Sunny Hundal is pulling the Nick Cohen trick of claiming that “Lefties” who fail to applaud every action of Bush, Blair, Netanyahu and Obomber are actually supporting Osama Bin Laden’s cause.
The Taliban is an excrescence but it is not a spontaneous outpuring of human evil. Its roots lie in the devastation of Afghanistan by foreign invasion, first by the Soviets and then by the Americans, coupled with the failings of Pakistani society due in very large part to hideously corrupt governments and politically powerful military, aided and abetted by the West. The Taliban is, in short, as much a symptom as a cause of disaster.
Hundal is a sad figure. He asked me to join Liberal Conspiracy when it started, and I refused on the grounds it was going to be a vehicle for New Labour war criminals. It has become precisely that. Hundal’s basic decency has predictably been eroded as he was sucked in by the neo-con establishment. He joined New Labour and the Guardian and is now in the states working for the drone-killer President who has launched a campaign against free speech which has seen the prosecution of more whistleblowers under Obama than under all previous US presidents combined. Hundal recently helped the anti-whistleblower cause further by publishing a fawning “exclusive” interview with the odious Harriet Harman (Of course it’s exclusive – who the fuck other than sell-out Hundal wants to talk to Harman) repeatedly labeling Julian Assange as guilty of rape.
Hundal’s question “Why do lefties keep ignoring the threat of the taliban to Pakistanis” is a stupid slur. “Why is Sunny Hundal a neo-con lickspittle?” is a question worth discussion.
At the top the same puppet masters are pulling the strings. There is in reality no difference between the leftists and the rightists they serve the same cause. That is why grand centralised structures of power, like the EU and the banking cartels are so dangerous. They are tools for centralised power.
The self-proclaimed leftists are not really leftist at all, they are corporate liberals, phonies. If they really were leftists, they would not be supporting any of the main parties, here or in the USA, as all the main parties now, more so than ever, are signed up to the same neoliberal economics.
” … and Obomber … ” Craig, please don’t get into the habit of this kind of name distortion. It really reduces your credibility.
The fact is, if the USA, Saudi Arabia et al stopped supporting the military-security block of Pakistan (as they have, for 55 years), the Taliban would lose their major sponsors. The Taliban and the other Islamist paramilitaries are instruments of the Pakistan military-security block who are the real rulers of Pakistan.
That is why any politician, political party, polician’s son or 14 year-old schoolgirl who dares to stand up and question the Islamist narrative in Pakistan gets kidnapped or assassinated. What is required – and only this will work – is a grassroots secular redistributive revolution in Pakistan permanently and definitively to remove the military from power – both political and economic. For that to happen, it would be likely that the Saudi Arabian regime would need also to be brought down. All of that can only happen from inside these countries. But it would be helped if the West and others stopped arming and otherwise supporting these regimes (and paramilitary Islamist cadres in the Middle East).
Everything else is a red herring.
Obomber or Bombs away Obama sounds credible enough to me. Watch and listen to “Obama Nation”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB-vYuYhdSE
Rob (12:19pm, 14.10.12), what, you mean like, ‘Margaret Thatcher, Milk-Snatcher!, or ‘Fatch’, Or ‘Is it a bird, is it a ‘plane? No, it’s my president, LBJ!’ Or, ‘Tricky Dickie’? Or ‘Sunny Jim [Callaghan]’. Or ‘Tony Bliar’? Or ‘Dubya’? Or ‘Ronald Ray-gun’? All of those names were was fairly accurate depictors, actually. It has nothing to do with credibility.
I stopped reading it due to atricles stating with the headline ‘Why you should think/do/etc…’ Reminded me too much of the SWP
One of your best comments Craig – Powerful. witty, true – Bravo! – the basis of a speech on the paper anniversary of Occupy??
Hundal once said on Twitter, as part of an attack on George Galloway in the wake of his Bradford election victory, that he didn’t ‘want any part of a left that supports dictators thanks. Maybe you do’. The implication being that Galloway is a dictator lover.
He was challenged by Media Lens on how he could reconcile this position with his open and enthusiastic support for Barak Obama, who arms dictators to the tune of billions of dollars. Hundal, with a straight face, simply denied that Obama supports dictators. You can see him squirm in the face of the irrefutable evidence that Obama does indeed support dictators here:
http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=675:when-populism-is-dangerous-for-democracy-to-the-media-gallows-with-controversial-george-galloway&catid=25:alerts-2012&Itemid=69
Hundal is basically a liberal bellwether, who’ll never say or write anything that strays too far from the cosy, liberal Establishment consensus (and the liberal Establishment are frequently reactionary and rather illiberal in their views). Ergo, Galloway = Very Bad Man, Obama = Very Good Man.
