Those coming from Central Asia, Bahrain, Qatar or Saudi Arabia to the Olympics, interested to see what life in a democracy feels like, will find it seems exactly like life at home in their dictatorship. 17,000 soldiers will be glowering over the venues, checking identity documents, stopping and searching. The mlitary will occupy residential buildings, be buzzing overhead, rolling down the streets and patrolling the river. There will be missiles on land, sea and air, though nobody knows what the threat is that this is supposed to counter.
What will make our dictatorship resident visitors feel especially at home is the contempt for the ordinary citizen. Not only will they have the military all over them and be subject to frequent stopping and questioning, they will be expected continually to get out of the way of their betters. Special VIP lanes on the road will allow officials to sweep by, while normal citizens will simply have to sit in gridlock and stew. Who cares? The military will stick missiles on your roof if they wish. What they are going to shoot down, and which bit of London it will land on, is not to be questioned.
Here in Ramsgate we are losing our regular train service to London completely for the duration. All the HS1 trains are being commandeered to run a shuttle service between Ebbsfleet and Stratford. 22 trains a day from Ramsgate are simply cancelled. Slow trains are available, but a journey normally 70 minutes will become – at the fastest possible – 2 hours and 35 minutes. A large number of commuters will simply be unable to get to work anything like on time, and have to spend door to door over seven hours a day in travelling as well as their working day. Nobody was consulted. Quite a few don’t yet know – there has been no determined effort to tell people. Leaflets are available in the ticket office if you ask for one.
But the leaflets might as well just say, “You are fucked, and we don’t care”.
The extra 3,500 military personnel it was today announced will be used at the games cover a shortfall in Group Four personnel. Group Four were providing 4,000 paid staff and 6,000 unpaid volunteers. It is the unpaid volunteer numbers which are short by 3,500.
Most people are not stupid. They may volunteer happily for sport or for charity, but to work for nothing to make tens of millions of pounds of profit for Group Four as it exploits them, plainly does not have universal appeal. Those 2,500 who have volunteered to work for nothing for G4S are the idiots in this story. How gullible can you be?
Bob Russell, MP for Colchester, today in parliament made the excellent point to Teresa May that Group Four (or G4S as they now call themselves) should not be employed because of their role in aiding and abetting Israel’s illegal activities in the West Bank and human rights abuse there. With breathtaking chutzpah Teresa May replied that it was this kind of valuable international experience that made Group Four the right company to provide security for the games.
Which brings me back to my point at the start. Those visiting from oppressive regimes will feel absolutely at home. That is the one and only thing you can trust Teresa May to ensure with grim efficiency.
Anon, how long does the sort of authoritarian state that you refer to generally last? I hope you’d agree that the UK has moved significantly in that direction, and that the Olympics mark a peak in such authoritarianism not seen in… well how long would you say?
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You seem a bit easily over impressed. A lot of the current “security”, as unpleasant and unjust as it is for many people, seems pretty poor, even as theatre. I really hope no one puts it to a serious test.
I think it is not these figmentary islamofascists you speak of, Anon, but the US, UK and Israeli government fascists who hijack sporting events to further their malign geo-political goals; fascism, correctly being the alliance of corporations and government in a conspiracy against all people. Indeed I can remember a previous Olympic opening ceremony: Beijing 2008, from which Putin dashed off, waving a accusatory finger at Bush Jr., to deal with the rentamob US/UK/Israeli trained armed and backed terrorists and Al-Quaeda hirelings, allied with the puppet Georgian Mikhail Saakashvili, who had attacked legitimate Russian UN peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia. Of course our media, piled lie upon lie in obfuscating exactly what took place, but the truth got out eventually. So you see it is our own and the US/Israeli governments and the NATO command gone bad who we fear the greatest. Not your phantom bogeymen.
twice as bad!
17 July: UK Telegraph: Christopher Hope: BBC admits 300 stars paid through private firms can avoid tax
More than twice as many BBC stars as previously thought could be avoiding paying the right amount of tax, The Daily Telegraph can disclose
Zarin Patel, the BBC’s chief financial officer, only disclosed the number of presenters – 148 – who were paid through service companies under sustained questioning by MPs on Monday.
Last night, Margaret Hodge, the chairman of the public accounts committee, said: “Clearly we have not got to the bottom of this saga. The BBC has now promised to do a complete review and we will come back to it when we see the outcome of that review.
“It would have been helpful of the BBC management had come clean in their public evidence to our committee.”
