Yesterday Philip Hammond, UK foreign secretary, visited a naval base in Tripoli to be shown docking facilities for British military vessels. The authoritative Jane’s Defence Weekly published that the 150 strong amphibious Special Purpose Task Group of commandos and special forces is in the Mediterranean on the amphibious warfare vessel Mounts Bay. Obviously purely a coincidence with Hammond’s visit!
Just as in Syria and in Yemen it will not be admitted that British forces are in combat. In classic Cold War fashion, they are “military advisers and trainers.” There is a specific development which disconcerts me in Yemen, where the SAS operatives supporting the devastating Saudi bombings of the Houthi population have been seconded to MI6. There is a convention that military operations are reported to Parliament and MI6 operations are not, so the sole purpose of screening the SAS as MI6 is to deceive the UK’s own parliament.
That of course only adds to the utter immorality of British support of the appalling Saudi bombing campaign. Britain’s supplying the arms to the Saudis and lending direct military assistance amounts to complicity in war crime.
Saudi Arabia pursued the overproduction of oil initially to force out high cost US fracking producers. That objective has largely been achieved with a subtantive fall in US production. But Saudi strategists have now been struck by the potential for continued low oil prices to cause pressure for the Russian budget. This was a key factor in the Saudi decision to block any moves towards OPEC production curbs. The Saudis are now obsessed with the notion of full Sunni control over Syria, and aim to pile economic pressure on Russia to achieve this. But it is by no means clear that the level of pain which would be required to force Putin to end military support for Assad, would not also put so much strain on the Saudi budget that it would risk destabilising the Saudi regime itself.
Just what could cause western elites to acknowledge that Saudi Arabia is the largest single problem in the Middle East, and that continued support of the House of Saud is entirely counterproductive, it is difficult to envisage. The problem of course is that what is bad for the world can be very profitable for the 1%.
Craig, why do they grovel to the Saudis so shamelessly? I used to assume it was the oil supply, but in fact very little Saudi oil comes to the UK, it’s mostly exported to Asian countries. Even the USA only gets 16% of its imports from Saudi Arabia. UK oil companies don’t seem to be involved in the Saudi industry as its all state-owned. Is it just about them being (like Israel) such good customers for the UK arms industry? Or is it more just plain bribery on a personal level?
Good question.
I suspect the influence is related to its role within OPEC.. No doubt they have in fleece over nearby oil producers such as Kuwait so the figures for Saudi only may be deceptive. Their in fluence may also be waning quite quickly due to technical issues related to new sources of renewable energy and the slow recognition that fossil fuel reserves are becoming environmentally untenable.
However your question highlights the strangeness of a distinctly undistinguished and unaccomplished population group having a disproportionate influence.
Indeed the medievalism and the absence of many other resources other than camel breeding , and the sword welding ,dagger wearing propensity rather marks Saudis out as primitive tribal savages.
Is it strategic?Is there some other key feature of geography that provides SA with some compelling importance.
Is it due to a decades long corrupt influence in the western political system.Have generations of politicians in the west been simply bribed?
I’d love to hear some explanations.
Impirtance of the petrodollar in maintaining the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.
Pepe Escobar’s quite good on the strategic and geopolitical stuff:
“The Implosion of the House of Saud”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-implosion-of-the-house-of-saud/5520314
They’re also looking to implicate Saud in 911.
Could it be because the House of Saud basically owns the US and UK? I mean that enough influential people and organisations are sufficiently indebted to them that upsetting them becomes extremely painful.
As the runner of the world fiscal show (owner of the world’s reserve currency), the U.S. is free to repudiate debts (possibly only through the gradual mechanism of promoting inflation) and to confiscate local investments. The U.S. is probably also able to topple the House of Saud or at least to see the current king replaced by a different member of the house by inspiring a military coup.
It is about control. Oil is priced on a marginal basis and Saudi has the largest cheapest to access reserves and therefore it sets the marginal price.
Moreover Saudi prices its oil in US$ and as such is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the US$ as the de facto reserve currency. It uses these $’s to support high tech western military production. A lot of money is wasted (but recycled into western economies) by way of Las Vegas gambling and Mayfair property purchases.
However it has more money than it can spend and so buys western (mainly US) debt. Consequently it is the third largest holder of US Treasury debt. This assists the west in running ever larger deficits. It also gives the Saudi;s power since they retain the ability to liquidate their debt in a disorderly manner. This is in fact exactly what they have threatened this past weekend. Obama appears to have capitulated.
In return for selling oil in US$’s and recycling those $’s into the west (US) it gains US military protection.
If any aspect of this relationship breaks down then it is likely goodnight to the House of Saud and goodnight to the US$ as global reserve currency. Thus both parties are heavily invested in the relationship.
SA knows the the oil age will end before they run out of oil. How then to prolong the world’s dependence on oil? Lower prices. And the Saudis are the only people who can halve the price while doubling production to achieve approximately constant net income. I doubt very much if Saudi oil policy is determined by consideration of its impact on Russia. Russian oil is not a great deal more expensive to produce than Saudi oil and yields a good profit at $40.00. Meantime the sanctions and lower oil prices provide Russia with a useful incentive to crack down on corruption and thus make way for the emergence of a strong small/medium business sector.
It’s actually very simple. The cause is: money. The Saudis have a lot of it, and the British want the crumbs that fall from the table of their Saudi masters. They will do literally anything to get those crumbs.
A secondary motive is that, as always, the commands of Washington must be followed implicitly and without hesitation.
Perhaps things are more nefarious than you imagine.
Whilst it is true that US rig count is down substantially actual US oil production is only down by around 6% from peak. Something appears to be acting to dilute or defray the price signalling mechanism.
That something may well be the Dallas Fed who, in January, met with a number of banks in Houston. It is alleged that at that meeting the Dallas Fed urged the banks not to force energy bankruptcies and to suspend mark to market accounting on energy debts and as a consequence avoid energy sector impairments.
