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.
So what were the approx. 16 galls of fuel in the main tank doing? It took off with 400kg approx. 87 galls and had been airborne for only about 1 and a half hours.
‘Investigators said they were still trying to establish why both engines “flamed out” when there was 76kg of fuel remaining.
They are also investigating why there was no Mayday call and why the aircraft was not able to make a controlled landing.
An initial report on the crash, which was released on 9 December, said there was “no evidence” of major engine or gearbox failure.
“
Recorded data indicates that, in the later stages of the flight, the right engine flamed out, and shortly after the left engine flamed out”
Although the aircraft did not have a black box data recorder, the AAIB investigation has been able to piece together elements of its last flight.
It established that the Police Scotland helicopter took off at 20:45 with 400kg of fuel on board.
It stayed over an area of Glasgow’s south side for about 30 minutes before making a short 10 minute foray over Dalkeith in Midlothian, some 38 nautical miles away.
The helicopter was granted permission to re-enter Glasgow air space at 22:18 but radar contact was lost at 22:22.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-26194408
PS Who said anything about conspiracy theories or theorists.
M Goss
TRhank you for answering Mary’s question about your Russian language skills. In so doing, you have also finally answered the same question I put to you a couple of weeks ago but which, for some strange reason, you declined to answer at the time.
PS I am not Mary.
Mr Scourgie
“Habbabkuk says:
“…it does also seem reasonably clear that this blog is well on its way to becoming one of Britain’s premier anti-semitic (sic) and anti-Jewish blogs.”
Anti-Semitic AND anti-Jewish?
Oh dear, for a Zionist your understanding of detail is crap.”
__________________________
Well, I thought I’d add ‘anti-Jewish’ just in case you came out again with one of your standard quibbles, ie ‘anti-semitic means anti-Arab as well’.
Anyway, I note that you don’t deny my conclusion.
(Which shows there are limits even to your chutzpah 🙂 )
“How will she cope? Changing outfits four times a day. Goodness gracious me.
Kate’s regal makeover
The Queen demands that the Duchess of Cambridge’s short skirts are replaced with tiaras ahead of her Australian tour.
http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/fashionbeauty/fashionbeautynews/kates-regal-makeover-11363872066463
The above crap is from the BT website with which I am now regaled daily since BT got rid of Yahoo Mail.”
_________________________
If that is “crap”, Mary, why are you reproducing it on Craig’s political blog?
Why are you foisting “crap” on this community?
Time now in London 4.40pm
Time now in Tel Aviv 6.40pm
Time now in New York 11.40am
Any significance to the recent clocking on?
Two new excellent pieces on Dissident Voice.
I Have Seen Fear
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/02/i-have-seen-fear/
by the film maker, novelist and journalist Andre Vltchek.
and
Russia Under Attack
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/02/russia-under-attack/
by Paul Craig Roberts, US author and economist
Mary
12 Feb, 2014 – 10:26 am
“The trolls obviously go off to regroup at a morning meeting with croissants, café au lait and the odd bacon buttie.”
Surely not bacon Mary!
Very shortly Lizzie Yarnold will be going for her fourth and final run in the Skeleton. I don’t want to tempt providence but she is virtually in an unassailable position for gold medal, our first in the Winter Olympics. BBC I.
Make that a bagel!
PS I do not like bagels at all. Apparently the risen dough is boiled first and then baked. I do like matzos though.
OMAR – A tense, gripping thriller about betrayal, suspected and real, in the Occupied Territories. Omar (Adam Bakri) is a Palestinian baker who routinely climbs over the separation wall to meet up with his girl Nadja (Leem Lubany). By night, he’s either a freedom fighter or a terrorist—you decide—ready to risk his life to strike at the Israeli military with his childhood friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VngXAjsDzDs
ESLO
12 Feb, 2014 – 1:35 pm
ESLO to Beelzebub:
“I am not taking a position on whether or not there has been a breach of international law/treaties by the Israeli state in acquiring land from Palestinians for the simple reason that I haven’t seen the legal arguments on either side.”
