Please do read the full text of Security Council Resolution 2334, passed yesterday:
The Security Council,
Reaffirming its relevant resolutions, including resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 446 (1979), 452 (1979), 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003), and 1850 (2008),Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirming, inter alia, the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force,
Reaffirming the obligation of Israel, the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and recalling the advisory opinion rendered on 9 July 2004 by the International Court of Justice,
Condemning all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions,
Expressing grave concern that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines,
Recalling the obligation under the Quartet Roadmap, endorsed by its resolution 1515 (2003), for a freeze by Israel of all settlement activity, including “natural growth”, and the dismantlement of all settlement outposts erected since March 2001,
Recalling also the obligation under the Quartet roadmap for the Palestinian Authority Security Forces to maintain effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantling terrorist capabilities, including the confiscation of illegal weapons,
Condemning all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement and destruction,
Reiterating its vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders,Stressing that the status quo is not sustainable and that significant steps, consistent with the transition contemplated by prior agreements, are urgently needed in order to (i) stabilize the situation and to reverse negative trends on the ground, which are steadily eroding the two-State solution and entrenching a one-State reality, and (ii) to create the conditions for successful final status negotiations and for advancing the two-State solution through those negotiations and on the ground,
1. Reaffirms that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace;
2. Reiterates its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard;
3. Underlines that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations;
4. Stresses that the cessation of all Israeli settlement activities is essential for salvaging the two-State solution, and calls for affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse the negative trends on the ground that are imperilling the two-State solution;5. Calls upon all States, bearing in mind paragraph 1 of this resolution, to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967;
6. Calls for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction, calls for accountability in this regard, and calls for compliance with obligations under international law for the strengthening of ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, including through existing security coordination, and to clearly condemn all acts of terrorism;
7. Calls upon both parties to act on the basis of international law, including international humanitarian law, and their previous agreements and obligations, to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, with the aim, inter alia, of de-escalating the situation on the ground, rebuilding trust and confidence, demonstrating through policies and actions a genuine commitment to the two-State solution, and creating the conditions necessary for promoting peace;
8. Calls upon all parties to continue, in the interest of the promotion of peace and security, to exert collective efforts to launch credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process and within the time frame specified by the Quartet in its statement of 21 September 2010;
9. Urges in this regard the intensification and acceleration of international and regional diplomatic efforts and support aimed at achieving, without delay a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Madrid terms of reference, including the principle of land for peace, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet Roadmap and an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967; and underscores in this regard the importance of the ongoing efforts to advance the Arab Peace Initiative, the initiative of France for the convening of an international peace conference, the recent efforts of the Quartet, as well as the efforts of Egypt and the Russian Federation;
10. Confirms its determination to support the parties throughout the negotiations and in the implementation of an agreement;
11. Reaffirms its determination to examine practical ways and means to secure the full implementation of its relevant resolutions;
12. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council every three months on the implementation of the provisions of the present resolution;
13. Decides to remain seized of the matter.
Given the difficulties of negotiating such resolutions between 15 states, the language is remarkably forthright. The relief of the UN Secretariat itself at the UN acting after eight years of US veto impasse, shines through the accurate but stark headline of the official UN press release on the resolution:
Israel’s Settlements Have No Legal Validity, Constitute Flagrant Violation of International Law, Security Council Reaffirms
In one sense the Resolution is a statement of the blindingly obvious. But it has had such a political impact because Israel, with its politics switched radically to the right by Eastern European immigration, had really come under Netanyahu to believe it could simply strangle the Palestinians acre by acre, and the neo-con political hegemony in the West was so unshakeable there could never be any comeback.
Trump’s apparent hardline Zionism since his election has been a disappointment and was not really prefigured by the balance of his past pronouncements, although as usual with him they are all over the place. But of course he now has no ability to revoke or undermine this resolution; there is no retrospective veto. I retain a hope that Trump will come to regard the US$34 billion a year the USA gives in military assistance to Israel a very strange way to spend the taxpayers’ money.
It might be argued that Obama’s decision not to veto the Resolution shows his true decent instincts once political machination is no longer a factor. I have been undecided whether he is a decent but timid man prepared to go along with the machinations of hard power without any fights that would make his own life less comfortable, or a total charlatan who was always just a puppet of the powerful. It took eight years for me to tend towards the slightly less appalling option. Certainly Hillary, an uncompromising Zionist who refused to condemn illegal settlements when Bernie Sanders did so, would have vetoed the resolution. In a strange way, Trump’s victory allowed it to pass; if Clinton had won, Obama would have very probably felt bound to defer to her wish to veto it.
My own view is that it is too late for a two state solution. I wrote recently of my work on apartheid South Africa, and I find the two state model proposed for Israel/Palestine irresistibly reminiscent of the Bantustan proposals of the apartheid South African government. There is no economically and politically viable state to be constructed out of the overcrowded and cut off territories of the West Bank and Palestine, even without the massive seizures of land and water resources that have occurred within them. To reverse enough of 1967 settlements for a viable Palestinian state in a two state solution wpuld involve an unacceptable further uprooting of people.
This next bit of my opinion angers some – but only some – of my Palestinian friends. I see a single, secular state as the only viable long term solution, but to negotiate this would entail accepting that a large number of post 1967 settlers should stay where they are. Not all, but it is very difficult to see how any agreement could ever be negotiated that does not accept most of the facts on the ground. I see a read across here from the Cyprus negotiations, where Greek Cypriots have a great difficulty in accepting that Turkish settlers must remain. And I believe that like Cyprus, a federal political solution which does not attempt to move populations around further, seems to me the best basis to move forward.
For me, the Security Council’s observation that Israeli settlements “are steadily eroding the two-State solution and entrenching a one-State reality” and the “cessation of all Israeli settlement activities is essential for salvaging the two-State solution, and calls for affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse the negative trends on the ground that are imperilling the two-State solution”, are accurate descriptions of a process which in fact has already gone beyond the point of no return. The irony is, of course, that it is the Israeli government who are horrified by the idea of a single state solution; yet they have made a two state solution impossible. That leaves them the choice of sharing the land with the Palestinians, and a settlement involving massive financial compensation, or continuing complicity in the slow genocide of the Palestinians herded into their ever shrinking territories.
The Security Council has shown Israel that the whole world is horrified by what they are doing to the Palestinians. It will take further time for the Security Council to acknowledge that their own proposed solution really is no longer viable.
********************************************************************************
The blog is now essentially closing down for the festive period. I am travelling off to where I shall lie shipwrecked and comatose, drinking fresh mango juice. Barring imminent nuclear war, I am unlikely to post again before the New Year. On the grounds that I am already entirely unfashionable, let me say I saw Status Quo live at the Glasgow Apollo in about 1983, and in Katowice about 1996, and I loved every moment. RIP Rick Parfitt. Merry Christmas everyone!
I’m not sure if this story has been posted by someone, if so I apologise, however it may have slipped under the radar.
“Yves Chandelon, NATO’s Chief Auditor has turned up dead in the city of Andenne, in the forest region of Ardennes in Belgium. He was 150 kilometres from his office in Luxembourg, and 100 kilometres from his home. There was a very large hole in his head….but not as big as the holes in the “official” story.”
What’s really interesting about this story, in opinion, is that he (Chandelon) was charged with tracing back to the origins, where terrorist groups get their funding from, such as ISIL, ISIS etc.
The information below, is what makes this case so interesting.
“The wound to his head is a classic of ‘barrel next to cranium’ point blank range gunshot. But Chandelon was found with the weapon in his hand. “Not possible,” says a Slog London police source, “the recoil, had the wound been self-inflicted, would have thrown the gun several feet from his hand”.
“The gun is confirmed as the weapon of death, but it was not registered in the deceased man’s name.
The gun was found in his right hand. But Chandelon was left-handed.”
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/eu-terrorism-top-nato-financial-auditors-suicide-story-unravelling-by-the-hour/
Did Mr Chandelon, trace back, where certain terorrist groups get their funding from?
Would that information incriminate unlikely people or bodies?
Did Mr Chandelon pay with his life for discovering such information?
Do NATO sponsor torture
see Aleppo thread
@ Michael Norton
Does a bear do doo-doo in the woods
A conspiracy a day keeps sanity away.
Presumably if M. Chandelon really was so charged (reputable source for that, please) he would not have been carrying out the task single handed. He would have been heading a team. Any reports of any of the team members having been killed?
You really get more ridiculous by the day.
Capellen where he worked is the NATO procurement agency. No more likely to have been involved in tracing terrorist money than the DVLC study car bombs. If it were a hit, which it might well be, I would guess corrupt practoces inside NATO would be much more likely
There you go, RoS.
