Hypocrisy seems to be massively in fashion. This from William Hague renders me speechless: “Be in no doubt, there will be consequences. The world cannot say it is OK to violate the sovereignty of other nations.”
Then today we have the British Establishment at a closed event in Westminster Abbey in memory of Nelson Mandela. Prince Harry, David Cameron, all the toffs. I was never more than a footsoldier in the anti-apartheid movement, but I trudged through the rain and handed out leaflets in Dundee and Edinburgh. I suspect very few indeed of the guests at this posh memorial service did that. David Cameron was actively involved in Conservative groups which promoted precisely the opposite cause.
My first appointment in the Foreign Office was to the South Africa (Political) desk in 1984. The official British government line was that the ANC was a terrorist organization. I faced hostility and disapproval even when I tried to get action on appalling human rights abuses like the case of Oscar Mpetha (thanks here to Tony Gooch and Terry Curran, they know why). I got in big trouble for asking how many black guests had been received in the High Commissioner’s residence in Pretoria.
Every day, on a day to day basis, my job involved dealing with members of the British establishment, its political, business and professional communities. The entire tenor of those meetings was how to prevent economic sanctions, circumvent existing sanctions and prolong the economic advantages to the UK of white rule. Support for PW Botha was axiomatic. I have no doubt many of those people or those who worked alongside them are in Westminster Abbey today.
The final extraordinary outbreak of hypocrisy is on the British left. Russian military invasion of Ukraine is approved by them, because it is an invasion by Russia, and not an invasion by the West. They are precisely as hypocritical as Hague. Both think it is OK to violate the sovereignty of other nations, but only by their chosen side.
Until 1917, Russia was an Empire, avowedly so. Thereafter the Soviet Union was a non-avowed Empire. The Crimea, and the rest of the Caucasus, was not colonized by Russia until the 1820’s onward. The reason Crimea has a majority Russian population is that Stalin deported the Krim Tartars as recently as the 1930’s. That was an old fashioned, wholesale colonial atrocity, precisely similar to the British clearing parts of Kenya for white settlement.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Russian statesmen like Nesselrode appealed to the British in particular, not to oppose their expansion in the Caucasus, because as he said like the British they were white Christian Europeans engaged in a civilizing mission among savages and Muslims. It was precisely the same colonial motivation the British used. There is no moral difference, or even overt difference in justification at the time, between British colonization of India and Russian colonization of Chechnya. Because Britain happens to be an island, we think of Empires as something you get to by ship. Russia’s Empire happened to be a contiguous land mass. But Dagestan, Chechnya, and Tartarstan were none the less colonies, exactly as were Kokhand, Bokhara and Khiva, formed to make Uzbekistan. Yet left wing anti-colonialism does not demand decolonisation by Russia, only the West. Gross hypocrisy.
Are members of Svoboda and Right Sector really occupying cabinet posts? Because I have repeatedly asked for examples, and so far the only examples given have been people who are not members of either, like Klitschko. I am not saying they are not, I am asking for the evidence as all I have seen so far is assertion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andriy_Parubiy
My own hypocrisy compels me to delete my own comment
This article covers the Ukranian cabinet Ive checked a few of them and it seems authentic.
http://peoplesworld.org/ukrainian-ultra-rightists-given-major-cabinet-posts-in-government/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_–_Forward!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Ukrainian_Union_%22Fatherland%22
‘Yats’ is allied with Tymoshenko. A rose is a rose by any other name.
Breathtaking hyprocrisy and duplicity. Western states have thought up this doctrine of ‘right to protect’ which they own and use to overthrow governments.
Russia is not using this ‘right’ it is using it’s natural protection of Russian citizens and Russian assets.
Geopolitics and world order dominate the minds of the elite, the banksters and corporates who pull the political strings. These zombies and their lackeys lack empathy and suppress past memory. They are dangerous, their minds overtaken by a Russia threat fantasy. They do not care about a single bit about you or I or Craig or the 3000 murdered in the Trade Towers or the Ukrainian people, just as they did not care one iota about the Albanians in Kososova in 1999, a conflict like Iraq in that NO UNSC approval was gained. In 2001 the UN refusing to admit this genocide just as we also witness the indefinate delay of the damning Chilcot inquiry on Iraq.
Folks, this is one putsh too far, one violation too much. This cruel oligarthy of absolutism and totality must be ended by OUR power of intention. We are all connected in nonduality and we can make this work for us to change course from a path that can only lead to catastrophe and termination.
Ben, 2:42; your first link doesn’t work due to the exclamation mark being omitted, but this party is described as social-democratic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_%E2%80%93_Forward!
Your second link redirects to the Batkivshchyna page; they’re described as centre-right:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batkivshchyna#Ideology_and_stances
“According to the status of force agreement Russia can post up to 30,000 soldiers in Crimea”
Surrounding Ukrainian army bases? This is perhaps the most ridiculous apologia I have seen so far.
