From a British diplomatic source I learn that Britain has lobbied the United States against the publication of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture and extraordinary rendition. The lobbying has been carried out “at all levels” – White House, State Department and CIA. The British have argued that at the very least the report must be emasculated before publication.
The British argument is that in a number of court cases including the Belhadj case, the British government has successfully blocked legal action by victims on the grounds that this would weaken the US/UK intelligence relationship and thus vitally damage national security, by revealing facts the American intelligence service wish hidden. [We will leave aside for the moment the utter shame of our servile groveling judges accepting such an argument]. The British Government are now pointing out to the Americans that this argument could be fatally weakened if major detail of the full horror and scope of torture and extraordinary rendition is revealed by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The argument runs that this could in turn lead to further revelations in the courts and block the major defence against prosecutions of Blair, Straw and Dearlove, among others, potentially unleashing a transatlantic wave of judicial activism.
The unabashed collusion of two torturing security states in concealing the truth of their despicable acts – including complicity in the torture of women and minors – and blocking criminal prosecution of the guilty is a sign of how low public ethics have sunk. Fortunately there are still a few people in the British Foreign Office disgusted enough to leak it.
Ben; “Because of the economics of warfare. It’s not personal; just bizness”
Putin should try the same line, and maybe match every new weapon supplied to the anti-Government forces in Syria, with supplies to the anti-Coup protesters in Eastern Ukraine !
“Deal Struck to Calm Ukraine Crisis” trumpets the BBC.
Bullshit.
The Yanks, and whatever proxies they are using, will be in there, beavering away. The Craft, or G4S, or even Right Sector goons, will do something nasty in Eastern Ukraine, there will be a reaction, and that way a little more civil strife will be sown.
Such is the neocon method in the War on Terror (Phase 2). Shock and awe is so Roland Emmerich. A little more subtlety is now required to sustain the illusion of anything remotely akin to noble ends.
Mike; “Bullshit”
I agree; it’s not worth the paper it’s written on, and all that signed it, know that; just playing for time on all sides; so not that it actually means anything, but these under-reported aspects were part of the agreement;
#1: Recognition of Crimea as Russia
#2: Gas and debt payments by Ukraine
#3: Referendums, not just top-down “autonomy” from Kiev
Great posts n links n Info floating around..Cheers all…
Some more from Mark’s excellent post @ 3;03 pm 17th….
The danger for Russia is that the Russian government will rely on diplomacy, international organizations, international cooperation, and on the common sense and self-interest of German politicians and politicians in other of Washington’s European puppet states.
For Russia this could be a fatal mistake. There is no good will in Washington, only mendacity. Russian delay provides Washington with time to build up forces on Russia’s borders and in the Black Sea and to demonize Russia with propaganda and whip up the US population into a war frenzy. The latter is already occurring.
Kerry has made it clear to Lavrov that Washington is not listening to Russia. As Washington pays well, Washington’s European puppets are also not listening to Russia. Money is more important to European politicians than humanity’s survival.
In my opinion, Washington does not want the Ukraine matters settled in a diplomatic and reasonable way. It might be the case that Russia’s best move is immediately to occupy the Russian territories of Ukraine and re-absorb the territories into Russia from whence they came. This should be done before the US and its NATO puppets are prepared for war. It is more difficult for Washington to start a war when the objects of the war have already been lost. Russia will be demonized with endless propaganda from Washington whether or not Russia re-absorbs its traditional territories. If Russia allows these territories to be suppressed by Washington, the prestige and authority of the Russian government will collapse. Perhaps that is what Washington is counting on.
Full Piece as Mark’s link Above @
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38236.htm
And Then This ….
Open letter to President Obama
You know very well that Russia has never stated it was going to invade Eastern Ukraine and you know very well that Russian troop movements inside Russia are Russia’s business, and not yours. Mind your own business, while you maintain torture camps and thousands of armed personnel overseas, and what has Ukraine to do with you? Does it share a frontier with the USA? Or has the arms lobby told you to set up a NATO base there so that Ukraine can contribute 2% of its GDP, like the other NATO member states which last year spent some 1.2 trillion USD on NATO weaponry/administrative costs?
1.2 trillion USD in one year, four times more than it would take to eradicate endemic poverty, worldwide, forever. And your political epitaph is what, exactly? The one who supported terrorists and Fascists to spread the interests of the lobbies you are too damned weak to stand up against, thereby letting down every single woman and man who has supported you?