Steve Barclay, a Tory member of the committee, added: “The BBC need to come clean on the extent of this practice given that it is taxpayers’ money being spent potentially in ways that avoid the right amount of tax being paid.” …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9406610/BBC-admits-300-stars-paid-through-private-firms-can-avoid-tax.html
The company set up by the BBC to feed Clarkson et al with the proceeds from Top Gear here and worldwide is called Bedder 6. Marcus Arthur appears in the link at the bottom. He is MD Brands, Consumers and New Ventures.
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Note the net worth. http://companycheck.co.uk/company/05982502
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{http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/jeremy-clarkson-rise-in-earnings-as-other-bbc-1145318}
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BBC Worldwide {http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annual-review/annual-review-2011/governance/bbc-worldwide-executive.aspx}
And why would I believe China Digital Times with staff in America and Canada, Komodo?
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Because it is
(a) citeable and
(b) not linked to the (completely impartial and utterly true) Chinese state media. In which
(c) I failed to find a report corresponding to your link.
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In any case. you appear to have no difficulty believing media with staff in the UK, America, Canada and god knows where else if they agree with your preconceptions.
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Be aware that lousy as our government is, everybody’s lying and spinning. Also reflect that Russian and Chinese ‘support’ for Syria and Iran is no more likely to benefit those countries than ours would be. The Chinese State is as keen on grabbing other peoples’ resources as we are. More so, as it has a hungry manufacturing base.
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The one source cited by your chums is NDTV. It is not a Chinese station. I could not find the report there. either, but feel free to link back to the original text if you can. In full, and in context, obviously.
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And then you can tell me why I should believe John Rand (whohe? Presumably a Westerner) or his cheapo KitKirja site. Whose content is completely in tune with PressTV’s obvious propaganda. Same hymnsheet, if not the same choir.
The above was before I saw Nuid’s discovery. Press TV in style…and substance. Thanks for checking it, Nuid.
Komodo,
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Seems like a favourable wind was absent today. You said, ‘Also reflect that Russian and Chinese ‘support’ for Syria and Iran is no more likely to benefit those countries than ours would be.
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That support might retard a chapter 7 resolution that could invoke NATO military action and the demise of the Annan plan. The eyes and ears of the 300 strong UN observer force that has probably prevented to some degree more terrorist massacres might also be terminated rather than extended.
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http://www.coia.org.uk/realvideo/russia.flv
I’m a sceptic, Mark. And the Russians have form. See Chechnya.
As regards Assad/revolutionaries, I’m not getting a more convincing tale from one than from the other. “We” will do anything to isolate, and if possible bring down Iran. Why? Oil (and Judaism). The Chinese would very much like to get their hands on Iranian oil – in fact are already doing so – and the current regime there suits them for the moment. Syria is undoubtedly part of the process. Sure. Point taken (long ago). We’ve all got vested interests and are relaxed about killing people to promote them. Unhappy FACT.
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But the fact that Russia supports a stable state under Assad or someone similar ( as would Israel if it thought about it) does not make it one of the goodies. Also, UN resolutions, and adherence thereto do not have quite the universal binding force that most of us would like. The complicated dance movements by the interested parties before Iraq 2 were very similar, you will recall.
Komodo It is ridiculous to say that I accept information as gospel from sources if they agree with my preconceptions. You should know me better.
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Ban Ki Moon is in China now and one of his aims is to get the Chinese government to apply pressure on Assad.
http://lifestyle.topnewstoday.org/style/article/2814013/
“How Welfare to Work Companies Cook the Books – and why this Government will let them”
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http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/how-welfare-to-work-companies-cook-the-books-and-why-this-government-will-let-them/
Mary – is it? I believe the issue was the credibility of a source based on its location. I suspect, but cannot yet demonstrate, that the operator of the site to which you linked (and others, also central to a Facebook campaign and many Youtube offerings) is not a native English speaker, not, as he claims on Israel Forums to be, an Arabist, and has strong Canadian affiliations- probably lives there. This last would of course disqualify his utterances as far as you are concerned. Fortunately for your peace of mind, outside his own promotions he appears to be completely faceless.
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OTH you can look at China Digital Times on Wikipedia, obtain the names of its staff, its history and its probable political position – sure, if the CIA aren’t involved somewhere, they ought to be. And if the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are not involved in PressTV and its covert outlets, I’d be astonished, by exactly the same token.
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CDT is trying to appeal to disaffected Chinese, however. Which means (see WW2 BBC for technique) that what it says has to be at least moderately credible to a Chinese audience. Whereas PressTV is trying to appeal to disaffected Westerners. Which do you think is a more likely source of sound information on a Chinese (academic) general?
