A NATO summit approaches that brings Donald Trump to Europe and then on to these shores, and brings the usual clamour for more of the taxpayers’ money to be given to arms manufacturers.
Yet NATO is a demonstrably useless institution. It’s largest ever active military deployment, for 12 years in Afghanistan, resulted in military defeat throughout 80% of the country, the installation of a pocket regime whose scrip does not run further than you can throw the scrip, and a vast outflow of heroin to finance the criminal underworld throughout NATO countries.
Look at this chart closely, and marvel at the fact that the NATO occupation began in early 2002.
In invading Afghanistan and boosting the heroin warlords, NATO countries destabilised themselves
NATO’s second biggest military operation ever was the attack on Libya, where NATO carried out an incredible 14,200 bombing sorties using high explosive munitions and devastated Libya’s infrastructure and entire cities. Here is Sirte after NATO “liberation”.
The direct result of the devastation of Libya and destruction of its government infrastructure has been the massive untrammelled exodus of migrants, especially from West Africa, through Libya and across the Mediterranean on boats. This has not only led to the appalling exploitation and tragic death of many migrants, it has fundamentally weakened the governments and indeed governing public ethos of European NATO member states and led to a right wing populist surge throughout much of the EU.
In short, in destroying Libya, NATO members destabilised themselves.
The direct result of NATO’s destruction of Libya.
Now NATO is focusing once more on the original “threat” it was supposed to combat, a Russian invasion of Western Europe.
Russia has absolutely no intention of invading Western Europe. The very notion is ludicrous. It does not require NATO to deter a threat that does not exist.
Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia alone have a combined GNP as big as Russia. On a purchasing power parity basis, if you add in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania those Eastern states still match Russia economically. On a PPP basis, the combined GDP of all NATO states is 12 times that of Russia.
Russia does have disproportionate military power for its size – but not that much. Russia’s defence spending is one sixth that of NATO defence spending, though it is slightly more efficient because, despite corruption, less of Russia’s defence spending goes into the pockets of arms company shareholders, lobbyists, politicians and other fatcats than happens in the West. But that cannot outweigh Russia’s massive economic disadvantage. Nothing can. Russia is very well placed to defend itself, but in no position to attack major powers.
Russia’s foreign policy successes – in Crimea, Syria and Georgia – have been based not on massive military strength – the NATO powers far outweigh Russia there – but simply on much better statecraft. And NATO, for all the trillions western taxpayers spend on it, has been unable to do anything about it, despite the fact that Russian actions in Crimea and Georgia have been illegal in international law.
In fact if anybody has not worked out by now that our famed nuclear arsenal is a chocolate teapot, then they have not been paying attention. In none of the recent foreign policy crises – including the North Korean nuclearisation issue – nobody, anywhere, ever has mentioned Trident missiles as part of the solution. They are utterly worthless.
The threat of a Russian attack on NATO itself is non-existent. The EU is not officially a military alliance but the idea that any part of EU territory could be subject to invasion without the rest of the EU reacting is a political impossibility. It is very plain that Vladimir Putin’s policy is to reincorporate into Russia those bordering pockets of ethnic Russians in former Soviet states. But this has been approached piecemeal and avoiding major confrontation. There is no practical threat to the Baltic states whose security is already de facto guaranteed by EU membership.
So NATO’s role of defence against Russia is otiose, and its wider military adventures have been a total disaster.
Finally, a thought about China. I cannot think of a parallel to China these last two decades, where any country in history has obtained so much economic pre-eminence in the World and shown so very little interest in military expansion. The invasion of Tibet occurred before China’s economic flowering, and the South China Sea dispute is hardly the invasion of Iraq. I do not claim any expertise in Chinese culture or thought, but they appear to realise that dominance can be achieved by more subtle means than the sword. It is going to be a fascinating few decades as China rapidly overtakes the USA in the superpower stakes.
William Hague: Libya is ‘a tremendous success story’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-18861795/william-hague-libya-is-a-tremendous-success-story
This will become the standard line. Tbe mainstream still considers it controversial to suggest the invasions of Afghan, Iraq and Libya were mistakes let alone crimes.
Is Billy Fourteen Pints ‘avin a larf?
@ Sharp Ears July 3, 2018 at 18:00
No, not at all. For Hague and his fellow socio/psychopaths, things did go swimmingly.
Plenty of dead ‘Foreigners’, lots of lovely gold reserves (for someone), another threat to the International Banksters re the Gold Dinar squashed, and oil for Western Multinationals to plunder.
From their point of view, things are going pretty much their way.
Just as Bliar is so proud of the results of his illegal invasion of Iraq, and indeed Afghanistan.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization instead of abolishing itself after 1989 has expanded its reach to Ukraine, Libya and Afghanistan. This can be understood by the desire of US deep state to dominate and keep NATO members loyal US mil hardware buyers, but does not justify it for 99% of NATO member citizens.
PR China under XI is also on the domination path, economically but also military. Tibet was their “Ukraine” but not the Indian state Arunachal Pradesh https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/never-acknowledged-existence-of-arunachal-pradesh-china/article22359758.ece
The far flung claims the Chinese military laid with their 9 dash map have been materialized with their new build island forts, many hundreds of km from Chinese mainland but a few miles off other nations.
The Bitter Legacy of the 1979 China-Vietnam War (30,000 dead Vietnamese civilians) still exists in Vietnam: https://thediplomat.com/2017/02/the-bitter-legacy-of-the-1979-china-vietnam-war/
Its not just Chinese money and laborers as in Africa, Myanmar or now in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Yes, that is all far from Edinburgh but all Empires start small as Ireland and Scotland should remember best.
Another user trying to scare us about China, meanwhile the user itself would never condemn the british colonialism nor the actions of the british government of today.
Me? Pure fantasy. But why should the negative effects of Britain’s massive past colonialism or recent incursions in Libya or Syria obscure the negative cloud of China’s present growing imperialism? I can condemn both. Don’t think like many a post 1945 born German and become a zombie of the history of your birth place.
Anotyl
Its quite ridiculous to try to shift blame when there are alot of western states TODAY doing what you suddenly sob over when it comes to China.
Antonyl
“Yes, that is all far from Edinburgh but all Empires start small as Ireland and Scotland should remember best.”
Yes it was the Scottish drug pushers and bankers who hooked the Chinese on Opium and their Bank the HSBC which was created to launder the Opium money. It was also fined a few years ago for laundering drug money. Not a lot has changed.
I left Nato in 1981, try it, it’s bracing.
Skripal Update
“It is thought highly unlikely officials will make any major announcement in the coming days about the fast-moving probe.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6680240/salisbury-hitmen-protected-by-putin/
“Fast” as a Antarctic continental glacier that is.
So the investigation goes super good but na we wont share anything..
Looks like a psyop attempt to keep people focused on Russia and keep the Skirpal case alive.
Bingo!
The Sun says:
“A TWO-man hit team led the Salisbury nerve agent attack (…), Scotland Yard believes. (They) are thought to have left the UK the next morning after carrying out the attempted assassination on behalf of the Kremlin. They are now thought to be back in Russia and under the protection of President Vladimir Putin (…). And (Met anti-terror cops and spooks) are now convinced they have made a huge breakthrough. The inquiry is thought to be focusing on at least two key “persons of interest” – almost certainly with close ties to Russia.”
Hmm…”almost certainly”, huh?
The background here is that the defence secretary has called for a 40% increase in British military spending.
For that – for anything like that – pictures of missiles being trundled across Red Square in Moscow will not be enough. Nor will pictures of two guys at an airport. The Britty poshboys will need actual events, military-themed events which SHOCK.
The two key people of interest are: Christopher Steele and Pablo Miller. Both have form and both belong to a sinister organisation under the protection of the UK government. They have close ties to Russia, particularly in concocting a false dossier to smear the President of the US. Meanwhile Scotland Yard’s operation Red Herring, has been successful in leading right wing UK newspapers, The Guardian and Telegraph, along the road to obscurity.
Monster, agreed. Yep they probably are the two main suspects. Does anyone know their whereabouts at the moment?
Wow, two unnamed suspects! Were they wearing hazmet suits when they put said highly purity intense Novichock on the door handle? If they weren’t they’d be dead according to the OCPW report given it’s purity!
Far from being protected by Mr Putin I can just see Putin’s reaction;
“Comrades, you have failed in your mission. We gave you the most potent nerve agent known to man, we gave you a top secret manual of how to smear it on door handles,we gave you free tickets on BA and you have failed very badly in your mission. You have made us look incompetent and a laughing stock. We will now send you to Siberia.”
Nah, why would Putin want to send then to Siberia?
If it is as you say then Putin should send them both to Heathrow the moment the Brits release the grainy photos with great fanfair and much “background briefing”.
Imagine the shock from Tess May… oh shit, oh shit, those Ruskies have just called our bluff!
She will have to put them on trial and produce some…gulp!… evidence. Which I suspect very, very much that she does not possess.
Putting (no alliterative pun intended) my serious hat on, I think that would be a major coup. Putin doesn’t even need to send anyone just ask HMG government the details of these people and the evidence which will have to be produced first. Oh no wait I seem to remember that that has also been tried before in the Litvinenko case.
The good news about this Sun article is the comments after the article. Most people not buying it! The biggest question is still regarding what is happening to Yulia Skripal. Is she allowed to watch the World Cup?
I agree with most of the article but I wonder where the figures for GDP adjusted for PPP come from. According to IMF as given by Wikipedia the Russian GDP adjusted for PPP is equal to that of Germany and more than double the combined GDP of Poland the Czech Republic Slovakia and the Baltic countries.
I think when western neoliberalism fails and eastern countries dominate then the monetary standards used to measure society’s wealth like GDP, per capita income, median wage etc, will shift to measure social standards like increased life-spans, falls in crime, lack of stress etc. Those kinds of measures are too commie for the parasites sucking the life-blood out of us but we are born into a society not a market.
Has it finally happened that the giant advertising-and-surveillance (GA&S) company Google won’t let you search Google News unless you log in to an “account” with them?
That’s what I’m finding this morning.
(Or perhaps it’s a function of having made my browser version more “modern”, huh?)
Never mind – I think it was something to do with Javascript having switched itself off.
Yeah it seems like G News needs javascript enabled. Interesting – their main site doesn’t (although you lose the suggestions drop down, since that is partly done with javascript)
I am constantly asked to sign ‘Agree’ to their terms when entering a search item.