You see, it is possible to approach events like this in a sane,calm and non-conspiratorial way – and above all, in a fact-based way (the reference to where the man worked refers).
You would do well to learn from Why Be Ordinary’s example.
Erm, just one thing Why be ordinary.
“Chandelon headed up the NATO department dealing with the forensics of how terrorists are funded. He’d held the job for some years despite having no degrees, qualifications or official track record as a mainstream corporate accountant. All the signs, in fact, of a forensic-specialist spook using a standard faceless job description as his cover.”
I’m sure you took time to read the link, and the above is just an oversight on your behalf.
Republic of Scotland — . As you suggest It certainly appears that we have not heard the whole story here; particularly as his family do not accept a suicide verdict. Nor is it easy to understand how a NATO internal auditor could be investigating the funding of ISIS as that is not an “internal” audit function – nor one that internal audit would likely be qualified to do. Indeed the article alleges that Mr. Yves Chandelon had no formal accounting qualification which in my opinion would normally be seen as surprising for somebody who heads up the internal audit for such a large organization. It is alleged in the article that Mr. Chandelon may have been a spook using the audit position as cover.
Finally another story, that may have been overshadowed due greater events.
“Only hours before the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was assassinated on video in Ankara, a high-ranking Russian diplomat shared the same fate. His body was discovered only a few hours after Karlov’s murder.”
“Although he died at his own home, Petr Polshikov, 56, was found with a bullet hole in his head after an unknown assailant fired at least two rounds at the senior civil servant.”
“Two bullet casings were found in his flat, and the gun, apparently used to murder him, was discovered under the sink in his kitchen.”
http://tapnewswire.com/2016/12/hours-after-russian-ambassador-assassinated-top-russian-diplomat-found-murdered-in-his-home/
One does now wonder if the death of both men, were a case of Putin cleaning house.
Add in the plane crash yesterday, besides the choir, camera men and reporters were on board, Putin is of course renowned for removing individuals from the press, who criticise him and his actions.
Good to see you coming round to my suspicion that the Russians themselves were behind the Ambassador’s murder.
Reply ↓
Habbabkuk
December 26, 2016 at 13:39
“A conspiracy a day keeps sanity away.”
Habbabkuk
December 26, 2016 at 13:41
“Good to see you coming round to my suspicion that the Russians themselves were behind the Ambassador’s murder.”
No need to comment really.
So far the The Ukraine have taken down a Russian plane and Turkey has taken down a Russian plane, then “somebody” has taken down a Russian plane over Egypt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrojet_Flight_9268#Investigation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia_Airlines_Flight_1812
Siberia Airlines Flight 1812[1] was a commercial flight shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force over the Black Sea on 4 October 2001, en route from Tel Aviv, Israel to Novosibirsk, Russia. The aircraft, a Soviet-made Tupolev Tu-154, carried an estimated 66 passengers and 12 crew members. Most of the passengers were Israelis visiting relatives in Russia.
So that’s quite a lot of planes, falling out of the sky to do with Russia
MH17
Do I come up with a conspiracy a day, Phil?
Habb.
I’ve no idea what your suspicions are, I do know however, that you blame Putin for just about everything, ergo, your suspicions are well and truly invalid.
Not true, RoS.
For example, I don’t blame him for “President” Nicolas Maduro Moros’s woeful mishandling of the Venezuelan economy, for the North Korean terror state, for the election of President Trump, for BREXIT and indeed for a host of other events.
You, on the other hand, blame the West for everything you dislike in international affairs and Westminster for everything wrong in Scotch-land.
Hope that helps, laddie!
So Far, the Russians have not said what cause the Tupolev to down in the Black Sea.
Well they wouldn’t, call it a terrorist attack if they were cleaning house, better to say human error or a mechanical malfunction – and let it end there.
https://www.rt.com/news/371627-russia-military-plane-missing/
Crash debris over four square K
I would have thought that, fairly limited.
Not sure why they are not running with Terror, it seems the obvious
other than Ukraine missile theory
which they have history on,
or Turkey
Putin in October approved a law ratifying Moscow’s deal with Damascus to deploy its forces in the country indefinitely, strengthening Russia’s long-term presence in the country.
The Guardian
I was looking on a Ukraine news site, people who have added their comments are pleased that he plane crashed likking all those Russians.
Very bad, why has not the news site, taken those comments down.
Blimey if it has been terror by Ukraine …..
Moscow on TERROR LOCKDOWN: Thousands evacuated from train stations after bomb threats
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/747315/Moscow-bomb-threat-Russian-police-evacuate-3000-people-railway-stations
The Russians have helped to take Aleppo away from the Turks but the Russians are jumpy
Can’t believe you said that about President Putin RoS.
The choir and orchestra were due to perform in Syria to celebrate the routing of the Western backed rebels. Also on board was Dr Lisa Glinka an anaesthetist and philanthropist on whom Putin had just bestowed an honour.
Why would he want to destroy these Russian citizens who displayed such fine qualities?
‘Dr. Liza was a miracle’: Russians horrified as revered humanitarian activist listed on fatal flight
http://www.rt.com/news/371720-doctor-liza-crash-activist/
‘The 54-year-old head of the ‘Fair Help’ fund was supposed to travel to Latakia to deliver medical supplies to a hospital, according to the Human Rights Council.
Her fund also said that Glinka was “taking humanitarian supplies for the Tishreen university hospital in Latakia,” while the Defense Ministry confirmed the passenger list included her name.’
[..]
‘“Dr. Lisa was the darling of all hearts for one simple reason. For many years, almost every day, she provided palliative medical care, feeding the homeless, giving them shelter and clothes. She took the sick and injured children from Donbass under a hail of bullets, so that they could get help in the best hospitals in Moscow and St Petersburg. She organized a shelter for children with amputated limbs, where they can undergo rehabilitation after treatment in hospital.
“To save the lives of others – this was her mission everywhere: in Russia, Donbass, Syria…”’
[..]
‘ Born into a military family, which also includes a famous dietitian, Glinka graduated from the Russian National Research Medical Institute in Moscow to become a pediatric anesthesiologist. In 1986, she and her husband emigrated to the US, where she studied palliative care and graduated from Dartmouth. In America, she became involved with the work of hospices. Glinka later participated in the work of the First Moscow Hospice, after which the family moved to Ukraine for two years. In 1999, she founded the first hospice in Kiev.
In 2007, Glinka founded the ‘Fair Help’ fund in Moscow, which provides financial support and medical care to cancer patients, underprivileged families, the homeless, and others in need.
Last year, Dr. Liza organized an evacuation of children with heart conditions who were in need of urgent medical help, from Donbass to Russian hospitals. Parents and doctors told RT that due to the humanitarian crisis, it was impossible to treat them locally.’
____
and
Doctor killed in Russian military plane crash had Vermont ties
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/25/doctor-with-vermont-ties-killed-russian-military-plane-crash/W9imX32ol7I81x8DtCDvEN/story.html
“Can’t believe you said that about President Putin RoS.”
___________
Sharp Ears.
Just because I point out that the West would love to remove Putin, and that Putin, did in my opinion the right thing in aiding Assad, ( the West can’t be allowed to regime change when it takes their fancy) doesn’t mean that Putin, isn’t open to the exact same machinations as the West, he is, and he does.
“Why would he want to destroy these Russian citizens who displayed such fine qualities?”
________
Collateral damage, Bernt Carlsson, and Pan Am flight 103 springs to mind, as long as they get their man/men or woman/women, whoever else dies, is I’m sorry to say irrelevant.
Harsh but a reality.
I can’t imagine why Putin would want to do in a senior official in the Latin American department of his foreign office, but I can easily imagine wht te CIA might have reasons.
That’s strange – your imagination is usually very fertile. Overgrown, even.
“One does now wonder if the death of both men, were a case of Putin cleaning house.”
Only the truly moronic or the malicious could possibly “wonder” at such an absurd conspiracy theory.
For goodness sake Macky, I didn’t think you’d have suffered from Stockholm syndrome.
Are you forgetting that Putin has been in power 16 years, using his puppet Medvedev, to fill in a tenure to make it appear democratic, and it’s more than likely Putin will run again in 2018.
Are you forgetting the agonising death of Litvinenko, or the murder of Nemtsov, or Anna Politkovskaya? Who specialised in unmasking state corruption.
Putin may look like some sort of bringer of righteousness, he isn’t. I’m sure Chechen’s could attest to that. Don’t forget the USSR ruled it own bloc with a iron fist.
