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.
And Jenny Jones (Green Party), and Doreen Lawrence…? I don’t agree with the British aristocratic system in the first place and the honours system is deeply corrupt – everyone, it seems, is to become a baron and to be co-opted – but Baroness Lawrence might be able to do some good now? Tokenistic? Yes, of course. And yet… Generally, people with “Palestinian connections” (by which I assume you mean those who actively support the Palestinian cause) would tend not to want to become lords and ladies of the realm. ‘Lord George Galloway’? ‘Lord Dennis Canavan’? I think not. The Israel lobby has power and inside connections, most definitely, but if out of this long list, one can find only one with strong connections to that lobby, might it not suggest that it is simply one interest among many?
Brendan I appreciate your comments but in B.Liar’s case, I do not think that psychopathy is a treatable mental illness.
Is the ‘voice of the Tory party’ and the latterly appointed energy minister off his trolley?
Michael Fallon defends fracking comments
Mr Fallon has described fracking as an “exciting new energy resource”
Energy minister Michael Fallon has defended comments about fracking, in which he suggested drilling could disrupt the home lives of media commentators in southern England.
Mr Fallon told a private meeting it would test “how thick their rectory walls are” and “whether they like the flaring at the end of the drive”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23565258#
~~~
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=10194
Visits – UAE, Bahrain, Ukraine, Cayman Islands, S Korea, Hong Kong, Syria. Egypt, etc etc.
Wrt energy supplies in the real world, short of global de-industrialisation (which broadly is what India and China, Brazil et al accuse the West or promoting in their cases) what would your preferred solution be? Nuclear? Fossil? Maximising renewables? Fusion is not at the stage of being useful. All three, so the proverbial eggs are not all in one basket? All are driven by the energy industry, obviously, all have political and military implications and all except renewables have potential risks. But renewables on their own, even if maximised, could never be sufficient or sufficiently reliable for an advanced economy/society. Climate change is happening, the icebergs are metling and we all are on board a global Titanic. Is there a solution, in the real world? Or are we merely fiddling while the ship begins to plummet into the depths?
Racism is the single most important issue facing UK residents because it is inscribed at the highest level. The recent Home Office stop and search measures where non-whites have been targeted is appalling. People who have been watching this creeping evil will be aware of Theresa May’s hatred of Islam. I keep banging on about this because it is coming directly from government which in the past has paid lip-service at least to anti-racist, anti religionist targeting which is supposed to be enshrined in our law. It is akin to the Nazi targeting of Jews so I ask Jewish people of moderation to stand with me on this issue. I have never witnessed anything as blatantly racist like this before and urge decent people to sign and spread this petition.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/193/687/711/ukba-stop-racially-profiling-tube-commuters/?z00m=20605569
“Dame Lucy Neville-Rolfe”.
Brilliant name!
Suhayl Saadi
4 Aug, 2013 – 9:02 am
Excellent post.
“Or are we merely fiddling while the ship begins to plummet into the depths?”
The ship is already plummeting into the abyss. The powers that be are just positioning themselves to make sure that they have a seat on the lifeboat.
Another Guildford Borough councillor gives this info in his register of interests
‘Section A: Disclosable Pecuniary Interests
1. Details of any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.
HM Diplomatic Service (part-time)’
http://www.guildford.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9975&lnk=49
On Linked In he says he works P/T for Prosper HR at the FCO. It finds jobs for the old boys and girls. Not one for Craig presumably!
http://www.fcoa.org.uk/
Thanks, Someone, at 9:42am today.
News from USA:
Today, Congress is considering passing bills that would not only codify discrimination against U.S. citizens, but also reward it.
Both versions of the United States-Israel Strategic Partner Act of 2013 (S. 462, H.R. 938) include a provision for a visa waiver agreement with Israel.
If the Senate version of this bill passes, it would give Israel the right to do what no other country in the world, that is a part of the visa waiver program, is given permission to do – allow it to continue to deny entry to any U.S. citizen, while allowing Israelis to enter the United States without a visa.
