The Israeli Embassy has seventeen Israeli “technical and administrative staff” granted visas by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The normal number for an Embassy that size would be about two. I spoke to two similar size non-EU Embassies this morning, one has two and one zero. I recall I dealt with an angry Foreign Minister during my own FCO career incensed his much larger High Commission had been refused by the FCO an increase from three to four technical and administrative staff.
Shai Masot, the Israeli “diplomat” who had been subverting Britain’s internal democracy with large sums of cash and plans to concoct scandal against a pro-Palestinian British minister, did not appear in the official diplomatic list.
I queried this with the FCO, and was asked to put my request in writing. A full three weeks later and after dozens of phone calls, they reluctantly revealed that Masot was on the “technical and administrative staff” of the Israeli Embassy.
This is plainly a nonsense. Masot, as an ex-Major in the Israeli Navy and senior officer in the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, is plainly senior to many who are on the Diplomatic List, which includes typists and personal assistants. There are six attaches – support staff – already on the List.
Masot was plainly not carrying out technical and administrative duties. The term is a formal one from the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and it is plain from the convention that technical and administrative staff are in official status lower than the diplomatic staff. The majority of support activities are carried out in all Embassies by locally engaged staff already resident in the host country, but a very small number of technical and administrative staff may be allowed visas for work in particularly secure areas. They may be an IT and communications technician, possibly a cleaner in the most sensitive physical areas, and perhaps property management.
These staff do not interact with politicians of the host state or attend high level meetings beside the Ambassador. The level at which Shai Masot was operating was appropriate to a Counsellor or First Secretary in an Embassy. Masot’s formal rank as an officer in his cover job in the Ministry of Strategic Affairs would entitle him to that rank in the Embassy if this were a normal appointment.
The Al Jazeera documentaries plainly revealed that Masot was working as an intelligence officer, acquiring and financing “agents of influence”. It is simply impossible that the FCO would normally grant seventeen technical and administrative visas to support sixteen diplomats, when six of the sixteen are already support staff. The only possible explanation, confirmed absolutely by Masot’s behaviour, is that the FCO has knowingly connived at settling a large nest of Israeli spies in London. I fairly put this to the FCO and they refused to comment.
I asked my questions on 10 January. On 12 January the FCO asked me to put them in writing. On 2 February they finally replied to the first three questions, but refused to comment on questions 4 or 5 about involvement of the intelligence services in Masot’s appointment.
On 2 February I sent these follow-up questions to the FCO by email:
FCO Media Department have replied that they refuse to give me any further information on the subject, and that I should proceed through a Freedom of Information request so the FCO can assess properly whether the release of any further information is in the national interest.
What is it they are always saying to us: if you have got nothing to fear, you have got nothing to hide?
I am confident I know what they are hiding, and that is FCO complicity in a large nest of Israeli spies seeking to influence policy and opinion in the UK in a pro-Israeli direction. That is why the government reaction to one of those spies being caught on camera plotting a scandal against an FCO minister, and giving £1 million to anti-Corbyn MPs, was so astonishingly muted. It is also worth noting that while the media could not completely ignore the fantastic al Jazeera documentaries that exposed the scandal, it was a matter of a brief article and no follow up digging.
This was not just a curiosity, it reveals a deep-seated problem for our democracy. I intend to continue picking at it.
Excellent post Craig.
The money in the video is one million pounds.
Is that what’s causing Evolve politics to say there a fresh plot against Jeremy Corbyn?
http://evolvepolitics.com/labour-mps-starting-mobilise-leadership-challenge-corbyn/
To allow a plausible climb down for Corbyn and the appearance of unity? Then Labour rebels agree to put their knives away until Labour sweeps to victory on a remain ticket? If that isn’t what they’re thinking it’ll be a damn shame for Labour.
Large nest of Israeli spies in London? Hmm why does “false flag attack” and “radical muslims (or looney SNP)” spring to mind?
It only springs to the mind of those who hate the West and Israel and/or ConspiraLoons.
Must you conflate your own straw men on every thread?
I shall continue to respond to posts designed to arouse hatred of Israel/the West and to hawk loony conspiracies whenever necessary, J.
Exercising free speech and all that – you don’t mind, do you?
As I said, must you conflate your own straw men? On every thread? The answer is apparently, yes, you must.
Whence this strange compulsion? Through a series of responses designed to interrupt ideas unlike his own our protagonist wrestles with the internet in order to avoid reckoning with an alien intrusion into his consciousness. Some would call it conscience, some would call it mortality, but our protagonist prefers to view it as a mental illness. He does not possess it, but is tormented by it. Wherever he sees it in others the instinct to mock rises like bile to his lips.
“It only springs to the mind of those who hate the West and Israel ”
So what you are saying, Habbabkuk, is that the only part of the world that matters are the West and Israel? Nobody else is worth consideration?
You’re rather like those whose sole consideration is the welfare of Scotland; would you deny this?
Well, Alan, it is now more abundantly clear from recent rank arrogance and ignorance, coming from Brexiteers and Unionists in the HOC, that any consideration in regard to Scotland is zero.
Habbabkuk’s West includes Scotland but only as a region or colony of England.
The primary consideration for the welfare of the country/nation of Scotland by people living in Scotland is within the right of self determination. Your last sentence appears to denigrate those people holding to that principle.
