Der ungerechte Krieg

Der Krieg, der gegen die Ukraine und die Ukrainer momentan geführt wird, ist sowohl beunruhigend als auch kriminell. Putin ist eindeutig ebenso böse wie unausgeglichen.

Daß ein Präsident irgendeines Landes einen solchen Krieg gegen unschuldige Menschen wie die Ukrainer führen kann, ist für einen normalen Menschen wirklich schwer vorstellbar. Die Schwierigkeiten, die dieser Krieg für die Menschen in Ukraine geschaffen hat – für junge Leute, alte Leute und Kinder – sind einfach unglaublich. Zu sagen, daß Putin ein herzloser Mensch ist, ist in der Tat eine Untertreibung.

Harte Sanktionen gegen Putins Regime sind gut und notwendig; aber genug sind sie einfach nicht. Es ist auch gut und notwendig, den Ukrainern Waffen zu liefern, damit sie ihre eigenen Schlachten gegen die Russen führen können. Aber auch hier reicht die Hilfe nicht aus. Die Ukrainer kämpfen nicht nur ums Überleben ihres eigenen Landes; sie kämpfen auch fürs Überleben der liberalen Demokratie des Westens. Erwarten wir wirklich, daß die Ukrainer unseren Überlebenskampf unseretwegen führen? Ist das der christliche Weg? Ist das der mitfühlende Weg nach vorn? Ist dies der vernünftige Weg vorwärts?

Wer glaubt, daß Putin mit dem Einmarsch in die Ukraine aufhören wird, ist wirklich einfältig und lebt wirklich in naiver Hoffnung. Nachdem Putin die russische Kontrolle über die Ukraine erlangt hat, wird er sein nächstes Ziel ins Visier nehmen. Wo wird das sein? Einer der baltischen Staaten oder einer der anderen ehemaligen Satellitenstaaten der ehemaligen UdSSR?

Wir im Westen müssen unsere Strategie überdenken. Mir ist klar, und es sollte allen klar sein, daß es besser wäre, diesen Wahnsinn frühzeitig ein Ende zu setzen, als zu warten, bis das Problem außer Kontrolle gerät. Andernfalls werden wir uns innerhalb kürzester Zeit in einem Krieg mit Russland wiederfinden werden, dessen Kosten für uns alle unerträglich sein werden.

Es wäre besser, wenn wir jetzt uns mit der Situation abfinden würden. Je früher desto besser. So schwer, daß dies für uns alle werden wird.

Ich sollte hinzufügen, dass die beste Führung in der heutigen Zeit von der Uktraine selbst kommt: Präsident Volodymyr Selenskyj ist eine Lehrstunde für alle unserer Führer im Westen. Er hat diese Krise vorbildlich gemeistert. Er ist ein wahrer Held!

© Mark Alexander
Alle Rechte vorbehalten

Time for the West to Grow a Spine!

We need to re-think our strategy re the Ukraine. Isn’t it high time that NATO and the West change rhetoric on giving full military support to our brave Ukrainian brothers and sisters?

Three things, in particular, need to happen: The European Union needs to suspend its bureaucracy and make an exception to admit the Ukraine into the EU, with immediate effect; NATO needs to grow a spine and give the Ukrainians all the military support it needs, including combat troops; and a no-fly zone needs to be declared over Ukrainian airspace. Call Putin’s bluff! Challenge him! Defy him! Destroy his economy and destroy his military! Bring Russia to its knees!

We need to face-off with Russia. Putin is a bully; and bullies are usually weak little men when all is said and done.

The Ukrainians are not simply fighting for their own beloved country; rather, they are also fighting for our freedoms, fighting for liberal democracy. It is a disgrace that we are allowing them to do this alone, allowing them to do our dirty—and dangerous—work for us.

If Ukraine falls, which country will be next to fall? Poland? One of the Baltic states? The former Yugoslavia? If we value our freedoms, our liberty, our democracies, then we need to step up to the plate and help the Ukrainians to repel the barbarians by whom they are being attacked.

Sanctions are all well and good; but they are not enough to defeat the Russian bear.

