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.
Habby
“I would also take bets that while Ecuador has had fun tweaking Uncle Sam’s and the UK govt’s noses JA will be rendered (to the UK authorities) sooner than people think.”
Ahhhh. Will the Americans be threatening someone with terror, or will they go the route of international law?
Only habby knows
Disclosing the funding that buys WMD and supports genocide in Syria:
http://english.irib.ir/news/middle-east/item/116150-saudi-prince-bandar-meets-mi6-chief-on-syria
We do not forget; We do not forgive; Expect us…
In response to one of those rare commitments to unequivocal responses from Habby, let me say:
” Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Habby
Res Diss hasn’t done a good job of anything other than raising suspicions that he’s not what he claims.
I’ve asked a simple question about his own stated view and he’s chosen not to answer it.
Much like your tactics, in fact.
Thankfully, you’ve now so little credibility left that your views are irrelevant.
Let’s see how Mr Mason gets on.
Herbie; i don’t think it’s fair to tarnish RD. He answers questions honestly, I believe.
As to habby…..go crazy. Not an honest bone in his invertebrate body.
Ben, on direct democracy, we’ve had some rather good discussions about that here in the past. If you get a moment, read this old thread from an excellent occasional contributor, Evgueni, who is a strong advocate of I&R, the Swiss model. (Read forward, but if you wish, read backwards for a discussion about various economic models; I recall finding that a very interesting exchange at the time).
At the time I gave him a rather hard time of it, citing worries about granting the far right access to power. But I think he persuaded me, in time – it is substantially better than what we have. Someone else here suggested that electoral support for fascism could reduce anyway under DD, since extremism requires substantial disenfranchisement in order to grow.
Ben
“Herbie; i don’t think it’s fair to tarnish RD. He answers questions honestly, I believe.”
Unfortunately he’s not answering a simple question about his own stated view.
Habby has been in distracting on his behalf.
Herbie; It could be a miscommunication one of you is missing.
“Habby has been in distracting on his behalf.”
‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend” or wtte. I don’t see RD ‘high-fiving’ in the manner of Anon and CE. Give him a chance.
It’s a comedy. US Senator #1: “No need wait for UN report. All social media coming out of Syria indicates it was Assad regime not rebels. President must act.”
So now the military might of the USA is at the disposal of which side mounts the best Twitter/Facebook campaign?
Sen. #1 Contd: “… not UN, Russia will block. Maybe Nato. Cruise missiles, crater runways, destroy air force, ammo and fuel. Congress should vote when they return from vacation.”
Sen. #2: “Can’t wait for Congress. Just like Bosnia. President must act now. Congress can assent when it returns.”
Wouldn’t want to interrupt Congressional ho and blow partays. If I’d vacuumed the carpet I’d be ROTFLMFAO. There is still a slight hope for humankind; other channel had movie with dogs singing Nessun Dorma. Only slightly less funny than propaganda.
Jon; I was able to read salient points on EV’s post, but am leaving for an appt. Tomorrow?
@ Res Diss. 12 37pm
“…your accusations against me are baseless.”
WTF? Can you help me find the alleged accusations, cos I don’t recall them. I simply pointed out that Lyndon Johnson’s old ”Let’s make the bastard deny it.” trick seemed to have been used against FJ.
Since you spent a good part of yesterday demanding that FJ admit or deny the vile anti-semitic stuff posted in her name on Stormfront, maybe you could explain how you got to put yourself in that position.
……………..
@Villager. 1 58pm
”What is your point to me, you petty little propagandist?
Such flattery! I’m beginning to think you are losing your head a little over me. Though I’m deeply moved, I have to remind you that I’ve been promised to Komodo since April. I’m afraid he’s twice the reptile you are, despite his odoriferous breath, and would eat you for breakfast (literally) if he caught you as much as making eyes in my direction. Besides, he thinks with his own brain, that’s a trait I like in a lizard.
Back to my point to you. It was this.
Whoever acted to create the illusion that Flaming June was posting anti-semitic bullshit on Nazi websites are liars and of a low moral standing.
I think you need to explain how pointing this out indicates that my attitude is ”…“the root cause of most war and misery in this world.” You keep telling us you go in for deep Krishnamurtish stuff and maybe that’s why I just don’t get the thinking behind that one. Can you clarify the logical steps behind that gem please cos it’s lost on me.
It’s good to know you think I have power but don’t you think you are taking me a tad too seriously?
……………
Meanwhile, while we are focusing on this stuff, entertaining as it may be, real flesh and blood people are being shot at, blown apart and terrorised by forces supported by the taxes we pay. Now that’s important.
yep, what Sophia said, and more.
So what are we going to do about it?
I can call Central Office?
