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.
Meanwhile Rudd has moved on from Manus Island, Papua New Guinea to plans for the island of Nauru, pop 9,000, to accommodate the ‘refugees’. Note the use of the acronym RPC – ‘regional processing centre’. No not a bacon factory, a compound to sort homeless humans.
Aussie Imperialism: Kevin Rudd and Dumping on the Pacific
August 4th, 2013
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/08/aussie-imperialism-kevin-rudd-and-dumping-on-the-pacific/
Nauru itself does not agree with Rudd that the refugees will be resettled there.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/nauru-denies-rudd-claim-refugees-will-be-resettled-on-island-20130804-2r7q5.html
Let’s hope that Mrs May doesn’t get any similar ideas about islands.
Hababbkuk, yes it’s MSM revisionism. I don’t know if any Zionists are involved but since you mention it, I now imagine that they are, so yeah! Burn your MSM newspapers, and other revisionist sources of Hutt-River propaganda.
Flaming Mary, we’ve always had “onslaughts” of political advertising, even outside of coming elections. So I don’t know how a “Team Obama” guru will change that. But the American influence on Oz political campaigning and sloganeering has a 10 year delay before arriving here. Personally, I prefer the British style of campaign where candidates casually mingle amongst the madding crowd, throwing random punches at their constituents.
I also notice, Flaming Mary, that you like to try and bait me with your anti-Australian propaganda. I guess you also hate us as you hate your own country. All this hate gets us nowhere, can we all get along??
‘Peace’ talks? What ‘peace’ talks would those be?
Israeli Decree on West Bank Settlements Will Harm Peace Talks, Palestinians Say
By JODI RUDOREN
August 4, 2013
JERUSALEM — With peace talks scheduled to begin next week, an Israeli cabinet decision involving West Bank settlements on Sunday drew condemnation from the Palestinian leadership, highlighting the fragility of the Washington-brokered effort to resume long-stalled negotiations.
/..
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/world/middleeast/palestinians-assail-israeli-settlement-decree.html?_r=0
Under the pretext of addressing Suhayl, there is yet another dose of psychoanalysis concerning me from the Krisnamurti Preacherman.
He obviously does not have sufficient of other activity to occupy him and I suggest he should apply himself to some useful physical activity.
As he has been told by the moderator, he should not be commenting on the posters here just the topics.
~~~
Not ‘baiting’ you at all Jemand. I seem to have touched a nerve! You probably dread September 2013 just as much as we dread Spring 2015 (or earlier if and when it all goes pear shaped for this flaky coalition).
Krishnamurski Villager should be more concerned about the disharmony in the minds of all the mad jews encouraged from all over the world to come and occupy the West Bank with free housing and guaranteed monthly wages to foment Islamophobia and shill “narrative” on the net. All financed from tax free “charitable” contributions in the Western world of course.
Mary, since you talk about your personal hates, and betray your personal jealousy and bigotry in the context of world events, i address those subjects of the mind. It is not analysis, it is empirical observation of life itself as it flows from thought-feeling-action. Speaking expansively, and given all the mischief and conflicts going on around the world, our mind — the way we think and live — is the source of all conflict, is it not?
So when Suhayl says “But to hate the country in its entirety suggests something different.”, what do you think he’s saying?
Btw, did you read the piece of K that i linked above? Here is the prelude:
“Last Sunday I was trying to explain what is right thinking and how to set about it. I said that unless there is self-awareness, self-knowledge of all the motives, intentions, and instincts, thought-feeling has no true foundation, and that without this foundation there is no right thinking. Self-knowledge is the beginning of understanding. And as we are – the world is. That is, if we are greedy, envious, competitive, our society will be competitive, envious, greedy, which brings misery and war. The state is what we are. To bring about order and peace, we must begin with ourselves and not with society, not with the state, for the world is ourselves. And it is not selfish to think that each one must first understand and change himself to help the world. You cannot help another unless you know yourself. Through self-awareness one will find that in oneself is the whole.”
and the link again: http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-text.php?tid=170&chid=4526&w=hate
Never mind the messenger, but please address the message. What is being said is fact, not some psychoanalysis theories.
