I was involved in the organisation of the 50th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz, while First Secretary at the British Embassy in Warsaw. The 50th did not receive anything like the media coverage given to the 70th, of which more later.
Senior British visitors to Poland invariably included a concentration camp on their itinerary, and from escorting people around I visited camps a great deal more often than I would have wished. I found the experience appalling and desolate. The first I ever saw was Majdanek and I recall that I just had to sit helpless and shivering for some time. One thing the experience left me with – including meeting survivors and both Polish and German eye-witnesses, and seeing the architects’ plans for camps – was a contempt for those who claim the whole thing did not happen, or was an accident, or was small scale.
It in no way diminishes the genocidal attack on the Jews to remember that a vast number of Poles also died in the camps, as well as gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled and disparate political prisoners. I tried sometimes to diminish the horror I felt at involvement with the camps, with attempts at humour. I was present at a meeting listing the guests of honour; the President of Lithuania was included. I whispered that he was coming to represent the camp guards. That was offensive, and I apologise. But there is a real problem that to this day Eastern Europe – including Poland itself – has not come to terms with historical truth about collaboration with anti-Jewish genocide and other attacks on minorities. I recommend this website, which tackles these issues very honestly and is well worth a lengthy browse.
It requires bigotry not to be able to understand why nationalist resistance movements against Russian occupation became allied with Germany during World War II. That would be reprehensible only in the same sense that allied collaboration with Stalin might be reprehensible, but for the added factor of enthusiastic collaboration with genocidal and master race programmes and fascist ideology. That is what makes the glorification of Eastern European nationalist figures from this period generally inappropriate.
I fear however that the real reason that the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz received so much more coverage than the 50th is a media desire to reinforce the narrative of the War on Terror and Western policy in the Middle East by invoking the spectre of massive anti-Semitism. There have been isolated but deplorable, apparently anti-Semitic attacks of a small-scale terrorist nature in France and Belgium in recent years. But to conflate this into stories of a wave of popular anti-Semitism in Europe is a nonsense. Maureen Lipman’s claim that she may have to leave the UK is not just silly but disingenuous. I do not believe she feels in personal danger of attack – there is absolutely no reason why she should – she is rather making a political point.
There are two factors which could exacerbate anti-Semitism at present. One is the appalling behaviour of Israel and its indefensible action in continually seizing Palestinian land and using its military superiority to dominate and occasionally massacre Palestinians. Regrettably, there are a very small minority of people who wrongly blame Jews in general for the actions of Israel.
The second factor is of course the terrible economic hardship wrought across the whole world by irresponsible banking practices, and the fact that the bankers luxury lifestyles were maintained at the cost of everybody else. There are still a tiny minority of people stuck in the medieval mindset associating banking with the Jewish community. There is in fact a very plausible argument that if any “race” has a disproportionate influence on the development and character of international banking since the mid eighteenth century, it is the Scots! But those who see banking as a racial issue are nutters.
You could construct an argument from these factors, and you could identify that anti-Semitic people do exist. They certainly do. They dominate the very small category of people who get banned even from this free speech blog. But are their opinions intellectually respectable, promoted in the mainstream or able to be expressed openly without fear of either social or legal consequences? No, no and no. Anti-semites are fortunately a tiny and strange minority. I might add that in my numerous and frequent social contacts in the British Muslim community, I have never encountered anti-Semitism (unlike, say, Poland and Russia where I encountered casual anti-Semitism quite frequently).
The final point, is of course, the conflation of anti-zionism with anti-Semitism. That seems to me the fundamental design of the media campaign exaggerating the scale of anti-Semitism at the moment. Yes, we must always remember the terrible warnings from history and it is right to remember those who died in the concentration camps, Jewish, Polish, Romany, Gay, Communist or any other category. But we should be aware of those who wish to manipulate the powerful emotions of horror thus evoked, for present objectives of the powerful.
Well you can ignore the data all you like, Glenn.
I merely put out non-corporatised information – what you or anyone else does with it is entirely your decision.
At least I practice what I preach – I treated my own atherosclerosis without medical assistance. Admittedly, I had a false start by going vegan, though I am probably still 90% vegetarian.
The big improvement came after consuming prodigious amounts of brie.
Go figure, medical genii 😉
Soused Billy can measure the successful spread of his ideas, by the increased misery and death caused by preventable diseases. It takes one sick fuck to get their satisfaction that way.
Lol, no thought for vaccine damaged kids then, Glenn?
I’ll refrain from name calling and leave it to the readers’ imagination.
No thoughts on treating atherosclerotic plaques with brie, eh, genius?
Glenn, your links are amusing but, sorry to say, unhelpful.
Node, fair enough, you want to explore this matter; continue to do so. But Scouse Billy shies away from every point I make and every question I raise, and he’s personally triumphant about every point he makes – Glenn could be entirely right about Billy wanting to be a cult leader.
