The United States has set up its first Sahelian drone base, in Niger, in order to carry on the war against “Al-Qaedah in the Islamic Maghreb”. The problem is that there is no such thing as “Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb”. The US seems to confuse Al-Qaeda with Starbucks. Al-Qaeda does not have branches everywhere, a highly organised supply chain, and transfer pricing.
It is true that long standing ethnic militias in the Maghreb have adopted the styles and terminology of radical Islam, and have tenuous and occasional links with other radical islamic leaderships. But their income and supplies come from unrelated activities – chiefly extortion and smuggling – which have been going on since before al-Qaeda existed. These groups are disparate. There is no connection between the group which took western oil workers hostage in Algeria, and the Tuareg based militias who contolled Timbuktu. Indeed the Mali islamists had a close and cooperative relationship with the Algerian security services, and in their desert wanderings before the disintegration of central authority in Mali, were frequently refuelled and resupplied inside Algeria from government depots.
As usual in Africa, the base of these problems is poverty and competition for scarce resources between competing groups, all complicated by the legacy of colonialism. Hatred of the United States has not been a strong motivator in the Maghreb. But now the United States is about to introduce the concept of weekly drone kills and collateral murders, it will be. The USA is going to create the kind of anti-American unity which does not exist at present, and yet it claims to be fighting. Which will, of course, please the politicians’ paymasters in the arms and security industries just fine.
Mary @ 2:52
Hollywood is as corporatist as you can be, IMO. The AA’s nothing more than PR for the film industry. They like the big money films, but occasionally engage their own cognitive dissonance and give an Oscar to a sleeper, usually for costumes or somesuch, to give more credibility to the contention the AA’s are about art and social mobility. They dislike controversy.
Citizen Kane, although thought to be one of the greatest films ever made, was given but one Oscar for Writing (Mankiewicz).
Orson Welles was a pariah, because the Hollywood Machine decided he was unfair to William Randolph Hearst.
Charged with not paying his TV licence, Tony Rooke had claimed at Horsham Magistrates’ Court that the BBC’s treatment of the 9/11 attacks made it complicit in acts of terrorism.
He asked to submit evidence which he said would show that the BBC had consistently failed to report the true story.
District Judge Stephen Nicholls said that, even if he accepted and agreed with the evidence, that would not give him grounds to rule that Rooke was not guilty.
He imposed a six month conditional discharge, with £200 legal costs.
Outside court, Rooke said the case had been a ‘score draw’ since the judge had looked at the evidence – albeit in private – and had decided not to fine him.
He called for anyone who has evidence which challenges the official version of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to pass it to the authorities.
The Susan Lindauer View of Al-Qaida:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT0RXep1mcM&list=UUaRuqb5t40xZ97HNFk5YIZg
Yes Ben. Pilger has written on the links. The most recent I think.
http://www.newstatesman.com/film/2010/02/pilger-iraq-oscar-american-war
This is another piece on Argo.
http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2013/02/oscar-prints-the-legend-argo.html
~~~
Thanks for that info Mark.
“to give more credibility to the contention the AA’s are about art and social mobility.”
Yup.
“A media system wants ostensible diversity that conceals an actual uniformity”
Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPZL5WTilRE
“Were would, sorry, rephrase, would there be a body such as NASA without Werner von Braun?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5JmDNpjKYc
Oh the hypocrisy …
WASHINGTON: The United States warned Pakistan against entering ‘deals with Iran that may be sanctionable’, a reference to Pak-Iran gas deal.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said during a media briefing that Pakistan had better not sign agreement with Tehran. However, she said Washington wanted to help Pakistan overcome its energy crisis.
The spokeswoman also commented on Quetta’s Saturday bombing that led to killing of over 89 people saying innocent people were being killed in bomb blasts in Pakistan.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-89113-US-urges-Pakistan-not-to-sign-deal-with-Iran
‘Wide Asleep in America’ – a great link Mary – Thank-you.
“Living is easy with eyes closed… – Misunderstanding all you see” John Lennon
Dr David Kelly – In Memoriam
“What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdfuMW-tvuc
This is the atrocious OFSTED report on Norfolk child protection services under Cllr. Alison Thomas. Some 15 years ago Norfolk got rapped over the knuckle for the Lauren Creed case, then negligence and incompetence was alleged, now this report. Norfolk Tory led council scored inadequate in all categories.
http://www.digitalnorfolk.com/webpages2/Ofsted_report_into_child_protection/20130225093007/052_Inspection%20of%20local%20authority%20arrangements%20for%20the%20protection%20of%20children%20as%20pdf.pdf
Same Ms. Thomas who is seen here in the cold, desperate for some positive news, by appealing for a bypass some say will never be built. She is known to smile to just about any news, however bad it is, maybe now she will fall on to her stiletto’s, or be removed by brand new, today elected, County council leader, huntsman Bill Borrett, Borat as he’s known.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/hope_for_long_awaited_bypass_around_long_stratton_1_1952357
This new book seems a worthwhile read….http://www.alternet.org/world/top-us-terrorist-group-fbi
“Imagine an incompetent bureaucrat. Now imagine a corrupt one. Now imagine both combined. You’re starting to get at the image I take away of some of the FBI agents’ actions recounted in this book. “
Italian politics are even more dire than this country’s. At this rate, Bliar might think he could return like his friend Silvio but I guess the money making is more important for him now.