ROS: “For goodness sake Macky, I didn’t think you’d have suffered from Stockholm syndrome.”
??! I don’t ever recall being kidnapped & held by Russians ! 😀
ROS; “Are you forgetting that Putin has been in power 16 years, using his puppet Medvedev, to fill in a tenure to make it appear democratic, and it’s more than likely Putin will run again in 2018.”
If he is such an undemocratic dictator, why does he have such a high popularity rating, that Western leaders can only wet-dream about ! 😀
ROS; “Are you forgetting the agonising death of Litvinenko, or the murder of Nemtsov, or Anna Politkovskaya? ”
Repeating evidence-free assertions doesn’t change exactly what they are, propaganda.
ROS; “Who specialised in unmasking state corruption.”
Standard dirty tricks, if you want to frame somebody for murder, you murder their enemies,
ROS; “Putin may look like some sort of bringer of righteousness, he isn’t. I’m sure Chechen’s could attest to that. Don’t forget the USSR ruled it own bloc with a iron fist.”
???!! Are you still hung-over from X-mas merriment ? 😀
“If he is such an undemocratic dictator, why does he have such a high popularity rating, that Western leaders can only wet-dream about”
Macky even Kim Jong Un, has a higher popularity rating than most Western leaders, what does that say?
“Repeating evidence-free assertions doesn’t change exactly what they are, propaganda”
Of course Putin’s Russia doesn’t do propaganda, oh please give me a break, I’m sure Litvineko’s family would disagree with you.
“Standard dirty tricks, if you want to frame somebody for murder, you murder their enemies”
Now who’s using evidence free assertions?
I believe, that the security services, removed Dr David Kelly, are you saying that Putin’s Russia, is incapable of removing Mr Kelly’s Russian counterparts, or those in another field?
Macky I thought you were smart enough to know that, Putin is just another big game player.
ROS; “Macky even Kim Jong Un, has a higher popularity rating than most Western leaders, what does that say?”
That perhaps Westerners shouldn’t judged how other people chose to rule themselves, especially if their leaders have overwhelming popular support.
ROS; “Of course Putin’s Russia doesn’t do propaganda, oh please give me a break, I’m sure Litvineko’s family would disagree with you.”
Staw-man; you made accusations of Putin ordering political murders, YOU are the one not providing credible reasonable evidence.
ROS; “Now who’s using evidence free assertions?”
Not at all, just stating the obvious to counter your apparent naivety.
ROS; “I believe, that the security services, removed Dr David Kelly, are you saying that Putin’s Russia, is incapable of removing Mr Kelly’s Russian counterparts, or those in another field?”
Straw-man again, as well as whataboutery.
ROS; “Macky I thought you were smart enough to know that, Putin is just another big game player.”
I can assure you that I’ve thought the same about you, and you keep proving me right about this ! 😀
“That perhaps Westerners shouldn’t judged how other people chose to rule themselves, especially if their leaders have overwhelming popular support.”
Macky, the people of NK are terrified of Kim Jong Un, any dissent would be met with a death sentence, tell me what’s popular about that.
“Staw-man; you made accusations of Putin ordering political murders, YOU are the one not providing credible reasonable evidence.”
There’s no straw man about it, the suspect fled back to Russia, knowing that Putin’s regime would not extradite him.
“Straw-man again, as well as whataboutery.”
I find it mind blowing, that you can’t even agree that Putin’s security services could be capable of doing a Dr David Kelly.
What on earth is going on in the minds of some posters, that they can’t bring themselves to say a bad word against Putin.
Yes the West are continually trying to break Putin, yes the West invades and regime changes to suit their neocon corporate wishes.
But don’t lose sight of Russia’s dark moves, in Georgia, and Afghanistan, its history in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and even China.
ROS; “Macky, the people of NK are terrified of Kim Jong Un, any dissent would be met with a death sentence, tell me what’s popular about that.”
Err, we were talking about “popular support” as shown in the rating that Putin gets; no idea how genuine Kim Jong Un’s support is, but not many people quibble about Putin’s.
ROS; “The suspect fled back to Russia, knowing that Putin’s regime would not extradite him.”
That’s it ?! This is what you use to justify your claims about all those murders that you have attributed to Putin ??!!
ROS; “I find it mind blowing, that you can’t even agree that Putin’s security services could be capable of doing a Dr David Kelly.”
I didn’t express an opinion on this either way, just ask for reasonable evidence for your claims against Putin.
ROS; “What on earth is going on in the minds of some posters”
I think the same, when I see people swallow all the anti-Russian propaganda issued out by the same exact people whose claims about Saddam’s WMD’s, about Milosevic being a “Balkan Hitler”, about all those “Humanitarians Justifications” for the recent Neo-Imperial Wars, that have all turned out to be self-serving lies.
“Err, we were talking about “popular support” as shown in the rating that Putin gets; no idea how genuine Kim Jong Un’s support is, but not many people quibble about Putin’s.”
Macky that’s the whole point, the approval rate for Kim Jong Un, from what I can find is 50% or over, do you think that’s the case because the people if NK adore Kim Jong Un, or do you believe its fear that drives his popularity?
Putin’s popularity, is mainly due to the Wests machinations directed towards the Russian people. But Putin has been in power since 1999, except for the brief planned tandemocracy, involving Medvedev. Which is very undemocratic in my opinion.
“That’s it ?! This is what you use to justify your claims about all those murders that you have attributed to Putin ??!!”
No Macky not all, just the Litvinenko murder. Traces of polonium, were found in all three hotels that Andrey Lugovoy, stayed in whilst in London. He had met with Litvinenko four times in a month. Lugovoy declined to say whether he had been exposed to polonium, the CPS charged him with murder, he then fled back to Russia.
This is just one example, I haven’t the inclination to list the details of the others. Though I have read the details on them. They are for you to research if you feel the need to.
“I didn’t express an opinion on this either way, just ask for reasonable evidence for your claims against Putin.”
No you didn’t express an opinion, I find that a cause for concern, that you can’t bring yourself to believe that Putin’s regime is capable of carrying out similar dirty deeds, that the West carries out on a regular basis.
“I think the same, when I see people swallow all the anti-Russian propaganda”
Macky I’m not anti-Russian, I’m not anti any country, I point out what I believe to be there wrong doings, though ultimately, they’re just my opinions.
@ROS, Either you believe in opinion polls or not; if you do, then you have to accept the fact of Putin’s popularity in Russia, which even most (rational) Russophobes do; your point about long he has been in power is negated by just how popular he is; if Russians really believed he was an undemocratic dictator, then he would not be so popular, regardless of the reasons why you think he is.
The Litvinenko murder is highly disputed, and as become so politicised, exactly because it there is no concrete irrefutable evidence; no, it’s not for me to research your other accusations; you made them, I merely asked on what basis did you make them, as surely you already must know, otherwise you wouldn’t make such serious accusations !!
I repeat that I’m not denying that Putin may indeed be responsible for what you claim, but in view that for political reasons he is a huge hate figure for the West, and therefore subject to intense demonization, especially by people who have a proven record of lying, I simply would like to see some reasonable back-up for the many anti-Putin claims that get tossed around;
“they’re just my opinions.”
Which why I asked for convincing, and/or reasonable evidence/argumentation as to why you hold them; so far without success. Feel free to try again, but do try to keep to rational points this time instead of going off at illogical tangents !
“I repeat that I’m not denying that Putin may indeed be responsible for what you claim,”
________
Progress at last, but I’ll leave it there, you’re far to entrenched in your beliefs that Putin and skullduggery towards his internal adversaries, whether, it be, reporters or human right people or politicians, doesn’t really happen.
ROS; “Progress at last,” ??!!
LOL ! You’re claiming your straw-man ! 😀
ROS; “but I’ll leave it there,”
Ah ! So you can’t justify your “opinions”, well that’s what happens when you mindlessly repeat propaganda point !
ROS; ” you’re far to entrenched in your beliefs ”
Ahem ! Is it me, who just asks for reasonable evidence, or you that can’t justify your opinions, that’s the one who’s really entrenched ?! 😀
Congratulations, that’s the first conspiracy theory I’ve ever seen you denounce on here.
Funny it should be about President rasPutin, eh?
Habb.
Keep your congrats, I’m not on your side, as you well know, I’m not on anyone’s side I criticise them all, where I see fit.
I was congratulating Macky as it happens 🙂
Might as well respond to this sly smear; I challenge you to find a single comment of mine supporting any “conspiracy theory”; off you go, take your time, search long & hard, think of the rewards ! 😀
“Putin is of course renowned for removing individuals from the press, who criticise him and his actions.”
