Tony Blair names Henry Kissinger as his role model. Honestly, not kidding. It is of course literally true, as they were both responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands through neo-colonial war. What a pity he forgot to mention it when he stood for leadership of the Labour Party. On the other hand, it is the sort of thing Jim Murphy of the Henry Jackson Society is quite open about, and it doesn’t seem to hurt his career prospects either.
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From the horse’s mouth as the slide into fascism continues.
Chief constable warns against ‘drift towards police state’
Greater Manchester’s Sir Peter Fahy says it is not the police’s job to define what counts as extremism
Vikram Dodd
Friday 5 December 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/05/peter-fahy-police-state-warning
@craigmurray.org.uk
I second Ishmael, thanks for the hard work. I didn’t understand much of it, but it sounded good 🙂
“A UK Defence spokesman says Bahrain naval base is needed because UK has long term interests in the ( in- ) stability of the region.
BBC Today Program.”
_____________________
Guano
Yeah I read that report as well, it should really say we’re keeping a base in the Middle East in order to make sure the current unrest is maintained.
==================
Meanwhile
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has been refused entry in to Gaza.
The Louth TD was on a three-day visit to Israel and Palestine
Mr Adams said he was “deeply disappointed” at the decision to deny him entry.
In a statement he said: “The decision by the Israeli authorities to refuse me entry into Gaza is deeply disappointing, particularly as I was able to spend two days there in 2009.
“My purpose on this visit has been to listen. Primarily I am here to learn. When asked I have also outlined the broad strategic approach Sinn Fein took to the Irish Peace Process.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/sinn-fein-president-gerry-adams-refused-entry-to-gaza-30801102.html
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Gerry Adams aside, who the hell do that lot think they are to deny access,to folk who want to visit Gaza, I suppose right enough when you have Obama as your attack dog, you can deny who you want.
“I have been involved with the Dundee March from the early planning. Annoyingly I will not now be speaking there because just this afternoon I was called to the SNP candidate assessment panel tomorrow in Stirling.”
_________________________________
Well good luck with that, on the down side I see the odd useful idiot decrying your every move, oh well you can’t please everyone.
RoS
Re refusal to let Gerry Adams into Gaza.
Prison visits have to be carefully managed.
Maybe Adam’s success as a player in the Irish peace process is perceived as threatening behaviour.
Following Chancellor George Osborne’s pledges in the Autumn Statement to raise NHS spending and maintain the “fast” recovery of the economy, a study from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) warns Britons will face “colossal” spending cuts.
The IFS report claims only £35 billion (around US$55 billion) of cuts applied under the coalition’s austerity agenda have been made to government departments, which accounts for less than half of the total necessary to eliminate the budget deficit. A further £55 billion worth of cuts will be necessary before 2020, the report warns.
The figures projected by the IFS follow the revision of the UK’s borrowing figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). In the run up to the Autumn Statement, the OBR said the UK would borrow a total of £75 billion more than previously estimated to aid the ailing economy.
If departmental cuts continue at the same pace, the government will need to raise taxes or cut welfare by £21 billion by 2020, Director of the IFS Paul Johnson said.
Johnson said for the government to achieve the OBS £23 billion budget surplus by 2020, it would require “spending cuts on a colossal scale … taking total government spending to its lowest level as a proportion of national income since before the last [world] war.”
________________________________
Hang on to your hats the Dickensian Society is just around the corner.
http://rt.com/uk/211743-ifs-cuts-uk-colossal/
“Prison visits have to be carefully managed.”
“Maybe Adam’s success as a player in the Irish peace process is perceived as threatening behaviour.”
___________________
Yeah Sofia, Gaza really is the worlds biggest open prison, and you only get to visit if your ideology, fits their profile.
Sofia, Maybe Adam’s success as a player in the Irish peace process is perceived as threatening behaviour.
Success for whom may I ask? The goal was a united Ireland not less sectarianism, which isn’t the case anyways, under continued occupation. SF/IRA is revealed each year to have been penetrated more than we ever imagined. Who has SF/IRA violence helped exactly?
I see Sturgeon is having tea with your Queen. Like McGuinness before her.
