We are directly responsible for the disasters in the Mediterranean. The bombing of Libya into failed state status is now coming back to haunt us. The ludicrous idea, propounded by Blair, Robert Cooper and the Henry Jackson Society, that you could improve dictatorial states by massive bombing campaigns that targeted their basic infrastructure, is now a total bust. Sadly so are Iraq and Libya, to the permanent detriment of many millions of people. We caused both the Islamic State and the Mediterranean boat disasters, and we caused them with bombs.
But the lack of any effective policing is only part of the problem. What makes people so desperate that they are prepared to give all of the small amount they own, to ruthless gangs, in exchange for a dreadful sea crossing with a one in ten chance of drowning? Most of the refugees are sub-Saharan African. We only see the European end of the saga, not the terrible conditions on the cross Saharan journeys that they start with.
There will be no security anywhere if the world does not address the terrible scourge of African poverty and under-development. That is a huge subject on which I have written extensively and worked much of my life, and I do not wish to open it here. But what it does show is the utter stupidity – inhumanity yes, but also stupidity – of UKIP in thinking that cutting development aid will increase the economic security of the UK.
John will tell you that the Land of Nod is Toytown.
Gosh – don’t have nightmares Mary
RobG
23/04/2015 9:57pm
Ah yes, thank you for that. I don’t even need to click the link because I have watched this numerous times, but I am most grateful in any case.
I am particularly fond of this exchange.
“SEN. COLEMAN: Mr. Zureikat was a significant contributor to Mariam’s Appeals. Is that correct?
GALLOWAY: He was the second biggest contributor. The main contributor was Sheik Zayed, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, which you’ve glossed over in your report because it’s slightly embarrassing to you. And the third major contributor was the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, which you’ve equally glossed over because it’s embarrassing to you.
And both of those individuals are your friends.”
The full transcript is here:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8869.htm
And by the way, you might think that you could obtain a transcript from the full transcripts of all the hearings, held on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs’s own website. Nope. It’s the only one that isn’t there. In fact, it doesn’t even exist. Check this out.
http://belmontclub.blogspot.co.uk/2005/05/gorgeous-george-galloway-reader-km.html
Kind regards,
John
Off to the land of Nod meself now. Night.
J
Good to hear your back and glowing, Mary, or shall we call you strontium….;) Hope the irradiation has done what its supposed to do and you improve. Take it easy and enjoy spring.
Whatever St George was, he wasn’t Palestinian. According to Gibbon, he was a native of what is modern Turkey (like Santa Claus), who sold bacon to the Roman Army, eventually rising to the (Arian) archbishopric of Alexandria. His greed resulted in his being strangled and thrown into the sea by his flock. He seems to have been like Tony Blair in some respects.
http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/george.html
“This odious stranger disguising every circumstance of time and place, assumed the mask of a martyr, a saint, and a Christian hero, and the infamous George of Cappadocia has been transformed into the renowned St. George of England, the patron of arms, of chivalry, and of the Garter.”
John, thanks for the interesting links (I didn’t know about this; only that the Galloway clip gets increasingly hard to find on YouTube).
I’ll have to echo what I said to Glynn earlier in this thread: although many readers of Craig’s blog are au fait with all this stuff, many others are not, particularly in the current political climate, where people are searching for voices outside of the propaganda machine that is the mainstream media.
It’s tedious, I know, but I feel we have to keep repeating things for new readers who might not be up to speed with it all.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
Où sont les trolls?
No doubt up in the Welsh hills, wearing silly black wigs and playing paintball games.
God help the United Kingdom.
Ba’al; ” His greed resulted in his being strangled and thrown into the sea by his flock. He seems to have been like Tony Blair in some respects.”
Seems you consult some very peculiar Sites !
From Wiki; “But George loudly renounced the Emperor’s edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian and declared his worship of Jesus Christ. Diocletian attempted to convert George, even offering gifts of land, money and slaves if he made a sacrifice to the Roman gods; he made many offers, but George never accepted.[17]
Recognizing the futility of his efforts and insisting on upholding his edict, Diocletian was left with no choice but to have George executed for his refusal. Before the execution George gave his wealth to the poor and prepared himself. After various torture sessions, including laceration on a wheel of swords in which he was resuscitated three times, George was executed by decapitation before Nicomedia’s city wall”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George
RobG
“Où sont les trolls?”
