Confirmed speaking dates at the moment are
26 August St Andrews
28 August Insch
29 August Dundee
30 August Cupar, Fife
I will post details of times and venues shortly – these are all evening events. I am still open to invitations on dates around these, and indeed any daytime events. Don’t mind dashing all over the place. A number are in the pipeline already. Contact me using the button at top of page.
Have been rather unwell the last couple of days, so please forgive lack of regular posts. BBC Hardtalk interview with Anders Fogh Rasmussen of NATO made me feel much worse. Totally incapable of acknowledging the disasters NATO and NATO members have inflicted on the world since the collapse of the Soviet Union – and the BBC totally incapable of serious questioning on the point.
Alex Salmond looked very smart when taking the last First Minister’s Questions before the Referendum. I think he has lost weight too. He batted Lamont and Davidson away with ease on the question of the amount of oil reserves.
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MARY.
I don’t know if you read this site, the guy, who runs the site never comments without producing evidence, a rare trait indeed.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-lost-treasure-of-the-deep/
Freedom protesters can only be found in Maidan in Ukraine or in Tienanmen square, anywhere else the criminal rabble on the rampage are a bunch of thugs, and lawless criminals bent on criminal damage and and disruption of the civic order and creation of anarchy. Got it?
Police State Cops use Kill Switch to stop all recording, tweeting & cell phones Ferguson
Finding innovative methods for suppressing any news making its way out of the area, the kill switch has found a new use, and the internet is filtered, all in good taste of course.
Filtration rates are accelerating as of last month google had received one million requests to filter out search results from “copyright holders” bent on stamping out piracy!
It is an authoritarian thing, always saving the public from themselves, us the people would not understand it.
The four undercover police officers who befriended female protesters, some of whom had children by the police officers, will NOT face charges.
21 August 2014
Undercover police officers will not face sex charges
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28877001
One rule for some……another for the others.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4561352,00.html
Israel finds yet another ” Lost Tribe ” to make Aliyah . Can an independent Scotland replicate this strange practice ?
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jalal-abukhater/scottish-independence-could-be-positive-Palestine
As everyone else has joined the ‘ debate ‘ , then time also for a Palestinian perspective .
Standard surveillance squad: 8 individuals in 8 hour shifts 24/7.
5 or 6 more back at HQ manning the computers for text/phone realtime data/metadata analysis 24/7.
Thats alotta people.
Some of these ops last years.
Ive not even mentioned the low-level useful idiots they employ as auxilliary freaks to play games on the street with you.
When you see the basic nuts and bolts of even a standard op one can begin to see how 30 can actually look like a conservative figure.
Am i right or am i right Roderick Russell?
Lovin the fact that this has really riled the trolls.
Seems like they panic when one hits a truth nerve.:-)
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JIVES, you waste your time with KEMPE, Charles de Menezes was followed by teams of under cover officer for a time, de Menezes
was innocent but shot dead anyway.
Did de Menezes suspect he was being followed/watched?,did he tell anyone? did they just pass it off as paranoia, de Menezes proves ordinary people are, or can be under surveillance at any time.
Israel finds yet another ” Lost Tribe ” to make Aliyah . Can an independent Scotland replicate this strange practice ?
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GeneralGiap
Oh I’m pretty sure, there’s a few long lost tribes from Scotland out there somewhere.
http://www.hebridespeople.com/shop/history/scottish-exodus/
http://www.fife.50megs.com/the-scottish-exodus-to-canada.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Scots_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch-Irish_American
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch-Irish_American
” Did de Menezes suspect he was being followed/watched?,did he tell anyone? ”
He was followed by three or four officers for about half an hour. Where’s the similarity?
Tony M:
Thanks for that piece on MH17. Vellly interesting.
As to Nationalism, especially tepid democracy, the US original intent of democratic republic has been usurped, just as it will be in Scotland.
@RepublicScotland “Well Abe I,m all ears lets hear it.”
That’s kind of you, Republic. Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t allow such a referendum, but what’s done is done, and if the majority of Scots wanted to be independent I would feel I had to respect their wishes, albeit reluctantly.
So let’s talk economics, namely that of the SNP. So confident are they that Scotland is economically capable of going alone, that in its bank-heavy economy its banks won’t go bust without London to bail them out, that they want to cling to the pound sterling for dear life. Now what does that tell us?
Is it not the case that, given the past recent history of a Scottish bank, that Scottish banks could well go bust, and with it the whole Scottish economy. With no help from London, that would mean living on salty porridge for a while to come. And down South we’d say, ‘Oh dear, what a dreadful thing to happen to such nice people. That’s what you get for not being content.’
