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.
Courtenay, I see from a Guardian headline the EU are condemning this. Guardian general coverage is quite good. Lacking in coverage of imminent local situations. Are you in touch with Dale Farm? They might do with your help as they are just about to be ‘evicted’.
[email protected]
best, and thanks for this
Look atr indymedia UK for recent evictions and coverage.
‘Commissioned and Non-commissioned U.S. Military Officers for 9/11 Truth petition the Congress of the United States for:
“a new and independent investigation into the events of 9/11/01 by a duly constituted legal body with the authority to subpoena and require testimony under oath, and with authority to prosecute if criminal activity is discovered, so that the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity can at last be brought to justice.”
I assume that everyone here supports this effort.’
Yes, I do.
There’s a very comprehensive series of articles in Russia Today on 9/11 at
http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-09-10/911-attack-reasons-towers.html
“I assume that everyone here supports this effort.’
Yes, I do.”
Ruth, Craig Murray called you a conspiraloon. Why do you think Craig Murray has it so wrong? Do you think he’s secretly a Truther?
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Yah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Onan the Barbarian.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XhQRFO4M7A
suhayl, is that you? i don’t think so.
All this religious talk made me have a rethink about the whole business, so I decided to try it out for myself.
So for three hours this afternoon, I prayed to God, Allah, Jehovah and various Hindu gods to fix the gearbox on my Vauxhall Astra.
And did He fix it? Did He hell. In fact, if anything, the bugger’s made it worse – it won’t go into second gear at all now. So all this clap-trap about religious this-or-that people like Abe, Anno and avatar (all A’s – huh!) are babbling about here is proven to be total nonsense as far as I’m concerned.
@ Technicolour,
Thanks for the reference. What one must conclude is that there is a racist alliance of evil, and HMG is in on the game.
CB
Talking of loons:
Abe Rene said
“I ocnsider [sic] my own world view to be correct.”
Isn’t that a hallmark of lunacy, the total confidence in the correctness of one’s delusions?
Almost as crazy as Larry, who says:
“being anti-Muslim and anti-Christian (I am both) is not racist.”
Suuuure.
And being anti-Jewish = anti-semitic is not racist either, eh Larry.
LOL
Glenn said,
“for three hours this afternoon, I prayed to God, Allah, Jehovah and various Hindu gods to fix the gearbox on my Vauxhall Astra.
And did He fix it? Did He hell. ”
Hey give the Lord a chance. A clapped out Vauxhall?
Jeeze man. You can’t expect miracles.
Courtenay: no, I think it is too easy to blame it all on the government; they are letting it ever-so-casually slide, others (including the tabloids and various local councillors) are actively promoting it. Fortunately the law still stands, if the underprivileged can get access to it.
Suhayl, Thanks for the musical reference to ‘Agnus Dei rock’. The joke was sent to me many years ago in a private correspondence. It could have been scruples that made me regret posting it on a public forum.
glenn: I am impressed that an atheist could experimentally pray for three minutes, never mind three hours. Perhaps it’s time to change your car, if circumstances permit.
Alfred: If, as I hold, my views are correct, if you do not agree with me, you will be the loser. And here’s further proof that I am right: may I never be a GOM, come what may!
“Courtenay Barnett”: here’s a remedy for an attack of conspiritis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7qfVraXgcU
Time to retire. Here’s the national anthem of Imperial Russia, “God save the Tsar”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2CQKAEAc_Y
Abe – “which beliefs do you think I would want to kill you for, exactly?”
I have no idea. It was you who was cheerfully talking about how countries might “need” to be invaded, not me offering to say what for. You’re not offering me a guarantee that any country I might live in is immune, are you ? So I’m potential collateral damage, to that viewpoint.
I didn’t say “want”. I said “decide when it’s necessary”.
Akfred
All you need to do is get a small piece of linkage plastic changed on your gear lever. Older Vauxhall Astras do not clap out, only the new ones do.
Force against force in equal measure does not sound like aggression to me. UKUSIS want all the force to be one=way. God help them if they had a puncture or a local oil spill.
