The Russians call it Kompromat – the use by the state of sexual accusations to destroy a public figure. When I was attacked in this way by the government I worked for, Uzbek dissidents smiled at me, shook their heads and said “Kompromat“. They were used to it from the Soviet and Uzbek governments. They found it rather amusing to find that Western governments did it too.
Well, Julian Assange has been getting the bog standard Kompromat. I had imagined he would get something rather more spectacular, like being framed for murder and found hanging with an orange in his mouth. He deserves a better class of kompromat. If I am a whistleblower, then Julian is a veritable mighty pipe organ. Yet we just have the normal sex stuff, and very weak.
Bizarrely the offence for which Julian is wanted for questioning in Sweden was dropped from rape to sexual harassment, and then from sexual harassment to just harassment. The precise law in Swedish, as translated for me and other Sam Adams alumni by our colleague Major Frank Grevil, reads:
“He who lays hands on or by means of shooting from a firearm, throwing of stones, noise or in any other way harasses another person will be sentenced for harassment to fines or imprisonment for up to one year.”
So from rape to non-sexual something. Actually I rather like that law – if we had it here, I could have had Jack Straw locked up for a year.
Julian tells us that the first woman accuser and prime mover had worked in the Swedish Embassy in Washington DC and had been expelled from Cuba for anti-Cuban government activity, as well as the rather different persona of being a feminist lesbian who owns lesbian night clubs.
Scott Ritter and I are well known whistleblowers subsequently accused of sexual offences. A less well known whistleblower is James Cameron, another FCO employee. Almost simultaneous with my case, a number of the sexual allegations the FCO made against Cameron were identical even in wording to those the FCO initially threw at me.
Another fascinating point about kompromat is that being cleared of the allegations – as happens in virtually every case – doesn’t help, as the blackening of reputation has taken effect. In my own case I was formerly cleared of all allegations of both misconduct and gross misconduct, except for the Kafkaesque charge of having told defence witnesses of the existence of the allegations. The allegations were officially a state secret, even though it was the government who leaked them to the tabloids.
Yet, even to this day, the FCO has refused to acknowledge in public that I was in fact cleared of all charges. This is even true of the new government. A letter I wrote for my MP to pass to William Hague, complaining that the FCO was obscuring the fact that I was cleared on all charges, received a reply from a junior Conservative minister stating that the allegations were serious and had needed to be properly investigated – but still failing to acknowledge the result of the process. Nor has there been any official revelation of who originated these “serious allegations”.
Governments operate in the blackest of ways, especially when it comes to big war money and big oil money. I can see what they are doing to Julian Assange, I know what they did to me and others (another recent example – Brigadier Janis Karpinski was framed for shoplifting). In a very real sense, it makes little difference if they murdered David Kelly or terrified him into doing it himself. Telling the truth is hazardous in today’s Western political system.
“To gonk or not to gonk, that is the question.”
Nymphomaniac with a speech impediment
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/gonk
Glenn: “Don’t you find it odd that China – a filthy dictatorship with an appalling human rights record, is granted “Most favoured nation status” by the US?”
Glenn, MFN status does not literally mean that China is America’s most favored trading partner. It just means that, in trading, it’s given the same treatment, without any discriminatory practice.
I remember learning that fact when I was 17 years old. It’s time for you to catch up on the simple facts.
Just a public service announcement: The teabagging troll (who’s name is not even worth mentioning here) is banned, and it’s far, far to late for it to try to garner any credibility whatsoever.
You’re the silly goose who still thinks that China is given special status in trading with the U.S., merely because it might have MFN status.
Again, educate yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_favored_nation
And btw, it’s been called “permanent normal trade relations” for over a decade.
It’s like you learned a few things in university and then stopped learning.
And I answered above the issue of Dubya “stealing” the election against Gore:
“If the recount had transpired in the counties in which the Democrats wanted it to transpire, then Al Gore would probably have squeaked by (and not won “handsomely”). But if the recount had occurred for ALL of the votes in Florida with the same standard being applied (that is, an impression of the voting card) being enough, then Bush would have squeaked by. If it makes it more palatable for you, just imagine all the Republican voters in Florida who were not able to figure out how to properly punch a hole into their ballot. The Gore campaign’s lead attorney, David Boies, later on concluded that if a full recount had occurred, Bush would have won.
But the U.S. Supreme Court cut short any recount (as ordered by the Florida Supreme Court), probably because a full recount would have lasted past the end of Bill Clinton’s second term, which seemed scary to them.
Nonetheless, I think they should have allowed the full recount to occur, and everyone should have recognized Clinton as the de facto interim President.
