British democracy has lost its meaning. The political and economic system has come to serve the interests of a tiny elite, vastly wealthier than the run of the population, operating through corporate control. The state itself exists to serve the interests of these corporations, guided by a political class largely devoid of ideological belief and preoccupied with building their own careers and securing their own finances.
A bloated state sector is abused and mikled by a new class of massively overpaid public secotr managers in every area of public provision – university, school and hospital administration, all executive branches of local government, housing associations and other arms length bodies. All provide high six figure salaries to those at the top of a bloated bureaucratic establishment. The “left”, insofar as it exists, represents only these state sector vested interests.
These people decide where the cuts fall, and they will not fall where they should – on them. They will fall largely on the services ordinary people need.
Meanwhile we are not all in this together. The Vodafone saga only lifts the lid for the merest peek at the way the corporate sector avoids paying its share, hiding behind Luxembourg or Cayman tax loopholes and conflicts between international jurisdictions – with which our well provided politicians are very happy. The often excellent Sunny Hundal provides a calm analysis of the Vodafone case here:
Let me tell you something else about Vodafone. Vodafone took over Ghana Telecom three years ago. They paid an astonishingly low price for it – 1.2 billion dollars, which is less than the value of just the real estate GT owned. The value of the business was much higher than that, and there was a substantively higher opening bid from France Telecom.
The extraordinary thing was the enormous pressure which the British government put on Ghana to sell this valuable asset to Vodafone so cheaply. High Commissioner Nick Westcott and Deputy High Commissioner Menna Rawlings were both actively involved, with FCO minister Lord Malloch Brown pressurising President Kuffour directly, with all the weight of DFID’s substantial annual subvention to Ghana behind him.
What is the point of DFID giving taxpayer money to Ghana if we are costing the country money through participating in the commercial rape of its national assets?
And why exactly was it a major British interest that Vodafone – whose Board meets in Germany and which pays its meagre taxes in Luxembourg – should get Ghana Telecom, as opposed to France Telecom or another company? Was privatisation at this time the best thing for Ghana at all?
This Vodafone episode offers another little glimpse into the way that corporations like Vodafone twist politicians like Mark Malloch Brown around their little fingers. It mioght be interesting to look at his consultancies and commercial interests now he is out of office.
BAE is of course the example of this par excellence. Massive corruption and paying of bribes in Saudi Arabia, Tanzania end elsewhere, but prosecution was halted by Tony Blair “In the National Interest”. BAE of course was funnelling money straight into New Labour bagmen’s pockets, as well as offering positions to senior civil servants through the revolving door. Doubtless they are now doing the same for the Tories – perhaps even some Lib Dems.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/01/jack_straws_cor.html
It is therefore unsurprising the BAE were able to write themselves contracts for aircraft carriers which were impossible to cancel and that their New Labour acolytes were prepared to sign such contracts. It is, nonetheless, disgusting. Just as it is disgusting that there is no attempt whatever by the coaliton to query or remedy the situation. There is no contract in the UK which cannot be cancelled by primary legislation.
Meanwhile, bankers’ bonus season is upon us again and these facilitators of trade and manufacture are again set to award themselves tens of billions of pounds to swell the already huge bank accounts of a select few, whose lifestyle and continued employment is being subsidised by every single person in the UK with 8% of their income. This was because the system which rewards those bankers so vastly is fundamentally unsound and largely unnecessary. Money unlinked to trade or manufacture cannot create infinite value; that should have been known since the South Sea Bubble.
Yet even this most extreme example of government being used to serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of everyone else, has not been enough to stir any substantial response from a stupoured, x-factored population, dreaming only of easy routes to personal riches, which they have a chance in a million of achieving.
Conventional politics appears to have become irretrievably part pf the malaise rather than offering any hope for a cure. But political activity outwith the mainstream is stifled by a bought media.
I see no hope.
sorry, not meant to be an absolute statement, thinking aloud.cheers suhayl, quite right.
I think there is something supernatural about creativity in the world, and in human beings in particular. Magic is a word with an overload of meanings like love, and they are words that are meant to mean more than could be said.
Anno’s faith reminded me of this old taoist quote:
“The just man has no mind to seek happiness, heaven therefore, because of this mindlessness, opens it’s inmost heart.
