I am delighted that Sir Patrick Wright, former head of the Diplomatic Service, has confirmed that Margaret Thatcher did support apartheid. There has been a polite media airbrushing of this aspect of Tory history. For the first two years of my life in the FCO I spent every single day trying to undermine Thatcher’s support for apartheid. As I published last year of the FCO’s new official history:
Salmon acquits Thatcher of actually supporting apartheid. I would dispute this. I was only a Second Secretary but the South Africa (Political) desk was just me, and I knew exactly what was happening. My own view was that Thatcher was a strong believer in apartheid, but reluctantly accepted that in the face of international opposition, especially from the United States, it would have to be dismantled. Her hatred of Mandela and of the ANC was absolute. It is an undeniable statement that Thatcher hated the ANC and was highly sympathetic towards the apartheid regime.
By contrast the Tory FCO junior ministers at the time, including Malcolm Rifkind and Lynda Chalker, shared the absolute disgust at apartheid that is felt by any decent human being. The Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe was somewhere between these two positions, but very anxious indeed not to anger Thatcher. South Africa was an issue in which Thatcher took an extreme interest and was very, very committed. Not in a good way.
British diplomats were almost banned from speaking to any black people at all. Thatcher favoured the Bantustan or Homelands policy, so an exception was made for Gatsha Buthelezi, the Zulu chief who was regarded as anti-ANC and prepared to oppose sanctions and be satisfied with a separate Zulu “homeland” for his Inkatha movement and essentially accept apartheid exclusions. That may be unfair on him, but it was the policy of the UK government to steer in that direction. Our Consulate General in Johannesburg was permitted to talk to black trades unionists, and that was our main angle in to the black resistance movement. These contacts were made by the excellent Tony Gooch and Stuart Gregson, and before them the equally excellent Terry Curran, then my immediate boss in London. Neither Terry nor Tony were “fast-track” public school diplomats. None of those talked to black South Africans at all.
I flew off the handle when I discovered, when dealing with the accounts of the Embassy in Pretoria/Capetown (a migratory capital), that the British Ambassador, Patrick Moberly, had entertained very few black people indeed in the Residence and the vast majority of Embassy social functions were whites only. In 1985 most of the black people who got in to the British Ambassador’s residence in South Africa were the servants. I recall distinctly the astonishment in the FCO that the quiet and mild-mannered young man at the side desk had suddenly lost his rag and got excited about something that seemed to them axiomatic. Black people as guests in the Residence in Pretoria? No, Craig, I was told, we speak with black people in Johannesburg. Different culture there.
Wright’s account collaborates mine both in general and in detail, eg on being banned from any contact with the ANC. Eventually we managed, as a tentative first step and unknown to No.10, to arrange a meeting, ostensibly by accident in the margins of a conference, between myself and a brilliant young man from the newly launched trades union federation named Cyril Ramaphosa. I wonder what happened to him? 🙂 I was the recipient of his justified ire at Tory government policy.
Tories who actively supported apartheid are still very influential in the Tory party, notably the St Andrews Federation of Conservative Students originating group, including Michael Forsyth. Even David Cameron’s contacts with South Africa in this period are a very murky part of his cv. It is important the Tories are not allowed off the hook on this. The moral taint should rightly be with them for generations.
Scottish Labour have suspended the party’s group leader on South Lanarkshire Council Davie McLachlan. It’s believed the suspension in connection with the claim made by Anas Sarwar MSP that he was told during the recent leadership election that Scotland wasn’t ready to vote for a “brown, Muslim Paki”.
This is not the first time Mr. McLachlan has been at the centre of controversy. In 2010 he was one of several Labour figures who resigned form the Strathclyde Partnership for Travel quango amid expenses revelations that were reported in the Daily Record and elsewhere.
.
Cllr McLachlan had been the Vice-Chair of the SPT. Auditors called in to scrutinise the expenses questioned his foreign trips to New York, India and Dubai on SPT business. This included an expenses claim for a $905 bill at a swish Manhattan restaurant.
Another trip questioned by the auditors was one made by an SPT group, including Cllr McLachlan, that visited Manchester at the same time Rangers FC were playing the UEFA Cup Final in that city.
What conceivable justification is there for this racist dumbass to be billing taxpayers for trips to NYC, Dubai, etc, let alone for a restaurant bill of that size? The public purse is being devoured by vultures everywhere you look.
Xavi
While our politicians lay waste to whole countries and civilisations through their reckless policy of supporting Islamist terrorism, why shouldn’t a waiter swig a drop of wine and a sandwich? The system is designed to allow wholesale destruction and murder to continue without opposition through bribery and corruption. If Labour politicians can be bought for the miserable price of an expensive restaurant or a week’s holiday, is that the Zionist NWO gangster’s problem?
What’s the difference between the Nazis Enabling Act 1933 and the Tory EU Withdrawal Bill 2018?
Not much difference really as far as the legislation goes. It’s just that in 2018 there aren’t squads of SA men standing in the Lords chamber menacing the legislators.
reel guid
I seem to recall some stazi intimidating the owner of this blog recently in the libel court. One could say that CM blog is about as much actual opposition you can find in UK politics today. nothing in parliament, just a lot of playgroup hissing and booing, covering up general agreement with the status quo remaining the same, or under Brexit sliding backwards to pre-Victorian feudalism.
giyane,
Try off-guardian. The site has got some really interesting articles, and some excellent posters. It also has some really good features including RECENT COMMENTS. Some people banned here (including bevin) now post there.
https://off-guardian.org/
Tony
“What’s the difference between the Nazis Enabling Act 1933 and the Tory EU Withdrawal Bill 2018?”
