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.
@ Larry from St. Louis,
Guess you were looking in the mirror when you posted this:-
“Why do you keep coming back to a site owned by someone who thinks you’re a nutjob?
But we know that you have a different mission Larry.So, why do you keep returning to a blog where the moderator has asked you to desist your activities?
It is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad folks.
(in small embarrassed type) I knew that, really.
Can’t spell Millliband though. Don’t want to, particularly.
“It is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad folks.”
… which suddenly leads me to realise a thing I don’t know. How would he write it, himself ? Does Iran have its own script ? (Farsi ?) Or do they use Arabic ? Or have I just unintentionally-but-mortally insulted a whole set of nations ? I don’t even know.
I think you probably have actually.
It’s Farsi in Iran. Arabic uses the same script but is otherwise a completely different language.
‘Farsi’ means ‘Persian’, as in the language. It’s generally best to say, ‘Persian’, not ‘Farsi’ when referring, in English, to the language – just as one would say, ‘French’ rather than ‘Francais’.
It’s written in Arabic script and often uses the ‘Nastaliq’ version, i.e. an elegant, cursive form. Although there are lots of Arabic words in it, in structure and origin Persian is an Indo-European, not a Semitic, language and so is related to Urdu/Hindi and, more distantly, to Latin, German, English, etc.
It’s spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and some of the Central Asian Republics – Uzbekistan and Tajikistan esp.
Many say that it’s a very mellifluous tongue. A shopping-list in Persian sounds like poetry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language
Anyway, here is a beautiful and immensely talented Persian singer/writer/broadcaster named Shusha, who was also a lovely person whom I miss very much. She died of cancer in 2008. She was an expert also at French chansons and sounded a little like Juliet Greco, but I think Shusha had a richer voice than Greco (and that’s saying something).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxG37CpSq5k&feature=related
Shusha: a biography and a beautifully-arranged song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRVoKZ-Y-qY&feature=related
I would strongly recommend this amazing BBC Radio Four programme re. poetry/ Sufism in Iran/ Persia, presented by Shusha Guppy, ‘The School of Illumination’. It’s one of the best radio programmes I’ve heard in recent years. It was broadcast in 2006. It’s also profoundly humanising of Iranian people, something worth bearing in mind when people discuss ‘strikes’ and ‘collateral damage’ and all of that evilspeak. This programme – and Shusha’s art – live on and are the opposite of evilspeak. Enjoy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/04/2006_11_thu.shtml
beautiful explanation of persian/farsi suhayl, thanks
TOTALLY OFF TOPIC @ ALL…
WE FIDDLE FART ABOUT THE SMALLER GLOBAL ISSUES, BUT SOMEHOW FAIL TO SEE THE VERY BIG ONES STARING US IN THE FACE:-
“Six million Congolese have died from starvation and war since 1997. The cause has not been, as Western media would have us believe, inscrutable African ethnic conflicts, but the West’s hunger for their country’s vital mineral resources, which power our aeropsace, automotive and information tech industries.17-23 Six million Congolese have died from starvation and war since 1997. The cause has not been, as Western media would have us believe, inscrutable African ethnic conflicts, but the West’s hunger for their country’s vital mineral resources, which power our aeropsace, automotive and information tech industries.
October 17-23 is Congo Week
by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
This October 17 thru the 23rd is the 3rd annual Congo Week.
Congo Week is a project undertaken by thousands of Congolese exiles along with their friends and allies, in cities, towns and university campuses scattered throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and beyond. Students, labor unions, libraries, churches, local governments and community groups are showing videos and photo exhibits and hosting speakers to help break the walls of silence and disinformation around the Congo.
