This speech was delivered despite one of the greatest hangovers in the entire history of the universe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERWrcBR1Wd0
I am rather proud of it. Even more proud of the extraordinary continuing vibrancy of the independence movement.
Blogging will resume very shortly. As several of you have noticed, there has been a great deal of technical work and stress testing done on the blog the past few days. This is almost complete: there may be something of a change in appearance shortly.
You’ll be glad to know, Craig, that General Sir Richard Dannatt was equally unequivocal in his criticism of the decision to go to war with Iraq, when given a platform by Evan Davies on Newsnight this evening… under the theme of “only fight one war at once”. Really spells it out! Who were the enemy… Al Quieda, where were they??? Nuff said! Davies was dumbfounded.
How is George Galloway getting on with his film, one wonders? The climate seems about right for it to have a real impact.
Great speech. The pot belly is similar to mine.
Tequila is the worst. Two days long. No funhog night can justify the misery. Imagine how you would do if sober?
http://www.australianrechabites.org.au/
It is never to late to set up a Scottish Branch . Just think what an Independent Scotland could achieve without the ‘ curse of the Devils brew ‘
“…If we do not control our foreign policy and our defence policy we have nothing.
It does not matter what we do if we are still sending our children to fight and die in an evil war…”
Craig. Thanks for that, And the rest of it.
The video gives a great impression of the energy of an undefeated people.
I’m sure Scottish society will have self-determination.
Just make sure the same old elites don’t hijack the show once you win. Look across the Irish Sea and see how wrong it can go.
…
Tá daoine óga álainn gníomhartha de nádúr, Ach tá daoine álainn d’aois saothair ealaíne.
Great speech. The audience loved the no NATO – no Trident – message at the end. It is the way forward – not just for Scotland – for the world. Keep banging that message home. 🙂
dirty dossier = dodgy dossier
I wouldn’t say it’s a total rule, but I think being less than ‘prepared’ can work better. There is no need when you relly feel what you mean.
This is the crux for me, the establishment can’t do grass roots movments because they dont genrally mean anything they say, they cant oporate from instinct, its all manipulation and planned subterfuge. And that generally can’t be done withougt a whole team of very straight sober people, and even then it looks and feels awfull. Not something they’re going to manage to reach ordiany people with in any personal way.
Compair what we might imagine the significance of people’s feelings to be, looking back at these two campaigns.? For the nos that memory will just fade alongside all the other fear manipulation campaign’s the establishment run, but to thoes on the yes side? well I think for thoes and others it will be somthing that really sticks out in there lives. As things happend around it that, as you said, don’t genrally. Things that really speak to people on a very human level.
I fell a lot of the strugge is with the widespred class consciousness, I imagine many feel they are neglecting there own caroot (or miss there stick in some cases) if they don’t support such a system. And for some pehaps that’s true. But it seems to me the potential to enrich onesself without these kinds of notions is well worth it.
The more I look at it the more I see that some people are really prisoner’s, perhaps far more than thoes behind bars. I don’t mean to sound all profound, that’s just how it looks to me at a basic level.
Wonderful speech Craig. It was particularly interesting to see which parts of the speech invoked spontaneous applause. I also liked the phrase “if we do not control our foreign policy and our defence policy we have noting.” Applies equally here in Australia where electors have the same tweedle dee tweedle dum choice. Both major parties are utterly beholden to the US.
Great stuff Craig.
I reckon most of the high level shadow Westminster men in grey suits come to this blog to gauge what the real brains are thinking.
Hopefully they don’t torture those posters with insight and wise compassion-far from The NeoCon hysteria,lies,madness and greed.
Super Kool Talk Craig…Cheers.
No Nato.. No Trident…. On My River
Tsunami of Change in the air..Palpable
Not Exactly O.T
This is Self Defence…Which i like…And as i said to Craig at the Hope over Fear Rally… Nice to see the Angry Voice On
But Trews –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBR0KTMU8c#t=303
“I’m sure Scottish society will have self-determination.”
They do, they held a referendum to determine what they wanted.
Why does anyone think that Salmond and Co committed to remaining in Nato prior to the referendum? Why do Craig or others believe that they are a better judge of public opinion on this matter than Salmond?
Fred: I do believe the NO campaign mad a rash of promises after voting began but before the referendum took place.last minute damage limitation and lies.If Scottish society made their decisions based on those promises then they did not get what they wanted.You and the nazi saluting Union Jack waving unionists maybe did but I think the majority were duped.
