I am stunned by Canada’s decision to ban George Galloway from entering the country. I have known George for too many decades to share in the hero-worship he attracts from some; but he is a truly talented speaker and debater. George was right on Iraq when so many Western politicians hid behind the coward’s shield of patriotism. He is right on the disaster of Afghanistan too, the full horror of which is still unfoldng. I see that three more Canadian soldiers were killed there yeasterday, and nine maimed. The kind of debate George brings is urgently needed in Canada.
I was also surprised by the Canadian government spokesman’s description of him as an “Infandous street corner Cromwell”. Cromwell was a truly great man, a towering figure, with a driving concern for the common good. His statue stands guard outside Parliament. A peculiar comparison indeed.
Canadians should be ashamed today. George has fallen foul of the trick by the Israeli lobby of tarring everybody sympathetic to the Palestinians as a terrorist.
There is a spirit of protectionism abroad in these troubled times – of intellectual protectionism. As the frailties of an economic system built upon unrestrained greed and speculation become clear, as it becomes more and more obvious that recent Western invasions of Muslim lands are a drive to corner key areas for access to increasingly scarce hydrocarbons, and as the spectre of climate change looms over everything that was viewed as “Progress”, governments are desperate to control the narrative thier population hears.
The British government banned Geerst Wilders and several Muslim theologians. Canada is banning George Galloway, of all people. When the British banned the Dutch MEP Wilders, the Dutch government commendably supported the right to free speech in Europe and the Dutch Ambassador offered to meet him at Heathrow. The British government should make Canada know of our displeasure at the banning of somone for voicing opinions which are held by a large proportion of the British nation.
Fat chance.
Agree wholeheartedly about Galloway. Funny about perceptions though. In Ireland Cromwell is known as a butcher, responsible for the famous phrase “To hell or to Connaught”, and the slaughter of as many as 3500 people in Drogheda, including women and children.
I had to look up ‘infandous’- what a useful word in the age of New Labour!
I’m sure Galloway will survive, but I’m not so sure about Canada. They are probably about to elect Michael Ignatieff (remember him?) as their next PM, and I can’t see any good coming of that.
Dreoilin
True.
“They are probably about to elect Michael Ignatieff (remember him?) as their next PM”
I was taught by Michael Ignatieff in the days when he had long hair and wore an Afghan coat. Shortly after that he had a brief career as a TV intellectual. I was wondering what became of him. In my day he was a liberal Marxist. I must assume that is no longer the case.
Someone else to fall foul of the Israel lobby in recent days is Charles Freeman, who was to have been a senior intelligence advisor to Obama. A former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and an independently-minded expert on Middle-Eastern affairs, Freeman’s appointment seemed one of the few genuinely encouraging developments of the new administration.
The Israel lobby was incensed. It pulled all the strings in the mainstream media and, within days, Freeman was gone. Freeman’s account of what happened is one of the most incisive and devastating exposes of the Israel lobby I have ever read: http://tinyurl.com/bxxwgn
Cromwell may have had “a driving concern for the common good” but that only if you were English. My Irish cousins don’t hold him in the same high regard.
I was saddened by this Canadian decision. But it just shows the power and indeed sheer gall of the Zionist lobby. To get a British MP banned from one of the historically most tolerant and open countries in the world is quite something.
Hey the CIA couldn’t even achieve this with John and Yoko in 1970.
Still something of a backhanded compliment to George. It shows how effectve he is at demolishing their overall case, and their wars in Iruq, Gaza – and lets have another one in Iran strategy.
And the ban has backfired spectacularly – given george and his cause losds more publicity than he could ever have gotten speaking in Toronto to a couple of hundred converts.
We should though fight this ban vigourously. Because , whose next if they suceed?
PS I can’t figure out your RSS feed – where is it?
Aye,
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/index.rdf
I’m not George’s biggest fan either. Too much of the Prima donna (“… egotistical, unreasonable and irritable, with a rather high opinion of themselves not shared by others” as Wikepedia defines its popular usage) about him for my taste. BUT – and it’s a BIG but – the man has stuck to his guns through thick and thin including a host of scurrilous personal Establishment inspired attacks, and has been proved right all along (shades of Craig eh? – the scurrilous Establishment attacks bit that is). I admire the man. He IS a VERY compelling speaker and has a knack of demolishing his MSM interviewer/critics on the rare occasions they dare to take him on – which is precisely why it is rare. That is what TPTB in Canada are scared of too, pathetic bunch of Zionist/US toadying morons that they are.
