Russia: Hello Sailor

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (SPAS) says it has installed an underwater "defence system" known as the Singing Sailor in the waters off Stockholm. Described as a subsurface sonar system, the installation features the words "Welcome to Sweden" in Russian, and emits the phrase "this way if you are gay" in Morse code. The animated neon sign features a man clad in white underpants and a sailor hat, gyrating his hips as pink hearts flash behind him. It seems the group is playing on the rise in homophobia in Russia since the adoption of a law banning "gay propaganda" in 2013.

But the society, which was formed in 1883, says the sign is also a way to try to persuade the Swedish authorities to rethink using military means for national security. In October, Sweden launched a huge military operation to search its waters for a suspected Russian submarine, and the government recently announced a massive increase in military spending. 

"If military actions and weapons had functioned as conflict-resolution methods, there would be peace in the world a long time ago," says SPAS president Anna Ek. Instead, the organisation says it's inviting any submariners who spot the sign to join them at the Stockholm Pride parade in August, noting on its website: "In times of unrest, love and peace across boundaries is more important than ever."

Kudos to BBC News From Elsewhere for highlighting this was a protest against encroaching western militarism, phoney 'defence' spending and NATO.

Unlike our obedient Pavlovian gay media, who just went into 'Russia BOO!' mode.

Putin: Still Worse Than Hitler!

Such wit! Such originality! Such insight!

The power-serving political infantilism of so much of the gay media never ceases to amaze me.

Because a stupid Russian law that's seen three people fined in over a year is exactly the same as the Nazi's systematic extermination of six million Jews.

USA! USA! USA!

Take That, Putin!

Bye. x

FASCIST!

The Independent, Saturday.

Update: Russia is behaving like Nazi Germany, David Cameron says, Daily Mail. Zzz....

Foreign Affairs: Barbarism Begins At Home

Michael Rosen.

Legs akimbo for teh gays.

Gay Star News.

The Guardian. *

In an age where every US/UK imperial war is justified as a 'humanitarian intervention', a good guide to who are our current bogeymen is when the media suddenly start writing about their human rights abuses.

These days, that often means saying; 'THESE MONSTERS DON'T LIKE THE GAYS!'

'SEND IN THE DRONES! SEND IN NATO!'

Ten years ago it was all about telling fairy stories about horror stories in Iran, last year it was those evil Russians.

This is the flipside of Pinkwashing, where we are expected to look kindly on Israel's persecution of the Palestinian people because Tel Aviv is a super-duper sexy place for a gay holiday. 

Shall we call it Pinkblooding?

"Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate." Edward Said.

See also David Cameron And The Cynicism Of Comparing Putin To Hitler, Owen Jones for Guardian online today. 

Hardly an original thought but that's Owen for you.

You may recall in the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics it became a commonplace to read hysterical comparisons of Putin to Hitler, and to say what was happening to gay people in Russia was just like what happened to Jewish people in Nazi Germany. You may have noticed things didn't turn out to be quite so bad for gay people in Russia. Fagburn has still not seen one revocation of this textbook gay hysteria.

* Note that the English language source for this is Radio Free Europe, the US government-funded radio station, Cold War relic and propaganda machine. I'm not saying that means Aksyonov didn't say this, just that RFE will be more than aware of this story's uses.

Chelsea Manning: The Graphic Novel

Clark Stoeckley's graphic account from inside the Chelsea Manning trial is released today, marking its first anniversary. We exclusively excerpt Chelsea Manning's testimony on her treatment in prison. Content warning: state violence, discussion of suicide.

The United States Vs Pvt Chelsea Manning is available exclusively from OR Books.

PS It's thanks to Chelsea we can read things like this; a prescient 2008 cable from the US ambassador in Moscow on NATO enlargement, Russia and Ukraine.

Steve Bell, The Guardian June 4th.

Fuck ATOS: Fuck Nato, Fuck It All

Jared Leto: That Oscar Acceptance Speech In Full

"Incredible. Ellen, I love you. To my fellow nominees, I’m so proud to share this journey with you. I’m in awe and have so much respect for you all. To the Academy, thank you.

"I won this award just cause I played a transsexual with Aids - well whoopeefuckingdoo!

"Usually straight actors just get at Oscar if they played a gay dude.

"So good for me!

"So brave etc etc...

"To all the dreamers out there around the world watching this tonight in places like the Ukraine and Venezuela, I want to say we are here and as you struggle to… to make your neo-fascist dreams happen, to live the impossible - like trying to overthrow democratically elected politicians and serve US power and hegemony… I don't really know much about politics, but I'm thick and saw something on CNN, dude. It's a real bummer. We’re thinking of you tonight."

PS 'You don't deserve an award for portraying a trans-woman, because you're a man,' Any actor can play anyone - that is acting. But this veneration is a patronising farce.

Death to brain-dead celebactivism!

Male actor plays trans woman: Wins awards, pats on back Trans women live as trans women: Face violence, unemployment, oppression, erasure
— Amy the Snow Queen (@EntirelyAmelia) March 3, 2014

Steve Bell: On NATO In Libya

Steve Bell in The Guardian.