You also know very well that this Fascist Junta in Kiev being illegal, and the removal of the elected President being illegal, only a Government headed by President Viktor Yanukovich has any authority in Ukraine and in the absence of this, the authority in the Crimea was and is the Assembly, which had every right to organize a free and fair referendum on the status of the Crimea. 97 per cent of the voters wanted to return home to Russia. It is called Democracy, Mr. President, so what have you against that?
Finally, Mr. President, take a trip to the Donbas area of Ukraine, in fact walk around all over Eastern Ukraine, then come back here and tell me if Russia needs to send any agents into the area to fight for their rights over the Fascist Junta which seized power in Kiev. Of course it doesn’t, they are perfectly capable of standing up for themselves, as Ukrainian citizens, living in a Ukraine which respects their rights in a Federative State. That is all they ask for and Russia has never said or done anything to foment violence, instead Moscow has always called for a diplomatic solution whereas you, Mr. President, are the only one who has mentioned war, just as your country is the only one to have perpetrated an atomic terrorist attack on civilians. Twice. And after the Japanese Government had offered your country the same terms it accepted at the peace agreement, as you know, or should know.
See, the ones you support in the Ukraine are the ones calling for the death of these citizens, the ones Moscow supports are innocent civilians trying to protect themselves against death threats, trying to stave off a massacre, and simply calling on the Government to hear them and protect them.
Your Government wants them massacred by the Fascist Junta? Russia’s Government wants your Fascist Junta to guarantee their human rights. The bottom line is, after Iraq, after Abu Ghraib, after Guantanmo, after Libya, after Syria and the demonic hordes Washington supports, there is no high moral horse for you to ride into town on, Mr. President. You know it, we know it, so how about that C word, Change?
The Russian Federation has annexed nobody as you know, the Russian Federation poses a threat to no-one, as you know. So why do you repeat the lies every time you open your mouth? How about less propaganda, less rhetoric, less hype, less hysteria, less intrusion, less spreading hatred and more dialogue and more respect?
Now that you have sided openly with Fascists, now that you have sided openly with terrorists in several theatres of war, now that you have sided with or identified yourself with torturers, now that you stand side-by-side with your country’s torture and concentration camps, where citizens are detained for a decade without right to due legal process (and you call yourself a lawyer?), now that you side with those who call for, or are supported by those who call for, the death of Russians and Jews, I believe the ball is in your court, Mr. President.
by… Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey @
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/17-04-2014/127391-letter_obama-0/
Lastly some more From J. Pilger –
So there you have it. The United States government is so overwhelmingly corrupt that even the financial regulatory agencies have been corrupted by the money of the private capitalists they are supposed to regulate.
America the corrupted. That is what we have become.
Not even Vladimir Putin understands how totally corrupt and insensitive to humanity Washington is.
Putin’s response to the Ukraine crisis created by Washington’s coup in Kiev is to rely on
“Russia’s Western partners,” the UN, the Obama regime, John Kerry, etc., to work out a reasonable solution to the crisis.
Putin’s hope for a diplomatic solution is unrealistic. The NATO governments are bought-and-paid-for by Washington. For example, Germany is not a country. Germany is a mere piece of Washington’s empire. The German government will do as Washington says.The German government represents Washington’s agenda. The European governments to whom Putin is speaking are not listening.
Paul Wolfowitz, the neoconservative who as Deputy Secretary of Defense presided over the orchestration of the false evidence used by the Bush regime to launch Washington’s wars in the Middle East, declared the minimization of Russian power as the “first objective” of US foreign and military policy:
“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.”
What Wolfowitz means by “hostile power” is any power independent of Washington’s hegemony.
Washington overthrew the elected Ukraine government in order to orchestrate a crisis that would distract Russia from Washington’s adventures in Syria and Iran and in order to demonize Russia as an invader rebuilding an empire that is a danger to Europe. Washington will use this demonization in order to break-up growing economic relationships between Russia and Europe. The purpose of sanctions is not to punish Russia, but to break up economic relationships.
Washington’s strategy is audacious and brings risk of war. If the West had an independent media, Washington’s plan would fail. But instead of a media, the West has a Ministry of Propaganda.
Full piece @
http://www.globalresearch.ca/privatization-is-a-ramp-for-corruption-and-insouciance-is-a-ramp-for-war/5378208
Here’s A Brilliant Piece by Finian Cunningham
On Ukraine, Putin said:
“Instead of realizing that something has gone wrong in the Ukrainian state and making attempts to start dialogue, they [the Western-backed junta in Kiev] have intensified their threats to use force and have even decided to send tanks and aircraft against the civilian population. It is another very serious crime on the part of the current Kiev authorities”.
