The law is not blind in this country – “joint enterprise” is used almost exclusively against young black men. But I can see no reason why the principle of joint enterpirse should not apply equally to those who set the policy under which people were rendered to be tortured in Libya, rather than merely to the security service functionaries who carried out the policy. In my reading of joint enterprise, if Ministers can show they were not involved in signing off individual rendition permissions, they should still be guilty for having participated in the behaviour that made such results likely, indeed inevitable.
I have given evidence to parliament that I was told, officially, as a British Ambassador, that Jack Straw had initiated a policy of using intelligence obtained by torture. I also testified before parliament that this was an unacknowledged policy which I was told, officially, should not be discussed in writing. The government has at no stage attempted to deny the truth of my account. The government did not submit evidence to the Parliamentary committee to claim that my account was untrue. The government has nowhere stated that my evidence is untrue; they prefer to rely on private media briefings to claim, untruly, that I am mad and alcoholic.
I shall tell the police that those involved in rendering persons to be Libya to be tortured were doing so in keeping with a War on Terror torture intelligence programme authorised by Jack Straw. It is no secret what I will say; here I am saying it.
Of course, I realise that the Crown Prosecution Service and the Met will,three years hence, claim there were no grounds to prosecute anybody. I am not that naive. But the fact of a formal police investigation will force some attention on whether or not my account is true. Ignoring the facts and just being rude about me is less easy in a criminal investigation.
Leo/Azra, thanks. I share your frustration that anti-Zionist voices are ignored in the MSM, but if Duke doesn’t believe that all people have equal worth, then in my view it would be a mistake to recruit him into the anti-war movement. We need to be anti-racist and anti-fascist as well as anti-war – it would split and discredit the movement, I think.
Reading through the Americans for Peace Now site, I have some doubts. I have subscribed to their e-mails and will keep an eye on what comes over.
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eg This is their approach to Iran on their ‘Positions’ page.
http://peacenow.org/apn-positions/iran-new.html
This is more like it. Justin Raimondo on why a war with Iran would only benefit Israel and how the warmongers attempt to get the US in.
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Putting Israel First
The War Party’s Achilles’ heel
by Justin Raimondo, January 30, 2012
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The campaign to lure the US into attacking Iran has one big problem to overcome before the War Party can taste success: the rather obvious fact that such a war would benefit Israel, and not the United States. This is why Israel’s partisans in the US constitute the spearhead of the pro-war agitation, why AIPAC has made this a consistent theme for the past few years, and why the billionaire Sheldon Adelson, aside from funding the Newtster, has poured untold millions into the same project. Hardly a day goes by without some Israeli government official reiterating, once again, that Iran represents an “existential threat” to the Jewish state, and threatening to strike the first blow if Uncle Sam fails to wake up in time, while Israel’s amen corner dutifully echoes the same line.
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Israel and its more vehement partisans in this country have demanded the US attack Iran, even going so far as to raise the specter of another Holocaust if America fails to act. However, one argument they have failed to make is significant by its absence – they have failed to show how it is in America’s interest to launch a military strike. Indeed, they have neglected this part of the equation rather ostentatiously, and yet one can hardly blame them for this oversight for the simple reason that such a case would be impossible to make. An attack on Iran would deprive the world economy of a significant portion of its energy needs, and would likely result in an economic catastrophe in this country – to say nothing of the costs of the war, in blood and treasure. War-weary Americans are not in the mood for another invasion and occupation in search of nonexistent “weapons of mass destruction.” This is the War Party’s Achilles’ heel.
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http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/01/29/putting-israel-first-2/
Ingo I realize what you say about Hester and the attention that is being paid to his decision.
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I heard this morning that there are over 300 employees within RBS alone who are getting bonuses of over £1m this year. That is only one bank.
PS Congratulations on your 30th wedding anniversary.
http://mail.yimg.com/ok/u/assets/img/emoticons/emo49.gif
Another Holocaust indeed. When the pharmaceutical industry tried to defend the HIV-AIDS treatments (too toxic for cancer treatment) as “HIV denial” I wrote a rebuttal (never published) that the use of “denial” in regard to science or history was an indication that the evidence was too weak to withstand scrutiny. Since then we have had global warming denial and Christ knows what comes next. It truly is reversion back to the dark ages of witches sink or die.