Node, did you check out the Spivey article on the out-of-control bin-wagon in Glasgow? Can you find any actual evidence in that article that the bin-wagon disaster was a false flag event? Scouse Billy endorses Spivey. It seems we’re progressing towards a definition of truth that reads “‘cos Billy says so”. Other people get misled. This is bigger than just a possible link between one vaccine and autism, itself a rather subjectively diagnosed condition.
I keep banging on about this and Billy ignores me every time. Continue to investigate, but please also challenge Billy on this.
Scouse Billy links to a graph on whale.to; is it authentic and authoritative? You might want to evaluate whale.to’s home page. Look about; I did:
Scouse Billy, is this where you’re heading?
“And your jury might like to consider this:”
None of which alters the fact that all the raw data was made available to the scientific community. Both sets, all the children and the subset containing only children with Georgia birth certificates. That isn’t covering anything up.
If Dr Thompson wants to admit that he himself was guilty of malpractice by omitting data in the report he co-authored that is different but the data he based the report on was not covered up.
More from whale.to:
Billy, have I been misled by NASA? Is the earth really flat?
Fred, well done opposing Billy on this one issue, but Billy is still getting to set the agenda. I think that should be reversed.
Scouse Billy, you encouraged Republicofscotland to believe Chris Spivey. Do you believe the Glasgow bin-wagon incident was staged?
Spivey’s bin-wagon “false flag” article:
http://chrisspivey.org/behind-the-flag-and-down-the-rabbit-hole-we-go/
Clark, I said “love Chris Spivey” to RoS – how your “mind” extrapolates this is something else.
Similarly, you will find all sorts of articles on whale.to that in your warped extrapolations somehow negate the content of the article I referred to.
Why would I debate with you when you lack logic and reasoning skills not to mention fly off with extrapolitive wild leaps of fantasy – you are one interesting specimen but I am not engaging, got that?
Meanwhile not one of you, scientific/medical genii can explain how consuming brie could reverse atherosclerosis.
Tut tut tut, you can spout dogma but explaining “counter-intuitive” phenomena… 🙂
Of course Soused Billy thinks the runaway dustcart was a “false flag”, Clark. He knows it, because he believes it. And he also believes it because he knows it. So there are two solid lines of evidence, and if you need a third, you have his assertion too.
But back from Planet Billy, here’s a neat illustration about the herd effect, and why it is so necessary:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/three-illustrations-that-explain-why-100-vaccination-coverage-is-essential/
Of course, this is brought from those pointy-headed “scientist” types, who “know things” due to some BS called “study”, and “evidence”, and doubtless all sorts of book-learnin’ which should never be trusted.
No, far better to trust some freak who proclaims their own expertise, and has no hesitation in dismissing the entire body of medical and scientific understanding.
Remember when Soused Billy asserted that cancer treatment is actually the cause of cancer, and that all doctors, nurses, medical technicians and so on were conspirators in mass murder?
*
I’m just waiting for his “proof” that road planners are actually engineering as many accidents as possible, to kill the maximum number of road users, for reasons best known only to that sagely truth-teller himself. Airline manufacturers, air traffic controllers, maintenance crews and particularly the pilots, are doing their damnedest to crash as many fully loaded planes as the can.
Opticians are in the business of blinding people – didn’t you know? Glasses actually worsen your eye-sight. Do you realise how much money those guys are making from the scam!
House-builders are in the killing business too, sorry to say. Every house is primed to land on the occupants’ heads, and it does happen from time to time. You know how much money there is in the building industry? It’s a world-wide conspiracy, I tell you!
These scam artists providing so-called “footwear” need to be exposed too. They ruin your feet. They trap in diseases and slow you down. The amount of money made by the peddlers of such sham, unnecessary and frankly murderous devices is all the proof that you need.
Come on Soused Billy, stop holding back – provide us with such vital information! Why are you hiding it – are you in on these scams too maybe?
(Continues until we’re back living in caves, chasing our next meal with a stick)
Clark : “Node, did you check out the Spivey article on the out-of-control bin-wagon in Glasgow?”
Sort of. I had a look a week or so ago. I didn’t finish it. It was the longest web page I’ve ever seen (except for this one!) I ended up seeing how many scroll pages it was on my laptop. I estimated about 400, not counting comments. Has anybody ever read it all? I didn’t find his argument convincing, but to be honest I found it difficult to follow the detail.
Scouse Billy, you’re refusing to engage because you’re scared. Not of me; you’re scared of evidence and logical argument. They work against your cause, which you won’t admit to.
You’ll just keep chipping away. Today it’s vaccines, tomorrow cancer treatment, next week chemtrails or whatever. All that matters to you is generating another chip, to add to your pile of “proof”.
And then what? You certainly aren’t going to tell anyone. The spooks didn’t recruit you because you’re more useful as you are, helping to discredit the likes of Craig Murray.