Hmmm…I must say I’m sceptical about your theory, Craig. Are we Brits seriously that powerful of a nation anymore for foreign powers to really want to give us large sums of cash in order to win our support? Whilst there’s no doubting the bravery and professionalism of our armed forces, we are not a major military power any more than Denmark is. We simply don’t have the resources or landmass to take on the world like we did during the days of the empire. What, particularly the public-school educated political ‘elite’ can’t seem to grasp yet is that the days of Britain being a major global superpower are over. Like the Japanese Samurai class of the late 1860s, they simply haven’t moved on from those times and have failed to see the writing on the wall. The Israelis may as well bust a gut trying to get Belgium on their side! If your a tiny nation like Israel surely the main countries you’d want on your side are either going to be Russia or China, powers that could really potentially swing the balance to either nay or yay in your favour or not. As for the USA, it is now a spent force with a bunch of lunatics like Trump and his Republicans in charge who have divided and therefore weakened it. I dunno, maybe the ‘nest’ of spies (if there is one) have simply decided to stay because they like a good pub lunch washed down with beers known by absurdly bizarre names;)
Becky,
It’s because Corbyn recognises that the greatest worldwide abuse of human rights is happening in Palestine at this time.
He’s the only Western leader saying this and this is why £1m is being spent to destabilise him.
I can think of far greater human rights abuses. But because they cannot be laid at the door of the West, the US or Israel, they tend to attract little or no attention on this blog.
“I can think of far greater human rights abuses.”
I’m sure that you can, Likudniks seem to have very fertile imaginations when it comes to discovering new enormities- the routine torture of Palestinian children, for example.
But please keep your ideas to yourself.,
There are great human rights abuses happening elsewhere but the problem is Israel are funded to a huge degree by the USA . The egregious violation of the rights of Palestinians via the military occupation is heavily subsidised. Provision of weaponry etc. Palestinian society is united in calling for BDS. This is Corbyns view and that there should be a just settlement in a viable two state arrangement. This is totally unacceptable to the Israelis and therefore they have been plotting to work with anti Corbyn politicians and subverting democracy.
There are great human rights abuses happening elsewhere but the problem is Israel are funded to a huge degree by the USA .
Ben you make an important point there; Israel is also castigated for its abuses of human rights more vehemantly that countries in Afro-Asia with far worse records because it claims to be part of ‘the West’, and indeed the founders of the state wanted it to be a ‘light unto the nations’.
When rhetoric like this is used to praise Israel, and when Israel burnishes its European and Western credentials by competing in Eurovision, the Europa League et al (despite clearly not being in Europe), it means the country is judged by Western, not third world standards (the latter standard being applied in the case of Israel’s neighbours and near neighbours, including of course Saudi, whose ‘human rights’ quotient is especially low).
McConaghy
“There are great human rights abuses happening elsewhere but the problem is Israel are funded to a huge degree by the USA .”
_________________
Not at all.
Human rights abuses are human rights abuses whether they are “funded” by third countries or are purely internal, so to speak.
Your post is proves what I was saying in that it demonstrates that for some people human rights abuses are only human rights abuses when there is or might be some Western involvement (Israel and the foreign aid it receives) but are politely ignored when there is not (the millions of child prostitutes and child labour slaves slaves in India, for example).
So, thank you.
Why should this blog be a catalogue of ‘greater’ human rights abuses compared to those discussed? Why should those under discussion not be discussed? Why should this blog be other than it is?
And if so, then educate us. Tell us what we’re missing, why it matters and how we can help to change what is described.
That would be called a contribution.
Funny how you don’t bother to mention these ‘far greater human rights abuses’. Don’t exactly spring to mind do they? Fact is Zionists can always winge about other human rights abuses in places other than Israel, but they never, ever do anything about it. In this instance you can’t even be arsed to Google up a few to refresh your memory about this abuses that you are claiming to be so concerned about.
You could also hold a protest outside the Israeli diamond exchange to protest the trade in blood diamonds that causes so much misery in the DRC and elsewhere but it don’t ever happen, does it?
Except Corbyn isn’t a “Western leader” and isn’t likely to be the leader of a Western nation any time soon.
Quite. He’s firmly on a path to irrelevancy.
True, not many of the Labour M.P.’s have faith in J.C.
What about the Saudis slaughtering in Yemen?
What the Brits do has an influence on what we Yanks do. Tony Blair’s support was a major factor in winning support for the Iraq War in the U.S. population. The HoC vote rejecting intervening in Syria played a major role in Obama’s decision not to intervene either.
Israel very much cares what the U.S. does.
“Tony Blair’s support was a major factor in winning support for the Iraq War in the U.S. population.”
_____________________
Yet it has been shown without a doubt that the US would have gone ahead with or without UK support.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
” The HoC vote rejecting intervening in Syria played a major role in Obama’s decision not to intervene either.”
______________________
That is also nonsense. Obama was simply unwilling to risk getting the US into another Irak-type situation.
“Yet it has been shown without a doubt that the US would have gone ahead with or without UK support.”
Had it done so the political consequences, both domestically and internationally, would have been much greater. Many Americans on the ‘left’ took the Labour government’s approval of Bush’s policies as a cue for going along with them.
Internationally, had Britain, as well as France and Germany declined to become participants in the war the US would have been in a very delicate position. It is by no means clear that they would have carried out the invasion at all, it is very likely that, had they done so, they would have withdrawn more quickly and without laying the solid foundations for ISIS.
You are equally wrong about the effect of the Commons’ vote on Syria: it sealed the matter in the States. The temptation to attack was already weakened the vote in Westminster moved it from the unlikely column to “impossible at this time.”
No doubt you will wittily comment that this is “Nonsense”- abuse is the last refuge of the ignorant.
I agree, that Bush and Blair danced hand in hand into many conflicts, or New Labour Wars – 4 of them.
I believe it is too Miliband Junior, that we must thank our lucky stars that OBOMBA did not go it alone to take over Syria.
Bevs
” abuse is the last refuge of the ignorant”
_______________
I bow to your expertise on that point (if no other).
The Bu$h administration could not have sold the Iraq war without the aid and abetting of Miranda Tonykins* and sharing tooth paste with Dubya he would have had a tough job convincing the US population\ion to stay on side for the war.
US population have guns and that makes them pretty dangerous hence the need t keep these pacified, and restful.
