2012-07-26
Manifesto for War
Open Letter to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey
cc: Abdullah Gul, Supreme Military Commander of the Turkish military
in 1 week to be cced to other countries in the free world (most likely)
Dear Sir,
I previously emailed your Sydney consulate with an offer to pay my $2,500 zakat to the Turkish government, in light of all the good work it has done to date, as the most effective form of foreign aid, and ideally for me to not direct the money to any particular place, that I trust the Turkish government to use the money wisely. I have not had a reply from the Sydney consulate (to any of my emails - I don't think they want to commit anything in writing), but I did speak to them in person about it (ie I visited the Sydney consulate in Woollahra on Wednesday 2012-07-18).
It occurred to me today that I could offer a whole lot more. Bear with me, this will take a while.
Note that 1 AUD is approximately 1 USD, so you can assume all figures I quote are in USD, even though they're actually AUD.
I currently have $420,000 in shares + cash, and $250,000 in superannuation. I'd have a whole lot more money to my name, but on the advice of my financial adviser, I had a lot of money invested in TIM and GTP. What neither he or I could possibly expect is that the fascist right-wing Australian government would break the law (the court said so, eventually) and deliberately and maliciously attack the companies I was heavily invested in. A higher court took its time and decided that the government was acting illegally, but only after TIM and GTP went bankrupt because the government forced them to halt operations. This thuggery from the right-wing party is not an isolated event. See what they did to me physically. Anyway, the right-wing party which I vote for wiped out many years of my hard work. But sometimes when you lose, you win. As without this, I probably wouldn't have made the move towards the slums, and would have moved away, as per tradition. I don't think that is appropriate for what I am trying to achieve.
Note - although I have been physically and financially attacked by the right-wing party of Australia, I still vote for them because they are at least better than the slimy commies on the left who betrayed our Iraqi and American allies by withdrawing from Iraq before it was secure. I hope when the right-wing party gets back into power it publicly apologizes for what the treacherous commies did (just as the left-wing apologized publicly for something it didn't do, instead of for something that they did actually do).
Anyway, I don't like being a debt slave. I want to be able to speak out at work if I see something illegal or immoral or simply stupid being done, rather than just change jobs. (Note - I'm not claiming that my employer does any such thing, I think it's a great company, but if that ever changes, I want to be able to speak out without fear of being sacked). As such, I have been saving my money hard, for decades, and I am preparing to cease renting a room in someone else's house, and about to buy my own place, and begin my wonderful new life inviting people from around the world to come to my place, as documented here. I am REALLY looking forward to this, but I am prepared to give it up.
In order to provide the safety net should I be sacked for speaking out or any other reason, my plan is to buy a place for about $300,000 and then my other assets ($120,000 + $250,000) can be used as capital, and I can live off the income from that (at an assumed 4.5%, and low tax rate, that gives me an income of about $200/week. This is less than the $245 available to dole bludgers, but nevermind. I can't actually access my super until I'm 65, so my plan was to run down the non-super (including the house) to near-zero, then hopefully I would have access to my super, and it would all even out. Every month I remained in my job, the closer I could approach the target of the dole, as I don't think it is right for anyone in Australia to live on less than the dole. I consider that to be economic injustice, and don't wish to personally set an example of injustice.
I originally intended living in North Sydney, a low crime rate area, instead of the higher crime rate of Auburn (low income earners), but the government made that choice for me, and in hindsight, I'm glad they did, as I'd rather rub shoulders with brave Arabs than the cowardly Skips who voted the immoral, cowardly and treacherous commies into power while we were at war. I'm planning on introducing Arabs to my favourite song (that I play in a loop for hours and hours, full blast, like right now as I write this post). Apparently part of the song is "It doesn't matter if we die - at least we die like men". Have you ever heard anything more inspiring than that? Arabic rap. Fantastic!
Anyway, instead of just giving the $2,500 zakat, I am willing to give you my entire life's savings of $420,000 to any country that:
1. Has the ability to liberate Syria unilaterally.
2. Is only willing to liberate Syria if I, Paul Edwards, cough up the $420,000 that is all I actually have (I can't access my super until I'm 65, and perhaps there is a good reason why that rule exists). I need this commitment and statement in writing, and independently placed on the Turkish (etc) government website so that I know I'm not being strung along in email, and also it must be announced to NATO (verifiable by me independently ringing someone in NATO). You put me on the spot, and trust me, I'll rise to the challenge. Note that if the Turkish military was going to take a particular action regardless of my opinion, then I don't want to fund 0.01% of the war with my life's savings - I believe I can leverage my relatively small wealth via a different avenue. Only if the go/no-go decision rests on me am I willing to throw my entire life's savings at a problem like this.