“Are members of Svoboda and Right Sector really occupying cabinet posts? Because I have repeatedly asked for examples, and so far the only examples given have been people who are not members of either, like Klitschko. I am not saying they are not, I am asking for the evidence as all I have seen so far is assertion.”
Yes, there certainly are cabinet members who are far-right, including Svoboda members. Probably the worst one, by the looks of things is Andriy Parubiy, who is in charge of national security of all things. The defence and police also look to have been put in charge of Svoboda as well, which is pretty scary stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Ukraine#Cabinet
I think we will have to wait until the elections so that we can see how the Ukrainian people vote.
Another hypocrite is John Kerry “You don’t just invade another country on a completely trumped-up pretext.”
Well these represent some US invasions. Just 34 from the Mexico war of 1846 but surely a lot more to come in the never-ending war on Islam.
screechingkettle.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/putting-todays-wars-in-perspective.html
Dammit. Posted this on the wrong thread:
Correction:
I think these are not actually in cabinet posts:
“Andriy Volodymyrovych Parubiy (Ukrainian: Андрій Володимирович Парубій) is a Ukrainian politician[2] and the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, appointed after leading the anti-government riots in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.[3] His deputy is Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andriy_Parubiy
Still worrying nonetheless.
There is a lot of hypocrisy to go around today.
I don’t particularly condone the Russian annexation of the Crimea.
Equally I don’t condone the western attempt to overthrow the government
in Kiev.
I support the right of the Ukrainians to self-determination, but when that
is funded and fomented by external money and power then it is not a revolution,
it is a coup.
I strongly object to the Western media narrative that this all due to the nasty guy Putin. He may well be nasty, but no less so than the neo-cons in the Whitehouse.
Sadly the Great Game is where nasty people go to play. Nice ones don’t do well there.
I feel sorry for the 40 million Ukrainians who are having their world turned upside down to satisfy the egos of power elites in faraway foreign capitals.
Clark;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svoboda_(political_party)
“In May 2013 “Svoboda”, “Fatherland” and UDAR vowed to coordinate their actions during the 2015 Ukrainian presidential election.[80]”
FATHERLAND link above
UDAR– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Democratic_Alliance_for_Reform
“The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform of Vitali Klitschko (Ukrainian: Український демократичний альянс за реформи Віталія Кличка; the acronym UDAR/УДАР translates to “strike” or “punch”)[16] is a political party in Ukraine headed by retired[17] Ukrainian professional heavyweight boxer and the WBC world heavyweight champion emeritus Vitali Klitschko.[2] The party has an anti-corruption and pro-European platform.”
The BBC have roped in Norman Smith to give out the anti-Putin propaganda now. He normally comments on parliamentary affairs in the ‘Houses’.
John Simpson is also pontificating from the region as is his wont but I am not sure if he got into Crimea, burka wearing or not.
to clarify this is Fatherland….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batkivshchyna
Sorry, here is the full link to US imperialism.
http://screechingkettle.blogspot.com/2011/10/putting-todays-wars-in-perspective.html
It may be just a temporary alliance of convenience (the enemy of my enemy is my friend) for center-rght and rabid brown-shirts, but it does take the patina off their political vehicle.
Craig believes that there are no neo-Nazis in the Kiev ‘government’ but here are these Swedish types arriving. Good job Breivik is under lock and key in Norway.
Neo-Nazis Pour Into Kiev
A stream of European jihadists have traveled to Syria to wage holy war. Now a group of European neo-Nazis are traveling to Ukraine to save the white race
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/28/the-swedish-neo-nazis-of-kiev.html
The Daily Beast was set up by Tina Brown, Harold Evans’ wife.
The Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and formerly published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on 6 October 2008, and is owned by IAC. John Avlon, an American journalist and political commentator as well as a CNN contributor, is the site’s executive editor, and Rhona Murphy is its interim CEO. Brown stepped down as editor in September 2013.
The name of the site was taken from a fictional newspaper in Evelyn Waugh’s novel Scoop. On 12 November 2010, The Daily Beast and Newsweek announced a merger deal, creating a combined company, The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. On 3 Aug 2013 IAC, owner of The Daily Beast, sold Newsweek to IBT Media, owner of the International Business Times.
> Etienne Uzac is the French-American co-founder and CEO of IBT Media, a New York based digital media company. Etienne started the company in 2006 with co-founder Johnathan Davis after completing his Bachelor’s degree at LSE.
Etienne grew up in France and South Africa and while studying for college in London, he saw an opportunity to develop a truly global business digital media property. So he started International Business Times (ibt.com), a business focused digital news property that now boasts over 20M unique users a month.
Building on the success of IBTimes, the company started and now runs 12 other vertical news websites in the tech, health, Hispanic sectors and more. IBT Media also operates Bizu.tv a premium digital video platform and portal. During the summer of 2013, IBT Media acquired Newsweek. All in all IBT Media O&O properties reach 40M unique users a month.
