UPDATE
The site is just back up at 16.42 on 21 March having managed to slip like the Tardis into another dimension and thus dodge the massive DOS attack we are under. over 50,000 separate IP addresses simultaneously throwing up millions of hits. The attack has not actually stopped and does seem to have a human intelligence changing terms and directing it, which could make for an interesting afternoon. Once our excellent techs get a minute from fighting it, we will post the cloudfare graphs as evidence.
I just thought I might give you a little taste of what it means to your personal life to express dissent from the government line in the UK in 2018. Let me start with this combined effort from the UK’s most popular website, Guido Fawkes, which fanatically supports the government, and the Blairite crew at “The Guardian”.
The red ink is original.
Now it is true that, when I was sacked as Ambassador by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for blowing the whistle on extraordinary rendition and the Blair government’s misuse of intelligence from torture, I went into a terrible depression and voluntarily spent ten days or so in St Thomas Hospital (not a mental illness facility) for treatment. I have never tried to keep this secret, indeed it is a major part of my memoir “Murder in Samarkand”. It is also true, as I have always acknowledged, that I have had other less serious depressive episodes treated at home and been diagnosed as bipolar since I was 20.
That we stigmatise anybody who has ever had a mental illness, write them off and view their views, on anything, as invalid, is an attitude I had hoped we had moved past last century. Indeed, if this hatchet job was done on anybody writing within the Overton window, then the Guardian would be dedicating editorials to condemning it. We have in fact moved to the old Soviet position, where disagreement with the official line equals mental illness. I quite confess this sort of thing does in fact hurt me – if you cut me, do I not bleed?
The use of the term “conspiracy theorist” has been used to denigrate my views, ever since Jack Straw as Foreign Secretary lied to Parliament denying that the UK ever obtained intelligence from torture and denying the existence of the extraordinary rendition programme, which I was supposed to have fantasised. Anyone interested in this history can watch this series of videos of my evidence to a Parliamentary Committee on the subject. It explains why I start nowadays from a position of being so hated by the British state and its acolytes, and also of course enables you to judge for yourself whether I should be ignored as insane.
Ever since then, the state and corporate media have described me as a “conspiracy theorist”. Even though there is now acceptance that extraordinary rendition did happen and presumably they, somewhere inside, know I was telling the truth. I find people are taken aback to discover, for example, that I broadly accept that there was no US government involvement in 9/11 (other than minimising the Saudi role) and 9/11 discussion is banned on this blog – [warning it still is].
I cannot in fact conceive of a more outlandish conspiracy theory than that the Russian government secretly manufactured and stockpiled novichoks, hidden from the OPCW, and secretly trained assassins, only to blow the whole operation on a retired spy they let out of jail ages ago. Yet nobody calls Boris Johnson a “conspiracy theorist” for positing that.
But the abuse is not confined to what people publish about me. I receive some extremely unpleasant emails of which this is an example:
I do hope Mr Temis can get money back on his anger management sessions. But there has been rather a lot of this, including some by old fashioned mail. which I find myself prodding suspiciously before opening :-).
There is of course an open effort to extend the term “anti-semitic” to embrace any criticism of Israel. It is also particularly used by Blairites to attack anybody taking any position seen as supportive of Jeremy Corbyn. I am not in the least anti-semitic. Jewish people have made a disproportionate, indeed magnificent, contribution to the world in the fields of science, music, literature, commerce and others. That does not alter the fact that Israel is a rogue state when it comes to chemical weapons, the subject currently under discussion. It refuses to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention and destroy its chemical weapons stocks, and refuses to join the OPCW.
Plainly someone attacked the Skripals. In stating that it is not the case that Russia was the only state who could have done it, I have included Israel amongst other possibilities. Israel might wish to frame Russia for the deed, as Russian actions in Syria have severely conflicted with Israeli ambitions in Syria and Lebanon. But I have never said it was, or was most likely to be, Israel – it could be the CIA framing Russia, it could be a non-state actor entirely (which I am inclined to think most likely – this could come from those close to a victim of Skripal’s treachery, though I still think the Orbis intelligence connection has been overlooked).
Some of the most vitriolic abuse has come from state and corporate media journalists. Falsely categorising me as an insane racist allows them to ignore any challenge to the establishment line on Salisbury and absolves them, in their own minds, from any dereliction of duty in not questioning it.