Let the Ukrainians join the EU; let Western nations send real military support to help the Ukrainians fight their enemy; let there be controlled airspace for the Ukrainians, too.

These measures are the decent measures to take. They are also Christian measures. How can we, in good conscience, sit idly by and allow a good Christian country be destroyed by barbarians? Moreover, while we are at it, the British government needs to seize the property and chattels of the Russian kleptocrats who have splendid homes here in the UK, particularly in London and Surrey. Let no stone go unturned to help our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine, who find themselves in great difficulties and indescribable danger, and who find themselves having to fight for our freedoms. Let the real war commence!

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Message: Hacked Yet Again!

I would like to apologise to my visitors and followers for the changed colours of the fonts on many of the posts below. Clearly, we have been hacked yet again! Somebody has been upset by something that has been posted. It doesn’t take much, it seems, to upset some people. It is plain to see that the truth hurts. Many people hate to be confronted with it.

It is too difficult and time-consuming at this late hour in the day to try and look over the HTML in all my posts today, so I have decided to leave things as they are. I am sorry for any inconvenience caused.

It is to be hoped that the hacker’s mummy will buy him a rattle, or something else, perhaps a teddy bear, to pacify him. That way, we might have a chance to be left in peace in the future. – © Mark

Hacked Again!

My sincere apologies for the changed colour of the fonts. That is not my work, but a hacker’s.

Over the months, a pattern has emerged. Each time I have been hacked, it has been when something has been posted about Islam. I recently posted something about Lord Ahmed and an introduction to an article on Salafism, in French. They were not my words, but from articles in reputable British and French newspapers. Clearly, this information has upset someone. Nothing negative must ever be posted about Islam or the behaviour of Muslims! Muslims want a pass on everything!

When a hacker does this, he/she only makes it more difficult for my visitors and followers to read. It is a very anti-social thing to do. It is also childish.

It is too difficult and time-consuming for me to go through all the HTML to try and correct these posts. So I have decided to leave them as they are. It is better for me to use my time more productively and move forward, ignoring what has been done and living with it.

I am sure that you will have realised that I have no agenda: I am not trying to push any particular view on anyone. I have no axe to grind. I simply post a variety of items in three languages to make things interesting for my visitors. Furthermore, I have never asked anyone for any money. I have been doing this, at least so far, for free. It is ‘a labour of love’. All I want is to be left alone to make this blog interesting, aesthetically pleasing, and erudite. For the hacker, it appears that this is too much to ask.

What this person is doing shows us all the nature and mentality of the hacker. I can only apologise to you all for the inconvenience this causes you. Just for you to know, though, if you click on the title of each post, you will be taken to a separate page and the version of that post you will see is as it should be.

Let us all hope for hack-free days.

© Mark Alexander

Gay Kiss of the Day

Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day; so, out of respect for the victims of the Holocaust, I shall not post any such pictures, certainly not today or tomorrow. I feel that it would be very inappropriate and very much in bad taste to do so. I’m sure that you will agree with me.

Although I am not a Jew, I have great respect for people of that faith. Indeed, it was through documentaries on their suffering watched when I was growing up that initially triggered my interest in the German language. I therefore feel a strong bond with the Jewish people. In fact, watching documentaries on that period can often reduce me to tears.

I have the greatest respect for those that perished in the Holocaust; also for those that managed to survive the horrors they lived through.

It disturbs me greatly to read and learn that anti-Semitism is once again rearing its ugly head, right across the so-called civilised world. It seems that many people either refuse to learn or are incapable of learning the lessons of history.

Moreover, we are seeing a crisis unfold in Ukraine. Another war cannot be ruled out. There is also a cost of living crisis right across the Western world. Therefore, posting pictures of jollity and expressions of love seem so inappropriate for the coming days. Rest assured, however, I shall resume posting such pictures as soon as I feel that it appropriate to do so.

I trust that you, my visitors and followers, will understand my decision.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

A Short Message: Hacked Again!