Perhaps US-Saudi relations are not all they seem. In recent days the KSA has threatened to liquidate its US treasury holdings should the US lift its immunity on the Saudi state should it be proved to have involvement in 9/11. Only yesterday the US Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications went on record to admit that the seed money for Al-Qaeda came from Saudi Arabia.
Should such a change in relationship be underway then I do hope the US remembers to inform its British lackeys.
Good comments. The Market – praise be to It’s supernatural Powers – determines all of this. If you missed this, it may be of interest:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/17/rbs-pulls-fossil-fuel-investments-green-energy
The Market is running round like a headless chicken, seeking what it may exploit for huge profits in a global economy gone sour. Result: random counterintuitive activities.
There were an enormous number of wells drilled waiting on completion services and to be connected to pipelines in the USA. This has meant that although the new drilling rate has crashed, new wells coming on line held up much longer. Also gas to oil produced ratio has gone up suggesting that chokes have been opened. This temporarily increases production (or at least offsets decline) but reduces the wells total lifetime and ultimate extraction total, It helps their immediate cash flow though.
And the smaller number of new wells being drilled now are confined to the most productive fields.
Is the House of Saud’s primary connection to the West through the British royal family? That seems to be the connection that gets into the news, with the yearly sword dances.
No its through America.
At the demise of the Ottoman empire after WW1 when the French and us were discretely drawing lines in the sand along came America accusing us of colonialism and making it clear that was a thing of the past and couldn’t be tolerated, and then instead of a Brit friendly house the Americans put the house of Saud on the throne. Who was instrumental ? None other than Kim Philby’s old man. Hi ho.
The main reason Saudi Arabia wants to conquer Syria is that they want to greet Jesus pbuh second coming in Damascus one day soon. In spite of the fact that Jesus pbuh will probably spit in their eyes or order their immediate execution. Takfirism, the killing of other Muslim because you have decided they have forfeited the right to live, does not exist in the Islam of the Torah or the Injeel or even the Gospel. It is universally condemned in the Qur’an and the Hadith.
The house of Saud is a mafia sitting on an oil-well with a false doctrine given to them by the enemies of Islam.
USUKIS will always protect its own intellectual spawn. Reptiles, all of them.
@Loony, thanks, that’s made it a lot clearer, ie re the oil sales in dollars artificially increasing value of dollar and re Saudis owning US debt, so they have got the USA by the balls and presumably the UK just does what’s good for America as always.
@Clark, surely the Royals just do pretty much what they’re told? Although they may just identify with KIngs in general, sticking together right or wrong as all minorities tend to (and Royals are about the smallest minority I can think of!) I’m reminded of Edward the Seventh’s alleged remark about the King of Tonga.
“In spite of the fact that Jesus pbuh will probably spit in their eyes or order their immediate execution. ”
Er, no. ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged’ are his reputed words. You are perhaps thinking of Mohammed (pbuh). Going by this Q’ranic collection (by an admittedly unfriendly source – and I really hope none of it’s true), he’d have been your man for the spitting in the eye.
http://www.wvinter.net/~haught/Koran.html
Had a lot in common with Jesus’ da in the Old Testament.
Jesus, being the younger generation and all, cleaned up the act.
More your luvvin and social justice warrior kinda guy.
Rebellious offspring syndrome If he’d made it to 50 he’d have been moneychanging in the Temple with the worst of them, and standing for GKIP (God’s Kingdom Independence Party) with a platform of hanging and flogging. It can happen to anyone.
Are we not allowed to criticise Cameron’s illegal sacking of Libya and the post-Iraq re-run this morning?
Where’s puggy-bum? All my wishes are not being obeyed. Which junk-shop did you get this useless lamp from, Alladin?
God, I hope Hillary Clinton, who was as responsible as anyone for destroying Libya, does not win the New York primary today.
Yup.
It’s Clinton and Trump.
These American soaps are so predictable.
This all comes back to Chomsky again doesn’t it? Manufacturing consent. All roads lead to Noam.
The documents Craig references are the UK equivalent of Chomsky’s publicly available State Department researches aren’t they? They’re there, and they’re interpretable by those bothered to look, but you won’t find any references to Janes in the Telegraph or Mail or Sun, at least not in the context Craig puts them.
I’m interested in whether this seconding of the SAS to MI6 is a new development or was it always thus regarding covert deployments?
I could be wrong by the way regarding the public availability of up to date Janes reports.
Yep, it’s all publicly available, just checked.
Bet you knew that before your first post.
So, not a Chomsky moment then.
Nope I didn’t, just a guess, but didn’t want some Davis-type figure ah-ha!- ing me ?
And what’s a ‘Chomsky moment’ when it’s at home?
See that big long para of yours above.
It’s a rhetorical device.
Set up your stooge, then watch him fall.
Eh? You’ve lost me now. My comment was at heart in favour of Craig’s analysis, with a nod to Chomsky as a sort of Godfather of these critiques. Where’s the ‘stooge’? I’m interested in finding out if the ploy regarding SAS secondment to MI6 is one that has previously been used to try and deceive Parliament. I’m not sure where you see the conspiratorial bent to my relatively banal observations.
Rhetoric and feigned ignorance can hardly be described as conspiratorial.
There’s much to say about your approach, but since it’s only yourself alone doing it, it don’t quite qualify.
More generally though, it’s often difficult to see where policy ends and conspiracy begins.
Even bog standard corporates don’t reveal their policies publicly.
It’s as if you chaps think people don’t ever come together in common purpose.
A remarkably curious position.
Anyway.
Chomsky’s got nothing to do with this.
Nothing.
And he ain’t quite the illuminist you think he is.
He’s very much a mainstream critic of state activities.
The idea that special forces have previously been accountable to parliament is fanciful. In the early days soldiers would simply leave the army for the duration of the mission. See Adam Curtis’ “Mayfair Set” film.
Sorry Herbie, that’s incomprehensible gibberish. I’m off for a run, it’s a beautiful day, why in Gods name am I wasting my time on this insanity? Over and out for good.
The SAS were in NI, yonks before public and parliament knew about it.
