After such an extended break from blogging, you will be deeply disappointed that I restart with something as mundane and trivial as Jeremy Clarkson. I have defended the man in the past, because I much enjoy Top Gear and consider that much of what he has been criticised for in the past had been an amusing winding-up of the po-faced of the kind I employ myself. But nasty, indeed vicious bullying of a subordinate should always be a sacking offence.
That did not ought to be the question, though. He hit someone and they had to go to hospital. Where are the police? They are incredibly fond of sweeping up scores of teenagers for thought crime, but here we have an actual violent assault that spills blood, and it seems completely out of the question the perpetrator is brought to account. Why is that? I had a personal experience a couple of years ago when I was very mildly hurt – less than young Oisin – in an assault, and the police insisted on arresting the perpetrator despite my repeated requests to them not to do so. They told me rather firmly that the idea that it is the victim who has a say in pressing charges, is a myth. Why was Clarkson not arrested?
I cannot in my mind dissociate this from the non-arrest of Jimmy Savile for his crimes, despite their being well-known and reported at the time. That seems to link in to the wider paedophilia scandal, and the question of why no action was taken even in the most blatant of cases when there was compelling evidence, such as that of the extremely nasty Greville Janner MP.
But then I think still more widely as to why, for example, Jack Straw has not been charged with the crime of misfeasance in public office after boasting of using his position to obtain “under the radar” changes in regulations to benefit commercial clients, in exchange for cash. I wonder why a large number of people did not go to jail for the HSBC tax avoidance schemes or the LIBOR rigging scandal, which involved long term dishonest manipulation by hundreds of very highly paid bankers.
At the top of the tree is of course the question of why Blair has not been charged for the crime of waging illegal war. The Chilcot Inquiry heard evidence that every single one of the FCO’s elite team of Legal Advisers believed that the invasion of Iraq was an illegal war of aggression. Yet now the media disparage as nutters those who say Blair should be charged.
Then I think of all the poor and desperate people who get jailed for stealing comparatively miniscule amounts in benefit fraud, or the boy who was jailed for stealing a bottle of water in the London riots.
The conclusion is that we do not have a system of justice in this country at all. We have a system where the wealthy and governing classes and those associated with them enjoy almost absolute impunity, broken in only the rarest of cases. At the same time those at the bottom of the pile are kicked hard to keep them there. There is no more chance of justice against those in power in the UK than there is of the killers of Nemtsov being brought to book in Russia.
But what has really scared me is this thought. This situation has been like this my entire life: and I have reached the age of 56 before I realised it. A very great many people have still not realised it at all.
What does not scare me is this. I realise that if the system of justice is completely corrupted, then there is no obligation on me to follow the laws of the state. In fact it would be wrong of me to do so. I must seek my ethical compass elsewhere than in the corrupt power structure which weighs so hard upon the people.
I did like the one from our transatlantic navel friend which said that “obviously true” statements are….”true”. Old Tom Eliot couldn’t have done better.
Leave aside your contradictory garbage about pacifism and encouraging Russia to invade Ukraine – what do you actually mean by “homeland”. Given you want to use violence to support this concept you should at least define what you mean – some Russians would describe Kyiv as being part of their homeland. Some Germans might say the same about Kaliningrad. If you know anything about reality in that part of the world you will know that ethnicity is far from being straightforward and certainly cannot be easily disentangled into nice precise borders. I note the BNP and other right wing nationalists throughout history are all pretty keen on the concept of homelands – so you will need a pretty good explanation.
Peacewisher, what makes you think RT is closer to the truth than – not the New York Times, but, say, The Guardian?
Fred
Quantum superposition?
“I despise dictators like David Cameron and Tony Blair, who take us into wars because they are US puppets”
In fact, Cameron held a vote on the bombing of Syria, and was defeated, with serious consequences for US policy, because Labour held firm, and dozens of Tory and Lib Dem MPs rebelled. I don’t mind calling anyone to account, but I do mind when people just mouth off without proportion.
I don’t think any ‘pacifist’ would be doing anything apart from supporting the anti-war voices in Russia.
Peacewisher, I don’t know if John Goss and Macky have accepted the Russian state position, but they certainly project it.
I don’t know if RD is projecting the Neocon position, but that’s because there’s so much noise and I’m still waiting for him to answer some questions.
But it’s so awful on here I doubt any progress can be made.
That the U.S. government would deny that a planned nuclear attack had been stopped by an officer, if the story were true, is obviously true. And so is the fact that the U.S. military has repeatedly been caught lying.
Only someone who is incorrigibly stupid or incorrigibly dishonest would deny either statement.
Peacewisher intones:
“For any new readers:
Resident Dissident and Habby are trolls. They have no intention of listening to anyone else’s point of view.”
___________________
On the contrary, new readers. RD and I read all other points of view (aka la pensée unique) most carefully, paying particular attention to their internal logic, to traces of original thinking, to all evidence of a rational and cool-headed approach and to any possible signs of obsession and paranoia.
The frequent absence of the first three and the frequent presence of the fourth unfortunately make it necessary for us to intervene all too often.
Anti war voices in Russia (it didn’t take much of a search)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_anti-war_protests_in_Russia
Technicolour, thanks for those factual nuggets.
Grief, if all humanity are like the state of conversation on this blog, shouldn’t we just get WWIII started and over with ASAP? I mean, what’s the point in being like this?
Lol… “up is down”! I’m very tired. It is of course a new moon.
Could you not have a full moon which moved over the sun and caused an eclipse? Just asking – I’ve no idea. Here I just thought it was about to rain again, as it was getting so dark.
