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.
Anything that’s amassing is on the other side of the country, rather than the south. Turkish and Syrian troop movements nearer to their respective borders, the siting of Patriots on the behest of NATO, all points to a northern flagration.
troops amasing in Syria
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/29/223384.html
This will be additional to a southern attack/false flag, provocation of sorts by our Muslim brotherhood and Al Nusra friends and then some, as some troops seemingly have become ‘free’ as MNF-1, the remnants of NATO’s multinational force has to leave Iraq by 31.July 2013.
And just to ensure that we know who is putting pressure on for radical action in the middle east and the biggest bully of all, this from Derfner
http://972mag.com/defending-israel-down-to-the-last-drop-of-israeli-blood/36370/
Twitter’s UK Manager Tony Wang responds on the abusive messaging.
http://blog.uk.twitter.com/2013/08/our-commitment.html
and
https://twitter.com/TonyW
Stella Creasey MP is not very impressed with the response.
“Yep, the government media outlet is the BBC. Don’t you guys ever watch it?”
I don’t have a TV myself.
I saw their Power of Nightmares documentaries on the net.
An excellent essay on the duplicity of B.Liar.
Tony Blair: Libya, Lockerbie, Arms and Betrayals
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/08/tony-blair-libya-lockerbie-arms-and-betrayals-2/
well, except, and I hereby correct myself, the 180.000 still left in Iraq, have been reprieved by the devil Bolton himself, for another year.
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=4147
Congratulations to President Rouhani of Iran, starting in his job today, his first few words setting out a more transparent and trusting agenda.
http://www.platts.com/news-feature/2013/oil/iran/index
The response is crucial, because Iran wants to see sanctions dismantled one by one. They are also adamant that they will not stop their research and enrichment. Now contrast this with the rabid responses of nuking desert locations, just that little bit away from inhabited area’s in Iran, with a cynical inevitability thrown in for good measure. Hard liner’s in Israel are calling the shots and it is inevitable that for change to happen these attitudes have to be tackled head on.
Their views are not acceptable! And the shady ‘Macher’ fanatics, who are always there to fan the paranoia, spread some fear and loathing in this rogue country, to manage and direct its electorate, have done this for decades, an escalating fact, not something anybody has control over, not the US, NATO or the UN.
So what is to be done? follow thy mad psychopath into global Armageddon? or set out condition on the back of the current peace talks between Palestinians and a belligerent Israeli Government which can not be broken.
Aye Fedup
just a couple of years ago i caught up on the horrific u.s. uk war crimes in Dresden
“You guys burnt the place down, turned it into a single column of flame. More people died there in the firestorm, in that one big flame, than died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.” –Kurt Vonnegut, J
On the evening of February 13, 1945, an orgy of genocide and barbarism began against a defenseless German city, one of the greatest cultural centers of northern Europe. Within less than 14 hours not only was it reduced to flaming ruins, but an estimated one-third of its inhabitants, possibly as many as a half a million, had perished in what was the worst single event massacre of all time.
The death toll was staggering. The full extent of the Dresden Holocaust can be more readily grasped if one considers that well over 250,000 — possibly as many as a half a million — persons died within a 14-hour period, whereas estimates of those who died at Hiroshima range from 90,000 to 140,000
If ever there was a war crime, then certainly the Dresden Holocaust ranks as the most sordid one of all time.
AND THE Hamburg Fireboming
On July 24, 9PM the allies bombed Hamburg with high explosive, incendiary, phosphorous and napalm bombs. The resulting firestorm was so powerful that buildings would have flames reaching over 20 feet high.
‘With hurricane force, 150 mile per-hour winds were sucked into the oxygen vacuum created by the fire, ripping trees out by their roots, collapsing buildings, pulling children out of their mothers’ arms. Twenty square miles of the city centre burned in an inferno that would rage for nine full days. … The temperature in the firestorm reached 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit. There was no oxygen to breathe; whatever was flammable burst spontaneously into flame.’
Air Vice Marshall Harris stated, “In spite of all that happened at Hamburg, bombing proved a relatively humane method … there is no proof that most casualties were women and children.” German records indicate, however, that 29,000 of those killed were women (21k) and children (8k), the other 13,000 were men.
Yeah, Brian. Dresden was a war crime. It was pure revenge. General Curtis LeMay get credit for that and complicity in the murder of JFK along with Dulles et al.
“The full extent of the Dresden Holocaust can be more readily grasped if one considers that well over 250,000 — possibly as many as a half a million — persons died within a 14-hour period”
According to Wiki:
“In March 1945, the Nazi regime ordered its press to publish a falsified casualty figure of 200,000 for the Dresden raids, and death toll estimates as high as 500,000 have been given. However the city authorities at the time estimated no more than 25,000 victims, a figure which subsequent investigations, including one commissioned by the city council in 2010, support.”