The CIA were operating in NI in the 70s and public and parliament didn’t know about it.
As John Kerry wryly replied, when asked about his and Bush’s membership of the secret society, Skull and Bones.
“Can’t talk about it. It’s a secret”.
Just change your moniker, Jim.
That’s what all the runaways do.
Herby
“More generally though, it’s often difficult to see where policy ends and conspiracy begins”
___________________
Only if you believe – as you obviously do – that everything involves a conspiracy.
That’s the risk of big picture “thinking”, Herby.
In politics and war, which is what we’re mostly discussing here, conspiracy is the norm, and for obvious reasons.
It’s your denial of that simple fact which is the more curious position.
All you’ve got is denial of reality.
That’s why few, other than your invented sock puppets, agree with you.
Thinking of Saudi Arabia and its persistents on keeping down the price of a barrel of oil. Firstly, I would imagine that the USA, now not so dependent on Saudi oil, due to shale extraction and of course fracking, in the US.
Iran, it seems will also now play a huge roll in the production of oil in the region, surely a threat to Saudi Arabia?
Saudi Arabia must be, losing millions of dollars in profits everyday, due to the low oil price yet it persists on keeping the price down. Is it as Craig say to force US extractors to fold? And to weaken the Russian economy? In my opinion Russian people are used to hardship and sanctions, their history shows that to be the case, I doubt very much the low oil price will break Russia.
Saudi Arabia’s strong point, in my opinion, which adheres it to the West, Britain, France and the USA in particular, is it military purchasing power, Saudi Arabia spends billions on military equipment supplied by that triumvirate. That is probably one of several reasons, why Nato, hasn’t overthrown the medieval, and brutal Saudi regime.
In my opinion Saudi Arabia is more concerned with fighting religious wars covertly, in some cases, others openly Yemen for example, than it is about the future state of its financial affairs. If Saudi Arabia can no longer purchase expensive Western hardware, it may find itself in the crosshairs of Western powers.
On that day there could be a reckoning for the House of Saud.
Fact that the current government has thrown even the pretence of “accountability” into the waste basket, and behaves as a drunkard going out of the pub in the early hours of the morning; filled with the booze bravado, promising to shape up the manner and sort out the lot of the rouges to a man. Whilst we all know it was the very same bunch of tossers who attacked a perfectly stable and operational country, in the usual dash for “freedoms”, and sequestration of the Libyan billions parked in one of the accounts here in London and elsewhere by persons unknown to be spent on the causes unknown*.
The same bunch then have gone back to give it the same nostrum as before (if the first lot of leaches didn’t work then more leaches ought to do the trick)!!! Help in the vernacular of our deal leaders means bombing the crap out of the country (the kaleidoscope has been shaken, and bits are in flux) ie we bomb them and let God/chance put right the damage, and bring about “freedom, free beer, free sex, and anything else that is going free”!
This is the alternative that is on offer at the twenty first century by our dear leaders busy bombing the crap out of some weak country in the way of making themselves look oh so action men and strong!!!! If the Downing street cat takes a piss in the PM shoes (wise animal) then it is time to bomb Yemen!!!! If the Brexit is not going the way of the “stay” then let’s bomb Libya!
However this charade of “democracy” aside the huge numbers of dollars that have been printed have been absorbed and are sitting comfortably in the various offshore accounts and on the hedge fund managers books trading in derivatives (nothing to do with the real world) hence there is no need for hiking up the commodity prices to absorb the errant dollars floating around the place. Furthermore given the extent and degrees of poverty policies inflicted on we the people; we have sweet FA left to afford any more price hikes.
Hence the current “analysis” that al saud pederasts are clever enough to come up with a strategy of heading off the frackers at the pass!!!! The huge cuts in the oil prices are only the result of glut of oil that is not being bought, simple as that, the rules of supply and demand dictate that whence a commodity has fewer buyers the prices will take a dive. That is regardless of the market manipulations and shenanigans as such.
However the al saud pederasts, have been taking the opportunity of making hey while the bits of kaleidoscope is in flux. These have been throwing their weight around and are too busy in their version of geopolitics, that has spectacularly backfired on them, and they are left with the option of bribing all and sundry because despite buying so much arms. The locals somehow don’t care much for using them and getting shot in return for their most excellent shooting.
Also the dreams of holding back, nay, forcing the area to travel back in time, with a view to prolonging their corrupt rule is coming unstuck, as the Syrians have managed to get rid of the al saud mercenaries, and are making headways towards a better society than that of the most excellent al saud pederasts.
Finally already there is the whiff of dumping the al saud pederasts as the 9/11 vote is indicative of, and despite their protestations and threats it seems the writing is on the wall for the medieval emirs and their brand of religion.
* this is a feature of these wars, billions of Saddam were returned to the US, and none knows of their final resting place, along with the money from UN ten billion (the old dollar not the toilet paper one) that was taken out of the UN to be spent by the US, and so forth.
Cue people saying/implying that Libya was paradise under Ghaddafi in 3…, 2…., 1….
That is exactly how Libya is presented in one of the books that I am currently reading, Diana Johnstone’s Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton.
Sounds like a good, unbiased evaluation of the pros and cons of Mrs. Clinton’s foreign policy…
Libyans had free electricity,
Libyans had free housing,
Libyans had free health service,
Libyans had free education, (included grants for those wishing to go abroad for higher education)
Libyans had free water, (it was practically free at very little cost)
Libyans were mostly employed and the enjoyed very low rates of unemployment.
Now Libyans don’t have any of the above but they are supposed to be enjoying as much freedom as they can handle. That is when they are not being shot at, get blown up, get kidnapped for ransom, get raped (equal opportunity male and female both), and trying to find food or enjoy the luxury of electricity, …………………
Well only an ignorant zionist sucm bag shill can even entertain the thoughts of starve and die of simple diseases but die knowing one is drowning in “Freedom” all the while foreign troops are unofficially dispatched to help one lot of thugs to beat the other lot of thugs and set up a supine dictatorship all in the way of Freedom, Freedom, Freedom brand.
