I have not heard anybody, anywhere, argue in public or on the media the case for Scottish Independence for six months (except for me). I have not heard any elected representative of the SNP argue the case for Independence for… well since Autumn 2014.
It is not surprising the increase in the polls of support for Independence has stalled, as nobody is putting the argument. The trouble with leaving the matter aside until support becomes overwhelming, is that if you leave the matter aside support never will become overwhelming.
I am therefore considering standing as an Independent in the Scottish parliamentary elections, purely to put the full-on case for Independence. There are plenty of other people who can argue about the minutiae of the glorified council at the bottom of Holyrood Road. The SNP has explicitly stated it wants the votes of unionists as well as nationalists in this election. I don’t.
I want to give people who want to express their desire immediately to be shot of the corrupt and warmongering British state, a chance to say so unequivocally at the ballot box once again.
This is a question of principle. It is not undertaken with any expectation of being elected. I would stand in North East Scotland on the regional list ballot. The question is, were I to do this, are there people out there who would help me?
Silvio
Thanks for emerging from hiding.
Unfortunately, your latest screed still does nothing to establish the relevance of your original post to the subject of Craig’s post.
But feel free to try again and show us how it’s relevant.
In the same way as people shouldn’t believe everything they read in the MSM (or the blogosphere), so they shouldn’t believe everything they read in books.
Although I suppose it is only human to attempt to find backup in print for one’s personal beliefs and fantasies.
That van der Lubbe was a lone nut, setting fire to the Reichstag all by himself, was a theory that suited a bunch of prominent people in West Germany, many of whom had prominent Nazi pasts. In those Cold War times, the U.S. government wanted to help West Germany rehabilitate itself.
Otherwise it would have been clear that van der Lubbe was just not able to do the deed, since the fire so quickly engulfed the whole building. This was pointed out at the Nazis’ show trial in 1933. They just wanted to blame the Communists, but the forensic evidence they presented made it quite clear that van der Lubbe could not have done it alone.
Hans Bernd Gisevius, who worked for the Gestapo for a while in 1933 and later moved to a different ministry, made it his task to investigate the fire at the time, and was convinced the Nazis did it. He gives his arguments in his book.
It was left to Kugel and Bahar after the documentary evidence became available after the fall of Communism to prove that Gisevius had been right all along.
“You think I have resigned from the party which has repeatedly rejected me, in order to fight an election which is my only option to raise my political profile, as a career move?”
Don’t dismiss the greens. That might actually work out for both of you. Go on, rush in, the embarrassment of declaring your new love again will be worth it. This time it’s for real!
Sibel Edmonds has already raised $122,000 for her NEWSBUD project.
There’s about six weeks to go, still she may struggle to meet her target of $950,000.
Pity.
Herself and her team know their stuff.
Would really put MSM News to shame.
If each interested person gave just £2 etc etc…
“Tired of getting your news from sources funded by mega-corporations? Newsbud—100% people-funded media. Where media integrity matters.”
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/141490519/support-a-100-people-funded-nonpartisan-online-new
The arguments against the lone nut theory are presented in English by Benjamin Carter Hett in Burning the Reichstag: An Investigation into the Third Reich’s Enduring Mystery.
“The good General’s theory that the Russians are using the refugee crisis to destabilise the EU/Europe is as silly as our Transatlantic Friend’s musings that the US is doing likewise.”
Not quite, habby, not quite.
Not at all, in fact.
There is much utilty in the US destabilising Europe.
Were Europe to think its future were better served in good relations with Russia and the SCO, that’s precisely what they’d do.
At the very least.
There’s no such benefit to Russia in destabilising Europe.
Aren’t you familiar with the work of Zbigniew Brzezinski?
Or Kipling.
LOL.
There is an excellent review of Mr Carter Hett’s book in The London Review of Books, Vol. 36 N°9 of 8 May 2014, pages 3-9. It can be found online.
The reviewer – Professor Richard Evans – does a rather good demolition job on Mr Carter Hett’s revisionist thesis (and, incidentally, gets in a couple of swipes against Kugel and Bahar).
But then – who is Professor Richard Evans when compared to the wisdom of our Transatlantic Friend?
Herbie
“There is much utilty in the US destabilising Europe.
There’s no such benefit to Russia in destabilising Europe.”
___________________
That is your view, Herbie, and of course you’re entitled to hold it.
However most people – perhaps lacking your special insight into matters geopolitical – remain to be convinced of both those assertions.
