I shall again be running the bar – the Whistleblower’s Arms – at the Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival from 22 to 24 August at Cardross, Port of Menteith.
I find this festival, which is very much a lifestyle event and features mostly new talent, an extremely life-affirming experience. Last year it brought me back from a very dark place. Some of this blogs most active commenters and helpers have been among the volunteers over the last couple of years, keeping the event going. Personally for me the festival is necessarily centred around Williams Bros and Thistly Cross, but there is a tremendous variety of music:
The event is very family friendly, and also an amazing place to meet new friends. It does not have any specific political orientation, but I might fairly say that the vibe is very much in line with the kind of unconstrained intellectual space promoted on this blog. On top of which Cardross is an extraordinarily beautiful place. The variety of local food on site, ranging from vegan to game, is one of the things I really enjoyed. It is a not for profit event and nobody gets a salary.
Tickets are not expensive by festival standards, and certainly cheaper than a weekend break in a hotel. But there is also the alternative of working your passage – the festival still needs plenty of volunteers.
I am genuinely looking forward to it enormously. Hope to see you there.
————·´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node (8 Jul, 2014 – 2:02 pm) wrote:
An early example is given from 1917 in the Kurdistan thread:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/07/kurdistan/#comment-464761
“[…] would have given Sykes and Picot a far larger canvas, a real fear which could explain Turkey’s desire to concede the peculiar allied designs on Palestine, an allied obsession which had calamitous side-effects in France and could have cost and lost them the entire war.”
Hanging in the balance; NATO health and the West’s answer to BRICS. It’s a big deal. No doubt about it.
http://rt.com/news/170868-merkel-spy-scandal-serious/
“Washington has not yet commented on the matter, however.
Despite the uproar the double agent scandal has caused among German politicians, the government in Berlin has been quick to assure Washington that the issue will not affect ongoing talks on a free trade deal between the European Union and United States.
“The Americans are important partners for Germany including of course in economic terms, so the TTIP (Translatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) talks … are not in question or in doubt,” government spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said, Reuters reported.
Repeating an earlier inquiry; Where is John Goss and Mark Golding?
Things in Israel are rotten to his core. Dr Yehuda Hiss’s version of the truth here. And he has a history including the stealing of body parts from the deceased.
Arafat Jaradat and the man behind his autopsy
Jessica Purkiss
Wednesday, 02 July 2014 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/12507-arafat-jaradat-and-the-man-behind-his-autopsy
RIP Arafat Jaradat.
‘He was strong and athletic. He hadn’t been ill a day in his life. He was a third year Al-Quds Open University student.
He didn’t resist arrest. Neighbors said soldiers beat him anyway. They heard him scream. Days later, his family learned he was dead. He’s Palestine’s latest martyr.’
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2013/03/04/whitewashing-israeli-murder-by-torture-by-stephen-lendman/
For those who think nukes are indispensable and solar/wind not sustainable….
http://www.therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12075
“SINCLAIR: And that’s why that day, the actual prices for electricity on the German grid went to negative, ’cause the electricity was free.
WORONCZUK: So, Peter, this sounds pretty incredible. Energy prices apparently went negative. Tell us how Germany got to this point.
SINCLAIR: Well, Germany actually was kind of sparked by the United States. And this was some 30 some years ago, back in the Carter administration, when this country really started devoting a lot of money to developing renewable energy. And many people in Germany, for a number of reasons, found this to be very compelling.
The difference is they got started on it, took our lead, and they didn’t stop. Here in the U.S., during the Reagan administration, investment in renewables plummeted, and it’s taken us a long time to rebuild from that. But Germany started putting a number of policies in place at that time. And then in the recent decade or so most especially, they put into place what they called a feed-in tariff, which is a program of compensating people for installing renewable energy–small businesses, individuals, farmers, co-ops. And the program has been far more successful than anyone would have predicted in the early days. And so it has brought a torrent of renewable energy onto the German system that has–as you say, on some days, there’s so much energy coming in that electric prices go negative in Germany.
No luck with News Sniffer if I’m using it correctly.
“AMERICAN MILITARY ADVISERS UKRAINE” returns 37 results, none of them relevant.
It’s quite a list….more here. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/07/08-2
“Years since Israel allowed Palestinians of Gaza to export what they produce: 7
Unemployment in Gaza as a result of Israeli blockade on civilians: 38.5%
Estimated unemployment rate in US during the Great Depression: 25%
Percentage of children in Gaza suffering from acute malnutrition: 13.2%
Rate of anemia in Palestinian Children in Gaza: 18.9%
Percentage of water in Gaza that is potable: 10%
Years, according the the UN, before Gaza becomes “uninhabitable”: 6
Phil; “Yes, the Israeli state is bad and has influence disproportionate to its size. I am not sure why you are stressing this so.”