Etienne is on the 2013 Folio:100 List
~~~
Probably too much information but I wanted to see the provenance/ownership of The Daily Beast.
“Russia is not using this ‘right’ it is using it’s natural protection of Russian citizens and Russian assets.”
And who exactly has been threatened in the Crimea – apart from a few Tartars who have been beaten up and who can be ethnically cleansed at a later date when their propiskas have been checked.
Improper use of ‘patina’ should’ve been ‘shine’.
In a worrying break with riot etiquette crowds of citizens have stormed and occupied regional government buildings in eastern Ukraine.
Ignoring the time honoured and respectable tradition of throwing molotov coctails through the windows they have schemed instead to erect wire-mesh window guards.
They are demanding that their representatives meet to debate and vote on a motion of disobedience to the guys with baseball bats in the burned our government buildings of Kiev.
Is this</a acceptable behavior?
I still want to know, who are this lot?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54uq_-5tkcY
They are apparently equipped and trained well enough to confront the police. They have helmets and shields; some of the helmets are motorcycle helmets and maybe they took the shields from the police. Many have eye protection or visors. Quite a few have bullet-proof jackets, and some seem to have full Kevlar body-armour. The “commanding officer” has a two-way radio. But most of all they seem trained and under orders. This sort of force doesn’t look like a simple civil uprising. But on the next video, you can see that the uprising definitely has popular support. Look at all the food that has been brought by normal people. See the woman passing out snacks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9G_7cECBsE
I think it is Propooski (пропуски) ESLO.
No question the popular uprising had some legitimacy as push-back on corruption, but I wonder if there is a neo-nazi version of CHAOS in events on the ground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_CHAOS
We still haven’t been given the names of any neo-Nazis who are in the Cabinet. EU citizens can enter Ukraine without a visa – I don’t think the Swedish neo-Nazis were invited there to join the government. No evidence they were invited at all – if the report is true. 90% of reporting coming out of Ukraine on all sides is just propaganda.
As far as I can see, Ukrainian politicians of pretty well all affiliations are even more sleazy than politicians generally are. That includes both Yanukovich and Timoshenko’s crews. Neo-Nazis are of course uniquely and especially deplorable. But as far as I can judge, to characterize the current administration in Kiev as Neo-Nazi is lazy and untrue.
What I suspect to happen next is that Putin will stage an attack on ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine. Despite Gladio etc, the West has no monopoly on false flag attacks. The false flag apartment bombings blamed on the Chechens had a direct effect on Putin’s consolidation of power.
A messy link there. Sorry.
Here it is: rt.com/news/donetsk-kharkov-ukraine-protest-365/
Come off it Craig, the US empire and the lickspittles you used to work for have been in Ukraine for more than a decade. Pot calls kettle black.
“What invasion Craig?
According to the status of force agreement Russia can post up to 30,000 soldiers in Crimea. The normal size of its forces there is just half of that. If Russia wants to reinforce those it can do so without breaking any national or international agreement.”
I must say that these were my thoughts exactly.
Russian troops have always been in Crimea. The Crimean people don’t seem to mind them being there. Last I heard there had not been one shot fired.
To call this an invasion smacks of western hype and propaganda.
John
I think you will find that it pronounced propiski – I just made the plural from the singular in the usual anglicised manner. But yes Russia has retained the old repressive Soviet residence permit system.
Who knows whether they were invited…
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/58701
” The German government is encouraging the protest demonstrations being staged in the Ukraine by the “pro-European” alliance of conservative and ultra-rightwing parties. The “pro-Europe rallies” in Kiev and other cities of the country are transmitting “a very clear message”, according to a government spokesperson in Berlin: “Hopefully” the Ukrainian president “will heed this message,” meaning sign the EU’s Association Agreement, which Kiev had refused to do last week, in spite of massive German pressure. To gain influence in the country, Germany has for years been supporting the “pro-European” alliance in the Ukraine. The alliance includes not only conservative parties, but also forces from the extreme right – because of their strength, particularly in western Ukraine, where a cult around former Nazi collaborators is manifesting itself. The All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” party is particularly embedded in the national-chauvinist milieu, under the influence of this cult. Over the past few days, the party’s leader has called for a “revolution” in Kiev”
Clark,
I am not sure who those people are in your video, so this is guesswork from looking at the shields they are holding. It seems it might be C-14, which apparently is a neo-Nazi group. The shields have the number 14 and then are followed by the word Сотня which means 100, or hundreds. I think that’s a popular word for a large group, with “sotnyk” being the head of such a group. So I guess the guy with the walkie-talkie is a Sotnyk. Maybe someone else will have a better idea, however. The word along the bottom looks like “Samooborony”, which seems to mean “self-defence”. However, take this with a pinch of salt. I could be wrong about that.