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.
Article 8 bis
Crime of aggression
1. For the purpose of this Statute, “crime of aggression” means the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, “act of aggression” means the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations. Any of the following acts, regardless of a declaration of war, shall, in accordance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, qualify as an act of aggression:
(a) The invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State, or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another State or part thereof;
(b) Bombardment by the armed forces of a State against the territory of another State or the use of any weapons by a State against the territory of another State;
(c) The blockade of the ports or coasts of a State by the armed forces of another State;
(d) An attack by the armed forces of a State on the land, sea or air forces, or marine and air fleets of another State;
(e) The use of armed forces of one State which are within the territory of another State with the agreement of the receiving State, in contravention of the conditions provided for in the agreement or any extension of their presence in such territory beyond the termination of the agreement;
(f) The action of a State in allowing its territory, which it has placed at the disposal of another State, to be used by that other State for perpetrating an act of aggression against a third State;
(g) The sending by or on behalf of a State of armed bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out acts of armed force against another State of such gravity as to amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial involvement therein.
Best of all, with aggression defined, criminal heads of state can be charged with aggression – not yet in the ICC, but in universal jurisdiction or special tribunals, because aggressors and their victims now understand that war is a crime. Eventually, Obama is going to share a cell in Scheveningen with Bibi and they’ll be playing Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Doug Scorgie, at 7:51pm, today.
It seems pretty clear and logical that Israel wants to reduce Iranian power in the region, maintain its overwhelming regional military hegemony.
It wants rid of Hezbollah, a political (Shia) Islamist paramilitary which twice inflicted ignominious assymetrical defeat on Israel. Hizbollah harries its northern frontier and reduces its ability to leverage power in Lebanon. Syria treats Lebanon as its economic sponge (Syria sponges off Lebanon) and client-state and Hizbollah (Iran’s proxy, so Syria’s ally) effectively rules Lebanon.
Israel generally has aimed at establishing what it sees as necessary clientelist buffer-zones b/w it and its neighbours (think of the South Lebanon Army and Israel’s perennial aim to exert control through proxies as far north as the Litani River).
Israel often allies itself with Islamists and Jihadists – it helped to found Hamas and is a de facto ally of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, for example – what it really does not want is a peaceful civil resistance movement in Palestine; it has always gone out of its way to crush any such developments at birth. And of course, Israel successfully has maneouvred itself into a political and military position such that the USA (meaning the political class and military-intelligence nexus of the USA) now regards Israel and the USA as having identical strategic goals.
Silence surrounds uk domestic terrorism! The badger war hots up:
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/766066
Glenn_uk
27 Aug, 2013 – 2:05 am
Curiously your above comment fell back just that one post from being at the top of this page this morning to the last comment on the previous page. Which can only mean that a deletion occurred without any trace or comment from Jon. Curious.
Suffice it to say that you know where i stand on censorship and further, I agree with your comment to Mary. I did on several occasions counsel her to keep her head under the parapet so to speak, i.e. not make unprovoked ‘tea-towel’ type of comments. But she is a combative commenter and a poor sport when the shoe was on the other foot, or even when there were a legitimate rebuke.
I am surprised there is so little comment/debate here, in the company of leading revolutionaries, as regards something as fundamental as the subject of free speech. But thank you for taking the lead. One can’t know, but I think Jon’s somewhat careless deletions spoilt Mary unwittingly and lead to her believing in her ‘protected’ status. When Jon’s tough love visited her she decided to throw her toys out of the pram. I do wish she would engage you in your comment but like you I doubt she’s ready for it yet.
Her remark “They have been tolerated, given space, communicate with each other and are even communicated with by other posters.” will go down in the record as an unfortunate classic.
@ Doug Scorgie
““If anything, the Israelis would like Assad to stay.”
Can you please give your reasons for that view Habbabkuk?”
_______________________-
Not to you, Doug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“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?”
_______________
Yes, I do. My thought is : No, it couldn’t be because of that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope that answers you satisfactorily, Doug 🙂 now post something a little bit more serious, there’s a good chap.
The cryptos Milliband and Wellby will display their true colours now. The gaju alliance across all parties had enough votes to tweak the Universal Jurisdiction legislation to allow war criminal tzipi livny (daughter of irgun terrorist eitan livny) into the country without any challenge. To pass a war resolution should not therefore be a problem. As a payback we might just have Oscar Wildes birthday declared a National Gay Pride public holiday,wearing of pink carnations on lapels also mandated by law !
I, for one, do not object when a subject of greater immediate concern takes precedence.
