The Oxford Union has dubbed fake applause onto the videos of John Bolton’s address to the Union. It has not done this for any other speaker.
If you listen to these videos of Bolton itching for war with Iran, you can hear precisely the same burst of ultra enthusiastic applause at the start, fading “naturally” as he begins to speak.
This dubbing in of applause is not used for any other speaker on the Oxford Union website, either before or after Bolton.
Everyone else just gets the actual applause that really existed.
Contrast the presentation of these question answers from Bolton with this from Julian Assange:
One futher interesting feature of the Bolton video is that the students asking questions – who were mostly hostile – are all edited out in favour of fake applause.
I was involved in heated negotiations with the Oxford Union on the transmission of Assange’s address, against attempts not by the students but by the Board of Trustees to block it “on legal grounds”. These conversations were not pleasant. When Assange’s address was finally put out, the sound was completely messed up and remained so for a fortnight, with this comment from the Oxford Union posted underneath:
“
Thanks for your feedback. We are aware there are issues with the audio when playing on mobile devices and we are working on getting this fixed as quickly as possible. The audio can be heard on desktops or with headphones on laptops.
”
I am therefore fascinated by the skill with which the Oxford Union have merged the dying of the fake applause over the start of Bolton’s speaking, when they were technically incapable of a simple straight sound feed of the Assange address.
Bolton is not only banging the drum for neo-con war, he is a war criminal with a direct role in launching the illegal role of aggression in Iraq. His address to the Union was the day before Assange’s speech to the Sam Adams Award at the same venue. Yet not a single one of the students who demonstrated against Assange demonstrated against Bolton.
To take the issue of rape, which was ostensibly the subject of the protest, Bolton’s Iraq War directly caused innumerable rapes. Nobody can know the exact figure, but certainly tens of thousands of rapes, and very many of them were fatal or had the most devastating consequences for the women who suffered. Read this excellent article
Rape is a common weapon of any war; no one knows how many Iraqi women have been raped since the war began in 2003. Most crimes against women “are not reported because of stigma, fear of retaliation, or lack of confidence in the police,” MADRE, an international women’s rights group, wrote in its 2007 report about violence against women in Iraq. Some women, like Khalida, are raped by Iraqi security forces. A 2005 report published by the Iraqi National Association for Human Rights found that women held in Interior Ministry detention centers endure “systematic rape by the investigators.”
They did not demonstrate against Bolton because the mainstream media and establishment have whipped up no hysteria about him. But they were directed to outrage against Assange, a man who has done a great deal to expose war crimes and try to prevent war, because the mainstream media and establishment pushed the useful idiots in that direction with some extraordinarily unconvincing accusations.
I said most of this IN my owN speech to the Sam Adams awards. Strangely the Oxford Union have not posted that speech at all…..
UPDATE
With thanks to Herbie, there is a history of Bolton and false applause. Perhaps this is insisted upon by his minders – who presumably know he doesn’t get real applause outside the Republican Party!
General note to all:
I only came to this site as a result of being interested in Uzbekistan (I have little interest in British politics): I had no idea you were all far left extremists, so when I say “we” it usually means “the West, the Establishment, the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties” but not including all you whichever party you all belong to. I presume I am a neo-Con in your parlance whatever that is. I don’t mean to include all of you when I say “we”, but I think I dislike the vocabulary you want to handicap me with: I don’t want to refer to the Establishment as the neo-Con Establishment: I’ll just stick to “we” if you don’t mind because it is more neutral, but I don’t mean to offend by appearing to include you all.
@Fred
“The country with the largest gas reserves, Russia, has nuclear power stations.”
Accepted. But USA and Russia both produce nuclear weapons and export reactors but Iran does neither of these things (USA and Russia therefore derive extra benefits from having nuclear power stations?). Okay, having large gas reserves on its own and wanting nuclear power is not evidence of malign intent, but it is still something to be suspicious about, in my view. I accept having diversity in the sources of energy supply is of itself a prudent thing though. I concede defeat on your point.
@MJ
“The most startling contradiction is in that sentence.”
