I had a half-formed post in mind to work on this morning, but then I read Glenn Greewald’s latest and concluded that if you are going to devote ten minutes of your day, nothing I could write would be as profitable as your reading him.
I would only add the obvious fact that Blair had already done to New Labour precisely what Obama has done to the Democrats; and that western “democracy” has lost its meaning because the institutionally entrenched parties offer no actual policy choice to voters, but are all neo-conservative.
And yet the yelping border collies of the mainstream media seem able to corral the populace into one or other of the large, indistinguishable sheep-pens of party politics, don’t they, Craig?
nothing I could write would be as profitable as your reading him.
No, no, Craig! (etc)
But you’re right.
Read it, fellow sycophants. Read it.
Citizens cannot identify themselves to – or physically surrender to – an IED; or to a drone. Citizens who aspire to resist asassination as an acceptable method of conducting political disputes should not surrender to anyone the authority to deploy IEDs or drones on their behalf. Especially not if his name is POTUS.
Craig, for those who are too busy or exhausted to spent ten minutes I would suggest watching a video by Deek Jackson at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=No8b34YYpgI
The ‘kill list’ is a wonderful piece of electioneering. It’s like the military industrial complex has a politics branch to act as a communications unit with sod all ability to amend decision making. I’m not too bothered about the US, don’t live there – none of my business, but when the EU is blatantly positioning itself to get access to such mechanisms then it’s really just game over. No one in charge gives a toss any more, no one changes group think, says hang on a mo – i’m not happy with this. Ah, fuck it, the Guv’nor of the Bank of England has just admitted that half a trillion quid was just pissed down the drain and yet it hardly makes news as Jimmy Savile was a necrophiliac. Despair and fury went about 3 years ago, all that is left is booze. Screw it.
The older I get, the more I miss old Saddam Hussein. Back in two thousand and something he proposed an alternative resolution of Iraq War Two: he challenged Boy Bush to a wrestling match. It’s no surprise that Baby Boy turned him down.
It was an excellent article.
Curiously, Drones seemed to just ‘appear’. Clearly, drones are the product of decades of R&D, and large (public) investment, so they didn’t appear as if by magic. No, they were foisted upon us by the military-media-industrial complex, and none of us can do much about it. Who decided that drones were ok however? Not the public, for sure.
For me, I see very little substantive difference between a drone and, say, a landmine. Both kill friend and foe alike, and cause great pain and suffering in the communities involved. Of course, the US opted out of the landmine treaty, for reasons that remain unclear (http://www.uscbl.org). It’s genuinely hard to think of any reason at all that a democracy would opt out of a treaty banning landmines. We can be sure that any attempt to make drones illegal, as they should be, will be met with fierce resistance by the US and its proxies, but what troubles me is how thin the pro-drone arguments really are. They aren’t trying anymore. They can’t be bothered, and just trot out PR to fool the un-educated, or indifferent. I’ve yet to hear an argument for drones that doesn’t make me laugh at its absurdity.
So, of course, such arguments are rote in media land. Indeed, in the current US elections, it’s even worse: they don’t even bother with the absurdities. They just state, declaritive style, that they are killing terrorists. Which is, of course, enough. Greenwald’s article is very good, as usual, but one can’t help get the feeling that US elites are beyond such facts and reason, and have entered a phase that can only really be called fascist. Call it authoritarian, if the ‘f’ word displeases you – but whatever it is, it isn’t democracy.
Nothign short of making drones illegal is enough, unless – see Nuremeberg principles – there is an actual, immediate theat to a nation-state. But who cares about the Nuremberg principles anymore?
Sorry Mary.
I was being procvocative and lazy.
I will read up later and draw my own.conclusion.
This drone policy is disturbing beyond belief. It is the ultimate in cowardice. Somebody sitting in a safe environment thousands of miles away playing with a joystick that is destroying real lives. In the seventies Professor Carlo Cipolla said that ‘man is still a savage but the weapons at his disposal are more sophisticated.’ Today they are, by those standards, even more sophisticated, unbelievably more so. I have one word for anyone who operates one of these deadly joysticks: COWARD.
But eventually the technology will go global. As I write Noor Khan, who lost realtives to a drone strike, is questioning William Hague about the legality of the UK drone programme. The US and UK will not always be at the leading edge of technology. If countries like Azerbaijan is using drones (supplied by Israel) along the Armenian border, it is clear that there will come a day when those cowards sitting by their US/UK joysticks will be vulnerable too.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/121022/drone-violence-along-armenian-azerbaijani-border-could-lead-war
“western “democracy” has lost its meaning because the institutionally entrenched parties offer no actual policy choice to voters, but are all neo-conservative.”
I would actually go further. I would say that not only has western ‘democracy’ lost its meaning, but that there is NO western ‘democracy’ any more. We live in dictatorships of 4-5 years (depending on the country’s election laws). We can vote for a different dictatorship – heavy or light – every 4-5 years & once we have voted, those ‘elected’ (normally by 30% or less of the elctorate) do whatever they want, regardless of any election programme they may have published…we are not represented any more.
