The problem with the Geneva Communique from the first Geneva round on Syria is that the government of Syria never subscribed to it. It was jointly chaired by the League of Arab States for Syria, whatever that may mean. Another problem is that it is, as so many diplomatic documents are, highly ambiguous. It plainly advocates a power sharing executive formed by some of the current government plus the opposition to oversee a transition to democracy. But it does not state which elements of the current government, and it does not mention which elements of the opposition, nor does it make plain if President Assad himself is eligible to be part of, or to head, the power-sharing executive, and whether he is eligible to be a candidate in future democratic elections.
Doubtless the British, for example, would argue that the term transition implies that he will go. The Russians will argue there is no such implication and the text does not exclude anybody from the process. Doubtless also diplomats on all sides were fully aware of these differing interpretations and the ambiguity is quite deliberate to enable an agreed text. I would say that the text tends much more to the “western” side, and that this reflects the apparently weak military position of the Assad regime at that time and the then extant threat of western military intervention. There has been a radical shift in those factors against the western side in the interim. Expect Russian interpretations now to get more hardline.
Given the extreme ambiguity of the text, Iran has, as it frequently does, shot itself in the foot diplomatically by refusing to accept the communique as the basis of talks and thus getting excluded from Geneva. Iran should have accepted the communique, and then at Geneva issued its own interpretation of it.
But that is a minor point. The farcical thing about the Geneva conference is that it is attempting to promote into power-sharing in Syria “opposition” members who have no democratic credentials and represent a scarcely significant portion of those actually fighting the Assad regime in Syria. What the West are trying to achieve is what the CIA and Mossad have now achieved in Egypt; replacing the head of the Mubarak regime while keeping all its power structures in place. The West don’t really want democracy in Syria, they just want a less pro-Russian leader of the power structures.
The inability of the British left to understand the Middle East is pathetic. I recall arguing with commenters on this blog who supported the overthrow of the elected President of Egypt Morsi on the grounds that his overthrow was supporting secularism, judicial independence (missing the entirely obvious fact the Egyptian judiciary are almost all puppets of the military) and would lead to a left wing revolutionary outcome. Similarly the demonstrations against Erdogan in Istanbul, orchestrated by very similar pro-military forces to those now in charge in Egypt, were also hailed by commenters here. The word “secularist” seems to obviate all sins when it comes to the Middle East.
Qatar will be present at Geneva, and Qatar has just launched a pre-emptive media offensive by launching a dossier on torture and murder of detainees by the Assad regime, which is being given first headline treatment by the BBC all morning
There would be a good dossier to be issued on torture in detention in Qatar, and the lives of slave workers there, but that is another question.
I do not doubt at all that atrocities have been committed and are being committed by the Assad regime. It is a very unpleasant regime indeed. The fact that atrocities are also being committed by various rebel groups does not make Syrian government atrocities any better.
But whether 11,000 people really were murdered in a single detainee camp I am unsure. What I do know is that the BBC presentation of today’s report has been a disgrace. The report was commissioned by the government of Qatar who commissioned Carter Ruck to do it. Both those organisations are infamous suppressors of free speech. What is reprehensible is that the BBC are presenting the report as though it were produced by neutral experts, whereas the opposite is the case. It is produced not by anti torture campaigners or by human rights activists, but by lawyers who are doing it purely and simply because they are being paid to do it.
The BBC are showing enormous deference to Sir Desmond De Silva, who is introduced as a former UN war crimes prosecutor. He is indeed that, but it is not the capacity in which he is now acting. He is acting as a barrister in private practice. Before he was a UN prosecutor, he was for decades a criminal defence lawyer and has defended many murderers. He has since acted to suppress the truth being published about many celebrities, including John Terry.