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I understand Komodo – unfortunately we live in a ridiculous paradox in that most of us are more likely to accept a believable lie than an unbelievable truth. Such is the power of a corrupt media.
The Chinese Persian Gulf fleet is already formed and awaiting the nod from the Iranians to anchor at port. The events so far have proved that US is unrelenting, in its haste to instantiate “full spectrum dominance”, the project for new American century clearly set that out, and the world must take the notions of the Imperial US owning the planet on face value. The events so far have substantially backed the former propositions veracity.
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Post the phoney attacks on US on Sept. 2001, US unleashed its full fury on Afghanistan and to date has remained in that beleaguered country, and still is busy killing the Afghans and various US personnel turned videographers of macabre supply a steady stream of Afghans getting blown to kingdom come as “presents” to the free world!
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US then had Iraq in its cross hairs and soon after the invasion of Afghanistan started to attack and invade Iraq. The destruction of Iraq over and done with, US turned on Libya, and soon after the Libyan destruction fest, US turned on Syria. and we are now watching the dance macabre all over again with the same fucking loads of bullshit and made up stories in the rush to attack Syria, and destroy that country too.
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We all know that Iran is the next stop, or could it be Pakistan? However the world can be rest assured that US will not be relenting and soon after the destruction of Iran, US will turn on Russia and then China.
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The puzzling fact remains that what in hades are the Russian and Chinese leaderships are awaiting to see? The first missile landing on their soils? So far the phoney baloney stories of missile shield is to deter Iran from getting “nukes” has been the excuse to encircle Russia and China and effectively nullify any potential threats to mainland US. This is due to the fact that US forces are in an offensive formation and lack the ability of defending mainland US.
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Furthermore, given the psyche of the Yanks whom have enjoyed watching the world tumble down on the TV and still pop into the mart to get the burgers and the ice-cream tubs, as well as disjointed and dislocated health provisions for the potential fall out from any conflagrations with respect to casualties, fire fighting, civil defense provisions, etc.
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Therefore the slow but steady move of US to curtail the probability of attacks on its mainland. However, this also presents an opportunity for the Chinese and Russians to exercise some options they already have available and push US into a nose dive, which could result in either the WWIII, which in all probability will end up in the Russian supremacy given the demography and infrastructures that are in place in Russia. On the other hand US will implode as in the case of USSR and world can start the healing process and take a break from the wave of mass murder and destruction that has been so engulfing the world for more than the last decade.
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Fact is no other entity has so far stated “full spectrum dominance” other than the US, therefore we can safely assume whoever that emerges as the super power post the implosion of US will not be as arrogant, as greedy, and as blood thirsty as US.
“.. in PressTV and its covert outlets, I’d be astonished, by exactly the same token.”
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Come again “covert”? A news organization is a covert outlet?
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Although you have singularly failed to point out that BBC, CNBC, CBS et al are also controlled by the relevant SIS. This former point however always escapes any attention of any sorts, as the narrator is waxing lyrical about the “world” from without our own little england.
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Best start seeing what the enemy observes about us, and then some.
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Hurry before Google zpas it, in the usual fashion into the memoryhole.
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NB note the unequivocal “their owners”.
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PS The death of Dr. Kelly unearthed a whole array of the SIS assets in the BBC in the way of rebutting the aspersions cast on Blair’s intentions of rushing to war, ie “sexing up” of the dossier, which as we all now know was a pack of lies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“The puzzling fact remains that what in hades are the Russian and Chinese leaderships are awaiting to see?..”
The wait, I suspect, is over. The line has been drawn in the sand. There is no doubt that it would be suicidal for either of these powers to allow the US to get away with “regime change” in Iran. That would be tantamount to an attack on them.
Komodo, were you around for the Cold War? I ask because it seems to me that your remarks on Russia “having form” re Chechnya suggest that you missed that era in which, repugnant as the Stalinist regime undoubtedly was, the USSR was generally on the right side in Vietnam, Angola, and other anti-imperial struggles.
And not because they were good but because they were the Empire’s primary targets. It was an enemy of my enemy thing.
The same was true of World War II, before the Americans had taken over the anti-communist burden Hitler died bearing, Stalin was not a nice chap like Baldwin (nor was Baldwin) or a fierce partisan of liberties and democracy like Churchill (neither was Churchill); the USSR was fighting for its life, and it was doing so with the backing of most Russians (but not the Chechens, who have form) because they had seen and heard what happens to the victims of the Nazis, regardless of their religious proclivities.