I don’t understand your point. If America can land a craft on Mars and navigate it from earth, surely they can remotely land something to take soil samples from Parchin clandestinely. I am sure Iran’s nuclear activities are scrutinised both officially and unofficially, but why is it so many questions remain unanswered? That is the contradiction I find so startling. The Iranians do not appear to want to operate their nuclear enrichment programme in a transparent way such that we can be certain they are not diverting any uranium for making nuclear weapons. There is a problem generally with them lying (the problem is not unique to Iran), and it is not that we don’t lie either, but on a spectrum of “lying frequency” Iran is some distance away from the UK in the wrong direction, and it isn’t always a problem: it is just something to be aware of perhaps. Anyone who has been there knows that, and it is not a reason to dislike them: it is just a reason to be a little circumspect some times. They tell you any old crap some times just to be polite, including misdirecting you rather than admitting they don’t know where you are trying to get to.
“Let’s invade USA and Japan” [because they have earthquakes]
I disagree: the safety concerns about having a nuclear power station in Iran are important. Their attitude to safety some times amounts to “it is God’s will”. The earthquake in Bam was serious. The cynical might wonder if the location of houses around the Bushehr plant was to deter attack. Let’s hope they don’t have a Chernobyl in Bushehr. Iran does have mountain ranges, so it would be unsurprising if they didn’t also have some hydroelectric power. No, I don’t think it is a suitable country to have nuclear power stations, but I guess the safety aspect has to be balanced against the concern you raise of making the gas supplies last longer. On balance they are probably better off without any nuclear power stations in my view, but if they were interested in acquiring a nuclear weapon surreptitiously, they wouldn’t give a toss about safety.
“You’ve got to start somewhere. Where’s your sense of enterprise? Iran probably wants to muscle into the very market you describe.”
This is the worst argument in my view. Iran wishing to do its own enrichment is the equivalent of building a massive factory to turn out 100 Concorde passenger jets and then only ever producing one passenger jet from the factory. If you only want one passenger jet you save yourself the cost of building the factory by just importing the jet from someone who already has the factory to make it. It is a grotesque extravagance to spend all that money on Fordow and Natanz and to then only produce piddly amounts for making medical isotopes. This is how Iran wants to project power: they want the world to know they know how to make a nuclear bomb any time they feel like it and that there is nothing the world can do to stop them, if they choose to go ahead. That alone will allow them to bully their Arab neighbours (just like the bully their dissidents), and it will provoke a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. That is why we (sorry, but you know what I mean) must be prepared to use force to stop them. I do understand the stupidity of trying to bomb knowledge, so that is not something I see any point in doing, but stopping them from riding a coach and horses through the IAEA compliance requirements does matter as far as I am concerned. Just my view.
Habeas Corpus
“The Oxford Union was a busted flush when I was up, trading on its past glories; its officers got themselves elected for career reasons”
Yes, that is precisely why I do care about what the president of the Oxford Union thinks. I ask myself the question in what possible career could it be thought to be a bonus not to boycott one of the most deadly and active post 9/11 neo-cons repeating the rhetoric of the Afghan and Iraq campaigns?
Craig says she made a courageous decision in complying with her political superiors in the Oxford Union and supporting the invitation to Julian Assange. To this day Craig has maintained that 9/11 was executed by Muslim terrorists and he also believes that Julian Assange, coming from the second home of international Jewry in the whole world, Australia, is a genuine whistle-blower.
the mere fact that Assange has pretensions to stand for election in Australia should raise questions about his real affiliations because it is a well-known fact, only denied by the diplomatic community that Zionism controls the whole world’s elections. What I see is a conspiracy of that diplomatic community to feed us common people a cleaner than clean version of participants in world political affairs.
I don’t buy any of it for one second. As I said above, you cannot even see the lampposts in the smog of subterfuge. The power of the supermarkets keep the price of meat down and block the controls that let horsemeat into the food-chain. Zionism controls world politics and organises the riderless horses like Assange to clutter the field.
Craig I realize that, in order to have a debate, speakers for and against a motion are required, but there are far too many neocons,’paleocons’ and warmongers in the lists for my liking. Even one of the creators of the PNAC, Richard Perle is included.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm
Hope you enjoy the party. President Correa is ahead in the polls. http://www.cool-smileys.com/images/65.gif
‘Opinion polls suggest Rafael Correa is heading towards a comfortable victory’ say the BBC although they attempt to take the gloss off by adding ‘But critics accuse him of being a dictator in the making.’.
Karimova
How about Britain, America and Israel let’s Iran inspect their nuclear sites?
They know what happened in Iraq, UN inspectors were actually CIA spies gathering intelligence for an invasion that was coming anyway despite the fact Iraq didn’t have any WMDs.