This is ridiculous.
You have to laugh though.
“One could say that CM blog is about as much actual opposition you can find in UK politics today”
Oh my aching sides.
The proponents of the two pieces of legislation are different. Their styles and aims are different. But there is a distinct similarity in the two pieces of legislation. Power away from parliament to the executive.
Your idea would gain in power and clarity if you tried to express in a nutshell the importance and nature of those two pieces of legislation.
I’m saying that as someone who has long believed that the secret god of the Tory party is Thomas Malthus and that their long dreamed of cull really is coming.
OK, I’ve read what you say about executive and legislature now. These are confused Montesquieu-oid bourgeois propaganda terms. From a critical anti-exploiter point of view which doesn’t take the bourgeois state in its own terms, both the legislature and the judiciary are part of the executive.
There’s no real separation of power. It’s all bullshit. All-party, select and standing committees are the milieu of corrupt business-paid c*nts carving stuff up. Judges too know exactly what side their bread is buttered on.
‘Breaking: Damascus International Airport comes under missile attack as Sochi politicians return’:
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-damascus-international-airport-comes-missile-attack-sochi-politicians-return/
Not in the MSM yet.
And once again, like so many days before, our boys in blue above are entertaining us with a little dog fighting and attack loops, just to keep in good shape for what is to come.
If the pumped up dwarf defence minister, walking through Westminster as if he owns it already, becomes PM, we can kiss our backsides good bye.
I’ll class him in the same light as the Clinton rubble, eager to please the arms lobby and no care for anything or anyone, but his own career, that man is dangerously close to dictator material.
300 US airmen, 4 B52s and support have returned to North Dakota from RAF Fairford, Glos. So that’s OK? For now maybe?
I dread that some attack in the Middle East is planned and in train.
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/264027/minot-airmen-b-52s-complete-uk-deployment
@ Sharp Ears January 31, 2018 at 20:49
Bloody good job, Why don’t they take their mates with them?
No US bases in Britain. Yanks, GO HOME.
They would not need to leave the UK to attack the ME, our ‘(B)’leaders would allow them to attack heaven if they could.
But they can’t. Come Armageddon, they will realise their ‘Big Mistake’. Trifle too late, but ‘c’est la vie’.
They sold their souls, they will pay for their ‘reward’.
I stayed in a peace camp outside RAF Fairford for a couple of months (late 70s?). Now I can’t even remember where it is. Or whether we achieved peace. Did we? Is the war over?
Node
I Dont Know
What to say…I went up to the peace Camp.. Fuck Kwows
The British Em-Pyre is well and truly dead.
Boris flogs off the Bangkok Embassy (in nine acres of grounds) for £420m.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42886466
Ambassador and staff decamp to space in a leased office block.
Seems like US and UK are using the same consultancy firm. Nine acres of land is not much use to Daleks. P-R-I-V-A-T-I-S-E . P-R-I-V-A-T-I-S-E is the usual mating call of the Tory scum-bird. How else are cronies to be paid and CEOs to get £6 million pension funds?
It turns out that Davie McLachlan, the suspended Labour council group leader, was one of dozens of prominent Labour people in Scotland who put their name to a declaration of support for Richard Leonard during the recent leadership campaign.
With supporters like this, Richard’s face must be a bit orange………oops sorry I meant red.
Big Brother is watching you, and it is also watching me.
Why did my computer hang for a few seconds, with the small print right at the bottom left hand side indicate it was transferring advertising data to amazon? Mobile phones are even worse, particularly if you install any of these company’s apps. I didn’t give any of these company’s permission to invade my internet space, nor to keep phoning me up, since I reached the age of 50, trying to flog me a bloody stairlift. How do they know I’m over 50, I never told them. And how does Facebook know my date of birth? I never told them either. I thought we were supposed to have data protection laws to prevent all this intrusion. Yet our Governments flog everything they can collect from us to Private companies, without our permission.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/30/ukgov_mass_data_slurping_ruled_illegal_again/
Extract
“The UK’s Court of Appeals has ruled that the government’s unfettered slurping of citizens’ data broke the law.
In a judgment handed down this morning, judges backed a challenge brought by deputy Labour leader Tom Watson in a long-running battle against state surveillance rules.
These laws allow for ISPs and telcos to retain communications data for up to a year and for public authorities to get access to this information. But campaigners have argued it fails to properly restrict this retention and access.
Today’s ruling refers to the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act, which expired at the end of 2016, but will have significant implications for its successor, the Investigatory Powers Act.
The so-called Snoopers’ Charter was already under pressure following a landmark 2016 ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union, and today’s judgment adds weight to this.
In the document, the judges also note: “As [Ben] Jaffey QC, on behalf of the first respondent, pointed out in the course of his oral submissions, that the fact that DRIPA has been repealed does not make this a pointless exercise”.
Their ruling was that DRIPA “was inconsistent with EU law” because it did not limit access to retained communications data solely to the purpose of fighting serious crime.
It also broke the law because police forces and public authorities could themselves grant access to retained data – rather than access being subject to prior review by a court or an independent administrative authority.”
Tony
Rap musician Professor Green has spoken out about Bournemouth Borough Council’s policy of fitting metal strips to the middle of public benches in order to render them unusable by the homeless seeking something to sleep on.
Bournemouth Council has 51 Tory councillors out of 54 seats. Nasty party at work.
