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.
“Haven’t heard a peep, though Bill is all for lobbing missiles.”
Ah! The Clintons. Death follows them like a shadow.
I recently found out that three of the four ATF agents killed in Waco, Texas (incidentally, where the US used poisonous gas on it own people) during the Clinton administration were all fromer Clinton bodyguards. Apparently there is a video which shows 4 ATF agents climbing into the building through a window abd then shortly after another agent empty’s an M16 magezine through the same window.
http://www.textfiles.com/conspiracy/kisdeath.txt
5566hh 27 Aug, 2013 – 10:05 am
In that document Iran takes the blame for all the problems in the Middle East that have been directly caused by the US/UK/Israel axis, in fact the pre-amble even blames Iran for the failure of the Israeli/Palestinian peace process.
‘The most important and obvious advantage of mounting an invasion of Iran is that it would “solve” all of Washington’s current problems with Tehran.’
These peoples make such sweeping and unrealistic predictions about the consequences of military action that they have to be totally insane, and to think that these people are moulding US foreign policy, and therefore NATO policy, and therefore UK policy is beyond scary.
Resident Dissident 26 Aug, 2013 – 10:16 pm
“Phil Asset backed securities aka as CDOs”
Ok thanks. I have a real basic grasp of CDOs and derivatives but was not familiar with the term ABS. I also have a really basic, possibly too simplistic, reservation about markets. Here is my devastating analysis:
Efficient markets require that people are rational to achieve the correct value. However, people are not rational. And thus market economics is a pile of babble built on a basic misconception about human behaiviour.
Then there are the economists. Theirs is an industry of straw. They have their schools, their opinions paraded as science, all of which are actually useless at analysing and predicting markets. Monkeys cannot write shakespeare but it appears monkeys outperform economists when dishing out investment advice.
Phile wrote, “Then there are the economists. Theirs is an industry of straw. They have their schools, their opinions paraded as science, all of which are actually useless at analysing and predicting markets. Monkeys cannot write shakespeare but it appears monkeys outperform economists when dishing out investment advice.”
Heh… reminds me of the old saying that God invented economists to stop the astrologers from looking so bad. Here’s quite a good article on economists from a couple of years back (but no less relevant today):
Economists ‘blind to reality’
Some of us are sick about our governments lying through their teeth and taking us into unnecessary wars on false premises. We are the aggressors and as a taxpayer I cannot condone this action. My money should not be used to fund military action particularly without proof of wrongdoing. If anybody has used chemical weapons in Syria it is almost certainly the Zionists as a false flag to involve the US and UK in support of Israel’s long-term aims.
They deliberately arranged this incident while parliament was in recess to make it easier to take action without parliamentary approval. Even though parliament is being reconvened it will not be properly debated. We are so sick!
John Goss 27 Aug, 2013 – 3:00 pm
“My money should not be used to fund military action particularly without proof of wrongdoing.”
Forget the wrongdoing caveat. My money should not be used to fund military action. It makes no difference if gas has been used or not in syria. This whole R2P [sic] doctrine is bullshit cover for empire.
Phil 27 Aug, 2013 – 3:08 pm. Glad you said it! It is all about Empire. While I agree with you Phil I used ‘proof of wrongdoing’ to carry others who might be ready yet again to support our government in intervention in another country’s affairs. I must write to my MP and suggest all other decent people do the same. Steve McCabe supported the War in Iraq. I want to try and make sure he does not do the same again.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
“Scotland in Crisis under Tory Union : Conditions so bad, Citizens Advice publish Survival Guide for Scots with no money & no food”
http://scottishlaw.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/scotland-in-crisis-under-tory-union.html
John Goss 27 Aug, 2013 – 3:18 pm
“I must write to my MP…”
One minister or other (I was half asleep so not sure who) was asked about this on r4 earlier. He would not commit to recalling parliament nor honouring any opinion expressed by parliament.
I recall brown when waiting to be annointed said he would remove the ability of the pm to single handedly take the country to war. Of course he didn’t do it. It was just lip service in his campaign to denigrate blair.
There is too little in common between the promises and actions of politicians.
What gas was used? Doesn’t seem to be sarin….the mystery of who did what continues. Joe Cannon has some good info.
