Category Archives: High Seas

Being a young achiever in the maritime industry is no longer an extraordinary occurrence. For years now, millennials have already occupied the higher echelons of leadership onboard vessels and shore-based executive positions. And while the title "young achiever" gives a significant tinge of grandeur after the name of its owner, it brings along greater expectations.

Such is the case for Jean-Vincent Abobo. He was the youngest chief engineer and the only Filipino onboard an offshore construction vessel back in 2017, a time when European chief engineers are better preferred by ship owners and the Filipinos were relegated to lower positions.

"The stakes were high for young leaders like us. It entailed great expectations from clients and shipmates, and our decisions were critical to a multimillion-dollar ship," Abobo said.

"I was the first Filipino chief engineer on our fleet and my first command was on one of the largest and most advanced flex-lay subsea installation and construction vessels," he recalled.

The experience never dwarfed the man, however. Abobo saw the moment as the culmination of his childhood passion for building and repairing boats.

"I grew up with my grandparents. My lolo was a motor banca builder and at a young age, I have witnessed him and my uncles overhaul engines. As a child, my toys were old pistons, exhaust valves, and other engine parts. I was comfortable tinkering and playing with them," Abobo recalled.

This childhood experience led him to a career he is passionate about - marine engineering.

"There was no seafarer in our family. What drew me to marine engineering is simply a personal and instinctive interest in ship engines. And so, I entered Mariners Polytechnic Colleges in Legazpi, Albay and finally, in 2005, I have completed the Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering (BSMarE) at the Philippine Maritime Institute (PMI) in Quezon City."

From playing with engine parts as a little boy on the shores of Catarman, Northern Samar, Abobo took his engineering passion across the world onboard deep sea and offshore vessels.

"My best memories on the high seas were delivering and commissioning new ships from the shipyard of our clients, taking dynamic positioning (DP) trials, and successful subsea projects. I've experienced sailing on both deep sea and offshore vessels, and I would say that in my career, my technical know-how has expanded while working aboard subsea construction vessels with sophisticated equipment and machinery. It was like a premium upgrade with lots of new toys," Abobo quipped.

His engineering mettle was tested when his ship once stalled in the middle of pirate-infested waters and was in danger of being attacked.

"There was a major mechanical failure that caused our ship to stall. The crew was left with no other option but to hope that my team would be able to reinstate the system swiftly. Fortunately, we were successful in fixing the system and steered safely away from danger," he shared.

Today, the 37-year-old chief engineer shares his experience and expertise with the younger generation of mariners. As the PHMA president and general manager of Solstad Offshore ASA in Manila, he is contributing to the company's core values by producing reliable, competent, and responsible Filipino seafarers.

"My career both offshore and onshore is closely analogous to the game of golf; success is achieved not by perfecting your game (not even the greatest golfers have done this) but by constantly striving to improve your game while learning to accept and react to challenges that are happening on that day during that round," the golf enthusiast said.

Outside of work, Abobo sees himself as a cool husband and father. He is Jean to colleagues and Vincent to family and close friends.

"Apart from being an engineer, I'm a car enthusiast. Before the pandemic, me & my son, who is also fond of supercars, would always visit car shows and regularly join the fun runs and car club meets. Eight months ago, I started playing golf, and one of the many reasons I love this game is because it challenges both my mind and body and allows me to look inward and works towards improvement," he concluded.

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Meeting great expectations - The Manila Times

If you're not familiar with sailing but have been on a cruise, or plan to, then you're likely to get confused with the use of terms like "port" and "starboard".

Perhaps you know the terms from many hours watching the America's Cup. But do you know what they mean and where the terms came from?

Port is to your left if you are looking towards the front of the ship.

Originally the left side of the ship was called 'backbord', a German word which didn't last long and was replaced by the English word 'larboard', likely an adaptation of a word meaning 'loading side'.

Thankfully, someone along the way - apparently in the mid-19th century - realised that "larboard" and "starboard" sounded rather alike and could easily be confused or misheard. And that wouldn't be a good thing if you're under attack or in more modern times, docking at a five-star hotel.