Thanks for the roses Mary and Jon, it was our 27th. really, but I tend to count the three years we lived in sheer bliss beforehand into the equation.
Just entered ‘Israels nuclear arsenal ‘ into the search engine of Americans for peace now, with ‘no results found’. Are they mushrooms that they thrive on darkness?
Their statement on Iran is onesided, and follows the sabre rattling that has gone on for years, all emphasis given to controlling Iran, no reciproke demands from Israel at all.
great article from Raymondo, thanks for that.
Leo, the pharma industry has no legs to stand on. their 5% survival rate, a guarding hurdle for allowing products on to the EU market allows them to fail and the secrecy they command over their products, their zealous protection of their patent markets, shows them to be some of the nastiest TNC’s around, not concerned with public health, but profits for bankers and shareholders, a wholly unsustainable situation and noose around our necks. NISA has no clout and Bransons plans to use natural drugs, decriminalised, into our health service is long overdue.
Have you realised that apart from siren M. Phillips, our tabloids have strangely been quiet on his mutterings to parliamentarians, no shrill sounds at all. I think we could see the Tory’s making head on this issue, we jsut can’t afford expensive artificials anymore.
IAEA nuclear inspeactors are once again looking at Irans civilian nuclear programme, ending a long period of silence. That they will demand access to Israels nuclear weapons arsenal, before they report back to HQ, is a wholly unjustified, anti semitic rumour…:) and to suggest such inspection should be regarded as treasonous behaviour punished by torture, I should be forced to laugh myself’s to death.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/01/201212941556996640.html
As others have said here, the US are still occupying Iraq.
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U.S. Drones Patrolling Its Skies Provoke Outrage in Iraq
By ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: January 29, 2012
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BAGHDAD — A month after the last American troops left Iraq, the State Department is operating a small fleet of surveillance drones here to help protect the United States Embassy and consulates, as well as American personnel. Some senior Iraqi officials expressed outrage at the program, saying the unarmed aircraft are an affront to Iraqi sovereignty.
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The program was described by the department’s diplomatic security branch in a little-noticed section of its most recent annual report and outlined in broad terms in a two-page online prospectus for companies that might bid on a contract to manage the program. It foreshadows a possible expansion of unmanned drone operations into the diplomatic arm of the American government; until now they have been mainly the province of the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency.
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American contractors say they have been told that the State Department is considering to field unarmed surveillance drones in the future in a handful of other potentially “high-threat” countries, including Indonesia and Pakistan, and in Afghanistan after the bulk of American troops leave in the next two years. State Department officials say that no decisions have been made beyond the drone operations in Iraq.
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The drones are the latest example of the State Department’s efforts to take over functions in Iraq that the military used to perform. Some 5,000 private security contractors now protect the embassy’s 11,000-person staff, for example, and typically drive around in heavily armored military vehicles.
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/…
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/world/middleeast/iraq-is-angered-by-us-drones-patrolling-its-skies.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all%3Fsrc%3Dtp&smid=fb-share
Syria here we come,….a re-run of Libya..
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Saudi Arabia and Qatar begin to fund the SNC
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‘Saudi Arabia will recognize the Syrian National Council (SNC) as the “official representative” of the Syrian people amid a joint Western-Gulf Arab push to have President Bashar Assad removed, a senior member of the opposition group said on Friday.
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“Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told an SNC delegation he met in Cairo last week the kingdom will recognize the Council as the official representative of the Syrian people,” SNC executive council member Ahmad Ramadan told Kuwait’s Al-Rai newspaper.
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Ramadan did not specify when Saudi will make the call, or whether it will be backed by its Gulf Arab allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
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It was also reported in the UK’s The Times newspaper on Friday that Saudi Arabia and Qatar will begin funding the SNC as well as armed groups fighting the regime.