Even Lamont has said that Labour need more autonomy from London.So bleating on about Scotland having determined what they wanted is patently untrue.So roll on 2016.
Jives
“I reckon most of the high level shadow Westminster men in grey suits come to this blog to gauge what the real brains are thinking.”
___________________
Quite correct, Jives, especially at the FCO; it’s always the first item at morning prayers and your contributions receive particular and careful attention.
Never get drunk on Ouzo, just never.
“Fred: I do believe”
So the “self” in “self determination” is you and what you choose to believe?
Is it just the people in Glasgow and Dundee and the rest of Scotland don’t matter?
Is it people in Kent?
Who is this “self” they keep talking about?
Facts were that Labour Tory and Liberal leaders as well as a dusted down Gordon Brown came out with promises that will never be kept and moved the goal posts after voting began.
Would I be wrong to believe that Freddie ? Which part is not correct and not to be believed.
All of Scotland was lied to including small holders.
“Facts were…”
That the people of Scotland voted and the majority voted to be part of Britain.
The rest is just what you want to believe.
Lies exposed,promises unkept,Labour in meltdown and Scotland will gain self determination Fred.The rest is just what you want to believe.
“Lies exposed,promises unkept,Labour in meltdown and Scotland will gain self determination Fred.The rest is just what you want to believe.”
Self? Who is this self you talk of? Obviously not the majority of the people of Scotland who determined what they wanted.
‘0740
A 105 year old British man will collect the “White Lion” today (Tuesday), the highest honour awarded by the Czech Republic, for saving 669 children during the Holocaust. Sir Nicholas Winton is one of the few foreigners who have been awarded the accolade, a reflection of the esteem he is held in by the Czech people.’
A decent and wise man. His words re not learning anything from wars were completely true and those too on WMD.
I was saddened then to hear ex Chief Rabbi Sacks follow. I am glad to hear the Hebrew words for ‘The Kingdom of Kindness’ but the taste was bad. They did not stop the Zionists blowing up ‘our lads’ in the Palestinian Mandate by the hundred. Majors in hypocrisy does Sacks.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mcbhm
Well done Mary – 22 posts before you took the thread off topic.
Another one for you especially. The cruelty of the Occupation, far worse than anything South Africa thought up.
October 28, 2014
Never Equal
Under Israeli Apartheid, Palestinians Cannot Ride Israeli Buses
by BEN NORTON
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has officially banned Palestinians from traveling on Israeli-run public transportation in the West Bank, according to a new report by Haaretz, Israel’s most prominent newspaper.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/28/under-israeli-apartheid-palestinians-cannot-ride-israeli-buses/
Excellent speech – Forgive me – I would like to marry this speech to a speech by Mr Vladimir Putin at Valdai – September 25th 2014
Craig – ..six months later I discovered in the country I was ambassador, in Uzbekistan, the system was assisting the CIA in sending people there to be tortured..any sense of pride I had in the United Kingdom soon failed.
Vladimir Putin – Valdai Plenary Meeting
Transcript segment – edited by Mark Golding
It is evident that it is impossible to move forward without spiritual, cultural and national self-determination. Without this we will not be able to withstand internal and external challenges, nor we will succeed in global competitions. And today we see a new round of such competitions. Today their main focuses are economic-technological and ideological-informational. Military-political problems and general conditions are worsening. The world is becoming more rigid, and sometimes forgoes not merely international law, but also basic decency.
The world is full of contradictions today. We need to be frank in asking each other if we have a reliable safety net in place. Sadly, there is no guarantee and no certainty that the current system of global and regional security is able to protect us from upheavals. This system has become seriously weakened, fragmented and deformed. The international and regional political, economic, and cultural cooperation organisations are also going through difficult times.
What we needed to do was to carry out a rational reconstruction and adapt it the new realities in the system of international relations.
But the United States, having declared itself the winner of the Cold War, saw no need for this. Instead of establishing a new balance of power, essential for maintaining order and stability, they took steps that threw the system into sharp and deep imbalance.
Let’s ask ourselves, how comfortable are we with this, how safe are we, how happy living in this world, and how fair and rational has it become? Maybe, we have no real reasons to worry, argue and ask awkward questions? Maybe the United States’ exceptional position and the way they are carrying out their leadership really is a blessing for us all, and their meddling in events all around the world is bringing peace, prosperity, progress, growth and democracy, and we should maybe just relax and enjoy it all?