So the term port was introduced, but while the idea of the name deriving from a drunken sailors favourite high-seas tipple, its origin is much more simple.

Due to the position of the ship's captain, the vessel would always dock with the left side against the port, so there you have it.

Starboard is to the right of the ship when looking forward and the origin of the term is quite straightforward compared to the other side of the boat.

'Starboard' combines two old words, stor ('steer') and bord ('the side of a boat').

So with the ship's captain steering the boat from the right side, storbord, starboard it was.

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The history of the words 'port' and 'starboard', and how to remember which is which - Newshub

The ocean has always glowed.

The Greeks and Romans knew of luminous sea creatures as well as the more general phenomenon of seawater that can light up in bluish-green colors.

Charles Darwin, as he sailed near South America on a dark night aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, encountered luminescent waves. He called it a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. As far as the eye could see, he added, the crest of every wave was bright so much so that the livid flames lit the sky.

Now, scientists report that ocean bioluminescence can be so intense and massive in scale that satellites orbiting five hundred miles high can see glowing mats of microorganisms as they materialize in the seas. Last month in the journal Scientific Reports, eight investigators told of finding a luminous patch south of Java in 2019 that grew to be larger than the combined areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

It was an epiphany, said Steven D. Miller, lead author on the bioluminescence study and a specialist in satellite observations at Colorado State University. When a hidden wonder of nature comes to light, he added, it captures your imagination.

The scientists said the close examination of images gathered between December 2012 and March 2021 from a pair of satellites let them identify a dozen extremely large events approximately one every eight months. Even the smallest was a hundred times larger than Manhattan.

The imagery is opening a new window on the worlds oceans, scientists say, and promises to aid the tracking and study of the glowing seas, whose origins are poorly understood.

Kenneth H. Nealson, a pioneer of bioluminescence research at the University of Southern California, called the discovery a big step toward being able to understand how an enduring mystery of the sea actually comes to be.

The new paper noted that the large concentrations of living lights have long eluded rigorous scientific inquiry, and thus little is known about their composition, formation mechanism, and role within the marine ecosystem.

Sea bioluminescence is often associated with gruesome creatures of the inky deep. One iconic illuminator is the anglerfish, which dangles bright lures in front of needlelike teeth. In contrast, the luminous seas appear to originate when many trillions of tiny bacteria light up in unison.

Dr. Nealson, who was not involved in the satellite research, and colleagues reported in 1970 that dilute suspensions of a particular type of bacteria emit no gleam. If allowed to multiply, however, the microbes can suddenly light up as if a switch were thrown. Scientists now theorize that the glittering masses of bacteria lure fish, whose guts provide nourishing habitats.

Dr. Millers trail of discovery began nearly two decades ago when a lunchtime chat raised the question of whether sea bioluminescence might be visible from space. While working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, Calif., in 2004, he began examining imagery from a weather satellite. Soon, he spotted in the northwestern Indian Ocean what turned out to be a glowing patch that was nearly the size of Connecticut.

The blurry area was barely visible, but Dr. Miller and his colleagues grew quite excited because they knew that a new generation of satellite sensors would soon provide much greater sensitivity and sharpness. The improved sensors debuted on a pair of satellites launched by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2011 and 2017.

The sensitive detectors proved adept at least on dark nights at capturing glimmers of light from the seas and provided the imagery for the current report.

A surprise, Dr. Miller said, is that the events turn out to persist for long periods. For instance, the large patch off Java in 2019 lasted for at least 45 nights. That raises the possibility that a rapid response team of oceanographers might have enough time to reach the patches and take samples for detailed studies.

To date, Dr. Miller said, no team has succeeded. He added that television companies that make nature documentaries have shown interest in using the satellite detections to track down and film the gleaming seas.

Peter Herring, a British marine biologist known for his work on deep bioluminescence, called the satellite work important because, after ages of uncertainty, it raised the prospect of finally coming up with hard evidence of what powers the luminous whorls.

The discovery, he added, is a large splash and will have significant ripples.

