I was called by a journalist yesterday who told me that in Dewsbury six years ago I shared a platform with Baroness Warsi’s now husband at a meeting against the persecution of Muslims. Sadly I couldn’t really help him as at the time I was doing hundreds such events and have only the dimmest of recollections of that one.
It is not merely amusing that Cameron refers Warsi for investigation for allegedly pocketing a couple of thousand quid while protecting Hunt who tried so hard to shepherd the Murdoch BSkyB bid past the winning post, while pretending to referee the event.
Nor is the lesson just that a Muslim woman will always be expendable while a fully paid up member of the ruling class will be less so.
The truth is that to trip up an MP over a little cash does not threaten the system. To tackle the massive institutional corruption by which corporate interests control the British state is a different question altogether.
Hunt is of course not the only case not to be referred. Nor was the Adam Werritty debacle, where rather than the proper investigative procedures Cameron organised a tidy little stitch-up by Gus O’Donnell which omitted almost all the key facts and particularly did not say what the entire scheme was about – the promotion of the interests of Israel. The Murdoch Empite, the Israeli lobby, these are amongst the interests that actually run the exploited citizenry of this poor wracked old country. Every now and then glimpses of truth emerge.
But must not be pursued.
The boys in blue are busy today screaming just over our heads and having no end of fun, I expect; dogs cower, cats quiver and cows abort while we who can actually remember war time raids spare a thought for the poor sods likely to be on the receiving end of all this heroic practice. And clueless twerps carry stickers in their cars proclaiming that “the sound of war planes is the sound of freedom”. God help us.
only 521 more messages to hit the 1000. This is like pulling worms and I can understand that one can get fed up with blogging, its like feeding the compulsive and I’m one of them.
@ Donny – Know what you’re saying, as the wish-list map would require a war with Turkey fully to accomplish. They don’t do chopping bits off their State at all. What they might bite at, though, is their Eastern Kurds voluntarily resettling – in a smaller, formerly Turkish corner of a defined Kurdish state further south – something vaguely akin to the current situation in Cyprus. A quid quo pro might (in the minds of Israeli and US rightwingers) involve ceding some of N. Syria, after its demolition, to Turkey, and would have to involve a firm and formal end to Kurdish aspirations to the rest of eastern Turkey. I think it’s JUST possible.
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But not just yet. Turkey is righteously pissed off with Israel for the moment, it’s cool on NATO/US initiatives, and it’s also pissed off with taking on tens of thousands of Syrian refugees (many of them probably Kurds), and it’s renegotiating its balance between secular liberalism and Sunni orthodoxy. Still, I am sure arms dealers worldwide are looking at the various possibilities.
George warned us, Rose:
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
There is some terrible stuff coming out from the MSM about Julian Assange, apart from Glenn Greenwald. See Medialens for the tweets and pieces.
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This is Jonathan Cook’s view of it. You will remember he got out from the Guardian and is now freelance.
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Very thought-provoking comment from JC:
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‘This blanket tweeting by our media elites against Assange leaves me pondering again the role of dissident journalists in the mainstream.
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‘When the media’s top lapdogs are all baying for blood, what’s noticeable is that even the paltry tokens seem to fall silent. Is there anyone significant apart from Greenwald tweeting in his defence? If not, this surely indicates that these dissidents have a very clear idea about where the parameters of dissent are set.
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‘In fact, it’s almost as if, when the consensus is at its most specious (on this occasion against Assange), the mainstream dissidents most fear speaking up. As if they understand that the whole thing is a house of cards that it would only take one puff from, say, a Milne to bring down. So in instances like this they have to fall silent or risk really testing the media’s supposed pluralism.
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‘Or maybe I’ll be proved wrong, and they are simply sharpening their rapiers as we speak.’
Completely unaware of her lack of irony.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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As I was munching on my hamburger for lunch (this too shall soon be deemed a luxury) I was watching the news, the beeb having pulled out Joshua wotsit out of his private practice to cast his verdict on one local dissident namely Julian Assange (personally I don’t much care for the chap ever since he tried to get into bed with the five papers tainting the data that otherwise would have been a useful source of reference). Joshua set about ridiculing the notion of Assange and the Ecuador Embassy, and the fact that US, UK, (the bullying) block will not take kindly to the Johnny Ecuadorians taking such a stance before their betters!
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Soon after the minced debate about the bail money of two hundred thousand and those who had stood the sums could be penalized too, and so forth, the news moves on to aung san suu kyi who is being lavished with doctorates and parties in Oxford University, showing the diminutive Burmese dissident enjoying her perambulations along with the rest of the old farts in their fancy dress.
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You cannot make this shit up, no irony, however the moral of the story is dissidents are good so long as their dissent is against the enemies of the US, UK et al, otherwise the bastards will be sent for a long stay in Gitmo, and enjoy the riparian activities such as water boarding.