In a chilling example of the way they move to crush dissent, here a prominent Blairite corporate media journalist, James Bloodworth, attempts to ensure that consideration of other possibilities than the government line is not carried even in the private domain. He harasses and bullies an individual attempting to force him to accept Mr Bloodworth’s version of what I had said, rather than what I had actually said. When Mr Law (who as a lecturer in philosophy presumably has an attachment to intellectual honesty) refuses, Bloodworth sanctions him by pulling out of his literary festival.
It is very difficult to understand what is happening in the UK today, but when the BBC on its flagship news programme holds a discussion of the Salisbury attack under a huge photo-shopped picture of the leader of the opposition in a Russian hat standing outside the Kremlin, it is plain a fundamental shift has happened in society. The Salisbury attack has perhaps taught us something massively more important than any of the stuff about chemical weapons, and that is that Britain is further along the road to becoming an authoritarian state than we had realised.
Stay strong. There are millions of us behind you.
I had the misfortune to have the radio on coming on, James O’Brien was on LBC mouthing off against those who do not accept official narratives. Plural. We are twisted, read Alt right stuff, belong to the EDL, listen to Bannon’s stuff, support Trump etc , a description which is completely opposite to the truth. The phrase ‘conspiracy theorist’ came into it of course. He did not name you or the current topical subject.
LBC is owned by Global Radio, which is Tabor, the rich race horse owner and pal of Her Maj. I have seen her present cups to him and you can see that they are known to each other. Her grandson, William and wife Catherine, recently attended some event at the Global Academy where youngsters with aspirations to be presenters on the ‘medja’ are the students.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Tabor
See how large the Global Radio empire is. Good at pumping out the prop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_(company)
I used to be jeered at and harangued by a previous poster on this site for saying that this is now a Fascist country.
The National has the story that the 2017 election cost the Tory Party £18.5 million.
That explains the cabinet selling themselves for dinner dates.
Well said. I concur.
Mod. Please delete. This is an orphan to a post that has been deleted. It was from Andrew Walker who was critical of one from ‘P’.
It is very telling that this personal vilification is taking place. It is a sign that you have rattled thier cages. On the bright side you are on the same vilification end as Corbyn. I have been following your blog and commenting for a few years now and find it essential reading especially now.. It is also heartening to see that there are so many new commentators on your blog, many from Europe and wider afield, and mostly supportive with the exception of a few usual suspects. Keep it up you are speaking on our behalf.
Some information I haven’t seen elsewhere:
https://helenaglass.net/2018/03/15/uk-sanctions-russia-russia-assassinating-spies-or-russian-mafia/
Off topic. While keeping an open mind on the Glushkov murder, I noticed that the Mail is now suggesting that a mysterious young man called Denis was the guilty party, and that Glushkov died in a kinky gay sex session with Denis – an occasional visitor. Digging a little deeper, one Denis Trushin was the co-founder, with Natalia Glushkova, of the upmarket boutique and club (where ‘pampering’ is on offer, along with incredibly expensive baubles) ‘Vault Prive’. in Baku. He’s described as ‘young’
For what it’s worth.
Disgusting but not surprising that RW media are acting in this way. Any smear to them is acceptable. One bright spot was Eddie Mair on PM last night! Keep fighting!
Oh my… so they are coming after you pretty hard. They wouldn’t if you hadn’t hit a nerve.
I’m writing you from Germany, where your articles have been translated and spread by the blogs I get my news from. I so appreciate that you’re informing all of us.
These days it seems to me the real mental institutions are our governments and media outlets.
And mentioning the mere possibility that Israel is involved also seems to have struck a nerve. On that point, they really do protest too much.
Especially as there was no such assertion made.
Bloodworth is presumably fine about dog whistling re. Russia though ? Not even a “wink wink”
When did it become OK to be so racist towards Russia ?
Craig, may I be so bold as to link to
https://www.veteranstoday.com/
Some of your work has been listed here
Visit the above site folks…..open your eyes a little more
Everywhere in life, making good choices and wise decisions is often a long and arduous process, so unless suitable controls are in place, it quickly becomes the norm to act without due care and attention. We come to value speed of action over wisdom and accuracy, we allow laziness, ignorance and selfishness to take hold. When we are called to account by more careful and more thoughtful people, we know that we cannot defend our position and we resort to lying, cheating and shooting the questioner. This behaviour is especially noticeable amongst elected representatives at all levels, who want more than anything else to be known as people who do things, people who get things done. Their desires make them particularly vulnerable to all the faults I have just described.
With regard to the Skripals, it may well be that the government analysed and thought carefully before deciding Russia is the most likely aggressor, but they would do themselves (and us) a lot of favours if they explained how and why they reached their conclusion. Unless and until they do that, they will be opne to the charge that their anaysis was faulty or even deliberately biassed.
Very well put Cedders.
Given that the evidence will be subject to the 30-year rule, because its release will endanger individuals concerned with its collection, that could take a while. Reaching a verdict on the basis of what the media – or Craig – are allowed to learn is facile. Believing the theory-a-day offered by Russian state media is simply perverse.
Salisbury is near Porton Down….therefore we made the shit and spread it around somewhat, having first disbanded our specialist countermeasures squad. From which it naturally follows that it can’t possibly have been Russia. And (to dignify only three theories with attention they don’t deserve) –
Russia wouldn’t have done such a sloppy job? Neither would we.
We wanted to divert attention from Brexit? Our timing was shite, then, wasn’t it? Compromise in all its tawdry glory published yesterday, and uproar since.
We wanted to make Putin look bad in time for the election, which he would have won by a mile if he had allowed Navalny to stand and sent half the population to prison first? In the event Putin thanks us ironically for our help, which is exactly what it was, as any analyst would have known in advance.
This is as much bollocks as anything HMG is capable of offering. The useful idiots buy it because they think that Russia is a nicer place than the UK. Demonstrably false. It’s got form. They think that RT, Sputnik, the Saker, Moon of Alabama (etc, etc) and all those nice guys who agree with them on Twitter are unprejudiced observers and have supernatural access to anything more than the police in Salisbury release to the media. They aren’t, and they don’t.
But I must admit the Is***l idea has something going for it, if you are inclined to think that it is in that country’s interest to destroy Russia-UK relations, and further its objective in Syria, which is to disable Hizb’ullah, an Iranian proxy fighting with the Russian and government forces. Likely? Nah. UK-Russia relations already suck, and Is***l is closer to Putin ( and has many more ex-Russian residents) than us. Why bother?
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-congratulates-putin-refrains-from-criticizing-russian-elections/
“It’s got form. They think that RT, Sputnik, the Saker, Moon of Alabama (etc, etc) and all those nice guys who agree with them on Twitter are unprejudiced observers and have supernatural access to anything more than the police in Salisbury release to the media. They aren’t, and they don’t.”
Baal.
Of course the BBC, Sky news and ITV, along with the likes of Guido Fawkes, are truthful and in no way bias.
Teapot and kettle spring to mind, as does the title of this thread.
Ba’al
You have a short memory, or should I say a selective one.
https://off-guardian.org/2018/03/20/watch-anthrax-the-forgotten-lie/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34kvEQfpwHo
Better still, go straight to the article
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/03/20/russian-nerve-agent-attack-complete-hoax/
And Theresa May told inhabitants of Salisbury 3 days later to wash their clothes and use baby wipes on things that cannot be washed, my oh my that Novichok deadly agent sure is poor at it’s job….also, enjoy the photo of the chemically suited up chaps and the fireman standing next to them with no suit on….can’t be that deadly now can it…….and still no one has died
“The Salisbury attack has perhaps taught us something massively more important than any of the stuff about chemical weapons, and that is that Britain is further along the road to becoming an authoritarian state than we had realised.” I think I didn’t want to realise how bad things were before this but… as a country we are indeed in deep doodah. That much is very obvious. How to respond and what t do about it is not so obvious because significant numbers of people are swallowing the ‘line’ hook and sinker (so to speak).
Hang in there because your professional skills at dissecting and questioning are much needed.
Daniel Sandford of the BBC produced this disgusting tweet. He has been heavily criticized.
Daniel Sandford Retweeted Russian Embassy, UK
Russia still demanding access to Yulia Skripal. A bit like a father under suspicion of trying to kill his daughter demanding to be allowed to see her in hospital
https://twitter.com/BBCDanielS/status/975754429440905216
It was a reply to the Russian Embassy who had tweeted:
Russian Embassy, UKVerified account @RussianEmbassy
15 days passed since the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. UK hasn’t complied with its obligation under the Vienna consular convention to provide access to the Russian citizens and to the course of investigation.
