The ever excellent Campaign Against the Arms Trade is back in the English High Court again today in its continuing attempts to ban arms sales to Saudi Arabia. It is against UK law to sell arms to a country which is likely to use them in breach of international humanitarian law, and that Saudi Arabia consistently and regularly uses British weapons to bomb schools, hospitals and civilians is indisputable.
Unfortunately the courts are an instrument of power and control for the 1%, not an impartial resort for justice, so I fear CAAT will not succeed despite the fact their case is undeniably correct.
Part of the British Government’s defence is the close military support it gives to Saudi Arabia, which it claims minimises civilian deaths (it plainly does no such thing). Thousands of children have died in the Yemeni war, most killed by the Saudis and their allies. These war crimes have been documented by the United Nations despite concerted UK and US diplomacy at the UN aimed at downplaying the Saudi crimes. Cluster bombs, white phosphorous and other illegal weapons have frequently been used.
Yemeni dead children very seldom make in into the mainstream media, whereas Syrian children do. But not all Syrian children – those children killed by the jihadist head-choppers the West and its Saudi allies have armed, funded and “advised” do not make the corporate and state media either. Only children allegedly – and the word needs repeating, allegedly – gassed by the Syrian armed forces are apparently worth our attention.
If we really attack because we care about the children, we would be attacking Saudi Arabia to halt its atrocities in Yemen. Instead we are allying with Saudi Arabia – the child killers, UK military support to whom is today being stressed in the High Court – to attack Syria.
Anybody who believes this is anything to do with “humanitarian intervention” is a complete fool.
Tony_0pmoc
April 14, 2018 at 04:58
Vigilance and removing them them by hand and and then killing them under foot. As well as eating the living and dead slugs, birds will ingest the pellets themselves then go die elsewhere later. I’ve never set foot in a Sainsburys in my life.
“Witnesses in Damascus report loud bangs moments after Donald Trump says he has ordered strikes in retaliation for the chemical attack on Douma”
“The US, UK and France have launched air strikes against what they allege are Syrian chemical weapons facilities in response to chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb a week ago.
The Pentagon said the air strikes, which began at 4am Syrian time, involved planes and ship-launched missiles, more than a hundred weapons in all. Officials named three targets: a scientific research centre in Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, and another storage site and command post nearby.
“Right now, we have no additional attacks planned” the US defence secretary, James Mattis, said. “This is a one-time shot.””
And that is from The Guardian, so can I assume they have finished now?
I heard a few bangs from my garden too..but it was just my wife with the bins
Tony
I think it would be appropriate for Russia to take out Porton Down where the Salisbury poison was stored. After that the USUKIS head-choppers in Idlib, and then strong measures to jam the BBC in the UK where the public are being deceived.
Mattis knows perfectly well there was no chemical attack, and said as much last time. The Damascus chemical facility would have been used for storing rendition psychotic drugs from the time that Assad was doing their dirty work for them and they would have had UK, German and US labels on them. CIA and MI6 obviously don’t believe their own lies about Assad having chemical weapons, but they want to destroy the evidence of their own culpability in the War on Islam.
Your jokes and banalities are jarring currently.
Not to me.
I like to see a little of the human side of posters.
Remember
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
And Tony is never dull.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Russia know coordinates of airstrikes and Assad too. It reminds me last year attack. As far seems US and their puppets didn’t target neither military nor other important objects. So no need for military escalation from Russian side. US cowards (trying to save face and show how tough they are) don’t touch military installations, they probably kill ‘just’ civilians. But they will be hated all over the world, what opens more doors for Russian diplomacy.
The “strikes” may have been made even more precise by letting the Russians place the bombs inside the abandoned “targets”.
apologies W.Owen, poet, 22nd April 1915
No Gas! No Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy White helmets just in time, pretending,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.- acting
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. . .crisis faking
. . .you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie (1)
R.Fisk, straight arrow, today 14th April 2018:
“remember the Kurds of Halabja who were gassed by Saddam, with gas which the CIA told its officers to claim was used by the Iranians” (2)
Lies and NBC/CBRN seem intertwined, old and recent 80s CIA indeed and now a collapsing fake narrative from a host of opportunists, lying, lying and more lying, whilst making the media lie and deceive, finishing with a flourish of hundreds of sharp pointy rocket propelled lies.
