Bloody hell. Read this. Brilliant.
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Bloody hell. Read this. Brilliant.
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“The function of any headline is to attract attention.”
Yeah.
It’s quite common now that the headline isn’t sustained by the body of the article.
But mostly in garbage for the masses.
It’s a deviation from what’s advised in journalism courses, where you’re supposed to lead with your best point.
Anyway.
It’s a deviation from what’s advised in journalism courses, where you’re supposed to lead with your best point.
It was the best point, for Algemeiner and JP, which are both pro-Zionist outlets.
Not being a mass, I usually read beyond the headline. Perhaps I ought to issue warnings every time I cite something? Or would that not be rightly regarded as patronising?
Re. history, I was thinking more of the practical assimilation of East Germany, Poland*, the Czech states (as they are now), the Baltic states, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria into the Russian fold. No doubt they were all sorry to leave.
* whose freedom was ostensibly what the whole mess had been about
Meanwhile at the Investing In Africa Mining Indaba, someone’s been taking liberties with the copyright on Tony Blair’s face…
Shooters booted out of #TonyBlair session (#MiningIndaba) because … they were taking pics. Some seriously pissed off faces in media centre
— Miriam Mannak (@miriammannak) February 10, 2015
http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Mining-Indaba/LIVE-Tony-Blair-speaks-at-Mining-Indaba-20150210
Usual platitudes, I’m afraid. Give me all your money. Invest in infrastructure. I’m a personal friend of President Infrastructure…off to East Africa next.
@Ba’al: Interesting, but please bear in mind that you are quoting the Kiev Post here… hardly a media outlet known for its objectivity. If the Western media are taking a lead from here it’s not surprising that they are getting a distorted picture of events, and the motives of those behind them..
The titanic Phillip Hammond speaks!
Don’t Arm Ukraine, Russia Tells The West
The warning comes as Britain says it is keeping its position on whether to supply “lethal aid” to Ukraine “under review”.
http://news.sky.com/story/1424732/dont-arm-ukraine-russia-tells-the-west
‘”It is a national decision of each country in the NATO alliance to decide whether to supply lethal aid to Ukraine,” Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told MPs.
“The UK is not planning to do so but we reserve the right to keep this position under review.”
He added: “We share a clear understanding that while there is no military solution to this conflict we could not allow the Ukrainian armed forces to collapse.”‘
“It was the best point”
If it were true, yes, certainly.
But they made it up.
“Re. history, I was thinking more of the practical assimilation of East Germany, Poland*, the Czech states (as they are now), the Baltic states, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria into the Russian fold. No doubt they were all sorry to leave.
* whose freedom was ostensibly what the whole mess had been about”
That was agreed at Yalta. America and Britain delivered them into Communism.
The whole affair was brilliant for the US. No competition for nearly thirty years, and tons of free gold, but still the greedy fuckers went bust.
I’d just say that perhaps the Poles in particular ought not to be so trusting of these maestros of the planet. Even Sikorski seemed to show some recognition of this point.
The Ukraine is just being used, and will be dumped as and when.
Let’s just hope we don’t have to have chaos all over Europe again. It’s so unnecessary.
Thank you for your compliment @ 9.25am today.
~~~
A link here to the mealy mouthed statement from the new Bishop of Guildford ref Stephen Sizer. The poor man has been publicly insulted by being sent to the naughty step and his freedom of speech curtailed. I wish he would resign. The CoE is an irrelevance these days especially with Welby at the head.
Israel wins once more.
Statement on the Revd Stephen Sizer by the Bishop of Guildford
Date: 09 February 2015
In a Press Conference in Guildford on Monday morning, The Bishop of Guildford, the Right Revd Andrew Watson said: http://www.cofeguildford.org.uk/whats-on/news/detail/2015/02/09/statement-on-the-revd-stephen-sizer-by-the-bishop-of-guildford
I should have added Summerhead’s name to my thank you.
Jim (Blairite) Murphy is now just making shit up as he goes along, hoping to confuse and confound folk into voting for Labour.
This time Murphy has promised to provide a cross rail link in the city of Glasgow, the “Elephant in the room” here, is of course Labour have ran Glasgow’s council for at least 70 years, and failed to provide a cross rail link in all that time.
Murphy, is to all effect using popular politics, across the board trying to appeal to anyone and everyone, a sure sign of depseration from the Scottish branch of London Labour.
Interesting, but please bear in mind that you are quoting the Kiev Post here… hardly a media outlet known for its objectivity.
