What comes out to me from the “Black Spider letter” correspondence of Prince Charles published today is how utterly obsequious Tony Blair and New Labour ministers were to him. No sign whatsoever of radicalism from the former “People’s Party” as they fell over to ingratiate themselves with the heir to the throne. I rather enjoyed Charles quite sharp tone to Blair.
I am fundamentally opposed to the existence of the monarchy. It will hopefully be replaced by a better system, but no human system is perfect. Given that we have a monarchy at present, you will perhaps be surprised to learn that I do not see anything wrong in Charles’ letters, which put forward views which are much what we would have expected him to hold. Of course there is interaction between the monarchy and government, and of course we should get rid of this hereditary element. But Charles’ lobbying is hugely less damaging and pernicious than the corporate lobbying I witnessed throughout my Whitehall career. At least Charles is not lobbying them for corporate advantage and giving large political donations at the same time.
While in my view he did nothing wrong in writing the letters, he and government are both very wrong in arguing they should be private. It is when it is secret that such attempts to wield influence between two branches of government – and monarchy is a branch of government – can be most simply perverted to ill ends. That such publication will not occur again because government has legislated to keep it secret, is an example of the privileged arrogance that prevents this from being a genuine democracy.
Altogether not that big a story and it gives Rusbridger and the Guardian the chance to pose as radical. I find the fact that what is published is so anodyne and unobjectionable rather suspicious – what has not been published? Rusbridger is of course the editor who complied enthusiastically with a GCHQ instruction to smash the Snowden hard drives. The existence of other copies does not justify this any more than it justifies book-burning.
By coincidence, a very worthwhile article by Michael Gillard that had been excised from the net has recently been republished, setting out how Rusbridger in 2002 conspired with Andy Hayman of the Met to bury an investigation into police corruption, including the burglary of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. By a further coincidence I was having a pint with Laurie Flynn in Sandy Bell’s four days ago.
Hayman went on to be the promoter of the stream of lies about the murder of Jean Charles De Menezes and the publicist of numerous fake terrorist plots, before having to resign in a scandal involving nubile police officers at public expense in tropical islands.
Rusbridger and his extraordinary wig go on and on as a pretend opposition outlet, their reputation much dented by recent hysterical unionist output which exceeds the Daily Express. But Rusbridger’s continued usefulness to the establishment is not in doubt. The pose of publishing the most harmless of Prince Charles’ letters does little to help a threadbare disguise.
“During the referendum, the SNP didn’t demonise the Liberals and Labour for campaigning alongside the Conservatives in the referendum. They criticised them for campaigning to stay in the union. Obviously.”
So how long do you think Nationalists can keep on altering reality and changing history to suit themselves before people notice? How long before facts defeat the belief?
Just look back over this forum, elections are rigged when they want them to be and not when they don’t, photographs which show what they don’t want them to show must have been photoshopped, anything inconvenient must be the work of MI5.
Who said that then?
Further to the issue of Gazprom and pipelines:
http://www.bruegel.org/nc/blog/detail/article/1616-the-gazprom-case-good-timing-or-bad-timing/
JSD; “is “intended to suggest Jews are the neocon driving force. It is the normal racist conspiracy drivel that pops up here way too often”.
Yet a well known academic study by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt concluded exactly, with the inevitable charges of antisemitism, leading to Glenn Greenwald to state; “”Walt and Mearshiemer merely voiced a truth which has long been known and obvious but was not allowed to be spoken. That’s precisely why the demonization campaign against them was so vicious and concerted: those who voice prohibited truths are always more hated than those who spout obvious lies.”
There’s also a certain Benjamin Netanyahu, who could be heard boasting in 2001 that Israel ‘controlled the U.S.’, but he doesn’t get call an Anti-Semite; seems that the right to voice certain things is only allowed to certain people !
