan. PM's office and QP party urged them to stay home and not to gather, citing the Martial Law that currently prohibits large gatherings and demonstrations. A dozen prominent opposition figures were charged with ignoring the Martial Law and organizing demonstrations earlier. If found guilty, they are facing anywhere between a $415 fine to 2 months of jail. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035208.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035240.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035245.html , https://www.arlis.am/documentView.aspx?docid=69646 , https://news.am/arm/news/614215.html 12:27: Aznavour Foundation and the Armenian Foundation of France have launched a committee to coordinate the aid process from France. Earlier they met President Macron about humanitarian aid and Artsakh's recognition. Links in the article: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035213.html 12:38: Parliament Speaker QP MP Ararat Mirzoyan was severely beaten by rioters on November 10th. Healthcare Minister says he will soon recover after one more surgery [which was done today]. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035215.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035236.html 12:45: German-Armenian pianist Margarit Hovhannisyan gave a solo performance to collect aid for Armenia Fund (www.HimnaDram.org). She donated $5,000 in proceeds. The German colleagues expressed support for Artsakh and Armenians. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035216.html 12:49: diasporan-Armenian singer Iveta Mukuchyan went to Artsakh's Dadivank church and performed "Sirt im sasani" (Սիրտ իմ սասանի) religious music. Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=845836856202879 Mukushyan released a German-language video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=782524012332940 13:50: The US will donate $5 million to Red Cross and other orgs to help those who suffered from the war. https://factor.am/311291.html 14:02: the identification of soldiers who died in battles continues. 81 more names were published, bringing the total identified to 1586. Around 800 remain unidentified. Several hundred bodies were exchanged recently. The process continues. MoD Tonoyan: The list of missing soldiers is shrinking; many soldiers end up being discovered alive and well. We drafted a bill to aid the families of soldiers who're missing. Update: HealthMin Torosyan: we've examined 2425 bodies. 250 of them remain unidentified. https://youtu.be/zrXQBUJLdK0 https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035225.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035249.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035288.html 14:05 Armenia Fund (Himnadram) report: hundreds of thousands have donated. The aid was provided to Artsakh and Armenia from the first day of the war. Diesel generators, emergency vehicles, medical products, basic consumer products, heating devices, portable gas stoves, mobile fuel stations, beds, etc. were purchased during the war. Simultaneously, 100 tons of aid was coordinated. Himnadram will help Armenia's budget to pay for social welfare, healthcare, infrastructure repair, etc. The documents are ready. Tens of thousands of Artsakh refugees were aided. International independent auditors will examine the finances.
During a Parliamentary session, the Deputy PM Mher Grigoryan confirmed that Himnadram has transferred some of the funds for humanitarian work. In response, former regime's HHK MP Armen Ashotyan, without evidence, claimed the money is being stolen. [Context: The former regime is mad because they were caught stealing Himnadram's donations in 2018. After the 2018 revolution, the Pashinyan administration busted HHK's Himnadram director with stealing the funds and using them on gambling. The director confessed and returned part of the stolen money. Himnadram then underwent a complete change in administration which raised the trust towards the fund. Now the former regime is sabotaging the diaspora's donation efforts for political gain.] More: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035224.html , https://news.am/arm/news/614194.html 14:14: there are over 40 suspects charged with mass riots, attempts to forcefully seize power, and overthrowing the constitutional order, after the November 10 attack on the government buildings. 5 are arrested, 5 are told not to leave the country. 70 suspects, some of whom severely beat Parliament Speaker Mirzoyan and vandalized PM's residence, were also identified. They are on the wanted list. Rioters who physically abused Pashinyan's spokeswoman Mane Gevorgyan, and broke into Azatutyun media outlet's office, are also wanted by police. Some were arrested. https://youtu.be/1qA8iJ1JXmM?t=197 https://youtu.be/kSQ389vQA8U?t=3 https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035226.html 14:18: Opposition LHK has its roadmap: no elections necessary, PM resigns, the ruling QP party appoints new PM, the new PM appoints ministers from various political parties. [similar to what Pashinyan did in 2018 when he appointed opposition Ministers for a brief period]. https://factor.am/311328.html 14:19: Azerbaijan earlier shot a Russian helicopter in Armenia. Two Russian pilots died and one was wounded. Armenia issued them military service medals. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035227.html 14:49: video showing more Russian peacekeepers moving to Artsakh: https://youtu.be/o7nwWmN59d8 15:18: Italian community of Viareggio has officially recognized the Artsakh Republic. https://factor.am/311370.html 15:55: Aurora humanitarian organization will help Artsakh residents. IDeA's first aid program will begin today. They're open to humanitarian program suggestions. Link in the article: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035237.html 16:27: Aghdam is one of the adjacent regions that's being given/returned to Azerbaijan. Seven villages with a combined 2,000 population will be resettled elsewhere. https://news.am/arm/news/614171.html 16:42: food prices in October YoY rose +0.6%. Consumer price index +1.3%. https://factor.am/311385.html 16:44: the head of Military Control Service Movses Hakobyan had resigned on November 10th. It was announced today. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035242.html , https://news.am/arm/news/614169.html 17:04: will Germany follow France and ban the Turkish extremist-terrorist "Grey Wolves" organization? German Parliament will hold a discussion tomorrow. Two bills were proposed. One of them appears to be bipartisan. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035248.html 17:05 Healthcare Minister Torosyan: we need to build a new 250-bed center for wounded soldiers and their rehabilitation. We need to maximally use the existing resources; some of them require upgrades. This will cost approximately $5.2 million. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035247.html 17:09: Legatium Prosperity Index 2020 has ranked Armenia 55th in the world. That's a 23-step improvement over 2010. The strongest point was the business & investment atmosphere, with the environment being the weakest point. Georgia 53, Armenia 55, Azerbaijan 78, Iran 120. https://news.am/arm/news/614184.html 17:58: My Step charity foundation will double the number of wounded soldiers they help. The center will provide therapy, dental, and other services for 600 former soldiers. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035262.html 14:57: it's SNOWING in Gavar and Jermuk cities, and roads near Sevan and Aparan! Georgian roads are also snowy; the Lars transport hub with Russia is open only for large cargo trucks. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035233.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035253.html 17:38: Pashinyan was in Parliament to discuss various topics and answer questions. The opposition BHK and LHK parties boycotted and left. Ind. MP: do you support forming a government of national accord, which could be one of the ways to find a solution out of the current situation? Pashinyan: our task is to create an atmosphere of agreement in the country. No government can stay in power without the permission of the people. At atmosphere of agreement is not always achieved by forming [aforementioned type of govt consisted of various parties]. There is a need for agreement around two points: security and stability, and to guarantee democracy. Ind. MP: will there be changes in the government? Pashinyan: we are discussing it. Structural changes aren't being discussed right now. Full: https://youtu.be/64iJuNWbk_Q https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035259.html , https://news.am/arm/news/614076.html 17:58: another video from November 4th showing battles on the outskirts of Shushi. [still believe it was "given away" without a fight? 🤔] Hovhannes Avagyan, one of the deputy Artsakh army commanders, was killed during Shushi battles on November 7th. He received the Combat Cross medal posthumously. https://youtu.be/yrzBbKvXFO4 https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/287858/ 18:18: the 16 opposition parties resumed their demonstrations. They demand the government's and Pashinyan's resignation. The police urged them to respect the Martial Law and not to gather. They will also hold a demonstration on Saturday and present a document, presumably their own roadmap. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035264.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035280.html 18:21 Police: body of the 27-year-old Garnik Petrosyan was found under Kievyan Bridge on November 13th. A medical examination was carried out and an investigation was launched. The examination revealed that Petrosyan was among the rioters who broke into the govt building and caused destruction on November 10th. A felony case was launched against him and he was arrested shortly afterward. On November 13th he was charged with multiple felony counts. The same day, at 8 pm, his 3-day detention period had expired so he was released from the police station. The same day, prosecutors asked the court to arrest him for 2 months before his trial. Petrosyan was questioned until 9 pm. The tragic incident happened at 10:04 pm. Social media spread rumors that he was allegedly murdered and it wasn't a suicide by jumping from the bridge. Investigation revealed a witness who was walking nearby and saw how a man grabbed a flag pole and climbed at the center of the bridge at around 10 pm. By the time the witness picked up the phone to call 911 it was too late. Immediately afterward, two other people and the witness looked down the bridge and saw the body laying on the road below the bridge. The police arrived. The witnesses were questioned. The victim was there alone. CCTV footages were examined. It showed how the victim went there by himself, climbed on the edge, and jumped. It was revealed that the victim had attempted suicide in 2010 by overdosing on medications. He was registered at a special center up until 2019, where he was taking special medication. He stopped taking them in January 2019 at his own will. [Media outlets run by the former regime, and a Telegram channel called Mediaport, had earlier circulated rumors, without evidence, that the rioter was murdered by a ruling party member Hayk Sargsyan. The latter often finds himself the target of rumors]: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035265.html 18:22: Ara Ayvazyan is the new Foreign Minister. He is a graduate of YSU eastern studies Arabic faculty. Served in the Soviet army. Graduated from Beirut's Haykazyan college. Worked in MFA since 1995. Served as ambassador to several states in 1996-2018. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035266.html 18:56: despite being told to stay home, Pashinyan supporters gathered in front of the govt building, urging him not to resign. "I came from Martakert outposts. I have participated in war since 1992, and so did my family members. They [former regime] should have purchased weapons instead of private islands and mansions," said one demonstrator. "By hitting the Parliament Speaker Mirzoyan you're hitting me." PM's aide met the demonstrators and said his resignation isn't being discussed. Pashinyan went outside to meet them and asked them to go home, "I know that there are tens of thousands of you who are ready to gather in Public Square if necessary. Thank you. I bow to all the volunteers, fallen soldiers, and their families. Go home now. If necessary, I will invite you." The police began telling the gathered crowd to leave, citing the Martial Law. Pashinyan goes outside: https://youtu.be/ueXhEKJhcwA Soldiers: https://youtu.be/vgoGD89vNeA Soldiers: https://youtu.be/KhXFjOiERY4 Soldiers: https://youtu.be/G00E049LsdY https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035268.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035271.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035279.html 18:56: Russian humanitarian envoy will help Artsakh authorities to travel around and document the damage to civilian infrastructure. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035269.html 19:01: the army published names of soldiers who committed acts of bravery during the war. Lt. Colonel Ryurik Semyonov blew up 2 Kamaz trucks full of ammo, 2 anti-tank equipment, 3 tanks, 8 cars, 1 TR artillery unit. Lt. Colonel Arthur Qaramyan destroyed 3 and captured another 3 tanks. He helped to save 600 soldiers from encirclement. Private Suren Gabrielyan shot 6 armored vehicles and 2 tanks. Lieutenant Tigran Petrosyan shot 6 tanks. More: https://factor.am/311564.html 19:04: a soldier uploaded a video from trenches saying the army wasn't properly prepared and that the trenches have been in poor shape for 30 years. "Not deep enough to defend against explosions." He says this Martakert position was defended during the war despite the poor condtions. https://youtu.be/aWPzBZwk2j4 20:54: the opposition ended today's demonstration and promised to return at 2 pm on Saturday. They called for PM's resignation again. HHK Shawarmazanov said, "we won't engage in active politics if he resigns". Opposition Arthur Vanetsyan announced plans to participate in elections if they take place now. https://youtu.be/ZAuGcDRJ3uk https://news.am/arm/news/614243.html , https://news.am/arm/news/614239.html , https://factor.am/311610.html 21:05: the City Council of Paris has a resolution that urges the Paris mayor to ask the French MFA to officially recognize the independence of the Artsakh Republic. It takes into account a recent push by 15 French mayors to recognize Artsakh, Azeri-Turkish aggression and the use of hired jihadists, war crimes against Armenian civilians, destruction of 80% of infrastructure objects in Stepanakert (including schools and clinics). Full: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035284.html 21:11: Azerbaijan's opposition National Front criticized the govt for placing Russian peacekeepers on the borders with Artsakh. They held a demonstration and chanted "Putin, leave. Turkey, come." https://factor.am/311609.html 21:57 photos: these boys defended the borders: https://hetq.am/hy/article/124436 Here are the tankists: https://hetq.am/hy/article/124452 22:02: the government of Armenia and Artsakh formed a joint committee to coordinate humanitarian work. 1) Social issues 2) Education 3) Healthcare 4) Business environment 5) Infrastructure repair. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035291.html 22:50: Nations League Soccer Spoiler Alert! The Armenian team defeated Northern Macedonia 1-0, after winning the match against Georgia a few days ago. For the first time ever, the team, led by Spanish expert Joaquin Caparros, is the leader in its group. What does this victory mean? This tournament has four tiered Leagues: A, B, C, D. League A contains the "best" countries who compete for the champion's cup. The teams in lower leagues compete to climb up to higher leagues, with the ultimate goal of making into League A and winning the cup. Armenia has just advanced from League C to League B. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1035292.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%9321_UEFA_Nations_League 23:40: A1+ outlet wants to restore its TV broadcasting rights. They were suspended by the Kocharyan regime. They insisted it was politically motivated for their opposition views. The media outlet was targeted for covering the March 1st, 2008 events. Several outlets are currently competing for public airway licenses. The winners will be known in January. The TV regulator said those with the best programming will receive the license. https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/201204 23:47: The French Senate will discuss the need to recognize the Artsakh Republic. Presidents of the five largest parties supported the idea to hold a discussion. http://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/11/18/Ֆրանսիայի-Սենատը-որոշում-է-կայացրել-քվերակության-ներկայացնել-«ԼՂՀ-ճանաչման-անհրաժեշտության-մասին»-բանաձևի-նախագիծը/408863