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/
Get your letter off john, parliament is recalled for thursday. Although I promised myself I would never do it again I will fire an email off to kate hoey.
@ John Goss 27 Aug, 2013 – 3:00 pm
“They deliberately arranged this incident while parliament was in recess to make it easier to take action without parliamentary approval. Even though parliament is being reconvened it will not be properly debated. We are so sick!”
As US SecState Kerry said, “It is a moral outrage”. Oh wait, he was referring to something else.
Same in US, they’re desperate to get this done before Congress returns from vaccay, the voters too, and approval drops to 4.5%.
The bi-partisan roadshow of Sen. Corker(R) and Rep. Engle (D) that is pushing mightily for military action:
“Congressional action isn’t an urgent priority for Engel. “I do agree with Senator Corker that I think Congress needs to be involved, but perhaps not initially,” he said. “Perhaps the president could start and then Congress needs to resolve it and assent to it.”
How democracy really works. What would Congress do? Refuse assent after the fact and tap the president on the nose with a newspaper, “Bad president, bad president.”
“How democracy really works. What would Congress do? Refuse assent after the fact and tap the president on the nose with a newspaper, “Bad president, bad president.”
Kerry playing Colin Powell. Everyone (nearly) assumes Assad is the source because Assad is such a dictator/asshole he must be guilty, and if he’s not, well he’s an asshole. Let the festivities begin.
So the Eton posh boy and the Drone King (Be seein’ you) are going to start World War 3. At least we’ll know who to blame.
Here’s the skinny:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/08/25/transparent-hoax-could-lead-to-war/
Why hasn’t James Clapper been arrested?
Syria: This is one reason why an independent Scotland needs to be out of NATO.
Here’s Max Hastings, not a man with whose views I often agree. He’s coming from a conservative, establishment point-of-view. In this article from The Daily Mail, he’s not questioning who fired the chemical weapons, but he is questioning going to war and is excoriating of Cameron:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2402329/Immature-advisers-moral-indignation-folly-wading-bloody-morass.html
Suhayl; His rhetoric borders on libertarianism. There is roughly two camps. The righties who disdain public assistance of nearly any stripe but hold civil liberties dear; Left libertarians who demand social justice as well.
An imperfect alliance might create enough dust to resist the Authoritarians (of which there are Legion) with the fiscal insanity of War. Odd bedfellows, but could work.
Ben
Check out this Dude here –
Chemical and biological weapons researcher Jean Pascal Zanders said that the footage appears to show victims of asphyxiation, which is not consistent with the use of mustard gas or the nerve agents VX or sarin:
I’m deliberately not using the term chemical weapons here,” he said, adding that the use of “industrial toxicants” was a more likely explanation.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/08/is-u-s-launching-a-war-in-syria-to-distract-from-spying-and-other-scandals.html
And here
just saw images from a hospital, where a lot of people wearing surgical masks attend to people having infusions, on BBC World. Sana-Syria has published pictures.
My quick take on these developments:
I am not convinced that the footage and pictures I have seen prove a CW attack;
There are no images of the site of the attack; just of some affected people. These people do not show outward symptoms of a CW attack. Definitely not mustard; definitely not a nerve agent.
There are far too many people, including non-medical staff, around the affected persons. Apart from a surgical mask, nobody wears any protective garment or gas masks. If there would have been a CW attack with one of the agents known (or believed) to be in Syria’s arsenal, then most of the people present would have been fatally or seriously contaminated.
I am deeply sceptical of allegations that the insurgents would have resorted to CW. There would have far greater propaganda benefits if they were to demonstrate to the world that they had overrun one of the storage or production facilities. In addition, insurgent spokespersons were very quick to deny the government allegation.
Regarding a case of a transfer to (and, hence, use by) surrogates of the Syrian government, I have already expressed my views on such a scenario.
Present-day battlefields are extremely toxic. Many materials may be propelled into the air and inhaled by bystanders. If some (toxic) chemical container were hit by a shell, then bystanders could be badly affected, as we have seen in a variety of recent internal conflicts (former Yugoslavia; Sri Lanka; Iraq; etc.). Bhopal reminds us of the large-scale effects of an industrial accident. Any investigation of the allegation must first exclude plausible alternative explanations.