Chomsky his usual rational and logical self on Mearsheimer and Walt:
“As noted, the US-Israeli alliance was firmed up precisely when Israel performed a huge service to the US-Saudis-Energy corporations by smashing secular Arab nationalism, which threatened to divert resources to domestic needs. That’s also when the Lobby takes off (apart from the Christian evangelical component, by far the most numerous and arguably the most influential part, but that’s mostly the 90s). And it’s also when the intellectual-political class began their love affair with Israel, previously of little interest to them. They are a very influential part of the Lobby because of their role in media, scholarship, etc. From that point on it’s hard to distinguish “national interest” (in the usual perverse sense of the phrase) from the effects of the Lobby. I’ve run through the record of Israeli services to the US, to the present, elsewhere, and won’t review it again here.
M-W focus on AIPAC and the evangelicals, but they recognize that the Lobby includes most of the political-intellectual class — at which point the thesis loses much of its content. They also have a highly selective use of evidence (and much of the evidence is assertion). Take, as one example, arms sales to China, which they bring up as undercutting US interests. But they fail to mention that when the US objected, Israel was compelled to back down: under Clinton in 2000, and again in 2005, in this case with the Washington neocon regime going out of its way to humiliate Israel. Without a peep from The Lobby, in either case, though it was a serious blow to Israel. There’s a lot more like that. ”
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20060328.htm
“I take it from your response you are against whistle blowers.
The memo was genuine, not false as you said.”
_________________________________
A grovelling apology from Carmichael to the FM,Carmichael goes as far as to say “the details of that account are not correct.”
There you go straight from the horses mouth,so to speak.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/carmichaelgate.jpg
As for whistleblowing,a false smear on the FM,in which both parties vehemently deny the accusations combined by a grovelling apology from the instigator of said memo hardly constitutes as whistleblowing.
“There’s also a certain Benjamin Netanyahu, who could be heard boasting in 2001 that Israel ‘controlled the U.S.’, but he doesn’t get call an Anti-Semite; seems that the right to voice certain things is only allowed to certain people !”
The following article originally published on the Zionist-Jewish site ‘Times Of Israel’ (but since deleted) actually confirms what many non-Jewish “anti-Semites” have long suspected, but are often afraid to openly admit. Is it anti-Semitic for Jews and non-Jews alike to point out the racist and chauvinist political identity of Jewish-Zionism?
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/jews-do-control-the-media.html
Macky
23/05/2015 1:16pm
Concluded exactly what? Is it possible for you to summarise – or better, paste – the main conclusion to which you are referring?
As for Netanyahu, he didn’t boast that “Jews control the U.S.”, but that “Israel controls the U.S.”. There is a difference.
Kind regards,
John
The LDs are taking no discip!inary action against Alistair Carmichael ref that memo. The same party were very quick to punish David Ward and Jenny Tonge for speaking up for Palestine.
I hope you bastards are all happy now!
See how you have brought about disastrous austerity? All those illegal asylum seekers getting mobile phones, houses, and cars, and all those useless unemployed getting free benefits and laze around all day.
Buckingham Palace ‘axes at least four’ of the Queen’s senior officials
Are you all happy now?
I must set up #charity unless one of the anon1,…2,….3, hab……,vil……. will give up spamming here and turn up in the Buck palace to run the bath taps, take the corgis for a walk, and general butling around and mincing about in frocks and stuff?
======
Macky you deserve the long prison sentence that is coming to you for breaking the super, super, super injunction and mention the world J~~ you antise….. and stuff.
The super super super injunction has been put there for a reason to keep the likes of you in jail and help out the land stealing mass murdering genocidal Jewish Supremacists to cull those Arabs who are sitting a top of all that lovely juicy oil. See you made me mention the word J~~ now!
I hope you are happy NOW!!
Good for Ireland. I gather there is also a vote on lowering the age at which candidates can stand for the Presidency.
Cormac Murphy O’Connor had best keep quiet until he has atoned for admitting the war criminal BLair to his church.
“There’s also a certain Benjamin Netanyahu, who could be heard boasting in 2001 that Israel ‘controlled the U.S.’, but he doesn’t get call an Anti-Semite; seems that the right to voice certain things is only allowed to certain people !”