Iran would be stupid to let American agents into their nuclear facilities because America has shown time after time that they can not be trusted.
@Fred
“How about Britain, America and Israel let’s Iran inspect their nuclear sites?”
Fred, You’ve got to be kidding: Britain, America and Israel are relatively open societies. People in Iran suffer terrible interference in their lives from higher up officialdom. They really have to mind their Ps and Qs, otherwise you end up being tortured in Evin. A lot of the hangings are not for what the sentence was that was passed. The courts are not independent: quite similar to Uzbekistan in that respect – and of course both countries take hostages to advance their demands. Iran can’t even obey the Vienna Convention on Diplomats let alone be trusted on anything else. The hypocrisy of the regime is diabolical: few Brits can have any idea how bad it is. Have to stop now.
@Fred
Continued…
The Iranian ambassador’s hi five and his claim he didn’t touch hands is in contrast to the way brutal thugs beat up women demonstrators in the street. Some films that are uploaded from mobile phones in Iran are so vile they have to be removed in case anyone seeing them needs psychiatric counselling. I appreciate here that most people have such a left wing view that any country like Iran that is an enemy of America must be good, but I’d urge anyone who thinks like that to seriously think again. I have to leave it there.
OXFORD UNION – ‘UK TRAITORS IN TRAINING’ ?
This tiny incident of dubbing applause onto Neo-Con Nazi ‘Bonkers’ Bolton speaking (incoherently and incompetently – No change there, then!) is actually a useful teaching example. No, Really! ; ).
How are Britain’s future leaders are selected? From Oxbridge, naturally, the most talented – read devious / unscrupulous / fawning on US Empire goals – are selected by false-front U.S. foundations for trips to the U.S. where they can be evaluated by U.S. intelligence agencies. (In addition to the C.I.A. there are (at least ; ) ) 15 more of the buggers – DIA, NSA, and now DOD!, etc, etc)
As Craig Murray showed in the Werrity Affair, these false-front foundations are used by ‘Deep Politics’ groups – U.S. Neo-Cons (Nazis!), Jewish Nazis (Gilad Atzmon’s term) and UK traitors – to foment war. Now against Iran.
Previously, presumably, against first Afghanistan, then Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria, Mali, on and on and on.
Werritty Affair – Craig Murray –
– http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/?s=werritty
– Robin Ramsay at Lobster magazine provides chapter and verse that the UK has been in the US’s pocket since Suez. See ‘Who were they traveling with?’ by Tom Easton, from Lobster #31 –
– http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/l31whowh.htm
Ramsay further reports that these Atlantic Bridge false-front foundations are US trolling bait for UK traitors. Oops, our bad, ‘Up and coming UK politicians.’ – ‘Unperson – A life destroyed’ – Denis Lehane – page 209, issue 59 –
– http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/free/lobster59/lobster59.pdf
Blair, Brown, Mandelson (cited in another issue) and others all took the freebie trips, but did they also take the US shilling? – Issue #60, page 90 –
– http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/issue60.php
Remarkably detailed very recent interview with Julian Assange, covering a lot of stuff we don’t usually hear about.
This really exposes the Guardian crap for what it is.
Another case where fake applause not needed.
https://theconversation.edu.au/lunch-and-dinner-with-julian-assange-in-prison-12234
Far left, far right, no just good old liberal do good`rs.
How simple it would be if we all strive to “do good”
How it is though presently most counter politics is reactionary
So where ever your view point having achieved a position reactionary politics is a step backwards.
From where I sit to see any politics take credible steps forward would be a time to rejoice and sit back and focus on important things.
Human nature is really under the microscope and it needn`t be.
Karimova
And things were better under the Shah we imposed on them after overthrowing their democratically elected government how?
OXFORD UNION – ‘UK TRAITORS IN TRAINING’ ? – 2
If, as Tony Benn, Robin Ramsay and Peter Dale Scott say, Britain is a subject nation of the U.S. Empire, then its leaders would be carrying out U.S. Empire policies that benefit the U.S. Empire and not Britain. Are they? North Sea oil? The railway and NHS privatisations? The City?
The City has been categorised by those who should know as the money-laundering centre of the world – for the drug trafficking and other crimes (LIBOR for one) carried out by unaccountable – and apparently untouchable – ‘Deep Politics’ groups that are the power of the 1%.
