Here in Ghana people are stunned by the announcement that a bond of £3,000 will have to be submitted by visa applicants to the UK, redeemable on return.
It is unpleasant for a nation to be singled out as comprised of particularly untrustworthy individuals against whom special measures are needed. Theresa May appears quite deliberately to be singling out countries whose citizens are normally black or brown – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Nigeria. They are all citizens with extremely close ties to the UK. For example, all of those countries supplied large numbers of men to British armed forces in two World Wars; with little resulting gratitude.
The true level of Britain’s regard for the Commonwealth is disclosed in all its arrogance; citizenship of the Commonwealth countries with the longest link to the UK will become a positive disadvantage in visa application. Israeli settlers living in Occupied Palestine on the West Bank, incidentally, will still be allowed to enter the UK without any visa at all, despite membership of neither Commonwealth nor EU. Paradoxical, isn’t it?
The measure shows the arrogant British disdain for these countries – of which India pre-eminently but also Ghana are fast growing and important trading partners. Undoubtedly Ghana will retaliate with measures which hurt British businesses; many of my good friends are senior Ghanaian politicians, and they are all furious. The rhetoric the British employ about transformation from colonial status to a modern partnership of equals is exposed for the tissue of lies it has always been. This is a straightforward racist measure, aimed at securing the racist vote to the Tories.
Not does it make any sense. If you are intending to enter the UK under false pretences, and have the intent illegally to settle and start a new life there, then £3,000 is scarcely a deterrent given the substantial economic gains you intend to make over the long period you intend to stay. It will rather seem a good investment; people will find the money. The people it will deter are those who never intended to overstay. The extra cash upfront, to the businessman for a business trip, for the student coming to study, for the tourist will drive them to go elsewhere, to the UK’s net loss.
More cruelly it will deter decent middle class people from coming to see grandchildren in the holidays, from going to the niece’s wedding, from going to graduation. Those things will become the prerogative of the wealthy, those with plenty of cash to spare.
This does nothing to deter illegal immigration. It merely demonstrates populist racism, demonstrates contempt for some of the UK’s best-disposed friends, and demonstrates that the government thinks the right to travel is only for the rich. It is contemptible.
Who spun them this line?
The Kazakh foreign minister, Erlan Idrissov, explains:
“Idrissov said Kazakhstan acknowledged the criticism of its human rights record but insisted that it was on a transition to becoming a “Jeffersonian democracy” which would take some time to complete.
The foreign minister said: “We do hear criticisms. We do not feel absolutely unhappy about those criticisms. We patiently explain to our partners that we are not today a Jeffersonian democracy and that a Jeffersonian democracy is our ultimate destination.””
Either their Western advisors are taking the piss, or land of milk and honey here we come…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jul/01/david-cameron-business-amnesty-kazakhstan-deal-nazarbayev
@kibo noh
Why equal societies do better-
Great let’s have the worlds wealth shared out equally and for the radicals amongst us, how about responsibilities shared out collectively, then persuade with love and light.
Greenhouse and Whitehouse.
Both need war, water….
I read the Guardian in a Costalot this morning. What a rag it is now, a little larger than tabloid, 28 pages and a Glastonbury and Sport supplement. £1.40! The online version is better than the print version and it’s free, so far.
They carried a report on Caneron’s trip and quote him as saying that of course he will raise the matter of human rights in the discussions but he is there for Britain and business. Of course he is. Three of the companies represented in the mission accompanying him are BP, BG and Shell.
I see he has had an endorsement.
Kazakhstan’s autocratic president tells David Cameron: I would vote for you
Nursultan Nazarbayev, who retained presidency in 2011 with 95.5% of the vote, says British PM deserves to win next election
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/01/kazakhstan-president-david-cameron-vote?INTCMP=SRCH
Cameron is also calling for extension of the EU into the Soviet Union. Is he trying to wind Putin up on purpose?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/01/eu-extend-soviet-union-david-cameron
‘Costalot’ – how appropriate – the aroma of coffee invited me in this morning. I abstained.
Predictably agent Cameron spun his Kazakhstan delivery around an adulterated and tainted need to have an integrated banking system; “you need to have an integrated fiscal system.” he opined.
Germany prepares to charge UK and US intelligence over fresh bugging allegations
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-prepares-to-charge-uk-and-us-intelligence-over-fresh-bugging-allegations-8680249.html
‘I will do anything for money…’ American popstar
Jennifer Lopez criticised for Turkmenistan corporate gig
Lopez performed a selection of her hits during the show on Saturday
Human rights activists have criticised US pop singer Jennifer Lopez for singing Happy Birthday to the leader of Turkmenistan, who is accused of human rights violations.
