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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  • RobG

    “Even before the Paris attacks, France had announced that its sole aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, would be deployed to the Middle East, arriving on November 18…”

    “Obama, only last month, agreed to send U.S. special operations forces to Syria to coordinate with opposition fighters on the ground – something he had ruled out previously. He also deployed more U.S. aircraft to a base in Incirlik, Turkey.

    U.S. officials say they are in discussions with allies, including from Arab nations, to also increase their roles in the air campaign. Talks are also underway about whether allies might deploy special operations forces, in Iraq and Syria…”

    “London has not struck at Islamic State in Syria and although British Prime Minister David Cameron is said to be eager to take that step, he faces resistance from U.K. lawmakers.

    “The question is really, will this change the British parliament?” the U.S. official said.”

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/15/us-france-shooting-military-idUSKCN0T31HY20151115

  • Alcyone

    RobG

    “It’s like reading the Beano.”

    Rob, you’re not a minute fractionally as funny as AliG, but you would know all about the Beano. Like Mary painting, you should stick to the knitting. Another bottle of Pouilly Fume, perhaps? Go on, it’s Sunday!
    ____________
    Mary, btw any comments on the Jewishness of AliG? Albert Einstein, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan?

    Have you watched the highly-reputed Bernard Levin’s interview of the wise-man Krishnamurti?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-0LxYgsESE

    Anything on the Jewishness of Bernard Levin?

    Hoping just a little bit of spark off Krishnamurti may just rub off you.

  • Mark Golding

    Thanks RobG – The Media disclosure is commencing to take form. Hmmm

    “Je got ‘ere un packet de cards, cinquante deux in numero. I cuttee in deux, with vang-seess ici and vang-seess there-si”

  • Mary

    Obama, another of the psychopathic and hypocritical war mongers, speaks on arrival in Antalya of the ‘skies being darkened by the terrible events in Paris’.

    He omits to remember how many of his drones and aircraft have darkened the skies over all those thousands of men, women and children he has had killed, shredded and burned in lands distant in the name of Amerika.

  • nevermind

    ‘re Captagon, being advertised by Mary, TonyM and Monsewer Golding:’

    far from it, its your beloved allies the Saudi’s princes who are the drug dealers to terrorism, because their placid mercenaries can’t get themselves going in the morning, are too tired from running, after being bombed by Putin.
    These princes are far too scared of ever getting involved themselves, so they use their diplomatic baggage to peddle drugs, just as many other diplomats in the west do.

    Your schoolmasterly brain can’t comprehend this and you have to use these little nuggets of information to advance your empty threats here.
    Fine by us, it just reaffirms your cyber stalking and trolling here, to which as you well know, there are legal processes that can be invoked.

    So keep to your flaccid self and stop threatening people.

  • Alcyone

    And the wise man said way back in 1968 in Rome:

    “We are living in a period when man has actually lost faith and trust in everything organized. I am not referring, of course, to the organization which brings the milk and delivers your letters, but to the superstructure that society has built with its wars, its riots, the divisions which one must totally reject. And there is a revolt against this society by the young, by the hippies, the Beatles and all the rest of those people; they are in revolt against the structure of a society which breeds war, hatred and antagonism.

    There are two kinds of activity; either one is a total revolutionary or one merely revolts. We are not using the word `revolutionary’ in the Communist sense, the bloody revolution to overthrow the government and effect an economic change; we are not talking of that at all. By total revolution we mean that a man – who has been so heavily conditioned for centuries by words and propaganda – can free himself completely from the structure of a society which he himself has created psychologically through ambition, greed, envy and brutality. And this is the highest form of revolution, a revolution in the psyche itself, a total mutation of the mind. If this does not take place, then the revolution today of the young people throughout the world has very little meaning. First it is essential to understand the whole structure of society; how man has put it together, invented gods and therefore has created a corrupt society divided into countries, nations, different religions and so on. Without understanding this structure, merely to revolt against it is to fall into another trap. So we are faced with this problem of youth revolting against society and possibly falling into a new trap. And he will, because he does not understand the psychological structure which has brought it about. A real revolutionary is the man who understands completely, not intellectually, this social order which is himself because he is part of that social order.