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Satellites Spot Oceans Aglow With Trillions of Organisms - The New York Times

A special operation conducted by the Sri Lankan Navy in the high seas in the afternoon of 30th August 2021, led to the seizure of a multi-day fishing vessel carrying about 290kg and 200g stock of heroin, attempted to be smuggled into the island by sea.

As per the sources seized drugs were smuggled from Pakistan.

The operation also made way to the apprehension of five suspects in connection to this smuggling attempt. Meanwhile, the fishing vessel with heroin and the suspects were brought ashore on Tuesday.

Based on information received from a coordinated intelligence operation led by Sri Lanka Navy Intelligence and other intelligence services, the Navy detected and searched a suspicious multi-day fishing trawler heading landward, during this special anti-drug operation carried out in the high seas in the afternoon of 30th August.

The interception made way to the recovery of about 290kg and 200g of heroin in 259 packages stuffed in 10 sacks which were concealed in the vessel. Apart from the haul of drugs and the multi-day fishing trawler, the Navy also nabbed 05 suspects onboard the fishing vessel.

The multi-day fishing trawler seized by the Navy on suspicion of smuggling heroin, had ventured out to sea on 30th July 2021 and it is suspected that the consignment of narcotics was fetched to the trawler from foreign smugglers in international waters. Meanwhile, the street value of the seized consignment of heroin is believed to be over Rs.2321 million.

The operation was conducted adhering to COVID-19 protocols in force to prevent the spread of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Navy and Police Narcotic Bureau are conducting further investigation into the incident as of now.

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Sri Lankan Navy seizes over 290 kg of heroin worth more than Rs.2321 million - Zee News

After years of training, the start into space is getting closer and closer. Another two months, then astronaut Matthias Maurer should take off for the International Space Station (ISS). If everything goes according to plan, the Saarland resident will be the twelfth German in space after taking off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the fourth German on the ISS. Im of course very happy that it will finally start. Ive been working for a few years to finally fly into space and I believe that I wont be excited until Im really on the launch pad in the capsule, said he scheduled to start on October 31st.

Maurer will be the first German to get to the ISS in SpaceXs Crew Dragon spaceship. In the flying laboratory, at an altitude of around 400 kilometers, he will carry out numerous international experiments on behalf of researchers on Earth in weightlessness. As a trained materials scientist, he has a particular focus on: Activities to develop new materials, but also solutions for life sciences and physical experiments.

What is the 51-year-old looking forward to most? I hope that I will be able to enjoy the view of our beautiful earth very soon after my arrival. I will then go on a 90-minute trip around the world, so to speak. I imagine this moment to be incredible. Every time I just think about it, I already have goosebumps. The ISS takes around 90 minutes to circle the earth once.

Maurer is well prepared for the expected six months in space. In 2015 he joined the astronaut corps of the European space agency ESA and has been training for his first space flight ever since. This included a 16-day underwater mission, geological field training and survival training on the high seas. But he has also trained tricks on how to keep his body fit in space and selected meals for the time in near-earth orbit.

Eating is extremely important in order to stay in a good mood, says Maurer. Most of the food comes in cans or bags, and water must be added to dry food. He prefers the thermo-stabilized dishes to the dried ones, says Maurer. And: For his mission, he is planning to make yogurt in space himself. But Im not so sure yet whether this will work.

Maurer has just completed training in Houston for a possible field deployment in space. Now its back to California to practice at SpaceX. Then there is a short vacation at home on the program before going back to the USA. Quarantine is announced two weeks before the start.

Maurers mission comes at a time of uncertainty about the future of the human outpost. Russia has recently shown little interest in continuing to operate the more than 20-year-old colossus in the cosmos. However, Moscow recently sent a new research module to the ISS. Jan Wrner, Europes long-time head of space, sees this as a sign that the sky laboratory will be used for a longer period of time. Some see commercialization as a future perspective for the ISS. There are said to be two visits from space tourists during Maurers mission.

And what about German space travel? Actually very good, says astronaut Alexander Gerst in a video from the federal government. We are at the forefront at eye level. Gerst was twice on the ISS and is considered a candidate for a moon flight. So far there has not been a German astronaut. That will change, thinks spaceman Thomas Reiter, in 2006 the first German on the ISS. The more women participate in an astronaut selection process, the greater the likelihood of making it to the final round.

NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron will set off with Maurer in autumn. Around 35 experiments from Germany and many international experiments are planned. The engineer Maurer, who has a doctorate in materials science, may also go out into space for a field trip.

It is the ESA astronauts first mission, which Maurer called the Cosmic Kiss. The name is a declaration of love to space and the connection that the space station establishes between humanity and the cosmos. Already 4000 years ago people were enthusiastic about space.

Maurers home community in Saarland is excited. The tension increases, the joy increases. Yes, we are extremely proud, says the mayor of Oberthal, Stephan Rausch. Large banners will be set up at the entrances to the town, pointing to Maurer and his mission. In addition, a take-off event is planned for October 31. How exactly this will look still has to be planned. Maurer grew up in the Oberthal district of Gronig with around 1300 inhabitants.

(mho)

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The countdown is on - astronaut Maurer before the start of the ISS - Market Research Telecast

Empire, American historys most ambitious, contradictory, and costly era, is ready to end.

What began with the conquests of Hawaii and the Philippines more than 120 years ago, and later produced historys most powerful empire, has now become absurd in terms of its size, exorbitant in terms of its costs, and irrelevant in terms of its aims.

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Considering imperial history, international circumstances, and American societys genetic code, global retreat is indeed what Uncle Sam should now do.

The American imperium planted 800 bases worldwide, more than 20 times what the other four superpowers have combined. The number of US troops stationed abroad, 200,000, is equal to the size of the entire standing army of France. Some 150 of the worlds 195 countries host American troops.

Americas annual military spending, more than $770 billion, is larger than the next five military spenders combined. The 11 aircraft carriers with which Uncle Sam navigates the high seas equal the combined total of all other countries carriers.

What is this imperial investments purpose and yield, and how does Americas imperial motivation compare with those of previous empires?

The Athenians wanted the sea. The Romans wanted continents. The Mongols wanted the horizon. The Spaniards wanted booty. The British wanted trade. The Nazis wanted slaves. The Byzantines wanted to make more Christians. The Arabs wanted to make more Muslims, the Soviets wanted to make more communists. What did the Americans want?

Well they wanted different things at different times. The earliest was glory.

The guns of our warships in the tropic seas of the West and the remote East have wakened up to the knowledge of new duties, said Teddy Roosevelt, referring to Americas first military victories overseas (Nathan Miller, Theodor Roosevelt: A Life, p. 319). Duties in this case meant not the needs, but the sway of a superpower. Thats what made him preach the usage of Americas unique location between the worlds two largest oceans in order to create the naval superpower it indeed became.

The same sense of imperial duty is what made Roosevelt mediate between Russia and Japan, an international role the US had never assumed. This imperialism of duty matured when the American militarys arrival in Europe swiftly decided the First World War.

By the end of the next world war, Americas imperial position was transformed: it was no longer a young nation asserting its newfound power, but was now driven by concern for the worlds very survival.

After having defeated bellicose dictatorships that attacked dozens of countries in a quest to seize resources and subdue nations, the American Empire now led the rest of the worlds resistance to the new totalitarian menace, Soviet communism.

That imperial goal was achieved. The Soviet Empire crumbled as swiftly as the fascist empires did before it. Now, with the Cold War won, the American Empire marched to its third phase, the one it would not win: proselytizing.

UNLIKE ROOSEVELTS imperialism, which was about American glory, and unlike Harry Trumans legacy, which was about Western self-defense, American imperialism was now about gospel. Suddenly reinforced by the fallen Warsaw Pacts former members, the American empire was now reprogrammed as a democratizing empires sword and spear.

For the American empire, it was one horizon too many.

Imperial imposition of ideas has failed before Americas Afghan visitation, and will fail after it. Uncle Sams chances of making the world adopt his convictions were no better than those of Paul, Mohammed or Lenins chances of spreading their own faiths to all of mankind. The Afghan misadventure should therefore be Americas last imperial war.

It is one thing to wield power in order to protect an idea, the way America did during the Cold War. It is an entirely different thing to do in order to spread an idea. It doesnt work.

