It seems there is no end to the political hypocrisy that has taken over our well surveilled world.
I wrote a post a few days ago about the Belgian government wanting Skype to hand over confidential customer data. I called it ‘Taking A Swipe At Skype’ (if you want to read it click here )
In a previous post called, ‘What Is The German Word For Hypocrite?’ (if you want to read that one click here) I had a bit of rant against the hypocrisy of Germen Chancellor Angela Merkel who professed great anxiety publicly about the Americans snooping in on her phone calls while she and her intelligence agencies were in cahoots with the US to spy on other European countries.
Now a week or so later the two stories have merged with yet another piece of hypocrisy, this time by the Belgians who have announced that they are starting an official investigation into allegations that Belgium’s telecommunications networks were spied on by a consortium of German and American intelligence agencies.
In other words, it is okay for the Belgians to snoop on Skype users, but not okay when someone else wants to snoop on the Belgians.
If that’s not another good example of hypocrisy I don’t know what is.
Specifically the targets in Belgian sights are the United States National Security Agency and Germany’s Bundesnach-richtendienst (BND) and an operation that they referred to as ‘EIKONAL’.
The Belgians found out about the snooping when Austrian politician Peter Pilz blew his whistle at a press conference in Bern, Switzerland, saying that EIKONAL had targeted European telecommunications carriers for at least four years, from 2005 to 2008.
Spokesmen for the Belgian government have said that if the alleged espionage is confirmed, it would have “not only legal implications, but will also affect relations between Belgium, Germany and the US”. It also threatened to “take appropriate action” but didn’t specify what that would be – they probably don’t know yet.
Needless to say, the governments of Switzerland and the Netherlands were not amused by the revelations either and immediately launched their own investigations into this thing called ‘EIKONAL’.
It’s all turning into what they call “a right old mess”.
As usual if you get stuck you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please, NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1: Who played Cameron Poe in the action movie Con Air?
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Q. 2: What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
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Q. 3: We’ve all seen the iconic ‘Jeep’, but approximately how many were built during WWII?
a) 250,000 b) 450,000 c) 650,000 d) 850,000 or e) 1,050,000
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Q. 4: Think about a map of the bottom of South America for this one, what strait separates Chile from Tierra Del Fuego?
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Q. 5: One of the most famous up-market automobile brands is BMW, but what do the letters ‘B-M-W’ stand for?
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Q. 6: Who is former government agent ‘Raymond “Red” Reddington’ in the excellent television series ‘The Blacklist’?
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Q. 7: Founded in 1592, what is the oldest university in the Republic of Ireland called?
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Q. 8: Founded in 1908 what is the oldest university in Northern Ireland called?
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Q. 9: How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
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Q. 10: What is the capital city of each of the following European countries? (A point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if you name them all correctly.)
a) Greece b) Britain c) France d) Spain e) Portugal f) Switzerland
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Q. 11: Fifty cardinals, two flamingos and six penguins attended the 1963 London premiere of what movie?
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Q. 12: Mahatma Gandhi qualified in England for which profession before practicing in South Africa and then moving back to India?
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Q. 13: Name North America’s ‘Great Lakes’? (A point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if you name them all correctly.)
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Q. 14: The stirring voices of Anthony Quinn, Richard Burton and Curd Jürgens were all used, albeit in different versions, to narrate what?
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Q. 15: How many states in the United States of America begin with the letter ‘C’? (Bonus points for each one you name correctly.)
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Q. 16: What American born actor of the 1930s to the 1950s shares his name with a county in Northern Ireland?
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Q. 17: Who was allegedly the first Christian Emperor of Rome and founder of Constantinople?
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Q. 18: Which fruit plays a role in the downfall of Captain Queeg in the movie ‘The Caine Mutiny’?
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Q. 19: In which year did William Shakespeare die?
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Q. 20: What member of this musical family was a ‘Long Haired Lover From Liverpool’?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: Who played Cameron Poe in the action movie Con Air?
A. 1: Nicolas Cage.
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Q. 2: What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
A. 2: 88.
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Q. 3: We’ve all seen the iconic ‘Jeep’, but approximately how many were built during WWII?
a) 250,000 b) 450,000 c) 650,000 d) 850,000 or e) 1,050,000
A. 3: The correct answer is c) approximately 650,000 Jeeps were built during WWII.
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Q. 4: Think about a map of the bottom of South America for this one, what strait separates Chile from Tierra Del Fuego?
A. 4: The Strait of Magellan. (Sometimes also called The Straits of Magellan.)
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Q. 5: One of the most famous up-market automobile brands is BMW, but what do the letters ‘B-M-W’ stand for?
A. 5: ‘BMW’ is an acronym for ‘Bavarian Motor Works’.
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Q. 6: Who is former government agent ‘Raymond “Red” Reddington’ in the excellent television series ‘The Blacklist’?
A. 6: James Spader.
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Q. 7: Founded in 1592, what is the oldest university in the Republic of Ireland called?
A. 7: Trinity College, aka the University of Dublin.
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Q. 8: Founded in 1908 what is the oldest university in Northern Ireland called?
A. 8: Queens University.
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Q. 9: How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
A. 9: 8.
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Q. 10: What is the capital city of each of the following European countries? (A point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if you name them all correctly.)
a) Greece b) Britain c) France d) Spain e) Portugal f) Switzerland
A. 10: a) Athens b) London c) Paris d) Madrid e) Lisbon f) Berne
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Q. 11: Fifty cardinals, two flamingos and six penguins attended the 1963 London premiere of what movie?
A. 11: The clue was in the question, it was the movie premier of ‘The Birds’.
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Q. 12: Mahatma Gandhi qualified in England for which profession before practicing in South Africa and then moving back to India?
A. 12: Law.
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Q. 13: Name North America’s ‘Great Lakes’? (A point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if you name them all correctly.)
A. 13: North America’s ‘Great Lakes’ consist of Lakes ‘Superior’, ‘Michigan’, ‘Huron’, ‘Erie’, and ‘Ontario’.
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Q. 14: The stirring voices of Anthony Quinn, Richard Burton and Curd Jürgens were all used, albeit in different versions, to narrate what?
A. 14: Jeff Wayne’s musical version of ‘The War Of The Worlds’. Burton’s was used in the English version, Quinn’s in the Spanish, and Jürgens’ in the German.
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Q. 15: How many states in the United States of America begin with the letter ‘C’? (Bonus points for each one you name correctly.)
A. 15: Three states in the US begin with the letter’C’, California, Colorado and Connecticut.
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Q. 16: What American born actor of the 1930s to the 1950s shares his name with a county in Northern Ireland?
A. 16: Tyrone Power. County Tyrone is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.
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Q. 17: Who was allegedly the first Christian Emperor of Rome and founder of Constantinople?
A. 17: Constantine The Great.
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Q. 18: Which fruit plays a role in the downfall of Captain Queeg in the movie ‘The Caine Mutiny’?
A. 18: Strawberries.
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Q. 19: In which year did William Shakespeare die?
A. 19: It should be an easy one to remember, the year was 1616.
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Q. 20: What member of this musical family was a Long Haired Lover From Liverpool?
The fallout from the attempt by the EU bureaucrats to steal money out of Cypriot bank accounts continues.
Many people have missed the significance of what has happened and the fact that sooner or later it will also affect them.
But it will, simply because the whole attempted theft in Cyprus has set down dangerous markers for the future.
First, anyone with savings of $100,000 or more is categorized as ‘rich’ and will be targeted by their bankrupt governments as fair game for confiscation of some of their savings.
Second, what happens in one part of the world will eventually happen in another. You can count on that.
Already there are signs of this in the most unlikely of places, Australia.
Compared to most European countries and to the United States, Australia is in a relatively strong financial position. Although, like a lot of countries, it has been running at a net deficit for years, it was largely unaffected by the real estate bubbles and bankster debacles that has caused so many financial problems elsewhere.
Yet even in Australia the government is enacting new legislation that will penalize ordinary law abiding citizens who have responsibly set aside savings for their own retirement.
The Australian government now wants to tax income over A$100,000 withdrawn from what is known there as superannuation funds – US citizens know these better as IRAs – elsewhere as pensions funds.
Previously one of the incentives to saving money for retirement in a pension fund was that when the time came for you to withdraw the money, you could do it free of any government taxes. In fact in most countries that was THE big selling point to entice people to open and save regularly into pensions funds.
But the Australian government has now decided to change the rules. When withdrawals are made from these accounts over the magic $100,000 mark, they will be taxed at a rate of 15%. (That’s 15% at the moment, once established these rates could increase depending on how desperate the government becomes.)
What this means is that the Australian government now wants to tax the money you put into a pension fund when you put it in, AND then tax it again when you try to bring it back out! The archetypal taxation double-whammy!
Is that unfair, or that unfair?
Like what happened in Cyprus, these latest moves in Australia could quite easily happen in your country too!
fasab 