There is no button to say ‘F off’ to:
The Top 5 Google Shareholders
•Larry Page. Larry Page is the co-founder of Google and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet. …
•Sergey Brin. Born in Moscow, Russia, Sergey Brin and his family emigrated to the United States in 1979 when he was six. …
•Eric Schmidt. …
•Sundar Pichai. …
•Institutional Holdings…
The very name Alphabet is infantile too.
.
I use google less that 50% of the time now, the result filtering is just too bad now, their decision to put paid advertisers first on all searches has rendered the whole programme as little more than an advanced search for a Seers/John Moore mail order catalogue. Couple that with a search engine that attempts (badly) to control news narrative with its frankly dreadful AMP feature means it’s now an all round piece of shit.
A lot of people worked damned hard on the original search engine, which really was one of the most penetrative and smart searches on the internet, but they’ve shot it in the head now. The market has been cornered so they erode the product, and that’s without the government related bullshit, just full business practice.
Lycos is back, I use Yandex a lot, even Bing is fine, none of them are ideal, and they borrow searches from elsewhere but I won’t ise google by default anymore. The user satisfaction is just too piss poor to cope with anymore
Thanks. I will try your suggestions. It would be good to break free from Google. On Android tablets, it is almost impossible to escape. They are always after your ‘location’.
It is possible to replace Android with LineageOS. You could find someone to help by finding your your local Linux User Group (Android is built around Linux). An aspiring young hacker may be glad of your payment.
Android is like Google Chrome. They are designed to serve Google, but they are developed under semi-public licenses, permitting derivative works to be made and distributed. LineageOS is made from Android just like the fully freed Chromium is made from the semi-free Chrome.
Most manufacturers of tablet devices lock them to prevent replacement of the software. Most models can be unlocked, some more easily than others. Again, hackers are there to help.
That’s one of the oldest sites on the ‘net I’ve linked to above. ESR, who wrote The Cathedral and the Bazaar.
Clark – weird I was just this morning looking at the LineageOS site – I have cyanogenmod 😉
Android is like Crack in one way ; totally addictive for hardware manufacturers- because free.
Try DuckDuck Go. Keep your privacy.
https://duckduckgo.com/
I’m not in anyway connected but use this now more than awful Google.
Antonyl, standard Android is not free. It is merely gratis, not libre:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/sep/19/android-free-software-stallman
Shatnersrug: “Couple that with a search engine that attempts (badly) to control news narrative with its frankly dreadful AMP feature means it’s now an all round piece of shit.”
Couldn’t agree more. Beats me why people – even posters here – want to drive all references to external news sites through this AMP BS.
Here in the NL there’s this, which is quite good: https://www.startpage.com/
Bing actually does it own searches, and blind tests have shown it to be better than google. Frankly, google ought to be broken up now – particularly since it lends its AI capability to the Pentagon’s drone programme, and other evil work the “defense” department deems fit to pay them taxpayer money, in order to kill people more efficiently.
I read somewhere Google removed the famous “Don’t be evil” clause from their code of conduct sometime earlier this year. A bit late I think.
I thought Startpage just used Google’s search results but anonymised them? So they can’t track you but you are still subject to Google filtering the results. I could be wrong.
Nah. You’re correct.
They used to offer an anonymous proxy for viewing the individual results as well, but it seems to have disappeared.
Sharp:
I use DuckDuckGo, better search results, and does not track you.
G00gle is not the search engine now, that it started out as – tinkered with it so much when it was working, that they broke it .
Google lets 3rd-party app developers read your emails – report
3 Jul 2018
Google allows third-party app developers to read its customers’ Gmail emails, a new report reveals, throwing a damper on its claims that it protects its users’ privacy.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the tech giant continues to let hundreds of developers read people’s emails. Any of Gmail’s 1.3 billion users who have connected their email addresses to apps may have unknowingly given those apps permission to read their communications.
The Wall Street Journal spoke to a number of companies that said they had read people’s emails. Those included Edison Software, eDataSource Inc and Return Path.
/..
https://www.rt.com/news/431647-google-gmail-app-developers/
So Boris Johnson issued a “tweet” (a five-second press release for the modern liver who is always on the go and can’t follow an argument) in which he praised Jacob Rees-Mogg, who recently published a blackmail threat against the government in the Torygraph. This is the same Boris Johnson, holder of one of the great offices of state, who shortly before told the prime minister and the Tory whips where they could shove their three-line whip on Heathrow. These are unusual events.
Johnson does a capable “buffoon” act, and I’m sure a lot of it overlaps with his real personality, but he must surely be intelligent enough to know that he’s unlikely to become prime minister. Much of what is written by chatterers about Tory leadership matters is fickle. Reading about possible votes among legislators and who the “rebel” or “swing” elements will be gets boring. As for the mechanism in the Tory party itself, it is extremely improbable that there will be a vote taking 2-3 months among the membership while a caretaker prime minister sits in Number 10, whether it’s Theresa May or somebody else. Far more likely is that after some voting among the parliamentary party there will be some dropping-out and only a single person will be left, as happened in 2016.
The background is that huge opportunities for the strongest capitalist concerns will arise during the major upheaval that is approaching, and they will obviously want a government that has a different reputation from the current one, which is widely viewed as divided, strategically powerless, and led by incompetents. How much disorder and what kind of disorder they will allow or want or need is not clear. That some kind of far-right xenophobic populism will surge is.
Political events are being choreographed in line with the football World Cup. It’s not the first time that’s happened.
Judging by the photos of Theresa on Sunday, resignation due to ill health could be on the cards. Yes, I know it’s bad form to speculate about someone’s health and I don’t wish any ill of her (can’t say the same for “call me Dave”). Fair enough, she hasn’t looked in the best of health for some time now, but she looks like death warmed up now.
Vivian, she does look pretty mangled. A bit like the Walking Dead really. Another consequence of the shambles they are making of Brexit – one good consequence might be a Corbyn Govt!
Why would a Corbyn government be a good consequence?
Corbyn is a self proclaimed socialist. If he is elected to power then only 2 consequences can flow: (i) He lacks the support of his party and is unable to implement socialist policies or, (ii) he is able to implement socialist policies.
If the latter alternative were to come to fruition then what reasons are there to believe that the outcome would be any different from the outcome seen in any other country that has implemented socialism. You can take your pick from Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cambodia, the USSR and China (under socialism).
If the outcomes witnessed in any country that has implemented socialism in the past would not apply to the UK, then why would that be? The only answer I can discern would rely on some variation of British “exceptionalism”
Love your straw men, said with such cast iron certitude, as if the world can only follow a loony line, and your limited, cliched ideas about ‘socialism’.
Try not to be so comically ridiculous. Almost all of the northern European countries are vastly more socialist than the UK, and are vastly better off for it.
Maybe this Socialism = Totalitarian pseduo-communist BS of yours works with brain-dead far-right ditto-heads in the US, but it gets no traction here.
Just name one socialist country anywhere, anyplace anytime that has improved the living standards for the majority of the population?
Please don’t insult anyone’s intelligence with any mention of Sweden – a country that avoided WW2 and made a vast fortune out of selling ball bearings to the Nazi war machine and funded its socialist policies from accumulated Nazi treasure. Now that it has spent its Nazi inheritance it is busy completely destroying itself.
You want to see socialism in microcosm take a look at the British NHS. Take a careful look at Dr. Harold Shipman, take a look at health care in Gosport or Stafford or Bristol. In Stafford there were reports of patients being forced to crawl out of their beds in order to drink the water in flower vases. How did the NHS respond? Why it banned flowers.
Does anyone know what is actually going on in the NHS? No, because any deviation from the “everything is awesome” narrative routinely results in disciplinary procedures. Those who don’t break under the pressure are paid off under a suite of contractual obfuscations which include confidentiality clauses.
How much money is pumped into the NHS only to be funneled out into the pockets of drug companies? Once again no-one knows, and no-one cares. How much money is pumped into the NHS only to be pumped straight back out into the pockets of PFI charlatans? No-one knows and no-one cares.
The NHS is a giant socialist sieve that is used to transfer money from the many to the few. That is what a little socialism gets you. How do you stop this theft of the nations treasure via more socialism? Take a look at any socialist country – you get pogroms and mass executions all justified by the purity of the morality of the killers.
Don’t make laugh with your infantile idealism that either results in your own destruction or in the destruction of everyone else, or and more usually both.
British people don’t want whatever you’d propose to replace the NHS with, sorry..
Xavi – I know.
Apparently what they want is this
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/03/healthcare-worker-arrested-murder-eight-babies-cheshire-neonatal-unit
Do try not to be so silly.
Socialism is standard practice across all of the highly successful Scandinavian countries, where life quality is vastly better than anywhere else on Earth. Holland is highly socialist, and very happy and successful with it.
Desperate as you might be to claim the contrary, only right-wing dupes (and stooges for the super-rich) believe the tripe you’re peddling here, give it up.
Oh yes, and the NHS comes out on top on health outcomes, particularly given the money spent on it.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/17/nhs-health
Sorry, facts matter. I know you’re short of them, but the plural of feeble anecdote is not data.
Problem is, Loony, neoliberalism is very obviously much worse than the mixed economy that Corbyn supports.
That’s the choice.
What sort of economy did your hero, Franco, follow.
And it’s important to remember that those countries you cite above are under neoliberal attack, from outside and from within.
Herbie – OK so all the socialist countries are/were under attack from neo-liberalism. So how does that work exactly?
You have China the most populous country on earth, with a 5,000 year unbroken civilization and the country with the largest single economy on earth for 19 out of the previous 20 centuries. Despite all this it is unable to resist an attack from neo-liberalism.
You have the USSR – the largest contiguous empire on earth and endowed with the greatest depth and breadth of natural resources on earth. All of this is protected by advanced science meaning that it cannot be overtaken militarily. These resources and this science are in turn protected by the Red Army – the most effective fighting machine ever seen in history. It has all of this and it cannot resist an attack by neo-liberalism? How does this work? How does this make sense,
You have Cambodia – a small country about which no-one seems to care. While the eyes of the world are diverted Cambodia manages to slaughter one third of its population. Why?
You have whiter people in Southern Africa operating a racist policy. In Zimbabwe they are removed from power and replaced with socialists. The economy of Zimbabwe collapses and witnesses one of the greatest hyper inflationary events.in world history. In South Africa the white oppressor class removes itself from power. Not only do socialists take over but these particular socialists are massively supported by neo-liberal powers. What happens? The economy and society of South Africa collapses. Why?
