After UK and US bombs have been devastating the Middle East for over a decade, killing certainly tens and probably hundreds of thousands of people, including many thousands of children, the media have suddenly noticed this morning that bombs kill an awful lot of civilians. But only Russian bombs, of course. British bombs are cheerful, happy and their shrapnel and blast are brilliantly engineered only to go in the direction of bad guys.
The UK/US bombing of Sirte was approximately 500 times more devastating than the Russian bombings yesterday. Yet strangely there was not one single BBC report on the thousands of civilian casualties they caused in just one of many towns they bombed in Libya.
It is worth pointing out that whether yesterday’s bombing by the Russians was against ISIL or against a different bunch of crazed Islamist rebels, one still supported by the CIA and Saudi Arabia, makes no difference whatsoever to the legal position. It was at the request of the Government of Syria and thus legal. That is not to say I support it. I do not. Bombing kills civilians and just causes more hate.
I have the confidence in my fellow human beings to believe that a substantial number will see through the propaganda and realise British bombs do that too.
My optimism extends to the quite astonishing media attack on Jeremy Corbyn. The scorn and bias of the media in dealing with him has awoken many to the fact that we do not in reality live in a democratic society. People are not free to present alternative ideas to the electorate and obtain a fair hearing for them.
But still I think there will be some effect. For an entire generation, broadcast media and print newspapers had never given the slightest indication that there might be a moral dilemma involved in pushing a button to kill a billion people directly, and set off a chain of events that will destroy all human life. The spluttering fury by the establishment at the revelation that there are in existence the kind of people who would not do that, is a wonder to behold.
But all that rage is revealing the existence of the moral dilemma to people from whom it has been effectively hidden as a topic of legitimate and serious debate. People will start to think. That is why Corbyn is so dangerous to the establishment. He has opened a Pandora’s box of ideas.
Mary: “Those names were used Glenn, as you damned well know, to avoid the persecution I underwent from the likes of Habbabkuk and others here. Luckily, I did not succumb. You have a spiteful streak to have raked that up. You once said sorry.”
Then it opens you to a quite obvious response when you denounce others for using alternative handles, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be better to avoid such denouncements?
You have a rather spiteful streak too, Mary. You like to denounce everyone who doesn’t meet your approval, refer quite spitefully to others in the third person at length, but if anyone points this out, or gives the same back, then that’s an outrage.
You seem to think yourself above any criticism, from anyone, about anything, at any time. Yet everyone is subject to your denouncements as you see fit. How is this fair, Mary – do you consider yourself perfect or something?
“Thankfully, enlightenment is gradually coming, but it is still a jungle out there.”
John SD, anyone who has lived with a teacher – I have lived with two and have a daughter who’s a teacher – knows the pressure they are under, and why so many are leaving the profession, why so many are under stress, and why there are so many suicide attempts in the profession (likewise the medical profession which I understand is as bad if not worse).
I can help Jeremy in his campaign for a more caring society by instructing him to abolish (or very radically change) the OFSTED nonsense and league tables. Teachers are there to teach. They will always do their best. Those of us educated before OFSTED have a much broader knowledge of the world, as we knew it then. Not all pupils, scholars, students have the same learning capabilities. Believe me, teachers are under so much stress due to OFSTED.
The last time I talked to my daughter about this she had been assessed internally a few weeks before the inspection. She was found wanting and pulled over the coals. When the inspection took place she was given a very good report. When the examination results came through she had nine (I think) A+ successes. It is not about success. It is about bringing the best out of those you teach. The pressure put on teachers is unsustainable and nearly every one of them is looking for an easier job.
Jemand, if you think I’m a fantasist I suggest that you read the mainstream media.
What’s frightening is that a lot of people still believe the MSM cartoon clown stuff.
Do you believe it..?
JSD @23:17 – That was a fine and heartfelt post. Thank you.
Jemand yer pink slip has always shown, the NSA even knows which gay bar you use your cellfone from.
Tom Welsh wrote:
This seems relevant here:
Jemand: “Pray tell, RobG, what am I propagandising about? Hmmmm? Please try to use real evidence, if you can. All that made up shit by your runny-brained friends doesn’t qualify.”
Don’t those phony racist videos of yours count?
Glenn
02/10/2015 12:55am
Thank you, very much appreciated. Best of luck with your run. And marital harmony may be best served by not even attempting to beat your missis.
Kind regards,
John
I refute that slagging off but hey what’s the point. That is his opinion.
‘The email will intensify calls for Mr Blair – who ended Gaddafi’s international isolation with his so-called “deal in the desert” in 2004 – to give evidence to a Commons inquiry into Britain’s foreign policy towards Libya.’
As if that will happen.
ex
Blair Urged Gaddafi To Flee Libya To Avoid Death
The ex-PM advised the Libyan leader to find “a safe place to go” before the situation reached “the point of no return”.
http://news.sky.com/story/1562538/blair-urged-gaddafi-to-flee-libya-to-avoid-death
The same aide, Catherine Rimmer, is still with him and is referred to here.