Gaza is Israel’s slaughterhouse to do as they like. Gerry Adams should have gone ahead with the visit, they would not dare to murder a TD as they have murdered other peaceful representatives of NGO’s.
@ moderation. Thanks for all your efforts to keep this site up, well done.
There’s a lot of people here who seem to know what the deal is for places all over the world. Typical Brits. Full of yet blind to yourselves.
Boring old facts…again.
“Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has been refused entry in to Gaza.
The Louth TD was on a three-day visit to Israel and Palestine…
Gerry Adams aside, who the hell do that lot think they are to deny access,to folk who want to visit Gaza..”
____________________
1/. Gerry Adams was allowed to visit Israel and the West Bank hindrance.
2/. Gaza’s border is with Israel and Israel has the right to police its borders as it sees fit with regard to both entry and exit. As does every other country (except those in the Schengen area).
3/. Being an Irish TD gives Mr Adams no special privileges when it comes to crossing the borders of any state. He has no more “right” to enter Gaza than the HoC Foreign Affairs Committee has the “right” to visit Hong Kong.
BTW, RoS, what is your position on the refusal of the Chinese authorities to give said Committee visas to visit Hing Kong? I ask because I should have expected you to express disapproval aboiyt that – similar to the disapproval you are expressing vis-à-vis the Isreaeli refusal, but I did not see anything from you on here.
Thanks.
1/. Gerry Adams was allowed to visit Israel and the West Bank without hindrance.
Nevermind
“Gerry Adams should have gone ahead with the visit, they would not dare to murder a TD ..”
_______________
Don’t be silly, Ingo. He would simply have been turned back at the border.
If yo don’t believe me, why don’t you fly to Israel and try it?
Troll should cut down on the cooking sherry intake. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nebe1zuEtbc
Defending the indefensible again of course.
I know of several doctors who are not allowed in to the open air prison, their only aim being to heal the injured and maimed.
See Dr Mads Gilbert for one.
Israel bans Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from Gaza
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-30054556
BLiar. A ‘geopolitical Robin Hood’.
Note that the chaos in the region has absolutely nothing to do with him.
‘Geopolitical Robin Hood??’ Blair bites back, blames Islam for terror, not Iraq war
December 05, 2014 19:36
http://rt.com/uk/211927-blair-islam-problem-terrorism/
How easy it was to rattle you know whose cage, with the mere mention of Gerry Adams.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile over in France.
A French city has been made to scrap plans to force homeless people to wear yellow triangle ID tags after they were compared to Nazi-era Star of David badges.
Authorities in Marseille wanted beggars to wear the badges, which would have carried information such as their personal details and any health issues, so they could be easily identifiable.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2862108/France-outraged-Nazi-era-badges-Marseille-s-homeless-City-ditches-plans-issue-beggars-yellow-triangle-looked-like-Star-David.html
But the proposals provoked outrage across France from human rights groups and even government ministers with some comparing the badges to the Star of David Jews were forced to sew on to their clothes during the Nazi era.
“BTW, RoS, what is your position on the refusal of the Chinese authorities to give said Committee visas to visit Hing Kong? I ask because I should have expected you to express disapproval aboiyt that – similar to the disapproval you are expressing vis-à-vis the Isreaeli refusal, but I did not see anything from you on here.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Habb
Of course its an absolute disgrace, if anyone wants to visit Hing Hong, where ever that is, they should be allowed to, I totally agree with you on that one.
Just as Gerry Adams should allowed to visit Gaza.
[craigmurray.org.uk – spam filter false positive]
MOSCOW, December 5 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova — Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Prime Minister blasted Brussels for ruining the Russia-led South Stream gas pipeline project.
“The EU has worked ceaselessly to undermine this program,” Viktor Orban said in an interview with public radio MR1 on Friday.
He also warned the nation on Friday sovereignty of Hungary was under attack, Hungarian online journal Portfolio.hu reported.
In his biweekly interview with MR1 radio station, Orban said a country could be independent financially, in terms of trade freedom and energy security.
Hungary had high hopes for the South Stream project that would secure energy supplies from Russia by circumventing Ukraine.
New pipeline with annual capacity of 63 bln cubic meters will deliver Russian natural gas to Turkey.