Six million Congolese have lost their lives since 1997 to fuel the West’s hunger for their country’s mineral riches. Besides vast amounts of gold, uranium and diamonds, the Congo possesses 90% of the mineral called colombo-tantalum, or coltan. Coltan is vital to the production of capacitors, jet engines, power generation equipment and computers. Every PC, every Mac and iPad, every cell phone, game box, every TIVO, VCR and flat screen TV contain coltan. The global automotive, information technology, aerospace industries, and of course the Pentagon will grind to a halt if their supplies of coltan suffer the least interruption.
The rarely told truth is that driving millions at gunpoint from their farms and villages in eastern Congo, and with them, any government that might protect their rights has created the ideal business climate for Western mining and minerals corporations and their suppliers. Wages, environmental concerns, local taxes and regulations in, and exporting the entire profits out of the zones ravaged and depopulated by invading Rwandan, Burundian, Ugandan armies and their private militia allies, are no problem. It’s a piracy and slave labor zone, the ultimate free market.
The fact is that all the armies, official and unofficial are supplied directly and indirectly by the United States, and many are commanded by American-trained officers. The profits and the plunder flow mainly, but not entirely to the West. Plunder and pillage are good for business, and in the Congo, business is good.
Cover stories endlessly recycled in Western media, by the US State Department, and by occasional Hollywood do-gooders, attribute the millions of deaths by starvation and murder, the hundreds of thousands of rapes and maimings to inscrutable African ethnic conflicts no Westerner can possibly understand. In contrast to the mostly fictional genocide in Darfur, the Congolese genocide is very real indeed. It’s as though 45,000 people perished ever month for a decade, with barely a whisper, and almost no truth told.
The fact is that the literal blood of literal innocents isn’t just on our diamonds. It’s in our computers and cell phones, in our cars and aircraft, and in all our military hardware. While the truth may be difficult to accept, it is accessible, and Congo Week aims to make the real voices of the Congo directly available to wider and wider audiences.
Again, the third annual Congo Week is October 17 through the 23rd. If you’re interested in hosting speaker or showing a DVD at your home, church, union hall, library, college campus or community center for Congo Week, or finding an event in your city or town to attend, the place to go is http://www.friendsofthecongo.org, the web site of Friends of the Congo. That’s http://www.friendsofthecongo.org, or you can google Friends of the Congo.
For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Bruce Dixon. Find us on the web at http://www.blackagendareport.com.
Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report and based in Marietta GA. He can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com”
Neat Suhayl- what would I do without you – probably self-destruct in 30 seconds.
Thanks, technicolour, Suhayl. Yes, I knew what the language was, but I wasn’t sure how it was written.
ingo,
Yes, I agree the ‘awakening will have many scenarios’ and we do need to record ‘the viewpoint of normal taxpaying and law abiding people who then become innocent civilian victims, killed in conflicts, wars they had no decision in.’
Hunger and de-constructing societies will play a part in this awakening, so will the increasing pressures on peoples lifes from a wildly fluctuating climate.
The ‘awakening’ has started so let’s just pause and ponder why the West has become a liability in what is now a troubled phrase where we are clinging to outmoded, obsolescent global forums like the World Bank, the IMF, G8 and even the UN Security Council in its present form.
Clever people in Western economic think-tanks predicted a loss of confidence in global markets after the end of the ‘Cold War’ which prompted the Western elite to raise the deception stakes, plan and prepare for a new ‘war’, a surefire way of maintaining the West’s ‘champion’ of free trade status with further massive arms sales, gas pipe-lines and energy spoils. Eastern Asia was predicted to become an economic threat but China remained unscathed by the Asian Financial crisis even though the West provided little real help to the economies of East Asian countries.
The West was so intent on planning war it failed to strengthen the countries of East Asia as allies, instead leaving them more as competitors.
A top secret plan was drawn up to divide Asiathe Middle , by conquering and using Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran as a wedge to counter China’s entry into the global marketplace.