Don’t you see that all of these places have radically different histories and radically different populations and radically different potentials and yet they all fail under socialism. Is there another common denominator that I am missing?
“Herbie – OK so all the socialist countries are/were under attack from neo-liberalism. So how does that work exactly?”
They just play around with the price of basic commodities and so on. The internal elites interfere with distribution. They short the currency. Bully customers. The population turns against the govt. It’s just a general buggering of the economy to the point it collapses and they get back in cheap and buy everything up. Think Rudy G, Trump and New York real estate from the really depressed 70’s thru the bankrupting 80s, to the glorious 90’s and beyond. There’s work involved. Don’t happen on its own. And that includes the depressed periods. You have to work really really hard to create a depressed community, from previous harmony.
“You have China the most populous country on earth, with a 5,000 year unbroken civilization and the country with the largest single economy on earth for 19 out of the previous 20 centuries. Despite all this it is unable to resist an attack from neo-liberalism.”
Apparently so.
“unbroken civilization”
Not really. It kinda went a bit 90s Russia/30s America, for a while.
But sure, there’s an impression of resistance.
“You have the USSR – the largest contiguous empire on earth and endowed with the greatest depth and breadth of natural resources on earth. All of this is protected by advanced science meaning that it cannot be overtaken militarily. These resources and this science are in turn protected by the Red Army – the most effective fighting machine ever seen in history. It has all of this and it cannot resist an attack by neo-liberalism? How does this work? How does this make sense,”
We live in a financialised world. A world of paper and pixels.. This is still very powerful, and perhaps even more powerful than real goods.
“You have Cambodia – a small country about which no-one seems to care. While the eyes of the world are diverted Cambodia manages to slaughter one third of its population. Why?”
If you’re talking about Pol Pot, we’ve discussed that here before. These were Globalist ops. We know this now.
“You have whiter people in Southern Africa operating a racist policy. In Zimbabwe they are removed from power and replaced with socialists. The economy of Zimbabwe collapses and witnesses one of the greatest hyper inflationary events.in world history. In South Africa the white oppressor class removes itself from power. Not only do socialists take over but these particular socialists are massively supported by neo-liberal powers. What happens? The economy and society of South Africa collapses. Why?”
That’s the Globalist plan. Same in NI. You couldn’t have lesser than elite-connected middlins taking full powers of state. Thing is, you see, the emergent middlins knew most of the tricks, and had connections. Had to go. Elites only.
“Don’t you see that all of these places have radically different histories and radically different populations and radically different potentials and yet they all fail under socialism. Is there another common denominator that I am missing?”
Yeah, it’s the financial system and how it controls and directs economies to its own interest.
Trade and Finance, the dynamics of.
Mr. Corbyn is controlled opposition. I think it took him by surprise when he became leader of the ‘Labour’ Party; he had to confront the fact that his supporters expect him to consistently maintain his support for Palestinians, but his new ‘owners’ thought otherwise. If he should become PM, he will turn about face completely. They all do.
As usual, a labour man will be put in the driving seat when the UK crisis comes (putting 2008 in the shade) – and the press can all then dutifully blame ‘socialism’ as the cause. “I care not what government the people choose to put in power – provided I control the currency supply.”
All the decisions that led to where the UK is today, were made by men now long since dead. The most fundamental, and most deadly of those decisions was made in 1905, with the start of the Dreadnought arms race against Germany. As a result, we lost millions of brothers, sisters, cousins and parents in two pointless wars and now we’re bankrupt, can’t feed ourselves independently as a nation, and have lost our Empire.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, not ‘Independence for Scotland’, nor ‘brexit’, nor ‘remain’, can change what is to happen to the UK’s people. The best thing the nation could do would be to turn up at the polling station on election day, and, in full view of the world’s press and TV cameras, light a match and burn their voting cards. Publicly boycott this sham ‘democracy’. Because, as author Alfred Noyes wrote in the preface to his book, ‘The Edge of the Abyss’ (published in 1942): “It would be a terrible tragedy, if the enemy we are fighting (Nazism) were to be foisted on us under another name”. Profoundly prophetic words. This it turns out, is exactly what has happened.
From his first post Agent Loony has pretended to be a thoughtful contributor while always reverting to type when and where it counts. Anything but progressive, anything but Corbyn. Why he is here is precisely to that aim.
I don’t pretend to be anything.
I make observations – people are free to make of those observations what they will.
I do however notice a remarkable inability by many to consider ideas in a thoughtful and reflective manner. Rather there is a ready resort to insults and ad-hominem attacks. Maybe this is what the internet produces. A lot of the things people say here they would never dare to say to someones face. In fact they obviously do not say these things directly to other people as they would quickly find themselves hospitalized.
There is not much meaningful difference between the invective spewed out by some people on here and the actions of drone operators. There they sit in some air conditioned shed in Nevada and press a few buttons and kill people thousands of miles away. People they don’t know but would never dare to get up close and kill “the enemy” while looking them in the eye. Exactly the same character traits as displayed by the internet warriors.
The economy is not going to improve and the living conditions of the masses are going to get a lot worse. No solution is going to be effective and every solution is going to disadvantage someone. The hysterical bile spewed out on the internet is not a good sign at all for the likely ability to survive a step change in our collective living arrangements.
It is all very sad. It is sad because whilst a change in circumstances is inevitable our collective response is not inevitable. Choices were available and it looks increasingly like the wrong choices have been made.
Jeremy Corbyn is not a relevant figure. He may get elected in which case things will get a lot worse very quickly. He may not get elected in which case things will get a lot worse perhaps just as quickly or perhaps more slowly. Getting worse slowly is surely better for most people than getting worse quickly.
– “Maybe this is what the internet produces”
The old hackers discovered this back in the days of bulletin boards. txts evn wrs.
Loony, I disagree with you about Jeremy Corbyn. Yes, resources per head of population are going to decrease, but the largest proportion of people can weather this best by sharing, pooling resources and coordinating, rather than by competing with its inherent wastefulness and pointless duplication of effort. Corbyn reflects such social motivation.
Loony, your detractors are unimaginative fools. They do not recognise the opportunities you offer; they merely criticise you as a person, whereas they could use your comments as a chance to present their arguments… if only they could formulate them coherently.
I tend to agree with you. Loony starts with very compelling arguments but sadly then makes the wrong conclusions. He does this time and time again.
Hardly. The template might well be Jordan Peterson. Someone who superficially appears to ask interesting questions which might well appeal to those who imagine themselves free thinkers, questions which rely on logical flaws and faulty assumptions though bolstered with a smattering of statistical data to lend substance but which serve only as a foil to route his audience very firmly toward increasingly right wing solutions.
I agree to some extent. Phrases like “The bad news for obese, idle and deluded western populations” (in an earlier post by you) indeed support your “I do however notice a remarkable inability by many to consider ideas in a thoughtful and reflective manner…invective spewed out…hysterical bile.”
You may have a point but you sound like a hypocrite to me.
I think you will find that my comment related to insults and ad-hominem attacks.
Identifying large swathes of western populations as “obese, idle and deluded” is neither an insult nor an ad-hominem attack.
Your much loved NHS seems to agree that there is an obesity epidemic. Do you consider the NHS to be hypocritical in this regard?
Idle is a simple statement of fact – and it is idleness that is fueling the obesity epidemic. Take a look at the absolute population of the UK in 1982 and compare it with today. Has it risen almost 4 fold? Answer No. The number of vehicles on the road has risen by almost 400%. What could explain this? Do you think idleness could play a role?
As for deluded – well it is all around you, everywhere. There is mass delusion with regard to human rights, minority rights, rights to a living wage, rights to free health care etc etc, All of these things are underpinned and 100% predicated on cheap energy. Cheap energy is coming to an end. Look at the numbers. Numbers that someone described as “unhinged” This is no different from hating gravity. It is delusional.
None of this is invective or hysterical – it is an attempt to get people to pay attention, and is underpinned by reason.
Loony – Lol highly amusing 🙂
Obomber is calling Johnson ‘the British Trump’.
Free kosher ice cream for some Israelis from Ben and Jerry’s.
https://www.jpost.com/OMG/Ben-and-Jerrys-celebrates-40-years-in-Israel-with-free-ice-cream-561290
Forget the ‘Arab’ boy, Yasser Abu al-Naja. No ice cream for him.
http://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/msg/1530478939.html
I recall Israel bombing the ice cream factory in Gaza – ?Cast Lead 2008.
A lot of the Occupiers’ thinking and doing is pure evil. But there is also illusion and shallow distraction. Jeff Halper (? apologist) told us that the ”wall” is constructed so that Israelis do not see it from their numerous neighbourhoods. Like the ha-ha in a slave funded ‘stately homes’ here- the ditch that keeps the lawns intact.
How about Halal petrol, or too cheap Chinese produce? Unhealthy on the long run, both.
Your racist prejudice is showing. I am talking about Occupiers of another people’s land who are cruel and carry out illegal actions.
6 million “chosen” Israelis can do a lot less damage than >1 billion Muslims or >1 billion Chinese.
US deep state has another voodoo doll it needles: Russia.
Antonyl, I don’t think so given the Orange One’s overt support, financing and taking orders from Israel.
To be fair, it’s Trump and the Netanyahu faction, rather than Israel as such.
And Putin’s right in there with them as well.
This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since they’re all economic nationalists.
Trump through necessity, Netanyahu through “good fortune” and Putin through necessity as well I suppose.
Trump and Putin are doing what they’re doing because of the failure of neoliberalism, and Netanyahu is doing it because he’s managed to place Israel as a very very important exporter in cyber security and other hi tech fields.
When you’re making loads of dosh through sales, you just don’t need the bankers so much.
I mean, look at Apple.
Population numbers do not map to the destructive power of a state and its ideology.
Well said.
“I recall Israel bombing the ice cream factory in Gaza”
There are ice cream factories in the “biggest open air concentration camp in the world” ?
“There are ice cream factories in the “biggest open air concentration camp in the world?”
There were, not ‘are’ – the commenter just informed you they were destroyed – do you have English language comprehension issues?
You even have children playing football on the beach that get massacred by a very moral army doing its duty to prevent terrorism.
Trump: Tel Aviv Candidate
I’m making this public now because a David Ignatius report Thursday maps out an imminent deal with Russia and Israel that sounds like what was described to me within hours of the election. This deal appears to be the culmination of an effort that those involved in the Russian attack worked to implement within hours after the election.
