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.
O/T but news not covered by the UK media as far as I can find:
NATO expansion?
“Yesterday representatives of Colombia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) signed an agreement for cooperation and exchange of classified information, “good practice” in the “anti-terrorist” struggle, and against drug trafficking.”
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
Also see:
http://www.theprisma.co.uk/2013/06/17/washington-and-its-offensive-to-reorganize-and-regain-its-backyard/
Fred,
Believe what you want but you are wrong.
http://www.sans.edu/research/security-laboratory/article/bluetooth
And car’s are generally even more powerful Class 1 not Class 2. It is no problem at all to bluetooth pair with a car a mile away. The maximum claim I have seen is 10 miles but I cannot verify that.
What you need is a meaningful occupation*, Hubba – try this:
http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/
*not an illegal one, natch.
Flaming June at 12.56 p.m. No doubt those links of yours account for why I never got a response from Lambeth Palace about Theresa May’s racism. On 15 March I wrote:
“My church since 2002 has been All Saints, Small Heath. It is a good inner-city church set in a largely Muslim community. At Christmas the mosque opposite the church brought gifts (3 large boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates). It was almost as humbling as the stable itself. Our Home Secretary had recently extradited 5 Muslims to Supermax torture chambers in the US. What Theresa May espouses is not a Christian message yet she claims to be an Anglican. I know we should not judge. I know we should pray for our leaders. Unfortunately I have the same respect for her as Jesus had for the usurers at the temple who turned our father’s house into a den of thieves. Therefore I cannot stay silent over the wedge she is driving through our communities. With the deepest respect, neither should you.
I have attacked her Christianity in my latest article for News Junkie Post.
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2013/03/14/big-sister-theresa-may-and-the-rise-of-anti-islam-in-the-uk/”
And on 13 May I wrote even more strongly about the church’s tacit support for drones.
“When I Google ‘Archbishop’ and ‘Drones’ Desmond Tutu keeps cropping up with a clear condemnation of the evil use of these devices (drones) to kill people thousands of miles away from the comfort and safety of an air-conditioned office, but there appears to be no message from Lambeth Palace, from the Anglican church, or from yourself. As an Anglican myself (All Saints, Small Heath, Birmingham) I should like to know what my church’s views are in a clear unequivocal statement. It is inconceivable that a Christian church condones the use of drones, but I live in a world which never ceases to surprise me. If there is no statement from Lambeth Palace I can only assume that the silence gives tacit support for these killing machines. Silence is complicity. Jesus stopped the stoning of a woman caught in the act of adultery with a clear statement. You are his disciple. I call on you to speak in similarly Christian terms.
I realise you cannot answer every question raised by every person who contacts you, but your office has yet to answer one of my emails and this is a matter of life and death.”
I think in my heart I am a Quaker.
Why 10 miles? All is needed is a model airplane as a relay station.
German Police Shoot Down Model Plane Terror Plot
Does this mean soon all the toy shops and craft shops will have a security guard frisking the punters, and checking their carrier bags and interrogating them;
Why do they need a model airplane?
Do you intend to loan the model airplane to anyone?
Do you know any Muslims?
Have you ever been a Muslim, or are you intending to become a Muslim?
McCarthy does not get a look in.
Welcome to the world and South Africa Mr President.
South Africa High Court War Crimes Case against US President Barack Obama
By Global Research News
Global Research, June 27, 2013
Lawyers will continue to pursue the case against Obama in the courts
The Muslim Lawyers Association (MLA) brought an application to court on Tuesday, 25 June 2013, to charge US President Barack Obama with a number of crimes, before he enters South Africa on Friday, 28 June 2013.
/..
http://www.globalresearch.ca/south-africa-high-court-war-crimes-case-against-us-president-barack-obama/5340594
It will make a change if Obama follows ‘legal channels’ in the light of Kill By Drone policy.
This is on his hunt for Edward Snowden.
Obama refuses to barter for Edward Snowden
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23084166
‘Speaking on a visit to the West African nation of Senegal, Mr Obama also said the case would be dealt with through routine legal channels.’