I have been hacked this evening yet again. I have been left in peace for quite a long time now. But today, I placed an article about the drug problem in Syria and the Gulf. Then, I placed a video up about the same problem. It must have touched a raw nerve.

Although I cannot be certain, I am pretty sure I know the country of origin of the hacker. It has only ever happened when I have had the temerity to place something up in Arabic or about Arabic politics and/or affairs. The hacking happens swiftly thereafter.

Clearly, these people think that they live in an alternative, pure universe. Worldly problems are for others. Any problems that exist in Arab countries are not supposed to be aired or talked about. But the harsh reality is that plenty of alcohol is drunk illicitly in Arab countries, even in countries where alcohol is strictly forbidden. And from the article and documentary posted, there is clearly a drug problem, too. Though I have no first-hand experience of that underworld – thankfully. For your information, everything that goes on in the so-called decadent West goes on there as well.

I think it best that I leave it there. I could say far more, but I might get hacked again.

Maybe the hacker will have the decency to restore the original colours of the fonts. Trying to undo the damage myself could be a very tedious, time-consuming process. It would be far easier for the hacker himself to undo the changes to my HTML.

I will leave that up to him to do the decent thing. If not for me personally, then for you my visitors and followers. Here's hoping. – © Mark

The Mess That Is Britain!

In my not so short lifetime, I have never known such a balls up as this! Never in my lifetime have I experienced such an almighty mess in my beloved country! Everything is in a mess, from soaring prices to empty shelves in supermarkets to an increasing and obscene differential between the wealth of the haves and the have-nots. And worse it will get under BoJo’s régime.

The supply chain is clearly broken, with even worse to come. When the full negative effects of Brexit kick in, things are going to get a whole lot worse. And more expensive. Far more expensive!

There is one lesson we should all have learnt in life: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! When we were in the European Union, things were not perfect. But they were not broken. And they were a hell of a lot better than they are now. Moreover, we should all have learnt the lesson that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. The EU was indeed not perfect, but it is a work in progress; and with determination and common sense, progress it will. We Brits now have no say at all in its future direction. We are no longer at the top table. Gee, thanks Brexiteers!

Global Britain? Don’t make me laugh! This is not the nineteenth century. We are living in a very different age from that. This is no longer an age in which we can fight opium wars with China; rather, we in the West are in grave danger of being overtaken by China. China’s economy is growing apace; ours is shrinking. America’s economy, too, depends on China to prop it up. Go to the States these days and visit their shops (what’s left of them). So many goods in the shops bear the label ‘Made in China’. Few items these days are American-made.

If America is struggling to compete with China, what hope does little Britain have of competing?

Britain’s future rested in Europe. European nations, if they work together, have a chance. Alone, no European nation has any chance of being able to compete with the increasing might of China. Working alone, the future is China’s for the taking.

Boris Johnson is a classics major. Clearly, he has little or no understanding of economics, still less of geopolitics. He should have stuck to the classics. I’m sure he’s very knowledgeable in such classical subjects.

As things stand at the moment, there is very little to give anyone any hope for the future. And with Donald Trump in the States hoping to regain the White House, one can only despair. Donald Trump is an empty vessel. He has no chance of competing with the intellect of Xi Xinping. Indeed, Xi must be praying for his re-election!

Sad times!

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

A Short Message to My Visitors and Followers

I should like to draw your attention to one very important fact: When you see something posted on this website, you should not conclude that I necessarily agree with the content posted. I often post items which I might not always agree with. I post them because I think they might be of interest to you, my visitors and followers. I also sometimes post items because I feel they give one food for thought.

This blog is not about pushing an ideology. As a person, I am rather moderate in my views and live a very normal, moderate and, I believe, a very respectable life. Further, I have never been given to excess of any sort, neither in food nor drink nor dressing; indeed, in outlook, I am generally rather conservative.

I do, however, believe that there is a place in this world for all people, regardless of faith, skin colour, or sexual orientation. As long as people live decent lives and help others, especially when those people are in difficulty or need, they should be respected.

This is not a website for people with extreme political views. I firmly believe that extreme political views lead to instability in society and definitely, ultimately, lead to no good place.