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Seriously you cannot make this shit up, and how on earth the beeb woman kept her deadpan face during the surreal broadcast is a mystery.
Seems I’m not altogether detached from reality, too…
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/2012/06/20/making-of-kurdistan-oil-investment-a-turkish-gamb?t=commodities
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As usual, oil has a way of altering perceptions:
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“It is important to understand that Northern Iraq is a major market for Turkish exports and that oil and gas coming from Iraqi Kurdish territory is moved on to worldwide markets through Turkey,” Jellyfish President Michael Bagley told Oilprice.com.
“From a financial and logistical standpoint, an Ankara-Erbil marriage is one of exceptional convenience. From our standpoint, Northern Iraq stands to be one of the next great investment areas in the Middle East, and so far, the KRG has managed to out-play Baghdad in the natural resources and investment game.”
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Jellyfish President? Well, someone has to rule them. No, seriously -{http://www.jellyfishoperations.com/}
And seriously sinister.
We are all in it together. NOT.
£100,000 bets being placed in a race at Arsecot.
The heavily backed horse won. HM Queen’s was second. Her horse was a gift from Sheikh Mahtoum of the UAE. Quite so. Mahtoum’s junior wife is a daughter from one of King Hussein of Jordan’s four marriages (not simultaneous). No wonder HMG and their royal highnesses crawl around these rich and powerful Arabs.
There is a plethora of Friends of Israel groups, in this country, in the EU, within religious groups and political groups, but this is a new one on me.
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http://nifriendsofisrael.wordpress.com/israel-news-in-northern-ireland/
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There is a photo of Prosor here, the ex Israeli Ambassador, with Martin McGuiness and Peter Robinson, {http://nifriendsofisrael.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/northern-ireland-friends-of-israel-welcome-to-our-website/}
so assume the setup is multi party.
A FILF! A tangible FILF!
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01887/louise-bagshawe_1887893b.jpg
Thought I’d menschion it…
Not news to me, Mary. Unionist Prods are natural purchasers of Zionism. Just gets a bit tricky around Armageddon time, because the Prods are Saved ™ and the Jews aren’t.
Surprise surprise , NOT !! Those unelected officials in Brussels just can’t get enough power or TAX, which is what they really want from Europe.tax tax tax, fiscal union,irreversible decisions. Nigel Farage has been hitting the nail on the head for years.
They keep morphing the common market, EEC , EU like a snake shedding its skin into something which we neither voted for nor wanted… and when anyone complains , they change the wording around to make it sound like what it isn’t. To hell with terrorism, Barroso, Ashton & van Rompuy are the threat from within.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9336766/Exclusive-Secret-EU-summit-document-shows-first-step-to-banking-union.html
What can you do, flying around in space for over a year? count the space rubbish? nudge Chinese satelites, re-programme them.
What is it with the x37B and what was it designed for?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/18/x37b_returns_to_earth/
Something that amuses me, and has done for a while, is the Blair Tendency calling Gordon Brown all the bastards…for keeping us out of the Euro. Shudder to think of the wreckage here if Blurgh had had his way.
Mary
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I don’t think that support for Israel is multiparty. Unionists have always supported Israel just as they supported apartheid South Africa. They’re all quite similar in many ways.
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Sinn Féin, today, are supporters of the Palestinians.
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I expect that Martin McGuinness is there in his capacity as a govt minister.
Warning. A graphic photo of a 14 year old killed in Gaza today in an Israeli air attack.
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s480x480/401892_463360617025252_900666755_n.jpg
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Any views on how he was killed? We think his torso has a strange colour. It looks pallid and bloodless.
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The BBC have to use the word ‘reportedly’ about his death in an air strike. One of eight Palestinian deaths in very recent days.
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Palestinians killed in Gaza air strikes
Israel said Ghalib Armilat was a member of “a global jihad terror movement”
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Two Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, have been killed in a third day of clashes been (sic) Israel and militants based in Gaza, medics say.
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The boy reportedly died in an Israeli air strike on a farm in Zeitoun, east of Gaza City. Earlier, a militant was killed by a missile in Rafah.
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Eight Palestinians have now been killed in Israeli air strikes since Monday.
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{http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18521627}
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Endless repetition of the word ‘militant’ in the report. There was no retaliation from Hamas until these latest air attacks by Israel.
x37b War, surveillance, ?? To convince the Americans that they are masters of the universe??
http://www.news.com.au/technology/us-militarys-top-secret-x-37b-shuttle-disappears-for-two-weeks-changes-orbit/story-e6frfro0-1225909738276
The same “militants” who decided to have a wedding few weeks past in Afghan. They need the label for the sheep to provide some legitimacy, sheep read the story, “oh it was a terrorist” then move on. Terrorists, insurgents, militants, mostly innocent people trying to dodge the bullets. Syria may end up a proxy war between the Nato Natzi and Russia. The situation is moving so fast you need to keep an open mind and can’t settle on anything. I’m surprised the Russians have not tried to battle test their weapons yet. Maybe Syria will hasten this. Still it is not clear yet the outcome, or if Russia will stay the course. If Syria falls to the Nato Natzi, Syria – Russia debt and contracts will most likely be void. Rogozin spoke more clearly on an Iranian attack and how it would directly affect Russian security. Unpredictable consequences. Accusation, denial, counter denial, bullshit, Hitlery Clinton, is what is happening as opposing sides fight for the moral high ground and justification for their actions.