They fucked up bigtime in the last post by siding with Janner and Lord Carlile, against Craig, thus exposing their gaffers as establishment kabbala zionist paedophiles.
They are currently being waterboarded in a military rehabilitation centre so the same cock-up cannot happen again. 09.40 Nonce1 was just to get you to think they were still alive and operating normally. The money the “fuckwits” get is good but the estafia won’t put up with fools.
The Taleban, who are supported by the UK-owned moderate sect of Islam, the Deobandis, under the slogan of ‘hating the British’ has declared war on Islamic State, the Israeli-owned media PLC set up for USUKIS global neo-colonial operations.
The Deobandis control large swathes of the UK Muslim electorate in favour of New Labour through village mentality sub-continent tribal loyalties, while other, stricter sects support Cameron/Hague style total blatant lies of Al Queenida mercenaries in Syria and Libya. Strict in this context merely means more blatant in their political lies.
Two things follow. 1/ That the May election has already been decided in favour of Ed Ziliband, whose political slaves will now pick up the baton in the the struggle for global USUKIS hegemony while the mercenaries go on holiday, investing their Saudi and Qatari loot in real estate at home in Libya etc or in the UK.
2/ That the news will change from Zollywood beheadings to Mossad style false-flag market bombings in the ongoing destruction of the Muslim world. Except of course where the Zios live themselves.
Good news. Eventually the UK public will put 2 and 2 together and realise that they are run by identifiable garbage heaps of violent, mad war-criminals, who each have identifiable garbage heaps of hypocritical Muslim sects who sell their afterlives for a miserable reward in this life.
Identifiable being the key word, because when we notice the change of style in the violence, we will see the revolting connection between state terror and the sects of political Islam.
More @RobG ‘wither be those Trolls’ I have three , probably wrong , answers to your demand, perhaps they are moderating news on Petraeus & drone-‘accidental deaths’
another explanation is that the 10 plausible virtual identities per workstation ( TM ) crowd are off creating chaos somewhere as part of the May general Parliamentary Election…
no, not our May GE, but the more “worrying” Polish PPE (Presidential & Parliamentary Election), (some websites think that some possible results might weaken the ongoing Ukrainian putsch), but a glance at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_parliamentary_election,_2015 show many possibilities!
be assured, wherever ‘Public Diplomacy’ $$$Billions dollar budget needs to be spent, our quaking trolls will be there, fighting the fight on behalf of the United States Intelligence Community (I.C.), a federation of 17 [seventeen] separate United States government agencies that work separately and together to conduct intelligence activities considered necessary for the conduct of foreign relations and national security of the United States. Member organisations of the I.C. include intelligence agencies, military intelligence, and civilian intelligence and analysis offices within federal executive departments…
they then devolve some ‘Public Diplomacy’ trolling to the Tier One partners, UK, Can, Aus, NZ, a bit to the Tel-Aviv hasbará team , off the side, then lots of other natural language trolling to the other partnersGermany SSEUR/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, France SSEUR/NATO, Italy SSEUR/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Spain SSEUR/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Poland 3-pty/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Romania 3-pty/NATO, Netherlands SSEUR/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Belgium SSEUR/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Greece 3-pty/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Czech Republic 3-pty/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Portugal NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Hungary 3-pty/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Sweden SSEUR/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Austria3-pty/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Bulgaria NATO, Denmark SSEUR/NATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation, Finland3-pty, SlovakiaNATO, Croatia3-pty/NATO, LithuaniaUSA affiliated President/NATO, SloveniaNATO, LatviaUSA affiliated President/NATO, EstoniaUSA affiliated President/NATO, LuxembourgNATO/TIER B Focused Cooperation.{ allegedly } or didn’t you want to know where they *actually* are?
Hello Rose – Hope you are fit and well – have missed your posts. Back up to strength Mary – welcome back.
YouKnowMyName, 8:40 am; thanks for the summary of deployment; is your source the Snowden revelations? Do you have any information regarding techniques and objectives? Also, have you any knowledge of the opposing forces in this ongoing cyber-conflict?
Mary, welcome back, and Rose and Ruth, good to see you both here again too.
Cheers Mark. You are well too I trust.
Not doing well though is HSBC. At their AGM today Chairman Flint will announce a review into relocating the HQ from London to HK possibly or another European capital. Probably did not like being hauled over the coals by HoC committee and general critical press coverage. Suggest Geneva!