@Republicofscotland
Thanks for the list . I imagine like Israel , Scotland may need to annex extra territories to accommodate said ‘ tribes ‘ should they choose to perform Aliyah to their ancestral homeland . I believe ‘ settlements ‘ already exist in England anyway .
PS Not sure if it was promised by God , but I think all countries should adopt that argument !!
Following Foley’s murder, the AP is angrily pressing that killing a journalist should be a war crime.
http://blog.ap.org/2014/08/20/on-the-killing-of-james-foley-journalist/
And if Palestinians are successful in joining the ICC, guess what?
http://electronicintifada.net/content/what-would-happen-if-palestine-joined-international-criminal-court/13783
Here’s some interesting photo’s of Senator McCain and the so called terror leader of ISIS, Baghdadi, those clown at Washington, Westminster and Tel Aviv, could have at least picked a believable name for their top terrorist.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=syrian+emergency+task+force&rlz=1C1DVCA_enGB329&oq=syria+emergency+&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.5990j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=photo+of+baghdadi+and+mccain
That’s kind of you, Republic. Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t allow such a referendum, but what’s done is done, and if the majority of Scots wanted to be independent I would feel I had to respect their wishes, albeit reluctantly.
So let’s talk economics, namely that of the SNP. So confident are they that Scotland is economically capable of going alone, that in its bank-heavy economy its banks won’t go bust without London to bail them out, that they want to cling to the pound sterling for dear life. Now what does that tell us?
Is it not the case that, given the past recent history of a Scottish bank, that Scottish banks could well go bust, and with it the whole Scottish economy. With no help from London, that would mean living on salty porridge for a while to come. And down South we’d say, ‘Oh dear, what a dreadful thing to happen to such nice people. That’s what you get for not being content.’
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Your welcome ABE.
You make very good points, about the banking system, when RBS bought Dutch bank Abn Amro, on the strength of watching a cd, it said all it needed to say about casino banking, and of course the “Too big to fail ” mantra was banded about by Westminster politicians as their banking friends, pled with them to save their banks and skins to boot.
I for one favour the Iceland route banks should be accountable and if found wanting be allowed to go under and the crooks who run them imprisoned.
Of course if Westminster don’t play ball with regards to a currency union,they’ll be leaving UK businesses open to needless transaction costs of over £500 million pounds, a sum the CBI will not tolerate parting with, I think.
AS for the salty porridge, well I prefer sugar with mine.
Passerby
21 Aug, 2014 – 1:56 pm
“Freedom protesters can only be found in Maidan in Ukraine or in Tiananmen square…”
Quite true Passerby. According to the West all those held in Cuban jails are innocent and those held in Venezuela are political prisoners fighting for freedom and democracy.
Whereas; Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are criminals in hiding and should be locked away or executed for their treachery.
Did you know that the words hypocrite and liar are banned in parliament?
Thanks for the list . I imagine like Israel , Scotland may need to annex extra territories to accommodate said ‘ tribes ‘ should they choose to perform Aliyah to their ancestral homeland . I believe ‘ settlements ‘ already exist in England anyway .
PS Not sure if it was promised by God , but I think all countries should adopt that argument !!
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GeneralGiap
No need for Scots to annex land we have a population of just 5,3 million,there’s plenty of room for more folk.
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Speaking of stealing territories, here’s how Westminster stole that’s right stole, 6000 miles of Scottish waters.
http://www.oilofscotland.org/scottish_politics.html#Scotlands_marine_boundries
RESERVATIO MENTALIS
Republic of Scotland 21 Aug 2:38 PM Re” Standard surveillance squad … Thats alotta people ….. am I right Roderick Russell?”.
Yes, I belive you are right. Unfortunately once one lets any secret bueaucracy – such as a security / intelligence service – operate above the law and without proper oversight and political control, then they do tend to grow their “business” very rapidly. There is no brake to moderate their expansion or their targets. Indeed, like a Mafia, they target enemies of establishment figures as part of the service that they offer. Money is no object to them, since the politicians give them what they want. As Glenn Greenwood has written, GCHQ has been using “cyber offensive techniques against people who have nothing to do with terrorism or national security threats”. Not just innocent people like myself. These Spy agencies have as we now know even gone beyond that and protected low-end establishment pedophiles such as Sir Cyril Smith MP from justice.