Err, because you accuse people of being “obsessed” about it !
Phil; “The Chmosky quote you linked to suggests you seem to think the misery of Africa has nothing to do with “us”.
It doesn’t actually, but nevermind.
Phil; “The system and forces that cause conflict in Palestine are the same as those which cause conflict in Congo. Basically they both boil down to international capital (mostly US/EU) funded proxy armies causing division to control resources and make profit”
Don’t think you will get many takers agreeing with that comparison !
Phil; “If indeed “we” are culpable (even this attribution of our collective guilt is a manipulation), “we” are culpable for the misery in the Congo and we are culpable for the misery in Palestine. Why are you exclusively obsessed with one?”
Firstly, I am not exclusively obsessed with I/P as you well know re for example our not so ancient ding-dongs over Ukraine ; secondly, I/P is always in our face virtual of the never-ending horror stories/headlines, and has been so for decades now; thirdly I/P repercussions subvert our own domestic politics; fourthly the I/P is a clear cut case of ethnic cleansing & colonization that could be made to stop overnight if the Western governments withdrew all support & forced it to negociate in good faith, whereas most other conflicts are not so clear cut & without such an obvious cure.
Why, especially as an apparent Palestinaian Supporter, are you so concerned that some people are focused on the achieveable objective of ending the misery of the I/P ? Were you so equally critical of those engaged in the struggle against Apartheid, do you criticise Feminists or LGBT for being so “obsessed”, and for not campaigning to end the strife in the Congo ?!
Phil; Don’t be discouraged by my bad example (referencing another conversation)
You WILL be tested. 🙂
Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog said on Radio 4 Today that Israel deems a war on Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians (like Operation Cast Lead) is worth it if it leads to a period of “quiet” for the Israeli population.
Why was he not asked by Mishal Husain why, during the “period of quiet”, Israel is still dissatisfied and continues:
building settlements on stolen Palestinian land
demolishing Palestinian homes and infrastructure
uprooting orchards and olive trees
denying human rights, residence and building permits to Palestinians
abducting and arresting Palestinian minors
depriving Gaza of water, electricity and access to food and medical supplies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b048l0g1 1hr 34mins in
Why was he also not asked if these acts are a deliberate provocation to increase the suffering of Palestinians until their anger, frustration and despair boil over into missile attacks, giving Israel a new pretext to inflict even greater harm on the population?
This is the closest I have heard to the truth for many years:
http://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/obama-regimes-support-of-al-qaeda-and-isis/
“Spirit of Gordon”
Encrypted Communique 4395444xge566
Crew. How do you expect me to drive this thing with you all bickering in the back?
…
Mary.
5 Jul, 2014 – 10:46 am
Thanks for the video link. Was that a veiled hint that you don’t like your turquoise sequined uniform? Well all I can say is, I haven’t heard any other crew members complain. So, if it’s good enough for Ba’al I reckon it’s good enough for you too.
…
While the crew’s attention has been taken up with fixing the improbability drive, all the while thinking Dad was safely isolated in the recycling bay, he was busy spinning a cocoon from old plastic bags. Now he(?) has metamorphosed and is swimming around in the sewage processing lagoon and producing tons of what looks like giant frogspawn. Also I think the green tendrils that our new crew-member Afriend removed from the fibre-optic system may explain this morning’s outbursts.
…
Finally, a tip for those of you who like a flutter. Our communications team are pretty sure the Vogons have paid for both the ref and the TV cameras to cast a blind eye on the new Brazilian plan to field a two Ukie Naz Guard APCs on the wings. If this intelligence is correct and so long as they don’t mistake the rest of the team for unarmed civilians this probably will give them an advantage and the change in tactics will be barely noticeable. So go and place your bets before the bookies get wind of it.
…
Before I get too carried away, spare a thought for the latest victims of Euro-Fascism 2.0
http://rt.com/news/171216-ukraine-east-military-operation/
Mary
Why don’t you write to the BBC and then give us its answer, rather than rhetorically blowing off on here yet again?
*****************
La vita è bella, life is good!
I see that no post from the Celtic Poetaster is complete without a link to Russia Today 🙂
You could not imagine anyone endowed with such physical beauty as Ms Shaked being so hate filled as to demand the genocide of the Palestinians and to meet with such huge approval.
Israeli lawmaker’s call for genocide of Palestinians gets thousands of Facebook likes
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-lawmakers-call-genocide-palestinians-gets-thousands-facebook-likes
Node
“…therefore there are difficulties in understanding how the CIA could have gained supremacy over it.”