Not only did they have lots of free stuff, they also had free prison stays, free torture, free summary execution, free censorship, and free tyranny! Isn’t it great? They didn’t have to pay for any of it!
Lame answer, based on imaginary hypothetical hyperbole, there again, how can a zionist understand the demise of Libyans and empathise with them?
The absolute bunkum in that sentence has clogged up the bilge in my browser:
“prisons, censorship, torture, summary executions and free tyranny” are very much the facets/attributes of the current “Free” Libya, but we know why your ilk is so intent on promoting the “freedom wars” laying to waste a whole continent just to keep the shitty little strip of land afloat in the flowing rivers of blood of the Arabs.
The only good Arab is a dead Arab and the “Freedom” racket is doing a pretty good job out of killing the Arabs in their droves.
Lame answer, based on the imaginary idea that Libya only has two possible systems of government: oppression by a secular dictator and oppression by islamists. Do you consider them unable, at their current state of development, to sustain a democratic system? Because that line of reasoning sounds awfully familiar from somewhere else…
Nothing can beat a straw man diversion, the lame zionist shills will do anything, say anything, write anything in the way of absolving themselves from their evil. The vicious little ankle snappers’ favourite is to imply through innuendos and casting aspersions on their opponents! Never mind the message let’s hit on the messenger.
One lame answer is replaced with another desperately lame retort, that is an exercise in stringing incoherent words with the lines of the correct sound bite decibels. Disregarding the fact on the ground that no country has achieved development through getting invaded by “concerned foreign armies” that turn that country into a paradise with their bombs, and bullets, killing oodles of the inhabitants, that is acceptable l because of some dogmatic bunkum about imaginary “freedom” brand.
Disregarding the fact on the ground the ignorant zionist shill waxes lyrical about intangible rubbish and then questions the goodwill of all and sundry for having the gall to reject the neurosis born notions of evident convince for that shitty little strip of land.
” they also had free prison stays, free torture, free summary execution, free censorship, and free tyranny”
I think you will find that they still have all of that free stuff.
Isn’t 20/20 hindsight great? I think we should only ever do things that turn out not to have any unintended consequences!
But seriously, let the Libyan people fight for their freedom if they want it. That’s better than endless, hopeless decades of oppression, no matter how many free goodies the dictator spreads around. (Spending the oil money that in no way belongs to him.)
I think you will find that plenty of people, like U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, foresaw all that was going to go wrong after an intervention in Libya at the time.
Martinned.
Funny you should mention free prisons, torture etc, Saudi Arabia a close ally of Britian, also has those things and more including beheadings, and public hangings.
Isn’t rather peculair, that you’re not mouthing off about deposing the House of Saud?
Oh wait a minute, king Salaman, is a good guy, because he buys our weapons, and, invests in our economy, so he can’t be all bad right?
Only HRW and Amnesty International have said Saudi Arabia has one of the worst human right records on the planet..erm! Lets just ignore that bit shall we . ?
Saudi-Arabia isn’t the topic of this thread, but if you want to hear about my opinion, you’re welcome to it:
I think we should pivot our focus in the Middle-East away from Saudi-Arabia and the Gulf States towards Iran, now that the nuclear deal is in place. Assuming you have to deal with someone in order to help stabilise the region, I’d think Iran is the least odious major player around. (Not to mention that they are also more democratic, and therefore less likely to randomly invade a neighbouring country.) I should think that there is scope to make a deal that involves Iran throwing Assad under the bus in return for more support for their local needs/ambitions, including recognition of their role in stabilising Iraq, protection for the Shi’a majority in Bahrain, and serious Western effort to push for a cease fire in Yemen.
Saudi-Arabia and the other Gulf States, on the other hand, are long overdue for a serious spanking of some description. Not sure what form that should take, but there has to be some kind of consequence for giving that much support to terrorists, quite apart from what they’re all up to in Yemen. If someone says oil embargo, count me in. (Oil prices are so low as to be arguably contractionary, not to mention environmentally unfriendly, so who cares about doubling the price of a barrel.)
Thank you Martinned for your thoughts on Saudi Arabia, and a shift towards Iran, however I very much doubt that particular plan of action will ever come to fruition.
Obama’s easing of sanctions against Iran, didn’t go down too well will some in the Senate, and Hillary Clinton, the most likely next POTUS, in my opinion has made no secret of coming down hard on the likes of Iran.
Clinton, who’ll you’ll not find a better example of establishment presidential candidate, will comply with her handlers, who in my opinion, write US foreign policy, and have done so for years now.
As for spanking the Gulf States, your kidding, right, (you’re a funny guy Martinned, a comedian in the making?) Britian makes an absolute fortune selling all kinds of weaponry that is ued to beat the living daylights out of the Gulf States citizens, such as in Bahrain.
I told you my preference. I didn’t say it was realistic.
The only words of truth that a little ankle snapper zionist shill can ever come out with; “I didn’t say it was realistic.”
Changing the subject after having been comprehensively outed as an ideologue automaton shill, after having had “the last word”* that little jerk Sarkozi who was even lying about his height less said about his fraudulent conduct, which then ends up in 20/20 vision of the hindsight!!!
Alas anyone with a modicum of sense and a healthy dose of scepticism had worked out the Libya scam, and lots of us knew the mess that will be created once Gaddafi was ousted and we did march and demonstrated against such an insane hive policy coming down the shoot for the ultra zionist neocon lunatics. Hence talk for yourself zionist shill.
Although this particular snippet only proves the disingenuous position that this novice shill has totally nullified it’s position by stating such a great little snippet “hindsight is 20/20 vision” in other words the clueless automaton shill has been busy spewing the same lines over and again and hoping the “last word” will win the day.
And Gaddafi had gone onto the Gold Dinar – a Mortal Sin in PTB terms.
He was also helping other African countries get out of the clutches of the IMF and World bank, and as Abe Lincoln and JFK will tell you if you’re lucky enough to go where they are, upsetting the Fiat Currency Scammers is not good for your health.