Apparently, they haven’t tried this, even in Los Angeles and I really like Bournemouth. Where am I supposed to sit? I normally prefer sitting in the middle, with a pretty girl on each side to keep warm.
“SHOCKING – NUMBER OF HOMELESS PEOPLE- DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES CHRISTMAS DAY”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnFaWB2wce8
In much of the USA, most of the homeless will have frozen to death by now.
Tony
Maybe those metal strips are designed to attract lightning. Sea-side towns always have stainless steel public toilets. It only makes sense for a council expecting heavy usage to install the heavy duty accessory range.
see image
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bournemouth-council-installs-metal-bars-benches-homeless-rough-sleepers-inhumane-crisis-stuart-a8186121.html
No, that’s to hang your tarpaulin over to keep you dry in the rain. I’ve managed to sleep on the front seat of an old caddy van on the snow-blocked fast lane of the M5. I can see the metal bar might need a little temporary modification.
Thanks for the smile Giyane, a true Artisans solution.
Bournemouth Council were earlier playing loud bagpipe music to deter rough sleeping in the parks and were accused of stealing a sleeping bag from a gentleman who died a few days later. They also buy one way coach tickets out of town to get rid of problems for the image(that’s how I’m in Korea).Bournemouth Daily Echo(online) has been covering this story with interesting readers’ letters
Ethnocentrism arises more profoundly with each new post Craig. Is that the opposite of Trumps Isolationism?
Ben
IMHO Trump’s Isolationism was intended to deceive you into thinking the US had lost interest in the outcome of the War against the Syrian People. Military tactic of surprise. Today’s events prove that Erdogas ‘ pulpit thumping against the US was utter bollocks. They’re using the arranged ding-dong with the YPG to motor into Idlib territory in order to fire up the end-game. The West will NEVER win in Syria. The endgame in Syria for USUKIS, NATO and the Muslim Brotherhood is their extinction.
@ Ben January 31, 2018 at 16:51
The only thing ‘isolationist’ about the ‘Trumpeter’ is that 3 of his brain cells are at odds with the other 2. But it’s working on it.
Work in pro-? jectile? ject American dream? pensity for coif-control? mised land?
He started the sentence fairly confident he knew where he was going but, alas,
when you delegate most of the important decisions to others, … I can’t remember what I was going to say.
Anyway he has the US dementia vote, same as Theresa has the swivel vote in the UK
A new Survation poll shows the SNP have increased their support for Holyrood voting. Up to 42%, with Labour and the Tories trailing at 25% each. The SNP would gain 9 seats to go up to 44 MPs in Westminster voting with Labour and the Tories both losing seats.
Also in the Survation polling support for independence is holding steady at 46%. A good starting point for the Yes campaign in indyref2.
Support for a second EU ref and staying in the EU has the support of 66% of the Scottish electorate.
Richard Leonard is already proving a liability. Labour’s hard brexit EU stance is rejected in Scotland. The Tories are shedding voters and it looks like the Colonel is set for a demotion. It stands to reason. If your MPs vote against Scotland, Scotland will vote against you.
Lib Dems little change. If Rennie and the Scot Lib Dems thought their pro-EU stance would win them support then they have been disillusioned.
“A new Survation poll shows the SNP have increased their support for Holyrood voting. Up to 42%”
They had 46.5% at the last election.
“Labour and the Tories trailing at 25% each”
They only had 22% at the last election.
“Also in the Survation polling support for independence is holding steady at 46%. A good starting point for the Yes campaign in indyref2.”
And an even better starting point for the No campaign.
Fred
It’s virtually unheard of in Europe for a party to have been in office for 11 years and to be 17% ahead of their nearest rivals in a parliament’s mid-term.
As for No support at the start of indyref2. You cannot assume that all the No percentage in the opinion polls means hardline No support. A lot of the No vote is very soft. Two thirds of the Scottish voters want to stay in the EU. The Tories are wrecking the devolution settlement.
The likes of Malcolm Chisholm of Labour and Annabelle Goldie of the Tories are not likely to keep cheerleading for the union if Holyrood is going to be shorn of most of its power or scrapped outright by the ultra-britnats. Once well known people from the unionist parties start to come over to Yes, with whatever degree of reluctance, then the games all up for the hardline unionists. Even if they don’t come over Yes will win over enough of the soft No voters to win.
The SNP wouldn’t have had a majority to call another referendum after the next election anyway, even without the votes this morning’s papers will have cost them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/31/snp-hits-middle-high-earners-stealth-charge-top-income-tax-hikes/
That’s not the rich they are hammering, doctors, teachers, nurses, firemen, policemen all fall into those pay groups.
The more nat fanatics finally realise it’s all over and the less votes the SNP will get.
“That’s not the rich they are hammering, doctors, teachers, nurses, firemen, policemen all fall into those pay groups.”
I don’t think public sector workers are going to be too bothered about the tax changes if it means the end of real terms pay cuts.
reel guid
Please correct me if I’m wrong. Colonial rule at its most virulent is when the colony is independent but the independent state’s rulers are just puppets, 100% owned by the former colonisers. This means that the best case scenario for the colonised population, independence, is also the worst case scenario in reality. Perfidious Albion is not alone in constructing these fake freedoms. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme f***ing chose.
That is why in the disgusting world of politics the Syrians chose Assad over Al Qaida, because Assad is a protégé of USUKIS while Al Qaida is a wholly owned and fully retained component of the Queen’s imperial mug-you-travesty armed forces. There is absolutely no doubt in the minds of the Syrian people that if life is hell under Assad, it would a thousand hells under the Muslim Brotherhood, the Sinn Fein of Syria’s calamity.
