The neo-con Blair and Cameron regimes are very comfortable with each other. War criminal Alistair Campbell’s “evidence” to the Leveson inquiry is risible.
“Only a few people in number 10 knew Cherie was pregnant, so it must have been phone hacking that led the Mirror to it” is a statement that would not stand ten seconds thought, if it were not ramped by being given the status of a leak.
Campbell’s statement ignores the range of explanations as to how the Mirror could have learned from the “small number of people in No. 10” that Cherie was pregnant. These include:
a) gossip
b) No 10’s motive to get the news out to boost Tony’s popularity
c) the hospital
d) phone hacking
Phone hacking is the least possible explanation. My money is on b)
No, this is a rather pathetic attempt by the Blair camp to divert attention from Murdoch onto Piers Morgan, who the war criminals have never forgiven for his opposition to the War in Iraq. It is so blatant a ploy that it needs an extra boost to the story as a daring “leak” by the Tory neo-con PR man Paul Staines, to be a succesful diversionary tactic.
Blairites and Tories get together to manufacture an incident to take the heat off Murdoch at Leveson Inquiry. That is the real story.
Fedup, well, yes, granted, it was in the late 1980s, so already over 20 years ago. But I’m not sure your assumption that they have had little to do is necessarily accurate. On tghe contrary, there are always things to do! Iran has been an enemy of the UK since 1979, this means spying is de rigeur. Furthermore, people in a number other countries in the region speak Persian – Afghanistan being the most obvious example. The Persina is pronounced difefrently from that in Iran, and Iran itself has many regional variants, different accents and so on.
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But perhaps you have some inside knowledge to which I am not privy? If so, please share. Thanks.
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You do sound awfully like anno, btw. Perhaps you two ought to have a cup of tea, Persian-style.
Didn’t realize that The Australian has a paywall.
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This is the complete piece
http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/54687
@Mary
The Australian is in the Murdoch stable – hence the paywall. So I’m amazed that this story was published there at all.
Thanks Komodo.
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Craig, have a look at the previous blog please. I’ve posted four comments which may have some significance. They’re at the bottom of the feed. Off to bed now. ‘night.
Suhayl Saadi,
Afghan dialect is Dari, which is a variant, and not exactly Farsi. In fact there are a few Farsi Speaking countries in the area (south-west Asia/Mid-east). However the succinct enunciation, grammatical variance, and distinctive vocabularies, differentiate these from one another, despite their shared parametric/lingual heritage, ie as in English and variances thereof.
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Not digressing from the issues, in the current climate of poopy Pants Iran, which is an attempt to divert attention from the all out fuckups de jour in the form of the plethora of the failures and financial snafu, and calamities all around. Added into the, the ever opportunist ziofuckwits trying to muddy the already troubled waters for their own end, in a fashion as found in nature; Brainwashed by a parasite . This proving to be not to the advantage of the majorities concerned, who are already paying the price for the mistakes of the past (Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc), and being forced into bearing an even greater burden by the day.
Professor the Baroness Haleh Afshar is pleading for Britain to stall the relentless push to war with Iran.
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I hope to confirm/rescind whether the Royal navy ships HMS Albion, HMS Ocean and RFA Fort Rosalie are off or stationed in Cyprus waiting for orders to commence an attack on Syria which I believe is intended to snare Iran into some conflict that can be exploited to justify a direct attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities (the Wests axiom of securing world peace?). November 30th I believe is a crucial date for this insane accord to consolidate or die from conjecture.
Millions Gather in Syria’s Squares to Express Condemnation of Arab League Decisions and Reject Foreign Interference
Meanwhile back at the ranch:
China’s freedom of navigation and other legal rights should not be obstructed
Who said Chinese were not well pleased?
The Lobby had called “Chilcot Inquiry” an old-fashioned anti-Semitism.
Oliver Miles, former Ambassador to Libya, writing in the Independent on November 22, 2009 – raised the doubts that the presence of two pro-Israeli members on the 5-member Iraq Inquiry would most probably hide the pro-Israel Jewish Lobby’s role in Britain’s joining the invasion of Iraq. The Jewish-owned TIME magazine called Oliver Miles’ comment as “disgraceful”. On January 28, 2010 – BBC was quoted Martin Gilbert, whom it described as a “proud practicing Jew and Zionist” saying he feels “deep unease” at Oliver Miles comments.