Node, yes, Spivey’s argument is basically impossible to follow because it has no substance, just a load of unsubstantiated allegations. He explicitly modifies Facebook photos to look like others, then claims that one of the two subjects never existed.
But Scouse Billy “loves” Spivey, and encourages others to accept Spivey’s assertions.
Billy now refuses to engage with me, so it is up to others to expose his dishonesty.
This is like a re-run of the indie referendum. One side is supplying information and the other side is offering only negativity.
Spivey is on a harassment charge. He selected Facebook photos and modified them to look like those of the murdered Lee Rigby. He then harassed the subject of the altered photo, trying to make him “confess” to being the “actor” used to fabricate Rigby for the Woolwich murder.
Spivey’s defence of his action is that the person he harassed never existed in the first place. Spivey now claims the charge against him is persecution for his “truth telling”.
Scouse Billy “loves” Spivey.
@Node: Haul your arse off to the local Scientology outfit. They’ll give you plenty of “information” – but everyone else will only be negative about these cultist dupes. So by your “logic”, they must be correct and more worthy of consideration, right?
Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the
American Cancer Society:
“It is ironic but true that many cancer chemotherapies are known to cause cancers.”
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/06/could-chemo-drugs-cause-a-second-malignancy/
Whoops, Glenn drops another clanger.
Aside from libelling me in terms of what I may believe or not, this dummkopf then addresses the issue of “herd immunity”.
Oh goody, I consider this a sort of IQ proxy.
So, Glenn if vaccines work (as you believe) how could my unvaccinated kids possibly “infect” your vaccinated kids?
As an aside, isn’t it interesting that we are likened to a “herd”?
Node, I know little about vaccinations, but I believe the principle to be well confirmed, experimentally and epidemiologically; I expect there’s a wealth of scientific evidence and academic analysis linked from Wikipedia. I also know from experience that Scouse Billy will advance multiple anti-mainstream-science arguments, but will offer no apparent overall structure.
Pick a subject you know; keep him talking. You’ll see how he progresses and where he dodges questions.
Come on Scouse Billy, tell us why you “love” the deluded deceiver Chris Spivey. What’s he done that you so appreciate?
You know little, period, Clark.
If you spent less time sniping at people who know more than you and instead researching for yourself, I would engage you.
Unfortunately time and again you stick your pathological oar in and embarass yourself – I have no desire to be accused (yet again) of causing you psychological harm.
Scouse Billy, you do harm by encouraging others to believe delusion. You do harm by helping to discredit Craig Murray.
And yes, you did me harm by advancing false arguments when one of my oldest friends had a lump that could have been cancer.
Node, do you believe in chemtrails?
Yes, Node, by now it must be abundantly clear to any objective reader that the “know nothing” dogmatists have no good impartial evidence to offer but resort to insults and hysterical projection.
Truly sad that they are unaware of how poorly they come across.
Well I’ll leave you to it fellas I have some organic, pastured beef burgers to cook fresh from the farm!
Let’s just remember where this argument started
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/01/auschwitz/comment-page-2/#comment-506010
Scouse Billy praised Chris “false flag bin-wagon” Spivey to Republicofscotland, and directed her to a podcast on noliesradio.org:
Hmmm…
Clark – it actually started when Soused Billy tried to ridicule me, by reference to the fact that I actually agree with the established medical practice of vaccinations. And also that I agree with the vast preponderance of scientists who have determined that climate change is a fact.
Seriously – the guy is so deluded, and has clearly surrounded himself with so many others sharing his kooky nonsense – that failure to follow their fringe delusions is to them an obvious point of ridicule.
It’s unkind to ask Soused Billy just why that runaway dustcart would be a “false flag”, though – his hero Spivey hasn’t said. You cannot expect SB to think things through like that (or indeed, anything else) on his own. It has to come first from some other wanna-be cult leader.
Netanyahu has the chutzpah to criticize the UN over the IDF killing of the Spanish peacekeeper. He has complained in writing to Ban Ki Moon.
Israel PM criticises Lebanon UN force after peacekeeper death
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-pm-criticises-lebanon-un-force-peacekeeper-death-112825165.html
Clark
Are you certain there is nothing to the ‘Chemtrails’ phenomenon? Doesn’t it depend on what actually the word refers to? For a long time I dismissed it when it was presented as some sort of sinister NWO scheme to poison everybody. But I saw an article in Lobster issue no. 64 that seemed well-written, and and backed up by footnoted references, that claimed the phenomenon exists and is largely the result of US military weaponisation of the weather. Have you seen the article? Food for thought. I’m not saying I’m a believer but more agnostic than previously
http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/issue64.php
“Clark – it actually started when Soused Billy tried to ridicule me”
Really, Glenn – who prompted my RESPONSE? Tut tut – your pants need a fire extinguisher (again)!
KOWN – Dr Roger Davidson noticed “chemtrails” one day and followed up by doing lab analysis of the ensuing rain. Here in the UK.
Scary stuff, he seems perfectly credible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihkFLXzqwEM