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.
Mark, the Iraq atrocity wasn’t NATO, it was “The coalition of the willing” – basically the Neocons. It still doesn’t make the protective function of NATO bad in itself. Eastern European countries did not end up in NATO by military expansionism; they applied to join.
I’d like to see a new alliance without the US, and I’d like to see all countries under international law administered by a truly inclusive, global body. The UN is the closest we have so far.
For those who still have a hard job accepting that they live in a police state…
UK Police Deem Snowden Leak Investigation a State Secret
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/20/uk-met-police-snowden-investigation-secret/
I could continue with lots and lots of stuff, but will desist from doing so at the moment.
Yes, SOME humans. It seems that throughout history, there have always been remarkable people walking this earth. For some reason, I am reminded of “Meetings with Remarkable Men”. I read it so long ago I can’t properly remember the author…. Gurdjieff or something similar, I think.
@Clark: too right about to coalition of the willing. From what I can remember, the majority of NATO countries were vehemently against involvement in Iraq…
Something that really riles me about “Western” corporate propaganda is how little it mentions the UN. Questions are always framed as “should we (ie. UK/US) intervene in such-a-place”? Well, what does the UN say? Never mentioned, except when our warmongers want to “intervene” but the UN is saying no. Then it’s all “oh the UN is weak” or “the UN is toothless” or “the UN is too slow” – any excuse.
LAW. All should be equal under the law.
Iain Orr, it’s quite a judgement from the permanent court of arbitration at The Hague, isn’t it?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/19/un-ruling-raises-hope-of-return-for-exiled-chagos-islanders
So two of the judges say the entire UK takeover of the islands was totally illegal, and the other three don’t contradict them, only saying they don’t have the authority to rule on that matter.
This is a major step towards justice for the Chagossians. How was this matter brought before the PCA?
RobG
“All the doomsday stuff, wearing noddy suits, etc, was all part of this continuing madness. The Soviet Union had a huge land army, and if it ever headed west across the German plain, NATO would, at best, have had 72 hours before the nukes started flying.
All this now gets air-brushed out of history, by redneck Senators who barely know what time of the day it is, let alone what planet they live on.”
________________
Airbrushed out of history?
It is well known now and it was well known at the time, you liar.
No I was talking to the cosmos Clark but since you have addressed me I do not know the phrase ‘one wrong does not deserve another’ – I am familiar with the term ‘one good turn deserves another’ which is to me a positive connotation somewhat devoid in negative dark energy that envelopes our planet right now.
NATO – IMO this benign institution is not worthy of the multilateral label. In reality NATO has become a clearing house for US-led “coalitions of the willing,” in which so called ‘alliance’ members/non-members can join on basis of the ‘death mission’ to form a ‘democratic?’group in accord that Washington can call upon á la carte.
EU countries appear to act as ‘helpers’ borne out by the invasion of Afghanistan. Laughably the more nations there are in this ‘coalition’ or alliance, the larger the possible constellation for ‘the willing’ or those dark game prone.
This is one reason the UK/US above all else push for NATO’s expansion. Global policemen or NATO both types of intervention are in a sense composed of “coalitions of the willing”, since countries are also completely free to decide on the level and nature of their military contribution to a non-Article V NATO operation.
Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
21 Mar, 2015 – 11:17 pm
No, none of this stuff is well known (unless you work for the loons in the security services), so thank you for highlighting it.
@Clark Here is a doc worth watching when you have the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5If2YaLtX4
@Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
21 Mar, 2015 – 11:17 pm
You do understand that you and your ilk will be put on trial for crimes against humanity, don’t you.
Don’t, for one moment, think that you can get away with this, pal.
“No, none of this stuff is well known (unless you work for the loons in the security services), so thank you for highlighting it.”
_______________________
You really are an awful fibber, Rob. Or perhaps you have been at the Burgundy again?
It was very well known at the time – and before the internet – that the imbalance between NATO and Warsaw Pact conventional forces in the European theatre would necessitate the use of nuclear weapons by NATO in the case of a Warsaw Pact attack.
It was well known then and it is still well known – people do not need you to tell them.
BTW, did you know that theme even made it onto the best seller lists all the way back in 1982? A novel called “The Third World War – The Untold Story” by General Sir John Hackett refers.