USUKIS have in effect threatened the Syrian people that until they submit to being ruled by USUKIS’ creation and cock-suckers Muslim Brotherhood, there will be no end to Al Qaida and Daesh Islamist terror. A Muslim Brotherhood ” independent ” Syria will in fact be true slavery to the cruel colonial barbarity of the West and Israel. That is what has happened in Libya.
Under Assad Syria does not owe its entire resources and the life-blood of future generations to the world bank et ilk for re-constructing the country. They could and should turn to China for assistance and turn the West down flat. Secondly the only crime Assad or Saddam ever punished was working for the CIA and handing over the country for ever to the colonial powers.
In the context of Scotland IMHO the focus should not be on how to gain Independence, which will turn out to be penal servitude. It should be how to get Corbyn elected so that the teats of colonial power, dangling from the Tory and New Labour Blairites’ chests, dry up. The collapse of the Thatcher swivel-eyed canine saliva-froth, manifested by the fall of Carillion and soon Capita, is harbinger of something much sweeter than Independence, which is the decapitation of the swivel-eyed dogs at Westminster.
No, I’ll stick with independence.
” If Rennie and the Scot Lib Dems thought their pro-EU stance would win them support then they have been disillusioned.”
That’s because if ever we manage to get these Tory Jinns back into the bottle, the fatuous Lib-Dems would be the first to rub them up the spout again, creating millions more Tory jinn smolts, each one more swivelly than its parents.
Imagine the howls of indignant outrage, and miles of news print, if this was Iran, Russia, or any other of the official “enemies”;
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/youngest-children-held-israel-jailed-months
sickening
Very late in the day. BBC catchup. jeremy Bowen reports on Ahed Tamimi. BBC 10pm News.
A clip of it. The title is a loaded question – ‘Was Palestinian teenager’s slap terrorism?’
NO it wasn’t. BBC and Bowen. It was the response of a child to one of the Occupiers of her land and to the injury sustained to the head of her cousin, when a ‘rubber bullet’ was fired at him at close range. The top of his skull is missing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-42884885/ahed-tamimi-was-palestinian-teenager-s-slap-terrorism
How about the inclusion of an Israeli Knesset member? Oret Hasan. “I would kick her face”.
Hate is in his heart right enough
Thanks Mod for putting that up. Just a speck of what is going on. The German FM has told the Israelis that they will pay a high price for their occupation unless they start talking to the Palestinians.
The last Scot to speak in the House of Lords EU Bill debate was John Reid. A reading of the Lords Hansard shows that he did not mention Scotland or the implications for the devo settlement once in his entire speech.
There was a bland passing reference to “the devolved Governments” towards the end of it. It was the speech of an ultra-Britnat who cares not one jot for the Scottish Parliament. It’s easy to see why this man was once Tony Blair’s personal preference to succeed him as leader of New Labour.
Way back, the warmonger set up himself, and this outfit, at UCL.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/isrs/about/who
Homeland security and all that. Blair inaugurated it with his usual flourish. There were massive protests by the undergraduates.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/stop-the-war-coalition-to-stage-university-college-london-protest-ahead-of-secretive-tony-blair-8306900.html
Head honcho at UCL at the time was Prof Malcolm Grant. Guess which niche he found for himself? One on the Board of NHS England.
Grant was on the ISRS board I see. I had forgotten that although it was only 5 years ago. Seems like decades ago now with all the horror that has been heaped on peoples with brown skins during that time.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/nov/13/tony-blair-jeered-by-ucl-students-before-speech
Have you ever seen a bigger bunch of warmongers/gangsters-in-charge?
https://www.isrs.org.uk/our-people
Chertoff of Homeland Security infamy, who chaired the 9/11 ‘commission’.
Reid, Bobbitt. Boyce. Flanagan………….
Not proto fascists but fascists biding their time until the takeover.
Interesting developments in the Syrian front. After a failed attempt by Turkish forces to intercept the Syrian army progress in the Idlib province because they were bombed, probably by the SAA, although this is not confirmed independently . But now the renewed accusations of chemical weapons attack :
https://apnews.com/902856354ef34c04935e1b20fd9b080a/US-says-Syria-may-be-making-new-types-of-chemical-weapons
Note the vague nature of this report ending with ‘ the accusations could not be independently verified’.
So apparently the SAA dropped three chlorine bombs on Douma in East Ghouta which led to the death of three civilians. Why would the SAA target civilians using such a primitive weapon when they have more powerful weapons, and in so doing, achieve no tactical advantage whatsoever?
These accusations arise with regular monotony when the SAA is winning against the moderate head choppers.
just to correct you on one issue SA; Turkish forces had been given permission by the Russians to travel across into eastern Idlib to the provincial border with Aleppo to establish a buffer zone there, similar to the one they have in place in northern Idlib and Kurdish controlled Afrin area. RuAF dropped a few bombs near when the convoy went to far past points agreed. Convoy stopped and awaited orders. Convoy was hit with car bomb. ISIS claimed it. Convoy returned to the Turkish border. SAA and co used this to push on into Idlib toward some vital town beginning with S.
Russia want the M5 motorway that cuts through Idlib reopened. The SAA and co are close to controlling the land to make that happen and Turkey (control of the FSA) seem to have agreed to it by sending in troops to buffer. Turkish forces do very little on Syrian soil without first getting approval from the Russians. So when you see then move, Idlib or Afrin, keep it in mind.
