Open Letter to President Ahtisaari Re Jim Murphy 1317


Dear President Ahtisaari,

I had the pleasure of meeting you on a number of occasions over the years, including when I was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, and I recall your genuine concern for democracy and human rights in a region where they are sadly neglected.

Like a great many people in Scotland I was shocked that CMI is employing Jim Murphy. Of course, in a democracy there are always losers as well as winners in elections, and both are genuine and valid participants in public life. It is not the fact that CMI employs a politician who has been so recently, comprehensively and humiliatingly rejected by his national electorate that will do any damage to CMI. In a sense I think it does you credit.

What shocks many people here is that Mr Murphy is by any standards a dedicated warmonger. He was a major and important proponent of the invasion of Iraq, and is the strongest of supporters of the massive increase of Britain’s nuclear arsenal, in breach of the Non Proliferation Treaty.

Mr Murphy is a member of the Henry Jackson Society, which as you know is a body which exists to promote United States neo-conservative foreign policy in its most aggressive sense, and openly and actively supports and condones extraordinary rendition and the use of torture by the CIA. It has supported every single military action by the USA since its formation, and defends United States exceptionalism in international law, including US non-membership of the International Criminal Court.

Mr Murphy’s belief set is therefore fundamentally at odds with the stated aims of CMI. Indeed, his employment by you can only lead to the suspicion that CMI’s stated objectives are not its real objectives, and that like Mr Murphy and the Henry Jackson Society your overriding goal in the regions where you operate is to promote the interests of the United States.

As you are funded by charitable donations and by governments, I think some explanation of your employment of Mr Murphy is in order, particularly when you have employed him as a conflict resolution expert in the Caucasus and Central Asia when he has no relevant experience of conflict resolution at all, virtually none of the Caucasus, and absolutely none of Central Asia.

I was the Head of the UK Delegation that negotiated the Sierra Leone Peace Treaty, and certainly under no circumstances would I let Jim Murphy anywhere near that kind of negotiation.

With All Best Wishes,

Amb (rtd.) Craig Murray


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1,317 thoughts on “Open Letter to President Ahtisaari Re Jim Murphy

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  • YouKnowMyName

    Following the two explosions at St Denis Stade de France earlier, the French police are suggesting [strongly!] everyone stays indoors tonight, the attacks have led to at least 60 deaths so-far, according to TF1 edition speciale (info banner) whilst the journalist talks of 43 deaths and 16 injured.

    Between 5 and 10 armed individuals still at large around the Xeme, XIeme arrondisements.

  • lysias

    RT: Person who escaped from Bataclan concert hall says there were six shooters there, and that they were talking about Syria.

  • Ben-Outraged by the Cannabigots

    “French frontiers closed”

    The refugees are the losers again. Is this deliberate in it’s intent and affect?

    Who is that man behind the Curtain?

  • fedup

    Who is behind the attacks and what are they driving at?

    French are already bombing away there in Syria so no need for an excuse to go and bomb Syria some more. Is this an attempt to bring in immigration controls in place in Europe (closing the borders, kind of throws the “immigrants” (war refugees) into the spotlight)? Any ideas why such an attack in France now?

    This smacks of, Bologna train station, 7/7, 9/11 unless the Free French Army have been just born and it is the start of an uprising in France? (this I very much doubt)

  • RobG

    Lysias, the neo-cons allegedly butchered God knows how many of their own people on 9/11.

    Do you really think these neo-con psychos have been kept in their coffins?

    Do you really think we’re not being propagandised for World War Three?

    Whatever facts eventually emerge about what’s going on in Paris, any sentient being can see that the Russian involvement in Syria (which showed USUK up for the complete sham they are), the large-scale military assault launched yesterday by America in Iraq and Syria, and all this Jihadi Johnny nonsense today, all points towards our own governments being completely corrupt feckers who should be put on trial.

  • YouKnowMyName

    One of the first attacks around 9pm CET was reportedly a machine-gunning of a cafè terrasse, a car stopped – Kalashnikov out of window – lots of shooting, according to TF1. Drive-by shooting.