    The problem then is that for man to change radically, fundamentally, there must be a mutation in the very brain cells of his mind. And that has been going on; people have said you must change, you must act, you must change your mind, your heart, you must be something totally different. This has been preached for thousands of years by men who were very serious, very earnest, as well as by the charlatans who were out to exploit people. And we have reached a point when we have no time at all. Please understand this. We haven’t time to make this change gradually. The intellectuals throughout the world have realized this, that man is on the edge of a precipice, that he is going to destroy himself. No religions, no gods, no saviours, no masters and all the nonsense of the gurus, are going to prevent it. The intellectuals say we must invent a new drug, a golden drug that will bring about a complete chemical change; and the scientists are probably going to find such a drug. I do not know if you are aware of all this. Now although the whole physical organism is a biochemical result, can a drug, a super drug make you love, make you kind, generous, gentle, non-violent? I do not think so; a drug cannot make one human being love another. Love is not a product of thought. Love is not something which can be cultivated as you would cultivate a flower in a garden. Love cannot be bought in a drugstore and love is the only thing that is going to save man, not all the religious tricks, neither the rituals nor the army. One may escape to concerts, museums, to various kinds of entertainment, all to no avail for man is now facing a tremendous problem; whether he can radically change, bring about a total mutation in his whole consciousness – not tomorrow, nor a few years hence, but now! That is the main issue; whether man, whatever country he inhabits, with all the beauty of the land, can bring about such a radical mutation within himself immediately. That is the problem, not your beliefs, ideologies, gods, saviours, priests and rituals; they no longer have any meaning.”

    Excuse the lenth but read on here if half-interested:

    http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-text.php?tid=3&chid=3&w=fear%20violence

  • Mary

    The attention of the corporate media is focused on Paris.

    Not reported:

    111 Palestinians shot, injured during West Bank, Gaza demonstrations
    November 14, 2015
    BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — At least 94 Palestinians were shot and injured on Friday during clashes across the occupied West Bank, medics told Ma’an.

    In al-Balou area of northern al-Bireh in the Ramallah district, 26 Palestinians were injured with live bullets and 35 with rubber-coated steel bullets, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

    Witnesses said that Israeli forces stormed the area during clashes, opening fire in order to prevent demonstrators from accessing the Beit El checkpoint and assaulting journalists.

    /..
    http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768807

    ~~~

    Israeli forces detain 13 Palestinians in Hebron, including 6 minors
    November 15, 2015

    HEBRON (Ma’an) – Israeli forces overnight Saturday detained 13 Palestinians, six of which were minors, from the Hebron area of the southern occupied West Bank and ransacked several homes during a mass detention raid, local sources said.

    An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that six Palestinians had been detained in overnight raids from the Hebron area for “illegal activity,” without detailing specific areas, identities or ages.

    Locals reported at least six teenagers were detained. The teens were identified as Qusay al-Deik and Muhammad Riyad Hudoush, both 16 and from the town of Surif in northwest Hebron, as well as Ibrahim Ismail Manasra and Farid Muataz Zeidan, both 17, Sami Omar Manasrah and Ahmad Marwan al-Tariqa, all from the town of Bani Naim, east of Hebron.

    In addition, seven other young Palestinian men were detained from the Hebron district.

    /..
    http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768836

    ~~~

    Reports of other similar atrocities on http://www.maannews.com/Default.aspx

  • Clark

    Virtually no political debate on this comment thread today; just an insult contest.

    Every ‘news’paper I’ve seen today is displaying the word ‘jihadists’ in its front page headline. Never do I see a paper mention the far more specific term ‘wahabbism’.

    Discuss amongst yourselves, if you can be bothered, if you can bear to stop insulting each other – I won’t be hanging around.

  • Alcyone

    Clark, pity you see a glass half-full as half-empty.

    I don’t think you’ve actually bothered to ‘read’ the comments and definitely not the links.

    Anyway, I’m glad to see you feeling better.

  • Republicofscotland

    Another possible casualty from Friday nights event could be Schengen, already under threat from the mass influx in Europe by refugees, fleeing from countries razed to the ground and torn apart by civil wars, created mainly by Western intervention.

    Schengen, which encompasses 26 EU countries four of which are non member states, was created in 1985, it was designed to let EU citizens move freely between nations, and in my opinion it is a remarkable piece of cooperative politics between nations, some of whom, have centuries of mistrust of others.

    But you’ve got to ask yourself why are refugees from all over the Middle East leaving and heading for Europe. Well, if I told you that the USA and its allies have flown 8,125 bombing missions over Syria and Iraq, under operation Inherent Resolve, then you have a pretty good idea, why they’re fleeing their countries.

  • RobG

    Sorry folks, but I feel that I should draw this to your attention, if you haven’t already seen it…

    “That morning, the emergency services in Paris had actually done a training exercise for a major terrorist attack. We were well prepared.”

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/15/paris-attacks-medic-we-were-treating-war-wounds-made-by-war-weapons

    Clark, not much mention either of who funds ISIS, etc, or the fact that the Russians have been bombing them for the last month or so, and have done more to destroy ISIS than the American bombing campaign has done in the last year.

  • Alcyone

    Clark tell us what is meant by Wahhabi-ism? Why do you feel it is important that we discuss it?