The other reason I’m disclosing this now is to put a human face to the danger in which the House Republicans are putting other people who, like me, provided information about the Russian attack on the US to the government.
Several times since I first considered sharing information with the FBI, I’ve asked my attorney to contact the FBI to tell them of what I perceived to be a real threat that arose from sharing that information. One of those times, I let law enforcement officers enter my house without a warrant, without me being present.
My risk isn’t going to go away — indeed, going public like this will surely exacerbate it. That’s to be expected, given the players involved.
But I’m a public figure. If something happens to me — if someone releases stolen information about me or knocks me off tomorrow — everyone will now know why and who likely did it. That affords me a small bit of protection. There are undoubtedly numerous other witnesses who have taken similar risks to share information with the government who aren’t public figures. The Republicans’ ceaseless effort to find out more details about people who’ve shared information with the government puts those people in serious jeopardy.
I’m speaking out because they can’t — and shouldn’t have to.
It infuriates me to observe (and cover) a months-long charade by the House GOP to demand more and more details about those who have shared information with the government, at least some of whom were only trying to prevent real damage to innocent people, all in an attempt to discredit the Mueller investigation. As someone who has worked to rein in dragnets for over a decade, I’m all the more disgusted to see so many lifelong cheerleaders of surveillance pretend to care now.
I only came to be convinced slowly about Russia’s role in the attack and I have been skeptical of the Steele dossier from the day it was published. That said, I obviously do not like Donald Trump — though I’m no Hillary fan, either. But my decision to share information with the FBI had nothing to do with my dislike for Donald Trump. It had to do with the serious damage that someone else I believed to be involved in the Russian attack — someone I had been friendly with — was doing to innocent people, almost all of those people totally uninvolved in American politics.
http://www.emptywheel.net/2018/07/03/putting-a-face-mine-to-the-risks-posed-by-gop-games-on-mueller-investigation/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/opinions/global-opinions/is-trump-handing-putin-a-victory-in-syria/2018/06/28/a853657a-7b14-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html
if the democrats’ pitch continues to be more of the same – plus “russia,” – they will get the same result they got last time.
Better reconsider the Russophilia
Not that I’d consider myself a russophile (is that a word?), but why? I’ve a strong impression that large numbers of both the US and UK public would rather not be involved in opaque ME wars and rather concentrated on improving conditions at home. I have faith in people generally, because most of them would rather we build a hospital than drop bombs.
Your 2 responses to zoot don’t particularly bolster what is largely fact-free content and mysterious allusions.
Of course, here in the UK it was definitely Russia that caused Brexit – I saw her operatives campaigning on the streets and handing out leaflets, talking to people, explaining her position. If Putin had covered HMG’s pro-remain leaflet in novichok, it would have been an even clearer win for him. It’s his MO, he’s an evil genius 😉
Now: no Brexit arguments – all I’m saying is that it takes a rare courage to blame yourself before other people and to admit you could have done more.
You really don’t understand what’s going on, Ben, do you.
Yes, Trump, Putin and Netanyahu are working together.
Which of them do you think hated Hillary, the Clintons generally, Obama etc, the most?
And why.
From the main Trump advocate on this blog no less.
Clueless, disingenuous, lying, horse shit. These astro-turfers are realising the game is up.
No, Ben – for his many faults – is no Trump advocate, J – you simply have that wrong. Ben rightly despises the moron.
“the moron”
Well yeah, you say that, but is he a bigger moron than Dubya, or less or what. And where did eight years of laughing at George W get us
It don’t seem to matter to these guys anyway.
They seem to do well no matter what.
Craig:
I’ve noted the Russian troll meme infestation..
no ben, you want to know why millions of people stayed home in the key states rather than show up for hillary you need to look a lot closer to home.
Why complain about Putin trolls when there are so many others? You discredit yourself by complaining about one but not the others. Every interest trolls these days. Choosing one just means nobody will be bothered about your complaints.
Laguerre, yes, the Govt trolls, the MSM trolls, the Israeli Govt trolls etc – nobody ever mentions them because they are part of the extreme far right fascist propaganda machine. I will never be able to get my head around this mantra that socialism is bad and fascism is good. As far as I can tell, this Tory Govt has been the worst Govt in the nation’s history, tripled the deficit, made the rich much richer, hammered the poor and the vulnerable, have nose-dived the economy on to the brink of and inevitable sinking into a serious recession, are heading for a No Deal brexit due to their complete ineptitude, their obsession with clinging onto power thus allowing the DUP to control the Northern Ireland Border issue, no concrete working plan to revitalise the economy or the manufacturing industry, no plans to preserve jobs in the UK or to support the High Street currently in a serious crisis. I could go on. At least Corbyn has a solid plan to revitalise the economy and create jobs – using Keynsian economics as its foundation. Give me socialism any day.
From the NUJ. Palestinian Journalists in Parliament.
Representatives from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) are visiting London this week to highlight the increasing violations of their basic media freedoms and basic human rights.
Palestinian journalists want the right to work, and the right to do so freely and safely.
In 2018 two Palestinian journalists have been killed; others have been targeted with bullets, rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas bombs, sonic bombs, pepper gas, and have been physically assaulted.
The NUJ has organised an event in parliament so that NUJ members, politicians and members of the public can hear Palestinian journalists speak for themselves.
Please come to our event to show your solidarity and please feel free to promote this event to your contacts, including online and on social media.
Palestinian journalists under attack: NUJ public meeting in parliament
Wednesday 4 July 2018 starting 18.30 – 20.00 in committee room 16 in the House of Commons
The speakers confirmed for this event include:
•Nasser Abu Bakar – PJS president
•Michelle Stanistreet – NUJ general secretary
•Musa Shaer – Ramallah photojournalist
•Grahame Morris MP (Labour)
•Liz Saville Roberts MP (Plaid Cymru)
•Baroness Bonham Carter (Liberal Democrat)
•Tommy Shephard MP (SNP)
•A representative from the Conservatives has also been invited (details tbc).
The event is advertised on the NUJ website if you want to link to it, and/or share on social media – https://www.nuj.org.uk/palestinian-journalists-under-attack/
Best wishes,
NUJ campaigns and communications department
I wish there had been more notice about this event, I very much would have liked to attend to hear what the Palestinian Journalists had to say. If there are any more such events scheduled, how can we get more notice?
From 38 Degrees
Scottish teenagers, Somer and Areeb, are afraid for their lives. The Home Office want to deport them to Pakistan, where their lives are at risk because of their Christian faith. [1]
The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has the power to step in and give these boys a safe life in Scotland. But unless we speak out now, this case may never land on his desk, and the boys will be deported.
That’s where we come in – a huge petition will bring the case to the top of Sajid Javid’s to-do list. We can prove the public want Somer and Areeb to lively safely in Scotland. And it could force the Home Secretary to intervene. If you think no one’s life should be put at risk because of their religion, please sign the petition now. It only takes 30 seconds and could help protect these boys’ lives:
SIGN THE PETITION https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/somer-and-areeb-should-stay-in-the-uk?
Six years ago Somer and Areeb fled with their parents from Pakistan, after four of their family friends were murdered and the boys’ father received death threats. The family came to the UK to be safe. [2] Now, the boys are happy and settled in Scotland; they’re working towards their exams, hanging out with friends and playing football. But soon they could lose everything.
We know together our pressure can make a difference – the Home Office allowed Wadih Chourey, a man with Down’s syndrome who had fled persecution in Lebanon, to stay in the UK following a huge public outcry. [3] Together we’ve stopped the deportation of shop workers and whistleblowers – and we can do the same for Somer and Areeb. [4]
Sajid Javid doing the right thing is the last hope for this family. Will you sign the petition today to help make it happen?
The 38 Degrees team
NOTES:
[1] BBC News: Asylum family in plea to PM over fears of death in Pakistan:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-44432107
BBC News: We’re about to get deported:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-44623824/we-re-about-to-get-deported
Church of Scotland: Glasgow Christian teenagers “terrified” to return to Pakistan:
http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news_and_events/news/2018/Glasgow_Christian_teenagers_terrified_to_return_to_Pakistan
The National: Church of Scotland asks Home Office to rethink teenagers deportation:
http://www.thenational.scot/news/16324569.church-of-scotland-asks-home-office-to-rethink-teenagers-deportation/
[2] See notes for [1]
[3] 38 Degrees: Do not deport Wadih Chourey back to Lebanon:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/do-not-deport-wadih-chourey-vack-to-the-lebanon-just-because-his-parents-have-died
[4] 38 Degrees: Stop the shameful deportation of Kentish Town’s Stoly Jankovic:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-shameful-deportation-of-kentish-town-s-stoly-jankovic
38 Degrees: Stop the deportation of whistleblower Kweku Adoboli:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-deportation-of-whistleblower-kweku
What a clown. It’s embarrassing.
‘Gavin Williamson interrupted by Siri during Commons statemen
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson appeared to be interrupted by Siri on his iPhone as he addressed MPs in the Commons about Syria.
It led him to pause his statement on the fight against Islamic State as Speaker John Bercow remarked on the “very rum business”.
Mr Williamson apologised for the “intervention”, adding: “It is very rare that you’re heckled by your own mobile phone.”
Video.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-44701007/gavin-williamson-interrupted-by-siri-during-commons-statement
Hansard called it ‘an interruption’.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-07-03/debates/C3257BF9-9024-4037-9B06-575AA23CB9DC/Counter-DaeshUpdate
3h ago
As they say, in the States, high officials have special secure mobiles, no doubt without Siri listening in all the time and sending what you say to Apple. In Britain they use standard commercial phones in their most insecure mode. There was a big fuss, if you remember, when Clinton didn’t take up the secure mobile she was offered.
This was a very serious breach of security, as no doubt Craig will appreciate, not a joke or mere embarrassment.
Anything that shows that cretin Williamson up is OK with me! A BA in furniture sales from Bradford U in charge of nukes. Gimme a break!
You think that was a bad breach of security? Good thing no-one was upset about this:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/02/13/security-experts-question-trump-handling-mar-lago-terrace-situation-room/ZPSCcZ2b5u9pbBCL6H0nTK/story.html
“What was happening – as first reported by CNN – was an extraordinary moment, as Trump and Abe turned their dinner table into an open-air situation room. Aides and translators surrounded the two leaders as other diners chatted and gawked around them, with staffers using the flashlights on their cellphones to illuminate documents on the darkened outdoor terrace.