You should read Richard Seymour’s ‘Lenin’s Tomb’ blog on Michael Ignatieff – plus his book ‘The Liberal Defence of Murder’. Ignatieff’s journey from influential Marxist intellectual to unabashed Neocon apologist is indeed breathtaking, but he’s not the only one to travel it. A substantial part of the intellectual Left (Tony Bliar is their archetype) have in effect transformed into neocon enablers with their ridiculous moralistic doctrines of ‘Humanitarian Interventionism’. Michel Chossudovsky at Global Research (a Canadian) is good on the same subject (Good video here: http://tinyurl.com/cnkeyw ). And I expect him to have something to say about the GW ban soon as well.
It’s not over yet either. There’s an appeals process to go through and I can’t wait to hear precisely how allowing GW in would constitute a ‘threat to national security’ which is the reason cited by Jason Kenney, the Canadian immigration minister.
Not sure where “GW” came from. Obviously meant “GG” – sorry
A ‘Must watch’. George Galloway and the Canadian ‘Jewish Defence League’ spokesman on Channel 4 News. Galloway is VERY impressive at this sort of thing – probably because he’s absolutely right and his enemies are such predictable pygmies (with due apologies to real pygmies)
http://tinyurl.com/dz84sv
“Not sure where “GW” came from. Obviously meant “GG” – sorry”
sabretache
You may have had this on your mind…
March 18, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/cf3sko
You couldn’t make it up.
I knew Michael Chussodovsky’s ‘Global Research would be onto this pretty sharpish. See http://tinyurl.com/cg5u34 .
There’s a comment from Ignatieff too. It goes: “We let into Canada all kinds of people who say ridiculous and absurd things and Galloway has said his share of ridiculous and absurd things. The issue … is whether the security services know something about George Galloway that I don’t.”
On his reading GG has indeed been categorised as ‘”a threat to national security” then. You couldn’t make this up could you?
For fans of GG there is also a very informative selection of YouTube videos their too. And I have to say, the more I hear him (GG that is) the more I admire him.
These fools never learn.
Whatever you think of GG he has a Right to express his opinion.GG has been proven Right about Iraq and by the day it looks like he’s Right about the chaos of Afghanistan.
The fools cant tolerate him being basically Right:that’s their problem in a nut.
History shows that banning people from airing views that are by and large correct is a retrogade and counter-productive approach.
If i put my fingers in my ears i cant hear you…is what children do.
As a Scot living in the “Great White North” I am not surprised at this action, B’nai Brith – http://www.bnaibrith.ca/ – I’m sure advocated for his exclusion.
Ignatieff is just another chancer – like his fellow Liberal Bob Ray who used to be the NDP premier of Ontario.
Freeman’s credentials may be all very well, but if he’s such a toughie why didn’t he accept the post and fight his corner inside the Obama adminiatration inatead of throwing in the towel and making a grumbling retreat?
You were Right then and you’re still Right Craig>far too many who should really know better are selling their souls for dro$$…
Ignatieff?? Sheeesh!…this guy never held a line on anything..an opportunist who changes his positions on a daily basis it seems…a very confused soul indeed.The Neocons love him mind…
“…if he’s such a toughie why didn’t he accept the post and fight his corner inside the Obama adminiatration inatead of throwing in the towel and making a grumbling retreat?”
That was my first reaction. It appears however that he’s a man of honour rather than a toughie. In his own words:
“I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country”.
My take on this is similar to MJ.
But there’s more. His statement accompanying the decision to withdraw is a truly devastating attack on the power and influence of the Zionist lobby. It has been fully and widely reported in the US and will not be lost on those manning the Services he would have had a coordinating responsibility for. Neither will it be lost on a large, growing constituency that has begun to seriously question Zionist control of US foreign policy.
Here is a link to the Wall St Journal publication of his statement. It was likewise published in EVERY MSM paper and everywhere else besides: http://tinyurl.com/bwp2dv . With any luck it may be just the opening salvo in a major foreign policy re-think – though I guess, in similar vein, pigs may start flying.
Anyway, my guess is we have not heard the last of Chas Freeman.