* Naturally was handsomely remunerated for his contributions too, in fact more than £300 millions worth a few years back.
Think carefully Becky – Britain as a nation may be militarily decaying and perhaps her economic diversity is poor nevertheless Britain wields a dark energy of soft power across the globe, a kind of coercive fusion of culture, political values, secret intelligence and foreign policies.
This forceful use of soft power is a facet of the deep-seated problem for our democracy as Craig instills.
A £million is small change notably much more was shelled out to ensure the history of military and nuclear collaboration with Israel, specifically the South African nuclear deal and supplies of tritium and plutonium were disappeared.
Here is a rather weak primer by a compliant MSM – I know more and will ensure the truth lies on the event horizon and Britain’s black and vulgar role of ‘arming’ Israel notably in recent times murdering innocent Palestinian civilians, is powered by intention and crushed in the very sordid minds of those who play with agents of influence to subvert enlightened thought, honesty and integrity.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/israel-nuclear-weapons-uk-government-loses-file-involvement-a7172116.html
Please amend; “as Craig bravely instills.”
Mark,
There is this young man, who is quite obviously very well educated, who for reasons of his own, wanders around London doing commentaries about various things with a video camera. He did this one about British soft power. I found it very interesting and both the sound and video quality is very good.
“Coincidence Theory”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkSujaIsUVg
I hope you are well. I find what you write of the highest “enlightened thought, honesty and integrity”
As regards Thierry Meyssan http://www.voltairenet.org/en, I have been following his writings for about 5 years. He is of French origin, and he moved to Damascus in Syria, many years before there was any trouble there. His reason for moving there was to avoid being assassinated by The French Government for writing the truth. His “deep” contacts worldwide, where he gleans information from, have been proven to be exceedingly accurate.
Tony
Opmoc (re. Thierry Meyssan)
” His reason for moving there was to avoid being assassinated by The French Government for writing the truth.”
_________________
Has he said that himself? Can’t find it anywhere on his website “voltairenet”.
Quite Tony_Opmoc thanks m8 -your two paragraphs weave perfectly and the young man’s ‘Coincidence theory’ not at all perplexing; ‘soft power’ is in fact clear and straightforward when the pieces are known and assembled as ingredients of subjective appeasement. Thierry understands ‘perfidious Albion’ and something I intend to tell, erode and mutually dismantle.
Plainly we have somewhat identified the dark soul of Britain, a daunting and paralyzing hangout for the oblivious and uninformed; this is my playground and you are very welcome, I need you, the event horizon needs you, intention has to be the many, and with many the awakening…
No Becky. Not “we Brits”
First it was an infiltration but now they run the place. That is why a blind eye is turned.
The question should really be: Why is the government of Britain so subservient to the wants of a tiny country like Israel? Why no outcry from the “Elites”
Your question would maybe make sense in reference to a Russia or a USA. But it seems odd in that you seem to think that a massive global presence like Israel would deign to use money and influence to lever events in an inconsequential has-been like the UK. I hope the irony is blatantly apparent.
You need only look at the upper echelon of political “leaders” in the UK to see the answer.
Craig
There is a curious, but ultimately, unsurprising, concatination between this thread and the 9/11 thread.
Regardless of your previous scepticism about 9/11 I invite you to dig a bit deeper.
Reply ↓
lysias
February 7, 2017 at 16:56
What Stuxnet did do was to spark off an international cyber-arms race.
And it was extremely stupid for the U.S. to spark off that race, because the U.S. depends on cyber far more than its potential adversaries.
Well, nobody accused George W. Bush of having any great intelligence.
But I would have thought Israel would have had more sense.
@ Bobm February 7, 2017 at 21:24
Methinks Bob’s been sniffing around a ‘banned’ old post, what with talk of ‘Stuxnet’. Surprising what one finds when one (inadvertantly?!) disturbs some slimy rocks…
Then again, I could be mistaken…
While there may be some short-term benefit in utilising religious devotees who can justify criminality on theocratic principles, where humanity and commonsense forbid it, they should be kept either at a safe distance, in the Middle East, or at a convenient distance from Westminster for consultation, not further than the last stop on the no 24 bus.
Considering the importance to the UK economy of wrecking the Muslim countries in my lifetime, it is not surprising to find the nest of spies well represented in London. It would be tedious in the extreme to have to travel north of Watford to scheme. Mission Al Queenida in Syria has been run from NATO HQ in Adana, Turkey. Mission Daegshit has been run from Jordan, slightly closer to USUKIS heartland.
Why don’t we just issue free travel visas to 70 million Turkish citizens in exchange for locking up refugees in Turkish prisons? Sounds good to me. Why not have a few extra embassy slots for our partners in crime?
The sole function and purpose of UK politics since Harold Wilson seems to have been to wreck the Muslim World for the greater betterment and empowerment of the British Queen.
It takes more than a little waft of gin fumes…
Don’t know what Brit Govt’s priorities are, but ‘deeds’ rule out Well-Being of Brit voters. With Media being power-brokers in New Reality, those caught whipping-up hate to promote Wars via Bogus Reporting should be prosecuted no diff than Politicians who wage War to please their Benefactors $$$. That Mil Quid is just what we know about, Israel invests % of Fgn Aid to buy US Politicians who then authorize more Aid.
Useful selection of both articles and quotations at Information Clearing House, includes Craig’s.
This nonsense about “hating the West” comes from an ideology that when a government engages in Imperialism it is the duty of all subjects to support it and even to love it.
In fact it is the duty of all citizens to examine the nature of policies carried out in their names and to disassociate themselves from criminal actions.
Those in the “West’ who oppose imperialism and lament the crimes of regimes such as the fascist government of Israel, far from ‘hating the West’ exemplify the best traditions of their civilisation. Those who support the crimes of their governments and applaud the actions of Israel’s governments are the best hope of the survival of the “west.”