What?!
You ESLO, an ardent Zionist admitting that you don’t know the legal arguments on either side.
How can you argue in Israel’s favour then?
Here are both sides of the argument:
1. The whole world acknowledges that Israel is repeatedly in breach of international law.
2. Israel disputes this.
And it’s gold! Well done Lizzie Yarnold!
I was concerned that the pilot may have attempted to land on the flat roof of the bar (which I hope would be illegal); a soft or fairly soft landing seemed more consistent with the delay before the roof fell, whereas a plummeting helicopter would seem more likely to crash through instantly:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/10487616/Glasgow-helicopter-crash-bravery-of-police-officers-who-were-killed.html
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/29/helicopter-crashes-roof-glasgow-pub
However, eye witnesses saw the helicopter descending rapidly and report that the engine sounded like it was misfiring.
The accident report and newspaper reports say that neither the main nor tail rotors were rotating when the helicopter went through the roof. This seemed odd to me at first; I’ve watched helicopters land, and the rotors continue to turn for quite some time after landing. But a descending helicopter’s main rotor will presumably experience reverse torque from the air it’s falling through, thus braking the spin.
I wonder how much control the pilot had as the helicopter descended. In my opinion it is wrong to try to land a stricken aircraft on the roof of any building that could be occupied; the river Clyde, just a dozen metres away, would be a better alternative.
“Vicar offers prayers for bankers”
https://unemployedtynewear.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/vicar-offers-prayers-for-bankers/
“Time now in London 4.40pm
Time now in Tel Aviv 6.40pm
Time now in New York 11.40am
Any significance to the recent clocking on?”
________________________
None at all. I’m neither in Tel Aviv nor NYC, I just got in from my thé dansant and thought I’d see what’s cooking (or should I say ‘boiling’). Sorry to disappoint!
Yes Someone. Christians are supposed to pray for their enemies. What bigger enemy than the banks and bankers? Apart from the ethical banks, who are friends of the planet.
“Make that a bagel!
PS I do not like bagels at all. Apparently the risen dough is boiled first and then baked. I do like matzos though.”
__________________
Ah, bagels, bagels!
With some slices of smoked salmon (preferably sock-eye, not farmed) and a little cream cheese, sprinkle a little chopped chives and add a couple of drops of lemon juice – heaven!
Bon appétit to all, enjoy your high teas.
Thanks Mary for the DV links which I encapsulate here:
RUSSIA is under ATTACK – Britain is gunning for Russia – if we remain complacent our world will be dominated by an exceptionalism that is the real American neo-con dream.
To neutralize Russia, Britain with America expanded NATO into former constituent parts of the Soviet Union and will then bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. Britain urged Washington to withdraw from the treaty that banned anti-ballistic nuclear bases and then went on to establish missile bases are Russia’s borders.
Crucially and secretly, Britain has changed it’s nuclear war doctrine to permit a NUCLEAR FIRST STRIKE aided by America.
Currently we are in the ‘demonize Russia’ phrase with media propaganda such as ‘pussy riot’ Sochi Winter Olympics and more.
Russia will not be permitted any appearance of success in any area, whether diplomacy, sports, or human rights.
Step 2 will see a fratricidal war in Ukraine followed by ‘humanitarian aid’ which means the establishment of huge US and NATO bases in Ukraine and Crimea, exactly the same as we witnessed in Iraq. These bases are destined to become training centers for Saudi terrorists who would set upon the Caucasus, the Volga Basin, and perhaps Siberia.
It is a perfect plan for destabilizing Russia and for negating Putin’s successful diplomacy in preventing a US military attack on Syria and Iran.
In parallel of course a plan is unfolding to smash Iran and in doing so severely restrict energy supplies to China and weaken her world position.
The worst outcome is a dangerous war. If the Russians sit on their hands, the situation will become unbearable for them. As Ukraine moves toward NATO membership and suppression of the Russian population, the Russian government will have to attack Ukraine and overthrown the foreign regime or surrender to the Americans. The likely outcome of the audacious strategic threat with which Washington is confronting Russia would be nuclear war.
