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.
Ben,
I don’t access Craig’s blog via TOR. Just my direct IP. I am not in the slightest bit anonymous to anyone who really bothers.
Dreoilin,
I’m a computer geek though. If something misbehaves I want to know why. I won’t just disable and/or ignore it. Quite possibly there is a bug of the software kind and not the spy kind in the latest update. If so loads of others will be reporting the same symptoms I saw soon.
Ghostery, for those who don’t know, makes you vanish from the advertising trackers. That’s all. Doesn’t hide you from spooks despite the name 🙂
“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.”
Fracking takes place at great depth, sink holes occur when the ground is undermined near the surface.
AlcAnon,
I prefer to know what’s causing glitches too. But I’ve run out of patience. Firefox has been hanging constantly. I began to suspect that it was my AV updating automatically. So I switched it to manual. I was trying to watch that Propaganda thing from North Korea today when it (AV) asked me if I wanted to update. I said Yes. And Firefox promptly hung on me. Couldn’t close it, couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t receive mail either, had to shut down.
When you put that with rotten service from my ISP, it adds up to a pretty painful computer/internet experience.
Time I went off to read a book.
AA; I’m no geek; barely functional. I assumed ‘ghostery’ was an anonymizer.
Fred; They can go deep.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffosion
I forgot about Fred. He supports self determination for every country, apart from Scotland.
Typical Britnat SLab drone.
Dreoilin,
I’m not too worried about things occasionally hanging on me (especially on Windows!) but in this case Firefox/Linux was responding normally while Ghostery was doing things in the background it shouldn’t have been doing – so I’m a little suspicious.
Here we go. Manning the narcissist megalomaniac. He’s ‘CRAZEEE’. as are all whistleblowers
Has Adrian Lamo shown any ‘contrition’?
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/08/14/bradley-manning-makes-statement-during-sentencing-phase-of-his-trial-live-updates/
“Fred; They can go deep.”
No, that is not deep compared to the depth at which fracking occurs, that is just below the surface.
“I forgot about Fred. He supports self determination for every country, apart from Scotland.
Typical Britnat SLab drone.”
Scotland already has self determination.
Typical insular small minded little prick.
I’m an internationalist, Fred.
All countries of the world should play their part.
Does your prick size depend on your mind?
Is it too early for some lightness?
http://www.mattbors.com/blog/2013/08/13/obamas-dirty-dishes/
Mark; Ginger and his Air Force. Preeminent jazz drummer was a stinker, wasn’t he?
When Winwood and Clapton were forming Blind Faith, Ginger just showed up and Clapton revealed later he was horrified. Part of the reason Cream didn’t last was the GingerJack flame wars.
Enjoy.
Heh, forgot the linkee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28LRjajxGmA&list=TLl_51sgbhJZ8
‘Where is everybody?’ I asked earlier.
‘Getting on with life’ came the answer.
Then everybody must be getting on with it elsewhere as the shops, supermarkets, cafes, roads and car parks are empty. No mums and kids about either which is unusual in the Summer holidays with nice weather. I reckon people are staying at home because they cannot afford the cost of away days and outings.
Egypt: ElBaradei Resigns After Camp ‘Massacre’
Egypt’s vice president has resigned, as the death toll from violent clashes rises to at least 149.
Over 500 people injured. (Sky News)
The reports vary widely.
What is Obama’s Plan B now following his sponsorship of the coup d’état?
Might be the Football Flaming June.
More censorship From the Feinstein Cretin
The most recent congressional THREAT TO FREE PRESS in the United States comes from California Democrat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
In a proposed amendment to a media shield law being considered by Congress, Feinstein writes that only paid journalists should be given protections from prosecution for what they say or write. The language in her proposal is raising concerns from First Amendment advocates because it seems to leave out bloggers and other nontraditional forms of journalism that have proliferated in recent years thanks to the Internet.