Totally agree with the sentiments, Bevin (dont think the last sentence says what you meant though).
If most people realised what the US, UK and Israel are really doing they would be appalled. Would they be able to stop it though? Well, the curtain is being torn with Trump, so maybe we shall see.
@ bevin February 7, 2017 at 23:05
Can’t argue with that…
Seconded.
Not quite the way I meant to put it, but….
“Those who support the crimes of their governments and applaud the actions of Israel’s governments are the ones who really hate the “west.” And humanity in general.
Spot on Bevin, I can’t imagine anyone arguing with that unless they are compromised by “loyalties” it’s in the interest of every British citizen to stop their government from making the uk less save by making enemies
A similar Israel friendly situation dominates Canadian politics.
For instance, the Cons want the Canadian Embassy to be moved to Jerusalem,.
Thankfully some of the parliamentarians support Palestine.
Will Conservative Party Quackery or NDP Principle determine Canada’s Palestine Policy
by Yves Engler / February 7th, 2017
http://dissidentvoice.org/2017/02/will-conservative-party-quackery-or-ndp-principle-determine-canadas-palestine-policy/
Yves Engler, a true hero for our time. Or a true hooligan?
“In June 2005 Engler interrupted a press conference being held by then Canadian minister of foreign affairs, Pierre Pettigrew. Engler walked up to the stage, emptying the contents of a bottle of cranberry juice onto Pettigrew’s arms, saying, “Pettigrew lies, Haitians die.”[3] The act was meant to symbolize the blood on the hands of the Canadian state due to its involvement in the planning of the coup (see: The Ottawa Initiative on Haiti) which ousted Jean Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected president of Haiti, from office and into exile.[4] Engler also highlighted Canada’s subsequent participation in the United Nations occupation of Haiti and the training of the Haitian national police by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.[5]
Engler served as Vice President of the Concordia Student Union where he was removed from office.[6] A student tribunal found Engler guilty of “vexatious conduct”[7] in the aftermath of a riot on September 9, 2002, when Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech was aborted by demonstrators. Engler later tried to overturn his suspension; however, he was denied by a student hearing panel and Board of Governors. The university’s decision was upheld by a Quebec tribunal.[8]”
Oh. err, Craig says some things, but never directly addresses why a “shitty little strip of land” has such incredible influence over America and other western nations. This is the core of the matter.
Craig, beware ‘strangers’ bearing 32 cal. Berrettas….
My thoughts exactly; we all know the fate of those who persist in going against the grain
Jonathan Cook writes from within ‘the belly of the beast’ on the latest theft of Palestinian land which coincided with Bibi’s visit. Wasn’t that nice.
Land Law is Final Nail in the Two-State Solution Coffin
by Jonathan Cook / February 7th, 2017
‘The Israeli parliament passed the legalisation law on Monday night – a piece of legislation every bit as suspect as its title suggests. The law widens the powers of Israeli officials to seize the last fragments of Palestinian land in the West Bank that were supposed to be off-limits.
Palestinian leaders warned that the law hammered the last nail in the coffin of a two-state solution. Government ministers gleefully agreed. For them, this is the extension of Israeli law into the West Bank and the first step towards its formal annexation.’
/..
http://dissidentvoice.org/2017/02/land-law-is-final-nail-in-the-two-state-solution-coffin/
Calm down, Sharp Ears.
It is typical of your Israel-hating self that you carefully omit to mention that the new law is already being challenged in the Israel courts as being both ultra vires (for the Knesset) and unconstitutional.
Which is as it should be since the State of Israel is a state under the rule of law.
“..State of Israel is a state under the rule of law.”
Hardly.
It has a court system but no Constitution, no borders either, as the story demonstrates.
It does not obey international law, nor does it obey international courts’ orders and the government scoffs at decisions which it dislikes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38891358
This might give you a clue to why Israel is so jumpy about Iran
that is weird. ISIS and the IDF in friendly neighbourly relations when they both have the same aim to conquer and control Mesopotamia, the lands between the Tigris and the Euphrates.
In fact the two are close allies now and are planning to take control of much of this land and more. Israel is playing a two faced game, not for the first time, but it is also not sure what would happen if a Russian defence system blasts their aircraft out of the sky.
The current attacks on Ghaza, ensuring that the Palestinians cower for a while, supports this article and I’m sure that Bibi has outlined some war plans to terezza, and the role he has for our engagement in his dirty wars. Thats hwat he uses the FoI network for, shaping our foreign policy it seems.
Israel has been throwing a hissy fit over Iran ever since the revolution, when it lost the cheap oil piped in directly by the the Shah’s horrifying regime.
Actually, during the first 12 or so years after the Islamic Revolution, The Islamic Republic and Israel, while pretending to be enemies, in fact secretly had rather good relations, as Trita Parsi writes in his book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. They shared an enemy in Iraq. This is why Israel played such a key role in Iran-Contra.
Only after Saddam had been defeated in the Gulf War and the shared enemy Israel and the U.S. once had in Communism and the USSR disappeared did Israel have a need to share a new enemy with the U.S. And so, starting in the early 1990s, Iran became the bogeyman. U.S. hostility to Iran was more or less guaranteed by the 1979 hostage crisis, and, if anything further was needed, it was provided by the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut (which Israel could have prevented but chose not to).
What more is there to be said about the ‘Bann on Trump’ two step autocracy campaign planned for the US.
An exert from der Spiegel who showed trump on their front page beheading the statue of liberty.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/trump-and-bannon-pursue-a-vision-of-american-autocracy-a-1133313.html
“Matters of War and Peace
Last Monday, Donald Trump promoted Bannon once again. The ex-Breitbart editor had started as his campaign manager before becoming Trump’s chief political strategist in the White House. Now, though, Bannon has also been named a permanent member of the National Security Council. “That’s the worst thing that has ever happened,” says one former Bannon confidant. In addition to other aspects of national security, the group, one of the government’s most important, also addresses matters pertaining to war and peace.