So you see – well known then and well known now, no thanks to you.
And now fuck off.
RobG, what is it that Habbabkuk does that so incenses you? Mostly he seems to insult other commenters, wind people up and ask questions, some of them awkward but most just annoyingly pedantic. Only a small proportion of his comments actually state any opinions at all. He used to be much worse. Irritating and mostly irrelevant, I agree, but nothing warranting execution, and barely worth wasting a court’s time in my opinion.
Couldn’t you just install Habbabreak?
Habba, you always comes across as a very sane and balanced person.
A person who thinks that nuclear war is acceptable.
A person who thinks that Russia and China are a military threat.
A person who is totally and utterly fecking insane.
I will NOT allow complete loons like you to destroy the planet Earth.
Do you understand?
Clark; “Macky, so you’re justifying turning Ukraine’s gas of IN WINTER. You’re justifying murder. Take it back, Macky.”
So now you have fallen back to being fixated about gas, let me guess, would it have anything to do with the fact that Craig mentioned it in one of his Posts ?
Temporary cutting supplies to encourage payment, after years of special subsides, may still be a drastic step, but no more drastic then what would happen to your utilities supplies if you refused to pay, and I don’t think they would be too concern what time of year they would cut you off either.
Even for a shameless dissembler, you can be quite loathsome at times.
A piece of light entertainment from Kiev television. It relates to the bus that the fascists blew up and tried to blame on the separatists. So they got a rather mediocre actor to pretend to have been on the bus. But his fake bandaged face caused him trouble and he was glad when it was all over. Be proud if you never supported these fascists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=103V3Yezzrs#t=33
Rob, I think that countries including Russia and China can be military threats. History has many instances of countries attacking each other. Russia and China don’t seem much of a threat to the UK at present, but Ukraine has just lost Crimea to Russia, and, for whatever reason, Russian backed forces have been fighting in eastern Ukraine. I don’t believe that just the Kiev side has done all the killing and damage, no matter what John Goss and Macky say.
I don’t regard nuclear war, or any war, as acceptable. Nuclear war would be a hideous atrocity. But I don’t think it would be as bad as a large asteroid strike, and I don’t think it would wipe out all life on Earth.
But I’ve never read anything from Habbabkuk in favour of nuclear war; maybe I missed it.
Anyway, I think you should cheer up and read this, for the lulz:
http://qntm.org/destroy
Macky, you hate those with the death of innocents on their hands; that’s what you wrote, true?
But you’re justifying the death of innocents based on unpaid gas bills. You going to take it back? Or are you going to condemn the Russian government as you should? Or just continue in hypocrisy?
Yes, I learnt about th
Macky yes, I originally learned about that from Craig but I’ve read about it elsewhere since. And no, in the UK gas companies can’t just disconnect; the law does offer some protection.
Me loathsome? When you are advocating that innocent third parties should freeze to death because Russia didn’t get paid?
True colours, Macky. Praise be to your masters in the Kremlin Macky, you have the death of innocents on your hands. Be gone, hypocrite.
“[T]he US does more interventions simply because it has more power, not because it is morally worse. It does interventions all over the world because it can. But other countries do bad things too. It’s the nature of power.”
I tend to agree. The illusion prevalent since the end of the Cold War, is that economic globalisation had reined in national antagonisms under the auspices of a benign system of “global governance” under which the peoples of the world would share freedom and prosperity.
As is the case with the rulers of the other nations that comprise BRICS, Putin wants globalisation on his terms – namely that allow a greater assertion of national power and a weakening of US hegemony. He has worked hard to rebuild Russian imperial power in its ex-Soviet “near abroad”. And he is determined to keep NATO away from Russia’s borders. He fought a brief war with Georgia in August 2008 to make the point.
Putin skilfully exploited the Syrian war to increase Moscow’s global leverage and denounce US global ambitions. In words that have an ironic ring now, he used the New York Times as a pulpit from which to oppose Barack Obama’s abortive threat to attack Bashar al-Assad’s regime with cruise missiles: “We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilised diplomatic and political settlement”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?_r=1
So it was inevitable that if Ukraine tilted westwards, Russia would react, as Putin did, first by trying to block the partnership deal with the EU, and then, after Yanukovych’s fall, by seizing Crimea. But this is a continuation of a much longer history. Ukraine since independence has been fractured by the inter-imperialist rivalries that traverse it.
