The Tony Blair House Journal (editor Alan Rusbridger) reports on Kanye West’s disgusting private performance for the Kazakh dictator and his family, and takes a sideswipe at David Cameron for visiting that country.
But peculiarly they fail to mention that Tony Blair receives US $4 million a year as a consultant to the worker murdering Kazakh dictator, and that Alistair Campbell and Jonathon Powell as well as Blair visit to give this support – which has included a behind the scenes campaign to help Nazarbaev win the Nobel Peace Prize, fortunately with no result to date.
“I shot the Sheriff, but I didn’t shoot no deputy.”
Eric Clapton
“I’ve met the man-in-the-street…. he’s a cunt.”
Johnny Rotten
It seems Eric Clapton actually admitted to killing both the sheriff AND the deputy.
Jemand:”Now would you like to explain your hostility directed at me in relation to this issue? It just seems a little abusive since you were giving us a nice lecture on the topic of unfriendly posts”
Abusive?! As an expert in this field perhaps you care to point out this verbal “abuse” that I’ve apparently directed at you ?
Hostility ? Perhaps, as I don’t much like hypocrisy, baseless smearing, or the dog eat dog view of the world you seem to like to present here.
Mac.. meh!
Werritty- at last a sighting!
http://www.newsxs.com/en/go/13584934/Evening_Standard/
Confirmed by the Torygraph, incidentally.
Who says nepotism is dead? (Clue: No-one)
http://order-order.com/2013/09/13/list-of-shame-every-mp-who-employs-a-family-member/
Yes, sorry, but once in a while he gets it dead right…
Komodo, I think they would like to ease Fox back onto the front benches. Werritty only gets a mention in the ES review of Fox’s memoirs. Where is he?
“And a man looking suspiciously like Werritty stood among the guests at the London Film Museum in County Hall as the leading Tory Right-winger spoke.” I don’t really call that a sighting. Where’s the photo?
jemand expalined;
Then proceeded to commit whataboutry;
Clever, astute, really sharp, what a convincing rebuttal? Boy I for one am really, really, really persuaded now!
====
In other news;
What is happening? Are the porn scare stories no longer do the trick any more?
The story of royal protocol breached.
Is there any end to transgressions these days?
@ Komodo: “Who says nepotism is dead? (Clue: No-one)”
Is there a word describing the equally corrupting practice of nepotism-once-removed, “Yeah, I can find a spot for your niece if you take my kid off my hands, and out of my house”?
With war-or-not on hold, the US Senate has time for mischief. They’re drafting a law to define who is and is not a journalist for purposes of protecting sources under shield laws. Any persons blowing whistles best ask to see a Govt. Licensed Journalist card prior to squealing.
re energy security, etc :
1/. “Extract and burn every last drop of hydrocarbon as quickly as possible before China gets it, with the objective of raising global temperatures to the point where Southern Europe (at least) joins the Hadhramaut in the global extended beach resort stakes, and London becomes the scuba destination of the world. That’s the way to do it. How else are one-to-a-car commuters expected to live 100 miles from their daily workplace?” (from Komodo)
_____________
There we go. We’re discussing energy security (for the West) and up pops someone pulling out the green card. Which is certainly a point, but not the point under discussion. So on the green point : do you think that China (etc) gives a good example wrt energy conservation? And, whether it does or not, should the West pull back from the idea of its own energy security and let China have all the resources (which it looks as if it’s going to have to have if it continues burning them at its present rate)?
Your point you raised appears at first sight to be just another aspect of your anti-West discourse.
2/. Thank you for that further post, Jemand.
“The US will not willingly surrender its superpower status which is dependent on a powerful economy which is still dependent on fossil fuels. Even with peak oil and gas, with slower extraction and a few new technological tricks, securing exclusive access to these resources will give the US a strong advantage. Yes, seeking energy security is rational etc but internecine wars over energy are not.”
_____________
Just three thoughts :
a/. Not really a question of the US and/or its super-power status, I think. Energy security is essential for the entire West, superpower or micro-power, all of whom are dependent on fossile fuels.
b/. I don’t think it’s a question of the US gaining exclusive access and so gaining an advantage; the access provided by various pipelines and routes benefits all of us equally in the West.
c/.I do not think that internecine war will necessarily result from a drive for energy security, which can also be promoted (and is being promoted) by peaceful means.
Barrett Brown;canary in a coalmine?
http://www.digitaltrends.com/opinion/barrett-brown-link-sharing-illegal/
Which is certainly a point, but not the point under discussion
That never seems to stop you, does it? Far be it from me to wander further from the point by responding to your other, obviously rhetorical, questions.
When did you last beat your wife, btw?
Oh, missed this gem: Your point you raised (sic) appears at first sight to be just another aspect of your anti-West discourse.
Try looking at it a bit longer, then.
@ Anon (09h44)
“I’ve seen Habbabkuk’s “****************$” on multiple occasions, meaning rather than it being a slip on a Belgian keyboard,…”
_________________
Well, Anon, Captain Komode gets very little right and his venture into “Belgian AZERTY” keyboards is but another example.
Which Belgians is he talking about, given that 60% of Belgians use the Dutch (or more precisely, the Flemish) language and 40% the French?
Captain Mainwaring, more like!