    The 3 explosions earlier at Stade de France included 2 suicide bombers, thankfully outside the stadium – protected by the security cordon – rather than inside with the 90k spectators.

  • Ben-Outraged by the Cannabigots

    Doubtful this attack has anything to do with Crapper John. This attack had some planning involved and unlikely they could cobble this job on short notice when they normally have a difficult time organizing a trip to the water closet.

  • fedup

    Is Hollande government in trouble for any reason? Any French watchers familiar with the politics in France, what is your input on this?

    Where is the dada in this latest unfolding of the events?

  • nevermind

    football is big publicity for Hollande, but a little uncontrollable as it seems. Someone seems to be caught napping, actions excite reciprocate actions.
    A bit surprised, because France’s intelligence services have a reputation to be ‘ on the ball’.
    Something about this feels like old sour grapes….

  • YouKnowMyName

    The TF1 TV says the only thing we really know about these coordinated attacks is {RIEN} / nothing /

    They postulate that the cops haven’t got a clue, hence why Hollande called in the Army & shut the borders & declared a state of emergency

    TF1 interviewing an ex-head of antiterrorist squad, Jacques Poinas, “we need the information that we are missing”, “we are faced with a strong strategic and well coordinated group”

    No demands, discussions, just revenge towards France

  • fedup

    football is big publicity for Hollande, but a little uncontrollable as it seems.

    Nevermind what do you think the echo of this wil be in Germany?

    Germany and France were playing in the stadium that the bombs were detonated outside of.

    Is this an attempt to destabilise Merkel?

  • YouKnowMyName

    according to http://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/wh/6947.htm (The Global War on Terrorism)

    President Bush is implementing a comprehensive and visionary foreign policy against international terrorism. The President’s policy puts the world on notice that any nation that harbors or supports terrorism will be regarded as a hostile regime.

    That Bush Blair strategy is really working out well, French TV have admitted there is so much confusion that they have no idea how many dead and injured there are – they are sticking at 40+ dead 60+ very badly wounded, with siege still in Bataclan, and despite rumours that the police had captured one trrorist, they have been unable to find out anything further.

  • lysias

    Le mondeL

    Le Monde il y a 3 minutes
    Selon nos informations et de sources gouvernementales, au moins sept attaques ont eu lieu à Paris et en Ile-de-France.

    The attack outside the Stade de France in St. Denis is presumably what accounts for mentioning Ile-de-France. I imagine all the other six attacks took place inside Paris.

  • Rob Royston

    “Person who escaped from Bataclan concert hall says there were six shooters there, and that they were talking about Syria.”

    This seems to point to what it’s about, even if it turned out that the escapee was not genuine.

  • lysias

    If that Spanish court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and six Israeli ministers, doesn’t that mean they’re subject to arrest throughout the EU? Isn’t that what we were told was the effect of the Swedish warrant for Assange?

  • lysias

    Le Monde il y a 2 minutes

    Selon la direction centrale de la police, l’attaque au Bataclan a fait des “dizaines de morts”

  • fedup

    RobG Internet is already awash with the threats of fire and brimstone against Muslims for this latest “outrage”, someone somewhere is making hay whilst blood is flowing, of course so long as the Muslims’ blood is flowing it is all accepted and tolerated hence the haters are left to promote their nostrum of even more hatred!

    BTW Merkel is drawing more fire for her stance on the war refugees.

  • Ben-Outraged by the Cannabigots

    These patterns emerge with a malevolent consistency. In the US the campaign against gunz continues without a hitch. Every day another psychotropic zombie grabs a gun and fires, or takes a knife and slashes. The immigrants continue their progress toward some status in the world other than pawns of East vs West, sacrificing their first-born on a short-sighted bet placed with their bookie, the Clergy.

    Can someone otherwise explain the confluence of events?

  • YouKnowMyName

    Summary seems to have been SEVEN tragic locations for the attacks, one DGSE source (on TF1) mentions the arrest in August last year of a youth who chatted about a jihadi plan to attack one or two concert-halls, the suicide bombers outside the Stade de France targeted one a McDo’s and the other a “Quick”-burger joint.

