(Video) Paul Krugman interview: Paul Krugman interview on RT

(Video) Obama Drone Strikes: the devil is in the process

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(Video) GOP Voter Suppression:Democracy on the Ropes:

(Sport) Hatton comeback defeat: no shock, no shame

While there are very few certainties in life, it was quite clear to anybody who knows anything about boxing that it was inevitable Ricky Hatton was going to lose this fight. Hatton didn’t lose the fight because senchenko is a better fighter or even that he is too old to box, but because of his bad boxing habits which would probably end a less punch resistant fighter's career within ten fights.  

Hatton throughout his career and throughout the Senchenko fight refused to tuck and protect his chin, which in boxing, leaves you open to a good jab and subsequent combinations. This is made worse as Hatton has the tendency of leading with his face which is incredibly stupid for a fighter like Hatton to do against fighter like Senchenko who has a decent jab and a serious reach and height advantage.

This is why in later rounds of the fight; Senchenko started picking Hatton off with stiff jabs and slick combinations when Hatton couldn’t keep up the pace of the opening rounds. Hatton could have beaten Senchenko if he looked at his opponent’s weak spots as senchenko, due to his tendency to arch his back when tucking in his chin, leaves him susceptible to a good hook and uppercuts on the inside. If Hatton could have got close, the uppercut would have been open to him all night but Hatton chose to go to the body which Senchenko took notably in his stride.

You could tell Senchenko knew was going win as he came into the ring wearing a Manchester united shirt in venue filled to the brim with Manchester city supporters singing in unison the club’s ‘Blue Moon’ anthem  when Hatton approached the ring. He took a number of Hatton’s shots with a smile on his face probably in the knowledge that the fight was going his in the later rounds, which unfortunately for Hatton turned out to be the case.

Many people may have made their prediction about Hatton winning this fight by looking at Senchenko performance against Paul Malignaggi, who outboxed and outwitted the Ukrainian for nine rounds straight through the slickest use of footwork and hand speed you’ll ever see in a boxing ring. Malignaggi, like Hatton, gave up a major height and reach advantage, but unlike Hatton, Malignaggi is tactically conscious using his speed advantage to earn him a 9th round stoppage to once again become a world champion.

The smarter strategy Hatton should have used if he was serious about become a world champion again would have started with a move outside of the ring by fighting opponents at light welterweight rather than welterweight, where he made his name. at this division he would follow the risky strategy of ‘taking one punch to land two’ as he seemed to able to take a good punch at this level without being ruffled enough to take him a out of his gameplan of stalking opponents every round and unloading the most vicious body punches you ever seen thrown.

However this all changed when he moved to welterweight where fighters at this weight were more punch resistant and hit harder than light welterweights, which the bouts with Mayweather and Pacquiao fight proved beyond reasonable doubt, was a combination that was to Hatton’s detriment.

In sum, Ricky Hatton contribution to boxing will never be in question as most boxers would sell their grandmother and throw an aunt into the bargain to achieve what he has in his spectacular career but as warned in the carnage report article ‘pride comes before the fall'’, pride is  the worst motivations to ever step in the ring.            

(Opinion) Afghanistan: looking for new friends

With several NATO countries withdrawing troops in Afghanistan and the United States preparing to leave in 2014, Afghanistan is now looking to make itself some new friends as it prepares for life without US and NATO assistance. Afghanistan has recently made a concerted effort to make any ally out of India, an effort supported and encouraged by the United States they are seen by the U.S. as a “stabilizing power in South Asia”[1].  The relationship between Afghanistan and India seems to be flourishing as India has “reached an agreement last year for some senior afghan officers to receive training in India”[2].

Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai has even ‘invited’ India filmmakers to shoot their movies promising “safety and provision of logistical support to the filmmakers”[3]. However, while building bridges with India is a step in the right direction, its relationship with Pakistan that probably should be on the top of the country’s agenda with regards to its security. While there is strain between the countries,  Pakistan and Afghanistan do communicate with each other and have worked together to establish peace as both countries “have… appealed to Taliban-led insurgent groups to participate in the Afghan political reconciliation process aimed at ending the war… asking the militants to sever links with al-Qaida and other international terror networks”[4].

check out the full article at:

 http://www.filmannex.com/posts/blog_show_post/opinion-afghanistan-looking-for-new-friends/57827

Election 2012: why you don't promise rain in california

(Interviews) David Wilson Interview: When a Red Light Shines

The carnage report with writer and former police officer David Wilson. we managed to secure an interview ans this was the result, enjoy!

What inspired you to write novels?

I’ve always wanted to write but it was a case of finding the time. As for inspiration… my experiences in the police in the 80’s and 90’s had something to do with it and I’ve always felt comfortable writing.  I’ve also written a few short stories over the years which I might publish at some point

Have any writers influenced your work?

I don’t think one particular writer has influenced me…I’m sure by reading good books over a period of time you pick up ideas subconsciously and they influence your style

Do you have a writing process?

I wouldn’t say I have a writing process that is set in stone. I tend to write my ideas down on paper and when I start it’s almost like a journey and I see where it takes me. It’s surprising that throughout the whole process how new ideas can come to you from nowhere and your plot changes.   

I am aware that you have a new book soon to be released called ‘When a Red Light Shines’. Can you give us a brief outline of the story?

When a Red Light Shines is a political thriller and is the first of a series of DCI Jack Edgerton thrillers. Edgerton is the head of the Metropolitan police murder squad in London and originates from Bermondsey, South east London. He’s a maverick and does things his own way. A serial killer is on the loose and the subsequent investigation takes him to the very heart of the British political establishment with a few twists and turns. There’s a strong Russian connection and without giving the story away a scandal slowly develops among the ruling elite…. I can say no more.   

