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.
Nova reveals top secret classified information in spectrum? News at 11.
As long as the nova isn’t Brazilian it will be fine.
Nova “detained” at Heathrow under anti-terrorism legislation
Initial reports say Craig Murray: “Appalled”
For Fuck’s Sake Craig Post!
Is B.Liar squirming at the current repetition of the name Miranda?
re the Welsh language :
Doug Scorgie originally made the point that 19% of the Welsh population had knowledge of Welsh and that 12% were proficient in that language.
I added the observation that the distribution of Welsh speakers was uneven: Welsh speakers are concentrated in certain areas of the Principality.
Chris Jones has now – somewhat belatedly – expended much time (cf his post at 02h15) on a long screed on the subject.
I merely note that 99% of his post establishes a series of straw men and is irrelevant to the original comments, which set out
1/. the percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales
2/. the uneven distribution of Welsh speakers in Wales (in some detail),
figures which I note that Chris Jones does not contest.
All the rest is guff.
Chris Jones:
So Hebrew children, or any other children, shouldn’t be derided for being taught their own language in their own country but Welsh children and newcomers to Wales being taught the language and culture of their own country in their own country for some reason should? Habbabkuk actively promotes discrimination against others whilst attacking those who defend such discrimination – Anti defamation League cultural racism at its most stupifying
I think you’re doing Rubbaduck an injustice there. What he’s saying is that the language of the prior residents of a country must be by all means eradicated in favour of that of the settlers. So he’s being consistent for a change.
On the other hand, I would dispute your statement that Welsh is the second most spoken language in the UK. That honour goes to Polish.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/polish-is-second-most-spoken-language-in-england-as-census-reveals-140000-residents-cannot-speak-english-at-all-8472447.html
Sad, but probably true.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-told-cabinet-secretary-to-get-guardian-to-hand-over-edward-snowden-documents-8777216.html
Also reported on R4 Today this morning. Saint Teresa still maintains she had nothing to do with it, lying cow.
Something this country badly needs is accountability, and named desks on which the buck comes to a definite, visible halt.
“The American (or Anglo-American?) surveillance industry has grown so big by exploiting laws to combat terrorism that it is as impossible to manage internally as it is to control externally. It cannot sustain its own security. Some two million people were reported to have had access to the WikiLeaks material disseminated by Bradley Manning from his Baghdad cell. Snowden himself was a mere employee of a subcontractor to the NSA, yet had full access to its data.”
“Manning and Snowden cannot have been the only US officials to have pondered blowing a whistle on data abuse. There must be hundreds more waiting in the wings – and always will be.”
“But it remains worrying that many otherwise liberal-minded Britons seem reluctant to take seriously the abuses revealed in the nature and growth of state surveillance. The arrogance of this abuse is now widespread. The same police force that harassed Miranda for nine hours at Heathrow is the one recently revealed as using surveillance to blackmail Lawrence family supporters and draw up lists of trouble-makers to hand over to private contractors. We can see where this leads.”
“I hesitate to draw parallels with history, but I wonder how those now running the surveillance state – and their appeasers – would have behaved under the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. We hear today so many phrases we have heard before. The innocent have nothing to fear. Our critics merely comfort the enemy. You cannot be too safe. Loyalty is all. As one official said in wielding his legal stick over the Guardian: “You have had your debate. There’s no need to write any more.””
“Yes, there bloody well is.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/20/innocent-fear-david-miranda
Still no mention of the fact that if Manning and Snowden had easy access to so much info, would not genuine foreign spies, or traitors acting for them, have discovered as much. I believe the Russians when they say Snowden brought them nothing new. What’s been disclosed publicly thus far is largely from 2007-2009.
The only surprise was that even in those years, traffic was such that the NSA could only store 30 days worth of data. As Trowbridge H. Ford, who posts here occasionally, said, the recording of international and long-distance voice-streams goes back to the 50s/60s and those were stored for many years, possibly still archived today along with carbon copies of telegraph messages from the 19th century.
Years ago, techs pointed out that the processing of metadata — the to/from phone numbers, call times and locations — of the major US telcoms for billing purposes had been outsourced to specialist Israeli companies and was certainly available to their intelligence service and by implication to cooperating US agencies as well. Now we learn US agencies were doing this on their own.
