My mother, Poppy Catherine Murray, nee Grice, passed away on 19 August aged 85 after a two year fight with multiple myeloma cancer. She had maintained herself in her own home until the last six weeks, and when she was eventually in hospital my brothers, sister and I took turns and were able between us to make sure that somebody was always with her. I last saw her on 14 August, and she never regained consciousness after that.
We faced the agonising decision of whether to come up and run the Doune the Rabbit Hole festival from 19 to 21 August. My son Jamie is Director, I run the bars and my brother Stuart supervises security. The festival is on a shoestring anyway and would genuinely have difficulty coping at if we dropped out at the last minute. It sounds a cliche, but we had no doubt Mum would have wanted us to go ahead with it, and we did so, leaving Neil and especially Celia to look after Mum. She finally passed away at 4.15pm on the Friday and we got the news literally as the gates to the arena opened.
I am sure many of you know from your own experience what a staggering blow it is, no matter how expected. Jamie was particularly struck. But the intensity of working through the festival was helpful – as usual I got a total of 7 hours sleep in 72 and Jamie probably less. The build, festival and takedown are extremely intense and this blog always disappears for ten days at this time.
Despite appalling weather, the festival was an enormous success and extremely well reviewed. I have always described it as life-affirming, and I could not have been surrounded by better people at a time of loss. The Scotsman review I think summed it up very well:
There is little doubt that Doune the Rabbit Hole is something special; a festival which is family friendly, extremely well-programmed and bearing a strong sense of localism in terms of its suppliers and its responsibilities.
And I was glad that the Herald noticed this:
Most mainstream festivals come under fire for routinely male-dominated programming, and could take a leaf from DTRH’s Sunday night line-up alone.
After two days assisting with the takedown, I left to go down to Norfolk again to make funeral arrangements and start to sift through my mother’s things. There can be no more lonely task in life, and the pain of looking through literally thousands of photos still lingers. A mother loves unconditionally. There were moments of joyous celebration brought back to life, wonderful times with grandparents and others long gone. There was a brilliant photo of my grandfather aged six, in an extravagantly braided costume, standing proudly with his drum in a Salvation Army band, his father beside him with his cornet. There were several photos of my mother’s beloved elder brother, who died aged just nineteen fighting against fascism. But most heart-wrenching were the photos which meant something to my mother but nothing to me, long ago people and places I did not recognise, memories now forever gone. And of course I was faced with my own life, stark and unedited, detailed minutely in 57 years of lovingly collected photographs. Neglected relationships, half forgotten friends, ex partners and so many people to whom I should have been nicer or whom I could have helped more.
I think I now have got to kick on with life.
We seem to be hitting peak Craig Murray. Before the hiatus of the last month or so, 40,000 people were regularly reading this blog and some entries were being seen by hundreds of thousands on this and other sites. My brief and simple demolition of Owen Smith is one of the posts that over a million people read, was massively retweeted and I think I can realistically claim had an early impact on the leadership contest. Indeed the general upsurge of interest in non neo-liberal thinking seems to have got me “discovered” by a whole new political generation and it has been an enormous pleasure to see evidence of people looking through the back catalogue of eleven years of posts on this little blog.
The film “The Killing of Tony Blair” turned out very much better than I expected. I really enjoyed it and have been very heartened by the large number of messages of congratulation I have received on my own contribution to it. Still closer to my heart, the documentary film “London Calling”, on the shocking BBC bias in the Scottish Independence referendum, has today been completed and I hope to have distribution information for you shortly.
The film rights to “Murder in Samarkand” have just been renewed, there is a new script and we now have very experienced and top rank producers, and while I do not wish to count chickens, we are closer to the film being made than ever before.
On Friday I am giving a talk to Edinburgh West SNP at 19.30 at Munro Community Centre, Clermiston and I am happy to say that this is just the start of what looks like a busy autumn of campaigning for independence.
Over seven years of effort came to an end on Friday when I signed off the final map for my new book “Sikunder Burnes – Master of the Great Game”, which will now be published on 22 September. It is being printed right now, which is exciting.
