A particularly mendacious lie by Danny Alexander puts the institutional start-up costs of Scottish Independence at £1.5 billion. That is a cool half billion pounds cheaper than Scotland’s share of the costs of the Iraq and Afghan wars, even on the Westminster government’s blatant under-estimate of the war costs.
So Scotland can afford criminal invasions killing hundreds of thousands to ‘bring freedom’, but cannot afford the smaller cost of its own freedom!!!
The £1.5 billion estimate is mendacious in two ways. Firstly, it is a simple recycling of a Canadian lie at the time of the Quebec independence referendum, apportioning with no argument 1% of GDP to startup costs.
Secondly, as nearly all the money will be spent in Scotland it is not a loss at all, but actually an increase to GDP, as any but the most nutty neo-con would be forced to acknowledge. And it would be the precursor of government money spent annually in Scotland rather than England for ever thereafter.
Thankfully Alexander won’t have a job much longer – and if he thinks a penny of Scottish public spending is going in future to support his huge arse and deceitful mouth, he is very wrong.
I have reasons for believing Tubby Isaacs is/was in fact Fred.
A new low for Question Time. They had a footballer on the panel who insulted a UKIP MEP in a sexist remark as she saw it. Spat blew up. Piers Morgan et al.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1401449615.html
I see Willetts there in the video and Margaret Curran MP. Who?
All broadcast from the new Terminal 2, terminal being the operative word.
A review from the Torygraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/10864227/Joey-Barton-v-Piers-Morgan-who-won-Question-Times-Match-of-the-Day.html
“Subvert and overthrow” replaces “shock and awe”. Here’s the why and how. Ukraine (Neo-con War Number 6) was $5 billion well spent.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2014/05/29/barack-obamas-foreign-policy-dilemma/
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/02/26/cheering-a-democratic-coup-in-ukraine/
Missed this. Crispin Black has reported that Polish reservists, including those currently living in Britain, have been called up for “exercises”:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-24/poland-quietly-mobilizing-its-army-reservists
Apparently the Poles are feeling vulnerable.
Should teach them not to blindly follow US foreign policy and tend more to their own existential interest, a lesson Poles seem never to have learnt despite being taught it time and time again.
Difficult to see them learning it this time either, since their foreign policy is fronted by here today gone tomorrow, British educated Bullingdon boy, Radosław Sikorski.
Challenging “All Forms of Injustice”? Who is the “Real Pope” Francis I?
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky and James Corbett
Global Research, May 29, 2014
Pope Francis I has been portrayed in chorus by the Western media as a champion of “Liberation Theology” committed to global poverty alleviation.
Pope Francis has urged world leaders to challenge “all forms of injustice” and resist the “economy of exclusion… the throwaway culture, … and the “culture of death,” [which] … sadly risk becoming passively accepted.”
Who is the Real Pope Francis I
Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis I) was one of the main supporters –within the Catholic hierarchy– of Argentina’s military dictatorship which came to power in a CIA supported coup in 1976.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio not only supported the dictatorship, he also played a direct and complicit role in the “Dirty War” (la guerra sucia”) in liaison with the military Junta headed by General Jorge Videla, leading to the arrest, imprisonment, torture and disappearance of progressive Catholic priests and laymen who were opposed to Argentina’s military rule.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/challenging-all-forms-of-injustice-is-pope-francis-i-committed-to-liberation-theology/5384297
Video 20 mins
Poland was also complicit in extraordinary rendition.
‘In addition, the European Court of Human Rights recently agreed to consider a second case against Poland over allegations from another former CIA prisoner, Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn (known as Abu Zubaydah), who was tortured while held in a secret CIA-run prison in Poland. While these measures are an important step in ensuring accountability for U.S. actions on the global stage, they do not absolve the U.S. from its own responsibility under international law to hold those who were responsible for CIA abuses accountable, and release information about the unlawful activities carried out as part of the extraordinary rendition program.’
https://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights-national-security/new-information-about-cia-extraordinary-rendition-program
and so on with other instances.
In the first 48 hours of the assault on Baghdad by the ‘coalition of the willing’ this ‘dodgy dossier’ illegal war murdered 357 children including 66 babies, burnt alive while waiting for their breakfast.
Doctors for Iraq report 2004 emailed to children of Iraq Association – http://www.coia.org.uk
” Orthodox men hurl stinkbombs at women praying at Jerusalem’s Western Wall ”
Well at least it was only stinkbombs.
http://news.sky.com/story/1270504/pakistan-pregnant-woman-stoned-to-death
You find morons in all religions; and indeed some with no religion at all.
