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.
LOL ! Two of the Blog’s crazies this morning were talking about people being mad !
Back in the real world, not indulging in Western propaganda is considered by other crazies as “weaponising information” !! And in a mirror of the tactics of the Russophobes here;
” the Western media swing into denial mode, whitewash mode and disinformation mode to cast aspersions on Moscow.”
All here;
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41621.htm
LOL @ Anon. Now if that was me complaining about a banker, it would be the politics of envy, and it would be pointed out that to get the best bankers you have to pay them international telephone numbers or they’d bugger off to the Cayman Islands (which they do anyway).
But if you want to compare like with like, as regards responsibility for around the same population, take a look at Boris Johnson, who trousers nearly three times what Sturgeon gets.
And does a damn sight less for it.
Uzbek in the UK, I think that the strange effect you note, of commenters failing to criticise the Russian government, has complex causes. Reaction to “Western” media bias causes some to accept pro-Russian government propaganda as accurate. Outrage at “Western” wars of aggression marketed as defence results in deep suspicion and over-reaction.
Macky – is that one of those sites like rense and aangirfan?
Komodo – last I heard Boris wasn’t ranting on about wealth inequality at the same time as paying himself a fortune. You just get that feeling with the SNP that trousering large amounts of public money whilst presiding over a socialist basket case is really the name of the game. Don’t you get that feeling?
“Uzbek in the UK, I think that the strange effect you note, of commenters failing to criticise the Russian government, has complex causes.”
I don’t.
West = bad
Russia = opposition to West
Russia = good.
Happy birthday to the Queen on her real birthday.
Her official birthday is in June and she is in that capacity one of the world’s leading international terrorists, using her auxiliary, mercenary forces Al Queenida and Israeli Stoat to pursue her evil neo-colonial project in all the same Muslim countries her official predecessors prosecuted it in earlier centuries. The East( soon ) Middle East, Africa, parts of Europe etc etc.
That Uzbek in the UK flies in like a pelican with a beakful of nonsense and ad hominems, spews his masticated fish manure all over the blog, and flies out to his masters for more fish.
“BUT you know for sure that there are Nazis in Azov waiting to be trained by US military.”
That’s right. They killed four writers journalists and politicians last week. Nazis meet everywhere but they are not all going araound murdering people. Only your lot in Ukraine. You’ll like this it is from a British journalist out there to see what your fascists have achieved and are likely to achieve. You need to join up with Resident Dissident and a few others here and join the “UK support for AZOV genocide”. Idiot.
http://thetruthspeaker.co/2015/04/19/10-reasons-ukraine-is-dead/
Ba’al
Maybe my irony was too dry for the drolls.
Please can you tell me how Oxford medical scientists could possibly believe, and then repeat on the BBC in the middle of a paedophile scandal, that babies don’t feel pain in the same way as adults.
They have personalities, feelings, moods, joy, sorrow, pain, same as the rest of us. I don’t think anyone spending a moment with an actual baby could possibly think this was not the case.
Every time the Christian West increases its cruelty on the Muslims someone comes out with a philosophical justification for it. such as Darwin’s theory that black people were closer to the apes than whites.
I predict that the report that Muslims don’t feel pain will be found to already exist in the corridors of power that established rendition torture. Bush already declared that opponents of the US’ war crimes are exempt from the Geneva Convention and international agreements on torture.
We are much closer to the report that Muslims don’t feel pain than you think.
Uzbek:
“but history shows that this rarely happens.
If the Tsar was replaced by Stalin, Saddam Hussain by ISIS, and war criminals Blair and Brown by war criminals Hague and Cameron, where exactly does all the slaughter of innocent people get us?
Giyane
When I was in Pakistan I spent some time in the Kalash valleys in what used to be known as Kafiristan. The Kalash were actually quite happy to be ruled by the British as it marked a period of peace from the constant incursions of the sword of Islam (Nuristan – or Land of Light, was a far larger area inhabited by the Kalash but which fell to forced conversions) Today the unique culture of the Kalash continues to survive, though many Kalash are finding it prudent to convert, all thanks to British imperialism. Isn’t that lovely?