Possible developments I do worry about include:
Is the Syrian government allegation the type of statement often heard in the past to justify ‘retaliatory’ chemical attacks? If so, the next days and weeks may become very nasty indeed. Not just because of chemical warfare, but also because of the various red lines Western states, and the US in particular, have drawn if such an escalation with CW were to take place.
Why has Moscow confirmed the Syrian allegation so quickly and in such strong words? What is the motive behind this? Just contradicting the West again? If not, why is it so tied to Bashar al-Assad? What can it gain from this position? Of course, Syria got most of the technology and expertise to set up and run its CW programme from the former Soviet Union. Did the former head of the Soviet CBW forces, Anatoly Kuntsevich, not die on his return from Syria in 2003? Furthermore, if Syria were ever to become a party to the CWC, it would have to declare the origins of its CW programme. Whatever we wish to believe, it potentially sets up Moscow against any country that might intervene militarily because of CW use.
In three weeks time the States Parties to the CWC will convene for the 3rd Review Conference. Confirmation of the allegations or escalation described in the bullets above would have a most serious impact on the proceedings.
Anyway, this is just a quick take on an unfolding story. I am sure to follow up if anything further happens.
About these ads
.
http://armscontrollaw.com/2013/03/19/chemical-warfare-allegations-in-syria-an-initial-assessment/
Brian; I’m trying to see the strategy…the Big Pic. What if Syria is a way to draw in Russia? If Russia is a growing threat and the cold war, even after the Soviet collapse, was seen as a failure because the old animus provided motivation for the Bear to reinvent itself, would it be better to confront before the transformation was complete?
Iran would collapse. China is preoccupied with internal issues. Just a thought.
Too many unemployed folk. The population needs culled.
Brian; That Armscontrol story is from March of this year. It sounds as though written today.
Yes Ben that’s from an earlier incident, was reading that too quickly, Cheers for pointing that out.
The first Comment from Jean Pascal Zanders, is deffo regarding the most recent attack. Thing is, he at least is an expert, unlike the the war monger Shits determined to rain yet more Bombs on innocent’s … i reckon Armscontrol is a site worth poping into now n then though
I thought that was your intent, Brian. It’s almost prophetic.
Ben, at 5:20pm, yes, interesting, thanks.
“Lord West, the former first sea lord, urged diplomacy before military aggression and was among those worried that the west could find itself sucked into a vortex of violence in the region. He said the first move should be determining who launched the chemical weapons and, if it was Assad, there should be a UN resolution condemning the head of state for using them against his own people.”
A surprise to me, coming from the pops of Alex West of Murdoch’s UK Sun. Maybe the fruit fell far from the tree? [Sorry, it’s a bit of a personal grudge, Alex pre-framing yobs n chavs on scant evidence. Murdered kittens, rewards, etc.]
NR @ 10;10 am Thanks
Ben..From an interview with Assad yesterday –
Page one of Three –
MOSCOW – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Western claims his regime used chemical weapons were an “insult to common sense” and warned the United States it faced failure if it attacked, in an interview with a Russian newspaper published Monday.
Assad told pro-Kremlin daily Izvestia in an extensive interview that Syria would never be a “puppet” of the West and said Washington had never succeeded in reaching its political aims through war.
“The comments (accusing the regime of using chemical weapons) made by politicians in the West and other countries are an insult to common sense… It is nonsense,” Assad said.
Assad accused the United States of first making the accusations that his regime used chemical weapons in an attack outside Damascus that activists say killed hundreds, and only later starting to look for proof.
He said the front line in the area where the incident took place was not clear and the Syrian regime would have risked killing its own army forces if it used chemical weapons.
“This contradicts elementary logic,” Assad said.
“Such accusations are completely political and the reason for them is a number of victories by the government forces against the terrorists.”
He said it is “not us but our enemies who are using chemical weapons.”
http://news.asiaone.com/news/world/assad-warns-us-failure-if-it-attacks-syria?page=0%2C0
@ various posters :
The last 24 hours or so seem to offer a good example of what is so often wrong with this blog.