______________________
Indeed Macky, Israels nomenclatures are first and foremost in the eyes of Washingtons powerful Zionist purloiners.
The American denizens come a distant second.
Technicolour; “Chomsky his usual rational and logical self on Mearsheimer and Walt”
He also said the authors took a “courageous stand” and said much of the criticism against the authors was “hysterical”, implying the subject/thesis was itself was a valid & legitimate field for research.
In addition from Wiki;
“In December 2006 the authors privately circulated a 79-page rebuttal, “Setting the Record Straight: A Response to Critics of ‘The Israel Lobby'”.[78]
In the book published in August 2007 the authors responded to criticisms leveled against them. They claimed that the vast majority of charges leveled against the original article were unfounded, but some critiques raised issues of interpretation and emphasis, which they addressed in the book.”
As for Netanyahu, he didn’t boast that “Jews control the U.S.”, but that “Israel controls the U.S.”.
But Israel is officially a Jewish State.
Daniel; “Is it anti-Semitic for Jews and non-Jews alike to point out the racist and chauvinist political identity of Jewish-Zionism?”
Here’s the answer;
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5e/5b/16/5e5b164a721fcfe8c94c1bf8da73fc6b.jpg
Classic Villager/jiddu cultic logic/hubris below.
“As for Netanyahu, he didn’t boast that “Jews control the U.S.”, but that “Israel controls the U.S.”. There is a difference.”
Really, yeah right, but what are they putting in this fools school dinner at the Krishnamurty Schooo?!
Bwahahaha, enough to split graphene hairs, and quite shamelessly posted – God help us, the Last Day must be near!
JSD; “Concluded exactly what?”
Amazing how people suddenly lose the ability to use Google !;
From Wiki;
“They argue that “in its basic operations, it is no different from interest groups like the Farm Lobby, steel and textile workers, and other ethnic lobbies. What sets the Israel Lobby apart is its extraordinary effectiveness.” According to Mearsheimer and Walt, the “loose coalition” that makes up the Lobby has “significant leverage over the Executive branch”, as well as the ability to make sure that the “Lobby’s perspective on Israel is widely reflected in the mainstream media.” They claim that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in particular has a “stranglehold on the U.S. Congress”, due to its “ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda, and to punish those who challenge it.”
JSD; “There is a difference”
For whom does the US Jewish Lobby lobby for ?
“Buckingham Palace is believed to have axed at least four of the Queen’s senior officials in the last few months, despite them being long-serving employees.”
____________________________
Dear oh dear, Fedup,just how will:
Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, Duchess of Edinburgh, Countess of Merioneth,
Baroness Greenwich, Duke of Lancaster, Lord of Mann, Duke of Normandy, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Garter, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, Sovereign of the Most
Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Sovereign of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order, Sovereign of the Imperial Service Order, Sovereign of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India,
Sovereign of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, Sovereign of the Order of British India, Sovereign of the Indian Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of Burma, Sovereign of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, Sovereign of the Royal Family Order of King Edward VII,
Sovereign of the Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, Sovereign of the Royal Victorian Order, Sovereign of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.
Cope.
What on earth has this group of nations come to when HRH may have to pour and stir her own tea,scandalous.
Furthermore that pesky Prime Minister has pledged to cut welfare for families from £26.000 to £23.000 per annum,just how will Regina II Elizabeth and her brood cope,being the longest recipients of benefits,in the history of the welfare state.
Congratulations to Ireland for choosing as they did, the only other option would have meant inhumane pressure by authorities over the wishes of its citizens and taxpayers.
So the Human rights act still works in Ireland and one wonders what they think of Cameron’s ilk wanting to abolish the EU HRA, thereby dissing the UN Human rights convention, virtually excluding itself, not to speak of undermining the Good Friday agreement.
I think that nothing should happen until there is an agreed bill of rights, one that has been agreed by British voters in a referendum, to replace it. Hundreds of years this ideological claptrap has been used to subdue egalitarian minds.
Saying you will ‘do’ is really not comparable to doing it and the HRA is too important to be replaced by nice words of ‘there there, now wait until it happens’ variety.