That is the second reason the American Empire is now irrelevant. The first is that todays rival superpowers, unlike the Soviet Union in its time, are not in the business of spreading faith. Russia and China are anti-democratic, but they dont challenge the way the West is run, not in their diplomacy and not in their propaganda.

Why, then, surround the globe with American troops, bases and aircraft carriers? And why spend on defense an annual $770 billion, when every American metropolis festers with sprawling ghettos where millions of undereducated Americans languish in poverty, indignity and despair?

The American imperium has become an absurdity that neglects Americas guts and empties its coffers while fighting for an impossible cause against enemies that no longer exist.

Americas imperial period has been intense and in many ways rewarding, but it wasnt part of the American way. Unlike the British and French, the Americans did not build colonies. Americans remained insular, as if nodding to George Washingtons assertion in his farewell address:

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is to have with them as little political connection as possible.

Yes, there is now a whole free world that didnt exist in Washingtons time. America is, and should remain, its leader. The rest of the world, however, will remain under despots until their citizens rebel, because empires, even Americas, cant change the world the way only rebels can.

http://www.MiddleIsrael.net

The writers bestselling Mitzad Haivelet Hayehudi (The Jewish March of Folly, Yediot Sefarim, 2019), is a revisionist history of the Jewish peoples leadership from antiquity to modernity

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The American empire is ready to end - The Jerusalem Post

Invest 99L is taking its time getting ready; all indicators point to a tropical depression will forming very soon. Hurricane Hunters are scheduled to fly into the system this afternoon to look for the center and see if it can be classified as a depression or storm. As with every disturbance, it is very difficult to predict when there is no center to track from. What we do know is once the system is in the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday, environment will be favorable for intensification with the warm waters. A named storm seems very likely and a hurricane appears likely as well.

From NHC:

A trough of low pressure is located less than 200 miles south of Jamaica, and the associated shower and thunderstorm activity continues to become better organized. Environmental conditions remain conducive for development, and a tropical depression or storm is expected to form later today or tomorrow. It has a high (90 percent) chance of formation during the next 48 hours and five days.

This system is forecast to move northwestward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea near the Cayman Islands tonight, near Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on Friday, and into the Gulf of Mexico this weekend. Given the recent developmental trends, Tropical Storm Warnings for the Cayman Islands and Tropical Storm Watches for western Cuba could be required later today.

Regardless of development, locally heavy rainfall and flooding will be possible over portions of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands today and tonight, and will likely spread across Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday. In addition, this system could bring dangerous impacts from storm surge, wind, and heavy rainfall to portions of the coasts of Louisiana, Texas, and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas late this weekend and early next week.

However, uncertainty remains large since the system has yet to form. Interests in these areas should closely monitor the progress of this system and ensure they have their hurricane plan in place. An Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system later today, if necessary. Additional information on this system, including gale warnings, can be found in High Seas Forecasts issued by the National Weather Service.

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All eyes on Invest 99L; forecast indicates formation by this afternoon - The Times of Houma/Thibodaux - houmatimes.com

Buckle up for yet another round of heavy rainfall and flooding.

Hurricane Idas remnants will be sweeping through Massachusetts late Wednesday into Thursday, bringing torrential rain and the potential for very significant flash flooding to the Bay State.

The entire state is now under a flash flood watch, according to the National Weather Service. Up to 6 inches of rain is possible.

The bulk of heavy rain should occur Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and theres a high confidence for 3 to 4 inches of rain around the Boston area with isolated higher amounts possible, said Frank Nocera, meteorologist at the National Weather Services Boston office.

There could definitely be some street and highway flooding, and small rivers and streams could overflow, he added. Stream levels are already high because of how wet its been this summer.

The heavy rainfall should still be around Thursday morning during rush hour. Some road closures are possible, Nocera said.

The Thursday morning commute is not looking too good, he added, saying that hydroplaning is a concern. It would definitely be a good day to telework.

The rain should move offshore around noon on Thursday, and the afternoon looks dry.

Along the coast, a gale watch is in effect from late Wednesday night through Thursday evening. Three- to five-foot seas are possible in Massachusetts coastal waters, the Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay.