‘According to early figures, Pier Luigi Bersani’s centre-left bloc is poised to take the lower house while Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right appears to be leading in the powerful Senate.
A protest movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo has surged into third.’
Italy election: Early vote count points to impasse
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21574116
Nevermind. Definitely a fixation. A sickness too and playground bullying.
Ref your County Councillor Thomas. Why does she put this entry about her husband’s job in ‘her’ register of interests? http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/view/ncc080786
Who are Marsh Ltd?
Mark Golding’s posts remain a refined and impressive mix of misguided rant, illogical conspiracy, straw-men, hypocrisy, and out and out irrational idiocy.
However, what truly sets them apart from others of their ilk, is the consistent ability and willingness to (mis)use ‘children of conflict'(TM), to lend credence to somewhat stale arguments and make cheap political points on a blog.
Sir, I salute you and your indefatigability.
Nevermind – your MP tells you that Julian Assange faces ‘serious charges’ in Sweden – perhaps you could get back to the Honourable Member and remind him that Julian Assange is wanted for questioning – he is not facing any charges.
“Nevermind – your MP tells you that Julian Assange faces ‘serious charges’ in Sweden – perhaps you could get back to the Honourable Member and remind him that Julian Assange is wanted for questioning – he is not facing any charges.”
Unlike Henry Kissinger who has an international arrest warrant out on him and is wanted in France, Spain, Chile and Argentina.
“Mark Golding’s posts remain a refined and impressive mix of misguided rant, illogical conspiracy, straw-men, hypocrisy, and out and out irrational idiocy”
Source? If none, please elaborate.
Adriana, 7.21pm
to Nevermind:
“perhaps you could get back to the Honourable Member and remind him that Julian Assange is wanted for questioning – he is not facing any charges”
Agreed. And, also from Nevermind’s 12.45pm post quoting his MP Richard Bacon:
“Under our law, with Mr. Assange having exhausted all options of appeal, the British authorities are under a binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden. We must carry out that obligation and the Government fully intends to do so. The Government will not allow Mr. Assange safe passage out of the UK, nor is there any legal basis for them to do so. No one should be in any doubt that the Government is determined to carry out its legal obligations to see Mr. Assange extradited to Sweden…”
Perhaps you could use this link Nevermind to let him know that actually the UK is breaking international law by refusing safe passage to Assange.
http://justice4assange.com/extraditing-assange.html#SWEDENVETO2
It goes into considerable detail about how the principle of non-refoulment in asylum law trumps extradition law every time (obviously, as any idiot with half a brain can see that’s the only logical way asylum law could work at all). It quotes the 16 international treaties Ecuador used as the basis for its grant of asylum to Assange, all of which the UK is subverting by refusing safe passage.
I salute you CE – I touched a raw nerve then?
The principle of non-refoulment applies to “true victims of persecution”.
Assange is not a victim of persecution.
@ Kempe, 11.04pm
Best let the government of Ecuador know your opinion then, Kempe. They spent two months studying huge quantities of evidence and legal advice and came to the conclusion that Assange was at risk of extreme political persecution. Pity they didn’t have the benefit of your opinion, they’d have finished their deliberations much sooner.
‘Assange is not a victim of persecution”
When prosecutorial misconduct, as occurred with Aaron Scwarz, extends the reach of the government animus toward political enemies, it could be argued it is persecution.
Aside from that nibbling at semantics, there’s this……..
“While not a treaty itself, the Declaration was explicitly adopted for the purpose of defining the meaning of the words “fundamental freedoms” and “human rights” appearing in the United Nations Charter, which is binding on all member states. For this reason the Universal Declaration is a fundamental constitutive document of the United Nations. Many international lawyers,[who?] in addition, believe that the Declaration forms part of customary international law[19] and is a powerful tool in applying diplomatic and moral pressure to governments that violate any of its articles. The 1968 United Nations International Conference on Human Rights advised that it “constitutes an obligation for the members of the international community” to all persons. The declaration has served as the foundation for two binding UN human rights covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the principles of the Declaration are elaborated in international treaties such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and many more. The Declaration continues to be widely cited by governments, academics, advocates and constitutional courts and individual human beings who appeal to its principles for the protection of their recognised human rights.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_asylum
The threat, based on past behavior of the US, against human rights, makes the political asylum issue a cogent one. We cannot certify that the UK and US/Sweden would conspire to extradite,but the threat is sufficient cause to be suspicious.