The bad man busies himself with avoiding misfortunes, heaven therefore confounds him for this desire. How unsearchable are the ways of heaven, how useless the wisdom of men.”
On-topic:
There was a quick but non-dismissive review on “film 2010” for a documentary movie coming out called “Collapse”, which is by Michael Rupert who runs the alternative news and analysis website, http://www.fromthewilderness.com http://www.collapsemovie.com/synopsis.html
Ive never read his site much, he is a ixxi truther, a peak oil’er, a climate change concerner.. apparently he did a good job of predicting the banking crisis..
He would seem to be “a radical”.
r/Quote from http://www.fromthewilderness.com
Barrie Zwicker: As the resources run out, Earth will be a pathetic place, where a few ultra-wealthy live in fortified places, while the vast majority either die or barely survive. A successful revolution might be as unlikely as bringing the oil back. I think we have to imagine how good life on Earth could be if we smarten up and learn to live together, and how bad it could be if the present trends continue. Remember, the present trends, or at least most of them, are toward dystopia. To overlook this is to engage in fatal denial. Denial is probably the main Achilles’ heel of the species known as Homo sapiens.
There are too many great websites to list; here are a few to get you started:
http://www.oldamericancentury.org
http://www.mujca.com
http://www.truthout.org
http://www.citizenscourt.com
http://www.podcasts.com
Hey crab… interesting quotes and websites. As it happens one of those sites, truthout.org, is serialising a new book by a Thom Hartmann which sets about solutions to our current economic woes, inequality and environmental problems. It’s called ‘rebooting the American dream’, and the introduction is here:
http://www.truth-out.org/thom-hartmann-rebooting-the-american-dream-07112010
The chapters will be produced each week, or each month – can’t remember. I’m sure the book is worth getting too, I have several by that author, and all were well worth the time and money.
*
Is it only a ‘bad man’ that seeks to avoid misfortune (for instance, by saving cash in case of hard times, by putting on a seat belt etc.) ? Maybe the Taoist meant it’s bad to _only_ seek to avoid misfortune. But then, it can be pretty bad if one is only interested in fortune, too.
Oaths and torture,
Former Tory shadow home secretary David Davis said the use of techniques such as waterboarding undermined the West’s case when discussing human rights with nations such as China.
We note the American Justice Department not only gave the ‘green light’ for torture as stated by GW Bush in his memoirs, they also failed to commit to prosecutions for the destruction of evidence (on tapes) where torture was involved (to get signed confessions).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/09/AR2010110904106.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/15/AR2008011504090.html
Such hypocrisy when we examine the US Judiciary Act of 1789 which says:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm), that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution, and laws of the United States. *So help me God*.
Interestingly judges in England are required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen and her successors as well as this, the Judicial Oath:
I, ‘name’, do swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth in the office of Justice, and I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm (colony), without fear or favour, affection or ill will. *So help me God*.
Interestingly a paragraph from the original hippocratic oath taken by physicians says:
If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot.
Perhaps that should be added to the Judicial Oath and allegiance removed.
Mark Golding quoted: “If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot.”
Indeed… so why are the doctors, psychologists and so on who reverse-engineered the SERE programme and their understanding of the mindsets of those in the middle-east in order to _do the most harm_ to their new subjects, Arab prisoners, not being stripped of their right to practice medicine, at the very least?
Hiya Glenn, i didnt check the sites, and a couple are spent now.. I was reading some more about Michael Rupert and the docu on him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_%28film%29
Seems he’s a super truther, which i dont mind but those sites are a bit stars and banners for me. The film looks to be quite thought provoking.
–
I think the tao quote suggests there is special reward for abandoning self protection and special penalties for focusing there. The little sketch is simplistic and polarised but taoism encourages amorphism~.
As everyone already knew.
British deny George Bush’s claims that torture helped foil terror plots
British officials say there is no evidence that waterboarding saved lives of UK citizens, as Bush claimed in his memoirs
Richard Norton-Taylor and Ian Black
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 November 2010 21.37 GMT
British officials said today there was no evidence to support claims by George Bush, the former US president, that information extracted by “waterboarding” saved British lives by foiling attacks on Heathrow airport and Canary Wharf. In his memoirs, Bush said the practice ?” condemned by Downing Street as torture ?” was used in CIA interrogations of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US.
