GCHQ and the NSA between them employ tens of thousands of people. I am bemused by the shock at the “revelation” they have been spying. What on Earth did journalists think that spies do all day? That includes electronics spies.
Since Katherine Gun revealed that we spy on other delegations – and the secretariat – within the UN building, it is hardly a shock that we spy on other governments at summits in the UK. For once, the government cannot pretend that the object is to save us all from terrorism, which is the usual catch all excuse. Nor in the real world is any of the G20 nations a military threat to the UK. The real truth of the matter is that our spies – GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 – are themselves a large and highly influential interest block within the state. Lots of people make a great deal of money out of the security state, and this kind of activity is actually simply an excuse for taking money from taxpayers – which is from everyone who has ever bought anything – and giving that money to the “security industry”.
I do not view spying on other governments as quite as despicable as spying on ordinary citizens, which is an unspeakable betrayal of the purpose of government. Spying on other governments is a game they all play to extort money each to their own security elites. But I will say that spying on the South African government seems pretty low. Why?
Interception of diplomatic communications is plainly a gross breach of the Vienna Conventions, even if the forms of communication have changed since they were drafted. I have never studied the particulars of international law as they relate to spying, but it seems to me an area that in the modern world needs regulation. There must be room here for the UN to be involved in preparing a Convention to outlaw the interception of international communications, with recourse to the International Court of Justice for those victim of it.
There is more work for the UN on Syria. We should all be grateful that Russia is holding out against the very dubious western claims that the Syrian government has deployed chemical weapons. But while Obama can declare all the red lines he wishes, they do not give any country a right to take action on Syrian soil without UN authority. That needs to be restated, strongly. There is no basis at all for the continued and massive Israeli attacks on Syria – they are absolutely illegal. Israeli strikes have definitely killed more people than the alleged deaths from chemical weapons. Can someone explain to me why that is not a red line?
The UN Secretary General should be speaking out, and the UN Security Council should be meeting, to discuss the Israeli attacks on Syria. The system of international law has broken down irretrievably.
Should I be pinching myself?
G8 statement on Syria includes pledges to:
” Increase commitment to humanitarian aid.
“Maximize the diplomatic pressure” to bring all sides to the table as soon as possible.
Back a “transitional governing body” for Syria.
“Learn the lessons of Iraq” and maintain Syria’s public institutions.
Work together to “rid Syria of terrorists and extremists” — a new commitment by the G8, Cameron said.
Condemn the use of chemical weapons “by anyone” in Syria, and allow for a UN probe, also new Cameron said.
Support a new non-sectarian government in Syria. ”
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/06/18/g8-harper-cameron-putin-obama.html
Wouldn’t you just love to have been a fly on the wall?
How do we hold the rogues to it?
Goodnight All.
Does seem like a remarkably reasonable and balanced outcome, if a bit vague. I suspect it’s because Putin has pretty much hinted at World War Three if NATO tries to do a Libya in Syria (not that Putin is any great humanitarian or within a million miles of being one)
“There is no proof that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the G8 summit. Some of the G8 countries share this view, he added.”
(but he doesn’t name names)
http://rt.com/news/g8-assad-chemical-putin-885/
So the G8, including Putin, backs toppling the legitimate Syrian government?
This is a dangerous precedent. If Assad can be so easily shoved aside then Betty Windsor better watch out. There’ll be dancing in the streets of Stolen-land tonight.
“A situation which is now out of control”
http://www.leap2020.eu/GEAB-N-76-is-available-Alert-for-the-second-half-of-2013-Global-systemic-crisis-II-second-devastating-explosion-social_a14266.html
“Before you dismiss the possibility of a 90% drop in the stock market as unrealistic, consider Wiedemer’s credentials.”
http://www.moneynews.com/MKTNews/billionaires-dump-economist-stock/2012/08/29/id/450265?PROMO_CODE=1393F-1
Do read this interview with Assad by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. It is long but the clarity of his thinking and language illustrated within puts our lot in the shade. Compared to him, Hague is a like one of those concrete garden gnomes wearing a pointed red cap.