Guano with respect – please concentrate on a broader perspective.
Mr Scourgie
“What?!
You ESLO, an ardent Zionist admitting that you don’t know the legal arguments on either side.”
____________________
I’d have thought – as would anyone not starting off from a fixed position and then working backwards in a selective manner (=Eminence”Think”) – that weighing up the evidence and opinions for the two sides of any argument before taking up a position is the rational and sane way of going about things? Of course, it helps if you’re rational and sane….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“How can you argue in Israel’s favour then?”
______________
Can’t you read? He said he wasn’t taking a position before hearing the arguments on both sides. And nor has he.
****************
Conclusion : beta double minus (and I’m being indulgent)
Mary, BrianFujisan, and Fred, thanks for your kind thoughts. Mary, as you know I’m not religious, but Marion lives on in my mind, which I hope is indeed a kinder place than this world. What a harrowing story from Devizes JobCentre.
Ba’al Zevul, 1:46 pm: microwaves vs. metre-wavelength arrays – probably just a lapse of memory on my part; it’s been a decade or two since I saw that Horizon programme. Yes, the HAARP arrays do look suitable for metre-wavelength rather than microwaves. Microwave transmitters use rectangular section waveguides, don’t they? And yeah, radar can cook. Funnily enough I have a plywood case, originally for a klystron, in my back yard. It’s big enough to sleep in. I got it from EEV and put it on little wheels to use as a hand-cart.
Doug Scourgie, Habbabkuk, Mary; c’mon, folks! No need to start snarking. It’s been nice here all day!
A Happy Valentine’s day to everyone .
Especially to A Node. (Scroll-a-Pest® …… it really works! Yesterday 5 57pm)
Yes, what a wonderful and useful product.
• Imagine the time he spent on them – wasted
• Picture his face going purple with frustration as his provocations are ignored
• Gleefully contemplate the time and irritation you’ve just saved yourself
• Enhance the pleasure by mentally chanting “pompous twaddle” as it disappears upwards off your screen
I have a problem though, being a troll myself, but I’ll struggle to resist my genes. Gary emailed to tell me Dad’s taken it very badly though and has had to be sedated yet again after getting into a fight with the post box again. Dr Bullstrode says it might take a little while to work.
And a not very romantic Valentine’s Day present.
http://www.sott.net/article/273758-6-anti-NSA-technological-innovations-that-may-just-change-the-world
Since you are incapable of googling or come up with anyhting you might have garnered on your extensive EU travails, I’ll do you a favour because you just been funny.
Socket’s eating sockeye, you could not make it up.
Bon apetite e bon noit, adieu, auf Wiedersehen, sad to see you go.
http://enenews.com/unprecedented-sockeye-salmon-at-dire-historic-low-may-entirely-shut-down-fishery-on-canadas-west-coast-we-think-something-happened-in-the-ocean-the-elders-have-never-seen-anything-like
Habbabkuk, how you doin’? I thought of asking Doug Scourgie to be careful not to stir things up, but then thought my efforts could just make things worse, so I shut up about it. It happened anyway. Damn.
Anyway, I asked for your take on global warming ages back over at Squonk, and now the subject has come up here. My earlier comments (2:26 am and 1:26 pm) are something I only thought of last night. That 4°C figure the governments talk about has certainly got me alarmed. What do you reckon?
mark golding 14 Feb, 2014 – 5:59 pm
What you say is frightening. And probably right. The US is bankrupt. All it has left is weapons and bases and a modicum of confidence. A base in Guantanamo stolen from the Cubans, a base in the Chagos Islands stolen from the Chagosians, a base being built on the beautiful island of love, Jeju Island, and then bases everywhere where it has bought with the bankrupt dollar access to unwitting countries, like Poland, all bearing upon the challenging superpowers of the BRICS countries. If it does come to war, and that seems to be the intent of the US and Israel, think carefully about who you support, the aggressor, or those who have not waged war in the last 50 years.