In London since 1992 when they acquired good old Midland Bank. I was customer of Midland from late teens. Proper bank then with branch managers (Capt Mainwaring style!) who knew their customers not wide boys selling their products as presently. I got shot of HSBC last year.
Timing of this?? and possible political repercussions??
And greetings to you Clark. Thanks too for your kind thoughts on Squonk.
RobG
23/04/2015 11:21pm
Good morning, RobG. You’re not wrong at all.
I’m very grateful for the links you provide, and I am in full agreement that the more knowledge that can be set out on this forum, the better it is for everyone. You will have accessed sources I have not, and vice versa – the internet, and the world generally, are big places.
Kind regards.
John
Good to know you’re home Mary. Was thinking about you. Would have said so yesterday but went for a 50 mile bike ride (not intentionally, I took a wrong turn and had no map). I was zonked. Although I used to do much further distances I’m now out of condition and overweight. I was in bed before you posted your comment. Hopefully now you’ll be on the road to a full recovery.
Back on topic Ruben Rosenberg Colorni looked last year at the problems of African refugees. It is all relevant today, as David Cameron has told Italy, in so many words “you can have the refugees I created. We don’t want them in England.” The racist murderer!
“Tell us, you who live safe
In your warm houses,
You who find, returning in the evening,
Hot food and friendly faces:
Consider if this is a man
Who works in the mud,
Who does not know peace,
Who fights for a scrap of bread,
Who dies because of a yes or a no.”
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2014/03/10/african-refugees-not-welcome-xenophobia-and-intolerance-as-policy/
Becky Cohen
“@Habbabkuk (la vita è bella: “And in the Argentine, moreover, every citizen is guaranteed a blustering loudmouth as Head of State, be it a man (Senor Kirchner) or a woman (Senora Kirchner).
By the way, and off-topic, it is said that Senora Kirchner enjoys the (intimate) company of a man half her age. Whoaaarr :)”
Isn’t that the double standard though, Habbabkuk? If a woman does that she’s derided and ridiculed, yet if a bloke bags a woman half his age he’s lionized as a ‘stud muffin’”
_____________________
Who’s deriding
and ridiculing, Becky?
Not I, for sure.
CK’s fine for her age and Habbabkuk says good luck both to her (in this particular field, that is!) and the young(er) bloke.
Cameron et al, having bombed Libya to smithereens creating what is called a ‘failed state’ (Q is the UK a ‘failed state’? A Not half) have found a fall guy.
Mediterranean Boat Tragedy: Captain In Court
Authorities fear that up to 920 migrants died when the ship carrying them sunk in waters between Libya and Italy.
http://news.sky.com/story/1471339/mediterranean-boat-tragedy-captain-in-court
He, Cameron, should not have abandoned Mare Nostrum. He is a wide boy and a spiv. Look at him here in BLiar mode.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/82530000/jpg/_82530996_026777508-1.jpg
Caption beneath –
‘Proposals for “English votes for English laws” would be in place for the first Budget of a Conservative government, David Cameron is to say.
He will also pledge an “English rate of income tax” – although it could apply in Wales and Northern Ireland – once more powers are devolved to Scotland.’
I think he is getting desperate. So is Miliband. He has employed a Californian based company called Enlightened Mind to improve his leadership image. Little late in the day I would suggest.
http://www.lbc.co.uk/miliband-employs-firm-for-leadership-advice-108545
A plague on both their houses.
@YouKnowMyName, thanks for the breakdown; of course the spooks work is also supplemented by the scores of deluded useful idiots, as we witness even here on this Blog.
A couple of related links;
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/UK-Intelligence-Reads-Thousands-of-Private-Emails-Everyday—20150312-0014.html
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/04/22/counter-terror-expo-london-banned/
@Mary, welcome back ! 🙂
Glenn
“RobG (Referring to a quote from “Anon1″) : “Anon1, you won’t last long at GCHQ if you keep coming out with such unsophisticated statements.”
(RobG was referring to a particularly sycophantic outpouring of Royal-worshipping bilge from “anon1″, on the occasion of QE2’s birthday.)”
__________________
Have just come across your egregious comment about Anon1, above.
His comment was hardly as you describe it; I should have said it was merely a well-mannered and quite restrained way of wishing her a happy birthday.
