A box full of Darkness

The Unseen Hand / THE ROTHSCHILD FAMILY

THE ROTHSCHILD FAMILY

This European banking family was started by the father, Amschel Moses Bauer (they were later to change their last name to Rothschild) who started in the banking business in a meager way. After some early success in the loaning of money to local governments, Amschel decided to expand his banking establishment by loaning to national governments. He set up his five sons in banking houses, each in a different country.

Meyer Rothschild was sent to Frankfort, Germany; Solomon to Vienna, Austria; Nathan to London, England; Carl to Naples, Italy; and James to Paris, France.

With the Rothschild sons scattered all over Europe, each operating a banking house, the family could easily convince any government that it should continue to pay its debts, or the force of the "balance of power" politics would be used against the debtor's nation. In other words, the Rothschild family would play one government against another by the threat of war. Each government would feel cornered into paying its debts by the threat of a war which would take away its kingdom. The brothers could finance both sides of the conflict thereby insuring not only that the debtor would pay its debts but that enormous fortunes would be made in the financing of the war.

This power was visualized by Meyer Rothschild when he summarized the strategy thus: "Permit me to control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws."

The Unseen Hand _ Abraham Lincoln

Mr. Abraham Lincoln started having thoughts about his own assassination during the 1860 convention.
He went upstairs and, exhausted by repressed excitement, he lay down on the couch in Mrs. Lincoln's sitting room.
While lying there he was disturbed to see in the mirror two images of himself which were alike, except that one was not so clear as the other. The double reflection awakened the primitive vein in the superstition always present in him. He rose and lay down again to see if the paler shadow would vanish, but he saw it once more....
The next morning... he went home and reclined on the couch to see if there was not something wrong with the mirror itself. He was reassured to find it played the same trick. When he tried to show it to Mrs. Lincoln, however, the second reflection failed to appear.
Mrs. Lincoln took it as a sign that he was to have two terms in the Presidency, but she feared the paleness of one of the figures signified that he would not live through the second term.
'I am sure,' he said to his partner once, 'I shall meet with some terrible end...'

The Unseen Hand

To whom should we complain?

To Whom Should We Complain?

لمن نشكوا مآسينا ؟
To whom should we complain?
ومن يُصغي لشكوانا ويُجدينا ؟
And who listens to our complaints?
أنشكو موتنا ذلاً لوالينا ؟
Should we complain of our death by humiliation to our lord and master?
وهل موتٌ سيحيينا ؟!
And will death bring us back to life?
قطيعٌ نحنُ .. والجزار راعينا
We are a herd of sheep and the butcher is our shepherd
ومنفيون …… نمشي في أراضينا
And we are exiles…walking in our own lands
ونحملُ نعشنا قسرًا … بأيدينا
We carry our coffin unwillingly
ونُعربُ عن تعازينا …… لنا .. فينا
And express our condolences…from ourselves…to ourselves

Ahmed Matar _ revolutionary Iraqi poet 

From what I have read !

"No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of worrying can change the future. Go easy on yourself for the outcome of all affairs is determined by Allah's Decree. If something is meant to go elsewhere, it will never come on your way, but if it is yours by destiny, from you it cannot flee.''

(Umar ibn al-Khattab r.a)

" Indeed, with every hardship comes ease, with every hardship comes ease."

(Surah94: 5-6)

وما من كاتب إلا سيفنـى .. 

و يبقي الدهر ما كتبت يداه

فلا تكتب بكفك غير شيء .. 

يسرك في القيامة أن تراه

And no writer but they will perish

Though time will keep what they wrote

So do not write anything with your hand except

That which will please you on the day of resurrection

Mr President

I never fret, and will always say
A word, for which, I am responsible
That the president is a compassionate man
Constantly, busy working for his people
Busy, gathering their money
Outside, in Switzerland, saving it for us
In secret bank accounts
Poor guy, looking out for our future
Can’t you see his kindly heart?
In faith and good conscience
He only starves you; so you’d lose the weight
O what a people! In need of a diet
O the ignorance! You talk of “unemployment”
And how condition have become dysfunctional
The man just wants to see you rested
Since when was rest such a burden???
And this talk of the resorts
Why do they call them political prisons??
Why do you have to be so suspicious?
He just wants you to have some fun
With regards to “The Chair[1]”
It is without a doubt
All our fault!!
Couldn’t we buy him a Taflon Chair?
I swear, you mistreated the poor man
He wasted his life away, and for what?
Even your food, he eats it for you!
Devouring all that’s in his way
After all this, what’s wrong with our president?