If the Assad regime and not the government of Qatar had instructed him and paid him, he would now be on our screens arguing the opposite case to that he is putting. That is his job. He probably regards that as not reprehensible. What is reprehensible is that the BBC do not make it plain, but introduce him as a UN war crimes prosecutor as though he were acting in that capacity or out of concern for human rights. I can find no evidence of his having an especial love for human rights in the abstract, when he is not being paid for it. He produced an official UK government report into the murder of Pat Finucane, a murder organised by British authorities, which Pat Finucane’s widow described as a “sham”. He was also put in charge of quietly sweeping the Israeli murders on the Gaza flotilla under the carpet at the UN.
The question any decent journalist should be asking him is “Sir Desmond De Silva, how much did the government of Qatar pay you for your part in preparing this report? How much did it pay the other experts? Does your fee from the Government of Qatar include this TV interview, or are you charging separately for your time in giving this interview? In short how much are you being paid to say this?”
That is what any decent journalist would ask. Which is why you will never hear those questions on the BBC.
Fred
“I wouldn’t do that, I’d rather just put it (ie, money) away in a drawer.
Then I’d know it was safe.”
__________________
But would it be safe,, Fred? It might get stolen by someone breaking into your house. And in that event it wouldn’t be covered by the £85.000 deposit guarantee scheme.
I advise you to reconsider.
Fred
as an after-thought : and supposing your house burned down?
I’m very concerned for your money, Fred.
Questions to no one in particular (but, as always, all are free to respond!) :
Could a blog like Craig Murray’s operate freely in Russia, China, Iran, Syria or Cuba?
Could a blog like Craig Murray’s operate freely on the United States?
“PS Suggestions for the collective nouns for royal residences?”
______________________
How about : “a National Heritage” ?
In accordance with Craig Murray’s injunction that one should not ascribe motives to posters, I shall not comment on your refusal to tell us why you learnt Russian.
However, I’ll allow myself to interpret your refusal to say whether or not you regret the demise of the Soviet Union as signifying that you do regret that demise.
I think that’s fair enough.
“Could a blog like Craig Murray’s operate freely in Russia, China, Iran, Syria or Cuba?”
What differentiates those countries from the US and UK is that they’re all subject to active and ongoing internal attack from forces with external assistance.
Despite the blethering from politicians in the US and UK the same does not apply. What minor disgruntlement you get here is well infiltrated and managed by internal security, and there’s no external assistance.
What we’re living with at the moment is a situation in which the West has no known predators to speak of and that’s why they’re acting so rashly, in economic and military terms. It could of course all still go pear-shaped.
So, Craig’s blog and others like it are a minor nuisance to western elites but would represent a much greater challenge in the countries mentioned above.
Clive James learnt Russian so that he could enjoy Pushkin in the original.
Habby has such limited horizons.
Herbie
So I think you agree that a blog like Craig Murray’s could not operate freely in Russia, China, Iran, Syria and Cuba.
Reason : it would represent a “challenge” to those govts.
Anyone else care to stick their neck out? 🙂
Herbie
“What minor disgruntlement you get here is well infiltrated and managed by internal security,…”
________________
Puzzled! Are you saying that this blog is managed by internal security?
Regarding freedom of expression …. the west vs the rest.
From Medialens latest email alert:
Read it all here:
http://medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=753:propaganda-the-dominant-grand-narrative-of-our-time&catid=52:alerts-2014&Itemid=245
I was thinking more of protest groups, habby. You’ll have seen the stories of infiltration and agents provocateur and so on.
Western elites don’t much mind what people discuss in blogs, so long as it’s not coordinated with direct action, and anyway there’s so much fog of distraction and drivel out there that most people haven’t a clue what’s going on.
In those countries you mention they are facing a coordinated external threat and you can see that in Ukraine, Russia, Syria, Iran etc. They’re doing what the West would do and indeed has done in similar circumstances. The history of the US and UK is quite revealing in that regard.
