I am in Tbilisi at the moment, where I spent this early morning drinking tea with some of the 2,000 strong Yazidi community. They see their religion as much more closely descended from Zoroastrianism than appears in most accounts I have read.
I very much enjoyed a visit to Tsinandali which was most useful for gaining a Russian perspective of the Great Game. I don’t have my books with me and am suffering a mental block as to whether it was Connoly, Abbott or Malcolm who visited Tsinandali. I had not realised that Griboyedov was married to a daughter of the house, Nina Chavchavadze. The murder of Griboyedov, Russian Ambassador in Tehran, by a mob rates little more than a footnote in British accounts of the Great Game, even though the British had bribed the religious authority to stir up the riots. What revisionist history there has been, has come from the Iranian side and falsely tried to obscure the fact that the refugees Griboyedov was sheltering were runaway slaves from harems.
This is a neglected recurring theme. When Shuja agreed the treaty already negotiated between Macnaghten and Ranjit Singh, the main stipulation he sought to add was that the British would return to him any runaway slave girls. The immediate motive for the ringleader of the attack on Alexander Burnes was that Burnes had refused to intervene to return a runaway slave girl who had sought the protection of another British officer. My fellow anti-imperialist historians have in general been guilty of emphasising rapaciousness by the British in these incidents and overlooking or excusing the slave status of the girls. Both aspects need to be faced squarely to write honestly the full facts of history. Tellingly, it is generally impossible to recover names of the girls involved.
Griboyedov deserves to be remembered for much more than his murder. An accomplished playwright and poet, he was a friend of Pushkin and had links to the dissident groups who attempted revolution in 1825. His murder left Nina a widow at either 17 or 19 by different accounts, and pregnant. She lost the child on hearing of her husband’s death, and never remarried. It is a tragic story which came alive to me in visiting the family home.
Griboyedov had fought Napoleon in the 1812 campaign, but had helped those Napoleonic adventurers Allard and Ventura evade a British blockade and go into service with Ranjit Singh. Griboyedov’s successor as Russian Ambassador to Tehran, Simonicz, had actually fought on the Napoleonic side against Russia, presumably in the Polish Legion. Nina’s sister was to marry a Murad nephew of Napoleon. The political elites of Europe melded quickly after the convulsion.
With which clumsy segue I shall note that the battle against the entrenched political elites of the UK appears to be going extremely well without me. I cannot express without a welling up of real emotion how happy I am that all I have been saying about the stultifying neo-liberal consensus and exclusion of dissent, and appalling burgeoning wealth gap between rich and poor, has found such massive traction between Jeremy Corbyn in England and the SNP in Scotland. I may have gone AWOL for a few days, but the cause of social justice appears in extremely safe hands.
” I were to criticise William, it would be that the power of his (brilliant) writing is sometimes assisted by not allowing inconvenient fact to disturb the narrative flow.”
If I were to criticise him, it would be for that little cottage industry of researchers he has to do all the hard graft for him. Or the fact that he never asks questions. Or that he doesn’t speak a single South Asian language. But yes, he can put together a very good narrative.
“My solution is to adopt a gentler and more diplomatic version of N_’s program, and if the public votes for it, hold public hustings and debates around the country to try to move to a more radical view. As I said earlier, this needs to be done gently, and if the democratic agreement cannot be found, despite trying to persuade people – then it is either wrong or too early.”
As a means to end I have no problem with that – but there is still the issue of what the ends should be and what the role of the private sector and markets should be within those ends, where I’m afraid that there is really little serious thinking and very recognition of the disaster of centralised economies in meeting peoples wants and needs. Even where controls of the private sector are proposed they even to this day usually possess the old dead hand of central planning and/or little original thinking about alternative forms of control or management. I very much doubt that nationalising the railways in itself would change very much – we would all be lumbered with a large compensation bill and the same management and dinosaur unions running the show.
Anon1
“Jon, good, balanced stuff as always though as always it never comes out on my side. N_ never fails to register a business tycoon’s Jewishness when he wishes to make a racially-based slur against Jews. His posts about Israel are full of filthy innuendo about Jews. I wasn’t referring to today’s series from him, though he can’t help shoehorning in a bit about Israel in most posts and appears to have been particularly active of late. A complete loser and arsehole who seeks to explain away his own failures in life by constant reference to the Jews.”
