The barefaced lie about Gadaffi being killed in the crossfire bodes ill for the openness, transparency and good government we can expect to see now in Libya. But today I am worrying about the effect on our society of human death as entertainment. I have never been an apologist for Gadaffi, but if his regime tortured and murdered, the remedy is not to torture and murder him – even the Nazis were given due process.
This murder is becoming the norm. It was a NATO air strike which took out Gadaffi’s escaping convoy and first wounded him. Two days ago two teenage sons of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical US/Yemeni cleric executed without trial last week, were executed by a US drone attack as they had dinner. They were aged 16 and 19. They had committed no crime I can find alleged against them. There has been no publicity.
All this killing brings triumphalist politicians smirking on our screens. We seem to have become as dehumanised as ancient Rome. Little human pity is expressed for the way Gadaffi was killed – indeed there is notably less media reflection of pity or revulsion than there was at the (at least judicial) hanging of Saddam Hussein. Is that a measure of the descent into bloodlust barbarism in our society? The complete lack of empathy towards the traveller families being torn from their homes at Dale Farm is part of the same brutalism towards “the other”. Why don’t we go the whole way and have them eaten by lions in the ring?
History shows that bloody appetite once aroused feeds upon itself. We have already had Defence Secretary Hammond on Sky News today positing NATO action now against Syria, while the current US proto-pretext for attacking Iran – the fantasy plot against the Saudi Ambassador – is as believable as Gadaffi’s death in the crossfire.
More death is on the way, to keep the circus going. Then the crowds may not notice there is no bread – no jobs, and their earnings and income eaten up by huge state enforced transfers to the bankers, whether by bailouts or “quantitive easing”.
Quantitive Easing is the best con of all for the ruling classes. In the UK, the £225 billion of printed money to date under quantitive easing has been – every single penny – given to the bankers. Good money for bad, used to buy up the junk bonds which the bankers bought in their terrible investment decision making, and for which fake assets they had awarded themselves many, many billions in personal bonuses. They are rescued from the consequences of their disastrous judgements by the Bank of England printing (in old parlance) new, good money to buy the rubbish they invested in. The result – more rounds of huge personal bonuses for celebrating bankers!! Hooray!!! For you and I, stagflation.
30 months ago, when I explained that Q.E. was another huge transfer to the bankers and predicted it would lead to stagflation, I was widely ridiculed across the web. Now we have the stagflation and everything I predicted has come to pass.
All of which you would normally expect to make people pretty unhappy at the biggest transfer of wealth from poor to rich in history.
Quick! More War! More Militarism! More Blood! More Executions! More Victory for Democracy! Keep the Peasants Happy!
Get a Move On There! Come On!! Come On!! More Blood!! More Blood, Quick, Damn You!!
UPDATE
You are not alone. On the average of the last three hours, 900 people per hour were reading this article and fifty others are at this moment reading this, invisibly alongside you. Those who understand what is happening are not given a mainstream media or political voice, but we are more than you may think. Don’t feel alone in your perception of the tricks of those who govern us, and leave a comment so we can start to feel each other’s support.
Due process for Gaddafi? And risking Blair, Bush and Cameron himself being called as witnesses for the *defence*? Much neater a bullet in the temple
God how I wish you had got into what is laughingly called ‘Parliament’ Craig.
Great article Craig. Keep it up. To any honest observer it’s so obvious that each of the events you describe are part and parcel of a single, historical trend: the moral and existential collapse of western (read global) civilization.
I agree with the first part whole heartedly, however craig we do not have stagflation. We have high inflation (5%+) and with more QE the promise of even higher inflation.
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Inflation is going to be the next big fall out from the bankers bail out. Of course they wont care, but the average man in the street is going to get the shock of his life soon.
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As a business owner I have seen raw material prices increase by as much as 40%. This obviously gets passed to my customers. We are a primary manufacturing company so as yet these massive increases have not filtered down to the retail markets. It will however, probably within the mext 6 – 8 months.
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You may as well spend your savings because they are going to be losing value at a rapid pace soon. I wouldnt be suprised to see inflation hit 10%. We are heading for big trouble at an alarming rate.
Well done Mr Murray on spotting correlation between killings and economic decline of the West. It has been noted that in history of civilisations governments always try to bribe crowds with spectacles during economic decay just to keep crowds’ mind preoccupied and destructed from asking awkward questions. This happened in Egypt, Rome, Mayan civilisation and others. Not that I am foretelling anything about Western civilisation but historic correlation is quite strong and cannot be overlooked.