    A lot of action on Twitter during the events with sharing of ‘safety’ apps – to get the online involved populace away from the geopolitical idiots. Now lots of SOCO seen at the crime scenes on French TV.

  • giyane

    Oh dear slapstick comedy all round, bit early in the season for pantomime:

    First of all clown in oversize trousers Obama parodies Kurdish Intelligence head Barzani weeks after Barzani has signed with CIA clerics for Daesh to invade Iraq through Jordan, Turkey and Syria: Obama employs Islamic State, funding it and supplying it with weapons, military spy info and food/medical supplies. On the French false flag killings he says we are fighting terror for Paris, France and the whole world. Look behind yer, mate. Hillarious.

    Then David Cameron and the BBC are caught with their braces twanged supporting their top layer of trousers. The Russian investigation into its downed Egyptian flight proves there was no internal or external explosion on the flight, it was downed by Israel interfering with the automatic pilot aka Malaysian planes. Ha ha ha hee hee hee. The comedy keeps rolling.

    Then the jihadi John flying circus clown has been blown out of a cannon across the sawdust, the superstar of the Sylliwood Islamic State horror movies who has been vaporised, or given a nose job so you won’t recognise him again.

    Lastly, the fart balloon of RBS mortgages de-composed mainly of highly leveraged Quantitively-eased funny money. Prrrtt-zoop. Oh it’s a laugh a minute on the big-whopper MSM.

  • YouKnowMyName

    The tragic French ‘incidents’ seems to me a massive failure of GCHQ/NSA style Pokèmon Spying

    (gotta catch it all, SIGINT)

    which gives you your big haystack & lots of metrics for population experimentation/control

    the much more expensive, dangerous and just very hard to do HUMINT is the only way to tame a Beslan style group.

    The French journalist on TF1 last night around 01:30am CET mentioned that the directorate generale de la surveillance exterieur picked up this kid, around a year ago, questioned him for 96-hours, then released him and he was telling them of the chatter about one or two concert-halls to be targets, because of Syria. This single mention from a single journo quoting source in DGSE is obviously just a single data-point. Was the kid just followed with IPv4 packets?

    Obviously Sibel Edmonds at http://www.justacitizen.com/ would allocate blame differently, going further as she does with her FBI insight into the world of inter-state deep-state terror with very many flags being waved, of all shapes and colors. The internet won’t currently let me near her website.

    Now I think I can face looking at a news website for the horrific details, having summarised above, did I mention that I lived/worked in France for many years – my expression of deepest condolences is sincere

  • Mary

    On a Saudi prince and 2 tons! of Captagon pills.

    The Saudi Prince and Two Tons of Narcotics
    by Andre Vltchek
    November 13th, 2015

    Saudi Prince Abdulmohsen bin Walid bin Abdulmohsen bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was obviously not fully satisfied with his life. A private jet, several luxury cars and a mansion were not enough to make him feel a truly fulfilled and respected member of the Gulf ruling “elites”. Others had more, like those double-decker Airbus 380’s, or tremendous duplexes overlooking Karbala.

    Perhaps that was the reason why he tried so hard to catch up, by smuggling from Beirut, Lebanon to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (KSA), some 40 suitcases and boxes neatly packed with Captagon pills, with some cocaine thrown in for good measure.

    /..
    http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/11/the-saudi-prince-and-two-tons-of-narcotics/

    ‘This is all a very big game. And captagon is not just some recreational drug, intended for underground nightclubs in the Gulf, and for notorious private orgies in Saudi Arabia. It is, as I was told by local experts, a “drug that makes one extremely brutal; a drug, which destroys all fear”. It is a “combat narcotic”, which has been given mainly to the ISIS fighters.

    It could have been destined for Iraq and the ISIS cells there, but most likely the Saudi Prince was bringing it for the Saudi allies in Yemen” I was told on the basis of anonymity. “Or both… Most likely: both.

    It was explained that those countless pills of captagon were produced and purchased in or around the town of Aarsal, in northern Lebanon on the Syrian border, an area controlled by ISIS, only around 15 kilometers from the major archeological site of Baalbek.’

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