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Gulf Arab states have taken a leading role in trying to oust the Syrian president, having this week announced the withdrawal of their members from the Arab League monitoring team in Syria.
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Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani is to officially present a Western-backed plan to UN Security Council ambassadors in New York that will request Assad hand over power to his deputy, while a unity government is formed to oversee a full transition.
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The improving ties between the GCC and SNC has aroused concerns among some corners of the Syrian opposition that fear Gulf states will turn Syria into a battleground against arch rival Iran.’
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http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/saudi-arabia-to-recognize-fund-snc-russia-rejects-syria-resolution/
LOL D)
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Yedioth Ahronoth
Broken wings – Giant drone capable of flying to Iran did not withstand heavy load in test flight, only made it to Gedera before crashing
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http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4182105,00.html
If Argentina captured Falklands again.. Britain could no longer take them back, says former Army chief
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Jackson trying his best to get the defence budget kept away from cuts. He is speculating about the kind of a warfare that is highly unlikely to happen, as he accepts the Falklands infrastructure are adequate for the defence of the islands, that he finds vital strategic, etc.
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However reading the comments is funny, the best; “is today the benefits day?” Those Scottish rascals have a peculiar knack of getting their point across.
@Mary, oh well, they should have asked Iranian help to bring the drone down safely!
And today Iran is testing its own first unmanned drone..
Here, within this poem, lies the anger about another form of mental torture, this time its within our retiorement homes. This poem was the only thing left by Keith A. Wells sr. when he died in a home in Nebraska.
In good ol’ Lutheranian fashion, this should be nailed to each and every door of our retirement homes. RIP Keith. Enjoy
Crabby Old Man ( by Keit A.Wells sr.)
What do you see nurses? . . What do you see?
What are you thinking . . . . . when you’re looking at me?
A crabby old man, . … .. not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . .. . . . . . with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food . . .. . . . . and makes no reply .
When you say in a loud voice .. . . . .. ‘I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice . … . the things that you do .
And forever is losing . . . . .. . . . . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . . . . .. . . lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding The long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . you’re not looking at me .
I’ll tell you who I am . As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, . . . . . . as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of Ten … . . . . . with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters . . . … . . . . . who love one another.
A young boy of Sixteen . . with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . . .. .. . . a lover he’ll meet..
A groom soon at Twenty . my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows . . . . .. . that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . . . . . I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . . . . .. . . . .. My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . . . . . . With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. . have grown and are gone,
But my woman’s beside me . . . . . . . to see I don’t mourn.
At Fifty, once more, babies play ’round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . my wife is now dead.
I look at the future … . .. . . . . . . shudder with dread..
For my young are all rearing . . . . . .. young of their own.
And I think of the years . . .. and the love that I’ve known.
I’m now an old man . . . . . .. .. . . and nature is cruel.
Tis jest to make old age . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. . . . . . . grace and vigor, depart..
There is now a stone . . . .. . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . . a young guy still dwells,
And now and again . . . .. . . . my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys . . . . . . . . .. I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living . . . . . .. . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . . . . gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . . . .. that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people . . . . . . . . open and see.
Not a crabby old man. Look closer . . . see ME!!
There is a new BBC series on the work of a coroner, featuring Alison Thompson Coroner for West London and deputy Coroner for the Oxford coroner’s court. That is the court where Dr Kelly’s inquest was opened and adjourned on the same day.
[…]
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Alison is reluctant to comment on the death of Dr David Kelly, the weapons inspector who exposed the ‘sexed-up’ Iraq War dossier, as the case comes under her Oxford jurisdiction. Dr Kelly remains the only person in modern times who was found dead in suspicious circumstances but whose death has not been properly investigated by a coroner. Instead, the Government set up the controversial Hutton Inquiry, which found he had committed suicide.
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Alison says: ‘I can’t comment on Kelly directly because of my role in Oxford. But when a public inquiry purports to be an inquest, then maybe we get into difficulties.
‘An inquest specifically concentrates, in great detail, on the cause of death, the medical evidence. A public inquiry does something much bigger and broader.