He said Mohammed, below, was one of three al-Qaida suspects subjected to waterboarding. “Their interrogations helped break up plots to attack American diplomatic facilities abroad, Heathrow airport, and Canary Wharf in London, and multiple targets in the United States,” he wrote.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/09/british-deny-bush-claims-foil-terror
Thank you crab and glenn for sharing useful references. More people should do this.
And thank you, Craig, for writing this post which inspired me to develop my own thoughts at http://nomadron.blogspot.com/2010/11/rant.html
“I think we have to imagine how good life on Earth could be if we smarten up and learn to live together”
Originating from an interview between Ruppert and Orlov: “the ultimate commodity in which to invest is not gold or shotgun shells but people you can trust”.
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2010/10/interview-on-prns-lifeboat-hour-with.html
From the same source, I also liked “That historical nations abide but “acronym anachronisms” like USSR and USA turn out to be figments of the geopolitical imagination”. Of course I’m adding ‘UK’ to that list.
Am in Montrose today. Working in very concentrated way on Burnes book so no sinister reason for not blogging.
Hope you’re feeling well Craig.
“Of course I’m adding ‘UK’ to that list”.
Yes. I’d also add the EU.
Has anyone wondered why WW1 started in 1914?
According to the “cock-up” theory of history subscribed to here and the one I learned in college WW1 happened almost by accident. It was all down to railway timetables and some bloke called Princep etc.
Alas it is a sad fact to record that all those millions of brave young men who died in WW1 were sacrificed on the altar of the central banking scam.
For in 1913 the Warburgs,Roths et al got their hands on the Fed. Thus US tax-payers were fleeced so as the Fed could bankroll the British war effort. We were bankrupt when war began in 1914.
The same bankers through their agents,like Brandeis,Untermayer and House controlled US President Woodrow Wilson. They bankrolled the war propaganda fabricated by early media theorists like Bernays and Lippmann. Such propaganda turned US citizens formerly sympathetic to Germany into creatures baying for German blood almost overight!
They turned up at the Versailles conference too with their pet war leaders in tow. It was the bankers and their agents who orchestrated the post-war settlement. Their friends the Zionists were there in force too since it was they who had seen the prospect of a general war that would be terminated by a post-war settlement in which they themselves would have a say as key to advancing their cause substantially.
The final settlement decided upon by the internatinal bankers naturally left Europe seething with irredentist border disputes and displaced national minorities especialy among the Germans and Slavs.
Thus as most historians whether of the “cock-up” persuasion or otherwise have noticed the stage was set for another general war in the next generation.
Between times the bankers set about debauching national currencies creating depression and hyper-inflation that wrought havoc in the US and Europe,particularly in Weimar Germany where the bankers had seen their Bolshevik proxies crushed in 1919.
Until the power of the central bankers to instigate depressions,hyper-inflation,revolutions and wars is rolled back expect the next chapter in World History to be dominated by the same trail of human destruction.
Justice, Murder & Religion
You cannot ignore Obama’s address in Jakarta – http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/1110/Obama-lauds-Indonesia-for-religious-tolerance-democratic-reform
his native tongue sandwiched in-between fine words of freedom, tolerance and human rights. It was a speech of personal reflection and cultural references and sourced the familiar speech in Cairo when he spoke of reuniting with the Muslim world.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/awesome-obama-shines-in-jakarta/405928
His fine words were plainly hollow, his delivery bombed and tiresome.
Obama must bite the bullet and confront a painful legacy and not just turn the page. Every minute of each day an evil shadows Barack Hussein Obama. The past cannot be allowed to rest.
The Bush dynasty is clawing itself back into reality as America collapses from past truths revealed by investigative soldiers who by attention to detail and stealth have forced open the shut doors that hide murder, deceit, deception and holocaust.
The ghosts of the fallen hacked by a despot President, son of the evil emperor, liar and cheat, who exploited faith and religion to garner his base, his partner in marriage free to enjoy the orgasmic thrill of stolen wealth, while the family of a young man still mourn his murder from a drunken impaired vision that ignored a red light and took a teenage life; the torture, the murder of thousands of Iraqi children exterminated by fire at breakfast while mummy coveted their frail bodies in futile attempts to save them from the falling cluster bombs.
