The Respectability of Torture
St Mary’s University College, Thurs 1st August, 7.30pm
Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, was a whistleblower who was removed from his ambassadorial post by Tony Blair for exposing the Tashkent regime‟s use of rape and systematic torture, including the boiling to death of political opponents. He has also spoken out against Central Asia‟s appalling dictatorships, regimes which are allies of the West, involved in torture and rendition, and was accused of threatening MI6‟s relationship with the CIA. Now a human rights activist, author and broadcaster, he outlines the dynamics of torture and the hypocrisy of incriminated Western governments.
My first public appearance for a while will be in Belfast on 1 August where I shall be giving a talk. Long term readers of this blog will recall that, while my focus is largely on international affairs, the domestic political achievements I most hope to see are a united Ireland and an independent Scotland.
here are some snippets of German newspapers on the sentencing of Chelsea Manning.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-press-bradley-manning-sentence-brutal-and-draconian-a-917972.html
and this measure I was alluring to yesterday, a first in Europe, a determined step to stop discrimination,imho.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/third-gender-option-in-germany-a-small-step-for-intersex-recognition-a-917650.html
Jon, is mobile phone posting now next going to be on the banned list? Sure you’re not taking yourself too seriously. While ignoring my request to show me, as *you* asserted, that the tea-towel lady’s remark was actually provoked?
Jon, how about commenting on this second-hand human being’s remark too:
“Nevermind
23 Aug, 2013 – 12:22 pm
seconded Jon.
@ FJ. Far from Cameron turning red inside as well, his skin colour could mean that the condom was a little too tight for his size.
Should he have taken it off? was it the friction?”
Is he feeding into your sense of humour, since you don’t take to CE’s and no comment from you?
It didn’t take long for the gay friendly LBGT (Note in this none sexist shorthand, Lesbians come first, then less afflicted gays ie bicycle sexuals, then fully fledged gays (these have practised enough so they are proficient) and finally the transgenders) friendly “democracies” to start haranguing at the traitor Manning or traitor Chelsea Manning the deviant poof that he is, did it?
The daily mail responses form US are indeed a window to the empty and hollow imperative that are levelled as the signs of barbarism at the other gay unfriendly “regimes”. the lesson today; “don’t do as I do, do as I say”!
That is in addition to sending a poor chap for thirty five years into jail for release of the stuff that pilots had released on Ogrish.com already, but hey who cares about facts?
Bradley Manning’s story is a very sad one indeed and brings out all kinds of issues all at once. He/she deserves all the compassion in the world.
I still can’t get my head around the sex-elction aspect though, as he seemed to be a good-looking young man, short as he may be. Of course one doesn’t have the full medical/biological facts. Should anyone come across an incisive article that covers that together with the psychological aspects, it’ll be appreciated.
Meantime, I hope her decision arouses enough compassion for a Presidential pardon, though i realise that’s all wishful thinking.
A peace formula, one which is guaranteed to get the other persons attention, according to body language expert Dr. Lillian Glass and Jessica Winter, a writer.
Should we adopt this in a slightly altered version, Jon….;)
1. Stand quietly and lean forward slightly, hands loosely clasped in a faintly prayerful arrangement.
2.You will be in their peripheral vision, close enough that they can’t escape your presence, not so close that you’re crowding them.
3.You must keep your eyes fixed placidly on their face at all times.
4. Assemble your features in an understanding, even beatific expression.
5.Do not speak unless asked a question. Whenever they say anything, whether to you or other would be passengers, you must nod emphatically.
Apparently these are the rules to get the outside seat in a long distance haul, attention from the staff when queuing, our inner brontosaurus translated into a modern psychological basic communicative body language in five easy steps.
So next time you shoot off to the annual bulldog bash at Donnington, this is the simple formula to appear to be nice to rough souls.
Jon,
Does Dave Cameron often comment here too?
Come on Jon this is just getting ridiculous, you are getting a pop every time any of the “undesirables” comment now. How long is this state of affairs going to last? And why?
Another kindred soul who frequents such an auspicious, august gathering, man of taste and letters indeed! Bruv you OK!
CE 10.46am Glad you liked the photos of our ‘leader’. Would you agree that he looked like a Mafia spiv with the slicked back hair?
Nothing to say on the US cluster bomb sale to our friends in the ME, the Saudis? No probably not.
Passerby, I don’t find CE at all an “undesirable”. I’ve read some very productive and interesting comments from him/her, as it happens. But, surely, if someone appears to want to make a point, then actually setting out what they do think, rather than making dismissive remarks, would be more fruitful. Do you not agree, as someone who frequently takes part in the debates here?