I never did get a chance to expand as promised on my thoughts about Chilcot, but this interview in Jacobin magazine did an excellent job in bringing out the observations which I was uniquely qualified to make from personal experience. I do urge you to read it.
On 24 September I shall be in Washington DC to present the annual Sam Adams Award for Integrity to John Kiriakou. It is typical of Obama and Clinton’s America that despite all Obama’s false election promises, the only man to go to jail over the CIA’s acknowledged torture and extraordinary rendition programmes was the whistleblower John Kiriakou, jailed for revealing state secrets.
Then on 20 October I have been summoned to appear before the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee to give evidence upon the same subject.
Finally, the apparent demise of President Karimov has meant that temporarily even the BBC has had to acknowledge my existence and I have a whole raft of mainstream media interviews lined up for tomorrow.
It has been a very difficult period for me and I am rebounding from it straight into peak Craig Murray. I would like to reiterate once more that everybody who participates in commenting on this blog is equally welcome and valued, and those who disagree with me are just as welcome as those who agree. The whole reason I do this is to stimulate thinking outside the Overton window, not to attempt to impose my own ideas.
Ah man, so sorry for your loss.
“A mother loves unconditionally”
Yes. After the initial grief of losing my mother I was left with a profound inner loneliness and understood for the first time what it must be like to be an orphan. All the best Craig.
You have not reached peak yet Craig – you will keep on going up and up, of that I am quite sure. Maybe this is just the start of the real take-off. As more and more people become aware of your blog, so more and more will follow it. Your articles are highly topical to the current situation and always illuminating in a special way, and as more and more people get fed up with the rubbish propaganda being churned out by the mass media, more and more are and will look for more reliable sources of information – and when they find it they certainly won’t just go away! So it can only go up.
I wish lots of success talking with the SNP tomorrow, and I hope you find an overwhelming support for pressing ahead urgently for independence.
It is telling indeed that the whistleblower who revealed waterboarding – also well placed to judge the uselessness of the intelligence so obtained – was the only person convicted in connection with torture, and confirms that torture today is a central and concrete policy of the US government. While there and at the hosting World Beyond War conference, I trust you will give us a report on that conference.
So sorry for your loss, for many of us, we know the deep pain of losing a parent especially our Mother, leaves within us and time is a great healer, we can gage how wonderful your Mother was, she did a grand job teaching you and your siblings the principles and values of life and we have seen this in you for many years. Your dear Mum will continue to guide you from above, in your great wisdom and compassion that you impart to others. Sending hugs .
You must have made your mother very proud over the years.
Craig,
Sounds like you shared a great relationship with your mother. Consider yourself fortunate and the festival a celebration of her life.
Thank you for keeping up this blog and I’d say your reformatting of it has certainly proved to be a success. So, well done to you and your team.
Good luck and all good wishes.
My condolences, Craig. It doesn’t seem that long ago that people our age were kids and so soon here we are, the older generation.
just read your excellent interview, rather detailed and surprising.
So, a majority of diplomatic staff, high ranking and in important decision making positions all were against this move to war with Iraq, but served and delivered the death sentence to hundreds of thousands in the ME?
My regards for Elizabeth Wilmshurst have just gone sky high, what a brave women.
Ms Wilmshurst is now Professor of International Law at UCL (University College London for the the uninitiated) and is, to boot, a Fellow…..of Chatham House.
So I can say without fear of contradiction that she has not landed too badly. all things considered.
You might be interested to learn, Nevermind, that quite a few FO officials, ” high ranking and in important decision making positions” were against the move against Egypt at Suez as well.
But – subject to correction, as always – I believe none of them resigned.
But a couple of second-rank Ministers did…..
I reckon this is as near to one of your best blogs to date.
Soulful and personal as well as stoic and showing how needed you are in so many areas of not only your life but the struggles of others and the continuing challenge to achieve a politically Independent Scotland.
Congratulations Mr. Murray
Your interview with Jacobin has greatly increased my respect for that magazine. All the right questions and very interesting answers.