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I wonder if you would agree with me when I say that the above description could equally apply to at least one other regular commenter on here, whom I shall just identify with the letter M?
“However, I do believe I have precedent on my side. The last time a Labour Party came out with a leader and manifesto even remotely close to what commenters like N_ and consorts are proposing was in 1983 under Michael Foot. Despite the apparent unpopularity of Mrs Thatcher’s 1979-1983 govt, the Conservatives wiped the floor with Labour.”
The difference now is that peeps will have had 30 odd years of elite theft, and it’s much more reasonable to argue that they’re probably by now very bloody pissed off with it.
The conventional thinking 30 odd years ago was that the Unions had too much power and were abusing it.
Conventional thinking today is much more likely to form around the idea that Elites have too much power and are abusing it.
Wouldn’t exactly be a hard sell, now would it, eh.
“I think we should talk about what the objectives of the party are, whether that’s restoring clause IV as it was originally written or it’s a different one. But we shouldn’t shy away from public participation, public investment in industry and public control of the railways.”
Corbyn as quoted by the Guardian – he certainly isn’t ruling out the reintroduction of Clause IV. Perhaps f he is considering something else other than the present aims and values clause he might be so good as to tell us what it is rather than waffling on. Genuine social democrats in the Party such as myself are interested in what he says about both the public and private sectors.
“So can nationalised west coast ferries.”
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Yes I agree and I would like to see such a move,as I have said previously I don’t agree with everything the S&G propose.
Derek Mackay Minister for Transport and the Islands said:
“It is also important to reiterate that no matter the outcome of the procurement process, Scottish Ministers will retain control of all of important issues, such as fares and timetables, through the public service contract.
“Vessels and port infrastructure will also remain publicly owned as they are now.”
“If Jeremy Corbyn is elected as leader of the Labour Party, Labour will not win the 2020 general election. The Conservative Party will. And if you can’t make peace with that idea, then please, don’t vote for him.”
https://exitpursuedby.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/the-other-foot/
A suitable antidote to Herbie
One other good thing though, and I’m not completely convinced by the current drama, is that the BBC and other pretend leftist media will have to get rid of the current crop of gatekeepers and replace them with something less odious.
The reverse was of course done during the last switch in the 80s.
No wonder these nuLab hacks are crapping themselves. Those whopping big salaries are quite hard to find in other sectors, and mortgages can be rather unforgiving these days.
But that alone would be worth the price of admission.
Just a guess but I suspect Herbie did very little canvassing at the last General Election or speaks very often to those with differing political views from his own.
“If Jeremy Corbyn is elected as leader of the Labour Party, Labour will not win the 2020 general election”
The same can surely be said of all the candidates. None has the charisma to be PM. If any of them had the charisma of Thatcher, Blair, Livingstone or John Smith they could wing it, regardless of their policies. It’s simply to do with who would be the best leader of the Opposition.
“A suitable antidote to Herbie”
Not quite, Res Diss. Not at all in fact.
Since you seem incapable of addressing the issue yourself, where’s your organ grinder’s actual argument against my argument that peeps now have plenty of experience of privatisation and the thieving scandal it truly is.
They didn’t know that in the 1980s.
They do now.
As I say. It ain’t hard to sell the idea that privatisation is simply theft of public resources.
Even easier now than selling the idea back then that the Union bosses were to blaim for all the world’s woes.
Thanks, Craig. Yes, that is interesting. In the context of your ornithological discourse, in pursuance of accuracy let us suggest then that rather than seek to pursue the peacock narrative we do would do well to stay the course with the hud-hud. 🙂
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144870.The_Conference_of_the_Birds
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Actually, I’m really looking forward to reading your book on Burnes. He seems a truly fascinating figure. I hadn’t realised that he was Robert Burns’s cousin!
A lot like the railways then.
Fred
What’s your view on the Corbyn candidacy for Labour leader?
Suhayl, great nephew. Anon1, I hope you didn’t learn about his researchers from me. I had been keeping that under my hat. How did you know?
Fred,
I agree it makes no sense. If ministers can set fares and timetables yet it still be profitable, why not keep that profit in the public sector?