In addition to my money, I'm willing to put my life on the line. I am prepared to be shot in cold blood if that is a necessary condition for liberating Syria. The shooting can take place in Syria, by a Syrian, so that the Turkish (etc) government is not legally liable for any war crime. I'd quite literally rather be dead than live in a world where brave Syrians can rise up and fight for 1.5 years and no-one at all comes to their assistance. If my death is required, I would much prefer it if that is delayed until after Syria is liberated, as I really don't want to miss seeing the Turkish military charge to Damascus. Just like this!
If you don't need me to have 100% certainty of death, but just face the same risks as a Turkish soldier, that's fine too. I'm happy to trundle along in the lead tank or whatever. I wouldn't advise letting me drive or whatever though. I'm 44, overweight, unfit, untrained, and when I tried my hand at paintball I got killed every time without killing a single enemy soldier. It's much better that you keep me alive, working as a computer programmer, and with the potential to provide more funding. I won't provide a guarantee of all my future earnings going to you though, as that sounds like slavery to me, and I am NOT willing to become a slave no matter what. I don't mind dying, but I do mind being enslaved very very much. In fact, the danger of becoming a slave, or incarcerated, even in Australia, tempts me to even suicide to avoid the risk. And I'm certainly not willing to have children in this risky world environment. Speaking of which ...
I am completely unattached to anyone in this world. I have no wife, no girlfriend (and do not wish to have a permanent one), and I treat my relatives the same as anyone else. Although I would trust my family to honour a contractual obligation, even with all my money, they do not share my passion for Syria. They'd rather prop up failed African regimes than invest in some smart bombs. I dislike people like that, and I try not to be associated with them in any way. I visited my mother (in Queensland) after 6 years absence. I'll probably make it 10 years this time before the next visit, assuming I'm actually alive. I can't stand these people for more than a few minutes at a time. I'd MUCH rather be spending my time with my ideological allies in Syria. Also I am completely unattached to any particular country, such as where I was born, Australia. In Australia, we are raised to not be nationalist. We celebrate a military defeat (Gallipoli) on ANZAC Day, rather than a military victory (e.g. Beersheba), although I would prefer that we celebrated the 1986 Filipino revolution (25th February), which was the start of the revolutions that introduced a democracy rather than another dictatorship. We have even had groups openly ask people not to bring Australian flags to events, because "only racists wave the Australian flag" (e.g. Cronulla riots). This is not unique to me. I have seen the Australian cricket team booed off the field, by the Australian public, after they WON a game, and even though they legally obeyed the rules. They violated the SPIRIT of the game. Sometimes when you win, you lose.
Also please note that my love for the Syrian people is not just for the Syrian people. I would make the same deal for Iran too. And people used to ask me why I "only" cared about Iraqis in 2003. And again in 2011 it was "why only the Libyans?". It's simply not true. Whenever there is an ability to make a structural government change that is expected to make an improvement, I'm right in there. And also the fact that I formally became a muslim on 2012-07-08 by saying the shahada is completely unrelated to my love for the Syrians. I would have made the same deal even when I was an atheist. I have not changed my morals/ideology ONE IOTA since becoming a Muslim. Just the same as my morals/ideology didn't change at all when I transitioned from Christian to atheist at the age of 13 or whatever. All it was was a minor technical question on whether the balance of probability lay in favour of a God or not. The only thing that changed with the conversion to Islam is that I now have a very annoying requirement to pray 5 times/day, and a very annoying and mildly dangerous requirement to fast during Ramadan. Even those "requirements" I only do to please other Muslims, not because I actually believe God cares one iota whether I do those things. I believe that God is far more interested that I either did, or at least offered to, pay a blood and/or treasure sacrifice to the Syrian people.