By the way, the US Ambassador killed was the organiser of the arming and support for the ‘Libyan Spring’ Regime Change machinations, and is one of the few evildoers who do get some measure of ‘justice’ on earth; most live over-long lives, but all will be sorted on Judgement Day.
Gaddafi had mellowed, and if any excesses of repression still persisted, which I am not aware of, he could easily have been ‘leant on’ to soften up.
But as we all know, Human Rights is a tool to bash the regimes that don’t toe the Western line; just like ‘Democracy’.
Gaddafi was improving massively the lot of the common people, not at all what the PTB want.
RIP, mon Colonel!
If I was a Libyan right now I’d be positively rejoicing in the demise of that evil dictator and my new found freedoms and democracy.
Freedoms? Democracy? Have you been following the news about Libya?
Errr … sarcasm 🙂
You fooled me. Sorry for being so thick.
Why Libya’s transition to democracy failed (Feb. 17, 2016):
The Washington Post article blames Gaddafi, but it makes it clear that there is nothing resembling democracy in Libya.
“The only words of truth that a little ankle snapper zionist shill”
The continual abuse just demonstrates the weakness of your arguments yet again.
I am not abusive, unlike you whose malicious misdemeanour’s often gets deleted. I am only stating facts, and if you find these unpleasant, then stop being a zionist shill and behave and act with an independent mind leavong the hive mentality for the other zionist shills.
But we all know you cannot do so! As in case in example you are joining the debate to defend your novice shill who has been comprehensively outed and shown for the ill informed hive follower; zionistan right or wrong defending the shitty strip of land regardless of actualities with a string of meaningless sound bites.
But you don’t do irony do you? Hence your moniker, dissident against whom the oligarch owned media?
Of course not, you are here to carry on the “good fight” zionistan right or wrong and damn the consequences! hence stop your sanctimonious indignations that is often mixed with your profanities you pass as “your contributions”
“I am not abusive”
Your posts continually demonstrate otherwise – but you are so deluded that you do not even realise this to be the case.
I am not a shill, I am not from Israel and I do not defend it right or wrong. My dissent is against bigots like yourself.
Your constant resort to abuse rather than supported arguments is just an indicator in my view that you need help before it gets worse.
“I am not abusive..”
____________________
You are pointless abuse personified. A little self-awareness, please!
The resident dissident is now resident medic too!!! Assumptions abound, in its’ own fashion retorts, intent on “hurting” the little feelings of it’s opponents. This is proof if there was a need for any; the extent of the childish, regimented, limited hive mentality
Using my own words (due to lack of any credible intelligence to invent a new vocabulary) it tries to come back with a lame retort and fails comprehensively.
You don’t even realise that your crime of supporting the zionist supremacist scum is even worse, because you are not even from there!!! But you admit to it all the same.
“I am not a shill” decries the shill! Of course you are not a shill, you believe the bilge and bunkum that you are propagating all in the way of fighting a good fight for a place that you have as per your declaration; “I do not defend it right or wrong”! Hence clearly indicating/manifesting the degrees of indoctrination that your overt support of the zionist supremacist scum bags is based on, which is not support enough as you perceive, and seeing as you have not jumped in to defend a novice ankle snapper who is getting its’ teeth cut under the tutelage of the cat suffering from grandiose delusions With its’ concern for “bigger picture” (whatever that may mean?) ROFL
As for the rest of your unconscious drivel, you are so far removed from reality that you cannot envisage the nazi style supremacist zionist scum bags ought to be abhorred by any sane and sentient human being, and such an abhorrence and disapproval is not bigotry, in fact it is a natural human reaction confronted with the ugly, despicable, and repulsive zionist supremacist scum bags.
However not only you cannot understand such a simple human reaction, because of your hive mentality and limited intelligence, but you have also attempted to lie your way out of being a zionist shill albeit in your own failed fashion, clearly indicative that you are not even good at lying, hence all the more reason to stick to the hive and let someone else do the thinking for you!
Martinned.
Yeah Libya, is now a veritable paradise, (tongue pressed firmly into cheek) compared to when Gaddafi ran the show.
O FFS! Are you seriously saying that we should not help people fight for their freedom against oppressive dictators? I guess extremes really do meet… you’ve moved so far to the left that you ended up in Kissinger’s lap.
offs are you seriously saying that we should not help those refuigees we helped and planned to create?
No
Martinned.
Your comment, would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic, you must be the only person, on the planet, who still believes, we flattened Libya in the name of freedom and democracy.
But I guess you’re not that inane? It wasn’t that long ago Blair, and his government were falling over themselves to placate Gaddafi, trying to ensure that the “Deal in the Desert went through, BP also did their fare share of grovelling and sucking up to Gaddafi, who then like Saddam, was seen as a necessary evil.
Fast forward, a few years, and Gaddafi was portrayed as a murderous dictator, who had to be removed, in the name of, yip you guessed it, freedom and democracy. The MSM obediently played there part, as they did with Saddam.
The words hypocritical b*stards springs to mind.
As for Kissinger, sarcasm died the day he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize, though your above comment does come a close second. ?
Nicolas Sarkozy has many failings, but I see no reason to doubt his sincerity on Libya at the time. Do you have any actual evidence – as opposed to entertaining but pointless conspiracy theories – that I should read?
Martinned.
You are indeed correct Sarkozy has many failings.
his article is being written as the Libyan opposition forces march on Sirte and Sabha, the two last remaining strongholds of the Gaddafi government, with ominous warnings to the population that they must surrender, or else.
Apparently, Benghazi became somewhat of a “holy city” in the international discourse dominated by leaders of the European Union and NATO. Benghazi was the one city on earth that could not be touched.
.
It was like sacred ground. Tripoli? Sirte? Sabha? Those can be sacrificed, as we all look on, without a hint of protest from any of the powers that be—this, even as we get the first reports of how the opposition has slaughtered people in Tripoli. Let’s turn to the Benghazi myth.