That he has to contradict his own purported principles to hold these views speaks volumes about his level of intellectual honesty and independence.
Not a particularly bad guy, but not a particularly good or insightful political writer either.
The lick-spittlers answer to the resistance executed by the sycophantic door-mats, yearning rewards from their handshakers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5cnnDuH2XQ
I really think types like Cohen and SunnyCloudy are purely mercenaries with communication skills. Presstitutes for hire, they know the line of business they are in is providing smug justifications covering themselves and which others also complicit can adopt and further disseminate themselves, they rationalise the self-evidently species-suicidal inevitablity of triumphant western capitalism’s rotten cause, do all the thinking for those who’s programming has obliged them not to question inculcated holy truths. You could also include Monbiot and his conversion to nuclear power. Asked their price, they named it and got it. They are maximising for the present their non-cash assets, knowing that whenever it all inevitably collapses – this orgiastic looting of communally owned resources with the slaves worked to death for their daily bread – it’ll give them some advantage in the aftermath. They hope to fill the moat, electrify the fences, contract for some goons and slavering dogs and live in baronial splendour, or fuck off to some fortified far away hideaway. They’ve planned to make out like the sneak thief bandits they are, and now stoke the flames of the coming conflagration as they’re irksome to be off, tortured and it can’t come soon enough.
‘Kick their ass and take their gas’. Cohen, Hundal and friends are the journalistic equivalent of that t-shirt slogan, a toxic mix of privilege, prejudice and wilful ignorance.
For those that missed it, here is Sunny Hundal’s interview with Harriet Harman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvQyRXoCA_Y
Typing without my specs on is fatal.
I entered ‘dunny hindal’ in the search box and was asked
Did you mean:
sunny hundal
dune kindle
dune sandal
Anyway, he’s here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Hundal
I’ve heard that there are shipbuilders who may specialise in ultra luxury, giant cruise liners, designed to be sold to groups of plutocrats; so that they can sail the deep oceans perpetually; only docking for supplies every so often, in safe ports.
No tax, no vulnerability from Joe public, and no legal threats from national states. The perfect ‘get-away’ whilst all the Romes of the world burn. Noah’s ark for the elites.
Cryptonym A case in point. Cohen in today’s Observer.
The week I shed my anti-Tory taboos
There are often as many differences within right and left as between them about the big issues – except one
Nick Cohen
The Observer, Sunday 14 October 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/14/nick-cohen-nice-tories-horrible-policies
I didn’t manage to find the Hundal/Harman interview. The link above was not correct. But I did discover a punjabi popstar called Harjit Harman. I think I am going to have some fun with this… next time I meet Harriet I shall ask her how her pop career is going, and that it is wise to have another career option when NewLab goes down the tube…..I know it is cruel to wind up the humourless but it is only the feeble weapon I have, and there is little retaliation possible. But pols hate having the piss taken out of them. The internet delivers, again, in its whacky way.
“I’ve heard that there are shipbuilders who may specialise in ultra luxury, giant cruise liners, designed to be sold to groups of plutocrats; so that they can sail the deep oceans perpetually; only docking for supplies every so often, in safe ports.”
We have them already, and on land. They’re called ‘gated communities’. They have their own schools, their own shopping malls and their own police forces. I visited one near San Diego just a couple of years ago. It struck me then that they were the mathematical inversion of a prison: don’t lock the bad in, lock them out. So many parallels in history and fiction: the Dublin Pale (origin of the phrase ‘beyond the pale’) and R L Stevenson’s sly metaphor of the ‘palisade’ in ‘Treasure Island’.
@ Craig,
” working for the drone-killer President who has launched a campaign against free speech which has seen the prosecution of more whistleblowers under Obama than under all previous US presidents combined.”
Here is the deal:-
http://undisciplinedphd.com/2012/09/07/glen-ford-debates-michael-eric-dyson-on-obama/
Accept it – or – fight for freedom, truths, rights and justice.
CB
Great post Craig and Thanks for the word presstitutes, Cryptonym, so true, loved your description.
The roots of war and desolate views lie indeed in foreign occupations and strife, from centuries onward, not just the present history, such attitudes developing must have been visible for Burns before he got a hiding.
Our European equivalent is the Balkan region, again ethnically and religiously splintered. Treated with regular disdain whilst riding past, the knightly crusaders on their seasonal trips to Jerusalem first saw to it that the local breeds would become war loving tempestuous and not very pleased at those passing by, as is expressively on view in Afghanistan. Welcome to stay for a while, but not forever. Business is fine, as long as you do not squabble with their cultural heritage, rites and rituals.