Did you see this letter in the LRB?
“Failures at the Foreign Office
I was employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until 2010, long after Oliver Miles left, and there is to my mind a lot of force in his assessment of its failure to speak truth to power over Iraq (Letters, 11 August). Returning in 2005 after eight years abroad, I quickly came to understand that this was not the FCO I knew and (almost) loved – an institution traditionally full of the most talented, eccentric and outspoken individuals. The new atmosphere of conformity and demoralisation was palpable, aggravated by the rapid turnover of foreign secretaries and junior ministers.
“Firmly in charge were the Blair collaborators, underpinned by a new generation of liberal interventionists propelled to stardom by the Yugoslav crisis of the 1990s – some having arrived sideways from politics, the UN, charities or the media. Longer-serving diplomats formed a passive resistance, or a silent majority at any rate, and seemed to be regarded with suspicion, as if fatally infected with the scepticism and circumspection learned during the long conflicts of the Cold War. Now, career advancement was expressly linked to volunteering for (futile but preferably repeated) stints of duty in war zones like Baghdad, Basra, Kabul and Lashkar Gah, a willingness to be shot at seemingly trumping all other qualifications.
“At the same time, in response to mounting pressure on resources from 2007 onwards, the FCO fell victim to a cult of managerialism that seemed to regard foreign policy as an inconvenient side-issue. Under a faddish doctrine of providing a ‘facilitating platform across government’, the FCO stopped trying to do anything well on its own, and was soon known to the general public only for its travel advice. The FCO entered the coalition years as a hollowed-out shell, symbolised by the scrapping of the diplomatic service language school and David Miliband’s dismantling of the splendid Victorian library.
“Some think that Thatcher started the rot by sucking foreign policy away to Number Ten. But it was Iraq that decisively ended the FCO’s position as a great – once the greatest – department of state. Where was it, for instance, in the EU referendum debate, the biggest foreign policy issue for generations? The appointment of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary might be seen as the final sick joke, a nadir of institutional humiliation. Ever the optimist, I cling to the thought that the same was probably said of Ernest Bevin, who turned out an unexpected success.
David Roberts ”
I join with everyone else in sympathising with you over the loss of your beloved mother.
A thoughtful piece on what Brexit means to EU security and past cooperation. France and Germany are waking up to NATO’s demand of 2% GDP spending.
It will mean that more defence companies are going to be set up by Germany and France to develop an EU defence base.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/jean-marie-guehenno-on-european-defense-after-brexit-a-1110352.html
More and more destructive money trails.
Not a day goes by that I don’t smile at our Brexit vote. I haven’t been so proud of this country in a long, long time.
The day it happened no one could have wiped the grin off my face. Everywhere I went people were full of spontaneous happiness, hi-fiving and jumping with joy in the street. I don’t live in a metropolitan area or in Scotland, so I knew only joy. We held an immediate street party to celebrate with champagne for breakfast and festivities lasting long into the night.
To witness the entire patrician class in mourning after the vote was a moment that I shall savour forever. They are still at it, now, as I write, on the BBC and C4, despairing over the 17 million “little Englanders” who defied them. It fills my heart with joy, to see them, and you, simply unable to accept the democratic voice that this country exercised against you. You tried every dirty trick in the book, and you lost.
I want you to know this, Nevermind, that on Thursday June 23rd, 2016, for a third time in a century, your dreams of a united Europe under German rule came to an end. Right here, on this pissy little island you deride and hate so much. Hold that thought in your head. And savour it. Neither you or I will be alive to see the next time.
You might like this – the moment when the EU Commissionaire discovers that Brexit won:
https://youtu.be/h2D8MB5s8Jg
I just want you to know that Anon’s foetid dreams are not true, now and then he’s lucid, but this is what you get here as his prime performance
I merely value the resolve and steadfastness of the EU to keep the peace in Europe for a very long time, and long may it stay that way, how ever much some on here like to set the world alight.
fact is, you are thrashing, cause tomorrow you’ll still have a housing racket, a hate for voters and their lot and those who are not as fortunate as you privileged person.