“If we waited one more day,” Barack Obama said in his March 28 address, “Benghazi, a city nearly the size of Charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world”. In a joint letter, Obama with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy asserted: “By responding immediately, our countries halted the advance of Gaddafi’s forces.
The bloodbath that he had promised to inflict on the citizens of the besieged city of Benghazi has been prevented. Tens of thousands of lives have been protected”. Not only did French jets bomb a retreating column, what we saw was a very short column that included trucks and ambulances, and that clearly could have neither destroyed nor occupied Benghazi.
Other than Gaddafi’s “overblown rhetoric,” which the U.S. was quick to dismiss when it suited its purposes, there is to date still no evidence furnished that shows Benghazi would have witnessed the loss of “tens of thousands” of lives as proclaimed by Obama, Cameron, and Sarkozy. This was best explained by Professor Alan J. Kuperman in “False pretense for war in Libya?”:
“The best evidence that Khadafy did not plan genocide in Benghazi is that he did not perpetrate it in the other cities he had recaptured either fully or partially—including Zawiya, Misurata, and Ajdabiya, which together have a population greater than Benghazi….Khadafy’s acts were a far cry from Rwanda, Darfur, Congo, Bosnia, and other killing fields….Despite ubiquitous cellphones equipped with cameras and video, there is no graphic evidence of deliberate massacre….
Nor did Khadafy ever threaten civilian massacre in Benghazi, as Obama alleged. The ‘no mercy’ warning, of March 17, targeted rebels only, as reported by The New York Times, which noted that Libya’s leader promised amnesty for those ‘who throw their weapons away’. Khadafy even offered the rebels an escape route and open border to Egypt, to avoid a fight ‘to the bitter end’”.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/08/31/the-top-ten-myths-in-the-war-against-libya/
Yeah how can anyone doubt the sincerity of a con man and a fraudster as the little jerk called Sarkozi who wears platform shoes?
The same crook was to find the story of his taking bribes from Gaddafi hitting the news stands. Although later was found to have conned the little old ladies out of their dosh too.
Indeed he is as upstanding as the hoards of the zionist shills spamming the cyberspace with utter rubbish in the way of keeping up the “good fight”; anything which is good for that shitty little strip of land is the command of these automatons who have a barely tenuous grip/connection to reality or can exhibit/have an independent thought of their ownself.
Yes! Everybody knows that people who wear platform shoes cannot be trusted. And particularly this guy, who took bribes from Ghaddafi in order to attack Ghaddafi!
Speaking of Zionist shills, I think Algerian-born Bernard-Henri Lévy played a major role in convincing Sarkozy to intervene in Libya:
“Yes! Everybody knows that people who wear platform shoes cannot be trusted. ”
______________
Martinned.
You do have a point on the heel thing (no pun intended).
Guilio Andreotti, and Francios Hollande, springs to mind. ?
You can add Dmitri Medvedev and Putin to the list of platform shoe wearers not to be trusted – as if their declared incomes were not enough (8.9 m Roubles = £90k last year for poor struggling Vlad who never lies!)
“Speaking of Zionist shills, I think Algerian-born Bernard-Henri Lévy played a major role…”
_______________________
I like the little racist dig (“Algerian-born”)……
Probably just a political observation.
Perhaps you weren’t aware, but the Algerian French were particularly bloodthirsty cunts.
That’s likely where BHL gets it from.
O FFS! Are you seriously saying that we should not help people fight for their freedom against oppressive dictators?
Yes.
Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We’ll change henceforth the old tradition
And spurn the dust to win the prize.
Refrain:
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we’ll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They’ll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We’ll shoot the generals on our own side.
No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E’er the thieves will out with their booty
And give to all a happier lot.
Each at the forge must do their duty
And we’ll strike while the iron is hot.
Interesting posts by Martin here. I don’t always find myself in agreement with your posts, but a revaluation of Iran as a positive force in ME is certainly worth v serious consideration.
That’s actually now US policy.
Agreed with you on reappraising Iran in a more positive light, but seriously how can you suggest that we are ever in a scrap to help people free themselves from dictators. That’s how we dress it up. That’s not why we do it. Not unless we are very stupid, or fans of perceptual war. Okay maybe occasionally intervene to help out the French, but beyond that it’s not about liberation.
Perpetual not perceptual war!
Jim: “I’m off for a run, it’s a beautiful day, why in Gods name am I wasting my time on this insanity?”
Just got back from one myself. It’s like a summer’s day out there – surprisingly hot for the middle of April.
So that’s how they faked it. Faked what you ask? Well you obviously didn’t see the the uncensored videos. The rest of the Telegraph is now a creepshow too. I don’t believe a word.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/this-womans-creepily-realistic-cakes-will-freak-you-out/
I agree that support for the despicable Wahhabis of the Saudi ruling elite is the road to hell in the Middle East, and possibly the world. It makes no sense at all unless viewed through the distorting lens of the super rich, who see themselves as above the concerns of the majority of people. They may end up “owning” a world destroyed by nuclear disaster. It won’t be much fun in the bunker, however plush. The rest of us will just be dead, or wishing we were.
The simple answer is if the West got rid of the House of Saud, it would risk getting rid of all the hereditary heads of Sunni states in the Middle East.
The West would have to admit that democracy is appropriate for Muslims too.
What a shitty country Great Brutain is!
Welcome. You’ve found the right blog.
I must be having an odd day. I’ve appreciated a post by Martined on repivoting towards Iran and now I’ve done something I never thought possible. Laughing with (no surely not) Anon1.Oh dear. Surely it can’t be possible to repivot towards both Iran and Anon1!
Meanwhile, the NATO intervention in Afghanistan is not proving to be a success. RT: New blast in Kabul follows attack that killed at least 28.
I don’t know we can blame Saudi for low oil prices, they did nothing to cause them. Saudi didn’t increase production before the fall, there was a large increase in production in America coinciding with a drop in demand from China. In the past OPEC has controlled prices by varying production but this time they didn’t see why they should reduce their production so that other countries could increase theirs.