Russia are giving a masterclass in battlefield strategy right now in Syria. Dividing Nato allies, dividing the US and its proxy (the Kurds who are beginning to get angry and feel betrayed by the US lack of concern with Afrin), while hoovering up territory.
And whats fat, lazy US pentagon and Trump response; duhhhh blah blah chemical weapons yada yada blah blah duhhhhhhh, which will be spread as gospel the next few days through the MSM.
Funny how – anything Trump and his admin say about anything is challenged, mocked and denounced as BS on a daily basis again and again yet on Syria and chemical weapons hes to be trusted, a fountain of truth.
The MSM never ever challenge Trump and the war lobbies narrative on Syria and chemical weapons. Tells you all you need to know.
Carton
I would be interested in your source of information regarding the strange Turkish moves in Idlib. I sort of agree that they wouldn’t have been able to do this action without agreement with Russia but have found the muted reaction from Russia to the action in Afrin rather baffling. One interpretation was that the YPG asked for protection from the SAA against Turkey but the Syrians refused unless the YPG handed the whole structure back to the SG.
I don’t know how true that is but there was a Russian presence in Afrin which was withdrawn before the Turks invaded. My feeling is that the Turks are taking chances but that SAA did not abide by any arrangement regarding Idlib. The total withdrawal of the Turks out of Idlib would suggest that their fingers were burnt and they didn’t expect retaliation.
Just to correct on the basis of interests. Russia supports Asad, who is for the Kurds, in the expectation that a deal will be made.
Laguerre
The relationship between the Kurds and the Syrian government is much more nuanced than that. Initially they seem to have been working in tandem or maybe even cooperating but since the liberation of Kweiris and Aleppo there seems to have been a change. There has been more of reliance by the Kurds on support from the US. The climax of this collaboration between Damascus and the Kurds turning into a rivalry and bordering on confrontation happened exactly at the time the Syrian army advanced to liberate Dier Ezzor and even crossed the east bank of the Euphrates. The so called SDF which is admittedly not just Kurdish, were then used to stop further SAA expansion to capture the oil rich region. Also I think there is propably a difference in policy between the YPG in Afrin and SDF in the rest of the Manbij, Raqqa and Al Haskah pocket with much direct collaboration with the US in the later.
It is also said that the YPG have asked for SAA help to protect against the Turkish invasion but the SG would only consider this if the YPG basically agreed to return control of the Afrin pocket to Damascus and stop the Kurdification of the Canton, something the YPG refused.
And one other sinister and disgusting angle of these so called ”chemical attacks” that I didn’t see in the link you provided but have seen on FSA/AQ tweets and I am 100% positive will come out in the next few days as the narrative; they were ”IRANIAN” produced mortar casings that AQ and co found at the scene. How convenient eh? Couldn’t make it up.
9/11 victims will be turning in their graves at what their leaders are doing hand in glove with AQ and co against secular Syria.
Shameful.
The tweets I saw were laughable. A man with a scarf round his nose (presumable to give the impression that he is protecting himself against chlorine) describing the bombs, and then being elaborated and propaget by Elliot Higgins.
I’m expecting Nikki Haley to do another warehouse presentation for the MSM camera’s on why Iran should be nuked in response with these three mortars lying on a table behind her (supplied by AQ).
It really is laughable.
Nikki Hayley was the same long lugubrious chin as her predecessor Kerry, whose credibility went up in a puff of smoke when he admitted that the US had made Islamic State.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article198896.html
By warehouse presentation do you mean cheap lies sold in bulk by auctioneer hype?
Craig was recently interviewed;
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/01/31/former-ambassador-reflects-on-current-events/
Thanks for spotting that Macky and for linking it here. An excellent interview on a wide range range of subjects – Julian, Palestine, Apartheid in SA, Russophobia and so on.
There are some good comments btl also.
It is very concerning to read Craig’s report on Julian’s state of health. Poor man. To think that his five year long imprisonment is happening in this so called democracy is very shocking. What was my father’s generation’s fight against fascism for?
Our Government’s treatment of Assange shames us all; it’s like living in a street where everybody knows that in one of the houses, a powerful & feared crime family is keeping somebody captive for years, yet nobody can do anything because the police are in cahoots.
Get real. Assange is a thief and a terrorist.
He stole emails that didn’t belong to him, and DOXed a politician with them during an election.
He’s the criminal.
The emails contained no “whistleblower” information at all.
It was pure political revenge/terrorism.
And it was all criminal.
And in fact, WikiLeaks operating model cannot be said to be “whistle blowing”.
That’s not what they do, at all.
Whistle blowing implies you’re exposing “a wrong”.
That’s not what they do.
What they do is handicap American intelligence agencies by publishing their tools.
Tools are not wrongs.
WikiLeaks is a very thinly-veiled and transparent anti-American actor. That’s all.
The last thing in the world they are is a “whistle blower”.
Just look at ANY of their “releases”. It speaks for itself.
Ironic that you ask others to “get real”. ?
Says who? those who are desperately trying to protect a western agenda to suit their very own interests?
J.Assange has done us a favour by exposing these shallow and self interested bunch of power/ money addicts who will go to bed with anyone who sings their tune.
You seem to be in full support of killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan as you are of shooting accredited Reuters journalists, not to speak of shooting at and imprisoning children in Palestine, are you?
How dare you try to besmirch this blog with your apologetic state terrorism here!
Are you Habbakuks brother?
Wilileakes does not steal or hack, whistleblowers freely & bravely chose to submit information of concern & details of cover-ups of wrongdoing, for the greater good of all of us.
“Whistle blowing implies you’re exposing “a wrong”.”