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II
http://www.dresden.de/media/pdf/infoblaetter/Historikerkommission_Dresden1945_Abschlussbericht_V1_14a.pdf
[Mod/Jon: Anon, please stick to one handle]
Evil Bastards were at it in North Korea too
Besides rape, the Pentagon was firebombing North Korean cities more intensively than any of those it firebombed during World War II. Where it was typical for U.S. bombing to destroy between 40 and 50 percent of a city in that war, the destruction rate in North Korea was much higher: Shin Eui Ju, on the Chinese border, 95 percent destroyed; Pyongyang, 85 percent; and Hamhung, an industrial city, 80 percent.”By the end of 1951, there weren’t many bombing targets left in North Korea.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-korean-war-the-unknown-war-the-coverup-of-us-war-crimes/23742
“Yeah, Brian. Dresden was a war crime. It was pure revenge.”
It was seen as a crime by the people of Britain at the time, airmen who served in Bomber Command were not given campaign medals.
It wasn’t pure revenge, we were fighting a war, it’s just that by this time it wasn’t Germany we were fighting it was Russia.
Thank you Brian Fujisan for reminding people of the madness of Bomber Harris and the futility of mass bombing as a political tool.
My home city of Hamburg was turned to rubble, providing young nevermind with bricks to clean by the thousands, it was a far better option than to play amongst the rats a foot long. That he lost thousands of his airmen because of his policy did never enter his mind, nor did the fire bombing of Hamburg or Dresden. My granddad wept when he was shooting at the aircraft, he told me so, his words were ‘like shooting at chickens in a cage’.
When he saw the aircraft flying overhead and made visible by powerful lights and their own ‘christmas trees’ phosphorous bombs falling on the City.
Hamburg has had some targets, U boat bunkers at Blohm and Voss and Howald, but they were mostly located around the harbour, why Barmbek, a part of Hamburg was bombed, when there was sweet FA, a purely civilian area is inexplicable and callous.
The Madness that is war
Peres’ 90th Birthday ZBC tribute.
I did not see it. Switched off guessing what it would be like. John Hilley on Medialens links it here.
Newsnight on Peres ‘the dove’
Posted by John Hilley on August 3, 2013, 11:11 am
A truly grovelling piece from the appalling Lyse Doucet, celebrating the Zionist veteran and indulging the ‘Peres peace persona’.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b037yp9q/Newsnight_02_08_2013/ (20.25 in)
Classic BBC hagiography.
Anon, you’re welcome to give a serious answer to my post, addressing the points I raised, if you wish to join in.
16 arrests by Sussex Police at Balcombe. Egan of Cuadrilla is allowed to give out the propaganda.
Balcombe oil drill protesters arrested
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-23471136
Cuadrilla is not some one bit oil drilling company. It is part of a global conglomeration of AJ Lucas a giant Australian company involved in pipelines, drilling and engineering construction.
http://www.lucas.com.au/
and Riverstone LLC a private equity outfit involved in power and energy supply.
http://www.riverstonellc.com/
“Chevron wins access to some Americans’ email data”
http://money.msn.com/now/post–chevron-wins-access-to-some-americans-email-data
Pickles was once a director of the Conservative Party Foundation Ltd. – Functionaries, chairman, treasurers, donors etc.
http://companycheck.co.uk/company/05289086/THE-CONSERVATIVE-PARTY-FOUNDATION-LIMITED/directors-shareholders#people
See Mark Bamford there, brother of the recently ennobled Sir Anthony Bamford, donor.
http://unlockdemocracy.org.uk/blog/entry/donor-of-the-week-jcb-and-the-bamford-brothers
The list of new Tory peers which takes the total number of peers to over 800 is below.