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/british-iraq-inquiry-an-old-fashioned-anti-semitism/
Thanks Craig, pertinent as ever. Bonkers or not is incidental.
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I just hope the Levenson enquiry manages to sift through these stories and get to the relevant facts. From the parade of “victims” we have seen so far, there are certainly some that have been unfairly treated and the public deserves some legal protection from the press gone wild for a story. However, there are also others appearing, such as Campbell here, that were themselves playing such devious games with the press that any claim to victimhood should be laughed off the stage.
“Former defence secretary Liam Fox spent at least £65,000 flying around the world on Government business, it has been disclosed.
A further £184,000 was spent on flights for his private office staff and special advisers, the current Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said in an answer to a written parliamentary question from Liverpool Walton Labour MP Steve Rotherham.
The MP and his staff spent £17,100 on accommodation whilst abroad, Mr Hammond added.
The costs only includetravel from May last year up until the end of August”
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/11/28/liam-fox-spending-private-advisors_n_1117129.html?ref=uk
Yes surprised they published it too Emma. Perhaps they realize the inevitability of the turning of the tide.
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Rehmat. That about Chilcot is hilarious. One of the members, Sir Martin Gilbert ‘describes himself as a proud practising Jew and a Zionist.’ and has since 2005, been married to the Holocaust historian Esther Gilbert, née Goldberg. Wikipedia.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gilbert
Additionally Sir Lawrence Freedland is Jewish and was a speechwriter for Bliar.
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[2010 Jan] The Chilcot Inquiry: Britain’s 9/11 Commission Michael Crick, pointed out, “Critics of the war might argue Sir Lawrence was himself one of the causes of the war!” Crick was referring to a Freedman memo which formed the basis of Tony Blair’s 1999 Chicago speech, “The Doctrine of the International Community.” In what became known as the “Blair Doctrine,” Freedman had offered an answer to the specious question: “When was military action justified for liberal, humanitarian reasons?”
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http://www.whale.to/b/freedman_h.html
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(Photo within of him receiving a medal from the Duke of Westminster, the bête noire of Roderick Russell who comments on this blog.)
Re the speculation on the whereabouts of the remnants of the British ‘fleet’.
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It was ever thus. Always war. Always Britain.
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The Syrian War is the name generally given to the war of 1839-40 fought in the Middle East, also known as the Second Syrian War, mainly on territory that is now Lebanon, between the Allied Powers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Austrian Empire, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire against the expansionist designs of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, the Pasha of Egypt, tacitly supported by Spain and to a lesser extent July Monarchy France.
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/..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_War
This on Medialens
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The Story of Palestine
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Posted by The Editors on November 29, 2011, 8:38 am
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When the United Nations, in 1977, proclaimed 29 November of each year as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, it was a clear admission of guilt towards this people. It was recognition that the Palestinian people deserve international solidarity and support, in the name of justice and rights. This was merely one small event in a long story.
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The story of Palestine and its people is one that will go down in history. In fact it has already started to do just that. One might say that the victor is the one that writes history. The victor in this case will inevitably be justice, and justice is at the core of the Palestinian struggle against apartheid, colonialism and oppression. And as in every episode in history, everyone will be mentioned according to their positions, and more importantly their deeds with respect to each story.
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In the day of solidarity, let us remember that.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE1A3WrMHdI&feature=player_embedded 2′ 57″
Komodo my friend
Comment has been ‘pulled’ now – usual ‘moderator’ guff. It was there last night at 6p.m., then I suspect someone read this blog, and went trawling …
Comment so definitely not free …
And there’s no democracy – looks like Eisenhower had it correct all those years ago. So whatever we say will be ignored. Only the tatters of our banners …
Thanks for that reminder Mary, the guilt has cut a deep casmn into the UN, those who abstain and object to normalising Palestinian life’s have still not got an iota of humanity for these people.
There is a plethora of stories and events which would make any human think, unless conditioned to think otherwise, brainwashed from a very young age to believe oneself special, for now three generations has this indoctrination promoted the status quo. It will take a long time to heal these divisions.
Interesting thing about the Grauniad comment site – sometimes they replace censored comments with a note that they’ve been moderated, and sometimes the comment entirely disappears.
I’m not sure how much the moderation is controlled by well-understood policy, and how much it’s done by dimbos who err on the side of caution.