The scene of their discussion, Trump’s club, has been called ‘‘The Winter White House’’ by the president’s aides. But it is very different than the actual White House, where security is tight and people coming in are tightly screened. Trump’s club, by contrast, has hundreds of paying members who come and go, and it can be rented out for huge galas and other events open to non-members. On the night of the North Korea launch, for instance, there was a wedding reception going on: CNN reported that Trump dropped by, with Abe in tow.“
I dunno. Is a single open event where Trump might or might not have discussed business, worse than a major minister, charged with nuclear weapons, having a mobile permanently on in his pocket, reporting his every word to Apple and thus to the CIA, even the most top secret conversations? A resigning issue I would say, a deep systemic problem. Though I don’t suppose that will be done.
You are right, but judge the amount of hysteria applied to each.
There be lengthy inquiries about the Democrat’s blunder, while anything about the Repub’s will get a screech of “Witch-hunt!” wall-to-wall across the corporate media.
Sorry, I was stupid, I hadn’t caught your American allegiance in your previous posts. Obviously for you, a British minister committing treason by revealing Britain’s closest secrets to an alien power is of no great importance. For Brits here, and particularly the Brexiters, they should be up in arms. But they won’t be, because of course Brexiters aren’t really loyal to Britain, but rather to an unworkable ideology.
“Brexiters aren’t really loyal to Britain, but rather to an unworkable ideology.”
What ideology’s that.
And why is it unworkable?
I only ask because you seem to be a supporter of the EU. That’s fine. I’m not really a supporter of anything at the moment. I’m a bit confused, with all that’s going on in the world. Big tectonic changes afoot.
Were I pressed, I’d probably say I think the EU is much more acted upon, than acting itself. Putin remarked upon this many times.
London is certainly acting, and way beyond the EU and into the future. You can see that in China.
Whilst the EU lies behind an iron curtain of marcher lords to the east cutting its trade with its natural partners.
London could well be behind that. I think it’s happened before.
Basic Mackinder really.
Laguerre
I don’t think all brexiters, even Tory ones have a unified aim or vision, hence the mess. There is however a very strong Atlanticist faction led by Liam Fox and probably also, though less overtly, Johnson. There are also the ultra nationalists.
Williamson talking about the fight against IS? Laughable and contemptible given their support for them in Syria.
Had NATO been wound up at the same time as the Warsaw Pact relations between Russia and the west would I think be much better. To say nothing of things in Afghanistan and Libya.
An interesting article although I think the Russian intervention in Georgia was legal and the reincorporation of Crimea into Russia follows the precedent set by Kosovo (yet another NATO disaster).
Please also do not make the mistake of conflating President Putin with Russia. If President Putin acted without the consent of the Russian people and government he would not remain as president for very long.
Russia seems to have reacted rather reluctantly to the (illegal) Georgian attack on South Ossettia and the (illegal) coup d’état in the Ukraine and only intervened in Crimea to protect the people of Crimea. Russia has worked very hard to broker a settlement in Donetsk and Lugansk. Russia has provided aid but does not seem to have made any attempt to incorporate these areas.
Other than that I totally agree with your analysis of the disaster known as NATO.
I always look forward to your comment opinion and analysis. You always provide a breath of fresh air to clear away the stench and miasma of lies from the mainstream media
I’m sorry, but due to the treaty we, russians, paid rent for the Crimean military seaport and there was a certain number of military people allowed to be in Crimea. As long as I know, this number was not exceeded during the Crimean referendum.
Also, there was no a single drop of blood spilt.
I wouldn’t use the word ‘intervened’.
“I wouldn’t use the word ‘intervened’.”
Nor would I.
I’d say “invaded” with “little green men”.
Ahhh. The memories.
And what about the Tatars.
You Russians.
Running around everywhere like you own everything.
What’s wrong with you.
No one else in the rules based international system behaves like this.
Clean up your act if you want to join the club.
Herbie, invaded another country, into Iraq, with tanks and missiles, under false pretexts. Surprisingly, it was called ‘operation’ – a nice neutral term. And the guilty countries are not sunctioned/banned/isolated.
Tatars are OK, no one killed.
The same is with Russians, we are fine, thank you.
We didn’t run anywhere, it is russian land, populated with russian people, joined russian state, secured with russian military. Nothing wrong with us.
The club rules – do you mean Putin should first look for WMD, or bloody dictators, or threat to democracy? Or should the Crimeans got massacred a little?
I understand, there was no bloody show and this may look weird.
—-
Let’s put jokes aside. What do you think, Herbie, what was the correct and legal way for the Crimeans to join Russia?
“Let’s put jokes aside. What do you think, Herbie, what was the correct and legal way for the Crimeans to join Russia?”
I’d imagine it would have to be some mechanism originating in Kiev.
But ultimately it’ll be about international recognition.
I’m sure there’s some trading over the matter, even as we speak.
https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=2bb691b61c59be3a68180bd8c614a0cb&tab=core&_cview=1
“Solicitation Number: N33191-13-R-1240
Agency: Department of the Navy
Office: Naval Facilities Engineering Command
Location: NAVFAC Europe and Southwest Asia”
“Added: Sep 05, 2013 2:58 am
The purpose of this request for proposal is for the design and construction for the renovation of Sevastopol School #5 in Sevastopol, Ukraine in accordance with the attachments.”
“Due to the current climate in Ukraine, the subject solicitation is hereby cancelled.”
Kiev would not allow Crimea to go, it is obvious.
1- there’s no such option in Ukrainian constitution.
2- new Ukrainian government is pro-USA and USA wants Crimean seaport for themselves.
3- new Ukrainian govt’s politics is totally anti-russian.
So, lets imagine Crimean parliament asked Kiev about joining Russia, how do you think, what would be the reaction?
So, as I’ve said, you’re left with international recognition.
That’s it. That’s always it, really.
There are debates in the US as to whether Trump can recognise Crimea;
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/q-a-will-trump-give-away-crimea-at-helsinki
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-07-04/trump-can-t-recognize-russia-s-crimea-grab
But that’s the direction it’s going.
Yes, international recognition… I can’t see any possible way to influence it. If international society considers something wrong – what can I do? Let it be so then.
Perhaps, I could bring more facts and maybe bring up my opinion, but you know, my PR is bad. You ban my media, you megaphone at every corner how bad and evil I am. You hire skilled journalists to find faults with me. We are just new to the modern manner of doing international relations.
May be, some day, Putin could also say ” we came, we saw, he died, ha ha ha” or ” our goal was worth 500,000 childrens’ deaths” and be quite OK with it, no problem. Who knows?
So far, I’m happy it is fine with Crimean people, be it russians or tatars or ukrainians, they live in peace, no bombs, they will sort it out I hope.
“We are just new to the modern manner of doing international relations.”
Yup, you’re pitching rather old-fashioned diplomacy, logic and law, even Christianity, and yeah, many in the West are finding that much more attractive than the sound-bite, labelling and materialist nonsense we’ve been living with for a few generations now.
You’ve created a massive Putin fan club in the West. Well done. Clever. Smart. It’s kinda like the Trump gig as well. Same thing. Very similar dialectical process.
But I often wonder if this is simply for public consumption. This manipulation of narrative and debate and so on.
Behind the scenes, I doubt that morality, and even humanity, are very high on the agenda.
No.
It’s Don this and Don that, snarling over who gets to enslave and eat which territory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D_zITtVJGA
OK, I am nearly back into watching football, but it will probably only last 95 minutes. I have never been to South America. I have never been to Columbia. I do however have a friend who has, and I also have another friend, who’s Mum was born in Columbia. He was recently playing on the same stage as The Rolling Stones. However, I am somewhat gutted about the latest news.
The Black Keys were awesome, and their main man Richard Swift, has just dropped dead at the age of 41
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/richard-swift-dead-the-black-keys-shins-members-age-cause-of-death-dan-auerbach-bass-a8429601.html
Come on ENGLAND
Tony
What a dirty bunch of bastards these Colombian players are – unbelievable. A few red cards is the least they deserve.
Do we send them aid? If so we should cut it off immediately.
@ Anon1 July 3, 2018 at 23:17
Cut off aid to a NATO member? Colombia is a member and ‘Global Partner’ in NATO.
If you reckon their football team are bad, check out their death squads.
Still, that was a point in their favour as far as ‘Uncle Sam’ was concerned.
They’re a friend of ours
@ Herbie July 4, 2018 at 00:54
‘They’re a friend of ours’.
So was Pinochet, Saddam, Suharto, Mobutu, Qaddafi, Idi Amin, Shah of Iran, OBL, Marcos – all, like the Colobians, brutal butchers of their own people.
‘We’ have funny ‘Frinds’, but they do say ‘birds of a feather’….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnmt6dLasxw
Please write. The open internet will be dead in a matter of hours if people do not write to MEPs through this website:-
https://saveyourinternet.eu
This is deliberately getting no publicity in the mainstream media but the EU is set to shut down free speech on the web on the pretext of copyright reform – blog like Craig’s here and countless others will be rendered untenable by the new rules. Brexit offers not solution as the main UK parties are already backing and will continue to do so unless they are told.
http://www.jonathanarnott.co.uk/2018/06/the-internet-isnt-owned-by-any-government-but-a-tool-which-we-can-all-use-for-whatever-lawful-means-we-wish/
Oh that dreadful dictatorial EU! Sounds very similar though to what May and the US are doing. Difficult to control the net, nevertheless. It would depend upon the various EU countries actually implementing restrictions, which sounds unlikely.
It is true that back in 2005, I much enjoyed accessing a jihadi pre-ISIS web forum, and reading what they had to say. That sort of access has long gone, nothing to do with the new proposed restrictions. Though I’m sure I could still find them, if I put some work into it.
As far as I am concerned it is not about the EU it is about a political class (I was never a Brexiteer) It was signed up to by British Labour and Conservatives in committee and everyone should resist such a repulsive move all along the line – vile wherever it originates. It would be wise for people to protest about the directive while they can (which is basically tomorrow). The saveyourinternet.eu site is good all countries in the EU.
Craig love your blog generally – you don’t seem to be addressing the elephant in the room at the moment – I realise it doesn’t confom your world view yet supposing the world isn’t quite constructed quite in the way you think, what if there was much more going on below the surface?
The elephant in the room is what is going on in the US which will impact at such a level and force once MSM can no longer deny its reality. http://www.qanon.pub http://www.qproofs.com
The link didn’t open. Apart from Mueller what is happening? Mueller yoghurt contains gelatine.