Robin Ramsay in Lobster magazine has a long essay that points out that all the British economic ‘cock-ups’ related to the City curiously _always_ result in offshore finance trousering the money. Ditto North Sea oil, natch! “What a coincidence!” “Shocked, Shocked to find that gambling is going on!” ; )
It’s plain as a pikestaff to any open-minded observer – this observer, anyway – that Britain has been utterly stitched up by the US Empire ever since Tony Benn failed to get a UK National wealth fund for North Sea oil. Unlike Norway. Robin Ramsay says ‘since Suez.’ ; )
“What do you think ‘Bonkers’ Bolton / US Empire (Neo-Con?) Nazi war criminals / Oxford Union ‘UK traitors in training’ are?” ; ) (ER, Spies? Ed.) – *** Crank the volume, it’s too low *** –
– The Spy Who Came In From The Cold –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNrjAMV0HJk#t=01m28s
Surfing by from California — just wanted to chime in with an American comment: I can’t stand John Bolton and I can’t watch John Bolton, so nope, I’m not transcribing him either. Will leave that for someone who supports him. Let me know when.
In contrast, here’s my transcript of Julian Assange’s Oxford Union address:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2013/01/amelia-hill-is-a-dirty-liar/#comment-391372
Best wishes
“From where I sit to see any politics take credible steps forward would be a time to rejoice and sit back and focus on important things.”
Jay; I’ve said something similar. Correct me if I misunderstand, but the effort to undercut opinions one disagrees with seems to focus on the personality and the requisite chinks in the human armor.
Of course, many times this is intentional misdirection, as the antagonist has no substantive argument to offer. Attacking the messenger probably has it’s origins in Cambrian mud, and that is not a sufficient reason to continue, but some cling to the notion that the human brain exists primarily to make excuses for what we have already decided. That is far from forward motion. It is regressive. But the knee-jerk responses have two general directions; staying where we are, which is really going backward; or moving ahead, which is progressive.
If people think they can stop the tide from rolling in by cursing at the grunions, there’s is probably nothing you can do to educate as to the facts, but you don’t have to give them air by addressing their fool’s errand.
‘BONKERS’ BOLTON AND ‘DEEP POLITICS’
‘Bonkers’ Bolton an incompetent failure as a frontman for the US Empire Neo-Con Nazis – a US Empire ‘Deep Politics’ group. Bush likewise incompetent, which is why they used Tony Bliar – “the minstrel, the herald, for this inarticulate and, to my mind, completely mistaken attack on Iraq,” – John le Carre, below @ 6.40
“Under Thatcher whose influence upon my country I detest….” @ 4.50. “We in old Europe know about war and we don’t want anymore war. We hate war. The United States, alas, has still to interpret politics in military terms and that’s a catastrophe.” @6.00. Bliar – the minstrel, the heral @ 6.40 – John le Carre –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eukzmGPDHJE#t=04m50s
Q. Why is there a war on terror?
A. “Because the US has not learned how to hold itself together without an external enemy.” “What you have to do – ask Karl Rove – is make sure that people are frightened.” !!! – @3.36 –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGhNVmZlGyo#t=03m36s
“These days it’s very hard to buy, or to read, uninfluenced, unbought, opinion. Whether in the press, in politics, on radio, on television. Increasingly people are afraid of offending against the corporate or the collective voice.” Which doesn’t even start to consider the (im)pure propaganda organs (like the Grauniad and Monbiot and oh so many more!? See Operation Mockingbird! ; ) Ed). –
– Part 3 – @ 7.18
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eukzmGPDHJE#t=07m18s
What are ‘deep politics’ and ‘parapolitics’? Peter Dale Scott’s definitions – @ 0:20. ‘Deep politics’ @ 0:40. ‘Parapolitics’ @ 1:00 –
– 29th July 2012 – Deep Politics Intro by ‘ComingtoJakarta – Youtube –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A5cNiiMRng
Tony Benn wipes the floor with Neo-Con Nazi ‘Bonkers’ Bolton. Because it’s a please to watch again. And again and again. : ) –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YsJhLqgKHY#t=03m58s
David Ward MP is still being hounded. He has to meet his party’s Chief Whip Carmichael and Clegg this week.
http://johnhilley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/david-ward-taking-words-and-meaning-in.html
On 16th January, 2012 at a meeting in London with Abbas and before criticizing the Israeli settlement building, Clegg said ‘I’d like to be clear: there is no stronger supporter of Israel than myself as a beacon of democracy in the region and as a country with so much to contribute to the region and the world.’