Suhyal, Fedup,
Reading through the comments, remembered an Irnian writer friend of mine, her father during Shah’s time was a diplomat, so even after revolution she was invited to some of “the cocktail parties”. She told me that on several occasions she was approached and asked if she would work for one of the agencies in UK. I have another friend Irnian journalist who lives in Washington, she also was approached and asked to work for “one of the agencies”, I guess lot of these spies are of Irnian origin. I have no doubt every phone call made to Iran is tapped by security in both countries..
http://www.derryjournal.com/news/local/derry_councillor_joins_delegation_in_gaza_1_3284409
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Sorry to diappoint his fans, but Matthew Gould’s smiling mug is nowhere to be seen.
Komodo,
Gould of Tel Aviv is busy glad handing the ziobots, to send these on their way to bash the two dears standing next to the car. As well as demolishing some more of Gaza just for the sake of practice, in the way of keeping the bots sharp and focused on Ethnic Cleansing, and genocide.
Passerby, why in the world would you think that? Israel only wants peace, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the US to beat up Iran. Anyway, it can’t afford to defend itself against the civilians and what’s left of the infrastructure in Gaza –
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4154601,00.html
…yeah, right.
…so they’ll have to do it with bulldozers, eh?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4152502,00.html
Tunnels, captive ghetto, remind you of anything?
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….it proved in the course of the Grossaktion that the whole ghetto had been systematically provided with cellars, bunkers and passageways. The passages and bunkers all had access to the sewers. This enabled the Jews to move underground without interference. The Jews also used this network of sewers to escape underground into the Aryan part of the city of Warsaw. There were constant reports that Jews were attempting to escape through the sewer holes… How far the Jews’ precautions had gone was demonstrated by many instances of bunkers skillfully laid out with accommodation for entire families, facilities for washing and bathing, toilets, storage bins for arms and ammunition, and large food reserves sufficient for several months. There were different bunkers for poor and for rich Jews. It was extremely difficult for the task forces to discover the individual bunkers owing to camouflage, and in many cases it was made possible only through betrayal on the part of the Jews……The resistance offered by the Jews and bandits could be broken only by the energetic, tireless deployment of storm-patrols night and day. On April 23, 1943, the Reichsfuehrer SS, through the Higher SS and Police Fuehrer for the East, in Cracow, issued the order that the Warsaw ghetto be combed out with maximum severity and ruthless determination. I therefore decided to carry out the total destruction of the Jewish quarter by burning down all residential blocks, including the blocks attached to the armament factories. One by one the factories were systematically cleared and then destroyed by fire. Almost always the Jews then emerged from their hiding places and bunkers. Not rarely, the Jews stayed in the burning houses until the heat and fear of being burned to death caused them to jump from the upper floors after they had thrown mattresses and other upholstered objects from the burning houses to the street. With broken bones they would then try to crawl across the street into buildings which were not yet, or only partially, in flames. Often, too, Jews changed their hiding places during the night, by shifting into the ruins of buildings already burned out and taking refuge there until they were found by one of the shock troop units….
Only as a result of the unceasing and untiring efforts of all forces did we succeed in capturing altogether 56,065 Jews, i.e., definitely destroying them. To this figure should be added Jews who lost their lives in explosions, fires, etc., the number of which could not be definitely established….
Warsaw, May 16, 1943
The SS and Police Leader
in the Warsaw District
Stroop
SS Brigadefuehrer
and Major General of Police
In Saturday’s Weekend Guardian there was an Israeli Ministry of tourism advert and article which included a map which did not distinguish between Israel (within its pre 1967 borders) and the Occupied Territories (West Bank and Gaza) which are NOT part of Israel, and labels them as Samaria and Judea, as if they were in Israel. Within the Occupied Territories, the town of Nablus is labelled “Shechem”. This is not the correct name for this Palestinian town.
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Please complain to the Weekend Guardian and the Advertising Standards Authority – addresses below.
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weekend AT guardian.co.uk
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http://www.asa.org.uk/Complaints/How-to-complain/Online-Form/Step1.aspx
Off topic but important.
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Times 29th November 2011
Frances Gibb Legal Editor
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A former surgeon is taking the Attorney-General to court next month to demand a fresh inquest into the weapons inspector David Kelly.
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David Halpin, a retired orthopaedic and trauma surgeon, is seeking a judicial review of a decision in June by Dominic Grieve, the Attorney-General, not to order an inquest into Dr Kelly’s death in 2003.