Ahmed Matar 

My beloved people

My beloved people, my soul, my babies
Like a ring around my finger, you are
My good people, you who give me fulfillment
Living in the graveyards[1] patiently and content
You, who eat poison and sell your clothes just to get by

You, who bear burdens and carry mountains,
My people, doomed and asleep
Swimming in poverty, and your situation is quite a situation

I like you to be stoned, strung-out and careless 
Dizzy, and high as hell
I like you to be empty headed, and doped up
Not handling the matters of your own life at all

I like those that plunder, I like those that lie
I like those that pillage and rob heaps
I like those that see, know, and fear
And swallow their tongues and never say a word
I like the imbeciles that keep their eyes shut
I like the animals and the mules
I like those that are satisfied, I like those that are idle
I like those that just want to raise the kids
I like the desperate; I like the depressed
I like the frustrated that see the impossible
I like you to travel, to emigrate far
And send back money in dollars and Riyals
I like you to clap, party and cheer
For a football match, a movie, or a tabloid
I like you to support, revere, idolize
To accept, to be hypocritical, and to lick my shoes clean
To prepare the smelling salts, and to assemble the cadres
To wash, to scrub, and to assemble meetings

But, if you want to think, plan, or decide
If you start using your mind and to open up debates
If you start to create problems
And to search for things and to ask questions
And you want to enlighten and you want to improve
As though you were the man of the hour

In that case, I will find you, never let you go
And I will make you an example for all to see
And your torment will be beyond belief
I will shame and name you
And destroy your dignity
You will get framed for crimes
And live for the rest of your life in exile

If you agree, I’ll like
If you don’t I’ll lash you

Bow Your Head

Bow your head, bow 
You are in a democratic country 
We bless you with freedom 
Under the condition that you bow 

If you work with integrity
Fearful for the fate of society
Your work will be riddled with futility
Because only the lowly can rise
Bow your head, bow 
You are in a democratic country

When its defenders are its thieves
And they throw the country behind their backs
Devouring all that’s in their way
Protected by an officer’s uniform
Bow your head, bow 
You are in a democratic country

When you’re hard earned is not yours
Poverty blocking all your paths
You turn to look around
Only to find thieves and crooks
Bow your head, bow 
You are in a democratic country

When you find in other lands
That a human being is something else
You are in an underclass 
Like a chained monkey or a bat
Bow your head, bow 
You are in a democratic country

When the ignorant are ahead of you
Or above you, holding you by a leash
And drive you to your ruin 
And you drink from the Socratic poison 
Bow your head, bow 
You are in a democratic country

When only a word convicts you
When you hide within your heart your faith
When I see the humiliation in your eyes
Add your frustrations to my frustrations
Bow your head, bow 
You are in a democratic country

Ahmed Najm

Maintain your Independence ..

"The Borrower is a Slave to the Lender, and the Debtor to the Creditor...

Preserve your freedom, and maintain your independence.

 Be industrious and free; be frugal and free."

Bankers who loan to governments all over the world are called "international bankers." And like all bankers, their success in business depends on their ability to have their loans repaid by the borrower.

A local bank loans money on a house by having the debtor pledge the home as collateral. The banker can "foreclose" on the mortgage and become the sole owner should the payments not be made as promised.

The international banker faced a more complex problem than the local banker, though. What could he secure his loan with when he loaned money to the leader of a government? The head of the government had one power not shared by the homeowner: the right to "repudiate" the loan.

Repudiation is defined as: "The refusal of a national or state government to pay real or alleged pecuniary obligations."

The bankers had to develop a strategy by which they could make certain that the government they loaned to did not repudiate the loan that the bankers made to the governments.

The most successful tool of insuring compliance with the terms of payment was the threat of war: the banker could always threaten the defaulting government with a war as a means of forcing it to make their payments. This act of repossessing the nation would almost always work as the head of government, anxious to keep his seat of power, would agree to the terms of the original loan, and continue making his payments.

The Unseen Hand 

Allah is a Master-Artist in his Creation

" وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّلْعَالِمِينَ "
"And of His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colours. Indeed there are Signs in this for the wise."