CE, I apologise if my remarks sounded unfriendly. Everyone is welcome to post here (even Habbabkuk ;)).
Now, if that Cameron bloke wants to have his say…
Hague speaks of the concerns of a ‘humane and civilised world’ as he hypes up the war war atmosphere against Preaident Assad. This is the man who became a ‘tory’ aetatis 15, a Zionist supporter one year later, voted for the Iraq war which killed 1 million souls, made homeless, refugee, widow or orphan 4 million more, and then did the same to Libya creating another turmoil. Unbelievable chutzpah from the man with the forked tongue.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23812398
@Fred 9:46.
Sovereignty does in fact have a legal definition as specified in the “Implementing the Responsibility to Protect.” Sovereignty is responsibility, to quote UN Secretary-General Moon. Specific responsibilities are defined in, “as a minimum,” the International Bill of Human Rights, The UN Charter, and the Rome Statute. That means that every people has a clear path to sovereignty: accede to those instruments and build your new state on them. That’s the path that the Palestinians are taking. That’s what Scotland will have to do, and it will be particularly effective at a time when the UK is shitting on those documents.
Re the state broadcaster and tonight’s broadcast of the Prom with Nigel Kennedy and the Palestine Strings.
Although the schedules show World News at 7.00 pm we learn that Nigel Kennedy’s Prom concert with the Palestine Strings will be broadcast on BBC Four this evening from 7pm.
The BBC has confirmed that it will edit out the following comments, made by Nigel during the concert: “Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s a bit facile to say it but we all know from experiencing this night of music tonight, that given equality, and getting rid of apartheid, gives a beautiful chance for amazing things to happen.”
Apparently there will be interviews with the young musicians – possibly at 7 pm, with the concert at 7.30.
PSC is asking people to ring the BBC switchboard, either before, during or after the concert, to express their opinion on this edit, this is the number:
BBC Switchboard for complaints: 03700 100 222
Or you can make a complaint online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
Further details of the censorship: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/amena-saleem/speech-groups-slam-bbc-over-nigel-kennedy-censorship
~~~~
The Palestinian people in their torment will hear of this and will have the name of Baroness Deech firmly fixed in their minds. She led the campaign for this censorship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Deech,_Baroness_Deech
Jon said;
You misconstrue, “undesirables” are my good-self, FJ, Nevermind, et al, or anyone who basically is not socking up to the current status qua, and keeps on mentioning Palestinians.
I hope this clarifies the earlier remark, which was in respect to Dave Cameron wearing an all body condom, which I believe is a very good precaution, after all the gene pool need not be too degraded. We already have enough of the low iq inbred population.
I’ve certainly been slagged and piled-on by the local members of a conservative blog. Intolerance is part of their persona. They are reactionary and intransigent in their ideology. That’s the definition of conservative; miserly and mired in the past.
Can anyone imagine our nazguls defending one of us as vociferously as they themselves receive succor?
Passerby, thanks and apologies – I’m probably reading too quickly :p
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/08/23-1
If Snowden or Greenwald didn’t leak the info, who did?
Strikingly, the Independent’s reporting caused Glenn Greenwald, the journalist behind much of the reporting so far on the NSA documents, to question publicly how the newspaper received the information contained in its ‘exclusive.’ At the Guardian on Friday morning, Greenwald wrote:
This is the first time the Independent has published any revelations purportedly from the NSA documents, and it’s the type of disclosure which journalists working directly with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have thus far avoided.
That leads to the obvious question: who is the source for this disclosure?
The indication, it seems, was that following the recent detention of Greenwald’s partner David Miranda at Heathrow Airport and the confiscation of his electronic equipment–widely believed to contain at least portions of the information provided by Snowden–that it may was the government itself who leaked portions of that information to the Independent.
Cheap labour prisons in the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CySzoJFkTA8
What these prisons amount to are forced labour camps and the prisoners, because they are cheaper, are doing the unemployed market out of potential jobs. The prisoners will have no jobs when they come out (if they come out) because all the jobs will be done in prison. With so many innocent people in US prisons this is the thin end of the wedge. With no effective Social Security the unemployed will resort to crime, end up in prison and work for next to nothing. Coming soon to Britain.
Just a reminder on the thoughts of the author of the Churchill biography that Capofamiglia Dave was reading on the beach.
Nice type.
Pocket journalism: Telegraph hack Con Coughlin goes into bat for torture
In the early days of the Iraq war, Telegraph columnist Con Coughlin was famously obliging in disseminating the bogus claims of the US and UK governments about Weapons of Mass Destruction and a supposed link between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
When the focus of US “public diplomacy” switched towards the clamour for military action in Iran, Coughlin was equally helpful in promoting unsubstantiated claims about a link between Al Qaeda and the Iranian government.