[Model Observer] [Opinion] Long Live the Queen: A rebuttal to the Lincolnshire Leninist
https://preview.redd.it/30lh79vhqte61.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=7081903f55e5310226f42afcd4548eb3c091a2aa The other day, the “Lincolnshire Leninist” (an extremely niche publication for people who are both Lincolnshireans and ardent revolutionary socialists) published an article titled “Long Live the Republic”, commemorating the Siege of Lincoln during the English Civil War. A particularly odd thing to do. Today, I am here to dispel the myths and legends behind the Parliamentarian cause that the Leninist fetishises in this article and expose the lies of republicanism. To understand the English Civil War, we have to go back to 1215 when King John signed the Magna Carta, which ushered in the beginnings of our constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The point of the Charter was to limit the power of the king and give more power to the barons and knights of the realm following many controversial decisions made by the aforementioned King John, not to mention a weak economy caused by failed harvests and a failed war in France. Nevertheless, whilst the first Charter ultimately failed, leading to the First Barons’ War and John’s death, later charters were signed and became the basis for our Constitution. Anyway, flash forward 410 years to the coronation of King Charles I. Charles took a pretty dim view of Parliament, especially the Commons, who often opposed the King’s proposal to raise levies and taxes in order to pay for his ever greater spending. So, 9 years into his rule, Charles dissolved Parliament indefinitely and for 11 years ruled by royal prerogative. Eventually, with war erupting across the Three Kingdoms (England, Scotland and Ireland), Charles was forced to recall Parliament which went about re-establishing its power. This lasted a whole two years until Charles attempted to arrest five members of the House of Commons - John Hampden, MP for Buckinghamshire, Sir Arthur Haselrig, MP for Leicestershire, Denzil Holles, MP for Dorchester, John Pym, MP for Tavistock and William Strode, MP for Bere Alston. Charles entered Parliament with an armed escort who subsequently barged down the doors of the Commons (leading to the tradition of the Black Rod) and attempted to arrest the men. This was to be the second to last time that Charles stepped foot in London. Soon after, the Civil War began with the Royalists (also known as Cavaliers) led by His Majesty The King and his nephew, Prince Rupert, Duke of Cumberland and the Parliamentarians (also known as Roundheads) led by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. By now, we know the story. The Roundheads were triumphant, Charles was brought to Westminster Hall where he faced a show trial and was executed. A Commonwealth was established with Cromwell as Lord Protector, which was absolutely nothing like the monarchy except the fact that it was his and his only and was to be passed down by male primogeniture. Totally not like a monarchy! The Privy Council was abolished and replaced by the Council of State which was absolutely nothing like the Privy Council except that its job was to issue Orders in Council and advise the Lord Protector. Totally not the Privy Council! The third thing to happen was the abolition of the House of Lords, though later Cromwell replaced it with the House of Peers which was absolutely nothing like the House of Lords except that is was filled with Cromwell’s friends and allies (many of whom were former members of the House of Lords) and not to mention his two surviving sons - Richard and Henry. Totally not like the House of Lords! Anyway, yadda yadda yadda, Cromwell dies, his son Richard takes the throne, I mean, Protectorship. Charles I’s son, Charles, Prince of Wales returns from France, the Third Civil War begins ending in a Royalist victory and the Restoration of the Monarchy with Charles crowned as Charles II in 1660. The question is, if this Commonwealth was so fair and just and perfect, why did Charles feel compelled to return to England and fight to reinstate the monarchy. The fact is that the Commonwealth was a dire place to live. All the Civil War did was replace a tyrannical, unelected monarch with a tyrannical, unelected protector. The rule of the Commonwealth was not conducted by Parliament, but by Cromwell himself through the Council of State, just as Charles I had done during what some historians call the “Eleven Years’ Tyranny”. However, Cromwell’s primary goal was not to govern the Commonwealth as effectively as possible, but instead to impose his strict Presbyterian, commonly called “Puritan” beliefs on his subjects. He banned, amongst other things, sports, plays, gambling and Christmas. Puritans believed that celebration or any kind of frivolous act was simply attempting to stray man away from the light of God, and so when Cromwell got his chance, he sought to create a nation in his image. He was a tyrant. Another thing he banned was Catholicism. Puritanism was a denomination of Presbyterianism, itself a denomination of Protestantism and therefore, Cromwell hated Catholics with a passion, especially the Irish, who were and still are majority Roman Catholics. He waged war in Ireland from 1649 to 1653, using his New Model Army to crush the Catholic Confederation (which still recognised the monarchy). The war was successful, though Cromwell’s war on Ireland was not done yet. He enacted Penal Laws in order to convert Irish Catholics and Protestant dissenters to the Protestant Church of Ireland and throughout his rule, he continued to take land from the native Irish. In 1652, he signed the Act of Settlement, which forced Irish Catholics out of their homes and forced them to settle in the west of Ireland and if they resisted, they were to be killed. “To Hell or to Connacht” is supposedly the phrase that Cromwell used. Cromwell then allowed English and Scottish Protestants to move into the vacated lands, especially in Ulster, which we are still seeing the ramifications of today. Enough about the past; onwards to the present day. For many on the radical left, the Republic is the ideal form of government. No hierarchies, no titles, just democracy all the way down. Sounds great, right? In fact, you couldn’t be more wrong. Yes, democracy is a great thing. It is the measure of a free society. The freer the democracy, the freer the people. But let me ask you - in real terms, what would we gain from becoming a republic? The answer is nothing, and in fact, we would lose a lot. The monarchy may seem like a relic of the past to those on the radical left, but to me, and a majority of Britons, they symbolise our history. Her Majesty The Queen can trace her bloodline directly back almost a millenia to William the Conqueror. The symbols of the monarchy - the Crown Jewels have origins stepped in history. The Crown can be dated back to the coronation of King Henry III in 1220, the Orb was first used during the coronation of King Henry VIII in 1509 and the Sceptre can be dated back to the 11th century. Each one is adorned with diamonds and other precious stones and are rich in the tradition and power of the monarchy and they provide a direct link from the past to the present. When Her Majesty was coronated in 1953, she wore the same crown her father, King George VI did in 1937, as his father, King George V did in in 1911, as his father, King Edward VII did in 1902, as his mother, Queen Victoria did in 1838 and so on. The longevity of the monarchy is what makes it so inspiring. It is a symbol of our ancient past, but also of where we are today and when the Princes of Wales adorns it at his coronation and the Duke of Cambridge adorns at his coronation and Prince George adorns it at his coronation, it will symbolise the continuation of the monarchy on this green and pleasant land. The statement “Long Live the Queen” isn’t directly referencing Her Majesty, long may she live, it references the Crown itself, as the enduring symbol of monarchy. The Queen may be in possession of it, but the Crown is eternal and whether you view it as a symbol of the monarch’s God-given right to rule or as the symbol of the continuation of our institutions as I do, it will eventually pass on to its next owner by hereditary right. This is what a republic lacks - tradition. Republics take away tradition and attempt to replace it with ideas of equality and fairness. Republics are sterile environments, wiped clean of what the radical left deams to be impure. “This isn’t democracy” they cry, despite living in one of the longest-lasting democracies on the planet. This is a country that when more democracy is demanded, we have delivered it. Yes, it is not a pure democracy, but is that so bad? The radical left is so concerned with its own ideas of ideological purity and superiority that it cannot look past that and view what we have as a shining beacon of democracy. Yes, there are reforms to be made. I, for one, am a fan of having elected peers introduced into the House of Lords in order to introduce greater democracy to Parliament. The time will come when this will happen. When there is pressure for it, we will deliver, and right now, there is no pressure for abolishing the monarchy. The dissenting voices seem the loudest, only because they are the ones screaming in the crowd. The rest of us are standing content with it all. A Solidarity created republic would be chaos and right now, we do not need chaos. We are on the edge of the biggest change this country has faced in a generation. We need stability, not anarchy. Every time in recent history when a new republic has been formed, it has quickly descended into chaos. Germany went through years of strife following their transition to a republic following World War I, with factions literally fighting each other in the streets of Berlin, and all it took was one man - Adolf Hitler using the Weimar system to get into power and then completely unraveling it in less than a year. Russia deposed its monarchy before World War I even ended. In its place, a weak provisional state which required the backing of Soviets to maintain power, which eventually backfired, leading to a revolution where the Bolsheviks seized power, waged a years long civil war during which they executed the Romanovs and once the war was over, they purged anyone who wasn’t strictly in line with Lenin. And what came after Lenin wasn’t pretty either. We tend to think of the French Revolution as one thing - when the people of France deposed and executed the king and queen and created a republic. But that’s not what happened. What happened was the Reign of Terror, as the ironically named Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilian Robespierre, executed almost 17,000 people in less than a year until Robespierre himself was executed. And much like in Germany 134 years later, all it took was one man - Napoléon Bonaparte seizing power to completely unravel the French Republic and five years later, declared himself Emperor of France and waged a decade-long conflict against every other nation in Europe before being deposed and exiled and the Bourbon monarchy restored, only for Napoléon to return, fight one last battle at Waterloo before being deposed and exiled again and the Bourbon monarchy restored once again. This only lasted 15 years until Louis Philippe I seized power and reigned for 18 more years until another revolution deposed him and declared a second Republic which only lasted 4 years before Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte declared himself Emperor Napoléon III, ruled for 18 years before being deposed himself and a third republic declared which lasted until our friend from earlier - Hitler, invaded France in 1940. In 1931, Spain declared its Second Republic and immediately faced threats from all sides of the political spectrum. Communists, Anarchists, Monarchists and Fascists all sought power. Inside 5 years, Spain was in the midst of a civil war with the left (supported by the Soviets) and the right (supported by Nazi Germany) fought for supremacy, eventually leading to a victory for the Fascists and Franscisco Franco becoming Head of State and ruling over Spain until his death in 1975, upon which it re-established democracy and the monarchy with Juan Carlos de Borbón becoming King Juan Carlos I. Not to mention the countless governments that Italy has had since its transition to a republic, or how Vladimir Putin has exploited a democratised Russia into becoming his own personal fiefdom and how Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has essentially done the same in Turkey. Also how the various republics in Africa and Asia have faced constant instability, dictatorships and military coups, even yesterday with the Burmese military seizing control from the civilian government. Republics. Do. Not. Work. Too much of anything can be bad for you, democracy included. As far as I am concerned, Solidarity should focus more on fixing the real issues in this country such as the growing racial, gender and class divisions in our society, tackling mega-rich corporations and preparing Britain for life outside the EU instead of squabbling over their own ideological purity. There are real issues in this country and the monarchy is not one of them. God Save the Queen, long may she reign. SomeBritishDude26, Chief Editor, The Observer Jerusalem by William Blake And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen? And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among these dark Satanic mills? Bring me my bow of burning gold: Bring me my arrows of desire: Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my chariot of fire. I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land.