Plenty here, take your pick;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/wikileaks-greatest-ever-stories-scandals/
Macky
From the CM interview you linked to:
” The entire two years I was there, we were trying to bring her to understand that Apartheid was evil and had to end. But this went against her strong personal instincts, which were to support Whites-only rule.”
Earlier in the interview they were discussing CM’s libel case:
RC :” Is the system totally rigged there, or is it libelous to say that? ”
CM: ” It is fair to say that the establishment stick together. In fact, I believe that the government and the judiciary are closer here than they are in the United States to some extent. There is quite a closed circle of the ruling class. They attend all the same schools and they are closely linked in various ways. So once you take on the establishment, you are taking on the entire establishment. ”
Mrs Thatcher did not attend one of those schools, nor have most leading Tories since her. It’s very valuable to have an eye-witness to events because otherwise it could be said that Thatcher was adapting her opinions to the establishment’s. No, ever since Thatcher anybody and everybody from any class or ethnic background whose instincts coincided with the Tory establishment could/would be promoted to senior positions inside the political establishment. That’s why Craig isn’t in there.
That’s why I find it so creepy that such a variety of criminals can occupy the same narrow platform of extreme right-wing politics, from toffs like Rees-Mawg to the Queen’s poodles Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaida. All you need is the right proto-fascist instincts. They stand against a huge arc of relatively left-wing opinion from conscientious objectors to state torture like Craig, to artists and thinkers who have a public voice.
As is pointed out in the interview, those instincts which lean to apartheid unanimously support Zionist Apartheid against Africans and Palestinians in Israel, even though many/most religious Israelis oppose those extreme right-wing political instincts
” everybody from any class or ethnic background whose instincts coincided with the Tory establishment could/would be promoted to senior positions inside the political establishment”
Not just Tory, Blair is what happens when a numpty & run-of-the-mill Islamophobe manages to gets his hands on the levers of power.
The fact that TB was often driven by ‘faith’ should not be ignored. Interesting analysis of this here:
https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2016/07/tony-blair-and-religion
No need for blackmail or religious motivations, TB is driven by racism & the love of money.
TB is driven apparently by wanting to do right and counteract evil. His religious conversion has strengthened this belief to such an extent that he has illegally deceived parliament and is sure that God approves of what he did. I dare say not all people of faith behave in this way and show a lot of humility but some behave the same as TB.
LOL ! Kamm soils himself when his comments are sent to Consortium News, & immediately deletes his vile tweet ! 😀
https://i.imgur.com/ZrUvoAy.jpg
A case in point. Kamm inhabits that extreme fringe of ultra-far-right political opinion that supports Zionist apartheid, and yet he refers to Robert Parry as a fringe extremist. Then disappears like a Boschian human devil in a puff of ignited methane and black smoke.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=WDpiJPQB&id=8EC485EEDB613C7A2E958C52564BC54256145B7F&thid=OIP.WDpiJPQBMH-G1jxPPsX_TwHaEb&q=Hieronymus+Bosch+Paintings&simid=608050646870658167&selectedIndex=307
@ Macky February 1, 2018 at 21:15
I heartily recommend Gary Webb’s explosive book, exposing the Clintons. He ‘committed suicide’ shortly after it was published, yet one more notch on the Clinton’s very high murder rating.
On QT last night, the subject of a statue of Thatcher being erected outside Parliament came up. There was some support for it, especially because she was a woman!!
I should have said that the questioner referred to Westminster Council’s refusal on the grounds that it would be vandalized.
Westminster council rejects Margaret Thatcher statue plans
Proposals thrown out partly due to fears protesters were likely to target the memorial
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/23/plans-margaret-thatcher-statue-westminster-rejected
The proposed statue would have shown her one and a half times life size, dressed in state robes. Quelle horreur!
Good rundown here of some of the many reasons why a Thatcher statue would be inappropriate/insulting.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/31/a-margaret-thatcher-statue-in-parliament-square/
Includes the recollection by the head of the diplomatic service that Thatcher wanted “a return to pre-1910 South Africa, an exclusively white mini-state partitioned from neighbouring black states”.
I think that the location of QT being Grantham has something to do with a support for a statue.
If they want one why not erect it in Grantham and cater for the right wing fanatics gathering once a year on the day she privatised gas to Sid.
why not erect it in Grantham
They don’t want an effigy of that pariah there either.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/articles/thatcher-trail-grantham/
Says it all .. repelled by the one figure who ever put their town on the map.
The new Survation poll shows 64% of Scotland’s 16-24 year age group supports independence. This group voted 57% for Yes in 2014.
By the next referendum they will be 56-64 year age group and will have more sense.
That’s positive, reel guid, and as they get older, they’ll be less likely to be hoodwinked by the lying, unionist press. Also, the way the UK economy is now run, the chances of building up a decent pension is slim, given Gordon Brown’s time in office, and so pensions will not be an issue. I fear for my children’s future under the current set up and so change is essential for them, if not older generations.
Too right JOML. I also saw someone mention somewhere that Yes was up slightly with the oldest age group too.
The Cabinet Office tweets a photo of the SG’s John Swinney and Mike Russell meeting at Holyrood with Cabinet Office minister David Lidington and Scottish Secretary Mundell. The pic shows Lidington grinning amiably across the table at Swinney while the CO’s caption says “continuing to strengthen ties throughout the UK”.
Mike Russell however called the talks “frustrating”.