I want you to know that one the 23rd of June 2016 propaganda has won its biggest hike, the day England rejected its past history, trade and markets.
luckily some have Irish grandparents or, like me , are not UK nationals, so feel blessed, keep gushing and wait until article 50 is invoked, if any of the cowards who are against it in the Tory party ever get to express their vote.
The UK Parliament has abrogated its sovereign omnipotent powers by refusing a debate on the result? what should trigger article 50? or who would be in favour of it being invoked in 2030. You want to leave yourself enough time to wreck what you might not be part of.
See how the rising pound works out or a new manufacturing future, competing with Chinese companies, who just love to sell to Europe. get used to it, I’m in and you are out, the difference in five years will be the time it takes you to clear customs. But relax mate, just enjoy your dream.
I apologise for having broken the etikette of the thread. I have seen Craigs mum smile, she had more sparkle and go in her, than me, or anybody else on here.
She was a proper Shannock.
Bevin
As the saying goes : “the enemy of my enemy……”
You quote, with seeming approval, from a letter by David Roberts, formerly of the FCO.
Check out Mr Roberts on LinkedIn.com and then reflect on whether you would really wish this enemy of your enemy (the FCO) to be your friend…..
🙂
Not appropriate, Habba.
The same Habba who shortly will be on trial for crimes against humanity.
And who no doubt will be telling us that his penis is 29 inches long, just like Owen whats-is-name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fI7zm7RXHs
Interesting! Habba obviously uses two separate email addresses. Check out the ident–icons or whatever Mod called them.
Mr Roberts and I are not friends. I know nothing of him except that he has written a letter published in the latest London Review of Books which, I thought, might interest readers of this blog.
Perhaps you could cut to the chase and pass on the gossip yourself. I have no interest in it.
Friend or not, what he says is entirely credible, and mirrors the creeping managerial bollocks imposed on most of our national institutions by the culturally illiterate and politically naive proponents of the Third Way. The BBC is another good example. John Birt started the slide, and it’s continued ever since.
And I thought that his profile on LinkedIn,com – which is not gossip as it is written by himself – might also be of interest to readers as well as to the person who quoted fro his letter to the TLS (ie, you).
To me, Mr Roberts sounds like the sort of person about whom you would normally foam at the mouth on here. But if I’m mistaken, tant mieux!
Mods, what’s the deal with the new, shortened comment pages?
I do like a good rant, and don’t like to be cut off in mid stride.
Just a little something to cheer up the friends of Mr Tsipras and his SYRIZA / ANEL (= far right wing) coalition government
(and perhaps to show that quite a few other countries are not doing so badly…) :
“The latest data on consumption and exports point to the fact that the Greek economy has not yet developed the necessary momentum to break the recessionary cycle, despite government projections for an economic rebound in the second half of the year.
According to Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) figures released on Wednesday, retail commerce turnover posted an annual decline of 5.2 percent in June, while the months of July and August were also disappointing as the summer sales were unable to reverse the downward trend.
A survey by the Commerce and Services Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Enterprises (ESEE) showed that turnover during the sales period that started on July 11 and ended yesterday posted a decline of 9.7 percent year-on-year, with more than half of enterprises (53 percent) reporting a drop in sales and just 14 percent pointing to a rise.
This week ELSTAT also said that private consumption in the second quarter of the year had fallen by 1.9 percent on an annual basis.
Furthermore, exports of Greek products dropped to their lowest point in the last four years in the first half of 2016, posting an annual decline of 8.1 percent to 11.8 billion euros, against 12.8 billion in January-June 2015. Excluding exports of oil products, the annual decline came to 1.4 percent. Besides the major drop in fuel products (down 24.1 percent), there a remarkable decline in raw materials (14.5 percent) was also noted.
Exporters say that the contraction recorded is due to the lack of liquidity, the capital controls that came into effect in late June 2015, the state’s high debts to companies, excessive corporate taxation and delays in the activation of European Union-backed subsidy packages.