It is only Western rulers and their pliant news media that seem to have a problem with relating to such unequivocal reality. Obama and his ilk twist reality by accusing Putin of violating Ukraine’s sovereignty – this after the American government helped bring neo-Nazi paramilitaries to power in Kiev through murderous street violence and occupations. Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague this week accuses Russia of pushing Ukraine to “the brink”, while the French government is adding its support for imposing further provocative diplomatic sanctions against Moscow. Such people are living in a parallel universe, and most ordinary citizens around the world are increasingly becoming aware of their appalling irrationality.
It is only the patronage of Western governments and their news media that lends this chauvinist junta a veneer of legitimacy, even while it is declaring war on its people.
As Putin said in his televised nationwide interview:
“Order in the country [Ukraine] can be established only through a dialogue, in the course of democratic procedures, rather than through the use of the armed forces, tanks, and warplanes”.
There is a strong sense that Putin may be far too decent with regard to the Kiev mob. But it is Putin’s civility and common sense that has seen him winning over public opinion, nationally and internationally.
Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize warrior and Assassin-in-Chief whose name has become a byword for liar, told American media earlier this week. “What we do need is a recognition that countries like Ukraine can have relationships with a whole range of their neighbours and it is not up to anybody, whether it is Russia or the United States or anybody else, to make decisions for them”.
Well, empty platitudes aside, that is exactly what the US has done in Ukraine by fomenting violence in Kiev from the end of last November until the coup in February and is doing now by bestowing a completely illegitimate and illegal junta with the false nomenclature of “government of Ukraine”.
This week too, Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations, echoed the distortion by telling the Security Council that Russia was subverting eastern Ukraine: “We know who is behind this. Indeed the only entity in the area capable of coordinating these professional military actions is Russia”.
This sounds rather like the voice of guilty conscience speaking out about its own dark and dirty secrets.
Despite her assured tone, Power’s lack of evidence regarding Russia amounted to fanciful speculation, which the Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin duly noted and derided as “phantom chasing”.
THIS IS THE SAME Samantha Power.. who last August ( “ASSURED” ) THE WORLD that her country had “conclusive proof” that Syrian government forces had used chemical weapons to kill hundreds of its citizens. Power was urging back then for US military strikes against Syria in response. We are still waiting to see American “conclusive proof” for that warmongering claim, while substantial counter-evidence has in fact since emerged to show that the culprits for the atrocity were actually US-backed militants in Syria.
Every time, it seems, that Western political leaders and their media make bombastic claims, it is subsequently shown to be fabrication, deception, lies or arrant nonsense. No wonder the Western public is deserting them en masse.
They have lied about wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. That makes these wars criminal aggressions and huge crimes against humanity. They lie about the reasons for why the US and its allies kill people every week with assassination drones in Somalia and Yemen and with criminal trade sanctions imposed for bogus pretexts on Iran.
Finian Cunningham @
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/putin-stands-out-as-a-real-world-leader-by-finian-cunningham/#more-161107
Habbabkuk,
Oh dear Habba,you eternal fool you…
Surely you must realise the only thing Yeltsin had hidden away was bottles of vodka??
Usually hiddenbehind filing cabinets,in his airing cupboards and in the footwell of his Zill…
Surely even a paid for fool like you Habba understands that hmm??
Brian I hope you don’t mind a correction to your 1.29am post with its good links. The last one http://www.globalresearch.ca/privatization-is-a-ramp-for-corruption-and-insouciance-is-a-ramp-for-war/5378208 was by Paul Craig Roberts and not John Pilger.
I look at Dandelion Salad too. Nice little site.
Mary
Thank You..i Knew i fucked up somewhere… i thought i had seen reff from you to j.p up threads….and after much work left the page here.. tried to correct..too Late….Had go over the Whole effin post again….
Mods – ALCANON’S Edit Button
Anyway..rather you correcting Me Mary…Than the creepy things…:)
Brian.
Mind your p’s and q’s when in company of a lady! Please.
Correctionn to my Post @11.39pm, as it seems I was misinformed about what was agreed; instead these seems to be the main points;
1) Kiev has agreed to negotiate with the East.
2) All illegal armed groups will have to disarm (that was already agreed between Yanukovich and the EU).
3) OSCE monitors will be dispatched to the East to monitor the situation.
4) Kiev has committed to legal reforms for greater autonomy.
5) The Crimea has not even been discussed.
6) The EU has accepted Putin’s proposal to discuss gas deliveries.
7) Nobody will face prosecution except for major crimes.
And Kerry threw this in to stir the pot.
April 17, 2014
GENEVA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that Jews in a city in eastern Ukraine had been ordered to register with the authorities, calling the idea intolerable.