Not a lot of point really. I doubt very much that she’s capable of communicating, or ever will be. Just another instance of dust being thrown in the UK media’s eyes. And why not demand to see Sergei? Answer, because they know he’s beyond any chance of recovery, but think Yulia may have had a smaller dose. And why would they think that, eh? The method of delivery is not yet public knowledge.
“Not a lot of point really. I doubt very much that she’s capable of communicating, or ever will be.”
You’re reasoning for the above sentence is what exactly?
Let me have a stab at that, ermm….
One of the supposedly most deadly nerve agent (according to British propaganda that is) failed to kill them, so it goes without saying that both are unable to speak or communicate in any way.
Strange then that pictures of Litvenenko, with more tubes than the London Underground sticking out him were strewn across the British new rags.
Yet Skriplal and his daughter appear to be hidden in a oubliette.
The British government and press are missing out on a good propaganda trick there.
Sergei is not a Russian Citizen.
Russia has an absolute right to consular access to Yulia, as she is a Russian Citizen.
Daniel Sandford should be kicked out for that.
Craig…stop censoring comments that point out the elephant in the room…..has MOSSAD got a hold of you…I thought you were bigger than this
The expulsion of Russian diplomats as a consequence of a chemical attack in Salisbury brings to mind a short period when my son, an AD sufferer was ‘expelled’ from primary school for getting up in class and walking out after he was humiliated for ‘being dumb’ having failed to answer a nominal question. I indicated the decision to expel can only be made after a consultation meeting takes place between the Principal, the Chairperson of the Board of Governors, you, your child, and a representative from the EA.
Expulsion is aligned with deportation in my book and deportation is governed by certain laws. Expulsion of a nation from the territory that it historically inhabits is not allowable and forcible deportation is a crime against humanity according to the UN. UK attempts to isolate Moscow among the international community without “culpable” evidence is also, I believe, a crime against humanity because it affects ordinary innocent Russian folk. So much for tendentious British justice.
Utter bullshit. Which, if there were a morsel of truth in it would apply equally to Russia expelling our spooks. Expelling ‘diplomats’ is a standard procedure, and both we and the USSR did it frequently during the Cold War, on a tit-for-tat basis. It’s the equivalent of bidding one club in bridge. Russia has bid one diamond in response. Bidding will continue.
Yes Ba’al Zevul (Komodo) bull-shit permeates the children’s play-ground, The children’s play-ground is of course an ideal area for slinging shit, fantasy and delusion exists. Statecraft is built on expectations of proportionality, and deporting foreign spies is no exception. Tit-for-tat spy expulsions hurt London far more than they do Moscow for obvious reasons.
In any case it is not for Russia to prove it’s innocence in this political fiasco, we are waiting for ironclad proof from Britain.
Thankfully the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations details the way to exercise of power to forcibly expel diplomats as persona non grata. The convention begins with Believing diplomatic intercourse contributes to friendly relations among nations. lol
(This post is dedicated to Katharine Gunn who who exposed a British plot to conduct a secret and potentially illegal spying operation at the United Nations in the run-up to the Iraq war).
Lies like diamonds are forever…
I think after this length of time with no sight of the Skripals and no access given to their Consulate and no word even to their close friends in Russia, it might be fair to say – can we be sure any part of the official conspiracy theory is true?
Re Corbyn’s portrayal by the BBC:
https://evolvepolitics.com/top-british-qc-has-letter-from-senior-bbc-figure-confirming-bbc-does-code-negative-messages-about-corbyn-into-programmes/
The fact they resort to this disgusting wordplaying is alone shows how focused they are on blocking *any* alternative viewpoints no matter how shaky their own reasoning is. Therefore they do realize it’s shaky.
It is much easier to shift discussion away from main subject instead of answering tough questions.
Unfortunately it is also shows how easily public opinion can be manupulated with absolutely empty rhetorics.
Craig the way to deal with attacks that you are a ‘conspiracy theorist’ is just to ignore them. Just don’t give the it your energy. It’s a phrase that we should just be done with. Attempting to paint yourself as being on the right side of the ‘conspiracy theory’ line, where the genuine crazy people lie beyond, is no good. You will always be on the wrong side of such a line in the eyes of those who believe the mainstream media. And in your eyes I may be on the wrong side of it. I probably was when I was insisting that staying in the EU was a really bad idea, a position you have now come around to.