Sofia i’m beginning to wonder if villager is the more Clever of the ” it ” bunch because It seamlessly holds actual discussions on here. then turns all shithead asshole.
if there are Two villager’s Jon can we have something done about that,
Anyway Sofia
Fucking ACE post @ 12;19pm
Herbie great stuff @ 4; 55pm
NOW THEN
Not my Pet Area BUT, Maybe Someone can Dig a little, I’m too Sleepy eyed the noo. Flaming June Hope you are over that wee bit of illness,
The Treasury official playing the bankers’ secret End Game was Larry Summers. Today, Summers is Barack Obama’s leading choice for Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, the world’s central bank. If the confidential memo is authentic, then Summers shouldn’t be serving on the Fed, he should be serving hard time in some dungeon reserved for the criminally insane of the finance world.
The memo is authentic.
I had to fly to Geneva to get confirmation and wangle a meeting with the Secretary General of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy. Lamy, the Generalissimo of Globalisation, told me,
“The WTO was not created as some dark cabal of multinationals secretly cooking plots against the people… We don’t have cigar-smoking, rich, crazy bankers negotiating.”
Then I showed him the memo.
It begins with Larry Summers’ flunky, Timothy Geithner, reminding his boss to call the Bank bigshots to order their lobbyist armies to march:
“As we enter the end-game of the WTO financial services negotiations, I believe it would be a good idea for you to touch base with the CEOs…”
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo
@Brian. 12 58am
Thanks.
Re the Rev Villager, I think there’s only one. And I think his MO is “…exploitation of weaknesses caused by inducing cognitive dissonance in targets…” as detailed here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance#Social_engineering
As for Summers, yes, he ”shouldn’t be serving on the Fed, he should be serving hard time in some dungeon reserved for the criminally insane of the finance world.”
Goodnight all.
Guano re “The purpose of these trolls is solely to praise the status quo with pathetic statements like: “the West’s imperfect democracies are the least worst I have seen in history””
Surely Jon is not so innocent as not to be aware that this blog, with its wide influence, would attract the attention of professional “narrators”. But methinks Habba Hoffman & Co are just a bunch of amateur sayanim engaged in a sing-along like they do at HuffPoand other blogs.
The easy way to break up their virtual conga and chosen hubris is simply to remind them it was not only the Pope of Rome who kept “SILENT”, all their continued chicanery (including 911 and “decapitation” murders around the world eg Kennedy) is just leading to yet another fireworks show by Mr “Silent” CausenEffect. But will they heed?
Des Res
I know your wind-up alarm clock memory only lasts for 24 hours, but do you not recall events in Libya where 800 tonnes of bombs were dropped on the civilian population, followed by mass revenge reprisal massacres, followed by the confiscation of Libya’s entire oil resources and the installation of an Islamic junta with mob rule?
Instead of asking which country has done better than the UK, you should be sitting in sackcloth and ashes about the terror that has been done in our name. The UK started the Syria war, allowed it to rage unchecked so that Israel could grab its water resources unchallenged. The UK government are slaves to Israel.
I don’t know any other country that has placed itself so completely at the disposal of Zionist rape, pillage and murder than ours.
If this was my blog I would simply eradicate the persistent trolls/Zionist shills, Habbabkuk, Resident Dissident and similar.
The main purpose of this blog is to expose the truth behind the numbskulls lies of MSM and government. The purpose of the trolls is to disrupt the blog with inane canned applause for the corrupt status quo.
@ MOD/JON
“Habbabkuk, deleted the post you made just now. I should be most grateful if you would spend less time persistently throwing mud at individuals, and more time writing constructive posts responding to actual issues. Thanks.”
________________________
re persistent mud-slinging, cf. the various posts about me and Resident Dissident overnight and early this morning 🙂
nb – not a call for deletion! Just remarkin’, as one of the Eminences would say.
I suppose that Krishnamurphy is Hasbarista?
Not that it matters, of course. Just wonderin’
OK so I will raise an actual current issue, may even end up being a trigger for WW3 !!
A timely & topical propaganda “1300 nerve gassed dead” incident within 45 minute sight of the UN Inspection teams high rise hotel balcony in central Damascus could only have been carried out by
1) a Comical Shlomo propagandist, who is known for his complete disrespect for non-chosen intelligence or
2) by a Comical Ali propagandist, who is now known for his taste of curried lung or
3) was a joint venture between the above two or
4) by Assad, to warn the world by way of a video released BEFORE the incident on YouTube, what he is capable of?!!
Any punters?
Thanks Jon but I disagree. In the absence of action to eliminate the presence of the trolls from this blog, I am out of it. They have been tolerated, given space, communicate with each other and are even communicated with by other posters. The blog has become a laughing stock. This is not sour grapes just a long held observation and I think many will concur.
Regards. I know your task is thankless and Craig’s absences do not help.
Res Des, I made it clear a few days back that I am no longer engaging with the “shower of shills” but you ought to be quite clear that when I say I am against racism it applies the same to Russia’s rounding up and encampment of minority ethnicities as it does Israel’s mistreatment and alienation of Palestinians, its illegal bombing of Syrians and its support for the racist US, whose Guantanamo Bay, together with the illegal torture and illegal imprisonment perpetrated there, overshadows the evil of Russia’s racist segregation, though both are wrong as I’m sure as a fellow anti-racist you will agree. Having said that I still do not intend to engage over this, but hope it clarifies the misguided opinion you appear to have of me.