There are still some who believe that the last air crash in the Alps was not a malicious plan by a depressive pilot, despite him trying it before. They see conspiracy even when the facts stick in their eyes.
That said the EASA has been rattled by a Spaniard called Teso who has worked for two years to find flaws and entries into the software of airplanes. He found many and it is viable to take over more than one system on an aircraft, he presumes.
I’m not techie, but why should cyber hackers not be interested in airplanes? They are not interested in sabotaging chip operated toasters, so the manufacturers of aircraft take note, do not fly your birds on a windows OS but a linux based system such as debian which is easily encrypted.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/hackers-warn-passenger-planes-vulnerable-to-cyber-attacks-a-1035172.html
Alistair Carmichael,the Ex-Secretary of State for anywhere but Scotland,caught on video saying.
“The first I became aware of the memo,when a journalist informed me of its existence.”
Considering Carmichael,sanctioned its release to said journalist,in the first place,I’d say that’s pretty damning and conclusive evidents,that Carmichael a lawyer to trade,is a liar.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/on-public-record/
“As for Netanyahu, he didn’t boast that “Jews control the U.S.”, but that “Israel controls the U.S.”. There is a difference.”
Good you nailed that. Perfect example of the sleight of hand used here persistently and with great tenacity under the guise and banner of “The plight of the Palestinians is what concerns me.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/05/born-kneeling/comment-page-6/#comment-527500
Despite Craig’s attempts to educate these bigots, this kind of subtle, and to some of us not-so-subtle, form of anti-Semitic racism sadly remains perceptibly and consistently palpable here.
Fedup; “I hope you are happy NOW!!”
Just don’t use “Z**F***Wits”, and you’ll be alright ! 😀
Another disgusting Anti-Semite ?!
“Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.” – Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/01/11/burying-sharon/
I can see this is going to be a long weekend.
Perfectly happy to thrash this out; quite willing to have my mind changed, but please let me take things in order, I need to respond to Ba’al Zevul and Phil first, since they posted about this matter first.
Just for the record, and I suppose it’s not really necessary to say so, but I have never posted here under anything but my own name, and never intend to.
Kind regards,
John
“AHMEDABAD: Tarek Fatah, Pakistan-born Canadian writer, broadcaster and a secular and liberal activist said on Saturday that Syria or Egypt is not the originator of the idea of Islamic State.
“Pakistan is the real birthplace of the Islamic state terrorism and Pakistan* army headquarters is the birthplace of ISIS. Muslim brotherhood, Taliban, ISIS are all different flavours of the same poisonous coco-cola which is Pakistan army. They do not have anything to do with Islam. They have made Islam a business,” said Fatah. ”
The full article:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Pakistan-birthplace-of-ISIS-Tarek-Fatah/articleshow/47218188.cms
Brave author and activist, more on him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarek_Fatah
Author of: The Jew is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths That Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7973543-the-jew-is-not-my-enemy
Yet to Arbiter, Mary & Co, presumably white western folk, fomenting against the Jews seems to come naturally! Wonder why? And why here?
__________
* Pakistan, another country whose mention is taboo here. Never mentioned, except perhaps by Ba’al. Are people really so ignorant, or are they self-absorbed one-trick ponies: Palestine.
I wish someone would answer my questions re: why the Arabs have failed their Palestinian brethren?
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/05/born-kneeling/comment-page-6/#comment-527503
“Here’s the answer;”
My question was of course rhetorical. It goes without saying that it’s not Jews per se that are the problem. Any analysis disingenuously attempting to attribute a complicit media in the suffering of the Palestinian’s and the perpetuation of war in general on purely the shoulders of Jews would (correctly) be viewed as anti-Semitic.
This is not really the issue at hand. What IS the issue is what is rarely, if at all, discussed, that being the nature of Jewish ideology of which the theologico-racial supremacism as observed in Israel and outwith Israel by Zionist Jews is entirely consistent.
But I would also contend that the role of many intellectual Jews within the anti-Zionist movement is that of perpetuating the very problem they claim to want to see an end to. We have to ask ourselves, for instance, why it is that avowed anti-Zionists are often invited to participate in Zionist media events?