Just months ago, Bannon predicted: “We’re going to war in the South China Sea in five to 10 years. There’s no doubt about that.” Against China, a nuclear power. Bannon has also claimed that another war will also flare up, this one in the Middle East.
Bannon’s appointment to the National Security Council was one of many radical decisions made in recent days that will change America and the rest of the world. And most of the decisions can be traced back to Bannon himself.”
Israel stole a part of Syria in the 1960’s.
If Syria becomes a part of Russia, I expect the Syrians/Russians will want it back, plus reparations.
Similarly I expect Syria/Russia will want Hatay Province back from Turkey, plus reparations.
Syria has much in the way of natural resources, it could again become a self-finacing, equitable place to live, if countries like Saudi-Arabia / Turkey
stopped attempting to crash it.
The economy of Syria is based on agriculture, oil, industry and services. Its GDP per capita expanded 80% in the 1960s reaching a peak of 336% of total growth during the 1970s.
There are untouched massive Hydrocarbon deposits on the coast and off-shore.
Western firms primed to cash in on Syria’s oil and gas ‘frontier’
by Nafeez Ahmed
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/western-firms-plan-to-cash-in-on-syria-s-oil-and-gas-frontier-6c5fa4a72a92#.rawevn65m
US, British, French, Israeli and other energy interests could be prime beneficiaries of military operations in Iraq and Syria designed to rollback the power of the ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS) and, potentially, the Bashar al-Assad regime.
A study for a global oil services company backed by the French government and linked to Britain’s Tory-led administration, published during the height of the Arab Spring, hailed the significant “hydrocarbon potential” of Syria’s offshore resources.
We had some discussion recently of the fact that Amnesty International is controlled by the CIA and MI6 through its London international headquarters. Today the organisation is even more of a bad joke than the mass media. The following article comments on AI’s latest fake news report on Syria – a bad copy of the “dodgy dossier” that led to the Iraq war:
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/02/08/hearsay-extrapolated-amnesty-claims-mass-executions-syria-provides-zero-proof.html
The allegations were exclusively sourced from discredited opposition sources, were not in any respect validated, and all contact to “witnesses” was controlled remotely through opposition groups in third countries.
An extract from its conclusions:
“The claims in the Amnesty report are based on spurious and biased opposition accounts from outside of the country. The headline numbers of 5,000 to 13,000 are calculated on the base of unfounded hypotheticals. The report itself states that only 36 names of allegedly executed persons are known to Amnesty, less than the number of “witnesses” Amnesty claims to have interviewed. The high number of claimed execution together with the very low number of names is not plausible.
The report does not even meet the lowest mark of scientific or legal veracity. It is pure biased propaganda.”
Bhante
Well, as usual, whenever a report from Amnesty International points to human rights abuses in countries and by despots in countries of which/whom certain commenters approve, those same reports are immediately rubbished.
In this particular case, the report is rubbished because it is based on information obtained (in the main, at least) by opponents of “President” Assad’s regime – opponents whose sins are compounded by the fact that they “live abroad”. The horror!
Of course, Nazi and Soviet human rights abuses were also brought to the world’s attention in the first place by opponents of the Nazi and Soviet regimes who has succeeded in escaping from the clutches of those regimes. One does not recall the Nazi and Soviet regimes advertising their human rights abuses themselves.
As I have pointed out before this equation of the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany is a characteristic form of “Holocaust Denial.”
As to the ‘history’ Habba adduces, to support this last testament of Goebbels’, it is quite wrong. The Nazis were open in their treatment of Sociallsts and Trade Unionists, and won the approval of the right wing in both Europe and America for their muscularity.
The story of the Nazi regime and its relations with ‘western’ governments has been, for obvious reasons, revised and re-written since the end of the War. The history of ‘appeasement’ is not one of ‘weakness’ by ‘democratic’ politicians but one of complacency by capitalists who were very happy to see anti-imperialist parties and working class institutions hammered by fascist states.
A century after the Russian Revolution it is high time for humanity to come to grips with what it was-and was not- and what fascism, a hastily cobbled antidote with deep and complex roots, was. And was not. Serious people do not scream ancient propaganda slogans at each other, they examine carefully what contemporaries and historians said about events.
If you want to make a comparative study of Germany and the Soviet Union in the C20th you would be well advised to expand it and broaden it by including the British Empire and the United States in the study. In rough terms both were directly responsible for the deaths of millions, and racist persecutions which inspired German nationalists.
In much the same way we would do well to consider the current position of the United States as by far the world’s leader in detaining and incarcerating its citizens, most of whom never receive a proper trial of evidence. It maybe difficult to swallow but the American gulag, about which neither Human Right Watch nor Amnesty has much to say, dwarfs that of the Soviet Union in peacetime.
Some would argue that those in jail in the States deserve to be there and that their incarceration is necessary for society; much the same was argued by apologists for the Soviet system. Whether with more or less justification it would be hard to say. But one thing that we can say is that the Soviet Union was genuinely on the defensive throughout its existence and had to fight constantly to fend off foreign supported armies and guerrillas. The same cannot be said about the United States.
Well as if we didn’t already know it, from the countless warning from think tanks, that Brexit will see British citizen hit extermely hard economically. The Institute of Fiscal Studies has published a report, that says austerity in Britain will last well into the 2020’s.
Brexit, will be a unmitigated disaster, and we’ve been well warned, but still the Tories push on.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/15076190.UK_austerity__to_stretch_well_into_the_2020s_/
Mrs. Theresa May has said back me u scum
or Brexit will be the hardest Brexit imaginable.
Bring it on.