I mainly became a Muslim formally because I know that most Syrians are Muslim, and many Muslims have been raised as religious bigots, thinking that non-Muslims are a separate group that can't be their brothers. Rather than spend decades/centuries trying to convert these Muslims to stop being religious bigots, and recognize an atheist as a brother, it's simpler to simply stop arguing the toss. While Mohammed's claims cannot be accepted as per standard scientific method, there's also no actual way to prove them invalid. Maybe Mohammed really did receive revelations from God, and maybe God really told Mohammed that he wanted people to pray 5 times per day, just so that in 2012 he could have a great belly-laugh watching me doing it (which I do). Who the hell knows. I'm happy to just accept Islam as a "working paradigm", knowing full well that it doesn't make me a worse person in any way at all. Being hungry and thirsty has no military effect whatsoever, and it's only military effects that I care about.
Also please note that I provided an alternative to war - a comprehensive peace plan. I sent this to the Israeli government, to show them how they can have peace. But for whatever reason, the immoral kikes decided that they would prefer killing innocent Palestinian children than adopt my peace plan. So now it's time for war.
And one more thing to note - I don't know if the Syrian Sunnis will be willing to forgive the Allawites. They may try to expell them or something (just like after the American war of independence, the 1/3 of Americans who supported that started expelling the 1/3 of Americans who opposed independence by deporting them to Canada, to try to boost their numbers above 50%). If the Syrians do that, I would rather see Turkey rule for a while, or some non-religious-bigotted Syrians (ie my REAL ideological allies) put in charge (and armed to the teeth).
Anyway, ideally what I would like to see happen now, is that Turkey puts its military under the command of the Free Syrian Army. Let THEM decide whether Turkish ground troops should go in, for a quick war, or to slug it out for 7 months like Syria. Perhaps only use volunteers from the Turkish military, but I'm pretty sure most Turks will volunteer for that role. Let a Syrian take the blame for the excess deaths that occur from doing something illogical. However, if Assad uses chemical weapons, forget the FSA. Go in full blast, and anyone who is in any way associated with the chemical weapon use or distribution should get the death penalty. Note that even though the Turks would be under FSA command, it still doesn't mean that the FSA can order them to do something illegal (ie against the Geneva Convention). The same applies if the US President orders US troops to do something illegal - they are REQUIRED to DISOBEY that order.
Ball's in your court for 1 week, then the same deal is offered to any other country able to do the job, which is only UK, France and USA, I think.
|
cc: Abdullah Gul, Supreme Military Commander of the Turkish military
in 1 week to be cced to other countries in the free world (most likely)
Dear Sir,
I previously emailed your Sydney consulate with an offer to pay my $2,500 zakat to the Turkish government, in light of all the good work it has done to date, as the most effective form of foreign aid, and ideally for me to not direct the money to any particular place, that I trust the Turkish government to use the money wisely. I have not had a reply from the Sydney consulate (to any of my emails - I don't think they want to commit anything in writing), but I did speak to them in person about it (ie I visited the Sydney consulate in Woollahra on Wednesday 2012-07-18).
It occurred to me today that I could offer a whole lot more. Bear with me, this will take a while.
Note that 1 AUD is approximately 1 USD, so you can assume all figures I quote are in USD, even though they're actually AUD.
I currently have $420,000 in shares + cash, and $250,000 in superannuation. I'd have a whole lot more money to my name, but on the advice of my financial adviser, I had a lot of money invested in TIM and GTP. What neither he or I could possibly expect is that the fascist right-wing Australian government would break the law (the court said so, eventually) and deliberately and maliciously attack the companies I was heavily invested in. A higher court took its time and decided that the government was acting illegally, but only after TIM and GTP went bankrupt because the government forced them to halt operations. This thuggery from the right-wing party is not an isolated event. See what they did to me physically. Anyway, the right-wing party which I vote for wiped out many years of my hard work. But sometimes when you lose, you win. As without this, I probably wouldn't have made the move towards the slums, and would have moved away, as per tradition. I don't think that is appropriate for what I am trying to achieve.
Note - although I have been physically and financially attacked by the right-wing party of Australia, I still vote for them because they are at least better than the slimy commies on the left who betrayed our Iraqi and American allies by withdrawing from Iraq before it was secure. I hope when the right-wing party gets back into power it publicly apologizes for what the treacherous commies did (just as the left-wing apologized publicly for something it didn't do, instead of for something that they did actually do).