Dave Lawton, 1:56 pm
Interesting. Often, in humid weather prone to thunder, I’ve thought that the passage of aircraft sounded more “thundery”. I’ve speculated that energy stored in the atmosphere could become unstable in some way, such that the passage of sound from an aircraft could be releasing such unstable energy en-route and thus being amplified. The reason I’ve thought that this could be related to thunder is because of the similarity of the sounds.
Mark Golding’s piece really does call for a couple of comments/comments:
“To neutralize Russia, Britain with America expanded NATO into former constituent parts of the Soviet Union”
Are you referring to those huge states with huge populations Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (you know, the states that were independent between the wars before their forcible incorporation into the USSR)?
If you are, can you explain how the NATO membership of those three states, now happily independent again (I hope you ARE happy about that?), “neutralizes” Russia?
Same question if Ukraine and Georgia were – this is speculative at present – to join NATO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Britain urged Washington to withdraw from the treaty that banned anti-ballistic nuclear bases and then went on to establish missile bases are Russia’s borders.”
Sources for that first claim, please, and details (such as locations and dates) for the second assertion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Crucially and secretly, Britain has changed it’s nuclear war doctrine to permit a NUCLEAR FIRST STRIKE aided by America.”
Not much of a secret if it’s on here. Again, sources and evidence, please.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Currently we are in the ‘demonize Russia’ phrase with media propaganda such as ‘pussy riot’ Sochi Winter Olympics and more.”
Pretty feeble examples with which to support your ‘demonization’ claim, surely. Do you have anything better?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Russia will not be permitted any appearance of success in any area, whether diplomacy, sports, or human rights.”
What do you mean, ‘will not be permitted’? Last time I looked, Russia seemed to have little problem in getting its achievements and successes eported on and known beyond its frontiers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Step 2 will see a fratricidal war in Ukraine followed by ‘humanitarian aid’ which means the establishment of huge US and NATO bases in Ukraine and Crimea, exactly the same as we witnessed in Iraq.”
Speculation – of the same sort (and probably with the same intention) as that which was predicting a US/Western military attack on Syria, leading to the outbreak of World War 3.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“These bases are destined to become training centers for Saudi terrorists who would set upon the Caucasus, the Volga Basin, and perhaps Siberia.”
What is the jihadist interest in the Volga basin and Siberia? Apart from that, do you believe that a case might be made for Russia to give independence to those Caucasus republics which might desire it? Please answer taking into account that the incorporation of those republics into Russia in C19 was an example of Russian expansionist colonialism.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“In parallel of course a plan is unfolding to smash Iran and in doing so severely restrict energy supplies to China and weaken her world position.”
‘In parallel’ – of course! The satanic US never does anything by halves, does it. Factually, though, what is the extent of China’ dependence on oil from Iran?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“As Ukraine moves toward NATO membership and suppression of the Russian population,”
I am of course aware of how the Soviets suppressed the natives of the three Baltic Republics in 1939-41 and again after 1945, and how they suppressed native Ukrainians in the 1930s, but, unless you are predicting hypothetical future Ukrainian behaviour on the basis of proved Soviet behaviour in the past, what is your justification for making this ‘suppression’ claim?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Life is getting better, life is getting merrier!” (J.Stalin, ca. 1932)
Nevermind’s link; ““[…] We’ve never seen anything like this in all these years I’ve done this. I’ve asked the elders and they have never seen anything like this at all.” [said Chief Wilf Adam]’
reminds me of the genocide against Plains natives using carious means including attempts to dry up their main food source, the Buffalo. To encourage the slaughter the USG issued a bounty and all they needed for payment was the animal’s tongue, leaving the carcass to rot.
This time thinning the herd has a more general target.
BTW; Happy Valentine’s Day.
“Re-brand your interns as ‘campaign volunteers’, bizarre Tory memo tells MPs
Published: February 13, 2014”
http://graduatefog.co.uk/2014/2915/politics-internship-conservative-tory-david-cameron-intern/