“Just in the last couple of days, notices were sent to Jews in one city indicating that they had to identify themselves as Jews … or suffer the consequences,” Kerry told reporters. “This is not just intolerable, it’s grotesque.”
(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
http://www.vagazette.com/news/sns-rt-us-ukraine-crisis-kerry-jews-20140417,0,1617822.story
Dealt with here in a post by the Medialens editors.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1397805394.html
Yatseniuk knew of the order. I understand there are many Jews in the Ukraine, and apart from that very small plutocratic section, they are well assimilated. Divisions are always being triggered, just as Gove has sent Clarke, late ACC Met i/c counter-terrorism, to Birmingham to inquire into ‘islamic extremism’ in the schools there.
Resurrection and Israeli Restrictions: Easter in Jerusalem
Occupied East Jerusalem is the center of Palestinian celebrations, whether Easter or Ramadan. Freedom of religion and freedom of movement are basic human rights enshrined in international law. However, since 1967, successive Israeli governments have developed a number of policies aimed at directly and indirectly force the people from their land.
For billions of Christians worldwide, the holy week of Easter is an opportunity to celebrate, pray and remember Jerusalem. Easter is supposed to be a time of hope and joy. But for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Christians, the first Christian community, the reality today is one of oppression and discrimination. Of these Christians, who are the centuries-old inhabitants of this land, only a tiny minority are able to celebrate in Jerusalem.
Please find our latest fact sheet in the following link.
http://www.nad-plo.org/userfiles/file/fact%20sheets/FACTSHEET_Easter_2014.pdf
For More Information About Palestinian Christian Preparations for Easter, please contact:
· Fr. Jamal Khader – Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (Jerusalem) – 0599 762 220
· Fr. Ibrahim Shomali – Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (Bethlehem Area) – 0598 903 785
· Fr. Firas Aridah – Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (Ramallah Area) – 0599 325 957
· Fr. Johnny Abu Khalil – Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (Nablus and northern West Bank) – 0597 420 450
· Yusef Daher – Jerusalem Inter Church Center: 050 554 51 79.
Have a Happy Easter!
By e-mail from the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK.
“But for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Christians, the first Christian community, the reality today is one of oppression and discrimination.”
Of course not of all the oppression and discrimination is carried out by the Isreali authorities is it Mary?
Question is why is the very undiplomatic Dipolmat Kerry, so keen to scaremonger & demonise using an obvious hoax registration story;
“Novosti Donbassa speculated that the men involved were provocateurs who “tried to provoke a conflict, then to blame the attack on separatists.”
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.585897
Did D Millipede engineer this appointment for E Millipede?
Ed Miliband signs up top Obama adviser David Axelrod for UK election
US president’s right-hand man, who masterminded back-to-back election wins, to sharpen Labour party focus on inequality
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/17/ed-miliband-david-axelrod-adviser-2015-election
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Axelrod
‘Herbie vaunts Nasser and De Gaulle, and then when I point to their singular lack of success’
Habba- apropos De Gaulle, so this is your definition of ‘singular lack of success eh ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960s_in_France
Who in your view were the most ‘successful’ leaders of their countries in the second half of the last century, and how do their achievements compare with those of De Gaulle ?
Answers on a postcard please to-
Mr Brennan
Langley VA
Zip Code 666
As it is in the UK, so it is in Australia.
Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Macquarie Capital appointed for Medibank Private float
http://www.smh.com.au/business/deutsche-bank-goldman-sachs-and-macquarie-capital-appointed-for-medibank-private-float-20140417-36urw.html
Macquairie collared Thames Water.
http://www.macquarie.co.uk/mgl/uk
The rape of Libya contd
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) will seek to have a $1 billion lawsuit by the Libyan Investment Authority thrown out before trial.
The bank will ask a London judge to decide whether the case has a realistic chance of success and issue a so-called summary judgment, according to court documents released this week. Libya’s sovereign wealth fund says Goldman made about $350 million selling investments that turned out to be worthless.
The LIA said in a statement it “considers this application to be misconceived and looks forward to full and proper determination of all issues by the English court.”
/..
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-17/goldman-sachs-to-seek-early-dismissal-of-libya-wealth-fund-suit.html
Yet GS attempt to wriggle out. They did the same thing to Greece.
I hope a non compliant judge hears the case.
Yet the Libyans continue to trust the vultures with £11billion of their assets. Amazing.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-17/libya-wealth-fund-to-entrust-11-billion-to-fund-managers.html
What a swamp of greed and deceit GS, SG and the others operate.
Fred
17 Apr, 2014 – 8:35 am
@A Node
“Only you could take an article that puts Putin at the top of a list of world leaders by wealth and decide it says he isn’t.”