Some good news for a change as support for Scottish independence jumps to 49%, it’s game on with all to play for. A few more disastrous stories surrounding Brexit, Theresa May and her political beau Trump, and the dodgy Trident missiles that fly off course, and Yes, could take the lead.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/15077534.Support_for_independence_increases_to_49__after_Tories_go_for_hard_Brexit/?ref=mr&lp=2
Aye, and maybe the planned opening (work well in progress) of a “Scottish” submarine museum in the central area of Helensburgh (a few miles from Faslane and Trident) has helped the figure on to 49%. This museum of propaganda is being housed in a re-developed church. Yes, a church.
The disclosure that Scotland would have to use the euro if it joined the EU might shave a few points off.
MJ.
Regurgitating tired old speel, when you know fine well, that Scotland CANT just join the Euro, damages what little (if any) credibility you have left.
It can’t use sterling so what’s left?
The Scottish Bawbee?
“It can’t use sterling so what’s left?”
We could use Irn Bru bottletops if we liked, Jimmy.
Scotland has always used its own banknotes issued by Scottish banks anyway – admittedly of course founded on English pound sterling as a currency. I see no reason at all why Scotland should not print new Scottish Pound banknotes in a new purely Scottish currency, and exchange them for English pounds sterling on a 1 to 1 basis immediately on declaring independence. Thereafter the two currencies can float according to the relative economic strengths of the two countries concerned. Naturally, as England has long lost its industrial base and is run as an ineffective private club for the Elite its pound sterling is just a bubble currency, while Scotland has a much more balanced and productive economy so the Scottish Pound can quite reasonably be expected to appreciate fairly briskly against the dull pound sterling – much as the Singapore dollar did against the Malaysian dollar, for example.
Jumping back on to the neferious actions, of the oppressive apartheid military state of Israel.
A UN envoy to the Middle East, said that Israel had crossed “a very thick red line” referring to the illegal building of settlements in the West Bank, after the passing of a explosive law, by Israeli politicians late on Monday night.
The law legalised dozens of outpost homes built unlawfully on private Palestinian lands, in the occupied West Bank.
In the eyes of the UN, it is clearly theft, even though the area was captured in 1967 by Israel. It’s not sovereign Israeli territory, and Palestinians there are not Israeli citizens, and do not have the right to vote.
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN’s co-ordinator for the Middle East, fears the law will open up the flood gates to Israeli legislation, in the West Bank.
Britain’s minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, condemned the law saying it, “damages Israel’s standing with its international partners.”
Too right it does, do those Israel thugs, think they can keep on stealing from the oppressed sovereign Palestinian people, and the world will let them away with it.
We stood up to South Africa’s neferious apartheid regime, isn’t it time we did the same with Israel’s?
RoS
“Jumping back on to the neferious actions, of the oppressive apartheid military state of Israel….”
______________________
No, don’t jump back straight away – try replying to MJ’s question “It can’t use sterling so what’s left?”.
Focus on the question you yourself raised and which elicited MJ’s response 🙂
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/stv.tv/amp/1346145-independent-scotland-can-use-the-pound-unofficially-says-former-bank-chief/?client=safari
This article suggests MJ’s question is irrelevant.
It certainly can – provided it accepts the consequences of the UK govt’s monetary and exchange rate policies, over which it would of course have no say.
As usual the Times gives a platform, to anyone who rails against the SNP, or those who oppose Scottish independence.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/a-matter-of-disclosure/#more-91440
Football Israeli Style
E-mail from PACBI
Israel allows six teams based in illegal settlements to play in its national football league.
We have an opportunity to pressure FIFA, the governing body of world football, to take action against the Israeli Football Association for its support of teams based in illegal Israeli settlements.
Will you join me in writing FIFA President Gianni Infantino?
The UN, Human Rights Watch, parliamentarians, lawyers, campaigners and Palestinians have all urged FIFA to respect international law. They have asked FIFA to respect its own regulations and prevent teams based in illegal settlements from participating in its official leagues.
By failing to take action against the Israeli Football Association for including these illegal settlement-based teams, FIFA is complicit in Israel’s violation of international law, and is allowing Israel to use “the beautiful game” to whitewash its war crimes and forced displacement of Palestinians.
FIFA can and should demand that the Israeli Football Association exclude teams based in illegal settlements, and suspend the association if it refuses to comply.
Tokyo Sexwale, the South African chairman of the FIFA Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine, is about to submit a report to FIFA’s president and council about improving the conditions of Palestinian football.
This is an opportunity for us to pressure FIFA to take action.
https://bdsmovement.net/redcardisrael
Thank you,
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
Good comment Sharp Ears Infantino is a utter disgrace, I covered this late last year, when a Scottish MEP put it to the EU.
“World football authority Fifa must kick out five Israeli teams from settlements in Palestine’s troubled West Bank, according to MEPs.”
“Currently five/six clubs belonging to the Israeli Football Association play from bases in occupied Palestine.”
“All five – Beitar Givat Ze’ev, Beitar Ironi Ariel, Ironi Yehuda, Beitar Ironi Ma’aleh Adumim and Hapoel Bik’at Hayarden – come from settlements ruled illegal under international law.”
“Fifa’s own statutes say teams from one association must not play on the territory of another without consent.”
“Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Football Federation (PFF), raised the issue last year, claiming the five were in violation of the rules.”
“Russia was previously compelled to ban Crimean teams from its league due to its illegal occupation of that area, and the issue is set to be discussed when Fifa’s council meets next month.”
Oh FIFA were quick to threaten Russia if it did not comply, but Israel gets a free pass? It smacks of hypocrisy, double standards, mind you last year FIFA hit the headlines over corruption, that says it all really.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/14896040.Scots_MEP_leads_call_to_ban_Israeli_teams_from_the_West_Bank/
Yes. Good RoS, as you say.
