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.
Mark Golding. 12 50am
Thanks. Always spot on.
I strongly believe Mrs Thatcher steered into a war by signalling to the Junta that we no longer wanted to defend the Falklands. She was saleswomen for a military Industrial Complex as is agent Cameron and Ed Millibane.
Just like how Saddam was encouraged to invade Kuwait then.
Isn’t it cute how the Team, to a troll, has closed ranks to defend and celebrate the poisonous Thatchler. One moment it seems they are posessed by a such of moral righteousness that none can emulate, piously denouncing the wicked and all their imagined antisemitic thought crimes, like the witch hunters of old. The next they are gleefully defending, of all things, the barbarous and cowardly sinking of the Belgrano.
Those young sailors were not the only lives snuffed out over that particular issue. All Hilda Murell was trying (successfully) to do was to shed some light on what actually happened. I wonder if she knew she was signing her own death warrant with this act?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Murrell
…..
Seen on a wall in Norway, May last year….
“There is no such thing as society.” Margaret Thatchler 1987
There is no such thing as Margaret Thatchler. 2013
Next spontanious nationwide street party will be when Bliar gets dragged down to the fiery pits. With any luck his last sight will be the skyline of Fallujah, where he has been serving the term of community service dealt to him at the Hague.
“Isn’t it cute how the Team, to a troll, has closed ranks to defend and celebrate the poisonous Thatchler.”
Thanks Sofia. It had not gone unnoticed. It’s their job to spread the agenda of their masters, even though their masters are liars, thieves and cheats. What does that make them?
DING DONG etc etc!
~~~
Why I believe sinking of Belgrano made MI5 murder my crusading aunt: A death surrounded by dark coincidences, and the disturbing belief of former intelligence chief who helped mastermind Falklands campaign
Hilda Murrell was abducted and murdered in 1984 in Shrewsbury
The 78-year-old was found with multiple signs of torture
Nephew believes she was killed because she ‘knew too much’
Commander Robert Green says her connection to him ‘sealed her fate’
Green was at the heart of operation which sank the Belgrano in 1982
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2371611/Why-I-believe-sinking-Belgrano-MI5-murder-crusading-aunt-A-death-surrounded-dark-coincidences-disturbing-belief-intelligence-chief-helped-mastermind-Falklands-campaign.html
Read his book A Thorn In Her Side. Recommended.
Good and decent humans. He and his wife Kate Dewes – http://www.disarmsecure.org/people.php
“Thanks Sofia. It had not gone unnoticed. It’s their job to spread the agenda of their masters, even though their masters are liars, thieves and cheats. What does that make them?”
Psychopaths.
Hmm…I don’t think Mark is aware of how deeply confused our policy on the Falklands was, even before Thatcher, and I am not at all sure the idea of ‘sending the wrong signal’ has much to do with the event. It’s possible having a deterrent force permanently on station would have discouraged Argentina, (Wilson’s token force was coupled with negotiations based on sharing the Falklands) but then as now cost benefit analysis was a major factor.
I say that as someone who detested Thatcher, her legacy, and everything she stood for.
BrianFujisan
? I have lost a best friend at sea and an infant child. I feel slightly overawed that they have crossed a boundary beyond my ken, but I do not feel sorry for myself about their loss nor sorry for them. I believe in God and His full scope of knowledge, mercy and wisdom.
Whereas
Investigator Probes Alleged Marine Corps War Crimes Cover-up
By Dan Lamothe
February 04, 2014
An investigation into whether senior Marine Corps officers attempted to cover up their own misconduct while prosecuting war crimes in Afghanistan has suddenly roared back to life, with a top civilian official now looking into whether the Marine brass unlawfully concealed crucial evidence in the cases, Foreign Policy has learned.
The investigation stems from the Marine Corps’ handling of legal cases tied to an embarrassing, widely distributed video depicting Marine snipers urinating on dead Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan on July 27, 2011. It was posted online in January 2012, creating an international uproar and drawing condemnations from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and other top U.S. officials. Three snipers who appeared in the video pleaded guilty to a variety of charges, including wrongful possession of unauthorized photos of casualties. At least five other Marines received non-judicial punishments.
/..