© SPUTNIK. ILYA PITALEV
Gazprom Plans to Build New Black Sea Gas Pipeline to Turkey: CEO
But in a surprise decision, Russian President Vladimir Putin scrapped the $40-billion project to bring gas to central and southern Europe under the Black Sea, prompting the Orban administration to lash out at Brussels over its pressure on the prospective transit countries to drop South Stream.
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20141205/1015541646.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Is it Brussels fault, or is Putin turning Hungary against the EU or maybe, it all just propaganda.
Fool
6 Dec, 2014 – 10:55 am
“Some of the posters here insist that the water in the pond should always be clear so we can all point at double dealing, whereas others say its a murky pond and your day dreaming to think it will ever be clear. In truth sometimes the pond is clear and other times, some times the politician is a a pragmatist and sometimes an idealist sometimes a truthful pragmatist and sometimes a lying idealist.”
……………………………………………………………………………….
Thank you for your profound insight.
Resident Dissident
6 Dec, 2014 – 2:09 pm
“Who would “those” be ResDis and which “despots” are you on about? Names please.”
“Doug Scorgie and Castro are two that pop into my mind at present!”
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Castro a despot?
Now I know you’re an idiot!
Fool
6 Dec, 2014 – 1:56 pm
“In relation to propaganda and education it is interesting that the three areas where China’s strictly prohibits any foreign investment are: elementary education; TV & radio; and the postal service.”
………………………………………………………………………………………
Your point being….
References please.
James
6 Dec, 2014 – 5:26 pm
“I see Sturgeon is having tea with your Queen. Like McGuinness before her.”
…………………………………………………………………………….
She has no choice James; under Unionism.
Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
6 Dec, 2014 – 5:50 pm
“2/. Gaza’s border is with Israel and Israel has the right to police its borders as it sees fit with regard to both entry and exit. As does every other country (except those in the Schengen area).”
………………………………………………………………………………………..
As you know Habbabkuk, Israel has no defined borders nor does Palestine.
I’d like to add to those in Appreciation of the Mod’s indefatigable work in Keeping Craig’s Blog up..Cheers.
Good Piece here, By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, worth a look at – Re Congers, H. Res. 758 – WWIII, looms ever Closer –
” The purpose of Washington’s false accusations is to destabilize Russia and the country’s government. Washington has many avenues by which to destabilize Russia. Washington has the US funded NGOs, the foreign owned Russian media, and the House Resolution calls for Washington to expand propaganda broadcasting into Russia in the Russian language. Washington has cultivated oligarchs, business interests and Russian politicians who see their economic and political interests aligned with the West. There are deluded Russian youths who think freedom resides in the West and others represented by such as Pussy Riot who prefer the West’s amoralism or immoralism to the Christian culture that the Russian government supports.
If Washington fails to destabilize Russia or to have Putin assassinated, frustration could result in more reckless behavior that could lead to military conflict. The House Resolution calls on Obama to arm Ukraine with US weapons so that Ukraine can conquer the separatist provinces and take back Crimea. There are constant calls from NATO itself for more military forces on Russia’s borders, and NATO war games are conducted near Russia’s borders. Washington wants to include the former Russian provinces of Georgia and Ukraine in NATO, something that Russia cannot accept.
Washington is placing the world on the path to Armageddon, as Professor Michel Chossudovsky makes clear in “Towards A World War III Scenario” (Global Research, 2012).
The Russian government downplays the dangers and continues to speak of “our Western partners,” with whom the Russian government hopes to work things out. The Russian government and the Russian people–indeed all the peoples of the earth–should understand that Russia has no partners in the West. Russia only has enemies.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/russia-has-western-enemies-not-partners/5418294
A Break down of some of the Disgusting fabrications in the Paragraphs of H. Res 758 here –
” If anyone thinks I am exaggerating about how bad this resolution really is, let me just offer a few examples from the legislation itself:” – Ron Paul –
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2014/december/04/reckless-congress-declares-war-on-russia/
@Moderator. Many thanks for your detailed reply. And I’m be happy to echo previous comments about efforts to keep this excellent blog running smoothly.