Even now Saudi said they will agree to a freeze at last January’s production levels provided other countries would do the same, Iran would not agree, they say they will increase production now sanctions have been lifted..
“Saudi Arabia pursued the overproduction of oil initially to force out high cost US fracking producers.”
I’m not so sure. There was an oversupply of oil, caused in part by the global slowdown, and in part by overinvestment in marginal production, of which fracking is a big part.
But if you assume that the Saudis were big driver of the recent price falls, I tend to believe they did so with the White House’s blessing. Saudi and American interests, broadly, still align. At least they do by choice. And the price collapse has turned the screw on places like Iran and Russia and Venezuela – all places where the US was happy to see that happen; and in the case of Iran, something that pleased the Saudis.
The other thing about higher oil prices, about which the Saudis are well aware, is that at a certain level (it used to be $80 a barrel, I think it’s a lower now, nearer $60) renewable energy becomes very compeitive. So the long-term self-interest for the Saudi’s driving down oil prices is there too.
I’m skeptical overall about how much of the price fall the Saudis were really responsible for, but I have little doubt the US was happy to see it happen, mainly for the pain it inflicts on Russia. The fracking industry – concentrated in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota – is not a big piece of the US economy, and it doesn’t happen anywhere where the Democratic Party has much at stake.
How important are oil exports to Brazil’s economy? Low price might also have helped to get President Dilma impeached.
Not very. But the Dilma impeachment is centred on corruption at Petrobras, so there could be a causal link of some sort, but Brazil isn’t dependent on oil exports in the same way that Venezuela is.
A war crime, yes, but it’s also the crime of aggression. We shall see whether it’s (a) invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State, or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another State or part thereof; (b) bombardment by the armed forces of a State against the territory of another State or the use of any weapons by a State against the territory of another State; or (g) the sending by or on behalf of a State of armed bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out acts of armed force against another State of such gravity as to amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial involvement therein.
The UK needs to carry out all its high-priority aggression tasking prior to the affirmative decision required by 1 January 2017 with regard to both Security Council referrals of aggression and referrals proprio motu and by States. Even if Britain does get its last licks in, jus cogens provides that the most serious crimes are punishable even if institutional arrangements for prosecution are not in place at the time. There is no statute of limitations, so British officials’ exposure never goes away until the command structure is acquitted.
When US international standing has eroded to the point where they need to sacrifice a few ‘bad apples,’ Obama’s butler Cameron will make a perfect scapegoat. His doughy face quivering and cringing in the dock will Restore America’s Greatness.
Where are you getting this thing about 1.1.17 from?
Guardian article about motorcade of Samantha Powers hitting and killing a boy in Cameroon seems to blame the speed at which the motorcade was going. UN ambassador Samantha Power’s motorcade kills child in Cameroon:
CNN report says nothing about the motorcade’s speed: U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power’s motorcade hits, kills boy in Cameroon.
War monger Power is apparently running around everywhere in the hope of garnering support for her compromise candidacy to be the next UN Secretary General.
Running over the poor boy, thanks to the loony security demanding that her convoy speed through the villages wanting to see her, certainly won’t help her chances, so the boy might not have died totally in vain.
I doubt even Hillary wants her.
O/T
Does anyone know which hotel in the benighted land of Hijaz was used to auction an offspring of a “father” who sold/auctioned off his son as a suicide bomber?
Who bought the son?
Where did the son in question get dispatched?
How often these auctions are held?
How much is the average going price?
There is a grainy clip on the internet but needs verification and validation.
The sabotage of the Desertec project fro clean energy and the continuation of the war on terror was secured by flimsy and [pathetic policies for the time when Ghaddafi was gone, just as with Iraq, no plan or policies for the restructuring and or continuance of some sort of civilian life at all.
IS our vassal is ensuring that the sweet crude ends up in the west and we here should be watching who buys this dirty stuff.
Thanks to Clark expert advice I back and able to post, herzlichen Dank.
Yes it was the battery…….
The SAS have been in southern Tunisia for a while too.
“There is a convention that military operations are reported to Parliament“. Is there? It must be more honoured in the breach than in the observance, where the SAS and SBS are concerned. Most SAS men can tell you about wars they’ve fought in where no British involvement has been reported. And they’re not Walting it up, either! (Fantasists are screened out during the selection process.)
What are the Brits up to, with the SAS-MI6 footwork in Yemen?
Some readers of Craig’s blog may like to sign the petition on the parliamentary website calling for the government to “Allow British citizens to offer rooms in their homes to refugees, for free“:
Those who do, can sign it here.
The rationale is stated as follows.
“Many people would willingly give up space in their home for free to a refugee or a refugee family. The British government should start a scheme to encourage people to do this.”
“There are 20 million refugees in the world, including 5 million from Syria. The plight of “displaced people” is not new. Most prolonged wars cause many people to flee their homes – or from the ruins of their homes. Many live in overcrowded conditions with relatives. Many don’t have that option, fleeing across borders to a life of uncertainty, often living in camps or shanty towns. There is a long tradition of citizens giving up space in their homes to house refugees. Publicly encourage this.”
If you support this goal, please help publicise the petition. For example, you could copy this comment and then publish it elsewhere, or email it to friends, etc. Takes about 10 seconds if you want to help! When it gets 100,000 signatures it will have to be debated in the House of Commons. Let’s show the world that not every British person is an Uncle Tom! Thanks everyone!
“When it gets 100,000 signatures it will have to be debated in the House of Commons.”
___________________
Not quite correct. 100.000 signatures means that the subject of the petition is eligible for debate, not that it will automatically be debated.
Your use of “Uncle Tom” seems unlikely to be simply ill considered. What do you mean by it?
From the Guardian today:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/19/uk-libya-air-naval-support-philip-hammond
Angus Robertson at PMQs last month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heIt3bQnyhE
In the last six months, Cameron has stood-up in Parliament and told two massive lies. Most recently, and highlighted by Craig in this post, the stuff about British ‘special forces’ and their deployment without the consent of Parliament.
