Dashing off to London now to do an interview with George Galloway for his crowd sourced documentary “The Killing of Tony Blair”. Sounds less like a film, more like a good idea.
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” It is said that we get the leaders we deserve…”
Democracy favours the psychopath and the psychopath, unable to feel love, thirsts after power.
@Fred
It seems that International Law isn’t up to the job of “succession”. To my way of thinking it should be about letting a group of people in a region who fundamentally disagree with their government go independent. c.f. Crimea, Venice, Kosovo, Catalonia, Chechnia, Taiwan(?), Tibet, etc. This may not be palatable to leaders of states “containing” them but to me this is democracy (Letting the people decide) in action. It happened in the early 20th century to create the “free state” of Ireland.
The argument against successionism is that bigger states are more easily (and economically) governed… but is that more important than democracy?
@Fred2: “Democracy” may favour the psychopath, but Democracy as defined by Jefferson, etc. would soon find then out!
them
“It seems that International Law isn’t up to the job of “succession”. To my way of thinking it should be about letting a group of people in a region who fundamentally disagree with their government go independent. c.f. Crimea, Venice, Kosovo, Catalonia, Chechnia, Taiwan(?), Tibet, etc. This may not be palatable to leaders of states “containing” them but to me this is democracy (Letting the people decide) in action. It happened in the early 20th century to create the “free state” of Ireland.”
What makes Ireland any more free than anybody else? A Catholic theocracy complete with institutionalised paedophilia? A civil war that just won’t go away? If people just put half the effort into getting on with each other as they put into hating each other the world would be a far better place.
““Democracy” may favour the psychopath, but Democracy as defined by Jefferson, etc. would soon find then out!”
No, it wouldn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, all other forms of government favour the psychopath too, some more.
I always put the word free in inverted commas. Freedom can only come as a result of accepting responsibility for one’s actions. We’re all far too screwed up to do that. But it’s something to strive for 🙂
John,
As a global citizen, I note this:-
“Ben, your comment about Russia Today being biased is undoubtedly true. All media studios and offices have editorial bias and I am open to contradictions from what people consider to be more reliable sources. But like you, in the long-term it has been Russia Today that has had the more credible news.”
I believe:-
A. All media, as you correctly point out, have an editorial bias -or – biases as the case may be.
B. People globally are looking for reliable sources.
C. And now I diverge. RT – has an agenda of exposing and challenging the failings of Western democracies. That has been done in the style – and to a high degree of journalistic competence – just like Press TV. So then – what was the BBC always about until these new ( sorry – “news” boys) on the block came along?
That is the question.
Kind regards.
Courtenay
Peacewisher: My post was rattled off as a quick gonzo summation from memory, Habbabduk has provided a clarification in respect to Greece. Looking at Churchill’s war history final volume, the famous ‘blue pencil’ incident, at a meeting between Churchill and Stalin with observers from other allied nations at times, in Moscow in October 1944, it gives the ‘percentages’ proposed by Churchill and cursorily acceded to by Stalin, as follows.
Roumania: Russia 90%, Others 10%
Greece: Britain with US 90%, Russia 10%
Yugoslavia: 50-50%
Hungary: 50-50%
Bulgaria: 75%, Others 25%
It all seems so woolly, there was no way a quantitative approach to something so nebulous as ‘interests’ or ‘spheres of influence’ which they all protested they each eschewed, could be workable, but it seems there was little or no later re-visiting of this ad-hoc agreement, though it was only for wartime expedience, and was a bit of grubby dealing thought never intended to be relevant or binding, even meaningful, after the end of the European war, though in those Balkan regions the war as such by then was over, but not the fighting or settling of scores. Churchill was ashamed of this dealing and asked, probably wishing Stalin would agree, that the paper should be burned, Stalin imploring Churchill keep it instead for posterity’s shame.
There doesn’t seem anything particular about Bulgaria that might have resulted in any greater or special degree of independence you suggest it had. Simple indifference is improbable and does not account for it.
I’ve no real interest in this, not nearly enough to pursue the matter further. As I’m now a CM blog outcast rebel for unspecified thought crimes, I’ll have to leave it there and leave here; I do have a recording of Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech amongst probably every other recorded speech he ever made which has survived, but not immediately to hand, I think the war was over by the time it was made and Churchill out of office.
“The dirtiest mind in the world is the mind of a censor”
Out.
Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech was made in March 1946 although the expression may have been in use before then.
“At the end of WWI Germany had no option but to accept the demands of the victors. In the 1930s when they had recovered they began to set right what they saw as the wrongs done at Versailles. Re-unite the German speaking peoples.”