Not forgetting Celtic supporters who sent off the +£176k they raised to Palestinian charities, Lagee Centre in Aida refugee camp and Medical Aid for Palestinians.
As Trump was issuing veiled threats to Iran, 17 warships from the US, France, Britain and Australia were carrying out war games 50 miles off the coast of Iran, the exercise was called “Unified Trident.”
Unsurprisingly Breibart, carried the story exclusively, watch out for Breibart, scoops from the Whitehouse in the future, due to the Steve Bannon connection.
It may be that the Great Satan, and its obedient minions are gearing up for war with Iran.
http://www.activistpost.com/2017/02/tensions-iran-escalate-us-launches-major-war-game-just-50-miles-off-iranian-coast.html
RED ALERT – URGENT TO CRAIG
I implore you to take seriously the warnings issued by a couple of your “friends” :
“Craig, beware ‘strangers’ bearing 32 cal. Berrettas….” (Paul Barbara)
and, in response to the above:
“My thoughts exactly; we all know the fate of those who persist in going against the grain” (Babushka).
I’m assuming Craig never replies to garbage like that because he’s too intelligent and that most of the Eminences maintain a polite silence out of sheer embarrassment.
Did the words ‘red card’ in my last post stimulate the use of the words ‘red alert’ in the post @ 16.16?
So funny.
Afraid not, Sharp Ears. I was trying to ensure that Craig took the warnings of his impending assassination seriously.
Habb.
Well I’m sure Scotland Yard /Police Scotland /Interpol, would be knocking on your door first, I wonder if I’m the only one who has taken a screen shot, of your ominous 16.16pm stalking horse comment.
“Red Alert” was the title of the novel on which the movie Dr. Strangelove was based.
Always good to be reminded of how awful a nuclear war of the kind the neoconservatives seem determined to provoke would be.
I disagree about Craig ignoring such garbage. Do you not recall the “muddy footprints” saga?
Assume NBCD State 2 Condition Yankee in other words stand down from ‘Action Stations’ and maintain normal conversation. The ‘fear’ of assassination has passed.
Great piece Craig – should be sent to every Fleet St journalist to show them what they should be doing.
North Sea Oil almost done.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-38902204
Decommission planned for North Sea Brent oil field
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/wood-review-implementation-team
Shell sells more than half of its North Sea oil and gas fields for $3.8bn
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/31/shell-sells-north-sea-oil-gas-fields-chrysaor-linda-cook
so where will all the money for Independence come from?
It is not so much that the North Sea is played out, it is economics, you can buy it cheaper, almost anywhere.
Most of The North Sea is not viable at $50/barrel.
If it’s sooooo played out then why doesn’t Westminster devolve it to Scotland?
The reality is that Westminster receives the tax receipts from North sea, then its a good thing, however oil and gas is a terrible burden in a independent Scotland.
I’ve heard and read that dross for years now, it didn’t wash then and it doesn’t now.
As for your comnent and MJ’s comment, I’ll address both of you, even though I’ve covered this subject on currency more times than I care to remember for those who don’t, or won’t pay attention.
Here goes again, for the umpteenth time.
Scotland will put forward its own currency likely the Merk, on a solid and usable basis. However after independence is gained, Westminster will fall over itself to allow Scotland to use the pound Sterling, why?
Well it make perfect economic sense, England exports around £62 billion pounds worth of goods and products to Scotland, and Scotland exports around £50 billion pounds worth of goods and
products to England, the taxes from both go into the coffers of both governments, why cut your nose of to spite your face.
Anyway in the short term, Scotland would use the pound, eventually floating its own currency, once a central bank has been established. One of the reasons to do so, would be the unpredictable interest rates set by the Bank of England.
Israeli energy firm Delek this week moved in on Ithaca Energy, based in Aberdeen
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-38908202
Well, Michael, if North Sea oil turns out to be as worthless as you have been telling us for some time, they will be awfully upset not to have paid you the attention you seek so persistently.
There is presently an oversupply of oil in the world.
That is why OPEC and some other countries have agreed to cut back production, in an attempt to boost value.
However Iran is now back on song, soon, also Iraq and Libya.
Brazil has also entered the oil game,
Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, Crete and Egypt to also join the oil game.
The world will be drowning in the stuff.
Oil is not worthless but it is how economic it is to bring it to market.
Sales of whisky, shortbread and garish tartan nick nacks.
Damn, I was just going to say shortbread.
Lucky White Heather
Not to mention oatcakes. I think we’re beginning to put together the economic argument that the SNP cannot.
Haggis
Don’t forget salmon.
Don’t forget satellites, Scotland has sent for launch over 80 satellites, it’s a industry on the cusp of booming in the land of mountain and flood as Hamish McCunn would put it.
Here is the very man, at work.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2-F5dmRV5Bc
From the Greek “Kathimerini”:
“An Athens court on Tuesday found several executives of the Energa and Hellas Power electricity companies guilty of stealing money from the state.
The court convicted Aris Floros and Nikos Dekolis of embezzlement.
Stefanos Siafakas, Achilleas Floros and Vassilis Milionis were deemed to be accessories to the theft.
Aris Floros was also convicted of smuggling, and, along with Siafakas and Dekolis, found guilty of money laundering.
Eight of the 19 suspects who stood trial were cleared.
The two companies withheld more than 100 million euros from the Greek state through a special property tax levied via electricity bills.
The companies allegedly collected the levies between September 2011 and November 2012 but subsequently failed to hand the money over to the state.
The defendants have offered to pay back 83 million euros but the court has yet to issue the necessary decision.”
____________________
Obviously a case of good, upstanding Greek citizens corrupted by – or even acting on behalf of – the EU / IMF / Berlin / the imperialists / Goldman Sachs !!!!