Then, back in September, Cameron stood up in the House of Commons and calmly announced that a British citizen in Syria had been assassinated by an RAF drone. Cameron also stated that another British citizen in Syria had been assassinated by an American drone, with the full blessing of the UK government. In a long rambling reply, which seemed to have been written by the Conservative party, the then Labour leader Harriet Harman asked Cameron if this was the first time that UK drones had been used in this way. Cameron replied that it was the first time that drones has been used in this way.
A few days previous to last week’s PMQs, the human rights charity reprieve.org.uk released a report called ‘Britain’s Kill List’ which provides damning evidence that the UK has been using drones to carry out extrajudicial killings since 2002.
http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/britains-secret-assassinations-programme-extended-kill-list/
From your truepublica link:
So drug trafficking has now become a crime subject to the death penalty for the UK government. Amazing.
lysias what’s going on at the moment is amazing, and breathtaking, and quite terrifying.
If I remember my history correctly, Britain abolished the death penalty in the 1950s. Now the death penalty is back, and without any judicial procedure, but purely on the whim of slimy/corrupt politicians and hidden committees which we’re not allowed to know about, because of course it’s all ‘secret;’
I’ve no idea why it’s all got to be secret, and I would put all these feckers on trial (MI5, MI6, et al, and their equivalents in America), but that ain’t going to happen while the public still buy into all this ‘terrorism’ bullshit.
“If I remember my history correctly, Britain abolished the death penalty in the 1950s”
____________________
You don’t.
On September 7th, 2015, Prime Minister agent David Cameron came to Parliament and announced a “new departure” for Britain, a policy of killing individuals the Security Services and the military do not like, people placed on a list of individuals who the UK (acting along with the US and others) have identified and systematically plan to kill.
The mere admission that there is a ‘Kill List’ certainly should, indeed, have been a “departure” for a country whose people in the main pride themselves on decency. Unfortunately, it was not a “new departure” at all, as we had been doing it secretly for more than ten years. [Reprieve]
Predictably, agent Cameron chose – Reyaad Khan, whose name was on a memory stick handed over to Murdoch and contained a list of ISIS jihadists in Syria and Iraq… Khan was a mentally challenged man who had boasted on YouTube of his involvement in ISIS horrors.
The leak also claimed ISIS is actually run by the Syrian Government… Fear hawk, September 11, 2001 attack (cough) expert and Mr comply else get a boot on your face forever – Mr Richard Barrett CMG OBE said the files could prove to be the ‘biggest breakthrough in years’ in the counter-terror fight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Barrett_(counter-terrorism_expert)
@Clark 11:41
“Is the House of Saud’s primary connection to the West through the British royal family? That seems to be the connection that gets into the news, with the yearly sword dances.”
You mean this one.”He celebrates the sale by joining a sword dance in Riyadh
Which his PA describes as “a cultural nicety”,
But Saudi swords aren’t used for combat in the region,
They’re used for executions of astounding brutality.”
http://internationaltimes.it/the-multi-millionaire-arms-dealer-by-appointment/
“The sovereign who makes use of
such execrable means
should be regarded as an enemy
of the human race.”
de Vattel (1758)
THE LAW OF NATIONS; or principals of the Law of Nature applied to the conduct and affairs of nations and sovereigns.
The Law of nations modifies the intercourse of independent commonwealths in peace, and prescribes limits to their hostilities in war. It prescribes, that in peace nations should do each other as much good, and in time of war as little harm as may be possible without injuring their own proper real interests.
The laws of nations, in short, establish that principle and rule of conduct which should prevent the strong nation from abusing its power, and induce it to act justly and generously towards other states, upon the broad principle, that true happiness, whether of a single individual or of several, can only result from each adopting conduct influenced by a sincere desire to increase the general welfare of all mankind.
From the French of Monsieur de Vattel translated by Joseph Chitty Esq. Barrister at Law circa 1844 Philadelphia
Of course Vlad or his little chum Kadyrov would never think of assassinating anyone?
Clearly you are a very well informed family friend and privy to all manner of secrets!
However at least they don’t go to Duma and openly admit to having set up extra judicial death squads for liking people because there is a need to portray the “muscularity” of our dear leaders.
But you won’t know that will you now? As a heat seeking missile is barely intelligent enough to follow the heat trails of the jet engine you’re primed to home in on the perceived and hand-picked enemies of the shitty little strip of land. Furthermore regardless of the rubbish that you spew, so long as you have put in a word in edgeways. All in the way of defending the shitty little strip of land, and having the last word!
On taking military action in Libya, Philip Hammond said in Parliament today:
“It’s also quite possible that some of the training, perhaps all of the training, will be delivered by contractors, often ex-military personnel working for contractors rather than current serving military personnel.”
Who appoints these contractors? Are Tory ministers in bed with the contractors (eg Malcolm Rifkind and Armor Group)? How much tax payers’ money is involved? (PMQs tomorrow?)
If the level of pain which would be required to force Putin to end military support for Assad, would also put so much strain on the Saudi budget that it would destabilise the Saudi regime itself, perhaps that is what appeals to “western elites”. .
The media is also pretending that Erdogan is a moderate leader, when he is no such thing.
An interview with the Kurdish opposition leader Demirtas.
” SPIEGEL: Not long ago, Erdogan was working towards a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish conflict. Why do you think he has changed course?
Demirtas: He’s striving for absolute power in Turkey. Erdogan wants a caliphate. We Kurds are in his way. Erdogan can’t stop us politically, so he is denouncing us as terrorists.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/interview-with-kurdish-opposition-leader-demirtas-a-1087857.html
On the subject of Yemen:
http://www.salon.com/2016/04/19/iraq_all_over_again_al_qaeda_is_winner_of_u_s_backed_saudi_war_in_yemen_says_renowned_journalist/
Cockburn argues that the extremist group is expanding in Yemen so quickly not necessarily because it is very strong, but because the Saudi and U.S.-backed forces are weak and incredibly unpopular among the population.
“In reality, the weakening or destruction of central government created a power vacuum promptly filled by extreme jihadi groups,” he writes.