“Anyway, my guess is we have not heard the last of Chas Freeman”.
Let’s hope not. Pigs may indeed start flying, but this is the first really hard-hitting expose of the Israel lobby from a man with impeccable credentials. It has firmly outed the shadowy, psychotic Zionists running the US and no-one can call him a wacky conspiracy theorist. It may just turn out to have been one dirty trick too many.
Actually on further reflection, Freeman’s resignation may indeed be a sign of toughness. He has sacrificed himself, unnecessarily so, but has come out fighting, attacking his detractors in a way he could not have done if he were in office. He has given them a Pyrrhic victory, but has removed his gloves to try and win the real war.
Out and out racism from this Jason Kenney person.
Jason Kenney is Promoting Racism
by Hanna Kawas – March 21, 2009
On March 18, 2009 the Canadian Minister of Multiculturalism and Immigration, Mr. Jason Kenney made good on his threats to cut funding for Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) programs that help settle newcomers t0 Canada. The Toronto Star reported that neither of the two LINC contracts with CAF “will be renewed, Alykhan Velshi, director of communications and parliamentary affairs, said in an email.” In the same article, Mr. Kenney also referenced this decision by stating that “he is an ‘unapologetic supporter’ of Israel”. http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/604720
FULL ARTICLE AT: http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net/jkpr.htm
“FLASHBACK…Feb 4, 2007 22:59 | Updated Feb 5, 2007 0:16”
“Canadian government forming pro-Israel lobby”
“The launching of the Canadian parliamentary lobby, which is based on the formation of the Knesset’s “Christian Allies Caucus” three years ago, comes less than six months after a similar lobby was established in the US Congress”…
http://tinyurl.com/cduyjr
Freeman…
http://tinyurl.com/copauy
“I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country”.
I still think he could have tested out his belief from the hot seat.
So do I. I’m regretful that he caved in so easily. At the moment however I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that he’s a shrewd operator and knows what he’s doing.
I’d love to see Galloway and Ignatieff in a head to head debate. That really would be a rumble in the tundra.
Who was it who said of Canada that it’s ” the kind of country that you feel ought to get itself a girlfriend”?
This right after Canada welcomed the war criminal George W. Bush with open arms.
“Bush, giving a speech to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said “I’m not going to spend my time criticizing [Obama]. … He deserves my silence.” Don’t we all, don’t we all (except the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, evidently)…”
http://whateveritisimagainstit.blogspot.com/2009/03/he-deserves-my-silence.html
After the bankers killed Lincoln and JFK for printing government money instead of borrowing (1963 from their private FED), why would they tolerate a Freeman crossing their path ?
http://michaeljournal.org/lincolnkennedy.htm
Five pieces of disinformation, Craig:
“the trick by the Israeli lobby of tarring everybody sympathetic to the Palestinians as a terrorist.”
There is no trick, there is total control of the mass media worldwide, and of most governments.
“the frailties of an economic system built upon unrestrained greed and speculation become clear”
The current collapse is due to systematic fraud at all levels.
“as it becomes more and more obvious that recent Western invasions of Muslim lands are a drive to corner key areas for access to increasingly scarce hydrocarbons”
Access ? There was access and a military might based dollar monopoly on middle eastern oil until they started the “War on Terror” racket.
“as the spectre of climate change looms over everything that was viewed as “Progress””
Climate change is not man-made.
http://climatechangefraud.com/
“governments are desperate to control the narrative thier population hears.”
Do governments control the media, or is the decision of if and how long someone is in government executed by the media on behalf of their international owners ?
Please forgive me for suggesting, provocatively I know, that Cromwell, Galloway, Benn and Craig are all triumphant examples of conscience against cynical political wrongdoing,
but that conscience is incomplete without connecting to God. He designed the human being, set out laws for her/him, and is Who actually delivers results.
It seems to me that people who believe in God are often bogged down by their anger at oppression, which makes it appear that they don’t care. They have been bludgeoned into immobility by colonial oppression or the war on terror like Binyam Muhammad.
Sometimes they are just trusting in God in order to survive.
Some people don’t believe in God and don’t care about oppression either.
Liberalism = laissez-faire. Socialism = headless chicken syndrome. Capitalism = greed.
But the great men who brought about the abolition of slavery in this country were deeply religious as well as standing up for justice. Why can’t we do that now as well?