Your plotline seems to have a negative view of politics, is this due to your political perspective or the limits of the political thriller genre?

It is negative. In fact, it’s a tragedy, and one would hope such a scandal such as this would never take place. I don’t have any real view on politics but the inner workings of the political system in the UK does intrigue me, and I think it makes a great topic for a thriller. Have you aimed this book at a particular audience?I’ve not aimed my book at any particular audience. I just hope it appeals to most readers and so far the reviews have been positive. 

What do think about the growth of self-published authors at the moment?

I think it’s great. There are a lot of unpublished writers out there who have a lot to offer. The book industry is no different to the music industry, and the digital age has changed everything.  However, if you choose to follow this route, I think you’ve got to be 100% focused on your project and make sure the book is edited. The cover is also so important. They say ‘don’t judge a book by its cover', but I’m afraid people do.  

Being a crime writer, who are your favourite writers in the genre?

Jeffery Deaver and Lee Childs always spring to mind. However, there are so many other great writers…

I understand that you are a serious punk-rock fan, have you ever drawn inspiration from punk rock to help you write?

Yes, I love music, and my favourite band is the Stranglers. I’ve followed them for years, and I still keep an eye on the ex-lead singer Hugh Cornwell. I’ve been lucky enough to meet them all and interviewed Jean Jacques Burnel. They are a great set of guys and talented musicians, but I’m not just a punk…I recently went to see Coldplay and George Michael so my music tastes vary, but if I were marooned on a desert island with the choice of only one CD, then of course it would have to be the Stranglers. I don’t write in silence, and I need music in the background…so it must inspire me.   

 Last question. ‘When a Red Light Shines’ is part a series, when you expect to release part two?   

Part two will be released very soon. The book is simply called S.E.17. Based in South east London DCI Edgerton comes face to face with organised crime in the capital.   

Thank you , David

you can pick up 'When a Red Light Shines'  here

(Interview) War and cultural destruction: the carnage report interviews Fernando Baez

The Carnage Report recently caught up with celebrated writer and award winning essayist Fernando Baez, author of the bestseller 'A universal history of the destruction of books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern Iraq' (2002). We were lucky enough to seal an interview with the international authority on cultural destruction and below was the result. Enjoy!

1.    What drives you to write?

I write because I feel like I must. I'm always drawn to either write down my ideas or imagine being in a different time or place.

2.    Have any writers influenced your work?

Yes. I read without following manuals, card catalogues, guides, critical anthologies, books labeled “classics,” or recommendations for weekend reading.

3.    Who are your favourite writers, if any?

Rafael de Nogales Méndez, George Orwell, Noam Chomsky, Borges, Hemingway.

4.    Your most of your work has focused on the theme of cultural destruction, what interests you most about this theme?

I was four or five years old and lived in an honorable state of poverty, which had granted me as a last refuge the public library building in my hometown. My father was an honest–that is, unemployed–lawyer, and my mother, born in La Palma, in the Canary Islands, had to work all day in a notions shop weaving and unweaving, like the wife of that great traveler Odysseus. Which meant they had to leave me in the house that constituted the library in the old town of San Félix in storied Guayana, Venezuela. There she got discrete assistance from a widowed aunt related to her by marriage who for a time was the establishment’s strict secretary. So I spent whole days under the indifferent protection of this kind woman in the moth eaten stacks among scores of volumes.

That happiness was abruptly interrupted because the Caroní River, one of the Orinoco’s tributaries, overflowed its banks without warning and flooded the town, carrying off with it the papers that constituted the object of my curiosity. It took away every volume. So I was left without my sanctuarity and lost part of my childhood in that small library, all washed away by the dark waters. Sometimes on the nights that followed, I would see in dreams how Stevenson’s Treasure Island sank while one of Shakespeare’s plays floated.

 5.    In an article by the Asia Times, you stated that the United States had a duty to protect the cultural heritage of Iraq. Do you think a nation at war can really protect the cultural heritage of a nation it wages war against?

Yes. U.S. troops were responsible for violating the Hague Convention of 1954 by not protecting cultural installations during the seizure of Baghdad.

6.    In the same article you stated that the worst enemies of book were intellectuals, to which there is some truth. Are there any other enemies of the written word you can name?

In totalitarianism, politics and ideology are at the service of rituals that seek to reinvent history by the most brutal ways: the collectivist temptation, classicism  the formation of millennial utopias, and precise, bureaucratic, servile despotism, the rejection of the other’s memory. Even democratic societies can become totalitarian when they reduce their identity by accusations of sedition, and become exclusionary.

7.    While you have documented the destruction of books and other cultural artifacts  do you think, in the final analysis that culture that is practiced will always take precedence over culture that is recorded?

In 1984, George Orwell describes a totalitarian state where an official branch of government is dedicated to finding and erasing the past. Books are rewritten, and the original versions destroyed in secret furnaces in order to save society from the enemy. There is one determining aspect here: Control is not established unless there is a conviction involved. There is no religious, political, or military hegemony without cultural hegemony. Those who destroy books and libraries know what they are doing. Their objective has always been clear: intimidate, erase motivation, demoralize, enhance historical oblivion, diminish resistance, and, above all, foment doubt.

8.    Last question, do you have any new projects in the works or books soon to be released?

 Yes. “Lost wonders of the world. A Brief History of Civilization's Greatest Cultural Catastrophes” (2012):http://www.schavelzon.com/en/libro/las-maravillas-perdidas-del-mundo/

Thank you very much, Fernando.

Check out Fernando Baez's site here

you can buy Fernando Baez's Magnum Opus   'A universal history of the destruction of books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern Iraq' (2002) here