Lopez serenaded Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in the former Soviet Union country on Saturday night.
She was performing at an event hosted by the China National Petroleum Corp.
Lopez’s publicist said she would not have performed had she known there were human rights issues in the country.
Wake up Ms Lopez and/or publicist.
Was Lopez the one who mimed at the Obama inauguration? Can’t remember.
Dreolin: “Germany prepares to charge UK and US intelligence over fresh bugging allegations”
Thanks for that Dreolin. The leaks continue with the latest revelation being that dozens of embassies, including France and Italy in Wash DC were bugged as i undersatnd it.
Here’s a worrying article on Snowden:
” ECUADOR PRESIDENT: SNOWDEN CAN’T LEAVE MOSCOW ”
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ecuador-president-snowden-cant-leave-moscow
If i remember correctly, didn’t Russia offer him asylum publicly like when Snowden first spoke out? Can’t be sure. But i’m sure he would rather be elsewhere. Maybe the whole thing is deliberately being made contentious to confuse America? Or is it just bureaucracies at play? It all seemed quite well choreographed by Ecuador initially and then, what?
—-
PS What happened to your blue avatar — quite liked it — was easy to spot you!
Strivers v skivers – Karimov endorses IDS?
http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbekistan-karimov-beggars-migrants-remittances/25028531.html
Disturbing similarity of approach, there.
Villager,
“Der Spiegel said the NSA’s German phone and internet surveillance operation was the biggest in the EU. On 7 January 2013 it tapped into some 60 million German phone calls in a single day. The magazine said that Canada, Australia, Britain and New Zealand were exempt from NSA surveillance but Germany was regarded as a country open for “spy attacks”.”
The Germans are furious.
“If i remember correctly, didn’t Russia offer him asylum publicly like when Snowden first spoke out?”
I thought so.
“It all seemed quite well choreographed by Ecuador initially and then, what?”
No. Some are saying that Julian Assange messed things up. I don’t know if there’s any truth in that.
“Correa said he had no idea Snowden’s intended destination was Ecuador when he fled Hong Kong for Russia last week. He said the Ecuadorean consul in London committed “a serious error” by not consulting officials in Ecuador’s capital when the consul issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden. He said the consul would be punished, although he didn’t specify how.”
I got rid of the blue avatar. It made me stand out like a sore thumb 😉
Posted this on previous thread by mistake:
Correa’s been leaned on by the US. And fallen flat.
http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/assange-snowden-hero-nsa/2013/06/30/id/512659?promo_code=EE9E-1&utm_source=jpost&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1
Kill the screensaver popup – prob. malware.
I’d guess that the breaking of the story on US spying on the EU has sent the US into panic mode. “What if he’s got hold of (even more damning revelation) too?”
I’d like to think he has. If only as insurance.
I see that the thread’s emphasis seems to have moved from a debate about how to have an policy on illegal immigration without human rights violations, as to whetever overseas visitors who may need medical attention, should be refused unless the costs can be recoverable from the £3000 bond; a rather spurious & nonsensical justification of the bond proposal, which immediately falls down on consideration that it’s not just visitors from these six targeted “High Risk” countries that could require medical attention, so logically on this criteria the bond scheme would have to be applied to most of the World’s countries; also, what if the medical attention costs more than the £3000 bond, which is already unaffordable to most people ? Rather a harebrained & shallow attempted diversionary line of justification, imho.
I see that the habby-clown is still clowning around, keeping poor Jon busy in having to zap his comments on a regular basis now, so I will continue to refer to him as the trolling clown, no doubt much to the dismay of his new loyal & hyper-protective acolytes, and did I notice that there is a rumour of Summer wedding bells in that regard ?! Despite our difference, we should all wish the happy couple the best !
Anyhow despite several exchange of posts, in which Hubbu-Clown has admitted that the proposed bond scheme is ‘discriminatory’ & “unjust and undignified” , yet here he is still trying to defend it ! Also it would have been noted, except by the acolytes, that he not respond to the points either about the “Baiai Case”, or 2010 Labour’s Equality Act, both of which highlight the illegality of blanket group discrimination.
I still believe that is proposal will not get off the ground, and I’ve seen various reports that it has been scrapped;
http://news.peacefmonline.com/news/201306/167358.php
(More later as I’m still a bit Bruce-lagged !)
Fact or Fiction?
“June 28, 2013 “Information Clearing House – “The Guardian” — The plan to spirit the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden to sanctuary in Latin America appeared to be unravelling on Friday, amid tension between Ecuador’s government and Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.
“President Rafael Correa halted an effort to help Snowden leave Russia amid concern Assange was usurping the role of the Ecuadoran government, according to leaked diplomatic correspondence published on Friday.