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An inquest was opened, then suspended when the Hutton Inquiry was set up to look into the circumstances of Dr Kelly’s death. The latest move marks the climax of a seven-year campaign by Dr Halpin who, with other doctors, is convinced that Dr Kelly could not have died from a small self-inflicted cut to his wrist. It will also air in public for the first time evidence that has emerged since Lord Hutton’s inquiry.
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Dr Halpin said: “This is the last opportunity to try to secure an inquest and allay widespread public suspicion and cynicism. If not, the issue will be buried until 2074 when the files that were secretly ‘classified’ by Lord Hutton are due to be released.
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“A vast amount of material has been uncovered which throws up legitimate questions about this death, and highlights the many inadequacies of Lord Hutton’s inquiry.”
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From Dr Halpin’s surgical experience, including repairing slashed wrists, he could not accept that the first cause of death was bleeding from a cut across the ulnar artery; and evidence “put into question” the second stated cause, an overdose of painkillers.
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He does not believe that “even the deepest cut into one wrist would cause such exsanguination that death resulted. The two arteries are of matchstick size and would have quickly shut down and clotted.
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“Furthermore, we have a man who was expert in lethal substances — he knew the biology of death. Yet he apparently chose a most uncertain method of suicide. It’s inconceivable.”
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Dr Halpin said he accepted that an inquest could still come to the same conclusion as Lord Hutton — namely suicide.
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But he said: “Dr Kelly is thought to be the only person in modern times who was found dead in suspicious circumstances and whose death has not been properly investigated.”
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His legal team, led by John Cooper, QC, will argue that the failure of the Attorney-General not to exercise his powers to seek an order for a new inquest is unlawful.
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++Dr Kelly allegedly committed suicide after being named as the prime source of a BBC news report that accused Tony Blair’s Government of misleading the public in a way that allowed it to take Britain into the Iraq war. ++
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The content of the Frances Gibb’s last sentence is at the crux of the matter.
@ Mary:
Those have for some time been the official Israeli names for the places you mention . They are not internationally recognised. While if the Guardian used them in an article of its own, a complaint might succeed, I doubt that there will be much traction on an Israeli ad, particularly as the Guardian will now do absolutely anything for money. Still, worth a try, I suppose.
Can’t help what they call the Palestinian land and places Komodo, this is letter to the Guardian –
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Dear Sir,
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I noticed that in the Weekend review of 26 November pages 23-25 are devoted to Northern Israel.
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This is to complain that:
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1. While the first page makes it (fairly) clear that this is an advert by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, the following 2 pages are NOT marked a being as advertising material coming from that Ministry.
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2. On p24 about Northern Israel a map of the region is shown which is an illegal map: it does not distinguish between Israel (within its pre 1967 borders) and the Occupied Territories (West Bank and Gaza) which are NOT part of Israel, and labels them as Samaria and Judea, as if they were in Israel.
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3. Within the Occupied Territories, the town of Nablus is labelled “Shechem”. This is not the correct name for this Palestinian town.
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These are serious misrepresentations of the facts.
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As you must be aware Israel has been gradually encroaching on the Occupied Territories through the land grab of illegal Jewish settlements and the construction of an illegal Wall for decades, and the misrepresentation of the legal position of these lands is an important element of Israeli propaganda.
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I should be grateful if you would publish a prominent apology and retraction for these errors and ensure such mistakes do not recur. I am also complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority.
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Yours sincerely,
etc
Fedup
Thanks for that link. This is the event for which the Fox Werrity tittletattle is a smokescreen.
A UK-manned conspiracy of active false-flag terror against the Syrian people to create civil war. William Hague is a man with his pants down and about to be exposed for creating a second Libya in one year.
On a lighter note, for some reason your name calls up in my imagination a quote from Shakespeare: ‘ ‘Aroint thee, witch’ The rump-fed ronyon cries.’
May Allah help the Syrian people and send William Hague to the ducking stool for devising, and signing for this devilish UK conspiracy in Syria.
Komodo,
Shocks, I am sorry I did not realize, and I stand corrected!
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Isreal wants piece, all it wants is piece; a piece of Gaza, a piece of west bank, a piece of Sudan, a piece of Syria, a piece of Lebanon, a piece of Iraq preferably in Kurdistan oil fields, a piece of Iran for being so cheeky, and a piece of US, and a piece of the US UK tax monies. Oh why no one understands the ever so pieceful Isreal, the only remaining apartheid in the world, you antisemitic pooopppy pants.