“That Uzbek in the UK flies in like a pelican with a beakful of nonsense and ad hominems, spews his masticated fish manure all over the blog, and flies out to his masters for more fish.”
A little excessive if I might say so, Mr Goss. Uzbek in the UK has direct experience of these matters whereas you were just a useful idiot for the Soviet Union.
Don’t you get that feeling?
No, I get the feeling that you are really shit-scared that the UK’s falling apart, and who can blame you? Frankly, your concerns re. politicians’ pay would be better addressed to the hedge funds who subsidise the mainstream parties and employ their retired – and even serving – members in order to ensure that the population as a whole remains suitably obedient to market economics and forgetful of its own rights.
You might, but of course, you won’t. You’ll just keep banging on, boringly, about peripheral non-issues.
Sorry, Giyane, wasn’t getting at you. Just highlighting the impossibility of getting contentious reports into matters of concern published.
John Goss,
Still no concerns from you on the largest gathering of XXI century Nazis in Russia’s second largest city which in war with Nazis of XX century lost almost half of its residents to starvation.
BUT again you found Nazis in Azov and in Kiev. In fact you found Nazis everywhere except in mother Russia. Why is that?
Anon1
“A little excessive if I might say so”
I do not really mind. The benefit of ones madness is that they can say whatever they like with no (or almost no) consequences. On the other hand their words are not taken seriously. It is to their disadvantage.
giyane
“If the Tsar was replaced by Stalin, Saddam Hussain by ISIS, and war criminals Blair and Brown by war criminals Hague and Cameron, where exactly does all the slaughter of innocent people get us?”
Realists (who always rule the world) say that people must be sacrificed to the benefit of their (or others’) nation. However one must note that some of these realists (some of whom you have mentioned) have progressed too far with sacrifice which put HUGE question mark whether this scale of sacrifice was really needed?
Clark
Following your logic most of westerners would have chosen either Hitler or Stalin back in 1930th. But interestingly they had not. Were people smarter back then?
“No, I get the feeling that you are really shit-scared that the UK’s falling apart”
On the contrary, I’m on record numerous times here as being a full supporter of Scottish independence. It really can’t happen soon enough. Then Nicola can fulfill her plans of hosing Scotland with international phone numbers of cash, and we won’t have to pay for it. Delightful. Everybody happy. We were a good team for a while but I think most English people are now reaching the point where they wish Scotland would just fuck off.
From Trainspotting :
TOMMY: Doesn’t it make you proud to be Scottish?
RENTON: I hate being Scottish. We’re the lowest of the fucking low, the scum of the earth, the most wretched, servile, miserable, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some people hate the English, but I don’t. They’re just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. We can’t even pick a decent culture to be colonized by. We are ruled by effete arseholes. It’s a shite state of affairs and all the fresh air in the world will not make any fucking difference.
Vote Yes!
I wonder what Renton would have made of Scotland the Brave voting No?
Maybe our democracies that brought chaos upon Libya, and blowback to the southern blue-borders will later apologise?
I found evidence that this sometimes happens, in an online Greek Newspaper started at a California State University, they have an anniversary article today about a Horror, where an American President is alleged to have later apologised
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/04/21/cia-daughter-on-the-anniversary-of-the-coup-her-dad-helped/
I see it’s HRH Queen Lizzie’s birthday today,many happy returns mam,and congratulations on being the the most expensive state scrounger,in the history of the welfare state.
For 89 years HRH has been cosseted,and cared for by the taxpayer,she’s wasn’t elected by the people,nor has she ever done an honest days work in her entire life.
She has never had to worry about bills or feeding her brood of flawed children,nor feel threat of bedroom tax, for her massive residence.
In the financial year 2013-14 the queen got £36.1million. In the financial year 2014 to 2015 she will receive £37.9million.
There will be no end to upkeep of the royals,in a few weeks time Prince Williams wife Kate Goldsmith Middleton,will produce another burden, oops I mean’t heir to the throne.
Over it’s life time like the other royals,it will cost an absolute fortune,and your children and grand children will,pay for it through taxes.