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37543.htm
and
Rotten To The Core
Pentagon Investigates Thousands of Soldiers in Massive Fraud Case
February 04, 2014
When a retired Army colonel and an enlisted soldier from Albuquerque, N.M. were charged last year with defrauding the National Guard Bureau out of about $12,000 the case drew little public attention. But it’s now become clear that the two men are among the roughly 800 soldiers accused of bilking American taxpayers out of tens of millions of dollars in what a U.S. senator is calling “one of the biggest fraud investigations in Army history.”
The wide-ranging criminal probe centers around an Army recruiting program that had been designed to help the Pentagon find new soldiers during some of the bloodiest days of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The program went off the rails, investigators believe, after hundreds of soldiers engaged in a kickback scheme that allowed them to potentially embezzle huge quantities of money without anyone in the government noticing. In one case, a single soldier may have collected as much as $275,000 for making “referrals” to help the Army meet its recruiting goals, according to USA Today, which first reported the story Monday.
The military’s failure to spot, or stop, the wrongdoing will be the focus of what is expected to be a highly contentious hearing Tuesday before the Senate’s Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight. The committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has summoned several of the National Guard officials who were in power at the time the alleged wrongdoing was taking place.
The numbers of soldiers and money involved are staggering.
/..
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37542.htm
Thanks for that Mary:
“…the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.”
“As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001. We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true.”
(Harold Pinter Nobel Literature Prize speech 2005)
Fred
5 Feb, 2014 – 6:55 am
“Well of course it’s political, just like Salmond telling the voters there will be monetary union is political.”
Fred: Alex Salmond is democratically elected and accountable to the Scottish people; the head of BP is not.
I know you are not in favour of Scottish independence but don’t let that cloud your judgement about political interference by multi-national corporations.
Slangevar
“Fred: Alex Salmond is democratically elected and accountable to the Scottish people; the head of BP is not.”
That doesn’t alter the fact that the head of BP is telling the truth and Salmond is lying.
Salmond can’t just declare he’s going to enter into monetary union with Britain, that will be for the British government to decide.
A slight warning to all. When Anon runs out of his drugs he gets vicious, add to that his unfortunate family life, his constant refusal to perform when he rather bickers on the computer and you have him flailing out in all directions talking twaddle, alsmost as much as Habby.
Doug, whatever Dudley wishes, he will not get Scotland to accept and adopt the dollar..:)His positions if fragile as the marine border dispute, re: oilbearing strata and shale, will be sorted after the vote, he came over somewhat ancious to me.
well said Brian and Mary. Thanks again Mark for reminding us of Thatchers attack and you sad loss, that Tigerfish should have been launched up her jacksie.
This from the EDP today, previously well performing schools are facing bancruptcy after Gove’s moral academy programme bamboozled parents into re schooling their children.
The six academies Theodore Agnew is involved in are not all well performing, still he will be driving his bulldozer to further disrupt ther education of our pupils.
Children need continuity and routine to learn Mr. Gove, not Victorian workhouse ethics. I will make sure that my unborn grandson will not fall into his indoctrinal hands.
sorry, the link
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/education/are_academy_schools_to_blame_for_falling_numbers_as_hewett_school_faces_up_to_430_000_deficit_1_3284922
I am sure Salmond, the former Oil Economist for RBS (in the bank’s heyday), will be able to reach an acceptable arrangement with UK plc regarding Scotland’s currency choice. Whatever it is. And if. He has the incalculable advantage over the current Westminster hoorays that he knows what he’s talking about. And if BP is happy doing business in Libya, and the rest of the ME/African plaguespots, it shouldn’t be too concerned about working in, or even with, an independent Scotland.
From the Great Imitator (Beelzebub – La vita è finita):
“I must admit it’s hard to support Bob Crow while he suns himself in Brazil on his £145k salary.”
______________
You’ll probably not believe me, but I don’t find that £145.000 salary (gross, I take it) either excessive or shocking. Given the man’s job and responsibilites and bearing in mind what other people earn in various other walks of life I find it reasonable enough.
What really interests me though is to know what sort of a NUM pension Arthur Scargill is now on. How much is he pulling in?
And, more generally, what if anything is the man up to these days.
Grateful for any info on the above.
Mr Scourgie
“More of the UK’s creeping fascism.”
___________________
Mother Mary has been going on about creeping fascism of late.
I recall that when I used the word “fascism” in a post of mine many moons ago, you were swift to ask me to define that word.
Will you similarly be asking Mary to define the word “fascism”?
Thanks in advance.
Buggerlugs – I was quoting one of your mates. Address yourself to him.