That quote was taken from a blog written by a LibDem candidate at the last election.
From his archive of last month’s posts, you can gauge his viewpoint on David Ward. http://matthewfharris.blogspot.co.uk/2013_01_01_archive.html
Karimova,
Thanks, excellent posts,
but I fear you are, as we like to say, pissing in the wind to be expecting the rump of the British hard left on this blog to have a modicum of self-awareness when it comes to their knee-jerk anti-americanism.
I concur that this is now their raison d’etre, it can seem like there is practically no progressive principle that they are not prepared to sacrifice at this altar of illogical hatred.
I have yet to see anyone argue that the US is perfect, but to even begin comparing it to Iran shows a profound ignorance of reality and basic freedoms in both countries.
“excellent posts”
Good Lord.
“but to even begin comparing it [the US] to Iran shows a profound ignorance of reality and basic freedoms in both countries”
We were discussing transparency in nuclear research as it relates to international protocols like the NPL. Do keep up.
Herbie
17 Feb, 2013 – 1:44 pm
I don’t have a problem with Oxford Union hosting a debate like: “This house believes Israel is a force for good in the Middle East”
The title made me laugh but freedom of speech needs to be protected even if you disagree with the speakers.
I just wonder if the University would contemplate a debate titled: “This house believes Iran is a force for good in the Middle East.
KarimovaRevengeFantasist
17 Feb, 2013 – 6:18 pm
“There is a problem generally with them [Iran] lying (the problem is not unique to Iran), and it is not that we don’t lie either, but on a spectrum of “lying frequency” Iran is some distance away from the UK in the wrong direction, and it isn’t always a problem: it is just something to be aware of perhaps.”
You keep repeating that Iran is lying [more than other countries] but you offer no examples or references. Why not?
“…but stopping them from riding a coach and horses through the IAEA compliance requirements does matter as far as I am concerned.”
Why do you not criticize India and Israel for “riding a coach and horses through the IAEA compliance requirements?”
CE
We the “rump of the British hard left” are emboldened by the fact that we predicted the banking theft that Mrs Thatcher said wouldn’t happen and which has brought the whole world to its knees. Thatcher took her ideas from the US, so our objections to the US are real, not mere prejudice.
We the “rump of the British hard left” remain the vanguard of responsible foresight, because instead of being bought out by Thatcherism and kindly shutting up and doing what we were told, have been proved correct in opposing US neo-crap from the first.
No, it’s no good saying things are different now, it’ll work this time. No more doses of the same old strichnine. No more US crap, slowly increasing the debts of the West to trilluions more dollars and pounds. No. We were right. You were wrong. Get used to it. The Liberal party will be lynched for bringing back these wrong headed Thatcherites. The Thatcherites will be lynched for giving the final blow to the NHS, Education and Benefits. New Labour will be lynched for all these aggressive wars against Islam. That leaves what you call the “rump of the British hard left” which remains the only people who understand what has gone wrong and how to put it right again.
OXFORD UNION – ‘UK TRAITORS IN TRAINING’ ? – 3
Where are Britain and Norway now?
Britain’s North Sea oil is nearly gone and the money has been trousered by unaccountable offshore entities. The City is kaput since 2008, say Jim Rogers and Marc Faber, via youtube. Norway is the most prosperous country in Europe and has a large national oil wealth fund for future generations. They plan to spend the interest but hold the capital for future generations.
Their only problem is when the try to hold the Jewish Nazis (Gilad Atzmon’s term) to account over Gaza and are on the receiving end of a US Empire ‘Deep Event’. In their case the massacre of 70 or so children of their political elite. Operation Gladio again – the US Empire blowing up Europeans, blaming the left, carried out by the right. No change there, then! See Norway’s Massacre, Breivik and ‘Deep Events’ by Peter Dale Scott at PDS’s politics page, link below. But we digress. ; )
– Norway’s oIl wealth @ 1.50 – Michael Moore – Sicko –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svSUCbClg8E
Peter Dale Scott –
– http://www.peterdalescott.net/q.html
The City – “Well How Did We Get Here?” – pages 64 – 105 – pdf – by Robin Ramsay, Winter 2010 – UK Lobster –
– http://tinyurl.com/9zvaosh
OR search yourself – Peter Dale Scott’s articles recommended – Very highly! ; ) –
– http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/
Gladio –
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio
KarimovaRevengeFantasist
17 Feb, 2013 – 7:14 pm
There are posters to this blog that simply make assertions without any references or examples to back up their claims. You are one of them. Let’s have some intellectual rigour.