Anyway, I don't like being a debt slave. I want to be able to speak out at work if I see something illegal or immoral or simply stupid being done, rather than just change jobs. (Note - I'm not claiming that my employer does any such thing, I think it's a great company, but if that ever changes, I want to be able to speak out without fear of being sacked). As such, I have been saving my money hard, for decades, and I am preparing to cease renting a room in someone else's house, and about to buy my own place, and begin my wonderful new life inviting people from around the world to come to my place, as documented here. I am REALLY looking forward to this, but I am prepared to give it up.
In order to provide the safety net should I be sacked for speaking out or any other reason, my plan is to buy a place for about $300,000 and then my other assets ($120,000 + $250,000) can be used as capital, and I can live off the income from that (at an assumed 4.5%, and low tax rate, that gives me an income of about $200/week. This is less than the $245 available to dole bludgers, but nevermind. I can't actually access my super until I'm 65, so my plan was to run down the non-super (including the house) to near-zero, then hopefully I would have access to my super, and it would all even out. Every month I remained in my job, the closer I could approach the target of the dole, as I don't think it is right for anyone in Australia to live on less than the dole. I consider that to be economic injustice, and don't wish to personally set an example of injustice.
I originally intended living in North Sydney, a low crime rate area, instead of the higher crime rate of Auburn (low income earners), but the government made that choice for me, and in hindsight, I'm glad they did, as I'd rather rub shoulders with brave Arabs than the cowardly Skips who voted the immoral, cowardly and treacherous commies into power while we were at war. I'm planning on introducing Arabs to my favourite song (that I play in a loop for hours and hours, full blast, like right now as I write this post). Apparently part of the song is "It doesn't matter if we die - at least we die like men". Have you ever heard anything more inspiring than that? Arabic rap. Fantastic!
Anyway, instead of just giving the $2,500 zakat, I am willing to give you my entire life's savings of $420,000 to any country that:
1. Has the ability to liberate Syria unilaterally.
2. Is only willing to liberate Syria if I, Paul Edwards, cough up the $420,000 that is all I actually have (I can't access my super until I'm 65, and perhaps there is a good reason why that rule exists). I need this commitment and statement in writing, and independently placed on the Turkish (etc) government website so that I know I'm not being strung along in email, and also it must be announced to NATO (verifiable by me independently ringing someone in NATO). You put me on the spot, and trust me, I'll rise to the challenge. Note that if the Turkish military was going to take a particular action regardless of my opinion, then I don't want to fund 0.01% of the war with my life's savings - I believe I can leverage my relatively small wealth via a different avenue. Only if the go/no-go decision rests on me am I willing to throw my entire life's savings at a problem like this.
In addition to my money, I'm willing to put my life on the line. I am prepared to be shot in cold blood if that is a necessary condition for liberating Syria. The shooting can take place in Syria, by a Syrian, so that the Turkish (etc) government is not legally liable for any war crime. I'd quite literally rather be dead than live in a world where brave Syrians can rise up and fight for 1.5 years and no-one at all comes to their assistance. If my death is required, I would much prefer it if that is delayed until after Syria is liberated, as I really don't want to miss seeing the Turkish military charge to Damascus. Just like this!
If you don't need me to have 100% certainty of death, but just face the same risks as a Turkish soldier, that's fine too. I'm happy to trundle along in the lead tank or whatever. I wouldn't advise letting me drive or whatever though. I'm 44, overweight, unfit, untrained, and when I tried my hand at paintball I got killed every time without killing a single enemy soldier. It's much better that you keep me alive, working as a computer programmer, and with the potential to provide more funding. I won't provide a guarantee of all my future earnings going to you though, as that sounds like slavery to me, and I am NOT willing to become a slave no matter what. I don't mind dying, but I do mind being enslaved very very much. In fact, the danger of becoming a slave, or incarcerated, even in Australia, tempts me to even suicide to avoid the risk. And I'm certainly not willing to have children in this risky world environment. Speaking of which ...