The CEO of London Underground earns twice as much as Crowe, incidentally, and rarely dines at home.
I will repeat my question of yesterday to John Goss in case anyone missed it:
“Please explain something.
You say that Baroness Thatcher (may she rest in peace)announced pit closures on 6 March.
Presumably the intention was not to physically close down the pits the next day, or even the next week, or even the next month?
And if that is correct, why did King Arthur (may he enjoy his generous pension) fix the strike for 12 March? Why did he not fix it for a week or so later, thus giving enough time for a national ballot beforehand?”
____________________________
To which fairly simple question Mr Goss replied as follows :
“Habby my friend, I would be happy to oblige with your request as soon as you give me an answer about what your understanding is of economic growth and why we should all be celebrating. Until you do I cannot waste my time answering your questions.”
I’ll limit myself to offering John a second chance to answer a pretty simple quesion ans in the meantime letting readers draw their own conclusions from his first non-answer.
******************************$
“Life is getting better, life is getting merrier!” J. Stalin, ca 1932
@ the Great Imitator (Beelzebub- la vita è finita, candidate member of the Egregiousness of Excellences, user of the word Excresences)
I don’t think you read my post carefully. I do not object to Mr Crowe’s salary.
And I’m eager to be informed about Mr Arthur Scargill’s NUM pension.
“US Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned the use of barrel bombs in the Syrian city of Aleppo by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.”
“Mr Kerry said it was the “latest barbaric act of the Syrian regime”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26043061
What a hypocrite!
“In April 2003 United States forces fired on a group of unarmed demonstrators who protested against the invasion and occupation of their country.
US forces alleged they were fired at first, but human rights groups who visited the site of the protests concluded that physical evidence did not corroborate their allegations and confirmed the residents’ accusations that the US forces fired indiscriminately on Iraqis with no provocation.
17 people were killed and 70 were wounded”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallujah_during_the_Iraq_War
“US forces ‘used chemical weapons’ during assault on city of Fallujah”
“Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-forces-used-chemical-weapons-during-assault-on-city-of-fallujah-514433.html
“‘It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest.’
Harold Pinter Nobel Literature Prize speech 2005.”
______________________
That’s a nice quote there from Mary.
Funnily enough, it reminded me of the title of a book I read the other week. The book was called “It was a long time ago, and it never happened – Russia and the communist past” and is by David Satter (Yale University Press, 2012).
As the cover blurb says, “Russia today is haunted by deeds that have not been examined and words that have been left unsaid. A serious attempt to understand the meaning of the Communist experience has not been undertaken, and millions of victims of Soviet Communism are all but forgotten. In this book Satter presents a striking new interpretation of Russia’s great historical tragedy, locating its source in Russia’s failure to appreciate fully the value of the individual in comparison with the objectives of the state”
I do recommend this book to any remaining fans of the old Soviet Union and of present Russian PM Mr Putin (Mr Goss is dispensed from this for reasons of blood pressure and fragile mental condition)!
***************************
La vita è bella, life is good!
Mr Scourgie
Mary’s definition of “fascism” ?
Israeli settlers mock Kerry’s peacemaking with spoof video
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10617149/Israeli-settlers-mock-Kerrys-peacemaking-with-spoof-video.html
Scroll down to watch
Habbabkuk
La vita è bella!
5 Feb, 2014 – 12:05 pm
Habbabkuk:
Everyone knows what happened in the Soviet Union and throughout Eastern Europe during the post-war period.
The systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought.
All this has been fully documented and verified.
(Harold Pinter)
SPIEGEL: Can there be a solution without Russia? Or without Iran?
Ban: It would have been better if the Iranians had taken part in the talks in Montreux. Iran is an influential regional actor, and it will play an important role in the implementation of an agreement between the government and the opposition. That is why I invited Iran. Regrettably, I had to rescind this invitation.
Interesting interview showing that BanKiMoony has not had direct talks with Assad himself since the beginning of this ‘gunning for Syria’ three years ago.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/un-secretary-ban-ki-moon-discusses-syria-in-spiegel-interview-a-950859.html
Did they ask Habby for his sexual proclivities I wonder, mind you they probably don’t ask ol’codgers, just focus on the youngsters. Basically the survey shows that the Catholic church missed the boat yonks ago, when liberation theology was quashed and Dr. Kueng was hounded for his reform ideas.