Amid signs Quito was cooling with Snowden and irritated with Assange, Correa declared invalid a temporary travel document which could have helped extract Snowden from his reported location in Moscow.”
More at the link
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35433.htm
Don’t think so, Macky. The piece you cite contains this:
Foreign Office Minister Keith Vaz confirmed on Saturday that the programme had been dropped for good.
And I think it refers to the year 2000 when Vaz was indeed FCO Minister, and did indeed kill a bond scheme, on the excellent grounds reiterated by several posters above.
A case of overoptimism when Googling, I’m afraid – several sites seem to have resurrected this report. Sorry.
Dreolin: “Germany prepares to charge UK and US intelligence over fresh bugging allegations”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-prepares-to-charge-uk-and-us-intelligence-over-fresh-bugging-allegations-8680249.html
One of the commenters under that article writes:
“The real terrorists in the modern world caught out. I wonder if Billy Hague will tell Merkel to shut up if Germans have nothing to hide!”
Kerry, having failed miserably with Israel and getting Netanhayu to stop the settlement building, plays down the EU bugging.
Spy Row: EU Checks Its Premises For US Bugs
The EU begins a full security sweep as leaders call on the US to immediately cease any surveillance of European institutions
‘America’s top diplomat told a news conference early on Monday that nearly all national governments, not just the United States, use “lots of activities” to safeguard their interests and security..
Mr Kerry confirmed that EU High Representative Catherine Ashton raised the issue with him but he gave no further details of their exchange. He said he had yet to see details of the newspaper allegations.
“I will say that every country in the world that is engaged in international affairs and national security undertakes lots of activities to protect its national security and all kinds of information contributes to that. All I know is that is not unusual for lots of nations,” he said.’
http://news.sky.com/story/1110130/spy-row-eu-checks-its-premises-for-us-bugs
The real traitors in the US are the banks and the bankers. None of them are being hunted down and prosecuted.
July 01, 2013
Full-Court Press on Snowden is a Bad Joke
The Real Traitors to America are in Washington and New York
by DAVE LINDORFF
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/01/the-real-traitors-to-america-are-in-washington-and-new-york/
Kerry (or Heinz Kerry) has gone on record that everybody spies, and spying is good for you!
This seems to be the directive for the trolls who are filling up the threads with “everybody spies” and “nowt wrong with that” stories. However the EU is diplomatically/politely threatening to stop trade deals. whilst German opposition is asking for Snowden to be given asylum in EU..
In other passing news; the unrelenting hate campaign against Muslims in UK is bearing fruits; “Kill the Muslims, Pakis”.
Some of those banks are quoted here.
1 July 2013
EU says banks blocked competition in derivatives market
Deutsche Borse EU says Deutsche Borse was blocked from the credit derivatives business
The world’s biggest investment banks colluded to stop competition in a profitable derivatives business according to EU authorities.
Between 2006 and 2009 Deutsche Borse and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange tried to enter the credit derivatives business, but were denied licences to offer trading in the products.
EU competition officials say that big banks were behind that refusal
[..]
In its preliminary conclusion the European Commission named 13 of the world’s biggest investment banks including, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Barclays.
[..]
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23128361#
~~
Ex Goldman Sachs new BoE Chairman Mark Carney took the tube to work today. Big deal. A man of the people obviously.
Dreoilin, 2.12pm
I suspect that’s far from the full story. There’s been an orchestrated smear campaign to undermine Ecuador’s involvement in Snowden’s asylum bid, starting with articles purporting to be based on leaks to Univision about an “NSA-style surveillance system” of Ecuador’s own:
Exposing the dark forces behind Snowden smears:
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/exposing-dark-forces-behind-snowden-smears?paging=off
and, apparently, the NSA directly theiving from the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister’s email about their internal discussion of Assange’s attempts from within the London embassy to spirit Snowden out of Hong Kong in the nick of time:
https://twitter.com/RicardoPatinoEC/status/351417796468555777
(translation in the reply directly underneath Ricardo Patino’s tweet)
For Ecuador’s true position on both Snowden and the efforts of their own consul and Julian Assange, here are some comments of Correa’s which have not reached the mainstream smear-meisters’ reports:
Ecuador’s President Correa says Snowden’s fate in hands of Russia:
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/ecuadors-president-correa-says-snowdens-fate-in-hands-of-russia-29383990.html
and
NSA leaker Snowden can’t leave Moscow: Ecuador president:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/nsa-leaker-snowden-can-t-leave-moscow-ecuador-president-1.1347699
Although the latter article appears to be based on leaks by some of those notoriously dubious sources, “anonymous government officials” (Ecuadorian ones, mind), I think I concur with what Jemand says elsewhere: there’s a lot of shadow-play going on here by both Ecuador and Russia. However, it seems fairly clear that Assange has not messed up or to have fallen out of favour with his hosts. Snowden’s swift transference to Ecuador seems to have got nixed by the US State Dept revoking his passport, and Russia preventing his transference by diplomatic car to Ecuador’s Moscow embassy.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/01/germany-eu-nsa-snowden/2478625/
Germany summons US ambassador. And
On Sunday, British newspaper The Independent reported that Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s office “was preparing to bring charges against British and U.S. intelligence…
Here’s another fine mess US’s got us into…
Yes, it’s probably due to some competitiveness between lesser and greater power pacts within Ecuador. It was feared Assange was pulling Ecuador’s strings, or would be perceived as such.