Enjoy your swim as i will mine.
@ Jemand – Censorship Improves History 5 Aug, 2013 – 5:29 am
“Re Drones. It should be again emphasised that the rise of a totalitarian Machine State does not need to be planned in an “intentionalist” process, but will form as a “functionalist” product of independent government efforts to reduce costs and improve management of various ‘problems’. When key pieces of infrastructure are in place, it requires very little effort to connect them all and, in doing so, realise a massive performance gain in surveillance and control of people. All you then need is for good people to do nothing.”
Problem is, many of the people in favour of uber-surveillance consider themselves the “Good People”, the ones with nothing to hide, but determined to pry into others’ lives and not limited to protecting the Homeland/Fatherland/Motherland from threats real or fake.
Already, divorce lawyers are demanding access to the vast NSA database to catch out their client’s spouse and the entertainment industry wants to use it to track pirate downloads.
Other government bodies are likewise clamouring for data. There will be the usual cries, “If only one child is saved!” (From a predator, a glimpse of porn, bullying, a sugary drink or salty snack — whatever.)
Cities will tap in to bring fiends with unpaid parking tickets to justice. Not much technical effort needed to find who has been texting or sexting while driving. with the gubmint auto-deducting an appropriate fine from the violator’s account.
At best, we’re doomed to a Stasi of do-gooders.
“Mohamed Morsi’s allies admit defeat and plot (sic) to fly him into exile”
‘Deposed President could resign via a televised address and hand powers to interim Prime Minister’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/egypt-mohamed-morsis-allies-admit-defeat-and-plot-to-fly-him-into-exile-8745525.html
I find it frustrating reading about Egypt at the moment. I’m not sure that we know the full truth of what happened there, or that we ever will.
Beware!
They can hack your toilet! (if you have a fancy Japanese one)
http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/13/08/it-now-appears-possible-to-hack-a-fancy-japanese-toilet/278322/
Dreoilin:
“I find it frustrating reading about Egypt at the moment. I’m not sure that we know the full truth of what happened there, or that we ever will.”
Yes Dreoilin very uncomfortable but in the bigger picture, Egypt would do well to emulate Turkey and separate religion from politics as far as possible. It doesn’t by any means imply that all will be ok from hereon.
“I seem to have touched a nerve!”
No Mary, it’s the other way around. While you are reporting on the asylum seeker issue in Australia, you might want to also report on a recent incident in which some asylum seekers who got rejected subsequently burnt down a building during a riot in which 60 million dollars (£40million) of damage was caused. Imagine how many people in troubled areas of the world could have been helped with that money. It’s enough to make you cry.
NR, very scary stuff how technology can, is and continues to be misused. Sometimes one feels that we will need visitors from another planet to help get our house in order. We seem to be standing at the precipice but unable to pull back. The only way humanity can find a new way of living is for each of us to be a light unto ourselves. That means one lamp being lit at a time — sounds like an awfully slow-boat but i don’t know if there is another one to catch.
More of the same, protests and campaigns, doesn’t seem to be working. Maybe we do all need to slow down in order to change the dynamics. The only saving grace is that the internet is such a nascent tool — properly used it could prove to be a great asset in transformation, both personal and global.
Ben
Moslem is a kind of affected Cambridge don pronunciation used by orientalists, who know everything about Islam except the taste of iman/faith. Also used by some well-respected Muslims who mix with them.
I like ‘Mohametans’.
Jemand – Censorship Improves History 5 Aug, 2013 – 11:04 am
“…asylum seekers who got rejected subsequently burnt down a building during a riot in which 60 million dollars (£40million) of damage was caused. Imagine how many people in troubled areas of the world could have been helped with that money.”
Wow, those stupid, ungrateful darkies. Same as those bloody abos. Pass me another xxxx.
Simple exercise, vaguely relevant to some of the above, re. BBC coverage. I realise that some will start spitting here…but…
On Radio 4, compare the number of programmes by, for and about Jewish people with those by, for, and about Muslims (UK population ~6 times the Jewish population), Hindus (double) and, especially, Sikhs* (~1.3 times). When was the last time a Sikh appeared on The Moral Maze, for instance? Instead, of a regular like arch-zionist Mel Phillips?