So please, if you come across anything posted on this website, do not conclude that I necessarily agree with what has been posted. Only the comment I may have posted on it will give you any indication of my own beliefs. Even the recipes I post are not always things that I would necessarily wish to eat. For example, if I post a vegan recipe, not being a vegan myself, I might well not wish to cook that recipe.

I am trying hard to make this website interesting to as wide an audience as possible: gay, straight, young or old. I also work hard to bring you all something in English, German and French; and sometimes even in Spanish, even though, alas, I am a greenhorn in that language. But I have many visitors from Spain and Spanish-speaking nations, so I feel that such links would be of interest to them.

Again, I should like to thank you all for your continued support. It means a lot to me. I appreciate it greatly. Stay safe in these perilous times! – © Mark

A Christmas Message

Image : Adobe Stock
Christmas, as wonderful and joyous a time of year as it can be, for many it can also be poignant and sad, especially for people who have lost loved ones. In the commercial frenzy that often accompanies the build-up to the festive season, it is easy to forget that many people suffer at this time of year. Our thoughts should be with them.

Marginalised people, as gays can often be, especially older gays, are frequently very lonely. This can be an especially challenging time of the year for them. Since the loss of my own partner in 2016, I am myself no stranger to loneliness; so, I understand how difficult this time of year can be for so many people, whether gay or straight. Loneliness is no respecter of age, class or social standing. Money doesn’t buy good company. Further, many young gays who have been rejected by their families can suffer just as much as older people can. Please spare a thought for young gays, too; especially gays who have come out and who have been rejected by their families just for being true to themselves.

We are all living through especially difficult times since the start of this ‘forever’ pandemic. So, all we can do is do our very best to stay safe and healthy. It is my sincere hope that you ALL stay healthy and safe. Then we need to hope and pray for better times ahead.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support. As I have told you before, it means a lot to me. I can only hope that my blog posts bring you all as much pleasure as your visits bring me.

With my best wishes to you all for Christmas. / Avec mes vœux chaleureux pour Noël. / Mit den herzlichsten Wünschen zu Weihnachten.

Mark

A Message to My Followers and Visitors

In recent weeks, I have had a hacking problem again. Somebody is playing around with my ‘Page View Counter’. Each day, despite my hits increasing, thousands of page views are being ‘shaved off’ my stats.

I know that this cannot be accurate because my stats are monitored by Google itself and by other external sources. The numbers being shown on the counter do not tally with the numbers recorded by other websites, including Google itself.

For this reason, I have decided to remove the counter from my blog because of this tampering. In any case, it is not an accurate reflection of the visitors I receive. The actual number is much higher than is being shown by that counter.

If and when things settle down, I might re-introduce the counter; but for the time being, I feel that it is better and less stressful that it be removed.

I should like to take this opportunity to thank you ALL for your continued support. I can assure you that it is most apprecaited. Again, I would like to say that if there is any way you feel that this blog can be improved, you are most welcome to email me with your suggestions.

Naturally, I am saddened that I feel the need to take this step. But I feel sure that you will understand that I find it demoralizing to find that thousands upon thousands of page views are being taken away each week without any reason. This is NOT caused by an algorithm; rather, it is being caused by the human hand.

Sincerely

Mark Alexander

In a Hate-filled World, Making Love Is Always Good

Our world is filled with ‘hate’. We all know it is, because the news is filled with hatred from each and every corner of the world. For this reason, I say clearly, and without reservation, that bringing love into the world is always good, whichever way that is, or can be, done between two CONSENTING ADULTS.

But when it comes to relationships, be they in the straight or gay community, there is a vast difference between “making love” and “having sex”.

As my visitors and followers will surely be aware by now, I am strongly in favour of ‘gay rights’. By ‘gay rights’, I mean the right of gay people to fall in love with whomsoever they please. But that comes with a caveat: The two people involved should always be CONSENTING ADULTS. The converse is NEVER acceptable.

Further, when I refer to “making love”, I use that term in stark contradistinction with “having sex”. Animals “have sex”; human beings are meant to “make love”.