Typical infighting to secure the best possible path for the ambitious.
Komodo seems to have blown a fuse with his post at 10h37. This is usually a sign that he has run out of arguments, but that’s by the by.
Firstly, we are talking about annual expenditure, not expenditure over a decade. Here, Kempe was good enough to provide us with some figures for annual expenditure, namely : 221 billion pounds for social security, pensions and the NHS.
The point being that (1) this dwarfs annual expenditure on defence (in the wide sense), and (2) this calls into question the sometimes heard argument that any financing gap in social and health spending can be plugged by switching expenditure away from defence.
Finally, I’m still wondering whether Komodo has understood what the Treasury reserve is, what it’s there for and how it functions. But that’s by the by as well.
You’re right Komodo. It occurs to me that the USA hates everyone (including the poor of the USA). Everything it does at governmental level is motivated by hate and greed.
https://www.facebook.com/TheUsaHatesYouAndMe?fref=ts
Bond scheme, cont’d
It does look as if a reverse ferret is in progress, all the same. People who decline to be named allege…
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/uk-visa-bond-scheme-goes-back-to-drawing-board/article4857704.ece
Under the original scheme, floated by Mr. Cameron’s fellow Tory Home Secretary Theresa May to cut down immigration levels, India was to be included in a list of “high-risk” countries requiring their nationals to deposit a £3,000 cash bond for a British visa. The other countries were Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana — all non-white Commonwealth nations.
But the strong reaction in India plus the opposition from British businesses, London Mayor Boris Johnson and his coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, has forced Mr. Cameron to intervene.
Senior Lib Dem members were reported as saying that Mr. Clegg declined to “sign off” details of the policy.
“The policy has not yet been signed off. We are in favour of the principle but exact details of how it is to be piloted, including the size of the bond, is still being discussed in the government,” The Guardian quoted a Lib Dem source as saying.
While a “pilot” might go ahead in November as planned, the final scheme is expected to be narrower in size and scope. It would be “highly selective,” targeting only “suspicious” applicants. A Home Office official said even the names of “high-risk” countries to be covered by the scheme had not yet been finalised.
Original report is in the FT, apparently (paywall)
Ecuador offers US 23 million for ‘Human Rights Education’ Heh.
http://iroots.org/2013/06/27/ecuador-prepares-to-accept-snowden-offers-u-s-23-mil-for-human-rights-education/
Muslim Brotherhood hdqtrs stormed…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23125387
Hubba –
You posted this:
“NHS budget for this year is £109 billion.
ANNUAL cost of wars in Afghanistan etc is nowhere near £20 bn although the total spent since 2002 is closer to £40 bn. “Military Subsidies”; figure a guess, plucked from thin air.”
_________
A thank you to Kempe for these figures. It would be interesting also to have the figures for annual UK spending on pensions and on social security as compared to that on defence.
YOU are talking about annual expenditure, details of which are on the link I kindly supplied. I am talking about expenditure, period. You do not determine the parameters of this or any debate. And you appear to accept Kempe’s figure uncritically enough to pass it on as incontestable fact. Which it isn’t. See above for why.
Re. arguments, as you seem to be under some compulsion to have an argument on trivial points with most of the commentators here, I defer to your extensive collection. But it would be helpful if you could back your pronouncements with evidence which might support them, however tenuously. I offer this suggestion in the kindest possible spirit as you have been here five minutes, are shouting the odds like John McCririck, and are composed entirely of pixels.
Now the Egyptian army gives the protesters 48 hours…. Or else what?
BREAKING NEWS:The Egyptian army has given parties 48 hours to resolve political crisis, or it will ‘take responsibility’
Petition Theresa May for an inquiry into allegations of police smearing of Stephen Lawrence’s family.
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/justice-for-the-lawrence-family
Thanks Arbed – 3:14 pm
Just about to catch up on that reading now.