UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond’s visit to Tashkent on 28 February was not covered in any UK mainstream media that I can find, which is peculiar, given the media’s obsession with covering anything to do with “Our heroes” in Afghanistan. It was not really the kind of visit the state would want to publciise, with Hammond in the rather unheroic position of having his knees firmly placed on the acres of marble floor of Tashkent’s presidentiail palace, with his tongue well and truly stuck up Karimov’s arse.
NATO, including the UK, needs to transit Uzbekistan to get its 14,000 vehicles out of Afghanistan, having well and truly queered the pitch of an exit through Pakistan by a decade of bombing the locals. The Karimov family had already made hundreds of millions in profit through a monopoly of providing haulage and logistical services to supplies going in to Afghanistan. With NATO’s demoralised forces sitting on an incredibly large stockpile of materiel in effect stuck in the country as the utterly fruitless occupation ends, the Karimovs are in a position to ramp up extortion.
That will not only involve huge cash payments going to the Karimov family from the British taxpayer, disguised as transit fees, railway charges, fuel provision etc. It will also include a raft of political demands. Karimov had already in 2011 secured the ending of EU sanctions, and the international respectability he craves for his regime through an official visit to Brussels and call on EU President Barroso.
Now as a condition of facilitating our retreat, Karimov is insisting on a full visit to Tashkent by David Cameron in 2013 or 2014, a state visit by Karimov to the UK in 2015 and acceptance of Gulnara Karimova as Uzbek Ambassador in London. He is also keen to acquire a variety of state of the art UK weapons and surveillance systems for use against his own people. The strong steer from No 10 is that these Karimov demands will have to be accepted.
There is an excellent video here of Scott Horton being interviewed by Galima Burkabaeva on the subject of the kelptocratic Karimov state. Galima was an eyewitness to the Andijan massacre of 2005, in which Karimov’s military murdered some 800 pro-democracy demonstrators. Galima herself only just got away, a bullet passing clean through her reporter’s notebook.
Nice friends Mr Hammond has.
(Am currently in Delhi).
Mary wrote: “I ask again, Where is the law?”
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A wise man commented
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The law is “in the basement, in a locked filing cabinet located in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’” (D Adams THHGTTG)
Nice analysis Mr Murray. You’re were obviously wasted as a diplomat.
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Here’s one from MK Bhadrakumar at the Asia Times. Seems like our boys are in a land far, far away without a paddle out. We should admire Mr Hammond. The job requires a very prehensile tounge:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NC20Df04.html
Mary
Its an Elite`ist state not fascist.
http://immigration-globalization.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/what-is-fascism.html
“Am currently in Delhi”
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?280234
Its an Elite`ist state not fascist.
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Evidently fascism is a good idea, and racial and tribal segregation ought to be accepted and legislated for to, ie apartheid rules OK. Immigration, and Globalization ought to be the give away signs. Although, when it comes to supremacist fuckwitery. This we know to be the favoured policies of a certain tribe are pretty hung up on “racial purity”.
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Has Hintze began sweeting up to bloggers too?
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@ Mary ” I ask again, Where is the law?” — A question I have been posing for several years now. If you find it, please let me know.
Thanks fed up.
Have you got any answers why is this world so crazy.
Why cant we all get a long and work together and serve the planet .
Nature is what we all should be harmonising.
fed up too
Jay,
Give over, your colors are not what you claim to be. Good enough for tossers who still are fighting the WWII though, (how many survivors are left?) so last century.
,
like so-called Shoe Bomber, Richard Reid from (Haaretz 22 March):
Report: Suspect in French Jewish school shooting visited Israel
According to a report published in Le Monde on Thursday, Merah was not a member of any well-known Islamic terrorist organization, but did undergo a process of radicalization. Merah also reportedly had entry stamps to Israel and other countries in the region in his passport.
Merah was also added to a “no fly” list maintained by U.S. authorities some time ago, two American officials told Reuters…
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-suspect-in-french-jewish-school-shooting-visited-israel-1.420249
Another example of what happens when the work of a state service (DWP) is handed out to the ‘private sector’. Fraud, inefficiency and a cover up. The management were too busy counting their £millions to do anything about it.
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22 March 2012 Last updated at 18:03
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Leaked document suggests ‘systematic fraud’ at A4e
Newsnight’s Paul Mason explains the latest evidence about allegations of fraud at A4e
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Welfare-to-work firm A4e knew of widespread potential fraud and systematic failures by management to control it, a leaked document suggests.
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BBC Newsnight has obtained the results of a confidential 2009 internal audit of work by A4e’s top recruiters.
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The auditors found examples of staff claiming for putting people into jobs which did not exist, jobs which did not qualify for payment and fabricating paperwork to back up claims.
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A4e has so far declined to comment.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17476415
Gideon Osborne is boasting of his success in getting Glaxo Smith Kline to enlarge their UK operations. Does anyone know if GSK have had any inducements like an enterprise zone or grants?
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Dissident Voice have been on Big Pharma’s case for several years. Here are some of the articles on GSK drugs – Paxil, Avandia, etc etc.
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http://tinyurl.com/7fmkv29
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PS Jay’s earlier link to a right wing site article on fascism is complete BS. Just wait a while to see the full effect of this UK fascist government. Elitist my eye!
The destructive effect of poison-Gove.
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23 March 2012
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More than half of secondary heads ‘consider quitting’
The Association of School and college leaders says morale has reached a new low
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Related Stories
No-notice inspections for schools
Gove condemns academy opponents
‘No evidence’ for school decline
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Over half of secondary heads are considering quitting because of “toxic” government rhetoric, a survey suggests.
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The Association of School and College Leaders blamed a barrage of unfounded criticism for low morale, as its annual conference begins in Birmingham.
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ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman said heads felt angry, frustrated and on the verge of being bullied.
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A government spokesman said it wanted to work with head teachers to achieve a world class education system
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/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17478828
WARNING: SUB-MALWARE.
I linked to the P*r*t*n H*rd Dr*ve above. Only go there if you want ads for this ridiculous product to pop up on every site you visit. It drops a cookie (or maybe Google does) which runs a advert script replacing an ad on the page you open.
If you did go to the PHD site,and are seeing PHD ads everywhere, delete your cookies, and the problem should not recur.
Very sorry for this, it’s not always possible to check these things in advance, and it further confirms my low opinion of evangelical Crosstians.
Komodo
I hope it does`nt put you off going to the link in post 22 Mar, 2012 – 9:46 pm.