When and where this website refers to kissing and expressing love, it should always be borne in mind that I always mean “making love”, not “having sex”. Promiscuity, be it in the homosexual or heterosexual community, is always unacceptable and abhorrent in my view.

Further, there is absolutely nothing wrong with abstinence. Being celibate is an acceptable option until the right person comes along. I know – I have actually spent most of my adult life being celibate. I have never bed-hopped; and I am very proud of that!

PROMISCUITY is NEVER a good option. It leads to no good place for either party. It is far better to wait until the right person comes along. Then, you can express your love, your true love, for that person and go on and have many years of pleasure and enjoyment together.

© Mark Alexander

All Rights Reserved

Message

It appears that this blog has been hacked yet again! I have not taken the Gay Pride flag down, nor my message(s), nor my email address, nor any of the links in the right-hand side bar. They have all been taken down by a hacker.

It really is high time for him to ask his mother to buy him a rattle to play with – as a matter of urgency! That way, we can all be left in peace, and he would be pacified. – Mark

Hinweis an den Hacker

Ich glaube, es wäre eine gute Idee, wenn Du Deine Mutter fragen würdest, Dir als Geschenk eine Babyrassel zu kaufen und sie in Deinen Kinderwagen legen. Die Rassel wird Dich sicherlich trösten!

Liebe Grüße,
Mark

A Short but Important Message to My Visitors

I am being hacked again, even as I write this. One of my posts about anti-Semitism has been taken down. I had placed that up only a short while ago. It was an article from the New York Times on anti-Semitism in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Then, I noticed that I was unable to place a link underneath my report from 60 Minutes Australia on gay conversion therapy, entitled Pray the Gay Away. The keyword underneath that video is now ‘great songs’. I did didn’t place those words there, a hacker did. Problem is that I cannot change it back to what it should be! This has never happened to me before.

The hacker is clearly an anti-Semite. He is also sure to be a homophobe. This is extremely sad. – © Mark

I’ve Had No Feedback Yet

Despite receiving lots of visitors to this blog, and despite requesting feedback, I have received not even one single email from anyone with any opinion or suggestions for improvement. I am surprised and disappointed.

Because I have had no feedback, I have no idea which features you like and which features you dislike. Consequently, I am working completely in the dark: I have absolutely no idea whether I am on the right track, or not.

When I changed the name and focus of this blog, I hoped to build a community. Building a community relies on some interaction. Without interaction, I am merely blogging according to my own whim and fancy. That was not my intention.

I find this a little demoralising. I am also demoralised by the fact that my page views are not growing in spite of all my hard work. I once requested that you spread the word for me. Clearly, this hasn’t helped.

Thus far I have never tried to monetise this blog; so, I get nothing from it except the satisfaction of pleasing my visitors (and seeing my page views go up). Without any feedback at all, I cannot know whether I am pleasing you, especially when the page views don’t rise accordingly.

At one point, I reached approximately 68,500 page views a month. Today, I am down to 46,200+ this month.

I have reasons to be suspicious of this page view count. I am not convinced that it is not being tampered with. Why? Because it doesn’t tally with the stats I get from a French company which also monitors my statistics. Their stats are consistently good and vary little, indicating that nothing has changed. Google’s, by contrast, go up and down like a yo-yo, sometimes the page view count can drop 1,500 views in a space of less than half an hour! Then, the following day, it climbs back up again only to be cropped again late that night. They talk of algorithms; it seems more like the human hand to me!

Make no mistake, my page views are still very good by comparison with other blogs, research tells me. However, I want this blog to grow and grow, not go up and down like a yo-yo.

So I ask you again, please be so kind as to write me an email with your thoughts and suggestions. It doesn’t have to be long. But your ideas would be very helpful to me. I don’t think that this is asking too much of you.

You can write to me in English, German, or French; in whichever language suits you best. But a little feedback would be very welcome and extremely helpful.

As always, my email address is markalexander.librabunda@gmail.com

I shall look forward to receiving your viewpoints and suggestions. – Mark

My original FEEDBACK request is here.