Imports also continued to slide, as they came to 20.9 billion euros in H1, down 4.1 percent from the 21.8 billion euros recorded in 2015. This has taken the trade deficit 1.7 percent higher to 9.1 billion euros, against 8.9 billion a year earlier.”
+++++++++++++++++
Habbabkuk observes that only high receipts from tourism are stopping this country from going down the toilet.
So what has this to do with the sad demise of Craig’s Mum, the topic of this thread? You actually want to show such disrespect in this thread?
Alan
You are obviously desperate that I should talk to you, so here goes.
You may have noticed that a good part of Craig’s new post is not about his mother.
Your comment about “showing such disrespect” is therefore otiose.
Over and out, old man.
I see your “favourite Mod” is on duty H, which kind of makes one think about the story of “The farmer and the viper”.
So Greece didn’t cut their way to prosperity, which is the supposed goal of austerity policies? I’m shocked!
With this lesson firmly learnt, let us hope that it is never applied anywhere else ever again, and that current austerity policies are immediately reversed.
Agreed, this has zilch to do with the subject of this thread.
What, exactly, is “international law”? Does it exist in any meaningful way?
It is interesting to note – and perhaps significant – that many UK universities offer Masters degrees in International Law without, however, requiring that applicants have their first degree in Law. In fact, a first degree in virtually any subject is acceptable.
It is, I think, perfectly possible for “ordinary” lawyers and judges to be politically impartial when carrying out their work.
Can the same be thought, however, of “international” lawyers and judges?
Since international affairs are essentially political, is it possible for “international” lawyers and judges not to be swayed by political considerations?
You could try the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…
http://www.spiderbomb.com/blog/?page_id=117
It is meaningless twaddle, RobG.
Noble, idealistic sentiments but meaningless in the real world. Therefore twaddle.
Read its articles and then ask yourself how may of them were observed by the signatory countries. Start with the 1946 USSR.
Can you see why I wonder what “international law” actually is and indeed whether it exists at all?
You might say the same about laws against housebreaking, murder, speeding, or any other offences on the books.
All are routinely flouted by the population to varying degrees. Are you suggesting the entire statute of law should be done away with?
Come on, Habbabkuk – enough of this weak nonsense from you. Has your extended holiday softened you up or something?
Our laws only work because we have a police force to enforce them. For international law to work there would have to be a police force and the only country with the resources to provide one is America.
Nobody trusts America, they would use their role as police to push their ideals onto and remove natural resources from weaker countries. Without an independent body with the ability to enforce the law the law is voluntary.
Glenn
Whenever you call what I write “weak” (something you are increasingly doing) I know you’re struggling…but don’t have the wit to remain silent.
“You might say the same about laws against housebreaking, murder, speeding, or any other offences on the books.”
That’s exactly what I am not saying. There is no political dimension to those offences, whereas all application of “international law” is, in the last resort. political.
“All are routinely flouted by the population to varying degrees. Are you suggesting the entire statute of law should be done away with?”
They are, and when discovered, are dealt with according to laws which are practical (not utopian) and have a basis in reality.
Hope that helps.
Fred
“..a police force..” – and a judiciary which can act in a non-political manner given the nature of the cases it has to deal with.
Habbabkuk: I see a return from your holidays has not improved your mood much. My mild jibe was not intended to tick you off that badly.
Laws are often rather political, it seems to me. Recall that there’s one law for the rich and poor alike, which prohibited them equally from stealing bread and sleeping under bridges. The intent of domestic law always was rather political (or class based), the application of it deeply so still.
Surely you recognise The Hague to be a place where International Laws are applied – at least, to those who are not Official Friends of the US and its lackeys?
International Law is what gives the actions of a country legitimacy. Even the US/UK went through the pretence of attempting to legally justify their invasion and occupation of Iraq, for example. They went on to pretend that they had it too.
The Geneva Conventions has had consequences in wartime. The application of imperatives in the UDHR affects domestic laws too.
Laws are brought into disrepute when the powerful are able to ignore them, of course. But that should not stop us pushing to have them respected.