On a different subject but worrying. Storyville on BBC 4 recently showed a Jerusalem football team and mainly its supporters riddled with racism. It has disappeared from BBC iPlayer even though all other past programmes are listed
The programme has been replaced with minimal coverage of terror suspects such as Shai Masot, getting away with threatening a possible assassination of a minister of the Crown.
Not that our resonant creature here made a representation to the Government of cheats asking Mrs May, or may not, to take this plotting serious, after all he’s a spy and does what spies do, don’t they?
“If there’s anything that is capable of being corrupted, an Ashkenazi Israeli will get to it.”
_____________
Let’s be honest, Mary, what you really mean to say is “Ashkenazi Jęw”.
I put up a post agreeing with Kath Murrell, on the BBC’s notes on the programme that has been cut from the iPlayer and information on the Israeli owner of the club.
It was deleted.
This book review neatly summarizes the Orwellian character of the ongoing US foreign policy project, as embodied in the CIA, as the promotion of endless war (among other things).
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-history-of-the-cia/5566699
It doesn’t mention Israel, but it does cover Iran, and also the foundation of the Taliban.
All US presidents since 1948 seem to have been (more or less) in thrall both to the project and to Israel’s US agents and sponsors.
Meanwhile, the UK political/military/intelligence establishment has been (more or less) in thrall to Washington ever since it recognized in 1945 that Washington was now top dog; and Churchill later coined his infamous phrase about the relationship between the BRITISH COMMONWEALTH and the USA.
Previous references, here, to the parasitism (am I imagining things?) are fully relevant to Israel’s relation to the USA.
I’m unsure whether the UK can be said to be parasitic on the USA, as I cannot see that any benefits to the UK are other than illusory (except, of course, for the establishment and its sense of its own importance).
The UK’s political relations with Israel, today, are surely primarily driven by the establishment’s obsession with that other “relationship”.
Successive Presidents have tolerated or used this obsession to the USA’s advantage.
They all have been more or less graceful (but remember “Yo.. Blair!”, and the recent hand-grab, as indicative).
The embrace of The Donald takes us to a new plane.
I have read Douglas Valentine’s book The CIA as Organized Crime, and it is indeed an eye-opener.
A few choice comments form the first page:
“They control or manipulate every European country and all of the USA.”
“Israel reminds me of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a fungus that makes zombie ants do all the work, then kills them.”
“A foreign power that has a strong grip over the UK.”
“Ah the Israeli Mafia tells May how it’s going to be. “You work for us now.””
“The UK invaded Iraq principally for Israel.”
___________
The age-old anti-Semitic slur of the devious/manipulative/parasitic Jęw controlling and manipulating world affairs is clearly alive and well on this blog.
Careful you don’t post too often today, Anon1 and please try to make your posts a little less effective.
If you don’t, you’ll suddenly find yourself under pre- moderation – as has just happened to me 🙂
Habbabkuk February 8, 2017 at 18:40
“Anon1 and please try to make your posts a little less effective.”
That’s impossible. There is nothing lower than rock bottom, which is where both of you are already.
Anon1.
Oh it’s not just us that see the oppressive, apartheid military state if Israel as land thieves, and murderers.
So it would appear that your mutterings and those of Habbs, are unfounded, and in the minority.
A deluge of international condemnations of the Regulation Law continues to flow from world leaders and bodies, including those of the UN, Britain, France and Turkey; UN chief António Guterres slams ‘contravention of international law’ which ‘will have far reaching legal consequences for Israel,’ while France says it paves the ‘way to annexation.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4919004,00.html
Could sanctions be on the cards for Israel? Heres hoping.
Germany’s disappointed and lost confidence in Israel, after it passed the illegal Regulations Law.
Israel has been a huge disappointment for many, for a great number of years.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/germany-dissapointed-lost-confidence-in-israel-after-outpost-law/
RoS what is your view on the Israelis getting heavily involved in Scottish oil?
Israeli energy firm Delek this week moved in on Ithaca Energy, based in Aberdeen and listed in Toronto. It already had a 20% stake.
The takeover offer – which directors like, but some shareholders don’t – values the company behind the central North Sea Stella development, which is soon to come on stream, at more than half a billion pounds.
Delek is also the biggest shareholder in Faroe Petroleum, one of the most active independents in the North Sea. As the Israel-based firm is on a spending spree, backed by big gas finds in the eastern Mediterranean, it may want to push for more than 13% of Faroe too.
Ministry of Truth
Oil is currently a reserved matter for Westminster, and since Westminster is currently infected heavily with Israeli spies, who knows, if they’ll get their blood stained hands on any North sea oilfields or rigs.
The Golan Heights spring to mind.
“Oh it’s not just us that see the oppressive, apartheid military state if Israel as land thieves, and murderers.”
________________
Who do you mean by “us”, RoS?
You and some of your fellow Eminences?
PS – you forgot to add “fascist” and “genocidal”, you must be slipping 🙂
We don’t appear to care too much for the concept of “Free speech and expression”, do we, Anon1? Still less for the Voltarian idea that it is something to be defended at all costs. Or have I made a misinterpretation?
Yes you have. Fire away by all means (I even defend the right of RoS to deny the Holocaust). It is much better that we have these views out in the open.
Page 2, so I can go O/T.
Chelsea Clinton’s husband had to shut down his hedge fund, it is now revealed, shortly after Hillary lost the election. Out of work: Chelsea Clinton’s husband Marc Mezvinsky shut down his hedge fund in December just weeks after Hillary lost election. I guess they’re not going to get the hot tips and favorable treatment from the government that they were expecting if Hillary won.
A month ago, we learned this: The Clinton Foundation Shuts Down Clinton Global Initiative.
A planet mourns.
While moderators decide what to do with my original response to Anon1, perhaps s/he could respond to my post of 17.38?
That, covered US/Israeli/UK relationships; but Anon1 has avoided dealing with it, and gone back to the bunker.
Let’s hear from you.