Russia and China are refusing to go along with using the UNSC to do to Syria what it did to Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. And they are right, which does not mean that they are nice (you ought to check out the sort of regime there was in the US, particularly the South, when FDR was leading Freedom’s Crusade. Or perhaps what the British were doing in Bengal, and had been for two centuries by the eve of Hiroshima) but that their interests (starting with self preservation) are diametrically opposed to those of the US government and its puppets.
Aren’t all of us similarly opposed to the Empire’s murderous rampages in the muslim world? I am, and, so far as dissidents in China or Russia are concerned, they fall into two kinds, those whose names we never know, struggling in the tradition of Tolpuddle, doing there what we would do here, only in harsher circumstances. And those well financed friends of the US ambassador who are doing there what our governments want them to do.
As to Anonymous: shouldn’t you be helping to equip the next suicide bomber to go into a Damascus market or killing Iranian science teachers?
No, Passerby. PTV is an overt outlet. Some other outlets, to which I am referring, spread PTV’s undiluted and unquestioned good news further while trying to look spontaneous and nothing to do with Iran. Trust that is clear, or maybe you were being obtuse for effect? Do I need to state that the major news outlets in the West are partial every time I post? Some here think that playing dirty is restricted to Western media; some think it’s necessary to bang on about it. I take it as a given that everyone has an ulterior motive…whether corporate profit or religious ideology.
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Mark, just so. A measure of healthy scepticism is appropriate to ANY public source.
Yes, I was around for most of the Cold War, Chris. And one of the principles that may have ensured that I am still around was the flexibly-interpreted but then quite potent agreement that interference in the affairs of a sovereign state was a no-no. I am nostalgic for that alone from that era.
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Interpretation is of course the key to all of this. You could interpret Angola as being a more-or-less proxy war to maintain Soviet influence in Africa. You could forget the stitch-up between the Allied powers which deprived Eastern Europe of any kind of self-determination for the duration, and the robust measures the USSR employed to keep its satellites in line. I am not sure how any of the participants in Vietnam come out of it with honour except the Vietnamese. The Soviets were happy to help weaken the US, which may seem to be a good thing until you wonder why they might have wanted to. Altruism? A desire for freedom and democracy (in any sense)? This was a regime which sent tens of thousands of Russian PoWs – its own citizens – to labour camps after the war. For decades, without redress. If it did not hang and shoot them as possible collaborators with the Germans.
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From everything I’ve seen and heard about Russians, I don’t think I’m being too illogical in not stating a preference for their methods.
I just heard a report on RT Television that American athletes for the Olympic Games are going to be accompanied by 500 FBI agents and 500 other U.S. security personnel.
RT: Banned in the UK! BBC fights for right to air riot docudrama, http://www.rt.com/news/bbc-riot-film-banned-432/ :
You’re welcome, Komodo.
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BTW, Donald Rumsfeld’s former Chief of Staff has hailed the Damascus suicide bomber as a “martyr”:
https://twitter.com/keithurbahn/status/225585551816933379
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It just beggars belief.
Chris2 – I believe you are right. The line *is* drawn in the sand. Yet the fight is not yet won. I believe there is a very small window of opportunity, about five months, for anyone to step over to the side of truth, justice, peace and freedom.
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The Zionist plots have been exposed and it’s financial support structures are crumbling, confidence imploding from within. Those walking the line can separate from or go down with it – no war is necessary.
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Think about the American support for Adolf Hitler’s war machine, the second bomb on Nagasaki, think about Agent Orange, think about 9/11, the Iraq sanctions, the Iraq war, the Iraq massacre, 7/7, Libya and Syria. The strangling of Iran. Think and decide – who am I, where do I belong.
The adage an apple a day keeps the doctor away, has been synthesised by the rouge leaders of our time to become a terror attack every so often keeps the punters occupied and leaders free. Bush adhered to this principle, the lying bastard Tony Blair lived by it, and still does, 911 Mayor 911 Giuliani 911 has 911 been 911 poster 911 boy 911, and now ben netanyahu facing the ouster of his government due to the resignation of shaul mofaz, and engulfed in the smoke of the fires set by the protesters and rioters in tel aviv has made use of it.
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The isreali bus in Bulgaria gets blown up, no one taking any responsibility but as the Bulgarian emergency services arrive on the scene, ben has an epiphany and declares Iranians is wot done it, and blames Iran for the attacks.