In any event, we’re still dealing with idiots like you who know nothing of the facts and think Al Gore actually won “handsomely” in Florida.”
Banking. Let us wait and see.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7996520/Concern-grows-over-foreign-involvement-in-spys-death.html
Valerie Plame. I see that Sean Penn is in a feature film about this ex-CIA officer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame
Curveball: the dunce of the class, a willing and convenient cipher.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant)
The death of Willie Macrae:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/the-death-of-willie-macrae-1.688252
Glenn, thank goodness for your fast reaction-time! Phew!
After that cliff-edge experience, don’t let gonks, trolls, wayward taxi-drivers or nymphomaniacs-with-speech-impediments bother you.
‘Tea Party Float Depicts Obama Whipping A White ‘Future Tax Payer’ Pulling A Wagon’
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/14/tea-party-float-obama-whipping/
Sad that Alfred’s great need to “win” affects his eyesight and prevents him from quoting Tech properly. 😉
G’night now
Gee, dreoilin, that’s certainly terrible what those two or three people did in a small town in Washington.
But to compare:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/7969467/Riot-police-tackle-missiles-at-English-Defence-League-protest-in-Bradford.html
Sahayl: Thanks, but credit really is due to the misses, who spotted the miscreant taxi-driver at the fag-end of a 350 mile journey and warned me in time to take action. Credit, too, to the good people who designed and built such a fine machine that can move and stop that quickly. It certainly puts the more mundane into perspective! Then again, motorcycling is just dangerous enough to give one an appreciation of life. They say one hasn’t really given life its full due until they’ve looked death square in the face… but it’s a bit difficult to turn that into a marketing slogan.
“DeathRide Motorcycles. Look at your own permanent ending as a quite distinct and immediate possibility. Should you make it back, you’ll appreciate life so much more than you do now, with your boring, humdrum,
staid existence!”
On that particular journey, I can definitely say we went to Hull and back. (It was actually Beverley, which is close enough, but doesn’t quite convey the essence of the trip.)
Perhaps this epitomises the entire biking philosophy far more eloquently than I would ever be able to express;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV6noHEd6XE
Glenn, that’s a good one, thanks!!
Yes, dreoilin, thanks for the info. There is hatred and intolerance everywhere, esp. among the extreme Right (political, religious, whatever), and coded and/or overtly racist propaganda will form part of that. Such movements in the USA tend to rise more prominently during Democratic tenures.
This is one appears to be very well organised and well-financed and reminds one a just a little of the sorts of ‘populist’ movements we see arising in other countries, sponsored by US dosh.
So, could it be that similar elements are promoting a not dissimilar dynamic within the USA itself in order to undermine and destabilise the Obama Administration, which these wackos see as ‘socialist’?
However, up till now, their main target seems to have been the Republican old guard; once they’ve achieved sufficient influence and power on the Right, they will turn their fire in a concentrated manner on the government.
I still think that (in spite of what we know about the inherent corruption of the system) that it was amazing that during the 2008 election the US electorate didn’t desert en masse to McCain-Palin on racist grounds – so it gives some hope that these extreme Rightists will not achieve their goals so easily as they imagine. I think that many people will be repulsed by their racist imagery; it may work against them and allow them to be marginalised. One hopes.
Of course, we are talking here about different elements of the elite. Nonetheless, there is a big difference, esp. domestically, b/w the Obama Admin. and a putative ‘Palin’ (or similar) Admin., but also in terms of Doomsday scenarios. Would you trust those people with the red telephone? The latter would be the lunatics taking over the asylum, a terrifying prospect for the world.
It is somewhat amusing, at least to me, that the celebrity torch-bearers of the loony Right in the USA appear to sport names which bear a resemblance of those of the protagonists of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Palin, Terry Jones… Might we soon be encountering a ‘General John Cleese’, complete with funny walks?
Perhaps there is such a thing as comedic justice.
Glenn: the decision on American election of 2000 was confirmed by the Supreme court and accepted by Bob Dole despite his disagreements. The system works and works well, as I have said. The Reader’s Digest is an excellent general magazine, which I recommend. As for ‘ignoring’ various countries, I have already said that invasion is too expensive in most cases. But I would be happy to see Communism in China collapse from within, as in the Soviet Union, as I would William Hague take a tough line on human rights in Uzbekistan, likewise the reform in favour of women’s rights and democracy gain momentum in Saudi Arabia. I stand by what I said on Cuba and Venezuela.
PS. You say I ignored Burma? I said earlier that Democratic India should deal with Communist Nepal and then move into Burma where they would be applauded. Avatar Singh of course said that he would not favour that, and indeed it might be considered too expensive. But as with other fascist regimes, I will be happy to see Burmese dictatorship crumble.