David Lidington retweets the CO tweet. Funny coincidence that Lidington’s banner pic on his twitter account looks very much like one of a rural, coastal Scottish landscape. Is this the tactic from Westminster? Deny Scotland democracy whilst patronising us. Well actually there’s nothing new about that is there?
In the 2009 Commons expenses scandal Lidington was found to have claimed £1300 worth of dry cleaning bills from the taxpayer. In 2016 he voted against the Human Rights Act.
In his student years Lidington captained the Sidney Sussex College team that won the 1979 University Challenge quiz. With the same team he also won the 40th anniversary UC contest in 2002. Coming north then with Mundell it was a case of the quizzer and the quisling slapping down Scottish democracy, trashing the devo settlement and pretending afterwards that the meeting went well.
Lidington was later interviewed for television outside Holyrood with Mundell caught on camera standing sheepishly a few paces away. Since it’s a tradition on University Challenge to bring along a stuffed toy mascot, perhaps that’s what Mundell’s function was on the day for Lidington.
George Monbiot tweeted this, yesterday I think it was:
“Something that the pro-Assad crowd will never understand: you can oppose military intervention in Syria (as I do) AND accept that the Assad government has committed terrible crimes.”
Note the pro-Assad bit. This is the same logic that former Home Secretary John Reid used when describing those who were against the invasion of Iraq. If you were anti-war, it meant you were pro-Saddam.
George, let me ask you this: Is Libya a better country now than it was under Gaddafi?
With imperial apologists like George around, the answer seems to be yes – assuming no one values electricity, food, jobs, water, schools, hospitals or not being mugged when you leave your house (if you’re house is still standing, that is).
Apart from all that – Libya is a brilliant country, famously liberated by General Johnny Simpson (he came, he saw, he fucked off again and never went back)
90 souls have drowned in the Mediterranean leaving the chaos in Libya that Cameron and Sarko created.
Cameron has slid off to make himself even richer with a book deal (a la mode de BLiar) and with a part in a multi £billion deal with China.
Sarkozy however is mired in litigation, fraud charges and the like.
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to face trial over 2012 campaign fraud claims
Mr Sarkozy’s 2012 re-election campaign costs were more than twice the legal limit
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/nicholas-sarkozy-campaign-fraud-claims-former-french-president-2012-election-a7566361.html
One of his contacts has just been given £1m bail in a London court.
UK court grants £1m bail to man arrested over Sarkozy-Gaddafi inquiry
French police seeking Alexandre Djouhri for questioning over alleged financing of presidential election campaign by dictator
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/uk-court-grants-1m-bail-to-man-arrested-over-sarkozy-gaddafi-inquiry
He did manage to find time to visit Kagame in Kagali on 15th January. Was Blair there too? 🙂
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/227651/
The most devastating condemnation of Western Media (especially British) that I have ever read. German media never even came close during WWII, nor the subsequent Stasi, nor the Soviets, nor even the Americans.
Our media, is not only a complete and utter disgrace, but most of the participants must know that they are complicit in both complete fabrication of news, in order to promote the most despicable wat crimes against humanity. In some ways they are even worse than Tony Blair, because most of them appear to be sane. Hopefully, soon, they will be on Trial.
“WHITE HELMETS: Channel 4, BBC, The Guardian – Architects of ‘Humanitarian’ War”
http://21stcenturywire.com/2018/02/01/white-helmets-channel-4-bbc-guardian-architects-war/
Tony
Great Chomsky/Hedges discussion of the genesis of today’s propaganda machine, liberal policing of debate, etc.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o9eRrSfNzng
(from 6 mins in)
Chomsky said some interesting stuff there (nearly 4 years ago), but he himself is part of the problem he so eloquently describes. I’m pretty sure he knows it too. There are some topics that are completely off-limits, which is hardly surprising considering his very close long term association and tenureship of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who’s main source of funding is The Military Industrial Complex (regardless of Chomsky’s supposed complaints about it)
Peter Dale Scott, an academic of very similar age, and history has far more courage in researching and writing the truth. Comment from his wiki – which looks very much cut down from the last time I read it (has he upset someone?)
“Of Scott’s book, American War Machine: Deep Politics, the CIA Global Drug Connection, and the Road to Afghanistan (2010), Daniel Ellsberg commented: “I said of Scott’s last brilliant take on this subject, Drugs, Oil and War, that ‘It makes most academic and journalistic explanations of our past and current interventions read like government propaganda written for children.’ Now Scott has written an even better book. Read it!”
Tony
Must take a look at some of his stuff, thanks for that.
Theresa May is likely to be officially given the good news at next week’s 1922 committee meeting. She’s already received it unofficially.
It is fucking remarkable how Rees-Mogg hasn’t been tainted by the Steve Baker and Charles Grant affair. Boris has been keeping his trap shut while screaming “stab stab stab” in private, but Jacob seems to be the amaing Teflon man. Hedge fund Jacob is still Mr Clean as far as the media are concerned. He could be PM before the month is out.
Fucking hell – look how the Mogg machine is operating now. This is from the Torygraph: Jacob Rees-Mogg signals support for grid girls ban as he says it ‘is not treating ladies with respect’
Mogg will be PM, I’m telling you. He has enormous clout in the media and some major Brexit themes are being spun in a way that helps him first and foremost.
‘Either US to leave Eastern Euphrates or to be kicked out’:
http://www.syriatimes.sy/index.php/don-t-miss/34693-either-us-to-leave-eastern-euphrates-or-to-be-kicked-out
I don’t think the Trumpeter will like that!