I’d be interested to know what you come up with.
*Jokes about skullcaps, suicide bombs, sacred cows and turbans on comedy programmes excluded, that is.
@nevermind:
http://www.buzzflyer.co.uk/quadcopters.asp?gclid=CLTYpvKO5rgCFTLMtAod3XoAsw
I see Phil beat me to it, but more ideas here.
You can get something which flies, with an onboard camera, for less than £50. And without knowing an arms dealer, you can do a good bit better than that if you spend more.
Moving forward, as they say in corporate-speak, now that we know we are definitely being spied on by our governments in our private bedrooms through whatever means, does nobody think that we are affected by that knowledge?
Animals will cut short starting to mate if they notice that they are being observed by humans. Does our government not recognise that spying on private acts is both illegal and humiliating.
One of the Muslims whose work with the intelligence agencies includes spying on me with information supplied by government systems told me that what I did or said would affect how he would behave. Yes, they use spying to threaten us while we are trying to live our ordinary lives as Muslims. That’s why Mursi was kicked out, because he started his spying campaign against the military.
But do they not understand that knowing you are being observed can change what people do, making them refrain from doing in public what they do naturally in private, and maybe doing other things instead which are unnatural like looking at porn. Spying is extremely intrusive and haram. We have to establish our human right not to be spied upon, because it can make us do things which are sinful, trying to avoid the shame of being exposed in privacy with our wives.
I could argue that illegal interference in my private life justified my breaking the state law, paying my council tax etc.
Instead of just accepting that government spying is not illegal from members of the Privy Council, who also stated that the invasion of Iraq was not illegal, maybe we should point out that legality is not an issue, actions have consequences. Invade and terror will prevail, spy and public protest will prevail.
Only those who do not believe in human justice or the Divine laws which forbid spying, are content to earn their living by this dirty and haram activity. Political minds like Mursi who spy on individuals are much dirtier than the sexual acts they are spying on. Human sexuality is not in itself dirty, but spying is kufr/disbelief, because it is repeatedly and strongly forbidden in Islam. Mursi’s USUKIS experiment with universal spying has disgraced the Masonic Muslim Brotherhood for all time.
It is the habit of political Muslims to see the faults of others while ignoring the planks in their own eyes. That’s why the USUKIS are promoting plank Islam with all their might and resources. Praise be to God commonsense in Egypt prevailed.
NR, so long as there are complex social and consumer distractions that feed a sort of false conciousness of the people, we cannot rely on the majority of good people to be so well informed, intellectually disposed and emotionally prepared to have the wherewithal to resist the transformation of our society into a dystopian Machine State.
Organisations like Wikileaks try to shine a light on real power dynamics within a culture that is entertained by fictitious stories about state conspiracies. It’s like being in a room full of mirrors.
Just as the “peace talks” take off:
“Israel has agreed to subsidise several Jewish settlements that were regarded as illegal until recently.” [legalised by a process only recognised by Israel]
Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said the move would have a “destructive impact” on peace talks, which resumed last week after a three-year hiatus.
“This is exactly what Israel wants, have a [peace] process for its own sake, and at the same time have a free hand to destroy the objective of the [peace] process,”
“On Sunday, the cabinet published a list of more than 600 towns and settlements to be regarded as priority areas for development.”
The latest list included a total of 91 [illegal] settlements, up from 85 in last December’s list.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23569537
Phil, what’s with your stupid racist comment? Or are you one of those people who believes when someone claims asylum, they should be taken at their word only? Like in court?
Guano 5 Aug, 2013 – 11:42 am
“now that we know we are definitely being spied on by our governments in our private bedrooms through whatever means, does nobody think that we are affected by that knowledge?”
That’s a very interesting question.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_%28physics%29
Komodo
The behaviour of Jews has many hundreds of years of observation in our European society and most of what has been observed has been respectable and beneficial to society.
Compare that with the steady flow of bad news about our Muslim friends. In this clip it comes to my mind that the police authority knew very well what their Muslim bobby was up to and gave him enough rope to hang himself, Daniel Pelka , and the rest of us believing Muslims.