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The same day that sees the Syrian bomber who killed Assad’s brother in law, being hailed as a super hero and a “Martyr”, with declarations of the turning point of war on Assad, whilst suddenly the ugly terrorists attack the innocent israeli bus.
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Nice trick it worked for Bush, Blair, and Sharon so it is sure as hell going to work for ben too, the idiot masses will never fathom out they are being played for chumps, would they?
The fruit-loop John Bolton has spoken:
“Former United States Ambassador to the UN John Bolton believes that Israel is poised to launch a direct attack on Iran in the wake of yesterday’s terrorist bombing in Bulgaria.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/former-u-s-envoy-to-un-israel-poised-to-strike-iran-after-bulgaria-attack-1.452059
Nuid
Thankyou for providing the link to George Galloway’s speech on Syria.
What he says is 100% exactly my own position, in all its contents, which I have been trying to express here for some time.
It appears that the victims of dictatorship who wish to make jihad against the Ba’ath dictator in Syria have made blanket takfir, meaning to discount the sincerity of someone, of all the people who are not taslim to them, meaning to blindly and unquestioningly follow.
The very expectation that people should put aside their own conscience and intellect is itself against the secular concept of democracy and the religious concept of Islam.
They have to change and become inclusive of those who have not suffered the pain they have suffered at the hands of the dictators, but who understand the principles of double or treble bind of tyranny from our own experience of the oppression we have endured in our own different lives.
If you do not include those whose hearts are with you, the oppressors and the oppression will survive.
You could laugh, if it wasn’t murder. There’s Netanyahu tonight saying all the signs point to Iran re the Bulgarian bus bombing. Just as Syria is being lashed by a “totally homegrown revolution”, so Iran moves into the crosshairs. These people sure are getting desparate. They’re in a real hurry.
It boils down to this: there are those who seem hellbent on dragging us all into World War 3, and there are those who aren’t. There are those who don’t care what kind of murderous deccit they concoct, just so long as it keeps the tills ringing and the right people in charge. And there are those, in positions of power, who can stop all this.
For the avoidance of doubt: Russia and China have nuclear weapons. Don’t try to drive a knife through their interests. Have a little fucking sense, eh?
Message to Ed Miliband re Tony Blair: Thanks for reminding a sizeable percentage of the voters why they’ll never vote Labour again. Just when the cracks where starting to show in the coalition and people had moved on from the unspeakable carnage in the desert. Just at the wrong moment, you bring HIM back.
You are an institutionalised fool, Mr Miliband.
“I just heard a report on RT Television that American athletes for the Olympic Games are going to be accompanied by 500 FBI agents and 500 other U.S. security personnel.”
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What,each??
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Wouldnt surprise me mind.
18 July: Army Times: AP: Virginia Army mortuary unit deploys to Middle East
Officials at the Army base near Petersburg say the soldiers from the 111th Quartermaster Company left Wednesday for an at least six-month deployment.
The soldiers are part of one of the Army’s only two active duty mortuary affairs units.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/07/ap-virginia-mortuary-unit-to-middle-east/
Mark Golding,
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“I understand Komodo – unfortunately we live in a ridiculous paradox in that most of us are more likely to accept a believable lie than an unbelievable truth. Such is the power of a corrupt media.”
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Intersting thought Mark,i agree.I would also offer:a widely-understood ridiculous lie rather than an widely-understood but unpalatable truth.
Anti-Asad-jihad.
The men and women who are making jihad against Asad after suffering at the hands of other dictators have been doing the following oppressive things to me as a New Muslim.
1/Going behind my back to my enemy, my ex-wife, to put pressure on me.
2/ ditto to her contacts in MI5/police/politics which she used against me
3/gone behind my back to goad my 2 sisters who hate my new religion against me.
4/Gone behind my back to befriend my mum, to discourage her from helping me financially and divert her wealth to themselves.
5/Gone behind my back to befriend my friends secretly
6/ secretly spied on me by mobile phone and bugging my house
7/ gone behind my back to try to generate hostility against me from my new in-law family
8/gone behind my back in order to befriend my political enemies
9/ stolen money I gave them to distribute to charity
10/ gone behind my back to control my employers
This is the reason that I don’t trust the capability of these people who have suffered oppression at the hands of Saddam and other dictators through history to create an anti-oppressive system in Libya and Syria.
The different nationalities of Muslims collaborate together to counter-oppress the English New Muslims.
They take some grim satisfaction in doing that, for which I forgive them. But it does not bode well for all the other groups of society which George Galloway listed, Christians, Shiites, women, etc that the persecute their friends.