So, again your appeals to some form of exceptionalism at work in the West turns out to be no more than a figment of your imagination, brought about no doubt by your quite curious ignorance of the facts and inability to form a judgement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSkn5Mk10Y0 Peter Paul and Mary
Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
BBC News had Billy Bragg on speaking from Exeter about Pete. He finished singing the Where Have All The Flowers Gone? They cut him off before he could sing the last three verses. ‘Out of time’. Of course they were in case people got the message that wars kill people.
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
~~~
Obomber said of Pete Seeger.
“Once called ‘America’s tuning fork’, Pete Seeger believed deeply in the power of song,”.
“But more importantly, he believed in the power of community.”
“To stand up for what’s right, speak out against what’s wrong, and move this country closer to the America he knew we could be.”
“Over the years, Pete used his voice – and his hammer – to strike blows for worker’s rights and civil rights; world peace and environmental conservation. And he always invited us to sing along.”
“For reminding us where we come from and showing us where we need to go, we will always be grateful to Pete Seeger. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Pete’s family and all those who loved him.”.
Hypocrite.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25923852
I have always loved this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UKvpONl3No
This article throws up a newfound drang by Ms. von der Leyen and Herr Steinmeier to up Germany, the powerhouse of Europe, and its military projection abroad.
For our Belgian armchair contingent, should we throw NATO mout of its new building and use it for a European peace and defence force?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-considers-increasing-role-in-foreign-military-missions-a-945771.html
Mary
Billy Bragg was on Radio 4’s ‘Any Questions’ during Operation Cast Lead. The mealy mouthed sell-out offered no support to the Palestinians and instead stressed Israel’s right to self-defence.
A few years later, I had a protracted email conversation with him. I summerise it thus:
Me: you had an opportunity to stick up for the most oppressed people on Earth during some of their darkest days and you didn’t.
Him: I’m a good guy, look at the lyrics of my songs.
Me: Yeah, but when it counted, you didn’t stand up.
Him : But I’m a good guy, look at the lyrics of my songs.
Yeah, but what about the Palestinians.
Him: But I’m a good guy, look at the lyrics of my songs.
Me: Oh fuck off you hypocrite.
Very strange A Node. I do not disbelieve what you say but it does seem to be at odds with his part in these productions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_for_Palestine
http://www.irishleftreview.org/2010/06/02/listening-billy-braggs-rachel-corrie/
Unlike many other performers, he does not appear to have performed in Israel either, unlike Morrissey, Madonna and Elton John and so on.
Launch of the Jerusalem Report in Parliament
EVENTS / Posted by Friends of Al-Aqsa / Wednesday, 05th February, 2014
To draw attention to the challenges faced by Palestinian citizens living in Jerusalem in light of Israeli Policies.
The report will cover:
•Historic Overview: An Introduction to Jerusalem
•The Status of Palestinian Jerusalemites, 1967 – present
•Protecting Jerusalem’s Palestinian Cultural Heritage
Speakers include:
* Megan Driscoll, Advocacy Officer, Coalition for Jerusalem (based in Jerusalem)
* Ismail Patel, Chair of Friends of Al-Aqsa
* Linda Ramsden, Director of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions UK
* Yasmin Qureshi MP
The launch will be held on Wednesday 5 February 2014 from 18:30 – 20:00 at the Grimmond Room, Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament, SW1A 2LW.
If you are able to attend please email [email protected].
http://www.foa.org.uk/events/launch-of-the-jerusalem-report-in-parliament
“AGXIIK: Federal Takeover of Retirement Plans is Coming!”
http://www.silverdoctors.com/agxiik-2/
R.I.P Pete Seeger
Re Syria….
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, January 28, 2014
Global Research 15 December 2013
“From the outset, the Western military alliance has (covertly) supported the terrorists with a view to destabilizing Syria as a nation state.
Lest we forget, Al Qaeda is a creation of the CIA.
The US, NATO, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have channeled most of their support to the Al Qaeda brigades, which are also integrated by Western Special Forces.
British and French Special Forces have been actively training opposition rebels from a base in Turkey.