It is outrageous that the Department of State should feel comfortable declaring publicly on their website that “U.S. citizens are advised that all persons applying for entry to Israel, the West Bank, or Gaza…may be denied entry or exit without explanation” and specifically notes that “U.S. citizens whom Israeli authorities suspect of being Arab, Middle Eastern, or Muslim origin may face additional, often time-consuming, and probing questioning by immigration and border authorities, or may be denied entry,” while Congress considers rewarding Israel for this discrimination.
http://endtheoccupation.org/
War and Whistleblowers – Why Bradley Manning Should be Free
Friday 9 August 7pm
Hilda Porter Room, TheWesley
81-103 Euston Street London NW1 2EZ
(2 minute walk from Euston Station)
For updates see: http://bit.ly/19ztF9N
Speakers:
Tariq Ali writer and activist, Peter Tatchell human rights campaigner
Norman Solomon US author and activist, Kate Hudson CND
Chris Nineham Stop the War Coalition
Norman Solomon, will speak at the meeting on his way from the USA to present to the Nobel committee in Oslo a petition with over 100,000 names calling for Bradley Manning to be awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Read more:
• Norman Solomon: Why Bradley Manning deserves the Nobel Peace Prize http://bit.ly/13vmjNi
• Owen Jones: What would be the ultimate show of gratitude to Bradley Manning? http://bit.ly/15uKa2U
• John Pilger: We have all been made witnesses to crimes against humanity http://bit.ly/12Xs5gn
• Gary Younge: If Bradley Manning is an enemy of the state then so too is truth http://bit.ly/15wKpKr
Hakluyt is also mentioned on that FCO Association link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakluyt_%26_Company
What a stinking rotten country I was born into. No wonder I hate it now.
“What a stinking rotten country I was born into. No wonder I hate it now.” Flaming June.
The UK is certainly a deeply imperialist entity and so entities like Hakluyt are nothing new. I think you’ll find, however, that most countries engage in such covert arms-dealing operations; we are simply one of the biggest arms-manufacturers/dealers in the world. There’s no point hating the place you live in. To feel down about, and to oppose, certain aspects/power-structures/policies is one thing. But to hate the country in its entirety suggests something different.
Wrt Britain, I like, eg. Tom Paine and Barbara Castle, Wat Tyler and the Diggers/Levellers, Aneurin Bevan, and the unnamed millions who gave their bodies and minds in the protracted struggles that allowed us to at least be able to conceive of such things. The tide will turn. Meanwhile, keep the midnight lamp burning.
Survey reveals poor WWI knowledge
Get ready for it folks. We are being set up, as any three card trick con artist sets up his mark.
Shocking isn’t it? Oh yes it is!!
But fear not, the cure is at hand. The upcoming four years of celebrations of the gigantic fuck up murder fest will sort out the “knowledge” deficit. Never mind more that half of the population are living on the edge of poverty and homelessness, but hey there is enough in the budget to set aside for the up coming four years of celebrations, and sending every school kid on the battle field tours.
Do they fucking take the population for chumps? Of course they fucking do.
Lessons for the carpetbaggers buy bus companies.
Thanks for the that advert Dougie, shall give it a miss, just not sustainable to cart myself to London for a bit of hot wind that is a foregone conclusion to me in any case.
Bradley Manning should be freed, that he is not an officer should not make any difference.
The US justice system and its military aberrition is now on trial, if he gets more for his petulance than someone who ordered mass murder, then US justice is going backwards in the 21st. century, however much they claim to be libertarian and progressive with regards to equal rights bills and the decriminalisation of pot in some states.
If Bradley Manning gets more than seven years, and is not freed soon, then the US does not deserve ICC justice, never mind their childish rejection of it.
Who would want to dally with a regressive regime that is sliding into Dredd land, as in judge. I listened to the feeble excuses and weak condemnations from the west regards Mugabe’s wholesale election rigging, that’s how much we value their bloddy bling democracy, diamonds ‘ueber alles’ says uncle Barclay, nothing will stop us trading with tyrants if they have diamonds….
How can a country that is in shackles to its military industrial owl worshippers survive with society falling apart under their plate sized eyes?