“Can you see why I wonder what “international law” actually is and indeed whether it exists at all?”
It’s contract law. The representatives of countries put their signatures to conventions and treaties then the countries are bound by that agreement. If a country breaks a treaty they are guilty of breach of contract. As with an individual a country which earns a reputation for breaking their treaties is unlikely to be trusted in the future.
“As with an individual a country which earns a reputation for breaking their treaties is unlikely to be trusted in the future”
___________________________
I’m not so sure about that given that most countries break the treaties and conventions they are party to (especially those of an essentially declaratory nature) on a daily basis.
More generally : which country is more dishonest and merits condemnation the more
– the country which refuses to sign up to an International convention
or
– the country which signs up and then carries on as before?
Let us take the example of Crimea.
For most of the last five hundred years Crimea has been part of Russia, indeed, most of its present day inhabitants are Russian and they speak Russian and they voted to reunite with Russia, most of the Crimea pensioners are now getting Russian pensions.
Remember the Crimea War of the 1850’s, this was essentially Europe against Russia in defence of Islamic Turkey, how fucking strange, of course it was really about the likes of France and the United Kingdom retaining world dominance and keeping the lid on Russian dominance.
But the U.K. & France were fighting in Russian Crimea, perhaps we have forgotten that salient fact.
The U.K. & France and U.S.A. have decided to punish Russia and Crimea for their recent choice to re-unify.
That, apparently is international law, according to some but not according to others.
Public international law’s existence is less meaningful than domestic law (such as it is in most* jurisdictions) because public international law is more difficult to predict and to enforce than domestic law. This is not always the case though and much can be predicted by assessing where the power lies and the strong can enforce against the weak. In a good domestic setting the powerful should not always prevail. What gives the game away with public international law is that there have been circa 100 unlawful acts of war since WWII, but many are ignored out of a tacit understanding between powers. It is unlawful acts of war by weak countries are the ones which are tried. Of course if we incorporate our international treaty obligations into our own domestic legislation then we can punish ourselves (if we think that is a good idea?).
(* most not all because there are jurisdictions where domestic law is utterly unpredictable and / or unenforceable.)
“What, exactly, is “international law”? Does it exist in any meaningful way?”
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” is an example of international law, because it operates anywhere in observable time and space. Does that help?
Craig,
I am very sorry to hear of your loss, and my thoughts are with you and your family.
John
Your blogging is amazing Craig. A true privilege to follow your timeline of subjects and effects, unparalleled. Thankyou.
Sadden to lean of your loss Craig, deepest condolences.
+1 to Ferghana and Ba’al
So they wanted to let the National Day pass and buy time as the vipers vie for power.
Mods, my identicon has changed colour (in my present view from the lovely shocking pink) to orange. Do you see the same change and any clue as to why? I haven’t changed my email add, I have double-checked. Please advise. Thanks!
Same question!
I was very attached to that rather pleasing shade of blue I had up to now.
Blue and white, actually 🙂
In some shape or form perhaps the Mods have introduced IP address as a factor, although they were clear that this was email-sensitive. It would be good to get a response from the Mods.
Craig- a moving and heartfelt oration for your mother; RIP.
The surge of activity that is likely to be imminent in your life (as a result of the Sikander Burnes book publication, Karimov’s imminent -or actual- passing, and Sturgeon’s announcement about an independence ‘think-in’) will I’m sure help in the grieving/healing process.
More from that unhappy country Greece….
To be noted that the number of licences was not reduced to 4 because of spectrum availability (this is TV, not mobile telephony.
To be noted also that – oh! naturally – the state broadcaster ERT will continue to transmit with three channels.
This is the true face of the far-left SYRIZA govt and its far-right winf xoalition partner ANEL !!
Comments from those who continually rant on above the UK govt and the BBC….?
Reuters: Greece culls broadcasters, awarding TV licenses to four media groups
Have you seen the state of the socialist paradise, Venezuala? Hundreds of thousands on the streets protesting food shortages, public services on the brink of collapse, government clampdowns on the media, political arrests. Venezuala is close to becoming a faied state.