Israel has provided a safe have to Al Qaeda affiliated rebels in the occupied Golan Heights.
Western special forces have been training the rebels in the use of chemical weapons in Jordan.”
“This is a war of aggression. It is not a civil war.
The New Islamic Front
The Al Qaeda fighters integrated by mercenaries, trained in Saudi Arabia and Qatar constitute the mainstay of so-called opposition forces, which have been involved in countless atrocities and terrorist acts directed against the civilian population from the outset in March 2011.
The existence of “more moderate opposition brigades” supported by the West is a myth. They exist in name, they do not constitute a meaningful military force. They are not the object of significant support by their Western handlers, who prefer to channel their aid to the Al Qaeda affiliated brigades.
The FSA and its Supreme Military Command essentially serve as a front organization. The SMC under the helm of General Salim Idriss has largely been used to channel support to the terrorists.
In recent developments, fighting has broke out between the Al Qaeda affiliated rebels covertly supported by the West and the more moderate FSA brigades, officially supported by the West.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/washingtons-new-islamic-front-expanded-u-s-support-to-al-qaeda-rebels-in-syria/5361660
Mary,
I’ve spent a frustrating couple of hours trying to track down a transcript of the Any Questions programme, very close but no luck yet and I have to go out for the night. I think the episode in question must have been at the time of the Goldstone Report rather than Cast Lead. I’ll have another go tomorrow, let him condemn himself from his own mouth.
BTW, the lyrics of “The lonesome death of Rachel Corrie” are also typically mealy mouthed … he spends most of them attacking the American Establishment, and even the few words referring to Israel include a justification for their actions.
BrianFujisan
Did you miss that bit in the Queen’s xmas speech to the nation in which she praised the UK forces now facing new challenges in a changing world, and welcomed new faces from the former commonwealth countries with a shared heritage who were fighting heroically alongside UK soldiers in hot spots round the world. That was AlQaida, who now form a new battalion annexed to the dwindling UK army. Defense cuts = Chop orf their heads!
Fred
Even if you put the money away in a drawer society has a debt to honour to you in the future – unless you expect nothing in return when you spend your cash. If your savings are whittled away by inflation I’m pretty sure that you feel that someone has not honoured their debt to you. Not for nothing do our bank notes contain a promise to pay the bearer.
Resident Dissident, 27 Jan, 2014 – 11:21 pm
I know because I read up on these things. Suggest you do too.
And which books would you recommend – I suspect that our reading lists may differ somewhat. Anything from Luke Harding or Masha Gessen for instance?
He is a fraud then A Node. Would the AQ episode be this one 1/7/2011?
Duration: 50 minutes
First broadcast:Friday 01 July 2011
Your chance to have your say. Call Jonathan Dimbleby on 03700 100 444 or email us at [email protected] about Iain Duncan Smith’s call for firms to employ Brits before foreigners; public versus private pensions; the Liberal Democrats’ role in the Coalition and bailing out Greece. Respond to last night’s panel from Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire: musician Billy Bragg, businesswoman Deborah Meaden, Work and Pensions minister, Steve Webb and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Shaun Woodward
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0124r4h
‘Billy Bragg is a political activist and a musician. He spent yesterday rallying with strikers in Exeter and at last week’s Glastonbury Festival he was curator of a programme of pop and politics at the Left Field tent. In last year’s election, he helped campaign against the BNP in Barking & Dagenham, the constituency where he grew up, while also calling for change to the electoral system. In the previous two elections, he had run a tactical vote-swapping campaign to keep out the Conservatives in Dorset. “He was “hugely disappointed” the Liberal Democrats “entered into a coalition with Cameron”. Last year he announced would withhold his tax until the Chancellor acted to curb the bonus payments to investments bankers at RBS. In 1981 he joined a tank regiment of the British Army but bought himself out three months later. It was, he has said, the most wisely spent £175 of his life. As a musician his songs became overtly political in the 1980s particularly during the miners’ strike in 1984 when he played regularly to political rallies and benefit concerts. More recently he set up Jail Guitar Doors, an independent initiative to provide musical equipment for prison inmates and the Featured Artists Coalition, which campaigns for the protection of performers’ and musicians’ rights.’
