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.
For those without a youtube account or bashful to sign in to watch the Documentary Mark Golding had forwarded here is another link.
However watch it before it disappears. Also have you sick bucket handy because there are some sick scenes: Paul Wolfowitz preening himself up for the cameras, Bu$h putting on his face to apeal to the world to stop the Iraqi Saddam the very man who tried to kill his daddy.
PROPAGANDA (FULL ENGLISH VERSION)
Note the land of the Free and the home of the; Brave, KKK, NSA, FBI,PRISM, COINTELPRO, the Other Occupied Territories. Nothing is ever done without accounting of one’s actions to the owners’ agents, with full contrition and reverence with respect one’s intentions. Kafka eat your heart out!
I think the legacy’s spoken for, FJ –
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2389774/Claiming-expenses-hassle-MPs-claims-John-Bercow-questions-asked-20-000-lump-sum.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Too much hassle claiming expenses? But they have secretaries and constituency offices for that sort of thing, don’t they? Paid for under expenses….
For our elucidation and delight on BBC Radio 4, The Prophets, immediately following News at One just now
Elijah
Episode 3 of 5
Duration: 15 minutes
First broadcast:Wednesday 14 August 2013
In the third of his series of off-beat Biblical portraits, Clive Lawton tells the story of Elijah, a miracle-working, thundering wild-eyed and somewhat anti-social itinerant. Elijah is very much the prototype Old Testament prophet and only one of two people in the Jewish Bible who, strangely, doesn’t die. As a result, he is thought to be almost still hovering around, ready to intervene when the right time comes. Jews open their doors to Elijah each Passover and pour him a cup of wine. He has a special seat at every circumcision and they sing of him at the end of every Sabbath.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038482y
They have done Isaiah and Jonah. Miriam and Samuel to follow.
Minority audience? Majority audience?
FJ -Tell me about it:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/33/r4-liebowitz-sat.html
Canadian actor playing cheery but morally deficient US yiddischer schlemiel recounts formulaic story of comic stereotype life to Eleanor Bron(stein) playing nonchristian interviewer. Obligatory self-deprecatory reference to oven-dodgers*, set squarely in US stetl, by US Jewish, pro-Israel, author Frederic Raphael. Roguish hero gets drowned. Coreligionists ignore his cries for help. There’s a message there somewhere. Last Saturday.
Raphael:
http://pfgpowell-1.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/frederic-raphael-is-awful-insufferable.html
*He’s allowed to use the term. You’re not.
This is Amerika.
Gagged!
“Owner of Snowden’s Email Service on Why He Closed Lavabit Rather Than Comply With Gov’t”
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/13/exclusive_owner_of_snowdens_email_service
Drip, drip, bit by bit. This is how it happens.
Where is everybody? In the Twilight Zone?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734692/
~~
The logo on Melissa’s sweatshirt reminded me of a similar tag with which we are very familiar.
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article8758710.ece/ALTERNATES/w460/v3-drug1.jpg
Silly unfortunate girls.
Consular Non-Assistance: The Demon of Australian Policy
by Binoy Kampmark / August 14th, 2013
‘It is about time that the Australian Parliament consider having a viable foreign affairs department or abolish it altogether. Affairs might as well be relocated to Washington, D.C. The libertarians would have a point were they to assert that claim. A government that does nothing for its citizens, yet demands everything of them, including following a monastic code of staying out of trouble, is an unnecessary task master.
This situation became painfully apparent when Australia’s current and one might hope brief foreign affairs minister Bob Carr made the astonishing claim that too many resources were being provided to Australians oversees as it was. At a debate with shadow foreign minister Julie Bishop at the Lowy Institute, Carr claimed that “too much diplomatic time is being taken up by looking after Australians who in many cases should be looking after their own safety and wellbeing” (The Age, August 7). This, it seems, is the Calvinist view of assisting citizens: be good, and good shall come to you.
[..]
At this point, Julian Assange’s silvery head rears to remind him that this is far from the case. Assange remains the red hot poker Canberra wants to stay clear off. He receives calls of the asinine sort from embassy officials. None of these are ever centred on the logistics of how he might leave his current quarters or receive the diplomatic representation appropriate to his station.
Specifically, Assange has asked for consular assistance in matters such as due process and fair trial, of which little has been forthcoming. In May 29 last year, Gareth Peirce, lawyer representing Assange in London, sent a letter to Ken Pascoe, Consular-General of the Australian High Commission. The contents of the letter centre on matters between the Australian, Swedish and U.S. governments.
The tardy and heavily delayed response, dated July 19, was a pitifully bereft one indeed. “In circumstances such as these, the Australian Government’s role is primarily a consular one.” Furthermore, “As extradition is a matter of bilateral law enforcement cooperation, the Australian Government would not expect to be a party to any extradition discussion between the United States and Sweden or between the United States and the United Kingdom.” Therein lies the meek submissiveness of the satrap.
Representations on Assange’s behalf have been refused. Diplomatic guarantees for his safety have not been sought. This would be out of character for those countries within the European Union and would be unacceptable for the United States.
[[..]’
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/08/consular-non-assistance-the-demon-of-australian-policy/
Mark @ 13th 10;50 pm
Some more info for your talk
Fracking and the Shale Gas “Revolution”
In May 2013 the EU Cimate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard stressed that geological and geographical factors of Europe shale did not make its large-scale exploitation as cost-effective as in North America. Finally, the Director of Strategy at the European Commission’s DG Environment Robin Meige has recently said that “in the most optimistic case, European shale gas can only compensate for declines in domestic conventional gas”. In other words, Europe must forget fantasies about repeating the US Shale Boom, writes online industry journal OilPrice.com.