Unlike RT?
I referred to some biographical details of a probable Russian stooge*, which I hope you will feel free to disprove. if you can. As to the rest, yes, I am aware that a Kiev media outlet is unlikely to be promoting separatists. Thank you. I do you the courtesy of assuming that you realise that Russian media outlets are also not strictly objective. In vain. So expect more from Kiev, in the interests of balance
*with considerable form in destabilising countries Russia wants a piece of – read it.
PS, I don’t carry much of a can for either side, as it happens. They’re all culturally Russian.
‘His deputy, Vladimir Antyufeyev, has very elegant trousers, on the other hand. He probably bought them in GUM.
Look him up.’
I did, and the fingerprints of Russia’s deep state on him are certainly evident.
All the other separatists profiled in the Kyiv Post article however are local Ukrainians. Putin’s forces are undoubtedly assisting and directing the insurgency, but the revolt against the Poroshenko government most certainly does not lack for support from within the local population.
Staying on Mad Murphy, Murphy has incurred the wrath of the Taxpayers Alliance, by claiming expenses, for Irn-Bru, a soft drink.
The Taxpayers Alliance, aren’t very happy with Murphy, but then again the TA should be livid with Westminster as whole, apparently when those underworked and lazy troughing politicians, decide to work (If you can call it that) after 7.30pm, they automatically receive £25 quid for refreshments.
You know the scenario, you’ve spent all day, rubbing your fat arse on those green benches, nodding off here and there, so obviously come 7.30pm, you’re bound to be famished.
So the £25 quid will buy you a nice prawn sandwich, and a refreshing G&T.
Obama the War President
by DAVE LINDORFF
10 February 2015
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/10/obama-the-war-president/
‘…..and now his Secretary of Defense (sic) Ashton Carter and his Secretary of State John Kerry are pushing for sending heavy arms and, inevitably, US “advisors” to Ukraine to escalate US involvement in the civil war there. What makes that latest war particularly dangerous is that all the while, Peace Laureate Obama makes it clear that the “enemy” is Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military.
Never mind that it is the US that originally orchestrated and encouraged the fascist coup that overthrew the elected government of Ukraine, setting in motion a huge pogrom against ethnic Russians in the east of that country and provoking the current armed conflict, and never mind that Russian concern about the Ukraine stems from a decades long history of the US pushing NATO ever closer to Russia’s western border, with Ukraine kind of the last straw.’
All the other separatists profiled in the Kyiv Post article however are local Ukrainians.
Hasty replacements for Russians, you will note, according to Kiev. Certainly part of the population is involved – the Russian-speaking part in Donbas – but my view is that they have been stimulated by Moscow rather than the other way round. A factor no yet mentioned here is Putin’s Eurasian Economic Union – designed to position Russia at the centre of the old Soviet alignment once again. You’ll see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Economic_Union
…Ukraine was initially on board with this. Aligning with the EU later was unacceptable.
Ironic that the union was originally Nazarbayev’s idea.
Why the SNP are pushing for land Reform in Scotland.
……………………
Did you know that, developed EU countries have public,records of who owns private land, in Scotland no such records exist, it is however estimated that around 432 estates own roughly 50% of Scotland’s private land.
This is the result of land grabs, that kept wealth and power in the hands of a few, aristocratic families. In many other countries revolution swept away feudalism, giving property rights to farmers and peasants.
Paul Dacre editor of the Daily Mail, and David Cameron’s wife’s family own huge private estates in Scotland,and HRH Queen Lizzy own 61.000 acres of land in Scotland.
Though I don’t Her Majesty’s, Revenue and Customs have sent her a land tax bill.
The 10th Duke of Buccleuch owns the largest amount of land in Scotland, which according to the national newspaper is about twice the size of Wales.
The 1st Duke of Buccleuch was the b*stard child of Charles II, he was granted his Dukedom in 1663.
Pity the Parliamentarians didn’t take care of him the same way they took care of his father.
Scottish Labour MP’s they vote in Westminster, not for whats best for their constituents, but, for whats best, for the party overall.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/biting-bullets-and-chewing-carpets/#more-66621
Downing Street was forced to defend David Cameron’s appointment of a former HSBC chairman as trade minister in 2011, after revelations that the bank’s Swiss subsidiary helped wealthy customers avoid paying millions of dollars in tax and claims that the British tax authorities knew about it.