To do this an ‘outside’ enemy had to be created and the obvious choice was the ‘Islamic brigades’ that US intelligence had supported from the outset of the Soviet-Afghan war in the early 1980s headed up by a ‘bogeyman’ who with others (Saddam) threatened Western democracy. Direct conflict with China was out of the question, America would use its ‘Islamic Brigades’ to form a caliphate which would eventually be used to trigger a broader process of political destabilization and fracturing of the People’s Republic of China.
To achieve ‘just wars’ with humanitarian mandates the proposed pre-emptive strikes on Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran would need an ‘attack’ on American soil and the mechanisms for that would be ten years in the making.
TBC during Sunday God willing
With thanks to the late Robin Cook MP (PBUH)
Could it be that William Hague is being undermined as Foreign Secretary?
There is the death of Gareth Williams on his ‘watch’, and there were the clearly very carefully-timed and orchestrated smears about his aide.
If Williams had been so very valuable, he’d have had adequate protection. Either he didn’t have protection, in which case he was not as important to ‘national security’ as has been suggested, or his protection was withdrawn.
But who might benefit from Hague’s downfall, and why?
Let us hypothesise for a moment.
if Hague were to resign, who would be likely to succeed him?
Liam Fox, perhaps?
Please note that I am not suggesting that there is any directly instrumental link b/w the death of Gareth Williams and the hypothetical ascent of Liam Fox. I simply am speculating about any political fall-out from these matters.
Are there differences in overt or covert power-bases and/or policies b/w the two powerful politicians? Are there any specialists in/ watchers of Conservative Party politics who would be able to comment?
Signs which MUST be reported to officers working on Operation Krackpot. Remember, thoughts always precede actions and, as everyone knows, it’s the thought that counts. Here are some examples of suspicious questions:
1) [asking of a sea-going vehicle]: “Does it float?”
2) “Where is the sea?”
3) “Are there big fish around here?”
4) “Does it rain a lot in Caithness in the Spring?” [this is a known Al Qaeda code phrase for: ‘Go and eat Harriet Harman’].
5) Do you know the way to Amarillo?”
6) “Is there a tartan shop around here?”
7) “I’m trying to find Tilda Swinton.”
8) “Take me to the Laird.”
9) “Take me to the pilot.”
10) “Have you seen the monster?”
11) Take me to the site of local hero. [note: the absence here of the definitive article suggests foreign-ness]
12) Anyone, anywhere, at any time, playing Chris de Burgh songs in their car or on their I-pod.
It is important that the public participate in a consultative process in relation to these categories. Therefore, do feel free to add new categories or indeed to create sub-categories.
And remember, it’s the thought that counts. Keep London safe! Report suspicious activity in Sutherland! Be safe! Be wise! Be alert! Be free!
“Therefore, do feel free to add new categories or indeed to create sub-categories.”
8a) Take me to Lairg
13) Minnie Mouse is Mickey’s fiancee
It’s as suspicious as 7,8,9,11 and 12 for obvious reasons and it may appear twice.
Uh-oh! Maybe Mr Murray had been providing clues all along…
“If I am a whistleblower, then Julian is a veritable mighty pipe organ.”
A pipe organ, eh? What kind of “mighty” pipe-organ? As in the “mighty Wurlitzer”?
What is the Mighty Wurlitzer?
“Mighty Wurlitzer is a term used to describe the systematic, covert manipulation of the media by U.S. intelligence agencies. The name is derived from the nickname for the “Wurlitzer” theater pipe organ, an instrument controlled from a central console, which features many ranks of pipes as well as mechanised versions of many other instruments, such as drums, cymbals, chimes, marimbas, xylophones, and pianos, in addition to many sound effects”
“Do you know the way to Amarillo?”
Especially to be regarded with alarm when asked by groups of people purporting to be musicians.
3a) – “Do you want fries with that ?”
Never mind yer puny krakens, the ultimate scare would be weaponised midges.
Keep Sutherland safe, report London !
Ah, no, hang on. This Sutherland/alQaeda talk is all distraction. There _are_ suspicious aliens attempting to establish a base, aren’t there ? Down by Aberdeen, under cover of a golf course, answers to the name of Trump.