    Btw, have you found a way to neatly extricate Life from politics? Why do you feel we should limit ourselves to the pigeon-hole of politics?

    Finally, hope Craig is better. Have you any news?

  • RobG

    And ps: that little boy who washed-up dead on a beach in Turkey came from a Syrian town that had been flattened by American bombs.

  • fwl

    On wahabism Beeb iplayer is still showing Bitter Lake. Obvious relevance is the link between ISIS and Saudi.

  • Resident Dissident

    “And ps: that little boy who washed-up dead on a beach in Turkey came from a Syrian town that had been flattened by American bombs.”

    Not true they fled Damascus and then Aleppo to Turkey 3 years ago to get away from Assad. The family originally came from Kobane a Kurd town which was captured by ISIS and has now thankfully been captured by the Kurds.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/refugee-crisis-friends-and-family-fill-in-gaps-behind-harrowing-images

  • Republicofscotland

    Meanwhile in Russia president, Vladimir Putin’s youngest daughter, has had her wealth status revealed, apparently she’s a billionaire.

    Am I surprised? no, the corruption surrounding Putin and his government isn’t unknown.

    Oh how the middling to average former FSB man has progressed up the ladder of iniquity.

    His meteoric rise from planting bombs in Moscow in 1999, (which killed 94 Russian’s, it was then blamed on Chechnya sound familiar- anyone?) to the assassinations of his nearest rivals, is, nothing short of spectacular, so it shouldn’t come as to anyone that daughter is a billionaire.

  • Trowbridge H. Ford

    Why when anything terrible happens, like the Paris attacks, 9/11, the JFK assassination, etc., does the media always rush to tell us to withhold any opinions or speculation about it until all the facts are in when, in fact, it never happens.

    Here I am responding to The Guardian saying that we should withhold comment about that Syrian passport being found after Friday night’s massacre for fear that it will lead to a panic about all the immigrants coming into Europe is being exploite by Isis.

    Anyone who doesn’t suspect this is either too naive or a fool, but we certainly shouldn’t worry that the hundreds of thousands seeking sanctuary are likely Isis terrorists or supporters.

    The vast majority are trying to escape from Isis too.

  • fedup

    Daesh taking women into slavery and selling these as young as ten years old as concubines and comfort women who are then sold for their organs soon as they get to fifteen, all the while beheading the older women and those refusing to oblige their masters sexual perversions.

    None of the above made any difference, the same bunch of hypocritical western governments who supplied these drug crazed terrorists kept on suppressing the horrible realties, now a blow back later suddenly everyone is up in arms about the heinous crimes of these murderous terrorists who have been destroying Syria and Iraq for the last five years!

    Who is supplying these terrorists with weapons? Money? Training?

    Did I tell that migrants (not war refugees) could be dangerous? is the only “news” coming out, while the narrative is taking shape.

  • Republicofscotland

    “RoSy, keep hopin’, keep dopin’ !”

    ————–

    Hello Alcyone, regarding doping, especially in athletics, of course the media has constantly barked about Russia doping, but strangely kept quiet on British dopers, who’ve been caught, Lord Coe, knows when to stay tacit.

    I however don’t British athletes caught doping.

    Dwain Chambers

    Gary Cadogan

    Lindford Christie

    Mark Edwards

    Paul Edwards

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_athletics

    Of course listening to Krishnamurti drone on about esoteric matter, would inevitably drive anyone towards doping themselves.

    I wonder if any of the above athletes had the misfortune to hear Krishnamurti speak.

  • Anon1

    RobG

    15 Nov, 2015 – 2:03 pm

    “And ps: that little boy who washed-up dead on a beach in Turkey came from a Syrian town that had been flattened by American bombs.”

    _________________
    Several issues with that, Rob. Sorry, but my bullshit detector is running high today.

    Where did the little boy come from prior to his being found dead on the beach and how long had he been there?

    What was his father’s motive in leaving that place?

    Which Syrian town are you referring to and can you back up your claim that it was flattened by American bombs?

    ___________________
    Thanks in advance.

  • Anon1

    Note to the above:

    “You will be tried and shot for your crimes” is not a valid answer to any of the above questions.

  • Alcyone

    ” Of course listening to Krishnamurti drone on about esoteric matter, would inevitably drive anyone towards doping themselves. ”

    Oh nobody, absolutely nobody can do it better than you! that’s why I said keep on dopin’. Weak attempt at deflection. You’re just a babe in the woods. And a second-hand copy-paster drone to boot. Carry on delivering the post…

  • Anon1

    RoS

    The point is that the Russian doping is state-sponsored.

    You know that, of course, so perhaps you were just hoping no one else would notice?

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