So, Washington tells us a UN inspection of alleged chemical weapons attack site in Damascus would be “too late to be credible”. Well, they know all about credibility in these matters, don’t they?
As for the poor UN inspectors, bearing in mind what happened to David Kelly and Scott Ritter, they know all about the likely consequences of drawing the “wrong” conclusions.
“Il est dangereux d’avoir raison en des matières sur lesquelles les autorités ont tort.”
Voltaire (seems like he was born for these times!)
@ Chris Jones 25 Aug, 2013 – 7:01 pm
“The big question is should Hague and Cameron be allowed prison uniforms or should they only be allowed one pair of Y Fronts and a string vest in the publically viewable prison?”
Their panties must be seized and they stand for inspection nekkid as was done to Manning.
@ fedup 25 Aug, 2013 – 11:10 pm
“Did cocaine use by bankers cause the global financial crisis? Coked-up bankers caused the credit crunch, according to the former drug tsar David Nutt.”
I believe it. Never associated with banksters, but bad experiences working with coke heads. Arrogant, delusions of grandeur, eventually paranoid. Good stuff for working 72 hours straight, as is meth. There was a recent death of a young bankster, who did a 72 hour shift. Not saying it was drugs, could be excess energy drinks and arrhythmia.
Our leadership is surely on coke. They’re craycray, like the longest serving criminal, Bronson, we discussed above. Appoint him warden of Guantanamo and ship the lot there.
Anyone aware of this? Courtesy of a DM reader: “You WONT be so flippant once you realise that YOUR FAMILY be in the front line of the fight. At this very moment there is an MP`s DRAFT MEMBERS BILL due for its 2nd reading in the House of Commons during the first week of September (put forward by MP Philip Hollobone) & which if it gets through WILL BRING BACK `NATIONAL SERVICE` in the UK. Its 1st reading on 24-June 2013 slipped unnoticed by most Brits.”
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2013-14/nationalservice.html
That would concentrate the minds of elites, if it put their precious offspring in danger, but expect they’ll find some exemption.
“According to Reuters, they overwhelmingly oppose it, even after news of an alleged chemical attack against Syrian civilians last week. Reuters reported that “about 60 percent of Americans surveyed said the United States should not intervene in Syria’s civil war, while just 9 percent thought President Barack Obama should act.”
Readers’ comments on main media sites are heavily opposed (90-95%) to any military action in Syria. That may change once govt. workers arrive at their desks and are ordered to spend some time commenting. Oddly, what I could find of the far left and right, none feature stories or comments on Syria. Maybe they’re waiting for their respective leaderships to give them instructions.
Courtesy of a Washington Post reader: “… the famous Winston Churchill who used chemical weapons on arabs 100 years ago” Winston S. Churchill: departmental minute (Churchill papers: 16/16) 12 May 1919 War Office
“I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare. It is sheer affectation to lacerate a man with the poisonous fragment of a bursting shell and to boggle at making his eyes water by means of lachrymatory gas.”
And Guano quite right at 6.57 a.m. However I hope you will join me in ignoring Des Res, Habbabkuk, Villager et al because their objectives are to disrupt mostly by denigrating people and ascribing to them personality traits of the decent people who comment here.
Please dont go ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-l5FyA3pgo
But you are right it almost like being forced to watch the 5 dancing shlomos in the NY Car Park on 911, jubilantly holding up a gas lighter against an about to collapse WTC2. All filmed for the mossad archives, I dare say,they have their home video of USS Liberty and a zapruder uncut version too.
Herbie
The overall answer to the questions are simple – they are my views and judgements about a whole load of events, tendencies, the current state of affairs which in many cases individually point to different answers. The fact that you think that it would be a simple thing to demonstrate does rather suggest you believe that the answers should be derived from a simple analysis of one or two issues – and past behaviour would suggest that you would seek to nit pick my analysis in those areas in a rather illogical attempt to prove the superiority of your own world view.
So given it is so straightforward and you are quite happy to misrepresent what I have said – might I suggest you go first with your analysis as to how the anwser to the questions are derived.
@Flaming June. 8 19am
In the absence of action to eliminate the presence of the trolls from this blog, I am out of it.
Given the pressure you have been under, especially the recent Stormfront trick, I can understand your decision. But I do feel sad that these threads will lose a mighty contributer.
I recognise that Jon has an impossible and thankless task moderating this bag of cats (Thanks Jon) but think it is important too to give the conformity enforcers and disrupters plenty of rope. No fair-minded person who sees their antics can have any doubt about what it is they seek to do, or how spectacularly they fail most of the time.
I want to thank you for all your tireless digging and fetching all those mountains of material which have certainly educated me. You will be missed. Maybe you’ll reconsider.
All the best.