The real Muslims are all in jail, in every country in the world. I don’t know what that says about me. They obviously think that bloggers are irrelevant or they’d be trying to compromat me with my browsers down.
All “real” Muslims are in jail, Anno? Seriously – every one of them?
—start
Mus
Technicolour, it was indeed me: The Agnus Dei, the absurdity of a laughing policeman, followed closely by the MC5, Detroit’s very finest rock band. There are several narrative threads flowing thru’ it all… some of them in the spirit of ‘Kick Out the Jams!’
Anyway, back to reality, a 16-hour shift and now to get thru’ today’s traffic with half the trunk roads closed-off. Anyone got a decent motorbike?(!)
Glenn
If one has spent state-borrowed resources in framing a person for a crime on account of their holding beliefs which annoy the banks that the state owes money to,… why would one be silly enough to free them again?
1/ As a deterrent to others, so that they can hear the terrible things the state is doing in its foreign jails.
2/ To place that individual under the control of a tribal authority that has power to make that person’s life unbearable if they don’t do what they’re told to do.
3/ To turn that person into a Quilliam agent in exchange for a small reward, or into a priveleged agent in exchange for a little espionage and betrayal.
4/ To demonstrate the necessity of extreme state violence in order to reform the madness of believing other than what the state commands people to believe.
The state is extremely scared that its Masonic, debt-blackmailed system might fail. The ability to detain opponents bolsters its self confidence. I torture, therefore I am.
Richard: I don’t see much distinction between “decide that it’s necessary” and “want”. I believe Nathuram Godse expressed his inner state of mind in te former terms before making preparations to pull the trigger on Mahatma Gandhi.
As for the idea that anyone would deapatch you for your beliefs, that reminds me of an East German agent who was arrested by the FBI. They offered to spare him jail if he coperated with them. He said ‘Look, I am a Communist. I will always be a Communist.’ They replied ‘Think what you want, but do as we say. Agreed?’ He made the correct choice.
To take a hypothetical example, if some people are living in Venezuela (say) and it goes Communist and they decide to stay and be willing agents of Communist revolution with them, and their government warns its citizens to get out but they refuse out of devotion to Communism, and the US invades to protect democracy and they lose their lives as collateral damage – well, that will be just be their own stupid fault.
anno: In the 1990s I read “Struggling to surrender” by the American Mathematics professor and Muslim convert Jeffrey Lang. Are you suggesting that he’s not a genuine Muslim since he’s not in jail?
For Abe Rene:
I am gross and perverted,
I’m obsessed and deranged,
I have existed for years
but very little had changed.
I’m the tool of the government
And industry too,
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you.
I may be vile and pernicious
But you can’t look away,
I make you think Im delicious
With the stuff that I say.
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin out
From your tv set
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don’t need you
Don’t got for help…no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
That’s right, folks, don’t touch that dial!
Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin along on your livinroom floor.
I am the slime from your video
Cant stop the slime, people, lookit me go
Frank Zappa, 1973.
Re. Comment posted by: Courtenay Barnett at September 15, 2010 9:44 PM
Don’t worry Courtenay, I don’t know whether you’ve noticed but it’s been totally off topic here for about the last three weeks.
Clark, I see your Frank Zappa and raise you Team America, World Police – just for you, Abe:
America…
America…
America, FUCK YEAH!
Coming again, to save the mother fucking day yeah,
America, FUCK YEAH!
Freedom is the only way yeah,
Terrorist your game is through cause now you have to answer to
America, FUCK YEAH!
So lick my butt, and suck on my balls,
America, FUCK YEAH!
What you going to do when we come for you now,
it’s the dream that we all share; it’s the hope for tomorrow
FUCK YEAH!
Clark: Thanks for ahsring that poem (song?) that Frank wrote about “1984”-style dictatorship. In return, here’s one I remember that was given to me by a Soviet emigre:
“Here’s a sickle and here’s a hammer
Emblem of our Soviet glamour
We sweat all night and we slave all day
You get **** all either way.”
technicolour: that reminds me of a song by Toby Keith “The Taliban Song”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc8XDYsOFBY
David Cameron in a statement to the House of Commons on the June 14th 2010 said he was ‘advised that the threat form al-Qaeda from Afghnistan and Pakistan has reduced, but I am also advised if it were not for the presence of UK and International coalition forces, al-Qaeda would return and the threat to the UK would rise.