Opened fine bit concerned you found a problem. If he knows what’s going on he’d be making some comment on the gathering momentum of QAnon – what it means – this will be the biggest set of events that humanity as yet will ever have exposed – child trafficking linked to Royals linked to Rothschilds linked to Obama/ Clintons. The depth of control throughout the world and the religions used to ferment darkness – the coming regime changes in the UK, Germany Canada, Iran etc etc the change st the head of the Vatican. The attempted assassination of Trump and Kim – Trump via hacked US navy sub made to look like it was China when in fact it was MOSSAD. Look up unknown missile launch in US and look up ‘Chinese’ hack of US Navy both reported MSM – you guys can’t be serious to pulling this weakly covered hyperbolise.
Monkey nuts.
Craig is English and Celebrating. Its a bit rude to ask about major geoplolitical events at a time like this,
He knows what’s going on.
Tony
If he knows what’s going on he’d be making some comment on the gathering momentum of QAnon – what it means – this will be the biggest set of events that humanity as yet will ever have exposed – child trafficking linked to Royals linked to Rothschilds linked to Obama/ Clintons. The depth of control throughout the world and the religions used to ferment darkness – the coming regime changes in the UK, Germany Canada, Iran etc etc the change st the head of the Vatican. The attempted assassination of Trump and Kim – Trump via hacked US navy sub made to look like it was China when in fact it was MOSSAD. Look up unknown missile launch in US and look up ‘Chinese’ hack of US Navy both reported MSM – you guys can’t be serious to pulling this weakly covered hyperbolise.
US arms expenditure and foreign policy are obscene and demented. The best response to Trump’s blather about increasing our contribution to NATO is to tell him we don’t want to be under the American umbrella any more thanks, so he can piss off and be an Atlanticist all on his lonesome.
Interesting, reading that the fmr. ecuadorian president Rafael Correa is ordered to be arrested, he seems to be in europe now so either he seek help at foreign embassy or he will be extradited. This man is the guy who helped Assange to live at the Ecuadorian embassy and now Correa himself has become the hunted himself.
Sorry, that shouldnt have been a reply.
@ Jack July 3, 2018 at 22:39
Yes, indeed, the US uses it’s ‘Uncle Tom’s’ in Latin America increasingly to use corrupt legal systems to target their enemies.:
‘Ecuador’s ex-President Correa Complies With Judge’s Request, Reports to Belgian Consulate Due to ‘Balda Case’:
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Rafael-Correa-Complied-at-Consulate-in-Belgium-Due-Balda-Case-20180702-0012.html
Like Dilma Rousseff and now Lula in Brazil, totally corrupt judges and politicians are targeting the ‘people’s choices’.
And they’re trying the same ‘tricks’ against former President Cristina Fernandez:
‘Argentina’s Fernandez charged with treason, arrest sought’:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-fernandez/argentinas-fernandez-charged-with-treason-arrest-sought-idUSKBN1E11Q4
And Colombia, that bastion of death squads and narco-traficking, has been welcomed into NATO. Obviously, in anticipation of a ‘False Flag’ scenario against Venezuela, the holder of the world’s largest confirmed oil reserves:
‘Colombia joins NATO as first “global partner” from Latin America’:
https://thebogotapost.com/2018/06/06/colombia-joins-nato-as-first-global-partner-from-latin-america/
The US has already ‘leased’ 7 bases in Colombia, and the US 4th Fleet, mothballed since the end of WWII, was re-established in 2008: ‘U.S. 4th Fleet Officially Re-established’: http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=38366
It has been haunting the shore of Venezuela (and other Carribean and South American countries) ever since.
As Nick Rockefeller told Aaron Russo in 2000: ‘There will be an icident, and because of it we shall go into Afghanistan and Iraq; there will be US troops searching through caves for Arabs, and there will be a ‘war on Terror’: after that, we’ll go after Venezuela’.
Im paraphrasing slightly, but if you want the exact words, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3NA17CCboA
Maybe Nick & Co. had an extremely accurate crystal ball; more likely, the International Bankster knew what had been planned.
The worrying thing is, like Wesley Clark’s ‘7 governments in 5 years’ (circa 2001), they are carrying out their evil plans.
Russia is forcing the jihadists in Syria, who tried to force the Syrian people to surrender to USUKIS zionist hegemony, to surrender. If I was prepared to register for being spied on by the state propagandist, I could find out what Zionist toff was pontificating on the World Tonight on behalf of Boris Johnson, who loves Al Qaida, and thinks sex-slaves ought to be available to everyone.
If NATO thinks it’s a good idea to soften up the Middle East using brain-washed rendition-tortured agents of the Muslim Brotherhood, I suppose Johnson has to conjugate his verbs and his sex-slaves according to NATO’s tune. Oh well , if I really have to, I’ll take a dozen and keep them in the old piggeries at the Oxford farm. Russia is bad, I mean, really awful, I mean, appalling. Very bad show all round.
Sounds of Tory cash tills ringing in background.
So “Nick” who alleges he was sexually abused by prominent British figures who personally murdered young boys (was he really the only direct source for the whole of Operation Midland?) has been charged with fraud and with multiple cases of perverting the course of justice. This is the “Nick” who has made allegations about Maurice Oldfield, Greville Janner, Harvey Proctor, Edward Heath, and Leon Brittan.
Is he in custody or did he get bail? And are there any indications of what his defence will be? Those are among the big questions.
I’m not using witch-hunter thinking, but it is certainly to be expected that someone who has suffered the kind of abuse “Nick” claims to have suffered will experience very serious mental problems. Meanwhile, the evil men who are guilty of such crimes as he alleges are men with extremely serious mental problems themselves. That is not “to be expected”. It is a fact: that kind of criminal is an extreme psychopath. That follows from the nature of their crime. Neither of those points should be forgotten.
Those who listen to Harvey Proctor’s denial of the allegations made by “Nick” against himself should pay attention to this bit:
“I was asked if I could recognise images of the pen-knife mentioned earlier. It was suggested it was Edward Heath who persuaded me not to castrate ‘Nick’ with it. I was obviously so persuaded by Mr Heath’s intervention that I placed the pen-knife in ‘Nick’s’ pocket, ready for him to present it to the Metropolitan Police over 30 years later as ‘evidence’.”
I mean actually listen to and watch Proctor’s delivery of those words. He is being sarcastic of course. He is not making a confession. He denies the allegations. Still, does he sound innocent? Shivers went down my spine when I heard him say that. Sarcasm? In a context like that?
I hope “Nick” has got a damned good barrister. Good at cross-examination as well as other required skills.
By the way, one of the murders, the one using a car, allegedly happened some time between May and July 1979. The Jeremy Thorpe trial ran from May to June of that year.
N_
I don’t know but it seems to me that God made humans amazingly shy when it comes to sexual taboos. Abusers use that shyness to get their victims to blame themselves, hate themselves, self-harm themselves and sometimes commit suicide. People blame religion because the Calvinists and Islamists burden people with guilt and shame. But really we spend 95% of our time not in a state of permanent erection and not even aware of our sexual feelings.
I suppose it follows that powerful people will get a kick out of inciting others to lust when they can’t get a kick out of their respectable and sensible, busy, and otherwise pre-occupied girl-friends , wives etc. One should never judge others for the entanglement of their sexual predilections. However, it has to be said that the state protecting the rich and powerful from exposure just makes the problem ten times worse. They say that even educated fleas – do it. whatever lifts your skirt up.
Some say that the closest a human being can get to perfection is when what they display to the world is in harmony with or nearly the same as what they experience within. In other words honesty. Like Ian McKellen.
Obviously nobody should publicise what is supposed to be private, nor spy on what is supposed to be private, but it would show more compassion to the world if the rich and famous admitted their perversions instead of denying them.
N_ I do agree with you, it is a very very strange way to present a denial – it seems to be more of a rationale than a denial. What is deeply concerning is that ‘Nick’ has now been charged with a string of offences by the corrupt police which is very similar to the fate of a young woman who someone highlighted on these pages who was remanded in custody after making and bringing to light systematic and historical abuse in a children’s home. There is no evidence against her but she remains remanded in custody. The legal system, unless you are very rich, is utterly corrupt when it comes to the vulnerable and the poor. We claim to have one of the best legal justice systems in the world – we most certainly do not – how are the police allowed to charge ‘Nick’ with these offences when higher profile people have committed far worse and are untouchable or the police will not act against them, or better still, seriously bungle the investigation. Now, i want to be clear hear, it seems to me that not a lot of people have taken a serious look at the Soham scenario. Huntley didn’t do it. However, the two Detectives on the case were caught by the FBI Operation Ore accessing extreme child pornography using their personal credit cards. However, they appeared to have a very friendly relationship with the parents of the older girl and were subsequently allowed to remain as Detectives on the case. I don’t know any circumstances under which this would be allowed to happen in a police force that had proper professional standards and a keen focus on justice. They should have been suspended and sacked immediately. Let’s look at Soham, it took over 2 years for them to arrest Huntley – who else could divert the investigation away from the whereabouts of the body for two years except the police or detectives? Their bodies were found very close by actually but were in such a state of decomposition apparently, that no forensic evidence could be obtained. Factor in the conduct of the older girls’ parents from whose b-b-q the girls appeared disappeared from and listen to their statements about the alleged timeline of events – not only highly questionable but should be of concern to anyone as it really doesn’t add up at all. Add to that the Police claiming that they couldn’t provide any details of their allegations as to Huntley having a previous criminal record for sexual offences against young girls because they had destroyed all his files under Data Protection Act rules. BS absolute BS. Professionals working in teaching, health, social care, medicine and other public sector jobs are subject to routine police checks first on applying for and being offered the job and then every 3 years thereafter. You do not, and I repeat, not destroy people’s criminal records under the Data Protection Act – there is no provision for that. Huntley was a real scapegoat. The people who should have been investigated are the two detectives and the parents of the older girl. Let me add that alarm bells started to ring with me from the outset when one of the Detectives gave a eulogy for the older girl at their funerals. This is highly suspect behaviour. You would expect it to be her best friend or friends – not a Detective who allegedly didn’t know her for God’s sake. I don’t know whether Huntley actually had a role such as being called in to help dispose of the bodies or to clean the house or whatever but what I believe very firmly is that he did not commit the murders. Added to all this, consider that I believe it was two may be three teachers from the Girl’s school were due in Court charged with sexual abuse of young girls. One committed suicide before it went to trial and I am not sure what happened to the others. Did you see that reported anywhere in the MSM? Just saying, the police in this country can be very inept, corrupt and self-protectionist without any proper controls or accountability.