I did not know you could barter for human bodies. I thought it applied to goods and inanimate objects, namely:
Definition of BARTER
intransitive verb
: to trade by exchanging one commodity for another
transitive verb
: to trade or exchange by or as if by bartering .
I don’t know what to make of Richard Clarke. That statement was on Debka and Alex Jones, when i saw it yesterday. I can’t tell what role he is playing; middleman?
General Alexander invoked MacArthur the other day and I wonder wtf he was trying to say.
A civilian controlled (heh, theoretically) military sticks in a lot of throats. Petraeus, McChrystal?
Ben,
This is the original source for the Clarke quote although you’ve probably already seen it – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/michael-hastings-car-hacked_n_3492339.html
I saw something wrt Elise Jordan, Hastings widow yesterday but it was a cryptic few words.
Then there’s this; http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/06/25/wife-hastings-wasnt-reporting-on-jill-kelley/
She’s a journalist, and I thought she would be out front on the COD and his whereabouts that morning. Weird.
Yes, Anon. Salon, a big Obot hangout, is dissing the theory, but with the same available facts.
It’s a trust issue, or anti-conspiracy, which is a kind of reverse conspiracy theory.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=richard+clarke+books&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Clarke may just be previewing and promoting a new book.
Passerby,
Some of the increasingly affordable multi rotor things can autonomously hold station with GPS, act as a relay and downlink live video. Will fly back to home base on its own if it has to.
You can order for immediate delivery.
This is ‘leafy Surrey’ in Poison Gove’s constituency, Quite telling? But of course, we are all IT together.
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2135671_citizens_advice_bureau_sees_big_rise_in_benefit_calls
Gove’s constituency is next to Hunt’s which is next to Milton’s, then Raab and Lord. In fact the whole of Surrey is Tory controlled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Parliamentary_constituencies_in_Surrey
The Guildford Tories are being coy about their dinner for Liam Fox the other night. No photos on their website and no press report. Are they ashamed to admit they invited him to be a guest speaker?
After SCOTUS stole the last 3 days headlines with VRA shutdown and ending DOMA, the continental media and bloggers are all about that.
All politics is local.
Where are the hard-core investigatory journalists/bloggers?
‘Out to lunch’ is the sign on the door, but in the backroom, masturbatory exercises reign.
This kind of investigation can’t be conducted from the keyboard.
Some genuine shoe-leather needs to be sacrificed.
This man is as dangerous as Pol Pot, not to name the usual.
he wants to erase Gaza.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/lieberman-israel-needs-to-conquer-and-thoroughly-cleanse-gaza-strip-8671919.html
Ben,
Yes.Interesting times indeed when a former anti-terrorist tsar begins to sound like a tin-foil hat alumni…
Many formerly immobile positions are being re-defined and difficult choices are being made.
Divisions are growing and omerta beginning to crack amongst the 33rd degree crew.
This has got a long way to run yet…
Ben 4.42pm,
Any chance you can decrypt those US acronyms for us limeys?
Cheers :.)
Ben,
It’s OK no need…i’ve found them out.
Thanks.
Ha ha, legal channels. Snowden’s perils-of-Pauline plotline is holding the world’s attention nicely as the humiliation mounts for the Alexander junta and its cringing rubber-stamp legislature.
Putin’s practically strangling with suppressed delight at being able to uphold Helsinki Accords Basket III principles on freedom of movement against the US police state. The US beat Russia over the head with Basket III for more than a decade.
And as for Ecuador, “Ecuador has signed all the human rights instruments of the Hemisphere and is fully committed to the rule of law and the fundamental principles of international law.” Them’s fightin’ words for a state like the US that shits on the CCPR, runs from the CESCR, has disgraced the OAS nearly out of existence, and resorted to neo-Soviet obstruction to escape the Rome Statute. US government Big Shots – all they got is the threat of economic sanctions that are themselves illegal under UN Charter Articles 33 and 41.