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‘I don’t know how the evidence emerged in that case and I’m not suggesting Hutton didn’t look at it in exactly the amount of detail he should have done, but I can see there could be confusion in people’s minds because it had a different feel to it.
‘Again, when one looks at the 7/7 bombings in London, yes, it was an inquest but was it also an inquiry? It went way beyond establishing how people died. It seemed more like a public inquiry than an inquest. There are distinctions between the two.’
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Distinctions Alison will continue to uphold. She says: ‘That’s why I was so pleased when the BBC approached me a year ago. What we do is so important that the more people understand it, the better.’
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The first episode of Death Unexplained is on BBC1 on February 7 at 10.35pm.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2093310/One-poor-chap-fell-undercarriage-plane–packed-lunch-A-fascinating-interview-coroner-deals-4-000-deaths-year.html
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Link to the article about the work of a coroner.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/01/28/heres-the-deal-fixing-america/ voting makes no difference.
Council to charge new Jarrow Marchers for road closures
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A ROW has erupted today over “outrageous” plans to charge jobless young Jarrow marchers £2,500 – to walk the streets where the famous 1936 crusade started.
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========== In ======== Contrast
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No charge for Jubilee street party road closures this summer
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REVELLERS planning street parties for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this summer will have an extra reason to celebrate as Gloucestershire County Council has agreed to waive charges for road closures during the celebrations.
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Wilts and Glos. Standard
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,councillor explains resignation over Diamond jubilee decision
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A councillor has spoken out after resigning over an authority’s decision to put up Council Tax by 20 per cent to fund its Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Telegraph and Argus
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More to ask Dr Fox http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/07/01/murder-glastonbury-and-the-nuclear-nightmare/
“IAEA nuclear inspeactors are once again looking at Irans civilian nuclear…”
Ingo;
Under ‘worst case’ scenario, they have enough fissile material for one or two weapons…..
PDF
http://www.armscontrol.org/files/Iran_Brief_10_2011_Mark_Fitzpatrick.pdf
‘In 2005, despite evidence that psychologists were involved in abusive and torturous interrogations of national security detainees, an American Psychological Association (APA) Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) concluded that psychologists play a critical role in keeping such interrogations “safe, legal, ethical and effective.”
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‘With this stance, the APA, the largest association of psychologists worldwide, became the sole major professional health care organization to support practices contrary to the international human rights standards that ought to be the benchmark against which professional codes of ethics are judged. The PENS Report continues to be highly influential in psychological and national security settings today.
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‘The Coalition for an Ethical Psychology is leading a petition campaign calling for annulment of the APA’s PENS Report. (Full disclosure: The author is a member of the coalition.) Readers interested in learning more about the annulment initiative can read the petition materials and review the current list of organizational and individual signers, as well as the form to submit an online signature, at {www.ethicalpsychology.org/pens}’
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How the American Psychological Association Sold Its Soul to Torture
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/768778/how_the_american_psychological_association_sold_its_soul_to_torture/#paragraph6
“Under ‘worst case’ scenario, they have enough fissile material for one or two weapons…”
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Iraq was bombarded and destroyed AFTER Saddam had disarmed. Libya was bombed to bits and Gaddafi killed AFTER he had disarmed.
Perhaps ‘Ben’ thinks Iranians are fools.
That vile surrogate, (ad hoc too – look up its origins) the IAEA, will be coming back with some slimy equivocation that will allow the axis of the US/UK/’Israel’ to up the drum beats for war. The cuckoo ‘state’ that calls the shots will be making sure its nuclear tipped Cruise missiles aboard its German built Dolfin submarines will be updated for their targets. You would never have thought that the Nuremberg Principles were ever created.
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And there will be NO IAEA vists to ‘Israel’, Britain, everywhere for the Yanks, India, Pakistan or North Korea.
We have danced on the bodies, now we will rape the land. What bastards and so blatant.
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IRN and Oliver Kinross are pleased to bring you the Libya Oil and Gas Summit 2012 on the 21st and 22nd March in Rome
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After nearly half a century of dictatorship, Libya is finally free. With a culture stretching back many millennia, a highly educated young, workforce and Africa’s largest oil and gas reserves, Libya is very much open for business and ready to retake its rightful place as one of the world’s leaders.