This might go against our own ideas of morals, understanding of human rights, but we cannot force people to change at our pace, they need to think and find their own ways to change, the best we can expect is to advise and proclaim.
I might be unfairly bracketing Hundal with Cohen and other war-mongers and apologists, he might gasp himself at some of the deceptive delusions and distractions the mass media perpetrate in the absence of providing news and sustainably credible opinion. Complacent and with hindsight dire Guardian editorial positions haunt and taint them, still they cling pathetically to the belief that the existing party based systems of political organisation can continue, just back one or the other and excuse the ineptitude and wanton damage.
To them it doesn’t matter which one represents truth or any thing, just back one of them and play the game, hope for the best, safe that some ‘other’ will always yield enough menials and lab rat victims. A corpse of a newspaper for the vapid floating voter demographic.
Sorry to disparage liberalism and I would never ever not bow down to disabilities.
I see liberalism with the use of an eraser, although sometimes it may be best to just put a line through it.
Sunny Hundal seems to lost his grasp on consensus.
The Left (or rather, the putative Left) has been moved to the right for eleven years now rather successfully by the NeoCons. Fear is the mind-killer, and it’s been their stock-in-trade for decades. Whether they are called Birchers or White Supremacists, they have the same MO.
“If you’re looking for the guilty…”
V: Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.
Along with Mehdi Hasan, one of the most annoying voices on the supposed left operating in the UK today.
Fair do’s Craig, you are a rare thing indeed – a middle-class person who chose honesty over the money. The Hun’s only obeying orderz.
Why? Because divide and rule is the best political ruse. You stand in the shoes of colonialism in order to confuse.
I once heard an elder in the pulpit of the mosque tell a huge audience that the UK was Pharaoh and Asia the downtrodden children of Israel whom God was going replace UK power with.
The dream of subjugating the British fills 90% of Asian hearts and minds. They would use any means possible, but in the meantime getting rich and play-acting proper- UK varlues is a good enough ruse.
Why is it annoying? Because they suck up to the politics we hate while they are secretly climbing the slippery poles of power.
In a few years, like the Maoris who took the bible but lost the land to UK missionaries, powerful, atheist Asians will rule the UK, but the indigenous people of this country will have Islam. Inshallah.
Alternative to common decision-making practices
Consensus decision making is an alternative to commonly practiced adversarial decision making processes.[5] Robert’s Rules of Order, for instance, is a process used by many organizations. The goal of Robert’s Rules is to structure the debate and passage of proposals that win approval through majority vote. This process does not emphasize the goal of full agreement. Critics of Robert’s Rules believe that the process can involve adversarial debate and the formation of competing factions. These dynamics may harm group member relationships and undermine the ability of a group to cooperatively implement a contentious decision.
Consensus decision making is also an alternative to “top-down” decision making, commonly practiced in hierarchical groups. Top-down decision making occurs when leaders of a group make decisions in a way that does not include the participation of all interested stakeholders. The leaders may (or may not) gather input, but they do not open the deliberation process to the whole group. Proposals are not collaboratively developed, and full agreement is not a primary objective. Critics of top-down decision making believe the process fosters incidence of either complacency or rebellion among disempowered group members. Additionally, the resulting decisions may overlook important concerns of those directly affected. Poor group relationship dynamics and decision implementation problems may result.
Consensus decision making attempts to address the problems of both Robert’s Rules of Order and top-down models. Proponents claim that outcomes of the consensus process include:[3]
Better Decisions: Through including the input of all stakeholders the resulting proposals may better address all potential concerns.
Better Implementation: A process that includes and respects all parties, and generates as much agreement as possible sets the stage for greater cooperation in implementing the resulting decisions.
Better Group Relationships: A cooperative, collaborative group atmosphere can foster greater group cohesion and interpersonal connection.
Or in anotherway “Lickspittling.”
Craig – why is an intelligent experienced former ambassador such as yourself still wasting your time with this left right paradigm? Surely you’ve realised by now that all the so called opposing factions are working for the same people and the same institutions?
@Suhayl Saadi
Come off it mate! ‘Tony Bliar’ (GEDDIT!) might be fine on a placard at a demo but in grown-up prose it’s just juvenile. Whether it’s an ‘accurate depictor’ or not has nothing to do with it. It’s a question of good style.
In fact I would go so far as to say that the biggest impediment to the spread of the truth of Islam in this country is the silent racist ambition, entirely understandable after 250 years of being pissed on by specially trained persecutors, of Asian Muslims.