Feile An Phobail Belfast 4110

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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.

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4,110 thoughts on “Feile An Phobail Belfast”

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  • Herbie

    Ben, are you suggesting above that Silent Circle are a bit spookie?

    I’d have thought that Zimmerman was OK.

    Anyway. Would it not be possible for some pro bono lawyers to take a case against the UK, under Art 8 ECHR, for protection of correspondence?

    I know that it’s actually the US bugging the UK and the UK bugging the US, but judges have determined that under the Convention there is an obligation on govt to take an active role in protecting privacy. It’s not enough therefore that the UK aren’t bugging us themselves. They ought to be active in stopping the US bugging us.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_8_of_the_European_Convention_on_Human_Rights

  • Ben Franklin -Machine Gun Preacher (unleaded version)

    “Ben, are you suggesting above that Silent Circle are a bit spookie?”

    I doubt it, just good Patriots who probably want to flay Snowden alive.

  • Herbie

    Ben

    How are they flaying Snowden? Surely they’re protecting him and others by closing the thing down, now that the buggers are all over these email servers.

  • Ben Franklin -Machine Gun Preacher (unleaded version)

    “However, we have reconsidered this position. We’ve been thinking about this for some time, whether it was a good idea at all. Today, another secure email provider, Lavabit, shut down their system lest they “be complicit in crimes against the American people.” We see the writing the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail now. We have not received subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else by any government, and this is why we are acting now.”

    http://silentcircle.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/to-our-customers/

    Herbie; It’s a judgement call on my part. How will they avoid being ‘complicit in crimes against the American People’ by shutting down their service. Yes, they feel it’s not safe, but I think it’s either their own safety most concerning, or they wish to inhibit communications from those like Snowden, who is a criminal. I don’t see good motives.

  • Herbie

    Ben

    That’s fine.

    My reading of it was that the ‘crimes against the American People’ are the crimes of the US govt, and by shutting down their servers they avoid having to collude with the buggers. Now they can delete all material in their possession before the US govt gets to them.

  • Ben Franklin -Machine Gun Preacher (unleaded version)

    ” Now they can delete all material in their possession before the US govt gets to them.”

    Is that their intention? I didn’t see that. It seems like a capitulation to Authority, but that’s just my cynical take.

  • Ben Franklin -Machine Gun Preacher (unleaded version)

    “CNET’s Declan McCullagh smartly speculates that Lavabit was served “with [a] federal court order to intercept users’ (Snowden?) passwords” to allow ongoing monitoring of emails; specifically: “the order can also be to install FedGov-created malware.” After challenging the order in district court and losing – all in a secret court proceeding, naturally – Lavabit shut itself down to avoid compliance while it appeals to the Fourth Circuit.

    This morning, Silent Circle, a US-based secure online communication service, followed suit by shutting its own encrypted email service. Although it said it had not yet been served with any court order, the company, in a statement by its founder, internet security guru Phil Zimmerman, said: “We see the writing on the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail now.”

    BrianF and Herbie;

    I guess I am ‘debunked’. What will alternative communications look like now?

  • Hasbarista

    Its whistle-blowing season, if only there arose a whistle-blower at mossad archives in Herzliya. Why even WW3 could still be averted!! They do have a template for archiving their (mis)deeds eg Zapruder,dancing 5 man 911 crew in NY car park, etc. The seed of the founding terrorists must really enjoy their private viewings on Yom Kippur.

    Any one of the following will do:-

    King David Hotel
    Lavon
    Kennedy
    USS Liberty
    911
    Argentina
    Iranian scientists
    Dubai tennis Aussie coaches
    and the usual “decapitation” strikes on Arab/Palestinian leaders.

    A STATE OF INSTITUTIONAL TERROR, ZIONISTAN !!

  • doug scorgie

    Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)
    8 Aug, 2013 – 10:14 pm

    “Mr Scorgie, it’s cheapskates like you – browse interminably for free and then exit without buying – who are contributing to driving bookshops out of business.”