McGuinness is resigning his HoC seat.
{http://www.ir-news.net/2012/06/martin-mcguinness-to-step-down-as-mid-ulster-mp/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=martin-mcguinness-to-step-down-as-mid-ulster-mp}
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Ref Israel, if he really believed this below, he should have made excuses and not shaken Prosor’s bloodstained hand. Prosor, now at the UN, is as complicit as his masters in Tel Aviv are in the Israeli war crimes.
http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/18683
Mary
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He’s only resigning his HoC seat because the party quite rightly believes that the double-jobbing that is common in Irish politics undermines its ability to bring new talent to public attention.
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Much as I agree with the sentiment you express, I think that the Palestinians will not be assisted by such trite gesture politics. Pragmatism is quite important and no one knows this better than Mr McGuinness.
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He’ll shortly be shaking even Citizen Windsor’s hand, for crying out loud!
I’d be interested to know what “excuses” Mary thinks McGuinness should have made, while refusing to shake the hand of an Israeli Ambassador at an event McGuinness was clearly attending in his role as Deputy First Minister. What do you think he should have done, Mary?
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Herbie is right.
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And Sinn Féin are supporters of the Palestinians.
Rose, your skies are full of them as well? They have been doing attack loops all day here, as if theren was a nest of them.
A Nuid and Herbie.
He should have refused to meet Prosor if he had any principles.
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I found this commenter on http://thepensivequill.am/2010/05/great.html and agree with her.
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Fionnuala Perry 11:24 PM, June 04, 2010
michaelhenry, how do you know what the prisoners in Maghaberry have or do not have problems with?
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The point I was trying to make was, why did Mc Guinness and Adams not see fit to go and visit their own people instead of doing a photo shoot with Miss Butterfly?
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Just wondering, did they show her the photo’s they had taken the year before with the Israeli ambassador during the “Friends of Israel” bash in Stormont?
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While Gerry and Marty were wining and dining with the Israeli delegation at the taxpayers expense, the people of Gaza were being bombed and murdered.
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and further
“I found this commenter on http://thepensivequill.am/2010/05/great.html and agree with her.”
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Why did you have to do that? Can you not write something in your own words?
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1. Where do you think we’d be today if Blair had refused to shake hands with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness before the Good Friday Agreement?
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1. What do you think refusing to meet Prosor would have achieved?
Hah, got my 1 and 2 mixed up. I’m leaning on my elbow here.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/gazaunderattack-15-year-old-toddler-hadeel-al-haddad-assassinated-by-israel/
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1.5 year old toddler Hadeel Al-Haddad. Assassinated by Israel.
Ecuadoran ambassador to UK says Ecuador has a long tradition of supporting human rights but that the government of Ecuador does not want to interfere in the legal processes of Britain and Sweden. She went on to say that the government of Ecuador wants to reach a solution with regard to Assange together with Britain. According to this article in the Ecuadoran newspaper El Comercio: Ecuador no quiere interferir con los procesos de Inglaterra y Suecia, dice la embajadora:
One can certainly conceive of a compromise that could fulfill all these requirements. Assange, for example, could be extradited to Sweden if Sweden gives assurance that he will not be extradited to the United States.
“The iconic former News International headquarters has been sold to Berkeley Group-subsidiary St George, which intends to convert it into a mixed use residential-led development.”
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http://www.printweek.com/Business/article/1137014/wapping-set-redevelopment-following-150m-sale/
I call it – ” Good Mamma supports ”bad boy” – written by former CIA analyst – Ray McGovern:-
” Like Mother, Like Son
Assange’s mother not only applauded her son’s decision to seek asylum, but summed up the situation concisely, telling the press:
“I hope Ecuador will grant him asylum, and if not, another third-world country. I hope the third world can stand up for what’s morally right when the first world can’t and won’t because they’ve got their snouts in the trough, rolling over for U.S. greed and big business.
“Julian is a political prisoner, a journalist, a publisher of the truth about corruption, war crimes, kidnapping, blackmail, and manipulation. … He remains uncharged and unquestioned on a crime which, if you explore it, has absolutely no basis. Of course he would seek asylum.”
She added that her son was a victim of decisions by the United States, Britain, Sweden and Australia to abandon proper legal process.”