Thanks for the Haklyt link FJ, another outfit that will take a vital part in Orwell’s 1984 scenario.
@Ben
No, it wasn’t revenge on the Germans it was a warning to the Russians, as was Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Germany was already beaten, they were beaten by the Russians at Stalingrad. Russia was ready to take all of Europe into the Soviet Union then Japan as well, coming into the war at the end to take the spoils. Japan was already beaten when they dropped the bombs, they didn’t have enough fuel to put a plane in the air. The bombings in Japan and Germany had nothing to do with the ending of WWII, they were intended to start the Cold War.
I see that Sunday Times has an interesting story on Gulnara Karimova aka Googoosha today.
So Flaming Mary hates her own country and its people – Good for her!
As someone who has worked with Jenny Jones LAM, and her daughter, slept on her Camberwell pad’s floor, I’m somewhat surprised what the power structure has done to her.
Not only did she agree to the BBC bias against an Independent candidate for mayor, despite having been at the receiving end of same bias for two decades against the Green Party at every election, she now appears to have been subsumed by the trappings of power, perks and London waging.
I’m aghast that she should even contemplate accepting a peerage, on the other hand it is merely another manifestation that the Green Party politicians are no different, their on organically sourced carpets are flying on hot air and I have yet to see Norwich or Brighton’s Greens implement their own policies, not even pilot projects.
gaining electoral office is their highest goal and its supporters are rightly demanding more of them than just recycling, Norfolk is under performing on this issue, they want to see their transport and housing policies implemented. What is becoming more apparent with every new candidate is, that their moral high horse is a Shetland pony for real, they have lost their radical roots and are more likely to follow career political aims, than base democratic issues that serve their electorate and or sustainable living.
@Jemand,
I should think “hating one’s country”, if this dynamic can be reduced to that, is a common enough dilemma amongst leftists. We should not trivialise it, and we should instead strive to understand it, and be understanding of the people who it affects – as Suhayl does above.
@Flaming June, @Jemand,
In my twenties I would remark that the Union Jack ought to be burnt wherever it stood, as for me then it was an unrecoverable symbol of the far right and imperial conquest. But now, despite my persistent suspicion of flag wavers, I see that it holds many meanings for many people, and we should not assume that hijackers like Blair and Griffin have successfully “taken” it.
This phenomenon has common cause with distaste for aggressive/racist nationalism, which is the other side of the same coin. Some people are afflicted with the sense of cultural or racial superiority I mentioned in an earlier comment, and the Left’s decent distaste for that can sometimes be expressed as the notion that one’s people and country can do no right.
Orwell explored these themes in The Lion and The Unicorn – despite his failings, I rather warmed to his championing a gentle British patriotism, which celebrated a country of “coupon snippers” and people following their “quiet pursuits”. It was a plea not to throw the pride baby out with the nationalist bathwater, and I recommend it to anyone who’s not read it.
On the same theme, I quite like thinking that, despite their power, it is the violent imperialists who ought to feel alien in the countries they occupy. That psychological process offers some healing for ordinary people who are angry about what is done in their name.
I did not say I hate the people Jemand. I just hate the rotten secretive system that controls our lives.
My name is Mary btw but I wish to be known as Flaming June. You know that very well and the reason for changing my ‘handle’ so please stop your nonsense.
Thanks for your comments Jon and Nevermind. Appreciated.
Hasbarista,
Ah, I think I’ve encountered this oblique reference before. It is from the Koran, I think, where it says that even the stones and the trees will cry out “Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him”.
I have two problems with this. Firstly, in taking an ancient text literally and out of context, you believe you have found support for anti-Jewish narrative where none exists. As I’ve said to fundamentalist readers of Islamic holy texts, the context of the time (perhaps during war?) is being ignored here.
Secondly, if Judaism is so abominable to you, why do you quote the Koran? Is one religion better than the other? If so, why? I would have thought both should be treated with caution, especially where Israel/Palestine is concerned.
Whilst on the topic, are you yourself religious? I think we might achieve more if you were to come and discuss things, rather than making vague, racially charged allusions – I think your comment above had absolutely zero effect here. So, tell us about yourself. And do you hold out hope that, in the context of US/Israel power structures, peace in the ME can be achieved? What do you make of Jewish people who are sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians?