From PressTV:
“The US and the Zionists developed the strategy of the September 11 attacks in an effort to counter the Islamic vigilance and to control energy resources in the Middle East,” IRNA quoted Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi as saying on Saturday.
He further added that al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden did not possess the essential intelligence capacity anywhere near the level of CIA, Pentagon and the FBI in order to conduct the surprise attacks against sensitive centers in the United States on September 11.
“Following the Iranian president’s doubts on the 9/11 event, a top military adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution says the CIA and Mossad were involved in the attacks.
“The US and the Zionists developed the strategy of the September 11 attacks in an effort to counter the Islamic vigilance and to control energy resources in the Middle East,” IRNA quoted Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi as saying on Saturday.
He further added that al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden did not possess the essential intelligence capacity anywhere near the level of CIA, Pentagon and the FBI in order to conduct the surprise attacks against sensitive centers in the United States on September 11.”
All seems quite rational to me.
You really are quite magnificently deranged, aren’t you, Ruth?
Thanks, folks, for adding more hilarious ‘red flags’ (keep them flying!) to the arsenal of Operation Krackpot. You can’t trump Trump. Unless you’re a Trossachs midge named, Ivana. Let the Wurlitzers play!
!Wow!
This is exciting news indeed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-former-guerrilla-set-to-be-the-worlds-most-powerful-woman-2089916.html
Here’s a good piece from the Irish Times on the subject:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0925/1224279643776.html
Okay, before I shut up with this teenage drivel of mine, here are two more which I received by those good citizens keeping vigilance on a suspicious-looking couple, dressed as Japanese-American Tourists, walking slowly (by definition, a suspicious gait) around the liminally irregular igneous portal interface of the Applecross Peninsula:
14) “What are you wearing underneath that [kilt], my man?”
A possibly gender-apartheid homoerotic code-phrase for: ‘Strike at the Infidel’s underbelly!’
15) “Help, I’m a rock! [repeated three times]”
Generally thought, among the TERRORISM EXPERTS based at the INSTITUTE FOR THE CONTINUOUS STUDY OF THE TERRIFYING UNENDING AND PERPETUALLY ETERNAL TERRORIST THREAT (ICSTUPETT) based at the University of St Andrews, to be a reference to the destruction by the Taliban of the Bamiyan Buddhas.
If 14) and 15) are intoned backwards in Syriac with a gurgle of Buckfast, it is thought that they represent an old Ottoman command to breach the walls of Vienna by the covert identification of, and the application of executive action to, Viennese butchers, bakers and candlestick-makers.
Mark Golding,
I just found an article that I think will interest you; I haven’t even read it myself yet.
CIA used ‘illegal, inaccurate code to target kill drones’
‘They want to kill people with software that doesn’t work’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/24/cia_netezza/
Here is Richard Stallman’s opinion on the Register article about drone software:
“The idea that this software is “illegal” and that that makes it unethical is predicated on an endorsement of proprietary software. I reject that. It is not wrong to copy software; it is wrong to stop someone from copying software. It is not wrong to decompile a program, it is wrong to withhold source code from others. The CIA was foolish to use nonfree software at all.
“I am not convinced that 13 meters of positioning error is ethically significant. If the target is so close to civilian bystanders that a mere 13-meter error would endanger them, then they are endangered anyway. Bombs don’t always hit their target perfectly, and the shrapnel can cover a wide area. So it would be wrong to bomb there even with perfect software. Thus, if the US does bomb there, and hurts civilians, the fault is not with the software ?” it is with the decision to use the weapon there”.
Here’s a nice thoughtful piece that seems to bear on Abe’s meltdown, upthread. Perhaps we should also hope that it doesn’t become relevant in connection with Suhayl’s exciting news (which I hadn’t heard. Thanks) :-
http://justworldnews.org/archives/004089.html