We were having what I thought was a rather good and informative discussion on reserve currencies and various closely related matters which brought out some interesting and relevant points of view. The subject matter was, if I may say so, of considerable (and practical)interest to every one of us and I don’t just mean people frequenting this blog.
But the objectivity and substance evident in both the posts and the subject matter were obviously not to the taste of some. Or perhaps they didn’t think it was very important.
Opening shots came from Mr Golding at 22h00 and NR at 22h15 (“Back to Syrian war propaganda”, followed by a longish post on Syria). The discussion on reserve currencies, etc, nevertheless managed to carry on to 23h13, when patience snapped and we were treated, in rapid succession, to the following by a number of posters who could stand no more of the frivolity engaged in by Herbie, Ben Franklin, Resident Dissident, etc :
John Goss (23h17) : “This is what you should be worried about” (followed by stuff on Syria)
Mr Golding (23h53) : “Hi John – while others pontificate and tell fortunes, the world turns nuclear..” (followed by stuff on Syria)
John Goss, in reply (00h03): “These worrying times are no time to be engaging those who are on Craig’s blog to disrupt..”
And after that we have been treated to almost nothing except Syria.
Now, of course, everyone’s free to post what he wants and nobody is obliged to carry on a previous mini-thread. But the above shows, doesn’t it, how weak the desire for “discussion” and “debate” really is when set against the temptation of a good rant about the US and the West (with more than a dash of Israel, bien sûr!) and the chance to vent (again!) various pet theories of a pseudo-geopolitical nature.
(And I shall not speculate on how much more disruption from yesterday evening’s economic discussion there would have been if the Frequent Poster were still active… 🙂 )
OMG – The Synagogue of Satan thinks we should be discussing reserve currency when WW3 may just erupt anytime, started by israeli supplied sarin gas to rebels on the ground just 15km from where a UN Inspection team is based!! Assad would have to be as stupid and as far removed from the truth as a habba “We were having what I thought was a rather good and informative discussion on reserve currencies” to gas 1300 people 15km away from a UN inspector team on standby. Sheesh, these devils with chosen delusions really think we are dumb cattle, only a course of prolonged anorexia will cure them of the madness !
“Sources in Iran and Syria has advised this observers that they expect the US bombing to commence within 72 hours.” [quote from the article to which I ahve linked below]
Thursday night, to be precise.
The Israeli so-called intelligence (for which, read probable fabrication – hink: Colin Powell’s childish presnetation to the UN Security Council, 10 years ago but with ‘crack cocaine’) will be presented to the UK Parliament and to the US politicians and they will authorise war, as increasingly, they always seem to do.
And the reliable sheep, some promised lucrative sinecures in telephone calls being made right at this moment, will nod their heads, safe in the knowledge that after all, it’s just more dead [what they would regards as] ‘wogs’. And please don’t insult my intelligence by telling me that, as in Iraq in the spring of 2003, they, in a reprise of the ‘White Man’s Burden’, are doing it to “save” [what they would regard as] ‘wogs’. They’re doing it for strategic advantage agisnt Iran-Russia-China (and for the sinecures).
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/27/forcing-obama-into-prolonged-syrian-war/
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)
26 Aug, 2013 – 3:50 pm
“If anything, the Israelis would like Assad to stay.”
Can you please give your reasons for that view Habbabkuk?
“So why should Israel suddenly want to get rid of him now?”
Could it be because the US/UK/Israel has decided on regime change, as a prelude to future destabilisation of Iran and eventual regime change there?
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Hmm. Reserve currencies, Habbabkuk. Well, if the brakes come off this snowball (I’m talking now about that little local difficulty in Syria) then I think that a reserve currency will be the least of our worries.
To put it another way, if Russia and Iran stick to their guns, then any edible food that you can scavenge might serve as a viable mode of exchange, once the Cs137 dust settles. Or perhaps you think that militarism and economics are entirely separate?
Here’s the play, in order of battle: Syria gets hit. Iran hits Israel. Israel hits back (with nukes). Russia hits Israel. US hits Russia. Game over.
It all depends on Russia. Why? Because I think Obama and Netanyahu are fucking psychopaths. Putin isn’t.