(Venezuela)
Yes indeed. President Nicolas Maduro Moros appears to be on the skids.
Inevitable when rational, sensible government is sacrificed at the altar of gesture politics and far-left ideology.
“Venceremos”, indeed.
Habb.
Venezuela is not in “utter despair” no matter how much the Great Satan (consecutive US governments) and the Western press portray it to be.
It is however unfortunate for the country, that the Great Satan has held sway over the country’s opposition party that has lead to in part stifled inaction.
This article gives a very good insight into Venezuela’s political and economic woe’s.
https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/12139
Habb.
While we’re on South America, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Great Satan, was behind the coup d’ etat of President Dilma Rousseff, in Brazil.
“The Government’s estrangement from the President, without presenting any evidence of corruption or crimes of responsibility against her, as well as from the Workers’ Party (PT) and other left-wing allied political forces, is an act of defiance against the sovereign will of the people who voted for her.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/declaration-of-cuban-government-on-brazils-coup-detat-perpetrated-against-president-dilma-rousseff/5543525
Will the people of Brazil, stand by and let coup go unanswered,? I for one hope not.
“Republicofscotland” ( 🙂 )
These lines also appear in your “Venezuelanalysis” link:
“To an agonizingly large degree, Venezuela’s crisis is of the government’s own making. Instead of easing or ending it, the government’s actions—and inactions—over the last several years have made it far worse”
Note the “last several years” and enjoy.
“Yes indeed. President Nicolas Maduro Moros appears to be on the skids.
“Inevitable when rational, sensible government is sacrificed at the altar of gesture politics and far-left ideology.”
Inevitable? No. But very likely to happen when the state in question is subjected, on the one hand to economic sanctions designed to impoverish its population, and, on the other hand, massive infusions of money for bribes, arms and other subsidies to the Fifth Column Opposition sponsored by the US.
Happily movements caught in this position are learning how to respond- the last US coup in Venezuela being blocked by popular revolt.
Unhappily the next move by the imperialists is to send in the guerrillas and start a Civil War. The one in neighbouring Colombia lasted, including a false Peace Treaty and massacres- about 75 years. A lot of killing, part of a holocaust in Latin America which is getting on for 525 years old.
More dross from Red Bev. The situation in Venezuela, as RoS’s link correctly points out, is virtually entirely of the government’s own making. No doubt you will defend the crack-downs on free media, the arrests of opposition figures, the paid protesters sent out onto the streets by the government to challenge the half-million strong anti-government protests. All the fault of the CIA no doubt.
You can’t keep up the delusion that socialism works, Bevin. It never has, it never will. All you have is 250 million dead bodies and a failed ideology to answer for.
The crisis in Venezuela – brought about by gross economic mismanagement and gesture politics – obviously predates the reign of the Great Moron (aka President Nicolas Maduro Moros).
The country was already in economic meltdown under the reign of the late, unlamented Hugo Chavez.
The difference between the two men is simply that the Great Moron does not possess the low charisma, bluster and bragadoccio with which Mr Chavez managed to distract the attention of the suffering masses from his disastrous economic policies.
Habb.
Re your last sentence, it brought to mind the BBC, extorting more forced tax from the public of the dis-United Kingdom.
The poor excuse the state racketeer the (BBC) gave, was that they have a shortfall of licence fees amounting to £150 million pounds.
If you fail to pay the extortionists, you can be fined a £1000 pounds, Al Capone’s rackets, look like small fry, next to the state broadcasters.
Now I see that Vice President Joe Biden is pulling the Duke of Westminster gambit over his son Beau’s death by claiming that he too died in the wars in the Middle east when he died of cancer two years ago in Delaware,
Beau, when the state’s former Attorney General, hekped cover up the state assassination of leaker John P. Wheeler, III, for allegedly leaking nuclear secrets to Iran.
Sound similar, to the fate of Seal team 6, you know the guys who “allegedly” took out Osama bin Laden.