•Richard Balfe – former MEP and Conservative Party Envoy to the Trade Unions and Cooperative movement
•Sir Anthony Bamford DL – Chairman and Managing Director of JCB
•Nicholas Bourne – former Leader of the Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales
•Matthew Carrington – former Conservative MP
•Daniel Finkelstein OBE – Associate Editor of The Times and former Head of Policy for the Conservative party
•Annabel Goldie DL MSP – Conservative Member of the Scottish Parliament; former Leader of the Scottish Conservatives
•Lady (Fiona) Hodgson CBE – campaigner on women’s issues; senior member of the Conservative voluntary Party; former Chairman of the Conservative Women’s Organisation
•Christopher (Chris) Holmes MBE – former Paralympic swimmer; Director of Paralympic Integration at London 2012; Non-Executive Director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission; and a former Non-Executive Director of the Disability Rights Commission
•John Horam – former MP; Conservative representative on the Electoral Commission
•Howard Leigh – senior corporate finance professional; Conservative Party Treasurer; former Chairman and current President of Westminster Synagogue; former Trustee of Jewish Care and current Chairman of Jewish Care’s Business Group; Trustee of the Jerusalem Foundation in the UK
•Dame Lucy Neville-Rolfe CMG – former senior civil servant, including Number 10 Policy Unit; former leading Executive at Tesco Plc
•Sir Stephen Sherbourne – longstanding political career in Westminster and public affairs, including former Political Secretary to the then Prime Minister (Margaret Thatcher), and former Chief of Staff to the then Leader of the Opposition (Michael Howard)
•Michael (Mike) Whitby – Conservative Councillor in Birmingham; former Leader of Birmingham City Council
•Susan Williams – former Councillor and Leader of Trafford Council
Brian, DPRK people suffered a great deal, during the MacArthur onslaught on the “commies”. There are too many mass graves of the prisoners of war who were shot dead and buried in the roadside graves the numbers of which to date are not known. Too often the blood thirsty bastards glorify the filthy business of murder and destruction, as some kin of a fucking achievement.
Nevermind, having seen the Trümmerfrau statue in the mid town square in Dresden and having heard the fact that men were all killed, and the city had to be built by the women whom were left. The horror stories of rapes, hunger, and desolate hopelessness, which were the currency in Dresden of 1945, were all too much for my companion whom had to stop and walk away and compose herself, for her to come back and guide me to Frauenkirche. During that visit Frauenkirche was still left as it was a bombed out shell, although these days the church is rebuilt.
@ Fedup
“The horror stories of rapes, hunger, and desolate hopelessness, which were the currency in Dresden of 1945,..”
______________
Shhhhh! The rapes were carried out by Russian, not American soldiers. Don’t spoil the narrative, there’s a good Eminence!
re new peers :
could the frequent poster (20h38) please let us have a list of the new Labour and LibDem peers as well, please?
thank you!
@ Someone
Seeing your post just now reminded me : have to taken any steps (as suggested by me) to follow up on the case of Mr Alex Cline?
You know, the university lecturer who has apparently been charged with insulting behaviour for shouting “coward” at the local Tory MP?
You posted on this affair a few days ago and seemed very indignant.
Any developments? Have the magistrates pronounced?
There was a discussion earlier about competition and/or cooperation and their relative merits.
There’s quite a good presentation here of how these things work in practise:
http://www.vice.com/read/michael-sandel-interview
Remember back when CIA sprung the honey trap on Petraeus, and everybody was fixated on the slapstick image of the little shrimp stubbing his diminutive John Thomas on the steely, hirsute loins of Zionazi warrior princess Paula Broadwell?
One tidbit of Broadwell’s pillow talk was pretty great, but it sank without a ripple in all the clownish lust. Broadwell let drop that Bengazi was a covert detention site. Given that disappearance is a per se breach of the Convention Against Torture, Obama’s enemy-of-all-mankind rap sheet now includes, not just acquiescence to torture, in breach of Article 1; not mere refusal to investigate, in Breach of Article 12; we now have President Obama implicated, as head of the US civilian-military command structure, in perpetuating the crime against humanity of the US government torture gulag.
The petty criminals are ratting out the big fish, and CIA is panicking. Just in time for review by the Committee Against Torture.
Craig’s talk might turn out to be quite timely.
Fred; I really don’t have a dog in this hunt.
My impression wrt WWII History was that Dresden was payback to the German public for the opinion of the bloodiest and most psychopathic military minds, was that they were largely supportive of the policies, or at least enabled. Those flinty foreheads won the debate on whether to destroy a non-military target. It was in fact, a symbol of pride to Germany for it’s architecture and artful culture.
They unleashed an an ungodly tonnage of incendiary creating firestorms within the city which were the match of Hiroshima in fury and atavistic pride.
@ Flaming June.
Excellent Blair article there, worth reading. Truly the man is a case study, he never ceases to amaze. I wish I were alive in 100 years (if humanity still exists) to see the release of classified material relating to one Tony B. Liar. I’m sure it’s fascinating. I wonder how many British PM’s in history have had a classifiable mental illness? I’ve no idea what Blair’s problems are, though it’s clear they are very serious indeed, but I suspect our beloved securitat (who protect us, thanks) have covered up for more than one PM. In the national interest old boy, of course.