Ratzingers traditionalist grooming of pope Woitilla, as his PA for 20 years, left the church bereft of a reforming leader. Ratzinger himself refused to reform as pope and instead bought the property above Romes biggest gay club to house his priests, a moralist who works out of the closet one could assume.
Instead of asking the flock for its outlook on sex, the catholic church has an obligation to bring its priests in order and the criminals within its ranks to earthly justice. It should accept that celebacy has failed and decree that priests can marry, each other, or else.
Failing that, this picture will be the norm.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/catholic-survey-shows-deep-frustration-within-the-church-a-946069.html
“Isn’t it cute how the Team, to a troll, has closed ranks to defend and celebrate the poisonous Thatchler.”
No I did not defend or celebrate the poisonous Thatcher, quite the opposite if you could bother to read what I said – I attacked Scargill and toy town revolutionaries – it is not an either or choice.
Buggalugs – It is certain you didn’t read the post I quoted. I have expressed no view on Crowe’s salary, here or elsewhere.
Google is your friend, re Scargill. On whose emoluments I have nothing to say either. Answer your own bloody stupid questions.
@Scorgie
“The systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought.
All this has been fully documented and verified.
(Harold Pinter)”
Well I’m afraid this just demonstrates Pinter’s ignorance – what has happened has been far from fully documented and there is hardly a Russian family that doesn’t have gaps and rumours in its family history.
I also disagree with Habby’s quote of David Sater when he says “A serious attempt to understand the meaning of the Communist experience has not been undertaken, and millions of victims of Soviet Communism are all but forgotten.” There are many Russians who are making very serious attempts to discover what happen – which is why organisations such as Memorial exist http://www.memo.ru/eng/index.htm (Orlando Figes has highlighted their work in a couple of books) – and also why Putin and his regime are so keen on making their work difficult. Perhaps his supporters might wish to ask why Putin and his supporters are trying to say all this is in the past and has been fully investigated?
Mary’s definition of “fascism” ?
Well it doesn’t include those who have Le Pen as godfather to their daughter, wish the gas chambers on Jewish journalists and sing joke songs about the Shoah – they are a “definitive hero of genuine socialist thinking”.
Who was defending the odious Catholic church recently here? I do not give a stuff about their mealy mouthed words on anti Semitism.
I do however care very deeply on what their clerics have done over decades to abuse children and young people of all ages and about the cover up by the hierarchy.
Damn them to hell.
The whole article –
5 February 2014
Vatican ‘must immediately remove’ child abusers – UN
Vatican officials were questioned in December over why the Holy See would not open its files on priests known to be child abusers
Related Stories
Q&A: Vatican child abuse scandal
UN confronts Vatican on child abuse
Pope Benedict doubled defrockings
The UN has demanded that the Vatican “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers.
The UN watchdog for children’s rights denounced the Holy See for adopting policies allowing priests to sexually abuse thousands of children.
In a report, it criticised Vatican attitudes towards homosexuality, contraception and abortion.
The Vatican responded by saying it would examine the report – but also accused its authors of interference.
“The Holy See takes note of the concluding observations on its reports… [but] does, however, regret to see… an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of the human person… [and] reiterates its commitment to defending and protecting the rights of the child,” it said in a statement.
And a Vatican official, speaking to Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity, said the statements on homosexuality, contraception and abortion were outside the committee’s remit and “heavily agenda-driven and smacking of acute political correctness”.
The Vatican has set up a commission to fight child abuse in the Church.
The UN committee’s recommendations are non-binding and there is no enforcement mechanism.
Catholic Church abuse scandals
Germany – A priest, named only as Andreas L, admitted in 2012 to 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys over a decade
United States – Revelations about abuses in the 1990s by two Boston priests, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, caused public outrage
Belgium – The bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in April 2010 after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy for years
Italy – The Catholic Church in Italy admitted in 2010 that about 100 cases of paedophile priests had been reported over 10 years
Ireland – A report in 2009 found that sexual and psychological abuse was “endemic” in Catholic-run industrial schools and orphanages for most of the 20th century
Q&A: Child abuse scandal
‘Offenders’ mobility’
In its report, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said the Holy See should open its files on members of the clergy who had “concealed their crimes” so that they could be held accountable.
The committee said it was gravely concerned that the Holy See had not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed.