Cameron’s spokesman said Stephen Green, who served as trade minister from January 2011 to December 2013, had been an excellent appointment and that the prime minister had never discussed with him the allegations against HSBC.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/09/margaret-hodge-accuses-ex-chairman-lord-stephen-green-over-hsbc-files
……………………………..
The Banksters and Westminster, is there any real difference between them?
As the juvenile cacophony gets louder and the war drums beat louder, a small post from an RT poster below, to understand who the devil is (no its not habba!).
“The US government refused to publish their high res satellite photos and any other intel files they obviously possess, instead referring to discredited social media sources to convict Putin in the public opinion court.
The most telling aspects of the MH17 shootdown is the 30 calibre bullet holes in the fuselage. The next is the fact that Kiev refuses to release the air traffic controller tapes. Next the witness who passed a lie detector test outing the Ukrainian pilot’s name that shot the MH17 down.
Finally the secret non disclosure agreement providing Kiev with an out not permitting the facts to come out from the official investigation. The blood of 298 victims is on the hands in Kiev.”
Ba’al Zevul (Comodo?)
You are mistaken about Ukrainians being ‘culturally Russian’. Long story, I realise that 300-odd years of Ukrainian history written by Russians is going to be hard and time-consuming to debunk, but.. Russians are ethnically predominantly non-Slavic (Fino-Ugric mostly, e.g. Mari, with some Turkic). This was recognised by Russian historians before the current Russian historical narrative was invented. This situation is not unusual e.g. Bulgarians (ethnic origin Turkic, language Slavic). The purpose of this historical narrative in which Russians are Slavs that migrated to Muscovy from the territories of Kievan Rus (from which the name Russia was derived, replacing Muscovy as it had been known), was to legitimise the new empire’s expansionist policy, but more importantly to claim Kievan Rus’ historical and cultural heritage.
They say in every fairy tale there is a portion of truth, in this case there is the Greek Orthodox link, language, adopted cultural traditions. There is a self-fulfilling aspect as well, Russians in the main believe and would like to continue to believe this appealing narrative. Kievan Rus reached a high level of cultural advancement in its time, compared with surrounding territories including those of Muscovy. However there is a large problem – Ukrainians have no incentive to accept this narrative. This is what is at the heart of Ukrainian nationalist movement that has persisted despite severe repression throughout the centuries.
If Russians and Ukrainians were so fundamentally similar as is claimed by Russia, then it is difficult to explain Holodomor in 1933 (millions deliberately starved to death), or hundreds of thousands shot in the back of the head in 1937 by the NKVD, or the banning of Ukrainian language publications under the Czars, or the unsubtle efforts to ‘russify Ukraine.
38 Degrees today
Fantastic news! The government has changed its mind and promised to provide an extra £74m funding for councils to help people in crisis. [1] Together we played a crucial role in convincing it.
Before Christmas the government announced it was going to cut Welfare Assistance grants – money set aside in council budgets to help people in crisis. In just 24 hours over 100,000 members of 38 Degrees signed a petition against the cut. [2] Then over 10,000 of us wrote into the government’s consultation. [3]
And people power worked! The government realised this was a cut too far for councils already struggling with massively slashed budgets. So they’ve allocated an extra £74m to councils with the most need.
Welfare Assistance schemes are an essential lifeline to families in crisis. [4] From helping families heat their homes in an emergency, supporting families hit by floods or helping parents buy mattresses for their kids to sleep on, they make sure help is available when people need it the most.
Together, with organisations like The Children’s Society, Shelter and the Child Poverty Action Group, 38 Degrees members helped ensure there is still a safety net to catch people when they need it most.
Thanks for being involved,
…
1] Parliament.uk: House of Commons written statement:
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/February%202015/3rd%20February/1.DCLG-Local-govt-finance.pdf
The Children’s Society: Children in poverty the ‘big winners’ from £74m crisis funding:
http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-and-blogs/press-releases/children-in-poverty-the-%E2%80%98big-winners%E2%80%99-from-%C2%A374m-crisis-funding
[2] 38 Degrees website: Osborne: Don’t cut emergency funds this Christmas:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/osborne-don-t-cut-emergency-funds-this-christmas
[3] 38 Degrees blog: Don’t cut crucial funding:
http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2015/01/19/dont-cut-crucial-funding/
[4] Child Action Poverty Group: Local welfare assistance schemes:
http://www.cpag.org.uk/lwas
Here’s an idea Clark might like to take up with Craig, to deter trolls:
“Jewish online magazine starts charging commenters to deter ‘offenders'”
“Dealing with “toxic” commenters is a problem faced by many websites – and must be a particular problem for faith-based publishers.