Following the recapture of Crimea in 1944, Stalin ordered the deportation of the Crimean Tatars to central Asia for alleged collaboration with the Germans. These deportations and subsequent immigration created an ethnic Russian majority in Crimea, which gives the lie to Putin’s claim that “Crimea has always been an inseparable part of Russia”:
http://eng.kremlin.ru/
“History has many instances of countries attacking each other. Russia and China don’t seem much of a threat to the UK at present, but Ukraine has just lost Crimea to Russia, and, for whatever reason, Russian backed forces have been fighting in eastern Ukraine. I don’t believe that just the Kiev side has done all the killing and damage, no matter what John Goss and Macky say.”
You really have to be joking here Clark. Putin sees the UK as enemy number one. During the Crimea crisis, when fascists were sent from Kiev to try and commandeer the Tatar minority to overthrow the government buildings they were not as successful as in Odessa, but there is plenty of footage of it in Episode 4 of “Crimea – the road to the homeland.”
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=20f_1426796540
You did not know, none of us did, that Putin had ordered atomic submarines with nuclear warheads to encircle Britain when Russia helped the populace become part of Russia, or that the nuclear warheads in Crimea were targeting NATO headquarters and London’s private centre of government. He actually said that Great Britain was “the main enemy of Russia.” It is not in the episode above. But if you think that the UK is safe when Cameron, without parliamentary consent, is sending British Troops and military equipment to train the fascists you are more naive than I thought.
Clark, certain people on here are government agents.
To understand this is to understand that you live in a police state.
It’s all total bullshit that the ‘news’ tells you.
There is no ‘democracy’. All we get are spin and mirrors.
Clark… what are you talking about here? If any Ukrainians have died of hypothermia it is the fault of their government for not paying their gas bill.
I’m sure you know that really, and you’re just trying to wind us up 🙂
Daniel, 12:40 am; thanks. Good to see some sanity returning to these comment threads.
John Goss, you’ve always seemed like a decent person to me, though mistaken about some things. I think you should reconsider your alliance with the murderous Macky.
Peacewisher, 12:51 am; you’re referring to the elected government from before the overthrow, are you not? The government that the Kremlin preferred, right?
What about the people, Peacewisher? What was their option? Did they elect the wrong government? Were they wrong to protest? It seems the only entity this argument permits to be right is the Kremlin.
“Daniel, 12:40 am; thanks. Good to see some sanity returning to these comment threads.”
You are welcome. Many on the left have got themselves into a complete muddle over Putin.
RobG, 12:48 am; do you think there might be some agents of the Kremlin here, too? That’s what Macky looks like to me. Money for Gazprom more valuable than the lives of Ukrainians.
Resident Dissident, who does not believe famines happen anywhere but in the Ukraine in the early thirties, might like to read this. It is most revealing about a commonwealth country and what the then prime minister, Winston Churchill, thought about it.
http://www.tehelka.com/remembering-indias-forgotten-holocaust/
Stop harking on about Holodomor until you can see the great plank in your own eye.
Even if this was a matter of non-payment, which I think is a cover story, Gazprom had other options, of course. Gas could have been scheduled for disconnection in the coming summer when the results would have avoided mortality. Or gas could have been stopped for a few hours each day.
John Goss @ 1.02am
Ukraine in the first half of the 20th century was like a microcosm of what Eric Hobsbawm called the “Age of Extremes” which began scattered among different states, above all Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Russian Revolution unleashed a vicious struggle between revolutionaries (above all the Bolsheviks based among the miners of the Donbass in the east), Ukrainian and Polish nationalists, and Red and White armies.
The outcome left Ukraine partitioned, the east a Soviet republic, while the west (Galicia and western Volhynia) was incorporated into Poland. Soviet Ukraine was one of the chief victims of the Stalinist collectivisation of agriculture. This resulted in the terrible famine of 1932-3 you describe. It was this terrible suffering that Ukrainian nationalists disingenuously claim was a deliberately engineered act of genocide.