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On another hand, however, what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa is the result, or more accurately, a consequence of changing World Order. After the end of Cold War and collapse of the USSR West and US in particular remained unchallenged authority with their ideology triumphed over utopian communist ideology. Today, however, times are different. Rise of China and global financial crisis have challenged this over 20 years unchallenged authority and it is natural for the West to play so called preventive game. Of course it comes at the expense of other nations and many have already fallen and many more will fell victims of such game.
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This make me think that Nietzsche was right and world consist of strong and weak. Everything else is just a folding-screen.
So right Craig. The morals have gone from society. There is a time for laughter, even voyeurism, but yesterday was not it. The greed of bankers, and money-launderers financing our corrupt governments in perpetuating national and international inequality, and the NATO war machine used to keep world peace and protect financial interests seems like a circus on its own, but it is a circus from Hell! It is not a spectacle any right-minded person should want to watch, and certainly not a spectacle for children. Bring on the clowns!
Craig – it’s the old Roman Empire all over again – bread and circuses for the rabble (and not too much bread either – we still need them as cannon fodder).
It appears that some of the less savoury Roman emperors might have been suffering from lead poisoning, from the wine that they were drinking. What, I wonder, has been put in the drink of our current rulers?
We mustn’t wait for the barbarians to rid us of those who are dragging us into an ever-deepening mire.
Keep the peasants happy? Really Craig, to blame the poor for the slaughter as if it is their will being enacted rather than the will of the ruling classes, who revel in the blood lust and profit from it.
Gaddafi’s GREAT SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA and Dale Farm offered alternatives to the one offered humanity by Global Imperialism – mass exploitation, barbarism and slavery. The new fascism will brook no alternative as was shown to the Libyan people who heroically resisted this NATO led ‘rebellion’ – it serves as a warning to us all that the ruling class will do what the fuck it likes and we can be passive observers in it or recognise what is going on, organises and revolt.
“30 months ago, when I explained that Q.E. was another huge transfer to the bankers and predicted it would lead to stagflation, I was widely ridiculed across the web. Now we have the stagflation and everything I predicted has come to pass.”
The Gods of the Copybook Headings are wreaking their vengeance again.
Ten years ago, I saw this coming. The waves of funny money washing round the world could not possibly be part of a sustainable economic engine. Oh how they laughed.
It’s not much satisfaction being right, though, is it?
‘History shows that bloody appetite once aroused feeds upon itself’
A profound poignant and astute sentence Craig.
Absolutely spot on. The craven brutality of our leaders and media will,at end,be visited upon themselves.
Its inevitable.
Saddam,Osama and Gaddafi…all,allegedly,*killed* without due process or uttering a single word to the media.
How covenient,for some.
Of course NATO/Neocons learnt from Milosevic in the dock at the Hague,the dangers of letting their enemies have the oxygen of publicity.These enemies knew too much and where the skeletons were.
Far better just to whack ’em.
But justice and accountability are killed at the same time,alas.
Unfortunately you are right.
There is no moral compass left anymore.
The US empties its inventory of bombs, Europe pays from money that they hope to make on the back of their Libyan conquest.Immediate problems are sidelined and forgotten.The public got their televised murder to keep them happy and the show rolls on.
There is definitely a blood lust in the air.When a dog gets it you have to put it down because it doesn’t go away. The Mad Dog in North Africa is now NATO.
Who can put this dog down ?
An ironic and timely countrrpoint is that Liam Fox,who oversaw much of the Libyan conflict,was only 3 days ago judged to have poor judgement and potentially to have compromised national security…
Strange days indeed.
You say that it is a “barefaced lie about Gadaffi being killed in the crossfire”. How do you know this? I’m not disputing, just asking how you know that this was not the case?
Craig, reading your analysis is extremely depressing and painful. But necessary. Thanks.
Thedevilis6: from the Guardian —
>>On Friday, a spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights in Geneva said the shakily filmed mobile phone footage showing Gaddafi captured and alive but wounded, and then subsequently dead, was “very disturbing”.<<
My Murray,
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Off topic. Is there anything new on Malyshevs? Have so many emails had any positive effect?
Laurent: Yes, disturbing images. Still don’t see how this proves the crossfire claims are a barefaced lie though… Again, I’m not refuting, just asking what sources Craig is using to back up his rather forthright statement.