“People in Iran suffer terrible interference in their lives from higher up officialdom.” [Examples pleas]
“They really have to mind their Ps and Qs, [sic] otherwise you end up being tortured in Evin” Examples please]
”A lot of the hangings are not for what the sentence was that was passed.”[sic] [Examples please]
“The courts are not independent:” [justify that comment]
“…quite similar to Uzbekistan in that respect…”[again justify that statement]
”…and of course both countries take hostages to advance their demands.”[Examples please]
“Iran can’t even obey the Vienna Convention on Diplomats let alone be trusted on anything else.” [Vienna Convention references please].
“I have yet to see anyone argue that the US is perfect, but to even begin comparing it to Iran shows a profound ignorance of reality and basic freedoms in both countries.”
Let’s see how they compare anyway.
America has dropped bombs on twenty seven countries since WWII. That’s around a third of the population of the world that has had their country bombed by America.
How many countries has Iran dropped bombs on?
Doug
I don’t have a problem with them hosting any debate they like.
As ought to be obvious from my post, I was saying that motion hadn’t a hope in hell of winning.
But the issue of free speech is more complex. There are corporate and institutional pressures which attempt to create an impression that speech is free. Often it isn’t at all and we need to expose that.
I’m ultra liberal on free speech, but I think it’s fair enough to give time-wasters a miss. In a way they’re enemies of free speech too, in that they seek to pervert the free flow of discourse.
@Fred
“And things were better under the Shah we imposed on them after overthrowing their democratically elected government how?”
I don’t know how things would have been under Mossadegh. However, I can tell you about things under the Shah. Economic growth was fantastic (but maybe a bit uneven). Human rights were not always respected: the Savak did torture some people, but the levels of abuse and torture were simply as nothing compared with the post revolutionary period. I suppose you can argue the revolution would not have happened if Mossadegh had remained in power. I don’t know. The Shah was very progressive and modern: Farah Diba, his wife (the Empress!) even bought a Jackson Pollock (now owned by the Islamic Republic) and it has turned out to be a fantastic investment (She either had good taste or she was well advised). (They both spoke very good French and English as well as Persian of course). One problem was how the rural people felt when they came to the big city: I wonder if there was a clash of cultures (or of class?). Some urbanites wanted to live life as if they were in California while rural dwellers who came to the big city for work still had very traditional ways. There seemed to be two middle classes in Teheran (traditional owners of shops in the bazaar(well to-do unwesternised types) and then a more Westernised type, usually with a career job who would speak English and maybe drink beer or vodka). Mullah types and more traditional people would probably smoke opium instead. (Yes, it is funny how Iran executes drug smugglers – I have my doubts if some of them aren’t really dissidents). It seems to me the problem of making rural Iranians (with more traditional dress habits and who have parents arrange their marriages for them) feel more comfortable in Iran has been partly solved by forcing the wayward more Westernised urban middle class types to behave more like the former. This has probably contributed to Iran having a massive brain drain (although that could also be due the economic situation too). The Westernised middle class resent not being able to date girls and chat freely in coffee shops (coffee shops in Teheran now have cameras to ensure unrelated people of opposite sex don’t meet – check the story of the Cafe Prague in Teheran: recently closed down because it refused to spy on its customers). If the mullahs are ever overthrown, the original problem the Shah had will still be there: maybe the rural people need help adapting and maybe city dwellers need to be more mindful of the rural types. I don’t know what the answer is. I suppose under Mossadegh, eoonomic progress would have been slower, and maybe the revolution would not have happened. The corruption levels would probably have been the same though. I sunbathed on the roof of a building during the Jaleh Square massacre, but even an opponent of the Shah (Dr Abbas Milani) who was jailed by him thinks the Shah didn’t use enough force (more than 100 demonstrators died that afternoon according to the Shah’s censored press). Of course the deaths in the Iranian revolution were probably as nothing compared with Syria today. Also they were nothing compared with all the executions that have happened since in Iran. The psychological damage the regime has caused can’t be insignificant: some people in Iran who have watched public hangings or who have been tortured, etc. are not going to suddenly become nice Westminster style democrats respecting their opponents’ arguments. Unless they get psychological help they will surely self-administer help (take revenge). The nuclear talks in Kazakhstan look likely to fail. Whatever sets off the downfall of the mullahs, I’d be surprised if there was a peaceful transition to a Westminster style democracy. Got to leave it there.