So what are the real secrets or more likely embarrassments with which Snowden absconded and which have so vexed the US and UK? Doubtful it’s anything AQ didn’t already know or suspect, and it must be of a magnitude that would drive top-level politicians from office or destroy foreign alliances. Details of the drug trade? Bill and Hill have corruptly accumulated more billions than Ferdinand and Imelda made off with? Her Majesty didn’t order the assassination of Diana, but did order the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK? 🙂
I thought I heard a transatlantic accent when this Eqyptian finance minister was crowing about being indemnified by the Saudis, the Qataris and the UAE who have pledged to donate $9bn to Egypt if the EU and the US withdraw aid.
See his World Bank background and North American connections.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Galal_(politician)
He is very cynical in this statement which actually predates the bloodshed but he would probably be saying the same today.
Looking for a good investment? Consider Egypt: finance minister
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100932355
And then we hear that Mubarak is likely to be released. All hope for democratic freedom in Egypt is lost.
Errr, FJ…chances are if someone anywhere in the world has been taught English, they will have an American accent. This goes for AQ operatives as much as the Egyptian military. Sadly we do not have a monopoly and are unable to ensure that the world speaks proper English. Best bet is to learn Spanish and go with the US demographic…
Another killing of a Palestinian by the IOF (Israeli Occupation Force), this time in the Jenin refugee camp, is reported.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/world/middleeast/palestinian-killed-by-israeli-soldiers-in-west-bank-raid.html?_r=0
Where are you Craig? I hope you are in great shape and smiling at the 2738 posts that have landed here in your absence. You sure lit a fire! Thanks.
Can’t wait for your next offering.
My favourite quote so far this week,
“You have had your debate. There’s no need to write any more.” Henchman Anon
NR made many good points. Do others feel, as I do, that we’re reaching a tipping point on abusive “security” measures that is analogous to the point at which global warming is unstoppable because so many feedback mechanisms kick in? I’m starting to look at armed police as the enemy, rather than the friends of personal security.
That is, I am sure, wrong – because the real threats to my personal security come from bureaucrats, ministers and those designing the ways to suck out the information about my movements and vulnerabilities from the algorithms recording my purchases, insurance policies, use of ATMs, emails sent and received, downloads and travel on my “freedom” pass.
@Komondante Komodo.
Has dado en el clavo en la cabeza de mi amigo.
“La verdad os hará libres, pero primero va a mear fuera de usted” Gloria Marie Steinem
Oops! Olvida el “de”.
Flaming June 20 Aug, 2013 – 10:16 am
“False Flags and Hijacking Mindsby Ludwig Watzal / August 17th, 2013”
The book is available to read online via google books:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DR58YvUfqzkC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=Hijacking+America%27s+Mind+on+9/11:+Counterfeiting+Evidence&source=bl&ots=jW31r71pXf&sig=yJcFccq_iJGpEVhUZSmjwERNuAU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vNoTUsLaJ6Ki4gSO34HYAQ&ved=0CGEQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Hijacking%20America%27s%20Mind%20on%209%2F11%3A%20Counterfeiting%20Evidence&f=false
@ Komodo
“”Re David Miranda, what is almost more disconcerting is that his laptop and other equipment could simply be confiscated? Is it really that simple?”
“Yes. The trick is to do it in an airport, seaport or international rail station.””
_________________-
Well, obviously. Don’t you read the links you supply? Schedule 7 only applies to designated airports, seaports and international rail stations, so where is the trick?
@Komodo, I don’t think the confiscation can be permanent, though I am pretty sure the police will hold them for the full time permitted – a mix of overt authoritarianism and petty-mindedness, I wonder.
It is possible that Miranda might have encrypted the data on the digital devices, and whilst the police are permitted to require him to decrypt on demand, I think they probably wouldn’t want to risk that battle in the open. They’ve embarrassed themselves enough already, especially now Miranda is taking legal advice.
I’m curious, from a psychological perspective, what the motivations and subconscious processes are for the anonymous henchman quoted by Sofia Kibo Noh. He’ll not be stupid to get into that position of power, but you’d have to be pretty openly in favour of fascism to volunteer for that sort of cog duty! “You’ve had your debate” indeed, phew.
“Chris Jones:
“So Hebrew children, or any other children, shouldn’t be derided for being taught their own language in their own country but Welsh children and newcomers to Wales being taught the language and culture of their own country in their own country for some reason should? Habbabkuk actively promotes discrimination against others whilst attacking those who defend such discrimination – Anti defamation League cultural racism at its most stupifying”
I think you’re doing Rubbaduck an injustice there. What he’s saying is that the language of the prior residents of a country must be by all means eradicated in favour of that of the settlers. So he’s being consistent for a change.”
_____________________
Komodo, at 08h18, is again trying to mislead by posting porkies.
porkies.