“Perhaps there is such a thing as comedic justice.”
Else that poor chap wouldn’t be called Track Palin, would he. I mean, it’s a fence along a railway, isn’t it? But then I seem to recollect they had someone called Stone Wall at one time. I bet there’s a Turf Dyke somewhere.
Suhayl: On the subject of John Cleese, you reminded me of a joke that he is supposed to have told (according to a Canadian astronomer who shall be un-named), when asked how Britain was different from America. Apparently he said something like this:
“First, we speak English.
Secondly, when we hold a world championship, we invite other countries to play as well.
And thirdly, when greeting the head of state, we only get down on one knee.”
Shocking, shocking, what? Respectable People should wash their hands of such filth. Especially GOMs, as it is crystal-clear evidence of the present-day degeneration of standards and the impending end of the world soon after they pass on (but not before, may it please Providence to take careful note). I would never want to be a GOM, but of course one can’t fight that which one does not understand. 🙂
funny, I don’t see Aung San Suu Kyi calling for military intervention in Burma. On the contrary, she’s calling for boycotts (BAT, anyone?). But what does she know, eh? She’s only the democratically elected alternative. I expect she’d be dazzled by your reasoning, Abe.
Stone Wall as in the gay liberation movement, do you think?
Technicolour: AK might agree that invasion would be too expensive (the possibility of which I have mentioned), and so prefer boycotts to bring a non-violent end to the dictatorship. So much the better, if that happens.
Suhayl: “I still think that (in spite of what we know about the inherent corruption of the system) that it was amazing that during the 2008 election the US electorate didn’t desert en masse to McCain-Palin on racist grounds – so it gives some hope that these extreme Rightists will not achieve their goals so easily as they imagine. I think that many people will be repulsed by their racist imagery;”
What the fuck are you talking about? What racist imagery? When did the McCain campaign ever employ racist imagery?
You whine, so much, Suhayl, and you simply make things up to suit your Muslim needs.
I should say in all honesty that, in my opinion, the joke from John Cleese I cited should not be told to children. I genuinely think it’s funny, but I would not feel free to tell it to a priest, for example, nor any friend I didn’t know well enough.
Abe: Bob Dole wasn’t even a contender in the 2000 election, and he was a republican anyway. Guess the Reader’s Digest isn’t all one needs to understand the world, eh? There’s so much wrong with every post you make it’s tough to know where to start. The Supreme Court was the problem, along with Crazy Katherine Harris in Florida, where she facilitated the prevention of tens of thousands of blacks from voting. Voting machines were very suspect. The votes were not even counted until much later, and when they were, they found Gore had won. But it’s a waste of time even starting to tell you this, frankly.
Anyway, you think the Reader’s Digest is an excellent source of info, and I’m not surprised. It’s light on detail, never, ever criticises the system, and tells you that everything’s dandy and America is always good, making regular, benign military interventions (and – happily – making people rich at the same time). I’m happy for you, Abe, that you find life to be so uncomplicated.
I think Abe’s Henry Root. As for St Louis, it’s funny to see someone trying to defend the Tea Party against accusations of vicious bile while indulging in it. Well, funny’s not the word.
Couldn’t agree more Glenn. RD = complete and utter crap. I thought it had disappeared into oblivion but apparently not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/business/media/20digest.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Once I was given a year’s subscription. The thing that plopped through the letterbox went unread and I was inundated with junk mail – You have won…etc etc.
Glenn: It was Al Gore I was thinking of. Wrong two-syllable name, easily corrected. I understand that you find it hard to begin to criticise my posts, so that you have to jump on minor errors. It is easy for me, however, to know where to begin in saying what is wrong with yours: I don’t agree with them.
The Reader’s Digest is indeed an excellent magazine. Having grown up with it, I was happy to recommend it to a learner of English the other day. As for America being a ‘good’ place, I had a message from a Russian Jewish emigre a few moons ago in which he described it as (I translate) “a good land”. Coming from the former worker’s paradise he ought to know. Last but not least, I would cite what Tony Blair said in his article in Time magazine (another excellent publication): “America is great for a reason”. You can read why on page 3 of his article (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2015409-3,00.html). I look forward to Blair’s book coming out in paperback, because it is based on first-hand encounters. It should prove fascinating!
“I should say in all honesty that, in my opinion, the joke from John Cleese I cited should not be told to children. I genuinely think it’s funny, but I would not feel free to tell it to a priest, for example, nor any friend I didn’t know well enough.”
Um. But you have posted it in a public place where you have no idea who might read it ?