Let me say that this is not the case, absolutely not the case.
They [America] once sponsored Islamic extremist movements to fight the Soviet Union. Those groups got their battle experience in Afghanistan and later gave birth to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The West if not supported, at least closed its eyes, and, I would say, gave information, political and financial support to international terrorists’ invasion of Russia (we have not forgotten this) and the Central Asian region’s countries.
Only after horrific terrorist attacks were committed on US soil itself did the United States wake up to the common threat of terrorism. Let me remind you that we were the first country to support the American people back then, the first to react as friends and partners to the terrible tragedy of September 11.
Where do they get new recruits? In Iraq, after Saddam Hussein was toppled, the state’s institutions, including the army, were left in ruins. We said back then, be very, very careful. You are driving people out into the street, and what will they do there? Don’t forget (rightfully or not) that they were in the leadership of a large regional power, and what are you now turning them into?
What was the result? Tens of thousands of soldiers, officers and former Baath Party activists were turned out into the streets and today have joined the rebels’ ranks. Perhaps this is what explains why the Islamic State group has turned out so effective? In military terms, it is acting very effectively and has some very professional people. Russia warned repeatedly about the dangers of unilateral military actions, intervening in sovereign states’ affairs, and flirting with extremists and radicals. We insisted on having the groups fighting the central Syrian government, above all the Islamic State, included on the lists of terrorist organisations. But did we see any results? We appealed in vain.
We sometimes get the impression that our colleagues and friends are constantly fighting the consequences of their own policies, throw all their effort into addressing the risks they themselves have created, and pay an ever-greater price.
Today, we are seeing new efforts to fragment the world, draw new dividing lines, put together coalitions not built for something but directed against someone, anyone, create the image of an enemy as was the case during the Cold War years, and obtain the right to this leadership, or diktat if you wish. The situation was presented this way during the Cold War. We all understand this and know this. The United States always told its allies: “We have a common enemy, a terrible foe, the centre of evil, and we are defending you, our allies, from this foe, and so we have the right to order you around, force you to sacrifice your political and economic interests and pay your share of the costs for this collective defence, but we will be the ones in charge of it all of course.” In short, we see today attempts in a new and changing world to reproduce the familiar models of global management, and all this so as to guarantee their [the US’] exceptional position and reap political and economic dividends.
But these attempts are increasingly divorced from reality and are in contradiction with the world’s diversity. Steps of this kind inevitably create confrontation and countermeasures and have the opposite effect to the hoped-for goals. We see what happens when politics rashly starts meddling in the economy and the logic of rational decisions gives way to the logic of confrontation that only hurt one’s own economic positions and interests, including national business interests.
http://valdaiclub.com/valdai_club/73300.html
Given that one of the main mindset tenets of the pro-Establishment trolls on this Blog, is that posters only criticize Western governments because they are self-hating anti-Westerners (!), it’s highly revealing & very amusing that they turn a blind eye whenever Craig states what he says here again at the 6.30 mark.
(Expect this entire thread now to be eventually remove on some pretext or other ! :D)
“Facts were that Labour Tory and Liberal leaders as well as a dusted down Gordon Brown came out with promises that will never be kept”
Fact is that the margin of victory for the No vote was consistent with the overall trend of the opinion polls for the previous two years, suggesting that the campaigns of both sides had little or no net effect on the final outcome. The suggestion that the last-minute interventions of the party leaders somehow swung the vote is most likely fallacious.
I think the Yes campaign needs to look at itself to discover the reasons for its failure. Blaming its opponents is just another symptom of the denial still so prevalent on the losing side.
“Excellent speech – Forgive me – I would like to marry this speech to a speech by Mr Vladimir Putin at Valdai – September 25th 2014”
Just a guess but I suspect Craig is not so keen on such a coupling. You might also wish to ponder on why Putin and Karimov seem to be able to rub along quite comfortably for a number of the years.
BTW you missed out the Russia is me quotes from Putin’s diatribe – why was that I wonder?
Worth noting from Putin’s comments that he totally failed to address Robert Skidelsky’s point about capital flight from Russia – any guess as to why that is? The laws to stop it exist – but are never enforced why is that? The common nickname for the Ruling Party in Russia is the “Party of Crooks and Thieves”- why is that?