Firstly, I’m saying nothing of the kind as you well know.
Secondly, the official languages of Israel are Hebrew and Arabic. How do you square that fact with your claim that “the language of the prior residents of a country must be by all means eradicated in favour of that of the settlers”?
Unless of course you consider that making Arabic one of the two official languages of Israel is a way of eradicating it.
Chump!
Jon
“It is possible that Miranda might have encrypted the data on the digital devices, and whilst the police are permitted to require him to decrypt on demand, I think they probably wouldn’t want to risk that battle in the open. ”
A NYT journalist who recently interviewed Greenwald and Poitras was on the world service a few days ago. He said they were all extremely security conscious. Poitras has three laptops one of which never goes online. He said the data was on an encypted usb stick.
My guess is that Miranda would not have known the key.
[Mod: commentary on what is off-topic removed. It has long been the case that threads may drift as they get older]
Out of interest: if you have a laptop seized by border police, there’s two worries you might have. Firstly, the obvious, is that your data will be seized. Encryption can be something of a protection against that.
The other less well known risk is that malicious software may be installed, perhaps key-logger software for the purpose of stealing passwords or installing more software remotely. This can be done at the operating system level, but also can be done at the BIOS (firmware) level. Thus, anyone who has their computers confiscated should reinstall their OS and check their firmware installation prior to using the machine again.
I’m not au fait with this stuff, but I should think the firmware could be tested either with checksums (a software calculation that shows a block of data has changed) or reflashing the firmware again (requires special software from the computer manufacturer). Obviously, the state does not have funds to do this to everyone, so only journalists and activists (etc) seriously challenging the status quo need worry about this significantly.
The NYT fella also said that Greenwald and Miranda have a place on the cusp between city and jungle with wild monkeys swinging around the house. Nice.
With Greenwald appearing ever more radicalised under the pressure and the guardian submitting to government threats you got to imagine increasing tension there.
@Jon
I can’t recall the name of it but there is a linux flavour (I think its linux could be something more esoteric) that I have seen used by many activists. It encrypts everything. The data is never kept on an os drive precisely so a clean install can be done at any time. I have no idea what it does regarding firmware but I imagine something has.
“False Flags and Hijacking Mindsby Ludwig Watzal / August 17th, 2013″
Sorry the link I gave earlier is a preview not the netire book. Personally, what I read of the preview doesn’t inspire me to buy the book.
The Guardian has in the past deserved criticism: not following the full thread of the Werrity/Fox scandal springs to mind. But I have to say that it is doing some sterling work on the whole NSA/Snowden thing. When a mainstream news outlet makes a point of exposing some deep state business, it deserved support, I for one sleep a little easier knowing that the Guardian is on the case. If only it had reported on the Al Nusra massacre of hundreds of Syrian Kurds…
Speaking of which, I see there has been a gas attack outside Damascus on the VERY SAME DAY the UN inspectors arrive. This means of course that it was nothing to do with the regime. How fucking dumb are the opposition?
Chump…
Did I so much as mention Israel in that post?
Chump.
Chump (2)
@ Komodo
“”Re David Miranda, what is almost more disconcerting is that his laptop and other equipment could simply be confiscated? Is it really that simple?”
“Yes. The trick is to do it in an airport, seaport or international rail station.””
_________________-
Well, obviously. Don’t you read the links you supply? Schedule 7 only applies to designated airports, seaports and international rail stations, so where is the trick?
I was explaining to your friend that yes, it really was that simple, and adding the qualifier, derived from the links I and not you am careful to supply as authentication of my opinion, that it applied to those locations. Using (and you would do well to study this yourself) a colloquial expression in order to offset my natural tendency to linguistic exactitude.
And what of your thoughts on the most likely basis for a peaceful settlement between your owners and the Palestinians? Maybe I missed them? Reference, please.
Chimp.
The BBC is catching up on the Fukushima story.
It has not mentioned yet that the alert level has been upgraded.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23776345
William Jefferson Hague pops out of his little hole in the woodwork to back the rabble rebel claim in their latest accusation against the Assad government on the use of ‘chemical weapons’. This accusation coincides with the presence of the UN team assessing chemical weapon use.
He gives a proviso as he is bound to though so as not to look more foolish later on.
WJH was much slower in condemning the atrocities in Egypt.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23777201 We have Nr Hamish Bretton de Gordon here on the subject.
Komodo 21 Aug, 2013 – 8:18 am
Aren’t you comparing apples and pears (% Polish speakers in England vs % Welsh speakers in UK).