Austria was never part of Germany neither were Czechoslovakia or Poland.
Peacewisher
“One more question, Tony…
In the post-war carve up how did Bulgaria manage to stay relatively independent?”
___________________
It didn’t.
Kempe,
As custodians we are all responsible for our actions where ever we are.
Land is not our god given right and the best we could hope for is to live in some sort of harmony with nature.
Lands cannot be claimed historically only by force or by fury.
Re Muzychko killing. Is it plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…all over again?
“Adolf Hitler moved against the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm, because he saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his newly gained political power. Hitler also wanted to conciliate leaders of the Reichswehr, the official German military who feared and despised the SA — in particular Röhm’s ambition to absorb the Reichswehr into the SA under Röhm’s leadership.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
I have a feeling Yats has some difficulty bringing the Ukrainian military on board. Can anyone shed some light on their response to the Kiev junta?
A lot of rather risqué jokes this morning on the Paltrow/Martin ‘conscious uncoupling’.
Buggerlugs mumbles, in his private language, into his Buckfast: :
“With pleasure, BubbleZubble. I welcome (Cameron’s commitment to clamp down on tax evasion) and very much hope that it is translated into concrete, effective action as soon as possible.”
LOL. Effective for whom? The only concrete that’s going to get translated into is the shell of a PFI hosp[ital which will cost the taxpayer three times more than it would have done under an autonomous NHS, and the profits from which will scoot offshore with the agility of Osborne stepping round a Big Issue seller. Notwithstanding, the justification for using PFI will continue to be the tax it will generate on its profits.
Get real, shill.
Muzychko – what a thug and a bully. There was film on RT last night of him hitting a young male civil servant round the head. Also raising his right arm in a salute.
“In the 1930s when they had recovered they began to set right what they saw as the wrongs done at Versailles. Re-unite the German speaking peoples.”
It was the NSDAP who made out that Versailles was the bain for all of Germany, that it stifled its re development. AH used this to his advantage, lamenting how downtrodden and aweful the agreement was for Germany. It was not the communists or social democrats that demanded that they set right what Versailles denied Germany, they were beaten into shutting up.
What strikes me as rather odd, indeed very odd is that Germany’s first world war war graves are abondoned and neglected TODAY, that it was erased from memory after WW2, with the allies de- nazification program as well as utter silence from the elders who felt humiliated, first by Versailles, then by Hitler himself and thirdly by the allies telling them that they have been ‘bad Germans’ for decades.
Germans have realised that if they are not interested in politics and leave these rogues to malinger and gather public support, this might all happen again. Political apathy breeds fascists and they inturn will make sure that the establishment and industry is on their side. Ring any bells?
Ukrainian court bans Russian TV broadcast
March 26, 2014
http://rt.com/news/ukraine-court-bans-russian-tv-245/
So similar to the West’s treatment of Press TV.
Another sneaky flogging off of state assets to a favoured few. I don’t suppose any of us were offered Lloyds Bank shares, even if we wanted them. Osborne has procured £4.2bn. All done on the old boys’ network over lavish lunches no doubt. We don’t even get to know who bought them so open is our ‘society’.
Lloyds stake sale raises £4.2bn
The government says it has raised £4.2bn through the sale of a 7.8% stake in Lloyds Banking Group.
Treasury to sell more Lloyds shares
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/
“By force or by fury” .
It’s what is done when land take. growth and revitalisation?
Nevemind,
http://ia600304.us.archive.org/16/items/UnderTwoFlagsByHeinzWeichardt/UnderTwoFlags-HeinzWeichardt.pdf
Cameron in 2012:
‘With the large companies, that have the fancy corporate lawyers and the rest of it, I think we need a tougher approach.
‘One of the things that we are going to be looking at this year is whether there should be a general anti-avoidance power that HMRC can use, particularly with very wealthy individuals and with the bigger companies, to make sure they pay their fair share.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133064/David-Camerons-family-fortune-tax-dodging-offshore-investment-funds.htm
Cameron (Osborne) in 2014:
http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/news-and-analysis/politics/budget-2014-hmrc-gets-greater-powers-to-fight-tax-avoidance/2008140.article
I can only wish him good luck with that, given an anonymous offshore account hiding behind a screen of shell co’s. Which is where the big money is. Or an account belonging to a major party donor. Or, indeed, an FSU oligarch. And watch the small debtors moving their stashes out of ISAs and into Liechtenstein….
Lloyds sell-off (@ Mary):
“The stake was being placed with institutional investors, in line with advice from UK Financial Investments, which holds the stake on behalf of the government, that the latest sale be restricted to City investors. Chancellor George Osborne has outlined plans to allow small investors to buy up some of the shares, but City rules mean any sell-off to retail investors cannot take place for at least 90 days.”