Some Eastern European states are pushing forward shale agenda for purely political reasons disregarding interests of their own population. For instance, the government of Poland has painted itself into a corner by making loud and unsubstantiated statements about shale gas “revolution”. Despite around 40 wells being drilled in the country since 2010 by oil majors, no company has announced that it can extract gas for commercial purposes. However heavy pro-fracking lobbying resulted in dramatic corruption scandal. Seven officials were arrested last month in connection with licenses to explore and exploit shale gas deposits.
At the same time Polish farmers have initiated massive protests against shale gas development. It seems th understand the situation far better than many professional energy analysts in London. “If they go ahead with drilling thousands of meters underground, our water will be affected and there will be no more life in our fields,” villager Stefan Jablonski told IPS during a protest in Warsaw last week. “Not to mention that we might end up with no gas and no water too.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fracking-and-the-shale-gas-revolution/5345815
“Minority audience? Majority audience?”
Obviously a very important question, and one to be asked about The Archers, Gardeners’ Question Time and Front Row special. I’m sure it’s not being asked because it is ‘jewish’ in some way, of course. Anyway, considering that the Old Testament is part of the Bible, I think the answer, in the UK, would be ‘majority’. I hope they do one on Zoroaster too.
“Eleanor Bron(stein)” – very clever! See what you did there!
“Always left-wing, her political convictions have not altered with middle age. ‘I care very much about politics; I think about it a good deal. I am totally bewildered by the fact that I was brought up in a society that seemed to be getting better all the time.’ (An echo of the Beatles here?) ‘I had a free education right up to university, which my parents never did; I benefited from the NHS when I had to have a major operation on my spine soon after leaving university, and all the things I acquired – the standards, achievements, how to think . . . the elite things which henceforth were going to be for everyone – are being diluted. Soon they’ll only be there for a small minority of people. The last 14 years have taught me that you can’t take things for granted, and how wonderful it was when everyone seemed to be striving for a better life for all. Now, only money buys privacy, clean air, education, health and justice.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/interview–not-so-much-an-actress-more-a-way-of-life-eleanor-bron-first-shot-to-fame-with-the-beatles-since-then-despite-beauty-and-intellect-she-has-never-quite-fulfilled-her-potential-1483257.html
Obsess about Jews much, Komodo?
Allow me to answer: no, he doesn’t.
Steady, Tech… Komodo gets a bit tetchy when someone provides answers on his behalf…
“Is there any connection between fracking and sinkholes??”
Doubt it.
There is a connection between fracking and people’s baths catching fire though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEQMA0zwMM4
http://news.sky.com/story/1128530/sky-news-cameraman-killed-in-egypt
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/14/us-de-syria-crisis-priest-idUSBRE97D0JU20130814
Apparently he supported the anti-Assad forces (either insane or working for “someone else” presumably) and then they killed him.
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/egypt-21121
AA; Any theories wrt the intent of a Jesuit aiding rebels in Syria? History tries to paint them as revolutionary, but most of their activity is expand the Papacy.
Fred @ 6:19
“I doubt it’
There are over 2.5 million wells with over 1 million in the US alone. Each well uses between 1.5 and 5 million gallons of water, which is a slurry of chemicals designed for keeping the well open.
It may not be the cause of every sinkhole (ancient municipal water pipes bursting) but you can’t discount the possibility they are causing a lot of them.
Ben,
Right now I am trying to figure out why two of my systems (Linux laptop and Windows desktop) have just set-off my “something is wrong alarms”
Something seems to be wrong inside a Firefox plugin.
@ Anon
“Obsess about Jews much, Komodo?”
____________________
I take it that that’s a rhetorical question, Anon? 🙂
Komodo’s been in the vanguard of a welter of posts about Israel/Palestine lately. I can only imagine that the advent of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians has sent him into overdrive. He’s even begged me to outline for him what a satisfactory outcome to those talks could be, can you imagine! 🙂
I haven’t visited for a while, and don’t have the mental strength to read through the previous comments. So, is the blog still dominated by the Zionists, making every thread unreadable?
“Any theories wrt the intent of a Jesuit aiding rebels in Syria?”
_______________-
Of it’s theories Ben’s after (the wilder the better!) he’s certainly come to the right place.
Suspicious activity confirmed as from the “Ghostery” privacy Firefox addon ( https://www.ghostery.com/ ) which just updated itself. Now disabled pending explanation from the authors.(
“Where is everybody?” (16h15)
_________________
Perhaps out in the real world, getting on with life?
AA; I guess I’m reckless. No encrypted email, no anonymity. For a while I used TOR, but felt I was just painting a target on my back. I remember when as a photographer using old-school film and the x-ray machine at check in would streak my film even in a lead-lined container because they would just increase the signal until they could see inside.
I decided it’s better to get lost in the internet crowd. I guess I am a fatalist. I think the Muslims have that one right.
“It is written”
I have non-stop trouble with plug-ins in Firefox. I’ve just disabled most of them. Had to disable Ghostery a good while ago.
“I haven’t visited for a while, and don’t have the mental strength to read through the previous comments. So, is the blog still dominated by the Zionists, making every thread unreadable?”
It may just be bad timing, or you flipped a switch… 🙂
Serendipity?
“He’s even begged me to outline for him what a satisfactory outcome to those talks could be, can you imagine! :)”
Habbabkuk, be honest. What he asked you was:
“What do you see as the best chance for peace between the state of Israel and a proposed state of Palestine?”
and I can’t think of one single reason why you shouldn’t answer it. Unless you’re just going to duck it. You have a reputation here for ducking.
Utmost respect for the guys that fight the beast, but my brain would explode.
Keep fighting folks.
I’ll look back in a week or two.