“UK support for US drones in Pakistan may be war crime, court is told”
Lawyers for Pakistani man whose father was killed by drone strike seek to have sharing of UK intelligence declared unlawful
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/23/uk-support-us-drones-pakistan-war-crime?CMP=EMCNEWEML1355
That is very nice of you Jay to say that. Sorry if I sounded snappy. I am concerned about Clark. What can we do to get him back?
Picking off the ‘Taliban’ with UACVs.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1349447464.html
Clark.
The future is unwritten. Work hard do your best and believe for a better future for all our sakes.
Love everyone!
Arthur Silber has another powerful piece on the whole sorry scenario here http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com.au/
Agreed wrt drones etc.
Now to this zombie-like idea that somehow ‘western democracy’ used to be more effective, democratic etc and is now in retreat. Please supply evidence.
I think there is a more compelling explanation. Representative democracy was a revolutionary development for its time, a sea change from various private tyrannies that preceded it. As the franchise was extended to larger and larger sections of society the scale of barbarity and exploitation diminished in proportion. Self-evidently, the effects of democracy are most felt at home, understandably less so abroad since foreigners don’t take part in our elections. Large scale violence and famine are now unthinkable in the west.
However representative democracy (what is broadly understood by ‘western democracy’) has nearly exhausted its potential for further improvement. Moreover with the emergence of more accessible alternative news channels, notably internet and foreign satellite tv, we are becoming more aware of the unfulfilled promise of representative democracy and of the evils that have always been perpetrated in our name. Our democracy has not changed but our awareness of what goes on has increased. This awareness always grows more acute in times of crisis and need as we are compelled to question more of what we take for granted in good times.
Our democracy hasn’t retreated. It was crippled from the start since it was always about ‘representation’ and party politics, and now we are slowly coming to terms with it.
I am concerned about Clark. What can we do to get him back?
Nothing, beyond showing your support, and you and several others of us have. He’ll need time off anyway, I’m guessing. If he’s any sense he won’t be reading this for now. If he is –
LOG OUT NOW, CLARK! GO AND GET PISSED / GO FISHING / JOIN A CHOIR / ANYTHING !
The use of drones has been spreading beyond the military for several years. The UK Police have been using unarmed drones for a while. So have demonstrators.
You can buy one to control with your phone from Selfridges.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/12/occupy_the_airs.php
http://www.microdrones.co.uk/
http://www.selfridges.com/en/Home-Tech/Categories/Shop-Tech/Accessories/App-enabled-accessories/AR.Drone-2.0-Wi-Fi-quadricopter_761-10044-PARARDRONE2
Komodo 24 Oct, 2012 – 2:41 pm
“LOG OUT NOW, CLARK! GO AND GET PISSED / GO FISHING / JOIN A CHOIR / ANYTHING !”
Get drunk. Joining a choir sounds great. But please don’t go fishing – it is a cruel sport. Just imagine ‘fishing’ your dog.
But I’m just a soggy, dog-loving, fish-friendly lentil eater.
I thought you ate flies and other insects!
Have you heard that Bettison has ‘resigned’? He says his hands are completely clean!
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1351079767.html
Are the walls going to tumble down as these structural cracks get bigger?
But flies taste so good. And anyway I have yet to develop higher brain functions.
Bettison will get by very nicely on his pension and some consultancy work.
In deference to Phil, strike ‘fishing’. (Except for edible species you are definitely going to eat.) Errr…how about GO SKATEBOARDING ?
My anti-drone drone jammer becomes higher priority.
O/T -I repeat the screws are turning down on freedom, one thread at a time – John Kiriakou jailed for whistle-blowing on torture:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/23/cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-leak?newsfeed=true
Recommend – Buy a cheap short-wave radio to receive UK-Collapse instructions as needed. Frequencies will be 28666kHz & 7166kHZ
I see Selfridges’ drone is wi-fi enabled. It would be no more than poetic justice to jam one and crash it with a BT HomeHub.
Mark Golding – Children of Conflict 24 Oct, 2012 – 4:24 pm
“Recommend – Buy a cheap short-wave radio to receive UK-Collapse instructions as needed. Frequencies will be 28666kHz & 7166kHZ”
Ooh, please elaborate Mark. That sounds like some info I should have next to my stockpile of spam.
@Mark
Sorry my above comment sounds facetious. It isn’t. I am genuinely intrigued by what that means and where you got it.
Like something out of a trashy Sci-fi book from the sixties, Craig-but really happening right now. Amazing how those who think this murderous rubbish is O.K. never seem to realise that what goes around usually comes around, due to the fact that they are terminally psychopathic idiots. And so the Neocon juggernaut thunders onward. A piece from yourself on the scary march of the Neocons would be welcomed by many.
Someone earlier remarked that drones didnt just ‘appear’,that they’ve been planned for years.
Where else did the gaming market spin-off from?
Think Google Maps,flight sims on the PC and X-boxes etc were just a product for consumer hobbies?
Clark,
Your contributions on this site over years have been invaluable and much appreciated by the vast majority.
Do take some time out if possible and know that you’re in our thoughts.
Peace bro.
Looks like Tom Watson put the cat amongst the pigeons at question time today.
wonder if anything will change? Leveson needs to be challenged in his Inquiry about this stuff