If he is so “renowned” for this perhaps you can point to some examples, that is some with beyond reasonable doubt type of evidence, as oppose to the usual evidence free nonsense lifted from Russophobic Sites.
Trust Craig has not gone to the Caribbean. He might bump into Cameron and family holidaying in fine style in Antigua. No more cheapo airlines for him to impress the electorate that ‘we are all in it together’.
That nice Sir Richard Branson gave him and his family an upgrade. (There must be a mole within Virgin Airlines LOL)
So much for your man of the people act, Dave! Camerons ditch budget flights and head to the Caribbean… with an upgrade to first class
David Cameron and wife Samantha have taken family to Antigua for Christmastime
Family flew from Gatwick with Virgin Atlantic in airline’s Upper Class section
Virgin Upper Class seats cost approximately £4,000 each and convert into bed
During their stay in millionaire’s playground Camerons will stay private villa
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4063156/So-man-people-act-Dave-Camerons-ditch-budget-flights-head-Caribbean-upgrade-class.html
I expect news of what happened to this unfortunate man from Torquay has made the tourists jumpy.
British man shot in head in Antigua
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-38440083
Does Cameron, as an ex PM, get protection officers provided or is it just the war criminal Blair who is accorded £millions worth from the taxpayers?
Tony Blair’s police protection costs taxpayers millions, report claims
Former prime minister also allgedly mixes official envoy role and private business, says Daily Telegraph investigation
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/12/tony-blair-police-protection-costs-taxpayers-millions-report-claims
Warning. Reading that report will make you feel sick.
All former UK PMs now get police protection. It’s unfortunate but it’s a sensible precaution given the presence of terrorists of all stripes out there (not to mention the usual quota of crazies). Surely no one on here would like to see a former UK PM assassinated?
Does that old lefty-loony Welsh windbag still get protection?
More on the tantrums and hissy fits by Bibi and Israel.
Netanyahu, said that by abstaining the US has violated a pledge made by former president Jimmy Carter, who promised Tel Aviv that Washington would not dictate peace terms to Israel at the UN Security Council.
Well at least we now know who pulled the strings, in the Carter administration.
The UNSC was initially scheduled to vote on the resolution, presented by Egypt on behalf of Palestine on Thursday. But Cairo pulled its text at the last minute, after Netanyahu allegedly exerted heavy pressure on Egyptian President Abdel Sisi.
We also now know, who rules the roost in Egypt.
Just as expected, Israel is set to defy the UN Resolution and build another 618 homes, across the green line. The Jerusalem Local Planning and Construction Committee, has said in the future over 5000 new homes could be build in East Jerusalem.
Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Meir Turgeman said,
“Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967. Israel subsequently annexed East Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital.”
It is illegal under International Law, for Israel to claim Jerusalem as its capital.
It’s truly amazing, that this one UN Resolution, that has gone against Israel, would lead to so many faceless backers, popping their heads above the parapet to defend Israeli actions.
In this instance its a powerful US, senator named Lindsey Graham, whose also a member of the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
The senator is making rumblings on pulling US funding for the UN, until the Security Ciuncil repeals the UN Resolution, which went against Israeli interests.
Graham added,
“I will do everything in my power, working with the new administration and Congress, to leave no doubt about where America stands.”
The poor Palestinian people have no chance, when you realise just how deep the Israeli backing, fifth column, goes in Washington.
It’s like the League of Nations all over again, I’ve just been watching “the people’s century” you might remember it from 1995 hundreds of interviews with normal people effected by the 20th century, it’s excellent however watching it, one realises just how corrupted our present political system is – it’s honesty strikes you as almost controversial next to modern TV docs.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uYmbyOrM4gs
I think sadly the chances of WW3 are so incredibly likely within the next 10 years. Democracy has become crippled by corporate interests which now will not let go of power, and only supine or lying politicians like Trump can get though. It took us to the brink before we saw any sanity in the worst war humans have ever committed and here we are back again in 1932.
Sadly, it does all look like a re-run of the former part of the 20th century: total economic collapse followed ten years later by a world war.
The behaviour of Samantha Powers in the UN is quite breathtaking. It’s totally unprecedented for a UN ambassador to rant and rave like that, and all on totally unsubstantiated evidence, and all so that the presstitutes can report it in the West as fact.
Gawd ‘elp us all, me-lady.
I am currently giving Trump the benefit of the doubt. He’s a strong character, so don’t think he’ll be supine. And I don’t see him as being especially dishonest, relative to the neocon lunatics who run the show. It could be that Trump is one of the few people who can wrest the country away from war, as he’s much more interested in doing business than getting involved in the middle east, or a dick swinging competition with Putin.
Now, whether he’ll have the ability to change the course of the US, that I have serious doubts about. The neocons have infiltrated every layer of the military and Government, and will either screw him over, or just ignore him. In that case, can he purge the neocons? I mean the ‘Your Fired’ variety, not the Stalin variety. And if he does purge them, what then happens to Trump himself? Dangerous business messing with the criminal neocons. People seem to get depressed a fair bit, and commit suicide in unusual ways.
Of course, Trump isn’t President yet, and perhaps I’ll soon look a fool, it’s hard to be quite sure with Trump, he’s kind of an odd duck. But one can agree with Trump on some issues, whilst merrily thinking he’s an idiot on others. So, better relations with Putin – good. Ignorance of climate change – bad. End free trade deals – good. Immigration policy – bad, and a bit racist. Etc. These days we seem to be manipulated by the media into thinking that if a candidate has one bad policy, then all their policies are bad. This is not so. Even Blair probably had the odd good policy, though I forget what it was.
Harldy. Sisi sent troops to assist Assad.
Turkish authorities last week detained 1,682 people over suspected links to militants and arrested 516, the interior ministry said Monday, with more than 1,000 of those detained suspected of having links to exiled US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
http://www.france24.com/en/20161226-turkey-detains-more-1500-people-suspected-links-muslim-cleric
Still a Mad Hatter’s Tea party in Turkey
Michael,
Might I suggest a good source for discussion on Turkey at http://www.newsbud.com especially the Dec.23rd video. Sybil Edmunds has been covering the machinations of the CIA and Feteh Gulen for many years and at great personal cost.
BTW what exactly where the Ukrainian exercises over the BlackSea earlier this month?The Siberian airlines plane was shot down during a similar exercise and an Egyptianair plane during an Irondome seaborne test .,
TWA 800 went down during a U.S. Navy exercise off Long Island.
This is a VERY interesting article
Why Milan? Investigators probe Berlin suspect’s Italy links
http://www.france24.com/en/20161226-berlin-truck-attack-italy-milan-sesto-sicily-anis-amri
Authorities were also investigating the apparent coincidence that the truck from a Polish shipping company used in the Berlin attack had been loaded with machinery in the neighboring Milan suburb of Cinisello Balsamo three days before the attack.
So the place where Mr. Tunisia was shot dead was only two miles from where the Polish lorry got loaded?
Bit of a COINCIDENCE
This afternoon, Russia Today repeated this September episode of Going Underground featuring Norman Finkelstein, author of ‘Method and Madness: the Hidden story of Israel’s assaults on Gaza’.
He spoke first of the Blairite AS plotting against Jeremy Corbyn, then on the facts of the Occupation and some of the facts about Gaza including its repeated demolition and on the futility of the UN’s repeated reports on Palestine or what remains of it.
Norman Finkelstein on Gaza two years on and Israeli-Palestine peace talks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcDrS4JqAq0 10 mins
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/syrias-white-helmets-hope-in-a-hopeless-place/
White Helmets – hope in a hopeless place, they are all heroes
complete shit
My local radio station has just done the top of the hour news bulletin, which was the usual neo-con BS (it’s just as bad here in France). After the news bulletin they played Nena’s ’99 Red balloons’, the original and far superior German language version…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La4Dcd1aUcE
The cracks in the Empire are becoming more and more obvious.
RobG Riddle me this:
FRANCE has been in a State of Emergency for more that Twelve months
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_emergency_in_France
Yet Mr.Tunisia can waltz through Savoie with out being detected?
So how good is the State of Emergency, the only European power in a near constant State of Emergency?
Michael, by the time of the presidential election next May, France would have been in a state of emergency (which means just about all civil liberties suspended) for more than 18 months.
The reason for the state of emergency is because for the last year or so huge numbers of people have been out on the streets protesting against reforms to employment laws. The French don’t want the neo-con agenda – zero hour contracts, and all that – which has been forced on workers in the UK and USA.
Things in France have quietened down in recent months, but I can tell you that not many still buy into all this terrorist bullshit.