‘Windrush Ventures’ highest paid employee received £300,000 last year, up from £273,000. The highest paid employee is thought to be either Catherine Rimmer, Mr Blair’s chief of staff and a former Downing Street aide, or else David Lyon, a former Barclays investment banker who was recruited by Mr Blair in 2012 to “grow and develop” Mr Blair’s business activities.’
ex
Tony Blair cuts his tax bill despite another bumper year
New accounts show Tony Blair’s biggest company paid just £300k corporation tax on £14m turnover with almost £13m written off as ‘administrative expenses’
06 Jan 2015
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11328929/Tony-Blair-cuts-his-tax-bill-despite-another-bumper-year.html
What CBS omitted in the edited version of their interview with Putin.
Sott Exclusive: Full unedited text of Vladimir Putin’s interview with Charlie Rose: What CBS left out
29 Sep 2015
http://www.sott.net/article/302911-Sott-Exclusive-Full-unedited-text-of-Vladimir-Putins-interview-with-Charlie-Rose-What-CBS-left-out
CBS President and CEO of CBS Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Moonves
He started off as an actor and is a great nephew of Ben Gurion.
RobG refuses to answer my question regarding his false accusation with a rather limp – “Jemand, if you think I’m a fantasist I suggest that you read the mainstream media.
What’s frightening is that a lot of people still believe the MSM cartoon clown stuff.
Do you believe it..?”
—
Rob apparently is confused. My reference to his fantasy is in relation to his rude accusation, not his scepticism of MSM reporting. So let’s ask this interweb cowboy once again in the hope of putting this matter to rest and clearing the way for intelligent discourse.
******* What am I a propagandist for, RobG? *******
Come on. YOU made the accusation. Kindly back up your accusation with evidence or grow a pair of proud hairy balls and apologise like a man.
“Jemand yer pink slip has always shown, the NSA even knows which gay bar you use your cellfone from.”
Standard abuse. Note to self : ignore this idiot’s comments hereafter.
Glenn chimes in with his own abuse and false accusations – “Don’t those phony racist videos of yours count?”
– – –
Recycling lies don’t make them true, Glenn. But I suppose this is the best you and your uneducated friends can do in place of having coherent arguments that address relevant issues. Have you thought about finishing school and obtaining some qualifications? You’d be surprised at how much you can benefit from a tertiary education. If you’re not sure what to study, can I recommend an arts degree as a default?
[ Mod: Authors edited out as requested ]
————-
Israeli forces wound two small Palestinian children: Where’s the outrage?
Mairav Zonszein
October 1, 2015
Israeli security forces shoot two small Palestinian children with ‘less lethal’ bullets — one in the head, one in the thigh. The Israeli media barely notices.
A five year old. An armed, uniformed Israeli pointed a gun at him. And shot. A kid not even old enough for first grade. I haven’t seen any reports on this in English and the few I saw in Hebrew were scant and focused primarily on the incendiary, racist comments posted by Israelis on the photo of Abu Ali that went around Facebook. Things like, “too bad they didn’t take him out,” and, “if the soldier had pointed his gun a little more in the center, no more sluts like him would be brought into the world.”
/..
http://972mag.com/israeli-forces-wound-two-small-palestinian-children/112190/
“[ Mod: Authors edited out as requested ]”
And my subsequent comment edited out to improve history. If only everyone else had the mods at their disposal for trivial editing of their comments on old threads.
I wouldn’t be so sure that Israeli nukes are unstoppable. The guidance systems of missiles can be interfered with.
OTOH, if Israel already has nukes secreted in the capitals that it would want to take down if it uses the Samson Option, that would be more of a problem. But not necessarily an insuperable one.
The Samson-suicide-option doesn’t make sense, except as a wildcard threat. Why would jews allow the total annihilation of humanity when their religious tenets advise them to wait for the messiah?
That’s assuming that the people who have real power in Israel take Judaism seriously. Doesn’t their treatment of Palestinians show that they do not?
No, Lysias. If that is secular policy, it still doesn’t make sense. Of course some individuals might do exactly that but military strategy doesn’t work that way, except for supposedly crackpot North Korea. There has to be a winning scenario.
There was a US military doctrine that was supposed to be active during their time in Vietnam. It went something like “we must demonstrate to the enemy that we will do anything crazy, irrational to convince them that we will prosecute this war to an irrationally destructive end”. It makes sense when you’re dealing with a maniac whose prepared to go to prison for murder over a quarrel about who a parking space belongs to. You can’t win with real maniacs but you can call their bluffs to see if they are real. The US lost, of course, because they weren’t credibly, self-destructively maniacal.
It is irrational to be totally, self-destructively commited to an outcome. But it makes perfect sense to fake it and have the enemy believe it. The Israelis aren’t credibly irrational. I’m not even sure if North Korea is.
The madman McCain wants to provide the FSA with the means to bring down Russian planes. He really wants WW111.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8hP_7iCqqQ#t=329
from Fox News needless to say.
3.40 in.
“Have you thought about finishing school and obtaining some qualifications?” … etc….. …
Seriously – that’s the best you’ve got?
What’s wrong, Glenn? Too close to the mark? Please entertain us with some more of your forum-sliding abuse.
Russia is actually hitting the CIA death squads that having been destroying Syria since 2011 and have been coordinating with the regular Syrian Army – which is exactly what militaries who are serious about defeating an enemy do. The USA has never been serious about defeating their death squads (which include ISIS) – why would they be? That’s why the USA/NATO is so very upset.