OK, Habby. You’re trolls masquerading as moderators. If you posted a little less, it wouldn’t be such a nuisance.
Why don’t we all have another big, lovely war.
It seems to be what many commentators on here are calling for.
Unbelievable, it really is.
And come on Mary, where are you? don’t let the likes of me fight the psychos on our own.
I see that our transatlantic commenter is distancing himself from Mr Goss and his source.
Better late than never and very wise.
Clark, humanity is not like this blog – a blog is a rarified and peculiar thing which, as you say, relies on text – which means being able to edit and re-read, and re-edit, quite unlike usual interactions! Also, no eye contact, no facial expressions – not like people at all!
Off to recharge myself at the power point 🙂
@RobG.
And that was 2011… what a mad world this digital reality is becoming.
As, after condign correction, he has distanced himself from the reviewer of Bloodlands.
The real supporters and occupiers of the illegal government and country of Ukraine.
https://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/u-s-to-lead-three-military-exercises-in-ukraine-this-year/
Resident Dissident is very happy to support this, and the killing of 6,000 in the first civil war in Ukraine since 1921. Nearly 100 years of peace and along come the Yanks with their chequebooks and proxy diplomacy. The people of Donbas voted against being ruled by the fascists in Kiev. They deserve their autonomy as much as the people of Crimea. But of course the likes of RD would not want Russia coming to their aid. He would much prefer more spilling of blood. It is plain evil. But the Russians know a lot about fascists. They’ve fought them off in many conflicts before.
RobG, you were all for shooting one. If the one were you, it may as well be destruction of all.
John, can you explain why as a pacifist, you are not supporting the anti war voices in Russia, please? Thank you.
I’m just sitting here sighing and shaking my head. How can so many angry, aggressive people think that they are calling for peace?
Let’s invert. Let’s call for all-out nuclear war with as much tranquillity and love as we can find in ourselves. Just for the exercise, you know?
“Could you not have a full moon which moved over the sun and caused an eclipse? Just asking – I’ve no idea. Here I just thought it was about to rain again, as it was getting so dark.”
We can only see the side of the moon which is facing the sun.
“In fact, Cameron held a vote on the bombing of Syria, and was defeated, with serious consequences for US policy, because Labour held firm, and dozens of Tory and Lib Dem MPs rebelled.”
Cameron wanted to go to war. He was not happy to be defeated in parliament. That is why he has taken the dictatorial route over Ukraine. I despise dictators. There is good reason to despise dictators.
Well, Suhayl’s not here so I’m putting the kettle on. Who’s for tea? Tech, I know you’ll have one; how would you like it?
@John: Blair-lite is an apt description.
I liked Will Self on QT last night… describing Blair as more right-wing than Thatcher. Where is the UK going as a society… and why are so many citizens now willing to support the state in oppressing the individual… unless of course they have wealth?
“I’m just sitting here sighing and shaking my head. How can so many angry, aggressive people think that they are calling for peace?”
It’s because Clark of people like you who cannot see who is culpable, who thinks that a coup in Ukraine, like the one in Chile, which brought Mrs Thatcher’s friend Pinochet to power, is an expression of democracy. Think of it in terms of Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko are the Pinochets of today and perhaps you can get your head round it.
“Well, Suhayl’s not here so I’m putting the kettle on. Who’s for tea? Tech, I know you’ll have one; how would you like it?”
John Goss will be having the herbal tea.
He thinks all proper tea is theft.
Anyone who may be interested, I found this article accords well with what I know of Ukraine:
http://www.aim.org/special-report/russias-war-on-ukraine/
An excerpt that captures the essence of today’s “Russki Mir” ideology of which GenSec Putin speaks so approvingly:
“For 400 years, “Moscovy” (and then a newly constituted “Russia”) expanded its own burgeoning empire at the rate of 50 square miles per day. Ukraine was eventually conquered and occupied. Its religious and cultural treasures were pillaged and ensconced in Russian museums, to be marketed to a breathless, star-dazed world as Russia’s own. The parallel would have been England, France, Germany, Spain, or Israel (all territories of the Roman Empire) later building their own empire, conquering Italy, carting off to their museums Italian (and, previously, ancient Roman) treasures and cultural works, and then simply producing them as examples of English, French, Germany, Spanish or Israeli (take your pick) cultural achievements. In exchange, Italians would be anointed as “Little Englishmen,” “Little Frenchmen,” and the like. Under such a contorted construct, this would then serve as the kind of “common history” between England, France, Germany, Spain, Israel, etc., on the one hand, and today’s Italy on the other, that today is affirmed with such sophomoric abandon vis a vis Ukraine and Russia.”
Timothy Snyder’s lecture is worth watching, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpOpnFzTfVQ
It is right to ask what kind of people are fighting in the volunteer battalions, but do not neglect to apply this question equally to both sides in the conflict. Who are the people who volunteer to fight on the Russian side, what is their ideology? Don’t forget the context – Ukraine abolished conscription many years ago and as a consequence of two decades of neglect it now has a barely functioning regular army, no match for the Russian forces. Being a representative democracy, it takes time to pass laws that will allow to rebuild Ukrainian armed forces. Disbanding volunteer battalions is a luxury that cannot be afforded right now. To say they are unacceptable is to fall into the Perfectionist Fallacy. The reality is that the Ukrainians are not looking at perfect choice versus imperfect choice, but rather several imperfect choices. Surrendering territory to unrepresentative but well-armed thugs who are equipped and financed by Russia in preference to resisting the fascist ideology of re-drawing state borders by force in accordance with some imagined cultural divide, that would be madness.
But John, he’s only supporting the establishment point of view…
However… as this is hardly a pro-establishment blog that does surprise me!