Take the case of Crystal Cox, for example. A self-described “investigative blogger” from Seattle, Cox broke a story about financial malpractice at a major investment bank, prompting a lawsuit for defamation.
Cox argued in court that she should be covered by Oregon’s shield laws, but a judge found she was not protected because she was not part of the traditional media.
As a result, she was ordered to pay $2.5 million to the investment firm.
The laws in many states are lagging behind the reality of journalism today, where anyone with a camera, smart phone or a computer can break an important story.
http://truthseekerdaily.com/senator-feinstein-wants-to-limit-who-can-be-a-journalist/
“I reckon people are staying at home because they cannot afford the cost of away days and outings.”
_______________
Yes, I’m sure that that’s the reason. The govt has a lot to answer for.
We’ve been awaiting Feinsten’s ‘definition’ of journalist, Brian. It’s not over yet, but the fact that they are working on a Shield Law is a miracle in itself. Everyone is a potential journalist, as you say.
The proliferation of electronic devices makes that so. Of course, the states can do what they want.
In California it’s illegal to video cop activity without permission.
“I’m an internationalist, Fred.”
Internationalists and Nationalists are all the same.
I don’t make too much distinction between Hitler and Stalin.
Are you one of them cybernats then?
http://web.archive.org/web/20110122222945/http://newsnetscotland.com/speakers-corner/1457-why-cybernats-are-important-for-online-democracy
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ghostery/
Well at least I’m not the only one (no that review wasn’t from me) . How the fuck did I end up with 5.0.1 when the current version is “Ghostery 2.9.6”? Seems a select band of users including me had a “test” update called Version 5 pushed onto them. Still awaiting an explanation but I’m glad to see I’m not alone.
I would strongly advise any users of Ghostery to disable it until this is cleared up.
1,300 miles south east of Cairo lies Yemen. Some more of Obama’s extra judicial killings are detailed here. We are of course partners of his in that much vaunted ‘special relationship’.
Letter from Yemen
The remarkable London-based legal charity, Reprieve (i) which defends lives “from death row to Guantanamo Bay”, providing legal support for prisoners unable to pay for themselves, have released a letter to President Obama, and Yemen’s President Hadi from Faisal bin Ali Jaber, a Yemeni engineer who lost his nephew and brother-in-law in a US drone strike on Hadhramout Governorate, in August 2012.
/..
http://www.globalresearch.ca/letter-from-yemen/5345844
Dreoilin
Well, I wasn’t talking to you, but you’re welcome to join in as long as you refrain from making an ass of yourself.
Has it occurred to you that a “satisfactory outcome to the talks” (ie, an outcome acceptable to both the Israelis and Palestinians) might be “the best chance for peace” between Israel and a future Palestinian state? I was using a paraphrase, as you might not have noticed.
Thirdly, you would like a 40 year old problem solved overnight on Craig Murray’s blog. Since you seem to find that feasible, here’s a couple of important issues I’d like you to prognosticate on:
1/. What do you (yes, Dreoilin) see as the best chance for ending the present conflict in Syria?
2/. What do you (you again Dreoilin,) see as the best chance for ending the present slaughter in the Sudan?
Off the top of my head : I could think of a few more, but I’ll give you a couple of easy (irony) ones first.
And before replying “But I never claimed that I had the solution”…think.
@ Dreoilin
Oh, sorry, I forgot another easy one:
What do you, Dreoilin, see as the best chance for reconciling people’s right to know with the demands of state security?
I believe you’ve posted on Mr Snowden.
How long have you been a member of the Orange Order, Fred?
Most British Nationalists are members.
Words from ‘V’.
““Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. ”
Someone is losing that farcical, good-humored self-parody and getting quite fish-and-chippy.
I’m away to my bed. This blog has become boring. It seems to be the home of right wing Zionists like HAabbakuk, and right wing extreme Loyalist protestants like Fred.
[Mod: extreme abuse, deleted]