And the not-invasion of LIbya remains one of the most bizarre episodes in UK history; I still don’t understand why we did it. Capitalist Deals, most likely. The editors of Pravda probably now think they didn’t go far enough …
@Brendan
the truth will out sooner than you think – a Charles Lynton aka Miranda was found importuning in a Bow Street public toilet and easily recruited by the CIA, they even paid for his college banger. Whilst wishing not to enter the cause n effect, I can foresee a new phenomenon, akin to a citizens arrest. a citizens enhanced interrogation video of kidnapped 911 and like suspects, for the whole world to plainly see the truth on YouTube. And there are many suspects who may be easily apprehended, from Sundar to Silverstein.
Sorry Sunder not Sundar of 911 hoax fame.
http://www2.ae911truth.org/downloads/Letter_to_Shyam_Sunder_-_7-20-09a.pdf?format=pdf
“an alliance of cohens”, Hasbarista.
What? Men in tall hats? Or do you have something against people with that surname?
I always thought BBC staff overwhelmingly have been accused by the Right of being metropolitan closet lefties. An ‘alliance of luvvies’, perhaps? There was a time – the Cold War – when MI5 used to vet all job applicants for the BBC and people would be refused posts on the basis that they knew someone who knew someone who knew an ex-communist. There are structural biases and the Iraq/David Kelly/Greg Dyke de facto sacking by the intelligence services’ placewoman on the Board of Governors farrago destroyed what was left of the BBC’s independence. The Glasgow Media Group also demonstrated widespread media bias in the UK – not just in the BBC – wrt reportage of the Palestine-Israel situation. There are serious points to be made here and references to “an alliance of Cohens” are at best, distracting and at worst, racist.
I agree with Jon’s analysis.
More on fracking and the hidden connections. We live in a system that is corrupt.
Lord Browne of Madingley is an Agent Cameron adviser. He is also a director of Riverstone LLC, who are behind Cuadrilla with A J Lucas.
‘A clear conflict of interest? Cuadrilla chairman, Riverstone’s managing partner and senior government advisor are one and the same person
August 3rd, 2013 by PCU
Baron Browne of Madingley, chairman of Cuadrilla & managing partner at Riverstone Holdings, the venture capital firm that backs Cuadrilla, is also acting as a senior government advisor.
The government has now issued 176 exploratory drilling licences nationwide and Michael Fallon, the energy minister, has hailed shale gas as “an exciting new potential energy resource”.’
http://political-cleanup.org/?p=7592
Nick Griffiths who is a Guildford borough councillor does the PR for Cuadrilla. On his register of interests, we merely says he is a ‘Self employed public relations consultant’. He does not give details of his clients of course. http://www.guildford.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9975&lnk=45
He used to be the lead member for the environment on the council!!
http://gasdrillinginbalcombe.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/cuadrilla-in-private-eye.pdf
Read here about the thousands of gallons of hydrochloric acid that will be used if fracking takes place in Balcombe. Would Agent Cameron like this happening in his Oxfordshire home or even Mr Griffiths in his home in Guildford borough? Definitely not.
http://gasdrillinginbalcombe.wordpress.com/news/
The remainder of the list of new peers. You can see another connection to Israel. Mendelson* was chair of Labour Friends of Israel. Do not look for any peers with Palestinian connections though.
Green party
•Jenny Jones AM – member of the London Assembly; former Chair of the Green party of England and Wales and former Deputy Mayor of London
Labour party
•Sir Charles Allen CBE – Non-Executive Director of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games; Chairman of Global Radio Group
•Sir William Haughey OBE – prominent Scottish businessman and CEO of City Refrigeration Holdings
•Alicia Kennedy – former Deputy General Secretary of the Labour party
•Doreen Lawrence OBE – campaigner for justice, race equality and better policing
•Jonathan (Jon) Mendelsohn – business advisor and co-founder of LLM Communications
Liberal Democrat party
•Catherine (Cathy) Mary Bakewell MBE – former leader of Somerset County Council
•Rosalind (Olly) Grender MBE – former Director of Communications for Shelter; former Director of Communications for the Liberal Democrats
•Christine Mary Humphreys – President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats; former Member of the National Assembly for Wales
•Zahida Manzoor CBE – former Legal Services Ombudsman; former Deputy Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality
•Brian Paddick – former Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Service
•James Palumbo – co-founder and chairman of Ministry of Sound Group, the international music and entertainment business
•Jeremy Purvis – former Member of the Scottish Parliament for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
•Alison Suttie – former Press Secretary to the President of the European Parliament; former Deputy Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg and Election Manager for the 2010 General Election
•Rumi Verjee CBE – entrepreneur and philanthropist
•Sir Ian Wrigglesworth – Liberal Democrat Treasurer; former MP for Teesside Thornaby and for Stockton South
*More on Mendelson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Mendelsohn
Remember Draper/Abrahams? Friend of Lord Levy. HET. New Israel Fund etc etc. I see his wife heads up Facebook’s European operations.