People are waiting to see who will be elected president next May, and whether there’ll be any real change to the neo-con agenda.
If there’s no change, expect some serious shit to hit the fan.
Unemployment in France is double what it is in the US and UK.
No it’s not.
USUK totally lie about about employment statistics…
http://www4.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/news/real-level-unemployment-almost-35million-new-report
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/upshot/the-real-jobless-rate-is-42-percent-donald-trump-has-a-point-sort-of.html
Whereas the French still report these stats honestly (the unemployment rate in France is presently about 10%, compared to more than 50% in USUK).
Anything else you want to say..?
Whatever the arguments about unemployment, actual,employment in th UK is at an all time high. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/dec2016
The “participation rate” in the U.K. is about 70%, so only 30% of the working age population are not actually working. And some can’t or don’t want to.
” Whereas the French still report these stats honestly ”
Yes of course they do. They wouldn’t have any incentive not to, would they?
” (the unemployment rate in France is presently about 10%, compared to more than 50% in USUK). ”
Have you actually read that NY Times article? It’s a P*ss take.
Kempe, I have read that NYT piece, which is why I posted a link to it here.
I could post a zillion other links that show US unemployment stats to be total bullshit.
Here’s Jimmy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd4cHi9Sr5A
And this video normailses the homeless…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7379aanKuZE
It’s like living in a lunatic asylum.
Makes me wonder, is it possible that an election in a country under S o E can be free and fair?
Winkletoe the geezer who has just been jumped-up to be the Prime minister of Socialist France was the minister of the Interior, he is the author of the recent State of Emergency.
As RobG has suggested, they now expect the SoE to last until the new President has been elected.
But just possibly if there is another lorry attack, they would call off the election – too dangerous – then the current crew stay in harness, running France into further economic decline.
Lack of logic here, RobG:
“People are waiting to see who will be elected president next May, and whether there’ll be any real change to the neo-con agenda.”
__________________________
The “people” are not waiting to see, they are waiting to vote. Or are there two sets of “people” existing in parallel?
“If there’s no change, expect some serious shit to hit the fan.”
___________________
The future centre-right govt will pursue structural reform and no shit – serious or otherwise – will hit the fan because that is what the “people” will have voted for.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon will be the next president of France, in a free and fair election.
The fact that Mélenchon is never mentioned by the presstitutes should tell you everything.
The same presstitutes who have barely mentioned the Russian military transport plane that was brought down on Christmas Day (it was on its way to Syria, carrying people who were going to be part of peace celebrations).
The same presstitutes who constantly scream for war and conflict.
The same presstitutes who are all going to be put up against a wall and shot, if there’s any justice in this world.
Mélenchon seems to be doing well in the digital media http://www.lepoint.fr/presidentielle/strategie-numerique-jean-luc-melenchon-domine-youtube-20-12-2016-2091892_3121.php
Interesting to see how many of Mme Le Pen’s opponents were born outside France
Frau Marine Le Pen will be the next French President because she wants to destroy the hated E.U.
RobG
“Jean-Luc Mélenchon will be the next president of France, in a free and fair election.”
______________________
Congratulations on that not very clever let-out : when M. Melenchon does not become President (and he will not), you will say that’s because the election wasn’t “free and fair”.
Deeply dishonest. But transparent.
“People are waiting to see who will be elected president next May, and whether there’ll be any real change to the neo-con agenda.”
________
Rob.
Some choice they’ve got, between Fillon a right wing republican, who served under Sarkozy, and Marine le Pen, who makes Farage seem positively palatable.
The choice is almost as depressing as the Trump/Clinton choice.
Mélenchon will walk it in France in much the same way that Corbyn will walk it in the UK (if May has the balls to call an election).
You all live in the Matrix, a propaganda nightmare; and don’t forget, the twerrorists are coming to get yer…
Why does Savoie allow Mr.Tunisia to walk undetected through its lands?
A rookie cop shot him dead in Milan.
Yet NO FRENCH COP EVEN asked him a fucking question.
Yet France is the only majore state in Europe in a State of Emergency.
Even Russia which has planes falling out of the sky, like confetti, does not have a State of Emergency.
Socialisim sits like a death shroud on FRANCE
it is the basket case of Europe
France owns just about all of the public utilities in the UK.
And China now just about owns our nuclear industry.
What are you missing here?
AREVA / EDF are essentially bankrupt, on the socialist state of France keeps them above water.
Their debts are staggering.
20 of the 58 reactors are shut
they have been fiddling the Nuclear Paperwork.
The canny bookmakers, do not agree with you Rob. ?
https://m.oddschecker.com/t/politics/european-politics/french-election/next-president
Mind you, most thought Clinton would’ve won.
Just for the records, this comment reads as if there have been exchanges between the poster and myself on here. There have been none at all.
There are and have been comments ON my posts to which I have not responded.
La Kuenssberg gets the headlines… again.
‘The Queen DID back Brexit, BBC suggests as it claims she said she wanted to ‘get on with it’
The Queen said that Britain should “just get on with” leaving the European Union at a private lunch before the referendum, the BBC has claimed.
Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political Editor, revealed that one of her sources told her the Queen suggested that leaving the EU would not be a “problem”.
However she said that she was unable to stand the story up and The Sun newspaper later published it in March under the headline “Queen backs Brexit”.’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/26/queen-did-back-brexit-bbc-suggests-claims-said-wanted-get/
Should Her Majesty not be able to express her opinion at a private lunch?
Agree, and have done for some time. Except:
That leaves them the choice of sharing the land with the Palestinians, and a settlement involving massive financial compensation, or continuing complicity in the slow genocide of the Palestinians herded into their ever shrinking territories.
I think we should continue to call it ethnic cleansing rather than genocide , although in the case of Gaza, it’s been a close-run thing.
I think we should continue to call it ethnic cleansing rather than genocide
A useful clarification Ba’al; those who support the rights of the Palestinians have no need to use the sort of overblown rhetoric about genocide that, for example, the neocons fling about with gay abandon in relation to Assad and Aleppo (or previously in relation to Milosevic and Kosovo).
Just as a stopped clock is right twice every 24 hours RoS for once hit the nail on the head earlier in this thread in calling out Netanyahu for his hissy fit response to the UN resolution. Bibi’s pained reaction just goes to show how in recent years Israelis of most political stripes have accepted as normal the incongruous situation whereby the Israeli tail wags the obedient American dog (supposedly the ‘only remaining superpower’ ‘n’ all that)
Israel cannot, in fact and in logic, be accused of either genocide, or ethnic cleansing, or apartheid.
The Arab population of both Israel proper on the one hand and the West Bank and Gaza on the other is greater now than it was a decade (or two or three or four or five or six decades) ago. Hence neither genocide nor ethnic cleansing have occurred.
As for apartheid, the comparison must obviously be with former South Africa. In Israel, not only do Israeli Arabs have the right to vote but the panoply of laws that formed the basis of apartheid in former South Africa has no equivalent in Israel.
The Arab population of both Israel proper on the one hand and the West Bank and Gaza on the other is greater now than it was a decade (or two or three or four or five or six decades) ago
Habba- you seem to assume that if the population allegedly being ‘cleansed’ is increasing in size in relation to the population alleged to be carrying out the ‘cleansing’ that any claims that ‘cleansing’ is being attempted are by definition, false. However that isn’t always the case; in relation to another conflict in which ethnic cleansing was alleged, the final paragraph introducing this ICTY report on the demographics of Kosovo is revealing-
the major reason for the fast population growth has been the elevated fertility of the Kosovo Albanian population as compared to the Serb and other population
http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/milosevic_kosovo_020814.pdf
Exactly the same factor (ie the ‘elevated fertility’ of the ethnicity under attack) applies in Israel/Palestine; it is thus quite possible for the persecuted ethnicity to increase in size despite attempts by the occupying authorities to defend the interests of the occupying minority- attempts which occasionally spill over into bloody one sided conflicts. Thus in Kosovo, the Albanian population increased from 77% of the total in 1981 (seven years after the beginning of their alleged ethnic persecution in 1974) to 83% of the total in 1998, when full blown ‘genocide’ against them allegedly began, according to some western observers.
The Yugoslav, and later Serb, authorities in Kosovo, from1974 onwards, undoubtedly tried to thwart Albanian nationalism by removing autonomy from the territory on that date and, from 1998 onwards, coupled this with severe repressive measures against the growing KLA insurgency. Israel has used similar, or perhaps harsher measures (eg the Gaza blockade) in attempts to destroy Palestinian nationalism in the occupied territories over the previous near half century.