Another Century-sentence example of prosecutorial misconduct.
http://whowhatwhy.com/2013/02/21/the-saga-of-barrett-brown/
CE: If you expect to get a rise out of Mark Golding, you’ll have to do quite a bit better than that.
The Starbucks View of Al-Qaida (cont.)
The BBC view of Al-Qaida:
Loose labelling culled from the last 3 years of their archive:
I agree with Fred’s take on this. It’s actually a view that’s not a very controversial one given that independent studies from Harvard and elsewhere confirm that the use of Drones is a proven counter-productive strategy – at least in terms of increasing the likelihood of terrorist ‘blowback’.
However, the salient point, as alluded to by Fred, is that such a strategy is clearly not regarded by the US establishment as being counter-productive in terms of furthering its medium to long-term geopolitical and economic strategic interests.
Moreover, as Craig correctly stated, such a strategy also serves the interests of the industrial-military complex very well too.
Have you noticed since its inception just how many spellings abound of aL-Qaeda?
Im not having a cheap shot at basic typos here,i’m trying to make a serious point.
Even in Craig’s opening paragraph on this blog he has 3 different spellings.
And its the same in the MSM.
This alone was one of the very first indicators,for me, that the War On Terror was a crock of shit.They couldn’t even agree on the spelling of supposedly vast spectral enemy.
Nobody ever mis-spelled the Nazis or Vietnam or the Soviets..
It’s a load of shit,and has been from the start,this so called War On Terror.
Jives, of course you are right to say that the so-called ‘War On Terror’ is a farce. As I alluded to above, the obvious aim of the US imperialist class is to prolong conflict indefinetely. Greenwald has made this precise point in a recent article.
The US elites actually made their intentions clear in this regard as long ago as 1997 with the release of the PNAC policy document, the strategy of which is being continued under Obama.
As Pilger succinctly put it, ‘the US war IS the terror’. 9-11 provided the excuse to expand this terror.
Jives How about Alki Ada? That invention expresses the whole fiction.
~~~
I have been listening to a World Service programme about the ongoing atrocities in Sri Lanka. Capture and torture of Tamil opposition members, rape and assault and so on are well documented by Human Rights Watch. I was thinking the while about Liam Fox and Werritty’s frequent visits to the country and what part they played in facilitating arms supplies to Mahinda Rajapaksa’s so called Freedom party.
Unbelievably, the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference is scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in November. Will Mrs Windsor be attending so soon after the bloodbath where supersonic jets bombed civilians gsthered in the open or on beaches?
Fox’s connections to Sri Lanka date from the 90s and his and Werritty’s involvement in thst country’s affairs is well documented in this Guardian article.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/13/adam-werritty-liam-fox-sri-lanka
and
Sri Lanka asks UN rights body to block screening of British film on alleged war crimes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/sri-lanka-asks-un-rights-body-to-block-screening-of-british-film-on-alleged-war-crimes/2013/02/25/28244880-7f64-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story.html
Yes this too
Sri Lanka has a close relationship with Israel, and its military is a major user of Israeli weapons systems that include the IAI Kfir Fighter Jet, the Super Dvora Mk III class Patrol Vessel, and the Gabriel missile. In May 2011, the Israeli Minister of Agriculture visited Sri Lanka with an agro-business delegation to promote cooperation between the two countries.
from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Sri_Lanka
Litvinenko inquest: Government makes secrecy request
Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in 2006 after meeting Russian contacts
A coroner is to hear an application by the government to keep some information secret at the forthcoming inquest into the death of Alexander Litvinenko.
The former Russian security service officer was poisoned by radioactive polonium in London in 2006.
Tuesday’s hearing will consider an application for a broad Public Interest Immunity (PII) certificate.
It is expected to be opposed by lawyers for Mr Litvinenko’s widow as well as media organisations, including the BBC.
The PII certificate would exclude some information from the inquest when it opens later this year.
They are usually issued on the grounds of national security.
At an earlier pre-inquest hearing the lawyer for Mr Litvinenko’s widow said the Russian had been a paid agent of MI6 and argued the inquest should examine the secret service’s relationship with him.
Sir Robert Owen, a judge acting as the coroner, has said he would examine what was known of threats to Mr Litvinenko’s life and also whether the Russian state was responsible for his death.
He has also agreed that a group representing Russian state prosecutors can be accepted as a party to the inquest process.
A legal review, ahead of the inquest, has heard that Mr Litvinenko was working alongside Spanish spies for MI6 in the days before his death.
British government documents that implied Russia was behind the 43-year old’s murder were also revealed.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21583528
@A Node
Great list!