“where’s your organ grinder’s actual argument against my argument that peeps now have plenty of experience of privatisation and the thieving scandal it truly is.”
Despite what you may think – privatisation as opposed to living standards and the general health of the economy, the NHS and Schools is not very high up peoples political agendas. And if you think that some of the railways problems are not being blamed on the unions as well as privatisation and just awful management then might I suggest you travel on a few trains.
Craig
If politicians of whatever hue are setting train timetables then Scottish train users have my sympathy.
“privatisation as opposed to living standards and the general health of the economy, the NHS and Schools is not very high up peoples political agendas.”
I was under the impression Corbyn was popular amongst Labour supporters. His is an holistic program.
Is this incorrect, Res Diss?
Economic wellbeing for the mass of peeps is a whole thing. It ain’t the tickbox nonsense you nuLab goons have foisted upon the population. You and the PR/Advertising ghouls.
Tickboxing was the nuLab problem remember, tactical and to a purpose of course, but a complete lie, to hide their subordination to elite interests.
Maybe next time you hit the streets Res Diss, you’d treat the electorate with a little more respect than asking them what boxes they’d like ticking.
That’s what Corby does.
And he’s quite successful.
Try it.
Herbie
“The difference now is that peeps will have had 30 odd years of elite theft, and it’s much more reasonable to argue that they’re probably by now very bloody pissed off with it.”
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Well, that’s a very convenient argument because it requires respondents to prove a negative.
Anyway, if Mr Corbyn leads the Labour Party into the next election, we’ll see who’s right.
I believe that you don’t want Mr Corbyn to become the next Labour leader because, in your heart of hearts, you know I’m right.
“What’s your view on the Corbyn candidacy for Labour leader?”
It’s more important Tom Watson getting deputy than Corbyn getting leader. He’s a man that would get things done.
Habbabkuk — I tend to leave Mary alone as she can’t face criticism.
Sorry to press the point, but Dalrymple labelled Indian historians as lazy. Which was really rather lazy of Dalrymple considering he is among the laziest of Indian historians. I don’t deny that he can put together a ripping good yarn, but there are some first-rate Indian historians out there (Sanjay Subrahmanyam and Ali Anooshahr to name but two). For all his good narrative and sales figures, Dalrymple is not really a serious historian.
Terrrrrr
A respectable Continental TV station has just featured an article in the Daily Mail (could it be the first edition of Monday’s paper?) on a suspected terrrr plot to be launched against Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II next weekend.
As there are avid readers of the Mail (print and online editions) present and active on this blog – as evidenced by the gleeful cut-and-pastes on alleged paedophilia – I wonder if one of them could confirm that the Mail is running this story?
Thank you in advance.
“It’s more important Tom Watson getting deputy than Corbyn getting leader. He’s a man that would get things done”
Indeed. Establishment paedophiles beware.
Anon1
“Habbabkuk — I tend to leave Mary alone as she can’t face criticism”
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I see what you mean, Anon, but my own suspicion is that Mary rather likes the canings I and others administer because she sees them as somehow validating her and her poisonous views.
Craig — “How did you know?”
Here at Emeyefive we are paid to know these things, Craig. 🙂
“I agree it makes no sense. If ministers can set fares and timetables yet it still be profitable, why not keep that profit in the public sector?”
Then there is the Scottish Government’s plan to use NDP schemes to use private capital to finance public projects like the Aberdeen bypass so they don’t go on the balance sheets and they can borrow yet more money to finance the vote winners like anti-austerity.
It’s not about proofs, habby.
It’s about which is the better argument.
Your argument is that what happened 30 odd years ago will happen again today. You don’t say why. That’s quite weird abstract ahistorical thinking on your part.
My argument is simply that things have changed and people now know what elite economics means for the vast majority of people.
So, instead of blaming the Unions this time, they’ll be much more ready to blame elite interests.
As I say. Not exactly a difficult sell.
Fred
Yes – PFI by any other name
The Daily Mail has a new article about people coming to Edward Heath’s defense: Rein in the police ‘lynch mob’ former Heath aide urges May: Home Secretary faces calls to curb ‘vigilante-style’ behaviour in the wake of child abuse allegations against the late former Prime Minister.