The probation service is no longer a function of the state, courtesy of Grayling.
How many probation officers and staff are now out of a job?
Probation contracts awarded to private organisations
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30344262
This outfit has the Surrey and Sussex contract.
‘Seetec is one of the UK’s largest and most experienced providers of Government funded employment and skills training programmes.
We help individuals find employment or gain qualifications and support employers with recruitment, training and IT solutions.
Delivering a wide range of Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus employment programmes, we work closely with employers and partner organisations to empower individuals to move off benefits and into sustainable employment.
As a leading provider of Skills Funding Agency and Apprenticeship training programmes, Seetec also delivers a wide range of vocational qualifications and IT training provision to boost the skills of businesses and individuals.
With well-established roots in IT consultancy services, Seetec also implements bespoke, cutting edge systems for businesses. ‘
http://www.seetec.co.uk/about/about-us
Just the job!
@Peacewisher – you were asking about “faithful” reporting of Wikipedia figures of countries’ external debt positions. As the lead in to the link you provide makes clear, the rank list there is of gross figures taking no account of matching assets so what the list actually shows is how much foreigners show trust in your country by holding its bonds (remember all those USA bonds held by China).
If you compare the list with net positions http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_international_investment_position you will see, for example that Germany has a net external asset surplus even though it has high gross exeternal debt. This is because foreigners like German government bonds so much that they buy them even when the interest rate is almost nothing. At the same time, following years of export surpluses, Germany has built up massive external assets. Japan meanwhile has low externl debt, because most of the massive public debt stock is held within Japan.
So what the numbers younlink to actually say is that international financial investors love the USA and UK. I think that view is faithfully reflected by the MSM
Henry Kissinger- the good Doctor himself. He’s taking the fuckin piss now!!
Ah, good old Henry. If I had to use one quote to sum him up, it would be this one:
The report’s damning conclusions continued: Had the U.S. not encouraged the Kurds to go along with the Shah and renew hostilities with Iraq, “the Kurds might have reached an accommodation with [Iraq’s] central government, thus gaining at least a measure of autonomy while avoiding further bloodshed. Instead the Kurds fought on, sustaining thousands of casualties and 200,000 refugees.”
One of the officials who testified before the committee in secret session was Henry Kissinger. When questioned by an appalled congressman about the U.S.’s decision to abandon the Kurds to their bloody fate, Kissinger chided the committee,“One should not confuse undercover action with social work.”
Fans of the (Glasgow) Herald, Sunday Herald and “The National” might not find much cheer that the parent group Gannett Publishing has for a long time been under control of US three-letter-agencies.
http://www.wcml.org.uk/contents/international/cold-war/the-atlanticist-tendency-of-the-labour-party/how-the-cia-tried-to-nobble-the-worlds-press/
“Gannett – a major group with some 14,000 employees and turnover 300m. dollars – had given the I.P.I. the same sort of technical back-up from the United States as it had received from Westminster Press in Britain throughout its existence. R. D. Rivett, who succeeded Rose as director of I.P.I. in 1962 spent a month with the Westchester Rochland newspaper group – a Gannett subsidiary – in May of that year, while Gannett newsmen and women assisted in the overseas programmes of both I.P.I. and the International Federation of Newspaper Editors with which it organised joint activities.”
“The I.P.I. was set up as an instrument in the Cold War. It worked to secure favourable treatment of U.S. foreign policy in the world’s press by influencing editorial staff.”
Though this material is concerned with the sixties and seventies, there is no good reason to suppose anything has changed, other than for the worse, today.
The paucity of any native independence supporting media is an affront to democracy, and there may be individuals sincerely pro-independence in these titles – the Sunday Herald and the National’s employ, but people should really be careful they’re not being suckered, though having bought a copy the other day out of interest, I’ve decided to apply the same sensible principle to the National that many applied when refusing the “pro-independence” Sunday Herald on the quite reasonable grounds that they would not wish to support the pro-union, pro-Labour, pro-Westminster, pro-evil, weekday version of the Herald, or indeed the closely related the murrdur, fitba’ and Jim Murphy Evening Times.
Discuss using multi-coloured fuzzy-felt shapes and and pipe-cleaners.