In fact, it seemed no more and no less “sycophantic” and “worshipping” than the various comments addressed to Mary over time and, latterly, on her “return” from her hospital to this blog.
Especially bearing in mind the respective contributions to the well-being of society and the state afforded by Her Majesty on the one hand and Mary on the other.
*************************
God save the Queen.
Cheers John. I could not even get on a bike at the moment. The Superintendent Radiographer in the Nuclear Medicine department that is dealing with me is doing a sponsored group bike ride to France in the Summer in aid of the hospital. 800kms!
Should posters who have experienced pain and suffering bei trea
Should posters who have experienced pain and suffering be treated more leniently on this blog; should a certain deference be shown to their views even if they can be dubious in the extreme?
Furthermore, should we welcome the submission for all to read of intimate details of a person’s personal life-events on a blog where the prevailing ethos appears to be a desire to preserve anonymity (and, by the way, to avoid ad hominems)?
Just askin’ about some of the deeper problems of life…!
@John Goss, good news for these ten if this is correct, but note the irony for the Yemini prisoners;
http://news.yahoo.com/guantanamo-detainee-british-residency-released-191431669.html
Thanks Clark, well I do wish to explain my point of view, although any particular individual’s POV on the internet is about as useful as advice from a drunk-guy in a pub!
It’s not really that important where I found a brief overview of the Public Diplomacy Intelligence Community & partners, it exists as publicly available information in the public domain, ignoring or deprecating information in the public domain is dangerous and unhelpful.
But consider a large system (say Cyber-Security) developed to Standards. If you defend only to those carefully edited & published Standards, only considering the actual words & clauses written down, then you might fail to defend that system against malfaiteurs, who could/can/do fuzz a weakness case that wasn’t properly explored or even noticed by the Standards development team. That’s why for holistic security, everything is valid as a fusion input, irrespective of source. Clues for defence, I personally don’t view the NSA as a threat to the average citizen, today. I’m thinking on a much longer timescale than you.
The ‘objectives’ oversight debate should probably take place somewhere about whether a future NSA or Министерства информационных технологий и связи РФ would lead to an end to universal suffrage government, the mind-blowingly unprecedented inherent power available in the near future software defined networking with virtualized networking functionality means that all intercept becomes just a full-take ghost in the machine, hidden in plain sight, just another abstract layer in the internet of everything.
The threat exchange models *might* help, but they need to respond to scarfed signatures in milliseconds to be any use, and just who gets to define the endemic threat signatures (and exclude their own malware?) even today’s UKUSA etc systems are deployed in ways/times/places that have arguably dubious legitimacy.
I’m aware that some publicly funded groups claim that a friendly Blue-Team protectively marked document remains protectively marked, even when it has been hung-out to exposure on an uncontrolled website. But this means also exposure to the opposing publicly funded Red Team, and how can future societal systems be protected by design if large special interest groups are bickering over the ‘exposure’ or not.
If you claim ownership of SSEUR, for example, then bloody trademark it, or (c) it, or just don’t share it with over a million people. By the time these/any documents come into public exposure, they have already been handed round for consideration in the Kremlin and Beijing, and probably in Palermo/Naples/Medellin, usually years before. I think that alone does away with the [don’t look at that document, Mildred] approach.
I did try asking the Система технических средств для обеспечения функций оперативно-рoзыскных мероприятий group some questions on their systems, but they were honestly more interested in shopping than a discussion!. The only other information that I gleaned from my earlier time in the Soviet Union was the habit of their Security Service to just occasionally borrow someone’s apartment for a ‘safe-house’ secret meeting, asking the random family to go away for a few hours whilst meetings took place, other than that, they tend not to leak incontinently.
As for the ‘opposing forces’ in the information war, what about the citizens living in the middle? Do they have a transparent informed POV or are they all available to be sacrificed by both/all sides for the greater good?
For example, we’re being told today that Azerbaijan as an energy transit point is much better than Turkey/Greece – or is it? here is the POV of ‘unbiased’ RFE/RL http://www.rferl.org/content/why-is-azerbaijan-so-important-to-europe-united-states/26771396.html
I’d really like to be able to use a toaster or a TV in 5 years time, and I’d rather that my current & future correspondence was as private as possible (whilst allowing my national state its obvious proportional national security needs) but there seem to be some information warfare game theorists playing a bit too much “Horror” at present to guarantee tranquility for even the average citizen. . . ?