Strong winds can cause hazardous seas which could capsize or damage vessels and reduce visibility, the watch reads.

Mariners should consider altering plans to avoid possible hazardous conditions, the alert states. Remain in port, seek safe harbor, alter course, and/or secure the vessel for severe wind and seas.

A fall-like air mass is expected following the remnants of Ida, bringing cooler than normal temps. Thursday night temps could drop into the 50s.

Both Friday and Saturday should be in the low 70s, followed by mid 70s on Sunday, and then up to 80 on Labor Day. The holiday weekend looks to be dry and pleasant.

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Hurricane Idas remnants to bring torrential rain and possible flash flooding to Massachusetts, Thursday morning commute not looking too good - Boston...

Gauahar Khan shared this photo. (Image courtesy: gauaharkhan)

Actress Gauahar Khan, who was vacationing with husband Zaid Darbar in the Maldives till this weekend, urged her fans and followers to always "stay humble" in her latest post on Instagram. Gauahar shared a few photos of herself from her holiday and accompanied it with a thought-provoking note that read: "The ocean makes you feel so small, imagine how small a part you are in this entire universe created by the Almighty! Yet we keep pride and arrogance for our existence! #BeHumble #BeReal #spreadlove #Musafir #Alhamdulillah #maldives." In the pictures, Gauahar Khan can be seen sporting a grey dress and having a good time on a boat.

See the actress' post here:

Gauahar Khan and Zaid Darbar returned to Mumbai from the Maldives on Sunday. The couple were spotted at the Mumbai airport.

The actress has already filled her Instagram diaries with stunning pictures and videos of herself from the beach destination. "High seas, Choppy water, Treaded it with my moves. Heheheh #maldives," she captioned one of the posts while sharing another, Gauahar Khan wrote: "Have arrived! Alhamdulillah. #Maldives. A place I always only wanted to visit when I'm married."

Meanwhile, also check out more glimpses of Gauahar Khan and Zaid Darbar's Maldives vacation:

Gauahar Khan was last seen in Netflix's film 14 Phere. Before that, she featured in Amazon Prime Video's web-series Tandav, starring Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Tigmanshu Dhulia. Gauahar, a former model, has worked in numerous movies like Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year, Game, Ishaqzaade, Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Begum Jaan.

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"Be Humble, Be Real": Gauahar Khan's Guide To Living A Positive Life - NDTV Movies

Its pretty straightforward, this one. If you think about the arguments that were made for the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, they were straightforwardly liberal. I realize there is an aspect of this thats neoconservative. But, if you look closely at neoconservative arguments, they are an interesting and contradictory fusion of Burkean conservative ideas and classically liberal ideas, and its the classical liberalism that Im getting at here. So, of course theres a tradition of liberalism thats property-based you can go back to Grotius and Locke and their justifications for colonialism and slavery. Grotiuss road to justification for colonialism was based upon the right to property, and even a justification for piracy based upon the right to property and the limits to where property could apply (so piracy on the high seas was no problem because ultimately no one could have property on the high seas!). It was perfectly permissible, provided you were punishing somebody who had done something wrong to you.

Locke argued that slavery was justified as a continuation of perpetuation of conquest. Essentially, theyre your captives and you deal with them how you like. Its a right of war. Obviously, he favored the appropriation of territorial property on quasi-religious grounds (Gods command is that we improve the goods of the earth and make proper use of them, and if there are these tribes in North America who arent properly using them and bear in mind he was a profiteer on this front then we have every right to take that land and put it to good use).

I could go on, but I think its important to say this tradition opens up into warring camps, if you like. Although there is a critique of the racist, imperialist, and patriarchal aspects of enlightenment, its important to say that people like Kant argued against empire on fairly cosmopolitan and universalist grounds. Jeremy Bentham also argued against empire, as did Diderot. There was a strong anti-imperialist and universalist tradition within liberalism and thats something to value. But, by and large, by the time of the 19th century, when empire is becoming its most bloody, you have people like John Stuart Mill and Charles Dickens both sentimental liberal, moral reformers as far as the UK is concerned (perhaps thats unfair to Mill, who I think was brilliant) but when it came to the international order . . . I think Id better read some quotes from him, because this is what he said: Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement and the means justified by actually affecting that end. . . . Until such time as theyre improved, he went on, to implicit obedience to an Akhbar or Charlemagne was their lot.