I see no similarity between the cover up of Wheeler’s murder and quite likely that of Ali-Resa Pahlavi with whom he thought he was dealing, and the alleged capture and murder of Osama bin Laden.
Aren’t you just trolling again?
“Now I see that Vice President Joe Biden is pulling the Duke of Westminster gambit over his son Beau’s death by claiming that he too died in the wars in the Middle east when he died of cancer two years ago in Delaware”
________
You’re not paying attention Trowbridge, it’s your above paragraph I’m on about. It strikes me that Osama, was probably already dead, long before Seal team 6 allegedly took him out.
“At least 25 British MPs have been sent identical messages threatening to kill them and their families, alongside a picture of a severed head.”
Apparently the police are looking into it, but no arrests have been made yet.
Is it just some disgruntled citizens act? Or could more sinister forces closer to home be involved? Afterall, what better a way , to coax politicans into say approving a beefed up Snooper Charter, which curtails even more free speech, than by making it personal, just thought.
https://www.rt.com/uk/357752-death-threats-mps-britain/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Is it the head of Dave Cameron’s pig?
There are times when the show must NOT go on.
The death of a parent would be one of them, no matter what.
“The show must gone” represents the complete selfish nature of our society.
My condolences Craig.
Njegos
The UN is concerned over the terrible living conditions of the oppressed Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, widespread poverty, and plunging living standards, combined with a Israeli blockade since 2007, have left the area, in a dismal state.
The UN talks a lot but daren’t oppose Israel’s backer the Great Satan, the US government, so nothing substantial will be done to ease the oppressed Palestinian people’s plight, at the hands of the military apartheid state, known as Israel.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/09/01/482722/Palestine-Gaza-UN-Robert-Piper
“A senior UN official says Israel, which is widely believed to possess hundreds of atomic bombs, should ratify the nuclear test ban treaty within five years.”
“I’m putting five years as the longest it should take now based on the positive sign that I’m seeing from Israel,” Lassina Zerbo, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBTO) Organization ”
As if Israel, will pay any heed whatsoever to what UN thinks it will do. The apartheid state has had nukes for decades now,and hasn’t answered to anyone with regards to them, certainly not the CTBTO.
Israel could fire a nuke into the Gaza Strip tomorrow, and the UN wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it, as long as the Great Satan (US government) backed the apartheid state up.
With regards to Israeli actions the UN, is an illusionist, it looks the part but in reality it’s, all, just smoke and mirrors.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/09/01/482675/UN-Lassina-Zerbo-Israel-nuclear-test-CTBTO
I see the hag Sturgeon is spouting off again.
Yup. Just two years after the decisive, “once-in-a-generation” No vote, they’re getting uppity again.
I’ve said it before – Scotland will never vote for its independence. The only way to cure this interminable malady is for the UK to declare Scottish independence without Scotland’s consent. Get rid of Scotland or this nightmare of jumped-up little sweaties demanding endless concessions and referendums will never end.
Why doesn’t Islamic Theresa May
just declare a second Scottish Ref.
on say Christmas Day 2016 and have done with it.
They vote for off and they are history.
They vote to stay and the Hag is history?
She’ll be history but two years later her successor will be demanding another referendum whilst screwing the English for more cash.
WE must be given the vote.
The SNP are sending out a survey, pretending to be an official government survey, the purpose of which seems to be to get a database of the personal details of people opposed to independence so they can be intimidated.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snp-cleared-of-breaking-electoral-law-after-tory-challenge-1-4219732
Things are getting very sinister in Scotland, there ought to be a law against it.
Have the SNP no shame?
Israel to attempt to force its curriculum on Palestinian schools, or no funding will be available. Now the oppressive apartheid state of Israel, is attempting, by the looks of things, to influence Palestinian children’s thinking.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/israel-tells-palestinians-textbooks-funding-160829114956237.html
Is it any wonder then that a app has been made available to boycott Israeli goods, and pro-Israeli companies.
http://stepfeed.com/featured/bds-made-easier/#.V8nbCujTVcs
My deepest condolences, Craig. I am so sorry for your loss.