“PS Suggestions for the collective nouns for royal residences?”
______________________
How about : “a National Heritage” ?
I look forward to the day when the nation can fully realise its inheritance.
An e-mail from David Babbs 38 Degrees just in. Letters to MPs, petitions signed, even ads in the papers today have come to naught. More squelching of freedoms by the ConDems.
Dear Mary,
I wanted to let you know straight away. I’m afraid we lost the gagging law vote in the House of Lords this evening. That’s it – it’s going to become law.
It couldn’t have been closer. On the final vote, 245 Lords voted in favour and 245 against. Unfortunately the rules mean that in the case of a tie, the government gets its way.
Personally I feel pretty devastated about this. I’m worried about what it means for the future of 38 Degrees. More importantly, I’m worried about what it means for the future of democracy, and what it tells us about the state of British politics.
But I also feel proud of everything 38 Degrees members did together to fight this. I hope you do too.
There will be a lot of thinking and discussion to be done in the coming days. 38 Degrees members will need to pull together to think about how to fight this terrible law. And we’ll need to work out how we can keep standing up for all we believe in – despite the restrictions the government is trying to impose.
But right now, I feel sure of one thing. We won’t give up.
Sorry I’m not emailing with better news, and thank you for everything you’ve done,
David
Ottaway goes over the top and calls the police.
Tory MP calls police on handful of retired constituents delivering petition against lobbying bill ‘gagging law’
22.1.14
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-mp-calls-police-on-handful-of-retired-constituents-delivering-lobbying-bill-gagging-law-petition-9078297.html
He is chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
‘2009 expenses scandal
During the Daily Telegraph expenses scandal it was revealed that Ottaway claimed for a second home nine miles south of the constituency, with another house minutes from Parliament. Ottaway apologised to constituents for his part in ‘allowing an indefensible system of allowances to develop'[23] and announced he would let Croydon South party members decide his fate in a vote of confidence. The local association’s President, Lord Bowness, chaired the meeting, which ended in a secret ballot that Ottaway won.
Among his expenses claims between April 2004 and March 2008 were £59.99 on light bulbs and £48 for modifying a scarifier. He paid back £2,025 that he had claimed as half of the price of an orthopaedic bed and £1,400 for homeware and electrical goods. David Cameron’s Conservative head office scrutiny panel did not ask him to pay back any more.
Refusal to meet with constituents
On 22 January 2014 it was reported that Ottaway called the police for ‘security’ when a group of constituents – most of whom were of pension age – visited his office to hand in a petition against the ‘Gagging Law’ (Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill). A Met spokesman said: “Officers spoke to all parties. No offences were identified and the officers left.” The MP however is reported as saying that he would do the same again. [24]’
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ottaway
“Even if you put the money away in a drawer society has a debt to honour to you in the future – unless you expect nothing in return when you spend your cash. If your savings are whittled away by inflation I’m pretty sure that you feel that someone has not honoured their debt to you. Not for nothing do our bank notes contain a promise to pay the bearer.”
So why do they contain a promise to pay the bearer then?
Arbed wrote
And what to make of “Paranoid Smurf“?
https://squonk.tk/blog/2013/12/19/the-new-yorker-state-of-deception/comment-page-4/#comment-2859
http://rt.com/news/nsa-gchq-phone-data-263/
“And what to make of “Paranoid Smurf“?”
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/01/28/nsar-j28.html
@ Mary & A Node, re Billy Bragg, “Bragg supported the pro-Iraq war candidate Oona King against the anti-war George Galloway in the 2005 general election in the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow”
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/Billy-Bragg/biography/