Targeted assassination is de rigeur, the norm, insignificant compared to the slaughtered Iraqis or the slaughter of Palestinians, or the slaughtered Afghanis, or the slaughter of Bahraini, Yemeni, or what about the murder of 57 Britons on the underground or the murder of 3000 killed in the towers plus many more GZ workers from lung disease, or the poor dying from hunger, the infirm from cold, the disabled from lack of care; all in plain sight and all attributed to a lust for power, of avarice, covetousness and greed of the 1%, the ruling elite and their political slaves.
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We are reaching the end of the damnation of Syria, the denouncement of Iran; more destruction and blood are coming, much more; move along or be trampled.
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So keep typing, keep Googling, keep tweeting, keep exposing lies, keep fear at arms reach, yes, keep up the armchair activism because it makes you feel good. Do they, the nasty care about people in a warm home surrounded by comfort while evil is at play, death inevitable? No! It is too late, the falling blade was missed, the deadly bomb exploded while the connection died…
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Some however, young, older and ancient will brave the cold, will protest, march, shout, chant in legion, in solidarity for the worlds eye to witness.
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They have chosen love over fear.
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When will you?
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http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150329879441994
Great praise should be brief. This article – and the perspective of the writer – are wonderfully refreshing. Both are full of truth and common sense.
Dear Craig Murray where did you learn your economics from, and what do you see for the years ahead for the UK?
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Mission Accomplished?
Have we not heard that before somewhere?
This is not over.
This is the start of the real chaos and brutality,as in Iraq.
NATO got into bed with al-Quaida here.Is conspiring with an alleged terrorist group not against the law?
Can we expect the NATO leaders to be subject to extraordinary rendition to any number if CIA black sites to be tortured or disappeared for aiding a terrorist group?
Oh dont hold your breath..
The hypocrisy is staggering.
This is How It Will Be:
As NATO expediently got into bed with al-Quaidq here so they will-as planned all along- simply bankroll the same al-Quida to bomb,subvert and terrorise Libya in order for NATO to point at the self same terrorism as a reason why they have to stay indefinitely in Libya to oversee events.
The Libyan people dont stand a chance of steering their own future,alas.
Plus ca change…..
whilst those who killed gaddafi did so out of pure hatred, vengeance (no justification) our use of those images has been for entirely different reasons in that it reflects our fascism, the brutalisation, the debasing of African, Arab, Muslim lives in our society led by government and aided by our media, it is for our supremacist idea of justice justice that we mete out to lesser beings than ourselves.
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it is about softening the public to greater abuses , inhumanity . to our greater need to look to fascism for our answers.
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we remain of the same mentality , ignorance and arrogance that first took us into Africa and brutally debased their existence.
I received this today, for what it is worth:
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Dear ****** *******,
Thank you for your letter about the immigration matters of Mikel & Nina Malyshev .
We appreciate you taking the time to write and would like to assure you that the views you expressed have been noted.
Yours Sincerely
Public Correspondence Team
UKBA
It’s got this way because “you lot” for decades have taken part in legitimising the means of “government”. The writing’s been on the wall for at least 50 years, and it’s not USancentric to say that it was the assassination of Kennedy that probably provided the greatest benchmark (although the people of Hisoshima and Nagasaki would have a legitimate claim to disagree).
What will “you lot” do?
You’ll continue to play the game, won’t you?
The USA appears to have appointed itself ‘Lord High Executioner/Assassin. Like you Craig I find it very disturbing, especially these assassinations by drone. I’ve heard that Brit and US ‘special forces’ have been involved in the Libyan ‘revolution’. I’m wondering if they had anything to do with the killing of MG after his capture. You know the old saying: ‘dead men don’t talk. Rather convenient for our governments to have him dead, just like OBL wouldn’t you say?
Best,
Dave
But today I am worrying about the effect on our society of human death as entertainment.
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I agree. There is a really despicable element of triumphalism and disregard for legality and justice that is eating away at “Western culture”. I recently started reading Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France” which is often derided as evidence of Burke’s reactionary bent but which seems very prescient today.
Angrysoba,
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Standard reply I guess. John has received identical one. Less than 9 hours left to save two souls from prosecution. And yet Nietzsche was right.
sums it up : http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2011/oct/20/steve-bell-cameron-gaddafi