This *is* Obama’s ‘point of decision’ -to separate America from the shadows of it’s past, to free the American people from the burden of shame, to bring before justice the criminals of war and the peace. This must be his eulogy to the dead, the dying and those young minds frozen by trauma.
Russ Baker and others have exposed the crimes of the Bush family – it now takes strong men of courage to bring them to justice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03ZkqfRsiRo
Good to see the very large student protest at Millbank. The ConDems must be feeling a bit sweaty.
Don’t think any of these crimes against humanity figure prominently in the new Bush autobiography.
Seems to me the only interesting thing Dubya says in the book is that he thought he’d given the order for the Flight 93 shoot-down.
This is something the disinformationists and their camp- followers ( no non-PC pun against gay men intended-I know how touchy you,guys are re-such slurs-real or imagined )
tried to air-brush from Day One. The story re-the “Let’s Roll” passengers overcoming the bad guys in the cockpit- no pun,honest-and the phone calls that were a scientific impossibility at the time gave the scam away to anyone with a brain half the size of a walnut!
The G.H.Bush record at the CIA deserves scrutiny. His father’s pre-war sponsorship of Hitler and wartime trade with the Nazis a foretaste of the vampire crimes that followed their forebear’s example.
The Bush family history is the invisible government’s nefarious war against all humanity writ large.
Craig’s post July 6th: Apostate Steelback et al are banned from this site for persistent anti-semitism.
If you wish to hear dissembling and rank hypocrisy then listen to Howells on this Radio 4 Today segment from yesterday. Howells and his ilk knew damn well what was going on. They did NOT condemn the practice of waterboarding as torture.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9170000/9170110.stm
The former US president George W Bush has defended the use of “waterboarding” on terrorist suspects, saying it saved London from attacks.
Speaking in the programme, Dr Kim Howells, a former chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee that oversees the work of the intelligence community, condemned the practice as “torture”.
A David Davis, the former shadow Home Secretary, said that using “brains, not brutality” was a better way to extract intelligence information.
Howells had an allegedly questionable role when in the NUM during the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike. He has seen a steadily upward trajectory of career advancement since those times.
ConDems do not sweat; they perspire. Usually with the weight of all the gold they are carrying on their backs.
Part 66 Yemen mail bomb contd/
Breaking News
10 November 2010 Last updated at 17:03
Yemen mail bomb ‘could have detonated over eastern US’ Forensic tests on a failed parcel bomb smuggled on a US-bound cargo flight show it would have detonated over the eastern US seaboard, say British police.
The bomb, which originated in Yemen, was discovered inside a printer cartridge on a plane at East Midlands airport last month.
***********
Are you having us on ConDems?
Kim Howells and Liam Fox. Hard men with hard faces. Cold eyes. But what else might they have in common?
Howells is a longstanding member, and former chairman, of Labour Friends of Israel, “a Westminster-based lobby group working within the British Labour Party to promote the State of Israel” (Labour Friends of Israel press briefing, 2003). Howells’ public statements on Israel/Palestine have typically echoed the official Israeli government position
Fox is a strong supporter of Israel and is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel. In 2006 he said, “Israel’s enemies are our enemies and this is a battle in which we all stand together or we will all fall divided.”[32] In January 2009, referring to Israel, he also said, “British support for any ally is never unqualified. International law and values must always be obeyed.'”[33]
and both voted for the Iraq war.
Exactly. They also seem to me to operate along policy trajectories which seem coterminous with those with which one would expect the security and intelligence services. Close then, in deed, thought and action. But more than that, identical in spirit.