In A Few Words on Non-Intervention, he argued for a strict dichotomy between the legal and political standards that you would apply to natives versus those that would apply to domestic citizens, and so on. Its not based on biological racism, but its a strain of cultural chauvinism that should be reminiscent of the kind we saw in the war on terror, where theres the constant argument around questions like Is it fair to argue that the West is superior? and a lot of muscular liberals saying Of course its superior. You cant say its all relative, and essentially using that to justify Islamophobia.

You can find that in that tradition in Mill, Tocqueville, Roosevelt, Wilson (well, Woodrow Wilson was an out-and-out white supremacist, but he fused race thinking and blood thinking with some quite interesting liberal ideas about self-government). You can find it on the Left too: you can find it with the Fourierists, and to some extent in early Marx and Engels (where there are some quite brutal statements about the conquest of Algeria and the war on Mexico by the United States). You can find it particularly pungently in the Fabians who argued that essentially again, Im going to quote from them because its useful sometimes when people come out in such explicit terms but essentially their argument was that Britain had an obligation to what they called the non-adult races. That was a term that they inserted into the Labours manifesto in 1919, which was otherwise a very radical manifesto.

Anyway, in response to the Boer War, in which there was quite a strong antiwar opinion in Britain it was minoritarian but it existed they argued that parliamentary institutions for native races was a dream that had been disposed of by the American experiments after the Civil War. In other words: letting black people rule themselves hadnt worked. They were also impracticable in India, they said, and therefore the best that the natives could hope for was grandmotherly tyranny. So theres an idea of racial uplift built into this strain of liberalism. Its a paternalistic, benevolent kind of liberalism, which also turned out to be extremely bloody.

You have to understand that, at the time that these things were being said (for example, in relation to the Boer War) its a situation of concentration camps and mass murder. In relation to the Indian uprising and Mills justification for British power, it was massacres. At the time of the Indian uprising, Charles Dickens who in other respects we think of as a conscientious liberal wrote to his friend: I wish I were commander in chief over there. I would address that Oriental character, which must be powerfully spoken to in something like the following placard: I, the inimitable, holding this office of mine, have the honor to inform you Hindu entry that it is my intention with all possible avoidance of unnecessary cruelty, and with all merciful swiftness of execution, to exterminate the race from the face of the earth, which disfigured the earth with abominable atrocities. Thats an open call for genocide there.

In the context of the war on terror and liberal arguments being advanced, they began with, Were going to liberate these people, were going to emancipate these people from the twin despotism of Saddam and sanctions. Were going to make their lives better. Were going to bring them food. This was Bushs speech: Were going to bring them food, were going to bring the medicine, their lives are going to get better. And then it becomes Were at war with Islamic fascism. And then it becomes Christopher Hitchens saying, Cluster bombs are pretty good, actually, because itll go straight through them and out the other side. And then it becomes Sam Harris arguing that the people who speak most sensitively about Islam are actually fascists. You can see how quickly the fundamentally liberal argument for domination a temporary domination, if you like girded by the nineties revival of paternal imperialism under the rubric of humanitarian intervention, becomes vengeance. It becomes Were losing not because of anything weve done wrong, but because the enemy is barbaric, because the enemy is Al-Qaeda, because our enemies are psychopaths and murderers and rapists.

As Hitchens said, We cant live on the same planet as them, and Im glad because I dont want to. In other words: elimination, extermination. Theres always a danger in human tragedy of confusing the pleasures of aggression with virtue, and that has never been more pungently and obviously the case in my lifetime than during the period of triumphalist, chauvinist, browbeating, bullying, bloodthirsty, liberal imperialism in that era. And Blair was the most fervent advocate and champion of that era. So disaster liberalism, I would say, is putting it somewhat mildly.

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The British Establishment Is Losing Its Mind Over Afghanistan - Jacobin magazine