The threat from Afghanistan is insignificant and Pakistan has been dealt with by its own military, frustrated by the constant myopic drone attacks from American bases that kill more Pakistani and afghan civilians than ‘high value’ targets.
The second part of the statement is a lie perpetuating a ‘mission multiplication’ to allow the military to stabilise Afghanistan, thus allowing contractors a secure environment to construct bases at strategic points necessary to protect the proposed energy pipelines.
Russia and Iran have competing concerns in Afghanistan and a long term military posture in Afghanistan by Britain and America, akin to the Iraq war, is the preferred method of keeping their noses out.
That *is* the reason why our soldiers are dying and mothers are crying, not repeat NOT the safety of our country, and David Cameron in this respect has the same mentality as the war criminal Blair.
Well, no surprise there, Abe, as the US government directly funded the Taliban. Still, jesus, what a terrible song. For anyone infected I suggest an urgent course of the Decemberists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK3Ce9md96g
Seriously grand song & the video is joyous
Sixteen Military Wives
Sixteen military wives
Thirty-two softly focused brightly colored eyes
Staring at the natural tan
Of thirty-two gently clenching wrinkled little hands
Seventeen company men
Out of which only twelve will make it back again
Sergeant sent a letter to five
Military wives, his tears drip down to ten little eyes
Cheer them on to their rivals
Cause America can, and America can’t say no
And America does, if America says it’s so
It’s so
And the anchorperson on TV goes…
La de da de da
From Journey to Poland and Yugoslavia (1958) by John Kenneth Galbreath: “Do you know the difference between capitalism and communism? Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it is just the reverse.”
“I don’t see much distinction between “decide that it’s necessary” and “want”.”
Well, it’s up to you, It’s your belief system, not mine. It’s you that proposes who will die, not me. Those doing the dying will probably have more urgent concerns than whether you’re wringing your hands or looking pleased.
“As for the idea that anyone would deapatch you for your beliefs”.
No, for _theirs_. _My_ beliefs do not involve giving any other fucker permission to kill me (or anyone else) for disagreeing with them.
As you clarify with your Venezuela example. If they were to choose to run their affairs in a way that does not conform to your belief system, it would be _their_ fault if they get invaded and killed. You say. For me, that would have very little to do with what they actually wanted, and much more to do with your fetishising your belief system as having more rights over their lives than they do themselves. They would die as a result of your claim to impose your belief system on them. And then you disclaim all responsibility, like you’re the weather or something.
Look, FFS. The USA has its own history, has had its own troubles, has made its own mistakes, and arrives at the present day with a system of government that is the result of that.
So why come down heavy when other people go through the same process ? All the stuff you’re saying here, did the USA not get its start by telling George III to piss off when he gave you that line ? Is there anything you’re saying there that wouldn’t have come very comfortably out of the mouths of his ministers, that any rebellious fool has only themselves to blame if they get killed by the armies of those who know how to run a government ? You didn’t like it up you, and nor does anyone else.
Nasty posts, Abe, nasty. I mean, who would really say this, about the deaths of civilians, grandmothers, children:
“(if) they lose their lives as collateral damage – well, that will be just be their own stupid fault.”
Who?
“…and the US invades to protect democracy and they lose their lives as collateral damage – well, that will be just be their own stupid fault”
Christ on a bike.
Tell us, Abe, who gave the USA this authority? It is ONE country out of 192 in the UN — no matter how loud it is. Did we vote in our sleep to make the USA world dictator? How blithely you write off other people’s choices. I gather you’ve never heard of the concept of a “sovereign state” or indeed of international law.
I’m beginning to wonder if you’re here to provoke, purely for your own crooked amusement. I find it increasingly hard to believe that you’re serious.
****
Suhayl,
I always read the comments at ThinkProgress when they post something like that, above. It restores my faith in (saner) Americans.
****
I’ve been called for jury duty (after all these years). Might be MIA soon.