US-based Tablet, which describes itself as “a daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture”, has launched an initiative to prevent the conversation below its articles becoming offensive – it is asking users to pay to comment.
On Monday, it announced that users would have to pay $2 a day, $18 a month or $180 a year to comment on its stories.”
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/10/jewish-online-magazine-starts-charging-commenters-to-deter-offenders
@Ba’al… Yes, that’s the hub of it. Were the separatists whipped up by Moscow or by the Bandera-ist build up in the West and centre? Here’s one view… imagine that Mosley had become more powerful and there were Mosley-ites seizing power in the west of England and pushing East. If you were in the East wouldn’t you feel threatened?
I don’t think the East of Ukraine needed any whipping up, and I don’t think Russia was doing any more than telling them what they thought already. In fact, if Russia had been more hands on after the Donbass elections, maybe a federal border could have been created, and the bloodshed could have been avoided… although Russia would probably have suffered even more sanctions.
RT was supportive of that low-key approach, I seem to remember, which is a sort of half-way position which wasn’t that helpful to the Donbass, other than in grinding Poroshenko down. I remember Craig saying there would be a lot of unnecessary bloodshed, and he was right.
Dreoilin
Got any water action going on round your parts?
Coming back after an afternoon of doing something more useful I flick quickly through the comments and notice that Herbie and Macky seem to have got rather agitated about Baal’s comments……
Do they sense, perhaps, that the tide has turned against them as far as this blog is concerned?
“Got any water action going on round your parts?”
Protests all the time, all over the country, Phil.
Dreoilin
Yes sounds great. Just fishing for 1st hand account.
Dreoilin
I’ve heard that the union/politican led Right2Water have failed to hijack the grass roots protests. That this might grow into a solid anti-austerity movement Do you agree that’s happening?
There’s no tide to turn, Habby. This is a blog not a war.
‘Party donors had already paid up to £15,000 per table for a place at the secretive event, where dinner was scheduled to go on for three-and-a-half hours with speeches by Mr Cameron and the Conservative chair Lord Feldman.
According to Buzzfeed News, the star lot in the auction was a luxury trip for two to Santorini, Italy, including champagne breakfast, private spa and chef and a “carefully stocked wine cellar” – sold to one donor for £220,000.
Lot 2 was a bronze scale model of the statue of Margaret Thatcher that stands outside the House of Commons – though less than 20cm tall, it reportedly went for £210,000.
According to a reporter from The Times, a donated JCB digger sold for £50,000 while a night’s exclusive use of private members club Annabel’s went for £110,000, The Spectator said.
Conservative donors, whose ranks include almost half of the country’s richest hedge fund managers, were also offered a number of lots giving them exclusive access to government ministers.
They included “shoe shopping with Theresa May”, breakfast and “an early morning 5k run” with the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, and an optimistically named “10k Iron Man Endeavour” with Iain Duncan Smith.’
Conservatives silent auction: This is what Tory donors bid for at the party’s fundraiser – and what everyone else has to say about it
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/conservatives-silent-auction-this-is-what-tory-donors-bid-for-at-the-partys-fundraiser–and-what-everyone-else-has-to-say-about-it-10035522.html
Following yesterday’s summary of the utter farce that the Minsk Summit/Ukraine “peace” deal talks have become, the various parties involved appear to be fracturing even faster today. The headlines are coming thick and fast but most prescient appears to be: Despite John Kerry’s denial of any split between Germany and US over arms deliveries to Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Steinmeier slammed Washington’s strategy for being “not just risky but counterproductive.”
But perhaps most significantly is France’s continued apparent pivot towards Russia… Following Francois Hollande’s calls for greater autonomy for Eastern Ukraine, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has come out in apparent support of Russia (and specifically against the US), “we are part of a common civilization with Russia,” adding, “the interests of the Americans with the Russians are not the interests of Europe and Russia.”
Even NATO appears to have given up hope of peace as Stoltenberg’s statements show little optimism and the decision by Cyprus to allow Russia to use its soil for military facilities suggests all is not at all well in the European union.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/02/tyler-durden/europe-splitting-with-us-empire/?
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Thankfully some nations appear to realise that we’re sleep walking into a new cold war, which could lead to escalate into something far more serious.
Dialogue, not drone bombing is the way forward.