” Apparently the Poles are feeling vulnerable. ”
Well after having been invaded by the Nazis and the Soviet Union and suffering 45 years of oppression by the latter it’s hardly surprising.
@Mark: And we all watched it happen on prime time television, but with a peculiar mix of colour that confused the easily confused about what was really happening.
@Mary: Poland (or their government) was almost as keen as TB to be a big member of “coalition of the willing”, and they led part of the laughingly called “Operation Iraqi Freedom”.
We did ‘Peacewisher’ -distant shots in ‘Pathéchrome’ of cruise missiles exploding to be followed later by cluster bombs. Let us remind ourselves who were the ‘coalition of the willing’ that neglected the UN Security Council and pooh-poohed the correct meaning of resolutions passed on Iraq.
Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
From under a stone oozed ‘Lord’ Mandelson, heading up the bottom of some Russian oligarchs:
http://eng.rspp.ru/simplepage/598
This is the Russian equivalent of Davos. Mandelson is a director of Sistema, a Russian defence conglomerate 60% owned by Vladimir Yevtushenkov ($9Bn). Attendance at the event was being discouraged by the US and UK governments, but pliable Peter wasn’t discouraged…
http://www.kyivpost.com/content/russia-and-former-soviet-union/new-york-times-kremlin-tells-media-to-play-down-investment-forum-boycott-348974.html
Bit like Prescott Bush and AG Farben*, isn’t it?
*Look it up.
mark golding 30 May, 2014 – 1:50 pm
Not to mention all the deaths since from birth defects and cancer in Fallujah. The United States has no shame. UK not much. I have been researching for an article on the arrest and detainment of Moazzam Begg and came across some very disturbing episodes, not least this case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/07/22/314973/the-strange-case-of-aafia-siddiqui/
So much ill has come from the so-called “war-on-terror” I hardly recognise my country anymore.
Mandelson’s advice to BP on the Southern Corridor gas pipeline project (Caspian to Turkey) –
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/14/lord-mandelson-bp_n_4593836.html
-must have been a nice little earner for Global Counsel, his Blair-alike bullshit outlet. But the project seems to be hitting problems. Or should that be and the project’s hitting problems?
http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/southern-corridor-total-shah-deniz
Writing for the ultra-socialist Spectator, Mandelson recently announced his plans to rent a farm in Wiltshire and spend his declining years shearing cows and milking sheep. Good idea!
@Mark: I notice you left Ukraine off that 2003 list… surely a typo!
At the time, I couldn’t understand why a country allied to Russia would side with US on this one. Shape of things to come…? following year they had the “orange revolution”.
But, remember that Blair recently came out against the current agression towards Russia. He favours more concentration on Syria.
Many interests in Kazakhstan.
Pity then that the treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union was signed on May 29th, in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
http://english.pravda.ru/world/ussr/29-05-2014/127684-eurasian_economic_union-0/
Remember too that NATO hasn’t been that forthcoming in beefing up Poland’s defenses, since they joined in 1999, and even up to the present day they’re not that interested.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10737838/Ukraine-crisis-Poland-asks-Nato-to-station-10000-troops-on-its-territory.html
The US cares little about even the interests of the stronger EU members in their plans for world domination, nevermind here today gone tomorrow Poland.
At least the Germans, French and Italians are keeping their options open, leaving a very vulnerable Poland to play hardball with the mighty beast on their border.
Feckin newbies!
Correct Peacekeeper-an oversight-Interestingly with increasing domestic pressure Ukraine withdrew in Dec. 2004 while Georgia remained until August 2008.
Coalition of the ‘Bribed and Bullied’
http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/9/9/5/9/pages99593/p99593-1.php
“A Coalition of the Willing”: an analysis of the commitment and withdrawal of Ukrainian and Georgian armed forces.
http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/3/6/3/2/0/pages363207/p363207-1.php
‘No shame’ John…
n the speech by Barack Obama on Wednesday May 28, the US President affirmed his belief in a foreign policy influenced by “US exceptionalism”.
To its critics, US exceptionalism is nothing but a euphemism for immunity, discrimination and propaganda to excuse and defend war crimes carried out by the United States. In view of the US’s exposure as a dangerous rogue state by an increasing army of whistleblowers, something like US exceptionalism is Obama’s only excuse for otherwise starkly hypocritical international relations.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/obama-believe-american-exceptionalism-every-fiber/191611/
Some interesting stuff from Bullingdon boy, Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister.
Even the BBC bloke seems unconvinced:
The journalist quoted about 12 mins in is his wife, Anne Appelbaum. He retweeted her piece, but he seems here to be distancing himself from it.
She’s American neocon, obviously. Aren’t they all, these wives and husbands. It’s a family affair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvuWHEU9dVY
And here’s the chocolate bloke when he was just a humble businessman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byk_auHxwgs
@Mark: “Peacekeeper” would be “deluded to a infinite amount” given the current scenario!
With that sort of rhetoric from Obama, there is a suggestion in some quarters that US is upping the ante on Russia in preparation for a military attack at some point (next President?)
Some suggestion also that Georgia, as well as “the new Ukraine”, may have a role in such a future scenario. Truly horrifying stuff, but should we be surprised about anything after Iraq?
Pity then that the treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union was signed on May 29th, in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
The Russians want a share of the global cake, and that will be easier to organise if all their own ducks are in an economic line. Blair will only encourage this (as seen in his advisory/friendly bullshitter role wrt. Nazarbayev) And so will the rest of our movers and shakers. It’s all money and one oligarch is very much like another, East or West.
Assad’s a safe target -everyone shits on Assad, but we need to remember that in the interests of presenting a common enemy we can all be so terrified of that we buy corporate oppression, Blair’s also pissing on the very jihadis who are trying to take Assad down. While his Faith Foundation pushes nicey-nicey religious diversity for the globalised tomorrow. Blair is consistent in only one thing: his pursuit of money.
Before Baghdad 2003 there was the 1991 atrocity at the Al Ameriyah shelter revisited here by Felicity Arbuthnot.
U.S. State Department Warns No U.S. Citizen Safe “Throughout the World”
by Felicity Arbuthnot / May 26th, 2014
‘One example stays indelibly engraved on my mind, over twenty years of unending US aggression. Mohammed was just ten years old when he went to overnight with his mother, brothers – including a baby brother just weeks old – and sisters during the 1991 attack on Iraq, to Baghdad’s Ameriyah air raid Shelter.
The Shelter, equipped with bunk beds, showers, generator-driven electricity, television, kitchens, was a haven of normality and safety in a city where the electricity and water system had been deliberately destroyed, being “carpet bombed” daily.
This temporary sanctuary was deliberately targeted by the US who had obtained the plans, identified the weak points, the ventilation shafts. All but fourteen of the several hundred mothers, children and elderly for whom the Shelter was reserved, were incinerated.
Mohammed was just ten when he survived the inferno. He rescued an old man “whose flesh came away in my hands” and a baby. His mother and siblings were incinerated. The attack happened on the anniversary of the start of the fire bombing of Dresden in World War 11.
He was twelve when we met. Quiet, dignified, articulate way beyond his years. His story, as so many victims of US bombs, drones and “surgical strikes” across the globe, would haunt the hardest heart.
Eventually I asked: “How do you feel about those who did this?” His composure cracked, perspiration broke out on his face, neck, and backs of his hands: “When I grow up, I am going to join the (elite) Republican Guard – and if I die and if I have to wait a thousand years, I will come back and get my revenge.” In the 2003 invasion, he would have been twenty two.
If he survived the further mass incinerations of “Shock and Awe”, he would have undoubtedly joined the resistance and attacked those from a country who had burned his family and friends alive. If he survived that and perhaps left Iraq, he and countless who had suffered so wickedly would surely harbour vengeance in their hearts for Americans any place, anywhere, for all time. As, of course, Afghan and Libya victims, drone victims from Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan.’
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/05/u-s-state-department-warns-no-u-s-citizen-safe-throughout-the-world/
For info
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/05/u-s-state-department-warns-no-u-s-citizen-safe-throughout-the-world/
“To its critics, US exceptionalism is nothing but a euphemism for immunity, discrimination and propaganda to excuse and defend war crimes carried out by the United States.”
German Nazis thought they were immune. They knew what crimes had been committed hence the cyanide capsules.
Just about to watch the HardTalk Herbie.