“We Will Always Be Independent and Free” President al-Assad
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35334.htm
~~
I see the Obama clan has now descended on Germany.
Obama may get different reception in Berlin than in ’08
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/06/18/obama-germany/2432583/
Michelle will visit this panorama created inside a converted gasometer with Merkel’s husband, Prof Sauer.
http://www.asisi.de/index.php?id=7&L=1#asisi_index_id_71
Pepe Escobar –
June 18 , 2013
Obama’s weapons-for-peace program
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-180613.html
Listen up, Obama, Cameron and the French bloke:
“Northern Ireland leaders to G8: Sending arms to Syria bad idea”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/northern-ireland-leaders-to-g8-sending-arms-to-syria-bad-idea/article12630904/
Assad link – thanks, June.
An intelligent man who has thought through the issues in detail and doesn’t evade questions. What’s he doing in charge? I begin to see why the shambolic oafs pretending to run this country are so scared of him.
So who is the Director of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which reports to the head of MI5?
Respected posters, do any of you know? 🙂
Israel as ‘Insight Vacations’ see it. No mention of Occupied Palestine.
http://www.insightvacations.com/uk/israel-discovery-2013
Obama is a walking disaster. Another clanger has been dropped.
19 June 2013 Last updated at 09:25
Afghanistan suspends talks after US-Taliban move
Afghanistan has suspended talks under way in Kabul on a bilateral security agreement with the US.
A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said the decision was taken in protest over inconsistencies in proposed US direct talks with the Taliban.
The row centres on the name given to the Taliban office, which opened in Qatar on Tuesday, the spokesman said.
US-Afghan talks are to determine the nature of US military presence after foreign troops withdraw in 2014.
“There is a contradiction between what the US government says and what it does regarding Afghanistan peace talks,” President Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi said.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22965046
Thanks for the revealing interview with Assad, June. The Golan is unprotected and Russia has volunteered to replace the previous UN contingent that has gone awol.
The Golan is a potential flash point as much as South Lebanon, but Sidon and Tripoli are already flaring up with sectarian strife, so who needs false flag events, a small incident can set the whole lot off.
From the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
“One of these lessons is that ignorance is the worst enemy of societies and forms the basis for extremism.”
Hats off to ARD for allowing us the chance to hear what “the enemy” thinks and make up our own minds.
And thanks June for the link.
(http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35334.htm)
Can anyone point me to a similar quality in-depth interview with a rebel leader or gulf state sponsor?
“There is a contradiction between what the US government says and what it does”
WHAT?
Good article on Syria, explaining what it’s all about, and why 100,000 have to die:
Same old. Same old.
“Qatar’s North Dome gas field, in the middle of the Persian Gulf, is one with Iran’s South Pars field, and together they constitute the largest gas field in the world. In 2011, Assad rejected an ultimatum from Qatar and instead agreed with Iran and Iraq to build a new Iran-Syria pipeline which would transfer natural gas to the Mediterranean from Iran’s South Pars natural gas field rather than Qatar’s North Dome.
(We should recall that similar challenges to American petrodollar hegemony were made by Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, with fatal consequences to them and their regimes.)”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-190613.html
“The United States has deployed 1,500 Marines with advanced arms and military equipment to Yemen, says a Yemeni military official …
The official also said that American forces usually enter the country in small groups, but the recent large deployment could be in preparation for a possible imminent incident in the region.
According to the Washington-based think tank, the New America Foundation, the US drone attacks in Yemen almost tripled in 2012.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/06/18/309593/us-deploys-1500-marines-to-yemen/
Craig: May I suggest Susan Lindauers book, of her time working in the UN, spying for the CIA around the 9/11 time and the subsequent invasion of Iraq.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Lindauer
HM Government e-petition
Save UK Justice
Responsible department: Ministry of Justice
The MOJ should not proceed with their plans to reduce access to justice by depriving citizens of legal aid or the right to representation by the Solicitor of their choice.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48628
Another seven thousand signatures will force a parliamentary debate.