God bless you Mam.
Chaos,Mayhem,Blackmail,Threat,Fatal.
All words used by the ex-PM and Tory John Major,when describing the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon.
The pathetic attack on the SNP reminds me of Labour’s attempt at demeaning thd SNP,like the Tories,Labour wheeled out a dinosaur of an MP in Gordon Brown,the exact same thing can be said of the Tories,use of John (I privatised the railways) Major.
Uzbek in the UK, 2:54 pm: no, that doesn’t follow logically.
1) The commenters at this blog are not typical of the population,
2) The pro-Kremlin commenters aren’t even a majority at this blog,
3) In the 1930s there was far less crossover of propaganda between populations.
If it’s not Labour delivering a vow,on Scotland,then it’s the Tories,this time David Cameron has said he’ll get the UK Treasury to set up an annual review of Scottish finances,called the “Carlisle Principle”
The Carlisle Principle,will make sure Scotland doesn’t benefit more from UK finances,than the rest of the UK,it will also check,that John Swinney (Finance Minister in Scotland) keeps Scotland expenditure within its budget.
For those of you that don’t know the Scottish Parliament has balanced its books every year,and quite frankly it’s insulting coming from,a UK government which has ran up a debt of £1.5 trillion pounds.
Yet they have the chutzpah,to want check Holyroods sums,to see if they add up.
Reading between the lines,in my opinion it’s an attempt to try and undermine the Holyrood Parliament.
Ba’al
I wasn’t feeling got at. I was just shocked that anyone could argue that a baby couldn’t feel pain and get away with giving that medical opinion on a family breakfast show ( not much news in there these days). Then we are supposed to turn round and say ” oh well the babies didn’t feel anything anyway and their brains didn’t understand what was happening – when they were being sexually assaulted by the likes of Nonce1, Habbabkuk and Janner.
Meanwhile,the president of Israel Reuven Rivlin has given Netanyahu a two week extension,to try and form the next government of Israel.
Netanyahu is struggling to find a consensus among the other parties including the Kulanu party.
Under Israeli rules,if Netanyahu fails to form a coalition government in time, the task will be given to someone else.
“In fact you found Nazis everywhere except in mother Russia. Why is that?”
Oh there are Nazis in Russia, as everywhere else. Why would you think differently. They are not in government though whereas in Ukraine they are. And now they have US and UK training up their troops. Where are the Russian training up Nazis?
Youknowmyname
I first went to Greece in 1971 and I became aware of how much the US was hated in that country. I thought That’s fine, I’ll go along with that. Nobody’s hating me as an Englishman. My grandfather was a PoW there in the war.
What I find truly depressing is that the US and UK have continued making mischief in the world continuously as if the war had never happened and as if it had never ended.
We do not fight people like you fight an enemy in a war. We are ordered by Israel to target its enemies, the Muslims, and destroy them and all the lives in them. Those with enough spirit to escape our destruction are drowned by us when they reach our shores. Then there are no people left to complain.
China has just taken a massive step towards,blockiing the US in Pakistan,China’s president Xi Jinping is to set up a Pakistani-China Economic Corridor,expected to be worth $46 bn to Pakistan,the amount dwarfs the spending by the US in Pakistan
“A Horror We Made” is the title of this post, and though it applies to our wars in North Africa and the Middle East the horror is the displaced people prepared to risk their lives taking a perilous journey by sea rather than risk their lives by staying where they are. Unfortunately what has been done cannot easily be undone. There is still time to save Ukraine from becoming another US sponsored country of displaced persons. It is time to say, as the Czechs have said, “Tanks! No thanks!” And they ought to add “Fuck off Yanks!”
As Clark has mentioned those of us who support the Russian propaganda over western propaganda are in a minority. I am proud to be one of that minority as I was proud to be one of the (ignored) majority who did not want to take the UK into an illegal war in Iraq. Call me unpatriotic, I don’t mind. I am opposed to war, especially illegal war and unjust war. There is still time for others to see the light. But I guess ideology and financial gain is more important for some than justice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km43YzmrUNk