It has been alleged that the security services had a number of spies in the NUM during the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85. This was one of the major factors that led to the total victory of the Thatcher Govt. One wonders who these alleged spies might have been. Were these people ever really on the Left, one wonders. When might they have been ‘purchased’? But is it simply ambition…?
http://www.aberdareonline.co.uk/content/has-kim-howells-boy-penywaun-forgotten-his-roots
@ All – lest we forget:-
The War And Occupation In Iraq Are Illegal
By Courtenay Barnett
Much has been said and written about America’s war, and occupation of Iraq. Amongst the community of nations of the world, and within the minds of the citizens of the world, two statements might succinctly clarify the issues of war and occupation in Iraq. The war was illegal under international law. The occupation remains illegal under international law. The point is:-
Article 2(3) and 2(4) of the United Nations Charter read:-
” (3) All member states shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.”
” (4) All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”
Sounds simple, reasonable and clear enough. Let me add that there are two and only two exceptions to the Charter’s Article 2(4) prohibition against the use of unilateralist force
” … if an armed attack occurs… ” (or is imminent) as contemplated by Article 51 of the UN Charter is one. Authorisation by the Security Council is the other.”
( Quote: “Learn the Law” pp. 154-155 ?” published Trafford 2003 ?” ISBN 141200775-5)
World leaders ought consistently to be asked ?” where is your lawful authority for your current course of action?
In assessing the statements of President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the immediate pre-war period, one clearly discerns concerted efforts to lend legitimacy to the war as then planned. The possession of, or imminent intention to use, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) was the ‘reason’ and ploy used to commence the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush and Blair lied to, and misled their respective citizenry and the world. If the war in Iraq was to be deemed ‘legal’, there had to be a legitimate basis under international law, and of that Bush and Blair were fully aware. I make the following common sense observation:-
” At the end of the war, WMDs had to be found ?” but where ( Iraq is a big country) and by whom? UN weapons inspectors had been pulled out of Iraq to let the sacred mission of bombing Iraq begin. After the war, the U.S. enforced the holy seal of sanctions against return of the UN inspectors. The reasonable inquiry might be ?” since the UN inspectors were central to the process of diligently and honestly searching for WMDs before the war ?” why not let them conclude that honest and diligent search, after the war, to the satisfaction of the international community?”
( Ibid: p. 157)
I admit error, because earlier in 2003, I thought we were “At the end of the war… ” ?” but, now I am proven wrong. A war of resistance to American and foreign occupation continues apace in Iraq.
During the course of the twentieth century there was the war fought to end all wars ?” World War 1. That war lay the foundation for the next global conflagration ?” World War 2.
An attempt at sanity, and for the preservation of international peace arose in the immediate post-World War 2 period. Thus, the United Nations came into being, and Article 2(3) of its Charter stated, “All member states shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means… “. The Charter does not abolish war, so much as that it provides a mechanism for the legitimate use of force, when all efforts at resolution by “peaceful means” have failed.
The approaches of Bush and Blair towards Iraq are more reminiscent of aggressive conduct in the pre-World War 11 era, than being indicative of desire for civilized and lawful conduct more than fifty years after the UN multilateralist system was established. Bush and Blair have acted illegally and remain devoid of a legitimate cloak for their actions in Iraq.
“Global justice” is the phrase which best describes where the world is compelled to go, if peaceful survival is desired. Global justice is not a mere abstract concept, for its pursuit remains imperative for avoiding the kinds of unnecessary warfare that plagued the world before World War 2 , and it continues to be the only viable and sane alternative to the new unilateralist and illegal dispensations of the likes of Bush and Blair.
There cannot be one set of rules for the convenience of big powers in the world, and another set for all other nations. The Charter of the United Nations has quite clear provisions aimed at the preservation of international peace. President Bush and Prime Minster Blair have set their own standards, rules, and pattern of conduct in response to Iraq. Their standards, rules, and conduct auger well for future wars and remain manifestly ?” illegal.
Ah! Courtenay, you’re back, with a bang! Good evening to you.
finally found this blog really help me in my research. thanks for sharing
Yes, it is a wonderfully erudite resource, especially for spambottomed spies like you. Go join the Rainbow Girls!
“Kim Howells and Liam Fox. Hard men with hard faces. Cold eyes. But what else might they have in common?”
Hmm – excellent question. I’d guess that if we smacked either over the head with a stout plank he’d fall down. Make a note of this information, purely mechanical though it be. I think we may have to build political relevance for it.
That inflammatory suggestion at November 10, 2010 10:01 PM, was Vronsky. As if you wouldn’t know.