Why are there difficulties? Even accepting the highly contentious premise that Zionism was ever an idea comparable to empire your incredulity that it was usurped by a new power seems at odds with how the world works. Power shifts.
That which ails us is right in view. In our palaces and wars, in our shops and wage slips, in our stupidity. Secret world dominating cults from another place are not needed to explain the misery. We are the friggin misery. Sure cults exist and Israel exercises great influence but as part of a wider system, they are not the dog.
@Phil, oh dear, seems like you better take a closer look at the Israeli connection if you want to better understand the root cause of most of the conflict in the Congo, hint whose’s the biggest dealer in the “Blood Diamond” trade;
http://aangirfan.blogspot.fr/2005/04/congo-and-israel.html
Macky,
Yes I do think identity politics is also encouraged by the bad guys as a diversion and to create division. Of course this does not mean I am not a feminist or anti racist.
Yes I did misuse the word “exclusively”. But there is a clear focus here on Israel, the Middle East and Jewishness at the expense of many, many other issues. I suggest we pursue an agenda all too easily set by the corporate state media. We disagree with the corporate state but they set the agenda. This is to our detriment.
Anyway I’m off to Leeds for a holiday. That’s how exotic I am. You’ll miss me. I know you will.
Well all I can say is, I haven’t heard any other crew members complain.
Not surprising, since you smashed the intercom with a spanner during your hissy fit over the calamares. And it’s not getting fixed until you release the magnetic restraint and let me off this bulkhead.
Macky
aangirfan? Hilarious.
I really can’t argue with that.
The TTIP (EU US trade deal) and its dangers to us.
Public Services, privatisation and TTIP, the EU-US trade deal
Linda Kaucher, long-term researcher and campaigner on the EU’s secretive international trade agreement programme, explains what TTIP means for our public services.
There is justified concern that privatising public services, which inherently shifts the priority to shareholder dividends, is not best value either for the public purse or for optimal quality of services. Now the proposed EU-US free trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), brings another dimension to this concern. As part of the agreement, the privatisations of public services, in whatever form, could become effectively irreversible.
As with all EU bilateral trade deals, the intention is for TTIP negotiations and texts to remain secret until the deal is completed, despite the fact that the deal affects 850 million people. Information is coming for the most part from leaked documents.
/..
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/commentanalysis/ethicaleconomics/ttipandprivatisation.aspx
and
Are we reaching TTIPing point?
In the first in a series on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Leonie Nimmo introduces the trade deal that campaigners warn is a threat to democracy.
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/commentanalysis/ethicaleconomics/thetransatlantictradeandinvestmentpartnership.aspx
@Phil, hope I’ve caught you in time for a little holiday reading, which will show just how canny you were to pick the Sahara Conflict to compare with I/P 😀 ;
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/76901
Phil; “aangirfan? Hilarious”
Don’t be snidey, add learning about the Blood Diamond trade to your holiday reading list ! 😀
“Advocates of the deal say that it will boost trade, create jobs, increase choice for consumers and make everybody richer.”
Another incarnation of ‘trickle-down’, Mary.
No BRICS with that mortar.
Macky
I haven’t clicked your link. Diamonds are only a small part of the resources stolen from Africa. That Israel is involved with finance, corporations and special forces in Africa is well known and does not in the slightest change my point.
I really have to go now.
I believe Whales ‘blow off’. Any verb another than ‘to say’ or ‘to write’ is used. Such possession of a wide vocabulary. How do you know if I sent a complaint to the BBC or not?
Ref earlier mutterings @
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/07/doune-the-rabbit-hole-2/comment-page-2/#comment-465167,
I posted Robert Fisk’s piece on Irving having read it on Information Clearing House. I respect his journalism for being truthful and unbiased so thought I would share it.
Are the ‘Semotoc’ a group of indigenous people in the country known as Canada?
Phil @4:19pm
Still here?
Phil; “That Israel is involved with finance, corporations and special forces in Africa is well known and does not in the slightest change my point”
“involved” ! That understatement rather makes a mockery of your statement, even allowing for the contradiction that your point was why people don’t focus on the conflict in the Congo !
I did focus, and you try to play down what I found ! 😀
Terrible scenes in Gaza are shown in this Sky video and photo gallery.
Israel Bombs Gaza After Hamas Rocket Fire
Hamas responds by threatening an “earthquake” in response to the attacks as the two sides edge closer towards a major conflict.
http://news.sky.com/story/1297161/israel-bombs-gaza-after-hamas-rocket-fire
Israel’s ‘Operation Protective Edge’ is kicking off. Sirens are sounding in Tel Aviv. History is repeating itself once more.
I have always admired your tenacity on this blog Macky. Why is there so much denial?