China, Hongkong, Venezuela, Germany, and Cuba got their licks in, variously citing US violations of the law on privacy, torture, freedom of information, and foreign interference. It’s almost cruel, like baiting a chained, toothless, declawed bear.
Impotent. Discredited. A laughingstock. USA! USA! USA!
Jives; I’m not completely discounting the sincerity of Clarke. Snowden was in the fold, and saw the light emanating from a tiny crack. It’s just difficult to assign credibility with so many players whose heart condition is speculative. Motive is a hard one to call with such little info.
Bozo; Putin is having a grand time with it, for sure. He’s the godfather of his criminal state, and he’s liking the company of the US.
I’m sure Greenwald is taking steps. This cautionary tale is the MO for repression.
(JIves; MO-method of operation 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb
This just to show what one has to put up with in Norfolk. This is the non football section of the Pink Un forum, a hotbed of Canary fans who now and then get bored stiff over politics.
This from JG on the subject of Edward Snowden and the NSA/GCHQ spying on us issue. we clash over issues such as immigration and religion and and….often, JG thinks that he’s the police man on the Pink’Un. His rider is priceless.
“I have been thinking about all this Big Brother malarky and have come to the conclusion that it’s a good thing.
I believe that everyone should be micro-chipped as it has huge advantages;
If you are in an accident and have no ID on you the paramedics just need to scan your microchip to retrieve your medical details from the NHS database.
If the microchips are linked into Satellite trackers crime would be reduced overnight and all those illegal immigrants would not be able to move without being rounded up and deported.
I don’t know why the Government does not push ahead with this technology, as a law-abiding citizen I’m all for it.
——————————————————-
Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design.
http://services.pinkun.com/forums/pinkun/cs/forums/2/2932481/ShowPost.aspx#2932481
Technically they weren’t lying (Clapper et al) when they protested ‘We’re not listening to your phone calls or reading all your emails”
Present tense, notwithstanidng.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/nsa-data-mining-authorised-obama
“”The internet metadata collection program authorized by the Fisa court was discontinued in 2011 for operational and resource reasons and has not been restarted,” Shawn Turner, the Obama administration’s director of communications for National Intelligence, said in a statement to the Guardian.”
“Believe what you want but you are wrong.”
Come back when you’ve actually done it and tell me that.
Come back when you have successfully hacked into a car’s bluetooth from a mile away and changed the firmware on the ecu and abs.
“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.”
I think that’s exactly spot on all those accounts ; to single out people from only certain countries is basic racial profiling, essentially inherent discrimination, and contra to the principle of universal human rights and freedoms, which is what we as a country agreed to abide by when we voted for adoption of “The Universal Declaration” at the UN.
Excellent news in that the judge at the Oxford Crown Court trial of the 5 men (reported as being of “Pakistani and North African heritage” has just sentenced the individuals concerned to life sentences for the grooming, beating, raping and trafficking of a number of young, vulnerable girls (some as young as 12). Subject to correction, I’m sure that all readers will also be delighted.
It might be of interest to note that had these offences occurred in the countries of the “heritage” of the convicted persons, they would now be preparing to face their maker.
“Excellent news in that the judge at the Oxford Crown Court trial of the 5 men (reported as being of “Pakistani and North African heritage” has just sentenced the individuals concerned to life sentences for the grooming, beating, raping and trafficking of a number of young, vulnerable girls (some as young as 12). Subject to correction, I’m sure that all readers will also be delighted.”
That is good news.
Any word on the Ian Brady tribunal yet?
Sexual proclivities are the provenance of the security services. Greenwald has already addressed.
They have the access and the funding to do the dirt.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/greenwald-reporter-broke-nsa-story-lawyer-sued-porn-biz-article-1.1383448
Matt Taibbi; Another proud member of the GONZO tradition.
“So New York Times Dealbook writer Andrew Ross Sorkin has apologized to journalist Glenn Greenwald for saying he’d “almost arrest” him, for his supposed aid and comfort of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. “I veered into hyperbole,” was Sorkin’s explanation.”
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/hey-msm-all-journalism-is-advocacy-journalism-20130627#ixzz2XRHgFNPd
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook