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.
Jon. Thanks. If there is a particular debate you think is a good example of discussion here, then very happy to receive a link/pointer etc.
Since i know defending the freedom of the internet is a subject dear to the heart of many here – perhaps some might wish to ask the question as to why the ISPs of suppossedly foreign donors to Navalny’s election campaign to be Moscow mayor were obtained and then passed to Vladimir Zhironvsky ( a fascist memeber of the State Duma) for further publicity (which was then passed on by RT and Dreolin on this forum). Puts Snowden’s revelations into some perspective I would say.
Anything our Western governments can do – Vlad P can do better so it seems. Much as some may hate this country at least we are free enough to complain and od something about it.
Barry Eisler; former CIA on Miranda detention
http://barryeisler.blogspot.com.br/2013/08/david-miranda-and-preclusion-of-privacy.html
Flaming June
I am still waiting for confrimation or otherwise as to whether the Stormfront posting was by yourself or someone else.
Hello RD!
Hope you are well and continuing to fight the good fight.
Myself , you and Habba will be accused of being the same person again. 🙂
@ MOD / JON
The comment from “James Mason” (22h34) makes me a little suspicious.
Such keen insights from someone brand new and who’s just looked backwards at a couple of pages on this thread? It’s a little too pat, isn’t it.
My wholly unworthy thought is that this might just be a sock-puppet, the aim of whose post is to “present” the offended reaction of a new and neutral reader and so to spur you into greater censorship efforts….
Just wonderin’
Wow, horrific racist comments from Mary there. 🙁
“Hard to disagree because that’s word salad. ”
You can’t argue with it because it’s true.
“Sovereignty is not a right at all but a responsibility of states.”
Isn’t that what I said?
John Goss earlier today raised the issue of UK prisoners being used as a cheap labour source – while I can see some arguments for those who commit crimes against our society having to make some payment back, I wonder if he is aware how in Russia it is pretty much the norm for conscript and prison labour to be used as a cheap labour source with the money going into the pcokets of senior military/prison officers. Again soomething that he will not find much comment on RT. Is he prepared to condemn that practice in Russia – or is he one of those former Labour Party members who used to drone on about how life was so much better in the Soviet Union which he knew because he regularly visited on his holidays. The last one I can remember was back in the early 1990s and he lost what credibility he had after the crushing of Solidarnosc.
@James Mason
They say if you sit an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters one of them will write the works of Shakespeare.
This blog represents what the other ones would write.
F.J. agreed. And your 9.58 comment is the reason why I am pro-Israeli and anti-Zionist.
“and occasionally having a post myself.”
More frequency would be great Jon. I know your time resource is limited, but if you could hang out more, you may find many pet topics could be increased. 🙂
@ RD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/23812276
Here we go again – protected species time is back.
One whine from Flaming June / Mary and the Moderator rushes to do her (implied but unspoken) bidding.
Will you delete some posts aimed against me if I whine as well?
And you couldn’t make it up – Saint Julian’s Wikileaks Party in Australia prefers fascists to grrens and social democrats
http://ausvotes2013.com/2013/08/18/the-wikileaks-party-lurches-to-the-right-preferences-fascists-mens-righters-and-gun-lovers-above-the-greens/
I await the apologia with great anticipation and not a few giggles.
Habbabkuk. I am joining what I hope will be a serious debate. I don’t know what a sock-puppet is, but it does not sound useful from the way you use the term. I’m interested in discussion. JM
RD,
His excuses where Edward Snowden and ‘over delegation’. 🙄
@James Mason: Well put some decent points out for discussion then, mate!
“Much as some may hate this country at least we are free enough to complain and od something about it.”
The former yes, the latter still has to be proved. As for ‘hating the country’ we are stuck with it, those who live here, and I still find the phrase emotionally curious. What is there to hate? The topography? Whether it would be better to live under Putin would depend on whether you went along with him or not. I would agree with you in that dissenting journalists living here don’t fear for their lives: on the other hand we have several examples of people jailed for years without trial, and the curious case of David Kelly (I think ‘curious’ is fair). On the whole of course the UK is a safer place to exist in: thanks largely to the vivacity of our unions, the strength of our developed legal system, and our local and general campaigning groups, and the fact that our police and army are expected to behave decently, whether they do or not (expectations are important). Whether it is a safer place if you live somewhere with oil resources/of geopolitical interest is debatable. How far does Iraq now resemble Chechnya?
You do have to admire Mary’s chutzpah at complaining about unprovoked attacks.
You couldn’t mark her neck with a blowtorch.
@ James Mason
“I am joining what I hope will be a serious debate.”
_____________
In which case, good luck.
Report back in a couple of months and let me know whether you’ve found any such. I’ll be waiting.
Alcanon on an earlier post asked for more on the case against Nationalism as a creed. Might I suggest that he read this by Orwell
http://orwell.ru/library/essays/nationalism/english/e_nat
It even has a few comments about Scottish nationalism – but its central point is how even the more behign forms of nationalism usually mutate into something far worse. You should also note that Orwell drew a sharp distinction between patriotism and nationalism (see the Lion and Unicorn – available on line just Google) and came down very hard on those ersatz leftists who made fun of patriotism and hated their country and more often than not ended up in bed with the totalitarian regimes of the time.
Glenn UK
Happy to do so but is the idea to have a thread to build on or wait for Craig to comment or just chip in. Sorry – new to this discussion place. I’m perfectly happy to offer my own thoughts but wish to respect others’ interests too. Otherwise people tend to turn off. JM
Jon; Cleanup on aisle 17. The children are painting with Nutella.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/23/julian-assange-s-political-party-implodes0.html
Habbabkuk. Please understand that I will not be among those answering. This is not me being impolite. I’d just rather discuss with people who have something to say about issue not people. JM
@James Mason: You might wait for a long time for the blog owner, which is why comments grow so large quite often.
After Craig Murray posts something, comments are usually more or less on topic for a page or so, then tend to drift. If you set down something worth discussing, you might find a number of posters will give you a good run for your money. Ignore anything you don’t like – it’s a free blog, after all. Start off briefly if you’re cautious, let’s hear what you’ve got to say.
Daily Beast is just another ‘shell’ company, like Politico or PuffHo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
RD “I await the apologia with great anticipation and not a few giggles.”
Confusing. Either you support the apparent support for the far-right, or you are surprised/shocked/saddened/disappointed by/resigned to it. In what universe is it amusing?
Technicolour
I would recommend reading Orwell’s Lion and the Unicorn – he makes the point that loving ones own country, and patriotism as he defines it, is about supporting the the decent traditions that have developed within our country – and I wholly agree that many of these have come about because of our ancestors in the labour movement. If you just reduce us to topography then you diminish all of that – there used to be a time when folk music was very popular in left wing circles.