(1)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dccfarr/gas.htm
(2)https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/theresa-may-syria-war-uk-chemical-weapons-attack-iran-iraq-thatcher-russia-a8300881.html
Now, I know this will strike many as cynical, but should we be expecting a strike each Friday during the latest Palestinian demonstrations? Hundreds more injured today, apparently … more news below the fold.
https://youtu.be/zD5VW_z6pG0 RT reporting on Silk Way Airlines involvement in the heinous trade in weaponry to terrorists, allegedly at the behest of US and European countries, supplying them with non-attributable weapons via diplomatic flights. Obviously not reported on the BBC…
Very telling that not one reporter asked Mattis why they didn’t wait one day so the OPCW could get in and get their samples in safety and prove conclusively if a nerve agent, or even chlorine, had been used or not.
TIMBER SYCAMORE – read in on the program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_Sycamore
Seymour writes more
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n01/seymour-m-hersh/military-to-military
Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs debates – time to go
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/04/13/jeffrey_sachs_to_president_trump_please_get_us_out_of_syria_weve_done_enough_damage.html
How about these specious mealy mouthed words from Amnesty International’s’ Raed Jarrar?
04/13/2018
Strikes Must Minimize Further Harm to Civilians in Syria
According to reports, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have launched a strike against targets in Syria. Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for Middle East North Africa at Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement:
“The people of Syria have already endured six years of devastating attacks, including chemical attacks, many of which amount to war crimes. All precautions must be taken to minimize harm to civilians in any military action. People already living in fear of losing their lives in unlawful attacks must not be further punished for the alleged violations of the Syrian government.
“Millions have fled Syria to escape violence and persecution. The Trump administration must not turn its back on the suffering of men, women, and children by continuing to ban refugees from entering the United States. It is time for the U.S. to reopen our doors to people trying to escape from the violence in Syria.”’
https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/strikes-must-minimize-further-harm-to-civilians-in-syria/
‘Raed Jarrar (Arabic: رائد جرار) is an Arab-American architect, blogger, and political advocate based in the U.S. Capital Washington, DC. He is currently the Middle East and North Africa Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA.’ Wikipedia
He should know better. He is an Iraqi- Palestinian. The people of both of those countries have suffered under the heels of the jackboots.
I may a US doctor in Niece in 2011 who said that the US was expecting a large number of Syrian Christian refugees to go to the states in the next few years. It would be interesting to know whether in fact the US has been selectively admitting Syrian Christians but not Muslims in a clandestine way without much fuss.
Anyway I do not think that accepting refugees is the only answer to the problem. The refugees that make it to the west are often the educated and professionals and this causes depletion if trained talented individuals required for reconstruction. The real priority is to just stop arming the rebels and I find the west’s policy of arming these rebels completely insane.
Sorry ‘met ‘ rather than may.
According to the BBC:
“This attack was more significant than the US strike against a Syrian air base a little over a year ago, but at first sight seems more limited than President Trump’s rhetoric may have suggested.
Last year some 59 missiles were fired. This time a little over double that number were used.
The strikes are over for now, but there was a clear warning that if the Assad regime resorts to chemical weapons again then further strikes may well follow.”
__________
Well that’s that then. Trump played another blinder.
Trouble is with warning and/or threatening that further strikes may well follow that the extremist groups in Syria also hear this so to stop an attack from the regime all they have to do is fake a chemical attack.
Read this and weep:
My fellow Americans. A short time ago I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.
Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian air force.
Last Saturday the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians near the town of Douma near Syrian capitol of Damascus. It was a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime. The evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.
Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare. Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous, not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation.
The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.
