I avoided the Thatcherfest yesterday by flying to Accra, and landed slap in the middle of a State Visit by President Ahmadinejad. Any number of levels of irony there. I am however pleased to see President John Mahama – an old friend of mine – giving out a fairly clear signal he is not going to be a US puppet. That was reinforced yesterday by a high profile announcement from the Ministry of Finance of a new policy aimed at increasing the – hitherto very limited – social benefit from Ghana’s oil and mining industries. Just how much this will amount to in practice remains to be seen, but I am very pleased to see that, as John Mahama’s Presidency in his own right gets underway, the direction of travel may be more radical and aimed at social justice.
Another piece of good news from West Africa yesterday was President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria’s announcement of a negotiating committee to try to open negotiations with Boko Haram on the basis of a ceasefire and an amnesty. The committee’s remit includes a specific commitment to look at underlying grievances that had led to the unrest.
Nigeria shows much greater wisdom than the standard Western government line that the state can do no wrong and that all terrorist movements must be crushed by military force – something that often leads into an unending revenge cycle. Insurgency movements are indeed always caused – no matter how psychotic or vicious individual terrorists may be and no matter how evil some of their acts. For any terrorist or insurgency activity to have sufficient support in a host population to have a resilient existence, that population must believe itself to have a legitimate grievance. Ultimately the only way to overcome terrorism is to talk to the terrorists. Which is not to say I think this initiative will succeed; but it is certainly the right thing to try.
@ Dreoilin :
“Did I say I agreed with him? I posted it as an item of interest.”
People tend to post claims or opinions with which they agree. If you only posted it as an item of interest then it might have been better to have said so.
Further, you write in support of an “ignore” button, saying that you could use one on Jon Pelfrey. That wish does nothing to reassure me as to the robustness of your argument since it appears to demonstrate an unwillingness to listen to(and if necessary, contest) points of view with which you are in disagreement.
“People tend to post claims or opinions with which they agree.”
This is, if you’ll excuse me for saying so, a reductive, rather absurdist point of view. It has the dubious merit of stifling debate and discussion, if taken to its logical extreme, but apart from that, it leads nowhere. Obviously, things depend upon the people (and they are real people) here who post. I’m sure if Dreoilin wanted to defend Karymov, for example, she could/should feel free to do so: what she actually said was that she posted the comment out of interest – and it was, indeed, interesting, given that an accused torturer was defending the right of the US to ‘fight terrorism’.
‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Habbakuk, than you dreamt of in your philosophy’ perhaps. If a blog comment section is anything, it is for movement and procession of thought?
I am another almost non poster who would not like to see Mary leave, but can understand after the abuse and bullying from the troll.
Julian’s idea would be good, although I just skip over the troll when the name appears.
On the other hand, some posters do indeed link to pieces they ‘agree’ with, of course. I guess you’d have to ‘know’ the people here (always a strange feeling in cyberspace, hence the inverted commas) to know when someone is linking to something hideous as an attempt to promote it, or not.
Useful Boston footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nHQSFKyjuc
For example, do I agree with this? You tell me:
http://www.cracked.com/article_20324_5-basic-facts-life-were-made-up-by-marketing-campaigns.html
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may be dead – his twitter(FBI) feed said ‘gunshots’ shortly after my own tweet appealing for ‘Dzhokhar’ to give himself up.
http://rt.com/on-air/police-watertown-boston-marathon/
Manhunt still extant, Mark.
This is interesting…..http://www.juancole.com/2013/04/fathers-sons-chechnya.html
I welcome Mary’s input … provided it is actually her own writing rather than lengthy cut-and-pastes from the MSM wrapped in sly insinuations. Too much, sometimes. (I occasionally wondered whether I’d typed “craigmary.org.uk” in the address bar.) Why not just type the topic, give the links (preferably condensed into a daily digest) and let the personal snark stand on its own?
Fwiw, I think Habbabkuk’s challenges are often well-founded, though he frequently ruins them with disturbing overtones of misogynistic bullying.
Jon’s approach is exactly right, imho. Moderation should be limited to spam deletion only. This is an arena for open debate about the issues raised by Craig Murray. Despite some people’s best efforts, it isn’t a member’s club or a social forum for people to have personal chats (or scraps), nor to gang together and exclude opposing voices. Frankly, the flagrant verbal abuse and even physical threats that have been directed at the nay-sayers, is more disturbing than the original offences. Please read Lord of the Flies, and cogitate on the theme for a while.
Close to death – ‘Dzhokhar’ tweet – ‘This is it…..(deep breath)’
You are ahead of the Media, if that’s true Mark.
Curious to know what would be the negotiating points with A Q, Craig.
Thanks Ben.
I note ATF (Secret Service) are on scene…
“Further, you write in support of an “ignore” button, saying that you could use one on Jon Pelfrey.”
Jon Pelfrey refers to 9/11. Craig got so tired of people dragging up 9/11 on every second thread that he dedicated a whole thread to it. And it was pretty thoroughly commented on. You’ll find it here
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/01/the_911_post/
Also, I don’t have much time for people who post things like this:
“I imagine that everyone on this blog is now attempting to absolve these two Muslim terrorists of killing that child and other people”
Jon Pelfrey should confine himself to what people actually *say* and not what he imagines.