@ Jo Dominich July 4, 2018 at 10:18
Re the Old Bill compliicity (it most certainly is not incompetence), you should watch this:
‘John Wedger (ITNJ Seating)’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z01qB-HeYV8
The lady I believe you are referring to is probably Melanie Shaw:
https://www.ukcolumn.org/ukcolumn-news/uk-column-news-14th-june-2018 (starts at 34:21)
Also see: https://www.ukcolumn.org/community/shop/postcards/melanie-shaw-postcard/
What the ‘Authorities’ are doing is both punishing the whistleblowers, and trying to discourage new whistleblowers from speaking out. It really is a revolting system that behaves like this, and gets away with it. Once again, where is the MSM? Up the a**es of the PTB.
” Let’s look at Soham, it took over 2 years for them to arrest Huntley ”
No it didn’t. He was arrested the day before the girls’ bodies were found after burnt remnants of their clothing were found at his home.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soham_murders
” one of the murders, the one using a car ”
That would be the one for which there’s no coroner’s report, no hospital records, no court records, witnesses or newspaper reports?
In connection with current divisions in the Polish state involving the judiciary of that country, the BBC was today pushing the line that there are two geographical parts of the EU to which different considerations should apply. Ha! Can anybody guess what might come next? Clue: it’s to do with immigration.
N_
We all know Western Governments made the refugee problems, all of them, NATO.
Just like the sexual abuse, it helps no-one for them to deny their committing appalling war-crimes, but the Eastern European nations were forced to sell themselves like Dr Faustus to the devil of the Great Satan.
Right now the Greater spotted satan , i.e. this country and the lesser spotted ones think they can keep on blaming the refugees on someone else.. It’s bonkers but neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism are bonkers.
We just have to enjoy the new dance, fashionable in NATO / Western politicians, shuffling like penguins in their straight-jackets, and signing their bonkers treaties on the ice with their bottoms.
I didn’t know that NATO made the refugee problems.
Relative to population quite a lot of refugees are coming from Ghana, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Eritrea, Nigeria, Senegal and the Gabon. I was not aware that NATO had been active in any of these countries – perhaps you could point me in the right direction.
I was aware that there was/is a significant US/EU/NATO destabilization operation in the Ukraine and by extension Russia. I am not aware of large numbers of Ukrainian or Russian refugees – perhaps you could let me know where i might find them
Loony
I am sure that you are aware that due to the ‘civil war’ in Ukraine, there are about half a million Ukrainian refugees in Russia. This can be attributed to NATO action or at least Mato member country action. There were also mass ‘migrations’ of Russians to Israel amounting to hundreds of thousands since the breakdown of The Soviet Union. The only other ‘mass’ migration from Russia has been that if billions of Robles/dollars taken by the oligarchs to the West.
Also although not in the same scale as current migrations, there was a lot of migration of people the former Yougoslavia following NATO action in that war.
Loony
Venn diagram:
Left circle – Colonial Western countries, Off topic.
Right circle – Neo-colonial NATO countries On topic
Intersection: Former colonial Western countries who are in neo-colonial NATO
That’s what I was discussing. You can discuss anything you like
Do you think it might be logical to assume that the centuries of difficulties experienced by countries that western countries colonised before two world wars might be replicated in those countries which the neo-colonial NATO has torn apart and wrecked?
Do you also think , as I do , that the lessons of two world wars seem to have been forgotten in one short generation, after which Mrs Thatcher decided to re-assert British colonial power in Argentina and Yugoslavia?
Do you also draw the same conclusion as I do, which is that if they have such problems with memory loss they would probably be better off wiped off this planet?
Does the continuing existence of Western civilisation depend on one man, Jeremy Corbyn, who, apparently alone in the Western world appears not to have forgotten those hard lessons viz: not to abuse the people of other countries and not to abuse one’s own people?
And Loony
I did not comment on your earlier thread with regards to socialism. You could be right that socialism has not succeeded but you have not really analysed why this is the case. Lenin always maintained that socialism in one country will never work and hence the advocation of an international approach to this. The early days of communist Russia was met by a concerted effort to reverse the revolution and both the US and U.K. sent troops and equipment to assist the whites in the Russian civil war. Sadly after the death of Lenin, Stalin takeover subverted a lot of the socialist ideals, turned Russia into a state capitalist oppressive system and a personality cult that had very little to do with socialism.
The dominant system in the world at the time and till this day is capitalism which has now used Lenins’s View in the opposite direction to foster globalisation but only in the interests of corporations.
In fact a lot of the pretend socialism around the western world was in some ways a deliberate effort to suppress true socialism. The countries you have quoted as being failed socialist countries have also failed because of very serious outside interference militarily and economically. In this respect I also agree with you that Corbyn will be unable to practice much of what he preaches because even single handedly someone like Soros can destabilise the pound and lead to collapse of a Corbyn run government, as has happened at the time of Thatcher.
We are sadly at a stage of rampant triumphalist Capitalism which has reached a state of open larceny with the rich making the rules to make the rich richer and to concentrate more power in even fewer hands.
Incidentally the current system can be defined as fascism in its original meanings when we consider that the world is run for profit only and that profit is going to major corporations and through the revolving door, states have become the executive arm of these corporations.
SA
We are in a multipolar world. It is only a matter of time before China and Russia formalise their ethical opposition to Western neo-colonialism into a replacement for the Geneva Convention. It is plain for all to see that USUKIS plus tag-ons will never be brought to account by the international rules that they established.
Cue for Thomson and Thomson alias Charles Bostock and Kempe, to remove the guano from their respective bowler hats.
giyane
I wish I had your faith that we are in a multipolar world(MPW). Even at my most optimistic I would say we are slowly heading to a MPS but not there yet.
However even then the MPW with Russia and China is still very much a capitalist MPW and to be frank with You Russian or Chinese billionaires are not really going to be concerned with the problems of the rest of us.
Unless the system is changed it is all like reorganising the deckchairs on the titanic.
SA
Allah the Most High used the Babylonians and the Romans to utterly destroy the Children of Israel when they exceeded all bounds of their religion on two occasions. The former invaders accepted Islam under the prophet Jonah pbuh after his temporary absence in the belly of the fish. The latter recreants appear to be still waiting for the prophet Eesa pbuh, i.e. Jesus to reappear from the sky in Damascus before accepting the truth of Islam.
Curious that the symbol for the Messiah was a Fish , which in modern Kurdish is Masi, and that the Bible draws a parallel between Jonah’s sojourn in the fish and the fictional burial of Jesus pbuh. Jesus pbuh was taken to the heavens to protect him from the rage of the extreme right-wing rabbis. Donald Trump encarcerating Mexican children is a good caricature of Herod at his Mystery play best/worst.
So yes, as we glide inevitably towards the Day of Judgement, the denial of Islam and the persecution of the truth continues. Prophecy informs us that this will very soon be reversed and the Zionists will have to eat poo. Zionism, nothing whatsoever to do with Judaism, is the desire for the priveleges of upholding the truth of Islam without practising the faith.
Boris Johnson’s Cake and eat it. Plus ca change plus ch’est la fucking meme choshe. excuse my sabotage of French.
“The early days of communist Russia was met by a concerted effort to reverse the revolution and both the US and U.K. sent troops and equipment to assist the whites in the Russian civil war.”
From: Conjuring Hitler: How Britain and America Made the Third Reich by Guido Giacomo Preparata
“[T]he Allies had to shield their ‘revolutionary assets’ [Lenin and his friends] and see to it that these consolidated their hold over the entire landmass, from Moscow to Vladivostok. To effect this the White counter-revolutionary armies had to be wiped out – and Britain had to come up with a peculiar plan… [T]he West had to behave in such a way as to fool both its public and the Whites into believing that it was supporting the latter, when in fact the Anglo-Americans were looking forward to the complete physical elimination of the White czarists.”
The US was willing to sacrifice 2m men to defeat Germany, whereas, against the ‘greater evil’, the Anglo forces employed were 18,000.
James
Thanks for the comment. I was not aware of this nor of the book by Preparata which seems a book to read. Have you read it, would you recommend it. One of the critiques, a very long one suggest that the Anglo-American Empire did the same during the 2nd WW as they are doing now in creating and funding the so called islamic fundamentalists.
What’s going on in Wiltshire?
‘Wiltshire ‘major incident’: ‘Unknown substance’ leaves Amesbury pair critically ill in Salisbury hospital
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Parts of Salisbury had only been reopened two months ago after the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal
4 JULY 2018 • 3:57 AM
A major incident has been declared in Wiltshire amid fears two people left fighting for their lives had been exposed to an “unknown substance”.
A number of scenes in the Amesbury and Salisbury area have been cordoned off as authorities investigated the incident.
Public Health England (PHE) advised it did not believe there to be a “significant health risk” to the wider public, although its advice was being continually assessed.
The incident comes after former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were left poisoned by a suspected military nerve agent in Salisbury, about eight miles from Amesbury, in March.
The man and woman in Amesbury, both in their 40s, were in a critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital, Wiltshire Police said, adding it is suspected they “might have been exposed to an unknown substance”.
The pair were found unconscious at an address in Muggleton Road, Amesbury, on Saturday evening and it was initially believed they might have taken illegal drugs.
“”It was initially believed that the two patients fell ill after using possibly heroin or crack cocaine from a contaminated batch of drugs,” police said.
“However, further testing is now ongoing to establish the substance which led to these patients becoming ill and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances surrounding this incident.”
The address is thought to be on a new housing development on the southern edge of the town, which lies close to Stonehenge.
A number of scenes believed to be areas they frequented before they fell ill were cordoned off overnight.
Meanwhile there was an increased police presence in and around Amesbury and Salisbury.
Salisbury District Hospital was “open as usual” and officials advised people to attend routine appointments unless they are contacted to do otherwise.
Sergei Skripal with his daughter Yulia
A PHE spokesman said: “The current advice from PHE England, based upon the number of casualties affected, is that it is not believed that there is a significant health risk to the wider public. This will be continually assessed as further information becomes known”.
The incident comes almost two months after police finished investigating every area linked to the Skripal poisoning case in Salisbury.
Parts of the Wiltshire city were locked behind police cordons for more than two months as officers and soldiers worked to gather evidence and clean up areas affected by the Novichok nerve agent.’