I hope Mr Velayati is right. The continued demonisation of Iran is clear evidence that the US and it’s allies are unable to do a ‘Libya’ on them and long may that continue. Israeli assassination of Iranian scientists appear to have stopped and the ‘colour revolution’ failed so it is left with the hopelessly unbelievable Nikki Hayley to try to frame Iran. The Iranian support of Syria is widely underestimated but it has been just as crucial as Russian assistance to their survival.
And to those who criticise Assad government, the plundering of tax payer finances to companies like Carillion is just the start here in the UK. The PFI fairytale will collapse and it’s repercussions make the current predicament of the NHS appear trivial. The effect on the education system won’t be quite as damaging. Perhaps the conquering of Syria was a lifeline to Western governments in order to keep the ponzi scheme up and running. If the heroic defence by the Syrian people results in the collapse of our own corrupt regime, maybe thats not such a bad thing in the log term.
President Trump is one of these characters, I retain an open mind on. He is extremely difficult to work out. Of course he appears as a complete and utter (add whatever words you feel appropriate).
However, the fact of the matter, is that The US Administration is both extremely corrupt, and also extremely divided. It’s like a divided bunch of mafia gangsters in a turf war – not in Sicily – but in New York and Washington, with input from Tel Aviv, and maybe even a squeak from London, Berlin, Brussels and Paris (even they can’t work him out). The US (or at least their proxies) have been and continue to be at war with each other in Syria. I guess it all helps to sell American weapons, but it seems a bit immoral to me – why not just do it in Washington or New York?
Whilst the train crash carrying half the Republicans was interesting, it could of course have just been an accident. I expect the “Memo” if it is actually released today, will be the normal damp squib covered in bullshit.
Does anyone really expect, one half of The Mob, to be Prosecuted in Court by the Other Half of The Mob?
I thought the normal course of events was that they just quietly eliminated each other to save embarrassment.
Caitline Johnstone has a great take on Russiagate being bollocks, though I suspect her main original source was Craig Murray.
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/the-one-fact-which-disproves-russiagate-but-nobody-wants-to-talk-about-4545d5776ef9
Tony
You have to ask why the fuck Fox is still around in the government
Well we have proof Fox secretly worked on behalf of another country, and we have proof that that other country illegally exerts huge influence over our government …. but we can’t prove that that other country exerts huge influence to ensure Fox remains in government, so why the fuck Fox remains in government remains a mystery.
Have you noticed how pleased he is with himself of late. Positively beaming.
PS Where is Werritty?
Looks like Trump’s Project, “make America great again” has hit the skids…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e8fsfwo6R-Y
Neil Young probably highlighted similar issues 25 years back…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ggbts1v3aw
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-02/fisa-memo-released-heres-what-it-says
The Telegraph’s analysis of it, is for once surprisingly good, and you don’t have to subscribe any money to read it (not that I would pay this rag a penny)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/02/donald-trump-approves-release-controversial-memo/
Tony
The Clintonite response seems to be ‘but there was an investigation into Papadoplous in June’ ignoring that there was no FISA warrant for GP and the FISA warrant granted for Page allowed the entire campaign to be wiretapped.
A few years ago American liberals were aghast that FISA courts were approving 99.7% of warrant requests and that Comey and Mueller were fitting up young muslim men and many environmental activists. Now apparently Comey and Mueller are admirable men and the FISA warrant process isn’t important. Brexit and Trump have caused many people who appeared resonable to completely lose their bearings.
Alastair Carmichael of the Lib Dems and Johann Lamont of Labour are guest speakers tonight at Scotland in Union’s Burns Supper. Showing their true colours by being best friends with an astroturf group funded by wealthy Tory landowners.
The Barclay Bros do have a paywall. They call it PREMIUM!
eg
Cape Town residents and tourists prepare for the worst as taps run dry
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/02/cape-town-residents-tourists-prepare-worst-taps-run-dry/?
You only get to see part of that article. It’s £1.99 a week for access.
Just goes to show that the Female Journalists Have Got More Balls Than The Men
To Investigate and Write The Truth
Eva Bartlett (Canadian)
https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/a-personal-reply-to-the-fact-challenged-smears-of-terrorist-whitewashing-channel-4-snopes-and-la-presse/
Vanessa Beeley (English)
http://21stcenturywire.com/2018/02/01/white-helmets-channel-4-bbc-guardian-architects-war/
Caitlin Johnstone (Australian)
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone
I’m in Awe
Three Girls VS The Rest
The Girls win 3-0
No serious male competition.
Tony
@ Tony_0pmoc February 2, 2018 at 19:48
Did you make Frome?
By the way, the Trumpeter does not need any chances on where he stands – he is de-regulating like mad, puting literally the fox in charge of the hen-house.
God knows, the already lamentable regulations (which were not adequately enforced) were already abysmal; the Trumpeter is shredding safeguards so fast and furious it’s utter lunacy.
Yet the majority of the brainwashed citizens still go along with the ‘Tweedle Dum / Tweedle Dummer’ Demoprat / Repugnant meme, and don’t see what is needed is a break from these two ‘Establishment’ Puppet Parties.
And the likes of Likudnik Alex Jones, who I did go along with for a while, though always with more than a hint of dislike, have now been exposed as working for ‘You Know Who’.
There needs to be a mass realisation that the ‘Secure Two Party Restriction’ gets blown to smithereens, and parties such as the Greens or others get into the Presidential Debates, and into the Congressional and Senate elections.
If they were involved in the at present strictly controlled debates, they would wipe the floor with the Demoprats and Repugnants.
The office of President and the Congress and Senate need a ‘New Broom’.