I think we can agree that those kind of reference to mental health are to be deprecated.
However I had to read this several times and visit Guido’s site to work out who had written what. Now I’m not exactly a fan of the Guardian , but in this instance it seems rather unfair to them, with a deliberate conflating of what the Guardian and Guido had said. A taring of one with the brush of the other. Why suggest that the Guardian was culpable for bring up mental health issues, when of course it was not.
I worry about this because I fear it is indicative of Craig’s blog generally; an unfairness to opponents, and a twisting and distortion.
As for the indignation over “notorious conspiracy theorist”, “notorious” is slur in place of argument and could be debated, but “conspiracy theorist” doesn’t seem wide of the mark. In a few blog’s just last week Craig ran theories first that the UKGov were responsible – Salisbury is close to Porton Down – then that it was the Clinton family and/or an organisation that wrote a dossier on Trump, and then Israel. Uncle Tom Cobley almost got a mention too.
And Her Maj’s government and the corporate media have not been running with all sorts of wild theories, or did you miss that, dunwich?
And the BBC, Guido, Bloodsworth whoever the hell that may be et al are not twisting, distorting and being generally not nice to opponents?
And Cambridge Analytica and Facebook are the good guys in all this???
Another conflation there. It is the media which has been running the wild theories. Our media, and the Russian state-directed media. One a day in the latter case. The government has not speculated, with the exception of Johnson, and even he may have grounds for his assertion that Russia has been active in the CW field during the last decade.
Reading what Craig has written over the past week or so makes one realise the depth of nastiness, bullying, and sheer evil that lies just below the benign, politically correct surface of the mainstream media and their political allies. Craig’s work is a courageous demonstration of how important it is to throw light on the repugnant deceitfulness of the ‘deep state’ . . .
So, mentioning the members of Friends of Israel is now anti-Semitic. Is it better to pretend they don’t exist.. imagine they have no influence.. not a lobbying grouping, just a social club? … if you suggest otherwise you are an anti-Semite! So, Friends of Israel = jews worldwide? That is the Netanyahu position, and one that does nothing but encourage real anti-Semitism, not the made-up Jonathan Freedland version. At least that Professor won’t have to endure Bloodsworth at his event.
I think you are a brave, insightful and great person. I have the utmost respect for you. Thank you for continuing to speak out against injustice and corruption. People such as yourself are vital to humanity making progress.
Can’t be good for one’s health dealing with people like that, so please don’t forget – a huge number of people are enormously grateful for everything you’ve done, and they outnumber these rat bastards by 1000 to 1.
If the BBC doesn’t behave under a Tory government, it’s license fee is under threat and it gets hurt in so many other ways. If it doesn’t under a Labour government, nothing happens.
So the BBC does what’s best for itself. That’s all.
“If it doesn’t under a Labour government, nothing happens.”
Funny, I seem to remember the BBC getting crucified under the Blair Labour government for asking awkward questions and expressing inconvenient opinions over the Iraq war. To the extent that it’s really unsurprising it’s institutionally incapable of standing up to the current government on this very similar matter.
Dear Craig,
I am very sorry to hear about what is happening to you.
All because you ask for evidence and present counter evidence to the establishment narrative.
What I don’t understand is why the anger and abuse from these people?
Where is the ability to counter argue and prove their point?
If they have the evidence – show the evidence.
Instead of the aggressive bullying – isn’t that what they accuse Russia of ?
This countries political life has over the years jdegenerated into insults, personal attacks and intimidation.
You dont stoop to that level
Look after your health.
Regards James
You say it’s hard to understand what’s happening in UK nowadays. My thoughts:
The elite realizes their power and control is being seriously diminished. They are nervous and afraid.
Sorry if this has been covered but in a bit of a rush!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43470147
Some interesting lines……………
An air strike has reportedly killed 15 children and two women sheltering in an underground school in Syria’s besieged rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region.
The coalition alleged that the school had been deliberately targeted by Russian aircraft, and that they were responsible for a “massacre”.
The pro-opposition Orient News website reported that at least 20 civilians were killed in a similar attack on another basement shelter in the nearby town of Zamalka on Monday. It blamed “new Russian missiles, which can penetrate several floors to reach underground locations”.