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/west-midlands-police-officer-faces-3312734
‘Btw, did you read the piece of K that i linked above?’
Definitely not. Neither did I read your piece. I skimmed it.
btw Swimming is on a Tuesday. Planting vegetables this morning, mowing the grass and cutting some hedges. Lovely work.
How are enrolments going for the £19,000pa K school in Alresford? Filling up nicely?
Who can afford those fees? Pop stars, multinational CEOs, FCO diplomats? Definitely not any of the 1m plus British on zero hours working.
This morning on Sky News there was this dreadful Katie Hopkins person shouting down a kid who had been through the Sports Direct mill. Hopkins was extolling the benefits of the zero hours construct for employers. She is a Alan Sugar ‘Apprentice’ afficionado and has been in trouble for making offensive statements on the social media.
http://news.sky.com/story/1124549/zero-hours-contracts-for-one-million-britons
Not so much ‘You’re fired’ because you were never given an employment contract in the first place.
Hopkins -http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2013/jul/18/katie-hopkins-queen-of-conflict
Finally there is some sort of justice for Ian Tomlinson’s widow and children, if only monetary plus an apology from the high ups in the Met.
Ian Tomlinson’s Family Welcome Police Apology
Scotland Yard pays tribute to the newspaper seller’s widow as they reach a settlement four years after his death at a G20 protest.
http://news.sky.com/story/1124627/ian-tomlinsons-family-welcome-police-apology
The words.
http://content.met.police.uk/News/Public-Statement-and-Deputy-Assistant-Commissioner-de-Brunners-apology-to-the-Tomlinson-family/1400019013635/1257246745756
Flamy
I was recently offered a ‘position’, instead of a ‘contract’. Anyone can buy work if they have a credit card to pay for the transport/tools.
Flaming June
I was recently offered a ‘position’, instead of a ‘contract’. Anyone can buy work if they have a credit card to pay for the transport/tools.
So Guano, was that Muslim bobby a legitimate suspect or not? What do you think the police should have done when they suspected that one of their own was corrupt? Nothing? Something? What?
Flaming Mary:
“Who can afford those fees? Pop stars, multinational CEOs, FCO diplomats?”
Poor Mary, you really are caught in a web of jealousy and envy. What a shock it would come as to your system if ever a Palestinian child had enrolled in that School. Btw that is only one of many schools that K helped found — most of them are in perhaps more affordable India. Do you begrudge the children who can afford to go to high-quality schools?
What if Craig sends his children there, would that be the end of it then?
The weirdness of your narrow little compassion. I’ll let you carry on with your quixotic tilting at the windmills in Palestine born out of the same bigoted petition for God to damn America.
Btw are you side-stepping Suhayl’s profound observation and my related question:
“So when Suhayl says “But to hate the country in its entirety suggests something different.”, what do you think he’s saying?”
You are something different alright 🙂
Jemand You just don’t get it.
‘“I seem to have touched a nerve!”
No Mary, it’s the other way around. While you are reporting on the asylum seeker issue in Australia, you might want to also report on a recent incident in which some asylum seekers who got rejected subsequently burnt down a building during a riot in which 60 million dollars (£40million) of damage was caused. Imagine how many people in troubled areas of the world could have been helped with that money. It’s enough to make you cry.’
It is not about money.
Did the burnt out building resemble this one in Afghanistan at all?
http://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/united-nations-silent-as-usnato-forces-destroy-thousands-of-afghan-homes/
Or this?
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081105-afghanistan-hmed-9a.hmedium.jpg
Or were any injured like Ali Abbas who was gravely injured and ten members of his family killed in Iraq in 2003?
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/ali-ismaeel-abbas-12-who-lost-his-arms-in-a-missile-attack-news-photo/1928255
Enough.
What people need to know about the situation of asylum seekers in Australia. In the first video a man, having stitched his lips together, throws himself onto razor wire. A lawyer explains that 90 percent of asylum seekers are found to be bona fide. In the second, made almost ten years ago, activists pull the fences down around Woomera, a prison in the middle of the desert where asylum seekers have been held indefinitely. Children have been born inside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq0KSJWT2F8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcz4xh5qwVU