Habby
OK. Little steps.
Do you think the EU’s best interests lie in the current troubling relationship with Russia.
Of course they don’t.
So.
In whose interests do they lie.
Eh?
“Socialism in one country is not possible”
Utterly correct. So let’s have socialism everywhere at once, which *is* possible.
Oh dear – what is that silly litle imp on my shoulder whispering to me?
I cannot think of a single assassination where a ‘ lone nut’ did it.
While the obvious case where it seems to fit is LHO in Dallas, but John Marks makes clear in his book about Manchurian Candidates that the CIA tried to make him into one, but when he refused, the Agency made him into a scapegoat for the most dangerous plot against Moscow and Havana.
Christer Pettersson is still made out as Olof Palme’s assassin but it was part of a most complicated plot where Captain Simon Hayward pulled the trigger in Stockholm, and the neo-cons hoped to catch the Soviets by surprise, and make them the scapegoats for the killing.
Herbie
We know what you think, so there is little point in you repeating it as nauseam or attempting to explain it to us.
I merely point out that your take on matters is neither conclusive nor shared by most thinking people (or “peeps” as you like to call them).
Regarding Evans’s review of Hett’s book, I think one of the Amazon reviewing readers has sufficiently answered Evans:
Hett happens to be a trial lawyer, so he’s used to dealing with complicated skeins of evidence.
The Tobias lone nut explanation of the Reichstag Fire fails for the same reason that the Warren Commission’s lone nut explanation of the JFK assassination fails: neither fits the technical evidence; neither is physically possible.
I note that the odious troll fails to provide a link to Evans’s review. True to his habit of never providing links.
Here it is: The Conspiracists.
Craig, I still have fond memories of your Blackburn campaign, but I’m too old and decrepit for it now, and any way it’s too far away.
Good luck in anything you take on, to give voice to people’s aspirations and justice, rather than the clap-trap doled out by the Banksters’ and Corporatations’ puppets to further the wars and destruction of the people and the planet.
Will you run for a constituency or the Lothian list? I see that you live in Edinburgh, so I figured that Lothian made sense.
It’s generally agreed that to get a list seat, an independent needs to win about 6% of the vote in that region. That’s a hell of a lot, as the region has nine constituencies within it.
I would love to see an elected Scottish Parliament declare for UDI.
I’d even learn to spell whiskey incorrectly.
I think I’ll stick with Professor Evans’s review.
Which, I note, is not at all “sufficiently answered” by the “Amazon reviewing reader” cited by our Transatlantic Friend.
Our Friend again shows he cannot abide being contradicted.
Trial lawyers may be used to dealing with complicated skeins of evidence but they are hired to put a certain interpretation onto the facts, aren’t they.
Hence I am not impressed with that puff for Mr Hett.
The best our Transatlantic Friend can do to “refute” Professor Evans is to quote from a reviewer of Professor Evans’s book on Amazon.
I would suggest that since our Friend is a great reader he might like to read Professor Evans’s book and then get back to us.
“read Professor Evans’s review” I should have said.
Actually, I’m the one who provided the link to the Evans piece, since the troll never provides links. I am also unpersuaded by it, to say the least, above all for the reasons the Amazon reviewer stated.
Craig:- Although you are right; and a few years ago I did not concern myself with sharing my address, the modern concern is thanks to identity theft and the failure of the banks to ensure safe and secure operation of bank accounts and credit/debit (etc.) cards.
There are people who automatically seek to scan websites like this looking for personal information.
If only banks, other corporates and government, were a lot more careful with our data – we might not need to be so careful ourselves. Having worked in government I am sure you are all too well aware of all the data losses experienced by government departments. It is now such an every day affair that it will no longer even raise a yawn with the media.
Bert.
Sadly the British state is so corrupt that it riggs elections and referendums
@ Alan
3 Mar, 2016 – 3:40 pm
The European Union is the most powerful economic bloc on Earth (almost twice that of China, and also the USA if you take the petrodollar out of the equation).
If the UK leaves the EU, the EU will still remain as the predominant world economic power.
One has to wonder why Europe is now being flooded with refugees, and who has to gain from this?
As usual, no links from Habba – because it makes it much easier to trace this creature’s IP address.
Well, here’s an argument for independence:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/14318893.Furious_SNP_MPs_hit_out_at_Fallon_over_Trident/
Looks like they’re not going to bother with democracy on this one.
RobG, 10:14 pm,
Nonsense.
Substantiate. You can’t.