In the report, the committee expressed its “deepest concern about child sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic churches who operate under the authority of the Holy See, with clerics having been involved in the sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide”.
It also lambasted the “practice of offenders’ mobility”, referring to the transfer of child abusers from parish to parish within countries, and sometimes abroad.
The committee said this practice placed “children in many countries at high risk of sexual abuse, as dozens of child sexual offenders are reported to be still in contact with children”.
Magdalene laundries
The UN report called on a commission created by Pope Francis in December to investigate all cases of child sexual abuse “as well as the conduct of the Catholic hierarchy in dealing with them”.
Ireland’s Magdalene laundries scandal was singled out by the report as an example of how the Vatican had failed to provide justice despite “slavery-like” conditions, including degrading treatment, violence and sexual abuse.
The laundries were Catholic-run workhouses where some 10,000 women and girls were required to do unpaid manual labour between 1922 and 1996.
The report’s findings come after Vatican officials were questioned in public last month over why they would not release data and what they were doing to prevent future abuse.
The Vatican has denied any official cover-up. However, in December, it refused a UN request for data on abuse on the grounds that it only released such information if requested to do so by another country as part of legal proceedings.
In January, the Vatican confirmed that almost 400 priests had been defrocked in a two-year periode by the former Pope Benedict XVI over claims of child abuse.
The BBC’s David Willey in Rome says the Vatican has set up new guidelines to protect children from predatory priests.
Demonstrator outside UN human rights agency in Geneva – 16 January Many campaigners feel the Vatican should open its files on priests known to be child abusers
But, he adds, bishops in many parts of the world have tended to concentrate on protecting and defending the reputation of priests rather than listening to the complaints of victims of paedophile priests.
Meanwhile several Catholic dioceses in the US have been forced into bankruptcy after paying out huge sums in compensation to victims of abuse by clergy.
Barbara Blaine, president of a group representing US victims of abuse by priests, told the BBC that the UN report “reaffirms everything we’ve been saying. It shows that the Vatican has put the reputation of Church officials above protection of children”.
“Church officials knew about it and they refused to stop it. Nothing has changed. Despite all the rhetoric from Pope Francis and Vatican officials, they refuse to take action that will make this stop.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26044852
When liberating Palestinians is ‘anti-Israel’
4 February 2014
Good to see Ben White calling out reporter Matthew Kalman over his prejudiced use of language in the Guardian, after he referred to those who oppose SodaStream’s factory in the occupied West Bank as “anti-Israel” rather than being pro-Palestinian or anti-settlement. Kalman then tried to defend the indefensible, as Ben correctly points out.
It’s not surprising behaviour from Kalman, who is suffering from what I’ve termed elsewhere as “partisan reporter” syndrome: i.e. a condition where one’s liberal Zionism is just below the surface and difficult to hide.
http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2010-11-01/publish-it-not/
Not, I hasten to add, that I am against partisan reporters – not only am I one myself, but in fact all reporters are partisan in the sense that they have their own biases and value systems.
(My chief partisanship, if you’re asking, is a belief that my children should have the same rights in Israel as Jewish kids. Many other reporters, it seems, are dispassionately guided by the belief that their children should dutifully serve in an occupation army ruling over the Palestinians. Yes, that’s right I’m talking about you, Ethan – or is it Eitan? – Bronner, among others.)
What I am against is:
a) partisan reporters claiming bogusly that they are following only a professional code, one that they argue makes them incapable of bias.
b) the huge preponderance of partisan reporters on one side of the conflict – Israel’s – and not the other.
Let’s be honest, admit journalists have their biases and then ensure we have a real diversity of reporters covering the conflict. Lots of Palestinians, and Arab Americans, reporting for the NYT, CNN, and so on. The reality is it won’t happen – but that’s another story. (For more on that, see here)
None of this excuses Kalman’s prejudicial language. Only someone who can’t see beyond their Zionist conditioning would have written “anti-Israel” in this case and, worse, then tried to defend the phrase. In Kalman’s small world, there is only one way to support Israel – and it seems to preclude any support for liberating Palestinians from the yoke of occupation.
Kalman, it should be noted, is covering for the Guardian while they decide who is going to replace the recently departed Harriet Sherwood. Let’s hope they make a quick (and good) decision.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ben-white/guardian-amends-scarlett-johansson-report-be-fairer-palestine-campaigners
See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2014-02-04/when-liberating-palestinians-is-anti-israel/