Middle East Reality Check
MERC: Australia Post issues Israeli propaganda stamps
June 19, 2013
Editor’s note: Unbelievable is what comes to mind about this latest effort to conflate Australia’s Palestine Campaign with Israel. Not only is this a deliberate obfuscation of history – Israel didn’t even exist in 1917 – but it is insulting to the memory of Palestinians who were terrorised into leaving their city Beersheba when the newly-created Israel captured it in 1948 and who have never been allowed to return to their homes.
The Palestine Campaign of 1917 saw the celebrated charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade on the unsuspecting Turks. It was a battle that turned the tide of that campaign and led to the subsequent end of Ottoman rule in Palestine. Beersheba at the time had a population of some 4,000 Palestinians and was described by the New York Times of 1 November 1917 as an “ancient Palestine city, having much strategic value”. During the British Mandate, it remained an administrative centre providing work and services for the Palestinians living there. It was never intended to become part of Israel under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Gaza is barely 50 kilometres away from Beersheba and endured some of the heaviest fighting when ANZACs and Palestinian soldiers fought the Turks. Now, the Palestinians are prisoners of Israel – not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while a theme park has been set up in memory of the Australian soldiers in what Israel now calls Be’er Sheva. The Pratt Foundation in Australia commissioned a statue to commemorate what many regard as the most significant victory of Australian military history and our Governor-General travelled to Israel for the unveiling ceremony. The irony of it all is that the Israelis living there had for decades been totally ignorant of the site’s significance and wilfully neglected its heritage, so much so, that in 2008, the Australian government was forced to order an investigation after the precious water wells, which the Australian soldiers had so bravely fought to secure, were found to be in a shocking state of disrepair and a virtual rubbish tip.
War memorials everywhere show Palestine etched in stone. Graves in Gaza honour our soldiers. But even more telling, are the nearly six million Palestinians who live in that land under Israel’s brutal occupation and siege and some 5 million refugees who are waiting to return home. They will not forget. It will take more than Governor-Generals, statues and stamps to expunge the history and memories of the ANZAC-Palestine connection, try as Israel might.
You can take a stand by refusing to purchase these particular stamps.
(illustration of the stamps plus more editorial)
/..
http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/81892
Thanks Clark. I agree and have signed the petition. Soon all our liberties and freedoms will have been removed.
~~~
Legal aid cuts will drive out the best lawyers, supreme court president warns
Reforms may not produce significant savings as it would result in more unrepresented litigants and longer hearings, says Lord Neuberger
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/jun/18/legal-aid-cuts-supreme-court-president
I was no. 93,318 on that e-petition.
100,000 are needed for the compulsory debate.
HMG/MoD will not like this Supreme Court ruling. Large settlements will need to be paid. Get B. Liar to cough up.
Iraq damages cases: Supreme Court rules families can sue
Families of soldiers killed in Iraq can pursue damages against the government, the Supreme Court has ruled.
Legal action was brought by the relatives of three men killed by roadside bombs while in Snatch Land Rovers and of another killed while in a Challenger tank.
[..]
The families’ claims will now be able to proceed to trial to determine if the MoD owes damages.
BBC legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman said the judgement could set out the framework of legal obligations owed by the MoD to its servicemen and women the world over.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22967853#
Not at all O/T:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/22/israeli-american-company-to-drill-for-oil-in-occupied-golan-heights.html
In which we learn a little more of the politico-commercial conspiracy which would like to reduce Syria to rubble. And possibly why the Russians would like to be there, too.
I am just amazed at what Edward Snowden has claimed about who is, and what he has achieved by his actions, and what The Guardian, his mentor, is continuing to support.
Snowden has not disclosed anything really new to those who have kept up on the subject, especially reading James Bamford’s books on the NSA; his claiming now that the government will kill him while ignoring all those who were actually killed – what he originally alluded to is – just self-serving hyperbole; Obama has been President for well over four years, so Snowden’s claim that the release of documents was dependent on what the White House did is just more self-serving hype; his assurance that he will always have the public on his side is undermined about what the media and politicians are saying about his behavior; there are many more officials and politicians, besides former Vice President Cheney, who say that he is a traitor and can do something serious about it;: and his claim that he is not a Chinese spy is not convincing as Beijing certainly has the last word on whether he could really go there, and be welcomed.