Amid growing evidence that many of the false (yet politically useful) intelligence claims used to justify the Iraq war came from confessions extracted through torture, one might think that Coughlin, and the Telegraph, would now treat the assertions of the security services with a little more scepticism.
Instead, Coughlin seems to have gone the other way, cautioning Barack Obama not to “pick a fight with Dick Cheney”, asserting, without offering any evidence, that “We know that at least two major terrorist attacks against the UK were avoided thanks to vital intelligence provided to MI6 and MI5 by the CIA”, and suggesting that “There are always two sides to a story”.
“Are interrogation methods like waterboarding justified if they save lives”, Coughlin asks, “or should we respect the detainees’ human rights, thereby enabling the terror attacks to take place and claim innocent lives? I know which option I’d go for.”
http://richardwilsonauthor.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/pocket-journalism-telegraph-columnist-con-coughlin-goes-into-bat-for-torture/
“CE, I apologise if my remarks sounded unfriendly. Everyone is welcome to post here (even Habbabkuk 😉 ).”
__________________
Wow, that’s quite an endorsement! Thank you!
At the risk of sounding immodest, I should go further and say that not only are my posts welcome (and beneficial) but they are also essential. After all, they help the Eminences vent their spleen and forget for a moment their total lack of influence and leverage over what happens in the real world – and all free of charge! If I didn’t exist, they’d have to invent me!
Hague’s either a liar or an idiot. The “rebels” in Syria have been reduced to a few small areas; the UN inspectors are in the country. So Assad is going to risk everything by gassing thousands of civilians?
Do me a favour.
Let us remember this, before it was disappeared from the Daily Mail’s archive:
http://www.theblackvault.com/m/news/view/U-S-backed-plan-to-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-on-Syria-and-blame-it-on-Assad-s-regime#.Uhd9e46UCL9
http://www.laweekly.com/2013-08-22/news/michael-hastings-crash/
He wanted to borrow a car because he felt his had been tampered with.
No offence perceived or taken Jon, but yes I was skiving! 😉
I don’t think there’s much debate to be had with those who offer such mind numbing simplistic views points as the one I highlighted. Mockery is the order of the day, imo.
Mary, I tend not to read your links anyway, especially celebrity encounters in the Daily Heil, but each to their own. Maybe you should consider a subscription to Heat magazine?
Unlike you I’m a live and let live kinda guy.
Mike,
“Hague’s either a liar or an idiot.”
Both surely?
Habbabkuk,
“At the risk of sounding immodest, I should go further and say that not only are my posts welcome (and beneficial) but they are also essential.”
And you wonder why so many here think you a pompous oaf?
Heh; Modesty is conservatives is a vice.
Ben,
Thanks for the link.
There is no doubt in my mind that Hastings would’ve been under intense and deliberately intimidating surveillance.
Car tampering and helicopters?
They’d also have been gaslighting him,no doubt also.
Standard operating procedure for spooks wanting to get to a guy.
Habby argues that her posts:
“help the Eminences vent their spleen and forget for a moment their total lack of influence and leverage over what happens in the real world”
I think you’d probably need to visit the real world now and again to see the real changes that are talking place.
Not so long ago, for example, your main schtick was to blindly acccuse everyone here of being conspiracy nuts, but clearly as the evidence of a vast western conpiracy against its populace emerges, your position is much less tenable.
Look at this article from the BBC:
“”I know that some people in the world would like to say that this is some kind of conspiracy brought about by the opposition in Syria,” said Mr Hague.
“I think the chances of that are vanishingly small and so we do believe that this is a chemical attack by the Assad regime.””
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23812398
So, Hague is actually engaging with the false flag narrative. A while back such a notion would have been dismissed with hilarity and conttempt.
It’s no longer enough to get fatty Aaronovich into the studio to giggle and guffaw in buffoonish fashion.
A while back I saw Bill Clinton plead with an Amerrican audience that 911 was not a false flag.
I’m sure there are numerous other examples, though even one example is enough to make the point.
What that means, habby, is that despite their best efforts, elites are losing control of the narrative, they know it and are having to engage with alternative explanations for their conduct.
That’s quite an achievement, in the circumstances.
Ben despite the fact that you are from US I am beginning to appropriate your sense of humour buddy.
Fedup; not withstanding my editing skills?
Jives; It’s always a trickle, rather than a stream. Maybe that’s because it takes time to absorb.