At the heart of any out-of-control security / inteligence agency is their knowledge that our politicians and journalists are scared of them. They know all the politicians’ and journalists’ secrets for a start. These agencies rely on the doctine of “RESERVATIO MENTALIS” whereby normal people, who are scared of them, will close their mind to inconvenient truths to make obedience easier.
It has been said that it is only the rogue elements within MI5 / MI6 etc that are a problem and that most of these agencies are decent. But that’s just more pretence, more “reservatio mentalis” (sticking ones head in the sand like an ostrich). The truth is that honest agencies sort out their own rogue elements, and MI5 / MI6 don’t
Take Snowden for example. His recent revelations about GCHQ go far beyond just surveillance. They refer to GCHQ’s use of computer trolls – and anybody with any brains can see that on this site – and they also refer to agressive uses of computer surveillance designed, as their training slides put it, to create “cognitive” … “psysiological” …. and “affective stress” in their victims. Now if one succeeds in greating cognitive, psysiological and affective stress there is not much left in the way of cyber torture that could be done. Where are our cowardly politicians and journalists in the face of these leaked facts. I can tell you: RESERVATIO MENTALIS.
@Republicofscotland “transaction costs of over £500 million pounds”
You make a very good point yourself. I think that the case for or against currency unions should be a rational one, based on the national interest. But that includes considerations of likely scenarios; we’ve seen what happened in Europe with a number of economies. The time may come when Germany and France can no longer afford to bail other countries out. I’m against the UK entering the euro for this very reason. I would be wary of entering a currency union with an independent Scotland for a similar reason, without adequate safeguards that would mean that England wasn’t put in the position of France and Germany with respect to other European economies that get into trouble now and then.
You make a very good point yourself. I think that the case for or against currency unions should be a rational one, based on the national interest. But that includes considerations of likely scenarios; we’ve seen what happened in Europe with a number of economies. The time may come when Germany and France can no longer afford to bail other countries out. I’m against the UK entering the euro for this very reason. I would be wary of entering a currency union with an independent Scotland for a similar reason, without adequate safeguards that would mean that England wasn’t put in the position of France and Germany with respect to other European economies that get into trouble now and then.
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ABE.
Of course that is correct if we in Scotland make a mess of it,then of course we should be left to pick up the pieces, all the more reason to get it right then.
You may yet get your out of Europe wish, if a referendum on the EU is pushed through Westminster, or if Nigel Farage wins a huge chunk of the popular vote. again I see big business blocking the UK’s exit from the EU.
London is the heart of the English economy, and I’m pretty sure London will protect itself first and foremost the other parts of the UK (Not Scotland if independent) would suffer I think, from any down turn in the economy.
But yes ABE I agree its up to Scots to make it work.
Roderick Russell.
Good for you Roderick you have a good grasp, of the way Whitehall covertly polices, the public and the politicians, fear and blackmail being high up on the agenda.
I often refer people to this site, why? well this guys write constantly about the British establishment.
http://chrisspivey.org/chris-spivey-illegally-arrested/
Abe Rene
21 Aug, 2014 – 3:03 pm
“…I wouldn’t allow such a referendum…”
YOU wouldn’t allow it (Chutzpah!)
Sorry Abe but you’re talking poo poo.
Why do you think that the Better Together camp is so concerned at the prospect of Scottish independence?
Is it compassion for the poor Scots?
Is it because the unionists think Alex Salmond is “brainwashing” the haggis munchers and they need protecting?
No Abe; It’s because the England-centric UK government (state) know that they will be much weaker without Scotland.
It is pure English power-elite selfishness.
Another thing: do you think that the citizens of the Republic of Ireland should be able to vote on whether Northern Ireland be incorporated into a united Ireland or should such a vote be restricted to Northern Ireland residents?
Roderick
You have been on the receiving end of real physical harrassment. Comment no.2 by Kant directed to Craig on this very thread was very nasty, tinted with nasty establishment malice . I’ve noticed that Craig is usually not affected by this kind of Establishment trash, but the effect of co-ordinated establishment attacks from different directions can be cumulative.
Blair is behaving like a reclusive celebrity heroin-addict, while Craig is still punching like a reigning champion. I hope he’s fine.