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The Libya Oil & Gas Summit 2012 brings together all the key stakeholders in the new Libya from the National Transitional Council, the National Oil Corporation and their related companies, International Oil Companies, Service Providers, Governmental organisations, thought leaders and experts from Libya and across the globe. Attendees will be able to learn, forge new relationships, develop existing ones and deepen their understanding of the new Libyan oil & gas landscape in the luxury of a 5* environment throughout the conference and at the networking events, gala dinners, receptions and much more.
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http://www.libyasummit2012.com/
“Libya is finally free”
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They talk such utter hogwash.
“‘Mission Accomplished’ in Libya? Not So Fast”
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/01/30/mission-accomplished-in-libya-not-so-fast/
This must be what Ben Franklin was talking about when he whined about the USA carrying the UK’s load:
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‘I’m going to destroy America and dig up Marilyn Monroe’: British pair arrested in U.S. on terror charges over Twitter jokes
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093796/British-tourists-arrested-America-terror-charges-Twitter-jokes.html
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Hilarious – as long as you’re not one of the said British pair
The words Israel, nuclear arsenal and inspection are working like a ferohormone.
Ben, what good would two bombs be against the 200 plus Israel jealously denies having? Further, Israel trusts a mentally unstable savon with fantasies about making his mark on history, just as his hero Churchill did, with the trigger mechanism to a secret nuclear arsenal?
I think this comparrisson sounds like a last ditch attempt to proof that Iran is building a nuclear deterent, to keep this thought in the news, when all facts show that there is no truith about these speculations at all.
Netanyahu has been a disaster for Israel, his fixation with grabbing more land and abandoning the peace process for nearly EIGHT years, failing to negotiate with the most willing Palestinians ever in the history of Israel, ( not me, but an arch zionist longterm advisor said so Dove weissglass so I believe was his name) not to mention his murderous criminal piraterie on the high seas, suma sumarum this will make him the ‘Dr. No’ of Israel.
“Ben, what good would two bombs be against the 200 plus Israel jealously denies having? Further, Israel trusts a mentally unstable savon with fantasies about making his mark on history”
Ingo;
Did you read the pdf? I’m not so naive as to think weaponry is not part of the plan. But the threat is certainly miniscule, and it would be foolish for them to contemplate using their nukes in a strike, considering their considerable disadvantage.
O/T – but as promised – Satellite setup for Press TV
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You need a ‘FreeSat’ kit about £40.00 + signal strength meter about £14.00 – Maplin
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Check you have unhindered view of the Astra satellite at 19.2 degrees east; [hint] about 10 degrees to the right of your Sky dish and the same elevation. Use a compass and the meter.
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The trick now is to set your receiver box to ‘non FreeSat’ tune to 12460 H 3/4 – sorted
yes ben I did, last year November, some cold morning. Off course you’re not naive, but you now entered the words ‘threat and strike’ into the debate, unnecessarry and without prompting, indeed your whole sentence is suggestive.
whats more important? The finger of a mentally challenged Netanyahu on the button of 200 nukes he says he’s intent on using, or the possibility that one day within the next 10 years, maybe, Iran could possibly, have enough material to build two nuclear devices? In news terms, in times of hightened tensions such as this, what do you reckon is more important?
doooh, lets see, don’t know massa, must try harder massa.
Why does nobody address the fact that it is Netanyahu’s failure to negotiate peace, that its the occupation of Palestine by brutal bullying and violent means, the casm he has opened up in this arch conflict, during his fanatical reign, effectively deteriorating relations with all his neighbours, not to speak of US friends abroad, many millions in the jewish diaspora world wide, the EU and half of the UN at any time?
This man is a coward and traitor to Israels future, only cowards don’t sign up to the NNPT, only cowards run away from negotiations, only cowards steal land and bully its legitamit people, at least as legitamit as the jewish minority that once was allowed by the world community to settle in Palestine. What a damn mistake that proofs to be.