Re Point 3 Mr H (if you will permit one of the crazies a momentito of lucidity)
1) Iran/Iraq/Syria pipeline, MOU signed in July 2012. Qatar very annoyed!
2) Unocal/Delta pipeline thought Afghanistan (now TAPI pipeline)
3) AMBO pipeline from Burgas to Albanian port of Vlores.
All promoted by peaceful means?
Mary linked the Pilger article on Tuesday about the Pentagon having clandestinely taken over the White House. Well worth a read if you missed it. Pilger, unlike Obama, pulls no punches.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/10/silent-military-coup-took-over-washington
@ Komode (15h35)
“”Which is certainly a point, but not the point under discussion”
That never seems to stop you, does it? Far be it from me to wander further from the point by responding to your other, obviously rhetorical, questions.
When did you last beat your wife, btw?”
________________
Thank you for that cogent and well-argued response to the points I made. It neatly demonstrates why you’re a Captain and not a corporal 🙂
Marc Grossman said;
An accurate assessment, and a realistic estimate of the actualities on the ground. It is all unravelling at the seams, the whole edifice is falling apart around their ears. This is the same pattern that was associated with the fall of the USSR, anyone who remembers the years preceding the disintegration of the soviet empire, can draw the parallels with the unfolding of the events these days.
This is a key performance indicator of the US empire, and how well its minions are doing; gross domestic product of 0.078 percent. How can this kind of negative growth sustain the dog and pony show of “freedom” brand that US is pushing?
And what in your opinion would be the best solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, Rubbaduck?
Or would you like that in Walloon?
Mike, but have you not noticed how Pakistan is now the most dangerous state on the planet?
The pipeline Iran/Pakistan/China-India most certainly nullifies all the hands of
chessSolitaire played by the “geopolitics” actors.The simple fact that some of the said actors are living in nineteenth century with a recalcitrant mindset of the same era, somehow does not constitute much, other than their crazed notions of “success” to be all the more comical and ludicrously out of whack with the currently developed Earth.
It’s better through a mouthful of Phlegmish…
@Habbabkuk re Energy Security
Yes, it’s not black and white. The point is there is a tendency to eg internecine conflicts, jostling for domination over access to foreign resources and so on. Of course there is no absolute certainty of anything, only probabilities.
So the US wants to increase the probability of having future access to energy, as does every nation, but the US is in a better position to ensure its own energy security compared to countries like the UK. Who knows what really happened to the collapse in support from the UK govt re Syria. Maybe British interests weren’t so clearly defined or factored into the end game.
Now I wouldn’t be confusing the US with the West. Henry Kissinger is reported to have said that the US has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests. As long as there is mutual benefit in cooperating on energy security issues, the US and West might be seen as one and the same on energy security but with the usual caveat that ‘things do change’.
@ Technicolour
Your latest comments seem to conflate unduly two rather separate issues, which are
1/. the negative geo-political shenanigans which some claim to be implicit or even inevitable in the efforts of the West (btw – also of China) to ensure security of energy supply,, eg by the creation of energy corridors (this is a correct term)
and
2/. the negative effects of climate change on some of the earth’s population.
It seems that the only way you could draw a link between these two issues is to assume firstly that climate change is the result (entirely or mainly) of the use of fossile fuels, and secondly to question the level, in terms of imports, at which the West (and China) feel they have or will reach energy supply security.
I have no particular views on the above but would however question whether the economic downturn in the West that would follow either a breakdown in energy supply security or a conscious decision to use fewer fossile fuels (the green option you vaunt) would be of any great economic benefit to the developing or poorer countries; quite the reverse, I should have thought.
@ Komode
“And what in your opinion would be the best solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, Rubbaduck?
Or would you like that in Walloon?”
________________
Yes please, go ahead.
@ Passerby
“Mike, but have you not noticed how Pakistan is now the most dangerous state on the planet?”
_________________
Wow, you’ll get 2 weeks in the glasshouse for saying that.
As any ful no (at least any ful on this board), the US is the most dangerous state on the planet, surely?
At least, that’s what we regularly hear on here.
@ Jemand
Points noted but not necessarily entirely agreed with; but I think we’re near enough (certainly compared to the anti-West brigade) not to have to take this any further. BTW, if Dr Kissinger said that then I think he pinched it from Lord Palmerston. Bloody plagiarist!
@ everyone, Eminences included
I hope you’re all enjoying my incisive and insightful comments and the occasional humorous interjection. Enjoy them while you can, for tomorrow Mary will be back.
@ Passerby
“This is a key performance indicator of the US empire, and how well its minions are doing; gross domestic product of 0.078 percent.”
_________________
I know the boozers are open all day in the UK, but still…what is this 0,078 percent?
Shurely shome mishtake here!
@Passerby – YES Pakistan become a very dangerous country – not the world but to Israel.
That’s what Tarek Fatah said on Monday at Israel’s so-called ‘International Institute for Counter-Terrorism‘ 2013 annual conference in Herzliya. He was one of the two “Muslim Zionists” amongst over three dozen Israeli, American and Indian military and security officials who attended the conference as Israeli government’s guests.
http://rehmat1.com/2013/09/11/pakistan-poses-great-threat-to-israel/