US EMPIRE ‘POLITICAL PEDOPHILE GROOMING’
> rump of the British hard left
LEFT, RIGHT, FURTHER RIGHT AND BONKERS RIGHT – THE US
The US has one property party with two right wings, says Gore Vidal.
Outside the US the terms left and right have generally agreed meanings. Inside the US that meaning has been deliberately skewed.
Europe has Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyites and Maoists on the (far) left. It has Socialists on the left. It has Labour just left of the middle. It has Social-Democrats in the middle. Then Christian Democrats on the right. It has Conservatives on the (far) right. Then there are the (US) Democrats and Republicans on the (very far) right. And Margaret Thatcher. Mussolini is just beside her with ‘her greatest achievement’ – Tony Bliar’s New Labour.
Adolf Hitler is lined up right beside (HA!) the Neo-Cons. Just east of Mussolini and Margaret Thatcher. The (ultra-far) right.
Notice where the Democrats and Republicans are. Six inches apart and off the scale for any hope of governing, were they in Europe. They would be right beside Jean-Marie Le Pen in France and Jorg Haider in Austria; would be fascists.
Why would you care, you say? Imagine that you grew up and were ‘educated’ to believe that between the Democrats and Republicans is the ‘middle ground’. You would have no clue that you had been steered to regard the far right as ‘moderate’ and ‘normal.’ Consider that ‘education’ the Neo-Con Nazi political pedophile grooming of children – namely YOU.
To a European, this is self-evident. As obvious as night and day. But in the US – as rare as hen’s teeth.
TORTURE – NOW A US REICH-WING FAMILY VALUE
US – Addams Family Values – “Don’t torture yourself Gomez. That’s my job!” –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUBCvK39Vzo#t=00m48s
“Let’s have some intellectual rigour” wrote “Doug Scorgie”.
Coming from him, that’s more than a trifle rich.
PS – hey Dougie, you recently accused me of having an agenda. I asked you to tell me what you thought it was. Of course you remained silent.
PPS – have you got off your backside yet and found the passages in those political memoirs and accounts referring to the use of behavorial pyschologists by political parties?
******
La vita è bella, life is good!
“To a European, this is self-evident. As obvious as night and day. But in the US – as rare as hen’s teeth.”
Too many teeth in that argument. Torture is not accepted, but remote warfare is the balm of Gilead for those tired of seeing coffins returning home. The Public supports drones because of the antiseptics, but they don’t approve of killing citizens. The electorate is lazy and proffers their allegiance to those who can exempt them from day-to-day bizness of keeping them safe. That fact makes them similar to other national citizenry who only concern themselves with the narcissism of detachment; that is, the daily congress of living their lives without fear, I don’t think your National segregation of principled living has any congress within or without the national borders of the US.
Richard – more specific link: http://archive.org/details/cus_2008-01-21_speaker_craig-murray
Craig – is Oxford Union going to post your speech at Sam Adams Awards? Maybe I missed it.
US EMPIRE ‘POLITICAL PEDOPHILE GROOMING’ – 2
TORTURE – NOW A US REICH-WING FAMILY VALUE
US Empire (Neo-Con?) Nazism made mainstream by ‘Biggus Dickus,’ (of Wome on the Potomac) — Big Oil tool and US Torture promoter – brought to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Aden, Syria, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Poland, Lithuania and many, many more —
– “You lucky bastard” – Monty Python – Life of Brian –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EI7p2p1QJI#t=00m34s
EUROPE
Where then is sane? Europe – A progressive land of milk and honey, where the crazy right wing is ‘Norwegian conservative guy’ @ 1.20. Excepting US Empire Neo-Con Nazi Quisling ‘Bonkers’ Breivik, naturally. (*) –
– From Michael Moore’s Sicko –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svSUCbClg8E
(*) ‘Norway’s Terror as Systemic Destabilization: Breivik, the Arms-for-Drugs Milieu, and Global Shadow Elites,’ by Peter Dale Scott, 22nd August, 2012 – Japan Focus –
– http://japanfocus.org/-Peter_Dale-Scott/3590
Peter Dale Scott –
– http://www.peterdalescott.net/q.html