Despite a growing Kosovo Albanian population, allegations of attempted ethnic cleansing and worse were heaped upon the Yugoslav authorities by human rights activists in the west in relation to Kosovo in 1974-99, and some of these activists subsequently accused Israel of similar behaviour in Gaza in ‘Operation Cast Lead’ in 2009-09 and again during ‘Operation Pillar of Defence’ in November 2012. However it is notable that the neocons who berated Milosevic in 1999 for his brutality against the KLA subsequently justified or excused Israeli brutality aimed at Hamas in those later conflicts.
Old Mark
If you read my comment carefully you will see that I confined myself to saying that the Arab population of both Israel proper and the West Bank/Gaza is higher now than at any time in the past and did not talk in terms of proportions.
Now of course that is obviously a function of the birth rate. But surely, if Israel were engaged, as alleged by some, in ethnic cleansing it would react to that phenomenon by stepping up the ethnic cleansing, with the result that the Arab population would be lower than before?
Would you now like try and demolish my statement that the State of Israel is not a genocidal or apartheid state or is your silence on those points an indication that you agree with me?
If you read my comment carefully you will see that I confined myself to saying that the Arab population of both Israel proper and the West Bank/Gaza is higher now than at any time in the past and did not talk in terms of proportions.
Habba- but the same is also true in Kosovo, where the Albanian population almost doubled in size -from just over 900,000 in 1971- three years before the removal of autonomous status- to around 1.8 million, when the campaign against the KLA was escalated by Belgrade, and western allegations of ‘genocide’ soon followed.So I think my analogy still holds, and with it the argument about neocon double standards ; brutal counter terrorist actions are fine for Israel, but inadmissable when executed by Russophile Slavs.
Would you now like try and demolish my statement that the State of Israel is not a genocidal or apartheid state or is your silence on those points an indication that you agree with me?
I’ve never held to the view that Israeli actions are ‘genocidal’- hence my initial comment here in support of Komodo, who also is apparently uneasy when this extreme claim is levelled against Israel. As for the ‘apartheid state’ allegation against Israel, this clearly is an accurate depiction of the situation at present in the West Bank, where Jewish settlers have their own roads, preferential access to scarce water supplies, and full status as Israeli citizens;such a claim when applied to Israel proper is however inaccurate, as Arab citizens do have the franchise there.
Within Israel proper a sort of middle eastern Jim Crow situation applies- Israeli Arabs, like US blacks before Johnson’s reforms, are notionally full and equal citizens, but their status within Israel is still subject to certain impediments- in particular relating to benefits granted on the basis of previous service in the IDF- from which the great majority of Israeli Arabs are excluded. I’d also add that the Jim Crow analogy also addresses the fact the Israeli Arabs are indeed better off than most of their brethren in Arab ruled countries- just as US blacks under Jim Crow were better off than their brethren who were left behind in Africa.
FRANCE is descending into the pit of despondency
Racist graffiti, swastikas found on Anne Frank school in France
https://www.rt.com/news/371885-france-anne-frank-school-swastikas/
Michael, the UK is now the most repressive country on Earth.
It seems a tad ridiculous to moan constantly about other countries.
Lord King says Brexit brings ‘real opportunities’
BREXIT MEANS FUCKING HARD BREXIT
bring it on
Surveillance video confirms Mr. Tunisia, Berlin attacker fled to Italy via Savoie / Lyon
http://www.france24.com/en/20161226-surveillance-images-confirm-berlin-attacker-fled-via-lyon
Hey Michael, continuing our conversation from where we left off, what will the Yanks do for rocket motors if Russia stops supplying them?
And who really “saved us” during WW2? Well Russia was fighting with us just about from the start, and the Yanks only joined because the Japanese bombed the hell out of Pearl Harbour, which means it was the Russians.
“Nearly all the coverage in tomorrow’s papers is about George Michael”
IMHO he only died to take people’s attention away from the tragedy of Rick Parfitt passing away.
Ministry of Truth
Italy going down the plug hole
Italian lender Monte dei Paschi is facing a capital shortfall of €8.8bn (£7.5bn), higher than the €5bn previously estimated by the bank, the European Central Bank has said.
It comes after Italy approved a €20bn fund to prop up its embattled banking sector on 23 December, 2016
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38442342
Scotland would like to join the Eurozone?
The will and ability of the Italian state to create and use that fund might indicate to more level-headed readers that Italy is doing the opposite of going down the plug-hole.
No, Scotland wouldn’t and cannot. 🙂
So easy for vested interests to accuse Russia of war crimes, even easier for mindless others to repeats these propaganda claims as true, whereas as often the case, when revealed, the reality is totally different;
http://theduran.com/confirmed-un-inquiry-clears-russia-aleppo-convoy-attack/
o/t climate change has shifted massive weights of melting ice into oceans and on to thin ocean floors, resulting in earthquakes in Italy, Chile, Mexico. It also raises the spectre of old vulcanoes becoming active as magma is being pushed up by the shifting weights.
We all know about the vesuv, but not many know about the massive caldera due west of Naples, part of the Phlegrarian fields, a huge area that had its alert status raised. The town of Pozzuoli lies in the centre of it and it has risen by a few meters in the 1970’s when the magma underground shifted.
An eruption of this super volcano, of which we have two dozen around the world could easily cover Europe in ash and change the worlds temperature for years by obscuring the sunlight.
Its in German but for those of you who can read Italian, there are probably other, more scientific sources. Some great photos though.
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/phlegraeische-felder-in-italien-europas-supervulkan-rumort-a-1126321.html
Nevermind.
I think the real problem is the melting glaciers, a sure sign of earths rising temperature. News reports claimed that London saw one of its mildest Christmas days on record.
You read often that, the melting glaciers, some as large as counties, will eventually cause sea levels to rise, and areas of the planet that are already at the edge of sustaining life, will be tipped over the edge, by a mere one degree rise.
A one degree rise could also affect otherwise fertile lands. Six thousand years ago, when the world was one degree warmer than it is now, the American agricultural heartland around Nebraska was desert.
It suffered a short reprise during the dust- bowl years of the 1930s, when the topsoil blew away and hundreds of thousands of refugees trailed through the dust to an uncertain welcome further west.
The effect of one-degree warming, therefore, requires no great feat of imagination.
Here is a step by step demise of humanity and the earths flora and fauna, is it too late to change?
http://globalwarming.berrens.nl/globalwarming.htm
probably, RoS, because we are set in our ways and lifestyles not realising that nothing adds up anymore. Economies are unsustainable, markets are stagnating when they expect to boom, society is as erratic as the environment.
Another very good article on this, and many other issues, by Nafeez Ahmed.
Enjoy…
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/why-the-united-states-is-at-war-with-itself-393c9fd3e918#.khnv7co6o
Nevermind, I have to agree with you there, humanity loves its fossil fuels (though no doubt in the bowels of the HQ’s of Ford and GM, lie great ideas for modern clean vehicles, bought and stashed away by the CEO’s) it’s adores its consumer driven societies, where waste is the norm.
Yes I’m afraid you’re right, only when we realise that we’ve passed the tipping point, (and in my opinion we have passed it) to stop the melting of the glaciers, and ergo the rise in earths temperature, and Monsanto can no longer feed us with their frankenstein foods, will it dawn on the world that we’re in big trouble.
The United Kingdom has greatly reduced its need for coal, why even in Scotland they have shut down
the massive Longannet
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/24/longannet-power-station-closes-coal-power-scotland
Norton.
Longannet, had to close if memory serves me, they were charged around £50million quid to get their power on the grid, whilst power stations closer to London, were charged a fraction of that.
As for coal in general, Thatcher did her best to destroy the miners, and their livelihood, whilst the Home Office gave them a bloody good beating into the bargain, is it any wonder the deceitful Tories have ruled out a inquiry into Orgreave.
After Thatcher had beaten and starved the miners, and their wives and children into submission. Cheap coal was then imported from Poland.
Well, I think it a great pity that Thatcher did her best to destroy the coal industry, it probably cascades to also take out steel making and chemical industries.
Cheap coal should have lead to cheap electricity, now we have the most expensive electricity in Europe, which kills off engineering.
Nevermind, 12:2; thanks for that link.
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/why-the-united-states-is-at-war-with-itself-393c9fd3e918
This seems to characterise the human condition:
Systemic psychosis
– But this is to be expected when the system itself is blind to what it is, and what it has become; when the arteries of information are clogged with bullshit and distortion and propaganda of our own making, because we are more intent on ‘being right’ in the sheltered bubbles we’ve created, than in facing the stark, whole truth in all its horrifying glory.