The only thing that he said – what certainly should have been expanded by further questions but wasn’t – which was revealing were the data-mining difficulties that NSA had with private encryption systems – what Gareth Williams et al had such a problem with when hacking the lap tops of the Manhattan 11, but Snowden, of course, spared us of any role he may have had in the crucial process.
Afraid that Snowden, like Ellsberg and Wilileaks’ Julian Assange, is just engaged in a most limited hang-out which will only help his employers in the end,
Kompodo I somehow knew before I opened your link that it was going to be Genie, again. Jerusalem and now Golan. The name came up on a previous thread ref shale oil outside Jerusalem. Jonas with Directors Murdoch, Cheney, J Rothschild etc.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1220/focus-howard-jonas-idt-rupert-murdoch-cheney-not-just-business.html
http://www.jewishjournal.com/philanthropy/article/idts_ceo_jonas_not_a_typical_millionaire_20050128
Kibo Noh
19 Jun, 2013 – 12:36 am
Should I be pinching myself?
G8 statement on Syria includes pledges to:
Increase commitment to humanitarian aid.
[Aid for humanitarian disasters caused by western foreign policy]
Maximize the diplomatic pressure to bring all sides to the table as soon as possible.
BUT
Back a “transitional governing body” for Syria
[Which will exclude the Assad regime]
Learn the lessons of Iraq
[But not of Libya]
Work together to rid Syria of terrorists and extremists
[We have not been able to remove terrorists or extremists from Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya]
Condemn the use of chemical weapons “by anyone” in Syria
[Bravo! But the only side being accused by the west is Assad’s regime which, in my view, is not stupid enough to use chemical weapons]
…and allow for a UN probe
[The Assad government has asked for a UN probe]
Support a new non-sectarian government in Syria
[But not support for such a government in Saudi Arabia or even Israel (there has never been an Arab member of any Israeli government since its creation in 1948)]
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.
Edmund Burke
MPs will vote before UK arms Syrian rebels
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22965829
Syria: Arming the rebels
The labour leadership is against this action and although it will be a whipped vote there are detractors in the Labour party.
“Labour leader Ed Miliband last week asked Prime Minister David Cameron to confirm that “there will be a vote in this House on a substantive motion, in government time, with the recall of Parliament from recess if necessary”.
Cameron replied:
“I have always believed in allowing the House of Commons a say on all of these issues.”
“It was right when it came to Iraq. It was right when we made the decision to help the opposition in Libya, and it would be right in the future as well for that to happen.”
“Let me stress once again that we have made no decision to arm the rebels in Syria.”
A bit of history:
Afghan war
There was no vote in the commons
Iraq war
In 2003 Blair “won” backing for the Iraq war.
Two things wrong (a) the war had already started.
(b) the vote was whipped with both the Tory leadership and the Labour government pushing their MPs for the war.
Libya
Another whipped vote with both the Labour leadership and the Tory government in favour of intervention.
And back to Syria:
“Foreign Secretary William Hague has said the government would not take such action “against the will” of MPs.”
BUT he has stopped short of promising a vote on a substantive motion.”
In other words the vote will be NON-BINDING on the government.
Democracy in action!
Re the legal representation petition. Isn’t this just a bit of tidying up by our Lords and masters?
Seven hundred and ninety eight years ago Article 29 of the Magna Carter was written into English law.
“No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.”
In reality this comes from another time and another country. The early 21st century has seen a retrenchment to a pre Magna Carter state. Part of the debt we owe to “modernisers” like Bliar and his crew. I hope I live to see these true criminals answer for their deeds.
I’d like them to have legal representation. As for an appropriate sentence, I hope they not imprisoned at our expense. Rather I would like to see them serve a long stints of community service in, say, Fallujah.
The e petition currently has 93,455 signatures. Pretty close to the magic 100,000.
Please sign if you haven’t already.
In case you missed it here’s the petition link.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48628
Thanks Clark. (11 31am)