The black nobility is the base of the global crime syndicate that controls this planet. The black nobility or black aristocracy are the aristocratic families that sided with the papacy under Pope Pius IX after the army of the Kingdom of Italy led by the Savoy family entered Rome on September 20, 1870, overthrew the pope . and the Papal States, and took over the Quirinal Palace, and the nobles later ennobled by the Pope prior to the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Any family that produced popes for the Vatican is royalty. Most of the black nobility are Vatican royalty. The black nobility consider themselves sovereign princes. These families earned the title of "black" nobility for their relentless unscrupulousness. They used murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery and all kinds of deception on a large scale, without resisting the achievement of their objectives. The black nobility were the families that financed and created the holy corporation of the Vatican with the aim of imposing world slavery as a necessary institution, with the sole belief that some are born to rule and others to be ruled. The idea that certain families were born to rule as an arbitrary elite, while the vast majority of a given population is condemned to oppression, servitude, or slavery became the theological position of this elite. The "New World Order" is an attempt to take control of society by these fascist families with the purpose of the total slavery of humanity. The Vatican is an imperial nation and is the largest empire in this world. The Vatican City, or the Holy Vatican Corporation, officially the Vatican City State, is a nation that operates as the largest intelligence network in the world. The Holy See is the "All-Seeing Eye" in society and a corporate entity connected to many other corporations and governments through papal and royal statutes. Archbishops and high-level bishops are the overseers of society within their districts and oversee politics, police, business, and organized crime. The same year that the professor of ecclesiastical law and practical philosophy at the University of Ingolstadt, Adam Weishaupt, created the Order of the Illuminati, was the same year that they created the United States as a corporation to run it as their private army and lead I dig the agenda of a "New World Order" for the elites, mainly, thanks to the infiltrated Freemasonry and directed by the Jesuits. The New World Order is a conspiracy of lineage at the top. They are ancient and evil bloodlines that build and destroy empires for control through an order out of chaos. Royal and noble houses are corporate entities and claim to rule and own land, resources, and people. Landlords have always been the dominant owners of gold and precious metals. They empower and finance bankers and entrepreneurs to work for them through their corporate homes. They authorize and issue the creation of laws, agencies, the military, companies, and universities. They create and run religions and secret societies. They also finance and organize organized crime syndicates as if they were commercial enterprises. Some of the major royal bloodlines include Savoy, Bourbon, Medici, Glücksburg, Wittelsbach, Nassau-Weilberg, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Romanov, Grimaldi, Orleans, Braganza, Habsburg, Hannover, Windsor, Saud, Thani, Khalifa, Alouwite , Zogu, Hohenzollern, Orange-Nassau, Bonaparte and Bernadotte. Many royal bloodlines still rule their nations as heads of state such as the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Monaco, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco, Sweden, Norway, and Luxembourg. The Vatican City State is also a kingdom with the Pope of Rome as its monarch. The Black Nobility are the ancient bloodlines of the Papal States and they own the Holy See and the Vatican. They produced the first popes of Rome and held leadership positions in the Vatican from its inception. The Colonna and Torlonia still hold the hereditary positions of the Assistant Princes to the Papal Throne. The black nobility consider themselves sovereign princes. The Vatican is used as a central point of control and the Holy See is one of the oldest and most criminal corporate entities in existence. The Spanish Catholic Church is immensely rich, it has not suffered the crisis and also enjoys a true tax haven, being free to pay taxes, such as the IBI, works, companies, etc. The vast majority of the assets in their possession and on their accounts are completely opaque. This situation is illegitimate, unfair and presumably illegal, and this occurs with the complicity and consent of the public powers. The Erlach and Brandi families are Swiss tax advisers who enable corruption, bribery, criminal financing, and money laundering. The Swiss Guard is the one that protects the Vatican City State. The Swiss cantons have been in contract with the Vatican for centuries and Switzerland is basically a papal state with the noble Roman saints claiming partial ownership. The German house of Baden-Zahringen founded Bern, in Switzerland. The House of Savoy ruled the regions of Switzerland for hundreds of years. Some of the most important bloodlines of the Black Nobility are: Massimo, Colonna, Pallavicini, Odescalchi, Ruspoli, Orsini, Aldobrandini, Sforza-Cesarini, Boncompagni-Ludovisi, Chigi-Albani-Della Rovere, Doria-Pamphilj, Rospigliosi, Giustiniani , Torlonia, Corsini, Borghese, Del Drago, Lucchesi-Palli, and Gaetani. The Pecci and Pacelli families are more recent bloodlines of the Black Nobility. The black nobility share ownership over the Holy See, which is a corporate entity based in the Vatican City State that was established as a nation in 1929 under Benito Mussolini, who was put in power by the House of Savoy. The Mussolini and Franco families became nobles after their fascist regimes. The Black Nobility also owns the Knights of Malta, the Jesuits, and the Cosa Nostra. The Black Nobility established branches in southern Italy and married Sicilian-Campanian nobles such as the Lanza di Scalea, Adragna, Sanseverino, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Paterno, Cattaneo, Serena di Lapigio and Rocco di Torrepadula families. Many Italian crime families were Sicilian nobles like the Bonanno and Bellomo families. Both the mafia bosses and the Italian and Spanish nobles call themselves Dons, which is the equivalent of Boos (boss) of crime. The Savoy, Savoy-Aosta, Medici, Borbon-Dos Sicilias, and Borbon-Parma families are members of Italian royalty and are married to various European royal bloodlines and Black Nobility. Most of the monarchs are members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Prince Carlo Massimo has been overseeing the Sovereign Military Order of Malta as President of the Italian Association of SMOM. The Knights of Malta have an undercover operation at the Jesuit School of Foreign Service in Georgetown, run by Joel Hellman. The Jesuits and the Knights of Malta basically run the Defense Department alongside British Crown agents and high-level Freemasons. Prince Carlo de Borbón-Dos Sicilias is a high commander of the Society of Jesus through his Sacred Constantinian Military Order of Saint George. The Jesuits were authorized by Pope Paul III of the Farnese family. The Bourbon-Dos Sicilias and Borbon-Parma families are the continuation of the Farnese family, the name Farnesivs is engraved in the Jesuit headquarters called the Church of Gesu in Rome. The Farnese family lived in a pentagonal fortress called Farnese Villa Caprarola, which is the basis for the design of the American Pentagon. Jesuits are involved in education, politics, banking, science, law, and especially military intelligence. The Italian Bourbons have established residences all over the world, including Florida. Jesuits need to be investigated and banned, they have rightly been expelled from almost every country in the world, but they always end up coming back. In Spain three times, his last return was at the hands of General Franco. The Holy See is a corporate body that issues laws and bills, such as the Golden Bull, which claims ownership of the Kingdom of England and identifies the emperor as the sovereign of the only legitimate universal empire, directly chosen by God. The Pope claims temporal power or ownership over the Earth and also claims Papal Supremacy or Papal Rule and Papal Infallibility. Infallibility means incapable of being wrong. The Roman Curia or Papal Court is the highest organized council in society and is directly supervised by the two “Assistants of the Prince to the Pontifical Throne”, these two positions are held by the princes of the Colonna and Torlonia families. They work with a higher level princely council of the Italian nobility that works with another council made up of the Roman nobility. The Italian and Austrian nobility are married to each other and work closely together leading the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, which is a sovereign entity equivalent to that of a sovereign nation. The Italian Nobility, La Cosa Nostra and the German and Austrian Nobles, run the Jewish Mafia. Royalty and nobles have massive amounts of wealth in private bank accounts in Switzerland. They use the Nazi-founded Bank for International Settlements to steal wealth from central banks through fraudulent tax contracts and then launder and hide the wealth in private bank accounts in Switzerland. The main Italian lineages still active include the Massimo, Colonna, Pallavicini, Torlonia, Aldobrandini, Ruspoli, Orsini, Gaetani-D'Aragona, Borbón-Parma, Odescalchi, Borghese, Adragni, Chigi, Medici, Borromeo, Doria-Pamphilj, Sacchetti, Savoy, Grimaldi and Bourbon. These bloodlines oversee the various specters of society. Outside of this power structure is the Committee of 300 with an inner circle made up of the leading monarchs and princes of Europe and the former Holy Roman Empire with members from Windsor, Spencer, Cecil, Percy, Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Habsburg, Bonaparte, Orleans, Bernadotte, Lagergren, Glucksburg, Hannover, Furstenberg, Austria-East, Hohenberg, Hesse, Nassau-Weilberg, Habsburg-Lorraine, Saxe Coburg and Gotha, Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxony-Meiningen, Braganza, Orange-Nassau, Hohenzollern , Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Liechtenstein, Rothschild, FitzJames, Lobkowicz, Ligne, Merode, Romanov, Thurn and Taxis, Schwarzenberg, Orsini-Rosenberg, Windisch-Graetz, Esterhazy and other families. Many members who do not have noble status on the Committee of 300 are representatives of the royal families. These families are all enemies of humanity and have conspired to enslave the world for centuries. They authorize and create corporations and billionaires, run religions, states, secret societies, the mafia, and organized crime syndicates. Royal families in Europe are mainly divided into two factions, and this dates back to the Guelph merchants and Ghibelline landowners. All other groups like Bilderberg, CFR, and the Trilateral Commission are lower-level organizations. All roads lead to Rome, which is the basis of its control system. The European Constitutional Monarchies are branches of the corporate empire of Rome. Constitutional Monarchies are ruled by blood-appointed heads of state and serve Rome through the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The Pope claims temporary or physical ownership of the Earth. The Pope claims to be infallible of error. The Pope claims ownership over all souls through the papal doctrine of "Papal Supremacy." The Pope is a leader for the Black Nobility of Italy. The Jesuits are a military priesthood officially established by Pope Paul III A.K. to Alessandro Farnese of the Farnese family. The Jesuits were officially established under the Papal Bull called Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae, which means Military Regiment of the Church as the continuation of the Templars. The Black Nobles are the true owners and controllers of the Vatican and maintain their control throughout the centuries by installing their relatives as high-level popes and bishops. At present the Torlonia and Colonna families who have the hereditary positions of Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne are those who supervise the pope. In turn Pope Francis supervises all members of the Catholic Church and also supervises the various secret societies that are connected with the Church. The Jesuits are also a Masonic order and were the continuation of the Templar orders when they were banned. The Roman Catholic Church mocks Christians by performing rituals where they pretend to drink blood and eat human flesh known as the Eucharist, also called Holy Sacrifice. The New Testament did not exist until about 1600 and the Old Testament is even more recent than the new. It was the Vatican and European monarchs who created both the New and the Old Testaments. The last official version of the bible was published in 1777. The bishops and priests operate as supervisors and the Jesuits function as spies trained in deception and are infiltrated everywhere. The Pope claims temporal power or ownership over the Earth and also claims Papal Supremacy or Papal Rule and Papal Infallibility. Infallibility means incapable of being wrong. Archbishops are the overseers of society within their districts and oversee politics, police, business, and organized crime. The Latin phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum means New Order of Ages (or Ages), or also "New World Order", and is on the US dollar bill and Great Seal of the United States. The Vatican uses Latin as an official language and for documents. America is named after the Italian Americo Vespucci who worked for the Medici family of Florence and Rome. Vespucci created the term New World for America. The Bank of America was originally called the Bank of Italy and was founded by Amadeo Giannini, who was financed by Italians. Nations were formed as companies or corporations to exploit their citizens as merchandise. Corporations are fraudulent constructions because they are considered a person with rights under the law, and because the owners and controllers of the corporations can disregard responsibility for crimes committed by the corporation. That is fraudulent. Corporations are not people and therefore cannot have rights. Corporations are also monopolies that use subsidiaries to hide their dominance over industry. Private companies cannot compete fairly with corporations. Citizens are also classified as legal persons (companies), robbing them of all their human rights. Corporations shouldn't exist. Royalty and nobles issue charters establishing representative covert property agents controlled by corporate households or crowns of royalty and nobles. They claim to own foreign governments in this way. Royalty and nobles claim to own the United States as a continuation of the Virginia Company. Roman royalty such as the Hanover, Hesses, Wurttembergs, Hohenzollerns, Glucksburgs, Orange-Nassaus and Saxe-Coburg and Gothas claim a share of ownership over the British Crown. This is why the British royal family has so much German ancestry. The United States is defined as a federal corporation under US code 3002. Section 15. Most of the founding fathers were Freemasons and worked for the British Crown and German royalty. American political families, such as the Bushs, Clintons, Romneys, and Kennedys, take their names from European noble families that still exist. The Von Dem Bussche family are German nobles and relatives of the Bush family. The Clintons and Romneys are also British nobles. The Kennedys are Scottish-Irish nobles and an American political family involved with the Democratic Party. Mars, Walton, Rockefeller, Guggenheim, Getty, Hearst, Sackler, Lauder, Sachs, Busche, Johnson, McMahon, Forbes, and Cox are some of the billionaire American families that work with royalty and nobles in Europe. The Mars family is worth about 70 billion and works with the Windsor, Savoy, Thurn and Taxis families. The Waltons are worth around 130 billion and work with German nobles like the Württemberg, Baden, Hohenzollern and Isenberg families. The various Johnson families in the United States are collectively worth tens of billions and serve as agents for the House of Hannover. They own Johnson and Johnson and Fidelity Investments. The Hanovers are powerful royals and merchants who established the Hanseatic League. The Hearst family is worth more than 25 billion and several members were educated at Harvard University of the British Crown. The McMahon family is a billionaire and owner of the WWE and works under the Bonapartes and Savoys as their noble ancestors who were served militarily by the MacMahons during the Second Italian War of Independence. Today there are MacMahons in France with Italian and French titles of nobility. The Lauder family works for the House of Esterhazy in Austria and the House of East in Austria and Italy. The Guggenheims have assets worth hundreds of billions and are married to the House of Stuart. The Getty family are billionaire American oil merchants and are married to the Italian House of Ruspoli. The Forbes family are billionaires and American descendants of Scottish nobles who still exist. All gang stalking and cult organizations are owned and controlled by members of royalty and nobility. Criminal organizations such as Royalty itself, Royal Institutions, The Company of Jesus, The Black Monks, The Hellfire Club, The Templar Orders, Freemasonry, The Grand Orient of France, The York Rite, The Scottish Rite, Prince Masonry of Prince Hall, Shriners International, The Royal Order of Jesters, The Cabal Society, Chabad, Scientology, Skull & Bones, The Boulé Society, The 5% Nation, The Nation of Islam, Black Israelites, The Ordo Templi Orientis ( OTO), The Temple of Set, The Church of Satan, Rosicrucian, Golden Dawn, Opus Dei, Mormons, Knights of Columbus, The Bohemian Club, Knights of Phintias, Ancient Order of Druids, Wicca, Santeria, Obeah, Voodoo, Sufism , Greek Fraternities and Brotherhoods, New Age and Gnostic Cults, Nazi Cults, KKK, Mafias, Prison Gangs, Biker Gangs and Street Gangs. The Rockefeller family uses their charitable foundations to fund harassment gangs and bribery in the United States, as well as globalization agendas and vaccination programs. The Rockefeller Foundation funded Almighty Vice Lord Nation, which is an organized crime group, and also funded the Tavistock Institute. Hollywood, the Church of Scientology, and Silicon Valley are military operations like the US DARPA agency and run by European royalty and nobles like the Oettingen-Spielbergs, Schaumburg-Lippes, Anhalts, Hanovers, Windsors, Passi di Preposulos, Ruspolis, Torlonias and Odescalchis. The Ferragamo family is also involved in the management and financing of corruption in Hollywood. The House of Nassau-Weilberg, which is married to the Torlonias, funds human trafficking and human sacrifice in Hollywood. Idols in the entertainment industry are a dangerous cult with leaders who have access to electronic weapons. Most of modern electronics is being broadcast covertly with GENISIS and NEURON bio-piracy software controlled by Kabbalists and Scientologists. European monarchies function as extensions of Rome and run secret societies that infiltrate government agencies and run corporations for monarchs. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is the main military council and works closely with the Orders of St. John administered by Protestant royalty such as the Windsors and the Hohenzollerns. The Order of Malta and the Order of Saint John are Masonic organizations with grand masters and titles for initiation. The royal and noble bloodlines are all working together as a global crime syndicate and part of a modernized Roman corporate empire. They also have several competing factions that create the illusion of division. The British crown and Scottish nobles such as the Bruce, Stewart, Sinclair, Campbell, Montagu, Scott, Hamilton, Percy, Boyle, Bowes-Lyon and Sutherland families administer a large part of Freemasonry. All of these families produced Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of England. There are thousands of Masonic lodges in Europe and in the United States. Freemasonry must be investigated and outlawed. The Greek-German Royal House of Glucksburg directs the Greek fraternities and brotherhoods and uses initiates as its agents. Glucksburg nobles and Italians run the Boule Society, Boule is a Greek fraternal society for African Americans. Martin Luther King and Jesse Jackson have been members of Boule, among many other high-profile, successful, and wealthy blacks, including Barack Obama, Bill Cosby, Al Sharpton, and Thurgood Marshall. The Glucksburg family rules Denmark and Norway and recently ruled Greece. Among its members are the ex-queen Sofía of Spain and Duke Felipe de Edimburgo. Former Greek nobility and royal merchants such as the Mavroleon, Onassis, and Niarchos families are billionaires who have a monopoly in the shipping industry and work with British nobles. The Greek royal family currently lives in London from where many Greek consignment merchants operate. The British Crown authorized and controls universities such as Yale and Harvard which are used to recruit Crown agents through fraternal orders such as Skull & Bones and Book and Snake. Royal and noble families also do undercover business in the City of London Corporation, which dominates global markets. Some of the major London merchant families include the Goldsmith, Stuart, Rothschild, Grosvenor, Sassoon, Barclay, Sutherland, Montagu, Bailey and Guinness families. The Sutherland family created the HSBC bank that has a long history of financial scandals around the world (Emilio Botín, Fernando Alonso, Mohamed VI, Jorge Trías and Jordi Pujol Jr. had accounts at HSBC when it was chaired by Stephen Green, Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint). The Bailey family is co-founder of Janus Henderson through a merger. Janus Henderson manages around 190 billion in assets. The Stuart family owns the Hudson Bay Company and has an alliance with the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach, which is the covert owner of some of the Hudson's Bay Company subsidiaries, which were founded by Bavarian merchants. HBC has approximately $ 12 billion in assets and has had fiscal contracts with the United States through the Organic Law of the District of Columbia of 1871. The Orange-Nassau family are influential traders through the Netherlands Trading Society and have a large number of shares in Royal Dutch Shell, Philips Electronics and ABN AMRO Bank. The Orange-Nassaus and their Dreyfus agents run the Rand Corporation, which has a contract with the US military. Rand's founder was a Dutch gentleman. The Orange-Nassau family also runs the Loyal Orange Institution in Ireland, which has infiltrated the police, justice and politics. The Luxembourg Nassau-Weilburg family are international bankers connected to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The royal families of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands have shares in the European Investment Bank and all of these royals are recently married to Italian nobles. The Ligne family from Belgium are wealthy diamond and gold merchants. The Belgian Crown and its nobles are stealing wealth from the United States through fraudulent tax contracts established through the Organic Law of the District of Columbia of 1871 and continue to do so through the Bank for International Settlements. The Barons Strange heads the Masonic Order of Oddfellow. The Russell family are the Marquesses of Tavistock and they run the Tavistock Institute, which is an organization involved in mass mind control. The Russell family also co-founded the Yale University and Russell Trust Association, which is named after the New Haven, Connecticut company based on the Skull & Bones secret society. Skull & Bones is a death cult military complex run by the Bush family from the USA who are like a European royal family in the USA. The Furstenberg family runs the Royal Order of Jesters who wear a jester on their coat of arms. The Clintons work closely with the House of Furstenberg, who have residences in the United States. The Italian Orsini family and the Holy Roman Rosenberg family lead the Rosicrucian Order of alchemists who infiltrate food and drug companies for chemical warfare. The Medici family, who have a statue of Hermes (Mercury) in their palace in Rome, administer the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an alchemical secret society. The Medici were architects of modern banking. The Pierleoni family of Rome and the Spanish House of Bourbon-Anjou run the Kabbalah Society, which uses the Spanish lion for its logo. The Pacelli family of Rome and the Crescenzi family of Italy administer the Wiccan witchcraft cults. The Bavarian Wittelsbach family from Bavaria created the Bavarian Illuminati and administers the Benedictine Monks and is also part of the Jewish Mafia in the United States who are white collar criminals. The Pecci family of Italy also owns the Jewish mafia in the United States through their marriage to the Blumenthal family. The House of Wittelsbach is involved with Zionism, Nazism, Freemasonry, and the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits function as Roman intelligence and infiltrators and use their universities to recruit and train agents for Rome. Jesuit agents dominate leadership positions in the United States military and intelligence and especially in the CIA. The Knights of Columbus are owned by the Casa de Colonna. Christopher Columbus was Pedro Madruga, the Count of Caminha, a relative of the Colonnas who settled in Pontevedra at the time of the Romans. Many Knights of Columbus are police officers, mayors, lawyers, and judges, protecting the Italian mob while targeting free-thinking people. The Knights of Columbus are heavily involved in gang harassment. Court Jews such as the Rothschild, Warburg, Goldsmith, Oppenheimer, Walton, Sassoon, Kadoorie, Lewis, Javal, Lauder, Sackler and Dreyfus families work through the Roman Curia or royal courtrooms such as Buckingham Palace. The French Rothschilds work for the Black Nobility of Rome and the French House of Orleans. The British Rothschilds work for the British Crown. The Sassoon and Kadoorie families work for the British Crown and oversee banking and business in China and India. The Swiss Rothschilds work for the House of Habsburg and the House of Hesse. The Oppenheimers work for the German House of Wurttemberg and the Cologne Oppenheim branch. the Austrian House of Habsburg granted them titles of nobility. The Warburgs work for the Italian House of Borghese and the German House of Hesse and the House of Hannover. Warburg Pincus had a contract with Unicredit that merged with the Borghese Family's Bank of the Holy Spirit. The Warburgs were Venetian bankers and the Borghese family now hold Venetian titles of nobility. The Warburgs financed the Nazis. The Dreyfus family works for the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and the French House of Bonaparte. Jewish banking families work for Christian nobles and royalty. These billionaire Jewish bloodlines run many rabbis who run a criminal intelligence network that works with Mossad. The French House of Bonaparte and the Swedish House of Bernadotte control many of the main European companies through their knights of the Order of Seraphim and the Legion of Honor, who are also members of the Round Table of Industrialists of Europe, which it has a great economic influence on the markets. The Wallenbergs run corporations worth hundreds of billions and work for the Swedish House of Bernadotte. The Wallenbergs and the Swedish Crown also work with the Jesuits and the Vatican. The Black Nobility and other royal families have been hiding billions in private banks in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The royal families of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein own and run their own national and private banks. Austrian and Eastern European royalty and nobles, such as the Habsburgs, Esterhazys and Schonberg, use private banks in Liechtenstein and also own Israeli and Jewish mafias. The Esterhazy family together with the Lucchesi-Palli family run a faction of the Russian mafia through the mob boss Semion Mogilevich from Budapest. The Torlonia family owns the Fucino Bank in Rome and functions as Vatican bankers and treasurers. The Torlonia family of Rome and the Hohenzollern family of Germany are the main owners and controllers of the Bank for International Settlements which was founded and administered by the Nazis during World War II. The Torlonias are architects of fascism and the Hohenzollerns are architects of Nazism. The East, Rothschild and Hottinger families are some of the leading Swiss bankers. The Romanian Sturdza family also owns a private bank in Switzerland. The Casanova family of Italy and Spain is one of the leading political families in Switzerland. The East and Savoy families run the Bank for International Settlements, which has a contract with most of the major central banks and is embezzling the wealth of nations through fraudulent loans and contracts. The Savoys live in Switzerland and Prince Lorenz of Austria-Este works at the Gutzwiller bank. The Bank for International Settlements must be investigated and closed. The Gutzwiller family is one of the leading banking families in Switzerland, owning its own private bank and managing 35 other Swiss banks. The Swiss Guard is a military body in charge of the security of the Pope and the Holy See. The ceremonial head of the Swiss Guard is the Pope, sovereign of Vatican City. Italian mafias are Rome's enforcers involved in extortion, money laundering, murder and drug trafficking, and they pay their dues to the Sicilian mafia, which in turn pays them to the black nobility. The mafia channels its earnings and tributes to the Black Nobility through the Vatican charitable foundations and then from the Vatican bank they are transferred to the private accounts of the Swiss Bank. The Savoy’s Genovese crime family specializes in extorting Wall Street. The mafia is rigging professional sports for gambling and they also launder their criminal winnings through the casinos. The Torlonia family owns the Kansas City crime family and shares ownership of the Pittsburgh crime family with the Borghese family of Rome and the Rocco di Torrepadula family of Sicily. The French House of Orleans owns the New Orleans crime family and the Franco-British Beaufort family oversees and owns the Dixie Mafia factions along with other British peers who have French ancestry. Cox's billionaire family is involved in multimedia communications and is part of the owners of the Dixie mob, which is involved in tobacco and ginseng sales as well as arms, drug and human trafficking. The Goldsmith and Sassoon families own Pakistani and Hindu human trafficking networks operating in the United Kingdom. The Imperial House of Brazil, Orleans-Braganza and the Belgian House of Ligne are married and have shares in the Brazilian companies AmBev and Belgian Anheuser-Busch InBev. The House of Orleans-Braganza owns Brazilian drug cartels that are also involved in human trafficking. The Sforza family owns the Stidda Mafia clans operating in the Sforza-Visconti territory in Milan and the Sforza and Visconti families have greater control over the Italian Stock Exchange or the Milan Stock Exchange. Milanese billionaire Silvio Berlusconi works for the Sforza and Visconti families and has a monopoly on Italian media and politics. Berlusconi founded the Forza political party in Italy named after the Sforzas. Some northern Italian nobles such as the Visconti, Borromeo, Este, Gonzaga, Valenti, D’Adda, and Passi di Preposulo families are closely related to billionaire families such as the Rothschilds, Agnellis, Benettons, Armanis, and Ferreros. The Sforza and Visconti families own the Seattle crime family with the Gaetani family as partial owners. The Seattle crime family controls billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos through blackmail. In 2017, Microsoft and Amazon employees were caught in a sex trafficking scandal. The Colonna family owns the Knights of Columbus and also owns the Colombo crime family and partially owns the Chicago Outfit along with the Capponi and Roselli families of the Florence Turk. Al Capone was an agent of the House of Capponi and John Roselli was an agent of the Roselli del Turco family. Roselli also worked for the CIA. Colonna means column like Colombo and Colón. The Knights of Columbus infiltrate police departments and work with the Italian mafia. The Massimo and Gaetani families own and run the Gambino crime family and the Philadelphia crime family. The Massimo-Brancaccio family also owns and runs the Magliana or Roman Mafia and the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei, as well as the Graviano de Brancaccio crime family in Palermo, Sicily, which is part of the Corleonisi mafia clan. The Massimo family receives tribute from most of the Italian crime families and even from the Russian mafia and Eastern European mafias. The Massimo de Roccasecca family, who live in London, own the Clerkenwell crime syndicate, also known as the Adams Family or the London A-team and are part owners of the Irish Mafia, including the Rathkeale Rovers. The Borghese family is also the main owner of the Sicilian Mafia and the Mafia Magliana. The Lucchesi-Palli and Pallavicini families own the Lucchese crime family to which the Russian mafia in Brighton Beach pays tribute. The Pallavicini family owns the Armenian mafia that operates in Hollywood and works closely with the Kardashian family. The Romanovs are partial owners of the Russian mafia and have established several residences in the United States. The Giustiniani family oversee the Philadelphia Greek Mafia along with some Greek merchants. Royal and noble families finance organized crime. The Jewish Mafia reorganized into a white collar crime and worked with the black hand of the Italian Mafia. The head of the Jewish mafia in the United States is billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Leon Black is another one of the leading Jewish mobsters in New York. The Jewish Mafia participates in professional sports with white-collar mobsters such as Daniel Gilbert, Robert Kraft, Joshua Harris, Tom Werner, Jerry Reinsdorf, George Kaiser, Peter Guber, Joe Lacob, Mark Cuban, and Micky Arison. The European Union is based on the Treaty of Rome that was signed at the Capitol in Rome. The president of the European Central Bank is Mario Draghi, born in Rome and educated by the Jesuits at the Massimo Institute. Mario Draghi is an undercover relative of the Borghese and Del Drago families. The Erba-Odescalchi family with ancestry from Cernobbio, Italy, runs CERN with the Roman Fabiola Gianotti as CERN Director General that is used to generate pressure in the lower atmosphere in order to oppress society. CERN, HAARP, The Church of Scientology, Chemtrails and electronic devices are being used to covertly oppress society. The US military administers a HAARP electronic harassment system in Puerto Rico that is controlled from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which is under the command of Captain David Culpepper. The CIA and the Italian Mafia have a large criminal operation in Cuba. The CIA and Cosa Nostra work closely to this day. Islamic royal families were named after European royalty in the 19th and 20th centuries and especially after the First World War. Middle Eastern royalty run the oil industry and use their massive wealth to fund globalist agendas that allow them to rule their nations. The house of Saud is worth at least a billion. The House of Thani and the House of Al Khalifa work with the House of Saud and are also wealthy oil traders. Royals from the Middle East run the Muslim Brotherhood and the Five Percent and the Nation of Islam, which are violent mobs of cult and harassment. These organizations need to be investigated and banned. They also own an Arab mob that is based in New Jersey and Detroit. The royal family of Morocco are wealthy merchants and owners of the Abergil crime family of Israel and Morocco. The House of Bourbon and Spanish nobility such as the Osorio, Fitz James, Alvarez (Alba), Pignatelli, Arteaga, Borja, Zuniga, Ruspoli, and Aragon-Escobar families own the majority of the Mexican and South American drug cartels. The Osorio and Borja families own MS-13. The Borgia and Borja families are also partial owners of the Mongels motorcycle gang. The Bourbons own the Gulf Cartel and the Lating Kings. The Ruspolis are partial owners of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Primeiro Comando da Capital in Sao Paulo, where their Matarazzo cousins reside. The FitzJames and Alvarez families own the Los Zetas Cartel. The Álvarez and Osorio families also own the Bandidos motorcycle gang. The House of Bourbons are the founders and owners of Banco Santander. The King of Spain has the official right to the throne as King of Jerusalem.
[OC] The Overly-Long and Probably-Wrong list of the Top Draft Prospects
As a basketball fan, it's always fun to speculate on the NBA Draft prospects. That said, I'd stress the speculate part of that statement. As an outsider with no real access to these players, it's hard to be arrogant and steadfast in our opinions. We're working with about 10% as much information as actual NBA teams. If you feel confident in your analysis based on some highlight tapes of James Wiseman dunking on South Carolina State or LaMelo Ball jacking up shots in the Australian League, god bless you. And if you want to read my amateur analysis, god bless you too. But before you do, remember to check your sodium levels and take these picks with a grain of salt.
BEST PROSPECTS in the 2019-20 NBA DRAFT
(1) SG Anthony Edwards, Georgia Based on pure stats, Anthony Edwards would be one of the least impressive # 1 picks of all time. We're talking about a player who just averaged 19-5-3 on bad shooting splits (40-29-77) on a bad Georgia team. In fact, the Bulldogs didn't even crack .500 (finishing 16-16). All things considered, this isn't the resume of a top overall pick. It's like a kid with a 2.9 GPA applying to Harvard Law. Still, the "eye test" helps Edwards' case in the same way it helped proud Harvard alum Elle Woods. Edwards has a powerful frame (strong and long with a 6'9" wingspan) and a scorer's mentality. He's going to be a handful for NBA wings to contend with, especially when he's going downhill. And while he hasn't shown to be a knockdown shooter, his form looks better than the results suggest. I'd project that he can become an average (35-36%) three-point shooter in time. It may be unfair to label Edwards with the "best case scenario" comparison -- Dwyane Wade, for example -- but it may be just as unfair to liken him to "worst case scenario" comps like Dion Waiters as well. One of the reasons that Waiters is such an inefficient scorer in the NBA is that he's allergic to the free-throw line; he averages 3.1 FTA per 36 minutes. Edwards didn't live at the FT line, but he did get there 5.3 times per game. With more encouragement from an analytical front office or coaching staff, Edwards has the potential to get to the line 7-8 times a game and raise his ceiling in terms of efficiency. The key for Edwards' career is going to be his work ethic and basketball character. As a prospect, he reminds me of Donovan Mitchell; in fact, he's ahead of where Mitchell was at the same age. That said, Mitchell is a natural leader who made a concerted effort to improve his body and his overall game. If Edwards can do the same, he has true All-Star potential. If he walks into the building thinking he's already a superstar, then he may never become one. best fits Anthony Edwards has some bust potential, but he also has true star potential. Given that, it'd be great to see him go to a team that's willing to feature him. Chances are he won't last this long, but he'd be a great fit for Charlotte (#3). The Hornets desperately need a signature star, and Edwards has the chance to be a 20 PPG scorer within a year or two. worst fits If Edwards falls in the draft, he may end up clashing with the talent on the teams in the 4-5 range. Chicago (#4) already has a scoring guard in Zach LaVine. Meanwhile, Cleveland (#5) has already doubled up on scoring guards with Collin Sexton and Darius Garland. Adding a third would be a potential headache, both offensively and defensively. (2) C James Wiseman, Memphis A true center? Gross! What is this, 1970? Traditional big men tend to get treated that way these days. In some ways, they've become the "running backs" of the NBA. They once ruled the draft, but now they have to scrape and claw to climb into the top 5. Still, let's no go overboard here. Even if centers aren't as valuable as they used to be, there's still some value here. Some of the best centers in the game (Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Joel Embiid, etc) have helped make their teams staples in the playoffs. Wiseman can potentially impact a team in the same way, especially on the defensive end. He can get beat on switches now and then, but he's about as agile as you can expect out of a kid who's 7'1" with a 7'6" wingspan. Offensively, he has an improving face-up game in addition to being a devastating lob threat. Another reason that I'm comfortable with Wiseman in the top 3 is because he appears to be a smart kid with the will to improve his game. He intends to keep stretching out his range towards three point territory. Even if he can be a passable three-point shooter (in the 33% range), that should help make him a consistent 18-12 player and a fringe All-Star. And if not, then he'll still be a viable starting center. best fits We mentioned Charlotte (#3) as a great fit for Anthony Edwards, and I'd say the same for Wiseman here. His game complements the more dynamic P.J. Washington well; between the two of them, they'd have the 4-5 spot locked up for years. While Wiseman's best chance to be a star may come in Charlotte, we don't know if he truly has that type of aggressive upside. The more likely scenario is him being a pretty good starting center with an emphasis on defense. In that case, he makes some sense in Golden State (#2) and Atlanta (#6). worst fits Apparently James Wiseman doesn't want to go to Minnesota (#1), which makes sense given the presence of Karl-Anthony Towns. If he slips, Chicago (#4) may also be an odd fit. Wiseman is a better prospect than Wendell Carter Jr., but they're not terribly dissimilar. The new Bulls administration didn't select Carter, but it still feels too early to give up on a recent # 7 pick. (3) PF/C Onyeka Okongwu, USC (HIGHER than most expert rankings) Another big man? I may be showing my age here. Still, I'm going to stick to my guns and suggest Onyeka Okongwu is a top 3 prospect in the class for some of the same reasons we ranked James Wiseman so highly. In fact, Okongwu is arguably an even better defensive prospect than Wiseman. While he doesn't have the same size (6'9" with a 7'1" wingspan), he's more switchable. He projects as a prowling, shot-blocking panther, not dissimilar to Bam Adebayo on Miami. Offensively, he flashes some solid skill here and there, although it's unlikely he'd get to Adebayo's level as a playmaker. Another aspect that should help Okongwu is his selflessness. In high school, he played for Chino Hills alongside stars Lonzo and LaMelo Ball. While there, he blended in and did the dirty work for the LaVar Traveling Circus. It's likely that Okongwu will play a similar role in the NBA, complementing a star perimeter player. While Okongwu may not have All-Star upside, I don't see much downside here. I'd be surprised if he's not a long-time starter at the center position (with the potential to play some PF if his shooting range improves.) best fits The most natural fits for Onyeka Okongwu mirror the best fits for James Wiseman. There’s a chance he may slip further than Wiseman too. Washington (#9) should be salivating if that’s the case. worst fits As a low-usage player, there aren't a lot of terrible fits for Okongwu on the board. However, Detroit (#7) already has Blake Griffin on a long-term deal and may re-sign Christian Wood as well. Given that, there wouldn't be much room for Okongwu barring a Griffin trade. (4) PG LaMelo Ball, U.S./Australia. (LOWER than most expect rankings) Every draft pick is an inherent gamble, but there's a difference between gambling in blackjack and gambling in Roulette. To me, LaMelo Ball is more of the latter. No doubt, there's a chance that you may get lucky and "win big" with LaMelo Ball. He has great height for the position at 6'6"/6'7", and he makes some exceptional passes that illustrate a rare court vision. ESPN's Draft Express team ranks him as the # 1 prospect overall, and I take that seriously. Those guys were way ahead of the curve on calling Luka Doncic a transcendent talent at a time when most others were still skeptical. At the same time, I'd say there is a sizable downside here as well. In fact, I'd estimate that there's a greater than 50/50 chance that Ball is a "bust" based on his current draft status. LaMelo Ball put up good raw numbers this past season in the NBL -- 17.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists -- but he was in a situation specifically designed for him to put up good numbers. The efficiency tells a different story, as his shooting splits (38-25-72) look worrisome. Yes, height helps on defense, but it doesn't matter much if you're not locked in on that end. And yes, highlight-reel passes and super-deep threes are fun to watch, but they're not a path to consistency on offense. As Ball makes the jump to the NBA, he may smack hard into a wall and crash into the water like was on Wipeout. There's a chance he'll be among the worst players (from an advanced stats perspective) as a rookie. So what? We expect most rookies to struggle, right? That's true, but I'd be nervous about how LaMelo Ball and his camp would respond to those initial struggles. Again, I've never met the kid and have no real basis for this, but media interviews make him seem a little immature. That's totally understandable for a 19 year old, but it's not ideal for a 19 year old who's about to get handed the keys to an NBA franchise. If he struggles out of the gates, will he start to lose confidence? Will LaVar Ball start to make waves? Will the media gleefully tear him to shreds? No clue. And if I'm picking in the top 3, I'd prefer to have more confidence than question marks. best fits If we treat LaMelo Ball as a developmental project, then I'd prefer he land with a team like Chicago (#4). New coach Billy Donovan is a former PG himself, and spent decades working with young kids at the college level. If they slow play Ball's development, we may see the best of him down the road. Detroit (#7) also makes sense. Coach Dwane Casey has a pretty good reputation in player development himself, and he has a solid bridge PG in Derrick Rose to help buy Ball some time. worst fits Cleveland (#5) is an obviously wonky fit based on the current roster. I'd also assert that Charlotte (#3) is a poor fit as well. While the team desperately needs a signature star, they don't have the type of supporting cast that would be conducive to him right now. And if he struggles as a rookie, then coach James Borrego and the whole front office may be cleaned out. If that happens, a new administration would be inheriting a franchise player that they didn't pick in the first place. (5) SF/PF Deni Avdija, Israel The NBA tends to be reactionary when it comes to the draft, which can be particularly impactful for international prospects. Their stock tends to swing up and down more violently than a ride at Action Park. There was a ton of skepticism about Euros when Dirk Nowitzki came along. When he hit, the NBA got so excited they drafted Darko Milicic at # 2. Eventually that excitement wore off as the busts started to pile up again. But when Latvian Kristaps Porzingis looked like the real deal, it helped reverse that narrative and helped Dragan Bender go # 4 the following year. In terms of that up-and-down timing, Deni Avdija stands to benefit. He's coming into the NBA on the heels of an incredible sophomore campaign from Luka Doncic. No one thinks that Avdija can be a superstar like Doncic, but teams aren't as wary of international wings (specifically white wings) these days. Avdija should go somewhere in the top 10 if not the top 5. In my mind, that's justified. He's 6'9", which should allow him to play either the SF or PF positions. He hasn't shown to be an excellent shooter yet, but he should eventually be solid there. He's better suited as a playmaker and passer, and he can also use his size and skill to convert on slashes around the rim. I've seen some comparisons to Lamar Odom before, although that may be optimistic. More likely, he'll be a 4th or 5th starter. His experience as a pro should help toward that end, as he's used to working hard and fitting in on a team of vets. best fits If you project Deni Avdija to just "fit in" and be a solid starter, then he'd make sense on a team like Golden State (#2). He could effectively play the role of Harrison Barnes or old Andre Iguodala for them. If the intention is to make him more of a featured player, then the Knicks (#8) would be interesting. In that market, he has real star potential. worst fits I don't love the fit for Avdija in Charlotte (#3), where he may duplicate some of P.J. Washington's talents. Atlanta (#6) and Phoenix (#10) have also invested in young SF-PFs recently, so Avdija may find himself scraping for time there. (6) SG/SF Devin Vassell, Florida State (HIGHER than most expert rankings) Every single NBA team needs 3+D wings. They thirst for them like a dying man in the desert. And then, when a legitimate 3+D wing comes along, they often ignore them in favor of splashier players at other positions. Part of the issue is that low-usage 3+D wings aren't going to put up monster stats. That's certainly true of Devin Vassell, who averaged a modest 12.7 points this past year. Still, you have to go deeper than the pure numbers alone and consider the context. Florida State had a stacked and balanced team. In fact, Vassell's 12.7 PPG was the highest on the roster (and came in only 28.8 minutes.) There's more in the tank here than we've seen so far. He can hit the three (42% and 42% from deep in his two years), and he shows a good feel for the game (2:1 assist/turnover ratio.) Vassell shows even more potential on the defensive end. He's currently listed at 6'7" with a 6'10" wingspan, but he looks even longer than that to my eye. He's tenacious and disruptive (1.4 steals, 1.0 blocks) without being out of control. Presumably, he should be a good defender at either the SG or SF spot. In a sense, Vassell's the prototype for a 3+D wing. To be fair, I don't anticipate him being a great shooter at the next level. His FT% was iffy, and he's apparently been tweaking his shot during the draft process. Still, if he can be a viable shooting threat in the way that Josh Richardson is (an inconsistent shooter who averages around 36%), then he should be a solid starter for an NBA team. That may not sound like something worthy of a top 5 pick, but the high "floor" helps him in this case. He also appears to have a strong character and work ethic, making him feel like an even safer bet. best fits Devin Vassell's skill set would fit on virtually any NBA roster -- but his perceived lack of upside may keep him from going as high as my personal ranking. If he does, then Cleveland (#5) would be a nice fit given their lack of big wings and their lack of defense. Defensive-challenged Washington (#9) would also make sense; Vassell tends to be listed as a SG but he should have enough size to play the SF for them. worst fits You can never have too many 3+D wings, but it may be a duplication to put Devin Vassell on the same team with Mikal Bridges in Phoenix (#10). (7) PG Tyrese Haliburton, Iowa State One of the reasons I'd have to be specific about a fit with a player like LaMelo Ball is that he needs the ball in his hands to maximize his potential. That's true for most lead guards. Given that, it's a nice change of pace to see a prospect like Tyrese Haliburton come along. He's listed as a PG and he can perform those duties. This past season, he averaged 15.2 points and 6.5 assists per game. But he ALSO can operate as an off-the-ball player. As a freshman, he did exactly that, effectively working as a wing player and a glue guy on offense. His three-point shot looks wonky, but he converted 43% as a freshman and 42% as a sophomore. If that translates, he can be an effective spacer as well. Haliburton's versatility also extends to the defensive end. He's 6'5" with an incredible 7'0" wingspan, allowing him to guard either PG or SGs. Like Devin Vassell, he also puts those tools to good use. Either one is an incredible athlete, but they're disruptive and locked in on that end. I'd expect Haliburton to be one of the better guard defenders in the NBA. All in all, you may ask: why isn't this guy ranked HIGHER? The skill set would justify that. At the end of the day I don't see elite upside here (maybe George Hill?) because he may have some trouble getting his shot off in a halfcourt offense. Still, he's one of the safer prospects overall and a kid that you'd feel good betting on. best fits The New York Knicks (#8) may bring in a big-name guard like Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook, but if they stick with the rebuild then Tyrese Haliburton makes loads of sense. He can share playmaking duties with R.J. Barrett, and he can help Tom Thibodeau establish a defensive culture. He'd also make sense for Detroit (#7) and even Atlanta (#6). While the Hawks have Trae Young locked in at PG, Haliburton can play enough SG to justify 30+ overall minutes. worst fits Obviously any team that doesn't have room for a PG OR SG would be a problem here. Cleveland (#5) and Washington (#9) are the clearest examples of that. While Haliburton could theoretically guard some SFs, it's not the best use of his talent. (8) PG Killian Hayes, France If NBA centers are like NFL running backs, then point guards / lead playmakers may be like quarterbacks. There's positive and negatives to that comparison. Obviously, a good lead guard can immediately boost your team. At the same time, you don't really need more than one. And if you're not "the guy," then your impact is going to be limited. Given that, there's a high bar to being a starting PG in the NBA. You have to be really, really friggin' good. According to many experts, Killian Hayes is exactly that. Physically he's what you want in the position, with a 6'5" frame. He averaged 16.8 points and 7.8 assists per 36 playing in Germany this year for a team that had a few former pros like Zoran Dragic. The Ringer has him # 1 overall. Personally, I haven't completely bought into that hype yet. I can't claim to have season tickets to Ratiopharm Ulm, but when I watch highlights I don't really see ELITE traits here. He's not incredibly explosive, he's not a great shooter, he's over-reliant on his left hand. I have no doubt that he has the upside to be a good starter, but I don't think we've seen enough (or at least, I haven't) to make me confident in that projection. best fits Chicago (#4) and Detroit (#7) appear to be the most obvious fits for a potential star guard like Killian Hayes. And while the Knicks may have been underwhelmed by a French PG before, he would make sense for them at #8 as well. worst fits Teams with lead guards locked in -- Golden State (#2), Cleveland (#5), for example -- would be obviously problematic fits for Hayes. While he has the size to play some shooting guard defensively, he has a ways to go before he's a sharpshooting spacer. (9) SG/SF Aaron Nesmith, Vanderbilt (HIGHER than most expert rankings) Back when I was single, I dated a girl who presumably viewed me as a "developmental prospect." She'd always tell me how cool I'd look if I got some new jeans. How hot I'd be if I lost some weight. After a while, reality set in. It ain't happening, honey. What you see is what you get. The whole transformation idea may have worked with Chris Pratt, but it's not going to work with schlubby ol' Zandrick Ellison. Sometimes it feels like NBA teams view prospects in the same delusional way. Josh Jackson can be a superstar -- if he develops his shot! Isaac Okoro can be a great pick -- if he becomes a great shooter! IF IF IF. We tend to forget that it's not that easy for a leopard to change his spots or for a player to suddenly develop a shooting stroke. It may have worked with Kawhi Leonard, but it's not working with most players. Given that, we should value players who already have developed that skill. Aaron Nesmith is one of the best shooters in the draft -- right here, right now. He shot 52% from three and 83% from the line this past season. There's a sample size issue there (he only played 14 games prior to injury), but his shooting form looks fluid and suggests that he should be a legitimate 38-40% shooter from deep. While Nesmith isn't a great athlete or defender, his 7'0" wingspan should help him hang at either the SG or SF spots. All in all, we're talking about a player who should be a starter, or at the very least a high-level rotational player. best fits Aaron Nesmith isn't going to put a team on his back, but he can help carry the load offensively given his shooting ability. That should make him a good fit for a team like New Orleans (#13) as they look to replace J.J. Redick down the road. He'd also be an excellent fit with Orlando (#16) as they eye more shooters/scorers. worst fits It's hard to find a bad fit for a good shooting wing, but there are a few teams that may not have starting positions available. Phoenix (#10) already has Devin Booker and a few solid young SFs. Sacramento (#12) already has Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic (presuming they retain them.) (10) PG/SG R.J. Hampton, U.S/N.Z. (HIGHER than most expert rankings) After that rant about delusions of grandeur with development prospects, let me try and talk you into a raw developmental prospect. Like LaMelo Ball, R.J. Hampton went to play in the NBL during his gap year after high school. They were both top 10 prospects going in, but their stocks diverged from there. LaMelo Ball put up big numbers and locked himself into top 3 status. Hampton didn't showcase much (8.8 points per game on 41-30-68 shooting splits) and may drop out of the lottery altogether. But again, I'd caution us to consider context here. LaMelo Ball went to a bad team where he could jack up shots. Hampton played on a contending team that didn't spoon-feed him minutes. Given that limited sample, I'm falling back on the "eye test" here. No doubt, Hampton's shot is a problem. He's a poor shooter now, and it may be 2-3 years before he straightens it out. At the same time, his size and explosion jumps out at you, particularly when he's attacking the basket. He also appears to be a mature and charismatic young man. That combo -- physical talent + basketball character -- tends to be a winning formula. There's some chance Hampton turns out to be a genuine star as a scoring lead guard. There's also a sizable chance he busts. Still, it's the type of gamble that teams in the late lottery should be considering. best fits In a PG-rich class, it'd be bold for Detroit (#8) to reach on R.J. Hampton. Still, he would fit there, as the team could groom him behind Derrick Rose for another year or two until he's ready to take over for major minutes. Any team that can afford him the luxury of patience would be a nice landing spot, even if it means going later in the draft to places like Boston (#14, #26) or Utah (#23.) worst fits I'd be less bullish on R.J. Hampton in situations where he may have to play early and take his lumps. The N.Y. Knicks (#8) have struggled to develop point guards Frank Ntilkina and Dennis Smith already, and a new coaching staff doesn't make those concerns go away. Hampton would also have lower upside on teams that already have scoring guards locked in, like Sacramento (#12) or Portland (#16). (11) PF Obi Toppin, Dayton (LOWER than most expert rankings) When Obi Toppin sees the list of names ahead of him, he should be stewing with rage. He's arguably the most productive player on the entire board. This past season at Dayton, he averaged 20.0 points on 63% shooting from the field. He's a good athlete and dunker, and he even hit 39% of his threes. At 6'9", he's a natural PF but he could theoretically play some SF or C too if need be. What else does a guy need to do to go in the top 5?? But while Toppin checks all the boxes on paper, I'm a little more skeptical. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Arizona PF Derrick Williams, who went # 2 in the 2011 draft. Many pundits thought Williams was the best player in the class, fresh on the heels of an awesome sophomore season that saw him average 19.5 points per game on 60% shooting and 57% (!) from three. The trouble is: Williams benefited from a small sample size from 3 that year (74 total). And while he was athletic in the dunking sense, he didn't have the hip movement to guard 3s or 4s effectively. We see some of the same traits play out here with Toppin. He dominated this past season as a (22 year old) sophomore. Still, I'm doubtful that his three-point shooting is as good as the numbers suggest. I'm doubtful that his run-and-dunk athleticism translates to the defensive end, where he often looks stiff when changing direction. I can see a scenario where Toppin is a scoring big in the mold of a John Collins, but it's more likely to me that he'll be a scorer off the bench instead. best fits While I'm cool on Obi Toppin myself, I fully admit that I could be wrong and he may just end up being Rookie of the Year. That may happen if he plays on a team like Washington (#9) where his guards will be able to take a lot of pressure off and give him good opportunities to score. Cleveland (#5) would also make some sense if they trade Kevin Love. worst fits If Toppin's defense is going to be bad, then he'd be a poor fit with Atlanta (#6). I also don't see much of a fit with Sacramento (#12) given the presence of Marvin Bagley III. In the long run, both may end up being smallball 5s. (12) SF Isaac Okoro, Auburn (LOWER than most expert rankings) We've all had this experience before. You'll go see a movie that you hear everyone rave about and you come away... underwhelmed. It's fine. It's OK. But you just don't get all the fuss about it. Right out of that Silver Linings Playbook comes Isaac Okoro. His stats don't jump off the page: 12.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 0.9 blocks. He's allegedly a great defensive player, but his dimensions (6'6" with a 6'8" wingspan) don't suggest "stopper." Worse yet, he's a poor shooter from distance (29% from three, 67% from the line.) The last time I got this sense of "meh-ness" was Jarrett Culver last year. I didn't understand how he went in the top 5, and I'm not going to understand how Okoro goes in the top 10 this year. To be clear, I don't think Okoro (or Culver) is a BAD prospect, just that they're both overrated by the community. Okoro is definitely a strong kid who is active around the rim. He's a live body. He could theoretically improve his shooting and become a starter. Still, "potential starter" is not something that I want in a top 10 pick. best fits While I don't love Isaac Okoro myself, I can see some good fits on the board. Washington (#9) could use some thicker wings who can play solid defense. Portland (#16) is incredibly desperate for capable wings themselves. worst fits With Okoro, I don't necessarily think the worst fits are a matter of skill set as much as expectation. If he goes as high as Chicago (#4) or Cleveland (#5), I suspect he'll disappoint in terms of the returns and garner some resentment from the fan base. (13) SG/SF Josh Green, Arizona As oddly overrated as Isaac Okoro is (in my mind), Josh Green is oddly underrated. Okoro tends to go about 10 spots higher in mock drafts, but they seem nearly identical in terms of a head-to-head comparison. In fact, I had to go back and forth about which I'd rank higher. They're both good athletes for their position and should be backend starters at the next level. Okoro is thicker and better around the rim, while Green is further along as a shooter. Overall I leaned to Okoro because he had the size to match up with bigger SFs and has a little more of a bullying scorer gene in him, but it was a close race. In fact, you can argue that Josh Green's selflessness will actually benefit him in the NBA. He's a "team guy," with an underrated passing ability and basketball IQ. The stats don't jump off the pages in that regard (2.6 assists, 1.6 turnovers), but he was also playing with a good college PG in Nico Mannion. As he moves to the NBA, he's unlikely to have the ball much either, but he projects to be an all-around glue guy who can help on both ends. best fits As with Isaac Okoro, Portland (#16) could be a nice landing spot for a solid wing player. And while New Orleans (#13) has a lot of athleticism already, it never hurts to have another viable wing. They tended to play small at the SG-SF spot, which hurt their defense overall. Playing Green could help them when they slide Brandon Ingram over to the 4 and Zion Williamson at the 5. worst fits I don't see many "bad" fits for Josh Green on the board, but you'd prefer that he went to a team that intended to make him a part of the future. Minnesota (#17) may not be able to do that if they already have Jarrett Culver and Josh Okogie. Brooklyn (#19) may not be looking for long-term projects since they're in a "win now" mode. (14) PG Tyrell Terry, Stanford Tyrell Terry is rocketing up draft boards on account of his stellar shooting ability (41% from 3, 89% from the line) and his better-than-expected measurement of 6'3". It's only natural that pundits would start comparing him to stud shooters like Steph Curry. That said, not every stud shooter is Steph Curry. Some are Seth Curry. Some are Quinn Cook. There's a slight chance Terry breaks out as a good starter, but there's a better than average chance he peaks as a rotational player instead. Still, he should be an asset to a team as a spacer, particularly if they run their offense through a playmaking forward (like a LeBron James). And in case you're wondering, no he is NOT related to Jason Terry, although some of their skill sets do overlap as scoring guards with deep range. best fits If we presume that Tyrell Terry can be a Seth (not Steph) type player, then adding him to Dallas (#18) makes sense. He can develop behind Seth for a year or two as he gains weight, and then help complement Luka Doncic as a spacer after that. Similarly, he makes sense for Philadelphia (#21) as well. We'd still lock Ben Simmons into the starting PG role, but Terry could play alongside him in lineups or be used as a sparkplug off the bench. worst fits Teams that may be eyeing Tyrell Terry as a surefire starter will have to be careful. For example, Phoenix (#10) needs an heir apparent for Ricky Rubio, but a Terry + Devin Booker combo may be problematic on the defensive end. Some other teams -- Brooklyn (#19) and Denver (#22) -- already have sharpshooter guards, so they don't have as strong of a need for this type of player. (15) PF Aleksej Pokusevski, Serbia We mentioned that LaMelo Ball may be the biggest boom/bust prospect in the class, likening him to gambling on Roulette. Enter Aleksej Pokusevski. "Gambling" may not even be doing it justice. This is like risking your family fortune on a bag of magic beans. But hey, that worked for Jack, and it could work for an NBA team as well. I have a friend who works in coaching who raved about Pokusevski and considers him a top 10 prospect overall. After all, this is a legit 7'0" player with true perimeter skills. Playing for Olympiacos' development team, he averaged 16.7 points, 12.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.0 steals, and 2.8 blocks per 36 minutes. He hasn't even turned 19 years old yet, giving him an enormous amount of upside. Still, he scares the hell out of me. He's listed at 7'0" and 200 pounds, with narrow shoulders that make you doubt how much weight he'll be able to carry in the long term. His body type doesn't remind you of any current NBA forwards; it reminds you of two kids wearing a trenchcoat. All in all, Pokusevski seems like a great prospect to invest in, presuming you don't have to withdraw from the bank until 2023 or 2024. To that end, teams should only consider them if they feel confident in their long-term job security. best fits If the goal is to send Aleksej Pokusevski to a good, stable organization, then you can't do much better than San Antonio (#11). Even if Gregg Popovich retires from coaching, R.C. Buford should be around to help the next coach (Becky Hammon? Will Hardy? R.C.'s son Chase?). And if the goal is to find a good stable GM, Sam Presti and Oklahoma City (#25) would be a great home as they prepare for a long-term rebuild. worst fits Orlando (#15) always values length, but they have limited space left in the frontcourt and limited leg room left on that poor charter plane. I wasn't kidding when I said this post was "overly" long. The rest of the top 20 got cut off because of a length limit. I'll try to include them in the comment section.
How Hong Kong's demise represents a greater problem facing a rising China
Since the Hong Kong government introduced its highly controversial extradition bill last year, the wealthy cosmopolitan city of Hong Kong has been thoroughly wrecked by mass protests. At its peak in mid-2019, 2 million Hong Kongers marched in the streets against the government led by Carrie Lam. In its turmoil, large tracts of Hong Kong have seen battles fought between a now largely vanquished protest movement, and its once revered Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). Its foremost legislature occupied and vandalised by protestors, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) subtly threatening the city by garrisoning troops in neighboring Shenzhen stadiums as well as later on inside Hong Kong, A leading university occupied by desperate protestors under siege by police among many other watershed moments which have left a significant imprint on the Pearl of the Orients' history. It's fair to say that despite widespread anger at Carrie Lam for effectively destroying Hong Kong's political freedoms after the passage of its National Security Bill, the protest movement has largely run out of steam through its own shear fatigue. Nothing it seems, not the horror at Yuen Long when the mobs attacked bystanders, not the massive peaceful protests, not the vigilant and perseverent young protestors could seemingly stop the Chinese government in blatantly violating the agreement it signed with the UK when it handed over the territory. When one fights for democracy and human rights, its preferable they don't stop in their brave fight, right? Communism didn't collapse in eastern europe in a day afterall, nor did Taiwan and South Korea magically become free countries promptly. But in this case, the people of Hong Kong didn't have a chance to succeed, not with the PLA on their doorstep and an increasingly nationalistic regime which stood completely behind Carrie Lam even as they didn't invite her to decide on the national security law. But while one may grieve and weep over what was a great dazzling and culturally vibrant city, the free people of Hong Kong may have the last laugh. The sole reason why Hong Kong is such an economic powerhouse is how free the city is compared to China. It is ranked third in the ease of doing business, a number which is likely to trend badly in 2020 onwards. It didn't persecute members of Falun Gong, it was more open to the exotic nature of Feng Shui architecture, people were once allowed to advocate for Hong Kong's independence. What drove Hong Kong's economy since the day the British settled was the ability for a significant number of well educated, entrepreneurial and industrious citizens to live and work with none of the constraints mainland China imposes. It's why Macau is such a hub of gambling, and why since the handover, Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp grew as a reaction in the face of China's authoritarian shift. Hong Kong was a sanctuary for many Chinese from the terrors which lurked in Mao's China. When one removes the causation of Hong Kong's prosperity, you effectively destroy the city's identity and its economy. So what is the last laugh for the people of Hong Kong? Leaving the city entirely. It may sound odd, but already millions of Hongkongers have made it clear that they won't tolerate the Chinese government, last year a survey found 42% of Hongkongers said they would emigrate if they had the chance, with 23% already having made a plan to do so. The UK government has made clear it wants HK citizens to immigrate. So much so that they're now handing out a passport a minute to Hong Kong citizens. It now appears that China has inadvertently created a exodus of potentially massive proportions, like Germany before the Berlin Wall, Hongkongers are leaving with significant haste. For many, this was a predictable fate. Hong Kong was never always going to be free, this was a city which was once segregated by the British, and the handover agreement made it clear that in 2047 the city would be annexed. But this exodus represents a pressing issue which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been contending with since it ever existed. Educated people, rich people and productive people all hate Communism!. Well... in this case China isn't Communist, they're SINOs (Socialist In Name Only), but you get what I mean. The Hong Kong exodus is going to be a tragic fate for the once great city, however its struggle represents a greater issue which China grips with but never wants to admit. The West is going to have an influx of exceptionally entrepreneurial, industrious and well educated citizens who care deeply about freedom and democracy, and that's the lost talent and capital which Beijing desperately needs. Nothing scares the Chinese governing elite more than falling behind the US technologically. They saw the Cold War and how as Reagan said, the "Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip", they know for a fact that technological growth is king and you need well educated citizens. That's why they're attempting the near impossible: oppressing a billion educated and middle class citizens but this time with AI, mass facial recognition, fervent nationalism, personality cult, omnipresent state control and social credit scores. They're trying to cultivate the perfect obedient citizens while holding the same human capital which allowed the US to economically and scientifically crush the USSR who had achieved it through the SDI, arms race, Reagan Doctrine and 20 years of communist stagnation in the face of a booming West. If China can achieve the perfect obedient and productive citizen they ideally won't need another Tiananmen. At the end of the day, a nation is built on the back of its educated citizenry. Weapon systems are only as good as your engineers, scientists and businessmen. The kinds of people who live in Hong Kong but are inevitably going to leave it number perhaps upwards of 1-3 million citizens, already 250,000 have acquired passports and polling indicates that number will continue to grow as Beijing's oppression rises. However in the face of China's ambitions, the US is on the verge of triggering a second space race with Spacex and a number of other Western companies dramatically reducing launch costs and constructing the infrastructure which could have immeasurable strategic consequences decades from now. Sure the SDI was a bit of a joke even at the time with its ambitions, but Reagan was hell-bent on it and it scared the crap outta the USSR who knew the implications. Today the US missile defense system is the best in the world after 40 years of continual investment but optimised for rogue states like North Korea or potentially Iran, however if launch costs can decrease further (as they inevitably will) the Pentagon is probably going to exploit this to the maximum with more spy satellites (something which the US has a gigantic advantage in already) or even a mini SDI program or something which will scare China. NASA is hoping to launch a manned Moon mission by 2025 (officially still 2024 but it's definitely a year afterwards at least). There is no indication the Artemis program is going to be axed, and from a strategic standpoint neither should it. Given the unprecedented private investment the program has and also the Lunar Gateway, the US inevitably will land on the Moon again within the decade, while simultaneously waging a renewed cold war with China. So what does China have to show for itself technologically? Well at the moment there are lots of things China is desperate to show off in, but nothing so far indicates its at parity with the US yet. The US has built nearly 500 fifth generation stealth multirole all-weather fighters (F-35), China has a bare handful and its likely inferior. The EU and the US have an enormous domination of the civil aviation market with Airbus and Boeing respectively, while China's Comac is minuscule in comparison with no chance of global market penetration compared to the staggering power and expertise Boeing and Airbus have. China is still 20-30 years behind the US in submarines but closing, its military has virtually no fighting experience in decades unlike the US and in space exploration China leaves a lot to be desired. Sure, they're planning and have been successful in launching rovers and probes on the Moon's surface, but so did the Soviets and the US in the mid 1960s. Their space station project is compared to Mir in the 80s, and they're hoping for a manned Moon mission within the decade but very little has surfaced in detail. China has been trying its best to harness its human capital to the maximum extent possible, but even with the lackluster Congress the US has languished under for the better part of a decade, the US has succeeded in creating reusable rockets, cheaper batteries and landed a car sized rover on Mars with a highly complex landing process and shall repeat that in 2021 with the Perseverance Rover. Don't get me wrong, China will try to do everything it can to develop advanced technologies and with little moral constraint like how a Chinese scientist last year controversially altered the genome of an unborn child, and they'll do so out of its own regime's desperation to survive when its economic growth stagnates further. But the US is still leading by a massive margin, and despite zero intention and limited intervention by Washington policy makers this past decade, a bunch of tech wizzes across the US may have inadvertently triggered a second space race. TL;DR: China may continue to look down upon Hong Kong with glaring contempt and despise its well educated population who had a taste of freedom, but Hong Kong's dazzling economy represents a China that might have been. Sure China's universities and scientific institutions continue to grow in strength, but it will never compete with the West on a strategic level until China stops oppressing its own citizens. Either that, or China succeeds in creating the perfect obedient and productive citizen. This is my first ever effortpost, so I hope it's up to scratch :)
To think of these stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach. I would annex the planets if I could; I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far. -- Cecil Rhodes, Last Will and Testament
This is the 3rd post in a series on South Africa and Apartheid and so far in the first two neither Apartheid nor South Africa even exists. But we are to the mid climax. In first part we discussed how our groups of players: Afrikaners, British, Xhosa, Zulu, minor tribes, other ethnicities got to what would become South Africa. In the second part we discussed how the Zulus and Xhosa knocked themselves out of the game leaving the British and Afrikaners as the main players standing for who got rule what would become South Africa. We also discussed how the British policy was non-viable. This part is going to discuss how the British changed course and consequently won control. We are also going to get to the genesis of the Western Left's hatred of the Afrikaners and the genesis of Apartheid, We'll end on the creation of the Union of South Africa which while not the Republic of South Africa will allow me to stop talking about "Southern Africa", "territory that will become South Africa".... But unfortunately you will have to sit through this one more post where South Africa doesn't exist yet. Cecil Rhodes was born in 1853 the sickly asthmatic 5th son of a not particularly notable clergyman. He'd remain sickly his entire life dying in 1902 at the age of 48 from the sorts of deterioration of the heart and lung one wouldn't expect to see until a man was at least well into their 90s. In that short span he would: become one of the richest men in the world; found several countries; change the entire economic structure of the territories that would become: South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe; found 2 major corporations: the British South Africa Company and De Beers; rethink British imperialism inventing what would become the British Commonwealth; becoming one of the defining figures and great visionaries of the Victorian Age; trigger the 2nd Boer War; demonstrate the strategy changing nature of the machine gun decades before World War 1; be the only genuinely important Prime Minister of the Cape Colony; invent the concept of corporate armies; play a large role in saving the South African wine industry and most importantly be the only individual getting his own post in this series. :) Rhodes was sent to South Africa at the age of 17 so that the British weather didn't kill him. Rather than doing the normal thing and spending the money (amounting to a decade or less of a comfortable middle class salary, but no great fortune) on living with some gambling and girls thrown in he decided to head to the newly discovered diamond mines in Kimberly and started buying up small diamond mining operations leveraging each mine's output and outside financing to buy the next. Later he partnered with leading financing and trading firms so by 1888 had what amounted to monopoly control of diamond industry turning De Beers into the diamond powerhouse it remains to this day though the last pieces wouldn't fall into place until 1890. He by the 1880s De Beers was throwing off enough excess profits that he could pay investors and continue expending De Beers while being able to found the predecessor to the British South Africa Company operating much further into the interior opening up Bechuanaland and Rhodesia as colonies using his own profits to fund the administrative expenses much as the East India Company had done a century earlier. Rhodes believed that British policy wasn't viable because it was petty. A vibrant healthy economy throws off an enormous amount of tax revenue. Petty colonialism, like the kind the British were engaging in would never generate much profit because of its very short term nature. Britain should make money by investing in the local economy, spend some on upkeep, reinvesting most of the profits and just skim a little of a forever growing payout. What Britain had tried to do with the American colonies encouraging economic development was the right approach. The problem was London had been shortsighted and selfish turning the local administrators against them. The independence of the USA wasn't a strategic failure it was the result of poor tactical implementation. The problem the British were facing in Southern Africa was similar and since the policies had been similar the results would be as well. The Afrikaners had no reason to be loyal to a Britain which had spent almost a century making very clear that it had no interest in their welfare or society beyond some ports which were frankly not nearly so important since Suez had opened. Rhodes changed policy to have Britain stop acting like a colonizing power and start acting like the domestic government of South Africa as much as possible .Outlining his changes to colonial governing policy:
Colonial financing -- utilize profits from business ventures fund army. Rhodes' companies were good examples of this the British charter and the backing of British troops allowed him to make excess profits which allowed him to incur expenses which the previous skinflint administration could never have tolerated. For example British colonial bonds generated an average return of 4.7%. Investments in independent American bonds generated an average return of only 2.9%. The difference was not being taken into account when the Colonial Office calculated their return on investment which to Rhodes' mind was simply lousy accounting.
Long term investment -- In general rewire the metrics used at the London Colonial Office to focus on long term investment not short term profits.
Demographics -- The British were the world's first people. Physically populate as much of the world as possible. Assimilate other people's into the British way of life. In South Africa in particular he intended to win the hearts and minds of the Boer.
Stability -- The previous administration had focused on stability because instability created upheavals that increased administrative costs. For too long British colonial policy was to tolerate and coexist with local culture. To create a profitable economy agricultural efficiencies are going to need to be introduced. That means 90% of the natives are going to freed up to work in a manufacturing and processing workforce. It also means the agricultural tribal traditional culture is going to be completely destroyed. Instability not stability should be policy. Seek to replace local culture with British culture to enhance the potential for economic growth.
Glory to British not England -- English colonies exist for glory of England. British colonies self exist. England's glory is that is the Birthplace of the 1st people not how much of the world remains completely non-British while in some vague unimportant sense recognizing Victoria as their Queen.
Representation -- As long as colonial governments respond to a English democracy they will be unrepresentative of their people. Create a democratic institution which provides representation for all British people in a British Parliament. There should be an English parliament for England. Invite the United States to join this new institution. "Inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity" (NB: this is essentially the British Commonwealth, though of course the USA was not invited)
Devastating defeat of enemies -- Colonial policy was designed to solve conflict cheaply. Small military victories do not undermine the hostile's economy nor their society and thus don't accomplish much. They simply delay and prolonging the problem created by the enemy allowing the enemy to choose points in time to achieve advantage. Avoid costly wars certainly but when war is needed seek to inflict devastating defeat so the subject people realize their inferiority. This realization facilities undermining their institutions and thus during the peace their way of life easily becomes more British. Further a willingness to war like this makes challenging Britain very costly and risky for potential enemies and thus wars will be far less frequent. The financial people are correct that the aggregate cost of inflicting devastating defeats infrequently is higher than more frequent small wars but the benefits are far greater. War carried out towards devastating defeat becomes a form of investment not a pure non-productive expense.
Scope -- The British were far to unambitious in their aims. The goal of British colonialism should be "all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise". The scope was, "the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire"
map of Cecil Rhodes' proposed British Empire You'll notice that all of Africa was in the map. Rhodes was of the opinion that Africa was incredibly rich in minerals and peoples. But it wasn't exploitable for profit because of a lack of transportation infrastructure. Rhodes was pushing to start fixing this by creating a full African north-south railway connecting "Cairo to the Cape". Rhodes' BSAC conquests were designed to drive north while he used his political influence to push the Egyptian conquest further south into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and then a business similar to BSAC run by Sir William Mackinnon to push into Uganda. For the northward push (primarily in what today is Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana) Rhodes was directly implementing his policy using a private army funded from the British South Africa Company. The Ndebele and Shona (Zulu tribes) were handled easily by the devastating defeat principle. Rhodes' forces demonstrated how effectively Maxims (a primitive form of machine gun) and barbed wire worked against simple rifles, spears and long shields achieving kill ratios never before seen in the history of warfare. As an aside these battles against the Zulus would also be used by those military theorists and historians who correctly anticipated in the later 1890s through 1910s how devastating a war between the great powers would be using these weapons against each other. Rhodes through BSAC had managed to push north of Lake Mweru and to the Northern tip of Lake Nyasa. Which almost connected with Sudan were it not for German East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania) in the middle. In theory an alternative route through the Belgian Congo would also work but the gold mines in Tanzania kept Rhodes focused on taking German East Africa. Further Rhodes met his match in ruthlessness when it came to the Belgians. When Rhodes' negotiating agent sought a development contract for mineral-rich Katanga (in Congo) the native ruler Msiri refused. King Leopold II of Belgium obtained the same concession by having his agent signing it to Belgium himself over Msiri's dead body in the name of the "Congo Free State". At the same time Rhodes worked with the Colonial office and in 1890 British issued the "1890 British Ultimatum" to Portugal. This ultimatum by the British government forced the retreat of Portuguese military forces from areas which had been claimed by Portugal on the basis of historical discovery and recent exploration, but which the United Kingdom claimed on the basis of effective occupation. Portugal had attempted to claim a large area of land between its colonies of Mozambique and Angola including most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia and a large part of Malawi, which had been included in Portugal's "Rose-coloured Map". This ultimatum violated the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 which to that point had been the longest standing peace treaty in history. Who owned what by the early 1900s Take a look at the map above and imagine the British controlling the north-south line connecting to a British/Portuguese line running east-west in the south and a joint French/British/Italian line running east-west in the north. From there local government and companies could construct smaller feeder lines creating a modern rail system. Hopefully and you start to see how Rhodes intended to start developing the transpiration infrastructure needed to create a strong African economy. All this was going to be for naught though if Southern Africa ended up as a Boer state hostile to British interests on the model ZAR (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, Transvaal Republic). So Rhodes decided to run for Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and solve the problems of British strategy explicated in part 2. The primary problem the Boer had with British government is their divide and conquer approach. The British tilted to whomever was losing (a standard British policy they would also follow in Palestine) which for decades meant treating the Boer and native Africans as both being subject peoples while favoring the native Africans against the Boer. In Rhodes mind you could not expect to get loyalty from people you were obvious disfavoring. The British were the ones turning the Boer into enemies. So in 1892 Rhodes instituted the Franchise and Ballot Act. This was seen as a compromise between factions in the Colonial Office and the traditions in the Cape Colony for a broad democracy (anyone with £25 in property could vote) and Orange and ZAR's (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, Transvaal Republic) more exclusive democracy. Rhodes raised the amount of property to £75, an amount specifically chosen to disempower many of the native Africans while allowing many Boers to vote. With a Boer and British based democracy locked in the Cape Colony's democratic powers could be strengthened, creating more self rule and making the involvement of the London Colonial Office less obvious. This concept of using a not explicitly racial criteria while instituting laws with racist intent is very modern. Various Liberals in the London Colonial Office especially missionaries disagreed strongly with Rhode's policies. They had been the ones advocating for the enlightened colonialism that was British policy. Missionaries in particular saw their role as: combating godlessness, superstition and backwardness. In particular encourage better use of land; encourage paycheck work; become trusted advisor to tribal leaders. The slogan "Bring the 3Cs into Africa" referred to Commerce, Christianity and Civilization. To their mind Rhodes' vision of British Imperialism was straight up military tyranny. If followed he would make England no different than a modern day Genghis Khan, creating a empire loathed by a vast expanse of subject peoples who would unite against it from all directions. Instead interfering minimally and being seen as an ally while slowly educated the elite in British custom and religion would cause a gradual consensual change that would build British alliances that would last centuries. Plus such an approach would fulfill the Lord's Great Commission (term for Jesus' command to convert the entire world to Christianity) in a way that honored God rather than shamed him. One need only look at how the Spanish, Portuguese and Balkans had thrown off Islam after centuries to see how ineffective military tyranny was at long term conversions that didn't require force. So in their mind: No the London Office should stand by its traditional values of: monopoly companies and plantations run in (unequal) partnership with indigenous elite. free trade, free (and indeed forced) migration, infrastructural investment, balanced budgets, sound money, the rule of law and incorrupt administration. As far as their Boer, in their mind the Boer were the primary impediment to enlighten British rule in South Africa, being Christians they were obligated to agree with the missionaries on the vision of the White Man's Burden and Enlightened Empire. Rather than making concession to the Boer they needed to be crushed to demonstrate the moral difference between the Boer and the British. With Rhodes' change in policy tilting towards rather than away from the Boer the Western Left came to truly hate the Boer in 1890s. Since the point of this series is the analogy I'll add that I wrote two posts about more or less the same groups of Liberal Christians turning against Israel again having to do with Israeli/Jews discrediting Liberal Western values and thus interfering with the Great Commission: WCC churches and Quakers. Rhodes in debates before and at the time considered this Liberal Empire stuff to be simply aspirational. Without economic interference there wasn't enough money to fund anything like what the Liberals proposed. He'd point to facts like that after a century of such rules in India they had increased the secondary schooling 7x to a whopping 2% while England with not nearly as many well funded missionary organizations was over 16%. Rhodes hoped to unify all of Southern Africa around this compromise approach to the franchise. ZAR however rejected this compromise. By the mid 1990s approximately 1/3rd of their white population were British (Anglicans). ZAR had every intent of maintaining religious based voting criteria (i.e. citizenship in ZAR was only open to people who were members of several Dutch Reformed Churches, see part 2). Obviously for Rhodes a situation where British people were the disempowered minority was intolerable. Additionally the ZAR were maintaining an anti-Cape Colony / anti-British / anti-Rhodes trade policy. It was becoming increasingly clear there would need to be regime change. So in 1895 Rhodes organized an attempted coup d'état now called the "Jameson Raid" (yes the same Jameson who went on to be Prime Minister 1904-8 of the Cape Colony after the 2nd Boer War). The Afrikaners were more astute than natives had been caught wind of the early organization and waited until the forces were committed trapping hundreds of Rhode's people creating a great embarrassment. Its at this point that the Boer made by far the greatest mistake of their history as a people. The 4 years between 1895-9 were when they made the choices that led to their ruin. The British were really embarrassed. A colonial governor who had a crown chartered corporation had been caught red handed engaging in a serious act of war against another sovereign state with no approval from Parliament. The Colonial Office admitted as much and forced Rhodes out of office in 1896. The Afrikaners had real negotiating leverage to work out a deal. It obviously would be extremely important that the next leader of the Cape be friendly. But they didn't decide to negotiate. Instead they started flirting with the Germans, while not actually signing a formal alliance with Germany that at least had the potential to provide them real protection. The flirtation however, turned a nasty incident into a serious threat to all British interests in Southern Africa forcing a British response. In Britain an alliance of Jingoists (populist military hawks) angry about the humiliation of 1st Boer War, Conservative Imperialists who wanted to end Boer independence especially in the ZAR (the 3 core values for Conservatives at the time were: Union with Ireland, the Empire and the superiority of the British race), Liberal Imperialists who supported Rhodes' vision and Missionaries who hated the Boer formed pushing for a war. Seeing this alliance form against them the Afrikaners did nothing to avert the danger. Rather they made a mistake many 2nd tier powers do when it comes to 1st tier powers. The Afrikaners confused the light force and weak will the 1st tier power is willing to spend on them with the amount of force the 1st tier power is capable of employing if it so chooses. Having beaten the British handily in the 1st Boer War when they were fighting the C-team (as I called in part 2) the Afrikaners grossly underestimated what they would face against a British army that had a political mandate for victory, what Britain's A-team would look like. Preparing for something slightly worse than the 1st Boer War the Boer began a serious arms buying program in 1897. ZAR also got more belligerent in their rhetoric which led to a formal alliance with the Orange State and Boer guerilla groups that could support the war effort in the Cape. The Boer had about 63k troops including some foreign troops. . The British were determined not to lose the 2nd Boer War. This was going to be the British-A team. By the second phase of the war between British soldiers, soldiers from other colonies and local Africans providing auxiliary Boer were facing a 500-600k man army. Nor was the command third or even second rate as it had been in the 1st Boer War. For example, the top military command would be Herbert Kitchener who was fresh from the victorious Anglo-Egyptian invasion of Sudan. Kitchener after the 2nd Boer War would go on to be the Commander-in-Chief for the armies in India and a decade after that the UK's Secretary of State for War during World War 1. He's this guy: Kitchener famous 1914 recruiting poster The cost to maintain that army would be £60m / year far more than Britain could ever pull out of Southern Africa (GDP and inflation adjusted the Boer War would cost the UK about $250b). The first phase of the war was a Boer offensive while the British were still deploying troops in October–December 1899. Once the British were done they conquered all pockets of resistance in the Cape and Orange as well as essentially the entire ZAR territory January to September 1900. The Afrikaners decided to fight when surrender was the better option. Leading to a guerrilla war between September 1900 and May 1902. The British simply could not afford to keep an army of that size in the field for years dealing with guerilla tactics until the Boer admitted they were beat. Facing time pressure the British felt they had no choice but to come down hard. The British cut the guerilla war short by instituting a scorched earth policy against areas giving support to guerillas in the ZAR (most of the ZAR). ZAR men were mostly in the militias. Scorched earth destroyed the food supply in the ZAR so the British threw the women and children in concentration camps. The army hadn't prepped for needing to support massive numbers of civilians so malnutrition and disease were rampant in the concentration camps. This disease and malnutrition resulting in a camp death rate of approximately 30% annually. A policy amounting to genocide. Pro Boer forces in the UK generated widespread opposition to the camps so the military response was to not confine woman and children and instead leave civilians on the now barren earth to die of starvation and exposure. Actual POWs were deported to Bermuda and India preventing the Boer from standing any chance of liberating them. African tribes that had lost territory to the Boer began moving in. While both sides had agreed not to arm natives or recruit tribes. But the British weren't going to fight for the Boer if tribes decided to take advantage of their defeat. The Boer were quickly losing everything they were fighting for: freedom, their lands, their family, the self dependence and surrendered rather than have their population geocoded to oblivion, being left with no economy and whatever lands they managed to hold being assaulted on all sides by natives who would take it from them. The Boer society that emerged from the surrender did not have separatist attitude. Destitute Boers now willing to work in the minds and alongside black Africans swelled the ranks of the unskilled urban poor competing with the "uitlanders" in the mines. The new economy was unambiguously focused on gold causing mine production to swell enriching the British interests. The Afrikaners were both physically and psychologically crushed, and wouldn't be causing any more problems for decades. In the UK the war came to be seen as excessive especially as the financial cost of the war sunk in. The Conservatives' suffered a spectacular defeat in 1906 driving the Conservative Prime Minister at the time (12 July 1902 – 4 December 1905) Arthur Balfour from office. He comes up rather regularly on this sub in his later role as Foreign Minister. As the Boer are no longer resisting the British Empire the shift towards more pro-Boer policies from England continues. In 1909 the British Parliament dissolves the British colonies of: Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and Transvaal and combines them into a Federal Union of South Africa. This makes South Africa into a Dominion (essentially Australia's status at the time). Jan Smuts (an Afrikaner) resurrects Rhodes' idea of a Common Wealth and the British embrace it. And so we conclude part 3 our story of how the British eventually won and South Africa came to exist. How the Western Left started to hate the Boer, a hatred they would resurrect later. And how the first steps towards apartheid were taken. Whew that was longer than I intended!
The only place you can’t gamble is online — and that’s only partial. Online gambling laws in Germany let you play the lottery online, and you can bet on sports and horse races online through the lottery. You just can’t play slots online 100% legally. It’s currently a grey market. Gambling law in Germany – an update. 2012 was an exciting year for German gambling law. The existing German gambling regulation from 2008 was replaced by the new German “Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2012” (ISTG). March 2013. The passage of the ISTG has been quite an effort – it should have entered into force in January 2012. Under the current Germany gambling laws, online betting is forbidden across the Federal Republic – with one exception but more on that later. The Interstate Treaty on gambling states that all forms of Internet gambling are forbidden. This includes both casino gaming and sports betting. The Gambling Acts of the individual German states authorise regulators to sanction unauthorised gambling and related advertising as an administrative offence with administrative fines, whereby the amount of fines which can be imposed ranges up to approximately EUR 500,000 as per the various Gambling Acts of the German states. Gambling Laws for Germany. Recently, André Schröder stated that all the individual states were required to apply the submitted Interstate Treaty on gambling. This was in order to permit online gambling companies to work in Germany. André Schröder is the current Finance Minister of Saxony- Anhalt in Germany. Online Gambling Law in Germany. Online gambling is mostly outlawed in Germany. We say “mostly” because Germany is one of those places where it’s definitely illegal to host a gaming site, but the legality of just placing bets online is unclear. A certain interpretation of German law could classify the act of placing a bet online as The laws specifically state that online gambling must not be touted as a way to fix financial problems, nor should it target minors. An Uncertain Future. It is clear that the main concern of the German gambling authority is to protect players from developing problematic gambling habits, and to keep underage players out of online casinos. Is Gambling Legal In Germany? Yes, gambling is legal in Germany, though there are restrictions and guidelines to be aware of as a Deutsch bettor, punter, or horseplayer. Licensed land-based gambling is effectively limited to table games and slots, while sports betting lounges and betting shops are also allowed. Germany is one of the most attractive and expanding gambling markets worldwide: With a GGR of around 14 billion EUR in 2018, it is the third biggest gambling market in Europe after Italy and the UK. Although it offers profitable income opportunities for the gaming industry, gaming companies have to face a complicated and restrictive German gambling legislation. Gambling has long had a legal but not yet legal status in Germany. In recent history, the local state authorities, the countries, have been given the right and responsibility to regulate gambling on their territory. However, gaming and gambling activities in online casinos in Germany are now monitored and controlled at a higher level.
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