It is quite clear that Zionist power chooses a controlled rather than a genuine opposition. This kind of recognition, as Jacob Cohen rightly pointed out, allows the Palestinian Authority to continue collaborating with the Zionists at the expense of the Palestinian people.
It is the link between Talmudic Judaism, Zionism and Jewish ideology that explains the violence in Gaza over the decades. This is where somebody like Gilad Atzmon comes in. He shows that the purpose, conscious or unconscious, of these Jewish activists is to conceal this link from the rest of the world – and the fact that he is demonized by anti-Zionist Jews is surely evidence enough that he has hit the nail on the head.
How can it be explained that Jewish intellectuals who are neither Zionist Jews, nor religious Jews, attack people like Atzmon for his supposed targeting of “Jews and Judaism including anti-Zionist Jews?”
The truth is Atzmon and other “anti-Semites” like myself do nothing of the sort. We are unconcerned with Jews and Judaism, only with Jewish ideology or Jewishness. The reason why this kind of critique bothers our critics is that we highlight the fact that these anti-Zionist Jews are themselves steeped in Jewish ideology.
Anyway you look at it, the real aim of those anti-Zionist Jews and their various intellectual positions is to prevent the mass of non-Jews ever coming to an understanding that they should ever perceive the obvious connection between Israel and Nazi Germany (racial supremacism, creation of alebensraum/ Greater Israel). Why if that were to happen, the Jewish state might be seen for what it truly is.
@RoS
The memo was not falsified. It was a genuine account of what made by a Scottish civil servant of his conversation wit a French civil servant.
None of your wrangling will alter that.
Fred
23/05/2015 3:51pm
I agree with you. On the evidence I have seen so far, I believe that Nicola Sturgeon said at that meeting that she did not regard Ed Miliband as Prime Ministerial material, and that, somehow, that got garbled into her endorsing David Cameron. I don’t know if that was done deliberately by the civil servant taking down the notes or if it was a mistake. But I believe that Nicola Sturgeon said something which is at the root of all this.
The original allegation that the memo was invented out of whole cloth came from Craig, who said it was a complete smear originated by the security services. I don’t believe it, and won’t until the French Ambassador and French Consul-General say so, which they have not.
That doesn’t excuse the disgraceful behaviour of Carmichael, who shouldn’t even be an MP.
Kind regards,
John
“The memo was not falsified. It was a genuine account of what made by a Scottish civil servant of his conversation wit a French civil servant.
None of your wrangling will alter that.”
Indeed. It should be Sturgeon who ought to be apologizing, not the guy who revealed the truth of the situation. It’s a bit like Snowden apologizing for bringing power to account. I can’t believe why it is the guy apparently believes he needed to go to the lengths he has gone to in terms of the extent of his apologies. He has even rescinded his right to a pay increase. He should be praised not condemned.
Neil, Kibbitzer, Macky and John. I appreciate what you all said earlier. I have just come from a heavy day’s gardening and read back.
One amusing thing this morning. The kitchen sink was blocked and try as I might with the plunger, nothing happened. I was just about to put some soda and boiling water down but had a sudden thought and went outside to check the drain where the pipe discharges. There was a lovely toad about 4″ in diameter sitting on the grid, looking up at me. Luckily he was alright and made off after I had lifted him out. I love toads. They are a rare sight these days. In the Spring my husband used to go down the road and carry them across the road to a dew pond to save them being squashed by the traffic. The bucket was filled time after time then. Sadly the pond dried up. The SE is a drought area these days.
Isis claims it could buy its first nuclear weapon from Pakistan within a year
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-claims-it-could-buy-its-first-nuclear-weapon-from-pakistan-within-12-months-10270525.html
Perfectly possible. There are enough cuckoos in Pakistan, that god-forsaken, sinister country for some nukes to escape into the hands of the various loonies.
My heartfelt sympathy for John Cantlie and his family and friends.
A full one-third of Syrian territory is now in the hands of these Islamicists.