Reserve currency takes a backseat to most discussions, but when the thread is barely respirating it’s a form of resuscitation. What nuance to suggest there is some elbowing going on. Most of us are actually civilized beyond a superficial and contrived politeness some use to hide their inner nazgul.
Villager 27 Aug, 2013 – 8:52 pm
“I am surprised there is so little comment/debate here, in the company of leading revolutionaries, as regards something as fundamental as the subject of free speech.”
That is bleeding funny. Villager, you are confused. You mistake free speech with the right of self-important, patronising bastards to endlessly repeat the same old whining shit.
@ Mike
“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.”
_________________
That might well be, but what I really wanted to do was to thank you for providing further evidence, through your post, for the point I was making in mine. That simple point being that a large number of commenters much prefer to speculate, prognosticate, conspiracy-theorize, prophecy doom and destruction and simply rant – on the basis, of course, of zero ‘real’ knowledge or expertise – rather than to engage in informative, reasoned discussion.
And having said that, I’d like to return (WW3 round the corner or not) to reserve currencies and all that.
I have three questions
1/. Is one of the arguments that a basket reserve currency would be less susceptible to any manipulation of one of its constituent currencies by the country concerned? If it is, then I’d think you were correct.
2/. Someone – Herbie, I think – was saying that work was ongoing on a “western” and an “eastern” basket reserve currency? Can you say anything further on that, or perhaps point me to some relevant links if it would take up too much space on here?
3/. Can you see any disadvantage (practical or other) in the use of a basket unit as a (or the) reserve currency?
Many thanks.
“That simple point being that a large number of commenters much prefer to speculate, prognosticate, conspiracy-theorize, prophecy doom and destruction and simply rant – on the basis, of course, of zero ‘real’ knowledge or expertise – rather than to engage in informative, reasoned discussion.”
Fascinating analysis. Now if you could just provide a list of the large number of posters and the substantiation for your claim they would rather “speculate, prognosticate, conspiracy-theorize, prophecy doom and destruction and simply rant’ on a case-by-case, then you can demonstrate your knowledge and expertise and be worthy of an informative, reasoned discussion.
Bwahahahahahaha, madofs wife in Judge Chins court now defending her statement “of having to pay for his security out of her own funds”. Falsehood comes naturally to these devils, they genuinely become indignant and even think its true – we should really be discussing reserve currency for Gods sake !! Bwahahahahahaha, dershowitz is fallen into the trap of satisfycing and he doesnt even know it !
After your little errand, return and i’m sure we can manage a few words on your pet subject, but your list and cites must be comprehensive, so nothing less than 5000 words will qualify for making your pet the object of this blog.
We are about to competely destroy another country.
We are going to bomb the Syrian people in order to save them. Anyone who beleives the nonsense about ‘precision bombing’ and ‘military targets’ is delusional and has been since 1990 and those obscene pictures of bombs going down chimneys and cruise missiles shooting along the streets. We will have an awesome display of military prowess with self-important, loud-mouthed commentators and ‘experts’ discussing the whole thing as though it were a war-game.
These fucking psychopaths are up to their fishwife diplomacy yet again, and are targeting the Syrians this time around; for a “little bit of bombing”! This is in line with shagining a virgin a little bit, and making a woman a little bit pregnant!
These fuckwits, are bent on going for all or bust, the only question remains, will Russians and Chinese wimp out and let the psychos to have a free run? Or will they set up their stall and deal in the same currency as the psychotic fuckwits who have been raining shit on the planet for the last thirteen years?
We all know Gulf of Tonkin, Afghan Taliban and 9/11, Iraqi WMD, all contrived trumped charges and stories for expansionist fuckwits bent on dealing death, and more deaths, so we know that the Syrian “Chemical” attacks are in line with these stories. This is just a pretext for further attacks and bloodshed in the way of securing the Ponzi scheme from imploding.
What will Russian and China do?
Ex-french foreign minister claims he was invited to join a plan to attack syria two years ago at a party in london.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeyRwFHR8WY
“Ex-french foreign minister claims he was invited to join a plan to attack syria two years ago at a party in london.”
I can beat that, by a long way.
http://scriptonitedaily.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/us-general-wesley-clark-war-on-syria-planned-in-1991-as-part-of-middle-east-land-grab/
“What will Russian and China do?” Fedup.
Nothing.
Russia’s/USSR’s focus has always been its borders, so, something like the Georgia situation, it will act, but wrt the Middle East, it never has, not really, not in 1956, 1967 or 1973. It did nothing over Iraq, Libya…
China is interested in doing business, building its economy. It does not involve itself directly in foreign adventures.