Feedback

Maintaining this blog is more difficult than it needs to be because I am working without any information on its demographics: I have no idea of your ages, your first language, or sexual orientation, or even whether your out of the closet. (Are most of my visitors gay or straight? Please bear in mind that this blog had been going for twenty or so years before it ever became gay-friendly.) Further, I do not know exactly what percentage of my visitors are English-speaking, German-speaking, or French-speaking, especially as a first language.

I also do not know whether I’m bringing you, my visitors and followers, what you want to see, read or watch. In short, I am working in the dark.

For this reason, I ask you now to please be so kind as to email me with your thoughts and ideas on what you think of this blog and on how you think it could be made better. I want to improve this website in any way I can. Basically, as well as pleasing myself, I want to please you. That is very important to me.

For this reason, I ask you now to consider helping me by emailing me with your thoughts. Do you like this blog, and if so why, and if your think it can be improved, how it could be improved. This would be very helpful to me. It would also make my work so much easier.

You can email me at the address markalexander.librabunda@gmail,com . Rest assured that anything you write me will be in the strictest of confidence.

Warm wishes to all,

Mark

Erfreuliche Nachrichten aus der Schweiz

MARK ALEXANDER: Heute in einer Volksabstimmung haben die Schweizer ein klares „Ja“ gesagt zu „Ehe für alle“. Das ist ein sehr erfreuliches Resultat für die Schweiz und für Europa.

Zu diesem historischen Ereignis möchte ich gerne allen Schweizern herzlichst gratulieren. Von nun an wird es möglich sein für schwule Schweizer das eigene Glück und die eigene Zufriedenheit zu schmieden. Ich freue mich sehr für Sie alle! – © Mark

This Was My Comment on Thursday, September 16th. in the New York Times apropos of AUKUS

I strongly disapprove of this deal, especially the duplicitous way that the US, UK and Australia have gone about it.
This deal between the US, UK and Australia has greatly angered the French and the Chinese: The French are understandably very angry (and greatly disappointed) because it cancels their huge deal with Australia - they feel let down; the Chinese are also understandably very angry because they apparently view it as resurrecting the Cold War mentality. They also see it as meddling in their region and waters.

It seems to me that the West is going the wrong way about trying to curb the rise of China. First and foremost, we should not be cutting off France like this; instead, the US, UK, and Australia should be working closely with France and Europe. We should not be causing divisions by our actions, for to do so will only embolden and empower China. The West should be working as one hand!

This is an ill-conceived move. It is divisive and counterproductive. – © Mark

This comment can be found on the New York Times here. If you approve of the comment, please be so kind as to give it a thumbs up. I would greatly appreciate that. (There are also more comments of mine on this topic beneath this comment. Please read those as well and like them if you feel so inclined.)

Message

That infantile hacker has been at it again! Doesn’t his mother give him toys to play with? Perhaps a rattle would do the trick!

Wait for my pageviews to go down this evening. Do people like this know nothing except destruction? It is ironic that it is the anniversary of 9/11! Haven’t they got a creative bone in their bodies? – © Mark

Message to My Visitors and Followers. My Website Has Been Hacked – Yet Again!

I apologise for all gold print that appears. That is not my work, but a hacker’s. Whoever it is must be very playful, but also rather nasty.

One strange observation I have made is this: I have been hacked only twice even though I have blogged for twenty or so years. The hacks have been recent – since I changed this blog’s name and made it gay-friendly. (Please note, I said ‘gay-friendly’, not gay. This blog is about many things which have no relation to gay issues at all: international politics, Islam, cookery, music, fashion and much else besides.) But each time I have been hacked, I have put something up in Arabic script. Also, the timing: The hackings have taken place about half an hour after putting something up in Arabic. It was just the same the last time. It could be a coincidence, but somehow I doubt that it is.

It is probably the same person who keeps shaving off thousands from my pageviews with alarming frequency.

Run away and play little boy! Stop your childish games and try and grow up! By the way, if you are worried about your good deeds… rest assured, this is not one of them! Were I to be your father, I would scold you severely! – Mark