Fred, don’t believe everything you read just because you want to believe it.
They tried it with Fidel Castro:
In 2005, American business and financial magazine Forbes listed Castro among the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of $550 million.
The estimates claimed that the Cuban leader’s personal wealth was nearly double that of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, despite evidence from diplomats and businessmen that the Cuban leader’s personal life was notably austere.
Forbes later increased the estimates to $900 million, adding rumors of large cash stashes in Switzerland.
The magazine offered no proof at all of this information.
Of course it was all entirely bogus – the bunk methodology they used was based on the lie that Fidel Castro owns everything in the entire country of Cuba. Even in their article they admitted their “estimate” was “more art than science” — or in other words, bullshit.
http://amte.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/is-fidel-castro-one-of-the-richest-men-in-the-world/
And they tried it with Hugo Chaves:
Analysts say Leftist leader had ‘amassed private fortune of $2 billion’ – Dailymail.co.uk
http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/15278/did-hugo-chavez-have-a-net-worth-of-2-billion-dollars-at-the-time-of-his-death
That too was bullshit.
ESLO
17 Apr, 2014 – 12:55 pm
“Sod international law – its the Russian Federation Council that counts.”
UN Security Council and the military coalition in Libya acted in contravention of international law in its use of force against Libya
The war in Afghanistan was illegal under international law
The war in Iraq was illegal under international law
The annexation by Israel of the Golan Heights was illegal under international law as are all the settlements and outposts in the West Bank
The Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara was illegal under international law
My Lai Massacre was a war crime under international law
I could go on…
@Doug, don’t forget also the illegal NATO attack on Serbia;
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/04/a-15-year-murder-spree/
“Doug Scorgie:
…. and they tried it with Gaddafi …..
…. more bullshit – grudgingly debunked by, surprisingly, Forbes:
@Macky re Kerry.
I honestly thought he was referring to the neo-fashs in Kiev. Now I’ve read this article in The Guardian…
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/18/antisemitic-donetsk-peoples-republic-ukraine-hoax
I understand your outrage.
The one thing that was putting people – including Jews – off the Kiev Junta was the fact that they had (have) raging Anti-Semitics among their number. This is a lie, but it will surely confuse.
I heard an incredibly sneaky news report on radio 5 earlier today. Two factual pieces presented in rapid succession. These were unrelated, but put one after the other to make it look as if Putin was behaving unacceptably again. Do they really think their listeners are that stupid?
I think they (whoever “they” are) are trying to discredit the Eastern Ukranians the way they discredited the Serbs re Serbia/Kosovo back in 1999. We know what happened next… and it was shameful that Barry George was stitched up. Those were dark days.
“Fred, don’t believe everything you read just because you want to believe it.”
Look Doug I couldn’t care less. I’m not the fanatical one either way. I saw it, it was relevant, so I posted it.
Might I suggest you don’t not believe things because you want to not believe them.
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
17 Apr, 2014 – 6:31 pm
“…assertion frequently made by MARY and other ISRAEL DENIERS…”
Firstly Habbabkuk, what is an Israel denier? The term doesn’t make sense.
Secondly, William Hague’s statement is the “official” position of the UK and he has to say this as Israel’s actions are illegal under international law.
You wouldn’t expect him to congratulate the Israeli government would you?
(you Parus major)
Resident Dissident
17 Apr, 2014 – 8:21 pm
“Masha Gessen’s book provides plenty of evidence regarding his personal financial wealth…”
“Plenty of evidence! Please enlighten us with some extracts ResDis.
By the way:
Her 2012 book The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin is a political biography of Vladimir Putin, whom she describes as a dictator
She might be a bit biased against Putin don’t you think?
Resident Dissident
17 Apr, 2014 – 8:32 pm
“Those who believe this, will also believe everything that Vlad says…”
No one on this blog is stupid enough to believe that.
Macky
18 Apr, 2014 – 10:01 am
“Question is why is the very undiplomatic Dipolmat Kerry, so keen to scaremonger & demonise using an obvious hoax registration story…”
I agree Macky, a pretty obvious false flag.
Fred
18 Apr, 2014 – 6:08 pm
“Fred, don’t believe everything you read just because you want to believe it.”
“Look Doug I couldn’t care less. I’m not the fanatical one either way. I saw it, it was relevant, so I posted it.”
You posted it Fred because you believed it without question.
The word pillock springs to mind.
“You posted it Fred because you believed it without question.”
Didn’t see any reason not to. Still don’t.
The word pillock springs to mind.
Fuck off retard.