My last two (three?) blogs have been about Willy Wonka. The latest gives links to two of the brands to avoid when you do your weekly shop.
http://johngossip.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/willy-wonka-and-hidden-bullets.html
There is hardly any mention these days of the part Clinton played in the atrocities enacted on Iraq. Just as culpable as Bush and Blair. In office 1993-2001
3. Effects on the Iraqi people during sanctions
3.1 Estimates of deaths due to sanctions
3.2 Infant and child death rates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctions_against_Iraq#Effects_on_the_Iraqi_people_during_sanctions
~~~
Saw this when looking up Clinton’s dates.
Planning the succession maybe??
White House forced to admit Obama had a clandestine luncheon with Hillary after magazine outs them on Twitter
•President Barack Obama had former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over for lunch today
•The luncheon was not on the president’s schedule. Press only found out about it after People magazine sent a tweet claiming that Clinton was on her way to meet with the president
•A White House official has confirmed that the president had an ‘informal’ lunch with Clinton
•The official did not say how long Clinton was at the White House or what the two talked about, raising suspicion
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2643336/Barack-Obama-clandestine-luncheon-Hillary-Clinton.html
May they ALL rot in hell.
Letter from Chilcot to Heywood.
I am pleased to record……. etc etc etc
Complete rot.
http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/55103/2014-05-28_Chilcot_Heywood.pdf
@Mary: Yes, 15th January 1991, I think, another dark day for humanity. Hadn’t even heard of CNN before then. And George Bush Senior had the audacity to talk of a New World Order… I still think it would have been even worse if Maggie was still in No. 10 at that time. What a fool Saddam Hussein was!
Herbie
“Anne Appelbaum…..She’s American neocon, obviously.”
________________
Not so obviously, actually, Herbie.
Or, perhaps, obvious only to those who are unsparing in their efforts to insert themselves as far up Mr Putin’s fundament as possible…..(no names, no pack drill eh, Herbie!)
BTW, I strongly recommend Anne Applebaum’s “Iron Curtain – the crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956” (Allen Lane, London, 2012). A splendid tour d’horizon of what Russian imperialism, concealed behind the mask of communism, is capable of getting up to unless checked.
And, Herbie, since you obviously have strong (albeit ignorant)views on Poland and Russia, perhaps I could also recommend to you “Imperium” by thre late Ryszard Kapuscinski (Granta Books, London, 1994)in the hope that you may learn something.
**************************
“Life has become better, life has become merrier!” (J. Stalin, ca. 1934)
There are 146392 signatures and counting on this 38 Degrees petition. Why not add yours?
The petition to demand a real recall law – so that voters can sack MPs who don’t do their job properly – is growing fast.
Already over 130,000 38 Degrees members have signed the petition. The bigger the petition – the more pressure David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband will be under to do the right thing. Can you click the button to add your name?
SIGN THE PETITION https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/real-recall#petition
Here’s what some 38 Degrees members who’ve signed the petition have to say about the need for a real recall law:
Sarah: “Politicians are answerable to their constituents, not their colleagues, therefore it is their constituents who should have the power to sack them.”
Jeff: “The right to remove an MP or any other elected official is a fundamental right in a democracy.”
Lynn: “The electorate need to be more involved in this process. It cannot be left to the integrity of politicians. If it could, we wouldn’t need the bill.”
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/real-recall#petition
@John Gross
Currently, Turkish government is not in a position to pursue these arrest warrants at international level. Ankara is too much dependent on United States, European Union, NATO and Saudi money – which are all tied to Tel Aviv.
Turkish prime minister Erdogan’s foreign policy has isolated the country on the international level and especially among its regional neighbors. His foolish military and diplomatic assault against Syrian government has cost Ankara the close friendship with Iran, Pakistan, Lebanon and Iraq. Erdogan’s support for the former president Dr. Morsi against the military coup lead by Crypto-Jew Gen. el-Sisi has distanced Cairo from Ankara. However, the recent municipal results show that Erdogan’s ruling AKP is still popular among Turkish Muslim majority due to AKP’s national and Islamic roots.
http://rehmat1.com/2014/05/28/turkish-court-issues-warrants-for-4-israeli-generals/
Herbie I found the Poroshenko interview really interesting because in it he implied that he would sign the agreement with the EU. Something must have changed his mind because now, when everybody would expect it was going to happen the deal has been put off indefinitely. It may have something to do with the vast debt that Ukraine has built up for Russian gas, or perhaps he has come to his senses that murdering his own people is not going to be good for the chocolate trade, Who knows? Anyway the deal’s off. Indefinitely if you believe some sources.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/incoming-ukrainian-president-poroshenko-requests-more-time-before-signing-eu-deal-1401265360?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303633604579589402487266552.html