I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime. To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rouge states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators.
In 2013 President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons. Assad’s recent attack and today’s response are the direct result of Russia’s failure to keep that promise. Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace.
Hopefully some day we’ll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran — but maybe not. I will say this, the United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.
In Syria, the United States, with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS, is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.
The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS.
America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances. As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home, and great warriors they are. Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny. No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace, and security, in the Middle East.
It’s a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people. In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul. We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of World War I, more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons. We never want to see that ghastly specter return. So today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of American have have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.
Tonight I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions. We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria. We pray that God there guide the whole region of dignity and peace. We pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America. Thank you and good night. Thank you
The auburn thug invoked the name of G*d thrice.
God, what bastards they are!
So now is Exercise Toxic Dagger over then??
It seems to me the whole thing, with its minutely manipulated narrative, was a precursor for this moment.
.
The elections on May 3rd have just become a lot more interesting. With the You Gov poll showing 2-1 against this action and denial of a commons debate. Also the arrival of inspectors today, which hopefully can still go ahead. The only good news is perhaps a Tory wipe-out on the day.
Well, today we have proof if proof were needed that the White House has more authority over HM Government than the House of Commons. Is the real motive for the US/UK/France attacks on Syria the destruction of any evidence of their own ongoing collaboration with jihadi terrorist militias in advance of that coming out in any independent investigation of what actually took place. Just asking.
The most laughable thing I heard is Trump berating Russia for its friendship with Syria while allowing his country to be an appendage to the most criminal entity in Middle East which commits crimes against humanity on a daily basis against the defenseless Palestinians.
The lies spewed by the Orange Jeebus in that speech are so transparent that any honest journalist would have laughed him out of the room. It seems to be a very common tactic of the Neocons to accuse others of exactly what they themselves are guilty of.
It’s called projection!
>
Not just one country but two.
Spot on article Craig. I have nothing to add apart from the children of Palestine are not cared about by the MSM, the US and UK Governments. It really is appalling and heartbreaking at the same time.
If the question was asked, ‘Who benefits from these atrocities, these wars’, the answer is really quite simple, the Oligarchs of the Arms Industry and those that invest in it.
How many Syrian children and their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents, uncles and aunts were murdered, blown to bits or disabled and terrorized last night by the barbaric so called humanitarian bombs of US/UK/France missile attack… with ‘democratic, humanitarian’. evidence free. tough tyrannical love from Trump, May and Macron regimes?
Severn years of fighting western and allied backed barbaric terrorism and western bombing of infrastructure and SAA to defend terrorists along with vile war propaganda has not defeated the will of Syrians to be free… Trump, May, Macron’s illegal missile assault wont either. Make no mistake we are now at war with Syria and its allies including Russian Federation and probably China.
Long live secular Syria and it’s indomitable people.
On this occasion, none. However this was an excercise to normalise such future actions whenever needed and to test Russian resolve. Sadly I think this purpose has been achieved.
I suspect you are correct… this action further embeds the western ‘international norms’ May speaks of which means what they say and do is the norm… International Law is disregarded and flouted unless invoked to their advantage. Military might is right doctrine is the international norm now.
I am also wondering if Trump. May, Macron’s ‘smart’ missiles could deliver ‘evidence’ ie. chemical traces, into some of the sites they bombed for OPCW to find?
None according to the USUKIsNATO axis. I do not believe them.
Forty plus years ago I stood with my grandfather in the garden in front of the farmhouse, I asked him if he had been scared during the war – he had been an officer in the Essex Regiment during the Gallopoli campaign, his answer was the most profound ” we were all scared ”
Today more evidence is being presented that a few elite manipulated this appalling slaughter of the young men of the world, not just flimsy bloodlines or archaic treaties – but clandestine work by the puppets for the greed of a few.
The need too replace jingolistic patrotic folly, could not be more relevant today, communication has now become the tool to use, regardless, of the size of the audience, take advantage, one direction one community.