So, they will do nothing.
Syria will become another Iraq, but this time, the Saudi proxies, not the Iranian ones, will rule the roost. That, of course, is the aim. Meanwhile, the Kurds of Syria are being ‘ethically cleansed’ (i.e. massacred and raped) by the Saudi/UAE stormtrooping Brownshirts and the survivors, sent to Iraqi Kurdistan. Divide-and-rule.
[insert appropriate four-letter word here]
I dunno Suhayl; Putin is full or ‘roid rage and testosterone is in there too. I think the bloviation on Syria must have some follow-through, or his political capital will dissolve.
What do you think he’ll do, Ben? Russia no longer has a monopoly on gas supplies to Europe, its economy is weak and infested with, defined by, institutional mafiosi and militarily it is absolutely no match for NATO. In any case, it would not risk WW3 over Syria. I predict that the Russian base at Tartus will be evacuated as the Jihadists approach and/or once NATO flattens the country. Iraq was the test.
Fedup 27 Aug, 2013 – 9:31 pm
“What will Russian and China do?”
Possibly nothing. Is it too crazy to mention the possibility that the deal was struck a while back, barter being preferable to a war with the west. Perhaps business trumps ideology.
The encirclement of Russia is nearly over, and China doing business is not a proposition for the Chinese to hang onto whilst their access to the energy supplies is getting more and more restricted.
The situation is not about politics but about survival, the death of thousand cuts and gradual move towards the ultimate showdown between the untethered lunatics in the Western Capitals, and China. Only a fool cannot see this coming, thus the question remains, will the fighting start when the “Nato” forces are just miles away from Moscow, or Beijing? Or will the pre-emptive war will start in Syria?
Phil, at 10:03pm, yes, it’s possible. But even if a deal wasn’t struck, they (NATO et al) can do whatever they want, whenever they want. Next stop, Iran.
“Or will they set up their stall and deal in the same currency as the psychotic fuckwits who have been raining shit on the planet for the last thirteen years?”
Isn’t it longer than 13 years? I feel dating the beginning of this process to the bombing and invasion of Afghanistan (if that is what you mean, Fedup) lends credence to the notion that 9/11 was a unique threshold moment and not merely a response (a very dramatic one admittedly)to events that preceded and provoked it. The 1991 war is possibly a better starting point as it brought the physical presence of western military into the region in a major overt way. You might also argue that ‘shit was raining on the planet’ courtesy of Saddam’s deployment of western armaments on Iran in the decade before. Of course, one can also argue that it all started long before that…
For me, Mark Curtis’s publications have been very informative in this respect.
Only my second ever post (first was a get well message for Craig during his last bout of ill health) – probably as what is happening now seems so depressingly and sickeningly inevitable. And one can’t escape a feeling of utter helplessness. God protect those about to be the innocent victims of this ‘humanitarian intervention’….
“… the untethered lunatics in the Western Capitals, and China. Only a fool cannot see this coming, thus the question remains, will the fighting start when the “Nato” forces are just miles away from Moscow, or Beijing?” Fedup, l0:08pm today at.
Yes, you’re right, they are untethered lunatics. And the fight – if it comes – will come only when Moscow burns, not over Iraq/Libya/Syria/Iran. The aim is to destroy China, break it into pieces.
There is no idealogical debate any longer. This is about competition sand the market share of the competitors. The last time it was Germans versus the Brits, there was no idealogical divide, then.
Barter? Why when they have their own nukes? China has been suckered into buying the US debt, there should be a cut off, point of Chinese creditors backing the drunk Yankee gamblers.
“Westerners are behaving as monkey holding a grenade” is the Russian’s take on the current situation unfolding in the West in their haste to attack Syria.
“What do you think he’ll do, Ben?”
Russia still has some Naval operational ability with over 60 submarines. Saber-rattling is not out the question, and we all know how dangerous the close proximity to US ships can be.
It’s a tinderbox. The only hope is that Obama will blink as Khrushchev did. I’m not saying this is likely scenario. I just don’t think Putin survives doing nothing, and that’s not an option for him.
“Next stop, Iran”
Then…China.
Russia will go in to a partnership with the USA, as a junior partner. Please remember who rules Russia, the NeoCon Oligarchs!, the deal is already done, just squabbling over their share of the spoils, minor problems that will soon be overcome!!!.
Agreed, Ben Franklin. It all depends where the line gets drawn: at Beijing/Moscow or Damascus/Tehran. The more encircled and constrained Russia/China become, the weaker. Empire has come a long way since the Six-Day War. Perhaps the deciding military challenge to it has to come now or it never will.