– We have done this to our ourselves. Trump, Clinton, Putin, Assad, the rebels — they are not the enemy ‘out there’. They are the Id, in here. We are at war with ourselves on Planet Earth.
– There are no winners in such a war.
– Seen holistically, the fragmentation of our global information highways, their subjugation to competing vested interests, their fetishization of narrow ‘truths’ and inability to engage in meaningful self-critique, can be understood in Jungian fashion more simply: as the fragmentation of our collective consciousness as it descends into a state of psychosis.
News reports claimed that London saw one of its mildest Christmas days on record.
The warmest place on Christmas Day in the UK this year RoS was in your country- Dyce Airport got to over 15C, within half a degree of the UK Christmas Day record.
In my bit of of London (suburban site on south facing slope in the lee of a 400ft hill, so thus warm even by London standards) it was actually warmer last year- my weather station recorded a max of 13.8C on Christmas Day; last year’s maxima were at 14C or above both on 25 Dec and the 3 days thereafter (26-28 Dec)-that was truly record breaking.
Motorway shut between Somerset / Wales because of black ice, so below zero, so not that hot.
Three separate crashes prompted part of the M5 in Somerset to be closed in both directions on Tuesday.
The motorway was shut for two and a half hours due to ice on the road,
as the south of England awoke to extensive frost.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/27/three-crashes-prompt-temporary-closure-of-m5-in-somerset
Global Warming Alarmisim takes hold of the brain dead.
Snow, freezing rain and up to 50 mile an hour winds continued into Monday in the Great Plains, as the harsh winter weather forced airport closings, power outages, and shut off long stretches of highway in the Dakotas.
https://www.rt.com/usa/371886-blizzard-northern-plains-christmas/
Not so hot everywhere, The Donald is going to burn more coal
Is that right, Old Mark I don’t recall hearing that on the news, however, in Scotland we’ve been battered by storm Barbara and storm Connor over the past week.
I must add, that there are two places in Scotland that often see’s extreme weather, in the Winter and Summer, they are Braemar and Altnahara.
climate change has shifted massive weights of melting ice into oceans and on to thin ocean floors, resulting in earthquakes in Italy, Chile, Mexico. It also raises the spectre of old vulcanoes becoming active as magma is being pushed up by the shifting weights.
How deep is the ocean? On average, 3.66km.
Please quantify the rise in sea level.
Scientists say that if all of Greenlands icecap melts sea levels will rise by more than 5 meters, Node, but that is only Greenland, the Antartic glacial calving is also to be added in the same time span, probably bringing it up to 7meters.
this site can give you an idea of what will be inundated unless we decide now to buy time, especially on the east coast.
http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/
Node, this is quite interesting as well, at least eleven islands will disappear under water, if sea levels keep rising.
“Estimates from the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change’s most conservative estimates suggest that global sea level will reach increase 8 to 16 inches above 1990 levels by 2090. The National Academy of Sciences predictions from 2009 suggest that by 2100, sea level could increase by anywhere from 16 inches to 56 inches, depending how the Earth responds to changing climate.”
http://uk.businessinsider.com/islands-threatened-by-climate-change-2012-10?r=US&IR=T/#kiribati-1
I’m questioning whether the weight of the ocean due to rising sea levels can affect the timing of earthquakes and volcanos. The largest estimate I can find for sea level rise is 20 cm since 1870. Against an average ocean depth of 3.5km, that’s a rise of 0.006% over the last one and a half centuries. But even if some cascade effect raises future sea level by 7 metres, that is still ‘only’ 0.2% deeper – let’s estimate 0.5% more weight. Of all the things to worry about in the world, melt water damaging the earth’s crust isn’t one of them.
Prime Minister Abe will be laying his wreaths and bowing his head at Pearl Harbour in company with Obama.
Japan PM Shinzo Abe in Hawaii for landmark Pearl Harbor visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38438714
Yet he oversees an occupation of his country by the US military.
United States Forces Japan – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Forces_Japan
As of 2013 , there are approximately 50,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Japan, along with approximately 40,000 dependents of military personnel and another 5,500 American civilians employed there by the United States Department of Defense.
US Military Bases in Japan
https://militarybases.com/japan/
There are 23 US military bases in Japan according to our database …..
Also see the protests by the Japanese people against the expansion of these bases, eg on Jeju, in John Pilger’s new film, the Coming War on China. If such a horror ever occurs, Japan is a sitting duck and is done for.
___
During his 8 years as President, Obama has laid many wreaths at war memorials. Yet his record on extra judicial killings by drone is appalling as is his support for the ongoing wars, even if that support is sometimes covert.
Nigel Farage gives Frau Theresa May ultimatum – give us hard Brexit or we’ll OUST you
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/747540/Nigel-Farage-predicts-radical-change-2020-General-Election-Brexit-latest
The E.U. is failing the people of Europe, it will collapse in on itself, soon.
It’s great how you have managed in most of your blogs to take the topic of palastine of the agenda and talk about Russia Turkey etc the dogs in the street know what is happening in palastine and all those geat bastions of freedom America and Britain look on and do nothing shame on you
Happy Christmas
the bitch has been charged.
Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been charged over corruption allegations.
Ministry of Truth
How deep is the Black Sea? 70m where the Tupolev 154 came down. One of the flight recorders has been found and recovered and is now being examined. An engine has been recovered and other items also.
Russian plane crash: Experts begin examining flight recorder
1 hour ago
People lay flowers next to a portrait of Yelizaveta Glinka on the shore of the Black Sea in Sochi, 27 December
Russian air experts have begun examining one of the flight recorders from a plane that crashed into the Black Sea on Sunday, killing 92 people.
The flight data recorder was found underwater about a mile from the shore, and the authorities say it is in “satisfactory condition”.
At least 12 bodies have been also been recovered so far, along with numerous fragments of the plane.
No cause has been established but terrorism is considered unlikely.
On board the Tu-154 jet when it crashed were 64 members of the famed Alexandrov military music ensemble, as well as one of Russia’s best-known humanitarian figures, Yelizaveta Glinka.
It was heading to Russia’s air force base in Syria where the ensemble were due to perform at a New Year’s concert.
The victims of the Russian jet crash
What we know
How a plane crash is investigated
Air disasters timeline
The plane crashed soon after take-off from an airport near the city of Sochi, where it had landed for refuelling.
It disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off from Adler airport at 05:25 (02:25 GMT) on Sunday.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38441903
deepest part of the Black Sea is 7,257 feet
You were probably looking at this very interesting page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea
Which is very different from the original 2004 paqe
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_Sea&oldid=2448614
created by this Romanian.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bogdangiusca
Things heating up as the World top terrorists sponsors turned on each other;
https://www.rt.com/news/371965-erdogan-us-coalition-isis/
U.S.A. Saudi Arabia Turkey Jordan Lebanon Israel they have all played their parts
Don’t forget the “good old” UK, aka “Perfidious Albion”.
Like a dog with a bone, Bibi and his cohorts, can’t let go of the UN Resolution passed on Friday, here’s the latest.
The Israeli ambassador to the United States, says the regime has “evidence” that Washington was “actually behind” what led up to a UN resolution against Tel Aviv, asserting that such information will only be given to President-elect Donald Trump.
We will present this evidence to the new administration through the appropriate channels, and if they want to share it with the American people, they are welcome to do it.
Apparently the information has arisen from the Arab world, that, Obama, has been colluding with the Palestinian people to do down Israel, well according to Ron Dermer and Netanyahu he has.
I’m sure Israel won’t let this sort of thing happen again, the powerful J**ish lobbies, and businessmen, will make sure Trump, toes the line.
Whilst we’re on Trump and Israel, Trump picked another Zionist zealot as his international negotiator, Jason Greenblat is Trump’s executive vice president and chief legal officer. That’s two Zionist zealots on Trumps payroll the other is David Freidman.
Anyone else see where this is going?
Tell us
It’s all part of the game, the US state won’t concede anything they don’t want to give. They’ll pretend to kow tow to the tsinoiz diktat so they can blame the contractor.
Re Berlin attack, make of this what you will;
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/12/24/germ-d24.html
An interesting link to a normally reliable site.
Another such is http://azvsas.blogspot.ca/ which deals with the issue of Israel and wonders aloud why organisations like the Friends of Israel, which pretend to support a two state solution, are stangely silent on the UN Resolution which is the ‘two staters” last chance.
“Despite all the heated rhetoric of Benjamin Netanyahu condemning UN Resolution 2334 on Settlements which passed 14-0 with 1 abstention on 23rd December and his theatrics – reprimanding the Ambassadors of the Security Council members which voted for it – the resolution is quite mild.