I am completely unattached to anyone in this world. I have no wife, no girlfriend (and do not wish to have a permanent one), and I treat my relatives the same as anyone else. Although I would trust my family to honour a contractual obligation, even with all my money, they do not share my passion for Syria. They'd rather prop up failed African regimes than invest in some smart bombs. I dislike people like that, and I try not to be associated with them in any way. I visited my mother (in Queensland) after 6 years absence. I'll probably make it 10 years this time before the next visit, assuming I'm actually alive. I can't stand these people for more than a few minutes at a time. I'd MUCH rather be spending my time with my ideological allies in Syria. Also I am completely unattached to any particular country, such as where I was born, Australia. In Australia, we are raised to not be nationalist. We celebrate a military defeat (Gallipoli) on ANZAC Day, rather than a military victory (e.g. Beersheba), although I would prefer that we celebrated the 1986 Filipino revolution (25th February), which was the start of the revolutions that introduced a democracy rather than another dictatorship. We have even had groups openly ask people not to bring Australian flags to events, because "only racists wave the Australian flag" (e.g. Cronulla riots). This is not unique to me. I have seen the Australian cricket team booed off the field, by the Australian public, after they WON a game, and even though they legally obeyed the rules. They violated the SPIRIT of the game. Sometimes when you win, you lose.
Also please note that my love for the Syrian people is not just for the Syrian people. I would make the same deal for Iran too. And people used to ask me why I "only" cared about Iraqis in 2003. And again in 2011 it was "why only the Libyans?". It's simply not true. Whenever there is an ability to make a structural government change that is expected to make an improvement, I'm right in there. And also the fact that I formally became a muslim on 2012-07-08 by saying the shahada is completely unrelated to my love for the Syrians. I would have made the same deal even when I was an atheist. I have not changed my morals/ideology ONE IOTA since becoming a Muslim. Just the same as my morals/ideology didn't change at all when I transitioned from Christian to atheist at the age of 13 or whatever. All it was was a minor technical question on whether the balance of probability lay in favour of a God or not. The only thing that changed with the conversion to Islam is that I now have a very annoying requirement to pray 5 times/day, and a very annoying and mildly dangerous requirement to fast during Ramadan. Even those "requirements" I only do to please other Muslims, not because I actually believe God cares one iota whether I do those things. I believe that God is far more interested that I either did, or at least offered to, pay a blood and/or treasure sacrifice to the Syrian people.
I mainly became a Muslim formally because I know that most Syrians are Muslim, and many Muslims have been raised as religious bigots, thinking that non-Muslims are a separate group that can't be their brothers. Rather than spend decades/centuries trying to convert these Muslims to stop being religious bigots, and recognize an atheist as a brother, it's simpler to simply stop arguing the toss. While Mohammed's claims cannot be accepted as per standard scientific method, there's also no actual way to prove them invalid. Maybe Mohammed really did receive revelations from God, and maybe God really told Mohammed that he wanted people to pray 5 times per day, just so that in 2012 he could have a great belly-laugh watching me doing it (which I do). Who the hell knows. I'm happy to just accept Islam as a "working paradigm", knowing full well that it doesn't make me a worse person in any way at all. Being hungry and thirsty has no military effect whatsoever, and it's only military effects that I care about.
Also please note that I provided an alternative to war - a comprehensive peace plan. I sent this to the Israeli government, to show them how they can have peace. But for whatever reason, the immoral kikes decided that they would prefer killing innocent Palestinian children than adopt my peace plan. So now it's time for war.
And one more thing to note - I don't know if the Syrian Sunnis will be willing to forgive the Allawites. They may try to expell them or something (just like after the American war of independence, the 1/3 of Americans who supported that started expelling the 1/3 of Americans who opposed independence by deporting them to Canada, to try to boost their numbers above 50%). If the Syrians do that, I would rather see Turkey rule for a while, or some non-religious-bigotted Syrians (ie my REAL ideological allies) put in charge (and armed to the teeth).
Anyway, ideally what I would like to see happen now, is that Turkey puts its military under the command of the Free Syrian Army. Let THEM decide whether Turkish ground troops should go in, for a quick war, or to slug it out for 7 months like Syria. Perhaps only use volunteers from the Turkish military, but I'm pretty sure most Turks will volunteer for that role. Let a Syrian take the blame for the excess deaths that occur from doing something illogical. However, if Assad uses chemical weapons, forget the FSA. Go in full blast, and anyone who is in any way associated with the chemical weapon use or distribution should get the death penalty. Note that even though the Turks would be under FSA command, it still doesn't mean that the FSA can order them to do something illegal (ie against the Geneva Convention). The same applies if the US President orders US troops to do something illegal - they are REQUIRED to DISOBEY that order.
Ball's in your court for 1 week, then the same deal is offered to any other country able to do the job, which is only UK, France and USA, I think.
# posted by Paul Edwards @ 22:53 