Although your vocal chords are similar, and there is no difference in the structure of the mouth, the tongue and the brains, yet people speak different languages in different regions of the world. Even in the regions where the same language is spoken different dialects are spoken from city to city and from town to town. Moreover, the accent and pronunciation and the style of speech of every person is different from the other. Similarly, although the semen and the formula of your physical structure is the same, yet your colours are so different , even the colour of the two sons of the same parents is not exactly the same. In this verse, attention has been drawn only to two aspects, but if one looks around they will notice an unite variety everywhere in the world. One will find countless differences in the species of man, animals, plants and other things in spite of the basic uniformity in their different members; so much so that no member of the species is exactly identical with the other.

Anyone who sees this wonderful phenomenon with open eyes, can never be involved in the foolish misconception that the Maker of the universe has gone to sleep after having made it go.

Abbas Mahmoud Al-Aqqad

[Nature] does not combine both illness and genius to no effect. Had the great of the world been free from maladies and defects, the whole human race would never have stepped outside the confines of jungles and caves.

— 

 Abbas Mahmoud Al-Aqqad

No sadness lasts forever, nor any felicity

No sadness lasts forever, nor any felicity 

Nor any state of poverty or one of luxury. 

If you are the owner of a heart that is content 

Then you and the owner of the world are equivalent. 

— Imam Al-Shafi‘ee

"will no-one rid me of this troublesome priest ?"

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. Becket benefited from his family's status first by being sent to Paris for his education and from there to England where he joined the household of Theobold, the then Archbishop of Canterbury.

Becket's big break came in 1154, when Theobold introduced him to the newly crowned King, Henry II. The two hit it off immediately, their similar personal chemistries forming a strong bond between them. Henry named Becket his Chancellor. Archbishop Theobold died in 1161, and Henry immediately saw the opportunity to increase his influence over the Church by naming his loyal advisor to the highest ecclesiastical post in the land. But Why would Henry do this ?

In Henry’s reign, the Church had its own courts and any member of the Church could decide to be tried in a Church court rather than a royal court. Church courts usually gave out easier punishments to churchmen who had done wrong. Henry believed that this undermined his authority. As king, he was concerned that England was becoming too lawless - there was too much crime. He believed that Church courts did not set a good example as they were too soft on offenders. Henry hoped that by appointing his good friend Becket, he might have more of a say in how the Church punished offenders.

Becket did not want the job. As chancellor, he was as powerful as he wished to be. Becket wrote to Henry that "our friendship will turn to hate." However, Henry persuaded Becket and he agreed in 1162 to the appointment.

In 1164,Henry passed a law which stated that any person found guilty in a Church court would be punished by a royal court. Becket refused to agree to this, and knowing of Henry’s temper, he fled abroad for his own safety. It took six years before Becket felt safe enough to return to England. However, they quickly fell out again when Becket asked the pope to excommunicate the Archbishop of York who had taken sides with the king.He is said to have shouted out "will no-one rid me of this troublesome priest ?" Four knights heard what Henry had shouted and took it to mean that the king wanted Becket dead. They rode to Canterbury to carry out the deed. 

On December 29th 1170 they killed Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. After killing him, one of the knights said "Let us away. He will rise no more."

Becket’s body was still on the cathedral floor when people from Canterbury came in and tore off pieces of his clothes and then dipped these pieces in his blood. They believed that they would bring them luck and keep evil away. Where Becket died quickly became a place of pilgrimage. The pope quickly made him a saint. Henry II asked the pope for forgiveness and he walked bare foot to Canterbury to pray at the spot where Becket was killed. Monks flogged him while he prayed.

People left valuables at the spot of his death. It became a shrine to him and people claimed that a visit to the shrine left them free of illness and disease. No-one dared to touch the valuables there until Henry VIII shut down the monasteries and churches and took away any valuables he wanted. It took 21 carts to remove the valuables from Becket’s shrine at Canterbury Cathedral.

Russian revolution of 1917

John D. Rockefeller was one of the early refiners of oil, as he started in 1863 with two partners. Rockefeller's interest was not satisfied with just one refinery, however. As author William Hoffman observed: "What he wanted was to be the largest refiner in the world, the only refiner in the world."

By 1872, Rockefeller controlled twenty-five percent of America's refining capacity and by 1879 he controlled ninety-five percent.His goal shifted now from national control to international control. His company, Standard Oil, was supplying ninety percent of America's foreign oil sales and America was the sole source of an exportable surplus. But something was happening to his international market. "The wall of Standard's international oil monopoly had been breached with the opening of Russia's great Baku field on the Caspian Sea. By 1883, a railroad had been built to the Black Sea, and the Czar had invited the Nobel brothers and the Rothschild family to help develop these great oil riches."