/..
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/04/major-incident-inamesbury-unknown-substance-leaves-two-people/
Boom-boom! Novichok hotspot discovered in Amesbury. The Blob is spreading and not even Chequers is immune.
Just two Muggles overdosed on drugs close to Salisbury: nice handle to echo the Putin’s nerve gas story again and again and ….
On BBC radio 4 news at 7 am. Sounded like a replay of the initial reporting of the 4th March incident. There was a lot of criticism of the British government yesterday for scaring Brits from staying away from Russia, so they were vastly outnumbered in Moscow for the Colombia match. This will probably go down as more of the same.
Antonyl, yep it’s coming just as Scotland Yard claim but cannot produce evidence of two ‘suspects’.
I’ve had an idea on how “pro-Palestinians” (a bit of a misnomer, actually, for who here is really anti-Palestinian? – but readers will know what I mean) could do something useful, both on the psychological and practical levels, to help the people living in the West Bank and perhaps even Gaza..
The idea involves town-twinning. Like-minded pro-Palestinians could get together and attempt to exert public pressure on their local authorities (set up a pressure group, write letters to the local newspapers, lobby local councillors, etc…there are many possibilities) to twin the town they live in with one of the towns in the West Bank. They might be successful or they might not, but surely it would be worth trying?
The more “successful” the English (or Scottish or Welsh or even Northern Irish) town, the greater the impact of the announcement of such a twinning on wider public opinion. Perhaps little point in, say, Luton going for the idea but much more point if it were a town like (again as an example) Guildford. Guildford twinned with Nablus, anyone?
Great idea. My old stomping ground, Dundee, twinned with Nablus in the early 80s.
There you go! If Dundee could do it all those years ago, why couldn’t the good people of Guildford have a go at persuading their local council? Mind you, it might mean a little hard work, harder than just bashing away at a keyboard! Any volonteers?
Twinning is a useless enterprise. A gesture. The real evil is being carried out and as you scribble your usual tripe, another war crime is taking place.
A question has just been raised in the HoC by Richard Burden MP about the Israelis demolishing a Palestinian Bedouin village. Khan al Amar. Burt replying confirms that the UK Ambassador and the Consul General visited this morning and watched demolition of structures. The usual hand wringing from the FCO MENA minister who is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel and a self described ‘Christian’.. He was once a chair of the CFoI.
Ms Thornberry, LFoI, shadow Foreign secretary responds in a soft, so caring voice.
Bloody hypocrites the lot of them.
The land is being developed for settlements.
The matter of the demolition of Khan al A(h)mar was also raised earlier prior to PMQs. The hand wringing and evasion of Alistair Burt in reply again.
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)
T6. . Ministers will be aware that as we speak the bulldozers are moving into the Palestinian settlement of Khan al-Ahmar. That will lead to the forced displacement of the residents there, in a clear breach of international law. Will the Minister assure me that we are on the ground now, gathering evidence of these breaches of law, so that those who are responsible will later be legally accountable? [906259]
Alistair Burt
I will be answering an urgent question on this matter shortly. We have taken a great deal of interest over many years in the affairs of those Bedouins at Khan al-Ahmar. I visited them just a few weeks ago and this remains a matter of great concern to the UK.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-07-04/debates/93991AE4-827C-4E68-8D38-EB00EA34F018/TopicalQuestions
I said thousands of words. 7,995 to be exact.
Demolition of Khan al-Ahmar
04 July 2018
Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)
(Urgent Question): I had hoped to ask the Foreign Secretary to make a statement on the imminent demolition of the village of Khan al-Ahmar and the threat of the forcible transfer of its residents, but in the light of developments this morning, I must instead ask the Foreign Secretary to make a statement on the demolition that has commenced at Khan al-Ahmar and the village of Abu Nuwar and on the actual forcible transfer of the residents of those villages.
/..
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-07-04/debates/B11012E4-6183-4928-8DE6-A1192AB77665/DemolitionOfKhanAl-Ahmar
I misheard what Quarrey and the Consul General reported they had seen. Not ‘demolition of structures’ but a bulldozer levelling the ground. Same thing of course.
Those poor Bedouin people (181 of them in that village) who have lost their tents and shacks. What about their possessions and their animals? It is pure evil and a war crime as I said before.
Sorry this gets up your nose IrishU. Many public figures and current events have connections to and with Israel or perhaps you hadn’t noticed.
Like Habbabkuk, you seem to have an obsession about Guildford. Are you one and the same or is there an agenda to pester me because of my support for the Palestinians in the attempt to give them justice against an illegal occupation?
I am not sure that the many people who give their time to the Dundee-Nablus Twinnign Association would agree that it is a useless gesture. ( http://www.dundee-nablus.org.uk/ )
A useless enterprise is trolling through people’s backgrounds and Register of Interests to find a connection to Israel. That is what I would call a gesture.
What is your problem IrishU? Is it because I support the Palestinians? Come on. Out with it or stop your continuous and irrelevant sniping.
I have many problems with what you write here, both in terms of content and tone. However, in this instance you commented to describe the twinning of Palestinian towns with UK cities and towns as ‘a useless enterprise. A gesture.’ I disagreed with that statement as I have seen the good it can do, link included above.
I would argue that spending your days on internet blogs highlighting even the most tenuous of connections between individuals (or companies) and Israel does very little to help the Palestinians.
I must say, I did get a laugh that you of all people can complain of continuous and irrelevant sniping!!
Of slight interest, this time around the police officer is standing a long long long way from from the door handle
https://twitter.com/rupertevelyn/status/1014401255064719361
Real people from around the world are meeting real people in Russia and they feel the dissonances spread by politicians are seen what they really are, inconsequential.
Russians themselves feel part of a bigger world during this time and I hope that this football event will finally make it clear that the past malignant stories spread ad nauseum to cover up our abysmal failure in Syria, will not be confused with this great positive event that will change people’s mind.
The Home office and the MI’s must be working flat out trying to create a negative scenario involving Russia.
What a pity that they don’t want to start at the top of Kensington/Chelsea and work their way through the property/business owning oligarchs that are living the high life there.
Could this have something to do with donors to the Tories being exempt from any attention. The only limelight they receive is when the media fawns over their riches, cloth, dogs and choice of expensive private school for their children.
Just about to declare Doggerland as an offshore haven for all who paid full tax in the past. only those who have paid taxes in the UK need apply, There are no banks or building societies to receive the monies, due to the permanent wet state of our High Street, hence my account will have to suffice for now…..;)
Hey Craig 🙂 Re “Finally, a thought about China….. they appear to realise that dominance can be achieved by more subtle means than the sword. ”
I offer, Yanis Varoufakis answering a question about China here https://youtu.be/j2Dbffp3Va4
There’s no revolution without struggle. Thanks for keeping up the struggle.
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2016/10/taliban-oil-afghanistan-161004085739050.html
I recall when The Scotsman was a broadsheet in the year 2000 they ran a whole double centre page on the achievements of the Taliban in halting the production of the poppy (declared against the Quran to grow the poppy) at the request of the US government, all part of the public face of the deal of getting the oil and gas pipeline deal. Afghanistan was going to have a modern infrastructure built as part of the same deal. Then the US government demanded the Taliban hand over of a particular Osama Bin Laden, who had claimed responsibility for the bombing of the US embassy in Kenya. The same Osama Bin Laden who had been placed in association with the Mujahideen to combat the Ruskies in Afghanistan. A supposed hero of the Afghans. A very inconvenient way for a hero to act when such deals are about to be realised.
As Jeremy Corbyn goes on the attack about the cuts to the bus services at PMQs, the extortionate fare rises, the huge profits made by the private bus operators, the fact that it’s the poor who have to use them, I was following a rich blonde bitch driving a new Bentley convertible coupe (price £150,000 and upwards). She drew into a gated entrance and awaited the gates to open. The address was formerly a country council family centre where families with problems went for help and advice. The four storey building was flogged off some years ago and it was lavishly converted into a private dwelling – indoor pool, cinema etc etc.
There are two Britains.
Treeza is done up like a dog’s dinner today with heavy make up, a purple blue suit with power shoulders and a metal chain necklace. She must be having a power lunch with someone. Perhaps the US Senator who Bercow spoke of earlier.
Wonder which of the troughers are going on this jolly? And who pays? The idiot UK tax payers?
‘2018 Annual BAPG / US Dept of State Co-Sponsored Visit to the US
The BAPG, in conjunction with the American Embassy and the United States Department of State, is to send a bi-partisan group of Parliamentarians to the United States in late July to participate in an International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) .
The prime purpose of the visit is to give members not already familiar with the United States an overview of its federal and state system of government and also includes a short time with a Member of Congress in his/her district. A delegation has been confirmed for this visit.’
You have to go to p1 of their 2016/7 report to see some names as the ‘About Us’ button does not work. ;).
http://www.bapg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/annual_report_accounts_bapg_2016-2017_final.pdf
Glad to see McVey being hauled over the coals by Sir Amyaz Morse of the National Audit Office.
Esther McVey made incorrect statements to MPs over universal credit roll out, says government spending watchdog
Auditor General Sir Amyas Morse said Ms McVey’s claim the NAO was concerned that universal credit was rolling out too slowly was ‘not correct’
1 hour ago |
‘Whitehall’s spending watchdog has rebuked cabinet minister Esther McVey for misrepresenting their critical report on the roll-out of universal credit with a series of inaccurate claims to MPs.
The National Audit Office (NAO) took the highly unusual step after the work and pensions secretary dismissed the catalogue of failings outlined by auditors last month in their report into the government’s flagship welfare programme.
In his open letter to Ms McVey, which is likely to raise questions about her future as a cabinet minister, Auditor General Sir Amyas Morse said that elements of her statement to Parliament on the report were incorrect and unproven.He said it was “odd” that Ms McVey told MPs that the NAO did not take into account recent changes in the administration of universal credit, when the report had in fact been “fully agreed” with senior officials at the Department for Work and Pensions only days earlier.’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/esther-mcvey-universal-credit-spending-nao-false-statements-lies-national-audit-office-a8430356.html
McVey is now speaking to the ‘House’.
La Kuenssberg on the Daily Politics programme says it is an extraordinarily strong and unusual statement from the NAO.
No. Just watching and listening to the activities in the House of Commons.
PS Not bitter. Just angry.
Q. Are you another Z troll?
Also angry at the vast inequalities in this country. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.