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/25/george-osborne-government-sale-stake-lloyds-bank-private
Funny how council house right-to-buy was a triumph of democratic capitalism, but bank share right-to-buy hasn’t even been considered….
Thanks for that Jay, there are many history revisionists at work, they work non stop and have their work cut out by the psychopath that come to power. And they are active in any country today, Britain not excluded.
I feel sorry for all those young lives lost wihtout rememberance, just because Germany lost and was humiliated by versailles does not mean these young men don’t deserve recognition for their sacrifice.
Istanbul, Turkey, March 25, 2014, “If they (Israeli officials) are not free to travel, if they can’t go to their kid’s graduations outside Israel, if they worry constantly about being arrested when they go to the UK or Spain or Argentina, then we have won half the victory,” stated the lawyer from Spain, Gonzalo Boye, at the one-day legal conference in Istanbul, Turkey sponsored by IHH.
His comments were made as attorneys from France, Turkey, Spain, South Africa and the UK discussed the ramifications of Israel’s attack on Freedom Flotilla I. The reports ranged from the status of criminal proceedings against the Israeli commandos as well as military and political leaders who attacked six civilian boats in international waters. There were also status reports on the Cormoros referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Even if the perpetrators of these crimes such as willful murder, torture, large scale appropriation of boats, money and personal possessions are not in Turkey, they can still be tried,” added Turkish attorney, Yassin Samli, as he spoke about the Turkish court issuing arrest warrants for Israeli defendants.
Dimitris Plionis, one of the organizers of the Greek ship to Gaza, remarked at the end of the seven-hour session, “It took two years for the first two boats to sail to Gaza and anther two years before the flotilla went. We made history on those voyages. Now, it’s time for the legal voyage to make history and hold Israel accountable for its actions.”
Universal jurisdiction allows states to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed, and regardless of the accused’s nationality, country of residence, or any other relation with the prosecuting entity. Crimes prosecuted under universal jurisdiction are considered crimes against all, too serious to be limited to domestic jurisdiction.
If any court finds the Israeli defendants guilty, an arrest warrant can be issued and names turned over to Interpol.
It’s now time to hold the Israeli military and government leaders liable. They will have to look over their shoulders for the rest of their careers. It may not be complete justice for the nine murdered passengers and the 150 wounded on that bright May morning, but, as the lawyer from Spain said, “We intend to complicate their lives.”
—
Greta Berlin, Co-Founder, the Free Gaza movement
Editor, Freedom Sailors
http://www.freedomsailors.com
The amalgamation of France’ national front by the UMP conservatives, their ‘coordination’ with the national front in two seats is a worrying development, all over Europe the fascists are gaining with simple slogans and beer drinking gags.
http://www.dw.de/french-municipal-elections-socialists-struggle-conservatives-and-far-right-make-gains/a-17515720
Here we see the Conservatives writing desperate letters to their supporters because they are s..tscared about UKIP’s support, so many of their supporters feel cheesed off, not listened to that this EU election might become a rout.
You are correct there Nevermind. The Torygraph have Germany down as the aggressor here. It takes two to tango they should remember.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10677769/Germany-attacked-for-scandalous-First-World-War-anniversary-spending.html
Rhetorical question. Why are Agent Cameron and Monsewer Hollande spending £53m?
I want none of it and no reminder of the bloody carnage.
My hero was Harry Patch. They even militiarised his funeral against his wishes.
The wonderful Heathcote Williams.
When Tony Blair met Harry Patch
18 August 2013 Video
On 6 June 2006, Tony Blair posed with Harry Patch, no doubt seeing a flattering photo opportunity with the longest surviving soldier from World War 1. “War is organised murder,” Harry told Blair, who only three years earlier had taken Britain into the illegal Iraq war. Blair scuttled away.
http://noglory.org/index.php/when-tony-blair-met-harry-patch#.UzKdQ2ZFD4Y
As quoted by Sofia from cluborlov:
“Ukrainian is a village dialect”
How is that not racist?
“I feel sorry for all those young lives lost wihtout rememberance, just because Germany lost and was humiliated by versailles does not mean these young men don’t deserve recognition for their sacrifice.”
Absolutely. It’s bizarre that the world has compulsory holocaust remembrance and yet Germany cannot remember its own, comparable, losses in the same way. And for the same reasons – to discourage its repetition. Most of the dead had absolutely no choice and very little understanding of why it was happening, and both sides were whipped up by the usual scoundrels whose last refuge is patriotism.
Who are still with us.