**************
Tweets from Piers Morgan (!)
BREAKING: FBI believed to have cornered Boston bomb suspect on boat parked on trailer at back of Watertown residential backyard
BREAKING: FBI think Boston suspect is still alive on the boat – sources tell CNN
‘nightnight
Habbabkuk,
“People tend to post claims or opinions with which they agree. If you only posted it as an item of interest then it might have been better to have said so.”
That’s guff Habbabkuk.Can you prove what people “tend” to do?
Of course you can’t.You’re pissing into the wind son.
Also Habbabkuk,Dreoilin-or any other poster here-doesn’t have to furnish you,or anyone of us here,with the “points” or intentions of her posts.
Posts stand as they are.
Grow up Habbakuk.
You’re a nasty little schoolboy bully here.
Alan Campbell.
Go away you serial disruptor and fake.
You were outed as a troll on this blog years ago.
Beat it.
Was I? Oh how sad. I’m devastated. Meanwhile, that negotiating position with Zawahiri?
Mary
I hope it’s not too late to ask you to reconsider. Often, when I am in a hurry, I scroll down and only stop when I get to one of your comments which are always interesting and informative. You have been a valuable resource for me. I understand why you have had enough, and admire your stamina in sticking it out for so long, but you will certainly be missed if you go. Best wishes, and thank you.
Craig/moderator
I like the idea of an ‘ignore’ option, although there are some names I have been ignoring for a long time.
Thanks for your occasional psychoanalytical resume of contributors here, nextus, this, and no doubt other blogs, must give you plenty of scope to write and teach about.
Like you say, an unmoderated blog will throw up all sorts of bullies, some do this ‘automatically’ others do it because they are damaged themselves.
You might like to categorise us all, I could not possibly comment and I meant and stand by everything I wrote here.
US torture ‘indisputable’, CNN’s humiliation, and Iran sanctions
Glenn Greenwald
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/18/torture-report-cnn-terrorism-iran
I laughed out loud at this – a comment on the Glenn Greenwald article above
“Yeah Glenn, on behalf of all your critics who don’t both[er] to read your articles I’d just like to say:
1) But we’re at war,
2) Dripping water on someone’s face isn’t torture,
3) Obama is a good man IT.IS.TEH.CONGRESS,
4) You’re not a real journalist Fran Townsend and her merry band of blow dried talking head are,
5) Aaaaaaackkkkk, Israel, Israel, is a beacon of Enlightenment value and democracy WHAAAAATTABOUTTERY the evil Iranians how cumz you never write about their tyrannical regimes, and
6) You don’t even live in America, why don’t you move to Saudi Arabia and see how long you can write the things you write as a gay man, this is just more of your same misinformed anti-American rubbish because everyone knows America is the greatest nation full of the greatest people to ever exist anywhere ever in the history of the universe.
I swear it’s like a cottage industry of stupid these days in your threads. And the above, or some variation on one of those six themes, seems to be the sum total of your critics available ad hominem/non-sequitur Candyland fantasy critics of what you wrote.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/18/torture-report-cnn-terrorism-iran#comment-22851929
Jives: abusive.
Technicolour,
“Jives: abusive.”
Cool.They deserve it.
I’ve witnessed their actions here over many years.
Due to the entirely tedious nature of some posters I have been working on an external script to hide posts made by certain people. Can Jon or Clark post a list of people who have been officially banned? I will post the script here so others can also use it once it is a little more complete.
“Another piece of good news from West Africa yesterday was President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria’s announcement of a negotiating committee to try to open negotiations with Boko Haram on the basis of a ceasefire and an amnesty. The committee’s remit includes a specific commitment to look at underlying grievances that had led to the unrest.” Craig Murray
Indeed. Good luck, Jonathan.
Jives: not cool. Even if you don’t listen to the volunteer mod. Abuse to reply to abuse? Abuse to reply to people you don’t agree with? Suggest you think that one through 🙂
Habbabkuk
18 Apr, 2013 – 2:26 pm
“I join with Uzbek-in-UK in wishing the Presidents of Ghana and Nigeria well in any initiative they take to keep more of the fruits of their countries’ natural richnesses in their countries and to use those fruits to improve the lot of their fellow countrymen.”
Isn’t that what the democratically elected Dr Mohammad Mosaddegh of Iran did in 1951?
Isn’t that what Chaves of Venezuela did and now his successor Maduro wants to continue?
Given your previous views aired here I don’t believe the statement above to be your genuine position.
Anon
18 Apr, 2013 – 4:04 pm
To Craig:
“I assume you are not happy about that type of post but at the moment someone could post Mein Kampf repeatedly on your blog with no moderation it seems.”
I didn’t reads what English Knight said but you seem obsessed with it. You go on and on; anon; anon anon.
Are you a Zionist troll?
Doug Scorgie: Anon objected to insane far right postings which have now been removed, proving them right. You are out of order.