“I’m aghast that she (Jenny Jones) should even contemplate accepting a peerage”
She’s following the logic of the elite political system. I’d imagine she simply thinks, better to have a Green voice, than not.
Like many others, she’s been captured and shall be ritually exhibited as testament to our most wondrous diversity.
The Greens may have decided that grassroots activity will not produce the electoral advancement necessary for a movement to emerge, preferring instead an occasional siren voice in media.
Perhaps they were purely a media creature.
Anyway, worth catching Ed Herman on “Manufacturing Consent” 25 Years Later:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC_4OUK74iY
Meanwhile….
Homeless: More Young People Sleeping Rough
Statistics show more young people are being forced onto the streets as a new theatre play shines the spotlight on the crisis.
Sunday 04 August 2013
Video: Homeless Crisis Under The Spotlight
As statistics show more young people are becoming homeless in the UK, a new play questions why more is not being done to help those forced onto the streets.
Government figures show the number of people sleeping rough in England has increased by a third since 2010.
In London alone, 6,437 people slept rough during 2012-13, a 62% rise in two years.
/..
http://news.sky.com/story/1124291/homeless-more-young-people-sleeping-rough
And yes, before you ask again Jemand, I have shared my home with strangers and in the past have worked in London for Crisis. My late husband was a Samaritan and at one time was a trustee of SHAC, a housing charity connected with Shelter. I cannot remember what the acronym stands for.
Deaths by the hundred in Gaza because of fuel shortages.
Gaza hospitals face fuel shortage: Health Ministry
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/04/317120/gaza-hospitals-face-fuel-shortage/
Yet British Gas colluded with Israel to steal the gas that lies offshore to Gaza.
The salaries of just two of directors of British Gas –
Finlayson CEO £1,110,000pa
As of Fiscal Year 2012
Houston COO £3,268,000pa
As of Fiscal Year 2012
ex http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/board.asp?ticker=BG/:LN
and so on. Obscene is it not?
Look at this drone, what a useful tool and so unregulated. Every investigative blog should have one….
I’m sure I could enthuse Mark G and Komodo, but seriously consider the use during demonstrations with a direct link to a website, unfiltered redacted or manipulated.
Call it ‘As it happens’. I think for London and its various demo’s this could be a good investment. So why are NGO’s not using them? Have these all turned into GO’s now, or are they too hierarchical to be able to contemplate their own coverage? They manage to hold camera’s and make fine fund raising video’s, how about investing in your own fact finding and truth reporting?
Or is that just for Paparazzi’s?
wonder how much such a thing costs or whether you put it together yourself. This one has a steady bar for better pictures attached, but how small can a tv camera be these days?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/paparazzi-use-drones-to-photograph-tina-turner-wedding-in-switzerland-a-914179.html
@Nevermind
That particular model is top end. It costs six grand.
http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/330846859844?var=gv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y&cbt=y&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=65
Cheaper versions are available.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=drone&tbm=shop
Memebers of Congress can’t get info from their won security apparatus, so they have to go to Greenwald. Heh.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/04/congress-nsa-denied-access
Where is Sabretache these days? Used to see his name in these columns.
I was reading the profile on Sabretache’s blog and concur.
http://sabretache.blogspot.co.uk/2007/02/new-start.html
More on Balcombe from Medialens
Bianca Jagger speaks with Balcombe protesters
Posted by fredjc on August 4, 2013, 3:14 pm
BJ speaks at about 14 mins in, but worth watching the rest, although I must admit I did skip over the musical bits – it’s reminiscent of the 60’s hippy-style of protest, although I think by now most Balcombe residents are waking-up to exactly what they’re up against. Video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkU7eM2bo0&feature=player_embedded
The first person to be interviewed is Lech Kawolski who is currently showing his film ‘Drill Baby Drill’ in the States. His website is here…
http://www.lechkowalski.com/en/video/item/5/drill-baby-drill
And a radio interview with him here…
http://www.radio4all.net/files/[email protected]/3609-1-drill2.mp3