By 1888, this new oil source had overtaken Standard Oil as the international seller of crude oil.

The traditional explanation of Russia's economy at this time was that the nation was an agrarian economy, far behind the other European economies. However, during the period of 1907 to 1913, Russia's increase in its industrial production rate exceeded that of the United States, England, and Germany, long believed to be the industrialized giants of the day.

The following is typical of the conclusion of many researchers who have examined this period in history: "The Russian revolution of 1917 came not at the end of period of stagnation and decay, but rather after more than a half century of the most rapid and comprehensive economic progess."

False flag operations

"False flag operations " occur when elements within a government stage a secret operation 

whereby government forces pretend to be a targeted enemy while attacking their own 

forces or people.The attack is then falsely blamed on the enemy in order to justify going to

 war against that enemy. 

The term comes from the old days of wooden ships, when one ship would hang the flag of

 its enemy before attacking another ship in its own navy. Because the enemy's flag was

 hung instead of the flag of the real country of the attacking ship, it was called a "false flag"

 attack.

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign

 enemy." 

- U.S. President James Madison

"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country 

who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along,

 whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist 

dictatorship ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the

 leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and 

denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works

 the same in any country." - Hermann Goering

"And cursed be he who moves my bones."

Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death.The epitaph carved into the stone slab covering his grave includes a curse which Shakespeare himself said would befall anyone who moved his bones.

And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.

Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones,

To digg the dvst encloased heare.

Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,

Modern spelling:

"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,"

"To dig the dust enclosed here."

"Blessed be the man that spares these stones,"

"And cursed be he who moves my bones."

Polish critic Jan Kott calls Shakespeare “Our contemporary” !

He was born in 1914 , he was a Polish political activist, critic and theoretician of the theatre.

He was born to a Jewish family, Kott was baptized into the Catholic Church at the age of five. He became a communist in the 1930s, and took part in the defence of Warsaw.

Kott travelled to the United States in 1965 on a scholarship from the Ford Foundation, and lectured at Yale and Berkeley. The Polish authorities refused to extend his passport after three years, at which point he decided to defect. He was stripped of his professorship at Warsaw University as a result. A poet, translator, and literary critic, he became one of the more prolific essayists of the Polish school in America. He died in Santa Monica, California after a heart attack in 2001.As theatrical reviewer, Kott received praise for his readings of the classics, and above all of Shakespeare. In his book, Shakespeare, Our Contemporary (1964), he interpreted Shakespeare in the light of philosophical and existential experiences of the 20th century.

Shakespeare Our Contemporary is not really an attempt to understand Shakespeare — indeed, it is not a work of literary criticism at all. It is, instead, a protracted reaction to certain of Shakespeare's plays by a man who has lived through the German and Russian occupations of Poland, and who has seen the irrelevance of Western Europe's traditional humanistic values under such conditions.Kott is convinced that Shakespeare shares this postwar philosophy.

The great Elizabethan is our contemporary because he realized the absurdity of the world and confronted it with an attitude of bleakly ironic despair , as  Kott sees  it. Shakespeare's dramas are all dramas of politics, and in them we find an accurate picture of  20th century political life, especially as lived in Eastern Europe — a meaningless series of tyrannies, betrayals, conspiracies, and apparent liberations from tyranny that lead only to further  t y r a n n y. Hamlet plans a coup d'etat to match that perpetrated  by Claudius, and the result of all his scheming is the accession of  Fortinbras, one more king like all the others.

Jan Kott’s notion of Shakespeare as our contemporary relies on his articulation and understanding of a philosophy of history. How does history function? For Hegel history functions as a dialectic of two opposing forces which propel us to truth and progress. Kott sees history as an eternal cycle like a wheel. Following the Nietzschean idea of the eternal return, Kott characterizes history through the Grand Mechanism, a metaphysical machine that controls the fate of men. Kott visualizes the Grand Mechanism as a stair case by which tyrants rise to power. Each step up requires treachery and killing until they reach the top and achieve power only to fall victim to those climbing the stairs behind them. The actions that bring them to the top bring about their demise.

 The beauty of Shakespeare’s plays is that they continue to resonate and touch certain aspects that seem to remain true even in modern experience. This four hundred year old text can still be presented and comment profoundly on our current circumstances: this is what makes Shakespeare our contemporary.