“UN Resolution 2334 reaffirms the international law principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force. It could do no other. It also reaffirmed its own previous resolutions including Resolution 242, which was passed after the 1967 war, and called for the withdrawal of Israel’s armed forces from the territories it had ‘occupied in the recent conflict’ and Resolution 338 which was passed on 22nd October 1973 and called for an immediate ceasefire in the Yom Kippur war….”
The website “World Socialist Web Site” is the organ of the “Fourth International”.
The “Fourth Internationa”l is the Communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, or Trotskyists, with the declared goal of helping the working class bring about socialism and work toward international communism.
There are in fact at present many “Fourth Internationals”, each one of which considers itself to be the true heir to the organisation first formed in 1938 (no left-wing organisation can avoid sooner or later breaking up into squabbling, doctrinaire factions).
Interesting that one of the regular “commenters” on here should so clearly nail his colours to the mast by describing the website as “normally reliable”.
The article is detailed, and seems well researched, drawing from apparently mainstream Bavarian media organisations Süddeutsche Zeitung and Bayerischer Rundfunk. It doesn’t say where the following was sourced but it should be easy enough to check:
– This official story is further undermined by a tweet from one of the most well known right-wing extremists in Germany, the founder of Pegida, Lutz Bachmann. Just two hours after the attack, he wrote, “Internal information from the Berlin police leadership: culprit a Tunisian Muslim.”
If not just a pure coincidence, this tweet proves that the investigators already knew earlier who was responsible for the attack, and that a right-wing extremist, of all people, had been informed
Though I largely agree with what I read of Tony Greenstein’s article I thought the snide comment against the leader of the opposition addressing a Labour Friends of Israel meeting was in no way a humiliation. That it was accompanied by a photograph was even more disturbing because from what I read there is no explanation of why he takes that view about Corbyn. Just because he addressed Labour Friends of Israel. It is incumbent on all leaders to try and get on with everybody because military conflict is never a way forward while leaders, even obnoxious leaders like Netanyahu, can be invited to the table of conciliation.
It does not change my view that Israel, directly with its apartheid state, its control of water resources and continuing seizure of territory in Palestine, together with its financing of proxy wars through NATO allies makes it one of the most despicable governments since apartheid South Africa. However, if I was Leader of the Opposition, or even a simple MP, the way I expressed this viewpoint might be more circumspect.
When anyone addresses the Israeli lobby there is always a transcript. A bit tired. Can someone else try to find this please? I doubt Jeremy Corbyn was supportive of apartheid, landgrab, genocide or any of Israel’s nasty policies. If I’m wrong I will hold my hand up.
Here’s what I make of that article in the “World Socialist Web Site” (published by the” International Committee of the Fourth International”, whatever either of those are) : it is garbage.
“it is garbage.”
Got any meaningful reason to state that. or it is just something you feel in your water ?! 😀
Do you believe – like our friend Bevin – that the website you linked to ( you know, the Trotskyite one ) is “normally reliable”?
He doesn’t feel it in his water. He lives under a bridge, isn’t interested in what the bridge bridges, just who pays the toll for the troll. Witness the complete absence of any supporting argument. He is an aversion therapist. He creates aversion to reasonable questions in unreasonable readers. That’s his function. He knows who he is. The fact he’s resigned to it should be a goad to enlarge your horizons.
Children, If you do not develop your sense of curiosity about this cluster fuck of a world, a fate very much like that of habbabkuk awaits you.
Few fates worse than death exist.
Yo, ho, ho. 😀
Russia apparently not too keen on the resolution, but Britain pushed it through http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.761706
I wonder if Russia (like the USSR before it) has the slightest interest in seeing an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Not a ‘conflict’. It is a cruel Occupation and the resistance to it.
North Korean diplomat defects and confirms the intention of the North Korean leadership to further develop the country’s nuclear weapon capabilities.
What’s his name, “CurveBall Mk.2” ?! 😀
Can’t remember but he’s not a hologram or an actor.
Of course, he’s not the first North Korean official to flee the tyranny of that benighted state.
“Of course, he’s not the first North Korean official to flee the tyranny of that benighted state.” And all of them say exactly what is wanted of them. They need a living, being an exile.
If they thought that life was great in North Korea they’d hardly be fleeing the country, would they.
Of course, they might be just common criminals fleeing the law, like Mr Snowden.
Any day, Noddy, you supply detailed, crucial and accurate information about the inner workings of government spying on its own people, like Snowden has done, will be a modern-day miracle. But of course all your comments are aimed at vilifying decent people and supporting apartheid Israel.
Your belief that Russia killed its own ambassador to Turkey is as ridiculous as any Toytown village idiot could come up with. Stand in the corner! Then leave the room.
“Can’t remember but he’s not a hologram or an actor.”
Says the person who advanced the crackpot CT that the Russians killed their own Ambassador ! 😀
Congratulations on a first, Macks – I’ve never herd you denounce a conspiracy theory before! 🙂
Anyway – are you a Fourth International person like Bevs?
“I’ve never herd you denounce a conspiracy theory before! ”
There’s many things you have never “herd” 😀 me say, but you have also never heard me advance any CTs, especially ones as daft as your Russian one ! 😀
Yeah, he didn’t sound too convincing.
Hardly need a defector to tell the world that. And who blames them? If Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria had nukes, they would not have been pulverized by the US/NATO War Criminals.
Gawd bless yer, maam, and I ‘ope you’ve got over your cold. I kneel before thee an pray that Her Gracious Majesty will use me as a snot rag…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=641Oyk3d5HM
(the original documentary seems to have disapeared from YouTube, so I’m linking to the above mirror because I know how much Habba enjoys Iranian tv)
Well, amidst all the doom and gloom, here’s some good news for a change.
And I must say, what is envisaged was long overdue – the integrity of the electoral process must bee maintained in all our interests!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Lifeboat News
[ Post a Response | The Lifeboat News ]
ID Cards on the cards? LOL
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38440934
Excellent news Habby, thank you for highlighting!
Hope your Christmas was as Happy as birdsong!
Nearly thirty Tory MP’s were elected due to fraudulent expenses. Habbabkuk isn’t interested. That’s election fraud he can live with.
No, I’m against any kind of electoral fraud.
But I get the impression that you and some of your like-minded friends on here are not……
Forgot to ask you, “J” – have the investigations into the 30 MPs been concluded? I suppose they have, since you write “Nearly thirty Tory MP’s were elected due to fraudulent expenses”, but I’d welcome confirmation from you. Thanks (and watch out for libel…)
Here are the actual government recommendations:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/580514/government-response-sir-eric-pickles-review-electoral-fraud.pdf
There are several sensible proposals relating to postal ballots. However, the two points raised by Craig are inadequately addressed: Treating is merely mentioned but not considered in detail, and there is no proposal that postal ballots be counted separately from those cast in person, as a check on bias in the postal votes.
Why wouldn’t people who choose postal votes vote differently to people who choose to go to the polling station? People who eat bacon and eggs for breakfast could well vote differently to people who eat muesli, people who drive BMWs vote differently to people who catch the bus, people who live in town near to the school vote differently to people who live out in the country, people who are fit and healthy vote differently to people who are disabled, people who work in a shop vote differently to people in the armed forces.
Different demographics vote differently, that’s how democracy works.
Thanks for the plug. You and your friends are welcome to come on board but there is a snag. You have to register. 🙂
If memory serves, there was considerable opposition on here to the idea that those wishing to comment should register.
But be that as it may.
It would be interesting to hear from any internet-savvy readers (Squonk?) if it is correct that all one needs to register on a forum is a functioning email address, which can be set up by giving whatever one wants as one’s personal details (eg, one can call yourself Hilde Benjamin if one feels so inclined).
If that is so, one does wonder what particular virtue there is in registering.
you would not know anything of the electoral process and if it bit you in the bum, Habby, how brave of you to link to the national propaganda channel….
This peculiar and dated argument will not stop fraud, it will stop those who are fictional, who have long moved, or departed, and off course those who can’t afford to pay 120,- for a passport,because they never went abroad because they can’t afford it, from voting.
Its a sticky plaster, the only way this Government deals with us or our concerns, its nothing.
It was my link Nevermind which was copied out in full from another website by a frequent poster on this site! The mod shortened it to the links.
Cheers and a Happy New Year.
Nevermind
Sharp Ears has provided the information which I attempted to provide an hour or so ago but which the Moderator deleted for reasons best known to himself.
So, as I said in my deleted post, it is Sharp Ears you should be rebuking for linking to what you call “the national propaganda channel”.
Hope that helps.