Craig; How do you feel about NATO?
http://www.voltairenet.org/article185085.html
“When I was in Libya during the “Western”attack, I was able to view a report of the foreign intelligence services. It stated that, on February 4, 2011 in Cairo, NATO organized a meeting to launch the “Arab Spring” in Libya and Syria. According to this document, the meeting was chaired by John McCain. The report detailed the list of Libyan participants, whose delegation was led by the No. 2 man of the government of the day, Mahmoud Jibril, who abruptly switched sides at the entrance of the meeting to become the opposition leader in exile. I remember that, among the French delegates present, the report quoted Bernard-Henry Lévy, although officially he had never exercised functions within the French government. Many other personalities attended the symposium, including a large delegation of Syrians living abroad.”
@Doug Scorgie
I’m sure that the Better Together party believe that a United Kingdom would be better off than one without Scotland – and so would the stability of the Scottish currency; ask Mr. Salmond, he can’t recommend the currency of the UK highly enough. Yea, he can’t bear to be without it!
As for Ireland: as I understand it, at present the majority in the North are Unionist, and so wouldn’t want to join the Republic. In the future this could change. To answer your question: I think London should respect their wishes either way.
Even if a majority in Ulster did want union with Eire, however, the latter wouldn’t necessarily be enthusiastic about the idea, because of the expense involved. So I don’t see such a thing occurring without the majority in both parts of Ireland wanting it, as a minimum.
The context of the whole discussion has changed as well -the EU plus improved relations between Eire and the UK, witness the Queen’s visit.
Republicofscotland
“Habb, Well its not just the McCrone Report,here’s Denis Healy openly admitting underplaying the value of North sea oil.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/lies-then-and-lies-now/”
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Is that really the best response you can think of? 🙂
But since you like Denis Healy on oil, could I ask you whether you agree with his stance on Britain retaining the nuclear deterrent? He was strongly for it 40 years ago and still is now.
Moral – choose your gurus carefully.
“As for the Foley saga, I haven’t had a chance to look into it yet..”
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What a pompous prat. As if you would have the resources, ability, information and contacts to do so!
Your “looking in to it” just means regurgitating, in due time (probably on here, unfortunately), your favorite zany “source” from the internet Wild West.
Republicofscotland
“OK, here’s your task for tomorrow : please set out succinctly, by tomorrow evening, the main findings and conclusions of the McCrone report on Scottish oil.
Shouldn’t be too onerous for you as you’re obviously well-acquainted with it?
Thanks in advance (also on behalf of your fello-Yessers)
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Habb
Lets not instead here’s your task for today for tomorrow evening you have to study and report sparsely of course, every, atrocity committed against the people of Palestine since the thief Ben Guroin stole their land in 1947/48.”
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Well, I see that the above is your way of admitting you haven’t read the McCrone report, or at least not well enough to be able to give us its main findings and conclusions.
I suppose you just picked up the title and the idea that there was a lot of oil up there somewhere on the internet and decided you’d look clever on CM?
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La vita è bellissima, life is good!
But since you like Denis Healy on oil, could I ask you whether you agree with his stance on Britain retaining the nuclear deterrent? He was strongly for it 40 years ago and still is now.
Moral – choose your gurus carefully.
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Habb
If Healy favours WMD’s that’s his opinion,as long as they’re based outside Scotland, maybe an independent Scotland could sway the removal of WMD’s from these islands in the long term.
Alas though Westminster is so far up Washington’s arse, that the likely hood of WMD’s remaining south of the border in some fashion,is more than realistic possibility.
“FRED, Watch this the oil industry actually say that sir Ian Wood’s estimate is a low forecast that would last 50 years, the truth of the matter if you listen properly is that over 100 fields have still to be tapped in the North sea. these fields will last a hell of a lot longer than 50 years.”
You said that the report said there were 24 million barrels left and it didn’t.
Here is a link to the report:
http://www.woodreview.co.uk/documents/UKCS%20Maximising%20Recovery%20Review%20FINAL%2072pp%20locked.pdf
It does not say what you claimed it said.
The Nationalists have been lying about what Iain Wood said in his report and when he gave an interview to a paper to set the record straight you called him a Unionist liar.
Well he isn’t a Unionist or a liar. The Nationalists are the ones that lied.
“As for the Foley saga, I haven’t had a chance to look into it yet..”
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What a pompous prat. As if you would have the resources, ability, information and contacts to do so!
Your “looking in to it” just means regurgitating, in due time (probably on here, unfortunately), your favorite zany “source” from the internet Wild West.
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Habb
Stop being a presumptuous tosser, (maybe you just can’t) I didn’t say I’d solve the bloody thing did I, no, I didn’t,
I mean’t I hadn’t had a chance to form an opinion,of my own but I’ve had plenty of time to form an opinion of you, and its not looking good.