    Never buy a pig in a poke Habbabkuk.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    Here is something interesting and exciting from “The Times” of London dated 7 August 2013 (p.37). Extracts :

    “Industrial production shattered City forecasts in June, rising at nearly twice the rate predicted by analysts in a further sign that Britain’s recovery is gaining momentum in all parts of the economy.
    Production jumped by 1,1% month on month, while the narrower measure of manufacturing, which excludes oil and has production and utilities, was up by 1,9%, with all its underlying components registering growth for the first time since 1992.
    The recovery comes after the closely watched purchasing managers’ surveys for last month recorded strong growth in manufacturing, services and construction and caused sterling to jump to $1,5364.”
    ……..
    “Samuel Tombs, UK economist at Capital Economics, added that June’s surge in industrial production was ‘the most convincing sign yet that the sector is sharing in the recovery already evident in the rest of the economy’.
    According to Mr Tombs, the economy is ‘benefiting from a period of both stronger and better balanced growth’, which George Osborne had long been hoping would materialize, and which Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England,has described as ‘escape velocity’.
    ********
    “As a result, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research estimated yesterday that the economy grew by 0,7% in the three months to July, after growth of 0,6% in the three months to June.
    The macro-economic think tank expects Britain’s economy to grow by 1,2% this year – twice the pace forecast by the government’s fiscal watchdog at the time of the Budget in March.”.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I do hope that nobody chokes on reading this excellent news and that all will feel the same satisfaction as I do at seeing that the economy is improving 🙂

    [Mod: removed a para again referring excessively to one poster]

  • peep

    Ben: “bypass ratios? Please expand.”
    Some air goes through the engine, and some is pumped past it – exhaust mixture varies. Also cloud spirits are confounding. Anyway…

  • doug scorgie

    BrianFujisan
    9 Aug, 2013 – 1:48 am

    Doug @ 6;48 pm

    “Here’s some ( real ) experts stuff on Dr Kelly Death”

    Thanks for that Brian

  • Flaming June

    Ben 6
    Me 16
    Komodo 17
    Habbabkuk 6

    You can count? So can I. What’s it got to do with you anyway and what are you going to do about it? Going to have a go at Komodo? Wouldn’t advise it. He has a very poisonous bite.

    If you lived in this country you should know where it’s raining. No it is not raining in Surrey. It did overnight and will rsin again on Sunday.

  • Flaming June

    Out friend above has not obviously heard of the old smoke and mirrors trick. A 0.5% interest rate is fuelling a housing boom in the buy to let market. The bubble will burst as it has done before. Unemployment figures are being disguised by taking people off workfare, employing them for short periods of 12 weeks, then getting rid. The cycle is then repeated.

    Wondering whether Cameron was on something since his return from holiday in Portugal, I checked his previous in that regard. He lied then too.

    Cameron and cannabis at Eton.
    http://whoknowswho.channel4.com/stories/Cameron_and_cannabis

  • doug scorgie

    Flaming June
    9 Aug, 2013 – 8:52 am

    “So very democratic. NOT. There should have been another election.”

    My own view June is that coalitions should not be allowed.

    The people voted; the “winning side” whether by 100 votes or 1, should form the government and let Parliament vote (unwhipped) on all issues.

    I don’t know if this is a naive view or not perhaps I could be enlightened.

  • Suhayl Saadi

    ‘Samuel Tombs’… should have been an undertaker or a stonemason!

    “I do hope that nobody chokes on reading this excellent news and that all will feel the same satisfaction as I do at seeing that the economy is improving.” Habbabkuk.

    Please could you send some of it up here? Right now, cuts in public/social services are reaching ridiculous levels. Can we re-hire some of those made redundant, or are those services gone for good, as part of a convenient process of wealth redistribution to the rich and ideological social engineering?

  • technicolour

    Habbakuk, no, sorry – can’t find your reply about To Shoot An Elephant. Can’t wait to hear how it informs your perspective on Palestine, though – what did you think?

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    @ Technicolour

    Ma chére Céléstine,

    Tu es soit myope soit paresseuse.

    Cf le 7 août à 08h43.

    Je t’en souhaite bonne lecture!

    Ton Babar

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    re the good economic news I was able to bring to your attention:

    I must admit that I was rather expecting the reactions so far, which seem to demonstrate that the Excellences on this blog not only specialise in posting what they consider to be bad news but also rubbish any good news that’s around 🙂

    Anyway, undaunted, I shall continue to bring selected items of good news to your notice whilst continuing to hope that you won’t choke when reading!

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